Wikipedia:Recent additions/2006/April

30 April 2006

 * 19:04, 30 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ...that Moscow City Hall, built in the 1890s to the tastes of the Russian bourgeoisie, was converted by Communists into the Central Lenin Museum after its rich interior decoration had been plastered over?
 * ...that Lydia Sokolova, born in Wanstead as Hilda Munnings, was the principal character dancer of the Ballets Russes and the first English ballerina in the company?
 * ...that during the Battle of Hel, one of the longest battles in the 1939 Polish September Campaign, Polish forces temporarily separated the peninsula from the mainland, forming an island?
 * ...that Greyfriars Kirkyard, famed for its association with Greyfriars Bobby, is haunted by the spirit of "Bluidy Mackenzie" and featured in the early photography of David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson?
 * ...that when Edwin J. Cohn gave public demonstrations of the newly-invented blood fractionation machine, he used his own freshly-drawn blood which, when the machine exploded after clogging, led to the first several rows of the audience being covered in blood?


 * 07:45, 30 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ...that the Capitoline Wolf, the icon of the founding of Rome, is actually an Etruscan bronze statue depicting a she-wolf suckling the infant twins Romulus and Remus?
 * ...that Mozambican journalist Carlos Cardoso was murdered while investigating the privatization of the country's largest bank?
 * ...that although archaeologists in Singapore have discovered many artifacts, they do not have government support for their work, and there is no centralised place to store the artifacts?
 * ...that the Battle of Zhuolu, fought in the 26th century BC and the second recorded battle in Chinese history, is often considered a pivotal moment in the establishment of the Han Chinese civilization?
 * ...that Nikolay Glazkov, a Soviet poet, is credited with having coined the term samizdat, which has come to be internationally known?

29 April 2006

 * 07:27, 29 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ...that Burg Pfalzgrafenstein, a castle in the Rhine that Victor Hugo described as a “ship of stone”, also used its well as a dungeon?
 * ...that on Christmas Eve 1942, in the Tatsinskaya Raid, the Red Army's 24th Tank Corps captured the German airfield that was conducting the Stalingrad relief airlift?
 * ...that the Yellow-shouldered Blackbird, a bird endemic to the archipelago of Puerto Rico, engages in anting, a behavior in which birds rub ants on their feathers?
 * ...that the mummified remains of outlaw Hazel Farris helped raise funds for the Bessemer Hall of History in Bessemer, Alabama?
 * ...that The Stewardesses, the most profitable 3-D film in history, was notorious for still being edited during the first year of its showing in theaters?
 * ...that French singer Édith Piaf dedicated her recording of the song, "Non, je ne regrette rien", to the French Foreign Legion?

28 April 2006

 * 06:45, 28 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ...that, during half a millennium, the Croÿ family produced two cardinals, seven bishops, nine field marshals, twenty generals, and thirty two knights of the Order of the Golden Fleece?
 * ...that the 5th New York Volunteer Infantry suffered 330 casualties, including 120 dead, in eight minutes at the Second Battle of Bull Run, the largest number of fatalities received by any federal infantry unit in the entire American Civil War?
 * ...that the Regimen sanitatis Salernitanum, a medieval didactic poem, was considered a scholarly medical work that was seriously discussed until the 19th century?
 * ...that in Miller v. Jackson the Court of Appeal of England and Wales found that a cricket club was liable in negligence and nuisance when sixes were hit over the boundary onto neighbouring property, and that it is best known for the lyrical dissenting judgment of Lord Denning, MR?

27 April 2006

 * 07:14, 27 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ...that the English Sundew, a carnivorous plant with wide distribution in the northern hemisphere, originated from a hybrid involving a plant with localized distribution in the Great Lakes area?
 * ...that pitcher-outfielder Clint Hartung was hyped as Cooperstown-bound but played so poorly for the New York Giants that his name has become synonymous with rookies who flop?
 * ...that Protmušis is a quizbowl competition that has been taking place in Vilnius, Lithuania since 1997?
 * ...that a private citizen, Avabai Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, entirely funded the construction of the Mahim Causeway, a major throughfare connecting the island city of Mumbai (Bombay) with its north-western suburbs?
 * ...that the Kryvbas economic region in Ukraine is one of the largest iron ore and steel industry centers in Europe?

