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

[User]
CMV: Speed cameras that mail you a speeding ticket should 99% replace cops personally pulling you over (for speeding) in America

I say this knowing that I actually got way more speeding tickets from cameras than from cops. But thats also part of the point.

When I lived in Germany, they used speed cameras. Cops could still pull you over but it was rare. Some cameras were in fixed locations so if you lived there, you always knew where they were. Theyd also set up temporary cameras in random spots so it was impossible to predict. The camera was of course equipped with a speed radar and would snap a picture of you if you were speeding past it. Youd even see the bright camera flash and think fuck, they got me. Theyd look up the address associated with your plates and youd get a ticket in the mail with your picture on it, how fast you were clocked, where, and what the speed limit was. Then you just pay it by mail or phone or online or whatever.

Benefits:
- Easier to catch speeders. More tickets, more revenue for the community. That or its better at encouraging the community to mind their speed more often, not just when they see cops.
- Doesnt interrupt your day at all. Doesnt make you late to work and sure as hell wont get in the way of someone rushing a woman in labor to the hospital.
- Less speeding stops by cops means less police interaction, therefore less incidents of police violence. Its also one less way they can use racial profiling.
- If multiple people are street racing, or speeding as a group for some other reason, *everyone* gets caught, not just whoever gets pulled over by the one police car on scene.

[Assistant]
>Easier to catch speeders.

Most speed cameras take a picture of the vehicle and the license plate, not the driver. Cars don't get speeding tickets, people do. While there are SCOTUS precedents saying an officer may assume the registered owner of the car is driving for purposes of initiating a traffic stop to arrest a wanted person; you can't just give a ticket to the registered owner. You have to prove they were driving. This also leads to the loophole of vehicles being registered to companies instead of people.

>Less speeding stops by cops means less police interaction

You paint this in a bad light. Many dangerous criminals are taken off the street as a result of a simple traffic stop for a minor infraction. This helps to fight human trafficking, sex trafficking, drug smuggling, etc.

>If multiple people are street racing, or speeding as a group for some other reason, everyone gets caught

Everyone gets identified, but it doesn't immediately deter the dangerous activity. If a group of street racers are racing each other, they could crash their car into an innocent bystander, injure themselves or each other. In the moment, they aren't thinking about getting a ticket and likely don't care. Even if law enforcement doesn't catch all of them, they have still accomplished the goal of deterring the activity.


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

[User]
Do alcohol-based hand sanitizers prevent the spread of infectious mononucleosis (Epstein-Barr virus)?

I've tried to find the answer on this, but I'm having trouble finding information beyond "it kills some viruses, but not all".

[Assistant] EBV (and CMV, a minor cause of mono) are in the family Herpesviridae, a family of enveloped viruses. Enveloped viruses are surrounded with a lipid bilayer, which they need to enter cells--as lipids are easy enough to dissolve with detergent or alcohol, it generally renders them less durable in the environment. The whole family is quite susceptible to alcohol, so hand sanitizer will inactivate virus on your hands. Unfortunately, EBV is classically spread through saliva by kissing, in which case sanitizer wouldn't be any help at all.


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

[User] Could someone explain why a lunar eclipse happens when it's a full moon, but not when it's a half moon, or "normal" moon?

[Assistant]
A new moon is dark because it is between the sun and the earth. This is what causes a solar eclipse, when the moon blocks the sun from hitting the earth.

A full moon is when the light from the sun can fully illuminate the side of the moon we can see. Therefore the earth is relatively in between the sun and the moon. For a lunar eclipse the earth has to block the sun from hitting the moon, which required the earth to be in between the sun and moon. That is why it is always a full moon right before and after a lunar eclipse.

All the other phases of the moon occur when we can only partially see the lit up side of the moon, and we call it waxing or waning depending upon what is going to happen next (full or new moon).


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

[User]
[Marvel] Does the story of Heather Douglas mean that every human on the planet has the potential to develop psychic powers?

As far as I can tell Heather was born human, and then trained to unlock her psychic abilities by some monks from Titan. Could she use the methods she was taught to unlock the psychic potential of any human? Do all humans have some psychic potential, that they just don't know how to use/grow?

I mean, even if the average person only had enough potential to become a low level telepath, wouldn't that solve a lot of problems in the Marvel Universe? People like the Purple Man would be detected pretty quickly, many mutants would become a lot less dangerous if the average person was capable of mounting/resisting a telepathic attack, and if everyone is a telepath than most of the more serious societal dangers of telepathy are suddenly a lot easier to deal with.

Seems like it would be worth an investigation.

Unless, of course, I'm completely wrong and Heather was just a fluke.

[Assistant]
Every human on the planet has the potential to be a metahuman. What it takes to unlock their abilities is slightly different in each case.

Even of the monks *could* unlock her abilities that easily, it wouldn't always work. It takes years of practice and dedication, with near nonstop training and focus. We're not talking about something you could do after school, we're talking days on end spent in meditation and focus, honing yourself for many years.

Most of humanity doesn't have the time or dedication to achieve such a feat.


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

[User]
ELI5: The relationship between UNIX, LINUX, and Ubuntu

Very good responses, thanks.

[Assistant]
Unix is an operating system that was originally created at Bell Labs in the late 1960s/early '70s. In the '70s and '80s it became very popular, and various derivative versions were made - some by commercial companies.

In the early 1990s, Linus Torvalds created Linux while he was at university in Helsinki. Linux isn't based on Unix, but is more like a clone or remake. So to the user it mostly behaves the same as Unix, although technically it isn't derived from Unix. Linus wanted there to be a free version of Unix that could be used on PCs (at the time most versions of Unix cost money and required expensive computers). It became very popular, other people contributed code to it and it is now one of the most-used operating systems in the world.

Linux itself is just a *kernel*. The kernel is the core of the operating system - it "sets the stage" on which everything else runs. The complete system is often referred to as "Linux", but it's actually Linux plus a whole load of different pieces of software from different projects.

There are many different Linux *distributions* (or *distros*). A distro takes all of these different components and assembles them into a complete system that you can install on your computer. Although the end result is usually largely the same, different distros do things in slightly different ways. Ubuntu is one example of a distro. Others would be Debian, Fedora, Gentoo, etc.


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

[User]
ELI5: Is it society or genetics that makes humans view other human lives as more important than an animals?

So, reading lots about Harambe, the western lowland gorilla that was killed at the Cincinnati Zoo.
So many people are saying it was the right call to save the child. I'm not choosing sides in this post , (although I have very strong feelings about it).
So I'm just wondering, is it something genetic that makes us believe human lives matter more? Is it a societal thing? Is it pure egoism on the part of the human race?
I also wonder if maybe humans are "pack" animals so we view all of humanity as an extended pack, therefore we are quick to choose a person over an animal.

EDIT: Also, I wonder if bears would protect other kinds of bears from a human because they're bear bros?

[Assistant] I think it's both. From the genes eye view, it makes sense for humans to value other humans more than another species, especially if that human is related to you. Your genes "want" more genes like themselves, and less like others. From a social-cultural standpoint it's more complex. There have been cases when an animal or plant is considered somehow sacred, and people have been put to death doing harm to said non-human life form. The Dutch Tulip mania springs to mind.


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

[User]
I believe that combat between two consenting adults, up to and including dueling, should be legal and regulated. CMV.

I believe that if two people choose to engage in a fight, they should be allowed to do so.  Ideally, it would be regulated in such a way that either participant could reasonably withdraw their consent, and bystanders were not placed at risk.  I would imagine this including an agreed upon arrangement, stipulating the limits of the conflict, and an official (possibly a police officer) who would ensure that the limits are observed.  Should either party violate the agreements, or place a bystander at risk, they would be held criminally liable.

The saying generally goes, "violence is not the answer," but the fact is that often times it is AN answer, and statistically, it's one of the most commonly used.

[Assistant]
Here is a scenario where what you are describing legalizes murder and kidnapping.

3 people want 1 person dead (not an unlikely scenario).  These 3 people kidnap and take the 1 person out to the woods and kill him.  Then they report that 1 of the 3 was dueling him, while each of the other two were the dueler's respective seconds.

They testify that it was an agreeable duel and the man who died did so under his established guidelines.  He isn't alive to tell the truth.


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

[User]
[MCU] When did Captain America lose his virginity?

Spoilers for the MCU and the location of Captain America's cock relative his presence on-screen.

So uh... Steve Rogers is a scrawny kid up until he joins the army and becomes a super soldier. Based on his reminiscing with Bucky in Civil War, it seems like neither of them got much action during their youth. Upon becoming a super soldier Cap immediately becomes an asset to the army, and it seems like the most he does is flirt with Peggy Carter.

Obviously, before he can seal the deal he's frozen in Ice.

He's unfrozen. Multiple women flirt or otherwise make advances in various capacities, but it seems like he's still broken up over Peggy and thus, it's unlikely anything happens. In Winter Soldier this is almost confirmed during his conversation with BW in which she questions him about his dating habits since being unfrozen, and he admits to his love life being lackluster. ~~Additionally, she calls him out for not having had a kiss since being frozen, at least (given her training in seduction it seems reasonable she'd know this)~~ Edit: I got this part wrong, and he admits to having had a kiss, but not with anyone special.

