EDIT3: Thanks for very varied answers. I with I could approve two answers and not just one. The question was answered, by both Omegacron and Nate Watson. While Omegacron's answer is much better formatted, Watson's had more relevant examples. My question is about kinetic projectiles like simple shells and debris, not about nukes or chemical weapons, which almost everyone here insists on bringing up. However, these two answers, as well as Jim2B's, paint a complete picture about Federation hulls. Which is "nowhere near as tough as the theory behind them claims" I've had a discussion with someone, a silly what-if - NCC-1701-x Enterprise vs Battlestar Galactica 2004. We've been unable to conclude who would get the upper hand - Galactica with it's huge size, incredibly thick armour, rain of metal fire, nukes and armour-piercing explosive rounds that could level Pentagon in a hit, or Enterprise, with it's shields, high-tech, and great, but highly concentr

Before I went to see Avengers I saw all the Marvel movies released to that date whose hero was appearing in Avengers (with the exception of The Incredible Hulk , just say The Hulk ). From what I saw I got this list of Avengers foreshadowing, and allusions to other foreshadowing films: Captain America - Foreshadows how Captain America is in the modern day and how S.H.I.E.L.D got the Tesseract Iron Man 2 - Alludes to the events taking place in Thor Thor - Foreshadows Loki's involvement with the Tesseract Now given there's been a bunch more Marvel movies released since the first Avengers Movie I am wondering what films: Foreshadow Avengers: Age of Ultron Allude to the events taking place in other foreshadowing films (i.e. Iron Man 2 to my knowledge didn't foreshadow Avengers, but Thor did and Iron Man 2 alluded to Thor at the end.) I am also interested in the chronological order of the films in terms of the foreshadowing/alluding scene's chronological order (i.e. Iro

At the start of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire , how was Alastor Moody captured? Why was he able to be captured by Wormtail and Barty Crouch Jr? After all Alastor Moody was the most powerful Auror, and single-handedly captured dozens of Death Eaters. Also, didn't he place protective enchantments around his own home?

This was a short story told in a series of letters. The protagonist starts by writing a letter to a utility company about an error in his bill. By the last letter he is on death row trying to get his sentence commuted. Each letter is slightly misunderstood. I think it's from the late 60's and may have been in anthology like "Orbit".

Star Killer Base has an extremely deep, long, and wide trench. If the base were the size of Earth, I would guess the trench to be twelve thousand miles long, 1,500 miles wide, and 1,500 miles deep. We get the sense that the base was constructed from a pre-existing planet. what technologies and methods did they use to dig a trench of that massive size? Answer TL;DR: They used giant vacuums. World Devastator ... World Devastators could use a targeted world's material resources for the Empire's benefit. A Devastator's primary tactic was to land on the surface of a planet. There, its mighty tractor beam projectors would literally tear the planet beneath it apart , thus making them "planet killers." Thus, the World Devastators functioned similar to the Star Forge, which also harvested materials from a nearby astronomical object. The deconstruction of the planet and its resources would then be used for both fuel for the Devastator and for its massive foundries which c

In "Star Trek Voyager The Cloud" Chakotay states that they have 38 photon torpedoes at their disposal, and Janeway states that they have no way of replacing them once they are gone. CHAKOTAY: We have a complement of thirty eight photon torpedoes at our disposal, Captain. JANEWAY: And no way to replace them after they're gone. So over the seven years that voyager was in the Delta Quadrant they must have used up the 38 photon torpedoes they had in the countless battles that they were in. So how did they replace them? Answer TL;DR : They were scrupulously counting torpedoes at least till Season 5 After which, they decided to retcon this and allowed more torpedoes to be manufactured using raw materials from the planets, allowing the use of over 90 of them by the end of the series This article addresses the counts through Season 4: RICK KUZMA'S STAR TREK: VOYAGER STATISTICS . It discusses the uses, as well as a discrepancy that had Borg scanning the torpedoes in "Sc

The story is a futuristic "Most Dangerous Game" variant, but where the game is voluntary on both sides. Protagonist/narrator has signed up to fight another participant to the death. The deal is they both land on a tiny planet and only one leaves. Protagonist's cunning plan is that, instead of using fancy hi-tech weaponry, which is permitted, he'll use a crossbow. [I forget why this is cunning, but I think it was something to do with the fact that the crossbow would not be detected by opponent's sensors; or maybe he just thought it would be cool to go old-school.] Protagonist lands on planet and creeps through the woods. He sees opponent huddled over a fire, and shoots the figure with a crossbow. Goes to examine the body and it transpires he has in turn been outfoxed in old-school fashion, as it was just a dummy. His opponent was waiting for him to appear. Last line of the story is something like 'I heard "Sorry, [protagonist's name]" as the laser

