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

[User]
[Stuart Little] Stuart is a talking orphaned mouse who finds himself in an orphanage with humans. He has the voice of a grown man, but is probably 6(?). The littles have a cat who can speak to the mouse just fine, but only sounds like a real to his owners.

Therere also other mice who can speak English just fine *and* two birds who can communicate like humans.

If I go to petco, will the animals start talking to me? Why are cats not able to talk like the rodents and birds? Why is no one afraid of these animals with near human intelligence?

[Assistant]
Honestly, given there's one in the orphanage, it seems they're just a part of life.

Mice and birds are kinds of person, and take part in society, and humans aren't scared of them because they're not racist.


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

[User]
[General Scifi] Why can you talk through a prison force field.

In most settings there are no intercoms in the cells and they can just talk right through it.

Most of these cells even have a separate air supply, so it is not air circulation.

[Assistant]
The particles that make up the forcefield still vibrate when the soundwaves hit them, transferring the energy to the air molecules on the other side and allowing the sound to keep traveling.

Same basic principle of talking to someone through a glass window, only in this case the 'glass' is extremely thin so not as much energy is lost in the transfer from one medium to another, so the voices don't sound muffled.


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

[User] How exactly does a stimulant, like adderall or concerta, calm down a person with ADHD?

[Assistant] The neuropharmacology is a little complicated, but the analogy is a bell curve. If you imagine that a given person might function optimally with a neurotransmitter level of X in a certain region of the brain that is responsible for attention, then someone with less than X has inattention. A stimulant increases that number to X, so that people with ADHD essentially reach a "normal" level of neurotransmitter responsible for attention. Those who previously had normal levels (i.e. X) already won't benefit from ADHD medications to the extent that those who have ADHD do.


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

[User]
[Spiderman] Throughout the various versions of Spiderman, is his spider sense actually explained extensively?

Is it based off his increased senses, with the spider sense simply his brain constructing a simulation of potential outcomes based on sensory data? Is it a sixth sense, possibly psychic/clairvoyant in nature? This has always kinda bugged me.

[Assistant]
So there's this thing called the Web of Life and Destiny, which consists of the strands of everybody's path through life all woven together. They are woven by a giant cyborg spider god in another universe called the Great Weaver. The weaving is mostly done without thinking about it, but sometimes the Weaver consciously joins or snaps a thread, or moves it, if he wants some particular result to happen.

The Weaver has avatars throughout the Marvel Multiverse, known as Spider Totems, a group which consists of everybody with spider-themed superpowers. Some Spider Totems, most notable every incarnation of Peter Parker and his various clones, have a special attumenent to the Web of Life and Destiny which allows them to sense certain changes - specifically dangers to their own lives.

That's what spider sense it.


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

[User]
Why do space shuttles need to be vertically launched into space on a launch pad instead of going into space like an airplane?

Launching a shuttle in space costs a lot of money. Wouldn't it be reduced by a lot if it didn't need a launch pad and go to space like an airplane?
What is the reason why they don't do that?
Is it possible to go to space in an other way than vertically?
What are the problems we are encountering for not being able to do so?
Thanks in advance for your answers.

[Assistant]
Air launch doesn't buy you much when you have to get going 17,000 mph to orbit. If you have a rocket launched from an aircraft, it's not going to be going much faster than 500 mph when it lights, and it's not going to be more than 6 or 7 miles up at that point. There's the Skylon spaceplane being developed in the UK, but that has some pretty steep technical challenges to overcome.

Getting up to 17,000 mph is always going to take a certain amount of fuel, and you have to bring the fuel with you as you're getting there. So the end result is powerful rocket engines that take you up out of the atmosphere quickly, and then you turn sideways to get into orbit. Actually it's a gradual turn that begins immediately after liftoff, so it's not really vertical for long.


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

[User]
How come shower water at a given temperature feels lukewarm on my back, but extremely hot on my face?

I understand that the skin on the face is more sensitive than on other parts of the body, but why is that?

[Assistant]
The explanation of the greater sensitivity of the face as relative to other body parts has to do with the density of sensory nerves. The face, the fingertips, the genitals, and some other parts of the body have a very high density of nerve endings. This is why you can differentiate between two pinpricks close together on your face, but not on your back.

Basically when hot water hits you, your back is like this:

----ow----ow----ow----ow----ow----

while your face is like this:

--ow--ow--ow--ow--ow--ow--ow--ow--

The next thing you need to understand is HOW nerves communicate pain to the brain. Since the action potential that sends an electrical impulse down the axon to the brain is always the same, nerves cannot communicate the intensity of a sensation by varying the intensity of the nerve impulse. Instead, nerves communicate intensity by varying the frequency of impulses; the more intense a sensation the more frequent the pulses.

Since there are more nerve endings in the surface area of the face relative to the surface area of the back, the face is able to convey the sensation of "YO, THIS WATER IS HOT!" more intensely than the back.


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

[User]
Are there any other viable power sources available to us other than electromagnetic induction and photovoltaic technology?

When I make a lost of every source of power generation I can think of, everything comes down to either photovoltaic technology, or spinning a turbine which causes electromagnetic induction. Do we have any other way of powering our homes?

[Assistant]
Fuel cells and thermoelectric generators are two less known ways. Fuel cells generate electricity through reacting oxygen with a fuel, often hydrogen, and have no moving parts similar to a photovoltaic cell. Thermoelectric generators use a strange property of metals called the seebeck effect, where two different metals at different temperatures connected at two points will cause a current to flow though them.

Fuel cells are really only used for energy storage, because we dont have an easy source of hydrogen without electrolyzing water, which takes energy. Thermoelectric generators arent very efficient, so we dont use them often either. Though, in space theyre pretty handy because you can put radioactive plutonium pellets in a chamber which heats it up, and the outlet side can be cooled by radiating its heat to space, effectively giving you a constant power source for many years.


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

[User]
[Incredibles] Why aren't heroes covered by Good Samaritan laws?

After Mr. Incredible saves the jumper and a train, he is sued by both the jumper and the passengers. Wouldn't this principle make him immune to legal action?

[Assistant]
Typically good samaritan laws assume that the individual was acting for the well-being of another and had sufficient training or skills to do good. Someone who has never done surgery is more likely going to do harm if they try to help someone in the street in urgent medical need (say they were shot in a vital organ and the bullet needed to be removed), but a trained Dr could do it.

This comes down to recognition and registration. Supers are not recognised by the law, they are not trained, they do not get tested or audited, they are a vigilante. So good samaritan laws will not cover them.

It wouldn't be long anyway before some criminals took advantage of this cover. Creating a fixed brawl downtown near a bank and conveniently smashing open the vault before the "criminal" escapes with the cash while the "hero" claims immunity as they were trying to do good. These loopholes have to be covered otherwise we need to define what a hero is.


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

[User] Eli5: How do peers and leechers in pirating on Utorrent work? Do any other site use them?

[Assistant]
If you've copied someones homework at school, you are now also a point that someone else can copy homework from, as long as everyone who copies the homework copies it identically (this is done by hashing a torrent's content and checking it against the source) it doesn't matter who you copy from, so if there's a 100 people in the hallway u can copy homework from you can essentially copy the first answer of 1 guy then the next answer from a guy 10 feet down the hall later and when you bump into someone who needs one of the questions you have already copied he can copy from you.

If many people seed and few people leech then you can quickly find someone to copy from, if many people leech and few people seed then you'll be in a crowd and things will slow down.


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

[User]
[Masters of the Universe] What happens if He-Man instead of aiming the energy at Cringer hits Orko?

Would it work and increase his abilities? If so, would it follow physical increases or an increase in his overall default abilities thus making him a more powerful magic user?

[Assistant]
I don't know if it would increase his magic abilities. This would depend on how his magic interacts with the power of Grayskull. Physically Orko would be unchanged. He-Man and Battle-Cat aren't really more muscular than Prince Adam and Cringer. Orko might gain a slight pump, as if he's just been lifting weights, but that's it.

The most important change is psychological. Those under the influence of Grayskull become much more aggressive, to the point that a cowardly lion is transformed into the most badass mount in fiction. Orko would find himself using the most destructive spells in his arsenal.

Finally, there's the wardrobe change. Lots of red leather, but not enough to cover his rippling abs, bulging biceps, and proud nipple rings.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why do famous and influential people have so much dirty laundry?

I realize that there is a lot of attention on these famous people but it seems that the higher you go the stranger the lives and the more unsavory the company.   I wonder if it has something to do with the amount of aggression and drive that is necessary for people to get to the top that spills over in negative ways.  I know that you could take almost all of the friends I've ever had and the dirt you'd find on them would be negligible compared to the high profile people we hear about daily.  Maybe average and boring is OK.

[Assistant]
It has more to do with how much money they have.

Imagine you win the lottery. What would you do? When asked this question, most people say things like buy a house and travel and give it to friends. But, some people think things like have lots of sex with attractive people, travel and do crazy things, party, experiment with drugs, do things that rich people might get away with.

Now imagine that on top of money, you are a celebrity. You get into the best clubs and restaurants without waiting, you have your own plane where you can fuck and drink your way to Paris whenever you want. AND, you have people sneaking around trying to get pictures of you every time you so much as fart.

