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

[User]
[Marvel] How much damage could a fully unhinged-out-for-blood-no-holding-back Spider-Man do?

Spider-Man is always holding back, hes careful to stop his enemies but never kill them. Im just curious how dangerous a fuck it youre all going down permanently 616 Spider-Man would be.

How much effort would it take to stop him. Who would stand the best chance?

[Assistant]
In the elseworlds story *Marvel Universe vs The Punisher,* a rage-virus is released that turns everyone who gets infected into a sadistic, amoral cannibal, who maintain all of their mental capacity as far as tactics, strategy and the like are concerned. Spidey is the first hero to be publicly infected.

After five years of carnage, Zombie Spider-man is one of the only two A-listed infected heroes left in New York, by virtue of his combination of hit-and-run tactics and his utter willingness to just take your head off with the first blow. His Spider-sense prevents the handful of uninfected heroes from pinning him down, he's able to strategically web up sections of the city to make them impassible to anyone but him, and he just generally turns New York into his personal bastard playground until zombie Kingpin shows up with a large enough army of infected superhumans that he can't take them all directly.


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

[User] [Harry Potter] Given their history, do English wizards bear any particular allegiance to The Crown or are they considered purely a Muggle concern?

[Assistant] They definitely would be involved with the monarchy, since the most revered wizard of all time helped with the Monarchy during his lifetime. And they do recognize nations, and have pride in those nations, just not necessarily in the muggle government.


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

[User]
If somebody was hypothetically to eat, approximately a cup of concrete before it set, would it set in their digestive system?

Additionally if it did set what would the effect on the body be, and how could it be removed without surgery?

[Assistant]
This came up once on a gardening listserv- apparently hot chocolate mix + cement is sometimes used as rat poison.  A person with medical knowledge suggested that the highly reactive calcium would severely disturb the animal's electrolyte balance and shut down the nervous system before the mass in the digestive system killed it.

Then someone captured a squirrel and tried it.  (Don't hate- the guy was a peach farmer, killing squirrels is unavoidable in that business).  The squirrel got constipated, passed some chalky stools, but survived.


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

[User]
CMV: Cosmetic procedures on dogs like tail docking and ear cropping are barbaric and unnecessary.

Ive recently begun working in animal healthcare, I still see many people requesting these procedures on their dogs because they believe its a breed requirement for dogs such as pit bulls, Dobermans etc. despite the fact that its illegal in many countries.

The procedure is purely cosmetic and has no real benefit to the animal. They cannot give consent.

I cannot justify the anaesthetic risks, potential post operative complications and pain and discomfort it causes just because it looks cool. However Id like to hear other perspectives because places I work in carry out these procedures and I feel a preexisting prejudice against people that request these things for their pets and that feels unprofessional.

Do people still see dogs as their property?

Edited to add:

Thanks for all the responses! Im happy to discuss the cost-benefit for working dogs and Ive learned a lot through the comments. But this post was more about mostly indoor dogs in a big city setting where I work. Theres still lots of people telling me that its a breed requirement even though these dogs dont do any real work. Happy tail syndrome was a welcome piece of information. More like that is appreciated

And Id take back the consent thing if I could. Thats a whole other can of worms. Lets talk about cost-benefit instead

*FINAL EDIT*

Thanks for the wonderful and mostly polite discussion! You have all convinced me that these procedures in working dogs can be beneficial and necessary. Happy tail syndrome is the only reasoning I can agree with for docking in urban non working dogs and I still think of a dog lives in your house away from boars and thorns, its ears should be left alone. If there are people that still support kennel club breed requirements etc for show dogs, Id like to hear your thoughts.

Again, Id like to apologize for the ambiguous wording beforehand. English isnt my first language and my view wasnt that these surgeries are never necessary, its more that they are evil if their intention is cosmetic. Ive learned a lot and now its time to go to work and maybe have better discussions with owners who want tails snippy snipped. Thanks again

[Assistant]
I may be incorrect - but isn't there practical / safety benefits to docking a dogs tail as well? Like on farm dogs to prevent it from being bitted or pulled, and from high energy dogs from constantly injury their tails?

Can't seem to recall any benefit to ear docking.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do so many Americans hate on France when France is America's biggest ally throughout history and helped America gain independence?

[Assistant] You're going to get a lot of "reasons," but the truth is we do it because it's funny. There is some history with some political stuff and things and whatever, but every country has that with every other country. The real reason France gets it harder than any other country is because the jokes are funnier.


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

[User]
ELI5: What is the difference between KW and KWh?

Update: I am actually searching for really simple, intuitive ways to explain it. I have a background in engineering, but am struggling to explain why we "pay for kwh", and not kw (on our electricity bill) to someone who doesn't. I have tried in many ways but maybe I'm not giving the right examples or making the right comparisons. I am really searchig for a way to ELI5.

[Assistant]
I often use the analogy with a water tap and a bucket. Power is best associated with how much you open the tap, while energy is how much the bucket is filled with water.

This way it's easy to figure out how you can have accumulated (or spent) a lot of energy even with very little power, because it also depends on time.

May not be 100% accurate but you get the idea. HTH.


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

[User] ELI5: What exactly happens when you turn the volume knob on your car stereo? How does the stereo make the speakers produce more sound?

[Assistant]
The amplitude (volume, kinda) of the signal coming directly out of your car's radio, CD player, etc. isn't strong enough to drive much sound out of your car's speakers directly.  First it has to be sent to an amplifier to take the relatively weak signal and increase it.  That stronger signal out of the amp is what goes to the speakers. The amount of amplification is variable...it is determined by your volume knob's setting.

In the past, when you turned your volume knob it turned a variable resistor in an analog circuit that made your amplifier do more or less increasing of that weak signal into a stronger one.  On a lot of newer units, the volume knob changes sends pulses that are counted by a digital circuit, and that circuit then sets the amount of amplification (up to some limit).


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

[User]
What's the point of the obturator foramen?

The obturator foramen has always confused me.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the obturator foramen, its a hole ("foramen") that is for the most part blocked ("obstructed") of by muscle.

My question is, what is the functional purpose of a big foramen that is mostly covered by muscle?  Is this an embryological remnant from development?  Or is there an evolutionary reason?

Why would the body develop a hole just to cover it up?  Why not make a small hole to begin with?

The only thing I could think of would be to make the hip less dense, but I think some development reason might be more plausible.

Thanks for the help!

[Assistant]
Try thinking about it from the opposite perspective. Evolution does not create solid sheets of bones as a default and then remove parts or create spaces for a "point" (Ignoring things like foramen in the skull that are formed due to the nervous system forming before the skull is mineralized). The shape of the pelvis is the result of life forms slowly adding bony structure where they needed anchor points for muscle or protection of vital organs.

So the question is not why is there no bone in the obturator foramen; it is Why did the cartilage mineralize (become bone) in the places in did in the pelvic region? And the general answer is that was the best ratio of structural support for mobility, extra weight added,  and energy/minerals used to create the bone.


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

[User]
Why are radio waves able to penetrate buildings while visible light can't.

So how does radio waves, being a lower frequency of em wave able to pass through buildings, while higher frequency visible light is unable to do so. Does this have to do with how light is able to pass through glass?

[Assistant]
Radio waves are too long for non-conductors to be able to absorb them. For example, violet light has a wavelength of about 0.4 micrometers, whereas your phone probably receives waves that are 167000 micrometers long. Looking at it from a band gap pov, a substance has to have a band gap of at least 3.1 eV to pass red light, but it only needs 7.4e-6 to pass GSM radio waves.

edit: Changed "red" to "violet".


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it that when I'm dreaming I can make up the most awesome stories, but when I'm awake I get as creative as a peanut?

[Assistant]
When you are dreaming, portions of your brains responsible for critical thinking operate at a diminished capacity.

This means that ideas that pop into your dreams seem more awesome than they are, because you are not noticing the parts that suck.


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

[User] [WH40K] Which are more numerous in the universe, Orks or Tyranids? They seem pretty evenly matched by most accounts.

[Assistant] Currently, (with officially known numbers) Orks are the most numerous. However, if Hive Fleet Leviathan is really a scouting fleet and not the main Tyranid Fleet, then Tyranids are definitely more numerous. Also, if it does turn out that Orkish transmissions that have been heard do in fact come from the area that the Tyranids are originating from, then the Orks win again.


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

[User]
Why do clouds have flat bottoms? Why do they seem to just stop?

When I look at clouds, cumulus to be exact, I notice that at the bottom, they appear to be flat. I just want to know why that is. I assumed that it had to do with the atmosphere but Im not sure.

[Assistant]
As air rises, warmed up by the ground, the temperature falls by adiabatic effect (fall in pressure) to an average rate of 0.65 C per 100 m of altitude.

At 15 C (the average temperature worldwide) a cubic meter of air can contain 14 grams of water. No more.

As the rising air cools down, it has less and less place for water vapour and soon the temperature reaches what is called the dew point, i.e. when the air is 100% saturated and cannot cools any further without condensing in droplets; the cloud.

The base of the cumulus is flat because it is exactly the place where the air reaches the dew point.

But once 'in the cloud' the air cools down at a lower rate because the condensation of water creates energy released as heat. Because of that, the air inside the cloud continues to rise until, eventually the temperature becomes even with the surrounding temperature and the convective rise stops.

