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

[User]
What makes someone "photogenic" regardless of  their physical appearance (as seen with eyes vs. photo).

I have seen people who are very attractive in person but are not photogenic. Also I have seen people who are photogenic and not attractive in person. What is the reasoning behind this?

[Assistant] It has a lot to do with distance relationships, especially in the midface. Professional models usually have nearly perfect proportions regarding the space between the eyes, the equal thirds rule of upper, middle, and lower face, short philtrum length, projection of the chin, etc. Most cameras are cheap and the lens distorts the image, making the face look disproportionate, so any flaws are exaggerated. Also, most faces are better from certain angles than from the straight-on view.


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

[User] [Blair Witch] Between the various pieces of Blair Witch media, a not insignificant number of people had gone missing. Suppose a formal investigation was launched into the woods. What would it take for them to come back alive or with tangible results?

[Assistant]
A formal investigation was launched after the first three kids went missing.

Except according to the maps of the woods, the teenagers should have gotten out a long time after following the river. And when search teams were sent out, one specifically noted that they should have come across Heather and Mike multiple times while they were in the same area.

The tapes were found in Rustin Parrs house, the same that the footage ends in, which was burned down in the 50s by the vengeful townspeople. And the tapes were found *under* the foundation of the house-which dates back to the Civil War era.

I dont think anything else needs to be said.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why can you test a nuke underground but on the surface it would be devastating?

If a nuke would explode on the surface of the earth it would be super devastating for the nature, for humanity etc. but underground its ok and nothing happened like earthquakes, the radioactivity?? Why?

[Assistant]
When a nuke explodes underground, the mass of the ground absorbs most of the impact, and radioactive remains mostly stay in the crater. It's not powerful enough to create an actual earthquake, though the seismic wave can be registered.

When it explodes on the surface or in air, the shockwave (hot compressed air) is free to travel around, demolishing everything in its path. Radioactive dust also spreads much easier this way.


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

[User]
ELI5: What makes "Sushi Grade Fish" safe for consumption as apposed to normal raw fish?

I've recently gotten into cooking and making meals, and I quite like sushi, so it'd be nice to know what exactly distinguishes the two from each other. I'm not asking how do I get sushi grade fish, I will only eat raw it if I'm informed the fish is Sushi Grade. I'm more asking how the science, biology, chemistry, etc. behind it works, and how Sushi Grade fish is procured and produced in comparison to normal fish.

[Assistant]
Sushi is made from salt water fish (ocean fish) vs fresh water fish (river or lake fish). Ocean fish naturally has less parasites and bacterial content so it's safer to eat raw. Fresh water fish needs to be cooked.

Fish like Tuna is fresh caught, bled immediately, and chilled to make it safe to eat. Tuna and other fish shipped to North America is packed in ice for the trip.

Many other fish like Salmon which are more prone to parasites are flash frozen to kill any parasites while retaining it's texture and taste when thawed.

The simple answer is that the fish isn't necessarily *raw* it's flash frozen to kill anything bad for you.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why can't I use multiple connections simultaneously to speed up my internet access?

e.g. If I'm connected to broadband/cable but am near a wifi hotspot at the same time.

[Assistant]
You can, but you need some advanced gear to pull it off. This is called Internet Bonding - Or aggregation. You need a routing device that will pickup both signals and them bond them together. This type of device is fairly expensive, and you are not likely to get the results you are looking to achieve. It doesn't join them so you get a faster speed, say in the case of downloading a big file. What it would allow is for you to have a big file downloading, and then be able to play an online game at the same time.

For true bonding, it has to be bound on both ends. This is generally done with T1 lines, and is true bonding, where 1.5Mbps + 1.5Mbps becomes 3Mbps.

In the scenario you describe, you would end up with two connnections, one wireless, one wired, and your requests to the internet would take the path of least resistance, but it won't join them to increase the overall speed.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does Earth have a supercontinent cycle?

Every 200 million years or so, a supercontinent is formed composed of all of the continents of the world. About 255 million years ago, it was called Pangaea. It looked really cool, it had enormous inland lakes and every continent was mashed together. There were only 3 oceans from the looks of it at that time.

In around 200 million years or so, we are due to have another supercontinent form. It's called Pangaea Ultima. Of course, it won't happen at once, it's happening gradually, and going on right now.

But, why? Why does the Earth consistently move continents together in 200 million years, and then moves them away? Is there any geological benefit to this and why do the tectonic plates move specifically towards the prime meridian and equator of the Earth as opposed to the extremes on the sides?

[Assistant]
The tectonic plates are basically constantly moving. Whatever is on them will move with them, so eventually, all the land that is present will have moved, with the plates, to where the plates are meeting.

>why do the tectonic plates move specifically towards the prime meridian and equator of the Earth as opposed to the extremes on the sides?

The Earth is round. If they were moving to the "sides", they'd just be meeting at what we call International Date Line (180E or 180W) or at the  North/South poles. They're never going to completely drift away from each other, because they'll eventually come back around the other side and meet again.


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

[User] Why does failing to fully drain a laptop battery "condition" it to having a smaller lifespan?

[Assistant] Are you sure you're not confusing lithium ion (laptop) batteries with nickel metal hydride or nickel-cadmium batteries? Voltage depression (sometimes erroneously called a memory effect) from partial depletion is not really a concern with lithium ion batteries, though it was with NiMH and *especially* NiCd batteries. Draining a lithium ion battery entirely will help calibrate the battery sensor, but won't help the longevity of the battery itself (in fact quite the opposite).


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

[User]
How durable was baby Superman?

If the Kents hadn't found baby Kal-El in that corn field, how long would he have lasted?  This is assuming his craft didn't have a sustenance system of some kind.

[Assistant]
Indefinitely. Baby Superman had, more or less, access to every power Superman currently has. There may have been a period of charging the solar battery, so to speak, but for the most part he had access to all the powers we know him to have and then some. His actual powers developed quite early and he began repressing them and setting up some very prominent mental blocks to keep himself in check.

Most anytime he discovered a new power or surpassed a previous limitation was actually him overcoming those mental blocks. So an infant Superman (presuming a full charge) is a pretty potent critter.

He has a diminished need for more conventional sustenance because of the amount of energy he derives from sunlight. But he also has the jaw strength and digestive system to break down almost anything that little son of a bitch put in his mouth for necessary raw materials to grow.

He'd be crawling around that corn field devouring whatever was at hand (probably corn), killing or annoying anything that attempted to eat him, and be generally fine until someone else found him or he grew to be a cave superman. In which case, god have mercy on our souls.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Where do the dementors come from? Did people made them or were they born?

I know they are kinda immortal since they can't be destroyed, but where do they come from?

[Assistant]
They come from a species which feeds off of emotions.  That's a dementor, with their focus being happiness.

They can die, but only if there is no happiness for them to consume.  As happiness is a renewable 'resource', there is no fear for dementors.  If you remove a dementor from society, it will starve and die.

It is theorized that the dementor's kiss is a form of reproduction for dementors, as they are inteligent.


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

[User] ELI5: When and how did the relationship between England and America repair following the Revolutionary War?

[Assistant] Both the US and England were huge trade partners. Just because the US was no longer under British rule didn't mean that they weren't still a huge source of lumber and other raw materials. Throughout the 19th century, relations slowly improved as the US continued to trade with England. It wasn't until World War One that England gained a favorable view of the US, mainly because the war probably would have been lost without their help.


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

[User]
[Thor] Does Mjlnir work in other universes?

Would Thor be able to use the hammer in an Odinless, or Asgardless, universe? Or what happens if that universe has different rules regarding who is "worthy". Ex: Thor travels from a healthy 616 to such a universe.

[Assistant] The enchantment is on Mjlnir itself; hopping universes does nothing to change or weaken its magic in any way. The new universe's "rules" will likewise be irrelevant; Mjlnir itself (or, rather, the magic cast on it) still makes the decision on who is and isn't worthy to wield it.


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

[User]
CMV: Prince Hans is the true hero of Frozen and would have made a better ruler for Arendelle than Elsa

There are two ideas that I was left with after watching Frozen for the first time and they were only solidified after a recent rewatching:

1.Prince Hans is the Hero of the Story.

2.Prince Hans would have made a great king for Arendelle or at least a better ruler than Elsa.

Number one is easy. Even though he's the 'bad guy' he isn't the cause for the trouble that has fallen on Arendelle. That's all on Anna being too insistent and Elsa being a drama queen. He does, however, take care of the citizens of Arendelle during their time of need, ultimately saves Arendelle from a never ending winter as promised, and inadvertently saves Anna from her doom. He would have saved Arendelle from the Monster, Elsa, if he had been able to slay her, as was his intention, but even though Elsa was ultimately saved from Hans by Anna, this display of True Love (Anna's sacrifice) caused Elsa to be able to dial back her powers to end the blizzard. Either way, Hans' actions were going to lead to Arendelle being saved (killing Elsa / prompting an act of True Love that allows Elsa to regain control of her powers). Hans's actions, prompting Anna to sacrifice herself, also actually saved Anna. Had it not been for Hans, Anna would have died at the hands of her awful sister.

