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

[User]
CMV: Arguing adults should just "find a better job" is not an answer

In arguements about things such as minimum wage, employee rights, and tipping. A lot of people tend to say

"If they want __________, get a better job"

The blank could be replaced with more wages, rights, etc.

I noticed this a lot in a threads about tipping. If this person wanted to be paid better they should have got a better job.
If this person doesnt want me to stiff them out of principle they should find a better job.

You know the discussions.

Now, I don't believe the large majority of people struggling are complacent. Yes, they have people who are financially taken care of that can afford to work lower paying jobs with no problem.

Also people working incredibly dangerous or physically demanding jobs tend to not do it as their dream job. Even if they are getting payed better, it still may bring problems.

But most people working jobs that could lead to serious life problems. Like lack of money, time, etc. are not doing it because they want to but because they have to and have no other choice.

While you can always apply places for better jobs. A lot of places arent hiring. Its incredibly hard to even find a lower paying job that will schedule over 40 hours. Also seeking a new job while at your job in a right to work state can lose you the job you have now. Even getting a second job part time can cost you hours at one job leaving you back at square one.

And constantly switching jobs, even if to higher paying ones looks horrible on resumes. If someone making 8.50, finds a better job 3 months later at 9.30, then 6 months later at 10.50, they may lose their chance at an even higher paying job because they lack loyalty.

Higher education isnt feasible for everyone for upward mobility.  Even community college can cost enough time and money to make living impossible.

And some people will say, well just move where the jobs are. Also extremely difficult. To break the lease on my apartment, id need several thousand dollars, plus the cost of moving and several hundred more dollars for new deposits. Also those really struggling may still live at home.

Goverment aid is also hard to get for some. For example.  I wasnt allowed to take off work for my food stamp interview and am now barred from applying for a year.

Now all this being said.

I think telling people who complain they should just get better jobs is not a valid rebuttal to complaining about their current situation.

Again, most people in the struggle are not there out of choice.

Im not defending the small population who make choices that put them in this position. (Facial tatoos/piercings or people with loud hair, people who cannot pass a drug test, those who live off their parents intentionally)  But the majority of struggling Americans who cannot make ends meet because of a combination of social and economic factors. You can argue peoples wants but not their needs. I want a Nintendo Switch, its not necessary for me to live. I need food, shelter, and water.  No one trying to support themselves on lower paying jobs is working those jobs because they want to. Its because they have to.  If everyone had the luxury to just switch to something better, dont you think everyone would?

Edit: A lot of you all are missing the point.

I am saying in large scale discussions. Not personal situations, but on the whole..

Everyone cannot just get a better job, because there will be no one left to do the jobs they left.

An example would be a discussion about tipping.

If a person  says they dont believe they should tip, because they server should just get a better job, I dont think thats an answer to the problem.

[Assistant] Everyone knows its a hard to find a new job but telling a person to get a new job is basically telling the person to take responsibility for their own situation.  For example think wages suck? - then get better wages, do not look to others to give you better wages.


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

[User] Why is Starfleet headquartered in San Francisco?

[Assistant]
Well, the Federation as a whole is headquartered on Earth because, at the time of its founding, the humans were new on the scene, and thus not caught up in the centuries-old conflicts among the other founding members of the Federation. They were natural mediators among the various parties, and Earth's place as the center of the Federation is based off of that.

As for San Francisco specifically: it was the headquarters of Earth's Starfleet, and was one of the cities that best survived World War III. The office of the President of the Federation, incidentally, is in Paris.


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

[User]
I'm starting a small coffee discussion group, what books would be good for beginners?

As stated above, I would like to start a book club of sorts to speak openly with my peers about the meaning of life, what's important and all that jazz. I've been recommended to start with 'Consolations  of Philosophy,' in order to get a base foundation of viewpoints to refer to. I'd like to get to Being and Nothingness eventually, however I think that'd be too much to start with.
Any help/suggestions would be amazing!

Thank you in advance! (I'll check back on this post in a few hours)

[Assistant]
I think you guys would enjoy Plato's dialogues. It might even be fun to have different people voicing the different characters, kind of like a play.

The *Symposium* is really good, so is *Euthyphro*. You can also read *The Apology*.

You can also take a look at Marcus Aurelius's *Meditations*.


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

[User] [Star Trek TNG] Why does the crew experiment on/with the ship's warp core while theyre exploring the galaxy, or even while people are onboard? Is that not seen as risky?

[Assistant]
These tests don't come out of nowhere, they've been validated theoretically, in simulations, and in the laboratory.  Field testing is the last phase of a long process.  Eventually any new configuration must be tested out on a real ship.  Of course there is still some risk, but that's the nature of the job.  In the immortal words of Captain James Tiberius Kirk, "Risk is our business."

Starfleet has ample resources, but not infinite resources, they can't just keep an entire Galaxy class starship around for no purpose but experimentation.  Even if they could, it still wouldn't reflect real operating conditions since real ships see stress.

The only solution, therefore, is to have a ship currently in the field which has the latest model system test out the new configuration.  The reason the *Enterprise* sees so many upgrades and tests is precisely because it is a top-of-the-line starship.  It's engines are new, as is nearly every other system, based on tests run on earlier ships.  The results impacted the design of subsequent Intrepid and Sovereign class starships.

The *Hood*, a veteran Excelsior-class ship, doesn't see these tests because that class has already been run through all these experiments and that ship has been upgraded as much as it can be.  Those tests were used to inform the design of the Ambassador and Galaxy classes.


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

[User]
Can anybody explain why adding salt to a soft drink causes it to bubble and decarbonate?

I understand it has something to do with the dissassociation of the NaCl ions in the soft drink?
I'm not sure how the ions can somehow chemically react, resulting in formation of CO2 gas.

[Assistant]
It isn't important that it's salt. It's important that they are crystals.

Carbonated water isn't thermodynamically stable under ambient conditions. The thermodynamically stable, equilibrium state is flat soda. That's why it goes flat when you leave it out for a while.

Soda doesn't go flat instantly because the kinetics of CO2 limit the rate of the reaction. Basically, the reaction is slow enough that we act like it is stable over a reasonable time. If there is a spot for bubbles to form - a scratch or corner or something - this rate can get sped up a good bit. These spots are called nucleation site because they are the site of a bubble nucleus is formed. You can spot these in champagne glasses cause there is often a single site in an otherwise clean glass that a steady stream of bubbles will come up from.

Adding salt adds a whole pile of nucleation sites at one time. Lots of nucleation sites means lots of bubbles happen at one time. This is the same thing mentos does since mentos is made of lots and lots of tiny sugar crystals.


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

[User]
[WH40K/Eisenhorn book 3] About Pontius Glaws endgame.

So, he planned on obtaining this barque, this ship of a longdead demon king, and with this he would be unstoppable.
How would one ship be enought to to threaten the imperium? What was so special about it, excpet it was made by a demon?

Also, its said that this demon prince escaped from the warp to this planet, how does a demon escape from the warp on his own, dont you need to  be summoned?

Also, how long ago did the demon prince escape and built his empire? During the heresy? Before the fall of the eldar? IIRC it said that it was raised " by a Pre-Dawn daemon civilization that was dead long before the Eldar came to the stars". Is that even possible, was there even demons before the eldar?

[Assistant]
Yeah daemons need to be summoned but they typically manipulate people into summoning them. They may not readily be hands on when it comes to the materium but a few insidious whispers can go a long way - especially when you are ancient and functionally immortal.

Now with regards to plans - Daemons rarely tell the truth even to their own followers. Look at the thousand sons, rubric marines, Horus, etc.

I mean for all we know glaw's whole unbridled power hahaha you are all fucked endgame could have very well be a master plan to get some grox in the box that he had been craving for a millennia.

I hate to tread out the whole heresy blam! Trope here - but it's a damned daemon here! You literally can't trust a damn thing it says!


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

[User]
Supervisor throwing shade for being late in sending my work - how to handle the situation?

Hi! I am a postdoc (US) and need input on how to handle this situation. Here is a timeline for the events:

A few months ago, my supervisor said she needed my help with a grant application due at some point in the future. Both of us thought it would be a good experience. I did not know which grant it was or any of the deadlines.

Early July: I was planning to travel home to see my family for vacation sometime in Sep or October. I emailed my supervisor asking her if it would be OK to take time off. (Note that this was more than a two-month notice for a three weeks vacation). She was OK with my being away. The grant application was not in the picture, so I did not consider it when planning, as nothing was happening.

Mid-July: She emailed that she needs help with the first part of the application due in Early August. I did what I was asked, and everything went smoothly. Nothing else happened until early September.

Early September: five days before my travel, I was asked to write an outline for the proposal part of the grant due the day before my trip. She also mentioned the grant application deadline, which is 20 days after my return. I wrote the outline and sent it and received feedback.

Early October: after I returned, there were 20 days before the deadline (20, including weekends and holidays). I also had a fellowship application of my own to write, due Mid October. I did my best working on both.

Five days before the deadline: In the morning, my advisor sent me an email saying that the deadline is approaching, and she had to start working on it **herself** and for me to send her everything I have. I sent her the proposal later that day and asked if there were any other sections I could help with. I never heard back.