From Winter Soldier up to Civil War, he seems to primarily being concerned with avengering, and it seems unlikely he'd have time for even a casual relationship given his propensity to jet-set.

After civil war he becomes a fugitive. Not a sexy badass fugitive as much as a smelly bearded homeless fugitive who is likely quite scary and unapproachable given his brooding nature and physically imposing form.

Between the events of Infinity War and endgame he seems to be wracked with guilt even up to five years past the event, but this is still the most plausible time for him to done the horizontal Krylorian boogie.

The latest possible date is presumably shortly after he finishes his dance with Peggy at the end of Endgame - but that begs the question **is this when Captain America finally loses his virginity?**

He seems to be about 39 or 40 at this point, so is Captain America a virgin until the age of 40?

(Note: This question has been asked before, but most threads are four and six years old by this point, precluding the latest movies in his saga from being included)

[Assistant]
I still hold that he likely had sex for the first time with one of the chorus girls, but she realized that his heart wasn't in it, and he was upset from disappointing her, but then they ended as friends and she encouraged him to be brave and go for that girl he loves.

He was a New Yorker, not Amish.


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

[User] [Chicken Run] Starting a chicken farm, but I've been hearing strange rumors. What's the best way to run my farm?

[Assistant] Give them lots of freedom. Chickens require a lot of free time without observation in order to produce eggs. Also, make sure that you leave plenty of lumber around. They often use scraps of metal and wood to make adorable nests that encourage egg production.


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

[User] ELI5: how come a cup of coffee doesn't seem to quench your thirst, even though it's mostly water?

[Assistant]
It's because of tannins (and pseudo-tannins), compounds that often have the same effect in red wine and tea. They bind to proteins in your saliva, and make those proteins aggregate in a way that your saliva becomes less lubricating for your mouth. This is called astringency.

You can make coffee less astringent by brewing it less hot/for less time.

Eating cheese or other fatty foods apparently also reduces astringency.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Why bother striving for immortality when there is demonstrable proof of an afterlife?

What's the point in horcruxes and philosopher's stones when we have ghosts that can tell stories of being offered the choice of passing on or staying behind, artifacts and creatures that give anecdotal evidence of death being more than a mere end, and solid evidence of the existence of the soul?

[Assistant]
For one thing, you can stay to help people who are in this life. They removed the dementors from Azkaban, so that low-hanging fruit is taken, but there's lots of other problems that need fixing. And you might have living loved ones you want to stay with.

If you don't care about other people you might want to stay out of fear for what's in the next life. A lot of people believe that we'll be punished for our wrongdoings, which in some cases is quite a bit. And there's lots of religions that claim random things are sins. Maybe we'll be punished for things that aren't even bad. Or we might get reincarnated as animals or something else terrible.

Granted, you do have the opportunity to stay in this life as a ghost. But there's problems with that. It's inconvenient not having a body and not being able to use magic. And there's lots of prejudice against ghosts. And for all we know, not everyone gets offered that choice, since anyone who wasn't wouldn't have come back. We do know for a fact that muggles aren't offered it.


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

[User] [harry potter] why didn't Hagrid tell harry how to get to platform 9 3/4?

[Assistant]
He thought it was obvious.  Lots of people who've spent their life around magic take stuff like this for granted, and Hagrid is scatterbrained to start with.  He's spent his whole life knowing exactly where the platform is between 9 and 10, so he didn't give it a second thought that Harry might not know.

Presumably Muggle-borns get more detailed instructions in their letters, but since it was assumed that Harry knew a bit about his family and since Hagrid hand-delivered it and acted as his guide, he didn't get any written instructions.


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

[User]
If our tears are salty, why does salt water sting our eyes?

I've always been curious as to why my eyes burn underwater in the ocean but my tears always taste salty.

[Assistant] Great question! Let's consider any differences in those two types of saltwater. Now aside from microorganisms and other nutrients and minerals present in seawater the main difference is that the oceans are saltier than our tears. That is not to say our tears are not salty- medical fluids such as IV drips or contact solution have a small amount of salt in them to match the fact that our bodies have small amounts of salts dissolved (Na, K, Ca, Cl mostly). Pure water would be bad to put into a person actually, and small amounts of salts prevent over or dehydration. tl;dr In short, more salts in seawater than tears- so it stings. Tears don't sting because they have as much salt as your body already is working with in them.


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

[User] Is a geode filled with prehistoric air, or is it a vacuum?

[Assistant]
Whatever gasses are freed when the Geode-to-be cools will be in there for quite some time.
Very little pre-historic "air" will remain, even if there is some somehow trapped it will take part in whatever chemical reaction will take place in the "making" of the geode, fueled by immense pressure and heat.

The Atoms will stay intact so one could argue that we are breathing oxygen that probably was within a geode, being part of a Silicium-oxide molecule for example.
Since Atoms are rather difficult to break one could argue that any scenario you can think of for any chemical you deal with (by eating them for example) was true at one point.
Eat some noodles and the carbon might have been part of a diamond 400 million years ago while the hydrogen might have been within the hull of the "Hindenburg" and before that it was part of a water molecule in the tethys sea.

So one could say yes and no to your question: The gasses trapped in the geode where part of the atmosphere at some point in the past but the chemical make up in the geode does not represent anything close to the chemical make up of the atmosphere.


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

[User]
CMV: In the classic scenario of a magical genie granting you three wishes, the optimal first wish is for a complete knowledge and thorough understanding of the Rules of Wishing whilst retaining your sanity and physical agency.

This came up in a conversation with some friends and family recently, and many of them used their wishes on material things (like a cowboy hat that looks good on them) or eternal life/youth.  When it came to me, and I specified this as my first wish, I was basically told it was a waste of a wish, and I'd be better off choosing something else.  My reasons are:

1) A complete knowledge and thorough understanding of the Rules puts you on a roughly even playing field with the genie.  This would allow a clever person to see loop-holes or places where deliberate mis-interpretations of their following two wishes could be exploited by a devious genie, and thus prevent most unwelcome outcomes.

2) Similarly, it allows the Wisher to be aware of ways in which the Rules may be bent or broken to a desireable  end.

3)  I believe two wishes requested with the knowledge of the Rules would be more beneficial than 3 wishes requested without said knowledge and so, sacrificing one wish would be worth it.

4)  This information would be useful if the genie was inherently good-natured, but would become absolutely critical if said genie was seeking to do the wisher harm.  Therefore, it is better to hedge your bets against the ancient wish-granting-entity, rather than be too trusting.

[Assistant]
I think you're just getting too specific at this point, with the whole "whilst retaining your sanity" stuff.

If you're going to get down to that level of detail for a wish, you might as well just say "I wish for infinite wishes, but in a way that doesn't adversely affect me in any way and addresses any loopholes that you might try to exploit."


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] I'm a first-year student at Hogwarts, and both of my parents are Muggles. They were surprised to read my letter with me, and my dad has encouraged me to try and take (Muggle) high school coursework designed to synergize with my magical schoolwork. Do you have any suggestions?

I'm interested in most major areas of... "Muggle" schoolwork at my high school, including:

\-history, especially western/eastern colonialism

\-philosophy (which imo should be interesting when combined with magic, especially the history of thought.... I suspect some scientists and philosophers may have also been wizards)

\-plants and botany. (I understand "herbology" is taught but I also have interest in the vascular systems of flowering plants, and the relationship between flowering plants and nonflowering plants.... Does biology need to be rewritten to include magical creatures in ecosystems?)

And thoughts like that.

They told me the Magical community lives in secret from Muggles, so I was wondering about this relationship. I know there are Muggle Studies but it seems to me that too much of a separation or gap between communities of learned people is going to cause some serious problems for life on either side of that separation, or gap. Thank you!!!

[Assistant]
>It is important to draw wisdom from many different places. If you take it from only one place, it become rigid and stale.

- Uncle Iroh

If you have the time and energy to handle a Muggle course-load on top of your Hogwarts course load, while still leaving time to not go psychotic from lack of sleep and socialization, then go for it; if you can, write a letter to the Headmaster telling them your plans and asking if you can get the same deal Hermione Granger received after her basilisk encounter. Of the three areas of interest, botany is the one most likely to have interesting synergy with wizard studies, and philosophy & logic could have a good payoff if you find yourself in a public facing or leadership role in the future. (Muggle) History is probably going to be the lowest payoff, since there's no guarantee that the Muggle account of things is going to line up with the "official" version taught in Muggle Studies, and you'd need to keep the two split up in your head to keep from flunking your tests.

As far as the Muggle Studies curriculum, do the minimum and get out unless you plan to make a career out of it somehow. It's pretty much a shitty anthropology course where the instructors and book writers hold the culture being studied in either thinly-veiled contempt or open contempt.

(Also, as a side note, there's a fic out there called Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality that explores similar themes about achieving synergy between advanced muggle studies of conventional sciences with the ability of wizards to directly manipulate matter and energy.)


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

[User] ELI5: Why can parrots imitate human speech, but our closest relatives, chimpanzees and gorillas, cannot?

[Assistant]
Primates have vocal cords which are used to make sound, then your mouth and tongue to form that sound (humming) into more distinct sounds used for words.  Human vocal chords and tongues have evolved in a way that makes them precisely controllable (which is needed for speech), while our close relatives do not have this adaption, so are only capable of making barks and yelps.

