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

[User] [Harry Potter] I have a Muggle sibling I would like to join me on a magical quest. I'd like to put a kit together for them to use and since they can't use magic directly can anyone suggest magical items I can include that they could use indirectly?

[Assistant]
Muggles can make use of potions, as well as artifacts which don't require magical activation. This means he could use a poet key (for example) as they only require being touched while a preset condition (like a time or word) is met, but not a broomstick.

I suggest having him carry medical potions as well as incendiaries and other utility potions in an expanded bag. You could also include items from the WWW, like canary creams (eat it, fly somewhere, change back) and instant darkness powder. Definitely get him a Shield Hat.


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

[User] [Rogue One] Why didn't Vader just use Force Pull to get the Death Star plans from the rebel troopers?

[Assistant] I don't think he knew which of the rebels had the plans, so his plan was to trap them in the corridor and kill them. He held the door to the starship closed and fought a dozen guys with blasters at once. He was too busy fighting and keeping them trapped.


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

[User] Eli5 what exactly causes the sensation of feeling thirsty when we are dehydrated?

[Assistant] When youre dehydrated, you have less water in your blood so the blood becomes more concentrated and blood volume decreases. Your kidney is used to filtering all the blood, so it can feel when you have less blood to filter, and it releases hormones that help increase your blood pressure and decrease the amount of water in your pee. A special part of your brain samples your blood and can sense both the kidney hormones and the increased blood concentration. This brain part sends signals to the area responsible for thirst, turning the thirsty feeling on.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are the steering wheels of buses/trucks/lorries more or less angled horizontally instead of the angle seen in cars?

[Assistant] They aren't all like that, but the ones that are is typically because the driver is sitting further forward/higher in comparison to the steering gearbox than the driver in a car does. Fewer joints to adjust the angle of the steering wheel leads to better responsiveness and fewer parts to break.


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

[User]
What is the utility of Kant's distinction between analytic/synthetic and a priori/a posteriori knowledge before expounding upon his premises of the categories of the mind in Critique of Pure Reason?

So I am a little confused about why he begins his metaphysics with this. I get that the categories of the mind are a priori (although the usage of a priori here is still perplexing - how can categories, conceptual filters belonging to the mind, be called a priori if they themselves are not actual knowledge, only objects of knowledge?) and that maybe clarifying the definition of that would be useful, but overall a little confused. Feel free to spew to me about the work in general if it seems I am misunderstanding something; the more the merrier.

Thank you so much!!!

[Assistant]
The best way that I've seen this explained is that the distinctions are a way in which Kant *formalizes* an already existing problem: how to account for concepts like causality? Recall especially that Kant is responding, in part, to Hume - Hume's problem is that experience alone cannot provide us with a concept of causality (all you can experience are 'constant conjunctions'). So *empiricism* cannot furnish the ground for causality. However it's also clear that *logic* alone (rationalism), can't do the trick either: no logical connection between propositions can provides us with a ground for causality either (recall Kant's dismantling of the ontological argument: existence is not a predicate: you can't 'logic' your way into existence).

So if causality cannot be accounted for either by means of 'sheer' empiricism nor 'sheer' rationalism, you need a kind of 'third way' to account for causality. For what is causality? It is an *extralogical* connection between things: a relation that is not 'merely' logical (causality can't be reduced to transitive relations between propositions), nor merely empirical. A connection stronger than 'constant conjunction', but not as strong as logical transitivity: neither *a posteriori* nor *analytically a priori*: it must belong instead to the order of the *synthetic a priori -* an 'alogical' connection. This is the sense in which these distinctions *name* existing problems in philosophy, as Kant understood them. This is why the whole of the CPR is oriented towards to question of 'how is the synthetic a priori possible?'. This is, as a were, a synonym for 'how is (knowledge of) causality possible?', among other things (to which Kant will answer: 'because transcendental subjectivity').

This is also why Kant sees himself as charting a path between both empricism and rationalism. If you keep Hume in mind while trying to understand these terms (and Leibniz to a certain extent), it helps alot.


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

[User] [DnD] So, 12th level is the highest spell level ever cast. Assuming Mystra revoked the magic limit, what would the highest possible spell level be? Could you cast 13th level spells? 15th? 20th? What would those spells be like?

[Assistant] If the old epic spell rules hold true, a >12 level spell would be capable of works that verge on godlike acts of creation or destruction. Making bespoke continents or killing everyone in the phone book named Ted would be very doable for someone doing magic at that level. The downside is that you really are puttering around in a realm mortals were not meant to tread, and the blowback can be severe, even when everything goes to plan; botch the job, and the consequences are catastrophic.


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

[User]
Can loud noises block other noises?

If when sound is made, it is made in the form of waves that we hear, can the waves block each other?  For example: if a balloon is popped in a noisy room, is it "quieter" than if it is popped in a quiet room.  (and not "quieter" in the sense that you perceive it less, I mean is the actual wave lessened)?

[Assistant] Yes and no. Noise can be cancelled when a similar noise consisting of the same frequency and amplitude is played 180 degrees out of phase. This is how noise cancelling headphones work. While ambient noise is likely to have some of the frequencies you are trying to cancel, the noise itself wont attenuate much of the balloon popping. On the other hand, if you are being exposed to a loud environment, your ears will become less sensitive for a short time.


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

[User]
[MCU - Guardians of the Galaxy] Why wasn't Gamora interrogated by the Nova Corps?

It seems like they just left her to be killed in jail.

I would have thought they'd want to question her for information on Ronan.

[Assistant] They weren't really taking Ronan seriously as a threat. It wasn't until Star Lord's warning (that they chose to believe, despite him being kind of, but not 100%, a dick) and Ronan actually attacking their planet that they were actually willing to put effort into fighting him.


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

[User]
Is the self an illusion?

After reading on the subject it seems that a lot of philosophers think that the self is an illusion like Daniel Dennet, Sam Harris, Patricia Churchland etc. Do most philosophers agree that the self is an illusion? The idea of not having a self is deeply disturbing to me.

[Assistant]
It's very rare for any philosopher these days to say that X, be it the self or whatever, is an illusion and leave it at that.

This isn't the case, for example, of what Dennett or Churchland say about the self. Rather, their views are that some of our folk psychological understanding of the self might simply be false under a more neuroscientific image of the self, or something like that. It's a better idea to read their work to understand first the view of the self that they believe is problematic, the reasons give for why it's so, and how we should conceive of the self in its place.


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

[User]
Is zero probability equal to Impossibility?

If you have an infinite set of equally possible choices, then the probability of choosing one of these purely randomly is zero, doesn't this also make a purely random choice impossible? Keep in mind, I'm talking about an abstract experiment here, no human or device can truly comprehend an infinite set of probabilities and have a purely random choice. [I understand that one can choose a number from an infinite set, but that's not the point, since your mind only has a finite set in mind, so you actually choose from a finite set]

[Assistant]
Let me reformulate your question. For the sake of concreteness, let us imagine that we want to choose a real number between 0 and 1 at random (uniformly). The *paradox* you are getting at is that the probability for picking any particular number, like say 7/15, is equal to zero, so how can it be that we have a 50% chance of picking a number smaller than 1/2, or any number at all?

This paradox is a bit like Zeno's paradoxes. To resolve it, you have to shift perspective. The key question is: what does it *mean* to pick a real number at random?

The answer is that being allowed to pick between infinitely many possibilities is an *approximation*. It does not actually occur in nature, but it is very useful to model certain natural phenomena in this way. But keep in mind that it's only a *model* of nature, not a representation of what nature *"actually is"*. (The latter is beyond the scope of this comment, and humanity in general.)

Mathematically, random choice between infinitely many things can be described by a formalism called *measure theory*. The essence of measure theory is this: in the beginning, you are only allowed to ask about probabilities of a number falling into an *interval*. For instance, you can ask what the chance is that your random real number is between 0.3019 and 0.3024, which means that it is *approximately equal* to 0.302. You are not allowed to ask for the probability whether the number is *precisely equal* to 0.302, only whether it is within a certain error bound. Clearly, there is no paradox here.

The next step in the formalism of measure theory is to extend the questions that you may ask. You now may ask for the probability of hitting a specific number. You pay a small price for that, namely this probability will be zero, which may seem somewhat paradoxical. But this is just a formal thing that makes calculations more convenient. The originally allowed questions are still the only ones of "practical" importance. Being able to ask more question is just a tool to make the mathematics a little nicer. (And one has to prove that allowing more question does not lead to inconsistencies.)

In this way, the paradox is resolved: the original question has no practical meaning, it is only a formal trick.


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

[User] If I wanted to refrigerate 1 litre of water to 5 degrees celsius, would it be faster to place 500ml into 2 bottles (in the same fridge) as opposed to 1 litre in 1 bottle?

[Assistant]
The heat transfer rate is determining how fast you transfer the heat from the liquid inside the bottle to the colder outside and thus cool the liquid inside. The heat transfer rate is proportional to the surface area of the interface between the cold and warm volumes.

Two smaller bottles (or two half filled 1L bottles) have a larger surface area than one 1L bottle, so the water split between two bottles would be chilled faster.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why was plasma television technology discontinued?

