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

[User] On a cellular level, what's the difference between tough skin like what's on the souls of our feet, and more sensitive/fragile skin like our lips, eyelids or...other bits?

[Assistant]
Thicker epidermis with extra layers of tough cells.

The outer layer of the epidermis is called the stratum corneum and it consists mostly of dead skin cells. The innermost layer of the epidermis is the stratum basale, and it contains the stem cells that divide to supply the layers above it. The stem cells divide to form new cells, which are pushed up through the epidermal layers. By the time they get to the stratum corneum, they are dead. However, they are still full of interconnected keratin and tightly adhered to one another, giving the layer strength.

The soles of the feet have a much, much thicker stratum corneum than, say, our eyelids or lips. The cells respond to stress (pressure, friction, etc) by generating more keratin, causing the outer layer to get thicker. Same reason you get callouses on your hands in spots that get used a lot.

This is actually a problem with people who go to space or are unable to ambulate for extended periods of time. The skin on the soles of the feet gets thinner and softer.

tl;dr The stress you place on the skin causes it to generate a thicker outer layer composed of dead cells full of tough keratin protein.


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

[User]
Eli5:Why are people constantly trying to raise minimum wage instead of trying to lower the cost of living?

I dont understand why they are trying to take it so high its just going to make everything more expensive why not work on lowering the price of everything such as food , rent  all the stuff???

[Assistant]
How would you do that exactly?

That would involve the government forcing companies to have limits on their prices which would be a much larger infringement on economics than forcing employers to pay their employees more.


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

[User]
[The Road Warrior] What did the people of the compound find two thousand miles North?

They seemed to have at least survived, judging by Feral Kid apparently having eventually become chief, but did they find anything when they went North? civilization? fresh water? a less violent organization of tribes?

[Assistant]
Desert, desert, desert.

When they got to the coast, there was no water. So they turned around. They were desperate. There was a green place they passed through on the way back. They had to steal food and water to survive.

The people from the compound were attacked by a group of women. To escape they held a woman and her daughter hostage as they retreated. Many of the people were killed, and the hostages were wounded in the crossfire.

Two days on they took shelter in a rock quarry and found a spring. They tried to tend to the wounded, but without medical help most injured in the long exodus and the recent shootout died. The hostage died, and her daughter's arm had to be amputated.

With no where else to turn, and with the guzzoline all but gone, the survivors of the compound set to building a city. But as the days turned in to weeks, raiders found the camp and began attacking on a regular basis. Less organized than Humungus's group, the raiders were fought off again and again, but the attrition of each battle left fewer and weaker survivors.

With nowhere to turn, the survivors dug in. Scavenging and twisting the bus into crude tools, the survivors scrambled up and into the very living rock. They blocked the external exits of the spring, and protected the life-giving water.

As starvation began to set in, they made a deal with a particularly nasty group of raiders called the Boys of War. The leaders met and joined together in a truce. The raiders roamed afield for supplies, and the survivors provided shelter and water.

As the years went on, the wasteland and the radiation killed and killed. Few survived those long dark times, and those that did turned more jaded. The raiders sickened even more, their far trips leaving them unprotected.

Eventually only a few remained. Not surprisingly, the feral kid with his resourcefulness grew up to be a greatly respected leader. In his teens, he led a short coup, and consolidated the power of the survivors and the raiders. He expanded, repairing a nearby drilling station, and allying with yet another powerful warlord. He continued to lead through a very tenuous peace.

But even then, that small bit of peace was the longest period of calm for the descendents of those brave survivors!


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

[User]
ELI5: how does the 'black market for organs' operate?

do corrupt hospitals help out? how much do the organs tend to cost? where are the transplants usually done?

[Assistant]
This usually doesn't happen in western countries seeing as no hospital ANYWHERE in america, England, Aus would allow someone to just show up with a random kidney and say "transplant it"

I am in china, while i do not have any personal experience with black market organ sales i have heard stories.

The most recent one i remember was maybe 1-2 years ago.

They found some idiot kid from rural china. This kid probably can't speak mandarin and most definitely can't read or write it. Some suave looking guy who speaks the same chinese dialect convinces him that you can live fine with one kidney and gets him to give up his kidney for an iphone (true story, ill find the link later). obviously kid gets really sick and regrets it.

I have seen many corrupt hospitals here where im sure you can find at least 1 doctor who won't ask questions.


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

[User]
Does it make a difference whether I wash my hands with cold or hot water?

I just noticed that most people wash their hands with hot water, but I kind of naturally always set the tap to the coldest setting, without questioning it.

Now, is there a difference? Is there a benefit to washing my hands with hot water? (e.g. more bacterias die, you clean your hands faster...)

[Assistant] The temperature of water you would need to kill a significant proportion of bacteria is higher than your hands would be able to tolerate.  As others have said, from an oils and solubility standpoint, warmer will be better, but its the soap and the scrubbing that will take care of the microbes.  Though, to be completely technical, you'll never be able to completely remove all the bacteria from your skin, and this is a good thing.  Most of the bacteria on your skin are beneficial to you, helping you fight off potential invading bacteria.  And after you wash your hands, your natural microbes quickly start to repopulate your skin, as they should.


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

[User] [Thor] I am a regular person who is into paganism, living in north Europe. I start praying to Thor, sacrifice sheeps on the regular to his honour. What are the chances that my prayers are heard and answered?

[Assistant] Depends which version of Thor we're talking about. If this is the *American Gods* setting you might have better luck in a Scandinavian country. If this is the MCU then Thor is more of an alien with space magic.


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

[User]
Why are prions only found in the brain?

Fairly self explanatory... I need some clarification.

[Assistant] In short, they are not. Prions are misfolded, aberrant proteins. These "buggy" proteins (not specifically prions) are found in all cells in all organisms. Prions (there are many types of them)  are unique because they can cause other similar proteins to become aberrant, and therefore are considered to be "infectious" (the name prion is derived from the words protein and infection). The brain is especially susceptible because the blood brain barrier stops these proteins from leaving as waste.


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

[User]
Why does medicine generally taste bad?

I'm guessing the answer is really simple, but I've missed it. Any answers would be much appreciated.

[Assistant]
Pharmacologists only care that that active ingredient works not that it tastes nice. Compounds that treat a disease are rare and hard to find, it would be madness to discard a compound because it's unpalatable. That said some drug companies do work on additives to drugs  to help balance out the taste to help kids take them. Some times treating patients is often as much about the right drug as it is about getting them to take them!

But in the majority of cases drug companies have no incentive to add more things to the drug to make it tasty. Any extra ingredients will have their own effects on people either through allergies or diabetes (hence no sugar coated tables) limiting their use.


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

[User]
How do space agencies prevent germs and bacteria on their rovers (Mars Rover) from contaminating the planet they visit?

Or do they even try and prevent it? Am I correct in thinking that the scientists have something in place to stop living organisms/bacteria contaminating Mars when objects come in contact with the planet? If so how is it done?

[Assistant]
They clean and sterilize the object before it's launched. This eliminates any food for bacteria or microbes.

Also, space is incredibly hostile to life. Several months of cosmic rays, unfiltered UV radiation, and freezing cold will kill all but the hardiest of microbes.


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

[User] If humans pant, we hyperventilate, and collapse eventually. Why don't dogs have this happen when they pant due to getting hot.

[Assistant]
The reason a person (or a dog) would collapse when hyperventilating is due to **rising pH of the blood**. This can happen if you breathe quickly and deeply enough that the CO2 levels in your blood drop too much for your body to compensate (through metabolism).

When your CO2 levels drop too much (and thus your blood pH rises too high) it is known as **respiratory alkalosis** which causes dizziness, headaches, etc.

Dogs can't sweat like humans, so they pant to increase the amount of moisture evaporating from their bodies (and thus cooling themselves down).

The reason the dogs don't suffer from the pH change when panting is because they are doing rapid, but extremely shallow breathing. **A shallow breath exchanges much less air in your lungs**, and limits the O2 & CO2 exchange in your blood.


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

[User] Historically, why did fevers used to kill so many people, but now they're a rarely fatal annoying symptom?

[Assistant] "Fever" was just a colloquial term used to describe any illness that presented a raised temperature.  Ebola will kill you, influenza may kill you, a common cold probably wont. All three of these illnesses were referred to by their symptoms aka. "She died of a fever after visiting Africa". We know now the underlying cause of the fever and can treat (and name) not only the illness, but the fever itself, much more successfully.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do countries dispute uninhabited, useless territory?

Coral Banks, those random Aegan isles, mountain summits, etc.

[Assistant]
Islands are great to own, because they give you ownership of all the water around them for many kilometers, including all the fish, oil, or whatever else might be down there.

Mountains are great to own, because they provide military defenses, and because they often contain minerals you can mine.

I don't know what cural banks are.


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

[User]
How can batteries retain a charge for 40 years?

In a recent video from Techmoan, he opened a new old stock battery powered 8-track player. 5 of the 6 C batteries were still fully charged. He opened another one, but only 1 of the 6 batteries was fully charged.

Those 12 batteries looked identical and presumably were manufactured close together. The wikipedia article on self-discharge gives 10 years as the longest average time to discharge.

What factor caused half those batteries to discharge and why didn't all 12 either stay charged or fully discharge? How likely is it that batteries can retain a charge over 40 years?

