u/sloaches

An execution date of December 3rd has been set for convicted Fort Hood mass shooter Nidal Hasan after Donald Trump approved the use of a firing squad to carry out the sentence. Trump will announce his intention to watch the execution in person.

Evidence- Trump most likely believes that he would get a boost in approval numbers by making the unprecedented step of watching the execution in person. An announcement would most likely happen around Thanksgiving week.

Whether or not Trump would insist on being one of the firing squad shooters remains to be seen.

The Scenario-

You are approached with an offer from a very wealthy but unhinged benefactor. They will provide you with a bank account that holds $25 million dollars, tax free. The money is there for your use to purchase anything you want.

The Catch-

If you choose to accept the money, you must agree to have a small microchip implanted at the base of your brain stem. This microchip is designed to cause you to realistically experience a violent death as you sleep at least twice every 365 days. While your physical body won't suffer any injuries, mentally you will believe that you are.

The methods of violent death will vary- anything from a plane crash, being attacked and mauled by an animal, being shot or stabbed, falling from a great height, etc. The thing is, you will realistically "feel" the trauma as it happens, but once you finally "die" in the dream you will awaken physically fine. However, you will completely recall all the sensations of the experience.

These dreams will only randomly happen twice every 365 days, and the time starts once the implant is placed. The timing is totally random- the dreams could happen two nights in a row, or even weeks or months apart. The only guarantee is that once the second dream happens it won't happen again for at least a year.

Oh, and this is important- Once you agree and have the microchip implanted, you can NOT get it removed or deactivated. Any attempt to do so will cause the microchip to instantly release a neurotoxin that WILL kill you, but after you suffer agonizing pain for at least ten minutes first. You are stuck with it for the remainder of your life.

With all that said, would it be worth $25 million tax-free dollars?

I've heard some players say that the best odds of finding a winning scratch ticket is if you get one of the first five tickets from a pack (with the sequence number usually shown on the lower right front corner of the ticket). Do any of you feel that's the case, or do you believe a scratcher win is purely random?

It's pretty simple. Let's say you went to buy a scratcher from a lotto dispensing machine and found that there was a unscratched ticket someone forgot, or you found one in a store parking lot. If you ended up checking it, was it a winner?

In my case I was 15 at the time. I was at home listening to my radio in my bedroom when the DJ suddenly cut the song and said that there were news reports that Elvis had died. My mom was in the living room watching one of her soaps, so I went out to tell her. Just as I started to talk, the news bulletin interrupted her program. She wasn't the biggest Elvis fan (she was more into Robert Goulet) but I do remember she did cry as the news broke.

Here's the setup-

I very wealthy and well connected person has chosen you at random and makes you an offer. You are shown three sealed envelopes. Two of the envelopes each contain a single lottery ticket for this evening's Powerball drawing. One ticket is just a set of random numbers, but the other one has the actual winning numbers for the drawing (yes, the game is rigged). The third envelope contains a cashier's check for $50,000.

The rules are as follows-

The envelope holding the cashier's check is a different color from the others, so if you choose the cash it is easily identifiable.

You will NOT be able to see the actual tickets before making your choice if you decide to choose a ticket.

If you do happen to choose the winning ticket, there's NO GUARANTEE that someone else didn't randomly chose the same winning numbers- so there is the possibility you might have to split the winnings (a lump sum payment of approx. 433 million dollars).

If you do decide to take the fifty thousand, you will be handed the cashier's check BUT both envelopes with the lottery tickets will be put through a shredder while you watch.

With all that to consider, what would be your choice?

One day you receive a text message informing you of a unique opportunity. An app will be downloaded to your phone that will let you teleport anywhere in the world with pinpoint accuracy. It will also return you to your original location when you are ready. Not only will it teleport you, but also anything you happen to be holding or wearing.

Here's the catch- each time you use this app to either go to or return from a location, it will cost you $1500 which will automatically be deducted from your bank account. Don't have that much money? Then the app won't work. However, there is an alternative. Instead of paying money, each time you use the app your chances of dying a painful lingering death increase about five percent. There's no way of knowing when or how that death will happen, only that it will be agonizing. Of course, you have the option to decline the app, at which point the offer disappears for good. If you accept, however, the app will only be active for one year.

With all that said, would you give it a try, or no?

For example, there are more than a few people who first heard of Charles Nelson Reilly from listening to "CNR". What are some that you know of?

By that I don't mean going to a pre-planned meet and greet, but just happening across a content creator or influencer with a following on Tik-tok, You Tube, Instagram, etc. in a public place.

The premise is fairly simple:

You are approached with a unique opportunity. A neuroscientist has developed a serum that has the strong potential to give the recipient the permanent ability to play a musical instrument (guitar, drums, horns, etc.) at world class skill and proficiency.

Your choice is simple- you can either (A) agree to choose the instrument you want to be skilled at and take the I.V. serum; (B) have $25,000 deposited in your bank account but not get the serum; or (C) decline both offers and go on with your life.

KEEP IN MIND that since you will be the first person to receive this serum, there's no absolute guarantee that it will work. However, this neuroscientist leads a team of highly skilled professionals and they have confidence it will be successful.

That said, do you take the money, the serum, or pass? And if you take the serum, what musical instrument would you choose?

One of the bigger examples would be ZZ Top. They had a good run of success in the 1970s but really hit big in 1983 when videos for the songs "Sharp Dressed Man" and "Legs" began to get played frequently on MTV, which introduced them to a new set of fans.

What are some other examples of older acts or artists that really benefited from MTV?

Some time in the near future a barely perceptible gaseous anomaly passes through the Earth's atmosphere. Within 24 hours, every human being who has reached puberty will achieve an IQ of at least 125. Those who are already highly educated will be mostly unaffected, but the majority of humanity will find themselves driven to study and learn as much as possible. There will be a massive uptick in on-line searches on mathematics, science, history, and so forth. Textbooks on any number of subjects will be highly sought after. People will gather in the thousands to hear lectures by educators and professors.

Then, 90 days after the anomaly first appeared, the effects will wear off. People will still retain whatever knowledge they learned, but the unseen drive to educate themselves no longer be there. What sort of long term effect do you think an event like that would have on humanity?

I have been a regular HEB shopper for years now, and I've been curious about something-

When it comes to the store packaged deli and fresh produce items, like the Savory Tuna Salad or Sliced Cucumbers, why are they put on the shelf with the price tags facing the back?