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

[User]
[LOTR] Why did the ring have such a severe effect on Frodo, but not Bilbo?

Bilbo carried the ring for a much longer time then Frodo did, and he wore it much more often as well, yet by the end of Frodo's journey to Mount Doom, he can barely stand and has severe burns around his neck from the chain. Is it because he was getting closer to Sauron?

[Assistant]
There's several parts to this answer.

First, yes, it has to do with Frodo getting closer to Mount Doom, along with his desire to destroy the Ring. The Ring did not want to be destroyed, and so it exerted its will upon Frodo, making itself feel heavier, making him exhausted, etc. Bilbo didn't feel this, because he never intended to destroy the ring.

Further, Sauron is much stronger during the time Frodo has the ring than when Bilbo had it. He is able to exert more influence, and try to bend the ring bearer to his will. Gollum had the ring for centuries, when Sauron was weaker still, and while Gollum turns into... well, Gollum, we don't see burns, etc. His physical appearance is more to his time in the caves than the influence of the ring.

Finally, even (I think) Gandalf says it, Bilbo is of somewhat stiffer stuff than Frodo is. Bilbo has the desire for adventure and a decidedly Tookish quality to him which Frodo lacked.


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

[User]
Is it worth taking a formal education?

My question is pretty straightforward... Is it worth taking a formal education in philosophy?

I have done my bachelor's in computer engineering but was very much interested in philosophy from very young. My family don't approve of any field other than science as worthy pursuing. But now i earn my own my money so I don't have to play by their rules.

Is it worth taking a formal education in philosophy from some University? I'm talking about part time studies or just keep exploring everything by my own?

[Assistant] im majoring in philosophy right now. i think it depends on the person, but if you are interested in philosophy, studying it in an academic setting is great. a lot of times, when you study on your own, its easy to misunderstand what philosophers are saying, or to misread a text. having a professor guide you along, and having fellow students to discuss with, really helps. also, going to school exposes you to so much more philosophy than you would find on your own, both through classes and through interactions with peers. so i would definitely recommend it, given that you can afford it and given that you have a passion for it.


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

[User]
If the Universe keeps expanding at an increasing rate, will there be a time when that space between things expands beyond the speed of light?

What would happen with matter in that case? I'm sorry if this is a nonsensical question.

Edit: thanks so much for all the great answers!

[Assistant] This is already happening. Look 13 billion light years in one direction, and then in the opposite direction, and the things you are looking at are traveling away from each other faster than the speed of light.


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

[User]
ELI5: Is lying natural human behavior or is it something that is taught, why do humans lie and what happens in the brain when we start a lie (are certain chemicals released/particular brain activity)?

In other words: What is a lie?

[Assistant]
Lying is natural human behaviour. Society would soon fall apart if we were unable to lie as it is often beneficial to keep the truth concealed; for example, lying to ourselves allows us to function as sane human beings.

It's something that children work out how to do at a young age in order to avoid punishment, get what they want, etc. It's not taught - in fact, parents generally try to teach them *not* to lie.


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

[User]
ELI5: Moving things in the dark are lower ''fps"?

Whenever I look at something that has a spotlight or a focused bit of light shining on it for example someone's hand, then they move it really fast. It seems as if their hand is moving in "lower fps'' than usual.
I'm not sure in what other way to put it, I've only recently noticed it.

[Assistant]
Your eyes have two types of light sensitive cells called photoreceptors.

One type, cone photoreceptors, have 3 configurations that make up our color vision. They can repeatably fire and are very concentrated in the center of your vision. The downside is that they require a lot of light to fire so they're used for medium to bright environments.

The other type, rod photoreceptor, are extremely sensitive to light but reload very slowly. They are concentrated in the peripheral of your field of view. Rod photoreceptors are useful when it's dark or dim.

In dark environments, your cones don't have enough light to fire so your rods do most of the work. Although rods are very sensitive to light, they recover slowly, giving you the feel that things have low FPS or blur more. You'll also notice you can't sense color very easily. Rods only report black and white so your vision is mostly gray.


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

[User]
Have we ever created a situation in an experiment that has never occurred before in nature?

I've been thinking about this and I've been wondering... Have we ever created a situation in an experiment that has never occurred before in nature?

[Assistant] A lot of ultracold physics phenomenon do not occur in nature, both because of the excessively low temperatures and the purity of the materials required. Atomic Bose-Einstein condensation, Helium-3 superfluidity, quantum Hall effect, etc. Perhaps superconductivity itself. Similar phenomena are thought to occur in natural extreme environments, like the inside of neutron stars, but those aren't quite the same.


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

[User] [Movies in General] Why do people always run in the same direction a threat is moving? Why don't people dart off to the side?

[Assistant]
Panic can make people act in irrational ways.  When the fight-or-flight instinct kicks in, all you know is to get away from the threat in the most direct way possible.  Changing directions from the direction you're currently running flies against that instinct.

Plus, sometimes the threat behind you is a machete-wielding mass murderer, carnivorous dinosaur, malevolent spirit, or killer robot from the future, in which case it'll just change directions when you do, and continue pursuing you.  So you might as well keep running forward.


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

[User] Psychologists and/or psychiatrists, what is the difference between dissociative identity disorder and alter ego?

[Assistant]
An alter ego has no psychological definition, and as a result refers to many things. Many of those things are engaged in willingly by the person, such as:

* A second family

* A pseudonym

* Superhero civilian personas

Dissociative identity disorder involves an individual possessing an alter ego, but it is one that the person cannot control.


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

[User]
[40K] Does the Tyranid superorganism actually seed galaxies with life?

The full Tyranid superorganism arrives and envelopes the galaxy. After a few million years of feeding and growing, it ponderously begins its next intergalactic voyage towards its decided feeding ground. It leaves a galaxy mostly stripped bare of original life with the exception of some isolated pockets of micro-organisms and some deep core lifeforms in a few gas giants it was not worth the effort of retrieving.

Eventually life will arise again on its own as it has many times before, but there would be a large amount of Tyranid biomatter left throughout the Milky Way. Some of this would likely survive indefinitely in certain conditions. Could this eventually form the basis of next order of life to dominate the galaxy?

I also hear reports of worlds discovered to contain self sustaining Tyranid based ecosystems.

In theory, could the Hivemind have cleansed this galaxy billions of years ago, leaving behind traces of life or even Tyranid based living worlds from which the current dominant forms of life have since evolved?

[Assistant]
Part of the problem with the idea that the Tyranids actually seed galaxies for re-development is... They consume EVERYTHING. Planets are totally stripped bare of organic matter, then water and certain minerals (coal, for instance, would be metabolized by the Hive Fleets) and then, finally, the Hive Ships consume the atmosphere.

When the Tyranids are done, they leave a barren ball of rock with no atmosphere, making the re-development of any life rather slim.


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

[User]
CMV: The US should hold a one day "voting day" for primary elections.

I live in the US and given as how it is an election year, I think it is interesting to look back upon what happened over the course of this year.  In doing so you begin to realize that throughout the primaries, a significant amount of media discussion was about momentum, particularly in the Bernie Sanders campaign. A large amount of the discussion was about whether or not Sanders could amount enough momentum to overtake Clinton, while others said Clinton would have too much momentum to be overtaken etc etc.

Point in hand, the key word here is momentum. I strongly believe elections should not be based off of momentum and who has the advantage in delegates starting off, but rather the policies, the character, the beliefs, and views of the candidates instead.

However, this is something that easily can be remedied by the implementation of a one day national primary.

Now, one might bring up the argument that candidates should visited states one but one before voting so the candidates can become better acquainted with the people, but this is an argument of the past. In today's world we are all connected by media, where's in times past candidates could not be seen giving a speech in one state by the entire nation. The united states has changed in the past to keep up with modernism, so why can't it do so again? With this argument beside, a one day primary doesn't mean the candidates don't have to visit individual states: it means that candidates should go to each individual state to get on a personal level with the people then have a voting day where people can vote without being pressured and influenced by the decisions and views of others.

There may be underlying reasons that the US keeps the primary system the way it does, and I don't know everything, so I post this here to learn.

[Assistant]
The current system has its flaws, but holding all primaries on a single day wouldn't work very well either.

Look at the Democrats this year. Sanders was relatively unknown before the primaries began. He had very limited resources, but he was able to focus them on Iowa and New Hampshire. Because he performed well there, he got more donations and exposure to mount a real campaign. If all states had primaries on the same day, Clinton would have won in a landslide, and voters would not have gotten a real choice.

On the Republican side, there were many candidates all splitting the vote. Over the course of the primaries, weaker candidates gradually dropped out until we settled on the candidate that was the will of the voters. If the primaries were all held on a single day, nobody would have been close to a majority. We would have ended up with a brokered convention, and it would have been decided by political wheeling and dealing rather than the will of the people.


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

[User]
[Avatar: The Last Airbender] "In the era before the Avatar, we bent not the elements, but the energy within ourselves. To bend another's energy, your own spirit must be unbendable, or you will be corrupted and destroyed." Does this make Energybending is a more basic skill than elemental bending?

In other words, can this narrative be taken as the story of how civilization evolved to bend - 'we' meaning citizens at large, like they learned energybending first as a skill?

Is energybending a more basic skill for most benders (other than the Avatar)? Or am I misinterpreting something here?

