So, when I was 15 I went to Berlin and I vaguely remember a guide in a museum telling us that you could technically ask the East German government for a Visa to immigrate to West Germany... it usually took years, your social life was over (your friends were ordered not to speak to you anymore), and life was basically hell for your family but after a few years you could get your paper to leave...

Is that true?

I'm curious about the use of sunglasses anywhere from the 1800's to the early 20th century, particularly in the American West. I'm having trouble finding detailed accounts, and virtually no luck finding any images of Western citizens wearing them.

How common were they? How were they made? What did they look like at this time? What did the use of sunglasses indicate about a person's status? What professions or activities encouraged their use?

I've read David Cordingley's 'Cochrane the Dauntless", Arthur Herman's 'To Rule the Waves', and begun the Aubrey-Maturin fiction series and all three mention officers being stuck ashore on half-pay.

What did these officers tend to do when not on a seagoing vessel? Did they get given postings ashore like the modern Navy doing administrative work or logistic support or were they effectively on a half-paid form of leave?

So I've been watching The Americans lately and it's got me wondering if, or how much, there were covert operations that ended up turning violent. I know it's a tv show and all that but it definitely seems plausible that that sort of thing happened at least a couple times.

Also, if anyone has any interesting and informative books that deal with espionage during the Cold War I'd love some suggestions. My interest is piqued on this subject at the moment.

Thanks!

(Serious replies only please)

Say you want to go from Moscow in Russia SSR to Kiev in Ukraine SSR, did you have to go through a border stop or can you freely cross through the border like in the United States or EU?

The Luxembourg Agreement (or Reparations Agreement) was incredibly controversial within Israel, with some arguing that taking money from Germany would be an act of forgiveness of German atrocities.

Was there any public debate or controversy within (West) Germany about the agreement? Did East Germany have a position on the agreement? The Wikipedia article mentioned that more than half of the ruling CDU/CSU party refused to vote for the agreement, but does not mention why. What were the reasons that so many CDU/CSU parliamentarians opposed the agreement?

I've been researching French firearms from before and during the Great War, as part of a roleplaying game I'm playing. Naturally, this lead me to try and find as much information about the Meunier, and subsequently the RSC rifle.

From what information I have, I can see that the M1917 was adopted in, naturally, 1917, but was dropped from service in 1926. I can't seem to find any information as to why.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

So last night I was seasoning baked chicken with Mrs. Dash, tenting it after cooking to make it moist, and steaming green beans with garlic and bacon. I began to wonder how cooking standards of today would hold up to a chef's kitchen in a medieval European kingdom. What would 'a meal fit for a king' be like?

I'm sure they had access to exotic spices, but did they understand food and wine pairing? Was it difficult to regulate cooking temperature of meats? And do we have any insight to what a typical feast would look like?

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The Indiana Jones films are known for the maps with the lines and the image of the plane over it, showing as he progresses around the globe. In 'Raiders', for instance, we see him leaving the American West Coast, and taking commercial air travel across the Pacific, with a few stops along the way. I generally think of the rise of commercial air travel as a post-war thing, and know next to nothing about what existed in the 1930s.

• How much would Indy be paying for his jaunts around the world?
• How many options existed in that period as far as airlines? What about common routes? Or would a lot of travel be specific charter flights?