avatar the last airbender - What determines a bender's element?

At first glance, it seems that bending is genetic/racial. In the original series, each nation has its own element and there is no crossover (the Avatar being the obvious exception). The upcoming series mixes things up by introducing two brothers, Mako and Bolin. Mako is a firebender and Bolin is an earthbender. This lends itself to genetics pretty easily as one could assume they came from mixed parents.

Then I remembered that humans did not always posses the ability to bend. Each nation was originally taught their respective art by an external force.

Earthbenders were taught by the badgermoles.

Firebenders were taught by the dragons.

Airbenders were taught by the skybison.

Waterbenders learned by watching the moon push/pull the tides.

We know that at least one of these methods still works at the time of the original series as Toph learned eathbending directly from the badgermoles. So then one could assume that bending in itself is not so much genetic as is the aptitude for bending.

So is there anything other than tradition that determines a bender's element? Could someone other than the Avatar learn to bend multiple elements if they had the means to seek out these animals and the willpower?

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story identification - Animation: floating island, flying pests

At least 20 years ago I watched a short animated film which stuck in my mind. The whole thing was wordless, possibly European, and I'm pretty sure I didn't imagine it... It featured a flying island which was inhabited by some creatures who (in my memory) reminded me of the Moomins. The island was frequently bothered by large winged animals who swooped around, although I don't think they did any actual damage. At the end one of the moomin creatures suddenly gets a weird feeling, feels forced to climb to the top of the island and then plunges down a shaft right through the centre - only to emerge at the bottom as one of the flyers. Answer Skywhales from 1983. The story begins with a man warning the tribe of approaching skywhales. The drummers then warn everybody of the hunt as everyone get prepared to set "sail". Except one man is found in his home sleeping as the noise wake him up. He then gets ready and is about to take his weapon as he hesitates then decides ...

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star wars - Why don't rebels take Stormtroopers' armor?

Admittedly, the armor of the stormtroopers is not the best, but it's better than nothing. Why don't the rebels strip the armor from dead stormtroopers to use with their best soldiers? I'd really like to understand why they don't do this.

aliens - Interstellar Zoo story

I vaguely remember this story from my childhood: it was about an interstellar zoo that came to Earth with lots of bizarre and unusual species, and humans would file through and gape at all the crazy looking creatures from other planets. The twist came at the end when the perspective shifted to the other side of the bars and we discovered that the "creatures" were traveling through space on a kind of safari. They thought they were the visitors and we were the animals. Neither side knew that the other side thought they were the zoo creatures. Answer Got it. Zoo, by Edward D. Hoch. Published in 1958. Link to Publication History Link to PDF

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