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Nitral's Archive 20

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Witcher series] I always hear that the in-game Witchers, and Geralt in particular, are severely nerfed from their book counterpart. How so?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In game Gerlat moves fairly similarly to a human as far as following his movements. In the the books Geralt can swing his sword so fast people can't see or follow it. \n\nThe games adjust a lot of the things you see just to be fun to play. In the books monsters are dying out, they aren't anywhere as common as in the game where you get drowners every 30m of shoreline. Larger monsters are also significantly more dangerous and not taken lightly, whereas game Geralt dispatches many of them with ease." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Why are our intestines so dang long?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Having long intestines is an evolutionary advantage to get the most out of your food. By having a large amount of time to go through you will have more time to extract nutrients. Arguably more importantly, it increases the surface area that your food will be exposed to (especially with villi and microvilli) which enables more thorough enzyme exposure and nutrient uptake.\n\nYou will see other animals have different lengths of intestines. Herbivores have longer intestines than carnivores and omnivores because the cellulose in plants has beta glycosidic linkages which takes longer to break down. They will have very large cecums filled with prokaryotes that can break down those linkages. \n\nBasically larger intestine = less wasted energy from food, and different animals will find different ways to utilize this." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5 How to tasers put out 1,000,000+ volts when all they require to use is a couple AA batteries?\n\nAlways wondered about this." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They use a coil to raise the voltage while simultaneously limiting the current, so they don't electrocute the target. The coil is powered by the batteries much like the spark plug in a car is powered by the 12 volt car battery, which is only huge because of the current needed to start the car, not to make the spark." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Obama mentioned yesterday \"cutting out the middle man\" and making student loans directly to students rather than using banks as a middleman. Canada still goes through banks, why? What's the benefit of that?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Banks have to make profit/loss calculation, and therefore use the price system to allocate capital toward student loans. In other words, banks care whether or not they get paid back. Government, much less so.\n\nThis is actually a positive thing because it regulates the supply of student loans. The question is, how many student loans is *too many*? Too few? \n\nConsider the fact that US student loan defaults are rising and are at decade-highs. In theory, lenders *should* be becoming less willing to risk their capital. In practice, there are other government interventions (Sallie Mae) that are already distorting the market and creating moral hazard. To have government issue loans directly is merely the next tier in moral hazard.\n\nThe government can declare \"we need more student loans!\" regardless of price signals, just like they did with houses. It is a bubble similar to every other bubble the government blows. When it is finally revealed that those loans cannot be paid back, the taxpayer will have to again \"bail out\" the insolvent institution holding the loans.\n\nTo add to all that, the government has to get its capital from somewhere. It must either levy a tax, print the money (not possible under Federal Reserve system), or borrow the money. In the US the government borrows by issuing Treasuries, which it sells to Primary Dealers (banks). So, in reality, Obama has not \"cut out the middle man\" whatsoever. Well, you can say he \"cut out\" smaller independent banks to the benefit of very large, well connected banks." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why are us humans naturally afraid of the dark?\n\nFor example; when we're alone in the dark, in the stillness, we feel scared. We feel that there is someone behind us and our hearts being to race. Why do you think we're afraid? Why do we feel this way about the darkness, even if and when we know what's around us." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Because the night is long and full of terrors. At least it used to be. For the major part of our evolution as species, remaining alone in the dark long was a huge increase of chance of being horribly killed and eaten by a predator. It's also less safe to travel or do pretty much anything else whe you can't see. Both seeing in the dark and instinctively avoiding it is thus an evolutionary advantage, and so we fear the dark." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why are baker's hats shaped the way they are?\n\nThey're mushroom shaped, which seems like a waste of cloth. Is there a practical reason, or just traditional like chef hats? I've heard chef toques have something to do with \" number of ways to cook an egg.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "seems like it was just a popular sort of hat in general at the specific time french bakers got prominent so that random fashion of the time got stuck as the 'traditional\" hat of bakers. It's like how all flight attendant uniforms look vaguely 1950s because plane flight got popular enough in the 1950s to have a standard uniform and even if stuff changes it still keeps elements of what everyone thinks of when they think of what a normal uniform would look like." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: In WWII, they had war bond drives so the government could raise the money to pay for the war. Why doesn't the government need to do that anymore for deficit spending?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They don't need to. The US government has no problem borrowing money right now (plenty of people are happy to buy US government debt for really cheap) through its regular financial programs, so why create a whole new program when the current ones are doing the job just fine?\n\nThe US Dollar is the global reserve currency. It's basically the foundation of the way that global trade is structured. So lots of people/organizations/countries are interested in holding dollars/US debt. This wasn't the case before and during WWII, so it wasn't as easy for the US to borrow money as it is today." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5 How can surplus energy generated by my home's solar panels go 'back into the grid'?\n\nWe have solar panels that can produce energy we don't need and gets fed back into our local energy grid. I don't know much about electrical systems but I assume they are one - way. For example the plug socket in my wall to my TV can only distribute power, I can't plug a generator into it and feed power back into it. Does every house have an 'in' system to feed the house but also an 'out' system to go back to the grid?\n\nThanks for all the answers, it's clear I assumed massively wrong!" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Power does not “flow” through wires in the sense that it only goes one way. It is a constant charge. You can technically plug a generator into any outlet and power your house, however this is illegal in most places because if not done correctly you will send power to the grid, which may kill a lineman trying to restore power. Solar panels when set up correctly back feed into the grid, but they have automated switches so if the power goes out they disconnect." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Fairy Tales] A man and a woman get married and have a child. However, each parent had previously promised his/her firstborn child to a different witch. What happens next?\n\nDo the witches just fight it out? Is there some kind of witch court system that handles this kind of dispute? Will there be any consequences to the couple if it's discovered that they had set up this conflict intentionally?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I could see a few potential scenarios if it was unintentional:\n\n* Witches brawl it out, because they both want the child for something important\n* Witches have some kind of hierarchy that determines who 'gets' the kid (age, seniority, when the contract was signed, etc...)\n* Magic happens and the family has twins, so each witch gets a kid\n\nIf it was intentional on the part of the couple, woe betide them at the hands of scorned witches. Best case they have a hex put on them that they need to work off. Worst case their lives take a dramatic turn for the worse and they die penniless, in pain, with broken hearts." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[MCU] In Endgame, when Steve goes back to love with Peggy, does he just remain a normal citizen, not helping Bucky it taking out Hydra? (More questions in the text column)\n\nSo as mentioned before, does he just live a normal life?\n\nIs there another version of him in that timeline that wakes up in 70 years that he just watches do what he did?\n\nHow would he explain to his close friends that he’s actually from another universe and that Captain America of their time is the real him? Wouldn’t that make their relationship disingenuous if neither Steve or Peggy end up with their *original counterparts?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Well, he gets that shiny new Vibranium shield from *somewhere*, which suggests he did go Captain America-ing on the side. Peggy was a hero in her own right, and Steve isn't the type to sit at home which she risks her life to stop HYDRA." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[MCU] How much more powerful than Mjolnir is Stormbreaker?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Many orders of magnitude. It's hard to say for certain, because we don't have anything resembling \"power levels,\" but look at it this way: \n\nIf the Bifrost is left open too long, it could destroy a planet. Stormbreaker can channel the bifrost. In theory, one could use Stormbreaker to destroy worlds." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "I believe that men shouldn't get as much of a say as women in regards to abortion. CMV\n\nI'm pro-choice and believe that the choice to get an abortion is highly personal and that it's not fair to tell strangers what to do with their bodies.\n\nThat said, I don't believe that men have the right to tell a woman whether to get one or not. \n\nI feel that ultimately whether or not the woman wants to get an abortion should be her own choice, yet a part of me feels like this isn't completely fair to the father. I'm kind of torn, and also feel like a hypocrite for holding this view, so CMV!\n\nEdit: Thanks for all the replies guys! I really liked reading your arguments, and they've helped me sort out my own view on this. :)" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If not the right to influence the mothers choice to keep the child, then maybe fathers should have the right to a 'financial abortion'- That the father forfeit any claims to the child, and in return not be held financially responsible for child support if the mother would choose to keep the child." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[World War Z (novel)] What nation or group of nations would have had the best possible scenario in either preventing the spread of the Zeke or combatting them after it had taken hold? What nation or group of nations had it the worst?\n\nThere was a mixed bag of countries that managed to defend a Iarge portion of their population and resources and combat the Zeke in a major way, regardless of what stage in the war they were in. But which country was the absolute best out of all of them at minimizing the infection rates during the Great Panic, the reclamation of overrun territories throughout the way, and the rebuilding of their governments and economies? And which country fell the hardest during the war? Iceland because it remains completely overrun? Or possibly North Korea for the complete disappearance of it's people?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I forget whether Israel's quarantine held throughout the war but if it did it'd probably be them.\n\nHonorable mention to North Korea, who is mentioned in the interview as being a country built to not only survive, but thrive in a zombie apocalypse. However, it's unknown if the bunkers still held anyone, or if it was just an underworld full of ghouls by the time the interview was recorded.\n\nWorst might be either Iceland(still a densely-infested white zone) or China(I know they eventually rebuilt but from the sound of it they had a whole-ass civil war on top of the zombie apocalypse to deal with, and it culminated in their leadership getting nuked)" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[DCEU] Why didn't the other superheroes/metahumans help when Zod invaded earth?\n\nZod was a treath to the whole planet, so it would be on everyone's interest to stop him\n\nHe also announced his intentions to the entire world and the invasion lasted at least a day, so you can't give the \"It ended too fast\" excuse.\n\nYet only Superman and Batman tried to help.\n\nWhy didn't Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, the Flash, Cyborg, or any of the supervillains who would want to save earth because they live here fight agains Zod?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "While we know Wonder Women had been doing super hero stuff, the implication of Man of Steel is that Superman is the first super hero (which was consistent with DC's New 52 storyline at the time establishing the rise of Superman as the start of the era of heros).\n\nYes Batman had been doing his thing, but he wasn't a hero, but a vigilante. We see that Bruce Wayne did go to Metropolis, but that was to ensure his people were evacuated. Wonder Women may have been in Europe already. Cyborg was brooding at home. The Flash may not have suited up yet. And Aquaman may not have known it was happening." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: animals that express complex nest-building behaviours (like tailorbirds that sew leaves together) - do they learn it \"culturally\" from others of their kind or are they somehow born with a complex skill like this imprinted genetically in their brains?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It's instinctual. \n\nBirds reared in plastic containers build their own nests just fine. They need not ever see a nest to build one. \n\nFurther, the nests they build don't necessarily model the nests their parents built. If a researcher provides a bird with only pink building materials, the chicks reared in that pink nest will choose brown materials over pink for their own nests, if they have a choice.\n\nThere is an instinctual template, thank god. Imagine being compelled to build something but having no idea of what or how. Torture!\n\nThat's not to say that birds are slaves to their instinctual templates. They gain experience over successive builds and make minor changes to the design and location." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Spider-Man] Why doesn't Spider-Man make a more durable suit ?