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

[User]
ELI5: Why does 50% volume on video and music players not sound half as loud as 100% volume?

Usually if a video is too loud, 75% sounds almost the same as 100% and only at around 30% there is a noticeable difference in volume.

[Assistant]
Human hearing is complex. For something to be perceived as twice as loud, it needs to be 10 dB louder, which is 10x power. But to be 4x louder, it's 20 dB louder which is 100 times as much power.

So it really depends how the player has implemented it's volume slider. If it does it linearly, i.e if you have it at 50% it just multiplies the audio signal by 0.5, then it's be way to sensitive at one end and not enough at the other.

So the volume slider should probably be linear in dB.


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

[User]
[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?] Toons. They aren't born, they're drawn. Where are they drawn from? Who draws them?

To quote the voluptuous Jessica Rabbit, "I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way." She acknowledges that toons are drawn into this world, being the living embodiment of ink, paint, and graphite where are they drawn from?

Is Mr. Maroon's studio constantly churning out new residents of ToonTown? Do these animators count as gods to the toons that create them. Do they recognize them as their creators?

If I were to draw on my notepad, ink it, and color it would they pull themselves off of the paper and walk around the room? What are the limits to what is drawn to life? Were the sentient skyscrapers in ToonTown drawn on very very large paper?

Can a toon draw a toon?

[Assistant]
I imagine it takes a certain set of skills, a particular brand of creativity to create a living toon.

You couldn't just doodle a stick man onto a piece of paper and bring it to life, you have to pour your heart and soul into it. Really believe it can become something great.

These talented few are known as the Animators and the Toons see them as parents. And just like regular parents, one day they have to let their creation loose to experience the world for themselves.


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

[User]
[Star Wars: ROTS] So, why do Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Dooku act like they've not met since Geonosis?

In the scene immediately proceeding their duel in the film, they all speak like the last time they fought was on Geonosis, which makes no sense considering they dueled with each other many times throughout the Clone Wars. Even Palpatine claims Anakin wanted revenge for his arm after he slew Dooku, despite the fact that even he was present at one of their duels.

[Assistant]
There's nothing that explicitly indicates that the last time they met was on geonosis. Anakin says his powers have doubled since the last time they *met* which is simply exactly what it means - the last time they battled sometime between Episodes 2 and 3.

As for the comment Palpatine makes about Anakin wanting revenge, that doesn't imply anythibg either. Why should it matter that Anakin lost his hand 1 battle ago, or 100 battles ago? He can still want revenge the whole time.


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

[User] [General] is there any superhero media where the main character has a secret identity and even the audience is left wandering who it could be?

[Assistant]
Its not exactly what you were thinking of, but theres the Phantom Stranger in DC Comics. Theyve given him multiple possible backstories as to who he was prior to becoming the Phantom Stranger, some of which have been hinted at being true more strongly than others, but IIRC theyve never 100% unambiguously confirmed who he really is.

(Note that this is less a secret identity than a past life, as he doesnt spend his non-superhero time posing as a normal person).


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

[User]
Do high-impact journals discriminate against scientist from less prestigious universities?

I have heard many stories in which different scientist described how their previously "unpublishable" article have been miraculously transformed to publishable without changing single word in the text, just by adding a better known author (or author from prestigous institution). Furthermore, I have met several people who were convinced that the top journals like Nature or Science won`t even seriously consider manuscript submission if it has no author from "prestigious" university. Do you think there is some truth to this opinions or is it only something what people tell themselves to fell better when they do not succeed?

[Assistant]
There's a lot of "trust me" in any manuscript publication.

We need to trust that:

1. No deliberate fraud has been conducted
2. Experiments were designed well by someone who has an expert knowledge in all of the subject areas and techniques relevant to this work (understanding necessary controls, limitations, etc)
3. Interpretation of the data as presented in the manuscript is truly justified by the data, and by taking into consideration all relevant limitations, alternatives, etc

Peer-review is supposed to catch these issues when they are noticed, but not all peer reviewers are capable of expert-level, confident review of all aspects of a paper they may be handling. Or, to rigorously check each detail would require far more time than they are willing or able to expend. Peer review is best at catching things when something raises a "red flag" to them - not because they spend hours poring over the materials and methods to ensure your buffers and computational parameters are correct (unless the result contingent on these is highly unexpected).

So, putting a reputation on the line for a given set of work (authorship) where that reputation actually matters (recognized field expertise, prestigious institution, other ways the field "vouches" for that person as reliable)... well, either a little, or a lot, more faith is put into the manuscript's publish-ability. You assume that people in positions of acknowledged and visible expertise will only put their name on work that they think is good. You don't know jack about what Dr. Jones from Unknown Rural College might put his/her name on.

There's also a noticeable trend towards high profile publications presenting the cumulative result of a significant financial and resource investment - lots of samples, access to rare samples, flashy technology, consortium-level number of people providing their expertise, etc. Less prestigious scholars at low prestige universities may only have a few thousand bucks and some summer undergrads at their disposal. There's no way their output could compare.

There's also a lot of importance to relationships in academia. A scholar at a well-funded, high profile institution is more likely to have had the opportunity to meet editors of high profile publications, attended conferences with people who may be more willing to act as their peer-reviewers, chances to present their work and receive feedback from other international experts, etc. High profile papers often are aided by a pre-submission inquiry to the editor from the author ("would you be interested in this?"), and a known person (even a second-degree "known") may have more goodwill than a total stranger.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why do we look down on HGH users when it is perfectly acceptable for women to use hormone replacement therapy.

I have done some looking and I can't find any reason why HGH is so vilified. As we age our bodies start to produce less of the substance, so it would make sense to take boosters the same way women going through menopause do for various hormones.

[Assistant] I think HGH is looked down on because it is linked to cheating in athletics and sports. It is grouped with steroids and other performance enhancers as something that is really bad. However it is like all other drugs, when used in moderation it can be beneficial. Part of the issue of people being so against HGH also comes from the people that are associated with using it. HGH is used in the weightlifting and bodybuilding community for obvious reasons, but is sometimes abused, or mixed with other substances. Some of these people can be unpleasant or of a more aggressive persuasion, leading to HGH and steroids being linked to aggression and violence.


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

[User] ELI5: How is cotton, which comes as short strands of fibre from the plant, made into a continuous thread?

[Assistant]
Ahhhhh! This is the secret to all textiles and cordage.

What you do, basically, is to lay out fibers next to each other so that they are over-lapping, in little bundles.

  Pretend you have a bunch of individual fibers @ 10" long.  You can lay them out, lying side by side, and you can stagger them so that one fiber overlaps the one next to it by 7", and that fiber overlaps 7" with the next one.  Do this until you have 12 fibers across.   That means a fiber ends every 3 inches, so now, wherever one ends, add a new fiber.

 Now, instead of laying them out flat, pretend they are in a bundle, but still staggered. At any give spot on this bundle, you have at least 11 of the 12 fibers intact.  If you twist this bundle up, just like a candy cane is twisted, the twist and the friction is stronger than the "gaps" so you have a single "ply" or twisted rope that is basically 11 strands strong.

But, what holds it in place?  What keeps that ply twisted?  Well, let's take two of these 12 strand twisted bundles, side by side, and OVER-TWIST them.  Twist much more than you need to create the friction to hold the strands together.  If we do that, over-twist them, and then lay the two side by side, as they UN-twist the excess twist out, the two will twist around each other the other direction, leaving the two plies still twisted around themselves, AND around each other.

These two twists balance each other out, and Bam, you have string.  Several strings can make rope, etc...

The hard part in real life is taking bundles of combed out fibers of any sort (wool, flax, cotton, milkweed, ramie, dogbane, basting bark, yucca, raffia, jute, whatever.....) and adding the right amount of fibers to create overlap without creating thin or thick, lumpy spots as you go.


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

[User]
[King of the Hill] Why exactly does Hank put up with Buck Stricklands BS?

Hank is far from a pushover and regularly puts all the other idiots around him in their place. Why does he always just go along with Bucks shenanigans when he knows how ridiculous they are? I get hes his boss and  they have a father-son type bond but Hank has set Cotton, his actual father straight before why he cant he do that with Buck? Or has he done it before?

[Assistant]
Hank is an employee of the old-school.  If you work for a man and take his money, you give him 100% effort, 100% of the time.

Before the gig economy, there were plenty of people who were proud to work for the same company all their lives.  In the Kurt Vonnegut story 'The Deer In the Works' one man boasts of his 50 year pin, showing he was at the place for 50 years.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How did the Jedi blend in on Geonosis before they ignited their lightsabers?

Since the Jedi are different species from the native Geonosians in the stadium, how did they avoid being noticed as they would look out of place?

[Assistant]
It's a hybrid variant of Mind Trick and Force Concealment. A Force practicioner can exude an aura of "normalcy" allowing it to be seen as "just another part of the crowd". People will gloss over the Jedi's presence and won't have clear memories of having seen it afterwards, as long as the Jedi doesn't do anything to stand out -- like igniting a lightsaber.

Of course, the Jedi most experienced in this skill are generally diplomats and advisors, those who don't wish to draw attention to themselves. The fact that they were the ones chosen for this assignment, rather than the best front-line combatants in the Order, is a large part of why so many (about 180) died on Geonosis. The Jedi were in large part sent to *investigate* Kenobi's report of the Separatists on Geonosis; they were prepared to defend themselves, but full-out war wasn't quite expected.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does Banksy publish books anonymously?