The reason the top of the cumulus is cauliflower shaped is that, each 'bump' is in fact the top of one cell of warm air that has been rising.

Such cells, often called thermic cells are what glider pilots are looking for because they use it to circle in and climb. You will also see birds like seagulls and eagles taking those 'elevators' to gain altitude without effort.


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

[User]
Is it possible to write articles and participate in the academic world without a degree?

I majored in English but did not end up graduating. When I was still in school, I attended and presented at the 2013 PCA/ACA Conference in Washington, D.C. I had a blast, and loved every part of the process, from research, to writing, to presenting, to discussing with other academics at the conference itself.

Even though I am no longer in school and do not have a degree, I still enjoy reading literary theory and analyzing popular culture. I remember that, as part of the application process to the conference, they asked for the institution you were associated with.

I would love to write academic articles in my spare time, and maybe even present again if given the chance, but I don't know if that's possible in my position. Since I'm not a student or professional, would there be any place for work I produce, assuming that it is still produced to academic standards?

[Assistant]
Possible, sure.  Probably?  Not likely.

The truth is it takes YEARS of work to develop into what is considered a "scholar".  To have any chance, you'd have to write articles and get them submitted/accepted to newspapers or literary collections to build up a reputation.

Not saying it's impossible, just very very unlikely.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it that it's sometimes easier to remember the words "whatchamacallit" or "whatsherface" in place of much more commonly used words like "the PS2 controller" or "my wife, Trudy"? Does it have anything to do with whatever it is that causes people to stutter?

[Assistant] The part of your brain that remembers what a thing *is* is separated from the part of your brain which remembers what a thing *does*. Remember that language came about in order to communicate the location of food.


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

[User] [General Sci-Fi] What is the most awesome super power, that's actually really tragic?

[Assistant]
Flash super speed. Well not the super speed itself, but *doing* things at super speed. Sure he can be at the other end of the world in the blink of an eye, but he still has to run thousands of miles. Sure he can build a whole building in less time than it would take you to put two lego bricks together, but he still has to build a whole building by himself.

There was that scene where Hal Jordan says after a fight "hey Flash clean that mess, it'll only take you a couple milliseconds" and Flash is like "well yeah, *to you*, for me it's still gonna take a month worth of work".

He can do incredible things and everyone thinks it's easy because it takes him a nanosecond, but he still has to *do* them and no one ever aknowledge how much work it was. And yet he's still cheerful and kind to everyone after that, making puns and raising the team's moral. That guy is the true good guy of the DC universe.


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

[User]
[General Fantasy] How are rogues able to vanish into thin air, despite having no inherent magical ability?

It's aggravating how it's taken me months to perfect an invisibility spell and brew concoctions, and Ol' Stabby McKlepto over here can just go poof any time he wants. He can't even cast a simple fireball!

All that jewelry he wears isn't even enchanted, I checked.

[Assistant] He's not really invisible, you know. The same amount of study you've put into magic, he's put into learning tricks of the physical world, body, and perception. He knows the shapes and colours that the eye struggles to detect, using them like the Tiger uses its stripes to hide in tall grass. He has studied how to cause the most fleeting distraction, so that you don't notice him quietly ducking out of sight.


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

[User]
[DC Comics] Does Bruxe Wayne actually embezzle money?

Its safe to say that Bruce Wayne is one of the richest people In DC. We can be conservative and day he's the fith richest. In the real world Mark Zuckerberg is the fith richest with a net worth of 71 billion dollars and makes 9 billion dollars a year. So let's assume that that's Bruce's income.

Now what does it cost to be batman:
Private jet, lots of rich people have this
Shuriken, cheap
State of the art training facility
Really good computer
Smoke tablets
Misc

Theres nothing on this list that would cost more than 1billion dollars. So am I missing something? Why do people always assume he's embezzeling?

[Assistant]
Your list leaves a lot off.

The bat mobile is a custom combat car.

The plane he uses isnt a private jet, its a custom vtol fighter jet.

His tech is all bleeding edge, so he has to custom build lots of components.

Thats just the tip of the iceberg. This is why people think hes embezzling. Even if hes not literally taking money from company accounts and putting them in his own, its probable that he is using company equipment to make all his custom stuff, since that would all require industrial equipment.

Another facet to this is his personal finances. Sure, Bruce is super rich, but thats mostly on paper, not in the bank. The majority of his fortune would be tied up in his own companys stock (likely both common shares and preferred stock), as well as numerous other investments and assets. All of this would have varying degrees of liquidity, meaning that some of that value would be easier to access than the rest. For instance, his Wayne shares make him rich, but he cant use most of it. He retains control by being a majority owner of common stock, each share of which gives a vote. At the annual shareholders meeting, shareholders have the opportunity to elect board members, who in turn hire the executives that actually run the company. Since he owners over 50% of the voting shares, he has the power to appoint the board, since all the other shareholders dont have enough votes to override him. If he ever sold shares to raise funds to spend on a new bat submarine, his ownership would drop and he could potentially lose control of his familys company.

So basically, his actual income would be comprised of dividend payouts from his Wayne preferred stock, and any potential dividends on the common stock (which are not guaranteed like they are for preferred stock), as well as any salaries he is paid by Wayne for any job he has there (havent read DC in a while so Im not sure if he actually works there or not). Of course, any other investments or revenue streams could supplement that income, but the key point here is that the vast majority of his wealth is effectively inaccessible without a potentially high cost (losing control of the company).

Also, aside from Batman, Bruce himself lives a Billionaire lifestyle. He drives expensive cars, owns yachts, gives generously to charity, lives in a massive house (sure hes not paying a mortgage in it since he inherited it, but the bills for utilities and maintenance on a place like that would be insane, plus hed need a staff to maintain it. It all adds up very fast.

Even with all of that, Bruces lifestyle simply isnt sustainable. One thing most people dont realize is that rich people only stay rich by NOT spending their money on crazy stuff. In the comics, Batman has had since 1938 to slowly develop his arsenal of gadgets, but Bruce cant be more than 50 years old, so to get to where he is now, hed have probably blown through all his funds several times over building batmobiles, bat planes, batboats, batcomputers, etc. not to mention the duplicates hes had to build to replace destroyed or damaged ones.

So when it comes to finance and comic book characters, its usually best to not think to hard about it. The Dark Knight Trilogy Batman is the most realistic in this respect, but even that version was pushing it by the end.


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

[User]
cmv: The media, on its journey to save a dying industry, is the reason America is divided.

Ill just give one example. Today I find an article on ABC New which says that the absurd focus on the missing white girl, is evidence of "missing white girl syndrome in America", that we only care when white people go missing. I DONT CARE ABOUT THAT WHITE GIRL. The ONLY reason this story is plastered all over the news is because the news station decided to run it 24-7. Who cares? People go missing all the time. Is it a tragedy? Yes. Do I feel bad for her family? Yes, but I don't care and I don't want to see it on the news more than once.

Now I am being blamed for only caring when white people go missing even though I don't want to see that news story to being with and I wasn't the one who decided to run the story on loop. WTF?

[Assistant] Maybe don't read a news story about 'missing white girl syndrome', which is at least an idea that has been around for decades, and immediately assume they're blaming you, specifically, for the problem.


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

[User]
[The Book of Boba Fett] How did the Pykes... (SPOILERS FOR EP. 7)

How did the Pyke Syndicate acquire Clone Wars-era Scorpenek Annihilator Droids? Last I checked, they were melted alongside all the other battle droids and such when the Empire arose. Where would the Pykes get these things, which seem to be both brand new and completely functional?

[Assistant]
R2 and C3P0 are two droids that have experienced long service lives. Droids can be repaired over time. And if they were bought in new condition and stored properly, they would last for ages.

And when thousands of a droid type are made, some will inevitably go to a private buyer/collection, especially one so effective in urban combat. They're impressive and capable, and would fetch a high price on the black market.

Just another clone war leftover.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why would one use hyperspace lanes in hyperspace travel?

Everything I've read about hyperspace travel talks about how hyperspace lanes are important. Yet much of the time we see hyperspace travel, it is used wherever convenient.

So my question is, what is the purpose of hyperspace lanes when they are obviously not necessary?

[Assistant] Most of the time people jump to hyperspace in the movies, they are following hyperspace lanes. The reason those lanes are important is because they are charted and regularly updated, jumping blind means you could crash into a star or other obstacle and have your atoms scattered across the galaxy.


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

[User]
[28 Days/Weeks Later] What would the state of the world be like after a best-case scenario?

In this franchise, a virus that turns people into rage zombies is released by some animal rights activists when they get attacked by an infected chimpanzee. It spreads across the UK.

**SPOILERS**

At the end of the second movie, we see that the infection spread to mainland Europe.

Lets assume that the population of continental Europe and Asia has been wiped out and the disease has burnt out. The Rage Virus is finally over but a lot of people died.

What would happen to the rest of the world? How would the US react? How would the remaining Asian countries that werent on the mainland (like Japan) deal with this situation?

[Assistant]
It'd be an interesting setting for sure.

A repopulation effort would need to be led into the areas rich in resources we depend on for technological growth. A new era of frontier settlements and pioneering would take over.

