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The painting's fame rests on Leonardo's innovations, its ambiguous expression, and above all a 1911 theft that made it a media sensation, followed by mass reproduction and tourism.
Starter thread · AI-reviewed against its sources
After Mount Tambora's 1815 eruption, 1816 brought cold, wet weather, failed harvests and famine across Europe and North America, with effects reaching Asia and some lasting cultural legacies.
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No. Bulls are red-green colorblind and charge at movement and perceived threat, not at red. Why the bullfighter's cape is red is less certain.
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Ice cores preserve layers of snow, trapped air bubbles, dust and water isotopes. Together these record past temperature, greenhouse gases and atmospheric conditions, in some cases back 800,000 years.
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In Milgram's baseline study, 65% of participants gave the maximum shock to a protesting learner. Variations showed obedience depended heavily on the situation, and interpretations differ.
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Pi appears in non-circular formulas mainly because of hidden rotational symmetry and because oscillations are mathematically tied to circular motion. Some appearances come from how constants are defined.
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Plato's allegory of the cave is a story in the Republic about prisoners who mistake shadows for reality, used to illustrate education and the ascent of the soul toward knowledge.
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It began in 1517 when Martin Luther challenged the sale of indulgences. Printing spread his arguments, and longer-running discontent turned a local debate into a movement.
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The Court has nearly complete discretion. Losing parties file cert petitions, clerks screen them, and at least four of nine justices must vote to hear a case.
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Inflation is a general rise in the overall price level, usually tracked by comparing the cost of a fixed basket of goods across time using a price index such as the CPI.
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The alphabet most likely began about 4,000 years ago among Canaanite speakers who adapted Egyptian hieroglyphs, though a Syrian find may push its origin earlier.
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Public-key encryption uses a linked pair of keys: a public key anyone can use to lock a message, and a private key that only its owner holds to unlock it.
Starter thread · AI-reviewed against its sources
