Wikipedia:Recent additions 218

Did you know...

 * ...that the Washington Irving sidewheeler, the biggest passenger-carrying riverboat ever built, sank after colliding with an oil barge in 1926?
 * ...that legal experts consider the YouTube divorce video posted by British playwright Tricia Walsh-Smith be the first of its kind?
 * ...that Eliza Tibbets planted the first two navel orange trees in California?
 * ...that Filipe Nhussi, the current defence minister of Mozambique, was president of the top-division football club Clube Ferroviário de Nampula?
 * ...that American diplomat Elbridge Durbrow was one of the 730 delegates who attended the Bretton Woods conference in July 1944?
 * ...that the Palace of Culture and Science defining socialist realism in Poland, was designed in the Soviet Union and erected by 3500 Soviet workers brought into Warsaw in 1952–1955?
 * ...that the inscription on King Ahiram's sarcophagus housed in the National Museum of Beirut is the earliest known example of alphabetical writing?
 * ...that Carlyle Clare Agar developed new techniques for flying helicopters by flying high in the Canadian Rockies?
 * ...that the Saskatchewan Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure employs 1,476 employees diversified amongst 105 communities, maintaining 198239 km of roads and highways?
 * ...that American photojournalist Daniel Smith was once kidnapped by members of the Mehdi Army and taken to meet Muqtada al-Sadr?
 * ...that Po-on and the rest of the Rosales Saga novel series by F. Sionil José resemble the story-telling tradition found in the U.S.A. trilogy by John Dos Passos?
 * ...that Lincoln's Lost Speech may have been so provocative that it was intentionally suppressed?
 * ...that Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich, cousin of Nicholas II of Russia, was called "the terror of jealous husbands as well as of watchful mothers"?
 * ...that the Winchester Bible, the largest surviving 12th century English Bible, incorporated the skins of 250 calves?
 * ...that the four main influential figures to Filipino women writers are Gabriela Silang, Leonor Rivera, Imelda Marcos and Corazon Aquino?
 * ...that water privatization in Brazil began under Brazil's post-colonial Empire Pedro II of Brazil?
 * ...that, although he wrote most of his work in Romanian, Romanian poet Panait Cerna is thought to have had a better grasp of his native Bulgarian?
 * ...that founder Maria Weston Chapman was able to persuade Elizabeth Barrett Browning to submit anti-slavery poetry twice to the abolitionist fundraising gift book The Liberty Bell?
 * ...that two US Presidents, Thomas Jefferson and William Henry Harrison, are responsible for the layout of the Old Jeffersonville Historic District?
 * ...that when the YMCA of Berwick was incorporated in Pennsylvania in 1883, the majority of the organization's trustees were current executives of Jackson and Woodin Manufacturing Company?
 * ...that Sir John Betjeman wrote of Joan Jackson (née Hunter Dunn) being "Furnish'd and burnish'd by Aldershot sun"?
 * ...that Commodore Cruise Line was the first Florida-based company to operate week-long cruises around the year?
 * ...that the village of Denshaw in Greater Manchester achieved international notoriety when spoof information added to its Wikipedia entry was reported in national and international media?
 * ...that in his first major league appearance, Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Jim Nelson struck out Willie Mays and got Willie McCovey to hit into a double play?
 * ...that although spoken by less than 18,686 people, the Kulung language has eight dialects and covers the "Mahakulung" ethno-linguistic area?
 * ...that Juan Garcia Abrego, in 1995, was the first drug trafficker to be listed on the FBI's Top Ten Most Wanted List?
 * ...that in 2006 Austrian alpine style mountain climber Christian Stangl went up the northeast ridge route of Everest from Camp III (elev. 6,500 m) to the summit (elev. 8,848 m), alone and without an oxygen tank, in the record time of 16h 42min?
 * ...that L. B. Henry of Pineville, overcame a missing forearm at birth to become a plumber-businessman and then a statewide figure in Louisiana parish government?