\n\nY'know like nightwing.Like how often does his suit take damage before he does this...." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His unique combat style involves fantastic acrobatics. Any kind of movement restriction is basically intolerable. He regularly doges things by the smallest margin, which means if it has any thickness he's be taking more hits. Normal anti-balistics and protective clothing are not an option.\n\nWhile Peter is a legit scientific genius, micro-thin like like that armor Stark made is beyond his expertise." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: How and why does our body function relatively normally if we don't eat healthily?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The calorie is THE main form of energy, and unhealthy foods tend to have a ton of them. Without calories, you will die. A good analogy is a car. \n\nCalories are the gas to help keep the car running. If you eat too many calories, you start storing that extra gas in the trunk. It then requires more energy to move the car because it's heavier, and the other parts of the car will wear out faster because of heavier workload.\n\nAll the other parts of the car - the pistons, transmission, engine etc are your organs and body parts. They need regular upkeep (nutrients such as vitamins/minerals) to run efficiently. The car may run a long time if you neglect these areas because you have gas, but it won't run as smoothly or as long as you may have liked.\n\nI hope this helps!" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: What is the current layman's description of an atom that the scientific community deems acceptable?\n\nWhen I was in middle school they told us that atoms consisted of electrons orbiting around a nucleus that itself primarily consisted of protons and neutrons. When I got to university they told us that was wrong and said something like the electrons are moving so fast it can't be determined exactly where they are at any given time and that it was more like a probability cloud. Does this mean that a given electron itself does not exist at any one particular place at some given time, or is it that it does, we just can't determine exactly where it is because of either limitations with current measurement technology or theoretical limitations with measurement technology in general? When I looked up the wikipedia article on atoms it seems to repeatedly refer to electrons as being bound to a nucleus rather than orbiting a nucleus. Do scientists now think that it is inappropriate to refer to electrons as orbiting the nucleus?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When we are schoolchildren, we are generally taught that subatomic particles like electrons are little spheres orbiting around the nucleus in an atom. But that isn't correct. Subatomic particles aren't little spheres, they are more like matter waves. There's simply no way to pin down the exact position of an electron in an atom, because it has no exact position. What's the exact position of a wave?\n \nMaking matters worse, the uncertainty principle tells us that there's a chance that a given electron isn't even within the atom at all, at least for a brief time. There's a very very very small chance that an electron from an atom in your nose could be found on Mars! (Of course, it would be hard to tell, since all electrons are identical.)" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "How long would it actually take to learn programming from zero?\n\nI'm a synthetic biology PhD student and I have recently realised the strong need for dry lab skills! Ive always had an interest for modeling biological systems, but the thought of learning programming seems overwhelming. Also knowing that it probably will take so much time to only achieve average coding skills makes me feel like I will never be able to achieve novelty/ publication standard understanding. Do you think I'm just being scared or should I concentrate on what I'm good at?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I’m going to disagree with others’ advice here and say that it would be most effective for you to take an intro to programming course. This is because although you can learn most coding by working on a project and googling, even knowing what to google (keywords etc) is challenging for complete beginners. Taking an intro course gives you the mental representation and vocabulary to become self-sustainable and helps you progress much faster. There are many free ones offered on Edx/Coursera etc, and since Python is probably the most useful and beginner-friendly language, perhaps start with that. It’s going to take a while. For me it took around a year of frequent coding to become comfortable and two years to become relatively fluent for research purpose." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why did we have to learn farm animal sounds as a kid?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It isn't really about \"what the animal sounds like\", it's just teaching children how to make different sounds and about our culture. As a quick example, in most English speaking countries, the cat goes \"meow\", but in Dutch it's \"miauw\", and in Greek it's \"miaou\", and in Japanese it's \"nyan nyan\" or \"goro goro\" (for purring). \n\nEach word and sound are particular to the culture, and learning these differences is key to forming a relationship with your child and your culture; which is always an important step in childhood development." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Why does having a BMI of 40 or over make you eligible for a free flu vaccine (UK)? Is flu more dangerous for obese people?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Yes, most diseases are more dangerous for obese people. The chances of having other health issues such as heart or breathing problems increases with weight gain. As we cannot guarantee to have diagnosed everyone who actually has a heart condition or other illnesses it is safer and more cost effective to treat people who are statistically at high risk as if they actually have the condition.\n\nWhen you are unwell it puts a strain on the body. This includes the heart. If getting flu would put too much strain on you then you would be hospitalised. It's cheaper to give you an injection that have you in hospital for even a minor problem. Also it's better for you if you don't have a heart attack.\n\nThis is all based on statistics. A healthy person, with good cardiovascular abilities, a strong heart, no lung problems, low blood pressure and a BMI way over 40 would probably not be at great risk from the flu. It's just hard to test if people are very healthy and obese so you play it safe in terms of health and cost." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: If humans have infantile amnesia, how does anything that happens when we are young affect our development?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Lack of autobiographical memory is not at all the same as lack of learning. You probably don't at all recall learning to speak, but the effects of early exposure to your native language are still burned into your brain and reinforced by a lifetime of daily use." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "CMV: I don't think Nintendo had to apologize for not including gay marriages in Tomodachi Life\n\nNintendo fell under a surprising amount of heat for their recent \"life simulator\" game Tomodachi Life, because they allowed people to get married, but not same sex couples. In my opinion, he fact that this was controversial is somewhat ridiculous: this is a game which sole purpose is to be silly. You can make your friends/celebrities/fictional characters, and watch them interact with one another. One aspect of the game is that characters can get married and have a child, which is a mix of the two characters faces. There is a work around that allows same sex marriages, which is to make a male character a female or vise versa. You aren't restricted whatsoever to physical appearance, which allows quasi-same sex relationships.\n\nNow, this is a silly handheld game, which will likely be played mostly by children. Since their target audience is, in my opinion, children, I can't imagine the majority of them have decided whether they are gay or straight. And it affects the gameplay itself: If two of the characters get married, I want to see the ridiculous offspring of my roommate and Jennifer Lawrence for example. This element would be lost with the addition of same sex marriages (small factor, but still). \n\nThis whole issue strikes me as one that is getting brought up by people who won't play the game, but are offended they weren't included. I can't make a female character in Madden, not can I make a black character in animal crossing, why did this become such a hot topic? I am completely accepting of gay couples, and wouldn't have complained if they had been included/will be included in the game, but it's so silly to get upset with a children's game company for staying out of a hotly debated topic." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It's true that this game is aimed at children, but that's exactly why it's important to include the possibility of same sex marriages.\n\nIn a modern, western society we accept homosexuals and give them the possibility to marry, because we view all those couples as equal. By not including same sex marriage in the game, Nintendo isn't relaying this message. They're not necessarily saying that they disapprove of same sex marriage, but they're implying that same sex marriage is abnormal. And that implication will be taught to or 'absorbed' by the kids that are playing.\n\nNintendo would greatly contribute to a more progressive society by allowing same sex marriage in Tomodachi Life, by showing kids that love can exist between two of the same genders.\n\n> This element would be lost with the addition of same sex marriages (small factor, but still).\n\nAnd this element isn't present in real life gay marriages as well, so it would be weird to include it in same sex marriages.\n\n\nThe game isn't supposed to be social commentary, ofcourse, but it still will influence this generation's children, and it would be wise to include these messages." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[This Little Piggy nursery rhyme] How many little piggies are there?\n\nFor those who don't know, this is a nursery rhyme that is usually said while counting off one finger/toe for each piggy:\n\n\n\nThis little piggy went to market\n\nThis little piggy stayed home\n\nThis little piggy had roast beef\n\nAnd this little piggy had none\n\nAnd this little piggy went wee wee wee wee all the way home\n\n\n\nI originally thought there were two piggies - one went to the market and got roast beef, and the other one stayed home and got nothing, but then is the \"wee wee wee\" piggy one of those or a third one?\n\nOr are there supposed to five - one for each finger/toe?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Well the existence of a market implies that there is at least one civilization worth of piggies, probably both little and large. So it's entirely likely that there are thousands if not millions of little piggies out there.\n\nThough in the story we only get to meet 5 of these piggies." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Why is ductility often listed as a separate property of a material from malleability?\n\nTo my understanding, malleability is a material's ability to be shaped (as opposed to being brittle and failing) and ductility is a material's ability to be drawn into wire. Is drawing into wire not simply a certain way to shape something? Are there materials that are malleable, but not ductile? Are there materials that are ductile, but not malleable? If these materials exist, why do they behave the way they do?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They refer to doing the plastic deformation using different methods.\n\nNamely, ductility is the ability to be plasticly deformed under tensile stress, whereas malleability is the ability to be plasticly deformed under compressive stress.\n\nLead is an example of a material that is very malleable, but not very ductile. It gets deformed easily under compressive stress, but trying to draw it into wires will result in shearing." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5 - Why are Railguns such a complex feat of technology? How is the Railgun any more than just 2 very large magnets and a generator?\n\nI also understand there's some form of issue about the rails overheating (particularly in the U.S. Navy project), but isn't the solution to simply add more armor to them? How much funding could possibly be needed to do R&D on more heat-resistant materials?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Well for one a railgun doesn't need magnets. In it's simplest form you have two parallel rails and a conductive projectile.\n\nA railgun passes huge amounts of current through one rail, into the projectile as it slides forward, and out the other rail.\n\nThe huge current combined with the sliding contact is the single biggest problem. The rails themselves erode from arcing under millions of Amps of current, and a gun that fires 5 shots isn't exactly acceptable. \n\nOf secondary concern, because they are somewhat solvable problems with the careful application of money and existing technology:\n\nThe rails themselves are pushed apart with the same force that drives the projectile forward. Consequence of the design. So you need a hella beefy set of rails and mounts for them.\n\nHeat generated from a shot needs bled off with cooling so your whole gun doesn't melt after a few shots in a row. Lots of current means lots of heat in the rails. (Adding material increases heat capacity to an extent, but you need surface area, like a radiator to actually remove it long term)\n\nYou need a crazy amount of current dumped near instantly which means big high power capacitor banks and beefy low resistance cables.\n\nYou need to recharge said capacitors which also means that they can only go onto new generation ships with big powerplants." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "If you put all the black holes of the universe on one side of an imaginary scale and all the rest of the universe on the other side, then which side has more mass?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The non blackhole side. There are several hundred billion stars in a galaxy, the lightest of which have a mass of around 1/10th of our Sun, overall the total mass of our galaxy is nearly a trillion times the mass of our Sun. In comparison, the supermassive blackhole at the center of our galaxy weighs only around 4 million times that of our Sun. The smaller blackholes around the galaxy don't significantly affect the balance of mass much. The same overwhelming ratios of mass hold for other galaxies as well." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "What does lava smell like?\n\nHow is it supposed to smell?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It's tough to remember smells, much less describe them, but growing up in Hawaii I've smelled lava several times. It doesn't have a really strong odor on its own, it's like ... well, hot rocks. A bit like hot metal, say a soldering iron or a hot stove, a bit like regular stone, say a pile of dry gravel or concrete mix.