Wikipedia:Recent additions 172

Did you know...

 * ...that the last surrender of the American Civil War took place aboard the British HMS Donegal after the CSS Shenandoah completed a 9,000 mile voyage specifically to do so?
 * ...that plant physiology is the subdiscipline of botany concerned with the function, or physiology, of plants?
 * ...that a scathing obituary of British author Lord Michael Pratt in The Daily Telegraph called him "an unabashed snob and social interloper on a grand scale", who habitually outstayed his welcome?
 * ...that during his tenure as curator at Université Laval, François-Xavier Bélanger built a thousand-specimen strong collection of Canadian birds from the ground up?
 * ...that the 22,200 meter Shimizu Tunnel was the world's longest tunnel when it was completed in 1982?
 * ...that even though the Norwegian Constitutional Assembly was held in the house of statesman Carsten Anker, he was not present himself?
 * ...that Henri II's Edict of Châteaubriant (1551) assigned the regulation of the French press to the Faculty of Theology of the University of Paris?
 * ...that tōgyū (pictured) is a bullfighting sport practiced in Okinawa, Japan, in which two bulls wrestle in a ring in a manner compared to sumo?
 * ...that Bykivnia, a former village, now part of the Ukrainian capital Kiev, was the burial site of thousands of enemies of the Soviet power?
 * ...that the Defense (Emergency) Regulations first enacted in British Mandate Palestine in 1945 were incorporated into Israel's domestic legislation in 1948 and remain in force to this day?
 * ...that long-time University of Oregon track coach Bill Hayward also played lacrosse for the world champion Ottawa Capitals?
 * ...that Japanese artist Atsuko Tanaka wore a costume made of lit lightbulbs—her 1956 work Electric Dress—to exhibitions?
 * ...that a total of 4156 films were submitted to the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival and 349 of those, from 55 countries, were selected?
 * ...that an edition of Alpin, a supplement of the Bangladeshi newspaper Prothom Alo, was banned by the caretaker government for publishing a controversial cartoon in relation to the Islamic prophet Muhammad?
 * ...that after Robert William Hughes shot and wounded future Virginia Governor William E. Cameron, he was appointed a federal judge by Ulysses S. Grant?
 * ...that during the siege of Constantinople in 626 AD, 12,000 Byzantine cavalry successfully fought off 80,000 Avars?
 * ...that the first session of the Legislative Council of Mysore State in India was held in the Jaganmohan Palace (pictured) in July 1907?
 * ...that the Grant Park Music Festival, a Chicago tradition since its 1931 introduction by Anton Cermak, is America's only remaining free, outdoor concert series featuring classical music?
 * ...that China's leadership for the next five years will be unveiled at the Seventeenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which will open on October 15 in the Great Hall of the People?
 * ...that after the defeat of his British Band in the 1832 Black Hawk War, Chief Black Hawk was taken captive and exhibited to large crowds throughout the United States?
 * ...that Ivor Bulmer-Thomas, having lost his position on the Historic Churches Preservation Trust (for which he denounced the Archbishop of Canterbury as having "held a pistol to my face while the Dean of Gloucester plunged his dagger into my back"), founded his own, more intransigent, committee, the Friends of Friendless Churches?
 * ...that a graffiti artist from the Bronx named PHASE 2 invented the famous "bubble letter" style of graffiti writing when tagging trains on the New York City Subway system in the early 1970s?
 * ...that more than 75% of kraft pulp is bleached without chlorine?
 * ...that Baduanjin qigong (pictured) is one of the most common forms of Chinese qigong used as exercise?
 * ...that Luník IX, a borough in Košice, Slovakia, although originally built for army and police officers, now houses the largest Roma community in Central Europe?
 * ...that Wurzbach Parkway, an unnumbered freeway in San Antonio, Texas, does not connect directly to the city's other freeways?
 * ...that by using automatic number plate recognition, a CCTV network known as ANPR, police in the United Kingdom are able to track the movement of cars in  real time and store vehicle movement information  for five years?
 * ...that four-time Moscow chess champion Nikolay Grigoriev won ten awards in an endgame study composing tourney in 1935?
 * ...that the Ukrainian Marines were from May 1996 until 1998 part of the Ukrainian National Guard, but were transferred to the Navy in 1998?
 * ...that Juan de Arphe y Villafañe was a renowned engraver, goldsmith, artist, anatomist and author?
 * ...that autobiographer Lois Mark Stalvey's 1960s anti-racist activism in Omaha, Nebraska was responsible for her husband's job transfer to Philadelphia?
 * ...that the Chick House (pictured) is the only 19th century hotel building still standing in the city of Rockford, Illinois?
 * ...that the Stiefelgeiss, a breed of goat, became nearly extinct in the 1980s but is making a comeback?
 * ...that the leaders of the failed coup in Poland in 1919 were arrested by their intended troops?
 * ...that Matthew Ricketts was the first African-American to graduate from the University of Nebraska College of Medicine and be elected to the Nebraska Legislature?
 * ...that the photographer duo of Krupakar-Senani were kidnapped by the bandit Veerappan, while filming the movie Wild Dog Diaries in India?
 * ...that the Annie Larsen affair led in 1917 to one of the longest and most expensive trials in America at the time?
 * ...that lime was diluted in separated milk instead of water for Vileišis Palace construction?
 * ...that the Danae class cruiser HMS Durban ended her wartime career supporting the Battle of Normandy as a blockship off the Normandy coast in 1944?
 * ...that The Most Reverend Whakahuihui Vercoe was the first Bishop of Aotearoa to be elected by its Maori congregation, the first Maori to become Archbishop of New Zealand, and the first Principal Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit?
 * ...that Air Marshal Sir Richard Williams (pictured) is known as the "father" of the Royal Australian Air Force?
