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

[User]
[General] I have recently discovered I have mind control powers. How can I profit out of them without harming people or having superheroes coming after me.

So what can I do when my powers are manipulating someone's free will without being seen evil.

[Assistant] Get a job as a hostage negotiator or a mental crisis intervention specialist. Assuming that you live in a big enough city, the municipal authorities would probably be willing to pay well (you wont be getting rich, but youll be living comfortably and have a great pension when you retire) to have you on call as a resource to peacefully resolve potentially violent situations.


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

[User]
How can a single speaker cone vibrating reproduce the sound of all the individual instruments of an entire orchestra at once?

I imagine the cellos causing the speaker to vibrate, then I imagine adding in the violins, and then the percussion, and then the woodwind etc. and how their vibrations would all interact with each other. How can this all be reproduced accurately on one speaker cone?

[Assistant]
Riding a sine wave on a sine wave.

Say you had a high freq sound wave going steady, and then you played a low wave at the same time. You would actually be able to observe that as the low wave caused the cone to move back and forth slowly, it would at the same time be vibrating quickly along the low freq wave.

Move your hand up and down. Hold it still and shake it. Now shake it while moving it up and down. High freqs and low freqs work together like that.


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

[User] [Harry Potter] How much truth is there in Hermione Granger's claim that the house elves in Hogwarts were mistreated slaves? Doesn't the treatment that Dobby is given by Dumbledore suggest otherwise?

[Assistant]
If memory serves her arguments were that they don't get paid, but they are expected to do all manner of stuff anyway without any thanks. Having heard how the Malfoy family treated Dobby (through Harry) she of course dislikes the idea of this at Hogwarts.

But when you actually check with the house elves they seem to be content with their situation. It's her that tells them that they can make demands, ignoring the fact that they are happy with their lot in life. It becomes more about her - Hermione's - strive to feel satisfaction about her efforts than about the actual improvements they need.


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

[User]
If we are most at risk of developing blood clots while being idle for long periods of time, then why do we not develop them during sleep?

No further questions, your honor.

[Assistant]
because you move around some when you sleep. Also blood flows a little more freely when laying down so blood isnt pooling in your legs due to gravity, and potentially pressure points from a chair.

If you're bedridden for awhile in a hospital and are at risk of blood clots, they will put these leg massager things on you to assist in blood flow from the lower extremities.


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

[User] If an object takes 60 seconds to heat up in a microwave and I need to cook two of them, do I put the microwave on for 60 seconds or 120 seconds?

[Assistant]
In reality, you need to put the microwave on for some time between 60 seconds and 120 seconds depending on a number of factors. In the case that the object absorbs all the microwave energy then you would need 120 seconds because you need double the amount of energy to heat the two objects. In the case of an object which absorbs almost none of the microwave energy, you would only need the same amount of time for two objects.

It is difficult to give a good theoretical answer to this question because the situation is so complex. The microwaves are reflected and absorbed by a number of different surfaces inside the microwave including the object being microwaved, the turntable and the walls of the device. The placement of the objects in the microwave will affect how they interact with the microwaves too.

This is a question where experimentation will give you the best idea.


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

[User]
If Mars was terraformed, would Phobos and Deimos
have any significant tidal influence?

I'm writing a hard science fiction novella set on Mars in the closing years of the 22nd century, in which it has been terraformed with the sea level being at the datum (4km from the bottom of Hellas). Would there be any significant tides caused by Phobos and Deimos, or would it be negligible?

[Assistant]
The mass of Phobos is 1.07210^16 kg and it is an average of 9,377.2 km from Mars. The mass of the moon is 7.3477  10^22kg and it is an average of  384,399 km from Earth. The gravitation force of phobos on a 100kg object on Mars is 81350.84E -11, which the effect on the same object on Earth from the moon is 331804299.19E -11, or 4 orders of magnitude greater.

The tides would be negligible.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does mass have anything to do with gravity?

I was watching a Vsauce video and learned that any two objects, like two baseballs, are attracted to each other because of their mass, and the bigger the mass, the more gravity an object has. What does mass have to do with gravity, and what causes gravity? Why does something just attract other things around it?

[Assistant]
imagine holding a big tissue paper loosely on all four corners but such that the tissue paper is flat. Then you put a blueberry in the middle. The tissue paper sinks slightly. Now you put a plum, and the tissue sinks more. Now an orange, and the tissue sinks even more.

Leave the orange there and put the blueberry just where the tissue starts to curve in. The blueberry rolls to the orange.

Enjoy your fruit while you read this part.

The tissue paper is called the spacetime fabric. It's in space and it's everywhere. Everytime you put something on that fabric, it distorts the fabric slightly and attracts things towards it, like how the blueberry rolls towards the orange. That is gravity or at least what the best theories explain it to be. Of course on earth the blueberry rolls because of earth's gravity. But you can imagine it in space where there is no gravity. You can substitute the orange and blueberry with the sun and earth, the colors are already there.

The earth is only in orbit because of the sun's gravity. It is slowly pulling earth towards it only being held back by the forward momentum of the earth. ~~However, the sun is not pulling the earth towards itself because the sun is burning trillions of tons of gas every day and is therefore losing alot of mass~~, which brings me to next part. Things with less mass have less 'gravity' or a lower tendency to pull things towards it.

You can use g=GM/r to find how strong the gravitational field strength of an object is. G is a gravitational constant which doesn't change, m is mass and r is the radius of said object. So the higher the mass, the stronger the gravity.


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

[User]
Is this virus a "career killer" for older students in MS programs seeking to advance to PhD?

I've been lurking on Academic Twitter, and the current pandemic response has sparked threads of post-docs, adjunct faculty, and other non-tenured academics worried that the virus might do considerable damage to their careers. Has the lock-down and other pandemic responses affected academics to an extent that will place their career trajectories at risk? Many of these individuals were STEM-related academics, leaving me to wondering about my prospects post-pandemic. I understand no one is a fortune-teller, but is it reasonable to say that certain careers will be untenable for older students (i.e. 30 yrs old or older) after the pandemic passes? Is it sensible to exclude the heavy financial and emotional burdens that this virus will inflected on individuals when considering career trajectories? Many people find it difficult to look past the current crisis due to the uncertainty of developing events.

To better understand my situation, I am a US Chem MS student starting my thesis work. I have loans from my undergrad and my current program, and I will have to take on a little more debt before I finish. I have only one publication from an internship, as I helped a little with the project. However, I have not been a first author on anything, yet. Also, I was limited on my choice of MS program due to a miserable undergrad GPA. I understand that this detail may play a bigger role in my career trajectory than the virus might, but many others may find the general questions asked above more useful if answered.

[Assistant] Bad time to be on the job search for an academic job, but good time to be in grad school. For a PhD program, you shouldn't need to take out any loans, unless you are supporting a family in a high cost of living area.


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

[User] [Harry Potter/MIB] What is the official position that the Men In Black and Wizarding community have with respect to each other? They both appear to have mutual interests to some degree.

[Assistant] The Wizarding community hold priority - and rank - over MIB, simply because its existed for a few thousand years, whereas MIB only has 60-ish. It's probably a win/win situation, expecially for the Wizards - as MIB is a muggle organization, they can deal with issues in metropolitan areas more effectively.


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

[User]
[LOTR] How aware were the general populace of Middle-Earth of Sauron's true nature?

Was it known he didn't even have corporeal form? Did they think he was merely an evil human, perhaps a Black Numenorean like The Mouth of Sauron?

[Assistant]
He *did* have a corporeal form. And they certainly didn't think him merely human - even as far away as the Shire, learned hobbits knew about his defeat at the end of the Second Age. So once he openly returned, anybody who knew anything knew he was an ancient evil.

The people of Gondor knew of the Nine, if not of their exact nature. The common people among them likely considered Sauron to be like that, but moreso.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does a bank, such as US Bank, charge a $100 levy fee when an entity, like California state tax collections, freezes your account? Why is it this arbitrary number and who gets paid $100 per minute to press a button?

This just happened to me and I called US Bank and they said they have no idea why it's this amount. I said this economy charges what a service or product is worth, so how do you guys warrant placing this amount on a service that clearly sounds automatic? How is this legal?

[Assistant] Because we have to get the letter from the irs/cftb/etc and deal with it by pulling up your acct and send the cash over to them. Then we have to notify you, document the whole process, and keep/maintain the records for something like 10 years.


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

[User]
ELI5 - Why is some lightning not accompanied by thunder?

We're currently having a great lightning storm in the UK right now, but there is no, or very little, thunder accompanying the lightning. Why is this? It's very eerie!

[Assistant] It is just lightning that is too far away for you to hear the thunder. It takes the right atmospheric conditions for you to see it. It is often called "heat lightning" but there is nothing different about it.


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

[User] Is there a maximum length that a human hair can grow to?

[Assistant]
The maximum hair length is determined by the length of the *anagen* (the period when hair growth occurs). This is different for each individual. Longer hair is possible only for people with a longer anagen. Typically this period lasts between 2 and 7 years. For some people it's longer. When the anagen period is over, the catagen or transitional phase begins. This lasts for about two weeks after which the telogen or resting phase begins. After the resting phase is over (after about one to four months) the hair will fall out. This is considered normal hair loss and you probably notice it every day.

