I frequently hear the attack on Pearl Harbor was meant to destroy the US Pacific fleet and "shock" the US into seeking peace terms. What exactly were the Japanese hoping to impose on the Americans in the event they sought a negotiated peace?

I stumbled upon Dazzle Camouflage while wikipedia-ing and saw that it was used during WWI and WWII. How effective actually was it?

We have hundreds of languages currently existing, many of which are very similar to one another. There are some very distinct differences between, for instance, English, Russian, Swahili, Chinese and Arabic though.

Have all these languages evolved from the same (parent) language? Were all these languages developed separately?

Well my friend and I had gotten into a argument about whether people have been using the hoe for agricultural purposes or that there was a sense for the word hoe, and people were called "hoes" or seen as something like that. The idea came when I was trying to figure out why a hoe, and a hoe have the same name. I guessed its because a hoe is a tool used to help plant seed right? Well a hoe (as in person) is used to help plant seeds too (as in man).

But I assumed that the hoe (the tool), came before the hoe (as in the person). My friends argument was that people were populating with everyone so everyone was a hoe then. I said but I dont think they really had monogamous relationships because they had to populate to survive. You cant call them a hoe or a slut because nothing was really wrong or immoral about that.

This kinda is a serious debate to me. I wanted to know what do you think?

I've been listening to Dan Carlin's series on The Ostfront, and heard today about the squadron of female Russian bi-plane pilots who silently bombed the German troops during the German invasion of Russia. I understand how rumours circulate through the ranks during wartime, but what I can't understand is how the Germans could possibly know that the pilots were all women. Other than one of them being shot down and being interrogated; but they are said to have never worn parachutes, so that doesn't seem likely.

Can anyone help shed some light on this for me?

The unexecutable (by custom) cunning fool who could tell the harsh truths? Were there any famous documented court jesters?

While now Common Era and Before Common Era are fairly standard, year 1 is around 3760 in Hebraic year, and I can't imagine places like Japan using anno domini for quitw some time.

My question is: how was a consensus formed on what calendar to go by? (I have a feeling it wasn't democratic.) I think

e.g. Plantagenet, Anjou, Windsor.

What other royal or noble families had notable impacts on European history?

I'm asking because I want to pick up histories of royal families in England, France, Germany, Netherlands and I need the names to start my research. For example, the house of Windsor can be traced back to the House of Este in the 1200's.

I was just watching WW2 from space and it was saying that we tried to deceive the nazi's into thinking we would attack Calais, France, instead of Normandy. However, I am wondering why did we not invade through a neutral country such as Spain. The Nazi's did not occupy Spain so wouldn't it mean a much less opposed invasion into Europe?

I know he was born in Corsica after France bought it from Genoa, and that his family was Corsican; but did Napoleon consider himself French or Italian?

The way I understand it is that to defeat a phalanx you outmaneuver it. This was very difficult for the Persians to do in Greece due to the mountainous terrain, but in the large flat plains of the interior of the Empire (Mesopotamia specifically) how did Alexander now have his steamrolling phalanxes destroyed by the more maneuverable Persian troops?