A lot of people would do things that might end up looking pretty bad on the cover of People Magazine.


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

[User] A perspective/scale question: In a hydrogen atom, if the proton was the size of a tennis ball, (say 6.5 cm), on average how far away from the proton would the electron be orbiting?

[Assistant] A hydrogen atom is 1.1 angstroms in diameter, a proton 1.7 x 10-5. so the atom is 64706 times bigger than the proton. That means your scaled up atom would be 4206 meters across, or about 2.1 km from center to "orbit".


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

[User]
CMV: I don't want kids because I don't believe in the future of our planet.

I don't think we will be able to save the environment from ourselves. I don't think it's responsible, fair or right to put children in this world, because there will continually be people, companies and nations that would rather have short term money, than work to do what is right.

I already feel like we have inherited a natural world that is fucked. Not to speak of the global society, that is fraught with egoism and stupidity. We have developed way to far into something that I don't wanna pass on. I've been a part of global pollution as well, and I guess that will be my legacy.

I actually pinched a tear writing this out. :(

Edit: I'm about to go to work, but I will start responding in about 8 hours. Keep it coming!

[Assistant]
I guess the simplest response is that if we all thought like you, our planet *would* have no future.  It's tantamount to just giving up.  How is denying future generations the right to exist at all more responsible, fair or right?  *They* might want to keep trying to make the world better.

Part of this is, yes, we've got some environmental problems to address.  Part of this too, though, is your perception of it.  You weren't around for life 400 years ago, or a thousand, or during the last ice age.  You talk of egoism and stupidity as if that was unique to our current condition.  It may look in the news like things are all going from bad to worse, but the world is more peaceful, prosperous, and productive now than it ever has been.

If you don't think the environment is salvageable, well... ok.  Not much to do about that other than to say that a lot of us--most of us--haven't nearly given up yet.


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

[User]
If the surrounding temperature is higher than a surface's temperature, does radiation occur ?

I know that q_rad =  C*(T_s^(4)-T_surr^(4)), but I'm not sure about what happens if the object's temperature is lower than the surrounding temperature, is it considered irradiation in this case ?? meaning that heat transfers into the object ?

[Assistant]
That equation is about the *net* radiation from a surface. If the right side is positive, the surface has more radiation leaving it than it is absorbing.  If it is negative, there is more radiation being absorbed than emitted.  In the negative case, there is still radiation leaving the surface in the form of photons leaving, there's just more energy inbound.

If there was no outbound radiation at all, then, for example, you would not be able to see an icecube in a warm room, and a hot stovetop in a dark but very hot room would not glow red.


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

[User] When you lose weight, where exactly does most of the mass (in your fat cells) go?

[Assistant]
You breathe it out. The average person at rest exchanges about 1 kg of CO2 for about 0.8 kg of O2 every day via the lungs, for a net loss of .2 kg, or about .44 lbs. The CO2 comes from cell respiration. The carbon comes partly from glucose which is 40% carbon by weight, and partly from fat, which is about 80% carbon by weight. It also comes from other sources, but these are the main ones.

When you're engaging in physical activity you can increase your breathing by 7 to 10-fold, depending on how athletic you are.


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

[User] [LOTR] How would the movies change if Saruman had not joined Sauron but instead aided Frodo and Gandalf?

[Assistant]
**Fellowship of the Ring:** Gandalf is never imprisoned, reaches the Prancing Pony on time, and the early escapes from the Black Riders are much easier with his help. Frodo doesn't get stabbed. The Fellowship never needs to even try Caradhras or Moria, instead advancing south across the plains to Isengard itself, catching Gollum in the process and locking him away. Saruman has already invited Celeborn and Galadriel to Isengard, where they hold a Council of Saruman mirroring the Council of Elrond. The Fellowship receive their gifts; Aragorn and the wizards and elves retire to pool information and plot their course, while the hobbits are dismissed to raid the kitchen.

This is when Boromir tries to steal the Ring. He's infuriated that Aragorn is allowed to sit among ancient powers while he's literally sent to the kids' table. He finds a willing accomplice in Wormtongue, but Gimli and the other hobbits drive them off. Boromir grabs Gollum from Orthanc's dungeons to act as his guide and flees into the night with Wormtongue in tow.

Meanwhile, fearing that the "big four" upstairs are being tempted by similar greed and are about to come down and take the Ring, Gimli and the hobbits hop on some minecart or other fast vehicle of Saruman's and head out. The movie ends with Team Frodo in the lead, Team Boromir behind, and Team Wizard wondering where the hell everyone went.

**The Two Towers:** At long last, Sauron raises his hand. The eastern gates of Moria open wide, and orcs, trolls, and tentacle monsters without number pour forth onto Fangorn, Lorien, and Isengard. The middle of Middle-Earth is now a complete mess. The Balrog rips his way up from underground to lead the Siege of Orthanc.

But to the east, with no Uruk-Hai and with both Gondor and Isengard helping to defend against Mordor orcs, Theoden and Rohan are in good shape militarily. The problem is that Boromir is a prince of Gondor, Rohan's ally, and spins a tale that has the Riders out looking for a dwarf warrior and four hobbits who are part of the total hideousness happening right next door. Fortunately, the first to find Frodo is Eomer, who, like Faramir, realizes this temptation must be removed and speeds the hobbits on their way.

As a relief expedition arrives from Rivendell, the defenders of Orthanc counterattack, killing the Balrog and scattering the orcs enough to make a way out. The elves go back to Lorien; everyone else heads toward the White City.

**The Return of the King:** Denethor's mind is now even more corrupted by the Palantir than in the movie. The Ringbearer at first moves through his lands unimpeded, but when Boromir arrives and reports, Denethor insanely redeploys his army to keep the wizards and their escort of Riders from catching up to Frodo, while Boromir and a few henchmen gallop east to grab the Ring.

Mordor sends forth its legions. Denethor realizes too late his mind was not his own. Mordor orcs and ringwraiths kill Denethor, invade Minas Tirith with little resistance, and rename it Minas Ortheri, the Tower of Conquest.

Everything becomes about keeping pursuers from the Ringbearer. Aragon and the wizards lead the Riders in a costly, militarily useless attack on Sauron's new city, drawing his attention and forces away from his borders. Merry and Pippin separate from the group to lure most of the Rangers out of position so Frodo can get past. There's an awesome duel in the woods where Gimli kills Faramir to keep him from Frodo.

Again with Gimli's help, Frodo and Sam get past Shelob and cross the wastes.

Boromir stages his final bloodbath. He backstabs Wormtongue and Gollum, brushes aside a weakened Gimli, and follows Frodo and Sam into the mountain. Sam fights him and even breaks his sword, but still Boromir pushes on. Frodo claims the Ring; like Isildur before him, Boromir cuts it from his hand with the broken hilt. He falls into the Cracks of Doom; Sauron and all his works are destroyed.

90 minutes later, the movie ends.


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

[User]
CMV: Middle Easterners Are Not White

Inspired by a recent AskReddit post (I would link, but I'm on mobile).

In the United States, Arabs, Turks, and Persians are legally white. In the US Census, we must check the "white" box.

I don't believe we are white. First of all, we are not treated as white. There are more assumptions made based on the way we look than any other group within "white". Second, our culture is not similar to European culture. Middle Eastern culture is vastly different in all aspects: food, music, religiosity, acceptable public behavior, etc. Third, we don't look "white" -- we range from very dark to brown (most commonly) to olive.

In the current system, we are considered white without having any of the benefits of being white. We aren't treated "white" by police, we aren't treated "white" by the community at large, and we certainly aren't treated "white" by employers.  In order to be on a level playing field with whites, we must be better groomed, must present ourselves better, must be very mindful of our language & body language, and must (by and large) try harder. We are not eligible for minority scholarships because we are not a valid minority. Some may argue that this is due to wealth, but in reality, most of us are escaping extreme poverty in the Middle East (and are overshadowed by the influx of rich Saudi students attending US universities on government scholarship).

Reddit, make me believe that we should be classified as white.

[Assistant]
Not too long ago, Italians, Greeks, Jews, Spaniards, hell even Russians and the Irish were not considered "white."

The definition has been ever expanding as more people and cultures assimilate and are accepted into mainstream American society.

It also highlights the fact that "races" are completely made up and are useless from a scientific standpoint. And we should get rid of them anyway!


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

[User] ELI5: how can my cat find my cup of water at night if water has no taste or colour?

[Assistant]
I suspect you mean smell, not taste. (If it's tasting water, it's already found it.)

Water does have a smell, it's just that humans don't smell it. We don't need to, and it's better for us to be able to smell anything that's polluting the water (these smells would be drowned out if we were smelling the water). It's possible that other animals, such as cats, could smell water.

Also, it does have *some* color to it, but that's not really relevant. Even colorless things that are transparent can still be seen. You can see if a glass is empty or full. So can your cat.

Your cat has also probably learned that glass shaped things often contain water, so it doesn't need to look for water specifically, it needs to look for a glass. This is like when you want to go find water, you don't try to see the water or smell it, you look for tiled floors, because you know that's the kitchen and where water comes from.


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

[User]
ELI5: What exactly causes snot to be green/yellow when one has a sinus infection?

It just seems like a silly color. Neon green doesn't exist that often in nature.

