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Answer by Danielle Maurer, anthropology major and science fiction fan:

Here are some reasons why I personally consider Tolkien a genius:

• World-building ability: As far as I'm concerned, no one has ever topped Tolkien here. His world has such depth and feel to it. There's always more to explore and more to find out about the people and the places and the things and ... you get the idea. I can and have lost myself for hours in Middle-earth (and Valinor). It takes such a mind-boggling amount of effort to do what he did—and do it well—that I can't help but call the man a genius for it. Relatedly, you have:
• Languages: You can speak Tolkien's languages. It takes a huge amount of talent and ability to create a language, and Tolkien did it more than once. They are beautiful, and many of my favorite moments in Lord of the Rings are the ones that feature Tolkien's insane linguistic talent. If you haven't heard it, for the love of whatever you consider holy, please listen to the man speaking Quenya:

• Story: Tolkien knew what good storytelling looked like. The man was a professor at Oxford and specialized in English language and literature. He knew the Anglo-Saxon classics (like Beowulf, upon the scholarship of which he had a huge influence) and how they have endured through centuries—and you can see their impact in his work. His stories fit in the classic mold for mythology, and they continue to be popular for the same reason that mythological stories still hang around—because we identify with them on a deep, subconscious level. Tolkien was smart enough to recognize that and use it.
• Prose: Being an English scholar, Tolkien had a wonderful head for words. I've heard many people complain that he's long-winded, and I will admit that his long descriptive passages and epic tone are not for everyone. But for me at least, his use of words makes Middle-earth come alive. I can picture everything perfectly in my head in a way that I often can't with other novels. To demonstrate, I took out Return of the King and simply opened the book. I landed on this gorgeous passage from Chapter V (The Steward and the King): "Over the city of Gondor doubt and great dread had hung. Fair weather and clear sun had seemed but a mockery to men whose days held little hope, and who looked each morning for news of doom. Their lord was dead and burned, dead lay the King of Rohan in their citadel, and the new king that had come to them in the night was gone again to a war with powers too dark and terrible for any might or valour to conquer. And no news came" (pg. 970). I only wish I could write that beautifully. It flows. It has such a distinctive tone to it and the feel of legend.

Put all that together, and you get a rare man.

The question details ask for plots that "blew my mind." I honestly don't think I could give you specific examples of Tolkien's "genius" because there would simply be too many.

And it's hard to beat the amount of sheer influence Tolkien has on modern writers. I mean, play a game and reread Harry Potter, keeping track of the scenes/ideas that are lifted from Tolkien. There's a lot of them. He made elves into majestic beings in a way that no one else had really ever done—but which is now standard in the fantasy genre. I will readily acknowledge that I owe at least half (and probably more) of my own fantasy novel to Tolkien, and I can only hope that my books will enjoy a twentieth of the popularity his do.

I don't feel like this answer is adequate enough to express how much of a genius I believe Tolkien is, but hopefully it at least gives you an idea of why I admire Tolkien so much.

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This question originally appeared on Quora.

Answer by Melissa Francis, Author, Diary of a Stage Mother's Daughter::

First of all, I don’t think my story or most of the sad tales you hear about child actors are the fault of the industry. Usually, the problem begins with the type of person that decides to pour his or her ambition into a child and make that child a star. It takes a unique person to be clever, resourceful, ambitious, tenacious, and focused enough to conquer the industry and beat out the massive competition, especially on behalf of their offspring. Unfortunately the qualities that make a killer Sta Mother aren’t necessarily the ones that make a great parent.

That said, if a child has a talent and passion for professional acting, there’s nothing wrong with it. Kids can acquire a great work ethic, confidence, and even make money. Of course the flip side is what he or she may be missing. In my case, I still went to school full time and had regular friends, but that’s rare. A parent also must judge if a child has enough confidence to stand up to the constant rejection.

Professional acting is not the same as starring in a reality show, I would caution. The public judged me for my acting ability. But my soul, my real self, was still kept private. Honey Boo Boo and the stars of Dance Moms and all the others are faced with criticism and even ridicule as themselves. They can’t hide behind the characters they are playing. The public punches holes in their intelligence, appearance, and background. I worry about the impact of that on those kids down the line.

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This question originally appeared on Quora.

Answer by Jonathan Brill, VP of sales at a software startup:

The Moral Hazard of Performance Augmentation

It would be easy to talk about the death of track and cycling as (even limited) American spectator sports, but those aren't easy for Americans to relate to. It is worth noting, however, that for many years, the most important record in track and field was owned by a man who used steroids to achieve it. He may have lost the medal, but it doesn't change the fact that Ben Johnson was the answer to the only question in track that matters, Who is the fastest man on Earth? Until Asafa Powell beat his time 18 years later. The main difference between the infamous Ben Johnson and the rock star Lance Armstrong, the former seven-time winner of the Tour de France (those are now voided, and he's been asked to pay back the prize money), is that only one of them made it his business to be the best in the world at something else: evading detection. In sports where all that matters is pushing the body to achieve an extra few tenths of a second, the moral hazard of whether to use performance enhancing drugs has become too great and gutted the sports of any real integrity. And those sports don't even make real money.

It would be a mistake to think that because the big four American sports round up and suspend only a handful of players per year for violating their respective rules around performance enhancing drugs it's not a problem. They're not finding more usage because they're not looking harder, not because it's not there. The NBA in particular has been called out publicly again and again for being particularly lax. They do such a poor job of testing that a bigger mystery  is why any players are discovered. They don't test for the exotics and don't do random testing during the season. Exactly how stupid would a player have to be to get caught? Stupid enough that only a few of the more than 700 players who have been in and out of the league over the last two years were caught.

But as bad a job as the NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLB are doing with clearly articulating and enforcing their policies for PEDs, that's not even the real threat. PEDs today are a rather cut-and-dried issue: There's a list with names of substances on it, there are best practices around testing for them, and fines in place for enforcement. The fact that none of the leagues are hitting that relatively modest bar is an issue, but not one that will threaten their viability.

But what about real performance augmentation? Like the half-dozen NBA players who flew to Germany to get a special knee procedure done that's said to significantly reduce discomfort in the joint for some time, only to regress later? Why can't this be done in America? What happens when there's a player in one of the big four leagues with a prosthetic such as Oscar Pistorius? What about blood transfusions and joint and muscle augmentation through surgery?

It's no secret that players now are bigger, stronger, and faster than they have been in ages past. An offensive lineman on the 1972 Dolphins perfect season championship team is basically the same size as the average quarterback in today's NFL, whereas the average lineman today is a superhuman specimen that's bigger, stronger, and faster than anything in the league back then. But still, those are incremental differences, child's play. We've been optimizing and tweaking without really overhauling. We're now on the precipice of realistic, recurring medical augmentation that will make today's athletes look weak, slow, and boring. In 10 years, we could look back at the LeBron era and wonder how someone so slow and fat ever scored so many points.

How are leagues that do such a poor job of the rather trivial task of defining policy and enforcement for juicing going to define policy and enforcement for elective prosthetic procedures? And, to be clear, the danger isn't that fans will tune out because the leagues aren't enforcing enough, but that fans will tune out because they are enforcing too well.

The steroid era in baseball rescued it after the strike in 1994. Without steroids, baseball might never have recovered. The leagues are very aware of this. Fans have spoken: They prefer their athletes juiced. They just prefer not to know about it. We love Lance; we're not sad that he juiced, we're just sad that we found out about it. It's tempting to think that the moral hazard that gutted cycling and has made a joke of track couldn't possibly affect our big four. That there's no moral hazard in sports leagues bringing in over $20 billion annually. Ha.

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This question originally appeared on Quora. It was taken from Quora's "hypothetical battles" topic, where readers "can ask questions and get answer on fighting that wouldn't likely or ever happen in real life."

