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

[User]
[MacGyver] What was MacGyver's actual job?

Do "think tanks" like the Phoenix Foundation exist? Where they send out private agents to handle various dangerous situations?

[Assistant]
MacGyver had lots of jobs. He served in the Vietnam War on a bomb defusing team, then was a fire fighter, fighting oil fires in Sumatra, and basically bounced around from job to job until he was hired as a field agent for the Department of External Services, an intelligence agency.

Later he would be world for the Phoenix Foundation think tank. Not sure if he was a direct employee or just a contractor/consultant they would hire as needed or keep on retainer.


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

[User] [Pokemon] Why do Ice-type Pokemon exist? Ice is just frozen water. Shouldn't they be considered water-type?

[Assistant]
It's less ice and more cold powers. The moves that are ice type don't always involve water, such as aurora beam, frost breath, and subzero slammer. But they do contain some ice-based powers too.

Also ice/water type Pokemon do exist, so they aren't necessarily the same typing.


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

[User] [DragonBall Z] if all the Saiyans are dead, wouldnt Vegeta be the king of all saiyans instead of the prince, as he keeps introducing himself?

[Assistant] We can assume there is some sort of ceremony for crowning a prince King. This is impossible since Goku can't perform the ceremony. Vegeta is the highest ranking Saiyan, but there is no rightful method to promote him to King.


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

[User]
Why do our bodies separate waste into liquids/solids? Isn't it more efficient to have one type of waste?

Weird question, but I've been wondering this.

[Assistant]
To expound on rlee's first comment, the primary reason is because of the different types of waste.

Solid waste is largely the remnants of the food you eat -- the undigested bits, the leftover fiber, as well as some of the dead bacteria that lives in your digestive tract. You can think of this primarily as the stuff you didn't use from your food, and none of this is "waste" from your body's metabolic functions. (There is actually one exception to this, and it's why your poop is brown -- bilirubin is the waste product from hemoglobin (the stuff that carries oxygen in red blood cells) breakdown and is released into the digestive tract as waste.)

Urine contains metabolic wastes -- leftover proteins, extra ions, waste products from metabolism. The blood can reach the whole of the body, and so is good for carrying these waste products out. The kidneys, as you know, will filter the blood and take out the waste, which becomes urine.

These are two very different systems, and have evolved separately, which is why  they utilize two different routes. An important thing to note is that biologically, the contents of the digestive tract are _outside_ your body (think of yourself as a big donut). There would have needed to be a very strong evolutionary reason to combine these two systems, and there simply aren't -- two systems work fine.


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

[User]
[General RPG] So I just came upon this unreasonably small town

It has a Mayors house, Item shop, Inn, and Weapon/Armor shop. Each only has one person in it. There is also one empty house. That is it, no other people are in this town. As far as I can determine I am also the first visitor they have had in ages. How can this town even function like this?

[Assistant]
It's probably less of an organized town and more of a glorified rest stop for travelling adventurers. The businesses there (items, weapons, and an inn) certainly seem catered to that crowd.

The inn was probably the first thing that was built, and the rest of the buildings sprang up to fulfill the needs of the sort of folk that tend to stop by.

The mayor's house probably functions as a general administrative/postal/news center, and they probably have food and supplies delivered at regular intervals from nearby farms or towns.

If it's seeming rather empty, it's probably cause the business moved away -- perhaps the dragons and princesses went further afield, and the adventurers moved with them. It happens.


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

[User]
25% of all dollars were printed in the last year, why has their been no meaningful rise inflation?

I have no economic knowledge, but it was always hammered into me from schools and people,  that printing lots of money will start and inflation spiral. The US has created trillions in the last year, how is a ps5 still only $500 and the price of food is basically the same?

[Assistant]
Because the federal reserve is actively managing inflation and this is the reason why the money supply was increased in the first place.

You see,  "a lot of new money was created so we must get inflation" isn't really the right place to start. It's more "the economic downturn and falling money velocity caused a lot of deflationary pressure so substantial money creation was necessary to keep inflation positive and stable" is more accurate.

It's a bit like driving a car, to use a crude and overly simplistic analogy. If you're going over flat land, you want to press down the throttle a bit (print a bit of money) to maintain your speed (your inflation target). But if you're driving up a steep hill (have lots of deflationary pressure) you have to mash the throttle (print a lot of money) to maintain your speed.


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

[User]
CMV: There is nothing wrong with using the word "normal" when describing those who for within societal averages as long as it's not used to judge those outside those parameters

Here's a couple of examples of what I'm taking about. I have a friend who is genderfluid and they posted in their Facebook the other day a post explaining the term cis as in cisgender. The post ended with "sorry not sorry cisgendered people you can't call yourself normal".

I watched a video on YouTube made by a high functioning autistic girl who spoke of those without autism as neurotypical and criticized the use of the world normal to refer to those without autism.

The dictionary definition of normal is "conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected."  Considering that we determine what is usual or expected based on what we experience the majority of the time it is not wrong to call cisgendered or non autistic people normal as the majority of people are. The only time I see this as wrong as if people use normal to equate with goodness.  In other words, if people say that because trans aren't normal they're wrong or bad. But I think that regardless of using the word normal or cisgendered those that would marginalize others would do so regardless of the term.

Am I wrong, is normal intrinsically a bad term for people to use?

[Assistant]
> The dictionary definition of normal is "conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected." Considering that we determine what is usual or expected based on what we experience the majority of the time

That's already a crude and self-serving simplification of the dictionary definition. Police officers are about as common as transgender people, but you wouldn't go around calling them abnormal. You wouldn't start a story with "Three guys walked into a bad, one of them was a police officer, the other two were normal...".

That's because police even if officers might be a minority, but their existence is part of our norms, they conform to our society's standards.

Which is a key part of the definition. Conforming to a standard isn't just about mathematical majority, it is inherently tied to moral statments on what our standards of expected behavior and identity are.

Eyeglass wearers are normal, drug addicts are not. Jewish people are normal, school shooters are not. Opera fans are normal, Snuff film fans are not.

This isn't just some obscure example of the word being used in a mean way, it is inherently tied to it's definiton. Things are called abnormal, when they deviate from our expectations of how our world *ought to* look like.


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

[User] ELI5: What is being changed when phones are made 5G-compatible?

[Assistant]
Phones are small computers that have a chip and antenna in them that can connect to cell towers via very specific radio signals.

5G signals are different than 4G ones, so phones that support 5G have a different chip and antenna that also speak the 5G language.


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

[User]
[Animaniacs] how do i handle these three monkey? dog? Cartoon things?

So im working at this electronic store when these three kid things, two brothers and a sister i think warner is what they said. They ask where the air in a can for the keyboards are, i told them and now every so often they show up, ask me random questions or tell jokes that are... odd to say the least. How should i handle them?

[Assistant]
Dogs. The gloves are a dead giveaway.

Just befriend them. It's truly your only hope but make sure to do it in a legitimate and genuine way, as they will certainly sniff out what you're doing and won't be so happy if your just tryna save your skin.


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

[User]
Can cold welding, like when two pieces of metal touch in space, be achieved on earth in a vacuum chamber?

Ive been reading about how cold welding can happen in the vacuum of space, but could it be achieved with a vacuum chamber on earth?

[Assistant]
Yes, although it's likely of limited use in an industrial setting, since vacuums are difficult to maintain. Friction welding would probably be preferred. However, a cold weld can be achieved without vacuum if you can apply enough pressure.

The reason for this is that metals in atmosphere have an oxide layer at their surface, and this oxide layer gets in the way of bonds forming. In a vacuum, that oxide layer is outgassed, so it's no longer present. But at high pressures you can break the layer up. When the oxide layer is gone, the atoms in the two metals can't "tell" that they are at the surface, so they bond to each other like they are not, and in doing so, they are no longer at the surface.

It is not necessary that the environment be "cold", this just refers to the fact that you aren't heating the metal to create a liquid interface. Friction welding does require heating, so if you're looking at an application where this is undesirable, cold welding might be the way to go. It's just likely that it will be harder to create a vacuum system than a high pressure press.


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

[User]
[Godzilla] How large are Godzilla's Bowel Movements?

Title says it all. Specify in volume please. You can also specify weight if needed.

Scenario A: 50 meter tall Godzilla

Scenario B: 100 meter tall Godzilla

You can choose what he has been eating if you think it will effect the size of his stool. Sushi? Instant Noodles? Chinese take-out? Mexican Food? New York Pizza? You decide!

[Assistant]
anywhere between 3 - 40metric ton of feces, sometimes more, it is highly radioactive and lumpy in texture.

As far as i know about Kaiju's they do not heave diarrhea, even after consuming a whole taco bell restaurant. But in the event that Godzilla would get the runs, imagine a napalm flamethrower, the ones you see in old Vietnam war films and such, that is esentially foul smelling ,radioactive poison.


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

[User] If a star explodes because it ran out of fusion fuel how can it be that a new star can form out of the gas that the supernova leaves behind?

[Assistant] The star doesn't run out of fusion fuel. Eventually the core of the star becomes too heavy to continue fusion, but there are shells of helium and hydrogen around the core that are still burning. However, when the core stops burning in giant stars, there isn't enough pressure to prevent gravitational collapse, which causes a chain of events that leads to the supernova.