26 April 2006

 * 14:03, 26 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ...that the Willow Tearooms, designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, is the most famous of many new Glasgow tearooms opened in the early 20th century due to the emergence of the Temperance movement ?
 * ...that in the Battle of Gdynia during the Polish September Campaign, the German armed forces captured Gdynia, an important port and industrial center of the Second Polish Republic?
 * ...that the SS leader Felix Landau temporarily spared the life of the Jewish artist Bruno Schulz, because Landau liked his art and wanted the artist to paint a set of murals for his young son's bedroom?
 * ...that the Ford Mustang SSP, in addition to being advertised by Ford as "chasing Porsches for a living", was also used as a pursuit car for the Lockheed U2 spy plane?
 * ...that in the Night Attack skirmish, Vlad III Dracula is said to have been "one of the first European crusaders to use gunpowder in a deadly artistic way"?

25 April 2006

 * 23:45, 25 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ...that a bull terrier named Stubby attained the rank of sergeant during World War I?
 * ...that Kongara Jaggayya was the first Indian film actor to be elected directly to the Parliament?
 * ...that Camille Gravel, a Louisiana Democrat and civil rights advocate, was highly influential in state and national politics despite never holding office?
 * ...that the Uruguayan Invasion was a musical phenomenon of the 1960s distinctly similar to the British Invasion, with rock bands from Uruguay rapidly gaining popularity in Argentina?
 * ...that the Battle of the Lower Dnieper is considered to be one of the largest battles in world history, involving almost 4,000,000 men on both sides and stretching on a front 1,400 kilometers wide?


 * 06:30, 25 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ...that microdistrict was a primary structural element of the residential area construction used in the Soviet Union?
 * ...that Saint Thomas Becket professed to owe a "debt of gratitude" to Margaret of Navarre, who was the regent of Sicily between 1166 and 1171?
 * ...that less than a teaspoon of a pesticide of the Toxicity Class I (EPA system) can kill an adult person?
 * ...that Witold Dzierżykraj-Morawski, a colonel of the Polish Army, was one of the many prisoners murdered by Nazi Germany in Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp?
 * ...that Troy VII is an archaeological layer of Troy associated with the city's destruction during the legendary Trojan War?

23 April 2006

 * 17:49, 23 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ...that the Senyavin Islands of Micronesia were named after Dmitry Senyavin, who destroyed the Ottoman Fleet in the Battle of Athos in 1807?
 * ...that The Tanganyika Rifles mutinied in 1964, seizing control of Tanganyika for days before surrendering to the Royal Marines?
 * ...that the calls of the Red-throated Ant-Tanager, a noisy passerine bird native to the Caribbean, include a scolding raaah or nasal pip pik, and the song is a throaty whistled cherry quick cherry quick cherry quick cherry quick?
 * ...that Jefferson Pier in Washington, D.C. was a survey monument for the first meridian of the United States, replacing one set by Thomas Jefferson in 1793, and that it was later used as a mooring bollard on the Potomac River?
 * ...that, during the Battle of Königsberg, German troops were subjected to Soviet propaganda, telling them that they were trapped in a pocket and that their resistance was pointless?

22 April 2006

 * 12:29, 22 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ... that Isaac Newton was so unhappy with the publication of his Arithmetica Universalis, he considered buying all the copies of the first edition so he could destroy them?
 * ...that a pioneer automobile manufacturer, August Duesenberg, went bankrupt after his failure to sell his first mass produced vehicle, although his race cars had won seven of the first ten places in the 1920 Indianapolis 500-mile race?
 * ...that the Battle of Domašov during the Seven Years' War was the first big military success of Ernst Gideon von Laudon, which made Prussian King Frederick the Great finish the siege of Olomouc and leave Moravia?
 * ...that Robin Philipson, former President of the Royal Scottish Academy, was particularly renowned for his cockfight paintings?
 * ...that in 1132 George of Antioch was given the title ammiratus ammiratorum, which translates as Admiral of Admirals in modern English, but meant Emir of Emirs to contemporaries?