 * ...that Wilf Hurd, a former member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly, resigned less than a year after being re-elected?
 * ...that Jamshedji Framji Madan was a pioneer of Indian cinema, whose film production company Madan Theatres Limited once controlled half of British India's box office?
 * ...that cyber law author and professor Jonathan Zittrain co-founded StopBadware.org to distribute the task of collecting data about malware to Internet users at large?
 * ...that the Main Building of Peace College was first used as a Confederate military hospital and regional headquarters for the Freedmen's Bureau?
 * ...that John Madden has most wins of any Oakland Raiders head coach?
 * ...that despite winning the 1989 World Indoor Championships, West German 400 metres sprinter Helga Arendt failed to reach the final round at the European Championships one year later?
 * ...that Stewart White has presented the regional BBC News programme Look East for 24 years?
 * ...that Tori Amos got the melody for her song "1000 Oceans" from a "dark angel" singing to her in a dream?
 * ...that at the height of its popularity, New York's Easter Parade drew crowds of over a million?
 * ...that John Dick, the high scorer in the first-ever NCAA men's basketball championship, would later command the U.S. Navy supercarrier USS Saratoga?
 * ...that Academy Award winner Going My Way was filmed at St. Monica ' s, and the irascible old Irish priest character was based on its pastor?
 * ...that Lionel Monckton, the most popular musical theatre composer of the Edwardian period, after dropping into obscurity by the end of the 20th century, recently has had two albums of his music released?
 * ...that over 25% of Brazil's electricity is generated by a hydroelectric plant at Itaipu on the Paraná River?
 * ...that state senator Larry George sued Senate President Peter Courtney in an attempt to prevent an experimental session of the Oregon Legislature?
 * ...that a Muslim fundamentalist beheaded a statue of the Virgin Mary at St. Augustine ' s and carted a statue of Father Serra to a nearby mosque in October 2001?
 * ...that Vasyl Krychevsky, a Ukrainian artist, designed the state emblem of the National Republic at the request of Mykhailo Hrushevskyi?
 * ...that Sheenboro, Quebec, started as a trading post on the Ottawa River and has retained its character as a "Little Corner of Ireland"?
 * ...that John Percy Farrar recommended George Mallory for inclusion on the 1921 British Reconnaissance Expedition to Mount Everest?
 * ...that the Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, founded in 1853, was edited for 68 years by the Lankester family?
 * ...that Stonewall Jackson, camped with his men at Carter Hall, allowed his physician to perform a cataract operation on the owner, on the portico of the mansion?
 * ...that the Tang Dynasty chancellor Li Linfu, because of his treachery, was described in Chinese idiom as having honey in his mouth and a sword in his belly?
 * ...that archdeacon Kay Goldsworthy was recently appointed the first woman bishop of any Australian church and will be consecrated as an Anglican bishop on 22 May 2008?
 * ...that, during 13th and 14th century Europe, a town clockkeeper would often be employed and paid high sums of money to monitor and regulate the town clock?
 * ...that Charles Inglis, past-president of the Institution of Civil Engineers was expected to die during birth and was hurriedly baptised in his father's drawing room?
 * ...that several songs from Michelle Williams's debut album, Heart to Yours, are tribute to the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States?
 * ...that villagers in the drought-prone Ranibandh area in West Bengal’s Bankura district migrate to neighbouring districts in the harvesting season?
 * ...that many of the lines for the Three Witches in Shakespeare's Macbeth are copied word for word from the 1577 work Holinshed's Chronicles?
 * ...that the rare mushroom Hygrocybe aurantipes (pictured) was first collected in suburban Sydney's Lane Cove National Park and may be threatened by water pollution and weeds?
 * ...that Omaha, Nebraska has a history of riots and civil unrest which starts just twenty years after the city was founded?
 * ...that Johan Teterisa was recently sentenced to life in prison for waving the banned secessionist flag of the so-called Republic of the South Moluccas in front of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during a nonviolent protest?