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

[User]
How did the Nazis use Nietzsche's work to their advantage?

I am aware that Nietzsche was not an anti-semite and did not support those types of ideologies but I belive I heard that they manipulated his works to benifit them. How and why did they do this?

[Assistant] His sister Elisabeth, who married a fanatical anti-semite, was Nietzsche's caretaker after his mental decline and was instrumental in organizing his notes for publications after his death. Like her husband, she was an anti-semite and imposed her own ideological views onto Nietzsche's notes, often arranging or rewriting things in ways that fit her views of the German people as the master race. This is especially the case with the book *The Will to Power*, which for a long time was misrepresented. She also was a supporter of the Nazi party when Hitler came to power and used Nazi patronage to support Nietzsche's legacy.


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

[User] If we cloned a dinosaur today would it die quickly due to the lower oxygen content in the air today?

[Assistant] Oxygen content today isn't actually much different than that at the time of the dinosaurs.  Over the millions of years they were alive, it was sometimes higher and sometimes lower.  It's the giant insects of the Carboniferous which were really dependent on high oxygen levels.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is being flat-footed a hindrance?

As a child, I was flat-footed - my father insisted I needed orthopedic insoles at a young age, so as to be able to serve in the armed forces if my grades didn't come good. Lo and behold, I shit-talked my way into a decent paying desk job as a young adult that did not require a protractor to get me hired. So, what advantage does an arched foot have?

[Assistant]
Feet are supposed to have an arch, and the bones/muscle in them require it for proper function.

It's a bit like a bridge. If you look at large bridges that support a lot of weight, you see those giant cables that 'curve' up and to a point in the middle. So when you put a lot of weight on the bridge, it's not just the actual bridge, road, and columns underneath that support that weight. It's all anchored to a particularly strong 'tower' and then redistributed across the weight of the whole bridge. This allows the bridge to sustain itself, and significant weight, without fear of collapse in any one part.

The arch of your foot is basically like that. The bones in the middle connect all the muscles to an anchor point. So when you walk, and you roll your foot, the muscles have an anchor point that they can pull on. That anchor point then redistributes the force across the entire bone structure of the foot. It means that any individual spot on the foot can share the load of walking on other parts.

When the arch collapses, there's less work-sharing going on, it means each piece has to work harder, and it can't 'flex' as well with other pieces. As a result, flat feet tend to get sore faster, have a varying limit to their range of 'motion', and are prone to pain under high workload, such as marathon running (or sprinting from zombies).

It's notable, as well, that arched feet typically have a 'resting' position where the feet are not strictly pointing forward, but not pointing 'too out' either. This causes the foot to rest, or work, at a certain angle. The legs, hips, and back, all work together to keep you upright. When the feet are overpronation (tilted 'inwards') or supination (tilted 'outwards'), it forces the leg muscles and bones off kilter. This forces the hips out of alignment, and can even throw the back muscles off to some extent.

It can cause various alignment issues all the way from the feet, up to the shoulders, in severe cases! This can be very uncomfortable.

***The benefit of the arch, then, is that it helps the foot to spread the workload across a wider area. This, in turn, supports healthy muscle tissue, and reduces inflammation and stress on individual muscles. So an arched foot works less to do more, while keeping your body properly aligned!***


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

[User]
How did we adopt standard rendering settings such as 1080p resolution, 30-60 fps, 60-144 hz refresh rate, etc.?

I'm curious as to how we came up with these standard values that most screen manufacturers, game creators, video rendering programs have adopted, etc. have adopted.

[Assistant] The standard TV refresh rates - 50Hz in former "PAL" countries, 60Hz in former "NTSC" countries - came about largely because they matched the frequency of the alternating current used in the countries that developed them, although NTSC later screwed this up and has annoyed a generation of broadcast engineers by dropping it to 59.94Hz when they introduced colour.


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

[User]
[X-Men/My Hero Academia] If Magneto was transported into the My Hero Academia universe, what faction would he empathize with or join?

Suppose Magneto found himself irrevocably transported to the My Hero Academia universe. While there's some difference in how powers manifest, he would probably just perceive people with Quirks as the mutants of that world. I gather that he would be initially elated that they make up 80% of the population and that governments and economies are structured around them.

However, I could also see him empathizing with Paranormal Liberation Army types due to how "restricted" people are regarding the use of their powers, even if his personal authoritarian leadership style doesn't really gel with their anarchy schtick. So what would Magneto become in this world?

[Assistant]
A world where mutants are in charge?

Hell be thrilled. Hell also be fine with restrictions, total freedom is really not one of his schticks and hes perfectly aware of how dangerous mutants can be. Theyre not being oppressed, they just have to follow public safety laws. Hell get the issues that would arise with horde of idiots just flapping through airplane routes or weaving through traffic. Or some hot headed idiots escalating a fight from punches to death lasers in the middle of a city. Hes ran a mutant society after all, they had laws too.

At most hell be giving a side-eye to the whole quirk registration thing, but thats actually just Japan being Japan. Theyve just added Quirk to their national family registry thing theyve got. Its supremely unlikely that thats a thing outside of Japan.


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

[User]
Which philosophers were actually happy at the end of their life or put forth a philosophy that may make people happy to follow?

So many philosophers Ive been studying seemed to have been depressed, dissatisfied, alone and never married, or even mentally ill at the end of their lives. Some have even concluded life is not worth bringing new humans into existence. Which philosophers were happy and/or seemed to promote a philosophy which might bring one happiness?

[Assistant]
Socrates is an obvious one.  He was upset when his friends were crying at his execution, and stated he could not be sad because he didnt know whether whether death was good or not.

Epicurus thought similarly stating that since there were no gods to judge you after death, there is no reason to fear death.


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

[User]
[Marvel] If you needed a team of ninja-type trained heroes for a black ops mission and they couldnt have flashy powers, who are the top candidates?

Im thinking in terms of people on the sort of Black Widow to Daredevil to Wolverine axis.

Whos your Oceans Eleven here?

1. Able to enter a nation discreetly and legitimately.
2. Pass among the public as regular people.
3. Get into ultra secure places to exfiltrate information, items or people.
4. Slip discretely back out of the nation.
5. No one knows who even did it, if successful.

[Assistant] Kitty Pryde (intangibility, ninja training and genius level computer expert), Invisible Woman (invisibility), Black Cat, Gambit (both are master thiefs, BC have +Luck on her side), Mystique (Camouflage), Ant Man, Wasp (both can hide reducing thier size), Cloak, Nigthcrawler, (teleportation), any telepath.


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

[User]
What is the most fundamental definition of energy?

If I think about it, it seems that energy is like time, in that we all experience it, yet nailing down exactly what it is isn't so easy.
Thoughts?

[Assistant]
It can be derived from Noether's theorem.  "Noether's (first) theorem states that any differentiable symmetry of the action of a physical system has a corresponding conservation law." - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noether's_theorem

"For illustration, if a physical system behaves the same regardless of how it is oriented in space, its Lagrangian is rotationally symmetric; from this symmetry, Noether's theorem shows the angular momentum of the system must be conserved. The physical system itself need not be symmetric; a jagged asteroid tumbling in space conserves angular momentum despite its asymmetry  it is the laws of motion that are symmetric. As another example, if a physical experiment has the same outcome regardless of place or time (having the same outcome, say, somewhere in Asia on a Tuesday or in America on a Wednesday), then its Lagrangian is symmetric under continuous translations in space and time; by Noether's theorem, these symmetries account for the conservation laws of linear momentum and energy within this system, respectively."

tl;dr Because the laws of physics are constant with time, due to Noether's theorem, there exists a corresponding conservation.  We define this conservation law to be the conservation of Energy.


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

[User]
ELI5 How mirages work

What are they? When do they occur? Ay other interesting stuff?

[Assistant]
You know how when there's a cookout and you look just above the grill you can see distorted wavy lines in the air?

A mirage is that same thing in the desert, where the distortion is so strong that a bit of the blue sky appears mixed up with what should be the sand, so people believe they are seeing blue water on the ground.


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

[User] [DC] How does Batman possibly keep up the image of a horrifying bat-monster that scares criminals when he has several clearly human sidekicks, who are mostly children?

[Assistant]
As far as criminals are concerned, there are basically 3 different Batmans.

Youve got the guy who hangs out with the Justice League.  He clearly has some kind of superpowers.  Everybody knows that, hes a superhero after all.  He fights alien invasions and stuff.

The second guy works for the cops.  Hes some detective, or maybe a group of detectives, who answer to Gordon and pretend to be a superhero so they dont have to get warrants and things like that.  They use the teen sidekicks as a public image stunt.  Anytime Robin or Batgirl show up, youre probably just dealing with a short cop in disguise.

Then theres the Bat Monster.  Theres a thing that lurks in the alleyways of Gotham.  Its probably a vampire or something.  Or a hideous mutant.  But it preys on criminals.  Youd much rather get beaten up by one of Gordons goon squad than face that thing.


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

[User] Other than rationalism and empiricism, are there any other ways of gaining knowledge?

