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

[User]
[Overwatch]Why do buffs/debuffs work on omnics but not on turrets?

I mean Zenyatta's discord orb can target a bastion but not Torbjrn's turret? Same goes to heals - Lucio can fix a complicated self-awere robot without even looking, but he cant fix a ball that shoots laser?

[Assistant]
Onmincs are state-of-the-art, high-tech machines - yes, even Bastion - that incorporate nanobiotics into their machinery. As such, things that affect nanobiotics can affects omnics, both positively and negatively.

Torborn's turret is a bunch of scrap he's cobbled together. It's not going to be affected by high-tech stuff.

Symmetra's constructs are solid-light, nothing in their physical form can be affected.

(by the way, in-canon, the game is actually just a game, so saying it's just a game would be acceptable).


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

[User]
ELI5 why do military vehicles use red lights to illuminate the inside instead of just normal white light?

I just noticed it watching a war movie. I also noticed it in cop cars while watching cops.

[Assistant] Red light does not affect your night vision *as much*, so you could quickly shift from red light to darkness and your eyes would need far less time to adjust, whereas going from white light to darkness requires a while for your eyes to adjust.


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

[User]
ELI5: When you hurt your toe (for instance), why does holding the painful toe with your hands make the pain less?

Yes, I just hit my little to against the doorpost.

[Assistant] Its due to what is called the gate control theory. Simply put, the ouchie signal and the not-ouchie signals meet in your spinal cord, and can only send one signal to the brain. The non-painful signal (holding or touching) always wins, dampening the pain signal.


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

[User]
ELI5:How were battles in wars 'organised'?

My guess is that leaders would message one another saying "we are fighting, meet here at this time" or whatever. So how did it happen?

[Assistant]
Leaders didn't coordinate to decide when to fight each other. In most wars, both parties have objectives - locations that are important to control for strategic reasons. Maybe a town has a bridge across a major river, or a manufacturing plant that makes weapons, or a fort controls access to major shipping routes.

Army A wants to take these things from Army B, because Army B will be weaker without them. Both armies send scouts to figure out how many men the other army has, where the armies are camped, and how fast they can move. Army A's scouts report that Army B only has a few men guarding an important town, so Army A's leader decides to march for that town. Army B's scouts see that Army A is moving toward the town, so Commander B moves a large force to try and intercept them before they get to the weakly-defended town.

Now, a few things can happen. Army A's scouts may see the large group from Army B and move back to try again later or go a different way. They might decide to engage Army B if they think they can win the battle, because then they have no opposition to taking the town. It's also possible that they get to the town earlier than Army B thought they would - they take it over, and control it, and Army B then has to re-take it from them.

Battles happened because both armies were trying to prevent the other from controlling important areas.


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

[User] ELI5: Before the germ theory of disease what rationale did people have for washing their hands or engaging in sanitary activities?

[Assistant]
The first guy to suggest it was laughed at.

"Semmelweis could offer no acceptable scientific explanation for his findings, and some doctors were offended at the suggestion that they should wash their hands and mocked him for it."


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

[User]
[Toy Story] How does Woody play a recorded line when his string his pulled?

Classic music boxes play a tune using a ribbon that has the notes recorded as holes.  When those holes pass over a set of metal pins they hit something to emit sound.

Buzz has electronic speakers that gets the voices and sounds from a memory chip.

I've never owned a pull-string toy before, so when Woody's string is pulled, how does he speak his lines without batteries?

[Assistant] Newer pull-string dolls have electronics inside that have the recorded lines and activate whenever the string is pulled.  Older dolls, like Woody, would have a recording on a disc or sound cylinder, kind of like having a miniature record player inside.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] Why is it even possible to disable the holodeck safety protocols?

The damn things seem to fail all of the time, so why would this ability be designed into the holodeck system to begin with?

[Assistant]
Because it's not that the ability to disable the safety protocols were added to the holodeck, it's that safety protocols themselves were programmed on top of the basic holodeck system.

The very base of the holodeck is, obviously, the holograms. No more, no less. On its own, the holograms would react more or less like regular matter, which means they can cause injury. The safeties are an added feature, and therefore can be disabled. There are a few reasons for this. First of all, it's easier to repair a damaged system if it's modular (which should explain most of the tech you find aboard a starship, or really, anywhere these days). Second, sometimes it's useful to disable or modify a single feature. For example, you could theoretically perform surgery on the holodeck if necessary, or you could defend yourself in the event that you're stuck on the holodeck with dangerous intruders on-board. The same logic as why one can vent the atmosphere or overload the warp core: just because it's not a good idea to do during normal operations, it will undoubtedly have its use somewhere.

I'd also like to point out that holodeck malfunctions, like transporter malfunctions, are *extremely* rare. Think about how many people use the holodeck every day, without incident. The reason you hear so much about them is that they occur on more frequently on ships on more dangerous missions (and therefore more well-known) than your average vessel. While we've all heard the stories of hijinks aboard the USS Enterprise, they're frequently going through all sorts of unknown situations. Such events are far less likely to happen on, say, the aging USS Farragut (the recommissioned Excelsior-class, not the lost Nebula-class) while performing standard duties within Federation space.

Edit: Also, it's not a decent Klingon romance, if that's what you want to call it, unless the bites bleed.


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

[User]
CMV: There would be nothing wrong with the apparent 'dark' future, where we all end up hooked up to a system that directly stimulates our brain. "Genuine" existence has no real meaning or value.

Everyone seems to think that advancements in technology are great, but that we need to avoid this dystopian future that we're heading towards. They think it would be depressing if no-one interacted in the real world anymore and were simply hooked up to a machine that stimulated our brains, or simulated a virtual existence. Let's assume this is a perfect system that can affect our brain however it chooses, keeping us alive indefinitely (or at least as long as you'd live otherwise). People who I tend to follow/agree with talk about it like this would be a nightmare future we should avoid.

My arguments against this:

\- Anything you feel is lost by this, you wouldn't feel. If you're seeking feeling some kind of genuine experience, where some suffering is required to reach an overall earned outcome, you would feel this. Your genuinity sensors are firing on overdrive, more than you could experience in the 'real' world.

\- All positive experiences can be exaggerated to an otherwise impossible extent. What we think of as the peak happiness/experience could be 0.00001% of what this system makes us feel. No matter what your brains preferred state is.

\- In all likelihood, what we consider the 'real' world is probably some form of illusion anyway. Whether it's organic (some form of universe 'creating' this one as an illusion), artificial (a simulation in the mathematical/computational sense), organic-artificial (eg. a 'dream'), or any kind of solipsism. It's definitely another topic to argue why this is the case, but the starting point should be assuming it's one of the many possibilities of a non-reality, rather than blindly assuming it's the one real top-level genuine reality. But that aside, if you believed the world was an illusion in some form, would it not be better to go one level deeper if it meant you felt a more positive experience?

\- Any feeling of 'greater good' you have, or feeling/intention about continuing the human race and ensuring our survival, you will feel that but to a more satisfying extent. Or, we could assume that's taken care of by the system we're plugged into.

\- This direct brain manipulation could mean that you perceive existence for much longer. Similar to how people report that with certain drugs, their time 'under' feels a lot longer than realtime (I think DMT is an example of this). So not only are you experiencing an infinitely better existence, it can feel infinitely longer.

I'm not trying to persuade anyone of the likelihood of this or how feasible it is, and I'm assuming certain 'features' of this system that might be unrealistic. But I'm arguing that if we had this option, hypothetically, it would be a utopian rather than dystopian future.

[Assistant]
With everyone plugged into the one perfect system, there's now potentially a single point of failure for the lives of everyone plugged into it.

All it takes is one person with the skills and the desire, and they can change the parameters of the simulation, turn everyone's paradise into a torturous hellscape, or just straight up fry everyone's brain.


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

[User] Eli5: Why does some materials turn yellow-ish instead of white when exposed to sunlight (or UV) for extended period of time? Why that color specifically?

[Assistant]
As regards ABS plastic specifically (the kind used in game consoles like the Super Nintendo as well as some older computers), this yellowing occurs because when it was being put together, the manufacturer added a special chemical to it to act as a flame retardant.

This chemical has the element *bromine* in it, and over time, sunlight can tear the bromine away from the chemical. The bromine then combines with oxygen and becomes yellow.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is it easier to gain back muscle after a period of not working out versus when you first started going to the gym?

The title.

[Assistant]
There are two mechanisms for muscle growth. Hypertrophy and hyperplasia. The former refers to protein accretion, so think of it as muscle cells gaining mass. The latter refers to a form of proliferation, where you either get more muscle cells or the cells get more nuclei. Both lead to an increase in size, but when the muscle atrophies (loses size) due to lack of use or mechanical stress, size is lost because of a reduction in size of individual cells due to loss of protein content (and others), but number of cells and number of nuclei is more resistant and stays longer.

So when you lose muscle mass and want to regain it, it is easier to do when you already have more cells and more nuclei per cell. However, hyperplasia capacity decreases over age. Because satellite cells (muscle stem cells) decrease as you age. So if you gain muscle size at a young age, lose it, and train again, it's easier to regain the size than if you started training at an older age, lost it and tried to regain it again.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does gun spinning work?