[Assistant]
Bacteria can be all different colors, but because they're so small, it's only obvious when they're in large groups. That's also why if your nose is running from just allergies or a viral infection, it tends to be clear - few or no bacteria means no color.

Color can actually be used to help identify bacteria - generally, yellow is *Staph. aureus*, green is *Pseudomonas* and white is *Strep.* There's even a bacteria used in microbiology classes that's bright red, called *Serratia marcessens.*


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do we feel uncomfortable in hot weather, but feel comfortable in hot water (shower, hot tub, etc.)?

The title says it all.

[Assistant]
What matters is not the temperature, but how fast heat is leaving your body. Air is not that good at taking heat away, so at around 27 degrees Celsius there comes a point where you can't get rid of your body heat as fast as it builds up without some other strategy, like sweating.

If the air is moving, it is better at removing heat, so it "feels" colder. Water is much much better at removing heat then air so the comfortable temperature is closer to your internal body temp, somewhere around 33 degrees.


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

[User]
What do antivirus scanners on your PC actually look for in a file?

Obviously they search for a virus but what attributes of a file gives away thats its a threat to the system?

[Assistant]
Virusscanners use two approaches: Signature-based scanning and heuristic scanning.

**Signature-based** scanning involves looking for specific elements in a virus program. Some virus authors in the past left messages in their program which could be scanned for. Alternatively, certain filenames were used. Or simply the entire file contents (or a hash value thereof). The idea is that the developer of the virusscanner receives a new virus-program and adds its signature, whatever it is, to the scanner definitions.

The downside of this is that virusscanners will always be one step behind virus creators, since the scanner can only respond to threats that it has been programmed to recognize. Additionally, some virus developers will incorporate code to change the virus software automatically when it spreads, making signature-based recognition much harder.

**Heuristic** scanning on the other hand looks at the behaviour of a program. It scans the file in order to see which instructions it contains and then matches that with sets of instructions that are considered harmful. For example instructions that exploit a known software bug in order to obtain administrative privileges.

Heuristic scanning can detect new viruses that haven't been identified before. It's also more effective against malware that modifies itself automatically. On the other hand, if the scanner is tuned too aggressively, it could get many false positives. Tune it too passively and viruses that don't behave too badly will slip by it. Heuristic scanners don't need to be updated as often (though they still need updates, because virus behaviour changes over time).

Most scanners use a combination of both techniques. Signature-based scanning is primarily aimed at spotting known threats, while heuristic scanning offers some level of defense against new ones. Some scanners also include features that monitor access to certain system resources (such as the Windows Registry) and will warn the user when a program tries to access a monitored file or system.


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

[User] ELI5: How and why do people create viruses?

[Assistant]
In the past, most viruses were bored, intelligent teenagers showing off how much smarter they were than whoever designed the system they were hacking. Those people still exist ("script kiddies"), but modern hacking more often done for profit, by either individuals or organized crime. Some viruses are also created by spy agencies for spying.

The most common and general type of profit-driven malware is something called a "botnet." This is when a virus gets the rights to run software on your computer. Then, the hacker makes money by renting out your computer to a third party. A hacker will usually do this to a few million computers in order to get enough computing power to sell, and so that no one infected computer is working too much extra for their real owner to notice. The people who rent botnets are usually doing criminal with them (like breaking passwords), and that's why they're not renting a normal server farm or clould platform like Google, Amazon, or Microsoft.

Another common general type of profit-driven viruses is scamware: a program that tries to get you to pay someone with a credit card. These generally throw up advertisements, and will sometimes hijack your internet connection in order to replace real links with their own links. Sometimes they'll convince you that they're an antivirus. I've also seen some that will start encrypting files on your hard drive, and hold them ransom for the decrypt key. These viruses have the redeeming quality that they let you know they're on your system.

Another common profit-driven virus is one that tries to steal financially-sensitive data. If you've ever heard of a "keylogger," that's one type: they view your websites and record your keystrokes, and try to sniff your email and bank passwords. Depending on the virus, they also try and nab social security numbers or credit card numbers, that sort of thing. If the virus finds it, it sends it back to the hacker, who sells it.

A different type of virus is used when the hacker's target is a specific person or organization. These viruses are generally intended to find specific pieces of information on a computer or network, and "phone home" with this information. Getting a virus like this onto the right computer is a challenge, and often requires physical work, like sneaking into a building to install a hardware component, or targeting someone with fake emails.

How viruses actually work: It's a computer program, doing computer things. Downloading a program from the internet and running it is a perfectly normal thing for a computer to do. That's what Steam does, when you get a game. That's what Flash does. Hell, that's what a web browser does, every time you view a web page with JavaScript on it. The actual work that a virus gets done is just a normal program, like any other program on your computer. The thing that makes a virus different is that the user doesn't want the virus, and the author of the virus is trying to trick the user.

Modern computer systems have a crapton of security systems, that are supposed to make it so that if a program wants to do something (install software, access the internet, etc), it's because the user actually wanted that to happen. All those annoying pop-ups on your computer that want you to click OK before doing something, that's your computer's security system making sure the program is legit and not a virus.

A virus needs to get past those security features. There are two general ways of doing this: Social engineering, and exploits. Social engineering means "tricking the user." Lie to the user, and have the user tell the OS that the program is ok. If your grandma has ever downloaded a cat screensaver from a Belorussian website and ended up infected, that's how it happened: the virus claimed to be a good program, and the user told the computer to let it do its thing.

Exploits means finding a bug in the computer's security features, and bypassing them with sneakiness. Computer systems are immensely complicated structures, built by thousands of individuals over the course of decades, and trying to fulfill hundreds of different (and sometimes contradictory) goals. To put it bluntly, they're not perfect. All of the pieces don't always fit together exactly perfect, and sometimes someone is trying to make changes to a piece of code written twenty years ago that they don't fully understand. And to make it worse, security wasn't even a thing until like ten or fifteen years ago, so whatever security features are there were bolted on to the side of a half-understood juggernaut of code from the crustaceous era.

Point is, it's possible to find bugs in the OS's security code. And if you find the write bug, you can write a program that does something it's not allowed to do. Like installing software or connecting to the internet without warning the user.

Most viruses in the wild actually combine social engineering and exploits. If you've ever gotten an email/text/IM/facebook from a fake name with a stock porn photo that says "ey bb u wan sum fuk" with a link to a web page, that's social engineering. The web page they link to will use an exploit to try and install a virus.


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

[User] [Game of Thrones] How much power in Westeros would Daenerys instantly gain if she started from burning the Red Keep instead of landing on Dragonstone?

[Assistant]
So the main challenge for Daenerys is getting the nobility on her side.

If she incinerates the Usurper Cersei, she eliminates the person still holding the Lannisters together (against all reason and logic), and shows her power and control over the dragon.

Rest of her troops land outside king's landing, the city surrenders, and then all the lords bend the knee.  There's no real reason not to.  Cersei wasn't popular, the Lannisters weren't popular, and Dany has a legitimate legal claim.

All Dany needs to do is go defeat the whats left of the Lannister army, and be generous in victory and everyone but the north and the iron islanders will probably happily swear loyalty again.   Staying Queen will be a bigger problem over time, but with her Dragon WMDs and her Unsullied, she can essentially just intimidate the other Lords.   Add Dorn and the Tyrells in, and she's pretty much got no real problem.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do bots work and why cant retailers easily stop them?

Im constantly hearing about bots being used to snag up everything from PS5s to Sneaker Drops. How do these bots work, and why cant retailers prevent their use?

[Assistant]
The bots are just programs that people have designed to order things off retailers websites. They can work in a million different ways (acting exactly as a human would, using a browser, or just hooking more directly into the retailers sites systems).

Anyways, the retailers could deal with the bots; they could implement smartly designed reservation systems to ensure only real customers can get stock.

But, they dont really need to do that. The retailers make the same amount of money whether or not theyre selling to scalpers. A sale is a sale. The effort is simply not worth it in implementing systems to prevent scalping.

One could say that it ruins the retailers reputation with customers, but it really doesnt matter in the grand scheme of things.


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

[User]
ELI5: Positive Discrimination in the US and how it is positive.

I have lived in the US after moving from the UK a few years ago, I find the concept of positive discrimination baffling.  In the UK we don't really follow the concept much if at all but here in the US South it seems to cause some bitterness.

I find the concept of positive discrimination to just further work to separate races and focus on differences rather than to just focus on being 'People' rather than races.

[Assistant]
Because if you just focus on the 'People' then Jeff in HR who secretly doesn't really like asian women that much may subtly never hire any asian women for the company. Or Susan is convinced that all Muslims are terrorists, and therefore she makes sure to shred all the applications that have 'funny names'. The fact that there are plenty of modern studies showing that applicants who 'sound' white or have 'regular' middle class white names get a huge percentage of callbacks for jobs- EVEN WHEN THEY HAVE LITERALLY THE SAME RESUME as someone with an 'ethnic' sounding name- means that it is still impossible for the workplace of the US to simply 'focus on the people'.

Discrimination happens, and the majority still comes out on top in terms of hiring and wages, so all the people bitching and moaning about how it really hurts race-relations are only saying that because they're in the majority and they've never been on the other side of the fence, because it doesn't benefit THEM or their family and friends in any way, so therefore clearly it must be bad.


