Wikipedia:Recent additions 173

Did you know...

 * ...that the 1476 edition of Giovanni Boccaccio's De casibus virorum illustrium by Flemish printer Colard Mansion was the first printed book with engraved illustrations?
 * ...that Oregon pioneer Levi Scott is the namesake for a town, a valley, and a mountain, as well as the highest peak in Crater Lake National Park?
 * ...that the play Charlie Victor Romeo has a script consisting of the almost-verbatim cockpit voice recorder transcripts from six real-life air disasters?
 * ...that the 2001 GMAC Bowl set a record as the highest-scoring bowl game in college football history even before it went into overtime?
 * ...that Walter Scott's narrative poem The Lady of the Lake is in six cantos, each of which concerns the action of a single day?
 * ...that Silma Ihram decided to found Al-Noori Muslim Primary School in Greenacre, New South Wales after Presbyterian Ladies' College would not allow her daughters to wear hijabs in school?
 * ...that musical theatre star Phyllis Dare (pictured) published her autobiography in 1907, but continued to perform in Edwardian musical comedy and on stage until 1951?
 * ...that Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services Nancy Montanez Johner has suggested changing the name of the Food Stamp Program?
 * ...that in 1921 the United States Department of State mailed out invitations for the Second International Eugenics Conference around the world?
 * ...that under the 1557 Edict of Compiègne all those who travelled to Geneva or published books in this Protestant city could be put to death?
 * ...that mountains are sometimes bombed to trigger small avalanches and thus prevent larger, dangerous ones?
 * ...that the three-month Great Tea Race of 1866 to bring tea to London from China almost ended in a tie?
 * ...that the Tibetan Empire reached its greatest extent under Ralpacan's rule from 815 to 838 CE?
 * ...that The Victim, a 2006 Thai horror-thriller film, was shot on locations of actual crime scenes?
 * ...that betalains are deep red pigments responsible for the color of beets (pictured), bougainvillea, amaranth, and many cacti?
 * ...that the Irish artist Gerald Davis dressed as Ulysses protagonist Leopold Bloom and led Bloomsday parades?
 * ...that Perna viridis, a fast-growing bivalve mussel native to the Asia-Pacific, is an invasive species that harbors deadly toxins and biofouls submerged structures?
 * ...that Stanley Evans was sacked after six weeks as a junior Minister of Food when he said "no other nation feather-beds its agriculture like Britain"?
 * ...that Polish partisan Adam Lazarowicz, organizer of an assassination attempt on Nazi official Hans Frank, refused the Order of the Red Star and joined the anti-Soviet resistance?
 * ...that St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church (pictured) in Seattle was designed by Paul Thiry, one of the principal architects of the Century 21 Exposition (1962 World's Fair), shortly after part of the land for the Exposition was purchased from that same parish?
 * ...that Harry Newbould was the first-ever manager of Derby County F.C.?
 * ...that Polish bishop of Płock Antoni Julian Nowowiejski, murdered by German Nazis in Soldau concentration camp, became one of the 108 Martyrs of World War Two?
 * ...that Omaha gained an important place in the history of the First Transcontinental Railroad against the will of President Abraham Lincoln?
 * ...that the ongoing Belgian political crisis has led to popular demands for the partition of Belgium?
 * ...that 17-year-old Emily Benn, granddaughter of veteran politician Tony Benn, is the youngest ever Labour Party parliamentary candidate, and would, if elected, become the youngest British MP since the Reform Act 1832?
 * ...that the long defunct firm of E. C. Hazard and Company has been credited with pioneering the U.S. manufacture and distribution of processed canned, jarred and bottled food products?
 * ...that the wall mural on Marine Parade Community Building (pictured) is Singapore's largest piece of installation art?
 * ...that the Norman church in Pawlett, Somerset has a stained glass window showing Christ blessing children who are in modern dress and holding a teddy bear and toy boat?
 * ...that the kidnaping of Edward Cudahy, Jr. caused a national uproar in 1903 because Cudahy's father, a meatpacking magnate in Omaha, Nebraska, paid the ransom request?
