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1500 questions
109
votes
3 answers
Did JFK call himself a jelly donut in his famous Berlin speech?
This morning, in an attempt to find inspiration for a name for my new puppy (who is a great talker), I googled "great orators". The second hit took me here, where JFK is again listed as one of history's great orators. However, I was surprised to…
anongoodnurse
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109
votes
1 answer
Is eating rice harmful to birds?
There is an old custom to throw rice at the wedding couple when they leave the church after the ceremony. But now I have heard from several people that you should not throw rice because birds will eat the rice and then explode when it expands in…
Broken Orange
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108
votes
8 answers
Could people perceive the color blue in ancient times?
This article claims that no ancient language anywhere in the world had the word for "blue", that for instance Homer described the sea as "wine-dark", and that the color blue has only appeared more recently in languages, more or less at the same time…
o0'.
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107
votes
6 answers
Is smoking weed bad for your health?
Some people believe that smoking marijuana (without any tobacco) is harmful to your health and may cause problems. Examples of things I've heard weed supposedly causes:
All the health problems of tobacco (cancer, strokes, etc)
You get addicted to…
smzs
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107
votes
7 answers
Are crime rates up by 10% in Germany?
On June 18th and 19th, 2018, the President of the United States, Donald Trump tweeted that the crime rate in Germany has increased:
(1) Tweet from June 18th, 2018
(2) Tweet from June 19th, 2018
Has the crime rate in Germany increased by 10%…
hiergiltdiestfu
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107
votes
1 answer
Has the cure to cancer been hidden by pharmaceutical companies?
I've heard a theory that given the widespread incidence of cancer, a cancer cure probably already exists but has been hidden by major pharmaceutical companies to maximise revenue from expensive cancer treatment, since a cure would be one-off but…
Huey
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107
votes
5 answers
Is the Earth 6000 years old?
Dr Kent Hovind, a noted American Young Earth creationist, claims that the Earth is only 6000 years old.
When I was growing up, I was taught in school that dinosaurs come from at least millions of years ago in Earth's far distant past.
So how can…
Mark Rogers
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107
votes
3 answers
Do coal plants release more radiation than nuclear power plants?
As a response to the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant I've heard the claim that fossil-fuel power plants using coal release more radiation than a nuclear power plant. I searched for some information and found an article supporting this…
Mad Scientist
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106
votes
2 answers
Did Buzz Aldrin take communion of bread and wine on his first landing on the moon?
According to this BBC article of 2017-02-17
the first liquid to be drunk on the surface of the moon was wine
It cites as source this The Guardian article of 2012-07-13, describing Buzz Aldrin organizing a Christian communion:
Before Armstrong and…
fgrieu
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106
votes
5 answers
Are personal electronics a risk to commercial aviation?
Are personal electronics (of present or recent past; e.g. cell phones, mp3 players, iPads) a risk to commercial air travel? Is the typical request to "turn off all personal electronic devices" based on any reasonable data?
DuckMaestro
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105
votes
2 answers
Did 20% of US soldiers in Vietnam use heroin, 95% of whom quit afterwards?
The following claims were made around 04:50 of this TED talk by Johann Hari:
20 percent of all American troops were using loads of heroin, and if you look at the news reports from the time, they were really worried, because they thought, my God,…
d-b
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105
votes
2 answers
Is Stack Exchange the only major network where moderators are democratically elected?
The Stack Exchange 2015 Year in Review blog post claims:
After five years of democratically electing moderators, it’s mind blowing that Stack Exchange is still the only major network that embraces this form self-governance. It’s a strategic…
Franck Dernoncourt
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104
votes
4 answers
Does the production of a Tesla battery produce as much CO2 as driving 200,000 km?
Recently I read on Greenpeace's website, that the production of a 100 kWh battery, as in the Tesla Model S, produces as much CO2 as driving a regular car for 200,000 km.
Source: Tesla car battery production releases as much CO2 as 8 years of…
user1721135
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104
votes
2 answers
In the American west—the world of cowboys and cowhands—was ammunition traded for alcoholic “shots” of a drink?
CLARIFICATION: Just so it’s clear, this question is specifically about the economic claims made by the meme presented below. It is a NOT question concerning the origins and etymology of the word “shot” in any way/shape/form. If there is a desire to…
Giacomo1968
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104
votes
3 answers
Is 8% of human DNA from viruses?
According to 23andme's Twitter
Image reads,
Approximately 8% of DNA is originally from viruses, which infected your ancestors and became integrated into their cells.
Evan Carroll
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