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What is war good for? There's a very interesting theory in Sociology and Anthropology that War is a natural part of the Human evolutionary process. The most aggressive and powerful civilizations almost always tend to be those with large populations and a need to expand; perhaps war is, in part, nature's way of 'culling the excess population'. Interesting thought, don't you agree?

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Who enslaved more black people, Hispanic or white people? This question is based upon a logical malapropism - the assumption that slavery originated in a "White" or "Non-Black" society. I know this probably wasn't your intention - this is a really heated topic. I'll try my best to give you some basic, but useful, information. If your question was meant to ask about the enslavement of blacks in the New World,...

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Who is the queen who got married to her brother? The truth is that many Egyptian "queens" married their "brothers". In Egypt, there was no system of Primogeniture - that is, inheritance by the eldest son. Instead, there were complex webs of interrelationship between husband and wife, brother and sister, etc. As a result, rulers of Egypt were generally succeeded by the individuals that they designated as heirs, regardless...

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How did Hannibal cross the Alps in 218 BC? When Hannibal announced his intention to Carthage's ruling Oligarchy that he intended to cross the Alps, he was met with guffaws and insults, with one leading citizen asking him how he intended to find a way through. Hannibal's response was typical of the man. "If I cannot find a way, I will make one." We don't know specifics of the crossing beyond a few details,...

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Are there any independent sources that verify the claims SuperShadow makes on www.supershadow.com? Namely, that he is a high-paid Lucasfilm consultant and personal friend of George Lucas? Supershadow has been making claims about Star Wars storylines since before Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. His claims have been controversial from the very beginning. In the early days, several of us thought he might have an inside link, but very few people really believed that he and George Lucas were best mates. Since that time, there has been no independent confirmation that anything...

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Who is Supershadow of Supershadow.com? Supershadow is an individual who wants very badly for the rest of the world to believe that he has an "inside link" with Lucasfilm. Nothing he says has ever been proven, although he has occasionally been accused of the intentional circulation of false information. At best, he's a harmless fan who genuinely believes what he's sharing;manyStar Wars fans believe he's...

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If only the Dark Side deals in absolutes then why are the Jedi orders so cut and dry? Are there any freelance Force users not strictly affiliated with the Light or the Dark? Lucas has confirmed the existence of "Grey Jedis", but we don't know much about them, except that Qui-Gon Jinn was (probably) one of them. One of the problems suggested by canon sources prior to the considerable re-writing of the mythos with the new films was that much of the conflicts between Light and Dark resulted from both sides being far too extremist in their...

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Which known religion is considered to have been the "first"? Interesting question! Generally speaking, we sort of agree in Archaeology that the oldest form of "organized" religion surviving to the present day is Hindu-Aryanism, which began about 8 to 10,000 years prior to the present day. That's the short answer. The long answer is a bit more complicated, as we really don't know where religion definitively began. There is a lot...

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If a Catholic and a non-Catholic marry in the Catholic Church, do the children have to be raised Catholic? Absolutely not. In fact, a priest advising you otherwise is clearly violating current Roman Catholic Doctrine, as of Vatican II. As recently as a few years ago, at least one priest in my former home Archdiocese was actually censured for threatening to prevent a marriage between a Catholic and a non-Catholic based upon this issue. Several extremely conservative elements in the Church continue to...

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Where and how can someone buy a slave today? Most slaves today are taken from East Africa (particularly the Southern Sudan) or from Southeast Asia. They are, of course, almost always taken against their will - but there are a large number of female slaves from Southeast Asia and the South Asian island groups who are, in fact, sold into slavery by their families as a means of economic desperation or sheer greed. In some Islamic...

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What were the factors leading the U.S. to enter conflict on the side of allies rather then side of the Central Powers? The United States of America had been at the verge of war with the Central Powers - in particularly Germany - since fairly early in the commencement of hostilities, when President Woodrow Wilson had secretly agreed to supplied the British with war materials in their efforts against the Germans. Strangely enough, this was not indicative of a large bias against the Germans on the part of the...

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Why doesn't the US president write his own speeches? It's important to note that some presidents have (and continue) to write at least -some- of their own speeches - President Clinton wrote about half of his major speeches, and most presidents of the twentieth century have, at the very least, reviewed the text of all speeches written for them, frequently making edits along the way. Incidentally, the law requires that the President of the...

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Who declared that all US presidents are exempt from war crimes and how is this justified? No such claim has ever been made in any official, legally binding sense. Some political groups have made this argument - most recently the so-called "Neo Conservative Movement" and its "Project for a New American Century", however, the argument has not yet been accepted as a matter of law, nor has it been accepted when proposed by other right and left wing political groups...

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In WWII, why were chemical weapons not used to the extent they were in WWI, especially by the Axis Powers? As far as we know, the only country to use chemical weapons in a combat setting during wartime in the European Theatre was, ironically, the United States. The U.S. had developed an experimental mustard and or tear gas impregnated machine gun round. The idea was that the round would penetrate, for instance, the side of a lightly armored halftrack or an Axis bunker and force the defenders out....

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Why did Western Europe never fully develop Marxism? This is a difficult question, though the previous answer had some excellent thoughts on the topic. Its important to remember that Marxism originated in Western Europe, to begin with. As early as the 1840s, attempts were being made to establish proto-Marxist states, and in 1871, a Marxist government was briefly established in Paris, the so called "Paris Commune", of Les Miserables...

