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

[User]
CMV: Democracy today lets demagogic pseudo intellectuals come into power through elections where unaware majority votes based on intuition rather than rational critical thinking.

Democracy is flawed on many levels. Democracy today lets demagogic pseudo intellectuals come into power through elections where unaware majority votes based on intuition rather than rational critical thinking. If there's a form of governance, where only a few learned individuals decide on a non-tyrannous intellectual as their leader, then a nation adopting such a method of governance can prosper at a much greater rate than a nation where "democratically" elected incompetent leader struggles to find the balance.
The whole point of democracy when it got established must have been to give the general public a sense of power and chance at not being subjected to tyrannous oppression. But, when did it become about demagoguery, propaganda and corruption?
How can democracy save the nation? Or, rather, how can a nation today save democracy?

[Assistant]
> If there's a form of governance, where only a few learned individuals decide on a non-tyrannous intellectual as their leader, then a nation adopting such a method of governance can prosper

The problem is with who defines 'learned', 'intellectual' and 'prosper'. For example, a theocracy can fit this description easily, and they will even tell you that they "prosper" even if everyone's dirt poor, half the population is discriminated against, and technology, health and education are virtually nonexistent, because that way of life ensures everyone there gets to heaven (and at a median age of 36, too!).

Democracy, on the other hand, can give power to demagogic pseudo-intellectuals, but if the democracy is strong enough, even when such individual is in power, their capacity to do damage as substantial as described above is very limited.


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

[User] eli5: When someone has an accident that results in paralysis from the neck down, how do all their internal organs continue to work? Are the organs controlled by a different set of nerves than the rest of the body?

[Assistant]
Yes. There are two bundles of nerves going through the neck that control the rest of the body. The nerves that control your automatic processes like heart rate, breathing, and sweating come through the front/center of the neck, along the veins and arteries, while the nerves that control conscious motions go along the spine in the back of the neck.

Generally, if you've damaged/cut the automatic nerves, the veins and arteries will also have suffered damage/have been cut and you will bleed to death. However, you can break the spine/interrupt the spinal cord/nerves without actually damaging the automatic nerves or the windpipe or veins and arteries, so it is possible to become a paraplegic through damage to the spinal cord without any interruption to automatic processes.


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

[User]
[MCU] Will it make any difference if The Defenders were in Infinity War?

Actually, not just The Defenders (Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, Luke Cage) but also some of the casts in Agents of SHIELD, specifically Daisy Johnson, Yo-Yo, Agent May and FitzSimmons. Will it even make a difference if they were part of the Infinity War?

[Assistant] The Defenders are the Street tier heroes who are better suited fighting the threats that fall through the cracks. They aren't equipped or have the power to hold off the insane strength and forces of Thanos.


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

[User]
ELI5: How can major chains like Walmart and Target manufacture their own version of practically every product in stores?

Like people always say, "Just buy the store brand."

So how is it that these chains can supply such massive lines of products?  Not just retail like Walmart, but grocery stores as well that have seemingly every food item at a discount with their logo.

Just curious how the supply chain works for this. Considering some companies that make products in one specific category have monstrous factories that might output only a few unique items, do these chains have massive plants that create lines of everything on the shelves? Obviously at different quantities, but still a mystery to me.

[Assistant] They don't do any of the manufacturing. Their suppliers do. Great Value chicken is made by Tyson, Publix brand paper towels are made by P&G, and so on. While the quality is at times below the standard of what you find behind the name-brand label, it all comes from the same place.


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

[User]
[Marvel] Why does J. Jonah Jameson hate Spider-Man but not other heroes?

The big reasons given for Jameson's hatred of Spider-Man seem to apply to superheroes in general, yet he outright praises the Avengers and stands up for mutant rights, so what is it about Spider-Man specifically that makes him such a huge target of Jameson's hate?

[Assistant]
He's mistrustful of other heroes too.

In "Marvels" he's present in New York when the very first superhumans start showing up and is consistently cynical about them even as the public goes through cycles of loving and hating them.

Because of the sliding timeline this is... a little off now, but in the first issue of Young Avengers he mentions being a fan of Bucky when he was a young boy... and suffering from intense disillusionment when Bucky was believed dead.

JJ just doesn't trust masked heroes. Real heroes, he argues, are people like his son, astronaut and accomplished, nationally beloved soldier John Jameson. As someone who lost his first wife to a burglar in a balaclava, he believes that those who hide their identities behind masks are probably trying to skirt around legal accountability for illegal actions (which... technically that's not even wrong).

Yeah, he stands up for mutant rights, but, as unbelievable as it may seem, most mutants don't dress up in masks and fight crime. A lot of them just want to watch TV and eat cookie dough like the rest of us.


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

[User]
A question about particle collisions

In a collision between two different particles (for example, a proton and a neutron) moving at different velocities, is there a difference in the outcomes between a faster moving proton hitting a slower moving neutron? Or vice versa?

[Assistant] You have to remember that all motion is relative. If, in one frame of reference, there is a fast proton hitting a slow neutron, then there is another frame of reference in which the neutron is fast and the proton is slow. We can conclude from this that there cannot be any difference in the outcomes of the two scenarios (except, possibly, the velocities of whatever particles we end up with). Typically, particle physicists work in a frame in which the center of gravity of the system is at rest.


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

[User]
[MCU] What does Spider-Man's "Instant Kill" mode do?

Tony Stark stopped making weapons in Iron Man. His suit supposedly uses repulsors instead of lasers, and with rare exceptions he doesn't explicitly kill people. He also doesn't believe Spider-Man is ready to be a hero yet, as shown by the fact that most of his suit's features are locked.

So: Why does the Stark Spider-Man suit have instant kill mode? He was expecting Peter to be the next Avenger, and they have a reputation to maintain. Also, how exactly does it kill instantly?

[Assistant]
Stark may have danced around the term weapon in congressional hearings, but he absolutely has plenty of weapons on every suit except for the Mk 2. The anti-tank capable missile on the Mk 3 wasn't there by accident, and he had zero problems killing the fighters holding the hostages. Also rewatch the battle of New York and he has missiles and lasers galore.

Stark no longer sells weapons, but he absolutely makes them for himself, so it's natural that would extend to equipping other avengers. The fact that there were lockouts at all is a sign of restraint on Stark's part, owing to Peter being a kid and not a full Avenger.


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

[User]
How did sinovac develop an inactivated vaccine faster than the the new rna vaccines?

If one of the main advantages of rna/vector vaccines is faster rollout how did sinovac develop a traditional inactivated vaccine faster or at least almost the same rate?

[Assistant]
Do you have a citation for the "mRNA vaccines have faster rollouts?"  They can be fast, but production differences are not incredibly significant.

The covid-19 vaccines are the first widescale rollouts for mRNA vaccines, so there's no real historical precedent.

The sinovac route I'd argue is faster. Grow up virus, UV/fornalin/whatever inactivate, assure inactivation, package and inoculate.


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

[User]
Why is alpha decay always in the form of helium-4? Why does the particle never break apart into larger particles, like lithium?

Is it to do with the amount of electrons on the outer shell? Because that would make sense as to why it's always helium. Just curious.

[Assistant]
Alpha decay is **defined** to be the emission of a ^(4)He nucleus.

But the alternative kind of decay you're describing *does* exist. It's called *cluster decay*. It's when a nucleus decays by emitting some cluster of particle larger than an alpha particle. It's sort of in between alpha decay and spontaneous fission.

Cluster decays are rare, because alpha particles are extremely tightly-bound. It's so energetically it's very favorable for a heavy nucleus to proceed toward lighter masses by emitting alpha particles.

There is also the fact that these kinds of decays proceed via quantum tunneling. It's generally easier for an alpha particle to tunnel out of a heavy nucleus than it would be for a ^(12)C cluster, for example.


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

[User]
[Spiderman] I need a lot of questions answered about comic book Spiderman.

1) How nerdy is he?

2) How much of a genius is he compared to say Tony and Reed?

3) What are his scientific accomplishments/capabilities?

4) How serious/non serious is he?

5) Does he chat a lot with people he saves, kids and even enemies or just stays mum like a super serious guy?

6) How much of his issues with his enemies does he try to solve with science instead of his fists/wisdom?

PS: is there a spiderman fan who  would be happy to answer questions i have over DM's if/when i ask them?

[Assistant]
1. Pretty nerdy! More in a bookish, research way than in geeky fandom stuff.
2. Hes very smart, but not on their level.
3. His webbing and the shooters are considered amazing and are often commented on by other science types in the universe.
4. Quite humorous, but also kind/empathetic - he can be as serious as the situation requires. Pete often uses humor during fights to enrage and distract his opponents.
5. Constantly chatting!
6. A fair amount. A lot of his opponents have been altered or transformed - the Lizards a good example - and hes tried to help using his knowledge of science and seeking out friends/allies in the scientific community.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Why not hex your way past Filch?

Filch is supposedly a squib, which basically means he's a muggle. That means he has no magical defenses at all. If you need to be out after hours, why not simply hex him?  Hit him with a petrificus totalus from behind, and you're free to roam the castle as you please. Or hit him stupefy. Anything really, it's not like he can block it.

Worst case scenario, if he sees you, just wipe his memory.

