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

[User]
[Star Wars EU/Legends] What if they just skipped the Death Star?

I just started reading Zahn's *Heir to the Empire*. I got the impression that Grand Admiral Thrawn wasn't too happy with the Death Star(s). As if it was more a matter of vanity than of strategy, like a pyramid of the Imperials, and that the waste of resources that crippled the Imperials into defeat. Thrawn also talks about it having serious flaws in architecture, another argument that it was "bad value".

So, how would the period of episode 4-6 pan out if the Imperials went with a smaller scale of fuck-all than the Death Star?

[Assistant]
For the Rebels? Horribly.

Rogue One demonstrates that just the regular machinery of the Imperial military and intelligence services had ground down the Rebellion to the edge of fracturing. The Rebels were literally dying for a big move, in order to give themselves something to rally around and to demonstrate to the galaxy that they had a real shot at changing something. Even if they got their ass kicked, it could still be their "Remember the Alamo" moment, something to rally around.

DS1 was this on a gold platter. The termination of Alderaan was an undeniable message to the entire galaxy to pick a side or the Empire would kill you anyway. Every planet in the Empire now knew that there was no difference between having a few Rebel-affiliated senators and going full-ham armed uprising, so there really wasn't a point in even trying to play along anymore. And the termination of the Death Star was a PR win beyond measure; it told everyone that the Rebels *can* fight and *can* win, even against something they really, really shouldn't be able to prevail against. The Rebellion was no longer a rabble of old Senators and Generals who couldn't let go of the past leading a bunch of young punks who didn't grasp what they were signing on for, they were a legitimate alternative to the Empire, a true successor state to the Old Republic.

Take away the Death Star, and all that goes away. The Rebellion never gets their slam-dunk victory over a weapon system so cruel that the entire galaxy has to stand up and take notice. They never get their Alamo at Scariff. Unless *something* happens to replicate those events, the Rebellion is dying slowly, breaking up into smaller and smaller factions as an "every man for themselves" attitude starts to emerge, with people more concerned about protecting their own ship, their own unit, or their own homeworld over committing to the overall Rebellion. Instead of hanging together, the leading lights of the Rebels run off alone and get hanged separately.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do chickens fall under hypnosis by simply drawing a line in front of them?

I have seen a chicken become apparently hypnotised by drawing a straight line in front of their eyes at close proximity. Always wondered why.

[Assistant]
Snakes eat chickens. Snakes look like lines. Snakes don't like dead things.

If you had a hundred chickens play dead in front of a snake, and a hundred chickens try to run or fight a snake, there would be more play dead chickens alive than the others.


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

[User]
ELI5 why drinking water is bad after you eat very spicy foods.

I have never understood why it makes the spiciness way worse.  Please help!

[Assistant]
The thing that makes the heat and spice is Capsaicin. It does not dissolve in water. Drinking water just spreads it around in your mouth.

ELI5.
The hot stuff does not like water. So when you drink water the hot stuff covers more of your tongue. If you want to get rid of the hot stuff, drink milk. The hot stuff likes milk and you can get it away from your tongue.


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

[User] [Infinity War] If Thanos was against killing people he didn't need to (Captain America) on principle, why did he kill all the other dwarves after Eitri made the gauntlet?

[Assistant]
Because they may actually be able to stop his plans, properly.

Captain America? An oddly capable human, but still puny to Thanos. He can't even slow (stoned up) Thanos down unless Thanos allows it, he just gets thrown to the side.

Stark? Well, still limited by the tech of his world, in spite of his intellect and excellence - his best creation still amounts to a single drop of blood against Thanos, as he says. He respects him, but he's still not a *threat*.

The dwarves, though? Allies of Odin, with centuries of enigmatic knowledge regarding all sorts of unknown magical techniques and legendary weaponry, all now *entirely pissed* at him for invading and killing half of them? The remainder would start mass producing incredibly powerful weapons to use against Thanos' army and handing them out to anyone who agrees Thanos sucks.

That's why he also fused Eitri's hands, so he couldn't make another weapon to stop Thanos... like Stormbreaker. He left *one* alive, maimed, and it still almost ended him. He probably only left Eitri in case the gauntlet needed repair, otherwise he'd have dealt with him too.


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

[User] [MCU] Did Thanos truly require all the Infinity Stones in order to achieve his ultimate goal? What exact power did each one contribute to his final "wish", in particular the Soul and Mind Stones such that he required them all to make it work?

[Assistant]
Power Stone - Supplied the raw energy with which to make the Snap happen.

Space Stone - Allowed the effects of his Snap to travel across the entire universe. Note that the other Stones' effects are all localised, apart from this one, which obviously teleports and opens bridges between different points across space.

Reality Stone - Allowed the reality alteration/unmaking that comes with the Snap.  Basically does the hands on stuff regarding the Snap.

Soul Stone - Not confirmed yet, but likely has something to do with the Snap affecting living sapient beings. All creatures with souls. In order to destroy ( or transport, depending on which fan theory you're subscribing to ) beings with souls, the Soul stone's gotta step in to finish the job.

Mind Stone - Needed for the vast calculations that come with eliminating half of all sapient life in the universe. Thanos' own mind is too puny to grasp the numbers and figures involved, so the Mind Stone acts as a sort of guiding supercomputer, directing the powers of the other Stones to do their job.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do hostage negotiations work?

When they make "deals" with the hostage taker how much do they honor those deals? When I watched Captain Phillips the negotiator made all of these false promises and I was wondering if this is common practice.

[Assistant]
I have a few co-workers that have done HNT training. The way it works is like this, the HNT tells the hostage taker what she can offer and tries to work out a reasonable solution. All people have basic needs, and the HNT will try to take care of those first. The start of talking someone down may go like this: Are you hurt? Does anyone need medical attention? If you or anyone is hurt, we can get them out and get you the medical care you need. Can you bring the hurt people out?

The next order of business would be safety and security. The HNT may ask: Is every one safe? Are the hostages safe right now?

Believe it or not, most hostage takers are not about to go killing the hostages, or even beating on them badly. Most of the time, the hostage taker has a sense of empathy and won't want to hurt people. A lot of times, the hostages are secured somewhere safe. Ensuring the hostages and the hostage takers are safe builds a stronger relationship.

Next, provide for basic needs. She may say: This could take awhile to resolve. Does anyone need food, water, or to use the bathroom?

Finally, she will work to resolve the situation. She will not make promises. She will not overstate her abilities or the strength of the hostages. She will also not refuse anything or say "no" to anything. She can, however, redirect the conversation. For example, if the hostage taker asks for a fully fueled jet airplane, an acceptable response would be something along the lines of: Let's get back to seeing how many people are hurt. We were working on taking care of those with medical emergencies first.

Skilled hostage negotiators don't have to make false promises because they don't have to make promises other than the ones they are prepared to honor.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do mirrors work?

Alternatively: What makes them reflective?

[Assistant]
Imagine you are throwing a tennis ball at a person holding a velcro pad on their hands.  If you hit the velcro pad then the ball stops and stays with the other person.  If it misses and hits their body then it will bounce back towards you.  If it misses and hits their head then it will bounce off in an odd direction (and it will be funny).

Well light and mirrors are a bit a like that.  Light is like a little ball thrown out of the sun and mirrors are like a big wall that the light hits and reflects off before hitting your eyes.

Conversely, something that is black will likely by like throwing balls at a wall made of Velcro - most of the balls will stick to the velcro and not come back to you.

White objects, meanwhile will reflect all of the balls back off in random directions, whilst green objects will collect all the green balls, but bounce back all those of a different colour (EDIT: the other way around as pointed out below).

These balls of light are actually full of energy so they'll make the velcro like substances hot when they hit them as they release their energy into the 'velcro' object, whilst reflective surfaces won't get the energy as the ball bounces off and that is why they are cold.


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

[User] [Truman Show] If the "show" is active 24/7/365 how would the pay structure work for the actress playing Meryl? Clearly she can't just take a vacation by herself and isn't she technically being paid to sleep with him?

[Assistant] Truman had no point of reference as to what is "normal".  His entire life experience is inside the studio.  So if someone disappears from for any lengthy period of time, he might just figure it's normal, especially if it happened on the regular throughout his life.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are computer parts made in such stringent conditions when they will most likely spend most of their functioning life in less than ideal environments?

We've all seen pics of places like intel's static and dust free rooms. Why is that necessary when most computers spend their life collecting dust with very few, if any, cleanings?

[Assistant]
You don't want cheerios and milk on your clay when you're making a bowl, but once you've fired it in the kiln it's really good at holding them.

The manufacturing process is very sensitive to dust and dirt, even though the end product is not.


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

[User]
ELI5 Why is it so much harder to fall asleep when youre thinking about how badly you need to go to sleep?

Yes I need therapy.  Yes Im working on it

[Assistant] Going to sleep had two fases. First your body makes a chemical indicating you are going to sleep. It makes you more relaxed and it starts the production of another chemical that will cause the actual sleeping. If you stress, the first chemical won't be produced. That's because if you are stressed your body must be ready to fight off that lion or other danger. The second chemical needs you to be relaxed enough and don't have to much brain activity in your prefrontal cortex.


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

[User] ELI5: How do batteries mess up from excessive charging?

[Assistant]
It depends on the chemistry. But it's probably Li-Ion that's relevant for you. That's what's being used in phones, tablets and laptops.

