Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with hypothetical

Where in Chicago can someone get in a bit of trouble?

arniec — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:46:38 -0800

Where do young adults (late teens, early 20s) "hang out" in Chicago? I'm asking trying to find a setting for a piece of fiction. While I'm familiar with Chicago geography I'm not familiar with any "hang out" spots for the younger set.

I'm specifically looking for areas that might be full of carousing, perhaps some disorderly behavior, but not often full blown violence, just the type of trouble people of that age tend to get into when drinking (either too much of legal age, or perhaps underage), etc. but not specifically a bar row; something that would also bring about the under 21 set.

For example, growing up in my much smaller city we had a road called "The strip" where on weekend nights teens would get together, hang out, sneak drinks, etc. Much like the activities witnessed in the movie Dazed and Confused.

In my story a character in his mid-teens is moving to the Chicago area in summer. Need a locale where he could interact with others his age and older, sometimes encountering "regulars" there, and getting in a bit of trouble.

Yes, I could create one that is completely fictional, but I am hoping to utilize real Chicago landmarks and areas whenever possible.

What would someone who is blind experience when under the effects of LSD?

peregrine81 — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 19:19:44 -0800

What would someone who is blind experience when under the effects of LSD?

How will stealth air combat work?

wilful — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 22:02:03 -0800

What happens when two stealth fighters attempt combat? Obviously the only true generation 5 all-aspect stealth fighter that we know of is the F-22. However, one day in the future this should change, and it's highly conceivable that two stealth fighters will want to shoot each other down.

If the stealth aspects are working as claimed, air-to-air missiles aren't going to be any use. So will they have to attempt exchange of cannon fire at high speed? Within visual range, having been guided there by ground-based low-frequency radars?

A bit WW1 isn't it? I'm sure it's not keeping too many aeroplane designers awake at night, it's still decades away, but...

How would a very large cash deposit affect a small bank?

ShawnString — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:12:47 -0800

Lets say you win a very large lottery (ie +$50 Mil), and you decide to just take the whole thing in to your local small town bank, what would that large of a deposit to do the bank?

It's not that I don't trust you... I just don't trust HER.

Annon E Moose — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 13:56:13 -0800

To what extent could sleeping with my ex-girlfriend, who is now very firmly just a friend, jeopardize the acceptability/reasonability of said relationship to any future potential girlfriends? First let me start by saying that I'm asking a very specific and focused question here. Please address it instead of what you think the issue should be. If you've got something substantial to say about the question but want to add a minor point about the collateral stuff feel free but please don't waste your time to tell me "that friends with benefits is impossible," or anything like that.

Okay so here are the details.
* I am a guy in my mid twenties and finishing graduate school.

* The Ex and I dated for almost 4 years. We broke up because the way our relationship developed in each others eyes we were Mr. Buzzkill and Ms. Irresponsible respectively, and those roles only grew more intense as the years went on with no sign of slowing.

* After we broke up we didn't really speak for about a year; however, at one point we arranged to meet up. After trudging through the obligatory awkward conversation to feel each other out, it was like instantly becoming best friends.

* That was about a year and a half ago and we're still very good friends. We talk about everything including each other's sex lives. We'll hang out in a group or she'll just come over, hangout and drink, sometimes to excess. (We don't fool around.)

Now as it stands, my relationship with her is very important to me. When I date women, I make sure to mention the Ex's existence, the duration of the relationship, and I also make it very clear that we're close, often hangout one on one, but would never get back together again. (I don't blurt it out awkwardly or anything, people tend to ask enough about previous relationships that it finds it's way out, before I enter into an exclusive relationship.)

As far as I'm concerned, my relationship with the Ex is perfectly reasonable and I should never have to choose between my friendship with my Ex (as it stands) and a future relationship as long as I've disclosed all this information up front before getting seriously involved with someone. Like many people on this site have advised, if they have a problem with it, they don't have to date me.

Recent development:

* In regards to talking about sex, her biggest complaint is how little time she really has compared to how long it takes to get comfortable with someone to let them get physical with her. It doesn't help that the last couple just weren't very good in that department. (For whatever reason she's really not interested in relationships right now; it's a "freedom of being single" thing.)

* The next time we hangout she suggests that we could hook up and I turn her down. While I have secondary concerns that it could damage our friendship, my main concern is something 100% hypothetical

Would sleeping with my Ex change the acceptability of our friendship (including one-on-one hanging out) to hypothetical future relationships? As I mentioned supra, I wouldn't have ANY problem holding my ground and getting a woman to accept that the Ex and I are now close friends whom won't be getting back into a relationship or hooking up just because we drink around one another. That in itself has been tried and tested to be true. Now, sleeping with the Ex wouldn't change any of those things in reality, it's just a situation based in convenience because I'll be leaving soon and she'd like a "sure thing good time." (And yes that's a great ego boost.)