[Assistant]
A 10 year shelf life isn't the same as being fully discharged in  10 years.

Losing 3% a year for an alkaline battery would put it at 74% ish charge. Not so good for selling as a new battery.

Over 40 years that battery should still have about 30% charge.

Note that storage conditions are going to matter too. Humidity temp and whatnot are going to affect the rate.

Also with slow discharge rates the voltage vs state of charge curve becomes pretty flat till it drops off really quick at near full discharge. You'd probably need to apply an actual load and see how long the battery lasts instead of just reading voltage to find out how charged they really were.

I suspect that when originally loaded a couple of the cells were just newer and not all were replaced at the same time.


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

[User]
[A Song of Ice and Fire/Game Of Thrones] Why hasn't the world industrialized?

Around the time of King Robert's death the steel-wielding Andals had controlled Westeros for roughly 6,000 years.  A far more advanced civilization -- The Valyrian Freehold in Essos -- had existed for about 5,000 years before its Doom.  In all this time why hasn't anyone invented the steam engine?

[Assistant]
I think it has to do with several times a generation the population being decimated by winters.

In the North the old and the infirm willingly go out to die so that their family might stand a better chance of surviving. Even in the South starvation in a very real concern.

Westeros, a continent the size of South America, only has a population of a few million people.

In Essos, Valyrian magic probably played a big role in stifling innovation.


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

[User]
[His Dark Materials] What are the limitations on the type of animal your daemon settles on?

I heard a rumor that the king of the panserbjrn had a human for a daemon. Could someone's daemon become a panserbjrn? Is there a size limit?

Lord Azrael has the shimmering snow leopard and once I saw a lady with a golden monkey. What other kinds of weirdly colored daemons are out there?

Sorry, my school had horrible sex-ed but this is my last question. How are daemons born?

[Assistant]
Someone's been making stuff up... Panserbjrne are animals, so they do not have daemons. Daemons are roughly human-sized or smaller, and can be any color found naturally in their animal's species. The monkey you saw was in fact not unusual, it was a species called the Golden Lion Tamarin.

Daemons are a physical manifestation of their human's soul. They spontaneously appear a few weeks or so after a baby is born, as its consciousness expands from just its own basic needs to curiosity about its surroundings.


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

[User]
ELI5: in the military, what are NCO's, how do they differ from normal officers, and why do some countries not have many of them?

What does non-commissioned mean? Do these officers go through officer academy like ordinary officers? And why do some analysts say that having a strong NCO class is essential to a well-functioning army (i.e. what can they do that a normal officer can't?)

Thanks in advance!

[Assistant]
In general, an officer is a soldier who has authority over other soldiers. In modern militaries, a commissioned officer is an officer who is formally granted that authority by a government.
This document granting such authority is called a commission, as in the officer is literally commissioned by the government to lead. A non commissioned officer is an officer who was not expressly commissioned, but has been promoted to the office.

What this means is that commissioned officers are, usually, trained at an academy, commissioned, then assigned a duty. These officers are generally trained for leadership or specific roles *before* they do them. Non commissioned officers enlist, are assigned a duty, then promoted to leadership as they prove competency/gain seniority.

Commissioned officers are the "educated" academy folks, the ones who are trained to lead, command, or perform specialized jobs such as fly a fighter plane, or command a platoon of tanks. Non commissioned officers are from the common soldiers, the enlisted troops. They start at the bottom, they do the "grunt work," are the ones "on the ground," and make up the bulk of the military.

This is with regards to a modern national military. Older militaries were very different in not just organization, but in their function and purpose.

While not part of the original question, anyone interested should read the other posts regarding warrant officers, another important part of military leadership.


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

[User]
CMV: I believe Hobby Lobby should be able to determine what religious beliefs go into their policies because they are a private and not a public corporation.

If Hobby Lobby is a private company, then why should they not be able to dictate their own policies? I, personally, would not follow the practices they do, but I believe they have the right to do so because they are not a public company. No one has to work there if they don't agree with their policies. If they don't like it, find a new a job. It has always been made public to people how they run their company, so don't apply if you don't agree with their policies. It's a private corporation and they should be able to determine how they run their company. Why should a private corporation be told by the government how they need to dictate their policies and what kind of health insurance they are required to uphold? Or that they can't be contradictory, as if that is illegal? I understand people think it is hypocritical that they have shares in contraceptives, etc., but that is a separate issue, and really should have no part in what the government can tell them how they run their private company, in such context.

[Assistant]
Hobby Lobby may be a private company, but it is chartered by the State of Oklahoma for retailing goods to the public. Therefore any law generally applicable to the public should also be applicable to Hobby Lobby.

Since the Supreme Court has now granted a religious exemption to a generally applicable law, where does it end? For instance, if Hobby Lobby decided to ban black and hispanic shoppers from all of its stores on religious grounds, would that be ok? Would it be okay if they allowed black and latino shoppers, but refused to hire any black or latino employees? After all, they are a private corporation. Or say there's a Pakistani grocery store: can they refuse to do business with Jews on religious grounds, since they are a closely held private company? As Justice Ginsburg writes in the dissent:

>Until this litigation, no decision of this Court recognized a for-profit corporations qualification for a religious exemption from a generally applicable law, whether under the Free Exercise Clause or RFRA. The absence of such precedent is just what one would expect, for the exercise of religion is characteristic of natural persons, not artificial legal entities.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Has anyone ever unfolded and used the stock thats attached to the DC-15A blaster carbine?

I find it weird that Ive never seen someone unfold the stock. If the creators of the media didnt want it, why include it?

[Assistant]
Most of the time we see the carbine version being used it is in situations where close quarters are a potential concern: in the Death Star Corridors, inside a ship, on the Forest Moon of Endor, or inside the Rebel Base. In those cases it's smart to keep it tightened up so you have better control over it and it doesn't get bound up on a tree branch or caught on some ship component.

But on Tatoonie and Hoth Exterior a lot of the Troopers (Sand and Snow) are using full sized rifles (aside from when they went door to door) and that's where you have a lot of space as well as the range needed to use a butt stock (for better aiming accuracy).


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

[User] Why can't we harvest energy from lightning?

[Assistant]
We can, we just can't store enough of it to be meaningful.

Lightning is a huge amount of energy over a very very short period of time.

We can capture some of it, but we don't have the battery capacity to store it, or a battery capable of being charged that fast without melting

Catching the energy is fairly simple, lightning rods do it all the time, storing it is impossible given current tech.


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

[User] [Judge Dredd] How well known was Judge Dredd in his mega city? Did he have a reputation, was he almost legendary?

[Assistant]
Judge Dredd has been working the streets of the Big Meg for over 50 years now, and you bet he's legendary. He's the man who defeated the robot uprising, single-handedly ended the Apocalypse War, brought down the Dark Judges, overthrew the insane Judge Cal, trained Chief Judge Hershey, and led the fight for mutant rights. He's basically the most famous man in the city, and those who do not love him, fear him.

(Those who do love him also fear him, because he's an unrelenting badass who will beat the law into your perp skull the moment you step out of line)


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

[User]
[Star Trek/Wormhole theory] Can a planet pass through a wormhole?

So, in Star Trek there are these holes in space that you can fly through and they drop you off at some random place somewhere else in the galaxy.

So, what would happen if there was a wormhole large enough to fit a whole planet through the hole. Would the planet and all of it's people be sucked in, and dropped off god-knows where?

What if it wasn't big enough to fit the planet. Would it impact the surface, or drill a hole through the planet and suck any piece of it touches to the wormhole's exit point?

Also, do wormholes have mass, and are they orbiting the galactic center like a star? Or are they at a fixed point in relation to the stars and planets around them?

[Assistant] If it would fit yes. All a wormhole is, is a bend in space with an opening on both sides though the bend. It would be like passing under a bridge.  Voyager found countless wormholes but very very few of them were big enough to fit a ship though. That was the problem. There is no black hole effect with a wormhole there is no pull at all from them.


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

[User] ELI5: How do cast saws not cut the skin, but effectively cut the cast off of a limb?

[Assistant] Skin is wiggly.  You can wiggle it back and forth endlessly without damagine it as long as you only wiggle it a small distance.  The saw teeth on a cast cutter move a very small distance, about three thumbnail-thicknesses.  Over this short distance skin wiggles with no damage.  Plaster, on the other hand, is the opposite of wiggly.  Any tiny movement of a piece of plaster relative to the central mass breaks the piece off.  The cast cutter breaks off tiny dust-like bits of plaster as it cuts, merely wiggling the skin underneath.


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

[User] [Wandavision] how does Wanda know about all these sitcom tropes, when she was born in 1980's Russia?

[Assistant] She was born in Sokovia, but a LOT of US television classics got aired in Eastern European nations. It isn't too far fetched to think that she watched Sokovian dubs of 60s and 70s American TV shows. That being said, we're still uncertain if the sitcom elements of what is happening in Westview are purely due to Wanda, or if there is another element at play.


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

[User]
[Batman] *How in the Hell* does ACE CHEMICALS stay in business?

Every warehouse, shipping container and even the factory itself are constantly raided. So much inventory stolen and R&D work compromised over and over, how do they stay in business?

Every time they get hit it seems like they slash the security budget to offset their losses. Which leads to more break-ins etc.

[Assistant]
I think ACE Chemicals is a front. It makes perfect sense.