I ask because it seemed premature to me. OLED has great promise in the next 5 years, but it's still not there yet and certainly not there in terms of value/price ratio. I've been told by a videophile that the best TV on the market is now discontinued, the Panasonic VT60. So what we're left with is mediocre offerings at the low to mid range (LCDs), and great offerings at only the very high end.

[Assistant] LCD technology is generally cheaper, easier to make, and provides benefits in a lot of places that plasma doesn't, especially as you continue to go up in resolution. LCDs are also brighter, which can be a plus here and there.


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

[User] ELI5: why is it that when an alcoholic stops drinking alcohol they become sick even though alcohol is incredibly bad for us, what is happening in our body that makes us sick for not having it?

[Assistant] Basically when you get used to a toxic substance being around, your body produces more of the chemicals needed to process it than it's normal for you to have. This is why people develop a tolerance. Some substances, such as alcohol, also alter the way systems in the body work, such as your digestion and nervous system. So when you stop having alcohol, your body is already not working right and it's flooded with chemicals that aren't normally supposed to be there, so it makes you sick. There's more to it than that, but basically it comes down to that. The body strives to be in balance, and after a certain amount of regulation, it becomes necessary for the alcohol to be there in order for things to stay balanced. Like when you have a really fat kid on the see-saw; if he suddenly jumps off  all the kids on the other side are going to come crashing down. That's what happens inside your body, the alcohol is the fat kid and all your body systems pile up to be able to balance it out, but they're pulling so hard the opposite direction that if the fat kid disappears, your body falls down in a heap.


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

[User]
[Stargate] Where do the Ancients get the materials for all there constructions?

Lets brake it down a little:

While they were technologically semi-advance (incapable of true FTL):

Unknown number of Seed Ships (probably in the thousands) hundreds of meters long, made out of durable dense materials so probably saying million of tons heavy wouldn't be a big overstatement. All of which at least equipped with a certain number of Stargate to begin with.

Destiny, 2 to 3 times bigger then the Seed Ships.

Unknown number of stone-metal constructions on planets serving as bases and cities.

Once they got more advance:

Unknown numbers of City Ships (comparable or bigger then Destiny) they were build while still in Milky Way  (maybe not thousand but at least near the hundreds again).

A Stargate system spanning along a whole galaxy

And again updated City's build out of stone-metal around the galaxy and again an unknown number of outposts.

So my questions becomes the Ancient where very very active in there days, building settlements, building and sending ships out there yet we don't have any evidence of them doing any mining or Stargate personal mentioning finding planets with Stargate's which are mined for all they are worth.

Even if they somehow utilise whole planets the infrastructure needed for something like that must be huge and can't simply disappear. Furthermore Earth was there supposed base and adopted home yet there is no sign of any harvest done on it ether.

[Assistant]
ZPMs aren't generators. They are literally creating energy from nothing (well, technically from accelerated entropy of a artificial pocket universe). We have also seen Ancient technology capable of compiling mater from energy.

Simply solution.. once they developed ZPM tech, which seems to have been before their arrival on earth, their need for resource extraction ceases.


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

[User] ELI5: From where did the first bitcoin get its value?

[Assistant]
>I understand money's value is associated with something materialistic like gold or, in the case of the US, given a value based on the strength of the economy.

So why does gold have value?  Why does the economy have value?

In the end, "value" is an abstract notion that was invented by humans, and essentially means "people want this thing, and will give you other things to get it."   Money has value not because it's backed by anything, but because people *believe* it has value.

So the first bitcoin had value because someone somewhere wanted it, and was willing to trade something else for it.


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

[User]
CMV: Leaving people disconnected from the rest of the world is tragic, not beautiful

This is in response to a post that hit my front page today. Throughout the comments, people talk about how cool it is that these people behave in basically the same way as their Neolithic ancestors, and how they chose this life and it is beautiful in its own way.

What I think these redditors are neglecting is the fact that is not an informed choice. These islanders arent choosing some idyllic isolated life over the hustle and bustle of modern existence. They are choosing what they know over a scary unknown.

Meanwhile these islanders suffer all the lovely problems of the Stone Age, like enormous maternal mortality rates, children making it to adulthood less often than not, easily treatable problems likes appendicitis being death sentences. If the islanders actually understood their decision, would they make it as they do currently?

Edit: changes to my view so far:

The status quo remains because its very hard, if even possible, to change it. Problems like how to morally introduce modern society without tearing down what is already there and causing harm are difficult to solve and would require incredibly gradual solutions, no instant hey guys heres a smart phone revelations.

However, Ive not been convinced by the good old days arguments or the idea that if presented fairly modernization would be turned down by most of the tribesmen. Feel free to debate that with me further.

[Assistant]
> If the islanders actually understood their decision, would they make it as they do currently?

This can NEVER be a truly informed decision.  How can any amount of information bridge the gap between the Stone Age and quantum computing in order to allow someone to make a truly informed decision about whether or not to join the modern world?


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

[User] ELI5: Why are moldy food bad for us? Molds on foods like yogurt/cheese is fine, but on bread and suddenly were sick.

[Assistant] Different kinds of mold are bad for us. Like bacteria, theres many species; some are harmful, some are harmless or even nutritious. The ones used to make moldy cheeses are carefully selected cultures that dont harm us. The ones on your old bread or fruit that get you sick generally will digest into chemicals that make you sick. So unless youre able to determine the species, or its meant to be there, dont eat the mold.


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

[User] Why are rainy clouds grey and not white? Is the greyness a measure for the amount of rain it contains?

[Assistant]
Clouds appear white since sunlight passes through them. Well, to be more accurate, sunlight is scattered when it passes through the water droplets that make up clouds, and so your eyes detect the sunlight passing through the cloud which is what gives clouds their white appearance.

However, clouds can appear grey due to bigger water droplets (so yes, a clouds 'greyness' can actually be used as a sort of visual measurement of the water content of a cloud). This is because sunlight undergoes more scattering through bigger water droplets, and so more sunlight is being scattered to the sides of the cloud and in various other directions. This results in your eyes picking up less light (since a lot of the light is going in directions other than towards your eyes) and so the clouds appear darker/greyer.


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

[User]
ELI5: Where does the debt a person had go when he/she dies?

When a person dies, where does their debt go? Is it transferred or does the bank just forgive the debt? If the debt just goes away, why doesn't everyone just spend as much as they want, as it will be gone when they die?

[Assistant]
Debt is not transferred to heirs.

However, if the loan was "secured" like a mortgage tied to some property, then the creditor can take the property and keep it or sell it (depending on the loan agreement) in place of getting their debt paid.

If the loan was unsecured, then when the executor of the will takes all the property in the deceased estate and liquidates it (sells for money to then distribute) the creditors get paid out before the beneficiaries. If the estate has property that is worth $10,000 but the deceased owes $15,000 then the debtors get the $10,000 split between them and the beneficiaries inherit nothing.


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

[User] Why does South Africa do so much genetic sequencing of COVID viruses in comparison to other countries?

[Assistant] When the AIDS epidemic struck Africa, several countries (South Africa being one of them) took that opportunity to put a substantial amount of funding into research and prevention, causing them to eventually (now) actually be a prominent force in the field of epidemiology.


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

[User]
CMV: deed restrictions should be outlawed.

Deed restrictions are when the owner of a property sells it to someone else and prohibits what the new buyer can do with the property.

It is why you see so many old gas stations used as liquor stores or car repair stations. The seller of the previous gas station doesn't want competition, so they restrict what the new buyer can do on the property.

These deed restrictions create challenges for the communities where they exist. They restrict competition and they often result in undesirable land uses for community. Instead of a gas station having better marketing or better products, they prohibit their competition in a certain area. Because zoning laws dictate/limit so much of land use in the united states, Deed restrictions can essentially blockade any new businesses from coming into town.

Deed restrictions should be unenforceable and made illegal.

[Assistant]
i think that's overbroad.  For example, it's pretty awesome that you can take a forest you own and say "this can never be developed, it must be preserved for ever" (conservation easement).  It's pretty great that i can pass property to a historical society and be assured they won't sell it for a strip mall.

I think the question is whether different zones should disallow certain kinds of deed restrictions.  For example, if you want the benefit of commercial use i think it's reasonable that you give up the right to apply said restrictions.


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

[User]
[Dark Souls] Are there any places where people live normal lives?

Where are the towns and villages that have normal people just trying to make a living?

[Assistant]
In Dark Souls 1 and 2 it's implied that away from Lodran or Drangleic there are kingdoms where poeple live normal lives as humans, dealing with cursed people as best they can. But the kingdoms we play through are the epicenters of the undead curse, places where almost every being is undead, with few exceptions. Normal society does not exist.

Meanwhile in Dark Souls 3 the world is basically done for and you are more likely to run into a kingdom run by the undead (like Londor) than into a single living human.


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

[User]
[Toy Story] What did Buzz think was happening when Andy plays with him and he loses all control of his actions?

While Buzz is still under the "real Buzz Lightyear" delusion he is actively played with. At one point he refers to "your chief, Andy" and we see him get put down, dust himself off, and walk away after a play session at one point.  How does he integrate that into his existence as a real space ranger?

