Modern Thailand has a reputation as a place of tolerance and acceptance for transgendered people. What elements of Thai history and/or have culture led to this being the case? Has it long been a society tolerant of alternative gender/sexual roles?

I suppose a threshold question might also be: is Thailand's reputation as a haven/Mecca for transgendered people/culture (and I suppose this is primarily male-to-female transgendereds that I'm thinking of) deserved? And are the cultural and historical trends that led to this level of acceptance uniquely Thai, or do they extend also to neighboring countries and cultures?

1 Answers 2014-02-20

Have there been any popular or top-down movements to repeal the Indian Removal Act and return the confiscated lands to the tribes?

If there have ben, what was the most popular one and why did it fail?

2 Answers 2014-02-20

Why did the United States industrialize slower than other European nations?

1 Answers 2014-02-20

What were the tribes of what is now the UK like back in the day?

I was wondering because we know all about the First Nations and stuff but I never really hear about the early equivalents in Europe. I am most interested about the UK, but all of Europe would be even better.

I live in Canada, so if you learn about this in school I don't know it. If you are from Canada and learned about this in school, I am just uninformed.

1 Answers 2014-02-20

How were playwrights in Ancient Rome treated circa late-3rd/early-2nd century BCE? [x-post /r/AncientRome]

I'm writing a paper on social and political critique in Plautus' Miles Gloriosus, and I can't seem to find any information on where playwrights stood socially in the Roman Republic. I'd like to see if I can relate Plautus' treatment with the way he subverts social roles in his play, but nothing I've found discusses this. A source, or at least direction on where to look, would be awesome. Thanks!

1 Answers 2014-02-20

Why did the Achaemenids perform poorly against the Greeks?

They easily overran the Medes, Babylonians, nomadic tribes to the north, and the Lydians. Why was it that the Achaemenid met their match in Greece?

1 Answers 2014-02-20

To what extent was the Industrial Revolution in Europe driven by innovation?

1 Answers 2014-02-20

Hitler, Aryan race, and perception leading up to WW2.

I apologize if this has been covered somewhere before, but a quick search didn't turn up any satisfactory results.

This may sound like a rather simple question, but given that Hitler emphasized Aryan superiority as a means of propaganda to mobilize the German population to his agenda, how did he - or other Germans - rationalize the fact that Hitler himself embodied none of the Aryan traits?

With my limited knowledge on the subject, I find it interesting that they were able to follow someone who promotes Aryan superiority, when he himself doesn't exhibit any of said traits.

1 Answers 2014-02-20

Looking for a good overview of the '60s and early '70s.

I am fascinated with this time period, and want to learn more. What I would like to do is get a basic understanding of the general time period and then read books that delve deeper into specific areas that interest me.

Google seems to give me great reads, but on specific events or issues. For instance, I've read a couple of great accounts of soldiers and their experiences, but aside from my knowledge from having been about eight at the time, no real context.

1 Answers 2014-02-20

Had Hitler never have been born, would WWII still have happened in Europe?

1 Answers 2014-02-20

How was something such as appendicitis dealt with in the past?

1 Answers 2014-02-20

Who are the greatest generals, whether great conquerors or otherwise, in Western history?

1 Answers 2014-02-20

What are contemporary non-Muslim views of Mohammad?

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1 Answers 2014-02-20

How common was the plight of the gandy dancer?

From Wiki, which quotes an article from Harpers:

The division superintendent of a great Western railroad recently explained to me his reluctant part in the creation of the socially disintegrating conditions out of which the migratory workers and the rebellious propaganda of the I. W. W. have sprung. "The men down East," he said, "the men who have invested their money in our road, measure our administrative efficiency by money return—by net earnings and dividends. Many of our shareholders have never seen the country our road was built to serve; they get their impression of it and of its people, not from living contact with men, but from the impersonal ticker. They judge us by quotations and the balance-sheet. The upshot is that we have to keep expenses cut close as a jailbird's hair. Take such a detail as the maintenance of ways, for example—the upkeep of tracks and road-beds. This work should be going on during the greater part of the year. But to keep costs down, we have crowded it into four months. It is impossible to get the number and quality of men we need by the offer of a four months' job. So we publish advertisements broadcast that read something like this:

        Men Wanted! High Wages!
        Permanent Employment!