[Assistant]
Rationalism and empiricism aren't really ways of gaining knowledge, they're traditions of philosophical work - or historical hypotheses about what historians suppose constitute such traditions.

If you're interested in the issue of sources of knowledge, the place to begin would be with an introductory survey of epistemology--e.g., Audi's *Epistemology*.

A simplified schema here would be to suggest we distinguish between intuitive and inferential sources of knowledge. Intuition in this sense refers to an act of being directly given information about the world, as may occur through the traditional senses (i.e. vision, touch, etc.) and may occur through other sources (e.g., an intuition of aesthetic or moral value). Inference in this sense refers to a mental act by which we move in thought from one piece of knowledge to a different piece of knowledge, as in deduction (i.e., when the former entails the latter) and inductive or nondeductive inference (i.e., when the former lends plausibility to the latter), and perhaps other cognitive acts like these (e.g., abductive inferences, where the latter thought is taken to be the best theory of the former).


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

[User] ELI5: Why do different strains of cannabis have different effects? Isn't it all still just THC?

[Assistant] You know how with some vegetables or fruits there are a bunch of different varieties, like with apples or tomatoes, that are all technically the same fruit but maybe have slightly different tastes, colors and shapes from each other?  Like how one type of apple tastes a lot more bitter than a different type, or how some tomatoes grow really huge and others only the size of cherries.  All of them are from the same family, but have slightly different genetics from one another.  That's pretty much how different strains of marijuana work as well.  Slightly different genetics produces a slightly different plant that may have slightly different perceived effects - like how some strains give you a head rush and a bit of energy, and others give you more of a body high and can make you feel really lethargic like you just want to sink into a couch.


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

[User] [Harry Potter] Dementors feed on happiness, so their victims become miserable. Boggarts feed on fear; why don't their victims become brave?

[Assistant] Boggarts don't "feed on fear." They simply become whatever their target fears most. To what end is not known. It's not even know if they are intelligent creatures using their ability for some specific means or are more akin to a force of nature that just does what it does.


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

[User] [General] We scan something too powerful, our computers spark and blow up. Something hits us which our shields deflect, our computers blow up. Doesn't this seem like incredibly bad engineering?

[Assistant]
Those monitors have to have 3,000,000 plasma running though the decks to power the extremely advanced computers inside. This isn't your home PADD, these computers have to process subatomic phenomenon into something you can understand. Doing so for just the hundred meters in front of the ship uses more computer power than every computer on Earth in the 21st Century.

That the computer is room temperature in normal operation is a minor miracle of thermodynamic engineering. You add in weapons that make Hiroshima look like a sparkler and it is a wonder that sparks are all that come out, and not geysers of flesh melting plasma.


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

[User] ELI5: How do adhesive factories (super glue, caulking, etc...) prevent their machines from seizing up with dried glue during production?

[Assistant] When the glue is running in the pipes it's usually not exposed to air and it spends very little time in the tube so it can't clog up. These factories might be running the filling machines 24/7 or when the machine is turned off, they run a solvent through the pipes to clean the left-over glue.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do many parade uniforms have a chin strap that rests on the mouth not under the chin?

[Assistant] Former Danish Royal Life Guard here. It's placed on the "mouth" due to that if someone comes up from behind or if you're in combat, they can't choke you or drag you to the ground while pulling on your bear-skin. And it also protected against attacks from the cavalry, where it would protect your face from sabers.


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

[User] How come every lake and pond has fish? Where do the fishes come from in newly formed lakes and ponds?

[Assistant] They can get there a few different ways.  The most common methods of populating a new lake or pond by fish are either swimming there (whether due to temporary flooding of the area or an underground spring connecting two seemingly unconnected lakes) or being introduced by another species (usually humans, but sometimes fish eggs will stay wet long enough to be transported clinging to the feet or fur of another species.)


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

[User]
[WH40K] Say I'm a Slaaneshi cultist that prefers the pleasure of good food over sex or drugs. What does Slaanesh offer me and how does my chaos corruption progress?

Instead of wild orgies or space crack (or both) I'm just a real gourmand, always in search of the finest culinary experiences. How does Slaanesh inevitably corrupt me?

[Assistant] You know how Pablo Picasso became "so" interested in art, that drawing conventional faces began to bore him? The same thing will happen with you, as you constantly vamp up more and more daring recipes, incorporating more ingredients of "exotic", if unseemly qualities. It all culminates one evening where, in a high-level Imperial function that you have been asked to cater, you announce on the microphone that you have been serving the guests Human Flesh the entire time. Hopefully this will please Slaanesh so much, that your soul will become a daemon after you are summarily executed.


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

[User] When ancient language or code was deciphered, how did they know that it is correct?

[Assistant] If you are not asking how it is deciphered, but merely how one knows one has it right once it HAS BEEN deciphered, it's really just a matter of massive probability.  Let's say you have a two-paragraph sample of text.  The fact that your decipherment method gives a readable and meaningful result for both the first and the second paragraph pretty much shows you have it right.  If you had an *incorrect* system that gave good results for the first paragraph, that system would almost certainly give gibberish results for the second paragraph (and vice-versa).


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

[User]
[Marvel] If Spider-Man were to create a Patreon account, how would he collect his patrons' money without getting his true identity exposed?

Enough is enough. Peter Parker is sick of struggling financially, and he figures out that since he has already made a name for himself by serving several years as *Spider-Man*, he ought to create a Patreon account in *Spider-Man*'s name so that the people he protects can support *Spider-Man*'s efforts.

The problem is, how can start up and benefit from such an account without exposing his true identity to the prying eyes of **NYPD/FBI**, the **CIA**, and various criminal organisations? How much money can he expect to make each month from having a public Patreon account? And what are the perks or donation levels he might offer?

[Assistant] Talk to a public hero (or a hero like Matt Murdock who has an appropriate public persona) and convince them to operate the Patreon on his behalf. Peter wouldn't ask a regular person or friend to do this, but he might let Daredevil.


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

[User]
Why are acoustically guided weapons an option in the ocean but not in the air?

For example, most modern stealth warplanes take great care to minimize their infrared and radar signatures,  but are still quite loud.  Would it be possible to track these planes acoustically?

[Assistant]
Ships are extremely slow (say 15 m/s / 30 knots) compared to the speed of sound in water (1500 m/s). What that means is that acoustic detection is practically instantaneous -- when the sound waves hit you, the target hasn't moved far.

Warplanes travel a significant fraction of the speed of sound (or well above it) so acoustic tracking isn't ever going to be very good. In fact for an approaching supersonic aircraft, you literally cannot hear it at all, so it's physically impossible to track it acoustically. There's also a lot of attenuation of acoustic waves in air -- you certainly can't hear an airliner cruising overhead at 30,000 feet.

I'll add that there is significant effort put into reducing the acoustic noise generated by aircraft for stealth reasons. It's especially a big deal with helicopters which are loud as hell, typically fly very close to the ground, and are desirable for clandestine use.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do bugs even survive in nature?

I just watched a cockroach walk along a ledge for about 10 minutes, hit the end, try to walk up it, fall on it's back, do 360's for about 10 minutes, get back up, do the exact same thing, fall off the ledge this time, hasn't moved since.

How do these things not go extinct?

[Assistant] Insects don't have the "intelligence" approach to survival like us.  They have short lifespans.  A female cockroach can lay 300-400 eggs in her lifetime.  They are quite hardy but numbers is their strong suit.


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

[User]
Why Are Fed Interest Rate Increases So Seemingly Low?

Like, just now the Federal Reserve raised the rate by 0.5%. Now, I'm no economic illiterate (minored in Econ in college), but this is supposedly a lot, yet on its face doesn't seem like much.

[Assistant] Raising rates too quickly has a high chance to cause a recession. On the other hand, raising them too slowly won't have the desired effect. The fed tries to toe the line between the two, slowing down inflation without causing a recession, but that's not exactly easy.


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

[User]
ELI5: The work of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physics winners.

Thanks!

[Assistant]
There's these things called quantum particles, which are really really small and are very difficult to see.

If you try and look at these quantum particles, then you disrupt whatever they're doing. Observing them causes them to change their behavior and their state, because they act differently when they interact with the outside world (us). In other words, we thought it was impossible to observe these tiny particles without affecting them.

These researchers have come up with methods to observe and measure these particles. This was previously thought to be impossible. They figured out how to observe the particles without disrupting the state they're in and affecting their behavior.

edit - IGNORE THIS. The Nobel prize was given for work on manipulating quantum states in ion traps and with photons in cavity. This showed a lot of people that quantum computers are possible. (Thank you The_Serious_Account)


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

[User] ELI5: why is blood pressure not measured in psi?

[Assistant]
Before digital blood pressure measurement tools became widely available, the device used to measure blood pressure would literally consist of a column of mercury, and the pressure would just be the height of that column (millimeters of mercury = mm Hg).

Obviously now it can be anything but healthcare workers are very familiar with what normal values are in mm Hg so it's easier to ask the computer to do the math rather than have people doing unit conversions in their head.


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

[User]
How does electricity from a specific power provider get to me, when other power companies use the same power lines leading up to my house?

