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

[User]
ELI5: why does it seem to take a long time for me to become "fully functional" after waking up every morning?

When I wake up my brain feels really groggy for a while.  My legs don't want to take fully steps. Unless I have someone engaging me with something very important immediately, I basically feel like a zombie moving around autonomously. Note: I have been diagnosed with sleep apnea, but have not been able to afford to do anything about it.

[Assistant]
This is known as sleep inertia. It describes impaired cognitive functioning which many people experience when waking up. There are a variety of reasons why it happens, including the binding of certain chemicals to brain receptors upon waking up and decreased blood flow to the brain.

The effect can be magnified if one wakes up during the stage 3 (slow wave) stage of the sleep cycle or if one wakes up during the circadian nadir (around 4am).


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

[User]
Before genes are sequenced, how do scientist make sure they are using the genes from the right organism?

As a birthday present I am getting my genes sequenced by a private company. For my sample they send a tube that I have to fill with spit then seal, shake and send back.
Once they get my sample how do they make sure that its actually my genes that are sequenced and not some bacteria or other organisms  (cow cells from a recent rare steak or something)?

[Assistant] The tests use human specific primers/probes for DNA amplification and sequencing, and the sample tube has chemicals that retard bacterial growth. Most of the interference from bacteria is a degradation of human DNA in the sample, it's not really possible to sequence the bacterial genome instead of yours.


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

[User]
[Game of Thrones/ASOIF] (Spoilers) What are everyone's claims to the Iron Throne, and which ones have weight by law?

Please include claims from anyone alive at the start of the series.

[Assistant]
I'll start at the death of Robert Baratheon.

Joffrey is believed to be Robert's eldest son, so he would hold the most right in the eyes of the law, if true. Even though he is not in fact blood, he's still thought to be his son. Obviously him not being his son makes his claim moot.

Viserys and by extension Daenarys have their claims built on the back that Robert stole the throne from their father, Aerys. And they are willing to take it back from his family.

Both Stannis and Renly make their claims acknowledging that Joffrey, Tommen, and Myrcella are incestual bastards, unrelated to Robert.

Stannis is the second eldest brother, only younger than Robert himself, and since Joffrey as well as none of his siblings are Baratheons he has the strongest claim to the throne. This is because he's his closest living relative.

Renly is Robert's youngest brother, and acknowledges that Stannis should be before him.  However since he's more well liked and Stannis is very rigid he thinks he should be king.

Robert has a bunch of bastards who could make a claim, but would likely be ignored.


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

[User] ELI5: Why head hair continues to grow, while pubic/leg/arm/underarm hair seems to reach a limit growth?

[Assistant] All hair has a limit on how long they can grow. Most people's hair on their head will generally stop growing when it's waist-length. Different hair have different length because they all have different length of life-cycle. Your eyelash has a life of 7-8 weeks, therefore it will only grow to a very short length before falling out. Hair on your head on the other hand, have a life of approx. 7 years, so those hair can be very long. Genetics can determine exactly how long your hair can grow, and some people's hair might have longer lifespan than others.


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

[User]
Why is Aristotle often considered a more important philosopher than Plato? Kant as well?

The general consensus among philosophers is that Aristotle, Plato, and Kant are the three most important philosophers in the history of the western tradition. I don't dispute that consensus, but I'm curious about why the order is the way it is. From what I've seen online and from what I've heard from one of my professors(Small sample size, I know lol), Aristotle is slightly more important than Plato, and Kant seems to be about as important as Aristotle and a little ahead of Plato. Why do they think this?

What do you guys think of this pecking order? Agree? Disagree? Thanks for your time.

[Assistant] Really, really depends on what you mean by "important". If you mean "historically influential", Aristotle probably wins for various reasons. If you mean "relevant to current work", Kant probably wins in a landslide. If you mean something like "foundational; historically necessary", then maybe Plato wins. But there's no uncontroversial notion of "importance" to make this evaluation from ahead of time.


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

[User]
In economic terms, what are the benefits and drawbacks of the profit motive?

I don't know if this is the question I want to ask, but I'm gonna roll with it and try to explain what I'm getting at.

In the modern economy, for the most part, the goal of any business is to generate a profit. Some care about profit maximization more than others. My perception is that, at least in some industries, profit maximization has led to negative effects on the consumer/society. News organizations prioritize sensationalism and spin because it gets them more clicks or views. Tech companies have been making their products with planned obsolescence in mind and making them near-impossible to repair, leading to an increase in electronic waste and forcing customers to buy new products cyclically, because that makes more profit than building a product that will last. Fast fashion companies churn out disposable clothing produced in sweatshops with no regard for their impact on the environment because, again, it's more profitable.

I can accept that regulation is necessary to curb these negative effects. And I don't have a problem with profit as a general rule; if a bakery makes a cake with $0.25 worth of ingredients and sells it for $5, I don't think that's necessarily a bad or immoral thing. However, I hesitate to "endorse" profit because it's clear that profit maximization can be detrimental to society in at least some important circumstances.

Rather than get into a moral or ethical debate about whether profit is "good" or "bad," I want to know what economists generally think of it. Does the profit motive lead to a more efficient allocation of resources, on-balance? In what contexts does it work? When is it inappropriate? What function does it serve in the economy? Are the examples I listed profit maximization or something else? Am I missing something important here?

[Assistant]
First, the benefits of the profit motive: When firms are profit maximizing in competitive markets, and markets are complete, then goods are allocated efficiently.  Formally, this is the first welfare theorem, and if you're interested in the details you can find proofs online or in a textbook (e.g. Mas-Colell).  Informally, this is Adam Smith's Invisible Hand.  The profit motive induces firms to produce goods that are desired, and produce them at low cost.

What are the drawbacks?  In reality the assumptions of the first welfare theorem do not hold.  You have identified several problems which violate the "markets are complete" assumption.  If there are externalities without associated property rights, then firms will not internalize all the costs of their activities.  Over-pollution (in some forms) is a classic case of this problem.  Usually this problem would lead profit-maximizing firms to produce too much, although if there are positive externalities they might produce too little.

The second assumption is perfect competition.  If profit-maximizing firms have market power and can affect the price of their goods, then they will tend to produce too little of the good.

In summary, the profit motive brings the economy close to efficiency when markets work well, but can lead to over- or under-production when market power or externalities (or other problems of market incompleteness) are large.

I hope I've answered your question.  Here are a couple more to think about.  Clearly, some markets are incomplete and some firms have market power, so the first welfare theorem does not literally hold.  How can we solve some of the problems?  Governments sometimes use regulation to do this: anti-trust laws constrain market power in some cases, and environmental regulation prevents some problems with externalities.  Are there other options?  If you are interested in these sorts of questions, measuring and solving these problems is one of the main jobs of IO economists.


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

[User] How does stress weaken the immune system?

[Assistant] Part of it, at least, is due to stress hormones, namely cortisol. Stress induces cortisol synthesis that essentially works as an immunosuppressant - it inhibits cells of the immune system from launching a full-on immune response. An immune response in itself, while helping us fight disease, is also very stressful and energy consuming for the body. That's why we have stress hormones to give our body a chance to focus on overcoming stress before turning the immune system back on and focusing on fighting the disease. The problem is when stress is present for longer periods of time, because during that time, our immune system is suppressed and pathogens can wreck havoc through our bodies. When the stress finally lessens, we often fall ill and the disease is often worse than it would've been otherwise, because it's had more type to develop without the immune system fighting back.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why are the jedi so willing to kill?

Aren't they supposed to be peaceful and compassionate? It doesn't seem like they ever try to merely disarm their opponent, neither in the modern EU nor Legends. By that I mean, sure, they show mercy once it's begged for, but, they never go for non fatal blows it seems. Why hack a dude in half with a lightsaber when you could just destroy his weapon, or cut his hand off  (won't bleed out), or even just use a force push to mock them out? Even Luke, in Shattered Empire has no qualms about killing, remoreslessly slaughtering the imperials, even though he could likely succeed in his mission without ending a single life. Why? The other jedi I could understand, but Luke wasn't raised by them and is supposed to be very compassionate. Yet even he feels nothing whilst killing, not even a tremor in the force. Are the lives of Imperial worth less?

[Assistant] Most of the time we see Jedi kill, it's in the middle of a war, and against an opponent who is trying to kill them. Nothing in the Jedi code forbids killing an armed opponent. And when Jedi kill enemies who have surrendered or are not a threat to them. It's almost always a sign that they are on the path to the dark side.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are men (more often than not) taller than women?

[Assistant]
Its hormonal. Essentially estrogen causes growth plates to fused faster than males.

Got a brief period woman are taller than males.

Estrogen causes faster growth at first , then fuses the growth plates.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why must we take medicine "with meals" or "on an empty stomach"?

When I read pill descriptions I always wonder why different medicine require different taking times.
Some need to by taken 'with meals', others 'between meals' or 'on an empty stomach', still others with no mention about anything whatsoever. Hence the title.

Thanks in advance!

[Assistant]
Because medicines differ in their nature. Some medicines are absorbed better with food. Why, you ask? Some are lipid soluble, and therefore need fatty stuff to be absorbed. Some are acidic, and are badly absorbed in an empty stomach. Food makes the pH more favorable for the medicine.

