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

[User] [D&D] I've spent the last 6 months fighting goblins in the mountains in the middle of nowhere. When I woke up this morning, I could speak draconic. What gives? It was the wizard's doing, wasn't it?

[Assistant]
You've been studying you git. It's just now you've reached a milestone or are experienced enough you feel confident in saying you know draconic.

And why does everyone blame the wizard? It could have been the bard!


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

[User]
[Godzilla] Is Godzilla's dark green color caused by natural pigment or ocean algae?

He does spend an awful lot of time in the water.

[Assistant]
He does but so do tuna, sharks and whales.  None of them are green.

So I'd say no. More likely big G mutated from some swamp or river dwelling creature that relied on its green colour for camouflage.


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

[User] ELI5: How does the United States national debt directly affect it's citizens? Why should they be concerned?

[Assistant]
the debt itself doesn't do much of anything unless we default. however, it *is* an indicator. increases in the -rate- of debt accumulation are caused by factors that also impact the basic machinery that drives the economy.

just to emphasize, what matters is the **rate** of debt accumulation, not the actual dollar amount owed.

the responses you see getting downvoted for some reason, talking about inflation, devaluation of the dollar, interest rates, and so on are true. if the national debt suddenly doubled in the space of a month, you would expect all of those things to happen.

where they err is that the debt isn't a cause, just a symptom.


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

[User]
[folklore] why dont Tooth Fairies take the teeth by themselves/herself?

 Could it be because it would result in the risk of them having contact with blood? cause You know, iron and stuff, i always had this question, if they like teeth so much, why dont they take it by themselves? perhaps because they are a good species and taking teeth by violence could be considered something evil? do tooth faires even have a weakness to iron?

[Assistant]
The reason that the Tooth Fairy doesn't take teeth is because it is a Seelie, a more benevolent natured faerie. An Unseelie version of the Tooth Fairy would steal the teeth with force, but our friend instead trades her riches for the tooth.

While you may think you are onto something with the iron thing, you are off a little. Most all faeries do have a weakness to cold iron. But cold iron refers either to cold-worked iron (purer iron ore, commonly found from meteor impacts, that was hammered into shape without heating), or purified iron and steel that was smelted and has cooled. Natural iron, such as that in blood doesn't have an effect on them.


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

[User]
CMV: Universities in the United States should not require students to take General Ed classes

I've always thought that higher education was meant to give the opportunity for students to learn. GE diminishes this opportunity by telling students what they MUST learn.

I can think of two arguments of why GE is good to be required:

1. GE allows students to find what they want to pursue (or not).
2. GE creates more well-rounded students.

Rebuttals:

1. The student knows themselves the most. They are the ones who are seeking their specific higher education. They should choose to take whatever classes they need to find what they need to find. Plus, for many students who apply with a specific major in mind and maintain it throughout, reason #1 would provide no help as finding their field has already been accomplished.
2. The University should not push their values and ideas of what an "ideal" student should be. Yes, a philosophy class might help an engineer, and an English class might help a chemist. But who is deciding what is best for them? The engineer and chemist. If they think a philosophy class or an English class might help them, then they should take it. But, by no means should they be forced. Many of the benefits that are attributed to GE classes, such as critical thinking and communication skills, are cited. If these skills are required by the major, then they should be major requirements.

With the insane prices of Universities nowadays, it seems imperative to "get in and get out" if the students want to minimize their crushing student debt. Although I don't know for certain, I suspect that at least one motive for requiring GE classes is so that they can soak up as much money as possible.

I am open to having my mind changed. I would change my mind if the students are shown to be better off if they are required GE classes compared to if that requirement is dropped. I would also change my mind if my perspective of what Universities should do is false, and shown that this new role is more beneficial to students. I would also change my mind if there is another reason why GE is good for the students and shown that it is more beneficial to the students. I also can change my mind by other things that I haven't thought of yet. Thanks!

Note 1: I included "United States" since I'm not familiar with other countries' education systems.

Note 2: If you saw this post a few minutes ago, sorry! I had to fix the Title.

[Assistant]
>The student knows themselves the most. They are the ones who are seeking their specific higher education. They should choose to take whatever classes they need to find what they need to find. Plus, for many students who apply with a specific major in mind and maintain it throughout, reason #1 would provide no help as finding their field has already been accomplished.

Not always. Many people have discovered new career paths or lifelong hobbies/interests in college due to general education requirements.

>The University should not push their values and ideas of what an "ideal" student should be.

It's not about making an "ideal" student. It's about setting the students up for success, giving them a broad range of skills and experience to prepare them not to just be successful in a career but also to be well-rounded and productive members of society.


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

[User]
In electricity, where does the flow of electrons actually come from?

When a turbine spins and electrons flow through the cable, where do they originate from? Are they coming off of the copper or iron itself?

If that is what happens, that must damage the material right?

[Assistant] The electrons were already in the copper, before the turbine started spinning.  They were drifting between the atoms of copper. There's no damage, because the electrons just go back and forth. A typical speed might be 0.02 millimeters per cycle, at 50 cycles per second. Even if the current is DC, the electrons go around in a loop, from the turbine out to your house (for example) and back again. The slow drift speed is tiny compared to the average electron speed from its internal energy.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do some toddlers with early signs of autism point with their thumbs (instead of their index fingers)?

[Assistant]
To "point" you need to isolate one finger.  The thumb is the easiest, because isolation is important to grasping.

But, as any learned behavior, it depends on practice.  Finger painting and many other toddler activities offer opportunities to teach the child to isolate their pointer finger.  This is mostly important to make a proper pencil grip, as opposed to using the "hammer grip" on a crayon or pencil.

Difficulty learning to isolate a finger could be a sign, but then again you have to assure there are many oPportunities to learn this valuable skill.


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

[User] Since cannabis is known to suppress REM sleep, does chronic use affect long-term memory detrimentally?

[Assistant] Chronic use does affect long-term memory as long as chronic use persists. By 28 days after cessation, the memory problems subside. Withdrawal is characterized by its own syndrome which includes problems sleeping and strange dreams.


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

[User]
DUNE: If the Fremen desert suits recapture all of a person's sweat instead of letting it evaporate, but sweat evaporation is what regulates body temperature, then what keeps them from having heat strokes.

The very purpose of sweat is to get evaporated away. Even if the suit recaptured it *after* evaporation then it's still capturing warm moisture that raises body temperature.

[Assistant]
According to Liet Kynes' description of the technology, the inner layer of the suit allows near normal evaporation of sweat.  This transfers waste heat from the body to the suit.  The middle and outer layers of the suit have heat-exchange fibers in them, which transfer and concentrate the heat as it is move outwards.  By the time it reaches the outer layer, it is higher temperature than the ambient air, and can be radiated away as per normal.
Basically the suit operates as a motion powered heat pump.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it that when we eat something too much we start to dislike it?

[Assistant]
We have an innate desire of a healthy, varied diet with lots of different nutrients, vitamins, etc., to keep our bodies supplied with all the items required by our metabolism.

Short term, this means that when you eat a whole lot of a single meal in a short amount of time, say a lot of candy, your body is giving a response that it's had enough of that nurtrient, and is likely reaching unhealthy levels where it will have to waste resources instead of use it.

Long term, it's a bit more psychological. Our desire to try out new recipes, new foods and change from the old ones is, when you have a steady and healthy diet, likely because you have acces to information about new food: such as new recipes, new information about certain nutrients, cooking shows, advertisments, etc. I'd argue that the desire to experience a new and exciting flavour eventually causes a mental link to dislike the food you're used to.

Extremly long term, the bud tastes on your tongue, like all other cells in your body, die off and are replaced with new cells. This means that roughly every few years you develop a slightly altered taste that can alter your preferences. Spicy food also scars your tasting buds that can also alter your taste!


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

[User] What does Socrates mean by " the unexamined life is not worth living?"

[Assistant] Socrates has the choice between exile or death when faced with his charges of corrupting the youth at his trial.  Ultimately, Socrates knew that his exile would lead to complete separation from philosophy, wisdom, and reasonable debate.  Without a life of wisdom and knowledge-searching, Socrates knee he would be blind to reality.  Socrates essentially has to make a choice between an unexamined life, or death, and death is what he chose.  Socrates was a god-believer, and so, he knew he would have an opportunity in the after-life to continue his love for wisdom and search for knowledge.  Philosophy, to Socrates, is the most important pursuit above all other pursuits, and without it, a person lacks the most essential and necessary thing for a good life.


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

[User] Are asymptomatic carriers completely immune to that disease? And can they show symptoms if certain conditions are met in the long run?

[Assistant]
You can't be a carrier if you're immune, you being immune means that the virus can't interact/use your body to reproduce or you have antibodies for the virus, asymptomatic carries aren't immune, it's just that the virus isn't so hard on them.

Maybe they'll show symptoms if something compromises they're immune system, maybe another virus or medication they have to take.


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

[User]
CMV: Most corporate jargon is harmless slang and we shouldn't get so worked up about it.

I work teaching critical thinking and deception awareness for businesses and schools.

One of the issues I come up against is the campaign against corporate jargon, idioms and words that only seem to exist in the business world.