Spoilers Ahead. If you haven't watched Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald yet, please do not read further. According to this and many other such fan pages, Minerva McGonagall, Harry's Transfiguration teacher was born in 1935 (although Pottermore only mentions October 4 , and no year). Now, in The Crimes of Grindelwald , we see a "Professor McGonagall" when the Aurors come to question Dumbledore about the whereabouts of Newt Scamander, which must have happened at least in the late 1920s if not exactly in 1927, if we follow the timeline shown in Fantastic Beasts . The same professor is also seen in a flashback which may have happened around ten years before this incident, when Dumbledore is teaching Newt and Leta's class. This would have happened in the 1910s then? I even conjectured that maybe this is a different McGonagall teaching at the time Newt was a student, but the credits show Minerva McGonagall ! If she was born in 1935 and these events occurr

Brandon the Builder, built both, the Wall and Storm's End, and both have "magic powers", as read in the books: The Others cannot pass through the wall. Magic cannot be used to pass through Storm's End walls, as seen with Melissandre, that had to enter inside the fortress to free her "shadow son". Where do this powers come from? Was Brandon the Builder a wizard? Answer I think Brandon "the Builder" Stark is one of those mythical people who lived so long ago, no one is sure he ever existed. He also built Winterfell, as it happens. The only explanation given on any of these things is that there are "spells" that are still active. Since Starks are not normally gifted with magic ("Three-eyed crow"-Bran being the exception), I think the implication is that he had help from the Children of the Forest. There are not many other who are overtly mentioned as having magic powers. A connection between Stark and the Children of the Forest

Throughout the books, Hermione Granger is referred to as being the brightest in her year. Apart from her, is it known who , if anyone, in her year does well in almost every class? Someone who could be called the "next brightest" after her? I know that some of them could be categorized as the best in a given subject, such as Neville in Herbology, Harry in Defence against the Dark Arts, but I am referring to an overall perspective.

Of course, Westeros is the main stage for A Song of Ice and Fire, but how important is it at a planetary scope? There is a lot of civilization beyond the Narrow Sea and, especially around the Narrow Sea, most of it is very evolved in terms of society and economy. Also the Dothraki may live a very wildling-ish life, but they appear neither afraid of nor foreign to higher cultures. There are also the Wildlings north of the wall, which also seems to be a large civilization. So how important is Westeros to the entire planet? Are they a few among many or are they the most sophisticated society on that planet and take a rather leading role? More information I found I re-watched the TV show and did a little army counting on the side. The numbers don't feel mathematically sound, but maybe the Westerosi are very good at accounting for losses in most recent battles, while I'm not. Give or take a few garrisons, all of Westeros has (had) about 300K soldiers. If I had to guess I'd say t

When Lucy first meets Mr Tumnus he is carrying shopping packages. I don't recall any mention of Narnian cities near the Lamp-post though so where has he got the packages from? Answer 1) The White Witch only had control of Narnia, not Archenland or Calormen. Goods may have been imported/smuggled in from those countries. These probably are also the Narnians' main food suppliers since the Witch's magical winter is limited to the Narnian borders. 2) In Prince Caspian , we're told that the Dwarves had a much easier time under the Witch's rule than most of the beasts. Dwarves are master crasftsmen, so they could be supplying goods to the Narnian economy. 3) Narnia doesn't seem to have any major towns outside the castles until the founding of Beruna during the Telmarines' time. And we know there aren't any humans in Narnia. But in the Silver Chair , we learn that Marshwiggles live in a village; to me, this suggests there might be villages with other creatures

I am looking for a book about a boy that was on a farm and looks into a magic mirror. Later the boy becomes a scribe and eventually joins a wizard college. He used magic in a sewer to hone his skills then at the end of the three books he becomes the main wizard.

All i can remember are a few specifics, would love to rediscover the title. Haven't been able to Google up anything. The kid (~13) made special effects models as a hobby (only one i can remember is a pair of legs which walked realistically) He got a sort of apprenticeship at a special effects production company There was a full-scale mechanical dragon model being worked on at the time, which spoke to the kid (though this might have just been one of the techs messing with him) Also renting space in the building was a sculptor / jeweler who befriended the protagonist At one point there was a break-in I think it ended with a fire, with the robot dragon moving on its own to save the main character Sorry to be so vague :( There was an early-'90s UK TV adaptation, but i can remember even less of that than i can the novel. Answer This sounds like Monster Maker , adapted from a novel of the same name by Nicholas Fisk .