 * ...that the science of human chemistry, the study of reactions between people, was founded with Johann von Goethe’s 1809 novella Elective Affinities?
 * ...that the Royal Air Force base RAF Honiley was closed in March, 1958 and is now being used by the Prodrive Ltd. to build a motor sport facility called "The Fulcrum"?
 * ...that the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association is a Christian sect founded by Ruben Ecleo in 1965 on the Philippine island of Dinagat, that is notorious for a 2002 gun battle with police that left 17 dead?
 * ...that a 200 m section of wall by St. Martin's Cathedral from Bratislava's fortifications (gate pictured) was reconstructed, after the area was demolished due to construction of the Nový Most bridge?
 * ...that the City & South London Railway, opened in 1890, was the world's first major deep tube and electric railway and ran under the Thames from the City of London to Southwark?
 * ...that New Jersey's Museum of Early Trades and Crafts houses a collection of over 8,000 tools and artifacts used before 1860 that had been collected by Agnes and Edgar Land over a 50-year span?
 * ...that Nikolaus Riehl researched the production of uranium in Nazi Germany, nuclear weapons in the Soviet Union, and the civil use of nuclear power in West Germany?
 * ...that Alexander Hamilton's son William S. Hamilton (pictured) helped recruit Native Americans to join the U.S. against Sauk Chief Black Hawk during the 1832 Black Hawk War?
 * ...that the Ten Great Buildings were constructed in ten months, for the tenth anniversary of the People's Republic of China?
 * ...that the Aston Martin DBR4 Formula One car (pictured) failed to score even a single World Championship point, even though Aston Martin sports cars won many races?
 * ...that neotectonics is the study of geologically recent tectonics, but a clear consensus does not always exist over how far back in time "geologically recent" is?
 * ...that in the late 1980s, as many as 50 percent of Argentina's thermal power plants had to be shut down due to lack of maintenance, causing a supply crisis?
 * ...that Max Ernst's 1921 painting The Elephant Celebes combined Surrealism with the collage effects of Dada?
 * ...that James Vaupel has set up an international database to study supercentenarians?
 * ...that popular 1950s game show Down You Go is one of the only U.S. television series to air on all four networks of television's Golden Age: ABC, NBC, CBS and DuMont?
 * ...that in the Sandeshkhali region of West Bengal more than 100 women get trafficked to red-light areas in Mumbai and Pune each year?
 * ...that you stole the cookie from the cookie jar?
 * ...that the small, torpedo-shaped marine cleaner fish of the genus Elacatinus (pictured) are known as neon gobies due to their iridescent stripes?
 * ...that the Spanish shepherd Diego Marín Aguilera attempted flight in a manned glider on May 15, 1793 after jumping from a castle at Coruña del Conde?
 * ...that the England national football team is to train on the football pitch of the Blessed Thomas Holford Catholic College, as it is the only one identical to one in Russia on which they are due to play in October 2007?
 * ...that the 1881 Warsaw pogrom was caused by panic after pickpockets raised a false fire warning, resulting in 29 deaths by stampede?
 * ...that the founders of the Kingdom of Mysore may have been descendents of the Hoysala Dynasty or fugitives from the Vijayanagara Empire court?
 * ...that the Assistant Secretary of Energy for Fossil Energy is responsible for America's Strategic Petroleum Reserve?
 * ...that the upcoming British film Hippie Hippie Shake by Beeban Kidron, which follows the 1971 obscenity trial of the Australian editor Richard Neville of satirical magazine Oz, was in development hell for nearly ten years?
 * ...that bird nests (pictured) range in size from the tiny one inch high cup of some hummingbirds to the massive five meter high mounds of some Dusky Scrubfowl?
 * ...that despite being organised on St. Andrew's Day, the first official international football match did not result in a home win?
 * ...that because of its karez well system, an ancient water system using gravity, Turfan became a prosperous Silk Road oasis city located in the second deepest depression in the world?