21 April 2006

 * 10:31, 21 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ...that the world's earliest-known reservoirs were constructed by the people of the ancient city of Dholavira, which is located on an island in Kutch?
 * ...that, in the history of wound care, the Ancient Greeks were the first to differentiate between acute and chronic wounds, calling them "fresh" and "non-healing", respectively?
 * ...that the sepoys lost the Central India Campaign (1858) because most of their officers were elderly men who had attained rank through seniority while seeing little action and receiving no training as leaders?
 * ...that the Birdsville Races in Queensland, Australia used to have separate races for horses that ate grass and those that ate corn?
 * ... that the Bogomil bishop Nicetas went to Lombardy in order to throw doubts on the Cathars's spiritual succession to the Apostles?

20 April 2006

 * 16:15, 20 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ...that in his poem Dushenka, the 18th-century Ukrainian-born poet Ippolit Bogdanovich changed the setting of Apuleius's story about Cupid and Psyche to a contemporary Russian village?
 * ... that the 1065-m long Črni Kal viaduct on the A1 highway is the longest viaduct in Slovenia?
 * ... that a bouchon is a type of traditional restaurant in Lyon, serving such delicacies as pig's head cheese, tripe soup and andouillette?
 * ... that Peter the Great was the principal editor of the Vedomosti, the first newspaper printed in Russia?
 * ... that Hugh Green received the Walter Camp Award and the Lombardi Award, and was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1996?

18 April 2006

 * 21:03, 18 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ... that the Neo-Renaissance architectural style encompasses such dissimilar structures as the Opera Garnier and Hôtel de Ville in Paris, the National Theatre in Prague, the Reichstag in Berlin, Mentmore Towers near London, Vladimir Palace in Saint Petersburg, and the Public Library in Boston?
 * ... that the 111th Fighter Escadrille of the Polish Air Force successfully foiled an attack by the German Luftwaffe about an hour before World War II broke out in Westerplatte ?
 * ... that Yueh Hai Ching Temple is the oldest Taoist temple in Singapore, and Chinese Emperor Guang Xu presented a plaque to the temple in 1907?
 * ... that Will Jefferson is probably the tallest professional cricketer ever, at about 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) tall?
 * ... that Philip II of Macedon used the Social War (357-355 BC) as an opportunity to further the interests of his Macedonian Empire in the Aegean region?

17 April 2006

 * 18:54, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ... that the choir of Stavropoleos Church, an Eastern Orthodox church in central Bucharest, Romania, sings (neo-)Byzantine music, now a rare occurrence for churches in Romania?
 * ... that Arthropleuridea is an extinct class of myriapods which includes, at over 2 meters long, the largest terrestrial arthropods that ever lived?
 * ... that King James IV of Scotland once used Mingarry Castle as a stronghold for fighting off clan Donald in the late 15th century?
 * ... that some call the Atchison County Historical Museum the "world's smallest presidential library"?
 * ... that during the American Civil War, an early Union steam torpedo boat, USS Spuyten Duyvil, was used to clear obstructions so President Lincoln could visit the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia after General Lee's withdrawal?


 * 02:11, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ... that French-born artist Jan Piotr Norblin is famous in Poland for illustrating many important historical moments of the last years of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and is considered one of the most important painters of the Polish Enlightenment?
 * ... that the Canadian Parliament Buildings have housed several dozen stray cats since the 1970s?
 * ... that the 2005-06 World Sevens Series in rugby sevens will be the first in seven seasons of the competition to be won by a team other than New Zealand?
 * ... that Australia has a National Public Toilet Map, allowing users to locate the 14,000 public toilets across the country to four decimal places of latitude and longitude?

