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1500 questions
43
votes
25 answers
Why might the government keep the gold at Fort Knox, even though super-villains steal it all the time?
So, I’m creating a world were superheroes, and villains, are real and exist in the real world. Everything else is the same, like the gold depository in Fort Knox, Kentucky, which brings me to my question.
Super villains break into Fort Knox nearly…
DT Cooper
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43
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15 answers
How does a time traveler prove he or she is from the near past?
Assume a college student from 2018 accidentally traveled to 2023. He is accidentally taken by an alien spaceship that travels close to the speed of light away from earth and then travels back. He is put back to the place where he was taken.
The…
user110373
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43
votes
11 answers
How do I explain a unicorn discharging powerful electricity at a distance?
I am thinking of copying the design of an electric eel to create the horn, however as air is not a good conductor of electricity it cannot discharge any electrical shock unless there is a physical contact.
Can you help me to come up with a…
user6760
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43
votes
22 answers
Is it realistic to believe an apocalyptical setting can last 500+ years?
Our world of fiction is filled with books, movies, and games suggesting a Mad-Max-style apocalypse can last hundreds of years. This, despite the fact that nuclear fallout would decay within a decade and it only took us about 150 years to develop…
JBH
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42
votes
23 answers
Why are escape pods used instead of transporters whenever an alarm sounds to abandon the ship?
An interstellar spaceship carrying a thousand personnel was attacked by a group of space pirates while crossing the nebula. The nearest habitable planet is several light-hours away.
Help will only arrive in the next 12 hours and the spaceship's…
user6760
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42
votes
11 answers
Hammer-proof armor
We know, unlike what Hollywood would have you believe, that plate armor was actually incredibly effective when it was being used. In order to combat this, some bright spark came up with the concept of the mace/warhammer, which would simply transmit…
Feaurie Vladskovitz
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42
votes
12 answers
How can a space station prevent docked ships from irradiating each other or the station?
I've been puzzling over the logistics of orbital spaceports, and this has been the one sticking point I keep coming to: radiation control between docked, or even neighboring, ships. Mass limitations on ships without "torch" engines, which are…
SkyeAuroline
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votes
16 answers
How could a sail powered airship work?
I've been wondering if it's possible for an airship to fly by passive means - specifically, no engines (steam or otherwise).
I'm thinking in terms of a world where lighter-than-air gas (and it's containment) is fairly readily available, but that…
Sobrique
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42
votes
17 answers
How to prove that the solar system isn't inside of a localized physics bubble?
So, let's say that somewere out past the Oort Cloud, physics just kind of... changes. For whatever reason. Maybe space is magic, or maybe we're just in a weird sort of localized physics bubble. The universe doesn't devolve into boiling plasma, but…
possiblySerious
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42
votes
16 answers
How do you tell time on a world with 9-year days?
On my world, the day lasts 9 years: 4.5 years of light, followed by 4.5 years of dark. The inhabitants of this world survive by migrating along the ring of dusk and dawn.
How do these people tell time? Obviously the good old standard of counting day…
TrEs-2b
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42
votes
12 answers
Does knowing a technology exists make it develop faster?
Let's say aliens arrive on Earth and demonstrate that Fusion is possible and leave (and don't tell us how).
Would we develop Fusion technology faster without being told about how it works by the aliens?
EDIT: This is about any technology in general…
mateos
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42
votes
4 answers
How many elves does Santa need to enslave to make toys for the kids?
Santa keeps his elves under horrid, appalling conditions. Working everyday of the year for little pay in the freezing cold of the North Pole. But just how many elves does he need?
How many elves would it take to build enough toys for 2+ billion boys…
TrEs-2b
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42
votes
13 answers
Why do governments not execute or otherwise permanently contain super villains?
The argument for superheroes to capture villains alive is that superheroes are already illegally operating as vigilantes and compensating for muggle law enforcement is all they are morally obligated. The burden of dealing with super villains…
Anonymous
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16 answers
How can Average Joe create a micro-state that is a member of the UN in the least amount of time?
I know the basic steps involved in creating your own country:
Own sovereign, undisputed land (that, if in the ocean, is 200 nautical miles away from the nearest sovereign nation).
Possess a permanent population.
Have a government system in…
fi12
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42
votes
21 answers
What crime would be illegal to uncover in medieval Europe?
I am writing a medieval fantasy novel, and need a specific crime to progress the plot. A noblewoman uncovers something about the son of the prince regent of an early medieval kingdom, and in doing so becomes an outlaw herself.
What crime or scandal…
J. Doe
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