He's a muggle trying to enforce rules on beings far more powerful than him. Why do they fear him? He should basically be their bitch.

[Assistant]
I imagine using magic offensively on school staff is a real good way to get in a shit ton of trouble if you get caught. Sneaking around is one thing, hexing someone is another.

Edit: it's also established that there are ways to track magic use, though idk if it's employed at Hogwarts since the kids do tend to sneak around a lot.


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

[User]
[Bladerunner] What kind of photography exists in this universe?

In the scene in Bladerunner where Deckard looks at pics found in Leons hotel room, you can see at one point where the camera zooms in and around the scaly dress and focus on a womans face. What kind of photography could allow for that?

[Assistant]
Combination of panoramic picture technology and insanely high pixel count.

It basically took a 1-2 second scanning shot and encoded the information in the picture to be decoded by a viewer at a later time.


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

[User] [LoTR] Consider for a moment if the One Ring has survived undiscovered until the present day. What kind of person might uncover it and whose hands might it ultimately end up in? Finally, how would Sauron seek to benefit from it's discovery in the modern era?

[Assistant]
The thing about the One Ring is that it can use *anybody* in its quest to make it back to the Dark Lord.

It can corrupt someone as simple as a hobbit, turning Smagol into Gollum, or as powerful as an Istari. Smagol held onto the ring because of the covetousness in his heart. Gandalf feared that it would corrupt his good intentions, making him an unwitting agent of evil.

In its history, though, the Ring has more commonly been in the possession of a common folk than on the hand of a king. It seems to want to remain hidden until such a time that Sauron is ready to reclaim it.

Because of that, it would probably end up in the possession of a janitor or someone of similar "low" class, rather than in the collection of a billionaire or world leader.

And Sauron doesn't benefit from someone using the ring, he benefits from its return to his possession. The Ring would have the bearer hide it, keeping it safe, until Sauron was strong enough to send the Nazgl to reclaim it.


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

[User] ELI5: Since it rains diamonds on Saturn and Jupiter, do the diamonds just pile on each other? Do they evaporate?

[Assistant]
The gas giant planets are incredibly hot inside.

They have an enormous, rocky core, the surface of which is closer to a volcano than the earth's crust.

It's covered with an ocean of liquid gas that consantly boiling away then raining down again. Anything that falls to the surface is boiled and returns to the upper atmosphere.

The problem with the diamond rain is that it's theoretical. The presence of it depends on how convective the lower atmosphere and oceans are.

If they're highly convective then the diamonds will mix with oxygen and burn to create Co2. Eventually, all the carbon will be burned this way and there'll be no diamond rain.

If they're more evenly layered, or if a thick layer of hot gas is preventing the liquid ocean from coming into contact with the molten surface, then the diamonds will fall into the lava and boil away without getting the chance to bond with any oxygen.

AFAIK, we don't know which of these is true. We don't even know how thick the atmospheres are or how big or hot the rocky cores are.


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

[User]
If you traveled faster than the expanding universe, where would you eventually end up?

In other words, what is the universe expanding into?

[Assistant] It is space itself that is expanding.  No matter how fast *you* travel, you're still occupying spacetime.  Imagine you live on the surface of a balloon, and the balloon is expanding.  No matter how fast you run around the surface of the balloon, you're still on the balloon.  You don't wind up anywhere except the universe.


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

[User]
Question on the 'Demon Core': Why did coming into contact with tungsten carbide result in a massive release of radiation?

I get it when the two halves of the core went supercritical but what would tungsten carbide do to it?

[Assistant]
Criticality of a fissile assembly is determined by the neutron multiplication rate--if you introduce a neutron into the assembly (which plutonium 239 does on its own through spontaneous fission), does it make, on average, more than one neutron or less? If the former, then the assembly is supercritical and will undergo a runaway chain reaction; if the latter, then the number of neutrons in the assembly will eventually decay away. Whether an assembly is subcritical or supercritical depends on the fissile material, how much of it is there, what its geometry is (spheres have the lowest neutron loss rates), and what it's surrounded by.

In a bare assembly of nuclear material, neutrons that get to the edge of the assembly leave the material and are lost. The "demon core" was subcritical as a bare assembly. When Daghlian accidentally dropped a tungsten carbide block onto it, the block acted as a "tamper" for neutrons, meaning it reflected just enough of these lost neutrons back into the assembly that it turned slightly supercritical, having a neutron multiplication rate greater than one, until he moved the brick. Doing so got him so close to the supercritical fissioning assembly that he received a fatal dose of radiation.


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

[User]
[WH40k] Do we have any idea what's going on outside our galaxy?

To our knowledge, has anyone been to another galaxy and returned? Do we know if the other galaxies in the universe are all as fucked as ours? Is it even possible to make it to another galaxy via the warp, and if so would the light of the Astronomicon be visible?

[Assistant]
We know the Tyranids are attacking from mutliple different directions into the galaxy, so presumably they've eaten or at least occupied much of the surrounding galactic cluster.

Maybe some Eldar and Ork colonies out in the fringes but who knows.


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

[User] [Suicide Squad] If Harley Quinn's neck bomb was disabled why did she care Amanda was alive and threatening them after defeating Enchantress?

[Assistant] Harley Quinn is mentally unstable. Despite everything she occasionally seems, you have to remember that. Its also.possible that the Joker didn't tell her the thebomb was disabled, amd she simply chased after him because she's crazy.


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

[User]
Is there an overall advantage to consumers to having large corporations?

My specific question isnt about size per se, but how many things a company does.  For instance, Amazon is a marketplace, but they also produce their own products and services.  This obviously benefits the company, and potentially lowers the cost to the consumer but it also gives the company huge power over the consumer and the industry (barriers to entry, etc).  I feel like huge firms might stifle innovation among other things.  Is there a way to quantify that?  Should companies be forced to spin off into separate entities?  Would it potentially help the companies as well?

[Assistant]
That's called vertical integration, and it's generally considered a good thing for consumers. The main reason is that it's not actually anti-competitive in itself. For example if Company A had Company B as a supplier, and both had 10% market share in their respective fields, then if Company A acquired Company B, it would still only have 10% market share. However if it acquired it's competitor Company C also with 10% market share, it would have 20% market share, and could begin to threaten the entire industry. So the vertical integration is generally considered better, and tends to lead to lower prices without hurting consumers as much.

The problem starts to manifest if Company A has 75% market share and acquires a supplier Company B with 10% market share. It can then force its users to effectively only buy Company B products, and can develop monopolies on both sides. That's a separate issue though.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why do Microwaves and Oven Doors Have Small Dots on Them?

It seems that the microwaves have small dots on the door because of radiation, but with an oven it is just heat, correct? I am wondering why oven doors have these small dots, hindering your view of the inside.

[Assistant] Those arent dots on the door of a microwave oven, those are holes, in a thin layer of metal. An interesting thing about radio waves, microwaves, and lightits all the same stuff, called the Electromagnetic Spectrumis that the waves cannot shine through holes that are smaller than the length of the wave. Microwaves are several centimeters long, *much* longer than the diameter of the little holes in the metal screen in the microwave ovens door. But visible light waves are incredibly tiny, about a billionth as long as a microwave. So the light in the microwave oven can shine through the holes just fine.


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

[User]
ELI5: What do they do with human bodies that nobody wants?

Lets say you live your whole life alone and isolated, one day you die and the only reason why somebody found you was because of the decaying smell. What do they do with your body?

[Assistant] Into the Paupers Grave you go.  Cities maintain a cemetery for the unclaimed bodies that turn up.  In large cities these can be considerable - NYC buries over 1000 unclaimed bodies on Hart Island every year.


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

[User] How can we know the 'long term' effects of COVID-19 if we have not had it for a long period yet?

[Assistant] I think it has to do with short term damage to biological structures that we know will have long term effects.  Certain types of damage to the pancreas, heart and lungs are just known to have long term effects regardless of what caused the damage to begin with.  Doctors are noticing some of this damage specific to the heart and lungs is occurring in some Covid cases.  So even though we don't know that Covid specifically causes long term effects, the short term damage caused by Covid to these organs is the type of damage that will last for a long time if not permanently.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does a computer gradually start to slow down and stall after a 2 or 3 years use?

Yes macs are included in this. That's the reason I'm asking this question. My mac is definitely noticeably slower than when I bought it in October 2008. It just stalls loads. Can anyone explain this?

[Assistant]
Imagine you have a sweet **Legacy of the Wizard** thermos.

You use it everyday for school and it's your favorite container.  One day, you put Cherry EXPLOSION Koolaid in it, drink it up and have red teeth all day long!

The next day, you put in Dr. Pepper.  You don't like Dr. Pepper as much as daddy does (at least, he *calls* it Dr. Pepper), but it's one of your favorites, huh?  What's cool is that the little bits of Cherry that were still in there made it taste like CHERRY EXPLOSION DR. PEPPER.  WOW!

Each day, you try a different drink (or even the same ones from time to time).  After a while, what happens to your thermos?

It gets all gross and gooey, huh?  All slimy and smelly.  Even though it smells kind of sweet, it all still is just too covered in gunk to be usable.

So, what do you do?  You wash it, of course!  After you get your mom to put it through the dishwasher, it's fresh and ready for you to use again... as long as you keep it clean, slugger.