Birds make sound through a completely different method.  Instead of using vocal chords, lips, and tongues, they have a syrinx, which are almost like speakers.  They just control the vibration of the syrinx very precisely, so they can imitate humans, animals, and even machines.  Many birds don't have particularly sophisticated syrinx, so they can only squawk and chirp, but some birds have evolved the precise control needed to emulate almost any noise they hear.


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

[User] ELI5: Why can a fetus grow a hand with finger nails but if you cut your finger off it wont grow a new one?

[Assistant]
The presence (and lack) of specific hormones determine what parts of a cell's DNA strand activate (or remain dormant). This basically determines how a cell is going to behave: in how it multiplies and divides, what kind of cell it becomes, etc.

However, once it goes through this process and becomes a specialized cell, it loses the ability to become another kind of cell. It has become specialized and fix. So when you lose a body part, you no longer have cells in that part of the body that have the capability to become the cells you lost.


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

[User] ELI5: What is the darkweb, and why cant you access it from google?

[Assistant]
The 'darkweb' is just a buzz word. It literally means the park of the internet that isn't indexed by search engines. That's right, Google and whomever doesnt know everything! Back in the day you used to have to know the actual url of the website or you could not go there, there was no other way to find it.
In base terms you do not need any special browsers, you do not need tor (onion networks are just a subset and would require another question around their purpose and anonymity pursuits). Now people have packaged darkweb browsers, but get this because this is the funny part, these browser just have a home page that is an index of these unindexed websites. The bundled browser itself is basically the result you would want from a search engine.


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

[User]
[DC] Bruce Wayne is incredibly intelligent. Would he have been better off just learning magic or about high tech engineering rather than learning martial arts, detective work, and ninja shenanigans?

I know he knows a lot about most things, but when I say high tech engineering I mean Ironman level engineering.

"better off" meaning better able to protect Gotham or whatever it is batman is trying to do exactly.

[Assistant]
In a lot of continuities Batman is one of the first superheroes, so there wasn't a lot of mad science or high-profile magic during his childhood. Moreso if he was born in the early 20th century.

His childhood heroes (Zorro, the Gray Ghost) are badass normals, so that was a strong influence.

But the biggest reason is probably his phobia for guns. He's not about to invent better guns or better ways of applying lethal force. He very much wants to keep it nonlethal. The best way to do that is to limit himself to what a trained human being can do with fists and feet.


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

[User]
Could you stick a generator in a fidget spinner to light an led on each tip?

A friend told me he's getting a fidget spinner with LEDs on it charged through wireless charging.
Couldn't it be charged by the user actually using it? And also how much power could be generated?

[Assistant] Short answer: it certainly is possible. Anytime you have something rotating, it's *relatively* simple to convert that to electrical energy. But the process of generating electricity will add resistance to the spinner, so it wouldn't spin as long as a normal spinner.


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

[User] How do world powers develop new nuclear weapons/warheads/systems if testing has been banned since 1996?

[Assistant]
Countries like the US and Russia have enough knowledge and data that they can be pretty confident a design will work just from models. Testing isn't just to make sure a bomb works. They gather scientific information from it to improve future designs.

They can also do sub-critical tests, which can test part of a warhead without actually causing a nuclear explosion.


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

[User] [Thor Ragnarok] Why couldn't Hela simply use the Tesseract in Asgard to follow through with her great conquest instead of using the Bifrost?

[Assistant] Hela didn't need the Bifrost at any point; if she had, she simply would've used Odin's spear to open it rather than track down Heimdall's sword. The more important thing was hunting down the Asgardian refugees and solidifying her hold on Asgard before venturing into the wider universe; no sense in leaving a foe at your back, after all. Especially if you're not under some time constraint.


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

[User] ELI5: How much do we sweat during and after taking a hot shower/bath? How clean are we really once we step out?

[Assistant]
This isn't really a good ELI5 type question because the answer depends on a lot of different stuff.

How clean you are completely depends on what kinds of dirt were on you before you got in the shower, what you used for cleansers, and how well you rinsed off.

You do sweat some in the shower but it's just slightly saltier water that gets washed away with everything else. But if you had a really hot and long shower that raised your body temperature and you're stepping out into a hot room, you'll continue to sweat some as you exit the shower, at least until your body cools down.


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

[User]
[Watchmen] What exactly 'happened' to John Osterman after the intrinsic field destroyed him and before he became Doctor Manhattan?

What part of him survived being obliterated? Where did it 'go'? How and why was it able to 'come back'?

[Assistant]
He wasn't destroyed by an intrinsic field, he has his own "intrinsic field" destroyed.

What happened afterwards was irreproducable and poorly understood, but the evident effect of this was that he became a disembodied consciousness. Unlike other test subjects, he had an exceptionally good understanding of the fundamental physics related to the intrinsic field, and an exceptional mind for patient, attentive construction with tons of little parts from his time as a swiss watchmaker.

He was, over several months, able to identify and place each of the trillions of individual quantum effects in his environment, and learn to nudge them around at will until his skill finally allowed him to construct functional human bodies to interact with other humans with. He picked up many other useful and dangerous skills while learning to do this.


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

[User] ELI5 Why do people and some animals involuntarily stretch when were tired or waking up? Is it the same reason as to why we yawn?

[Assistant]
Its natural almost to the point of being impulse. Its your bodies way of preparing for movement. If youre waking up, it helps push blood flow to limbs in case you need to go chase gazelle.

When youre wanting to sleep, this is your bodies way of trying to keep you alert and ready for movement, like if an animal is about to hunt you in the dark.


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

[User] Why does the AC frequency drop in a power grid when there is an increase in load/demand?

[Assistant]
Electrical Engineer here... good question!  It ultimately comes down to conservation of energy.  When the grid is perfectly balanced there is the same amount of power generation as there is load.  Assuming you`re in North America, the generators are spinning at 60Hz (actual RPM will be dependent on the machine), and their prime movers are being fed just the right amount of energy to produce the power required.  This could be gas for a gas turbine, coal for coal plant, water flow for a hydro plant etc.

Now when the load increases it takes time to change the amount of energy being fed to the generators.  Gas can react relatively quickly, coal is a lot slower, etc., but either way it isn`t instant.  In the time it takes to make that change there is only one place for that extra power to come from - the rotational momentum of the generator. So all generators on the grid start slowing down until that lost power can be made up by increasing the amount of fuel being delivered to the generators.

Similarly, when the load drops the generators are now being fed too much fuel and they will speed up until the feed rate of fuel can be lowered to compensate.

Side note: this is why wind and solar can only make up a portion of generation on any given system before it will suffer instability issues.  Wind and solar can`t react to demand; they only produce what the environment can provide at the time.  If we want to advance renewables we really need to improve our power storage technology to compensate.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What did Owen and Beru Lars *really* know about Anakin?

So, in Ep IV, Beru seems to _happily_ reminisce when she states that Luke "has too much of his father in him". Which means she's either she's a psycho, or that she doesn't know about Darth Vader.

Owen says "that's what I'm afraid of", which might imply that he _does_ know about Vader, but the point of the conversation seems to be that Luke isn't cut out for the quiet life of a Moisture Farmer on Tatooine.

The prequels raise the question of what are they reminiscing about/making an analogy to? Young Anakin wasn't really given the choice of a quiet life a a farmer; he went straight from slave to Jedi-trainee and left the planet before he even hit puberty. Which was also all before the Lars's entered the picture.

All you get from the prequels is that Owen and Beru met the guy once (with Beru saying nothing more than 'hello'), and _that_ visit ended with him slaughtering a whole village of Sand people. Which you think wouldn't leave much to reminisce over, or a very positive first impression. So the reaction is still weird.

Perhaps they didn't know about the massacre? He could've have told his stepfather Cliegg that he'd saved/met Shmi and left out the gruesome bits. But on the other hand, Tatooine is supposedly a small planet where not much happens. So you'd think word would get 'round.

TL;DR: They act very weird talking about a person they only met once and who they have reason to know massacred women and children, and whom they might know is Darth Vader.

[Assistant] Beru and Owen don't know that Anakin is Vader at all. What they're afraid of is that Luke will go off, become a space hero, and get killed. Despite Owen's chiding of the boy, he loves him like a son. Owen doesn't want him to get hurt. Neither does Beru.


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

[User] Do birds ever fly for fun?

[Assistant]
I don't know about flying for fun but I've seen ravens do things just for fun while flying. I've seen a flock of them flying and they will be deliberately bumping into each other and jostling each other around.  Kind of like a bunch of teenagers walking down the sidewalk messing around.

I've seen them play the raven version of chicken. They will fly up pretty high, grasp talons and enter into a free-fall. Basically seeing who will let go first.

I've also seen them do all kinds of aerobatics (barrel rolls, loops etc.) that serve no other purpose than because they can.


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

[User]
[House of Cards] How is Underwood so competent?

On season 1 and it seems like the guy can get whatever he wants, little questions asked. How has no one put up more of a fight against him? Surely they realise he's manipulating them? Does he have some subtle mind control of sorts?

[Assistant]
He was the democratic chief whip for the House. His entire purpose for the party was to work the other reps in the party to generate the needed votes for various efforts. A lot of it was a matter of trading favors, or the promise of future support, or calling prior debts of support. It also meant occasionally coercing, cajoling, blackmailing. He used every means at his disposal in order to drive things in his favor. He is the consummate schemer. If Underwood was a house in Game of Thrones, the motto would probably be "Whatever it takes".

