Wikipedia:Recent additions 199

Did you know...

 * ...that the captain of the steamboat Natchez would increase his boat's speed by putting bacon and hog fat in its engines, and giving his men whiskey?
 * ...that Pachycheilosuchus was a crocodile relative from the Early Cretaceous of Texas that was less than a meter (3.3 ft) long and had a large shield of bony armor on its neck?
 * ...that the Hebrew term Illui, meaning genius, refers to Talmud scholars held in the highest regard?
 * ...that Traffic in Towns, a 1963 report by the UK Department of Transport, warned of damage to downtown shopping districts by car traffic, and offered solutions to the problem?
 * ...that as part of the redesign of the Grand Staircase in the Truman-era White House, architect Lorenzo Winslow developed a series of maquettes, detailed scale models showing the proposed designs?
 * ... that the current Australian prime minister and treasurer both attended Nambour State High School?
 * ... that even as he embarked on a 24-year career in the U.S. Congress, William Alden Smith oversaw construction of the Grand Rapids, Kalkaska and Southeastern Railroad?
 * ... that the Noric language is attested in only two inscriptions, one from Grafenstein, Austria, and the other from Ptuj, Slovenia?
 * ... that the General Motors Building in New York City set a record high price, when it sold for 1.4 billion USD in 2003?
 * ... that Hermann Göring's chief art looter, Bruno Lohse, controlled a secret vault of looted paintings, discovered in Zurich in May 2007?
 * ... that the Rural City of Marong, a local government in Victoria, Australia, voted itself out of existence in 1994 after the Kennett Liberal government introduced legislation designed to void a Supreme Court injunction preventing its amalgamation?
 * ...that the Poughkeepsie YMCA building (pictured) is the only one in the city using glazed terra cotta?
 * ...that Doris Day rejected an offer to star in the The Helen Morgan Story, refusing to portray the sordid story of a character that conflicted with Day's on-screen persona?
 * ...that the Portuguese conquest of the Jaffna Kingdom led to all the remaining royal descendants becoming nuns and monks in holy orders?
 * ...that Sir Christopher Chancellor was selected to lead the Reuters news agency in 1944, after keeping the agency's reporting from China operating during the seven years following the Japanese invasion?
 * ...that the BBC have used Appreciation Index ratings to gauge reactions of children to their programming?
 * ...that the French flying boat Breguet 730 was designed in the 1930s, but didn't enter service in the French Navy until after the end of World War II due to the German occupation of that country?
 * ...that, before building the landmark Gandy Bridge, George Gandy was known for building a large successful theatre, originally derided as "Gandy's White Elephant"?
 * ...that Bruce Barton, in his bestselling 1925 book, The Man Nobody Knows, portrayed Jesus as "the founder of modern business"?
 * ...that despite dropping out of a screenwriting course at university before graduating, Christopher B. Landon went on to write the box office hit film Disturbia?
 * ...that Spanish officer Félix María Calleja del Rey was named "Count of Calderón" after leading his outnumbered forces to victory at the Battle of Calderón Bridge in the Mexican War of Independence?
 * ...that Eric John Underwood spent 30 years researching the effects of sulphur, botulism and the nutritional value of hay on sheep at Avondale Agricultural Research Station?
 * ...that the large hanging nest of the Yellow-throated Scrubwren (pictured) is used by the Golden-tipped Bat as a daytime roost in the forests of Eastern Australia?
 * ...that the Maniot pirate, Limberakis Gerakaris, was twice held as a prisoner by the Ottomans and spent the last fourteen years of his life as a Venetian prisoner?
 * ...that freestyle swimmer Kim Peyton, a gold medalist at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, won a gold medal at the 1971 Pan American Games at age 14 and set three U.S. swimming records at ages 9 and 10?
 * ...that the influence of Ancient Greece on wine has played a formidable role in the history of nearly every major European wine region and of wine itself?
 * ...that Eric Clapton's guest appearance playing lead guitar on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" was uncredited?
