My grandmother (who always went to Hawaii when she was younger) said that when the Marcos family went to Hawaii, the president always expressed his desire to go back, even saying that there should be a rebellion fomented in the country. I don't know if there's any truth in this story. Are there any documents or testimonies proving his intent to do so, and how did he plan to do so since the political climate wasn't safe?

How could it form a staple of so many diets in so many places at so many times when it’s so finicky, especially before the advent of modern refrigeration? Was historical bread actually much sturdier, and there’s just something different about modern bread?

Seriously why is there no one teaching about the ottoman empire? Sure there was WW1 where they were mentioned.

But the question is:

Why don't we even talk about the Ottomans?

Long story short, we were just having a conversation and the subject switched to Africa. Then South Africa, then white South Africans. Then the TV series Roots, I mentioned the remake and that Kunta Kinte came from African empire in that version, not a village like in the original.

He decided to take that chance to tell me that again, not weird though, it was layered under a bunch of other stuff he was saying. I asked him what he meant. He told me to google who the Moors were, and he told me Moor people basically traveled to Spain, England, Portugal, and other parts of Europe way back in the past. During that time, one of the many things Moorish people taught them was better hygiene since people outside of the Middle East, Asia, and relevant African civilizations had terrible hygiene.

He also told me the reason women hold bouquets down near their crotch was because their entire body stank, and this was to offset the stench. And that it just remained tradition among all cultures and Americans who hold marriages that way even though people don’t stink that horribly these days.

Can I get more context on these things?

Edit: He never said they didn't bath, he said they bathed like twice a year, and that the Moors told them they should bath more frequently. Of course we don't know the exact number but that was the imagery he used.

I also forgot to ask him about Rome so IDK his knowledge on that, but the way he spoke it seemed like he was referencing post-Rome specifically.

From what I understand, chainmail was the most common armor for Norse Vikings. However, that seems like it might not fare the best when combined with sea spray. Sometimes, armor was protected by oils, polishing, or lacquer. While the Japanese lacquered their chainmail, Europe didn't have a native population of lacquer trees. Olives couldn't grow in Scandinavia; did Vikings have access to other natural oils? The only information I could find was that chainmail is to some degree self-polishing, as use tends to have the rings rub against one another.

It's a text I see reccommended a fair bit in pagan circles. However, I'm sure there have been a lot of new insights since its last edition in the 80s. Is the book still useful as a synthesis? Have there been really big paradigm shifts wrt the subject since then? Have there been more recent syntheses that would be better to learn about the subject?

Everything I can find (my search was admittedly cursory) just states that it was the ceremonial capital. What is meant by that? Was there a separate administrative capital?

With my limited knowledge, Karl Marx laid the foundation for Communism, and I know Mao's "flavor" of Communism varied in some ways. The way I understand it, was Marx spent most of his life in the European area (so it makes sense that word traveled to Lenin & Co.), and Mao spent most of his life in China.

I'm speculating, that Mao learned of the Russian Revolution, and decided to follow/align after it? Or was Mao's flavor of Communism more so an invention of his own, that just so happened to coincide with the Russian Revolution led by Lenin and Co.?

Or were there prominent figures that were directly or indirectly involved with Marx, or Lenin, that then moved to spread word to far east Asia?

Sorry if this question seems too broad, first time poster here.

In the first chapters of the manga, people who disagreed with the Ptolemaic model were tortured and/or burned at the stake. The priest at the local school is staunchly opposed to astrology, and refuses to give the main character permission to enroll in university to major in astrology. How plausible are these situations?

The character Zhao Yun from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms seems to be one of the most popular characters in East Asia. Sure he had a few chapters in the novel, but he wasn't a major character in there and historically was pretty insignificant to the point of almost being a background character. So why the popularity compared to other characters in the novel and how did this popularity develop? How much did the Koei video games contribute to this development?

There's a huge "whale info dump," chapter that just goes on and on. Is this info given seriously, or is it supposed to be spewed in a pompous manner? In other words, is this part a sincere attempt to education/giving background info, or is Melville playing with us?

I understand that the Allies did a great job of not letting the Nazis know WHERE they were going to land, but how did they manage to keep the massive number or ships and crafts hidden and organized leading up to crossing the channel?

I would like to receive an unbiased answer, which I know is extremely hard. One side is pro capitalism and the other pro socialism.

The capitalist side will say that central planning is inefficient, and that it may have first lead to economic growth under Stalin, it is an inevitability that eventually stagnation will take place. As for the socialist side, they say that the whole reason for stagnation was that capitalistic reforms (such as Kosygin Reforms) had taken place and that the economy slowly turned away from the centrally planned economy mainly driven by Five Year Plans.

If possible, I would like to ask for an answer which is factual and irrefutable. I would like to ask for sources as well. Thank you!

I know that in ancient times ships could not sail on open sea for a long time and had to sail near coast to resupply.

So first question, when did this change?

Second question: how were navies able to find and engage in battle another navies in the big open space, that are oceans?

The Sandman is a character of popular culture, and as such it has been used by many authors over the centuries, with Neil Gaiman being particularly successful with his interpretation of the character

But what's the origin of The Sandman? Wikipedia has surprisingly little information, only mentioning that it is a folkloric character with origins in Europe, but that can't be all we know about it, right?

For instance, I'd expect The Sandman to have origins in germanic or celtic mythology, and have survived christianity by becoming less of a god and more of a spirit, sort of what happened to fairies

And there must be old mentions about this character. Wikipedia mentions a guy in the 1800s who wrote about it, but do we have anything older?

This character is too interesting for us to know so little about it