Banksy is a very well known figure for graffiti art and his protest art, he has published books and had exhibitions for his works. How then does he remain anonymous? Is it as simple as signing a non-disclosure agreement with his partners or is it more complex?

[Assistant] Two parts discretion, one part NDA.  You work with the same people, who are all financially invested in keeping the working relationship going.  Even if there was no NDA, they'd still want to keep on good terms so they get to publish the next book.


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

[User]
ELI5:What does our body do when we go to sleep. Does it enter some kind of maintenance mode?

Like does our heart slower down to a 'resting' peace
Our breathing pattern change from our every day pattern etc..etc..

[Assistant]
**TL;DR- The primary reason we sleep is so our brains can clean themselves.**

The human brain weighs only 3lbs, but it uses 20% of its body's energy. Because it uses so much energy, it produces a lot of metabolic waste. Our body gets rid of metabolic waste through something known as the lymphatic system. It essentially just transports chemical waste to your urine. The brain is too special to use the lymphatic system. It has its own cleaning system known as the glymphatic system. While we sleep our brain cells clump together, losing 60% of the brain's volume. Then spinal fluid is pumped through the brain to get rid of toxins that accumulated throughout the day. These toxins are then moved into the lymphatic system and removed with the rest of the body's waste.

Failure to sleep will result in an accumulation of toxins in the brain, like beta amyloid ( the compound that causes Alzheimer ). Within the first few days with little sleep, your frontal cortex with begin to slow down processing, you will fly in and out of focus, and simple mental tasks will become strenuously difficult. By day 4 with little, to no sleep, you will begin hallucinating and your executive function will become severely impaired.

There have been a limited number of experiments involving humans to stay up for unnaturally long periods of time. However, we do have a fair amount of experiments done on rats. In 1989, at Rochester University, researchers kept 10 rats awake to see what would happen. All the rats died with 32 days of sleep deprivation ( the first one died on day 11). The exact number of days it would take to kill a human is unknown, and is dependant on an individual's health before experiencing extended sleep deprivation, though it is known that eventually it will result in death.

On the surface, sleep doesn't make sense. It makes us lose productivity, and makes us vulnerable to predators. Yet all mammals, birds, reptiles, and even fish sleep in some way or form. Evolution wouldn't sustain this trait unless it is absolutely necessary to a species's survival. It is. It prevents our brains from drowning in metabolic waste.


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

[User]
[40k] Isn't it odd that there isn't a god of sadness?

For all the war and death in warhammer, wouldn't there be a god of sadness, considering all the suffering and or displaced civilians?

[Assistant]
Nurgle is probably the closest to it. His primary goal is to reduce suffering.

However, there's likely nowhere near as much sorrow as you are imagining. Drugs are easy to synthesize or process from local flora and fauna, and many hive cities of the Imperium prescribe them to their populations (individually or *en masse*) to make things easier to manage.


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

[User] ELI5: When playing in sports or doing anything tiresome on the body, what causes "second wind" ?

[Assistant] Okay your brain has a sort of limiter in it when it comes to physical activity. It says we better save some energy just in case we have to run away from a life threatening thing. So really when you feel dead tired and exhausted you actually have quite a bit left in the tank but your brain is lying to you to keep that energy in reserve. Every now and then though through excitement, Adrenalin whatever you can tap into some of that extra energy.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why can I not take a good photo of the night sky?

Whenever I do, it is typically just a black photo.

[Assistant]
Those good pictures of the sky you see are taken with cameras on tripods set to long exposure. The exposure on a camera is how long the shutter stays open to light light onto the film or digital sensor. In the daytime or with good lighting, the shutter only needs to open for a fraction of a second in order to let enough light in to take a picture. When the only light is coming from the stars, you need to have the shutter open for much longer so more light can gather on the sensor.

As an analogy, think of light (photons) as ping pong balls and the camera as a set of buckets. With lots of light it means there are tons of ping pong balls being thrown at the buckets at once and they fill up fast. When photographing the sky, only a few balls (photons) from each star may be hitting the buckets, so in order for it to show up, you need to let the ping pong balls collect in the buckets for a longer time.


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

[User] ELI5: is the longer average lifespan of humans due solely to medical/technological advancements, or are we just built sturdier than we used to be?

[Assistant] It really has to do with lower infant mortality, thanks to better medicine.  In the Medieval era, those making it to puberty would have lifespans comparable to ours, it's just so many babies died to drag down the average.


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

[User]
What exactly happens when you hit the Ulnar Nerve (aka Funny Bone)?

Hey Reddit, I was wondering if you could help me out with this one. I know how a nerve is stimulated, and how action potentials are propagated down nerves to send signals, but what I don't understand is why when you hit your "Funny Bone" it only sends those signals one way (towards the hand, where the nerve continues/innervates).

My main question is:

Does anyone know why this pain doesn't shoot up the arm and towards the body? I can't find it in any textbooks, I can only find why it shoots down the arm/towards the hand. If you're pinching that ulnar nerve, why wouldn't it cause pain up AND down, or even just more localized than sending the signal down?

Thanks Reddit!

[Assistant]
When the ulnar nerve is hit with force in the elbow region, most of the nerves that are passing through that point are stimulated. This means that the nerve sends a signal to the brain, which is interpreted as pain/dysaesthesia in the region the ulnar nerve innervates.
This is why you feel part of your hand tingling. Not because the nerve sends signals to the hand, but because it sends signals to the brain. Nothing happens to the hand, it is just your brain misinterpreting phantom signals from the ulnar nerve.


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

[User]
CMV: eSports are legitimate sports

In my view, a sport must:

1. Have a physical component
2. Be competitive and have an objective win\-lose condition
3. Require skill

I'll assume most of my opponents disagree that eSports are sufficiently physical.  I'd like to draw a distinction between something being **physical** and something requiring extreme **physical exertion**.  Football requires a lot of physical exertion.  Your heart rate is high.  You're sweating.  You're burning lots of calories.  At times you're running as fast as you can, pushing as hard as you can, and jumping as high as you can.

But is that the only type of physical component to a sport?  I don't think so.  Darts, curling, bowling, fishing, and billiards all require physical mastery, but don't \(necessarily\) require you to be strong, fast, or sweating.

eSports are the same way.  It certainly depends on the game, but for this discussion I'll focus on **first person shooters** like Overwatch and Counterstrike.  Aiming your weapon is one example of a skill that requires physical coordination.  The skill is focused on your hands and doesn't require the rest of your body, but I see no reason that makes the game less of a sport.  Many sports require extremely specific muscles and mechanics, but are nonetheless still considered legitimate.  Not every sport is a full\-body sport.  By my definition, you need some physical component, and aiming a weapon in grandmaster level eSports is extremely physically challenging.

I'd like to point out that **I don't think any trivial physical action makes something a sport.**  You have to move your piece in chess, but you're not going to gain a meaningful advantage by physically moving faster.  It's about thinking faster.  Similar deal with poker.  Pushing your chips in with your hands is not a meaningful physical differentiator in the game.

I'd also like to briefly touch on 2 and 3 in case they come up:

I mentioned 2 because something like a battle of the bands, while physically demanding and certainly requiring skill, doesn't have an objective win\-lose condition.  The judges may pick a winner, but I don't believe that's sufficiently objective.  If a sport's win\-lose condition is based on judging \(e.g., boxing, figure skating\), the parameters must be very well defined and can't be based on something peripheral like art.  With eSports, there are very clear win\-lose conditions.

I mentioned 3 because I don't believe anything that is entirely based on luck \(e.g., competitive scratch off scratching\) is a sport, no matter how physically demanding it is to scratch that quarter.  There is some luck involved in every sport, but this isn't an issue with games like Overwatch and Counterstrike any more than it is with baseball.

tldr: eSports meet the core definition of sport, even if you're not sweating.  CMV.

*note to mods:  I've seen this CMV before, but with the opposite stance, and I think a CMV with the starting view flipped will lead to a new discussion.*

[Assistant]
Generally in English, we distinguish games \(in the game\-theoric sense\) of pure physicality from those that are significantly assisted through technology \(such that most of the physical action is indirect\) .

A perfect example are **motor sports** such as NASCAR or Formula\-1 racing.  These include far more physical action and physical risk than eSports, yet they are not considered "pure" sports because most of the physical action is indirect.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] In the Goblet of Fire Crouch says Harry cannot not participate in the Tri-Wizard Tournament because there is a magical contract in the spell...

What ate the consequences of breaking the contract?

[Assistant]
Best-case scenario, Hogwarts automatically forfeits, robbing Harry *and* Cedric of the right to compete.

Worst-case? Harry is going to be horribly cursed. We've seen two other magical contracts in the series, one of which is the Unbreakable Vow that Snape took on which was expressly stated to be fatal if he didn't fulfil his end.

And then there's the curse Hermione hid in the Dumbledore's Army membership sheet. In the books, when Marietta Edgecombe blabbed to Umbridge about the group under duress (Umbridge threatened to have her mother fired from her job at the Ministry), she had the word "Sneak" scarred into her face by acne.