Today: there was a group meeting with some of the students in the group. She started throwing shade at me for sending the document late. She mentioned how annoying it can be when people are late. That it is a pain in the ass when people do things late and that people remember these things. (I suspect she wanted me to help with more sections).

I was very annoyed by the way this was handled. I was never able to respond since he was not addressing me directly. I never got feedback on my work nor recognition for the time I put into this. Moreover, the last thing she mentioned got me stressed. What does it mean that people will remember? I believe she was referring to herself and that she will remember this incident in the future. I am applying to academic jobs and have listed her in my applications (with her permission and blessing). This statement worried me about the letter she might write if contacted.

So, my question is: **How do I handle this? Should I bring it up in a few weeks to clear the air? I would like for things to be smooth, but also I want to clarify my position. One issue is that even talking to her is hard because she is unavailable, so I am not even sure how to bring this up.**

I believe I did my best working on this, but the timing of my vacation coincided with this deadline I did not know about. I could not change the timing of my vacation for family issues (and nonrefundable plane tickets). Now, I have an angry supervisor despite my best efforts.

About my supervisor: She is a well-renowned professor with strong connections to academia and industry. **She is widely considered successful and productive**. She has accepted a second managerial job at a big pharmaceutical company. She has become less available since. I think this is why she is asking me to help with these things. I have respect for her which is why I want to fix the situation.

[Assistant]
How do you know that this "shade" was directed at you if a) you weren't late, b) you weren't directly addressed, and c) you haven't spoken directly to her about it yet?

Also, why do you switch between pronouns halfway through your story here?


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

[User]
[DC] Why doesnt Darkseid just spam Omega beams all the time?

Why does he even bother to fight unless the opponent is in his level ?

[Assistant]
In Red Son, Superman is able to easily trounce any foe he ever comes across. He never learns proper martial arts or trains his body in any mundane fashion. This means that when Batman tricks him into a situation where his powers fail him, he gets his ass kicked six ways to Sunday.

I can see Darkseid wanting to avoid a similar situation, and thus avoiding relying entirely on his superpowers.


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

[User]
[Various Fantasy] What does getting hit with arcane damage feel like?

Is it hot like fire? Concussive? Cold?

[Assistant] It depends on the spell really. Arcane spells skip the tedious conjuration of elements and simply use magic to directly create a force. The classic example is creating a handful of darts to impact a target, no different really than a slingstone might. If slingstones struck unerringly with a thought and a gesture. More advanced spells may have more complex forces. Some replicate gravity, or help you ignore it, or rip holes in the fabric of space to familiar locations. Arcane magic is versatile if nothing else.


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

[User]
ELI5: how secure / anonymous are texting apps? How easily can cops trace it?

I was in an argument with a friend about the anonymity of texting apps / burner apps / Skype calling, and I wanted to know, say if you don't use your actual email or information, how easy is it to still trace it to the user?

[Assistant]
It depends on the specific app.

For some apps, it's not private at all. For others, it's possible for them to see who you're texting but not the contents of the text. Others are completely private.

In some cases, the answer is "it depends". WhatsApp, for example, didn't used to be private until recently - and it's only private if everyone in a chat has a reasonably up-to-date version of the app. When you create a new conversation in WhatsApp, it will show a message saying that the chat is private (if it is).


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

[User] Can the gut microbiome restore itself to healthy levels after antibiotics and if so, how long does this take?

[Assistant]
PhD in Gut Microbiome here - yes they can restore - as for time its very dependent on the situation pre abx exposure- infants with a naive microbiome can take years to return to a pre-antibiotic treated state.
Also of course youll have opportunistic pathogens trying to gain detrimental colonisation. Someone says use probiotics with abx - Id wait a few days and get your probiotics in - also use only properly researched and licensed strains of probiotics - dont go pay a fortune for nonsense :)


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

[User]
A 2 pound battery can only run a human size robot for less than an hour but a 2 lb block of sugar can run a 200 lb human for 24hrs with full motion and lifting etc. Can someone DETAIL the energy utilization differences why?

A 2 pound battery can only run a human size robot for less than an hour but a 2 lb block of sugar can run a 200 lb human for 24hrs with full motion and lifting etc. Can someone DETAIL the energy utilization differences why?

[Assistant]
The battery's mass includes electrodes, an electrolyte and support mass in the form of the container and electrical contacts. Not all of the mass is directly used in energy storage. The actual amount of energy which can be stored electrochemically is constrained by the choice of electrode materials, which are typically metal. Most metals used in battery construction are heavier per atom compared with the elements which make up hydrocarbons like sugar.

Another salient point to consider is that the sugar is combined with oxygen from the atmosphere in cellular respiration. Assuming the 2 lb block of sugar to be 907 g of sucruose (table sugar), approximately 1040 L of pure oxygen at ambient pressure and temperature are also used up. The total mass of the reactants is around 5.3 lb. While it doesn't change the observed difference in energy density between conventional battery materials and hydrocarbon fuel cells, it is perhaps worth considering in making the comparison?


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

[User]
How do you avoid being convinced by every philosophy book you read?

I find it hard to not being convinced when Im introduced to a new philosopher idea, even more if it is about a subject I dont know much or if its really complicated or if it is hard to read. How do you usually approach this new ideas and how do you avoid being too closed or too gullible to them? Is this a common thing?

[Assistant] Good philosophy has the effect of being convincing. If you feel like you're too convinced by an author and you want to know more about whether or not they're right/if you should feel so convinced, try to find criticisms of the author's position(s)


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

[User]
[Deadpool movie] Why were they giving terminal cancer patients the mutagen stuff?

With Deadpool his x-gene activated and he got healing powers which cured his cancer. I'm fairly sure Francis says he doesn't know which powers he'd get.

So if one of the subjects receives the treatment and gets ice powers or something, so what? They're still going to die in a few months and they're useless as weapons.

Why are they wasting resources on terminally ill people who most likely won't survive much longer even if they do happen to survive the treatment and get superpowers?

[Assistant]
>Why are they wasting resources on terminally ill people who most likely won't survive much longer even if they do happen to survive the treatment and get superpowers?

Because those are the people willing to *volunteer* for the experiment in the hopes they will be cured.   These are people who are otherwise doomed, with terminal diagnoses. They're willing to try almost any experimental drug at this point. What they don't know is that in the fine print they're effectively signing up for torture with a slim chance of survival.


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

[User] ELI5: What is actually happening to our body when we sleep? And if most of our organs in our body remain "in operation" while we sleep (brain, heart, etc.), how is sleep beneficial to them?

[Assistant]
Sleeping is an opportunity to repair and replace any part of the body that is broken or worn down.

It is intense work.

Your immune system is active, cleaning up infections and clearing out any cancerous cells that have developed during the day.

Your epithelial tissue (like your skin and the lining of your gastrointestinal tract) grows faster, in an attempt to replace cells lost during the ware and tear of the day.

Some organs behave almost identically to how they behave during the day. Your liver and kidney, for example, are still filtering. Your heart is still pumping. However, while lying down, the stress placed on your heart is significantly reduced.

Your brain is the most interesting. There is evidence that the brain spends the night cleaning up house. It removes debris created throughout the day by increasing the rate the fluid exchange into and out of the brain. In fact, this cleansing of the Cerebrospinal Fluid (the fluid that bathes your brain and spine), is so important, we can make predictions about how quickly individuals in nursing homes will develop Alzheimers based on how much they sleep.

Those billions of connections that make up your brain? Those have to be repaired. A current theory is that the majority of that work may be done during sleep through brief activations of neural circuits.

Finally, the brain uses the night to process memory, something that we know little about, but this *memory consolidation* theory of sleep is gaining traction.


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

[User]
Why does almost every online service/game want me to sign up via Facebook.

Almost every game I've ever downloaded for my iPhone encourages me to sign up via Facebook, usually giving me some sort of prize or new content. Why is this? Do they get money from Facebook?

[Assistant] Free advertising... your facebook friends will see that you "liked" a new game and will be more likely to also use that game.  More facebook "likes" equals more chance of getting new users equals more money.  Facebook doesn't pay companies, if anything it would be the other way around.


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

[User]
If aluminum is a conductor, why do we wrap hot food in foil?

Wouldn't the foil conduct away all the heat from the food you are trying to keep hot? Wouldn't it make more sense to wrap in an insulator?

[Assistant] Yes and no, foil does a decent job because it keeps hot air inside (air is an excellent insulator) and it is reflective so it reflects all radiant heat (like a solar oven). Thus there is a good amount of heat retention with only a little bit of heat loss through conduction.


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

[User] Why does the pitch of the sound of a video rise when the video is sped up?

[Assistant]
By speeding up the audio/video, say 2x normal speed, and the audio you're speeding up is just a constant 440hz tone, (440 cycles per second) then the audio would then become 2x normal speed, meaning there would be 880 cycles per second, or 880hz, which is a higher tone than 440hz?
Just guessing here.


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

[User] When a person develops an alcohol tolerance by drinking frequently, does that mean their BAC is actually lower after a drink than the average person?