So for instance, I used to live in an apartment complex where you had to choose and separately pay for your own electricity provider.  So for my apartment, I chose electricity provider G, but other apartments around me chose a number of other energy providers, T, C, and Q.  All the electricity came to the apartment complex via the same power lines leading in, so how can anyone actually know that the electricity I paid for, going into my apartment, actually came from a power plant from provider G?  Because my understanding is that electricity in power lines is pretty much the same no matter if it's generated from a dam, a coal plant, a nuclear plant, or a wind farm, so how is it differentiated, if at all?

[Assistant]
Your power meter is installed by your company and your neighbors meter is installed by theirs. Power is all the same and those companies with the meters then pay the company that supplies the power to the lines after you pay them for your usage.

Just image your power meter is a gas station. You pay the gas station, the gas station pays their supplier and so forth back to the source.

edited for clarity.


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

[User]
[Marvel] Why doesn't Dr Doom build a stronger suit like Iron Man?

What's so important about his current suit that he won't use Iron Man's suit which can withstand nukes, fly at Mach 9-ish, lift almost 100 tonnes, etc?

[Assistant] Doom's armor IS that strong, which is why he can easily hold his own against entire teams of heroes. It's full of weapons, traps, and all sorts of other goodies to compliment his technological and magical skills.


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

[User]
The US needs to upgrade its passenger rail system. CMV.

While most Americans don't rely on passenger rail for transportation, a large sector of the population in the Northeast does. The Northeast Corridor gets as many passengers as a European line of the same size would.

Meanwhile, the US has seen a large number of entirely preventable rail disasters. For example, most first-world countries with large rail systems use an "automatic warning system", a kind of dead hand mechanism where an alert sounds and the train driver has to press a button to clear it; if the alert isn't cleared, the train is automatically stopped, thus preventing disasters induced by sleeping drivers. It appears that such systems are not used in the US. Such a system could have prevented the unfortunate incident on the Metro North line recently.

In addition, many metro systems use platform screen doors to prevent people from falling onto rail tracks. The only metro system in the US that uses them is the Las Vegas Monorail, a short 2 mile line. Platform screen doors could have prevented those all of those NYC Subway falling incidents.

The fact that the US's passenger rail system do not accommodate technologies like these is appalling.

The US rail system is simply not up to 21st century standards. This not just a safety concern, but also a matter of inefficiency. There are still major lines where engineers have to reach out of their cabs just to switch tracks. There are no true high-speed rail tracks in the US system, and Acela had to be heavily engineered to get it to reach high-speed service velocities.

I think it is high time for governments to begin upgrading our rail system. It is a matter of both public safety and general efficiency.

So, is there a justification for inaction? Is there a reason why we *should not* invest in improving our rail system beyond basic maintenance?

[Assistant]
Largely because trains are made obsolete for city to city travel by airplanes.
An airplane can put you anywhere in the country much faster than most trains (even if we had euro style 'high speed' trains).   They cost less and do not require expensive right-of-ways through developed areas.
Within a given metro area, you can make a case for rail.. but then its not really a national program.. its local... maybe regional for something like New York - Boston.

Sure there are areas where things could be improved, but if the demand isnt there, why sink the money into it?  We're 17 trillion in debt, and climbing...  to spend hundreds of billions (what it would take for real high speed rail of any decent scale) on something that offers no real advantage over hte airplane, is the highly irresponsible in general... and a nasty little fuck you to the large part of the population who doesnt live in the NE corridor.


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

[User] how do you explain what is "language theory" and automata for someone who has little knowledge about computers?

[Assistant] I've got a book "Introduction to Languages and the Theory of Computation". It mathematically defines a few models of computation without directly discussing actual computers. That seems like a reasonable way to do it.


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

[User] ELI5: Why dont we remember falling asleep?

[Assistant] Memories are similar to data stored in a computer - it either reads (looks back on a stored memory) or it writes (logs and saves data / memories). When youre about to fall asleep, your brain is going from conscious to unconscious, where it wont write new memories. Without storing information, you dont remember going to sleep because your brain simply doesnt write it to memory.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does radio reception sometimes increase when we stand next to a radio or touch the antenna?

[Assistant] Your body reacts to electromagnetic radiation (which includes radio). FM just happens to have frequencies near the resonant frequency of the human body. So your body acts like a tuned antenna for some stations.


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

[User]
[MCU] Why was W'Kabi so willing to throw in with Killmonger?

I mean, W'Kabi vocally supported Killmonger's plan to overthrow the governments of the world shortly after having watched him (seemingly) kill his best friend, and still assisted Killmonger after Black Panther revealed that he survived the attempt on his life. What I don't understand was why W'Kabi was so willing to swear allegiance to Killmonger after all of that.

[Assistant] Because Killmonger succeeded in killing Klaue (avenging W'Kabi's dad), where T'Challa had failed to apprehend Klaue in Korea after refusing to bring W'Kabi with him on the mission. So in his view, Erik is a strong leader who gets results and doesn't sideline his closest allies, unlike T'Challa.


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

[User]
[Watchmen] Why is the discovery at the pyramid building such a shock?

Like why is it surprising that Veidt International owns pyramid? They enter the building and literally say "I'll look for adriens itinerary". I just don't understand why it's played out like such a huge climax. I must be missing something.

[Assistant]
Pyramid is the element that connects the guy who tried to assassinate Veidt, the mission that The Comedian was on before he died, and several people who contracted cancer apparently because of proximity to Dr Manhattan (such as Moloch and Laurie).

The fact that it was owned by Veidt means that it is owned by Adrian, which means that he is behind all of the shit they've been looking into.


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

[User] ELI5: whats Trauma Bond?

[Assistant] It's when people come together due to a common trauma. Surviving a car accident or living through an abusive home makes people stick with fellow survivors. They understand what they went through because they also went through it.


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

[User]
[Batman] How does Bruce Wayne explain Jason Todds death to the public?

So after Jason Todd was killed by the Joker, how did Bruce cover it up? Was it even public knowledge that he adopted Jason Todd?

[Assistant] Jason Todd died while overseas trying to investigate reports that his mother was still alive. Bruce just had to omit the "was killed by the Joker because he was Robin" part of that story, and it was tragic, but "Jason Todd got caught up with terrorists who killed him" was legitimately what happened. Just, the Joker was leading those terrorists.


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

[User]
What is the specific advantage of a moon base over an orbital space station?

Now that several nations have developed plans for permanent installations on the moon, what is the specific advantage of building such an installation over having an identical facility floating in space?

[Assistant]
Mass. Every gram of everything that is needed has to be launched to an orbital space station. Structural members, radiation shielding, water, rocket fuel, ammonia, cooling system, oxygen, etc.

On a planetary body, you can get some for free (bury the station for radiation shielding), or minimal processing.  By sending up equipment to process the planetary resources, the total mass can be reduced, and you can build bigger / expandable stations.


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

[User] Pacific rim, what is the overall difference in the kaiju in the different categorys? Are they just all different sizes from one another??

[Assistant]
The Serizawa scale measures water displacement (size), toxicity of the creature itself and ambient radiation, the level of which generally indicates how much work the precursors did on the creature to create a god awful monster.

These all combine up to give you the class of the Kaiju on the scale.


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

[User] Why is cancer rare in fat cells?

[Assistant]
Short answer: fat cells don't undergo a great deal of cellular turnover and are probably relatively unlikely to acquire cancer-causing mutations compared to most other cell types. However, while malignant fatty tumors (liposarcomas) are very rare, benign fatty tumors (lipomas) are exceedingly common.

Long answer: cancer biology is a huge field that can't easily be painted in broad strokesthere are a wide variety of types of malignancies, each of which is different and has its own unique pattern of development. To oversimplify, though, the propensity for cancer to develop out of a given tissue often involves at least a few common factors:

* **How much trauma or inflammation is the tissue is exposed to, and how does the tissue respond?** The more insults that a cell type is subject to, the more DNA damage the cell accrues, and the harder that cell's DNA repair mechanisms have to work to keep up to prevent cancer-causing mutations. Over time, abnormal and autonomous/excessive cell division (dysplasia and neoplasia, respectively) may occur, laying the groundwork for cancer.
* **How much (and what kind of) hormonal stimulation does the tissue receive?** Certain tissue types, like breast, endocrine, and prostate cancers, are known to be exquisitely sensitive to hormonal feedbackparticularly stimulation from hormones that encourage cell growth and division. For example, typical prostate cancer is known to be highly responsive to androgens such as testosterone and DHT, so anti-androgenic drugs (e.g., bicalutamide) form a cornerstone of therapy for advanced prostate cancer.
* **How much cellular turnover does that tissue normally experience?** We often see cancers arising from epithelial cell layerslike those found in the GI tract, parts of the upper respiratory system, and the skinthat turn over or constantly generate new cells (also called labile cell types). These tissues may acquire mutations more easily simply because they are constantly synthesizing new DNA and dividing, which gives their enzymes more opportunities to "make mistakes" in the process. In addition, these cell types are frequently exposed to potential carcinogens in the environment (e.g., UV radiation on the skin or chemical irritation in the GI tract) and thus are subject to more cell damage as above.
* **How do the cells in that tissue interact with each other?** Certain cell types are specialized to associate easily and closely with other cells. This is mainly influenced by the connective proteins and receptors expressed on the cell's surface. Certain types of cells can more easily acquire mutations that cause abnormal surface proteins to be produced, which then facilitate malignant transformation (e.g., the cell can loosen its local attachments, invade into the bloodstream or lymphatics, and metastasize).