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

[User] ELI5: Why people think crystals have powers, healing ability, or other capabilities and why? Is there any scientific evidence?

[Assistant]
Humans have a tendency to believe all sorts of hocus pocus after observing a false positive or two.

We're hard wired to assume that a pattern exists even if the data is merely noise.  This was vitally important to our ancestors since assuming the rustling in the grass was the wind when it's a saber-toothed cat was understandably problematic.  In modern society it's less useful.

Crystals are highly ordered ionic solids. They can have interesting properties, but magical healing abilities are not among them.


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

[User]
Which is stronger: the windows on planes, or the lowest windows on a cruise ship?

Sometimes windows on cruise ships are low enough that they can have waves crashing into them (or even be underwater? maybe?). I would think it's a matter of pressure but I don't know that much about physics. I would also think the cruise ship ones have to be stronger because a tiny leak of water sounds worse than a tiny leak of air. Either way just something I was wondering.

[Assistant] The windows on a ship will be significantly thicker (1 to 2 inches) and made from toughened glass than windows on a plane which are normally poly-carbonate and made of 2 or 3 layers with air between in order to save weight.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is bearing arms considered a right, while driving is a privilege?

[Assistant] Driving is on PUBLIC ROADS is a privilege. On private land, it is your right.  Believe it or not, if you own a large enough piece of land, it is completely legal for you to drive 120 mph while drinking vodka without wearing a seatbelt or even clothes for that matter...


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

[User]
[Rick and Morty] Why didn't the Council of Ricks destroy the galactic government any time they wanted?

At this point it's pretty clear the council of Ricks is the most powerful force in the multiverse. Interdimensional travel grants an army of thousands of the smartest creatures in the universe god-tier powers. They can teleport the citadel anywhere. Why not a bomb? Or a few retinues of Seal Team Rickses? Did no Ricks except C137 have the idea to tank the galactic government?

[Assistant] The federation only exists in each universe, where the council exists in the multiverse. It would take far too much of their time and resources to go into each universe individually and fight them. They're relatively immune to attack since they can go anywhere, so it's just not worth their time. It's why you don't spend all day hunting down mosquitos. They may annoy you, you may be able to destroy them with little effort. But you would still have to find them and physically chase them. No real threat, just annoying.


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

[User] [General] What's the most horrifying disease you've ever seen in fiction?

[Assistant] There is a fantasy novel Elantris where certain people can't die but also can't heal so every tiny injury they ever receive lasts forever and eventually the accumulation of injuries and constant pain makes them lose their mind so they're insane, in constant pain, and live forever.


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

[User] [Venom] The Symbiote seems to heal Eddie's injury as fast as paper towels sop up water - would this rapid metabolizing generate a lot of heat for a fire-sensitive organism? Might "wet" heat not be a problem?

[Assistant]
The amount of heat needed to actually hurt a klyntar wouldn't be reached.
On top of that, the heat would spread evenly through the klyntar and it could easiley generate some kind of air vent system to cool down.


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

[User]
[General science fiction] What's the difference between a Torpedo and Missile?

What is the difference between a spaceborne torpedo and a missile?  How do they differ, generally?

Edit: Cheers!

[Assistant] In space the difference is mostly semantic.  Large spaceships are typically treated as naval vessels (and with good reason) so weapons focused on their destruction (larger, slower munitions) are typically called torpedoes.  By comparison, smaller fighter craft are generally treated as an air force, and thus munitions targeting them use the same terminology.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do lots of mobile video game advertisers just show random fragments of out of context gameplay, without showing us the name of the game or even trying to make an ad that is nice to watch? Does that strategy even work?

[Assistant] ads are designed to capture as much attention in as short a time as possible.  and these ads you're talking about do exactly that.  after some time you might realize the ad doesn't represent the thing very well, but there're tons of people who haven't seen the ad yet.  and the more exposure you're given the more likely hood of you doing it.  so even bad ads can be effective.


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

[User]
ELI5: What are U.S. Territories?

What exactly are the U.S. Territories and how do they work?

[Assistant] They are areas of the world under the control of the US government but are not officially part of the US itself. Selected parts of the US constitution apply to them. They don't have representatives in Congress, but their citizens are treated as US citizens. The legal jurisdiction over them is a combination of federal jurisdiction and their own territory court or commonwealth court.


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

[User]
eli5: How do retail credit cards (including those you can use in any store) work and how do they benefit the issuers and retailers?

Some of the specifics Im wondering about are: How do they tend to be structured? Who provides the capital? How do they differ from standard bank issued credit cards from the issuers perspective? Where can I learn more?

[Assistant]
Retail credit cards are backed by a particular bank, just like a regular credit card. They benefit retailers because they allow people to spend money they dont actually have, exclusively at their stores. Many retailers will even provide additional incentives just for using their credit card, like point systems/rewards or additional discounts. For example: using your Victoria Secret credit card on purchases earns you points. When you reach a certain number of points, youre issued a $10 reward. With the Target Red Card, your purchases at Target are automatically 5% off. Many stores will also provide an additional discount on your purchase just for applying.
While sometimes the benefits of a store credit card might seem worth it, if youre not careful, they can really bleed you dry. They generally carry absurdly high interest rates, think 25% and higher. Anyone not paying their balance off every month is paying a lot for the privilege. They typically have high late payment fees as well. And while many regular cards will not increase your credit limit unless requested, you might be surprised to find your store credit card limit increased multiple times a year. Anything they can do get you to do borrow more money and pay it back very slowly. And for a lot of people, a store credit card will be their very first credit card because they are not as discriminating against those with little to no credit. Its definitely an easy way to build credit, but again, if youre not careful, its an easy way to build debt too.
Credit cards that bear a companys name but function like a regular visa/MasterCard, etc. are a little better. They can usually offer a better APR (depending on current starting rates and your credit history), and better benefits, like cash back options. The Chase Amazon Card offers 5% cash back on all Amazon purchases, 2% on gas and 1% on everything else. Not bad if youre someone who shops on Amazon a lot, and you can still use (and earn cash back) the card anywhere that accepts Visa too.

Hopefully this answers some of your questions!


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

[User] ELI5: If disorders like depression and anxiety are chemical imbalances, why are non-chemical treatments like talk therapy effective?

[Assistant]
Let's say that the chemical imbalance the person is suffering from is a lack of a brain chemical called X. If the problem is that your brain is not creating enough X, there are two solutions:

* Supply additional X artificially (e.g. by taking a pill)

* Get your brain to create more X

If you can get your brain to create more X by talking with a therapist, playing music, going for walks, cuddling a puppy, or balancing a spoon on your nose, those are all legitimate treatment options.


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

[User]
What happens to the body exactly if someone is given a transfusion of the wrong blood type?

Hello!

I read a case recently where a young girl was given a lung and heart transplant, except the transplanted organs were of a completely wrong blood type then the patient. I was wondering what exactly happens if someone it given a pint (or more) of the wrong type of blood.

And to step it up a notch further, what would happen to the body if all the blood in the body were to become a different type? Would the affect change with one blood type over another?

Thanks for your responses in advance.

[Assistant] This is massively simplified: There are two main antigens/markers on blood cells, A and B. One can have one, both, or neither of these (type O). Lets say as an example that the patient has A type blood. This patients type A blood also contains antibodies against the B antigen, but not the A antigen. If you transfuse B in there, the antibodies begin to attack it. This causes a massive inflammatory reaction in the bloodstream that can cause organ dysfunction and even death if enough is transfused.


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

[User]
[Warhammer 40k] The potential of having a God of Order in the Warp.

Say the Emperor finally dies and manages to fully manifest in the Immaterium, powered by the hope and dedication of the people of The Imperium.

Could he fight and subjugate (or even kill) the four main Chaos Gods? Is such a thing even possible given how each represent an inherent part of sentient life?

Can he go beyond that and actually be able to control or "calm" the Sea of Souls to a the point it is safe for travel like during when the Old Ones were around?

[Assistant]
The Emperor doesn't represent hope and dedication. He never did, and never will. The Emperor represents Guardianship of Humanity. He's not a God of Order, but a Human-centric war God and Guardian, something akin to a hybrid if Khaine and Vaul for the Eldar.

It IS possible to kill a God, however. If a sufficiently powerful warp presence, with enough overlap, absorbs them, they seem to maintain their core identity while taking on the expanded influence of those they 'devour'. This is what happened with the Eldar Gods and Slaanesh.

In order for the Emperor to succeed, he would have to have far more power than the Chaos Gods, but also represent a sizable portion of their nature. Khorne and T-bird, maybe, but Nurgle and Slaanesh have little to no overlap with the Emperor.


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

[User]
[Punisher] How has the Punisher survived being shot, stabbed beaten and strangled so much over the years.

I've read every Punisher comic from the 80's up until 2008. Dude takes a lot of damage.Does he have some kind of healing factor?

[Assistant]
The Punisher typically wears military-grade body armor while most of his enemies use civilian weapons. He also keeps himself in top shape, which goes a long way toward recovering from injuries.

Still, Frank Castle is probably in pain most of the time. He just doesn't care. He has one mission in life, and he'll keep doing it until it kills him. Like Bruce Wayne, he doesn't expect to reach old age.

