Wikipedia:Recent additions 216

Did you know...

 * ...that Nathaniel Higginson, the first Mayor of Madras city and the second American-born President of Madras, was the son of a Puritan minister, a leading investigator in the Salem witch trials?
 * ...that the Taipei Metro C301 cars were built in the former Otis plant in Yonkers, New York, which was the first elevator factory in the world?
 * ...that the Biographicon aspires to be an online directory of biographies for "all the people of the world"?
 * ...that after becoming Bishop of Brechin at the instigation of the Earl of Argyll, Alexander Campbell of Carco, still only a minor, handed most of his bishopric's lands over to the earl?
 * ...that the 1937 Western fiction book Buckskin Brigades was Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard's first published novel?
 * ...that Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, impressed with Zhang Jiazhen but forgetting his name, almost made Zhang Qiqiu chancellor instead of Zhang Jiazhen?
 * ...that the Shoshone was the first of only two steamboats to be brought down through Hells Canyon, North America's deepest gorge, to the lower Snake River?
 * ...that Red Dog was such a well-known and beloved dog in Western Australia's Pilbara region that a statue ([[Image:Dampier Red Dog, Western Australia (cropped).jpg|pictured) was built in his honour?
 * ...that Princess Margaret of Prussia had her jewels stolen by American soldiers in the aftermath of World War II?
 * ...that Jacqueline Audry was the first commercially successful woman film director of post-war France?
 * ...that his son's infection with polio in 1930 led electrical engineer Reinhold Rudenberg to develop an electron microscope as a tool to study the poliovirus?
 * ...that Jewish American surfer Doc Paskowitz helped bring surf boards to Gaza to help promote peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
 * ...that Dutch topologist Johannes De Groot is the academic grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather of his namesake via four different paths of academic supervision?
 * ...that, between 1945 and 1947, correspondent John Roderick spent seven months living with Mao Zedong and other Chinese Communist leaders in the caves of Yan'an?
 * ...that Dory Dean of the 1876 Cincinnati Reds was the first pitcher to include turning his back to the hitter in his delivery before pitching the ball?
 * ...that Comfort Stations No. 68 (pictured) and No. 72 in the Rim Village Historic District of Oregon, listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1988, are public restrooms built in the 1930s?
 * ...that Rev. Thomas Dyche is credited with writing the first book in English published in Asia?
 * ...that the Battle of Sugar Point was the last major battle fought between Native Americans and the United States Army?
 * ...that Cyclone Jokwe killed 16 people in Madagascar and left at least 55,000 homeless?
 * ...that the Alabama-Huntsville Chargers ice hockey team is the only Division I collegiate hockey team located south of the Mason-Dixon Line?
 * ...that kimchi bokkeumbap is a Korean fried rice made with kimchi and any available ingredients?
 * ...that Quilceda Creek Vintners Cabernet Sauvignon is the first American wine from outside California to earn perfect 100-point score reviews from wine critic Robert M. Parker, Jr. in The Wine Advocate?
 * ...that a horreum was a type of public warehouse used in Ancient Rome to store foodstuffs such as grain and olive oil?
 * ...that despite writing a full action-and-dialogue screenplay for his film Raising Victor Vargas, Peter Sollett never showed the actors a script to encourage authenticity through improvisation when filming?
 * ...that sailors use a tool called a needlegun (pictured) to remove old paint and corrosion aboard ships?
 * ...that the Chronicle of Mann claimed William Russell to have been the first Bishop of the Isles consecrated by the pope, even though he was not consecrated by the pope, and even if he had been, he would not have been the first?
 * ...that the Danville 97s minor league baseball team name of 97s was selected as a tribute to the victims of the Wreck of the Old 97 train accident?
 * ...that Banaag at Sikat, a novel by Lope K. Santos, was once considered the “Bible of Filipino laborers”?
 * ...that the name of Lake Burrumbeet, a large but shallow eutrophic lake in Victoria, Australia, derives from the local aboriginal word burrumbidj, meaning 'muddy or dirty water'?
 * ...that The Guardian newspaper was founded 189 years ago in Manchester, England as a direct response to the Peterloo Massacre?