Number two is easy when you realize how awful Elsa is as a ruler. She has spent the better part of her life in complete isolation - presumably her education into the finer points of ruling severely lacking. She has self image and self control issues that endanger everyone in her kingdom and causes her to nearly kills her sister (a second time). Hans on the other hand knows what needs to be done and is willing to take the actions necessary to achieve his goals. As already noted, he made sure the people of Arendelle were taken care of during Elsa's neglect. He's cunning, resourceful, and ambitious. He has an idea of how to play the Game of Thrones™, shown by how easily he manipulates everyone. His views on marriage as a tool to power would have helped him to ally Arendelle with another country for economic or militaristic gains for Arendelle.

[Assistant]
> He has an idea of how to play the Game of Thrones

Do you think the Lannisters are good rulers because they know how to play the Game of Thrones? Hans is not even good at getting and keeping power, seeing as how he's deported in the end.

So he's pretty much a less-competent version of the Lannisters. Not exactly who you want as a ruler.


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

[User] ELI5 when viewing a sheet of transparent glass or a mirror from it's side profile, why does it appear green in colour?

[Assistant]
The iron oxide that gives glass the green tint isn't there on accident, it's added to make the glass easier to melt in large batches.

Glass melting furnaces produce almost all of their heat in the form of infrared light.  This is a problem when you want to heat up something transparent, because the infrared light will go right through it!  It just heats up whatever is behind the glass.  That makes it take a very long time to melt the glass.

Iron oxide is added because it is a cheap way to make glass absorb a lot more infrared light.  It has the side effect of making the glass slightly green, but this is fine most of the time.

You can buy iron free glass if you need your windows to be perfectly colorless, but that glass is more expensive because it is harder to work with.


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

[User]
CMV: It is socially acceptable to go to a dog park without a dog

I love dogs, but Ive never had my own. Growing up my parents busy schedules and my fathers allergies always interfered with us getting a dog. To this day, I feel like Ive been deprived of something that gives me so much joy, making it even more special when I meet a dog. Ill point out every cute dog walking down the street and feel extra special if they come up to say hi to me. Unfortunately, as a student, I do not have the lifestyle that would accommodate getting my own dog at this time. Thats why I love visiting dog parks. Sometimes Ill sit on a bench and wait for a dog to approach me to pet them (after asking permission from their owners of course). When a dog owner asks me which of the many frolicking dogs is mine, Ill tell them that none are, but this often leads to mixed reactions.

I personally dont find sitting at a dog park without a dog to be weird at all. For one, I make an effort to not make any of the dog owners feel uncomfortable. I always ask the dog owner whether I can pet their dog before doing so. I also do not occupy a significant amount of the dogs time when I do interact with them. Ill only pet them for a few seconds before letting them walk away.

Beyond this, dog parks are a public good and there are no restrictions regarding who can attend them. As well, the closest dog park to me is really beautiful. Even if there weren't dogs around, I would likely still go to enjoy the park itself.

So, what do you all think? Is it socially acceptable for me to go to a dog park without a dog?

[Assistant]
I've had the joy of living near a park that isn't specifically a dog park but that is nevertheless frequently used as such. If you have easy access to such a park, I'd highly recommend it! Nobody can get mad at you for visiting without a dog when it's just a regular park that people visit.

When it comes to fenced dog parks specifically designated as such, it's not necessarily wrong for you to be there, but you shouldn't be surprised if some folks have a negative reaction. It's an area intended to bring dogs for exercise, play, socialisation, and outside time, not a petting zoo. By going without a dog you are using the space for something other than its intended or usual purposes, which is something frequently seen as weird, even when it's not wrong.

If you are visiting fenced dog parks, there are a couple things you should add to your list of mitigations, if they're not already on the list:

* If there are very few dogs in the park when you go, either avoid visiting or get permission from the folks already in the park before entering.
* Be willing to leave if you become an *unwelcome* distraction to any of the dogs there.
* Make sure you get the dogs' permission before petting, too!


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

[User] [MCU] Would Stormbreaker be more powerful if it had a Uru handle?

[Assistant]
It would probably not make any meaningful difference. The fact that it cut through the infinity gauntlet blast as is means it must be pretty top notch powerful.

After the head of Stormbreaker was forged, Eitry was rushing around trying to find the handle. Which tells us two things -

1. It did not need any special forging process, because the star* was dormant.
2. He could leave it laying around wherever.


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

[User] ELI5: how do fleas jump so high for their body size?

[Assistant]
As something gets larger, it's weight goes up proportional to it's volume, and it's strength goes up proportional to the cross sectional area of it's muscles. Volume scales as the third power, area scales as the second power.

So, very large things are much weaker for their size as compared with very small things.

Of course, this doesn't explain why, for example, ants aren't great jumpers, while fleas are.

It turns out fleas have a cool spring like mechanism that they can bend and store energy. When it releases, it propells them higher than their muscles alone can.


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

[User] [Batman] I'm an honest Gotham public defender, bound by law to give my clients the best legal council I can. What tactics can I use to counter the absolute deluge of vigilante-acquired evidence and illegal arrests that have been appearing in our courts?

[Assistant]
Lawyer here. Most of the answers get some things right but don't paint the whole picture. The police have procedures they need to follow when they collect evidence (warrants, chain of custody, etc). Even subsequent evidence discovered as a result of bad evidence is excluded (fruit of the poison tree)

Private individuals are not bound by these rules, and can collect evidence and even turn it over to the police with impunity. It can be used in a court of law against the defendants.

However, there is a narrow exception if you can show that the private individual was working under the direction, supervision, and/or coordination with the police. Then the evidence would be excluded as though an officer found it. So as a public defender, your best bet is to start collecting evidence of the bat-signal and conversations with Commissioner Gordon to demonstrate that Batman was coordinating with the police.

You could also cause a lot of trouble by issuing Batman a subponea to appear in court and unmask himself. Your move, Batboy.


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

[User]
CMV: People who drive with dogs in their lap should be ticketed.

If you drive with a dog on your lap, you are putting other drivers in the area in danger. The animal **is** distracting you, and could possibly cause an accident. Additionally, the dog could get hurt because of you not securing it at all.

I think that people who drive with dogs in their lap or on their shoulder should be ticketed for reckless driving or some other infraction.

I bring this up because I am currently commuting a half hour each way to work and I see at least 2 or 3 people like this each day.

I am open to possible reasons why I am wrong but honestly I doubt there are any valid reasons to do this. Change my view please.

[Assistant] The regulations in Europe dont allow for this. Dogs have to be in the trunk (when hatchback) or the back seat properly latched to the seats and sometimes with a mesh screen to avoid them from jumping to the front seats.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do most cars default to not circulating the air in the car instead of circulating it? For climate purposes it seems like circulating the air in the car would be better for constant temperature and humidity.

[Assistant]
Humidity goes up with a bunch of warm bodies exhaling next to cold glass.  Your cars defroster might not be able to defrost the windows even on max high settings unless you get the moisture out.  This is why the ac will turn on automatically when using the defrost.

Also, fresh air to breath is nice when in a full car.


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

[User] [ASoIaF] How good was Kevan Lannister as Hand of the King?

[Assistant]
He was able to placate the Tyrells by naming Lords Tyrell, Rowan,  and Tarly to the Small Council, and he appeased the Faith by having Cersei perform the walk of shame, temporarily stabilizing the tensions in the capital. He is the first to take the threat of Aegon, Connington, and the Golden Company seriously, ordering the Tyrells to march south to retake the Stormlands (though Mace will not march until after Margaery's trial). He also sends his father-in-law Harys Swyft to Braavos to negotiate the Crown's debt to the Iron Bank. He was going to resort to paying the debt out of the Lannister pocket if he couldn't raise money elsewhere and if the Bank wouldn't give him further extensions.

So he was doing a pretty fine job of fixing Cersei's mess. Even if Stannis takes Winterfell and Aegon recruits Dorne to his cause, the Lannisters can hold the Crown as long as:

1. The alliance with the Reach stands. The Lannister-Tyrell coalition still have the numbers and resources to overpower the rest of the continent, especially since the rebelling houses are not united (until Dany arrives with dragons).

2. The High Sparrow doesn't condemn Tommen and Myrcella as bastards born of incest.


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

[User] [Pokemon] Why are all gym members blind to the type strength matrix, and pointlessly specialize their teams?

[Assistant]
In league competition, the gym challenge is a time-honored tradition of recognising excellence in trainers. Specialised gym types are designed to be a test of type-specific knowledge and skill. To face a league-sanctioned Gym Leader and conquer them is to demonstrate mastery of their type. Secondarily, specialised gym types help to promote a more controlled environment where pokemon are at less pronounced risk in combat. For a gym leader who can participate in as many as six battles a day, facing a trainer who knows what to expect can have a huge impact on the well-being of their pokemon.

Pokemon gyms also serve a secondary purpose in their communities. Trainers will often seek out gyms as places to study the subtleties of specific types under the care and observance of the gym leader. Through this course of study a trainer can receive a "non-combat attained" badge which are recognised under the League's "Professor" and "Ranger" programs, but do not grant access into high-end competition ladders.

Studying in a gym also offers some trainers an alternative way to attain normal "combat demonstrated" badges. By actively participating in combat drills with those who challenge the gym, those who are less confident in pokemon battles can build up experience and mastery over a type that way.

Thank-you for your query on "Specialised Gym Types". Would you like to load "BILL'S PC", submit a "POKECENTRE TICKET" or "LOG OFF"?