 * ...that a proposed strategic road link through Bangladesh and its capital Dhaka will reduce the travel distance between the Indian cities of Agartala and Kolkata from 1,700 km to 400 km?
 * ...that Fritz Schilgen was the final torchbearer for the first Olympic torch relay at the 1936 Summer Games?
 * ...that the Japanese manga series Soul Eater by Atsushi Okubo has been developed into an animated television series that plans to adopt the source material over fifty-one episodes?
 * ...that the Iraq Veterans for Congress group includes the former American Presidential candidate, Congressman Duncan Hunter?
 * ...that Mulaut Abattoir provides Islamic-sanctioned slaughtering facilities to local Bruneian farmers and butchers?
 * ...that Oregon’s first Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries, O. P. Hoff, was in charge of the first minimum wage law in the U.S. that was enforceable?
 * ...that the Condemnations of 1277 at the University of Paris (pictured) are cited by historians as the birth of science, as they forced scholars to question Aristotle and think about the physical world in new ways?
 * ...that Pullmantur Cruises is the largest Spain-based cruise line?
 * ...that a diary attributed to Jose Enrique de la Peña claims that Davy Crockett surrendered at the Battle of the Alamo and was executed on the orders of General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna?
 * ...that Hurricane Cosme in 2007 helped relieve a persistent drought in Hawaii?
 * ...that Cognos Reportnet is compatible with multiple databases including Oracle, SAP, Teradata, Microsoft SQL server, DB2 and Sybase?
 * ...that Secretary of War Robert Todd Lincoln sent the Secret Service and Pinkerton's detectives to find and capture convicted embezzler Capt. Henry W. Howgate?
 * ...that Moti Masjid (Lahore), built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, was turned into a gemstone repository by Ranjit Singh during the Sikh rule of Punjab?
 * ...that archbishop Joseph Signay cited the man's poor eyesight to delay Michel-Édouard Méthot's tonsuring?
 * ...that while James Howard was Mayor of Bedford in 1864, he entertained Giuseppe Garibaldi, who planted a Giant Sequoia that was later struck by lightning?
 * ...that the Rab battalion was a Yugoslav partisans unit of Jewish survivors of Rab concentration camp?
 * ...that George Steiner's 1975 book on language and translation, After Babel, was the first comprehensive study of the subject?
 * ...that Emmy Noether (pictured) was called "the most significant creative mathematical genius thus far produced since the higher education of women began" by Albert Einstein?
 * ...that the Poughkeepsie Trust Company building has been described as the Hudson Valley's first modern skyscraper despite being only six stories high?
 * ...that the Pontiac Pacific Junction Railway to Waltham, Quebec was completed in 1888, but not opened until 1894, stopped in 1959, and finally was removed in 1984?
 * ...that broken remains of three early medieval high crosses were found in 1874 during the construction of Barnes Hospital in Cheadle, Greater Manchester, but the location of only one is known today?
 * ...that the Delhi-Lahore Bus, a symbol of Indo-Pakistani friendship, continued running during the 1999 Kargil War?
 * ...that Chillenden Windmill (pictured) was the last post mill built in Kent, replacing a mill that had blown down in 1868, and that it was itself blown down in 2003?
 * ...that actor Jason Beghe became best friends with John F. Kennedy, Jr. and David Duchovny when they attended Collegiate School in New York City?
 * ...that Children At Risk, a Houston-based non-profit, publishes a biannual report, Growing Up In Houston, which tracks 130 Quality of Life Indicators?
 * ...that despite being one of the strongest tropical cyclones to make landfall on Western Australia, Cyclone Glenda caused minimal damage and no deaths?
 * ...that the mine countermeasures ship USS Scout used her sonar to locate hazardous sunken debris off the Louisiana coast after Hurricane Katrina?
 * ...that the gates (pictured) of Warrington Town Hall, Cheshire, erected in 1895, had been shown at the 1862 International Exhibition in London?
 * ...that Reuben Gaylord, the recognized leader of missionary pioneers in Omaha City, Nebraska Territory, has been called the "father of Congregationalism in Nebraska?
