Wikipedia:Recent additions 197

Did you know...

 * ...that ancient jousting battles near Smisby in Derbyshire provided the inspiration for a similar scene in the book Ivanhoe?
 * ...that Bill Jenkins' dragsters were known as "Grumpy's Toys"?
 * ...that excavations of earthworks conducted in the 19th century revealed evidence of possible Belgic fortifications at the site of Sharsted Court, a manor house near Newnham, Kent, England?
 * ...that Jan IV Oświęcimski, the duke of Oświęcim from 1445 to 1456, harassed the King of Poland so much that he was paid a debt that was promised him four years earlier?
 * ...that the German 15 cm sFH 18 was the first field gun to use Rocket Assisted Projectiles?
 * ...the divergent conclusions in the Krulak Mendenhall mission to South Vietnam led John F. Kennedy to ask his staff if Joseph Mendenhall and Victor H. Krulak had visited the same country?
 * ...that Judy Garland (pictured) is considered a gay icon for her "wonderfully over-the-top" film characters including her portrayal of Dorothy Gale in the The Wizard of Oz?
 * ...that as the result of a deal before the 2000 general election, Paul Bérenger became the first non-Hindu Prime Minister of Mauritius in 2003?
 * ...that a platoon of the 614th Tank Destroyer Battalion was the first segregated African-American unit of the US Army to receive a Distinguished Unit Citation?
 * ...that Wythenshawe Aerodrome was Manchester's first purpose-built municipal airfield, but was closed after one year due to the completion of Barton Aerodrome?
 * ...that Christian anarchist Dave Andrews was excommunicated from the parachurch Youth With A Mission?
 * ...that the Caribou Inuit people are defined by their fur clothing, use of sled dogs and their snowhouses?
 * ...that gay screenwriter Marco Pennette was outed in front of his parents on the People's Choice Awards red carpet by a colleague who asked him about his boyfriend?
 * ...that the Hindu serpent goddess Manasa, the "destroyer of poison", is worshiped mostly in the rainy season when the snakes are most active?
 * ...that the GAM-63 RASCAL, introduced in 1952 by the United States Air Force, was the first American standoff nuclear missile, capable of being launched by a plane up to 100 miles from its target?
 * ...that the region of Cieszyn Silesia was in 1920 divided by the Spa Conference between Poland and Czechoslovakia and remains divided to date?
 * ...that the Hoover Dam is an arch-gravity dam, combining the load-bearing features of a gravity dam and an arch dam?
 * ...that the final text of the Durban Declaration produced by the governments meeting at the World Conference against Racism 2001 does not contain the language that caused the Israeli and United States delegations to withdraw halfway through?
 * ...that former Michigan Wolverines football player Keith Bostic was elected by his teammates as the toughest guy on the National Football League Houston Oilers defense?
 * ...that the Western Islands Planning Area in Singapore houses the world's third largest refining centre, located in Jurong Island?
 * ...that in 1386, Georgia was invaded by Tamerlane and his Turco-Mongol forces, who sacked Tbilisi and captured the Georgian king Bagrat V?
 * ...that when Gyo Obata designed Great American Insurance Building at Queen City Square, he was inspired by Princess Diana's tiara for the top of the building?
 * ...that the Mezhyhirskyi Monastery (pictured) in Ukraine, mentioned in Nikolai Gogol’s novel Taras Bulba, is thought to have included the lost library of Yaroslav the Wise?
 * ...that Cliff Mapes, a Major League outfielder who played only three full seasons, was the starting right fielder for the New York Yankees' first of five consecutive world championships, in 1949?"
 * ...that National Scientist Dr. Fe del Mundo was the first Filipina enrolled in Harvard Medical School and the only female student at that time?
 * ...that a PRR Class E6 steam locomotive powered train equipped with a mobile darkroom for developing newsreels en route, delivered footage from Washington to New York faster than a chartered plane?
 * ...that All-American Bump Elliott and his brother Pete Elliott played halfback and quarterback for the Michigan football team that beat the USC Trojans 49-0 in the Rose Bowl 60 years ago on 1 Jan. 1948?
 * ...that in 1999, Song Il-gon became the first Korean filmmaker to win an award at the Cannes Film Festival?
 * ...that the name of Stob Choire Claurigh in Scotland translates from Gaelic as “Peak of the Brawling Corrie”, referring to the roaring of the stags inhabiting the corries of the mountain during the breeding season?
 * ...that Heinrich Steinhowel, a 15th-century German scholar and humanist who was physician to Eberhard, Count of Württemberg, is better known for translating Aesop's Fables (pictured) into German?
 * ...that wine made from the Italian grape Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso was praised by Pliny the Elder and a favorite of Caesar Augustus' wife Livia?
 * ...that the Brocard points, the Brocard circle and the Brocard triangle are named after French geometer Henri Brocard, who spent most of his life studying meteorology with no notable original contributions to the subject?
 * ...that Ernest Dynes, best known as an English cricketer in the 1920s and 1930s, served as Aide-de-camp to Queen Elizabeth II between 1955 and 1957, for which he was awarded the CBE?
 * ...that William W. Bedsworth, a judge at the California Courts of Appeal, is also a goal judge with the National Hockey League?
 * ...that prior to the emergence of anarcho-pacifism at the outbreak of World War II, there was a general agreement among anarchists that violence was inevitable?
 * ...that Campanula gelida, an endemic species of a bellflower, grows in nature only on one rock in the Czech Republic?