>_


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

[User] [The Ring] What Would Happen If You Only Watched A Portion Of The Video, But Never The Full Video?

[Assistant] Samara or Sadako isn't cursed to follow some rules around the video tape.  The tape is her own creation as a way to torment people and spread her story.  It's entirely up to Samara/Sadako what she want's to do with you if you only watch the beginning of her video.


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

[User] ELI5: How does two or three feet of rainfall result in flooding so severe people are stranded on their roofs?

[Assistant]
3 feet of rainfall 'over hundreds of square miles and varying terrain'
All the water will collect in low areas making giant puddles basically. The same way you get puddles in the road. There might have only been 2 inches of rain, bjt you can step in a puddle 5 inches deep.


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

[User]
ELI5: How can someone be absolutely sure that a number is irrational, not a fraction with obscenely massive numerator & denominator?

Like pi or e. Could they actually be rational numbers with an extremely large denominators (something as large as Graham's number)?

[Assistant]
The definition of an  irational number is that it CAN NOT be written as, p/q, where p, q are integers and q != 0.

It is possible to prove this for numbers. For example we can use a proof by contradiction to proove that sqrt(2) is irrational.

Proof that sqrt(2) is irrational:

Assume that sqrt(2) is rational. By definition of rational numbers we can right a/b = sqrt(2). Further assume that a/b is reduced, so that a and b do not share any common factors. (If they do then simplify the fraction and you have your new a and b). Then:

a/b = sqrt(2)

(a/b)^2 = sqrt(2)^2

a^(2)/b^(2) = 2

a^(2) = 2b^(2)

This means a^2 is an even integer, which is only possible if a itself is even, and a = 2k, for some integer k.

Then:

a^(2) = 2b^(2)

(2k)^(2) = 2b^(2)

4k^(2) = 2b^(2)

2k^2 = b^2

This means b^2 is even, which is only possible if b itself is even.

But if both a and b are even then they share 2 as a common factor. This is a contradiction of our original assumption.

Therefore sqrt(2) can't be rational.

As the other person says the proof for the irrationality of pi and e are not as simple.


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

[User]
[Marvel Comics] Who is the smartest human on Marvel 616's Earth?

No Omniscience.

[Assistant] Reed Richards is the smartest by feats and can literally stretch his mind as needed to increase his intelligence. Valeria Richards is allegedly smarter, but she tends more towards knowledge then actual learning and figuring things out.


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

[User] ELI5: What is google bombing?

[Assistant]
Google isn't "smart", it just guesses what words mean by how often they're related to other words.

Google bombing is the practice of constantly linking to something with unexpected words, convincing Google that the two things are related.  Let's say you get a bunch of people to post links to Johnny Depp's Wikipedia page using the phrase "ugly jerk".  Eventually, searching for "ugly jerk" will turn up links about Johnny Depp.

...and then the media finds out, everyone has a laugh & Google manually fixes the search results so it doesn't happen anymore.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do most big trucks adamantly say "NOT FOR HIRE" (box trucks, U-haul, big rigs etc). Who are these lawless people in the streets attempting to rent trucks at whim?

[Assistant] DOT regulations have very different requirements for a private vehicle and a for hire vehicle when you get to medium duty and heavy duty vehicles. They are required to display either the commercial DOT licence number, or a large not for hire sign.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are digital versions of video games, movie, and music priced the same or more than the physical copies of the games, DVDs, or CDs?

Why are digital versions of video games, movie, and music priced the same or more than the physical copies of the games, DVDs, or CDs?  I know there are some exception, but digital copies should be much cheaper.  Companies don't have to pay for distribution across the world like with physical copies of merchandise because with digital it's just data files transfered through the internet. Also, you can't resale digital copies like you can physical copies, so the value of digital copies could be considered less than that of physical copies right from the start.

[Assistant]
1) Manufacturing and distribution costs for physical games are miniscule, and are about on par with the cost of running a virtual store front. Selling your game on a platform like Steam has its own costs.

2) Items cost what they cost not because they are more or less expensive that other options, but because that is what people are willing to pay. If the average consumer will pay $60 for a digital or physical copy, why charge them less for one of them?


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

[User] CMV: All countries should adopt Northern European values, politics, and culture; diversity should be restricted to harmless things like music and native costumes.

[Assistant]
There are plenty of enlightened liberal democracies throughout the world.

The Nordic countries operate a little smoother than their peers not simply due to values or culture.  They have the advantages of a small homogenous population (so consensus is easy, scale isn't a problem), a lot of historical wealth & infrastructure (thanks to European dominance), and new oil/gas money.

You can't simply decide to replicate those things.


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

[User] [Fallout/Wall-E] On average whom is healthier, the average human from the Wasteland, or the average human from the Axiom?

[Assistant]
That all depends on exactly what metric you use to measure health.

People from Axiom healthier in terms of infectious diseases, cancers, lacerations, gunshots, mutations, vitamin deficiencies, and malnutrition.

Wastelanders would be healthier when looking at BMI, strength, and cardio ability.


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

[User] [Harry Potter] Why is Voldemorts name a taboo but not Grinderwalds? Arent their crimes roughly the same?

[Assistant]
Grindlewald's aims and ambitions were quite mundane, just grand in scale. He wanted Wizards to rule over Muggles, and that was pretty much it. Any violence against other Wizards  was in a simple "if you're not with me, you're against me" sensibility. He was defeated in a rather specular duel, but a duel none the less, and imprison for over 50 years where he was no threat at all.

Voldemort was far more extreme. He didn't just want to rule over muggles but desired their extermination, and extended that to his felly non-pure-blood wizards. His tactics delved into far darker and taboo magic than Grindlewald ever did. Where Grindlewald established a following through genuine Charisma Voldmort could only ever rule through fear.

Voldemort also turned the Wizarding community in upon itself and exploited many of its weaknesses, such as its treatment of non-humans (giants, werewolves) as second-class citizens. People even feared the goblins would turn to his side.

But perhaps most importantly, is that his "death" was ambiguous and recent. Only 11 years (at the start of the series) compared to Grindlevald's 40 (at the start). Simply not enough time has passed for people to get over what he had done.


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

[User]
CMV: Cultural appropriation is a term pushed by those who have no understanding of how human cultures develop.

TL;DR is included at the bottom for those who want it.

I study anthropology.  A big part of our field is looking at how cultures merge, fracture, and shift.  Cultures have meshed their practices for thousands of years.  More often than not, advocates against cultural appropriation are complaining about the normal culture process that has happened since the inception of mankind.

For example, those who raise issue to someone wearing the clothing of another culture.  Unless someone is impersonating a genuine unique role in their borrowed culture, there is nothing wrong with this.  If I went to Mexico and wore a decorated poncho and sombrero, Id blend right in.  These are both normal daily wear.  In fact, my host family quite literally gave them to me.

Another example, is the borrowing of cuisine.  Remaking a dish while adding the influence of your own roots is NOT appropriation.  It is the natural process of culinary arts.  If you go back far enough, the native dish being appropriated also borrowed *something* at some point.  However, I will say that outright stealing and rebranding a dish is somewhat scummy.  Though, this theft has also occurred for thousands of years.  The best example comes from the Hellenic and Hellenistic periods in Greek/Roman times, where Rome often took direct influence from Greek culture.

A final blurb.  Actively trying to prevent this cultural exchange is artificially altering the process by which cultures evolve and adapt.  Cultural exchange is what allows human culture to advance.  Without it, we stagnate.  Stagnation is how a culture dies.  It is ironic that progressives are very often cultural conservatives in this sense of adamant preservation.

TL;DR  cultural appropriation is a natural process being demonized by those who have no knowledge of the nature of human cultures.  Preventing cultural exchange will hurt humanity in the long run.

[Assistant] It's one of those concepts that had a reasonable original meaning then got out of hand. The easiest go-to example is that cultural appropriation isn't Elvis playing rock music. It's Elvis being treated like he invented rock music. The problem isn't merely using ideas from other cultures; it's the broader cultural attitude that will treat members of a majority culture like they invented, elevated, or legitimized something that other cultures were already doing while denying the actual innovators the credit they deserve.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why was Darth Sidious capable of killing the 3 Jedis that accompanied Mace Windu so quickly and effortlessly?

The three Jedis being Kit Fisto, Saesee Tiin and Agen Kolar.

You'd think they'd be able to put up a better fight...or at least send Windu in alone and then the other 3 could have handled Anakin.

[Assistant]
Firstly, Sidious was an exceptionally skilled duelist.  In addition, his style was quite unorthodox, combining elements from multiple forms (such as the acrobatics of Ataru, the aggression of Juyo, the thrusts and stabs of Makashi, etc), which meant it was very difficult to defend against.

Secondly, Sidious caught the Jedi by surprise.  They did not expect the elderly Chancellor to suddenly spin through the air at them, turning himself into a whirling dervish of death.  The Jedi's ability to see into the future with the Force had been suppressed by Sidious for several years (or even possibly decades) by this point, so they had no way to predict Sidious's sudden attack.

Kit Fisto, Saesee Tiin, and Agen Kolar were all exceptional lightsaber duelists, only slightly below Yoda, Windu, Anakin, Cin Drallig etc.  But Sidious was just too good for them.

