Wikipedia:Recent additions 156

Did you know...

 * 24 July 2007
 * ...that after Hugo Chávez's September 2006 speech to the United Nations, gas stations operated by the United Refining Company starting removing Citgo signs from their buildings?
 * ...that British general Frederick Barton Maurice was forced to resign after writing a letter accusing David Lloyd George of misrepresenting the strength of British forces during the Spring Offensive?
 * ...that the saint Hermagoras of Aquileia gave his name to the Austrian city and district of Hermagor?
 * ...that the Southern Right Whales off the coast of Argentina 'sail' by raising their flukes and catching the wind?
 * ...that Shalom Yoran, a Jewish partisan during World War II and the author of The Defiant: A True Story of Jewish Vengeance and Survival, played a major role in developing Israeli Aircraft Industries?
 * ...Glassworts are plants named to indicate that their ashes contain an alkali that is important in making glass?
 * ...that Marcin Czechowic, a 16th-century Polish theologian, frequently changed his religious views from Catholicism to Arianism?
 * ...that Citizen Henry (illustration pictured) was only allowed to take a balloon trip with Andre-Jacques Garnerin after it was ruled that "there was no more scandal in seeing two people of different sexes ascend in a balloon than it is to see them jump into a carriage"?
 * ...that Smederevo fortress survived for over 500 years without much damage, then was devastated in a single explosion during World War II?
 * ...that, in addition to having a passion for opera, dramatic soprano Othalie Graham enjoys music by Prince and Jamaican reggae musician Jimmy Cliff?
 * ...that Dode Criss is considered by historian Bill James to be the first player to be used as a baseball pinch hitter regularly?
 * ...that the comprehensive metabolic panel is a suite of 14 blood tests routinely administered to screen for many different diseases?
 * ...that Captain William Walter Kouts located the son of the Medal of Honor recipient who died while saved Kouts during World War II after over sixty years of searching?
 * ...that famous Mexican poet and politician Guillermo Prieto saved the life of President Benito Juárez by interposing himself between the guns of rebellious guardsmen and the president?
 * ...that Quebec City's Clarendon Hotel originally hosted the Queen's Printers for Canada?
 * ...that Będzin Castle (pictured), an important fortress in medieval Poland, fell into disrepair in the Renaissance era, was almost demolished in the 19th century and was rebuilt only in the 1950s?
 * ...that the title of Mary Wollstonecraft's conduct book Thoughts on the Education of Daughters alludes to John Locke's Some Thoughts Concerning Education, one of its primary philosophical influences?
 * ...that the Group C Nissan R90Cs won the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship three times, the 1000km Suzuka twice, and the 24 Hours of Daytona once in their four years of competition?
 * ...that silver coins in the 10th-century Viking Harrogate Hoard, recovered intact in Yorkshire, January 2007, came from as far as Afghanistan?
 * ...that Chin Gee Hee (1844–1929) was a successful labor contractor in the United States and later a railroad entrepreneur in his native China?
 * ...that Lowell Observatory staff resisted building the telescope used to discover the dwarf planet Pluto until trustee Roger Putnam ordered them to do so?
 * ...that Chilean cricketer John Jackson was once on the opposing side to his brother Alfred in an international match against Argentina?
 * ...that in the PlayStation 2 live action adventure game 0 Story, two Japanese female actresses kiss while one is possessed by the player's ghost?
 * ...that the 1988 Chiado district fire caused more damage to the city of Lisbon than any catastrophe since the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake?
 * ...that Abada (engraving pictured) was only the second rhinoceros seen in Europe since the Roman era, and was thought by some observers to be a unicorn?
 * ...that after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the population of the neighboring Hyde Park Township exceeded that of the devastated city of Chicago?
 * ...that Eddy Brown, an English football player who had originally planned to take Holy Orders, was well known for his goal celebrations as early as the 1950s?
 * ...that the title of Mary Wollstonecraft's conduct book Thoughts on the Education of Daughters alludes to John Locke's Some Thoughts Concerning Education, one of its primary philosophical influences?
 * ...that in Tum Teav, a classic 19th century Cambodian tragedy, a novice monk named Tum sleeps with a beautiful adolescent girl named Teav and then is killed after publicly kissing Teav at her wedding?
 * ...that a catfish of the genus Helogenes is known to jump out of the stream during rotenone fishing by locals, and jump back afterwards?
 * ...that the Wimbledon and Sutton Railway was opened in 1930, more than 20 years after the original plans were drawn up?
 * ...that St. George's Golf and Country Club is rated as one of Canada's top three country clubs?
 * ...that the origin of the Azerbaijanis has been traced to indigenous Caucasians from more than a millennium ago?
 * ...that the main Post Office (pictured) for Minneapolis, Minnesota contained peepholes to protect the mail, and recreation rooms, a rifle range and a hospital unit for employees?
 * ...that the Australian town of Thangool, Queensland produces over 60% of the Australian market for squab?
 * ...that Sarangapani Temple is named after Sarang, the bow of Rama?
 * ...that approval in 1963 by Bishop Hermann Volk of Mainz resulted in a former Lutheran minister with two children becoming a Roman Catholic priest?
