I see a lot of posts talking about heat and air conditioning lately, it got me thinking about the inverse.

I grew up in the Great Plains region of the United States and have often wondered how Natives pulled through winter.

Temps can regularly go as low as -40 Fahrenheit and overnight snow drifts can be dozens of feet tall overnight with whiteout conditions.

How did they manage? Was death by exposure/being snowed in common? Was food mainly stockpiled before winter hit? Was contact with other tribes basically halted for half the year? Was warfare conducted during the winter?

^Hopefully ^coincides ^with ^20-year ^rule: Was just wondering if anyone knew if or how widely Italian is spoken in Italy's former colonies much like French or English is today in the rest of Africa.

What changed about the Greek-Turkish relationship that inspired Greece to rebel after being a part of the empire for so long?

I know that they didn't die out, but they seemed to disappear from common military use for several centuries. Why is this?

I've been reading Martin Heidegger's Introduction to Metaphysics, a version of a lecture course that was given in 1935 but published in 1953. In it, Heidegger describes Europe as being in the pincers of America and Russia, which (given the fact that the lecture was originally given in 1935, and the phrases that stated this were marked as later additions) seems to indicate Heidegger anticipated the period of American/Russian bipolar system that followed World War II. This made me question whether the Cold War conflict was something intellectuals had foreseen, as (for some unknown reason) I had figured that it was more of "Wow, thanks to WW II we suddenly have a U. S./Russia conflict!"

Are there recorded instances of intellectuals (politicians, writers, academics, etc.) before WW II anticipating the events the Russia/America conflict?

I was reading some article about the aftermath of the bombs, and at one point it had an interview from a doctor who was treating people. He seemed to imply that he, along with the other average citizens, did not know about the radiation until a few days after when some of the effects became very obvious.

I always learned that the U.S. dropped leaflets about the bombs before dropping them. Did the leaflets just not mention the radiation, or did they not actually exist, and the U.S. is just saying they dropped them to make themselves (us) seem better?

I was watching the awesome Extra Credits season about Justinian and Theodora, how he recaptured North Africa, Sicily, Italy and even a bit of Spain. Unfortunately, the series ended after the defeat of the Ostrogothic army after it wanted to recapture Rome.

Clarification : Why or how did it's name get changed to Istanbul?

I recently read Guns, Germs, and Steel, and am now reading Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan, and I realized they had both won the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-fiction. This got me thinking about what historians think of popular book prizes such as the Pulitzer or National Book Award. GG&S is clearly not held in high regard, but the Hirohito book, as far as I can tell, is good history.

When it comes to fiction, these prizes are generally judged by either fellow peers or those who have an interest in fiction, and while they're certainly not the end all be all for quality, if a book has won one of those awards you know it can't be all too bad. Does the same sentiment generally carry over to nonfiction or biography (or any other history related) categories?

I've always been greatly interested by the 'Sea Peoples'. A group strong enough to raid and lay waste to great city states and empires. I'm a layman and am struggling to find more information on them. I'm really curious if they were just a band of raiders from all over the Mediterranean that formed a massive navy or they were actually a defined people and culture from a specific place. From what I've read there doesn't seem to be one definitive answer, however what i'm looking for is the general accepted consensus as of now. Any books on the subject that i could be directed to would be greatly appreciated!

Too many times on social media I have heard the argument of "us vs them". When I am pretty sure, Muslim-Americans have been in American society for decades/centuries.

Do we have any census data on how long?

What about before WW1?

Many people write notes, and just annotate their books in general. I feel like it would greatly help me in understanding the stuff I'm reading, but I don't know where to begin highlighting/note taking. Any tips guys?