Datasets:

---

Nitral-Archive

/

RCSI-v1_ShareGPT

like 0

Follow

Nitral's Archive 20

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why is it tough to sleep at night even when you're tired, but easy to fall back asleep in the morning when you've just had a good night's sleep?\n\nIt seems like it should be really easy to fall asleep after going 16 hours without sleep, but often people just lie in bed for an hour or more, and then after 8 hours of sleep, they have trouble staying awake enough to get out of bed. How does this work?\n\nEdit: Thanks to node_of_ranvier for the explanation!" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It has to do with your heart-rate. When you're going to bed after 16hrs without sleep your heart is probably still pumping blood around pretty quick. Especially if you've had coffee, an energy drink or some other form of caffeine to keep you awake. However when you wake up after having been asleep for a solid night of rest, your heart is beating at a much lower pace and until you raise your heart-rate back up (by doing some physical activity such as standing up out of bed or masturbating) you'll find it's very easy to go back to sleep." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Air weighs 14 pounds per square inch, yet we don't feel it crushing us. The notion that internal pressure somehow acts as a counterbalance just seems to mean that we're being crushed in both directions. Shouldn't we feel this massive weight on us?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If it helps, we're already \"crushed.\" Our species evolved on this planet; we evolved \"resistance to crushing of 14.7 psi_a\" as part of the process, because otherwise our ancestors would've died.\n\nWith regard to the physics, most of our body is water, which is relatively incompressible, so that's not a hazard. What the barometric/atmosphere pressure *does* push on is the pockets of air in our lungs. Coincidentally, those pockets of air are *also* at about 14.7 psi_a (except we're actively breathing in/out), so the net force of the atmosphere on our lungs is basically zero. This means that there's no crushing at all; both sides being pushed the same means no net force to collapse our lungs. And our bodily structures, as mentioned above, evolved to survive that pressure, so they won't be damaged. Hence, we are crushed into a ball by outside pressure because we have internal pressure to resist it, and our individual cells/parts don't get crushed because they are individually strong enough to resist this pressure." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Kenobi] Question about Vader *spoilers*\n\nWhy did Vader absolve Obi-wan of his guilt? After their duel, when Obi-wan apologizes, Vader says:\n\n“I’m not your failure Obi-wan. You didn’t kill Anakin Skywalker. *I* did…”\n\nIf he hates Obi-wan so much, why did he absolve Obi-wan of his guilt?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Because by claiming it for himself, he cements his identity as Darth Vader, rather than as Anakin. He *needs* that, because he could never survive facing the things he has done through Anakin's eyes. \n\nHe can't hate Obi-Wan for turning him into Vader if he *wants* to be Vader, and he is desperate to believe that he does. He *has* to believe that he does. If being Darth Vader isn't what he wants, then everything he has done under that name suddenly falls upon his shoulders and he has no answer to it. \n\nSometimes it is easier to keep being the monster than to try to be anything else." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "CMV: Emotional Regulation should be a required course that goes from Preschool to College.\n\nAs someone in his 30s currently going through emotional regulation. Mindfulness. And the idea that *you don't have to trust every thought you have*. I've lived inside my own head for a long time, and I've found that it had an overly detrimental effect on my ability to deal with my emotions, with my traumas, or even noticing how I actually felt. Even though I felt like someone who was very capable emotionally, the truth is emotions ran amok in me. \n\nRaising my kid now, and seeing television shows talking more about how you need to acknowledge all your emotions, and let them sink in until you feel better is new to me. Having gone through several therapists, I've learned that accepting an emotion, and not acting on the urges they push is the best way to deal with them. \n\nBreathing techniques, mindfulness as a given, and acceptance of your thoughts are all things that are extremely beneficial. I feel as though these are skills that should be taught to young children continuously so that they can utilize them. \n\nIt is unfortunate that Media tends to glamorize and loves people that lash out with their emotional trauma, and act on those emotional urges (the negative kind). Real strength is learning to accept those emotions and not acting on them. Beyond just children's parents teaching them this, and TV shows, I would love if this was a part of the overall school syllabus.\n\n**Edit**: For anyone curious about why it would need to be taught for so long when the reference material is just a few short pages. Here's why - \n\nA big part of emotional regulation is mindfulness. The requirement for mindfulness is slowing things down, learning to accept thoughts, and being aware of your emotions/body. A part of getting there is through meditation and breathing. This can be guided, or not. People meditate for years since it's a skill that takes practice, and it takes a lot of practice to do it well. I would assume that would be a part of the daily learning as much as PE is." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Everyone who suggests things that should be learned in school neglects to say what it is replacing. Having a topic from pre K to graduation is an especially large emphasis on the topic. So what are you getting rid of? History? Mathematics? \n\nThe bad news is Johnny doesn't know what photosynthesis is; but the good news is he's very calm about it!" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Spider-Man] Would he be able to heal back to normal from an injury that would kill or disable a normal person?\n\nIn the ps4 game, he mentioned that after a bad run in with one of his villains, he had to change the material his visor was made of, because the broken glass could have blinded him. I guess I'm asking specifically, would that really have blinded him? In addition to more durable eyes, he has a more rapid healing factor. I'd think he'd just be majorly inconvenienced, and maybe with a bit of surgery back to normal." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I think that in comics, he was once blinded by acid(?) in his eyes and healed from it. \n \nPieces of visor would still be a problem, because even though he can heal from it, he would have been blinded in a fight." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "cmv: The protests are spreading fascist and anti-free speech ideals and are becoming more discriminatory than their message\n\nNEW TITLE: Radical Protesters are spreading Communist ideas and are becoming more discriminatory than their message.\n\nfirstly i want to state that I am not white or american I am a Canadian and a brown person, but I feel like this needs to be said I also want to say that I know that George Floyd was killed unjustly but that leftists are twisting his message.\n\nright now, more than ever people are being silenced in their views and are being \"cancelled\" because they said something that doesn't resonate with people, specifically the progressive democrats.\n\nbefore I was in agree with the protests that these are a good thing but then I started to listen to some conservative podcasts and videos and I realize that their spreading division and racism instead of ending it and honestly it's getting to the point where it's not even about racism\n\npeople who criticise the riots and protests are immediately ousted on social media as racists who are spreading hate and discrimination, sometimes in the aftermath losing there Jobs or businesses over such. like Alexander Katai who was forced to denounce and apologise for his wife, and fired him anyways, A professor Gordon Klein was fired after refusing to oust students from exams. Those threatened him with death. A business owner in Alabama named Michael Dykes criticised the protests in a text to his employees but noted that George Floyd didn't deserve to die, one of his employees posted the text and called him hateful, soon after his restaurant was attacked, what's even more brain dead and bigoted is that Candace Owens tried to help the owner by setting up a GoFundMe page and within hours 200,000 were sent, GoFundMe decided to delete Candace Owens account and they accused ms Owens of spreading I quote \"Inflammatory statements that spread hate, discrimination, intolerance and falsehoods against the black community\" WHICH MAKES NO SENSE BECAUSE CANDACE OWENS IS BLACK.\n\nin Minneapolis it's gotten to the point where people are rioting for the entire abolition of the police department which is honestly one of the stupidest things I've ever seen from the USA. People need to stop supporting anti-free speech sentiment and ideas. These people need to stay in their homes and stop spreading hate and anger that will divide the states undoubtedly." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Good points already being made, but I'd like to address your last point. You have been mislead by your conservative talkers, which is not surprising. The message that is spreading \"defund the police\" or \"disband the police\" is not about having no police. Generally speaking in both cases, the intent is not to do away with law enforcement, but to reexamine the purpose/scope of law enforcement today and recreate it as an entity that can carry out those duties. \n\nSpecifically, \"defund the police\" is not about taking away all their money, it's about acknowledging that the police are called upon in situations where they are unqualified and not the best person for that job. Loose dog, call a cop. Homeless person, call a cop. Crazy guy, call a cop. There are more qualified people to call for lots of these scenarios, and defunding the cops to fund these other organizations - animal control, HHS, etc - should reduce the cops responsibility which would allow them to get back into their communities and rebuild the trust that has been lost. \n\n\"Disband the police\" is a more extreme interpretation of the last sentiment. These people feel that the current system is unfixable. It was begun by whites to round up escaped slaves and it can't change enough. There is just too much ingrained bias, too many bad apples, and no way to correct it under the current system. They want to start over. Build a new institution that addresses these problems from the ground up.\n\n Disbanding the police would essentially fire everyone and make them rejoin a new agency with new, defined conducts and policies to better address the world today. They could hire back the \"good apples\" and let the bad ones rot away.\n\nConservatives, especially the talking heads, love to deliberately miss points. They know everything I've just said, but rather than explain the nuance, they just rev up the base by intentionally \"not getting it.\" They knew what Kap was kneeling for, they know what Black Lives Matter means, and they know what Defund the Police means. They do this on purpose." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "What would the discovery of the Higgs boson mean in terms of practical application? \n\nThe media is apt to compare the work going on at the LHC to the space race in the 60s, an endeavor that produced discoveries that changed the face of modern technology. If the experiments at CERN really do reveal the Higgs boson, what exactly does that mean in real world terms? What new technology might we expect from such a discovery?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Much like the 60s space race, actually being on the moon wasn't practical. It was the technologies that *got* us to the moon that were. The same is largely true of particle physics. Knowing that a Higgs boson exists is nice and it tells us about the universe we live in, and maybe there's some unforeseen technology out there using it. But the \"practicality\" comes from designing new superconducting equipment, software to search through mountains of data for rare signals, and other associated technology used to *find* the paricles." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Why don't steel bridges e.g. the Sydney Harbour Bridge, suffer metal fatigue?\n\nMillions of tons of moving, vibrating trains, trucks, busses and cars every day. Forces of wind and rain. Fierce heat and cold yet no-one ever talks about fatigue in the steel. Especially in cables like Brooklyn bridge or the Golden Gate Bridge?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If you keep the stress below a certain limit, you can go an infinite number of cycles (N) below a certain stress (S) for steel. A material’s S-N curve describes how many cycles to failure at a given stress. The curve for steel levels off and stays flat at a certain S, heading to infinite N (horizontal axis). Most materials are not like this, e.g. aluminum always has a finite fatigue life, so you have retire or refurbish your airframe eventually. Note that even if you design to stay in infinite regime for steel, you still have to maintain and inspect, because of corrosion, trauma, etc. It’s important to keep a bridge well painted." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "CMV: Media outlets and governments scrubbing the internet of the Christchurch footage is counterproductive. Everyone should watch the footage.\n\nSo I woke up my news feed yesterday, being bombarded by warnings about the Christchurch livestream footage that was leaked all over FB, Twitter, etc. Hundreds of warnings, from governments, media outlets, and individuals who watched it and regretted it. Warnings like \"do not watch it\" \"do not share it on social media\" etc.\n\nSo what do I do? I immediately start looking for the full version (was pretty hard to find that many hours after it happened; honestly impressed with the efficiency by which censorship can be enforced online). I find it, and watch all 16 minutes. The car drive, the approach to the mosque, the initial open firing, the reload, the individual shots he fired at the bodies, one at a time, to make sure they were dead, the exit from the building, the open fire down the sidewalk, and the drive back. All 16 minutes.\n\nWhy?\n\nI've always been of the belief that, the last thing you should do when something horrific happens is close your eyes. How can you fight evil if you can't even look at it?\n\nI remember when I was a kid, maybe 12 or 13, my Dad showed me a video that was leaked at the time, of a Middle Eastern terrorist televising the beheading of an innocent person (I think it was before the James Foley incident). Not a clean, quick beheading like you see in the movies. Sawing at the neck for what seemed like minutes. \n\nNow that might seem crazy, to expose someone that young to something that horrific. But my Dad told me, \"You need to know what humans are capable of. The overwhelming majority of them are good, beautiful, peaceful, decent folk, but there are people like this out there, and you can't turn a blind eye to them. Face it like a man and always keep in mind that, while the majority of mankind is capable of producing tremendous displays of love, cooperation, and compassion, humans aren't perfect, and some are capable of equally strong displays of violence, fear, and evil.