 * ...that Adrianne Calvo is the youngest chef to have cooked for the United Nations?
 * ...that Mid-State Regional Airport is a Keystone Opportunity Zone to promote economic growth, but, to protect the Pennsylvania state park and forest (pictured) it was formed from, cannot legally expand?
 * ...that in 1998, the Hopi Dictionary: Hopìikwa Lavàytutuveni, the first comprehensive Hopi language dictionary, was almost prevented from being published for fear of having non-Hopis learning the language?
 * ...that real-life medical cases in the book The Medical Detectives, by Berton Roueché, inspired many of the medical mysteries on the television show House?
 * ...that Johanne Sørensen became the first Bahá'í in Denmark in 1925, and the only Bahá'í in her country till 1947?
 * ...that Moseley Wanderers represented Great Britain and Ireland at Rugby Union in the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, winning the Silver medal despite losing their only game?
 * ...that the US National Park Service is helping to fund improvements to county road H-58 which serves as the main access road to the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan?
 * ...that the Madras Bank, India's oldest Western-style banking institution, was established in 1683 by William Gyfford, the Agent of Madras at the time?
 * ...that Myer Lyon, hazzan of the Great Synagogue of London, doubled as opera star Michael Leoni, whose contract excused him on the Jewish Sabbath?
 * ...that despite its bitter taste, the heart of the palm tree Plectocomiopsis geminiflora is a delicacy in Borneo?
 * ...that Pullen Memorial Baptist Church is the first Baptist church in the Southern United States to have chosen an openly gay person as lead clergy?
 * ...that Titanium La Portada is expected to briefly become the tallest skyscraper in Chile, before being overtaken by Torre Gran Costanera of the Costanera Center complex?
 * ...that Beinn an Tuirc windfarm in Scotland is trying to keep Golden Eagles away from their turbines by reintroducing Mountain Hares?
 * ...that New York writer and socialite Anthony Haden-Guest is both son of the 4th Baron Haden-Guest and the brother-in-law of actress Jamie Lee Curtis?
 * ...that Shelby Place Historic District was begun due to the woodworking industries that revitalized New Albany, Indiana?
 * ...that despite its name, the Badminton Library of Sports and Pastimes does not contain a volume about badminton?
 * ...that the Funerary Monument to Sir John Hawkwood (pictured) is the oldest authenticated and extant work of Paolo Uccello?
 * ...that when Norman Rockwell's model for his World War II Willie Gillis series enlisted, the Saturday Evening Post demanded that Rockwell continue the character?
 * ...that seven whaling ships escaped the Whaling Disaster of 1871, but were forced to abandon their catch in order to accommodate 1,219 people from 33 other ships trapped in ice off the Alaskan coast?
 * ...that Etta Palm d'Aelders, whose salon in Paris was frequented by Jean-Paul Marat, François Chabot and other prominent political figures during the French Revolution, might have been an agent for the Dutch government?
 * ...that when the senior officials Yuan Qianyao, Song Jing, and Zhang Shuo were commissioned with new offices in 729, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang held an elaborate ceremony, with music and food from the imperial kitchen?
 * ...that Polyandrococos, a genus of palm trees endemic to Brazil, is so named partly because of its hairy tomentum?
 * ...that Alojz Rebula was a Slovene author who wrote extensively about the philosophy of Jacques Maritain?
 * ...that natural gas in the Marcellus Formation could increase United States energy reserves by one trillion U.S. dollars?
 * ...that Gordon Dam (pictured), a 140-metre (460 ft) tall arch dam on the Gordon River, is the tallest in Tasmania, Australia?
 * ...that the USS Mount Vernon, a control ship in the cleanup of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, was destroyed off the coast of Hawaii in 2005?
 * ...that New Albany, Indiana's Cedar Bough Place is the only "private street" in a city near Louisville, Kentucky?
 * ...that compression of the duodenum by the aorta and the overlying superior mesenteric artery may lead to nausea, bilious vomiting, abdominal pain and weight loss?
 * ...that turquerie became popular in Europe and America primarily due to the writings of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu?
 * ...that as a result of a 1972 referendum, the boundary between time zones in British Columbia ended up being different from the provincial boundary?
 * ...that the C-Leg microprocessor-controlled prosthetic leg records the motion of the user?