\n\nSometimes, especially right near the vent, there's sulfur gases mixed into the lava, in which case there's a strong sulfur smell, like overcooked hard-boiled eggs. But most of the time I've been near a lava flow, it's just a clean hot stone smell." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Disney] Are all humans aware of talking and anthropomorphic animals?\n\nWe know a good part or the Disney univere is talking intelligent animals and it's hard to imagine the humans don't know that the animals are on the same intelligence levels as us. They are very human like and live around humans and even wear clothes on occasion. You can't exactly miss a team of rodents dressed in clothes constantly chasing after a cat that is stealing jewels. \n\nSome of the animals, most of the super intelligent ones actually, are even anthropomorphic such as Mickey and gang and we know humans know about them, house of mouse has them all hanging out together but outside of that and theme park appearances they don't seem to run into humans. \n\nSo we know humans know but do all humans know? \n\nBonus questions, how did the animals evolve and why are there still basic animals? You have animals that are still at regular animal intelligence, the smart animals that talk and act human (I know they don't speak English and it's translated for us, that was shown in Tarzan) and then there's the actual anthropomorphic animals that do speak English and have human like lives. And how is it that their lives don't intersect out lives? The anthropomorphic animals have towns of their own with no humans." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There are two levels of reality in Disney. At the higher level, Mickey and Donald, Jiminy Cricket, Bambi, and all the other characters exist as actors working for a studio. They are aware of the audience, and in the olden days Mickey would sometimes have conversations with Walt. Everyone is aware of everyone else.\n\nAt the lower level of reality, it’s whatever makes sense for that story. Generally the only human characters who are aware of talking animals are the princesses, but that’s not absolute. To everyone else, the group of mice trying to assemble a dress just look like regular mice. The humans don’t see the clothes and don’t understand the squeaks. Disney princesses tend to have a greater connection to nature magic (or whatever) and can see the wondrous things that exist in the world. Everyone else simply fails to see what is really happening." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "I believe that suicide should be legal and the government should provide a painless suicide options to all citizens. CMV.\n\n**UPDATE:** There are too many comments to reply now, so I will summarize my opinion. I think that the subreddit did a great job at trying to convince me otherwise and provided many excellent counterpoints. I won't award anyone a delta since I haven't changed my view completely, but the following ideas deserve half-a-delta:\n\n1) The effect on friends and relatives of those who kill themselves is unclear and we cannot be certain the net effect is going to be positive\n\n2) Allowing legal suicides could in fact cause a lot more people to consider that option. It is unclear whether the long-term outcome would be positive or negative.\n\n---\n\nOriginal post:\n\nAssuming that:\n\n**a)** Each person has complete body autonomy\n\n**b)** The government's goal is to maximize individual happiness of all citizens\n\nI don't see a reason why the government shouldn't provide \"suicide booths\" to all citizens for free, regardless of their current health condition.\n\nThis would solve two problems:\n\n**a)** People who suffer from depression, terminal diseases, life in prison, lack of money, or simply general dissatisfaction in life will get the opportunity to end their suffering, fulfilling their right to body autonomy\n\n**b)** Society as a whole will become more happy on average, fulfilling the goal of the government.\n\nPotential counter-arguments:\n\n**1)** How can someone be 100% sure they want to kill themselves? Aka the \"False dilemma\" fallacy.\n\nWell, nothing is 100% sure. I'm not 100% sure I want to take out a loan, but I would still have to repay it later. A murderer was not 100% sure when he wanted to kill someone, but he still has to go to prison. Why not let people kill themselves when they're 51% sure? It's their choice, their responsibility. \n\n\n**2)** Depressed people need treatment, not suicide.\n\nYes they do. But someone who is depressed still has bodily autonomy over themselves and they are still responsible for their actions (otherwise depressed people would never go to jail). Forcing them to go to a doctor instead of taking the easy route violates their basic human right.\n\n**3)** The government will abuse their power and kill off innocent people\n\nIt already does that with the law enforcement. Thousands of innocent people go to jail because of the government. There should be a complex system involved in the \"suicide booths\" to prevent misuse by the government, but ultimately nothing is 100%. We can't fix the system for all people, but why not try to make it right for 99% of them?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I reject premise (b). The goal of government is not to maximize individual happiness. The purpose of government is large scale coordination of activities limited to enacted laws.\n\nSide notes: its irrelevant if suicide is legal. there can be no consequences for a successful suicide." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Do we have any photos of the moon landing sites taken from earth? How strong a telescope would you need to see any remnants of the landings from earth?\n\nJust thinkin' 'bout how people say we didn't land on the moon n stuff." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No, there are no photos of the moon landing site taken from Earth.The equation for determining if a telescope can resolve a feature is called the Rayleigh criterion. It says that in order to resolve a feature with a telescope you need a lense with a diameter 1.22*(wavelength of light)*(distance to object)/(size of object). So in order to see a 1 meter feature on the surface of the moon you would need a telescope with a lens 250 meters in diameter. The largest optical telescopes in the world are about 10 meters so it is basically impossible take a photo of the site from Earth." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: If all drugs were legal wouldn't criminal organizations still have an advantage since they don't have to pay min-wage, taxes, and can sell at a cheaper price?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "For a possible parallel, look at alcohol. \n\nSome people in rural areas still distill and sell moonshine, both as a sort of \"Screw you\" to the government, and also because it's strong and cheaper to buy with no taxes attached.\n\nHowever, bootlegged liquor is many, many orders of magnitude less popular than it was during prohibition, and the confrontations between moonshiners and the law are normally restricted to the odd standoff between a few people and a few cops or forest rangers out in the woods, rather than constant drive-bys with automatic weapons in urban areas (which we saw during Prohibition).\n\nSo yes, there'd still be a smaller trade in illegal drugs, but the demographics would probably change drastically. Instead of powerful foreign-based cartels moving weed over the border by the bale, for instance, you'd probably have survivalist types and anarcho-libertarians growing it, illegally due to bypassing regulations, in the woods here and there, because \"it's the principle of the thing\"." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: why are there rain delays in certain sports, like baseball, but not football (American or non-American) unless, of course there’s lightning." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Because football is less affected by torrential weather than baseball. While the passing and kicking game is *impacted* by heavy rain, you can still play a somewhat functional game of football no matter how heavy the rain is. Baseball, however, is simply not playable if rain is too heavy. For one, pitchers can’t grip the ball, and fly balls can’t carry at all. Puddles in the infield make grounders unplayable. There is really no way to adjust for these things." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Since there isn't any resistance in space, is reaching lightspeed possible?\n\nWithout any resistance deaccelerating the object, the acceleration never stops. So, is it possible for the object (say, an empty spaceship) to keep accelerating until it reaches light speed? \n\n\nIf so, what would happen to it then? Would the acceleration stop, since light speed is the limit?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The most intrinsic problem is that Newton's second law (F=ma) is actually only a low speed approximation. If you are thrusting in the direction of your motion, the force is actually:\n\nF = (1-v^(2)/c^(2))^(-3/2) ma\n\nWhen v is much less than c, that first term is basically 1 and you get F=ma. But as v gets closer to c, the first term gets bigger and bigger, and starts to asymptote towards infinity.\n\nThis means that the faster you go, the more force you need to get the same amount of acceleration. And the force you need ends up increasing so rapidly as you approach the speed of light that you can never beat it, and never reach the speed of light.\n\n(Side note: it used to be taught that your *mass* increases as you approach the speed of light, but we generally prefer to say that *force for a given acceleration* increases instead, because the required force actually depends on the direction of the force, and it's more weird and confusing if your mass depends on what direction you're being pushed from)\n\nBut as a secondary point, space isn't *entirely* empty. There is a thin medium of ionised gas throughout the Milky Way, containing clouds of denser \"molecular\" gas. Even though the density is extremely low, as you approach the speed of light, you are going so fast that you are smashing through a pretty large volume of space every second, and you do indeed feel a drag force from smashing into these interstellar plasma particles (mostly protons). And not only does this slow you down, over time these high energy protons are going to cause significant damage to your ship!" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: In humans, what is the functional difference between wide, flat noses and narrow, pointed noses?\n\nOr is there a difference?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The various shapes of noses appear to be tied to adaptations to climate.\n\nThe nose must properly heat and humidify the air that you breathe. In a cold climate, it's advantageous to have a narrower nose. That's so that when a person inhales, more air comes into contact with the mucosal surface of nose, which provides moisture. The narrow nose maximizes the surface area." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Why is it recommended to completely finish an oral antibiotic prescription, while topical antibiotics (ex. polysporin and other antibiotic creams) can be applied as needed?\n\nHello! I understand that when taking oral antibiotics, you're strongly recommended to finish the entire prescription, since finishing early could allow resistant survivors to reproduce and cause an antibiotic-resistant infection. However, with topical antibiotics like creams and ointments, it's recommended to apply liberally as needed either with or without a bandage. Is there a reason that topical antibiotics can be used only as needed? Wouldn't using them in this way enable antibiotic resistance?\n\nThank you so much for your help!" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It's because most topical antibiotics work by mechanisms that bacteria can't build resistance to ie they rip cells open. They're too toxic to use systemically but resistance isn't really a problem. Plus to be honest anything you can \"treat\" with a topical antibiotic probably doesn't need to be \"treated\" in the first place." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Do the heavier elements that make up the Earth come from one specific supernova?\n\nIf they are the product of several supernovas, can we trace back the general area they came from?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "This question can't be answered at this time. We have only a very small amount of isotopic compositions of meteorites, and they pretty much all appear to be the same. When we DO find some other meteorites with a different isotopic composition and a fair sampling of what that frequency is, we might know something.\n\nWe do NOT have an isotopic composition of the asteroids, of mars, Venus, and the moons of the other planets, either. Those are where the answers may be. If those are all very much alike, isotopically, then we will know we came from one regional source, but we cannot know if it was from one supernova or many. That would require knowing the isotopic compositions of many stellar systems, which we must first sample physically, to see of those are different from our own, as they are likely to be.\n\nIt's possible to know the elemental composition of stars by comparing their spectra to our own sun for heavy and ferrous metals. But this doesn't give much of a stable standard to compare with, either. So, from 1 SN, or several, we can't know at this time." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: What is buckling in structural engineering?\n\nAccording to Wikipedia, it's a sudden change in shape due to an applied load that is parallel to the beam. How does this differ from compression in beam theory?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "For ELI5: Imagine a dollar bill folded zig-zag, standing on it's edge on a table. If you are very careful, you can put a brick on the dollar bill and it will hold it up, because the paper is strong if the weight on it is exactly up and down (vertical). You know that if you poke the bill sideways, you'll make a crease and the brick will come crashing down. If you don't touch the bill, then you hope it will hold even more weight so you start adding dominoes to the brick. However, nothing is perfect, so some of the force isn't exactly vertical. Because of bumps on the brick or wrinkles in the bill the brick will cause a tiny bit of force sideways on the parts of the bill. Eventually you add enough weight that the sideways forces from an imperfect bill and imperfect brick cause the bill to crease and rapidly collapse. The point where that happens is buckling.\n\nEven in 'perfect' vertical loads, imperfections or non-uniform parts in a beam will eventually cause buckling with increased load." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[5th Element] What was the plan to recover the stones if everything went according to plan?\n\nIn the movie the Mondechiwans presumably have the stones and 5th element on board the primary ship that gets blown up. Secretly they have surgically implanted the stones in Pava Laguna who has a prior commitment and presumably scheduled to deliver a world famous opera concert at the exact time the stones are needed on Earth several systems away.