Logically, with a finger inside the trigger guard, if a pistol/revolver is spun, shouldn't pressure be applied in every direction, including the one that that would press the trigger back? How is it that people can spin guns at a high speed (which would take a lot of pressure?) and not cause the gun to go off?

[Assistant]
Revolvers, which is the type of gun this is most commonly seen with, actually have a pretty heavy trigger pull.  Unless the hammer is already cocked back, it can take 6-10lbs of pressure on the trigger to get the gun to fire (this varies greatly from model to model).  That's with double-action revolvers.

A single-action revolver, the gun won't fire at all unless the hammer is cocked back.  With the hammer down, you can pull on the trigger as hard as you want, it will not fire.

Also, many guns have a safety lever which, when engaged, will not allow the trigger to fire the gun.


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

[User] ELI5: How does massage work? Like if my calves are swollen and hurting from walking too much, why would pressing on the hurt part feel good or help with healing?

[Assistant]
Your muscle cells burn ATP (a chemical used to store energy) and a byproduct of that is lactic acid. It's waste. Your blood and liver will filter it out eventually, but massaging moves stuff around and accelerates the process.

Getting rid of waste is generally a good thing.


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

[User]
[Predator 2]What if Agent Keyes' operation was actually a success?

Keyes and his team manage to neutralize the Predator at the Slaughterhouse and get him into proper containment for transport elsewhere.  What would the repercussions be?

[Assistant]
Best case scenario, they get to make advances in non gunpowder based projectile weaponry, cloaking technology, advanced optics, possible medical revelations, etc.

Worst case scenario, they don't try to remove his wrist gauntlet, and he nukes everyone.

Or maybe knowing he'd been incapacitated, the rest of the predators on the planet come after him and kill all of his captors, it doesn't strike me that they'd just leave one of their own as prisoner.


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

[User]
If I was put in a quarantine bubble and the only germs/viruses in the bubble were in or on my body, could I get sick?

Assuming I could keep living without any food/water, could I get a sickness related to the germs or viruses in my body? I am not counting genetic diseases.

[Assistant]
Yes.

If you get stressed and have had previous exposure to herpesviruses (HSV1, HSV2, VZV, etc) you can get flare-ups of those diseases.

As you get older, your immune system declines in capability as well, so normal bacterial flora can cause problems. Even if your immune system doesn't lose competence, If you don't remain sanitary, you could get a UTI from your colonic bacterial flora. You could scratch yourself accidentally and the anaerobic flora on your skin could infect the scratch wound.


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

[User] ELI5: Why don't all of the companies that make antifreeze add chemicals to make it taste and smell unpalatable?

[Assistant] from a poison control standpoint it will always taste sweet - it's an glycol molecule which is sugar - you can't take away the "sweet" factor.  In addition a ton of studies have been preformed on the chemicals which are used to make toxic things taste bad-  like Bitrex and others added to nail polish and toxic chemicals.  Basically all the studies came to the conclusion that they don't help prevent poisonings- sometimes suicides from those compounds but not accidental ingestion-  there are a select number of humans (mostly children) who actually like the bitter taste they impart and animals usually don't care.  Bottom line a bitter agent is a gimmick which provides statistically no benefit to reduce harm in consumer products.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do gas burners go from off to high to low? Wouldn't it make more sense to go from off to low to high?

[Assistant] It's so that you can minimise the flame on the burner without risking having the whole thing turn off. If it was the other way around you would often try to set the gas even lower to the point that it could easily blow out. But you don't try to adjust a high flame down towards the off position, so it's more reliable (and safer).


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

[User]
[Game of Thrones] How was The Mountain brought back by Qyburn?

How did former maseter Qyburn bring The Mountain back to a state where he could serve as Cersei's bodyguard/enforcer?

[Assistant]
When the dragons returned to the world, magic did as well. Qyburn has been experimenting with necromancy, and used magic to raise the mountain as an undead zombie.

He used blood sacrifices to do this, as only blood can pay for life. He was previously expelled from the citadel for his dark experiments.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are multipack can and packets always "not to be sold separately"?

[Assistant] There's laws involving how foodstuff must be labeled.  They need nutrition information, ingredients and whatnot.  Some products packed in multipacks don't have that info on them - it's on the outside of the package - so they're not legal to sell individually.


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

[User]
If person A is travelling at a fast speed away from person B, why is it that person A's time runs slower when you could say that person B is travelling away relative to A?

Since the motion is relative, why is it that the one travelling experiences slower time?

[Assistant]
Your assessment is spot on. They both see the others clock running slow, which is generally called 'the principle of reciprocity' in introductory textbooks.

If you have two space ships pass each other while traveling at constant velocities, each will feel 'at rest' with respect to the other. This results in each of them seeing the others time slow down. This may seem spooky, but it's a straight forward consequence of the Lorentz transformations.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why aren't there big "virus-scares" anymore?

I remember that in the early 2000s there were a lot of scares because of malware. A lot of them were just viruses written by some dudes at home - but still: malware like "ILOVEYOU", different worms like "Blaster" or "MyDoom", made people afraid to even make the simplest things on the internet (reading mails, downloading stuff, etc.).

Obviously there were big steps in the Antivirus-Programming and such, but wouldn't the malware-developers have made the same big steps? Wouldn't it be even more lucrative today to write malware and scare the old and the poor? Why is the malware-panic basically gone?

[Assistant]
There are several reasons, almost none of which have to do with "the novelty of scaring people has worn off".

Originally, viruses tended to be malicious for the sake of it. There were still  'trojan horses' but there were also worms that self-replicated, filling up all available disk space, or viruses that corrupted computers. Those types of viruses had no use except to damage the computer of the infected individual.

Then came the advent of malware and scareware. Using infections as a means to fool people into spending money. The objective of those types of infections was to cripple - but not destroy - machines. Then you would go to a specific website (if you had no other means of recovery) and buy the "fix".

These viruses were obvious and debilitating. Huge money and effort went into anti-virus efforts to combat these types of infections. Microsoft spent a great deal of time closing vulnerabilities in Windows. Education campaigns made anti-virus software ubiquitous. It became a significant challenge to create infections that could circumvent the removal tools.

It was still possible, of course, but harder and harder.

More importantly, as people became better educated, it became less profitable to infect people's machines with scareware to get them to buy software. Eventually the strategy changed. Malware became less about very obviously crippling a users machine and more about subjugating the machine silently, for use in a botnet or a spam email relay. These infections required the user to remain oblivious because the infection needed to stay on as many machines as possible in order to function at maximum capacity.

So, as the needs of the virus makers changed, so did the profile of viruses.

It's very much like actual viruses. Or, more appropriately, like the game Pandemic. A virus that is wide spread but not very dangerous doesn't get a lot of attention because it's not really doing anyone any specific harm. But as soon as it becomes malicious enough to affect people's lives, resources are quickly diverted to circumventing the virus - and in the case of a large scale, world wide infection, identifying and removing a virus could cripple a whole botnet before the creator can deploy a patch.

TL;DR we have a large infrastructure now that is dedicated to fighting malware, and that didn't exist 20 years ago. Releasing a large, dangerous virus would just make it easier to identify and clean before it could be profitable.


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

[User] [Star Trek / Star Wars] Would a Vulcan make a good Jedi?

[Assistant]
Yes, but they'd make *great* Sith.  Vulcans are a psychically-inclined species, which presumably make them more force sensitive.  Like Jedi, Vulcan children are taught to seek calm and detachment.  For Jedi, it's  because attachment & passion lead to the dark side.  The same's true for Vulcans- they learn to suppress emotions because their emotions are too violent to live with.  So Vulcans have the raw power to be powerful force users and would probably fit in well with Jedi culturally, but if they let their guard down, they'd be *very* powerful dark side users.

Edit: To add, their super-human strength and stamina is another nice bonus for a dark-side user.


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

[User] [Terminator 3] How would the events have played out if uncle bob hadn't been melted down at the end of T2?

[Assistant]
The T-1000 did a very through job of crippling him (arm gone, sensors mangled, primary power knocked out, any number of small internal components knocked loose but not detected by self-diagnostics, wear and tear on the joints and motors that might have knocked years off service life, etc), and the T-X represents an even more capable fighter. The 100% factory fresh T-800 they sent back to oppose her was pretty up-front about the fact that he'd be little more than a speed bump against her, and Uncle Bob is nearly six feet south of 100%. As a front line combatant against non-human opponents, Uncle Bob has been severely compromised.

That said, Bob is still worth his weight in gold. Per Sarah's description, Bob is about the best paternal figure that John's ever had in his life. He won't leave, he won't lose interest, or lose his temper, or want to do anything that isn't for John's direct benefit. With that kind of support in his life, John might not grow up to be a drug stealing motorcycle hobo. He might grow into something looking a hell of a lot more like the future leader of the Resistance...

John still probably won't re-integrate into society; Sarah would still be there to stoke his anti-Skynet paranoia, and Bob would probably encourage staying a bit underground as well. That said, he could be a more productive, possibly using their collective skills to work as security consultants or related contract work (read: mercenaries) outside the United States; even at the time of Terminator 2, John has a wide spectrum of paramilitary skills, which would be useless for getting a 9 to 5 job but could make him a very effective private military contractor.

