Why did the Spruce Goose only fly once? The Spruce Goose only flew once because the need for it had passed, it was too heavy, and Howard Hughes lost interest. Spruce Goose was the nickname for the Hughes H-4 Hercules, a flying boat that was built to transport troops to Europe during the Second World […]
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What was the Gilded Age? It was the period in American history between 1870 and about 1900 where the country rapidly industrialized and there was a lot of wealth inequality. The wealthy became increasingly richer and the poor became increasingly poorer. The name for the era was taken from a book by Mark Twain and
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Why did Stalin’s daughter defect to the USA? Svetlana Alliluyeva, Stalin’s only daughter, defected to the USA because she was unhappy with life in the Soviet Union, and the government wouldn’t let her marry the person she wanted. Joseph Stalin had three biological children and one child whom he adopted. Svetlana was his youngest child
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Who were Rolls and Royce? The Rolls and Royce of Rolls-Royce Limited were Charles Rolls and Henry Royce. Rolls-Royce is a hugely famous brand name, but it is actually not a single company these days. The company has two parts. The largest part is Rolls-Royce plc, which is the part of the company that makes
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What is the Geneva Convention? The Geneva Convention is actually the Geneva Conventions because there are more than one. It is a set of four treaties that lay out the humanitarian rules of war. There were four meetings, held in 1864, 1906, 1929, and 1949. Both of them came after a major war, when people
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What is a Banana Republic? A Banana Republic is a small, poor, politically unstable country with an economy dependent on one export and usually controlled by foreign companies. The existence of US controlled banana republics have created an environment where drug cartels can rise up. Banana Republic is not a positive term. The economy is
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Why did Alcoholics Anonymous start when it did? Alcoholics Anonymous started in the 1930s because the timing was just right. The US was coming out of the Great Depression, Prohibition had just ended, drinking was becoming a societal problem, the media seized upon it, and AA saw alcoholism as an illness, not a moral failing.
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How much were soldiers in World War 2 paid? It depended on the country, but the average US soldier got $50 a month, the average British soldier got two shillings and 6 pence a day, and the average German soldier was paid 35 Reichsmark a month. During World War 2, all of the participating countries
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What is Agent Orange? Agent Orange is a herbicide that is also a defoliant. That means it makes trees lose their leaves. Agent Orange got its name because the 55 gallon barrel it was stored in had an orange band around it. The US military used several different types of herbicides and they all had
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What is special about the rock in Turkey? Most of the rock in Turkey is just regular rock, but some of it is soft volcanic rock that is easy to carve and sets harder than concrete. This is not just in Turkey, but a lot of it has been found there. In Turkey, there are
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