This said, sometimes we want good absorption and sometimes we don't. When you take Vit D3 tablets, you want the entire stuff to be absorbed, and it is lipid soluble, so-after meals. And vice versa. Some acidity meds work best in empty stomach where they have the best pH they want and maximum absorption.


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

[User]
What happens to the observable universe as you move through it?

From my understanding, everything appears to be at its own center of the universe, with the most distant visible objects being aftermath of the big bang and the closest objects being ourselves.  I know that the faster something moves through space, the less that object passes through time; and that the space within our universe is expanding at an accelerating rate which means it's possible or will be true that we can never see beyond a certain point.

If we were to travel to a distant vantage point (eg: near another galaxy) within our lifetime for example, how would the edge of the observable universe compare to the one we see today on earth?  Would we still see the same objects from the observable universe we started with but older?  Or would new particles be formed (As energy isn't constant) creating the constant illusion that we're at the center of the observable universe.

But these both don't make sense to me.  Where could I learn this?

[Assistant]
Neil DeGrasse Tyson uses the analogy of a ship on the ocean with the 2d observable horizon representing the 3d observable universe.

If you were in andromeda galaxy you would be able to see some of the universe the milky way couldn't see.  However the milky way would be able to see some of the universe the andromeda galaxy couldn't see.  In the time it took you to get to the andromeda galaxy the visible universe for all observers would have grown as more time would have past to let light from distant locations reach us.

Since nothing can travel faster than the speed of light anything an observer can currently see they will still be able to see even if they change position.  In other words the boundaries of each observer's observable universe are accelerator faster than the observer can move.

edit:

I just wanted to clarify that the universe is likely bigger than the observable universe (probably infinite) and each point *is* a/the center (or there isn't a center); not just appearing to be one.


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

[User]
ELi5: Why does weed give some people anxiety while for others it relieves it?

Some people get extremely anxious when high while others are able to relax and have fun, why is this?

[Assistant]
ELI5 answer: In short, it enhances what's already there, which is why experienced recreational drug users always talk about "set & setting". The "set" is your mindset and the "setting" is your surroundings.

If you already have anxiety and stress or if you're in a setting which isn't enjoyable or just negative all-around, all of that is going to get amplified.

Conversely, if you're relaxed and having a good time and in a warm & comfortable place you're more likely to have a positive experience.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does a carbonated beverage that has been frozen and then thawed out again lose its carbonation?

Bonus: How many more times do I need to put a beer in the freezer before I remember to set a stupid timer to get it out?

[Assistant]
Carbonated drinks are created by having a large enough quantity of gas (CO2) dissolved into a liquid. How much CO2 will dissolve into the liquid before it is saturated is a function of the liquids pressure and temperature.

The CO2 becomes *edit:* ~~less and less~~ more and more soluble as the liquid cools far enough to become a solid. Once it freezes however, the CO2 will entirely separated from the solidified frozen liquid. depending on how full the container is and how it freezes, you'll get a solid with bubbles of CO2 gas in it, or a solid with all the CO2 at the top of the container.

Provided the added pressure doesn't make your bottle explode, when you thaw out your bottle you get a liquid and a bunch of CO2 gas, which escapes when you open it. If you left it for several days, the CO2 and the liquid would slowly reach an equilibrium and you would get a fairly carbonated drink, though if it is over-saturated to start with or even completely saturated you'll lose some carbonation.


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

[User] [Star Wars] Why was Bastila the leader of the strike team sent to capture Revan? Battle Meditation aside, she was only a padawan.

[Assistant] Bastilla is among the stronger Jedi in the order but Jedi rank isn't based solely on power, there's also things like wisdom and maturity. Bastilla still held attachments to her family and was pretty easily turned to the Dark Side at the end.


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

[User]
How to concentrate on exams when you are sad?

Hi, these days I have a bit of shit in my head, and I need to concentrate to study because I have exams this week, and I can't do it, usually when I'm a sad, work or study helps me, because it distracts me, but this time it doesn't work.
What do you do when you feel like this?

[Assistant]
Best advice Ive received is to show yourself some compassion. Acknowledge to yourself that what youre trying to do is hard (e.g., pressing forward with a broken heart, dealing with the junk in your life) and do something physically soothing for yourself (e.g., wrap up in a blanket while studying, put a heating pad on your back).

I hope you feel better soon. Exams are just a temporary thing you need to get through. After, you will have time to feel all your feels.

Youve got this, OP!


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it that many of our memories can only be accessed in our brains after we are reminded of them?

[Assistant]
The memory you are talking about is associative, meaning things and events are linked together so when you are reminded of something it activates all the things associated to that memory giving you more detail about the memory itself.

Edit: maybe you're wondering why we can't just access our memories at will? Well it's because those memories might only be weakly associated to things in your day to day, you don't want to remember everything all the time, so it requires a certain activation of pathways to trigger that memory. This is why sometimes retracing your steps, either physically or mentally, helps if you have misplaced something.


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

[User] eli5, why do deer run at the slightest sound or movement, but just stand there and stare when a car is coming towards them at full speed?

[Assistant]
One thing that others haven't mentioned: prey animals like deer and squirrels and zebras escape predators by being nimble, not fast.  They can't outrun hawks and wolves and lions in the wild, so their defense mechanism is to stand still as the predator comes towards them, and then to abruptly change direction at the last second and run off.  With any luck, the predator's momentum will cause them to overshoot the deer, forcing the predator to stop, turn around, and restart the pursuit, giving the deer time to escape.

That works great when you have a predator who is tracking you and trying to intercept where you are.  It works poorly when your "predator" is a huge car headed in a straight line roughly towards where you are.  The car isn't adjusting its course to hit you, so it's not going to be fooled if you change direction at the last second.


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

[User]
What makes gold, gold in colour?

What causes the yellow colour of gold? While most metals in their reduced state are effectively colourless, gold (and copper) have colour beyond just being reflective. There are no things like organic chromophores in a metal, and the transitions that give metal salts their colours shouldn't be applicable in the neutral metal, as far as I understand. So, what makes gold (and copper, etc) special amongst metals?

[Assistant]
In heavy elements like gold, the electrostatic attraction of the nucleus drags electrons so close that their velocity becomes a substantial fraction of the speed of light. (In an orbit, radius and speed are  proportional at constant momentum.) This means that relativistic effects become significant. This causes the 5*d* and 6*s* orbitals to contract.

When they contract like this, the energy difference between the two orbitals also changes. The corresponding energy gap in a silver atom is equivalent to the energy carried by light in the ultraviolet spectrum. But in gold, it shrinks into the visible part.

So electrons absorb visible light at a certain frequency as they transition from the lower energy state to the higher energy orbital. The visible spectrum minus this absorbed light is what we perceive as golf.


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

[User] [ELI5] How can a charged particle have mass, but not have size?

[Assistant] Size is a concept that makes a lot of sense with beer cans, because the impact of quantum mechanics on beer cans averages out to about 0.  The smaller a thing you try to apply a non-quantum concept to the less well the concept is going to work.  Except at absolute zero (0K), all quantum things are always moving, a little.  The math for "quantum position" is statistical, you can have high certainty the object is in a smallish volume of space, but that's just not the same as "position" in the beer can sense of the term.  If "size" is the width of the smallish volume containing the object, that's pretty different from "size" in the beer can sense, and even so there is still some probability the particle is not in the volume marked by its "width".


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

[User]
CMV I believe there are only two genders. And you can only claim to be one at a time.

Now, first off, I would like to say that I believe in transgender and transsexual people. I think people can have a different gender than their birth gender. However, in my mind, there are only four options as far as the whole of gender options: male, female, mtf trans, and ftm trans.

And, at any one point in time, each person is either male or female (or transitioning, but I don't consider that a separate gender).

Also, I believe that the bathroom you use is what YOU think you look like. So, no matter how much you feel like you're a woman, if you have a beard, use the men's room. If you are sporting double ds, you should go to the women's room.(These are extreme examples)

Feel free to CMV on anything I mentioned.

[Assistant]
Well first, lets examine the likelihood of this, biologically.  Do things in nature tend to come in binaries or spectrums?  Within the characteristics of a species, it's easy to see it's the latter.   People are not "5' or 6' tall", they run an entire range of heights.  Similarly with hair colors (even blonde varies) or shades of skin color, or other characteristics, such as eyesight, foot size, hearing acuity, etc.

Secondary and Primary sex characteristics come on a similar spectrum.  There are many people who possess both or none of the traits associated.

Now, question: why would this spectrum all of a sudden snap to binary?


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

[User]
Philosophy on the existence of logic

I was wondering if there is philosophy on the existence of logic. Thought experiments on how a world with no logic would look like or "proofs" that some kind of logic must exist. Or thought experiments on how a world with different logical rules would be able to function.

[Assistant] A classic paper on this is James Conant's "The Search for Logically Alien Thought", which chronicles the shifting positions Hilary Putnam held on this topic over the course of his career (and finds sources for each position in the history of philosophy). It's a great way to get a bearing on some of the different possible views here and a get a sense of where some influential figures (Descartes, Kant, Aquinas) came down on this.


