Wikipedia:Recent additions 208

Did you know...

 * ...that Hödekin, a house spirit of German folklore, is best known for saving the wife of a man of Hildesheim from committing adultery?
 * ...that the Indiana Medical History Museum is the oldest surviving pathology laboratory in the U.S.?
 * ...that the advice of Nguyen Thanh helped to form the partnership between Prince Cuong De and Phan Boi Chau in working against French rule of Vietnam?
 * ...that 7% of electricity in New Zealand is generated by geothermal power?
 * ...that Douglas Fraser ' s lobbying and member mobilization were critical in convincing U.S. Congress to provide $1.2 billion in loans to a near-bankrupt Chrysler in 1979?
 * ...that the initial Vietcong reaction to the 1963 South Vietnamese coup that killed Ngo Dinh Diem (pictured) was that it must have been a trick?
 * ...that under the Vijayanagara empire, Kannada literature made major progress due to the development of its native metres?
 * ...that Nguyen Quyen, principal of the Tonkin Free School, got his first teaching job by default?
 * ...that Greg Nations made his Lost writing debut with in the episode "Eggtown" after being the script coordinator for over two seasons?
 * ...that the Siege of Candia in the Cretan War (1645–1669), lasted almost 22 years?
 * ...that naval heroes Peter Tordenskjold and Niels Juel are buried in Copenhagen's Church of Holmen?
 * ...that according to TV critic Gareth McLean, none of the Britons featured in the Channel 4 documentary series New Hero of Comedy are "Heroes"?
 * ...that the Greater Lynchburg Transit Company doubled its patronage by providing Liberty University's shuttle bus service?
 * ...that Jefferson Davis conceded the American Civil War at the Burt-Stark Mansion?
 * ...that Pierre Galet is considered the "father of modern ampelography"?`
 * ...that Horatio Nelson admitted that William Locker (pictured) was a major influence on his later career?
 * ...that Basil W. Duke became the chief consul and lobbyist for the L&N Railroad after the American Civil War, even though he led many efforts in destroying their property during the war?
 * ...that a papabile was asked during the papal conclave of 1572 by a representative of King Philip II of Spain to withdraw his candidacy in order to maintain peace in Italy?
 * ...that Anstey Hill Recreation Park in Adelaide, South Australia contains ruins of what was the largest plant nursery in the Southern Hemisphere?
 * ...that the Imperial Russian Navy operated the Satakundskaya Flotilla, a gunboat unit on a Finnish lake during World War I, without ever actually firing a gun?
 * ...that construction for the bobsleigh, luge, and track to be used for the 2014 Winter Olympics has been delayed to high downhill grades and location near a World Heritage Site, including near an endangered species of brown bear?
 * ...that two of North Carolina's most prominent authors, Thomas Wolfe and O. Henry, are buried near each other in the Riverside Cemetery in the Montford Area Historic District in Asheville?
 * ...that Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton, and George Washington all visited the Yelverton Inn (pictured) in Chester, New York?
 * ...that John Duncan, a Scottish Presbyterian theologian and missionary, was affectionately known as "Rabbi", due to his knowledge of Hebrew and his passion for the Jewish people?
 * ...that softball pitcher Vicki Morrow was named Big Ten Player of the Year in 1987 after winning 26 games, including 18 shutouts, and striking out 446 batters?
 * ...that the 1945 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours included peerages for the heads of the British armed services of World War II and the first awards of the newly inaugurated Defence Medal?
 * ...that The Monkees' 1967 hit Pleasant Valley Sunday was named for a street in West Orange, New Jersey, where the song's authors, Gerry Goffin and Carole King, lived?
 * ...that a study by the University of Salford concluded that the high density of high-rise buildings in Salford has "a dramatic influence on the region's weather patterns", in particular by encouraging drizzle?
 * ...that the February 9, 1918 Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a peace treaty between the Ukrainian People's Republic and the Central Powers that helped clear Bolshevik forces from Ukraine?
 * ...that the Milion (pictured) of Constantinople was the origin of all the roads into the European cities of the Byzantine Empire?
 * ...that the Nguyen Than Hien and Nguyen Thuong Hien were among the leaders of the Quang Phuc Hoi, the first anti-colonial revolutionary group to advocate a republic for Vietnam?