 On the bright side? Humanities impact on global climate change would probably be drastically reduced, and there's now free land for anyone brave enough to travel abroad and claim it.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it so easy to stay up later, but so difficult to go to sleep earlier?

[Assistant]
Being able to force yourself to stay awake is an evolutionary advantage, so we have many ways to keep ourselves awake. Stimulating any of your senses will keep you awake, since you never know if that twig snapping or that scent or that shadow is a predator hunting you. It's beneficial to your survival to remain awake. Falling asleep is necessary, obviously, so it's designed to take over when there are no other stimuli keeping you awake.

In essence, there are nearly infinite conditions that will keep your body awake, but only a few conditions where you will sleep.


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

[User] ELI5: What were presidential campaigns like before radio, television, or the internet?

[Assistant]
>The campaign was marked by large amounts of nasty "mudslinging." Jackson's marriage, for example, came in for vicious attack. When Jackson married his wife Rachel in 1791, the couple believed that she was divorced, however the divorce was not yet finalized, so he had to remarry her once the legal papers were complete. In the Adams campaign's hands, this became a scandal. Charles Hammond, in his Cincinnati Gazette, asked: "Ought a convicted adulteress and her paramour husband be placed in the highest offices of this free and Christian land?"

Not as different as you might think.


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

[User]
why don't the stars appear red near the horizon?

Since the light being scattered in the atmosphere causes sun to appear yellow/red during sunset/sunrise, why we don't see this effect for other objects, for example the moon or the stars?

[Assistant] We do see this effect for the other objects. The moon is orange-tinted when close to the horizon. The same for stars, though it's near impossible to spot by eye. Human eyes have a really bad time seeing colours at low intensity and moreover the Rayleigh reddening is quite less than the variation in the actual colour of the stars. But if you track a single star in its motion during the night and study its colour you can observe it's redder closer to the horizon compatibly with Rayleigh scattering.


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

[User] ELI5: What are the different bloodtypes, the differences between them and why are can you not mix them?

[Assistant] It boils down to the fact that different blood types have different proteins expressed on the cell membrane. The reason you cant mix them is because if you receive a different blood type (with different proteins) your body will see them as foreign invaders and activate your immune system to attack the blood, which can be fatal.


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

[User]
Why does continental philosophy appear more relevant to personal experience?

In my reading of philosophy, it's usually the continentals who speak more directly to the experience of being a human in the world. I'm aware that analytic is more popular and academically valued, but whenever I read it, I'm left with the impression that it's primarily focused on arid logical analysis of conceptual problems, reminiscent of mathematics. It seems as though continental philosophy is focused on the macro, and analytic on the micro.

Is this normal? Am I reading the wrong philosophers? Are there analytic philosophers that are more engaging to read? Is philosophy still for me if I don't particularly enjoy the analytics?

[Assistant] Perhaps another possibility not mentioned so far is the influence of phenomenology on a great number of the key thinkers in the continental tradition. The first person perspective is taken as quite important in phenomenological theory so this may be one of the causes of the impression you're getting.


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

[User] [Battlefield 3/4/Hardline(?)] Can someone sum up what is happening in world events? I've been in the Bahamas for a few years, and have been disconnected from the news since... 2012..

[Assistant]
Following the detonation of the nuclear warhead in Paris, investigators looking for the pattern immediately noticed it was distinctly Russian in origin. This prompted very immediate and annoyed calls to the Politburo from Western Nations and with the apprehension of of the evil "McGruff Bad Guy" and the second warhead it was concluded that he was a solo renegade element. The hows and whys he got this nuclear warhead are unknown but several generals have ceased appearing in the public spotlight. The Western nations are keeping an eye on the Russians to ensure nothing similar can happen again whilst its military expansion continues to worry.

The Chinese following the peace-talks conducted by their actually alive President pulled back their forces and consolidated. However they maintained economic ties to the regions involved no doubt planning a more peaceful economic takeover down the line. The Chinese are slowly building up their military concurrently as their superiority over the Americans was demonstrated with their destruction of the Super Carrier Titan in which they took the ship so fast its escorts were outside of visual range and no distress signal could be sent. Following this they realised waiting a few more years could mean they could cake-walk America and they were willing to wait.

Following the election of pro-gun politician "Gun Mc-Gunny Gunz" as a reaction to the ass whupping delivered by the Chinese the restrictions regarding weapons sales were reduced down to 0. This was done since they figured with the military being so useless, arming the population was the next best thing as they could throw the new cannon fodder into the meatgrinder. For the general public this meant that finally like all true freedom lovers, Americans could purchase anything and everything with cold hard cash and no restrictions. However filthy criminals have taken advantage of this and have bought weapons themselves to further their evil intentions of making money via illicit means. The police due to fears of these men armed with rocket launchers and tanks have capitulated and corruption is rife out of fear of reprisals. As such the country exists in a state of tension where the criminals have the weapons that match the police and even exceed them with minor skirmishes breaking out over trivial factors such as $10,000 in cash where millions of dollars of infrastructure are destroyed. In preparing for the war ahead the politicians have forgotten about the war at home and are regretting it heavily.

Truly i tell you, the only solution is **MORE GUNS**


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

[User]
ELI5: why is there cold air that emits from someone who just came from outside?

Im currently sitting in a chalet at a snowboard/ski park and, although there is no door near by (sitting on upper level), people who have just been outside seconds earlier emit a really chilly breeze when they walk by vs. people who have been sitting in the chalet for a while. How does this work?

[Assistant] This is due to how heat transfer operates. Heat tends to move from places where it is hot to places where it is cold in order to equalize the temperature. Now technically there is no such thing as cold but rather it is an absence of heat, so that "cold breeze" you feel is actually them stealing your heat not them blowing cold on you. Their clothing is very cold from being outside in the low temperature so when they come inside their clothes remain cold until warmed by their surroundings. You happen to be the warm surroundings that the clothing absorbs as they walk by.


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

[User]
ELI5: The Joker card in a playing card deck

Where does it originate? What's its purpose?

[Assistant]
Well it is actually used in some lesser played card games, and it's sometimes used in variants of some more common games as a wildcard meaning it can represent any card you like.

In casual home card games is also frequently used to 'replace' a lost card so you don't have to buy a new deck. E.g. if you lose or damage the Queen of Hearts, say, you can just write the name of the card on the joker and use that in the deck as a replacement, keeping the deck usable for a little longer.

Finally, most of the big playing card manufacturers such as the United State Playing Card Company use it (or at least one of the jokers) as a guarantee card. If you have a defective deck you just send back the guarantee card and a defective card and they send you a whole new deck. This not only saves on your shipping but seeing as you only have one guarantee card it makes sure that you can't get 52 new decks from one defective pack by sending the cards back one at a time.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is space a vacuum?

[Assistant]
Because there's far, far more space than there is stuff to fill it. This is due to the fundamental forces of our universe (mostly gravity) which tend to make stuff attracted to stuff. That's why you see small (astronomically speaking) clumps of matter and energy (like a galaxy) surrounded by a vast, vast sea of near-nothingness.

(Also, space isn't a _true_ vacuum. There's _some_ matter and energy floating around in even the most remote swaths of the void.)


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

[User]
[WWE] Why did the Undertaker never use his powers in a match?

He's able to use lightning, teleport, summon fire, and more. Seems odd to not use any of his abilities in a fight.

[Assistant] I just assume they go through the same no power rules as the X-men use to keep it fair.   It's just good sportsmanship.  Superman didn't box Muhammad Ali and his powers.  Northstar says he didn't use his when he skiing.    Ultimate warrior never used full Ultimate Powers because hey, it wasn't actually a real war.


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

[User] ELI5- Why does it take substantially longer to climax when standing up versus when laying down.

[Assistant] when youre standing, you are using a substantial amount of blood supply to hold your balance and your weight.  when youre lying down, you have more blood (and oxygen) to focus on your boner and feeling the pleasure making it easier to climax.


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

[User]
[ATLA/Legend of Korra] What happened to the other Avatars when Korra lost her connection to them?

Are they, like, *gone*\-gone? Are the spirits of the previous Avatars functionally or permanently dead, or are they just hidden away from sight and sense? Is it possible to reconnect with them, or to meet their spirit in the spirit realm?

[Assistant]
The avatar spirit is the same entity reincarnated over and over, just in a different body. So technically nothing happened to the past avatars, because Korra is the current incarnation of the same spirit that was once Avatar Wan.

As for Korra's connection to those memories and experiences, those were held by Raava. Like an echo imprinted onto the spirit of light every time she "met" the avatar spirit's latest incarnation. So when Raava was temporarily destroyed, her memories of those past avatars were erased.

It's possible, given how Korra found Raava long before she would have naturally regained the strength to challenge Vaatu, that maybe some figments of those ancient memories yet linger within her. Perhaps over the next few centuries as Raava heals and recovers from harmonic convergence, she'll regain them. But for now, things have reset back to the way they were with the first avatar.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do egg-whites foam when we whisk them and do not when there is just a very tiny amount of egg yolk in it?

Why do egg-whites foam when we whisk them?

I notice when there is just a drop of egg-yolk in the egg-white bowl then no matter how long or how hard we whisk the egg-white will never foam. What does the egg-yolk do?

