Wikipedia:Recent additions 191

Did you know...

 * ...that Vietnamese winemakers are trying to cultivate grapes such as Cabernet Sauvignon on land that till recently was still covered with landmines from the Vietnam War?
 * ...that in 1607, Spanish priest and professor of music at the University of Salamanca Sebastián de Vivanco published 18 versions of the Song of Mary in the same book?
 * ...that ice hockey player Fred Higginbotham died of a spinal cord injury sustained during an accident when riding a pony?
 * ...that the European Parliament is currently housed in Espace Léopold in Brussels, Belgium?
 * ...that in polymer chemistry, the value of the kinetic chain length of a polymer can describe the polymer's chain mobility, glass transition temperature, and elastic modulus?
 * ...that Ryan Holle is serving a life prison sentence without the possibility of parole for letting his roommate borrow his car that was then used in a crime?
 * ...that Ostomachion is a mathematical treatise attributed to Archimedes on a 14-piece tiling puzzle (pictured) similar to tangram?
 * ...that the development of a hydrosalpinx was first recognized in the 17th century as a cause of female infertility by Dutch physician Regnier de Graaf?
 * ...that Mike Vranos, a man considered by some to be the most powerful man on Wall Street in the early 1990s, was known for breaking up business meetings to issue armwrestling challenges?
 * ...that several prehistoric standing stones and natural stone features in Scotland are called Carlin stones, possibly from the term cailleach meaning "old hag" or "witch"?
 * ...that the National Library of Singapore (pictured), the Seattle Central Library, and Minneapolis Central Library are examples of Green Libraries, using environmentally conscious designs?
 * ...that Julian Rotter developed the locus of control theory, which has been widely used in the psychology of personality?
 * ...that in chemical kinetics, Lindemann mechanisms have been used to model gas phase decomposition reactions?
 * ...that Lawrence Turner, who presented a Parliamentary petition calling for W. S. Gilbert's copyright on the libretti of Gilbert and Sullivan operas to be extended indefinitely, was the grandson of comic actor George Grossmith who starred in them?
 * ...that hatchlings of the Cape Fear Shiner, a critically endangered minnow endemic to central North Carolina, feed off of their egg yolk for five days after they hatch?
 * ...even though the Housing Act of 1949 called for building more housing, some projects saw more housing units destroyed than built?
 * ...that the Polish rock band Czerwone Gitary reached the heights of its popularity in the 1960s, and was known as the Polish Beatles?
 * ...that early 20th century regrading in Seattle (pictured) was probably the largest alteration of urban terrain up to that time?
 * ...that kings of the House of Alpin ruled Pictland and the kingdom of Alba, in modern Scotland, beginning with Cináed mac Ailpín in the 840s and ending with the death of Máel Coluim mac Cináeda in 1034?
 * ...that shortly after Captain William Day received the first gun salute to an American fighting vessel in a European port, at Brest, France, in July 1777, he sailed home and effectively vanished from history?
 * ...that before the Bagratids unified Georgia, Caucasian Iberia was ruled by a succession of princes under the influence of the Byzantines, the Persians and the Muslim Caliphate from the 6th to the 9th centuries?
 * ...that the non-fiction book Getting It: The psychology of est was the first book to analyze Werner Erhard's Erhard Seminars Training from a psychological point of view?
 * ...that the European Parliament is officially housed in Immeuble Louise Weiss in Strasbourg, France?
 * ...that the Carolina dayflower (pictured) is actually from India and was named in the United States nearly a century before it was described in its native country?
 * ...that English football referee Gary Willard once had to be given a police safety escort off the pitch after sending off three home team players in a single game?
 * ...that there is no such bird as a woofen-poof?
 * ...that the Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary has been criticized by adherents of the King-James-Only Movement for convincing some Independent Baptist groups to adopt modern Bible translations?
 * ...that as a result of his role in the Peasants' War, the German Renaissance painter Jerg Ratgeb was executed by being torn apart by four horses?
 * ...that only eight of the planned 296 miles of the Indiana Central Canal were built, due to Indiana being bankrupted by the Panic of 1837?
 * ...that twice named All-American football tackle Robert "Brick" Wahl later became CEO of a Fortune 500 irrigation equipment company?