Li-Ion doesn't like extremes. They don't like to be charged or discharged too much. The more charged or discharged they are, and the longer they are that, the more worn or damaged they are.

There isn't really a point where they are "fully charged" or "fully discharged". It's a compromise.

* So a typical Li-Ion prefers to be at 3.7 V. That's about 50% full.
* You can charge it to 4.0 V and it's almost as happy, and about 80% full.
* You can charge to 4.2 V. This is okay, if you discharge it soon-ish. This is maybe 98% full. (**EDIT:** This is what we usually consider 100% full. Just like a full glass of water isn't filled to the brim.)
* You can charge to 4.3 V. This is so bad that a bit of damage occurs immediately. This is probaly 99.9% full.
* You can charge to 4.4 V. This is very bad. Now you risk damage so bad, that the battery shorts internally, and releases all the energy very quickly. This means dangerous chemicals starts boiling, and large flames probably appears.

Normally they are charged to 4.2V. Lets say the battery will last for 1 000 charge cycles this way.

Some people choose to charge to 4.0 V. They get less energy in a charge, but now the battery lasts maybe 5 000 or 10 000 cycles.

Some people charge to 4.3 V to get as much energy as possible, but they get maybe 200 cycles from the same battery.


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

[User]
Is there a difference in the way the History of Philosophy is taught by analytic and continental philosophers?

Im just curious, if there a difference in the way they see/examine/teach the history, like do Russell and Wittgenstein view the ancient Greeks any differently than a Hegelian or a phenomenologist? Or do the major differences just start when the history gets to the early 20th century?

[Assistant]
Russell and Wittgenstein are not particularly influential on the history of philosophy. Hegel is very influential, but he predates the analytic/continental split. Some phenomenology, particularly via Heidegger, is very influential on the history of philosophy. Other phenomenology is much less invested in the history of philosophy. So you've got some very different comparisons there.

In general, "analytic" and "continental" philosophy are such broad categories that it's difficult to make generalizations. Within each category one finds extensive diversity on both how central history of philosophy is and how history of philosophy is approached.

It's often said that continental philosophy, speaking in general terms, more often has a central concern with history of philosophy. This is probably true, but not so much that it overcomes the breadth of positions within "analytic" and within "continental" philosophy.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Could you use an EMP type weapon to short out a Jedi's lightsaber?

Got in an argument with a bounty hunter about this.

[Assistant]
Short it out? Maybe not, there's not much in the way of delicate electronics inside a lightsaber, except for the converter used to create plasma from the battery pack, and maybe the emitter. It's just a battery, converter, focusing lens(es), crystal, emitter, and button contained in a sheath.

But it'd mess with the field holding the blade in place for sure.


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

[User]
If I had samples from all four oceans, could I tell which sample was from which ocean?

Let's say I have samples from the Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic, and Indian Oceans that are completely devoid of life (so no looking at the plankton, if that makes a difference). Would I be able to say which sample came from which ocean?

[Assistant] Kind of. The Pacific Ocean is rich in Iron which is thought to be brought by the winds from the Gobi Desert. Iron is a limiting nutrient because it's needed for nitrogen fixation in phytoplankton. The Atlantic Ocean, however, has high nitrogen but low iron. Look up HNLC (High-nutrient, low-chlorophyll) and the Redfield Ratio (which is the golden ratio 106C:16N:1P). These hypotheses are the basis for what determines how productive an area of the ocean will be (since productivity is determined by the bottom of the food chain)


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are comic books published date set in a future date?

I have been collecting comic books for a while now and this has always bothered me. As an example, I just bought DC's Earth Two #0 that came out today. The bar code has a date of Nov 2012, and it says 'Earth 2 0. November 2012.' inside the book, which will be interpreted by people who aren't into comics that this particular comic came out in November 2012 which isn't the case. Marvel does the same thing as well as other smaller publishers like IDW and Dark Horse.

[Assistant]
The date on the cover isn't actually when the comics come out. Instead, the date signifies when newsstand owners / store clerks should remove them from the shelves!

It's sort of an outdated practice, as most comic stores just put them in a box somewhere, but there you go.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Would a religous wizard face any problems?

I'm not talking about discrimination; just how their powers would conflict with their beliefs. In a particular I'm curious how a Catholic and Muslim wizard would fit in at Hogwarts.

Likewise; what if a deceitful but devout wizard decided to use their magic to fake modern day miracles (water into wine, helping blind to see, multiplying food etc).

[Assistant]
Hogwarts seems at least culturally christian (they have Christmas and Easter, for example) and the Potters, beloved members of the wizarding community, were devout enough to put a bible verse on their grave. While we don't know enough about the world to say for sure how religion is treated, it seems Christianity is common enough that an expressly catholic wizard wouldn't have any problems from the wizarding perspective. Presumably, the same would apply to an Islamic wizard.

As for how to fit wizarding beliefs with Christianity, "witchcraft" in Christianity is specifically the act of bargaining with demons for power. HP wizards don't do that- they're born with innate powers, no different then people born with eidetic memories or additional color cones or other rare biological gifts. it would be fairly easy to have a branch of Christianity ok with that. Presumably, that's what most wizards follow. At most, a very devout christian would maybe object to the name "witch".

Islam (i know less about, so if you know more and i'm talking bullshit, tell me) has a similar divide- the only acceptable "magic" is that granted as a gift by Allah, which the innate gifts of HP wizards can be easily spun as. One issue may be that one of the charges leveled against magic in the Qu'ran is that it's a *secret* art (and thus deceitful and manipulative)- Muslim wizards may well have some objections to the statute of secrecy. The creation of amulets (as in, magical items) is forbidden unless they have the text of the Qu'ran on. So that's probably a thing.

Of course, if there is a special wizard branch of Christianity, there may well be a similar one for Islam, with their own interpretations of those verses and scholarly work, which makes things like the statute of secrecy and creation of magic items more acceptable (probably leaning on "an innate gift rather then bargaining with Jinn or evil spirits" a lot)

If you went around making miracles, you'd be arrested for violating the statute of secrecy. What the individual wizard feels about their "miracles" is of course up to their faith and conscience- they would be hardly the first to call people to the Lord by deception, after all.


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

[User] [Godzilla/Pacific Rim]How dangerous would Pacific Rim's humanity deem Godzilla, and how many Jaegers would be needed to take it down?

[Assistant]
They'd be terrified, right up until Godzilla ripped Leatherback's head off and flung it back through the portal. Fighting Kaiju is Godzilla's *raison d'tre.* He'd be adored by people in the Pacific Rim universe.

As for how many Jaegers.... How many ya got? The answer is not enough.


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

[User]
ELIF: Regarding North Korea.  I understand some of the reasons they are doing what they are... but is there any reason China would want North Korea to do this?

I understand its most likely just a political game to reduce sanctions or get something... but I feel like they wouldn't be doing this without approval or something from China.  They stand alone without them.

So the question is, what reasons would China have for wanting NK to threaten... and also what reasons would they have for wanting NK to attack?

[Assistant] Think of North Korea as China's yippy little ankle biting chihuahua.  China went and rescued the little shit from being euthanized (Korean War).  It slobbers, snaps at people, and shits on the floor but China just doesn't have the heart to send it back to the pound.


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

[User]
AskScience AMA Series: I am Dr. John Nagy and I'm here to talk about Peto's Paradox and why larger mammals don't have higher cancer rates. Ask Me Anything!

Hello Reddit! I'm a mathematical biologist (@jdnagy96) studying why larger mammals don't have higher cancer rates--like why aren't all blue whales dying of cancer? This is just one of the many questions about cancer that evolutionary theory helps illuminate. We also work on how evolution causes tumors to become malignant and resist treatment. I'll be around in the afternoon (ET), so AMA!

[Assistant]
Hello Dr. Nagy!

Is it possible that the cells of larger mammals have some sort of awareness, maybe through cell signaling, of the size of the tissue they're a part of and are more willing to enter apoptosis since they're more replaceable?

Has there been any study in vitro on cultured tissues? For instance, would 1,000 cells on media have the same cancer rate as 1,000,000 cells or does this phenomenon only occur in the larger context of the animal?

I am a senior Biology major currently taking Biology of Cancer so this is particularly interesting to me. Thanks!


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

[User]
[Marvel] Is it possible to wield the Mjolnir with Thor being under the effects of the pym particles and tied to it?

Like, not wielding the hammer but rather Thor

Edit: NEW TITLE: Can someone lift the mjolnir while a mini Thor holds onto the hammer?

[Assistant]
You mean, lifting a microscopic Thor while he holds onto the hammer?

It's inconsistent. Sometimes when Thor is grappling with Hulk over the hammer, he's able to hold perfectly still even though Hulk should easily be able to budge Thor's body weight. On other occasions, like with Red Hulk, this strategy does seem to work (grabbing Thor by the hand with the hammer and simply leaping away, dragging Thor with him)


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

[User] ELI5: why is California shutting down its last nuclear power plant, I thought nuclear power was a good thing?

[Assistant]
The big reason is that it's near a fault line.  No matter how safe you make it, it's hard to tell how much damage an earthquake could actually do.

And despite how good it is, there's still a very negative perception of it just because of the word nuclear.  Too many people seem to think that it's akin to a nuclear weapon when they're not really similar at all.


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

[User]
[Marvel] why are mutants persecuted but other super powered beings are not?