More to your question though, he was effective because of the promises of power, position, etc. He had something the others wanted, and while they certainly knew he was trying to get something out of them, that is entirely the nature of politics. Everyone wants something from you. If you mean to ask why more people didn't try to block his ascent, the answer is the same. Enough people stood to gain more than they lost by letting Frank do his thing. We also get the benefit of direct communication with his closest thoughts. He only ever shared his master plan with a very select group of people.


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

[User]
After the human immune system is already activated, does it matter if new virus is continually being fed in?

If we pretend there are two people, each located in a seperate room, who are both infected with the COVID-19 virus.  Their immune systems have activated and their bodies are now fighting the infection.

Now pretend that a vent is pumping further COVID virus particles into the air for just one of the rooms.

My question is, should we expect the severity or recovery timeline of the disease to be impacted for the person in the room getting a continuous feed of new/additional virus particles via the vent?  Why or why not?

[Assistant]
Depends on how high this continuous amount of virus is. Generally, the exposure amount you see in daily life is very small compared to the viral load in the body after the infection takes hold. Continual exposure to such levels of virus wouldnt change much - once the immune system is activated and doing a good enough job that it can clear the viral in your body, it can easily deal with typical low-level exposure. You wouldnt even see a big increase in symptoms, if at all.

But if youre pumping in huge swathes of virus, filling the air with more virus than ever before seen, then you can overwhelm the immune system and kill the person, or keep them constantly infected/reinfected. The amount required for this would be pretty much impossible to see in normal environments.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do some dermatologists advise you never to pop pimples whilst others encourage you to in order to allow the infected pus to escape. Which one is true?

I've been to several dermatologists about my current acne and how prone I am to developing sebaceous cysts on my face. However, I've noticed conflicting opinions with each dermatologist in regards to popping pimples. Half say pop them (safely of course, with clean hands and by stretching the skin around the pimple rather than pushing inwards) while the other half are strictly against them. Which opinion should I believe?

[Assistant]
Because people pop them with the fingers. It makes lesions and worsen it.

The correct way to pop pimples is to make make a hole or cut the superficial skin with a scalpel or needle and gently press the pus out.


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

[User]
[Pirates of the Caribbean]What happens to souls that die at sea during Davey's/Will's day off?

Do they just wait an extra day in queue while the boatman spends their day on land or does the first mate take over for the day?

[Assistant]
They can still make it to the afterlife. Davey didn't help anybody. He offered them immortality as a slave on his ship, and if they decline he leaves them alone to get to the afterlife on their own.

We see in the third movie all the single manned boats going to the afterlife without Davey's help.


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

[User]
ELI5: How/Why do we get attached to people in a short time period?

I was just curious as to why we as humans get attached to other humans in a short period of time. For example in dating we start to hinge our feelings and mood on whether a person, who never existed in our world before we started dating them, thinks about us. In simplest terms why does a girl you met at a bar not texting you back mess with your head and affect your mood?

[Assistant]
For most of human history we did not have the luxury of taking your time for anything. Patience was not a virtue when you had only a few hours of daylight to get all the things needed to survive done.

This includes making relationships. The individual may die at any time, but you may need their help, so it's beneficial to the group that individuals quickly learn to operate together and trust one another.


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

[User]
ELI5:How does a pharmaceutical company come up with new drugs? Do they just try various chemicals on animals until something shows promise, or is there an approach that's more "targeted" than that?

Like let's say I want to develop a better antidepressant.  Where do I start with that, if I'm the R&D department?

[Assistant]
There are generally 2 main methods of drug discovery.   In the first, you figure out a way to test new chemicals in a chemical method (like does compound X kill bacteria at very loe concentrations and not kill human cells at all).  There is a large amount of testing done, and then it is moved to an animal model (usually mice).  Tons more testing in several different animals and lots of human cell lines.  Much later it will be tested on super low doses in humans and follow the rest of the FDA drug approval process.

The other takes a slightly more informed view.  If we know that a disease is caused by some sort of chemical marker or protein in the body, we can use computers to calculate if the chemical will affect that chemistry in the body.   If it passes the computer test, it can move on the the chemical tests and then through the rest of the cycle.

Basically, yes, we throw a bunch of chemicals at a problem until one looks good, but we do a lot of testing before we ever move to animal studies.  A drug discovery person could (theoretically) work their entire life and never have a compound move from chemical tests (assay) to animal model.  This is why it is so expensive.....IT IS FREAKING DIFFICULT!


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

[User]
Why do we generally crave food that is bad for us, rather than healthy food?

I mean, sometimes I'm like aww yeah salad, but most of the time I'm just like aww yeah cheeseburgers. What's up with that?

[Assistant]
Sugar and salt are things that we require to live and they used to be hard to get. Our ancestors were programed to eat as much of these things as they could, as these resources were scarce, people hardly ever over ate.

Now thanks to farming and industral scale extraction methods, we can get salt and sugar very easily. The problem is that our bodies are still wired to crave these things like there's no tomorrow.


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

[User]
[Terminator] How does the T-1000 work?

If he's liquid metal, where is the CPU, and how does he see and hear? He was frozen, and everything, hes 100 percent liquid, I don't get how the machine works.

(Also, just wanted to say I love this subreddit, I love the idea of it, I love the answers people get, easily one of the best).

[Assistant] Nanotechnology. Skynet wasn't sitting on their asses, they were innovating new and inventive ways to go back fix that whole Sarah Connor problem. What looks like liquid is really nanobots working together.


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

[User] ELI5 Why are we shaking when we try to lift more weights?

[Assistant] It's fatigue.  At a certain point when lifting weights your muscles will  be fatigued from either lifting weights again and again and again or you'll lift something that's just on the cusp of your ability to lift.  At this point your muscles will start to fail.  They'll contract and then stop contracting and then contract again.  This causes shaking as when they stop contracting they're not working.


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

[User] [Godzilla] What would be the actual military protocol if a large creature was rampaging through a populated area. Would they really want boots on the ground shooting guns at it?

[Assistant]
soldier here.

"volume of fire" is an established military doctrine. Sometimes you don't have the right weapon for a task, so you have to pour large volumes of the wrong thing into it.

the other thing to consider is that a sniper can stop a tank, if he can hit the driver's head when the hatch is open.


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

[User] [Marvel/MCU] Does every Asgardian have a magic power like Thor? Or is it only the children of Odin, and if so, why does Loki have powers since he's adopted?

[Assistant]
They are all hardier and longer living.

Some can cast magic, such as Frigg, Thors mother. This is the source of Lokis powers too, plus hes an ice boi so presumably has similarly increased toughness and life span.

Thor is specifically empowered by the odinforce post the death of Odin - whether or not this happened in the MCU is debated. But he is probably capable of summoning lightning and storms regardless. Hes also definitely a lot tougher and stronger than the average Asgardian.


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

[User]
[MCU] How quickly would the public turn against the Sokovia Accords if it meant that the Avengers were unable to do much?

Imagine that aliens attacked London, but for whatever reason the people running the Sokovia Accords took their sweet time "analyzing the situation" and making sure that the Avengers were necessary.

The Avengers get there too late. Sure the aliens are defeated, but London is now basically a big crater with only 132 survivors.

A month later, a robot from another dimension attacks Sydney. The wait is again too long, and Sydney is destroyed before the Avengers are even on the plane.

Would public sentiment turn against the Sokovia Accords?

[Assistant]
Most people beleive the heroes are the cause of many world threatening forces appearing.

I mean they aren't wrong. Ultron and soon to be Thanos showed up because of artifacts in their possession or they were directly made by them.


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

[User]
ELI5: Prolapse porn - aren't these performers seriously damaging themselves?

While I understand that niche porn is more widely available and in demand now, and the pay rates for the more extreme acts are very high.. This isn't safe for them, is it?

One would assume that if a performer had a prolapse, they wouldn't want to irritate it any further despite the pay for the sake of their health - or is it, in fact, not that extreme a condition?

I'm not here to kink shame, I'm genuinely curious.

[Assistant]
Depending on the type of prolapse and how it's done, the performer can, in theory, push the prolapse back in by him(her)self. The images that look like it's just a small portion of tissue hanging out can and probably just shove it back inside.

A prolapse is akin to pulling a sock off your foot and it turns inside out; your rectum pushes out your anus. Now, the simplest form is just a bit of the rectum lining coming out and the worst is the entire rectum plus getting the large colon involved.

Depending on how often the actor prolapses, they could in theory, strain hard as if they are having a bowel movement and force out the slimy bits, or another cause could be a penis or dildo being forcibly pulled out of the anus when the receiver is unprepared and the rectal muscles/tissue are already weakened by poor pelvic muscles and a rectum that has already prolapsed several times.

If done "correctly", the performer would constantly be bearing down, keeping their anus from closing around the tissue and cutting off the blood supply, which could be deadly under the correct circumstances. Once done, they just lube up the offending rectum and gently push it back inside. As long as they aren't forced to prolapse on a regular basis, in theory, it could be a "safe" kink, but will most likely require surgery after their career is over to keep their bits from falling out every time the pee, take a shit, vigorous sex, or even by coughing.


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

[User] Why does it take so much longer to tune to a digital channel than an analog one?