"I don't have band-width for that""I'll parallel both options""What are the learnings from this project?"

Some of this language is deliberately deceptive. For example, saying "downsizing" instead of "firing people". This is bad communication that I do not defend.

However, most of the language is just alternate words for existing concept. The argument is often made that, because of this, we don't NEED the corporate version. e.g. "Why say learnings, we already have LESSONS?"

This ignores the existence of both synonyms, nuanced differences, and what this language is: slang.

Most of the language we cringe at, is usually just slang used between people in a specific community. It's no different from cockney, leetspeak, and teen slang. It's used to build affinity between people and create a sense of community.

It can be overused and it can be used in the wrong forum but I don't believe that makes the language inherently bad.

I believe that we hate this slang over other types of slang is because we don't like the people who use it. It reminds of American Psycho businessmen stuck in their own bubble of oblivious privilege.

I think people WITHIN that community hate it because of what it says about them. I read this on twitter:

>"I want to stave off the corporate brain worms as long as I can. Maybe if I continually re-read stuff like this it'll keep them out forever, and then I can die in peace knowing I never became "the man" "

In other words, our problem with corporatespeak is not the language but the people who use it.

[Assistant]
The problem is that unlike teenage slang or regional slang, this isnt coming from your peers, its coming from HR. And HR can fire you.

That means there is an element of coercion to this kind of corporate Newspeak.


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

[User]
How do the blood vessels in the bottom of your feet not get crushed?

Is blood pressure high enough that they stay open? Or do we fidget enough that they only get blocked occasionally?

[Assistant]
The fat padding of the sole (specially the heel) has very compacted and tight fat compartments that distribute the weight just fantastically (think the gel soles of the flashier nikes).

Aside from that, it would take more than a few hours of restricted blood blow to necrose skin patches. Like how when you fall asleep with your head over your arm on a table drunk (where you don't move **at all** for several hours) you don't get sores or anything on your arm or face.

And finally, there is such a thing as impact-hemolysis. It happens sometimes to some marathon runners and such, when their heels impact on the floor with such force that it ruptures the red blood cells passing through at the time, and with enough repetition (ie: several hours running) it can lead to measurable anemia as a result.


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

[User]
[Disney]How do people know the words to the songs the main characters are singing?

when Belle or Gaston breaks out in a song, they get a few lines down and then there's a chorus of them singing along. despite the appearance of the song being totally spontaneous.

[Assistant]
Well it depends. In Mulan it was a training song, thank marching chant so any soldier would know it. In little mermaid,  we can infer that Sebastian orchestrated the performance to increase chances of the girl being kissed. In lion king, simba was the prince and so all those animals bow to him.

Hmm come to think of it a power dynamic is often in play during those "break into song" moments.


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

[User]
[Star Wars: The Force Awakens] Why are there still Rebels...?

If the Rebel Alliance won in Episode VI and the Republic was restored then why are there still Rebels? Is that just what they're called? Or do they exist outside the Republic's command structure? Are they fighting the Republic AND the First Order?

[Assistant]
The resistance is a non-government insurrection run to oppose the First Order. Officially it is not run by, or backed by the Republic, but they do get support from them occasionally.

The following from the Force Awakens Visual Dictionary
> Many thought Leia Organa was unreasonably suspicious of the peace process that defanged the Galactic Empire. She argued that the New Republic was not doing enough to secure the safety of it's citizens, and she was estranged from the Senate for her refusal to let the ghosts of the last war stay dead. Leia's words of warning regarding the First Order's mobilization for war prove tragically prophetic.

And this one concerns the Resistance itself.

> The upper levels of the Resistance consist primarily of veterans of the Galactic Civil War who have remained loyal to Princess Leia Organa. Many of the New Republic politicians who rebuilt the senate thought the best way to preserve peace was to disband the galactic scale military forces that had become the norm since the Clone Wars. This left many skilled veterans without commands. When Leia began organizing a Resistance to stand watch against the militarized rise of the First Order, these old rebels were ready for the fight.


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

[User]
During Nuclear fusion experiments, how is the power produced dissipated safely?

I've seen smaller scale tests using heater bars to dissipate energy as heat, but how is this translated to such a high energy level?

[Assistant]
Modern large fusion experiments actually don't have significant energy content. If anything goes wrong like some large-scale disruption event, the energy is deposited on the first wall as heat and can generally be handled without major issue. Future very large experiments (ITER, DEMO) may not be able to handle such large scale disruptions due to the larger size and increased energy content.

During normal operation, the experiments must also exhaust energy and particles. In modern experiments this is almost always done using a divertor. A divertor is a device that utilizes a modified magnetic geometry to scrape off unwanted particles and is typically made of very heat-resistant material. After the plasma interacts with the material and is neutralized, it is pumped out of the system.

In addition, any neutrons / radiation emitted during the experiments leave uniformly, unaffected by the magnetic field.


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

[User]
How can a digital clock become fast?

The digital clock in my car will slowly get more and more ahead unless I reset it; how does this happen? How do digital clocks normally function and why would it be fast of all things?

[Assistant]
Digital clocks that plug into a wall usually use the oscillation of the AC power coming from the grid to keep track of time. This oscillation is usually very steady and predictable so it works well.

Your car isn't plugged into the grid, so it needs to keep time some other way. Often a quartz clock is used. This clock runs a current through a quartz crystal which causes it to vibrate. This vibration is pretty much constant for a given voltage so you can count the back and fourth movement to keep time.

The reason it might be running fast is because the vibration isn't perfect and there are a lot of variables. Temperature and voltage both have an effect on it, so a small difference from what the clock expects in either of these will cause it to run fast or slow. Also since these clocks are mass produced if the quality control isn't great you'll get quartz clocks that vibrate at slightly different speeds from what they are supposed to. If you don't calibrate the clock to use the actual speed it will drift as well.


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

[User] ELI5: why does our brain sometimes wake us up during the night, despite there being no external stimulus, and when we clearly have not had enough sleep?

[Assistant]
Depends. What kind of waking up are you talking about?
The one where you have no chance to go to sleep again (insomnia style) or more like waking up, realizing its still bed time, rolling to the side and going back to sleep?


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

[User] ELI5: Why can't we imagine new colors?

[Assistant]
I would wager that everything you 'imagine' is some function of everything you've ever experienced - every stimulus you've ever received as a brain with shoes. All we do when we 'imagine' is take things we've experienced, and combine them in new ways..

In the case of colors, the 'existing' colors, are every combination of red, blue and green possible... which, given our earlier interpretation of imagination, is also all the colors we're capable of imagining.

In other words, we can't imagine more colors, because there *are no more* colors - given our known set of previous inputs, at least.

I theorize that, having never seen the color purple, a young child could still imagine purple...because purple is just a blue-ish-red-ish hue, and exists as a combination of existing stimulus...even though it's a new color for them if they've never seen it before.

For example: Imagine a new shape, and see how quickly your brain just combines existing shapes to make a new one. Imagine a new smell and see how quickly your brain comes up with 'chocobacon' or something.

Once you've eliminated all the possible combinations of existing stimulus, your imagination doesn't seem so limitless.


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

[User]
[AoU] is Ultron's strength and power based on how many robots he can produce?

Just saw AoU again and realized he isn't that strong fighting against the avengers individually. Is he a threat because he can produce so many robots and overwhelm the avengers? I have never read the comics.

[Assistant]
I think Age of Ultron did a very poor job using Ultron as an AI. The danger of an AI is it will outsmart you. It doesn't have to be faster (but it is, usually) it doesn't have to outnumber you (but since it can replicate, it likely does), it just has to be smarter than you. The movie made Ultron equal in intelligence to Tony Stark and less intelligent than Jarvis. Which is fine for a story, but less impressive when you think about just how dangerous Ultron could have been in the movie.

His power is based on numbers, but not in a fight. his ability to replicate and his consciousness being able to be transferred to any body makes him more dangerous. If even one Ultron Bot got loose then Ultron survives and is just as dangerous. Had they made him as dangerous as he should be in intelligence and electronics, then he would have been too much for them even then.


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

[User]
[Captain Planet] When he isn't combined is Captain Planet in any way conscious or aware?

I was just wondering if he existed in any way beyond the rings as being alive for short ten minutes bursts spread over weeks would kinda suck.

[Assistant]
Captain Planet represents the desire and power to protect the Earth. Even if he doesn't physically form, he exists in the people who want to protect the world (the planeteers and rings in particular). After all, the Power is yours.

(I took this idea mostly from Garnet in Steven Universe. There's this lovely quote where she represents the love between two gems. Even if they're not fused, she'll always exist in them)


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

[User] ELI5: Why do our bodies need to do a "full round" of antibiotics, why can't we stop using them halfway without risk of side effects?

[Assistant] Generally speaking, it takes the whole round of antibiotics to kill of 100% of the infection. If you stope half way through, you might have only killed 95% of the infection. That remaining 5%, which is resistant but not immune to the antibiotics, could survive the half treatment and come back stronger than ever. The resistant ones would repopulate, leaving you full of an infection that is all resistant to the antibiotics.