16 April 2006

 * 09:38, 16 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ...that Count Nikolay Kamensky, a Russian commander in the Russo-Turkish War, 1806-1812, died after catching a fever on the battlefield?
 * ...that BASICODE programs were broadcast by radio for recording onto compact audio cassettes, and could run on nearly all 8-bit home computers of the 1980s?
 * ...that the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Memorial, which is located in the Moti Shahi Mahal in Ahmedabad, was built by Emperor Shahjahan and was formerly the residence of the Governor of Gujarat?
 * ...that in the 1936 Siege of the Alcázar, around 1000 Spanish Nationalists in Toledo held a medieval castle for two months despite aerial and artillery bombardments and a sustained assault by 8000 Republican troops?
 * ...that the Middle Awash is a site along the Awash River of Ethiopia in which some of the most famous extinct hominids have been discovered?

15 April 2006

 * 09:38, 15 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ...that Peter of Eboli, a monk from Eboli, wrote the first book on the therapeutic properties of spa mineral waters around 1220?
 * ...that a Mercedes roadster was colloquially named after a wealthy German call girl, Rosemarie Nitribitt, who was murdered in Frankfurt in 1957?
 * ...that Stamp mills, first used during the Renaissance in such diverse industries as paper making, oil-seed processing, and ore refining, work to crush their material by repeatedly dropping heavy weights on them?
 * ...that Ivan Shuvalov, who was a favourite of Empress Elizabeth, 27 years his senior, used his influence at court to establish the first permanent theatre, university, and academy of arts in Russia?
 * ...that despite inherent design flaws, the Polish Navy ordered two Wicher-class destroyers from a French shipyard in order to help secure a line of credit for the Polish government?

14 April 2006

 * 07:28, 14 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ...that a working steam clock is located in the Gastown district of Vancouver, British Columbia?
 * ...that the Ashfork-Bainbridge Steel Dam, one of only 3 such steel dams built in the United States, and located in the Kaibab National Forest, is the only one still in service?
 * ...that it took thirty railway cars to move the Fersman Mineralogical Museum collections from Saint Petersburg to Moscow in 1934?
 * ...that the Splittail, a cyprinid fish native to the Central Valley in California, is the sole living member of its genus?
 * ...that canoe racer Josefa Idem, a 1984 Olympic bronze medalist for West Germany, later took an Italian citizenship and became the first female Olympic medalist in canoeing for her new country?
 * ...that the Bobby Goldsboro song "Honey" (1968), Goldsboro's first and only number-one hit on the U.S. Billboard Pop Singles Chart, frequently appears on "worst songs of all time" lists?

13 April 2006

 * 16:12, 13 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ...that the modern states of Armenia and Azerbaijan occupy those territories that were conquered by Ivan Paskevich from Persia during the Russo-Persian War, 1826-1828?
 * ...that the Trinity Church is a permanent building in Antarctica and the most southern church in the world?
 * ...that the Gujarat Vidyapith was founded in 1920 by Mahatma Gandhi as a means to establish an education system for all Indians free of British rule?
 * ...that mellah is a walled Jewish quarter of a city in Morocco, an analogue of the European ghetto?
 * ...that the Kirghiz novel The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years takes place over the course of one day and chronicles efforts of two cosmonauts, one American and one Soviet, to make contact with intelligent life from another planet?
 * ...that the reforms of the Great Sejm in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, based on the French revolution, were annulled by the military intervention of the Russian Empire?

12 April 2006

 * 07:58, 12 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ...that a detailed Development Guide Plan exists for each of Singapore's 55 urban planning areas?
 * ...that the Red Army conducted the successful Toropets-Kholm Operation in January 1942, threatening to encircle German Army Group Centre?
 * ...that the culture of medieval Poland, the earliest stage of Polish culture, was heavily influenced by the Catholic Church?
 * ...that Women Strike for Peace played a crucial role in bringing down the HUAC and were acknowledged by both U Thant and John F. Kennedy as a factor in the adoption of the Limited Test Ban Treaty?
 * ...that the Bharatiya Khet Mazdoor Union, an Indian farm labourers movement, claims a membership of over 2.5 million?
 * ...that the French light cruiser Marseillaise was sabotaged by her own crew on November 27, 1942, in order to prevent the Germans from capturing the ship?