Answer by Jon Davis, veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps:

These are the accounts of the Second American Civil War, also known as the Wars of Reunification and the American Warring States Period.

After the breakup, many wondered which states would come out in control of the power void created by the dissolution of the United States. There were many with little chance against several of the larger more powerful states. The states in possession of a large population, predisposition for military (i.e.) military bases, and a population open to the idea of warfare fared the best. In the long term, we would look to states with self-sufficiency and long term military capabilities.

Here are the states that held the greatest strategic value from day one. They have the ability to be self-sufficient, economic strength, military strength, the will to fight, and the population to support a powerful war machine.

• California
• Texas
• New York

Others that have many of the qualities that gave them an advantage are also listed.

• Washington
• Colorado
• Illinois
• Virginia
• Florida
• Georgia

For all intents and purposes, Alaska and Hawaii ended well enough since they were so far removed from the center of the country that they never really suffer greatly nor benefit from the shattering.

Day 12: "It's getting scary. My mom said we are going back to Oklahoma to stay with Grandma. The other day, my dad was yelling at some men at the door. They seemed really upset. I held Jamie. She is still little. She's scared and doesn't understand what is going on. I am scared too. There are also some boys at school who keep picking on her and calling her an "Okie." We were both raised here, but I don't really think that matters. All the other families on my street have huge one star flags hanging from their homes. I don't want to leave my house, but Mom says we have to go. The highways are packed with people. I wish things would just go back to how it was."

The Diary of Sarah Brennan

First came a period of massive migration back to the homelands. Facing the newly invented discrimination that will be created, many felt the need to go back to their own people. While the individual states retained all military assets, they couldn't control the individuals who fight. A Texas Marine stationed in California would not fight for California. A soldier in New York would not fight against her home in Virginia, and a sailor in Houston would not fight against his home state of Florida. The warriors returned to their home states, and the states had to re-consider that when they measured troop strength of their new nations. Ultimately, they measured troop strength by how much of the population would return home.

After the migrations, rough approximations left the states even, additionally, the balance of foreign nationals changed. At some point, there was a migration of people back to their non-United States homeland. Over the next several months, many from the North migrated to Canada and in the South to Mexico and South America. Millions of Latinos fled back South to the safety of their families and away from the looming danger of the war.

Day 42: "Citizens of California are advised to stay away from the Mexican Border. In response to the resent surge of immigrants back to Mexico, authorities out of Mexico City have closed the border, and agents from Tijuana are now manning armed sentries posted along the border. There have been scattered reports of refugees attempting to storm the gates being shot by soldiers on the Mexico side. It has also been communicated that the No-Mans land will be mined within the week, and that Mexico will not be allowing any non Mexican immigrants to enter the country from this point forward. Once again, we strongly advise all those wishing to leave the country to stay in their homes."
Jennifer Aranda - Channel 14 News

The war was little more than a very tenuous peace for several months. The new nations were mostly focused on the re-consolidating of their forces and trying for quick grabs at resources that were easy to hold. Alliances were beginning to form as some of the smaller states sought to ally with known powers in the region.
 
The first of what we would call real battles was mostly when some of the regional powers overtook manly unmanned installations or take over now abandoned Federal assets.

Day 63: "We are gathered here today as the inheritors of a lost legacy. Our nation has been lost to shattering and disarray. For that reason, it is our duty to bring back our house to a structure undivided. When we arrived in the District, we found it empty and abandoned. The monuments to our civilization watched silently over the broken halls of our once proud Capitol. We came to the District to bring back order. We have done this deed, and now it is our charge to bring back the greatness of America and return her to her proud place of honor... We will do these things, and we will do the others because we are a great people. We are Americans. We are VIRGINIANS!"

Inauguration speech of President Anthony Stokes

The first real occupation attempts happened when attempts were made to secure more assets.

The Republic of Texas sought to gain strategic advantages in the Central United States. To do this, they sought to gain two strategic assets. The first was control of Whiteman AFB, the home of the B-2 bomber program. The base was easily secured, and the most coveted military bomber in the world was now in the hands of the Republic of Texas. The next was control of Colorado and her military installations of great value. Then finally was access to the Mississippi River. Two main offenses took place to do just that. The First Battle of New Orleans involved a massive force occupying the city to claim it as a port and artery for future engagements. In Colorado, they met stiff resistance as many of the Texas military were unfamiliar with Mountain warfare. Colorado's major bases fell quickly since Colorado enjoys the smallest force to fight back the Texans, but they adapted an unconventional warfare stance that kept the Texans on edge for months. Still, at this point the mission behind taking Colorado had been achieved -- control over its military bases and strategic assets. The insurgency does however slow down the growth of Texas.

New York pushed Northward. They pushed to claim all of New England and the food wealth they will need to supply their people now that resources from the Midwest are no longer available. The take over is mostly peaceful as many of the states have large, but mostly non-military populations. They encountered problems when large groups of refugees tried to flee to Canada and rioting ensued.

Illinois was calm. The Midwest Alliance grew steadily by seeking to secure the Great Lakes. They were able to take Ohio through a few fierce, but brief encounters. They also took on Minnesota and the mouth of the Mississippi River.

The West coast was now controlled by the two main powers -- California with its seat of power in San Francisco and The North West Union, centered in Seattle. California gained support and took control of all the states West of the Continental Divide and South of the Union. The North West Union pushed as far as Wyoming.

In the South, Georgia gained strength as Alabama and South Carolina joined. The leadership of Georgia advocated a return to confederalism as fanatics gain headway among the people. The Neo-Confederacy movement takes root and spreads throughout the Old South and rekindles a sense of unity among the states who engaged on the side of the Confederacy during the First United States Civil War. Peacefully, they are able to convince Mississippi and Tennessee to also join. The growth of Confederate States put an ever growing pressure on Florida as it slipped into isolation.

Virginia took on the mantle of the Restored United States. They assumed the moral responsibility for reunification, and by taking Washington, they were able to secure much of the federal assets and infrastructure available to the country before the collapse. They then commanded many ships and weapons housed overseas that weren't lost during the first two months of disarray. They began to gather support among the neighboring states and press their advantages -- intelligence, military strength, and the symbolic leadership they held by holding D.C. One strategic advantage they wished to push was their economy. While the rest of the former United States was in complete economic disarray, Virginian's consistent use of the dollar provided a stability that others didn't have. They wished to solidify this with control of the nation's gold supply housed in a crossroads what was now a very desperate strategic region. After they peacefully brokered a treaty with Kentucky, they received an attack on Fort Knox from forces located in Indiana.

Day 112: "When we arrived at Knox, we received heavy resistance from the defenders. Their fire was, for the most part, inaccurate, and they lacked unit cohesion, so we found ourselves at an advantage. Not that we are much better off. We received intel that their units were something of a haphazard array of whatever Marine, Sailor, Soldier, or Airmen came out of the woodwork, and they just threw them together and called it a unit, much like our own. Still they were professional warfighters. We were lucky they hadn't yet made it to secure the fort yet. Back to Knox. We were able to take the base. The fact was that the Kentucky defenders were mostly woodsmen and good-ol-boys from the South. More a militia reliving stories of the Old South than an army, but they fought like wild dogs. After a few hours, their main line broke and they retreated back towards the center of the state. About halfway through the day, we were able to break into the main buildings where the gold was supposed to be stored. Easily, it would be safe to say we were surprised at what we found. We arrived to find bloodstains in the main hallways and leading into the vaultroom. The trail faded and we see that the vaults are all completely empty. Every last bar, every last ounce is gone. All that is left are red stains all over the room and bullet holes riddling the walls that look like they could have happened months ago. Those hicks didn't even know they were guarding a giant empty building. Now the big question we are left is...'So where is the gold?'"
Log of Lt Col. Thomas Scott 2nd Raider Battalion Midwestern Alliance.