 * ...that by leading by one more lap in the final NASCAR race of the 1992 season, Alan Kulwicki won the 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship over Bill Elliott?
 * ...that the 1897 Pattern British Infantry Officer's Sword was carried into battle by a young Bernard Montgomery, was used in service against the Dervishes in Sudan, and is still the ceremonial sidearm for many British regiments?
 * ...that Samuel Hieronymus Grimm, a Swiss painter, toured England for twenty years leaving 2,662 sketches in the British Library -- including the only known image of the coronation of Edward VI?
 * ...that John Joseph Briggs, the author of a history of the original Melbourne (in Derbyshire), corresponded regularly with Charles Darwin regarding the fins of a fish?
 * ...that the Suevic king Hermeric abdicated his throne due to a prolonged seven-year illness?
 * ...that William Gore Ouseley (pictured), a diplomat noted for representing British interests in Nicaragua and Honduras, found one of the earliest sources for the Pantomime story of Dick Whittington's cat?
 * ...that Yue Hwa Building used to house a popular boutique hotel, and was the tallest building in Singapore's Chinatown when it was completed in 1936?
 * ...that although in present-day India the former Princely states and their princes have lost that status, the Raja of Rajnagar still wears his ancestors' tattered royal attire twice a year?
 * ...that the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, an outdoor bandshell and great lawn, uses an innovative sound system that recreates an indoor concert hall sound experience?
 * ...that the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, today a prominent academic journal in statistics, had as its first work a simple door-to-door survey of occupations in Manchester?
 * ...that the Kallawaya healers travel around South America, often on foot and on ancient Inca trails, in search of traditional herbs?
 * ...that Major Sir Hamish Forbes, 7th Baronet was awarded the MBE (Military Division) for his many escape attempts while a prisoner-of-war in Germany from 1940 to 1945, and was later patron of the Lonach Highlanders?
 * ...that the Baroque-style palace Dilkusha Kothi (pictured) was once a summer retreat for the nawabs of Oudh but was heavily shelled during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and is today in ruins?
 * ...that Karl Emil Nygard was the first Communist mayor in America?
 * ...that a series of miscommunications and withdrawals by Allied forces during the Battle of Kranji, allowed the Japanese forces to gain strategic footholds which led to the fall of Singapore in 1942?
 * ...that the city of Puerto Suárez in eastern Bolivia is supplied by the Brazilian power grid, not the Bolivian?
 * ...that architect Andreyan Zakharov rebuilt the Admiralty in Saint Petersburg, with symmetrical wings to its central tower, making it a symbol of the city?
 * ...that after the November Uprising in partitioned Poland, the government of the Russian Empire offered a bounty for one of the Polish leaders, Jan Czyński?
 * ...that Eastern Orthodox icon expert, Father Egon Sendler, is highly respected by  many Eastern Orthodox  scholars, despite being a Roman Catholic?
 * ...that Yugoslavian boxing champion Marijan Beneš played the violin in his youth, and published a book of poems after the end of his career?
 * ... that the name of Polish anti-Nazi and anti-communist activist Łukasz Ciepliński (pictured) was banned from all books by the Communist government?
 * ...that Augie Hiebert not only built Alaska's first television station, KTVA, but also founded the state's first FM radio station, KNIK-FM?
 * ...that the Norwegian roller coaster Speed Monster features a unique loop around an escalator?
 * ...that Mark Knight, a political cartoonist for the Herald Sun, created Leuk the Duck, a mascot for charity named after leukemia?
 * ...that in Chinua Achebe's novel Arrow of God, an African chief's refusal to allow his villagers to harvest yams causes them to convert to Christianity?
 * ...that research has shown the 80-plus miles of trails in Omaha, Nebraska increase homeowners' perceptions of the value of their houses?
 * ...that, although only a junior officer, Akiyama Saneyuki developed the basic strategy for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the Russo-Japanese War based on his firsthand observations of the U.S. Navy in the Spanish-American War?
 * ...that John Dement (pictured) served as Receiver of Public Moneys in the U.S. Land Office under five presidential administrations?
 * ...that the engravings of French Renaissance artist Jean Duvet exhibit horror vacui, or a fear of leaving space unfilled?
 * ...Benjamin Stephenson's indentured servants made over 100,000 bricks during the construction of his house in Edwardsville, Illinois?
 * ...that Peter Adolf Thiessen, who helped develop Soviet nuclear weapons after World War II and received a Stalin Prize, first class, for his efforts, was former member of the Nazi Party?
 * ...that South African anti-conscription activist Nan Cross once climbed a tank at a weapons exhibition and attached stickers to it reading: "Arms are for hugging, not killing"?
 * ...that the 2002 ITC Inferno, a fire that destroyed a six-storey business complex, claimed sixty lives, and injured more than a hundred in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, was started by poor welding?
 * ...that throughout the Western world until the 19th or 20th century, young boys wore dresses (example pictured) until they were breeched at an age varying between two and eight?
 * ...that after Oregon's Point Adams Lighthouse changed colors to reduce confusion, it caused a ship to run aground in 1881?
 * ...that the success of the Lifeline Express in providing medical services to remote places in India has seen similar projects being initiated in other countries including China, Zimbabwe, and Bangladesh?
 * ...that Giuseppe Maggiolini, a cabinet-maker from late 18th century Milan, also made marquetry flooring for royal villas in Lombardy?
 * ...that Dick Mann was the first motorcycle rider to win AMA's career Grand Slam by winning on short track, mile, half mile, Tourist Trophy, and road racing race tracks?
 * ...that the Brazilian metropolis of São Paulo had its origins in a humble Jesuit mission known today as Pátio do Colégio?