Like the Fantastic Four or Spiderman.

[Assistant]
Spider-Man has been feared and persecuted.

But to answer your question: Part of it is because mutates, those who got power from outside sources, are largely accidents. They don't tout themselves as the next step in human evolution, they're just there because of bad luck (or good luck, if you wish.)

Part of it is also PR. The Fantastic Four were really the first mutates of the modern age, ignoring the Invaders for now, and they were not only open about themselves, they immediately set to work for the good of humanity. This set the stage for superpowered beings to be admired, or at least tolerated.

Mutants, however, had a different introduction. The first real exposure the public had to mutants were the X-Men, a group of superpowered people in full costumes that tried to be secretive, and Magneto, a vocal mutant who revealed himself to mankind by wrecking a military base.

If the public's fear of mutants had a face, it would be Magneto. Since then, mutants have spent decades fighting with humans mostly powerless to interfere. You had the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Magneto's Acolytes, Genosha, Onslaught, and, more recently, the Phoenix Five (Who counted several 'good' mutants among their number!) all undoing any good will the X-Men, X-Factor, and other mutant teams might have earned.

So you have a large group of superpowered people who can show up anywhere, be anyone, might not have control over their abilities, a large majority (from the public's perspective) are either evil or just don't care about human lives or property damage, and a bunch of people, mutants and humans alike, who claim that they're the future of humanity and that the entire human race will be replaced by mutants.

On the other hand, you have mutates like Captain America, Luke Cage, and the Fantastic Four, who are all open about who they are and what they do and don't make any claims of racial superiority.


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

[User] CMV:Humans are inherently good.

[Assistant]
The subject of "good/bad" comes up a lot and is taken for granted, so allow me link an overview on that before we continue:

>*Two sizable meteorites are heading into the inner Sol system, one for Venus and the other for Earth. Which is evil? This is not a trick question. The one headed for Earth is evil. Why is it evil? Because it will wipe out all life. Why is that a problem? Because we have a goal to live. In wider reality neither meteorite has a partisan position, motives, or anything to answer for. They're amoral. You understand that they're amoral because they're without goals. You understand the one as evil because it's about to subvert the very serious goal of living.*

>*Given the scope of information, the only way to divide the universe into two clear-cut categories like good and evil is by having a goal. Good is that which supports the goal, and evil is that which subverts it. Without a goal, everything is just events, like the goalless Venusian landscape being hit by a big rock. So. What.*

>*The idea of a wider cosmic good and evil is the idea that the Creator has a goal (which is sensible even from an agnostic perspective because life). Good is that which supports God's wider goal, and evil is that which subverts it. There is literally no other way to split information and deeds as beneficial or subversive without a goal. In real time they just occur, whereas goals usually have to do with the future and higher reasoning.*

Therefore the idea that humans are inherently good assumes (1) there is a definite cosmic goal, and (2) humans are inherently inclined to support that goal, and (3) diversions from that goal are the cosmos' fault. That line of reasoning is self-contradictory obviously. You should change your view because it recursively puts blame on the cosmos for the goal and the breaking of it, while the individual is the victim. If this were the case, there are no victims because for it to work the victim must have no goals (being a complete tool of the cosmos) and therefore cannot be a victim who's having their goals subverted. It's circular.

On "born evil", this *is* possible under certain conditions. If indeed there was a cosmic *political* bent then you could be born subversive by being born neutral. For example, if Caesar was God and yet you were paradoxically born without any political favor for him, and his goal was votes and political support for some bizarre reason, then the infant would be subversive in their apathy until fully molded. This is the idea within Christianity that you're referencing, as you're evil until you come to support Jesus (regardless if you oppose him), and aren't born supporting Jesus. Therefore, you're born "evil" or subversive. That is technically possible under those conditions, which the church aims to prove or intimidate people into believing are real.

This is also the objective of anti-Semitism and colonial missionary work. If those apathetic or negative towards Jesus are allowed to live, then they prove the premise that reality is against them is wrong. God's work or Jihad, then, is to destroy heathens and prove the premise of a politically inclined God. The "winner" is implicitly supported by God, and not a murderer. This is also peppered with assumptions of determinism over free will and accountability; a fatalistic world and not a proving ground.

Your view is sort of the opposite of that, that people are born supporting the cosmic goal and are subverted by the cosmos later. Your view may be a reaction or reply to the Christian view. In reality, people are probably are born supporting an unknown cosmic goal in the act of living and growing, and probably later subvert themselves through resenting and blaming the conditions of existence as valid than personal goals. Usually the subversive conditions are man-made. Most world evil (starvation, war, abuse) are artificial, and have to do with strange, often megalomaniacal goals creating strange and cruel conditions by people who resented reality and wished to enhance it. That is, people who weren't inherently good spreading their evil.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do we randomly remember stupid and embarrassing things we did when we were younger even though it makes us feel awful?

It always leaves you with this lingering residual feeling just like when it happened. Whether its remembering something stupid you said in class, or a time when you were really insecure about something. Its almost always without warning, and only makes you feel worse. What gives?

[Assistant] From a common-sense standpoint, there are plenty of reasons to remember things that make you feel bad. The most obvious: Remembering those things, and the bad feelings they caused, helps you remember not to do those things again.


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

[User]
Why do bottles have necks?

Why have bottles come to the shape that they do?  Does the neck serve any purpose other than aesthetics, and what differentiates a "jar" from a "bottle"?

[Assistant] Practically, it's a lot harder to drink from a jar than from a bottle, same goes for pouring. A bottle is easier to seal as well, using a small cork or somesuch. Jars on the other hand can be used to store thick and/or chunky stuff.


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

[User] ELI5: Why, when you're congested, does putting pressure on your nose/forehead help alleviate the pain temporarily?

[Assistant]
There are holes in your skull (Sinus) that have boogers when you're congested. Rocking around those bones to open your sinuses helps lessen the pressure and opens 'em up.

Bonus tip: Press down on either side of your nose, a bit under your eye socket. While doing that, inhale from your nose. It'll help drain that sinus and make a gnarly loogie.


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

[User] ELI5: What do those bristles on the side of escalators do?

[Assistant] There was a fire in Kings Cross underground station in London where a lit match used to light a cigarette was thrown down where the bristles are now and fell between the outside rail and the escalator steps landing on the greased runner lighting the grease on fire. There was several things done to prevent such a tragedy from happening again. One of which had already been done which was to ban smoking in enclosed public spaces although this was enforced better. The bristles on the side of the escalator was another effort as it will deflect cigarettes and other debris away from the gap and onto the steps so that they can easily be cleaned up rather then falling into the machinery of the escalator. It also have a few other minor advantages such as preventing people from standing all the way on the edge.


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

[User]
[General Sci-Fi] Aside from pleasure is there any reason to have humans piloting space craft over a computer outside of combat?

I understand that Im combat humans unpredictability is an asset, but when it comes to mundane flying, docking, etc, why do we have humans do it? Computers can analyze the routes better, communicate and coordinate with each other faster and never tire.

[Assistant]
Not really, unless there's some special in-universe reason.

Maybe a civilization wide ban on computers, like you see in Dune or Warhammer 40k. But that's less of a reason why they can't and more a reason why they won't.

Both of those settings also require a human for navigation. In Dune the navigator must be able to predict the future, so a computer won't work even if they had access to one. And in 40k the navigator has to be a special kind of physic/mutant to even be able to see the warp/astronimicon, also something a computer or AI couldn't do.


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

[User]
CMV: If employers expect a two week notice when employees quit, they should give the same courtesy in return when firing someone.

Ill start off by saying I dont mean this for major situations where someone needs to be let go right away. If someone is stealing, obviously you dont need to give them a two week notice.

So to my point.

They always say how its the professional thing to do and you dont want to burn bridges when leaving a job. They say you should give the two week notice and leave on good terms. Or that you should be as honest with your employers and give as much heads up as possible, so they can properly prepare for your replacement. I know people whos employers have even asked for more than the two weeks so that they can train someone new.

While I dont disagree with many of this, and do think it is the professional thing to do, I think there is some hypocrisy with this.

1) Your employers needs time to prepare for your departure. But if they want to let you go they can fire you on the spot, leaving you scrambling for a job.

2) The employer can ask you to stay a bit longer if possible to train someone, but you dont really get the chance to ask for a courtesy two weeks.

3) It puts the importance of a company over the employee. Its saying that employee should be held to a higher standard than an employer. As an employee you should be looking out for the better of this company, and be a team player.

Sometimes there are situations where giving a two week notice isnt needed. If you have a terrible employer who you dont think treats you fairly, why do you need the two week notice? If you feel unappreciated and disrespected, why is it rude to not give a notice?

If thats the case then why do people not say the same about employers firing people with no notice? How come thats not rude and unprofessional? Why is that seen as a business move, but giving no notice of quitting is seen as unprofessional?

If were holding employees to a standard, we should hold companies to the same standards.

EDIT: Thank you for all the responses, I didn't think this would get this large. Clearly, I can't respond to 800 plus comments. I understand everyone's comments regarding safety and that's a valid point. Just to be clear I am not in favor of terminating an employee that you think will cause harm, and giving them two weeks to continue working. I think a severance is fair, as others have mentioned it is how it is in their country. However I agree with the safety issue and why you wouldn't give the notice. I was more so arguing that if you expect a notice, you need to give something similar in return.