[Assistant]
I wonder if he somehow turns into toy mode while being played with, and doesn't' remember anything about it. Like how toys have that demo mode at the store?

That said, Andy likely plays with him as if buzz were a space ranger. So he believes that the fantasies Andy makes up are the real thing - he just thinks flying feels like being moved around in the air by a hand.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] How come Fenrir Greyback's werewolf form looks much more horrific than Professor Lupin's?

In Prisoner Of Azkaban Professor Lupin's werewolf form is hairless except for the top of his head I believe and he looks like a typical werewolf besides the hairlessness but Fenrir Greyback who always almost looks like a werewolf even in human form has I think official artwork depicting his werewolf form and it is downright horrific, he looks vile and just awful.

So how come Lupin looks mostly like a regular werewolf and Greyback looks like some demon??

[Assistant] Certain health and medical conditions are psychosomantic, meaning a person's state of mind can have an effect on their health. Remus mostly rejects his affliction and treats it as a curse that needs to be controlled, while Fenrir revels in being a werewolf and is so depraved that he has turned to cannibalism (which itself is known to cause insanity).


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

[User]
ELI5: How can Hooters hire strictly female servers without getting into some kind of legal trouble concerning discrimination?

I know this might be sort of an odd question, but if a male applied for a waiting position at Hooters (or a similar restaurant), what legally allows the restaurant to deny them the waiting position due to their gender?

[Assistant]
There's a provision in the law which says
>Notwithstanding any other provision... it shall not be an unlawful employment practice for an employer to hire and employ employees... on the basis of his religion, sex, or national origin in those certain instances where religion, sex, or national origin is a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary to the normal operation of that particular business or enterprise

(1964 Civil Rights Act, Title VII, Sec. 703(e)(1))

This means that you're free to use sex discrimination, if your business model *requires* people of a certain sex. The business model of Hooters is "boobs selling you chicken wings"; people without boobs can't do that.


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

[User]
Sartre and Marxism

Ive heard people say that Sartre was a Marxist and Ive heard others say that his philosophical ideas were non-Marxist and that he was merely sympathetic towards Marxism.
Could someone explain what his relationship to Marxism was exactly and what the contradictions are?

[Assistant] Sartre believed that Marxism and existentialism were fundamentally compatible, with his later essay *Search for a Method* and *Critique of Dialectical Reason* written to that end. Sartre viewed himself as a Marxist and was a vocal defender of the Soviet Union, even after news of Stalin's state violence. Orthodox Marxists, though, would probably repudiate his existentialist Marxism.


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

[User] When did people first start associating functions to y and x graphs? Why?

[Assistant] Mid 17th century. Ren Descartes published his *La Gomtrie* in 1637, proposing the union of algebra and geometry, and a 1649 Latin translation expanded and clarified this to the two-axis system we know. We still call it *Cartesian* coordinates after Descartes.


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

[User]
[Pokemon] Why do the different city's gyms come at different levels of difficulty?

Aside from the fact that the gyms become increasingly more difficult due to your character needing to level up their pokemon, how can the gyms within a region have such a large difference in difficulty?

[Assistant] Well, the gyms are there with the intention of trainers progressing through them. So it's natural that there would be a difference in difficulty, so trainers can challenge gyms as they and their Pokemon grow. At least according to some sources (Pokemon Origins) the gym leaders each have a variety of Pokemon of different levels and pick the ones they use based on how many badges the challenger has. So, for example, Brock uses his level 12 Geodude and level 12 Onix when his challenger has no badges yet.


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

[User]
[Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind] What exactly polluted the Earth, and where did the massive insects come from?

The insects couldn't have evolved from present day bugs in a mere 1000 years. Even supposing that the human apocalypse happened hundreds of years after modern day, it would take tens of millions of years to see something like the Ohm evolve. Perhaps the technology that created the Giant Warriors was a genetically enhanced spore that precipitated expedited evolution?

[Assistant]
A lot of this is directly answered in the manga, which has a much more expansive story than the film:

- The God-Warriors are nuclear-powered, or at least emit hard radiation around themselves when they are awake and functioning. Said radiation proves fatal to at least one important character and sickens a couple others.

- Additionally, in the film the God-Warrior just kinda roars and crawls around. In the manga, they are self-aware and can function semi-autonomously - not to mention they can fly (and, again, spread radiation when they do).

- Even with the far greater damage they are obviously capable of, there are a couple of other references to the Earth being polluted before the apocalypse - probably talking about industrial waste and pollution generated by humans.

- The Ohmu and the Sea of Corruption are explicitly bioengineered by survivors of the Seven Days of Fire, who then uploaded their minds into a bio-computer to await the time when the Sea would cleanse the pollution and return the Earth to a pristine, livable state. The Ohmu's enraged mass-rampages are actually a sort of deliberate programming - an attempt to extend the sea into areas it previously hadn't reached so the cleansing can be completed worldwide.

- Interestingly, the Doroks first attempt to 'breed' an Ohmu in a tank before they resort to just capturing one and dragging it around.


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

[User] Why can we effectively fight off bacteria but it seems like modern medicine can't help at all against viruses. Why are we still helpless against viruses?

[Assistant]
Viruses and bacteria are inherently different things. Bacteria are simple prokaryotic organisms and with that come with a variety of ways you can destroy them (based on their cell wall type, etc.). Viruses are a little bit more tricky because they aren't "alive" in the traditional sense. They are a bundle of DNA/RNA in a protein capsid that utilize a host to propagate themselves. Depending on the type of virus, it can either be lytic and explode the cell with newly formed viruses (it utilizes the mechanisms that a cell would normally replicate itself while inherently destroying the cell) or be lysogenic and incorporate itself into the host genome for generations until it is ready to become lytic.

With this in mind, you can't simply destroy a virus in the same way you can bacteria because they are very different in composition. A lot of things that would destroy a virus would also destroy the proper functioning of a cell, so you'd have to find other mechanisms to fight it off (such as using an inactivated virus to teach your immune cells to recognize it and fight it off i.e. a vaccine).


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

[User] ELI5: Why, before healthful practice, was it so common for a woman to die during childbirth? Do other species have this problem?

[Assistant]
To some extent, yes every species has trouble with childbirth. Some species always die after childbirth.

However, Humans are pretty bad at child birth. Standing upright and having big heads puts extra strain on the whole process. If those traits didn't provide a lot of benefit, we would have some issues from an evolutionary standpoint.


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

[User] Do single celled organisms experience inflammation?

[Assistant]
Inflammation occurs when pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1beta, TNF-alpha) are activated in a cell. These cytokines exit the cell and activate an immune response whereby innate immune cells (neutrophils, macrophages) congregate around the area to combat whatever caused the inflammatory response. Due to the multi celled nature of inflammation, a single cell cannot experience inflammation.

Single celled organisms have their own unique ways to deal with infection though. For example, some bacteria can cut out viral DNA from their genome (this is where we got CRISPR from!).


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

[User]
[Star Wars ANH] During the attack on the Death Star, why didn't the Empire deploy, like, a lot more TIE fighters?

It seemed like they were pretty conservative in the number of fighters they launched to combat the attacking rebel fighters.  Why not launch 2,000 TIE fighters, to swiftly overwhelm and destroy the rebels?

[Assistant]
At that moment, Tarkin was the embodiment of arrogance. He did not think the Rebels stood a chance, and paid almost no attention to the pitiful attack from a handful of fighter craft. In his eyes, the Death Star was invincible, and moments away from destroying the primary Rebel base. Remember, he shot down the idea of evacuation when the Rebel plans had been analyzed, and his engineers recognized the weakness they were gunning for.

So the TIE response was literally just following the bare minimum of military protocol, and possibly not even ordered from him, but a lower officer responding so said protocol.

If any other (competent) commander had been in charge of the Death Star, it's likely the fighter response would have been much heavier. But perhaps it was the will of the Force that Tarkin was so overconfident.


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

[User] ELI5: Why can't we just base the weight of a kilogram by saying that it is the weight of 1L of water instead of using the International Prototype Kilogram?

[Assistant] 1L of water at what temperature and pressure? A liter is a unit of volume, and a liter of steam is going to have a lot less mass than a liter of water at the bottom of the Mariana trench. Most human life exists in a similar band of temperature and pressure, so 1L of water weighs about a kilogram, but it lacks the precision of a set prototype kilogram.


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

[User] [The Elder Scrolls] If I build a high enough ladder and climb it, will I enter an Oblivion plane?

[Assistant]
Sorta.

The distance between Nirn and Oblivion is practically indescribable.

It's more than just 'space'.

You could conceivably reach the edges of Oblivion, but then you'd be in a great empty void with nothing nearby.

You'd find yourself in a place where the normal rules of 'existing' don't matter.

You might forget to breath or eat until you die. You might not even die and just persist in a state of ignorant confusion.

Without sufficient protection, you would slowly forget that you're even anywhere at all.


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

[User]
My prof said "The liberal value system favours freedom over morality, the egalitarian value system favours morality over freedom. The conflict between these two value systems is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, social conflicts of our time", can you expand on this?

