Wikipedia:Recent additions 178

Did you know...

 * ...that Mormon settlers on the 1879 San Juan Expedition to establish a colony in what is now southeastern Utah spent several months widening a "Hole-in-the-Rock" for the passage of wagons?
 * ...that the development of the Lockheed XF-104, a single-engine, high-performance, supersonic interceptor aircraft prototype, earned aircraft engineer Kelly Johnson his first Collier Trophy in 1958?
 * ...that Elizabeth F. Ellet was the first writer to record the lives of women who contributed to and survived the American Revolutionary War?
 * ...that the Tower of the Sun (pictured), created by Japanese artist Tarō Okamoto for the 1970 Expo, has three faces, representing the past, the present and the future?
 * ...that the Sauk and the British Army defeated the U.S. Army at Campbell's Island during the War of 1812?
 * ...that at Bougon, a prehistoric burial mound in France, archeologists found the skull of a man who had undergone three trepanations during his lifetime?
 * ...that St Lawrence's Church, a listed building in Stoak, Cheshire, England, has a Tudor hammerbeam roof, a Jacobean altar, a Georgian pulpit, an Elizabethan chalice and chairs from the time of Charles II?
 * ...that in Bigby v. Dretke, the defendant put a gun to the judge's head, but the judge testified the assault did not bias him, and refused to recuse himself?
 * ...that the automatic tire chain system OnSpot was created in 1977 by a Swedish inventor who mounted it onto a local milk delivery truck?
 * ...that Pat "Gravy" Patterson, the head coach of the Louisiana Tech University from 1968 to 1990, was the winningest baseball coach in the state's history?
 * ...that Kenneth Lockwood, one of the first six British prisoners at Colditz in 1940, remained a POW until the castle was liberated in April 1945?
 * ...that Nigerian businessman Alhassan Dantata was the wealthiest person in West Africa at the time of his death in 1955?
 * ...that archaeological excavations near the Andries DuBois House (pictured) in Wallkill, New York, found evidence that it was built half a century later than previously believed?
 * ...that A Gift to Young Housewives, a Russian cookbook condemned under communism, contained over 3000 recipes in some editions?
 * ...that former Belfast City Councillor Pat McGeown was a Provisional IRA volunteer referred to as the "11th hunger striker" in the 1981 Irish hunger strike?
 * ...that in 1959, Barksdale Hamlett, the U.S. commandant in Berlin, threatened to forcefully prevent the East German government from flying its new flag over elevated railway stations in West Berlin?
 * ...that a galdr was an incantation that Viking men chanted in falsetto?
 * ...that the New Caledonia cricket team have lost every international they have ever played, including the only known loss by more than 500 runs?
 * ...that four member states of the European Union have de jure opt-outs and do not participate fully in all common policies?
 * ...that in the early 20th century, when education was segregated in the United States, the Calhoun Colored School (pictured) focused on vocational education for African Americans instead of classical education to protect the school from being closed down?
 * ...that the wine-producing region of Blackwood Valley is named after the longest continually flowing river in Western Australia?
 * ...that Edgar Allan Poe's 1841 short story Never Bet the Devil Your Head spoofs moral tales and Transcendentalism?
 * ...that on September 29, 1968 a global horizontal sounding technique superpressure balloon became the first balloon to fly for a full year?
 * ...that John Grant's moated manor near Stratford-on-Avon was chosen for storing weapons for the rebellion that was to follow the Gunpowder plot?
 * ...that Japanese matinée idol Akira Kobayashi wore a gash across his face and large, Brezhnevian eyebrows for his role in the Seijun Suzuki yakuza film Kanto Wanderer?
 * ...that Milly Witkop (pictured) and her common-law husband Rudolf Rocker, both notable anarchist activists and writers, were rejected admission to the United States in 1898, because they refused to get legally married?
 * ...that former Portland mayor Frank Ivancie was defeated in his run for re-election by a local tavern owner with no prior political experience?
 * ...that Negombo Tamil identity survives primarily in just one village called Udappu in Sri Lanka?
 * ...that Eliza Jumel, a former prostitute, was ordered to leave France in 1816 and married controversial former Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr in 1833, only to divorce him three years later?
 * ...that the former Iraqi Air Force commander, politician and ambassador Hardan al-Tikriti was assassinated on Saddam Hussein's orders in 1971?
 * ...that Wiley W. Hilburn was in 1962 among the youngest editorial writers for major daily newspapers in the U.S.?
 * ...that the Red-chested Goshawk (Accipiter toussenelii), a hawk of West Africa, was named after French journalist Alphonse Toussenel?
 * ...that the figures in Johannes Vermeer's The Wine Glass (pictured) are taken directly from Pieter de Hooch's A Dutch Courtyard?
 * ...that the murder of Michael Francke while he was at work became the basis of the movie Without Evidence?
 * ...that students at the four ancient universities of Scotland are no longer afforded a traditional Meal Monday holiday, but manual staff at the University of St Andrews still are?
 * ...that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a mental illness is a mitigating factor  in death penalty cases, but a State Court increased the penalty for a mental disorder instead?
 * ...that Horace Engdahl, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, said that The Four-Gated City is Nobel laureate Doris Lessing's most important work?
 * ...that everything biologists know about the Small-eyed whiting (Sillago microps) came from studies conducted on two specimens found at a market in Taipei in 1985?
 * ...that Dr. Edward Smith showed that muscles did not get their energy from proteins but from fats and carbohydrates?
