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

[User] ELI5: How does the stomach work in space? Do astronauts feel constant need to throw up since the contents are bouncing around inside?

[Assistant]
A stomach is also more a wet bag than a box or bottle. There's no big open space to fill. The contents can slosh around when you fill it up.

You have a sphincter (round muscle like your butthole) that holds things in at each end. There's a lower esophagal sphincter at the top of the stomach that keeps the digesting food down, and a pyloric sphincter at the bottom that lets it into the intestines when it's digested enough to move on.

When that esophagal sphincter gets weak, the result is reflux. It would be very unpleasant to be in space and have that aggravated.


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

[User]
[The Expanse/General Sci-Fi] What is the range for using the exhaust of a ship as a weapon?

The Kzinti Lesson states that any reaction drive is a weapon effective in proportion to it's efficiency. In shows like the Expanse and in other harder sci-fi settings this holds true as we've seen ship exhaust used as a weapon to destroy other ships.

My question is, in space what would be the upper limit on the effective range of the exhaust of the ship? I realize that this would be wildly variable depending on the type of engine a ship used, the efficiency of said engine and more. But say it was a setting like the Expanse or Heinlein's Time for the Stars where starships are using high efficiency torch-ship like designs, what would be the effective envelope for weapon exhaust? In addition would the ranges be variable depending on the kind of damage one was trying to do (radiation vs thermal).

Thank you.

[Assistant]
Heavily depends on the exhaust:

- typical hydrogen burner: about 30 meters and it is too dispersed to be dangerous

- nuclear burner: About half a click, and the radiation is dispersed enough to be tanked by the shields.

- ion drive: about 2000 kilometres, which is why it is forbidden to approach other vessels running on ID

- magnetic drive: theoretically zero, but it can fuck with the more delicate instruments

- microwave laser drive: theoretically infinite, but in practice about 3 mln kilometres.

- antimatter-matter collapse Drive (AMCD) - at least 500 kilometres, but these things are so dangerous, that you better be on the other side of a large asteroid to shield you.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does a cold causes blood vessels in the nasal passages to swell and, as a result, a stuffy nose?

I'm aware a stuffy nose is caused not by mucus, but by "swollen blood vessels in the nasal passages". But why does such swelling happen? How exactly does a cold causes this?

[Assistant] When your body detects that a foreign substance has entered the nose (including things like viruses, pet dander, pollen, and other airborne irritants) your immune system releases histamines. Histamines bind to alpha and beta receptors in the mucosa at a molecular level and tell the body to increase blood flow to the sinuses and turbinates. The blood vessels and capillaries become larger and you get a stuffy nose. Antihistamines block this action by antagonistically binding to these same receptors which prevents histamine from binding and causing a reaction. Antihistamines will reduce the itch you feel, while nasal decongestants will actively shrink the blood vessels and capillaries so you can breathe again.


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

[User] [lotr/tdoc] With Sauron having some level of control over the 1, 3, 7 and 9 rings, Should I be worried over the 5 rings my true love is sending me?

[Assistant] As long as he doesnt have the rings directly or has the one ring, you are not in dnager while using them. But there are many magic rings in this world, coastertycoon, and none of them should be used lightly. Its unlikely that the five rings your true love is sending you to be any of the lost rings of power, but a lot of them are still unaccounted for, so be careful, and if possible make sure that its not one of the lost rings. Sauron only has controll over those 20 rings, and thats only when he has the one ring, any other rings would be safe to use and not under his controll, since there is a special thing he added to the rings.


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

[User] ELI5: why does freezer burn happen, and what actually is it?

[Assistant] The meat is dehydrating. Even though it's frozen, the air in your freezer is very dry and water molecules in the frozen food can end up becoming vapor even though they're frozen. Freezer burn isn't bad in the sense of the food being rotten or spoiled; in effect, you're slowly turning the meat into jerky. That's what makes the 'burned' parts have a weird texture to them. For meats it's hard and chewy because you can't turn jerky back into meat. For veggies it's limp and gross because plant cells need water inside to hold themselves up.


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

[User]
[Halo] Why was the overseer of Installation 04 named "Guilty Spark"? What was it guilty of exactly?

It's a machine. A computer only performs what it's programmed to perform, so how could it be guilty of anything?

[Assistant] I mean, it's a machine made from the mind of an ancient human, so it's a little bit more than just that.  But at the same time, Forerunners like to give melancholy names to their creations.  *Tragic Solitude*, *Abject Testament*, *Penitent Tangent*.  It stands to reason that, as monitors specifically for the Halo Arrays, they were given more somber melancholic names to pay homage to the terrible price of the Halo Arrays, as *Exuberant Witness*, greatest of all monitor waifus, does not have that melancholic name.


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

[User] Secular buddhism is growing in popularity. Is there anything like secular christianity? If not, why not?

[Assistant]
Well, if secular Buddhism is our model, the best analog would be people from other civilizations romanticizing Christian culture and appropriating its trappings as part of their attempt to grapple with the dilemmas of their own civilizaton's modernity. In that case, sure, we already have secular Christianity in Japan, for instance, where people pay for the kitsch of a Christian wedding with actors playing the priests, and in other such phenomena.

If we set aside the secular Buddhism thing and just ask about the notion of secularism. Well, sure, the notion of secularism finds quite explicit formulations in Christian theology itself, for instance in Ambrose's response to the question of the state theology of Rome. It would be quite sensible for a Christian, identifying with those aspects of their theological history, to be in some quite significant sense a secularist.

If you mean *atheist* Christianity, in the sense of people taking norms and principles from Christianity but deploying them in an atheistic context, sure this has a long history most famously represented by Comte's positivism and the Religion of Humanity.


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

[User]
What did Hegel think was the end goal of history? Do any current philosophers believe that history has a goal/purpose?

As a history major turned philosophy enthusiast, Im interested in Hegel's historical commentary. and the notion he seemed to have that there was some guiding force guiding the "geist" through history. im trying to get straight what he thought it was all leading to, something about the actualization of mankind's freedom, or the worlds spirit setting itself free? At the "end" of history, what did Hegel think civilization would be like?

Id also be curious to read any current Hegelian philosophers that are still writing with a similar view of history today.

[Assistant]
1) Hegel's concept of history is different to what common people mean by history. In the introduction to the *Lectures on the Philosophy of History* Hegel makes arguments against different conceptions of what history can *mean,* much of the attack being that in truth these concepts are empty/meaningless, that they are useless despite claiming use, and that really the discipline of history is entirely presumptuous about its object of study. Hegel conceives history as specifically the history of states and nothing more.

2) The end of history isn't something Hegel assumes, but something that arises from the conceptual organization of states from simplest to most complex according to their generative social principle. Why is this complexity measured by 'freedom'? Because freedom is the form of all truth.

3) Just as the history of the wheel *as wheel* is over once we invent it, so too is the history of freedom in the state over when we have discovered/constructed the organizational process that allows the self-engendering of freedom. Obviously we've modified the wheel to perfect its operation in various conditions, likewise the state is going to forever be modifying to fit its conditions, i.e. its people and times. This modification being *internal* to the form and content of a state would reveal that such a state was the proper form which needs no reinvention. Time shall move on and *History* may be over, but history for plenty of other things will always be ongoing.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does our fingernails have faint lines going up and down?

[Assistant]
well first you should know that its normal. Evenly spaced vertical lines are never a sign of a problem (But horizontal lines, you should see a doctor.)

What happens is that as you get older, parts of the nail matrix (the part of your fingers that the nail grows out of) atrophy. They become weak and dont function quite as well.  This results in the increasingly prominent vertical ridges.

They're very similar in this way to skin wrinkles. Just the natural result of the aging process.


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

[User]
ELI5 bail. "Make bail." Like at a court. How does it work? Where does the money come from/go?

As a grown-ass man, I feel like I should know, but I don't. Any legal/procedural experts?

[Assistant]
The basic idea is that you pay a bunch of money to get out of jail, and then get it back when you show up for court. If you run off, you lose the money. It's basically the friendlier alternative to keeping people locked up for the length of their trial.

You get the money where ever you can get it. If you've got enough, you can pay it yourself. Otherwise you can get a friend/parent/relative to pay it for you. Alternatively, bail bondsmen can post bail for you. They typically charge 10%, and they will try to retrieve you if you try to run off.


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

[User] Can we consider Carl Jung a philosopher, especially on his work on the Archetypes (eg, Imago Dei)? He also critiziced certain pillosophers ideas quite often, such as Nietzsche for example.

[Assistant]
Well people, including Jung himself in a letter to Heinrich Boltze, consider Carl Jung's concepts and contributions to be psychological rather than philosophical. While maybe there's a good question about what any strict difference between those would be and whether Jung's work in psychology relates to philosophy in the broadest sense in any way that overlaps or blurs the distinction at the edges, it's not like Jung was making a particularly philosophical case, or at least recognizably philosophical case, for concepts like archetypes to be *more* than psychological, e.g. transcendental truths or something like that.

I'd suspect that considering Carl Jung a philosopher would more disadvantage and jeopardize the grounds for the concepts we know him for. Jung considered his analytic psychology to be an empirical science, and I'd expect that he described it as such in order to contrast it with philosophy.