At that time, the nations were coming together in larger groups. They had access to larger populations to support military strength, economic power to reach out and fund the state, food sources, and leadership.

In the West, states along the coast received the most fighting. Washington began bombing San Francisco from the air to try and decapitate what had become the center of California's leadership. Retaliation strikes from combined naval and air forces severally weakened Portland, Tacoma, and Seattle. California launched a two pronged attack by sending in land forces up Interstate Highway 5 and Marines to attack from the North. Their mission was to enter Washington through the Salish Sea and secure Mt. Vernon, preventing escape of enemy forces. The Marines were by and large undetected and completed their mission successfully. The Californian army received shelling on their movement near the town of Cresswell, Oregon. They retreated back to the nearby town of Cottage Grove and secured the Airport there. Now, a temporary air base had been established and sorties began taking place, allowing for the immediate deployment of troops to the defending town of Eugene. Casualties were high, but once Eugene was secured, the way was open to take Portland.

Day 234: "I don't know what the Army is doing. We have been here holding the Canadian border for days, and the Army still isn't made it past Eugene. Just get it out. Burn the city to the ground. Mow them down. Just do your damn job. It's us or them. Make it happen for God's sake."
Private First Class Anthony Sullivan - 1st Californian Marine Regiment

In the East, the Restored United States was desperately in need of sound military strategy and allies. They had now become completely surrounded by enemy states. Such a solution came through the plan brought about by one General David Meznick. The Meznick doctrine called for the destruction of strategic economic assets in the North to weaken their ability to make war. The greatest of these were the attacks on the infrastructure of the Great Lakes' shipping system. With the locks destroyed and Erie canal in ruins, shipping between Chicago and the outside world had ended. New York was also cut from its most valuable resource, which was the hope of once again shipping America's goods to the rest of the world after the war. This maneuver had massive consequences to the region. Now deprived of many of their shipping lanes, the Midwest Alliance began to break as food and other supplies were unable to reach the people. Riots in Chicago began to erupt as the people accused the government of corruption, which for all purposes was true. Seeing the coming of the end, much of the Chicago legislature slipped out in the night and booked passage on private planes out to Montreal. Left without leadership and provisions, the Alliance crumbled. Its resources became split between the Texas Republic and Restored United States with what was now known as the New England Union claiming Ohio.

In the South, tensions between Florida and the Neo-Confederates had reach their zenith. Troops had taken Tallahassee and were dug in along the Jacksonville-Gainesville Line. Florida was desperate. In a deal made in Houston, Florida agreed to join Texas if it was free to maintain its sovereignty in exchange for military support. With this, Florida and the forces staged in New Orleans attacked. The Jacksonville-Gainesville line was pushed back. Floridian forces moved with speed to besiege Atlanta as Texas occupied the city of Montgomery, Alabama. Texas and Florida forces converged on Atlanta and the siege went on for another month. No one really knows what led to the succeeding events, but a fire broke out in the city. Reports blame Texas shelling or Floridian sabotage, but most official accounts believe that it originated in an apartment complex where a family had been prying up floorboards to burn for heat. The fire spread to the rest of the neighborhood and, lacking their emergency infrastructure, parts of the city were overcome as the rest began to go into disarray. Texas forces secured the major areas of the city while Florida troops took charge of the relief effort for escaping refugees.

The next hundred days were among the most peaceful of the war.

The lines between the Republic of Texas and the Californian Union of Democratic States were now amassing troops and solidifying their positions. The Northwestern cites were in the processes of being rebuilt after California gained control, as were the cities of Montgomery and Atlanta. Old forces of the losing states' armies were redistributed to victor nations. Texas held a tenuous peace with the Restored United States as they erected fortifications along the 36th parallel and western side of the Mississippi. California and Texas began building in unison a mass of fortifications on either side of the Continental Divide. Texas also enjoyed use of the river, as shipping lanes now connected everything from the Midwest to the Carolinas. This eased the growing concerns of food shortage and redeployment of men.

Most of the fighting was centered between the Restored United States (RUS) and New England Union (NEU). Control of Ohio and Pennsylvania exchanged hands a few times as the region sought stability. The war reached a turning point when a New York based flotilla made a decisive push to take Washington D.C.; in response a nuclear device was used on the fleet and all the ships, sailors and Marines on that mission were lost. The first active use of nuclear weapon in more than half a century sent waves through the warring nation states. Other nations of the world grew terrified as they waited for the NEU's strategy. The worst fears came to pass when a weapon was exploded in Washington D.C., bringing down the powerbase of the Restored United States. Alarms across the world rang out as the RUS gathered itself and prepared to launch retaliatory strikes along the Eastern Seaboard. Before this came to pass, a message from New York City came, initiating their surrender. The device had been set by a rogue general from New York. Fearing it's own impending annihilation, New York City seceded from the Northeast to become its own independent city-state. The rest of New England issued their surrender and joined the Restored United States without incident. The Capitol was moved to Philadelphia.

Day 647: "I can't believe Washington's gone. I mean what are we even fighting for? There is nothing left that was the same. I swear I am starting to feel like all we are are animals trying to survive, fighting over the scraps of our fathers. We all knew it was over when D.C. got smoked, but at least that didn't happen. Many of the men are still sure that NYC planned this out. Leave the rest to fight over the charred out ashes while they run from it all. I just don't know what to think. Now we are inheriting the Northeast and all its problems. They better be ready. Now Texas has us to the West and South along Carolina. Two years this has been going on and for what? I don't know how long we keep this going."
Log of Col. Thomas Scott 1st Marine Regiment Restored United States.

During the next year, the war reached a standstill. Maneuvers and deployments mounted the full force of all three nations. Tensions mounted as the borders grew more and more defended.

Texas forces were spread thin. They held the most land, the longest borders, and the least population to support its land. It was composed of the elite Texas troops, highly militant neo-confederates, thousands of independent militias and partisans, as well as millions of individuals ready to fight their own private backwoods battles.

The Restored United States was a broken nation. Much of it was the remains of conquered other nations. The former state of New York was now missing its greatest assets, income from the the Midwest and international access from New York City. The Capitol had been lost. Their people were now disheartened and disillusioned. The nation they lived in was nowhere near what they were experiencing, yet they still had to survive. A new national identity was forming.

California was doing well, relatively speaking. Though there was damage done to the major cities, they enjoyed a good deal of time to rebuild. Their troops were stationed along the divide. Border tensions began to build until a small town skirmish in Wyoming escalated the war to its peak.

Wyoming was now effectively existing on two sides of the divide. Many of the services and resources were split between a small segment of the Western end of the state and the rest of Wyoming. The distance from California was too great for support from San Francisco to offer the Western segment of the state. In many ways, they were fending for themselves. Near the division line were two towns, Green River and Rock Creek. Green River lay on the Western side of the state. They also held the only viable water resource between the two. Since the war began, they were able to share, but after rationing was instituted by the Republic, Rock Creek began to need more of the water. Though neither truly identified as Texan or Californian, they were now forced to abide by their laws. Rock Creek was in demand of water. Green River was forced, however, not to abide. Officers from California were sent to enforce the policy to not aid the enemy in any form. After frequently being denied, leadership of Rock Creek went to the town and make a formal request with the officers at Green River. The officers had taken over the mayoral office of the town. The officers denied again Rock Creek's request. One young man, Jeffery Irving, protested violently. A scuffle began in the office before the officers drew their side arms. Two of the men were shot and Jeffery was killed in the office of the Green River courthouse. The next day, citizens from Rock Creek came to the city and stormed the mayor's office. The two officers were barricaded in the office and requested support from a nearby base. An hour later, troops arrived in the town. They discovered the office broken into and the officers murdered. The order was given to track down the perpetrators. California troops made their way to Rock Creek.

While in town, they barricaded the main road. Where they began searching passing vehicles and taking people in for questioning. A crowd began to build. Taunts and screams let out from the crowd. The crowd became violent. A rock was thrown at the soldiers. A rifleman knocked a man to the ground with the butt of his weapon...