It's a translation. Favours can be translated as "ranks" as well, not sure which fits best.

[Assistant]
Yes, and no.

The liberal value system favours the political conditions that reproduce individual liberty over any other principles, whereas egalitarian systems favour the political conditions that reproduce equality. The professor seems to be operating with two (debatable) hidden premises: the way that liberals describe freedom is broadly correct, and that the principle of equality is ostensibly an ethical principle before it is political. Presumably the professor is a liberal instructing on liberal political theory, because we might say that the struggle between these two poles of liberty and equality, between the protection of individual rights (\*ahem\* private property \*ahem\*) and equality is the conflict at the heart of liberal thought.

Alternatively, this is a lazy provocation based on false narratives of the Cold War.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does non-sentient life try to survive?

It has honestly never made sense to me why a plant or cell incapable of thought or emotion would care about whether it lives or dies. It's confusing, but it just seems strange that plants and cells without will or emotion aren't indifferent to death.

[Assistant]
Imagine you are standing on a storm drain grate holding a variety of objects of various sizes and shapes. You drop them all on this grate and some of them will fall through while others will not. You gather all of those that didn't fall through up and drop them again, repeating this process many times.

When you are done what do the objects you have left all have in common? Obviously it is that they are very unlikely to fall through that storm drain grate! This is the basic idea at work with all life.

Organisms live and reproduce because that is what got them to be around today. If they didn't reproduce they would be like the stuff that fell through the grate, they wouldn't exist anymore. Living is a prerequisite to reproducing, corpses don't make babies, so living creatures around today tend towards staying alive long enough to reproduce.

They don't **want** to stay alive exactly, they stay alive because of what they are, because of their fundamental structure. If you can't get air you struggle to breathe not because you make a reasoned, logical thought process from the necessity of breathing to maintaining biological functions to your intended life goals. You struggle to breathe because of an evolved biochemical pathway linking the buildup of carbon dioxide in your blood to a reflexive urge to breathe. Creatures that didn't have that strong reflex tended to asphyxiate and became less common as time went by, so all we have left are those that do have the reflex.

So to answer your question plants don't need emotions or goals to do things that maintain their lives, just like objects don't need to desire features that keep them from falling down that storm drain grate. It is just what they are because they have been sorted for those features.


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

[User] ELI5: How can my mobile phone still perform an emergency call even when there is no coverage available?

[Assistant]
Because phone operators allow mobiles from other networks to make emergency calls on their network.
So while you may not have coverage, because you're a Vodafone customer, there still might be T Mobile coverage available, which you can use only for emergency calls.


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

[User] Is there a reason a greenscreen has to be green? Can other colours be used?

[Assistant] Any color can be used, however bright green is often used because it's a color that doesn't appear commonly in clothes or in the human body, making it easier to separate out the background and things in front of it. If you try to, for example, use white you rule out white clothing which is common, because the software wouldn't be able to distinguish between the clothes and background, or the whites of your eyes for example. It's a color that usually contrasts well with things you want to film, but other than that it isn't special.


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

[User] ELI5: How does the A1C test measure your blood glucose levels over the last 3 months instead of what it is at the time blood was drawn?

[Assistant] Red blood cells in your body live for about three months. That's where the three month span of the test comes from. As you live, glucose binds to this red blood cells, the more glucose in your blood the more red blood cells it binds to. They test the percentage of red blood cells that have glucose bound to them, and this reflects a three month average of blood glucose.


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

[User]
Why did philosophy never become as dominant as religion and science?

I understand that the lines between these three are often blurred, but even so, it's hard to miss that philosophy isn't as mainstream as religion and science. 84% of the human population identifies with a religion. But if you ask a random person whether they identify as a utilitarian or deontologist, you'll probably get a confused look or a vague, middling answer. Each year, governments invest billions of dollars in scientific research: much of it theoretical and with little application. How much funding does philosophical research get?

I see philosophy as having the same goal as religion and science: to find the truth, and to use it to explain the world. But it hasn't been popularized the same way. Why?

[Assistant]
But philosophy in one sense is an institutional and academic discipline, and in the other sense it is just everyday thinking about the same subject-matters that the academic philosophy is also interested in.

> But if you ask a random person whether they identify as a utilitarian or deontologist.

If you ask a random person whether the consequences of an action or the intentions behind the action are more important in determining whether it's moral or not, then they will have answers. You can simplify it much much more. While "84% of the human population identifies with a religion", only a small portion of them are knowledgeable about actual theological discussions. The same goes for science as well. You can ask a person whether he think evolution is true or not, and you will get an answer. But you won't likely to get an answer if you ask him whether sociobiology can help evolutionary biology.

Also "finding the truth" is rather an unpopular opinion in metaphilosophy these days, understood as the Platonic ideal of philosophy.

As for fundings, thought experiments don't cost nearly as much as hadron colliders.


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

[User]
[WH40K] I'm an eldar that's been banished from my craftworld for... reasons. What are my options for not getting eaten for eternity by Slaanesh?

So I was hanging out on Craftworld Ulthwe and we were having a bit of a feast when someone suggested we pass the time by having a funny little "Roast."  Eldrad graciously offered to be the roastee, but I must have said something that *really* pissed him off during my set and he banished me from Craftworld Ulthwe and "Every other ****ing Craftworld [I] can find.  For good."

Really not looking forward to my afterlife now since I probably won't get to hide out in the Infinity Circuits.  What are my other options to avoid She-Who-Thirsts?

[Assistant]
Step 1  Seek Harlequins

Step 2  Seek out the Laughing God

Step 3  Ask them about saving your soul from She Who Thirsts

Step 4  ???

Step 5  Profit err dont get eaten.

The plus side is at least you and Cegorach should share a sense of humor.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do they call it Legend Of Zelda and not Legend Of Link?

[Assistant] Because you are Link, and his name is whatever you put for him. His name doesn't matter, and for all the games history knows his name changes from game to game. The one constant is Zelda because after the first Zelda was cursed to sleep forever the king decreed, "So that this tragedy would never be forgotten, he ordered every female child born into the royal household should be given the name Zelda.". Skyward Sword changes this a bit, but you still have all the female children being named after the first one. So since the royal bloodline seems to be the keeper of the Triforce of wisdom, and it presents itself only in the women, you get the Legend of Zelda's.


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

[User]
[Hulk] The gamma accident allows Banner to change back and forth into Banner/Hulk -- an act of conscious will -- while retaining 100% of Banner's each person's capabilities (intellect, strength, healing, etc). How does this affect his place in the Marvel universe?

Hulk never goes on a rampage, never becomes the out-of-control monster that so many people see him as. There are never any spontaneous battles with the Army; the military still wants him but now it's more political, in the same way that the military wants the Iron Man armor.

How does Banner live his life? Does he embrace his Hulk side, or does he still try to get rid of it? How does this affect his relationship with Betty? How does the world see him?

[Assistant]
So just to be clear, Hulk is never hunted.  He never commits an act the military is trying to stop.

So just to clarify as the Hulk, the Hulk is as smart as Bruce Banner?

So like genius level intelligence with unstoppable strength.  Hulk still retains the madder he gets the stronger he gets, but now that Hulk is intelligent what's to be angry about.

The Hulk becomes less strong and solves crime by deductive reasoning.


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

[User] how accurate is that thing you used to do as a kid where you count the seconds in between a lightning strike and thunder to see how many miles away the storm is?

[Assistant]
If you do the trick where you take the time in second and divide by 5 to get the distance in miles, that amounts to approximating the speed of sound by 0.2 miles / second = 322 m/s. The real speed of sound is ~ 340 m/s, so the error of the approximation is around 5%.

I've heard it as 1 km every 3 seconds. This means 333 m/s which slightly better with a 2% error.

Anyways humans aren't exactly great timekeepers, so it doesn't matter much.


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

[User]
[Matilda] How did the Trunchbull avoid being sued for the various injuries she inflicted upon the students?

It's established that for a lot of the things the Trunchbull does that the parents don't believe their children, but several of her actions cause injuries, so it's hard to believe that no one would pay any attention after a while.

[Assistant]
Ronald Dahl based Trunchbull off his childhood. It seems outlandish now sure but way back when it wasn't that unheard for corporal punishment to be a thing. Historians have found evidence of spanking and hitting being used in schools in the 80's. Heck corporal punishment is still legal in half of the US.

Also if you notice Trunchbull is actually fairly careful about her punishments. Her only punishment that leaves injuries is the Chokey and that only leaves small cuts.


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

[User]
ELI5: How did people know what the world looked like before satellites?

How did people back i the day know the shape of countries and oceans look like without a clear view from space? How did they make accurate globes and maps back then?

[Assistant] They made land measurements, i.e. they determined distances and angles between various landmarks through a process called triangulation. This involves looking from two different points with a known distance between them (baseline) at some distant third point (or landmark). The difference in view angles allows one to calculate the distance to the third point. Now the calculated distance can be used as a baseline for a new triangulation, and so on. People also could make measurements of coordinates for different locations through careful observation and measurement of positions of the Sun and stars. Covering an entire country in triangles paired and adjusted to coordinate measurements will provide one with a map of a country.