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

[User] ELI5: How do corn based drinking straws differ scientifically from plastic drinking straws?

[Assistant]
Straws made of plastic have not occured in nature before humans made them. No organism have yet evolved to eat them.

Straws made of something like corn will get eaten by worms and bacteria same way they would eat a leaf. We call this being bio-degradable.

Trees back in the day that resulted in fossil fuel were not bio-degradable. The organisms to eat them did not exist back then. They do now which is why current trees that die do not end up the same way.

It could be possible that hundreds of thousands of years from now some organism would come to exist that would eat all the plastic we produced on the planet.


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

[User] ELI5: why do most states force lottery winners to release their names to the public?

[Assistant] It's largely transparency. If you could keep the names of winners secret, it would be a lot easier for the gaming commissioner's cousin to win the lottery every week, and nobody would have to know about it. By making the winners public, we can make it easier to ensure that winners are legitimate.


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

[User]
[DC] What power tier would Batman fall into?

I feel like Bats is at a weird place power wise.

If you think about it, he really shouldn't be as strong as he's considered. He's really just a guy with gadgets. If he was a villain, I think he wouldn't be a very strong one because of that. If I had to, I'd compare him to Spider-man, up there at the very edge of street tier.

But that isn't the case, he's much higher up than that I feel he should be, probably because of how dang smart he is.

So, where does Bats fall power wise?

[Assistant] Batman is TVTropes Super Weight 1. Yes, he is just a guy with gadgets. However, he is good enough to take down the majority of higher-tier characters by exploiting their weaknesses, and ruthless and competent enough to execute his plans successfully.


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

[User] ELI5:Why do countries/territories have a zigzag boundaries and not a straight line and how did they set it?

[Assistant] Often they follow a natural border like a mountain range or a river, so that one side is one country and the other side is the other country and a bridge or similar is how the border crossing is handled.


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

[User]
[Hunger Games] Just what is going on in the rest of the world?

I've watched the films, though I admit I have not read the books. I was re-watching Catching Fire last night and noticed that when Katniss and Peeta are touring the districts there are shots of docks with large freight ships and at one point what appear to be large aircraft that sort of resemble B2 bombers. Seems to me that the freighters indicate that Panem does some sort of international trading, and that the large bombers would not be very useful in quelling a revolt, but would be useful against foreign powers. Do we know anything of the world beyond Panem? If so, what are international relations like?

[Assistant] It would be pretty interesting if it turned out that Panem was like North Korea and the rest of the world was looking at it like they didn't want to touch that mess or have anything to do with the tens of trillions of dollars in cleanup cost that it would take to bring them back to the civilized world.


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

[User]
How can an up quark decay into a down quark?

I am puzzled as to how this happens since the up quark is lighter than a down quark. The process calls for a W+ boson to be emitted from an up quark, converting the up into a down. Since the up quark is ~1.8-3.0MeV, and the down quark is ~4.8MeV, how does this "decay" happen?

[Assistant]
Up quarks don't spontaneously turn into down quarks (at least in the case of free neutrons and protons)- it's forbidden by conservation of energy.

As a nucleon, UUD is a proton, while DDU is a down neutron. Free neutrons are heavier than protons and will spontaneously decay to protons by emitting an electron and an anti-neutrino. You'll lose that extra mass as the mass/energy of the electron and anit-neutrino.

For an up quark to turn into a down quark, you'll need some extra source of energy. This would be like electron capture - add an electron to a proton and you can make a neutron and a neutrino. The extra energy provided by the electron rest mass makes it possible in this case.

Edit: And it just occured to me that U turns to D by W+ emission in proton proton fusion. The energy in that case comes from the nuclear binding energy of going from a diproton (two protons) to a deuteron (H2 nucleus, neutron+proton).


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why is "Pride" not seen as a fast-track to the Dark Side in the same way as Fear, Hatred, etc.?

I don't know if this is just a blind spot in the Jedi, or what, but while I understand why even something positive like "Love" could be dangerous for a Jedi, why aren't they all about getting pride the hell out of there as quickly as possible?

[Assistant]
You are taking one thing Yoda said one time as the official position of the Jedi.

They are *well aware* of the problems of excess pride.

See: The Sith existing.

But *some* pride is a good thing. False humility is just lying to yourself. This is antithetical to existence as a Jedi.


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

[User]
What could be the next major paradigm shift in what people think is right or wrong?

At some point in the past it was seen legitimate to keep black people as slaves, it was understood that women should not have the right to vote and child labor was the norm. Today, these things are outside of the ethical discourse.
What could the next major change in (modern western) societies ethical norms be about?

[Assistant]
The extension of limited rights to intelligent primates and marine mammals. The more we explore the nature of the brain, the more difficult it will be to dismiss the interior lives of animals. Whatever imaging and analyzing we do on humans we will do on animals too.

Also, climate change and habitat destruction will only increase the preciousness of these creatures. Developments in Artificial Intelligence may also play a role. Finally, new developments in food production may make eating animals seem more "optional" than it does to most people today. It may drastically change what animals *mean* to humans.


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

[User] ELI5: How is it legal that millions of taxpayer dollars are used to fund private industry infrastructure owned by billionaires? I'm talking, of course, about football teams.

[Assistant]
The general argument is that by having sports teams/venues it boosts the economy in a region.

When 1,000 people come to town for a game think about how nice that is if you own a hotel a couple blocks from the stadium.


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

[User]
Counsellor VS Psychologist

How would you best describe the difference between a counsellor, a psychologist, a therapist and all the other umbrella terms there are? Also, how does one decide who they need to get a consult from?

[Assistant]
Therapist is short for psychotherapist, and it is a role (someone who provides psychotherapy).

Psychologists and counselors are different types of professionals with different training backgrounds. Both types of professionals can provide therapy (and therefore be therapists).

As long as the person youre seeing is a licensed therapist, it doesnt much matter whether theyre a psychologist or a counselor.


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

[User] [Portal] If I have a portal gun and shoot one Portal into a box and one onto a wall, then throw the box into the portal on the wall what would happen?

[Assistant] By construction design of the portable quantum tunneling device, the portal appertures have same size, meaning if the box is large enough to fit a portal apperture, it is then too big to fit through another one.


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

[User] ELI5: When I drift into a deep thought while driving, and I finally snap out of it... How did I make all those stops and turns and not really remember doing any of it?

[Assistant]
It's got something to do with how our long term memory works.

Whenever we experience something new our short term memory of that event winds up copied in the long term memory.

The more significant the event the more copies are made.

Likewise when you experience something you've already experience before, like driving to/from work your brain judges it to be insufficiently diffrent to commit it to long term memory. So you just wind up forgetting what you did.


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

[User]
When you lose weight through healthy diet and exercise, what is actually lost and how does it exit your body?

So I know you "lose fat" obviously, but what in particular is being ejected? Also, how is it being ejected? I just realized my assumption about small clumps of fat being defecated out is probably ridiculous.

[Assistant]
You exhale most of it. A 140 lb person resting all day exhales about 1 kg of CO2, but that's exchanged for O2, so there's a net 270 grams or so of carbon lost.

Fatty acids are 75 to 80% carbon by weight, or around 95% CH2 by weight. Through cell respiration this gets converted to CO2 and H2O. These both enter your bloodstream, and the CO2 that ends up in your lungs gets exchanged for O2.

The body is always breaking down glycogen, fat, and protein, but in different proportions depending on what's already in your bloodstream. After you eat there's a lot of glucose, fat, and protein in your bloodstream, so that inhibits the retrieval of fat from adipose tissue. As you get further in time from the digestion of your meal, more fat is extracted from adipose tissue to be used for fuel.

So that's how you lose weight, by eating less fuel and letting your body feed on its own fat stores for energy. The energy is gotten by burning carbon-containing molecules, and the "smoke" from that burning exits through your lungs.


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

[User]
Is there any way to decrease your courage?

It seems to be easy to gain courage if you suddenly realized and admitted that you are a coward. So, following Aristotelian advice, simply "do acts of courage and become courageous." Imagine that you came to the conclusion that you are foolhardy. What can be done with that?

[Assistant]
Thats a nice question.

There is a plausible thought that if you are too fearful you can habituate yourself to be less fearful by exposing yourself to the right kinds of situations (e.g. not too overwhelming). This works well with the progressive move from cowardice to courage.

But as you note, it doesnt quite work for rashness to courage. With rashness there is an excess of inappropriate action with deficient fear. One could refrain from the rash act, but that wouldnt necessarily make one less rash because the deficient amount of fear has not been addressed. So this developmental move from rashness to courage would require more, e.g. a purposeful attempt to better appreciate the situation and its risks, or to better understand what is valuable and what matters, etc to provoke more, and appropriate, fear.

Of course understanding of what courage requires is part of both developmental journeys, but the one from rashness to courage seems to require a different kind of engagement with the orthos logos.

I wonder if the same disanalogy applies to other virtue and vice triads.

I take it back, its not a nice question, its a brilliant question.


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

[User]
[Deadpool] Can Deadpool see the Fourth Wall at all?

Okay, so say Deadpool is telling the audience one of his famous fourth-wall breaking jokes. But theres a car running right at him out of the frame. Since Deadpool can see us in front of him, can he also see the car or does he get run over?

