Wikipedia:Recent additions 195

Did you know...

 * ...that during the Boonah crisis in October 1918, 31 people died of the Spanish flu aboard the Australian troopship the HMAT Boonah (pictured)?
 * ...that the modern Croatian intelligence community emerged as an integral force in Croatia's war for independence, spying on rival Yugoslav republics?
 * ...that before becoming the Judge Advocate General of the United States Navy, Thomas Leigh Gatch was awarded two Navy Crosses?
 * ...that most of Manchester's Grade I listed buildings are Victorian, because of Manchester's growth during the Industrial Revolution?
 * ...that the Rowan County War resulted in 20 deaths, talk of dissolving Rowan County, Kentucky, and the founding of what would become Morehead State University?
 * ...that the Italian winery Vini Lunardelli produced a controversial "historical line" of wine bottles featuring images of Che Guevara, Adolf Hitler, Winston Churchill and Josef Stalin on their labels?
 * ...that Carlo Orelli (pictured) was the last surviving Italian veteran to see service on Italy's entry into World War I?
 * ...that when St Hilary's Church in Wallasey, England burnt down in 1857, a new church was built separately, leaving the tower of the old medieval church as a free-standing edifice?
 * ...that in the cuisine of the Thirteen Colonies, coffee became the alternative to tea after the enactment of the Tea Act of 1773?
 * ...that netball in New Zealand is the most popular women's sport in the country, led by its high-profile national team, the Silver Ferns?
 * ...that Marine Attack Squadron 233 was the only squadron of the U.S. Marine Corps to have three commanders killed during the course of World War II?
 * ...that Svinøy island of Norway is so exposed to the wind and high seas that supply boats to the island's lighthouse could not dock but had to be lifted up by a crane?
 * ...that English botanist John Ralfs amassed a collection 3,137 microscopic slides, which he left in his will to the British Museum?
 * ...that the Battle of Chudniv in 1660 was the largest Polish victory over the Russians until the Battle of Warsaw in 1920?
 * ...that many churchgoers in the 1920s believed that Ronald Reagan's mother, Nelle Wilson Reagan, had the gift to heal due to her strong belief in the power of prayer?
 * ...that Irish playwright George Farquhar (pictured) originally planned on an acting career, but gave it up after accidentally wounding a fellow actor severely on stage with a sword?
 * ...that the four years between the two no ball decisions for throwing by cricketer Harold Cotton is the longest span during which a player was no-balled in major cricket in Australia?
 * ...that as well as serving as the assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Global Health, Kent R. Hill has also published books and served as the president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy?
 * ...that John Warren Davis, a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, was indicted for receiving a bribe from film producer William Fox?
 * ...that German-American football center Adolph F. "Germany" Schulz is credited for developing the "roving center" technique, which became the basis for the linebacker position?
 * ...that according to literary critics, The Queen and Concubine, a 17th-century tragicomic stage play written by Richard Brome, is a critique of royal tyranny and courtly sycophancy in England at the time?
 * ...that during the Spanish Civil War Solidaridad Obrera, published by an anarchist labor union, was Spain's highest-circulation newspaper?
 * ...that the Brooklyn Hospital Center is the oldest hospital of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City?
 * ...that the former Grand Opera House (pictured) in Seattle, Washington, USA is now a car park?
 * ...that the Abbey of Condat, founded in the 420s in the Jura Mountains by Romanus and Lupicinus, predated even Montecassino as one of the earliest monasteries in the West?
 * ...that, after failing to hail a cab on New Years' Eve in Denver, state representative Jerry Frangas sponsored legislation to deregulate Colorado's taxicab industry?
 * ...that although Louisiana per Perry v. Louisiana forbids the forced medication of a death row inmate to make him competent for execution, some states allow it?
 * ...that the well known white wine region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia also makes red wine from grapes like Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Pignolo?
 * ...that indigenous Australian cricketer Jack Marsh was called for illegally throwing instead of bowling an Australian record seventeen times in one innings?
 * ...that in the 17th century, south-London prostitutes, nicknamed Winchester Geese after the Bishop whose land they worked on, were buried in a special, unconsecrated graveyard called Cross Bones?
 * ...that people with patent foramen ovale, an atrial septal defect, are more likely to suffer from migraine headaches?
 * ...that U.S. Salvation Army Christmas kettles have collected not only American Gold Eagles (coin pictured), but also gold teeth?
 * ...that the Laetare Medal, an award for an American Catholic who has made an outstanding contribution to society, was first given to the historian John Gilmary Shea in 1883?
 * ...that The Entrepreneur, the first video game created by famed game designer Peter Molyneux, sold only two copies?
 * ...that Ava Helen Pauling, an American human rights activist and wife of Nobel laureate Linus Pauling, was a three-time national vice president of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom?
 * ...that Powderfinger's D.A.F. was named after its chord progression, rather than its subject matter like most popular songs?
 * ...that Richard Lloyd Racing's custom-built 956 GTi was structurally stronger than the standard 956's built by Porsche thanks to the introduction of aluminium composite honeycomb in the chassis construction?
 * ...that the skin of the Austrian white wine grape Zierfandler turns red just before it is ready to harvest?