11 April 2006

 * 13:57, 11 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ...that the General Union of Syrian Women released a ground-breaking report on domestic violence against women in April 2006?
 * ...that Bud Neill was a Scottish newspaper cartoonist whose best loved strip was set in "Calton Creek", a fictional Arizona outpost of the wild west populated with Glaswegians, including Sherriff "Lobey Dosser" who rode a two-legged horse?
 * ...that Masjid Omar Kampong Melaka is the oldest mosque in Singapore and was established in 1820, just a year after the British set up a trading post in Singapore?
 * ... that the Illawarra Steam Navigation Company carrying passengers and freight from Sydney to the south coast of New South Wales, Australia, between 1850 and 1955, was known as the 'Pig and Whistle line' because it was said that the fleet ships would wait an hour for a pig but not a minute for a passenger?


 * 01:17, 11 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ...that the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther contains 66,000 exhibits, including Reaper, a 104-year old restored fifie herring drifter?
 * ...that William Hamilton, a surgeon of British East India Company, cured the Mughal emperor Farrukhsiyar from recurrent illness, thereby hastening the process of achieving the grant that allowed the company to legally trade in India?
 * ...that the Privat Group is one of the few Ukrainian companies that own industries in the United States?
 * ...that the Peking Plan saved three destroyers of the Polish Navy from imminent destruction at the beginning of the Second World War?
 * ...that The University of Texas School of Law has been involved in two separate court cases, one of which reached the Supreme Court, which significantly redefined university admissions criteria across the United States?
 * ...that the Russo-Persian War of 1796 was cancelled by Tsar Paul I within one month after his ascension to the Russian throne?

10 April 2006

 * 03:56, 10 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ...that Bohdan Khmelnytsky's son Yurii, who spent half his adult life as a monk, was repeatedly proclaimed Hetman of Ukraine by various foreign powers?
 * ...that the Jugendweihe is a secular alternative to confirmation in Germany and became a Socialist pledge in the atheist GDR?
 * ...that completion of the West Coast Highway viaduct &mdash; the longest in Singapore &mdash; was delayed for more than two years because of the contractor's financial problems?
 * ...that Charles Schepens, an influential ophthalmologist and regarded by many in the profession as "the father of modern retinal surgery", was also a leader in the Nazi resistance movement?
 * ...that Katie Melua agreed to re-record her song "Nine Million Bicycles" (2005) in response to criticisms from physicist Simon Singh, who described its lyrics as "an insult to a century of astronomical progress"?

9 April 2006

 * 17:57, 9 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ...that Linimo in Aichi, Japan claims to be the world's first commercial automated "Urban Maglev" train, but it has to be shut down when it is too windy?
 * ...that the wars in Lombardy, fought between Venice and Milan from 1425 to the signing of the Treaty of Lodi in 1454, mark the emergence of five great Italian territorial states and the European concept of "balance of power"?
 * ...that  Moritz Daniel Oppenheim, a German Jewish painter, is considered "the first Jewish painter" because his work was informed by his cultural and religious roots at a time when many of his contemporaries chose to convert?
 * ...that many cases of nuclear espionage are thought to have occurred since the Manhattan Project?
 * ...that Henrik Hybertsson was the shipbuilder responsible for building the Regalskeppet Vasa, which sank on its maiden voyage and is now on display in Vasa Museum in Stockholm, Sweden?


 * 09:56, 9 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ...that Stanisław Mokronowski was the fourth person to receive the Virtuti Militari, the highest Polish military decoration?
 * ...that Robert Triffin predicted the reasons for the collapse of the Bretton Woods System over ten years before it happened?
 * ...that Doctor Who spoofs range from a 1964 novelty Christmas single by the Go-Go's called "I'm Gonna Spend My Christmas With A Dalek" to two sketches on Saturday Night Live?
 * ...that the Warsaw Arsenal was the scene of heavy fighting during the Warsaw Uprising of 1794?
 * ...that Catherine II's Instruction to the Legislative Assembly was banned in pre-revolutionary 18th-century France as a "libertarian book"?