[Assistant] No.  He's not even actually breaking the fourth wall, it's not part of his power set.  He's just crazy and talking to figments of his imagination, and is only coincidentally right about there being a fourth wall and an audience behind it.


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

[User]
Cmv: voter ID laws aren't racist

People keep saying that. But identification is really easy to get. Not only that, but you have to have an ID for most things. And if you ask most minorities, they have id.

You have to have an ID for most things anyway!
Buying booze, buying weed, buying cigs. getting a job, investing. All of it requires ID.

You need an Id to do most things. And getting a birth certificate is like 25 bucks, it's really not hard at all to get one. You drop into a registry, pay a fee and get an ID.

If a person doesn't work or contribute to the economy by buying products, or is too lazy to get an ID, why should they be able to vote?

And if large swaths of people of a specific racial group doesn't have I'd when they do have easy access to it. Doesn't that point out a fundamental problem with their culture more then racist policies?

Or maybe it's because I'm not American and your system is backwards as hell?

I honestly don't think that people without proper education should be allowed to vote at all, no matter the race.
But that's just my opinion with the fundamental problems with democracy more then anything else.

I'm literally considered lower class, if it wasn't for living with 3 roommates I'd literally be living on the streets. I live in a ghetto, and I can literally walk for 20 minutes to go to the registry and get an id for 25 dollars.

I'm just saying their is a fundamental problem with black culture in the united states. It's a culture of perpetual victimhood. I mean, you can't blame them for it. They were taken from their ancestral homeland and forced to destroy their own culture. So they had to build it from the ground up.

At least other oppressed minorities had that sort of cultural background to hold on to. Like asians and natives. African Americans literally had nothing.

But if you see the way that many people who subscribe to the "mainstream gangsta" (I'm saying that with BIG AIRQUOTES here because many if not most black people don't) act. It's centered around materialism, victimhood, and objectification of woman. You cannot deny that it's a huge issue the black community has.

Then you take a look at people like: Madam C.J. Walker and Mary Ellen Pleasant. Who were born literally as slaves, and died millionaires. Showing that even when america was at it's worst, a black person could still reach great heights with the proper attitude, working smart (not hard) and understanding their strengths.

To be frank, the only real way to solve poverty is economic education and getting rid of the victim culture that plagues many communities. Because no matter how much you help them. If the people don't have the mindset of success, then they will never succeed.

[Assistant] Voter ID isn't explicitly racist, much as literacy tests weren't explicitly racist. The racism comes from it's application, like closing DMVs or limiting hours in certain neighborhoods or giving exceptions to people whose grandfather's were literate.


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

[User]
[Game of Thrones] Tyrion doesn't do that thing before fleeing King's Landing... How do recent events changes? (Spoilers)

If Tyrion didn't kill Tywin and simply left King's Landing how would Tywin have reacted to recent events such as Jon Snow avenging the Red Wedding and Dany coming to Westeros and the reveal of the White Walkers?

[Assistant]
I think the big change would be that the High Sparrow would have a much harder time getting his claws into the city as a whole and Tommen in particular. The loss of Tywin as a substitute father figure to the King and a moderating influence on Cersei flung open a door for the sparrow that would be otherwise closed; the former no longer needs to find someone new to turn to for guidance, and the latter both A) would have less need to arm the Church Militant with Tywin there to coordinate Lannister military forces and B) have less leeway to make that move on her own, since he'd still hold the title of Hand of the King.

In essence, half a season worth of television up to and including the **(SPOILER ALERT)** demolition of the Sept of Baelor would be averted, or at least dramatically altered to be much less in Cersei's favor. Expect Tommen to remain on the throne with Margaery by his side, and the Sparrow still doing charity work in Flea Bottom. Cersei would have dodged the bullet of being publically stripped and shamed, as well as the pain of losing her son, but would not become Queen on her own, and be stuck in her same rut of being next to but not in power unless she does something drastic; without the Sparrow to back her into a corner, she might not be willing to pull any triggers as dramatic as the one at the Sept.

Tywin might be willing to come to terms with Jon and Dany, but it will mostly be with an eye to put them up front on the firing line against the Walkers; not only is this the war they're best equipped to fight, it's also the war that can sap their resources enough to force a proper negotiation after the fact. He knows his history, and knows that conventional Westeros fortifications and armies aren't going to help much against the new Targaryen army, unless he can get them to commit (or lose) their fire-breathing trump card up north. As for the Red Wedding, he didn't give much of a damn about Frey before, he certainly isn't going to start now that A) they've made a massive liability of themselves and B) they're too dead to be of use as a scapegoat anymore. Expect an absolute minimum of fuss to be raised re: the Late Walder.


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

[User] [General]Which do you choose, the grinding mega-city dystopia or the chaotic post-apocalyptic wastelands? Why?

[Assistant]
Mega-city dystopia for sure. At least I'd still have all the convenience and relative safety of a modern society.
 In a wasteland, I'd probably just starve to death or get an infection or raped by raiders.


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

[User]
[The Thing] The Thing grabs my arm and starts to take over my body, what would I feel? If anything?

Pain? Am I even right in assuming it CAN "take over" my body?

[Assistant]
hard to say, the doctor is taken over seemingly without him knowing, he goes into cardiact arrest either by the stress of the situation or the stress the thing is causeing his body.
In the prequel we see one character become fussed to the thing, he was screaming a lot but that could have been the horror of the situation.


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

[User] ELI5: How do we get full colour corrected photos or videos from black and white footage?

[Assistant] More or less the same way we get full color pictures from a coloring book.  There are *some* context cues, and you can make some educated guesses from the shades, but for the most part it's just guesswork.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do humans enjoy patting/ scratching animals?

[Assistant] Grooming behaviors are widely used in social animal species for group cohesion purposes. If you enjoy spending time with people then you'll spend time with them. Laughter is also used in this manner but it is much more limited. Humans are AFAIK the only species to laugh naturally. The key feature of joking around is that it doesn't have to be a a one to one experience, whereas brushing someones hair is more focused.


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

[User] Does pouring boiling hot water on a toothbrush sterilize it?

[Assistant] At standard pressure, boiling water won't kill everything.  And you'd have to keep your tooth brush in the boiling water for about 20 minutes or so to mostly sterilize it.  The instant you bring it out of the boiling water though, technically it wouldn't even be mostly sterile any more, as what floats in the air would start to colonize it, plus whatever you're using to hold it with would also serve as a source of recolonization.


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

[User] ELI5: How do Chess sites detect cheaters?

[Assistant] Most cant do it well. Its hard to tell between a computer player and a human player, humans react more to the momentum of a position than computers do. Still, high level players are not going to be easy to tell from computers.


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

[User]
[The Prestige] Why must Borden act inconsistently at home?

So massive spoiler alert: Borden is made of twin brothers each has a different love interest. They dedicate their life to conceal this secret for their magic trick - the transporting man. Very clever.

Except mindbogging with the way they treated Sarah and Olivia. So Borden likes Olivia and Fallon likes Sarah, they actually love each lady very much.

However, they insist to take turns to face each Lady even though it just turns the relationship into a total mess with Borden seemingly have noticeable personality changes every day and the wife is actually noticing it. Wouldnt this massively rouse suspicion of their Trick? That Borden is actually multiple people and not one guy? The difference is so staggering that Sarah was saying she is meeting different people - i think by the end she actually figured it out and committed suicide not out of the cheating incident with Olivia but knowing that a man thats not interested in her at all is forced to live with her some days and the brothers wouldnt come clean to trust her. The same reason piss off Olivia too.

But this is very risky, they are lucky that Angier didnt caught on these massive inconsistencies (or questioned the wife) because itd show that Borden either has some kind of DID or actually he isnt just one guy. What is stopping them just swap back to themselves when they see their love interest? They certainly have the time and space as shown that they swap multiple times during the movie. Itd keep the farcade of Borden the single man much more consistently and they have less chance to ruin their relationships. Worst come to worst it is just Borden having an affair without the extra inconsistent personality in their story.

[Assistant] The point is that compared to Anger hiding under the stage, they're *both* the prestige. They're both so committed to the trick that they're each willing to live a double life, taking turns as Alfred and Fallon.


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

[User] What is the consistency of outer space? Does it always feel empty? What about the plasma and heliosheath and interstellar space? Does it all feel the same emptiness or do they have different thickness?

[Assistant] Space is not empty at all! We have entire branches of astronomy dedicated to studying the stuff between stars and galaxies (the so-called interstellar medium and intergalactic medium). The density of the interstellar medium is about one atom per cubic centimeter, and the density of the inter-galactic medium is much lower.


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

[User] [Rogue One] If Director Krennic had been granted an audience with the Emperor, how would it have gone?

[Assistant] Not as well as Krennic would have hoped. Palpatine was a master manipulator but also a keen judge of what someone is capable of and what use they had to Palpatine's own plans, and at that point there was still some use left in Krennic, he was a brilliant engineer in his own right and had a talent in managing a Corp of Engineers in large bleeding edge projects. Chances are the outcome would have been the same as when he spoke to Vader, he would be given the chance to find out Galen's sabotage, and once done, he would be done away with, mostly because he outlived his usefulness, and because he proved that he would be trouble, more trouble than he was worth. He was never going to get command of a major military installations, no matter what he dreamt of.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do my feet get cold and sweaty when I don't wear socks and have them underneath the blanket?

