Wikipedia:Recent additions 174

Did you know...

 * ...that Ambler's Texaco Gas Station (pictured) in Dwight, Illinois was the longest operating filling station along U.S. Route 66?
 * ...that King Narasaraja Wodeyar II, who ruled over the Indian Kingdom of Mysore for a decade in the 18th century, was either mute or preferred to remain silent throughout his rule?
 * ...that political donations in Australia up to $1500 were made tax-deductible in 2006?
 * ...that Ethel Benjamin was the first woman in the British Empire to present a legal case in court?
 * ...that a street corner in New York City is named after IRA member Joe Doherty, who was convicted in absentia for the murder of the highest ranking SAS officer killed during The Troubles?
 * ...that Kelbessa Negewo was charged with murder in his home country of Ethiopia after one of the women who claims he tortured her discovered him working as a bellhop in an Atlanta, Georgia hotel elevator?
 * ...that the arcade conversion of 2001 video game Ballistics features a unique reclined seating cabinet?
 * ...that the First Texas Navy comprised four schooners: Brutus, Independence (pictured), Invincible and Liberty?
 * ...that Cosa Nostra boss Gerlando Alberti, on his arrest in 1980, pretended that Mafia was a kind of cheese?
 * ...that architect Frank Lloyd Wright's belief that banks should not "put on the airs of a temple of worship" is reflected in the design of the 1905 Frank L. Smith Bank?
 * ...that Sam Ormerod was the first manager to gain promotion to the First Division, the highest level of English football, with Manchester City F.C.?
 * ...that the Global Community Communication Alliance, an Arizona religious sect led by the New Age figure Gabriel of Sedona, has been compared by the media to the Heaven's Gate group?
 * ...that Spanish soldier Manuel la Peña was widely regarded as incompetent, but rose to become Captain General of Andalusia in the Napoleonic Peninsular War?
 * ...that wood paneling from the ruins of Colden Mansion in Montgomery, New York is on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art?
 * ...that Victoria Mansion (pictured) in Portland, Maine was built in 1860 with many conveniences including wall-to-wall carpeting, central heating, hot and cold running water, gas lighting and a servant’s call system?
 * ...that in 1924, the Calgary Tigers became the first ice hockey team from Calgary to compete for the Stanley Cup?
 * ...that U.S. Route 70 runs across the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, and can be closed several times per week for missile tests?
 * ...that relative volatility in a liquid mixture of chemicals measures the difficulty of separating them by distillation?
 * ...that Dr. John Stevenson, 18th century Scottish merchant and developer of Baltimore, was known as the "American Romulus"?
 * ...that after hundreds of years of construction and use, few gunpowder magazines remain in the United Kingdom as gunpowder has not been manufactured there since 1976?
 * ...that the Black Kangaroo Paw (Macropidia fuliginosa; pictured), is a plant native to Western Australia and survives being burned to the ground?
 * ...that NW Natural in Portland, Oregon was the first gas company in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States when it started in 1859?
 * ...that Hampshire and England cricketer Derek Shackleton took over 100 wickets in 20 consecutive seasons of first-class cricket?
 * ...that although William McFetridge retired as president of BSEIU in 1960, his successor, David Sullivan, fought him for control of the union until 1964?
 * ...that Anglo-Sudanese entrepreneur Mo Ibrahim is offering a $US 5 million prize, plus $200,000 a year for life, to an African leader whose term as head of state meets certain criteria?
 * ...that David Quinn, a first-round selection in the 1984 National Hockey League entry draft, was forced to retire before turning professional due to being diagnosed with Christmas disease?
 * ...that Dombrau, a village in Karviná District, Moravian-Silesian Region, Czech Republic, was in 1901 bought by a member of the Rothschild banking family of Austria?
 * ...that Henry Fuseli's 1781 painting The Nightmare (pictured) portrays a contemporary folktale about lone sleepers?
 * ...that British Member of Parliament Alfred Edwards, as a Christian Scientist campaigned to allow Christian Science Nurses to call themselves 'Nurses' despite not being registered?
 * ...that the Old Loggers Path, a loop hiking trail in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, uses old logging railroad grades and roads, and its trailhead is a lumber ghost town?
 * ...that the inscription on the memorial stone of Ingram de Ketenis is the earliest known English inscription north of the River Forth?
 * ...that Julius Joseph Overbeck was unable to be received into the Orthodox Church as a priest for his Western Rite project because he had married after his ordination as a Roman Catholic priest?
 * ...that female bolas spiders attract moth prey by mimicry of sex pheromones?
 * ...that Halotus was an Ancient Roman royal servant who, despite being a prime suspect in the poisoning of Claudius in 54 AD, was granted royal stewardship by Galba in 68 AD, even when the public was calling for his death?
 * ...that Man Enters the Cosmos (pictured) is one of four Henry Moore sculptures in Chicago, two of which are at National Historic Landmarks?
 * ...that in 2002 two firefighting airtankers crashed after their wings came off in flight, revealing safety problems that led to the permanent grounding of almost the entire U.S. fleet of tankers?
 * ...that the residents of Basanti and other deltaic islands in the Indian part of the Sundarbans thanked the French author Dominique Lapierre for the floating dispensaries he had provided?
 * ...that the Hilton Hotels brand, Waldorf-Astoria, is attempting to expand its brand beyond the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, with new hotels such as the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and Residence Tower in Chicago?
 * ...that Sir Edward Tomkins, British Ambassador to the Netherlands and then France in the 1970s, owned Winslow Hall, a house often attributed to Christopher Wren, for nearly 50 years?