\n\n\nSo, let's assume the Mondachiwan's ship is not attacked. They are smoothly escorted to Earth. Zorg doesn't get involved. How were the stones that were surgically implanted in a galaxy famous opera singer going to get out of her and to Earth?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The same way they actually were picked up, just with considerably less shooting and explosions. \n\nThey'd land, Lelu (or the Mondechiwans themselves) would explain the ruse, and they'd fly out to Floston and pick them up from the Diva. Remember the Diva wasn't surprised to see Lelu there, from her perspective it was all going according to plan until she got shot." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "CMV: Respect for elders and authority figures shouldn’t be expected, but rather earned like the rest of the population.\n\nFirst time poster here :)\n\nThe idea that one should always maintain respect for those older than them, or more powerful, doesn’t seem to stand currently. And this can be perceived as largely constructive, as there is no longer blind respect for authority figures, and people are better able to speak out against oppression and injustice, even if having to stand against those older/more powerful. Additionally, this generation seems to be more critical of ideas, values and traditions held by this group of people, and this is essential in ensuring that younger or more vulnerable people aren’t taken advantage of simply because the other party is older or holds more influence.\n\nIn this case, respect should be earned, but of course, one would always be expected to remain courteous and acknowledge the fact that age is often correlated with wisdom. However, by the same token, it should be acknowledged that this is not always the case, and so it shouldn’t be expected that their perspectives are final, or correct.\n\nHowever, the issue with this is that, it seems as though this general lack of respect has been emulated by mostly insolent children/teens, who act in defiance without any rational ideological backing, despite their own conviction. And this seems to be perceived as problematic in and of itself, with parenting a much more onerous task, and with the consequent diminished value of rules, laws and the like. \n\nSo where do we find the balance?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "1. Everyone deserves respect. Aretha Franklin wrote a song about it.\n\n2. Elder people have earned respect throughout their lives by raising the next generation of humans. Building and maintaining a society and literally creating our generation is worthy of respect on it's own.\n\n\n3. People in positions of authority deserve respect by virtue of attaining and maintaining that position of authority. It takes hard work and dedication to get and keep an authority position. That's built into the very definition of the word. \n\n4. You are adopting a very \"what have you done for me lately\" approach to respect. If you have demonstrated your reliability throughout your life, it's insulting to have to demonstrate it again. Elders and authority figures have earned their respect. The only catch is that young people weren't alive while they were doing it." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[The Martian] Why didn't Watney just use the RTG he dug up to power the rover?\n\nFrom the recent documentary film on the incident of leaving behind Dr. Mark Watney on Mars, it was noted that in order to extend the range of the rover, Watney did a battery swap routine as well as powering down all non-essential systems such as the heater. So he dug up the Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator which I think powered the MAV's ISRU to provide a level of passive heating.\n\nGiven that he did have some power limitation issues, why didn't he plug the RTG into the rover's power system to passively charge the batteries as he was going about? I know that RTGs aren't exactly powerplants that could power all the systems but it could at least passively charge the batteries that weren't in use as he was going about. \n\nHe might not have had the technical know-how at the time but it puzzles me that he didn't try to do so after re-establishing contact with NASA who could have guided him on it during his journey to the Ares IV MAV." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He does for the pathfinder trip. It ends up cutting his recharge time from 13 hours to 12 hours.\n\nFor the trip to the MAV, he has the RTG inside a plastic bag, in a tank of water. Not a very attractive situation for wiring.\n\nAlso, over a day the RTG would only produce 2.46 pirate ninjas of power." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Can chimps pass down cooking?\n\nHi, I was wondering if you could teach a whole generation of chimps to cook, and have it pass on down generation after generation to perpetuity.\n\nSo let's say you give a whole tribe of chimps a sort of relatively safe reusable firestarter device, and a frying pan/stand setup. You teach the whole tribe to use them using cooked food as reward.\n\nI'd expect some chimps to reject the notion of cooking food (some humans reject it too) but the one's that do would lead healthier lives, survival of the fittest, etc.\n\nNow as the children grow up, they are taught/observe how to cook food. Is it possible for this continue forever as long as the devices last and they have a supply of cookable food? Sort of like creating a culture of cooking?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I studied chimps for several years. One big issue with teaching them how to cook is you must first teach them how to make fire. Making fire would likely prove a bigger obstacle than actually learning that cooked food is better than uncooked. \nChimpanzees have been demonstrated to have a capacity to understand cooking and even prefer cooked food to uncooked food: Cognitive capacities for cooking in chimpanzees. Warneken & Rosati. Chimpanzees have developed and use intricate toolsets to get to termites, honey, hunt galagos. Unless provided with human technologies (ovens, stoves, etc.) chimps would be unlikely to learn how to make a fire but even if the skill was learned, the act of fire-making would be difficult if not impossible due to the morphology of their hands. (They have tiny thumbs)" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why is the penalty for attempted murder often so much less than that for murder, when often the only difference between attempted murder and successful murder is how successful a doctor or paramedic is in reviving the victim, which has no bearing on the severity of the act itself?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Attempted murder isn't necessarily always whether the doctor can revive the victim. It can also be a failed murder plot. It's like the difference between the different degrees of murder and manslaughter. Premeditated murder is punished more severely than provoked murder. Because premeditated murder means there was intent to begin with, provoked murder doesn't necessarily mean the person intended to do any harm, maybe it was due to an emotional state like walking in on your cheating spouse. Just as manslaughter is when you kill someone by accident as in vehicular manslaughter. You didn't mean to run down that pedestrian, but you did. unsuccessful muder could have been a muder of passion like walking in on your cheating spouse, but you failed to kill the person. You would be charged with attempted murder, but likely sentenced to a lighter penalty than actual murder because at most you commited assault with intent to kill. \n\nIt's all about three things: Intent, Circumstance, and Result. \n\nWas it planned or in the heat of the moment? Was the intent to kill or just harm? Was the result death or injury? Or was the entire thing an accident thereby renduring it manslaughter?" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why is it so easy for hackers to disrupt government services and access private information but no one has erased all credit card debt for everyone?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Because, no matter what movies and TV shows teach you about hackers, in the real world we have redundant servers and offline backups to prevent what you're talking about.\n\nSure, it's remotely possible to delete all of that data at an institution -- but just for a few hours. Then they restore it, and you get 10 years in prison and the bank is just inconvenienced." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "CMV: Your degree is not at important as the network you create and maintain\n\n \n\nHigher education is important and essential for a higher paying job, and to have a skilled job. However, the degree you obtain does little to no good without a network of people looking out for you.\n\nAfter graduation, it is important to have people to reach out to. They can vouch for your work ethic and are able to use their network to survey job openings, and informational interviews. Without a strong network, having a successful career is much harder.\n\nI would like to say that it isn’t all about “who you know” but for the majority of work done after college, it is about who you know. This only becomes more prevalent when you continue to move up in the working world. You need to manage and maintain your network in order to get information about jobs. Moving throughout your career path it is essential to reach out to previous colleagues and others in order to find the next job. Without a network getting your foot in the door of a company is hard." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "This issue is entirely job specific. Some careers are completely unavailable without the degree (doctor, nurse, lawyer, psychologist, social worker, engineer) while others put very little weight on a degree (sales, assistant). You've essentially taken a hard stance on an issue that is completely continent on the situation and is entirely not true in some situations and entirely true in others." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[MCU] What makes Kingpin such a good crime boss despite being very temperamental? What is he able to do that other crime bosses can’t?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Capital is a big part of it. Other crime lords slowly amass power and wealth through crime, then use that power and wealth to attract more, but their wealth is derived from criminal activity, will always be criminal, carries a lot of risks, and can easily be lost in a second.\n\nFisk has an incredible amount of legitimately earned clean money. Fisk doesn't need to rob banks to raise money for stealing the Super Mega Death Ray, he can just buy it via a shell corporation. Working for Fisk means you're just as likely to be doing a legit job as you are a criminal one.\n\nThere's also the stability that comes from that. If other crime lords are arrested and charged their assets are siezed, they go to jail, there's a power vacuum, and things get messy real quick. The organisation now has no leadership and no money. If Fisk is arrested... he posts bail, he hires the best lawyer money can buy, if the worst comes to the worst he does some jail time and has one of his lieutenants take over while he's indisposed. The money he legitimately has doesn't get seized, wages are still paid, and for your average goon way down the ladder nothing actually changes." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5:Why we have evolved with the ability to physically shut off our sense of sight, but not any of the others.. hearing, smell, taste and touch?\n\nSitting on the tube and realising i made huge error of leaving my headphones at home it got me thinking, why can't i \"close\" my ears. That is, without of course sticking my fingers inside, why haven't i evolved to protect my hearing at will, much like how eyelids protect eyesight? I have been reading many papers on our senses and haven't come to any solid conclusions. Hopefully someone can answer this in a way that i can understand." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Just because you close your eyes, you don't \"shut off\" that sense. You're still very much able to see the light that get through your eyelids. Furthermore, eyelids were not evolved to turn off your sense of vision, but to protect them from different stuff that can get in to them and damage them, and keep them moisturised so they don't dry out." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Buffyverse/MCU] Would the First Evil/Hellmouth have a lot of impact on the MCU?\n\nBasically the Hellmouth opens in a small Californian town and for the fun of it we'll just assume vampires and demons have been roaming Earth without SHIELD or any other organization catching wind of them. Does the Hellmouth and the First Evil stand a chance in the MCU? You can use any time period during the movies." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Doctor Strange would be horrified to learn that the only people protecting the biggest source of magical turmoil from overflowing into the normal world was a group of teenagers and a middle aged librarian." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: How can electronics with rechargeable batteries tell how much energy is left?\n\nMy laptop can tell me exactly what percentage of the battery is remaining, but what is this number based off of?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A fully charged battery will be at a certain voltage. As the batteries energy is depleted the voltage will drop. A fully depleted battery will have a voltage of zero. By monitoring the battery voltage the device can estimate available battery power." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "(ELI5) How do hot teas help with sore throats?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Other commenters have commented on the chemical compounds within tea leaves, but there are also the important elements of heat and hydration.\n\nSo even drinking warm water without tea leaves (sometimes with honey and/or lemon, or even just plain), can provide immediate relief for sore throats because:\n\n- **heat** reduces muscle tension, so warming up the throat helps throat muscles relax which can reduce soreness. Think about how having a hot bath or shower helps bodily muscles relax. The reason heat relaxes is because it encourages blood vessels in the area to dilate (widen) so that circulation improves.\n\n- **hydration** is an important general treatment for illnesses that often cause sore throats, such as viral or bacterial infections. These illnesses often cause dehydration because the immune system's response is to try to expel the pathogen from the body through processes like coughing, sneezing or even vomiting or diarrhea. All of these processes cause the body to lose fluid. So rehydrating is an important priority." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "CMV: In the Naruto series, the idea that \"Naruto is the hard worker, Sasuke is insanely talented\" is flipped.