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

[User]
Eli5: Why are clothing brand sizes different from each other even though they all use the same scale? (i.e. xs-xl)

If I know that Im a size L at one clothing store why is it when I go to a different clothing store Im forced to move to a XXL or M to get a decent fitting option?

[Assistant]
Because Large is a word that has no fixed meaning except in comparison to something else. You can, in certain contexts, assign expected values, but generally speaking there is no standard sizing for these loose terms.

This is why actual tailoring uses specific measuring - 52 chest, 44 waist, 20 neck, etc., to find your right size.

Btw, its doubly ridiculous for womens sizes, which are all over the place based primarily on how the brand feels about fat people and body shaming, mostly.


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

[User]
ELI5: How to fruit flies randomly appear in your kitchen around a garbage?

You have a garbage bag due to be taken out, and you open the lid, only to get swarmed by several fruit flies. They weren't there before, now they're a flock.

Edit: yes, the title should have said "do", not "to".

[Assistant]
What happened is that one fly went in there about ten days prior and laid eggs on a piece of rotting fruit or some other decaying food item.

The larvae developed and pupated over the next week and a half and they emerged as adults. But they were all trapped in the trash-can so when you took the lid off they all flew out.

(I really hate to break it to you, but if the trash was not ready to be taken out a week ago, then you had a fly lay eggs in your food before it was thrown away. This happens sometimes and usually the eggs or larvae are just consumed and no one ever knows it.)


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

[User]
ELI5: Why and how can I hear my vinyl records when the volume is turned all the way down?

As in, the record is still spinning, but the volume is at the minimum. Does the needle literally create a sound that is projected?

[Assistant]
>Does the needle literally create a sound that is projected?

Yep!  The needle vibrating inside the grooves in the record is what creates the sound.  The rest of the electronics are just there to amplify the sound of the vibrating needle.

In fact, in very old Victrola-style phonographs, the large horn you see is nothing more than a non-electronic bullhorn type megaphone that makes it easier to hear the needle vibrating.


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

[User] [Star Trek] If Quark hadn't gone looking for The Dominion to do business, would the war still have happened?

[Assistant]
War with the dominion was inevitable. Quark may have sped up the timeline as far as how long it took them to notice the Alpha Quadrant, but the Federation is a culture of explorers and would've eventually wandered into Dominion Territory.

Not to mention that even if Quark hadn't gone through the wormhole, the Grand Nagus would've sent someone else through.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does electricity figure out if you're standing on an insulator or not?

So as we know for a person to get electrocuted a circuit needs to be completed. You cannot stand on a wooden chair and get electrocuted. So when you stand on a wooden chair and touch a live wire, how does the electricity figure out that you're standing on an insulator? Does the electricity pass through you first before failing to complete the circuit because of the wood?

[Assistant]
How does the water at the surface of the bathtub know that the drain at the bottom has been opened?  It doesn't, directly, but the water at the bottom of the tub is flowing through the drain and no longer resisting the weight of the water at the top.  The water level starts going down because of that lack of resistance at the bottom.

It's the same with possible electrocution: a lot of electric charge is suddenly pushing at one end of your body, but if there's an insulator at the other end, all the other charges in your body pushing against the insulator and against each other will cause them to brace against and resist the incoming charge.


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

[User] [Marvel] Which infinity stone is the most dangerous/powerful? (Not counting the obvious answer, the continuity stone.)

[Assistant]
Given that we've only seen a few of the Infinity Stones, this is impossible to answer.

Now, if you want to talk about Infinity Gems, that depends on your definitions. The Time Gem offers complete and total control of time. Time travel, selectively aging/de-aging things, and the ability to see the past and future. The Mind Gem offers unlimited psionic ability, giving the wielder near-infinite levels of telekinesis and telepathy, including mind control on a planetary scale. And the Reality Gem offers the ability to warp all reality to your will.


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

[User] [Harry Potter] Do English wizards have the right to vote in all English elections? Can they be elected?

[Assistant] If they are Muggleborn or otherwise trying to integrate into Muggle society (like Ron after marrying Hermione), yes. Otherwise, no. Someone like Draco Malfoy effectively doesn't exist as far as the Muggle government is concerned.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does the brain create nightmares?

It doesnt make sense to me that it would induce a state of terror in our most vulnerable state.

[Assistant]
Our brains are really good at telling stories based on insufficient information.

When you sleep, the plaques in your brain get flushed, resulting in random excitement of neural pathways.  This means you trigger a random combination of sensations and memories.  When you are in REM sleep, the part of your brain that manages narrative is active and not in maintenance mode.  This means it can string together sensations being triggered into a story you experience and sometimes remember.

These can be positive or negative, depending on all sorts of factors including hormonal balance, general mental state, lucidity, strong neural pathways, repressed memories/fears/hopes, and much more.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Why do different brooms move faster than others?

Additionally, why are house teams allowed to have better brooms and not have a standard to make it more fair?

[Assistant] Brooms do not follow the newtonian laws of motion.  They move and are powered entirely by magic.  The reason some brooms move faster than others is the same reason a potion made by Snape is gonna be more potent than one made by Neville, or why a Bat boggey hex by Ginny will be stronger than one by Draco.  Some people are just better at magic than others.  That said, a broom is far more complicated than a single spell and requires multiple enchantments to make work.  That's why you get generations of slight improvements (Nimbus 2000 vs Nimbus 2001) rather than just a few of varying quality at once.


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

[User]
[Hulk & The Mask] What would happen if Bruce Banner/The Hulk accidentally put the mask on and became Big Head?

I say accidentally because I'm not looking for answers like, "Bruce Banner is too smart to put it on". I have a few sub-questions too.

If Bruce Banner put the mask on, would he be able to transform into the hulk at will?

Would the mask help him to keep (at least a small bit) of his intelligence whilst he's in his Hulk form?

Which is more powerful in terms of "overriding" the other?

[Assistant]
Red Hulk was able to wear the Venom Symbiote and the Spirit of Vengeance at the same time. He did this with permission from both of the symbiotes' owners. They parted ways willingly once their joint mission was over.

Green Hulk is naturally resistant to mind control. He gains more resistance as he gets angrier.

The Mask wouldn't be able to control Hulk. Hulk would just rip the mask off his face if he didn't want it. Hulk likely could use the Mask's powers, but only if he were perfectly willing to.


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

[User] [LoTR] Could Gandalf have created his own ring in which to invest his power to either use himself or entrust to another to use?

[Assistant]
Theoretically, yeah, gandalf had power and he could theoretically use that power to create a ring. In practice however, there a few problems:

1: Gandalf doesnt know how to make rings. Sauron, and saruman was apprentices to the valar Aule, the valar of craftmenship, which is why they are so good at making stuff. Gandalf was a maiar of Manwe, the valar of wind or kinds or something. He doesnt have the knowlegde and skill on how to make a ring of power. Hell, even Saruman tried to make his own ring, but failed. If he cant, gandalf cant.

2: What would the ring do? Gandalf isnt a manipulator and a mind controller like Sauron, what would Gandalfs ring do? What would be its purpose? Now, gandalf did wear a ring of power, and he did use it to inspire the hearts and will of men and so, so that could be a possible usage.


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

[User] ELI5:When we are hungry why does taking a bite cure our hunger when it hasn't had time to digest yet?

[Assistant] Because your body is willing to reward you now for the food it thinks it's about to get. Same with drinking water and feeling thirst pass even though it will take time for the water to be absorbed. Turns out a lot of hunger and thirst is your body telling you what it thinks you should hear.


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

[User] [40K] Say a primarch either recovers from his wounds or otherwise returns to the Imperium. What impact would it have? What would the primarch's reaction be to what the Imperium has become?

[Assistant]
It's dependant upon the Primarch. Those who always valued the life of mortals, such as Leman Russ, or Vulkan, would be disgusted by the disregard of human life and the rampant waste of it that is common nature to the Imperium. It is also safe to say that the religious fervor and devotion given to the Emperor and his Primarchs would create trouble.

The Emperor was trying to spread the Imperial Truth: Mankind is the master of the galaxy by sheer power of will and virtue of strength and genetic perfection. There is no divine spark in the galaxy, no gods or demons, only small minds that are scared of the dark and the truth, seeking solace in these lies.

The fact that that man is now revered as a god and the cult is the state-enforced religion would be mind-boggling to a Primarch. Many, especially Guillaume, would also decry the mismanagement, the rampant Bureaucracy and corruption that has become the norm.

Apart from that, the state of decay the Imperium is in would probably become their main focus and they would attempt to revive it in any way they seem reasonable, most likely starting with the Emperor himself. Corax may even go to far, he has already turned to dark means to recover from losses. He could potentially create another civil war by turning to dark powers to find a means to revive the Emperor.


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

[User]
ELI5: why does eating make you sleepy?

I know that's it not a good idea to eat right before you go to sleep, your body digesting the food uses energy and the process disrupts getting that perfect night's sleep. So why the hell does eating a big meal make you sleepy? It seems really counter productive and it's super annoying.