[Assistant]
Acquired alcohol tolerance is caused by several different mechanisms. The first and probably most important is just behavioral compensation. Frequent heavy drinkers tend to automatically adjust certian kinds of behaviors and learn techniques, ways of acting and processing information, that make them appear less drunk to others and even feel less drunk themselves.

There are also chemical mechanisms of tolerance that can change in response to regular drinking, too, though. In the central nervous system, changes to the density of certain receptors and enzyme pathways will dampen the effects of ethanol. There's a fine line between these changes and behavioral compensation. They're really probably the same thing, but at different scales.

These mechanisms don't reduce the amount of alcohol, they just change the way the person acts in the presence of alcohol. However, there are also metabolic tolerance mechanisms, like the proliferation of cells in the liver that have upregulated production of alcohol dehydrogenase. This mechanism will lead to a faster breakdown of alcohol that enters the body and so prevent BAC from getting as high even if the same amount of alcohol is consumed.

In most cases, all of these mechanisms are happening in combination, though very heavy drinkers will eventually reverse their metabolic tolerance once liver damage becomes severe enough.


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

[User]
[X-Men] How close does the ruby quartz need to be to fully negate Cyclops' beams?

His eye beams produce a red color, so when he wears non-wrap around sunglasses to block it, we should see the red light from the side unless the quartz fully stops the portals from being created. When he goes to remove his glasses, then the portals open. So how far away does he need to get them to do that?

[Assistant]
Ruby quartz is, quite simply, impenetrable by Cyclops' beams. If you wear ruby quartz armour, you won't feel anything when his optic blast hits you.

His glasses don't negate his powers, they just block them. The lack of glow around the edges is down to one of three possible factors:

1) It's there; it's just a failure of the art.

2) Cyclops is an incredibly focused individual, and that extends to always keeping his eyes in line with his head. No matter what absurd outfit Gambit or Shadowcat may be wearing today, he never, ever, gives side-eye.

3) It's been established that Cyclops' inability to control his powers is primarily psychological. With the glasses in place, he is reassured of the safety of those around him, and relaxes enough to switch the beams off.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How could the Jedi have used proper intelligence techniques to figure out who the leak was during the Clone Wars?

They say that they suspect the Separatists have a high-ranking source inside the Republic. Palpatine is not portrayed as omniscient; he occasionally gets surprised by events not going his way. Suppose that the Jedi had some kind of decent intelligence agency. What techniques could have allowed them to ferret out where the Separatists were getting their information?

[Assistant]
1. The jedi were being hampered on a force level by Sidious. This affects their precog abilities the most but also hampered their other abilities to a degree.

2. Any jedi intelligence operation would be up against palpatines vast network of spies and informants. Coupled with #1 this would seriously put any jedi operation at a severe disadvantage.

3. Anything the jedi were able to prove would not hold much weight in public recourse as Sidious had full control of the courts and massive sway over the senators. By the end of Revenge the jedi had deduced that Palpatine was involved in some sort of high level deception but the depth of his involvement was only found out when it was too late.


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

[User]
ELI5: What's with (what seems like) the sudden increase of gluten free foods, restaurants, diets, etc.?

Is there really an increase of people with Celiac Disease? Or are there benefits to being gluten free?

[Assistant] There are a few people with Celiac Disease, for whom a gluten-free diet is medically necessary.  Beyond that, it's just a fad.  Companies advertise products as gluten-free (gluten-free water!, gluten-free tupperware!) in order to make money.  It's of no benefit if you don't have the disease.


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

[User] ELI5: How come cats can face off with animals way bigger and deadlier than them (like bears or crocodiles) and still manage to scare them off and assert dominance?

[Assistant] In ecology there is a concept that animals balance trade offs when foraging. For example, for a bear is risking getting his eyes gouged out by the cat worth killing the cat or take the cat's food? Most likely not.


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

[User] ELI5 what happens with spit once you swallow it.

[Assistant] The vast majority is water which will recycle back into your bloodstream and lymph system where it will either be used or excreted. The small remainder which is protein, enzymes, salts, etc will either be digested and reused or excreted.


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

[User]
[General] What did Santa Claus do during WWII? Did he use North Pole's impressive industrial strength to help one side or the other?

I mean, his name pretty much gives up his nationality. Was he a German Nationalist? Did he remain neutral?

[Assistant]
nikolaos, or saint nicholas, was bulgarian. He gave out secret gifts in the 4th century while he was still a bishop of Myra. As he grew sick of the excesses of the age, and the cruel people, he took followers with him northwards, stopping only when there was no other humans around. he spent the next few centuries crafting not just a home, but a lair, for himself and those that came with him.

Over the time, the beings that travelled with him aged, and loved, and died, whereas nikolaos did not. he did notice that the inbreeding made these people less human, shorter and with pointier ears. they were no longer man, not quite beast- elves, in short.

Nikolaos ventured out several times over the next few centuries, and sickened by the suffering he saw renounced God, at much the same time he was acknowledged as a saint- one of the great celestial ironies. He vowed to ignore the suffering of the world, and see only joy.

His lair was transformed bit by bit into a factory, producing toys and gifts for children around the world. Red was donned to be a shining beacon of hope and joy whenever it was witnessed.

War is of no consequence to Nikolaos, only preperation for the one day where he manages to end much of the suffering and pain of the world, and spread joy. No side was taken, for in war, there is only suffering. He stayed north, building presents, improving the sleigh, deaf to the pain, focussing only on that one day, his day- Christmas.


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

[User]
[Breaking Bad] Why was Walter White teaching high school?

Its very difficult to believe that someone so accomplished in Chemistry is teaching at a high school. I mean cmon he should be able to get private sector work easy or at least tenure at a respected private university.

[Assistant]
It's implied he's a terrible coworker and an even worse boss.

He did get other jobs in the private sector. IIRC he worked in at least three other labs, and was the head of one. In fact, Skylar and Walt moved to Albuquerque because of a new job.

It's not outright stated, but the implication is that he got fired from each one of them. As we only learn later in the series, the more power he has, the worse he gets. As head of a lab or a tenured professor, he would be controlling and abusive, and eventually let go. The high school job was likely the only stable one he found *because* it's demeaning to him and therefore neuters his power-hungry personality.


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

[User] Could The Hulk be assimilated by The Thing (1982)?

[Assistant]
No, for a couple of reasons.

First, an assimilation implies an attack on the cellular level. The Hulk has demonstrated an ability to resist and recover from an incredibly wide range of attacks, so this would be repelled just like any other cellular attack, say from a chemical or bacteriological weapon.

Secondly, even if the Thing could get a sample of Hulk tissue to work with, it wouldn't be able to replicate Hulk's true abilities. The Hulk is not merely a biological phenomenon. He has repeatedly broken laws of physics through raw strength alone, and is capable of generating strength and muscle mass without consuming anything, seemingly in violation of the law of conservation of mass and energy. As such, it has been hypothesized that every cell in Hulk's body is somehow a portal to an alternate dimension, from which he draws power. This phenomenon has not been replicated in the lab, and even a seemingly perfect cloner such as the Thing would be unlikely to be able to replicate the feat. Duplicating normal cells is one thing; duplicating a cell-sized hyperspatial wormhole is quite another.


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

[User]
ELI5- Why do airline ticket prices fluctuate so much on a day to day basis?

Pretty self explanatory.  I realize that fuel prices go up and down each day but other than that is there any other factors that impact it?

[Assistant]
You make and sell widgets.  They are really cheap for you to make so we won't consider your costs for this example.

Fred is willing to pay $6 for a widget, and Wilma is willing to pay $10, and Shaggy is willing to pay $12.

What should you set your price at?  If you sell at $6, all three will buy from you and your gross income will be $18.  If you sell at $10, Wilma and Shaggy will buy from you and your gross will be $20.  If you sell at $12, only Shaggy will buy from you and your gross will be $12.

Clearly you should set your price at $10, right?  If this was the only way you could set prices, then the answer would be yes.  But what if you came up with some clever way of charging different prices for each person.  If you could charge everybody the most they would be willing to pay, then you could make $28 instead.

This is called "capturing the consumer surplus".  You see this in lots of places, with things like senior citizen or child discounts (groups that would often just rather pass up something than pay full price), or with region codes on DVDs.  Any time you have a chance to divide up your market you have an opportunity to capture consumer surplus.

Airlines have made this into an art, deciding how much somebody is probably willing to pay based on all sorts of signals like where they are going, whether it is round trip, how many stops there are, how far in advance they are looking for a ticket, when they are flying, etc, etc.  It would not be surprising to learn that every person on a flight paid a different price.

TL;DR - They are making a guess at the most you'd be willing to pay based on the information they have about you.


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

[User]
[DC] Why is Superman so strong? Why Kryptonians? Why not other aliens? Humans don't become superpowered if they sunbathe in a different colored sun's radiation right?

and superman isn't just strong by earth standards, he's strong throughout the universe DC.

so krypton was basically a planet of gods?

why'd they die then? wouldn't they take vacations to yellow stars to recherge/transform into super powered beings?

[Assistant]
It has something to do with the radiation of their respective suns and Kryptonian physiology. A yellow sun will give a Kryptonian powers, while a red sun will not. There are other super-strong aliens though, Martians and Czarnians for instance (and they're just as extinct as the Kryptonians).