So to answer your question, yes, there is a maximum, but it's drastically different from person to person.


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

[User] ELI5: What's so great about a Swiss bank account?

[Assistant]
The main selling point is banking secrecy.
The Swiss Banking Act of 1934 made it practically impossible for anyone you didn't authorize to get your banking information. Including random people, foreign governments, tax collectors and Swiss authorities.
So you could stash as much money as you wanted and nobody would be able to ask questions.
That being said this secrecy has been eroded in recent years, Singapore seems to be the place to store ill gotten gains now.


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

[User] ELI5 why do lego figurines have a black mark on the front of their "neck"?

[Assistant] It allows for the machines assembling the minifigure to know which way the torso is facing, so it prints on the correct side. Arms are attached after the torso is painted, so there's no way to tell which side is the front or back without that black mark.


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

[User]
[General Fantasy] How does resurrection work legally?

I die. This is all sorted out legally- my estate is distributed according to my will and my loved ones get an insurance payout. All straightforward.

Shortly after the legal stuff is fully sorted out, a friendly cleric/dragon ball/phoenix down/whatever brings me back from the dead. What happens now?

Do I get my stuff back, or do my loved ones get to keep it? Do I get arrested for insurance fraud? Do my loved ones? Does the friendly Resurrection person?

How does this bonafide miracle work according to boring bureaucratic legalese?

[Assistant]
If this is the first instance, then likely it's treated like other cases where someone has been declared dead and then returned.. anything given away is gone and anything held by a trust or kept in escrow is given back.

If resurrection is a known concept, then laws are no doubt rewritten so that your belongings and propery are held in escrow or maintained by a trust for a certain period of time.. in a D&D universe, the maximum length of time before a body cannot be resurrected, perhaps.. usually a year and a day, but no matter the universe long enough that said resurrection is no longer a probability.

The worst case scenario would be no will or trust, then usually everything goes to the state or next of kin.


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

[User]
[Batman beyond] which single animal genes spliced with a human would be most affective to defeat terry.

In an episode he fights gene splicers. Which animal would give it's splicer the best chances of beating terry 1v1?

[Assistant] Cats have a well-rounded set of advantages. Enhanced strength, speed, and agility, not to mention superhuman senses. Plus it's easy enough to cover up if you want a night in town. And if it turns you into a hot catgirl, so much better. That was the first Batman's weakness too.


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

[User]
The force of gravity decreases over distance, but does it ever stop?

For example, say there were two grains of sand floating in interstellar space, a light-year apart. If they were not being acted upon by outside forces, would they have a gravitational attraction to one another that would bring them together? And if so, does that mean that I'm currently being effected by the gravitational force of everything in the universe?

[Assistant] Yes, gravity never just stops propagating, but you do have to take the speed of light limit into account. There are regions of the Universe that are so far away that they've never had time to influence us gravitationally. However, if the Universe went through an early period of accelerated expansion called inflation, as we think it likely did, then the region which could have influenced us at one point or another is going to be significantly, many orders of magnitude, larger than the part of the Universe we can observe today.


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

[User] ELI5: How do some humans have a naturally beautiful singing voice, while others cant carry a tune to save their life?

[Assistant]
Part of singing well is listening well.

If you can't hear the difference between one note and another, or if you can't hear the detail in the sounds you produce, how are you going to know how to produce the right sounds?


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

[User] Eli5: when is a standing tree considered "dead"

[Assistant]
You can usually tell that a tree is dying if many of the branches don't have any leaves for one summer season.

The tree is dead, if it doesn't have any leaves for a full summer season.

Another sign that it's dead would be when the bark comes off of the tree trunk.


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

[User] [Batman Begins] "You know how to fight six men. We can teach you how to engage 600" - what exactly does Ducard mean by this?

[Assistant]
"Engage" being the operative word, Ducard wanted to teach Bruce how to use stealth, fear, psychological warfare, and tactical planning to completely render useless any numerical advantage his opponents would ever have.

One man is just one man, and can be fought and overwhelmed by a greater number of men. A ninja is a shadow, and no matter how many men are arrayed against him, they cannot fight the dark. That way, the ninja's free to pick them off, one by one.


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

[User]
[1984] What was government like before the coup that became Oceania? And what caused Oceania fell?

*Title edit: Fell = fall. I take a somewhat optimistic approach to the ending of 1984. Namely, that despite complete totalitarian rule, Oceania was, in fact, brought to an end via revolution. The Appendix details Newspeak as a language from the archaic Oceania, implying it had ended (everything was in past tense terminology).

[Assistant]
As mentioned in the Appendix, the complete transition over to Newspeak was only to have taken place by 2050 and even that was considered a fairly tight deadline, considering:

>The purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingsoc, but to make all other modes of thought impossible.

It's that last part that's important. You can't have a rebellion if the concept of rebellion itself *does not exist*.

The sentence "All men should be equal by law and therefore we must overthrow Big Brother" would not only be impossible to utter, but impossible to *think*. (The whole sentence would simply be translated as "crimethink".)

So, what finally caused the fall of Big Brother was their inability to fully transition over to Newspeak. The very idea of rebellion was not wiped out entirely. And once the idea of a revolution starts, governments themselves have very little power.

Take North Korea, if the soldiers with the guns stop aiming them at the people in front of them and start aiming them at the people behind them, the government would fall overnight.


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

[User]
CMV: The Greek brought the crisis upon themselves through a culture of tax evasion and irresponsible government spending.

Title says it almost all. Although I believe the common people are royally screwed over by the powers that be everywhere and cary little blame individually, Greeks have a culture of tax avoidance and ridiculous government spending (on pensions and so on).
Mainly by making endless promises they never intent to keep and then blaming lenders for sticking to the deal while never willing to pay back a single Euro the Greek government tries to sway the public opinion in Greece against the EU, thus deflecting blame from themselves.

[Assistant] It also took the European Union and European banks accepting the Greek government's obvious lies because they wanted expansion of the monetary union. A debt crisis requires a failure of foresight on the part of both the borrower and lenders.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] If Order 66 never happened what side would have won the Clone Wars?

So ignoring the fact that both sides were being played by a sith lord, would the Separatists or Republic have won the war?

[Assistant] The republic still would have won.  In the opening scenes of episode 3 we see the separatists desperately trying to capture the chancellor and losing their diplomatic figure head in the process.  Shortly after that their top general is killed.  Most of their fleet was destroyed over coruscant. The scattered leadership of the cis was ready to surrender before order 66 and what little remained of the droid army was trapped on a handful of worlds heavily under siege by the republic with few ships to provide escape.  Removing order 66 the cis leadership may have last another few weeks or months but they were beaten and destined to lose after coruscant.


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

[User]
[Soulsborne] "The Flow of time is convoluted" What does that mean?

I Never really understood how the flow of time in the Soulsborne universe differs from the flow of time in our universe. What does the flow of time being convoluted mean, exactly? Does it mean that each individual experiences time in a unique way? Does it mean we have people traveling through time? Does it mean that we have time paradoxes?

[Assistant]
The universe with its way of dying and being reborn doesnt know time as a progessing line.
You are seeing bloodstains of people dying but just around the next corner you may see a the scribbeling that is a callsign of the hero that you thought was dead. You are killing a beast the same hero has killed before you, maybe even many times.


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

[User] ELI5: How do we know plastic takes hundreds of years to decompose if it's been around significantly less time than that?

[Assistant] Lets say that you take 100 lbs of a certain type of plastic and place it in certain conditions of temperature, humidity, etc. for a period of a year. Every month you measure how much of it has been decomposed. From the measurements you can find out the rate of decomposition and estimate how long it takes to decompose completely.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do powerful, heavily tuned engines like those in big muscle cars, or drag racers idle so poorly, hunting around and spluttering and popping, only smoothing out when under load? Why can't they idle nicely too?

[Assistant]
Because their camshafts are optimized to run well at high revs and full throttle. The camshaft is what controls the lift and duration of the valves opening during the intake and exhaust strokes of an engine. More lift and duration means more air/fuel mixture reaches the inside of the cylinder.

The hunting and spluttering you hear is the sound of an engine at idle whose valves are opening for too long. When that engine is under full load, the valves are opening for as long as is needed *at full load*, and that's why the engine works smoothly at higher revs.

It's possible to build an engine that works smoothly both at idle and at high revs - that's called Variable Valve Timing, and most regular passenger car engines have had it for a couple decades, in one form or another. But for race engines, it's added expense, complexity and unreliability. Drag racers and people who build competition engines don't really care that it works badly at idle - that's not important for them.

Of course, people think that race engines sound cool, and so you will sometimes see regular passenger cars that have been modified to sound like that at idle. That's just pure aesthetics. The best example is Harley-Davidson motorcycle engines - they sound that way at idle because it's traditional, and they're intentionally built to this day to run slightly badly at idle.


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

[User] ELI5: How do we know instruments used in measuring the properties of distant objects (e.g. the mass of a star) are calibrated correctly?

[Assistant] Calibrating any measurement instrument is a combination of trial-and-error and testing agreement with mathematical models. If an instrument is measuring the thing it is designed to measure, doing this consistently, and getting results that make sense according to calculations about what they could/should measure based on how they work, then we would generally take them to be reasonable instruments. As our understanding grows, and as we encounter, analyze, and correct errors based on unexpected influences (e.g. human error, poor construction, degradation of the instrument, etc.), the idea of an acceptable instrument may change a bit, but the general idea is there.