EDIT: Setting aside the fact that Frank and Bruce put themselves in harm's way, they are in many ways ideal patients. They have no vices. Their diets are perfect. They'll never forget their medication and they'll never skip physical therapy. They train like elite athletes and recover like elite athletes. About the only thing they have trouble with is getting enough rest.


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

[User]
Does light have its own gravity?

Light has no mass and is affected by gravity, I was just wondering if it had any gravity of its own?

[Assistant] Yes, in the Einstein field equations, the gravity (spacetime curvature) is related not to the mass, but the stress-energy-momentum tensor which is non-0 even for massless stuff like light. So spacetime gets bent.


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

[User]
[Marvel/DC] What would the two universes look like if characters who have died STAYED dead?

In superhero comics, it's an infamous joke that everyone who dies eventually gets brought back to life, except for Uncle Ben and Bruce Wayne's parents. What would Marvel and DC look like nowadays if the characters who died really remained dead? Just to throw a few names out there, I know that Hal Jordan died in the 90s, Superman was infamously killed by Doomsday, Batman's sidekick Jason Todd was bludgeoned to death by The Joker, Barry Allen died during Crisis On Infinite Earths, etc. By the way, I'm only counting deaths that took place in the current main continuity, not deaths that occurred in alternate universes.

[Assistant]
In the Infinity Gauntlet crossover, Thanos literally kills half the Marvel universe. Japan and the US West Coast are completely destroyed. Casualties include Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, several cosmic heroes, Vision, and several X-Men.

If none of them can be brought back as they were in the story, it seems likely that Marvel will devolve into a villain-ruled war zone in the early 1990s, as there will be much less power to stop the biggest villains from expanding their territory until they crash into one another.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it that when people close their eyes, there are faint splotches of different abstract things visible?

[Assistant] They're called phosphenes. Apparently the retina produces them even when at rest and in the absence of light. It's sort of the same way that fireflies can glow; there are cells within our eyes that emit biophotons which are light particles that are produced by our eyes themselves.


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

[User]
When a modern A.I., such as IBM's Watson, "reads a book", or any other text, what is that program doing with/to that text?

A few weeks ago a 60 minutes piece on AI suggested that Watson read thousands of books in an incredibly short period of time. What exactly does that mean? In my mind it could be that the system is just placing it in a database? It could also mean that its running it through a filtering algorithm and assigning subject matter titles to it or plucking out supposedly important sentences? How does it process the words, sentences, and paragraph's of the work and then how it uses them later on?

Edit:  Thank you all for your great answers.

[Assistant]
It can mean pretty much anything.  IBM marketing also just uses Watson all over the place to just mean "Machine Learning".  Depending on the particular task it's being trained for, that might mean taking words and parsing them semantic analysis or looking at images of pages and recognizing characters or building a search index or building a language model...  anything the particular system is being built to do.

And reading a thousand books in a short period of time...  on how many systems?  How many cores?  What storage and network topology?

Essentially, it's a buzz-wordy "we're quite cool" marketing speak that doesn't mean anything.


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

[User] Is the spiciness of peppers intended to persuade or dissuade animals from eating them?

[Assistant]
"The seeds of Capsicum plants are dispersed predominantly by birds: in birds, the TRPV1 channel does not respond to capsaicin or related chemicals in birds (avian vs mammalian TRPV1 show functional diversity and selective sensitivity). This is advantageous to the plant, as chili pepper seeds consumed by birds pass through the digestive tract and can germinate later, whereas mammals have molar teeth which destroy such seeds and prevent them from germinating. Thus, natural selection may have led to increasing capsaicin production because it makes the plant less likely to be eaten by animals that do not help it reproduce."

Source: Tewksbury, J. J.; Nabhan, G. P. (2001). "Seed dispersal. Directed deterrence by capsaicin in chilies". Nature 412 (6845): 403404.


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

[User]
[Marvel] So, whats up with Hulk "hulking" out when he's angry? Does it mean there are possibilities of it happening in other states of emotion?

Could Hulk have been made in a way that he'd only Hulk when he's extremely happy? Sad? I was just thinking how awful it must be to have depression but then have you hulking mechanism rely on happiness. Keep chugging on those anti depressants.

[Assistant]
Approaching this from the comics, its still a little unclear in the MCU:

Bruce Banner had multiple personalizes before the Gamma bomb.  At least as far back as his abuse by his father.    the Gamma Bomb allowed each of these personalities to become the hulk and take over his body, but not all of them are tied to anger.

-	Grey hulk: at first the Hulk came out at night, and disappeared during the day
-	Big Guy/Green Hulk - like the MCU Hulk, this one is tried to anger.  the angrier he gets, the stronger he gets.    he had the personality and intelligence of a toddler, and in many ways represents Bruce retreating back to when he was abused.
-	Joe Fixit : The reappearance of the Grey Hulk.  Again, tied to night. Intelligent. A little cruel.  Not as strong as the Big Guy.  Worked as a bouncer in Las Vegas for a while.
-	Professor Hulk: Bruce in Hulks body.  Doesnt transform.  Bruce at his most balanced.
-	Devil Hulk : the personality the others are afraid of.  the first hulk persona to kill on purpose.  Big, Green.  Comes out at night.  Takes it real personal if you hurt Bruce. (tied to fathers abuse, again).

In addition, Ed Nortons hulk in the MCU seemed tied to heartbeat, not just anger.

highly recommended runs: Peter Davids run in the 90s

the just finished Immortal Hulk by Al Ewing.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do bombs detonate right before they hit the ground rather than at impact?

If there are bombs that detonate on impact, can someone explain why certian ones do while other don't?

[Assistant]
If a bomb hits the ground and explodes, half or more of its energy is wasted hitting the ground, made even worse by the crater it goes into and creates.

If a bomb explodes at a set height above the ground, nearly all the energy is used to damage what youre trying to hit.

Depending on the type of target, some bombs are meant to detonate below ground, like in a bunker. They can go through ground and walls and explode, even as smart as counting floors before explosion.

Nuclear weapons for example explode at a relatively high height.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do I sometimes have to use cold air to defrost my windshield and at other times hot air?

[Assistant]
There are a couple things going on here. First, hot air can hold more moisture than cold air. The reason condensation forms in the first place is that the glass in the windshield is cold enough that when it comes into contact with warm, moist air, the moisture comes out of the air and condenses onto the glass.

Your ultimate goal to prevent having a foggy windshield should be to warm up the glass so that its above the condensation point. How warm that is depends on the temperature of the air in your car. When you start blowing warm air over the glass it may make it a little worse initially (since the glass is still cold and moisture from the hot air youre blowing over it will also condense). However, once youve warmed the glass up enough the moisture will disappear and stay in the air like you want it to. This is how most rear defrosters work  they just have heating elements that heat the glass up. No air involved.

The A/C sometimes helps because A/Cs put out cold, dry air. If the air is dry it will be able to absorb some of the moisture from the windshield. However, if you blow cold air over the windshield you will keep the glass cold so it will keep fogging up.

The best thing you can do is to use both at once. Put the defroster on to blow hot air onto the windshield and blow the A/C in the car. That way you have cooler air with less moisture in the car so theres less moisture that can condense on the glass and you are warming up the glass past the condensation point so there wont be any more fog at all.


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

[User] [Marvel]If Galactus requires the energy of living beings to survive, why doesn't he sustainably farm a few hundred worlds without sentient life in them, build a ring world and stock it with non sentient life, etc? He has the technology to do so.

[Assistant]
A few hundred worlds wouldn't last long. And his hunger is increasing.

People fail to realize Galactus is a natural part of the universe: the transition between Eternity and Death. And that, by consuming the universe, he will eventually be the catalyst that creates the next universe.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does soap perfume/fragrance stick to hands and not wash off like other particles?

As far as I know, there are only polar and non-polar molecules, with  soap helping to dissolve non-polar molecules in the polar water. What  are these perfumes made out of to just avoid being dissolved in the  water and wash off completely?

[Assistant]
The top layer of your skin is a porous, non-watertight material made up of dead, decaying skin.  Its only the lower, living layers that form a solid, watertight barrier.  This means that if you looked at the top layer of your skin under a microscope it would look somewhat like a sponge.

Anything that's a liquid flows into all of the holes that exist in the top layer of your skin and gets absorbed into it.  If there is something suspended in that liquid, like the the chemicals in soap that give it its smell then they'll get absorbed into your skin along with the liquid.  When the liquid dries out those smell chemicals get left behind.

People aren't very sensitive to the smell of most kinds of dirt - if your hands stink its probably because there is a lot of something on it.  On the other hand, people are really sensitive to the chemicals they use for imparting good smells into consumer products.  This means that when the soap washes away all of the dirt then there isn't enough dirt left absorbed into your skin for you to notice the smell.  On the other hand, it doesn't take very much of the soap getting left behind for you to be able to smell it.


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

[User]
Should I require operations/entity design for my user stories?

Hey community. I am a .net programmer currently working in a 5-man backend team in a medium-sized project and I am constantly having to refactor big chunks of the application because of (what I believe to be) a lack of pre-development design.

