Quickie Questions

Perhaps lizards? Frogs don't do so well in a saline environment and rats are generally not wanted on a ship (eating all your supplies).

Monkeys were rather common.

Parrots were less common than the quintessential Pirate Parrot would have you believe.

Can someone explain the quote on Old Soldier to me? I think I know what it means, but I don't know for sure, and I don't want to misuse it.

... I'm not actually sure either.

I believe the original context was that old soldiers, being past their prime and no longer able to participate in context, also can't die in a blaze of glory. When they die, rather than being heroes with an exciting story, they just fade away, like normal civillians.

Old Soldiers usually have been around long enough to know what NOT to do, how to work themselves on a battlefield and also how to make sure their presence is known. They're also past their prime, but are skilled enough to make up for it - so combine the two, and you have somebody who won't likely die in combat, but instead just hold up until they fizzle out due to something that isn't combat related.

Thank you.

I did have a question about being in an airtight room and whether you would die from oxygen starvation or carbon dioxide poisoning, then I found my answer on this page which answers my question and gave a bunch of other information. So if you ever wondered what happens when you're locked in an airtight room I suggest you look here.

Does anyone recognize what these coins or tokens of unknown origin◊ are?

My guess is turkish or arabian coins (looks like the Taj Mahal) Although the skulls have me confused. maybe turkish pirates?

I thought the "skull" is a head wearing turbans, just drawn unclearly.

One thing I want to know is whether there is any text or other indication of a number. If there isn't, it's slightly more likely that they're tokens.

(For what it's worth, all four have the same design. I'm just showing both sides in the photo.)

edited 10th Jan '15 8:05:06 PM by GlennMagusHarvey

I don't see any text, although depending on the age, just the symbols alone might have been enough to denote value.

Yahoo answers directed me to this, which looks like a match.

Is "dog that uses a dagger to fight" some sort of Japanese trope? It seems odd that both Tales Of Vesperia and Persona3 feature party members like that.

This may be better answered by asking in this thread.

Why are tablet cameras so bad? It's not as if Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, and others can't do good cameras, because Apple's iPhones, Microsoft's Lumias, and Samsung Galaxies have pretty great cameras. Why don't these companies just transplant their phone cameras onto the tablets? Wouldn't it be easier to give them better cameras, considering tablets are much larger than phones?

Either of these threads may have better answers than any I could provide.

You know how you may compliment someone by such phrases as "has the beauty of a supermodel" or "the muscles of a bodybuilder"? Well, what possible "has the X of a Y" phrases exist for describing one's intelligence and acumen?

I guess there's "genius intelligence" but that feels weird as an "X of Y" phrase. Maybe "brain of a rocket scientist"? Not sure.

Well, if "has the X of a Y" format isn't workable, how about trying phrases similar to "has the cunning of a fox"?

On another note, this post in the Random Questions Thread over at Writer's Block alerted me to the existence of anti-redhead prejudice, which leads me to ask this question: Why do redheads get discriminated against in modern times? I can understand people assuming that all blondes are Dumb Blondes and thus discriminate against them based on preconceptions of their intellectual ability, but AFAIK there are no similarly pervasive stereotypes about red-haired people (Evil Redhead does exist, but again, AFAIK, it and any other negative redhead stereotype aren't as widespread as Dumb Blonde).

Honestly, I think its residue (or not so trace) racism against the Irish and Scots by the Britons mostly.[Citation needed]

It's been pretty much an anti-Celtic thing by the English, which existed for quite some time. Many Celtic peoples have a significant amount of redheads, be it the Welsh, Scots, Irish, Bretons or Cornish. All have been systematically discriminated against by the English, and it's only in the last few decades it's started to go. Red hair was a particular signifier of being one of those groups, so it sort of came with the territory.

There are other reasons outside of the anglosphere, such as how some Slavic groups held that anybody with red hair was a vampire, and some groups hold that red hair signifies a demon.

And then there's also immature idiots parroting South Park's ginger jokes.

Can a bad diet and lack of proper sleep mess your up bowels?

edited 18th Jan '15 2:47:14 AM by GAP

Yes. Especially the unhealthy diet bit. Although I am not sure what "detox vitamins" entails.

I guess that actually explains a lot, is there anyway to recover from this?