Wikipedia:Recent additions 207

Did you know...

 * ...that American novel After This by Alice McDermott was included in the New York Times' 100 Most Notable Books of the Year?
 * ...that Thomas Tilling, whose company grew into a major bus operator in Britain of the first half of the 20th century, entered the transport business with a horse and carriage in 1846?
 * ...that scholarly journal Anarchist Studies was attacked by Stewart Home as a "sad and reactionary 'academic' journal" incapable of engaging in critical debate?
 * ...that Hiram Straight was the foreman of the jury in Oregon City, Oregon, that sentenced five Native Americans to hang for the Whitman Massacre?
 * ...that HMS Calliope (pictured) was the only ship in Apia harbour to escape being wrecked in the great tropical cyclone which struck Samoa in 1889?
 * ...that proteins are often broken down into smaller fragments by in-gel digestion before they are analysed by mass spectrometry?
 * ...that in 1922, Erich von Stroheim's silent film Foolish Wives was the most expensive ever produced?
 * ...that when 74-year old Irish politician Pól Ó Foighil was told he was too old to be an election candidate, he challenged the younger man to twenty press ups?
 * ...that Bhushan Steel, the largest manufacturer of auto-grade steel in India, is expanding its capacity to 12 million tonnes annually?
 * ...that Hurricane Hernan was the second of three Category 5 Pacific hurricanes in the 2002 hurricane season?
 * ...that in 1916, footballer Bob Benson volunteered to replace an absent Arsenal team-mate just before a game, only to collapse and die during the match?
 * ...that the Dendera zodiac (pictured), an ancient relief on display at the Louvre, was originally a planisphere on the ceiling of a temple in Egypt?
 * ...that the centerfire revolver cartridge .44 Russian, despite its name, was developed by an American handgun manufacturer, Smith & Wesson?
 * ...that the East Timor political party Association for the Integration of Timor into Indonesia quickly changed its name to Timorese Popular Democratic Association to improve public relations?
 * ...that in More Demi Moore, Demi Moore appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair eight-months pregnant and wearing only a diamond ring?
 * ...that the first book on Buddhism in Dutch was written in 1879?
 * ...that future four-star admiral Frank H. Brumby was accused of technical incompetence by the Naval Court of Inquiry investigating the accidental sinking of the submarine S-4?
 * ...that Clark State Forest was Indiana's largest Civilian Conservation Corps cantonment?
 * ...that Mysore Palace (pictured), a tourist attraction in the city of Mysore, is one of the most visited monuments in India, even more than the Taj Mahal?
 * ...that the Scottish investment company Alliance Trust was formed in 1888 from companies providing loans to immigrant farmers in Oregon?
 * ...that the work of make-up artist and body painter Joanne Gair has been featured in ten consecutive Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issues?
 * ...that in 1907, the Inlet of Vårby in Lake Mälaren became one of the first maritime environments in Sweden to suffer the crayfish plague?
 * ...that Lee Embree took the first air-to-air photographs of the 1941 Attack on Pearl Harbor from an unarmed B-17 Flying Fortress, which arrived in Hawaii 30 minutes after the beginning of the attack?
 * ...the current series of banknotes in Singapore feature the portrait of Yusof bin Ishak, the first President of Singapore?
 * ...that the Fabyan Windmill (pictured) located in Geneva, Illinois is considered the best example of an authentic Dutch windmill in the United States?
 * ...that future Canadian Senator John Gilbert Higgins hung black crêpe paper on his door in mourning the day that Newfoundland joined Canada?
 * ...that in the forthcoming Bollywood film Krazzy 4, actor Hrithik Roshan performed an "item number" for the first time?
 * ...that Jeff Robinson, who played nine seasons in Major League Baseball, was the thirteenth pitcher in the National League to strike out three batters on nine pitches?
 * ...that a study of 930 patients with fatigue-like symptoms showed 62% testing MELISA-positive to metal allergy?