We receive user stories that only contain a functional analysis on a front-end level with just a description of the fields and what they represent, nothing more. We never got any form of documented model, no DSD, DCD, DER, no anything. This resulted in all the application being developed towards whatever feature is in this sprint without minding for previous/future features. We have endless endpoints that update only one entity or field, repeated Domain Classes all over the place, and this is all even worse because this is being done in a microservices architecture.

I respect my tech lead a lot, and he has done a great work as a leader in all other areas but he is not a senior in any way, he landed the job after our previous lead quit the company 1 week before the development started. He insists that doing that layer of design is our team's responsability, yet we get no time to attend to that and we have never done it.

 What I wander is:

Is designing the classes/database entities a backend responsability?

Should I raise this to my superiors, bypassing my TL?

Whenever I think of asking this work to be done by the design team I am afraid to be asking for too much, but I also feel that without help from an area with application-wide visibility the refactors that will be needed in a later moment will be impossible.

[Assistant] Your user is not expected to know technical details about the underlying system. It is _your teams job_ to do this analysis (and documentation!) in the PBR. And it is also your teams job to define criteria when they consider a story ready for sprint, so if you say you need certain things in your story before you can work on it, that should definitely go into your story checklist which needs to be worked through before you estimate.


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

[User] ELI5: How do Bluetooth things work, more specifically Bluetooth earphones?

[Assistant] Wireless devices (basically everything, these days) communicate by sending electromagnetic waves over the air that get picked up by other devices and interpreted as data. But in order for two devices to talk, they need to be speaking the same language, like maybe the waves should all be a certain length. Bluetooth is simply a standard, or a set of guidelines, for what type of waves two devices should use to communicate. If your device follows the Bluetooth wave rules, your device can talk to other devices that follow the Bluetooth wave rules.


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

[User] eli5: When fruit ripens it gets sweeter. Does that mean the sugar content increases? If so, how does this work?

[Assistant] Unripe fruit has a lot of starches. Starches are technically complex sugars but they don't taste sweet. As the fruit ripens the starches are broken down into simple sugars. These simple sugars are sweet tasting.


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

[User] ELI5: why is General Sherman (~4M pounds) considered the largest tree in the world, but Pando is considered the heaviest living organism in the world (~13M pounds)?

[Assistant] It comes down to your definition of tree. Pando is one individual genetically but is also a whole forest of normal sized trees where each tree is an offshoot of the first tree's roots. General Sherman is just an absurdly massive tree. :)


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

[User]
I believe that pop music has never been as bad as it is right now. For god sakes CMV

I *hate* the idea of the "good old days". I am a firm believer that art, culture, quality of life in general have been on a steady incline for a long time, I would not trade places with anyone from any time, even with everything that's screwed up right now.

So when I hear people start bitching about how much better popular music used to be, even bubblegum crowd-pleasing schlock, a part of me really wants to come to the defense of this decade, but I can't because I agree with them.

Someone, please, tell me I'm wrong (no sarc).

Edit: I've been asked to explain why I feel this way:

The degree to which, and number of ways in which it is repetitive is unprecedented. After listening to top 40 radio for half an hour, you will hear the same percussion, same synth patches, same lyrical content, same melodic contour, same, drop, same lazily implemented auto-tune.

Within each song, you will hear the same phrase repeated over and over. Because these songs are mixed for earbuds, they will have the same dynamic level throughout the whole song, absolutely no variety whatsoever. It is increasingly trendy to take a phrase that is repeated, then repeat only a word, and then finally to repeat a single syllable within that word

*"I'm drowning, I'm drowning, I'm drowning, ing, ing, ing, ing"*

It is incessant, it is unvarying, it is monotonous, it is positively nauseating.

Edit: Would really love to post a delta today. I'm trying really hard to keep an open mind here.

[Assistant]
Apart from any technical criticisms, consider this: even the shitty music from the past is basically the greatest hits of the shitty music.

You are actually right, the worst music you will hear *will* be very new. This is because nothing that bad can survive the tastes of a few years. It's like how you don't see any adults with existing fatal childhood illnesses.

But to rebut your point: after 10 years, all the "pop" music from now will be within an acceptable range of taste compared to all the music from previous decades. There is nothing special about this era that means the music is bad, but contemporary music will *always* be bad.


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

[User] If it takes hours and hours for food to digest, how does asparagus stink up my pee so quickly?

[Assistant] Absorption of chemicals and nutrients begins as soon as food hits your mouth (this is why some medications can be delivered by putting them under your tongue). Most of it occurs in the intestine, of course. So, while it takes hours for asparagus to go end-to-end, processing begins very quickly, and clearly the chemicals in asparagus that stink up your pee are among those absorbed relatively quickly.


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

[User] [Star Wars] What position/role in the Galactic Empire would Count Dooku have had if he'd killed Anakin & Obi-Wan?

[Assistant]
Assuming he was alive and kicking (he was 81 when he died and probably relying on the force to maintain that level of athleticism).

Dooku would have been wasted being used in the manner that Vader was (a glorified attack dog). He was a skilled Diplomat, the CIS was largely formed under his banner, with Palpatine manipulating things behind the scene.

I imagine Dooku would have been given a high ranking command position within the empire (perhaps under the pretence of a gesture of peace with the remains of the CIS) and used as a symbol to bring rebellious systems under control.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does the air in the vehicle shudder when only one window is down while driving high speeds?

[Assistant] The Air pressure in the car is fluctuating as more air is forced in until the pressure is high enough to push back against the incoming and escape. Similar to the glug glug of an emptying bottle. This pressure change is making your ear drum flex.


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

[User]
Having a debate with my friend and I need help

 Hello, I am having an argument with my friend where we are discussing whether or not an infinite set of numbers with no restrictions, has a chance to never output a number. For example, if you were to flip a coin an infinite number of times is there a probability that tails will never happen. I made the argument that you could never really say never when it comes to infinity because you can always flip the coin again and there is a probability it will be tails and so on and so on until you eventually have to hit it. He made the case that there would have to be a reality/possibility in which tails never comes, however small of a chance. Sorry if I am rambling but neither of us know that much about statistics so we decided to come here and ask.

[Assistant] Theoretically you could throw a coin infinitely with the outcome never being tails, but the probability will limit to zero (so small that it can be considered zero). So for practical purposes you can assume that in an infinite number of throws you will definitely have an outcome which is tails.


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

[User]
Is exercising while you are sick a bad thing?

Whenever you are sick, it is generally recommended that you rest and spend lots of time sleeping or otherwise low exertion activities. However, I've read lots of work which claims that exercising can help boost your immune system. With that in mind, isn't some amount of exercise while you are sick a healthy thing to do? (Restated: Will exercising while you are sick actually make you more vulnerable to an illness, or does it have the potential to boost your immune system?)

[Assistant] Think of exercise as stress. When the body experiences stress, it releases a hormone (molecular signal) from the adrenal glands--which are placed right above your kidneys--called cortisol. Cortisol's job is to increase substrate for your body to utilize for energy (through gluconeogenesis). Another function of cortisol, which matters more in this situation, is that it suppresses the immune system. This is why they give cortisone shots to athletes and such to decrease the immune response and therefore decrease inflammation and swelling. Anyways, this is why you often get sick after a full day of intense exercise...or for some people after a sort walk. This process combined with the fact that exercise will increase water loss--on top of the excess water loss due to fever--can cause severe dehydration which can lead to more serious problems. In sum, stay in bed.


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

[User] Why don't we send satellites upwards out of the solar system? Why always through the planetary pathway?

[Assistant] Another point is that since the solar system lies mostly in a plane, it's more interesting to send probes along it instead of out of it. Even if we somehow managed to set something on an escape trajectory perpendicular to the solar system plane, it would be a long time before it ran into anything else.


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

[User]
CMV: Minecraft Steve is totally shagging the sheep.

In vanilla Minecraft, the only human character is Steve.  There are villagers but they're ugly, dumb, and apparently neuter, so it's doubtful they're even human.  There are witches who attempt to kill Steve on sight.  And that's about it, unless you count skeletons, pig-men, or creepers.

If Steve has urges, he has to be schtupping the sheep.

There are no other options.  The sheep are numerous, easily available, entirely passive, and they come in an assortment of designer colors.  He already gets intimate with them frequently as he shears them on a daily basis.  Steve might dally with the cows or pigs if he's feeling particularly adventurous, but the warm, soft wool of the sheep has to make them his main go-to shag.  Prove me wrong.

[Assistant] Sheep only breed with each other if given a piece of wheat, while Steves method of breeding is unknown. Therefore its impossible to conclude if Steve is having any sexual activity until this method is discovered.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it that when a movie takes place in a certain time period, they can get the clothing, cars, scenery, props etc. all accurate; but the actors never "look" accurate to the time period (even a no name) for some reason?

[Assistant] It's likely you're just experiencing bias due to knowing that they're from the modern era despite dressing the part. You can find all sorts of lookalikes between now and the past that, if taken proper photos of, you wouldn't have any clue when they were from without knowing beforehand.


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

[User]
How did cells survive without a mitochondria?

There is a theory that the mitochondria was its own cell before being incorporated with another cell. If this theory is true how did the cells survive without a mitochondria?

[Assistant]
Mitochondria were originally bacterial cells and that should point you to your answer.  Bacteria don't need mitochondria because they are their own mitochondria in essence, and can do all the things they need to do the same way a mitochondria does it's things, producing ATP with molecules embedded in their plasma membrane and suspended in their cytoplasm that exploit whatever metabolic pathways that cell uses to survive.

