Question: How does an eSport organization make money beside of the sponsoring and prize money of tournaments? How can it be a sustainable business?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 How does an eSport organization make money beside of the sponsoring and prize money of tournaments? How can it be a sustainable business?

Same way any sports team will be profitable. Sponsorship, advertising, donations, merchandise selling, and tournament winnings. eSports is a very popular audience passtime, and good teams have a lot of fans that are willing to watch their matches. Sponsors are willing to pay a lot of money to get to advertise to such a very targeted audience of this size. The teams also sells merch, t-shirts, mugs, posters, whatever that are very popular with their fans and can make a fairly good supplemental income.


Question: How do pharma companies come up with the names of new drugs?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 How do pharma companies come up with the names of new drugs?

IUPAC has standards for naming compounds so someone versed in the field can determine the structure of the compound even if they didn't have a model of it on hand. These are often extremely long, and are rarely used over common names. Common name is given by whoever discovers the drug, and they can name it whatever they want. Brand name is just whatever the company thinks will be catchy and stick with consumers. A company I interned at held a contest at our facility to come up with the brand name for a drug we were working on. For an example: Lipitor. The name Lipitor is the brand name from Pfizer. The drug's common name Atorvastatin, named by the creators. It's name using the IUPAC convention is (3R,5R)-7-[2-(4-Fluorophenyl)-3-phenyl-4-(phenylcarbamoyl)-5-propan-2-ylpyrrol-1-yl]-3,5-dihydroxyheptanoic acid, which gives the drug's full chemical structure.


Question: How can I think that two people look very much alike but someone else thinks that the same two people don't look alike at all?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 How can I think that two people look very much alike but someone else thinks that the same two people don't look alike at all?

On first introduction, our brain naturally searches to get a handle on things--do I know this individual? What can I induce about him/her from appearance? It's all about us assessing the threat/benefit level of a new situation. Your brain assesses that he/she shares traits with someone you are familiar with, acquaintance or celebrity. Then it determines if it is in fact the same person. Some people's brains are sharper at this than others'. (Personally I don't recognize most of my neighbors if they aren't in their yards/cars or with their kids/dog.) But once you get to know the individual, you tend to forget the initial similarity because by then you know so many things about him/her that are distinct. So if you are meeting the person for the first time, but your friends already know them, they will see more differences than similarities


Question: How did people in the middle ages keep their swords from rusting in the rain? Did people just not fight if it was wet out?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 How did people in the middle ages keep their swords from rusting in the rain? Did people just not fight if it was wet out?

Simple, regular maintenance, after using the sword they didn't just throw it back in the scabbard and hang on the wall at home until the next time. It would be wiped dry, re-sharpened and oiled before storing it. A sword is not going to fall apart immediately after getting wet, seriously rusting would take weeks of neglect.


Question: what is dirty_bytes and dirty_background bytes in linux system?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 what is dirty_bytes and dirty_background bytes in linux system?

URL_0 Dirty memory is related to how Linux caches writes to nonvolatile storage (hard drives, USB sticks, etc.). Basically the actual writing operation only begins when a given amount to be written is accumulated to prevent the system from having to babysit a huge amount of small and slow I/O operations. *Dirty pages* are memory pages allocated to this cache feature that have data written on them that is yet to be transfered to the nonvolatile storage.


Question: How do antidepressants (specifically bupropion/Wellbutrin) work?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 How do antidepressants (specifically bupropion/Wellbutrin) work?

Wellbutrin is a norepinephrine-dopamine reuptake inhibitor. Norepinephrine and Dopamine are both neurotransmitters that excite specific neurons in the brain to trigger specific pathways. The more neurotransmitter circulating, the more excited these pathways become. Your body has a natural way of recycling these neurotransmitters by using them or storing them in neighboring support cells (glial cells). A “reuptake inhibitor” functions to prevent these cells from removing the neurotransmitters in circulation. This way, they are present in higher concentration and longer duration. Dopamine plays a major role in reward-motivated behavior. The reward system is responsible for motivation, desire, pleasure, and much more. By maintaining circulating dopamine levels, the drug helps improve mood and provide a sense of motivation that counteracts depression.


Question: How are we able to experience a new thought that is a complete revelation to us if the thoughts are coming from us?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 How are we able to experience a new thought that is a complete revelation to us if the thoughts are coming from us?

