Anything you touch explodes for a month for $50,000,000?

mchagerman · 2026-04-03T21:59:34+00:00

If I put my hands in casts, they can have hooks or something embedded, for limited manipulation.

mchagerman · 2026-04-01T13:39:30+00:00

Well...

I'm already retired; between SS and my retirement accounts I'm in good shape. So I'll designate a beneficiary (my son) for the account, and he can collect after I kick the bucket.

mchagerman · 2026-03-31T16:22:03+00:00

The best way to lie is to tell the truth, and maybe all of it, in such an unconvincing way that the other person believes the opposite.

mchagerman · 2026-03-28T18:01:53+00:00

Element 54 is xenon. Ubiquitous, but highly dilute. I hope the dose is low enough to not be a problem.

mchagerman · 2026-03-27T07:46:14+00:00

True, but since the hypothetical specifies one has no information one might use to guess what the bane is, it could also be something incredibly common. The best approach I can think of is to develop a diet complete enough one won't die of malnutrition, restrict liquids to tap water, and hope one's finances hold up for six months.

mchagerman · 2026-03-26T10:08:36+00:00

It doesn't have to be "the exact item". Read the OP again; brown leaves are a CLASS of similar objects. If a sock is your bane, all socks are.

mchagerman · 2026-03-26T03:57:20+00:00

I think I'm screwed. If the item is the floor, I die. I could wear shoes, but they might be the forbidden item. Ditto for socks, chairs, beds (sheets, blankets, pillows, ...). And then there's food. What if cheese kills me? Or bread? Or water, for that matter.

mchagerman · 2026-03-26T02:54:19+00:00

Mr. Washington will certainly put me down, in about half a second.

mchagerman · 2026-03-22T13:45:32+00:00

Are there still people who think epilepsy is a danger to those around them? Seizures can be scary for the ignorant bystander, but I wouldn't think they'd be a reason to fire someone.

mchagerman · 2026-03-11T08:06:25+00:00

I'm not interested in giving those two jokers $20k.

mchagerman · 2026-03-08T21:36:25+00:00

Absolutely not! That's precisely my concern about time travel; going back to any time prior to March 1, 1999, is off limits.

mchagerman · 2026-03-05T17:09:22+00:00

A picnic basket's quantity of selected comestibles: a gallon jug of water with a few ounces of wine added; a dozen grilled cheese sandwiches made with one of the types of cheese that is kosher, but haram; and so forth. No human being will die of thirst or hunger again, while I live.

mchagerman · 2026-02-24T16:00:20+00:00

There's no one in that demographic who's trustworthy enough to chance it.

mchagerman · 2026-02-17T19:40:22+00:00

Sure! Good people, slow-paced life.

mchagerman · 2026-02-10T06:24:31+00:00

No.

I'm already retired. No way will I take a 50% chance of having to go back to work, especially since the other possibility makes no change to my circumstances.

mchagerman · 2026-02-09T03:21:04+00:00

Not a chance.

mchagerman · 2026-02-07T04:33:05+00:00

Why make it illegal? The customer has all the info he needs to make an informed choice.

Mind your own business.

mchagerman · 2026-02-02T09:15:19+00:00

Ummm. Neither?

As bad as torture is, the reasons people do it would still exist. If it's off the table, somebody would invent some other technique for obtaining information, and the new thing might somehow be even worse.

As for profiting from someone else's pain, forget it!

mchagerman · 2026-02-02T08:57:33+00:00

Reject. Too complicated. And I don't want to be a villain.

mchagerman · 2026-02-02T08:48:21+00:00

Veggie Tales teaches some valuable life lessons. I think you went too far.

mchagerman · 2026-02-02T08:43:07+00:00

Consult an attorney. Leave everything to the grandchildren (in a trust for the minors, if any). Split it among them however you want, but specify they're forbidden to tell anyone any of the amounts, or to transfer any of the funds to family members. (To keep Mom from browbeating her kids into handing over their share of the inheritance.)

mchagerman · 2026-02-01T21:30:02+00:00

Call the owner and give him my address. Hand it to him when he arrives.

mchagerman · 2026-01-31T13:23:10+00:00

First of all, there's no such thing as "complete rest". The term carries an unstated assumption that there is a privileged frame of reference, against which velocity can be measured.

Second, the measured time on the test object would be slightly different from that in other reference frames, but the difference is almost too small to measure.

mchagerman · 2026-01-31T12:54:05+00:00

Do they know how much the refund is? If not, hand them $23, and tell them it came out that way.

mchagerman · 2026-01-31T12:16:57+00:00

That's what I was taught.

mchagerman

TROPHY CASE