When Dobby was injured by Bellatrix Lestrange's knife. Why didn't Dobby or Harry use Healing Magic to treat Dobby. “The door banged open behind Harry and he looked up, terrified: Snape had burst into the room, his face livid. Pushing Harry roughly aside, he knelt over Malfoy, drew his wand, and traced it over the deep wounds Harry’s curse had made, muttering an incantation that sounded almost like song. The flow of blood seemed to ease; Snape wiped the residue from Malfoy’s face and repeated his spell. Now the wounds seemed to be knitting.” Excerpt From: Rowling, J.K. “Harry Potter 6 - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.” Chapter 24 Sectumsempra Answer Regarding Sectumsempra, specifically - what magic can do, magic can undo . (Disclaimer: obviously that isn't true of everything in the Harry Potter universe. In fact, the point is often made in The Deathly Hallows that some wounds inflicted by Dark Magic can't be cured. George's ear, for example, cannot be rep

In the very first chapter of the very first book, we observe the following exchange between Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore: "You think it -- wise -- to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?" "I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore. Whew. Quite the bit of foreshadowing there! I mean, you can't say something like that, and then not have it happen somewhere in the series. It's basic storycraft, Chekhov's Gun material. But as far as I can recall, he never actually did trust Hagrid with his life. When Dumbledore's life was at serious risk in "Half-Blood Prince", he put his trust in Snape, not Hagrid. And I can't recall another time where Dumbledore's life could seriously be said to be in danger, apart from the duel with Voldemort (which didn't involve Hagrid in any way). Dumbledore was driven out of Hogwarts twice, but his life could hardly be said to be in danger either time. He did trust H

I'm getting my sources seriously messed up here so bear with me. I'm sort of getting the message here that they were originally trained by Luke and later corrupted or wiped out but the other half of people are saying that they were formed by Snoke as soon as Ben turned to the dark side. Answer The group of Force sensitives that Luke was training were not the Knights of Ren. They were intended to become a new generation of Jedi. We don't know anything at all about the Knights of Ren, other than the fact that Kylo is one of them and was called "Master of the Knights of Ren" by Snoke. They seemed to be a group of Dark Side Force users, but otherwise, we don't know where they came from, how Kylo found them, or if Snoke is a part of that group or not.

In Star Wars: The Force Awakens , we see Supreme Leader Snoke a few times dispensing orders to his subordinates. However, we always see him communicating via hologram, and we've seen in previous Star Wars films that these holograms are often projected at a different size than the original person is. So how tall is he really? I don't think we ever got a good shot of him with something to give a sense of scale. Answer According to the Alan Dean Forser's TFA novelization (Chapter X), he was tall. Seated on the raised platform that was the focus of the chamber was the blue-tinted holo of Supreme Leader Snoke. Tall and gaunt , he was humanoid but not human. Seated in shadow, the tall, slender form loomed over the other two men . Lest this be taken as "Hologram effect only", WoG is that he is tall as well: But Neal Scanlan, chief of creature and droid effects, told PEOPLE, “This character is much better executed as a CGI character. That’s just a practical reality wh

Did Captain Janeway violate the Prime Directive by stealing the Borg transwarp coil in "Dark Frontier, part 1" since she and the Voyager crew have no right to steal from any species just for their own personal needs, without there being any kind of special circumstances? Answer The Prime Directive (although never quoted verbatim in complete length in canon, and apparently quite long) forbids Starfleet officers from interfering with the development of pre-warp species. The Borg have not just discovered interstellar spaceflight, they reached a level of technology which is even higher than that of the Federation, so the Prime Directive does not apply to them. Also, the theft of that one transwarp coil was definitely not a notable interference with the development of the Borg species as a whole. There likely are other directives which address under what circumstances Starfleet officers are allowed to steal from other species or commit other crimes on them, but that's not