Make your business carry lots of valuable chemicals and equipment. If you can sell that stuff, wonderful, here's a profit.

If you want your criminal associates to get a hold of it, let them. Oh shoot, it was stolen! Better claim the loss and get an insurance payout.

What's that? Your company is running a loss? Oh no, better claim that loss as a deduction against all your taxable income for your profitable business segments.

ACE is making money coming and going. They get money from what they sell, they have a legitimate cover to provide valuable stuff to criminal associates, and they can simultaneously run tax fraud / insurance fraud to make extra money. It's pretty brilliant, actually.


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

[User] ELI5: Why would farmers have to slaughter their cows and waste the meat if it isnt in as high demand right now? Why not keep them alive or donate the meat?

[Assistant]
Most food animals are raised in feed lots which run at 100% capacity and are constantly cycling in new animals as old animals are slaughtered.

You can't really stop the new animals from coming in unless you want to give every animal in your heard an abortion.  So your only option is to just continue slaughtering them as normal.

You can't donate the meat because you don't have the facilities to process the meat.  Its not like meat comes premade as hamburgers or steaks.  It takes a huge amount of work *and specialized equipment* to turn a cow into a hamburger or a pig into a strip of bacon.  Unless you have the machinery to lift a 1500 pound cow you're not going to get very far just having a cow carcass out in a field somewhere.

There are only a handful of meat processing plants in the country that can actually turn a dead animal into useful cuts of meat.  If those close - which some have - then there literally is no one who can use the meat so you just have to dump it in a ditch somewhere.


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

[User]
ELI5:How do Stingray towers work, and should I be worried that a friend found one near me?

A tech savvy friend of mine posted on Facebook earlier tonight about a Stingray tower in a neighboring parish in Louisiana.  What exactly does it do and should this concern me or my friends and family?

[Assistant] It's a fake cell phone tower. Aka IMSI catcher. Your phone thinks its operated by the mobile carrier but really it's operated (mostly illegally) by the police Or criminal organizations. They intercept your text messages and calls and potentially more and there's little you can do about it. They can be detected by Snoop Snitch app for Android if your phone is among the compatible models.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is the human eye colour generally Brown, Blue and other similar variations. Why no bright green, purple, black or orange?

[Assistant]
Eyecolor is determained by the amount of melanin in the iris. Melanin is a darkish pigment that helps protext the skin and eyes by blocking damaging UV rays.

The color comes from how light is refracted in your eyeball with the melanin. Blue eyes have the least amount, leading to the color blue being reflected mostly, in a processes similar to how the sky is blue.

More melaanin causes more brown tones, leading to green with a little more, and greys and growns with other amounts.

The way light reflects with this pigment doesn't allow for purple or other colors to show.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are Tagalog and most other Philippine languages significantly different from other Malay languages?

I am someone who used to be able to speak this language fluently in childhood but lost the ability to when I had to use English upon moving in the UK, but there is something that's captured my attention from time to time.

When I look at or hear a piece of text written in Malay, Indonesian or some other Malay language, I do not easily understand it as well as, say, a Philippine language (but I don't understand Ilokano, where my father is from). However, comparing a Philippine language to a non-Philippine language, one can see more commonalities between the languages of the Philippines than between other Malay languages. I think I remember trying to read and understand some Malay that that happened to be on the label of some packaging when I was very young. I was never taught it, and I simply don't understand it.

The most striking difference to me is lexical, where the Spanish influence of Philippine languages are far stronger. Additionally, an influence on the orthography seems to play a role, where a silent "h" often seems to appear at the end of words in non-Philippine Malay languages more often - I believe Arabic may have played a part in this, where this distinction may be in part, grammatical.

Aside from differing cultural influences in the past, I'm not entirely sure as to how speakers of Philippine languages would be less easily able to understand speakers of other Malay languages and vice versa. I do not know the extent of influence of outsiders towards the languages but also think some internal influences may have played a part too. What do any more of the informed linguists here think?

[Assistant] Because it's older. Tagalog and malay both come from the austronesian family but tagalog sepearted earlier from malay. Alao you're correct in that spanish and English have stronfer influence on tagalog due to centuries of colonization.


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

[User]
Does the tissue from a transplant retain the DNA of the donor or change to that of the host?

I was thinking about this the other day and my girlfriend and I were arguing about it. When, for example an organ such as a heart or a kidney is transplanted into a host, will a biopsy of the cells after some time show cells with the host's DNA or the donor's DNA?

Related, are the cells that replace the cells in the organ after apoptosis over time made from the host's own cells or from simple mitosis of the donor's cells?

[Assistant]
There are some exceptions of tiny fractions of cells, but by and large, the organs remain the donor's DNA.  There's some evidence that recipient cells can (at very low frequencies) also contribute to the new organ.  Renewal of the organ typically comes from the donor cells, not from the recipient.  That's why patients have to remain on anti-rejection drugs for the rest of their lives.

One major exception to this is bone grafts.  Those are typically just killed donor bone, which provides a matrix for host cells to incorporate and use as the substrate for new bone.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do some foods freeze well and others dont?

[Assistant] Sometime it is how you freeze it.  Normal freezers produce larger ice crystals and will turn veggies and fruit into mush when thawed.  Those large ice crystals basically puncture cell walls and the water pours out when thawed. Imagine a bunch of ziplock bags full of water and those are the cell walls.  Then the tip of a knife is an ice crystal and poke a bag and watch the water pour out.  Now to get around this you need extreme cold.  Liquid nitrogen works. You can freeze a strawberry with that and then thaw it and it will have pretty much the same texture. Why because at extreme colds ice crystals have less time to form and are smaller not every cell wall gets cut open.


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

[User]
ELI5 Why do some animals adopt a different species of animal occasionally?

I just watched the video of a cat "adopting" a squirrel that was separated from its mother. What makes some animals do this, despite normally having an instinct to, say, eat the squirrel and provide for its own young?

[Assistant]
A lot of times, the instinct to care for its young is just an instinct to care for something with a shape similar to its young. Depending on the species, this is a pretty useful trait because looking after any member of its species' young is gonna help the species survive.

It just so happens that sometimes, that the "look after whatever looks most like a kitten" gene sometimes gets a bit confused and sees a squirrel and is like "eh, close enough".


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

[User]
[Prometheus/Alien: Covenant/Alien: Resurrection/AvP] Why did the Engineers want to destroy Earth? Do we know whether or not David 'invented' the zenomorphs from the virus; and also, is Ripley 8 not arguably the ultimate species that David had intended to create from the virus?

1. We see the Engineer at the beginning sacrifice himself in order to create life on Earth. So they seeded Earth, and *Prometheus* verifies that they seeded life. But why were they carrying a virus that was going to destroy all fauna on the Earth? Were they just terraforming Earth and were going to wipe out all animals life in order to kill off any intelligent life forms that spawned there, and then colonize it themselves with new animals or something?

2. Did David actually invent the zenomorphs? I've seen at least one video that theorizes that he didn't, that he created a subspecies but that the zenomorphs were already in the virus DNA if allowed to grow in that way.... But *Covenant* seems like it suggests this: that David in fact created the zenomorphs as a "perfect organism," then was able to take over the Covenant in order to use the new planet as a colonizing step for him to diminish the rest of human DNA through the use of the zenomorphs (him planning that they'd eventually get sent back to Earth.) And actually, I think that this explains a lot about the original series, as well. If David has been living and working toward his goal as Creator on Origae-6, using the deadly terraforming virus created by the Engineers to breed his colony of weird alien soldiers, then he might have had the ability to:

\-help create AIs that are sympathetic toward the biology of the aliens (which happens in *Aliens*, iirc)

\-use machinery to encourage aliens to spread all over the galaxy, thinking they'd make their way to humans and potentially any surviving Engineers

\-*maybe* take over the Weyland corporation.... I was thinking that if David ends up seeking power for its own sake then he might end up like a dictatorship type of person.

But this seems to contradict AvP. One youtuber suggests that David didn't invent the zenomorphs, which contain the same DNA as the original virus; rather, he used Engineer technology to alter their physical expression of their genes - so the black zenomorphs and facehuggers are 'natural' but the white zenomorphs are David's own creation, a mutated style of the black ones. So I don't know. Is this stuff resolved yet, or do we have to wait for another sequel?

Is it worth mentioning that Ripley 8 might be the perfect organism that David had intended to create - that is, being a mixture of the "dying species" of humanity, alongside the *intended* example of biological perfection?

[Assistant]
1. They presumably thought that earth had failed, they probably didnt like what humans were doing. Also, i think they only created humans, not life as we know it. IIRC we are never given a date on when the first scene happens, and it seems weird that they would come back 4 billion years later only to die a few years after. Seems unlikely we would time their extinction so perfectly.

as for 2, i dont think he created xenomorphs, i think that was the natural final state of the black goos evolution, becasue it seems to create similar beings to every part of the xenomorphs life cycle. It created some kind of cheastbuster with shaw, which then evolved into some kind of facehugger, which then spat out some kind of xenomorph. similarly, when exposed to engineers, it tried to create some kind of xenomroph too.

So, i think the black goo is just the first step in creating the bioweapon that was the xenomorphs, and what david does is just is just followed the path laied out before him in the goos genetics. So he didnt create them, just made his own version, which is why it looks a bit different from the others we have seen. So no, david is not connected to the events of the OG movies. Oh, and AVP isnt canon to the alien movies.

