Wikipedia:Recent additions 24

Did you know...

 * ...that there are multiple theories why LMLK seals were stamped on the handles of large storage jars in and around Jerusalem circa 700 BC?
 * ...that Aquarius is the world's only underwater research facility?
 * ...that Elecia Battle, who claimed to have a 162 million dollar lottery winning ticket, is a professional female boxer?
 * ...that the film Dangerous Minds was based on the true story by the high school teacher Louanne Johnson, My Posse Don't Do Homework?


 * ...that black seadevils are a family of anglerfish named for their baleful appearance and pitch black skin?
 * ...that ignorantia juris non excusat is Latin for the legal doctrine, "ignorance of the law is no excuse"?
 * ...that medieval pilgrims on the Way of St James would join up at the French Basque town of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port before crossing the Pyrenees?
 * ...that in the animated Laff-a-Lympics, non-competing Hanna-Barbera characters such as Fred Flintstone and Jabberjaw made appearances as guest announcers?


 * ...that the Great Lakes Storm of 1913 was the deadliest natural disaster to hit the Great Lakes basin region, killing over 250 people?
 * ...that professional wrestler Gorilla Monsoon grew a long beard and billed himself as a terrifying giant from Manchuria as a heel gimmick?
 * ...that U.S. Ambassador Charles E. Bohlen received the secret protocol to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which contained an understanding between Hitler and Stalin to split Central Europe, from German diplomat Hans von Herwarth?
 * ...that Nancy Olson was nominated for an Oscar for playing the "good" girl in Sunset Boulevard shortly after being considered for the role of the temptress Delilah in the film Samson and Delilah?


 * ...that Franz Liszt's Piano Sonata in B minor was influenced by Franz Schubert's Wanderer Fantasy?
 * ...that the only international cricket in South Africa between 1971 and 1981 comprised 6 private tours and 1 women's test match, because no test match playing nation was willing to tour the country because of its apartheid policy?
 * ...that in the ionization chamber of a smoke detector, ions strike smoke particles and are neutralized, and this drop in current triggers the alarm?
 * ...that the Saladin tithe was levied in England in 1188 to help finance the Third Crusade?


 * ...that Catsear is sometimes mistaken for dandelions, and has similar culinary uses?
 * ...that Mary Magdalene realized that Jesus had returned from the dead after his crucifixion in the Bible verse John 20:16?
 * ...that the Fox television series Herman's Head used characters to represent different aspect of the main character's psyche, similar to Eric Berne's concept of transactional analysis?
 * ...that tusk shells are a class of marine mollusks that resemble elephants' tusks, and were used by the natives of the Pacific Northwest as wampum?


 * ...that Senator William A. Blakley of the U.S. state of Texas worked as a ranch hand as a young man?
 * ...that the tangent piano is a rare keyboard instrument that fuses the sound of the harpsichord and piano?
 * ...that in 1944, Gwethalyn Graham was the first Canadian writer to reach number one on The New York Times bestseller list, with a novel depicting an interfaith romance between a Protestant woman and a Jewish man?
 * ...that the earliest record of Gaelic handball is the 1527 town statutes of Galway, Ireland, which forbade the playing of ball games against the walls?
 * ...that DONKEY.BAS was a computer game cowritten by Bill Gates and included with early versions of the PC DOS operating system for the original IBM PC, in which the player must avoid hitting donkeys?
 * ...that the 1995 documentary film Anne Frank Remembered contains the only known film footage of the young diarist?
 * ...that the Beatles' song "Polythene Pam" was partly inspired by a Liverpool fan who ate polyethylene?
 * ...that the Fairy Queen is the longest-operating steam locomotive in the world?
 * ...that the English outsider artist Madge Gill claimed to be guided by a spirit she called Myrninerest (my inner rest), and often signed her works with this name?
 * ...that Fastnet Rock, a small clay-slate island with quartz veins, is the southernmost point of Ireland?
 * ...that in the court case Trop v. Dulles, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that it was unconstitutional for the government to cancel the citizenship of a U.S. citizen as a punishment?
 * ...that Nica de Koenigswarter of the Rothschild family was known as the "bebop baroness" for her patronage of jazz musicians, including Thelonious Monk and Charlie Parker?


 * ...that Manuc's Inn, the oldest operating hotel building in Bucharest, Romania, was the site of the preliminary talks for the peace treaty that put an end to the 1806–1812 Russo-Turkish war?
 * ...that political illustrator Steve Brodner has caricatured American Presidents going back to Richard Nixon?
 * ...that the common mullein plant was burnt in France during celebrations on the second Sunday of Lent to protect against evil spirits and demons?
 * ...that British teacher and MP Leah Manning organised the evacuation of almost 4,000 Basque children to Britain during the Spanish Civil War?
 * ...that the Skyscraper Museum in New York City, USA was forced to close temporarily as its space was commandeered as an emergency information center after the September 11, 2001 attacks?


 * ...that the South African Mokopa missile uses a powerful, tandem shaped charge HEAT warhead?
 * ...that Buddhism in Austria is a legally recognized religion and has 10,402 followers according to the 2001 census?
 * ...that although it was a hoax gone awry, scientists originally believed Drake's Plate of Brass to be genuine, based on initial metallurgical studies?
 * ...that the NTSB recommended installing event recorders on grade crossing signals after the 1999 Bourbonnais train accident?


 * ...that Lighthouse Hill on Staten Island got its name from the Staten Island Lighthouse, built in 1912, which towers 141 feet (43 meters) above the Lower New York Bay and can be seen as far as 18 miles (29 km) away?
 * ...that Austrian entrepreneur Richard Lugner has been nicknamed Mörtel ("Mortar", as in masonry) by the media?
 * ... that the graves of 13 Britons and a Jamaican trained at Royal Canadian Air Force Station Mount Hope during World War II, are still maintained in a local churchyard in Glanbrook, Ontario?


 * ...that the epidermis of the mantle, an organ in mollusks, secretes the calcium carbonate that creates their shell?
 * ...that the hunchbacked marionette Karagiozis uses mischievous and crude ways to find money and feed his family in the traditional Greek theatre of shadows?
 * ...that Taum Sauk Mountain and its neighbors in the St. Francois range are believed to be one of the few spots in the central US that may never have been submerged under ancient seas?
 * ...that Father José María Arizmendiarrieta escaped a death sentence after the Spanish Civil War and went on to found the Mondragón Cooperative Corporation, the world's largest co-operative?