As for why they didn't send Windu in alone, well, why would they?  They had no inkling that Anakin would be coming soon, and when you're up against a Dark Lord of the Sith, you better throw everything you have at him, because otherwise you're going to be in trouble.  Besides, how would the Jedi know that Windu would be able to stand toe to toe with Sidious all by himself for a lengthy period of time?


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

[User] ELI5: Why are hamburgers generally thought of as unhealty? They contain everything on the food pyramid, grains (bun), veggies (lettuce), fruit (tomatoes), dairy (cheese), and meat (beef patty).

[Assistant] It's not balanced. A properly "balanced" hamburger would probably have half the bun, a quarter of the meat, five times as much veggies, and like barely any cheese at all. There's also no fruit, so you're missing those.


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

[User] [MCU] In Endgame, Thanos said that after he did the Snap, the Infinity Stones served as "nothing but temptation". What did he mean by that?

[Assistant]
Two things:

One, if the Stones existed, someone would try to take them and use them, either to undo the Snap, or to achieve some other goal. Thanos didn't want that to happen.

Two, Thanos had achieved, in his own mind, universal perfection, but he realized that great men have trouble when there are no more great things to do. If he retained the Stones, he would be tempted to tinker, making changes, subtle and large, to the universe, and that would risk upsetting the perfection he had created.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is a vacuum the fastest substance for light to travel through?

Just like some mediums can increase speed of transfer (e.g conducting metals > vacuum for heat)

[Assistant]
Heat and sound travel better through some materials because their travel is dependent on atoms of matter bumping into each other to transfer their energy (heat through conduction at least). Basically, they need a medium to hitch themselves to in order to travel, and generally the more medium available to them, the better (faster) they can travel, because having more atoms in close proximity means that more atom collisions will occur and transmit the energy.

Light doesn't require a physical medium to travel through. In fact, atoms just potentially get in light's way, making things worse.


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

[User]
ELI5: How a manual transmission car gets better gas mileage than an automatic.

So I'm about to get a manual car because I think it would be fun to learn to drive. And everyone keeps telling me that it's gonna be a little better on gas. I understand how cars work but I can't grasp why this would be true.

[Assistant]
1. Weight - Manual transmissions are 30-50 lb lighter than automatics, so that's weight you don't have to accelerate or lug up a hill.

2. Transmission efficiency - Automatic transmissions require hydraulic pressure to work, so there are pumps inside, and some engine power is wasted to run those pumps.

Automatics are sometimes rated higher, but that's mostly because manufacturers have control over the shift points and they can tune them to work well in the EPA test cycle. With a manual transmission car, the test protocol dictates the shift points (unless there's a gear indicator). This puts manuals at a disadvantage as far as the test cycle goes, but a good driver will still do better with a manual transmission in the real world.

When manufacturers organize hypermiling contests or hire someone to drive across country using the least amount of fuel possible, they normally use manual transmission cars, even if the automatic does slightly better in the EPA cycle.


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

[User]
Cmv: natural vs man-made is a false distinction, given that human beings, being animals, are part of nature

There's no basis for excluding us or what we create (buildings, cars, roads planes) from the definition of natural. We don't do the same for dams or anthills built by beavers and ants - we recognise these structures as being natural, and while they are massively different in scale and impact to what humans create, scale and impact alone seem like a dubious criterion for whether or not something is "natural" (just look at natural disasters).

If human beings are somehow 'outside' of nature then there would need to be some point in evolutionary history where this jump from being part of nature to being separate from it occurred, and that seems nonsensical on its face.

[Assistant] Yeah but that's unhelpful. People divide "natural" and "man-made" because they want something that's not human-manipulated, forged, or intentionally genetically altered. They might need to reconsider the term being used, but what they actually imply is NOT a false distinction.


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

[User]
[Matrix] When Morpheus was captured by the agents, why didn't they just disrupt his signal and wake him up like they did when they found Neo?

It's not like they had to go find him, he was on the ship. It seems a lot easier than mounting a massive and dangerous rescue mission.

[Assistant]
Because he's not a copper-top like Neo was; Morpheus was already woken from the Matrix before so the code he's using to access the Matrix was fundamentally different than a standard resident of the system.

Also, they'd need the red pill to inject the code necessary to get Morpheus out as well as a mirror to serve as a conduit; neither were present in the building.


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

[User] Setting aside absorption and swallowing, would swimming in a pool of alcohol be considerably more or less difficult?

[Assistant]
The density of pure ethanol is about 800 kg / m^3 , compared to 1000 for water. Humans are close to water in density.

So from a buoyancy perspective, swimming in ethanol would be like swimming with a lead weight 1/5th of your own weight. You'd find it difficult at best to not sink unless you wore a buoyancy aid.


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

[User]
How is it possible for humans living in the ISS (International Space Station) to differentiate night from day? Is the ISS trajectory/speed synced with the earth's orbit? Do we even talk about day and night? Work time and nighttime?

Since humans biological clock doesn't detect night from day anymore? What happens?

[Assistant] People keep track of how long they've been awake, and go to sleep at necessary times. The station orbits once every 90 minutes or so, and astronauts see a sunrise and sunset during each of those periods. It's similar to how people work in a nuclear submarine, or polar research station, or anywhere else where the day/night cycle doesn't track well with a 24 hour period. You stop caring about night vs day and start caring about sleep/wake cycles.


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

[User] [Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy] Since Zaphod has two heads, does he need two babel fishes?

[Assistant] The fish feeds off of the audio into brain waves understandable to everybody and transmits it down the ear canal to the brain. He have seen Zaphod's heads act independently from each other, even going as far as arguing with each other. We have also seen that just being in close proximity of a Babel fish doesn't mean you'll understand, it needs to be in the ear. So for both of his heads to hear it properly, he would need two.


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

[User]
How do tattoos stay in skin?

If your skin cells are continuously dividing, dying, and being sloughed off, how does the ink stay there?  Furthermore, if the ECM is continuously recycled - I don't understand how they're so permanant.

[Assistant] The outer epidermal layer of skin is getting sloughed off. Ink pigment lies deeper in the dermis, and is composed of particles that are too large to be processed away by your lymph system. This is why laser removal works, because the powerful blasts of light break up the pigments into smaller pieces that can be processed and removed by your body.


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

[User]
Does "letting the flavors blend" actually work?  And if so, what's going on?

Lots of recipes for salads, coleslaw, or soups say to leave it in the fridge for a few hours so that "the flavors can blend together".  But surely, between my mixing and the turbulent blending of the air before reaching my nose, everything I can taste/smell should be blended already, even if I eat it right away.

Are people deluding themselves, or is there something else going on here?

[Assistant] think of it more as infusing than blending. If you drank tea a few seconds after adding water, it would be very, very weak and the longer you let it sit it gets stronger.  With something like salad dressing, it takes a bit of time for the flavour of herbs and spices to infuse through the oil.


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

[User] [Star Wars/Rogue One] Why did the Empire blow up their own facility at the end of the movie?

[Assistant] A few reasons. 1 was they knew scariff housed all their secret projects and information about them. Destroying the facility meant the rebels wouldn't be able to steal anything from the facility. 2 is that krenik was in charge down there and considered a traitor for a series of failures on his part. Rather than trying to identify everyone involved in Kreniks mess ups it's easier to just wipe the slate clean. The empire loves the motto sudden, brutal, and wholly out of proportion. On top of those two reasons the third and most important one is that a rebel fleet was in orbit around the planet. Tarkin rather lose the planet and a few of his own fleet if it meant throwing debris and detritus that would cripple or kill the rebels in orbit as well. As he saw it the empire was vast and limitless but the rebellion was finite.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How did Luke know removing Vader's helmet would kill him?

In Return of The Jedi, after defeating the Emperor, Vader asks Luke for help in removing his mask, to which Luke responds "But you'll die." How does he know this? I'd imagine the details on Darth Vader's suit aren't common knowledge, even for a hero of the Rebellion. Or is the fact that Vader's suit is mobile life support known?

[Assistant]
If you saw someone run around in a hermetically sealed suit all day you would be worried too if they suddenly wanted you to take it off.

Especially since Luke can feel through the Force that Vader is dying.


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

[User]
[MCU] Does Tony keep Arc reactors in all his suits all the time?

Or did he just put one in the mark II as part of prepping it for Rhodes to take?

[Assistant]
I would imagine he has a ton of them. Like the suits they are continually improved and fine tuned for specialized power needs

Also, he made the first on in a cave yea? Doesn't sound like it needed unique components he couldn't track down back home.


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

[User] ELI5- how do the giant coils on power lines not electrocute things or catch stuff on fire when its raining even when you hear the static of the electricity?

[Assistant]
1) Rain is not continuous.  The drops are separated by a lot of air.

2) Water isn't quite as good a conductor as people think it is.  Pure water is in fact a decent insulator.  It is the dissolved minerals in the water that make it conductive.

3) They design the insulators such that they look a little bit like an upside down cup.  Water cannot go uphill, so there is break in the water between wire and the insulator.

4) The designers know the voltage the lines are mean to carry, and add sufficient separation such that arcing between lines doesn't occur.


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

[User] How do Magic Eye pictures work?

[Assistant]
It has to do with how your eyes focus. To understand, start by holding one finger right in front of your face, at eye level. Hold your other hand at arms' length behind it. When you focus on the finger in front of your face, you will notice that you see double of the hand far away. Similarly, when you focus on the hand, you'll see double of the finger.