[Assistant] So given the information in legend of korra, it makes more sense that the we in "we bent not the elements" refers to the dragon turtles, not humans. In legend of korra the dragon turtles give element bending to humans without them first having energy bending.


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

[User] [startrek] in one of the early Enterprise eps they encounter a race that have primitive holodecks that can't simulate people, just landscapes. they can simulate entire virtual cities than can fool humanoid perceptions, but they can't create an AI good enough to convincingly imitate a personality?

[Assistant] Yes. A realistic AI takes a lot of computing power, and also a lot of knowledge of psychology. A realistic-looking landscape doesn't take nearly as much computing power, especially if most of it isn't moving most of the time, and requires no more understanding than basic physics and material science.


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

[User] ELI5: Why hasn't the evolutionary process made childbirth easier?

[Assistant] Because the things making childbirth more difficult (larger cranial capacity, narrower hips for walking upright) have a larger positive effect on reproduction than the negative effect of the difficulty of childbirth.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] How much rights do muggle parents and guardians have over their magical children?

So in HP and the Philosophers Stone, Vernon and Hagrid are exchanging barbs when Vernon announces that Harry will not be going to Hogwarts with this exchange;

"Haven't I told you he's not going?" he hissed. "He's going to Stonewall High and he'll be grateful for it. I've read those letters and he needs all sorts of rubbish -- spell books and wands and--"

"If he wants ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop him," growled Hagrid.

So it got me wondering, how much rights do parents and guardians have over their own children in the magic community?

Harry was entrusted in the care of Petunia and Vernon. And while they werent great guardians, they had all legal precedents over the boy and his raising.

What authority does Dumbledore have over a parents right to their children, not just to Harry, but any muggle parent who may not want their child to go to Hogwarts?

[Assistant]
Remember, the muggle and wizard governments barely interact. From the ministry's perspective they have no legal rights over harry. They only have those in the muggle world.

The Dursleys can't physically stop powerful wizards, and they have no legal recourse- the muggle government won't be able to do anything even if they believe the story, and the wizarding government is still discussing whether to acknowledge muggles as people, never mind respecting their legal rights to parenthood.

The wizarding world seems to respect muggles rights, but its in the same way we respect a mother animals rights to their kids- they're being nice. If they want to take kids to hogwarts forcibly, they can.  They don't want to, seemingly, but they can.


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

[User]
ELI5: When someone whistleblows illegally, why does that seem that the whistleblower always gets charged for their crime, but the people they expose get away scot free?

Especially seems to be the case with any government corruption or like that new story about Tony Abbott's corrupt scholarship for his daughter. Seems like breaching privacy is far more enforced than the actual corruption being exposed.

[Assistant]
Unfortunately, despite constant assertions to the contrary, it's because the law is not applied equally even in countries we treat as the pinnacle of democracies.

Being a powerful government figure or a strong organization routinely trumps being a lone individual.

Powerful forces can rally better legal defense, greater public outreach, greater influence in the public conversation, exhaust and outlast your resources, or potentially subvert the legal process altogether through careful maneuvering or the generous application of 'funding' and 'favor' in the right places.


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

[User] ELI5: Mormonism.

[Assistant]
Jesus is in the New Testament.

Jesus said he loved everyone, then he went away for a very long time.  Some people wondered why he was gone so long.

Then some other men learned how to make books.  The first book they made was the bible.

Many men started teaching the bible.  So many men, in New York, in fact, that people were very confused about religion.  A boy named Joseph Smith was confused too.

He worked as a treasure finder, by looking through stones dug out of Indian burial mounds.  He claimed that an angel told him where a golden book was hidden, written by indians.

The indians said that Jesus loved them and visited them too in their book.  Joseph placed his magic stone in a hat, and read the words from the golden indian book.  This became the book of Mormon.

The confused people wanted to know that Jesus hadn't forgotten them.  When they heard that Jesus loved indians, they felt better.  Many joined Joseph's church.

Joseph really didn't care about money.  He cared about friends.  He loved being surrounded by people who liked him.

Joseph also liked having girls admire him.  He used his church to help him be around a lot of girls.  He then said that God said it was okay for him to marry all of them.

This made his wife not very happy.  She was very upset about when she found him with one of the girls long before God told Joseph that he could have many wives.

She was upset about the new wives.

Then one day, a man who worked with Joseph was told that Joseph wanted to marry his wife.  This man, got angry.  He did not want Joseph to take his wife.  He found a printing press and decided to tell everyone that Joseph was taking people's wives.

Joseph was angry at the man for telling his secrets.  He ordered the press be destroyed.  He could do that because people had elected him as mayor.  The press was destroyed.

The Governor was sad that Joseph had destroyed the press.  He said that Joseph had to go to jail for what he had done wrong.

Joseph went to jail.  Men from a town near by formed a militia, that's like a small army, and marched a long way to kill Joseph.  They did.

The members of the church were confused who should lead them.  Some followed on man, some followed another.  About half of them followed a man named "Brigham Young".

He took them to Utah.

Now, mormons no longer believe they should have many wives in this life, but that they can have many wives after they die.

They believe that families are important, and that everyone should be a mormon.

They believe when Jesus comes back, he will visit them first in a big meeting in Missouri, where Adam and Eve came out of the Garden of Eden.

They believe that he will come to the doors on a special temple in Salt Lake City.

They believe that they can help people who were not mormon in this life be baptized and become mormon after they are dead.

They are trying to be good people by helping everyone to be Mormons.


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

[User] ELI5: How does shaving gel go from a blue viscous liquid to a foamy thick liquid?

[Assistant]
The blue liquid inside the can is very thick and full of little bubbles (like a chocolate mousse, but much tinier).
The bubbly liquid is packed into the can really tightly, there isn't a lot of space, so the bubbles get squished down smaller to make room. When the liquid comes back out of the can, the bubbles have lots of space again, so they're free to stretch back out to their normal size. The bubbles are colourless, so as they grow, they make the colour of the liquid look fainter and fainter.


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

[User] Is it strictly impossible for two human beings to have the exact same genetic code or is it just astronomically improbable?

[Assistant]
Ignoring the existence of identical twins who do have the same genetic code (minus any somatic mutations that happened during their lives) technically it's possible, but will never happen because the odds are so high.

If it did happen it would be more likely in a very inbred family so there's little genetic variation to start.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is the universe being portrayed as dark when during day time (on Earth), everywhere appears bright. There are so many stars in the universe, shouldn't the "dark space" be filled with light?

[Assistant]
This line of thinking is exactly what led to the Big Bang theory of cosmic evolution.  Scientists initially believed the Universe to be infinite and eternal, but if it was so then surely every line of sight in the sky should end on a star, and the night sky should be completely bright.  Therefore, the Universe must either have a boundary or some beginning point, and there can't have been stars forever just as there are now.  Remember that when you look out into space you are also looking back in time, because it takes light time to travel to Earth.  If you look far enough you find no stars or galaxies - the earliest light we see is the cosmic microwave background, emitted roughly 350,000 years after the Big Bang.

Today, cosmologists think the Universe is infinite (or at least has no boundary) and it is well accepted that the Big Bang which created physics as we know it happened roughly 13.7 billion years ago.


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

[User]
[MCU] How much experience does Captain America Actually Have?

People often talk about how experienced he is as a war fighter, and people naturally defer to him as a leader. For example, during the Chitauri invasion when Tony declares, "Call it Cap" and everyone immediately does as ordered.

However, I don't imagine he can have much more than 10 - 15 years experience which puts him in about the same experience level as Tony. Less than Hawkeye or Blackwidow, and **much** less than Thor who's been a warrior for **thousands of years**.

By my estimation he was Suped up for maybe a few years in WW2 - and a portion of that time was selling bonds. After he became a Cap-sical he accrued no experience, until he was de-iced, and he's accumulating at the same rate as everyone else.

[Assistant]
Because he spent that time *being a leader*  as in, actively engaged leading a small elite troop of soldiers in the biggest war in human history.

Everybody else was being assassins, grandstanding billionaire superheroes, or immature warrior princes going on random raids on frost giants for shits and giggles.

Its not surprising that hes the one with the most actual experience and skill in leadership.


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

[User] [marvel] would it be possible to contain an angry Hulk by placing Mjolnir on his hand?

[Assistant]
Let's say, just for grins, that he can't wiggle his hand out from underneath the hammer. This frustrates Hulk. Then it makes him angry, and you wouldn't like Hulk when he's angry.

His rage grows, and with it, his strength level. Soaring past 100 tons, then 200, then 500, and still the hammer won't release its hold on the Green Machine. This drives Hulk into an almost insane fury. Ten million tons, 100 million tons, now we're talking about the kind of strength capable of moving mountains. Still, the hammer won't budge. Hulk is so angry, he's gone from a dark green to an almost brown color from his unbelievable rage. 10 billion tons, 50 billion tons, 200 billion tons. This goes on for some time, until, finally, Hulk has so much strength and is so infuriated that he stomps on the ground out of frustration. For you or I, this would be a futile act of rage, but for Hulk at his current strength, it's the same as an asteroid impacting the planet. Everything for a thousand mile radius is slammed by a shockwave of unbelievable force emanating from Hulk's foot's point of impact, and for a split second it's not Mjolnir that gives way, but the Earth itself. By only a few inches, Earth quakes in its orbit, allowing Hulk a chance to free himself, which he does. He immediately passes out from relief and wakes up as puny Bruce Banner, unable to remember why his hand is so sore.