Krypton had colonies, but they were eventually abandoned because Kryptonian society had a massive superiority complex and was also isolationist. That way, nearly every Kryptonian died once the planet blew up.

There are descendants of one of Krypton's colonies called the Daxamites. They're basically the same. Look like humans, orbit a red sun, get superpowers under a yellow sun. They're also violently xenophobic and taught to attack any alien on sight, which explains why they remain among themselves.


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

[User]
What effect does human burial have on the environment?

I'm mostly interested in modern human burial with an embalmed person in a casket, but I'd like to hear about other forms of burial also.

[Assistant]
In terms of (bio-)mass, human bodies are quite negligible compared to what's already in the soil. All soft parts get absorbed, dissolved and washed out by groundwater/animals within decades, and bone usually dissolves after roughly a century to a millennium, unless the burial takes place in soils already saturated with calcium, such as chalk or former seabeds with lots of shell particles. Occasionally, temporary mummification may take place, for example in soils which do not allow free flow of water (heavy clays or iron pan formations, for example), which allow only for limited anaerobic decomposition, halting decomposition at the stage of fatty/soapy gel for over a century. Because there is not much water moving around, the environmental impact of such local buildups of bio-waste is limited, but as stated in other posts, may leak out into surface water and cause all kinds of nastiness, like darkercheese posted.

In all, the environmental impact of burial of a body is very limited, unless you add all kinds of weird stuff (chemicals for embalming, casket etc.) to the body. These kind of cultural habits also could have had quite an environmental impact in the past. For the construction of burial mounds during the European Bronze Age, for example, large surfaces of farmland were stripped of its fertile topsoil. Some estimations on Danish barrows allow for a space of two football fields per mound turned into artificial deserts for roughly a decade. Similarly, the practice of cremation may have had a significant impact in largely treeless landscapes, such as the Scottish islands, turning them from wooded landscapes similar to mainland Scotland into the swampy, peaty, windblown bare rocks they are now.


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

[User]
[King Kong] How is Skull Island able to support so many huge predators?

Each level in the food chain requires about 10x as much biomass as the one above it.  Given the limited carrying capacity of a small island, how can there possibly be enough food to support the many huge predators which make their home on Skull Island?

[Assistant]
there is a *vast* underground world populated almost entirely by megafauna.  The surface area of Skull Island is tiny by comparison.  The surface is much nicer to live in, but constantly contested by new invaders.

The kong vs skullcrawler fights are so fierce specifically because there isn't enough room for them to coexist peacefully.


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

[User]
[avatar] How did Zuko ever expect to fight the avatar?

 Assuming he DIDNT predict encountering a frozen kid whos allies were a giant yak and two other kids, how did he think he was going to fight a 100 year old, fully realized master of all elements? Just gonna punch some fire against a guy with endless spiritual energy and a presumable desire for vengeance? I mean we saw the way the fire sages practically peed themselves when they saw Roku, did Zuko think hed have a proper chance against that kind of power?

[Assistant]
To give him some credit, one would assume a fully realized master of all elements with a thirst for vengeance would *already* be attacking the fire nation. Something must have happened to stop them doing that.

He couldn't have predicted a frozen 12 year old, but he had very good reason to believe the Avatar wasn't at the top of their game. Hopefully, whatever was stopping them just leveling the Fire Lord's Palace would be enough to give him a fighting chance (which it was, as it turns out)


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

[User]
[Lord of the Rings] At least some elves were born in middle-earth, right? What did the Valar think of them?

Melkor steals silmarils, elves leave Valinor and do Bad Things. Valar curse them and shut them out, and when the elves die they have to wait for a long time before being reincarnated as part of their punishment. Something like that.

But what about elves born in middle-earth, who haven't participated in said Bad Things? Do they get reincarnated immediately? Could they make their way back to Valinor if they had the skill, a good enough boat, and didn't take others with them?

[Assistant]
All elves have the ability to reach Aman beyond the curve by boat. Even the elves who left Valinor in pursuit of Morgoth were granted the ability to return after the First Age.

The rehousing length is determined by Mandos and is very similar to the Catholic concept of Purgatory. Great Elves who lived and died selflessly were rehoused quickly, average elves took average time (Tolkien played with the idea of 1000 years), and exceedingly bad elves would spend the rest of time without a body.

In addition, some mortals (Frodo, Bilbo, Sam, Gimli maybe) were specially permitted to sail beyond the curve to islands off the coast of Valinor.


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

[User]
[LOTR] Several Questions (elves, arwen, ships)

Watched all three recently and I have some questions

1. Can someone explain Arwen's pendant and mortality etc. ?
2. when the Elves get on ships, where do they go? (Why did Gandalf go too?)
3. What were the 3 elven rings of power? what'd they do?

[Assistant]
1. Peter Jackson can explain the pendant and whatever was going on with her getting sick/dying in the LotR movies. It certainly wasn't in the books. As for Arwen's mortality: Elrond is one of the Halfelven, beings descended from both Elves and Men. All the Halfelven were given a choice: they could become Men, and die a mortal death (mortality being the gift of God to Men, and not something to be feared), and all their descendants would be Men as well. Elrond's brother made this choice, and became the first King of the Dunedain; Aragorn is a distant descendant of his. Elrond, on the other hand, chose to be counted with the Elves. His children were given the same choice, but did not have to make the choice immediately - they could go with their father to the West, and be Elves, or remain behind and become mortal and eventually die. This is the choice that Arwen made when she remained behind.

2. They went to Valinor, the ultimate West. It is the land of the Valar, who are analogous to gods in the Greek/Norse sense. It is also the ancestral home of the Elves, so they are returning home. Gandalf is going because he is one of the Maiar, which are analogous to angels. He, and the other wizards, were sent by the Valar to aid the people of Middle-Earth against Sauron. His task completed, he is returning home as well.

3. Sauron, in disguise as an emissary of the Valar, helped the Elven Ring-smiths make most of the Rings of Power, so all of them were corrupt from the beginning. The Three were the exception; they were made by the Elves alone, and Sauron never sullied them. The greatest of the three was Vilya, the Ring of Air, kept by Elrond. Galadriel had Nenya, the Ring of Water, and Gandalf had Narya, the Ring of Fire. The Three all had the power to preserve, protect, and heal; they were not tools to gain wealth like the Seven, or power line the Nine, or domination like the One. Don't fixate on the Air/Water/Fire thing, it's mostly metaphorical. In general, their powers are not well defined, though Gandalf's Ring had the power to inspire others to resist tyranny. It was originally held by Cirdan the Shipwright, lord of the Grey Havens, but when Gandalf arrived Cirdan recognized that Gandalf could make far better use of the Ring. But even though Sauron never touched them, the Three were still under the dominion of the One, and when the One was destroyed, their power faded.


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

[User] Why do some organisms age faster than others? What determines how fast an organism ages?

[Assistant] The rate at which an organism ages has all to do with the natural selection of its life strategy.  This means: organisms that are at a higher risk of dying early on in life, evolve to mature quicker so that they can reproduce sooner.


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

[User]
ELI5: How did people start measuring distance at sea where it's water all around?

Today I know we have the technology to position anything accurately within a few feet. But how would sailors in old times measure distance and have maps of the sea? Why is there a nautical mile and different from the land mile?

[Assistant]
This was a massive problem for ancient mariners - with no landmarks you were totally lost the moment you lost sight of shore.

Eventually two breakthroughs enabled open sea travel.

The first was the discovery of magnetic stones, and the concurrent discovery that the Earth itself was magnetic.  This lets you build a compass and find north no matter where you are.

The second is the development of celestial navigation.  Theres no *land*marks at sea, but on a clear night the sky fills with hundreds of them.  If you know what day it is and approximately how big the Earth is, you can chart what stars should be visible from what points on the globe and in what direction.

Following the sun, moon, and stars with the aid of star charts and a compass was the complex but accurate method pre-industrial sailors used to reach their approximate destination across the open ocean.

Once accurate maritime clocks were developed the system became extremely accurate.  If you know exactly what minute it is and know exactly when stars *should* rise and set at a certain location you can determine how close you are with high accuracy.

Of course, this all requires clear skies.  Many ships lost course in stormy or overcast conditions and ended up way off target.


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

[User]
Does the fossil record show significant changes in the global diversity of land animals coinciding with the formation or breakup of supercontinents?

For instance, something similar to the Columbian Exchange, when colonization spread invasive species between continents?

[Assistant]
You're looking for the field of biogeography! Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space over geologic time. It's super fascinating stuff.

There is a lot of evidence for tectonic theory in the paleo record, including related animals on either side of a divergent plate boundary (think west side of Africa and east side of South America). The processes that you mention, tectonic movement, generally happens too slowly to be associated with big extinction events, but you can certainly see speciation occur over time as populations become separated over time. Some smaller extinctions may occur as a result of populations being brought together (land bridge or similar, two species that filled the same niche now have to compete for resources) or as an ecosystem changes slowly over time due to something like mountain uplift. Generally mass extinctions are caused by climatic events, like fast global temperature change or sea level rise, or one-off events like volcanic eruption or the well known asteroid impact.


