latesleeperz

I've always wondered. Particularly in the East Indies (present-day Indonesia), I couldn't find even one windmill. The Dutch ruled over Indonesia for more than three centuries, why didn't they build any windmills there?

I've always wondered. Last year, I went to Switzerland and they have 5 Swiss Francs coin and is worth about USD 5.50 and I thought that's pretty valuable for a coin in normal circulation. The 500-Japanese Yen coin is also worth quite a lot, about 5 USD.

I know that there are specially-minted coins that is worth hundreds / thousands of dollars or even more, but to my knowledge they are more like symbolic or novelty and you can't really use them for normal everyday transactions.

What I am asking is, what is the highest-valued, in-normal-circulation coin monetarily have you come across?

Please be reminded again that I'm talking about real, currently-used currency used for normal everyday transactions, not those rare expensive old coins that are out of circulation and serve as collectors items.

I also hope that some numismatists can help answer my question!

Thanks!!

I just bought this ready-made (so it seems...I don't understand German) Rotkohl in a jar, here's the picture:

http://www.richrath-express.de/shop/images/artikel...

I read the instructions (in German) and ran it through Google translate, and it says I have to heat this for 15 minutes before serving. Does that sound right to you? Does ready-made Rotkohl usually need further cooking? Or can you eat it straight out of the jar and / or mix it in a salad or something? How do the Germans eat Rotkohl (ready-made from a jar kind) anyways?

Any info would be appreciated. Thanks!

It seems that some lower income countries, like Indonesia or Philippines, have a lot of foreign investments in their major cities. Literally most major worldwide retailers and companies have stores in Jakarta or Manila - from American F&B chains to every single luxury brands imaginable.

Whereas countries that are supposed to be richer than Indonesia or Philippines, such as Iran, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Peru, Suriname etc seems to have significantly less amount of such stores.

Is this just a matter of difference in consumer taste? Or has it got to do with their credit rating? Either way I'm quite confused. If e.g. Indonesia / Philippines is so poor, why is the shopping so great?? Why are a lot of foreign companies interested in investing in SOME SELECT poor, unstable countries?

I'm not very knowledgeable about wine pairing. I have just acquired a case of Pinot Noir and I've decided to cook a stew using the mentioned wine for a small get-together. The question is, should I pair the stew with the same Pinot Noir that I would be using for cooking it? Or is it always better to choose a different wine? What's the rule (in general) about wine pairings of wine-based dishes? Thanks!

I went to a fast food restaurant the other day and I witnessed a scene where the attendant was unsure about how to address a very androgynous looking (and sounding) customer. I absolutely couldn't tell his/her gender either. The poor chap had to loudly call out the customer in question because he/she forgot his/her change. He yelled "Excuse me...sir...I mean ma'am...I mean, sir...!!"

It was very awkward indeed.

What is the proper etiquette in situations like these? How do you politely address someone whose gender you're unsure of? Asking them directly about their gender might be a little bit too offensive for some people, especially those who are not transgendered or who do not purposely try to look androgynous.

Also, I guess you can omit the 'sir' or 'ma'am' completely and just stop at 'excuse me', but I think that's not a good option because it alienates the androgynous customer. Every other customer get to be addressed properly, why shouldn't he/she?

Thanks!

I've read somewhere that postage stamps never expire and will always be worth what's printed on them. If this is true, I'm curious about one thing: how do they actually know if the postage stamp I affix on my letter is actually genuine? Let's say I've decided to send a letter today (2012) using some stamps from 1950. They've issued LOTS of kinds of stamps since 1950...lots of designs, etc. do they actually have to check whether or not the particular stamps design I affixed on my letter REALLY existed (i.e. is legitimate) and is actually real before cancelling it??

Thanks!

While cosmetic / reconstructive surgery in general can be traced back to ancient times, I was wondering when did modern cosmetic surgery (as it is today) become accessible to the public? I began to wonder when I was looking at old pictures of celebrities of the 30s and 40s - a lot of them were stunningly beautiful - and then I started to wonder if they were natural beauties or surgically enhanced.

Nowadays, cosmetic surgery is very accessible and you don't even have to have a lot of money to get a cosmetic procedure, but I was wondering what was it like back in the 1930s / 40s? How common are cosmetic surgeries, and how about the affordability of cosmetic surgeries? Thanks for answering!

I'm not British, so I'm not overly familiar with the British peerage system. I was watching "Downton Abbey" the other night, which is set during the reign of George V, and there's a character, the Earl of Grantham, he was having a conversation on a sensitive issue with the Duke of Crowborough, which is younger and (apparently) less wealthy than him. In short, The Earl was cold towards The Duke. He put on airs and even at one point reprimanded the Duke, almost verbally attacking him, I'd say.