 * ...that Rancho Los Encinos near Los Angeles was founded in 1797, and raised cattle, sheep and wheat, and was a stagecoach stop, before becoming a real estate subdivision with Los Encinos State Historic Park at its heart?
 * ...that Jan Roskam wrote his book on airplane war stories, based on his own experiences, to remind aircraft engineers of the consequences of their mistakes?
 * ...that its central location as a transportation hub for the United States led to the branding of Omaha, Nebraska as the "Gateway City of the West"?
 * ...that huge numbers of otakus made pilgrimages to Washinomiya Shrine after it was featured in the popular anime and manga series Lucky ☆ Star?
 * ...that the Jacobin revolutionary André Antoine Bernard (pictured) changed his given name to Pioche-fer ("Pickaxe") after his name day within the Revolutionary Calendar?
 * ...that Tom Wolfe's 1989 criticism of contemporary American literature, "Stalking the Billion-Footed Beast", began a feud with authors John Updike and John Irving that has continued ever since?
 * ...that Samuel Pegge, a Derbyshire antiquarian, published a book compiled by Richard II's cooks called Forme of Cury?
 * ...that hackers and rogue administrators often seek to eliminate evidence of their unauthorized activities by manipulating the Microsoft Windows Security Log?
 * ...that the Chicago City Council revoked the McCarthy Building's Chicago Landmark status to make way for the controversial redevelopment of Chicago's Block 37 in the Chicago Loop?
 * ...that the Beasts of Satan were a heavy metal band and suspected satanic cult in Italy that committed three notorious ritual murders before being arrested?
 * ...that Mikołaj Hussowczyk's book The Song about Bison is considered to be the first large fiction work about the Grand Duchy of Lithuania?
 * ...that it is not possible to configure two mutually inscribed quadrilaterals in the Euclidean plane, but the Möbius–Kantor graph (pictured) describes a solution in the complex projective plane?
 * ...that the first public toilets in England were invented by George Jennings for the Great Exhibition of 1851?
 * ...that Prof. Fuller Albright (1900-1969) made numerous discoveries in endocrinology (hormonal medicine), including the link between menopause and osteoporosis?
 * ...that the Sun Ning Railway Company, South China's first significant railway, was dismantled in December 1938 during the Second Sino-Japanese War to deny its use by the Japanese military?
 * ...that the planned South Beach complex in Singapore will incorporate four conservation buildings, where the first National Service enlistment was held in 1967?
 * ...that when Nebraska completed construction of its stretch of Interstate 80 in 1974, it became the first state in the U.S. to complete its mainline interstate system?
 * ...that the German children's series Bibi Blocksberg has been criticised because it can give a negative view of politics to children?
 * ...that Charles Willson Peale's 1822 self-portrait The Artist in His Museum (pictured) summarizes his career as a painter, taxidermist, and naturalist?
 * ...that Tanjong Katong Primary School has the most diverse student population among all government-operated schools in Singapore, as its students come from 39 countries?
 * ...that the winnings from the 1975 Yellow Sam betting coup were paid out in the form of over a hundred sacks of IR£1 notes?
 * ...that although Ronald Bird was on the staff of Warwickshire County Cricket Club in 1934, his first-class debut came eleven years later for their rivals Worcestershire?
 * ...that the earliest bones of the rare Golden Guernsey goat, dating from 2000 BC, were found in dolmens in Guernsey on the Channel Islands off the coast of Normandy?
 * ...that the sale of the Libyan Arabian Cement Co. was the country's first initial public offering of shares and the biggest sale of a Libyan state-owned business?
 * ...that nearby town officials caused an uproar when they moved highway markers from the Lincoln Highway in Omaha, Nebraska to their local roadway after the highway was rerouted there in 1930?
 * ...that the Trinitarian Church (pictured) in Bratislava was built on the place of older settlement which was demolished in 1529 due to the Ottoman wars?
 * ...that Hugo Award-winning science fiction fan and editor Earl Kemp served a year in prison for publishing an illustrated edition of the Presidential Report of the Commission on Obscenity and Pornography?