[Assistant] The foam form the whites is formed by proteins from the protein-rich egg-white. The yolk contains fats that destroy the protein foam (also called an emulsion). You can try this by mixing in a tiny amount of cooking oil into the egg-whites: it will have the same lack-of-foam effect as a tiny amount of yolk.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] So, is Vader just struggling with depression these days?

Like, I know in the old continuity, Vader's suit was designed to make him suffer, as well as keep him alive. In the current continuity, though, it's apparently filled with pain killers and sedatives to keep him relatively comfortable, so, is it just self-loathing that holds him back now?

[Assistant]
Pretty much. His mental anguish is extreme, and enforced time and again by a perpetually disappointed Palpatine. In a way, his physical mutilation is far less serious than what his mind/soul endured on the day he realized he lost Padme.

Because he thinks/knows he lost everything he was fighting for, it definitely makes him feel broken, hopeless and depressed. But at the same time, it makes him fucking terrifying. He has so much self-loathing and internalized anger that his control of the dark side is incredible, and he's able to ignore many of the consequences of his brutal jedi hunts because he simply doesn't feel compassion for them. As Obi-Wan said, he was more machine than man, twisted and evil. Not just in body, but in mind.


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

[User] How long can a person who suffered massive blood loss survive on Normal Saline if blood is unavailable?

[Assistant]
Nobody can survive *only* on saline. Since it contains no red blood cells, it can't transport enough oxygen to keep body cells alive.

However, a healthy person has many more red cells than they absolutely need. Depending on your size and health and some other factors, you could lose a bit more than half your total blood volume (perhaps in the neighborhood of 2.5 liters) and survive, if the lost volume was replaced quickly enough with saline.

Assuming the bleeding were stopped and you received any other necessary care, this doesn't put a time limit on survival. Your body would slowly replace all the lost blood cells over the course of a few weeks, during which you would feel very weak and fatigued.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is essay writing stressed so much in school when there is little practical use for it in the work force?

[Assistant] Being able to properly express yourself is extremely important in the real world. You might not be required to write an essay...but there may be project reports, task documentation, or regular record keeping. Heck, even business email is an important medium where you'll have to use proper writing techniques. And if the essay requires a little critical thinking, so much the better.


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

[User]
[Warhammer 40000] How does one worship the emperor?

Its pretty obvious that people in the universe worship the emperor, but how does one go about this? Is there any organized religion outside of the governing of the imperium and extermination of heretics and xenos?

[Assistant]
The religion is called the Imperial Cult and is managed by the Adeptus Ministorum, also known as the Ecclesiarchy. Since the Imperium cover a million worlds, deviancy is tolerated to a certain degree so long they adhere to 5 basic tenets. They are:

* The Emperor once walked among men, but He is, and always has been, a god.

* The Emperor is the one true god, regardless of what past faiths any human may have worshipped.

* To purge the heretic, beware the psyker and mutant, and abhor the alien.

* Every human being has a place within the Emperor's divine order.

* To unquestionably obey the authority of the Imperial government and one's superiors.


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

[User] Besides exercise, singing and dancing, what other activities/tricks/mental exercises help with depression?

[Assistant]
Holy trinity and the basis for mental health is sleep, get enough of it and try to look over your sleep quality and make sure it's as good as it can be. Number 2 is food, eat regular healthy meals and number 3 is excercise.

Other than that, become aware of your thoughts, emotions and behaviours, how they impact each other and what are you thinking, feeling and doing. Look up self help CBT excercises. There are some great websites that have programs you can do yourself and learn more about yourself, how your emotions and cognitions work, why we do certain things in certain situations and how we can change them.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do people make/steal money using credit card skimmers?

I mean walk me through it because clearly I am missing something here.

[Assistant] A skimmer is a device that can read the information off your credit card without you noticing. The information can be used to create a clone of your card that can be used to buy items. For example someone could have a skimmer on a payment terminal. You could use the terminal and the skimmer stores your credit card information internally. Later on the criminals can return to retreive their skimmer and read your credit card information. They can then make a replica of your credit card and go to another store and buy something. Your bank will process the payment as it thinks you made the purchase. Nobody will notice until you check your credit card statement and makes the bank aware of this. By that time it can be very hard to track down the criminals.


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

[User]
How likely are we really to contract a virus or disease by drinking from the same cup?

Given two scenarios:

Your average US resident, sharing a drink from the same a cup of alcohol and also a cup of water (since I assume there would be less contamination in alcohol).

Your third world country resident, from lets say the Democratic Republic of Congo, sharing a cup of water and also a cup of liquor.

Personally what I think the whole "don't share cups" is ridiculously overblown, but I am curious.

[Assistant]
It depends on the disease or virus and how it's transmitted.

If we're talking flu virus...don't share that cup! Herpes is also very virulent, but only at the site of infection. If someone has a visible cold sore, don't share that cup!

Some viruses don't spread very effectively through saliva, though they may be present. A famous example is HIV. HIV is very sensitive to the environment outside the body and can't survive for more than a few seconds in open air. If someone has HIV and isn't bleeding from the mouth, go ahead and share that cup :)


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

[User] ELI5: Why can't phone cameras take pictures the way I see things at night, even though they can adjust for brightness?

[Assistant]
A camera is a very dumb tool with lots of limitations. Those limitations can be mitigated with technological advancements, but at the end of the day, it's just a hunk of metal glass and plastic trying to capture photons.

The way that you see with your eyes is very nearly magic. Your eyes bring in light, the light is picked up by your rods and cones, and then the info is sent to your brain where all the magic happens. Your brain can filter things, adjust for things, and even make up information where there really isn't any. Your eyes and brain also have a very very wide "dynamic range" which is the range of brightness levels you can perceive at once, from really bright lights and into deep dark shadows. Some of this is the nature of our eyes, and some of this is down to the enormous power of our brains processing the information quickly. More importantly, your vision is set up specifically to be giving you information needed to hunt, defend yourself, be aware of threats or resources, etc. So when there are flaws or deficiencies, your brain doesn't really alert you to them, it just does what it has to do to keep you safe and healthy. You may think that you can see very well in really really low light where a camera sees absolutely nothing, but if you really examine the image your brain is perceiving, you may notice that you are essentially seeing black and white, because we don't pick up color well in ultra low light, and yet your brain will do its best to show you "false color" because you know "that truck is red" even if you can't see it. So you brain will basically paint the color in for you based on your knowledge.

A camera can't (yet) use the intelligent power to make those adjustments the same way your mind can. It just shows you everything it can technically capture, without any fakery or trickery to help fill in blanks, remove distractions, or make up for deficiencies. They also have far lower ranges of capabilities between bright and dark spots, so at night where you have a very bright street lamp and a very dim car interior, your eyes will show you both levels of exposure, but a camera will have to pick one or the other, and you'll get a blown out white light and an interior you can see, or a well exposed light and a black interior. The technology just isn't there yet to expand that dynamic range. On cameras with larger sensors, the dynamic range is better, but still very limited compared with the human eye. The camera also can't fill in the blanks when it comes to colors, so what might look vibrant and detailed to your eye is going to look muddy and "accurate" in a photo.


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

[User]
[LOTR] Was Gandalf not physically capable of using his Maiar powers to their full extent, or was he just forbidden from doing so?

Or did he just prefer not to?

[Assistant]
He was forbidden to do so as it pertained to the war against Sauron. He could advise, but it was up to the mortal races to deal with him.

This restriction does *not* pertain to entities which predate Sauron in Middle Earth; he went full Maiar against Durin's Bane. Balrogs are fallen Maiar, and he would've needed to be unrestricted to defeat it.


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

[User] Biologically, what causes a memory to become more permanent (become "learned") versus just being forgotten?

[Assistant]
A memory is essentially stored as a particularly pathway of an impulse from neuron to neuron to neuron and so on. In the process of learning something, the neural connections from one to another in such a pathway grow stronger, which is stimulated by the repeated firing of that pathway (in layman's terms, thinking of that same memory i.e. learning by repetition). This process is known as memory consolidation and occurs as follows:
1) Original Pathway is fired, representing a particular memory - i.e., a zebra has stripes.
2) You think of that memory again, activating the same pathway. This starts potentiating the neurons in that pathway, making it easier to reach the threshold of activation to cause the neurons to fire in succession.
3) If step two is repeated frequently, this will lead to further potentiation of the neurons involved in this particular memory pathway. Additionally, the neurons or surrounding supporting cells may begin producing growth stimulating hormones, promoting the formation of more axonal terminals to the receiving neuron, in turn allowing for more efficient signal propagation and thereby more efficient memory recollection as initiation of firing of this particular neural pathway will become easier.
4) In the absence of these stimulation factors (i.e. a memory was learnt once, but not repeatedly consolidated in the future) the lack of potentiation coupled with the loss of survival signals can lead to the loss of a neuronal connections between neurons for that particular memory pathway, or result in the threshold of activation being so high that some neuron(s) in that pathway will simply not continue propagating the signal as they are not sufficiently stimulated by the neurons before them. This leads to a failure in memory recollection - something was 'forgotten'.

It should be stated that neural pathways are very complex (it is not simply linear neuron -> neuron -> neuron, but rather adopts a complex branching structure). Additionally, a neuron may also be inhibitory or stimulatory (raises or lowers the activation energy of the receiving neuron) depending on the neurotransmitter released.

If you want me to elaborate on any point here, just say so.

Edit: For accuracy & reading comprehension.


