Wikipedia:Recent additions 166

Did you know...

 * ...that at the time of Roman rule in Palestine, the village of Um ar-Rehan, now located in the Barta'a enclave of the Seam Zone, held a hundred houses, a road system and a Roman bathhouse?
 * ...that Turkish record label Kalan Müzik was suspended for a song with the word "Kurdistan" in it?
 * ...that zoologist Georgina Sweet was the first woman to receive a DSc from the University of Melbourne and the first female recipient of the David Syme Research Prize?
 * ...that in Estonia, a digital signature is considered legally equivalent to a manual signature through the successful Estonian ID card project?
 * ...that John Hunt Morgan's beloved mare, Black Bess, was portrayed as a stallion in the John Hunt Morgan Memorial, as its sculptor, Pompeo Coppini, believed "No hero should bestride a mare!"?
 * ...that Daphne Pearson was one of only four women awarded the George Cross for acts of bravery during World War II?
 * ...that the computer-player of the 1979 video game Video Chess could take up to ten hours to decide a move?
 * ...that Clarence Herbert Smith (pictured), who invented the stump-jump plough under the direction of his brother, later produced the machine for sale because the patent taken out by his brother was left to lapse?
 * ...that David Fung performed Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with the Sydney Symphony in the Sydney Opera House at only 19 years of age?
 * ...that New Zealand's North Island Robin was originally thought to be a subspecies of the New Zealand Robin, but mitochondrial DNA sequence analysis has shown that the two lineages split prior to the Pleistocene?
 * ...that the territorial governor of Montana Preston Leslie pardoned a prostitute convicted of grand larceny because the penitentiary was not equipped to accommodate women?
 * ...that Hasan Saltık, called "The Anthropologist of Folk Music" by Time magazine, was saved from a three-year jail term because the prosecutor was a fan?
 * ...that National Medal of Science recipient Evelyn M. Witkin's interest in mutagenesis led her to discover mechanisms of bacterial DNA repair?
 * ...that French artist Antoine Berjon's variations on flower painting included a still life with a shark's head (pictured)?
 * ...that Singapore's Ee Hoe Hean Club, a century-old millionaires' club for Chinese businessmen, became a headquarters of an anti-Japanese movement in Southeast Asia from 1937-1942?
 * ...that a community centre will be incorporated in Sengkang New Town's new sports complex?
 * ...that Charles K. Landis attracted residents to his new city of Vineland, New Jersey to clear land and grow grapes, which were purchased by Thomas Bramwell Welch, founder of Welch's, to make "unfermented wine"?
 * ...that James W. Parker spent nine years in the Comancheria searching for his family?
 * ...that the Kentucky General Assembly responded to unpopular rulings by Justice William Owsley by dissolving the Court of Appeals on which he served?
 * ...that the 1940s experimental aircraft Vought V-173 featured an unorthodox "all-wing" design consisting of a flat, somewhat disk-shaped body with a pair of three-bladed propellers?
 * ...that the Ladoga Canal (pictured) was constructed at the behest of Peter the Great and was one of the first canals created in Russia?
 * ...that Crystal Grottoes is the only show cave in the U.S. state of Maryland?
 * ...that U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Nobel Prize winner Gary S. Becker and baseball player Joe Garagiola were all school safety patrol members?
 * ...that Thomas Bernard Brigham, an elderly American war veteran, killed three tourists in Central Station in Montreal, Canada hoping to intimidate Pope John Paul II prior to his 1984 visit to Canada?
 * ...that the Palazzo Malta in Rome, Italy was granted extraterritoriality by the Italian Government and is the property of the Sovereign Order of Malta?
 * ...that Mormon abstinence from drinking caffeinated beverages goes back to a 1918 Improvement Era article by Frederick J. Pack?
 * ...that Thalassina anomala, a mud lobster found in Indo-Pacific mangrove swamps, is used in Thailand in powdered form or steeped in alcohol as a remedy for asthma?
 * ...that Thomas J. Ryan (pictured) was the prosecutor at the court-martial of American naval officer Charles B. McVay III, who had been his friend for 25 years?
 * ...that the Nebraska School for the Deaf became nationally known within the Deaf community for its fight against an anti-American Sign Language state bill endorsed by Alexander Graham Bell?