8 April 2006

 * 17:38, 8 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ...that the Sir Arthur Clarke Awards recognise British achievement in the space industry, and that the awards have the same proportions as the monolith from Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey?
 * ...that the Finnish Communist leader Arvo Tuominen broke with the Soviet Union during the Winter War and ordered the Finnish Communists not to assist the Red Army?
 * ...that the EMAS has been so effective in monitoring traffic conditions on Singapore's expressways that the LTA removed most SOS telephones from the expressways as a result?
 * ...that the Vanessa Carlton song "White Houses" (2004) provided the inspiration for a charity which aimed to raise money for Habitat for Humanity International?


 * 03:43, 8 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ...that Carrollton Viaduct in Baltimore, Maryland is the world's oldest railway bridge still in use, and that its cornerstone was laid on July 4, 1828?
 * ...that Anna Marly originally wrote Chant des Partisans, the song that became the anthem of the French Resistance following the prohibition of La Marseillaise, in Russian?
 * ...that the village of Cellardyke in Fife, Scotland, is the site of the first confirmed case of H5N1 avian flu in the United Kingdom, and was once home to a 200-strong fishing fleet?
 * ...that methoxychlor is used as an insecticide instead of the chemically related DDT because it apparently does not lead to bioaccumulation?
 * ...that the Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos, apart from being the seat of the Spanish Inquisition was also the meeting place between Columbus and Isabella before he made his voyage to the New World in 1492?

7 April 2006

 * 17:41, 7 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ...that 1985's only super typhoon, Super Typhoon Dot, is the sixth-most intense tropical cyclone in terms of wind speed to affect Bicol Region, Philippines between 1947 and 2004?
 * ...that the explorer Peter Semenov of Tian Shan presided over the Russian Geographical Society for more than 40 years?
 * ...that PZL-230 Skorpion attack aircraft, cancelled in 1992, was one of the most ambitious airplane projects of Poland?
 * ...that Colonel Peter Egerton Warburton was a British explorer who crossed the Great Sandy Desert in Western Australia in 1873 by camel?


 * 05:49, 7 April 2006 (UTC)


 * ...that German artist Johnny Friedlaender, after surviving internment in Nazi concentration camps, taught Carcan and Boulanger and continued his own career to gain international recognition?
 * ...that a Katsa is a field intelligence officer of the Mossad who collects information and runs agents, similar to the case officer of the CIA?
 * ...that more than 30 km² of the Losiny Ostrov National Park forest fall within the boundaries of Moscow?
 * ...that retired U.S. Air Force general John Chain is the chairman of the board of Northrop Grumman, director of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, and director of ConAgra Foods, Inc.?

6 April 2006

 * 17:07, 6 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ...that the m/42 Swedish military bicycle became so popular when it was sold as surplus that a company was created to produce copies of it almost 50 years after production ended?
 * ...that Raul Macias, a Cuban-Mexican boxer parlayed his popularity into a successful career in telenovelas?
 * ...that Return from the Stars is regarded as the most optimistic of Stanisław Lem science fiction utopian novels?
 * ...that Marguerite Porete, author of the mystical text The Mirror of Simple Souls, was burnt at the stake for heresy in 1310?
 * ...that despite its name, the Australian Mathematics Competition receives entries from 38 countries and that the students are ranked with respect to other students in their states, not all of Australia?
 * ...that the Chontal Maya of Tabasco, Mexico, consider themselves the direct descendants of the Olmec civilization?


