I'm trying to worldbuild and create a story involving a situation like the one in the title, but googling it didn't work. I don't know any websites or online resources which describe the situation like the one in the title, so I was hoping for any information or anything that could help.

I suppose the former Soviet states turned EU member states are generally excluded from this as their standard of living has reached a sufficient level post-Soviet, but as someone with many friends and acquaintances from countries like Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, I have heard this being expressed countless times from people old enough to remember living in the USSR.

For large groups of people, is it accurate to say that their living conditions were in fact objectively better under the USSR? Can we settle this with facts and figures? Or is it merely a case of nostalgia, remembering things being cleaner, more efficient, safer than they actually were? Or was it perhaps that the conditions were as bad, the difference being that the citizens of the USSR felt a greater purpose and belonging, and thus were more content even amid poorer standards of living?

With our modern lens it seems that wilderness is a nice place to take a vacation and take pretty pictures, but I'd imagine people from the past might see it as dangerous and unforgiving. I'm unaware of any medieval or classical era writing on the subject. Or from other areas like China or India. I just remember watching the old Jungle Book movie and the Indian town folk seemed to be terrified of the jungle.

So this is one that always left me wondering. Alcohol production is such a common phenomena that most cultures stumbled on it fairly early. The peoples of the British Isles were known for their love of fermented drink according to Roman accounts.

Heck, I’ve seen birds drunk from fermented berries fly into windows so its not like its hard to find slightly alcoholic stuff in the wild.

So why didn’t NA tribes, which really were advanced societies in their own regards, not have a tradition of alcohol and why did the Europeans introduction of it mess up their society so badly?*

*In addition to the other variables that destroyed the NA nation.

In movies, we see heroes getting rescued at the last minute all the time. This is done for dramatic effect - in reality, such last minute, convenient rescues are rare. But are there notable historical moments where, for one reason or another, a person or group of people actually were conveniently rescued at the last possible moment?

I’m writing a short story with a scene where an Egyptian nobleman goes to make an offering at his dead father’s tomb with his son, and I’d like to make sure it’s as accurate as possible. So, what would the routine of a nobleman making an offering at a family member’s tomb have looked like? What would they have given? Would they have brought other personnel? What would they do with the offerings afterward?

I understand this would have varied over time, so feel free to answer for whatever your area of specialty is.

I've recently found a lot of interest in the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, and am curious to know how they got their nickname. I hear they sounded like brooms when diving, thus the name, but what exactly was it? Was the sound akin to when you clean with a broom?

I've recently been watching quite a few movies detailing the Pacific War of WW2, produced by either America or Japan, or sometimes both (Tora! Tora! Tora!). However, I've come to notice that the Imperial Japanese Navy has a trend of being portrayed as the more sensible, less-warlike service branch of Japan. In some of the movies, the IJN has the confront the IJA in order to bring momentum to a particular operation, etc., with the IJA being portrayed as an obstacle to Japan's success. Furthermore, some of the IJN officers are portrayed as sensible, even-handed, and even displeased with having begun the war in the first place. Meanwhile, the IJA officers are just portrayed as raring to do battle.

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Basically, how true is this in the light of historical reality?

I recently encountered this claim, wanted to see if it holds any water.

So lets say I want to say the Peloponnesian war ended in 404 BCE. The date format I'm given on my calendar converter is Ol.94.1 . How is this read? What is the Ol for and what is the significance or relation of the numbers?

Maybe this is a more suited question for a Chronologist or whatever the field is that deciphers ancient calendars and dates but I appreciate any help I can get. Thank you.

After all, despite occupying a prominent place in American history books talking about the 1920s, flappers were not a majority. Was this the case with hippies as well? Were most Baby Boomers who voted for Reagan in 1980, already socially conservative to begin with? How much did this differ by race and income?

Greetings, I have been interested in demonology for a while now but dont know where to start. The only book I've read so far is the grand grimoire: the red dragon. I'm about to buy demonology and devil-lore by Moncure Daniel Conway next. Is this book worth buying or should I rather read other books first?

I recently rewatched "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", and the Holy Hand Grenade sequence reminded me of the strange quirks of the Bible texts. Long enumerations, very redundant phrases (think Mojo Jojo overexplaining what he does), and much more. Seems like the Pythons were also aware of these quirks, as they reflect them perfectly in their dialogue, which I copy below:

" "And Saint Attila raised the hand grenade up on high, saying, 'O Lord, bless this thy hand grenade, that with it thou mayst blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy.' And the Lord did grin. And the people did feast upon the lambs, and sloths, and carp, and anchovies, and orangutans, and breakfast cereals, and fruit bats, and large chulapas. And the Lord spake, saying, 'First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it.' "

Why was the Bible written that way? Is it a translation issue, or a characteristic of Greek or Aramaic? A ritualized manner of speech? Or was it just the way people wrote at the time?

Every so often I've read sidenotes saying they probably didn't, but they usually read like speculation rather than fact.

The word "menstrual", coming from the root for month, would imply a monthly schedule, but I don't know when that word was coined.

I figured this would be better than a google search.

In what shape would letters take in this time period, within the roman empire? Would they be made of papyrus, be in stone tablets, or parchment? Were they folded similar to modern letters, rolled, and or wrapped? Would there be a difference in these things between higher ranking members of society in comparison to the average person?

So I was reading Gulliver’s travels, and when he gets to Japan (spoilers!) he talks about how the Dutch and Japanese trample a crucifix as part of ceremony. Is this something they actually did or would that have been more the writer’s perception of them?