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1500 questions
63
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2 answers
Were COVID-19 patients in Wuhan welded into their apartments to enforce the lockdown?
The Sun ran an article in Feburary 2020 covering viral social media videos purportedly showing citizens in Wuhan having their apartment doors welded shut during the COVID-19 lockdown. The wording of the article implies (without fully stating) that…
Aaron Rotenberg
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Did new Brazilian president Bolsonaro say he'd rather have a dead son than a gay one?
There has been a lot in the global news media recently about the new President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, and the highly controversial things he is alleged to have said in the past.
Some quotes are attributed to him in a 2018 New York Times…
Victoria
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63
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Was the German V2 rocket the only weapon whose production killed more than its use?
Early in David Edgerton's history of technology, The Shock of the Old he discusses cost benefit analysis applied to some military weapons.
He argues, for example, that the US would have caused a lot more damage to Japan and might have ended the war…
matt_black
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63
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Is it possible to cause problems to an aircraft pilot with an "over-the-counter" laser?
I've been admonished not to ever shine a laser into the night sky as it might "dazzle pilots" and potentially bring down airplanes. This seems kind of illogical for a number of reasons:
If a plane is flying perpendicular to the earth, a laser from…
Naftuli Kay
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63
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2 answers
Has the marijuana black market in Colorado increased since the state repealed its state laws prohibiting it?
Jeff Hunt, the Vice President of Public Policy at Colorado Christian University, wrote in a recent opinion piece in USA Today:
In the years since, Colorado has seen an increase in marijuana related traffic deaths, poison control calls, and…
GreenMatt
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63
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2 answers
Are there any women in the top one hundred chess players?
According to this video, a Polish politician named Janusz Korwin-Mikke claimed:
Do you know how many women are in the first hundred of chess players? I tell you – no one.
Is he correct that zero women are in the first hundred top chess…
Sakib Arifin
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63
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3 answers
Claimed similarities between Jesus Christ and Horus and other Gods
The 2007 conspiracy theory film Zeitgeist: The Movie (Website, Watch online, Wikipedia Entry) states in Part I "The Greatest Story Ever Sold" that major points of the story about Jesus Christ's birth, life, death and resurrection are not original…
Martin Scharrer
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4 answers
Is the death penalty an effective deterrent?
There is a lot of clutter from anti-death penalty sites, which makes it hard to find all the research. They often cite statistics like those explained in this website, including the chart below that shows that murder rates in states without the…
Dogmafrog
62
votes
3 answers
Did the WHO deliberately skip the letters Xi and Nu when naming the latest COVID-19 variant Omicron?
A tweet claims WHO skipped a letter of the Greek alphabet when designating new COVID-19 variants to avoid using "xi".
News of new Nu variant, but WHO is jumping the alphabet to call it Omicron, so they can avoid Xi.
Is there any information why it…
Ruslan Oblov
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62
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3 answers
Did Trump himself order the National Guard to clear out protesters (who sided with him) on the Capitol on Jan 6?
An op-ed on Russia Today (which obviously has its biases) claims about Trump's reaction to the Jan 6 events:
The supposed Nazi fascist dictator himself ordered National Guard and police to clear out the protesters who sided with him, and protect…
the gods from engineering
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62
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2 answers
Did Susan B. Anthony make these statements regarding suffrage for women and former slaves?
Telesur posted an article on 8 November 2016 which claims Susan B. Anthony made a number of statements under the headline "White Women Pay Tribute to Susan B. Anthony, Notorious Racist":
The Bad
“I will cut off this right arm of mine before I will…
Luis Masuelli
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62
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1 answer
Are raptors in Australia intentionally spreading brush fires to smoke out prey?
Articles have been popping up with headlines like the Daily Mail's "Birds of prey are starting fires DELIBERATELY: Kites and Falcons are 'intentionally dropping smouldering twigs' to smoke out mice and insects in Australia". The claim is that some…
RToyo
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3 answers
Did Donald Trump "[imitate] a disabled reporter"?
During her speech at the Golden Globes, Meryl Streep said the following:
But there was one performance this year that stunned me. It, it sank its hooks in my heart. Not because it was good. It was -- there was nothing good about it. But it was…
JonathanReez
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62
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2 answers
Does WordPress power 27% of the Internet?
According to the front page of WordPress.com (screenshot, in case the page changes):
WordPress powers 27% of the internet.
Unfortunately no source is provided for that statement. Is this number true?
JonathanReez
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Does dyeing elephant tusks help discourage poachers?
Recently, I've often seen this image claiming that some people are dying elephant tusks to prevent individuals from hunting them.
Has this actually been done? Is it common?
Initially, this seemed a fair idea. However, implementing a staining…
Lonidard
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