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1500 questions
34
votes
1 answer
Was the wild west less violent than the current west?
Matt Ridley's The Evolution of Everything: How New Ideas Emerge has a chapter on the evolution of government, in which he starts by making the startling statement:
The truth is that the [American] Wild West was without much government, but it was…
matt_black
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34
votes
1 answer
Does consuming different types of alcohol make you more sick than others?
A common saying about drinking is this:
Beer before liquor, never been sicker.
Sometimes this is followed by:
Liquor before beer, you're in the clear.
Is there any merit to this? Assuming one drinks the exact same amount of beer and harder…
Brian Schroth
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34
votes
1 answer
Did the Mexican Government publish a manual for how to illegally enter the US?
On donaldjtrump.com, Trump writes
For many years, Mexico’s leaders have been taking advantage of the United States by using illegal immigration to export the crime and poverty in their own country (as well as in other Latin American countries).…
DJMcMayhem
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34
votes
1 answer
Has any programmer ever been paid per line of code?
There have been some claims that some software developers were paid per line of code written:
Bill Gates was paid per line of code
I heard that Microsoft has a tradition of needlessly long and complex
programs in part because when Bill Gates…
user14708
34
votes
2 answers
Did Manahel Thabet develop a groundbreaking formula to measure distance in space without the use of light?
I stumbled upon the Wikipedia page of Manahel Thabet recently. Here are some extracts from the Wikipedia page.
"At the age of 25, she earned her first PhD in Financial Engineering magna cum laude, making her the youngest person and the only Arab…
Archy Will He 何魏奇
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34
votes
6 answers
Is there a cure for Ebola?
Wikipedia's page on "Ebola Virus Disease" states:
No specific treatment for the virus is available.
Wikipedia's page on "Ebola Virus" also states:
There is no cure for Ebola, but if people get care quickly from
doctors and nurses at a hospital,…
yuritsuki
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34
votes
3 answers
Has the Holocaust been exaggerated?
I am not a Holocaust denier but I am skeptical of some of the reported numbers and details of the historical event. Is there any evidence that 6 million Jews were executed as part of a plan to eliminate the Jewish people? I am also skeptical of some…
obscurus
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2 answers
Has increased computer use led to increased myopia?
According to ABC News and this Ophthalmological study there has been a significant increase in the number of people with myopic eyesight over a recent 30 year period. From the ABC article:
There are multiple theories. Some say more people are now…
DuckMaestro
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34
votes
2 answers
Is there a text string that crashes iPhones?
WARNING: DON'T VISIT THE LINK BELOW ON AN IPHONE
A colleague of mine, who works in the technology field, told me that there is a specific text string that can crash any iPhone (specifically iOS 6) which tries to display it.
He alleges that the…
Coomie
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5 answers
Does DNA add credibility to the theory of evolution?
I have yet to make up my mind regarding the theory of evolution. Whilst doing some reading on dnafish I read that DNA itself provides evidence for the theory of evolution:
Yeast, trees, flowers, corn, mice, frogs and humans share the same DNA. We…
mulllhausen
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34
votes
2 answers
Did Australia ban small-breasts pornography?
There is a widely spread news about Australia banning pornography featuring actresses with A-cup breasts.
Aussie censor balks at bijou boobs
Australia's 'small breast' ban
Australia Bans Small Breasted Pornography
The reason behind:
Senator Joyce…
Mirzhan Irkegulov
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34
votes
1 answer
Can Scopolamine turn people into mindless "zombies"?
Vice did a report about scopolamine dubbing it as the world's scariest drug. The story is that people being given that drug can be told to do anything, similar to some popular claims about hypnosis and the zombie myths in the Caribbean.
When I…
0xC0000022L
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2 answers
Does every North Korean home have a radio that can't be turned off?
VillageOfJoy claims that:
14 Interesting Facts about North Korea
You can’t turn off the government radio installed in your home, only reduce the volume. [...]
There are many of web-sites with similar claims: 1,
2.
This photo by photographer…
Jonas Stein
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34
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2 answers
Did a nocebo study find that rashes could swap hands?
In an answer to another question, the following story was cited.
Another interesting one that demonstrates both the placebo and nocebo effect in one study is a study done by Japanese researches on 57 high school aged boys. They selected these boys…
Oddthinking
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34
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2 answers
Length of uncoiled human DNA
I recently came across this fact:
There's enough DNA in the human body to stretch from the sun to Pluto and back.
A couple of "Bollocks!" alarms began to chime in my head. While I expect that it will stretch a long way, Pluto seemed a little…
user7920