I think the black goo is the unfinished work that the engineers did, becasue its a very undiscrimiate bioweapon that also taints the planet it attacks. So they refined it into the xenomorphs which will only kill large living beings, perfect for an attack on humans or similar beings. The black goo is a weapons of mass destruction, and it leaves traces while the xenomorphs will eventually starve and die.


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

[User] What's the difference between photoelectric effect and photovoltaic effect?

[Assistant]
The photoelectric effect refers to emission of electrons from one material into another, typically into a vacuum, although air photoemission (into a gas) or internal photoemission (from one solid through a barrier into another solid) also exist. The defining characteristic of photoemission is that the electrons are kicked into an unbound state and they are free to leave the material.

In the photovoltaic effect, electrons are excited but they remain in a bound state. These excited electrons do not leave the material but they move around in it until they find a place they can fall back into to release their energy. This can be a hole left in the electronic state of the material by the same or another elevtron after it was excited and moved away, but it can also be a contact with a lower lying energy level. In the later case, the electrons and holes piling up at the contacts generate a voltage and that's the photovoltaic effect.


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

[User] ELI5:What's the point of two pilots in a fighter jet? what does the second pilot do?

[Assistant]
Ooh, ooh! Air Force munitions guy here. Depending on the type of "fighter jet" you're referring to, they might not even be the same *job* in the back seat. The Navy has a high-speed jet that's very much *like* a fighter (it was actually based on a fighter airframe) and it's primary job is "electronic warfare"...from the skies. In that jet, the "passenger" (for lack of a better term) is an electronic warfare specialist. Looking for radar and other radio signals, communications, stuff like that.

Other aircraft, as said, have navigators for longer flights or flights (like in Afghanistan) where we might have to navigate sparsely populated massive mountain ranges. Others are weapons systems officers (WSO, pronounced "wizzo") that handle the often *very* complicated weapons systems. If you're in a straight-up "shoot down other fighter jets" plane, you might not have a passenger, but we're rarely up against other jets in dogfights anymore. And if you're on a "fighter" that's really been repurposed into a flexible response light bomber, you might have half a dozen guided bombs with you, and the guy driving the jet can't really do the supersonic aerial equivalent of checking his Facebook on his phone while he's dodging traffic doing 80 down a busy highway.

TLDR: It depends on the jet and the mission, but just *flying* a fighter jet is *hard* and very demanding, and if a guy in the sky wants to do anything while he's *in* the air, like dropping bombs, finding targets, navigating, listening or trying to take pictures, it's very helpful to have somebody who *doesn't* need to keep the thing in the air to help.


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

[User]
How easy is it for PhD economists to get access to government administrative datasets?

I've been thinking about doing a PhD and trying to brainstorm some research topics. As someone interested primarily in public econ (and also health econ), a lot of the questions I've come up with would greatly benefit from being able to use government data (e.g. tax data, healthcare system data, education admin data).

When I read economics papers in top journals, it seems like these economists are, at least sometimes, able to access great individual-level government datasets for research.

I'm wondering - how easy is this to do if you're a PhD student or if you're a professor? Do you need to have connections within the government or can you just request access to that data?

Also, does this vary by jurisdiction at all (e.g. US vs. Canada vs. Western Europe vs. developing world)?

[Assistant]
Depends. Tax data is impossible for a PhD student to get in the US, although social security datasets from other countries are occasionally available with a lot of effort and advisor clout.

Education data is achievable, although generally you would get it at the state or county level, and usually in the state(s) that historically play ball with researchers.

Health data in the US is quite hard depending on what you want. Medicare used to be very accessible if you knew someone at NBER but is now all but impossible for phd students to get. Other admin datasets are expensive.

In general, all of these things require some combination of connections, effort, and luck.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why Doesn't Minimum Wage Increase With Inflation?

If the point of minimum wage is to be a living wage for the people working on it, and what constitutes a living wage changes because of inflation, why are the two not automatically linked?

[Assistant]
In other countries minimum wage is reevaluated every year, and does increase with inflation, with perhaps other factors.

In the US people don't have social rights that some other countries have. But it depends on the state.


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

[User]
Explain to me like I'm five what hair is and what are its main purposes.

Human hair, facial, body, etc. Even nostrils, eyebrows, everything!

[Assistant]
Hair is made of the same stuff as your skin, but it contains more of something called keratin, which makes the hair so strong. Your nails have it, too.

Hair has a few purposes. For one, you can feel a gentle touch before your skin is touched.

It acts as a filter for dust, dirt, and other tiny things -- this is especially important with your eyelashes and eyebrows... Also inside your nose!

When you are older, you grow pubic hair, which is very thick hair that grows around your genitals. It also acts as a filter for dust, bacteria, and dirt, but also acts as a lubricant to help prevent your skin becoming sore or raw while walking or moving. It also lets others know that you are more grown up than younger people.

The most primal/basic purpose of hair is to protect you against the cold. When we are cold, we get goose bumps -- this is from itty bitty little tiny muscles inside your skin that hold your hair upright. Way back when we were much more hairy, this would make our hair stand up like a hat or a sweater and would trap heat inside of it, keeping us warmer.

For some people, their hair are thicker on their head to protect against the heat of the sun (sometimes called "nappy" hair).


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

[User] ELI5: If I see a face/thing that I am very familiar with (family member etc.) and then "study it", it can suddenly look weird or unfamiliar. What is this and is it common?

[Assistant]
The reason is because humans have evolved what basically is two systems of thinking.
System 1 is the instinctual, intuitive process that all animals have.  It is fast, has access to nearly all of your memories, and brings quick information based on heuristic shortcuts.  Part of this is is an individual-recognizing system that automatically says "this is Bob."  Almost all animals have it, though it is not always based on vision of faces.
System 2 is the conscious, intentional thought.  This is slower, and you have a limited amount at a time (focus or attention), but it allows you to assess things in a more ordered detailed way.  This is thought to be what we call sentience.
When you intentionally study a face, you are calling on system 2 and suppressing system 1, so you can view features and not "Bob."  This throws off your automatic pattern recognition that is the default.  It creates some dissonance in your mind, and the face without the automatic intuition seems strange or alien.
This topic interests me a lot because being aware of your conscious vs automatic thought processes can be really useful, because system 1 is usually working with more information, but it has a tendency to jump to conclusions and have a lot of biases.  Awareness of when and when not to rely on the things that automatically pop into your head can make your decision making much better.


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

[User]
Is it possible to put chlorophyll into an animal cell? If so, would a human be able to live on sunlight?

If not, does heat energy from sunlight provide our bodies with usable energy anyway?

[Assistant] Chlorophyll does not just float around inside plant cells, it is encapsulated inside organelles called chloroplasts that, like mitochondria, have their own DNA, reproduce independently, and are originally derived from free-living bacteria.  There *are* non-plant species that have photosynthetic symbiotic associations, clams are one, that are not as advanced as the plant-chloroplast symbiosis.


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

[User]
CMV: I see nothing wrong with businesses requiring a COVID vaccine "passport" for entry to ensure guest safety

I recently read about NY's COVID passport, which is to be used by vaccinated persons to show proof of vaccination before being admitted to certain venues, and was shocked to see so many negative opinions. I don't see how having to show that you've been vaccinated is any different than when businesses were taking temperatures before admittance. I honestly don't know how else sports and concert venues, cruises, etc are expected to safely open back up without this until the US has achieved a herd immunity vaccination percentage.

[Assistant] We already have laws preventing discrimination due to medical history, as well as medical privacy laws. Why make an exception for COVID vaccines if not for other things as well (say, other vaccines, STDs, etc)? It leads to a bit of a slippery slope when it comes to people disclosing their private medical information.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does ice reduce swelling?

[Assistant]
Your body restricts blood flow to cold parts of your skin to conserve heat. When you dramatically cool down your skin with ice, your body reacts as if it's in a cold environment and constricts blood vessels flowing into that area as if to conserve heat.

Swelling is the result of blood vessels dilating to bring additional blood and resources to a part of you that has been damaged. The constriction to "conserve heat" counteracts the dilation in response to damage so overall less blood flows into the area and swelling is reduced.


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

[User]
What effect (if any) does boiling water have on its pH?

My gut tells me that, because you're boiling off the water, it will concentrate whatever was in that sample of water.

Meaning if the water starts basic, it will become more basic. If the water starts acidic, it will become more acidic.

But this is just my gut and not scientific fact. Does anyone have experience with this matter?

[Assistant]
If we are talking pure water, then the pH will go down as the temperature rises. For example the pH of pure water at 60 C is 6.54. This does not mean that the water gets more acidic, it's still neutral as the pOH also decreased to 6.54.
The temperature dependance of the self ionization of water can be seen in this equilibrium reaction

2H2O + 59kJ <--> H3O+ + OH-

at 25C the keq for this reaction is 1E-14 which is where the 14 point scale comes from. As temperature increases you increase the concentration of the products,  H3O+ (acid) and OH- (base), both go up together, driving both the pH and the pOH down equal amounts. The neutral point is only 7 at 25C. If it was pure water it would always be neutral, regardless of temperature.


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

[User] [Jurassic Park] What is Ingen? What do they do for the park? Why is it a bad thing when they appear?

