Wikipedia:Recent additions/2004/September

30 September 2004

 * ...that dabbawalas are Indian lunch carriers that make, on average, only one mistake in every 6,000,000 deliveries, even though they do all their work manually?
 * ...that Alfred J. Kwak, a duck from a Dutch television cartoon, lives in a clog?

29 September 2004

 * ...that dhabawallahs are Indian lunch carriers that make, on average, only one mistake in every 6000 deliveries, even though they do all their work manually?


 * ...that the discovery of the J/&Psi; particle in 1974 earned two physicists the Nobel prize as it confirmed the idea that baryonic matter (such as the nuclei of atoms) is made out of quarks?
 * ...that physiological sound localization relies primarily on binaural cues for determining source azimuth, and head-related transfer functions for determining source elevation?
 * ...that Karel Kuttelwascher was the most famous World War II flying ace of Czech nationality?
 * ...that the aftermath of the Revolt of 1173-1174 is depicted in the Peter O'Toole-Katharine Hepburn movie The Lion in Winter?
 * ...that weight transfer causes the traction of tires on a car to vary?

28 September 2004

 * ...that the Cathedral of Magdeburg is the highest church in East Germany and houses the grave of Emperor Otto I. the Great?
 * ...that before Helen Gallagher became well-known for her role as matriarch on Ryan's Hope, she won a Tony Award for her work in the revival of No, No, Nanette?

27 September 2004

 * ...that Fort Calgary, in what is now Calgary, Alberta, was originally named Fort Brisebois?
 * ...that at the height of the Cold War, Lynne Cox became the first person to swim from the USA to the USSR?
 * ...that André Maginot, for whom the Maginot Line was named, was awarded the Medaille Militaire for valor during World War I?

26 September 2004

 * ...that according to the Oxford English Dictionary the longest English word with one syllable is squirrelled?

25 September 2004

 * ...that the Dutch delicacy Croquet is rumored to contain offal?

24 September 2004

 * ...that the unfinished Ca' Rezzonico appears in a early 18th century painting of Venice's Grand Canal by Canaletto?

23 September 2004

 * ...that Elizabeth Barton was executed for high treason in 1534 for prophesying the death of King Henry VIII?
 * ...that the 1953 movie Robot Monster was so poorly received, its director attempted suicide?


 * ...that timber from the leadwood tree burns very slowly and is often used for nightlong fires intended to keep animals at bay?
 * ...that when complete, B of the Bang will be Britain's tallest sculpture?

22 September 2004

 * ...that the initial arctic convoys of World War II set sail from Iceland?
 * ...that the symbol of Fatima's hands, while widespread in Middle Eastern Islamic societies, is not officially condoned by Islam?

21 September 2004

 * ...that the most famous boardwalk in the United States is probably the one in Atlantic City, New Jersey, thanks to its association with the Monopoly board game?

20 September 2004

 * ...that the feminist group Women on Waves built a gynaecology unit on board of ship and performs abortions in international waters?
 * ...that the first post office in the Bahamas was probably on Crooked Island?

19 September 2004

 * ...that poorly written Regency romance novels can often be identified by their incorrect use of styles and titles of peers?
 * ...That the feminist group Women on waves built a gynaecology unit on board of a ship and makes abortions on international waters?
 * ...that 19th century American vigilance committees had different purposes depending on their geographic location?
 * ...that the second-highest ranking official in the Kingdom of Hungary was the Palatine?
 * ...that Rajpath, which runs from the presidential residence Rashtrapati Bhavan to the war memorial India Gate, is probably the most important ceremonial avenue in India?
 * ...that the only excavated stand-alone timber circles in the British Isles are those at Seahenge in Norfolk and the early phases of The Sanctuary in Wiltshire?
 * ...that Frank Sinatra, Jr. ' s kidnapping in 1963 led his father to habitually carry a roll of dimes?

16 September 2004

 * ...that Lake Urmia, Iran's largest lake, is too salty to support fish?
 * ...that eugenicist Paul Popenoe introduced marriage counseling to the United States?
 * ...that Urdu literature is dominated by poetry, often of the ghazal form?
 * ...that the legendary Buenaventura River was imagined to parallel the significance of the Mississippi River within the western North America?
 * ...that the U.S. military's Tybee hydrogen bomb, missing off the coast of the state of Georgia since 1958, may recently have been discovered?


 * ...that the Dashanzi Art District is considered to be Beijing's version of Greenwich Village or SoHo?

15 September 2004

 * ...that the Italian-invented human torpedo was first used in World War II to severely damage the British battleships HMS Valiant and HMS Queen Elizabeth?
 * ...that Barbara Billingsley was so typecast as June Cleaver on the sitcom Leave It to Beaver that she could not get acting jobs for nearly twenty years?
 * ...that Hoot was novelist Carl Hiaasen's first book geared toward young adults?
 * ...that the British film It Happened Here is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the film's eight years production schedule as the longest ever?
 * ...that the crustaceans known as giant isopods, which live in the depths of the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, can grow up to 45 centimetres long?

14 September 2004

 * ...that the Indian national flag is called Tiranga?
 * ...that the 33 Edicts of Ashoka in north India and Pakistan are the first tangible historical evidence of Buddhism?