\"\n\nThe emotions I felt during the first minute or so of shooting, were by far the most depressing moments I've ever felt in my entire life. \n\n\nFor 20 seconds or so it was pure, dark sadness. \n\n\nThen that depression gave way, displaced by the most overwhelming feeling of violent anger that I've ever felt toward a person. I'm almost 30 now, and I've never felt such an intense desire to hurt a human being (the shooter). \n\nThat lasted about 20 seconds, before again those feelings of anger were displaced by a third awful feeling. Despair. I started to cry. Not crazy balling crying, but a sensation of a few drops trickle down my cheeks, a sensation very foreign to me.\n\nLike I said, these were thee worst feelings I've ever felt in my entire life. Depression. Anger. Despair. Nothing else I've experienced even comes close. The very definition of rockbottom.\n\nSo I can understand why media/governments want to withhold footage. To protect people from witnessing such horrific acts of evil. To protect children, who are far too young to have their innocence tainted by watching something so awful. \n\nThere are other reasons as well. Legal ones, like withholding key pieces of evidence such as this, at least until various criminal matters are investigated privately. Perhaps another reason is to prevent other potential shooters from being inspired by such a raw account the act. Perhaps another is to prevent the conflict between muslims and christians from progressing to a more violent state (people reacting in anger and whatnot). That's especially relevant in relation to that Trump threat of \"getting tough.\"\n\nSo my position is this. Despite all these seemingly valid reasons, they are still trumped by the importance and responsibility people have to witness what evil humans are capable of. The emotions I felt, while awful in feeling, were also feelings that I want to associate with this act, as motivation to investigate the problem and try to find a solution. I just don't think that's as likely to happen if I had simply averted my eyes, and went about my day. I also think that it's particularly necessary to watch because it was a white shooter and muslim victims. The media and people in general seem to hold this perception that it's only terrorism if it's the other way around, but that simply isn't the case. \n\nI suppose a successful changing of my view would involve a rational explanation of how I am underestimating the practical importance of any or all of the reasons stated two paragraphs up (the reasons why the footage should be censored/removed).\n\nAlso, I realize that it's only been a day since the footage was circulated. Emotions still super high, and it might be a good idea to hold off on discussion of this on CMV until people sort of settle down. But personally I think it's good to discuss it while there's still -some- emotions present, because a lot of these events end up being forgotten, or having their significance just sort of fade into the numbing of so many of these acts happening.\n\nEDIT: I just want to clarify. I don't hold the position that even young kids should watch it. When I say \"everyone\" I mean your average, adult citizen. I understand that a line like that is fairly arbitrary, but I'm sure that for the sake of argument we can agree that at a certain point, the whole tactic of protecting innocence wears off." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The footage is part of the terrorist act. It was streamed to spread fear among those it depicts being murdered and to encourage copycats and spread white supremacist memes. There's a reason the shooter wrote all over their gun and filmed themselves. These were conscious choices on how they tried to present their murder to the world.\n\nWe don't normally have footage like this in similar shootings but people still feel the same about the tragic loss of life. We don't need to see their murder to understand they were killed for an atrocious ideology. We can focus on the victims lives and the loss without seeing their murders on a screen." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why do cats like to sit/sleep in boxes, even when its clearly not very comfortable?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Its actually comfortable to them.\n\nCats value having walls around them and a place to hide. A box gives them walls on all sides and is concealed. Not really different from a cave or den if you think about it." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Are people who had bronchitis more likely to die from COVID-19?\n\nI'm curious if scarring on your lungs from past illnesses like bronchitis makes you more vulnerable to COVID-19, as I heard the virus also causes damage to the lungs. Thanks in advanced :)" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Yes. Covid19 is a respiratory infection so any damage or weakness in the lungs puts you at a greater risk. Asthma and obesity would also increase risk. Ultimately it seems that age is the largest risk factor though." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Harry Potter] The World is at the brink of Thermonuclear War, do the Wizards intervene?\n\nSave the Muggles or ignore them?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Despite having a significant muggle born population most of the ruling class of the Wizarding World seems oblivious to the human world. Under most cases they would probably not be paying enough attention to intervene in an official capacity. It may only be after the bombs have fallen that someone would take notice.\n\nOn the other hand it wouldn't take many wizards to prevent an nuclear war if it was caught early. A few Obliviates would remove any memory of an intention to launch. And they could probably remove a missile launch so that to the enemy it would just look false alarm ... And there were a few false alarms during the Cold War." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: If Time 'Stops' at the Speed of Light, How Does Anything Happen To Light Itself?\n\nAs you get faster and faster time \"slows down\".\n\nPhotons have no mass and travel at this 'top speed', so how does anything happen (bounce off surfaces, being detected by your eye, travelling through space etc.) when it is not affected by time?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Nothing does happen to light. The only \"things\" that can \"happen\" to light (and that's using the terms loosely) is that it can come into existence, and it can stop existing … and in the frame of reference of light, those two events happen at both the same instant and the same point in space.\n\nSay you have an atom. That atom has electrons. One of those electrons, we'll say, gets excited. We don't care how; it just does. Sooner or later, that electron is going to drop back to its lowest possible energy state. But the energy it has to shed to do this doesn't just disappear; it can't, because energy has to be conserved in this situation. So the energy radiates off as light. Like … kpew. Specifically, a *quantum* of light, which we call a photon.\n\nSometime later (in the frame of reference of an observer) that quantum of light interacts with some other charged particle, almost certainly another electron in some other atom. A variety of things can happen at this point, but they all involve that quantum of light ceasing to exist. For example, it can be absorbed by the electron, knocking it up into a higher energy state. At this point, the quantum of light stops existing; it just goes away. The momentum it carried becomes part of the electron.\n\nIf you imagine what that experience was like for the light quantum — which you really can't do, strictly speaking, because the math doesn't let you, but we can *imagine* it qualitatively just for fun — you find it went like this: At some time which we'll arbitrarily call t1 and point in space we'll arbitrarily label x1, the light quantum came into existence. At another time t2 and point x2, the light quantum stopped existing. In the imaginary, not-real frame of reference we've concocted for the light quantum, t1=t2 and x1=x2. That is, the photon is emitted and absorbed at the same instant and in the same place.\n\nTo a distant observer, however, t1 does not equal t2; some time elapses between the emission and absorption events. Also x1 does not equal x2; the events happen at different places. However — and this is really basically key to understanding all of modern physics — t2-t1 = x2-x1. Always. For every observer, no matter what. In other words the amount of time it takes for a quantum of light to cross between two points is always exactly equal to the distance between those two points. All observers everywhere will always agree on this. Even the photon itself would \"agree\" about this, in our imaginations, because if t1=t2 and x1=x2, then t2-t1 = 0 and x2-x1 = 0, which means t2-t1 = x2-x1.\n\nThat's what makes light special. It always propagates between two points in the time equal to the distance between the two points. This is universally true for all observers, no matter what, no exceptions ever." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "New Horizons or the Voyager probes?\n\nHow long until the New Horizons probe is further away from Earth than the Voyager probes? Are they still gaining speed?\n\nAlso, any idea how long we will be able to receive information from them?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They are all just coasting and losing speed as the Sun is pulling them back. New Horizons might do some small manoeuvres at the Pluto flyby but it won't affect its trajectory too much. The Voyagers however will not be doing any manoeuvres whatsoever any more. Despite constantly losing speed, they will never stop completely as they are all above escape velocity from the Sun.\n\nNew Horizons will never be further away than either Voyager. New Horizons was launched at a greater speed from Earth but the Voyagers were able to better use gravity assists of the outer planets along the way. So they ended up with a greater orbital energy which means that New Horizons simply will never overtake them.\n\nIf you're willing to consider really long time spans, as in billions of years, New Horizons might at some point be further away from Earth than the Voyagers as galactic orbital mechanics become relevant." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why is it that in the USA you will most likely always have a criminal record if you have been accused of a crime, even if you were never convicted or were later found to be wrongfully convicted?\n\n#" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Having something on your record isn't the same as being guilty. The record would simply say you were charged but found not guilty, in the same way an officer would still make a note that he gave you a verbal warning even if he didn't write you an actual ticket. It's just a record of your interaction with the justice system.\n\nIn exceedingly rare circumstances, ie there wasn't even real evidence to warrant you being investigated or charged, let alone found guilty, you can have the record *expunged* which makes it as if it never happened. But this really is reserved for outrageous police incompetence or conspiracy.\n\nI have no idea what the other guy is talking about with DUIs and getting arrested. If you get pulled over for driving intoxicated, the officer will place you under arrest. You will be charged with DUI and go before a judge. Most people get arrested before they end up in court and get convicted, that's kinda the entire way the system works." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why does wetting your hands make it easier to open a plastic bag, when having wet hands usually makes it difficult to handle other things?\n\nTitle pretty much says it. I searched and couldn't find an answer. But having wet fingers seems counter intuitive, but makes opening trash bags and such way easier. How?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Your dry fingers have difficulty adhering to the smooth plastic. When you wet your finger, the water fills the spaces between your skin and the plastic bag. Water molecules are slightly bent, which means that they act a little bit like small magnets, with a small attractive force between them. This small attractive force (Van der Waals forces) causes the water to bond to both your fingers and to the bag, allowing you to grip it better. The forces in this case are small and the bag is light, so the force your hand apply is lower than the Van der Waals force.\n\nWhen opening a jar, the Van der Waals force is still there, but you are applying a much larger force to try to open the jar. In this case, you grip the jar much harder, which increases the surface area contact and allows you to transmit the force from your hand to the jar and lid, hence opening it. When the jar and lid is wet, the water gets between your hand and the jar. Water is a fluid and cannot transmit shear force (the force of objects moving alongside one another), so your hand slips as soon as you apply a force greater than the Van Der Waals force." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why does a fruit \"bruise\" when dropped. What actually happens that causes the change?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When the cells within the fruit are damaged, it allows oxygen in. When oxygen gets in to the cells, it reacts with the chemicals in the fruit in that area. The result of this reaction is a darkened color to the affected areas of the fruit." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "How does a spider sling its web over large distances?\n\nJust sittin in my garden and saw an impressive spiders web.\n\nHow do spiders get the first / top bit of their web across two things? Right now this web is between two rose bushes that are over 2 metres apart, how did the spider sling it across that gap without getting tangled in either bush?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A spider relies on the wind to carry the filaments across wide intervals. Spiders that build the familiar orb-shaped web usually start with a single superstrength strand called a bridge thread or bridge line. The spider then lets gravity the strand blow in the prevailing wind, a process called kiting or ballooning. If the strand does not make contact with something and attach to it, the spider may gobble up the strand and recycle its proteins, then try again. If the gap is bridged, the spider reinforces the strand and uses it to start the web." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "CMV: Soldiers who commit atrocities in war should not get to return to civilian life and complain about their PTSD.\n\nI have been reading a book on PTSD for college where an American soldier who had participated in the Vietnam war described his experience. He lost half of his platoon during an ambush while they were tracking fighters through the jungle. The next day, he led soldiers to a nearby civilian village and killed every single person there -- men, women, and children. The soldier personally killed several toddlers and babies and he described brutally raping the women before killing them too.\n\nThe soldier returned to his home town after the war and continued his life. The focus of the book was on the anger issues and trauma the soldier had. Apparently, he had nightmares of the cries of the women he raped and he sometimes saw the faces of the children he murdered when he looked at his own kids. After some years, the soldier started meeting a therapist and the book then discusses how he started to heal.\n\nMy issue is that I don't think he deserves to heal from this trauma. He should be haunted by the horror of what he has done. He has not paid for his crimes. He is not worthy of the help and resources spent on him. \n\nThe therapist and the author of the book clearly disagree with my assessment. Tell me why I should think otherwise.\n\nEdit: I will be back in a few hours to continue the discussion and reply to the other comments." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I personally would argue that he should pay for his crimes. Anyone who commits atrocities like that should pay for their crimes but rehabilitation and reintroduction into society is critical for the betterment of society. People with PTSD often times lash out and cause more violence and pain to their loved ones and others. \n\nRehabilitation allows them to become productive citizens who treat others well and make a positive contribution to society. If he doesn’t seek help, then while he continues to hurt, he will hurt others in various ways." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: What was in the video that caused the attack on the US Embassy, and why did this reaction come now and from this? \n\nWhat caused this \"perfect storm\" that led to the murders and backlash?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The movie was called \"innocence of muslims\" a very poor, very cheap movie which depicted Muhammad the prophet of islam as a horrible person. Making fun of another religion in America is protected by the first amendment. But in the islamic countries Muhammad is a relgious figure and highly regarded and it is an abomination to mock him.\n\nMaking fun of Muhammad is like if someone were to make fun of your friends mom, if your friend was very senstive about his mom and very prone to beating up anyone who makes fun of his mom.\n\nThe countries that are attacking embassies are countries who have recently undergone changes in goverment from the \"Arab Spring\" Protests\n\n**TL:DR** **EILI5**\nNow this perfect storm is like if your friend who won't let anyone make fun of his mom, is going through a very difficult time where his parents are getting divorced and he is is getting a new dad. Some kid made a video making fun of this kids mom and your friend is pissed. So he storms the playground and attacks the kid who made the video\n\nEdit <Spelling>" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Is the human body capable of fighting both viruses and bacteria with the same effectiveness?\n\nSo I can recall several times in which my GP has highlighted the fact that for a virus such as the flu or the common cold, you just need to let your defences take the wheel and fight it off. For cases in which the body has to fight a bacterial infection (pharyngitis - strep throat) and in which you typically are prescribed antibiotics...I wonder if you don't go through such treatment whether the immune system is capable to fight off the infection with the same effectiveness as when fighting a virus.\n\nApologies if it's a silly question, I come from a culture and age in which antibiotics were prescribed too easily IMO. \n\nThanks!" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Depends entirely on the particular virus or bacterium. Some are handled well by the immune system, some are not.\n\nI think the real difference here is the availability/relevance of antibiotics vs. antivirals for treating certain symptoms. There are some situations where you can use antiviral drugs, but in many cases it isn't considered worth it (or there simply isn't an effective drug available). But we're also coming around to the fact that antibiotics probably should not be prescribed as often/freely as they have been historically." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Eli5: what causes a side stitchs or a sharp pain in your side, when you walk or run?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There are two theories why you can get sidestitches, and both involve the diaphragm.\n\na. Your diaphragm is just not used to breathing that hard, so it starts to cramp.\n\nb. When you're running and breathing hard the lining that separates the abdomen (where all your guts are) rubs against the diaphragm and causes nerve irritation.\n\nEither of these reasons irritate a nerve that's attached to the diaphragm (phrenic nerve. We have two, one is attached on each side of the diaphragm) which we interprete as pain in the side.\n\nHow to not get a stitch. Warm up more, breathe deeper, strengthen your core muscles." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "CMV: Plane food is not horrible\n\nThe meal has to be suitable for all. Children, the elderly, those who don't like hot spices, etc. Even a vegetarian option will most likely be vegan, to cater to both groups at once. It also has to be non-offensive to those choosing the other option. eg.smell, allergens. It must be able to be pre-made, and heated and cold portions assembled in flight. 200+ meals for the flight. It can't be too liquidy like a soup that could easily spill. You won't get hot apple pie with ice cream — the logistics of serving correct temperature food to 200 people are just impossible.\n\nOften high altitude decreases your level of taste. The tests revealed that the cabin atmosphere—pressurized at 8,000 feet—combined with the cool, dry cabin air \"makes your taste buds go numb, almost as if you had a cold. In fact, our perception of saltiness and sweetness drops by around 30 percent at high altitude. It also doesn't help that the decreased humidity in the cabin dries out your nose and dulls the olfactory sensors essential for tasting the flavor of an ingredient or dish. What you love at ground level might become bland at 30,000 feet.\n\nOnce you take into account the immense variety of dietary restrictions that airplanes have to cater to: vegetarians, vegans, pescatarians, allergies of all different varieties, spice-haters, lactose intolerance, pregnant women, people with suppressed immune systems,  etc and you start to realize just what type of situation these airlines are in: being something for everyone. Ultimately, you have to hit the lowest common denominator.  Finally, if there is any food-borne illness, there is going to be a serious problem (can you imagine a run on the restrooms over the Pacific).  So safety first and if compromises in taste are necessary, so be it.\n\nOften I find the ones criticizing plane food are less seasoned travelers: either they are expecting a much higher level meal or are trying to fit in with the \"PlAnE fOoD sUcKs\" movement. People are 7 times more likely to tell a bad experience than a good experience.  Add in that people are usually in a foul mood from the whole security and boarding procedure and there's little hope for unanimous praise. \n\nIs it gourmet, 5 star Michelin, mind-blowingly good? No. But it is definitely not bad at all. In all my years of flying, I have not had a single instance when I hated the food that was served, and actually enjoyed the vast majority of it. Judging by how many completely empty plates were collected by flight attendants at the end of each meal service it is safe to say that most people feel the same way I do." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": ">\tIs it gourmet, 5 star Michelin, mind-blowingly good?\n\nThe maximum number of Michelin stars a restaurant can get is three.\n\nRegarding your view, most of your arguments explain why the food can’t be better within the constraints of air travel, not that the food is good.\n\nMaybe your view should be that the food is, in general, as good as it can be under the circumstances, not that it is actually good." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "I believe that adopting a guaranteed minimum income for all citizens is a good thing, CMV.\n\nI think having a minimum income that guarantees all citizens enough money for rent, clothes and food would result in a better society. Ambitious people who are interested in more money would still get jobs if they so choose and would be able to enjoy more luxury. I understand employed people would be taxed more to account for this which may not exactly be fair but it would close the gap of inequality. I understand if one country were to do this it would create problems, but adopting this on a global scale would be beneficial. I'm sure there are lots of good arguments against this so let's hear em, CMV. \n\nEdit: Sorry guys, apparently what I am describing is basic income and not a minimum income.\n\nEdit 2: I'd like to add that higher taxes do not indicate a lower quality of life as seen in many of the more socialist European countries. I also do not agree that a basic income will be enough for a significant amount of the work force to decide not to work anymore as a basic income will only provide for the basic needs an individual has, nothing more." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A lot has been said by A_soporific about how it woult discourage people from working, not only because people would be paid when they are not working, but also, and that second part is seldom adressed by basic income enthousiast, because the remaining worker would be higly taxed. \n\nThis would have two effects :\n\n* Clandestine jobs would be more profitable than official ones. That would mean more drugs, more prostitution, more unlicenced constructions ... and even less revenue for the state, and then even more taxes.\n\n* The cost of a new worker would be high. With the combined effect of basic income and high taxes, beginner salaries would be especially high, and if most experiment show that current workers dont quit overnight, you can be sure that less productive unexperienced worker would not be recruited as their work would not pay far their salary and taxes." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[The Walking Dead] How did so many people get infected with a virus that, ultimately, is slow moving and ineffective?\n\nThere are hordes of zombies in the walking dead- invariably, there is a cloud of zombies out and about. Where do they all come from if the only realistic way to make more of them is for someone to get bitten and then escape until they can turn, barring aside the odd starvation or shooting. The zombie virus isn't very effective at spreading, in and of itself, as the zombies will eat the corpse given the opportunity, leaving only a gasping head.\n\nAll in all, I would choose a couple police officers aiming for the head over a small hoarse of zombies any day. Why was society so quick to fall against such an ultimately slow moving disease?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Confusion, emotion, panic travel, and some airborne vector. \n\nThe virus itself seems to be airborne, but not lethal. Its like a passive disease, sitting dormant until you die (possibly from a zombie bite, but doesn't need to be). So, in that way, the virus spreads airborne quickly, worldwide.\n\nThe visible symptom of the disease are the zombies, of course. These do not need to spread from a single source, since death from any cause creates them. \n\nThe zombies in one area would be devastating initially. Residents would report 'home invasions', and be killed. Police and other first responders would be confused and also turned into zombies. Military bases would deploy, but without training or protocols. Many military might get bitten, return to base, and cause chaos there. Others in the military might go AWOL to protect their families near the base. This would happen simultaneously in many areas. \n\nPeople would begin to hear news reports, and would be confused. It does not even take a panic - even calm reasoned action would just add to the chaos. Massive traffic jams would lock people in the cities. In the country, people live in homes with lots of windows, etc. \n\nA few people who survive the zombies then are unaware that any death brings more zombies inside your walls. Bitten survivors turn, or people die from infighting or just from the risks of living on the run. Even the moment of contact with such zombies would be emotionally shocking - seeing your resurrected but insane child or other loved one - and thus people would die that way. \n\nWhat remained of the military might try to set up safe zones, but beyond safety, there would be food distribution and other issues, and eventually they might just pull out to look to saving themselves. Even that might not work, since there is no real safety where any death leads to zombies.\n\nIn the end, its not until there are aware survivors, living in secure areas, that the plague might be stopped. Places like historic forts, islands, moutain areas, walled prisons, walled military facilities, or other areas that could be protected easily would become bastions of survivors. \n\nWhat should happen though is a massive decline in the number of wild zombies at some point thereafter. While we do see some decay, it appears that even after years, most of the initial zombies still seem to be actively walking." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "How did we know about human reproduction before modern medical science?\n\nToday we think it is \"obvious\" that sex leads to the *possibility* of pregnancy. But how did for example people in the middle age knew that sex led to pregnancy? How did people even know that there is such a concept as fatherhood? I mean they could have believe that staying in the same room for a long time or that marriage leads to pregnancy how did the connection between sex and pregnancy happen before science? Because it's only a *possibility* to get pregnant it must have been much harder \"to know\"." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If they weren't able to glean that information from observing themselves they could certainly observe it through the maintenance of livestock populations.\n\nWe know that they were able to make the association because antiquity is filled with virgin birth stories." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: What prevents planetary orbits from degrading?\n\nI understand that the elliptical shape of the orbit helps keep planets and natural satellites from falling into their parent or fling off into space. But IIRC the International Space Station is constantly making small corrections to its orbit to prevent crashing down to Earth. \n\nWithout these kinds of corrections, how to planets and moons maintain stable orbits around their parent body?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Others have pointed out that the ISS experiences drag where other bodies mostly don't. However, there *are* forces that cause celestial body orbits to degrade. They experience tidal drag forces: for example, when our Moon tugs on our oceans it causes a drag that causes Earth to slow down, which in turn speeds the Moon up and causes it to go further out in its orbit, away from the Earth.\n\nOther planets and moons experience tidal drag that can pull them closer to the body they orbit.\n\nThey are all also radiating energy away as gravitational waves.\n\nAs to what prevents their orbits from decaying due to these forces? Nothing. It's just such an incredibly slow process, and the distances are so vast, that it takes millions or even billions of years for the effect to become noticeable." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Has modern medicine helped or hurt human evolution?\n\nSince people tend to live longer despite illness and genetic abnormalities it seems like we are decreasing the effects of natural selection." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "You're starting from the wrong premise, IMO.\n\nEvolution doesn't have a \"goal.\" It doesn't want humans to die at age 50, so we aren't \"interfering\" by dying at 75 with the help of modern medicine. Evolution is simply a gradual change in heritable characteristics of a population over many generations. One could argue that, without modern medicine, humans would have a lower average life expectancy, and we are therefore \"decreasing the effects\" of natural selection. But one could just as easily argue that the use of heritable intelligence to master disease is just another form of natural selection, as this trait has given us a survival advantage over other species." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "How does a keygen generator actually come up with a valid registration key?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The CD key must match some pattern in order to be recognized as valid by the application, like \"*every odd character must be a letter, while every even character must be a number, e.g. A1B2C3...*\" as a very simple example. The keygen produces random keys that follow that pattern, after the developer has managed to find out what the pattern is through reverse engineering of the application." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "CMV: Porn is not inherently bad\n\nI am finding immense peace in knowing language is merely a made up concept, and because of that some wield it as a form of power either to ridicule, chastise or apprehend others. \n\nThink how there are so many naughty and kinky pornstars. Are they, in some way, immoral or to be shamed? I am coming to believe that the act of having sex on camera, no matter how perverse, is an innocent act; even, dare I say, wholesome. Simply individuals acting on their innate desires, making money out of filming or just doing it for sheer enjoyment. In that case, porn-making is only a hobby, and for some, a meaningful and fun job.\n\nWhere does the shame guilt and sense of immorallity come from, then? Even when only viewing and not actually partaking? Could be for an array of reasons. Most notably, religion. And even beyond that, linguistics: the understanding and implementation of language. Archaic rules and boundaries made by ancient, unliberated people, perhaps?\n\nBut alas, the more further you go back in history and time, the more you realize that people's sense of sexuality and sex in general, was probably a matter of personal experience; an intimate act that was of concern to only those interacting and mingling. Then language came along, and there was likely a further divide from how natural sex is. How fluid sexuality too, is. Labels like gay, straight, bi, etc, suddenly surfaced. All very limiting and when looked at deeper, simplistic words. But many, live by these labels. As if swearing an unspoken oath of sorts. To adhere to a speciic word choice, how ever natural. \n\nSex isn't the only thing words have made a mockery of. Many divergent, uniquelly thinking people's minds, thought patterns and even behaviour, is pathologized by the corrupt and counter-productive industry that is known as psychiatry. A host of made up words. Bipolar, psychotic, Schizophrenic, etc, conjured up out of thin air. Limiting the sanctity and divinity of the delightful and complex human expression. \n\nToday, I lay here comfortably on my bed, and realize that words, although useful and even essential, are in fact, at times, counter-productive to spiritual growth and the well-being, joy and freedom we can experience as individuals: understanding why we exist, how we move through this vast, rich and textured world we inhabit. \n\nSex isn't bad. Porn is questionable, sure, but is unlikely to be an immoral and shameful act when examined for what it really is. It is simply grown adults sharing love and lust. What could be so wrong with that?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Your argument seems to rest on the idea that society views porn as bad because we feel that sex is shameful. Is this what you are saying? There are plenty of other reasons why porn is harmful other than \"we should be ashamed of sexual lust\". \n\nAlso, what do you mean by \"inherently bad\"? Is the threshold that porn has to be shown to be bad for its own sake as opposed to bad for society? If that is the standard, can you give an example of anything else that is \"inherently bad\"?" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "CMV: Minimum Wage Should Be Set On A Local Basis- The Federal Minimum is Fine.\n\nQuite often, I'll see liberals advocating for a $15/hour federal minimum wage. Now, I understand these demands. There are many people struggling to support themselves on minimum wage, and they feel this is what's needed at a bare minimum.\n\nHowever, the cost of living varies heavily by location. For example, the cost of living in New York City is significantly higher than living in some rural town in Kentucky.\n\nWhile someone may need to earn $15 an hour to support themselves in certain areas, in other areas it's practically overkill.\n\n**Cons of A $15 Federal Minimum Wage:**\n\n-**Discourages businesses from spreading out.** if minimum wage is roughly the same everywhere, then business have little reason to locate themselves in less crowded areas. In fact, they're more likely to want to locate in the city, as that reduces the cost of travel for things like consulting, contract workers, etc.\n\nHowever, if minimum wage was $10 in some rural town, but $15 in a crowded city, they may choose to base operations in the rural town, because it cuts overhead costs. This creates more jobs and opportunities in the rural town, and helps fight congestion in the crowded city.\n\n-**It's not feasible for small businesses**\n\nA convenience store/fast food restaurant in a crowded city is likely to see more activity than one in the middle of nowhere. Therefore, it's easier to pay $15 an hour to employees working in Chicago than one working in some small town, because of more money coming in.\n\n-**Discourages people from pursuing further education**\n\nCollege education is expensive, and it often requires loans. At $15 an hour, many people might be making almost as much as a college graduate in some fields. From a purely objective standpoint, it may become a bad decision to pursue a college education, because of opportunity cost reasons:\n\n-By going to college, 4(or more) years that could be spent working are spent learning.\n\n-You accrue a lot of debt in student loans if you can't afford it upfront, and have to pay it off later.\n\nAssuming college costs $30,000 a year for 4 years, that's $120,000. Lost. Working at $15/hour 40 days a week, that's ~$30,000 a year. So by going to college for 4 years, you're down $240,000.\n\nHowever, it gets worse due to the *time value of money*. Those loans generate interest, and grow even bigger. Additionally, with the money you could have made working, you could invest a portion, making even more.\n\nAs a result of an increased federal minimum wage, we would see a reduced amount of people pursuing further education, which isn't good for our economy that is increasingly moving away from basic labor(thanks to automation), and requiring more and more creativity and design.\n\nBy raising the minimum wage at the federal level, it will likely have severe effects on the economy by restricting the free market, damage the job market by causing certain locations to be overcrowded with businesses, and have a severe impact on the incentive to pursue skilled careers. Setting the minimum wage at a local level is far more effective, as it's much better tuned to the cost of living, and helps create jobs in areas that aren't as crowded, better spreading the population." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The federal minimum wage should be set at the average livable wage level for the country (which would be around $10). From there each State, County, and City should set minimum wages in their jurisdictions that meet the livable wage level for that region (which they currently have the authority to do and often do use that authority). \n\nTo paraphrase FDR when he first established the minimum wage, \"If a business is unable to pay a living wage it does not deserve to exist in this country\". So if raising the minimum wage hurts some businesses and the free market, good. They are bad businesses that should not have existed in the first place if they cannot pay their employees well." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Does flexing my muscles without resistance or weights improve muscle strength?\n\nIf I am sitting at my desk and I flex my abs multiple times a day, does it increase strength or definition of the muscles?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No, just flexing doesn't work. But you can create your own resistance at your desk if you like. Pressing your knees up against the underside of your desk, or pressing your hands together. There are loads of isometric exercises." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why do old scratchy towels dry better than soft fluffy ones?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Because of fabric softener.\n\nFabric softener is what makes those towels so soft and fluffy. The way it works is by coating the towel in a thin layer of a special chemical. This chemical conducts electricity, so it prevents static electricity from making fibers from clinging to each other. That makes it fluffy. The chemical is also slippery, so it makes the cloth slide smoothly against your skin. That makes it soft.\n\nThe problem is that that chemical doesn't mix with water. That means that when you try to soak up something with the towel, some of it gets blocked. So the very same thing that makes the towels *look* like they'd be more absorbent actually makes them *less* absorbent!" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Is Ludwig von Mises well respected in the field of economis?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ludwig von Mises was respected as a teacher in his lifetime and he famously advanced the critique of socialism known as the socialist calculation problem. His critique, though not always cited explicitly, has been generally accepted by economists.\\*\n\nFurthermore, he generally put together the theory of the Austrian business cycle, although he was certainly inspired by Wicksell.\n\nThat said, more generally, the Austrian position in terms of theoretical foundation - e.g., praxeology - and their general theory of the business cycle is not widely accepted.\n\nTherefore, one can say that some of his contributions are respected and that some of his other contributions, while not accepted, are viewed as notable contributions within overall literature of \"history of economic thought.\" \n\n**It is best to say that his contribution regarding the socialist calculation problem is \"respected\" but the rest of his work, not so much.**\n\n\\* An example of its uncited impact is the second half of Schumpeter's book *Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy*, which is, in effect, a barely concealed attack on socialism which basically is making the same point as Mises (though sarcastically). This book is widely viewed as one of the most important works of economics." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5 What does 'orthogonal' mean in a statistics context?\n\nI have tried many times to understand this and thus far failed every time. What does it mean to say that data is orthogonal? Can you provide an example of data that would be orthogonal versus data that would not be orthogonal?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Simply put, orthogonality means “uncorrelated.” An orthogonal model means that all independent variables in that model are uncorrelated. If one or more independent variables are correlated, then that model is non-orthogonal." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Responsibility of reviewer to include grammar corrections?\n\nHello!\n\nI have a question regarding peer reviewing for journals. I find when I am reviewing that I want to comment on every minor grammar/sentence structure infraction, but obviously this is time consuming and I'm honestly not sure if it is a responsibility of the reviewer. In addition to comments on the science/experiments/etc., is it appropriate to include blanket statements regarding grammar/sentence structure? For example, \"There is a general over- and mis-use of the word 'the', as well as instances of tense disagreement throughout the manuscript which should be addressed for increased clarity and readability.\" Is a blanket statement better than pointing out specific instances, if there are many? Or visa versa? Or are those comments more of an editorial responsibility than reviewer responsibility?\n\nTIA for your insight!" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Your job is to review the clarity and 'correctness' with which the authors have expressed their work. That to some extent - includes language. Where theres a few scattered errors, I'll pick them up. Where its systematic I'll note the first one or two and add a comment like you suggested." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Does a nearby person have more gravitational effect on me than the nearest star?\n\nThis is probably completely wrong, but can someone steer me in the right direction? (this isn't an exam question, just curious:))\n\nGravitational force is given by F = G x m1 x m2 / r^2. A girl is standing 2m away from me.\n\n- Given me (m1) = 77kg, girl (m2) = 50kg, distance (r) = 2m\n- F = 6.67x10^-11 x 77 x 50 / 2^2\n- F = 0.000000064 N\n- Proxima Centauri (4 light-years away, 0.123 solar-mass):\n- F = 6.67x10^-11 x 77 x 2.4x10^29 / (4.0x10^16)^2\n- F = 0.00000000000077 N\n\nThis seems to indicate the nearby girl is attracting me more than the closest star.\n\nI hope I'm right, as it's kind of romantic. :)" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "You are correct, but it's even more extreme when you consider the tidal effects, which decay as 1/r^3 instead of 1/r^2.\n\nProxima Centauri though is sometimes considered part of a triple star system with Alpha Centauri, with twice the total mass of the sun." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Star Wars] Was Darth Vader pro-Death Star?\n\nWe may never know, but I am curious what strategic/tactical doctrines Darth Vader subscribed to. Clearly the Death Star, although secret, was a big, fat target with no bulls-eye but packed a punch - especially against conventional forces. [What is conventional vs gorilla warfare in Star Wars?]\n\nSo did Darth Vader agree or disagree with the objective of the Death Star?\n\nHe seemed to spend a lot of time on it, perhaps even protecting it by order of the emperor? What did Darth Vader *do* during his \"free-time\" on the Death Star? Certainly he could've been more effective waging his own asymmetrical warfare against the rebels?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "> The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.\n\nVader saw the Death Star as unnecessary. He believed control of the Force was the best path to power. The Death Star was largely Tarkin's brain-child as he was the one who pushed on Palpatine the concept of using fear to control the galaxy. This is primarily from the novel *Tarkin*." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "How do tetanus vaccines (boosters) work?\n\nA vaccine causes an active immune response, which leaves behind memory cells and results in immunity. I understand the concept of getting a \"booster\" some time after to keep the immunity, but why do people need tetanus shots after getting a puncture wound. If the antigens are already in the body, is a response to the vaccine really going to help deal with a pathogen that has already breached the external defense? Or does the tetanus booster contain antibodies to help fight the infection?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "For Tetanus specifically, it's not the bacterium that causes the damage. It's the toxins that the bacterium produces that do. \n*Clostridium tetani* produces an extremely powerful neurotoxin that causes Lockjaw. Basically, the toxin permanently paralyzes muscles, by blocking the shutdown signal. When/if this paralysis reaches the muscles responsible for breathing, the subject stops breathing.\n\nThe Tetanus vaccines specifically target the toxin, not the bacterium. Without the toxin, the bacterium is rather harmless and can be cleaned up by the natural response.\n\nBoosters after a wound are given in the case of the patient being unsure if they got a booster in the last 10 years (or if they know they didn't). If the patient hasn't received the full 3 lifetime vaccination shots yet (3 is needed for maximum immunity), then active antibodies can be added to ensure immediate cleanup of toxins.\n\nGiving a booster shortly after potential infection can kickstart the production of antibodies by the immune system, before the infection has had a chance to build up to lethal dosage, and help the immune system notice the infection quicker (basically, you kick someone to alert them to the killer across the street)" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[dc] wouldn't the anti life equation just be death?