Unlike the Construction Hobo John we see at film start, Private Military Contractor John would be a man at the top of his game, his already noteworthy skills sharpened and enhanced, with significant contributions to Sarah's nest egg of weapons and gear stashes, and if Connor Security Solutions is particularly successful he might be able to bring aircraft, armored vehicles, and especially heavy weapons to bear against the T-X. A lot of his gear is likely to be obsolete by modern military standards, but that's going to be a blessing in disguise; the kind of Cold War castoffs his boys are going to be driving and flying around in don't have the kind of computerized controls that the T-X can hijack, meaning that if she wants to jack one of his rides, she's going to have to do it the old fashioned way.


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

[User]
ELI5: How is it possible that athletic results keep getting better and better; will they ever plateau?

It seems like every Olympics, World Championship, etc, at least one record is broken, usually more. It's to the point now where gold-medal-winning 100m sprinters of a few decades ago would barely even rank in the top 10 today.

I know some of this is down to better training and nutrition, better equipment (more so in some sports than others), but surely there must be some limit that results from the human body? Will we ever hit a point where we have seen basically the fastest a person can run, the most weight they can lift, the furthest they can throw a javelin, etc? Where the records then just stand indefinitely?

**EDIT:** Thanks everyone, for the insightful responses (and areas to look at further)! Much appreciated and does help it make more sense to me.

[Assistant] Theoretically, the human body has finite limits that it cannot exceed. Bones can take only so much force without breaking, the human circulatory system has limits due to size, etc... However, there can always be outliers that are genetically better suited than the average human for certain sports. So in other words, we could plateau, but someone better could always be born to break the record.


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

[User] [DC/Marvel] How are individual Lanterns/Nova Corpsmen able to spend so much time on Earth solving street level crime? Don't they have more going on in their sectors/area?

[Assistant]
Well for Green Lanterns at least:

1.  There are 5 earth Lanterns compared to 2 for most sectors so it's easier for them to divide the work.

2.  They really don't spend much time on earth fighting street level crime.  Aside from the occasional adventure with the Justice League, they are almost always in space dealing with cosmic level threats.


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

[User]
ELI5:Venture Capital Firm/Hedge Fund/Mutual Fund

What are the differences and is there any crossover in terms of who they do business with?

[Assistant]
The other response is great, but not ELI5.

**Venture Capital**: "I want to start a lemonade stand." "Ok, I'll give you $10 so you can buy supplies, but then you owe me 30% of your earnings." This is called an "investment".

**Hedge Fund**: A group of people that are really good at figuring out the best lemonade stands to invest in, *with the goal of making a* **lot** *more money than the "safe bet" lemonade stands*. That group of people can only take money from their close friends, because they make very risky lemonade investments.

**Mutual Fund**: A collection of lemonade stands that you can invest in all at once. But you only have to bother with giving money to *one* person, who manages splitting your money (and everyone else's money) up between all the lemonade stands. Usually, but not always, the collection of lemonade stands is picked to be a pretty safe bet.

**Edit**: Noticed the second part of your question about crossover. Hedge funds and mutual funds *can* invest in the same lemonade stands, but usually don't because the mutual funds invest in the big, established stands but the hedge funds invest in younger, more aggressive lemonade stands. Venture capitalists are separate because they invest in private lemonade stands, and mutual/hedge funds invest in public ones. Being private means that not anyone can invest (you have to talk to the stand's owner first), being public means that anyone can invest without asking permission first.


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

[User]
I think suggesting to wear "respectable" clothing is very good advice to young black men and pretty women. CMV.

I just heard on CNN the head of the Harlem Children's Zone tell a story about his black son getting arrested in NYC by hostile police who suspected him of being a criminal. He asked the cops why they suspected his son (who was innocent), and the cops said, "he fit the description--he's wearing a cap and baggy pants."

Like with women who wear revealing clothes and get lurid looks and worse from creepy men, the harassment could be minimized (if not removed completely) by wearing what most people in society considers "respectable". I've worn both respectable and non-respectable clothes, and the way I'm treated in shops, at banks, by people on the street, and so on has made me wear much more respectable clothes.

So, why not put on a collared shirt and slacks, or less revealing clothes? CMV?

[Assistant]
Ever notice how in the Middle East, women with veiled faces can be harassed for having scandalous eyes?

Remember back in the good old days, when even the hobos the police beat up wore proper suits?

Clothing isn't the problem. Change the clothing, and the goalposts for avoiding trouble will change with them. To pretend otherwise, is a luxury we can't all afford.


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

[User]
ELI5: Let's say some evil mad scientist actually blows up the moon. What exactly would happen to our oceans?

Would the water just go everywhere or what?

Thought inspired by Chief-Inspector Dreyfuss and his doomsday device.

[Assistant]
It depends what is entailed by blowing up.

In the scenario where the moon is just smashed into many tiny pieces, the most likely result is that depending on the force of the blast, the pieces would either hang around in the same spot or drift around into a lumpy ring around the earth for a while. This ring wouldn't last long, as the biggest chunks of moon would quickly pick them up and the whole thing would reform again. Some of the chunks would likely be blown out into solar orbit, and some would smash into the Earth causing big problems down here. Nobody would be thinking about the tides. The Moon is over 1700 kilometers across. A single 10 kilometer chunk hitting us would be a mass extinction event.

If magically the Moon just vanished from the sky, the tides would be substantially reduced in height. The Moon accounts for most of their variability, but the Sun is also part of it. So we would have much weaker tides, about a third of what they are now.

But still no one would really care about that. One of the Moon's convenient jobs for us is to keep our axis stable. The Earth maintains an axial tilt pretty close to 23.5 degrees all the time. It wobbles a bit over thousands of years, but not much. Without the moon, our axis could move all over the place, turning the poles straight up and down, eliminating the seasons, or, much worse, turning us 90 degress so our poles face the sun, giving each hemisphere a 6 month long day and 6 month night. This would totally redefine the climate and be the end of life as we know it. During "noon" one side of the Earth would be roasted while the other froze. Our equator would be the only place with a temperature friendly to us, but unfortunately the temperature gradient would cause constant superhurricane force winds at the equator.

I guess TL;DR, we need to be more appreciative of the Moon.


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

[User]
What does x^(Pi) actually represent and how can it be interpreted?

I know that x^n = xxx....x (n times) and something like x^(3/2) is the square root of x^3 but how does one interpret something like x^pi for example. I'm 1st year undergrad and this question just popped into my mind.

[Assistant] Well, the idea that exponentiation is iterated multiplication (x^n = xxx....x) is just the first step. Indeed, iterated multiplication obviously has to be for integer powers only. There are, however, ways to extend what we mean by power in such a way that we conserve all of the nice properties of exponentiation. So for example, this is why it feels natural to you that x^(1/2) = sqrt(x), despite the fact that you cannot multiply x by itself "half a time". It is because you recognize that what matters is that we conserve the laws by which powers behave, for example here that x^a \* x^b = x^(a+b) and (x^(a))^b = x^(a*b). As it turns out, there is a way to define exponentiation of the form x^y for all real y, provided that x is strictly superior to 0. For that, we use the logarithm and exponential functions. Since e^ln(x) = x and ln(x^(y))=y ln(x), we can see that x^y = e^(y ln x), provided that ln(x) exists (thus x>0). So, to answer you question, x^(pi) = e^(pi ln x).


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

[User]
ELI5: How do magnets form, and why/ how do they do what they do?

Edit: I had no idea this would blow up so much! Thanks everyone for all the information!

[Assistant]
All matter is made out of atoms. An atom can be thought of as a small nucleus of material around which orbit even smaller particles of matter called electrons. The electrons have an electrical charge, so when they orbit they form small loops of electrical current around each nucleus. Magnetic fields are formed by electricity. In most materials the little magnets formed by each atom are all pointing in different directions, and so they cancel each other out. In some materials such as lodestone, an iron ore, the Earth's magnetic field lined up all the atom-magnets and left the whole stone one large magnet.

People have used naturally occurring magnets for thousands of years. Once people found that other materials could also be made into magnets, they started producing stronger magnets by a variety of different processes. Certain metals can be made into magnets by exposing them to magnetic fields. Although just placing the metal in a magnetic field can work, making it vibrate increases the effect. Stroking the metal with the magnet also increases the effect. Heating the metal up while it is in the field and hammering it while it cools increases the effect even further. Steel and iron make good magnets. So does an alloy of aluminum, nickel, and cobalt called alnico.


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

[User] [Witcher series] Is the man of glass a powerful being that enjoys manipulating and torturing humans just for fun? Or is he the "primevil" of this universe that has an overarching purpose for doing all these things?

[Assistant]
He's *incredibly incredibly likely* to be The Devil incarnate. A lot of people who talk about him suggest he's pure evil, and that he conducts Faustian Bargains (essentially deals with The Devil).

Given his demonic appearance when beaten at the end of Hearts of Stone and the demonic chanting (apparently translated back, he is saying something along the lines of always finding a way back into the world) it matches up quite eerily to the suggestion he is The Devil. Like The Devil, his bargains always screw over the other person in some way, and end with Gaunter o'Dimm (The Devil) claiming the person's soul, unless someone can bargain with *and then best* The Devil in a game of the latter's choice.