 * 03:17, 6 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ...that a cross was found amidst the debris of the September 11, 2001 attacks?
 * ...that Chandra Prakash Mainali, who led an armed Maoist revolt in eastern Nepal in 1971, later served as Minister of Local Development in 1994-95?
 * ...that the flèche is an aggressive fencing attack generally used with the foil and épée weapons, and is actually illegal to use with the sabre under USFA rules?
 * ...that in their final mission of World War II, No. 453 Squadron RAAF escorted the aircraft that returned Queen Wilhelmina to the Netherlands after she spent three years in exile in Britain?
 * ...that John Weston became a published poet after retiring from his post as Ambassador to the United Nations?

5 April 2006

 * 18:02, 5 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ...that during the Moscow Uprising of 1682, two maternal uncles of the 9-year-old tsar Peter I were lynched in his presence?
 * ...that the 1963 Federal Election in Australia was the first election where all Indigenous Australians could vote?
 * ...that William G. McGowan underwent a heart transplant while serving as chairman of MCI Communications?
 * ...that the Nigerian Baptist Convention is the third largest Baptist convention of the Baptist world?
 * ...that Nig Cuppy, having scored five runs against the Chicago Colts on August 9 1895, holds the record for most runs scored by a pitcher in a major league baseball game?


 * 05:43, 5 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ...that the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (pictured), by the time of its construction in 1912 was the tallest building in Warsaw, Poland, but was demolished less than 15 years after its construction, in the mid-1920s?
 * ...that Philip J. Perry, the General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, is the son-in-law of Vice President Dick Cheney?
 * ...that the irony mark is an atypical punctuation mark that, along with others, has been featured in some French artistic and literary publications to denote typographically different meanings in sentences?
 * ...that the Karoo National Park in South Africa is a leading force in the resettling of the Black Rhinoceros and Riverine Rabbit back into the wild?
 * ...that the Millennium Monument in Novgorod, weighing more than 65 tons, incorporates bronze sculptures of 129 eminent figures in Russian history?

4 April 2006

 * 18:06, 4 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ...that American painter Julian Scott entered the Third Vermont Regiment during American Civil War at the age of 15 and four years later was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor?
 * ...that videokeratography is a non-invasive medical imaging technique for mapping the surface topology of the cornea?
 * ...that the Northland Center opened in 1954 and was the United States' first suburban shopping mall?
 * ...that the Mutsun language, became an extinct Native American language in 1930 mainly because of the Spanish missionaries who made the Mutsun learn the Spanish language?
 * ...that the Kingston-Port Ewen Suspension Bridge opened in 1921 to complete U.S. Route 9W, was built in part by a female welder?
 * ...that the Russian clown Slava Polunin celebrated the 20th anniversary of his theater by organizing its funerals?


 * 05:36, 4 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ...that the decoration of the 9th-century Asturian La Cava Bible is limited to four crosses, elaborate initials, and frames surrounding explicits and titles?
 * ...that the song Justified and Ancient, by The KLF (and their alias The JAMs), featured regularly in their work from 1987 to 1991, and was a statement of rebellion inspired by characters from The Illuminatus! Trilogy novels?
 * ...that the Battle of Lechaeum was the first battle in ancient Greek history in which heavy infantry, or hoplites, were defeated by spear throwers, or peltasts?
 * ...that Sir Richard Wild, at the age of 54, was the youngest Chief Justice of New Zealand since 1875?
 * ...that the Church of the Twelve Apostles in the Moscow Kremlin was consecrated in 1656 as a domestic church of Patriarch Nikon?
 * ...that the Autumn of Nations, which began in Poland, marked the end of the Cold War?

3 April 2006

 * 17:53, 3 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ...that Kajetan Sołtyk, 18th century Bishop of Cracow, an important politician in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, was eventually declared insane by his political opponents and removed from power?
 * ...that Souvenir of Their Visit to America was the first Beatles' EP released in America, but did not chart?
 * ...that the Azerbaijani geologist Farman Salmanov, who discovered huge oil fields of Western Siberia in 1961, was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor at the unusually young age of 37?
 * ...that the Foxglove was chosen as the county flower for four different U.K. counties in a competition run by the plant conservation charity Plantlife in 2002?
 * ...that after Egyptian land reform individual land ownership in Egypt was limited to a maximum of 200 feddans?
 * ...that at the end of World War II, ten German nuclear scientists were detained and wiretapped at a house in England as part of Operation Epsilon in order to determine how close the Nazis had come to building an atomic bomb?