[Assistant] this is actually common in other countries,  but for some more vital occupations its still a habit of having them leave right away to prevent sabotage, people fired through no fault of their own tend to hold a grudge.


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

[User] How is it that my computer can load multiple files at the same time, if there's only one "needle" in my hardrive?

[Assistant]
How can you see everything around you when you only have 2 eyes?

The read head only picks-up chunks of data at a time.  Any software that requests for an entire file in one go will lock your system, so they don't do that.  Since they only ask for chunks at a time it means any number of files can be read or written to the hdd by any number of programs... but if it so happens that a few programs decide to do some intensive read/write action you'll notice the OS being slow and / or those programs being unresponsive.  It's the same multitasking paradigm as the underlying operating system itself.  It's all just time-share.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are western countries not rioting and revolting against their governments, but middle eastern countries are?

[Assistant] The biggest reason is the difference in the quality of life. Sure your rights are being infringed upon, but are you actually going to do anything about it? No. Your life is too comfortable. You would probably rather watch some TV or hang out with friends than take to the streets, risking your life in a riot. It's only when the quality of life is so bad that people feel they have nothing to lose in risking their lives by revolting against their respective governments.


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

[User]
Is there anything specific that pushes a person over the line from "eccentric" to "mentally ill?"

-- About 15 people have replied "Amount of money" so if that's your only (non-scientific) response, please don't bother.

[Assistant]
its very vague and subjective, but the best rule of thumb that you can apply to deciding if anything is a disease is ;

" Does it impact negatively on somebodies life?"

Its not foolproof but its a pretty good guide. If it doesn't effect their "wellbeing" then leave them alone, they're not sick.


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

[User] [star wars] Which main character has saved the most lives?

[Assistant]
It's probably Wedge or Chewie. They were involved in both Death Star kills. If we imagine that both superweapons would have gone on to destroy many inhabited planets over many years, and you're getting some part of the credit for that not happening, it mounts up into the billions pretty quick.

Another possibility is that Anakin and Obi-Wan took the title when they stopped the weaponized Blue Shadow virus. Supposedly, it was airborne, incurable, invariably fatal, and affected all lifeforms in the galaxy.


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

[User]
[DC] ELI5 - If Green Lanterns are set to be 1/sector, how are there so many on Earth?

Hal Jordan took over for Abin Sur when the latter died, becoming the Green Lantern for Sector 2814, and was chosen over Guy Gardner because he was closer.  But then how did Guy end up with a power ring?  And then how about John Stewart, Kyle Rayner, and Simon Baz, for that matter?

Alan Scott, I have a vague understanding that his power ring actually came from a meteor and is only roughly connected to the Guardians and Oa, but what is his role in modern times?  Does he just hang out with Jay Garrick playing Bridge or something?

[Assistant]
Basically:

Hal Jordan took over for Abin Sur. At one point, Hal slipped in the tub, knocking himself out, and there was an emergency that lead to Guy Gardner getting the power ring for a little bit.

Eventually, Gardner got hurt. Bad. This lead to John Stewart becoming Hal's replacement if Hal was ever in trouble. Or, like what eventually happened, Hal quit being a Lantern.

Then the Crisis happened. Guy woke up from his coma and was called to the Guardians to help stabilize things, since John was already busy trying to save the multiverse. During the Crisis, the Anti-Monitor wiped out a full third of the Green Lantern Corps. Afterwards, all three of them were allowed to remain on active duty due to their reduced numbers, and Guy went into training.

More importantly to your question: The Guardians rescinded the 'one per sector' rule because they realized that it caused some of their Lanterns to be babysitters and not actual space cops. During this time, Earth had *seven* Green Lanterns: Ch'p, Kilowog, Hal, John, Katma, Salaak, and Arisia. Guy flickered in and out of the group as he pleased.

More stuff happened, and Coast City was destroyed. Hal went nuts and destroyed the Green Lantern Corps, leading Ganthet to give Kyle Rayner the last, most powerful power ring available. No yellow weakness, no time limit, and (apparently) a larger charge than any of the modern rings.

Fast forward a few years and Hal came back to life, leading to the rebirth of the entire Green Lantern Corps. The Guardians made a new rule: Two Lanterns to every Sector. This meant that Guy and Kyle moved to Oa, while Hal and John got to chill on Earth. Well, eventually some more stuff went down. Hal 'died', so his ring went to Simon Baz. When Hal came back to life, he got his old ring back, but Simon got to keep his Lantern status.

And that's how Earth ended up with five Lanterns again.


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

[User]
What does Noam Chomsky means when states that media in a well functioning system ought to have a liberal bias?

In the documentary, Manufacturing Consent, Noam Chomsky states that:

>Now, to eliminate confusion, all of this has nothing to do with liberal or conservative bias. According to the propaganda model, both liberal and conservative wings of the media, whatever those terms are supposed to mean, fall within the same framework of assumptions. In fact, if the system functions well, it ought to have a liberal bias, or at least appear to, because if it appears to have a liberal bias, that will serve to bound thought even more effectively. In other words, if the press is indeed adversarial and liberal, and all these bad things, then how can I go beyond it? They're already so extreme in their opposition to power that to go beyond it would be to take off from the planet, so therefore it must be that the presuppositions that are accepted in the liberal media are sacrosanct. Can't go beyond them. And a well-functioning system would in fact have a bias of that kind. The media would then serve to say, in effect: Thus far and no further.

What exactly does he mean by this? Is he saying that opposition to power, by definition, is liberal?

[Assistant] What he is saying is that the media sets the bounds of discourse. By providing just a tiny amount of pushback to power (which would give them their "liberal" leaning), they can effectively silence all dissent which goes beyond that as left-wing extremism.


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

[User]
[DC] Do the Flash's insides move at super speed?

E.g, does his heart beat a billion times a second? Does his blood rush through his veins faster than light? Do the electrons in his brain buzz around the same speed he runs?

[Assistant] He *can* speed his insides up, as evidenced in Justice League and the CW Flash show when his heartbeat went so fast he appeared to flatline. In addition, one of his many secondary abilities is super-metabolism. So his body can speed up internally. But just as he can slow down his brain and jaw fast enough to talk into a radio while moving at super-speed, I'd say it's a fair bet he can adjust the speed of his insides while running to suit his needs.


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

[User] ELI5 - why do large trucks, busses etc. have larger steering wheels than smaller vehicles?

[Assistant]
When there's more weight resting on the wheels, they are harder to turn. Having a larger steering wheel makes that easier to overcome.

Even though pretty much all vehicles now have power steering, you still need to be able to steer the vehicle in case of a failure, so they still have large wheels in spite of this.


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

[User]
I am a 21 year-old who is rapidly becoming a hermit/recluse. I don't necessarily see anything "wrong" with it.

When I was in high school I used to care a lot about how people perceived me. I didn't have many friends and was fairly shy and whatnot.

In college, during my freshman year, I thought I'd make changes to my life to become more sociable. Unfortunately, I didn't change much because I stayed at home for school to save money, and moreover, I was still fairly shy.

I'm in my last year and the pressure is beginning to pile up. Need a job, need research experience for grad school, still need to take tests, keep resume updated etc. On top of that, I want to keep my main hobby (writing) alive.

I'm finding that making friends is becoming less of a priority. But at the same time, I'm seeing myself turn into an extreme hermit of sorts...what's troubling is that now I don't care.

Before I cared about appearances, having lots of friends...now I have like, literally, 1 or 2, and I hang out with them maybe...once every couple months. Otherwise I really don't hang out or go anywhere.

When I look at others, I can definitely tell that this is not supposed to be the norm. People go out on the weekends, have at least friends who text them about stuff that's not school related, go out to bars, have experiences.

I just don't care anymore, but I think this may be dangerous. My twenties are supposed to be vibrant, or at least that's what novels and movies say. Change my view. I don't really necessarily want to be a hermit anymore, but at the same time...my parents don't have friends. Older people I meet seem to not have friends. When I was growing up, most of my classmates' parents didn't have many friends.

It seems that having friends and "doing life" is something reserved for the young...then people have families/get hitched and loose interest to
go out.

[Assistant]
As a general rule to life: the less you care about the outside pressure and the more you think for yourself what you want to do, the happier you are. If you find yourself happy keeping to yourself, go ahead. The purpose of going out with your friends and partying is to have fun. If you're having less fun doing that than staying home, there's not much point in going out, is there?

However, to save yourself from mental issues later in life (humans are, after all, social animals), you can try to see people you are most comfortable with as often as you are comfortable with. Be it your parents, your old friends or whoever.


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

[User]
[Fallout] what kind half-life does blamco mac & cheese have? It has to have been out of production/expired for 200 years by the events of FO4.

Same for salsbury steak, pork and beans cans, etc. Maybe the radiation keeps it from deteriorating?

[Assistant]
The great war wasn't that much of a shock to Americans by 2077. (The timing was, but not so much the fact that China finally resorted to the nuclear option) The world had been at war for decades by then, tearing itself apart over dwindling resources in increasingly bloody wars. The European Commonwealth had destroyed the Middle East in nuclear fire, then tore itself apart as its last gasoline reserves dried up. China had been fighting America for years as well, and everyone was just waiting for the moment to come when the nukes started flying just like they did for Europe.