Like /u/jimbob994, I think of this as a philosophical question. Though, my mind swings towards Hume. You may have completed a puzzle, but others have given you all the pieces. [Hume argued first that every simple idea was derived from some simple impression and that every complex idea was made up of simple ideas; innate ideas, supposed to be native to the mind, were nonexistent.]( URL_0 )


Question: How come constellations are the same no matter where you are on the planet?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 How come constellations are the same no matter where you are on the planet?

The earth is spinning around its north-south axis once every 24 hours. From the equator, Japan and the USA are about the same distance to the north pole. From the perspective of the sun, the place where the USA is now will be the same where Japan will be in about eight hours (give or take, I'm not sure what the distance is nor is it relevant). As such the star constellations you see in Japan are the same as the ones you will see in the USA. If Japan and the USA would have been at the opposite site of the equator, like Japan and Australia are, then you would see different constellations.


Question: What is end to end encryption and why is the government trying to ban it?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 What is end to end encryption and why is the government trying to ban it?

you and your friend have a safe with a lock and only you and him know the code. You put a message in that safe and mail the safe to your friend. That message is protected and cannot be seen by anyone handling the safe except your friend when it arrives to him. So the message is encrypted on your end, or put in the safe box and then sent to the other end where your friend is, and also where it is encrypted or locked in the safe until your friend opens the safe. But you can just break the safe right? So you encrypt the message further, you tear it up into a hundred pieces and send it to your friend. But before this, you gave him a blueprint of how to put the message back together. This is end to end encryption. Only either end can decrypt the message to see it. I don't know about the government part. But I might have a few guesses.


Question: Why do storage devices not have the full amount of space on them? What is taking up that space or where is the missing amount?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 Why do storage devices not have the full amount of space on them? What is taking up that space or where is the missing amount?

The device puts aside a bit of space for itself where it puts files and things to keep track of whats stored. Kind of like how a libary has a small office for the libririan to work out and track where all the books and things the libary stores actually are


Question: Where does all the dust go and finally end up?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 Where does all the dust go and finally end up?

Heavily depends on what is meant by dust! If by dust you mean the stuff that accumulates on books and the table in your house, then the answer is probably: you suck it up with a vacuum or wipe it away with something else, and the deposit the collected dust outside, in the sink or elsewhere. If you mean dust more generally (including, say, the dust that can hang in the air on hot days) then the answer is: it falls on the ground and mixes with it, is carried away by wind to settle somewhere else or gets blown into the ocean. In the end, all dust gets recycled by nature, one way or another.


Question: why can't doctors just prescribe dopamine and serotonin for mental health issues like major depressive disorders?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 why can't doctors just prescribe dopamine and serotonin for mental health issues like major depressive disorders?

Because it's more complicated than just a dopamine or serotonin deficiency. Maybe the receptors aren't working properly, so they can't use the brain juice correctly. Maybe things like therapy are more effective. You also don't necessarily want to add MORE of those brain juices, because they affect things other than your brain. Dopamine, for example, is used for cardiac support. If there's nothing wrong with your heart, you don't want to add that to the mix.


Question: How is thirst quenched so quickly?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 How is thirst quenched so quickly?

Food is far more complex and must be broken down in various stages. This includes acidic breakdown in the stomach, pancreatic enzymatic breakdown and further breakdown and absorption in the small and large intestines. Water isn't really subject to all these rules - its water at the end of the day. Most of the water is absorbed in the Colon and it can certainly bypass food and faeces. Once water is absorbed into the bloodstream, kidney blood vessels get stretched. A signal is sent which relaxes thirst receptors in the brain. More info: Thirst and hunger act very differently in the brain. Hunger signals are complex and are related to the different nutrients in the food you eat. They also tend to take longer to take effect with some taking up to 20-30 minutes.


Question: Why is there an easy method to test if a number is divisible by any number 1-10 except 7 and 8?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 Why is there an easy method to test if a number is divisible by any number 1-10 except 7 and 8?

It's to do with which numbers are factors of each other. The tests looking at the last digits happen when dividing by a factor of 10 (2 and 5), or a power of those (4 and 8). Technically there's a matching test for divisibility by 8 (last three digits divisible by 8), but it's less helpful. The tests looking at the sum of digits happen when dividing by 10 & minus;1 and its factors (3 and 9). Finally, for numbers which are a product of numbers in both groups, we can use both tests together (6=2 & times;3). This leaves just 7, which shares no factors with either 9 or 10.