One of the theories that gets passed around once in a while is that Wolverine was, at least at one point, intended to actually be a mutated talking wolverine (the animal) instead of a mutant (homo-superior). This theory stems from a single panel in X-Men 103, where a talking leprechaun says he doesn't believe in talking wolverines. Have any writers or creators chimed in on the veracity of this interpretation, or has there been any sort of official retcon of the statement? Answer TL;DR: No, this is just a popular myth... but it WAS going to be his origin at one point . When Dave Cockrum collaborated with Chris Claremont on Wolverine's origins, their original intent was to make Logan a super-evolved wolverine instead of a mutant. This was even hinted at in the classic X-Men #98 : This issue is also famous for being the first to show that Wolverine's claws were part of his arms and not his gloves. However, Dave & Chris' plans to expand on the origin in the next iss

We see how the Phoenix was launched, and that its flight was successful - however it doesn't look like it would survive re-entry (no heat shield etc and we have no mention of deflector shields being part of its design) so how was the flight to end? Eject the forward section and land it like an Apollo capsule? Is there anything in canon or the expanded universe which tells us how Cochran got it back on the ground? Edit: so it looks like there are heat tiles on the side of the forward cockpit, on the opposite side from the crew windows - however, they dont extend all the way done the fuselage so that might indicate that just the crew cabin is returned to earth. However, that would mean that the guts of the Phoenix would be left in orbit - not a great situation if you want a continued program, especially considering the dialog suggests a lot of the basic structural material was very hard to get hold of. Would love some corroboration on this. Answer I'm struggling to find a fully

I suddenly wondered: When was the first time that any science fiction writer published a story in which one or more human beings use some form of "time travel technology" to travel back to the era of the dinosaurs, and thus come face to face with one or more dinosaurs, as part of the plot? I don't care if it was a short story or a full-sized novel. I don't insist you name a story that is still popular today, and gets reprinted on a regular basis. I just want to know who used this exact plot device first, along with the title of the story in which he (or she) did it, and thereby started a trend! (Heck, if it was first used a hundred years ago, in some old silent movie that I've never heard of, instead of in a work of prose fiction, then calling that movie to my attention would be a valid answer!) Examples of What I Do Not Want: Someone finds a way to recreate "dinosaurs," more or less, in modern times -- or it happens accidentally, for that matter! Gen

I read a book quite a while back (probably quite a few years ago) that I downloaded (probably for free, but maybe not) on iBooks. I do not have iTunes anymore so I can't find it from there. It was a fantasy book about a girl with magical ability. It was set in a different world to ours. Kind of medieval-esque? It starts with her in this keep, and she works there since her mother died. There are creepy guys there but she used her magic to hurt one and now they stay away. Then this man comes along, realises she can do magic, and takes her away and trains her. There is a big plot about saving the world I think. And there's a warm hot country where there is a man called something like Soluman. That's all I can remember. If anyone knows or thinks they know what this is, could you please tell me? I know this is very vague, but it's all I can pin down. I'm pretty sure this was part of a trilogy or series of books. And I think it had a female author. Answer The series I w

First off, I read the book around 4 years ago and I'm pretty sure it came out not long before I read it, so I'm thinking the release date is somewhere around 2012. And I believe there are at least two books in the series. And it's a post-apocalyptic book. The first book starts by revolving around this one girl who is scavenging her surroundings for food. She describes a lot of stuff in a diary (I think) and how the world came to be. I think that aliens came to the Earth who look like human beings and a lot of the suspense drawn from the book is if you can trust people you meet or not because they could be aliens. Towards the beginning of the book, she's looting a gas station but finds some guy who killed himself (or is about to) and on his neck is a silver cross necklace. I don't know why but this is important and she either takes it or looks at it for a while and remembers something about her past. There are a few flashbacks to her past and in it, she reveals she h

Snape, just like the other Death Eaters, would have been alerted of Voldemort's return and position when Voldemort touched Wormtail's Dark Mark in the graveyard, yet he did pretty much nothing about it. Sure, he may have told Dumbledore that his Mark had burnt, but why couldn't he have Apparated Dumbledore to the place the Mark was telling him to go so that they could figure out what was going on? They had plenty of time to do so, after all, and could have easily stopped the duel between Voldemort and Harry in time. Answer First: Since this had happened during the time of the competition, the atmosphere was inappropriate for such a move. Imagine the panic that would've been produced by Dumbledore's leave from such an important event. Second , Snape is supposed to be a Death Eater and not inform Dumbledore, as Dumbledore's plan later unraveled. A fellow former Death Eater lurking nearby, which was the case; seeing Snape, would've jeopardized the plan. Howe

