You wake up, wherever you were and however old you were on Monday morning, 21^st October 2013.

You fuzzily recall an elaborate dream you had, of yourself in the distant year of 2026. It was a strangely realistic dream, unsettlingly so, but it must have been a dream, after all, you're awake now...

How would you feel about this? And what would you do?

You have led an incredibly blessed life. You are married and the last 14 years has been whirlwind of meeting your spouse, marrying, and leading the most extraordinary life together. You don’t have any kids, but you live a very fulfilled life with your loving spouse. And you are wealthy beyond your dreams.

Then one night you wake up and your spouse is gone. You go downstairs and find them drunk and crying. You’ve never seen them like this. When you ask what’s wrong, they break down and start confessing the most fantastic story.

Your spouse tells you they made a deal with a Genie in another life. Your spouse tells you that in another life, they were your stalker and you had been happily married with kids with another person. Genie had granted them their consciousness to be sent back 14 years to the past. At that point in time, you were unmarried. And at that time, they came into your life and they knew all the right things to say and do and just swept you off your feet.

Your spouse said part of the deal with Genie was that after 14 years, they must tell the spouse what they did. And at that point, the spouse (you) will be given opportunity to stay in your current life and live “happily” ever after. Or you can reject this manufactured life and Genie will send your consciousness back 14 years in the past so that you can restore your own original destiny.

How do you choose? Stay in your fairy tale life? Or get sent back and make your own life? If you choose to get sent back, you will not have memory of this manufactured life and your life will most likely follow the original pre-Genie life you originally led.

A slave for your step-mum like Cinderella or Snow White? A life as a swan like Odette?

You can pick any fairytale princess (from any culture and time period), but it has to be true to their original story, so no Disney storylines.

You have free will in these storylines but the main plot points must be hit. After you reach your happily ever after, you are receive the £500,000 and go back to your original life. However you have all the memories from your fairytale life, including any trauma.

Who are you choosing, and why?

EDIT: In case it wasn’t clear, that means no original Disney characters. For instance Vanellope Von Schweetz (shoutout the user who commented this, I too wish to live in a candy world), Anna, Elsa, Moana etc.

You and one person of your choice have been offered $10 million to drive across the United States, from Eastport, Maine, to Cape Flattery, Washington.

There’s just one catch: you must complete the journey in one continuous trip, and you’re not allowed to stop for more than one hour at a time.

The Rules

1. You must bring a partner.

You can choose anyone you want, and you can take turns driving so the other person can rest. However, you must complete the journey together unless a medical emergency forces one of you to leave.

2. You get one-hour breaks.

You can stop to refuel, buy food and drinks, use the bathroom or pick up supplies, but once your hour is up, you must continue driving.

An hour per day, that’s all that’s allowed

3. You receive no money upfront.

You must pay for everything yourself, including your vehicle, fuel, food and tolls. You’re allowed to use your savings, take out loans or use credit cards, but the organisers won’t give you a penny until you finish.

4. You can choose your vehicle.

Your options are a standard two-seater, an SUV, a van, a long-haul truck, a bus or an RV. Each has its advantages and disadvantages, and you cannot switch vehicles once the challenge begins.

5. Weather emergencies can change your route.

If a major weather emergency affects an area you’re travelling through, you’ll be redirected around it, even if that adds hundreds of miles to your journey.

6. Getting pulled over doesn’t mean you’ve lost.

You can receive a ticket, but once the police let you go, you can continue. However, if your vehicle breaks down, you’ll have to fix it yourself using the tools provided. If it’s damaged beyond repair or you can’t get it running again, the challenge is over.

7. Medical emergencies are treated differently.

If either of you suffers a medical emergency, that person will be taken to hospital. The other person can either quit or continue alone. If they successfully finish the journey, the $10 million will still be split equally between you, meaning you each receive $5 million.

The Prize

Once you reach Cape Flattery, Washington, the $10 million is deposited into your bank account. But if you fail to complete the challenge, you get nothing.
You have to finance the entire trip yourself, deal with thousands of miles of driving and handle whatever problems come your way.

So, would you accept the challenge for $10 million?

You don’t know who or what Bob is. He just looks like an average man. I suppose you could try to force him. Who knows, maybe he’ll comply if you can beat him.

Besides that you don’t know what argument will convince him. Might as well give it your best shot.