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

[User] ELI5: Eric Holder was held in contempt of Congress by a vote of 255-67. Why does Eric Holder still have a job?

[Assistant]
**Practical Answer** - Contempt of Congress is not automatically disqualifying from government employment, nor does it require one be fired. More importantly, the Attorney general is an extremely important position in statutes and regulations. If Holder were to leave his post---whether he resigned or the President remove him---he would need to be replaced, which requires senate confirmation.

This replacement process would almost certainly become rapidly bogged down in political fighting.  It would further sap the president of political strength, further paralyze Senate activity, and ultimately gain the president very little, since the administration doesn't have much time remaining.  The political and non-political issues caused by the contempt action do not outweigh the issues that would flow from the replacement process.

**Cynical Answer** - The fight between the political parties has tainted everything they do.  Maybe the Attorney General is a profligate lawbreaker who should be removed but is protected by a foolish or equally profligate president. Maybe Holder is just a convenient target for an angry opposition party pushing normal political and policy disagreements well beyond historical boundaries to win points with an equally angry base. But either way, the system is so poisoned that unless one party can literally force the other side to take some action, no matter how warranted, base politics always wins.

**Systemic Answer** - There is an expectation that Congress and the executive will disagree significantly on major policy initiatives.  Although Contempt of Congress is an important power, automatically removing an executive officer for that contempt would interfere too much with the executives ability to run its own affairs.

Although executive officials should take Congressional opinion into account, and of course should remove bad actors, we should expect that often the two sides will disagree.  If Holder really did need to be removed, then Congress could do so through impeachment, a higher standard to ensure its existence does cause the problems above.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does rendering work?

Is it like a painting being painted 60 times a second?

I'm asking about real-time or somewhat real time rendering, in games or in certain animation studios.

[Assistant]
"Rendering" is a general term for converting a *general* "high level" description of something in to a *specific* instance. In the graphics example, the high-level description is a 3D model held in computer memory, while the rendering is a specific view on to that model. If it's a first person view, the "virtual camera" is at the player's location and has a fairly human-realistic field of view.

Another example: printing is rendering. A PDF document is a rendered (printed) version of a word processor document. That's why PDFs have fixed page sizes and are hard to edit: the high-level document information has been converted to specific page-level data by the rendering process e.g the addition of margins and page breaks.


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

[User] [Marvel] Are there any drawbacks to Iron Man not keeping his real identity a secret ?

[Assistant]
In *Iron Man 2*, Ivan Vanko almost kills Tony Stark during a motorsport race because his attendance was very publicly known,  and therefore easy to anticipate.

In *Iron Man 3*, Tony Stark's home is obliterated by gunship helicopters. This almost kills Tony Stark *and* Pepper Potts.

Yes, there are drawbacks to pissing people off on a superhero level, then having your public appearances trackable.


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

[User] ELI5: In school we learnt that honey doesn't spoil. So how is it that packaged honey, even those that claim to be "pure", have an expiration date?

[Assistant] They dont spoil but they do lose flavour, smell and water. If you store honey in fridge, some times you might notice it crystallises. This will happen in room temperature after a couple of years. So the expiration date is really a best by date.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does youtube meet the incredibly high demand for storage required for all the uploaded videos?

I read that if you tried to watch every video on youtube, for every minute of video you watched, you would fall one week behind due to all the uploads that would take place in that one minute.

So this raised the question - how does youtube (or Google) meet such an incredible demand for storage? Are there algorithms that make video storage size smaller? And even if such algorithms existed, wouldn't there still be an absolutely atrocious amount of data that would need to be stored?

[Assistant]
By having entire buildings filled with servers and hard drives.

How many terabyte drives can you fit in a million sq ft datacenter?   Google has over 20 datacenter worldwide.

And you continuously add more drives.  By the rackful.


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

[User] ELI5: Why can an ant fall from several feet up and live to walk away, yet if a person fell from the same relative height they would die?

[Assistant]
In physics, there exists a term called terminal velocity. It describes the max speed of an object will fall taken into the effects of gravity and air resistance.

An ant has a very low terminal velocity, where on the other hand a human has fairly high terminal velocity. To put into perspective the difference, imagine this: in order for an ant to reach terminal velocity, it only needs to fall around 1 story, or around 4 meters, whereas a human needs the entire height of the Empire State Building to reach terminal velocity.

Just imagine dropping a piece of paper and a bowling ball, where the paper is the ant and the ball is you.


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

[User]
[Warhammer 40k] Do the people in charge actually believe the whole Emperor religion thing?

Like, is this a 1984 thing where the terrible society is self perpetuating because everyone believes in it, or is it a case of the upper classes spreading a useful lie?

[Assistant]
If by 'in charge' you mean the High Lords of Terra, then generally they do. Remember that followers of the Imperial Cult did manage to wrestle control of the Imperium from the High Lords during the Age of Apostasy. But here's a breakdown of each High Lord:

Permanent seats:

The Master of the Administratum - Believer

The Inquisitorial Representative - Depends on the Inquisitor

The Ecclesiarch of the Adeptus Ministorum - Space Pope

The Fabricator-General of the Adeptus Mechanicus - Mechanicus don't really worship the Emperor anyway. But that doesn't mean they don't seem him as divine.

The Grand Provost Marshal of the Adeptus Arbites - Believer

The Paternoval Envoy of the Navigators - Navgiators can actually 'see' the light of the Astronomicon so they generally do believe that the Emperor is divine. But do note that the position is called 'Envoy' for a reason, the Paternova has the real power but whether or note the highest echelons of the Navis Nobilite believe in the Emperor's divinity is another thing.

The Master of the Astronomican -  Astropath, so believer.

The Grand Master of the Officio Assassinorum - Not enough information, as we don't know how the Grand Master is chosen (if among the ranks of the assassins or not) no reliable guess can be done. He's definitely not a Eversor or a Culexus though.

The Master of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica - Astropath, so believer.

Other seats:

Lord Commander of Segmentum Solar - Chances are he went through basic military training, and has a copy of  the Imperial Munitorum Manual. So yes, believer.

Lord Commander Militant of the Imperial Guard - Same as above.

Cardinal(s) of the Holy Synod of Terra - Space Cardinals

The Abbess of the Adepta Sororitas - Oh definitely a believer.

Captain-General of the Adeptus Custodes - None Believer.

The Chancellor of the Estate Imperium - Believer

The Speaker for the Chartist Captains - Believer

Lord High Admiral of the Imperial Navy - Same as the Lord Commander.

By and large the Imperial Cult extends to the ruling and not only the common class. Honestly Space Marines are probably one of, if not the only group in sizeable numbers who generally don't worship the Emperor.


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

[User]
ELI5: The lyrics to Hotel California

Edit: Wow, I never expected it to be this popular. Thanks, everyone!

[Assistant]
I always thought that this song was about drugs, and that the "hotel" is the metaphorical place you go when you are high.

He is felling depressed about something (dark desert highway) A girl introduce him to drugs (she showed me the way), it's great at first (such a lovely place, any time of year, etc ...).

He meets other drug addicts (some dance to remember, some dance to forget), have parties with the captain, and slowly take the road of addiction (we are all just prisoners here, of our own device).
At some point he realizes that drugs is not a solution to any of his problem or in fact any problem (they just can't kill the beast).

So he's running for the door, and tries to quit drugs. You can indeed try to quit drugs for some time (you can check out anytime you like), but you will have that addiction deep in your body and mind for the rest of your life (you can never leave [the hotel])

So TIL that there are other reasonable explanations.


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

[User]
[DC] How can the Anti Life Equation and the Life Equation exist in the same universe when they both "prove" inherently contradictory truths about the universe?

The Anti Life Equation mathematically proves that life is meaningless and not worth living, while the Life Equation proves the exact opposite. But they're both undeniable proof of ideas that cannot exist in the same reality with the same basis of life. There can't be a universe where 2+2=4 and 4-2=3 can coexist, so how can both Life Equations?

[Assistant]
Different axioms.

If you run the numbers from one set of premises, you calculate that life is meaningless and has not capacity for more then slavery to darkseid. If you run from another, you calculate that all people have value and deserve freedom.

One could say the entire point of all of DC comics is a discussion over which starting premises are more reasonable.


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

[User]
[Marvel/DC] So many characters are geniuses. If every superhero and villain with genius intellect had instead average intelligence, how would their worlds be different? What events would have changed?

This is assuming everyone keeps their non-smart powers.

[Assistant]
Most of Marvel never happens. The FF never go into space, because Reed hasn't invented an experimental rocket ship. Bruce Banner never invents the Gamma Bomb and doesn't become the Hulk. Tony Stark never becomes Iron Man. Hank Pym never invents Pym Particles and doesn't become Ant-Man, or make his girlfriend the Wasp. Professor X doesn't invent Cerebro, and has a harder time tracking down mutants. Doctor Doom is just a powerful wizard.

Despite the best efforts of Thor, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange and Professor X, this world gets eaten by Galactus.


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

[User]
ELI5 - Google's new privacy policy

I just don't get what all the fuzz is about?

[Assistant]
Google will now take all the things you read, write or click in any of the Google products and use them in order to show you targeted advertisements.