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

[User]
[Alvin and the Chipmunks] Is Dave from AatC only in it for the money?

He obviously can't stand being the guardian of the chipmunks.  He's been injured, had relationships ruined and I'm sure the constant stress is horrible for his blood pressure.

Dave is probably on many medications just to deal with the nonsense he has to put up with.

[Assistant]
Essentially, the chipmunks saved him from unemployment. He acts out of gratitude, despite putting up with all their antics.

In addition, Dave feels a bit of fatherly responsibility over the chipmunks. He sees them as children who never were taught how to behave, and wants to try and make them better people-chipmunk creatures.


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

[User]
Can I "average out" water temperature by adding volumes at a specific temperature?

Let's say I want my bath at a perfect temperature, but my water heater is busted. I have a jumbo cauldron at my fireplace, though, so I boil up 25 gallons of water, and mix it with my ice cold tap water, trying to get the temperature just right.

Just to make the math easy, I have 25 gallons of boiling water at 100c, and I mix it with 25 gallons of 25 gallons of almost freezing water, call it 1c.  Will that give me a nice 50 gallon bath at 50c? Or do I end up with some other temperature?

[Assistant]
The temperature won't be exactly the average for two reasons, but the difference is probably small enough to not worry about for a bath:

* the heat capacity depends on the temperature: At different temperature you need a different amount of energy to increase the temperature by one degree. That's a ~0.5% variation and for your specific problem even less because it affects both the hot and the cold water in very similar ways.
* water expands when heated, so your hot water of the same volume is ~4% less water (by mass).


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

[User] ELIF: How do those laser light thermometers work?

[Assistant] They do not use the laser to measure temperature, that is just an aid so you know where you are pointing it. What actually measures the temperature is an infrared sensor that detects the IR radiation from the object which is indicative of the surface temperature of the object, much like how an IR camera would behave.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do we keep having power issues such as "lines are down" or "rolling blackouts" or "rolling brownouts".

Should not have the electric company by now figured out some different way or a more rugged set up that will not be affected by the harsh environments?

[Assistant]
In the US (where these sorts of things are more common then many western european countries) power lines and utility polls are **ridiculously old**, since we didn't have the same sort of damage on our land as many european countries in World War II.  So since the lines worked, we kept using them, and expanding them, and so on and so on.

Now we have super old, above ground lines.  We also have pretty harsh weather in many places, which makes it even worse.

Rolling blackouts and rolling brownouts aren't **that** common, and those are caused by too little power generation.

Lines are down almost always because of weather, and that's based on the lines being above ground.  We could put lines underground, and a lot of new construction is underground.  One of the problems with that is that we need to do a massive construction project if there is an issue with the line, which does happen underground sometimes, even if it's less common than above ground.  That cost is not always worth it, and if the above ground polls are working, it's almost always not worth the cost to replace them with below ground.

Also, lines being down is normally visible because we are really bad at telling where outages happen.  Did you know that for most americans, if a line is taken down leading to your house, the utlity company has no idea?  Only when someone calls about it do they send out someone to fix it.

We (I work for a utility) are working on upgrading the electricity grid to fix some of these problems, but it's absurdly expensive so it takes some time.


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

[User] [Marvel] wouldn't the Reality Stone just control, well, all aspects of reality? What's the need for the other stones?

[Assistant]
The Reality Stone lets its user alter reality on a whim, but only in the local area and temporarily.

* The Time Stone is needed to make these changes last.
* The Space Stone is needed to alter reality on a universal scale.
* The Power Stone is needed to give you enough power to alter permanently alter reality on a universal scale.
* The Mind Stone is needed to give you the mental fortitude to permanently alter reality on a universal scale.

I don't know where the soul stone comes in, but at the very least you need the four other ones to control reality like that.


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

[User]
Which is more important for growth in the modern economy: consumption or production?

I'm sure this question has been asked a million times by economists and many studies have been performed to try to find the answer. What do current mainstream economists believe?

[Assistant]
Over long time horizons, innovations on the production side drive economic growth.

Over shorter time horizons, with the capital stock and state of technology basically fixed, consumption (and other components of demand) play a larger role in determining aggregate growth.

In short, to put it crudely, it isn't an either/or -- we need to understand both supply and demand.


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

[User]
ELI5: What is fed to people in a coma?

Is it blended every day food or similar to meal replacement shakes? If so does this include fruits and vegetables or are all essential nutrients provided though supplementation?

[Assistant] It's a special liquid formula that contains the right amount of calories, protein, and essential nutrients that can be adjusted depending on the specific needs of the patient. It's doesn't contain any actual food but it does have all the nutrients and calories we need from eating food.


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

[User]
ELI5: computer browser adblockers are amazing yet every single phone adblocker can't do anything, whys that

I had a rooted phone with adaway and it still wasn't enough to stop ads from my phone. Clicking on something would constantly open another tab to another site telling me I had a virus and making my phone vibrate. Especially from file downloading sites.

Yet on my pc both chrome and Firefox cannot be cracked with ublock. Haven't seen ads on my pc in a long time.

[Assistant]
AdAway blocks advertisements by redirecting known sources of ads to localhost - essentially a /dev/null solution. The reason this is the preferred method on Android is because many devices are limited in what resources they have available - especially lower end or older phones. Additionally, these less powerful phones are the ones more likely to be AdAway users, because adverts also consume resources.

However, if an advert comes from a source that is *not* already known, it will not be redirected to localhost. For this reason, it is important that you regularly update AdAway, as it does not automatically do so.

Another point to consider is that AdAway *doesn't always work*. Rooting methods change from phone to phone and ROM to ROM. In fact, it may be entirely possible that the hosts file is not actually modified at all.


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

[User]
[DC] why doesnt superman use blue solar energy more?

I know yellow gives him his powers, red removes them, but blue like doubles them.  So if that's the case why doesnt he have a blue solar cell or something in the fortress? He takes a quick dip before or after a battle and he will be hitting hard, or heal even faster.

[Assistant]
Because he's already faster than a speeding bullet (*far* faster), more powerful than a locomotive (*far* more powerful), and can already leap tall buildings in a single bounds (*far* taller than buildings).  And as has been proven time and again, that's all he needs.

More specifically, he's honed and perfected his abilities under a yellow sun.  Even if he somehow WASN'T powerful enough, he's in his element there.

For comparison, look at Steve Rogers immediately post-serum.  His first run has him go through a store window.  Now imagine that being Superman.  All the time.


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

[User] How do we know that the Mariana Trench is indeed the deepest point on earth, if weve only explored/mapped 15% of the ocean floor?

[Assistant]
We've only looked at a little bit of the ocean floor in detail.

We've seen the whole thing in a general view, though.

And while that's not enough for really intricate information, it's more than enough to know that there aren't any other 11km deep chasms out there.  Those are kinda hard to miss.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Was Shmi Skywalker Force-sensitive? If not, why did the Force choose to inseminate her and not a Force-sensitive female?

Wouldn't both parents being Force-sensitive mean a more powerful descendant? Or was Anakin already OVER 9000?

[Assistant] You need a woman who wouldn't be suspicious (edit: to other people) if she suddenly got pregnant without her knowledge. You also need a woman who would gladly give up her son (like, say, to the Jedi) in order to give him a better life. So, a slave in a backwater planet like Tatooine.


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

[User]
[DC] Wait, so you're telling me the entire planet Krypton only has one space-travelling ship?

and it's made to fit only a baby? Why isn't there any other space ships lying around Krypton? Kal-El's parents could've went with him. Why didn't Jor-El design a ship just a little bigger to fit his entire family at least?

[Assistant] Kryptonese society had gone into a post-exploratory phase, and they were in active denial about the potential existential environmental threats they were facing. While not outright xenophobic like their cousins the Daxamites, the Kryptonians simply did not have any pressing interest in space travel, and even Jor-El did not make any preparations until far too late, with the limited resources available to him.


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

[User]
[It/The Dark Tower] How would Roland Deschain have handled or fared against Pennywise if he was in Derry during one of this hunts?

We know how well Roland did against Dandelo who may or may not be the same species as Pennywise, but Dandelo was able to catch Roland off guard using laughter instead of fear. Would Roland have engaged pennywise? Would he win?

[Assistant] What probably happens is... Roland has his agenda; Pennywise has his; they don't seek each other out or interact much. If Pennywise actually forces confrontation by blocking Roland's path, he's gonna take a bad beating. He may not die a true, final death  he can retreat, he can take refuge in another dimension  but Roland will make him move, 100% chance.


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

[User] [DC] How does Shazam not instantly reveal his secret identity when introducing himself?

[Assistant]
The wizard is Shazam, and saying his own name does not trigger a transformation.

Captain Marvel uses the word "Shazam" to trigger his transformation. This has led a few people to mistakenly think Shazam is his name, but it's really the Wizard's name.

Captain Marvel Jr., on the other hand, used "Captain Marvel" as his transformation word, which led to a bit of confusion as he couldn't exactly introduce himself. This is corrected in some future timelines where he refers to himself as "King Marvel."


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

[User] [Dragon Ball Z] Can anyone go to the afterlife without dying if Goku can just teleport to Kaiou's place without King Yemma's permission?