 * ...that Eastern school whiting caught along the coast of Queensland are frozen whole, shipped to Thailand for processing and then sold in Japan?
 * ...that the Board of Trustees of Dartmouth College were given powers of governance after the College charter was signed by George III of the United Kingdom in 1769?
 * ...that the first labor investigations by a United States government body were prompted by petitions from the Lowell girls, textile workers in Lowell, Massachusetts, during the mid-nineteenth century?
 * ...that Nikolay Kruchina, a top Soviet official, committed suicide by jumping out of his window after learning about the failure of the Soviet coup attempt in August 1991?
 * ...that Noble Threewitt worked for 75 years training Thoroughbred racehorses before retiring on his 96th birthday?
 * ...that the 1905 Great Seimas of Vilnius (program pictured) was the first national congress in Lithuania, which attempted to outline Lithuania’s autonomy within the Russian Empire?
 * ...that according to the 2R hypothesis, the genomes of modern vertebrates are the result of two rounds of genome duplication hundreds of millions of years ago?
 * ...that the banning of the Buddhist flag and the subsequent shootings of nine Buddhists who were protesting the ban on the birthday of Gautama Buddha led to civil unrest which toppled Ngo Dinh Diem's regime?
 * ...that on the death of Governor George Madison, Kentucky lieutenant governor Gabriel Slaughter was refused the title of "governor" by a hostile state legislature and was referred to as "acting governor" for the duration of his three-year administration?
 * ...that Edwin Sherbon Hills, a well-known Australian geologist, had at first chosen undergraduate courses with the idea of becoming a chemist and took geology as a suitable ancillary?
 * ...that McGregor Lake, a man-made reservoir in Southern Alberta, receives most of its water from canals linked to the Bow River despite being in the Oldman River drainage basin?
 * ...that the Markonahalli Dam across the River Shimsha in India had to be partly demolished in order to prevent excess water from flooding the villages?
 * ...that James Turner Morehead (pictured) was the first Governor of Kentucky to be born in that state?
 * ...that Orator Hunt's presentation of the first petition in support of women's suffrage was received in Parliament with ribald laughter?
 * ...that the Franco-Hova War resulted in the demise of the Merina monarchy of Madagascar?
 * ...that popular Turkish fusion band Yansımalar has recorded an album with Erkan Oğur, the inventor of the first fretless classical guitar?
 * ...that in 1995 The Virgin Islands Daily News, with a staff of only 18 full-time reporters and editors, beat out the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Charlotte Observer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service?
 * ...that Isaac Goodnow, a Free-Stater from New England, helped combine two settlements in Kansas Territory to form a new town named 'Boston', which was later re-named Manhattan?
 * ...that a rock-cut basin may eventually form a circular holed stone, and passing through the hole was considered to have healing properties according to legend?
 * ...that during the World War II amphibious offensive known as the Kerch-Eltigen Operation, the Red Army landed 75,000 men and over 10,000 tons of munitions and material near Kerch in eastern Crimea?
 * ...that Squilla mantis (pictured) is the only native stomatopod to be fished for on a commercial scale in the Mediterranean Sea?
 * ...that Rene Reinmann, a recidivist with convictions for theft and assault, sat in the Tallinn city council's committees of city property and public order for two years, owing to the delicate balance of political powers?
 * ...that Michelle Rocca, longtime girlfriend of singer Van Morrison, was the first woman to appear on one of Morrison's album covers since his then-wife Janet Minto in 1971?
 * ...that Duncan Spears Casper, an early Mormon pioneer, was driven from his home twice due to anti Mormon sentiments?
 * ...that Iftikhar ad-Daula, Fatimid governor of Jerusalem during the siege of 1099, surrendered Jerusalem to Raymond of Saint-Gilles in the Tower of David and was then escorted out of the city with his bodyguard?
 * ...that the Wallachian Jewish peddler and Romanian-language humorist Cilibi Moise dictated all of his works to locals, because he could only spell the Hebrew alphabet?
 * ...that the Black Dirt Region of Orange County, New York contains the largest concentration of muck soil in the United States outside of the Florida Everglades?
 * ...that Aretas III commissioned the minting of the first silver Nabataean coins?
