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1500 questions
59
votes
6 answers
Do beef farmed pastures net remove carbon emissions?
This viral image claims that an example beef farm with 130 cattle removes many tons of Carbon from the atmosphere every year. However it does not provide any sources.
This image has been shared many times - e.g. [1], [2], [3], [4] - some of these…
Tom Bowen
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59
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4 answers
Are spiders unable to hurt humans, especially very small spiders?
In an episode of Peppa Pig, one of the characters says that spiders are very very small, and that they can’t hurt you.
Broadcasters in Australia have avoided broadcasting the episode involved, because they’re worried that viewers will regard the…
Golden Cuy
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59
votes
3 answers
Did college students clamor for cyanide pills in student health clinics in the 1980's in America?
According to the article Media Throw Everything at the Wall to See What Sticks:
Witless college students demanded cyanide pills be stocked in campus health care clinics, on the grounds that Reagan was going to get us all nuked.
Is the statement…
Chloe
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59
votes
4 answers
Does watching television damage the eyes?
Is there any evidence that watching television for too long or while sitting too close weakens the eyes (leading to myopia, for example) ?
Pulkit Sinha
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59
votes
1 answer
Did the US Department of Defense produce and release the poster "tweets sink fleets"?
This has been floating around social media recently.
If it's not something you recognize it's a play on Loose Lips (might) Sink Ships which was utilized as American propaganda during World War II. On the bottom is a claim that the Defense Security…
Raystafarian
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59
votes
1 answer
Would Trump be worth more if he simply invested in mutual funds?
I have seen several claims that Trump would be worth significantly more if he had just invested his father's money in an index.
Bloomberg puts Trump's current net worth at $2.9 billion... if Trump had just put his father's money in a mutual fund…
Some Guy
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59
votes
2 answers
Do 40% of U.S. Americans think that global warming is unproblematic since Christ will return soon?
Noam Chomsky states in a recent interview:
One of the difficulties in raising public concern over the very severe threats of global warming is that 40 percent of the US population does not see why it is a problem, since Christ is returning in a few…
Turion
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59
votes
1 answer
Did Martin Schulz say that it is not the EU philosophy that the crowd can decide its fate?
In the last few days, some people are attributing to European Parliament President Martin Schulz the following statement:
The British have violated the rules. It is not the EU philosophy that the crowd can decide its fate.
Did he really say that,…
T. C.
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59
votes
1 answer
Did Pablo Reyes post a Facebook update that predicts the future?
It has been widely reported that the Facebook post of a user called Pablo Reyes made a number of startling predictions:
Call me crazy but in 2016 Hillary Clinton will be the first female president, the world will go crazy over the death of a…
Dom
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59
votes
4 answers
Was Stonehenge built in the 1950s?
A set of photos from a Russian web-site apparently show Stonehenge being built in the 1950s, rather than the more customary dates of 3000-2000 BC.
An conspiracy theory web-site Max Resistance attempts to explain the claims in English:
1954 PHOTOS…
federk
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59
votes
2 answers
Do men feel threatened by intelligent women?
I found this posted in multiple news sites
The findings, to be published in the November edition of ‘Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin’, concluded that men find the propect [sic] of dating intelligent women intimidating.
--The…
Sklivvz
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59
votes
1 answer
Did Edison refuse to pay Tesla, saying "You don't understand our American humor"?
The story that Edison scammed Tesla out of his payment for services he was hired for is widely spread on the Internet. The story was featured on this The Oatmeal webcomic, which is excerpted below:
The Wikipedia citations cannot easily be checked…
March Ho
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59
votes
1 answer
Does Lebanon ban the diary of Anne Frank?
According to factslides, a reddit post, Wikipedia, and the Wall Street Journal, the Diary of Anne Frank is banned in Lebanon.
According to a reddit comment this is "rubbish". Other news reports a single private school in Lebanon removing references…
gerrit
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59
votes
2 answers
Did Einstein say "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe."
The following quotation is commonly attributed to Albert Einstein:
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm
not sure about the universe."
However, I've been unable to find a reliable source confirming the quote. Can…
Dominik
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59
votes
1 answer
Do all Wikipedia articles lead to Philosophy?
Wikipedia trivia: if you take any article, click on the first link in
the article text not in parenthesis or italics, and then repeat, you
will eventually end up at "Philosophy". - Randall Munroe, XKCD 903: Extended Mind (mouse-over text)
I…
travisbartley
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