 * ...that Scotland Yard introduced the murder bag forensics kit after a police officer was reported to have scooped chunks of flesh from a murder victim into a bucket with his bare hands?
 * ...that the experiment which outlined the principles (pictured) behind backscattering spectroscopy was described by Ernest Rutherford as "the most incredible event that has ever happened to me in my life"?
 * ...that the Douglas County Courthouse in Omaha, Nebraska was almost destroyed by mob violence only five years after it was built?
 * ...that although Brian Elliott was drafted second-last in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, he recently played a regular-season game for the Ottawa Senators?
 * ...that Bernt Carlsson, the last United Nations Commissioner for Namibia, died in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing in 1988, while travelling to the signing ceremony of the Namibian independence agreement in New York?
 * ...that rayon fibers used to make clothes come from trees pulped using the sulfite process?
 * ...that the Portuguese football champion has been one of S.L. Benfica, F.C. Porto or Sporting Clube de Portugal on 78 out of 86 occasions?
 * ...that by the end of 19th century, there were an estimated two thousand English language schools in the Kingdom of Mysore?
 * ...that Lady Isle, a small Scottish island in the Firth of Clyde, is Britain's first seabird reserve?
 * ...that Shyampukur was the site of one of the two tents Jamshetji Framji Madan set up to screen films when he entered the ‘bioscope’ scene in Kolkata in 1902?
 * ...that some experts believe a cylinder seal (pictured) from the prehistoric San Andrés site is evidence for an Olmec writing system?
 * ...that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1963 that a criminal defendant has a constitutional right to "effective" legal counsel, but "effective" was not defined until Wiggins v. Smith in 2003?
 * ...that Swami Vipulananda was the founding Professor of Tamil at both University of Ceylon and Annamalai University?
 * ...that the Folly Theatre, which specialised in burlesque and opéra bouffe, was originally the residence for Catholic priests of the Oratory of St Philip Neri in London?
 * ...that 120,000 people participated in the 2005 Siyum HaShas, celebrating their completion of the eleventh 7½-year Daf Yomi study cycle, in which one page of the 2,711-page Babylonian Talmud is studied each day?
 * ...that Gopal Chandra Bhattacharya has won the Ananda Purashkar and the Rabindra Puraskar, prestigious awards for Bengali literature, for his writing on insects and popular science?
 * ...that Second World War bomber pilot "Micky" Martin broke the speed record flying from England to Cape Town?
 * ...that a baby Indian Rhinoceros at the San Diego Wild Animal Park was named Ecko after fashion designer Marc Ecko donated funds to launch a campaign by the International Rhino Foundation?
 * ...that the southern black bream (pictured), a species endemic to Australia valued for its flavorsome and moist flesh, has a high tolerance to salinity and is of possible use for inland aquaculture in saline dams?
 * ...that United States v. Binion upheld the conviction of a defendant who was found guilty of obstruction of justice for feigning madness in a competence-to-stand-trial evaluation?
 * ...that the Schuster Building in Louisville, Kentucky was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 as a "significant example" of Colonial Revival architecture?
 * ...that the medieval Noraduz cemetery contains the largest cluster of khachkars (stone crosses) in Armenia?
 * ...that Russell Adam Burnham, the U.S. Army Soldier of the Year in 2003, became the U.S. Army Medical Command NCO of the Year in 2007?
 * ...that bromopyruvic acid, a simple inexpensive chemical, is being studied as a potential treatment for cancer?
 * ...that Rod Millen lost the 34 hour long Baja 1000 off-road race across the desert by 33 seconds, which is considered to be a photo finish?
 * ...that Aramaean treaty-making in the first millenium BCE, as documented in the Sefire inscriptions, included loyalty oaths that invoked magical rites with curses to befall any violators?
 * ...that John Pegram (pictured) was the first former U.S. Army officer to be captured while in Confederate service?
 * ...that the Kerguelen Shag, a species of cormorant of the Kerguelen Islands, is the smallest species amongst Blue-Eyed Shags?
 * ...that the Mahāvyutpatti is the first substantial bilingual dictionary known?
 * ...that Princess Vera Konstantinovna was the last surviving member of the Romanov family who could remember Imperial Russia?
 * ...that George J. Adams led an ill-fated effort to establish a U.S. colony in Palestine?
 * ...that British MP Arthur Allen became Sir Stafford Cripps' assistant right after defeating Cripps' nephew in an election?
 * ...that technology from 18th-century France and China was used to improve the economy of Mysore kingdom?
 * ...that the city of Sapporo has the only beer museum in Japan?
 * ...that in eighteen years, baritone William Walker performed over 360 times at New York's Metropolitan Opera?
 * ...that one of the first discoveries of atmospheric neutrinos was made at India's Kolar Gold Fields?
 * ...that in 1966, Heinz Waaske created the smallest 135 film camera made to that date, the Rollei 35 (pictured)?
 * ...that bibliographers determined that Edward Allde had printed early editions of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet by comparing damaged type used in his other works?
 * ...that in 1956, the New York Times ran a front-page story featuring Winston H. Bostick's "plasma gun"?
 * ...that Louis Pienaar was the last Administrator-General of South West Africa before Namibian independence was declared in 1990?
 * ...that despite sweeping the elimination round of the 2007 UAAP men's basketball tournament, the University of the East was still beaten by De La Salle University-Manila 2-0 in the finals series?