The big difference is that (1) the information from all products (search, G+, docs) is combined, which didn't use to be the case - this will allow much more accurate profiling which in the end will basically identify you. No matter if you tell them your exact details, they might know who you are, where you live, etc - no matter if you surf in private mode, from different computers, etc. As long as *something* connects the information (e.g. one gmail account, same computer, same IP) Google will try to match these information.


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

[User] Why are prices of goods lower on Black Friday, when demand for Christmas gifts begins to surge, than After Christmas (Boxing Day), when demand sharply declines?

[Assistant]
The surge in demand around Black Friday is well anticipated by stores, who preemptively increase their supply in order to capitalize on the increased demand. This helps keep prices from increasing for most things as the supply rises to meet the demand, but creates increased pressure for the stores to attract that increased demand to their products specifically, resulting in the numerous sales, as well as tactics like loss leaders (steeply, often unprofitably, discounted items meant to get people in the door where they will then buy other, more profitably priced merchandise at the same time), or more cheaply made versions of expensive items like TVs that can be sold at a discounted price without cutting into profits.

Likewise, stores arent ordering extra stock to replenish what is sold during the holiday season for the post holiday, because they know ahead of time that demand is going to drop off sharply.

Increased and decreases in demand tend to raise or lower prices as supply tries to catch up to the change in demand. Since the demand changes are predictable, suppliers can anticipate those changes and plan accordingly, which somewhat or entirely negates the effect of the change in demand on price.

That said, it should be noted that unexpectedly hot items during Black Friday will often fly off the shelves very quickly and then see a spike in prices on resale sites, while stores that fail to sell off their excess stock during the holiday season may be left in a position that they need to steeply discount their supply to get rid of it in the post-holiday, so in that sense the changes in demand still do have their intuitive impact on pricing.

For the most part, good planning prevents this from being too much of an issue as retailers attempt to capture the increased demand, though.


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

[User]
[Japanese Mythology] Ok, why are people against me marrying a Kitsune?

Just curious becuase... I mean, who wouldn't want to have a superpowered wife. I'm pretty sure she isn't deceiving me or something because I'm just a farmer and all and people are acting like crazy.

[Assistant]
Look goddamn it we have lost way too many viable husbands and fathers to the temptation to touch the fluffy tail.

you know the problem is that when a man and a kitsune make babies they are always kitsune babies and because of all the kitsune being ludicrously attractive and affectionate we are having problems keeping the population of humans up.


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

[User] [MCU] Does Thanos have any special feats besides being smarter and stronger Hulk?

[Assistant]
Well... he's pretty resistant to infinity stones, which seem to kill anyone else that uses them ;-).

But yes, if you consider a Titan's strength, durability, speed, reflexes, and longevity to just be "a stronger hulk", then sure, probably longevity is the only true "extra" power that isn't just massively greater than Hulk's.

Being 1,000 years old gets you a lot of experience at fighting when you're a Titan.

Not clear he's smarter than Bruce Banner, though.


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

[User]
How would a neutral bouyant object or person experience acceleration if the fluid around them was accelerating with them. Think throwing a fishbowl.

A colleague mentioned that lots of stuff in Star Trek is scientifically viable.  I challenged this by saying "inertial dampers."

His response blew my mind.

Put a man in a fishbowl in a SCUBA suit, and accelerate that inside a rocket ship.

While it's clear that he wouldn't be flung to the back of the fishbowl, I know in my engineering heart that the diver would still experience acceleration.

Can someone help me out?

[Assistant]
It would be the same effect as accelerating in a car. The fluids inside the body would still experience the sudden change in force (an object at rest will stay at rest untill acted upon by an outside force)

Inertial dampeners on Star Trek actually apply an opposite artifical gravity against the force of acceleration. Such that the people inside are being subjected to "neutral forces" in the sense that all parts of them are being pulled in opposing directons with equal force at the same time.


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

[User]
CMV: the economy is massively rigged, and thats the way its going to stay

The top 1% owns 56% of the stock market. The top 10%, 88% of it. In the past the mistake a lot of people made was assuming the stock market would keep going up indefinitely, and that was a great way to lose a lot of your money. But with the numbers above, the rich will always make sure the stock market is propped up (look at where the vast majority of the stimulus money went, while people got a $1,200 check if they qualified).

Im generally pretty optimistic-I still think you can come up from nothing and change your life, get to the middle class from poverty, my family was on food stamps when I was young and I have a high paying job now-but when it comes to the truly rich or even the top 10%.. Its a big club, and you aint in it. - George Carlin.

Edit: not saying its impossible to get to the top 10%. Zuckerberg, Bezos got into the top 1%. But lets be realistic here. Also, I understand anyone can invest in the stock market. But my point is just that its really rigged, not that its impossible.

Also, not sure if it matters but I work in finance, invest in stocks, and understand finance pretty well overall even beyond my job (I read a lot about it, its interesting to me). I know how to make progress and know it can be done, I just think its rigged.

[Assistant] I would agree with you, except for the rising number of millennial millionaires, millennials are currently set to become one of the wealthiest generations in recorded history based on statistics. Currently speaking baby boomers are still number one, but these millennials millionaires are born from hard work, not from inherented wealth, so there is hope.


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

[User] ELI5: Whats the difference from those big bulky cameras you'd see at movie sets and tv shows ,and the normal small portable cameras?

[Assistant]
The main reason is those cameras carry physically larger lenses and the sensor inside the camera is larger as well. These are larger both to enhance quality and to work well in low light situations, such as when actors are talking indoors. They also have a bit more electronics to send a lower quality version of the video over a radio link, across the stage to where the director typically watches on a large monitor, and technicians record this temporary version so the director can play it back as many times as they like to decide if the shot was ok.

The lenses are engineering marvels themselves. They have geared focus rings so the focus is controlled by a second operator. Different focal length lenses from the same manufacturer have the focus rings in the same place so the lenses can be quickly swapped without having to realign the focus mechanism.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why can't Android get updates like Windows does, bypassing the phone's manufacturer?

Both Windows and Android have to deal with vast number of devices of various manufacturers, but Windows can update itself while Android can't. I thought this might be caused by how phones need to be optimized for power and performance, but so do laptops.

Edit: In short, why doesn't Android devices get updates at the same time like Windows does?

[Assistant]
first of all, every manufacturer (besides of nexus series) is tinkering with android. so there is almost no "pure android" besides of official google products. this means that every manufacturer needs to change android.

second thing, drivers. windows have many drivers, many things is plug and play, it doesn't work that way with android. android needs to be light, needs to be optimized for hardware. they can't add drivers for every part, it needs to be tested and needs to work on particular phone (or sometimes series of phones).

edit: there can be even more delay if it's changed by operator. in this case it looks like this:

google is releasing new android -> manufacturer is changing it (like TouchWiz) -> operator is changing it (like adding even more bloatware).

i'm not sure it's big case in USA, but probably is.


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

[User]
ELI5: Which transmission gives more mileage and why?

I drive a manual transmission car and I find my mileage to be comparable if not lower to an automatic transmission car. While activating cruise control, my mileage rises by a few kms because of this I have always wondered which transmission for my next car would be the best, considering mileage to be an important factor.

[Assistant]
The blunt truth: Driver skill/style is 10x more important than transmission.

If fuel consumption is a priority:

1) Drive at the speed limit. EVERY car (other than sports cars perhaps) will be a LOT more fuel efficient at 65mph or less. This can easily save 10-15% on fuel consumption on highways.

2) Accelerate gently and anticipate slowing down and coasting to more gentle stops. In stop and start traffic, this again easily saves 5-10% on fuel consumption.

3) Maintain tire pressures, tire alignment and maintenance of engine.

The differences in fuel consumption between a modern automatic transmission and a manual are small, if any, if a driver practices the above.

This is a very easy thing to test. Drive slower and less aggressively and monitor mileage. Do the comparison.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] it's the first day of high school (or whatever is equivalent). What sort of classes would an average teenager expect to take during the time periods of the prequels, original trilogy, and new trilogy?

Would there be a planetary history course as well as galactic?

Are the jedi brought up at all? Would the text books change after order 66?

I am assuming in an empire this big, there would be much more to learn. Would children be required to go to school longer than us on earth?

Would schools on other planets be under the same district or are they seperated?

Would rich kids have to travel the galaxy to go to the best schools in the galaxy?

[Assistant] Your education experince would change depending on what planet you are from. Most worlds would apprentice you, or have you start working at a very young age. The core worlds would likely have a general schooling, to prepare you either for the workforce, or for the best and brightest, to be sent to the imperial academy.


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

[User]
Why does stellar fusion last so long?

Even if fusion is only occuring in the core of a star, what is the hydrogen doing that is not undergoing fusion? Even the largest stars with lives of 100 million years seem long-lived. If hydrogen fused into helium in the core, what stops it from continuing to fuse into heavier elements immediately?

[Assistant]
Stellar Evolution takes place in a really cool state of equilibrium. So, as you probably know, the fusion only happens at high temperatures. Also, the fusion creates a lot of energy, which in turn creates radiative pressure, which "pushes the star" keeping it large. These two forces keep each other balanced as such.