And he will turn the Sun back on if you’re successful. And leave never to be seen again.

There’s no real time limit, but after a few days the temperature obviously will have dropped a lot, and after some weeks a lot of things would be in trouble.

If you do nothing or fail the Sun will remain off.

What do you do?

(If you are already disabled you can also get this passive income but you must choose another disability.)

You have been visited by a Reddit magician. After you first forget reading this thread, from then on: Every day, at midnight, if you have not thought about having previously read this thread, your bank balance grows by $50. The money is after taxes and adjusts automatically for inflation.

When the $50 increase hits, there is no notification whatsoever; and even if you do notice the increase, but don't connect the dots to this hypothetical, the payments still continue. However, the first time you are reminded of this specific Reddit thread, whether by figuring out that this is the cause of your regular windfalls, or by finding it again on the Internet somehow, the deal is off.

How much are you walking away with?

(Let's say it's a very powerful strength, you can lift objects that can be millions of pounds, your absolute limit of what you can carry is the entirety of North America continent, your basically real life Popeye, you can even hurl a simple rock All the way to the moon in 5 seconds.)

it's very op, very powerful, you won't lose this power at all, you have all the strength control to move and crush what you want or limiting your strength to just lift simple heavy stuff over your head like a fridge or a car, and it comes with increased durability so powerful not even the vacuum of space or a nuclear bomb cant even give you the sniffles.

But really think about all of this power being used in reality, do you think if you personally got such an ability, would you be afraid to use it and show it, or try being the world's first hero? or maybe just using it for your own personal matters?

You get 50€ tax free deposited into your banking account per a minor inconvenience you pick. Pick then all, pick one, pick none.

1. Your shirt sleeve is always damp. If you go shirtless, it will be your pant leg. If you are naked, i guess you’re fine.

2. You are disliked and even sometimes attacked by any animal you come across. Street dogs and cats will hiss and bark at you. Even your own pet. Not applicable to insects.

3. Each meal you eat will be a bit bland, no “explosion of taste”. Mineral water or soda won’t have that crunchy nip on your throat, even if they are chilled to perfection.

4. Your body temperature varies, you are always a bit too hot or a bit too cold. It won’t inhibit you in any way but it’s really unpleasant.

5. Lose a random sense for five minutes a day. Sure, maybe you just lose your sense of smell between 03:05 and 03:10, but maybe you become blind on your after work commute? Would you risk it?

6. You always smell just a bit musty. Clean as you are, the smell lingers on your skin/breath/clothes. Nobody will mention it in front of you but you will know that they know.

7. A random body part itches every 20 minutes. You can try and ignore it but eventually you will have to scratch. It goes away when you’re sleeping and interestingly while you plank!

8. You have a runny nose. It just doesn’t stop! You won’t get soreness in your nose from tissues or anything, but you’re gonna be wiping your nose at least three times an hour.

9. A random person dies every week because of you. When it happens you will know. Could you live with that?

Feel free to mix and match! Loopholes are very encouraged!

A bored billionaire proposes a challenge: show up to work and get yourself fired in whatever way you choose. He’ll watch everything through your Ray-Ban Meta glasses. If you manage to entertain him, he’ll reward you with $10 million, tax-free. He’ll cover all legal expenses for anything you do, and there will be no legal consequences.
The billionaire can also give you suggestions during the livestream from your glasses, telling you what he’d like you to add or change.
If the challenge fails, your legal expenses will still be covered, and he’ll simply find you a new job with the same position and salary.

Edit: To make this more of a challenge, every time you buy multiples of anything, the minimum increases by $200,000,000

Edit 2: The money will be given to you on a debit card. You will not be acquiring interest from it if it just sits in the savings account.

You have you splurge on it at least once a week for a minimum total of $10,000 or the grim reaper comes to claim your soul and you die. If it takes you longer than a week to splurge, you will die.

You can make multiple purchases throughout the week to add up to $10k, so it doesn’t have to be done in a single day.

You can also only spend money, not try to earn more or the grim reaper appears instantly even if you splurged earlier in the week.

There is no stopping the grim reaper if you fail to follow these conditions and you can’t run from it.

Would you accept this challenge? If so, what would you splurge on and how would you ensure it happens every week?