[Assistant] In addition to the High energy digesting everyone else mentioned, it's important to be aware of Insulin and insulin crashes. This doesn't happen much after small meals/snack, but if you eat a lot of food (especially with a lot of sugar - natural or otherwise) your body gets a massive influx of bloodsugar, which your body needs to distribute throughout the body. This is done with insulin, and if you get a high amount of sugar in the blood your body reacts by making A LOT of insulin.  You usually end up with more insulin than you actually need, so you end up with (relatively) low blood sugar after a bit.  This low blood sugar is accompanied by lethargy, etc and likely contributes to a sleepy feeling after BIG meals.


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

[User] ELI5 Why can you leave a raw potato out of the fridge without spoiling but not a cooked/boiled one?

[Assistant]
First, a raw potato outside of the fridge absolutely will spoil, especially if the weather is warm and humid. Theres no feeling quite like clearing out the cabinet, looking for whatevers making that horrible smell, and having your hand go *into* a rotten potato.

It takes less time for a cooked potato to spoil because cooking the potato turns starches into sugars, which are more hospitable to bacteria and fungi, and also often involves piercing the potatos skin, which helps protect the potato from said bacteria and fungi.


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

[User]
ELI5: How is the communist doctrine affected by an increase in automation?

The little I know about communism is essentially about since workers provide the labor they should be afforded more ownership to the means of production.  Once there will be far less workers, and it's more likely those who work on automation will be well compensated or own a portion of it, what is the communist theory towards the rights of those who are put out of work?

[Assistant]
You are supposed to be co-owner of factories.

When they become automated, you just stop working there, but still reap benefits of being co-owner (= profits / part of production).

Endstate is everybody having equal part of whole country and gets devidends from that for personal spending, basically universal income is the eventual answer.

(Doctrine expected people to eventually stop working because they would not need to anymore)


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

[User]
[General Science Fiction] What are some examples of civilisations that live primarily in deep space?

In most sci-fy I encountered, most species live on planets and only use space-faring vessels to travel to other planets. Are there any civilisations that exist primarily in space?

[Assistant]
The Outsiders of Known Space follow Starseeds from the galactic core to the rim and back on their slower-than-light ships, living exposed to the vacuum of space in near-absolute-zero temperatures. They do rent planetoids from other races, if they're far enough away from the local star and cold enough, but these are merely way-stations and a place to do business.

The Quarians of Mass Effect are migrants, traveling through space as a fleet of generation ships after losing the war against the Geth. (And in the same universe, Reapers live in the space between the galaxies.)

The Photino Birds of the Xeelee Saga are dark-matter entities. They use stars to breed, but really they live ... anywhere. They can't interact with our matter, except gravitationally, so while they likely understand that planets made of our matter exist, they probably don't care.


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

[User]
[General Sci-fi] Regarding the physics of "shrinking."

So we just watched the trailer for the new movie "Downsizing" with Matt Damon and it got us thinking. There have been several movies and books and what not dealing with shrinking a human to teeny tiny size.

How does this affect the way the individual interacts with the physical world? Can they still absorb oxygen from the atmosphere? Aren't their red blood cells now too small to carry the oxygen? If their food stuffs and, from the trailer, booze aren't also shrunk, can they even properly absorb it into their systems?

I mean, in Interspace, they shrunk his ship with him so presumably all the air molecules in the ship shrank too. What if those tiny molecules get released into the normal size world? If there are tiny sized resources just floating around, wouldn't something start evolving to take advantage of that niche?

[Assistant]
1. They suffocate because they can't absorb enough oxygen to keep their complex bodies running.

2. They freeze to death because small mammals lose heat rapidly, requiring a insanely high metabolism humans aren't made for.

3. The air will become more like a liquid to them, it feels thicker.

4. Every water droplet is a capsule of doom as something that small can't break the surface tension to break out.

5. you would literally be at the bottom of the food chain, insects, small mammals. And everything else would see you as a snack.

So a simple rule is in place when shinking

Don't.


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

[User] If water boils (i.e. turns to gas) at 212F how do things ever get dry at room temperature?

[Assistant]
To start, there is a distinction between temperature and heat. In a given amount of water, the temperature of water is the *average* energy level amongst all of the molecules of water. However, heat is the *quantity* of energy that the amount of water has in total. As an example, the ocean has a lot more heat than a boiling cup of tea, but the cup of tea has a higher temperature. The quantity of heat in the ocean is greater than the tea, but the average temperature in the cup of tea is greater than the ocean.

At room temperature, the average energy levels in the water is not great enough to cause it to evaporate. However, individual water molecules do not all have the same quantity of heat, and some can gain enough energy to evaporate. This amount of energy is then lost from the source of water (evaporative cooling), but it will soon be replaced from the ambient air (at room temperature). Thus, the average temperature will remain constant, but individual water molecules are capable of evaporating if they gain more energy.

This is also why things will dry faster with higher temperature, even below boiling. The average temperature of the water molecules is higher, and a molecule takes less deviation from the average to gain enough energy to evaporate.


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

[User] ELI5: What exactly is cinematography? Is it subjective? How do I know a film has good cinematography?

[Assistant]
It's like photography but with movies.

The things that make a good photograph also apply to making visually appealing movies. There are a lot of things that affect it. Lighting, setting, framing/composition, subject, how motion is captured, scene transition

Yes it's subjective. But most people generally agree when something is good like with photos.

Edit: It's probably easier to tell if a film has poor cinematography than if it has good cinema-stop making me spell that.


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

[User] [House of Cards (US)] What are Frank Underwoods policies?

[Assistant]
Jobs, jobs, jobs!  The American economy is in shambles after the economic crisis, and needs a New Deal to get things back on track again.  Putting America back to work, that's his major domestic platform.

Beyond that, he's pretty mainstream Democrat:

- pro-choice, especially after his wife came out about having an abortion.
- pro gun control, especially after he got shot.
- pro education reform.  He (should) still be known for that education bill he got passed in season 1.  It had a lot of compromises in it, but that's the way politics are played.
- deeply sceptical of business interests.  Very willing to tell billionaires to fuck off and torpedo trade deals that appear to be for the secret purpose of benefiting special interests rather than the American people.


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

[User] ELI5: How do singers know they are singing the correct tone if the sound of our voice we hear is different than what others hear?

[Assistant]
For clarification, the name of the variable component is timbre, the first syllable of which rhymes with ham, not Jim. Tone can mean multiple things. The clearest breakdown of the sound produced by a singer would be pitch (frequency), volume, and timbre.

You have asked about tone, but it seems you mean pitch. The difference between a sound resonating in our head and in a room is not in the frequency, but rather in the timbre. Timbre is the quality of the sound that allows you to tell the difference between a trumpet and a flute. They could play the same frequency and volume, but you could still tell them apart. When a trumpet hears itself on your voicemail, it thinks it sounds like a flute.

Stage monitors, as have been mentioned in other posts, are not to correct this phenomenon, but rather to provide a way to hear yourself at all over loud concert crowds and bands. They are also used to combat phasing in large Opera houses where, even though singers are not amplified to the audience, the orchestra in the pit is played through monitors so that the singers are singing in time, rather than with the echo off the back wall of the opera house.

Source: am Opera singer and voice teacher.


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

[User] ELI5 when bacteria die, do their dead bodies just disappear? Or do they stay there? Does this mean there are a bunch of corpses?

[Assistant]
Nothing lasts forever or is wasted in the natural world.   We live on a planet of endless recycling.

Bacteria bodies decay and are consumed just like larger bodies.   They are broken down by enzymes, their components are taken up into plants, they are digested by you when you eat food containing them.   Other bacteria will eat them.

Its much the same process as what happens to a dead animal, but on a microscopic scale.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it that "preemptive strikes" were so important in the middle east but now that N. Korea has been shown to be a threat and actively threatening the US, the US doesn't enact a preemptive strike?

[Assistant]
War is political. Preemptive strikes can be real but just as often it's just an excuse to start some shit for ulterior motives.

North Korea on the other hand is...

* No serious threat
* Has nothing America wants, ie. not worth starting shit over
* War with North Korea will cause massive trouble

The Iraq and Afghanistan conflict caused America to nose dive further into debt and everyone is struggling to stabilize the countries and clean up the mess.

Let's assume a NK conflict is swiftly won and NK get's "liberated". There are now some 24 million North Koreans from a dysfunctional nation unloaded on the world. That's a pretty big burden to deal with.

So in short, there's no pre emptive strikes because there's no real threat and nobody wants to make NK their problem.


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

[User]
[DC] What would happen if Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman started their careers as teenagers?

I was going to ask about all the Justice League founders, but I figured I'd stick with the big three for now.

[Assistant]
Batman would be less effective.  He'd basically be a robin without a Batman to  train him.  He'd probably have to rely on stealth more since he'd be physically weaker and probably not have as good equipment.

Superman would still have all his powers, so the only real difference would be his mindset.   He always had a good sense of right and wrong,  but he'd probably make more mistakes and some rash decisions when he first starts out.  He'd struggle even more against the manipulations of people like Lex.

Wonder Woman would also still have all her powers, but leaving Themyscira at an earlier age might make it a little more difficult for her to adjust to the Earth.  She might at first have more trouble leaving behind some of the Amazons more violent tendencies.


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

[User]
Why do we still teach Bohr's model in school?