As pressure is increased on the core, the temperature of the core is heated, which makes fusion more likely to occur. If fusion is more likely to occur, more radiative pressure is created, thus expanding the size of the star, thus decreasing the pressure, thus slowing down fusion. If fusion is slowed down too much, there is less radiative pressure, the star shrinks a little, increasing the pressure, causing more fusion to occur, which then leads to more radiative pressure, expanding the star, cooling down the core. Stars are in a state where this is equalized. This is also why larger stars burn for a shorter period of time, their equilibrium state is one where there is, on average, higher pressure in the core, thus increasing the rate of fusion.

Continuing, temperature is a very "macro" concept. If you only have a couple of particles, temperature doesn't really mean anything- but it is a measure of the average energy of the particles. So, the temperature of the core isn't actually hot enough for two average particles to undergo fusion. But that's just the average, there are lots of particles with less energy than average, and a lot with more energy than average. Only the particles on the high end of this spectrum have enough energy to fuse. This helps explain why it is a slow process.

And finally, fusing lighter elements takes less energy than fusing heavier ones. Thus, while the lighter elements are fusing, the core is not hot enough to fuse the heavier elements. It is only after the lighter elements stop fusing, causing the star to contract slightly, that the core then gets hot enough for the heavier elements to fuse.


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

[User]
[Fight Club] What the hell happens after Durden blows up the buildings?

Blowing up 9 buildings would kind of put anyone on a most wanted list. What would happen next?

[Assistant]
He is institutionalized, he believes himself to be dead and in heaven trying to convince god that people are not perfect unique snowflakes or piles of infectious human waste they just are and that is ok.

The people from the self help groups still write him and tell him that they hope he will get better and project mayhem continues to give him assurances of their commitment to the cause and that they are continuing his work in his absence.


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

[User]
Are viruses like colds and flu different depending on where you are?

In the UK I tended to get colds infrequently and very mildly. Since spending time in and then moving to the US it seems like here I seem to suffer much worse.

I figured colds and flu tend to travel pretty far and wide and wouldnt vary much place to place.

However several people have suggested that my immune system is less equipped for variants here.

Id love to know if its just been bad luck or if its just going to take a while to adjust.

[Assistant] Yes you are being exposed to variants you aren't yet immune to.  However there are other factors. If you are in a place, like a transport hub where there are loads of people bringing in new strains of disease you will get ill more often, also the environment can weaken your immune system, so if the climate is harsher or if there is more pollution.


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

[User] [Stranger Things] Why don't ALL the people of Hawkins just leave the city if they see all this weird stuff happening? Or why doesn't some agency try to evacuate the city?

[Assistant]
The same reason people don't leave Detroit, or Beirute, or any other real-world hellhole.

- Leaving a place costs money that a lot of people don't have
- People fall victim to inertia or fear; it could always be worse somewhere else
- The belief that "it won't happen to me" is very strong

And when you're dealing with an otherworldly entity that kills like three or four people a year, even in a town of like 30,000, "it won't happen to me" is honestly fairly accurate.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do large, orbital structures such as accretion discs, spiral galaxies, planetary rings, etc, tend to form in a 2d disc instead of a 3d sphere/cloud?

[Assistant] The really ELI5 answer. Everything wants to make a single ball of stuff because of gravity. But just like a centrifuge, spinning makes things want to go to the outside. Since they are only spinning in one direction, they only move to the outside in one direction. So you have a ball that is spinning and spitting out stuff in one direction, making it 2D. It is kept 2D because things attract each other, and the closes thing is in a 2D plane with it, so it keeps it in the plane.


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

[User]
[40k] Where do Chaos bros get their ammo?

Surely they didn't have enough when they turned traitor to last for 10,000 years? Do their respective gods just pull that shit from thin air or do they have captured forge worlds and stuff? Where do they get the resources to keep those worlds pumping out ammo for their various fights and shit?

I mean, I know Khornate marines are mostly melee based, and Nurgle niggas be using bioweps and Tnzeetchfags magic the shit out of stuff and Slaneeshi bros have sound weapons, and these are all things that their respective gods can conjure up with relative ease. But what of the physical weps? Bolthguns and such.

If captured forge worlds are the reason, then how are they distributed? The different Chaos legions don't really have they inter-legion cooperation to plan that shit - they don't have Imperium-level bureaucracy in place to ferry out ammunition as-needed by the trooperinos.

WHAT GIVES?!

[Assistant]
Prior to the open war of the Horus Heresy, the Warmaster not only allied half the Astartes legions to his cause, but half of the Adeptus Mechanus as well. In the years following the war a percentage of these Hereteks remain to manufacture specilized munitions and armor.

In addition to these hereteks, many chapters of Astartes have fallen prey to hubris and corruption in the following millenia. Often these brothers will barter ammunition and other battle rainments to garner favor amongst more prestigious Chaos chapters.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does the body bring tears to your eyes when choking? What is the practical purpose?

[Assistant]
The choking reflex helps us survive, and as such it overdoes it from time-to-time, like our Flight/Fight/Freeze instinct does.

First, it triggers coughing and mouth/throat secretions for lubrication. The secretory motor system, as a byproduct, brings tears to your eyes. It's flushing everything it can as fast as it can to get whatever is blocking your airway to dislodge.

The coughing thing isn't even a regular cough, it's a super-violent kind of cough that actually sends air up into your tear ducts, which A) hurts like a mother and B) causes more tears.

Normally this wouldn't be a big problem, happens all the time. We've got a neat little system in our tear ducts has these plugs (punctum) that stop the air from coming up and lets the tears we normally produce to wet our eyes drain down into our noses.

But the sheer violence of the choking reflex shoots up so much pressure that it reverses the whole system, making the tears coming down our noses shoot back up. More tears.


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

[User] Eli5: Why is glacier preservation so important? What would happen if they were to be completely melted across the globe?

[Assistant]
Glacier melting is seen as a significant indicator of global temperature. They are long standing, relatively stable structures. If they start disappearing, it means conditions have changed that were constant for a very long time.

Furthermore, a lot of them are on land, which means if they melt they add their water to the ocean, which can potentially raise sea level.

So in and of themselves, they represent a danger, but also they represent a signal of a greater danger, global warming.


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

[User]
[Marvel] Who would win in a game of Risk, Cyclops, Capt. America, or Nick Fury?

Let's assume it's the original Risk, and the Steve Rogers Captain.

[Assistant]
Risk isn't a strategy game.  It's a luck game with soft strategy elements.

Whichever person has the ability to control dice rolls would win.  Alternately, notable characters all have extremely good luck in dire circumstances, so depending on the stakes of the game it could go on forever.


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

[User] ELI5: What determines the location of a headache?

[Assistant]
Pain management doctor here,

There are many, many sources and causes of headaches. The location and type of symptoms are the main things we look for in coming up with a diagnosis. For example, migraines are typically one-sided and throbbing while hemicrania headaches involve one side but are more continuous. Cervicogenic(meaning, from the neck) headaches typically involve the back of the head. Tension headaches typically feel like a band across the head. Cluster headaches involve very intense pain behind an eye. There are many other types, as well.

Going into the actual mechanism behind all of these is a huge topic and not fully understood -- but each of them has very different pathologies, prognosis, and treat treatment.


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

[User] ELI5 - How does anaesthesia work? Specifically, general anaesthesia?

[Assistant]
General anesthesia has has a few main elements, although one anesthetic agent might not affect all  of them at the same time, which is why anesthetists carefully choose a combo of drugs that work together. The four elements are unconsciousness, amnesia (forgetting), analgesia (lack of pain), and immobility. Anesthetics, in general, depress the central nervous system and work on different parts of the brain in order to have all these different effects on your brain and body. We're not actually 100% sure how they all work, and there are tons of different kinds of drugs, but they have a few principles in common.

There are specific parts of the brain involved in wakefulness, like a region called the *reticular activating system* and the *thalamus*, which are commonly affected by anesthetic drugs. The thalamus is a relay, processing, and integration gateway region that works sort of as middle management: many basic sensory signals and information come to this structure, and it works to integrate all the information together into a more cohesive picture and send it out to higher (conscious) parts of the brain for further analysis. It also interacts with the reticular activating system, which is a connected system of regions responsible for regulating your brain's transition from awake to asleep.

Another important thing to remember is that pain is all in your brain. The actual physical cell damage (like a cut or a bruise) is noticed by specialized nerve cells called *nociceptors* that are throughout your body. These cells notice the damage and send the information up through your spinal cord to your brain ("hey brain! some bad stuff is happening to the body, you might wanna alert them so they can escape the danger!"), and different types of these cells encode different types of pain (sharp vs dull, burning, etc). However, the actual "feeling" of pain comes when these signals get to your brain, where lots of modulation and regulation of these raw signals happen. Using lots of pathways, your brain can enhance these signals or downplay them, which is why sometimes a cut doesn't hurt until you see it or why a surge of adrenaline can make you not notice a huge injury. For example, t*he opioid pathway* (which is stimulated by drugs like Vicodin and Oxycontin) interferes with the nociceptors so it's harder for them to tell the brain what they're sensing. It also enhances the dopamine (the "feel good hormone") pathway to cause euphoria or a sense of well-being.

In addition, some drugs work by enhancing our brain's natural inhibitory mechanisms ("off switches"). Your brain is a complex system full of signals and things trying to regulate and modify these signals: sometimes exciting them, sometimes inhibiting them. Some anesthetics also work by "disconnecting" certain connecting pathways, so that the sensory information never gets to the conscious parts of your brain. Ketamine works this way.