This can't just happen to me...

[Assistant]
When you first get under the blanket your body begins to heat up, as it no longer has to work as hard to stay warm. As a reaction, it expands blood vessels near the surface of your skin to shed extra heat. The only problem is most of that heat gets trapped under the blanket. When your body registers that it isn't cooling off it kicks on the sweat glands. This is why a lot of people sweat during sleep.

As far as your feet go, it could be you're not used to noticing your feet sweat when you're walking around during the day, but at night it becomes noticable. If only your feet are under the blanket, it's probably because of the temperature difference. Your feet are trying to cool off while the rest of your body has to work to stay warm.


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

[User]
[Pathfinder] Why does charisma replace constitution for undead?

As a reminder, I'm not looking for a Doylist answer. The merits and reasons from a system perspective is not what I'm asking about.

Wondering if there is some kind of magical, biological, or universe reason that charisma governs some of the physical aspects of the undead.

[Assistant] A possible explanation: Undead are held together by arcane energy, which is governed by their willpower, not by their physical bones. The dead bodies are not the actual actors, as live bodies are, but rather just meat sacks that the necromantic magic moves around. Thus, the meat sacks themselves have no bearing on the magic.


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

[User]
[Avatar Legend of Korra] How did humans learn bending, after all ? Was it by the animals, for example, flying bisons ? If so, can a non bender learn bending ?

In Book 2 Episode 8, the Lion Turtles say that they are not going to give the power of the elements to humans anymore.

So, it seems that after that, humans learned bending from animals, as is somewhat explained in Legend of Aang.

But, if that's the case, it seems that humans couldn't bend before, and learned it by watching the animals, as flying bisons, etc.

Does that means that a non bender nowadays can learn bending by watching those animals ?

[Assistant]
The Lion Turtles granted humans the *ability* to bend. This was then presumably passed down through the generations, getting diluted through the genepool. (Although we see a set of identical twins with only one bender, so some of it's just luck)

You can't just *become* a bender without something ridiculous like the Convergence happening.

You can study them, though. Learning from the passion of the dragons, the flow of the tides, the freedom of the sky bisons, and the sturdiness of the badgermoles is what taught humans *how* to bend. Like, properly. Forms and poses and stances.

Like all martial arts, these were worked and changed over the centuries, but those lucky enough to know the true forms of the bending are generally the most powerful.

Zuko and Aang learn from the dragons, Katara masters her bending while in the highly spiritual Northern Tribe, Toph uses her own unique fighting style derived from the tremor-sense of the badgermoles, and she's powerful enough to do the impossible and bend metal. And there's, well, every airbender from before the genocide. All of them were benders, and all of them were eventually masters of their craft due to their highly spiritual nature of their society and their bond with their bison.


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

[User]
[American Comics and Japanese Manga] I am an American Superhero visiting Japan. I noticed they name their abilities with special names. What is the reason for this?

For example, my heat vision is called heat vision because its hot and comes from my eyes. Meanwhile My Japanese counterparts have elaborate naming conventions for every ability and move. Also why are they always shouting their special move names? Doesnt this give the enemy more time to react? Is this a cultural thing i dont understand?

[Assistant]
PR, and more importantly, monetization. Your fans cross their eyes and go "bzzt" when they imitate your heat vision. Captain Super Ultraguy's fans shout CAPTAIN SUPER ULTRA LASER EYE BEAM

And of course, so do his action figures, the guy who plays him on his TV show (and subsequent straight to DVD movie) and the (syndicated) radio show. That's why Captain Super Ultraguy lives in a castle and you sublet an apartment in Queens.


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

[User] Why has the War in Ukraine effected gas so much in the US if Russia only supplies ~3% of our daily consumption?

[Assistant]
Firstly - 3% is still enough of a market supply difference to create a large price movement, particularly for something like gas where demand is fairly inelastic (I.E. its a required product and so not many people/companies can just go oh its too expensive Ill do without).

But to add on to that - there are other countries where Russia supplied more than 3% of their gas who are now looking to source their supplies elsewhere. So yes, the US isnt getting that 3%, and that would have a bump on prices even if the US was facing that in isolation, but Russia is the 4th largest gas exporter/supplier globally and so those other countries now not using Russian gas are competing to purchase the non-Russian gas supplies that the US also wants - which drives a far higher impact on prices.


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

[User] Eli5: why do the biggest animals seem to come from the deepest part of the ocean? Giant squid, or sharks... Is it myths of being afraid of the unknown depths or is there a scientific reason like pressure or abundance of food?

[Assistant]
The ocean also has big animals because they're not fighting against gravity to hold themselves up. Big land animals have to dedicate more work into moving about, which limits how big they can get.

Whales, sharks and giant squid don't need to bother with strong legs.


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

[User]
[stranger things]. What is the upside down?

At first I thought it was a mirror dimension, something that reflected reality but was distinct from it. However it had buildings, it had cars it has lots of evidence of being recently active.

Was it another universe similar to ours that was somehow invaded and destroyed by the mind flayers army?

[Assistant]
I believe the geography of the Upside Down is the future. But not just any future - the future of *now*.

It changes when *now* changes - it isn't the future as it *is*, but a sort of... hypothetical future, in which everyone is gone and monsters exist.

You can prevent this change on the other side by observing it. If you stood in a field in the Upside Down for months and months (and managed to survive doing so), and in our world someone built a house there, you would not see the house be built. But if you left and returned, the house would be there, abandoned and covered with 'vines'.

There are a few things that can transfer between the Upside Down and our world. Electrical disturbances seem to be the easiest. Hence the ability to communicate by playing with the Christmas lights.

It is unclear, at the moment, if the 'Mind Flayer' is unique, or if it is just one of many of it's kind. Or even if it is the top dog in the Upside Down. It tried very hard to get into our world, and while it *could* have just been for conquests' sake, it's also possible that our world represents a world without competition for the creature.


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

[User]
Can insects get cancer?

Just wondering.

[Assistant]
It's possible for any organism to get cancer. So insects can indeed get cancer. On the other hand it's extremely unlikely because insects have such a short lifespan.

Cancer is caused by mutations in genes that cause uncontrolled proliferation. There are many safeguards in place, in fact you likely get cancerous cells all the time in your body, but the safeguards destroy them. Lifeforms that live a long time often have more safeguards than shorter living organisms.

I would say it's highly likely that insects that live for 10+ years such as some cicadas probably do get cancer, and it's exceedingly rare for flies that live a few weeks to get cancer.

While cancer doesn't kill many insects, molts that go wrong are a something that happens quite often.


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

[User]
Can single cell organisms become cancerous?

Obviously they aren't made of cells, so they can't get cancer normally, but can they become cancerous in their entirety?

[Assistant]
No, by definition.  Cancer falls under the category of neoplasms, which is an abnormal growth of tissue.  When neoplasms are malignant, and invade into other tissues, that is what we call cancer.

So while a single cell organism might suddenly grow much faster, or express genes differently, it still is technically not cancerous since it is not part of a tissue or organism.

Now, there are single celled organisms that might CAUSE cancer in an animal host, but that is a different thing entirely.


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

[User]
ELI5:How did time become standardized across the world?

How did we get all of the countries to accept the hour/minute/second system?

[Assistant]
Multiple cultures simultaneously developed a system of 'hours' equal to or divisible by 12.

- The ancient Egyptians divided the day into 12 equal parts, 10 during the day and 2 at twilight.
- An ancient Greek astronomer, Andronicus of Cyrrhus, built a structure called the Tower of Winds which encompassed sundails, water clocks, and other timekeeping mechanisms to divide the day into 24 equal parts.
- In ancient China, the day was divided into 12 equal parts.
- In ancient India, the day was divided into 24 equal parts, 12 for 'day' and 12 for 'night'

Why 12 in so many different places? That's the number of lunar cycles in a year, which is where the concept of 12 months comes from. This made it easy to standardize 24 hours for a day around the world, as virtually everyone was already using 24 hours, or could easily adapt to it by dividing their 12-hour days by 2. Using a standard time system made trade and commerce much easier. This 'basis of 12' system is known as the 'duodecimal system', and comes from prehistoric lunar calenders.

That explains hours, but how did we get 60 minutes in an hour?

The ancient Greek astronomers relied on methods by their predecessors in Mesopotamia, who based all of their calculations on a sexagesimal system, or based off of the number 60, which can be traced back to Sumeria in about 2000 BC. That heritage is also why we have 360 degrees in a circle - as a result of the base 60 system.

Minutes and seconds came along a lot later than hours did. Before this, hours would be divided up into halves, thirds, quarters, what have you depending on need and region. There was no need for this level of precision for much of history.

Minutes and seconds were introduced sometime around the advent of mechanical clocks in the 14th century. There was a need for more accurate sub-units of hours. The world was still using the base 60 system at the time, and so hours were divided into 60 equal parts called minutes, which themselves were divided into 60 seconds. The base 60 system is also why clock faces are round.