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

[User]
When and why did black American names diverge from white American names to the extent they are different today?

I graduated from high school in the early 2000s from a school that was approximately 20% black and 70% white (rest were Asian, Hispanic, Pacific Islander, or mixed race).  The school was in the lower midwest, approximately 10 miles from the Mississippi River and 100 miles down river from the closest city, St. Louis.  The following is a sampling of some of the names of my black classmates and kids a few years older and younger:

* Benisha and Venisha (sisters)
* Shacairy
* DeAndre
* Lashonda
* Juwan
* LaWonda
* Clatrice
* Patrice
* Iyesha
* LaQuansa

There were kids with typical white names, but they were the exception.  Boys tended to have more typically "white" names, but often had what I think to as retro-names . . . Fred, Marvin, Carl, Maurice.

I always figured this was how black American naming had always been until I met their parents who had what would be considered standard white American names (Emma, Michael, Martin, Gary).  I have read that the civil rights movement and black nationalism helped to spark this change, but I am interested in knowing more, and want to know exactly why and how this change happened so quickly (within 10 years or so).

Now that I have moved from my hometown to a much more affluent part of the country, I notice much less of a distinction, maybe geography and economics plays a role.

Disclaimer: I know that any question about race is always a difficult one to put forward and to answer.  I do not mean any offense.  I was able to pull the sampling by looking at my town's facebook page and do not in anyway mean to convey that I think those names are "wrong".

[Assistant]
Black Nationalism in the 1950s sought to reconstruct African culture in the African American community. One of the core concepts of the reconstruction was the adoption of Arabic names (many Black Nationalists associated Islam with "being African") to distance themselves from the white population. The educated elites in the Black Nationalist movement tried to spread the ideology among a mostly uneducated population. Thus, the Arabic-root names started having non-standard spelling. Because the movement was mostly grassroots with relatively few educated elites in charge, the ideas spread through word of mouth and you end up with a lot of names that really don't have an Arabic root, but "sound Arabic". There is also an element of French influence in African-American names due to the history of French Creole influence on American Black culture (the La-/Le-. Sha-, and De-). This likewise went through a transformation due to word-of-mouth.

This kind of behavior is common among Nationalist movements. British Nationalism advocated Hebrew and Latin names over Celtic and Germanic names in the 1600s. German Nationalism advocated a strict spelling code on approved German names in the 1800s. French Nationalists did the same as the Germans a century earlier.


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

[User] ELI5: Cats often "shut down" when clothing, costumes, etc., are put on them, but other animals (e.g. dogs) don't. Why the difference?

[Assistant]
Many animals' response to perceived danger is to stop moving; if they suspect a predator is nearby, or that they've been sensed by prey, freezing is a good way to be undetected while they assess the situation.

Wolves, which dogs evolved from, are not ambush predators like cats, but are instead pursuit predators; they run down their prey and exhaust them, or push them into traps. They also have few natural predators, so they don't rely as much on being undetected. As such, they don't have the "freeze" instinct when they sense something unexpected.


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

[User]
ELI5: What exactly happens when someone regains consciousness?

In particular, what happens in the brain? Does something realign?

[Assistant]
Doctor (with anaesthetic/ICU training) here.

We don't really know what consciousness is, therefore it's pretty difficult to answer this.

The best explanation we have is that neurons in the brain either work or don't. The more that aren't working, the more likely you are to be unconscious. Conversely anything that increases the amount of nerves firing will result in agitation and hyperactivity.

The most common reason for bothering of these is drugs, both therapeutic and illicit. "Uppers" make you hyperactive, whereas "downers" calm you down. Most general anaesthetics, for example, work by reducing the number of nerves firing and making you unconscious. We don't even really know how general anaesthetics work at the molecular level.

The other main reasons for unconsciousness are sleep and brain injury.

Regaining consciousness therefore is the number of neurons firing (properly) increasing to a point where you can process to the point of consciousness.

The Glasgow coma score ranks 3 different domains giving a total from 3 (totally unconscious) to 15 (totally conscious) which demonstrates that consciousness isn't black or white but a spectrum between one and the other.


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

[User] ELI5: Why when we look at or say a particular word too much in a short amount of time do we think it looks or sounds wrong or has no meaning?

[Assistant] A cognitive phenomenon called semantic satiation causes this. Basically what we think happens is that in the brain, there are specific patterns of neutron activity linked to recognising the meanings of words. If you repeat the word over and over (or, interestingly, read the word over and over) the brain starts seeing the constant reaction of this same pattern over and over again as strange, and 'turns it down' so to speak. The brain is good at this, it doesn't want your cognitive processes to get 'hung up' on a certain pattern or stimulus like a computer with a frozen program, so it will naturally turn them down if they are repeated. The result is that with the pattern that recognises meaning temporarily suppressed you start hearing/reading the sound rather than the meaning.


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

[User] [Netflix Punisher Season 2]Frank Castle takes a seemingly impossible amount of punishment far beyond the tolerance of what human body can manage and is still able to fight and heals very rapidly afterwards. What is the source of theis superhuman power? Is he a mutant?

[Assistant] I once read that ordinary humans in the DC and Marvel universes are more durable than humans in our universe due to the presence of superhuman influence in the gene pool. Frank himself might not be a mutant, but possibly has the right genes to be on the upper end of the durability spectrum.


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

[User] ELI5: Why cans/tins of foods such as soup and fruit, as well as jars of food, are mainly cylindrical rather than other forms, such as cuboidal.

[Assistant] Canning involves changing the pressure on the inside of the vessel, and using a shape that has edges makes those points weak spots which could collapse, crack, or break. By being round, all the pressure on them is distributed equally around, like an archway in a stone wall. It's also one of the most efficient storage shapes that has little wasted space but is still able to bear weight when stacking.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] what happens to students who are expelled from Hogwarts?

I know that Hagrid had his wand taken and was sent to Azkban for a period but that was a very extreme case. So what would happen to a student who go expelled turning Professor Dumbledore's chocolate frogs into fesses toads?

[Assistant]
Dumbledor probably wouldnt expel in that situation, but would make an example of them.

They often have trouble finding work and have to integrate with muggle culture. Sometimes they can get menial jobs in the wizarding world, but usually they are not as lucky.


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

[User]
Why does it take 10,000+ years for a photon to go from the core of the sun to the outside?

I apologize if this has been asked before.

I've heard that it takes millenia (or more) for a photon to go from the core of the sun to get to the outside of the sun. Why is this? What are those photons doing in there? Are they moving? If they are moving, are they just going in circles or something, and if so, why? If they're not moving (or for some reason moving slower than photons on Earth) what causes them to go so slow?

[Assistant] The last time this was answered, the answer was the the individual photons themselves were not that old, but that they are generally absorbed and re-emitted by atoms in the sun for a very, very long time before managing to escape and not be re-absorbed. So it doesn't literally take that long for a single photon to escape, it's just an idea of how long the energy that the photon is carrying bounces around inside the sun before flying out.


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

[User]
[Marvel] If Wakanda decided to come out of its secrecy and proceeded with trading Vibranium long ago, would Ultron have succeeded?

Hello, Im having this argument with my brother, about him criticizing Wakanda not opening up to the world. I said that it was a good decision, and it served a very beneficial purpose:

If Ultron managed to almost succeed with a considerably small amount of Vibranium he aquired from Klaue, wouldn't he have achieved destruction of the highest degree if he *knew* that Wakanda existed, and decided to utilize the god knows how many tonnes of Vibranium?

Or would Wakanda be too powerful against the iron legion?

Would Ultron succeed with taking Vibranium from Wakanda?

Thank you!!

[Assistant]
If Wakanda had been freely trading in Vibrainium, it probably would have made things harder for Ultron, not better.

On the plus side, he's probably be made out of the stuff from the get-go.  It's a strong, nearly indestructible metal and would be in use everywhere.

Unfortunately for him, it is a strong, indestructible metal, and would be in use everywhere.  Iron Man's suits would probably use the stuff, and probably all of the Avangers would come equipped with tech made of the stuff.  Plus scientists in general and Tony in particular would have had however many years to learn how to fight people armed in the stuff.

Ultron would be toast.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do some people believe that poor people have babies just to get more money from the government?

Seems like the extra welfare money would barely cover the costs of the child, not allowing the mother to have too much left over. Why has the belief that people do this intentionally become somewhat accepted? Is there any truth to it?

Side question: Statistically, people with less money have more babies. What are things we can do as a society to further prevent this?

[Assistant]
> Side question: Statistically, people with less money have more babies. What are things we can do as a society to further prevent this?

Sex Education has been proven to reduce unwanted pregnancies, it's even more effective with poorer groups.  Education in general is effective as well.  SO if we wanted to reduce unwanted pregnancies the best way to do so is better schools.


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

[User]
ELI5: why do whales bleed when theyre beached?

Is the sand too abrasive for them?

[Assistant] Without the water supporting their weight gravity is brutal on them. They crush their own organs, blood vessels explode everywhere, things get dislodged and start to leak, bones and joints break. Blood and all sorts of other bodily fluids start to pool and look for places to exit the body wherever that may be.