* thermos = computer
* fluids = programs / various other data
* dishwasher = formatting, defragging, scandisk
* your mom = HOT

*edit*: Fixed bulleted item list.


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

[User]
[Marvel] What would happen if The Vision and Shadowcat try to phase through each other?

usually when Shadowcat phases through machines they short out so  with vision what would happen?

[Assistant]
Whatever Vision wanted.  He could phase at the same level as her, allowing them to high five but not pass through eachother.  He could do nothing and probably suffer some negative effects.  He could phase at any different level and both would pass through eachother just fine.

Shadow cat doesn't have anywhere near the level of fine control as Vision.  Her phasing is ON or OFF, more or less.  Vision can adjust it.


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

[User] [DC] If Darkseid actually managed to conquer the multiverse and get rid of all free will, what would he do after that ?

[Assistant]
He's the personification of tyranny and evil. After accomplishing his purpose, he'll just simply exist. The new gods aren't really people, they're multiversal, abstract entities. They don't really have to do anything, and their ambitions would be beyond our understanding anyways.

It's like asking what happiness would do after everyone was happy. It's still going to serve its purpose and work to keep everyone happy. Darkseid will just ensure that free will stays gone, and nothing else will matter to him.


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

[User] Other than not receiving security patches and updates, what begins happening to modern operating systems after they have not been rebooted for a while?

[Assistant]
Memory and service errors primarily.  Especially in Windows.  The longer you leave the computer running - the more applications you open / close - the more power management you allow Windows to conduct (standby / sleep) - and especially web browsers like Chrome / Firefox - the more residual effect there is on conflicting services not starting and stopping correctly and crashed / cached application files building up in memory and impacting performance.

The reason your IT guy tells you to restart as a first option, and the reason this fixes the vast majority of glitches is that it resets the memory and services on the computer.  The alternative is to go trawling the event log / services / system info looking for a fault and fix it manually.  Restart your computer once in a while - it's better for you.


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

[User] Eli5: How does medicine like gas-x help eliminate gas in our body.

[Assistant]
Simethicone (the active ingredient) encourages a very large number of very small bubbles (which are hard for the body to expel) to combine into a smaller number of large bubbles (which are easy to fart out).

So, Gas-X doesn't stop you from farting -- it actually makes it easier. Its primary purpose is to relieve the bloating/pressure/pain that gas can cause.


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

[User] ELI5: How come being outside in 90 degree weather is uncomfortable, but 90 degree water is amazing...65 degree weather is very comfortable, but 65 degree water is awful?

[Assistant]
The thing is, your body doesn't really measure temperature - it measures a little something known as heat flux.

Heat flux is pretty much the rate at which heat enters or leaves your body. For us, the most comfortable state is when we have a little bit of heat leaving our body.

In all of these cases, heat is moving from the body to the surrounding environment, since your body is always warmer, but the important part here is the rate. Different materials touching have different willingness to transfer heat to each other, as it turns out, water transfers heat easier than air does. The farther the temperatures between the two materials is, the faster the heat transfer will occur as well.

So, 90 degree air is uncomfortable because your body wants to move more heat from your body to the surrounding environment, but water, which conducts heat better, will transfer the heat from your body to it much faster, making it a comfortable feeling.

The opposite is true. 65 degree air pulls quite a bit of heat from you, but still it is within normal comfortable range. Water on the other hand will pull much more heat from you, making it cold.


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

[User] I've heard that light and gravity both travel at the speed of C (causality). How exactly did they measure the speed of gravity?

[Assistant]
Electromagnetic waves (in vacuum) and gravitational waves that are emitted by a source are predicted to travel at c. Weve recently been able to detect gravitational waves thanks to LIGO/Virgo. In particular, one paper managed to confirm this by using a binary neutron star merger event. The single event emitted electromagnetic and gravitational radiation, meaning that you can detect both separately. If the electromagnetic radiation and gravitational radiation arrive at nearly the same time, then that shows the gravitational radiation must travel at nearly the same speed since the source is extremely far away.

If, on the other hand, you have an event that only emits gravitational waves, then you can approximately calculate the speed by comparing its arrival time between different points on Earth. However, this will be less accurate than the former method, as you would need multiple detectors to make a precise measurement and gravitational wave detection is state of the art.

For reference, we have good theoretical reasons why gravitational waves should move at the speed of light. The equations of general relativity have been fairly well tested and you can use the equations to derive what the speed of gravitational waves must be, so many physicists were fairly confident of this even before rigorous detection. You can also argue from causality etc., but keep in mind that it can be shown precisely and mathematically.


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

[User] ELI5: Could a one-atom thick layer of graphene cut you in half?

[Assistant]
As someone that has worked with graphene, nothing would happen. A single sheet of graphene is incredibly fragile and would just break on your skin. Graphene is ***relatively*** super strong, but everything on the atomic level is weak compared to things like people.

For example, you can purchase gold sheets that are only a few hundred atoms thick. They are a lot easier to obtain, they behave like very fragile tissue paper. If you even lightly blow air on them, they will tear into pieces.


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

[User]
[Ghostbusters] What was their long-term plan for dealing with the ghosts they caught?

It's alluded to in the movie and portrayed directly in the official novelization that the "containment grid" is just a sealed room captured ghosts are dumped into. It's analogous to if an exterminator had to take home live every rat they caught. Essentially, a whole city's worth of ghosts are just packed into a closet in the Ghostbusters basement, and the capacity of that containment is finite. Worse, the containment requires constant power, and a lot of it. Walter Peck forced the issue by shutting down the grid, but that was going to happen eventually anyway the first time their was a blackout or short circuit (so imagine the city dealing with the aftermath of a hurricane ... but also a sudden onslaught of released ghosts).

Did the Ghostbusters have any notion of a permanent solution to this situation, or were they just going to keep packing spectral entities in there and hope it didn't eventually burst?

[Assistant] Let's be honest here, the Ghostbusters are a bunch of cowboys shooting from the hip. They have no plans beyond "catch ghosts", "fuck around with the cool ghost shit", and "find a way to monetize catching ghosts/cool ghost shit".


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is it easy to tell the difference between film and television, even on the same screen?

Every time I'm watching TV, I find that it's relatively easy to tell whether the programme you are watching is from a film or television series, just from watching a few seconds. It's just as easy to spot whether a film is a film made for television or a film designed for cinema.

One TV programme I always thought looked cinematic was Brian Cox's "Wonders" series. Today I found out it's filmed with a camera usually used for film. So what's the difference between the cameras, and why aren't TV cameras used for film and vice versa?

[Assistant] Frames Per second. Movies are usually filmed at 24 FPS, which is relatively slow. Soap Operas, which are famous for being very different "looking" than most other visual media, are filmed at 48 FPS. The most recent Hobbit adaptation was filmed in 48 FPS, which led to some viewers complaining it looked like a cheap TV show or soap opera.


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

[User]
[The Simpsons: episode "Citizen Kang"] Which party won the 1996 presidential election?

I tried looking it up the answer on the Simpsons Wiki, and I'm getting conflicting accounts over whether Kang impersinated Bill Clinton or Bob Doll.

[Assistant]
Kang and Kodos have different voice actors, Kang is slightly deeper, and Kodos has a slightly higher voice that sounds like a monotone Homer.

In the episode Kang is impersonating Bob Dole, and Kodos is impersonating Bill Clinton.

This is further confirmed not just by the voices but when they are giving the speech before Homer comes down in their ship, Bob Dole says, "The politics of failure have failed, we need to make them work again, tomorrow when you are sealed in the voting cubicle, VOTE FOR ME SENATOR KAN-" He stops and looks down at his "VOTE FOR DOLE" button. "BOB DOLE."

He was clearly about to say "Kang" and not "Kodos" but stopped himself.

At the end of the episode the alien says, "ALL HAIL PRESIDENT KANG".

Thus the Republican Party won the election.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do we consume Sodium Chloride and not any other salts?

[Assistant]
We do consume a few other types of salt, just not as much as sodium chloride. If you look at the container of salt in your kitchen, it probably says that it's "iodized salt", meaning it contains a small amount of sodium iodide or potassium iodide in addition to the sodium chloride. A lot of packaged foods also have potassium chloride, although people don't usually keep that in the kitchen.

As for why? Sodium chloride tastes salty, is non-toxic, and is widely available. Many other salts lack in one or more of those three areas.


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

[User] [Spiderman 3]How does Harry Osborn survive the Green Goblin grenade at point blank range with just a burnt face when those grenades have totally disintegrated people? How did the venom not react when Peter was swinging through the city when he first got it?

[Assistant]
To the Harry Osborn question:

1) Different pumpkin bombs have different settings. The disintegration one is not commonly used.

2) Harry has taken the Goblin Serum which has significantly enhanced his body, making him more durable than an ordinary person.


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

[User]
ELI5: How come things like washing machines and cars always stay at high prices, meanwhile things like radios and TVs get cheaper and cheaper?

Never understood why washing machines , cars and cookers always stay expensive whilst other things get cheaper as they get easier to make?

[Assistant]
Cost of things are proportional to the cost of their base materials. Things like electronics become cheaper because they are used in technology that allows you to make NEW technology (like whats used in electronics) faster, smaller and cheaper.