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

[User] [SW:TESB] Why didn't Vader kill Admiral Piett for seeing Vader in a moment of weakness when his helmet and face plate was removed?

[Assistant]
Vader tends to only punish incompetence or those who question him.

Piett probably embarrassed him but he's not so psychopathic to kill a loyal officer who wasn't really at fault.

Plus, it doesn't take a genius to realize Vader must be all kinds of messed up under the suit when he's breathing like that.


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

[User] ELI5: How would a bank make money if I deposited 1 billion dollars into my savings, considering the interest would be millions?

[Assistant] They take like 80% (or whatever % the Fed caps them at) of your $1,000,000,000 and loan it out to a bunch of people at an interest rate much higher than what they are giving you. They then sell those loans in big bundles to other banks and use that money to make more loans and so on and so on...


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

[User] [Warcraft] If the scourge are an even bigger threat without a lich king. Then what was the point in killing him?

[Assistant]
The scourge would be like a raging wildfire without a lich king guiding them, but with them they are strategically more powerful when directed well.

While the forces of good and not-so-evil would be hard pressed on more fronts across the world if the scourge ran wild, they would still manage to hold the threat back, albeit at a constantly stressful pace. The Lich King is considered a more deadly threat on the whole due to him/her/it being able to direct the forces against strategic points in the opposing forces' defenses, dealing quicker, more crippling blows that are harder to come back from than widespread, lesser waves of attacks.

While it is doubtful that Bolivar or even Tirion can subdue the Lich King's presence and influence indefinitely, they were and are both definitely better alternatives to Arthas controlling the scourge. While the former's restraint may not last forever, they are less potential threats than Arthas himself due to the latter's inherent great prowess and driving cause. As well, with the frozen throne secured, keeping the Lich King in check is made much easier (relatively speaking).


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

[User] [Harry Potter/Wizarding World] If Voldemort ever won the Battle of Hogwarts and took complete control over the Ministry of Magic, how would the other magical countries/governments react to this?

[Assistant]
Voldemort had already taken control over the Ministry of Magic at the start of Deathly Hallows, and there was no reaction from the the international community at all.

There were a few mentions of fleeing abroad, so it's likely that some places were at least accepting refugees, but doing little else. Most likely they would be either unwilling or unable to intervene against Voldemort.


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

[User]
[Predator franchise] Do Yautjas pity the weak, or disgusted by them?

They refuse to hunt those who are unarmed or can't fight due to their code of honor, but is this a form of respect for the weak, or is actually an insult?

[Assistant] It's because the weak won't do anything for them. Killing an unarmed creature doesn't give them any glory, which is gained from hunting and killing strong foes. It's a waste of resources for themselves and the universe, which is strongly frowned upon.


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

[User] ELI5:Why is it that when i get 8-9 hours of sleep i wake up tired but when i get 3-4 hours i wake up energized?

[Assistant]
When we sleep our brain goes through a cycle of activity. This cycle will vary between 80 - 120 minutes and may repeat 4 or 5 times during the night. The "deepest" part of this cycle is called REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. This is the state usually associated with dreaming. We will enter REM sleep various times throughout the night, each time lasting longer than the last.

If you wake up during REM sleep, you may feel more groggy than if you woke up in an earlier stage of the sleep cycle. If you don't have a regular sleeping schedule then your body may not regulate these cycles and you might wake up in the middle of one and feel "worse". Where if you wake up after 3-4 hours of sleep you may be waking up during a more natural part of the cycle.


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

[User]
I believe forcing high schoolers to read the "great works" of literature is a waste (and only turns them off from reading in general) because they lack the life experience to appreciate them. CMV.

Hey CMVers. I think the "great works" of literature are meant for adults. Stories require the reader to feel empathy with the characters--for the reader to identify with what they are going through, and recall their own experiences of love, loss, pain, confusion, family strife, death, etc., alongside the characters in order to get drawn into the story. If you do not identify with and experience feelings alongside the characters, your experience of the novel will be shallow.

I think this lack of connection is why so many high school students don't care for their assigned readings and 90% will just default to Sparknotes--and many will never read for pleasure because of the negative association with being force-fed boring material. It made me resentful and thought "You can't force me to care" while Sparknoting most of my literature assignments.

Even though I was otherwise a good student in high school, I would get really frustrated at reading the huge novels that grappled with adult themes that I, personally, had never experienced and couldn't get into. As a teenager, I lacked the will and the perspective to identify with the characters and their struggles. Examples:

* **Grapes of Wrath:** as a suburban 15 year old, I never understood the feeling of being down on your luck, starting over with a new life, the burden of taking care of a family, the challenges of finding work in a bad economy. It was just really long and I didn't particularly care what happened. This was one of my least favorite books ever.

* **Ivanhoe:** This was a summer reading assignment. I read the first few boooring pages, said "lol nope" and Sparknoted it.

* **Catcher in the Rye:** Psyche! I actually loved this book in American Lit class. You know why? Because it was a story *about a teenager*, dealing with *problems that teenagers actually understand*: struggling to find your identity, fitting in with your peers, relationships with parents and siblings, adolescent sexuality, etc.

Now that I'm older, I watch TV dramas and get really into them because I can identify with the characters' struggles. In Orange Is the New Black (spoilers) when Jason Biggs essentially breaks up with Piper, I really felt a shared pain with his character, because I have had to break up with people myself. Life experience. Makes me care about a character.

**TL,DR:** Literature requires readers to bring their own life experiences to identify with and care about the characters. Most "great works" require life experience that is alien to that of a typical 15 year old.

**Edit:** Glad this inspired a lot of discussion, I enjoyed reading the feedback. I'll award some deltas on the posts that made me think of things in a different way. Also, I assure you my username is a mere coincidence. _

[Assistant] I think the way the books are taught is often the problem, more than the material covered. Drain every last ounce of enjoyment from the reading trying to squeeze every drop of what the author might have mean by the car being pale blue instead of just blue. Dammit, Gatsby.


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

[User] [Mario Bros] When Mario is doing other stuff (go carting, tennis, everyday) is he big Mario or little Mario?

[Assistant]
In Kart, Mario and others use Super Mushrooms and don't grow a stage larger.  This implies that they're already in their full size, like what happens when you grab a second Super Mushroom while already "Super" in other games: you either bank it or waste it, but you don't grow extra Super.

I think as "Super Mario" he is often Super by default; a Super Mushroom will return Mario to his regular (Super) size, not make him larger than normal.  Little Mario seems to be his injured or distressed state.

Little Mario is half the height of Peach, while Super Mario is contemporary in size.  In his sports and kart showings, he's not waist-high to Peach as Little Mario is shown during SMB1.  He's not knee-high to Bowser.  And while Bowser has some variance in size (I believe due to how much power he's possessing or utilizing), it's clear that this is normal sized "Super Mario" alongside Bowser.

Also, while Little, his dimensions are far more minimized than we see in these games.

The New Super Mario series shows a good modern example of how Mushrooms affect his size.  If he was Little Mario, this would seem to be suggesting that Sports/Kart Mario are currently small and would become even larger when touching a Super Mushroom, but that would be from the effects of a Mega Mushroom instead, which we also see used (and follows the same Mushroom rules I've explained above) in the Kart games.


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

[User] [Marvel] What is the difference between a being like dormammu and a being like surtur? Also who has more power?

[Assistant]
Surtur is a flame elemental and a god from Muspelheim, he and his ilk are Muspelheim's equivalents of the Asgardians.

Dormammu is a being of pure magic from another dimension.

In terms of actual power, Dormammu is the stronger by far, though Surtur is no slouch, being on the same tier as Odin is.

Dormammu, on the other hand, goes toe-to-toe with beings like Eternity and Galactus. And that's when he's weakened - outside of his own domain, his powers are lessened. If Dormammu were to come to Earth directly, he's weak enough there that the Sorcerer Supreme could pose a significant challenge to him; in his own dimension he's essentially only beatable through trickery.


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

[User] ELI5: why does a phones battery keep working if plugged in just before dying, but takes a few minutes to turn back on if plugged in after dying?

[Assistant]
Because once the phone dies, it needs to boot back up.

That boot up process is a bit more sensitive, a crash/the phone shutting down again during a boot up could possibly corrupt the files needed to run the boot. If that happens, youre just dead in the water.

So, smartphones will refuse to turn back on right away, allowing the battery to get enough charge that it definitely wont die while booting up even if you unplug it again.


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

[User]
Explain how 0.999 recurring = 1 (LI5.)

This was explained in class when I was younger. Never got my head around it.

Edit: Well and truly explained. Thanks.

[Assistant]
All the numbers can be ordered on a very, very big line, like on a gigantic ruler. Now, if two numbers are different, that just means that there is some space on this ruler between them. That space is full of numbers, too. So, for example, 2 is a different number than 4, because (for example) 3 is between them. In fact, you can find more numbers than you could write a piece of paper between *any* two different numbers. Try it!