[Assistant] It doesn't take longer to tune in, however it does tak longer to display an image.  Digital image streams are generally 'differential' streams, that is, since each frame is so similar to the one before it, it's easier to compress and transmit only the differences between each frame. Once in a while, a 'key frame' is transmitted, which is essentially a whole frame, not just the differences. Until your receiver gets a key frame, or until it gets enough of the stream to build a whole picture (i.e. all pixels have changed since tuning in) it just displays a blank.


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

[User]
[Lord of the Rings/Tolkien] Is there in universe etymology for Gandalf's name?

Was wondering if there was any direct translation or significance to Gandalf choosing or being called that name when in his mortal form.

I know Gandalf goes by many names including Olrin, Lthspell, Mithrandir, and that most of those names have an in universe translation or etymology. For example Lthspell meaning "ill news" or Mithrandir being "the grey wanderer".

Is there any significance to the name 'Gandalf' in universe? I know that Tolkien derived it from the norse for "elf with staff" or something, but I'm specifically curious about in middle earth terms.

[Assistant]
Yes. In Unfinished Tales Part 4 Chapter II "The Istari", Tolkien explains that the name Gandalf is from a language in the North. He didn't choose it so much as he just went along  with it when it caught on.

>*Mostly he journeyed unwearingly on foot, leaning on a staff; and so he was called among Men of the North Gandalf, the Elf of the Wand. For they deemed him (though in error, as has been said) to be of Elven-kind, since he would at times works wonders among them, loving especially the beauty of fire; and yet such marvels he wrought mostly for mirth and delight, and desired not that any should hold him in awe or take his counsels out of fear.*

There's an annotation from Christopher Tolkien that gives a bit more detail. Tolkien's writings are supposed to be a translation after all, so "Gandalf" isn't really the name, it's just what Tolkien thought would be roughly equivalent to an English-speaking audience.

>"Gandalf is a substitution in the English narrative on the same lines as the treatment of Hobbit and Dwarf names. It is an actual Norse name (found applied to a Dwarf in Vlusp) 12 used by me since it appears to contain gandr, a staff, especially one used in "magic," and might be supposed to mean "Elvish wight with a (magic) staff." Gandalf was not an Elf, but would be by Men associated with them, since his alliance and friendship wit Elves was well-known. Since the name is attributed to "the North" in general, Gandalf must be supposed to represent a Westron name but one made up of elements not derived from Elvish tongues."


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

[User]
[Dragon Ball] What if Vegeta crashed on earth and Goku was the prince?

Scenario 1: they both end up like the other did (Goku is arrogant, Vegeta is kind).

Scenario 2: they maintain their current attitudes.

[Assistant]
The only reason Goku was kind was because he was brain damaged as a baby. Son Gohan dropped him on his head.

Vegeta is several years older than Goku. If he'd been sent to Earth, he wouldn't have received the same injury. And, since he was already wrecking Saibamen, even as a child, it's very likely that no one on the planet could have stopped him.


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

[User]
ELI5: What are Freemasons, what do they actually do, and why are they so proud of being Freemasons?

I've googled it and I still can't seem to grasp what it is they actually do and why people who are a part of it are so proud.

[Assistant]
Freemason here... It's primarily a social club. There is a ton of charity work and fund raising.  A lot of people seem to think our lodge meetings consist of how we're going to take over the world, bit it's really just us voting to pay the bills, with some history lessons thrown in.  The pride comes from doing something to benefit your community without expecting anything in return.

A few answers to common questions:

 There is a secret handshake

 We do not wear robes, but we do have white aprons we wear during lodge

 There are annual dues just like any other club

 There are only 3 degrees in Masonry.  When you hear people talk about 33 Freemasons, they are referring to the Scottish Rite, which is a subset.

Edit:  Tons of questions about how to join. Look up your local lodge online. The secretary should be listed with contact info.  Give him a call/email and ask to meet some of the brothers and if you can check out the lodge.  Most have a monthly dinner that you can attend to meet people. Just won't be able to actually attend lodge until you're a member.


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

[User]
ELI5: Is each lock and key combination unique, or do I share the same house key as a bunch of other people?

If I were to theoretically take the key to the front door of my house and try it on every other front door in the U.S., how many doors should I expect that key to open?

[Assistant]
There are absolutely hundreds of thousands identical keys out there.

For example, a certain brand of door lock has 5 pins, each of which can be at one of 5 different settings. this means that for this brand there are only 3125 different keys made (5^5). if for example they made 1 million locks last year that means that if you bought one of those locks there would be 320 identical locks also sold.


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

[User]
Is there any meaning to rotation around the time axis in spacetime?

If spacetime is a four-dimensional object, and you can rotate around the three spatial axes, how would you interpret rotation around the time axis?

[Assistant]
Rotations which leave the time coordinate unchanged only mix spatial coordinates with each other, so these would be standard spatial rotations.

Where things get interesting is if you mix spatial and time coordinates. For example, you could rotate an object in the xt-plane (meaning transform the coordinates of a four-vector while leaving its magnitude invariant). This would correspond to a Lorentz boost. This is how you change between inertial reference frames, and it's a hyperbolic rotation. You can also think of it as a rotation by an imaginary angle in the xt-plane.


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

[User]
[Star Wars]Why Shmi Skywalker?

I've been a huge Star Wars fan for years and years.  I love following all of the storylines in the OT the NT and the EU.  I love the various Conspiracy Theories surrounding Anakin and Plagueis and the did he/didn't he debates.  Something that none of the debates touch on is this:  Why Shmi Skywalker?  What was it about her that made her the ideal mother of the (real or fake) Chosen One?  Could it have been something in her past?  Was she related somehow to the Sith?  To the Jedi?  We know nothing at all about her life or Anakins before the time they were sold to Gardulla the Hutt.

[Assistant]
It's entirely possible, probable even, that the reason for 'why her' boiled down to her being in the right place at the right time.

If the 'Chosen One' needed to be born on a particular type of planet, have a particular arc to their life, particular factors to occur in childhood, etc then their parent would need to be a woman in a position to provide those factors. There may be nothing special at all about Shmi. The very fact that there is next to no record of her life before or after Anakin was a part of it tends to support the idea that she was just a convenient womb.


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

[User]
Applying for job during tenure review process  bad idea?

Posting from my burner because Im pretty sure my chair is a Reddit lurker.

tldr: Im about to start tenure review process but am annoyed about being underpaid. Is now a bad time to get a competing offer to leverage a raise?

Im a TT AP at an R1 in STEM. I am preparing my tenure packet currently and chair/everyone has assured me it should go through no problem.

I like my job and department but Ive felt for a long time that Im underpaid. Ive brought this up every year at my annual review and the chairs have generally been good about giving small raises (above cost of living but not dramatically so). Last year I low key threatened to get a competing offer and the chair gave me a slightly higher raise. But I still feel Im underpaid because:

1.	We recently hired someone in my area and theyre great, but are making 20-25% more than me. Our research output is comparable while my teaching/service is considerably more than theirs given teaching relief etc.
2.	We are a soft money school and I am funded literally 99% on external grants while also teaching more than required and supervising/funding the largest number of students in the department. So its not like the department even foots the bill for my salary (Im well below NIH salary cap).
3.	I have recently helped negotiate academic salaries for two mentees that are *higher than my current salary*. One of those position was not even tenure track.

So Im just a bit peeved. I found a job at a comparable university for a comparable position that I am contemplating applying for. As I said, I like my job and dont want to leave but I also want to be paid competitively. I feel the only way to achieve that is by getting a competing offer.

My question is: is now, while my tenure packet is being reviewed, a really bad time to do that?

Any perspective from people who have been through the retention process would be appreciated.

[Assistant] The year you go up for tenure is typically the best time to be testing out the job market as well, as a fallback option if you fail to secure tenure, and as a bargaining chip if you do get tenure but wish to renegotiate your salary. You're on a 90% soft money position that is massively underpaid, what is the big deal if you do piss off your promotion and tenure committee?


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

[User]
ELI5: What makes rugby safer, as not needing protective gears, compared to American football?

I've seen some brutal tackles in rugby, and it makes me wonder how the "health and safety department" never imposed obligatory helmet or something.

[Assistant]
* Football is played in 10 second bursts, which allows players to expend energy at a very high levels, then recover.  A rugby player who tried that would be on the ground gasping in minutes.

* Rugby forbids blocking, which removes a lot of the contact from the game.

* Football has deep passes and returns from set formations, that have players running full speed in different directions.  Rugby has a flow where everyone is going to be running in about the same direction.

* Rugby is more of an endurance activity, which requires lighter, less muscular bodies less capable of delivering injuring blows.

* The absence of pads favors a grabbing technique over a hitting technique when tackling.


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

[User]
CMV: In popular destination cities AirBnB does way more harm than good.

I think it's ironic that a website that started out as a way of finding a place to crash, getting hosted by a local, and having a more "authentic" experience, is now the reason why you can't have an authentic experience.

First off I should say that my first experience on AirBnB was back in 2012, before it became insanely popular. I went to Gdansk, Poland for a EURO cup match with my dad. It was a great experience, a local couple hosted us in their house, and I mean actually hosted, as in they were still in the appartment, they gave us great tips on where to go, what to try and how to get around, hell he even invited us to watch Polands opening game at the fan zone with him and his friends. It was a great way to travel, someone opened their homes to us and showed us their city. Ohh how things have changed since then.