So, the reason why a washing machine or car raises price with inflation is because the raw materials like steel, aluminum, and plastic are also rising in price with inflation and supply and demand. But, you cant develop new technology to "make" more steel or plastic faster, cheaper or smaller, you have to acquire it the old fashioned way.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do ISIS terrorists make sure the people they are executing or beheading on Camera do not fight back or try to escape during filming?

So I have just seen a couple of videos filmed by the ISIS thugs in Libya. In these videos the victims are just lined up kneeling in front of a beach and brutally beheaded. The one thing I find curious about these videos is the sheer hopelessness and borderline emotionless reaction of the individuals being killed.

Is it absolute fear? Hopelessness and Helplessness? An acceptance of fate? Or is there something else in play.
I know its not beyond those monsters to weaken their captives by making them go hungry and refusing them water, but still, is that really enough to make a person surrender his life without putting up a fight? I also know that most of the victims hands are tied from behind but they still have their legs free, yet there is no kicking and screaming, you dont even see them shading a tear or act in any way you would reasonably expect from a person facing a brutal death.
And is it really asking too much bravery from those souls to expect one of them to say You may take my life but Goddamn it I will ruin your money shot.?

The spokesperson in these kinds of videos usually goes on an endless rant before commencing the execution process but you dont see any of the victims reacting in any way during this whole time. Even when in the very last moment when they are thrown into the ground and horrifyingly dismembered there isnt much reaction. How is this possible?

Even if there is probably no chance of escaping from their ill fate, what do they really have to lose? Getting shot while trying to escape seems a much better way to go than getting your head chopped off. it strikes me as a bit unnatural for a person to just give up so completely without his reflexes kicking in in such a situation.

Edit: Thanks for all your responses I have now found a number of articles that support the claim most captives are forced to go through mock executions and drugged to make them unresponsive.

[Assistant] A soldier who was kidnapped in Iraq and held captive for 2 years did an AMA. He said that they would often do "mock executions" where they would run into your room in the middle of the night, put a sack over your head and take you outside where they would say things in arabic, then put a gun to your head, only to let you go back to your room. After 50 times, it won't scare you anymore, you think it's just another mock execution. It's really fucked up.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Did Obi-Wan and Yoda come to realize that the Jedi way was fundamentally flawed (i.e. "wrong"), or did they simply believe it was all Anakin's fault?

I believe that in the RoTS novelization, Yoda comes to the realization that the Sith have been constantly evolving and adapting, while the Jedi have become stagnant.

Yet, when training Luke to become a Jedi, neither Yoda or Obi-Wan concede that -- as long as it is not obsession -- love is a *good* thing and can strengthen oneself. They never seem to blame themselves for not being the support system that Anakin so desperately required -- rather that Anakin didn't commit himself to being a "proper" Jedi. Did they (ever) come to realize that the ways of the Old Jedi were fundamentally wrong and needed major adjustments?

[Assistant]
In many ways, yes. But probably not in the ways that truly mattered.

Once the Jedi order was destroyed and the survivors left with nothing but themselves and the Force, they realized where they had gone wrong. Both Yoda and Obi Wan especially realized they placed their faith in the wrong people until it was too late, and relied too much on old texts and stagnant traditions to the detriment of the living force. Qui-Gon brought them both back to that line of thinking from beyond the grave.

But having said that, they still considered themselves to be fighting a war. Obi Wan especially mistakenly assumed Luke to be the chosen one after Anakin broke his heart. Yoda was intent on training Skywalker's children (especially Leia, which is an interesting new addition to canon), but only as weapons to defeat the Sith. They were never going to be "proper" Jedi in the vein of those trained in the temple for the past thousand years. They were going to be given specific instructions and then told to go kill the Sith.

That's where Luke comes in. His outsider perspective taught him that the constant fighting between Sith and Jedi was the wrong path. When he threw his lightsaber away and refused to keep fighting his father, he declared himself a Jedi. But not a Jedi like Obi Wan or Yoda, but of a new kind. Or perhaps a return to the old Jedi, before the stagnation and degradation. That's one reason in his old age, Luke became so despondent as his instinctive knowledge of the force clashed with a thousand years of "wisdom" accrued by a fundamentally mistaken order.

It wasn't until after death that Yoda finally realized the true nature of the Jedi, and how it flows with the heart, not constrained by the mind. Hence why he wasn't upset about THE SACRED TEXTS. And his confidence in Rey.


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

[User] ELI5: why do gas prices change every day?

[Assistant]
Look into the futures market. Futures are contracts that stipulate a certain number of barrels to be sold on a certain day at a certain price. These futures contracts allow oil producers to get price certainty - if you're farmer, you'd rather shake hands on a price for 100 cows rather than having the price change every day. The same goes for oil producers. If you bought an oil futures contract, you have committed to buying and taking delivery of the barrels. But, you can sell the contract to someone else. Maybe a Saudi Arabian facility blows up from a Yemeni drone, there will be a supply shock and oil prices go up. Your contract is now more valuable, and you can sell it for profit. The person buying from you has now taken the commitment of buying and taking delivery of the oil. If the Saudis repair their facility at record speed, the price of oil will fall again and that new buyer will lose money. Or you can just be United Airlines and you found a contract whose oil price looks like a deal and you can hold it to delivery. United Airlines doesn't care if the price goes up or down because the contract has a price engraved in stone. The producer still uses the price of the initial contract.

Every nanosecond the prices change because of algorithmic (robotic) trading. These prices will ripple down the supply chain, finally ending up at the gas station. Prices are just supply and demand, and future anticipation of supply and demand. These change ALL the time.


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

[User]
[Steven Universe] Is Homeworld at war with another empire?

I mean, the gems are highly militaristic, still making soldiers despite not needing them far as we know, and, strangely enough, are undergoing a resource shortage. Plus, they need massive, planet destroying weapons like the Cluster at their disposal. Is it possible that Homeworld is at war with another powerful empire?

[Assistant] The gems seem like they might also be the leftovers of another civilization. They seem to be a lot like sentient drones or war machines (each with specific rolls or programming). Think ultra-advanced Skynet androids. Perhaps the Gems are all that is left of the war machine of an empire long dead still expanding and building more of itself simply because that is what it was programmed to do a millennia ago.


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

[User] ELI5: when we are underwater, how does water not get inside our bodies through our eyes, ears, nose and every other orifice?

[Assistant]
The eyes don't really have any openings for water to enter the body. Even the pupil is covered by a transparent cornea, it isn't just a hole into the eye itself.

Ears end in an eardrum that blocks the entire ear canal. If that is ruptured then there is a Eustachian tube that leads to the back of the throat.

The mouth can close, but the nose relies on the pharyngeal flap to block off access to the throat. The nose and sinuses could fill with water at the correct angle but not pass that barrier.

As for the other end, the anus is a sphincter which is a ring of muscle that closes off to prevent anything moving in or out. There are similar smaller sphincters in the bladder and the prostate to manage the flow of liquid in either direction.


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

[User] ELI5: What exactly is the difference between a nation, a country, and a state?

[Assistant]
They all refer to land and people under some form of administration, usually with centralized control, that operates largely independently of other lands and peoples. State often either refers to the operations of a nation or a constituent territory of that nation, though, and does not often refer to a wholly independent region. Country and nation refer to regions that act independently of one another. Country is often used to describe the geopolitical region - that is, the borders. Nation is often used interchangeably, but refers more to the sociopolitical region - that is, the people.

The question of what lands *are* independent entities is hard to define, since there is no one organization responsible for them all, though the United Nations tries to fill that role. That's why the UN recognizes a different number of countries than the USA does. Roughly speaking, there are about 200 countries.


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

[User]
How does a cotton candy machine work?

So I stumbled across a butt load of boxes of cotton candy "crystals" (couldn't think of another way to describe it). Unfortunately I did not stumble across a cotton candy machine. So I'm just a tad curious as to how the machine works, and maybe if I can somehow make some cotton candy. Who doesn't love cotton candy right...

[Assistant] A cotton candy machine heats up sugar with an added flavor to high temperatures, which is then spit out of that center cone-like thing as a very thin and light sugar liquid.  When it hits the air outside it almost instantly forms crystals as a fiber-like cotton candy you know and love.


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

[User]
Ice burns make no sense to me on a molecular level. Your skin cells are damaged because they came in contact with molecules that move too slowly?

you can damage your skin via conduction on too hot and too cold objects (-5C - 54 C). Now i can somewhat understand how fast moving molecules can damage cells, but what causes the skin cells to be damaged after being in contact with slowly moving molecules? Does the water in cells and blood freeze? If so what happens to the frozen cell when thawing?

[Assistant] Your cells are mostly water. When water freezes it forms ice crystals, which are big, and sharp. These crystals break the membrane of your cells so they rupture and die. It's exactly the same thing that makes food go limp and smooshy when frozen.


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

[User] [Superheroes] Why do heroes always inherit their millions, while villains actually go out and earn it?

[Assistant] Not sure this is an "always" thing. But maybe the same drive for wealth an power is tends to align with more "villainous" pursuits. And then some people build their wealth through illegal activity so this will also increase the pool of "self made" villains (organized crime boss turned super villain).


