User:BillC/didyouknow


 * 1) ...that Hertfordshire puddingstone is a conglomerate rock named after its resemblance to Christmas pudding?
 * 2) ... that the 12th century illuminated manuscript the Codex Calixtinus is prefaced by a forged letter purporting it to be the work of Pope Callixtus II?
 * 3) Anatomie Nicolaes Tulp.jpg... that the autopsy depicted in Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn's oil painting [[Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp]] (pictured) was a real event which took place on January 16, 1632?
 * 4) ... that the New Testament's "camel passing through the eye of a needle" is an example of adynaton, an extreme form of hyperbole used to imply impossibility?
 * 5) ...that a quadrature phase booster is a specialised form of transformer used to control the flow of electric power on electricity transmission networks?
 * 6) ... that the Scouting movement's "one good turn" was inaugurated on behalf of British newspaper magnate Cyril Arthur Pearson, who founded several newspapers before going blind with glaucoma and then devoted his life in support of the blind?
 * 7) ... that the early contact lens pioneer August Müller demonstrated his technique for grinding scleral lenses by correcting his own severe myopia?
 * 8) ... that videokeratography is a non-invasive medical imaging technique for mapping the surface topology of the cornea?
 * 9) ... that Corippo, despite being a contender for Switzerland's smallest municipality with a population of only 17, has its own website, coat of arms, mayor and town council?
 * 10) ... that the Strépy-Thieu boat lift in Belgium is the tallest boat lift in the world at 73 metres high and has a structural mass of 200,000 tonnes?
 * 11) ... that some elements of the Jules Verne adventure story Two Years' Vacation are to be found in William Golding's Lord of the Flies, written 66 years later?
 * 12) ... that the taekwondo form Ko-Dang was named after Korean nationalist Cho Man-sik, imprisoned and executed for his opposition to Kim Il-sung's communists?
 * 13) ...that Unsinkable Sam was a ship's cat of both the Kriegsmarine and Royal Navy during the Second World War who survived the sinking of all three ships on which he served?
 * 14) ... that TenneT, the Dutch transmission system operator, is a joint owner of the ±450 kV, 580-km NorNed, the longest high-voltage undersea power line in the world?
 * 15) ... that a dispatcher training simulator is a computer-based training system which simulates the behaviour of an electrical power system?
 * 16) ... that a Carley float was a liferaft fashioned from a large ring of copper tubing surrounded by cork and canvas?
 * 17) ... that conductor gallop, the wind-induced 1 Hz oscillation of overhead transmission lines, is also known as "dancing"?
 * 18) ... that the dumbbell-shaped devices commonly seen on overhead power lines are Stockbridge dampers, used to suppress wind-induced vibrations?
 * 19) ... that Cavallo's multiplier was an 18th-century electrostatic influence machine used to amplify electric charge?
 * 20) ... that arcing horns are projecting conductors used to protect insulators on high voltage transmission systems from damage during flashover?
 * 21) ... that the Jadad scale is the world's most widely used means of assessing the methodological quality of clinical trials?
 * 22) ... that Réseau de Transport d'Électricité, Europe's largest transmission system operator, manages a 100000 km network of high-voltage power lines?
 * 23) ... that Hesketh Hesketh-Prichard was an explorer, adventurer, big-game hunter, international cricketer, novelist and marksman who founded the British Army's sniping school during the First World War?
 * 24) ... that live-line working involves making contact with a power line that may be energized up to 1,150,000 volts?
 * 25) ... that the village of Christmas Common was the home of philologist and lexicographer William Craigie?
 * 26) ... that Christmas Island National Park hosts the world's largest population of the world's largest land invertebrate, the Coconut crab?
 * 27) ... that Polish writer Franciszek Karpiński is best remembered through his hymns and carols?
 * 28) ... that the 1774 Schiehallion experiment to calculate the density of the Earth also made the first use of contour lines to represent height?