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

[User]
[Game of Thrones] [Spoilers for previous seasons] What if...

...Tommen had been the eldest surviving child, rather than Joffrey?

Suppose that Tommen were just as sweet-natured as he was portrayed, but he had been older than his crap brother Joffrey? Starting from the royal visit to Winterfell, and assuming that all other factors up to that point were the same, how would the story play out differently?

[Assistant]
Ultimately the same. Tommen and Sansa are betrothed, the Starks head south to King's Landing, still without Bran as nothing changes on him getting crippled, and Ned eventually discovers the truth about Tommen's parentage.

Ned is likely still betrayed in his attempted coup after Robert's death, but Tommen spares him and sends him to the Wall.

When Jeor Mormont, the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, is killed beyond the Wall, Ned Stark becomes the only real candidate to replace him and Jon Snow remains an unpopular regular soldier, possibly even more so now that his dad's in charge.

Meanwhile, back down south, Renly and Stannis have still both claimed the throne and civil war breaks out. It goes the same way it did before, but with one major change: Tommen does not break off his engagement to Sansa and the Starks become tied to the Lannisters through a marriage that might actually work.

Up North, Robb Stark, new Lord of Winterfell, has to decide where he stands in the new chaotic world. He calls his lords to him, seeking a council. Greatjon Umber declares him King in the North anyway and so it begins. Sansa sends a letter asking him to end the uprising, but he disregards it just as he did OTL.

Beyond that, we're getting into write a whole new book territory, so I'll leave it at that.


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

[User] How are new Covid variants detected?

[Assistant]
Viruses are quite small in terms of genetic material. You normally measure the genetic material of an organism in "Base Pairs". The SARS-CoV-2 has around 30,000 base pairs (this is approximately 1/20th of the size of a small bacterial genome) - so you can litereally read the whole sequence of an organism.

For practical purposes, once you know of a variant, you can design probes to look for that specific variant (we detect Delta vriant by looking for a single change in the Spike protein gene P681R)


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

[User]
[Battlestar Galactica] What tactical advantage do the launch tubes have over simply launching from the landing bay?

It confers some velocity to launched vipers, but unless the battlestar is broadside to the target that velocity is largely wasted and sometimes even detrimental.
Why not simply fly out the front side of the flight pod and make your turn towards target or destination while still at low speed when it's easier to accomplish?

[Assistant] if you open the main pod doors you have to wait until the very last pilot is in his viper and all the knuckle-draggers are safely away, else they'd all be exposed to the vacuum.  With the launch tubes you can launch as needed or in waves.


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

[User]
CMV: Nuclear fusion is the most efficient and eco-friendly way to produce electricity until this day

The title says it basically all.

To give you more background information, Germany and Switzerland will close all their nuclear plants until 2034. I think this is not good. You see, when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing, your windmills and solar plants will work just fine, but when not, you have to turn on your coal power plants to cover the electricity demand. Coal power plants are extremely destructive to the environment. Germany has higher CO2 emissions since they closed all their nuclear plants. Btw, windmills kill birds and create infrasounds that damage the environment. Pathetic that the initiative came from the "green" political parties.

I know nuclear plants create radioactive pollution you have to get rid of, but at least they dont create CO2 emissions, wich is far worse in my opinion. And my opinion on the "supergau risk": out of roughly 1'000 nuclear plants in the world, only 2 ended in a catastrophic event, and one was due to an earthquake, wich don't happen atleast in Middle Europe.

**EDIT:** "nuclear fusion" in the title actually means "nuclear fission"

[Assistant] Nuclear fission is the technology all nuclear power plants use at the moment. Fusion is going through the stages of research reactors and pilot plants and hasn't been used to generate electricity at any kind of scale.


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

[User] [Star Wars] Can all Jedi potentially be promoted to the council or is there a minimum Force sensitivity requirement which is greater than that needed to simply be a Jedi?

[Assistant]
Any Jedi Master is eligible for elevation to the High Council.

Obi-wan Kenobi was actually lite in the midi-chlorian area and was promoted to the council by dent of his experience(only Jedi to duel a Sith lord and not only survive, but come out the winner), acquired level headedness(his chosen technique for lightsaber combat focused on patience and defense), and the patience he found by teaching the head strong and stubborn Chosen One.


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

[User]
[Lord of the Flies] Did Jack and his hunters not want to be rescued?

Because it kinda seems that, both in the book and the movie adaptations, Jack and his hunters were purposely sabotaging Ralph's efforts to keep a signal fire.

[Assistant]
When the naval officer shows up, all of the boys on the island begin sobbing uncontrollably. They didn't have long term plans or really much thought at all.

Jack and his hunters were simply in a power struggle. They put out Ralph's efforts to do anything, be it a signal fire, or anything else, simply because Ralph is the rival power on the island.

If they were thinking clearly, they wouldn't have killed Simon. They were just animals by the end of the book, simply looking to have the most power on the island.

When the naval officer showed up, the snapped back and returned to being boys.


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

[User] My hand is made up of tiny atoms. So is this plank of wood. Is it theoretically possible for the atoms in my hand and the atoms in the wood to align in such a way that I could put my hand through the wood?

[Assistant] No. While it's generally true that there's quite a bit of empty space, there's a considerable amount of energy. Specifically, we know that two particles cannot occupy the same quantum state - they can't be in the same place with the sames spin (this is called the Pauli exclusion principle). So, when two electron orbitals press up against each other there's a force that prevents them from getting tangled up with each other. On the macro level, it produces the phenomenon you understand as matter being solid and coherent. In a solid, the covalent bonds between atoms are forming a network of atoms without sufficient space for other networks of atoms to pass through (because of exclusion). You could break all the bonds in both, making them gasses, and then they could mix.


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

[User]
CMV: HOA and strata rules are stupid

I guess my view is really simple and the view I want to adopt is that HOA rules are not stupid. HOA rules just doesn't sit right with me.

I understand that total freedom doesn't exist. When I buy a property, I am still subject to the laws of the property location. However, to me, it's still stupid that I buy a property and must pay a fee to someone else. Or that I have to listen to the collective neighbours.

I know it's simple and I don't know where to start. And yeah, it's probably illogical, but all I feel is 'I don't like this and I want to get ride of HOA and strata rules'

[Assistant]
If your neighbor parked old beat up cars on their lawn, painted their house purple and hung neon signs everywhere, etc etc etc... that would decrease the value of your house.

Just one benefit of HOA. Protects the value of your investment.


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

[User] ELI5:Why is Africa the least developed continent if humanity started there?

[Assistant]
Well, you can contrast Northern Africa from Southern Africa. For most of history, Northern Africa wasn't any less developed than the most developed parts of Europe or the Near East (although it fell behind in the early industrial period).

In fact, Carthage and Egypt were among the wealthiest, most advanced civilizations in multiple eras right up through early modern times.

The difference between North Africa and the rest of the continent? The Sahara Desert is a giant, awful sinkhole that killed 99% of cultural exchange or trade relations between most of sub-Saharan Africa and the outside world, except for some contact in and around the ports - which more often resulted in slave trading than productive cultural exchanges.

Isolated cultures pretty much never do well on the scale of human development.


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

[User]
[LOTR] What is the One Ring's range of corruption?

We know it corrupted Boromir without physically contacting him.

So we can assume that the Ring has an AOE field of corruption.  Is the field's size described or implied anywhere in the Tolkien canon?

Could you neutralize the Ring's corruptive power by encasing it in a large chunk of concrete?

[Assistant]
Physical contact has pretty much nothing to do with the One Ring's corruption. There are two factors that seem to matter:

* Bearing the Ring. Actually owning or being responsible for the Ring makes you the primary target of its corruption. This isn't the same as just making physical contact; in FotR Gandalf willingly handles the Ring, but absolutely refuses to take it for himself.
* Physical proximity. Boromir and Smeagol are both corrupted merely by being around the Ring. The radius of corruption may be related to the radius at which corrupted creatures (like Gollum and the Ringwraiths) can sense the Ring's presence. Even some creatures that have never seen or known of the Ring are affected by being near it: Gandalf notes that the Watcher outside Moria went after Frodo in particular, and the orcs of Cirith Ungol sense the Ring's presence as "some nameless menace of power and doom" when they run into Sam. It's unclear how large the radius is, but it's probably not huge. The Nazgul have serious trouble finding Frodo in the Shire. Near the end of TTT, the Witch-king senses *something* when Frodo is on the other side of Morgul Vale, but is apparently unable to determine that it's the One Ring.

I doubt encasing the Ring in concrete would do much.


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

[User] ELI5:what is anti aliasing?

[Assistant] Take a sheet of graph paper. Make a diagonal line by filling in squares on the paper. You'll notice that from up close, it doesn't really look like a diagonal line- it's more like stairs than a ramp. You have the same problem on computers, which draw graphics by lighting up squares in a grid of pixels. Anti-aliasing fills in the squares around the line as a light grey, which makes the line appear more smooth.


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

[User]
[Warhammer 40K] A human civilization stronger than the Imperium appears in the Galaxy. What would the Imperium do?