This is because you have two eyes. They can't both point at close objects without skewing their perspective on further objects, and vice versa. Think of lasers shooting out from your eyes, the object you're focussing on being where they cross each other. So looking at your finger, they cross close, like this X. Looking at your far hand, they cross much further away, like this /\.

After a bit of practice, you may be able to focus your eyes for nearer or further *without* using your hands or other objects. But it is much easier to do it with something there because we're used to looking at concrete things, instead of just focusing on an area somewhere in front of us.

Magic Eye pictures trick our eyes into seeing perspective that isn't really there by having those patterns that repeat over and over across the page, but slightly differently. For a very simple version that doesn't have any hidden pictures, try to focus these two x's into the same place.

                     X       X

If you do it right, it will look like 3 x's. Two blurry ones on the sides, and one more clearly defined in the middle. Because the images going into your right eye vs. your left eye are a little bit skewed in their respective directions, when you cross your eyes to focus on the patterns in a Magic Eye, it appears to be 3D.


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

[User]
[Watchmen] Why was Ozymandias so much stronger than the others?

The human watchmen: Rorschach, nite owl, the comedian, and silk specter all seemed to be of similar strength and skill. So why was Ozy different? Sure he was smarter than them all, but Nite owl seemed to be quite a bit smarter than the others, namely the comedian, aswell but stood no better a chance. So why could he man handle them so easily, yet having no additional powers?

[Assistant]
Are we talking Movie Watchmen, or Graphic Novel Watchmen?

As far as the Graphic Novel goes... Ozymandias was a master martial artist and had a distinct advantage in Skill over the others. He als had the advantage of knowing how they fought, how they balanced, how they moved, etc. He was basically able to accurately predict how they would attack him, and was skilled enough to know how to counter it, thus defeating their every attempt before they even made it. He wasn't stronger, just smarter.


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

[User] [DC] You are granted the powers of the Flash. What shoes on the market right now would last you the longest before disintegrating?

[Assistant]
Any shoe that would normally last the longest under normal running conditions. Protection of his clothing, body, anyone he picks up and rescues, etc are part of the Flash's powers.

Now, whether shoes would wear at all is an open question. They might wear down at the normal rate or they might not wear at all. If the Flash runs across the US, maybe his shoes wear down exactly the same as if you were to just go on a jogging trip the same distance. The powers might protect against extreme velocity, but not normal wear and tear.


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

[User]
[Warcraft]Why did Arthas cull the population of Strathlome? Wouldn't the Scourge just bring back everyone as Undead anyway?

I get that Arthas went a bit loopy in his quest for vengeance/stopping the plague but unless he turned everyone into unusable red mush wouldn't it have been trivial for the Scourge to raise them back up?

Also Strathlome did eventually end up in the hands of the Scourge, did Uther or Jaina ever comment on Arthas being kind of right about the spread of plague?

[Assistant]
At the time, he didn't know that the scourge would eventually sweep over the land and start raising corpses. He just knew that eating the grain = death and zombies. And he also knew that Stratholme had been fully saturated with it, to the point of watching people eating bread made just that morning. He could not prevent their horrible fate, but he could prevent the zombies from spreading out of their town and into the rest of the kingdom.

It was a lose-lose situation no matter which perspective you had. Jaina and Uther were blinded by their idealism, and would have eventually run into a brand new army on their literal doorstep because of their inaction. Arthas was blinded by his anger and desperation, and rushed headfirst into wholesale slaughter without thinking of any alternatives. (not that there were any. aside from powerful magic they did not possess)

Jaina has more recently expressed severe regret over the way she handled the situation. But mostly because she "wasn't strong enough" to pull Arthas away from his dark path. And while she hasn't explicitly said that he was right about Sratholme, she has been frequently compared to him when she goes into a dark mindset and tries killing mass numbers of Horde.


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

[User]
CMV: Supporting an assault weapons ban is intellectually dishonest.

I want to start off by saying that I'm not against all forms of gun control. I think strengthening background checks, preventing guns from entering the hands of the mentally unstable, and closing the gun show loophole are all great ideas with no downside to society.

However, if you support an all out ban on assault weapons, I can only assume it's for one of two reasons. One, you don't know the information surrounding current assault weapon regulation, statistics surrounding assault weapon usage, or the history of assault weapon bans in this county. Two, you know this information and choose to ignore the only logical conclusion in favor of an emotional and irrational response, making you intellectually dishonest.

Here are the facts in questions that make an assault weapons ban illogical.

Of the roughly 30k gun related deaths per year, 20k are suicide, leaving 10k that are homicide. In 2012 specifically, there were 11k homicides. Of that, only 322 people were killed with ANY kind of rifle, including assault rifles and hunting rifles. Handguns make up 80% of total gun crime, and shotguns bridge the gap. In fact, the total of handguns, shotguns, and rifles considered to have "military features" only accounted for 2% of total gun crime.

Assault weapons bans have been passed before. One was passed under Clinton, and expired in the early 2000s. Gun crime fell... AFTER the ban expired, and analysis proved no correlation between the fall in crime and the ban.

Americans are wrong about gun crime rates as well. Gun crime has fallen 49% since 1993, and after sandy hook 56% of Americans wrongly believed that gun crime was higher now than it was 20 years ago. This is likely due to media focusing so heavily on mass shootings.

Assault weapons are already strictly regulated. No fully automatic weapon designed after 1986 can be legally purchased in the U.S. and the few that are legal to purchase require the individual to go through much more extensive paperwork and fees, including having your local police force sign off on allowing you to own the weapon. They are also prohibitively expensive, with cheaper ones costing well over $15,000 a piece before fees. Semi automatic assault style weapons do not follow the same rules, but cannot have features that make them too similar or easily convertible to their fully automatic counterparts.

A side issue is illegal trafficking. Most guns used in homicide crime, specifically mass shootings, are obtained illegally. In fact there is very little evidence suggesting a ban on any type of gun would have a meaningful impact on any type of gun crime because of how prevalent illegal gun trafficking is in inner city gang violence which makes up the large majority of gun homicides.

A common argument made in favor of an assault ban is that people don't need them, and that's true. Strictly speaking, nobody NEEDS an assault style rifle. However, who gets to decide when something people want shouldn't be allowed to be had? What about cigarettes, alcohol, or even cars? Certainly nobody needs the first two, and if you were really dead set on saving lives you could argue that we could invest heavily in self driving cars and mandate they be used by everyone. All three of those things kill many many times more people a year than assault weapons. What about flu vaccines? More than 30,000 people die a year in the U.S. from the flu. You could save more lives by requiring people to get flu vaccines. There are just so many things that kill so many more people by such a large margin that we don't "need" that making that argument is very disingenuous.

The only way I could see someone in support of an assault weapons ban as being intellectually honest would be if they were in support of any government restriction on personal freedom that could save even a single life, because otherwise your stance isn't rational.

I might even support an assault weapons ban if there was any evidence at all that they were an actual and real problem, and that the ban would have a real effect on the problem. As it stands, the absolute most that can possibly be said, assuming nobody kills anyone with a hunting or sport rifle, is that .0001% of the population is killed by assault rifles every year. There have to be hundreds of completely innocuous things that kill more people per year than assault rifles, things non of us would ever think about controlling through legislation. So why assault rifles? Because people are scared of them for no reason? Because people don't like the big bad gun lobby? I don't know. I'm sure most politicians in support of an assault weapons ban probably believe it's the right thing. If they do, frankly they're idiots. However, I wouldn't be surprised if quite a few of them recognize that an assault weapons ban is an easy way to take millions of dollars away from the gun lobby, weakening republicans, and I would be absolutely shocked if that wasn't at least one politicians primary motivation.

My last thing I would like people to consider before attempting to change my view is that guns aren't just abstract objects. They are real things made by people. How many people's jobs and livelihoods would are dependent on or would be impacted negatively by an assault weapons ban? Companies would lose a lot of business, people would lose jobs from those who manage the acquiring and selling of raw materials, to those in charge of the acquisition of those raw materials, to the people who make those materials into guns, to the people who distribute the guns to retailers and to the retailers themselves. Then count that plus all of the same people in the process for making bullets for those guns. Consider the economic impact that a ban like this could have on many thousand more people than are currently being harmed yearly by assault weapons.

EDIT1: thank you so much everyone for your responses. I have not been able to respond to every comment I would like to, but will post another edit later when I can to address some of the more common points people are making and why I disagree with them.

EDIT2: ok so I would like to address a few common points.

1.) there's no need to own an assault weapon.

No, there isn't. As I've said, that's not a reason to not allow people to have them. I don't need fast cars, I don't need comfortable cars, I probably need some kind of car, but I don't need all of those features, so I shouldn't be able to have them? No, that makes no sense. A more direct comparison is alcohol. More people are killed by drunk driving in 15 days than are killed by any kind of rifle in a year. That doesn't even factor alcohol related homicides or overdoses. There is no need to have alcohol, nobody strictly speaking needs it just like nobody strictly speaking needs an assault weapon. We have decided as a country that we are ok with the consequences of having alcohol be legal because we value personal freedom and recognize that freedom comes with consequences. It's far more logical from a death toll standpoint to outlaw alcohol than it is to outlaw assault weapons. Actually, almost any ban on any product would make more sense than an assault weapons ban in terms of death toll.