 * ...that the F class destroyer HMS Fury (pictured) carried the former King Edward VIII to France the day after he abdicated the throne?
 * ...that boats crammed with people from both India and Bangladesh, flying the flags of their respective countries, converge on the Ichamati River, the international border, to immerse the idols after Durga Puja?
 * ...that Philip Pullman's novel Clockwork was adapted into an opera for children?
 * ...that Tom Wolfe's 1981 book From Bauhaus to Our House blames the influence of International style European architects for creating many buildings that nobody likes?
 * ...that Mexican actress Pina Pellicer played the lover of Marlon Brando in One Eyed Jacks, the only movie Brando directed?
 * ...that the oasis town of Iferouane in northern Niger was the site of the first attack carried out by the Niger Movement for Justice, which marked the beginning of the Second Tuareg Rebellion?
 * ...that RAAF Beaufort squadrons fighting in New Guinea under the command of Group Captain Val Hancock were so short of ammunition in 1945 that they used captured Japanese ordnance to augment their bomb loads?
 * ...that the tradition of a Ukrainian flower wreath (pictured), a headdress worn by girls and young unmarried women, dates back to the pagan Slavic customs that predate the Christianization of Rus?
 * ...that shoots of Almond Willow are used extensively for basket-making?
 * ...that newly named U.S. Naval Academy head football coach Ken Niumatalolo is believed to be the first Pacific Islander American to be head coach at a major college football program?
 * ...that Otto Magnus von Stackelberg, Russian ambassador to Poland, can be considered an unofficial but de facto ruler of Poland?
 * ...that 20 year old tobacco store clerk Eddie Kolb was allowed to pitch the last regular season baseball game for the 1899 Cleveland Spiders in exchange for a box of cigars?
 * ...that the 25,000-year-old Venus of Brassempouy (pictured) is one of the oldest known realistic depictions of a human face?
 * ...that buildings in Kuala Lumpur have Mughal, Tudor, Neo-Gothic or Spanish architectural styles modified to use local resources and for the climate of Malaysia?
 * ...that Muhtar Kent, named to assume the post of CEO of the Coca-Cola Company on July 1, 2008, is the son of a Turkish diplomat, who risked his life to save Jews in France during the Holocaust?
 * ...that Chris Harris was the first basketballer from England to play in the NBA?
 * ...that John Pitre's 1965 visionary art painting, A New Dawn, which was valued at $1.7 million in 1997, was offered in trade for a £1 million house in London in 2004?
 * ...that Chase Austin was the first African American racecar driver to race in the NASCAR Busch Series?
 * ...that "I Am Your Gummy Bear", a silly novelty song whose video features a "jolly and jiggly" lime green cartoon gummi bear and a 30-second video clip in eight languages, is an internet meme?
 * ...that Princess Stéphanie of Monaco’s song "Ouragan" was a number one hit in France?
 * ...that the Smith Point Light at the mouth of the Potomac River was preceded by four other lighthouses and three lightships at the same site?
 * ...that during the Samanid dynasty, commentary on Persian poetry took the form of either slander or excessive praise, that is sophistry or exaggeration of trivial errors in a rival's poetry?
 * ...that the California wine industry accounts for nearly 90% of all U.S. production and if California were a country it would be the world's fourth largest wine producer?
 * ...that Ebrulf left his position as a Merovingian courtier to become a hermit?
 * ...that Lorraine Collett (pictured) was the original model for the girl featured on Sun-Maid raisin packaging?
 * ...that the National Assembly, Germany's legislature from 1919 to 1920, convened in Weimar to remind the World War I Allies of Germany's cultural history such as the Weimar residents Goethe and Schiller?
 * ...that Aline was an ordinary woman who lived in 1st century AD Egypt, and whose name and portrait were preserved in her grave?
 * ...that Country-Western singer, songwriter and actor Jimmy Wakely had his own series of DC Comics comic books, billing him as "Hollywood's Sensational Cowboy Star!"?
 * ...that the Duchess of Marlborough egg is the only Fabergé egg to have been commissioned by an American?
 * ...that Chinese-American author Laurence Yep's fantasy novel Dragon of the Lost Sea was originally conceived as a picture book adaptation of a folktale involving the Monkey King, a popular Chinese mythical character?