While fat cells (adipocytes) do experience a fair amount of stimulation from hormonesnotably insulin and other metabolic regulatorsthey are relatively sheltered from most exogenous carcinogens, don't associate very tightly with each other, and don't undergo much baseline cell division. As a result, mutations that produce true malignancy (i.e., liposarcoma) are rare. On the other hand, benign tumors of adipocytes (lipomas) are very common, so it's possible that small-scale local trauma, endocrine stimulation, and/or other mechanisms may produce neoplastic growth without the development of malignant features (esp. tissue invasion and metastasis).


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

[User]
[Spider-Man] How is Spidey treated in hospitals without his secret identity being revealed?

Say for example Spidey faints from a long battle with Green Goblin. Goblin goes to jail, Paramedics arrive on the scene and Spidey is in the hospital. X-rays show that Spidey has a skull fracture and may die if not treated, they have to remove his mask right? Doesn't just apply to extremely severe injuries. Any dishonorable nurse/doctor could get some blood samples from an injured Spidey and have his identity leaked.

[Assistant] During J. Michael Strazynski's run on Spider Man, it was established that the Hospitals of NYC have a gentleman's agreement to conceal the presence and protect the identity of any vigilante who gets brought into the ER. They move the injured hero around with decoy ambulances, involve a only a handful of trusted practitioners, and leave as much of the costume on as practicality allows when preforming triage and surgery (rolling the mask up over the nose but no further, etc.


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

[User] ELI5: How it is possible to understand a language but not be able to speak it yourself.

[Assistant]
Forming words and sentences is a different skill set to matching heard words with their translated counterpart.

You can hear cheval and connect that with a horse but being able to know you want the word for horse and that the word is cheval is harder.

Basically multiple choice being easier  versus short answer on a test.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are moths attracted to bright lights in the night, yet they never come out in the day?

Does the sun affect the moths? Do they get harmed by UV from the sun? Are there predators during the daytime that harm moths who sleep at night? I want to know the answer.

[Assistant]
Most moths are nocturnal, so they don't come out during the day.

They aren't attracted to bright lights. They use the moon for navigation. By keeping the moon in the same place in their view, they can fly in a straight line. They mistake artificial lights for the moon, and in trying to keep the light in the same place, they end up going round it in circles.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] If Anakin, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, and several clones were willfully carbon frozen for a mission, why did Vader need to test the process on Han Solo?

Anakin and his allies deliberately undergo carbon freezing so that they may hide from life form scanners and rescue Even Piell from the Citadel. Since they all survive the process with negligible discomfort upon thawing, what made Darth Vader decide that the freezing needed to be tested on Han Solo to make sure a living subject could survive?

[Assistant] Remember in ESB, Vader says "These facilities are crude, but they should suffice". The facilities he was talking about were not designed for doing live specimens. That part was being cobbled together as they spoke.


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

[User] Is 0 halfway between positive infinity and negative infinity?

[Assistant]
There is lots of argument here about the "right" answer, and this is because there is no one "right" answer because the question is too ambiguous and relies on faulty assumptions. The answer might be "yes", or "no", or "so is every other number" or "that does not compute", depending on *how you specifically ask the question*.

* If you are asking whether `[the size of the set of positive numbers] = [the size of the set of negative numbers]`, the answer is "Yes".

* If you are asking whether `[the size of the set of all numbers] - ([the size of the set of positive numbers] + [the size of the set of negative numbers])` = 0, the answer is "No".

* If you are asking: `find X, where [the size of the set of numbers > X] = [the size of the set of numbers < X]`, the answer is "*Every number* has that property".

* If you are asking whether `(+(-))/2 = 0`, the answer is probably "That does not compute".

The above also depend on assumptions like what you mean by *number*. The above are valid for integers, rational numbers, and real numbers; but they are not valid for natural numbers or complex numbers. It also depends on what you mean by *infinity*, and what you mean by *the size of the set*.


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

[User]
[Thor] Can Thor pick up the Excalibur?

As in the sword in the stone.

[Assistant]
No, he likely could not.

Though we do need to have a point of order - *Excalibur is NOT the Sword in the Stone*.

The Sword in the Stone is called *Caliburn* and was enchanted so that only the true King of the Britons could draw it from the stone.  Thor is not a Briton, and certainly not of the royal bloodline.

Excalibur is the sword from the Lady in the Lake, and was returned to the Lady at Arthur's death.  Excalibur (and its sheath Avalon) were extremely powerful weapons.  Excalibur was an awesome weapon of kicking ass... and Avalon made the holder effectively immune to damage (specifically, they would not bleed).

Edit: Just to add - yes, this entirely depends on which source material you want to go with.  A lot of more modern sources call Excalibur the "Sword in the Stone"... but that still leaves the question of what the Lady in the Lake was doing.  Older sources say Arthur had 2 swords.


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

[User]
Do animals (and plants) that are accustomed to seasonal weather changes e.g bears, deer, wolves etc. lose this trait over the generations when they are transplanted to climates that do not have winters or have very mild winters?

If the whole world were to experience some drastic increase in temperature that eliminated winter and lasted a thousand years, would seasonal plants and animals, if the world set itself right again, be able to survive a winter? And also, how did plants and animals react with the end of interglacial periods?

[Assistant]
Most internal systems of a plant connected to seasonal changes are actually light regulated, not temperature.

Plants have an internal clock mechanism that follows a circadian rhythm, meaning that it takes approximately 24 hours for one clock cycle to run from start to end. This mechanism is mostly light independent, as it only uses light to make sure that the internal clock is synchronised with the actual day/night cycle. This clock works by a certain cycle of transcriptional factors (using the genes TOC1, CCA1 and LHY iirc).

A plant can use this internal clock and compare it to the actual day/night cycle and use this to measure how long the days are. Or more importantly, how long the nights are. If a plant realises that the period of darkness lasts a specific amount of time (differs per plant) then this could entise it to flower and create new offspring.

Unfortunately, this entire mechanism is still somewhat temperature related, and a significant change in outside temperature could affect flowering time.

Besides all of this, most plants rely on certain insects to pollinate their flowers. To achieve this, a certain plant must be flowering at the exact same time of the year that their assosiated insects are present, otherwise it would be impossible for the plants to be pollinated if they do not have other pollinators beside that certain insect.

The problem here is that most insects tend to progress through their stages of life faster at slightly higher temperatures (a catterpillar cocoon at 20 degrees Celcius would turn faster than a cocoon at 15 degrees). If a plant relies solely on a single type of insect, and this insect is not present at the time of pollination for several years, then it could be possible that the plant will go extinct if no other animals pollinate them in time if there is a large enough rise in temperature.


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

[User]
[Futurama] How did no one know Leela was a mutant?

With their advanced technology they couldn't they have figured out she was a human with a minor (by Futurama standards) mutation at any hospital visit or routine check up?

[Assistant] The orphanarium thought she was an alien so they always sent her to alien specialists. Like Zoidberg, most alien specialists can't actually keep track of the countless species in the galaxy or how their biology differs and end up faking it for most of their careers.


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

[User]
[MCU] does it hurt Thor to use lightning? Was Thor lying when he said you lack the strength to wield it about Stormbreaker?

He almost always yells when he uses lightning

For Stormbreaker, he says that to the Guardians, yet Captain America easily holds Stormbreaker, but Gamora and Drax are around or even stronger than base Captain America.

[Assistant]
He yells because its an impressive show of strength and powerlike yelling HI-YAAH! in karate.

Keep in mind that Cap was already worthy of Mjolnir, so its not a stretch to assume the enhanced durability hadnt worn off yet.


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

[User]
CMV: Tipping culture promotes the wrong mindset: that every good action must be rewarded in some way

Tipping culture is bad because it creates a mindset that you should always be rewarded if you're being nice.

For Restaurants. They should just pay fairly and let their staff also have a bad day. Normally businesses assume risk and employees don't, why is it different for service staff which tends to already be financially disadvantaged.

For everyone else. Do something nice and feel good about yourself, you don't need someone else to make you feel good about yourself.

Willing to change opinion if someone can show me that the motivation of external rewards like tips creates more benefit to society rather than being nice from the get go, and sometimes simply accepting that some people aren't.

[Assistant]
>Willing to change opinion if someone can show me that the motivation of external rewards like tips creates more benefit to society rather than being nice from the get go, and sometimes simply accepting that some people aren't.

Tipping culture promotes excelling at your job, and receiving monetary rewards for it.

For some reason people automatically assume 'Tipping Culture = Always tipping". They seem to forget that the tip is a reflection of the service given.

It has an added benefit where if you are not good at your job, your pay reflects that.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does boats measure speed in knots and not mph/kmh?

[Assistant]
Earth is measured that way (nautical miles). Each degree of latitude is 60 nautical miles. Each second is 1 nautical mile. So the earth is 360 x 60 degrees (or nautical miles).

