| I would like to know how to make toothpaste. |
714 |
|
26.1.2009 |
|
Here are a couple of web sites where you can read how toothpaste is made:
http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/eng99/eng99398.htm
http://www.madehow.com/Volume-3/Toothpaste.html
|
| Is the King Arthur real or fake? |
1546 |
|
24.1.2009 |
|
King Arthur's existence is a question debated by historians. Geoffrey Monmouth's popular Historia Regum Britanniae from the 12th century is the first narrative account on Arthur's life. However, earlier mentions of him are made in some Welsh and Breton tales and poems.
Good starting point for further Arthur studies are following pages http://www.arthuriana.co.uk/ and
http://faculty.smu.edu/arthuriana/
|
| The flags of Islamic nations are often decorated with the crescent moon. What is the relation between Islam and the crescent moon? |
1000 |
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23.1.2009 |
|
Here are a couple of articles on the subject:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crescent
http://islam.about.com/od/history/a/crescent_moon.htm
|
| Why do zebras have stripes? |
834 |
|
23.1.2009 |
|
The stripes work as camouflage making zebras indistinguishable to other animals, and on the other hand they also actually help zebras recognize one another. See:
http://animals.howstuffworks.com/mammals/question454.htm
How the stripes have developed is a question of evolution:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution
|
| Does exist a synchronous digital reference service in Italy?? Thank you. |
1651 |
|
23.1.2009 |
|
You have sent your question to the "Ask a librarian" service in Finland. Here we cannot have the best possible expertise concerning libraries in Italy. That is why I recommend for you to redirect your request to some italian library. There seem to be several services of the kind "Chiedi alla tua biblioteca":
http://www.segnaweb.it/disciplines/00-chiedi-lla-tua-biblioteca.html
|
| I would like to know about the Lucifer Effect. |
750 |
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22.1.2009 |
|
The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil (Random House, 2007) is a book written by Philip Zimbardo. In this book he offers a psychological account of how ordinary people sometimes turn evil and commit unspeakable acts.
For further details, see:
http://www.lucifereffect.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Zimbardo
|
| Why purple colour is used for psychotherapy? |
704 |
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22.1.2009 |
|
You probably mean colour therapy, which is not a branch of classical psychotherapy. On the other hand, arts therapy is widely accepted as valid treatment among classical psychotherapists as well, but in this kind of arts therapy, separate colours hardly have special meaning or significance.
In colour therapy, the colour purple can be interpreted in several ways. Have a look e.g. at the following links:
http://www.holisticonline.com/Color/color_purple_scarlet.htm
http://www.crystalinks.com/colors.html
http://www.colourtherapyhealing.com/
|
| I'd like to know ablout the Irish great famine in the 1840s. Also, I want to know about the causes and symptoms of potato blight. |
13 |
|
22.1.2009 |
|
The great famine of Ireland took place in 1845-1849, and it is said that about a million people died of hunger during those years. In the early 1840's around a third of Irish people depended on the potato as their main source of food, and thus the destruction of the potato harvest because of potato blight in 1845 launched a catastrophe.
More information about the famine:
http://www.wesleyjohnston.com/users/ireland/past/famine/index.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/famine_01.shtml
Potato blight is a potato disease caused by a fungus. Its origins are in America, from where it spread to Europe by a shipment of seed potatoes destined for Belgian farmers in 1845. Potato blight first affects the leaves and later the actual… |
| Which countries have the biggest number of Nobel Prize winners in literature fields? |
569 |
|
22.1.2009 |
|
A quick counting in Wikipedia made a result of 12 prizes for USA, 9 to France, Germany and UK, 7 for Sweden and 6 for Spain and Italy. For an more accurate information check pages of Nobelprize.org in http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/
or Wikipedia http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/
|
| I would like to know about the origin of the English language. |
925 |
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22.1.2009 |
|
You will find lots of good web pages about the origin of the English language simply by using the search terms "english language history" in any internet search engine. E.g. here is one thorough article on the subject:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_English_language
If you would like to get more personalized answers to your question, I would suggest for you to turn to some "Ask a librarian" service in any English-speaking country. We Finns might not be the best possible specialists of the English language.
|
| I would like to know the origin of the term 'Yellow Journalism'. |
1137 |
|
21.1.2009 |
|
The term "yellow journalism" was derived from Robert Outcault's comic strip "The Yellow Kid" around 1895. The battling newspapers, Joseph Pulitzer's New York World and William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal, were both accused of sensationalizing the news. Both also published the Yellow Kid. The term was at first "yellow kid journalism" but was then shortened as "yellow journalism".