"Crack."

A gun shot sounded from one of the windows on Main Street. The soldier fell down beside the man on the ground. The crowd was silent and a moment of stillness seemed to roar throughout the valley.

A soldier began firing on the window; others fired at the crowd. In a moment, the entire crowd was under fire. They ran for the nearest building and anywhere for cover. As the firing stopped, the lives of dozens of men, women, and children lay frozen on the street. The detachment gathered themselves and left the town before a battle began between themselves and the townspeople. This was the Massacre of Rock Creek.

Day 812: "When we arrived most the bodies had been carried away. Some were lined along the street covered in sheets of white, stained crimson. The town was in shock as our troops began filling the streets. Mothers were screaming with anguish as old men roared for action. There was talk of many of the men leaving an hour before we arrived to handle things themselves. I don't think they know what they're getting themselves into. We won't be able to assist them. I feel for these people. I am shocked with them. They are Texas citizens now, and we let this happen. It won't go unavenged for long though. I haven't seen this many troops gathered like this since we took Atlanta. This is definitely going to be the big push we have all been waiting for to take California. All Hell is about to break loose. God protect us as we march on California."
Journal of Sgt. Alexander McAnally 33rd Texas Infantry Regiment

A massive invasion force gathered at Rock Creek. Six divisions of the Texas Army and the 1st and 3rd Marines were mobilized for the battle. In the morning, B-2s from Whiteman AFB in Missouri began strategic bombing sorties against a number of Californian Union air bases. Conventional bombing missions were also launched. Suffering the greatest were bases near Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles. Air defense was launched from bases in San Diego, LA, and Sacramento with relief forces in the North. Next came what was known as the battle over Nevada. Fighter squadrons met over the desert in many numerous engagements to gain air superiority. Texas was equipped with superior aircraft since they were only power still investing heavily in improving their local manufacturing capabilities and advancing military technology. They also had the advantage of more experienced warfighters from the wars in the East. California was heavily invested in passive defense systems scattered throughout the desert. Their missile defenses tore heavily into the Texas planes. The air battle was by far the largest air battle in history with thousands of planes involved and hundreds lost to the skies. The fighters from Texas were able to protect bombers in raising the remaining defenses in Salt Lake and Las Vegas while severely damaging others in Los Angeles, San Diego, and China Lake.

The Battle of Salt Lake began the Land War. With the region softened, Texas mobilized forces invaded Northern Utah by way of the Forward Operating Base Rock Creek and following Interstate 80. They met fierce resistance in Salt Lake city. Sniper and rifle teams were thoroughly entrenched along with machine gun nests. Five battalions of thoroughly entrenched Californian infantry were able to hold the city for three days against the overwhelming Texas forces while the air war continued over the sands of the Great American Desert. On the fourth day, a courageous day of fighting, the Californians retreated as relief troops arrived. The Texans were now dug into the hollowed out shell of the former capital of Utah. From this point, the Siege of Salt Lake lasted another three weeks.

The battle continued on. Texas reinforcements joined on day six. The battle intensified. Texas was the first to escalate. M.O.A.B. bombs were dropped and cleared away a great deal of California defenders. Texas movements quickly divided and overwhelmed the Californians. Six thousand were lost, and the Californians retreated back to Sacramento. Once Salt Lake was secured, Republic forces moved on to Las Vegas. Vegas was easily secured after the battle of Salt Lake. Republic forces gathered in the desert city preparing for the a push to Los Angeles. As the army moved out, they destroyed the Hoover dam to prevent Las Vegas from becoming a strategic point again. This caused a surge in the Colorado river that destroyed the Davis, Parker, and Imperial Dam systems as well. The region would become by modern standards a completely uninhabitable desert again.

It was then that something unexpected happened. The Restored United States attacked in an unsuspected maneuver designed to strike when the Republic and Californian Union were entangled and spread thin. General Meznick again planned out a massive attack to take out the knees from under the Republic forces. His plan was to take out the port at New Orleans and land a decisive series of blows against Texas. As Republic troops moved out to Southern Nevada, covert agents blew the dikes holding back the flood waters from the Gulf. The city, its troops, its ships, and resources were all flooded and in disarray. Air strikes and land forces were also made on the stations and bases along the Mississippi River, including Whiteman and the B-2's stationed there. Transport boats carried thousands to secure the bases along the river down to Baton Rouge. From there, bombers cleared a path through to Beaumont, TX and on to Houston. Texas Defense forces scrambled to meet the invasion. With eyes to the West, few were prepared for an attack in the heart of Texas. Reserves from Dallas and Austin raced to Houston. The battle intensified. After the destruction of New Orleans, naval forces stationed in the Atlantic maneuvered to support the Texas invasion. Without the support of the New Orleans ships at port, the Republic Navy was overcome. Naval bombardment was laid down on the defenders in Houston, paving the way for the surgical team of RUS soldiers and the wave of troops following the river. The defenses were hindered by the sea of terrified citizens fleeing Houston. As shells rained down from the sea, chaos ensued. The city was going to be lost.

With the loss of Houston imminent, Republic soldiers spread thin on two fronts, and the country severed down the spine of the Mississippi, Texas made a last desperate strike.

It is believed the first city to fall was Chicago. Boston and Philadelphia came shortly after. At the same time, San Francisco and Seattle were lost. Retaliatory strikes claimed Austin, Houston, Atlanta, and Oklahoma City. It is believed that many other cities were targeted for destruction, if not for the intervention of some unknown power.

Four high altitude nuclear devices were detonated over the former United States. These weapons showered the region with energized electrons that shorted the circuits of electrical devices in their target radius. Below is a graphic representation of what this blast did to the United States.

Most of the country fell into regions of 50 to 80% damage, however considering overlap, historians assume that the damage was at least 90% to all of the continent and all its coveted luxuries were reduced to plastic and glass. This of course didn't stop at the devices themselves, but everything networked into the infrastructure was brought down as well.

The four devices together were seen from various parts of the country. Their effects brought down all major computer systems, information networks, communication relays, and nearly all circuit based technology on the continent. There is no official record of who fired the weapons. Any logs created were probably lost in the very blast they created. Many believe that it was a last ditch effort to limit the destruction of the United States in the event of Atomic Holocaust. Some believe it was due to international intervention. The world's final discipline upon us for what we were doing. Many of the religious groups who would come from this era, believe it was the work of God, though they can't agree if it was a sign of his mercy or punishment upon a sinful nation. Whoever was responsible, the truth is that the devices probably stopped more bombs than actually went off that day, but they didn't protect anyone from the next five years. America was dark.

Day 842: "I was out on the porch catching fireflies with Jamie on the night the lights went out. We had caught a whole jar full when I saw a bright light come from the sky way far off in the North. Daddy screamed and jumped on us as he held me really close as we fell to the ground. The light grew really bright and then all of a sudden this wind crashed the field. The wind whooshed through like it was going to carry Daddy and me away. Then it went away. I looked up and the light in the sky faded away. I watched it dim until it turned to nothing. Then I looked around and realized I couldn't see anything. All the lights in the house went off. All the other houses did too. All the street lights were off and the whole town was dark. I asked Daddy what had happened. "I don't know Sweetie. We need to get back into the house before it gets too cold." I looked hard and tried to find a path back to the porch. Then I saw the light flicker on Jamie's cheek. The jar in her hand began to flicker, and I could see the fireflies coming back to life. It wasn't much, but they were only lights for miles and Jamie was all I could see."