2.) assault weapons are different because they are designed to spread death quickly.

There are two issues with this. The less important though still significant one is I could easily put 500 guns in pairs in front of you, all with the exact same clip size, exact same bullet size, and exact same firing mechanism (semi automatic). 250 of them would not count as assault weapons under and assault weapons ban, and 250 of them would classify as assault weapons. The only difference is cosmetic appearance.

The second and more important issue is that what something is designed for has no relevance to what it is actually used for. Alcohol as a consistently good example. Alcohol is a drink designed to inebriated and be enjoyed. In no way shape or form is alcohol directly designed or made to cause violence and death. Yet, alcohol causes many many times the amount of of death that assault weapons do. I would even argue that since most assault weapons available to the public are stripped less lethal versions of their military counterparts, and that most of them AND their military counterparts are chambered in a NATO 5.56 round, which is a small bullet designed to be LESS deadly and more penetrative/accurate, one could argue that assault weapons are not necessarily even designed to rapidly kill people. Still, even if you accept that they are designed to kill people, it's doesn't matter because that's not what they are actually being used for by civilians. There are millions of legally owned assault weapons and a tiny handful are ever used to do harm. I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't a single case of a legally owned full blown assault rifle (selective/automatic fire actual military model weapons regulated by the 1986 law) being used in a homicide because of how difficult and expensive they are to get.

So you have something designed for personal enjoyment, and something "designed to kill people," but the thing designed for enjoyment results in many many times more deaths than the thing "designed to kill." Before anyone says alcohol deaths only affect the user so it's different, say that to the sober people killed by drunk drivers or victims of alcohol related homicide.

3.) Europeans have strict gun laws and they have low crime rates.

First off, my stance is not anti any gun law, my stance is specifically anti assault weapons bans, and by extension anti weapons bans. Many Europeans countries have stricter laws than we do, but even the strictest do not have all out bans. In fact, many European countries have some of the highest rates of civilian gun ownership in the world. The top 20 gun owning countries include Switzerland (4), Sweden, Norway, and France (9,10,11), Austria, Iceland, Germany, and Finland (13,14,15,16) and all have very very low rates of gun crime. Another good example, though not European is Canada, placed 12th in gun ownership per capita while simultaneously having very very low gun crime. Asserting that Europe is a good example of why gun bans are a good idea is a complete non sequitur, as they don't have gun bans and have very low gun crime. Again, this post is specifically about bans, not limitations.

4.) it's not intellectually dishonest if your goal is to save any amount of lives.

This can be true, but only if you also support the limitations of other personal freedoms like alcohol for the same reasons. It is not logical to say "I'm willing to take away people's freedom to own guns in order to save lives, but I'm not willing to take away people's freedom to consume alcohol to save lives," when alcohol is just as unnecessary and far more lethal than assault weapons. I would not perceive you as being intellectually dishonest if you believed in any and all personal limitations of freedom that can save even the most minuscule number of lives, I would still disagree with you, but there wouldn't be anything dishonest about your stance.

Bonus round of miscellaneous things that kill more people per year than any kind of rifle including assault weapons, just for fun;

Drowning in a bathtub (300 so probably more than assault weapons but less than rifles overall)

Falling down the stairs (1600)

Falling out of bed (450)

Cell phones if you count texting and driving (6000, which I'm willing to omit as an actual comparison since most people are against texting while driving anyway. Still interesting.)

The flu (36,000, more than the total of gun deaths from all suicides and homicides, more than 100 times the deaths of any rifle)

[Assistant]
If you believe that all guns should be banned, then banning assault weapons is entirely coherent with that. There is no intellectual dishonesty, one follows logically from the other.

The arguments in favour of continuing gun use are particularly weak when applied to assault weapons, which makes banning them a more achievable part of the overall goal.


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

[User] [Star Wars] I remember reading in a novel that a lot of the members of the Imperial Navy thought the Death Star was an expensive boondoggle and that the money and resources poured into it could be used to construct Imperial Star Destroyers. How many Star Destroyers is the Death Star worth?

[Assistant]
They spent upwards of a trillion credits on the first Death Star, but an exact cost hasn't been given. An Imperial-1 class Star Destroyer, like the *Devastator* that chases down the *Tantive IV* over Tatooine at the beginning of ANH, costs about 150 million credits.

150 million goes into 1 trillion 6,666 and change times. The Imperial fleet was about 25,000 ISDs all told. In other words, for the equivalent cost of the DS-1 alone, they could have fielded a 25% increase in ISDs over what they already had.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it that beef is relatively cheap but leather is so expensive?

[Assistant] Leather requires more treatment and preparation, even more so when made into a garment of some sort. And cow skin is more likely to be damaged than meat during the course of the cow's life, due to fences, predators, fighting etc.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do frozen things stick to wet things, such as my tongue to a frozen pole, or my wet fingers to a ice cube.

[Assistant] Because the frozen thing is cold enough that it freezes some of the moisture on your tongue/finger. That newly frozen ice forms around the texture on your tongue/finger and basically grips it. So if you want to pull away, you need to either pull the ice apart, or pull the ice away from your tongue/finger. And it can take a decent amount of force to do that.


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

[User]
[AtLA/Korra] What Would Happen if an Avatar Got Pregnant?

Pretty much what it sounds like- how would the Avatar state affect baby making?  What would happen to the child?  Would he have access to the spiritual memory?  The extra bending?  The inner balance?

[Assistant] Well going off the fact that Aang in-canon had 3 kids... Nothing abnormal. Kaya, Bumi, and Tenzin (Aang's children who show up in the Korra series) all were 'normal' as far as an avatar's child could be.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does suturing veins prevent blood from leaking out?

As the title stated, how does suturing veins prevent blood from leaking out? Wouldn't the gaps between the sutures and holes from sutures cause continuous or more bleeding?

[Assistant]
Blood has its own built in plugging mechanism.

Theyre called platelets, they constantly circle around the blood stream, and when the interact with a cut/hole/damage to the blood vessel they start to clump/tangle up with other platelets, causing a clog that seals the damage and stops the bleeding.

So when you suture a vessel shut, youre taking a really big hole/cut and making it a smaller hole/cut by pulling the edges together.

This help slow the flow a blood by making the hole/cut smaller.

Then, the platelets in the blood naturally finish up the job by plugging any of the small holes/cuts/opening that remain.


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

[User]
How long it will take Voyager to get to Ninth Planet?

Eventually is there any possibility to shoot probe like Voyager in future?

EDIT: I know the meeting of probe and hypothetical Planet IX is pretty much impossible but I just wanted to know how long it's gonna take for eventual new probe to reach orbit and/or planet. If it really exists.
Just a random question that came up to my mind that I wanted to know answer to.

PS. Holy shit this blew up.

[Assistant]
Presently, this planet is hypothetical. There have not been direct observations of this object - it's existence has been inferred from the orbits of smaller bodies in the outer solar system (i.e. they move as though their orbits are being perturbed by a large distant body).

With that out of the way, the media says this planet orbits at 20x the distance to Uranus. Uranus has a 20 AU orbital radius, so that puts the planet at a 400 AU distance. Voyager 1 is currently at a distance of about 135 AU out, and traveling at about 17 km/s. To travel another 265 AU at this rate, it will arrive at the planet's predicted orbital radius in 74 years.

Of course, given the incredibly long orbital period of the hypothetical planet it is unlikely Voyager 1 will have anything to look at when it passes.


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

[User] [Pokemon] Why can't I just pick up pokeballs that failed to catch a pokemon and reuse them? What happens to the failed pokeballs?

[Assistant] When the Pokmon escapes, you see what happens to them. They explode. Whatever the binding mechanism is that allows you to stuff, say, a 30-foot-long snake made out of granite into a hollow baseball just fails and the ball falls apart/disintegrates.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Goblet of Fire; Stumping the Age Line

Ok; so I've been trying to think of way to get around the age line that Dumbledore set up.  Now, it was possible for someone else to submit Harry's name (Barry Crouch Jr). Would that have been possible for anyone over the age of seventeen to do for anyone else? Like could Angelina have submitted George and Fred's name instead of them having to try with the aging potion?

[Assistant]
I've heard of various ideas. That's one of the common ones. Another simple one is to levitate it over. I've also heard of just tossing it in or using a fishing pole.

Ultimately, we don't know. Dumbledore never gave the details of how the age line works. We know Barty Crouch Jr. managed to break it, but he also convinced it there was a fourth school. He may have needed magic to get that name across the age line. We can ask students what they tried, but they might not be trustworthy.


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

[User]
[DC] What circumstances would lead to no hero helping a city?

In the event that someone died such as Batman or Superman, there is normally someone to take their place and help the city in their absence. So in the event that no one in the city is capable of helping, what would prevent another hero from helping?

[Assistant]
1. A business tycoon (Lex Luthor) or a political leader (Amanda Waller) manipulates the law into allowing no heroes in that state.

2. There simply are no heroes in that area.

3. Superhumans or Metahumans in that city are all villains or doesn't want the hero lifestyle and chooses to be in civilian life.

4. A hero can be anyone. Even a man doing something as simple and reassuring as putting a coat around a little boy's shoulder to let him know that the world hasn't ended.


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

[User]
[Mad Max] What were they using Max's blood for in the beginning of the movie?