Master of Mirrors is also a symbolic term. A mirror shows you a reflection of yourselves, but also is attributed to a version of you that is morally inverted to yourself. As most people are somewhat good, a Master of Mirrors likely deals with the evil inherent in beings. He's also one of the only beings in the Witcherverse said to be unkillable, and never able to be beaten for good. Perhaps this is because Gaunter is such a powerful entity whose weakness hasn't been discovered yet? Or perhaps it's because he's The Devil, and while evil lurks in the hearts of men (or Elves, Dwarves, Dopplers, Monsters, whomever) then he can always return to the world.

Although he does find some enjoyment in the suffering of mortals, his end goal is to gather as many souls as possible, likely either to add to his power *or* in preparation for some kind of Judgement Day event, when the forces of the God(s) clash against his own, and he needs all the souls of the damned he can muster for his side.


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

[User]
How are Storm's and Magneto abilities considered mutations? If anything, they are more like god-powers.

I am starting to get into Xmen and the whole mutation thing confuses me. Wolverine, I can understand how he is a mutant. He has actual physical mutations. However Storm and Magneto can manipulate very large scale things with their minds. How can a genetic mutation allow someone to do that?

[Assistant]
A mutant is any person who gets their powers from birth through a mutant X-Gene.

A God, like Thor or Zeus etc, are beings from another dimension who are immensely powerful. Many times a mutant could be more powerful than a god. That doesn't make them a god.

 Other powerful people, like Spiderman who got bitten by a radioactive spider, or the Hulk who got shot up with gamma radiation, are not necessarily caused by mutations of the X-gene so they're not considered mutants.


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

[User] ELI5: What is special about the speed of sound? What causes a sonic boom?

[Assistant]
1) What we call sound is basically particles (of air, of water, of your desk, whatever) slamming into each other and transferring energy, like billiard balls hitting each other and moving about a table. The "speed of sound" isn't constant, it depends on A. the material the sound is moving through and B. the conditions of that material (temperature being a big one). So sound has a speed in air around us, which is different than the speed of sound under water which is different than the speed of sound in a metal bar. So the speed of sound in air isn't "special", it's just the speed of sound in air.

2) Imagine dropping a rock into water, it creates small ripples that go outwards. That's kind of like making a sound, ripples of energy traveling outwards. Now image the boat starts moving, as the boat cuts through the water it creates a series of small and medium waves around it, right? There is a special place behind and to the sides of the boat where those small and medium waves kind of *combine* and stack up on each other to create a BIG wave, the boat's wake. A sonic boom is like a sound wake. It's a place behind and to the sides of an object moving at the speed of sound where sound waves are being stacked up on top of each other to create a sound-wake behind the object.


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

[User]
[Batman] I was captured by the Joker but I managed to escape and kill him, but Batgirl saw me kill him. What would batman do?

Joker managed to capture me for batman to come after me but batgirl came instead. I managed to escape from my bonds and escape. However, I somehow managed to kill him in the process, Batgirl saw me do it. What will be the respone of batman?

[Assistant]
He's probably going to pay you a visit to find out just exactly how you've managed to kill the Clown Prince of Crime when pretty much no one else has. And by accident no less? Sounds suspicious ...

But if you're telling the truth, he'll poke around for a bit and then vanish into the night and all you'll have to worry about is Harley and whatever posthumous revenge schemes/pranks the Joker has up his funeral suit sleeve.


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

[User] What are things everyone should know/do for their mental health?

[Assistant]
Exercise. Eat well. Practice good sleep hygiene.

Just focus on your breathing for a while a few times a day, especially when youre anxious. Your brain is like a computer  keep it running constantly, never closing any programs or windows, and it will affect performance.


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

[User]
ELI5: The difference between 1st, 2nd, and 3rd degree murder and manslaughter

How are they any different, and why?

[Assistant]
1st degree: A murder which is intentional and planned in advance.

2nd degree: Still intentional, but not planned in advance.

3rd degree: Usually referred to as manslaughter.  Manslaughter can also be divided into multiple categories.

Voluntary manslaughter: Intentionally killing someone, but in a circumstance where the perpetrator had, for lack of a better term, a good reason for being upset with the victim.

Involuntary manslaughter: Intentionally doing something stupid that accidentally results in someone else's death.

The reason for these categorizations is that they carry different punishments.  Someone who committed 1st degree murder made a choice to kill someone, whereas someone who committed manslaughter could very well be a sane person who just made a bad, split-second decision.  Needless to say, someone who deliberately kills others deserves the harshest penalty.


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

[User]
First Interview For Full-Time Faculty Spot.

I've been working as an adjunct for the past three years after I got out of grad school. The community college I get most of my classes from has an opening for a full-time faculty role in my field. I have an interview Thursday afternoon for it. It is my first interview for a full-time faculty role. (History) To say I'm nervous is an understatement. It is going to be on Zoom. Any tips or suggestions? What should I expect?

[Assistant]
This may sound minor, but tbh it has a bigger impact than you think: zoom is an audio/visual medium. So your audios and visuals need to be of a high standard.

Some tips for good visuals:

1. The best background is a plain background, white or gray if possible, neutral colors if not. Use a plain wall if you can. If you can't avoid clutter, try to make it professional, avoid bedrooms, TVs, vanities etc; bookshelves with academic texts can work, but make sure all the books are appropriate.

2. Don't underestimate lighting. It makes a big difference if you are well lit or not. The gold standard, as Youtubers will tell you, is a good ring light facing you from off camera so your features are completely lit up. There are some not too expensive ringlights or daylamps on Amazon and they are a good investment for interview season. If you don't have money or time for those, get as many desk lamps with a white bulb as you can to shine at you from behind your camera.


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

[User] [MCU] Are there any entities in the universe powerful enough to resist Thanos snap?

[Assistant] None that definitively exist in the MCU, no. A few cosmic beings *might*, but thus far the only one of those beings to have been mentioned was the Living Tribunal, and the only mention thereof was a staff in the Sanctum in *Doctor Strange*.


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

[User]
[General post-apoc] Can cannibalism ever be reguarded as a sustainable food source?

I noticed this while watching the movie the road; it kind of bothered me how cannibal hunters were a very present force in the movie at multiple times since if cannibalism was one of the only ways to practically get food wouldn't every just be sort of dead already, if there's so little food to go around in general how could the human population be big enough to support cannibalism?

[Assistant] It can't be sustainable due to conservation of energy. Though it's possible for a small group of people to live on other people, or for a large population to live on cannibalism for a surprisingly long time.


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

[User] ELI5: How come deleting an app on a phone is so quick and easy but deleting an app on a desktop takes much longer and more steps?

[Assistant]
Mobile apps are installed in their own separate container, all in one place and all in the same way. Deleting them is as simple as deleting the container.

PC applications (unless theyre similarly-packaged apps from the Store) have no standard single location but are spread about the the disk and various databases and need to provide their own custom uninstallation process in the same way they provide their own custom installation process.


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

[User]
[DC] If the Flash were to go rogue is there anything anyone could do to stop him?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but couldn't a bloodlusted flash just phase through each member of the league before they can react?

[Assistant] He'd have some serious problems with the magic users. Even if he hit zantana first, there are a few others who he probably couldn't hit. He is the fastest man on earth but he still isnt faster than martian manhunter's ability to phase shift if he got warned. Yeah, maybe he'd get wonder woman, green lantern, cyborg, aquaman, ect, but superman is actually quick enough to at least precieve him.


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

[User]
CMV: Curtains are in every single way superior to vertical or venetian blinds

I literally cannot think of a single reason to have blinds over curtains. Blinds are prone to breaking, and not turning properly or being out of sync with the others.

They're so damn dramatic too - open a window to enjoy a nice breeze on a warm day and they start flapping around like it's monsoon season, even if slid them out of the way. Metal venetian blinds are prone to bending as well.

Curtains on the other hand just kind of do what you ask them to, plus they block out sunlight better and thermal lined curtains are the business.

Change my view reddit, blinds suck and it should be all curtains all the time.

[Assistant]
Blinds are much better if you have pets: less to clean; less surface area to hold hair, etc.

Blinds have a much smaller intervention and footprint, particularly if you live in an apartment and intend to get your security deposit back.

Blinds are much better for tight spaces; if the window fits in the space, then so will blinds.

Your vacuum won't suck blinds up into the tube or around the brush.

Blinds offer an easier way to control light; they're like a dimmer for a window. If you only have curtains, then you could have too much direct light when you don't really want it.

Dusting blinds is quicker, easier, and cheaper than demounting curtains and running them through the wash only to remount them. May the gods save you if your curtains are dry-clean only. RIP.

Much easier to clean the inside and outside of your windows with blinds.


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

[User] ELI5: why do most lotions contain alcohol when alcohol is very drying for skin?

[Assistant]
Alcohol is a big word that contains a lot of different types of chemicals.  Some of them are dry but others are called "emollients" and they partially consist of fatty substances which help hold in moisture.

Putting them on your skin has a moisturizing and protective effect, and they also help in making the lotion because they hold some of the other chemicals together when their normal behavior would be to separate.

Note for adults: the FDA considers the common types of these emollients to be very safe.


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

[User] [Stardust] Why is a babylon candle considered "dark magic"? All it does is transport you, no?

[Assistant]
Candle wax was traditionally made from tallow, which is a byproduct of cow fat rendering. Or they could be made from beeswax, but that was far less common.

