Wikipedia:Recent additions 202

Did you know...

 * ...that Jacob Piatt Dunn in 1886 wrote the first scholarly history concerning the Indian Wars?
 * ...that because Fr. Joseph Strub believed the Irish were not seen to be as hard-working as Germans, he specifically requested that Fr. William Power not be selected as the first rector of the Pittsburgh Catholic College?
 * ...that in recent years the alcoholic beverage ouzo has been subject of intense scientific study?
 * ...that Indianapolis' Garfield Park Conservatory was the first glass and welded-aluminum conservatory in the United States?
 * ...that production of Lost: Missing Pieces (short mobisodes/webisodes spun-off from the TV series Lost) was delayed several times due to contractual issues with the actors, writers and directors guilds?
 * ...that William Revelli, director of the University of Michigan Marching Band for 36 years, was the first to synchronize music and movement, in place of traditional rigid military-style formations?
 * ...that in 1968, French astronomer Agop Terzan discovered Terzan 7 an unusually young 7.5 billion year old globular cluster of the Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy?
 * ...that U.S. Route 50 in California was the route traveled by many '49ers and the Pony Express, and later became California's first state highway and a branch of the Lincoln Highway?
 * ...that Oregon judge William G. East ordered Robert F. Kennedy to explain why the U.S. government should not pay a private attorney his fees who was ordered to defend a criminal defendant?
 * ...that Association Footballer Billy Mosforth was a leading exponent of the screw shot, which allows players to bend the ball's trajectory?
 * ...that Omaha pioneer real estate agent Byron Reed was one of the greatest collectors of the 19th century, with a collection currently valued at almost $8,000,000?
 * ...that despite being unfinished, Lazaro Cardenas Dam successfully protected the Mexican towns of Gómez Palacio and Torreón from possible flooding triggered by Hurricane Naomi in 1968?
 * ...that the first and only President of London's Oriental Club was the Duke of Wellington (pictured)?
 * ...that in 2002 the Western New York and Pennsylvania Railroad bought 41½ miles (66.8 km) of track between Meadville and Corry, Pennsylvania for $1?
 * ...that the 1982 release of the album Juju Music by the Nigerian band King Sunny Adé and His African Beats has been credited with launching the World Beat movement in the United States?
 * ...that the Polish Astronomical and Meteorogical Observatory, located on the peak of Pop Iwan (2022 meters above sea level) in Chornohora, was the highest located permanently inhabited building in interbellum Poland?
 * ...that after serving as the Treasurer of the Nebraska Territory, Augustus Kountze went on to establish a banking institution with branches in Omaha, Denver and New York City?
 * ...that wine in ancient Rome, which the ancient Romans used lead to sweeten it, was forbidden to be drank by women, under the penalty of death or divorce?
 * ...that a bridge has existed at the site of the Pont Notre-Dame (pictured) in Paris, France since antiquity?
 * ...that presidential candidate Barack Obama's chief of staff, Pete Rouse, came to be known as "the 101st Senator" due to his savvy on Capitol Hill?
 * ...that the Tang Dynasty chancellor Zhang Jianzhi, despite a long civil service career, did not become a chancellor until age 79, and a year later took part in overthrowing the only female emperor in Chinese history, Wu Zetian?
 * ...that Paul's walk, the central aisle of Old St Paul's Cathedral, was a grapevine for London gossip and news during the 16th and 17th centuries?
 * ...that John William Hansen, a member of International Cricket Council's Code of Conduct Commission, is a New Zealand High Court justice?
 * ...that before the bobsleigh track in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy was shortened to its current configuration in 1981, it was used as part of the film For Your Eyes Only?
 * ...that Biglow Canyon Wind Farm is the largest planned wind farm in the U.S. state of Oregon?
 * ...that Carl Frederik von Breda (pictured), a Swedish portraitist who trained with Joshua Reynolds, was unable to complete his two largest commissions due to a coup and lack of studio space?
 * ...that David Suzuki: The Autobiography is actually David Suzuki's second autobiography?
 * ...that Israeli scholar Charles Liebman pioneered contemporary scholarship on American Orthodox Judaism and argued that "religious extremism is the norm" in Israel?
 * ...that Charles R. Brayton, as political boss of Rhode Island, pushed through legislation called the Brayton Act that limited the state's governor to appointing little more than his own private secretary?