Most cells don't have mitochondria and just do everything themselves; it's only a small branch of the tree of life called Eukaryotes that have mitochondria and became dependent on them and lost the ability to respire independently of them.


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

[User] ELI5: What does it mean when an old movie gets digitally remastered or how do old clips that are decades old suddenly look really sharp?

[Assistant] Film is naturally pretty sharp, depending on the quality of the lens and focusing to film it. They then scan the film at high resolution and master that instead of the original film master. They are still limited to the capabilities of the film but that often far exceeds the old capabilities to project it or transfer it to another medium.


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

[User]
Accessing Elsevier papers

First of all: F**k you Elsevier, for making contributions and most importantly access to science damn expensive, especially for the students (such as me) that really need these papers.

This leads me directly to my question: Unfortunately in my field a lot of relevant papers are constantly published in Elsevier Journals, which I cant access through my university, Sci-Hub also doesnt help with these in a lot of cases.
Any further ideas?

I do not endorse piracy, but it drives me nuts if I cant access the relevant papers in my niche research field close to the end of my PhD. Especially for my theoretical part I would need this access.

[Assistant] If you have time, just email the researcher. I've done this a handful of times and it gives me an excuse to establish a new professional connection. Researchers are always delighted to share their papers for free; the only entity who benefits from these paywalls is Elsevier.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do we and other animals get so excited for food, but not so much for water, even though thirst is a more immediate concern?

[Assistant]
Food generally requires more effort to get than water. Generally, you have a known water source, but you have to hunt or gather for food. If you don't have a water source, then that does become the immediate concern, but you can get some amount of water from food too.

Thirst can get desperate and will kill you faster than hunger, but water is still either available or not. Food is still more complicated to acquire.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do some dogs kick their back leg when you scratch them in a certain place.

I mean does it annoy them? They can't seem to help it.

EDIT:
Thanks. Great ideas.

[Assistant] It could be like a cat's. When you scratch a cat on the lower stomach and their hind legs go crazy scratching you, they don't do it on purpose. They actually do it to themselves sometimes. It's triggered because in the wild, when they would get pinned by the animal they're fighting, their hind legs would attack the vulnerable stomach of the other animal that is on top of them.


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

[User]
Comic book movies are often as formulaic as chick flicks, CMV

Typical comic book movie: Villain appears and causes turmoil > superhero(s) training sequence > Villain gets the upper-hand > Super hero(s) prevails against the odds > end of movie

Typical chick flick: Girl/boy is single and unhappy> they meet someone > something bad happens and they split up for a while > Partner redeems themselves somehow > they get back together > end of movie

Of course I am generalizing but I find myself bored with the genre, everyone knows that the hero will win in the end.  Wouldnt it be more exciting if occasionally the joker killed the batman?  Just to keep us on our toes and foster a sense of uncertainty.

[Assistant]
Which other genre is **not** formulatic?

Any genre is *by definition*, a set of formulas. That's what they exist for, to categorize a set of movies based on what is common in them.

 Whether you like high fantasy movies, or disney's fairy tale musicals, or buddy cop movies, or slasher horrors, or oscar bait dramas, describing them by a genre name guarantees that you are describing them with a formula.

*Individual works* can be original, whether they happen to feature superheroes, cops, or singing animals, but they do this by drifting away from their genre's basic definition.

But if you are asking us to prove that a genre itself is not formulatic, you are asking for proof that formulas are not formulatic.


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

[User] [Batman] If Batman accidentally kills someone, would he turn himself in?

[Assistant] Accidentally? Hell nah. Undoubtedly many have met an early grave due to traumatic injury from Batman's 900 psi punches or his "nonlethal" gadgets that blow up buildings and slice through steel. Don't even get me started on his "interrogations". The Wayne Foundation can toss me a couple grand as part of an ex-con rehab program, but that won't fix five broken ribs.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are Masters and Doctoral students called "candidates"? It makes it sound that there is a chance they won't earn the degree

In university, the speakers were introduced as Masters and PhD candidate. I associate candidate with elections, such as presidential candidate (who is not yet a president). Does this imply that grad students may not all earn their degrees? But to become a candidate they must first be accepted into the grad program.
However, bachelor undergrad students were never introduced as candidate. Sometimes the term "Prospectus" is also used for diploma or other certification.

[Assistant] Well... yeah. The faculty of a university is basically a medieval guild, and a PhD candidate is a journeyman presenting his masterpiece- his dissertation- for their review, so that they can decide whether he's talented, skilled, and accomplished enough to be their peer. There is a very real chance that candidates won't be able to produce a dissertation that satisfies the review board.


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

[User]
[Supernatural] How do deals work in the Supernatural universe?

Crowley said in an episode, when fixing Bobby's legs, that many things that demons do can only be done through deals (healing body parts, bringing back the dead, etc). How does this work? Do the deals use the ruler of Hell's power (assuming they have it)?

Is there a limit to what demons can do through deals? All the unsuccessful deals in the show are due to the demon refusing, not them being unable.

TL:DR - What is this "deal power". How powerful is it?

[Assistant]
In the Supernatural universe, human/mortal souls are both unlimited energy sources and miracle providers. Put a soul in the hands of a demon, angel, or god and they can tape into the energy to do practically anything.

So basically a human sells their soul's for something in return. That demon gets permission from the King of Hell (Crowley) to complete the deal. Then Crowley gets a random soul from He'll and taps into its energy to preform the "miracle". Boom, deals done and sealed.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does Planned Parenthood receive federal funding in the first place?

I'll be the first to admit, I haven't been paying too much attention to the current "planned parenthood" controversy. However, it got me thinking: why is planned parenthood receiving federal grants to begin with? I'm not trying to be political, and admittedly, the only real interaction I've had with them was getting denied an HIV screening due to the fact that I couldn't provide them with a recent pay stub, but nevertheless, I'm just curious as to what motivated the government to fund *them* in the first place, as opposed to simply funding various local clinics, etc.

[Assistant] Simply put, Planned Parenthood IS composed of local clinics all across the country. It is well-staffed with a large pool of medical expertise to draw from. They meet all the qualifications needed to receive federal grants directed at providing these kinds of services, so they receive them.


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

[User] Does heat, humidity, and other atmospheric variables affect wi-fi and other signals?

[Assistant]
Water vapor does, but only slightly so to be unnoticeable.  Water vapor (i.e., humidity) absorbs microwaves in the 3-5 GHz range only on the order of 0.001 dB per km.  For a typical cell tower with 100 km range, this means humidity is only changing this range on the order of 1 to 10 meters or so.

Rain or hail, on the other hand, can have huge effect, this is actually how our weather radar systems work.  The US National Weather Service's 88Ds are 3 GHz radars, in the same frequency bands as wifi.  The rain and hail won't appreciably absorb as much as it reflects the signal (this reflection is what shows up on the weather radar images).  When you go to 5 GHz signal like wifi, hail cores in very strong thunderstorms can reflect all the signal over very short distances.

Temperature gradients also affect the way directed microwaves travel.  This can result in pulses from say, a radar, being bent back to the ground.

If you want to experiment water's effect on microwaves you can place your phone in a water proof bag and submerge it in water and see your wifi signal drop.


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

[User]
[Batman] Have any of the Robin's been adult's (over 18) while using the identity?

So, i got to wondering, have any of the Robin's lasted in the role until adulthood or further, or have they left for whatever reason before that has happened.

[Assistant]
At least pre-Flashpoint and DCAU Dick Greyson kept on being Robin through their college years, before deciding to become Nightwing.

Kingdom Come Dick Greyson also seemed to have just evolved the Robin persona into 'Red Robin' as he became an adult.


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

[User] ELI5:getting the wind knocked out of you. Bonus points for how to fix it.

[Assistant]
It's a spasm in the muscles of your diaphragm.  When there's a strong enough impact, your muscles get temporarily shocked.  Your diaphragm can't move, so you can't draw breath.

To fix it: relax, and wait.  It's gotta reset on its own, not much else you can do.


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

[User]
eli5: will light ever disappear

Suppose there is a formation of mirrors such that all light that is shined unto one mirror is entirely reflected off onto another mirror. Suppose their is an infinite amount of mirrors like this, so that the light will keep bouncing off one mirror and onto another. Will there be a time where the light shined onto mirror 1 will disappear when it reaches mirror x? Just a shower thought, but I thought it was interesting since light never seems to disappear.

[Assistant] Yes. No object is 100% perfectly reflective. When light hits a mirror, some of it is reflected, but some of it is also absorbed by the mirror. You can have anything that's 100% perfectly reflective, so even in your scenario, each mirror would absorb a little bit of the light reflected from the previous mirror until there's none left.


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

[User] [MacGyver/Warhammer 40k] Is MacGyver a Psyker with the same power as the entire race of Orks? How useful would he be to the Imperium of Man in the 41st Millennium?

[Assistant]
No. He's a non-psychic human who is very inventive.

He might actually be useful in a regiment like the Tanith First and Only, where the commissar isn't overly concerned with orthodoxy. With his skills, he could keep machines working even after they break down as long as the tech-priests don't notice.