 * ...that the Hawai`i Institute of Marine Biology is the only research center in the world built on a coral reef?
 * ...that among the effects of Hurricane Dennis in Georgia was the death of a Decatur man from a tree that fell on his bedroom?
 * ...that Claire Clairmont (pictured) was the inspiration for Percy Bysshe Shelley's posthumously published poem "To Constantia, Singing"?
 * ...that the Gens de Terre River in Quebec, Canada, has a 25 km (15.5 mi) section with continuous whitewater while flowing through 25 m (80 ft) high cliffs?
 * ...that in 1985, overflowing from the Adolfo Ruiz Cortines Dam in Sonora, Mexico resulted in the evacuation of 20,000 people?
 * ...that books by the writer of romantic fiction Denise Robins sold more than one hundred million copies?
 * ...that the barnacle Megabalanus can reach 7 cm in length?
 * ...that in 1128 Geoffrey, Prior of Christ Church, Canterbury, became the first Abbot of Dunfermline?
 * ...that nearly $1 million worth of tickets were sold during the week following the first New York Times ad announcing Elizabeth Taylor's appearance in the 1981 Broadway revival of Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes?
 * ...that Thurston Rostron is the fourth-youngest player in the history of the England national football team?
 * ...that the name of Mohrland, Utah was formed as an acronym from the surnames of the principal investors in its coal mining company?
 * ...that Dovedale (pictured), a National Nature Reserve in the Peak District, England is so popular that it attracts a million visitors a year?
 * ...that Audrey Stubbart worked until age 105, becoming the oldest verified full-time employee ever in the United States?
 * ...that despite Herodotus's claim that the sundial was invented in Babylon, the oldest known example is from Egypt?
 * ...that during a period of widespread family ownership in the industry, the Falstaff Brewing Corporation was one of the few publicly-traded breweries in the United States?
 * ...that Elm Yellows is a disease of elm trees caused by mycoplasma-like organisms infecting the phloem and can be spread by leafhoppers or root grafts?
 * ...that no governing party in British Columbia has won a provincial by-election since 1981?
 * ...that Antley-Bixler syndrome is a rare but severe congenital malformation disorder with symptoms that include flat forehead, closure of cranial sutures and fused bones in the limbs?
 * ...that New York Governor David Paterson's press secretary Errol Cockfield Jr. was previously Albany bureau chief of Newsday?
 * ...that the free-floating fruit of Posidonia oceanica (pictured), a Mediterranean seagrass, is known as the "olive of the sea"?
 * ...that the Financial Stability Forum consists of officials from ministries and central banks of a dozen countries, who coordinate international financial stability?
 * ...that when Ahmad Said was appointed as Chief Minister of the Malaysian state Terengganu by King of Malaysia Mizan Zainal Abidin, it was against the wishes of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi?
 * ...that the economy of Omaha, Nebraska has expanded to embrace the burgeoning information technology sector since the city was labeled the "Motor Mouth City" by the New York Times?
 * ...that the 1990 Strangeways Prison riot at 25 days was the longest British prison riot?
 * ...that the Taipei Metro Xinbeitou Branch Line, consisting of two stations, was severely restricted due to complaints of noise pollution?
 * ...that 16 of the 72 fiction authors with at least 100 million copies of their works in print did not write in English, and 16 of them are women?
 * ...that the Creeping Groundsel (pictured), a climbing succulent perennial native of South Africa, is a problem weed in New Zealand, but cultivated in parks in Spain and Germany?
 * ...that the acquisitions of Joseph Smith, British consul in Venice, formed the basis of the drawings collection in the Royal Collection and the "King's Library" of George III at the British Library?
 * ...that Charles J. O'Byrne, Secretary to Governor David Paterson of New York, is a former priest who officiated at the marriage of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette in 1996 and presided over their funeral in 1999?
 * ...that City of Truro was the first railway locomotive to exceed 100 mph (160 km/h) while hauling a train near Wellington station on the Reading to Plymouth Line in England?
 * ...that residents of 22½ St. in Minneapolis petitioned the City Council and changed the street's name to Milwaukee Avenue because the '½' made them feel as if they lived in an alley?