[Assistant]
Ingen, also known as International Genetics Inc., was the bioengineering company started by John Hammond to create the first dinosaurs for Jurassic Park. After that initial success, the company began to diversify, in a sense, and their focus turned to the general "resurrection" of extinct species. After the failure of Jurassic Park, Hammond was removed as CEO and the company severely floundered for a bit until being put under the direction of Hammond's nephew, Peter Ludlow.

This is where some of the more "nefarious" aspects of InGen began to surface, as Peter looked to find more "profitable" avenues for the type of bioengineering that they were doing. Large corporations and the military had strong interests in the research they were doing, and the overall focus of InGen began to drastically shift as powerful, moneyed interests started to guide their path.

When Simon Masrani became CEO, that's when Jurassic World went from an idea to a reality. While Masrani's overall focus was on the park, in the background there was a lot more happening (i.e. that military guy saying "Masrani's so diversified he doesn't even know what he owns", and Masrani being surprised by the actions of InGen's head of research).

**Tl;dr** = So, in summary, InGen was the brainchild of Hammond and the means by which Jurassic Park came to be. When the park failed, the company began to heavily diversify under new management to save itself. This diversification lead to a major corruption of Hammond's initial vision. It's a "bad thing" when InGen officials start showing up, because we learn that this research is being used to further military and corporate interests behind the back of the company's CEO.


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

[User]
CMV: Barack Obama was an unambitious, mediocre, president that set fairly low goals and achieved them.

By mediocre, I mean in the context of US presidents. Of course, all of them are extremely honorable, intelligent individuals, but Obama is about average as far as presidents go. From my pretty limited understanding of his accomplishments, he passed the Affordable Care Act early in his first term and Congress shut him down after that. They kept him from doing anything revolutionary or unique, and he didnt try to stretch his powers or change the situation. The ACA was not a failure, but it was hardly a great success either. He generally tried to behave as the moderate Democrat party wanted him to, fighting existing wars but not escalating or ramping them down. He failed to appoint Merrill Garland to the Supreme Court, which also represents a broad failure to fill a lot of judges seats because Mitch McConnell stopped him and he didnt make a big deal out of it. He behaved in a broadly internationalist way, seemed displeased with but not angry at his successors more ambitious outlook and unique personality. Obama seemed kind of like a stock President, beyond the fact that hes 1/2 African American and got beat up on for refusing to do anything creative. Hes a bit like Hoover and Trump is a bit like FDR I think. I wrong here? CMV.

[Assistant]
The ACA was and remains a huge success. Sure, we didn't get m4a or the public option, but millions of previously uninsured and underinsured Americans suddenly found themselves with adequate healthcare that would have previously been nearly impossible for them to get. The criticism coming from the left about the ACA shows the distinct problem with the "idealistic" progressives... they want to hold out for the perfect at the expense of people suffering now. You see it with people who say Bernie or bust. They would rather have 4 more years of Trump rather than 4 years of what they see as a somewhat less progressive candidate than Bernie Sanders.

Not only did we see an unprecedented expansion of healthcare under Obama, we saw DACA, the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, a landmark nuclear agreement with Iran, countless initiatives to combat climate change, expanded protections for LGBT people, etc. And while many of Obama's accomplishments were later scrapped by the current administration, it does not diminish what Obama did for this country and the lofty goals he set for his time in office.


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

[User]
Why are adamantium bullets necessary?

In the Wolverine origins movie, Stryker uses adamantium bullets to take Logan down. Given that this didn't really work at all, and his goal was just to interfere with his memories, why not just use normal bullets and shoot through the eye sockets or upwards from the inner jaw?

Also, if these super bullets made a hole in Logan's face, wouldnt this leave a 'forever bullet blowout hole' all over his face and the back of his head?

[Assistant]
>Given that this didn't really work at all, and his goal was just to interfere with his memories, why not just use normal bullets and shoot through the eye sockets or upwards from the inner jaw?

The eye socket is a hard target to aim for. If you miss, then Wolverine can potentially be on your ass before you can get the second shot in. Adamantium bullets will given you a larger target that you can aim for.

I don't think you can fire a bullet into his brain upwards from the inner jaw. There's still bonecovered by Adamantiumso you're going to have to use those special bullets anyway. Plus, it's pretty dangerous getting that close to Wolverine.

>Also, if these super bullets made a hole in Logan's face, wouldnt this leave a 'forever bullet blowout hole' all over his face and the back of his head?

Wolverine still has his healing factor.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Could a non-force sensitive individual become a competent Lightsaber duelist?

Before everything else, I know about Grievous, but he had the advantage of being cybernetically enhanced. I'm talking about a normal individual just training really hard.

Now, let's say that there is a non-force sensitive individual who is nonetheless extremely good at martial arts. Through intense training and physical conditioning, they achieved their peak and are able to perform crazy physical feats of martial arts, parkour, etc. Now, this person just happened to also train extensively in the Jedi lightsaber forms , studying the finesse of each form for years and trying to find (or create) a style best suited for themselves.

How would this person, who by normal standards is absolutely exceptional, compare to an average Jedi or Sith?

[Assistant]
They could become competent enough to maybe survive a fight against a force user, but the thing you're never going to get around is combat precognition.

A Jedi or Sith is going to know what this opponent's next move is before they know it themselves.  That's going to make it near impossible to win a fight.


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

[User] Hello, I have a weird and possibly dumb question. We know fruits and vegetables have trace metals in them. So I was wondering, is it possible (though not necessarily practical) to extract the metals from the fruits and vegetables?

[Assistant] Depends which metals you want to get. Metallurgy isn't going to work, after all - concentrations are way too low. But you could get it to happen chemically. In an ideal situation, the metal you want would be present in the fruit as a compound that's one simple reaction away from becoming a solid crystal at room temperature. Blend your fruit to smithereens, dilute it well in water, and cause that one simple reaction.  There's your metal. Or, more likely, a metal salt. But still. Something that could be purified through more conventional processes.


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

[User] ELI5: How do spiders create brilliant webs through the night but by mid morning they disappear with no trace? Have they fallen prey to larger animals?

[Assistant]
Spiders eat their own webs, digest them and re-spin them later.
They do this because their webs become less sticky over time.
They contain/take a lot of protein, so just leaving them would likely result in the spider starving to death.
So they eat it, and squirt it out all sticky again.


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

[User]
ELI5: What is a "ground wire" and why are they important/used?

I know modern electrical receptacles have three wires - hot, neutral, and ground. What is the ground wire and why is it important? Is it there for safety reasons? Does it help the device drawing the power in any way?

[Assistant]
Electricity flows out of the hot, through the wires in the device, and back into the neutral.  If the device has a metal casing and a hot wire comes loose and touches the metal casing, the metal casing is now also hot and if you touch it the electricity can then travel through your body.  The ground prong is used to ground the metal casing so that if a loose hot wire touches it the electricity flows directly to the ground instead of you.

edit: The neutral and ground prongs are both grounded (lead to the ground).  They just take different paths to get there.


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

[User] [The Elder Scrolls] If I start at the surface of the planet and keep going up (levitation, rockets, big-ass ladder...), what will I encounter and what will happen to me?

[Assistant]
You will eventually reach the "slipstream," which is the edge of reality between Mundus and the planes of Oblivion, and where the Battlespire was located.  From there, it seems to be easier to open a portal to Oblivion (they're much more common in that game than others), but opening a portal is still necessary to cross that final threshold into a totally different world.  Just continuing to go up doesn't seem to be effective.

It's not clear whether you'd hit a literal wall, or just kinda get lost in the aether though.


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

[User]
[MCU Doctor Strange/Infinity War] The Ancient One and using the time stone to look into the future

In Doctor Strange, the ancient one comments that she looked into the future but could never see past the moment of her death.

Was this an ego/will power thing, or a limit on the time stone?

If the latter, when Doctor Strange is looking for ways to beat Thanos in IW, can he only see the Avengers winning if he was still alive when it happened?

[Assistant] The easiest explanation is that the Time Stone doesn't allow you to look any further forward than you would naturally be able to experience. Since Strange was able to see futures beyond his own Snappening, he knew he would somehow be brought back.


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

[User] ELI5: is marijuana smoke just as damaging to your lungs as cigarettes, and if so, why isn't there a movement against it as well?

[Assistant] Pot smoke is, per unit volume, actually more dangerous than tobacco smoke. However, the average tobacco smoker smokes a pack a day, and anyone who is smoking 20 joints per day on average has much bigger problems than bad lungs.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are RC cars made that only turn in one direction?

[Assistant] They are cheap. All you need is a motor and a signal to go forward, and a second signal to activate a lever to turn the wheels one way. Just that and you have a car that can go wherever with creative maneuvering.


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

[User]
(Galactica) How was the Pegasus able to escape?

In the movie Razor, the Pegasus sustains a near hit and then is able to escape as the propulsion appears to be working. It then jumps with an evidently operational jump drive.

The impression I get from the other attacks is that Cylons used some sort of system command to shutdown all systems. The Valkyrie Battlestars in orbit just turned off as did all the Vipers. Any explanation for the difference in this unique instance?

[Assistant] The Cylon back door was in the Command Navigation Program that the Colonial warships used to coordinate with each other.  As Pegasus was undergoing an overhaul during the attack, many systems were offline, the CNP being one of them.  However, the jump drive and engines were being tested, and thus were online, powered, and detached from the CNP.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are some medications race-based?