In this fearful and paranoid climate, most food producers in North America started marketing their products as "bomb-proof" and "ultra-stable". Not only had packaging been completely redone to make everything as airtight as possible, but most every food sold on shelves had been re-engineered by chemicals and nuclear treatment to be as stable as possible. Food was no longer being sold on its nutritional, aesthetic, or even taste value. By 2077, most pre-packaged American food was being sold on how well it would survive the coming apocalypse.

None of it was actually meant to survive for 200 years, of course. But the sheer industrial spirit of pre-war America for exploiting the common people in pursuit of profit is what has saved many a wastelander from starvation.


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

[User]
ELI5 how our brains notice when something has changed?

For example, if I go into my room and something is moved, my brain will unconsciously realize and bring it into conscious awareness that something has changed. How does the brain detect these changes and decide its important enough to bring to awareness? What processes are happening when we notice changes?

[Assistant] The brain runs a LOT of processes sub-consciously, that is, you are not even aware of them going unless some of them turn up something that the brain thinks should be brought to conscious attention. The brain has a mental picture of your room stored for reference, and when it sees something has changed, it will sound an alarm bringing this fact to consciousness, because its pretty important for safety reasons, obviously.


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

[User]
[Avengers: Infinity War] Since half of all life in the universe was culled, what happened to the state of governments here on Earth?

Immediately after the Snap and the shock of half of all life in the entire universe getting wiped out by Thanos, chaos will be widespread on Earth, what with governments around the world trying to tangle up their internal and regional mess and/or just collapsing under the weight of half of their citizens suddenly disappearing.

What happened in the weeks, months, and first few years after the Snap, (geo)politically speaking? What does SHIELD (if it still exists), the Avengers, etc. do to help?

[Assistant] \[SPOILLER\]>>>>>>>>>The avengers spent years monitoring the planet and avoiding total chaos, as it is shown in Endgame, the remnants of the Infinity War (Okoye, Nebula, Captain Marvel, Captain America etc ...) split up to monitor both on Earth and space (Captain Marvel), trying to avoid a generalized anarchy.


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

[User] What gives things color on a molecular level?

[Assistant]
It has to do with how compounds interact with visible light. Colors occur when a substance absorbs or refracts specific frequencies in the visible spectrum, which depends on specific physical or electronic properties of the compounds that vary from compound to compound.

Since visible light is a rather arbitrary and narrow range, many compounds don't interact with it, therefore the "default" is to reflect all of the visible light (making it appear white) or allow all visible light to go through (making it colorless).


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

[User]
[Batman] If you could give Batman one superpower, what would it be and why would it make him a better crime fighter>

As the title says, which superpower would benefit Batman the most in his crusade against crime?

Edit: Typo in the title, sorry.

[Assistant]
There have been iterations of the Bat with powers.

Clark Kent was adopted by the Waynes, Bruce was given a Green Power Ring, etc.

I'll go lateral here and suggest that Madrox style super cloning would benefit him the most.  He could be Bruce 24/7 while fighting crime and studying science.


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

[User]
Are the physics in Total Recall correct?

For those who haven't seen the movie, it features a tunnel between Australia and Britain, which allows fast travel in a giant vehicle that is dropped down the shaft, to emerge at the other side. I'm fine with that part (and ignoring the impossibility of constructing such a thing), what I'm questioning is the forces experienced by the people in the vehicle.

For the 'downward' leg of the journey, while the vehicle is in freefall, they seem to experience gravity just the same as if they were standing on the surface. When they near the core (going past it rather than directly through), there is a period of weightlessness, then on the 'upward' part of the journey they appear to experience normal gravity again, in the other direction (the seats rotate so they aren't upsidedown).

So, is this correct?

[Assistant]
If it's a free fall there will be no apparent gravity during the entire journey.

The tunnel was not aligned with the Earth's axis of rotation, which means that the walls of the tunnel will be applying a force on the vehicle. This will result in friction between the vehicle and the walls, so that there will be a force opposing the fall. This will make it not a complete free fall, so that you can experience partial apparent gravity.

The only place where the vehicle then will experience almost no apparent gravity is around the center where the gravity of the planet is zero (all the mass is symmetrically on all sides and cancels out - check the shell theorem).

The apparent gravity will start lower than if you are stationary on the surface and proceed to gradually get lower until you reach the center, where it would start getting higher but now you'd be hanging upside down (hence the flip in the middle).

In this case you'd also need something to "push" the vehicle on it's way up from the center since you'd have lost a lot of energy to friction.

If anyone sees anything wrong with the forces, don't hesitate to correct me.


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

[User]
If gravity is the bending of space-time, then how can there be a graviton - a single particle of gravity?

I just don't get that part. The presence of matter causes space-time to warp, and it is this warped space-time which we experience as gravity - at least that's how I've heard it explained many times. If this is the case, then how can there be an exchange particle for gravity? (The graviton, as I understand it).

The two things don't add up for me - is it a wave/particle duality thing? Does anyone have a vaguely decent which can help me wrap my head around this?

[Assistant]
Consider the electric field around a charged object. When the object accelerates, the electric field changes and information that this changes has occurred propagates outward at the speed of light. This is electromagnetic radiation. If the change in the source of the field is discrete (like an electron changing energy levels in an atom) then the propagation of the field is also discrete: we call this a photon.

When a bound gravitational system changes, the gravitational field around it changes and this propagates as gravitational radiation. Gravitational radiation has been indirectly observed by monitoring the orbital decay of pulsars. If there were to be a discrete change in the source of the gravitational field, that discrete quantum of gravitational radiation would be a graviton.


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

[User]
ELI5: What would happen to the economic system if we discover an energy source that is unlimited, free, easy to use and convert?

I guess there would be a full shift towards automation and decline in every other sector since we have unlimited ~~resources~~ power at our disposal.

[Assistant] There's a number of other scarce resources that will still be scarce should an unlimited free source of energy be adopted. There will still be issues with scarce metals, water, land, human capital, etc. As a whole, the quality of life of pretty much every human would rise. The economic system however, would remain relatively unchanged.


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

[User] When a tree engulfs a metal sign or fence, does the metal do any damage to the tree? i.e. Is this process safe for the tree?

[Assistant] If the object doesn't go all the way around the tree, the damage is more or less minimal.  If the object goes all the way around the tree it's capable of killing the tree through girdling it as the tree grows.


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

[User]
ELI5-What caused the separation of Sunni and Shiite Muslims, and why is there violence?

Pertaining to the violence, I admit I do not know much about Islam, however I was under the impression that killing a fellow Muslim was forbidden. Surely wouldn't the most militant and fundamentalist branch spare their fellow Muslim brothers and sister?

[Assistant]
After Muhammad died, Islam was governed by the Caliphs. The first four in order were:

Abu Bakr ibn Qhuhafah,

Umar ibn al-Khattab

Uthman ibn Affan

Ali ibn Abi Talib

Shiite Muslims view the election of Abu Bakr as invalid and view the first three Caliphs as usurpers, considering Ali to be the rightful successor of Muhammad, where Sunnis believe that the first four Caliphs were rightly appointed. As time went on, Sunni and Shiite diverged on more matters but that is the origin: "Who was the right successor to Muhammad"

As for the violence, some extremist Muslims will only accept someone else is Muslim if they practice Islam in **exactly** the same way - Otherwise, that person is an *apostate* (someone who has turned away from Islam) and is the worst thing a person can be.


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

[User] [Clone Wars] Fives was named so because his number was 27-5555. So what do they cal CT 55-5555?

[Assistant] Since CT 27-5555 is in the 501st, and CT 55-5555 is likely not in the 501st, as there are many legions, it is entirely possible that they are both called Fives. There are millions of Clones and most never meet, and given that, as clones, their minds work very similarly, there is probably a lot of repeat nicknames.


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

[User] ELI5:How does the Deep Space Network (DSN) work?

[Assistant]
It is like when you are trying to hear something quiet and far away and you turn your head to point your ear right at it to hear better.  The Earth is like an always turning head and the radio antennas of the DSN are like three ears on different sides of the Earth so we can hear from any direction.

Every spacecraft has a radio like E.T.'s Phone Home device to call back to Earth and tell us what they have found but they are so far away it makes them hard to hear and if too many try to talk at once we cannot understand any of them.  Each spacecraft has to be given a schedule of when to talk so that we can hear them each one at a time or three a time if listening with all three ears.

The radio signals take time to travel such long distances at the speed of light, so although we hear the calls from two different spacecraft at different times, they may have actually been sent at exactly the same time, but each took a different amount of time to travel to us because of the different distance between Earth and each spacecraft.

For example, we have the Cassini spacecraft in orbit of Jupiter, and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter around Mars.  Right now both planets are in the same direction so at any time the same DSN antenna could hear both for 8 hours until the Earth rotates so the next antenna faces Mars and Jupiter, and so on for all three as the Earth rotates.

As of today:
Mars is about 223 million miles from Earth and radio signals take 20 minutes to travel to us

Jupiter is about 556 million miles away and radio takes 50 minutes to travel

Say both need to transmit to us for 30 minutes each day, and we want to listen to them right after lunch at 1:00pm.  We could schedule them both to transmit at exactly 12:40.  From Mars it would take 20 minutes and we would hear it at 1:00 and the spacecraft would talk for 30 minutes, at which time the signal from Jupiter would be right behind it and arrive at 1:30, because it took 50 minutes to travel to us, so we can hear each separately and clearly.