13 September 2004

 * ...that with the exception of three snapshots taken by Sonderkommandos, the Auschwitz Album is the only extant photographic evidence of the inner workings of the Auschwitz concentration camp?

12 September 2004

 * ...that British admiral Alexander Cochrane was responsible for the bombing of Fort McHenry which resulted in the authorship of the American national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner"?
 * ...that Ethelbert of York ' s 8th century library was probably the largest book collection of its day outside of Rome?

10 September 2004

 * ...that plant sexuality is most diverse among angiosperms?
 * ...that a potassium deficiency known as hypokalemia can be a side effect of certain medications?
 * ...that it's unclear whether Euripides' play Electra was written before or after Sophocles' version?
 * ...that most contemporary robotic telescopes are in the hands of amateur astronomers?
 * ...that the zigzag method of using a knife and fork is particular to the United States?
 * ...that the Bonfires of Saint John festival in Spain uses discarded furniture as tinder for the fires?
 * ...that communication with submarines is difficult because salt water is a conductor which blocks electromagnetic radiation?

9 September 2004

 * ...that Leyton F.C. had to win a High Court action in order to call itself the oldest football club in London?
 * ...that Vertigo actress Barbara Bel Geddes was the daughter of designer Norman Bel Geddes?
 * ...that the United Kingdom was the first country to offer its citizens a postal savings system?
 * ...that the literary genre known as Bangsian fantasy sets its action wholly or partially in Hell?
 * ...that the word ecology was coined by Ellen Swallow Richards, the first woman admitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology?
 * ...that Antarctica's Lemaire Channel is such a popular tourist destination that it's nicknamed Kodak Gap?

8 September 2004

 * ...that the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace is the only U.S. presidential library that is not a part of the official National Archives and Records Administration system?
 * ...that the 1945 Trial of the Sixteen helped the USSR consolidate its control over Poland?
 * ...that the Cork Opera House in Ireland was built in 1855, burned down in 1955, and rebuilt in 1963?

7 September 2004

 * ...that the largest landslide ever recorded in Canada was 1965's Hope Slide?
 * ...that the Venetian Arsenal is mentioned in Dante's Inferno?
 * ...that British lying-in-state ceremonies take place at Westminster Hall?


 * ...that the most famous accomplishment of the Israeli Engineering Corps is breaching the Suez Canal during the 1973 Arab-Israeli War?
 * ...that there are three major kinds of arcade cabinet: upright, sit-down and cocktail?
 * ...that the international Harmon Trophy is awarded to the most notable aviator of the year?
 * ...that the Malayan Tapir is the only species of tapir native to Asia?
 * ...that the word "high" in high treason differentiates that well-known crime from the more obscure petty treason?

6 September 2004

 * ...that Richard Blumenthal is Connecticut's Attorney General and was awarded the Raymond E. Baldwin Award for Public Service by the Quinnipiac University School of Law in 2002?
 * ...that the history of Buddhism includes a century of Greco-Buddhist interaction, primarily around Bactria?
 * ...that the Malayan tapir species of tapir and the only one native to Asia?


 * ...that as many as 150 people a year attempt to commit suicide by jumping from either the Bosporus Bridge or Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge in Turkey?
 * ...that the Romanian riots of 1989 led to the only bloody overthrow of a Communist regime in Europe?

5 September 2004

 * ...that the Rome Laboratory in New York is one of four superlabs run by the U.S. Air Force?

4 September 2004

 * ...that the History of Buddhism includes a century of Greco-Buddhist interaction, primarily around Bactria?


 * ...that the city of Vancouver, British Columbia sits on the Burrard Peninsula?
 * ...that the disputed Cherokee Strip in Kansas was the result of a boundary conflict between the Osage, Cherokee and United States federal government which lasted from 1854 until 1866?
 * ...that the English medi&aelig;val shrine statue Our Lady of Ipswich, ordered to be destroyed during the Reformation, might have survived in an Italian village?
 * ...that many of the Dartmoor longhouses built during the Middle Ages still stand today?


 * ...that some historians consider the Baltimore riot of 1861 to be the first bloodshed of the American Civil War?
 * ...that Buchwald v. Paramount may (or may not) have set a precedent for questioning spurious Hollywood accounting practices?
 * ...that the history of the incipit runs from ancient Sumeria through to modern word processors?
 * ...that the dominant art form of the English Renaissance was the play?

3 September 2004

 * ...that there are five different kinds of lox?
 * ...that the mysterious objects known as Black triangles may actually be hybrid airships?
 * ...that Wikipedia has lots articles about Persian Kings?


 * ...that Frances has tied Arlene (at eight times) as the most-used name for tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean?
 * ...that the city of Swakopmund, Namibia has some of the world's best examples of German Art Deco architecture?
 * ...that Johannes Bugenhagen introduced the Protestant Reformation to Pomerania and Denmark in the 16th century?
 * ...that the now-closed Opryland was the official theme park of NASCAR?

1 September 2004

 * ...that historical hearsay states John of Kolno came to the New World in 1476, 16 years ahead of Christopher Columbus?


 * ...that the Roman abacus incorporated mixed-base arithmetic?
 * ...that the French village of Giverny, best known as the home and landscape subject of Claude Monet, is a pre-Roman town known in ancient deeds as Warnacum?
 * ...that Governor-General outranks the Prime Minister in the New Zealand order of precedence?