Random Questions Thread

Um, I'm new around here, so, like, how do you add those blue trope links to forum posts?

The Text-Formatting Rules are your friend here.

Wiki Word has everything you need to know.

This thread is for writing-related random questions, though- next time, try Quickie Questions over in Yack Fest.

Are rubber bullets available to civilians?

The internet is saying yes, but they're only legal to fire in self-defense.

What would the rank of Navy security guards be? Just the guys who keep an eye on the admiral. Would they be marines, or Navy personnel?

Probably these guys, Marines. It's mainly for shoreside and the like, though, and most admirals don't get a personal bodyguard of Marines.

It mainly depends on whether any marines are assigned, and whether it's considered more profitable to use them as guards in general or for specific persons and places. If so the guy pulling duty is probably a private, PFC, or lance corporal. A sergeant will occasionally make the rounds to check in on him, since a detachment is unlikely to be smaller than a squad.

You could also get folks with a master at arms qualification if no marines are assigned; they'd be navy enlisted and part of the navy's internal police force. These are people of proven character and reliability, however, and will be somewhat higher-ranked; senior seaman and petty officer 3rds would be normal, petty officer 2nd not out the question, under the direction of CPO and probably a junior lieutenant.

In most cases, however, the major guard work is done to prevent getting on the base/ship and you'll see a second tier at getting into flag country; a personal guard would be rare unless in a combat zone, in which case they would be marines, or the officer in question is extremely senior.

edited 24th Jul '14 1:13:35 PM by Night

"The internet is saying yes, but they're only legal to fire in self-defense."

That's also true for the lead ones ;)

Hunting, target practice...

Would the Triad or the yakuza have existed in any form in 1930s America?

There were Chinese and Japanese in the 'States in the 1930s, so yeah I'd think so.

It's illegal to use rubber bullets for target practice?

Now that I think of it, rubber bullets would be great for hunting small animals. Take that, squirrel!

Would a knapped flint/obsidian knife that never dulled be able to cut through most conventional materials with ease? I know they can get the width of the blade down to the length of a few atoms, so if it never chipped or dulled, then it should in theory become an Absurdly Sharp Blade Sharpened to a Single Atom, right?

Most small-game hunters just pellet rifles—you know, metal BB's. Perfectly legal for even kids to own, good training wheels for those same kids, and doesn't even scare the neighbors with excessively loud gunshots.

I'm assuming magic is involved to keep it unbreakable? Then basically, yes. Though Sharpened to a Single Atom creates a really weak blade, so unless the blade is literally flat-out unbreakable (as opposed to just supernaturally strong), I'd say it would dull eventually anyway. It would just take much longer.

I dunno, I can't see obsidian being too useful to cut through non fleshy things like metal.

Mayans used obsidian not because it was great but because their metalworking was crap.

Magic is involved, and yes, it's basically unbreakable. A common enchantment is used to make knives that never chip or lose their edge, keeping their edges always as sharp as they were when the enchantment was placed on them.

The knife in question can be broken if you apply blunt force to it, say by smashing it, but the edge will always be sharp.

The material isn't really the focus here. Obsidian is just one of the best materials for making ludicrously sharp knives without modern nanotechnology.

edited 25th Jul '14 12:55:47 PM by KSPAM

True but sharpness is just one small factor when it comes to making blades. Shit be complicated.

Well with that magic, you essentially have an obsidian shaped lightsaber.

Depending on how precisely the effect works anyway. Interactions between magic and real science tend to be wonky. Once you get down to the atomic level, concepts like object and edge aren't really meaningful.

Yeah, that can be the weird thing about using science terms to define the effects of magic. You run the risk of the plausibility of both being strained beyond believability.

Explain too much, and it's bad magic. Explain too little, and it's bad science.

So just say A Wizard Did It

:P

Does anyone know of real life unique police teams/squads? Like police units that have a special team selected to handle very odd circumstances. I figured maybe rural places with little crime might have police squads instead devoted to capturing wild animals or something like that.

Well, I think SWAT might be what you're thinking of for your first thing. As for animals, that'd fall under the realm of animal control, which isn't necessarily always going to be a part of police departments (though they can).

edited 26th Jul '14 6:44:40 PM by CrystalGlacia

As I understand it, rural police departments wouldn't typically have officers dedicated to a task like animal control, since their budget only provides for so much men and equipment—typically only enough to handle patrol duties. Larger cities, though, might have divisions of officers tasked for specialist duties: anti-gang and anti-drug are both large ones. Then there are the divisions like Homicide and Traffic, but those aren't single squads.

Really, SWAT is what comes to mind. For most other tasks they pull cops off from other duties.

Is there a translation of "I" in Archaic Japanese, or has "watashi/watakushi" been there since Ancient Japan?