I'm confused. My questions are,

1) Isn't a duke supposed to be very high up in the British peerage, higher than an earl? Everybody should show deference towards the monarch, that's for sure but what about between different ranks of nobility - say - a viscount towards a marquess?

2) ...and how is it possible that a duke can be less wealthy than an earl, I thought that a dukedom is supposed to be much bigger than an earldom?

It would be great if someone can explain to me the nature of relationships between the different ranks of British nobility. Thank you very much!

I've always been curious, In fact, I'm curious about the whole system. Can someone explain to me the flow of distribution of Anime episodes from the very beginning until the end where someone uploads the torrent? Like, who rips them from where and then what? Thanks!

Okay, so it's been universally established that we should cover our genitals for modesty, and that goes for both sexes. However, when was it established that it is socially acceptable for men to show their bare chest but it isn't socially acceptable for women? In this age of emancipation, isn't that considered a double standard? What's the story or reason behind this? Thanks!

I don't live in the U.S., and I grew up reading mainstream film magazines such as Empire and Total Film. Both magazines are from the U.K. I can't seem to find any American mainstream film magazines that is somewhat similar to Empire / Total Film in format and contents, which bewilders me since the United States is one of the largest film-producing countries in the world. There are lots of good specialized film magazines from the U.S. that I read as well like Cineaste and American Cinematographer, but they're not exactly mainstream film magazines.

Pardon my ignorance, but is there any good, reliable mainstream film magazines from the United States similar to Empire / Total Film? The ones that give COMPREHENSIVE reviews, star ratings of current film releases both mainstream and arthouse? As well as articles about mainstream films?

The closest thing I can find is Entertainment Weekly - in the sense that it deals with current mainstream films. However, it deals with theater, TV, etc as well so it's not exactly a film magazine.

...or...when speaking in a mainstream cinema context, are magazines like Empire / Total Film etc considered the best kinds out there? Why don't The U.S. produce these type of magazines?

I've been trying to find out about this on the net but to no avail.

Where I come from, Indonesia - in the context of Roman Catholicism - a parish is divided into several so-called "districts", which in turn are further divided into several "neighborhoods". "districts" are named using roman numerals, e.g. District I, V, XII, etc - and "neighborhoods" are named using names of Saints e.g. St. Gregory's neighborhood.

The purpose of forming these parish sub-divisions are simply to bring together members of the community that are Roman Catholics, and get them connected and involved with Parish activities, etc. Each "neighborhoods" have their own activities, be it religious, social, philanthropic, etc.

Each parish is served by one Church, and headed by a head parish priest. "Districts" and "Neighborhoods" have their own leaders as well but they're not members of the clergy. These leaders are elected by the parish community and are of course unpaid.

My question is, is this a common occurrence in your country, wherever you come from, where a Parish has further sub-divisions? I can't seem to find an equivalent in other countries to this phenomenon we have in Indonesia. Do enlighten me, and if possible, please add some details about how things work in your country. Thanks!

This question is directed mostly to Malaysians. Based on my observations, when Malaysians visit Indonesia, most of them will go to Bandung instead of the more popular destinations like Bali or Jogjakarta. In fact, Bandung is popular enough that one of Malaysia's largest airlines, Malaysia AirAsia, opens a direct route from KUL - BDO. As an Indonesian from Jakarta, I can understand if Jakartans like to go to Bandung - because Jakarta is over-polluted and Bandung has cool and fresh air, but that's about it. Can someone explain why Malaysians like to go to Bandung when they're traveling to Indonesia? What is so appealing about Bandung in the eyes of Malaysians? Thanks!

I used to live in Australia, where I always buy this specific type of beans for cooking. It looks almost exactly like common French beans (green beans), same length as well, but the texture is different - these beans are much denser and heavier, and while French beans feels somewhat empty and hollow inside, this particular bean in question is much denser and fuller. The seeds inside are bigger than French bean's seeds, which makes it crunchier than French beans.

Another distinguishing factor is that these beans have a wrinkly surface (akin to snake beans / long beans), as compared to French beans which have smooth surface. Anyone can help me identify this bean? Thanks!

I am a linguistics enthusiast and nothing annoys me more than people who make pronunciation or spelling mistakes, especially for foreign / foreign-originated words. If my friend mispronounce something, I have this overwhelming urge to correct them. However, never in my life have I intended to belittle nor look down upon them - I believe it's a very common and valid human error to mispronounce something once in awhile and I just wanted to share my knowledge and save them from future embarrassment caused by pronouncing something incorrectly (rather than being a show-off).

However, I have been in a few situations where someone whom I corrected showed contempt and disinterest. So, I wanted to know once and for all - is it annoying when someone corrects your pronunciation / spelling? Thanks!