I live in Florence, Italy and it has just gotten really out of control here. You could say it helps people make extra money, and while.that may be true, its also true that people who already have money rent 10-15 apartments and put them on the short term-rentals market. Meaning there are less apartments available for people.who actually live here and prices have gone up 20-30% in the last 5-6 years while wages have stayed the same. Most neighborhoods in the city center are 65-75% short term rentals, local stores, services and artisans cannot make a living on tourists alone, so they are forced out to make way for more mini-markets, souvenir shops, turist trap restaurants, sketchy tour operators and high end hipster bars and clubs. This has obviously created a lot of friction between locals and turists, Florentines are skeptical and suspicious of outsiders by nature, this has just made it worse. The kicker is that turist staying in AirBnB, complain that the city is to touristy, complaining about the problem they unwittingly help create. After all of this, COVID happened, you can immagine the economic impact on a city, especially the city center, that had so many of its eggs in the tourism basket.

It just makes me sad to think that a city with over a thousand year history of artisans, craftmen, artists and small shops be done in by a phone app, fast fashion multinationals, souveneer shops and shitty Gucci knockoffs.

Show me some positives to this, god knows I need them.

[Assistant]
>Most neighborhoods in the city center are 65-75% short term rentals

Are those tourists magically summonned by AirBnB? Or they were always there and AirBnB just gave them a place to sleep? If not for AirBnB those tourists would still be there and would need to sleep somewhere. And honestly, it's a better outcome than building more hotels as short-term rentals can serve many other purposes off-season.

What you describe is not a problem with AirBnB, but rather problem with touristy places getting overwhelmed with tourists.


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

[User]
[Watership Down] What does it mean when rabbits can only count to 4?

So when they see 4 items they can recognise it just fine but if a fifth one suddenly appears their brains go Error 404?

[Assistant]
basically, their number system is one, two, three, four, lots.

They don't distinguish between 5 and a million linguistically- if its more then four, it's just "lots".

This is actually not so far fetched as it seems- in societies like hunter gatherers where you're unlikely to have to deal with more then a handful of items or count things precisely, similar systems appear in human languages.

It's important to note that these people (and rabbits) can distinguish between five and ten- one's a bigger pile then the other. They just don't count them as two numbers. They're just different sizes of lots.


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

[User]
CMV: Rap CREATIVELY is taking a similar path as rock. It will lose its place as #1 genre in the near future.

I think hip-hop or rap specifically is taking a very similar path as rock did in the mid 20th century just separated by 20 years. I think creatively it has hit a big wall, and without a jump will see a massive decline in the future. Thinking this will be the peak and will start to see a decline over the next decade.

A timeline:

I think the beginnings of both genres could be compared with 1950s rock and 1970s rap. Both very simple to the decades to come. But had a big culture change. Leading to massive shift in music taste.

1960s rock and 1980s rap continue. As the 1960s saw an explosion of new style of the genre but laid down the foundation of what we hear today. Popularity wise this is where rock expands at a faster rate then rap. Could be due to a lot of different factors. Besides the point we begin to see massive sales on controversial issues. Creatively both take a massive jump from the decades prior and the market still not being over saturated.

1970s Rock and 1990s rap. This is where I think disagreements can start to be made. However, I think generally people believe this as the golden age for both genres. Both genres continue gaining popularity and we see big branches of different sub-genres begin to form. Anyone can now find their own crowd within these genres and creatively has the biggest change out of any decade.

1980s rock and 2000s hip hop. Saturation begins with both genres but still progresses forward. Both known for having a certain sound and look but both decades still brought in a lot of influence for the next decade to come. Creatively we see both genres begin to appeal to a certain look to gain popularity.

1990s rock and 2010s hip hop. As a push back to the previous decade we begin to see a jump again creatively. More sub-genres begin to form and popularity is still gaining. Backed by huge artists who seem untouchable. While not knowing this was the beginning of the end of rock. It seemed untouchable at the time.

2000s rock and current stage of rap. While there was huge artists that boomed with their own sound. There was not enough of it and creatively reached a wall never breaking the sales of their predecessors before them. While it is early to say I think creatively the genre has hit a wall. This is really unknown as there is no saying. However, if it is following the same path we can assume that this decade we will see creativity drop. While new generations search elsewhere. This to me is the stage where someone else can takeover. Or simply a former genre takes a new leap forward waiting for the other to catch up.

Dont know if this is a good post for objectively changing a view. However, I am very open to changing my view.

[Assistant]
Completely disagree. While this is a very interesting read and perspective, rock and rap have differences that are difficult to explain, but Ill try.

Rock is a style of music.

Rap is something you do over music.

If you change the sound of Rock it turns into something else, and is no longer rock. It turns into country, it turns into ska, it turns into a pop song with guitars and drums. You can change the instruments, you can change the speed, you can change the time signatures - and it will turn into not rock.

Rap, however, can be put with anything, and unless music evolves into something someone can literally not rap on (like classical orchestra or freestyle jazz) rap will simply evolve with whatever comes next.

Its why Rap-<insert something here> can be done with almost anything. As long as theres a beat, you can rap over it.


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

[User]
The hurricane that struck the Philippines was a "maximum" category 5. Is there really an upper limit to how strong a storm can be?

It does seem like the absolute most powerful storms have wind speeds right around 190 or so. What would it take to get one more powerful than that? Is there some factor that makes it impossible on Earth?

[Assistant] There's a relationship between surface heat-exchange vs. friction that caps potential storm intensity.  A lot of this stuff is pioneered by Dr. Kerry Emanuel at MIT, who devised the Maximum Potential Intensity (MPI) metric for just this purpose.  One result of his work is that under suitably high sea-surface temperatures, friction cannot keep up with heat-exchange and the cap breaks, leading to the potential for "hypercanes" with vastly higher MPI (500 mph winds being theoretically possible under ideal circumstances).


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

[User] How many microbial or viral species are discovered each day?

[Assistant]
Discovering new microbes for the sake of discovering them is very rarely the target of research. Most often, new ones are discovered in the process of some other experiment, like an experiment trying to describe the microbial diversity of a certain environment for example.

To add on to that, something like 99% of bacteria cannot be cultured. Culture is really important in the process of formally describing a "new" microbe, since you have to often do genetic analyses (which require significant quantities of bacteria) and submit type cultures to a collection. So since a vast majority of the bacteria out there can't grow in a lab, it limits the pace of "discovering" new bacteria, and hence "how many are discovered each day" is both hard to answer and also kind of irrelevant. If you really want a number, divide the total number of formally recognized bacteria (about 30,000) and divide by the approximate number of days elapsed since scientists started describing bacteria in 1676 (about 125,000). This gives 0.24 bacteria per day, or about 1 new species every four days. But then again, that number is irrelevant because it doesn't really mean anything.


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

[User]
CMV: I am not mad at 2019 Germans for the Holocaust, we should not be mad at 2019 white Americans for what the "explorers" did.

I never understood this double standard. I constantly see people get mad modern day white people for what Columbus did in raping and murdering entire tribes. Did the explorers kick out entire Natives tribes? Yes. Were their actions awful and crimes against humanity? Absolutely. But what does that have to do with me in 2019?

Modern day Germans do not get held accountable for actual genocide for the Holocaust, because they had absolutely no say in that at all. I'm not mad at 2019 Japanese people for bombing Pearl Harbor in 1941, because they have nothing to do with the damage they caused. White people are no exception either to the horrors they have done in history, but we should not be held accountable for past actions that did not involve us.

Hopefully that was clear enough, I'll further elaborate if necessary.

[Assistant]
Does Germany have a national holiday where they celebrate Hitler?

Does Germany have a soccer team called the Kikes?

Do Germans regularly dress as jews with yarmulkes and tallits for Halloween and sporting events?

Can the state of Israel have its sovereignty limited by an act of German parliament?

Did Germany permanently deface the Church of the Holy Sepulchre with Nazi symbolism and promote it as a tourist attraction?

The anger you are seeing is not hatred of white people for what their ancestors did, but anger over the continued refusal of the US government and American people to acknowledge and make amends for atrocities committed against indigenous tribes.


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

[User]
[Men in Black] Does MIB have a presence in space.

Movie or comic I dosen't matter to me where you draw your answers.
Anyways I was watching the first movie again on Netflix and I was wondering were there no defenses against that battlecruiser? Does the MIB not have bases on other moons or planets or starships to defend Earth? Due to the nature of Thier work and all the technology they get access to I would think that they should.
Thanks in advance for answering. Also I still haven't seen the third movie. But spoil it if you have too.

[Assistant]
Spoiler for MIB 3: They do have a moon based prison, yes, which means that they also have ships capable of getting prisoners and guards there.

However, an alien battlecruiser is a completely different kettle of fish to whatever space-dinghys the MIB team might have. We're an extremely small fish in an extremely large ocean, and whatever technology we have has either been confiscated from criminal aliens or given to us by friendly ones. We're not that smart ("human thought is so primitive it's thought of as an infectious disease on some worlds") to invent something that a belligerent alien race couldn't easily defeat. Really, making ourselves a neutral place where various aliens could meet was probably our best bet to avoid being destroyed by a passing alien's whim.


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

[User]
ELI5: How are tunnels that go underwater built?