 * ...that many gift books, decorative anthologies published annually just before the holidays to be given as gifts, featured popular authors of the day such as Dickens, Wordsworth, Hawthorne and Poe?
 * ...that Poughkeepsie's Market Street Row includes one of the oldest houses in the city?
 * ...that the southern terminus of the first suburb to suburb commuter rail in the United States is Wilsonville Station in Oregon?
 * ...that Richard Devlin, the majority leader of the Oregon State Senate, has faced Republican Bob Tiernan three times, in races for two offices?
 * ...that despite being dominated by the military elite, the Guatemalan Institutional Democratic Party was ousted from power in 1978 by a military opposition?
 * ...that film director Brett Simon taught film history, film theory and video production at the University of California, Berkeley while completing two degrees there?
 * ...that the Nez Perce thought they themselves gave nice gifts, but that the Lewis and Clark Expedition gave "cheap" gifts, upon meeting in the Weippe Prairie in 1805?
 * ...that St. Cyril of Jerusalem Church (pictured) was the site of the baptism of Clark Gable's son, the wedding of Annette Funicello, and the funeral of Mercury Seven astronaut "Gordo" Cooper?
 * ...that John Lavarack was the first person born in Australia to be an Australian State Governor?
 * ...that the exposed bedrock of the Duluth Complex was formed from magma emitted when the North American plate began to split apart in the Midcontinent Rift?
 * ...that even though his predecessor, Verne Duncan, was a Republican, Democrat Kurt Schrader faced no Republican opponent in his 2002 run for the Oregon State Senate?
 * ...that police patrolled Incarnation Church during the 2000 funeral of a Hispanic youth killed with a tire iron by Armenian-Americans after a retaliatory shooting at a donut shop?
 * ...that Booksfree is the first online book rental company in the United States to offer flat rate rental-by-mail to its customers?
 * ...that Joe Shell, the conservative Republican who challenged Richard Nixon for the 1962 California governorship was a champion football halfback in 1939 and 1940?
 * ...that Carl Hans Lody was the first German spy to be executed in the United Kingdom during World War I?
 * ...that Oldbury-on-the-Hill, part of Didmarton, has a 30-metre (98 ft) Bronze Age round barrow called Nan Tow's Tump (pictured)?
 * ...that the Battle of Mataquito, part of the Arauco War, was lost by the Mapuche after disaffected local Indians betrayed their location to the Spanish?
 * ...that the Wrawby Junction rail crash involved a locomotive supposedly renumbered after a psychic predicted a locomotive with the original number would be involved in a crash?
 * ...that the Tang Chinese government of Emperor Xuanzong achieved considerable savings from reforms implemented by Chancellor Pei Yaoqing?
 * ...that Old Catholic Cemetery was created for Roman Catholics after a yellow fever epidemic struck Mobile, Alabama in the 1830s?
 * ...that before working as biomechanist to the Indian cricket team, Ian Frazer helped Australian cricketer Greg Chappell develop a patented cricket training program?
 * ...that tourism in Zanzibar is the top income generator for the islands, out-earning the lucrative spice industry?
 * ...that Rev. D'Ewes Coke, colliery owner and philanthropist, (find in imagemap) was descended from Dr. George Coke, Bishop of Hereford who was charged with high treason?
 * ...that Helen Yglesias, best known for writing the 1981 novel Sweetsir, died one day before her 93rd birthday?
 * ...that New Zealand cricketer and Test match captain Merv Wallace has been called "the most under-rated cricketer to have worn the silver fern"?
 * ...that the Fifteen Guinea Special, one of the last British Rail steam services before the steam ban of 1968, was so called because of the high prices from popular demand for it?
 * ...that East German sprinter Sabine Günther won three gold medals in 4 x 100 metres relay at three different European Championships?
 * ...that rugby union footballer Farah Palmer captained the Black Ferns to three consecutive Women's Rugby World Cup titles?
 * ...that Harlow Row was named for and designed by a former mayor of Poughkeepsie?