\n\nI know that among the fandom, it's common to say that Neji was right and hard work doesn't matter as much as \"fate\". I more or less agree, but that isn't exactly what this thread is about. Now obviously, both Naruto and Sasuke both work hard and are both talented. However, I'd say if they each lean more towards one, they actually lean the opposite way implied by character statements. \n\nSasuke - so obviously Sasuke is more than a little intelligent and he got some powerups. However, in comparisons with Naruto, Sasuke's work ethic seems underestimated by the characters. He literally spent the whole series training. Since the massacre, which happened when he was a child, he focused his entire life training to kill Itachi. Sasuke was certainly a prodigy, but any child who dedicated every speck of free time outside of killer training school training to kill would be a killing prodigy.\n\nThen, he graduated top of his class and got onto a team with jonin sensei who also focused all of his training efforts on him. Im not at all implying this is anyone's fault, but it still means Sasuke technically \"worked harder\" at this stage. \n\nThen, he decides he isn't getting enough training, so he goes to Orochimaru, and constantly trains for three years.\nAfter that, he shifts to basically field training. \n\nNaruto - Naruto was highly disadvantaged, but that wasn't due to lack of talent, and while he worked hard, I'd say he didn't work as hard as Sasuke. We see at the beginning of the series that Naruto is bottom of the class and spends his time pretty much just fucking around pulling pranks. Despite this, he masters shadow clones in a few minutes with no help.\n\nThen, when he gets on his team, he matches Sasuke in tree climbing, and then gets unfairly ignored before the chunin exams. He spends his time fucking about trying to avoid Ebisu and then trying to help Jiraiya spy on girls before Jiraiya remembers to show him how to use his parentally installed nuke.\n\nThen after spending three years training with Jiraiya (technically a wash with Sasuke's time skip, although I'd argue that the results and personalities of the teachers indicate otherwise) he realizes he's been born with so much chakra, he can just use clones to train faster without any real consequences. This allows him to master extremely difficult abilities out of reach of people stated to be geniuses. \n\nThe end of the series is a wash since both end up fighting a lot and being given powerups willy nilly. However, overall, I think it's clear that out of the two, Sasuke's hard work overshadows Naruto's, and Naruto is also more talented in terms of power due to birth circumstances." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Note: time=/=effort\n\nSasuke is a gifted learner. When he puts in X effort to his training, he sees Y reward in his abilities. \n\nNaruto is not a gifted learner. When he puts in X effort to his training, he sees <Y reward in his abilities.\n\nIn order for Naruto to increase his abilities at a rate similar to Sasuke, Naruto must put in more effort to his training. This is why the idea that \"Naruto works hard, training comes easy to Sasuke\" is true." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[DC COMICS] Who are the top 10 smartest people in the New 52 DC universe?\n\nI know Batman, Lex luthor, Superman, and mister terrific. Who else?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I cant give a list but characters like Static, Braniac 5 and that scientist who created Firestorm (Name escapes me) would probably place on the list as a starting point. The problem with many of the Smart people is that there skills are not transferable or broad enough, e.g. while Bruce Wayne is smart at business and being Batman he probably cant come close to Mr Terrific in the physics department, even though most people say Bruce is smarter.\n\nAlso (No Disrespect just making a observation) New 52 superman is pretty stupid, he hardly thinks his movements through and while he's by no means dumb, his recklessness and lack of knowledge show he isn't the Super smart guy he was pre-flashpoint." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why aren't there many engineers or scientists in congress/politics/government?\n\nI get that people think differently but why isn't there an effort for this? I DO believe there are SOME issues that engineers would solve/attempt to solve better than current politicians." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Engineers do what they do generally speaking because they like to solve problems. Engineers design better things, fix broken things, make things more efficient. Making an engineer work in government would essentially be putting him into some sort of engineer-specific dante's circle of hell." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Marvel] Have Apocalypse and Juggernaut ever fought?\n\nWe've got the Juggernaut, who throws around Hulk like a doll. \n\nWe've got Apocalypse, who is nigh-unstoppable on Earth. \n\n&#x200B;\n\nHave these two beasts ever fought each other, have they ever thrown hands at each other? If not, why not?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "As i recall Apocalypse once didnt have enough to chip in for the sampler appetizer and clearly ate most of it and Juggernaut changed his shared netflix password and didnt talk to him for like three weeks." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why do share owners lend their shares to short sellers?\n\nThis is in relation to the gamestop short squeeze & short selling in general.\n\nWhy do the original share owners offer up their shares to short sellers. Aren't they getting the same amount in 3 months as if he just sold them himself three months down the line? Is there some sort of benefit for the original share owner I don't understand?\n\nBonus question: How / where do share owners list their shares for short sellers.\n\nMaybe do a ELI4 instead of ELI5. Thanks!" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When a share owner is lending a share out like this, they are being paid a fee for it. Not a very big fee but... That is still more than getting nothing during that same period from the share just sitting in your account." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Terminator] What if Sky-Net had sent one of the rubber-skinned infiltrator models back in time?\n\nSo, in the first movie, Kyle Reese talks about rubber skinned terminator models that people spotted easily.\n\nHow would the 80s world that the Terminator is sent back to going to react to that sort of thing?\n\nI mean, how rubbery are we talking? Like, is the average person from the Eighties going to think \"killer robot\" or something like that?\n\nHow would that impact the film?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Imagine a big ken doll that's built like a Mack truck coming at you. It's human from a distance but too big to be normal unless a weight lifter and doesn't act human except to say a few phrases. If it were sent back instead of a t 800 it'd be spotted pretty quickly and be involved in a massive shootout with police since the 600s were slower and bulkier than 800s and could barely trot. For reference watch the scene in salvation where marcus gets attacked by a 600 that was on patrol in the city. And the skinless 700 the new 800 rips apart at the end of the film." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[ASOIAF] What does the other three quarters of the planet look like?\n\nSo it's been mentioned that Westeros, Sothoros and Essos only encompass three-quarters of the surface of the planet. Has the other three quarters been conquered by the Others? Has Bran the Builder set up an empire in Northoros? Is Ibben simply the outpost of a gigantic whaling empire? Is Asshai bigger than anyone thought? Is everything else just Merling territory?\n\nEdit: Westeros, Sothoros and Essos only encompass one quarter. Forgive my error." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "nobody knows, and anyone who has seen the rest of the world never survived a return trip, even the fastest ship takes months to get from Dorne to Quarth, and King Brandon Stark who sailed west with the most of the Northern fleet to find new lands, was never seen again. in this new age of dragons and the resurgence of magic, new discoveries are bound to occur." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "CMV: There is NO legitimate reason to be an \"anti-masker\" and NO good reason anyone should refuse to wear masks. It is one of the most pointlessly selfish things someone can be in times like these.\n\nSo I work as a security guard. Lately a big new part of my job has been reminding people that they need to wear their masks. This as you might imagine inevitably has lead to many a heated conversation with people who just cannot wrap their heads around why I'm asking them to follow this simple rule. Even aside from what I consider to be obvious reasons for enforcing the rule, it's also just my job, which I need to y'know survive and stuff. But even when I try to make an appeal coming from that position, it just falls on deaf ears.\n\nEven if I did believe that this whole pandemic was overblown or some kind of elaborate hoax or conspiracy (just to be extra clear I absolutely do not believe that) I still would like to think that I would at least begrudgingly follow the rules out of courtesy for other's to put their minds at ease.\n\nAs far as I've seen, any claims about actual medical conditions or arguments saying that masks reduce oxygen etc. have been thoroughly shown to be absolute bullshit time and time again. And don't even get me started on people who just can't deal with the discomfort of wearing masks in general, news flash: no one enjoys it but it's just how it is.\n\nAll of that being said, if there are any actual legitimate points against any of this I genuinely want to hear them. I feel like it's important that I know in case I do find myself in a situation where I am wrong about this, regardless of the requirements set by my employer. So if you've got em' please do share." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There's one medical issue that actually collides with masks: Trigeminal neuralgia. Patients with that condition can't wear one since the mask itself would cause them immeasurable pain.\n\nBut those patients know how to handle the issue and how to behave/handle their daily tasks including going outside. And they're the last to complain or rant in public about it." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Disregarding the fact that people are considered mature or an adult at age 18(in most countries). At what age do different philosophers consider a person an adult?\n\nI'm guessing that people have different ideas of what's the ideal adult age. I think that I could consider myself an adult at age 25 and beyond. I could call myself an adult at age 18 anytime but I wouldn't feel like one." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "What we mean when we say that someone is mature is that they have developed a certain set of capacities. These capacities can be a number of things, including things like the capacity to drive a car well. But the most important type of capacity we tend to associate with maturity is rational capacities. The reason that we don’t punish children as much when they commit the same crime as adults, or that we don’t let them vote, is that we feel they don’t have sufficient rational capacities to fully understand what they are doing. Rational capacities seem especially important for assigning moral responsibilities to people. The problem is that there is no clean line we can draw where before the line someone lacks rational capacities and past the line they have them. Further, it’s possible that there exists some very mature 15 year old who has developed sufficient rational capacities, and that there is also a very immature 25 year old who does not have these capacities. \n\nThe law draws a line at a certain age because of pragmatic considerations. It is simply impossible to go case-by-case and decide whether each person is currently rational enough to take on the full moral responsibilities of an adult. So we draw a somewhat arbitrary line that we decide is good enough, but not perfect. Philosophers don’t have to draw such a line, so there’s no age that a philosopher is going to tell you that someone is an adult outside outside of the political community they’re in." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Star Wars]So I'm a newly fallen Dark Jedi, where can I get some troops, starships, and a few super-weapons to take over the galaxy?\n\nSo I'm a newly fallen Dark Jedi. I don't feel like joining up with Snoke, Kylo Ren, and the First Order (my neck gets sore looking up at tall holograms, and Kylo Ren's a bit too whiny). How do I go about procuring legions of faceless stormtroopers, powerful starships, swarming starfighters, and a few super-weapons?\n\nIs this all just leftover Empire stuff? A lot of these designs are new, are there still evil researchers out there improving the equipment for armies of doom? \n\nWho's paying for all of this? Do I need to enslave a few planets to form a tax base first? Mind trick a couple of weak-willed venture capitalists?\n\nHow do I learn more powers of the Dark Side? I don't really want to do the Master/Apprentice thing, I'm worried about being killed failure/promotion. Do I need to dig around ruins for ancient Holocrons, or would it be better to just surf through a bunch of Holonet videos and try to find something useful? Do most local libraries have guides on using the force (or the Death Star plans tucked away in historical archives)?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "You think you can just up and decide you're a dark Jedi and that troops, ships and doomsday devices will just fall into your lap?\n\nFuck off grasshopper, Papa Palpatine worked his entire life to build the Empire.\n\nEither you take it, or your don't.\n\nThere are no handouts." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "How do scientists schedule time with the JWST Telescope?\n\nI’m assuming it’s an appointment thing, but I’m just curious if anyone knows how the process works?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Astronomer here. Almost all telescopes (JWST included) have a peer reviewed proposal process. We write proposals for using the telescope, explaining what scientific goals we have, how it impacts the rest of astronomy, why we really need JWST, and how it extends work we have already done. These are scrutinized by specialized panels of other astronomers and ranked in order of their merit. In most cases even if your proposal is good, you may not get time because the telescope is oversubscribed. The regular peer review process takes place about 6 months in advance and only once or twice a year. A small fraction of the time is kept as director's discretionary time, which is used for urgent new observations (e g. A new, unexpected supernova nearby). The director sends out the urgent proposal to senior astronomers in the field to do a quick peer review and decides on whether to grant the time." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: When a movie star signs up for a big budget movie how/when does he/she get paid?\n\nDo they get a weekly or bi-weekly paycheck? A lump sum?