"We know when we put our money into these advertisements that they are— well, part of a pernicious system of sabotage. We know that we are not going to give permanent employment. But we lure men with false promises, and they come. At the end of four months we lay them off, strangers in a strange country, many of them thousands of miles from their old homes. We wash our hands of them. They come with golden dreams, expecting in many cases to build homes, rear families, become substantial American citizens. After a few weeks, their savings gone, the single men grow restless and start moving; a few weeks more and the married men bid their families good-by. They take to the road hunting for jobs, planning to send for their families when they find steady work. Some of them swing onto the freight-trains and beat their way to the nearest town, are broke when they get there, find the labor market oversupplied, and, as likely as not, are thrown into jail as vagrants. Some of them hit the trail for the woods, the ranches, and the mines. Many of them never find a stable anchorage again; they become hobos, vagabonds, wayfarers—migratory and intermittent workers, outcasts from society and the industrial machine, ripe for the denationalized fellowship of the I. W. W."

  • Was this sort of bait-and-switch common?
  • Was this racially motivated, and did it affect many different people?
  • Were there any reforms or attempts at reforms during that period?

1 Answers 2014-02-20

What was the largest battle fought in the history of Rome?

1 Answers 2014-02-20

How did the federal government’s treatment of Black freedmen compare with that of Native Americans? What group do you think got off better and why?

I want to see what your guys opinions are without bringing slavery into this.

2 Answers 2014-02-20

Why wasn't Eastern Europe officially incorporated into the Soviet Union after WWII?

As I understand it the USSR was set up to be ever-expanding, with new communist states joining the Union as Soviet Socialist Republics, to eventually cover the globe (and then wither away etc. etc.). In the Cold War was this idea officially abandoned or pragmatically ignored, as none of the Eastern European satellites were absorbed as members (except the 3 Baltic states)?

EDIT: Relevant part of preamble to the 1924 USSR Constitution: "...that access to the Union is open to all Republics already existing as well as those that may be born in the future... and mark a new decisive step towards the union of workers of all countries in one world-wide Socialist Soviet Republic." [http://www.answers.com/topic/1924-constitution-of-the-ussr]

3 Answers 2014-02-20

Did any foreign powers or groups provide aid to Ireland during the Potato Famine?

2 Answers 2014-02-20

Did the Soviet Union perform overflights of the United States?

The United States performed many overflights of the Soviet Union to gain intelligence, perhaps most memorably with the U-2, culminating in the shoot down of Francis Gary Powers. Did the Soviet Union perform any flights over the United States in a similar manner? If not, how did they gain similar intelligence?

8 Answers 2014-02-20

Why has North Korea outlasted many other Communist states, such as Stalinist USSR or Mao's China?

1 Answers 2014-02-20

Why were the Hmong relocated to Minnesota?

I'm not very well versed into the subject, but I remember a documentary depicting the hardships the Hmong community faced (faces?) in MN, most notably the climate, and being forced to convert to fundamentalist christian beliefs. I seem to remember the relocation was part of the deal some Hmong made with the US during the Vietnam war: they would get to emigrate if they granted their help to the troops.

Why was MN chosen for this, given that the climate is radically different than Vietnam/Laos, and that the culture is predominantly Scandinavian?

5 Answers 2014-02-20

Does anyone know where I could find a timeline-map of rural electrification in the US?

Basically, I just want a map that highlights each area as it goes forward in time. Really, an all electricity service areas map is fine, but I'm really more interested in the post-1930 years. I just want to see when certain areas got electricity.

2 Answers 2014-02-20

How were teen pop idols such as Elvis Presley or The Beatles perceived among male teens?

I am a huge fan of both and you always hear of the admiration coming from young teen girls. But how were they perceived among men? Was it similar to the way Justin Bieber is very unpopular with men?

2 Answers 2014-02-19

Camel cataphracts and similar cavalry units-- the real deal or a cute little anachronism?

Just came across downloadable content for Rome:Total War 2 and it included camel cataphracts (i.e. covered in what looks like splintmail). Now, it isn't the first game to have implied there were armored cavalry........to which I ask.

What is the actual historical basis of armored cavalry where the animal is covered as opposed to solely the rider?

I can understand that certain warhorses might've been able to handle the added weight but....I imagine it to be a logistical nightmare, a training nightmare, and just generally unrealistic.

1 Answers 2014-02-19

When did humans start to understand that we use our brains to think/feel?

At what point in human history did we start understanding that we think and feel with our brains and not our heart or some other organ?

Considering how much we use our heart in speech to explain emotions, it seems like it probably wasn't long ago?

1 Answers 2014-02-19

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