Question: If the net worth is based on shares, how can it be spent?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 If the net worth is based on shares, how can it be spent?

People who have most of their net worth tied up in a company they founded that's publicly traded, like Mark Zuckerburg, typically have automated trading set up so that every month/quarter it'll sell a set amount of shares so that they have money for living expenses, are able to diversity their investments, etc. By automating it, it removes the ability to intentionally or inadvertently act in ways that might be construed as insider trading. They could also make manual trades to sell shares, but would have to make sure to do so only in periods when there aren't trade blackouts (or quiet periods), say right before earnings releases or an acquisition is announced. Yes, if shares are sold then the founder's holding would decrease and whomever bought would have a part of the company -- that how public companies work. The whole point of buying stock is to profit later from the company doing well. In the case of companies that are not yet public, the founders can borrow money using their stake in the company as collateral, or they can sell to private investors like venture capital firms. This is often why start-ups take on additional rounds of funding... they don't need the cash to fund the company, but instead the founders want to take some money off the table.


Question: How do international credit ratings work? Italy has never defaulted on its sovereign debt, Germany has defaulted over 5 times. Why does Germany have a better rating than Italy?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 How do international credit ratings work? Italy has never defaulted on its sovereign debt, Germany has defaulted over 5 times. Why does Germany have a better rating than Italy?

well, they are issued by companies that all have their own unique blend of reasons to issue them. but considering at least 4 of those 5 times "Germany" defaulted it was a different country, it is pretty obvious they will pay more attention to the current economic situation than how the country (or whatever country was there in 1500) handled things several centuries ago as stated in the link you provide, that graph is incredibly missleading and just for fun, not for serious contemplation


Question: What is the difference between Money and Credit??

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 What is the difference between Money and Credit??

Money is how much spendable stuff you have now. Credit is how much money people are willing to lend you. Almost always you have to pay back more money than you borrow. Sometimes you can promise to give a person a valuable thing (like your house) if you don't pay back the money you owe. Thus allowing you to get more credit than you have money.


Question: How do linguists or travelers learn or translate a language which had not been previously discovered?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 How do linguists or travelers learn or translate a language which had not been previously discovered?

If you have someone that speaks the language they can teach you. You spend a lot of time pointing at stuff and eventually can start to infer words and basic communication, and then can figure out complexities from there. If you do not have that person, like dead languages, you need something that was translated into a language you do know.


Question: How come wet paper get curvy, spoiled and ruined when it dries up and not go back to its original form and quality?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 How come wet paper get curvy, spoiled and ruined when it dries up and not go back to its original form and quality?

Paper is made of compressed fiber derived from wood. As any owner of wood furniture or tools can tell you, without a waterproof finish, wet wood will warp and swell and it may or may not go back to where it started. This is largely because the fibers in the wood swell when they absorb water. Depending on the location, grain, wood type, temperature and amount of water this swelling my happen more in some places than others. If that happens the wood can tear itself. Paper, being made of compressed fiber, cannot re-compress itself once the water is gone and as a result the paper occupies a somewhat larger space. But since the surrounding paper has not swollen, it's too large to fit in its own spot in the sheet and thus wrinkles. If you wet and entire sheet and spread it carefully to dry it's possible to keep it flat, if weak, when it dries.


Question: Why you can't divide a number by Zero?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 Why you can't divide a number by Zero?

Division is the inverse of multiplication. When you're asking "what's 8/2?", what you're *really* asking is "what number do I need to multiply with 2 to give 8?" The answer is 4 because 2\*4 = 8. Now try that with 0. Consider 8/0 -- which number multiplied by 0 gives 8? There literally is no answer, as something multiplied with 0 is always 0.


Question: Why do the Canadian and American dollars fluctuate so much?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 Why do the Canadian and American dollars fluctuate so much?

First, it's important to know that this isn't unique to the US or Canadian dollar. Any currency that is allowed to float based on market demand will have a changing value over time. The root of it is supply and demand. When there is more demand for US dollars the price goes up. This is a weird thing to think about in regards to the price of money itself. Let me give you a simple example. Imagine that you own a business making widgets. Your widgets require steel to make. Let's also assume that your primarily buy your steel from foundries in the US. Those foundries are going to want to be paid in US dollars for their steel. So, before you can buy that steel you have to convert your CAD to USD. That means finding someone who is willing to sell you USD and accept CAD in exchange. You literally need to buy US dollars and the amount that you have to pay in Canadian dollars is the price. If there are lots of people wanting to buy USD then the price for USD will go up. That means that you will have to pay more CAD to buy the same amount of USD.