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Talent agent here... they get paid multiple times in various ways. There's the lump sum upfront guaranteed money (ie We'll pay you $10M dollars to do this film), royalties (plus 2% of box office sales, TV broadcoasts and DVD sales), and bonuses/incentives (plus another $1M if you do a publicity tour in Europe, with another $500k if we do $25M in box office sales there), plus numerous other ways depending on the particular movie. The timing of how each of those is paid out (1 giant check vs regular payments) is completely negotiable, and varies from deal to deal based on what the actor prefers... some need money asap, some want scheduled payments to make taxes/finances easier to manage. Even who gets to hold the money before it's paid is negotiable (is it put in escrow, or does the studio get to hang onto it?). There's no one answer unfortunately... every last bit varies every single time." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5:Why are the hairs that grow in moles thicker and blacker?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Moles are basically a tumor. The unusual cell cluster pushes on the follicle, making it grow hair faster than usual. They're darker because of the extra melanin in the area from the mole. It's actually a good thing if your mole grows hair because that's a sign it's not cancerous.\n\nI copy/pasted it from another ELI5 from a few months ago, credit goes to PurpleOrangeSkies." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Does pressure affect the way atoms bond? Are there any compounds/reactions that are not possible at NTP but could be if the reactants are placed in a chamber with a higher/lower pressure?\n\nWe all know how pressure affects intermolecular forces, but how about *inner* molecular forces?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "This might not be quite what you are looking for but there are actually many fancy materials that you can form at high to extreme pressures.\n\n\nFor things achievable on earth a common example would be diamond. Less well known would be the various different types of ice (like ice V, VI, VII, XI).\n\n\nMore theoretical and possibly existing inside of gas giants like jupiter would be metallic hydrogen. Something infamous for being a bit of a holy grail of material science.\n\n\nAt ridiculously high pressures things start becoming exotic theoretical physics research such as the neutron pasta matter inside of neutron stars and other strange degenerate forms of matter." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Harry Potter] I am Lord Voldemort. I control the Ministry, including its supply of Time Turners. Should I issue one to each one of my Death Eaters, to use to reverse time in case I am killed in action?\n\nTime turners are obviously very dangerous, and I wouldn't want my followers using them while I am still alive, lest they unintentionally erase me from the timeline, but if I am killed, what do I have to lose? I could always cast a spell upon them that stops them from working while I am still alive.\n\nThe Ministry should have tons of them, for Merlin's sake, they issue them to 13-year old girls who struggle with class workloads, they can't be that rare! Muggle schools don't issue Ferraris to students who struggle with getting to school on time, and if I really wanted every one of my followers to have a Ferrari, I could still easily do that! \n\nEven given my large amount of Horcruxes, regenerating a body is hard! It's so much easier to send someone back in time than to send an imposter to rig a months-long international wizarding sports competition to get some enemy blood again!" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In the HP universe, time is fixed in the sense that the modifications done due to time travel have always happened- there is no changing established events since time travel becomes part of established events. \n\n\nSo if Voldemort dies, he dies, end of story- time travel is not going to change that. Any attempts to do so have already been attempted and failed." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why do chameleons walk like they're pondering every step?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They are trying to look like a branch or leaves waving back and forth in the wind, instead of like a walking chameleon. If they just strolled along then their prey would spot them and they would starve, or predators would spot them and they would be eaten." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[The Matrix] What's so special about a hard phone line that allows it to bring someone out of the matrix?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hardwired phone lines are part of the Matrix infrastructure. When someone hacks into the Matrix, encryption prevents them from leaving. So you need to get to a connection that is not being encrypted to get back out." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[WH40K] Can Dark Eldar revert to a lifestyle similar to the normal Eldar?\n\nSo one day a Dark Eldar wakes up after the usual 2 week long sadomaso torture orgy with a terrible hangover, takes a look at all the blood drenching his carpet, the pieces of brain matter hanging from the ceiling and the partially eaten corpse of a human child lying in a corner, realizes that he has to clean all that and thinks *'fuck this shit'*. He then has an epiphany, decides to repent his wicked ways and become a pacifist.\n\nIs it possible for him to stop staving off 'She Who Thirsts' their usual way and adopt a non-dark Eldar lifestyle of strict discipline and meditation while hiding behind a few walls of wraithbone?\nOr is their corruption and the grip Slaanesh has on their soul irreversible?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I think its possible.... but insanely unlikely. There would have to be some heavy shit go down for an Eldar to feel bad about anything non-Eldar. \n\nA human childs corpse in the corner torn to shreds is meaningless to a dark eldar. Do you ever get home and see an ant corpse in the corner of the room and have a life changing epiphany? \n\nEven if for some reason they do decide to repent they are bent beyond recognition and are basically coming down off the most intense high the universe has to offer, including some real actual highly addictive drugs... \n\nOnce an addict always an addict. They might try to clean up but they will always know the feeling on flaying a human keeping them alive for days so they can sleep to their screams while pumping drugs and god knows what into their bodies so they can maintain a prehensile erection for 3 months. \n\nYou dont just go home after shit like that. \n\n>Thought for the Day: Do not ask, \"Why kill the alien?\" rather, ask, \"Why not?\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Brits and bad teeth. History of a stereotype \n\nEveryone knows the stereotype, but where did it come from? British people have the best dental hygiene in the world, so is the stereotype one of opposites. Maybe we once had awful teeth and now we are over compensating. Where did the stereotype come from?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It's a stereotype that originated in America. In the early parts of the 20th century, aesthetic dentalwork like braces and teeth-bleaching became absolutely required for Hollywood actors, in the classical era where the studios cultivated an image of glamour and perfection -- Hollywood being America's cultural representative to the rest of the world -- and as such they became pretty common for even ordinary middle-class people. By the 50s, it became just assumed that if your teeth were crooked, you'd get braces to fix it. Fixing crooked or stained teeth became a medical issue to Americans.\n\nThis didn't happen in the UK, or in fact in *most* countries. As you said, the British actually have quite good oral hygiene. But British actors and celebrities didn't cultivate the same Hollywood image of glamour, and so the aesthetics associated with that culture didn't become standard. People went to dentists to fix cavities and infections, but braces and bleach were considered a part of the *aesthetic* field, akin to botox or collagen in modern times. While the Americans were mocking the British in their comedies for having crooked teeth, Britons and Australians were mocking Americans in theirs for being vain and effeminate enough to bleach their mouth and don braces.\n\nBoth of these things have faded in recent years, both as Britain started consuming more Hollywood culture, and as less-glamorous aesthetics like rock, punk, and hiphop music and gritty realistic cinema became the new hotness in the 70s and beyond." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[General Fiction] Which normally-ruthless villains have the most interesting moral code, in terms of certain evil acts they will flatly refuse to do because of their personality or backstory?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "FMA Brotherhood Kimbly had a real interesting moral code. He hated people who claimed to believe in something but then acted otherwise. If you couldn't walk the walk, he had nothing but contempt for you.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nKimbly himself liked murdering people, and slaughtered hundreds. \n\n&#x200B;\n\nBut he had more respect for surgeons who risked their lives saving innocents caught in war, than for fellow mass murderers who chickened out once they were in danger of actually dying." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Who can the authorities prosecute during all these celebrity leaks, and is actually looking at the pictures illegal?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "To answer what you're probably more concerned about, the only way they could really prosecute you for just looking is if any of the pictures are of someone when they were under 18, and honestly even then it's probably way too much trouble for the authorities to track down and load up the court systems with everybody who checked them out, given it sounds like hundreds of thousands have seen them.\n\nNow, for who they can prosecute:\n\n* The guy who hacked the iCloud accounts or whatever to get access to the pictures. Assuming they can find him and he's in a jurisdiction that would give a damn (lots of hackers are from places like Russia and China where the authorities don't really care to cooperate with US law enforcement), there's a lot they can charge him with, like unlawful access of a computer system (or some similar term), as well as lawsuits for harassment, copyright violation, etc.\n\n* People who distribute the images may be less targets for prosecution and more for lawsuit for copyright violation and harassment, but there's probably some kind of actual offense they can charge under. Here they'd probably only go after people who make a really big effort to distribute them, like people who maintain mirrors in the face of takedowns, if even that. Most likely they're going to focus on the guy who nabbed the pictures. One thing that recent history has shown is that people who try to take stuff off the internet tend to get huge blowback. Also note that in the US at least it's a pretty widely-held doctrine that you can't get in trouble for publishing something regardless of how obtained, except obvious things like libel/slander or classified information that you know is classified. So it's unlikely anybody distributing would get charged at all, and probably lawsuits wouldn't go anywhere either." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Star Wars: Original Trilogy] Is the power to blow up a planet *really* inconsequential compared to the power of the Force?\n\nThe Death star blows up a planet, wholesale. On the other hand, the force users can wield a lightsaber. It would take several thousand years for them to dust the plant, at minimum. The best feat of raw strength of telekinesis is Master Yoda lifting the X-wing. So what? A crane can do that too. Manipulating weak minds? Unless the Jedi Mind trick can control the head of the estate and all his ministers, it is still not something that can compare to blowing up a planet.\n\nSo my question is, under what grounds did Lord Vader claim that the power to blow up a planet (not the Death Star) is nothing compared to the Force?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Thanks to the dark side of the force, Palpatine and Vader were able to rise to positions of power where they are now able to tell the guy with the planet killing weapon what to do. That's what Vader means." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why are many female animals larger than their male counterparts but human males are larger than females?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It all has to do with how selective the females are for mates. Typically in mammals, the reproductive process involves really significant resource expenditures by the females. Plus, the amount of offspring produced in one birth event is relatively low. Cats will have maybe 4-10 kittens in a litter, dogs will have 5-10, and humans will have 1-2. Contrast that with a turtle who will lay 20-100 eggs depending on the species or spiders that lay hundreds. Mammals expend far more resources, time, and energy to produce fewer offspring, so the females are going to be very selective with the mates they choose. When competition among males for females is intense, the larger males will win the fight. As a consequence, animals with reproductive tendencies like mammals (high female selection, social animals, and extensive parenting), tend to have larger males than the females. \n\nAs a contrast to that, animals who produce tons of offspring over a short period of time, expend less resources, and have low levels of parenting will have the females larger than the males. In these types of species, so many offspring are produced that there's little incentive for the males to compete with each other for females. Every male can get the chance to reproduce. Without a selective pressure for them to be large, they will be just large enough to survive to breed." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "How big would an explosion have to be to measurably affect the Earth's orbit?\n\nFor instance, (ignoring environmental issues), if we took all the nukes and blew them all up in one location, would it affect the Earth's orbit? Or if we somehow took all the world's radioactive material, put it in one place and managed to ignite fission, would that do it?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "None of those would do anything (other than destroy all life on the planet). Momentum is conserved, so assuming no debris from the explosion can escape Earth's gravitational pull entirely, the Earth must continue on its path." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[MCU] What would have happened if Hela fell out of the big rosy and landed in Sakaar?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She's too powerful most likely for the net or the obedience disks to work on so she'd most likely just try to find a way back to Asgard. She would probably go to the Grandmaster and ask for passsage to Asgard. If he refused she'd lay waste to the place. Remember Grandmaster thinks Hulk is awesomely strong Hela can wreck Hulk easily. Valkeryie probably goes out suicide by Hela trying to get revenge." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Are there any other societies like the Amish that stopped with tech at different points in history?\n\nThey Amish chose not to use any technology after a certain point. Are there people out there that stopped even before the Amish or more recently?