Here's an example of some of the diverse actions in a common anesthetic class, the **barbiturate** (phenobarbital, thiopental, etc):

Inhibits release of neurotransmitter (chemical signals) and inhibits neuronal firing in the thalamus and reticular activating system, causing sleep. Also enhances the functioning and binding of inhibitory neurotransmitter called GABA-A, basically depressing the function of the central nervous system as a whole. Cerebral blood flow and brain metabolism decreases. It also depresses important brain areas like the ones that regulate your breathing and heart rate, which is why during surgery you're hooked up to all those monitors. It also works at the junction between your muscles and the nerves that make them move, causing immobility (important during surgery!). As an example of "one agent doesn't do everything," these drugs don't stop pain, so you need to add another drug like an opioid when using a drug like this as a general anesthetic.


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

[User]
[Pokemon] Pokeballs. How do they work?

Is it ever given adequate explanation?

How come a bunch of acorns in Gold/Silver allow them to be imbued with special powers, too?

[Assistant]
> Is it ever given adequate explanation?

Matter-to-energy and/or matter-to-information tech. Basically the same as teleporting something, except trapping it between teleporter pads. It's the same principle used for the item box app on PCs.

> How come a bunch of acorns in Gold/Silver allow them to be imbued with special powers, too?

Pokeballs date back for decades, if not centuries (around the end of the Information Age if we assume that the 21st century apocalypse timeline theories are correct, or far back into prehistory if we're going by the alternate universe timeline theory). The tech has been available for a long time.

The first pokeballs in recorded history were made from apricorns because the shells had properties that made them suitable for it. They weren't made of *just* shells, they also had some electronics put in of course (or possibly magic, because that is a thing that exists in the Pokemon universe). Modern pokeballs are plastic because they're easier to mass-produce, but hand-crafted pokeballs are superior in some situations.


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

[User] ELI5: When a company talks about how much money they made, "in terms of EBITDA", what do they mean? Why does EBITDA matter?

[Assistant]
EBITDA stands for Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization. It's just a fancy way of saying how much they made before subtracting unavoidable costs/obligations not to be confused with the costs of running a business since you could theoretically cut costs like employee salaries or manufacturing costs.

It's just a way to show how profitable the company could be. That's why there is a distinction between a company's revenue and profit. One describes how much money the company made (i.e. sales) but the other is how much goes into the pockets of owners/shareholders.


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

[User] ELI5: What is it that makes carnivores only able to eat meat?

[Assistant]
Carnivores have a really short digestive system that's well-suited for getting nutrients out of meat.

It takes a lot longer to get nutrients out of fruits and vegetables, which is why we have a much, much longer digestive system.

Animals like cows have incredibly complex digestive systems consisting of several stomachs so they can get all they can out of *grass*. Pure carnivores have none of that.


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

[User] ELI5: How can "Bill" be short for "William"?

[Assistant]
It rhymes. Literally as simple as that.

Nicknames would be stuff that sounded similar, and often rhymed because of our tendency to say cute rhyming stuff to little kids. "Ricky Dicky" "Willy Billy" "Robby Bobby".

Sometimes the nicknames stick, and we get names like Bob, Will and Dick. Not the same as the original names, but close enough to recognize the similarity.


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

[User] CMV: Porn escorts and the adult industry in general is becoming marginalized onto the Internet. It should be celebrated.

[Assistant] I think the sex industry moving online is a good thing, a large amount of abuse and harm comes from the people running the brothels and making money off the girls bodies, online sites allow the girls to be their own bosses and control their bodies more.


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

[User]
[Pokmon] How do Ash and his friends get money on the road?

Do they loot defeated trainers or something?

[Assistant] Trainers pay out after losing a battle. Not all trainers travel like Ash does many will have day jobs using their pokemon for stuff like power generation, rescue work, construction, transportation, and mail services.


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

[User]
CMV - "Fully Automated Luxury Gay Space Communism" is the most ideal society possible.

So this title might sound like a joke and indeed it is inspired by one, but the more I think about it the more I hold the idea that for a perfect Utopia to exist it would have to be a fully automated luxury gay space communist regime.

Fully automated - all menial labor would be handled by AI programs. This would mean that there would no longer be Factory workers, truck drivers, delivery people or cash registers etc. Humans would no longer work jobs that are too simplistic or too dangerous instead they would likely lead logistical projects as well as of course manage their robot servants.

Luxury - While it is of course impossible to meet all the needs of every individual in a collective this society would work to ensure that all people have food  water, and shelter as well as amenities such as Electronics and vehicles. Nobody would have to worry about running out of basic resources like medicine.

Gay - While I don't necessarily mean you that everybody must be homosexual, that would obviously be detrimental to a species, everybody should be free to express their sexuality and whatever way they choose provided they're not doing so with children, animals or those who don't conent simply put there would be a culture of openness and acceptance in terms of sexuality gender roles, and other practices of the sort

Space - if we wish to maintain all the energy and resource needs of our species, we'll have to branch into space. Constructions of fusion reactors and Dyson spheres could power our society near indefinitely and this of course draws back to one of our earlier points about luxuries.

Communism - if the government seeks to prosper without tyranny or major wealth inequality, private property and private ownership of resources would have to be limited if not completely outlawed. while this may not sound appealing and I agree is not possible in our current state it would be necessary in an ideal Utopia.

Sorry about my bad typing I was only using my right hand (masturbating with my left one)

[Assistant] Any form of "end of history" hypothesis/ideal is guaranteed to be wrong. There will always be something better, and a thousand years from now whatever humans become may look back on fully automated luxury gay space communism the same way we do the Middle Ages.


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

[User]
[Warhammer 40K] How common is it really for Commissars to get fragged?

Fragging, for the uninitiated, is the act of "accidentally" killing your commanding officer in a way that resembles friendly fire. It has not gone unnoticed that Commissars have a particular reputation for dying heroically for the Emperor, even when the enemy is curiously far from the front, and without any witnesses. Even Ciaphas Cain, (***HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!!!***) a Commissar himself, noted this in his memoirs and why he makes it a point to be nice to his troops. So, do Commissars really get whacked by their own troops at the slightest provocation on a near-hourly basis, or is this particular reputation grossly exaggerated?

[Assistant]
Like everything 40k it is common and almost unheard of at the same time.

The guard isnt monolithic, its thousands of cultures and beliefs rolled into billions, if not trillions of troops.

So the commissar leading a unit made up of hive gangers will be more likely to "motivate" his soldiers with threats of violence and the occassional decimation. You might have death world units where killing each other over failure is the norm.

On the flip side you have just as many guard units from "normal" planets where its not constant hell and they might only engage humans rioting. Their commissar will be far less likely to just start wasting people who look away from the battlefield for too long.

You will also have commissars that are beloved and motivate their men by leading them into combat.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are some plugs ungrounded?

I know that grounding a circuit is a way to ensure that people won't electrocute themselves every time they plug or unplug a wire from the wall. However, some plugs in my house are ungrounded, such as my toaster wire or laptop charger. Why is this allowed? Isn't an ungrounded plug dangerous?

[Assistant]
The ground exists to prevent a short circuit in a device from electrifying the case, which would shock you if you just touched the device.  Basically, the ground is attached to the case in such a way that it if the case somehow becomes electrified, the ground is the shortest path for electricity to travel to your house's ground (as opposed to that being your body).  Because of that, electricity should *never* be flowing through the ground - its a last ditch measure to keep a seriously damaged device from killing you.

If a device doesn't have any metal parts that you can touch then it doesn't need a ground because there is no way for the case to be electrified.

The ground has nothing to do with unplugging or plugging in a device.  Plugs are made out of plastic or rubber so they can't be electrified.


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

[User]
What are the neurotransmitters responsible for humor reactions?

You know, when someone tells a funny joke and you laugh and laugh? What causes that? What causes that wonderful, carefree feeling?

[Assistant]
Too many to list.

Serotonin involved with mood, dopamine reinforces pleasurable behaviour, neuropeptides such as endorphins can be involved.

Humour will be formed in the cortex. Signals will be sent with glutamate, modulated by GABA/serotonin, dopamine and/or endorphin pathways likely next. There's noradrenaline involved too.


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

[User] ELI5:How come people can't be cryogenically frozen safely as the ice crystals destroy the cell membranes, but sex cells such as sperm are kept frozen for long periods of time yet remain functional?

[Assistant]
Sperm is frozen in liquid nitrogen, and the water in the cells is replaced by glycerol (basically antifreeze) as a "cryoprotectant", which displaces the water and does not form the crystalline structure that damages cells.

However, the freezing and thawing process is still pretty harsh and many sperm don't survive.  Luckily, there are billions and you only need 1.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do bar codes work?

The entire system is complete wizardry to me. The laser itself is witchcraft but the most amazing part is the database. I could imagine that stores somehow associate a code with a product when they add it to their inventory system but what prevents two manufacturers from using the same bar codes on different products. Is there a master database somewhere and who is responsible for managing it?

Edit: I really appreciate all the answers about the database aspect of this but I am still wondering how the actual laser works. Seems like it has to be fairly simple because the technology has been around for decades, long before 'modern' computers.