Therefore speed matches that unit for navigation purposes.  Also, it becomes an important factor when choosing map projection styles (converting a globe to a 2D map)...but that is a tangent.


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

[User] [Passengers]Would most humans make the choice Jim did? Would most humans be that desperate for companionship after a year alone?

[Assistant]
Yes, they would be desperate for companionship.

However, if you are a mechanical engineer like the main character is supposed to be...you would hopefully act more like an engineer.

Try to figure out *why* you woke up. There is obviously something wrong with the ship if your pod malfunctioned. Take some time to use whatever level of access you have to figure out whatever issues you can.  Try to figure out *who* in the **crew** you can wake up who would have the expertise needed to solve issues, and could potentially get you all back to hibernation mode.

Him waking up the beautiful but situationally useless woman was the unethical thing he did, not waking up *anyone*.


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

[User] ELI5: If cells in your body do not live forever and tattoo ink is applied to skin cells, how are tattoos permanent?

[Assistant]
Tattoo ink is embedded in the deeper layers of skin, called the dermis. During this process the dermis is damaged, and as it heals, it forms fibrous tissue - the equivalent of scar tissue. The ink gets locked into it, and stays there.

Scars do break down slowly over time, but the rate of cell replacement is hugely reduced. Regardless, tattoos will fade over time as the ink partially disperses, and the tattoo starts to get blurry. Sun damage also plays a part, but that's not related to this discussion.


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

[User]
[MCU] Why isn't regular society much more advanced?

The technology of SHIELD and other superheroes is obviously much more advanced than what we have irl, and yet civilian life is more or less the same. This was true even as far back as Captain America 1's 1940's era, with things such as gravitic reversion technology revealed to the populace at the stark expo, the super soldier transformation machine, and even Red Skulls synthetic human mask. Obviously a very small amount of this tech would ever be allowed for use by citizens, but things like the arc reactor and Stark's holographic tech could revolutionize citizen life. I understand this would be hard for Marvel to represent, but it's still a question I'm wondering about.

[Assistant]
There's a pretty big difference between technology that has been proven at the prototype phase and proven ready for consumer use.  Fusion technology has "worked" for decades, but has never and may never actually become practical.

Howard Stark's flying car never caught on because, while he could get the damn thing to fly, he couldn't actually make it driveable.  It wasn't safe, it wasn't easy to handle, it needed constant maintenance, and its range sucked.  He never really found a way to solve the issues of the 1944 demo model.

The Stark Industries arc reactor similarly worked but was ridiculously complicated and expensive.  Their plant used it as a publicity stunt but could never find a way to sell new reactors.  It works but it was never cost effective.  No city wanted to invest the money in building an arc reactor, not while their old plants worked and provided cheaper power.

SHIELD and the SSR spend decades trying to fully understand the super-soldier treatment before trying to implement it, and never succeeded.  In 1944 the fact that it even kinda worked at all was enough, any edge against the Axis was an edge they couldn't pass up.  After the war, though?  SHIELD didn't want a project that would inevitably be leaked to another power when they had no idea what the next step would be.  Simple truth is that it worked, but nobody could figure out how and until they did they didn't want to use it.

Tony's home is full of prototypes that either aren't practical for widespread use or are still under development or are just impractically expensive.  JARVIS requires massive computational power to run, as does Tony's prototyping software and his hologram system.  Tony's house and Stark Tower both have that available, most people don't.  Even companies that have the resources have no reason to buy the all shit they would need when their current CAE systems work just fine.  Until Stark can get the investment down there's just nobody to sell it to.  Just because Tony can use something doesn't mean he can sell it.


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

[User] ELI5: How do computer screens detect light and adjust the brightness accordingly?

[Assistant] They use an ambient light sensor.  It isn't the screen itself that detects the external brightness, instead it can be a component of the camera or a separate sensor entirely.  On the iPhone, there is an ambient light sensor next to the camera.


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

[User]
[James Bond 007] What happens to the Bond girls?

After the completion of a successful mission, what happens to the Bond girls? I figure that Tatiana Romanova (*From Russia, With Love*), Col. Wai Lin (*Tomorrow Never Dies*), Dr. Holly Goodhead (*Moonraker*) and Maj. Anya Amasova (*The Spy Who Loved Me*) were debriefed by their respective Governments.

But, what happens with Pussy Galore (*Goldfinger*) or  Natalya Simonova (*GoldenEye*) or Tiffany Case (*Diamonds are Forever*)? Are they whisked away to an "undisclosed location"? Do they get some sort of compensation package? A medal? A commendation?

**BONUS QUESTION**: What happens to the villain's assets? CMGN, Drax Industries, Zorin Industries, Stromberg Shipping, Auric Industries, Greene Planet, etc.

[Assistant]
The books do a better job of transitioning Bond from bombshell to bombshell. For instance, in *Diamonds Are Forever* Bond successfully pulls Tiffany Case away from the American smugglers and lets her live with him back in London.

When we catch up with Bond in *From Russia With Love,* Tiffany has ditched Bond for an American who is about to move back to the States. This isn't treated as "welp, better find another woman" by Bond, and he spends many months depressed and reclusive.

Granted, not *every* woman is afforded this depth, but Fleming brings it up if it's relevant to Bond's present circumstance or mission.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does athlete's foot only happen to your feet?

If it's a fungus, why couldn't it grow in, say, the webbing between your fingers, or behind your ears?

[Assistant]
> If it's a fungus, why couldn't it grow in, say, the webbing between your fingers, or behind your ears?

It could if those areas were damp and warm enough. Athlete's foot only happens to the feet because if for example it is around the genitals it is "Jock itch". Conceptually you could have it in other areas of the body but they would lack a similar name and just be "a fungal infection behind the ears" or something similar.


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

[User] [Stargate] Are the Tok'ra going to extinct in the near future ?

[Assistant]
The symbiotes are long-lived and the human hosts are a bigger part of Tok'ra culture than typical for Goulds, so the civilization will continue to survive for quite some time.

The absence of a Queen will prevent the symbiotes from reproducing though, so that part of their society is going to go extinct in the future.  "Near" is subjective, but they certainly think of it as near in the last episode we see them in.


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

[User]
How do we know that the neutrinos have spin?

Neutrinos are neutrally charged particles that do not interact neither by strong force or electromagnetism. How do we know that neutrinos are spin 1/2 fermions? Could neutrinos have higher spin numbers?

[Assistant]
Neutrinos were originally proposed as a way to explain the observed electron spectrum in beta decay:

n -> p + e + (anti)nu_e

Conservation of angular momentum for this reaction requires that the neutrino must be a fermion. The proton, neutron and electron are all spin-1/2. So the left-hand side of the reaction is spin 1/2, and the proton and electron together have a total spin of 1, only capable of generating states of integer spin in any given direction. It is therefore impossible for the neutrino to also have integer spin, since you would never be able to get a spin-1/2 state of the system on the right-hand side if that was the case. So the neutrino must have half-integer spin, i.e. it must be a fermion.

As to why it's specifically spin-1/2 and not some higher half-integer spin, this is more complicated. Fundamental particles in particular have more stringent limitations imposed on their possible spin from things like the Coleman-Mandula theorem, and in general a particle with spin higher than 1 will have unphysical scattering dynamics at high energies unless something very convoluted is done to fix things, that you wouldn't have to do if the neutrino was spin-1/2. The spin-1/2 model is sufficient to explain the data we have, so there's really no reason to have all of that extra complexity.


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

[User]
Why does aluminum foil have one shiny side and one dull side?

May sound like a stupid question, I've always wondered. Does it serve a purpose? Is it part of the manufacturing process? Does either side have any unique or useful properties the other does not?

[Assistant]
From Wiki:

"For thicknesses below 0.025 mm (1.0 mil), two layers are usually put together for the final pass and afterwards separated which produces foil with one bright side and one matte side.[8] The two sides in contact with each other are matte and the exterior sides become bright, this is done to reduce tearing, increase production rates, control thickness, and get around the need for a smaller diameter roller."


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

[User]
CMV: Loyalty does not exist in professional sports and people are dumb to feel betrayed when athletes move around or demand trades

Pro sports are an entertain business.  People like winning teams because watching your team win is entertaining.  It's the primary job of the front office to constantly value players in comparison to the open market so that they can 1) improve their prospects of winning a championship and 2) get the best value for their money.

It's fine as a fan to play GM because you want your team to win and you can argue personnel decisions all day long but in the end, an athlete is just an employee and it's only natural that they should put their own interest above their team's or their fans' interest.

[Assistant] Regardless of whether loyalty really exists in sports, the appearance of loyalty sells tickets and merchandise and gets people to engage with the sport. If your business model relies on the illusion of a personal relationship with the fans, it's only natural that breaking the illusion results in backlash.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do superchargers make cars go faster? Or why?

Wondering how and why they work. Mostly why.

[Assistant] Put simplistically, the power from an engine is made from the combustion of fuel and air. A supercharger compresses the incoming air, allowing more to enter the engine. More fuel is added to the engine via the fuel injectors, and the two combined combust to create more power than would have otherwise been made.


