Wikipedia:Recent additions 35

Did you know...

 * ...that the height of clouds is measured using a ceiling balloon?
 * ...that Maurine Brown Neuberger was the third woman elected to the U.S. Senate and that as a U.S. Senator she sponsored one of the first bills to require warning labels on cigarette packaging?
 * ... that the 1985 comedy film Head Office has established stars such as Danny DeVito starring in roles that are little more than bit parts?
 * ...that Republican California State Assemblyman Chuck DeVore wrote a book that was banned in the People's Republic of China?


 * ...that the Revolt of the Comuneros, an uprising against Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, is considered by some to be the first modern revolution?
 * ...that comic-book writer Stan Lee, novelist/historian Winston Groom, and district attorney Jim Garrison have all been victims of Hollywood accounting?
 * ...that the "Victory Tests" were a series of cricket matches between a team of Australian servicemen and an English national side played just two weeks after World War II ended?
 * ...that Ronald E. Neumann, the United States Ambassador to Afghanistan, is the first ambassador since John Quincy Adams in 1817 to be appointed to the same country where his father was also ambassador?
 * ...that American Wimbledon champion, Alice Marble was shot in the back while working as a spy in Switzerland during World War II?
 * ...that Nashville radio station WWTN launched the career of the nationally-syndicated financial advisor Dave Ramsey?
 * ...that Hertfordshire puddingstone is a conglomerate rock named after its resemblance to Christmas pudding?
 * ...that Wayne McLaren, an American model who portrayed the Marlboro Man in the famous cigarette advertising campaign, died of lung cancer?
 * ...that Republican California State Assemblyman Van Tran is the first Vietnamese-American to serve in a state legislature in U.S. history?
 * ...that Johnson composed music for some of the most important motion pictures of Malayalam cinema, including Perumthachan and movies directed by Padmarajan?
 * ...that the American's Creed was written in 1917 as an entry into a patriotic contest, and was adopted by the U.S. House of Representatives the next year?
 * ...that the Australian Giant burrowing frog does not croak, but rather hoots like an owl?


 * ...that the opera King Arthur is unusual because the principal characters do not sing, rather they recite dialogue accompanied by music?
 * ...that alcohol advertising is heavily restricted in some countries to avoid associating the drinking of alcoholic beverages with sexual success and physical attractiveness?
 * ...that during the 1937 Louisville, Kentucky flood the town's Brown Hotel was partially submerged, and a worker caught a two-pound fish in the lobby?
 * ...that Kabloona (1941) is a classic account of a Frenchman's life among Canadian Inuit?
 * ...that all of the publishing royalties the Bee Gees' song "Too Much Heaven" earned went to UNICEF?
 * ...that the Houston Ballet has one of the largest endowments of any dance company in the U.S.?
 * ...that the sailors of the Santa María shipwrecked in Haiti were infected by the first reported cases of tungiasis, a disease caused by burrowing fleas?
 * ...that the German prisoners of war built part of the Stade de Gerland stadium in Lyon, France, after the First World War?
 * ...that the Optimus keyboard is a prototype computer keyboard that uses OLED technology to make each of its keys act as a small display?


 * ...that John Dryden created the genre of heroic drama as a way of reconciling plays with epic poetry?
 * ...that Augustiner Bräu is Munich's only German-owned brewery?
 * ...that Alexander Selkirk was travelling on the British galleon Cinque Ports when he was abandoned on the uninhabited Pacific island of Juan Fernández in 1704 and that his tale inspired the story of Robinson Crusoe?
 * ...that Suudu is a culture-specific syndrome of painful urination and pelvic "heat" familiar in south India, especially in the Tamil culture?
 * ...that despite apparently predicting that future naval warfare would rely on boarding actions, Kipling's satirical poem The Ballad of the "Clampherdown", was taken seriously when published in 1892?


 * ...that the Ampelmännchen (German: little men on the traffic signal) of East Germany had a confident stride, thought to evoke enthusiasm in moving toward an ideal socialist future?
 * ...that there are at least 60 different human and alien technologies in the fictional Stargate universe?
 * ...that Marn Grook is the name of ball game played by Australian Aborginals which is thought to be the basis for the modern game of Australian rules football?
 * ...that superfecundation is the fertilization of two or more ova by sperm from separate acts of sexual intercourse and can lead to twins with different fathers?
 * ...that Toktogul Satilganov was the most famous of the Kyrgyz Akyn storytellers?
 * ...that California State Senator Abel Maldonado ran for election to the Santa Maria City Council in 1994 after being involved in a building dispute?
 * ...that the Dakar-Niger Railway was the site of a 1947 strike celebrated by author Ousmane Sembène as a turning point in West Africa's anti-colonial struggle?
 * ... that the Mokola virus is a relative of the rabies virus and was first isolated in tree shrews?
 * ...that there have only been two tied Tests in the 128 years of Test cricket, both involving the Australian cricket team?
 * ...that misdirected letters are a common plot twist in the 19th century genre of theatre called the Well-Made Play?


 * ... that the Tatara Bridge in Japan has the longest span of any cable-stayed bridge in the world?
 * ...that California's current State Senate Minority Leader Dick Ackerman ran for State Attorney General in 2002?
 * ...that the BBC1 sitcom Grace & Favour was the sequel series to the long-running programme Are You Being Served?
 * ...that 1980's Rescue at Rigel by Epyx was one of the first science fiction computer role-playing games?


 * ...that the Carte Orange is a pass for the public transportation system in Paris and the surrounding region?
 * ...that Department S was an ITC Entertainment production which not only led to a successful spin-off, Jason King, but was also a large source of inspiration for Austin Powers?
 * ...that patients with acrocyanosis have dark or bluish hands and feet but are otherwise normal?
 * ...that Andy Ducat suffered a heart attack and died whilst playing in a wartime cricket match and is the only person to have died during a cricket match on the Lord's Cricket Ground?
 * ...that Frank Ryan earned a Ph.D. in mathematics while playing quarterback for the Cleveland Browns?
 * ...that children's book The Gruffalo was made into a play; it played the National Theater and NYC's Broadway?
 * ...that the powerful ancient Egyptian courtier Yuya is thought by some scholars to have been the historical Joseph of Genesis?
 * ...that Internet entrepreneur Pete Ashdown is running against incumbent Orrin Hatch for the 2006 U.S. Senate race in Utah?
 * ...that the Russian musical group Terem Quartet performs classical works on folk instruments in a humorous, virtuosic style?