A organization secretly ruling the world from behind the scenes (think illumiati, free-masons, or incogni from the show inside job) came to you with an offer, 20 years of near unlimited wealth and resources, you can do almost anything your heart desires within the realm of realistically possible*,

You could for example, push cancer cures, allocate multiple world government resources to end world hunger and promote ending wars, or spend the 20 years in complete luxury or isolation on a yacht, island, or even in space.

But,

At the end of the 20 years, you and your likeness would become public enemy #1 for an abhorrent crime against humanity. Wether you did it or not, all evidence will lead to you being the sole instigator on top. Nearly every person and government will demand for your public execution. Your children, family and close friends if you have any will carry the results of this public shaming and to their decendants, but will not be exceuted with you.

This organization knows you well, they tell you the only way to avoid this, is during those 20 years, to do something you'd consider the worst act imaginable.

Rules :

1. you cannot reveal the existance of this organization, as any attempt to do so will be immediately known and deterred by a higher counsel
2. You cannot harm, overturn or know the identity of the higher counsel. You cannot demand a higher position or ask for a extension pass the 20 years.
3. You can decline and they will choose someone else. However once you accept the offer, you cannot retract even if you do essentially nothing with the power or wealth.
4. *Realistically possible, meaning you cannot ask for things in the realm of fantasy. They are a organization, not magicians.

Examples: no pet dragons, or pet dinosaurs like jurassic park (but with their resoruces they can build you and island with mechanical one though it would have to be realistic). no super powers, time travels or be a superhero, but you can play one on TV.

1. Depending on the scope, certain demands may take a realistic amount of time to fulfill. (ie, new construction projects, artistic endevors, etc)

2. You cannot order the end of the world, threaten extinction level events. Or end your life prior to the 20 years.

3. Any positive or negative actions taken within the 20 years will continue even after the 20 years are over. ( ex. if you say all universities must be free, public and fully funded, it will continue or until the person selected after you chooses to retract it, you cannot chose who is selected after you.)

4. The organization will have to accept any action or request that doesnt harm them or the offer dealed. If its possible, no matter how unreasonable.

(example: all of humanity must migrate off planet earth into space (this request is technically possible and can be considered unreasonable, the organization must follow through, though it may take far longer then 20 years and your successor you can overturn it)

For the next 20 years you would be nearly unhindered, any good you do will persist, and any bad you do will be completely covered up.

Would you accept their offer? If so, why and what are some ways you would enjoy the 20 years?

Edit:

*One Loophole discovered by SmartassMouth89 in reply regarding "Worst act imaginable"

i can think of a few more.

A superhuman appears on Earth today. They have super strength (500 tons), durability (nothing can harm them in any way), speed (Mach 500), reflexes (nanosecond reaction time), flight (Mach 500), stamina (they never tire), heat vision (500,000 degrees Fahrenheit) and immortality. Their powers can’t be replicated in any way and they are perfectly loyal to a single country’s government.

What country’s government (personal beliefs and morals aside) would have the most interesting results if the superhuman described above was perfectly loyal to them?

You gain the magical ability to instantly inflict the exact physical, financial or emotional damage someone caused you back onto them (e.g., if someone breaks your arm, theirs breaks; if they steal $1,000, they lose $1,000; if they cheat on you, they also get depressed for months wondering where it all went wrong).

However, the magic relies on absolute cosmic justice: if you use it on someone, you are legally stripped of the right to take them to court or involve the police.

Do you use this power, or stick to the human legal system?

A slightly chubby orange wizard cat appears in your bedroom at 12 AM. He offers you 1 million USD but with a catch; you have to spend it all within 24 hours or you die. You get to keep everything at the end if you survive. You can't tell anyone about this deal. Here are the rules:

• No giving away money for free
• No paying your family or friends for services or products
• No asking people to raise prices
• No paying yourself
• No donating to charities
• Any products you buy must be in your possession within the 24 hour time frame or it won't count (For example: buying a million water bottles won't count until you have all million physically delivered and in your possession)
• Any services you buy must be rendered and completed with the 24 hour time frame or it won't count

Would you accept? What would you spend it on?

There is now a door in the side if your bed room. Inside is God. Big G god. You are free to enter the room whenever your wish and if you do so you can ask God questions, and will receive the 100% truth. However the cost for entering the room is “something irreplaceable”. This could be anything. Could be your parents, a child, your memories of your first love, your genitals, your eyesight. Anything. Once inside the room you can stay and ask as many questions for as long as you wish. Payment only occurs once per entry.