[Assistant]
As far as we have seen, the only beings who can willingly travel from the afterlife to the real world or vice versa are deities, Goku, and those accompanied by them.  Given the power we've seen exhibited by all creatures across the universes still apparently disabling them from willingly stepping between spiritual locations and real-world locations, there seems to be some giftedness imbued on mortal beings who are allowed to do so.

Take the ability of instant transmission for example.  This is the way Goku passes that barrier that we don't really see other mortals pass.  However, we don't see the ability's inventors, the Yardrats, moving between the living world and the afterlife.  This implies that even with this ability, there's an additional requirement to have been revived by the dragon balls the move from between the worlds while alive.

This seems to be an entirely different matter while dead, since it wasn't even within King Yanma's or King Kai's powers to return Goku to the living world without the external help of the dragonballs (which makes the both the dragonballs' and even Baba's powers truly spectacular).  So I'd argue that it's actually the power of Zeno himself preventing this sort of travel, and only allowing some incredibly restrictive exceptions.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

All of that taken into consideration, there does still seem to be a real spatial location of the afterlife, deities' worlds, etc.  We can deduce this because Goku has used King Kai's planet as a go-between to get a better lock on people's energies across the universe.  Which ultimately points toward the (likely Zeno-sourced) barrier being something ethereal and vague, but nonetheless very real within the universe.


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

[User]
[Marvel] How Long would it take to learn a single spell?

Say an average Joe runs into Doctor Strange. How long would it take him to bestow one spell? Can anyone learn magic or is it something you must already have?  Doesnt even need to be super complicated, something cantrip level. Is it even possible?

[Assistant] I think the hardest part will be forcing your mind to accept things that you have been conditioned to believe as impossible for your entire life.  So however long it takes to transcend that mental block, if an average Joe even can.


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

[User] ELI5: How come cars are able to go up to 220 km/h but highways only allow speeds of up to 110 km/h. Wouldn't it be wiser to have cars max out at 110 km/h-ish and reduce the engine capabilities?

[Assistant] How long do you want to take to accelerate? Merging onto the highway in a reasonable time takes far more power than maintaining a constant speed. There are plenty of 1.0 l cars for sale in Europe. They take about 17 +/- seconds to reach 100 kph, but they are very fuel efficient. No one would buy them here in the US because it would be frankly frightening to try to merge onto our freeways in a car that slow.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Would clone troopers hesitate to attack Jango Fett if Mace Windu hadn't already killed him?

They would have recognized him as one of their instructors.

[Assistant]
Probably not, they didn't hesitate to gun down their own clone brothers when the Empire attacked Kamino after the Clone Wars. It looks like the clones have a variety of control mechanisms installed in their brains, which is how Order 66 was implemented.

So no, they may recognise him in the heat of battle, but they are born and bred soldiers who will follow their orders without hesitation.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] PTSD management for clone troopers

How were the clones kept fighting fit after repeatedly seeing the aftermath of battle? Fives and Tup mention nightmares before they die.

[Assistant]
They weren't.

Treated that is. They were just sent back in again and again, and if they couldn't fight? Well that sucks we have five more clones waiting to get your exact position, now keep fighting!

The most medical treatment they'd get was mobile medical units designed to patch clones up only well enough so that they'd fight another battle.

The Republic was not the good guys in the Clone Wars.


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

[User] [ELI5] Why do credit cards have expiration dates?

[Assistant]
Because credit cards decay and banks put a limit on their usable life so that vendors (shops) don't have to deal with credit cards that are falling apart.

Because if somebody gets their hands on your details - there's a limit on when they can use it (albeit a rather large one)

Because the technology that goes into credit cards constantly improves (think chips and stuff like that) so they want people to have to most up to date (and secure) credit cards.

Because banks want you to keep your details up to date. If you never needed a new card you would just forget. This kind of forces people hands.

Because it's an excellent opportunity to try and sell you new or upgraded products.


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

[User]
[Arthurian Legend] Where did the Sword in the Stone come from?

I feel like this is a dumb question, but I'm having trouble finding the answer. Where did the Sword in the Stone come from? Who stuck it in the stone? Who created the magic which prevented anyone but King Arthur from pulling it?

[Assistant]
In the original telling of the story, the sword and stone (and an anvil) appeared in a church yard on Christmas eve, as did the prophecy foretelling that only a true king could remove it. It was a miracle, put on earth by God for Arthur to find.

Other tellings say that Merlin orchestrated the sword and stone, as a way of legitimizing Arthur's rule.


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

[User]
Does coding become less fun when its a job?

I really like coding. Its like a puzzle almost. And I want to work in it not just because I like it but also because I think for the most part I'm good at it. But what I'm concerned about, is that while it may seem fun when you're doing it for yourself, does it become less fun when your working for it?

[Assistant] like anything, being forced to do something in the context of it being your job, can take away some of the enjoyment because you have to do it whether you feel like it or not. but any job can become boring and monotonous if you do it day in and day out, so you might as well be doing something you enjoy on some level. also depends on if the nature of your projects at work and if they mesh with your personal programming interests. but overall even when i have to work on a problem that is making me miserable, i would rather be solving problems and making stuff than doing almost any other realistic job.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] So, Arthur Weasley's department is a running joke, right?

Ok, the average wizard knows diddly squat about the muggle world, right? Yet the department charged with protecting the wizard world from muggles (the obliviators) has successfully done so through two civil wars and in to the present day (source: cursed child), armed only with a charm that can wipe the memories of a single individual.

That, to me, suggests that at least someone in that department has a solid working knowledge of the muggle world, how their surveillance, politics, social networks, media etc works.

Meanwhile, the department charged with protecting muggles from wizards (misuse of muggle artefacts office) is headed by a man who can't pronounce the word electricity, collects plugs and didn't know that a rubber duck is a bath toy.

Someone high up is having a bit of a giggle about all this, right?

[Assistant] It's Arthur's own observation that muggles *really* help his mission along by almost making a concerted effort to willingly remain oblivious. The existence of Photoshop and the trash heap that is the Internet only make life easier for him. If Muggles were capable of digging their teeth into the wizards, the Cold War - with its well-documented military investigations into the paranormal - would have looked *really* different.


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

[User]
CMV: Cast iron is the superior cookware

(THIS IS MY FIRST CMV BE GENTLE)

Cast iron is superior to any other material when it comes to cooking.

It is cheap. It is durable. It is easy to clean and maintain. It has nice health benefits (cooking acidic foods in it will leech iron from the pan into the food giving you a nice iron supplement.) It retains heat extremely well. It can also withstand said heat better than other cookware (try using a nonstick pan from your kitchen on a campfire.)

It is heavy sure, but the weight is the sole negative to this amazing material.

To change my view, you'll need to provide evidence of the above not being true and/or provide materials that surpass cast iron in the above criteria.

CMV!

[Assistant]
Cast iron is great when you want cookware that retains heat well - like when you are trying to sear a steak. You can flip it and the pan it still crazy hot, so you get a nice crust. It takes a while to get hot, but it stays hot once you get there.

However, if you are cooking something where you want to adjust the heat quickly - like eggs - cast iron sucks. If your pan is too hot, there isnt anything you can do to cool it off quickly. If it is too cold, there isnt anything you can to to heat it up except wait. A fast heating/cooling metal - like aluminum - if far superior when you need a responsive pan.

It is a tool in the toolbox and a a great one, but it isnt the right tool for every situation.


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

[User]
Since the value of gold fluctuates based on how valuable people decide it is to them that day, can't we then say that a gold-backed currency would be just as much a "fiat" one as ones like the current USD?

My question is motivated by an attempt recently to explicitly define for myself, in my own mind, what the term "fiat" really means in this context.  Of course one could specify that by fiat they mean only \*government\* fiat, but that isn't a satisfying distinction to me since whether it's a group of govt officials saying "this is what we say it's worth today" or whether it's a group of gold investors saying it, it still seems to me to be the same fundamentally arbitrary process.

[Assistant]
in the same sense you can basically say that the current system is a gold standard but instead of gold you have the goods that go into cpi every year.

it is just how convoluted you want to make it. everything has its value "because people decide it"


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

[User]
CMV: [Parasite spoilers]The Parks in Parasite werent that bad

 \[Spoilers\] I want to preface by saying I liked the movie and its message on class inequality. I understand the Parks were ignorant and uncaring to the flooding of the slums / lower classes in general. But compared to the Kims Im not sure what major wrongdoings they perpetrate aside from being rich.

They seemingly paid quite well, and accounted for overtime. They talked smack about the Kims behind their back but in person were generally quite friendly. They were pretty much fine employers.

The Kims literally killed an innocent woman, blackmailed a man out of his job, and the son was basically a pedophile. I could see this plot line in an episode of  It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, where one of the jokes is that the main cast are all pretty much awful people.

A common response is that the poverty the Kims experienced is an excuse for their actions, but its not like their neighbors were out murdering house keepers. I know the story is satire and is exaggerated on purpose. I guess Id just like to hear an argument as to why the Parks actually deserved the calamity they got in the movie. Were they supposed to have deserved it? I don't think the movie has a protagonist or an antagonist.I do feel like we are rooting for the Kims the entire movie, with the parks as a more antagonistic role.