 * ...that after turning up drunk at an official dinner, crowing cock-a-doodle-doos, and throwing himself on an ambassadress, J.B. Manson retired as Director of the Tate gallery and returned to painting flowers (pictured)?
 * ...that the Nobel laureate physicist Theodor W. Hänsch works at the faculty of the Max-Planck-Institute of Quantum Optics?
 * ...that the 18th century publisher Ralph Griffiths erected a sign outside his shop warning dunces that his Monthly Review would have no mercy in exposing and shaming dull authors?
 * ...that Shanhua, a township in Taiwan, is also known as Bakaloan and Tevoran?
 * ...that after scoring the highest score for the Federated Malay States cricket team in 1933, Cyril Reed was playing against them for the Straits Settlements the following year?
 * ...that spinning cones are sometimes used to lower the alcohol level of wine made from grapes with a high sugar content?
 * ...that according to the Christmas Price Index it will cost your true love US$78,100 to buy you all those gifts this year?
 * ...that Philippine Christmas lanterns, called Parols (pictured), are also used in Christmas celebrations in Austria, Canada and California?
 * ...that to clear a jammed gun on the armored cruiser USS Brooklyn, Medal of Honor recipient Harry L. MacNeal crawled along its barrel during the Battle of Santiago de Cuba?
 * ...that wine made from the Italian grape Schioppettino was served at weddings in 1282 and the grape is still being grown today?
 * ...that development of the 2008 film Dragonball began in 2002, when 20th Century Fox acquired the rights?
 * ...that in the 1971 film Lawman, American actor Robert Ryan played the role of the sheriff under the name Cotton Ryan?
 * ...that Franz Kafka's 1917 "Jackals and Arabs" has been read as variously a Zionist critique of Western Jewry, a European critique of Jewish-Arab relations, and a paean to Nietzsche's On the Genealogy of Morality?
 * ...that in 1971, the Indian Claims Commission ordered US$74,856.50 to be paid to the Lower Skagit tribe to pay for land lost as a result of the Point Elliott Treaty?
 * ...that Frank Pitcher was the only cricketer in Australia history to be no balled for throwing in his debut match?
 * ...that St. Thomas' Church, Mellor (pictured) contains a pulpit which is the oldest wooden pulpit in England, and possibly in the world?
 * ...that, with Christine Scanlan's appointment to the Colorado House of Representatives, the state house's Democratic caucus became majority-female?
 * ...that the Zoological Garden of Hamburg built the world's largest primate house in 1915, only to see most of the monkeys starve to death during World War I and the zoo go bankrupt in 1920?
 * that when the Duke of Austria, Leopold III, established reign over the Italian city of Trieste one of his stipulations was that the city supply him each year with 100 urns of the region's best Ribolla wine?
 * ...that before the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Jackson v. Indiana, an incompetent criminal defendant could be involuntarily confined indefinitely (as if given a life sentence) without a trial or a conviction?
 * ...that Ron DeGregorio was elected in 2003 as the fourth president of USA Hockey since 1937?
 * ...that Viktor Pynzenyk, Ukraine's Minister of Finance, is also a professor of economics at Lviv University?
 * ...that the world's most extensive deposits of eolianite (example pictured), rocks formed by the lithification of sediments deposited by wind, are located on the southern and western coasts of Australia?
 * ...that the British shipping company Ellerman Lines lost 60 out of its 105 strong fleet of merchant vessels during the Second World War?
 * ...that cricketer Barry Fisher had a metal pin surgically inserted into his shoulder to prevent injury while bowling, although he still suffered from persistent shoulder problems?
 * ...that Soma Cruz, the protagonist of Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, the third installment of the Castlevania video game series on the Game Boy Advance, is the reincarnation of the series' premier villain, Dracula?
 * ...that the SAPPHIRE information network helped prevent epidemics in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, using Semantic Web technologies?
 * ...that after serving as a border guard, Saint Claudius of Besançon became, successively, a priest, monk, abbot, bishop, and then an abbot again, in the 7th century?
 * ...that there is currently significant controversy on college and university rankings like those used for business school rankings because some of the methodologies are deemed misleading?
 * ...that the Tierpark Hagenbeck zoo of Hamburg, Germany (pictured) was the first to use moats instead of cages to separate the animals from the public?
 * ...that Luv Ya Blue was the term given to a 1970s movement by fans of the Houston Oilers that featured fight songs, pom-pons and other gimmicks more reminiscent of college football than the NFL?
 * ...that Hector Munro Macdonald graduated as fourth Wrangler in the Mathematical Tripos of 1889?
 * ...that "Clash of the Choirs" was a quick reality talent contest miniseries between celebrity-led amateur choirs that was criticized for a lack of tension and actual judges?
 * ...that, upon exhumation, the 10th century saint Rasso was found to be 2 meters (6' 6") tall, although, given that his grave was 2 and a half meters, he had earlier been thought to be even taller?
 * ...that Frank Parr, an English chess player, won the Hastings Premier during his first and only appearance at the tournament in 1939/1940?
 * ...that Christopher Erhardt was a product planner for companies such as Teledyne, and is now working on a doctoral dissertation on video game players' demographic considerations?
 * ...that the Zionist leader Leo Motzkin organized the Jewish delegation to the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 and led agitations against the Nazi Party?