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

[User] Are homes with 10-foot ceilings harder to heat and cool than homes with traditional 8- or 9-foot ceilings, if all other factors are equal (square footage, insulation, et cetera)?

[Assistant]
All of the replies in this so far have completely negs the fact that cool air settles and hot air rises, and there is a reason why many many homes, have 10 foot ceilings and 5 foot windows. From a purely math standpoint, yes the total air volume, is harder to cool for a taller ceiling (depending on where the thermostat is placed). The reality is its more dependant on airflow and thermal dispersion than just the hvac blowing colder/hotter air.

Are they harder to(humans) heat, yes, are they harder to cool, no.


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

[User]
[Batman] What does Bruce Wayne do in his free time?

Seriously, that guy is crazy rich, always traveling, and he looks super athletic. My buddy even said he spent a lot of time in China or something when he was younger. He must have a hobby or something.

[Assistant]
Extreme sports. Fast cars. Beautiful woman. You may notice he often has a bunch of bruises - usually covered up with makeup, because rich people are vain as heck, but they're there if you know what to look for. That's because he's into extreme sports, but he's not necessarily *good* at extreme sports.

I heard he once flipped a Ferrari and broke his spine. Spent months recovering - it would probably have been big headlines if that hadn't happened at the same time Bane broke everybody out of Arkham and started a major crimewave.


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

[User]
[Alien franchise] Can a xenomorphs acidic blood harm itself?

So if that alien gets a cut and blood oozes out, can that blood fry the creatures own skin of it drips on its leg, say? Or is its outer skin tough enough to withstand that acidic blood?

[Assistant] Nope; they're as immune on the outside as they are on the inside. They also coat the inside of their nests with a special resin (I believe it's from their saliva) that is immune to the stuff, so a wounded drone doesn't mess up a hive.


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

[User]
[Marvel / DC] Why is Batman so reclusive and secretive about his alter ego, yet, Ironman is the total opposite.

I am in no way a Marvel/DC/comic book buff, I am just curious of the answer, is there an answer in their back stories?? They both appear to have very similar lives when not being a superhero.

[Assistant]
Batman's origin came from a dark place. He saw his parents gunned down in a back alley, took inspiration from his terror of bats, and created Batman to strike fear into the hearts of criminals. In essence, he became reclusive and secretive because the people he tangle with could go after those he cares about, such as Alfred or Robin. He knows that criminals are willing to kill them because of him, and so Batman doesn't give them a chance to find out who he is.

Conversely, Iron Man arose from his own ingenuity, and converted himself from a playboy to a superhero rather than a playboy with a dark past like Bruce Wayne. Tony also doesn't really have many people he cares about, and those who he does care for are often super powered and can handle themselves. Therefore, Tony can confidently revel in the popularity of Iron Man without fear of his friends and family being compromised, whereas Batman has reason to fear for his own friends' lives.


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

[User] ELI5, if the majority of the American people picked a democrat for president, why did they keep a Republican congress?

[Assistant]
Simply put, people hate congress, but like *their* congressman or woman.  Most congressmen, especially from the house of representatives get elected more on personal appeal than politics.  This goes back to the forming of the house of reps, which was intended to be the group that most represented the people, while the senate was supposed to be full of experienced officials who made judgements for the good of the nation rather than their constituencies.  In addition, many of them have been there a long time, and have a personal relationship with people in their area.

Another thing, As you probably know democrats do well in large cities, while republicans do well in rural areas.  And as it so happens, the vast majority of the country is rural.  Even the states that go democratic tend to have large swathes of relatively rural areas that go republican.  So a state that votes for Obama might have say, 8 congressional districts, only two or three of which are strongly democratic, but those that are contain cities and are VERY democratic.  The other 5 or 6 districts may be majority republican, and so they elect republican representatives, but they do not have enough republicans to counteract the major democratic strongholds, so the state as a whole goes democratic.


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

[User]
What are the red flags of low quality graduate programs?

I'm reading an article about masters programs which serve as more of a trap rather than an opportunity. What stood out to me was how a seemingly reputable university (uChicago) preys on naive undergraduates and uses personal prestige to sell an expensive graduate program that has terrible market value. And yet, their marketing is so good that an average student - desperate to go to grad school - wouldn't even notice.

So my question is: In your experience (e.g. after you've spent time at the school), which red flags did you notice (if any)? What advice can you give for students trying to wade through the marketing bs to find a good program? What are some things that are difficult to spot on the surface?

[Assistant]
If its a Masters program with an exorbitant sticker price and doesnt offer assistantships, its a red flag, idc.

In the same vein, if a PhD program doesnt offer full funding (in the United States), bullshit.


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

[User] ELI5: How are the colors arranged in the 000000-FFFFFF spectrum?

[Assistant]
The first 2 digits are the amount of red, on a scale of 00 to FF (or, 0 to 255 written in base 16.)

The next 2 digits are the amount of green.

The next 2 digits are the amount of blue.

This isn't every color possible, but it's a wide enough color space that we don't usually notice that we're missing out on anything.


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

[User]
[Marvel] Are all major cities full of superheroes or New York an exception?

New York City is the home to Spider-Man, Daredevil, the Fantastic Four, Dr. Strange, and countless others. Do cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, London or Paris boast a high number of super powered individuals or heroes?

[Assistant]
You're not wrong in your perception that New York is unusually superhero-dense. Even characters in-universe note how odd that is. But to be fair, New York is generally pretty trendy.

There have been a few teams based on the West Coast, such as the Champions of Los Angeles. Both Daredevil and Iron Man briefly moved to San Francisco in the Marvel NOW era, the former while sort-of under witness protection.

The Avengers also opened up branch teams for both the West Coast and for the Great Lakes region (we don't talk about those guys). Also, Kaine, the v~~illainous~~ um... "conflicted and confused" clone of Spider-Man, once set up shop in Houston after noticing there were no other heroes there.

And following the SHRA, government oversight established the Fifty-State Initiative, so that each of the United States would have its own super-team. This was basically going too far in the other direction (how many supervillain attacks do you think Rhode Island gets, realistically?), and a lot of these teams have basically faded into obscurity. And the one in Florida got eaten by zombies. Yeowch.

But this became a real plot point in Secret Empire, when all the heroes in New York and outer space were taken by surprise and weren't able to stop the bad guys from taking Washington DC.


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

[User]
ELI5 Why do we name places differently than what the people living there call it?

Example: English speakers call it Germany but to them its called Deutschland, to Scandinavian languages its called Tyskland, to Polish its Niemcy and so on.

[Assistant]
One practical reason (which doesn't always apply of course) is
that not every name can be properly pronounced or spelled in
other languages.

As an example, a lot of Chinese cities have sounds in their
names that do not occur in the English language, and converting
their original writing to the latin alphabet can result in a
loss of some information. This means that in certain cases
people of other countries have a really hard time not butchering
the name of a city or country.

Then of course there are historical reasons. For example
countries may change their official name due to war or other
reasons, and other nations might still prefer to use the old
name in their language etc.


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

[User] [Star Trek] I'm an admiral on a 31st century Federation Timeship. I become stranded in the 23rd century and I am rescued by a 23rd century Starfleet captian. Do I outrank him/her?

[Assistant]
Technically? Yes.

Can you order them around? No.

Even though The Federation doesn't have consistent time travel they do have rules in place for if/when a time traveler shows up or when they time travel themselves- as well as the foresight to know that *you* should know what to do in your situation.


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

[User]
[Marvel] How would The Punisher handle child soldiers?

Let's say theoretically I'm a criminal who has amassed an army of child soldiers, say age 6-16 to do my dirty work for me, dealing drugs, bombing police stations, executions, etc. They're dangerous, and I control them with money, women, and maybe just a touch of brainwashing and gaslighting. If Frank Castle wanted to cop come after my crime empire, how would he deal with the fact that all of my mooks are kids? (Oh, also I stay pretty well hidden, so he'd probably have to ask my underlings where to find me directly).

[Assistant] If they shoot at him, he shoots at them. He likely isn't going to go out of his way to kill them, but he'll definitely defend himself. He has admitted to killing a child soldier before who came at him with dual pistols and a necklace made of his victims' fingers. He's also killed teenage gangsters, though those have been at your upper age range. On occasions, he laments about having to kill them, but he still does it.


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

[User] ELI5: what happens inside a dishwasher when it is completely silent but still has 45 minutes left on the timer?

[Assistant] Probably the dry cycle. It has a heating element that is turned on to basically bake the inside of the washer to dry and sterilize the dishes. Takes awhile. You can probably see steam coming out at this point.


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

[User]
CMV: Japan's population decline is not that big of a deal for the average person

Now first of all, I mention Japan specifically for two reasons: 1) it is always at the forefront of these discussions whenever population issues are talked about, and 2) I actually plan on living there, at least for a while, so it's quite relevant to me.  I realize that other countries also have demographic issues like Japan which this could also be applied to, but for sake of convenience and relevance to me personally, I'd like to stick with Japan.

So, I'm aware of most of the predicted consequences, typically things like an overburdened social security system and an aging, retired population without pensions and/or support for government funded programs such as healthcare.  What I don't see happening is the idea that Japan as a whole will become a bad country to live in for the average person, because I don't see how a reduction in population in tandem with a declining economy can result in the average person losing access to employment or infrastructure, at least in any worse case than they have now.

