For the last 50 years or so musicians have been complaining about the tyranny of the 3 minute single [1,2] . I have heard, but not confirmed, that that was based on what you could fit on a 78.Two questions:

1. How long were popular/folk songs [American/European, I guess] before the 3 minute standard? Was there a typical length?
2. Why was the approximately-3-minute length kept after 45s and 33 1/3 became standard?

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1. Billy Joel, "The Entertainer": "It was a beautiful song, but it ran too long/If you want to have a hit you've got to make it fit/So they cut it down to 3:05"
2. The Clash, "Hitsville, UK": The band came in and knocked them dead/in two minutes fifty nine"

The other day, I was reading the story of Jesus meeting a Samaritan women at the well. Without saying specifically "I'm a Jew," "I'm a Samaritan" they both seem to know the other's group. But I assume that, ethnically, they looked very similar. So did they wear distinct clothes or something? Or is this just something the story does not explain?

Seems like a dumb question but today I’ve been wondering about what people did before deodorant was invented. Did they just live with people often smelling like hell? Or was the body ‚used to it‘ and they didn’t smell as much as today?

Oliver Cromwell was known as the individual who was the key leader for the parliamentary/Roundhead side during the final years of the English Civil War, he was responsible for aiding parliamentary war tactics by operating as a leading commander of the New Model Army, which would be one of the defining reasons by which lead to victory of parliamentary power and the defeat of Charles I and the Royalist Army. He was one of those who saw fit that Charles I was guilty for that of ‘treason’ and was one among those who decided that he should, for the first time in monarch history, be publicly executed. Despite Oliver’s renowned fame for his commanding power, and his aiding to reestablishing the structure of long parliament and soon after rump parliament, he quickly fell in popularity throughout the limited years of his reign by which he was appointed Lord Protector, please could I have an explanation as to why his unpopularity gradually grew throughout the United Kingdom by the time of the beginning of the protectorate?

Correction credit: u/UnPleasantStuff

I'm particularly interested in large capital cities and trade ports/hubs in 11th and 12th century Europe, but references and comparisons to other pre-industrial regions and time periods would be great to hear about as well. I know for example that Ancient Rome and some Chinese cities neared or even passed 1 million citizens.

Any information on the problems (and solutions to those problems) cities growing to large sizes presented would also be great. I'm thinking sewage, drinking water, food supply etc.

I'm aware that there's probably a great deal of variety!

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There were many liberal changes to the treatment of prisoners in Western countries in the 1970s-1990s. Can you name what international conventions (or civil rights movements etc) impacted most to the countries ability to have long convictions to extra dangerous prisoners?

I imagine the US didn't sign them since you are able to give 300 year long sentences. Apparently Norway didn't sign them either since they are prepared to hold Breivik indefinitely behind the bars. Many European countries can't do the same. What did our countries leaders sign?

What it says on the tin.

I mean, barely anyone calls his communist counterpart - Mao Zedong- as Mao Tse-tung, nowadays, and yet Chiang Kai-shek persists in historical records and even in non-scholarly discourse.

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I would imagine that it would be considered more humane, but considering how it would probably even more humane to just make them forced laborers, I don’t understand the reasoning. Also the Nazis went out of their way to suppress evidence, so why did the level of mercy matter? Was gas more expensive than firearms or physical force?

Recently, I read New Yorker article entitled "The NBA and China and the Myths of Sports Democracy," where the author argues that international competitions like the Olympics have had virtually no diplomatic value. Have there ever been instances where a country's government bolstered democracy, civil rights, or civil liberties as a result of hosting and/or participating in an international sporting event?

For my first question: I was told to consult the Digest, but can't find anything specific on this. Does anyone know? And what would be the pertinent laws in the Digest?

For my second: Lucretia, the ideal Roman woman, killed herself after being raped. Would all rape victims be expected to follow suit, given Lucretia's cultural status as supreme exemplar of Roman womanhood?

Or at least where to look? The wikipedia page on Crassus isn't helping me much.

I’m aware that Mesoamerican city-states had identifying emblems or glyphs, and that Andean peoples used wiphala flags, and was curious if there was an equivalent among late Mississippian peoples. I couldn’t seem to find any information on the subject, so I decided to ask here. Thanks in advance!

Lately it has become a meme that the purpose of the U.S. electoral college is to dilute the voting strength of large cities. I have always believed the point was that transportation and communication was difficult in the days the constitution was written, and by assigning a relatively small group of people the power to settle the presidential election in face to face discussion, expensive and time consuming national polling could be limited to a single round. Is there historical evidence as to what the framers were really thinking when they created the electoral college?