Wikipedia:Recent additions 211

Did you know...

 * ...that Nazi Germany's animal protection laws were the first in the world to place the wolf under protection?
 * ...that after over 912 million barrels of oil pumped out since the late 19th century, the Coalinga Oil Field, the eighth-largest oil field in California, is close to exhaustion?
 * ...that Norwegian Parliament member Kjell Bondevik was the uncle of Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik?
 * ...that Mole rats home through their large burrows using the Earth's magnetic field?
 * ...that Messina, Italy, known as Messene during the Sicilian Wars, was sacked by the Carthaginians in 397 BC in retaliation for the attack on Motya by Dionysius I of Syracuse?
 * ...that Grey's Anatomy writer Gabrielle Stanton appeared as the character "Gabrielle" in the 1998 film Free Enterprise?
 * ...that the Tjängvide image stone (pictured) is held to show a man, or Odin himself, arriving at Valhalla on Sleipnir where he is welcomed by a valkyrie?
 * ...that the palm Actinorhytis calapparia is widely cultivated in Southeast Asia and Malesia, where local villagers attribute it magical or medicinal powers?
 * ...that Paul Simon's ballad "Rene And Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After The War" portrays Belgian surrealist painter René Magritte as a secret admirer of doo-wop music?
 * ...that Naulakha pavilion, situated in Lahore Fort, was the inspiration behind Rudyard Kipling's novel The Naulakha and his house Naulakha?
 * ...that the 2003 Insight Bowl, won by California 52–49 on a last-second field goal, was the second-highest-scoring regulation-length college football bowl game in history?
 * ...that Polish novelist Bolesław Prus's tomb at Warsaw's Powązki Cemetery was designed by his nephew, the sculptor Stanisław Jackowski?
 * ...that the RMS Sylvania was built for the transatlantic trade but spent only the first 10 years of her 46-year career in that role?
 * ...that the Sydenham Hill Wood and the adjacent Dulwich Wood in South London form the largest remaining tract of The King's Wood?
 * ...that the Howmet TX (pictured) earned the first win for a gas turbine racing car in 1968, before earning three more victories and setting six FIA land speed records?
 * ...that Ismat ad-Din Khatun was the wife of two important medieval Muslim princes, Nur ad-Din and Saladin?
 * ...that the Edinburgh Phrenological Society started its own journal to promote phrenology in 1824, after the Royal Medical Society refused to publish the results of a debate about the subject?
 * ...that Ólchobar mac Cináeda, king of Munster and abbot of Emly, may be the "king of the Irish" who sent an embassy to Charles the Bald announcing Irish victories over the Vikings in 848?
 * ...that garden plant Grevillea 'Peaches and Cream', a hybrid of G. banksii from humid subtropical Queensland and G. bipinnatifida from the Mediterranean climate of Western Australia, tolerates the climates of both its parents?
 * ...that the Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary Shop was owned by the same family for over 140 years, and served two American presidents and Robert E. Lee?
 * ...that Gaffney Ridge, an undersea ridge in the South China Sea, was named for Paul G. Gaffney II, President of Monmouth University and a former United States Navy Vice Admiral?
 * ...that much of medieval Chester Castle (pictured) was rebuilt in neoclassical style by architect Thomas Harrison around 1800?
 * ...that the original arcade cabinet of the shooter game The Typing of the Dead used two QWERTY keyboards?
 * ...that the Battle of Shaizar in 1111, between King Baldwin I of Jerusalem's Crusader army and a Seljuk army led by Mawdud bin Altuntash of Mosul, ended in a tactical draw?
 * ...that the edible mushroom Boletus barrowsii is popular with maggots, who often beat mushroomers to their goal?
 * ...that according to Ukrainian folklore, the girl who finds Chervona Ruta, "Red Rue" in Ukrainian, on Ivan Kupala Day, will be happy in love?
 * ...that British Columbians will get a second chance to vote on replacing the winner-takes-all election system with a single-transferable-vote system?
 * ...that the Telugu film Amma Cheppindi was inspired by the science fiction story Flowers for Algernon?
 * ...that American football head coach Skip Holtz is the son of the famed college football coach Lou Holtz?