Question: What makes Sharpie and other markers permanent?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 What makes Sharpie and other markers permanent?

First, let's talk about non-permanent markers, and how they work. The ink in a dry-erase pen isn't _just_ ink. Usually, they contain coloured ink, a solvent to keep the pen from drying out, and binding agents that make sure the ink and the solvent are mixed properly. When you write with them, you leave a trail of ink and solvent mixture, but since the solvent has a much higher vapor pressure than the ink, it quickly evaporates. This leaves a trail of dry ink particles on the surface - colour. The reason you can erase a dry-erase marker is that there's nothing in particular keeping the coloured particles in the ink stuck to the surface you're writing on when they're dry, unless the surface itself is porous like wood, or skin. Not so for permanent markers. In addition to ink, solvent, and binding agents, permanent markers contain resin. The resin is also dissolved by the solvent, but when the ink dries, the resin hardens, leaving a protective coating of resin on top of the ink. This protective layer keeps the ink in place and prevents you from erasing it. The resin also sometimes makes permanent marker ink feel sticky, when it's dry. Add more solvent, and you'll dissolve the resin again, which will make it erasable. This is why you can use a regular whiteboard marker to erase permanent marker with, as they usually contain the same solvent. In theory, you can use anything that contains organic solvents - acetone or nail polish remover will work, as will vodka or another strong alcoholic beverage. I've used sunscreen once.


Question: If music CDs are burned with the opening tracks towards the center, how are open-world video game discs burned?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 If music CDs are burned with the opening tracks towards the center, how are open-world video game discs burned?

Ignoring the hard drive element of modern games, for games that *did* run entirely from the disc, the non chronological nature of their storage wouldn't have been a problem. Unlike a music CD, it wasn't necessary to read the disc from start to finish in one go. (Indeed, even with a music CD, you can use track select to change the order in which it is read.) When a game needed to load more data from the disc, it would know where on the disc that is located, and start reading from that point. There would still be some care taken with data placement - the time taken to find the correct location on disc (seek time) is a factor in the overall loading speed, especially if the system is constantly jumping around for fragmented data.


Question: Why do burning materials smoke?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 Why do burning materials smoke?

Smoke is tiny particles of unburned solid or liquid matter, being carried into the air by currents caused by the fire. Darker smokes contain more carbon and soot, while lighter smokes contain more water. This happens because fire often overlooks tiny particles, and also sometimes just can't burn them (such as ash or water).


Question: How do illegal drugs get from import to low level drug dealers?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 How do illegal drugs get from import to low level drug dealers?

Depends on the drugs involved, but usually each member of an organisation will have contacts to help filter out the bulk (if not all) of the drugs as quickly as possible. These people will be dealing in Kilos of product (powder, leaf etc) or thousands of pills (Ecstasy etc). Each of the guys who then receive it, will have their own contacts who likely want smaller amounts than the full amount purchased, which is where the extra margins come into play. This can either be in the form of simply charging more, or cutting the product with cheap filler to increase the total volume (although sacrificing the quality of the product). This is why almost all Cocaine purchased on the street has things like dog-dewormer etc in it. Cheap to get hold of, roughly similar in appearance to cocaine, not harmful to humans (within a reasonable level) etc. Each person in the chain wants to make their own cut, so the only way to do so is either charge more per gram to make the margin, or increase the quantity of the drug that they have and sell at the same or more. This is part of the reason why legalisation has such positive effects, since the criminal networks have severely reduced cash flow, and users dont end up putting unknown substances into their body. Since a legal product, especially pharmaceuticals, tends to have regulations and guidelines to match up to. Of which purity is one of them. For example here in the UK, a pork sausage has to have a certain percentage of pork meat in it, which is a legal regulation. Same would apply to recreational drugs.


Question: Why do cold drinks taste different to the same drink but, warm/hot?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 Why do cold drinks taste different to the same drink but, warm/hot?

Two factors are at play here. 1. You've learned to like the taste of a food at a specific temperature, and you've also learned to expect it to be that temperature. Eating it at another temperature is an unpleasant surprise. 2. Volatile compounds (i.e. the chemicals that floats off of food to give it its smell) become more or less concentrated depending on the temperature, and their ratio can change as well. This alters the scent of a food, which alters its flavor. Likewise, your taste buds also change their sensitivity based on the temperature of the food, so certain flavors are more pronounced if the food is hotter. Again, this changes the food from your expectation, which is unpleasant.


