What was the visual shorthand for someone having a brilliant idea before the lightbulb was invented?

I’ve found a bunch of old newspaper clippings in an almanac from 1908. They all talk about some guy in Berlin who kept stabbing young women every day and escape. The articles are all dated February. I do not know if these clippings are also from 1908, but I can tell they’re at least from around the same time, pre-1910’s. Who was this person? When did this happen?

No idea if this is the right place to ask, but...does anyone have any suggestions for teaching basic 20th century American history to someone who is illiterate and needs things explained in very basic language? Like strategies or teaching aids, something that isn't geared towards children but is easy enough to follow.

Watching Mank and the costumes got me wondering. Why were men's ties so small? It looks like people are wearing kid's clip-on ties. Was it common to see them long after they were popular, into the 50s and 60s?

How much were Soviet gulags designed to be economically useful/productive Vs the labour being intended to punish/'reform' inmates?

Is Leslie Bethel’s The Cambridge History of Latin America still a good, authoritative source for a brief summary of each Latin American country? I enjoyed reading these volumes but recognize that they are quite old. Has any new scholarship made this anthology outdated? Is there a more up to date anthology that similarly chronicles the history of Latin American countries?

Before 9/11 and the war on terror what was the focus of george w. bush's presidency?

Why could the Slavic tribes be united under Samo, a foreigner, but then fall apart right after his death? What bonds did he use to unite them?

Best website to learn about history of any kind?

What were the closest US and Japanese fleet carriers ever came to each other during the five fleet vs. fleet engagements in World War II? Did they ever come within sight of each other?

Why was a land route for the British from Egypt to India important during WWI? I was watching a documentary about Lawrence of Arabia and the narrator quickly threw out this statement without explaining why, or if a sea route was available. Presumably a sea route from India to Egypt WAS available (how could the Turks control that much area?), so why was the land route important?

Did the Kingdom of Naples have a national anthem?

How violent were inquisitors? I feel like i read excerpts from the journal of an inquisitor who visits a small village where the local priest recently passed or moved. When he gets to the village he finds that the locals are practicing some customs that are slightly different then Catholicism and that a woman claims to hear god. Rather then punishing the locals he seems more focused on creating arguments to persuade them and overall he seems skeptical of the woman who claims to hear voices.

Am I misremembering? Does anyone know what I might be remembering? I feel like what I read kind of defied the popular imagination of what inquisitors did most of the time.

Were there any U.S. citizens living in Japan during World War 2? If so, how were they treated?

It’s 1945, I’m a 25 year old Polish woman, and I’ve just been freed from a concentration camp. Now what do I do?

When did secular Christmas music become popular and culturally acceptable?

What lead elections becoming associated with democracy instead of their previous association oligarchy?

Was the Imam of Yemen recognized by Zaydis outside of Yemen?

What was Burzoya or Burzoe rewarded with for translating The stories in Kalilla Wa Dinma?

What explains the Geman population expansion towards the east of the continent between 1500 and 1900?

Is the story that Russians chose christianity over islam because alcohol is forbidden in islam true?

Do we have a way of estimating the contaminants in water/how likely it was for someone to get sick from drinking from water sources in any time period prior to germ theory and industrialization? Do we have a way of knowing how much safer well water was, if at all?

This article (https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/backpackers-dont-listen-to-slate-science-does-support-stream-water-treatment) describes some ways people have quantified the dangers of drinking untreated surface water (namely with regards to hiking and camping) in the past few decades. I'm sure that due to the many diseases that present with diarrhea and GI issues we can't really know for sure how much contaminated water was responsible.

Is Ernst Thalmann, the former head of the KPD, of Dutch descent? His father’s name sounds very Dutch, hence why I am curious.

Has anyone ever been purposely flung from a catapult/trebuchet with the intent of killing or gravely injuring them? It occurred to me this would be an effective way to kill someone and I wonder if it happened when catapults were in use.

In the 1800s how likely was it that you would have committed murder at some point in your life?

Which individual day of WWI was the deadliest in terms of men killed in action?

I hope someone can help me with his so I dont have to post it, this is more of a tipofmytongue kind of deap but with history "I remember seeing a photo of a man hung near a street with a sign around his neck, he didn't join the nazis so they hung him, I know they had something like this in Fury but I remember seeing a real photo, can someone help me find it?"

How much were worth (in current US dollars, or in Euros) 12000 golden marks in Germany, 1923?

On wikipedia - "The M3 and M3A1 were largely withdrawn from U.S. frontline service beginning in 1959 and into the early 1960s,"

Which weapon replaced M3 and why? Where did this change occur?

Are there any good resources on learning about why institutions, groups, just about everything tend to accumulate so much useless pomp and ceremony over time? I'm curious if the process has been thoroughly studied and understood. Stuff like once functional positions in courts becoming useless ceremony, bureaucracies in general accumulating procedures that actively impede their functioning, or even stuff like parades and whatnot coming about

What was Amakusa Shirou Tokisada's Christian name, sources i've found are conflicting.

When did X start stand in place of something or show negation ?

What are the best books to get started in the Venetian Republic? And social history during the late Roman/early Medieval period (with a focus, if possible, in either the Italian Peninsula or the Iberian Peninsula)? Thank you in advance.

Edit: The books can be in either Spanish or English, if that helps.

Why are the Japanese so polite?