 * ...that Southampton Corporation Tramways tram No.45 (pictured) was purchased for preservation by the Light Railway Transport League?
 * ...that novelist Joseph Conrad was strongly influenced by his uncle and mentor Tadeusz Bobrowski, who is himself remembered in Poland as a notable memoirist?
 * ...that the U.S. Supreme Court case Radovich v. National Football League, which held professional football subject to antitrust law, began with a brief drafted on the back of a napkin?
 * ...that Funny Car drag racing pioneer Jack Chrisman set a class record at 188 mph, only to have the engine blow up two weeks later and the car burn to the ground?
 * ...that L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, wrote the story for the 1938 Columbia movie serial The Secret of Treasure Island?
 * ...that Keewassee, a Potowatomi warrior, attempted to destroy a dam built by settler William Davis and was severely beaten with a hickory rod when caught?
 * ...that Marzieh Meshkini's 2000 film The Day I Became a Woman depicts three stages in the lives of Iranian women, focusing on a nine year old girl, a married woman, and an elderly widow?
 * ...that Portland Trail Blazers guard Brandon Roy won the 2007 Rookie of the Year Award by a near-unanimous vote despite missing almost a third of his first season in the NBA due to injuries?
 * ...that Paul Cézanne's The Bathers (pictured) is one of the masterpieces of modern art, and often considered Cézanne's greatest work?
 * ...that rumored use of lard or tallow, offensive for religious reasons, to lubricate paper cartridges was one of the causes of the Indian Rebellion of 1857?
 * ...that John Knatchbull was the first person to plead moral insanity in Australia?
 * ...that over 120,000 cubic yards of asbestos-containing sediment from an active, slow moving landslide is deposited into Swift Creek, Washington each year?
 * ...that critics from the Los Angeles Times and Entertainment Weekly have described "The Other Woman" as the worst episode yet of the fourth season of the television show Lost?
 * ...that Kashmir Singh, an Indian spy, was released last week after 35 years of captivity in Pakistan?
 * ...that the Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims uses 70,000 fiber optic lights to represent the number of people killed by the atomic bomb?
 * ...that film composer Mateo Messina has written a benefit symphony concert for the Seattle Children's Hospital each year for the past decade?
 * ...that Grover Cleveland, Mayor of Buffalo, laid the cornerstone of the central sculpture at Lafayette Square (pictured), and dedicated it as New York Governor?
 * ...that George Stanhope, Dean of Canterbury helped organise the building of fifty new churches to replace those lost in the Great Fire of London?
 * ...that the wood of Myoporum sandwicense, a shrub-like plant known as "bastard sandalwood", was used by the early Hawaiians as log frames for thatched houses and torches for night fishing?
 * ...that gothic Trinity College Kirk, a 1460 memorial to King James II of Scotland, was demolished in 1848 to make way for Edinburgh's Waverley Station?
 * ...that Epigraphia Carnatica, compiled by Benjamin L. Rice, contains a study of about 9000 inscriptions found in the Old Mysore region of India?
 * ...that the American Loyalist surveyor Augustus Jones fled to Canada, where he raised families by a Mohawk wife and a Mississauga mistress?
 * ...that double flowers were first documented as a floral abnormality in ancient Greece and are found in many common flower varieties including impatiens (example pictured), carnations, camellias and roses?
 * ...that Padfield in Derbyshire belonged to William the Conquerer, but was given away by his heirs, firstly Henry I, then Henry II and then Henry VIII?
 * ...that Russian musician Vassily Vassilievich Andreyev is considered the father of the academic folk instrument movement in Eastern Europe?
 * ...that the Australian common Leaf curling spider is unusual in that pairs cohabit in the same leaf, though at opposite ends, even before mating at maturity?
 * ...that Arthur A. Denny, one of Seattle's founders and a lifelong teetotaler, had customers buy their liquor from sea captains so he could stay out of the transactions?
 * ...that Soviet scholars coined the term ‘democratic satire’ to describe the three-century old Russian tale of Frol Skobeev?
 * ...that Union's Connecticut Farms Presbyterian Church was the first church in New Jersey to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places?
 * ...that the Indiana state constitution specifically states that Indianapolis' Military Park can never be sold?
