Annoying Questions I'd Like Answered...

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Sun Jun 08, 2014 6:02 pm

Oh, and Spartans: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obol_%28coin%29

As mentioned, it's not a preferred metal because it rusts and has other, better uses. But if you're running low on precious metals, steel pennies are always an option.

RadiantPhoenix · Post by **RadiantPhoenix** » Sun Jun 08, 2014 6:02 pm

Prak_Anima wrote:Random question-- Would there ever be a scenario where a culture might use iron for money?

We had that in Aleph-IV. (A fantasy 4x LARP I participated in)

Iron was (supposed to be) really rare as part of the setting, so it was tracked separately from the "generic" resource.

Fortunately or unfortunately, a lot of sources of iron wound up in the hands of a player who didn't really have much to do with it other than build window dressing and hand massive amounts of it to players who had the ability to build "cool stuff".

Kaelik · Post by **Kaelik** » Sun Jun 08, 2014 6:55 pm

Yeah, even if Iron is sure rare, it ain't going to be currency, because it's main use of making swords to stab people and take their stuff is almost always going to exceed the use as a barganing chip. No matter how scare the iron, it still makes sense to just have a bunch of gold as your currency or paper.

Contrary to what gold nuts will tell you, having high actual intrinsic value and being scare makes something less likely to be currency.

Maybe if everyone in the world could throw fireballs, so swords were useless, then you could use iron as currency.

EDIT: actually, what angel said, if you have a bunch of iron around but you can't figure out how to turn it into weapons that could happen.

TiaC · Post by **TiaC** » Sun Jun 08, 2014 7:47 pm

Iron is so common on earth that the coins would have to either be valued by fiat or weigh an unacceptable amount.

Grek · Post by **Grek** » Mon Jun 09, 2014 12:48 am

I could see having small iron coins be a form of fiat money, simply because iron is so common and durable.

RadiantPhoenix · Post by **RadiantPhoenix** » Mon Jun 09, 2014 3:12 am

Coins rusting is kind of like inflation, right?

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Mon Jun 09, 2014 4:06 am

The inverse - as the coins drop in supply due to rusting, the remaining unrusted coins are worth more. Once people notice the scarcity and adjust "how much I'm willing to pay" (and thus, prices all around the place), that is. You could expect inflation every time a new massive seam of iron ore is converted to coins, or if some dickhead wizard with access to Wall of Iron and Fabricate gets in on the action with counterfeit coins.

RadiantPhoenix · Post by **RadiantPhoenix** » Mon Jun 09, 2014 6:15 am

Koumei wrote:The inverse - as the coins drop in supply due to rusting, the remaining unrusted coins are worth more. Once people notice the scarcity and adjust "how much I'm willing to pay" (and thus, prices all around the place), that is. You could expect inflation every time a new massive seam of iron ore is converted to coins, or if some dickhead wizard with access to Wall of Iron and Fabricate gets in on the action with counterfeit coins.

I was assuming you couldn't stop them from rusting.

Basically, you want to spend them quickly before you wind up with less coins.

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Mon Jun 09, 2014 6:20 am

The Northern Sung Dynasty of China made great use of Iron coins. They had a printed value of copper that was higher than their value as a weight of metal. And for small denominations, they were apparently accepted without issue. As I understand it, when the Northern Sung tried to pass off higher value iron coins, people got upset and wouldn't take them. Probably has something to do with how easy counterfeiting was during that period.

-Username17

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Mon Jun 09, 2014 6:52 am

Huh, well that's interesting. The question came to my head while I was watching Man With the Iron Fists and thought that the main character's love interest would get killed, leading him to take a bunch of iron coins they'd been saving to move away into the titular iron fists, and I wondered if there'd ever actually been iron coins. Interesting that China did actually use iron for coinage one point.

I mean, that's not what happened in the movie, and I have no clue what dynasty it supposedly took place during (I doubt any), but good to know.

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Mon Jun 09, 2014 3:37 pm

My son would like green hair for the summer. We have at least one special occasion toward the end of the summer where normal hair color will be required, but aside from that... I think we're good.

Having never colored my hair before, I have no idea what the best options are for a five year old. Does anyone here have suggestions?

Laertes · Post by **Laertes** » Mon Jun 09, 2014 3:55 pm

What colour is his hair? I have very dark hair that I used to do dark green with temporary spray-on dye that I bought from my friendly local goth raver store.

If he wants it brighter or he has dark hair, you're going to have to bleach it first. I would do the bleaching in two lots, each one very short, with about a week in between to give it a chance to recover; otherwise his hair will go like straw and all fall out before it's light enough to hold bright green dye.

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Mon Jun 09, 2014 5:18 pm

He's a light brown/dark blond color. I don't think I want him to bleach it. Does the spray just last until you wash it out, or is there residual tint?

...You Lost Me · Post by **...You Lost Me** » Mon Jun 09, 2014 7:00 pm

The last time I sprayed my hair (with a can of cheap hair color spray) it was all gone in 2-3 showers.

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Mon Jun 09, 2014 7:07 pm

Is there a brand that's better than others?

Laertes · Post by **Laertes** » Mon Jun 09, 2014 7:18 pm

The best spray actually disappears very quickly, because it's designed for people who want to party on weekends but have jobs they need to get back to.

If he's got light hair, then a more permanent dye would work well. I'm afraid I can't advise you on that because I've never worked with light hair.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Mon Jun 09, 2014 7:47 pm

I've heard about people using Kool Aid to dye their hair. It's short term, and non-toxic. Also, if you get it all over the place, it's kool aid, it should clean up easily enough. These all seem like good things with a kid.

There's a guide on how here. It says you have to leave it in over night, which could be problematic, but I don't know your kid. Also, conceivably you could start early in the morning on a day where Giovanni has nothing to do and nowhere to go, and take it out in the afternoon.

This is a colour guide for dying Alpaca fibre, but it's something to start with:

So that at least gives you something cheap and safe to try at first, which is fairly temporary.

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Mon Jun 09, 2014 11:08 pm

Thank you for the advice! I had no clue you could use kool-aid.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Tue Jun 10, 2014 12:39 am

You can also buy hair chalk - basically it's a pair of chalk sticks and you press your hair between them and slide to the end. You then have coloured hair "until the next time you wash it or go swimming". My youngest sister makes great use of it at high school.

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Tue Jun 10, 2014 3:06 am

I seriously had no idea about this stuff. I've always wanted blue hair, but never wanted to mess my hair up enough to get it. But now I'm starting to get ideas for me!

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Tue Jun 10, 2014 3:19 am

Mind you, she also does henna "tattoos", and her friends now want her to do henna art on them at school. The line has to be drawn somewhere (and apparently that line is drawn on their arms. In henna).

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Tue Jun 10, 2014 4:51 am

Tell her to charge, she could make some good money

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Tue Jun 10, 2014 5:24 am

We don't really want kids drawing all over each other in school at all, paid or not.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Tue Jun 10, 2014 5:53 am

Yeah, I got my hand henna tattoo'd in college. And paid for my name in Arabic.

So at least wait 'till then.

Don't henna and drive. Don't feed henna after midnight. Please henna responsibly.

darkmaster · Post by **darkmaster** » Tue Jun 10, 2014 6:29 am

Would them going to get actual tattoos that don't go away be a better option?