Question: How does a candle not burn all at once?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 How does a candle not burn all at once?

Paraffin wax only burns when it is a gas and mixes with air. To become a gas, it must first be a liquid. Liquid paraffin in bulk, like a puddle, conducts heat away from the surface too quickly to burn under normal conditions. Small flecks of it will burn, as they have more surface area compared to how quickly they lose heat through the bottom. The result is that as wax melts, the wick sucks it up. Then the fire boils it off of the wick, and it mixes with air and burns. The paraffin at the bottom, meanwhile, does not receive enough heat to boil. A little bit of it will evaporate, and may get sucked into the fire, but very minuscule amounts.


Question: What happens to the “lost” iron, that disappears when steel rusts? Like, does it just enter the water system and then the ocean, or do we reclaim it in any way?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 What happens to the “lost” iron, that disappears when steel rusts? Like, does it just enter the water system and then the ocean, or do we reclaim it in any way?

The iron isn't lost. It is an "ingredient" of rust. The iron in the steel binds with the oxygen in the surrounding air or moisture to make rust. It's like when you mix red paint and yellow paint to make orange paint. The original red and yellow never really go anywhere, but they combine to make a new color.


Question: . Why does slapping the remote make it work?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 . Why does slapping the remote make it work?

There are flexible metal contacts holding the batteries in place and transferring electricity. These wear over time and become less flexible and/or get covered with leaking battery acid and build up corrosion. Hitting the remote may reestablish electrical connection by moving things slightly or breaking some of that corrosion free. Sometimes enough corrosion or other junk (food crumbs) gets under the buttons so hitting the remote moves whatever is shorting or blocking a button contact.


Question: Why are ab muscles asymmetrical?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 Why are ab muscles asymmetrical?

None of these answers are quite correct. Assymetrical abs are generally genetic and have nothing to do with working out one side over the other. You're either born symmetrical or aren't. Aside from that, the way you exercise and natural things like one shoulder higher then the other can contribute to how much the assymetry appears but it is at its core a genetic issue (edit: pun intended) URL_0


Question: Why does creatine require glucose?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 Why does creatine require glucose?

Creatine is all about adding more "fuel" to your muscles. Think of glucose as the gas station. Can you run your car on gas station gas? No, not directly, has to be pumped into your gas tank. Your gas tank is another molecule called "ATP". Feeds the engine (the muscle) directly. Creatine is like a second gas tank you fill up. So when your ATP/gas tank gets low, Creatine jumps in and refills it, from this secondary tank. Then the engine keeps running from the refilled primary fuel tank. & #x200B; All that being said, it requires glucose, because if you install that secondary fuel tank, it would be best if you're positioned at a gas station to fill it up!


Question: How do we wake up?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 How do we wake up?

Your brain wakes you up. It has an internal clock which regulates the body, and it can prepare your body to wake up and eventually bring you back into consciousness. If you establish a regular sleeping schedule, your internal clock will adapt to it, often waking you up just before your alarm.


Question: Why sounds of higher pitch get faster and sounds of lower pitch get slower?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 Why sounds of higher pitch get faster and sounds of lower pitch get slower?

Pitch is determined by the frequency of a sound. Sound is, in fact, a vibration travelling through the air, a procession of waves in the air. How fast these waves follow one another is what determines the frequency - one peak and dip per second corresponds to 1Hz, two to 2 Hz, one thousand to one kHz, and so on. Thus, when you naively speed up a sound clip, you not only make the sounds follow one another faster, but also these waves - you generate more waves per second, the frequency of the noise goes up, and you end up with a higher pitch. However, done properly, you can increase the speed at which sounds follow one another, while still maintaining the same frequency of the sound itself and thus the pitch. Similarly, you can increase the frequency of your sound waves, and increase the pitch, while maintaining the same speed at which one 'bit of sound' follows the other. Thus the change of pitch going with the change of speed is not an intrinsic matter, and rather, the result of a shallow approach to the changing of pitch or speed in a sound clip.


Question: Why do some dead batteries work again after you stop using them for a while?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 Why do some dead batteries work again after you stop using them for a while?