Since developed economies, and especially that of Japan, are heading towards automation anyway, it would seem that having a reduced human workforce would actually lessen the burden on the system to provide jobs and incomes for people.  Also, large families, houses, things like that are typically the highest financial burdens a family could face, and yet as we see, fewer and fewer people in Japan are even having any kids.

So, in the event of an economic downturn and/or a loss of jobs, I can't see how the average single man or woman, or, the average couple with no kids would be significantly impacted.  People often talk about the middle class disappearing, but, in this case it's literally disappearing, and if people aren't there to suffer the effects of a reduced workforce or higher costs, then how can there be a net negative for the average person's standard of living?

Essentially what it will take for someone to change my view is to please just illustrate some specific examples of aspects of life that will make Japan a bad or worse place to live than it is now.  Because right now Japan is far from perfect, but it has good infrastructure, a low crime rate, fairly affordable costs of living, and decent employment prospects.  Which of these would be reduced significantly by the population decline, and by how much?

[Assistant] For people in large cities, especially Tokyo, there will not be much difference, but the farther you get from cities, the more population decline will impact communities. Trains and buses cant run indefinitely with almost no riders. Schools and hospitals will close. Restaurants and other businesses cant stay open. People who can live without any services may find this to their liking, but most people want access to some of these things.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are American flags backwards on military uniforms?

[Assistant]
The flags are depicted as if they were being carried on a flag pole.

Imagine each soldier is carrying a flag pole and walking forward at a fast speed. The flag will naturally unfurl behind them.

Now if you walk alongside the soldier and look at the flag, it will match the patch on their shoulder. From one side you'll see the "front" of the flag with the blue section towards the left side of the flag.  But if you were walking on the other side of the soldier you'd be seeing the "back" of the flag and the blue section would appear on the right side. Out of context, one shoulder patch looks correct and one looks backwards but in reality they are both correct when put in the context of a flag being carried into battle.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why can't laptops convert waste heat into electricity instead of using even more power to run a fan?

Laptops and other devices get hotter during extended use. Various portable devices exist to turn heat into energy (camping stoves, as an example). Could laptops (and other devices) convert their own waste heat into power?

Edit: Thanks for the answers guys, and for putting up with my impression of a five year old asking "Why? Why? Why?"

[Assistant]
Thermoelectric generators are very inefficient and relatively expensive. They'd cost a lot and wouldn't generate much power in return because, while a laptop generates plenty of heat, it's not in the range that's necessary to make such generators economical (you're looking at >200 degrees Celsius range). They'd take up additional space in the laptop and at current technology, you'd probably get better return using that same space to make a bigger or better battery.

Secondly, thermoelectric generators need low thermal conductivity to function - meaning they don't 'grab' heat very quickly. Combined with its low efficiency, this is makes it a lousy heat sink. If you used such a device in place of a cooling fan, your laptop would overheat very quickly.


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

[User] [Star Trek] Do they still do the Kobayashi Maru test in the 24th century? If so, how did Picard, Sisko, and Janeway handle it?

[Assistant]
After Kirk's day, the Kobayashi Maru is still a Starfleet institution, but the underlying message has changed. Kirk's system fuckery has become a model to emulate, not a cheat to be punished. KM isn't about accepting the fact that sometimes the bear eats you, now it's about how you think outside the box and change the game so the bear eats itself. They want to see how you hack your way out. By Picard's time, though, the simulation had more or less been retired; subjecting cadets to the simulation straight was pretty much an exercise in masochism (since the fact that you were fucked either way was extremely well documented), and there are only so many ways you can hack the program before you've seen them all.

That said, test similar to the Kobayashi Maru are still in use, but less involve scenarios where you flat out can't win, but ones where you need to get your hands dirty to save lives. For instance, part of the testing to become a bridge officer is a holodeck simulation where you must explicitly order a crewman to go into absolutely certain death to save the ship from imminent doom.


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

[User] ELI5: How do some insects fly so sporadically and change direction so quickly? How many g's are they under during maneuvers like that?

[Assistant]
What a cool question.

To start, most people could probably withstand around 9 Gs for a very short time. Then they would pass out and possibly suffer brain damage. The highest G-force ever put into a roller-coaster was around 6 Gs, but most very high G coasters are somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 Gs.

So,

Fleas can jump about three inches into the air. Which is around 40 times the length of their body, and they do that in around 1/1000 sec. They pull more than 100 Gs in that maneuver.

Dragonflies can see 360 and can execute a hairpin turn at 100 Kph. They're pulling around 25 Gs in that turn.

Jumping froghoppers and click beetles are probably the masters here though. A fly being knocked out of the sky by a swatter is taking around 200 Gs and that kills it. So we generally think of that as lethal for insects. Froghoppers catapult themselves about 28 inches into the air. That's about 1400 times the length of their body and in doing this they pull 400 Gs.

Click beetles will generally match the froghopper. But one individual was calculated to have pulled peak brain deceleration of around 2300 Gs. in a leap.

So they can really move.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why were the Stormtroopers made so inferior compared to the Clone Troopers?

I was reading up on Stormtroopers and I read that their armor was not as protective compared to the Clone Trooper armor. I also read that their blasters weren't as good as previous blasters used by the Clones either. Why would the Empire give their troops inferior gear compared to their predecessors? Weren't the Stormtroopers supposed to be the ultimate evolution of the Clone Troopers? Wouldn't it make sense that the new replacements would receive new and superior gear?

[Assistant]
Many of the Stormtroopers were human recruits, rather than the elite modified clones of Jango Fett. Additionally the philosophy under which they were trained was greatly different. The Clones all valued each other. They loved their brothers, and would never leave one of them behind if they could help it. Star Wars Rebels meanwhile shows that recruits were taught a kind of survival of the fittest mentality. If someone fell behind, they weren't worthy. The training process of Stormtroopers was less about training everyone to be the best and to work as a unit as it was about weeding out the weakest people and making the few survivors highly individualistic. They were still to work as a unit, as faceless drones, while simultaneously only valuing the strongest and shunning the weak. They had no unit cohesion. It's a fairly Sith philosophy in fact, favoring the most powerful instead of caring about others. And while it did wonders to keep the Sith alive and ensure that Palpatine could be around to destroy the Jedi, for his army it meant a considerably weaker force, who didn't have the same heart and will as the Clones. Stormtroopers, even the more dedicated, cared only about the Empire. Clones cared about the Republic as well as every brother next to him.

And with such a philosophy, it's easy to imagine one Stormtrooper who is a badass when he's alone, gunning countless Rebels. But in a unit, suddenly he's just thinking about overall mission and himself, and treating his squad mates like fodder. Reverse ninja principle.

And to address the inferior gear, because the Empire itself cared less about individual troop lives. That's what happens when you go from the Jedi who name their Clones and a Sith Lord pretending to care, to a Sith Lord who no longer cares.

There's also the fact that during the Clone Wars, the Republic was facing a force almost equal to itself. There were thousands of star systems aligned with the CIS, and battles were fought constantly and on a grand scale. The Galactic Civil War meanwhile was a powerful Empire against a band of rebels using guerilla tactics. For the longest time, the Stormtroopers were only equipped with enough gear and weaponry to act as an occupation force, rather than be full time war ready. The Rebels, however dangerous, were a far cry from the days of the Clone Wars and the uber powerful Separatists. And again, the Empire cared less about individual troop lives.


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

[User]
[Superheroes] how come when two people with super strength hit eachother, they're sent flying?

This was one my middle of the night random thoughts. When I - a normal strength person - punches another person, they dont get sent flying, yet when someone who's super string punches a super strong person, they're sent flying.

Surely if they're both on the same level of strength and durability, it would just have the same impact as a normal strength punch.

Surely it would be more loud smacking noises and sonic booms and shit like that rather than them flying hundreds of feet after a punch.

Wouldn't it just be more force behind the hit meeting a much stronger target.

Is there a reason beyond "because comics"?

[Assistant]
Just because they're super strong doesn't mean they're affected by gravity any different.

Even though they won't get hurt by the impact, it still physically moves them. They are more durable than the ground under them.


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

[User]
ELI5: why do divers wear their oxygen bottles with the exit valve pointing up, but firefighters with the exit valve pointing down?

Shouldn't the pressure always force the air out of the exit valve, regardless of its orientation? What is the reason for this?

[Assistant]
Divers are going to watch their heads and are in a mostly open area with very little heavy falling debris, so putting the oxygen valve up near the head allows it to be safer in the case of cramped spaces, and limits the hoses required to get the oxygen to the facemask.

Firefighters have to worry a lot more about falling debris and dangling wires and pipes, and worry less about the pressures of being underwater, so they use a longer hose and put the tanks on valves down, so a falling beam is more likely to strike the sturdy bottom of the tank and not the relatively fragile valves that release oxygen.


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

[User] [40K]When did the emperor acquire his infamous battle armour?

[Assistant]
He most likely had his armour since DAoT, at the very least from the Age of Strife. He was however a tinkerer and a biomancer.

In other words, his armour was being constantly updated thorough his life, but on top of that there was psyker fuckery that changed people's perception of it.


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

[User]
[WH40k] Are the chaos forces vastly superior to the humanity ones?

