In the Western world seeing a chimney sweep is considered lucky or sometimes unlucky in different places, but they rarely seem to just be a neutral figure. What makes their position unique?

So titles like Alexander the Great, Suleiman the Magnificent, Edward the Confessor etc.

By produce, I basically mean corn, squash and beans, of course

At some point in the late third century the praenomen Flavius - if indeed that's what it is - seems to become extraordinarily prevalent among prominent figures in the Roman Empire.

Not only does almost every Emperor from Constantine the great all the way to Constantine VI some 350 years later carry the name, but seemingly unrelated people. Roman generals such as Aetius, Aegydius or Belisarius as well as romanised germans like Stilicho, Abrogast, Ricimer, Odoacer etc are also either christened or late take the name Flavius. Why?

Nowadays we have accepted vampires, werewolves, ghosts, zombies, etc into our folklore. Did Vikings have the same beliefs in the supernatural?

I mean less the grand stories of monsters like the Midgard Serpent and more every day peasant beliefs (goblins, ghouls, ghosts, etc).

I'm mainly interested in American, British, German, and French but would be excited to learn about war-tattoo trends among any of the belligerent countries.

Research for a fantasy story.

I'm setting my tale in an early iron age-type culture, and I'd like someone to have a handful of tools that are of much higher quality than is readily available. The character in question is a metalworker, working mostly in bronze but experimenting with iron.

I'm wondering if it's theoretically feasible that he might have accidentally made steel in one of his test castings, but not know exactly what it was that made that casting so good, so he can't replicate the process. Is this feasible? If so, what kind of accident might have produced that result? I was kind of thinking about a furnace being lit just before a windstorm blows up that happened to push air into the furnace for a considerable time like a bellows, but I don't know enough metallurgy to know if that's workable.

I'm trying to figure out how much the social makeup of the Chilean patriotic forces between 1812 and 1815 resembled that of their neighbours. It appears that the Chilean forces were mostly made up of poor peasants, essentially forced into battle by their landowners, aristocrats and professional soldiers. Were the rates of desertion as high in the United Provinces as in Chile? Were there large scale defections to the Royalist side?

Over the years i have heard many different stories about the first Thanksgiving. Is there a single, "true" story?

I learned from Tyson's 'Cosmos' that Muslims were great pioneers in science hundreds of years ago. What happened to them? When did they begin to shun science?

The natives are wearing flowing toga-like robes of white cotton or linen, and the Dutchmen are wearing what look to me like stiff, all-covering uniforms of itchy wool, along with tall leather boots.

How did they not all drop dead of heat stroke? It always baffles me how back in the day, Europeans would go around in tropical climes dressed as if they were taking a stroll along the Baltic. I myself sweat half to death on days when I am forced to wear a suit if it's any warmer than a Greenlandic summer.

Eadred, King of the English 923-955, was titled Regis qui regimina regnorum Angulsaxna, Norþhymbra, Paganorum, Brettonumque ("Reigning over the governments of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxons, Northumbrians, Pagans, and British").

His successor, Eadwig the Fair, 955-959 was titled Rex nutu Dei Angulsæxna et Northanhumbrorum imperator paganorum gubernator Breotonumque propugnator ("King by the will of God, Emperor of the Anglo-Saxons and Northumbrians, governor of the pagans, commander of the British").

Why did they feel the need to list the Anglo-Saxons and Northumbrians separately? Were the Northumbrians not considered to be an Anglo-Saxon group?

Got a question at work regarding this topic and I'm really unsure myself. Mining (in sources) are recorded from ~12th century AD, but back then the Northern parts of Scandinavia had no kings, thus they can't be the mine-owners. I'm therefore guessing that individual land owners also owned the mines on their own lands, but I would love a clarification on the topic.

Im writing about The Rise of Nazi Germany, and Hitlers Massive impact on the German Ecomony after he was elected Chancellor of Germany.

So my question for you guys is; Can any of you either give me some great books/links, or just a detailed explenation (for this to be valuable for me, ill need some links to where you got your information from) for the following; The Rise of Nazi Germany, and Hitlers Impact on the German Economy.

I would prefer the books/links to be written in either English Or Danish, doesn't matter which one of those 2.

I hope some of you guys, are able to give me a great start on my assignment! :)

I've seen as many as 250,000 Vietnamese refugees came to the US during and immediately following the war (perhaps a million would follow in the following decades). The recent uproar in many western nations regarding the settlement of Syrian refugees led me to wonder if the same xenophobia took place against the Vietnamese.

Granted, I understand that the situation was different from the current Syrian crisis considering that many of these Vietnamese we took in were allies during the war, but did the same fear of enemy infiltration through the US refugee program exist for that conflict? Were governors public denying entry into their state like we see today against Syrians?

I would also be interested in previous wars involving the US and refugees if someone has information on a different conflict and refugee crisis. Thanks for your time.