I don't understand how they are built underwater at all especially the older ones.

[Assistant]
Under the water is some kind of ground.  If you're lucky, that ground is sturdy clay or chalk that's easy to mine through by digging underground, and holds its shape long enough to quickly reinforce the tunnel with brick walls or with iron rings.  If you're not lucky, that ground may be unstable silt, or really hard granite.

In some situations, a river can be diverted through a temporary channel and the tunnel can be dug and covered over with a brick or concrete roof while the riverbed is dry.  Sometimes you can do half the river at a time.

For some crossings, it turned out to be easier not to tunnel at all, but just to put down big pipes at the bottom of the bay or river, hook those up at both ends to the approaches, and pump out the water.


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

[User]
[40k]Promotions in the Guard?

So I had a pretty cushy job in my planets PDF for the longest time, not much happens here, till it came time for the tithe to be collected and I was lucky enough to fall within the top 10% of the PDF so was recruited into the newly mustered regiments. Fast-forward five years and I've been working my butt off trying to get promoted high enough so I don't have to risk my butt on the front-lines. But after over four campaigns, volunteering for high-risk operations dozens of times but I have only managed to make it to the rank of Sargent. Is it a knowledge thing? would I have to learn about tactics and that kind guff to hope to be put higher up, or is just a matter of time because that's what I have been telling myself but it just doesn't seem to be happening, Hopefully this will reach someone who can give me the proper advice.

[Assistant]
Moving from Sergeant up to a platoon command staff can take a decade or more. More likely, the platoon will be sufficiently depleted to be reformed as a Veteran combat squad and attached to another formation before any such promotion happens.

Becomming a Lieutenant (IE commander of an entire Platoon) is something that typically only happens at original muster, to fit the new Platoon into the regimental command structure of the Astra Militarum. It is very rare for a Platoon to be restructured and a new Lt. promoted, as typically if the command squad falllls, there's not much left of the unit.

Exemplary conduct and skill can be noticed by the assigned Commisars, and the individual can be decorated for their actions by regimental command. This can lead to the relatively safe posting of serving in the regimental command unit, from which upward mobility becomes easier.

Basically... Your best bet is to do a superb job in from of Commisars, but you are still looking at a decade or more in the shit.


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

[User]
ELI5: How did Scientology evolve from Sci-Fi into an organized religion with literal believers?

As far as I know L. Ron Hubbard started as a science fiction writer, at what point did people start interpreting his books as actual truth rather than science fiction? What compelled them to believe what some fiction writer claimed?

[Assistant]
Like all things, Scientology was created in steps. A common misconception is that Scientology arose directly from his science-fiction writings. It did not do this. The two were written separately by the same person.

It began in the 1950's when Hubbard published a self-help series under the name "Dianetics." Dianetics, while slightly odd, is not religious or spiritual in itself. Instead, it is a form of Psychoanalysis or Introspection akin to seeing a regular therapist (But much less effective, mind you!) Because of this, Dianetics can actually have a positive influence on a person's life, as it really just uses a modified form of standard, effective practices.

Dianetics became popular due to the "do-it-yourself" nature, and because of the limited effectiveness of it. People looked to future writings by Hubbard.

About 2 years later, Hubbard published his first writing on Scientology, in a book entitled *Scientology, a religious philosophy*. At the same time, Hubbard registered several churches under various names relating to Scientology. It was here that his self-help Psychology took the form of a religion. The book expanded Dianetic's importance to that of the soul, however, it was still not the quackery that we know today. For many "public" Scientologists, the knowledge of their religious texts stops roughly here, and they are unaware of the Space Opera of later texts.

So the steps to the initial founding were simple enough, and varying opinions on religions aside, nothing was too crazy yet. There was simply one caveat: These books, and "professional" dianetics sessions (Auditing) were not free. People invested a lot of money into this.

**As a followup, how did it get into the state that it is now?**

Hubbard built up a large circle of supporters. These people had been helped in some way by the low-level teachings of Scientology, and (though its importance was probably mostly sub-concious) invested a great deal of time and money into it. This inner circle focused more on following Hubbard than following his teachings. It was to this circle that Hubbard began to present the strange tenants and space opera aspects of Scientology. In fact, the "crazy" we know was not developed until the mid-sixties, more than ten years after the initial founding of Scientology. By this point, people had become so invested in the religion that they followed it with unwavering faith. Of course, many would have left upon seeing it, but for every person who did so there was someone who believed Hubbard.


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

[User]
ELI5: In general, what is stopping the internet from being much faster than it is?

How have we gone from 100Mb/s internet speeds with fibre, to 10Gb/s in  South Korea? What was the great improvement that happened there? Surely light travels as fast as light travels, so what made the internet faster and what can make the internet faster?

[Assistant]
So the speed of the Internet is still limited to the speed of light- if someone in Seoul wants to download information from a computer in New York, it will still take 36 ms to get there (meaning the minimum ping of someone playing on a New York game server from South Korea is 72ms- the time it takes to get there and back).

However, we've figured out how to cram more information in the same amount of space. We can transmit the symbols with higher frequency (making each "letter" smaller) and with fiber optic lines, we can transmit data on multiple frequencies simultaneously (stacking the letters on top of each other). As we get better at reading garbled data on the wire, we can increase how much data we send down the line at once.

And keep in mind that as fast as a 10Gb/s Internet connection is, the fastest way to transmit large amounts of data over long distances is still a cargo jet full of hard drives.


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

[User] [MCU] What would happen if a depressed person took the super soldier serum?

[Assistant]
Since the Super Soldier Serum makes you peak human, that would include having perfect brain function, so your brain would suddenly start producing the correct amount of hormones, effectively curing you if you have clinical depression.

However, the effects of good vs evil would still apply, so it would also amplify the good/evil aspects of your character, which is why Captain America became super good, and Red Skull super evil.


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

[User]
What are the implications of a COVID positive, asymptomatic person donating blood?

My understanding is here in the US the Red Cross tests blood donations for COVID antibodies, but do not test the donee for COVID. Obviously, given the amount of asymptomatic COVID carriers I am sure that people who are actively positive have donated. What would this mean for recipients of this blood?

[Assistant]
According to the cdc: There have been no reported cases of people getting SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, from a blood transfusion. Generally, respiratory viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 are not spread by blood transfusion.

Even so, people who want to donate blood are evaluated for any current or past illness. If they are ill at the time of donation, they cannot donate blood. For example, they must have normal body temperature on the day of donation.


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

[User]
[Infinity War] Is Maw a better sorcerer than Strange?

He talks to Strange like he's a kids birthday party magician. Is he just trash talking or is he actually better than the Sorcerer Supreme?

[Assistant]
Maw technically won because he took advantage of an opening when Strange tries to activate the time stone. As a telekinetic, Maw doesn't have to do as much in order to activate his powers but while it is a versatile power, he's limited to just moving things with his mind. Strange, on the other hand, has to use complex hand gestures that take time but done properly, he can accomplish much more.

Who would win in a fight is circumstantial. In a closed off New York street with lots of debris, Maw would have the advantage since he has a lot to work with and Strange doesn't have the space or time to invoke more complicated spells.

In a more open battlefield like in Titan with Thanos, Strange can perform more complex spells that account for Maws versatile but ultimately predictable attacks. He'd also have enough time to set up the time stone which would be a game breaker.


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

[User] [Marvel] If vibranium absorbs all vibrations, why does Captain America's shield make a sound when it's hit?

[Assistant] It's not pure vibranium, it's a vibranium ***alloy***. It possesses many qualities of vibranium but the other material it's mixed with still allows it to make that oh-so-satisfying clanging noise when hitting stuff.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why can't we send a satellite to orbit other planets?

Just like we have satellites orbiting the earth why can't we send probes in orbit around other planets? Like the New Horizons just went past Pluto. It would be so much better if it could orbit Pluto and hence collect data over a longer period?

[Assistant]
We can.  We have a satellite orbiting Saturn, and *five* orbiting Mars.

But getting into orbit around other planets is tricky.  You have to get enough speed to reach the other planet, and then get *rid* of a lot of that speed to stay there in orbit.  This isn't too bad if the planet is relatively close (Mars) or has a very high mass (Saturn), but for something as small and as far away as Pluto, it would take more fuel than we can practically add to a probe to get it to slow back down and enter orbit.


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

[User] [DC/Marvel] Would Batman take a super soldier serum similar to Captain America's if given the chance?

[Assistant]
It wouldn't do much for him physically, beyond giving him resistance to toxins and immunity to fatigue, but it would make his brain better able to process data and speed up his reactions. He's already at the pinnacle of physical human perfection.

But still, possibly, yes. He's taken Venom in the past, after all.


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

[User] Why does alcohol feel "warm" when we drink it, but not when we pour it on our skin?

[Assistant] It feels warm when you drink it because your mouth is a mucous membrane capable of chemesthesis. It feels cold on your skin because your skin is not capable of chemesthesis and alcohol has a relatively high vapor pressure so you feel the evaporative cooling. This is a result of the enthalpy of vaporization. It requires energy for a liquid to vaporize so when a liquid vaporizes it draws heat from the surrounding environment.


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

[User]
[Dethklok]So, there's a Dethklok concert going on less than a thousand miles away from me. So obviously I'll be there. Anyway, I need some tips on surviving the concert and, ideally, not being maimed or dismembered.

