I was wondering why it is that the majority of the terrorist groups you hear about on the news are all connected with Islam. I feel like extremist leaders have an easy time interpreting the religious texts and teachings of Islam in a way that makes extremism sound like the duty of any good Muslim. You have non-extremist leaders condemning their practices, and yet followers still trickle over to the dark side of this "peaceful" religion. I would think that other religions that apparently have similarly peaceful teachings would have the same problems, yet you dont see Christian, or Jewish extremist groups in the news (maybe we just dont hear about them?). Is this merely a compounded result of the hard times the Middle East region has faced in the last century, or is something else at work?

I guess what I'm really asking is whether there is something in particular about the history of this religion or those who practice it, that makes it prone to the formation of extremists.

I mean, every country has some sort of porn industry. How did this work in the USSR?

Every time I try to read about the start of the Cold War the sources I find always say "tensions increased" between the US and USSR after WW2, but they never say why tensions increased. Yes, the US was a capitalist republic and the USSR was communist, but so what? Why couldn't the governments at the time put on their big boy pants and just live and let live?

I have often heard that the ancient Assyrians were very brutal and committed many acts of violence when dealing with other peoples, much more so than many other empires. They seem to be remembered for their brutality and their methods when doing war and diplomacy.

How much of this is true? Where the Assyrians truly anymore brutal than other empires? Or is it all just some sort of bias against them?

Can it be considered a (somewhat) reliable source of surface level information on the depicted events?

I thought I remembered this from somewhere.

Was it a long drawn out process, or a relatively quick one? Did the parents arrange the marriage, or did a male simply choose a female in the village of the same serf/peasant status, say "I want you" ask the father/guardian, and that was that?

And were the ceremonies extravagant, or relatively small affairs?

I was reading through 100 Years of Lynchings by Ralph Ginzburg, and was wondering if there were any accounts of people standing up to that culture from within the Jim Crow South. Does anyone know of any?

I appreciate answers both on an international scale and a domestic scale.

I just saw it took until around this day in 1914 for the committee to get around to discussing what to do with the games. Were there just busy or were there hopes the games could be salvaged?

I often read of rulers granting some person or corporation a monopoly on the production or trade of some good or another. Why would the rulers do this? How did the monopolist go about getting and maintaining their monopoly?

What about elsewhere? I'm just curious, really.

So my first line of evidence is within in the question. Throughout the TV series, Peaky Blinders, before a victim is shot, the victim's name is often called out by the attacker.

Ex. 1: An assassination attempt on Thomas Shelby after he wins a bid on a racehorse. The assassin cries "Thomas Shelby!" before shooting at him. The assassin obviously knows who Thomas is, so I know it isn't for the purpose of verifying his target's identity.

Ex. 2: When Thomas has to kill some dude, a blacksmith, Thomas calls out the blacksmith's name before blowing his brains out.

My second line of evidence is more vague. I remember years ago, when studying Shakespeare, a historian explained a bit of English culture to clarify the story. In Hamlet, a man is stabbed through a curtain, but his victim's name wasn't called out or something, and so it was shameful. Again, this memory is vague and may be inaccurate.

I had completely forgotten about that Shakespeare historian until I watched (with unbridled addiction) the Peaky Blinders. I noticed that before men are shot their names are called out.

So, is this just a random coincidence to raise drama for the viewers? Or is this a little or well known trait in historic or modern English culture? If it is of historical significance, is it a matter of honor? Professional courtesy?

I looked all over the internet, and used up all the vocabulary variations I could think of in searching Google. I've found nothing. I'm dying to know. And yes, I need to get out more.

Thanks,

• Future Mrs. Shelby