To make a magical candle, do you think they get the fat from a cow? No, it's a magical source. You don't want to know which one, which is why the book and movie spare us the details.


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

[User]
Why is China, not Mexico seen as the US's factory?

Despite being right beside the US and having NAFTA since 20 years ago, Mexico exports around half of what China exports to the US

Why does the US import so much from across the pacific from a country that they have an intense rivalry with, rather than right across the border? Is it due to Chinese strength or Mexican weakness?

[Assistant]
China is just a much larger economy with a much larger total output. In any country besides Singapore and some EU countries, exports consist of only a fraction of GDP as most of it is domestic consumption and investment. As a percent of GDP, the three most isolated major economies in the world are the US, Japan, and China in that order. In other words, youre right to say that China would be less inclined towards exports than a country like Mexico, being far from any consumer market larger than its own, because it *is*. However, because Chinas GDP is so large, even that smaller percentage accounted for by exports dwarfs Mexicos export volume.

There is a hard cap on how much of an economy can be dedicated to exports. On a simple level, exports bringing money in will always fuel domestic saving (generally but not always channeled into domestic investments) and consumption through profits and wages. Additionally, the logistics of shipping goods from an inland factory to the border or to a port are handled by domestic partners. Finally, there is always a level of redundancy in industries whenever a market is not entirely free. In the case of different countries, most have tariffs, and only very few have genuine freedom of labor movement. These barriers allow local firm providing the same good as an international firm to survive in spite of a theoretically less efficient process. Further, cultural sensitivities also create redundancy. A good example of this is Alibaba, which initially provided much the same service as amazon, but in a way that catered more to Chinese consumers.

Redundancy is important because it means a local firm is substituting goods and services that would otherwise be provided to a domestic customer base by a foreign firm. In other words, its another reason why its impossible for any country with any regulatory and cultural differences with another country to be perfectly integrated into their economic system.

This gets to the question of why the US doesnt just source all its imports from Mexico. On face, Mexico is a relatively well educated country with statistically some of the hardest working employees in the world, with relatively low labor costs. However, the preferences of Mexican firms also need to be taken into account. Even if the US deliberately shifted its supply chain away from China and towards Mexico with some kind of government stimulus, there is only so much of Mexicos GDP that can be dedicated to exports because of the many other activities servicing domestic customers and the logistics of exports and imports which need to be considered.

As a final note, transportation costs are only a fraction of the total costs of exports. China-US shipping costs are $823 per container.

The bottom line: bigger economies, as a rule, export more, even to faraway countries. The US, a huge economy, has an immense demand for imported goods that cant be filled by Mexico alone. Whether the US likes to import to China is irrelevant, the fact is that China *can* produce what American firms and consumers are looking for so they buy.


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

[User]
[WAKANDA] How does wakanda prosper with luxurious economy if it never shared it's natural resources with the world ?

This always confused me even in the comics.

(Lol its*)

[Assistant]
1. lack of colonization prevented their natural resources from being plundered.
2. vibranium allowed them to advance their tools faster than everyone else.
3. their agriculture and crafts and medicine allowed for a higher standard of living, higher birth rate and child survival rate, allowing them to have and support the extra population to send out into the world for research, spycraft, and reconnaisance. (The War Dogs and other programs)
4. constant underestimation of Wakanda by western colonizer nations allowed them to move under the radar, allowing knowledge, technology, political secrets, and other resources to flow into wakanda, or else be utilized and invested in other nations, under identities not associated with the Panther's lands.
5. using these resources, Wakanda was able to quietly build up funding in the outside world, aim colonizing forces at their neighbors or other countries, keep wars and profiteers from their lands, and bring any useful technology or technique home.
6. spend six hundred years doing this, keeping the secret safe (by any means necessary), compounding interest, sacrificing other nations to the west in order to defend wakanda, and infiltrating anything and everything that might develop into a threat.

By the time Wakanda announced its presence to the rest of the world, Wakanda is strong, yes. But still small, still relatively minor.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does letting water drip from your faucet keep pipes from freezing in the winter?

[Assistant] Because the source or the water (pipes underground) is warmer than freezing.  It takes time for the water to cool down to freeze, by letting the faucet drip, you are not giving it the chance to cool down.


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

[User]
[Marvel] Just how powerful is Franklin Richards?

Well we've seen some of his feats like beating several Celestials, resurrecting Galactus as his personal herald, and creating a pocket universe of 616, but just how powerful is he compared to the other cosmic beings like Living Tribunal, Eternity, Molecule Man, Phoenix, Death etc.?

[Assistant]
Franklin is weaker than the Living Tribunal, Death, and Eternity. He's stronger than Molecule Man or the Phoenix Force.

It's hard to pin down, but when he can make and destroy alternate universes at will? Yeah.


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

[User] Is there a theoretical limit to the melting point of a material?

[Assistant]
Certainly.

Temperature is a measure of the average kinetic energy of the molecules in a material. Which also means that temperature is a measure of the average available energy for reactions, in the form of molecular kinetic energy. Depending on the structure of a molecule it may be possible that it would take less energy to cause it to break down than it would take to bring it to a hypothetical melting point. There are actually lots of materials like this, especially depending on the ambient environment. For example, cellulose doesn't really melt, it just burns when you get it hot enough.

At a more extreme end, there are atomic limits to the melting point of materials. At certain temperatures you gain enough free energy to begin ionizing molecules and atoms, and at that point solid versus liquid becomes somewhat moot. This corresponds to around 46000 Kelvin at the low end.


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

[User] [Avatar: TLAB/LOK] In TLAB we learn the benders were shown bending from dragons, badger moles etc., but in LOK we see early humans receiving bending from the lion turtles. How do these two versions of history intersect?

[Assistant] The Lion Turtles gave humans the *ability* to bend but only in the most basic sense. The actual styles and art of bending for each element didn't come until sometime after that, which is where they learned from/by copying the dragons, sky bison, badger moles, or moon.


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

[User]
Another round of 6 PhD rejections....

Hi all,

I graduated with a MSc in Chemistry, in heterogeneous catalysis, in 2017. I havent been able to find a PhD project or a job in chemistry however. Therefore I have been working in the funeral industry for the last three years due to necessity really.

Now I am another round of PhD application later and all 6 have been rejected. I got one instant rejection and one professor just ignored my application and status update emails. I had 2 interviews, but the result and feedback is always the same: Our conversation was really pleasant, but we have other candidates that are better suited for the project.

Projects are given away to people who still have half a year to go until they graduate MSc. I dont stand a fair chance when all the positions are given away internally.

Honestly I dont know what I can do anymore. I feel that I stand no chance to get a project when I dont have the right connections who give me a project.... What can I do?

[Assistant]
Get someone independent to look over your application materials. There could be issues there.  Try not to just apply to things out of the blue either; make contact with supervisors to ask about the projects and research areas.  Ask if you can meet or call to talk things through before applying.  This  ensures you have the best info to produce these most targeted applications.

Finally,  be open to the idea that maybe a PhD is not the route you should be going. Is there any affiliated industry work in tor region you can start applying to? 3 years out of the subject is a lot.


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

[User] Why is Nietzsche such a big deal (as far as western philosophers go)?

[Assistant]
Because Nietzsche, for better or worse, was attempting something dramatic and controversial for philosophy at the time, essentially a full overthrow of the particular  understanding of what philosophy was at that historical moment, and that project lead him to questioning some of the most firmly established ideas in society, things like morality, truth, and history. He was not someone steeped in the tradition of philosophy, not in the way "philosophers" of his time were anyway, he was effectively an outsider giving a new view and raising questions they would not have considered. Whether he does this well or ill is a different question, but his work creates a new horizon that almost everyone who comes after him is influenced by, whether in their support or rejection of it.

Raymond Geuss has a very simple and digestible lecture series on Nietzsche you should check out if you don't know anything about his work.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why don't more Jedi use two lightsabers?

I understand that in human history warriors wouldn't conventionally use two swords because they took more than they gave, but lightsabers are much lighter than swords, and Jedi can use the force to still be dexterous. Every time I've seen a Jedi get their hands on a spare they've seemed more powerful for the fight they use it in and they neither seem any less adept or weaker because of only using one arm per lightsaber.

[Assistant]
It's mostly a question of tradition. Jedi are meant to be peacekeepers, and their lightsabers are for self defense when diplomacy fails. Carrying an extra blade, or a double saber was considered to be more offensive than defensive. It wasn't prohibited, it just wasn't very common.

More sabers aren't always more effective either, just look at Obi-Wan's fight against Grievous. Kenobi used defensive mastery and single precision strikes to overpower the General's onslaught. Dooku uses the same philosophy to disarm Anakin when he tried to fight with a second saber.

When it only takes a single strike from your weapon to win a duel it's usually better to defend and look for an opening than to try and rain attacks on your opponent. It's an elegant weapon, for a more civilized time.


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

[User]
What aspect of Putin's rise to power is most fascinating/controversial?

Putin fascinates me and I'm currently mulling writing a paper on him.  I don't consider myself anywhere near an expert but there are a wide range of issues that could be discussed.  I'm looking for something that has debatable value.

I'm keenly interested in the Medvedev/Putin combination as well as how he de-fanged some of the oligarchs.  What did his former KGB history have to do with his rise/keeping of power?  The bombings?

