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| bio | website | |
|---|---|---|
| location | ||
| age | 26 | |
| visits | member for | 9 months |
| seen | May 13 at 7:14 | |
| stats | profile views | 1 |
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May 13 |
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Why does Islam seem so much more like Judaism than it does like Christianity? Muslims had far more contact with Jews than with Christians at the time. It's not simply an 'evolution', but mixing and matching parts of the religions that they like. Religion does not have to be designed iteratively! |
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May 13 |
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How did a besieged city/castle defend itself vs. catapulting diseased dead bodies into it? It's probably not a desirable method for the attackers either. The besiegers would have to load a rotting, infected carcass onto a siege engine. Which might be more detrimental to the artillery team than to their targets who can just walk around a landed corpse. On the other hand, the besiegers would probably have better access to medical supplies. |
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May 12 |
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Percentage breakdown of wars' casus belli One problem with Casus Bellis is that it depends on who you ask. The recent War on Iraq is a combination of liberation, political manipulation, vengeance, offense as defense, and oil. And that's just what the average American will tell you. Palestine-Israel today is about territory, but religiously fueled. Travel down the path of history and things will be even shadier. All wars are the result of intense tension, launched by a trigger. |
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May 3 |
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Military training in the Hijaz during early Islamic era An analogy for a more common view was like the pre-Genghis Khan Mongol tribes. There were lots of inter-tribe fighting and it took an ambitious leader to redirect those tribes towards a greater goal. Once united, they directed their military experience outwards. And like other rapidly expanding military empires, they collapsed to infighting when they ran out of enemies. |
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Apr 28 |
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Military training in the Hijaz during early Islamic era @RISwampYankee They were hardly 'well established, the Rashidun empire was a very young one. A lot of their early military experience involved raids and skirmishes: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_expeditions_of_Muhammad |
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Apr 25 |
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Military training in the Hijaz during early Islamic era It's summarized from over 2000 pages of reading of reading on the subject matter. However, the firsthand sources themselves are written by the victors, and may well be fanfic. And the second sources are often biased as well and in Arabic. Which is why I've mostly cited Wikipedia on this as it's a more neutral source. |
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Apr 24 |
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Did people have better nutrition before agriculture? As in having all the vitamins/nutrients they need. Higher quality & more balanced diet. There's no doubt that agriculture was a killer technology because it's a low risk source of cheap energy and saved a lot of time. But was it swapping out higher quality food for a more stable food source or were the health dips a side effect of city life? |
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Apr 24 |
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Did people have better nutrition before agriculture? @kubanczyk Healthier as in better nutrition. I left out the details on the life expectancy part because it's a catch all measurement that derails from the topic. Our generation is no longer killed by animals, has third world countries with better sanitation than kings did in the paleolithic era, lacks wars, does not suffer from starvation, has little infant mortality, and so on. Life expectancy is a very poor metric for nutrition! |
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Apr 24 |
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What was the structure of religious beliefs among the Arabic peoples before conversion to Islam? A few followed Abrahamic religion (was referred to as Hanif). Many followed a version of Abrahamic, with Allah as a sort of king of gods, and daughters, al-Uzza, al-Lat, Manat being among the most popular. As well as dozens of other minor gods. It's difficult to find a reliable source for this because of lack of documents from back then and most Arabian history is written by people who try to make Islam look good by making the older religions look bad. |
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Apr 5 |
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What are major differences between a Caliphate and a modern Republic? @Drux Added reference. It's a translated book which is difficult to find outside the Middle East, but written by a very knowledgeable (albeit slightly biased) author. |
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Apr 5 |
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What are major differences between a Caliphate and a modern Republic? I was unsure whether it belonged here or on Politics SE. But the hard part of this question seemed to be centered around 7th century Islamic history, whereas Politics SE seemed more centered around 20th century things. |
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Mar 20 |
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Plans to depose, disgrace, or assassinate Hitler No wonder Hitler was so paranoid at the end of his days. |
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Mar 20 |
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What cultures did, or do, perform human sacrifice on a regular basis? IIRC, a 7th century Egyptian tribe used to throw virgins into the Nile every year to keep the river flooding. Can't seem to find a reliable source, though. |
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Mar 19 |
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Historical use of alcohol as a source of clean water @MarkC.Wallace Thanks, I rewrote the question to make it clearer. First part is to confirm the assumption of whether/how alcohol was used as a source of water. Second part is to compare those societies to the ones who boiled water. I'm assuming people back then knew of the benefits of food preservation and treated alcohol in a similar manner, even without germ theory. |
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Mar 18 |
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Why and when did agriculture lose its prestige? Farmers were actually very highly regarded in ancient China, of the second highest social status. In China, there is a saying, "Good steel is not made into nails", which meant that the smartest people did not become soldiers. |
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Jan 8 |
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Was there a noble cause to Genghis Khan's campaign? Security still makes sense. People who have spent their entire lives fighting will want to keep fighting, and will want a large share of land and loot as well. If the momentum is not directed outwards, it can only go inwards. Similar pattern with the unification and conquests of the tribal Arabs. Of course, this is just speculation. |
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Aug 16 |
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Was there a noble cause to Genghis Khan's campaign? @defaultlocale As in for greater good. It might just be nationalism. I'm interested in knowing why he did what he did and hearing about the softer side of Genghis Khan. |