 * ...that Sariputra, one the two chief disciples of Gautama Buddha, is frequently featured in the Jatakas alongside Mahamoggallana and the Buddha in their past lives?
 * ...that Frederic A. Godcharles served as a Pennsylvania Representative and Senator, as director of its state library and museum, and wrote twelve volumes on its history?
 * ...that prior to Interstate 410 and the Interstate Highway System, Texas State Highway Loop 13 was the primary loop around San Antonio?
 * ...that since 1967 the state of Tamil Nadu in India has been ruled by Dravidian parties?
 * ...that photos of the rogue wave encountered by the MS Stolt Surf contributed to the growing evidence of their presence in the deep ocean?
 * ...that the map (pictured) by Piri Reis, a 16th century Islamic cartographer, is the oldest surviving Turkish map to show the Americas?
 * ...that there is a disagreement on whether Hurricane Emilia was a Category 5 hurricane?
 * ...that Jakub Wejher, one of 17th century Poland's richest magnates, founded the town of Wejherowo?
 * ...that writer Charles Hamilton's estate complained to the BBC that the character played by Peter Stephens in The Celestial Toymaker too closely resembled Hamilton's Billy Bunter?
 * ...that the Joint Communique in 1963 to end South Vietnam's Buddhist crisis broke down in one day, after a scuffle between Buddhists and police?
 * ...that the hiring of Tom Jurich by the University of Louisville was dubbed "the most significant day in the recent history of college sports in Kentucky"?
 * ...that Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama was buried in St. Francis Church in India?
 * ...that the Swedish American Line was the first transatlantic shipping company to operate a diesel-engined ocean liner?
 * ...that Indiana's White River Park were the first state games to feature regional qualifiers instead of tryouts?
 * ...that the 12th-century abbess Hildegard of Bingen published Scivias (illustration pictured) to share her religious visions?
 * ...that David Owen Dodd was a 17-year-old boy hanged as a Confederate spy in the American Civil War?
 * ...that more than one million people in China invested in the Yilishen Tianxi Group Ponzi scheme, which involved breeding ants to be used as ingredients in traditional Chinese medicine?
 * ...that the upcoming Paramount Pictures film G.I. Joe, based on the toy line, had its development delayed because of the Iraq War?
 * ...that Lithuanian supermarkets offered cheaper beer, chocolate and soap to those who voted in the 2003 Lithuanian European Union membership referendum?
 * ...that the origins of Cabernet Sauvignon were likely an accidental crossing of Cabernet franc and Sauvignon blanc?
 * ...that the Philadelphia Election Riot of 1742 between the Anglicans and the Quakers of Philadelphia was caused by their inability to agree on who would supervise the election?
 * ...that of Bao Quoc, Dieu De and Tu Dam, the three "national pagodas" in Huế under the Nguyen Dynasty, the latter two were vandalised by the regime of Ngo Dinh Diem, while Thien Mu (pictured) was regarded as the unofficial city symbol?
 * ...that a Regius Professor of Civil Law was elected to parliament, gaoled, exiled, re-elected, kidnapped, put in the Tower, tortured, hanged, drawn and quartered, then beatified?
 * ...that Ben Chapman, the actor who portrayed the Gill-man in Creature from the Black Lagoon, was a veteran of the Korean War?
 * ...that springs are the main source of water supply in rural Rwanda?
 * ...that the Ferry County Carousel in Republic, Washington has 24 jumping horses with colors ranging from Appaloosa to Red Sorrel?
 * ...that psychoanalytic literary critics blame Volumnia, a character in Shakespeare's play Coriolanus, for her son Coriolanus' aggressive behavior?
 * ...that the relatively advanced age and poor health of Pope Paul III contributed to his successful election to the papacy in 1534?
 * ...that listed structures in the parish of Acton in Cheshire include an aqueduct (pictured), sundial, icehouse, clock tower, telephone box and a statue of a dog upsetting a food bowl?
 * ...that the trial of Satanta and Big Tree was the first time Native American war chiefs were tried for acts committed during a war party?
 * ...that Frederick Law Olmsted planned for The Dorchesterway to extend his Emerald Necklace park system all the way to Boston Harbor?