 * ...that the Anglo-Bavarian Brewery, constructed in Somerset in 1864 and now designated as an historic site, was the first brewery in Britain to produce lager?
 * ...that Paul Worley, a Grammy Award-winning country music record producer and guitarist, got his start in the 1970s playing guitar for Janie Fricke and Eddy Raven?
 * ...that the Canal de Marseille, built in 1849, is an 80 km canal which runs through Provence to bring water from the Durance to Marseille, in France?
 * ...that David O. Selznick acquired the rights to make 1957's A Farewell to Arms from Warner Bros. by trading the foreign rights to remake A Star Is Born that Selznick owned and Warner needed?
 * ...that Western Australia's Number 1 sawmill, later called Deanmill (pictured), was constructed to provide timber railway sleepers for the Trans-Australian Railway?
 * ...that Ric Williamson, the departed chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission advocated toll roads, including the controversial Trans-Texas Corridor, to increase his state's highway capacity?
 * ...that The Hazel Scott Show was the first U.S. network television series to be hosted by a Black woman?
 * ...that despite multiple transfers of ownership, after 123 years trains still haul paper products over the White River Railroad's line?
 * ...that Tabasco sauce heir John Avery McIlhenny stepped down as president of his family's company to serve in Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders volunteer cavalry regiment in 1898?
 * ...that Englishman Christopher Merret wrote the first description of the méthode champenoise used to make sparkling wine, long before it was documented in the Champagne region of France?
 * ...that Sara Gagliardi has introduced legislation in the Colorado House of Representatives to allow residents of that state to opt out from receiving junk mail?
 * ...that Rastafarian Papa Noel Dyer, known as "the man who walked to Ethiopia" from England, actually hitchhiked?
 * ...that some fish diseases are caused by carnivorous algae feeding on living prey?
 * ...that Captain (later Air Vice Marshal) William H. Anderson (pictured) and his observer, Lieutenant J.R. Bell, accounted for No. 3 Squadron AFC's first confirmed kill in World War I?
 * ...that Alpine Club president Edward Lisle Strutt called the north face of the Eiger "an obsession for the mentally deranged of almost every nation"?
 * ...that although American law requires proof of a defendant's "guilty mind" as an element of the crime, it is not concerned with motive?
 * ...that Sir Condor Laucke was a member of the Parliament of South Australia and a President of the Australian Senate before serving as Lieutenant Governor of South Australia?
 * ...that no commercial boat has beaten the steamboat Robert E. Lee's 1870 speed record between New Orleans and St. Louis of 90 hours and 14 minutes to this day?
 * ...that a shell stitch is a crochet motif often used for decorative borders?
 * ...that before he died, Dr William Oliver gave his coachman £100, 10 sacks of flour and a recipe for a type of biscuit named after its inventor that is still eaten today?
 * ...that Canada and the Soviet Union were disqualified from the 1987 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships following the Punch-up in Piestany, costing Canada a potential gold medal?
 * ...that a pig named King Neptune helped raise $19 million in war bonds between 1942 and 1946?
 * ...that the hull of the kettuvallams, Kerala houseboats, (pictured) are built of wooden boards tied together by coir rope?
 * ...that despite not being the most favored version of the three Mazda AZ-550 concept cars unveiled at the 1989 Tokyo Motor Show, the "Type A" ended up being selected for production?
 * ...that the Tuanku Ja'afar Cup was a cricket tournament contested by the national sides of Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand from 1991-2004, and was won by Hong Kong in 9 of the 14 competitions?
 * ...that French physician Edme Castaing is thought to have been the first person to commit murder using morphine, 18 years after it was discovered?
 * ...that Nicholas de Balmyle, former Chancellor of Scotland, became Bishop of Dunblane in 1307 when he was likely in his 70s, but nevertheless lived on to hold the position for at least another 12 years?
 * ...that the Cascade Locks and Canal, completed in 1896 to allow the steamboats of the Columbia River to bypass the Cascades Rapids, were submerged in 1938, when the Bonneville Dam was constructed?
