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1500 questions
78
votes
2 answers
Was the Roman knowledge of how to build aqueducts lost?
In a TED interview, Elon Musk stated:
People are mistaken when they think that technology just automatically improves. It does not automatically improve. It only improves if a lot of people work very hard to make it better, and actually it will, I…
Favst
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78
votes
3 answers
Was Mohammed the most popular first name for boys born in Berlin in 2018?
German right-wing party AfD has recently posted this claim on its Facebook page:
++ Neugeborene: Mohammed auf Platz 1 der Vornamen in Berlin ++
Man höre und staune: Der häufigste Erstname für neugeborene Jungen in
Berlin ist Mohammed. In Bremen…
oliver
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78
votes
2 answers
Is this Swedish government pamphlet a guide for men who have married underage girls?
From this tweet, by a tweeter who claims to be located in Sweden:
No Joke: Sweden’s board of health and welfare and the migration authority just released this pamphlet called “information to the person who is married to a child”, meant to help…
Andrew Grimm
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78
votes
2 answers
Did Donald Trump exclude Muslim countries in which he does business from the recent entry ban?
This image states that:
Trump is poised to sign an Executive Order banning entry to the United States from These 7 Muslim contries:
Iran, Syria, Libya, Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia
Conspicious in their absence, are the 3 Muslim countries with which…
dsollen
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78
votes
2 answers
Did more people use the DC Metro transit system on the day of Trump's inauguration than on the day of Obama's second inauguration (in 2013)?
On 21 Jan 2017, the White House called a press conference where the press secretary accused the media of "deliberately false reporting" on two issues of which the number of people attending President Trump's inauguration was one. The inauguration…
A E
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78
votes
5 answers
Is Wikipedia reliable?
I ask this question because in school, students are always told "do not quote wikipedia" or that "Do not believe everything you see on Wikipedia, we are teachers and we know when something is wrong there". (The latter being more common in my case)…
picakhu
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77
votes
4 answers
Are girls and boys pre-programmed to behave... like girls and boys?
My dad claims that even as toddlers, my sister and I knew which toys to play with. For example, I would always pick up toy guns, Action Man, and other similar toys. She would always pick up Barbie. He also claims that this happened while we were…
Thomas O
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77
votes
4 answers
Did COVID-19 take the lives of 3,100 Americans in a single day, making it the third deadliest day in American history?
This image is doing the rounds on Facebook:
The image reads:
Yes, people die everyday. Yes we know it's not you because you are reading this.
Cancer takes approx. 1,600 Americans a day.
Heart events take approx. 1,800 Americans a day.
Suicides…
dsollen
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77
votes
2 answers
Did Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweet that businesses should stay closed until the November elections?
A friend of mine just forwarded me a screenshot of the following May 20, 2020 (now-deleted) tweet purportedly from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whose nickname and Twitter handle is AOC.
It's vital that Governors maintain restrictions on businesses…
Yehuda
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77
votes
2 answers
Did Euler make the elementary mistake √-2 √-3 = √6?
The following extract is from Tristan Needham's Visual Complex Analysis,
Even in 1770 the situation was still sufficiently confused that it was possible for so great a mathematician as Euler to mistakenly argue that √-2 √-3 = √6.
I found this to…
Agile_Eagle
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77
votes
4 answers
Have four out of five systematic reviews concluded that homeopathy works?
In this article in the Guardian, Rachel Roberts claims that:
"Five major systematic reviews have also been carried out to analyse
the balance of evidence from RCTs [randomized controlled trials] of
homeopathy – four were positive (Kleijnen, J, et…
mdarwin
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77
votes
3 answers
Did Germany's Supreme Court rule that the measles virus didn't exist?
Paul Fassa writes in German Supreme Court Upholds Biologist’s Claim that Measles Virus Does Not Exist:
At first it appeared he had lost. But Dr. Lanka took his loss to a higher court with more experts and the backing of two independent…
Christian
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77
votes
3 answers
Is this pie graph describing US government spending accurate?
This graphic is doing the circuit on Facebook. Is the pie chart an accurate depiction of US government spending?
Look closely at this chart of federal spending.
Military 57%
Education 6%
Government 6%
Veteran's Benefits 6%
Housing &…
dsollen
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77
votes
1 answer
Is the world record for staying in an anechoic chamber an hour or less?
There is an anechoic chamber in Minneapolis, supposedly the "quietest place on earth", with isolated walls that absorb 99.99% of all echoes.
It is claimed that the world record for staying in this room is 45 minutes (one source claims 60 minutes).
I…
HugoRune
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77
votes
5 answers
Were people shorter in the middle ages?
In many castles or museums you'll find medieval armor, belonging to a knight. Those are often very small compared to the average human nowadays. I've heard this explained multiple times as being due to the general smaller size of people in the…
Mad Scientist
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