 * ...that at 1,328 feet (405 m) above sea level, Brockway Mountain Drive in Michigan's Upper Peninsula is the most elevated road between the Rockies and Alleghenies?
 * ...that, despite being blinded and dismissed for attempting to depose Byzantine emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos, General Alexios Philanthropenos was later recalled to service?
 * ...that Kinkri Devi waged a war on illegal mining and quarrying in her native Indian state of Himachal Pradesh despite her illiteracy?
 * ...that Nina Bang was one of the world's first female government ministers?
 * ...that British MP Peter Thomas was the first Conservative politician to serve as Secretary of State for Wales and the first Welshman to become party chairman?
 * ...that Master Juba (pictured)was the first top billing black man in a blackface minstrel show?
 * ...that the country music group Carter's Chord comprises three sisters, whose parents were in Waylon Jennings' band The Waylors?
 * ...that Kochi in Kerala, India is the only place where Chinese fishing nets are used outside of China?
 * ...that the final section of the Chemins de Fer du Calvados was closed by damage from the 1944 D-Day?
 * ...that the cutter HMS Entreprenante was the smallest British warship at the Battle of Trafalgar?
 * ...that Morarji Desai is India's only Finance Minister to have tabled the Union budget twice on his birthday?
 * ...that the First Presbyterian Church of Chester, New York, has worshipped in three different buildings, all in different locations, in its history?
 * ...that Douglas Barton Osborne Savile showed that the coevolution of rust fungi and their host plants could be used as an aid to plant taxonomy?
 * ...that the US Supreme Court ruled a defendant has a fundamental right not to be tried in court if he lacks a rational and factual understanding of the charges against him?
 * ...that Princess Helena of the United Kingdom (pictured) was the first of Queen Victoria's relations to celebrate her 50th wedding anniversary?
 * ...that the psychiatric hospital of Denmark's Capital Region treats about 35,000 patients with mental disorders every year, which is about 40% of the nation's total?
 * ...that in 1909, New Zealand gifted a new battlecruiser to Britain?
 * ...that disappointment is one of two primary emotions involved in decision-making?
 * ...that French geography professor Henri Enjalbert theorized that Albania, the Ionian islands and southern Dalmatia were the only European regions with grapevines following the last Ice Age?
 * ...that the railcar that ran on the Shimoga-Talaguppa railway in India had to be reversed on a turntable, so that it could start its return journey?
 * ...that Douglas Henshall and Daniel Craig were originally considered for the roles of Gordon Brown and Tony Blair in 2003 film The Deal?
 * ...that the Memorial Tunnel along the West Virginia Turnpike was the first tunnel in the U.S. to have closed-circuit television monitoring?
 * ...that synchronized swimmer Ruth Pickett Thompson received the AIAW's 1979 and 1980 Broderick Awards?
 * ...that Desiderius Erasmus nicknamed his academic opponent Jacobus Latomus (pictured) "Hephestion," a reference to Latomus's distinct limp?
 * ...that Bradford City Football Club blamed their FA Cup exit in the 1919–20 season on a pre-game trip to Fry's chocolate works?
 * ...that swimmer Ann Colloton, the University of Michigan's Female Athlete of the Decade for the 1980s, was inducted into the school's Hall of Honor in February 2008?
 * ...that the Battle of Pogue's Run was done to prevent Democrats from rising against the American Civil War in Indiana?
 * ...that opera singer Rosemary Kuhlmann was an assistant to the international vice-president of PepsiCo for 16 years from the age of 56, despite intending to stay for only four months?
 * ...that the United Breweries' chairman Vijay Mallya, named his Bangalore Royal Challengers, an Indian Premier League cricket team, after his liquor brand?
 * ...that the black locust trees planted in 1767 when Cornelius Wynkoop's house was built along Main Street in Stone Ridge, New York, are part of its historic character?
 * ...that 32 is a desirable score in darts because it is divisible by 2 many times?
 * ...that after sinking the British ocean liner SS Dwinsk in June 1918, the German submarine U-151 remained in the area and used the survivors in seven lifeboats as a lure in order to try and sink additional Allied ships?
 * ...that the sundial in the Wilanów Palace (pictured) in Warsaw, designed by astronomer Johannes Hevelius, has the figure of Chronos?
