In terms of hair and eye color, I've noticed a wide variety of beauty figures in Victorian literature. (Blanche Ingram from Jane Eyre, Trilby from the novel of the same name, Estella from Great Expectations, Rosamond from Middlemarch, etc.) What would a real life beauty have looked like? And, since there's even less on what male forms were aesthetically pleasing, what would have been considered handsome?

Any time between the 17th and 18th century in North America. However if anyone has information specific to the time of "Queen Annes war" or the "war of Jenkins ear" in the area around Florida/Georgia/South Carolina that would be much appreciated.

If there are such works, how much do we know about them? I would also be interested in hearing about, say, plays or poems that are popular today because they're the only surviving ones we have from certain cultures.

I only use this as a means to illustrate my question: Some would argue U.S. banking culture rewards sociopathic behavior, in which case, being a sociopath enhances your social standing (ignoring that sociopathic behavior generally includes seeking dominant social roles/vantages). So I wonder, was there ever a time, culture, or time within a culture that current socially damning disorders were more acceptable? Issues like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia (feel free to explore beyond those examples).

Which arena and which branches had the highest casualties?

I was thinking about how the Germans had it significantly worse on the Eastern front.

Thanks!

The Wiki article for him states "Historians have used public records to identify Fard as Wallace Dodd Ford, a former restaurateur and Moorish Science Temple leader." Yet there seems to be quite a bit of uncertainty as to his place of birth, etc. Of course, "orthodox" Nations of Islam sources challenge the idea that Wallace Fard Muhammad was Wallace Dodd Ford, and claim W. F. Muhammad was originally from Mecca (I suppose in much the same sense that early Christian sources place Jesus' birth in Bethlehem)...but the Wiki article also reports that in various documents signed by W. D. Ford, he gives his birthplace as New Zealand, Oregon, or "Shinkay," Afghanistan. So what do we really know about this?

My impression is that the identification of Wallace Fard Muhammad as Wallace Dodd Ford is solid - and that he indeed rose to prominence in the Moorish Science Temple, which had very similar doctrines as the Nation of Islam. But I'd be interested in some more educated views on the matter.

I suffer from high blood pressure, am a bit prone to anger, and own lots of guns. For the safety of myself and others I have avoided learning about the reconstruction period. Now that I am 60 do you think it would be safe or should I continue to maintain my ignorance?

Not counting the HRE of course.

So my girlfriend and I are watching a movie based several hundred years ago and they were having sex during this one scene. My girlfriend made a comment about how back then, sex must have been disgusting. I know they used to bath, but I can't see how they could have kept it from smelling terrible.

So I guess my question is, how did they keep their genitals clean back in the day? Clearly, I've seen depictions dating back to the Roman era of oral sex. So did they just bite the bullet and ignore terrible smells, or was there some cleaning method to make private parts smell better before the deed was done?

I've read that Mussolini acted a mentor to Hitler when he first came to power but Hitler soon eclipsed Mussolini and became the mentor. I have also heard that Mussolini became more and more discouraged as the war went on, and that he eventually got into an argument with Hitler at a meeting because he could no longer tolerate Hitler's boasting.

Like, different alert levels for the armed forces, culminating in a nuclear strike possibility?

We're there any differences the countries made?

Like the title says, how was gasoline viewed at the beginning of the 20th century by the public?

Does anyone know of any interesting papers or books on the grand canal? I'm writing a paper on it and I'm particularly interested in economic histories of the canal, or how negligent upkeep led to floods, deforestation and other disasters. My time period is from the Sui to Ching. Elixir: a history of water and humankind by Brian Fagan has a great chapter on the canal I'm reading now.

I imagine the dates and general facts were right (excommunication, imprisonment, burning at the stake...), but what about the details? Like the speeches, Bruno's reception throughout Europe, things like that? For example, are there records of the heresy proceedings, or was that dramatized?

Is there any reason to think that Neandertals (or other near-homo sapiens predecessors) did not have out-of-control ZZ Top/Duck Dynasty facial hair? They're nearly always pictured as clean-shaven, but why?

Hello, I've read up on a couple wiki pages on the Vietnam war and its history but I'm not completely set on it. I've only become interested in it recently as my father is from Vietnam.

A little backstory of him:

My granddad (father of my father) moved to Vietnam from Southern China to escape the Chinese civil war at the time. My father was born in 1954 and he told me that when he was very young (about the age of 5) my granddad's stone house was bombed by the French (or possibly the US). Which caused him and his family to live on the streets for a while until they could build straw houses. At around 1974 his family moved to Canada and got accepted as refugees.

Of course there are some parts which he doesn't mention but he does recount some times where he would be in an underground shelter while bombs rained down on above. I'm curious about the history of Vietnam from 1954 and onwards.

Edit: A bit off topic but I'm told that my father's grand parents died on rickety boats because they were very unsafe and unsanitary but a method of escaping the war torn country.

Edit 2: I'm interested in events from 1954 to 1974 in areas around Northern Vietnam. The very north that borders China so around Hanoi.