Wikipedia:Recent additions 15

Did you know...

 * ...that Karel Kuttelwascher was the most famous Czech flying ace in World War II?
 * ...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?
 * ...that the Cathedral of Magdeburg was the highest church in East Germany and houses the grave of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor?
 * ...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?
 * ...that Fort Calgary, in what is now Calgary, Alberta, was originally named Fort Brisebois?
 * ...that at the height of the Cold War, Lynne Cox swam the Bering Strait, becoming the first person to swim from the United States to the Soviet Union?
 * ...that André Maginot, for whom the Maginot Line was named, was awarded the Médaille militaire for valor during World War I?
 * ...that according to the Oxford English Dictionary the longest English word with one syllable is squirrelled?
 * ...that the Dutch delicacy croquette is rumored to contain offal?
 * ...that the unfinished Ca' Rezzonico palazzo appears in an early 18th-century painting of Venice's Grand Canal by Canaletto?
 * ...that Elizabeth Barton was executed for high treason in 1534 for prophesying the death of King Henry VIII?
 * ...that the 1953 low-budget film 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 B of the Bang in Manchester is the tallest self-supporting sculpture in the UK?
 * ...that the initial arctic convoys of World War II set sail from Iceland?
 * ...that the Hamsa is used by both some Jews and Muslims as a talisman to protect against the evil eye?
 * ...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?
 * ...that the feminist group Women on Waves, which built a gynecology unit on a ship, performs abortions in international waters?
 * ...that the first post office in The Bahamas was probably at Pitt's Town on Crooked Island?
 * ...that poorly-written Regency romance novels can often be identified by their incorrect use of styles and titles of peers?
 * ...that 19th-century groups in the United States called vigilance committees had different purposes depending on the region, including hiding fugitive slaves in the North, harassing abolitionists in the South, and acting as courts and law enforcement in the West?
 * ...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 India Gate war memorial, 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 in order to communicate with the kidnappers of Frank Sinatra, Jr. in 1963 via payphone, the elder Frank Sinatra carried a roll of dimes, which became a lifelong habit?
 * ...that Lake Urmia, the largest lake in Iran, is a salt lake too saline to support fish?
 * ...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 Bomb, a Mark 15 hydrogen bomb missing off the coast of the state of Georgia since 1958, may recently have been discovered?
 * ...that eugenicist Paul Popenoe introduced marriage counseling to the United States?
 * ...that Beijing's 798 Art Zone in Dashanzi, Chaoyang District has been compared to New York City's Greenwich Village or SoHo?
 * ...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 20 years?
 * ...that Hoot is novelist Carl Hiaasen's first young-adult book?
 * ...that the Guinness Book of World Records lists the eight-year production schedule of the 1996 British film It Happened Here as the longest production schedule ever?
 * ...that the crustaceans known as giant isopods, which live in the depths of the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, can grow up to 45 cm long?
 * ...that the official flag specifications for the flag of India require that the flag be made only of khādī, a special type of hand-spun yarn?
 * ...that the 33 Edicts of Ashoka in north India and Pakistan are the first tangible historical evidence of Buddhism?
 * ...that Royal Navy admiral Alexander Cochrane was responsible for the bombing of Fort McHenry, which inspired Francis Scott Key to write "The Star-Spangled Banner," the national anthem of the United States ?
 * ...that 8th-century library of Ethelbert of York was probably the largest book collection of its day outside of Rome?
 * ...that plant sexuality is most diverse among angiosperms?
 * ...that the 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 so-called 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 seawater is an electrical conductor which blocks electromagnetic radiation?
 * ...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?