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

[User]
eli5 - Why does renewable-generated electricity go up with the cost of non-renewable?

My UK energy provider says my electricity is produced with 100% renewables,  so I presume water, wind, solar. So why am I affected by such big  increases in electricity charges (price per kWh)?

[Assistant]
Simple.

Your energy provider isnt an energy producer. They just BUY the energy from producers and sell it to customers like you.

The total supply of energy is under pressure from obvious sources, so those prices rise.

The renewable energy sources thus become more interesting for all potential buyers.

The supply is limited, but demand rises, so the price goes up.

The owners of these green energy producers wind/solar/water/nuclear, power plants are making more money because their costs didnt rise, but their sales prices did.


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

[User] How did the physiology of the horse change once we started riding them?

[Assistant]
It is likely that horses/ponys were domesticated multiple times throughout human history. So the biological variances between the species started out as regional differences.

One interesting historical example of this was seen with the Mongol conquest of Asia. Mongols are known as the greatest horsemen in history. However, it is interesting to see in the secret histories that they were extremely impressed by the quality of Middle-Eastern and Eastern Europen horses. They historically rode small ponies into battle. But as they conquered, the quality of their mounts increased dramatically as they gained access to new gene pools and better horses.

But otherwise, the phenotypic equestrian traits are manipulated like any other domestic animal. In the same way that selective breeding has produced the hundreds of varieties of dogs we see today. Horses are bred for a purpose. Quarter horses and draft horses are the same species. But years of selective breeding has molded horses into the most useful forms. It's all about purposeful breeding for selection of desired characteristics.

However, as with dogs, genetically they are still the same species. And the very obvious phenotypic differences between breeds are not really as obvious at the genetic level. That is to say a German Shepherd and a Chihuahua are 99.9% the same genetically. They can still interbreed, but you would never guess that just by looking at them.


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

[User]
ELI5: What exactly happens when something explodes?

Like when someone blows up C4. I get that there's a charging blast that sets it off, but why does that cause an explosion?

[Assistant] There is a ton of stored up chemical energy in the C4; when it is detonated, nearly all of it is instantly converted into another form of energy: heat. When something heats up, it expands, and when you have enough thermal energy to vaporize a solid block of substance, the expansion will be massive; this causes the explosion.


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

[User]
ELI5 Why are prison sentences stacked upon each other?

For example you're reading about someone convicted of a crime and they get...2 consecutive life sentences.

Or where one guy gets 300 years and another gets 500 years?

I'm not sure of the additional years are meant as a punctuation to a sentence that reflects the crime, or isbthe judge/system trying to cover their bases in case of life extension becoming a thing? (And even if life extension is discovered, that person would be serving a sentence, and probably not eligible or rather able to get/receive whatever the extension would involve)

So, anyone wanna break this down for me?

*Not sure if my flair on this relates to economics, so putting it on other for now*

[Assistant]
You can serve time concurrently or consecutively for multiple convictions. Someone serving concurrent 2-year sentences for burglary and weapons possession should in theory be out of jail in two years.  Someone serving a consecutive sentence for the same thing would in theory be out in four years.

Now what people dont know is that in some areas you get credit for every hour you dont cause trouble in jail. So if you dont cause trouble for an hour, you get credit for an additional hour of jail time.  So in the previous concurrent example the convict would be out in just one year and in the consecutive example he would be out in two years.

How the sentences are handed down is often dictated by state sentencing guidelines. The judge has a series of checks that determine the length of sentence and how it is to be served. If there is a prior criminal past that pushes the sentencing one way and if there is no history then it pushes it the other way. Things like employment, family in the community, job, home ownership, etc. can also play a role in sentencing.

For most serious crimes parole or early release is also possible if a percentage of the sentence has been served (I believe like 75-85%).   So after 8.5 years of a 10-year sentence someone could be eligible for early release.  In particularly heinous crimes, or frequent convictions, the sentences are designed to prevent early release by assigning more years to a sentence and making it a consecutive sentence rather than concurrent.

So a child rapist who accidentally kills their victim might only have gotten convicted for second degree murder, or maybe even just manslaughter.  Those would have significantly fewer years of potential punishment than first degree murder.  So for the rape the guy might only get 5-years and for manslaughter hed get maybe 10-years. All total he could serve as little as just 5-years (remember he gets an hour of credit for every hour he serves with no trouble) and if the 5 and 10 year sentences are served concurrently then he would be out in no time.

By making the sentences consecutive he would serve as little as 7.5 years and as many as 15.

But a lot of it has to do with prior criminal history.


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

[User] [Man of Steel] How come fists moving slower than sound can hurt Kryptonians, but not supersonic bullets?

[Assistant] There's more mass behind punches. Think of  it this way: You yourself can be shot with a BB gun and shrug it off. A BB can travel 400-600 feet per second. At the low end, 400 fps translates to a around 270 mph, and it'll probably only leave a welt. However, getting hit by a car "only" traveling 75 mph will reduce you to a gooey paste.


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

[User]
Possibly a dumb question: who or what decides initial exchange rates for new currencies?

The example I am thinking of specifically is India, but the question stands for any country, especially those that create their own new currency upon independence. What determines that currency's value in relation to other world currencies, like the USD? Is it substantially different from a situation like India that had at least a nominal (in my understanding) continuation of the previous currency?

Again, my apologies if this is a silly question.

[Assistant] Usually a new currency is convertible to the old currency when it's introduced. And because people can trade in their old currency to the new one, the market exchange rates will reflect the value of the old currency as long as they're convertible or else the opportunity for arbitrage will exist (people taking advantage of the convertibility and the inconsistent exchange rates to make money).


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

[User] [DC] Does Batman have any prep against Magic Users? What's stopping someone like Klarion from going to Gotham and turning him into a toad?

[Assistant] most protections are done by other heroes around his normal bases of operation, mostly IIRC done by Dr. fate and Giovanni Zatana. though mostly he relies on his web of informants to let him know when one is planning something. that's the big downside of magical villians. they tend to have a time limit or a specific place they have to do their schemes in.


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

[User] ELI5: why do student loans have higher interest than car/house loans?

[Assistant] Because the risk to the lender is higher. With a car or house loan, the lender can repossess the physical property in question, then sell it to recoup losses. Education can't be repossessed, and students are mostly young and poor, so the rate has to be higher overall to allow banks to invest in them.


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

[User] ELI5: What exactly does "Airplane mode" do and how does it keep my phone from disrupting airplane functions?

[Assistant] It disables the cellular transceiver in your phone. It just turns off the part of your phone that sends and receives data from cell towers. The idea is that you will not be creating electromagnetic interference that could potentially interact with the aircraft's instrumentation. The reality is that everything is so well shielded now, it probably wouldn't matter.


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

[User]
How can a random number generator really be random?

There has to be a circuit behind it, and an algorithm, but then is it random then?

[Assistant] A lot of responses in this thread have talked about PRNGs, which are, generally speaking, the best you can do with a deterministic machine like an electronic computer. However, it should be noted that, for many applications in cryptography, PRNGs may not be good enough. To get around this, some computers have hardware random number generators, which use something like thermal noise or various quantum phenomena to produce streams of *truly random numbers*.


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

[User] [Futurama] What exactly is wrong with Bender? The robot is a glutton and a wanton narcissist bent on the genocide of all. But, why?

[Assistant] Watch the first episode again. He may not have been all of those things before he met Fry. When they're in the museum, he gets a fairly big electrical shock (big enough to make him do a 180). Maybe he was just a regularly moral-less robot before.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do so many pieces of classical music have only a technical name (Sonata #5, Concerto 2 in A minor, symphony #4, etc.) instead of a "name" like Fuhr Elise or Eine Kline Nachtmusik?

I can only speak for myself, but this makes it really hard to keep track of the songs I like. I love listening to classical music but if you asked me my favorite artists I would have difficulty telling you specifics.

[Assistant] Earlier, this was just a tradition, but around 1800 or so an idea was growing that music should speak for itself without the need for words or descriptions. This term was "absolute music" and it was thought that using words  even in a title  was a crutch that would hamper music's power to speak to ideas and emotions that we cannot express with words. So a lot of music, self-consciously, was just referred to by its genre.


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

[User]
ELI5 why a picture that I take with my smart phone or even a decent point-and-shoot camera looks NOTHING like what I see with my naked eye.

Generally, I don't get nearly as much content in the photo as I'm trying to capture, which I understand is a limitation of the lenses. But why do the pictures always seem to come out so much darker than it actually is? I can see just fine, why can't the camera? And why is it so hard to capture accurate colors? I've tried to take pictures of various colors in clouds and other sources to use as a reference for other projects later, but the colors seem to come out extremely muted and much less subtle and varied than what I can see with my eye. What's going on?

[Assistant]
Regarding the light issues:
Your eye has a much larger dynamic range than a camera sensor, meaning it can differentiate a much larger range of brightness.  Think of it when you walk into a dark room, you can't see anything, the eyes' dynamic range cannot differentiate objects with so little light. Same goes for when you walk out to sunny outdoors.  The difference is that our eyes can adapt, shifting to the range of what we see. Cameras do that too, but to a more limited extent, with a smaller range, so when something bright and dark is in the same scene, it makes a decision on what it wants to differentiate. 'Better' cameras have a wider range.