 * ...that the Crested Shelduck (pictured) is a critically endangered duck that has not been definitively seen since 1964, despite a handful of possible sightings and numerous surveys of its presumed habitat?
 * ...that the 2007 film 10 MPH documents a 100-day, 4,064-mile journey across the United States on a Segway scooter?
 * ...that Danish-American artist Antonio Jacobsen was called the "Audubon of Steam Vessels" for the scope, breadth and intricate details in the 6,000 works of sail and steam ships he painted?
 * ...that the Stora Istad wind park had to reduce its power output to below 10 MW in order to comply with Swedish law?
 * ...that Soviet sculptor Sergey Merkurov was the author of the three biggest monuments of Joseph Stalin erected in the USSR during the period of Stalinism?
 * ...that U.S. Route 199 is numbered as a spur of U.S. Route 99, which no longer exists?
 * ...that carbonate hardgrounds were most commonly formed during calcite sea intervals in the Ordovician and Jurassic periods in Earth's history, but were virtually absent from the aragonite seas of the Permian era?
 * ...that The Faun, a rare sculpture by Paul Gauguin, displayed for a decade by the Art Institute of Chicago and the van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam was actually a fake by British forger Shaun Greenhalgh?
 * ...that Navajo rugs (pictured) sold for $50 in gold as early as 1850?
 * ...that fingerboards, are reduced scale model figures of skateboards, that are featured in videos and used as 3-D visual aids for skateboarders to understand potential tricks and maneuvers?
 * ...that Ronald Reagan's autobiography, An American Life, reached number eight on The New York Times' bestsellers list?
 * ...that the Iron Range and Huron Bay Railroad never operated a single train, despite completing a 42-mile line and its own ore dock at a cost of over two million dollars?
 * ...that a poll conducted in 2006 indicated that 26% of Americans say the United States "should not be involved" with the United Nations?
 * ...that former Chicago Blackhawks player Al Suomi was offered a contract to play with a local St. Louis, Missouri hockey team at the age of 93?
 * ...that Colorado state representative Spencer Swalm spent time as a Christian missionary in Bolivia?
 * ...that Aimé Guibert, owner and winemaker of Mas de Daumas Gassac, was featured in the documentary Mondovino stating that "wine is dead"?
 * ...that Empress Dowager Wu of Tang China had Wu Youji’s wife secretly killed in 690 CE so that he could marry her widowed daughter, the Princess Taiping?
 * ...that eight human skeletons linked to suspected serial killer Daniel Conahan triggered the largest excavation of human remains in Florida history?
 * ...that blackfin scad (pictured) is a popular food fish in Cambodia and Thailand, where it is served fried, steamed or baked?
 * ...that William Stewart Simkins (pictured), who later became professor emeritus at the University of Texas School of Law, may have fired the first shot of the US Civil War?
 * ...that the day Wu Zetian, China's only female Emperor, was overthrown in 705 CE, Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong were killed and their heads were hung at an entrance to the capital?
 * ...that the 5th-century baptistery of the Cathedral of Saint-Léonce, one of France's oldest Christian structures, was concealed after reconstructions in the 13th century and re-discovered in 1925?
 * ...that the Hurricane Creek mine disaster, which killed 38 men in 1970, occurred exactly a year after passage of the first federal legislation regulating mine safety?
 * ...that blackfin scad is a popular food fish in Cambodia and Thailand, where it is served fried, steamed or baked?
 * ...that besides Bartter syndrome, endocrinologist Frederic Bartter also identified the syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone?
 * ...that Azizul Huque gave up his Knighthood after the Calcutta Riots in 1946?
 * ...that Laurent de Premierfait was the first French translator of Giovanni Boccaccio's material, which was done only for personal financial gain?
 * ...that Pratap Singh was the last ruler of Thanjavur to be officially referred to by the English East India Company as "His Majesty"?
 * ...that Surveyor General William Light (pictured) initially planned to build the city of Adelaide on the banks of the Sturt River before establishing it near the River Torrens instead?
 * ...that New Mexico State Road 4 forms the core of Jemez Mountain Trail National Scenic Byway, with trails to Puebloan ruins, a 10,199-foot mountain, and a 70-foot waterfall from roadside turnouts?
 * ...that articulation begins with the junction produced by creating a joint and is defined by the degree joints are seen as a "distinct break" from each other, in contrast to joints that seem fluid and continuous with the whole?
 * ...that Namibia Commercial Aviation has used the former presidential aircraft of Yugoslavia and Zambia for passenger flights?
 * ...that Al Javery, deferred from serving in World War II due to varicose veins, led all Major League Baseball pitchers in 1943 with 303 innings pitched?
 * ...that Empress Dowager Wu of Tang China was so fond of Feng Xiaobao, she had him undertake tonsure to become a Buddhist monk in order to facilitate his entering and exiting her palace?
 * ...that consuming excess carotenoids may lead to their deposition in the stratum corneum and a yellow to yellow-orange discoloration of the skin in a medical condition known as carotenoderma?
 * ...that Ellenville Middle School (pictured) abandoned an experiment with single-sex classes after the school failed to meet No Child Left Behind Act standards?
 * ...that, at the time of his death, 111-year-old veteran Mark Matthews was seen as a symbol for the Buffalo Soldiers?
 * ...that the Ramesseum medical papyri contained an contraceptive formula and a method to predict the likelihood of a newborn's survival?