 * ...that Maseru, the capital of Lesotho, was founded in 1869 as a police camp?
 * ...that anti-conscription activist Ivan Toms served as the only medical physician for approximately 60,000 people in a Cape Flats shanty town during South Africa's Apartheid era?
 * ...that the Battle of Palikao was a victory for the British and French forces during the Second Opium War which enabled them to take Beijing and defeat the Qing Empire?
 * ...that the Hebron glass industry goes back to at least the thirteenth century?
 * ...that current International Bobsleigh and Tobogganing Federation president Robert H. Storey survived a 1966 four-man bobsleigh crash that took the life of one teammate and severely injured another?
 * ...that St. Finbar Church in Burbank, faced with a dwindling flock and changing demographics, was one of the first U.S. parishes to offer Spanish language Mass?
 * ...that British international rally driver Tony Ambrose was given an MG sports car by his father for winning a scholarship to Jesus College, Oxford?
 * ...that the Maitreyi Express was launched on Pohela Baisakh in 2008 to revive the railway link between India and Bangladesh that had been closed for 43 years?
 * ...that like building a better mouse trap, there is still a challenge for inventors to produce a kinder and more gentle scallop dredge?
 * ...that Sans Pareil (pictured), one of five locomotives to compete in the 1829 Rainhill Trials, was later used on the Bolton and Leigh Railway?
 * ...that A. V. Meiyappan produced India's first dubbed film, Harischandra, in 1944?
 * ...that Cyclone Gamede in February 2007 was among the wettest tropical cyclones on record, dropping more than 5.5 m of precipitation in a nine day period on Réunion island?
 * ...that John Heisman, namesake of the Heisman Trophy, played for the Brown Bears before eventually transferring to the University of Pennsylvania?
 * ...that the original specimen of the mauve splitting waxcap, a fungus from eastern Australia, found its way from Melbourne to Budapest but disappeared during the First World War?
 * ...that there was an element of eroticism concerning death in Viking culture, and that the dead were often described as being received by a lady?
 * ...that the world's largest factory trawler, the 144 m long Atlantic Dawn, is able to process 350 tonnes of fish a day?
 * ...that when St. Andrew's Church in Pasadena was built in the 1920s, it was compared to "a jeweled crown on the head of a Byzantine queen"?
 * ...that the former Lady Washington Hose Company firehouse in Poughkeepsie incorporates both Japanese and Gothic Revival elements in its design?
 * ...that reputed 25-year-old gangster Nicodemo Scarfo, Jr. was the victim of a notorious mob hit by a gunman wearing a Batman mask on Halloween in 1989?
 * ...that Kevin Reiman, a MLS footballer for Real Salt Lake, helped Maryland U. win an NCAA title, then transferred after their addition of Robbie Rogers?
 * ...that the papal election, 1292-1294 was the last election of a pope which did not take the form of a conclave?
 * ...that the Tang Dynasty chancellor Zhang Jiuling offered a five-volume historical work that he authored as a birthday gift to Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, instead of mirrors, which the other officials were giving?
 * ...that having moved to South Africa to start his missionary work at age 22, Joseph Gérard died at age 83 in Lesotho without ever returning to his home country of France?
 * ...that in 1998, an oil fire at the Lost Hills Oil Field in Kern County, California burned for 14 days and was visible more than 40 mi away?
 * ...that Italian Jesuit priest Sabatino de Ursis moved to China in 1607 to assist Matteo Ricci in his astronomical research, and attempted to reform the Chinese calendar?
 * ...that the Hasbrouck House is an unusually large Romanesque Revival dwelling for a city the size of Poughkeepsie?
 * ...that future ice hockey stars Brett Hull and Dominik Hašek participated in the Calgary Cup, a preview event for the 1988 Winter Olympics?
 * ...that screenwriter Tim Calpin says he picked up most of his writing experience from the television series South Park, despite never being part of the writing staff?
 * ...that East German athlete Henry Lauterbach competed on an international level in both high jump and long jump?