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

[User] ELI5: How do you tell a computer how long a second is?

[Assistant]
Computers have a timer circuit built into them, like a digital watch.

More specifically:  They use a specially tuned quartz crystal that vibrates a certain number of times per second.  By counting the vibrations, they can tell how much time has passed.


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

[User] ELI5: Is fungi in the air everywhere? How does mold just on appear out of nowhere on something that sits in your house if there's moisture? How does mold and fungi work?

[Assistant] Mold spores are ubiquitous - they are pretty much everywhere.  Normal indoor spore count ranges from 500 to 5,000 spores per cubic meter, and outdoor spore counts can be as much as 50,000 spores per cubic meter in summer and fall in many areas.  Moldy buildings can have much higher spore counts, sometimes as high as 500,000 spores per cubic meter.  Since they're nearly everywhere, all it takes is the right environment for spores to sprout and become mold - just some water and organic material (like paper or wood or drywall).


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

[User]
Why did Nietzsche despise Plato so much

Is it mainly due to Plato's dislike for the material world and his longing for death/ another world (the forms)? And is this why Nietzsche preferred Aristotle, as he was more grounded in this world than his teacher?

[Assistant] Plato believed in an abstract "more real" reality, which Nietzsche found to be self-defeating. Nietzsche argued against the concrete existence of abstracts, and urged us to embrace the material world more fully. Nietzsche found Plato's ideas to be intellectually immature, and based on fantasy. Nietzsche believed that with the rise of secularism and science such beliefs as Platonism would dissolve when confronted with nihilism, and that a greater drive for life was the only answer to overcoming.


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

[User]
ELI5: How did drinking wine go from an every person, every day alcohol to being something associated with class and sophistication?

Even though that bourgeoisie crap isn't universal, going to a winery or a wine bar it becomes clear. Why!?

[Assistant]
In those places where it used to be an every day sort of drink, it largely still is. Go to France, Italy, etc, and you'll find that it's served everywhere and commonly had with meals as it always was.

Those places where it has assumed a certain air of sophistication tend to be those places that weren't traditionally wine drinking regions in the first place, such as the US or Canada.


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

[User] Why do dogs like to play fetch? Is this a behavior only found in domesticated dogs?

[Assistant]
Fetch is an action that replicates hunting. Chasing after prey is a natural, fun behaviour for dogs to perform, as it means they will be eating well. Through time, man has domesticated dogs in order to aid them with specific tasks, such as hunting. Retrieving is a natural behaviour, which we have used selective breeding to keep and enhance.
Tl;Dr wolves will fetch because it mimics prey, domesticated dogs will fetch because the behaviour has been selected for in years of domestication.


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

[User]
Interesting starter videos

A friend of mine wants to see if Philosophy is her sort of thing, to then maybe go on to study it.
Its best for her to watch interesting videos, like TedTalk or something but neither of us can find any.
Any suggestions?

[Assistant]
Does it have to be video? What about a podcast? "Philosophize This" is a pretty fun way to get into it for people new to philosophy.  It's a podcast with over a hundred episodes and available on Spotify.

Highly recommend for newcomers.


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

[User]
[marvel] why are wolverine's claws so clean when they pop out?

Shouldn't they be all bloody when they pop out? and why are they so shiny?

[Assistant]
As to why they're shiny, it's adamantium. That stuff can stay polished near forever.

Wolverine's body adapted to the foreign material by coating them in a thin layer of mucus. Most of it stays inside, but if you're standing close enough you can feel a bit of spray when he pops his claws.


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

[User]
[Bioshock] Why isn't there a "breathe underwater" plasmid?

You'd think that would be pretty useful in an undersea city...

[Assistant] Even if they could deal with the issue of water pressure and cold (Rapture is in the north Atlantic), it would provide a very easy way to escape the city. Neither Ryan nor Fontaine wanted people to leave Rapture. That is also partly why the Teleport plasmid was never stabilized.


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

[User]
[Marvel] I'm about to get in a fight with the Juggernaut with just an hour of prep time. I don't have any special abilities. What can I do?

EDIT: Looks like my options are:
1. Run and find somewhere inaccessible by foot (by boat or plane) (the only real option available)
2. Charm the hell out of him (or one of the few people who hold any emotional sway for him). ("Sure, lemme just pull out my Known Juggernaut associates rolodex here...")
3. Somehow manage to take off his helmet and hope there's a sympathetic telepath nearby. ("Anyone know how to contact Jean Grey? Wait, she's dead? Again?")
4. Die. (the most likely outcome)

I guess that's why he's a supervillain. I guess I assumed I could Constantine my way out of it somehow.

[Assistant]
Run..

You could last a few minutes in a hulkbuster armor but without resources youre not going to get one in an hour.

Without powers, even with extensive training juggernaut is going to walz over you. At the very best, rig a building to fall on him, pour him into concrete..
Slow him down. But youre not going to win.


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

[User]
[DC/Batman] Is there a reason why Batman hasn't had a sidekick codenamed "Batboy"?

There's been a couple of Robins,a Red Robin,Red Hood,Batgirl(s),Orphan,Spoiler,Huntress and a bunch of other names I can't remember...but no Batboy? Why!?

[Assistant]
I believe in one continuity, Robin was called batboy by some goons and very quickly and forcibly corrected them. Robin is typically the first sidekick Batman had in the lore, before keeping up the tradition of having a "Robin" as they age out and become Nightwing, Red hood, etc.

Iirc, the first Robin wanted to be called that and the name stuck. In Teen Titans, we see that as well, that Robin corrects a villain that he IS Robin, not just a Batman in training. As angsty as the live action "Fuck Batman" Robin is, og animated Teen Titans Robin has a lot of issues with coming out of Batman's shadow and becoming his own hero as well.


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

[User]
what is the hardest part of sending a rover to the moon?

I understand that actually getting the rover to escape earth's gravitational field takes a lot of energy but after that what other challenges are faced.

[Assistant] The hardest part is, ironically, what you can't plan: the landing location. Of course you can pinpoint an exact spot, but if your rover is unlucky enough to land on a rock big enough to tip it over, your mission is dead. It's just that easy.


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

[User] ELI5: How do companies avoid tax using the Double Irish/Dutch Sandwich arrangement ?

[Assistant]
Key things are transfer payments.  You could create iamkimi Brands that owns all your product's names and trademarks and charges iamkimi Europe and iamkimi America to use those names and trademarks.  Doing this smartly lets you recognize the profits wherever iamkimi Brands is located rather than where your sales are.

This gets your tax rate down to the level charged in a low corporate tax country (Ireland is the common example) at about 12.5%.

However, you can go much further.  Doing this uses some unintended consequences of EU and EU member nation laws, with the goal of creating income that no one calls earned in their nation.

By setting up a Bermuda company that has an office in Ireland, Ireland doesn't consider it an Irish company, and Bermuda doesn't tax the income the company earned in Ireland.  You can't just do that with the first firm, but by taking a series of steps (the original was to have the iamkimi Brands pay a royalty to a Dutch subsidiary (iamkimi Netherlands) and then pay another royalty to a second Bermuda/Irish company (iamkimi Brands2) you create income that neither country recognizes as corporate income.

And the US allows foreign subsidiaries to earn income indefinitely without tax so long as it's reinvested overseas, and you report to your owners the consolidated financial statements which include the income and assets from all your subsidiaries (the US firm iamkimi Holdings owns all the above firms so reports their income as it's own).


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

[User]
What is "rape culture?"

Lately I've been hearing the term used more and more at my university but I'm still confused what exactly it means. Is it a culture that is more permissive towards rape? And if so, what types of things contribute to rape culture?

[Assistant]
At its core, used to describe the victim-blaming attitude towards rape. If a woman is raped, she was "asking for it", and if a man was raped, he was "weak" or a "sissy" or "enjoyed it". Promoting the ideal of "don't get raped" over "don't rape people".

When you hear in response to a rape, "She shouldn't have been drunk/wearing that/etc.", that is what "rape culture" is referring to.


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

[User]
[MCU] So, how cool are the other eight realms with Odin's whole PLANET-DESTROYING WEAPON that he tries to tell everyone is just a fucking bridge?

Seriously. No fucking wonder Jtunheimr wants to murder Odin... he's sitting like an asshole on his throne just smiling and waving while that death star is staring down your planet.

[Assistant] Any sufficiently advanced technology can be used as a really terrifying weapon. Just because a race is advanced doesn't mean that they think of themselves as monsters, they do use the bifrost as a bridge and nothing else.


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

[User] [MCU] How does Iron Man's armor affect his flexibility depending on bulk?

[Assistant]
They limit his flexibility but in good ways.

The joints of the Iron Man armor are designed to protect Tony's body so that nothing gets bent too far or in the wrong way.  For example, the armor's back plates are designed so that Tony can bend his torso forward and back, but they also protected Tony's spine from getting crushed when Stane had him in a bear hug.  Another example would be when he had vehicles dropped on him in the battle at the airport, he suffered multiple contusions but no sprains or fractures.