Humanity transitioned from the base 60 system to a decimal system, or base 10, around the 17th century. It is easier to divide things by 10 than it is by 60. The sub-unit of seconds was not needed before this transition. That's why a second is divided into 1,000 milliseconds, which can be divided by 10, not 60 or 12.

Hope that was ELI5 enough!


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

[User]
[Pirates of the Caribbean 2] Why does a church need a watermill?

Or, alternatively:
Why does a watermill need a bell tower?

[Assistant] Could be a monastery set up by the Spanish but was abandoned later. Priests were the spearhead for colonization in this New World of ours, like that Marquette wierdo up on the mainland exploring the Illini Confederation. Out here on the Carribean it was Spanish holy men looking to convert the natives.


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

[User]
ELI5: Amino acids

I've started taking supplements lately because it's summer now, and I have more time on my hands, so that means more training. Im currently training 7 times a week, training 2 times a day twice a week, and having two restdays (thursday and sunday).

I've started taking some fast carbohydrates (maltodextrin) and protein powder to gain some weight and muscle. Either way, I recently came across this supplement called Amino acids. What is it? I know it promotes muscle growth but isn't that just what protein powder does? And what is BCAA? What is the difference between protein powder and amino acids, and can they be used together?

Thanks!

[Assistant]
Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, like lego blocks, except molecular.

When you eat protein, your digestive tract breaks it down into amino acids, which are then used by your body to build its own protein.


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

[User] [Zombies] How come zombies can't tell between real zombies and people pretending to be zombies?

[Assistant] Sometimes they can. It varies from continuity. Shawn of the Dead zombies can get played by people just playing pretend. Meanwhile, The Walking Dead zombies hunt as much on smell as vision, so a human covered in zombie bits can stroll right through. "Russo Rules" zombies are smart enough that most ruses would fall flat. Intelligence levels and sensory acuity vary from setting to setting.


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

[User]
ELI5: why don't we wear our socks inside out i.e so that the smooth and comfortable parts are in direct contact with our feet (as opposed to the tangly knitting conventional way?)

As the above states. Is there a reason, other than how it looks, as to why we don't wear socks inside out so that the soft, smooth part is in contact with our feet.

Please note: I am talking about normal white, everyday socks. I think they're named tubed??

[Assistant]
Socks are designed to be a friction interface between your feet and your shoes. they cling to your feet so that only the sock part moves in relation to your shoe, thus protecting your skin.

By having the outside rubbing surface fuzzy, the sock will quickly become frayed and you will get holes in your socks.

For indoor use it's even worse as the tiny loops catch on the floor and rip.


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

[User] [MCU] If Star-Lord Hadn't Hit Thanos When He Was Restrained, Would The Avengers Be Able To Get The Infinity Gauntlet Off Him?

[Assistant] Yes. They were in the final few seconds of removing the gauntlet when Star Lord hit Mantis's hands and broke her hold - the first thing Thanos did upon regaining consciousness was grabbing it back from Spider-Man. If he had been able to hold back for another ten seconds Thanos would've lost the infinity stones.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do we gasp for air when we shower with cold water or we enter in a cold pool?

Title self-explanatory, please explain in simple terms.

[Assistant]
The rest of your body, and sometimes even parts of your brain don't always have access to the most accurate information about what's happening to you. *You* know that you're just stepping into the shower, but the circuits of neurons deep in your brain and spine looking out for your survival don't really care about that.

Our distant ancestors had to deal with falling into a freezing lake long before they evolved self awareness and rationality, so your reflexes don't really know the difference between a cold shower and falling into a freezing lake. Your reflexes know that this *feels* like a life threatening situation, so the natural response is to prepare for action. That gasp, along with the tightening of your muscles and a spike in your heart rate is a reflex that we used to need all the time back when we lived in the wild. Now we live in an environment that's way safer than what we evolved in, but our reflexes are still built for the wild.


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

[User]
Why are metals such good heat conductors?

My poor physics knowledge tells me that metals being good *electrical* conductors make sense. In high school we were taught that metals create lattices, in which the electrons are more or less free to move around and create a current (things like carbon also create lattices eg. diamonds but those are not conductive because the electron valence shells are very stable with 4 bonds). Same idea for why some metals can be magnetized, or why they glow when heated.. but why are they such good conductors of *heat*? If heat is measured as the 'jiggling' of atoms, then why should a solid piece of metal lattice conduct much heat at all?

[Assistant]
The free electrons in metals (which also makes them good eletrical conductors) are good at transferring energy around. The more heat is applied, the more they vibrate and move around, bumping into other particles and transferring energy in the process.

In addition to this, metals consist of crystal lattices, which are neat arrangements of atoms, this allows for the propagation of phonons (this is not a typo) through the material, which contributes to thermal conductivity.

This is why diamond, which has a crystal structure and despite lacking free electrons, conducts heat five times as well as silver, the metal with the best thermal conductivity. This due to its very nice and ordered crystal structure which leads to less phonon scattering (when phonons bump into other phonons they can scatter, this inhibits the transfer of energy in one particular direction). Diamond is however a very poor electrical conductor due to the lack of free electrons.

Now as to what phonons actually are, they are considered 'quasi-particles' which consist of the joint movement of atoms in a lattice as a wave, more particularly a sound wave. If you hit a metal pole on one end, you will cause a wave to travel through the pole at the speed of sound of the material. Hit it enough, and it will also heat up due to you causing the atoms to vibrate more and more in addition to possibly deforming the pole.


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

[User]
PIs, what do you find most impressive about exceptional grad students?

I know it's not about knowing the answers to everything (as I was once led to believe), but a part of grad school and growing is asking dumb questions, lots of them. This is especially so if one worked in an interdisciplinary field.

What then, separates mediocre, good, and exceptional students? When is the last time a student genuinely impressed you? What did he/she do? I'm less curious about the specific outcomes (publications, high grades, engagement, etc.), but more about the characteristics and habits great students have. Could it be creativity? Productivity? The ability to ask relevant research questions and design experiments? The ability to conduct experiments independently and discuss the results meaningfully?

Put another way, aside from tangible results, what (soft) skills should I aim to gain in grad school to become a better academic? What makes you say, *wow, I am really impressed by this student*?

Hope the question is clear. Thanks for your input!

[Assistant]
Students who have impressed me most have (1) had the desire and ability to become strong in the fundamentals of the field and then (2) work with me as partners in pushing research in a direction that they find personally interesting.

I suppose thats a combination of ability, interest, and professionalism.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why is "destroyed" used so often to describe somebody's death, instead of "killed/murdered/died" etc.?

Especially among Force-users. Is it some kind of taboo to imply death (via murder or otherwise)?

[Assistant] "Destroy" has a bit more universal application; for average humans death is pretty commonly, but when dealing with droids, or alien cultures that don't process the idea of death as most humans do (they're really big on the circle of life, believe in reincarnation, etc), "destroy" gets the point across in a way that "death" might not. Even if you honestly believe that people have a 90 day respawn timer and then pop back up as a baby, the notion of destroying the person *as they currently exist* can be understood.


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

[User] ELI5: What does it mean for a battery to 'short-circuit'?

[Assistant]
In the "-"-terminal of the battery, there are lots of tiny particles called electrons, that desperately want to get to the "+"-terminal of the battery. When you use the battery to power a lamp, for example, you allow them to go there, but you put something in their way that slows them down and takes their energy to do something else, in this case produce light. Now, when you connect both terminals, you're allowing the electrons to get to where they want without anything in the way to slow them down, so all try to get to the other end at once, and there is no controlled way for them to loose their energy. All that energy still has to go somewhere though, so it dissipates uncontrolled, most of it in the form of heat. This heat can damage the damage the battery, and might even cause it to explode.

This is what you call a short-circuit, connecting the two terminals of a power source directly to each other with no consumer between them to control the energy flow.


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

[User]
[Groundhog Day] How long was Bill Murray's character actually stuck in the film?

I remember that he learned piano, ice sculpting, and even French. Aren't those skills that at least take a year, if not longer, to get good at?

[Assistant]
Per IMDB, "On the DVD, Harold Ramis states that the original idea was for him to live February 2nd for about 10,000 years. Later he says that Phil probably lived the same day for about 10 years."

OR

"According to the website Wolf Gnards, Bill Murray spends 8 years, 8 months and 16 days trapped in Groundhog Day. The website Obsessed With Film claims he was trapped 12,403 days, just under 34 years, in order to account for becoming a master piano player, ice sculptor, etc."


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

[User]
ELI5: How do "long exposure" pictures work?

I've recently seen a lot of these and they seem so cool.

[Assistant]
A camera-- to simplify-- takes in light to create an image (much like our eyes).

A long exposure just keeps that eye (the shutter) open longer, so that more light gets processed into the final picture.


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

[User] ELI5: How does a trolley bus keep its poles on the correct wires on large intersections or when one set of wires splits into two that go in different directions?

[Assistant] There are no universal answer to this as each trolley system is different. Most of them do have a type of switch known as a "frog" which are switched by an electromagnet somehow triggered by the driver. One way to trigger these is by connecting the electromagnet in line with the lines so that a current draw will flip the switch. The driver can thes select the possition of the frogs by pressing the accelerator as he goes through the junction or coasting. Other types will have contacts on the side of the wire detecting the precense of a bus. These contacts will only be triggered if the bus is in the lane next to the wires as the poles will have to go sideways to the overheads. Others just use radio signals connected to the bus indicator lights so when the driver indicates he also switches the frogs in the right direction.