If you were 10:
We actually use similar mechanisms to do so- the iris of the human eye functions as an aperture, opening wider under dark conditions, and smaller when there is a lot of light. This relates to the 'f-stop' on a camera.


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

[User]
cmv: The US government can not just "drone strike" the populace in the case of a revolution

I see way to many to many anti gun people on reddit saying guns are not protecting our freedom because the government could just drone strike us or use tanks if their was a insurrection and it would be put down immediately. This is so untrue and here's why. Just take a look at what happened when a police officer unjustly killed one black man in 2020, Massive protest and lawlessness ensued for weeks in many cities across the nation and the entire fucking police precinct in Minneapolis was burnt down. Or look at when their was a small chance that trump should have one the election, The fucking capitol building was invaded and not a single person invading had a gun with them. Now just imagine for a second that some video spreads like wild fire over the internet of the US govt firing on civilians with a drone killing dozens in say a protest protesting some horrible new law our (now tyrannical for the sake of this scenario) government implemented. Washington DC would be RAZED TO GROUND within hours and people across the nation would be blowing up local pd's and shooting at cops at will. the 600 thousand police officers 1 million active duty soldiers (that's assuming they stay loyal) would be beyond stretched thin over the 3rd biggest country in the world trying to keep down a populace of 330 million with enough guns between them to arm every man woman and child. And if they were to go further and issue more drone strikes and bombings that wouldn't just add any fuel to the fire that would add fucking nitro methane to it And that's not counting the possibility of insurrection from within the government itself. A drone strike would be a FEILD DAY for the political opposition to tear into the current government i imagine a trump like figure rallying their supporters to take up arms and opposing generals and higher ups in the army would probably also put in their 2 cents on the matter. Texas would not be slow to succeed from the union followed by other states and Russia and china would be having a field day selling millions of guns to eager revolutionaries It is extremely nave to assume that the us govt who couldn't keep down Vietnam's communists or the Taliban in a far smaller area could even think to keep down the populace in the case of a popular revolution.

[Assistant]
We had the ability to kill ever single one of the people who breached the capitol.

We chose not to use it.

You assume that any incident would be supported by all the people. It wouldn't. If you had another attempted coup there would be citizens on both sides. Even if things got armed.


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

[User]
Recommended Reading on Consciousness, Self Awareness, and Intelligence

I hope this is an OK question.

I am helping to teach (TA) a course on machine learning and artificial intelligence where we go over some compare and contrast with nature on a more "hard science" level (natural neural networks vs. artificial neural networks / AI's performance on simple cognitive tasks vs. animals  or humans ).

There seems to be considerable interest by a minority of students to explore some of the more philosophical aspects of consciousness, self awareness, and general intelligence. Although that is somewhat outside the scope of the course, we provide further reading material (select readings re: Aristotle, Decartes, Locke, Leibniz, and several others all the way to Freud) ; however, because many have little or no formal exposure to philosophy, they are finding some of the readings difficult or dense. For background, it is a survey course in computer science, not philosophy, but we cover some ethical concerns with data science, machine learning, and AI. That and people are concerned that AI will become conscious and do strange things (no comment from me on this one).

**Questions:**

(1) What would you recommend as readings for the subjects of consciousness, awareness, and/or intelligence which are either good overviews or introductions?

(2) What are good reads in philosophy which specifically address "artificial" consciousness, awareness, intelligence?

Thank you!

[Assistant]
(1) David Chalmers - *The Puzzle of Conscious Experience,* David Chalmers *- Facing Up to The Problem of Consciousness,* Thomas Nagel - *What Is It Like To Be A Bat?,* David M. Rosenthal *- Two Concepts of Consciousness,* Dennett - *Consciousness: How much is that in real money?*, Putnam - *The Nature of Mental States,* Dennett *- Explaining The "Magic" of Consciousness,* William Seager *- Could Consciousness Be an Illusion?*

Any reading that distinguishes between access and phenomenal consciousness, self-aware and high-order theories of consciousness, representational theories, and more simple theories, such as those which grant any organism that is perceptually aware to be conscious.

(2) John Searle - *Minds, Brains, and Programs*, Andy Clark and Josefa Toribio - *Doing without Representing*?, Michael Pauen - *Reality and Representation: Qualia, Computers, and the "Explanatory Gap"*, Rajakishore Nath - *Machine Consciousness, Mind & Consciousness*


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

[User] ELI5: What does rubbing alcohol do that once splashed on a scratch it burns, but then stops hurting?

[Assistant] As for why it burns, alcohol affects our cell's temperature sensing proteins or, more simply, the mechanisms that allows our cells the detect extreme temperatures. Normally when the protein detects extreme heat or cold it will allow the cell to send signals to our brain that the cell is in danger of being burnt or frozen. Alcohol changes the proteins temporary so that they will allow that "danger" signal to be sent to the brain at very low temperature (lower than the heat generated by your body). The result is the burning sensation of alcohol on an open cut. Alcohol makes our cells think they are experience extreme heat. However, alcohol will evaporate quickly and once alcohol free, the proteins and the cell will go back to normal.


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

[User] [PORTAL] What ever became of Chell and the Cube?

[Assistant]
Bit of a tricky question because we don't know how long Chell had been in suspended animation.

I've tried looking it up and the general consensus is that she's been asleep anywhere between 25 years and... 60,000 years.

Judging by what little we know, Chell appears to have awoken in a normal-sh world. This could mean either two things: Either the Combine was defeated or she wakes up during the events of Half Life 2 before The Combine attempt to strip the planet bare.

If it's the latter, she's probably going to be dead in short order. Most of the planet is now host to a variety of hostile flora and fauna and she'd probably run into one of those before she finds safety.

If it's the former... we have no idea. We can assume she went searching for people and eventually found them or just died in the process.


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

[User] ELI5: My kid wants to know: if a ladybug fell all the way down from the top of the Empire State Building, would it die upon impact? (Assume the insect did not attempt to fly.)

[Assistant]
Doubtful.

A ladybug's terminal velocity (the maximum speed it can fall at) is probably pretty darn slow (less than 30 mph) because it is very light and has a decent surface area.  (Ratio of surface area/weight is important in determining terminal velocity.)

Imagine if you threw a ladybug right at the ground.  It probably wouldn't die.  And you'd be throwing it at or near its terminal velocity.  So, the greater height (Empire State Building) would not increase this speed.  Thus, it could survive the fall.


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

[User]
[Marvel] If the 616 Marvel Earth actually got its shit together and started focusing on strengthening humanity, how strong would they be compared to the other worlds such as the Kree and the Skrulls?

Theres a lot of broken abilities on earth that could be combined with others to form even more broken powers if all these various storylines didnt focus on conflict so much.

[Assistant]
So you mean what if everyone living on Earth decided to become like Krakoa and set aside their differences to become one unified group?

Most likely they'd quickly bump up to a Type 1 Civilization within the decade. There's so many powerhouses, supergeniueses, gods, and just the sheer power in numbers and having people work towards a common goal that would drastically change Earth and put it on a level that rivals if not higher than the Kree and Skrulls.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does all Soap and Shampoo turn into a white foam regardless of color?

[Assistant]
Top answer from a google.

Answer: Foam is made out of millions of very small bubbles. The light on the inside of them is much darker than the outside, so they all act like miniature mirrors. Because the light you usually look at foam in is white, you get a white reflection.


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

[User]
[Warhammer 40k] Do Space Marines need to shave?

Whenever we see a depiction of an Astartes with his helmet off, they always seem to have a smooth, hairless, and chiselled jawline. Except for Space Wolves, of course, who rock the manly, luxuriant, beards demanded of a pack of drunken space vikings.

But that raises the question: Why? Are the Space Wolves the only chapter capable of growing facial hair (thanks, presumably, to yet another aberration in their gene-seed), or does every other chapter make a point of shaving daily, even during prolonged engagements when taking off your helmet might not be a good idea?

Or are the Vlka Fenryka all wearing false beards, hooked over their ears with wire?

[Assistant] Beards tend to get in the way when you're trying to seal full facial helmets, so yes they probably regularly shave (or do some 40K tech equivalent). Space Wolves just go around without the helmet in order to remain at the proper level of shaggy for their chapter.


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

[User]
ELI5: What is happening when time appears to be passing slowly, or faster than usual?

Why do we sometimes sit in class waiting ages for 5 minutes to pass, but when I sit down to study for a test and its already 2am?

[Assistant]
How you perceive time deals with how much information you are taking in or how involved you are in a situation. Time flies when your having fun, or in your case, studying. Your brain is busy with things that don't involve keeping track of time, so it doesn't.

There is prospective time and retrospective time. Prospective time is how you perceive time when you are studying or looking at the clock waiting for time to pass. Retrospective time is looking back at how long it actually felt. While doing something interesting or involving, your brain is taking in heaps of information and not keeping track of time. But when you remember events or occurrences, the more information you have, the longer it seems. For example, prospectively, while going on an exciting trip, time seems to fly. Retrospectively, an exciting trip of two days can feel like a week.