‘How did I get the Stone out of the Mirror?’ ‘Ah, now, I’m glad you asked me that. It was one of my more brilliant ideas, and between you and me, that’s saying something. You see, only one who wanted to find the Stone – find it, but not use it – would be able to get it, otherwise they’d just see themselves making gold or drinking Elixir of Life.’ Philosopher's Stone - page 217 - Bloomsbury - chapter seventeen, The Man With Two Faces - Harry talking with Dumbledore Dumbledore doesn't directly answer Harry's question, but rather describes under what circumstances a person could collect the Philosopher's Stone from the mirror. Did Harry have to do anything to retrieve the stone, such as reach into the mirror and take it? If not, what kind of magic could have removed the stone from the mirror and put it into Harry's possession? A canon-based answer is preferred, such as the books, interviews with J.K. Rowling, or info from Pottermore, but subjective answers within the

In Starcraft, the terrans are obviously humans, and Zerg are obviously inspired by Alien . Is there any particular inspiration source for the Protoss ? The answer would either present a source credited by a Blizzard official talk or would present a Scifi work that predates the development of Starcraft (1995) and in which there is a race that definitely reminds the Protoss. Answer Focusing on the gameplay angle rather than the storyline, the abilities of the Protoss somewhat match that of the "psychic warrior" class of Dungeons and Dragons . However, it has been argued that all three races are a ripoff of warhammer 40K stemming from a failed deal between blizzard and the Warhammer franchise . As Kalissar mentions below, Warcraft was born out of a similar failure by Blizzard to license Warhammer. Others claim the Warhammer40k connection is a myth, but both visuals and the crystal & energy backstory make the Starcraft Protoss and the W40K Eldar seem very similar. They are

In one of Harry's dementor-induced flashbacks, he presumably hears his mother protesting against Voldemort: Harry was falling again through thick white fog, and his mother’s voice was louder than ever, echoing inside his head – ‘Not Harry! Not Harry! Please – I’ll do anything –’ ‘Stand aside – stand aside, girl –’ ‘Harry!’ Voldemort tells her to stand aside - why did he not just kill her? Answer Because Snape asked him nicely. After Snape overheard the part of the prophecy he did, he told Voldemort about it. Voldemort determined it referred to Lily's child, and Snape asked him to spare her. Then he went the extra step and told Dumbledore in an effort to save her. Per Snape's memories in Book the Seventh: 'Well, Severus? What message does Lord Voldemort have for me? 'No - No message - I'm here on my own account! ... 'I - I come with a warning - no, a request - please -' ... 'What request could a Death Eater make of me?' 'The - the prophecy..

The only prison that I can remember being mentioned in Harry Potter is Azkaban. Some simple research indicates one person was imprisoned for owning Sphinxes and Hagrid was sent there, apparently as a precautionary measure, after the re-opening of the Chamber of Secrets. This implies that even though living in Azkaban is a terrible ordeal, that it's possible to be sent there for smaller crimes. Are there other prisons in the magical world, or is Azkaban the only one? And if there are, has JKR ever made any comments about why one would be sent to Azkaban as opposed to another prison? Are there also prisons that might be more like a "minimum security" setup without dementors for lesser crimes? Answer No. We know at least of Nurmengard, where Gellert Grindelwald is imprisoned. Voldemort visits (that's probably an overly kind description) Grindelwald in his cell in search of the Elder Wand. From the HP Lexicon: A towering, "jet-black" wizarding prison built by

Canonically, Cyclops's optic blast causes a concussive blast while there is no noticeable opposed force on his face as some sort of recoil. Does this mean that he could use his optic blasts as some form of propulsion? Image credit to: http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=301537 Answer Cyclop's eyes (in later canon) are actually interdimensional portals, gateways to a dimension full of this strange concussive energy. When his eyes are open this energy will continuously spill out if not blocked by a special quartz lens as in his visor or his sunglasses, which will nullify it, same thing with his body like hands and eyelids. Since the force does not actually originate from his head, Cyclops doesn't feel any recoil and can use his beams to apply as much force as he can muster on any object without affecting himself. It's thus entirely possible for him to apply a force to an object that he holds and fly away with it.