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

[User]
[starwars] How can you have clones yet make slavery illegal?

In a world... like the republic where slavery is illegal... how does the people justify the clone army?  As I understand it they are considered humans with free will and some of them even have families yet they are pre-programmed to serve and the jedi refers to them as "republican property"

what would've happened if the jedi defeated the sith during the clone wars... what would've happened to the clones?

[Assistant]
Crisis, mainly. The Republic is embroiled in an emergency, the clones are already grown and the best tools available to them, necessity demands the Republic make use of them.

Keep in mind, the Clone Wars were engineered by Sidious specifically to force the Republic onto a more authoritarian footing he could use to establish an empire, and to force the Jedi to compromise their ethics.

>what would've happened if the jedi defeated the sith during the clone wars... what would've happened to the clones?

Most likely the same thing that happened to them under the Empire, they would be given the opportunity to retire. Most likely the Republic dissolves their formal army again, rather than reorganizing it and replacing them with stormies.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do polar bears not suffer from snow blindness?

[Assistant]
Polar bears have a third eyelid, otherwise known as a nictitating membrane. It allows them to minimize the amount of UV radiation entering their eyes, and thus prevent snowblindness.

**EDIT:** By the way, humans used to have a third eyelid as well. And there are vestigial remains of your third eyelid in the corner of your eyes, permanently folded toward the nose. It's called the plica semilunaris, and it's a pretty good example of a useful trait which, unfortunately, was selected out through evolution.


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

[User] ELI5 Why do baby teeth grow in straight, but adult teeth grow in crooked?

[Assistant] Permanent/adult teeth are a lot larger than baby teeth so they take up more room. If the size of the mouth lags behind the development of the adult teeth, then they will come in crooked or even like a shark tooth where the adult tooth doesn't actually crush the baby tooth's root and comes in front of it or behind it.


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

[User]
I think people with incurable, hereditary diseases should be sterilized to stop the disease from continuing into the next generation. CMV

Having read about the devastating effects of hereditary, incurable diseases, I think all people who have debilitating diseases (and have no kids yet), or who learn that their parents have passed the disease-ridden genes onto them, should be sterilized so as to stop the spread of harmful, incurable, hereditary diseases. Instead, they should adopt children from less fortunate countries. Change My View.

[Assistant]
Not every person with a hereditary, incurable disease will pass it on to their children.  Cystic fibrosis, one of the most common incurable generic diseases is recessive. The only way someone with CF will have kids with CF is if they procreate with another CF person or carrier. If their partner doesn't have the gene, all of their kids will be (harmless) carriers.

If your goal was to eradicate CF by sterilization, you would need to sterilize all carriers also, even though two carriers only have a 25% chance of having a baby with CF.

Not to mention that sterilization would essentially wipe out any research towards finding a cure. CF was fatal by grade school 50 years ago, and now they're expecting a cure within 2 years.


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

[User]
Is "The School Of Life" a Bad Introduction to Philosophy?

Hello everybody  I have been getting increasingly into philosophy lately, and with that looking for a "top of the milk" introduction into many philosophers and philosophical ideas. I stumbled on the youtube channel "The School Of Life" and have been watching lots of their content that covers the existentialist thinkers. I had heard from a friend that "The School Of Life" was pretty biased and not a good place to get information, but I wanted to see if this was rooted in truth by asking a larger audience.

Thanks in advance to those who answer, my appreciation goes out to you!

[Assistant] Somewhere in the comments of their video on the Mind-Body Problem, which isn't at all about the philosophical problem but closer to anxiety about disjunction between mental self-image and body, The School of Life states that it isn't intended to be a introductory resource to philosophy but, rather, promoting its own idea of emotional intelligence, or something like that.


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

[User]
ELI5: How come we can see a source of light extremely far away when the source only illuminates the area much closer to it?

For example, I'm sitting on my front porch which overlooks the town. Miles away I can see streetlights, signs, etc. How does the source project light to my location, yet doesn't illuminate my location?

Holy moly friends, thanks for the awards and stuff. I didn't think this question would spark so much interest, lol. I am thoroughly grateful for all your replies.

[Assistant]
Absorption and scattering.

Unless your location is a perfect white, some of the light hitting it will be absorbed, reducing its intensity.

Then, unless your location is a perfect mirror perfectly angled to redirect the light to your eye, the light is scattered in every direction, further reducing its intensity.

The light *is* still illuminating your location, and if you could somehow turn off all the other lights illuminating your location, turn around to look away from the last distant street light, wait a while for your eyes to adjust, and then start flipping that streetlight on and off you should be able to see a difference (depending on just how far away the streetlight is).

But in the real world, turning off all other sources of light isn't really possible, most of the time.


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

[User] ELI5: Can gravity decay over time? Why or why not?

[Assistant]
No, gravity doesn't decay, at least not directly as a function of time.

Gravity is just a function of two things: the mass of two objects and the distance between them.

So if we had two objects of fixed mass at a fixed distance and those properties never changed, the force of gravity between them would be the same today as it would be a trillion years from now.

Now, if one of those objects lost mass in any way, gravity would decrease.  If you moved one away from the other, it would decrease.  But neither of those really has to do with time.


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

[User] [Superpowers] what abilities can perfectly contrast or be strong enough to fight against those with the ability to manipulate time and space?

[Assistant]
Manipulation of time is a tough one, because it's essentially an infinite do-over button. You would need someone who is also capable of manipulating time, or something like the SCP's reality anchors that prevent general fuckery from working.

Someone like Domino might have a lot of luck against a time traveler, literally; no matter what they do to her, her powers will protect her.

Of course, Thanos showed us that one excellent counter to time manipulation powers is being large, purple, and insanely dedicated to your cause. Space manipulation powers are easier to overcome, however; you just need a god-killing axe, and you need to remember to go for the head.


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

[User]
[Marvel/DC] When people have superhuman strength, where exactly does the strength come from? A lot of them don't have muscles much larger than humans who work out a lot.

Spider-Man is usually portrayed as pretty muscular, but his muscles aren't big enough for me to understand how they could do some of the things he does.

With the hulk I can understand it because his limbs are the size of tree trunks and I can therefore see where the power comes from. But other characters with super strength, that still more or less look like normal people, where does the strength come from? Are their muscles really dense or something?

[Assistant]
Muscle density is the big one. But it's not just that. Super dense muscles taking on a heavy load might very well break the bones of the lifter.

When super strength is a thing you'll also be wanting a complete overhaul of he entire skeletal system.

Mystic sources also exist and those don't necessarily need to follow the laws of physics.

For the highest tiered super strengths the mechanism may be a sort of tactile telekinesis.


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

[User]
ELI5: Pornhub and YouPorn have both pledged to use encryption to block ISP's from using your traffic on those sites. How is this effective?

For instance, if I go to pornhub.com/kinky_video, how does Pornhub encrypting that video prevent my ISP from knowing that I went there? Couldn't they just look up pornhub.com/kinky_video and know what I watched?

[Assistant]
When you go to a website, your computer first asks your DNS server (likely ran by your ISP) to translate the domain name into an IP address, eg pornhub.com to 31.192.120.36. Your computer then connects to the server at that IP address, and asks that computer "Send me pornhub.com/kinkyvideo".

You never asked your ISP for the URL. You asked your DNS server (again, likely ran by your ISP unless you changed it) to translate the domain name to an IP address, then all of the rest of the communication was between you and the pornhub server, your ISP isn't involved past being the carrier of the data.

Now, if your connection is not encrypted, anyone between you an the remote server (such as your ISP) can see the contents of your communications. They can see "oh hey, clevertoucan just requested pornhub.com/kinkyvideo'. However, if the connection is encrypted, all that your ISP knows is "clevertoucan just looked up the address for pornhub.com, then there was a stream of encrypted communication between the them." They have no knowledge of what is within that communication, including no knowledge of the specific URLs you visited.


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

[User]
ELI5: If the temperature around lighting is around five times hotter than the surface of the sun, how can people survive being struck?

I saw that the temperature of the air around lightning could be five times hotter that of the surface of the sun. I was wondering how people could survive being struck by lightning and not toasted like a pop tart.

[Assistant]
People get burnt. The amount of heat energy that gets transferred is dependent on the difference in temperature and how long it is exposed. Lightning has a very very short duration, so it can only transfer enough energy to produce skin burns (these can be pretty serious). The air can be heated to a much higher temperature because it has a much much lower thermal mass.

It's similar to why you can quickly pass your hand through an open flame and not get burnt.


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

[User] ELI5: How can sailboats travel faster than the wind?

[Assistant] Sailing boats do not always use the sails on a boat like a parachute that collects the wind and gets pushed along. It sometimes acts like wing from a plane.this means with the right trimming the force pushing the boat along can be greater than the force that the wind would push it along conventionally.


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

[User]
If I can increase the air pressure in an opened 2 liter bottle of soda would that prevent it from going flat?

No matter how tight I screw on the cap of a 2 liter bottle, once it is opened it goes flat within a day or two.  My assumption is that because the bottle is no longer pressurized the CO2 has room to escape into the air that is in the bottle.  If I had a special cap that allowed me to pump air into the bottle would that be enough to keep the CO2 trapped in the soda? If so would it all escape as soon as I opened the bottle, or would it work to keep the soda from going flat?