 * ...that in 2006, Tsering Chungtak became the first Tibetan ever to participate in a major international beauty pageant?
 * ...that F. Scott Fitzgerald was furious when he read his wife Zelda's first novel, Save Me the Waltz, because she had used material which he was planning to use in Tender Is the Night?
 * ...that while Nicholas Fitzherbert was abroad, two priests were arrested in his father's house and hanged drawn and quartered?
 * ...that Hiram Wesley Evans (pictured), the second Imperial Wizard of the "second" Ku Klux Klan, boasted of having helped re-elect Calvin Coolidge as U.S. President?
 * ...that fluoride varnish can be applied to tooth surfaces to prevent tooth decay, but is currently underutilized for the purpose?
 * ...that the Ngoc Lu is regarded as the most important drum of the Dong Son culture of the Bronze Age, whose artefacts have been found at Co Loa Citadel, Chau Can, Lang Ca, Lang Vac, Xuan La and Viet Khe?
 * ...that the first person in England to become a Bahá'í was Mary Thornburgh-Cropper in 1898, the year now regarded as the founding of the British Bahá'í community?
 * ...that geology professor Lawrence Wager was an Arctic explorer and mountaineer who in 1933 reached the highest point yet climbed on Mount Everest?
 * ...that the Chalk Tunnels under Chełm, Poland are thought to total up to 15 km in length?
 * ...that although Gather Together in My Name, the second book in Maya Angelou's six autobiographies, was not as critically acclaimed as the first one, it continues the same themes of racism and sexism?
 * ...that the MacCrimmons (pictured),  one of Scotland's most famous bagpiping families, have been thought to have roots in Cremona, Italy?
 * ...that alleged labour injustices in Dubai have been criticised by various human rights groups?
 * ...that alleged paranormal activity at the Andrew Bayne Memorial Library in Bellevue, Pennsylvania reportedly peaked in 1998, when a 400-year-old elm tree on the property was dying of Dutch elm disease?
 * ...that Wetsens station on the North Friesland Railway, which served a sparsely populated part of Friesland, Netherlands, closed in 1902, less than eight months after opening?
 * ...that the great earthquake in 365 CE destroyed nearly all towns in Crete?
 * ...that Dutch Catechism, a bestseller with translations sold globally, was issued by bishops of the Netherlands to make the message of Jesus "sound as new as it is"?
 * ...that only about fourteen of the Tramcars in the National Tramway Museum are operational?
 * ...that systematic recycling of broken glass was a common practice in the Roman glass industry?
 * ...that Hurricane Darby ' s remnants caused the Space Shuttle Columbia's landing at the end of STS-50 to be postponed for a day?
 * ...that African-American Lemuel A. Penn, murdered by the Ku Klux Klan on suspicion of being a civil rights activist, was actually a career soldier and Bronze Star recipient?
 * ...that the President of Latvia said the result of the 2003 Latvian European Union membership referendum wiped out the divisions of Europe created by the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939?
 * ...the geneivat da'at principle in Jewish law has been used to forbid false advertising, insider trading, cheating on the Regents exams, and the failure to cite secondary sources?
 * ...that Labworth Café, built in 1932, is the only example of the architectural design of Ove Arup and was made a Listed building in 1996?
 * ...that the wreck of the scallop dredger Solway Harvester was discovered by the Royal Navy's minehunter HMS Sandown?
 * ...that prehistoric frog Beelzebufo may have grown to over 40 cm (size comparison pictured), larger than any living frogs, and is called "the Frog from Hell" by the media?
 * ...that The Casuarina Tree short stories set in the 1920's Malaya by W. Somerset Maugham came out of travels he paid for by working as a British spy?
 * ...that Iceland was the first country to recognize Lithuania's re-established independence in 1991?
 * ...that Hartford, Connecticut's Webster Theater, opened in 1937 as a movie theater, is now a music venue where Incubus and No Doubt performed when they were barely known?