In the Chamber of Secrets, Tom used Harry's wand to cast Flagrante to spell out ‘Tom Marvolo Riddle’ and unscramble it to ‘I am Lord Voldemort’. If he was able to cast any spell with Harry's wand, why didn't he try to stop Harry from destroying the diary? He could have even petrified Harry and then let the Basilisk finish him. Even while Fawkes was healing Harry after he got poisoned by the Basilisk he's just watching and shouting. Get away, bird. Get away from him — I said, get away. It seems he forgot that he was a wizard...he raised the wand after the healing completed. Even after that he was not fast enough. So why didn’t he just immediately kill Harry himself? Answer I think that the premise went like this: Ginny has been writing on the diary for quite a while. Turns out she's been writing, all the time, about how the famous Harry Potter defeated the Dark Lord - as a baby. If the baby Harry destroyed Voldemort, knowing this, would Tom Riddle dare try again,

I vaguely remember a SciFi novel from my younger days, where scientists discover "alternative" forms of power beside electromagnetism. I do not remember the specific forms, but it was something along the lines of "electrogravity", "magnetogravity" etc. -- you get the idea. If I remember correctly, the effects of these power forms were basically psionic / magic in nature. Unfortunately I remember very little of the actual plot, and couldn't put it into words with any coherency. Some treachery from within the group of scientists, perhaps some involvement of aliens? I cannot really remember. I just remember I enjoyed the story very much, and would like to re-read it. The title could be "The fifth column" or similar -- then again I might be confusing two seperate novels. I know that's not much, sorry. Anyone remembers this? Answer This sounds like Robert Heinlein's Sixth Column : A top secret research facility hidden in the Colorado mo

Elrond (who was 50% Elven) lived well over 6,000 years before departing Middle-Earth. Because of his distant Elven lineage Aragorn lived over 200 years before he died. As a 3/4 elf Arwen was immortal and lived for 2901 years before dying of grief (after the death of Aragon). Their son Eldarion would have been at least 37.5% elven. Should he expect his lifespan to be somewhere between Arwen's and Aragorn's? Or does he have enough elven blood to live forever? Answer As you may know, Elrond and his brother, Elros, were half-elven , the sons of Eärendil and Elwing. The Valar gave them (along with the other living half-elves) the choice to follow either the path of the Elves or the path of Man. Elrond chose his elven side, remaining immortal, and Elros chose the Gift of Men and becoming the first King of Númenor. His line did not have a choice and were all thereafter mortal men, though with a very long life span (and some of his descendants, especially in later years, begrudged hi

I'm trying to identify a novel about an alien race coming to Earth. They are rabbit-like. I thought it was Niven or Pournell but I cannot remember the title. It was Quotzal or something like that.

"From one to another, another to one. A mark of one's destiny singled out alone, fulfilled." — Star Swirl the Bearded's unfinished spell In Magical Mystery Cure , Princess Celestia sends Twilight Sparkle the spell to make sense of. Not knowing what would happen, the spell is read out loud - to disastrous effect. It was my interpretation that Twilight Sparkle's ability to complete the spell was the final action prompting Princess Celestia to choose Twilight Sparkle as the next princess. But "completing the spell" really just put everything back to the way it was before the incomplete spell was cast. What was the spell that Star Swirl was working on supposed to do? Answer According to a report of a Q&A with the show's writers , when asked what the intent of Star Swirl's spell was, they answered: We never went that far into it.

In "The 13th Floor" person A experiences a simulation of person B's body and world. If person B dies while person A is experiencing their world, person A's sense of self is destroyed and person B then takes their place and wakes up in person A's body. This can happen on as many levels as possible in terms of simulations within simulations. In "The 13th Floor" what happened was person A (physical world) took host of person B from time to time. Person B was taking host of person C from time to time. Person B realizes he is inside a simulation himself and is killed while being hosted by person A but wakes up as person A in the real world. I never understood the explanation for that. When you think of the brain it is comprised of trillions of organic connections that are created over a substantial period of time. They are not able to be rearranged in a sudden blink of time. It seems absurd in this case to believe a plausible technology of virtual reality and

My little brother claims that the dwarves in The Lord of the Rings were created out of jealousy by one of the Valar who looked at what the others had created (namely, Elves) and said "I should have my own people", and made the Dwarves. I trust him, since he's read the books many, many more times then I have, as well as the appendices. He claims this assumption is from the Silmarillion , which I have not read. Is he correct? Answer They weren't created out of jealousy, but out of impatience. In chapter 2 of the Quenta Silmarillion , it says: It is told that in their beginning the Dwarves were made by Aulë in the darkness of Middle-earth; for so greatly did Aulë desire the coming of the Children, to have learners to whom he could teach his lore and his crafts, that he was unwilling to await the fulfillment of the designs of Iluvatar. And later, when Ilúvatar found out about his creation and asked him why he acted beyond his authority: Then Aulë answered: 'I did