[Assistant]
Here's a thought:  If you put a carefully calibrated piece of dry ice (solid CO2) into the soda bottle before you closed it, you could raise the pressure in the bottle enough to re-fizz your soda.

Of course, if you put too much, the bottle will explode.


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

[User]
ELI5: If you were travelling faster than the speed of sound, what would happen if you screamed?

I know it seems irrational, but Felix Baumgartner! Thanks

EDIT: Thanks everyone for all your replies :). Loving reading them! Just like to add, I know this can't happen without special clothing etc., like what Baumgartner wore, or being in a pressurised compartment such as a cockpit. I'm just wondering, theoretically ;). Thanks again :).

[Assistant]
In a pressurised compartment or spacesuit or something, the air between your mouth and ears isn't moving relative to you, so things are normal. If the air is moving past you faster than the speed of sound, (either you or the air can be moving) the sound from your mouth may not be able to travel through the air to your ears.
You might still hear something due to sound waves propagating through your bones, but it's more likely that you'd not because the air around your head would be pressurised by ram pressure and probably deafen you.
This reasoning may well be invalid because air behaves differently when it is hitting your face at hundreds of metres per second to when it is unimpeded.


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

[User] [LotR] What did the normalish followers of Sauron expect life to be like if he was victorious? The Easterlings seem like they are pretty normal fighting men. I'd suspect magic on the mind, or they are super gullible if they think Sauron would let them live normally.

[Assistant]
Dictatorships are great if you're the dictator.

Sauron is the embodiment of order in all its negative aspects- oppressive, uncaring, crushing. So likely they're like everyone who serves brutal hierarchies and they ideologies that lead to them. They believe that they'll be entering a society that purges outsiders, that puts Good Normal People at the top and finally puts the strange Outsiders with the strange ideas at the bottom. A society of purpose and order, where everyone is in their place.

Naturally, they'll assume they'll be insiders. In this new hierarchal society, they assume they'll be at the top. Likely, a lot of them would be wrong. But they would be far from the first people surprised who the Supreme Leader chooses for the first purge.


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

[User] ELI5: When lightning hits the ocean, why don't the fish die?

[Assistant] A lightning strike is quite a bit of energy when it's concentrated. When it hits the surface of the ocean, even though ocean water is a decent conductor, the electric current diffuses quickly in such a way that it's not lethal. An unlucky fish that is caught near the site of the strike may die, but a fish a few feet away would not.


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

[User] ELI5:  Why do courts use terms like "6 life sentences plus 140 years" when sentencing a criminal?  Why can't they just say, "you're never getting out?"

[Assistant] In verdicts like that one the defendant was convicted of multiple crimes, each of which has it's own sentence. If he ever gets acquitted of some of those crimes, but not all of them then we know how many life sentences they are still sentenced with.


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

[User]
[Purge] In the first movie, what would have happened if Mr. Sandman had allowed the purgers in his home so they can find the homeless guy themselves?

So, in the first movie, Mr. Sandin is willing to deliver the homeless guy to the purgers, but he fails to do so because he can't find him in time. So instead of searching for him himself and eventually failing, what if he opened his door to the purgers and let the purgers search the house themselves? The purgers are of course untrustworthy, so he can take the shotgun and all the guns, and arm his entire family in case the purgers turn hostile. They can lock themselves inside the security room and disengage/engage the locks from there. They can see when the purgers leave the house from the security cameras, and re-engage the locks after they are out.

EDIT: Oops, it is Sandin, not Sandman.

[Assistant]
>The purgers are of course untrustworthy

And there's the core issue; in this scenario they're basically trusting the armed, homicidal mob to be on their best behavior while *committing armed homicide*. Once they're inside the perimeter, there's not much to stop them from looting the place, or killing the power to blind the Sandin family, or engaging in other mischief or mayhem. And as the film itself demonstrated, Sandin's defenses are good, but they're not insurmountable; like most security systems in the face of a dedicated attacker, they're designed to buy time, not hold out indefinitely, and that would apply as much to the safe room as the main perimeter... assuming the mob doesn't just torch the place.


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

[User] ELI5: How does a natural lake not drain completely into the ground it is above?

[Assistant]
Well, they do, sorta.

It depends a lot on the geology of the area, but lakes that have rocky bottoms will drain less into the ground below them than lakes that have sandy bottoms. Even a sandy-bottom lake though is going to take a bit of time to drain through the sand. You can try this at home (if you have sand, water, and a clear container); basically pile some sand into the container and pack it down (the sand would have been packed down by glaciers and whatever else was there before the lake formed, not to mention that the weight of the water in a particularly deep lake is going to pack it down too [6 ft of water is around an additional atmosphere's worth of pressure]). If you pour the water gently onto the packed sand, you'll notice it doesn't reach the bottom of the glass immediately, but rather slowly seeps into the sand. If this is the case for a couple of inches of sand, you can imagine the effect once you get tens of feet of sand intermixed with solid rock and gravel.

So if lakes are draining into the ground slowly, why do they even exist still? Most natural lakes are fed by streams or rainfall in the area, and most manmade lakes were specifically designed to be fed (usually by a dammed river). The inflow from the rivers and rainfall is usually more or less equal to the water losses from seeping into the ground and evaporating, so lakes stay around the same depth.


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

[User] What makes cocaine cardiotoxic? How does it damage the heart?

[Assistant]
The end result of cocaines cardiotoxicity is a large increase in oxygen demand by the heart. Eventually, the heart wont get enough and it will fail to pump leading to a heart attack.

The increase in oxygen demand is multifactorial. Cocaine stimulates the sympathetic nervous system throughout the body and by doing so has a few effects on the heart. It will cause the heart to beat faster and also contract stronger with every beat. Because the heart is working literally harder and faster, it needs more oxygen. Additionally, cocaine causes constriction of your arteries which increases your blood pressure. Put simply, your blood pressure is the force the heart must overcome to push blood out of the heart and into the arteries. The higher your blood pressure, the harder it has to push. This further increases the work it has to do and the oxygen it needs.

Chronic use of cocaine causes the heart to change structure in an attempt to compensate for the work it is doing. The heart muscle will become thicker so it can squeeze harder. The issue with this is that your heart can only compensate for so long. As your heart gets thicker, the cavity inside it (where the blood is) gets smaller. This means for every heartbeat, the heart is moving less and less blood. Eventually the heart will fail to pump properly if it keeps being placed under the stress of cocaine.

It is important to understand a few this about these effects. First thing is that cocaines effects on the heart specifically are similar to a flight or fight effect but stronger. If you were chased by a bear, your heart would be placed under similar demands albeit less so. Secondly, you can tip your heart over the edge in one go or over months/years/decades. The longer you take cocaine, the more your heart compensates but with each compensation it moves closer and closer to the edge. Smaller and smaller insults could send it over. Or you can coke out on your first go and have the same result.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do all the popular depictions of muskets/blunderbuss have such stupid barrels, like its a funnel stuck on the end? (In Disney movies; Gaston's gun for example)

I'm not exactly an expert on guns in any way, but where did this come from? I could see a less exaggerated design of that nature being good at spraying a lot of shrapnel in a wide area at short range, but even that  seems like a serious stretch. So in short, wtf is up with that?

[Assistant] Muskets generally did not have a flared mussle. A Blunderbuss was a rudimentary shotgun, it could be loaded with anything from pellets, nails, or whatever shrapnel was around. The flare helps increase the spread to cover a wide area. The weapons are already inaccurate as hell, so it woud benefit the attacker to be able to cover a larger area to ensure that something hits the target.


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

[User]
[Marvel]If Daredevil unexpectedly accompanied the X-Men on one of their space adventures, could he cope?

Let's say the X-Men are giving Daredevil a lift when the Blackbird falls into a military-grade portal and crashes into the drone bay of a Shi'ar science ship that was running studies of the Earthlings. The Shi'ar are friendly toward Earth at the moment, but barely have time to put the fire out before being hailed by renegade Kree privateers, who announce their intention to board. Apparently something on board this ship has great value....

So, for an X-Man with working eyes, all in a day's work. They know what the different races look like. They remember something about their weapons and tools. They can sometimes read off screens and understand controls, make doors and elevators work.

But Daredevil is surrounded by sounds he's literally *never* heard before. If he hears a "wheep," he has no idea if that's a coffeemaker brewing or a murderbot coming online. He can't learn anything from any of the alarms or symbols. Any window looking into vacuum might as well be blank to him, and if they have to go EVA, he really *will* be blind! Can he even recognize doors? Is this all too much for him  does he have a breakdown? How much help is he going to need here?

(Prof. X was not on this flight, so no easy out of telepathically letting Daredevil borrow someone else's vision!)

[Assistant]
Good prompt.

is Daredevil fucked? probably not. He's not just a blind guy, he's not just a blind guy with superhuman echolocation powers, he's a *highly trained ninja with superhuman echolocation powers*.