The Diary of Sarah Brennan

Day 846: I don't know which is worse, the casualties we suffered at Salt Lake or the retreat back through the Sierra Nevadas. We lost the vehicles and had to go the rest of the way on foot once we reached the California border. All the trucks stopped dead and everything's gone silent. We have lost all contact with San Francisco. I am trying to keep the men going, but I honestly don't know if I am going to be able to keep any of us alive. The snow is thick and is keeping us moving at a crawl. Foraging is not providing us the food we need. We have already lost as many men trying to get back to the base as we did in the battle. My greatest fear is that the men will begin to realize where we are. I don't know why God would put me in this situation in the middle of the Donner Pass. Please don't let the men know what happened here and start to get any ideas. We are no longer being pursued. Perhaps they know how desperate we are. Please Lord, just let us make it out the pass." 
Log of Lt. Joseph Ramirez, 3rd California Infantry Regiment

After the collapse came the period historians remember as the American Dark Age.

Five years passed. With all the infrastructural losses came a loss in leadership. The cities were evacuated due to no water, food, or power coming in. Towns like Ardmore, Oklahoma became overnight metropolises, taking in the flood of humanity escaping from cities like Dallas and the ruins of Oklahoma City. A local Indian casino to the South from before the war became a refugee camp for more than 60,000 people. The Oklahomans welcomed them warmly as now there was no war. There was no Texas, nor California, and certainly no America. Now everyone was simply a survivor of the Second American Civil War.

In the chaos of the collapse, micro wars sprang up. With no government protection, towns and villages attacked one another. Local sheriffs declared themselves generals of fifty man armies. Much of the former United States fell into a feudal bid for power waging county against county and town against town. They fought battles over salt mines, water from a local creek, or farmland.

In the South, a plague swept through the countryside. Many reputable reports indicated that it happened when the controls at the CDC in Atlanta were destroyed after the bombing or from the EMP. Genocides and ethnic cleansing also scarred the landscape in Chicago, Alabama, Miami, and Los Angeles.

It was towns like Ardmore that finally brought us out of the dark. They rebuilt the agricultural backbone and got people back to work now that peace was assured through the destruction of the capacity to make war by the large nation states. Veterans gathered to provide a unified defense force for the new agrarian cultures that built themselves out of the ashes. New farms were established and refugees built homes all along the landscapes. As food became less of an issue for the people, factories began to rise again. The infrastructure began returning as power was restored, transformers were replaced, networks were brought back online. As the towns became secure and prosperous again, people moved back into the cities. Dallas, Sacramento, Columbus, and Richmond rose to become important regional powers again. The eyes of the nation looked to these cities as fears of the rekindling of the Unification wars began to surface. Old hatreds began to echo.

It was from Dallas that a movement started. One young girl led a peace movement from the heart of the former Republic of Texas.

Day 2871: "This girl in Texas is calling for us to formally end the hostilities. I don't know if I could ever trust someone from Texas again, but she was just a girl when this whole thing started. It's not like she is to blame for anything, but it is just hard to get behind someone from down there. We are tired, there isn't anything left worth fighting for. If there is anything left it would have to be that this has to end before it all happens again."

Sgt. Anthony Sullivan - California Civil Restoration Administration

Day 2912: "Give this girl your support. What we did was criminal. As a people, we destroyed what took great men hundreds of years to bring together. It took us less than two years to bring each other to the brink. We lost our greatest cities and our best people. Now there is one of our own calling for repentance and recompense. Pray for her strength and success."

Pastor Joseph Ramirez

Day 2945: "There's going to be a peace conference in New York City. They're back up and running for the most part. Hopefully we can do something good there. I will be part of the delegation from the RUS. We haven't thought of ourselves as that for years. Still, we have to go and let it be known that Columbus doesn't want anymore fighting. We are more than this collection of third world city states that are built on the breakdown of our legacies. I hope this little girl from Dallas is more than hopes and dreams."

Mayor Thomas Scott of Columbus

Day 2953: As the much talked about New York City peace accords prepare to open, all the attention of the country is on this girl from Oklahoma. She was one of the early people to flee with her family from Texas. She, with her father, mother, and young sister, lived with family on a small farm in Southern Oklahoma. There, they survived the conscription notices for service, the bombings, The Dark, and the two year winter.

She took up work in an old cookie factory, now shelling pecans from local harvests. After the Dark, she administered relief efforts at a local Indian casino for refugees fleeing Texas after the they lost power and feared their own annihilation. She was able to gain respect and was eventually made responsible for finding the refugees work on the local farms. Thousands knew her for work and generosity. She built up relief shelters to gather together aid to the refugees and give them jobs. While still barely in her twenties, she was one of the main people responsible for the rebuilding of vital resources in Oklahoma City. When the lights came back online and grocery shelves were stocked again in Dallas, she was there. Pushed into local politics, she was a unifying force for the region.

While in Dallas, she championed a peace movement. Dallasites and Texans began to question if the war should continue, if their safety could be secured with the history of the war and Texas' role in it. She was the voice of reason in a sea of fears. She gained support from those she helped, and her message spread across lands owned by the Republic and all the way to Columbus and Sacramento.

Now leaders from across America are going to New York City and are meeting for the first time since the break-up of the United States to discuss a resolution to the failed Wars of Reunification. In her honor, the much talked about Brennan Treaty will be presented to the delegation, ratified, and hopefully pass within the week. Here's to hope and to Sarah Brennan.
Jennifer Aranda - New San Diego Union Tribune

- End

Sources:
List of U.S. states and territories by population (wikipedia.org)
List of countries by number of military and paramilitary personnel (wikipedia.org)
John Burgess's answer to Military: Which states commit the most troops to the US Military?
United States Armed Forces (wikipedia.org)
Jon Davis's answer to Hypothetical Battles: If every nation in the world allied and attempted to invade and conquer the United States, would they succeed?
All the other answers on Hypothetical Battles: If every state of the USA declared war against each other, which would win?
I was also inspired by watching some of my favorites on human nature and warfare Hotel Rawanda and Red Dawn. Just be thankful I didn't rewatch the documentary series "Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State."

More questions on Hypothetical Battles:

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This question originally appeared on Quora.

Answer by an Anonymous User:

I am an Israeli Arab. Conflicted and stressful are two of the easier words to pick. Where do I start?

Growing up in an environment that by definition embraces inequality by design is uncomfortable. It is not the naming that bothers, but the implementation and expectations people set. "This is a Jewish Country!" people would argue when faced with questions about equality.

It's 2012, and not a single mainstream party in Israel would call out for defining the state as the state of all its citizens. Attempts to do so by groups or parties would shun them into the "radical" bucket.

Having people disagree with you that equality is a basic right is highly demoralizing.

Setting the stage: Arabs make for about 18 percent to 20 percent of Israel's citizenry.

Looking at more practical policies that affect Arab society in Israel:

Lack of Urbanization
Since the formation of Israel, more than1,900 Jewish-majority community settlements (small towns) were formed and numerous modern cities.

No modern [mixed] city has been built with the Arab community in mind. The main basic barriers for adopting cities who are mainly designated for Jews:

1. Arab schools, as the school systems is separate by default (Most Jews and Arabs learn in separate schools).
2. Difficulty in building Arab cultural hubs: cafes, community centers, youth bodies (Without critical mass, there's little financial sense to open any of those).
   

Arab society is predominantly living in 100+ year old villages. While the infrastructure was upgraded years ago (electricity, Internet, etc.), they are still 100+ year old villages. They are not subjected to a structured plan to urbanize. This leads to horrid in-society effects:

1. Significantly more religious with no alternative in sight
2. Clan mentality remains a dominant factor, as the surrounding habitat does not allow for a city-life experiences: More privacy, families are spread out in more distant areas, multistory buildings that boost the family vs. community ratio.
3. Due to No. 2, municipality level politics are rigged: one clan votes to Clan No. 1, the rest to Clan No. 2, who in turn slice the cake to the whomever voted them in.
4. No. 3 makes it nearly impossible to actually fix problems in a village.
5. Lack of adequate infrastructure prevents modernization. This is especially evident when contrasted with Arabs, especially students, living in Israeli cities like Haifa. Life tyles are no different than their peers in London, Tel Aviv, ir Munich.