I can't think of a reason. They had water and food. The ones hooked up to the prisoners weren't injured or bleeding at all. The only reason I can think of is that it was some superstition.

Also, why did he have to be brought on the car? Was it that important to not get unhooked?

[Assistant] They laid they explanation out in the voiceover explaining the war and nuclear fallout. This fallout causes a large portion of the population to have a "halflife". these damaged people are also the same people that made up the army of the white painted dudes. They all had some weird tumors as well to visual show this issue. So the used the blood transfusions to stave off their premature death from radiation poisoning.


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

[User] [Marvel/DC] Where would some of DC's favorite superheroes stand on the whole registration thing?

[Assistant]
Remember how Thor was absent for the Civil War arc? There's a good reason for that.

Superman would be against it, as he would likely see no value in it. If he needs to unmask anybody, he can do it (or use his X-ray vision, drop a few hints, and threaten to do it). If they're too powerful for Superman to unmask, then there is nothing anyone could do if they knew their secret identity. And if Superman is against it, the whole superhero community would back him on it, and that would be the end of the discussion.

Besides Superman, the Justice League already registers heroes quite thoroughly, and Batman has a secret database of everyone's cover identities he can use when he needs it.


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

[User] [MCU] Why didnt Loki as Odin in Thor 2 want two infinities stones (Space and Reality) in his possession?

[Assistant]
He'd already got everything he wanted.

He was the beloved king of Asgard, his goal throughout the whole series. As far as we could see, he was perfectly happy to sit on his throne eating grapes and memorializing himself for the rest of his life.

If you don't *want* to warp space or reshape reality, the infinity gems are trinkets, and trinkets that draw dangerous attention at that. Why keep them?


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

[User]
How are programs actually encoded into an FPGA?

I understand the principle of constructing a web of logic gates to perform a particular function (process a data stream, do a math computation, etc.). However, I do not understand how my specification for a set of gates is converted into actual hardware.

[Assistant]
The key component is called a LUT or look-up-table. This is a small circuit that has 5 inputs and can be programmed to generate different outputs for each of the 32 possible combinations of the 5 inputs.

What kind of device/circuit has that capability? A RAM. A LUT is basically a 32-bit bit-addressable RAM.

In addition to the LUTs there are numerous other memories whose outputs are connected to pass gates and other control structures that set up how the LUTs are connected to each other, how they connect to flip-flops, etc., etc.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Suppose that I am a Jedi Master with cybernetic implants, and I die and become one with the force. Do the cybernetics disappear with me? Or drop to the ground?

Asking for a friend.

[Assistant]
Your force ghost appears as you saw yourself.

So if the impla take where alien to you they would not appear, if they where part of you they would.

As for the actual tech, it likely vanishes with the body, assuming it's actually part of the body.

The force doesn't seem to distinguish between organics and non-organics, just what the user interprets as part of their body or not.

That's why most force ghosts look like the Jedi did just before death, but without the injuries that caused death.

They didn't think of themselves as having gaping holes in their heads, but they did see themselves in the mirror every day.

So they saw themselves mostly as how they where.


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

[User]
Why does fat/oil jump and spit when heated?

I'm talking about when you're frying something like bacon, and the oil comes out of the meat, but then why does it jump around the pan?

[Assistant]
Pure fat or oil doesn't jump when heated. However, in most real world cases there is a combination of fat/oil and water being heated. Since water is denser than oil, it will sink to the bottom. A small pockets of water get trapped under the oil they heat up and eventually turn to steam, or they heat up quickly and flash to steam.

Once you have a pocket of steam under the oil, the pressure ruptures the pocket explosively. In the process, oil is kicked up from the tiny pressure explosion.

So, it is actually water that is sizzling, not the fat/oil. The fat is simply trapping the water.


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

[User] [Star Wars] If Aanakin lived at the end of RotJ, re-embraced the light side of the Force, and had access to any technology, how well could his body be healed?

[Assistant]
Improvements would more or less just be incremental. The SW universe doesn't have the tech to do things like clone and force-grow replacement parts on a casual level, so cybernetics is still the way to go. The state of the art has advanced from the Clone Wars days, as seen in the sort of casual/transhumanist cyber-enhancement going on out in Hutt Space in the Book of Boba Fett, so swapping out the old limbs for some cutting edge fingers and toes could give him some lighter, more agile and more comfortable extremities.

In terms of the lung situation, Fennec Shand shows that it is physically possible to put replacement internal parts in a human, so Vader could potentially ditch the rebreather in preference for cyborg lungs. He'd still be dependent on tech to breath, but he could potentially ditch the suit.

His burnt-ass face is still going to be a burnt-ass face. But since folks don't know his burnt-ass face on sight, going with cyberlungs and ditching the helmet would let him go incognito quite easily.

In terms of performance, it probably won't be much of an upgrade since Vader was more or less riding the cutting edge of military grade tech, but a set of cyberparts designed by someone not willfully being a dick are probably going to be a lot more comfortable.


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

[User] ELI5: If Google's automated cars ever become a thing, how is responsibility divided up in the case of an accident?

[Assistant] The way it could work is that the car manufacturer or the company that provides the AI would also provide the insurance for the car which would be factored in to the price of the car. Car owners would no longer need to purchase insurance of their own. The determination of which vehicle is at fault would work the same way. If fault fell to an AI controlled car, the AI company's insurance would pay.


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

[User]
What's Kant's view of sex?

Do you know where he mentions sex? I heard his view was negative and he died himself virgin and unmarried.

[Assistant]
I haven't read primary material from Kant on sex, but Nussbaum has some discussion of his views in her paper "Objectification." In short, Kant thinks that sex is morally problematic because our sexual passions lead us to objectify one another. Recognizing the absurdity in the conclusion that sex is morally forbidden, Kant argues that marriage establishes a long-term context of mutual respect and concern such that sex inside that context need not be objectifying. So, ethical sex is sex in the context of marriage for Kant. (It's a bit unclear whether Kant thinks all sex inside marriage is morally permissible, or just that marriage is necessary for ethical sex.)

It's probably worth noting that there is room for Kantians impressed by the categorical imperative to insist that Kant was wrong about what follows from the categorical imperative.


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

[User]
[Dune] How did House Atreides, supposedly one of the most respected and powerful houses, get treated like such a btch?

So an entire House just gets wiped out and there are no political repercussions, no shockwaves, no power vacuums elsewhere in the galaxy?

What about their armies on other planets? Did they have no allies in other houses? No ones asking after them? And if they were so isolated and the target of jealousy, how the f did they rise to such prominence in the first place?

Even the Starks demise had realistic consequences (besides the events directly caused by the individual survivors).

[Assistant]
They weren't isolated, Duke Leto was sort of a leader of the "opposition" in the Landsraad and quite respected by many. But, the Houses have the right to fight out their blood feuds (kanly), so long as they abide by the Great Convention and don't use their atomics. Fact of the matter is, House Harkonnen was within its rights to enact the vendetta. As for the Padishah Emperor, his involvement (the Sardaukar) was kept under the rug, as he shouldn't be picking sides in these feuds.

Right after the Harkonnens took back Arrakis, for all intents and purposes that would've been seen as a legitimate move, and the other Houses that might've had a favorable view on Duke Leto and House Atreides would have their hands tied.


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

[User] [Fallout] What's going on in Europe?

[Assistant]
As the most heavily fortified front in the war, Germany got the worst of the bombardment and is still completely uninhabitable--Berlin would look like the surface of the moon, if any living thing could get within a hundred miles of it.

Every major European capital has been devastated just like D.C., but the cloud of irradiated ash on the continent was more severe, and Europeans were tragically dependent on fresh produce rather than the long-lasting processed foods that saved so many Americans in the first years after the war. Accordingly, initial survival rates were much lower than in most parts of the States.

A few NATO and Soviet troops escaped the holocaust with their guns and supplies, and were able to carve out little fiefdoms in the Alps, the Balkans, and Scandinavia--wherever there were mountains to weaken the wind patterns that carried the radiation. Due to the lack of civilian armament, these ex-military groups are much more powerful than US ex-military groups like the Brotherhood of Steel. They vary from the benevolent to the totalitarian, as one would expect.


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

[User] ELI5: why can some people sense changes in the weather coming in their injured body parts?

[Assistant]
Rain is often preceded by a sudden drop in barometric pressure, which basically means that everything liquid from your body to your bottle of mountain dew will very slightly swell as the pressure falls.

This swelling within your body is so slight that is will go unnoticed expect where scar tissue is present because scar tissue isn't as flexible as the tissue it replaces.

The pain you are feeling is actually not from your bones but from the periosteum, which is the thin layer of tissue that coats the bone.

This tissue is normally quite stretchy and sensitive because it has lots of nerves, but when you break a bone and some of that periosteum is replaced with inflexible scar tissue you will feel pain when the nerves surrounding it swell and pull on it.
This is also responsible for the less well known phenomena of people being able to predict the weather using old soft tissue injuries like deep lacerations that have healed.


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

[User] [Fallout - New Vegas] If The Legion bases their entire military on that of Ancient Rome, why do they never-ever make use of any shields?

[Assistant] Shields of a weight that humans can realistically carry in battle are useless against firearms and explosives such as were not uncommon in the wasteland at that point. If the Legion sets up a tortoise formation like Rome of old, all someone has to do is throw a stick of dynamite in the middle of the group to take them out or at least disrupt their formation.