\n\nLike if the equation is to make life point less than won't the answer just be death, because everything you do will be all for nothing because you and everyone else will end up dead(except for the occasional near godly being)?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Anti-Life Equation proves that *free will* is not real, and that all exist to serve Darkseid. It's a bit of a misleading name, but it's basically mathematical evidence that living a life outside of Darkseid is pointless because they will all come under his influence eventually. Fragments are said to be contained in the subconscious of human beings, and that's why he has an interest in Earth, aside from the fact that the only people to every really beat him live there." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Why/when did someone decide it was indecent for genitals/boobies to be exposed?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Cultural attitudes towards \"decency\" vary greatly by place and time, but assuming you are talking about the United States: it can be traced to the Puritan settlers, who had a huge influence on the colonies and the country they would become. \n\nOver time attitudes have changed, but law changes much more slowly. Note that simple nudity is not considered indecent (by law) in every jurisdiction. In California, for example, public nudity is not technically illegal, as a result of a California Supreme Court ruling. \n\nEuropean countries tend to be much more relaxed about nudity. They don't walk around naked, but they also don't freak out over naked bodies in appropriate situations. There is nudity in advertising and on television, and in public in places like the beach." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: why is it so much harder to make antiviral medications than it is to make antibiotics for bacterial infections?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Because bacteria are fully-fledged living things. They do all the work needed to exist themselves - they make all their own proteins, do their own metabolism, use their own proteins to replicate their DNA and make RNA, and build their own cell walls and cell membranes. And because we're so distant from bacteria in an evolutionary sense, the processes they use and the proteins they make are in some cases very different from what we do in our own cells. This gives us a lot of targets to design drugs against (and gives evolution a lot of targets to generate drugs against as well - credit where credit is due).\n\nIn contrast, viruses exist on the border between living and nonliving. They have their own proteins, but very few of them. They use _our_ cellular machinery to reproduce; the energy needed for this comes from _our_ metabolism. Since they're so much simpler than bacteria, there are fewer targets to develop drugs against. It wouldn't be as safe to develop drugs against many of the biological processes that viruses depend on, because we depend on those processes too." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5 Why do we humans get gassier as we age?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Yeah...not sure that's a fact. If anything older people may lose muscle tonus in the sphincter and be less able to control when they let one out. Plus, as others have said, they just don't care. So they may release more often, but in still approximately the same volume.\n\nIf you eat fiber, you'll fart, period. If you suddenly eat a lot more fiber than usual, you'll fart more than usual, then go back to average. Pregnancy can put pressure on the lower intestinal tract, and cause them to slip out more often, but the volume of gas is roughly the same even then.\n\nFart." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why do rechargeable batteries deteriorate over time?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When using a battery, bits of one end dissolve and travel to the other end (or in most household batteries, from the inside to the outside). Recharging forces them back using an electric current, but they’ll never go back as cleanly as they first started.\n\nOver time the electrodes continue to deteriorate, and the battery becomes less effective.\n\nIf something goes wrong (e.g. you try to recharge a non-rechargeable battery, or the control for a lithium battery breaks) it’s possible for the material being deposited to form a thin connection to the other side. This shorts out the battery, creating a lot of heat, and probably causing it to explode." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: How does using car AC waste gas if it doesnt affect RPM?\n\nI know that when you turn on AC another pulley in the engine needs to be powered so there is more load on the engine, but the engine doesn't have to go faster to accommodate that as far as I know? So how is more gas being burned?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "You're applying an extra load on your engine. If you want to feel what an extra load does, go outside, turn on your engine and let it idle. Without touching your gas turn your wheel all the way to the right, your engine should stutter. This is because you're adding an extra load. Now it'll shutter for just a second and the rpm should drop about 50-100 rpm (not a lot) but then t evens out. That evening out is a reaction of the ecu (engine control unit) to your action. You don't feel like you're adding extra load but you are. Same with the AC. When you turn it on, you're adding an extra load however your engine wants to normalize everything and in this case it's giving it more gas and air to maintain the ideal idle." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Is there any good philosophy about the idea that sexuality is more omnipresent than we realize, and that most, or at least many more everyday things than we realize have an element of being sexual?\n\nFrom what I gather, this is what freud believed. And a lot of people in the continental tradition draw heavily on freud. So is there any good semi contemporary philosophy focusing mainly on ideas like this? \n\nI was thinking about it, since I was thinking about how the trend among a lot of people seems to be to deny the sexual element in things. And it always seemed intuitive to me that if anything the opposite should be the case. Finding out that it was a big part of freud made me wonder where that line of thought is today." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "George Bataille and the collaborative work of Gilles Deleuze and Fèlix Guattari both write at great length about the pervasiveness of desire/libidinal energy, though that isn’t quite the same thing. *Anti-Oedipus* might be worth looking into. Desire not as lack but as a productive force. “Every political economy is always a libidinal economy.”" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5 Why do people start to vibrate when planking?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The muscles of the core become fatigued with prolonged contraction, and when they do they relax. \n\nHowever, your brain is still trying to keep them contracted, so they flex again and relax again once they fatigue. As a result, you experience oscillating muscle contractions as your brain fights against your muscles." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Why do we get so much mucus build up when we cry?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "What is happening is that tears drain from the outside top of your eye into the middle corner into your \"nasolacrimal duct.\" This ducts is basically a straight tube into your nose where the tears mix with mucus secretions and come out your nose.\n\nIf you are crying for a long time it is possible for your nose to become irritated and as a result it swells and you can become congested." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[papers please] If Arstotzka is so bad, why are people flocking to live in it?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Because everywhere else is worst. \n\nAntegria is stated to be a tyrannical government. \n\nKolechia is stated to be \"ten times worst\". \n\nRepublia is in the middle of a rebellion or something similar. \n\nArstotzka is a terrible place but apparently they've got it better than most still. The only place that seems to be doing better would be Orbistan. But there are no stated reasons why people aren't fleeing there instead of Arstotzka." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "What is the most heinous magical crime ever to have been committed?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If we're including deities (as theirs is the only real \"magic\" in the setting) then Melkor's corruption of Arda counts. He poured out his essence so that evil will remain until something from outside Time itself intercedes to end it." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "CMV: A graded luxury tax system would be a better alternative to the current system\n\nThe UK has VAT, which a 20% tax on all luxury items. There are of course some rules which I don't get, e.g. chocolate covered cakes are not luxury items, but chocolate covered biscuits are, which is why there was a fight over whether Jaffa Cakes are cakes or biscuits. \n\nThere is one big issue I have with VAT being charged though, and also an additional tax which works the same way, and I'll discuss it first. \n\nTampons and sanitary towels are charged a \"luxury rate\" of 5%. I understand both sets of logic over whether this is fair or not, but I think the tax is a good thing, just not in its current form. \n\nVAT on clothing is my big issue. Children's clothes are not charged VAT, which I'm indifferent on. Adults' clothing, however, is charged VAT. Despite the fact that it is more social acceptable for there to be a naked child than a naked adult, and adults can be arrested for being naked in public. This means that a legal necessity is luxury. \n\nI propose a graded scale of VAT. \n\nLet's say your basic tampon is some cotton and a string, plus an applicator. That would be tax-free. Now some companies offer tampons with silk interwoven with the cotton, others have specialist applicators. These would be charged 5% tax as there is no need for silk to be mixed with cotton, and that, IMO at least, is luxury. \n\nClothes would be approached differently. Let's say there are 5 different suits on the market. A=£100, B=£350, C=£600, D=£850, E=£1100. With the current VAT set-up, these would cost £120, £420, £720, £1020 and £1320, or £3600. \n\nMy proposed model for this would be to have bands. A (lowest priced 5% of options), B (options which make up the bottom 25%, but aren't in A), C (the middle 50% from top of B to bottom of D), D (the highest 25% which isn't in E) and E (highest 5%) which would be charged tax of 5%, 15%, 20%, 25% and 30%. In the suit scenario above, the suits would now cost £105, £402.50, £720, £1062.50 and £1430, or £3720 total tax revenue. \n\nSo not only would it ease the burden on lower income individuals and families, it would actually generate more tax revenue for the government. That's why I think my idea is an improvement on the current model. I'd like you to change my view, please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Something like this would have to be re-evaluated constantly. Stores set prices. How would you decide what the \"lowest 5%\" are? \n\nSay you're looking at suits. What does the lowest 5% mean? The lowest 5% of all suits? (What counts as a suit?) The lowest 5% of suits in that store? (What if all the suits in that store are the same price?) \n\nAdd this to the fact that there are hundreds of places around the UK that sell suits, and can change their prices whenever they want. \n\nI don't see how something like this could ever be practical." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why does stale bread get softer when you warm it up? Shouldn't the heat evaporate whatever water is left and make it harder?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bread doesn't go stale because it dries out, it goes stale because the starches crystallize. If you weighed fresh vs. stale bread, you'd find the stale bread retains most of it's original weight, meaning it retains most of it's water. Weighing fresh or stale vs. dry would show a significant difference in weight, but dry bread isn't stale, and is delicious drenched in oil and spices!" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "I’m curious about the reason of this.\n\nI was messing around with sin, cos, and tan on a calculator and I wondered what would happen if I input 360 into them.\n\nIt came up with this:\n\nsin(360 degrees) = 0\n\ncos(360 degrees) = 1\n\ntan(360 degrees) = 0\n\nI was confused why the cosine was the only one that equaled 1 and pretty much why the whole thing was happening. Because I was confused, I asked my teacher and he responded with, “We aren’t working with angles over 90 degrees.” (which I thought was annoying) He also mentioned that it wasn’t multiplication which is also confusing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If you start at any point on a circle, and then go 360 degrees around it, where do you end up? At the start, of course, which is the same as travelling no degrees at all. Therefore, the value of any trig function (with frequency 1) for 360 degrees is the same for 0 degrees. cos(0)=1, therefore cos(360)=1 also. Ditto for sin and tan. \n\nIf you want to know why sin and tan are 0 at 0 and 360 degrees, look at a circle on a grid centred at the origin. If you start at the point where the circle intersects the x axis, then the cosine at that point will be 1 and the sin will be 0, because cos and sin measure the x and y coordinate of a point on the circle. tan is sin/cos, so at 0 degrees that's 0/1, which of course is 0." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why does leftover food get soggy when you seal it? Theoretically there's just as much (realistically probably less) moisture as there was when you sealed it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I don't think it's that more moisture is added, it's more that the moisture is dispersed, like pizza, the sauce will eventually make the crispy crust soggy. Where foods like potato chips are crispy, and there's no moisture present in the bag, so if you keep the bag air tight they don't get soggy (Like the weeks/months they spend on shelves)" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: why would PC beat a console in cross platform gaming?\n\nif PC gamers were paired up against console gamers (with the PC gamers on PC's and console gamers on console) in a theoretical x-platform game (any genre of game FPS/etc) and say it was in teams of PC vs console, why would PC win? what advantage would the PC players have over the console?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The keyboard and mouse is a lot more versatile and accurate than a controller. Console FPS games come with cheats turned on (auto aim is one of the big ones) just so console players won't die all the time to the AI." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Where does heat go in space?\n\nImagine you had a bottle of water (somehow not exploding in a vacuum), would it cool down after a while? and if so, how does it lose its heat?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The main way to lose heat in space is through the light which is emitted by any object which has a temperature above 0 kelvin (absolute 0). For temperatures below several hundred degrees Celsius, this light is mostly emitted in infrared and not visible with the naked eye." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Tremors] How do the people of Perfection Valley survive out there? (Monetarily)\n\nWith only fourteen people that live there how does anyone stay in business or make a living? There doesn't seem to be any real businesses there or enough people to keep one afloat." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Melvin and Mindy are kids, they live with their parents.\n\nWe already know that Val and Earl are handymen. It's likely that they were drifters that somehow met and became friends, either before or after they came to settle in Perfection. They sleep in the truck which means they don't pay rent or mortgage, which also means they don't have a permanent residence and likely don't pay taxes.\n\nRhonda is only a Grad Student, and doesn't live there. But she travels to Perfection to work on her assignment. The low importance of that assignment and desolate environment (she's the only one there) suggests a close proximity to a large enough city to have a college.\n\nWe know that Walter owns the store. He stocks pretty much everything, suggesting he supplies Perfection as well as the occasional passer-by, a person traveling through either to or from the nearby city.\n\nOld Fred is obviously a sheep farmer. He farms enough to feed himself, and sells wool and mutton.\n\nWallace and wife are a retired couple, building their own house and living off savings.\n\nNancy is an artist. She probably sells to the occasional tourist passing through but also likely sells in Bixby, putting her artwork in a consignment shop.\n\nJim is a doctor, for the town but also likely for a large surrounding area.\n\nI don't recall the rest, but there were jobs even back then by which you could \"telecommute\", or that were high paying while still allowing for an incredible amount of time off. Engineers can design at home and then lease their work to agencies." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5 - Why I have to eat fruits and vegetables everyday to stay healthy, but an Inuit can go his whole life without ever seeing a vegetable?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "From wikipedia: \n\n>While it is not possible to cultivate plants for food in the Arctic the Inuit have traditionally gathered those that are naturally available. Grasses, tubers, roots, stems, berries, fireweed and seaweed (kuanniq or edible seaweed) were collected and preserved depending on the season and the location.\n\n\n>Because the fats of the Inuit's wild-caught game are largely monounsaturated and rich in omega-3 fatty acids, the diet does not pose the same health risks as a typical Western high-fat diet.\n\n>Vitamins and minerals which are typically derived from plant sources are nonetheless present in most Inuit diets. Vitamins A and D are present in the oils and livers of cold-water fishes and mammals. Vitamin C is obtained through sources such as caribou liver, kelp, whale skin, and seal brain; because these foods are typically eaten raw or frozen, the vitamin C they contain, which would be destroyed by cooking, is instead preserved.\n\ntl;dr: They do have access to some kind of plants, and many of the vitamins we usually get from plants are also found in the animals that they eat in abundance. In addition, Western diets require more of the nutrients in healthier foods to help the body deal with the higher amount of saturated fat that we eat relative to Inuits." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why is charcoal dirty and at the same time so good at filtering?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Active charcoal can be made by producing regular charcoal through pyrolysis (heating it without oxygen, which leaves behind the carbon) and then introducing hot oxygen which burns away impurities. So in a sense, it is cleaned charcoal." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why is the South so proud of losing the Civil War?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The South isn't proud of *losing* the Civil War. What they are proud of is that their states had the courage to stand up for their rights in the first place.\n\nNote that this is only possible because the reason for the Civil War is spun (in the South) as a states' rights issue instead of the slavery issue it actually was." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: How does lack of good sleep affect physical performance (weightlifting, running, etc.)?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "when you lift weights, in order for you muscle to grow you make micro tears in the muscle tissue, when you go to sleep you body will fix the tears by increasing the thickness basically so you get bigger muscles. for the optimal results of recovery your body needs food, hydration and sleep so if youre not getting enough quality sleep your body cant repair itself and you can get infured or just stay sore." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[DC] What prevents Killer Croc from being rehabilitated?\n\nHe doesn't seem like the person who just loves to kill like the Joker or other inmates around arkham.\n\nHe has voluntarily given himself up to go to arkham in times of defeat.\n\nHe has shown to have quite the caring nature under his thick skin.\n\nSo what's the deal Waylon? Why haven't you stuck your landing yet and went out to go help Batman make gotham a better place?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Pre-New 52 at least, he was basically just getting dumber and more feral as time went on. He started out as a moderately intelligent mobster with a skin condition to a full-on reptile monster that ate people." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Harry Potter] Whats stopping me from owning two wands at the same time? And can I use both of them at once?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Wands are expensive and there's no real reason to have more than one, but nothing odd would happen if you did.\n\nYou can cast the same spell with multiple wands simultaneously and it will be more powerful, as demonstrated by Harry in the Deathly Hallows." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: When is 1, 2 ,3 gears in an AUTOMATIC car used?\n\nI always use D when I use an automatic. \n\nEvery time I ask someone about the 1,2,3 gear I get a different answer.\n\nAnyone can explain with justifications and sources pleasE?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Transmission mechanic here. When you shift your vehicle into 1, 2, or 3 you are manually shifting the transmission into said gear. 1 will put it in first gear and 2 or 3 will put it in the optimal gear based off vehicle speed, engine load, etc up to that gear you selected. This will allow you to have more torque to your wheels as you are in a lower gear. This helps you if you are trying to move a heavy load or if you are going down a long downgrade. Selecting one of these gears will help you slow down as you are causing engine braking. Do not use these selections if you are going above 30 as it will burn out your transmissions Hope this helps." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Star Wars]Would it have even mattered if Vader did or did not betray Palpatine in Return of the Jedi?\n\nI mean as a factor to the whole battle going on. Lando and the X-Wings were entering the Death Star as Palpatine fell, so regardless if Vader did or did not save Luke they still would’ve blown up the Death Star. Clearly they didn’t check to make sure Luke was out of the Death Star before it blew, as evidence by Han’s “I’m sure Luke wasn’t on that thing when it blew” line. So the only person Vader saved was Luke, and if he hadn’t fulfilled the Chosen One prophecy then Lando and Wedge would’ve killed both Palpatine and Vader anyway." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Everyone seems to assume Palpatine would have just been killed on the Death Star when it blew up. \n\nBut Luke Skywalker was able to escape the Death Star before it blew, despite being surrounded by hostiles, not to mention DRAGGING the body of Darth Vader.\n\nPalpatine, on the other hand, was surrounded by loyalists who would save him at all costs. He also would not have been dragging anyone with him. He would have escaped from the Death Star before it exploded." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Does the temperature of a fluid affect its flow rate?\n\nAssume you have two containers containing two identical fluids at different temperatures, you puncture a hole in both of them, same size and place, will the colder fluid flow out slower than the hotter one or will they flow out at the same rate?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Yes, viscosity of liquids is strongly temperature dependent and decreases with temperature. You can easily see it if you take a liquid at the high end of viscosity like molasses. It holds true for other liquids like water, too. And with lower viscosity, you get higher flow." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "What 'connections' is the brain actually building when you learn something?\n\nEverything I've learned about neuroscience so far has made this statement not really make sense. What about the synapse is actually changing?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Here are some properties which can change at the synapse:\n\n1) The sensitivity of the post-synaptic membrane, making it require more or less input to respond with an action potential at the axon.\n\n2) The amount and type of receptors present in the post-synaptic membrane.\n\n4) Production of neurotransmitters in the pre-synaptic terminal.\n\n3) The branching of axons in the pre-synaptic membrane e.g. after nerve damage you can get axonal sprouting of one axon into a now vacant section of dendrites.\n\nThe precise physical basis of memory is still largely unknown." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "During the decay of hadrons through weak interaction, why isn't strangeness always conserved when other quantities such as charge and lepton number etc. have to be conserved?\n\nA Kaon (strange) for example decays into a pion (not strange), an electron (not strange) and electron anti-neutrino (not strange). \n\nLepton number, charge, baryon number etcetera are all conserved so why isn't strangeness also conserved?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In short, because the weak interaction does not conserve strangeness, but the strong force does. The strangeness of a ~~hardon~~ hadron is just the sum of its constituent strange quarks minus the anti-strange quarks. The strong interaction can't change one quark into another, all it can do is create or destroy strange/anti-strange pairs. The weak force, on the other hand, can change one type of quark into another via a W boson.\n\nThe concept of strangeness was invented to explain why some particles created in cloud chambers were so long-lived. If they decayed via a strong interaction you would expect them to live only a short time, similar to the lifetime of other particles that decay via the strong force. Since the weak force is weaker, it takes longer for particles to decay weakly. Thus, if there was some conservation law that the strong force obeyed but the weak force didn't, it would explain why these weird particles lived longer than expected (since they wouldn't be able to decay strongly without violating the conservation law). None of the details of quarks or the weak force were understood at the time that this concept was invented, so it was created as a heuristic way to explain what might be happening." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: How do cameras, or their lenses, auto-focus?\n\nAt first I thought that maybe the concept was a little similar to our eyes in that it tries to get as much of the incoming light on one point, the middle of the sensor, and so adjusts the focus ring until it finds a position with the largest amount of light on this spot. However, this doesn't explain (to me, anyway - maybe I'm just being thick) how a lens will be able to refocus on objects based on distance." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "2 ways:\n\n- You digitally analyze the frame to figure out the least blurry lens configuration. Least blurry means sharpest color transitions between neighboring pixels. Only works in certain types of digital cameras. \n\n- You measure the distance between the camera and the target, and figure out an appropriate lens configuration. Little IR sensors can be used to measure the distance." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: What makes stringed cheese stringed and other cheese sticks just cheese?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "From Huffington Post:\n> \"String cheese is just mozzarella cheese that has been heated to 140 degrees. At this temperature the cheese becomes very stretchy and the milk proteins move around and line up together in a row. It's this alignment that makes string cheese so stringy!\"\n\nOther cheese sticks are just cheese because they're a different type of cheese with a different flavour, and because there's a market for \"regular cheese sticks\" in comparison. This is simply because a lot of people don't like the consistency or flavour of the stretched mozzerella as much as they do other types like cheddar." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "How do I know if Computer Science is right for me?\n\nI am starting University this September and thinking of changing my degree pathway to Computer Science but not sure if it's right for me.\n\nApart from coding/programming what does a CS degree entail?\nI have been looking at the Uni modules but don't really understand them as there's a lot of new stuff.\n\nI just started learning to code with Python and enjoy it so far and I like Maths in general but how do I know whether or not I will enjoy a CS degree and the jobs that come after\n\nEdit: Thank you for all those who reply and give advice, much appreciated." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "CS itself is a mathematical discipline, but tends to teach programming as a tool along with a bunch of theory that's useful for writing efficient software. Some degree programs lean toward the theory and math, but the exact focus is going to depend on the program itself." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why do we get bored?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, GABA, and other neurochemicals. We get a boost of dopamine from novel and stimulating activities. Eventually, or body produces less of it for the same experiences repeated over and over again, so we no longer get the same satisfaction that we had before.\n\nBasically, new experiences are exciting and fun because our brain makes chemical soup to reward us for trying new things. Eventually our brain quits giving us the same chemical soup and changes the ingredients, so we get bored. \n\nIt's essentially drug withdrawal." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why can juicy fruits like watermelon be grown in regions of the world that have horrible water pollution, but it doesn't seem to affect the people who eat it?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Plants absorb water through ultra-fine membranes made of plant tissue. Some chemical pollutants can indeed get in and poison the plant. But the most common pollutants we worry about in our water -- things like bacteria -- are way too big to make it in through that membrane." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Getting rid of the minimum wage?\n\nSince the goal of every corporation is to maximize profits, if we got rid of the minimum wage, would we see businesses reducing the wage of their workers?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Wages tend to be sticky. If an employer currently has someone working for $7.25/hour and then the minimum wage law is removed, the employer could try lowering the wage of the current employee, but that employee likely will not accept a wage reduction. What could happen is that the employer finds a new employee at a lower wage (if such a person exists) and replaces the $7.25/hr employee. However, it should be noted that companies usually look to maximize profits which is not the same as minimizing costs. So, while an employer can replace a higher-waged employee with a lower-wage employee, the employer has to consider the relative productivity of each of the workers. If the high-wage employee's productivity is more than the higher-wage, then the employer would not switch to the lower-wage worker." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Professor overstepping personal boundaries?\n\nI hope this is okay to post here. I’m a female grad student in a class with a male professor who is also on my thesis committee. This is my second class with this professor and he has always been extremely nice, professional, and encouraging. However, recently I’ve picked up on certain behaviors that give me some pause. \n\nA few weeks ago he began to text me on my cellphone on the weekends. I did not give him my number - he presumably got it from my email signature. He has kept it mostly school related but did call my cellphone and ended the conversation with random personal questions. He has also recently added me on Facebook. Additionally a male classmate and I had to have similar one-on-one meetings to discuss our final projects and I told the male classmate to expect to field lots of personal questions from this professor (since that was my experience in our meeting). My classmate came back saying that did not happen at all. However a female classmate of mine also experienced the same treatment as I did with lots of questions and compliments in the second half of the meeting that were off topic from the project. \n\nThe attention does not feel sexual in anyway but does feel excessive and gender specific. Should I say something to someone in the hopes that it doesn’t progress or should I just stay observant and not make a big deal? Has anyone experienced this? \n\nI received another text from him today asking why I wasn’t at an on campus event I had registered for. It all seems fairly innocuous but I feel sensitive to it. \n\nUPDATE: Thank you all for your feedback, it’s very helpful. I am removing my cellphone from my email signature, I completely agree that if I don’t want people to contact me I shouldn’t provide it. I’ve had my cellphone on my email signature for years without issue so this is new territory. \n\nI also want to clarify that personal questions varied from, “Do you have siblings? What do your parents do?” to “How did you pay for your undergraduate degree?” to “Why are you wanting to live in that city after graduation, do you have family or a boyfriend there?” What made them more unnerving is that they came out of nowhere with no prompting. We would be talking about something related to work and then he would jump to asking me a fairly specific question about my personal life. When we talked on the phone he asked me if I was going to a music festival and if I knew how he could get tickets. It seemed more like a question for Google than for me. The conversation also had no urgency at all and I was going to see him in class the next day. Like I said, they are fairly innocuous but I do not have a strong personal relationship with him and this strikes me as a strange way to build one. I have had good friendships with colleagues and professionals before but this is not how I experienced forming those relationships. \n\nAs for the small sample size, I understand that not a lot can be gleaned from the experience of three people. However, I can say that the other female independently arrived at a feeling of discomfort in her interactions with him as well. I would say the three of us are equally engaged and ambitious, so there’s no reason I can see that the professor would have to not offer the same treatment to my male classmate." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Document, document, document, but also be clear about boundaries you would like to have. If you don't want to get texts about academic stuff on the weekends, say that. You can frame it as \"work-life balance\" or whatever you want, but make it crystal clear." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Chrono Trigger] Why is every date in the game followed by BC or AD, when Christianity doesn't seem to exist in the Chrono Trigger universe?\n\nI've been playing through Chrono Trigger recently and have noticed that all the dates in the game are followed by either BC (Before Christ) or AD (~~After Death~~ Anno Domini). The problem is that the game doesn't seem to take place on Earth (at least not as we know it) and there are never any other references to Christ or Christianity.\n\nAdditionally, in the game's story Crono is a figure analogous to Christ, who dies to save humanity and is later resurrected, seeming to further suggest that Christ wouldn't exist in this universe.\n\nSo where to the BC and AD used to denote dates come form? And before someone says that BC stands for \"Before Crono\", I should point out that Crono sacrifices himself 12,000 years before year zero." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Just a quick clarification, 'AD' doesn't stand for 'After Death'. It stands for Anno domini, which is Latin for 'Year of Our Lord. \n\nThere isn't a 33 year long gap between 1bc and 1ad *(there's also no year 0)*" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5 Why does switching around the dying batteries in my remote make it work again?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It doesn't. Not pushing the buttons while you're messing around with the batteries makes it work again.\n\n\nYour standard remote has 2 AAs or 2 AAAs in series. That means the supply voltage of the remote is the sum of the two batterries' voltages. It also means that the position of the battery makes no difference, even if they're in a different state of charge.\n\n\nHowever, most remotes have a supply capacitor that gets charged by the batteries and that supplies the remote with power. Basically a tiny buffer battery. As the batteries get weaker, it takes longer and longer to recharge the capacitor to a level that allows the remote to function. If the batteries are weak and you use the remote a few times in quick succession, the capacitor will be discharged completely and the remote will no longer work.\n\n\nThe batteries are still recharging the capacitor, just very very slowly, and if you keep pushing buttons, it'll never get to a sufficient level of charge. When you switch the batteries, you're not pushing any buttons, so you're probably giving the cap 20-30 seconds of charging time, and that may be enough for it to power the remote again (for a few shots)." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: what is the process of going into shock?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Paramedic student here. When we speak of “shock” we are talking about inadequate tissue perfusion- basically, for whatever reason, oxygenated blood is not reaching the patients tissues. There are 5 major types of shock- \n\nhypovolemic (loss of blood volume, ie, the patient is bleeding out)\n\ncardiogenic (there is an issue with the mechanical activity of the heart pumping blood to the body), \n\nneurogenic (there is an issue with either the brain controlling the heart, or the electrical system in the heart itself)\n\nanaphylactic (life threatening allergic reactions, or other adrenal issues affecting perfusion)\n\nseptic (massive systemic infections)\n\nIn pre-hospital care (when you call for a paramedic), we can manage some of these. For hypovolemic, we can give you IV fluids to replace lost blood volume, but we have to balance that with making sure theres still enough actual blood there to carry oxygen to the tissues. For septic, we give fluids as well, but in the hopes of diluting the blood- theres very little we can do in the field to actually combat septic shock. For anaphylactic shock, we can give medications to mitigate and lessen to bodies reaction to what ever triggered the event. For neurogenic shock, we try to control heart rate and BP, without letting the system crash. For cardiogenic, we try to get you to the hospital as fast as we can, cause there’s not much we can do for you in the field. \n\nAnother issue with shock is that there’s 3 levels of shock- compensated, decompensated, and irreversible. Compensated shock is the early stage, where the patient is sweaty, pale, and has a rapid heart rate. This is the stage that is easiest to manage. Signs/symptoms can include agitation or anxiety, fast heart rate (tachycardia), fast breathing (tachypnea), nausea and/or vomiting, and a weak or thready pulse. Decompensated shock is the mid stage, where the patient becomes mentally altered (seems intoxicated, or passes out entirely), has no pulses in the extremities (but still has a carotid pulse), labored or odd breathing, and a falling blood pressure. This is the shock stage that we throw everything we have at, in order to keep the patient alive so we can get them to a doc. The last stage, irreversible shock, is just that, irreversible. If you hit that point, you’re gonna die. Medics and doctors will do everything they can, but at that point, it’s a losing battle. Patients in this stage have lost the carotid pulse, they’ll have very shallow and irregular breathing, very low blood pressure (hypotension), and they’ll be unconscious. \n\nOur ultimate goal, regardless of the type or level of shock, is to get you to a hospital, or ‘definitive care’ as we call it. Medics, despite all the tools, techniques, and meds at our disposal, are bandaids. We can stabilize, but it takes a doctor to fix the problem. So if you call 911, and the medic says you need to see a doc, go see one. Ideally, the medic will take you, but not every fire service does their own patient transports." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "What is the difference between a Sea and an Ocean?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "To a large extent it's just a matter of what we call them, but the major ocean basins overlie a different type of crust than most inland and nearshore seas. Oceanic crust is basaltic, formed at mid-ocean ridges, and denser, so it floats lower on the mantle. Continental crust is andesitic, formed by subduction zone volcanism, and lighter." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Bioshock] why do some people become sploicers while our protagonists do not (possible spoilers)\n\nIt seems that all of Rapture, and some of Columbia is plagued with sploicers, while the protagonists, in all the games is not affected. Jack/Delta doesn't show any adverse affects, neater does Booker or Elizabeth. Each of these protagonists, take massive amounts of adam/vigors. Also most sploicers seem to only have one ability, while our protagonists has many. By the end of the game our protagonist should be really messed up!" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "*Splicers. \n\nAnyway, becoming disfigured is an effect of long therm ADAM abuse. Jack and Delta wasn't users for very long, and since both left Rapture, they basically had to go cold turkey, getting over the addiction.\n\nAnyway, we don't see their faces at the endings, so they could still be disfigured." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Spiderman] Concerning the origin of Spiderman's outfit in the original movie\n\nOne of the things I was interested in about the original Spider-Man movie with Tobey Maguire, was where he got that nifty costume. After having seen the suit in the trailer I was curious to see how they would explain it's origin. Sadly, they completely glossed over that part in the film. He starts off with homemade outfits and then they just cut to him with his final Spiderman suit out of nowhere. Where the hell did he get it?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In the novelization, it's explained that when Peter was wrestling and kicked Bonesaw's ass, he met a wrestler who was so grateful that Bonesaw was beaten, especially after Bonesaw had almost crippled him. He told Peter that his brother was a tailor who did all sorts of costumes, and they hooked him up, though he wore a mask when he picked up the costumes." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: How does bonsai tree cultivation work? What makes them appear like a perfectly scaled down regular tree?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Mostly, it's a matter of trimming the roots and branches of the tree in just the right way to keep it small. That, plus the small pot size, prevents the tree from growing as big as it would in the wild.\n\nAdditionally, the species of tree is often chosen to be one that has naturally small leaves or needles, so it helps with the sense of scale.\n\nThere's also various techniques to get the tree to have the specific shape the artist wants it to have, such as grafting a branch onto the tree or using wires or clamps to push/pull branches into growing in a certain direction." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Which topics are trending in contemporary political theory/philosophy?\n\nI'm particularly interesting in *novel* issues which are being debated *now*, rather than merely during the last decade or so." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Some new and interesting work is being done on the moral limits of markets. For instance, even if certain transactions are entirely voluntary, some philosophers hold that there are certain moral limits on what can be bought and sold.\n\nDebra Satz from Stanford has a book called *Why Some Things Should Not be for Sale* (2010). Sandel has *What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets* (2012). Brennan and Jaworski have a defense of markets in *Markets without Limits* (2015)." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "(in theory) Could you create a fission reaction with any element if its brought to an near unstable state or isotope?, and what would you need to use to create this reaction for different elements?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Any nucleus with A > 1 can be made to fission, it doesn’t have to be unstable, and the reaction won’t necessarily be exothermic.\n\nBut if you’re asking in the context of a multiplying fission chain reaction, not just anything can be made to do that. You need something *fissile*, which means that it can undergo neutron-induced fission with neutrons of arbitrarily low energy. Whether or not it’s unstable isn’t really relevant to whether it’s fissile, but it happens that all fissile nuclides are heavy enough to be unstable.\n\nSo that limits your chances to a few actinide/transuranic nuclides. But if the half-life of the desired nucleus is too short to gather it up as fuel, then it’s not practical to use for this purpose." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Could elements heavier than 114 be produced naturally in blackholes or other sources of tremendous gravity?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It's possible that elements much larger than uranium are created in supernovae but decay so quickly that we never detect them. Black holes aren't really good engines for nuclear fusion, although the high energy in accretion disks around them could conceivably lead to the production of large nuclei." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Every news organization is saying Obama \"killed\" the Keystone XL pipeline, what exactly did he do?\n\nEverything I am finding about the 6 Nov decision just states that it was \"killed\" or \"quashed\" by Obama. No elaboration on what exactly this means.\n\nI know he has vetoed a number of bills in the past regarding the Keystone XL, but this was not the case in the most recent development. The last bill that was proposed in Congress was vetoed in February and the veto failed to be overridden. This recent \"killing\" seems a more final decision on the matter preventing anything being proposed later.\n\nPresident Obama's announcement stated that the State Department concluded a study which did not find the pipeline to be in the best interests of the US and that he agrees with this conclusion. This study appears to have been concluded in 2013. \n\nSo, what exactly did Obama decide to \"kill\" and how did he go about \"killing\" it? Why does this prevent Congress from proposing any further legislation on the matter or individual states from granting eminent domain applications to TransCanada?