[Assistant]
There's sufficient genetic difference between various human races to create different reactions to certain drugs, or increase the possibility of certain reactions in certain races.

An example of one such difference is a genetic switch in some Asians that floors them completely when they have one drink because their metabolism very rapidly turns the alcohol they ingest into acetaldehyde, which is poisonous when in larger doses and gives them wicked hangovers.

Some drugs are metabolized or take effect in different ways as programmed by race-specific genetics, and that can lead to bad side-effects such as cancer or a drug that just doesn't work at all.


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

[User]
ELI5: What keeps the refueling boom attached to fighter jets?

Title says it all. When a fighter jet attaches to the boom, what keeps it from detaching? Also, how quickly does the fuel transfer from refueling plane to jet?

TIA!!

[Assistant] Toggles inside the receivers receptacle latch onto the nozzle of the boom. Both tanker and receiver have disconnect switches to release the toggles when necessary. Fuel transfer rates are determined primarily by the receivers system. Basically, 1500-3000 pounds per minute for fighters and 3000-7000 ppm for heavies is a pretty general wag.


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

[User]
[Fairly Odd Parents] Why were Cosmo and Wanda sent to Timmy Turner and not some kid in a third world country like Somalia?

Supposedly Timmy Turner was the most miserable child on Earth at the time Cosmo and Wanda were assigned to him. I find that hard to believe, unless some really dark shit was going down behind the scenes. Why were they assigned to Timmy and not a kid in a third world or war torn country?

[Assistant]
Human misery doesn't really work the way you'd imagine.

Someone gets *really* happy for a while after they get a raise or win the lottery, but after a few months their happiness goes back to being the same level as it was before, because human happiness levels are really weird.

So the fact that Timmy was the most miserable child on Earth doesn't reflect his situation, but his outlook on the world. Timmy's problem isn't his family, it's Timmy.


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

[User] [Star Trek] Why are races still so distinct after several hundred years of multicultural egalitarianism? Surely at least a significant minority of Starfleet would be an indistinct shade of brown?

[Assistant] just hasn't been enough time, a few hundred years is only so many generations.  The biggest factor however is that even as transportation becomes cheaper and more ubiquitous people remain divided by language and locality, most people despite the ready access don't bother to learn new languages or leave their home towns.


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

[User]
Cmv: Poking a hole in a condom is considered rape and there should be different degrees of rape just like there are murder!

Me and my GF going to a heated debate about what we consider rape and I considered a woman poking a hole into a man's condom to be rate since the man did not consent to that and she is opening him up to unwanted child birth and STDs. She just thinks that is wrong and sabotage but I think it is be a form of rap what do you guys think about that and do you think there should be different degrees of rape just like there are murder? I don't think anything is clean cut or just black and white but in the gray area. If the sexual act is non-consensual and harms the participant that didn't agree to the act, it is rape point blank!

[Assistant] Legally speaking, the scale of degrees kind of exists in the distinction of rape and sexual assault, where rape is usually defined very narrowly as penile/vaginal intercourse without consent and pretty much everything else is sexual assault. In most cases, birth control sabotage does not fall under rape because the sex is usually consensual, even if that consent is obtained fraudulently. The risk of STDs can make birth control sabotage an instance of sexual assault, but it is more common for it to be prosecuted as personal injury and/or fraud.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Assuming that the Sith are constantly getting stronger, does that mean that Vadar could potentially take on any previous Sith and be victorious?

Not too big on sith lore so sorry if this is wrong but to my knowledge, a sith apprentice has to kill their master to become the master.  So assuming this Vadar should be able to defeat all previous sith? (1v1).

[Assistant]
Vader is much weaker with his equipment. If he wasn't injured and remained able bodied there's a possibility but he was weakened (something Sidious loves) and so was bound to be Palpatine's slave.

I'd probably also argue that Old Republic Sith as entombed on Korriban are much stronger than Sidious is. Its only with the creation of "rule of two" that the Apprentice would go on to be more powerful than their master. Ajunta Pall, for example, was able to remain as a ghost for Millennia after his death. Darth Nihlus was able to devour planets (something Sidious couldn't even come close to) and Darth Sion was more powerful than Vader and was more damaged than Vader was. He was literally a walking scab.


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

[User] ELI5: How can bands play cover versions of older songs & make money doing it, without penalty? Do they have to pay licensing beforehand?

[Assistant]
A mechanical license is all that's usually required (in the USA). You can cover any song you want for $0.091 per copy that you sell, paid directly to the owner of the song (whoever legally owns the rights to the song, almost always the publisher). The person who owns the rights doesn't have any say in the matter.

You usually have to pay this fee upfront based on an estimate of how much you'll sell. If you think you'll sell a thousand copies, you'll pay $91 upfront.

If you're streaming on YouTube or Twitch or whatever, you'll need a synchronization license instead. For a synch license, you need permission upfront and they can charge whatever they want to charge for it.

For live covers, if you aren't recording the event it should be fine, but if you're playing a really big gig/recording it for sale you'll need to get in touch with either ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC to obtain public performance rights and pay public performance royalties.

Finally, there is the strange case of music copyright that allows you to play any unpublished song you want without issue. An unpublished song is one that hasn't been recorded and released for sale. For example, the Mountain Goats had an album called Hail and Farewell, Gothenburg that was never released (until it leaked), but they'd occasionally play songs from the album live. Because it was never released for sale, anyone could cover those songs absolutely free, because they didn't have legal rights. Only published songs have legal protection.


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

[User]
ELI5: why does fast food salt taste different than table salt when it should all be the same chemical formula?

It might just be me, but I always think that McDonalds and other fast food places' salt tastes... saltier? Do they add something to it?

[Assistant]
McDonalds buys salt that is very finely ground.  They keep it in little packets, where it can't clump and recrystallize.

Ordinary table salt is much more coarse.  This keeps it from coming out too fast, so you don't oversalt things.

If you want some super fine salt, buy "popcorn salt" at the grocery store (not the kind with artificial butter flavor).  Don't complain if you put too much on though, the folks at Morton's warned you.


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

[User]
[Warhammer 40K] How are machine spirits not Abominable Intelligence?

I was under the impression that AI is not allowed in The Imperium, due to things going very, very wrong with it during the Dark Age of Technology. But, I see mentions of 'Machine Spirits' that are somehow able to talk to pilots and even act by themselves in some cases.

Why does The Imperium tolerate this? What makes a machine spirit not AI?

[Assistant]
The Adeptus Mechanicus are responsible for maintaining the technology of the imperium. They follow the Cult Mechanicus whose theology states that the divinity of the omnipresent Machine God is manifested through the knowledge of the universe, and the "Machine Spirits" are smaller aspects of the greater Machine God that live within all technology from the greatest battleships to the lowliest las gun.

To the Mechanicus and their Tech Priests, these machines are alive and worthy of respect and worship. They are imbued with the living spirit of their God, not with the soulless automata, spiritless, manmade affront that an A.I. is.

Out of universe: The technology used by the Imperium is so old and so far removed from the age from whence it was invented that the knowledge of how to properly maintain it runs the risk of being lost to the expanse of time. As such the Mechanicus encode proper maintenance in ritualistic ceremonies which combine actual knowledge with a flair of religious excessiveness as a way to preserve that knowledge.

The "machine spirits" may very well be a basic emergent intelligence within machines that have been running practically non-stop for 10,000 years. Who knows how the code has changed over that amount of time?

The Tech Priests do not accept true, purpose built machine intelligence and ignore any similiarities their precious machines share with it. For how do you prove a ship isn't using a heretical A.I. rather than the divine spirit of the Machine God? By looking at the code? You'd never get authorization for that, and even if you did the code is probably so complex by now you wouldn't be able to understand it.


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

[User]
[The War of the Worlds (Novel)] I am a Martian conquistador. My planets resources are dwindling, and our last-ditch attempt to save ourselves has failed. How can we save our race?

Due to some indescribably horrible circumstance, our attempt to cull the natives and establish ourselves on Earth, our young sunward neighbor, has failed. Diseases, the likes of which that have been wiped out for a millennia on our own planet, have destroyed our first landing parties on the blue planet due to our lack of immunity.

Our planet itself cannot be saved. We utilized much of our resources in attempting to prepare the Earth for colonization, but it is by and large hostile to life as we know it. The bipedal animals there, while a viable source of food, are riddled with disease. So is the air and water.

We are running out of options. We cannot stay on Mars. Our population is dwindling, the water that gives our civilization life is running dry. The temperature is decreasing at an alarming rate.

How can we save our people from extinction?

EDIT: An out-of-character aside, thanks everyone for your varying responses, you all came up with cool ideas that I wouldnt have thought of. Youve all made this very fun!

[Assistant]
You cannot, especially after that species you invaded is done reverse engineering your technology.
The very same technology you attempted to destroy them with.
Your weapons, your armor, your shields, and even your very biology are all at their vengeful, eager fingertips.


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

[User]
[Marvel] What can a regular joe shmoe do wearing an infinity gaunlet with all the gems?

What can someone like me do wearing the gauntlet with gems? I don't have any particular talents, don't have an athletic body nor am I smart as a PhD, let alone some genius level intellect.

