1 [Video]

[smartwinchester.livejournal.com]

[Sam is sitting in a chair in the library, surrounded by all of the books, and he looks somewhat tired, but in good spirits. For the most part. Save for that whole 'he definitely hasn't slept' thing.]

Hey -- I think this thing's on... anyway, I'm Sam Winchester.

[Ordinarily he'd never give out his full name, seeing as they're on the run from the Leviathan and all that, but he's ascertained the big bads aren't around -- so a little honesty couldn't hurt, especially with what he's about to ask.]

Nice to meet everyone. I was wondering if anyone could give me a couple of answers to some questions -- you don't have to, and it's obviously not obligatory, but I'd appreciate it.

First, how many of you have any kind of supernatural ability that was taken away when you got here? It doesn't matter what it is -- telekinesis, the ability to fly -- if anything changed, I'd like to know. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but knowing what changed is important in knowing how we all got here in the first place.

[And, more importantly, how to get out.]

Second, I was wondering if anyone could tell me where to find some chalk and some spices. Specifically, rosemary, allspice, or nutmeg. Salt would be good, too. I know there's probably a grocery store or something like that around, but any pointers would be great. And, uh --

[Sam pauses before clearing his throat, thumping his pen against the table for a few seconds before continuing.]

Hypothetically speaking, if you had a coat with a lot of blood on it, what would you do to get it out? And I need to know where to find non-blood-stained clothes that'd fit a normal-sized human being. ... hypothetically.

Comments

[democratize]

I figured, but maybe someone outside of here would know something.

[smartwinchester.livejournal.com]

It's worth a shot, but if we could get an Internet signal, we could just run a search on surrounding areas.

[democratize]

Internet?

[smartwinchester.livejournal.com]

...

[Right. Different timestreams, Sammy.]

It's, uh -- a really helpful tool I use in my world to figure things out really fast. It's like a massive database.

[democratize]

Database--[thinking thinking] Like a library?

[smartwinchester.livejournal.com]

Yeah, except without the books. It's all stored on the Internet.

[democratize]

So how is it stored--on little things?

[smartwinchester.livejournal.com]

It's turned into pieces of data and put onto massive storage units called hard drives.

[democratize]

Eh... [doesn't quite get it] So... like really tiny books... and you have something to read them?

[smartwinchester.livejournal.com]

You can pull up any information you want on something called a screen. It's like -- the televisions in the living room of the houses, but handheld.

[democratize]

How are they made? Humans can't make something that small... Do they make them with magic?

[smartwinchester.livejournal.com]

Wonders of technology. Normal human beings managed it with science and creativity.

It's kind of cool, actually.

[democratize]

Really? That's amazing! How do you do it?

[smartwinchester.livejournal.com]

You take... okay.

[And Sam pauses to draw a box on a piece of paper.]

Imagine this is the computer. Right? A box -- and it's empty. But it won't be if you fill it with stuff, right?

[And Sam lowers the paper to draw a series of boxes and lines inside of it, all interconnected.]

Carrying all of the stuff you have inside a box makes it easier to bring around, right? You can't carry twenty books, but you can if you put them inside a box. A computer is really just a box that you store things in, except in this case, these 'things' are pieces of plastic and metal called microchips, and the 'stuff' is information that you shrink down into pieces of data to store on them. With a computer, you can access any piece of information you want in the world, so long as you have the right parts and information to plug into it.

[Pause.]

They come in cool colors, too, if you're into that sort of thing.

[democratize]

[Alibaba's going to listen intently until Sam's done

but he's going to keep asking questions] Shrink them? How do you make the microchips?

[smartwinchester.livejournal.com]

[Sam likes questions! It's how he makes his living. 8)]

They're made out of pieces of plastic and metal and bound together with extreme heat to form a chip. You store information on it with strings of numbers called code.

[It's extraordinarily overly simplified.]

[democratize]

The numbers make a code? Like a sort of encryption?

But how do you make it so small?

[smartwinchester.livejournal.com]

It's a language, but with numbers.

You build them that way.

[democratize]

but how? That's too small for a normal person to see.

[smartwinchester.livejournal.com]

We have machines called microscopes to make them look bigger to the human eye, so they can work on them without mistakes.

[democratize]

Really? Is it like some sort of magic thing, or is it like the microwave?

[smartwinchester.livejournal.com]

... wait, how did the microwave get into the conversation?

[democratize]

The microwave runs off of that electricity stuff, right? Is that how your can make things big with a microscope?

[smartwinchester.livejournal.com]

The more complicated ones are run that way, but it's really just manipulating glass lenses.