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That's not how the Amish choose what tech to use or not use. They didn't 'stop at year xyz.' They evaluate technological innovations amongst their communities and determine what technologies are considered useful enough, and what technologies are too disruptive to their way of life. Some use cars, some use phones. Each community has its own rules on technological usage, and the determining factors tend to be the protection of the family unit and guarding the self against sinful excess, sloth, greed, and the like." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: How does anti-venom render venom useless so quickly?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Venom is like a bunch of evil LEGO pieces that are designed to fit into critical spots on your cells (nerve, blood, etc). Antivenin is a collection of antibodies, which physically attach to the venom molecules like sticking more LEGO to them. The result is that the venom can no longer fit into the spots in your cells it must to have its devastating effect, and your kidneys filter the mess out for you to piss away." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "So, Nuclear Subs can stay submerged for about as long as they can keep the crew fed and sane - no worry of oxygen. Why cant we make a space station like that - without worry of oxygen running out?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Nuclear submarines can produce oxygen by using electric power to electrolyse water. Spacecraft can do that too, and in fact that's how the ISS produces its oxygen, but spacecraft aren't surrounded by water so it needs to be sent up on rockets anyway." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: How come our bodies adapt so we only get the chicken pox once, but we always get the flu and other things?\n\nWhy can people's bodies adapt so we can only get the chicken pox once, but we can never adapt to the flu or the cold or other small sicknesses? [Answered]" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It isn't our bodies. It is the illness. The cold and the flu are actually tons of different rapidly evolving viruses. You do actually become imune to a particular cold strain once you get it... but there are a few hundred more waiting to get you next. \n\nAs to why the flu and cold viruses adapt faster than the chicken pox virus, i don't know." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "What exactly are tensors?\n\nI recently started working with TensorFlow and I read that it turn's data into tensors.I looked it up a bit but I'm not really getting it, Would love an explanation." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The word \"tensor\" is overloaded in mathematics, statistics, and computer science. In this context (TensorFlow, and data science more generally), tensor usually just refers to an array of numbers (which may be higher dimensional than a vector or a matrix, which are 1- and 2-tensors, respectively). This is similar to the way that \"vector\" is often used to mean \"a list of numbers\", even though the word has a more technical meaning in mathematics.\n\nThe mathematical meaning is more complex, and is a bit hard to motivate if you're not already working in a field that would have use for them. A high level conceptual view would be that a tensor is a function that eats vectors and spits out a number. These generally arise in situations where you have a space, along with some kind of geometric structure, and the tensors themselves encode some kind of geometric information about the space at each point -- that is, at any point you have a bunch of vectors (which may describe e.g. the dynamics of an object, or some other kind of information), and the tensor takes those vectors and spits out a value quantifying some feature of the space. \n\nOne very common example is given by objects called Riemannian manifolds, which are essentially spaces which locally look similar to Euclidean space, but globally might have a very different structure. At each point, these spaces can be \"linearized\" to look like the vector space Rn, and they come equipped with a dot product that takes two vectors and spits out a number. This dot product in some sense defines the local geometry of the space, since it determines when two vectors are orthogonal, and allows us to define things like the length of a vectors and the angle between two vectors. This \"thing\" is called the metric tensor." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[FMA]Why can't Father just use alchemy to make the giant transmutation circle?\n\nCouldn't Father just use alchemy to make a hole in the shape of a giant transmutation circle rather than using Sloth to dig it?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Maybe, but it would be an immense effort and Father had better things to do. Sloth can dig the hole in a reasonable timeline without much trouble, and that gave Father plenty of time to work on the rest of the plan. In addition, an alchemical work of that magnitude is very likely to be noticed. Having someone dig a large hole isn't go to set off whatever alchemy detection methods are out there.\n\nPlus, why not? He didn't need Sloth working on a different project, so might as well put him to use." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[General] From where or when did the class/title of Paladin develop?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Paladins were another name for the Twelve Peers-- basically, like the Knights of the Round Table, except there were only 12 of them, and they worked for Charlemagne rather than King Arthur. The name itself derives from the Palatini, the guards of the Roman Emperor's personal palace of Palatine hill. Like the Knights of the Round Table, the Paladins were famous for their feats of heroism (especially in battle against Moorish invaders from Spain) and their piety.\n\nAs to the Paladin in fantasy, it came through D&D (like so many standard fantasy tropes), through Poul Anderson's novel Three Hearts and Three Lions, about a World War II resistance fighter, Holger Carlsen, who travels to a parallel, high-fantasy universe where the legends of the Twelve Peers are real, and turns out to be that universe's version of Ogier the Dane, one of the Paladins. Other important D&Disms that come from that novel include trolls that regenerate their wounds and Law and Chaos as forces that exist in opposition like Good and Evil." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Seinfeld] How does Kramer keep his apartment?\n\nHe hasn't worked in 10 years (I think), how does he survive at all?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"*Kramer* goes to a fantasy camp. His whole *life* is a fantasy camp. People should plunk down $2,000 to live like *him* for a week. Do nothing, fall ass-backwards into money, mooch food off your neighbors, and have sex without dating. *That's* a fantasy camp.\"\n\nKramer always has some scheme going on. Coffee table book, J. Peterman tours, recycling cans, tons of business ideas an inventions. He practically has a new one every week." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Would destroying the moon effectively rid our world of werewolves?\n\nOn Dragon Ball Earth during a tournament, to prevent Goku (who had transformed into a gigantic ape) from hurting anyone and to bring him back, Master Roshi destroys the moon, ending Goku's rampage. Assuming we could repeat the feat, would such a solution work at preventing people with lycanthropy from becoming werewolves? Would there be any disastrous consequences besides changing the ocean tides?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I can imagine one particularly disastrous scenario - if you just \"blow up the Moon\", ie, blast it into dust, you'll create a gigantic ring around Earth composed of moonrock. That moonrock will be reflecting an enormous amount of sunlight. It'd be clearly visible throughout both day and night, from every place on Earth.\n\nEvery werewolf will transform permanently. Anyone bitten will rapidly succumb, overdosed on \"moon rays\" as it were. You could spark the very werewolf apocalypse you hoped to avoid. I'd advise against this risk, all other dangers aside (climate effects, meteors, etc)." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[MCU] Why isn't Thor's hair burnt off on Nidavellir?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It's made of the same extra durable Thor-matter as the rest of him. There's no reason to assume that a creature who's body is able to withstand direct exposure to a star, won't also have really tough hair." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why are there nuclear subs but no nuclear powered planes?\n\nOr nuclear powered ever floating hovership for that matter?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It's been tried! But nuclear generators are very heavy, especially with the kind of shielding that you'd need to actually protect your crew from being irradiated. If you're in the ocean, that's a lot easier since added weight just makes you slower, it doesn't change what you need to stay aloft.\n\nFor a plane, you gain the benefit of being able to stay powered almost indefinitely, but with the tradeoff of losing a lot of your capacity for crew and cargo." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Star Wars ROTJ] Why did taking out the super star destroyer's bridge cause it to go careening down into the death star?\n\nSurely the crew should be able to stabilize the attitude, take evasive action or simply bug out from some other part of the ship." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Executor was in the process of a maneuver to better accommodate the approach of Rae Sloane's star destroyer, the Vigilance, so it could have a covered flank, the other flank protected by its extremely close proximity to the battle station itself. While its engines were firing (hence the order to intensify firepower rather than move the vessel. Remember the Executor's shields were down after sustained Rebel bombing), the primary bridge was destroyed and command couldn't be evacuated in time. Nor could backup command be restored before the maneuver continued to push it directly into the Death Star. \n\nAlternatively, the engines pushed it into the Death Star's gravity well. And since the ship was in a state of total chaos at the time, no one had the authority or foresight to save the ship before it crashed." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: How is it that Mayonnaise, which is made out of whole eggs and egg yolks, have absolutely ZERO protein?\n\nI'm talking about on the nutrition facts. I mean, it must be in there, right?\n\nThanks to a few people this post is now:\n\n[Explained]!" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It has some protein, yes. Nutrition facts are essentially rounded, though: that's why you can have things with \"0 calories.\" They still have calories, but if it's like .4 calories, they can say it has 0.\n\nA serving of mayonnaise is very small since it's a condiment, so if it has like .3 grams of protein or whatever, they have to list it as 0." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5 : Why can't internal organs be itchy?\n\nIf internal organs can hurt, why can't they get itchy?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I think the body would evolve to discourage that. The only way to scratch that kind of itch is going to harm you. \n\nConsider the reason for an itch evolved in the first place... it's to get you to brush off bugs and other critters. And for this it's better to have false positives. But bugs don't tend to get inside you. And if they do, no amount of scratching is going to help." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "How do we know the population of deep sea fish?\n\nPeople bring up that the bottom of the ocean is less known than the surface of the moon, and yet, when I go to the Wikipedia page for Frilled Sharks, I see that it's classified as 'near threatened'. How do we know the population of such a deep sea species well enough to term it 'near threatened'?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In biology, where a species is either widespread, or for some other reason, counting individuals exhaustively is too difficult, numbers are calculated from exhaustively surveying a set area of habitat then extrapolating based on area of known territory. \n\nE.g. A bird species has confirmed sightings in 10 different areas that correspond to its known habitat. The combined area of these 10 sites is 1000km^2. Biologists sample 10km^2 and find 20 individuals and so the population is estimated at 2000 individuals." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[1984] The epilogue implies that The Party is no longer in power. What exactly caused this fall?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When reading *The Principles of Newspeak*, it is tempting to say it's referring to the Party in the past tense, but that would not necessarily be an accurate deduction. Instead, the passage only goes so far as to refer to Newspeak in the past tense. Admittedly, Newspeak was such an important aspect of Ingsoc that it's hard to see how one could continue to exist when the other does not, but remember the Party is not a monolithic, immutable entity, no matter how much it would like you to think so. The Party *does* change, it *does* adapt, and it *does* make adjustments and accommodations based on the current situation. For example, witness how Newspeak was gradually introduced to the populace over a period of decades, in a series of editions. Each edition was produced based on observations and feedback from the previous one. For another example, is Oceania at war with Eastasia or Eurasia? \n\nTherefore, the possibility that Oceania would abandon Newspeak and leave it in the past tense is not altogether unthinkable. Perhaps they replaced it with a newer version of Newspeak, one with such different grammatical and conceptual rules that it deserved its own title, eg Newnewspeak or Truespeak. Perhaps the Party managed to suppress speech entirely. \n\nUltimately, the nature of the Party, where they control the present ergo control the past ergo control the future, make it so that accurate historical records are by definition impossible. Therefore, while it's certainly *possible* that the Party is no more, we cannot say for certain that this is the case. And if the Party truly does not exist any more, it is also impossible to say for certain what the causes of its downfall were. \n\nOh, and as an interesting final note, *The Principles of Newspeak* was written in Oldspeak. Apparently someone managed to preserve the old tongue long enough to write this tract far in the future." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why do pills such as Paracetamol come in a nice number like 500mg, But others such as Aspirin come in numbers like 81mg? why not 80?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "For some medications it's because they come in both micrograms and milligrams so they make one of them slightly off so people don't accidentally take 1000x the usual dose. Baby Aspirin comes in 81mg because it's 1/4 as much as normal Aspirin which is \"5 grain\" or 325mg." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "CMV: Friendships are reciprocal, and you should only put into a friendship as much as you're going to get out of it\n\nI had a discussion with someone recently, and we were talking about the nature of friendships.