Now, 0.99999... = 1 is just another way of saying that there are no other numbers between them. It makes sense once you try to come up with such a number yourself: Obviously it would have to start with 0.99999 as well but then be a little bit higher. But there is no such number that's still smaller than 1.


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

[User]
Intense sound can deafen, intense light can blind. Can intense smell damage your olfactory system?

And I don't mean the nature of what you're smelling, i.e. Smelling chemical x will damage olfactory. I mean is it possible for something to smell so strongly that it damages your sense of smell?

[Assistant] Let's get this clear. Damage to your retina due to intense light is a result of the light having sufficient intensity to damage your rod and cone cells. Damage to your ears due to intense sound is a result of the sound's intensity damaging your hair cells. This isn't the same for olfaction, since a large amount of any one smell can't necessarily cause damage to the sensory cells. Certain noxious chemicals which can be inhaled, such as acids, can damage and kill the olfactory cells, but a strong smell alone is not enough to kill those cells.


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

[User]
2 weeks before taking C++ intro summer class, learn c++ or c?

College student here, I am taking C++ intro summer class, and have 2 weeks before that, so I want to watch some tutorials on youtube so I could do well in my class, so should I watch C++ or C?

I've always heard it is better to learn C so you get the logic and basics, but in this short amount of time is it better to just learn C++ if I want to do well in my class?

[Assistant] If 2 weeks is all you have then just go over c++. C (even though it share a similar name) is VERY different from c++ and in two weeks before your class it is better to go over the relevant section beforehand in college.


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

[User]
ELI5 why in movies they tell the soldiers not to fire until they get closer

Wouldn't I want to start taking them out as soon as I can?

[Assistant]
Letting the enemy get closer is advantageous in several ways:

A. It allows more accuracy in a ordinance-expended-to-kill ratio, being that accurate shots are easier to make at closer distances, especially in times before rifled barrels were in wide use.

B. It gives the enemy less time to seek shelter and dig in, avoiding a drawn out stand-off.

C. In relation to B, it provides a much more lethal element of surprise, and doesn't allow the enemy to form defensive formations, leaving them in unorganized disarray and easier to pick off and break their line.


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

[User]
CMV: There are only two genders

Yeah, I know that it's a meme at this point with the whole Change My Mind thing. But, I still never understood how there are more than two genders. With the exception of a few rare genetic disorders, people are born with either XX or XY chromosomes, which determines their gender. I know that there are people who truly feel that they are some third/non binary gender, but that doesn't change the science. Why is different than someone who truly believes they are a duck? I think the science is more important than what people feel. But, I'd like to hear reasons why gender is fluid and can be non-binary. Change my view

Edit: I don't think I will change my mind, and I'll probably stop responding to this thread now. I am going to address some common arguments here.

"You are confused between sex and gender. Sex is based off of chromosomes, gender is simply how someone identifies themself within the rules society places."

Gender and sex are synonyms. Modern gender theory says otherwise, but that's exactly what I am arguing against. How someone feels is not the determining factor in their sex, it is their chromosomes.

"People can identify with 'non binary' or something else because they do not believe they fit neatly into either man or woman."

People can say they are whatever they want. This doesn't mean other people should or should be required to adhere to this. Other people determine your identity. Hitler thought he was a reasonable person. We do not call Hitler a reasonable person, because we determine his identity, not him.

"You can't exclude intersex because they are different and/or rare."

I am not excluding them because they are different or rare. I think that we can all agree that people with XXX or XXY are exceptions to the general population, and do not fall neatly under male or female.

"You are going against science and academics by not accepting modeen gender theory."

There are qualified people who believe that there are only two genders, like Dr. Jordon Peterson. I understand that most of you are not fans of his, but he is an example. Besides, even though I acknowledge I am not the most qualified person to talk about this, a layman can still have an opinion that goes against a consensus. Like how people used to use Darwanism to "prove" that blacks were inferior to whites. They called that science.

Also, I know that I have offended people who are trans or identify as nonbinary. I do not express my view to be offensive, and I'm sorry to those who may be offended. But, science should not be based on what people feel. It should based on fact, even if facts may be offensive.

Still, thanks to everyone who tried to change my view.

[Assistant]
Try this:

Gender isn't sex. Gender is a *set of stories we tell ourselves* about our identities as persons. This set of stories does *include* stories about our bodies -- but it's not *limited to* stories about those bodies.

I'll prove that claim --

What gender is Optimus Prime?

Optimus Prime does not have sex. He has no chromosomes and no sexual anatomy. But he does have *gender*. We identify him with a set of cultural narratives that have to do with physical power, strong leadership, fatherly guidance, a deep booming voice, etc. We exempt him from the "penis" stories because those are not important to who he *is*.

There are more than two genders because there are more than two *sets of stories* about our identities as people. Other cultures already have such sets, like the Native American Two-Spirit people, and the Bugis people of Indonesia with five genders. And now in Western culture we have people constructing new sets of stories for new genders. How successful these new constructs will be in the long run remains to be seen -- they could fade and be forgotten if they don't take hold in our culture. But they do *exist*.


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

[User]
[Insomniac's Spider-Man] Could Spider-Man sue Jameson for slander?

In Insomniac's Spider-Man (PS4/PS5), Jameson owns a podcast/radio show called "Just the Facts." He usually discredits Spider-Man frequently and will oftentimes say some extremely outlandish things about him.

For example, he suggests that Spider-Man is in cahoots with his supervillains, such as The Rhino, and has them enact crimes to swoop in and save the day. Jameson seems to think that Spider-Man is a glory-seeker.

Jameson says other things too, like when he talks about Spider-Man having no loved ones. How does Jameson know that? Does he know the man beneath the mask? Granted, Jameson will occasionally say an insightful comment, like how Spider-Man's presence attracts supervillains. I think that's a valid case. Outside of that, though, Jameson is usually slandering Spidey left and right, and even casually admits to being jealous of Peter's abilities.

I got to thinking, could Spider-Man actually sue Jameson for slander? We know that Peter has a secret identity, so it'd be problematic, but Spider-Man can still be considered a legal entity under a court of law.

Thoughts?

[Assistant]
Theoretically, yes. Practically, no.

The main issue is that, under US law, you have to prove the claims are knowingly false for a slander case- true claims cannot be slander, nor can claims made in good faith. Obviously, this poses a problem for Spiderman, because even were he to be allowed to sue as Spiderman, to prove libellous intent he would have to reveal his secret identity, or at least a significant amount of identifying information.

In other commonwealth countries where the accused slanderer has to prove their claim was true or good faith, maybe, but under US law it's simply not worth it- when he has to prove it was slander, any evidence he could put forward would be too risky for the satisfaction it would cause.


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

[User]
ELI5: (As an American) Why is freedom of speech protected from the government, but not corporations?

Question asked in light of Tumblr's new policies on NSFW-related blogs.

[Assistant]
The Freedom of Speech does not grant you the right to say whatever you want, whenever you want, it merely prevents the GOVERNMENT from restricting your right to free speech. When it comes to private institutions, they are free to set their own rules regarding things like speech, because you always have the option to not use them.

You are still allowed to keep your right to free speech, Tumblr is simply denying your ability to use THEIR website to do so.


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

[User]
ELI5: why is france a permanent member of the UN security council, but not germany?

seeing that germany is bigger in every aspect.

except maybe unofficial influence in former colonies. And WWII.

[Assistant]
The UN was created at the end of the Second World War, partly to try to ensure that a global conflict never occurred again. At that time not only was Germany being punished for 10 years of Nazism, but the German economy was in ruins, the country and its capital city were partitioned and permanently occupied, and few could forsee that within a couple of decades that West Germany would become one of the world's strongest economies.

On the other hand, Britain was still head of the largest empire the world had ever seen, and its resolve in keeping a western front open, along with the military might of the USA and USSR, had all proved absolutely decisive in winning the war. So these three countries were natural choices as permanent members.

Japan was also being punished in the same way that Germany was, and that's the main reason for China's inclusion. China was officially allied with the USA and UK during the war, and Chiang Kai-Shek was seen at Allied summits almost as frequently as Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt. Again, at the time few people foresaw a Communist revolution in China and nobody could predict that by the 21st century it would also be on the way to becoming one of the world's largest economies.

Although France had been partly conquered by Germany during the war, it was still one of the world's Great Powers in 1945, commanding an empire only a little smaller than Britain's.

TL;DR - the Security Council's permanent members were created based upon the five most powerful Allied countries in the world at the time.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why did it take so long until radioactivity was discovered

In my country, uraninite was mined alongside silver at least since the 15 century, useless at the time. It is kind of strange to me that nobody noticed anything "weird" about it for such a long time (or did they?)

Is the concentration too small in this form to have effect? Even if they piled it up in junk heaps along with everything that wasn't silver? Or were the people working with it already too ill to notice anything extra going on (mining was not a particularly safe or healthy occupation for a very long time)? Or did they actually know something is weird about it? After all, what did tip off Marie Curie that there's something odd about this mineral?

[Assistant]
So the thing about radiation, outside of the most extremely high concentrations it isn't going do much of anything immediately where you can really easily see cause and effect. Those super high concentrations don't exist naturally, they have to be refined into that.