DD would probably stick with the X Men if possible, since it's a bad idea for any of them to wander off alone into an alien ship being attacked by space pirates. But when it comes to unfamiliar tech, navigation, and avoiding hard vacuum, DD would probably default to a highly defensive posture; not rushing in after anything, standing aware, taking in data, learning the environment and acting with great caution, as if he were surrounded by enemies.

this definitely falls within his ninja training. He'd probably still be helpful to the X Men if there was a scrap with Kree. He doesn't need to recognize alien races, he can follow the team's lead on who needs to get punched.


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

[User] ELI5: why hasn't the US seen more recent unmarried presidential candidates?

[Assistant]
A good prospective first lady can be a huge asset in a campaign. They can attend rallies and fundraisers while their husband is elsewhere on the campaign trail. They can stress a different set of talking points, and thereby appeal to a different demographic of voters.

So an eloquent, politically active wife is kind of a force multiplier in a campaign. Bachelor/widower/divorced candidates are essentially playing at a disadvantage.


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

[User] ELI5:What happens to your body if you stay seated all day?

[Assistant] You can become susceptible to something called "deep vein thrombosis".  Blood pools in your lower extremities and can form a clot in one of the larger veins in your leg.  That clot can break loose and get lodge in your lung, causing a pulmonary embolism and sudden death.


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

[User] What kinds of regular shapes will perfectly tile a sphere?

[Assistant]
If you allow multiple shapes, the possibilities really are limitless, but if you want to use only a single shape, there is a simply mathematical property which helps understand what you can do.

Any way you tessellate will require a corner where at least three edges come together.  Of course, on a flat surface, the sum of the angles where they come together have to add up to 360. When you are making a 3D shape, you'll need it to be less than 360 degrees, because they aren't lying flat. Well, a hexagon has interior angles of 120 degrees, and 3\*120 = 360. Thus, you can't possibly tessellate a 3D sphere with a hexagon- it must be with shapes of 5 sides or fewer.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] The historic footage have shown the events from "a long time ago in a galaxy far away". What's currently going on in that galaxy far away?

What's happened in the galaxy recently?

[Assistant] a Sith lord took over the galaxy after a galactic wide war of attrition where the Jedi were nearly wiped out, he ruled with an iron fist until he was defeated by a new jedi who overthrew the sith lord and brought peace to the Galaxy, a new senate was put in place to rule the galaxy and a new jedi order was formed to keep the peace. But over time became corrupt and complacent and the Jedi order became mired in the past and unable to see a new rising evil. Then  Sith lord took over the galaxy after a galactic wide war of attrition where the Jedi were nearly wiped out...


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do Jewish people have a certain look, but other religions don't?

Jewish people, no matter what nationality, all generally have a certain look. When you look at someone, you can sometimes tell that they are Jewish, eg Barbra Streisand looks Jewish, as do Neil Diamond and Fran Drescher. They also have their own names, eg Cohen. Other religions don't have their own names and you can't tell that someone is a Christian or Muslim just by looking at them. You can often make a good guess, eg someone looks Middle Eastern, so there's a good chance that he's Muslim, or someone looks European, so there's a good chance that he's Christian.

How come very often you can tell that someone is Jewish just by looking at them? I thought that they were a religion, not an ethnicity?

[Assistant]
Jew here! I'll explain.

Jews are a *people* first, and a *religion* second.

"A people," you say? Well! Yes!
The Jewish People are sometimes called "The Hebrew People". The term is interchangeable. There are *two* types of Hebrews:

1) Ashkenazi Jews. These are your Eastern European "white" Jews! Think Jon Stewart!

2) Sephardic Jews. These are your Middle Eastern *brown* Jews!

90% of the time, when someone is referring to *The Jewish Race*, they refer to Ashkenazi Jews. This is a very unique ethnic group, with certain genetic characteristics that *only* apply here. Sadly, certain *degenerative disease* only exist in Ashkenazi people.. like *bloom syndrome* or *tay sachs disease*.

In Europe, Jews are considered to be a unique and independent race. Remember: the holocaust was *racism* - it didn't matter if people converted.

In the United States, our concept of race and religion is *different* - and Jews tend to get lumped with *whites* on the census.

Now.. Judaism is the *religion* of the Hebrew People. And "Hebrew" is the language of the Hebrew People.

However.. just because you're Hebrew doesn't mean you need to practice religion.. or speak Hebrew.
There are plenty of Atheist Jews out there, like Karl Marx.. or ME. We are ethnically Jewish!
Similarly, there's plenty of Buddhist Jews or Christian Jews. This is confusing because the term "Jew" refers to their ethnicity, not the religion.


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

[User] [WH40k] The commander of our battle barge has ordered me to requisition 10,000 gallons of mop and glow to clean the floors. Do we really need so much?

[Assistant]
Your battle barge is somewhere between 4 and 7 kilometers (2.4 to 4.3 miles) long, perhaps half a kilometer wide, and has at least a hundred decks.

10,000 gallons of Mop and Glow should be sufficient to keep the floors of the bridge and other essential areas (officers mess, officers lounge, Ministorum cathedral, primary engine room, primary gun deck and the corridors between all of these areas) up to the extremely high standards of the Imperial Navy for an acceptable amount of time between requisition periods.

No quantity of Mop and Glow shall be requisitioned for the cleaning of non-essential floor areas of the ship, nor shall any be issued from the stores of Mop and Glow currently requisitioned for the cleaning of essential floor areas. Crewmen ordered to clean non-essential floor areas shall be advised to consult the official Departmento Munitorum Sanitation Manual for instructions on proper floor cleaning procedure and acceptable Mop and Glow alternatives.

All floor areas of the Battle Barge, essential or non, *will* be kept to the strictest standards of cleanliness as determined by the Imperial Navy. Crewmen who find themselves experiencing difficulty upholding these standards within their prescribed cleaning area will be disciplined appropriately.

**++ THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Your life is a loan from the Emperor. Your service merely pays the interest.++**


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

[User]
ELI5: If police officers are not required to tell us when they are undercover, what stops all police offers from just wearing normal clothes and always being undercover?

I don't see why police officers wouldn't just always stay undercover so that people didn't know they were there. I know this would be a bad thing for then to be able to do, but I don't know why they can't do it.

[Assistant]
Why would they?

Clearly marked police presence is a crime deterrent. Very few police activities involve being sneaky and doing undercover stuff (though that's what you see on TV and the movies). A lot of what police do, like helping people, really isn't possible if you don't know who they are.


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

[User]
Why is there a green flash when I turn off electric switches?

Specifically, when I turn off wall sockets connected to high powered electrical appliances when they are still in use?

Eg: Turning off the switch for an oven still in use will result in a short, green flash at the place where you're flipping the switch, but if you turn off the oven first, then turn off the switch, there will not be a green flash.

I've tried this for other wall sockets and other appliances, and it always happens. What causes this green flash?

[Assistant] This happen because of an arc that is created when the two contacts in the switcth are physically removed from each other. The electric field between the contacts will ionize the air, causing it to carry some current. This creates the arc that you see as a "green flash". Why it is green, i don't know :)


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

[User]
[Spider verse] How does Spiderman feel about seeing Ghost-Spider?

How does Spiderman feel about seeing this alternate version of Gwen Stacy? Wouldnt it really mess with his head? What he considers one of his greatest failures has been reversed in a way. How does that not break him?

[Assistant]
In the comics, Spider-Man and Ghost-Spider agree to watch each other's backs specifically because they both have shared experiences with losing their world's counterpart.

If anything, realizing they aren't alone in their suffering seems like it almost comforts Peter and Earth-65 Gwen.


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

[User]
[General] How do Merpeople communicate?

Like how can you talk underwater?

[Assistant] Sound actually travels much further and clearly through water than air, so if they were using water as a medium they would be able to speak just fine. The reason people can't talk underwater is because we are trying to use the air in our lungs as a medium rather than the water around us.


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

[User] ELI5: What gives fire its shape?

[Assistant]
When air is heated, it tends to expand.

To explain why it expands - Heat is basically the measure of vibration and movement of the actual molecules within a substance. When something is solid, these vibrations don't have enough energy to stop the attractive forces between the molecules thus they stay mostly in place.

When something is a liquid, the molecules have enough energy to repel a LITTLE bit from the attracting forces, but can at least move so they tend to slide over one another and create something that flows - A liquid.

Something that is a gas has enough energy for each molecule that they have completely freed themselves from one another, and will expand to fill any container that they are in because they are basically just constantly slamming into one another as they move. This is what causes pressure because the molecules are constantly bouncing off of one another and forcing each other away, and WANT to move outward.

The hotter something is, the more it wants to expand as the movement of the molecules increase. Thus the lower density it would have as it expands.

This expansion lowers the density of the air that is being heated by the flame, as such it wants to rise upward because the cold air around it is more dense and forcing the hot air upward. Hot Air balloons work on this idea.

So in essence what you are seeing is not the exact shape of the fire, but what the air that is moving upward forms it into.

In space, fire would be much more stable in its shape and be mostly rounded as there is no gravity for hot/cold air to convect against.


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

[User]
[General Zombie or Apocalypse Fiction] What are some prime examples of people designing and developing specialized equipment and technology to deal with zombies, mutants, or other universe specific enemies?