Of course we have more than two spacecraft to listen for, so this process of scheduling is constantly ongoing for each spacecraft and each antenna, as spacecraft orbit planets, planets orbit the sun, and everything rotates, so the schedule constantly changes.  Yet another of many reasons math is so cool that we can figure out how to do that right.


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

[User]
Eli5 Why can't spinal cord injuries (severed) be fixed with some kind of signal repeater?

Like your brain still sends the signal couldn't you attach something to each end so that it relayed the signal to the severed nerve?

[Assistant] Ok imagine a bundle of 100000 cables thinner than hair and all looking the exact same get severed. Your job is to connect them correctly one by one. How do you know which with which and how do you grab them and reconnect them without further damaging them? If you solve those 3 problems you will be rich.


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

[User]
How can the US legally deny "adults" age 18-20 the ability to drink alcohol and rent cars?

It has always blown my mind that a "legal adult" is still denied things in society. Wouldn't this violate the 14th amendment? Isn't there something in there about how businesses can't discriminate business based on age.

Edit: Specifically I'm unsure how it's legal for businesses to discriminate based on age but illegal for them to discriminate based on race.

[Assistant]
As far as alcohol is concerned, there's no federal law stating that 18 year olds can't purchase/drink alcohol. But there is a federal mandate that any state who lets people under the age of 21 purchase/consume alcohol will receive less federal transportation funding. So all states now are 21+ (there were a few holdouts into the 90's like Louisiana, but they eventually capitulated).

You can thank MADD for that bullshit.


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

[User]
Why dont wild animals get ill from drinking dirty outside water whilst we do?

Dirty water (found outside) is portrayed as having all sorts of bacteria, viruses and fungi etc meaning that we cant drink it without getting very sick. How is it weve evolved to have very little tolerance for this meanwhile other animals can drink almost any water found outside and be fine?

[Assistant] Well, we haven't, really. For the vast majority of our existence on this planet we drank the same water as other animals. Over a billion people make do without a source of clean water even today. You rarely get "very sick" from drinking water from a river or a lake, unless it's obviously contaminated in which case other animals tend to avoid it as well.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do America and the UK not use the same "main" painkiller? Aspirin vs Paracetamol

I'm mainly basing this on american movies as I've never been there but why do the UK and America not use the same main painkiller? Surely one is more effective or generally safer with fewer side effects?

Is this due to drug companies sales?

[Assistant] In the US (and Canada)  Paracetamol is called Acetaminophen, which goes by the brand name Tylenol. Tylenol is in fact one of the top pain killers used. In addition to Acetaminophen, Ibuprofen (Advil), and Acetilsalicylic Acid (Aspirin) are probably the most common painkillers in North America.


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

[User] [Star Wars] If Anakin Were Granted The Rank Of Master In Revenge Of The Sith, Would He Still Turn To The Dark Side?

[Assistant]
Yeah probably. In the novelisation, its clarified that Anakin was desperate to get the rank of Master so he would have access to the restricted sections of the Jedi Archives, where he could possibly learn forbidden Force techniques to save Padmes life/resurrect Padmes corpse

Being granted Master would have stroked his ego a little, but he would probably have been disappointed that the Archives didnt have any raise dead spells that would be applicable to his situation. Unless hes fine with Padme being a mindless voodoo Nightsister zombie with growing green eyes, but thats doubtful

So Sidious might have been able to drive Anakin to the Dark Side even easier, because now Anakin knows for sure the Jedi archives dont have any secret ancient Holocrons that would help his Padme-dying-young thing

Also, given the circumstances, he would probably have been offended anyway, it was pretty clear Anakin was only granted a Council seat because both Palpatine and the Council wanted a spy/informant/go-between in each others camps. He might think the Master rank was just a concession to expedite this procedure by making him shut up and stop bitching about it

And even if Anakin did think he was granted the Master post on his own merit, he would probably have found something else to be insecure about - the other Council members not giving him enough respect, annoying pro democracy Senators (including Padme) bickering with him and his good buddy Palpatine, Obiwan being sent after Grievous instead of him etc.


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

[User] If helium keeps floating up and up, how do we still have helium left on Earth after more than a billion years? Also, helium is a gas. Where do you actually go to find helium on Earth?

[Assistant] Helium on Earth is typically produced by the radioactive decay of larger elements, which produces alpha particles, which are helium nuclei. A lot of it remained underground, and was extracted as a byproduct of hydrocarbon extraction.


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

[User]
ELI5: In standardized fare zones, how is it economical for some taxi drivers to drive Mercedes whilst charging the same fare as cheaper cars?

Where I live all taxis have a standard fare, I have never understood why some drivers drive a Mercedes when it costs the same to hire a car of the same size that costs the driver/ taxi company less. Most taxi ranks are queued also so it's not like they get significantly more patrons by driving the nicer car.

[Assistant]
Mercedes has a long history of catering to the taxi industry. They have special offers and spec levels that are not available to the general public.

I don't know where you are from and brand image can vary a lot between countries, but here in Germany Mercedes is strongly going for the "working class aspirational" market. Associating their cars with workhorses providing modest everyday luxury fits that pretty well.


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

[User] When a limb is lost, what happens to the brain cells that are assigned to control it?

[Assistant] Eventually, neural plasticity will allow the space previously held to control that limb to be somewhat repurposed for other functions. But the connections for the limb cease, and, if Im not mistaken, they are pruned.


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

[User]
[LOTR/Hobbit] Is there a legitimate reason why hobbits can throw stones/small rocks so hard they kill orcs?

Is there any evidence to say why (e.g a unique trait or something to do with their build), or is it just Peter Jackson doing his thing?

[Assistant]
Couple of things,

Firstly, we don't know that the orcs are dying, just that they're being knocked over. They could be dead, they could be unconscious, they could be dazed and disoriented.

Secondly, the Hobbits are throwing (human, not hobbit) fist-sized rocks from 15-20 feet in the air. Those things are damned heavy and they're falling from a second or third story window. Even without being thrown those things could easily kill or at least severely wound your average human if they hit you in the head. Depending on how the orcs' helmets are padded there's a chance the damage would be minimal, but the orcs are not known for their care in crafting equipment.


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

[User]
[MCU] In Cap:Civil War, what was Barne's original mission after Zemo said the words?

We saw him getting onto the helicopter but Cap stopped him, waking him up in the process. But what if he didnt stop him? If he takes off, what was his mission?

[Assistant]
Head to the base in Siberia, which is where they ended up anyway.  He was to lure Stark, Captain America, and any other random assorted Avengers to the abandoned rocket test facility where the other Winter Soldiers were.

Zemo would then play the video of the Starks getting killed for Tony.  Shenanigans ensue.


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

[User] [Marvel] Why was Captain America so hesitant to join the registration act? What did he have to hide?

[Assistant]
Because the Registration Act would affect far more than just him; hundreds of lives would be changed in ways that he didn't think was his or the government's choice.

He himself had nothing to hide, but he respected that others did.


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

[User] [Ender's Game] How did the Formic Queen change the mind game in order to bring Ender to FairyLand?

[Assistant]
The ansible technology was incorporated into the fleet at every level. The ansible was directly based on the means of communication the Formic Queen used to direct her hive. Therefore, every ansible node was a terminal the Formic queen could access and manipulate.

This means that not only did Ender defeat the Formics in hideously lopsided battles, but that he did it while unknowingly granting them almost perfect knowledge of his fleet movements. Later the queen reveals that they watched the human fleet approaching with dread, knowing that there was nothing, literally, nothing they could do to avoid their inevitable destruction.

Ironically, we were the hornet's nest that they had accidentally kicked.


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

[User] ELI5: How does the touch screen on a phone work?

[Assistant]
There are multiple different kinds of touch screens.

Phones generally use capacitive touch screens. The surface of the screen is coated in a transparent conductor, which is generally something like indium tin oxide.

The human body is a pretty good conductor itself, so when you touch the conductive surface of the touchscreen, it changes the electrostatic properties of the screen, and sensors attached to the conductive layer can detect where you're touching, then software maps the point you touch to what the screen is displaying and determines what function to take.

This is also why capacitive touchscreens don't work through most gloves - as gloves are an insulator and prevent the electrostatic interference. That's why some gloves have special pads on the fingertips which are conductors and allow phone use while wearing them.

Other types of touchscreens include resistive touch screens, which are more expensive [EDIT: Resistive are cheaper, but less responsive. Whoops!] but are less likely to be damaged by an environment that involves the potential for spills. These touchscreens work by pressure; there are two layers of material separated by a space, when pressure is applied they distort and touch together at the point of pressure, which can then be mapped by sensors.


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

[User] ELI5: What would the economic impact be, especially on inflation, if 100% of fast food workers' wages were suddenly raised to $15?

[Assistant] Probably not much. The question has been asked by a large number of people, and the general consensus has been that you'd expect the cost of a MacDonald's extra value meal go up around $0.75 if you raised the national minimum wage to $15/hour. The biggest risk is that is people making $7.25 suddenly made $15, those people might seek out higher quality food for themselves. Poverty contributes rather substantially to McDonald's bottom line, as it does to many companies (like Walmart). If people have more money, there's a risk they might not just buy more stuff, they might seek out higher quality goods and services.