More information about the background of the term:
http://library.thinkquest.org/C0111500/spanamer/yellow.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_journalism
|
| Which nation's territory Antarctica is? |
966 |
|
21.1.2009 |
|
Antarctica does not belong to any country. Several countries have made territorial claims, but they are not generally recognized.
More information about Antarctica and also about the Antarctic Treaty, an international agreement regulating the use of the continent, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctica.
|
| Is Christmas really the birthday of Jesus? |
1091 |
|
21.1.2009 |
|
We can say with all probability that the 25th December is not a real birthday
of Christ. This day was celebrated as a Christian feast first in the middle of
the 4th century. There are many theories about the reasons of the choice of the
25th December since the Bible does not provide any clear information in this
matter.
(a) historical theory of religion
The 25th December has some connection with feasts of other religions. The
Christians borrowed a feast from some neighbouring religion or they deliberately
wanted to supersede such one. In fact, the cult of Sun was in the beginning of
fourth century popular in the Roman empire and it has been suggested that the
25th December was celebrated as a birthday of Sun. In any case the time round… |
| I'd like to know about the Irish great famine in the 1840s. Also, I want to know about the causes and symptoms of potato blight. |
1461 |
|
20.1.2009 |
|
The great famine of Ireland took place in 1845-1849, and it is said that about a million people died of hunger during those years. In the early 1840's around a third of Irish people depended on the potato as their main source of food, and thus the destruction of the potato harvest because of potato blight in 1845 launched a catastrophe.
More information about the famine:
http://www.wesleyjohnston.com/users/ireland/past/famine/index.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/famine_01.shtml
Potato blight is a potato disease caused by a fungus. Its origins are in America, from where it spread to Europe by a shipment of seed potatoes destined for Belgian farmers in 1845. Potato blight first affects the leaves and later the actual… |
| I would like to know about the origin of the English language. |
693 |
|
20.1.2009 |
|
The English language originate from the dialects, now called Old English, which were brought to England beginning in the 5th century.
Recommended link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language
Recommended books:
Crystal, Dvid: The English language. - London: Penguin, 1990. ISBN: 0-14-013532-4
English: history, diversity and change (edited by David Graddol, Dick Leith and Joan Swann). - London: Routledge, 2002. ISBN: 0-415-13118-9
|
| Which countries have the biggest number of Nobel Prize winners in literature fields. |
790 |
|
20.1.2009 |
|
The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to 105 persons between 1901-2008. The countries who have most Nobel Prize in Literature laureates are:
1. France (13)
2. United States (12)
3. United Kingdom (9)
4. Germany (8)
5. Italy (6)
Sweden (6)
7. Poland (5)
Spain (5)
9. Ireland (4)
10.Denmark (3)
10.Norway (3)
12.Japan (2)
Greece (2)
Chile (2)
South Africa (2)
Switzerland (2)
21 countries have one Nobel Prize in Literature laureate.
More detailed information:
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/lan_nob_pri_in_lit_mos_awa_cou_lau-li…
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/
|
| What is the most widely used language in the world? |
1897 |
|
20.1.2009 |
|
Mandarin Chinese has about almost 1 billion speakers. After that Hindi, Arabic, English and Spanish. The order varies depending on how speakers are calculated.
|
| Among all the paintings of Vincent Van Gogh, how many works contain sunflower? |
691 |
|
19.1.2009 |
|
In the internet there is a complete list of all the sunflower paintings of Vincent van Gogh, see: http://www.vggallery.com/misc/sunflowers.htm
It seems, that these paintings are eleven.
|
| How many works does Shakespeare write? |
837 |
|
19.1.2009 |
|
There's no exact answer to your question. William Shakespeare probably wrote more plays than we know today, because some of his plays are lost. Shakespeare existing oeuvre consists of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, 2 longer poems and some other poems.
More information:
http://www.shakespeare-online.com/ (all the plays and poems here)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare
|
| How many countries contains "Union Jack" in their national flags? |
1407 |
|
19.1.2009 |
|
There are many countries and especially colonies that have uset Union Jack in their flags. According to Wikipedia, four countries have nowadays Union Jack as a part of their flags: Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tuvalu. In addition many territories and regions have Union Jack in their flag. Further information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Flag#Use_in_other_flags
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