Education is a big one. Recent articles in mainstream Israeli media show 20 percent to 37 percent less investment in the education budget reaching Arab students.

This obviously leads to a chain reaction: 28 percent of Arab high-school students graduate (eligible for Bagrut), compared with 51 percent in the Jewish sector

Eleven percent of university undergrads are Arab, 9 percent of graduates, 7 percent of masters students, 3 percent of Ph.D students, and 2 percent of university academic staff.

This leads to vast socio-economic gaps between the two communities, leading to higher crime rates and lowered aspirations and hopes.

In the booming high tech industry in Israel, less than 4 percent of the workforce is Arab.

On the other hand, there's alienation:

• Arabs in Israel are not part of the public discourse on how the country is and will be shaped.
• Polls in recent years have stopped polling Arabs, specifically mentioning that polls reflect Jewish opinion.
• Political parties in the government are elected based on slogans such as "No Loyalty, No Citizenship," suggesting to the Jewish majority that the Arab citizens are somehow collectively not loyal.
• Different periods of time brought media onslaught on all popular Israeli TV, repeating mantras like "Arabs are ticking bombs" or "Israeli Arab leadership is inciting hatred and radicalism." All carried out by mainstream, in-government politicians. No other than the current prime minister has called Israeli Arabs "The real demographic threat."
  
• Racism in its purest forms. Remarks on superiority are common. Phrases like "We're not like that, we're not Arabs" are thrown in any negative context.
• Every time there's confrontation with an Arab country or militia, we're pitted with the "Others," and racism levels spike for a while
• The occupation of Palestinians. We're by definition Palestinians, and folks from the West Bank and Gaza are literally family to many. Seeing them living under military occupation, while we live in relative freedom, mixes feelings even more.
• Leading city municipality/community leadership in Israel openly call for racist behavior such as not renting or selling flats to Arabs (Carmiel as an example).

On the flip side. Life is relatively comfortable for the Arab middle class and higher.

Those who meet the socioeconomic bar cannot help but enjoy access to good public health care, purchasing power that satisfies most ordinary people, and decent-paying jobs, even for the working class.

Life is super safe compared to the region. Basic freedoms are mostly upheld by the law and physical attacks due to racism seldom occur. For the more fortunate among us, higher education and hard work are fantastic tools to get ahead into a better life.

Do excuse me for posting this anonymously, as life opportunities in Israel become vastly more limited for me if my name is Googled up and this post is surfaced.

More questions on https://www.quora.com/Israel:

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This question originally appeared on Quora.

Answer by Yair Livne, Quora data scientist:

It's pretty surreal.

As someone now living in the United States full time and who was just lucky enough to come for a visit a day ago, here are some things I've experienced and found pretty shocking (yet oddly familiar from spending more than 27 years in Israel):

• You change plans based on news updates on where rockets are currently falling. We're here only for several days and were hoping to meet a bunch of people all over, dine at a few favorite restaurants, etc., now those plans are all in limbo based on the geography of how the conflict progresses (yeah, "first world problems," but still something you would never encounter in the U.S.).
• You worry a bunch. Our families don't live in the southern part of the country, and we hardly know people who are under constant fire, but almost everybody we know is either in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, which now both seem like legitimate targets. Yes, the chances for actually getting hit are minuscule, but feeling that there's someone out there actively gunning for you or your loved ones with medium-range rockets is pretty unnerving.
• You experience indoor camping. A ton of people have temporarily relocated to safer areas and are shacking up with family or friends. We're currently sharing a roof with 10+ family members. This is great for family bonding but really drives in that feeling that a war is going on.
• You feel a lot of stress and tension. Even if you're not super worried, there's probably someone around you that is way more worried. Worried people are tense, and this tension builds up as the situation is getting worse.
• You're often surprised by the turn of events. I was sitting in a bar in Jerusalem when the first rocket in more than 40 years hit the Jerusalem area, which was quite shocking as almost everyone assumed Jerusalem was off limits even in this current conflict. It was a pretty loud bar scene so we didn't hear the preceding warning sirens, and only found out after the fact from a TV playing in the background, so no one was immediately scared, but you could see on people's faces how their reality just shifted under their feet in an unexpected way and something they took for granted was now gone.
• You celebrate life. That bar scene—three seconds after the news comes in the bartenders are handing out free shots (your choice of whiskey or arak) to celebrate. It's hard to define exactly what we were celebrating (being OK? keeping happy?) but it probably boils down to wanting to feel like you still have control over your life.
• You keep going. This is perhaps the strongest motif—lives move on. Errands need to be taken care of, appointments kept and work needs to be done. It's probably very different in the areas just adjoining Gaza that are more heavily hit, but for the large part of the country that is in rocket range but isn't under constant fire, day-to-day life is close to normal. People here are pretty hardened and have seen much worse. You need to throw more at us to really disrupt our lives.

More questions on Israel-Gaza Conflict (November 2012):

• How is Iron Dome performing against the recent Hamas rocket launches?
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This question originally appeared on Quora.

Answer by Mark Rogowsky, Internet entrepreneur, @maxrogo:

9/11 truthers believe a lot of really stupid things that have either been debunked or are far beyond conceivable and always require that scores, hundreds or thousands of people, have successfully kept these things completely secret for more than a decade without a single whistle-blower coming forward.

WTC Collapse
9/11 truthers believe that there is some fundamental problem in explaining how the World Trade Center towers fell to the ground. "There wasn't enough jet fuel to weaken the steel." "There wasn't enough mass." "There wasn't enough fire."

The analysis of the failure of the towers, however, explains what went wrong in great detail. I'm going to re-create most of this from memory—on purpose—to show you how easy it is to understand the collapse of those buildings.

Each tower gained most of its strength from a central core from which each floor was "hung," with additional strength provided from a series of smaller columns ringing each floor on the outside edge, not far from the windows.

The impact of an airplane would destroy a number of those outer columns immediately. Airplanes and their fuel are quite heavy, so the stress on the floor upon which the remaining fuselage and fuel-laden wings came to rest would be quite severe from a weight perspective. That wouldn't in and of itself destroy the floor, but it would put it under a great deal of stress.

Once some of the fuel caught fire and had plenty of material to burn through all the paper, office furniture, walls, etc., you'd have what amounted to an "endgame" for the buildings. Why? Because the fire would burn sufficiently hot enough to weaken the structural steel in enough of the remaining support columns on several floors. Over enough time, the attachment points joining the floors to the supports would give way and a small number of floors would collapse into the base of the fire where the plane wreckage already rested.

Now, you will have exceeded the weight capability of that base, also weakened by the fire. Once you have a critical mass of weight on any floor, the building is doomed. The overweight floor will fall to the next floor, making that floor similarly overweight, and so on, and so on. This "progressive collapse" will be catastrophic and nearly instant—as many witnessed on 9/11.

(It's important to realize that once any floor gives way, every single floor above it—and 100 percent of their mass—is now being accelerated by gravity. Once that package of stuff hits the floor below it, F=ma takes over and the time for the next floor to collapse goes from something to nothing. When you start to understand this, nonsensical theories about how "strong the lower floors had to be" make no sense whatsoever. You have 50 stories of building falling within just a few seconds and 80 stories of building falling seconds after that. The m in the equation is rising linearly and the F therefore is rising that much faster. By the time the 30th floor is compromised, well over half the mass of the tower is falling on it. By the time the lobby is compromised—which was a multi-story open space by the way—something north of 90 percent of the mass is falling on it. The strength of the floor below no longer provides resistance of any kind once the collapse is underway due to the ever-increasing mass approaching free-fall velocity.)

To the extent there is video footage of the collapse occurring, it completely backs up a version of events not dissimilar to this and aligned with what appears in the official reports. Structural engineers spent countless hours attempting to understand how the collapse could have occurred and how it happened so quickly.