If I come across the gauntlet and wear it, does it instantly make me some godlike being or do I have to KNOW what to do with it? Like say I wear the gauntlet and someone just pulls a gun and shoots me in the head. I'm dead?

[Assistant]
Based on what we've seen in the MCU, the average schmoe would die horribly if he held even one of the Infinity Stones, let alone all of them. They're simply too powerful for a human of normal constitution to control. Peter Quill nearly died from holding the Power Stone, and he's, well, special.

All of the other Stones are stored inside of tools that help the user focus and control them. The Tesseract, the Scepter, the Eye of Agamotto, et cetera.

It is possible that the Infinity Gauntlet is set up to do something similar, of course, and in the comics Reed Richards was able to wield them without a problem. So let's assume that putting on the Gauntlet doesn't instantly turn you to a loose collection of atoms.

You can now do anything.

Literally anything, within the confines of your universe. The Power Gem *makes* you athletic. In fact, it makes you immortal. The Mind Stone *makes* you a genius. In fact, you now have the capacity to touch every mind in the universe. You have complete control over reality, over time and space. You can rip the souls out of your enemies or turn them into cabbage noodles.

The Infinity Gauntlet, or more precisely the combination of the Infinity Stones, has made you a god. Not a sniveling, puny Asgardian god,    but also not quite an Abrahamic, omnipotent deity, either. There are forces that can resist you, like the Living Tribunal, but that's about it. Galactus is your bitch. Order and Chaos weep before you. Satan now worships *you*.


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

[User]
What did David Hume mean when he said "Reason is to be the slave of the passions"?

the full quote goes as follows: **"Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them."**

Does this mean irrationality driven by desire and passion is to be held as superior to reason that advises against it? Is then attacking an irritating person in a fit of rage better than to cease and contemplate the consequences of such a decision?

[Assistant]
Humes quote, reason is a slave to the passions really needs to be understood in context.

The full quote is from the Treatise on Human Nature, from a sub section called motivating influence of the will. In this sub section, Hume is discussing what factors motivate us to act or not act. In contemporary terms this would be called moral psychology or moral motivation, the study of what kinds of factors cause us to act morally.

Many philosophers prior to Hume thought that knowledge of moral truths was central to moral motivation. Specifically, through careful reflection and argumentation people would come to grasp moral truths. Then, through reason, they would then be motivated to act in a moral manner.

Hume categorically rejects this, claiming that reason simply cannot motivate in and of itself. Hume claims that our motivation is solely derived from passions, or in modern English, desires. Hume believes that, in order to act morally, we need to have a compelling *desire* to act morally, and that mere knowledge of moral truths is insufficient.

In this sense, reason is a slave to the passions because reason is dragged, kicking and screaming, by the passions that determine our behavior.

Importantly, Hume doesnt think this is a good or a bad thing, to him its simply a brute fact about our psychology.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why was there such a debate between Edison's DC and Tesla's AC?

I have seen so many quarrels over the years, and still we use both, but one was there such a debate and why can't we decide on one?

[Assistant]
you seem a bit confused.
We do not use direct current for power transmission over distance, which was the focus of the war of the currents. There is too much loss due to resistance, too much risk of fire, and too much risk of electrocution.

Edison was heavily invested in DC. Setting up local power generation stations, a necessity for DC transmission, would have been very very expensive....which equals very very profitable for edison.
Teslas AC technology allowed for longer distance transmission of power with lower losses and less risk of fire/loss of life....which is why Alternating current won the battle and is what we plug into today.


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

[User]
How much more Powerful would a Graphene Superconductor Battery be than a same-sized Lithium ion Battery ?

I read somewhere its 20x more power

That doesnt sound really much and not at all revolutionary , does it ?

[Assistant]
Don't confuse power with storage ability. Perhaps the battery could supply much higher wattage, yet still hold far less energy.

100 watts for 1 minute is much higher power than 5 watts for 60 minutes, yet the latter is more total energy.


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

[User]
Does it matter where you adjust the volume of headphones?

For most headphones, there are three ways to change the audio volume: on the headphone itself, on the pc/laptop/tablet and in the program you are running on it. Does the audio quality change depending on where you adjust it? And is there an ideal setting? (Should you put your pc on 100%? 75%? 50%? Or is it all the same?)

[Assistant]
Generally speaking, you want the highest output input into the amplifier. So, turn up your software first, then the hardware.

(Volume thats turned down in software just results in a lower level output, so if thats not loud enough and you start cranking up a preamp to compensate, youll get more noise.)


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

[User] eli5 : prize money, what is the difference between a pot and a purse ?

[Assistant]
Pot generally means all of the money in a prize pool

Purse means the money paid out to each recipient (i.e. the winner(s)).

Purse will be some portion of the pot.

For example, a purse may be first place gets 50% of the pot, second place gets 40%, 3rd place gets 10%


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

[User]
ELI5 Why do some hairs only grow to a certain length?

I've seen people with very long head hair but never anyone with braided armpit hair or flowing in the breeze pubes. Why?

[Assistant]
Every hair is produced in a hair follicle. The follicle is an organ that produces hair in several stages. First the hair enters the growth stage called: "anagen". The hair follicle determines how long it will stay in the growth stage until it goes on to the next stage: resting.

How long the hair keeps growing is determined by how long the hair follicle will stay in the growth stage. The hair follicle in your eyebrows typically stay in the growth stage for 2-3 months. But the hair on your head keeps growing for a few years until it goes on to the resting stage.


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

[User] ELI5: How do ZIP files work? How can you compress a certain amount of information in a smaller amount of memory, and then be able to retrieve it all back in its original form?

[Assistant]
Imagine a tool box or a sewing kit, any of those neat little storage devices with cubbies and drawers and little fold-out shelves. How much space do they take up? When the are stored away, they take up very little space. You open them up, and take all the little bibs and bobs out to use, and they take up a more space. And once your really get into your project, and have things spread out all over your workbench, they take up a lot of space. There is really no one right answer to how much space it takes up, because it is really a tradeoff between space and accessibility.

Information in a file, like a story, a song, a picture, or a movie, works the same way. It can be very accessible, and take up a lot of space, or take a lot of work to get at, and be packed away tightly. There is really no magic to making it smaller, you are just making the same tradeoff between size and accessibility. When you transform a file into the small but less accessible format, we call that data compression.

It works by removing redundancy (sometimes called entropy) from a file, and encoding it in a more efficient form. Text files are normally encoded using something ASCII, where each letter is assigned an 8 digit binary code:

    A = 01000001
    B = 01000010
    C = 01000011 etc.

With this scheme "A", a common letter, takes up the exact same amount of space as "Z", a less common letter. Even worse, the word "the", takes up three times as much space as Z, even though it is more common as well. Lossless data compression figures out which sequences are most common, and assigns them shorter codes, and leaves longer codes for uncommon ones. It might encode "A" as 1101, "the" as 01101, and "Z" as 1001100111. For every "A" it encounters, it saves 4 bits and for every "the", 19.  The cost is that for every "Z", it uses 2 more bits, but overall this is a big win, because there are going to be more A's than Z's.

One frequent question is why can't you just compress a file over and over until it is as small as you like? When you stow your tools and fold up your tool box, it becomes optimized for space, there just isn't any more space to remove. Similarly, lossless compression removes redundancy and optimizes how data is encoded so it takes up less space. Once you remove it once, there is nothing left to remove.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] What will it take for Starfleet to create a dedicated military arm?

With wars with the Dominion, Klingons, Cardassians, Borg etc. At what point does Starfleet decide they need a proper fighting force?

[Assistant]
Don't they already have one?

I mean sure their ships are almost all science vessels but they also have world destroying super weapons on them. They also have defiant class ships and fighter wings that were using during the Dominion war.

As for an army they do have the Security wing of the command chain and all Starfleet graduates, even in the Science wing, are trained in weapons and battle tactics.


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

[User]
[X-Men films] What is Professor Charles Xavier a professor of, exactly?

After my kid blew up the public school's science lab for the third time (don't ask) I pulled him out and sent him to Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters, hoping that they would be able to set him straight. She's a good kid, but accidents happen...

Anyway, I got the first report card back, and apparently this Xavier guy is teaching both Physics AND Literature, at least. I know it's a private school, don't they at least have enough teachers for every subject?

Plus, I did a little googling on Xavier, apparently he got his degree in biology. Something about genetic mutation. Is he really qualified to be teaching Physics or English at a high-school level?

And don't even get me started on their art teacher.

[Assistant]
We know from First Class that he has a Ph.D in Genetics at least. As for physics and literature, well considering he is only teaching these to a high school level, he could feasibly have completed a teaching degree as well as a specialization fairly easily.

In a modern teaching industry, with a pre-planned and standardized syllabus, it takes a LOT less knowledge to teach Physics and English than you probably think it does.