This may be me asking myself a question and looking for someone else to answer it but I'm curious if anyone has any thoughts or expertise in the area.  I don't think this is a homework question -- it's significantly deeper -- but the mods can decide that, I presume.

[Assistant]
I think Putin's relationship with the Russian church is the most interesting aspect of his rule, especially given the lack of general religiosity among the population. Take the 'Pussy Riot' case for example, who would have imagined 20 years ago people getting arrested and imprisoned for 'blasphemy'? - or the recent rise of state sanctioned persecution of homosexuals.

One could argue that Russia is now so right leaning it is close to becoming no different to Uganda, Iran or Syria.


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

[User]
[Batman/DCU] Let's say Catwoman gets caught in a Foreign Country...

That Country, while mostly reviled by the internation community for its Draconian law, is still recognized by the UN and various other country. The people are happy and there is minor discontent among the people as the government is some form of Direct Democracy much like Switzerland.

Lets say they approve of torture to foreign criminals especially Foreign Villains as they really have a bad history with Foreign Villains. Cat Woman almost successfully managed to smuggle out her stolen goods(which are the "National Treasures" of the country) but is foiled as caught. She is now liberally tortured and staying quite possibly the rest of her life in prison.

Will Batman or any other Superhero bail her put of there or will she rot there(until she somehow free's gerself by foreign means or her own)?

[Assistant]
If she's being held and the punishment is consisdered to be cruel and unusual, like whippings, or stoning, they'd bust her out. Batman sooner than Supes. Not just because of their connection, but mostly because of their moral codes, and how that clashes with the law.

Most heroes as we know them aren't out to make people follow the law exactly, nor are they trying to be upstanding citizens of said law either. They're following their (luckily) morally sound code of Justice.


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

[User]
Why do plants evolve to have poisonous fruit and berries? Doesn't that defeat the "purpose?"

Isn't it beneficial to have delicious healthy fruit so that animals will eat them and spread the seeds around?

[Assistant] Many poisonous fruits are only poisonous to certain animals, but not to others. As such, it functions as a selection mechanism. There might be several evolutionary benefits for the plant. Birds, for example, might spread the seeds much further than land animals. Or the digestive tract of some animals would digest the seeds along with the fruit, while that of others would not.


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

[User] ELI5: How do messenger pigeons work?

[Assistant]
You raise pigeons at the *destination.* You let them roost, and fly for exercise. They see this as their home.

When you go out campaigning, you take some of these birds in cages. You don't let them fly, or they will just go home.

When you want to send a message, you tie it to a bird's leg, and then set the bird free. The bird just goes home.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is the new "earthlike planet" found by keplar a big deal?

Why is everybody get hyped because of this new discovery? we did already find some other earthlike planets without making a big deal out of it. whats different this time?

[Assistant]
This planet is the closest "analog" to Earth we've ever discovered. We have certain ideas about what parameters are required for an earth-like planet that could support life as we know it. This includes the planet being just the right distance from its star to make the surface temps not too hot.

In Kepler-452b's case, not only is the planet in this so-called "habitable zone", but Kepler-452 is very, very similar to the Sun in size, luminosity, etc. Kepler-452b's orbit is about 385 days, compared to 365 days in our own year.

The most earth-like planet we've found to date is Kepler 438b, but it's star is a Red Dwarf, which is much smaller and cooler than the sun, and it's orbit is only about 35 days.

It's possible that being in the habitable zone is all that matters for life, but finding an exoplanet that exists under conditions that are very, very, VERY close to earth's makes it an exceptionally good candidate for containing life.

Now, all we need is for that planet to have formed the ability to transmit radio waves at least 1400 years ago so we can start getting confirmation that there's intelligent life on it.


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

[User] [Lovecraft] Are non-human/sentient creatures affected by the psychologically damaging effects of viewing cosmic entities? For example, if a cockroach or a rodent was shown Cthulu, would it be driven insane?

[Assistant]
Most animals have a very narrow focus on the perception of their surroundings.  They aren't particularly curious beyond whether something is an obstacle to overcome, a predator to avoid, prey/food to consume, a potential mate, a rival, or a safe place to hide.

A person wants to *understand* what he/she is seeing, so becomes keenly aware that something is very very wrong with these eldritch entities.

Assuming the animal could even perceive Cthulhu (like a cockroach isn't aware of much beyond a few feet away) he would trigger one of the other visceral responses before it got to the 'ineffable horror' stage.  It would probably be fear of a predator.  Then the animal would simply flee like it does for any other dangerous creature it encounters.


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

[User] Are there any types of celestial objects that will likely exist in the universe someday, but don't exist yet?

[Assistant]
Blue dwarf stars.

Based on current modelling, red dwarf stars below 1/4 the mass of the sun will not become red giants at their end of their lifetimes; instead, they'll become brighter and hotter--and therefore bluer--without becoming significantly larger. This stage should last several billion years at least, and in the specific case of a star 16% the mass of the sun the star will actually stabilize at 1/3 as bright as our sun and stay there for 5 billion years--long enough that intelligent life could plausibly emerge from a planet that had been outside the habitable zone in the main stage of that star's life.

Smaller stars are longer-lived, and the largest, shortest-lived stars that will develop into blue dwarfs won't do so for another trillion years.

Another, more speculative possibility is "cold stars". The presence of metals (elements heavier than helium, in this context) mixed into hydrogen gas allows for fusion at smaller masses, though at lower rates such that these stars colder at their surfaces. Metals are accumulating over time, so in the far future it may be possible for a star to exist at 4% the sun's mass (about half the current minimum) with a surface temperature around 273 K, or 0 C. So the star will appear dark and could have snow in the outer regions of its atmosphere even as fusion proceeds in the core.


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

[User] ELI5: In cities where the tap water is clean enough to drink, how does the water stay clean throughout the whole process to get to the your faucet?

[Assistant] The pipes are clean. The pressure in them keeps things out of the pipes as well.  Youll see water companies issue boil water notifications if they lose pressure or have a break in the line that could let nasty stuff in.   After that, theyll flush the lines and usually add some chlorine to the water to kill nasty germs.


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

[User]
CMV: Equal prize money in tennis creates discrimination against male competitors

My current view is that equal prize money in tennis is actually gender discrimination against men. My main argument for this would be that men play the best of 5 sets and women play then best of 3. And therefore woman are paid more then men because they are in general working/playing tennis for less time.

I do understand that tennis can't be paid by the hour since the duration of a match is open ended at the beginning. Therefore equal pay would only be achieved if payment was agreed in advanced based on the best of sets value. I.e. Best of 5 sets 200k per match and best of 3 sets 120k.

I fully welcome any explanation that can change how I see this issue. I am all for equality across the board. But it's how the equality is defined that I guess is my issue.

[Assistant]
In other sports, do players make more money when a game goes into overtime? Do they get paid more for having more onfield time? Do they get paid for mandatory training?

In your example, a woman's best of 3 set could be just as many sets as a shutout best of 5.  That doesn't affect payment either.

Sports just aren't paid out on a per hour rate. **This is *especially* true with prize money where you aren't getting paid to participate.  You're getting paid for being the best tennis player at the match.**


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

[User]
[World of Warcraft] Why don't the Gnomes call to Jaina or someone for help to reclaim Gnomeregan?

The gnomes have been living in Ironforge for such a long time because they can't reclaim Gnomeregan. Why don't they ask someone like Jaina who is immensely powerful?

She could clear it out it in like, 10 minutes and they would have a home again.

[Assistant] There was a large effort to retake the city around the time that Deathwing started torching the countryside.  Portions of the city were reclaimed at that time, and there are continuing efforts to recapture the rest.  Since the gnomes are making progress, heavies like Jaina probably think that their efforts are better spent elsewhere.  It's likely also true that to cleanse the city you need lots of technical labor (patching up holes, cleansing radiation), work for which the gnomes are well-suited (even if they're taking their time about it).


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

[User] If it is recommended to pasteurize fresh squeezed juice, why can I eat the fruit as-is without the same concern for bacteria?

[Assistant] Because fruit is covered in a layer (skin) that keeps bacteria away from the nutrients on the inside. Once you squeeze the nutrients out, bacteria from the air (as well as any that were on the fruit) have access to the nutrients and will grow rapidly.


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

[User] [Adventure Time] What do all the Princesses in Ooo reign over?

[Assistant]
Ooo seems to run on your traditional magical fairy-tale city-state system, where each town has its own princess, militia, and defenses to protect it from random wandering monsters and raiders. A "kingdom" could be a large area with many cities, or just one small village, but it's a kingdom because it has a princess. A princess's job is to ensure their kingdom's stability through whatever supernatural powers or skills they have, and anything they can't do gets delegated to knights, guards, magicians, minor noble titles, etc etc. Each kingdom has minor variations on this, of course.

It's entirely possible that this system only exists because of Princess Bubblegum. She stabilized the Candy Kingdom using giant gumball guardian constructs a long time ago. It seems to have been so successful that everyone on the continent modeled their societies after it.


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

[User]
Where Do Political Scientists Put Falangism on The Right-Left Specturm?

What is the consensus on where falangism fits in the right to left spectrum? Do they consider it third position, right, or left? In my question, I am talking about Rivera's falangism, and the type of Falangism that Franco practiced. (Edit: I apologize for the spelling mistake in the title.)