The design of the WTC was reviewed to understand that the fire insulation was of a spray-on type that while sufficient for almost all normal events would likely have been almost instantly compromised by a plane crashing through the building. An actual understanding of the temperatures needed to weaken the steel would lead one to understand how the support columns could fail without one needing to prove there was some impossibly hot fire.

But 9/11 truthers don't bother with this. They explain simply: "The fire could not have done this, therefore it was done by bombs."

The Bomb Plot
The most ludicrous part of the 9/11 truther conspiracy theory is the inconsistency of it. It consists of numerous subspecies of nutjobbery involving foreign governments seizing the airplanes, missile strikes, etc. But since the WTC buildings unequivocally fell, the truthers have decided that they were brought down by "controlled demolition," presumably done by nefarious forces within our government.

To be clear, this would have required the kind of explosives normally used to bring down buildings slated for demolition, but on a scale rarely (if ever) employed by mankind. So for this theory to be true, the government must have brought in explosives by the truckload for days or weeks into the WTC, positioned them on nearly every floor, and done this without anyone noticing it or reporting it.

While this would be extraordinary in almost any building, it would have been especially so in WTC, which had been bombed by terrorists before, in 1993. You are talking literally tons of explosives being prepositioned in the building, placed all over, and ignored. Since explosives are typically wired together in part to allow for the series detonation (if you've ever seen an "implosion," you know what this looks like), they also would have needed to be linked together across the 110-floor layouts of the buildings.

Now, having done this, the government then also arranged for two commercial airlines to fly into the buildings within about an hour of each other, two other commercial airlines to be hijacked, and then detonated these explosives to bring down the buildings. Presumably, these hijacking and crashed planes were there to cover up the detonations.

But the plan—even as conceived—was so poorly arranged that the "real target" World Trade Center 7—had no airplane and was merely bombed by the government later in the day because of some secret government evidence that needed to be destroyed in its basement.

You got all that? Not just bombs. Bombs and planes. Or just bombs. And some extra planes going elsewhere. All a bunch of diversions.

Oh, and the purpose of all this vs. what the rest of us actually believe from the "it was just Al-Qaida and airplanes" version? There is no material difference. In other words, even if the government was behind this, it was sufficient to hire 19 young Arab patsies and use the planes. So why this nonsense with the explosives?

The Pentagon Missile
Even though there were hundreds (perhaps thousands) of people who witnessed an American Airlines passenger jet crashing into the Pentagon, truthers believe a missile hit the Pentagon. This was among the least important parts of the Pentagon. And there is evidence that the plane may well have been targeting the White House but diverted to the Pentagon when it quite possibly could not locate the White House from above.

There is further evidence that the last plane may have been targeting the Capitol before crashing over Pennsylvania, yet no missile was fired at the Capitol. If you believe no plane actually crashed into the Pentagon and the plane that allegedly did somehow disappeared elsewhere (again, the idea that it never took off is so far beyond the realm of the possible, that even conspiracy theorists can't go there), you have to wonder why the missile that was targeting the building of Flight 93 wasn't fired anyway (and the Flight 93 debris field just covered up by the government).

I hope you are keeping this all straight. ... Planes clearly disappeared that day (again, even conspiracy theorists cannot dispute this fact), missiles were fired at one of the least important parts of the Pentagon, thousands of tons of explosives were used in 2 of the 3 WTC buildings targeted by airplanes that thousands of people watched crash into ...

Occam's Razor is a Riddle Wrapped Inside an Enigma Surrounded by a Conundrum / Don't Ask, Don't Tell
The simplest solution, according to truthers, is for the weak minded and only the most complex, convoluted solution must be correct, no matter how bizarre and impossible it must be.

According to truthers, this missile-firing, building-bombing, plane-disappearing plan that was 9/11 happened. Surely, it must have involved thousands of people, right? They don't bother with this detail, but we can presume so. Some kind of navy vessel or aircraft was used to fire the missile. Some kind of explosives team was required to move thousands of pounds of explosives into the buildings. Some kind of special ops was needed to make the "Pentagon plane" disappear without a trace. And not one of these people has blown the whistle. Not one has written an anonymous note to a news organization or WikiLeaks or committed suicide explaining their role in this plot.

Not only was this the most elaborate conspiracy ever (think of how easy it was to position a guy on the grassy knoll to "kill JFK" by comparison), but no one has talked. Perhaps they too were all killed? Yet no one has said, "Why was my loved one killed? I think it's cause he knew the real truth about 9/11!"

In short, 9/11 truthers believe things that there is absolutely no reason to believe contain any truth whatsoever and certainly no important truth. They take details from the official reports that they don't understand and try to inflate them into "evidence" of a coverup.

More questions on 9/11 Conspiracy Theories:

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This question originally appeared on Quora.

Answer by Dominick Whitaker, inmate San Quentin State Prison:

In 1996, I started my 25 years to life sentence under California's three-strikes law for the theft of a rental car, at Calipatria State Prison, a Level IV maximum security facility on the border of California and Mexico.

At that time, Calipatria was probably one of the most violent prisons in California's prison industrial complex. The first sign you see upon arrival states, "No Warning Shots Fired Here." Within the next four hours, I would witness why. On our way to our newly assigned housing units, a race riot broke out on the yard between blacks and southern Mexicans. As all hell broke loose, the guards who were escorting us ran to take over while the melee continued. In the midst of the riot, an inmate was killed. For the next seven hours, we laid facedown on 90-degree concrete until everyone was searched, handcuffed, and placed on a diagram sheet of the incident.

Finally, I arrived at my assigned cell. I really didn't know what to expect, being housed in a 6x9 cell with a total stranger who been convicted of murder. To tell you the truth, I was terrified, but I had to act like I wasn't afraid of anything. You can't afford to look weak in prison. Most of the ideas I had about maximum security prisons were what I had heard or seen on television or in the movies.
 
Upon your arrival, you'll be asked to show your commitment papers to see what you're in for and to make sure you're not a rapist or child molester. Because if you're one of those two, no one wants you as their "cellie" (cell mate) because sooner or later, you will encounter some bad karma!
 
I really felt out of place because I was doing 25 years to life for a property crime, and here I'm in the midst of guys that have committed some of the worst violent crimes imaginable. I see why so many inmates play crazy or become immersed in religion, hoping that they can fade into the background and not be targeted by the alpha gangs.
 
In my four years at Calipatria, I was housed with several inmates who were convicted of murder. In the 16 years I've been incarcerated, I've never heard another inmate brag that they had killed someone. Believe it or not, it's not like a "Badge of Courage," it's more like a "Badge of Disgrace." Actually, very few of them really liked to talk about their crimes unless they were in some kind of self-help or victim's group. Most of them are really remorseful and ashamed that they took another life. I guess most people outside of prison think we're all monsters with no feelings or remorse.
 
My first cellie was convicted of murdering his girlfriend and her brother during a bad drug deal. He used to have traumatic nightmares where he would wake up screaming in his sleep. It took me many months before I felt comfortable getting a full night of sleep, without sleeping with one eye open and both ears attuned to the slightest sound or movement. This is an experience that I will never forget, because you have to wonder if you're safe inside a 6x9 cage with a total stranger who has a prior violent past and has been convicted of murder. There is no one there to help or protect you at 3 a.m. You have to realize and understand that violence is always right below the surface in prison. It doesn't take much for it to turn into a tidal wave very quickly. I have seen some very violent confrontations with cellies over the most trivial things.

Some people are more prone to violence because of their childhood dramas that have left them so damaged and hurt that they don't have the coping skills to properly address confrontations. As a result, we medicate our pain, suffering, and shame with sex, drugs, and alcohol, which in the end perpetuates our violence. Not that any of this condones bad behavior, because it doesn't! That's why I truly believe that "Hurt People Hurt People and Healed People Heal People."
 