If we know that Niels Bohr's atomic theory (orbitals) is incorrect, why do we still teach it in schools?

[Assistant] Good question, I'd guess because its easy to understand and is functional unless you go into chemistry or physics.  It would be pretty hard to explain probability density, wave functions, Heisenberg principles and quanta to high schoolers though.


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

[User] ELI5: Why Don't Sponsors like Coca Cola Withdraw from the Qatar 2022 World Cup?

[Assistant] Because they care more about reaching a global audience during the World Cup than they do about supporting human rights.  They know exactly what the situation is, and they have an insufficient financial reason to care.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why don't optometrists and dentists work in hospitals?

Why don't we just centralize all medical needs?

[Assistant]
Some hospitals do have doctors that focus on teeth and optics.

But most of the time these are lumped in with bone and nervous system specialists.

The simple fact is that they don't need them there. People waiting for a dentist don't want to have to navigate through a hospital, and hospitals don't want to deal with everyday stuff, hence why few hospitals have actual clinics in them, most of the time are just walk-in clinics.


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

[User] [Game of Thrones] Why is dragonglass simultaneously the thing that made the White Walkers, and the thing that kills them?

[Assistant]
I guess it's the Mount of Doom kind of arrangement. Something can only be destroyed by the thing used to create it.

For example, Axe of Dwarfish Lords also can only be destroyed in the forge it was created in. Although it has to lie in there for fifty years to finally melt.

Or like Superman - he was born on Krypton, yet pieces of krypton is the one thing most lethal to him.


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

[User] What causes the difference in sound heard between a rumbling and a crackling lightning strike?

[Assistant]
Several factors affect the sound of thunder, most of which have to do with the path that the sound takes from the lightning bolt to your ears.

A lightning bolt can be several kilometers long, so the thunder generated from the point nearest to you can reach you as much as 20-30 seconds before that from the point furthest from you.

But that's assuming straight-line paths. Thunder can bounce several times off the ground, buildings, trees, even layers of air, before it reaches your ears. As a result, a big lightning discharge might trigger thunder that continues to roll for a minute or more.

In contrast, consider a lightning bolt that strikes perhaps a quarter of a kilometer away, with the lowest part of the bolt running roughly perpendicular to you. Since the entire nearest section is almost equidistant, all the thunder generated by that part of the flash will reach your ears at the same time less than a second later, with very little reflection due to the short straight-line distance. What you hear is less like a rumble and more like an earth-shattering kaboom.

Hope this is helpful.


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

[User]
Why is the standard US paper size 8.5" x 11"?

Just wondering?

[Assistant]
Nobody knows. Seriously. That paper size has been traditional (not just in the US, either) for so long nobody has the foggiest idea where it originated or why it was adopted.

So the best possible answer is "It is because it is." People who make paper make it in that size because people who make paper make it in that size.


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

[User]
Japan is the most indebted nation in the world with debt being 238% of its GDP (in 2017), yet it's not suffering a crisis over debt like Greece( 2!d highest with 182%). How does Japan handle its debt to prevent this?

Does all this debt still pose crisis to country albeit different from Greece?

[Assistant]
Debt only matters if you cant pay it. Greece was in a situation where it could not print money (due to Eurozone regulations) to pay its debt. Ultimately defaulting.
The crisis was made worse by measures set by Europe.
Japan is independent and sovereign in its monetary abilities, and has the means of paying its debts.


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

[User]
[The Boys] Why is Soldier Boy the only competent fighter?

In the Nicaragua he seems to be the only one who has an effect on the enemies cuz the rest seem to be just killing their people from their own side, does it probably have something to do with his team handing him over tk the Russians?? or are they just plain incompetent?

[Assistant] It seems like the show is giving Soldier Boy the (fake) war-hero backstory that he had in the comics, which would make him one of the only Supes who knows what it's like to actually risk his life in combat. (Compared to the others who've never done anything more dangerous than a carefully planned drug bust.)


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

[User]
CMV: Academic exams should either not be timed, or have far less tight time limits.

Full disclosure, I may be biased on this topic as I have just been rejected from the university of my choice because my grade in one subject was not high enough, but this is an opinion I have virtually always held.

I have always struggled with time in exams, during my GCSEs and A Levels (exams usually taken at 16 and 18 in the UK) I was deemed to require extra time, but I still struggled to finish exams within the time limits, mostly due to writing speed.

All of my chosen subjects were essay-based, which made the time constraints seem bizarre to me. No historian would ever write an essay in an hour and half without access to sources, for example. Since high school and college level education is meant to be a stepping stone into university, it baffles me that such significant a constraint is applied with little to no relevance to actual academic practice.

In one of my exams I had to write two essays as well as answers a few shorter questions. I was barely able to even start one of the essays simply because I couldn't write fast enough, which caused my overall grade to drop from a predicted A to a B. In essays I wrote for homework I almost always got an A or A*, since I was not required to finish them in 45 minutes. Indeed, finishing an essay in a short time is not usually a sign of proper a proper intellectual process in actual academia, so the time constraints seem entirely arbitrary and unnecessarily punishing.

I can sort of understand why STEM subjects might require timed exams, since answers are usually either correct or incorrect, and writing speed is far less of a factor, but why should written essays in which the quality of the argument is what is being assessed treated the same way? They are fundamentally different skills.

Time management is important in academia, but this is not on such a micro scale as in exams. Time management is usually most important for the planning of research and such, and meeting deadlines, not banging out a thesis within an hour.

[Assistant]
Usually, high school and even undergrad level courses dont aim to give you anything more than knowledge and familiarity with the subject matter. They want you to know the basics off the top of your head.

For this, its actually helpful to have a time limit because it ensures that whatever you wrote is something you *do*, in fact, know off the top of your head, and can probably say during a casual conversation about the matter. Youre absolutely right that it doesnt translate well towards actual academic work, but its not meant to. Its meant to assess whether or not you have enough of a grasp on the material to recall it quickly and accurately when askedlike what youd have to do if someone verbally asked about your thoughts.


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

[User]
[Sword Art Online] What happens to the EXP and money a person has collected once they die?

So I've been watching the first couple of episodes of Sword Art Online and in the first episode, it's mentioned that the amount of money, EXP and loot is limited, and that eventually, all the floors would be picked clean of everything.

So, what happens when all the people who cleared those floors end up dying? Does all that EXP and loot disappear, leaving everybody else sod out of luck, or does it spread itself evenly across all the floors?

It would suck if somebody who sat around on the lower floors for a bit found that they couldn't progress because everything had been killed already, making it effectively impossible to level up.

So, what's the deal? What happens to all that loot when a person dies in the game?

[Assistant]
Well, once you get to a later episode they touch on that exact issue! Keep watching and you will find out.

Edit:

The limited number of monster issue was that people would kill them faster than they spawned, leaving nothing for the masses. The beta players knew this and took advantage of their knowledge to farm the good spots, causing most the other players to fall behind the power curve. Once they were behind they had to take risks just to grind a little exp, causing many to die since they didn't know what they were doing. Eventually the mobs do respawn and the quests come back up over time. Remember this is a hard MMO, some of the quests could only be done once a month or even longer for some. The ones that fell behind do get a chance to level up and catch the main group (the blue eyed demon episode with the army, you will see when you get there)


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

[User]
If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind. -Mill. How the heck is this compatible with utilitarianism?

From "On Liberty". Thank you!

[Assistant] Mill has a unique brand of utilitarianism. Instead of the straight pleasure that Bentham takes as utility, Mill has it split up into a bunch of higher and lower pleasures where the higher pleasures are much more valuable than the lower. Anyway, liberty is pretty much top dog among the pleasures for Mill, so restricting someone's liberty would by itself tilt your utility calculations into the 'impermissible' zone.


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

[User] The Glass-Steagall act and why it may (or may not) be to blame for our current economic conditions.

[Assistant]
The very basic idea of Glass-Steagall was to enforce a separation between banks that handle consumer accounts like savings and checking, and financial companies that try to make money on the market or by creating and selling more complicated financial products such as derivatives.  Those latter activities allow for much higher profits, but also come with greater risks of losing everything.  If you keep the basic banks separate from those activities, far fewer of them will fail; also, the government can insure people's deposits in case banks do fail, without having the side effect of government insurance for riskier and more speculative activities.

Glass-Steagall seems to have worked pretty well from when it was passed during the recovery from the Great Depression in the 30s, until federal regulators started reinterpreting it in weaker ways and allowing more exceptions 50 years later in the early 80s, and then it was eventually finally repealed in the late 90s.  Once that happened, a lot of regular banks and investment banks merged with each other and became giant megabanks with both consumer banking and speculative activities as part of their business.

Whether that's "to blame" for our current economic conditions is not a simple yes/no question, but it does quite clearly seem to have contributed a lot of problems to the situation.  For one thing, it means that when an investment bank fails, it takes with it a lot of consumer bank accounts.  For another, it means that a large financial company that has a lot of consumer accounts is benefiting from cheap FDIC insurance on lots of that money, while using that money to make very risky bets in the markets, which gives them unfair advantages against other banks, a form of government subsidy.  It also means that a lot more consumer money gets funneled into riskier financial activities.