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

[User] ELI5: With more technology and innovation, why is it that healthcare costs have not become cheaper?

[Assistant]
In the US?

The system is not optimized for cost efficiency. The system, like most systems in capitalism, is optimized to extract value from lower class people and funnel it to upper class people. The wealthy megacorporations that control US Healthcare have successfully defeated all attempts to reform the system, because an ad campaign is cheap in comparison to real competition, and they know all the buttons to push to make any reform sound like a loss of freedom as opposed to a creation of rights to access to care.


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

[User]
If light from distant stars takes so long to reach us, how do we know they haven't already supernova'd?

If the light arriving here from distant stars can be from billions of years ago, how do we know that- from those star system's perspective -they aren't already dead?

[Assistant] We don't know. In the case of some of the most distant observable objects (e.g. galaxies 10+ billion light years away), it's very likely that many of their stars have already burnt out/gone nova/etc. A lot can happen in 10 billion years!


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

[User] [Star Wars] How (and why) Count Dooku left the Jedi order and became a Sith?

[Assistant]
In canon, we don't have an exact timeline, but essentially he fell under Palpatine's influence either before or during the events of the Naboo Crisis. He used Qui-Gon's death as cover, claiming that the Jedi had failed in their roles as servants of the Republic.

In Legends, he likewise used Qui-Gon's death as an excuse to finally leave the order which he considered was growing corrupt and complacent, but it wasn't until later fell under Palpatine's influence and joined him, sometime in the first year or so after TPM.


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

[User]
[Marvel] How much stronger is Spider-Man when he has the Black Suit?

When he can bring himself to wear it at least?

[Assistant]
It varies, usually between 2x-10x stronger.

Given the other material about how he's always holding back and how he routinely beats symbiote worn by others, the symbiote might not even boost his strength much at all.  It might just be affecting his psychology to make him hold back less.


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

[User]
Why do some Nationalized airlines do outstanding (Emirates) While others offer a subpar experience to private and bleed money (Air India)? And other confusions regarding airlines.

I read Air India used to be pretty good before it was nationalized and started needing massive subsidies to get by. Nowadays it is one of the worst airlines. This gave me the impression that privatized airlines would do much better than Nationalized ones, yet Emirates is massively profitable and an incredible experience and is actually Nationalized. Adding to my confusion, Etihad is a nationalized airline which was also a luxurious experience, yet they financially do terrible! Plus, there are plenty of private airlines that also offer mediocre experiences and are sometimes unprofitable. So what gives? Could someone explain what is going on, and if privatization is better for airlines, or nationalization?

[Assistant]
Believe it or not, whether or not a company is private is not the only factor which determines how well it is run :p

I would guess (having done no research) that they are run vastly differently at every level of management.

 Your question is logically equivalent to: "why is the North Korean military so different than the American military when they are both owned by the government?"


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

[User] ELI5 Scientific realism vs Scientific anti-realism and the arguments for and against them.

[Assistant]
The way these terms are normally understood is like this:

> Scientific realism is the thesis that the (theoretical) objects that we study in science are in fact real; that is, when we discover that (say) electrons have spin, we are discovering real properties of real objects.

> Scientific anti-realism is the thesis that the (theoretical) objects that we study in science are constructions that are useful to us in representing and explaining the world around us.

Most scientific realists will tell you that they aren't committed to *every* object that science studies. Some are better confirmed than others.

Usually, the main argument given for scientific realism is the "no miracles" argument: it would be a miracle is somehow this vast lie we've been telling ourselves happened to consistently have true results in the way that science has had. Anti-realists respond by pointing out that the whole point of science (in their view) is to produce the sort of results that we're talking about, meaning that the lie is told precisely because it is useful.

All of that is overly simplified, but you did say ELI5.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Would creating a new happiest memory impede my ability to cast a Patronus?

So I was under the impression that, to cast a Patronus charm, you have to focus on your absolute happiest memory. Not just any memory would do.

Lets say my happiest memory is the first time I cast Wingardium Leviosa successfully.

But then one day when Im older, I have a child, and that becomes my new happiest memory.

Would I have to essentially relearn how to cast the Patronus with this new memory as my focus?

[Assistant]
It's not your absolute happiest memory, it's focusing on the feeling of being happy. It's easiest to do so by remembering something happy.

Case in point: Harry imagines Umbridge being sacked for the patronus he produces during his OWL DADA exam. She was still acting headmistress (in name only) at the time.


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

[User] [Star Wars] Why is spinning a good trick? What are its advantages?

[Assistant]
Because it's totally wizard.

There's a chance that it would confuse the targeting computers predictions which might not work against living sapients who can guess where the spin will go, but had a chance of tricking robot fighters (a weakness that presumably would have been programmed out in the early days of the war)


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

[User] ELI5: Why does California burst into flames every summer?

[Assistant]
It's quite hot and dry there. The climate dries out lots of the underbrush, making it easy fuel.

Areas like that are also supposed to naturally burn. Forest fires are actually quite beneficial as they clear out the underbrush, fertilize the ground, and actually cause some species of trees to start growing (the fire is a vital step in their reproduction). However, many people stop fires from happening so the dry underbrush builds up for years. When it finally does catch there's several years worth of material there and the fires get large and out of control.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why doesn't Snowden release all of his spied documents at once?

Snowden seems to be releasing new information every few weeks. Why not release them all, so we can know the extent of what various governments are doing to spy on their citizens and other governments?

[Assistant] Because if he releases everything at once the news will just focus on what they find most interesting and not really talk about the rest.  By leaking it like this he keeps it in the news and keeps the news focused on everything he shares.  It gets more attention this way.


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

[User] [DC] With all the constant breakouts how is Arkham Asylum still open?

[Assistant]
Short answer: there's nothing better.

Arkham Asylum undergoes regular improvement to its security, but housing a variety of brilliant criminal masterminds with a variety of special powers and abilities is like herding cats with laser eyes.


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

[User]
Do plants get cancer?

If so, do they have any response to it and how deadly is it for the plant?

if not, why not?

[Assistant]
Simply, yes. Not as simply: they don't get cancer like humans think of it.

First of all, plants don't get cancer nearly as frequently as humans or other mammals. In general, humans have a 1 in 3 chance of developing cancer during their lifetime. Plants do not seem to produce tumors as frequently. Why? It seems to be a combination of being better at protecting themselves and they way they grow.

Plants are really great at protecting their meristems. Much better than we are at protecting our dividing cells from exposure to carcinogenic environments. Look top-down on any cactus that has to sit in the sun all day, and look at how many white trichomes it has. That is sunscreen that it grows. Since plant cells live longer than mammal cells (our cells are constantly being replaced, plant cells are not), you might think that they should end up with deleterious mutations pretty often. They might (I don't have any numbers on that), but the most important thing is that once a cell is grown and is in place on the plant, it is unlikely that it can divide again to produce daughter cells. Once a plant cell is fully grown and has created its cell walls, it is difficult for it to replicate. Without the ability to replicate, it is impossible for cancer to form.

Secondly, as humans we fear cancer because it is often fatal. It is often fatal because it can metastasize (move to another location in the body) or because it prevents an organ from working. A cancer in a plant can do neither of these things effectively. Cells in a plant are cemented in place by cell walls. Plant organs are so spread around and interconnected that it is hard to cut them off from the other parts of the plant.


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

[User]
What's the difference between an X-ray laser and a regular laser?

Would there be any?

[Assistant]
The wavelength of light that comes out of an X-ray laser is in the tens of nanometers, versus in the hundreds of nanometers that comes out of a "regular" (i.e. visible wavelength) laser and versus the hundreds of millions of nanometers that came out of their fore bearer the maser (Microwave-aser).

But, at the end of the day, it's all light and all the same basic mechanism.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How does Vader get so many dirty finger prints on his helmet, when it's the machine or his gloved hands that removes it?

You will see time and again, in some scenes in Rogue One and in Return of the Jedi when he saves Luke.  Is there an "in-universe" explanation for this?

[Assistant] It's well known amongst the 501st that touching Vader's helmet brings good luck - or gets you a cauterised stump, force-choked and thrown though the nearest bulkhead into the hard vacuum of space. One or the other.


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

[User]
What is the evolutionary advantage of seeing in the "visible spectrum"?

Is there any reason we see in the spectrum of light we do? For example, why not slightly extend to see IR and UV, since they affect us every day? Are we slowly evolving those capabilities, or would that be useless.

I'd think having something close to thermal vision like seeing IR could provide some sort of hunting edge back in the day. Am I wrong?

[Assistant]
If you look at the wavelengths of light that penetrate our atmosphere, they fall in the visible spectrum.

We evolved to detect what "lit-up" the world

IR thermal vision is really useful for hunting at night.  We didn't do that though.


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

[User] [Bioshock Infinite] Do WWI and WWII still happen in this universe or is the timeline too different?

[Assistant]
Probably. There isn't any mention of it, but Columbia isolated itself from the rest of the world after declaring independence, and in any case the USA wasn't part of the war at that time.

Having said that, it's entirely possible that the First World War didn't happen in one of the universes you shift into during the course of the game.


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

[User] ELI5: What is the psychology behind why men get more aroused by the thought of catching a glimpse up a girl's skirt, but seeing them at the beach in their bikinis is no big deal?