Edit: Just to add to this, in Marvel 616 comics, Professor Xavier holds Ph.D.s in Genetics, Biophysics, Psychology and Anthropology, as well as an M.D. in Psychiatry. He served a two year residence at Oxford, and was an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why does Obi-Wan's force ghost sit on a log

In Return of the Jedi, after rescuing Han, Luke travels to Degobah to confront Yoda with the revelation of Darth Vader's true identity. They talk, Yoda dies, and Luke goes outside to meet Obi-Wan's force ghost. At some point during their conversation, the slain jedi's force manifestation decides to rest its legs and it takes a seat on a fallen tree, and throughout the interaction acts more like a shiny, blue man rather than an incorporeal phantom. This is at odds with his depiction in Empire Strikes Back, when he's introduced to a weary Luke in the midst of a deadly blizzard, and is -- at least initially -- portrayed as more mirage than man. Do force ghosts interact with the world in a physical way? Do they feel the type of exhaustion or weariness that would incline a person, or force ghost, to take a load off?

[Assistant]
Force of habit. And no, the pun wasnt intentional.

They interact with the world through the Force but they still have all their habits from life. Kenobi just sat down when discussing a rather weighty subject because hes used to it.


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

[User]
[StarGate] Why does the 7th chevron need to be explicitly entered?

As far as I understand, the 7th chevron-the origin-never changes. And even if it does, it's not up to traveler to change it. The variables are only the target coordinations, but the origin is constant. It basically has zero entropy. Why doesn't the gate calculate it internally? What's the purpose of entering it manually? Has there ever been a case, where a gate was activated with different glyph than its origin?

[Assistant] Once they discovered 8 and 9 chevron addresses, this becomes clearer.  The origin chevron is used to initiate the dialing.  If the origin chevron is the 7th chevron, the gate knows you're dialing a gate in the Milky Way.  Otherwise, you would be dialing a gate much farther away, and would require much more power.


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

[User] [Star Trek] Everyone knows Latinum can't be replicated but can it be beamed through transporter? If it can, is it possible for someone to hack a transporter and hold Latinum in the transporter buffer while materializing copies of Latinum? (Cloning the Latinum with the transporter)

[Assistant]
Latinum can be transported. This was seen in DS9 when the FCA agent is beamed into Quark's quarters. The agent is wearing a golf order latinum bar as a necklace.

As for cloning with the transporter, has this ever been done on purpose in any series? I've only seen it happen as accidents.


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

[User]
Eli5: What is the difference between shampoo, shower gel, 2in1 and conditioner?

Title basically says it all. Specifically, though, what makes 2in1 able to do the job of both shampoo and conditioner?

[Assistant]
Shampoo basically reacts with the natural oils and binds so when you rinse, the shampoo takes the oil with it.

Conditioner helps to repair hair damage and basically adds a protective coat to the hair.

AFAIK, two in one doesn't really work at moisturizing the hair.


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

[User]
[DC/HPMOR] Could Rational!Harry use a Blue Lantern Ring?

Is Rational!Harry's expectations of an inevitable future post-singularity utopia enough to power a Blue Lantern Ring? In particular, the mindstate he uses for the True Patronus Charm he developed?

If so, how does he compare vs. other existing lanterns.

[Assistant] I think he would, though he would probably spend the first while having his mind blown by the idea that he can relight stars then somehow hijack that ability into being able to do all sorts of crazy useful shit.


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

[User]
[Marvel] How advanced would Earth be if nobody ever hoarded their technology, and instead just patented it to sell on the market to make money like well behaved capitalists?

This goes for super hero scientists as well as super villain ones.

[Assistant] Best-case scenario is that people like Tony Stark and Hank Pym start marketing their technology as a service in order not to lose control of it. Stark partners with the US military to provide soldiers with a range of armored suits. He makes a decent profit but nowhere near as much as Pym, who has revolutionized shipping, transport, and storage for *everyone.*


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

[User]
ELI5:Why do we work 5 days per week?

Someone somewhere must have deemed that humans have to work 5 days per week. Why not 3, 4, 6 or 7 for that matter?

[Assistant]
It used to be 6, with the exception being Sunday for Christians and Saturday for Jews.

The additional day most likely only came with rising regulations and laws for the protection of employees. In some service industries, people still work 6 days.


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

[User]
CMV: Accepting an exchange on my shop vac wasn't ethical.

**Edit:** I added another pretty major chapter to the story at the very end that I also feel is unethical on my part that I would like to include in the discussion.

So, this is a different one, related to consumer ethics. Looking back on what happened, I am pretty sure I didn't act perfectly ethically, though I'm also not too bothered about it.

Without getting bogged down in the details, I broke a small part on a shop vac a bought a few months ago. There's a plastic nut that screws onto a plastic stud and I over tightened it and snapped off the stud. All my fault. I brought that part into my local Sears Hometown Store to see if I could buy a new part. The employee there suggested that I just bring in the whole vacuum and they'll give me a whole new one. I clarified that I broke it myself, and he confirmed it will be fine, saying something along the lines of "corporate reimburses us for replacements".

It seems clear this replacement was outside the terms of the warranty, unless you argue that the stud had a material defect that caused it to snap off (edit for delta; people have indeed made that argument well enough to change my view) :

> FOR ONE YEAR from the date of sale this product is warranted against defects in material or workmanship.

>WITH PROOF OF SALE a defective product will be replaced free of charge.

>This warranty does not cover expendable parts that can wear out from normal use within the warranty period.

What makes this unethical is that I think the local store replacing it for me will be accepting corporate money under false pretenses - I am assuming that they just file a claim for a fulfilled warranty and get reimbursed their cost for the replacement product. So the store will be slightly lying accepting warranty reimbursement for something that isn't technically covered under warranty.

***EDIT:*** awarded a delta because my conclusion hinges on the assumption that the store had to lie to corporate to get reimbursed. It is entirely possible (though less than likely in my estimation) that corporate fully supports these out-of-warranty replacements and doesn't mind footing the bill at all. [end of edit]

Anyway, I know it's not a big deal and no party was seriously harmed, and Sears may even benefit in the long run by my increased loyalty, but I don't think that changes the ethics of this act in particular. If one of your friends stole your TV and I knowingly accepted it, that would be wrong...even if I later gave you two TVs.

So, CMV.

***CHAPTER 2***

Okay so the next day when I went back to do the exchange, I brought back the vacuum. And only the vacuum. I intentionally kept the extra accessories that came in the box; the hose, the attachments, the filter, etc. They gave me a new vacuum in retail packaging for the exchange, so I got another hose, filter, attachments, etc.

That part is more clearly unethical on my part, right? To be clear, I never hid the fact that all I was bringing back was the vac, though I also didn't ask whether they wanted the accessories back either.

[Assistant]
Like all ethical questions, the answer depends on your ethical framework.

Consequentialists might argue that what matters most is how happy the parties involved ended up. By that measure, you did nothing wrong.

Deontologists might stick on the idea that you broke a core rule of honesty.

Virtue ethicists might ask you if what you did reflected good qualities.

And most people will pick and choose between the three, mashed up with some random traditions and whether they like you.

But the bottom line is that you can't definitively answer an ethical question except in the terms of a particular ethical framework. There's a fair amount of overlap in the final output of the big three systems, but ethical uncertainty tends to lie in the places they diverge.

So your ethical question can only be answered to the extent that you commit to a particular framework.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why do so many great MMA fighters have multiple losses on their record compared to boxers?

It seems to me that the truly great MMA fighters tend to have multiple/more losses on their records when compared to boxers, where the truly great ones tend to have none or one or two defeats only.

[Assistant]
A couple of reasons:

1) MMA is more physically tolling on the body. Even in training, you get hit, get slammed and get submissions put on you. More parts of the body are involved so there are more places to get injured. You are pretty much safe below the belt in boxing and don't have to worry about falling unless you get knocked out. You have to worry about both of these things in MMA.

2) It depends on who you consider "a great" and when you consider them one. Anderson Silva didn't lose between 2007-2012. Fedor didn't truly lose from 2000-2009. GSP only lost twice from 2002-2013. Fedor's now lost multiple times, but it doesn't make his original run any less.

3) With UFC being the only real show in town right now and MMA matchups being booked by a company, and not individual promoters, it's hard to duck and dodge the best competition like boxers do. Boxers don't really have to face anyone they don't want as it's more on individual drawing power, while UFC is a full company. UFC will be around if say Rhonda Rousey leaves. Random boxing promoter may not be if his man leaves.

4) UFC and MMA have a lot less weight classes than boxing. There are 17 boxing weight classes right now. UFC has 8. That means the better talent is less spread out and you have a lesser chance of getting by on favorable matchups than skill.


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

[User]
Why can't you feel radiation?

Im sat here in pain for braking a toe... Not life threatening at all but my body responds in pain. I get an xray which you cant have to much of but you dont even feel a tickle?

[Assistant]
You *can* feel radiation.  You feel it all the time.  Every time you step outside, the light radiation from the sun (and the infrared radiation from the hot things around you, like cars and concrete) heats the surface of your skin, and you do, in fact feel it.

By, you're probably wondering why you cannot feel X-ray radiation.  Well, at high enough power, you can.  However, if the X-ray radiation is powerful enough to be felt, you're probably dead, soon.

X-ray radiation is of a much higher frequency than infrared or light radiation.  Instead of being scattered immediately by the surface of your skin, it passes through being scattered very little by soft tissue, and more by denser tissue.  It does heat the tissue it scatters off of, but since your bones have no nerve endings for temperature sensing, you cannot feel it.

The reason you're only allowed to receive a certain amount of X-ray radiation in your lifetime is due to the fact that, when X-rays hit complex molecules (like DNA) and scatter, they can also alter the structure of those compounds.  The X-rays are literally scrambling your DNA.