\n\nI am of the opinion that you should only put in as much effort into a friendship as the other party/parties are putting into it. For the sake of your own mental health, I don't think that it makes sense to be devoting a lot of time and effort to give emotional support to someone who isn't going to be able to return the favour, particularly when the friendship is just starting to develop. For someone who is a long time friend, I'd be more inclined to stick around through the tough times, but there isn't enough incentive for me to be a pillar of support to someone who is a new friend. I believe that at the end of the day, we only have enough mental capacity and time to care about a few individuals, and it isn't beneficial to us to be spending these resources on people who can't or won't reciprocate. This is also where I'd like to draw the distinction between reciprocation and transactions.\n\nTransactional relationships are ones where one or more people in the friendship are specifically looking to gain something out of the friendship. For example, if I were to make friends with someone who is taking the same classes as me in school specifically with the intention of being able to gain notes, but also being willing to offer academic help in return. There is an actual sense of obligation to the transactional friend to provide a certain service.\n\nReciprocal relationships, on the other hand, are ones where multiple parties in the friendship willingly contribute to the relationship, not because they are forced to or bound by obligations, but simply because they appreciate the other person and they want to repay the favour as well.\n\nMy opinion is that good friendships are reciprocal, and that both parties are going to be putting in as much time and effort as the other person. It's mutual care, not one-sided.\n\nThe other side of this is a \"sunshine and rainbows\" type of friendship in which one person is not actually contributing to the friendship, but yet is gaining a lot of support and is draining the other person. The person who isn't getting anything out of it might stay in the relationship in the name of \"friendship\", but to me this is undesirable as it will take a toll on the person's mental health with no guarantee of ever getting any returns out of it. I think that people should not invest time into such friendships as there is no value to them for such a friendship.\n\nI'm open to seeing things a different way, CMV!\n\nEDIT: After getting a few responses I think it might be necessary to clarify my stand on the idea of transactional friendships. Instead of framing it as reciprocal versus transactional friendships, I am more of the idea of trying to frame the actual argument here as friendships in which you get as much as you give, versus friendships in which you are getting less than you give. Both transactional and reciprocal friendships would fall under the former." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "What about when your friend is going through a bad time? Let’s say they just lost a family member to an early death. Surely they need you to support them extra for a while with no expectation of reciprocity. \n\nTo turn friendship into a scoreboard watching game means friendships end when they are needed most." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "CMV that bitcoin is a flash in the pan and in 5 years we will all laugh at the people who used them.\n\nI get the feeling that bitcoin has inherent issues that will eventually come to bite all those who deal with them in the ass. Namely I think there is going to be a major supply issue as the mining difficulty skyrockets. I think there is also going to be an issue with bitcoin black holes as people lose bitcoins from hard drive failures, criminal confiscation, corruption, etc. Finally, it is my opinion that its absolute anonymity will be its downfall. By bypassing the banking system, liquidity could be a real issue for businesses and individuals, as proving financial records would be even more difficult, not to mention there would be no 'pool' of bitcoin as there are dollars/euros/whatever in banks with which to make loans.\n\nBut mostly my thought is that it is a flash in the pan, and in 5 years they will hold almost no value as commercial enterprise turns away from bitcoin for more reliable currency.\n\nI should note, this extends to nearly every form of crypto currency I've seen. I haven't found one that I think will last more than a few years." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": ">proving financial records would be even more difficult\n\nThis is thoroughly untrue. Every bitcoin transaction is very public; it's the most fundamental part of the protocol, really. It would be good for you to read up more on exactly how it works." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: What makes scientists think that there is more than three dimensions?\n\nAnd how is time considered the fourth dimension?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It's based on math.\n\nYou need two dimensions to determine the location on a piece of paper, or plane. You need three dimensions to determine the position in space. the fourth dimension you can determine the position in space at any given time. \n\n\nWhat will blow your mind is getting you head around the fact that some scientist believe their are even MORE dimensions." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Last night, I was running my fingers through my blanket. I could hear crackling sounds, and when i saw from inside the blanket, I could see flashes of light. How and when does this phenomenon occur ?\n\nI also noticed that more fingers I used, the bigger the area of the illumination was. \nIs this due to static electricity ?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It's static electricity. You're seeing the sparks from the discharges, they should look blue/white colored. If you have a carpet or fuzzy jacket you can make your own \"lightning shows\" in the dark by building up voltage and discharging it with another object." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "CMV: Public education should be 100% federally funded.\n\nToday about 9% of the average public school’s funding comes from federal sources. About 58% comes from state sources. And about 22% comes from local property taxes. (Source: ppic.org)\n\nAs a result, there are *massive* differences in the funding and quality of public schools between red states and blue states, rich districts and poor ones.\n\nTeachers in MA with a few years of tenure can\nbreak 6-figures, while teachers in poor, rural areas in the south would be lucky to make a fraction of that.\n\nI understand that cost-of-living is a factor, here, so I would propose that school’s budgets and salaries are COL-adjusted.\n\nI know it wouldn’t be a perfect system by any means, and it wouldn’t prevent charitable donations from tipping the scales, but I have to imagine it would be more equitable than the system we have now." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I agree that school funding shouldn't come from local property taxes, but putting the entire education system in the hands of the federal government seems like a risky move. What if they just decide to slash funding across the board? Then *all* schools across the country will be underfunded and struggling." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: How does a VPN change my location and IP address, even though I'm still going through my router?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A VPN will create a connection between two machines over the internet and send other traffic over that link where it is routed to the open internet on the other end. Think of it as a mail forward service. You can send an envelope within an envelope to your mail forward service and they will take off the outer envelope and send the inner one. When they receive a letter for you they will not open it but just stuff it in another envelope and put your real address on the front and send it to you. A VPN service works very similarly. Your ISP only see packets going between you and your VPN provider and all others only communicates with your VPN provider and don't know that they are sending all the traffic to you." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "When someone gets blood drawn and tested for STD's, such as HIV, how many infected cells need to be in the sample for the test to show up positive?\n\nFrom what I understand, if someone recently infected with an STD gets tested it may come back negative (because the virus has not spread to enough of the body??). So basically my question revolves around this concept (which I am not sure is even correct); how many cells would need to be infected for there to be a good probability of the test showing up as a true positive as opposed to a false negative?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Typically, when we do infectious disease testing for viruses (I am thinking HIV here but Syphillis and HCV are largely tested in basically the same way) we aren't actually testing your cells at all. The blood is drawn and centrifuged- which means it is spun very fast. The cells move to the bottom of the tube and there is typically a layer of gel which is intermediate in density that settles between the cells and the liquid portion which is left- which is serum. It's this serum which we test.\n\nTests for these viruses are typically immunoassays, which is a fancy word for saying that we are using an antigen/antibody response to detect the presence of the virus in your body. When your body recognizes a pathogen, it activates an immune response and begins producing antibodies that are specific to the pathogen. We can test for these antibodies by using special antibodies made commercially which react against YOUR anti-HIV antibodies. Obviously, it's a little more complicated than that but hopefully you get the point. There are tons of different techniques for doing this but the basic idea is the same.\n\nIt takes some time for your body to make enough antibodies to produce a positive result on an immunoassay. Traditionally, the HIV screening test used is ELISA and it usually takes about 6 weeks after exposure for an ELISA screen to be positive. Newer tests, like nucleic acid testing, are able to detect HIV antibodies much earlier but the trade off is they are extremely expensive- given how many people are screened for HIV (and the vast majority of them are negative), it's not cost effective to test everyone with NAAT. Blood banks are now using NAAT to test donated units to reduce the risk of transmitting HIV in transfused blood from a donor who was unaware they had HIV and were within that 6 week window that ELISA wouldn't catch it.\n\nHopefully this answers your question. Before six weeks after a possible exposure, a normal HIV test ordered by your doctor or the public health department is likely not reliable. A positive result before that time is definitive, but a negative result may be a false negative." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "CMV: The current US bailouts for all the large companies is unfair to both the US taxpayers, small businesses, and every company that responsibly managed their money in recent years\n\nRecently, the US government has given out trillions in bailouts to the airline, retail, hospitality, etc industries. However, as a tax payer, I'm outraged that these large corporations are getting these handouts from the government and getting rewarded for their greedy behavior. The bank bailouts of 08 made me sick and I can't believe we're doing this again. Millions of Americans lost their jobs and their homes due to the bank's irresponsible and illegal behavior, and yet all these bankers made out with millions.\n\nTake the airline industry for example. 96% of their Free Cash Flow was spent on stock buybacks this past decade. These C-suite executives and investors made millions off this type of behavior despite not creating any type of value for both the company and for their employees. If your company can't last a few months of stagnant revenue, you shouldn't be spending all that money on buybacks and dividends. Especially when a large reason these companies found so much excess money in the last couple years was an egregious gifted tax cut from the government. Sure no one could have foreseen the current environment, but nearly every economist was predicting a recession within the next few years. They should have prepared for some type of downturn. \n\nFurthermore, this punishes the companies that actually acted responsibly with their capital. In normal circumstances, this would be their opportunity to gain market share and even buy up some of the failing companies. Instead, they are robbed of this opportunity. The way our market works is that feedback is all seen through the lens of risk and reward. When a company decides to spend almost all of their profits on buybacks, they are taking the risk that a black swan event in the future can cause bankruptcy. Now we are removing the incentive for prudent decision making for companies. What's to stop companies of only acting recklessly since they know the government will always bail them out?\n\nLastly, lots of small businesses are going bankrupt everyday. Where are their bailouts? Why should large companies with every advantage in the world be given this lifeline for acting so irresponsibly, when normal everyday people struggling to get by are not allotted this same opportunity.\n\nBefore anyone says it, I understand bailouts are not free money. They're a loan by the government. But the interest rates are typically much lower than they would command in the free market. The government should either charge a high interest rate to compensate for that risk, or inject money into these companies through equity investments that could be put in a blind trust. At least in this scenario, the bailout is seen through the lens of a prudent investment. It's also pricing in the risks of investing in these companies since we never know what will happen to them in the future. If they don't want it, they can find someone else to give them money or go bankrupt. It's not like these companies will just disappear, there will be a buyer somewhere out there. \n\nNo one is ENTITLED to a low interest loan from the government, especially these mega corporations who barely pay above minimum wage for their lowest employees while constantly upping the C-suite's compensation. By handing out bailouts that actually reflect the risk for these companies, we can actually punish the C-Suite and investors who squeezed every bit of profit out of the company during good times since these deals will negatively affect the stock price. The bailouts in its current form reward the CEOs and investors who already cashed out in the past couple of years pushing for buybacks and increased dividends." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bailouts aren’t about “fairness,” they’re measures taken to minimize the damage of a steep economic downturn. \n\nShould hundreds or thousands of employees really suffer because executives made some bad decisions? Certainly THEY should be held accountable but all the people on the front lines? Not to mention the countless small businesses directly depending on their economic relationship to said large businesses?" } ]