S

My local favorite is apple slices+bacon, it’s the best.

I mean, that didn’t stop kids from going to fight in Iraq.

When I went to price it out at the store, the line for a dumb phone was going to cost $30/mo more than a smart phone. It was dumb.

Another method: tax is often about 8%, so double that as a baseline and adjust from there.

Not exactly fantasy, but Great Expectations by Dickens has a boy who grows up totally normal and then has his life transformed by a mysterious benefactor. It doesn’t go the way the kid expects.

Also, Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive & Tress and the Emerald Sea feature kinds of magic that can be accessible by anyone if they engage with it right. So perhaps give those a go. SA is a long series, but Tress is pretty approachable.

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Probably something like this

Yeah, a real “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” situation there (for all the If Books Could Kill listeners)

Seconding Magnatiles

Also, marble runs!

Mental health is a squishier standard. Let’s say I had depression and decided to talk to someone about it, get the help I needed to become mentally healthy again. Should that necessarily be penalized if I want to go buy a gun to go out to the range or hunting with my buddies? Should seeking help disqualify someone entirely? Does that prevent people from getting help they think they might need, stigmatizing an already stigmatized practice?

Meanwhile, if Dave down the hill has a record, he’s already shown he was willing to do an illegal thing, whether or not the record is fair. If he already has reports against him for domestic disturbances, that’s pretty cut and dry violent behavior that ought not be allowed to intensify.

I’m not saying mental checks aren’t a good idea or aren’t worth it. I’m saying that they’re a harder sell because a) they take more nuance to formulate well and b) the propaganda machine will have an easier time telling people how those checks are overreach.

If a person killed 8 babies, by definition, they have killed 7, and thus fit the “worst” standard that OP specified.

Your comment led me towards an amusing thought: in the Harry Potter universe, goblins sell things to wizards for the duration of the wizard’s life, but then they expect it to go back to the goblins because ownership works differently for them vs wizards. Wizards don’t always/usually understand or respect that. So… If I ever was in the position to open a brothel, perhaps I’d name it “The Goblin’s Den.” I… Don’t know what kind of clientele that would attract though.

Ah yes, the world wide webiverse. The net. Dialed in. Where you’ve got mail!

Haha, yeah, I don’t agree, but I also really like Dave Rintoul as Darcy… From the old adaptation. So there’s my unpopular opinion. Matthew McFayden will always primarily be the stressed son from “Death at a Funeral” for me.

Friend, the question proposed $500 Million to play with, not $500 thousand. You have a lot more budget to play with.

Cork let go. Cork was… Free.

And then came an explosion of sound.

Lol, this exactly. I tried to make an account 3 different times, each on a different server, couldn’t get sign-up to submit till the third time. I was one of too many trying. Better problem than nobody being here!