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It's the state department's call as whether or not to approve the pipeline. Though it would be expected that the President could just tell the state department to approve or deny the application so theoretically he could have the final say on it hence the language in the media. The application for the installation of the pipe is what was denied. If there hadn't been so much push back from Republicans the application for the pipeline would likely have been denied back in 2013. The argument against it from the report was that it would have negligible impact on oil prices, would benefit Canada's economy instead of ours, create very few permanent jobs, and cause a unacceptable risk to the environment given that the pipeline would stretch across the whole country." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "What is your team's practice for new coding standards?\n\nI'm on a small team that has been struggling with communication and formal processes for the last few months while we grow and get more pressure from a growing startup. \n\nWe need a formal code standard process to be able to 1) introduce code standard proposals, 2) decide on whether to implement, 3) make sure the team knows what the code standards are.\n\nMy thinking is to have just that: a form of some kind where people can propose them, and every period of time we get together as a team and discuss them (maybe every week or before we start the next sprint). But I was curious if there are any other processes out there that people have liked on their teams.\n\nEdit: for clarity I'm not really asking for \"use linting\" - we already do that, we also already test builds for PRs and all code goes through code review. I'm asking for if your team has a process or there's a process you've used in the past for code standards that aren't linting rules. E.g. \"Single responsibility functions\", UI layout, when to put an index on a table, naming conventions, etc. We also do use best practices for the stack when they're available, ie our naming conventions for Postgres come from Postgres best practices -- however, just because *I* know something is a Postgres best practice doesn't mean everyone on the team does, and we need to put that information somewhere. Currently we don't have a process to literally say \"Hey this is the best practice for this, let's commit to it as a team\" and agree on that and put it in a place everyone can easily find it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Use a code formatter. Use a common format across the entire team. \n\nUse some kind of static analysis tool if the language you work with has one. \n\nUse types addition if you are working with a dynamic language and find yourself fighting types often. \n\nEstablish a naming convention for common actions. When do you use get vs fetch vs retrieve? When do you use set or make or build? \n\nHold sprint post-mortems. What worked well, what didn't. What can stay, what needs changing.\n\nSetup what rough boundaries that is allowed by individuals devs without discussions. A new language feature? New lib? New service? How much refactoring is too much? Write that line in the sand so you don't have devs introducing too much new stuff in code reviews, blindsiding reviewers.\n\nReduce your API surface. Expose as few functions as possible and make it known that certain functions are called only by internals. Make it easy for other devs to how and where to extend existing functions." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why is hair growing out of moles thicker than other hair?\n\nI have three moles that seems to act like fertilizer to my hairgrowth. This \"superhair\" is similar to beard, as it is thicker and stronger than normal hair, and grows annoyingly fast." }, { "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." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Why do the holograms in Star Wars look so bad?\n\nI mean they have cloning technology, hyper-drives, lightsabers, etc. And yet their holograms have the picture quality of an old television. I consider myself a star wars buff and I've never figured it out." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They don't care enough to improve it. Commercial quality holograms are scrubbed and processed to hell and back, coloured and retouched for the entertainment of all who consume the media. But the standard hologram? Why bother?\n\nThink about it. You've got a technology which can safely transmit a (scan-line-y) image and voice across a good chunk of the galaxy with the right transmitter. It is accurate, reliable and will get the job done. *Exactly* what you want done, and nothing more. The equipment is already standard and distributed throughout the galaxy.\n\n You have no incentive to change it." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Minecraft] The Nether is filled with Zombie Pigmen. Whatever happened to the living Pigmen?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There never were any normal pigmen, only ever pigs. \n\nPigs, when they get hit by lightning, turn into Zombie pigmen, without ever having gone through the in between stage of having been a normal pig man. There is also no cure which can reverse this process. \n\nOriginally pigmen came from the overworld, pigs were hit by lightning and turned into Zombie Pigmen and roamed the land, turning more pigs into Zombies (I mean, they *are* zombies, so presumably can bite a pig and turn him too). \n\nThe plague grew worse, hordes of pigmen wandered the land turning the hugely prevalent pigs and growing the horde. Eventually something had to be done and the villagers banded together, created portals and drove the pigmen into the nether. \n\nNow the pigmen have adapted to this hellish world, developing immunity to the heat and plotting to one day return to the overworld, where they can destroy their foes and once again taste the sweet flesh of their brethren." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: When I'm several stories up and I look at the ground why do I feel like is want to jump knowing it would kill me?\n\nIf I'm at the top floor of a building why do I feel like I \"need\" to jump?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There is a theory that L’appel du vide (call of the void) is a result of our base brain still recalling a time when we lived in trees and, like monkeys, would jump out into open space without hesitation to get to another tree or escape an obnoxious proto-human who was hassling us.\n\nThat may actually be partially the reason for fear of heights. There can be a painful cognitive dissonance between a curious urge to jump to freedom, and knowing it will kill you." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Why can’t you double dam a dam for more energy generation?\n\nThis might be a troll question, but once a ex-roommate said it to me in a drunken stuper, I haven’t been able to think of a way you couldn’t do this. “Why can’t you double dam a dam for more energy generation?” \n \nGranted, dams serve multiple purposes only one of them being energy generation. However if you could regulate the flow from the first dam into the 2nd one and on and on, why wouldn’t it work? Also I realize that dams are placed in very strategic places often not even allowing for the idea to be done. Just assume you are in a perfect passage way with multiple staple places to place a dam if you wished. You wish to place one dam in front of the other regulating the flow and letting gravity do it’s work. could you double/triple the output of a green energy source?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The energy is completely derived from the gravitational potential of water behind the dam (high elevation) compared to the elevation of water after the dam (low elevation). That amount of energy will not change as you add dams.\n\nIf you have two dams far apart (more than one dam height in elevation difference), than you can harvest the energy again. This is done actually, though not so close.\n\nIf two dams are closer together (let's say 10 feet apart), then either the second dam will produce almost no energy (water will be at a low elevation behind it, so no potential energy to harvest), or the first dam will produce almost no energy (if you let the 10-foot space between dams fill up with water). Water is driven through a dam by the pressure behind it, and if there is equal pressure in front of it (in the 10 foot space between dams), then you get nothing.\n\nOf course, you could \"lift\" the water at the bottom of the first dam to the top of the second dam - but that would require more energy than what you will get from the same water." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Squid Game] So for the Second Game (Spoilers)...?\n\nWhy did Sang Woo mislead his teammates about the nature of the game and which shape they should pick?\n\nSurely if you have 3 other allies willing to listen to you, it'd vs better to keep them around rather than sabotaging them to potentially have them killed off. Then you're left with no allies.\n\nIt'd be extremely easy to say \"hey guys, let's all go triangle\". I get that you want more players to lose so the total increases, but doing it that early on with 187 players still active is just mind-bogglingly brain damaged. Ali saw Sang Woo almost like a saviour, and Gi-Hun treated him as the coolest childhood friend and smartest guy ever. Both of whom could fall for a misleading prank/trick at a more critical time in a later round." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Dude just had a really selfish nature. He probably always knew that he'd do anything to win the money once he knew what the stakes were. \n\nAny opportunity to minimise everyone else's chances was something he had to take, in this zero sum game. \n\nMight not have occurred to him he'd need solid allies for future games, or maybe he was confident that he'd be able to trick anybody, if it came to that." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[LOTR] If Sauron had won, would he eventually have been able to free Morgoth from the Timeless Void?\n\nWas freeing Morgoth ever a goal of Sauron, given that he instructed men to worship Morgoth which suggests Sauron still had respect for Morgoth? Sauron even had a Temple of Morgoth built in the Numenorian city of Armenelos. Would Sauron tolerate being subservient to Morgoth after conquering Middle Earth? Or was Morgoth worship a trick since people would be suspicious if Sauron explicitly said \"worship me\" and Sauron no longer had any loyalty to Morgoth?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I don’t recall it ever being said that Sauron ever considered this an important goal. Whenever he’s talked about it seems he’s always happy to try and dominate the world for his own gratification \n\n(It must be said he would not be able to do this if Morgoth came back and destroyed everything)" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[DC] I'm a prisoner in Arkham City. What would incentivize me to join, say, Joker's gang rather than Two-Face's? Or Penguin's?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Joker is straight crazy, if you're a member of a rival gang, he sees you as fair game. He'd think nothing of killing or maiming or torturing you. If you're in Joker's gang, Two-Face or Penguin wouldn't touch you, they don't want to have Joker turn on them." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5 : How do stocks work ?\n\nIf you had a lot of money, could you not buy a bunch of shares of a (usually stable) stock, which would cause the share price to rise (cause of a surge in demand caused by all the shares you just bought) and then sell your shares at the new price, making a bunch of profit. Rinse and repeat." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "As soon as your big sell order hits the market, people see that and the prices offered to buy will start to drop.\n\nIf you split your order in multiple small orders then the execution of those will similarly make the price start to go down. \n\nYou can't just buy or sell an arbitrary amount at the current price, only whichever volume is on offer at that price at the moment.\n\nSo what doesn't happen is:\n\nStep 1) Buy 1 million shares at 10 USD.\nStep 2) Price goes up.\nStep 3) Sell 1 million shares at 12 USD.\n\nIt's more like:\n\nStep 1) Try to buy 1 million shares at 10 USD. You get some at 10 USD some at 11USD some at 12 USD some at 13 USD some at 14 USD and some at 15 USD.\nStep 2) Try to sell at 15 USD? You get some at 15, some at 14, some at 13 etc.\n\nNet profit: Nothing." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Lack of alternative of Critical Theory?\n\nI’m at university and notice while critical theory plays a huge part in how we understand our world, but in my attempt to learn both sides and to avoid the trap of only being exposed to a single side, there seems to be a lack of critics and theory that oppose critical theory.\n\nWhy? Have I missed something? Are there no serious opposition to critical theory? Because I haven’t been able to find books, essays or anything serious that argues or offers alternative ways of understanding our world." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Read Toril Moi’s *Revolution of the Ordinary*, Rita Felski’s *The Limit’s of Critique*, and Amanda Anderson’s *The Way We Argue Now*. All three come out of a dissatisfaction with the dominance of Theory and all propose philosophically informed alternatives." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Dune] So, how intelligent are Mentats naturally?\n\nIs sapho juice just INSANELY effective, or are they naturally like savants?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Think of human savants of our world. They can do one task better than any other human on the planet - some can match insanely huge numbers. Some can reproduce any music after hearing it once. Some can sculpt incredible works of art. But the *most* savant person is incapable of doing anything other than that. They cannot function in society. The guy who can multiple two 10-digit numbers instantly can't even dress himself.\n\nImagine is a person can do all that savant stuff, and still being able to function normally. That is a mentat. They have unlocked all the savant side of their brain while not turning off the functioning part of their brain. That is what the juice of sapho does.\n\nBut just like people, not all mentats are created equal. Some are vastly superior to other people. Piter De Vries would be if you or me became a mentat. Thufir Hawat is the Stephen Hawking of mentats. So much that the Baron gloats about having him in the '84 Dune." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: How does light pollution work?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Air is made of tiny particles that can absorb and bend light. When there are lots of lights in one area the air bends the light in all different directions. You see this bending as a faint glow around cities that overpowers the ambient light from stars." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: How can concert tickets and big clothing drops seemingly be already sold out at the exact same second they go live?\n\nFor context:\nWas just attempting to get Anderson .Paak tickets from TicketMaster however their site was already displaying that they were sold out at the exact same second they went live." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Either someone had access to buy before that, or a lot of buyers were just faster than you.\n\nThere's many examples of employees buying the entire stock before the sale goes live. And there's also many examples of people making software to buy tickets as fast as possible (seconds) as soon as sales opens, leaving little chance to people who buy manually." } ]