Regarding bulk, the only armor Tony's used with a significantly different level of bulk would be Veronica, which was deployed against the Hulk in South Africa.  This armor worked by having Tony inside the torso while wearing another set of Iron Man armor.  Veronica's limbs would reflect Tony's movements, but Tony's arms and legs were not actually inside Veronica's arms and legs.  This meant that Veronica's flexibility was actually *better* than Tony's default armors, because there was no longer any concern about bending Tony's limbs in unnatural ways.  This can be seen in moves such as when he could bend Veronica's arm in an unnatural way to punch Hulk behind him.


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

[User] ELI5: can wind be strong but not fast, or is fast and strong the same?

[Assistant]
Strong= high force.

Force= Mass x Acceleration

The mass of atmosphere is essentially constant (with some variation as function of temperature).

So for wind to be strong, the strength must come from its acceleration/velocity.


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

[User] ELI5: What exactly does chiropractic manipulation do to your body. If the benefits are useful why aren't they prescribed by an M.D. like physical therapy and medication?

[Assistant] Traditional chiropractic care is garbage and does nothing useful. The newer form is basically just massage and physical therapy. You are right in thinking that chiropractors are generally not actually doing anything meaningful.


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

[User] Would a astronaut in orbit around betelgeuse experience the same time dilation as he would with a blackhole the same mass of betelgeuse?

[Assistant]
Yes. The Schwarzschild solution for gravity is true outside any spherical object with minimal rotation But even for a rotating black hole, you would need to be very close to the event horizon to notice any interesting effects - so close that your orbit would be well inside Betelgeuse. At any large distance, gravity is just the normal Newtonian gravity.

If Betelgeuse collapsed into a black hole without expelling any gas (and it actually will expel gas when it goes supernova), that black hole would be about 34 km in radius. Its current radius is maybe 600 million km. So an orbit far enough out to be outside Betelgeuse would be pretty far away from the black hole, and it'd just feel like a normal 1/r^2 gravity force, without any real time dilation.


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

[User]
When free falling, is terminal velocity the default velocity our body will try to accelerate/decelerate to?

For example, if I was dropped out of a plane and my starting velocity is higher than my terminal velocity would I eventually decelerate to terminal velocity?

[Assistant]
When there is no net force acting on a body (because all forces cancel each other out), the speed of that body remains the same. The terminal velocity is the velocity at which the force of gravity is equal to the force exerted by air drag.

The force of gravity is independent of the speed with which the object is falling. It's always the same in a free fall situation. However, the drag force depends on the velocity: higher velocity means more drag.

So if the velocity is below the terminal velocity, the drag force is less than the force of gravity and the object accelerates. If the velocity exceeds the terminal velocity, the drag force is larger than the force of gravity and the object will slow down. Once the velocity is equal to the terminal velocity, both forces cancel each other out and the object remains at a constant velocity.


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

[User]
how to know if a career in research is right for you?

I'm currently an undergrad studying biomedical science. I have the choice at the moment to either continue biomedical science at a different university in Sweden which is a lot better in the field and so go into research I presume, or to try and get into medical school (which I've heard it doesn't really matter where you do that). I could also change degrees entirely. I have no idea what I want to do, and I've never really done research before, how do you know if academia is the right path?

[Assistant] You should try it - probably volunteer at your university during the academic year or in summer - try to get into a summer research program such as Amgen scholars if you will still be eligible. But it seems in your case it may be easier to decide if medicine is right for you - e.g., how do you feel about making quick life-and-death decisions? and quality-of-life priorities, such as are you more interested in being able to work almost anywhere in your country of studies (medical doctors are needed everywhere, biomedical researchers in a smaller number of places) or in being able to work in other developed countries (that's typically extra difficult for medical doctors but common in research careers with non-human research subjects)? If it is, you probably should go to medical school, medical doctors are needed in larger numbers and more vitally. "Even" dentists and veterinarians. BTW as a medical doctor you can still end up doing research (though probably of a different kind, on people, such as clinical trials).


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Survive Order 66

Currently I am an experienced Jedi General of the clone wars.  Yeah it sucks that my troops turned on me.  Royally pissed that now I have a blaster bolt in my bum.  But I still love the Republic or whatever it becomes.  I also just love my job of being an omnipotent galactic samurai.

Honestly if the choice was death or changing the color of my sword, how do I sign up for the Empire?  Is there a viable career path in the new order?

[Assistant]
> Is there a viable career path in the new order?

Probably not. They have magic mumbo-jumbo ways of figuring out who the Jedi are.

Your best bet would be to become something... unofficial.  A mercenary-for-hire, a smuggler, a businessman on some backwater planet, that kind of thing.  Keep your lightsaber, but get a good blaster for your hip too.  Learn to use it.  Learn to love it.  Your newfound cover won't last for crap when you whip out a Jedi lazur-sword and start whacking at people's wrists.


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

[User]
What purpose do the ridges & depressions common in food containers serve?

They are present on the lids and sides, make manufacturing more difficult, and use more plastic rather than a flatter surface.

Initial thoughts are maybe to disperse heat better or maybe lower surface tension (making it less susceptible to cracking)

Edit: Thank you to everyone for your replies!
For future readers the answer is essentially one word: corrugation. Corrugation adds strength and durability while using significantly less plastic than would be necessary for a flat border with similar durability & strength. Another benefit is grip (think bottom of a bottle wouldnt stay put as easy if it had a flat bottom) and some ridges are potentially remnants of the manufacturing process (unconfirmed).

[Assistant]
They provide structural support.  If everything was flat plastic it would bend so much it would either crack, or be so flimsy as to act as a stiff plastic bag.  It actually saves plastic because the container would have to be a lot thicker otherwise.

Look at the difference between bottles with flat sides vs something like a Gatorade bottle.


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

[User] ELI5:How do YouTubers make money? Is it a combination of subscribers, views per video, ads?

[Assistant]
YouTubers earn money through ads on their monetised videos. Viewing an ad provides a small amount of income towards their channel. Since it requires the ad to be displayed, if you run adblock, your view does not count towards what they get paid. Unless they acquire sponsors or a donation system, this is the only way they make money from their channel.

However, where figures like subscribers, views, likes and viewing time per video come in is marketing - the more watched/liked/subscribed you are, the more likely YouTube is to promote you to other people. As such, you don't actually make money from having subscribers, but they do represent a consistent source of income and help in sharing your video with the world.


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

[User] [Harry Potter] How would Hermione use Felix Felicis if she have won it in the 6th book?

[Assistant] Probably more to split up with Ginny and Ron for the battle against Death Eaters. Other than that, she might use it before. Probably for a test or school day where she think's she'll get below an Exemplary for something.


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

[User]
Are donations counted as part of GDP?

Say a business donates 30 million to medical research.  Is that counted as an investment or is not counted as part of GDP since it's technically not a market transaction?

[Assistant]
Yes, they are counted in GDP.

On the expenditure side they're counted when the medical research charity spends the money. On the income side they're counted when the business initially gains the money as profit.


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

[User]
Same school for PhD

Currently, Im an undergrad in STEM. Ive been thinking about staying at the same university for my PhD (right after undergrad) but I want opinions on whether the benefits outweigh the detriments.

I love my university, its a great fit for me and a great university (R1). I love this city too, and my partners family is here (and mine is only a few hours drive away). I originally planned on going to a different university, but the main reason Im thinking about changing my mind lately is my current lab: my PI is, for lack of a better term, a big shot in my field, and this research is what I want to continue my career in. The lab culture is super healthy and respectful, which is honestly what I value most. Ive heard countless horror stories about toxic labs making peoples lives miserable. I dont want to go to a new lab and find myself in that situation.

Would this hurt my chances of getting a job (postdoc) afterwards? Do universities prefer people who did their undergrad and PhD at different schools?

[Assistant] It's no issue at all, as your undergrad really isn't factored in to your "Research career". It's your PhD and subsequent post-doc placements that are your "research years", and where its beneficial to have moved around.


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

[User] ELI5: how did a meteor wipe out all dinosaur life, but other species survived?

[Assistant]
The end-Cretaceous extinction killed most but not all dinosaurs (the ancestors of modern birds survived), and it killed off many other forms of life too, including certain varieties of mammals, fish, reptiles, and mollusks.

Its not that dinosaurs were singled out: the consequences of the asteroid impact were worst for large plant-eating land creatures and the large predators that hunted them, and less bad for small omnivores and carrion-eaters.

Every big category of animals on earth was affected, but the dinosaurs were especially vulnerable due to their size and diet.


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

[User] [Robocop 1987/Robocop 2014] How might things in the original 1987 Robocop timeline have played out differently if OCP had allowed Murphy to retain his identity, memories, personality and family connections like he did in the 2014 timeline?

[Assistant]
Assuming Murphy still gets injured badly enough to justify a total body prosthesis, this version of Robocop isn't going to look too different. They wouldn't have wiped his mind, so they wouldn't have needed to place directives in his head. Dick Jones never gets to mess with Robo's programming.

Let's say the process still leaves Robo with short-term amnesia. He can remember his family (and they visit him at his place in police headquarters) so right away the cops accept him as one of their own, back from the dead. He partners up with Officer Lewis again. Robo is a little less cold toward the near-rape victim and Lewis is there to offer support but otherwise the first few nights of patrol go much the same as in the original movie.

