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1500 questions
57
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2 answers
Was the Berlin Wall Breached Based upon an Erroneous Declaration?
In "Beyond the Ideological Lie: The Revolution of 1989 Thirty Years Later", Daniel J. Mahoney goes to great lengths to put this event in question in context to not down play the significance of world wide events taking place:
Poland was the first…
user36356
57
votes
1 answer
Did Scotland spend $250,000 for the slogan "Welcome to Scotland"?
A 2007 Digital Journal article claims
Scotland spent six months of research and $250,000 to create a new slogan to boost tourism. What did they come up with? “Welcome to Scotland” is the new slogan, as the country has abandoned the previous “the…
Maxim
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57
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Has the laser at Magurele, Romania reached a tenth of the Sun's power?
This month the laser at Magurele, Romania became the most powerful laser in the world, according to various sources.
Related: Is the laser built in Măgurele, România, the most powerful in the world?
Digi24, a Romanian news and television company…
Ionică Bizău
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57
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4 answers
Have we wiped out 60% of vertebrate populations since 1970?
According to The Guardian (reporting an analysis by WWF) humanity stands on the verge of an ecological catastrophe as:
Humanity has wiped out 60% of mammals, birds, fish and reptiles since 1970, leading the world’s foremost experts to warn that the…
matt_black
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57
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Did Robert Hooke publish his spring force law as an anagram?
Did Robert Hooke (and other contemporary scientists) ever publish their discoveries as anagrams?
This Wikipedia article claims that Robert Hooke published his spring force law as a anagram. It also goes on to say that,
This was a method sometimes…
Agile_Eagle
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57
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2 answers
Was there a nuclear explosion in Germany during WW2?
According to this article at dailymail.co.uk and this article at news.com.au a declassified document "APO 696" (purportedly in the U.S. National Archives) includes testimony that indicates a possible nuclear explosion in Germany in early October…
Dee
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57
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3 answers
Are right-wing extremists a bigger terrorist threat than islamic extremists in the USA?
The Cato Institute claims the following (my highlight):
The ongoing controversy and litigation over the Trump administration’s “Muslim ban” has reignited a debate that has raged since the 9/11 attacks: Who commits more domestic terrorism–violent…
matt_black
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57
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Did Donald Trump call Alicia Machado "Miss Piggy" and "Miss Housekeeping"?
During the first Trump-Clinton presidential debate, Clinton said:
He called this woman "Miss Piggy." Then he called her "Miss
Housekeeping," because she was Latina. Donald, she has a name. Her name is Alicia Machado.
Trump responded by asking…
Fiksdal
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57
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8 answers
Can the human eye distinguish frame rates above 60 Hz?
I know that frame-rates above 60fps all look the same to the human eye. Is that true? Why? If so, why do graphics cards boast anything higher than that?
myusuf3
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3 answers
Are human beings naturally predisposed to believe in God?
My girlfriend sent me this article from the Telegraph. This is an excerpt:
Led by two academics at Oxford University, the £1.9 million study found that human thought processes were “rooted” to religious concepts.
Photo from the article
Not having…
Sklivvz
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57
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1 answer
Did Alan Turing publish a paper called The Imitation Game (as claimed in the movie)?
I have seen a couple of Turing's papers, but never have found one called "The Imitation Game". The Imitation Game seems to be a name used by Turing to refer to his test to decide whether an intelligent entity of some sorts is machine or man (a.k.a.,…
a06e
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57
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4 answers
What is the original source of "Everything in the world is about sex, except sex. Sex is about power."?
Frequently, "Everything in the world is about sex, except sex. Sex is about power." is seen attributed to Oscar Wilde: e.g., here, here, and here. This seems unlikely to me, for several reasons:
I can't find any instances of the quote that date…
Micah
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57
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2 answers
Are sharks a threat to undersea cables?
Slate published an article recently, titled The Global Internet Is Being Attacked by Sharks, Google Confirms. Despite being catchy and all, most of the references seem to be other news outlets or actually contradict the claim.
Are there any sources…
Édouard Lopez
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57
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Does a dishwasher consume less water than manual dish washing
I've always heard the claim that a dishwasher is more water efficient. I can attest that I once washed the dishes with a clogged pipe, and put a bucket below the sink, and was appalled at the amount of water used, and this was while using low flows…
Gilad Naor
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57
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Is squeezing pimples bad for you?
I've always been told, or notice others being told, or hear it in popular media, that squeezing pimples or blackheads is somehow "bad" for you. Certainly, when there is a chance that the skin breaks, we have to worry about introducing infections…
Glen Wheeler
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