 * ...that the radio station of North Community High School in Minneapolis, Minnesota is the official broadcaster for traffic reports in the area?
 * ...that German philosopher Leo Frobenius thought that all non-European culture in Africa had to be the result of a white civilization which he called the African Atlantis?
 * ...that Kenneth Summers pastored four Assemblies of God churches before being elected to the Colorado House of Representatives in 2006?
 * ...that the Indiana Historical Society (pictured) is the oldest state historical society west of the Allegheny Mountains?
 * ...that the name Alexandra was considered unlucky by the Romanov family because so many Alexandras in the family, including Grand Duchess Alexandra Alexandrovna of Russia, died young?
 * ...that law professor Ralph Aigler, once known as the "dominant figure in Michigan's athletics," negotiated the Big Ten's exclusive contracts with the Rose Bowl in 1946 and 1953?
 * ...that in Test cricket, Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar, with 39 centuries, leads the list of batsmen making centuries?
 * ...that immunologist Robert A. Good documented the importance of the thymus gland and tonsils in the immune system and performed the first successful human bone marrow transplant?
 * ...that Savanna Portage State Park preserves a historic portage trail used by Native Americans, fur traders, and explorers to cross between the watershed of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River?
 * ...that Mretebi Tbilisi was the first openly professional football club to be founded in the Soviet Union?
 * ...that Kasztanka, Polish Marshal Józef Piłsudski's favorite combat mare, (pictured) was stuffed upon her death in 1927 and after World War II was destroyed allegedly on the orders of Piłsudski's enemy, Marshal Michał Rola-Żymierski?
 * ...that Colorado state representative Victor Mitchell secured state funding for Project Lifesaver programs that would provide tracking bracelets for the cognitvely impaired?
 * ...that Independent Learning Centre started the Railway School Car Program in 1926, in which a teacher lived in a train car that traveled to students in isolated Northern Ontario communities?
 * ...that the Allied force which landed on Morotai in September 1944 was over a hundred times larger than the Japanese force defending the island?
 * ...that Dr. Frederick Madison Allen prescribed a "starvation diet" for patients at his Physiatric Institute, the leading way of prolonging lives of diabetics in the days before the isolation of insulin?
 * ...that Dell Comics issued contemporaneous comic books featuring the ABC network's 1961 TV series, Follow the Sun?
 * ...that so far, 350,000 people have been relocated in Turkey by dam projects carried out by the State Hydraulic Works, and 250,000 more will be affected in the future?
 * ...that Dutch mannerist painter Cornelis Ketel, towards the end of a successful career as a portraitist (example, right) in Elizabethan London and Amsterdam, began to paint with his toes?
 * ...that Barry Coe, the winner of the Golden Globe award for "most promising" actor, missed out on becoming the fourth Cartwright brother on the television series Bonanza because of reported friction on the set?
 * ...that Jerry Dybzinski's baserunning error in game four of the 1983 American League Championship Series ultimately cost the Chicago White Sox both the game and the series?
 * ...that the Japanese destroyer Matsu had a very short career: just more than three months from her completion in 1944, to her sinking as she returned from her first escort mission?
 * ...that newly crowned Miss America 2008 Kirsten Haglund's grandmother competed at Miss America 1944?
 * ...that the boundary between Sudan and Ethiopia was defined for the region near the Pibor River in 1899 by Major H.H. Austin and Major Charles W. Gwynn of the British Royal Engineers?
 * ...that the US Navy's Haskell class attack transports Bexar (pictured), Bottineau, Bollinger and Rockwall all participated in the Bikini Atoll atomic bomb tests in 1946?
 * ...that Marie Roethlisberger placed seventh at the 1984 United States Olympic gymnastic trials (making her the alternate for the six-woman team) despite being almost completely deaf?
 * ...that according to an Iroquois legend, a woman eating roasted acorns intimidated an evil spirit of the tribe known as The Flying Head so much he never returned?
 * ...that the United States Navy's Naval Ordnance Station in Louisville, Kentucky was chosen due to being so far inland as to prevent enemy airstrikes?
 * ...that Unsinkable Sam was a ship's cat of both the Kriegsmarine and Royal Navy during the Second World War who survived the sinking of all three ships on which he served?
 * ...that Beaufort Island in Antarctica's Ross Sea was named for Sir Francis Beaufort in 1841?
 * ...that before coaching gymnastics at the University of Michigan from 1948 to 1983, Newt Loken was the NCAA all-around gymnastics champion in 1942?