Bob Morton is less of an asshole in this timeline. He has better control over his mouth so the washroom confrontation with Dick Jones never happens. Dick doesn't send Clarence Boddicker after him and Bob spends an uneventful night at home.

Robo starts to remember who killed him and he begins taking down Clarence's gang as in the original film. In a panic, Clarence confesses his connection to Dick Jones and Robo goes to OCP Tower to arrest the executive. Dick sics the ED-209 on Robocop but the fight is much more even this time. No longer crippled by Dick's directive, Robo is able to defeat the ED-209. But then the cops arrive. Unwilling to fight back against his fellow police officers, Robo crawls away and escapes with Officer Lewis.

Dick starts to get desperate. He kidnaps Murphy's family and forces Robo to go on a rampage during the police strike. He damages a lot of property but doesn't hurt anyone. Bob Morton becomes suspicious and does a little detective work. With the help of some Detroit cops (who he actually befriended in this timeline) Bob is able to rescue Murphy's family. Unfortunately, he is unable to contact Robocop.

Robocop takes his rampage to the abandoned factory complex, where he kills Clarence and his gang as in the original movie. Before dying, Clarence is able to relay one last order from Dick Jones: Robocop must kill the chairman of OCP.

Robocop enters the boardroom as before. He is about to murder the old man when Bob runs in. Murphy's family is safe! Dick was coercing Robo! Dick Jones tries to pretend that he's innocent, but Robo plugs into the TV screens and replays certain clips. Dick takes the old man hostage. He knows that Robo has no problem killing him so he sticks close to the old man.

"Hold very still, sir," Robocop says, and then shoots through the chairman's legs, hitting Dick in the dick. The old man moves faster than he's ever moved and Robo is free to go dakka dakka on Dick Jones. The film ends much like the original.

Without the mind-wipe it's much easier to produce cyborg cops. Robocop 2 never happens and Delta City gets built without any problems.


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

[User]
[Dr. Seuss] Why are the fucking eggs green?

Why are my eggs so fucking green?

It makes me sick down to my spleen.

I think I'll hurl, this shit's obscene!

Why are the fucking eggs so green?

[Assistant]
Perhaps the cuisine isn't rare?

Perhaps it's not that odd a dare?

In a world of things and Whos and glunks,

Why would green eggs and ham be bunk?

I say green eggs are normal there,

And Sam's friend's tastes are what is rare.


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

[User]
ELI5: How did humans become so dominant when human babies conpared to other species babies are absolutely helpless

Think about. Other animals have to be ready and alert the second they pop out, human babies are just crying meat pies that can't do anything but poop, pee, barf and cry.

[Assistant]
Imagine that you're a big scary jungle cat.  You weight a couple hundred pounds; you've got razor sharp claws, long fangs, lightning fast reflexes.  You're a perfect killing machine and human babies are just delicious.

But here's the thing.  You work alone.  Almost all predators do; even ones that don't -- lions and wolves and whatnot -- while scary, still hunt and kill in a predictable way.

And there's the word that makes humans so terribly dangerous.  Our babies are helpless but our adults are the most terrifying predator on the planet, bar none.  We lack long pointy claws so we hurl rocks to keep those claws at bay.  We lack raw brute strength so we sharpen sticks, focusing our pathetic muscle strength down into a needle-sharp point.

We lack cat-like reflexes so we react before things happen -- we predict.  We see patterns and we act on them; we respond, not to what has happened but what WILL happen and we extend that not just to defeating the predator that comes in the night for our children; we see the pattern and we act -- treating all predators, even those who've never made a play for our young as threats.

We see the pattern and we hunt those other species preemptively.

The greatest protective capacity human beings have is the capacity for eradication.  No other species has anything like it.  If humans consider a predator a threat to their children or their tribe they will seek out and exterminate every last member of that species within reach.

Our children are helpless, but as a social group we are the most fearsome killing machines on earth.


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

[User]
Can enough gravity crush an atom?

Can enough gravity crush an atoms electrons into its core? How small could an atom get this way?

[Assistant]
This is basically what happens in a neutron star.

Above about 1.4 solar masses, white dwarfs (or the iron cores of massive stars) do not have sufficient pressure to support themselves against gravity. Admittedly, there are no atoms in these systems. Nuclei are all pressure ionized and the electrons form a sort of gas.

If the iron core exceeds this mass limit, run-away electron capture occurs on protons, producing neutrons and neutrinos. This gives you a supernova and a neutron star.

We don't entirely know core density of neutron stars yet, but it seems to be a couple times greater than the density of protons and neutrons in nuclei that we see in normal matter.


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

[User] ELI5: Why did big name musicians like Johnny Cash and B.B. King play concerts in prisons so frequently?

[Assistant]
It was a phenomenon of the 1960s.

Prisoners didn't have much in the way of rights nor did anyone much care how they were treated or housed until the 20th century.  Until then prisons were squalid, damp, cramped, pest-ridden hellholes.  Prison was a punishment.  But in the 20th century people started to realize that if you put a human into a place like that, kept them there for some number of years, then let them out, they were likely to be more dangerous to society after they were released than they were when they went in.

So (at least in North America and parts of Europe) people began to think of prisons as a place for rehabilitation.  Prison, in and of itself, was not supposed to be punishment.  The time served was.  Prisons were supposed to be places where broken people could get "fixed" and returned to society as better than when they went in.

Still, the legacy of the old-style prison as punishment lasted, in large measure because the prisons themselves lasted.  Its hard to justify tax dollars to tear down a perfectly good jail and build a new, nicer facility for murderers.

By the 1960s societial views had begun to change and a growing sympathy was felt for prisoners.  The idea that they should still have some rights, and be given some humane experiences like libraries, concerts, religious services, etc. gained strength.

Cash, and others like him who went into the prisons in those years were at the vanguard of that movement, raising awareness with the public about what conditions were like and making people feel more should be done to improve them.  That's why, for example in Cash's Folsom Prison recording they included the audio where he talks about the water and how disgusting it is - that's not meant to just be a funny bit, it's meant to make listeners who knew nothing about prison have an emotional connection with those men.  Surely, you would think, at least the *water* should be clean?

Cash had always been fascinated by the struggles of the lower classes.  Farmers on land washed away by floods, men working on railroads far from home, prisoners, indigenous peoples, etc.  He made a lot of money singing songs about their lives and received a lot of mail from people like those he sang about.  His religious beliefs were also centered on salvation and redemption and who needs that more than someone in prison?  He was a natural fit for this movement.

Over the years those kinds of concerts have continued but now it is much more about the prisoners and less about society.  People do them out of a sense of sympathy for the imprisoned rather than as a way to wake up the voters about conditions "inside".


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

[User] ELI5: What does "Run in compatibility mode" actually do?

[Assistant]
The most notable thing it does is falsify the Operating System version when the application requests it.

For example, you may be running Windows 8 which will normally report its version number as 6.2 (I won't go into details why the Windows version number for application developers is different than the common version number, just know that it is).

An older application designed for Windows 7 may have some compatibility check built-in that basically requests the OS version and if it's not 6.1 (the version corresponding to Windows 7) it may throw an error saying something like "This application is designed for Windows 7, please upgrade your computer to run it." In reality though the application may be compatible with your Windows 8 computer, it's just that the application is confused by the unexpected OS version number and assumes that you're running an old or incompatible OS.

So, when you run that sort of application in compatibility mode, instead of the OS reporting the version number as 6.2 (corresponding to your Windows 8 OS), it will instead report back a falsified version number of 6.1 (for example), so it can fool the program into thinking it is running on a genuine Windows 7 computer.

Compatibility mode may also act to falsify other OS settings to keep them consistent with what the older OS would have reported, further helping to eliminate any superficial compatibility problems.

Compatibility mode doesn't actually correct fundamental incompatibilities though. For example, it may not allow the application to make calls to API functions / libraries that no longer exist. It's also unlikely to help with things like hardware drivers which tend to be specific to an individual OS version.


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

[User] [Last Airbender] Like the waterbenders can bend blood, could Firebenders bend a person's bio-electricity to manipulate their body?

[Assistant]
'Bio-electricity' plays a very small role in the nervous system. The majority of mental signals are sent out via neurotransmitters, which are non-water fluids.

A firebender could probably tase someone, but they couldn't do any fine motor control or anything.


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

[User] [chess] I understand a promotion to knighthood or clergyman for outstanding service, but what is it about getting deep into enemy territory that makes the pawn, a lowly foot soldier eligible to be queen?

[Assistant]
Because when that particular foot soldier made it to the back line, they pulled off their helmet and revealed that they were actually one of the King's daughters. She went incognito among the troopers to prove herself to her parents, and didn't reveal the truth until she achieved a grand victory. The King then declares her Queen Regnant of the enemy's back line, both as a political move to intimidate and demoralize the enemy and so he has a pretense to give his daughter a Queen's full set of combat gear, increasing her chances of overall survival.

Unfortunately due to the chaos of the war, he can't have any of the other foot soldiers checked to see if any of them are also his daughters; poor guy needs to wait until they hit the back line.


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

[User]
[MCU] what are the limits and capabilities of Ebony Maws powers?