 * ...that the Israeli documentary Paper Dolls followed the lives of five health care providers from the Philippines who perform as drag queens?
 * ...that Willis Adcock, a Canadian-American chemist, helped create the first atomic bomb, the silicon transistor, and the integrated circuit?
 * ...that replacing firewood with coal as the main fuel in early modern England led to many problems for the local glass industry?
 * ...that four-star admiral Maurice E. Curts was replaced as commander-in-chief of the United States Pacific Fleet after only two weeks?
 * ...that wine writer Alexis Lichine developed a separate ranking of Bordeaux wine estates, including both Left and Right Banks, while advocating a revision of the original 1855 classification?
 * ...that Sir Yuet-Keung Kan is Hong Kong's longest serving Justice of Peace?
 * ...that the ghost town of Ajax, Utah was centered on an 11,000 square foot (1,000 m²) department store lying entirely underground?
 * ...that William Henry Emerson was the first dean of the Georgia Institute of Technology?
 * ...that in 1908, the Kinzie Street railroad bridge (pictured) in Chicago was the longest and heaviest bascule bridge in the world?
 * ...that after suing to gain Marc Hall permission to take his boyfriend to a Catholic high school's prom, David Corbett was appointed Canadian Superior Justice?
 * ...that Libris Mortis, a comprehensive overview of undead within the Dungeons & Dragons universe, details the use of mummies and vampire spawn as player characters?
 * ...that six-year-old Antonietta Meo could soon become the youngest saint not a martyr canonized by the Roman Catholic Church?
 * ...that four Indiana counties gave land to create Whitewater Memorial State Park as a memorial to fallen American soldiers of World War II?
 * ...that Château Pape Clément, first planted in 1300 by the future Pope Clement V, is the oldest wine estate in Bordeaux?
 * ...that according to Christianity Today, the Born Again Movement and its spinoff new religious groups have nearly twice the size of the government-sanctioned Christian church in China?
 * ...that James Redfern ' s statues for Bristol Cathedral are now on a Yorkshire church because they were too "papist"?
 * ...that Greater Manchester has nine castles (one pictured), of which five are Scheduled Ancient Monuments?
 * ...that speed limits on Guam Highway 1 may differ depending on which side of the road you are on?
 * ...that after a year as Assistant Secretary to the Treasury under Franklin D. Roosevelt, James H. Douglas, Jr. left the government and founded a committee opposing Roosevelt's monetary policies?
 * ...that The Star of Poland, the biggest balloon in the world, burned in 1938 during an attempt to beat the high-altitude world record?
 * ...that tennis pro Martina Navratilova lived with Vaudeville actress Frances Dewey Wormser and her husband when she arrived in the United States in the 1970s?
 * ...that the production of visual art in Cambodia nearly ceased during the Khmer Rouge period?
 * ...that Mitch Daniels became the first Republican Governor in 16 years in the 2004 Indiana gubernatorial election?
 * ...that the Urnes style (example pictured) was the last phase of Scandinavian animal art?
 * ...that Italian-American aerospace engineer Enea Bossi, Sr. designed a pioneering human-powered aircraft and the first aircraft used by the NYPD?
 * ...that the biggest tax investigation in modern Germany currently targets hundreds of individuals for possible tax evasion by moving assets to Liechtenstein?
 * ...that Paul Feyerabend's autobiography Killing Time contains descriptions of his careers as an officer in the Wehrmacht, an operatic tenor and a philosopher of science?
 * ...that the Cottonmouth jack is so named because of its pure white tongue and mouth?
 * ...that the Israel Prize was set up in 1953 at the initiative of Israeli Minister of Education Ben-Zion Dinur, who then went on to win the prize in 1958, and again in 1973?
 * ...that Summerlin Parkway, a freeway in Las Vegas, was initially constructed by the Summerlin homeowners' association?
 * ...that during the Korean War the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (pictured) received a Presidential Unit Citation from Dwight D. Eisenhower for their heroism in the Battle of Kapyong?
 * ...that in 1947, Romanian avant-garde writer and classical violinist Grigore Cugler publicly criticized Communist Party politician Ana Pauker and resigned his diplomatic post, living the rest of his life in Peru?