I've never understood this in mathematics and why it is so revolutionary. How is it a breakthrough when I had an apple, I ate the apple, and now I have zero apples. I'm not trying to be flippant; I really don't get it.

Says it all in the title, who was the most elite and militarily devastating order during the Crusades? Was it the Hospitallers, Templars or Teutonic Knights?

I'm curious what the factors were that led to the modern post-Soviet borders.

• Why the -Stans fell into the shape they are now: why Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan share that strangely shaped entangled border.

• Why other ethnically non-Russians did not try to form their own states, such as native Siberians in eastern Russia, or turkic and north georgian peoples of Dagestan?

• Why did Belarus become a separate state when they are so cultural similar to Russia?

• Why didn't Moldova join Ukraine or Romania? Why did a poor landlocked subsection become independent?

• Why did Kaliningrad stay with Russia?

• Why did Ukraine take with it a large chunk of territory whose people self-identify as Russian?

Lastly a curiosity question: did China or North Korea ever try to lay claim to a piece of Russian land when the Soviet Union disintegrated?

When we think about Roman/Latin writings, we think about reports of civil wars (Marcus Annaeus Lucanus) or military campaigns(Gaius Iulius Caesar), texts about history(Vergil) and great people(Nepos) or writings about philosofical and ethical topics (Seneca). But are there writings about common people and their everyday lifes?

It's been now quite a few years since I've read The Golden Ass by Apuleius, Epigrams by Martial and Satyricon by Petron. Since all three of those were really interesting reads, I'd like to read something similar to it.

I also remember reading this Dutcch book: Post uit Athene: brieven van, aan en over hoeren, klaplopers, vissers en boeren, a collection of various letters written by common people in ancient Greece. Letters like that would also highly interest me.

Did anyone try to do their own thing and then conform? Are there places that do their own thing but the rest of the world ignores?

Come* not one. Sorry.

I very recently received a PM from a user, who'll remain anonymous unless they'd like to become un-so, who asked a series of very thoughtful and provocative questions on the history of terrorism, and how one goes about declaring themselves as such. I thought I would post my response as the first answer here, and hopefully others with different opinions and experiences can add their voices.

It is my understanding that the Nazi concentration camps were not quite public knowledge, so how did the German public react to having been basically complicit in acts of mass torture and genocide once the full extent of the Third Reich's implementation of "the Final Solution" came to light? Do articles from the late 1940s reflect a sense of public guilt? Was there (in at least some circles) a culture of what would now be called "Holocaust denial"? Were there residual pockets of Nazi or other miscellaneous far-right activity after the end of the war? How did the citizenry reaccommodate themselves to moderate politics after the war?

Men both "embraced warmly and kissed" and "exchanged a loving kiss with softened hearts." Was this standard behavior at the time and place, or supposed to show the extreme sentimentalism of the character?

There are pre-historic builds in the UK (Stonehenge for instance), but how did we go that far? Did men already sail by then??

Hey there, I'm looking for a comprehensive book on the post-Hellenic Roman religions with a pantheon of Sol Invictus, Magna Mater, Regina Caelis, Serapis and others.

Thanks for your time.

I've read quite a few references of the English trying to retake the Palatinate Electorate for a Royal Son in Law, but I've not been able to find anything more definite or any accounts from the conflict.

Alcohol has always been around in some form since the beginning of time, but when did it transition from common place to classy? This is especially common with wine and whiskey, what gives?

In James Clavell's novel Shogun its stated that the only punishment for breaking the law was death.