I'm not really sure, because this is very situation-specific (for instance, iPhone batteries have some special features). However, many batteries will also be very hot when they run out of life. When cooled, the charges flow better, so you might be able to squeeze just a little more life out of them. Some batteries (esp. computers and phones) turn off before they're fully empty to stop you from physically damaging the hardware. Sometimes you can trick them into turning back on after that. Energizer batteries and such will randomly start and stop working near the end of their lifespan as the chemicals stop reacting. There's no correlation between what you do and how well they work; you're just drawing a conclusion because your brain dislikes randomness. src: astrophysicist, this is basically a summary of what I know, but may not be 100%


Question: If your brain uses 20% of your calorie intake, and your brain uses more energy when used intensely, does this mean you can lose weight from using your brain more intensely on a regular basis?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 If your brain uses 20% of your calorie intake, and your brain uses more energy when used intensely, does this mean you can lose weight from using your brain more intensely on a regular basis?

Most of what your brain does has nothing to do with "thinking hard". Rather, the energy is primarily going towards just keeping all the systems operational. While it would no doubt be possible to measure some small difference in energy consumption based on use, this difference probably wouldn't favor the sort of thinking you're considering. It's a much more difficult computational chore for your brain to play a game of racquetball than it is for your to lie dead still and philosophize about how much energy you can burn with pure thought.


Question: Why does a smaller gene pool lead to more genetic diseases?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 Why does a smaller gene pool lead to more genetic diseases?

With a smaller gene pool, you have less variation. Genes are present on chromosomes, and each gene has two copies - alleles. Alleles can be the same (homozygous) or different (heterozygous). Say you have a disease that is caused by having two of the same copies of an allele. When you have a larger gene pool (say 30 alleles of one gene), you have less of a chance of picking up the "bad" disease causing copy of the gene. However, when the gene pool is small (3 copies), theres a much greater chance of picking up the disease causing copy. So, since there's less variation in the gene pool, there is a higher chance of genetic diseases.


Question: Why is it that cracked eggs go bad in a few days but raw dried pasta with eggs in it can last for months?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 Why is it that cracked eggs go bad in a few days but raw dried pasta with eggs in it can last for months?

You said it yourself - DRY. Bacteria thrive in a wet, nutrient rich environment that is your cracked egg, but pasta is a desert where living is much slower and more difficult. I mean, make no mistake, that pasta is absolutely full of bacteria, but their biological functions are extremely slow due to a lack of resources.


Question: Why can automatic transmission cars be "bumped" into neutral without pressing the release on the gear shifter? Is it for safety, or something else?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 Why can automatic transmission cars be "bumped" into neutral without pressing the release on the gear shifter? Is it for safety, or something else?

The button is a safety feature I believe to prevent you from bumping the shifter into another selection when it would be either dangerous or damaging to the vehicle to do so. You need to push it to go in or out of P for example because you don’t want to accidentally go into P while moving or out of P when parked. When in N the drivetrain is not connected to the engine so you aren’t going to damage the vehicle or be in any danger by going into that accidentally once you’re out of P.


Question: Why has Journalism become so unreliable?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 Why has Journalism become so unreliable?

It's been a *very* long time since journalism was reputable. I can't remember a time it ever was in my lifetime. Problem is, people don't really like being presented with information that disagrees with what they already think, so newspapers and stations, and later websites, identified a core audience they could get a lot of money out of (typically various points along the political spectrum) and exploit the shit out of it. So right wing people only read right wing papers so think that their worldview is correct even when its not, because the newspapers are telling them what they want to hear. And left wing people only read left wing papers so think that their worldview is correct even when its not, because the newspapers are telling them what they want to hear. And... I have no idea why people read the sun, but whatever reason it is it affirms that reason without challenging it. Basically, everyone is being fed information they *want* to hear, rather than the *truth*, because the truth isn't profitable.


Question: if most drinks contain water, why is it considered bad to only drink them and not actual water?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 if most drinks contain water, why is it considered bad to only drink them and not actual water?

Because they also contain other things. Such as: \- Sugar - which in large amounts can cause all sorts of health issues \- Artificial sweeteners - which a lot of people argue are not healthy for you \- Caffeine - A stimulant that can actually be addictive If you had a drink that wasn't water that didn't contain any of the above or other weird chemicals, people would probably consider it ok to drink.


Question: how does (or doesn’t) it benefit the economy to make charitable donations tax deductible?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 how does (or doesn’t) it benefit the economy to make charitable donations tax deductible?