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

[User] [DC] During flying FTL Superman uses his heat vision, what would happen? Seeing that heat vision is just light and superman is flying faster than light would his heat vision fall behind him in speed?

[Assistant]
The speed of light isn't any kind of hard limit in DC, it's just the standard speed that naturally created light goes.

So in the same way that if you are in a car going 55 mph and you throw a ball at 5mph for a total of 60 mph relative to the earth, Superman's heat vision will be the speed of light + the speed he is going.


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

[User] [Thor Ragnarok] Why couldnt Odin imprison Hela in some sort of place that didnt rely on him being alive? Surely he would know that she would come back to conquer the moment he died.

[Assistant] He imprisoned her using the Odin Force, if Thor hadent been such a fuckabout he would have inherited the Odin force when Odin died, and been ready and able (and informed of the situation) instead, well, you know what happened.


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

[User]
[Spongebob] How does the Krusty Krab have such inconsistent business?

Some episodes are literally centered around the restaurant almost going out of business because its so dead, but there are tons of episodes where there are just casually tons of people there. How is it so inconsistent? Why are the townspeople so fickle about their fast food?

[Assistant] Considering there's a beach nearby, I'd say seasonal traffic. A lot of restaurants close down during the off season, and those that don't have a hard time justifying the cost of remaining open. It's probably Krabs trying to pinch every penny but being a little... Over enthusiastic about the money what his most recent plan to milk customers will bring in.


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

[User]
CMV: there should be real-time, third-party fact-checking broadcast on-screen for major statements made during nationally broadcast debates.

I'm using the US elections as my context but this doesn't just have to apply in the US. In the 2016 election cycle and again now in the 2020 debates, a lot of debate time is spent disagreeing over objective statements of fact. For example, in the October 7 VP debate, there were several times where VP Pence stated that VP Biden plans to raise taxes on all Americans and Sen. Harris stated that this is not true.

Change my view that the debates will better serve their purpose if the precious time that the candidates have does not have to devolve into "that's not true"s and "no they don't"s.

I understand that the debates will likely move on before fact checkers can assess individual statements, so here is my idea for one possible implementation: a quote held on-screen for no more than 30 seconds, verified as true, false, or inconclusive. There would also be a tracker by each candidate showing how many claims have been tested and how many have been factual.

I understand that a lot of debate comes in the interpretations of fact; that is not what I mean by fact-checking. My focus is on binary statements like "climate change is influenced by humans" and "President Trump pays millions of dollars in taxes."

[Assistant]
Real time?

That would become to messy. Why if a statement has 3 false claims and 4 truthful claims?

What if the claim is partially correct?

Not everything is black and white. Who does the fact checking party use as their sources?

What constitutes as a major statement?

What if both parties do not agree with that third party being the fact checkers?

How about people just take their due diligence to find out the truth?


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

[User]
[The Matrix] OK. Zion is destroyed, The Matrix is reset, and The One is tasked with recruiting 23 people from the Matrix to rebuild Zion. Two questions: How does The One cope with being the only human outside Matrix and how is Zion's infrastructure rebuilt?

Mr. Moderator:

Sorry if this thread's title is too long.

[Assistant]
He's only outside the Matrix long enough to free minds, which would take... days?

And Zion is rebuilt by the machines, with relevant info showing that it was the last city built by humans during the war, but was abandoned and undiscovered by the machines.


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

[User]
[Marvel] if Thor is holding mjolnir, can hulk use him for the fastball special?

What constitutes "wielding" mjolnir? If Thor is holding it, do they become one object?

[Assistant]
In the first Avengers movie when Hulk and Thor crash into Grand Central, Thor is holding Mjolnir. Hulk punches Thor and he goes flying off-screen, Mjolnir in-hand...

Does that help answer your question?

ADDED:No, Thor & Mjolnir do not become "one"  -- For starts Thor is not enchanted, Mjolnir is.

And no, being hit and being wielded are NOT different when it comes to Mjolnir.  Proof: If Mjolnir was sitting on the ground, Hulk could not punch it out of the way.  -- but as mentioned, punching Thor while he is holding Mjolnir works to move them both.

Ergo, the two do not become one. (or more accurately, Mjolnir's enchantment doesnt extend to Thor)


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

[User]
[Warhammer 40K] Why are the Humans/Space Marines in Warhammer 40K so xenophobic?

I understand that races like Orks and Tyranids are constant threats to humanity, but why so hostile generally?

[Assistant]
Before the age of the Imperium there was the golden age of technology in which humanity ruled a vast empire.

During this time, the human leadership allied themselves with several alien species, trusting them and treating them as friends.

Yet when humanity's empire colapsed their "friends" turned on them, not hesitating a second to enslave and exterminate trillions of humans for thousands of years untill the great crusade ended them.

The Emperor did not forget and he did not forgive. The earliest and most holy laws decreed by him at the start of the great crusade teach the Imperium to kill the Xenos, purge the mutant and never to allow the creation of Abominable Intelligence. On pain of death.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are scars near impossible to get rid of?

[Assistant]
Scar tissue is different to normal skin.  It contains more collagen than regular tissue, and doesn't structure the same as regular skin, which is why it looks so different.  It's also less flexible.

The benefits to having scar tissue is the body can recover from wounds exceptionally quickly - many animals can't create scar tissue, and so wounds can remain open longer and are more susceptible to infection and other problems.  Conversely, other animals can regenerate entire limbs whereas we can't.

Interestingly, the collagen in your scar tissue is constantly replaced.  If your body stops producing collagen (due to certain illnesses), your scars' wounds can actually reopen.

The scar is difficult to get rid of because the tissue has been created in a less structured/ordered form than your regular skin (because it was deployed quickly to help heal the wound), but some medical procedures exist to reduce that effect.


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

[User] ELI5: What happened to all the businesses that were in the WTC pre-9/11 and who will occupy the new World Trade Center?

[Assistant]
Any of the businesses in the WTC that were hit by 9/11 are still up and running. Any tenant of the WTC would not be some mom and pop shop who had their whole livelihood wiped out. All companies that size have extensive disaster recovery plans, off site data centers, business disruption plans that are communicated to all the employees, in some cases they would have a backup office space for key employees to go to for exactly that scenario.

Then they would have to find a new office space, but 9/11 certainly did not put an end to any of the businesses who were tenants of the WTC.


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

[User] ELI5: why are currency symbols written before the numbers when they're pronounced after?

[Assistant]
It depends. Dollar sign (and similar) said to be written before so that one can't easily add digits to the front. And one can't add digits to the end because of thousand delimiters (and decimal point, yes). That is, changing $10,000 into $*9*10,0000 would be noticeable.

In Russia, for comparison, we don't use delimiters and separate currency sign () was approved less than 5 years ago. Before that we went around writting *.* at the end, and for countering falsification we just additionally write the sum in words in parentheses: 10000.00 (ten thousand rubles zero kopeks).


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

[User] [Princess Bride] How did Prince Humperdink know the vial was full of Iocaine Powder since it has no scent?

[Assistant] There was a person dead on the floor with a half drank glass of something. A cursory glance would show no external wounds, leading to the assumption that it was poisoning. Now most poisons have a distinct smell, but this one didn't. Prince Humperdink had a small knowledge of poisons, some cunning and managed to tie this altogether.


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

[User] ELI5 : why do the Blue Angels not wear any oxygen mask during flight? wont they run against the risk of getting hypoxia?

[Assistant]
In airplanes, either you wear an oxygen mask or you have a pressurized cabin in order to ensure the appropriate concentration of oxygen present when you inhale.... this is above 10,000 ft. Below 10,000 ft or so you can breathe normally. Above it, you need an oxygen supply or artificially pressurized air.

In a fighter jet, the cockpit is pressurized to a certain degree, but not to the point where it would suffice at all altitudes the airplane can fly in - the pressure differentials involved would require a lot of extra reinforcement which would make the jet heavier which would make it less maneuverable. So the cockpit is partially pressurized but the pilot still has to wear oxygen above certain altitudes. Plus its probably just a good routine for the pilots to wear all the time just to be safe. Commercial airliners have entirely different design goals in mind; their design specifically accommodates the need to pressurize the entire cabin to a breathable altitude... but neither does it need to hold together in a negative 7g dive, for when you keep up foreign relations.

For demonstration teams like the Blue Angels however, all of their practice and demonstration flights take place well below the 10,000 ft altitude they need oxygen at. They might still wear oxygen masks when flying cross country, but for shows etc. a mask hanging there is just another thing to get in the way/be a distraction when they really have a lot of other things to be concentrating on.


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

[User] ELI5, what is a quaternion?

[Assistant]
Imagine you're standing on a number line. All [real] numbers are in front of you and behind you on that line. If you take a step forward you increase by +1. If you take a step back, you decrease (-1). What happens if you take a step to the left or right, though? You increase or decrease by *i*, the imaginary number. Contrary to its name, imaginary numbers do very much exist. If you combine your forward and side steps you get a complex number.