 * ...that diamonds have been known in India for at least 3000 years, but most likely 6000 years?
 * ...that an easy keeper (pictured) is a term used to decribe a horse, pony, or other equine that can live on relatively little food?
 * ...that facilitating, or "grease" payments to foreign officials, unlike bribes, are lawful under U.S. law, but still considered to be questionable from the point of view of business ethics?
 * ...that Aaron Sapiro, a Jewish-American lawyer and cooperative organizer in the farmers' movement of the 1920s, won a court case against Henry Ford for antisemitic comments in his book The International Jew?
 * ...that Horseferry Road takes its name from a horse-ferry from The Embankment to Lambeth Stairs, once one of the most important Thames crossings in London, and which was owned by the Archbishop of Canterbury?
 * ...that the first gas works in the United Kingdom was built by the Gas Light and Coke Company, incorporated by Royal Charter in 1812 with a share capitalisation of £1m (approximately £9bn at today's prices)?
 * ...that Belgium's sillon industriel (steelmaking pictured) was the first fully industrialized area in continental Europe?
 * ...that, prior to English physicist C.G. Darwin’s 1952 conception of man as a human molecule, in 1813 British chemist Humphry Davy had compared man to a "point atom"?
 * ...that the song "Swanee" was written in ten minutes by George Gershwin and Irving Caesar, and sold over two million copies after being recorded by Al Jolson in 1919?
 * ...that the May 1945 Battle of Kurylowka was one of the biggest clashes fought between the NKVD and Polish anti-communist resistance?
 * ...that the French physician and agronomist Jules Guyot revolutionized the training of grape vines, and the Guyot-system is extensively used throughout vineyards in Europe?
 * ...that Tom Jennings won the 1977 U.S. Open 14.1 Pocket Billiards Championship by coming back from a score of 42–196 to win by a score of 200–197, an event called the best comeback in billiards history?
 * ...that the Tornabuoni Chapel in Florence contains one of the largest fresco-cycles (pictured) in the city, with many details showing the life of Domenico Ghirlandaio's day?
 * ...that fighting during the 1998 Six-Day War of Abkhazia actually lasted for more than six days?
 * ...that actor Frederick Baltimore Calvert toured America lecturing on the English poets and then toured England talking about America?
 * ...that the namesake for Hondo Dog Park in Hillsboro, Oregon, won an award for valor just weeks before being killed in the line of duty?
 * ...that the Orthodox Church of France is a Western Rite Orthodox church that uses a restored Gallican liturgy known as the Divine Liturgy of Saint Germain?
 * ...that the Italian invasion of Albania was launched by Benito Mussolini in April 1939 as a response to the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, and was completed within five days?
 * ...that players had to submit their turns by ZX Microdrive cartridge in the play by mail version of video game Dark Sceptre?
 * ...that the 1999 Athens earthquake and the 1999 İzmit earthquake, which happened less than a month earlier, gave rise to the "Greek-Turkish earthquake diplomacy"?
 * ...that the International Plaza (pictured) is the tallest commercial building with residential apartments in Singapore?
 * ...that labour law expert Ron McCallum is the first totally blind person to have been appointed to a full professorship at any university in Australia or New Zealand?
 * ...that the Belgian French Community Holiday celebrates a victory over the Dutch army, while the Dutch speaking region's holiday celebrates a victory over the French army?
 * ...that Korean independence activist Jang In-hwan  used Arthur Schopenhauer's "patriotic insanity" defense when on trial for the murder of Japan lobbyist Durham Stevens, in San Francisco in 1908?
 * ...that from 1985 through 2004, about seventy-five honey collectors from Gosaba and the surrounding areas of West Bengal were killed by tigers in the forests of Sundarbans, but none since?
 * ...that an essential component for hillclimbing cars is named after racing driver Patsy Burt, who was once said to be a "waste of a beautiful motor car"?
 * ...that many of the most famous Italian Renaissance artists were enlisted to provide temporary decorations for flattering allegories of a Royal Entry (example pictured)?
 * ...that release of the award-winning film Lost in Beijing was delayed in part because censors insisted on removing a scene of a Mercedes-Benz driving through a puddle-filled pothole?
 * ...that new bacterial species names are not considered valid until published in the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology?
 * ...that three 500-goal scorers appeared on a single hockey team for the first time during the 2001–02 Detroit Red Wings season, helping the team to win their tenth Stanley Cup?
 * ...that British Conservative MP Richard Hornby unsuccessfully challenged former Prime Minister and Labour leader Clement Attlee before securing a safe seat?
 * ...that Teamsters president Dave Beck invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination 117 times before a U.S. Senate investigating committee?
 * ...that Trowulan in Mojokerto, east Java, is surrounded by a huge archaeological site (pictured), and is believed to be the capital of the ancient Majapahit Empire?
 * ...that two Dutch professors who lost an article written by Samuel Iperusz Wiselius were nonetheless to join him in forming the Batavian Republic in the Netherlands?
 * ...that the first printed edition of the Pentateuch in Hebrew appeared at Bologna on January 26 1482?
 * ...that New World, the first and largest family-oriented amusement park in Singapore, was known for its striptease, cabaret girls, and wrestling matches during its heyday?
 * ...that Dennis Spurgeon, formerly chief operating officer at uranium supplier USEC Inc., became U.S. Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy in 2006?
 * ...that some of Frank Sinatra's recordings of the 1964 song "My Kind of Town" change the original lyrics to omit reference to the Union Stock Yard which closed in 1971?
 * ...that in the late 17th century, the staveless runes (rune stone pictured) of Scandinavia were purported to be the origin of stenography?