 * ...that the construction of the Çanakkale Martyrs' Memorial, commemorating over 250,000 Turkish soldiers who participated in the Battle of Gallipoli in WWI, was completed with nationwide financial contributions?
 * ...after years of studying airflow at supersonic speeds, Adolf Busemann suggested that aerodynamicists, who had forgotten his swept wing work until they got together again during Operation Paperclip, need to become 'pipe fitters'?
 * ...that Earl Bakken who invented the wearable cardiac pacemaker and co-founded Medtronic also created The Bakken, the world's only library and museum devoted to electricity in life?
 * ...that the Hoornbeek Store Complex in Napanoch, New York reflects the transition from the Federal style to Greek Revival in American architecture?
 * ...that the Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Wheeler that the Constitution alone did not give the government of the United States the authority to prosecute kidnappers?
 * ...that Tom Wolfe left Farrar, Straus and Giroux, his publisher for 42 years and 13 books, to make a deal with Little, Brown and Company for his forthcoming novel Back to Blood?
 * ...that the Ladies' Confederate Memorial in Lexington, Kentucky was described by Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper as "the most perfect thing of its kind in the South"?
 * ...that the mountaineer Florence Crauford Grove led the first ascent, 1874, of Mount Elbrus (pictured), the highest mountain in Europe?
 * ...that the Battle of Dombås was a German attempt during the 1940 Norwegian Campaign at using Fallschirmjägers to cut rail and road links in central Norway?
 * ...that Leo Laliman, while accredited for the solution to the Great French Wine Blight, was thought by many people to have introduced the pest which caused the blight?
 * ...that former The Daily Telegraph obituaries editor Hugh Massingberd reshaped the style of the British obituary from a reverential recital of biographical data to a cunningly witty yet deadpan narrative on the decedent's life?
 * ...that actor Loren Dean won a Theatre World Award in 1989 for his Off Broadway debut in the play Amulets Against the Dragon Forces?
 * ...that of the vast Silva Carbonaria, "the charcoal forest" that stretched from south of Brussels to the Rhine in Merovingian days, 44.21 km² still remains in the Forêt de Soignes/Zoniënwoud?
 * ...that during World War II, No. 233 Squadron RAF (pictured) lost four aircraft out of a total of twenty-four supply flights flown at the end of D-Day, June 6, 1944?
 * ...that 19th century magician and vaudeville star Anton Zamloch was accused, and then exonerated, of having "bewitched" a woman's wedding ring from her gloved hand?
 * ...that in the 1783 Peace of Paris, the Dutch Republic granted to Great Britain unobstructed navigation rights in the eastern seas?
 * ...that Australian poet and writer, Dame Mary Gilmore recorded her childhood memories of the dispossession of the Wiradjuri people and the destruction of native habitat by European settlers around Wagga Wagga?
 * ...that in 1957, Art Houtteman was called "a pitcher of considerable promise" by Hal Lebovitz despite playing in his 12th and final Major League season that year?
 * ...that the Workers and Peasants Party leader K.N. Joglekar successfully moved a resolution that the Indian National Congress should demand full independence for India?
 * ...that the 1980s oil glut caused the world price of oil, which had peaked during the 1979 energy crisis at over US$35 per barrel, to dip below US$15 in the early 1980s?
 * ...that a former principal of Tubman Elementary School received a national award for her work which included a discipline program featuring a due process system for punishment referrals?
 * ...that the tropical marine fish razorbelly scad (Alepes kleinii, pictured) has a complicated taxonomic history in which the species has been described and named no less than seven times since 1793, including twice re-classified in 1833?
 * ...that Humphrey Chetham founded Chetham's Library, the oldest public library in the English-speaking world?
 * ...that Tiefland, Leni Riefenstahl’s last full-feature film,  made it into the Guiness Book of World Records on account of its long production time?
 * ...that Reeve Aleutian Airways was started with a down payment of $3,000 on one DC-3 aircraft, and that Robert Campbell Reeve, the founder, earned enough money in 53 days to purchase the aircraft outright and buy another three aircraft!
 * ...that the sitcom pilot Free Agents is likely to become the third show from Channel 4's Comedy Showcase to be given a full series?