 * ...that the Arthur Middleton class attack transport USS George Clymer saw service in four major wars and earned a total of fifteen battle stars?
 * ...that Polish poet and political activist Apollo Korzeniowski was the father of novelist Joseph Conrad?
 * ...that the Premier League's proposal to play some matches outside England has been condemned by the Football Supporters' Federation as "outrageous desecration of the national game"?
 * ...that Gordon Parks High School, an alternative school in Saint Paul, Minnesota, is named after the famous photographer?
 * ...that the second walls of Brussels (pictured), after proving ineffective during the French bombardment of Brussels and during War of the Austrian Succession, were ordered demolished and replaced by a series of roads to facilitate commerce?
 * ...that two years after masterminding the murders of backpackers David Wilson, Mark Slater and Jean-Michel Braquet, Sam Bith was made a general in the Cambodian Army?
 * ...that the Western State Normal Railroad is the only known railroad built by a university and the only funicular operated in Michigan?
 * ...that despite not being present at the Battle of Trafalgar, Richard Strachan was among those rewarded for the victory?
 * ...that the US military's adoption of Eagle Cash stands to save them millions of dollars, and eliminate thousands of wasted man-hours, during the War in Iraq?
 * ...that Sir James Lithgow played a prominent role in restructuring the British shipbuilding industry in the 1930s?
 * ...that a rumour that Kylie Minogue had written a song for Hot Chip's recent album, Made in the Dark, was started by the band itself?
 * ...that Francie Kraker Goodridge, who set a world indoor record in the 600-yard run, did not receive a varsity letter or sports scholarship and had to work as a waitress to put herself through college?
 * ...that listed building St Leonard's Church (pictured) in Brighton and Hove was on Church Road, but is now on New Church Road after another church was built?
 * ...that Dr. Charles A. Stafford, a flight surgeon, was awarded a Silver Star and a Purple Heart, and the U.S. Army had a hospital ship re-named after him during World War II?
 * ...that the coal strike of 1981 was the first against Cape Breton Development Corporation since their nationalization in 1967?
 * ...that Laurence C. Jones, the founder of the Piney Woods Country Life School near Jackson, Mississippi, once convinced a white mob not to lynch him by telling them about his educational mission?
 * ...that the Central Park Mall leading to the Bethesda Terrace provides the only purely formal feature in the naturalistic original plan of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux for Central Park, New York?
 * ...that the ocean liner SS Shalom accidentally rammed and bisected the Norwegian tanker Stolt Dagali, sinking the bow of the tanker but not the stern?
 * ...that at the time of construction Interstate 70 in Colorado featured the world's highest road tunnel ?
 * ...that the Chevron House (pictured) in Singapore houses the international headquarter of Caltex, a petroleum brand name?
 * ...that Ellyse Perry played both cricket and soccer for Australia at the age of sixteen?
 * ...that Italian painter Perugino had probably finished his altarpiece The Virgin appearing to St. Bernard by the time Raphael became his apprentice?
 * ... that the Valley View Ferry, Kentucky's oldest business, is seven years older than the state itself?
 * ...that the Olive python, Australia's second largest snake, can eat prey as large as a wallaby?
 * ...that the Indonesian occupation of East Timor claimed over 100,000 lives and was characterized by torture, forced disappearance, and starvation?
 * ...that orchidologist Henry Frederick Conrad Sander 's magnum opus depicted life-sized orchids in volumes over 20 inches (63 cm) tall?
 * ...that M-209 was the shortest state highway in Michigan at a half-mile until 1996, serving as a connection to a former Coast Guard station?
 * ...that when Galway Councillor Fintan Coogan was re-elected in 1999 after a three-day count, the Irish Times reported his victory under the headline "City's Lazarus claims resurrection status as he defeats provider of fish"?
 * ...that in the 250-year-old Durga Puja of Shobhabazar palace, the goddess (statue pictured) was offered homemade sweets because non-Brahmin patrons were not allowed to offer rice?