It is mostly irrelevant to the economy. However making charitable donations tax deductible will tend to increase the amount of donations to charities which can benefit the society, but at the cost of reduced tax revenue which in turn will either limit government projects (unlikely) or simply shift tax burdens into other areas. Heavier taxation of industries tends to reduce their performance so overall we should expect that shifting tax burdens from charitable donations elsewhere must necessarily be detrimental to the economy in some form.


Question: Why when you step out the shower are you extremely cold for about 3 minutes but then you go back to normal temperature?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 Why when you step out the shower are you extremely cold for about 3 minutes but then you go back to normal temperature?

This is a little bit couterintuitive, but: Warm water evaporates faster than cold water, yet pulls enough heat energy from your skin to make you feel colder as it does when it's cold water. This is because the sensation of freezing or feeling warm isn't prone to absolute temperature difference between your skin and another medium, but to how fast heat is transferred from your skin to the water. As I said, warm water is much more likely to evaporate and leave. The process of evaporation drags A LOT of energy from your skin really fast. Cold water just sits there and evaporates much slower, as it warms up un your skin, taking less energy in the same time.


Question: Why does gas prices continue to rise when renewable sources of energy are creating a surplus?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 Why does gas prices continue to rise when renewable sources of energy are creating a surplus?

Electric buses are not causing a surplus of gas. The article you read was about how electric buses were reducing the demand for gas from municipal bus services. But municipal bus services form a very small fraction of the overall demand for gas. Overall demand for gas has consistently increased by about 2% per year going back decades. But as to why gas went up 10 cents last week, its a combination in a rise in oil prices caused by whats going on with Syria and Iran right now as well as the world entering into the "summer driving season." Gas prices tend to rise during the summer and then fall during the winter because people drive more when its warm outside. edit: To put the electric bus thing another way - electric buses are not causing the demand for gasoline to fall. Rather, they are slowing the rate at which it increases. And they aren't even having a meaningful impact on that.


Question: If nylon kitchen utensils are heat resistant to over 400F, why is it that they melt easily when they're used on a hot pan? Do pans routinely surpass that temperature?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 If nylon kitchen utensils are heat resistant to over 400F, why is it that they melt easily when they're used on a hot pan? Do pans routinely surpass that temperature?

Most stove top eyes/burners heat your pan by conduction and some radiated heat. It is a very inefficient process so yes, the eye will typically get much hotter than 400F, more than 2x hotter in some instances. Also, a lot of the pans bottom surface area isn’t even in contact with the eye, this creates hot spots on the cooking surface. Cooking over a gas flame is much better and more efficient. You get even heating and better temperature control, that’s why professional kitchens use gas.


Question: How do bookmakers calculate odds in play? Like how do they decide what odds to give on a certain person to score or an event to happen in such quick time?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 How do bookmakers calculate odds in play? Like how do they decide what odds to give on a certain person to score or an event to happen in such quick time?

Vegas has the sharpest minds coming up with the best statistical models that cover every facet of every single event that occurs in competition. Even with that, it's all about getting money to be as 50/50 as possible. Sportsbooks earn on the juice. If one side is getting too much action, they will hedge by revising the odds to incentivize bettors to drop money on the other side. Accurately forecasting the probability of potential outcomes isn't even close to as important as getting money to come in 50/50. You can make a living (or at least a nice side income) as a sports bettor if you can come up with a model that *can* somewhat accurate predict probabilities and use that to take advantage of inefficient lines (which 100% do exist because vegas isn't trying to predict outcomes but get 50/50 action).


Question: So, what happens when wind stops? Did the moving pressurized air just keep going to the next two? Like, is all the wind just moving around the world continually depending on where the pressure is, like a water bed? Or do wind patterns dissipate...or something?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 So, what happens when wind stops? Did the moving pressurized air just keep going to the next two? Like, is all the wind just moving around the world continually depending on where the pressure is, like a water bed? Or do wind patterns dissipate...or something?

Wow, cool question. What is wind, wind is the movement of air. Why does air move, air moves based on a few different things but pressure differences is one driving factor. Closely in related is temperature differences... which causes changes in density which causes... changes in pressure. Add to that the earth is spinning and our distance from the sun changes and the planet is tilted and the final answer is the wind never stops moving on our planet. Sometimes it moves faster than others but it is always moving even when it seems completely still and stationary. Look up in the cloud at aircraft trails, on a still calm day the still spread out. On a windy day it happens much faster.


Question: Why does string theory require that there be 10 dimensions?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 Why does string theory require that there be 10 dimensions?