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Has Australia ever entered into a major war? Australia has engaged in a number of conflicts and declared wars. The internal struggles for power between native and settler aside, the first major conflict for the Australians outside Australia was the deployment of Australian troops as part of a colonial detachment bound for the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. They did not arrive in time to see action. The Australians then preceded to engage in a...

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What is the function of the U.S. Senate? The U.S. Senate is the senior legislative body of the United States. Bills may originate in the U.S. Senate, and if they do so, they must be passed by the U.S. House of Representatives as well to enter law. However, so too must every House of Representatives legislative act be approved by a Senate vote. The Constitution clearly enumerates further powers for the Senate, however, powers...

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Why isn't the District of Columbia allowed to vote in Congress/Senate? According to the U.S. Constitution, only states are permitted a binding vote in the Congress/Senate. While representatives and "observers" are currently elected from territories and the District of Columbia, and while they are occasionally given the right to "express their opinions" through votes, these votes are not counted in the final tally for the passage of any law,...

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Was the Ptolemy family Greek or Egyptian? The Ptolemys were Greek, as were their descendents. Ptolemy the Great did take Egyptian wives, but the family remained Greek in its outlook and behavior, even creating some very interesting fusions of Greek and Egyptian art. Cleopatra, incidentally, was ethnically Greek. She had no African or Semetic ancestry as far as we can tell. She was born in Egypt, though we aren't sure of the...

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What kinds of sports did the Aztecs, Mayans, Incas and ancient Egyptians play? The Aztecs and Maya enjoyed a variety of sports. The most common were games of "temple ball", which go by several different names. These were ritual games, usually played with very large inflated bladders (some believe that they were heavy, like medicine balls, others that they were light, like playground balls), which are believed (based upon wall paintings and frescoes) to have...

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When you are baptised at a Catholic Church, can you switch religions? Of course! However, ultimately, it's up to the religion you want to join. Some religions and denominations take a very dim view of Catholics, and may forbid your membership based upon past affiliation.

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Can a saint be decanonized? Yes, but the procedure does vary from religion to religion. For example, St. Christopher (the St. Christopher who carried Baby Jesus on his back, specifically) is no longer an "official" saint in the Roman Catholic Church. Essentially, it's believed that he is a myth, and while the story is still told to inspire small children, the Church generally does not hold that this...

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I am Catholic and my husband to be is Anglican but has not been baptised. To get married in a Catholic Church, does he have to be baptised first? Certainly not. To put it bluntly, your Husband could be a Zoroastrian Shaman, and he'd be permitted to marry you in the Church. My wife is not Catholic, and we had no problem getting marred in the Roman Catholic Church five years ago. What will most likely occur is that the Church will ask that the two of you take "Pre-Canna classes" (six or seven sessions, one every few...

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Where is King Arthur's sword Excalibur? Unfortunately, we do not know. If one accepts that an individual at least inspiring Arthur as fact, it isn't hard to accept that he may have carried a named sword, perhaps a sword to which tradition had ascribed mystical powers. Arthur would be only one of thousands of historical generals/warlords/kings/warriors to ascribe a personal name to his weapon of choice, particularly in the...

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Has the US ever lost a war? The other answer is not correct. 1) The War of 1812 is regarded by Historians as a 'draw'. For the record, the United States has never legally declared war on Canada, and the War of 1812 was, in fact, fought over the issue of impressment (forcible conscription of American citizens for the British navy). The United States certainly has invaded Canada at least four times, and it...

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What war/battle has resulted in the greatest number of casualties? An excellent answer has already been given. As a point of comparison, however, the greatest number of casualties in a measured period of time actually occurred during the First World War, at the Battle of Verdun, when some sixty thousand Frenchmen died in the first thirty minutes of fighting. That is equal to roughly 2,000 lives per minute, or, 33.3 lives per second... War is hell.

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Why is support for the current Iraq war diminishing when death tolls are smaller than in previous wars? Your question, while valid, is based upon a factual malapropism. The Police Action in Iraq has actually incurred roughly the same number of combat casualties as the Spanish-American War and the War of 1812 - between 1500 and 2000 individuals, at minimum. Some independent sources have estimated double these numbers, but it's impossible to know for certain, and I wouldn't dare guess...

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If the South had won the Civil War, would slavery likely still be legal there today? Article 14 of the Confederate Constitution specifically forbids the passage of any law which forbids ownership of slaves at the state level. While the Confederate Constitution DID outlaw the international slave trade in Confederate Waters (even suggesting military action as a recourse for violations of this law), the domestic trade, transfer, and ownership of slaves was something else...

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What was the stance of Vatican City during World War 2? Was it occupied? A very challenging question to answer, but I'll try to summarize the main points. Vatican City was in a very difficult position during the Second World War. The Lateran Pact had essentially granted independence to Vatican City, and the world community had recognized this independence. However, the pact had in fact been authorized by Mussolini, and this put the Pope (and the Church, to a...

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What is the electoral college? It is important to point out that there are no qualifications for becoming an elector. The constitution of the United States suggests prohibiting the following from becoming electors: Representatives or US Senators High Ranking U.S. Officials in position of "trust or profit" An Individual who has "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against the U.S. However, the...

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