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Month: November 2016
Why hasn’t Turkey adopted federalism if it is big enough and divided into seven regions?
Vote #1 Emre Sermutlu’s answer. Because I’m just some random Greek. Emre Sermutlu’s answer to Why hasn’t Turkey adopted federalism if it is big enough and divided into seven regions? Turkish Quorans may know me as an interested neighbour (Greek). Being Greek, the para about Turks being forced on the defensive in Emre’s answer is […]
Where are the attractions to visit in Melbourne?
Melbourne isn’t Sydney, with its really obvious, beautiful sights. It doesn’t really have any obvious, landmark attractions. It’s more atmosphere and aggregate of experience. In the CBD: walk around the alleyways for the funky graffiti and nouveau restaurants. Stare up, and admire the Victorian and Art Deco goodness of a confident, rich city. Walk down […]
In which country have you discovered after spending some years that local citizens are chauvinists? Not racists but extreme nationalists?
What you’re after is a country with an exaggeratedly strong nationalism, to the point of chauvinism, but not spilling over into racism. So you want a maxed out civic nationalism. France invented civic nationalism, but they asssimilated all their indigenous minorities aggressively, and they’ve botched their assimilation of the Beurs, so that’s not a good […]
I aspire to play in a pit orchestra. Can you say anything to crush my dreams?
Inexplicably, OP, you’ve A2A’d me. I played in school orchestra, and gave that up for university. I did have my dreams crushed later, with academia. And for all that it’s the worst thing to have happened in my life, I would not take it back. It’s made me who I am. So I don’t know […]
Are there any aspects of your native culture / country that foreigners hardly ever understand?
This has been mentioned several times elsewhere here, and it’s not just Australian, it’s a British inheritance. Though I think we here have ramped it up to eleven. And it certainly disconcerts visitors. Hell, it’s disconcerted me. If Australians like you, they will make merciless fun of you. If they’re being civil to you, that’s […]
What would you want people to say at your funeral?
This has been in my inbox for a while, and I didn’t know how to tackle it. I want my brain acknowledged. For sure. I want my publications strewn around me, the children I got to have. But they too will be dust eventually. My plan to have them laminated and sent to Svalbard looks […]
What will happen if every dog on the planet were turned into a raptor overnight?
Accelerated selection of the fittest. Where being loyal, cuddly, and Neotenous is no longer what makes you the fittest raptor dog. Bye bye labradors. Dog leash manufacturers go out of business. The civil aviation authorities might need to work out a deal with city councils, in better tagging raptor dogs. Significant changes in dogfood manufacture. […]
What were you spanked with growing up?
This guy: And not the fly-swatting end of it either. My sister, my mother would have to chase around the house. I just dutifully held out my hand for it to be over and done with. That may explain some things. I dunno. Answered 2016-11-21 [Originally posted on http://quora.com/What-were-you-spanked-with-growing-up/answer/Nick-Nicholas-5]
What was the original language of the Jahwist?
The Jahwist, as in the hypothesised earliest source document of the Torah? I’m dismayed to find from Wikipedia that the documentary hypothesis is now falling apart, and increasingly scholars think there was no one unitary Jahwist document. Doesn’t matter to me if the Jahwist was a bunch of bits; that bunch of bits is still […]
Was it appropriate for the cast of Hamilton to read a statement to Vice President-elect Pence from the stage on November 18th?
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/19/us/mike-pence-hamilton.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=b-lede-package-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news Originally buried in a comment at https://www.quora.com/Was-it-app… In response to: Well, if you believe what the cast of Hamilton did was appropriate, then you’d be okay that if henceforth every theatrical performance would include the cast’s comments on the political scene. … When Aristophanes invented comedy? That’s exactly what he did. Using the chorus […]