 * ...that the East End Historic District in Newburgh, New York, has the most contributing properties of any Registered Historic District in the state?
 * ...that the site of Endymion's cave, where Selene's beloved sleeps forever, a sanctuary on the slopes of Latmus, still exists in Aydin Province, southwestern Turkey?
 * ...that two local Christians stopped by the dedication ceremony for Spring Glen Synagogue's Torah scrolls and presented the congregation with a Bible?
 * ...that the BMW R1150GS motorcycle was used by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman on their 2004 Long Way Round ride from London to New York?
 * ...that San Martín Pajapan Monument 1 (pictured), a large Olmec statue of a young lord raising the axis mundi under supernatural protection, was found near the peak on an extinct volcano??
 * ...that the Wellsville, Addison and Galeton Railroad was also known as "The Sole Leather Line"?
 * ...that football (soccer) midfielder Evan Berger was nominated for an informal Australia Day award by his local council for representing Australia in the national under-20 team?
 * ...that the unofficial representative of Soviet Russia in the USA, Ludwig Martens, created an illegal Soviet Bureau that established links with more than one thousand American firms including J.P. Morgan banks?
 * ...that although Were Ilu served as an organizing point for the Ethiopian army at the beginning of the First Italo-Abyssinian War, as late as 1962 this settlement was connected to nearby towns by only trails?
 * ...that the drowning of Edwin, son of Edward the Elder, half-brother of King Athelstan of England, in 933 was described as an execution and a suicide by medieval English historians?
 * ...that after losing the Battle of Toba-Fushimi in Japan's 1868 Boshin War, Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu took refuge on the USS Iroquois rather than spend the night in Osaka Castle?
 * ...that All-American end Ed Frutig was the main pass receiver for Heisman Trophy winner Tom Harmon from 1938-1940?
 * ...that Bury Castle in Greater Manchester was razed to the ground in 1485, 16 years after it was built, because its owner supported the losing side in the Wars of the Roses?
 * ...that the practice of taking cats aboard ships (example pictured) dates back to the Ancient Egyptians?
 * ...that the Louisville and Portland Canal, opened in 1830, was the first major improvement completed on a major river of the United States?
 * ...that former Red Army Faction terrorist Stefan Wisniewski escaped from a reform school seven times in one year in his youth?
 * ...that the Paw Paw Railroad was the shortest common carrier railroad in Michigan?
 * ...that Joseph Lazarow, then mayor of Atlantic City, New Jersey, shook over 11,000 hands in one day to break Theodore Roosevelt's record of 8,513?
 * ...that the 2002 Pi Glilot bombing in Tel Aviv was a failed terror attack at a gas depot that could have killed thousands ?
 * ...that in 1908 Eulabee Dix painted the last portrait from life of Mark Twain?
 * ...that the Labour Kisan Party of Hindustan organised India's first May Day celebrations in 1923?
 * ...that after being ousted as mayor of Georgetown, Colorado, Koleen Brooks posed topless for Playboy?
 * ...that fishes from the genus Alepes are characterised by a curve in their lateral line?
 * ...that the anarcho-syndicalist Argentine Workers' Federation was the country's first national labor confederation?
 * ...that E. S. Kennedy – a founding member of London's Alpine Club – proposed a modification to the mountaineering ice axe based on the American backwoodsman's axe?
 * ...that actor Noah Bean says he was so shy as a child that his school asked his parents if there was something wrong at home?
 * ...that the Cross of Valour and the Star of Courage (pictured) are the two highest ranks of Canadian Bravery Decorations?
 * ...that with a rapidly declining birth rate, Japan's elderly, with the world's highest proportion at 20% of the population, is expected to double to 40% of residents by 2055?
 * ...that although Hillary Clinton has fewer delegates than John Edwards to the state convention of the 2008 Iowa Democratic Caucuses, she would receive one more to the national convention?
 * ...that Storm 91C of 2006 has been classified a tropical, subtropical, and extratropical cyclone?