You wouldn't ever guess most of the guys here at San Quentin who have been convicted of murder (if they aren't on death row). Two of my mentors in The Last Mile (training program) are so involved in many self-help groups and outside groups (that help at-risk youth) that they don't have much time for themselves. In addition, they have done the hard work of addressing their own childhood issues and dramas that seriously clouded their decisions as young adults. I'm quite proud to be in the company of these gentlemen, and I look forward to all of us working together outside of these prison walls.
 
In suffering our traumas, we have lost connections to a place that signaled that we belong. When we lashed out from that pain to cause more pain, we lost our rightful place in our community. Committing our crimes and doing time in prison disconnects us from the larger community. Remembering where we've come from, remembering who has been affected by our past actions, as well as reaching out to those that will benefit from our commitment to heal and be of service, begins a process through which we can earn back our status as members of society.

All communications between inmates and external channels are facilitated by approved volunteers since inmates do not have access to the Internet. This program with Quora is part of The Last Mile San Quentin. Twitter: @TLM

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• How much information can I learn about someone's criminal record?

This question originally appeared on Quora.

Answer by an Anonymous User on Quora:

Yesterday, I walked for half a mile from my apartment to find somewhere with cell signal so I could start calling my friends (working my way Uptown) to see who had power/Internet so I could get some work done. After high 30s, I skipped to the 60s.

On my way home last night, it was incredibly startling to see the city as seen from going down Second Avenue: all of a sudden, around 39th street, the lights are gone. All of them. It's like the city just died at a line, and there are no remnants of "life" afterward. The traffic lights are gone, too, which means traffic is horrific and slow and painful. Today I tried to get four miles uptown and it took 45 minutes and $30 in a cab.

But, as we always are in a crisis, New Yorkers have been friendly and compassionate and helpful wherever I've been. South of 39th Street, everyone drives slowly because there are no lights for the crosswalks so everyone just tries to scurry across the street wherever there is a gap in the traffic, but meanwhile the cars aren't going more than 15 to 20 mph anyway, to avoid accidents. I get waved across streets constantly. Stores are open by flashlights and generators to sell necessities (cigarettes count as necessities). The workers at grocery stories are incredibly helpful when you walk in and ask if they have any water or nonperishables left. I've seen more than one group of tourists completely bewildered on the streets and a few locals giving them detailed directions where to go and where to head and how to get there.

At the very least, most of my friends have reached out on Facebook offering their places to hang out or crash for anyone without power or heat or water. I can strike up a friendly conversation with anyone on the street to commiserate about what resources we don't have. A cab driver today said that if his credit card meter didn't work by the time we got to my destination, he would accept whatever I had in cash, it was OK (the meter worked fine, in the end).

It's interesting because during the day it almost looks like nothing is wrong, except people aren't dipping in and out of buildings as often south of 39th Street. Lots of people are walking around, if only to get out of their apartments, where nothing works.

Except you walk into and near the stores north of the cut off and suddenly you see a few weird things: people crowding around the outside of a closed Starbucks—and later you realize that all the Starbucks are closed, but their Wi-Fi is still on so people are trying to get Internet—or crowded around a corner in a Duane Reade where they're waiting their turn to charge their phones to call people to tell them they're OK.

Some bars and restaurants downtown are still open too, generally with limited service; the day after the storm, I saw a few places open offering free coffee and (in one instance) free bread to anyone who came by because nothing else providing those was open within a nontrivial radius. Some places are open, but just serving wine and drinks and/or cold plates in low lights.

I haven't made it to alphabet city or the Lower East Side yet, where I know that several streets were completely swamped and under a foot or a few of water. I've seen trees torn up by their roots to the point that they've destroyed the cobblestones around them and New Yorkers are just calmly walking around them when walking their dogs. The one thing you see more of is people walking and trying to get signal on their phone, because a lot of the cell towers are down, so everyone has their phone out checking to see if they have service. Fewer people actually talking on the phone, though.

We're pretty resilient; we'll be fine.

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This question originally appeared on Quora.

Answer by Tim Dees. Tim is a retired police officer and freelance writer. He is a columnist at PoliceOne.com, a member of the Public Safety Writers Association, and the author of The Truth About Cops.

One issue I see repeatedly is the use of a single behavior to "prove" deception, anxiety, surprise, etc. Here's an example of Patrick Jane accusing a man he has never previously met of lying, after watching him speak for only a few seconds:

There is a school of interview and interrogation called kinesic interviewing.The interviewer is trained to watch for behavioral cues that indicate the same sort of behaviors that Patrick Jane is trying to identify. A critical aspect of this technique is not to bet the bank on any single cue. For example, one cue I've read about (and that has been disputed just as often as advocated) is that a person formulating a deceptive statement will look down and away from their dominant side in what is sometimes called a "microexpression." The rationale behind this is that the eye movement is linked to accessing the creative portion of the brain, as opposed to the memory center. The interviewee who looks down and left (if right-handed) is thinking up a plausible lie, while the person who looks up and right is trying to recall details from a real memory. I need to emphasize here that there are as many people who think these eye movement cues are hogwash as there are those who believe them to be reliable.

Everyone you know has their own unique set of mannerisms and gestures. A good mimic can detect and replicate these, and you will instantly know who they are imitating. Any reliable assessment of deception by way of microexpressions and body language has to include a non-stress interview to assess what are normal, non-deceptive behaviors from that person. Patrick Jane seldom observes anyone for a long enough time in a conversational setting to obtain that baseline.

Second, it's entirely possible that someone's normal way of speaking includes one of the classic indicators of deception, even if they are telling the truth. I worked with one man who never made eye contact when he was speaking to you. He was forever scanning all around, looking down briefly now and then to see if you had walked away or fallen asleep. His nickname was "Wall-eyed Wayne." He would have been a real trial for someone assessing his indicators of deception based solely on the classic cues. In the example above, the "supplication gesture" might just be the way this man talks. Of course, because it's necessary to the story line, Jane is right on the money about the guy and his lie.

Instead of relying on a single indicator of deception, you instead look for clusters of behaviors, which can include rapid eye movement, blinking, frowning or smiling, hand gestures, body positioning, shifting in a chair, etc. When key questions cue this cluster of behaviors repeatedly, the interviewee is, at minimum, anxious about the content of the answer, if not speaking deceptively altogether.

A skilled liar works out the lie before he tells it and relates it convincingly. The only way you'll get physical cues of deception out of them is if you interview them until they are fatigued and they find it difficult to maintain the front. In a police interview, the person being interviewed controls the duration of the interview (although they may not know this). If they want to end the interview, all they have to do is say they don't want to answer any more questions until they have consulted with their attorney. Even if the attorney is present, no one but the two of them can say how long this consultation will require or when they might come to a decision as to how to proceed. What usually makes the system work for the police is ego. The subject believes he can outlast and outwit the interrogator. If the interrogator is savvy enough to get the subject to let their guard down and reveal some inconsistencies, they can chip away at the lie and expose them.

Skilled con men are, in fact, good at reading people, but they seldom know why or are able to itemize the cues that make them successful. One personality type most people know is the "ladies' man" who seems to be able to talk almost any woman he meets into bed. When his needs have been satisfied, he will no longer give his victim the time of day. Most of these guys can't tell you exactly how they do it, only that they can (and they will boast of it and win bets of their prowess). These people are nothing more than good con men, and the lists of their conquests are testimony that most people (not just women) are their prey for the taking.

A show, now off the air, that operated with a similar premise was Lie to Me, starring Tim Roth. Here's an overview of what it was about:

Roth's character Cal Lightman is supposedly the world's foremost expert on indicators of deception, and maybe someone operating at that level of expertise can determine reliably when someone is lying, and how he knows it. I doubt that someone like Patrick Jane, trained in his craft by his con man father, would have that level of skill.

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