I've heard the story that the soviets were kicking US butt until about 1967 when the US blew past them with the help of Gemini rockets. Soviets couldn't compete.

US landed on the moon. Won the race. End of story.

Except...

I've also heard that the Soviets had half the budget of the US, and weren't even trying to put a man on the moon. They opted for a space station, and were the first country to do that...which we never learn about, of course.

Current Space exploration is based on satellites and manning space stations, not putting people on planets.

Were the Soviets smarter (and more efficient) in their approach? And did the US "win" if winning is defined by a goal that the Soviets were not even trying to achieve? A goal that ended up not being as important, technologically speaking, as the Soviet goal?

Genuine question that I can't find anywhere! I tried to Google it but found a few odd articles.

If so, to what degree were dogs (or other pets) considered family? Could they inherit land? If a king's family died, leaving only their pet, was it possible for them to inherit the throne?

Was there ever an attempt by African-Americans to reinvigorate the use of their ancestor's native tongues among communities in the United States? If so, why was their attempt a success or a failure? If not, has the topic ever been discussed seriously?

As the title says. I've been fascinated by the city ever since first hearing about it on Mike Duncan's "The History of Rome." Is there a definitive book about the city's history?

I know she was widely considered a virgin queen during her reign however several of my lecturers in Uni have seemed to suggest that she wasn't infact a virgin and actually quite promiscuous.

Is there any evidence confirming this? If so why was she so widely considered a virgin at the time?

I know that Desi Arnaz's family was well-off and fled due to the Cuban Revolution, so he's not exactly likely to be sympathetic. But it seems as though the average viewer might not know this. It's quite easy for misinformation to circulate and I'm surprised that there doesn't seem to be any evidence of xenophobia.

Was there never any accusations or protests?

It also strikes me as interesting that in I Love Lucy, they repeatedly reference Ricky's family in Cuba and Ricky being from Cuba. There's even a scene where Ricky buys a "Havana University" pennant for little Ricky. It seems like they deliberately played it up, rather than just having Ricky be ambigiously Hispanic.

I get the sense that the concept of "Turkish" changed from culture to culture, and maybe lacked a certain coherence or concreteness.

Who considered themselves Turkish? Did they hold multiple identities, and, if so, how important was the Turkish component to this identity?

Did the Ottomans consider themselves or the people they ruled to be Turkish? If no, how did they conceive of themselves and the peoples they ruled?

Did Iranians make a meaningful distinction between Turkish and Mongol? I read some of the works of Ubayd Zakani, and Turks often feature in anecdotes that involve murder and rape. Were Turks widely seen as violent?

Who did Europeans consider Turkish? Did eastern and western Europeans conceptions of Turkishness agree?