Let's say that, during the Dark Age of Technology, a bunch of humans ended up VERY far away from the Imperium for some random Warp accident, and they not only managed to survive but also thrive and become much stronger, bigger and more technologically advanced than the Imperium ever was.
Let's also say that Chaos is not really a problem for them: maybe they developed some anti-chaos field technology, or maybe they have an unusually high number of Blanks (1 in 10 people), or both.

Anyway, these guys one day come metaphorically knocking at the Imperium's door. They are not hostile against the Imperium, and in fact may even be open to an alliance and leave the Imperium alone. They are not, however, interested in joining the Imperium nor the Imperial Creed, and maybe, while wary against aliens, are not complete xenophobes like the Imperials and are open to trade with Eldars and Tau.

They are also so powerful that this "trusting" attitude can't bite them in the back too hard, cause if they wish they could easily annihilate whatever species they fight against (to the point that Orks and Tyranids are more like an annoyance than a threat to them). And as discussed, they have reliable way to ward off chaos.

What would the Imperium do? Would they want to be left alone, would they trade with those new guys, would they join them or would they attack them accusing them of being Heretics (despite the fact that they would lose)?

[Assistant]
Of course they would attack them. Theyre heretics, tech-heretics, mutants, and xeno-lovers.

That they would lose doesnt really mean anything (edit: or at least, wouldnt really stop them). Suicidal devotion to their state and religion is nothing new to the Imperium.


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

[User]
[Marvel/DC] Why are criminals so bad at dealing with street level heroes?

Or to put it another way, why do most criminals in Marvel and DC not act smarter or more strategically with superheroes and superpowered people? One one hand, I can understand why the higher tier superheroes like the Avengers and the JLA would be a complete gamechanger for society in general, but it's hard for me to see why organized crime wouldn't be able to adapt to dealing with street level heroes ala Batman, Daredevil, The Punisher, etc. Although contrary to my main thesis, there are some counter-examples that demonstrate what I mean. In The Dark Knight and the Luke Cage Netflix show, the criminal antagonists grew desperate  and escalated the "superhero problem" into a bloody war, which I feel is what would likely happen in real life. Yet most of the time, criminals in superhero fiction are treated as incompetent and unwilling to do what it takes to neutralize, isolate, or put a stop to vigilantes in Marvel and DC. Most of the time, they are simply cannon fodder. Why is this? In real life, it took us decades to dismantle the mafia. Today, many governments are essentially run by crime syndicates, like how the drug cartels in Mexico hold an obscene amount of power over certain areas. These people are ruthless, and not a "cowardly and superstitious lot".

[Assistant]
Because the only reason why Thor and Iron Man and other heavy hitters aren't intervening in street crime is because they are handling the super criminials that can cause more damage and the street heroes are managing it well enough for them.

If the street crime escalates into all-out war, it puts more civilians in danger and makes the heavy hitters re-prioritise, deciding that the alien invasion won't happen for a week anyway so they can spare a couple of days to pulp anyone who's trying to start a war. Similarly, if Joe Thug and Paul Pimp decided to band their gangs together and managed to off Daredevil, then the Thing will remember all those good times he had playing poker with the newly deceased hero, and decide to go and make his displeasure known via his rocky, invulnerable to small-arms fire fists.

Crime Lords like the Kingpin are actually in a delicate balancing act, trying to ensure that the street heroes aren't hurting their business too badly, while also ensuring that their henchman don't accidentally bring Thor down on their heads by shooting the wrong guy. If they did kill someone, they'd probably do their best to point the blame at some like the Green Goblin so that any heat from it doesn't hit their operations.


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

[User]
Is there any ways to make code for obs to record google meet class while I'm absent?

Hey reddit! I'm asking for help.

I'll be at the psychiatrist while one of my main lesson will be going on.
I haven't touched vs the last 3 years, and I'm a complete idiot to it.
So my question would be is that how can I actually make something, that will connect to the meeting at the given time, start recording with obs, then leave the meeting after.

I'm sorry for asking, it's probably isn't even relevant or anything, but I really need to keep up with that class.

Is there any chance I can make it or find a similar program?

[Assistant]
ask a friend to record it.

VSDC video editor includes tools to record the screen & sound from the speakers.

The development time to do what you're asking would take longer than having someone else do it manually.


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

[User]
[WH40K]REPLY ASAP;How do you stop a Khornate Ritual without violating Inquisitorial Regulation?!

Because our Inquisitor's kidnapped after finding out that Hive [**REDACTED**] is sitting on the largest Khornate burial ground to date. How the fuck do we stop the summoning ritual without killing, which is what summons Khorne and his Daemons, which also violates Inquisitorial precepts. Are we fucked that we need to leave the planet instead of saving it?

Regards,
Acolyte [**REDACTED**]

[Assistant]
Ok. Pay attention. Dont Look at the motifs on the walls or anything other than your objective. Doing so will get you killed or mindfucked. Dont do it. Fuck.

Ok, next person, lets hope you are more intelligent.

Find the object that they are using to focus their energies. This may be a large symbol drawn with blood, it might be some kind of knife that is warp-significant (killed 10000000 babies with it or something). Once found disrupt it by either erasing part of it and/or destroying it entirely. This will create psykic backlash which at once allows you to complete the disruption of the ritual in its entirety by either punching and knocking unconscious the summoners or finding other objects and destroying those. Do this enough and it will end the ritual allowing you to purge the unclean.

Keep in mind that you focus on your objective and dont look at anything, dont hear anything, dont touch anything that isnt the goal.

.

.

You looked didnt you.

**BLAM**


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

[User]
In space, is it as 'easy' to accelerate an object from 90% the speed of light to 91% as it is to accelerate an object from 10% the speed of light to 11%?

Is it more difficult to accelerate an object to faster speeds in space like it is on earth?

On earth, to go from 20-30mph is much easier than to go from 220-230mph.

In the absence of air resistance and engineering limitations, what are the limiting factors, if any, to reaching higher speeds?

[Assistant]
The kinetic energy per unit rest energy (K/mc^(2)) of a relativistic object is given by

 - 1,

with  = (1 - (v/c)^(2))^(-1/2).

The difference in this quantity from v/c = 0.11 and v/c = 0.10 is around 0.001, while the difference between v/c = 0.91 and v/c = 0.90 is around 0.118. So by that metric, it's over a hundred times "harder" to get from 90% to 91% than to get from 10% to 11%. The change in kinetic energy you need for that change in velocity is 100 times greater.

>In the absence of air resistance and engineering limitations, what are the limiting factors, if any, to reaching higher speeds?

The most fundamental limit is relativity. The energy and momentum of a massive object diverge to infinity as its speed approaches c. So you can continue to accelerate forever, but you'll only asymptotically approach c, without ever reaching it.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do humans express themselves in different ways (eg act cranky, get angry etc. ) when they are in pain or discomfort or are sick whereas animals just seem to "deal with it" quietly?

For example, if my puppy is sick, she will just lie down and not do anything whereas human babies get cranky and cry in the same situation.

[Assistant]
Because we are social animals. *Extremely* social.

Dogs and cats will often stay quiet when they are sick, because drawing attention to themselves when sick is the *last* thing they want to do in the wild, so evolutionary factors have driven them to hide signs of weakness. The obviously sick gazelle is the one that gets focused on and eaten, and thus doesn't get as much of an opportunity to reproduce.

Humans on the other hand have evolved to be extremely social. We rely and depend on each other. So when we are sick, we benefit more from showing that we have discomfort so our parents can give us better care, since we are not at risk of predation as a result of getting fussy (and if we would have been on our own we also weren't solitary or even family-unit creatures but instead members of much larger communities and our tribesmen would protect us).


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

[User]
Audio engineers...do cables really matter?

I've heard countless arguments on cables and whether or not they affect the end (digital) product. Does it matter, or can I really use coat hangers?

[Assistant] When you're wiring your home surround system, no, pretty much not at all. But over long distances like on a concert where some cables run several tenths of meters, sometimes even a hundred meters, the resistance and interference has to be reduced, or else you're going to end up with artifacts and noise.


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

[User] [Bob's Burgers] If almost every single person who's tasted their food says it's delicious, why does the restaurant hardly get any business?

[Assistant] It's poorly positioned for foot traffic and has no substantial parking near by. There's closer restaurants to beach/wharf goers that can seat more people. While the food is fantastic it's mostly sold to those who live and work in the neighborhood than new customers. Without new business the company stagnates and without a larger space to accommodate more guests it's difficult to treat it like an event for customers. You stop at McDonald's because it's convenient. You go to a sit down restaurant as a night out. BOB'S Burgers is capable of neither.


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

[User]
How do brazil nut trees absorb so much selenium from the soil?

Also how does Amazon rainforest soil have so much selenium?

[Assistant] I actually studied selenium phytoremediation during grad school. Selenium is primarily found as selenate in the soil (but can also exist as selenite and other forms). Selenate is taken up through sulfate transporters due to its chemical similarity. Once taken up by the plant, selenium is converted into different forms including the amino acids seleno-cysteine and seleno-methionine, as well as other organics. Brazil nut trees may have a sulfate transporter in the roots (SULTR1;1 or SULTR1;2) that has a higher specificity for selenate over sulfate, or may have other enzymes in the selenium metabolism pathway that show up-regulation compared to other plants, allowing it to pull more selenium out of the soil.