[Assistant] The point isn't that either group was bad, but that the system they live in is bad. The severe economic inequality pressures everyone in it into bad actions, and it's hard(er) to blame them for the actions than the system they live in.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is North Korea angry at every other country?

[Assistant] In short? We've rewarded bad behaviour in the past because we don't know what else to do. North Korea has a very bad economy and poor food production, they need imports to survive. Every time they want something, they start screaming, yelling and occasionally biting those nearest to them until someone gives them something they want. Then they go quiet for a bit, just long enough to encourage us to think that bribery works, before resuming kicking and yelling for the next handout.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why would you honor your X weeks/months of notice when leaving work and not just not show up after you handed in your letter of resignation?

As far as I know, there are no legal ramifications of it normally, unless in very special cases where it's specified in the contract, so why?

[Assistant] You may need a reference from them at some point, no matter how bad a job is its always best to leave on good terms even if you fucking hate the place and staff. Another reason is you might not have another job lined up for when you leave, and unless you have savings its not ideal going from getting a weekly wage to getting nothing, even if it is only for 2-3 weeks.


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

[User] Eli5 Where does the electricity in our body come from?

[Assistant]
Electricity is basically the movement of charged particles. A voltage is an excess of positive (or negative) charges on one side of a barrier. An electric current is the movement of charged particles in a unified direction (for instance, through a copper wire). A voltage can induce an electric current just like a difference in water pressure can induce a current of water (e.g. water will flow from a high to a low container if you link those containers with a pipe). The voltage does this because like charges repel each other: positive repels positive and negative repels negative. So if you have a lot of positive charges in one place, those positive charges will try to push each other away, and if you give them an "opening", positive charges will get pushed out (and the same goes for negative charges if there are a lot of negative charges in one place).

The electricity we use in our homes is based on the movement of *electrons,* which are small negatively charged particles. The electricity in your body is based on the movement of ions. Ions are atoms that have lost or gained an electron. For instance, if you dissolve sodium chloride (table salt) in water, the sodium chloride molecules will split into atoms, with the sodium atom "donating" one electron to the chloride atom (we won't go into why they do this - suffice it to say that some atoms like to lose or gain electrons if they can). This results in a sodium ion (Na+) and a chloride ion (Cl-). The sodium ion is positively charged, and the chloride ion is negative.

Your body uses ions to create electric voltages and currents. For instance, nerve cells use sodium, chloride and potassium ions. Each nerve cell has "pumps" in its cell membrane that can move ions from inside to outside the cell, or vice versa. This process, which takes energy, causes more positive charges to build up on the outside of the cell membrane, and more negative charges on the inside. Thus, a voltage is created. Then, if the cell opens gates in its membrane that ions can pass through, an electric current happens: negative ions flow out of the cell and positive ions flow in. These pumps and gates are at the root of how the body creates and uses electricity in nerve cells. The whole story is more complicated than that (and beyond the scope of this answer) but those are the main principles.


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

[User]
What are some good books on feminism?

What are some good books I could read on feminism?

[Assistant] bell hooks' *Feminism is For Everybody* is a good introductory book on feminism and feminist topics. Other good ones are Marilyn Frye's *The Politics of Reality*, Sandra Lee Bartky's *Femininity and Domination*, and Patricia Collins' *Black Feminist Thought*.


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

[User]
How do we know that Covid-19 vaccines won't teach our immune system to attack our own ACE2 enzymes?

Is there a risk here for developing an autoimmune disorder where we teach our bodies to target molecules that fit our ACE2 receptors (the key molecules, not the receptors, angiotensin, I think it's called) and inadvertently, this creates some cascade which leads to a cycle of really high blood pressure/ immune system inflammation?  Are the coronavirus spikes different enough from our innate enzymes that this risk is really low?

Edit: I added the bit in parentheses, as some ppl thought that I was talking about the receptors themselves, my bad.

Another edit: This is partially coming from a place of already having an autoimmune disorder, I've seen my own body attack cells it isn't supposed to attack.  With the talk of expedited trials, I can't help but be a little worried about outcomes that aren't immediately obvious.

[Assistant]
The SARS-CoV-2 spike protein binds to the ACE2 cell surface protein, but the two structures are completely different. You can think of the ACE2 like a doorknob and the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein like a hand. The normal substrate of ACE2 is angiotensin, which also has a very different structure from the spike protein.

So, there's no risk of the immune system mistaking one for the other. And as others have mentioned, if it did happen, it would have shown up in clinical trials.


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

[User] ELI5:How a Quantum Computer works, and why it is superior to our current computers.

[Assistant]
Quantum physicist here - a classical computer encodes information in bits, which can either take the value 0 or 1. A quantum computer instead uses a qubit, which physically can be something like a photon or an atom. The qubit can be in the state 0 or 1 (like a classical computer), but also in a superposition of these two states. Say we have a sequence of three classical bits, then we can only store 1 out of 8 possible numbers at a given time. However if we have a sequence of three qubits, all 8 numbers can be stored in a quantum superposition at the same time! This gives the quantum computer great power, because it can perform calculations on these superpositions in parallel. A system of N qubits can make 2^N calculations at the same time. So our system of three qubits make 8 calculations simultaneously, while the classical computer is only making one. This computational power means that large tasks can be performed 2^N times as fast, and there are special algorithms for things like factoring large numbers (Shor's algorithm) and searching databases (Grover's algorithm) that are only possible with a quantum computer.

The main difficulty in making a quantum computer is that whenever a quantum state is measured, it collapses. So we must find a way of making the qubit perform calculations, which we do with quantum gates, and then measuring it without destroying the state. This is done in complicated ways by a process called entanglement, which for now is difficult to do with many qubits. (However this destruction of the state is sometimes useful for cryptography, because it allows the receiving end to know whether someone has looked at the information somewhere along the path. If someone has seen it, the state is destroyed and they know that their information has been breached). The qubit is also easily affected by the environment, called decoherence, and so many accidental errors occur when making computations. This is what most research is about and because of these difficulties, the quantum computer is still quite a few years off.

Tl;dr - Quantum computers are super fast because they use qubits to perform multiple calculations at the same time. It is also useful for carrying secret information, beause it is immediately obvious if someone has seen it. Both of these are impossible with classical computers.


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

[User] eli5: Why is white so prevalent in spacecrafts and equipments?

[Assistant]
You might have heard that space is cold, which is true with a huge caveat. Since there is no air there is nothing to conduct the heat so you can not feel the cold. This is a problem because the spacecraft is above the atmosphere and above the clouds so it is always in bright sunlight. About twice the brightness of anything we have on the surface. So even though space is technically cold it is actually a big issue trying to keep the spacecraft cold. The white paint helps with this as it reflect the sunlight away from the spacecraft keeping it colder then a darker color. Adding to this white paint reflects UV lights much better which help protect plastics like Kevlar, beta cloth and insulation from getting damaged by this.

The inside of spacecrafts however is white in order to make it brighter and cleaner. It is the same reason as to why most houses use light paints inside. Things look more spacious, brighter and less gloomy when you use bright colors. It is also much easier to see things, both items which might float around but also dust and other things which could pose a danger to the astronauts.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does UPS (maybe others as well) save money on fuel by limiting the number of turns (left or right)?

I recall that the Mybuster's did this myth and concluded that is was plausible. What I don't understand is how does making the routes so they only turn a certain direction save money on fuel? What are the mechanics behind this?

[Assistant] In most locations you can turn right on a red light. Because of this the truck can almost always be in constant motion. Waiting to turn left at a light can take a while sometimes. That idling wastes gas and therefore money.


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

[User]
If increase in demand leads to increase in price, which exacerbates inflation, why isn't spending as little as possible a solution for inflation?

This is where my logic lead me, but The Great Depression was ended with massive gov't spending, on public projects, so there is a mistake in my train of thought somewhere, i just dont know where.

[Assistant]
Getting people to spend less is exactly what we do.

Central banks raise interest rates, that means loans get more expensive, that means people borrow less, which means people have less money to spend, which leads to a fall in aggregate demand, reducing inflation.


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

[User]
CMV: The Palestinians have started a war of Propaganda against Israel by holding their own citizens hostage in public spaces that they have turned into military strongholds.

Every time I see the news, whether it be CNN, Fox, or BBC, I see in the headlines "ISRAEL BOMBS GAZA; WONT STOP DESPITE KILLING CIVILIANS." I see the number of casualties to both sides and things just don't add up. I think it is possible that the Palestinians are taking up military strongholds in public compounds such as schools and hospitals, taking hostages (which could help account for the number of civilian casualties), and minimizing their military casualties by allowing the Israelis to destroy these compounds while under the impression that there are more soldiers there. What the world sees is the Israelis bombing the shit out of a bunch of helpless civilians, resulting in genocide. The end result is propaganda against a UN affiliated nation that is "mercilessly committing genocide against a smaller, helpless nation" despite all of the tension between these two nations that led up to this.

[Assistant]
The Palestinians aren't holding themselves hostage in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli's are holding them hostage. Israel, in conjunction with Egypt, maintains an almost total blockade on the territory and civilians are blocked from leaving the Strip.

