Wikipedia:Recent additions 167

Did you know...

 * ...that aiguillettes (pictured) are decorative tags or tips for cord or ribbon, usually of gold and sometimes set with gemstones or enameled, used to decorate 16th- and 17th-century clothing and hats?
 * ...that Father Hyacinth (Jacek) Gulski had such a gift for singing that he earned the nickname of "Polish Nightingale"?
 * ...that the short-lived Industrial Syndicalist Education League was both the first and the largest syndicalist organisation ever in the United Kingdom?
 * ...that American folklorist Helen Hartness Flanders recorded, transcribed and catalogued traditional ballads from New England at a time when people were ceasing to sing them?
 * ...that the use of turtle excluder devices has decreased the number of sea turtles accidentally killed by shrimp fishermen by 97 percent?
 * ...that photographer Hans Namuth took over 500 black-and-white images of abstract expressionist artist Jackson Pollock at work in his studio in 1950?
 * ...that Henry III of France took to calling Catherine of Cleves "the mistress of Saint-Mégrin", in reference to a young nobleman killed by her illustrious husband?
 * ...that eighty years on, scientists are still debating whether the Palæozoic fossils known as Chitinozoans (SEM image pictured) represent plants, animals and eggs?
 * ...that the Hypothenemus hampei, a small coleopter insect native to  Africa, is recognized for being the most harmful pest to coffee crops worldwide?
 * ...that the Lobel's Maple is one of very few trees that grow with a narrow, erect crown, known as a fastigiate form, naturally?
 * ...that aeronautics engineer Paul Moller plans to sell the M200G Volantor, a flying saucer-style aircraft, in the United States by early 2008?
 * ...that the Hughes Brothers became the first sibling duo allowed by the DGA since Jerry and David Zucker to take co-credit as directors for their 1993 film Menace II Society?
 * ...that Graham Linehan, co-creator of Father Ted, made his directorial debut with the comedy horror short film Hello Friend?
 * ...that when a rival took over an estate belonging to Sir Walter Clarges, Clarges used his position as a Member of Parliament to send the interloper to jail?
 * ...that the United States Youth Council received more than 90 percent of its funds from the Central Intelligence Agency?
 * ...that the first HMS Ark Royal was sunk in 1636 when she struck her own anchor and stove in her hull whilst underway?
 * ...that the Governor's residence in Gibraltar (pictured) is supposedly haunted by the ghost of a nun who was bricked up alive into a chamber wall?
 * ...that Benjamin Aaron helped negotiate the first contract between a county and its public employee union in California history in 1968?
 * ...that Coptic architectural monuments in Christian Cairo include the Hanging Church, one of the oldest in Egypt?
 * ...that Olga D. González-Sanabria, a Puerto Rican scientist and inventor, is the highest ranking Hispanic at NASA Glenn Research Center?
 * ...that three Australians were awarded the Victoria Cross for their role in the Battle of Mont St. Quentin, a battle that the commander of the British Fourth Army, General Henry Rawlinson, considered Australia's greatest military achievement of the war?
 * ...that although enterprising citizens were said to have dragged a flatboat up Spring Creek to establish Bellefonte, Pennsylvania as the head of navigation and the county seat in 1800, the Bald Eagle and Spring Creek Navigation canal did not reach the town until 1848?
 * ...that the eight-million-year-old cypresses found in northern Hungary are an archaeological phenomenon because none of the 16 tree trunks were fossilized?
 * ...that the National Art Gallery of Singapore will incorporate two national monuments &mdash; the Old Supreme Court Building and the City Hall (both pictured)?
 * ...that fox tossing was a popular blood sport in parts of Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries?
 * ...that Patrick Nash helped change the city charter, which called for a special election in the case of death of the Chicago Mayor, so that the Chicago City Council could appoint Edward Joseph Kelly?
 * ...that Sir T. L. Yang was the first ethnic Chinese to become Chief Justice of Hong Kong under British colonial rule?
 * ...that the gulf sturgeon, a subspecies of the Atlantic sturgeon, fasts for eight to nine months each year?
 * ...that the United States threatened privately to cut off aid to Ngo Dinh Diem's Catholic regime as a result of chemical attacks on Buddhist protestors in Huế, Vietnam in 1963?
 * ...that Alexander Novikov, double Hero of the Soviet Union and pioneering commander of the Soviet Air Force, was used to frame Marshal Zhukov, then thrown in prison by Joseph Stalin?
 * ...that the bootleg album The Lost Paris Tapes contains the last known recording by Jim Morrison?
 * ...that three Australians were awarded the Victoria Cross for their role in the Battle of Mont St. Quentin and that the battle was regarded by British Fourth Army's commander, General Henry Rawlinson, as Australia's greatest military achievement of the war?
 * ...that the Bank of the Holy Spirit, founded by Pope Paul V in 1605, was the first national bank in Europe?
 * ...that coffin portraits (example pictured) of nobility of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were meant to create an impression that the deceased is taking part in the funeral?
 * ...that during World War II, Shepton Mallet, the oldest operating prison in Britain, was used as the protective storage of important government documents including the Magna Carta and Domesday Book?
 * ...that Presbyterian minister Robert Jefferson Breckinridge is known as the father of the public school system in Kentucky?
 * ...that the Suevic king Rechiar was the first Germanic monarch to convert to Nicene Christianity, the first to mint his own coins, and the only to ever ally with the peasant rebels called the bagaudae?
 * ...that the Native American Old Connecticut Path from Cambridge, Massachusetts to the Connecticut River across from Hartford, was the very first of the American trails that led west from the Atlantic seacoast settlement, towards the interior?