Imagine a room with some 3-dimensional objects in it, like a sphere, a cube, a cone, a pyramid, etc. The room and the objects are uniformly white in color, and there's no light except for a flashlight that you can shine into the room from different locations. Every time you shine the light inside the room, you take a picture. After you've taken several pictures, you sit down and look at the results. Soon, you start classifying various shadows that you've seen. You have a bunch of shadows that are crescent shaped, a bunch that are sort or rectangular, etc. You compile a whole huge book of these shadows, and it's pretty impressive, but it's really hard to explain it all to other people because the location of the flashlight and picture make all sorts of subtle differences in the shapes of the shadows. Then, a breakthrough! Someone says, hey, those are shadows from 3-dimensional solids. The crescents come from a sphere, the rectangular ones from a cube, etc. Now, all of a sudden, you've got an easy way to classify all your 2-dimensional shadows simply by referencing 3-dimensional shapes that create them. This isn't what's happening in string theory, but the principle of being able to explain more with less by adding dimensions is similar. A great deal of what we know about light, heat, magnetism, and so on can be explained more simply by a universe with more dimensions. In this 10, 11, or 26 dimensional universe, everything we see is just one special case of a more general set of rules.


Question: Can alcoholism actually be "passed down" from an addicted parent, or is it just a sorry excuse people use to keep being alcoholic?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
Your answer should follow these rubric criterias:
Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
Relevance and Completeness: The answer should directly address the specific question, covering all essential aspects.
Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
Conciseness: The answer should avoid unnecessary repetition and be as clear and succinct as possible.

Response Format rules:
- Always start your response with <answer> tag and end with </answer>.
- Do not include any text or commentary before the opening <answer> tag and after the closing </answer> tag.
For example, your response follow this format:
<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 Can alcoholism actually be "passed down" from an addicted parent, or is it just a sorry excuse people use to keep being alcoholic?

I assume ELI5 actually means explaining like OP is 5. So I'll give it a shot. When someone says *passed down*, they typically mean transferring a trait from parent to child. There are 2 ways this can happen. **Environmental factors** (these are things that are *outside* the body. Like home-life, parent-child relationship, type of friends, role models, all that good stuff) & **Genetic factors** (things that are *inside* the body. Like genes and...well mostly just genes) The potential environmental factors are obvious, so I'll spare reddit the details. Genetic factors are a little more complex. You see, the mechanism of **addiction** is in the brain. But not just in a person's thoughts and/or feelings, but *literally* in the brain. In the pink tissue inside our skulls, there are tiny receptors (think of a baseball glove) that *catch* tiny neurotransmitters which are chemicals created and released *by* and *to* other brain tissue (think of tiny baseballs). Now, drinking alcohol, for most, makes a person feel good, right? When the brain feels good like this, it releases baseballs to their respective baseball gloves. However, overdoing this will cause the brain to create more baseballs than gloves. But the brain is basically a god-damned 3d printer. So it just creates more baseball gloves for the extra baseballs. Here's where the plot twist comes in, and where alcoholism rears it's head. These gloves don't *just* catch baseballs. They catch all kinds of balls as well, such as tennis balls (seizures), golf balls (hallucinations), and ping balls (death). An alcoholic, then, has to KEEP drinking alcohol to make the brain continue to release enough **base**balls to fill up the available gloves and to prevent these random other balls from entering the gloves. These gloves have always been able to catch these random balls, but since there was always a limited number of gloves, the chances of catching a tennis ball in the middle of a baseball field was always highly unlikely. So addiction comes down to too many gloves catching the wrong balls. Now, the most common way this happens is by the pathway mentioned above: a person drinking way too much and then causing the brain to make shitload a gloves. However, genetics has a role here too. There are some folks who's brain's 3d printer is way too efficient and is programmed to build more gloves quicker. In other words, in these folks it would take less drinks to cause them to become full blown alcoholics. Also, genetics can affect how *good* a glove can catch these other balls. So if you're brain's 3d printer is building Hyuuuge gloves, then obviously that person's glove will catch more random balls. Genetics can affect any part of that terrible baseball metaphor. I'd go on, but I'm sure you're getting the point. I think we've talked about balls enough today. **Serious Note**: So, no. It's not a sorry excuse for some people. It's a real disease. Hey, from personal experience, I know how problematic dealing with alcoholics can be, but they deserve empathy and patience. Some of them were just dealt a bad hand.