 * ...that Egypt had an active national cricket team before World War II, but only one player was a native Egyptian?
 * ...that migrants from India form over 40% of the total population of the United Arab Emirates?
 * ...that St Mark's Church in the small village of Vrba was mentioned in a sonnet by the Slovene national poet?
 * ...that English cricketer Roger Davis was once struck so hard on the head by a ball that his heart and breathing stopped, and he had to be revived by a doctor from the crowd?
 * ...that Jean Follain was a corporate lawyer, magistrate and award-winning author and poet who wrote the poem "Death of the Ferret"?
 * ...that "The Fires of Pompeii" is the first Doctor Who episode since the television show's revival where the cast filmed abroad?
 * ...that AT&T engineer Otto Zobel helped to establish that electronic noise cannot be completely eliminated from radio and cable transmissions?
 * ...that Louis XIV of France employed a native Chinese librarian, Arcadio Huang, to organize the royal library's collection of Chinese books?
 * ...that coal mining in Nigeria, for which the Nigerian Coal Corporation had a monopoly until 1999, peaked in the 1950s, then suffered from the use of oil and the Nigerian Civil War afterwards?
 * ...that Thomas R. Kimball gutted the central part of the Burlington Headquarters Building in Omaha to make it resemble the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad headquarters in Chicago?
 * ...that a pit crater, unlike an impact crater, is formed by the ground sinking over a void such an emptied magma chamber or caldera?
 * ...that when Gui de Cavalhon besieged Castelnaudary in the fall of 1220 he requested assistance from friend and fellow troubadour, Bertran Folcon d'Avignon, in a poem?
 * ...that river miles measure distances along a river from its mouth and are used to reference locations and to name islands?
 * ...that the Rev. Teddy Boston was immortalized as "the Fat Clergyman" in The Railway Series of children's books by the Rev. W. V. Awdry?
 * ...that Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino was the largest naval shipbuilding firm of the Austro-Hungarian Empire?
 * ...that although Norman Rockwell felt Freedom of Speech and Freedom to Worship were the most successful of his Four Freedoms painting series, Freedom from Want has had the most enduring success?
 * ...that Muhamed, a German horse, seemed to extract cube roots and tap out the answer with his hooves?
 * ...that in 1933, Ed Walsh (Jr.), son of Hall of Famer Ed Walsh, stopped Joe DiMaggio's minor league record 61 game hitting streak?
 * ...that the O. H. Booth Hose Company (pictured) in Poughkeepsie was named after the fire chief who formed it after a previous company of volunteer firefighters quit because they were jealous of other companies' facilities?
 * ...that mutations in the FLNB gene cause boomerang dysplasia, a lethal congenital disorder in which the limbs' long bones malform into the shape of a boomerang?
 * ...that incendiary ammunition may be used against tanks, as it can penetrate armor and spread phosphorus through the compartment, burning the crew and depleting their oxygen?
 * ...that filming on The Office episode "Dinner Party" was interrupted for over four months due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike?
 * ...that the 1943 Greater East Asia Conference praised Pan-Asianism and condemned Western colonialism but did not produce plans for the region's development?
 * ...that George Francis Train promoted Columbus, Nebraska as "the new center of the Union and quite probably the future capital of the U.S.A." in order to sell Credit Foncier land there?
 * ...that in the 1830s, anticipating construction of the Long Island Rail Road, land developer Ambrose George purchased a large tract of land between  Bethpage and Hardscrabble in Suffolk County?
 * ...that a painting by Antoine-Jean Gros (pictured) shows Napoleon Bonaparte touching the armpit of a plague victim in Jaffa?
 * ...that the 2008 Hillsong United album The I Heart Revolution: With Hearts as One was released as a USB flash drive containing the MP3 files of the songs, embedded into a rubber wristband?
 * ...that, besides smuggling and distributing Colombian cocaine and Mexican and Southeast Asian heroin, Sinaloa Cartel produces its own opium and marijuana?