 * ...that the actors in the film Planet of Dinosaurs had to sign partial payment deferments on their contracts, because most of the budget was spent on stop motion dinosaurs?
 * ...that the kitchen of the Conde-Charlotte House was originally constructed in 1822 to be the first courthouse and jail of Mobile, Alabama?
 * ...that George the Hagiorite from Georgia who became Saint George to the Georgian Orthodox Church had his biography written in 1084 by a disciple who was called George?
 * ...that before brick became available as a building material, churches in medieval Northern Europe were commonly built with glacial erratics and rubble?
 * ...that in only his second Major League start, Dick Selma threw a New York Mets franchise record 13 strikeouts in a 10-inning shutout victory?
 * ...that Bombardment of Algiers, an oil-on-canvas by Thomas Luny, depicts the titular battle in which over 1000 Christians were liberated from slavery in Algeria?
 * ...that Job Charnock landed at Jorabagan, Sutanuti ghat in 1690, which is believed by many to be the starting point of the metropolitan growth of Kolkata?
 * ...that Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the doors of All Saints' Church, Wittenberg, Germany (pictured), in which he is also buried?
 * ...that painter Herman Rose was noted for his Impressionistic portraits, created by painting large numbers of small blurry squares to create his highly detailed images of cityscapes?
 * ...that Vorpostenboot, the patrol boats that the Kriegsmarine used in World War II, were in fact modified fishing ships?
 * ...that the Japanese role-playing game Night Wizard! was adapted into an animated television series consisting of thirteen episodes?
 * ...that Bunscoill Ghaelgagh is the only primary school that teaches only in the Manx language?
 * ...that the Little Guilin in Singapore is given its name because of its resemblance to the scenery in Guilin, China?
 * ...that Winston's Hiccup refers to the huge zigzag in Jordan’s eastern border with Saudi Arabia, supposedly because Winston Churchill hiccuped as he drew the boundary of Transjordan after a generous and lengthy lunch?
 * ...that the Sturmtrupp-Pfadfinder, founded in 1926, was the first coed Scout association in Germany, and that they had strong ties to Scouts in the United States, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Scandinavia?
 * ...that during World War II, James Hutchison was in the Special Operations Executive, and needed plastic surgery to disguise his appearance from the Germans?
 * ...that the Hood Mockingbird (pictured) will occasionally attack people in an attempt to get fresh water from them?
 * ...that despite its northern location, the Ahr produces more red wine from grapes like Pinot noir than any other wine region in Germany?
 * ...that Pearson's Candy Company, a Saint Paul, Minnesota confectioner, once produced the Seven Up Bar and the Chicken Dinner Bar?
 * ...that upon his 1915 arrest from the lines of the 12th Cavalry at Meerut, Vishnu Ganesh Pingle is said to have had enough explosives to blow up an entire regiment?
 * ...that Ælfwynn became the second woman to rule the Mercians when her mother Æthelflæd died in 918, but was deposed by King Edward the Elder and sent into exile in December of that year?
 * ...that when Rudolf Rocker became the editor of the short-lived Yiddish anarchist newspaper Dos Fraye Vort, he did not speak Yiddish?
 * ...that the amino acid glutamine can be broken down to produce glutamate, aspartate, carbon dioxide, pyruvate, lactate, alanine and citrate?
 * ...that James Duncan helped co-found both the American Federation of Labor and the International Labor Organization?
 * ...that the Warsaw Armoured Motorized Brigade of the Polish Army during the German invasion in 1939, was commanded by Stefan Rowecki, who later became the first commander of the Polish resistance Armia Krajowa?
 * ...that significant buildings of the Brick Gothic style (pictured), which came after Brick Romanesque and before Brick Renaissance, survive in 10 Northern European countries?
 * ...that during the American Civil War, Indiana, a Northern state, saw one township secede from the Union?
 * ...that the West India Fruit and Steamship Company's ferries carried cars and rail freight between the United States and Cuba until the American embargo on trade with Cuba?
 * ...that children's TV show Supernormal was developed by the creators of the controversial internet cartoon Happy Tree Friends?