 * ...that Nalknad Palace in the Indian state of Karnataka was the final refuge of Chikka Veerarajendra, the last king of Kodagu?
 * ...that David Beckham and Victoria Adams were given a replica of Cheshire's Rookery Hall as a cake at their engagement party?
 * ...that 16 people died when the top two floors of the Northridge Meadows Apartments on Reseda Boulevard collapsed in the 1994 Northridge Earthquake?
 * ...that despite his complete lack of mountaineering experience, the English adventurer Maurice Wilson reached an elevation of 22,700 feet (7,450 m) on his doomed solo attempt to climb Mount Everest in 1934?
 * ...that the Channel-billed Cuckoo of Australia, New Guinea and Indonesia is the world's largest brood parasite?
 * ...that American late model dirt track racer Scott Bloomquist races at selected high money events instead of in national touring series?
 * ...that Canterbury Music Hall, which opened on 17 May 1852, was the first purpose-built tavern music hall?
 * ...that Vietnamese-born artist and photographer Binh Danh has created leaf images called chlorophyll prints, using the negatives of photographs?
 * ...that Bishop George Algernon West, the Lord Bishop of Rangoon 1935–1954, became for two months the Bishop of Atlanta, Georgia while the Japanese occupied Burma?
 * ...that the author of The Strange Death of Tory England advises UK Conservatives to learn from the conservatism of the socialist George Orwell?
 * ...that Western Brook Pond, a landlocked fjord in Gros Morne National Park on the island of Newfoundland, was the site of a 30 m tsunami in the early 20th century?
 * ...that the water managed by the Southwark and Vauxhall Waterworks Company of London was once described by a microbiologist as "the most disgusting I have ever examined"?
 * ...that the subject in art of Christ taking leave of his Mother (pictured) has no biblical basis but derives from medieval devotional writing?
 * ...that Union Army Paymaster General Benjamin Brice changed the recruitment of deputy paymasters from being political nominees to ones who passed examinations?
 * ...that the Yokohama Museum of Art has Pablo Picasso, Paul Cézanne, Salvador Dalí and Henri Matisse represented in its collection?
 * ...that Endel Puusepp became a Hero of the Soviet Union after flying a Soviet delegation over the front line from Moscow to Washington and back to negotiate the opening of the Western Front?
 * ...that the Willamette Collegian, the college newspaper of Willamette University in Oregon, was named an all-star publication by the National Pacemaker Awards a record 16 times in a row?
 * ...that Eugenio Perez was the Speaker of the Philippine House of Representatives when the Philippines became independent from the United States in 1946?
 * ...that Arthur Sullivan's Boer War Te Deum was written to celebrate the expected British victory in the Boer War, but because the war dragged on for almost two more years, both Sullivan and Queen Victoria had died before the piece premiered?
 * ...that the 1951 film Where No Vultures Fly is a fictionalised account of the work of the conservationist Mervyn Cowie?
 * ...that Victory Boulevard (pictured), running the 25-mile length of the San Fernando Valley, is mentioned in Randy Newman's I Love LA: "Victory Boulevard (We Love It!)"?
 * ...that before Danish director Bille August made his Oscar-winning Pelle the Conqueror, he had great domestic success with the children's television series and movie Busters verden?
 * ... Part 6 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 was rushed through, which enabled the Russian government to allow Matisse's painting of The Dance into the UK?
 * ...that the book Description of Africa by the Muslim slave Joannes Leo Africanus was an important source of information on the North African Islamic civilization during the European Renaissance?
 * ...that in his easy re-election in the 2004 North Dakota gubernatorial election, John Hoeven was endorsed by the state teachers' union, which normally supports Democrats?
 * ...that Broad Clyst railway station attracted residential development in the immediate area and even today the area around the former station is known as "Broadclyst Station"?
 * ...that the Kaipara Harbour of Northland, New Zealand was named after a hāngi on the Pouto Peninsula, at which the para fern (Marattia salicina) was served?
 * ...that it took 38 years to build the Indiana World War Memorial (pictured), which deteriorated during its building?
 * ...that Pope Pius XII Church policies after World War II involved global reconstruction of war-damaged Catholic institutions?