There is literally no safe place in the territory. 40% of the population is now displaced. That's not conjuncture at this point, that is the conclusion of some of the highest UN officials in the territory and in the world. Israeli bombs can strike anyone, anywhere, at any time. There is a reason Israel is being accused of willfully violating international law by the UN. The Israeli's will drop leaflets to evacuate target areas, the civilians evacuate to  centers designated safe-zones, and then the Israeli's proceed to shell these designated safe zones anyway, despite numerous attempts to give precise GPS coordinates of these locations .


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

[User] How do radio stations know how many receivers are listening to them?

[Assistant]
They don't.

They do a poll.

They look at a map and say "there are 3.5 million people in the area where they can easily listen to this radio station, let's call 3,500 of them and ask them if they've listened to the station in the last week."

So they do it, and they find out that 173 of the 3,500 people have listened to the radio station in the last week.

So they figure that 173/3,500 = 0.0494 is the fraction of people in the area that listened to the radio station in the last week. Then they multiply by the total number of people in the area: 0.0494 * 3,500,000 ~ approximately 173,000 listening in the last week.

With something like cable TV, you can get direct data, because the cable box can report back to the cable company what channel is being watched, but with broadcast radio/TV, there isn't any effective way to tell.


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

[User] Eli5: why does Zalgo text look the way it does?

[Assistant]
Some letters can be changed with accents. For example: e can be  , , , , etc.

How do computers store letters with accents?

There are two main ways.

1. Store a copy of every letter with every accent combination. Or
2. Store the letters and accents separately.

Because there are lots of different letters and lots of different accents, it is easier for computers to store them separately. Think of letters as little Lego figures, and accents as their hats. You have a box of figures, a box of hats, and you can combine them however you like.

What happens if you put too many hats on your Lego figure? It starts to look a bit silly.

With computer text, you can take an English letter, and then add as many accents as you want to it. Some accents go at the top like . Some go at the bottom like .

Just like a tower of Lego, it is possible to keep adding accents on to letters. And that gives you the "Zalgo" effect.


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

[User] From what I understand, we have a lot of trouble surgically reconnecting nerves. That being the case, how do transplants work? If we can't really reconnect nerves, how does the transplanted tissue function?

[Assistant]
Nerves like those directing muscle movement - aka motor nerves, need to be in the right " orientation" because they map all the way into our spine and brain in a set pattern. A specific patch of your brain controls your pinky versus ring finger, but both are carried by the same nerve sheath in your wrist. Similar things are true for sensory nerves and preserved patterning. It's difficult to even connect these nerves surgically, let alone hypothetically ensure proper orientation.

Also, motor neurons do not regrow leasily. The cell body is located all the way a the spine, and cutting a distant part of it causes the nerve to undergo so much of a "shock" that it might die. They can regrow, but it's rare and we don't quite know how yet.

Many organs don't need nerves to function full - the might work on endocrine functions. Also, many organs are supplied by autonomic nerves - different from motor/sensory. These are basically "on/off" signals - or rather "faster/slower" signals that don't need a specific orientation to work. These nerves are also less complex, and tend to regrow somewhat easier. A lot of times, these nerves follow the vessels that supply the organ. Therefore connecting the organ circulation is sufficient to start the nerve regrowth.


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

[User]
How to deal with the anxiety, fear and stress of getting scooped, or failure, or accidentally publishing bad science and no one checking your results in the moment but then someone calling you out in the future?

I work on computer vision and there's so many papers being published. I'm confident most of them are not being checked thoroughly since I have found so many inconsistencies during my two years in grad school. I'm at a point where I'm supposed to begin working on publications, but I fear that whatever experiment I will do, or whatever thing I will propose, no one will check, and then at some point in the future I will get called out and my career will be ruined.

I say this because I feel this fear holds me from doing stuff that I could do, and would like to see how do experienced researchers deal with this.

[Assistant]
How many careers have you ruined with the inconsistencies and errors you have found?

Theres your answer. Except in very rare cases, nobody cares. People make mistakes, including in publications. Most of them dont matter.


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

[User]
[Raimi Spider-Man] Is Doctor Strange a real person or a fictional character?

Jameson and Hoffman consider Doctor Strange for Octavius media name, but remark that its taken.  Is Strange a real life surgeon/sorcerer from their perspective, or is he a fictional character?

[Assistant]
I don't recall any other superheroes being referenced in those movies, and you'd think they'd mention if Spidey was just the latest in a string of superpowered weirdos.  If Captain America or Iron Man or Doctor Strange exist in that universe and do public superhero stuff, it makes less sense to paint Spider-Man as a new and untrustworthy menace, since superheroics in general would be a known quantity.

That said, Dr. Stephen Strange was a surgeon based in New York before he ever heard of sorcerers.  As a surgeon he was both talented and egotistical, so it makes sense he'd be in the news.  He'd also probably have the money to sue Jameson for using his legal name in the paper against his will to describe someone else in a way that confuses the public and could negatively impact his public image.  He'd probably have a good case, since "Doctor Strange" is in fact his legal name, Jameson presumably knows that there is a practicing medical professional by that name, and the potential for poor publicity is obvious.


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

[User] ELI5:So if your kidneys filter impurities, why is it a sign of health to have light-colored clear urine instead of darker, cloudy urine? Shouldn't your waste being full of impurities be a sign everything is working as intended instead of the other way around?

[Assistant] Your body rids itself of those impurities at a pretty steady rate. The amount of water it has to help those impurities leave your body varies. Lacking in water will cause very dark urine. The amount of impurities stays the same, the concentration changes with how often your body can evacuate impurities because of the amount of water available.


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

[User]
Is there a specific amount of water that needs to be drunk to re-hydrate after drinking a shot of vodka?

So, for example, if I drink 1.5 oz of 80 proof vodka (and I'm not sure if different vodkas would dehydrate one's body differently), is there a specific amount of water in ounces to drink to bring the body back to pre-vodka shot levels?

Would different hard alcohols change that number?

[Assistant] Your brain regulates the amount of water via your kidneys. Once you start drinking alcohol you interfere with these signals, basically giving your kidneys the command to "flush". So it is not a matter of water/alcohol, as any water you will drink whilst this function is not working properly will also be flushed out.


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

[User] [Aliens] Why is Hicks carrying a 1980s shotgun into combat in 2179? Wouldnt that be like a present day soldier having a flintlock pistol in their kit?

[Assistant]
There are dudes out there now carrying around Colt 1911 variants in field service, which is still regarded as a solid handgun (leaving aside all debate on what makes a "good" defensive handgun), and WWII-vintage combat knife designs are still fielded as well.

The Marines are still carrying firearms as their chief armament, suggesting that there hasn't been any kind of massive revolution in small arms design before that point. If nothing has made the old pump shotgun obsolete, there may be people still using them out there.


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

[User]
[Marvel] Where would The Hulk's body (Bones, Skin, and Musculature) rank on the strongest materials in Marvel?

I got to thinking about this idea while I postulated what could be a cheap and nigh indestructible material to build supports out of in the Marvel universe. This got me to the conclusion that if you got an object that could dismember The Hulk (And you somehow got him to consent) you could take out his bones and his limbs would grow back in a little while ready to be harvested yet again. Further on from this it got me to thinking "Well, how does The Hulk's body stack up against other incredibly hard materials such as Adamantium, Vibranium, and other incredibly strong materials."

So where does he rank in comparison to those things? I mean he's shown to get angry to the point where Wolverine's claws no longer puncture him and can take full power hits from people such as Thor who can crumble planets with singular hits. Heck, he's even taken blows from Cosmic Abstracts and Skyfathers and kept going.

And for lack of "Well it depends on the incarnation of Hulk and how mad he is." let's assume he's at World War Hulk level of power.

[Assistant]
It's way softer than adamantium or vibranium, but quite a bit stronger than normal steel. Hard to say other than that.

It probably wouldn't work as a building material, though - seems likely that once it was carved off it would shrink back to normal human tissue. Or possibly go back to the extradimensional space that provided all the extra mass in the first place.


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

[User] Is arcing a more efficient way to transfer electricity versus a conductive wire? Ignoring the obvious safety concerns, could we have arc towers instead of power lines?

[Assistant] No. Electricity follows the path of least resistance and given the first opportunity would arc to ground or the nearest metal structure. The resistance of the atmosphere is too great and unless the "arc towers" were very close together it wouldn't work. Besides hideous safety concerns, concerns for wildlife, and health issues, it would be technically ~~feasible~~ possible but why?  As well as monumentally expensive.


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

[User]
Is it possible for two relatively unrelated species to experience so much convergent evolution that they are able to reproduce together?

For example, whales evolve to the point that they are able to reproduce with hippos. Or even more narrow, if a species of monkey that is currently unable to reproduce with another evolves to the point they are able to?

[Assistant]
Unlikely. When people talk about convergent evolution, they're talking about the evolution of *traits*, not genes.  Since the evolutionary process is random, the genes that give rise to the traits will have very little in common between species, even if they evolved very similar traits.

When it comes to reproduction, you need compatible *genes* so that you can take chunks of DNA from both the mother and father and have a pretty good expectation that they will weave together correctly into a viable offspring.