Ok, so all real numbers are in front or behind you, all imaginary numbers are to your left and right. Your position anywhere on this 2-dimensional plane can be described as some combination of real and imaginary numbers. What happens if you go *up or down*? Now, you're in a 3D space and you need another set of numbers to describe where you are. You have to add *j* and *k*.

A quaternion is the combination of all of these numbers: a+b*i*+c*j*+d*k*. And, in fact, you can continue adding dimensions and add even more types of numbers. For complicated math reasons, the more dimensions you add, the more types of numbers you have to add.


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

[User]
Is it possible to be so far away from a light source as to exist "in between" the light rays?

This is hard to explain without visuals but think of an exploding grenade.  The farther away from it, the greater chance of not being hit by shrapnel because you are "in between" the path of the projectiles.

[Assistant] If it's a continuously shining, isotropic (emitting evenly in every direction) light source, then the farther away you go, the less frequently a photon will hit you. You're basically on the right track, the intensity of radiation (and thus the surface density of photons hitting a surface) decreases with the square of the distance from the source.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is Ron Jeremy such a well-known/popular pornstar? [Possibly NSFW]

... As the title implies. How has such a relatively old, unattractive man (Just my opinion) become a famous pornstar?

[Assistant]
Mostly because he is such an unattractive guy. He was nicknamed "The Hedgehog" for a reason. The thing is that he would be the average guy. If a guy like him could get sex from the hot co-star, there is hope for every guy to bang a porn star hottie. The other thing he had going for him was he could cum on command, rarely needing a second take for a money shot. Getting a guy to cum at just the right time saves the filmmakers a lot of money by saving time waiting for the talent to get hard again and waiting for him to be ready again.

I listened to a radio interview he did a few years ago and he explained why he was so popular and so often cast.


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

[User]
[Marvel] How is Captain America able to damage Iron Man?

This has been bothering me endlessly,obviously in civil war stories in the MCU and the regular comics.

 I know that Cap having ALL of his attributes at peak performance (Faster than the strongest man should be etc). But how in the hell is he able to stagger and let alone damage Iron Man? This is Iron Man who can shrug off tank shell, why is he being rocked by a very strong human with a hard shield?

Also bonus, in the civil war movie how was he able to overpower spiderman by pulling him over with that webbing? SPIDERMAN the guy who even at 15 should be able to lift around 7 tons, and stick himself to any surface, literally got overpowered off balance by a 210 pound man.

Something aint right here.

[Assistant]
The MCU is not exactly the same as any of the comic universes - MCU  Cap is superhuman.  He is able to throw a motorcycle, knock a truck back by kicking it, and fall hundreds of feet uninjured.

He's also a skilled combatant, able to pull his opponent of balance and strike in vulnerable spots.  Parker is an unskilled kid with no fighting expertise. He only relies on his powers to win, and Cap can exploit  that pretty easily.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does coffee taste amazing when it's either hot or cold, but taste awful in between?

[Assistant]
Different flavor characteristics come at different temperatures. The hot or cold tends to mask certain flavors, especially bitterness. Our taste receptors are more sensitive depending on the temperature of what we're eating or drinking.

Once the temperature of coffee is hot or cold enough, our taste buds are less sensitive and we can't quite taste just how bitter coffee is, but once the coffee lukewarm you'll be able to taste just about everything, which you may or may not like.


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

[User]
If a child has a different blood type than the mother, how does the fetus survive in the womb?

That is, blood from the mother sustains the fetus, but why does this not have an adverse effect the way of blood transfusions of different types?

[Assistant] The mother's blood does not enter the fetus. The placenta, which carries the fetal blood supply, makes very close contact with the surface of the womb which allows nutrients and oxygen to pass from the mother's blood to the fetus' and CO2 and waste products to pass the other way but there is no direct connection between the two circulatory systems.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do yo-yos work?

Saw someone playing with one today, just going up and down, and I've always wondered if it's because of the momentum of the body when it hits the end of the string.

[Assistant] Adding to the other answer. A good yo-yo won't have the string tied tight to the axle either. It will just be looped. So the yo-yo can be thrown down picking up the spin, then keep spinning at the bottom in the loose loop. When the player wants the yo-yo back, a little jerk on the string causes it to "snatch", creating enough friction for the string to start winding back onto the axle, bringing the yo-yo up to the hand. That's the basis of tricks like "walking the dog" where the yo-yo spins at the low point, then is touched on the ground so the spin makes it roll forward a little before being brought back up with a jerk on the string.


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

[User]
[Evangelion] Why do emergency plug ejections nearly always fail?

What it says on the tin, basically. Minus Rei's ejection during Eva-00's testing, I can't think of a single emergency plug ejection that actually worked. You'd think with all the financing NERV gets, they'd at least be able to install a few backup systems.

[Assistant]
For starters, the Eva units weren't completely finished. Eva-01 (Shinji's) was the prototype model; the appearance of the Angels started a bit before NERV forecasted. The Evas are also somewhere juuuuust beyond the horizon of human understanding and can't really be scienced into a perfect solution.

But most of the issue with the Evangelions were not technical in nature. There's a reason they tend to say that the Evas are "rejecting" commands to eject/activate/whatever, rather than "systems are failing." They and their neurally linked pilots very much have minds of their own and, though they can sometimes be forced into compliance by methods such as the dummy plug, NERV's control over them ultimately dependent on their cooperation.


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

[User]
[Avatar:TLA] What would've happened if the 100 year war was started by another nation?

Sozin's comet gave the Fire Nation the strength to destroy the Air Nomads, but what if there was a recurring tsunami or earthquake that gave the Water or Earth nations the power to invade? Or even if the Fire Nation had decided to destroy another nation instead of the Air Nomads. How different would the world be?

[Assistant]
The earth kingdom would have successfully become the only global power, only without having to completely wipe out the other nations. They are simply too big and number too many, their weakness lies in their city-state structure of government. They simply lack the unification of the other nations, instead being broken up into very many almost independent cities.

In a time of aggressive military action, they could unify and vastly improve their strength. But even then, the fighting would be minimal. Fire nation, despite what may seem obvious, would fall first. They rely heavily on trade from the earth kingdom, hence the massive colonization in then series. An embargo would cripple them, and without the extensive military research done during the 100 year war, they would simply lack the defenses.

Water tribe would be useless to them (very little earth on the poles.) A direct confrontation would be suicide, siege tactics would be ineffective, and killing the moon spirit would hardly be a good idea. The only way to capture the water tribes would be to buy them. So they open up trade. Lots of it, generously. Food, artwork, textiles, gems, whales, spices. They place an artificial value on water tribe money, make it a really high exchange to earth coins, send merchants and immigrants to the poles in droves with promises of wealth. No war, just integration. Before long the north pole is nothing more than a puppet state.

The air nomads wouldn't fall. They only fell to begin with because of a freak occurrence, however they wouldn't get off easy, their cities would likes be entirely destroyed with little they could do to stop it. It  They are nomads, though, and they would be fine. All they would have to do is dissolve and return to being nomadic. They'd be fine, and the earth kingdom would consider it a victory and leave them alone.


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

[User] ELI5 Why is it easier to get out of the bed when you wake up in the middle of the night instead when alarm wakes you?

[Assistant]
When you spontaneously wake up you've already passed from deep sleep into light sleep and then into an aware state.  You go from "almost awake" to "awake" and it's no big deal.

When an external force blasts you awake there's no guarantee that you were in light sleep.  You may have been in deep sleep or mid-REM cycle that was suddenly rudely interrupted and the brain isn't quite ready for this bullshit yet.


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

[User]
Why is it that human babies take so long to learn how to walk, as opposed to most other mammals?

Surely it'd be benificial for survival if the smallest could walk? Why did evolution decide it wasn't a good idea?

[Assistant]
As with most developmental priorities its a question of when to invest.

Some mammals have immediate needs like ungulates: cows, horses, etc. and their offspring develop limps that can be used very soon after birth often in under an hour. Their mothers cannot carry them and there aren't places to hide the grasslands and steppes they live on. It is imperative they walk as soon as possible to escape predators.

Other mammals like rats have young in nests that are helpless and can't walk for quite a while but are protected and hidden away by the mothers.

Human babies likewise have the alternative of being carried by their parents and while they do need to eventually walk it is not needed till later in life. Human parents are capable of not only moving the baby but can protect it. The child therefore does not require use of legs immediately.


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

[User]
[Terminator] if the T-800 is an Infiltrator unit why didnt Skynet pick a less conspicuous design?

as an 'Infiltrator' unit the T-800 Cyberdyne Systems Model 101 (the Arnold model) was designed to infiltrate and blend in to human society to do its program

however in 1984 Los Angeles wouldnt a 6'2" 235lb bodybuilder with a European accent walking around be quite noteworthy? doesnt it do the exact opposite of what an infiltrator is supposed to do, not raise suspicion and blend in? why didnt Skynet use a more subtle model?

[Assistant]
That *was* their subtle model. The alternatives at the time were plastic looking facsimilies and bare metal skelebobs.

A weird actually human looking robot is a leap over their previous efforts. Even if their follow-ups eclipsed it.