He sliced a car in half. Why not slice a character in half? Why not use his telekinesis to snap someones neck or rip their insides out?

[Assistant]
Line-of-sight, requires concentration, possibly limited range, and the fact that it's almost certainly more difficult to manipulate a moving, resisting thing than an inanimate one. Pretty standard limitations of telekinesis, in other words.

He almost never uses his powers directly on a living being. He throws objects at them to attack, or wraps objects around them to bind them. He either can't manipulate them directly or finds it too difficult to do so.

At one point, he turns a bunch of rocks into needle bullets and flings them at his opponents. When the attack is redirected back at him, instead of stopping them with his powers he picks up a car to block them -- not even fully successfully, as one of them actually hit him. It was apparently easier and faster than trying to stop all of them individually.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Did Luke accomplish anything by going to Bespin?

Rewatching Empire with some friends, and Yoda just told Luke that he shouldn't go to Cloud City. I've been thinking about what happens in the rest of Empire and ROTJ, and here's what I imagine would happen had Luke not taken Vader's bait:

* Han Solo gets frozen in carbonite and given to Boba Fett (no change)
* Leia, Chewbacca, and and C-3P0 get left on Cloud City with Lando (a change, but not insurmountable for Luke and the Rebels to correct)
* Vader eventually gets bored of waiting for Luke and goes off to look for him (biggest change, with the most unknown side effects)

**IF** that's how things went down, it seems like Yoda would have been right: Luke should have stayed on Dagobah to complete his training. The biggest way I could imagine things going worse, if Luke had stayed on Dagobah, was if Vader realized Leia was his daughter/Luke's sister and decided to try and sway her to the Dark Side. Obviously that would make for a much different, and presumably worse, SW universe. Although I'd love to see Luke and Leia in a really good force fight...

Thoughts?

**EDIT** - How could I forget?

Darth Vader: "Calrissian. Take the princess and the Wookie to my ship. "

Lando: "You said they'd be left at the city under my supervision!"

Darth Vader: "I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further."

So, if Luke doesn't come, Vader eventually gets bored waiting and leaves Bespin...taking Leia and Chewie with him. Sucks for the Rebels!

[Assistant]
Had he been more powerful a Jedi, he would only have defeated his father more easily.

At the moment on the Death Star when he has Vader on the ground, disarmed (in both senses of the word), Luke does not pause to look at a bionic hand. He is untouched, unscarred, untroubled. He kills Vader. He succumbs to the Dark Side.

The confrontation at Bespin is necessary for Luke to halt his tumble to the Dark Side. Luke's fatal flaw is recklessness; but it is deep in his heart, it is part of him: it is tied to his soul. It is fitting that it is his most human act, the act truest to himself, that will stay his hand at the crucial moment.

Darth Vader was prophesied to bring balance to the Force. He does it at Bespin, by defeating, humiliating, and shocking his rash son. It is an act of misguided love, driven by narrow-minded certainty and self-confidence - the same flaws we see so starkly in the Anakin of the prequel trilogy.

By being true to himself, Darth Vader plants a seed that allows Luke to be true to himself. And in the end, Anakin fulfills the oath every father takes: he sacrifices his life and more importantly his view of the world. He helps his son become who he must be, no matter the cost to himself. He heals himself by healing his son.


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

[User] [Star Trek] Can someone describe the lifestyle of a typical person living on the Earth who is not involved with the Federation?

[Assistant]
The Tal Shiar recently decrypted a data transmission from Starfleet Headquarters. Unfortunately, a large bulk of the data transmission consisted of routine maintenance reports from Starfleet's Corps of Engineers. Our intelligence analysts were perplexed that a not-insignificant amount of the reports had to do with civilian holo-emitters and *"water"*-damage.

Hail Romulus.


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

[User]
CMV: the world will enter an era of practically eternal oppression

People who are motivated to help others tend to enter fields where they can help others such as medicine. People who are sociopathic and selfish tend to enter fields where they can gain power such as politics and business. Unethical and evil tactics such as blackmail, lying, and killing give massive advantages towards rising to the top and gaining power. Therefore, sociopathic and evil people tend to rise to positions of power as genuinely good people are not capable of competing.

In the past, dictatorships have been overturned through revolutions, wars, and the death of leaders. Most people are inherently followers so in order to start a revolution there must be a leader figure. It also takes planning to start a revolution. With modern day technology, the government can spy on people through cell phones and computers. Facial recognition technology combined with GPS on cell phones can ensure that they have information on the whereabouts of everyone at any time. For that reason, it is impossible for a leader figure to incite a revolution because the leader figure will be silenced before they can do anything.

But what if a revolution does get going? If it does, it has no hope of succeeding against an authoritatian government in the future. Automated drones, tanks, and missiles already exist. The direction we are headed in is automated warfare. The government need only have control of an army of automated weapons to completely destroy any sort of civilian uprising. In the past, there was a possibility of the police and military also turning on the government. That possibility will not exist once the military is comprised mainly of machines.

But what about the natural death of dictators? Given enough time someone better should come along and change things? In the future, it is entirely possible that near immortality will be achievable through better medicine and genetic editing. Leaders will stay in power for very long periods of time.

[Assistant]
Democracy is the most stable, least corrupt and most rigid power structure there is when its established correctly.

Your point that dictators just wont die naturally is really weird. How many in history have been killed? What about accidents? Not only that, but when there is a powerful dictator, the power vacuum they leave usually plunges he country into chaos immediately. Mostly because law and order were based on fear.

Furthermore, all the richest most powerful countries are democratic, and all the most economically, security and ethically challenged countries are loose dictatorships or military juntas. Where is this worldwide eternal oppression coming from exactly?

You argue that surveillance technology will necessarily crush organization but thats outrageous as well. Security is an arms race that nobody can win. For every measure, there is a countermeasure. At the end of the day its just people that control things, so all it takes is one non-loyalist in an important position to undermine security.


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

[User] Why does Br2 have a higher boiling point than HBr, even though HBr is polar, and has dipole-dipole interactions that are stronger than the London dispersion forces in the non-polar Br2?

[Assistant] HBr only has a net dipole moment of 0.7, which isn't terribly high (CH, which is considered nonpolar, is 0.4). Meanwhile Br2's London Dispersion force with 70 electrons is a lot higher than HBr's with only 36 electrons.


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

[User]
ELI5 How do experts go about translating ancient languages? (For example Sumerian/Akkadian)

So I've been learning more about ancient civilizations from a podcast during my commute to work. Sometimes they talk about texts from during those times and read them. It's poetry, letters to people, etc.
I'm curious how did/do experts interpret and translate these texts so we can understand them now.

[Assistant] Archeologists find something like the Rosetta Stone (which had Ancient Greek next to Egyptian Hieroglyphics) which has a known language side by side with the language in question. Historians use finds like that to build a rudimentary dictionary to assist with translation.


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

[User]
If someone where to lose their arm, how does the body repair it's veins in order to creates a stable blood flow?

When you see an amputee, how does the body reinstate a stable blood flow? Can it? Or does there need to be human interference to do so?

[Assistant] In a surgical amputation, major blood vessels are ligated (i.e., tied off). Smaller blood vessels may be ligated or cauterized (burned). In either case, the vessels will generally fill with clot back to the level of the last major branch point.  Eventually, the clotted stumps scar down, and the blood just stops trying to go down that direction. If you picture blood vessels like a series of forks in the road, this would be analogous to one of the forks getting blocked off and backing up with a bunch of cars that don't go anywhere. Any subsequent traffic coming down the road sees that one of the forks is congested and preferentially goes down the other fork. Or some jackass just sits there and honks like it's his job. But that kind of screws up the analogy so forget that last part.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do I think something is a good idea when I am in bed at night, but when I wake up the next day I am too nervous to do it or think it wont work out?

[Assistant]
Everything your brain does requires energy, including "nothing." Specifically, to stop yourself from having certain types of thoughts (let's call them "dumb ideas"), other parts of your brain capable of critical thinking, evaluation, scenario modeling & if-then extrapolation have to exert metabolic energy. Late at night, when you're tired, your brain has quite a bit less energy, and that means less energy for inhibitory functions.

That means your thoughts are freer to wander haphazardly, following their own chains of association without anyone trying to fact-check them, edit for decency or obscenity or simple shame. This can be "bad" but it can also be good to have "dumb ideas." For one thing, you might learn something about yourself and how you "really" think when the scolds of logic and morality let down their guard. For another, they said the pacemaker was a "dumb idea," etc.


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

[User] eli5: What makes permanent markers more permanent than regular markers?

[Assistant]
Its based on how you make the marker ink. Permanent markers have something in the ink that makes the ink stick to surfaces better and hard to remove with water. Non-permanent markers dont have that extra sticky solution and is made in a way where you can clean it easily with water.

An ELI15 answer is that markers are made with a dye dissolved in an organic solvent. If the solvent is water-soluble, its not permanent. If the solvent is made with a non-water-soluble solution, its permanent. Sometimes, to make it more permanent, they also include a polymer in the mixture that binds the ink to the surface better.


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

[User]
[DC] The Joker is diagnosed with cancer. How does he react?

Is he upset? Does he find it funny? Does he accept his fate or does he seek treatment? How would he go about a doctors visit? Would he cooperate or would he end up killing anyone who tries to help him?