[Assistant]
There is always thrill in seeing something that you are not supposed to see.  That's why girls in PJs are often so sexy to guys.  It's a peek at the inside world, the world that is foreign to us and that we are not apart of.  A peek at the private life if you will.

Bikinis are public, not private.  A skirt that's riding high is a peek at something that is not public, it's a peek into the private and that titillates us.

The mental component of attraction is important for men, not only women.  It just functions differently between the genders.  In this case, the thought that we are getting something that's special, or just for us, or explicitly not for us,  is what gets us going.


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

[User]
[Batman: Arkham Knight] Why did the Arkham Knight use drones to fight an enemy who famously abides to a no-killing rule?

This question's probably been asked to death.

[Assistant]
Because Goons can get spooked. Drones don't have feelings, aren't afraid, and don't really have a sense of self preservation.

Batman's greatest weapons are his intelligence, and fear. Drones take one of those things away.


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

[User] [DC] It is said that the the supervillain attacks in Gotham are small and contained enough that the average citizen isnt affected very much on a frequent basis. But how about metropolis? How much of an inconvenience is the weekly alien invasion or shenanigans by fifth dimensional imp?

[Assistant]
About the same.

Yes, the things that attack metropolis are much more powerful, but the people that *protect* metropolis are too. Zod can do more damage then the Joker, but Superman can prevent more damage then Batman, and they about balance out.

This means (as confirmed by reading the comic documentaries) that most cases don't tend to escalate beyond a block in damage, with rare serious incidents affecting larger areas and the very occasional massive incident affecting the whole city. Just like Gotham, the Heroes tend to resolve things before they get too serious.


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

[User]
If you dug a hole straight down to the other side of the earth, what would happen if you dropped something through it?

This is pretending theres no core or anything of that matter that would effect it. How would gravity effect it? What would happen? Would it get stuck in the middle, would it gain enough velocity to shoot out the other side?

[Assistant]
The object would accelerate towards the core. Once at the core, there is no gravity, so the speed of the object doesn't change at the core. So the object will shoot straight through towards the other side.

If there is no air resistance, the object will make it to approximately the same height that it was dropped from on the other side. At that point, it would finally come to a stop, before being pulled back down. The object would continue to oscillate between the two ends of the tunnel.

With air resistance, the object gets slowed down gradually and would reach a lower height with each oscillation until it finally settles in the center of the Earth.


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

[User]
[LOTR] Why does the Ring abandon Isildur after only a few years when it stays with Gollum for centuries and Bilbo for decades?

Was Isildur powerful enough that the Ring could actually be effectively used against Sauron and thus would be too dangerous to keep in Isildur's custody?

[Assistant]
The ring can't grow legs and just walk away. It abandoned Gollum *as soon as it had the opportunity to do so.* It just so happens that opportunity was centuries after its capture. Turns out, not a lot of opportunities to be found by someone else if your current bearer lives a secluded life under a mountain.

Likewise for Bilbo. The Shire is isolated and Bilbo rarely used the ring. It mostly sat on a shelf or in his pocket.


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

[User]
What is a yawn and why is it "contagious"?

I've noticed whenever I see someone yawn most likely someone near will yawn too... What is it anyways?

[Assistant]
No ones really sure why yawning is contagious. One theory is based on the assumption that yawning is a form of nonverbal communication. In baboons, extensive yawning among members of a group signals the time to sleep, typically with the leader (the alpha male) ending the ritual with a giant yawn. If our ancestors used yawning to communicate like baboons do, then the contagiousness of yawning may be an involuntary, genetically programmed phenomenon; once one person in the tribe yawns, others do so because this behavior pattern helped our evolutionary ancestors to communicate with one another.

Even more basic than the question of why yawning is contagious is the question of why anyone yawns in the first place. And we all do it about 10 times per hour, more often in the early morning and late evening. In fact, yawning starts before birtha fetus in the womb yawns beginning as early as 11 weeks of development.

As common as it is, little is known for sure about yawning. Yawning probably doesnt always indicate a need for sleep, and it doesnt seem to have anything to do with the body having too little oxygen or too much carbon dioxide (which theoretically could be fixed by taking a big, deep yawn). This latter theory lost favor after a study in 1987 showed that volunteers subjected to high oxygen levels did not yawn less, and those exposed to high carbon dioxide did not yawn more.

EDIT:

Here are some more theories:

Yawning stretches out the lungs and nearby tissues, preventing tiny airways in the lungs from collapsing. This could explain why we seem to yawn at times when our breathing is shallow (when were tired, bored or just arising from bed).

Yawning distributes a chemical called surfactant, a gooey liquid that coats the tiny air pockets in the lungs and helps to keep them open. Surfactant is critical to the ability of a newborn to survive outside the womb. This theory could explain why fetuses yawn during development as they prepare to use their lungs.

Yawning stretches the muscles and joints, and increases the heart rate. For this reason, it may prepare the body for an increased level of alertness, especially after relaxation. This could explain why athletes and professional musicians often find themselves yawning just before periods of increased focus or activity.

Yawning may be a sign of disease. Although rarely the first sign, excessive yawning has been seen in people with multiple sclerosis; amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also called Lou Gehrigs disease); following radiation injury (such as during radiation therapy); and among people treated for Parkinson's disease. Rarely, yawning a lot may signal the beginning of a migraine headache. On the other hand, yawning seems to occur less frequently among people with schizophrenia. Its not clear why these diseases would impact the frequency of a persons yawns.


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

[User] Do sound waves in the air interfere with each other?

[Assistant]
Yes.
The basic principle behind noise-canceling headphones is they have a microphone on the outside and play the inverse of what it hears over the speakers. These ideally are equal, but of opposite phase, so that they always sum to zero and produce silence.

A neat trick you can set up demonstrates this idea. You'll need two speakers set up a far distance apart in a room. Play a pure sine wave note over them continuously. As you move around the room, you will find the sound appears louder and softer depending on where you are. The two circular wavefronts coming from the pair of speakers create what is known as a fringing pattern. In specific locations, depending on the distances from the speakers and the frequency of the sound, the two sources cancel out and the sound is much quieter. In other locations, the opposite happens and the two sources are in phase and add to eachother producing a much louder sound.


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

[User]
[Halo: Combat Evolved] Why was the banshee that Master Chief stole from Truth and Reconciliation so heavily damaged?

The one he crashed on his return trip to the Pillar of Autumn to destroy the installation. It looked fine when he took off and it was falling apart when he "landed"

[Assistant]
The Covenant were firing at the Chief as he fled the Truth and Reconciliation. Banshees in Combat Evolved are the least durable of vehicles and start smoking when you fire a dousen Assault Rifle rounds into them.

Also the Chief wasn't doing his utmost best in regards to piloting the thing as a way to get back at Cortana for teleporting him upside down.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are calories shown in (kcal) and not (cal) when K is shorthand for Kilo (1000) ?

So for example, I'm looking at a pack of sausages, the text says "reference intake of an average adult is 8400kJ / 2000 kcal - but I am reading this as 2 million calories, since K is short for kilo which means 1000?

[Assistant]
People use Calorie (note the capital) and Kilocalorie interchangeably. The calorie (small c) is 1/1000 of a Calorie.

So it's both. 2000 big Calories (which is the actual measurement everyone is used to dealing with), 2 million small calories (which is arguably more true to the definitions, but nobody outside of particularly ornery chemists has any real use for the unit). Since nobody really uses the small calorie for anything, people don't know/forget they're two different things and also get sloppy about distinguishing between the two.


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

[User]
Why are simulacras necessarily bad?

To make it clear,  I'm asking as a person who only has very basic surface level understanding of the subject.

If I understand correctly, Baudrillard argues that the modern world is the world of simulations where many of such simulations don't even have originals. A very common example I see online is media, which tries to simulate contemporary culture in attempts to appeal to people and ends up influencing the culture it tried to simulate, even if the simulation was incorrect. In Baudrillard's own book he makes an example with the map and the territory, the former being a simulation and the latter real and says that today it is the map that survives and territory becomes a desert.

My question is:

Why are such simulations without an original bad in an of themselves? I see how that can be exploited in our society by people with the power over the objects, such as brands, to influence the subjects in a malicious manner. But are simulacras always bad, and if so, why?

[Assistant]
Simulacra aren't bad. Baudrillard's argument is that concern over real-ness or trying to preserve reality and fight simulation is the worst thing one can do - and in fact is precisely a product of simulation and just causes more simulation.

Baudrillard ultimately advocates "seduction" or reversibility.

First, Baudrillard's stance is that real and fake are two moments in a cycle. In your example (we see pictures of a tourist resort in Hawaii and decide to visit, but the reality isn't really like that, but we interpret it through that frame, and it keeps happening so the owners of the resort ultimately remake the resort to resemble the pictures, and so on), it's impossible to determine which experience is fake and which is real (Is the place in Hawaii no longer really itself? If the pictures came first, are they the real original? Or is the place still really real?). And, in fact, it's neither. It's all a simulation, moving through this cycle of influencing, influenced, imagined, mapped onto, realized. Simulation isn't the opposite of real, it's the nature of contemporary reality. You can also think here of the example of the soldier faking an illness vs. simulating an illness from the first chapter of Simulacra and Simulation - right after that map/territory bit you mention. If a soldier fakes an illness, they're pretending and acting, but nothing is going on. If they simulate the illness - perhaps by poisoning themselves or drinking ipecac - then they're vomiting, feverish, etc. They really are experiencing the illness, even if the underlying cause is missing.