The problem is, I think adding the fact that we started sleeping together outside of our relationship, even long after it was over, would be the thing I wouldn't be able to justify. I'm not sure but I think that if I was in that situation, that additional fact would probably make me uncomfortable with the relationship.

It all boils down to 4 months of sex isn't worth losing the future of my relationship with my Ex. Problem is I can't tell if that added detail would make as much of a difference to a future partner as I think it would. I've had the few people I've mentioned this to amazed that I would ever hold back due to this concern. What does the hive mind think?

What would happen if you could create a perfect two-way mirror into a sphere?

Lownotes — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 06:37:01 -0800

What would happen if you could create a perfect two-way mirror into a sphere? Imagine a hypothetical perfect two-way mirror. All light passes through one side, no light can penetrate the other.

Now, make it into a sphere with the mirrored surface on the inside.

What will happen as it collects light? Will it collect light forever? Will it fill up and burst like a supernova? How would it look to an outside observer?

Oh, that's a zombie.

ikkyu2 — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 12:52:22 -0800

Please list visual traits that identify zombies. If I were looking at a humanoid, or a picture of a humanoid, what visual traits would quickly alert me that I was looking at a zombie?

I don't mean behaviors (such as eating brains); I mean features of a static image that I could glance at quickly and immediately think to myself, "Oh, that's a zombie." Or, if I were drawing a zombie, things I could include so that the viewer of my art would immediately identify the image: "Oh, that's a zombie."

Could you be charged with your own botched murder?

chudmonkey — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 13:57:38 -0800

HypotheticalLegalFilter: In a particular scenario, could the victim of a botched murder be charged with the murder? Details inside. Adam is a shop owner, and Ben is an insurance agent. Adam and Ben hatch an insurance scam in which Adam will make a false claim after a faked robbery, Ben will ensure his company pays out, and the two will share the profits.

Adam decides that his fake robbery is so fool-proof that he doesn't need Ben to ensure the insurance pay-out and decides to kill Ben instead. However, Adam accidentally kills random stranger Charlie instead of Ben when he confuses the two.

Here's my hypothetical legal question: Could Ben be charged in conjunction with Charlie's murder?

I've been thinking of it this way: If Charlie's murder is capital murder because it was perpetrated as an ancillary to the insurance fraud, and if Adam and Ben were co-conspirators in the fraud, then Ben could face a capital murder charge, even though he was the intended victim of the murder.

I get pretty much all my knowledge of criminal law from TV and novels, and the scenario above is also from a TV show I once watched. I'd really appreciate knowing if my theory as to the charges is possible, complete nonsense, or anywhere in between.

I am not actually going to Cuba

medium format — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 05:23:01 -0800

Hypotheticafilter: If my wife (UK Citizen) pays for everything on a trip to Cuba from the UK, will I (US Citizen) still be guilty of "Engaging in Trade with an Enemy"? The legal issues of US citizens going to Cuba has been raised here (and elsewhere) many times before and I'm pretty sure I understand the basic rule:
USians are not prohibited from actually setting foot on Cuban soil, just from giving them any money for anything. There are exceptions for people acquiring special licenses.

So let's eliminate the "if"s and "but"s. Were we to travel from the UK to Cuba for a holiday and have my wife pay for the hotels, meals, trinkets, curios, mojitos, and cigars using her named UK Bank card, have I broken any of the Department of Treasury's regulations? Let's say I don't even take my wallet and never handle any cash or coin.

We return to the UK and then at some point in the future go back to the US to visit or even live. (Now I know that in most cases, Cuban officials no longer stamp US Passports, but let's say they did) Am I going to have hell to pay? How would I prove that I didn't actually spend any money? Is my wife grandfathered under the US restriction because we share a bank account?

How about something more simple... Would I get in trouble for smoking a Cuban cigar in the UK? (not that I'm saying I did, just askin')

Crime, Web 2.0 Style

chudmonkey — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 13:56:36 -0800

ShadyDealingsFilter: Since I've read some how-to's on cyberstalking and murder and such here lately, I have a hypothetical question about criminal fund-raising... I'm no criminal mastermind, but I do have a hypothetical premise in my mind that might make a good story if some realistic mechanics could be worked out. Hence:

Let's say you wanted to commit a criminal act, but needed a signifigant amount of money to successfully commit the act. Let's say the commision of the act was the important thing, and that getting caught afterward would be acceptible, if not preferable. Let's say the nature of the crime is such that international law-enforcement would cooperate to prevent it, but that it couldn't be 100% preventable, even with advance warning. Let's say that you don't have access to any large sources of money, but that the criminal act would be endorsed by/popular amongst a large segment of the world population.