 * ...that François de Troy was admitted into the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture with a reception piece called Mercury cutting off the head of Argus?
 * ...that the Satellite Transit System at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is the second oldest airport people mover system in the U.S.?
 * ...that till the 17th century, the Bordeaux wine region of the Haut-Médoc was a vast expanse of salt marshes?
 * ...that California's four-lane Bayshore Highway, now a freeway, was built to high standards in the 1920s and '30s, but was called "Bloody Bayshore" because of the number of crashes?
 * ...that British actress Anastasia Griffith spoke only in an American accent while auditioning for an American character on Damages?
 * ...that a significant number of Iraqis have emigrated to Russia as early as the 1990s?
 * ...that the people of Uniontown, Alabama were surprised that Phillip Henry Pitts built such a large house in 1853, so it is now known as "Pitts' Folly"?
 * ...that paperback rights to Gay Talese's 1971 non-fiction novel about the Bonanno crime family, Honor Thy Father, sold for more money than the paperback rights to Mario Puzo's The Godfather?
 * ...that French miniature painter Jacquemart de Hesdin is noted for his marginalia (example pictured), shapes of animals and foliage which give manuscript pages a frame?
 * ...that the economy of Ohio includes the world's largest plants for processing yogurt, soup, ketchup and frozen pizza?
 * ...that multiple-award winning Indian film Vanaja, which could not be screened in India because it found no takers, was the Master of Fine Arts thesis of its director, Rajnesh Domalpalli?
 * ...that former England under-21 goalkeeper Lee Grant has been described by Owls manager Brian Laws as "probably the most outstanding keeper" in the Championship?
 * ...that Sparrenberg Castle in Bielefeld, Germany, was built before 1250 by the counts of Ravensberg?
 * ...that 2008 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue model Melissa Haro was the youngest fashion model contestant on the first season of Project Runway?
 * ...that although London and South Western Railway passenger trains first arrived in Plymouth, England in 1876, its Plymouth Friary railway station terminus was not opened until 1891?
 * ...that Oregonian newspaper co-founder William Chapman served in the first session of the Oregon Territorial Legislature and was Iowa Territory's first delegate to the U.S. Congress?
 * ...that after the Chester Town Hall (pictured) was officially opened in 1869 in Chester, England to replace an earlier building burnt down in 1862, another fire destroyed the council chamber in 1897?
 * ...that moss of the genus Polytrichum has adapted to trap moist air between rows of lamellae?
 * ...that after a recent shooting at Northern Illinois University, a report of a possible gunman on campus was posted on the school's website within 20 minutes?
 * ...that the Jnanpith Award for modern literature in India has been awarded to Kannada literatures more than those of any other Indian language?
 * ...that the tennis player Michael Leach gained national rankings in doubles playing with his father?
 * ...that four countries are working together with Israelis and Palestinians to create a range of new cooperative economic projects to foster peace, in the Valley of Peace initiative?
 * ...that Family Moving Day was the last entry to be translated into English in Beechwood Bunny Tales, a series of children's books written by French author Geneviève Huriet?
 * ...that the Heywood class attack transport USS William P. Biddle rescued survivors from four US Navy troopships torpedoed during Operation Torch?
 * ...that the Saxon Garden (pictured) was opened in 1727 as the first publicly accessible park in Warsaw?
 * ...that the Islamic prophet Muhammad, while in Mecca, was a merchant involved in trade between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea?
 * ...that the 9,000 ton McCawley-class attack transport USS McCawley was accidentally sunk during the Solomons campaign in 1943 by friendly fire?
 * ...that after bad reviews, the distributors of the 1992 animated film The Princess and the Goblin used enthusiastic comments from children in its promotional material?
 * ...that Oregon judge William Gilbert opposed Joseph McKenna's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court after the two had served together on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals?
 * ...that computer simulation techniques were used to review the design of One Marina Boulevard in Singapore?