 * ...that the bagarius, a carnivorous catfish that lives on eating other fish, breeds in rivers prior to the beginning of the annual flood season in southeast Asia?
 * ...that 1900 was the only year in the history of Baltimore City College that no public commencement was held because the students made fun of the professors in the school's yearbook?
 * ...that Somerset County Cricket Club player Peter Denning was known for an unorthodox shot called the Chewton carve?
 * ...that architects Eggers & Higgins took over construction of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial after the death of John Russell Pope, despite protests that their appointment was "un-Jeffersonian"?
 * ...that the Singapore Stone (fragment pictured), a sandstone slab bearing an undeciphered 13th century inscription, was blown up by the British in 1843 to make way for a fort?
 * ...that Pyongyang's Central Zoo was accused of staging death matches between caged animals for the filming of a so-called nature documentary?
 * ...that Loai al-Saqa was denied entry to his own trial for wearing a copy of a Guantanamo Bay prisoner's uniform?
 * ...that Nicolás Zúñiga y Miranda considered himself the President of Mexico for two decades, despite losing in each of the ten elections he entered?
 * ...that Rico J. Puno, a popular Filipino pop singer, launched his career by incorporating Tagalog lyrics into the American song The Way We Were, among others?
 * ...that the Olson Hotel in Ainsworth, British Columbia had a two-story outhouse?
 * ...that the Karrinyup Shopping Centre was the first mall in Western Australia to implement a complete ban on smoking?
 * ...that yak racing is a spectator sport held at many traditional festivals in Tibet and Mongolia?
 * ...that Short's goldenrod (pictured), one of the world's rarest plants, grows only in parts of Kentucky and Indiana?
 * ...that Boden Fortress not only served to protect northern Sweden from enemy attacks, but was also used to store some 280 tonnes of the Swedish gold reserve?
 * ...that Bhudev Mukhopadhyay taught at Hindu, Muslim and Christian schools?
 * ...that Maes Titianus penetrated farther along the Silk Road than any other Westerner in Antiquity, reaching the Stone Tower of Tashkurgan in the Pamirs?
 * ...that catfish of the genus Dekeyseria are able to rapidly change their colouration to fit their mood or their surroundings?
 * ...that Singapore's Middle Road is home to over 21 Hainanese clan and sub-clan associations?
 * ...that, prior to the introduction of regulation seamen's uniforms in the Royal Navy, the commanding officer of HMS Harlequin once paid for his entire crew to dress as harlequins?
 * ...that madame Anna Wilson, the "Queen of the Underworld" in early Omaha, Nebraska, bequeathed her 25-room brothel mansion to the city to use as an emergency hospital upon her death?
 * ...that Olimpia Maidalchini, the sister-in-law of Pope Innocent X (pictured) spent three days looting the papal palace before his body was found?
 * ...that Jewish mandarin Zhao Yingcheng helped rebuild Kaifeng's synagogue after its destruction in 1646?
 * ...that the government of Korkai, an important industrial center of ancient Tamil country, employed convicts as pearl divers?
 * ...that, believing himself to be George Washington, the 19th century phrenologist Frederick Coombs petitioned Congress to give him the Washington Monument?
 * ...that the Trumpeter Swans introduced into the Wye Marsh in the 1980s were the first seen in Ontario since 1884?
 * ...that Swedish chemist Gustaf Erik Pasch invented the safety match?
 * ...that U.S. President Ronald Reagan lived in an apartment on the second floor of the H.C. Pitney Variety Store from 1919 to 1920?
 * ...that in mid-1939 almost 5000 Poles volunteered as living torpedoes?
 * ...that the William H. Roberts House is the only property in Pecatonica, Illinois listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places?
 * ...that the U class submarine HMS Vandal (pictured) had the shortest career of any Royal Navy submarine, being lost with all hands just four days after its commission?
 * ...that Canada's first female columnist wrote under the pseudonym Faith Fenton so she could retain her day job as a teacher?
 * ...that Kumortuli neighbourhood of Calcutta supplies images of Goddess Durga to Indian communities in about 90 countries?
 * ...that Chen Wen Hsi was the first Singaporean artist to be conferred an honorary doctorate by the National University of Singapore?
 * ...that the 2005 docudrama The Burnt Theatre is set in Cambodia's Suramet National Theatre, which was destroyed by a fire in 1994?
 * ...that the city of Piteşti was the original site of Seventh-day Adventist activities in Romania?
 * ...that the spy Aldrich Ames handed over U.S. secrets to the Soviets at the Brickskeller saloon near Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C.?
 * ...that the Robert Weber Round Barn is one of 31 round barns constructed in a four county area centered on Stephenson County, Illinois?
 * ...that the Romanian Symbolist writer Alexandru Bogdan-Piteşti was an anarchist, an associate of the occultist Sâr Péladan (both pictured), and a supporter of his country's alliance with the Central Powers?
 * ...that the English-born activist Maria Rosetti (pictured) was the model for Constantin Daniel Rosenthal's personification of Romania?
 * ...that the Palacio de los Capitanes Generales was commissioned by the Governor of Havana but took so long to build that another five Governors had come and gone before it was completed?
 * ...that the Jews in Pagan Armenia were deported from Palestine to Armenia by Tigranes the Great?