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

[User] [MCU] Why did Thanos need all six infinity stones to affect the universe while Malekith only needed the reality stone to out the universe into an eternal darkness?

[Assistant] Malekith could plunge the universe into darkness by using one specific stone in one specific place at one specific time. The gauntlet and all the stones allow Thanos to do anything, anywhere, at any time.


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

[User] ELI5: At what point does a program/software qualify to be called an AI?

[Assistant]
The problem is that we don't have a formal definition of what AI is, therefore different people have different requirements for calling something AI. It's a bit like asking "at what point is a movie good"?

On one end of the spectrum we have people (i.e. the media) calling everything AI. Walmart's data warehouse software spit out a statistical correlation that says men buy belts when they buy pants, so it makes sense to put belts next to the pants rather than on a separate "men's accessories aisle". Walmart makes a billion more dollars that year and people congratulate the AI, because obviously the computer looked through the data and came up with independent conclusions that people thus far hadn't reached.

Somewhere closer to "true AI" we have expert systems. So a program has a better accuracy of diagnosing most medical conditions than your average GP. Is that true AI? If a self-driving car reacts faster and has fewer accidents on average than human drivers, is that AI?

And so you can have more and more requirements to specify what AI is. Maybe it needs to do X better than humans. Maybe it needs to learn completely unassisted (like just open Wikipedia and go from there), etc, etc. In the far end of the spectrum you have people who if faced with an "AI" that does everything a human mind does will tell you that it's not true AI, because it just mimics human intelligence.


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

[User]
Should Undergrads even bother with ECs if you aren't going to a professional school and going to grad school?

From my observation it seems like grad schools care about research experience, LOR, and stats. Everything else is fluff, besides for enjoyment do you think ECs are fluff?

Is it better to focus time in research, grades and relationships with professors and use your extra time to just relax with friends instead of gunning to be president of some no name club.

[Assistant]
You know, you don't know what will happen after undergrad. Many freshmen matriculate thinking they've got it all figured out, and they're going to be a doctor/lawyer/do a PhD in x, and at the end of four years, do something they didn't even know existed when they were 18. So it's best to keep your options as open as possible. Some things to aim for, because they will make your life easier whatever you do:

* keep your cGPA 3.5+

* get work experience, ideally related to your major. Even if you don't go to grad school, being an RA in a lab can help get you a job.

* participate in activities that interest you. Don't "gun" to become president of some club, but also don't have no life to keep a 4.0 or spend your free time sitting around eating doritos and playing LOL. There is no college class that teaches you to be a person that people want to work with, and that is one of the most important determinants of success in any career you chose, including academia.


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

[User]
ELI5: how do you calculate how much an object gets smaller, the further is is away?

Is there a certain ratio for this? Like how long is a 1 meter ruler, 1 meter  behind a 1 meter ruler ?

[Assistant]
it has to do with a thing called "arc distance"

you don't see heights and lengths, you see how much of your cone of vision an object takes up. a 1 meter long object 1 meter away from you will take up ~53 degrees of your vision. another meter stick 1 meter beyond that would take up ~28 degrees of your vision.

the math is the geometry of an isosceles triangle, where the non-equal leg is the object being viewed.


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

[User] [DC] how did superman age when he was young but doesn't seem to age now that he is older?

[Assistant]
Maturing and aging are actually independent processes. There are kids with a condition that causes them to age prematurely and it doesn't make them grow any faster, there are adults with a condition that makes them stop physically maturing too early but it does not give them biological immortality.

Ergo it is quite safe to assume that people of his species mature at a rate equal to humans but do not age as quickly.


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

[User] ELI5: What is unified field theory?

[Assistant]
At rediculously seriously high temperature, like big bang temps, the forces we know of (magnetism, strong nuclear, weak nuclear, ECT) "melt".

They melt, and turn into the same force one by one. We know they all do, except for gravitation. We can't fully be sure if that one will also. But since physics likes the simplest most elegant answer, it's likely true that gravitation will also "melt" into the others.

This means that all forces are the same, they are just "frozen" into acting differently, like ice, water, and steam.


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

[User]
Biologically, what is instinct?

In the wild, how do animals know that they have to migrate/hibernate/groom etc...
There are probably better examples but you get the idea -- where does the survival instict come from and what *is* it when you boil it down to just a process between the cells?

What are the biological processes that govern these behaviours which (I would assume) seem to be hardwired into the DNA? Human children are *taught* a lot of concepts/skills by adults; do adult animals teach their young a lot of these survival skills too? (Hunting being the obvious one)

(Not a biology nerd, so please explain in a quiet, soothing manner)

[Assistant]
By definition an instinct is NOT taught. Truthfully, we don't know a lot about the exact mechanisms through which they are activated and maintained.

Though, we know it is based on specific patterns recognized by the brain that, through years of evolution, have led to its automatic execution of behaviors that benefit its chances of survival and production of offspring.


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

[User] What does the vy stand for in the name of the largest known star: vy Canis Majoris?

[Assistant] Variable stars inside a constellation boundary, like Canis Major, are given a prefix to distinguish them from regular, constant stars, like Alpha Canis Major (Sirius). The Roman alphabet is used, and if not enough letters available, two letters are used.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do skills possessed by college football stars often not translate to the NFL?

Not talking about busts, but stars (even Heisman winners) being drafted low or not at all. Sorry in advance, I'm Canadian.

[Assistant]
There are typically much-greater talent discrepancies in college football amongst teams than in the NFL. A highly-ranked college team may have three players on the field that are good enough to reach the NFL, which means that eight of those players aren't NFL-caliber. The most talented players will be able to perform well, even if they're not performing at their absolute best, because of this gap in talent.

Once these players get to the NFL, the talent gap is gone. These guys go from facing a team with three NFL-ready players to facing teams with entire rosters good enough to play in the NFL. They can no longer simply rely on natural talent at that point. Their success will depend on both their talent and their ability to execute in high-pressure situations with pinpoint accuracy against the best in the world.

A great example of this is Heisman winner and 2-time national champion quarterback Tim Tebow. He was successful at the college level because he was good at both running and passing. He was bigger and stronger than most of the players he faced, making him tough to take down when he ran, and he threw with enough accuracy to make opponents pay.

However, once he got to the NFL, he was no longer the bigger than most of his opponents, and his passing accuracy (which was decent for the college game) was poor compared to other NFL-caliber quarterbacks.


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

[User] When your lungs are affected by COVID-19, do you automatically have pneumonia? If not, what is the difference between COVID-induced lung problems and pneumonia?

[Assistant] Pneumonia is a general term for any infection that inflames the alveoli (air sacs) in one or both lungs. These air sacs may fill with fluid or pus, causing cough with phlegm or pus, and difficulty breathing. A variety of organisms  bacteria, viruses (including SARS-CoV-2), and fungi  can cause pneumonia.


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

[User]
[40k, The Hulk] Would the Orks recognize the Hulk as their leader?

Lets say that Bruce Banner appears on an ork planet. When he inevitably get mad, is he the biggest green humanoid around? And if so, do the Orks declare him their leader? What would happen after?

[Assistant]
The biggest, meanest, and strongest Ork is always the leader and The Hulk is the bigger, meaner and stronger than any Ork.

It's just a question of whether they would consider him an Ork (or whether their leader *has* to be an ork). He certainly is green enough but Orks can differentiate between Orks and Humie's and The Hulk won't stay the The Hulk forever.

Also his lack of Dakka is of concern.


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

[User]
ELIF: What are the 5th to 9th dimensions?

So my understanding of the spacial and temporal dimensions is limited to the following but I'd like to have a vague understanding of the rest:

1st = x-axis,

2nd = y-axis,

3rd = z-axis, and

4th = time.

Edit: Thank you for the material reddit, continue to post resources if you'd like but I have enough to tide me over for a week of reading/watching here.

[Assistant]
There is no way to explain it except by analogy, and no analogy is perfect. For the real explanation you have to do the math.

To see why an analogy is needed, let's consider another analogy. Suppose our world was confined to a table top. We had x and y, but no z. And someone asked "what is this other dimension z?"

Well, there would be no way to point in that direction for them, since they are only table top people, but one of them might say "imagine we lived in a line and only had an x-axis. And someone ask, what is this y-axis?. Well, it would be a direction they could not see."

The point is, the extra dimensions are in directions we cannot see. We cannot even imagine them. They only exist mathematically for us, but we can sort of imagine them by analogy.

Back to your 5^th thru 9^th . In those cases, the dimensions are a little different. They are "curled up, not long". For this analogy, imagine you are looking at a cable or wire from a distance. It looks like it only has an x-axis. If you see a bird on a wire you say it is at x = 5 or something like that.

Now if you focus in real close to wire you see something strange at x = 5, you see the cable has thickness. There is a tiny little curled up circular dimension at x = 5 where little bacteria could be living. You could have a whole ring of tiny bacteria at x = 5. For big things like birds, there is only one dimension, but for very tiny things there is another dimension. That is what the extra dimension are like.


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

[User]
[Batman Begins] - What does Ra's Al Ghul mean when he says ''You can fight 6 men. We can teach you to engage 600''?

What the hell does that quote mean? lol

My only interpretation is that we see later in The Dark Knight Rises, Batman has become a fully fledged symbol of hope for Gotham and leads an army of hundreds of police against an army of League of Shadows. Technically he is ''engaging'' hundreds of men through what he symbolizes.