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

[User]
CMV: Public officials should be considered under oath at all times.

The smooth and effective discharge of duties requires the public trust, especially for individuals who have been elected to office.  Individuals seeking office often get elected based on comments/promises made while campaigning, but frequently change their position after taking office.  The public generally bases their voting decisions on those statements and promises.  Once you are sworn-in to ANY official public capacity, you should be considered under oath with penalty of perjury for any and all statements made at ALL TIMES until the end of your term.  Whether it's a press conference, other official business, passing someone on the street, or standing in line at a coffee shop, any comments you make must be truthful at all times.  Jokes, sarcasm, and the like must be clearly identified at the time of the statement, not at a later date and not by someone else claiming to represent you or speak on your behalf.  If you want to try your hand at being a stand-up comedian, either resign your post or wait until it's over.

Update: OK, thanks for the discussion, most of which was civil.  I've given a few deltas out there for getting me to reconsider my "scorched earth" policy.  Peace and goodwill to all, I'm out.

[Assistant]
If a politician tells their son they like his macaroni art, while they in fact think it is derivative, should that be a criminal matter?
Lets take it outside the home. While on campaign if a senator stops by a local restaurant and says they enjoyed it. 10 years later it leaks that they thought it was just okay. Should that be legally actionable?


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

[User] ELI5: When skin is sunburned, why does it feel hot?

[Assistant] The cells are damaged it triggers your blood ~~cells~~ vessels (sorry, typo) to dilate to bring more resources to the area and to transport waste away. This accounts for both the red color and the warmth.


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

[User] [DC] Do lantern rings increase reaction times as well?

[Assistant] Yes, the rings enhance the wearer in many ways one would not expect.  Granting some level of super speed and vastly heightened reflexes to allow the wearer to operate effectively at these speeds.  Without heightened sense, the Green Lanterns would be incapable of faster than light flight.  Lanterns are altered on a cellular level when wearing their rings.  This grants them a wide array of abilities one would not expect.


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

[User] ELI5: if fat is the way energy is stored in our bodies, does this mean that a person with a higher fat percentage could go longer without eating than a person with a low fat percentage?

[Assistant]
All things being equal, for the most part, yes.

However, when you go without eating, it is not just calories you are missing out on, there are other essential nutrients which are not stored in our bodies.  The fat person would eventually suffer from deficiencies in those, and could still die while they had plenty of calories stored away.


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

[User]
How much power does the 49ers new stadium lose from it's massive solar panels being red?

as opposed to being black?

[Assistant]
I can't find the specs, but consider the following:

If the panels are red, then that means that the higher energy photons are being absorbed while red is being reflected.

The photoelectric effect is energy dependent.  It the photoelectric cells are not activated by red light, no matter how much red light falls on it, it won't generate a milliamp.  In that scenario, reflecting the red light has no effect on the power output.


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

[User]
How the heck does a laser/infrared thermometer actually work?

The way a low-tech contact thermometer works is pretty intuitive, but how can some type of light output detect surface temperature and feed it back to the source in a laser/infrared thermometer?

Edit:  thanks to everyone for the informative comments and helping to demystify this concept!

[Assistant]
Imagine you're a master blacksmith. You have to heat up your iron to the right temperature to work with it. Too hot and it turns to pure liquid. Too cold and it won't bend when you hammer it. Once you've been doing it long enough, you can probably tell the temperature pretty accurately based on exactly the color of the red-hot glow, right?

Well, all objects are glowing just like hot metal does. It's just that most objects aren't hot enough that the glow is in the visible spectrum. You glow in infrared, which is slightly lower energy than red. This is also how thermal cameras work.

The thermometer can measure how much you're glowing in infrared, and just like the blacksmith, can tell your temperature.

The laser is just a thing for you to use to know where it's measuring, to aim. It's just like a laser-mounted gun sight.


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

[User] ELI5 : Why can't people stay perfectly still like a statue? Why do we still shake/move around a bit?

[Assistant] Humans are constantly in motion. We're gallons of blood rocketing around at high speed, we're analog muscle systems that are constantly being stimulated by electricity, we're a skeleton of bones held together by ropes and hinges, and it's all balanced on top of two poles and held together by an organic gimp suit.


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

[User]
[Ready Player One] Why wouldn't Wade call the cops?

So, Wade gets holo invited to IOI to get a job offer but declines.  Next Nolan Sorrento bombs the living shit out of his apartments in an attempt to murder him but fails.  He DID however murder Wades aunt and her dill hole boyfriend and I assume some poor bastards just living there.  After that, he gets "recruted" by the resistance.  Why isn't his first move to report the murder of his aunt and the other caught in the bombing?  At the end of the movie the cops arrest Sorrento just like any cop of today would for, I assume, a number of charges.  You would think murder would be a huge ace in the hole for Wade to shit all over IOI.  Can anyone explain this within believability?  It pretty much killed the movie for me.

[Assistant]
First off, calling the cops would result in him being placed in "protective custody", guaranteeing first and foremost that he would have been taken entirely out of the running to find the last key, and also likely guaranteeing that he'd either be captured or outright killed by a dirty cop. Look at the world he lives in: money rules more than ever. He'd be fucked.

Also, he has no actual proof that the bombing was Sorrento's work, whereas in the climax Sorrento was caught with a gun openly threatening Wade after participating in a highly dangerous chase that was likely caught on multiple traffic cams and seen by many bystanders. That alone is enough to set the ball rolling on a proper investigation.


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

[User]
[The Mist] What is the ecosystem of the mist's "home world" like?

I just read that the Discovery Channel is planning to do a special about the Mist Event from six years ago.

According to the article in TV Guide, it's supposed to focus on all the animals that came through the Portal. Call me cynical, but that probably means a lot of focus on sensationalized, "when-animals-attack"-style crap.

That's why I came to you. You worked at the army base, right? You were able to study the creatures in their native habitat. If I recall correctly, it was *you* who gave the Mantis its scientific name!

So, what's it like? The home dimension of the Mist, I mean. Are the animals all as vicious as the Mantis and the Spiders and the Tentacle Beast? Are there any "peaceful" or "harmless" - relatively speaking, of course - creatures there? What about plant life?

[Assistant] They come from the world between worlds known as the "todash darkness", a realm almost completly absent of light, which explains their dependence on scent. There is nothing there but these monsters, who prey on each other or the occasional traveler caught there.


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

[User] [Star Wars] What exactly was the prophecy from the prequels? Did it get fulfilled? When/how, and why or why not?

[Assistant]
As the Jedi understood it, the prophecy was that the Chosen One would destroy the Sith and in so doing bring balance to the Force.

It's hard to say what they meant by 'balance', but regarding the destruction of the Sith, the prophecy was fulfilled by Anakin, the Chosen One, when he killed the Emperor at the cost of his own life, and in so doing destroyed the last of the Sith.


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

[User] ELI5: What makes something "biodegradable"? What are the conditions necessary for something to biodegrade?

[Assistant]
it needs to be edible to little tiny creatures.

Foods biodegrade because yeast and fungus and other little beasts find it and eat it.  they break it down and poop it out and if everything goes right give you really nice dirt with which to grow new foods that will also biodegrade.  This is what a compost pile hopes to achieve.

If we make a something out of a material that little creatures don't eat... it'll just stay in it's current form for a long long time.  A lot of plastics aren't biodegradable because no little yeast-bros ever evolved to eat it (you know, because it wasn't around to eat until recently)

it's really as simple as that.  if the material is able to be eaten by something it can return to the earth.  If the material can't be eaten by something it's stuck the way it is.


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

[User] Why did the matter that formed our solar system form 8 planets instead of clumping into a bigger star?

[Assistant] In short, because the protoplanetary disk was so large. When things are in orbit, they dont just go straight towards the star; they can maintain that large distance. Any clumps of matter large enough would have a larger influence (gravity gradient) on their immediate environment than the sun(like how the moon pulls harder on us than the sun), and matter would be attracted to them instead.


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

[User] Does the earth "lose/gain" water or is it truly a closed system?

[Assistant]
The Earth doesnt lose much water, as the ozone layer prevents UV light from breaking water molecules down to hydrogen and oxygen, the mass of the Earth prevents water vapor from leaving the atmosphere and the vapor condenses and falls back to the surface.

Earth also gains a marginal amount of water from asteroids and the like.

So it technically isnt a closed system, but the rate of change isnt significant.


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

[User]
ELI5:why was The Matrix so revolutionary?

What was so special about The Matrix? It doesn't seem that different from most special effects movies.

[Assistant] They introduced a lot of new special effects techniques. One of the more well know ones was the "bullet time" effect, which had a bunch of cameras positioned in a path around the actors each taking a single frame of the scene in rapid succession, to give both the slow motion effect and the camera panning effect.


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

[User]
How many dimensions is a Mobius strip? What about a Klein Bottle?

Are Mbius Strips two-dimensional or three? Mathematically youre taking a two-dimensional plane and twisting it, does this not give it a third dimension? If so does that mean Klein Bottles are four-dimensional?

[Assistant]
The Mbius strip and Klein bottles are both two-dimensional. They can be embedded in three and four dimensions respectively (and any space that includes those, such as higher dimensional Euclidean spaces), but the ambient space is *not* part of the actual manifold.