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

[User]
Why do "cold" and "wet" textures feel so similar?

Edit: thanks to the numerous commentors giving input on this question!

[Assistant] We don't feel wet. What we feel is the water taking the heat from our skin, so it makes the skin colder which the brain detects as cold. We then use other senses like sight and pressure to distinguished between wet and cold.


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

[User] When you drink a liquid, how does it get out of your stomach without acid coming out aswell? How are they seperated?

[Assistant] They are not separated. The food/liquid that you eat acts as a buffer, and the mixture is passed along to the small intestine through the pyloric sphincter. The small intestine has both bile produced by the liver and concentrated/stored in the gallbladder and bicarbonate produced by the pancreas added to the mixture from the stomach. These are both bases, and serve to help neutralize the acid and to provide the proper environment for your intestinal enzymes. The stomach is continuously (unless it is suppressed by a physiological action) making more acid from specialized cells.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What would've Dooku done if Obi-Wan had believed or pretended to believe him in AOTC?

How do you think the story would've moved ahead? Would Obi-Wan have turned a spy for the Jedi order? Could the upcoming events of ROTS and subsequent turn of Anakin be prevented or would it still have happened in a different way as it was the will of the Force?

[Assistant]
Hed have wanted dooku to come in for questioning by the council which was never gonna happen..theyd have dueled and one would be left dead on genoisis probably obi wan as dooku had jango with him.

Dooku was arrogant amd thought he could turn obi wan, in the novels we see his thoughts he hates his masters preference in trying to get anakin on their side.

He sees obi wan as a fellow gentleman, wise , well spoken , diplomatic and educated  with a refined elegant sword style and clear level headed planning/strategy....qualities he deeply admires and sees  as the strengths in obi wan  and  himself!

Anakin by contrast he sees as rude, loud , bratty ,speaks his mind , leaps into situations and improvises on the fly  with a sword  style based on agressive combos and physicality.. its a style he probably  dislikes in one without yodas refined skills.
He even comments a true gentlrman would learn to fence one armed and not use that disgusting bionic!


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

[User]
Does the formation of bonds mean a chemical reaction has occurred?

I was reading about how the components in a mixture haven't reacted with each other so can be separated via boiling which got me wondering what does it mean for them to react with each other. I've always thought of it as bonds forming but this doesn't seem true here as bonds exist between the atoms in the mixture so how do you classify whether they've reacted or not?

[Assistant] Bonds forming is an indication of a chemical reaction. A mixture does not create new bonds or break bonds. Sugar, for example, just mixes in with water. Each sugar molecule is surrounded by water molecules and becomes an aqueous solution. These are not bonds but rather intermolecular forces that hold the mixture together the way it is.


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

[User]
[Marvel Comics] Were Reed Richards and Dr Doom ever actually friends?

I know they went to college together in the comics and were rivals because of how smart they both were but were they ever friends? Were they like frenenmies or something? I know Dr Doom usually wants Reeds wife Sue Richards to love him in the comics so how long has their rivalry going on? Was their sort of a Kevin 11 and Ben 10 thing going on begrudging friendship?

[Assistant] Reed thought him as friend, Doom more like somebody who can actually chat with him at simillar level and not trying do dumb it down. There was a light attraction to Sue, but it wasn't the biggest factor.


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

[User]
[Resident Evil Village] Who spread the info around that Chris punched a boulder in a volcano?

Heisenberg makes reference to that in your fight against him. I dont think Chris or Sheva would go around mentioning that to everyone.

[Assistant]
Several possibilities for that information to get out:

1. Chris most likely included it in his mission report and may have mentioned it in his debrief.
2. Sheva, after returning to the BSAA West Africa branch, also included it in her mission report/debrief and being that she was rescued in the most cartoonishly  bad ass way, most likely tells her coworkers the story of how Chris punched a boulder into a river of lava to create a stepping stone for her.
3. Chris, in an attempt to inspire new BSAA recruits and increase morale, tells them the story of how far he's willing to push himself to not let people die. (Ironic since he loses his squads in almost every game he's in with the exception of important characters)


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

[User]
[A:TLA] Why didn't Piandao recognize Zuko?

Zuko learned swordsmanship from Piandao, according to a comic, why didn't he greet him? Is Piandao bitter from being forced to train him?

[Assistant] Sokka was definitely a special case for Piandao, being the Avatar's friend and also a... unique student. Zuko's relationship with Piandao is never explored, but given the workings of the Fire Nation in that period, I'd say it was probably a lot more of a working relationship than an actual mentor-student dynamic.


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

[User]
[Star Wars/DC] What would happen if superman were to get attacked with a lightsaber?

Would he take any damage if even a bruise? Or would it just bounce off?

[Assistant]
Superman is invulnerable to the deep core of the sun, there is nothing inside a Kyber crystal that could match the strength and energy of a star.

I assume Superman would be completely fine, and unharmed.


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

[User] ELI5: the difference between regular, high-mileage, and synthetic motor oils.

[Assistant]
Regular (aka conventional) is created from crude oil. It's plentiful and cheap, but loses it's lubrication properties quickly and needs to be changed often.

Synthetic oil are man-made (synthesized, hence the name) that have the properties of conventional motor oil. Advancements have allowed for synthetic oil to last much longer than regular oil, but is still quite pricey compared to the cost of regular oil.

High-mileage oils are usually a hybrid of the two or a pure synthetic (check the labels). The hybrid will be cheaper (due to mixing of the cheap conventional oil and the synthetic) and, in theory, should last longer.

Now, the question that you probably want to derive from this if using one has a benefit over the other. Usually your car will run perfectly fine on either, as they both will provide sufficient lubrication for engines for 98% of the population. Most German vehicles come with synthetic (which allows for BMW / Audi / MB to stretch oil changes to 15,000 miles) while most other vehicles come with conventional. The switch to synthetic should allow for you to stretch your oil changes further apart than with regular oil, but it will be more expensive to change the oil due to the cost of the synthetic. Your car's owners manual should have guidelines as to which oil you should be using. And despite what some people will say, switching between either shouldn't impact your vehicle if the engine is already in good shape and you're using brand new conventional oil.


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

[User]
[Witcher] So monsters, humans, and magic all came from the Conjunction of the Spheres but what exactly are Relicts???

So as the title reads, monsters, magic, and humans all got thrown into the world of the Elves due to the Conjunction of the Spheres but I believe I read somewhere that Relicts are creatures that are of the earth so does that mean that Relics are monsters that have always been apart of the Elven world since even before the Conjunction???
I've seen Relicts as like the "dinosaurs" of the Witcher world as in the most ancient of monsters that predate the Conjunction if that makes sense.

So what exactly are Relicts???

[Assistant]
So magic didn't come from the conjunction. Elves and other races were using it to some extent prior to that. Humans wield a different form of magic that's stronger but also more dangerous to use.

Relics are kinda like naturally occurring and artificially created things that have no classification. They don't have a home like vampires and nekkers and rotfiends do. They're all unique and isolated from the other monster types some are purely single member creations and others so bizarre as to be alien from all others. Some like gargoyles and golems are artificial in origin created by strange magics and artifice. Others like draugrs and the crones have similarities to other races but distinct differences in behavior and capabilities. And others like leshens and demons present as being of the natural world but some part of it that's impossible to understand as they seem to spring to life and vanish just as easily. Many do predate the conjunction which is where the classification of relics comes from as well.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is it easier to talk when we move hands?

I see it all the time during speeches. I noticed I was doing it the other day and it made my flow of speech better.

[Assistant]
Words are linguistically representative of concepts, but their range of meaning is limited. You can get a lot of information from things like tone and emphasis (the audible equivalent of "reading between the lines"), but body language adds yet another level of interpretation. For people with the subconscious desire to be understood with specificity and precision, making hand motions and facial expressions is a natural extension of the communication process.

Let me make it even simpler: you know when you comment on something in a sarcastic way and someone overreacts in a reply, not realizing that you're not really angry or upset? Imagine how much easier it would be if someone was listening to you speak instead of reading text in their own assumed tone. Hand motions and facial expressions are exactly that, but one level higher. You feel like it's "easier" to talk because you're using even more tools to make your communication clear, and you feel more comfortable and confident that you're being understood.

And you're right - most of the time, you are being understood better when you use the right words, the right tone, the right emphasis, and the right body language.


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

[User]
[ASOIAF] What kind of funny ideas do you think people from the Far East may have about Westeros?

According to the World of Ice and Fire people from Asshai think there's a Lion Lord ruling a palace made of gold and farmers can literally dig out gold from their soil (Westerlands)

[Assistant]
That there is a wall a thousand feet high keeping out dead people; that there is a land where winter never ends; that there are people who worship sea monsters and only eat rocks.

(What if all the craziness of Westeros is simply that the story is being told by people from the far east who are just going off rumor and exaggeration?)


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

[User]
[MCU] Why did Dr. Strange use sorcery to control the eye of agamotto when an infinity stone simply obeys the will of whoever wields it.

We've seen it a lot in the MCU: Infinity Stones don't require any particular skill to use. They obey the will of whoever is in their possession.

Who ever held the mind stone in the form of the scepter could choose between mind control, forced sleep, or memory erasure (as implied by the Cap vs Cap fight), by simply willing it.