Even in modern times after something like the chernobyl disaster only 31 people directly died from it, the rest of the effects are long term increases in things like cancer rates which we can really only figure out because of statistics and having a huge sample size.


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

[User]
[Dota 2] How are heroes able to wield varying equipment despite anatomical restriction?

Boots are nice, but Slardar has no feet for example. Or someone's holding three single hand weapons but only has two hands.

[Assistant]
Ah, but no one in DotA actually wields any of the items they acquire during a battle. The various shopkeepers all offer magic talismans, some minor and some major. Whatever a hero comes into the possession of magically augments their abilities as long as it remains on their person. In a satchel is sufficient. Slardar is at no disadvantage, because no one else actually wears their boots of speed either.

This is also why gunmen and archers benefit from buying swords and daggers. Experienced heroes can even take advantage of the properties if these enchanted knickknack and combine some of them into more powerful relics.


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

[User]
[Inception] I am going to a ball room dance event tomorrow night but I have absolutely no experience. Can I use my Inception machine to learn years worth of dancing, overnight?

I am planning to live in the dream world for a while and practice with my partner.

Will I retain the dancing prowess and muscle memory when i wake up?

[Assistant] Muscle memory won't be with you since your own physical body wasn't actually doing the activities. You'll remember the cues and steps well, but the body is going to have trouble keeping up. It's similar to a student that just learned to drive. All the correct algorithms are there, but the body isn't use to actually performing.


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

[User] ELI5: What is the logic behind fast food places making their next size up in soft drinks only like 25 cents more. Wouldn't they make more money if the difference in price was proportional to the difference in size?

[Assistant]
I believe there's two factors at play:

1. For something like a soda, it's mostly water, which is essentially free. The cost is mainly the container. The volume of a container increases as a cubic function, while the cost of the material is closer to a square, so bigger containers cost less per unit volume. Taken together, that 25 cents is mostly profit.

2. Psychology. People sometimes ignore the base cost, since they either want a particular product, like a soda, or not. They are, however, more conscious of the upgrade cost. By setting the base price high, but then having small steps to the large size, the net effect is more people buy the most expensive size. In contrast, if the base price was low, but the steps were large, more people might buy the small size.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why do Canadian car models use slightly different icons than the other NA country counterparts?

So I just got my first car, a 2012 Toyota Yaris. I was going through the car manual and I noticed that in the manual it had a few "tweaked" icons for Canadian models. For example, on my US car, when the parking brake is enabled it says "BRAKE" in red letters, but it said for the Canadian model it had this weird symbol that looked like a "!" inside (). I went to get my mom's car book from her Mercedes, and it was the same situation. It wasn't just those icons too. It was almost like Canada doesn't allow text for icons? Can someone explain this? I never understood.

[Assistant] it is the other way around, there are standardized universal symbols/icons for stuff in a car used by car manufacturers in almost all their cars. but America require them to be written in English, i think top gear made fun of that once.


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

[User]
What is super-symmetry?

I recently watched the documentary Particle Fever and this word was used often.

Can someone explain to me what it is and why Super-symmetry would be supported by the Higgs Boson having a mass of 115 Gev.

And since it has been found that that the Higgs Boson has a mass of 125 Gev what  could that mean?

[Assistant] Basically it's the idea that for each particle with a given spin (electrons have a half, photons have one, etc), there is another particle with a spin that differs by one half. Some processes might occur differently if, for example, these particles were being created, but there hasn't been any evidence of that thus far in the LHC experiments.


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

[User]
Gravity and Oxygen in Star Wars: Is it the same on every planet? Are there variances?

I'm left with the question after realizing that in our own solar system, the amounts of gravity found in all 9 of our closest planets (scratch that, 8 because pluto isn't one anymore, supposedly) differ greatly, not to mention gases.  Let's assume that all the planets in SW have the same gravity and air quality, from Hoth to Tatooine, to Bespin, to Endor... How is this even possible?

[Assistant] There are variances. A good example of the gravitational issues is the Empire opting for the AT walker program. Though repulsorlift technology is tried and true, there are still planets with serious variances in their gravitational and magnetic fields which wreak havoc. Walking around in a gyroscopically stabilized tank is better then bottoming out or being flung several meters into the air due to some anomaly. On Coruscant alone, the difference in gravity between the Senate Chambers, and the outlying auxiliary maintenance shafts can be as much as 20%.


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

[User]
[Men in Black] Why did the bug always have cockroaches and other bugs around and on them? Are these it's offspring, or are they Earth bugs that are somehow attracted to this giant space bug?

Edgar-Suit Bug always has bugs around and on them, but are they normal earth cockroaches that are just drawn to them somehow, or is it leaving a trail of offspring everywhere. It seemed pretty mad when J started crushing them, but if they're just random bugs from earth why would it care?

I suppose maybe it's just that protective of bugs, but I wonder why they would be drawn to them, or if it's collecting them or what the deal is there...

[Assistant] The bugs from space release a constant cloud of pheromones. Most humans can't notice the smell but insects are drawn to it. The earth bugs end up serving the space bug by keeping it's skin and exoskeleton clean and free of any unwanted parasites. And there is a small possibility that the roach like bugs seen in the dumpster and falling off of Edgar are some larval form of the space bugs. They very closely resemble Madagascar hissing cockroaches which aren't native to north America or New York City so it could be just coincidence that the space bug spawn resemble an earth species. Or Edgar hit up an exotic insects shop for more effective symbiotic bugs while on earth and felt a kinship with them when J was killing them after he put them in the dumpster.


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

[User]
Have you ever had a collaboration that turned into a nightmare? Please share!

Please share any less-than-ideal experiences you have collaborating with others, so we can learn to recognize them!   I'm in the process of entering into a few, with some trepidation.

[Assistant] Had a collaborator steal a research idea and pass it off as his own.  He built a series of papers on it with no mention whatsoever of any correspondence with us, not even an acknowledgement :/  But he was in such a rush to publish before us that he didn't realize a huge flaw in the methodology, and I've been beating him over the head with it in the literature ever since.


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

[User] ELI5: When something falls into a drilling hole on an oil rig, why is it so catastrophic and expensive to fix? What goes into fixing it?

[Assistant] Drilling into the ground for oil or gas is expensive. If, during a bit change or other time there is an open hole, a piece of metal falls in, it can damage the tri-cone or hammer bits used to do the drilling. The carbide buttons on the bits do the work, and are very hard, but brittle. Metal in the hole can snap these and slow or halt the drilling process. A bit can cost around $2000 per inch of the diameter of the bit. Sometimes, the bits can fail if the bearings go out, due to too much weight put on them, or from a manufacturers defect. The entire drill stem needs to then be "tripped" back out of the hole, to gain access for what is called a "fishing trip", where magnetic ended, barbed, or other means of grabbing what fell in or fell off back up out of the hole. At any time, there are 2-4 large diesel engines running on a rig, to drill, pump fluids, or to compress air for drilling purposes, which can use around 55 gallons or more of fuel per hour. That fuel cost, plus cost of the 3-5 man crew, the waste of time for the setback, the possibility of a downhole pipe casing cementing crew being on location and on hold due to unforseen problems like an idiot dropping a pipe wrench down the hole when breaking apart a flange on the casing and leaving it in a precarious spot...wait time and fishing trips can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in added expense.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are some ships decks numbered/named from the bottom of the ship, and others are named/numbered from the top?

[Assistant]
Former Squid here, as far as I've ever known it was just sort of the convention. At some point in the past it was convenient to start numbering, and if you chose to start from the top or bottom was fairly arbitrary excepting perhaps in cases where it is easier or more clear to differentiate between certain numbers depending on the language. But one specific designer or organization is likely to stick to one method because that leaves less room for confusion.
There's even a third option. Numbers that start in between top and bottom! Our (US) aircraft carriers do that. You start with the flight deck, and the numbers increase as you go down. But if you go up, vertically, now you're on levels, not decks, and those numbers also count up numerically. The decks are just called like "3rd deck" while levels are "the O-3" (that's a dash not a negative). It helps prevent having to talk about decks or levels in the teens or beyond. Given how much we love to shorten names and messages, ease of use seems to be the culprit.


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

[User]
CMV: The European-style "free" higher education proposed by Bernie, among others, would never work in the US.

I'm quite liberal but I think that this is a unattainable goal for a number of reasons, primarily:

1. American College culture. Americans expect and place value on the college experience, and that costs a ton of money. Dorms, stadiums, sports teams, Greek life, drama clubs, student newspapers, political/religious/hobby groups, paid guest speakers. European Universities have much more of a focus on pure academics and cost much less as a result.

2. The American desire for everyone to go to college. No matter what you end up doing, everyone still wants to go to college, and most parents strive to send to send them, and rarely accept a trade as an acceptable and equal option. Most of the kids that go to college here in Switzerland do so with the goal of a career that necessitates higher education. (sciences, medicine, etc). The rest go to trade schools or enter apprentiships in their teens.

Any attempt at making this idea workable will have to be focused on making colleges more selective and less of a necessity for the average American, and will be met with a massive bipartisan outcry far worse than what was seen during the Obamacare debate.