 * ...that Black Rock Forest (pictured) gets its name from visible magnetite deposits in it?
 * ...that the K-1000 class was a hoax class of battleship made up by the Soviet Union at the start of the Cold War as propaganda?
 * ...that the city of San Francisco contributed a large proportion of the funds for constructing the extension of Junipero Serra Boulevard beyond the city limits?
 * ...that the 1937 Hal Roach/MGM musical short Our Gang Follies of 1938 features an appearance by future jazz star Annie Ross?
 * ...that at Winter X Games XII, skier Tanner Hall set a record with his seventh career gold medal, only to be tied by snowboarder Shaun White on the last day of competition?
 * ...that track and field athlete Anne Bersagel was a member of Team USA Minnesota while studying full time in Oslo, Norway as a Fulbright Scholar?
 * ...that prolific American music publisher George E. Blake printed the first edition of George Frideric Handel's Messiah in the United States?
 * ...that University of Michigan elocution professor Thomas Trueblood (pictured) received nationwide attention when the Chicago Tribune reported in 1903 that he was offering a new "course in love making"?
 * ...that the Australian Ambassador to Chile, Crispin Conroy, once proposed marriage to Bollywood actress Manisha Koirala?
 * ...that Son Goku, a German rock band, is named after the protagonist of the anime series Dragon Ball Z?
 * ...that both Augustus and Eleftherios Venizelos exiled opponents to the Cyclades?
 * ...that with little prior experience, South Korean actress Kim Ok-bin was given a leading role in her first film, Voice, and was nominated for "Best New Actress" at the Blue Dragon Film Awards?
 * ...that through the opening of the Thomson MRT Line and Eastern Region MRT Line by 2020, Singapore's rail network density will rise from 31 km per million residents today to 51 km per million, surpassing what Hong Kong and Tokyo currently have?
 * ...that Half-Breed Tracts were set aside for people of Mixed Blood descent in several U.S. states, including Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota and Wisconsin?
 * ...that as Chief Herald of India, Osmond Barnes (pictured) proclaimed Queen Victoria Empress of India at Delhi in 1877?
 * ...that the Mattancherry Palace, popular as Dutch Palace, in Kochi, India, was built by the Portuguese and renovated by the Dutch?
 * ...that the Walter Byers Scholarship is considered the highest academic honor for National Collegiate Athletic Association athletes?
 * ...that the Los Angeles attorney Bobby Diamond became nationally known a half century ago through his role as the orphaned Joey Newton in the NBC television series Fury?
 * ...that concert organist John Walker was to teach in Taiwan on a Fulbright Fellowship, but wound up playing benefit concerts for 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake victims?
 * ...that Antonine Barada was a 19th century mixed blood fur trader in Nebraska whose mythic strength and heroic actions against slavery prompted his status as a current-day folk hero?
 * ...that Catherine Dolgorukov had a premonition that her morganatic husband, Tsar Alexander II, would be assassinated?
 * ...that The Sea Island Mathematical Manual or Haidao suanjing(海岛算经) was written by mathematican Liu Hui of the Three Kingdom era (220-280) as an extension of The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art?
 * ...that after service with the United States Navy in World War II and the Korean War, the USS Noble (pictured) was transferred to the Spanish Navy in 1964 and renamed the Aragon?
 * ...that Roy "Wrong Way" Riegels ran in the wrong direction after recovering a fumble, which led to a safety that proved to be the winning margin in Georgia Tech's 8-7 win at the 1929 Rose Bowl?
 * ...that tourists flocked to Casa de Estudillo in San Diego, California, to see "Ramona's Marriage Place" even though Ramona was a work of fiction?
 * ...that the 1967 general election in Sierra Leone saw the first defeat of a ruling party in an election held under universal suffrage in sub-Saharan Africa?
 * ...that Mohammed al-Shahwani was a talented general in Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard, and is now the head of Iraq's new intelligence service?
 * ...that with the testing of the PAD missile, India became the fourth country to have successfully demonstrated an anti-ballistic missile system?
 * ...that W.C. Fields' straightman Tammany Young was a renowned gatecrasher who managed entry to the Jack Dempsey - Georges Carpentier prize fight by claiming to be an ice man?
 * ...that the Contracts House (pictured), located in Kiev, Ukraine, was visited by writers Honoré de Balzac, Nikolai Gogol, Alexander Pushkin, and poets Adam Mickiewicz and Taras Shevchenko?