Any advice would be appreciated.  These concerts tend to turn into blood orgies, and while that will obviously not deter me from attending, I would love it if I could walk away from the concert with my life (and body?) intact.

I've got one friend telling me to try and lay low in the rafters.  Another says I should show up with a nail-bat and kill and then eat the tongue of anyone who fucks with me.  What are my best odds?

[Assistant]
Dude, you aren't ready to die for Dethklok? What are you some kind of Dethklok hater?

You don't need to worry about getting hurt at a Dethklok concert man. If you die at it then that means you died listen to the glory that is Dethklok.

DIE FOR DETHKLOK WOOOO!!!


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

[User]
ELI5: Why didn't vector graphic become mainstream rather than raster/pixel?

This is not exactly a PNG vs EPS argument. I've been working as a designer since four years now and since I work in print, the pixel data available on the net doesn't help much. I find myself converting stuff to vectors a lot of time. Apart from photos, everything else that could be vectorized is converted in my work. You can zoom in a million times and it still won't tear as it is not a matrix rather lines of equations to plot on an artboard. It is also way smaller than its pixel counterpart. Can someone explain why this didn't take off?

[Assistant]
The hardware that will ultimately display or print your work is pixel-based. This means that any vector-based solution requires additional processing before it can be used.

This can also mean additional storage/transmission costs. Consider a CGI animated film. Handling it in pixel-based formed is somewhat expensive in terms of storage/transmission/processing. But it's completely prohibitive if you're working vector-based - you'd need a server farm and dedicated fiber to get anywhere near real-time.


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

[User]
ELI5: why do some birds fold their wings during flight?

since i was a child i always wondered why some small birds flap their wings, then fold them, then flap again and fold again and so on. Is it more efficient? If so why don't all birds do it?

[Assistant] Every flying object has a most efficient airspeed defined by its geometry. For small birds, this airspeed has to be high enough to efficiently escape a predator when attacked. As an attack is a very selective event, the aerodynamics are optimized to high speed escapes. Now when cruising at a significantly lower speed, the aerodynamic efficiency is very low (because far away from the optimized speed); cruising at a higher, more efficient speed, would be too exhaustive to sustain for more than a few seconds. As a result, the bird switches about every second between high speed flight (efficient) and not flying at all to fly at cruising speed on average. Larger birds don't have to escape predators as often, and do to aerodynamic effects, most efficient speed  and biologically sustainable cruising speed are closer to each other.


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

[User] ELI5: If Rainbows are caused by light refracting through water droplets, why isn't the whole sky a rainbow when it's misty? Also, why does it "bow" and not stay straight?

[Assistant] Refraction means bending at a specific angle, not scattering in all directions. Sunlight only comes from one direction (the Sun). Imagine you take a beam of light and you have to bend it 5 degrees - no more, no less. You can bend it left, right, up, down, etc. Doing all at once, and you trace out a circle - the beam becomes a hollow cone. That's why rainbows are circles. And they're *rainbows* instead of just rings of sunlight since each wavelength (color) is bent at a slightly different angle.


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

[User] ELI5: If following the insurgency is a one way ticket (meaning if you join, you die) why are so many young people joining it?

[Assistant]
Imagine you're a young man, you live in a terrible place, and the future is bleak.

Next, imagine that one day you learn that the rich, well-armed people who've come to your country have killed your child/wife/mother with a drone/roadside checkpoint/tank/rifle round through a mud wall. Your family is all you have.

Check that, it's all you *had*.

What are you going to do?


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Why is the wizarding world so ignorant of muggles when there is a constant influx of wizards from muggle backgrounds?

Now there might not be a \*ton\* of kids at Hogwarts with muggle backgrounds, but there's enough that it's not super remarkable either. And despite all of these people, the wizarding world is utterly ignorant of simple stuff like what a rubber duck is for, the newspaper reports on guns as "a type of metal wand" so they don't really know almost anything despite having experts trying to learn about muggles. How come Ron's dad never just has Harry sit down with him for an hour or two to ask some questions? or any of the many other muggle born wizards?

[Assistant]
Mind you were told Mr Weasley is considered a race traitor for just being interested in Muggle stuff, Hermione is one of the few kids that actually takes Muggle studies because it's so unpopular and it's teacher gets murked by Voldemort for the race traitor stuff.

Just generally there's a stigma related to Muggle stuff, even Slughorn whose not the typical bigoted Slytherin always highlights Lily Evans/Hermiones talents as surprising "for a Muggle born" even if he isn't actually malicious about it.

As for Mr Weasley ignorance, his problem is that while hes tolerant he also treats their stuff like a hobby. Remember he wrote a Law to give himself a loophole to tinker and figure out how cars work/enchant them for fun instead of just finding a way to interview an actual mechanic. Asking Harry all of his questions on muggles probably isn't as fun as bringing home rubber ducks and washing machines from work to essentially play with.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are HD TV channels and regular TV channels separate channels? And why cant there just be HD channels?

[Assistant] All older standard definition TVs can't display HD information, but the problem is that some older standard definition TVs can't process HD information.  Since they can't convert HD into something that will fit on their SD screen, they can't show the channel at all.  Telling someone "your TV is too old to use on our fine service" is sure to cost you a customer, and the cost to put out an SD version of the signal is very low.  Since channels are "free" to send out, you spend very little to keep a few customers.


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

[User]
[Batman] How has The Joker just not been killed by the cops yet?

I understand Bats and other heroes not killing him, but why hasn't any of the cops?

The GCPD has a severe problem with corruption, with almost every other cop being on some sort of criminal payroll, or having some other kind of illegal side hustle. This is has improved since the rise of Gordon and The Batfamily, but it's still prelevant. The murder of criminals or just straight up innocent people almost certainley happens from time to time.

And cops, both honest and dirty, have a sense of brotherhood around each other. It's why cop killers get pursured so agrressively, and why dirty cops are so difficult to convict: Their collegues are hesitant to report/testify against them.

The Joker has murderd countless men, women, and children, including *cops*. *No one* is safe from this guy. Even if he has some dirty cops on his payroll, he kills his own henchmen all the time, or atleast is directly responsible for their deaths. They're not safe.

And yet time and time again he gets off because of the insanity plea (which is bullshit but that's a different post for another day.) And gets shoved back into Arkham only for him to escape a week later with a trail of bodies behind him.

Why hasn't a cop or ten just decided "Fuck it" one day and shot him while he's in custody? And then Blue wall of silence througout the entire trial? Even if they get convicted the sentence would probably be pretty light and many would see them as a hero.

[Assistant]
A cop shot Joker in the head one time and he just kind of woke up later in Arkham.

Red Hood shot him repeatedly but it turned out to be a dummy that releases Joker gas when you shoot it.

Jim Gordon shot him on the chest but it turned out he (at the time) had a healing factor.

Batman also attempted to kill him by trapping Joker and himself inside a collapsing cave, but they both got better.

Recently, Batman left Joker to die with a bomb that Harley setup but later he finds that Joker disarmed the bomb.

So people attempt to kill Joker all the time, but through numerous reasons they don't succeed.


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

[User] Why don't photons interact with another ones?

[Assistant] They *do* but their interactions are weak. They dont directly couple to each other because photons have no electric charge. So to make them interact, you have to resort to higher-order processes where two photons interact indirectly by coupling to charged particles.


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

[User] ELI5 - If humans have been around for 200,000 years and civilization only began about 6000 years ago, what were we doing for the other 194,000 years and what changed?

[Assistant] For millenia humans were hunters and gatherers. We moved from place to place and ate the plants and animals that grew there. Then, the neolithic revolution happened. We figured out that we could domesticate animals and grow plants for our own purposes. Agriculture created a surplus of food that allowed us to stay in one spot permenently. Additionally, agriculture meant that not everyone had to gather food. This created the "division of labour"  Some people became artists, others became craftsmen or merchants. These advancements enabled the development of civilization.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does our perception of time disappear when we go to sleep?

[Assistant]
Our brains stop taking in external information when we sleep. Sleep also messes with memory, so we simply don't remember much of what happened. How much we take in and remember depends on the stage of sleep. If you're sleeping well and hitting REM/deep sleep, you won't remember much. If the quality of your sleep is poor and you spend much of the night in only early stages of sleep, you'll remember more and likely be quite aware of the passage of time.

The brain is still keep track of time in the sense that it is following its circadian rhythm.


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

[User] ELI5: Whats the difference between OTC pain relievers such as ibuprofen/aspirin/Tylenol/acetaminophen?

[Assistant]
Acetaminophen and Tylenol are the same. I'll refer to this drug as Paracetamol though, because that's what we call it in the UK.

Ibuprofen and Aspirin are a different class of drugs, they're part of a class called NSAID (Non Steroidal Anti Inflammatory Drugs). They help reduce inflammation, as the class name suggests. Paracetamol doesn't really do that.

To first know how paracetamol helps relieve pain, we first need to look at prostaglandins. These are lipids that are produced in the brain and spinal cord, and they're believed to make nerve endings more sensitive. The current theory of how paracetamol works is by reducing the amount of prostaglandins being produced, therefore making nerve endings less sensitive; giving you the pain relief.
Paracetamol is also really good at reducing fever, as it effects the part of the brain that helps regulate body temperature (the hypothalamus).