Either that, or his skill with machines leads to him being proclaimed as the true Omnissiah. The Imperium once again descends into civil war as the Adeptus Mechanicus rebel against the Emperor.


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

[User] Since alternating current is truly "alternating" why are most 2 pronged plugs (U.S) built with one prong wider than the other, forcing it to be used in the socket in only one direction?

[Assistant]
There is a ton of over complicated explanations and arguing over the relatively simple design of household AC circuits here. There is a very simple answer to this.

In North America, the wider prong was added as a safety feature to ensure the neutral was connected where its supposed to be. Some appliances have relatively exposed connections that are intended to to be wired to the neutral, rather than the hot wire, *for safety reasons*. There's no functional difference - the appliance will work either way - but it's safer to have the neutral terminal exposed.

An example is a table lamp. The bulb connection for the hot leg is fairly concealed and you'd have to deliberately jam your fingers in there to touch it. The bulb connection for the neutral on the other hand is the socket shell that the bulb screws into, and the second you put the bulb in, the metal on the bulb also becomes part of the circuit (whereas the hot isn't connected until the bulb is screwed in to the bottom of the three socket.)

With the neutral connected to the shell, this doesn't matter. The neutral in modern homes is connected directly to the ground reference - the same as the ground wire, and all your electrical boxes, and most of your appliance frames, etc.

If you remove the wider prong from the connection, you can now connect the hot leg to the neutral connection by plugging it in backwards, and that largely exposed metal socket (and the metal on the bulb) now has 120VAC on it.


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

[User]
I am confused by existentialism.

If everything is inherently meaningless and it is up to a singular person to create that meaning for their own lives and they decide that murder is what gives them meaning, is there anything in existentialism that says this is not ok? Most people would say murder is infringing another person's human rights but I don't think human rights are a thing in existentialism, right? Ahh idk someone help explain this to me.

[Assistant] This is a fatal flaw in existentialism. Thankfully, Beauvoir addresses the problem in her *Ethics of Ambiguity*. Because we all are free in the existential sense and because our freedom requires the freedom of the other, all acts (murder included) that rob a person of their freedom are deemed immoral. IMO, she offers the only satisfactory account of an existentialist ethics.


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

[User]
[The Cabin in the Woods] How does the facility maintain secrecy?

OK, so once a year a number of humans have to be ritualistically sacrificed in accordance with common horror tropes to prevent primordial gods from awakening and killing  the entire planet. Sure, I get that, Lovecraftian monstrosities can demand whatever the heck they please.

Multiple sacrifices take place around the world at about the same time every year, in accordance with the local culture's ideas about fear. Fair enough.

However, let's take a look at how it goes down in America (the other countries presumably have similar facilities, but the American facility is the only one we actually see).

This is a large, purpose-built facility which has been active since 1998, if not earlier. Every single year, five college students are lured to this one cabin, where at least four of them die horribly. Even if the cabin is as super-isolated as the characters say, you'd think that this many deaths would attract attention. Why isn't the place swarming with journalists and cops?

[Assistant]
Compartmentalization, bribes, and having people in public postions to sweep things under the rug.

Sure some teens got killed in the woods, but its nothing a falsified police coroner report involving bath salts couldn't solve. Besides who cares about reporting on some teens getting killed when the public is more concerned with celebrity culture. One could argue that media is controlled by the same organization that runs the sacrifices.

Also its not totally clear if all sacrifices happen at that one cabin or if its one of many stages built stateside to have the sacrifice take place. This could be one of many rigged cabins in the country.


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

[User]
How do they put a rod into a broken femur?

I know someone who broke their femur in half while skiing.  I saw their x-ray and the doctors put a rod actually inside the bone to hold the two halves together while it healed.  How would they do this?

[Assistant]
Ortho resident here.

Lets start with some anatomy. Like others have said, long bones have two parts, a cortex and a medullary canal. The cortex is the outside of the bone and is what is usually seen on X-rays. It contains cortical bone which is arranged in a way that it is very strong. This is where most of the bending and compressive strength of bone is and is what most of the shaft portion of long bones (femur, tibia, humerus, etc) are made of. The medullary canal contains a combination of bone marrow and what is called cancellous bone, which is bone that does not contribute as much to the strength of the long bone, but is important part of bone health.

We place a rod down the femur by taking advantage of the medullary canal. You can place a rod in the femur by going in from the top or the bottom of the femur. First a hole is drilled in line with with medullary canal either through the greater trochanter (the large bump at the top of the femur) or through the knee. This is all done under X-ray guidance (called fluoroscopy). We then line up the fracture fragments, place a long wire in the medullary canal and then ream. These reamers start out small and get larger. This helps remove any of that cancellous bone and medullary contents that would get in the way of the rod we place in. We ream until the reamers start to "chatter" on the cortical bone. We then place a rode slightly smaller than the final reamer down the canal. This is all done under imaging guidance through the hole in the bone we made at the top or the bottom of the femur. The rod is hammered to the appropriate depth. Finally screws are placed at the top and the bottom of the rod to hold it into place. These are placed perpendicular to the bone and the rod in order to "lock it" into place so it doesn't move up or down.

We do rodding or "nailing" of long bones because it does not require large incisions and it is what we call a load sharing construct so patients can weight bear the next day.


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

[User] Do rainbows make complete circles but we just dont see them? Or is it just part of a circle?

[Assistant]
They make complete circles.

Light forming part of the rainbow has to follow a path with makes a specific angle between the sun, the raindrop, and your eye. The circle described by the raindrops which satisfy the condition is usually partially obscured by objects in the way, or is cut off because the rain hits the ground.

In theory though, a rainbow is a circle.


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

[User]
ELI5 Why I can touch my toes after spinning around?

Normally I can't even get close to touching my toes, but after spinning a couple tomes suddenly I can. Why is this?

[Assistant] Spinning, depending on intensity, is technically an exercise . When you exercise, blood flow increases in general, but more so to the muscles in use, in this case those in your legs and possibly back, causing the muscles to become warmer. When muscles are "cold" (normal body temperature), they are less flexible than when they are warm, so this warmth basically increases your flexibility. This then leads to you being able to bend down further without pain.


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

[User]
Why does rough childhood makes some people strong while some mentally ill?

Are people just randomly born weak and strong?
*edit: strong is keeping one's sanity at full health despite possibly-traumatic events, weak is getting ptsd or other illnesses because of it*

[Assistant]
Depends on Natural resilience, time span and onset of bad experiences (earlier and longer being worse), existence of a social support net or care taking alternative, the kind of instability (family, societal, emotional/financial/...).
In short: there are a lot of factors.


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

[User]
[Clone Wars] Why are battle droids so stupid?

I thought robots are supposed to be smart.

[Assistant]
Sure, you could boil it down to arguments like "good AI is expensive" or "aware/sentient battle droids are a disaster waiting to happen" ... and those were both real sentiments... but they miss the forest for the trees.  The droids were dumb as rocks because that's exactly what they supposed to be - just threatening enough to force an armed response, but not so dangerous that they'd roll over any and all opposition.

On a grand strategy level you must ask yourself: **What was the point of the Clone Wars?**

Seperatists, the Republic, democracy... blah blah blah... the entire purpose driving the conflict on both sides was ultimately the objective of the Sith lord Darth Sidious: to seize personal control of the galaxy and utterly destroy the Jedi Order.

If he had wanted to take control by force of arms, he could have easily done so simply by *never ordering his apprentice to order up a clone army in the first place.*  Boom, it instantly wouldn't matter how stupid your droids are when there are eleventy-billion of them and the Republic has no standing army.

Instead, by personally engineering and overseeing *both* sides of a galactic-scale conflict that is not over quickly, but instead drags on and on, year after year, he was able to seize absolute authority over the Republic - first as emergency measures, and then through formal reorganization - by popular consent.  It was a masterstroke.

And by militarizing the Jedi Order, he not only placed them on the front lines with (his) clone troopers for when the time was right, but also caused them to be seen by many across the galaxy as an extrajudicial and dangerously powerful faith-militant abiding by its own rules and flouting Republic law, as well as ultimately testing many young Jedi's commitment to the Light Side and tempting more than a few down the dark path.

**TL;DR**: The "Separatist" droid army was stupid because its ultimate purpose was **not to win the war**, but to drag the conflict out *as long as was required* to fundamentally corrupt the foundations of the Republic from within, leading to Sidious' masterstroke in the form of Order 66 and the reformation into the Empire by popular Senatorial consent.


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

[User]
CMV: Manufacturing is the fundamental driver of any economy. The more our manufacturing economy moves overseas, the more our 'information economy' will follow. Therefore, we should do everything possible to bring manufacturing of all kinds back to the United States.