 * ...that during World War II, the Japanese destroyer Hatsukaze survived four major fleet actions against the American, British, Australian and Dutch fleets, but was sunk after colliding with a Japanese cruiser?
 * ...that Scotland's North West Highlands Geopark contains some of the oldest rocks in Europe and the site of a famous geological controversy?
 * ...that British MP Ronnie Campbell accidentally supported National Fetish Day due to his thinking that the word "fetish" meant "worry"?
 * ...that Cliff Keen's tenure as Michigan’s wrestling coach (1925-1970) was the longest of any coach in any sport in NCAA history as of 1991?
 * ...that Séon Carsuel, Scottish Protestant reformer, Bishop of the Isles and author of the first book to be printed in any Goidelic language, was over seven foot tall?
 * ...that Salisbury Cathedral School was founded over 900 years ago by a saint?
 * ...that Dorothy Canning Miller was the first professionally trained curator of the Museum of Modern Art?
 * ...that Abbas Tyabji (pictured with Mahatma Gandhi), respectfully called the "Grand Old Man of Gujarat", was chosen at age seventy-six by Mahatma Gandhi to take over leadership of the Salt Satyagraha upon Gandhi's arrest in May, 1930?
 * ...that historic memorabilia from the Polish National Museum in Rapperswil, Switzerland were shipped in 1927 to the newly independent Poland, only to be largely destroyed during World War II?
 * ...that Robert Bray, (forest ranger Corey Stuart in CBS's Lassie), turned down a role in director Joshua Logan's 1958 hit film South Pacific, much to Bray's longstanding regret?
 * ...that the Armenian oil magnate Nubar Gulbenkian once sued his father for $10 million after his company refused him $4.50 for a meal?
 * ...that Bullitt's Lick was the first industry and supplier of salt in what is now the Commonwealth of Kentucky?
 * ...that the 1928-29 Boston Bruins season marked the team's first Stanley Cup championship and their first season in the Boston Garden?
 * ...that the Punjabi magnate Sir Malik Umar Hayat Khan (pictured) was an honorary aide-de-camp to King George V, King Edward VIII and King George VI?
 * ...that Gerald Ford threatened to quit the Michigan football team when African-American player Willis Ward was kept out of a 1932 game in response to Georgia Tech's refusal to play an integrated team?
 * ...that the Castle Cary Cut-Off reduced the 325½ mile distance between London Paddington and Penzance railway stations by 20¼ miles?
 * ...that, according to Herodotus, Rhodopis was a fellow-slave with the poet Aesop?
 * ...that stewardess Frankie Housley was called "the Bravest Woman In America"?
 * ...that Major League Baseball pitcher Stan Baumgartner was named to the All-Big Ten Conference teams for baseball, basketball, and football in 1914?
 * ...that the supervisor of a kosher restaurant is required to be a Shomer Shabbat, a Jew who observes the Sabbath?
 * ...that the crowds at the 1984 funeral of assassinated Zamboanga City mayor Cesar Climaco was estimated at between fifteen thousand to two hundred thousand people?
 * ...that a hyperdeterminant is a generalisation of the determinant in algebra?
 * ...that when the first portion of the Lackawanna and Bloomsburg Railroad opened in 1856, it led to the incorporation of Kingston, Pennsylvania, and to the establishment of Kingston's first public transit line?
 * ...that the Pewee Valley Confederate Memorial (pictured) is the only American Civil War obelisk monument in Kentucky to be made of zinc?
 * ...that London printer William Stansby published the landmark first folio collection of the works of Ben Jonson in 1616?
 * ...that despite healthcare in Sierra Leone decreasing child mortality from 302 deaths per 1000 live births in 1990 to 282 in 2005 Sierra Leone still has the highest level of child mortality in the world?
 * ...that Lucien Lagrange Architects has been involved in attempts to renovate Union Station in Chicago, Illinois for over twenty years?
 * ...that despite German and Soviet attempts to destroy Polish culture during World War II, it was kept alive by underground activities, with the Polish Home Army even creating newsreels?
 * ...that race car journalist and former race car driver Dr. Dick Berggren decided to stop teaching college psychology after he was called into the college president's office because he parked his racecar in the faculty parking lot?
 * ...that the upcoming comedy film Hamlet 2 was the top purchase at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival placing it second behind the US$10.5 million record set by Little Miss Sunshine at the festival in 2006?