 * ...that Georgiana Harcourt, a 19th century English correspondent and translator, was the daughter of Edward Venables-Vernon-Harcourt, the Archbishop of York?
 * ...that Dumas House (pictured), a government office building in Perth, Western Australia, is named in honour of engineer and public servant Sir Russell John Dumas?
 * ...that Richard Nolte was appointed ambassador to the United Arab Republic for three weeks in 1967 but never served due to the outbreak of the Six-Day War?
 * ...that Liberian park Sapo National Park contains the second-largest tropical rainforest in West Africa after Taï National Park in neighbouring Côte d'Ivoire?
 * ...that British comedians Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie made one of their earliest television appearances in their 1983 television pilot The Crystal Cube, a show the BBC hated?
 * ...that the Gaddafi International Foundation for Charity Associations might be returned $2.33 billion in compensation if the Libyans convicted of the Pan AM and UTA plane bombings are cleared?
 * ...that the Madaba Map is a large Byzantine mosaic from circa 550 CE that depicts the topography of Jerusalem and surrounding areas in great detail?
 * ...that Wales had one of the highest literacy rates in eighteenth century Europe thanks to the wealthy Bridget Bevan (pictured), who sponsored a system of "circulating schools"?
 * ...that a symbolic April 1995 boat trip&mdash;celebrating the foundation of the Mekong River Commission&mdash;was unable to cross the Mekong River because China was filling the reservoir of its Manwan Dam?
 * ...that future four-star admiral John H. Sides, father of the United States Navy's guided-missile program, risked his career by participating in the Revolt of the Admirals?
 * ...that Qaqun, a Palestinian village depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, had been continuously inhabited by Arabs since as early as the Mamluk period?
 * ...that at the time, the 1947 Sydney hailstorm, which hospitalised at least 350 people, was the most severe storm to strike the city since records began in 1792?
 * ...that retired Major General Charles D. Metcalf is the current Director of the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, the world’s oldest and largest military aviation museum?
 * ...that Luo Binwang wrote a sharply-worded accusation against Empress Wu Zetian, China's only female emperor, that impressed her so much that after his death she collected his writings and published them?
 * ...that after the fall of Napoleon in France, some 200 Bonapartists fled to the United States and attempted to establish an agricultural settlement to grow wine grapes and olive trees in the Alabama wilderness?
 * ...that the only elements of the Nativity of Jesus in art (example pictured) to span the whole history of its depiction are the baby, the ox and the ass?
 * ...that George K. Gay ' s house was the first brick house in Oregon and served as the boundary marker between Yamhill and Polk counties?
 * ...that until recently many Chilean wines labeled Merlot and Sauvignon blanc were really made from Carménère and Sauvignon vert?
 * ...that Madeline L'Engle ran writers' workshops and retreats every January at Holy Cross Monastery in West Park, New York?
 * ...that Marsha Looper, a Republican state legislator elected to the Colorado House of Representatives in 2006 by a 2-to-1 margin, is also a systems engineer, real estate broker, and rancher?
 * ...that social activists opine that the extension of the Kolkata Metro on pillars on the bed of Adi Ganga will destroy the waterway?
 * ...that once economic advisor to Margaret Thatcher, Christopher Story went on to publish independent intelligence magazines that are considered important reading by many international top agencies?
 * ...that Venus figurines are Palaeolithic figures of women (example pictured), made in Eurasia between 20,000 and 30,000 years ago?
 * ...that Ralph Millet, who brought the first Saab cars to the United States, discussed production of Saabs in the U.S. in the 1950s, but that the idea was only resurrected with the U.S. production of a Saab in the 2006 model year?
 * ...that the preface of a book written by Saint Goeznovius is an important document in establishing a historical basis for the mythical British king, King Arthur?
 * ...that the tropical spiderwort (Commelina benghalensis) is a noxious weed in the United States, but used as a remedy against leprosy in Pakistan?
 * ...that Terry Pitt died after choking on nicotine-replacement chewing gum in the back of a taxi in Birmingham, England?
 * ...that unmatched dye lots can frustrate weeks of labor for a knitter or crocheter?
 * ...that Warren Storm pioneered a South Louisiana musical genre known as swamp pop?
 * ...that the Berlin Foundry Cup (pictured), an ancient Greek drinking cup by the Foundry Painter, depicts the operations of a bronze sculpture workshop?