How we should respond to the simulated nature of reality is through reversibility. When we try to impose one notion of reality or what we think it originally was, what we're really doing is imposing our vision of what the world SHOULD be like. That's just simulation. We're just re-making that Hawaiian resort again. And, in fact, when we fight to make everything only one way, it produces resistance, produces rebels, and Baudrillard argues that this causes whatever we're fighting against to proliferate and become worse. Instead, we should just accept them as two reversibility moments - real and fake, both simulated.

It's a little confusing, because Baudrillard says that the attempt to secure the real is "the Empire of the Good" or "good," and reversibility is "the Empire of Evil" or "evil." But he's advocating for what he calls "evil."


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

[User]
[Marvel] How does the Punisher feel about prostitution?

This is a weird question but after watching the show, I cant stop thinking as to what Frank would consider worthy of being punished. Sure, weve seen Frank kill pimps but what does he do with prostitutes?of course if they were underage or innocent(legally speaking) then hed probably let them go but how do you think he feels about it overall? Would he care if 2 consenting adults had intercourse for money? Does he aim to put an end to sex work?

[Assistant]
There was an arc during the Ennis run where the Punisher dismantled a sex-trafficking ring. He didnt kill any of the sex workers, but took a special interest in killing and torturing their pimp & his cronies. So, no, he doesnt seem to see sex work itself as a crime.

Furthermore, castle seems less interested in murdering people on behalf of an extrinsic code of law and more interested in murdering people on behalf of his own moral code. He wont murder jaywalkers, for example. He totally will kill people who didnt break the law per se, but did get on the to-be-punished list.


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

[User] Eli5: why is 0 next to 9 on keyboards, rather than 1?

[Assistant]
Older typewriter layouts tried to do everything they could to have less keys.

Some didn't even have a '1' - you were supposed to type a lowercase "L" instead of a digit 1.

And they didn't even have a '0' either.  You were supposed to type a letter 'O' instead.

The '1' key got added first, and then later the '0' key got added.

By the time the '0' key got added, the easiest place to find the room for it was to the right, not, the left, of the numbers that were already there.  Also, that made it adjacent to the letter 'O' that was already there so it was conveniently similar to what people were already doing to reach your finger up there to hit it.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it ok for the U.S. to have nukes but Iran can't?

[Assistant]
Short answer - we don't want anyone that doesn't already have nuclear weapons to get them.  The more countries that have them, the greater chance that one will get "loose" and used by an independent actor.

Of course, we'd also like some countries that do have them to get rid of them.  But once you have one you get a lot of leverage (which is why countries want them in the first place) and it's hard to go back.  So we spend a lot of time negotiating treaties on arms reduction.

Thirdly, if a country is going to have them, we prefer that it be a friendly ally with a stable government.


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

[User]
[Megamind] How rich is Metroman?

Seeing how expensive and luxurious his hidden base looks. Where did he get the money to get all of that?

[Assistant]
Press appearances, merchandise, donations from fans, so forth so forth.

Note that he doesn't have a secret identity, he's just Metro-Man. He's openly used his powers since childhood. Being a superhero *is* his job. And based on the reaction we saw at this celebration thing, it's one he's doing pretty well at.


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

[User] ELI5: How does the Carbon Dioxide in carbonated drinks stay in the liquid? (As opposed to all escaping at once)

[Assistant]
The gas molecules grab onto the molecules in the water. It makes carbonic acid, and while the drink is cold, the bonds hold together and less gas escapes.

When the drink gets warm, the bonds become less stable, and the carbon dioxide leaks back into the air. The carbonic acid then turns to water and carbon dioxide.

That's why warm soda gets flat, and tastes sweeter. The carbonic acid mellows the sweet flavors.


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

[User]
[MCU Daredevil] Why is Wilson Fisk so revered and respected by the Criminal Underworld?

From what we see of Fisk, he's an irrational person with some anger issues. What exactly does he bring to the table? It seems like Wesley is basically running the business for him anyway, so how did he climb to the top and how does he stay there?

[Assistant]
Fisk is incredibly well connected, willing to take drastic and brutal steps to forward his vision and has had plenty of time to entrench himself in the criminal underworld over time.  Beyond that, Fisk is smart and incredibly driven with a broad vision for the future.

He made his way to the top carefully, slowly and through a slow and steady process of funding and corrupting every aspect of society from the bottom to the top.  He was rich before he started taking control of criminal syndicates, and used that wealth to buy success and respect.  He used his brutality and efficiency to maintain that respect and control.  You ~~site~~ cite his anger issues as a detriment, in many ways they are a huge boon.  If you know that an incredibly powerful, wealthy and connected person is going to hunt you down and punish you personally if you go against him, odds are you're going to join up rather than put yourself at risk.


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

[User]
Cmv When in a slasher movie situation it is better to run into the spooky woods then stay in your dark house.

When you are being stalked by the killer and he let's you know he's in the house it is better to run into the spooky woods behind your million dollar home. The woods allow you to put distance between you and the killer and gives you a geographically larger area to hide in. The house allows for you to be cornered and gives the killer a smaller area to search before cutting out your guts. The house allows for you to be cornered by the killer while in the woods you can start to put multiple terrain features between you and the killer. For these reasons the woods are the better option. Change my view.

[Assistant]
The house gives you tools to defend yourself with. Knives, frying pans, hot water etc.

And if you're into comedy movies, bananas.

Edit: So you should at the very least get a weapon or tool before running outside.


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

[User]
If the earth were suddenly sliced in half would gravity hold the two pieces together?

Another question, would the pressure at the earth's core be released and destroy the entire world in a giant volcanic eruption?

[Assistant]
I'd say yes to the first and no to the second question.

There is practically nothing but gravity holding our planet together now. It's not a solid sphere anyway, so even "slicing it in half" would probably not make a difference.

So, in conclusion, if we were to suddenly cut Earth in half... nothing would happen.


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

[User]
[General Fantasy] Why can't you just cast a spell to make you younger and use it again each time you become too old instead of becoming a lich or something?

Even if you must do it every few years, it's not going to get any harder.

[Assistant]
It depends on the setting.

In Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 there's no spell that can definitely make you younger. In addition, lichdom has more advantages than just fighting old age. You can't be killed without your phylactery being destroyed and you get a huge boost to power.

In Harry Potter, the only way to make you younger without side effects is the elixir of life from the Philosopher's stone. It's possible that there'd be fewer horcrux-users if the recipe for the stone were public knowledge. Sadly, it is not. You could potentially use unicorn blood, but that has some terrible side effect. It's not clear what that is, but it's probably comparable to the damage from making a horcrux, and you have to keep killing unicorns instead of just making one horcrux and being done with it. I've heard it suggested that continued use of the polyjuice potion could work, but that might only make you look young.

I imagine in general either anti-aging spells are extremely difficult to impossible or that people become liches for the other advantages it has.


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

[User]
CMV: Being unpleasant to opponents in discussions of controversial topics is never a good idea if your position really matters to you

I have been on both sides of the political spectrum throughout my adult life. I was conservative at first, thanks to absorbing years of right wing talk radio around my super conservative dad. I absorbed not just the viewpoints but also the combative and insulting delivery of those viewpoints. So, when later introduced to the Internet and its swamps of political discourse, I dove right in and acted just like a Swamp creature towards commies and libtards and the like.

I did, eventually, change just about all my views. Went from W. Bush to Bernie Sanders, where I presently feel most comfortable, politically speaking. It wasn't any ugly liberal invective which changed me but life experience. What didn't change was my propensity to engage opponents from a bad place. People who had views exactly like those I once had were now enemies to be defeated. And there is a visceral kind of thrill when you actually do manage to shut such a person down with the right amount of bile and, what seems on the surface, a well-reasoned rhetorical thrust.

You really can't find many better examples of a worthless victory. If I affected any change in anybody doing this, it was to make myself look like an asshole to anybody who isn't doing exactly the same thing I am doing, and for sure, my 'enemy' has only entrenched further into beliefs I find abhorrent.

It is easy to insult a person and it does provide a base thrill. It does satisfy something animal in the heart. It also contributes to the erosion of intelligent discourse and the dehumanization of people who are mostly like you but for differing views. And it only hurts whatever cause you want to promote.

Ask questions. Give a person the benefit of the doubt. Having a bad opinion doesn't mean the person is bad or wants to make others suffer. Learn about what makes them afraid and you will learn why it makes them angry. Share your experiences and empathize.

And if it doesn't work, move on.

Edit: looks like I made someone feel gilty. Thanks, you.

[Assistant]
Well, what if the other person is not empathizing or sharing their experiences? Not engaging is certainly an option -- but is it the right option?

As an extension of that -- what if you consider not just the effect on the person you're arguing with, but on people watching that argument? E.g. you might be unlikely to change someone's mind, but you might have an effect on someone else reading.

Specifically, if someone says something truly atrocious (e.g. advocates genocide, says that entire races of people are inferior, etc,) you are unlikely to change their mind via discourse. However, shaming them publicly might help establish social mores and keep those opinions marginalized.