 * ...that Deepak Chougule, a cricketer from the Indian state of Karnataka, created a junior world record for maximum runs scored in a single day of a cricket match when he scored 400 runs in a day?
 * ...that Houhora Mountain was the first part of New Zealand that the early explorer Kupe saw, but he thought it was a whale, according to Māori legend?
 * ...that the US Navy's Haskell class attack transports Meriwether (pictured), Tazewell, Natrona, Okaloosa, Oneida and Rawlins all participated in only one battle - the invasion of Okinawa in 1945 - before being collectively struck from the Naval Register on the same day in October 1958?
 * ...that the ceremony marking the Japanese surrender of Timor on 11 September 1945 was held aboard HMAS Moresby?
 * ...that 24-year old Alondra de la Parra was the first Mexican woman to ever conduct a concert in New York City?
 * ...that Al Hoisch of UCLA returned a kickoff for 103 yards and a touchdown at the 1947 Rose Bowl, a record that still stands as of the 2008 game?
 * ...that William Fawcett, a character actor in B-films and television from 1946 to the early 1970s, held a Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska and was a drama professor at Michigan State University prior to the start of his acting career?
 * ...that the adobe house that is the centerpiece of the Alviso Adobe Community Park in Pleasanton, California, was built in 1854 and continuously in use until 1969?
 * ...that the Garrison Union Free School in New York traces its origins back to 1793?
 * ...that Count John A. Creighton was ennobled by Pope Leo XIII in recognition of his contributions to Creighton University, the Catholic community in Omaha, and the city of Omaha in general?
 * ...that the Cleveland Cliffs ore dock (pictured) at Marquette, Michigan has been used to ship over 400 million tons of iron ore in the over 95 years since it was built?
 * ...that the US Navy's Haskell class attack transports Montrose, Renville, and Okanogan all saw action in three major wars – World War II, the Korean war and the Vietnam war?
 * ...that the village of Selworthy was rebuilt by Sir Thomas Dyke Acland in 1828 as a Model village for the aged and infirm of his Holnicote Estate?
 * ...that former child actor Richard Eyer, who played the boy who runs "afowl" of the goose in William Wyler's 1956 film Friendly Persuasion, is now an elementary school teacher in Bishop, California?
 * ...that 1985 NCAA hurdling champion Thomas Wilcher won the Michigan High School Athletic Association team track & field championship three consecutive times, both as an athlete and a coach?
 * ...that after winning three medals at the 1992 Summer Olympics as a 16-year-old, Anita Nall retired from competitive swimming in 2000 due to chronic fatigue syndrome?
 * ...that according to legend, George Washington personally stopped an angry mob from burning St. Philip's Church in the Highlands (pictured)?
 * ...that former Juneau, Alaska, mayor Dennis Egan hosts a program called Problem Corner on local radio station KINY?
 * ... that at the Battle of Noemfoor, in 1944, Commodore John Collins became the first graduate of the Royal Australian Naval College to command a naval squadron in action?
 * ...that Adam R. Johnson's Newburgh Raid, using two stovepipes, charred wood, a broken wagon, and only 27 men, resulted in the first capture of a northern town in the American Civil War?
 * ...that director Paul Greengrass is filming a fictional thriller with Matt Damon in the lead based on the 2006 nonfiction book Imperial Life in the Emerald City about the Green Zone?
 * ...that George Jewett was the first African-American to earn a varsity letter in football at both the University of Michigan and at Northwestern University?
 * ...that the hollow log pipes of the 1787 Mann's Lick salt furnace allegedly still existed in the 1940s?
 * ...that a plane of Royal Canadian Air Force's No. 426 Squadron made Canada's first coast-to-coast non-stop flight?
 * ...that the Éolienne Bollée (pictured) is a true turbine that is worked by the wind and, unlike modern wind turbines, has a stator and a rotor?
 * ...that the work of the Galician poet Juan Rodríguez de la Cámara presents arguments for the superiority of women to men?
 * ...that due to its high reactivity, compounds of oxygen can be formed with almost all known chemical elements, except for the noble gases?
 * ...that as President of the College of New Jersey, John Maclean, Jr. conveyed a Doctor of Laws degree to President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War?
 * ...that the only Edward Medal awarded in the Kent coalfield was won at Tilmanstone Colliery, one of only four successful pits in Kent out of twelve planned or built?