 * ...that the citizens of Perugia compelled the surrender of the citadel of Gérard du Puy, the cardinal-nephew of Pope Gregory XI, during the War of the Eight Saints with a trebuchet nicknamed the cacciaprete ("priest chaser")?
 * ...that water-colorist Floris Arntzenius's (self-portrait pictured) cityscapes were mostly painted in misty or rainy weather, so the subjects could be reflected on the wet asphalt?
 * ...that in 1995&mdash;1997 a Center for Disease Control program identified over a hundred patients likely suffering from life threatening infections new in the history of emerging infectious diseases?
 * ...that in late 1992, the German Federal Ministry of the Interio banned the neo-Nazi groups German Alternative (DA), Nationalist Front (NF), German Comradeship Alliance (DKB), and the National Offensive (NO) all within a month?
 * ...that in 2005 John Carroll, the editor of The Los Angeles Times, chose to resign rather than continue reducing the number of journalists at the paper?
 * ...that the Wendish Crusade of 1147 was a largely unsuccessful campaign of Saxons and Danes against the Polabian Slavs concurrent to the Second Crusade?
 * ...that the Byron Nuclear Generating Station (pictured) produced about 2,300 MWe in 2005, enough electricity to supply 2 million average U.S. households?
 * ...that Pope Martin V objected to the wording of the inscription on the tomb of Antipope John XXIII in the Florence Baptistry because he thought it implied John had died as pope?
 * ...that electrocardiogram technicians responsible for recording ECGs in hospitals reduce medical errors in the emergency reporting of ECGs?
 * ...that despite being open for only two years, the Naomi Institute earned a reputation as one of the leading educational institutions in pioneer Nebraska?
 * ...that many of the carnatic musicians of the Mysore Kingdom were also trained in Western classical music?
 * ...that the small population of Estonian Ruhnu sheep is thought to descend from animals left on Ruhnu Island by Swedes?
 * ...that the main building of the Krzyżtopór Castle (pictured), a Baroque structure in Poland, has been a ruin since the Swedish Deluge?
 * ...that while it's easy to prove that no compression algorithm can reduce every data stream's size, many people keep trying to invent one?
 * ...that over 70,000 Dark-eyed Juncos have been counted in a single day at the Bird Observatory in Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada?
 * ...that in 1847, the German engineer Gustav Schleicher, who later became a veteran of the Confederate Army, founded a commune in Texas to prove the truth of communist ideals?
 * ...that the Peshtigo Fire Museum features an intact tabernacle, one of the few items to survive the deadliest natural fire in United States history?
 * ...that the first company union in the United States was created by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., in response to the bad publicity generated by the Ludlow massacre?
 * ...that the Hal Far Fighter Flight, a British fighter unit formed during the siege of Malta, is the source of the myth that only three aircraft formed the entire fighter cover of the of island in June 1940?
 * ...that Tan Teck Guan Building (pictured) was the site of Singapore's first medical school, and has been conserved as a national monument?
 * ...that the pieces of dougong, an ancient Chinese structural element of interlocking wooden brackets, are cut to fit so perfectly that no glue or fasteners are needed?
 * ...that Miriam Rodon-Naveira, a Puerto Rican scientist, was the first Hispanic woman to hold the Deputy Directorship for the Environmental Sciences Division in the National Exposure Research Laboratory?
 * ...that the participants of the Channel 4 programme Dumped were not told that they would be living on a landfill site for three weeks?
 * ...that romance novellist Nancy Warren wrote real-life NASCAR driver Carl Edwards into two of her novels?
 * ...that citrus fruits white sapote, hercules' club and rue are all members of the family Rutaceae?
 * ...that in 2007, the first Australian outbreak of equine influenza caused all horse racing to be cancelled?
 * ...that MinnPost plans a non-profit Minneapolis-Saint Paul online newspaper that readers who wish for hard copies can print on demand?
 * ...that the Toronto Magnetic Observatory had to be moved as the University of Toronto's electric lighting was interfering with observations?
 * ...that Count Henry Russell held high-altitude receptions for princes and notables in his caves on the peak of Vignemale (pictured) in the Pyrenees?
 * ...that WikiPilipinas is the first online encyclopedia in the Philippines?
 * ...that the cuisine of Omaha includes several renowned Italian restaurants, as well as the origins of the Reuben sandwich, Omaha Steaks and ConAgra Foods?
 * ...that the epithet "little red dot" was uttered by former Indonesian President B.J. Habibie to disparage Singapore, but has come to be used by Singaporeans with pride?
 * ...that Gord Bamford, a country music singer, was one of only two Canadian artists invited to perform at the Global Artist Party at the CMA Music Festival in Nashville during 2007?
 * ...that though the Indian rivers, Tunga and Bhadra originate at Gangamoola, they flow separately for more than 145 km (90 miles), before joining at Koodli to form the River Tungabhadra?
 * ...that the ABC television network created controversy when they licensed and produced a doll based on fictional rapist Todd Manning?
 * ...that four of the 38 IRA members that escaped from Maze Prison in 1983 were caught hiding underwater in a river near the prison, using reeds to breathe?
 * ...that the Treatise of Garcia of Toledo was written as a satire against Pope Urban II and Bernard, Archbishop of Toledo in the 11th century?
 * ...that in 1949, the Swedish dentist Alice Timander (pictured) was considered for expulsion from the Swedish Dental Association after she appeared publicly in a bikini?
 * ...that Christine Langan distracted a man from jumping off of a multi-storey car park by speaking to him in a Manchester accent until the police arrived?