[Assistant]
Well, 1. is solvable. If education is free, no one has the ability to complain if their expectations are not met - they aren't paying for this stuff, so if they want to have it, they can figure out how to get it themselves. The government doesn't need to be paying for these amenities, since they aren't essential, but a university may choose to spend a portion of its budget on student activities - which most European universities, even the free ones, do. And after a few generations, American culture will shift away from their movie-based expectations and will come to understand that university is a place for learning.

For 2. We have this in the UK, where education is *essentially* free - ie, the payback rates on the loans are so low you don't even notice it, and unless you're extremely well-payed you'll never actually pay it off. We also have a culture of wanting our kids to go to university, so similar to the US, we get a lot of people going to university just for the sake of going to university, with no particular career in mind. It's not ideal, but it works fine, and it's better than the alternative if the alternative is spending tens of thousands of pounds on it, even for the people who already have a career path.

If these were the only problems, free higher education in the US would work fine. The real problem is that America is the land of looking out for yourself. Even if you shuffled the budget around so that giving everyone free education had absolutely no increase in tax, people would still not vote for it because they hate the idea of their money helping other people to succeed. It's the same argument that you see against nationalised healthcare. People are more concerned about their taxes paying for someone else's health than about whether or not they're actually paying more taxes.

There's also the universities to consider. Given how extortionate the prices they currently charge are, they may lobby against a program that could potentially see them get less money. The only reason British universities don't complain too much is because they can still charge excessive prices to foreign students (which we get a *lot* of). As such, any solution to this would probably have to be one that increases the number of foreign students coming in and paying high prices for education, and because of how big the US actually is, there's going to be an awful lot of american universities that no foreign student wants to go to in the first place.


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

[User]
[Marvel] I hear Vibranium is stronger than Adamantium. Would Wolverine be more powerful with Vibranium?

If so, what kind of characters could he now take on with Vibranium compared to Adamantium?

And if Adamantium is in fact stronger, how would Captain America be affected by wielding an Adamantium shield as opposed to Vibranium?

[Assistant]
Vibranium absorbs/dissipates vibrations with near perfect efficiency, whereas Adamantium is an extremely hard yet non-fragile metal. The two can't be measured in terms of which is the stronger as they gave completely different properties with different intended functions.

For example, an adamantium shield would be a lot worse than a vibranium one. The shield would be able to absorb massive impacts, but because the impact would continue through the shield to its wielder, the shieldbearer would get destroyed by the transmission of force. Similarly, claws made of vibranium would be useless as they wouldn't have the same hardness (and therefore lose their sharpness). They'd also absorb/dissipate vibrations, so any attack would be heavily dampened by the effect and the transfer of force would be greatly lessened as well.


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

[User]
Japanese philosophy

Hi,

Recently I've read something about an old Japanese philosophy about the 3 masks that humans wear. I forgot the name, and I can't find any resource or book about this.

Can anyone please tell me what book I can read about this?

Thanks

tl;dr I'm looking for a book about an old Japanese philosophy about the 3 masks humans wear.

[Assistant] Probably from *Shogun*, a fictional novel that is a pretty good example of Orientalism, that quote in particular being pretty dumb. An actual cultural concept is honne and tatemae, which you can find plenty about.


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

[User] [Mario] Are Mario and Donkey Kong still enemies?

[Assistant] No. In fact, Mario and Donkey Kong were never enemies. Back in the Donkey Kong games, Mario aka "Jumpman" was fighting Donkey Kong's grandfather, Cranky Kong. The modern DK we see today is actually Donkey Kong Jr. all grown up. Mario and DK jr decided there was no point in being bitter enemies despite the past Mario has with his family and that they should just have fun in friendly contests.


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

[User]
ELI5: How is it that copying a 1Gb file takes less than a minute, but copying 22,000 lines and 20 columns in MS Excel takes forever and potentially crashes the software?

Can't they make a copy/paste procedure similar to how the hard disk normally copies files? I know that it's Excel and that moving data around inside an application is different from moving it around a hard disk, but why? Nowadays computers have gigabytes of RAM, and multi-core 64-bit processors, and they can even scratch your balls for you, but still it's a real hassle to manipulate large amounts of data in Excel, and probably many other programs.

[Assistant] You can compare it to trying to move a 10 kg box filled with marbles, and 5 kg of marbles without a box. For some reason moving the marbles are easier when they are in a box, even though you are moving more.


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

[User] ELI5: What do producers and executive producers do?

[Assistant]
It really depends. In some cases, they do *nothing*, and appear on the bill just because of a contractual obligation. Sometimes they are providing financial backing for the film, operating an an overseer management role, creative consultant, or are even the same person as the writer or director.

Stan Lee is an executive producer on every Marvel film & series whether he actually did anything directly for that production or not.


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

[User]
[Matrix] When Neo said "I know kung fu" after loading the Kung Fu training into his brain was this only inside the Matrix or he also become a kung fu fighter outside of the Matrix?

^

[Assistant] He knew kung fu in the real world as well. However, knowing Kung Fu and being able to use Kung Fu are completely different beasts. His weakened musculature, finite energy stores, and real body mechanics would have meant he would not be a kung fu master in real life despite knowing every maneuver as a master.


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

[User]
How relevant is Camus in modern academia?

My friend was telling me that Camus and Absurdism is not too relevant in modern philosophical academia. How true is this statement? Is existential/absurd philosophy not popular in academia?

[Assistant]
Camus is a figure around which there is a little cottage industry (There is an Albert Camus Society which has a journal that does one issue a year).  His work, even while he was alive, was outside of the field of philosophy.  He was a journalist, an author, an essayist, etc., but he never even pretended to be an academic philosopher.

You can still find plenty of papers about Camus in Literature departments, but very very very few in straightforward, high-impact anglo-american philosophy journals.


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

[User] [Pirates of the Caribbean] Would Davy Jones have been able to collect if Jack had been part of the Curse of Isla de Muerta?

[Assistant]
Yes. He collected Bootstrap Bill when BB was under the curse of Isla de Muerta.

A cursed Jack might be harder to take though since Jack would be fighting against him and immortal, but ultimately Davy Jones can press you into his crew even if youre already cursed.


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

[User] [Avatar] Why does everyone speak the same language? Even back in the days of Avatar Wan, every human shown had a common language. What event took place that prevented the fracturing of language seen in our own universe?

[Assistant] It's possible that the language is actually that of the Lion Turtles. Since humans spent countless years living in cities on the backs of these giant beings, and communicated with them, they either learned language from them or just started using it after a while.


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

[User]
[Firefly]What was Saffron's plan?

What was Saffron's plan? Did she move from place to place, reading up on strange marriage rituals, taking advantage of drunk people so she could steal their ship? Because that sounds like a plan with rare opportunities, and there's the fact that she'd probably only be able to use each settlement a few times, depending on its size. Even if she only does it for the thrill of the crime, the space-net people would probably be unable to function with a lack of steady income.

Am I missing something? Or is this just unexplained?

[Assistant]
She was a con woman, we only saw  her doing the ~~two~~ three marriage cons not the multitude of other scams.

I also have a feeling she was more interested in transportation and then making a quick buck, spending it until she was out and finding a new mark to get money out of.


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

[User] [Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace] Why does the opening crawl refer to Obi Wan as a Jedi Knight even though he is only a Padawan?

[Assistant]
I believe the reason is much the same way that Obi-Wan makes reference to The Jedi in the original trilogy despite being a Master at that point. "I was once a Jedi Knight, the same as your father... For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic."

In a general sense, the Jedi were referred to as "The Jedi Knights," despite the different rankings within the order itself. Qui-Gon is also a Master, but the crawl refers to him as one of the two Jedi Knights. It is much the same way that Jedis are referred to as "Master Jedi" as a show of reverence or respect (both Anakin and Ahsoka are referred to as such notwithstanding neither being Masters) even though they may not hold the rank of Master.


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

[User]
Second choice in job

Any advice on how to handle things when you've been informed post-interview (which you thought went excellently well by the way) that they were impressed but think another candidate might be an even stronger fit and they're moving forward with that while still trying to accommodate your time constraints?

[Assistant]
It means exactly what they said. You are second in the line for the job. If the job negotiations, e.g. salary, starting package, etc, fall through, they will offer the position to you. It happens quite often. Some universities go as far as having 2-3 candidates as 'reserves.'

The time constraints bit sounds like they are expediting any actions to ensure that they can come back to you within your time frame. This may also indicate how close you were to the first choice (i.e. it was not a clear-cut case on who was the better candidate of the two).

This is perfectly normal. If you like the position and it is offered to you, then go for it.


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

[User] [Megamind] Do other superheroes exist or are Megamind and Metro man the only superpowered beings in the world?

[Assistant]
If there were other heroes, one would assume they would've gone after Megamind. If there were other villains, you'd think they'd be mentioned in the news as well when Metroman was "killed". Megamind and Metroman are the only alien babies we're aware of to be sent to Earth and humans haven't been shown capable of naturally developing super powers.

So as far as we're aware, they either were the only powered people on Earth at the time or heroes/villains are very strict on keeping to their turf.