My example would be the armor and weapons that the Commonwealth soldiers from The Walking Dead graphic novel series. On more than one occasion, these soldiers walked into a whole swarm of zombies, stating that is the whole purpose of the design. The rifles themselves have a large chopping blade under the barrel, and from what I understand are supposedly chambered in a fairly cheap ammo to produce, resource wise.

[Assistant]
World World Z had quite a few examples of specialised equipment.

The Standard Infantry Rifle was essentially a stripped down M-16 that was built to be cheap, reliable and accurate. The SIR was built using simple materials such as steel and wood, which could be salvaged in safe zones and was designed to be solely semi-automatic weapon which prevented soldiers from panicking and wasting ammunition with automatic fire.

The 5.56mm Cherry PIE round was developed alongside the SIR. Cherry Pie rounds contain a small incendiary explosive charge, ensuring that even glancing shots on a zombies skull would destroy the brain.

Finally, there was the LOBO which was a specialised survival tool built using the recycled steel from abandoned cars. The lobo was essentially a cross between a shovel and a battle axe and could deliver heavy yet precise blows to a zombies skull. Lobos were extremely cheap to mass produce and remained in production even after the 'zombie war' was over.


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

[User]
Many people who would never date a transgender person feel that way because of transphobia. CMV

I want to preface by saying that there are many reasons why a person wouldn't want to date a trans that probably don't stem from transphobia:

-They have sexual characteristics you aren't attracted to (eg MtF has a penis, FtM has a vagina)

-They can't have kids (Though its worth noting that MtFs can save sperm)

-You don't find an individual trans person attractive (If you don't find someone attractive, then you're not prejudice for not dating them, however I do think that if you say you won't date trans people because you don't find trans people attractive then there is prejudice there, as you're judging the appearances of all trans people)

-They have a personality or characteristics that you don't like

There are a few more I'm sure but those are the main ones.

I've encountered many people who both would and would not date a transgender person. Take this situation. Lets say there is a beautiful, absolutely gorgeous post-op (meaning shes had operations and hormones to change her physical appearance to that of her preferred gender) girl. Its entirely possible that a trans girl can be absolutely gorgeous, and on top of that look 100% female with her clothes on or off. Now I've met many men who would never date this girl. I could show them a picture of said girl and they would say "wow nice she is absolutely sexy, 10/10 would tap". As soon as I say she is transgender, they would say that there is no way they would date or hook up with her. This is the part that I find to be transphobic, and this is no way an unusual response.

So of course I follow up by asking why they would not date her. They say, because she used to be a guy before. I'll ask why that makes a difference and one common response is that they're not attracted to guys. But she isn't a guy. She is about as much a guy as a piece of paper is a tree. Would you not date a women who used to be utterly unattractive and unappealing? No that probably wouldn't bother you at all as long as she is attractive now and here forward. For all intents and purposes, unless you're giving her surgery you would never even figure out she was ever physically a guy on your own. It's simply completely irrelevant that she is trans. I'd say that the person's discomfort with trans people is  the actual main reason why they would dismiss her completely. Thats not enitrely unexpected though as society is very transphobic and people often make fun of those who date transgender people.

Now one thing that many people argue against me is that "How could I be transphobic for not wanting to be with someone, I mean, I'm simply not attracted to her because I found out she is trans.If I'm not attracted to her then how is that transphobia, didn't you just say that attraction isn't representative of prejudice?" But the reality of the situation is that they are attracted to her, they are just uncomfortable with her. That discomfort is transphobia. If that person was fully comfortable with trans people as some people are, I bet they would be perfectly fine with dating them. I've never met a person who I've felt to be open and understanding about transgender people who would also have a problem with dating a post-op transgender person for reasons other than the ones I listed at the beginning.

I've also met people who view this situation as a matter of sexual orientation. i.e. A straight guy may say that his sexual orientation is just cis girls, or a bi person might say that they are only attracted to cis people and so they wouldn't date a trans person. I think the biggest flaw with this is that sexual orientation isn't representative of who you would date. Sexual orientation is representative of who you're attracted to. If you can completely within reason fall in love with a transgender person and spend your whole life with them and never know they're trans, then how can you say that you aren't attracted to them? Even in a situation where you're dating someone for a year and then find out they're trans, its not like your sexual orientation just magically kicked in and made you unattracted to them at that point. If you were in love with them for a year and then suddenly stopped based on a fact about their past, then it's not a matter of sexual orientation.  And I'd bet that if this person was completely not transphobic, he would recognize that it changes absolutely nothing about the relationship and his only beef would be that she kept something so significant about herself from him for so long. (that being said, I'd like to point out that transgender people have a lot of reason to keep the fact that they're trans from people, even people they're dating. Thats a very tricky situation in and of itself though that I'm not going to delve into though)

And one final thing I'd like to make clear, I don't think a person is transphobic for not wanting to date transgender people. I'm saying that in many cases the reason a person wouldn't date a transgender person is transphobic.

[Assistant]
I think the crux of the matter is that most people don't consider sex change to be really possible. A man will always be a man, just a man with other hormones and a surgically created pussy.

Plus whenever you look at a trans-person, if you know they are a trans-person, you can't avoid seeing who they used to be in the back of your mind. No matter how gorgeous they look now it will be disturbing to have in your mind the idea that this person used to be a man whom you would find it extremely gross to have sex with and in that pretty female face you can kind of make out the face of a man through a small amount of imagination.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Is there an Empire separate from the First Order?

Are there still systems controlled by the old Empire, and the First Order is just a branch of said Empire, like how the Resistance is a branch of the Republic - or did the First Order have a complete take-over/reboot of the Old Empire after the peace treaty?

[Assistant]
Sort of. The Alliance founded the New Republic, after dismantling huge swathes of the Empire's infrastructure. But the Alliance also wanted to end the fighting, so there are still technically Imperial remnants, though most are effectively bound to the New Republic.

The job of the Resistance is to remove these strongholds of former Imperial power that are antagonistic to the New Republic.

The First Order is a group of Imperials that reconvened in the Unknown Reaches of the Galaxy, and have then resurfaced, even more radical than before as they suffered great losses.


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

[User]
ELI5: Entropy.

I was reading on wikipedia, but it was a great deal of mumbo-jumbo and I didn't really get a solid understanding of what it was waffling on about. Could anyone help?

[Assistant]
Here we have a cardboard box, about the size of a shoebox, filled with coins. Not a ton of them, just enough so that the all lay flat on the bottom of the box.

There are three possible states for that box to be in: all coins heads-side-up, all coins heads-side-down, and the other thing where some of the coins are heads-up and some are heads-down.

Imagine the box starts out in the all-coins-up state. We put the lid on and shake it. Without opening the lid, what state do you expect the box to be in?

The answer is obvious: Some of the coins will be heads-up and some will be heads-down. Why? Because the all-heads-up and all-heads-down states correspond to *exactly one arrangement of coins* each, while there are *many* arrangements of coins that correspond to the some-up-some-down state.

The "all-up, all-down, some-of-both" states are what we call *macrostates.* They're the states we care about, the ones we can easily observe. The individual position and heads-up-or-down-ness of all the coins comprises what we call a *microstate.* It's a state that is normally invisible to us, hidden from view, either because we just don't care about that much detail, or because that much detail is practically impossible for us to measure.

Entropy is, in a sense, how many microstates correspond to a particular macrostate. In this example, the all-heads-up and all-heads-down macrostates each correspond to just a single microstate; that's a very low-entropy condition. But the some-of-each macrostate corresponds to *many* microstates, making that a high-entropy condition.

When we started out, all the coins were heads-side-up, but when we put the lid on the box and shook it, the system moved from a low-entropy state to a high-entropy state.

In nature, systems always tend to move from low-entropy to high-entropy states. In the most abstract sense, this is just because of pure dumb luck: There are more combinations of coins that add up to "some of each" than either "all up" or "all down," so *pure random chance* dictates that we're far more likely to go from the all-up state to the some-of-each state than the other way around and furthermore, that as we continue to shake the box, we're far more likely to *stay* in the some-of-each state, because the odds against getting all the coins to land heads-side-up are enormous.

In reality, this use of pure-dumb-luck-based statistics to describe complex systems is a mathematical approximation. After all, things like the motions of molecules in a bathtub of water aren't really random. They're actually the product of a *huge* number of very simple interactions but that's the thing. When you take something that's fundamentally simple but that becomes vastly complex because of sheer scale, that thing tends to behave very much like a purely random system governed by dumb luck. So it turns out those dumb-luck-based statistical approximations are actually incredibly useful and predictive.

So basically, entropy can be thought of as a way of quantifying just how likely or unlikely it is that a complex system will evolve in a particular way. If the evolution you're imagining is from a low-entropy state to a high-entropy state, in general that's pretty likely. If it's the other way around, from a high-entropy state to a low-entropy state, then in general that's probably not going to happen. The more complex the system you're thinking about, the better statistical methods tend to be for predicting the evolution of that system over time.


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

[User]
ELI5: Do all organs/bodily processes cease immediately at death?

For example, does the body continue to digest or produce insulin for a period of time after the brain shuts down, using resdiual energy, or do they instantly shut down at the moment of death?