[Assistant]
>Falangism has attacked both the political left and the right as its "enemies", declaring itself to be neither left nor right, but a syncretic third position.\[10\] However, scholarly sources reviewing Falangism place it on the political right.\[11\]

and

>Falangism is anti-communist, anti-democratic and anti-liberal

both from wikipedia.


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

[User]
Superman moves to Gotham

What happens? And it's not a part time thing but rather permanent. Does the town change? Do the villains change?

[Assistant]
Superman is great at stopping big crushing enemies.  If Bane or Croc were to show up doing something, superman could stop him pretty easily.

Unfortunately, many of Batman's enemies are more subtle.  They enjoy conspiracies, and they're unafraid to plan things out quite a bit.  They'd find ways to frame superman for evil deeds that would make Luthor jealous.

Sure, nobody would believe that Superman burned down the *first* orphanage, but after every orphanage in Gotham burns down in quick succession as soon as Superman gets near it?

Superman is strong, and he's not stupid, but he's far from truly cunning.  He'd bust a lot of small time crooks, possibly some of the bigger problems, but in the long run he'd be eaten alive.


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

[User] ELI5: What makes some markers permanent and others erasable?

[Assistant] The erasable markers contain a solvent that dissolves the marker ink. You can actually use an erasable marker to remove permanent marker by writing over it with the erasable marker and then using the eraser.


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

[User] ELI5: Are attack helicopters usually more well-armored than fighters, but less armored than bombers? How so, and why?

[Assistant] Attack helicopters have strategically placed armor to protect vulnerable, critical parts. Same with the Blackhawk and A-10. They try to avoid taking fire first. They also use redundant systems, like hydraulics, to allow them to survive a certain amount of fire.


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

[User]
Why is Slave Morality bad, or why does it have a negative connotation?

I find Nietzsche insanely difficult, but from my understanding slave morality encourages weakness and turning the other cheek and instead defeating your enemies through deception. (?)

Why would anyone think this is bad for society? Would not master morality, or people doing things claiming to follow master morality, cause a lot of wars and duels and general risks?

Are there any writings that straight up says slave morality is good for society, or is that considered embarrassing to admit?

[Assistant]
Slave morality has negative connotations because of its name and because Nietzsche criticizes it. So, for those who don't understand or misconstrue Nietzsche's points, often conflate the criticism of slave morality for the appraisal or approval of master morality. This isn't so. He is disapproving of master morality as well.

His work, the genealogy of morals aims specifically to understand the origins of how our moral system has originated. His conclusions are rather sinister. One particular point he emphasizes is the switch in dichotomy between good and bad into good and evil. The primary motivation for the arising moral systems from this new dichotomy (good vs evil) arose from slave morality.

The primary motivating force that drives this new moral system of the slave, is resentiment, this hatred, for the slave's deemed oppressors. He uses this analogy to demonstrate this:

""And when the lambs whisper among themselves, 'These birds of prey are evil, and does this not give us a right to say that whatever of the opposite of a bird of prey must be good?', there is nothing intrinsically wrong with such an argument - though the birds of prey will look somewhat quizzically and say, 'We have nothing against these good lambs; in fact, we love them; nothing tastes better than a tender lamb."" - Geneology of Morals.

What's important here is that it demonstrates two points. The first is this idea of resentiment. The lamb is frustrated and filled with hatred for the birds of pray, unsurprisingly. And the second is this idea of redefining goodness into this "moral good." In the case of the lamb, their ideas about what is good is purely stemmed from this resentiment.

This alludes to his historical examples, using Christianity as an instance of slave morality. This results in some kind of divine vindication. The slave will suffer now, but god will be the final judge and the master will inevitably be punished for their transgressions.

To Nietzsche, this is incredibly dangerous as it keeps mankind weak. Because the primary motivating force behind the moral system of the slave is based on resentiment, it results in this value of weakness or generally, attributes that the master does not have. If the master represents strength, the slave must represent weakness- therefore, like the lamb said, the master is evil and thus strength is evil and weakness is good.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Did Anakin know?

Did he know the Jedi were planning a peaceful arrest of the emperor, and it was Palpatine who drew his weapon and attacked? If not, would it have made a difference?

What if Windu had gone to Kamino and Yoda was the one duelling Palpatine when Anakin arrived? Could Yoda have convinced Anakin to make the right decision?

[Assistant] Anakin didn't care about the details at that point.  He'd been groomed for over 2 years by that point into thinking palpatine had the best future in mind for the galaxy at large and his recurring nightmare of padme dying was promised a happy end by palps.  He saw an opportunity to get what he wanted without the guilt of betraying the Jedi by outright choosing palps over the order earlier.  He could pretend the Jedi drew first and were the villains palps had said all along and let his conscience be at ease to some extent. Had Yoda been there instead of mace it would have been much bloodier with Yoda's superior skills saving the other Jedi that came with them and would have sensed anakins turmoil and forced him to stay away from the arrest.  If anakin came to the arrest anyways Yoda may have been able to sense anakins impending betrayal and disabled or even killed him before he could give a large enough advantage to palpatine to win the fight or flee.  Even a short delay to get the Jedi order aware of palpatines sith lordship would have immeasurably change the effects of order 66.


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

[User]
How do scientists estimate the number of atoms in the observable universe?

It's often quoted that there are around 10^80 atoms in the observable universe. What kind of method can scientists use to estimate something such as this?

[Assistant]
There are roughly 100 billion galaxies, each with roughly 100 billion stars. A star is essentially a ball of hydrogen weighing about 10^30 kg and a hydrogen atom weighs about 10^-27 kg. Thus the total number of atoms of all those galaxies is about 10^(11+11+30+27) =10^79, give or take a few orders of magnitude.

This is a very rough estimate, although famed astronomy Arthur Eddington claimed it was exactly 136x2^256 . Nobody took that seriously.


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

[User]
Do batteries in a device which remains idle degrade faster than batteries not in a device?

If so, why?

[Assistant]
This depends on like... a thousand factors. But generally speaking, power leaves the battery when there is a load on the circuit. And a LOT of devices(I dare say far too many) have a draw when there is no activity at all, a Standby power of sorts. Your car for instance is probably absolutely ripping with it. And even if your car happens to be a bit on the old side, no special computers or dash nonsense or whatever else, it can still provide a load, which will cause the battery to slowly drain. Which is a huge reason why you want to disconnect your battery on your car if you plan to leave it in the garage for a while. Of course, mess with thermals, or general battery treatment, or even storage methods, or whatever else, and you can end up shortening your battery's life significantly anyway, whether it's a car, a rechargeable, or a semi-disposable alkaline.

TL:DR: Battery connected = Circuit = Load. Battery not connected = no circuit = no load. In theory.


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

[User]
[The Culture] Was the Advanced alien object from the novel "Excession" supposed to be from a sublimed race, or something else entirely?

The perfect "black body sphere" from the culture novel "Excession" is said to be far more advanced then anything from the culture universe. My question is whether or not it is more or less advanced then the civilizations that have sublimed. Are there other levels of reality outside the normal culture space-time and the sublimed space-time that this object came from?

[Assistant]
Spoilers for Excession:

The end makes it fairly clear that the Excession is something else entirely.  The Excession was able to travel between universe. The multiverse of the Culture looks like the layers of an onion, slightly older universes moving outward, slightly younger universes moving in. The Energy Grid separates the universes from each other. For hyperspace travel you "connect to the grid" alternating between the older/younger sides.  The Excession was able to connect to the Energy Grid in both directions (when a Mind says "Gulp", thats a big deal).  The Excession could move up or down the line of universes to older/younger versions.

The Excession was scouting the Culture universe to see what the local galactic conditions were and get a feel for the local inhabitants.  The Culture (cough, The Interesting Times Gang, cough) did not do a very good job.

Can the Sublimed do the same thing as the Excession?  We don't know.  The Sublimed don't talk much.  It could be the Sublimed can find a way to do the same thing and move to younger universes (effectively immortality even from the heat death of the current universe).  However, it is also possible they do not.  Again, we just don't know.


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

[User]
How bad is the political science job market, really?

Everyone I talk to about the job market in academia basically just sighs and starts speaking as if theyre in hell. I believe them, but are there any numbers to see just *how* bad it is?

Is there any good data that shows overall amount of jobs and new PhDs per year? Im looking at political science specifically, if that helps.

[Assistant]
Assuming you are in the USA:

The APSA doesn't track numbers of advertised positions and placements as well as the MLA does for English, and the MLA's efforts aren't that good. Maybe a report every few years, while APSA produces one maybe every decade or two.

I tell all social science grad students, regardless of field, to train in statistics and GIS. Going to grad school for an academic career is a sucker bet at this point, unless one is at a H-Y-P level institutions.


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

[User] If every country is in debt, where did all the money go?

[Assistant] Private individuals, corporations and retirement and investment funds own a lot of government debt. Over $2T in Us debt is held by Chinese. Meanwhile Chinese governments (local and provincial) as well as Chinese corporations borrowed a lot of money, mostly from Chinese people. EU debt is held by companies, banks and retirement funds. Those three (US, China and EU), along with Japan, account for most of the debt. While the third world is also in debt, their economies are too small for them to borrow so much.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is a video taken from my phone camera a couple GB but a movie which is much longer is about the same size?

