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1500 questions
30
votes
1 answer
Is spanking an effective form of discipline for children?
I have heard many claims that spanking is ineffective for disciplining kids? Is there any research to confirm or deny this?
Casebash
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Are Americans ignorant of geography and the world?
The meme of American ignorance in geography and world affairs seems to be pretty common in my experience. But, how much truth is there in it?
While I'm inclined to believe that the US population is generally less informed than its counterparts of…
CircleSquared
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Does the phase-out of incandescent light bulbs measurably reduce overall electrical power consumption?
Many countries are phasing out incandescent light bulbs. For example, in the European Union, various types of classic light bulbs have been removed from the market in the last years.
The claim is that this process will help reduce overall electrical…
Heinzi
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Do Macaque monkeys steal money from wallets and use it to buy food from vending machines?
I saw this rumor on Reddit, which refers to factsanddetails.com and which doesn't indicate the information source. I saw a video of a monkey using a vending machine on College Humor, but that doesn't say whether monkeys have actually started…
Casebash
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Did Pascal write: "Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction"?
The sentence, supposedly by Pascal in his Pensées:
Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from
religious conviction.
is quoted extensively (especially in atheist circles). This has always puzzled me, because I've read…
leonbloy
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Did von Braun say "The rocket worked perfectly except for landing on the wrong planet"?
A number of sources including Wikipedia state that when the first V-2 hit London, Wernher von Braun apparently said:
The rocket worked perfectly except for landing on the wrong planet.
This sounds entirely too dramatic and rehearsed. It doesn't…
user7920
30
votes
1 answer
Is learning more difficult for older people?
My parents always say to me that they can't learn as well as me because it's more difficult and they forget things faster etc..
Maybe it seems logical, but for me it would be much more logical that, if you exercised your mind, you would learn as…
Adam Halasz
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Does gender affect driving skill?
Are there any differences in either sex which are provably beneficial and/or detrimental to their driving abilities?
Also, is it possible that stereotypical gender roles make any difference in driving ability?
For example: Men stereotypically tend…
zzzzBov
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votes
1 answer
Could McDonald's pay a $10.10 minimum wage with an increase of only 4¢ per meal?
This caught my eye and seems like powerful statement, if true.
WARREN: During my Senate campaign, I ate a number 11 at McDonald’s many, many times a week. I know the price on that. $7.19. According to the data on the analysis of what would happen…
Evan Carroll
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Is the Moon young?
According to Dr. Thomas G. Barnes the Moon is much younger than claimed by the mainstream scientific community, by many orders of magnitude.
The Giant impact hypothesis, one of the primary mainstream scientific theories on the creation of the…
Mark Rogers
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1 answer
Did the Irish Catholic church have slaves in Ireland as recently as 1996?
This article covers the topic well, but is more about the Irish government admitting collusion with the supposed slave holders.
Labelled the "Maggies", the women and girls were stripped of their names and dumped in Irish Catholic church-run…
user11643
30
votes
2 answers
Does drinking milk lead to osteoporosis?
The China Study authors state that:
osteoporosis is linked to the consumption of animal protein because animal protein, unlike plant protein, increases the acidity of blood and tissues. They add that to neutralize this acid, calcium (a very…
mfg
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Does increased gun ownership in the US correlate with a reduction in violent crime rates?
This is somewhat of the converse of the question Is Gun Control Effective:
A quote of famous musician and gun advocate Ted Nugent has been making the rounds on the Internet again lately:
Where you have the most armed citizens in America, you have…
Beofett
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4 answers
Do magnets have verifiable effects on humans?
Do magnets have statistically significant effects on humans?
Some example claims are in the Wikipedia article on Magnet therapy.
Which says:
Practitioners claim that subjecting certain parts of the body to
magnetostatic fields produced by…
blueberryfields
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Is using a standing desk for several hours healthier than sitting at a desk all day?
Is working at a standing desk more healthy than working at a regular sitting desk?
Source: Crackberry Blog
Over the past couple of years there has been a lot of buzz about the health benefits of standing desks, driven by research that concluded…
Olivier Lalonde
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