u/Responsible-Fix-1681

Maybe go with something Personal

NASA is testing new technology, and they have chosen you as a volunteer. In exchange for 1 million each year, you must wear a special ring. The ring will increase gravity for you by 5 percent. Immediately, everyday tasks and exercise take more energy and fatigue you much more quickly than before, but your body will slowly become stronger as it adapts to this change.

Rules

• After 1 year, you will be required to lift at least 30 pounds comfortably under your new gravity to receive the million dollars
• You cannot take the ring off, no matter what. The moment you remove it, the experiment is over, and you will only receive the money you already earned
• Nobody else will be affected by your change in gravity
• After you successfully lift the 30 pounds, gravity will increase again by 5 percent. Meaning the next year, you must live under a 10 percent increase in gravity, and the next, 15 percent.

Would you volunteer for this experiment?

I have seen several 5th-generation Americans go around proudly calling themselves Italian, French, or Irish, and it makes me cringe. Saying you're X ethnicity after living your whole life as an American is extremely ignorant. If these people actually visited said countries, the locals would look at them like crazy foreigners. If you know nothing about your family's heritage, you should not go around identifying as such and embarrass yourself.

You can only identify with your ethnicity if you A. Speak your Ethnicity's mother language, B. Have visited your family's country of origin, and C. Know your extended family from said nation. To use myself as an example, I am Chinese-American. I have lived in the States my whole life and grew up with English as my primary language. I know some Mandarin and can understand a lot due to my parents using it at home, and right now I am trying to learn to speak and read as much as I can. I have visited China seven times throughout my life and have met my extended family. Even though I primarily identify as American, I can confidently call myself Chinese as well.

Imagine going to bed one night, and the next morning you hear a robotic voice say "eye movement detected". You've, by some miraculous twist of fate, found yourself in Ryland Grace's position, stuck as the only survivor aboard the Hail Mary. What is your first reaction?

A genie gives you a shape-shifting ability. You can now change your appearance into anyone on Earth. However, the catch is that you cannot turn back into yourself.

Rules

• The people you shapeshift into have to be real people. You cannot turn into fictional characters or someone imaginary
  • You can only shapeshift into people whose faces you have seen
  • Additionally, you can ONLY shapeshift into other humans, no animals.
• You will only shapeshift into their physical bodies. You will not get their clothes, piercings, or body modifications
  • Your body must also fully shapeshift into said person. I.e., you cannot simply say you want X person's hair or face; you must fully shapeshift into said person.
  • Every small detail about that person will be passed onto you. Their physique, fingerprints, height, etc.
• You cannot shapeshift back into your original body. Nothing will happen if you try

Would you take this ability? How are you using your powers?

For context, I worked as a Preschool Teacher from June 2024 to August 2025. I was primarily a Preschool Teacher but occasionally worked as a floater, especially for the Pre-K class. I myself am Chinese-American, but while my first language was Mandarin, I gradually forgot it in favor of English as I grew up with the American Education system, and my parents didn't bother to actively teach me. I can still understand a lot, and I'm trying to relearn Mandarin today as best I can. The daycare I worked at was very diverse. There were students from several different backgrounds, even some that you would never expect.

In the Pre-K class, there was a student, whom I'll refer to as C, who was half-Chinese, half-White. Her mom, the Chinese Parent, is a first-generation immigrant and speaks English with a slight Chinese accent, but rarely spoke Mandarin to C, at least whenever I saw her. I once asked her, "What is C's Chinese name?", and her mom told me, "She doesn't have one; she doesn't need one". Hearing this statement made me slightly shocked. I remember growing up being the only kid who couldn't speak Mandarin to other Chinese kids or my grandparents, and I felt like an outcast. Yet here is a parent who is perfectly comfortable letting half of her daughter's heritage be overtaken by the other.

Another student, whom I'll refer to as "N", was half Moroccan, half Argentinian. N would constantly use Spanish words when speaking English, and she was able to point to Argentina on a map during one of my lessons. However, she knew almost nothing about her Moroccan side until I talked about it in that same lesson. Despite this, her father was an active Arabic speaker, and he would often use Arabic greetings whenever he dropped her off.

It honestly feels depressing how easily some parents are letting their children assimilate and lose their family's culture. I understand it's their lifestyle and they decide how to raise their children, but I've seen other parents actively encourage cultural heritage by speaking their mother tongue to their children or bringing them on heritage trips. It may just be my personal bias speaking, but by the time most people grow up and learn about their heritage, they may feel like a part of their identity is missing. Any thoughts?

A coding error has accidentally launched all 12,187 nuclear warheads in the world. That's enough to destroy the entire human population several times over. A Genie uploads a program into your PC, allowing you to redirect all of them to one location.

Rules

• You will be charged with any human deaths that may occur from your decision. The Genie's Program will be tracked, and Interpol will be after you
• You cannot redirect the warheads into space
• Assuming you choose to close the program and do nothing, the warheads will hit all major human settlements 5 minutes after. Depending on your location, you may either have a good chance of escaping the fallout, be instantly vaporized, or die from radiation sickness

Where are you dropping the bombs?

In exchange for receiving 100,000 dollars every month, you are only allowed to watch 1 movie every year.

Rules

• A "Movie" in this sense means any sort of video that is at least 1 hour long. Meaning even a TV show episode or a YouTube video that goes over 1 hour counts.
  • Having said that, you cannot cheat by pausing a movie and watching it through periodically.
  • Skipping ahead in a movie still counts as "watching it"
• You will receive 100,000 dollars at the start of every month for the rest of your life
  • If you watch a second movie, the deal is off, and you will not receive any more money besides that which you've already earned.
• Your movie count resets every January 1st

Would you take this deal?

When I (24m) was a preschool teacher, I had a student whom I'll refer to as "K". Her father is essentially a deadbeat, so much so that her mother legally changed K's surname to her own. I would only ever see K with either her mother or grandmother. K was a very sweet child. The first interaction I remember was on her first day, when she waved at me with the biggest smile as her mother dropped her off. K would often run up to give me hugs and ask me to play with her on the playground or during group play.

One afternoon, while all the students were lying down for naptime, K came over to me and asked for a hug. When I knelt and hugged her, she buried her face in my chest and said, "Daddy!" I chuckled and told her that her father was far, far away, but her mom would be here later. When I said that, her smile disappeared and she muttered a quiet "ok" before going to her cot. I know I'm not her dad, and I never wanted to be, but seeing her face change like that made me feel really guilty. I noticed her mother spoils her a little, buying her tons of Disney Princess dresses and calling her a "princess", but I think she only does that to keep her happy because her father isn't around. Her mother also once mentioned that at home, K tends to get very jealous whenever her younger sister, from a different deadbeat father, tries to get their mother's attention, and she would sometimes cry and say her mother doesn't love her.

It breaks my heart how children raised by single parents try to fill the void the absent parent has left. I'm no longer at the daycare, but I still miss K, and I just wish there was more that I could have done to help her feel loved while retaining professional boundaries as a teacher.