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

[User] ELI5: What is happening in your body when you suck your stomach in, and why does it make you look smaller? Ty!

[Assistant]
You lift up your diaphragm(muscle below your lungs that you breathe with) and also you expand your chest. Since most of your organs are connected with well connective tissue they go up with the diaphragm and the space you created by expanding your chest.
Belly gets thinner chest gets bigger.


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

[User] ELI5: How are drugs made cheaper by 'cutting' with something that can be even more powerful than the original drug?

[Assistant]
lol, this is a fun ELI5

Let's say you have lemonade that costs you $.50 and you sell it for a dollar. You'll make $.50 profit.

If you add more water it only costs your $.25 so you make an extra $.75. But your customers will notice your lemonade isn't as good.

So you buy a $.10 sour candy and add that to the lemonade with the extra water. It costs you $.35 to make, but you still sell it for a dollar and customers don't notice the difference and you make $.65.

lol... replace lemonade with heroin and sour candy with fentanyl.

edit: cost wise fentanyl is smaller and cheaper than heroin, but it's not used for recreation. So you're kind of "faking" heroin by using it.


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

[User] [Toy Story] So Lightyear is supposed to be the movie that inspired the Buzz Lightyear toy in-universe. Like, it's the movie Andy would've gone and watch. So, is the movie supposed to be live-action or animated (in-universe)?

[Assistant]
>So, is the movie supposed to be live-action or animated

In universe, *Lightyear* is a live-action movie that Andy saw in his youth.  It's what made him excited for the Buzz Lightyear toy.

(This is supported by *Beyond Infinity,* the Disney+ short documentary about the evolution of Buzz from *Toy Story* to *Lightyear*, as described by the Pixar creators themselves.)

Sticking to in-universe explanation... The fact that it's live-action is evident in the fact that the toy itself doesn't look identical to the live-action Buzz Lightyear character.   The toy is a very one-tone version of that living being/'human' actor... as most toys based off of live-action characters are. (Unless you're spending hundreds of dollars on a Sideshow collectible, it's not going to look like the live-action actor.. but we're talking about a $20 child's toy in this case). -- Had the movie been "animated" then the on-screen animated character in *Lightyear* would look almost exactly like the toy does, which it does not.

Any other suggestions or mentions of the 'animated' versions already represented in-universe before today are likely follow ups to that *Lightyear* movie.  Much like we had 2-D animated Star Wars series dating back to the 80s (*Driods* and *Ewoks* for examples) which were based from the live-action films.


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

[User]
ELIF: accents

How they are formed. Why is it that countries like America and Australia, both originally colonies of Britain, have such different accents from the motherland. How come England has strong, varied accents in such a small country whereas Australia doesn't seem to vary *that much* state by state. Etc.

Just accents in general, I guess.

[Assistant]
Think of it this way: you know how when you spend lots of times with your friends, and you have all of these inside jokes and funny sayings and made-up words? Well, it's sort of like that: when you spend all your time with the same people, you tend to use these inside jokes and made-up words all the time, and that's sort of like accents.

But, if you hang out with lots of different people all the time, you pick up some of their jokes and funny made-up words, then you end up mixing up your inside jokes with theirs, and then you all end up sounding similar.

In England and older countries like that, since there were no trains or means to get around, people couldn't meet other groups of people very easily, so they ended up sticking with their own funny made-up words, or in other words, their accents. But in places like America and Australia, which have had modern transportation like trains for almost all of their existence, they got to move around and experience lots of different groups of people, and so there wasn't really a chance to form really solid accents.


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

[User] [Myth] What will happen if a werewolf was bitten by a vampire?

[Assistant]
Traditionally, the werewolf curse ends with the werewolf's death. Equally traditionally, the curse of vampirism begins after death.

So the most likely scenario: The werewolf can't be killed by the vampire's bite (silver only is traditional), and so can just walk it off. And remain an ordinary werewolf.

Second most likely: The werewolf **can** be killed by the vampire's bite, is freed of the curse of lycanthropy, but then becomes subject to the curse of undeath. And becomes a regular vampire.


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

[User]
[LOTR] How did all the people with long hair avoid head lice?

In ancient times, head lice was a major issue and many people cut their hair short to avoid it.

[Assistant]
Elves don't get lice, or dandruff, or split ends, or get too oily, or get tangled up. Their hair stay perfect even after physical activity and sleeping, that's just how they roll.

Hobbits spend a lot of time grooming, and they take care of their personal hygiene, so they don't get head lice, nor feet lice.

Gandalf is a supernatural angelic wizard, so no lice there.

Now, for guys like Boromir and Aragorn, well, they are all nobles or sons of nobles, so they have servants and medicine to kill off the lice. Rest of the time they are hanging out with elves and wizards.

As for the dwarves, lice can't bite through their thick skin, so any lice that get on a dwarf's hair or beard will just starve after a while.


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

[User] [Endgame] Sorry if this has been asked already. How did Thanos not know Tony had stolen the stones? When he has all 6 you got the lights and shit running down his arm and its like he's cumming his brains out. How didn't he notice he was wearing a regular glove?

[Assistant]
If you look at that scene where he was fighting Captain Marvel, you will see that the surge in power is only when he puts it on initially and when he was closing his fist when he prepares to use it.  When Captain Marvel held his glove open and the Gauntlet was not being used actively, the energy surge wasn't there and only the dull glow of the Stones remained.

After Tony has stolen the Stones, Thanos wasn't using his Gauntlet yet, so it shouldn't be surging with power regardless of whether the Stones are there.  And when he started using it he realize there was no surge of power over his arm, and that's when he knew the Infinity Stones were not there.

He also probably didn't think it is possible for a mere human like Tony to take the Stones away from his Gauntlet while he was still wearing it.

In fact, his own Infinity Gauntlet doesn't have the capability to will the Stones to crawl from another place into the Gauntlet.  Every single time you see him use his hand to pick them up and put them into the Gauntlet.  So he probably wouldn't think a mere primitive human could have made something that was even more advance than the Dwarves could.


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

[User] ELI5 why your lips get chapped. Ive always thought it was from your lips being dry and also has something to do with cold air. If they get chapped from being dry, why wouldnt adding water to keep your lips moist solve the problem?

[Assistant]
Just adding moisture to your lips doesn't last. Our skin has oils in it to prevent evaporation and water loss (and help resist obsorbing too much water) and dry lips also lose these skin oils.

An oily or waxy substance will help lips retain moisture as opposed to a watery substance which will make them wet briefly. And of course lip balms are waxy substances for this purpose.


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

[User]
cmv: we are too cautious with kids

Studies suggest that the social development of children is severely hampered when they are unable to take controlled risk and/or socialize. Allowing a kid to bike around a safe neighborhood or bike to their friends house is unlikely to harm them. However what is harmful is the reduced social interaction we have forced kids into today. This largely explains why kids are addicted to technology. Another example is that kids arent allowed to play freely, try to build things, or use tools considered risky. This means we are hampering kids imagination and stopping the next Generation of engineers from reaching their full potential. What will change my view is if it can be conclusively proved beyond any reasonable doubt that being over cautious with kids is a net benefit for the youth and society.

[Assistant] Id like to argue that kids arent addicted to technology because of a lack of social interaction, but because technology is a much greater part of our lives due to its unprecedented rate of advancement. Computers and other tech are rapidly becoming mandatory in daily life, and children using tech is much more a sign of that omnipresence than a sign of overcaution or lack of social interaction - technology makes social interaction far easier.


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

[User] [Avengers Movie] What was the death-toll from the attack on manhattan?

[Assistant]
Largely thanks to Captain America, minimal.

The initial attack was not responded to quickly and the small number of police and National Guardsmen were not able to contain it. However, once the Avengers arrived things changed.

Cap immediately advised the police to evacuate using the subway tunnels and to set up a defensive perimeter rather than attack the Chitauri.

With the arrival of the Hulk, Cap then formulated a plan that restricted the carnage to a few square blocks of Manhattan island. With Hakweye 'calling out patterns and strays', Iron Man was able to contain any Chitauri attempting to leave the area.

Thor's lightning crippled the Chitauri's ability to get any of their lighter vehicles through the portal. Hawkeye shot down a considerable number of those vehicles also. With the Hulk causing panic and chaos in the Chitauri ranks, to the point where they had to draw in a lot of their remaining vehicles just to briefly incapacitate him, and Cap and Black Widow keeping many of their foot soldiers occupied, the Chitauri were never able to leave the main battle in any significant numbers.

There may have been other incidents where the Chitauri attempted to take hostages but these may not have been any more effective than the one Cap put a stop to.


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

[User]
ELI5: How can the world be running out of water? Even drinkable water?

I just don't get it. How can the world *apparently* be running out of water, some say just water and some say drinking water. But I don't understand how we could be running out of either? Just plain water has been here for millions of years, and water can always be purified.. I don't understand!

[Assistant] Only 1% of the Earth's water is safe for drinking. 98% is salt water. 1% is trapped in the glaciers. Most of the water we have is from freshwater reserves left by the last ice age. Only a couple feet are replaced worldwide annually by rain. Even today, there are *millions* without clean water to drink. Millions of people die every year from water illnesses from drinking contaminated water. It is a very real, scary thing that we are witnessing.