[Assistant]
This happened in comics! "Joker: Last Laugh" has the Joker diagnosed with terminal brain cancer (inaccurately). He doesn't seem scared or upset, but he does proceed to create a new version of Joker Toxin that would be released into the weather and turn everyone into joker-clones, try to kill the president, have an army of supervillians spread havoc and very nearly push Nightwing into killing him.
While not cancer, and debatably "real", on learning he was dying in "The Batman Who Laughs", Joker wipes out the entire batman's rogues gallery, burns down Gotham and releases a neurotoxin that turns batman evil when he kills him.

So something like that happens. The joker isn't scared of death *per se*, but he doesn't want to go out quietly. If he's dying, he'll do something big and horrific, and likely try and bush batman into finishing the job. He'll accept his fate, but he'll want to go out doing something the world will *never* forget.


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

[User]
[Indiana Jones] What is the timeline for and where did Indiana get his PhD?

It seems like Jones goes off on adventures all the time, and often in the middle of the school year. It must have been difficult for him to finish his PhD, and yet in the first film, he's relatively young. Sure, there are Dr.s that get their PhDs in their late 20s, but those people are hyper-focused on their goal. So my question is: did Jones just get his PhD when we see him? What kind of agreement does he have with the University to just leave whenever he feels like it?

[Assistant]
Undergraduate at University of Chicago, largely under Abner Ravenwood, from 1919 through 1922. Graduate program at the Sorbonne in Paris, doctorate in 1925, at the age of 26(born in 1899). His extensive traveling throughout his youth helped him progress quite quickly through his college studies and graduate work.

Active research professors often have set-ups to travel to digs and on assignment. Especially for a school like Marshall College, the prestige and funding brought about by the archeological research a professor like Jones did for them far outweighed the benefits of his teaching acumen. Although he was a great teacher, too.


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

[User]
ELI5: How did they teach Helen Keller advanced words/concepts?

I understand that her teacher was excellent and thought outside of the box, but if Helen Keller had no sight or hearing, how could they teach her the meaning of words like "is"?
Every source I read gave a little history of where Helen went and who her teachers were, and there were lots of quotes from her writing, but I'm still not finding an explanation.
In my understanding, teaching someone to communicate by signing in their hand would teach them basic words that they could feel, but even after many years, I feel like they would still be understanding in broken sentences, like being in a foreign country and asking for food or the bathroom just by knowing basic words, the sentences would only be "I need bathroom" and things like that.

After reading all the resources I could find and not seeing a clear answer, I'm completely unashamed to ask this question. So, please share any information you know, and if this is a dumb question, I think I'm in the right subreddit, because clearly I need it broken down like I'm five!

[Assistant] The same way a baby learns language.  You start with basic words and build from there.  So simple words like water and cold are easy to teach and if as a teacher you continuously sign sentences like "water is cold" or "steam is hot" while putting her other hand in cold water or hot steam, eventually she will pick up the meanings of a word like "is."


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

[User] [Marvel, MCU] How low are New York property prices, they'd surely be low due to the constant destruction and danger, right?

[Assistant]
The Daredevil series actually spun its first season storyarc around this.

It's established early in the series that the collateral damage from the Chituari's attempted invasion of New York City in the first Avengers movie caused extensive damage to buildings and infrastructure in certain neighborhoods.

So in the aftermath some buildings needed to be torn down or rebuilt, and many affluent people decided to move out of those areas and leave it to those who wouldn't really have that option.

The neighborhood of Hell's Kitchen was especially hit hard by this, to the point where it basically rolled back from the pricey gentrified neighborhood it is in our world, to what it was known to be like since before the mid 80's, which is plagued by crime and poverty... which also was the version of Hell's Kitchen used as the setting of the comic book Daredevil stories that the series is mostly adapting.

I thought it was a very clever plot development by the showrunners to justify the setting of the show.


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

[User] ELI5: What about a glass ketchup bottle makes it so difficult to easily pour?

[Assistant]
The ketchup is thick enough to create an air tight seal at the neck of the bottle.

In order for ketchup to leave the bottle there needs to be airflow to replace the ketchup.

Unless the bottle is plastic so you can squeeze and reduce the volume of the container without needing air to replace the ketchup.


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

[User]
String theory question...

I was trying to figure out what string theory is so I wiki'ed it and the first sentence says "..attempts to reconcile quantum mechanics and general relativity."

Does this mean that these two studies aren't fundamentally connected yet?  That there are currently contradictions between g.r. and q.m. ?  Why aren't they connected?  As it stands now are we most likely gonna find the magical bridge which makes all the equations and laws come together?  Or is there a chance we're totally off on all this physics stuff and someday we might have to start back from (sorta) square one someday?

[Assistant]
In fact, general relativity and quantum mechanics, as they stand, are not compatible with each other.  (Special relativity and quantum mechanics merge quite nicely.)  Each theory within its own realm has survived very detailed tests; the arena in which we would need to combine them is on a distance scale of something like 10^-35 meters, which is extraordinarily tiny, and thus outside our experimental reach.

What this indicates is not that we'll have to throw out GR and/or QM and start from scratch, but that when we get into a realm in which we need both, we will require a new theory that will swallow GR and QM alive, so to speak.

Just as general relativity did not cause us to throw out Newtonian gravity, but simply recognize that it was a limiting case of GR, or just as QM doesn't cause us to throw out classical physics, but simply to recognize that it is a limiting case of QM, we fully expect that the theory that combines gravity and quantum mechanics all under one roof will reproduce GR and QM in the respective limits corresponding to the realms in which they work.


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

[User]
[Jurassic Park] Instead of being funded by John Hammond, the park is instead funded by his second cousin on his father's side: Richard Hammond. Along with Jeremy Clarkson and James May, how would Jurassic Park: Top Gear Edition be different?

Assume the Top Gear cast has access to the same amount of money John Hammond does.

[Assistant]
It's even more haphazard (duct taped fences, some of the dinosaurs are clearly giant frogs, and let's just say the Ride-A-Dino exhibit has substandard safety procedures), but it somehow works anyway, winning hearts around the world.

That is, until it's closed because Jeremy punched an investor in the face. And accidentally locked him in a carnivores's enclosure.

Despite that, the park is later reopened with an American megacorporation on their side, to global applause.


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

[User]
[Jurassic Park/World] Are these dinosaurs protected by the same abuse laws as normal animals?

Say if the park owners wanted to damage the dinosaurs to see how much they could take would that count as animal abuse?

Could they infect animals with viruses without care for a fine due to animal abuse?

Could they set up a pen and have dinosaurs duke it out? That would probably gain more money than any new attraction such as a new dinosaur.

[Assistant] They camp out on fictional islands that appear to be claimed by a South American state. Those places are not known for strong animal protection laws, or for particular aversion to having their palms greased to look the other way.


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

[User]
ELI5: How is information stored in computers and drives when theres no power?

So for example if I found a hard drive that I havent used for years and just plug it in to my computer, the files would still be there.

How? What is physically storing that information if it's not being done with electricity. What changes if I delete the files? Theres no limit to the number of times I can change what data is being held so it cant be something physical right?

Please help I've started thinking about this and now I'm very confused.

[Assistant]
Depends on the drive.

Old platter HDDs store information using magnetism.  Inside, there is are disks of magnetic material.  When information is stored, a small wand magnetizes/demagnetizes parts of the disk (1s and 0s).  Since magnetism doesn't need power to stay, the information is there even when the drive is unpowered.

Newer SSDs use transistors to store an electrical charge (charged/not chares is 1s and 0s).  The initial charge requires electricity, but once it is stored in the transistor, it doesn't require any additional power to stay charged - think of it like  a really tiny battery - once it is charged it stays charged until you pull the power out.

Changing/deleting files is just changing the magnetism (HDD) or transistor charge (SSD).  You can do this a lot before the drive wears out.


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

[User]
ELI5: Where do electrons go after "completing a circuit"?

Basically electricity comes from "electron";
Let's suppose one builds a capacitor out of salt water(electrolyte) then charge it and attach a 1W LED.

Isn't the LED supposed to always be lit, or the electron just transforms in something else after completing a circuit?

[Assistant]
electricity comes from electrons moving from higher negative charge positions into lower ones. imagine it like high altitude electricity plants(the ones pumping water up to later make it fall down to extract the electricity again). same goes for electrons in a battery. one side of the battery has a high density of electrons, the other a low one. the difference between those two equal the voltage (the force with which the electrons are being "pushed" to the other side, since they want to nullify the difference and with it lowering their energy). so the answer to your question is "they move to a position with a lower negative charge than before"
edit.: afaik its called potential energy what the electrons have before discharging. its comparable with falling objects which turn potential energy into kinetic energy.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do we sometimes forget instantly what we were thinking of? A second the thought is there, next second, due to very minor distraction, it is completely gone?

For example, going to the fridge to bring something, open the fridge and stare blankly at it, having no idea what we were going to take.

[Assistant] I was told by a well learned friend that explained it to me like this. The short term memory we have is similar to RAM, where you don't have that much space for stuff, so your brain needs to dump it often. It won't randomly dump stuff though, it'll wait until a different environment or change in the train of thought, like passing through a doorway.