[Assistant] When a manufacturer produces a product it has to pay for each of those number codes that are attached to the bar code scanned at checkout. Yes each product has a unique barcode for itself. From type and size (think different size boxes of the same cereal at the store) the manufacturer pays for them. Its a long number too right? It can be broken down like a phone number with area code first...it is more specific than that though. Starting with the general product type, then country it was manufactured in, then the manufacturers company code, then that specific products code. The bars above the number are kind of like a number code for the laser to read. The size and spacing represent separate numbers. Pretty cool and a universally accepted way to track purchases, keep stock of an inventory, and maintain the extensive catalog of products out there.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do fish in fish tanks keep each other entertained?

Do they not go insane from being confined?

[Assistant]
It's important to keep fish in the correct size tank, and with the correct number of fish (the rule of thumb is 1" of fish for each gallon of tank).

It's also important to give them something to be active *with* - plants and decorations are good for that (plants are also vital for filtration - which is *another* thing that *all* fish need).

If you don't do that, the fish *will* be stressed. They won't so much be *bored*, or appear bored - but they'll *not* be happy or have a good life!

So all those goldfish in bowls? Terrible. All those betas living in a cup? That's just horrific. They might not look it but they *are* suffering. Fish - even betas or goldfish need at *least* 5 gallons, *and* filtration, *and* entertainment, *and* their water replaced regularly, *and* their tank cleaned, *and* temperature control.


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

[User]
what's Plotinus reading from?

don't you just love when someone reads from a source or references one but doesn't tell you what it is? In Plotinus Enneads 1.8.4 Plotinus says:
> it is, we read, the Soul that has entered into the service of that in which soul-evil is implanted by nature, in whose service the unreasoning phase of the Soul accepts evil-unmeasure, excess and shortcoming, which print forth licentiousness, cowardice, and all other flaws of the soul, all states, foreign to the true nature, which set up false judgments, so that the Soul comes to name things good or evil not by their true value but by the mere test of like and dislike.

Any one know plotinus's source for this. I assume Plato unless he had notes that were written up by Ammonius or something.

[Assistant]
The Loeb edition translates this section as:

> Which, then, is the evil soul? It is the sort of thing which Plato means when he says "those in whom the part of the soul in which evil naturally resides has been brought into subjection,"^**1** that is, it is the irrational part of the soul which is receptive of evil, that is of unmeasuredness and excess and defect, from which come unrestrained wickedness and cowardice and all the rest of the souls evil, involuntary affections which produce false opinions, making it think that the things which it shuns and seeks after are evil and good respectively.

Footnote **1** gives a reference to Plato's *Phaedrus* 256B2-3.


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

[User] [DC] Are most Amazonian women without a relationship and single and virgins for their entire lives, or do they ever have relationships with one another?

[Assistant]
There are different versions of Amazons throughout the years in the comics.

In the modern version (New 52), the Themyscirans raid ships on the high seas and copulate with men. At the end of the mating, they take their lives and throw their corpses into the sea. They raise the female offspring, but the male children were given to the god Hephastus in exchange for weaponry and armor, and they are raised as the Sons of Themyscira, as artists and smiths. Lesbian relationships are common in their society, heterosexual relationships are almost a necessary evil.

In both the Silver Age of Earth-One and Post-Crisis versions, Amazons did not have much contact with the outside world until Diana became Wonder Woman. It was hinted there was some homosexual love between them Post-Crisis, but was not really built upon. Amazons had more sisterly relations than romantic. They did not have children as they were immortal. Diana was the only Amazon to really interact with the outside world, and she had a romantic connection to Steve Trevor. Donna Troy, her younger adopted sister Pre-Crisis (or magical clone Post-Crisis) was raised from childhood as essentially a human with magically enhanced strengths.

In the Golden Age of Earth-Two, the comic was ironically strongly influenced by the sexual views of her creator, William Moulton Marston, who lived in a polyamorous relationship with two women Elizabeth Holloway Marston and Olive Byrne. Their was a lot of lesbian subtext and bondage in the Golden Age comics surrounding the Amazons, subtle but obvious. And Amazon could lose her power if bound by a man. Diana herself was heteerosexual and married Steve Trevor, and their daughter Lyta was too and married Hank Hall, the Silver Scarab and son of Hawkman and later avatar to Dream, the Sandman.

This was even greatly built upon the recent comic *Wonder Woman Earth-One*, where Amazon rituals and bondage are deeply intertwined with sapphic relationships.


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

[User]
[Half-Life] Is the G-Man a good guy?

I know "good guy" can be kind of vague. If you'd prefer it rephrased, what's the G-Man hope to accomplish? What's his goal?

[Assistant]
He works for a group, only known as his employers, who have a vested interest in Earth. They may be more powerful than the Combine, but we really do t know.

His current task seems to be ridding Earth of the Combine, or at the very least using the Battle for Earth as the starting point for a larger war against the Combine.

It should be noted he goes against the orders of his employers from time to time, so he may have goals sewerage from theirs.


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

[User]
ELI5: why does the moon look big to our eyes but when we take a picture its really small

Edit: thanks for the awards guys. Ive never gotten them before :)

[Assistant] Others are right about your brain's ability to focus, but also many cameras (including until very recently basically all mobile phone cameras) are very wide-angle. This is great for fitting in all of your friends from just arm's length.  It's also absolutely awful at capturing things at a distance, since such a tremendously large area is in-frame.


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

[User]
How can Kant claim that the realm of the thing-in-itself is the source of freedom if things-in-themselves are unknowable?

If the subject can not even conceptualise himself "as he is", only as he is for himself, how can Kant claim that it is reasonable to assume there is such a thing as human freedom or God or whatever even if Newtonian physics governs the realm of appearances? What is his reasoning?

"There is this realm which I know nothing about, but it is the source of my freedom." Sounds weird.

[Assistant]
In the *Critique of Practical Reason*, Kant argues the the moral law is a "fact of reason", i.e. indubitably binding on us by virtue of our reason. Now, since we must be able to do what we ought to do, and since freedom is required to be able to do what the moral law tells us we ought to do, then we must be free.

The critical resolution of the Third Antinomy showed that phenomena were governed by unfree causal laws of nature, while freedom was at least *possible* (thinkable) with respect to noumena. Thus we can have no theoretical *knowledge* of freedom. But Kant "denied knowledge in order to make room for faith". The moral law, as the law of practical reason, grounds a rational practical faith in freedom. (It does the same thing for God and immortality, theoretical knowledge of which is also impossible according to the *Critique of Pure Reason*).

So, in a sense, practical reason fills in the gaps of theoretical reason. Thus Kant argues that practical reason has "primacy" over theoretical reason.


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

[User] ELI5: What is the pay-off for those that deny the holocaust?

[Assistant]
There is no 'pay off'... I'd say a lot of these fools genuinely believe it didn't happen. Therefore it just coincides with their political beliefs.

Other reasons could be that it allows them to continue the 19th century tradition of blaming the Jews for everything and demonising them as liars and untrustworthy.


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

[User]
[Dune] Would making a human mind in the likeness of a machine be allowed?

In the Dune universe genetic engineering/manipulation is a thing so it could be possible to breed or design a human with mentat like abilities but without the personhood. This biological computer of sorts could then maybe be installed in something like an ornithopter and take over tasks that we have performed by computers in real life flying machines. However, since in function this would be almost identical to that of mechanical computers, which are outlawed. So, would such a process be allowed?

[Assistant] A mentat is essentially a human computer, so I'd say "yes." You could push the hypothetical to a point where people in the Dune-verse might push back on some kind of needed distinction between man and machine, but it gets speculative.


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

[User]
[Werewolves, General] A pregnant woman turns into a werewolf...

So, a woman is either pregnant and becomes a werewolf, or already was a werewolf and becomes pregnant: when she transforms into a wolf, does the unborn child also become a wolf?  If she gives birth under a full moon, does the baby remain a wolf cub or does it change back into human form once disconnected from the mother?

[Assistant] Short answer yes. If Lycanthropy is a disease transmitted through blood and saliva like rabies or stds then a mother would transmit that disease to her baby. However, if the nature of the disease is to change under the full moon then it wouldnt matter when she gave birth. If she gave birth in wolf form, she would have a wolf baby but the wolf baby would turn back into a human baby at the same time the mother transforms to a human again.


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

[User] Is getting tongue-tied a very minor form of aphasia, or are the causes completely different?

[Assistant] The phenomenon is so common it actually has a clinical shorthand, a "TOT state." It occurs whenthe left temporal and frontal areas of your brain temporarily fail to work together to retrieve words or names stored in your memory, or other information, like where you left your keys.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does scratching feel so good when it ends up in a much worse rash than before?

[Assistant] Scratching sends a low level pain that distracts your brain from focusing on the itching. It can also help to slap the itchy area so that you can get the same distraction without causing damage with scratching.


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

[User] ELI5 - With all the concern about potential brain injury and sport team liability, it seems like soccer/football 'headers' would concern people more. Why isn't this practice frowned upon at a professional level?

[Assistant]
People are well aware of the danger. Many youth leagues ban headers for that exact reason.

But, sports in general tend to be conservative when it comes to safety changes, which likely explains the lack of action at the professional level.