Who ever held the space stone in the form of the tesseract could simply think of somewhere and teleport there without spells or sorcery.

Same for literally any other stone, whenever Thanos or someone else uses a stone, you see them occasionally aim somewhere, and just think about what they want it to do and it does it. Gestures will sometimes be used to represent the action (like snapping, or twisting the wrist to rewind using the time stone), but while it's possible that simple gestures may be required to "activate the will" to use a stone, there's no evidence that they require any particular skills.

However, when Dr. Strange uses the time stone, he does so through the eye of agamotto. We know that sorcery is needed to open and control the eye itself (the artifact used to hold the stone), and that spells can be used to prevent the eye from being opened ("it's a simple spell, but quite unbreakable"). But once the eye is open, why does Strange still need to use sorcery to control the Time Stone ? Why does he need to read books and study spells to learn how to bring that apple back or forward in time when all that's needed is to just have the stone and think about it ?

[Assistant] The Sceptre, Tesseract,, Universal Weapon, Portal generator, Eye etc are all devices that let you control the stone without having a deep knowledge of how it works.  Thee people that use a stone without an intermediary are Thanos and, Malekith very powerful and knowledgeable beings.


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

[User] Why do humans have to eat a huge variety of foods (the food groups) to get all our necessary vitamins, while lions can eat only meat and deer can eat only plants, and both survive just fine?

[Assistant] The lions eat all the parts, including the organs, which are high in nutrients. We don't. Aside from that, We don't need to eat from all the food groups to survive. Only to thrive. Balanced diets are the result of scientific research and we only know about the concepts of nutrition now. What nutrition is for humans is the best possible combination of foods to completely supply all of our needs with no deficiencies, allowing us to be developmentally healthy.


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

[User]
CMV: DoorDash's tip system works basically the same as restaurants

With the recent controversy over the way DoorDash handles tips, I'm confused why people are so angry with DoorDash while not showing the same anger towards restaurants. My view is that the way DoorDash uses tips to be able to pay drivers less is almost exactly the same as how restaurants use tips to be able to pay servers less. I think American tipping culture is awful, and that people should be just as outraged with restaurant owners as they are with DoorDash.

Restaurants must pay minimum wage to their servers (7.25/hr), but since it is a tipped position they can pay as little as 2.13/hr, so long as the tips make up the difference. DoorDash must pay the driver their guaranteed amount on a delivery, but they can pay as little as $1 to the driver so long as the tips make up the difference.

[Assistant]
The distinction is that when you tip $10 at a restaurant, the full tip goes to service staff. The busser, backwait, bartender etc. might get tipped out of that, but none of that tip money is going to management or the restaurant.

With doordash, they shave money out of that $10. The policy is not only exploitative of the driver, but also deceptive to the customer.


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

[User] [The Boys comics] In the comics was Homelander trained to be a weapon? Did they teach him to use his powers? Did they train him and explore his powers?

[Assistant]
No, none of the Seven had any training. That was made clear during a flashback, that showed them attempting to save a plane during September 11.

>!The Government had all planes except for one plane shot down, but Vought managed to prevent them from shooting down the last one, so the Seven get an opportunity to look good.   Not only where they unable to save the plane, because they had no Idea what they were doing, they also lost Lamplighter, Queen Maeve literally had to fly through the passengers at one point to escape the plane, and Homelander in his attempt to destroy it to prevent it from hitting its target, accidentally caused the wreckage to hit and destroy the Brooklyn Bridge.!<


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

[User] Is there any science that explains why we are seeing so many strange allergies pop up?  And why does the body respond to harmless foreign bodies (such as peanut oil) by essentially 'killing itself'.

[Assistant] There are still many unknowns surrounding this question, but research in the last couple decades is starting to point to the culprit as being a lack of gastrointestinal flora and fauna. In the last couple centuries we have slowly sanitized our societies and, as a result, purged ourselves of some natural GI symbiotes and parasites. Hookworms are often pointed to as the primary parasite which Western cultures lack and coincidentally, Western cultures also have high rates of allergies and autoimmune diseases (whereas non-Western cultures have none). Studies in recent years have shown that introducing hookworms to the body can combat, or even cure, things like IBS, Crohn's disease, allergies, MS, and more - all diseases that are non-existent in less "clean" (ie non-Western) societies. It's currently believed this is accomplished by the hookworms (or other flora/fauna) activating a very low-level immune response in the GI tissues - essentially focusing the 'attention' of the immune system on a real thing, rather than on the body itself. It's almost like the parasites are distracting your immune system, and without them your immune system is bored and needs to attack something, so it attacks your own body.


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

[User]
ELI5: Dessert Stomach

ELI5: Why does it often feel as though we have a "dessert stomach" after meals? For example the thought of any more sushi is horrifying but you proceed to eat 3 scoops of ice cream.

[Assistant]
Humans have a certain amount of evolutionary incentive to eat a variety of flavors, since that leads to getting a greater variety of nutrients/vitamins. So if you've already eaten a lot of sushi, then any more sushi sounds less appetizing than switching to a different flavor.

But it's more likely that dessert is just more enjoyable to consume than other foods, so you are eating it more for your own pleasure rather than hunger.


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

[User]
If a person left Earth and were to travel in a straight line, would the chance of them hitting a star closer to 0% or 100%?

In other words, is the number of stars so large that it's almost a given that it's bound to happen or is the universe that imense that it's improbable?

[Assistant] Assuming you travel fast enough to make gravitational effects irrelevant: You have a ~0.0005% chance to hit the Sun. If you don't hit that your chance to hit a star at any point in the future is well below 0.000000001%, most of that coming from the first ~1000 light years. If you don't hit anything in that region the chance decreases even more. There are simply not enough stars to give you a significant collision risk even over billions of years, and over tens of billions of years you'll see the expansion of the universe making galaxies so sparse that you'll never cross one again.


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

[User]
Eli5: When your credit card doesnt read at a credit card machine, why does covering it with a plastic bag suddenly make it work?

Had this done multiple time at the register.  Card not reading, so the cashier will cover the ribbon or the chip with a plastic bag and YATZEE, it goes through.  Why?

[Assistant] Overtime, some of the magnetized bits on the stripe get what's called 'smeared' out of position. Basically your card gets sloppy. When you swipe the card the reader also reads the smeared parts which present as additional or corrupted signals. When you wrap your card in a bag it creates distance between your card and the reader so the reader isn't able to read those few bits that have smeared out of position because they present a much weaker signal.


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

[User]
My gym professor in high school told us that after a hard running session, your pulse calms better if you walk for a bit after running, rather than stopping completely for a rest. Is there any truth to this?

Sorry if my question is poorly worded, English isn't my first language.

[Assistant] While you are running, the contracting muscles in your legs help the heart circulate blood through your body. Once you stop, that assistance is no longer available. That makes the blood pressure drop as blood begins to pool in the legs and feet.  That's why some people get dizzy after an abrupt stop. Unless you keep moving to help the heart circulate the blood, blood pressure may get so low you can actually pass out.  Although there doesn't seem to be any medical evidence that a cool-down walk will help your heart rate recover faster, it's still a good idea to do so to keep from passing out.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] What would happen if Voldemort decided not to kill Harry when he was a baby?

Let's say he decided to ignore the prophecy.. would Voldemort manage to conquer the magic world if he hadn't gone to try and kill Harry when he was a baby that resulted in him being weak from the counter-magic Harry's mum conjured? What future world would Harry Potter be living in?

[Assistant]
It is heavily implied that had Voldemort ignored the prophecy he'd have been unstoppable.

But the lure of a PROPHECY about him - given his infatuation with the gaudy aspects of magic - was too much and his vanity asserted itself.

IOW, a narcissist gonna be fascinated with himself.


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

[User]
What would happen to Harvey Dent's face in real life over time?

In The Dark Knight, Harvey Dent refuses medical attention his burned face. So what would happen if similar wounds happened to a victim over time? If the victim were to leave a hospital early, have the wounds exposed for an extended amount of time, and have no medical treatment to it.

[Assistant] Well, in any case of having flesh exposed to a contaminated environment, the risk of infection goes up. In a real life Harvey Dent scenario, considering the extent of his facial injuries, infection would inevitably occur, and without treatment necrosis is a very real possibility, eventually leading to gangrene. In certain incidents of facial damage and deformity, harm can be minimized by protecting the exposed tissue from pathogens by using skin grafts. This is clearly not the case you're talking about though, so the most likely scenario would be infection, with pathogenic bacteria entering the bloodstream and tissue, creating a whole host of medical issues. In real life, Harvey Deny would likely die from such untreated wounds.


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

[User]
Does lowering taxes on corporation increase economic growth?

We know that lowering them allows for more investments, higher wages, and distorts the market less. Therefore does all this contributes to economic growth?

[Assistant]
Taken by itself, lower corporate tax rates should encourage more investment, however, if it leads to lower government tax revenues, then it will increase the budget deficit and reduce investment.

The answer to your question depends on what you mean by lowering rates.

If lowering rates doesn't reduce total government revenue (possible through better tax collection or removal of exemptions), then yes, lower tax rates should encourage more investment which will lead to more long term growth.