Furthermore, are there other factors that would change the answer, such as cause of death (electrocution vs. blunt force trauma for example) or environmental factors (such as extreme temperatures?)

[Assistant]
Certain organs can continue to live for a short while after death. The heart and lungs are "living" for about 4-6 hours after death, the liver and pancreas are "living" for about 24 hours after death, the kidneys for about 72 hours. These are the windows where organ transplant is still viable.

The manner of death is absolutely a factor. Electrocution basically "cooks" the body from within, so all of these organs are basically dead afterward. If you have a heart attack, all of these organs are immediately dead as well (except corneas, which are tissues and not organs). If you just get hit in the head by a baseball bat, your organs will continue to live for a while. Organs don't really need that much brain function to keep going.

Environmental factors could change these time estimates; extreme cold can preserve organs for much longer, and the opposite is true for extreme heat.


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

[User] Out of all the people who survive a suicide attempt, what fraction go on to successfully commit suicide later on?

[Assistant]
Only 10%

The Golden Gate Bridge Study followed folks who had to be physically restrained from jumping off the bridge. This was prior to the net being added. They had a 72 hour hold in a psychiatric facility and then were sent out into the general population. They were followed for the next couple decades. This important study began to help scientists understand that suicide more often than not the result of impulsivity and situational stress rather than chronic depression or mental illness.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do divers jump backwards from boats when they enter the water? is it always done?

[Assistant]
It's a safe method of leaving a boat in full gear.

Full diving gear is really bulky, and very cumbersome when you aren't in the water. By sitting on the edge of a boat and rolling off backwards, you remove the risk of falling and hurting yourself or breaking your equipment. It's way easier to just fall backwards than it is to try and balance your way over.


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

[User]
ELI5 just why salt and pepper are added to so many recipes.

I've worked in kitchens for years, and adding a small amount of salt and/or pepper to a recipe is just part of the job now. But when I make a 5L soup (over 4hrs) and I'm using 20grams I really can't think it's changing the flavour much.

Is it a chemical process? I know salt lowers the freezing temperature of water (proof: salting icey roads), does it have a simillar effect on boiling water?

Is it for texture? Or for visual effect? Why does salt and pepper go in every recipe.

[Assistant]
Holy shit! Table salt is amazing! It does two incredibly important things in cooking:

1. It breaks down and releases sodium when it dissolves in your mouth. The sodium bonds to one of the major flavour receptors in your mouth (i.e. salty flavour). This has a synergistic effect on other foods; particularly savoury flavours (see point 2).

2. It draws moisture out of foods, speeding up the caramelisation of sugars/carbohydrates in food. In food chemistry terms, these are called Malliard reactions. In ELI5 terms, it helps foods (particularly meats) brown and give that delicious seared flavour. These seared flavours activate other flavour receptors (particularly umami/savoury receptors, and sweetness receptors). It's like a sensory gang-bang in your mouth.

Pepper contains glutamic acid (an umami/savoury flavour) and activates heat sensors in your mouth. It's like a bit of nitro for your taste buds.


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

[User] ELI5:Why are major keys in music associated with a "happy" sound and minor keys associated with a "sad" sound in our brains?

[Assistant]
A large part of it is cultural reinforcement, major and minor are very rough generalisations of what sounds happy or sad.
It's not fully understood but is thought the different intervals between notes react to the way the brain understands speech. Over our history our brains developed to recognise certain inflections in a voice's pitch as meaning the phrase is happy or sad.
A way of speaking where the pitch of your voice varies less is considered sad, your voice seems less energetic. In a minor chord the 2nd note is closer to the first than in a major cord. So your brain just sort of conflates the closer together frequencies to mean sadness.
It's not very accurate, since it's a clash of 2 fairly arbitrary things, there are many sad songs in major keys and happy songs in minor keys, but confirmation bias seems to override those.


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

[User]
[Power Rangers]Why are power rangers teenagers?

So I've done some research and found out some of the teams were just teenagers or even strangers with no connection? We've been entrusting them with saving our world?!

Surely it would be better to have say a ranger team composed of military special forces, since they would know how to used their powers from a militaristic standpoint.

[Assistant]
Power corrupts. If you have a group of hardened, grizzled veterans and you hand them them keys to Zords how long before they stop using their abilities as a reactionary protection against whomever is sending monsters into Angel Grove and these new Military Power Rangers start using their Zords to tackle crooked regimes or what they see as unfair politics.

One of the new Rangers is Jewish?

Oh wait, one of the Zords is fucking up downtown Tehran and no one can stop them.

Vladimir Putin and Kim Jung Un see this, see that they are next on the chopping block and start launching off nukes at Angel Grove or wherever these Zords are most often seen.

If you have teens, who grew up in an affluent part of the United States, they are going to be comfortable enough to try and defend the status quo without being so idealistic that they are going to try and fix the world overnight and destabilize the world and possibly make things worse.


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

[User]
Are galaxies continually getting flatter?

Just like accretion disks, are galaxies destined to get flatter and flatter over time?  Ignoring any kind of galactic mergers etc.

[Assistant] Generally no. The main reason disks get flatter is that they are dense enough for collisions between particles, which causes them to lose vertical speed and hence drop towards a flat disk. In a galaxy, the odds of even a single star colliding is very small, so the vertical velocity spread doesn't significantly change without a perturbing force.


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

[User] An acidic mouth is bad for your teeth. What if we let our mouths become more basic?

[Assistant]
Too acidic - demineralization of the enamel which results in cavities

Too alkaline - mineralization of the bacterial plaque's matrix resulting accumulation of tartar which irritates the gingiva.

The pH of your mouth has to be just about right, not too acidic, not too alkaline, but somewhere around 7. That's not always possible given our diets and not brushing or flossing after a more acidic meal or using chewing gum.

Brushing your teeth with baking soda is terrible for the enamel (I have seen people do this), it could be used as a mouthwash (the ratio is 1/2 teaspoon dissolved in 200ml of lukewarm water) to buffer the acidity.

The direction we should be heading towards is not making our mouths more alkaline but rather reducing the acidity so the pH doesn't drop below 5.5 which is the critical pH of enamel demineralization.


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

[User]
[Raimiverse Spider-Man] Did Aunt May know that Peter was Spider-Man?

There are a few scenes in the second and third movie where it's implied that Aunt May knew about Peter. So, what do you think? Did she know?

[Assistant]
The speach she gives him in part 2 about how Spiderman is needed and its a pity he's gone very much hints she knows.

That is also shows while on a personal level she would prefer Peter to quit and be safe she also knows the world and people need him meaning like Peter she knows she has or may have to make that sacrifice of losing a loved one to do the right thing.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do computers remember to turn back on when you click the restart button in your OS and it shuts off?

If the title was too complicated:

When you click the restart button on, say, the start menu, how does it turn back on if it has to shut down and lose all power and memory first?

[Assistant]
It doesn't completely power off, basically. You know how when you first start your PC from complete power off, and you see the BIOS? Then the windows logo? When you restart, the computer shuts down windows, but doesn't completely turn off the motherboard, which is why the BIOS only shows very briefly during a restart.

TL:DR; Shuts down windows, doesn't fully turn off motherboard.

Note: Not 100% accurate with the terms, but close enough for ELI5.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are truffles such a big deal?

What makes them so sought after, and subsequently so expensive?

[Assistant]
They taste very good, and even a very small quantity is enough to flavor a whole dish because the taste is so concentrated.

They are very expensive because they are extremely hard to grow. Most of them are found in the wild, rather than farmed, so they are few and far between and it's a fair bit of work to find them.


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

[User]
[MCU] Why don't the Xandarians/Kree and other space faring civilizations visit Earth more?

Why are we being left in the dark here on Earth when it comes to the ways of traveling deep space, they have the tech and know where we are. Whats keeping them from coming here more?

[Assistant] Earth has an insane amount of heroes who don't take kindly to extraterrestrial fuckery anymore. Also we aren't a bunch of backwards sentient like before. If they aren't careful they will end up on the disection table.


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

[User]
ELI5: How are the total number of viewers for a given TV show calculated?

**Let's use a sporting event as an example:**

The *FSU - Notre Dame* football game was estimated at 13.25 million viewers. There seems to be a lot of things that could be considered when estimating the number of people who watched the game:

* How many TVs tuned in

* The number of people watching each TV

* What about the dozens of people who go to the bar to watch a game on a few TVs?

* What about the people who leave their cable boxes on and only turn the TV off? If the cable box was on the same channel as the game, doesn't that count towards the number?

Can anyone break down how viewership is calculated?

[Assistant]
Ratings take a small slice of people who report on their viewing habits and then they extrapolate that figure across the entire viewership.  If .05% of your viewers are reporting, you take those reports and multiply it by the actual number of supposed viewers to get an estimate.

I wouldn't be surprised though if that goes away in a few years.  Most cable TV companies or TV providers should have the ability to tell what channel each box is on.  It wouldn't take much to make such data available for ratings without identifying households.

It would, of course, cause an uproar, which is why although the capability likely exists, they don't do so.


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

[User]
Is it possible that some dinsaurs were infact furry and colorful?