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

[User]
ELI5: What is that feeling / sense of a person entering your space? Often not hearing a foot print or any sound but feeling...a static-y sensation of a body?

So often I can sense my coworkers standing there without ever hearing them. I find it's akin to the 'I think we're being watched' sensation you get in nature.

[Assistant] Your conscious doesn't receive/process all the information given to it by the rest of the body, but the subconscious will process it. This can lead to situations where your conscious is focusing on one thing, but your subconscious is focusing on another. In your case, it would be subtle cues light dimmer light because they are in a doorway, a shadow, a bit of air movement because they changed room airflow. Your conscious is then alerted, but not by the sensation, but by your own brain telling you that it 'felt' something.


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

[User]
Is gravity equally distributed by a mass or are there hot spots where gravity is stronger in some areas and perhaps weaker in other areas?

Say there is a large mass.  Is gravity equally distributed among this mass or are there "hot spots" so to speak?

Edit: Many of the answers are in regards to the Earth, but what about Stars, Black Holes, Nebulae, and other space anomalies?

[Assistant] Gravity is of course affected by mass distribution. That said, the differences are mostly pretty small. The earth's gravity field, for example is very subtly lumpy. Mapping this is an ongoing effort of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (it's important for guidance systems).


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

[User] [The Walking Dead] In the beginning, would Vladimir Lenin wake up?

[Assistant]
No, as part of the embalming process the brain was removed.

It was actually studied quite extensively after his death.

And even if he had his brain and by some magic it hadn't decomposed and ruined his whole body, the sarcophagus is hermetically sealed and the virus would not be able to infect him.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] The Captain and First Officer are under some sort of mind control and activate the ships self destruct countdown. They are killed immediately after. How does the crew stop the ship from self destructing?

Being that in order to stop the ship from self destructing, both Captain and First Officer must be present to give their authorization.

[Assistant]
The authority to initiate or cancel the self destruct sequence of a starship lies with the commanding officer and the first officer.

When the captain and his first officer are killed the shop is automatically placed under the command of the next two ranking officers.  Usually two other bruidje officers. Or any member of the senior staff.


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

[User] ELI5: Why can't I build a custom cellphone when I can build a superior laptop or computer for cheaper than most name-brand equipment?

[Assistant]
The "you can" comments are missing a major component set that makes phones VERY different from your standard computer. RF and antenna matching gets really fuckey if you don't know how to tune it properly, which requires patience and relatively costly equipment.  If you are an RF engineer who has access to this (and the software/firmware for the major digital components,  cool).

Barring the analog and RF front ends- it's basically a computer.   Do-able, but tiny,  and therefore tough to pull everything together and make it play nice without many a ducat.  Very important - it also has to pass rigorous network and FCC specifications and go through what is called "type approval" with the major carrier/s.

Now in terms of getting it all to play nice,  there is work being done to keep a standard interfacing between the different parts (see MIPI), but you will also be fighting various levels of firmware on the baseband/transceiver/apps processor,  depending on how the phone is configured.

Ultimately, IMO, best-case scenario - you may have a decent pocket computer that sucks at making calls and accessing the network.


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

[User]
Would there be higher gravity if Earth didn't spin?

Does the Earth's spin cause an outwards centrifugal force. Theoretically if there was a planet with earth's mass that didn't spin or span slower would it have a higher gravity? I assume that if there is a difference its negligible though.

[Assistant]
Yes, the apparent gravity and your apparent weight would be a little bit greater at the equator if the earth weren't spinning (I specify the equator because the effect is not felt at the poles).

As for how much, you can calculate the magnitude of the centrifugal force pretty straightforwardly. Earth surface gravity is about 9.8 m/s^(2), and if we want to compare to this we need a centrifugal acceleration with the same units. You get this from one length (the earth's radius) and one time (the earth's rotational period). All together, you get

    (6400 km)* (2*pi/1 day)^2 ~ 0.03 m/s^(2)

Put another way, that's a 0.3% change in apparent surface gravity if the earth were not rotating.


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

[User]
Why do spaceships get cold in space? What absorbs the heat energy?

I have a very limited understanding of the law of conservation of energy from my intro to physics class in a social science degree. My understanding is that for one thing to get cold, heat energy from that thing has to transfer to other matter.  Or something like that. So in space, where there is no matter, where does the heat go from the space ship  causing it to get cold?

[Assistant]
There are three main ways for heat to transfer out of a substance to it's surroundings:

Conduction - transfer from particle to particle, which happens mainly in solids, (and best in metals).

Convection - which happens by the movement of particles, where a local group particles becomes more energetic, decreases in density, and rises in the surrounding material, taking the energy with it.

Radiation - the emission of radiation, which takes the energy away by electromagnetic (EM) waves. E.g infra-red (or even visible light if something is hot enough that it glows!)

In space, there are very few particles; not zero though - space isn't a perfect vacuum.

This means that Conduction and Convection are not very effective in transferring heat here; also that there aren't many particles around that can hold energy, act as an insulator, or bring energy to the spacecraft.

The result of this is that the main method of heat transfer in space is the radiation of energy by EM waves. The spacecraft can radiate energy away and cool down. If it is in direct sunlight, the opposite can be true - the radiation from the Sun can cause the craft to heat up. For the reasons above, it can be hard to get rid of the excess heat if it is not designed correctly.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What exactly did they take from Jango Fett to make his clones?

Was it blood? A Hair Sample? Cheek swab? How much did they need? Did he have to come back to donate more later on?

[Assistant] It's not specified, but it's likely blood, tissue samples and bone marrow. He did in fact had to regularly return to supply additional samples, which was plot point in Clone Wars - since there was no more any Jango Fett, kaminoan cloners faced an issue that their supply is limited.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why was there so much hate for jews in WW2? (and before and after, I suppose)

Preferably, I'd like to hear from someone who is indifferent on the subject.

I'm truly ignorant on the matter. What exactly did the jews do?

[Assistant]
So there is a kid in your class who dresses different from everyone else. He dresses funny. He talks different.
 He also believes JRPGs are the best games ever when you were brought up in believing that FPS are the best games. And on top of all that, because he is used to the grind in JRPGs beliefs give him, he doesn't mind working hard boring jobs.
 You don't see him sweating at his part time job, but you do see him show up to school every day with a new game. And it kind of starts to piss you off.

 Then the class bully whispers in your ear that the reason your mom didn't get you that new game you wanted for Christmas was because the strange kid bought the last one. He is taking that which should be yours...and he did it just to be mean to you...you just gonna stand there and let him? This isn't his school it's yours. He doesn't belong here....and things quickly get out of hand.


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

[User]
Does sugar/sugary sweets directly cause rotting/decay of our teeth?

 Or does it just feed the biofilms in our mouth that cause rotting?

[Assistant] No, not directly. Decay is caused by bacteria eating away at the enamel of the teeth. These bacteria will feed off of any kind of sugar or starch, not just sweets. Stuff like potato chips that cling to the teeth can often cause worse damage than sugars, which dissolve quickly in saliva before they can be consumed by said bacteria.


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

[User]
When you look at a star, is the flickering you see from your eyes, or just the star? Both?

It seems outrageous that an individual could actually perceive something from that far away.

[Assistant] From the atmosphere. It's moving masses of air at different temperatures. Light is diffracted at the interfaces between these masses and this changes the position and intensity of the image of the star.


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

[User]
What exactly is the Gravitational Constant?

All I've learned is that it's a number used in a bunch of formulas. What exactly is it, and for that matter, how did scientists find it?

[Assistant] It's a quantity that represents how strong the gravitational interaction is. It was first measured by Henry Cavendish, who observed the rotation of a torsional pendulum between two giant lead spheres.


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

[User] ELI5: If it is known that Edison stole most of his ideas or just bullied his competition (Tesla), then why does he still get so much credit and accolades?

[Assistant] Because people are prone to falling for charismatic marketers. Edison is hardly an isolated example, Steve Jobs and Elon Musk get wayyyy more credit for being visionary geniuses than they deserve. But they were/are first-rate cheerleaders and marketers.


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

[User]
CMV: A ban on Burqas for the reason of public safety is faulty and a human rights violation.

I personally believe that the view that banning the burqa for the case of public safety is faulty simply because if we look at the latest attacks in Europe, we can find that non of the perpetrators is wearing a burqa. They are dressed like 'normal' European youths (normal here meaning they were no visible religious markers of any kind.) So I believe that to call a ban of burqas or other religious coverings for public safety is a slightly misinformed position. Secondly there is the argument that many women are forced to wear a burqa by their husbands (or other authoritative male actors) and is therefore the subjugation of women. I definitely understand this and I feel for this argument. But what if even only 1 percent of women who wear a burqa do so out of their free will, how is banning them from wearing one not considered a violation of the UN Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief, which states that everyone who wishes should be able to express their religion openly (of course this argument only works if you, like I, interpret that the burqa is no threat to public safety.) I hope to hear from you guys, please make me understand. I wish to understand the other side and am very open for Changing my view if I feel convinced.

[Assistant]
Agree with your position for the most part however the tricky part comes with things like forms of identification.

So in places like a motor registry (drivers license photos) or a courtroom, or any situation really where legally a persons identity has to be known the burqa then needs to be removed. Hijabs would be fine though. So not a ban all together but a ban in certain places.