The Klein bottle can also be immersed (not embedded) in three dimensions.


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

[User]
ELI5: From an evolutionary stance, why are humans bereft of basic defenses:claws, canines, thick hide..And instead runs with diverse body types, no fur, and exposed vital organs?

I accept evolution in its basic and complex forms, but how did humans dominate the jungle without even being able to hold their breath for more than two minutes, or getting a cold after every storm? Research tells me that the subconscious invested more time in perfecting precision and problem solving, but I can't help wonder if there are other theories.

[Assistant]
A common misconception about evolution is that it should "improve things".

In reality, though, it doesn't care where our organs are, or what defences we have. It simply favours animals that *learn to survive*. We have evolved from an ancestor of the Great Apes, for which this body structure was well-suited.

Humans have since done a remarkably good job of surviving/reproducing in our relatively-frail form, and so those are the genes that get passed on to the next generation.


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

[User]
[Fallout]What exactly is Vault-Tec's motivation to create vaults that exist solely to conduct psychological experiments?

The vaults were a safe gaurd for nuclear apocalypse (at least as far as the general public knew). Meaning that no one was going to be in them unless the bombs started falling.

So why did Vault-Tec use them as large scale mouse-in-maze experiments? There are no corporations (let alone any sense of wealth or economy) in the wasteland to profit on the research. There's little to no point in conducting psychological science when we're all just trying to make it to tomorrow in one piece. There isn't much good in behavioral science or psychology when most people have been forced back to hunter gatherer lifestyles. What were their motivations?

[Assistant] Vault-Tec was an Enclave controlled company.  One of the Enclave's plans was to leave the planet and colonize another if nuclear war was imminent.  This would require them to be in space for a long period of time.  Some of the experiments were done to see how humanity would handle such a journey physically or mentally.  However the Enclave scrapped the evacuation plan and decided to rebuild America after the bombs have dropped.


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

[User] [Genies] I'm a benevolent Genie, however I'm bound by the role I must play and include some kind of horrible ironic twist to wishes I grant unless the individual can find a clever way to avoid that fate. Is there any way I can help a worthy, but uneducated master to make relatively safe wishes?

[Assistant]
1) Tell him point blank that the magic is excessively prone to fuckery.

2) Establish a working relationship with a competent law firm.

3) Direct any and all clients to work with said law firm to vet their wishes for potential pitfalls and hazards, in exchange for 10% of the stonking great quantity of cash he asks for (in a carefully worded fashion, per firm instructions) with one of his wishes.


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

[User] Possibly a stupid question, but if Hydrogen is explosive, and oxygen is explosive, why isn't H20?

[Assistant] Because H2O is actually the result of hydrogen and oxygen "exploding" together. It is a chemical reaction that takes two highly reactive molecules, and bonds them to form a much more stable molecule. It's more stable because it has less stored chemical energy; the energy from the two gasses was released as heat during the reaction, causing the "explosion".


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

[User] ELI5: Why cant a middle class individual use the same tax avoidance methods as the ultra rich to pay little to no income taxes?

[Assistant]
Different type of wealth building. Take somebody like Jeff Bezos... most of his wealth is Amazon stock. It's value climbs to $100B but he only pays taxes on gains when he sells. So even as his stock has gained 10's of billions in value over the past year, he isn't taxed on that. Let's say he sells $10m worth of shares to cover living expenses, he pays capital gains taxes on that, which are lower than income taxes at top income bracket -- only 20% for incomes over $441k. So in this example, assuming Bezos' shares had 0 cost basis, his $10m sale would trigger a $2m tax bill. Not nothing, but basically a rounding error vs. his wealth.

The other way that some wealthy reduce taxable income is through a business. By deducting expenses "for the business" they can cut their taxable income and buy things with pre-tax dollars. Say you're a dentist who wants to vacation in Hawaii... find a Dental Conference going on there, attend and tack on a vacation after the conference -- deduct some of the hotel, meals, all the airfare, etc. to cut your true cost of vacationing in Hawaii. Maybe he leases his Mercedes through his dental practice, too, reducing his income and paying for the car with pre-taxed dollars. And that MacBook Pro he sometimes uses to update patient notes from home? Same thing...


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

[User]
I think there is nothing wrong with finding 14-17 year old girls sexually attractive, and the age of consent should universally be 15 or 16. CMV.

Throwaway here because I feel like a disgusting creep. But I really find high school aged girls sexually attractive. If it were legal, I wouldn't have a moral problem with engaging in consensual sex with a 15 or 16 year old girl. No, I have never looked up jailbait shit, I would never think of touching a girl below the age of 18. I am fully aware that society frowns upon being attracted to minor teenage girls. I would never think about acting on my impulses unless it were legal and socially acceptable.

My reasoning is, biologically, we are wired to find young women sexually attractive because they have just entered the stage where they are capable of becoming pregnant and their bodies have developed to highlight their physical capabilities to birth and take care of a child (wide hips, bigger breasts). It seems entirely arbitrary to set the age of consent at 18. Why do we trust a 16 year old girl more with a car than with her own body? And what difference does it make if a 16 year old girl has sex with a 16 year old guy, a 26 year old guy or a 66 year old guy?

Am I really a pedophile for thinking this? Please change my view.

[Assistant]
> Why do we trust a 16 year old girl more with a car than with her own body? And what difference does it make if a 16 year old girl has sex with a 16 year old guy, a 26 year old guy or a 66 year old guy?

Your second sentence rebuts your first; we trust her with her own body, we just don't trust other people's intentions toward it.

In general, we as a society don't approve of sexual relationships that involve a power imbalance. Your boss isn't supposed to try to sleep with you, no matter how old either of you are. Professors aren't supposed to sleep with their students, even though their students are of legal age.

There is a built-in power imbalance between teenagers and adults that doesn't exist between two 16 year olds. If a 26 year old man wants to sleep with a 16 year old girl (or visa versa but I'll stick with the genders you used), he is much more likely than her to have a car. He is almost certainly financially independent and has disposable income. She almost certainly is not financially independent and likely has very little disposable income. He can take her out to an expensive restaurant and drop $200 a week on jewelry for her. He has legal access to alcohol, which he can illegally provide to her. He also has more life experiences than her, and doesn't have a brain flooded with crazyness-inducing hormones. He has methods and means of manipulating her into making decisions against her best interests that a younger person does not have access to. There is a massive power imbalance here, and that's why we as a society frown on it.


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

[User]
[Stargate] Where do the stargates draw their energy from?

OK, I know about the DHDs. There is probably a power source here. But how can it last for millions of years? SGC spends a huge portion of the US budget just for dialing the gate. Why couldn't they, say, go to some planet, open up the DHD, take the power source out and fly off on a ship?

Also, if it can last for that long, it would be close to a ZPM. That would solve a lot of their problems.

Or did they at least say at some point, if DHDs recharge somehow, for example from the environment (meaning geothermal, solar, wind)?

[Assistant]
The DHDs do actually last a VERY long time. They do eventually run out of power, the Antarctic DHD was close to burning out when it was discovered, its estimated to be the oldest DHD. Nothing is stopping anybody from moving a DHD, in fact we see it done. But it was designed specifically for powering and updating the gates. It's not very useful outside of that context.

Besides, anybody really able to harness a DHD can do better.


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

[User] ELI5: If most money is now just numbers in a computer, what keeps a bank from just adding a couple million to its accounts?

[Assistant]
Banks lend out more money than they have actual money, so they're creating imaginary money that only exists on paper out of thin air.

It would be illegal to put free money in their own accounts, but having someone owe you money is an asset too, so they put free money in other people's accounts.

If then bank sitting on too much outstanding debt, they might bundle it up and sell it to someone else, then use that money to loan more people thin-air money.


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

[User]
cmv: Professors shouldnt be allowed to require attendance

The title kind of says it all. If I can not go to class and still do perfectly fine on all of the assignments, why should I need to go? Half the time the professors who require attendance are ones who teach pointless gen eds and jaded because no one wants to go their boring class. If the material is easy enough, or Ive already learned it, why should I waste my already limited time to be in class. It seems silly to tank the grade of a student who understands the material because they werent in class.

[Assistant]
A chemistry teacher shouldn't be able to require students actually show up in the lab? Or a law professor can't require people actually attend class to engage in discussions?

Why not just take an online class if you want to half ass your degree?


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

[User]
According to the theory of relativity, do all observers agree on causality?

This is a question that I posed to my astronomy 101 teacher, but I don't think she understood my question. So, as I've heard relating to the theory of relativity, if observer A is on Earth, and observer B goes at c to the nearest star and back, observer B will have experienced far less time than observer A. But that's from the perspective of observer A. From the perspective of observer B, observer A is receding at c away from them, and so observer A should be experiencing less time. How is this resolved within the theory, or am I just not getting it?

[Assistant] Events which are causally related must have a definite ordering in time that all observers agree on. Pairs of events like this are called *timelike-separated*. Events that are not causally related dont have a definite ordering in time. Pairs of these events are called *spacelike-separated*.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] If Harry had a blood-based disease such as HIV or AIDS during Voldemort's reincarnation ritual, could the Dark Lord have gotten it too?