I took a 9 minute video (1080p) from my phone the other day, and it turned out to about 1.38 gigs. But a downloaded movie of the same quality (1080p) is often 1.4 or 1.5 GB while retaining the same quality?

[Assistant]
It is possible to significantly compress video, but it takes a lot of computing power, too much for your phone to do it on the fly.

You could take your video, run it through a conversion and compression process for an hour or so, and wind up with something much smaller that looks pretty much the same.


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

[User] Is there a maximum gravity?

[Assistant] I don't think there is a good answer. With mass density approaching infinity we are getting stronger gravity, but we are also getting into a situation where both quantum effects and gravity are important. And we don't have unified theory for those two (so we don't know). Place like this is for example inside of black holes.


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

[User] [The Incredibles 1] what would've happened if Mr incredible hadn't saved the guy who tried to kill himself?

[Assistant] Super's would have been banned eventually. The public impression of them was already starting to turn, especially with people like Mr. Incredible bulldozing buildings to stop a pickpocket. The movement to make Supers illegal would lose an incredibly convenient poster boy, but that would only slow down what was pretty much inevitable anyway.


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

[User]
[It's Always SUnny in Philadelphia] how succesful is Paddy's Pub?

they rarely have a rush. Dee is always buying a new car and Dennis used to ride in a Range rover. The Gang are always having escapades so presumably the bar is closed kinda often.

[Assistant]
It's just barely enough for them to get by on. None of them have extra cash laying around.

Like the very first episode they're going through the register on a Saturday night and don't even make more than $100.

Pretty sure the bar is just straight up losing money at this point and is only kept afloat by Frank's fortune.

Dee's new cars are junkers (and Frank pays her rent), Dennis's range rover is probably something he had in high school and is just coasting along with (like everything else about him), and Frank supplies the money for their shenanigans that require funding.

And they do get the occasional run of good business. That time they were a gay bar, when they served high schoolers, and "new new orleans" were times when they were packed wall to wall and doing tons of business.


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

[User]
[LotR] As a Maia, how was Sauron finally and truly defeated? Couldn't he just bide his time and slowly recoup his power as he had done several times before?

As I understand it, a Maiar's physical form is like clothing they put only a small amount of their power into and it can be shed at will or if circumstances demand. We see this with Saruman in The Scouring of the Shire when his spirit separates from his body. Did Sauron simply put all of his power into the Ring, making its destruction his total destruction as well? Surely he wouldn't have put all of his power into one physical object so easily separated from him. It's been awhile since I've gone over the stories, so forgive me if I'm misremembering anything.

[Assistant]
> Did Sauron simply put all of his power into the Ring, making its destruction his total destruction as well?

Pretty much. Sauron was a being consumed with the concepts of domination and control. The ring was his ultimate attempt at dominating the minds of some of Middle Earth's most powerful individuals, thereby making him the de-facto ruler of the world even if no one realized it. But in order to make something that powerful, he had to pour a great deal of his "essence" into it. It was as much a part of his being as his head or his spine, and he was only whole while it was with him.

With the ring destroyed, a piece of Sauron had been permanently severed from him. His spirit cannot die, and it continues to exist to this day as a lingering fog of malice and hate, but he no longer has the power to reform a new body on his own.

> Surely he wouldn't have put all of his power into one physical object so easily separated from him.

Sauron never thought that it would be separated from him. Sauron has never been a front-line leader, wading into the middle of a battle where he might be injured. His presence during the battle where he was last defeated was at the very end of a seven-year-long siege, and he had completely run out of options. If things went according to plan, Sauron would never leave the safety and comfort of his fortress, and the ring would stay safely on his finger.

Destroying the ring was even more unthinkable. Even in the event of it being separated, Sauron knew that the ring would seek to return to him. After all, it is a small piece of his very existence, and it would want to rejoin the bigger fragment. Sauron and the majority of people in Middle Earth who knew the ring's truth assumed that no one would EVER think to unmake it. Its pull toward power and control is too strong.

That's why the plan to sneak into Mordor and drop the ring into the Crack of Doom was so extreme. It would be like trusting the defeat on your greatest enemy by sending a gnat into their biggest military base while carrying an armed nuclear warhead. It just wouldn't logically work according to all the known rules.


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

[User] What is a karat? How does it differ from diamonds to gold?

[Assistant]
A karat in terms of gold is not the same measure as a carat of diamond weight.

A carat of diamond weight is equivalent to 0.2g. Many other stones are also measured in carats, but due to varying densities, a carat of sapphire is physically smaller than a carat of diamond.

Karat in gold terms is a measure of purity. Because it is measured as 24 times the purity by mass, 24k gold is pure (well, 99.9% pure) gold.

18k gold is 75% pure gold. 12k gold is 50%, and so on.

The markings on the inside of a piece of jewelery may indicate the purity of the material. 24k is marked 999. 10k is marked 417. (99.9% and 41.7% respectively.)


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

[User]
If you drilled a hole through earth from top to bottom and jumped into it, when would you stop falling?

Assuming that you could drill through the core and that you had a wide open tube going from top to bottom.

[Assistant] If the hole was filled with air, the friction of the air would keep you from falling too quickly. You would oscillate back and forth through the center point with less and less travel until at last you came to rest (more or less) at the center of the Earth.


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

[User]
What is the psychology behind ruminating on negative thoughts?

A common feature of depression or anxiety. Thinking about sad thoughts or worrying almost feels good or addicting. Why is that when it obviously is bad and makes us feel worse?

[Assistant] Basically, we are programmmed to solve problems (problems involve negative thoughts/worrying/stress), it may seem paradoxical, but we even like it, a lot, because it helps us function in our life, it's beneficial for our survival as a species. If we participate in the process and solve the problem (get the desired result), our brains produce hormones that make us feel good and make us want to solve more problems. That's why it feels addicting. We even have more negative thoughts than positive, and remember negative experiences more vividly, because of the reason above (with the exception of traumatic experiences, because it's too overwhelming for a person to handle it properly).  The problem is (pun intended), when it is too much, it becomes anxiety/depression. Hope this helps to clarify it :)


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do we sometimes feel like some bug's crawling on our bodies, but there is nothing there, it's merely a feeling?

Edit: It's not always a static feeling. Sometimes it seems like "some bug" is working (moving) it's way up your body.

[Assistant]
In addition to the other answers here, I'd like to add hallucinations that our jerk brains like to create for seemingly no reason.

People typically have a Hollywood understanding of hallucinations and don't realize how common they are. E.g. how many times have you felt your phone vibrate in your pocket, but when you checked it nothing was there?


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

[User]
I believe allowing children to ask for money in front of stores to fund their sports team is tantamount to begging/panhandling and should not be allowed. CMV

I feel they are not offering to perform a service or offer a product such as a car wash nor instilling any kind of work ethic. I feel this is not a charitable cause nor is it a worthy one such as wounded vets or abused animals. I find they are doing nothing but using big sad eye'd guilt tactics to cajole people into funding their extra-curricular activities. I feel this also encourages an "entitlement mentality" that things should just be given to you instead of working to earn them.

EDIT: I will concede that my use of "worthy" dilutes from the true discussion. I ask responders to disregard my use of "worthy" when considering the discussion.

To focus and clarify: youth sports teams are voluntary extra curricular activities that parents of the players pay a fee to play, as well as teams acquire sponsors from local businesses to purchase uniforms and equipment. If that income is not enough then the parents should contribute more. Not Joe Citizen trying to shop in peace.

[Assistant]
Don't give them money then. Anyone has the right to ask for money for whatever they want, and if other people choose to give them money, that's fine too.

If people tried to ban a charity you like because they deemed it pointless or harmful (but had, as you do, no proof of any issue with the practice), would that be ok?


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

[User]
CMV: The purpose of the 2nd amendment is to defend against the possibility of a tyrannical government and the "arms" being referenced in the amendment are not subject to being banned (by that government).

The main point I am trying to make is that whether or not you believe it is realistic, the 2nd amendment exists to acknowledge the rights of the people to have (and use) arms to defend themselves and the Constitution if the government becomes tyrannical.
With that in mind, how is the the banning of certain arms not a violation of the 2nd amendment? Especially being that the institution doing the banning is the government it was created to protect against.
I know people will bring up nuclear weapons and other things as examples of things that should be banned. I believe that those kinds of items do not fall under the protection of the 2nd amendment. The purpose of the amendment is to acknowledge the right of the people to defend against a tyrannical government and the use of weapons of mass destruction would clearly be well outside the scope of defense. By design, they cause destruction on a large scale without control over who would be killed.
Therefore I believe that the 2nd amendment applies to all conventional weapons only. Simply because mass killing of civilians is obviously inarguable as method of defense against tyranny.

Update: Great discussion everyone! Regardless of my views on the 2nd amendment, I'm grateful that we have the ability to discuss our thoughts on the Constitution without fear of government reprisal. So... Feel free to discuss the ramifications of the limits being placed on the 2nd amendment to be applied to first as well.

[Assistant] The second amendment was created in a time when a standing army was not the norm. It references a militia because that was what would be called upon in times of war. It was not meant to be a protection against a tyrannical local government, but against a foreign invading government.