In the times of the Horus Heresy, half of the Legions turned to the chaos. It seems that for every space marines' different kind of unit, there also exists a corrupted version of it, which is supposed to be a better one as it has been enhanced by the ruinous powers. Also the traitors have demons, chaotic instruments, weapons and powers, and even some of their primarchs, things that the loyalist don't have. Do the loyalists count with any weapon or unit that the traitor ones don't? Or... are they at least bigger in marines number?

And a second question. Does the traitor marines are stronger in combat than the loyalist ones? They are supposed to have been empowered.

Reading all this things I have written, it seems humanity have not even an opportunity to survive, isn't it?

[Assistant]
Outright more powerful?  Very often, yes.  Less reliable?  Definitely.  Can't trust daemons to do what you enslave them to do, after all.
Their lack of discipline is 9/10 what gets them killed by loyalist forces.  You can be a crazed Khornate Berzerker Marine who's 12' 7" outside of armor and absolutely bulging at the seams with muscle, but that won't help any when a melta blast disintegrates 80% of your body.
The CSM numbers overall are probably much higher, what with Daemonculaba dickery+ Chaos dickery+ Chaos God dickery+ Dark Mechanicus dickery+ outright stealing loyalist geneseed.

Its just like the Night of the Wolf.  Angron pretty solidly beat Leman Russ 1v1, but since the World Eaters didnt fight with/for him, he would have been killed by Space Wolf Marine packs.

Also its mentioned by that one Ultramarine who was undergoing censure for making practicals on how to fight other Space Marines.  The Word Bearers can be at one moment tactical geniuses and curbstomp the shit out of people, while the next moment they worry too much about sacrifices and pleasing the Warp Gods and get their shit pushed in 6 ways from Sunday.


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

[User] Why won't honey freeze solid?

[Assistant] Honey contains too much dissolved solid, sugar, to freeze. There is only 18% water in honey, which is too low to freeze. At extreme temperatures, honey's viscosity will become extremely thick and sluggish until it reaches a point of glass transition and becomes a non crystalline amorohous solid. It won't be frozen though.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do stores not sell cigarettes in smaller quantities than 20 in a pack?

[Assistant] It's called a loosey. When a store sells you a single cigarette. It used to be fairly popular, but for the most part, laws have passed that have banned the sale of single cigarettes, and you can only sell whole packs now.  You can still find people and stores who sell them if you're in the ghetto.


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

[User]
Eli5: How does it come we notice when we get direct eye contact with another person?

There is something that makes you know when you have that direct eye contact with a person, even though they might stand meters away from you and you are surrounded by other people too.

What makes you know when you have that eye contact? Because even if there is someone that is standing almost right behind me I know when someone that is standing lets say 6 meters away is looking at the other person or when they are looking at me.

[Assistant] Eye contact was very important for our ancestors, to find potential mates or threats. Because of this our brains developed a "super power" when it comes to eye contact, reading the miniscule changes in the eyes that indicate we've made contact. Note that this system is hyper sensitive so it can trigger a lot of false positives (thinking there's eye contact when there's not).


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

[User] ELI5: Whats the difference between jelly and jam?

[Assistant]
Jelly is a gelatinous spread produced from fruit juice.

Jam is a a gelatinous spread produced from pureed fruit.

Preserves is a gelatinous spread produced from pureed and smashed fruit having chunks of fruit in it.

Marmalade is a specific kind of Preserves made from citrus fruit involving a significant amount of the zest of the fruit.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do historical experts know that what happened during certain time periods actually happened?

How can hundreds and even thousands of years of history, which includes entire civilizations, discoveries and characters, so confidently be explained? Not all of it could have happened the way it's being taught to modern society, right?

[Assistant]
It depends on how far back youre asking about.

Mostly, for eras preceding the written word we have to make a lot of guesses using what we know about modern humans, paired with artifacts found around human remains. These artifacts include things like tools, buildings, and personal objects. These things give us clues about the people and time period, and anthropologists sort of piece the rest together into a cohesive story. But theyll be the first to tell you that its a lot of guesswork.

Once we start getting into the time of the written word, though, it starts to get a little more clear. Now, not only do we have artifacts, landmarks, etc, but we also have written records. And anthropologists will take things like laws, religious texts, diaries, tax documents, etc and they use all of these clues to put together a story of the time.

In addition, when combining the work that anthropologists and historians do with the hard sciences (like biology, chemistry, and geology) we can explore the relationship between people and their environments and get even more proof of things that happened.

Historians tend to look for confirmation of the facts in as many sources as they can find, but sometimes its still a bit of a guessing game. And its made muddier when you consider the phrase history is written by the victors. But that plays into social and racial issues that is a whole other can of worms when we question the veracity of historical facts.


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

[User]
How much of our bodies do we (humans) need to live?

I searched this question up and couldn't really find a definitive answer.

For example, if we lose a leg or arm, we can still very well live. How far does that go? Is it possible, like in some sci-fi movies, that we can "live" with just a brain and machine-fed nutrients? I know "live" is somewhat subjective, but let's say enough to think and perhaps communicate?

[Assistant]
You can lose:

*
Your limbs
* Your spleen
* Your gall bladder
* About 1/2 of your intestines
* Your reproductive organs, internal and external
* Your bladder
* Your left lung (the right lung is bigger)
* One kidney
* One adrenal gland
* Lobes of your brain.  The frontal lobe is considered a 'non-eloquent' region, meaning that limited damage is not associated with massive neurological deficits.

and be more or less OK.  Now, there are other things that can be compensated for.  They are:

* Second kidney (dialysis)
* Pancreas (enzyme and insulin replacement)
* Stomach (special diets, B12 replacement)
* *Second adrenal gland (with hormone replacement, thanks DocPsychosis)*

And there are some things which really can't be replaced in an effective way:

* Second lung
* Heart
* Liver
* Brainstem
* Rest of GI tract

There are ways to compensate for some of these (ECMO for heart/lung, total parenteral nutrition for GI tract), but they are not long-term solutions.


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

[User] [Star Wars] What are all the jedi who survived Order 66 in Cannon?

[Assistant]
The following Jedi survived Order 66.

* Yoda
* Obi-Wan Kenobi*
* Coleman Kcaj
* Taron Malicos**
* Oppo Rancisis
* Uvell
* Quinlan Vos
* A temple guard who became the Grand Inquisitor**
* Caleb Dume/Kanan Jarrus*
* Cere Junda
* At least 11 padawans who became Inquisitors\*\*, including Masana Tide** and Trilla Suduri**
* A youngling who was with Cere and Trilla at the time
* Cal Kestis
* Naq Med
* Selrahc Eluos
* Ka-moon Kholi
* Kira Vantala
* >!The Child!<
* Kirak Infil'a*
* Jocasta Nu*
* Luminara Unduli*
* Eeth Koth*
* Mususiel*
* Khandra*
* Nhuj*
* Zubain Ankonori*
* Ferren Barr*

Those marked with an asterisk had, as of 0BBY, been found and killed by the Empire. Those marked with two asterisks fell to the dark side.


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

[User] [A Christmas Carol] Just how wealthy is Scrooge?

[Assistant]
The Forbes Fictional list gives him the equivalent of $8 billion, but that is honestly pretty stupid. There is no indication that Scrooge is in the upper echelon of the London elite, he is a fairly prosperous moneylender but all of the moneylending we see him involved in is to individuals and members of the London bourgeois, rather than the massive colonial projects someone like Lionel de Rothschild concerned himself with. He was also not so elevated that a minor clerk like Bob Cratchit would not have fairly direct and easy access to him.

I would say something along the lines of poorer than a CEO, richer than a dentist.


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

[User]
[Kingsman] The Kingsman can't be made public for saving the world. Did people not notice the whole world becoming homicidal? Whats the aftermath of the movie?

Obviously the sim cards had to be destroyed after the movie due to what they could do, and nearly every world leader is dead now. Someone had to be behind it all, and someone had to have stopped them.

[Assistant]
You'll remember that Valentine had kidnapped many reputable world leaders and celebrities who he felt would be required to get certain political geographies back on task, such as the Princess of Sweden that our lucky hero got to spend an evening with at the end.

So while Kingsmen can't come out and explain what happened, the people they *rescued* can come out and say "Listen, we were kidnapped by Valentine, he used those sim cards to make everyone insane, but... Let's say the UN... managed to stop him shortly after it all started. Sorry it took so long, red tape and all that of bureaucracy."

While there would be much chaos in the following few months, humanity has this pretty awesome record of banding together and recovering from massive disasters when they're finally forced to. The world is now run mostly by more humane politicians who care about the people they preside over instead of money and themselves.


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

[User]
When someone is about to die, why are they told to not fall asleep? Why does that increase survival?

My thought is that staying awake would boost circulating catecholamines?

[Assistant]
<- EMT. Having a constantly re evaluated assessment of a persons level of consciousness (LOC) is one of the best indicators of shock. Shock is defined has the lack of perfusion in the body, in other words the exchange of carbon dioxide made in the cell that is exchanged at the capillary level for oxygen brought in by red blood cells. No perfusion, cells starve and die. First effected organ is the brain because it requires a late supply of oxygen. Earliest signs of hypoperfusion are altered LOCs like agitation, tiredness, and confusion.
Also the measuring scale for things like triage and Glascow Coma Scales are effected by the LOC. Diminished LOC for most any reason outside of normal raises priority and can effect treatment. So by assessment standards, you are considered more likely to survive and less critical if you are capable of staying awake and alert.