I feel like this view is often criticized as an overly simplistic view of how the economy works, almost childish. Still, I can't shake the sense of inherent truth in my title statement. Without belaboring the issue too much, I'll try to lay out my logic:

1. An economy is a market of material goods and services, fueled by material resources, knowledge and capital.
2. The United States has a lot of human capital and highly educated people. However, this human capital is linked to and was created in conjunction with industry (manufacturing of any kind): human capital is sustained by the manufacturing sector, and the manufacturing sector is sustained and advanced by human capital.
3. At the end of the day, the country and people who do the manufacturing will prevail, because the people involved with that manufacturing are developing and sustaining their own human capital associated with this manufacturing.
4. This new human capital will fuel schools, professional services, and an economy that will eventually supplant the need to import these services from other countries (like the United States).
5. That is why in the United States, we should be very worried about manufacturing increasingly moving overseas. Looking around at the room you're in (or just at the computer or phone you're using), where was it made? Sure, it may have been designed or even assembled here, but it's only a matter of time before other countries, like China, will take over all of those roles.
6. Once that happens, and other countries are entirely self-sufficient over the supply chain, what will we in this country have to offer as a good or service? If we can't offer anything or value, our economy will suffer.

[Assistant]
Your title is contradicted by your firdt point

>1. An economy is a market of material goods **and services**, fueled by material resources, knowledge and capital.

Material goods are an important aspect of an economy, but to say the manufacture of these goods is *the* fundamental mover of *any* economy completely neglects that services are an equally important aspect of an economy.

One can easily trade services for goods, either directly (barter) or indirectly (money). This can easily be the core driver of an economy with manufacturing being a minor aspect.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] How can the crew of the USS Enterprise come so close to death and destruction so often and still operate at the expected professional proficiency expected by Star Fleet and the Federation?

Do future humans and other races lack the psychological weakness of post traumatic stress disorder?

[Assistant]
Stress was a part of the job. Starfleet Acadamy and standard missions (like a science survey in known space) were used to weed out the most likely to crack. But anyone was susceptible to stress.

This was a factor in earlier flagship missions. Shore leave and transfers to less stressful jobs were the most commonly used tools, though there was also rudimentary psychological help available.

By 2364 the ship's counselor was considered an integral part of the bridge crew, responsible for monitoring the entire crews' responses to stress. They had a particular mandate to ensure that the commanders were mentally fit as well. Ship's counselors were given a more proactive role by this time, instead of simply waiting for someone to come to them with a problem they frequently looked for potential problems before they became a serious issue. The Ten-Forward and Holodeck recreation areas were also added to ships to make things easier on the crew.


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

[User]
[Hawkeye]Did Rogers The Musical need to get permission to use the Avengers likenesses?

Thor probably not as he is most likely not a legal entity in the US.  Tony and Nat being dead means their estates would control the Likeness Rights.  Bruce controls his but Hulk might be a grey area.  Scott controls his but most likely would have been thrilled to be included despite not even being in NY at the time.

Clint most likely wouldn't have agreed but may have signed away certain rights as an agent of Shield.

How would Likeness Rights work with the Avengers?

[Assistant] I feel pretty sure the government would have control over Steve's likeness. Not so much Stark, but definitely Steve. It's likely they were even the ones to pay for the musical to get made for military promotion.


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

[User]
[Aliens] If the colonists are still alive in the alien nest, where did all the aliens who attacked the marines come from?

As a follow on question, where did the aliens who captured all the colonists come from?

[Assistant]
Those weren't all of the colonists. Most of them had already hatched.

The novel River of Pain says that the first infected colonists found the same ship that infected a crew-member of the Nostromo. They brought back to the Medway, where the aliens then hatched. The aliens escaped, and soon the entire colony was overrun as more people were captured, cocooned, and impregnated.


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

[User]
ELI5: what happens in the brain when you draw a blank on a name?

I'm talking about those things that you normally know but may forget momentarily. It's like your brain draws a blank or can't access the info. What causes that when it happens?

[Assistant]
Most depictions of the brain show a library with memory books that can be pulled out whenever you want. However, a more accurate depiction of memory as strings of information. You keep pulling at the string to get more information about a subject.

An example is the alphabet song. It's easy to start at a letter and continue to sing the song as you pull the string along. However, it's very difficult to go in reverse or compare two separate letters without singing the song since the memories are stored in one direction!

For information about a person, your brain first matches its sensory information to a particular string. The person's build, facial features, movements, sound, even smell help us find a particular string that indicates we know this person. Then we start pulling on the string to get more stored information.

However, sometimes when you pull the string, you end up with an empty string end. Memory strings are strengthened from use but will weaken or break if not used. Furthermore, when your brain is organizing memories, it can accidentally break a few strings. When you can't pull up the information from the string, you literally draw a blank.

Thankfully, once you're reminded of the name, your brain can reattach the missing name string to the person and it helps you recall other information attached to the name.


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

[User]
CMV: Western Buddhism is overrated.

So I've been doing a good deal of reading about Buddhism and find value in many of its precepts. mindfulness, reducing one's ego-based desires, gratitude, and self-control. One need not embrace the religious or even philosophical tenets of Buddhism to accept evidence from psychological research that shows that the above practices have a net positive effect on one's life. There is an entire field called positive psychology that studies the practical benefits many of the values held in Buddhism and several other Eastern religio-philosophical systems (Western philosophy has Stoicism, whose tenets overlap quite a bit with Buddhism, especially as a response to suffering as part of the human condition.) But Buddhism is more popular and well-known than related philosophies, so I'm focusing on it. Unless one takes seriously the supernatural aspects of Buddhism (reincarnation, an immortal soul, escaping the cycle of rebirth by reaching some archetypal state of enlightenment), I don't see any reason to identify as such.

Stoicism, Buddhism, Minimalism. If I may play armchair sociologist for a second, the void left by my generation (Millenials) foray into a post-Christian society is filled by varying degrees of metaphysical pretensions (astrology, New Age nonsnse) and practical philosophies (Secular Buddhism, minimalism). It seems that following positive psychology and looking at the evidence for what creates a healthy psychological life (positive thinking, expressing gratitude, appreciating the simple things, and having moments of mindfulness) is enough without attaching to a label. It seems to me that much of my generation that embraces Buddhism, albeit in a secular form) does so in a way that is often pretentious and culturally appropriative. Meditating for 10 minutes (while checking your phone halfway through) and posting memes of quotes by the Buddha (probably out of context and not even contemplated by the poster) just seems like one projecting an image of "Look how spiritual I am" when the insights being provided are not particularly groundbreaking in light of what we know now about psychology. For the Buddha, they were groundbreaking insights in ancient times. Now, we know better through psychology and have no reason to give mystical labels to what is just plain common sense.

And just to add: Desiring to rid oneself of desires is a logical contradiction.

[Assistant]
No-nonsense Buddhism for beginners does a pretty good job of separating the BS in Buddhism from what actually makes sense. Positive psychology is new and it's finding what the Buddha discovered millenia ago. That should give someone pause.

The teachings of the Buddha doesn't involve deities. Modern Buddhist populations have adopted teachings to this effect though. And they're a little nuts when it comes to luck. In that way actual western Buddhism is actually pretty good. The Buddha's teachings minus the modern additions relating to the supernatural. A dude with a man-bun saying namaste is not western Buddhism.

I think you are letting people who want to seem spiritual convince you they are Buddhists.


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

[User]
[General Fiction] I'm a resurrected Dark Lord. My problem? I have no idea what to do now.

I used to be The Dark Lord. After many tries my loyal cultists managed to finally bring me back. I am slowly regaining power but I'm sort of puzzled what to do with it. You see, I meticulously planned my return but I never went beyond this step. It turns out that 3000 years is a heck of a lot of time and I'm a bit out of my depth now.

As of now I'm winging it with Evil Laughter and an occasional Cape Swish but the truth is, I have no plan.

What's the best way to take over the world in my position?

[Assistant] Buy yourself some planning time by seeking out the descendents of the one who offed you in the first place and getting vengeance on them for a start. Chances are that at least one of them will have some powerful trinket of yours as an heirloom anyway, and you really should reclaim it.


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

[User] ELI5: Is there a reason or purpose for having fingerprints?

[Assistant]
All those grooves and ridges help our fingers achieve a better grip. It's as simple as that, really.

As an example, take a cellphone and place it screen-side down on the back of your hand and then slowly rotate your wrist. You should find that fairly quickly the phone slides off.

Now take the same phone and place it in the same way on your fingertips. This time you should be able to rotate your hand by well over 45 degrees before it starts to slip.

TLDR: fingerprints = friction.


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

[User]
What kind of success did alchemy have?

You always hear about the outlandish failures of alchemy: it failed to turn lead into gold, failed to make people immortal, failed to create the fabled fifth element (ther). But what success did alchemy have? Since so may people believed and practiced it for so many hundred years I'd assume it made some progress or had some experimental successes it could show off. Am I right? If so, what kind of successes did they have?

[Added a "chemistry"-flare since it forced me to add one, when this question is more for the historians of science.]

[Assistant] One of the kings of the German kingdom of Saxony, Augustus the Strong, hired an (al)chemist call Bttger to invent a method of making gold - he failed entirely, but in the process came up with a technique of making high quality porcelain, which started large scale production in Meissen in 1710. Until then, porcelain manufacture had been a well-kept Chinese secret, so being the first to be able to produce comparable porcelain in Europe made the Saxony a lot of money.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why don't they make 2 liter soda bottles rectangular?

If they were rectangular they could be stacked, take up less room and stop rolling around in the back of my car after grocery shopping.  A little modification and they could have a handle too.

[Assistant] Storage containers for items under pressure (soda, propane), are round because the items inside are pushing outward. Corners and seams are weak points, so a round shape minimizes those places, to help prevent blowouts.