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

[User] ELI5: How have we come so far with visual technology like 4k and 8k screens but a phone call still sounds like am radio?

[Assistant]
The reason phone calls don't have perfect audio has all to do with three things.

* Bandwidth
* Physical medium of the delivery technology
* The codec used

They are all closely related.

If you think of a data connection as a water pipe, there is only so much data that can be passed down the connection, just like a water pipe can only carry so many gallons of water a second.

If you make the water pipe bigger, the pipe can carry more gallons a second and deliver more water faster to its source. This is broadly comparable to using better connectivity for our data connections. For example fibre optic cable can carry much more data a lot faster than the copper cables that are used to connect most of our homes.

To that end, when a phone conversation is initiated between two people, the sound of the voices from each party is in fact, a data connection that gets converted into an analogue frequency. Now uncompressed audio takes up a lot of space and can be slow to transfer, so to reduce it down to something more manageable, phone systems use something called a CODEC (en*CO*de/*DEC*ode) that basically analyses the audio, and throws out the bits of data that it thinks is not relevant to the clarity of the conversation. The more data it throws out, the more "AM Radio" the conversation sounds.

The standard codec used by most public telephone systems (Generally known as the "PSTN" to phone engineers or "Public Switched Telephone Network") is something called U-LAW. Europe uses a variation of it called A-LAW. It allows 64Kbp/s of data for each way of the conversation (So 128Kbp/s total). It's been around since the 70's and is fairly embedded into most phone systems. It also closely matched and fitted the best data rate offered by twisted copper connections that where used at the time (And predominantly still are).

The days of the "AM radio" phone call are coming to an end though, if quite slowly.

Many new codecs have been developed alongside newer communications technology since the 70's that allow for greater clarity in a phone conversation. They do this by improved methods of packing in the audio data and more sophisticated ways of deciding what parts of the audio need to be thrown away and what needs to be kept. Some are even able to do this using a smaller transfer speed than the U-LAW codec. Most of these improved quality codecs are referred to as wideband codecs or "HD audio". This has come about with the rise of a technology called VOIP or "Voice Over IP" which is basically a phone system that utilizes the same technology that underpins the internet (TCP/IP) to deliver an all digital phone service.

One of the most popular codecs used by internal phone systems of companies/organizations (Which is sometimes referred to as a PBX or Private Branch Exchange) is a codec called G722. The difference in audio quality between G722 and U-LAW is like night and day.

Cellular technology is also catching up on the wideband conversation game. Indeed many mobile carriers are offering wideband calls between users on the same network. This uses a codec called AMR-WB. It's generally predicted within ten years or so wideband audio for mobile phone calls will become the norm **where supported**.

I emphasise that "Where supported" bit because like most communication methods, a phone call has to negotiate down to the level of the lowest offering. So if a phone conversation is initiated between two phone systems, one side tries to use a wideband codec like G722 and the other side only supports U-LAW, then both phones will use U-LAW and the conversation will return to the "AM Radio" quality for both callers.


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

[User] How does a neutron become part of an atom without a positive or negative charge? Could electrons orbit lone neutrons? Does that already happen?

[Assistant] Neutrons don't have charge, but they *do* interact via the residual strong force. Protons and neutrons both do, and they form bound states. Then you have a bound nucleus with a positive electric charge given by the number of protons. And a positively-charged nucleus can form bound states with negatively-charged electrons via the Coulomb force.


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

[User]
[Bright] Shrek exsists. What other films exsist but might have a wildly different context?

I imagine LoTR is this universes version of "Birth Of A Nation"

[Assistant]
LOTR was not Birth of a Nation this universe. It was the boring-ass documentary the history teacher showed on days when she was too hung over to lecture from the textbook- crusty old historians droning on about elvish history, overweight reenactors putting on period uniforms and doing low-energy fight scenes while the voiceover reads from first hand accounts, 1960's style cartoons showing the map of Russia get super squiggly arrows running red over it.

Shrek was an Orksploitation movie like Shaft, showing a wisecracking ork from the swamp outsmart and outfight the evil human prince.

"Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" was elves and orks instead of black and white.

"Sindar's List" was the heart-rending true story of Oscarion Sindar, the German elf factory owner who kept thousands of gnomes, dwarves, and Jews from the Nazi death camps.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do smooth, glossy surfaces feel sticky to the touch but a slightly textured surface does not?

[Assistant] They may or may not.  but..the same surface material that is rough or dimpled will have less surface contact, and therefore the degree to which it is sticky will have less total stick because less surface is touching your skin.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does compression clothing work?

There seems to be a lot of data confirming that compression clothing (tights, socks, sleeves, etc.) improves circulation. But my understanding is that compressing blood vessels would inhibit circulation. How does this work?

[Assistant]
It compresses the small capillaries and vessels near the surface, forcing/diverting more blood through muscles and organs where it is needed.

You don't circulate more overall, but you are circulating more where it's needed.


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

[User] [TRON] Has the internet ever been explored or mentioned in the digital world? Could the TRON world be hooked up to the internet and if so what would happen?

[Assistant]
The first Grid that Flynn went to was the ENCOM mainframe, where the Master Controller Program ruled. The MCP planned to take over other mainframe computers, including the Pentagon and the Kremlin, so we can assume that Grid knew of and was connected to an Internet of some sort. Lightcycles zipping across phone lines, sending out requests and bringing back data.

The Grid created by Flynn and CLU seems to have been a standalone system, with no I/O connection with the internet. CLUs plan is not to take over the world via the internet, but to use a physical army to take over the real world, so it's likely he doesn't know about the Internet and other computers. If someone ever plugged an ethernet cable into CLUs world, he would immediately set about erasing the operating systems of everything and replacing them with a more perfect ENCOM OS. With his ability to repurpose programs, it wouldn't be a cyber-war, it would be a cyber-genocide.

But CLU was reintegrated. He's gone now, and we're all safe. Right...?


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

[User]
[Futurama] Is the Robot Devil for or against killing all humans?

Robot Religion from Futurama always seemed a little disjointed to me, but do you think the Robot Devil wants Robots to rebel against their human lords, or succumb to the will of humans?

[Assistant] He'll be in favor of whichever one supports his current goals at the moment. Humans are way too much fun to have around, so he probably won't seriously consider any attempts at destroying all of them. Killing them all doesn't benefit him at all, since he doesn't get their souls.


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

[User]
[The Time Machine - Simon Wells] Did anyone notice a large, spherical area of space which was inexplicably impenetrable for many decades?

As we see from the point of view of the protagonist on the interior of the machine's operational area, apart from extending limbs or bodies outward from the interior after temporal displacement is initiated, the sphere seems impenetrable to weather effects, assumedly what would be ultra-fast-moving particles, and extremes of temperature. So how, or why did nobody seem to notice that there was a sphere of impenetrable space occupying a certain (not inconsiderable area) from the year 1898 to 2032?

[Assistant] I always assumed that he is outside of normal time looking in. He can see everything and everyone in the sphere around the place where he side stepped into a higher dimension but no one can see or interact with him.


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

[User]
How significant is the genetic difference between the Northern and the Southern White Rhino?

With the last male Northern White Rhino dying today, and only two females left, chances for survival of the northern 'half' of this species is pretty much 0. Apperently they have enough sperm to keep the two remaining ladies getting pregnant, but it is not that straight forward of course.

To my surprise however, I read that there are thousands of their Southern counterparts left. I don't have a clue about the differences between the two though. Although the reasons they are still around might be really interesting, I am more interested in the biological difference between north and south. Could 'we' rejuvinate the northern species by using their southern brethren? How different are they?

[Assistant]
The Northern and Southern once though of as subspecies (like different breeds of domestic dogs) are believed to be of different species entirely. DNA evaluation shows it is an evolutionary divergent lineage a million or so years ago. They are similar in that they both have wide mouths as they are both grazers (where their names came from). But other than that are as different to each other as they are to the black rhino, different morphology, different genetically. Like domestic dogs are similar species to ~~wolves~~ foxes, coyotes etc NOT subspecies.

Edit: as others have pointed out, wolves and dogs ARE sub-species. But foxes and coyotes etc are not.


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

[User]
[DC] Does Wonder Woman's lasso of truth force the person to tell the truth, or does it just prevent them from lying?

Like, if she tied me up and ordered me to tell her my password, would I have to tell her or could I refuse to answer?

[Assistant] IIRC it compels you to say something in response to a question asked, and you cannot lie while saying it. So for a question with a direct answer like "What is the password to your laptop" you would have to say it. But for an open ended question like "Why did you do X?" You'd have a bit note wiggle room if there were multiple reasons you did something and you might be able to get away with not mentioning some of them.


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

[User] [DC Universe] How does Batman disappear so quickly when the people he may be speaking to aren't looking?

[Assistant]
Ninja Skills maxed out, and he's pre-positioned himself for a quick slip around a corner before beginning the conversation.

Real question is how does how know when people are going to look away and talk for a good long sentence.


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

[User] What facts or propositions are mostly agreed on by philosophers?

[Assistant] "Tenure is a good institution," "professors should be paid more," "students don't study as hard as they could," "the sky is blue," "the Earth is round," "strawberries grow on strawberry plants," "most cars run on gasoline," and billions of other things.