Or, if lower corporate taxes are matched with higher rates on less-distortionary taxes (e.g. a land tax or pigouvian taxes) so that total government tax revenue is unchanged,  then again, lowering rates will lead to more investment which will lead to more long term growth.

Or, if lower tax rates are accompanied by reductions in the government non-infrastructure spending (infrastructure spending is good for growth) so that the budget deficit does not increase, then again, it will lead to more investment which will lead to more long term growth.

However, if by lowering rates you mean that corporation pay less taxes, with nothing to compensate, then the increase in the budget deficit will increase interest rates and reduce investment. Essentially, the higher budget deficit lowers the *supply* of funds available for investments, and this effect will likely overwhelm any effect from the higher *demand* for investments that results from lower tax rates.

Also, if lower tax rates are accompanied by cuts to government infrastructure spending to keep the budget balance constant, this too will probably lower long run economic growth, as any increase in investment is likely less than the reduction in tax revenue, and hence the necessary cuts to infrastructure spending to fund that tax cut.


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

[User]
[Squid Game] How were the organizers of the game able to keep the construction secret?

Out of the hundreds or even thousands of employees needed to construct a facility of that size, how did they ensure that none of them would have blabbed to anyone else? How did the intelligence agencies of the world not notice the buildup of presumably unauthorized facilities on an uninhabited island by satellite? How did no navy or other surface vessels notice an unusual number of construction material shipments to the island?

[Assistant]
What do they care if the intelligence agencies of the world notice? They're the 1%. They're personal friends with heads of state and can hire the best lawyers in the world, and it's not like anyone in power is going to risk pissing off corporate backers to protect the desperately poor. It only matters if the public find out, and "rich people build something on an island somewhere" isn't a news story, especially when you can call up the guy who owns the newspaper.

Let the nations of the world notice. Who gives a shit? They're the level of rich where consequences are something that happens to other people.


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

[User] ELI5: What is the difference between the regular, ultra, and premium types of gasoline? Is the premium actually better for your car?

[Assistant]
Octane rating, the higher grades withstand higher compression without detonating. Inside the engine, air is sucked in and mixed with fuel, and then compressed and then ignited with the spark plug. However is you compress it too much it ignites before the spark plug sparks, that's very bad for your engine.

Cheaper cars thus compress it so regular is fine. Higher end cars may have a higher compression ratio (results in more power/efficiency) and may have a turbo and/or supercharger that compresses the air before the compression stroke (stuffs more air/fuel into the engine for more power). These two things get much more power out of a given size engine, but require premium fuel.

If you have a cheap car, there isn't any high pressure for premium to do anything useful, so it's a waste of money. In modern higher end cars (especially cars with turbos) they detect low octane fuel and adjust the performance of the engine to the maximum that the fuel can handle (so both are fine, but they have better mpg and more performance with premium). Some very high end engines cannot adjust to low octane fuel and will be damaged if you use it.


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

[User] [Pacific Rim] Could one Jaeger safely high-five another Jaeger?

[Assistant] Absolutely. They would have to be relatively careful and have all their elbow rockets, spinning saw blades, electrohands and giant brass knuckles disabled or retracted. Other than that, no reason why not as long as the pilots are careful.


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

[User]
[FMA] If FMA universe continued into the technology age, how different would the FMA universe be?

I've read that alchemy is applying the concept of deconstruction and reconstruction where you have to fully know and understand the properties of the material, that's why only those dedicated enough were able to become alchemists in the universe.

As for my question, in our current world, there's this huge knowledge gap in what we knew 100 years ago to what we know today where things we couldn't imagine existed were proven true. It shouldn't be too far-fetched to imagine that the same thing could happen in the FMA universe. Assuming they'd eventually reach the technological age, there'd also be the ease of information through the internet which makes it easier to learn alchemy. This would make learning alchemy available to a lot more people and probably easier to learn compared to learning it during their time.

But, since we see only a few people in the FMA stories who actually practice alchemy, it may be because it's too difficult like learning quantum physics, for example. So do you think that the sheer difficulty of learning alchemy would people away or be the constraint for people learning it? Although, even if it is difficult to learn, it has a huge amount of benefits it can bring to the user. For example, fixing broken things instead of throwing them away, or other ease of life things I can't imagine at the moment. Also, considering the destructive capabilities of alchemy, would it be heavily regulated by the government if ever people will try to use it? I'd imagine there'd be more rules similar to "not transmuting gold" and harsher implementation too due to the larger amount of people who can use alchemy.

[Assistant] They allude to it in FMA. They will never enter the industrial age because they dont have to. They have alchemists capable of producing enough to meet peoples needs, so factories never became a necessity for production.


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

[User] Are there storms with lightning over Antarctica? If yes what happens when a bolt of lightning strucks the ice?

[Assistant] Thunderstorms are unlikely over Antarctica because thunderstorms generally require instability and moisture, both of which are rare at the polar south. If you live where there's snow in the winter, you may have noticed how it rarely, if ever, thunders during the winter. This is the reason why.  Even during the warmest months of the Antarctic summer, the hottest it'll get is around 0 degrees Celsius so it's very unlikely for thunderstorms to occur in the Antarctic. In the event where there is lightning and snow as the precipitation, this is known as thundersnow. As for the second part of your question, ice is a bad electrical conductor so it can be surmised that when lightning strikes the ice, the ice will fragment/melt/explode at the point of impact and then refreeze.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is Shooting a Deer in the Head a Bad Shot?

I'm not a hunter, but I'm dating someone from a family of avid hunters, and I wanted to know why a headshot is considered a "bad shot."

I understand aiming for the lungs is a pretty much guaranteed kill, large area to aim for, etc.

Modern power rifles would have no problem getting a kill when hitting a headshot, so guaranteeing lethality isn't an issue, so why is the head considered a bad shot?

Edit: It was pointed out that I should differentiate between taking a headshot and making the headshot. I appreciate everyone's responses about the head being an unreasonable target because it's small. What I want to know is making the headshot - say I'm a decent marksman and know I can make the headshot, why are the other hunters going to be upset with me for downing the deer? (And thank you to those that have provided answers to this question as well)

[Assistant]
It is the same reason attempting to shoot a person in the head is a bad shot. (Assuming you are the general public, and not a navy seal).

Whenever you are trying to kill anything, be it human or animal, with a gun or bow and arrow. There are 4 ways to kill that target in what is considered a humane fashion.

1. Take away the targets ability to breath - puncture the lungs

2. Take away the targets ability to pump blood - puncture the heart

3. Take away the targets blood itself - puncture a main artery

4. Disable the central nervous system or CNS for short.- This is a head shot, breaking of the neck, or spinal cord up high above the shoulders.

If you only have 1 shot to take. The central nervous system is the smallest target to hit. If you miss it, but still hit the animal, you can cripple it, but not kill it. (Look at gabby giffords, she lived through a head shot. She is all sorts of fucked up, but she is alive)

If you aim for the center of mass, that same one shot has the potential ability to hit the heart, lungs or an artery, or all 3 or any combination of the 3. Any 1 of the 3 will put down the animal in short order. And if actually happen to pull off a perfect broadside shot, you will hit the lungs, heart and an artery all in 1 shot.

>Modern power rifles would have no problem getting a kill when hitting a headshot

That is simply not true. As a 17th century musket can do the same thing in the hands of a marksman. It always comes down to shot placement. Center of mass is a larger target than a brain. And technically speaking, you are not just trying to hit the brain, but a specific part of it. Hitting the medulla oblongata is the ultimate "lights out" sniper style shot that will disable the CNS as quick as you can snap your fingers. But with any head shot, If your shot placement is not dead on, all you will do is scalp a deer, but it will otherwise live. (or die slowly in pain and agony).  But if your aim is center of mass, you can still have a good hit which equals a clean kill even if your aim is off, or the target moves.

Next is training. When you are first taught to shoot firearms (if you are lucky) you are taught techniques that are reliable, and more importantly, repeatable. Center of mass is a larger target than the CNS. At any kind of distance, you are much more likely to be able to repeatedly hit that center of mass simply because it is a larger target.  If you were trained to hit the smallest target possible, under stress, unless you are in the military and shooting tens of thousands of rounds a year, it simply isn't going to happen. Ones marksmanship would not be repeatable.

And lastly there is what is tried, and what is proven. When taking game the whole idea is to cause the least amount of suffering to the animal. If you are a hunter, and your practices/techniques are shown to cause great pain or agony to an animal, then you are just a bad hunter. Over the course of the last few hundred years in regards to both firearm and hunting development. It has been proven that over the course of those hundreds of years that on average a center of mass shot is the most reliable and repeatable way to take game quickly and cleanly without causing any undue pain or agony to that animal.

Last point. If an animal, like a deer, is dying a slow agonizing death. The body will secrete enzymes that do get into the meat, which can do anything from taint to destroy the flavor of the meat.


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

[User] ELI5 why does Facebook allow you to read the pre- edited posts of other users?

[Assistant]
Imagine this scenario.

1. Person comments "I love your outfit."
2. 17 people "like" the comment.
3. Person edits comment to read "Hitler did nothing wrong."

Now you have 17 people liking "Hitler did nothing wrong." If you can't see the original comment, that looks like the 17 people are total assholes. Because you can see the comment is edited (and what the original edit says) you have some idea of what was originally "liked."