Not long ago I read an article that explained the famous statues and building of ancient greek were in fact colorful, and not white, like commonly presented in popular culture.

This made me thinking, it is possible that the way dinosaurs are presented (usually green and bald) is only because scientists do not know much about their appearance except their bone structure? In other words, are there any evidence supporting that dinosaurs did not have fur?

[Assistant] It's not just possible, it's almost certain.  Granted, the "fur" would have been protofeathers and the colors are unknown.  But we know lots of dinosaurs had feathers on their body (though we also know some, particularly larger ones, did not-compare a rabbit and an elephant).  We also know, thanks to the variety of strange bones underlying display structures, that visual signaling was important for some dinosaurs-we can be sure that some had colors to match.  There are even a few fossil dinosaur feathers with pigment that support this.


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

[User]
ELI5: How can NASA mine the moon despite the 1967 outer space treaty?

I understand that the NASA isn't a country, but it is an agency of the US government. While they might not be "laying claim" to the moon, they will be mining it and profiting from the resources removed from it (maybe not in a dollars and cents way, but they will be gaining something from going there)

[Assistant] Simple, currently they are mining worthless moon rock of which there is a massive abundance as part of a project to make mooncrete, other countries see it as nothing valuable being lost and in the end everyone gets the invention of mooncrete.


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

[User] What are the differences in safety and structural integrity in a car with 'suicide doors'?

[Assistant]
Cars normally move forward. This means that on standard car doors which are a bit open there will be a pressure which will result in the door wanting to close. The faster the car goes, the harder it is op open a standard car door. This is preferable cause it will prevent people from accidently falling out.

Suicide doors are the opposite. a slightly open door might 'catch' the wind and will be forced open. The faster the car is going, the greater the force. This might result in someone being flung from the car should this person be leaning or holding onto the door.


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

[User] [Star Wars] If Anakin had never been discovered might Palpatine have considered trying to sway another "grey" Jedi such as Windu? Could he have been successful in such a venture?

[Assistant] I mean, that's pretty much exactly what he did with Dooku, so the answer is probably "yes". However, the difference is that Anakin was supposed to be the most "powerful" Jedi (moreso than even Yoda), so he wouldn't have really found a better candidate than Anakin.


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

[User] [Gangster tropes] Why would a gangster EVER tell a subordinate to take his girl out and show her a good time while he's busy doing crime boss things? Can't she just stay home and watch tv? It seems like it's just asking for trouble.

[Assistant]
Because she doesn't want to just stay home and watch TV. She wants to go out dancing and he's busy doing murders and blackmails and stuff.

So he has a choice: Let her go out dancing on her own, in which case narrative convention dictates that she will meet a handsome yet troubled stranger who is actually an undercover cop (or possibly a sexy female ex-convict with a labrys tattoo); or let her go out dancing with a trusted associate of his, who he knows will show her a good time, but is probably smart enough not to go any further than is gentlemanly.

Or he could just lock her up, in which case the wife who he loves will start hating him and be ready to collaborate with the first undercover cop or small-time crook who breaks into his house looking for evidence or a big score.


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

[User]
[MCU] Why Captain America didn't lift Thor's hammer in Age of Ultron?

We later know for Endgame that he's able to do it. So why he didn't achieve it in Age of Ultron?

[Assistant] There's a number of theories. One is that he didn't want to move it to protect Thor's ego, another is that Mjolnir didn't consider being lifted as a party trick to be a worthy cause, and refused to move more than it did despite Steve being worthy otherwise.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do we get a sore throat after being in the cold for a while?

[Assistant]
Well it depends on what kind of cold. But often the air is very dry when it is cold, meaning a low humidity. This means it is easier for water to evaporate into the 'dry' air. What you should also know is that water evaporates at all times but the speed at which this happens differ depending on temperature and humidity. Higher humidity meanind lower evaporation and vice versa, and also a higher temperature gives a higher evaporation and vice versa. Now to why you get a sore throat. Your body is around 37C on the inside and every time you breathe out some water from your throat is evaporated and taken with the air, removing it from your throat. Normally this evaporation happens at a speed that your body can keep up with by 'refilling' the water that's lost. However when the air is really dry, like with cold weather, the evaporation happens at a faster speed and your body can't keep up. This results in your throat quite literally drying up and gives you the sore throat feeling.
Also this process happens faster when you breath through your mouth, so to prevent this happening as much as possible try to breathe through your nose. As there is more resistance that way which will recapture some of those water vapors.


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

[User]
[General SF] Advantages/Disadvantages of Ballistic Weapons vs Energy Weapons

What advantages do Ballistic weapons have over Energy weapons in SF settings, and vice versa?

If you were a space mercenary, which would you choose to outfit yourself with?

[Assistant] In Star Wars, blaster weapons are superior to ballistic weapons for one main reason - ammunition. A single battery pack + gas cartridge can power the DC-15 used by the clone troopers for up to 500 shots.


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

[User]
When the first nuclear submarine, the Nautilus passed under the North pole in 1958, how did they know there is enough room for it between the sea floor and the bottom of the ice?

It was occasionally a close call, so did the Captain of the sub knew in advance the gap's size and that the sub has enough space?

Edit: After learning more about the Poles, the correct answer is that there is no continental shelf under the North Pole and the Arctic sea's depth is 4.2 km there. The ice is only about 2 meters thick so there is plenty of room. Due to global warming during the summer months, it is occasionally iceless now.

But getting there is another issue. The Nautilus had to give up its approach once because in the Bering Sea the ice's thickness was 18 meters and the sea floor was too high up due to a ridge, thus it didn't have enough room.

The second US submarine (USS Skate) reaching the North Pole breached the surface by breaking through the ice.

[Assistant] They had been using sonar both active and passive on submarines for a long time. They can hear how far it is from the bottom and the ice sheet. It was also definitely not the first venture of a sub under ice. Just further and longer than they have gone before.


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

[User]
[DC]Say I get a super power but I stay off the radar. Will the Justice League notice me?

So I basically know I have powers (say I accidentally used them in my home and can prove that I have them but just haven't done so) but, being a redditor I haven't gone out and haven't done anything. Will anybody be able to track me down?

Ie do the League or ARGUS or some other organisation have a method of finding metahumans without following evidence? Can they sense powers?

[Assistant]
IMHO.

Luthor has a history of seeking out young meta-humans, so I'd be surprised if he didn't have some feelers out.  ARGUS has access to various telepaths and mages, so if they wanted to find you they would.

If you manifest one time only, you're probably good, but realistically, anyone who suddenly finds themselves with X-ray vision or flight is going to talk to someone about it.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why does the US have such a vested interest in the Middle East?

Compared to many other issues of foreign policy, particularly drug cartels in Central America, why is so much time and effort spent deliberating the Middle East. Why doesn't the US just leave the Middle East be?

[Assistant]
1) Oil.  It's essential to our economy, and the Middle East is a large enough supplier that chaos there causes lots of economic harm in the US.

2) Israel.  Some bad things were done to Jews prior to WWII, and part of the world's reparations to them was to grant the Jews their longtime wish, a country all their own in Palestine.  They picked the Middle East, but the US is the enforcer of the world's decision.

3) Broken Windows.  When bad things are going on in an area, bad folks move there and set up shop.  The Middle East has been broken since the Treaty of Lausanne broke up the Ottoman Empire following WWI.  The British (the US of the day) decided that breaking the empire up into several countries of mixed religious and tribal heritage would encourage the development of secular governments.  That mostly didn't happen, and the resulting wars and failed sates are evidence that it might not have been a good idea.  Failed states that let nutty Madrasahs teach the value of being a suicide bomber can lead to big problems for the US.  It ignored the situation in Iran for decades under the Shah, and the revolution that followed proved the harm that comes from not taking a vested interest.


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

[User] ELI5: why are churches exempt from paying taxes?

[Assistant]
Tax exempt status is allowed for nonprofit organizations that are operated exclusively for religious, educational, scientific or other charitable purpose. There are a few more rules, but those are the two big requirements: (1) nonprofit and (2) religious, education, scientific, or charitable.

As you can see, churches don't get special treatment over other nonprofits. However, you might still ask why "religious" organizations are included at all. One reason is that it helps maintain separation of church and state. As the Supreme Court noted in one of its earliest decisions regarding a national bank, the power to tax is the power to destroy. By not taxing churches, the state removes itself from interfering in church business and also makes sure the state doesn't start relying on church taxes for its operation.

Another reason is that historically churches were important charitable and social centers. That's still true for many churches today, but it was even more apparent when the tax laws were first being made.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are there many homeless veterans?

[Assistant] Because of what they experience a lot of them have trouble (PTSD, etc) reintegrating back into society.  In spite of all the ribbons and flag waving we don't always give them the best support when they return.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why college tuition costs continue to increase at such a fast pace?

Thanks in advance!

[Assistant]
Like most questions of the form "why does X cost what it costs" the answer is generally "supply and demand".

Basically, schools can charge more without significantly lowering the amount of students who attend, so they will.  The reason this is the cast is partially because they know the government will loan more to cover the increase in price, and also because a college education has become a standard requirement for a working professional.  This makes demand very high.