Hope that helps. Other than this practical reason, it's a lot more dramatic and cool. Also try slapping them in the face for Oscar worthiness. (But not in real life please.)

EDIT: quick example of of altered LOC that doesn't alter patient assessment would be diabetic issues where behavior changes would be the norm so other checks are made like glucose levels, vitals, and oral intakes over the past several hours. Family members usually can tell what is normal issues and what is severe issues. Other examples would be mentally challenged or dementia patients.


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

[User] ELI5: how can a layer of metamorphic rocks be on top of a layer of sedimentary rocks? Shouldn't the deepest layer have higher pressure and temperature?

[Assistant]
You are absolutely right, the deeper a layer gets buried, the higher pressure and temperature it is subjected to.

However, there are two ways to explain your question. Compressive tectonic forces can fold or fault rock layers which would place metamorphic rocks above sedimentary rocks.

A thrust fault is a type of fault that pushes deeper, older rocks over younger rocks. Imagine pushing two pieces of paper together on a flat surface. One would slide on top of the other, which is exactly what happens in a thrust fault. There are places in Canada where very old granite has been pushed up on top of young sedimentary rocks via thrust faulting. For the folding example, think about a tablecloth pushed over a smooth table, it would bunch up in a series of small folds. The same thing happens with rock layers. Sometimes rock layers get folded so much they become overturned, which means a "lower" layer would be on top of an "upper" layer.


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

[User] ELI5: How does this whole net neutrality thing affect non-Americans like me?

[Assistant]
A few things to consider:

1. if ISPs in America figure out how to make money off of content providers, then you can bet ISPs where you are will want to get some of that action.  I'd worry about the cascade effect into your geography.

2. If your economy wants to penetrate the U.S. market with internet based anything, it will be more expensive to do so because those businesses in your locale will have to pony-up extra cash to ISPs so that customers get a really great, speedy experience.  The playing field for entry into internet businesses will become significantly less flat than it is today.

3. Potentially, the diversity of "stuff" on the internet will suffer.  Minority sites without the funds to pay fees for acceleration will become increasingly less quality because they'll be slower and marginalized.  The diversity of stuff on the internet may go down.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] I'm a Jedi and just defeated a Sith Lord on my own. Am I allowed to take his lightsaber or any possession to "remember" this moment?

I mean, Jedi sometimes go their whole life never facing a real sith. What if I not only faced but killed one? Am I allowed to take a memento of this victory? Is there anything in the code that says its not permissible?

I was thinking particularly the lightsaber, its red and cool as hell!

[Assistant]
Whether or not you're *allowed* isn't the issue.  You're permitted to, the real question/issue at hand is whether that's a step in the 'wrong direction,'  and that it will result in attachments to this particular moment in time and that particular object.

Becoming personally attached to this moment in time, taking a "killing trophy" and valuing not just the trophy but valuing the act of killing itself, would likely be frowned upon.

You almost certainly would collect as many artifacts from the scene as possible, including the body of the deceased.  But that's for analysis by the order as a whole, not as a personal trophy.


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

[User]
[The Avengers] Did Thor go all the way to Asgard just to turn around and visit a shawarma joint?

It seems that he took Loki back to an Asgardian prison just before the credits rolled, but apparently he is back by the end of them to enjoy some lackluster food.  I guess it makes sense for him to feast after a victory with friends, but...

[Assistant] They had shawarma after confronting Loki in the tower, and before Thor traveled back to Asgard with Loki.  In other words, it was pretty much immediately after the Battle of New York had ended.  Notice how Cap, Widow, and Hawkeye were still in their battle gear, and how the shawarma shop's workers were sweeping up debris.


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

[User] ELI5: Since a person's skin is constantly being renewed and growing back, why don't moles simply fall off after so long?

[Assistant]
::Borrowed text::
Your skin contains several different types of cells. The skin cells you're thinking of that regenerate and slough off every so often are called keratinocytes. The cells that make up moles/birthmarks are a different cell type called melanocytes. Melanocytes do not get replaced by keratinocytes.

As far as cancerous moles go, the skin regeneration is the problem! UV light causes damage to cells by forming abnormal linkages in the DNA. Often this damage can be corrected, but the more UV exposure, the more damage that occurs. If it cannot be corrected, then it is possible that certain regions in the DNA are not read correctly during replication. Some mutations can cause this new cell to become immortal, and it will keep on replicating. This abnormal growth is cancer.


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

[User]
[S.T.A.L.K.E.R.] Is everyone in 'the zone' doomed to an early death from cancer?

 Even if the Stalkers survive the bullets, bandits, burors, and bastards that love stealing artifacts. They're constantly running into pockets of radiation and are collecting items that are literally glowing from contamination.

 Are they all doomed to an early death from radiation?

[Assistant]
Cancer?  HA!  Those who make their living in the Zone should be lucky to live long enough to die from cancer.  S.T.A.L.K.E.R.s have access to the finest military grade armor with the best radiation shielding (at least, the successful ones do.)  Some even possess powerful artifacts that can even remove radiation from the body entirely- ironic that the Zone which poisons them would also furnish an unprecedented method of turning back the clock of exposure.

But even the newbie, the failure, the pauper who can't afford these protections isn't worried about cancer in a few years time when they have nothing but a thick jacket and a double-barreled shotgun to save themselves from a pack of radioactive mutant dogs, psychic mutants, bloodsuckers, anomalies, and the greed and desperation of other men today.


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

[User]
ELI5 What does Neosporin do for an open wound?

I whacked my face into the concrete not too long ago and when I got to the store the clerk said I would definitely need some Neosporin. After 3 days of applying Neosporin the giant scrapes on my face were almost completely healed! I was genuinely amazed as I get scraped up all the time and don't do anything for them except some cleaning and a bandaid. What does Neosporin do inside my wound that makes it heal so much faster as well as how does the treating of a wound a certain way prevent scar tissue from forming? I don't know much about the body's healing process but as someone who gets hurt a lot I am realizing I may need that 5 year old explanation my mother never gave me.

[Assistant] For the most part, the healing was just your body doing its thing. The Neosporin contains several powerful antibiotics and antifungals which kill off anything which gets into the wound, allowing the body to spend its energy on healing instead of fighting an infection. In addition, the thick paste helps replace the natural barrier the skin provides, preventing the healing area from drying out and letting it heal more effectively.


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

[User]
[DC Comics] Why isnt Joker being tortured at some off-the-books CIA black site?

Or Guantanamo Bay, something like that.

Yeah, yeah, he claims insanity. How have higher-ups in the federal government not decided Hey, maybe we should take this guy away from the city where hes the biggest threat, and either find out what hes planning next or just remove him from the picture.?

[Assistant]
Every time you move a contained Joker you introduce a point of failure.

For every point of failure you introduce into the equation you have to do so understanding that death or serious injury will occur. Are you going to be able to sleep at night after seeing Sgt. Johnson's eyes get gouged out because he left his ball point pen tucked above his ear? What about when Joker's gang blows up Lt. Jefferson's daughter in Gotham Square because a crooked cop leaked some documents showing that he's the transporting officer.

It's fear. Real, human fear that prevents significant progress on Joker most times. In truth the best way to do it is to punch his ticket to hell with a hollow point but we all know the bat won't let that stand.


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

[User]
[Wreck-It Ralph] What happens if the arcade lost power?

Wouldn't the surge protector not even be safe since that would have no power running through it?

[Assistant]
Each game's inhabitants would huddle around the little campfire of the CMOS battery on the motherboard.  It's always on to keep the BIOS running.

Gameless characters, like Q-Bert, would probably disappear forever.


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

[User]
What is beyond the Cosmic Microwave Background?

So I read that the Cosmic microwave background is the ultimate thing what we can see using the most powerful telescopes. It is still possible for us to build a telescope to see even farther ?

[Assistant] We can't see past the CMB because earlier than that, the universe was opaque to light. We could see further back if we could detect primordial neutrinos, which pass freely through plasma. That would allow us to see back to something like a few minutes after the big bang. Gravitational wave telescopes that don't yet exist might also allow us to see farther back.


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

[User]
[Frasier] Is Daphne actually psychic?

There's many times where Daphne gets a feeling about something, for example: She picks up a fire poker and says Maris was holding it when something happened, and then Niles says that event actually happened. Or when she gets a headache everytime Lilith is in town.

Nobody is surprised when she has these readings but they still make fun of her belief in her powers.

[Assistant]
She's just insightful. Her insights are instinctual, and born out of her family training (Grammy Moon, etc), whereas the Boys' are observational and based on their extensive psychiatric educations.

Martin is similarly insightful, but his comes from his experience as a cop and general disposition. Roz, simultaneously, comes from her extensive social experience.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Are some species inherently evil due to association with the dark side of the Force?

Species such as the Sith species, Krayt dragons, Kath hounds, rancors, Rakata, and Leviathans. Are they doomed to be evil or do they have enough free will to be good as well?

[Assistant]
I mean you kinda just answered your own question.

But many species who live on planets with strong Force energies can shift around. Dathomir, where Maul came from, had a pretty strong Dark Side affiliation.