 * ...that in 999, Bishop Bernard of the Gaeta had to seek help from an aide of the Emperor Otto III to force the diocese's slaves to work?
 * ...that Alex, the Stroh's dog that would fetch and pour beer, died of cancer?
 * ...that the South Carolina secessionists had to relocate from their original meeting site at Columbia's First Baptist Church, due to a smallpox outbreak?
 * ...that the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations required all 241 UK work-related deaths in 2006/7 to be reported—even if the victims take a year to die?
 * ...that current Venezuelan Deputy Foreign Minister and ambassador to the OAS Jorge Valero, a vocal spokesman for the Chavez government, fell out with his brother Hidalgo, an anti-Chavez activist?
 * ...that the Calhoun Beach Club building in Minneapolis, Minnesota has served as a social club, a TV studio, a hotel, apartments, a home for the elderly, and most recently as a sports and social club?
 * ...that Mamadou Diabaté (pictured), a Malian kora player, was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2005, but lost to his cousin Toumani Diabaté?
 * ...that the Digital Switchover (Disclosure of Information) Act 2007 will allow social security information to be passed to the BBC?
 * ...that the insect hormone bursicon hastens the tanning of the cuticle and hardens it?
 * ...that Operation Himmler was a Nazi Germany false flag operation, intended to create an appearance that the German invasion of Poland was a defensive war provoked by a Polish attack on Germany?
 * ...that Maturinus was the patron saint of jesters, comic actors, and clowns during the Middle Ages?
 * ...that a papillary fibroelastoma, typically involving one of the valves of the heart, is the third most common type of primary tumors of the heart?
 * ...that the Eve of Destruction, named after a protest song and on display at the U.S. Army Transportation Museum, is the only surviving example of a Vietnam era gun truck?
 * ...that Swami Rama Tirtha was one of the first Hindu swamis to teach Vedanta in the West?
 * ...that despite the lack of native vegetation, the endangered San Joaquin Kit Fox (pictured) continues to use areas of the South Belridge Oil Field in California as habitat?
 * ...that whilst both Richard Kirkby and George Walton were present at the Action of August 1702, Walton went on to be an Admiral, whilst Kirkby was executed for cowardice?
 * ...that under the 2002 Andean Trade Preference and Drug Eradication Act the United States eliminated tariffs on 6,300 products from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru?
 * ...that the Kannada writer Kirtinath Kurtakoti died of cardiac arrest just hours after his wife's death?
 * ...that the Murat Centre is the only Shrine temple with a French name, and is the largest Shrine temple in North America?
 * ...that television writer Josh Senter rarely watched television until he was fourteen because of his parents' fundamental Christian beliefs?
 * ...that the Wärtsilä Turku shipyard in Finland built five state-of-the-art cruiseferries for the Black Sea Shipping Company, Soviet Union, in 1975-1976?
 * ...that Karol Szajnocha, one of Poland's leading 19th century historians, was self-taught as he was expelled from university?
 * ...that retreating glaciers of the Himalayas produce vast and long-lived supraglacial lakes, many kilometres in diameter and scores of metres deep?
 * ...that the tragic ending of Shakespeare's King Lear was found to be so distasteful that it was replaced on stage for over 150 years by Nahum Tate's adaptation (pictured), with a happy ending and a love story?
 * ...that the proposed Doncaster railway line, Melbourne, first planned in 1890, would cost around ten times as much to build now as the A$41 million estimated in 1972 when the route was decided?
 * ...that Scottish nurse and serial killer Colin Norris is thought to have killed his four geriatric victims because he had "a real dislike of elderly patients"?
 * ...that most urban water service providers in Peru can be considered bankrupt as water bills are often not paid?
 * ...that Mrs Sherwood's evangelical story The History of Little Henry and his Bearer was in print for 70 years after its publication in 1814 and was translated into eight languages?
 * ...that Dr. Demento (pictured), a DJ specializing in novelty songs and parodies, got his start at KRRC, the student-run radio station of Reed College?
 * ...that after being paralyzed in a car accident in 1964, Davina Ingrams, 18th Baroness Darcy de Knayth was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1996 for her services to disabled people?
 * ...that Banduan and Manbazar in West Bengal, India are located in an area of violent political activities by Maoists?