IIRC, the biggest uncertainty is about the singularity. I don’t know if it’s still true, but my understanding was that the consensus is that it isn’t really a true point of infinitely dense mass. That is how our current models say it must be, but many assumed our current models are incomplete and that more accurate ones will show that it must have some volume. And given the extreme nature of them, any updates to our models might have some significant repercussions in other aspects of them too.

I mean, the obvious answer is instead of trying to divvy the sovereign nation between them, they should have stood up for them and defended them when the Nazis rolled in. Barring that, they should have liberated them, then left them the fuck alone. Even a stopped clock is right sometimes, this comparison is pretty clearly silly. They weren’t lamenting the lives of Nazis lost in the battle to push them out of Poland. They were lamenting the lives of the Poles after falling under the Russian boot, after the battles were won.

Dietary calcium is great for preventing stones, actually. Calcium is bound to a couple different things that cause stones, but the body actually makes those things specifically to bind with calcium. When it happens where it is supposed to, this is a good thing. If you are low on calcium, these things get flushed, and may get trapped in the kidney. Then any calcium that passes through may bind to it. Having higher calcium intake helps prevent them from building up in the kidneys to begin with. Though extremely high amounts of calcium from vitamin supplements etc can increase the risk of getting stones, but high calcium diet is one of the best defenses against them.

It is actually not an excess of calcium that’s usually the problem, calcium deficiency is actually a greater risk for most. While yes, the most common types are both chemicals that are in part calcium, the body is meant to produce them, just in different parts of the body. Usually, a deficiency in calcium allows those other compounds that should be used up in other places to be flushed through the kidneys, possibly building up. Then incidental calcium that does move through the kidney binds to them there. Higher dietary calcium intake is associated with a sharp decline in stone risk, though extremely high intakes from vitamin supplements etc do increase risk. But in general, it is an excess of the things that bind to calcium that are the things to avoid, apparently almonds are pretty much the worse thing ever, with a fairly distant second being chocolate.

I mean the graph starts in 09, and Chrome launched in 08. I assume that did more to them, but both were probably notable.

In the book, he and Gandalf were planning the party for months. The whole thing was his plan from the beginning.

But fish don’t exist.

I never got that. Surely, it’s nearly as likely to divert an asteroid that would miss us to a course that would hit us as it is to do the opposite, right? The number that are actually trapped/impacted is a tiny percentage, and then the percentage of those that would have hit us must be a small percentage of that, is it really enough to be statistically significant?

It’s one power the ring posses. I think Galadriel implied that, with training, Frodo would be able to turn that automatic function off, and access more powers. But the process of learning to use it would inherently corrupt whoever attempted it. I always took it to mean that the ring gathered power from the Unseen world, and so someone with no presence there and without the ability to manipulate it would be inherently dragged in, but it’s not a core aspect or intended design, and nullifying that would not be a hindrance to using it. It’s just a bug turned feature for folks that want to remain unseen.

Assassination > WWI > Hitler’s rise/WWII > US reconstruction of Japan and merging cultures > Anime. Tracks.

Gandalf’s danger didn’t come from raw power though. Olorin was considered the mightiest Maia they could send, but Olorin’s power was greatly diminished when he became Gandalf. The danger Gandalf presented was due to his ability to inspire and organize the mortal races, not in his prowess or main force.

I think so long as you maintain consciousness that issue is fairly null in this particular circumstance. There’s lots of tolerance for changes in thought while maintaining the same self, see many brain damage victims. So long as there is minimal change in personality, there are lots of other circumstances that have a stronger case for killing one person and having a new person replace them due to change of consciousness, imo, I don’t think most people would consider a brain damaged person killed and replaced by a new consciousness, or a drug addiction with radically altered brain chemistry, etc.

I don’t see an issue with that. A prolonged brain surgery that meticulously replaces each part with a mechanical equivalent in sequence. Could probably remain conscious the whole time.

Well, Istari were bot full power Maiar, that was kind of the point. Honestly, there may have been some elves from earlier ages that were stronger than some of the wizards.