 * ...that the architecture of the Singapore Power Building (pictured) was influenced by Gerhad M. Kallmann's Boston City Hall and Le Corbusier's Sainte Marie de La Tourette?
 * ...that Dick Merrill piloted a transatlantic flight known as the "Ping Pong Flight" because his client, singer Harry Richman insisted on carrying 41,000 ping pong balls in case of a crash at sea?
 * ...that despite declines in production in recent years, Victoria still produces almost 19.5% of Australia's crude oil?
 * ...that actress, writer and producer Michelle Paradise created the television series Exes and Ohs without an agent?
 * ...that Shakadvipi (Bhojaka) is the only division of brahmins whose origins are said to be outside India?
 * ...that Franco Freda, one of the main Italian far right ideologues, has been put to trial for the Piazza Fontana bombing, which was originally believed to have been perpetrated by communists?
 * ...that before Hannibal crossed the Rhône River with his Carthaginian forces to battle the Gauls, he sent a detachment under Hanno, son of Bomilcar to cross at a different point upriver for an ambush?
 * ...that painter Thomas Luny (example of his work pictured) created over 2,000 artistic works during the last 30 years of his life despite suffering from arthritis in both hands?
 * ...that John Lamb was accused of diverting money from the New York impost to publish the Federal Farmer pamphlets?
 * ...that Scott Milanovich was the first pick in the 2001 XFL Draft, the only draft the league ever held?
 * ...that Carcross Desert, the "world's smallest desert", measuring just over one square mile, is in fact not a desert, but a large series of northern sand dunes?
 * ...that Alex Leake was offered a £10 bribe by Manchester City player Billy Meredith to throw the final match of the 1904–1905 season?
 * ...that the Prussian Nicola Marschall was the designer of the Confederate States of America's first flag, the Stars & Bars?
 * ...that Space Industries Incorporated was founded in the 1980s in Houston for the purpose of building the first private space station, to be called the Industrial Space Facility?
 * ...that a week before Charles Dickens died, he willed his literary journal All the Year Round to his son Charles Dickens, Jr?
 * ...that Tsar Alexander II allowed the construction of the Grand Choral Synagogue (pictured) in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1880, at a time when most Russian Jews were forced to live in the Pale of Settlement?
 * ...that Jane Storms was the first American female war correspondent?
 * ...that the Habakkuk Commentary of the Dead Sea scrolls accused the "Wicked Priest" of neglecting to circumcise the "foreskin of his heart"?
 * ...that the Egyptian Pyramid of Sahure and surrounding complex contained an estimated 107,643 ft.2 of fine relief carving?
 * ...that Admiral Harry D. Felt, a fervent anti-communist who planned for the use of tactical nuclear weapons during the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis opposed American military intervention in Vietnam?
 * ...that Jiffs was a derogatory propaganda term employed by military intelligence of British India to denote soldiers of the Indian Army in the South-East Asian theatre of World War II?
 * ...that the Franco-Mongol alliance in the 13th century involved multiple embassies and military collaborations against the common Muslim enemy in the Holy Land?
 * ...that a zibellino (pictured), the jewelled pelt of a marten or sable, is a women's fashion accessory popular in the later 15th and 16th centuries?
 * ...that Kentucky governor Christopher Greenup was one of Kentucky's first two Congressmen and was an original trustee of Transylvania University?
 * ...that during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore the Kempeitai East District Branch was the site of interrogation and torture of many civilians and that later the building housed the YMCA?
 * ...that the 2003 French musical film Not on the Lips had a predominantly enthusiastic reception in France, but caused indignation and incomprehension in Britain?
 * ...that Johnson's Seagrass was the first marine plant listed under the United States Endangered Species Act?
 * ...that a survey in 2001 of the New South Wales- Queensland border in Australia found an error of 200 m in the original survey, indicating that the town of Jennings, New South Wales should actually be in Queensland?
 * ...that soon after German reunification, the Greifswald Nuclear Power Plant in the former East Germany was shut down due to conflicting technical requirements with the West?
 * ...that the ship breaking {pictured) industry in Sitakunda began when a 20,000-ton ship was accidentally beached by a tidal bore in 1965?