 * 04:29, 3 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ...that the city of Tashkent was formerly surrounded by a 25-kilometer-long wall featuring twelve city gates?
 * ...that Dining in refers to a formal military dinner, a practice thought to have begun in 16th Century England in monasteries and universities, adopted by the British Army during the 18th Century and revived in the U.S. Military during World War II?
 * ...that Arcady Boytler was born in Russia but produced some of the most successful films of the Golden age of the cinema of Mexico?
 * ...that while noise mitigation consists of numerous strategies to reduce environmental sound levels, a major breakthrough is the hybrid vehicle in moderate speed operation?
 * ...that while the monthly average rainfall for Oahu in August is 0.8 inches, 1959's Hurricane Dot dumped 2.66 inches of rain over the island?
 * ...that the Russian imperial Field Marshal Peter Lacy started his military career at the age of 13, defending Limerick during the Williamite war in Ireland?

2 April 2006

 * 15:14, 2 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ...that before restoring ferry service across the Hudson River between Newburgh and Beacon, NY Waterway had to strengthen the boat's hull so it could withstand river ice?
 * ...that although the parents of Juan Bautista Rael, a Stanford University professor and folklorist, sent him away for schooling due to limited educational options in their town, he focused his academic career on the folk plays and religious songs of that region?
 * ...that such characters of medieval romance as Palamedes, Dinadan, and Lamorak make their first appearance in the prose romance of Tristan?
 * ...that in 1827, the only open pit amber mine in the world was established in Yantarny?
 * ...that the Russian Admiral Samuel Greig died days after his most famous victory&mdash;the Battle of Hogland?
 * ...that Saint Jack, a 1979 fiction film about a prostitute in Singapore and the only Hollywood film about Singapore to be shot on location, was banned in the country until 2006?


 * 03:18, 2 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ...that the Ostrog Bible of 1580 was the first complete printed edition of the Bible in a Slavic language?
 * ...that the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center is the northernmost supercomputer cluster in the world?
 * ...that Werowocomoco was the chief village of the Powhatan Confederacy in Virginia where Captain John Smith of Jamestown was rescued from execution by Pocahontas, daughter of Chief Powhatan?
 * ...that the pseudonymous author of the defunct left-wing muckraker blog Media Whores Online has not yet been identified?
 * ...that Proclamation of Połaniec from 1794, abolishing serfdom in Poland, is regarded as the most famous legal act of the Kościuszko Uprising?
 * ...that the Santa Fe Pacific Railroad was a subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway that operated in Arizona, New Mexico and California from July 1, 1897 till July 1, 1902?

100x100px|Elizabeth II changing tires.
 * 00:04, 2 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ...that Queen Elizabeth II (pictured) once worked as a lorry driver?
 * ...that British Rail had a design for a flying saucer?
 * ...that consumers of casu marzu, a Sardinian cheese, are advised to wear eye protection while enjoying it, since the live maggots inhabiting the cheese can jump 15 cm?
 * ...that in Sweden, a court ruled that the name Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116 was unacceptable?

1 April 2006

 * 03:15, 1 April 2006 (UTC)
 * ...that the first Slavonic translations of the Bible were prepared by Saints Cyril and Methodius in the 9th century?
 * ...that the level of copyright protection of photographs in Switzerland depends, among other things, on whether the image constitutes an "individual expression of thought"?
 * ...that there were six claimants for the title of Roman Emperor in the Year of the Six Emperors (AD 192–193)?
 * ...that the Glasgow Inner Ring Road was only half complete when it was abandoned in 1980, leaving several incomplete junctions, one of which ends abruptly in mid-air?
 * ...that J.S. Bach's renowned Goldberg Variations was named for 14-year-old virtuoso harpsichordist and composer Johann Gottlieb Goldberg?