[Assistant]
One man cant fight 600, and win. Its impossible.

But one man with the right skills can convince the 600 that theyre not facing one man. Using stealth and misdirection he can convince them that theyre facing an army hidden in the shadows, or a demon, or an unstoppable bat creature. And then he doesnt need to actually fight the 600 - because fear and uncertainty will have already defeated them.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does the price of gold and silver matter?

[Assistant]
Both Gold and Sliver have some common qualities. They exist. They can be verified to be what they are, so they are virtually impossible to counterfeit. (The original "touch stone" as a means of determining gold's validity is a huge piece of technology in its day.) Neither will "go bad" or be eaten by vermin so it's got an endless shelf-life. And up until recently there was very little real use for either metal, so nobody was going to riad the coinage to make it into food.

So gold and silver were great for _being_ money. Imagine if money were made out of actual food, like rice cakes were coins. Someone could easily eat the currency and then the money would go missing.

So mony _as_ _money_ has to have a whole bunch of particular traits, and yet we don't like those traits.

So we moved to the checkbook. It's a pain in the arse to haul a million gold coins somewhere. But hauling some paper that says "give this guy a million gold coins" is way easier.

So as the amounts of money grew the need for paper money, or bonds, or writs, or bank drafts grew.

So now in the big depositories, they'd shift coins or bars or whatever in response to drafts. None of the actual "coined gold" needed to ever leave the vault. It's just moved from pile A to pile B as directed.

Out in the real world, first the gold rush, then the silver boom, lowered the confidence in one of gold's (and then sliver's) traits. That being rarity. When you've got what may be a seemingly inexhaustible supply of gold showing up and potentially making gold as common as tin, well you don't want your money to be based on gold... so you switch to the second best of "sliver". Then that happens again, and the sliver mines are spewing out the stuff, so you decide to just stop using either one directly.

But then the gold rush and the silver boom each end before the price is really wrecked, so you go back to trading the stuff for the same reasons it was good to make it into money in the first place. But the price of gold and sliver are no longer tied to a currency.

So the "pound note" in england was a note for "one pound of sterling silver" then one day you stopped being able to ask for your pound of sliver because it stayed "a pound" but it became a pound of nothing in particular. It became a promise of uncertain value.

So most currency now days is paper money, or base coins (random alloys of metal that look good but are worth less than the amount pressed into their face). When you get a dollar it's worth a dollar but what's a dollar worth.

So now days gold and silver have real industrial uses, and it's value beyond that is illusory. But were society to collapse then the things that made gold good at being money still apply. A gold coin weighing a quarter ounce will be worth a quarter ounce of gold wherever you take it even if the "money number" on the front doesn't apply. (For example a $20 gold coin "Krugerrand" currently sells for a lot more than $20.)

So gold and silver have become the default measuring sticks for certain things, and that utility _is_ it's value.

Honestly, though, the deeper you look into economy and finance the more you realize it's just a giant reputation lottery. All money is a promise that someone will want it from you as much or more than you wanted it from me.

The corner cases get really odd. Like "Tally Sticks": split chunks of wood that was used for taxes. The taxed lords would buy the sticks, then ship the sticks. If brigands tried to steal the sticks the only place they had any value was to turn in as taxes for landed gentry. So the value of that currency was hugely specific.

Look deep enough and the answer to most questions about economy and money come back to the answer "because we said so". Why are there stock options? "because we said so". Why is gold valuable? "because we said so". As long as the people from whom you wish to get a good or service are one of the "we" then the transaction will work.

It's surprisingly arbitrary now days, but in the old times it was vital for long distance trade in an age without fast or reliable communication.


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

[User]
Are satellites engineered differently for specific planetary orbits?

I'm currently doing an assignment on Mars colonisation and launching a GPS satellite system there. Would we have to engineer these satellites differently to make them orbit Mars in a way that could be used for GPS?

I'm having trouble on finding any information about making different satellites for different planets, maybe I'm just bad at google, but if someone could provide some information (and hopefully sources?) it'd be greatly appreciated.

[Assistant]
Mars is farther from the sun so for the same amount of power you would need bigger solar panels.

Mars has less mass so there are relativistic effects which need to be accounted for.

Orbits would be different for the same GPS coverage as Earth.


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

[User]
ELI5: What's the difference between sonata, concerto, symphony etc. in classical music?

Who decides which is to be called what?

[Assistant]
Symphony: Full orchestra piece not centred on one instrument.

Concerto: Solo instrument accompanied by an orchestra.

Sonata: Solo instrument usually accompanied by piano (or another keyboard instrument). Can also be a solo keyboard piece.


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

[User]
How was weather different when landmasses were clumped into super continents like Pangaea?

Apart from climate changes, how were storms like hurricanes different?

[Assistant]
With a large conjoined landmass, the weather would be more severe. Much of the continent was very distant from the cooling ~~affects~~ effects of the sea. The hot interior would be dry (like a midcontinental desert). The margins would probably experience extreme weather patterns such as monsoons (formed by heating of the interior regions producing an onshore low pressure region like Tibet-India) and maybe larger hurricanes because there was more open water in which a storm could gain energy.

Edit: typo.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] For whatever reason, I'm a 20-year old muggle with a just-dead unicorn. I drink it's blood. What happens to me?

Who knows why. Maybe I stumbled across it just after it died. Maybe I freaked out and shot it. But for some demented reason I go and drink a pint of piping hot fresh unicorn blood. I'm an otherwise typical, healthy, run-of-the-mill 20-year old muggle.

* I will never see this unicorn again afterward or have access to magic stuff again. Wizarding world never finds out about my act for the next twenty years at minimum, if ever.
* If I'm a guy, what does this mean for my life, physical health, and mental health, and possible future offspring?
* If I'm a lady, what does this mean for my life, physical health, and mental health, and possible future offspring?

Breaking up by biological gender in case it matters.

[Assistant]
You probably feel pretty good. Those pimples on your back clear up and you wake up the next morning feeling great.

By the afternoon, you feel normal again. By the next morning, you get the shakes. Your skin crawls, your head is throbbing, and you **know** the only thing that will make you right is another taste of that magic rainbow drink, or *"U"* as you now think of it. You desperately search for an equestrian center nearby, but they only have *horses,* and that's not going to help you. No, your hemophagy can only be satisfied by the alabaster stallion's glittery blood.

In the throes of transcendent withdrawals, you either succumb or take your own life. You have no offspring, and if you did, they'd think you just really loved heroin.

Tl;dr- The actual cursed life is one of total addiction, not being sad you killed a pointy horse.


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

[User] [Bioshock] How exactly do plasmids work? I understand altering genetic code but how does that let you control lightning and whatnot?

[Assistant] Youve heard of electric eels? So theres a biological code producing significant electrical charge in a living body. Take a bit of Adam, splice in the right electricity generating organ DNA in and around the firearms and hands code and voila! Lightning from your fingertips. Bees communicate with pheromones, right? If you produced the right pheromones you could command a bee swarm, so splice a bit of Queen bee pheromone DNA with Adam to alter your sweat glands and you can pollinate a whole orchard AND puncture peoples faces, amazing! Ever see an octopus fade from sight by changing its skin? Add a bit of Adam with a dash of skin color change DNA and you are invisible! Well, practically invisible.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do nipples get hard in the cold?

[Assistant]
First comment is shadow banned.

Anyways, all skin tightens when it is cold.  That is what goosebumps are, the skin tightening and hair follicles standing out.  Nipples, however, are much more supple due to thinner layers and not bound to what is underneath, so there it is easier to scrunch up.

Scrotum and labia majora are similar in this regard.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do movie reviews have such a large influence for some movies, but are ignored on others?

There are movies that get bad reviews, but still make a sizable profit, such as many Adam Sandler movies. However, there are also movies like Baywatch that tank due to bad reviews. Why does this happen?

Thank you in advance.

[Assistant]
This is a complex topic, but it comes down to branding and preconceived notions.

To use your example; Adam Sandler has a brand. Regardless of what movies he puts out, there are going to be Adam Sandler fans that will watch his movies. He has a specific brand of humor that does not sit right with a lot of people, but is very attractive to his fans, and his fans don't care much what the broader audience thinks.

Bay Watch, while there are some fans of the original; everyone who likes an original is skeptical of a reboot. Those that aren't familiar with the original have no ties to the movie. So now most people's biggest piece of information regarding Bay Watch is going to be reviews.

The more branding surrounding a movie, the less reviews matter. For example, the next Harry Potter movie, the next Star Wars movie, the next Avatar movie, etc...it doesn't matter what critics say, these will all generate a ton of revenue.

A movie you've never heard of, like Get Out...its success depends solely on what critics have to say about it.


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

[User]
[The Parent Trap 1998] Why would Liz have Annie attend a summer camp in another country for 8 weeks? And why would Liz and Nick seperate the twins and never tell them about each other?

It just seems odd that Liz would have her 11-year-old daughter attend a summer camp in a different country for 8 weeks. It's also odd that Liz and Nick would separate the twins and never tell them about each other.

[Assistant]
>It just seems odd that Liz would have her 11-year-old daughter attend a summer camp in a different country for 8 weeks.

Rich people gonna rich.

>It's also odd that Liz and Nick would separate the twins and never tell them about each other.

Split custody is odd in and of itself but not unheard of or impossible. They may have simply not yet deemed it time to tell their kids about it.