Do you enter the room? How many times? Do you allow others to enter the room?

$100 every day (magically tax free) but you need to watch the Happy birthday Mr President scene from breaking bad, looped, for at least 15min everyday. once you start your 15min you cant pause or stop to finish it later in same day. And no distractions, must watch in earnest. If you miss a day you lose the deal.

You got two options for doing it:

1. You let them and everybody know it was you, but they will 100% retaliate when they get out of prison and most likely have you physically harmed (but not killed) or cause you a huge financial setback yourself, though not as severely as you do to them because you'll still keep your job, but they'll never be able to work in that same field ever again. Everyone will know you finally got your revenge and they will stop laughing at you for the way you were humiliated.

2. You don't let them know it was you. No one ever finds out. They lose their career, life savings, and go to prison. Their reputation is ruined. They can never work in that field ever again and will have to go work in fast food or other minimum wage jobs starting from the bottom. Basically, the same as the previous situation, but you don't have the satisfaction of them (and everyone else) knowing it was you who ruined their life financially. Everyone will still laugh at you because of how you were humiliated. It's basically:

Public revenge w/ negative consequences

vs

Silent revenge w/ no repercussions

Each day, during a conversation, you will randomly substitute one word for a completely unrelated word that happens to sound somewhat similar. For example, if you mean to say, “let’s get together this weekend,” you may instead say “let’s get tomato this weekend.” Or if you want to say, “I am going to pickup food from a restaurant,” you may instead say, “I am going to pickup food from a reservoir.” The substituted word will not be profane or discriminatory in any way.
The person you are talking to will know exactly what you actually said (they may understand what you meant to say, or they may not). You will immediately realize your mistake. This curse will only apply to conversations, whether in-person or on a phone/video call, you are having with another non-deaf, living human being who can fluently speak the language you are speaking. You can’t lie in bed and speak to yourself for an hour in hopes that the curse will happen then. Or speak to your two-month old and hope you misspeak then.
If you do not speak to another person for the entire day, you will not earn any money that day. This curse can be turned off three days a year, but you must pay $1000 each time. The curse will occur every other day.

What do you do?

Nobody can see, hear, touch, or perceive you. You become a disembodied mind and can travel the universe at the speed of thought — you can even travel in time (strictly the past). It’s just a question of how long you can go without human connection. When you do finally decide to throw the towel in, you return right where you were a second after you agreed to the challenge.

• The future version of you is living out the exact timeline created by your current choices. However, every time you call them to ask for advice (like stock picks, lottery numbers, or who to marry), the future changes. This means the information they give you might become instantly obsolete for your next call.

• The future you will always take your call and answer every question you have truthfully and without deception. If they are trying to protect or warn you about something, they will always tell you everything without withholding any key information or trying to spare your feelings.

• Your magic smartphone never breaks, but cannot be sold, studied or used in any other way than to communicate with your future self. You can speak to yourself using voice or video chat, but any other means of communication (like texting or exchanging pictures) fail. Future you can't call you or leave information or clues about the future for you to find.

• How do you budget your 60 minutes? Do you use it all at once to get a massive info-dump, or call for 1 minute every few months? How do you handle it if your future self picks up the phone and sounds completely miserable or terrified?

However the stranger just won't give you the cash and instead they'll leave the cash in a random spot in the town you live in.

Clues will be sent at a random time to your phone every 3 days of where the money is located. You'll have to be quick about it as anyone else could find the cash and take it.

You will never know how much cash was left for you until you find it.

Would you accept this offer?

This hypothetical was inspired by this Onion article.

A politician is somehow endowed with the supernatural ability to charm voters simply by saying their name on TV. If any television broadcast in the voting region includes a clip of this politician uttering a full name, then all eligible voters in the region with that full name will choose to vote for this politician; all unaffected voters will vote against them. The entire name (first and last) must actually be uttered by the politician in the broadcast, whether it's on a live interview, an advertisement, or a recorded segment of some kind. This effect only takes place once the politician has actually declared their candidacy in an upcoming election.

What level of political office could this person reach in the U.S.? What might the optimal strategy be?