And if so, how would it affect him?

[Assistant]
I don't think so. Harry's blood is dropped into a boiling cauldron and the temperature alone would kill the virus almost instantly.

By the way, it is likely that it also cooked Voldermort's homunculus kind of immediately, and for a while the Dark Lord was "dead" again in the form of a primordial soup until the ritual was completed.


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

[User]
[DC, Marvel] What Villain actually succeded with his / her plan and what happened afterwards?

Like, its not very often (if at all) that villain actually manage to go through with his / her plan because the hero always stops them, so what are some examples of where it did happened?

[Assistant] The whole premise of *Old Man Logan* and everything that follows it (the other *Old Man* **X** titles, *Avengers of the Wasteland*) is based upon the villains uniting and defeating the heroes, with the later stories picking up fifty years in the wastelands of the future.


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

[User] [Samurai Jack] Would the Scotsman's rune sword be able to harm or kill Aku?

[Assistant] Nope.  His sword is badass and magical, but from what we've seen in the show the runes do nothing but make it seemingly indestructible.  Jack's sword was magically forged by gods from the purity and goodness of his father's soul.  It is the only weapon that can harm Aku because he is made of the evil blackness of the void that the gods who forged Jack's sword were fighting.


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

[User]
[W40K]On a human world near the border of Tau space, how likely would a Tau be to get into trouble for marrying a human, or worshiping the Emperor? As a priest, will the Emperor doom my soul forever if I perform the marriage or baptized a Tau?

The planet in question is not formally part of the Tau Empire and is not part of the Imperium either, one of many just sort of hanging around in a fuzzy zone. The emperor does not care about political status of course.  Will my soul be in mortal peril if I perform the marriage?

[Assistant]
To answer the first part of your question, Tay arent even allowed to marry or breed outside of their caste. Worshipping the emperor is a similar no no as it goes directly against the greater good.   So if Tau command found out then that tau is being taken away to a re-education camp.

The second part is a priest following the imperial creed you wouldnt preform the marriage in the first place and would most likely immediately snitch on the couple to the planetary government, as hating Xenos is a primary tenant of the imperial creed. but yes if the priest suffered the xenos to live he is committing a massive crime in the eyes of the imperial creed and their version of the emperor.

Also its quite a stretch in lore that a tau would worship the emperor, as the religion isnt welcoming of Xenos. It would be as welcoming as the KKK to a black family.

But hey if you just want to write a tau-human love story go ahead nothing stopping you but in lore its not supported.


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

[User]
What would Jupiter look like from the surface of Ganymede?

I am trying to write a science fiction story, and wish to keep it as hard as I can. Much of the plot centers around a settlement on Ganymede, and I would like to know how Jupiter would appear in the sky from the surface of the moon.

[Assistant]
Jupiter would be large in the sky, but not as big as people tend to imagine, and not as big as you often see in science fiction landscapes. Jupiter is about 3x as far from Ganymede as the Moon is from Earth, but Jupiter is about 40x the diameter of the Moon. So, from Ganymede, Jupiter would look about 15x the size of a full Moon from Earth. If you hold out your fist at arm's length, it'll be about 2/3rds of that apparent size.

So it won't be filling half the horizon or anything. But you'd definitely see details on it, like cloud bands, and even the transits of the inner moons crossing its surface. Jupiter would have phases based on where you are in Ganymede's orbit. Ganymede orbits Jupiter once every ~7 earth days. When you're on the sun-side of Jupiter, you'd see Jupiter is a fully lit disc. When you're on the shadow-side of Jupiter, you'd see it as a thin crescent. When you're in between, you'll see a half-lit Jupiter.

Ganymede is tidally locked, so its rotation period is synchronous with its orbit. This means that from any point on Ganymede's surface, Jupiter always remains in the same position in the sky. So, the "near side" of Ganymede will always see Jupiter, while the "far side" of Ganymede will never see Jupiter. Both sides will see the Sun rise and set over a "day" that lasts 7 earth days, but only one side will see Jupiter change its phase throughout each "day". Incidentally, Ganymede has only a very small axial tilt (both relative to Jupiter to and the Sun), which means that you'll see the Sun rise almost due east and set almost due west no matter where you are on the surface.

One fun thing is that the tidal locking means you could use Jupiter for navigation. How far north/south/east/west Jupiter is in the sky depends on your location, and you can tell which direction is east/west by the shadows on Jupiter. The further south Jupiter is in the sky, the further north you are on the planet. At the north pole, Jupiter would be due south on the horizon, etc. So if you were stuck in the middle of nowhere on the Jupiter side of Ganymede, you can pretty easily work out your rough latitude and longitude, without even using any instruments. This is particularly fun because the problem of finding longitude has always been a difficult one on Earth, but on half of Ganymede it's actually pretty easy.


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

[User]
What is a "grant"?

Sorry for asking such a question, but my first language is not English and people here talk a lot about grants. What is a grant?

[Assistant] A grant is a monetary award, usually from sort of governmental agency, that you usually have to apply for. Sizes vary. Small grants of several hundred dollars can be used for traveling to conferences. Grants of several thousand dollars can be used to purchase some inexpensive equipment or a computer. Large grants can be for hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars and can be awarded to individual researchers, groups of researchers or departments/institutions. These are often used to pay staff, hire postdocs, and purchase expensive equipment.


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

[User]
[The Last Of Us] What is with the apparent guns and ammo shortage?

I understand you can't swing down to Cabela's and pick up a crate of rounds like you can now, but the ability to manufacture and reload bullets isn't going away anytime soon, and America is chock-full of guns. Yet the various militaries and militias are often sending people out with not even firearms but just random pieces of pipe and bats, and those that do get guns look like they're using grandpa's old varmint gun instead of any of the widely available semiautos. Especially when considering the drastic shift in the guns:living people ratio, I don't see why most soldiers wouldn't be armed to the teeth.

[Assistant]
The Last of Us takes place 20 years after the Cordyceps infection begins. That's a lot of time for supplies to be salvaged so it's not like your local gun store is going to have anything. everything has already been looted.

And of course ammo and weapons left to the elements will corrode very quickly. It's not that people literally looted and fired all the bullets, they just degraded over the years.

Additionally most industrial areas shut down, so it's not like the stuff is getting shipped off on trucks.


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

[User] [Muppets] Muppets seem to be normal people. They must have existed throughout history, and similar historical events to our times must have occurred to shape their world if they have pirates and Halloween. What major people throughout history were muppets? Has a muppet ever committed war crimes?

[Assistant]
So, the Muppet continuity is pretty much a nightmare which is complicated by the fact that many things that are shown within the Muppet universe are modern reenactments rather than a glimpse into the past within the Muppet universe itself. Given that the bulk of the universe is the Muppets putting on stage shows and sometimes even put on shows about their own selves makes distinguishing canonical fact about the Muppet universe from dramatic recreations almost impossible.

Is Thomas Jefferson a muppet frog that looks a lot like Kermit or was Kermit simply playing Thomas Jefferson in a reenactment of the signing of the Declaration of Independence? The world may never know.


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

[User]
[General Fiction] Why do good looking spies/heroes prefer hookers?

In comedic media, say, Archer, we see the main character more often than not, hook up with prostitutes, when they shouldn't really have a hard time getting women.

Is that out of sheer laziness or what?

[Assistant]
It's easier to trust a professional for discretion than a random stranger. That beautiful woman you meet in a bar may be more loyal to her country than you but that escort is loyal to the dollar. Less entanglements and such.

An argument could also be made for spies like Bond and Archer having unresolved emotional issues with intimacy. An escort gives them a physical outlet while keeping emotions at arms length.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does closing eyes when tired feel good?

[Assistant]
The biggest reason is because when your body starts to prepare for sleep, one of the things it does is it starts producing less tears. This is because it is expecting you to close your eyes and keep them closed for a while, so it shouldn't have to do as much work washing the eyes.

If you push past this and keep your eyes open and stay awake even when your body wants to sleep, your eyes tend to get dry and irritated. At which point closing them lubricates them up again and feels pretty damn good.


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

[User]
[MCU]Why does Venom need a person to act as a host?

I understand hes a symbiote but, it appears in the trailer that he really shouldnt need a host to structure off of. Could venom be effective independent of a host body?

[Assistant]
The symbiote doesnt need a host to provide structure, it gets nutrients/energy/food from the host. There are chemicals produced by the brain that the symbiote need in order to function/survive, hence them finding hosts.

And as has been said before, Venom is not part of the MCU.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does our anus have receptors for spicy stuff?

[Assistant]
The TRPV1 is the receptor that capsaicin (spicy) binds to. It exists all over your digestive tract and nervous system. Your rectum and anus are included in this. These receptors are designed to detect heat to keep you safe. But they can get confused with foods that taste hot. They cause a reaction to cool you down, and you have a response that says, No, this is dangerous.

So you sweat, and blood flow increases, causing redness. These receptors exist in all of your digestive tract, which is why you may experience stomach pains or some cramps after eating this. Not all of it digested and so the response is activated again at the anus.