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

[User]
ELI5 - How does a light with two switches work? Like the light at the top of the stairs might have a switch at the bottom and at the top

If one switch is on and the other is off the light is on, but if both are on or both are off the light is off. How does it work?

[Assistant]
In order for current to flow, you need to have a complete circuit. A normal light with a single switch is just one loop of wire. When the switch is off, the loop is open. When the switch is on, the loop closes and completes the circuit.

For the double switch lights, it's still a complete circuit, but it has two switches. In between the two switches there are actually two paths - let's call them Path A and Path B. Instead of opening the loop or closing it, each switch controls whether it is connected to Path A or Path B. When they're on the same path, there's a complete circuit and the bulb lights up.

So if they're both on Path A, the light is on. You can turn the light off by flipping one switch, because now one switch is on Path A and the other is on Path B. If you want to turn the light on, you can flip either switch - putting them both on Path B, or putting the first switch back on Path A.


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

[User]
Are there any life forms on human satellites in outer space?

I was just wondering if simple life forms from Earth, when brought to space, survive (adapt) in the new environment, or die altogether. Of course, by "satellites" I don't mean the inside of the ISS.

[Assistant]
Simply - yes.
Artefacts have been retrieved from space (and the moon i think) after a significant amount of time and found that the bacteria on them entered a dormant phase, which sprung back to life once back in Earth conditions.

Many bacteria are known as Extremophiles and can live in harsh conditions such as very acidic, very hot and very cold environments where no other forms of life can survive. Space being one of them.

If you're asking 'can bacteria thrive in space' then i don't know exactly, but they can survive.


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

[User]
[Wh40k] Chaos doesn't seem so bad, is there a representative or something I can meet to weigh up the pros and cons?

I have a few enquiries to make about Chaos, specifically concerning the Nurgle branch of the thing.

This papa Nurgle fellow seems a really great guy, loves all his followers, gives them all cool gifts, lets us truly accept the futility of life etc, etc. It all sounds like a pretty sweet deal, but I've pretty much only heard it second hand, to be honest. I'm not sure what's made up, exactly.

Are there any representatives I can meet to give a few questions to? Some of these gifts don't seem too great, and I'm wondering if they're optional at all. Perhaps I can get a quick chat with the big guy himself? He's probably got a pretty full schedule but maybe he has a few hours a week he frees up for newcomers?

^Btw ^don't ^tell ^anyone ^about ^this, ^they ^really ^don't ^seem ^to ^like ^Chaos ^much. ^It ^seems ^to ^have ^a ^bit ^of ^a ^bad ^rep. ^Planetary ^governors ^aren't ^really ^supposed ^to ^dabble ^in ^these ^things, ^y'know?

[Assistant]
Chaos has a bad rep presicely because their representatives are hard to get a hold of. All of them are in the immaterium and talking to them is a bit difficult for material entities.

What you need is a daemon. It's the title that all immaterial representatives of Chaos use. You wont be able to get to someone high up in the chaotic corporate ladder if you're just some random from the materium, so you need to start low. In your case you'll need to get in touch with a Nurgling or a Plaguebearer.

Now, their time is limited, and they can't answer all the calls they get all the time so the best chance you have is to find a few people who are also interested in talking to a representative of Chaos and figuring out a big list of questions that you want to ask. This saves everyone time and makes it convenient for the daemons.

Getting in touch with a daemon is also a bit tricky, so you'll need to either find someone who already has their number or combine the effort of your group to figure it out on your own. Once you do that, you can all get together, set up an atmospheric mood, dial up the daemon you want to talk to and voila, you now have a representative of Chaos with some insider knowledge ready to answer any questions you might have. It's that simple.


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

[User] ELI5: why don't our houses have white shingles to reflect heat and cut down on cooling cost?

[Assistant]
The real answer is tradition. Shingles are traditionally coated with asphalt, which back in the Victorian era only came in one color: Black.

Nowadays you can get shingles in all kinds of crazy colors including white. But it's been ingrained in our culture that a light colored house (white, beige, robin's egg blue, whatever) and a dark roof (black, brown, maybe dark red) "looks right," so that's how we do it.

If you go to a country where there is no cultural predisposition to the typical western style house -- peaked roof, shingles, etc. -- or where they don't *use* shingles, you'll find that a lot of roofs are indeed white or some other light color. Check out lots of places in Africa and the Middle East, for instance. In most of those places they don't use shingles, either.

There are roof coatings in use even in America and Europe specifically designed to do what you're proposing. They're meant for use on flat roofed buildings like stores and office blocks, and most of them are silver, made with metal particles that are even more reflective of heat than white paint.


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

[User]
Are there any consumable liquids that don't contain water?

I know various acids (HCl, etc) and other liquids don't contain water but are there any that humans can drink?

[Assistant] Yes, but not in large quantities.  You can drink pure alcoholic drinks that contain only trace amounts of water and are almost pure ethanol.  You can also drink various oils that are used for cooking.


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

[User] [Game of Thrones] Why couldn't Ned have told Jon's parentage to Catelyn? Did he fear she couldn't be able to keep the secret? How much abuse did Jon suffer from her because she truly thought he was the union of Ned and some other woman?

[Assistant]
Well, Ned never knew Catelyn until their wedding night, and then he went off to war. When he got back he had a secret, a bastard, and an angry wife that was a total stranger.

Could he trust her with that secret? She and her sister (at the time) were very close, what if she let it slip in a letter? What if she *didn't* believe him? What if they have a marital spat and she leaks the information to King Robert, or someone close to him?

Imagine what *Littlefinger* would have done with that information fifteen years ago.

Of course he couldn't tell her, he couldn't tell *anyone.* Ned was the only man who could be trusted with the secret (him and Howland Reed that is) and he knew he was honorable enough to never tell (and felt the same way about Howland). But he never knew that about anyone else. And Howland went off into seclusion after the Rebellion and he seemed to keep quiet about the ordeal, so that just leaves Ned.

If he tells anyone else, he risks ruining the whole situation. The only solution is have Jon join the Night's Watch, because once he speaks the oaths he can never become King or threaten Robert. Proof of that is the *other* Targaryen in the night's watch.


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

[User] [BioShock] Why is Booker strong enough to fall 100 feet and grab a magnetic rail without ripping his arms from his sockets, but not strong enough to carry more than two guns?

[Assistant] It's not just about strength, it's about accessibility.  Sure, Booker could carry another 50 to 60 lbs of weapons and ammo but it would be really challenging to sort through the 5 other straps to get to the one he needs for that firefight, get it on target, and engage.


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

[User]
CMV: High school students should be able to read whatever they want for English class

Edit: My mindset has been changed today by many extremely intelligent and insightful people in the comments. I've learned a lot about the value of English class and what its actual purpose is. I almost want to delete my original post and comments now but I am going to leave them up because I think its important to remember where you started from. Regardless, I want to thank everyone for this high quality conversation, and apologize for any ignorance I may have showed, it was not intentional! ;)

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

The books that high school students are forced to read for English class are not going to inspire them to build a reading habit in their lives. Making high school kids read Hamlet, (a *play* that's meant to be *watched,* not read) written in archaic language that will only become more and more archaic as the years pass will only bore them and discourage them from taking an interest in English. Making them read an extremely long poem written hundreds of years ago that they are so far removed from the context of will not encourage them to get into poetry whatsoever.

Now of course, these are important things that a seasoned reader in their 30s 40s that is intelligent and mature enough to study the intricacies of English history should read, not high school students who could honestly care less. We can't put the cart before the horse, here. They have to build a basic interest in English first before studying advanced texts and English history.

To build this interest, I believe that high school students should be allowed to read whatever books they choose in English class. That is all English class should be, honestly. What better way to learn about fiction and the English language, than to read dozens of fiction books? The teacher's role should honestly be to answer questions, provide insights, and help the students understand what they're reading, or if there are passages or words that they don't understand. No need for tests either. All the students need to do is write a short essay about their thoughts on the book they read that week.

Children sitting in a classroom reading books that they're actually interested in for 45 minutes a day will teach them more about English and get them more excited to make fiction a part of their lives then the overly-structured, outdated, monotonous and oblivious English classes we have now.

I know the people I'm going up against who created the English classes are far wiser than me, so I might be missing something here.

Edit: a commenter asked if they could read a comic book/Japanese manga, and I just wanted to clarify that when I say any book, I mean any English book.

Edit 2: A commenter asked why there's no writing involved in my hypothetical class. That's because there should be a separate class for writing! Not much creative writing is done in most English classes anyway.

[Assistant]
I feel like you are confusing elementary school and high school.

Elementary school, you learn to read, and develop a thirst for reading.

By the time you get to high school, English is primarily learning essay structure, persuasive writing, poetry structure, story structure, etc.

You are reading, to gain historical perspective (ideally paired with a history class proper), to reinforce a recently taught story structure, or the like.

At the high school level, there shouldn't be words students don't understand and cannot Google. Students should be expected to already know how to use a dictionary by then.

I feel like you are infantilizing high schoolers, except you seem to think that they can write essays. Essay writing is the skill that should be explicitly taught and developed, everything else you suggest should already exist from elementary and junior high.