Using the internet or otherwise, could you realistically announce your intent to commit a crimimal act and solicit funding from a worldwide audience, while mainaining your anonymity and the anonymity of any "donors" throughout the financial transactions and the investigations of motivated police agencies?

In short: could you setup an anti-charity and collect money for bad deeds instead of good, without lying about your motivations, without exposing every donor to conspiracy charges and without getting caught before you finish?

Can God change the past?

cillit bang — Mon, 21 Nov 2005 10:06:15 -0800

Can God change the past? Serious theological answers please.

A World With no Moon

TheGoldenOne — Tue, 24 May 2005 11:32:29 -0800

After a long and ridiculously heated quasi-scientific discussion last night, I absolutely must know: what would happen to life on earth if the moon suddenly disappeared? I say the results would be disastrous, but my friend doesn't think it would matter much. I'd be interested to know who is more accurate in her assessment and the specific problems associated with a moonless earth.

A cubic world?

ac — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 13:29:20 -0800

What would a cubic world be like? What if there was an object, like a planet, that was the size and mass of the earth, except that it was a perfect cube, with perfectly flat edges and perfectly cut corners. What would the gravity and the experience of living on this object be like? What would the horizon look like? Could something orbit it without hitting the corners? And most interestingly, what would happen if one stood at the very edge: what would it look like? What would happen if you stepped off? What would the sky look like?

Tubes? In spaaaaaace?

punkbitch — Thu, 20 Jan 2005 17:29:29 -0800

What would happen if someone were to build a tunnel or tube into space? (Description inside...) What I'm imagining is a collapsible tube made out of an ultra-strong material that a rocket would "erect into space." Huh? Well, what if a rocket, attached to this tube material (which could collapse onto itself like those collapsable cups) blasted off into space.

Basically . . . if there were a tube that connected the ground with outerspace . . .what properties would it exhibit? Would the atmosphere remain the same inside the tube as it is outside? Would this create a vacuum? Could we throw our garbage into orbit . . .or better . . . out of orbit? Thanks Mefites!

What is the penalty for escaping from prison if you prove your initial innocence?

John Kenneth Fisher — Wed, 29 Dec 2004 21:57:27 -0800

DrRichardKimbleFilter:

A man is arrested for murder, and appears absolutely 100% sure to be convicted. He then escapes from prison (assume no one is hurt or property damaged in the escape,) tracks down the real killer, and proves beyond any doubt whatsoever that he is innocent as all hell, and all murder charges were dropped.

How much trouble is this guy going to be in for escaping? What fate awaits him?

Asking both the strictly legal answer, and thoughts on what would actually end up happening.

Criminal Minds

John Kenneth Fisher — Sat, 13 Nov 2004 21:04:34 -0800

"Kill the president... or your daughter dies!"

Does the assassin have a legal leg to stand on? [more inside.... or your daughter dies!] In a number of movies/television shows, a person's loved ones are kidnapped, and the person is told they have to kill a third party to save their family.

Now imagine someone were forced to do this and actually committed the murder. Now they are on trial, and are arguing some form of self-defense based on saving their loved one. Also assume that there is enough supporting evidence that the person's story is not written off out of hand.

Do they have a legal leg to stand on?

Experiments

Tlogmer — Mon, 19 Jul 2004 16:07:08 -0800

Hey Tommy, if a spring is bound and dropped into a vat of acid which dissolves it instantly, what happens to the spring's potential energy?

(If you haven't seen the comic before, you should start at the beginning.)

Can You Keep a Severed Head Alive?

wackybrit — Thu, 15 Jul 2004 13:22:40 -0800

MedFilter: Is there any reason why, with an enriched blood supply attached, a severed head couldn't be kept alive? If so, could it be kept alive beyond typical life expectancy? The only worthwhile attempt at an answer I can dig up is this, but I imagine this question comes up in med school quite a lot.. (There is a particularly kookie book called If We Can Keep A Severed Head Alive.. on this topic but it's generally regarded as 'nut literature'.)

What are the ethical consequences of using up an uninhabited planet?

crumbly — Mon, 21 Jun 2004 09:54:18 -0800

What are the ethical consequences of "raping" a lifeless planet like Mercury or Venus of its natural resources. Assuming there's a way to establish with absolute certainty that there is no life on, above, or inside the planet, and with the understanding that we won't remove more than .001 percent (or some reasonable number) of its total mass, what's the problem?

Could a nuke make Yellowstone Caldera erupt?

troutfishing — Tue, 04 May 2004 09:19:43 -0800

Could a small nuclear device, sunk to the bottom of Yellowstone lake and detonated, actually cause the Yellowstone super-caldera to erupt? (more inside)