Wikipedia:Recent additions 40

Did you know...

 * ...that the British Army used the Gatling gun in combat for the first time at the Battle of Ulundi during the Anglo-Zulu War?
 * ...that former Moroccan prime minister Abderrahmane Youssoufi involved himself in socialist causes as early as the age of 20, by attempting to organize the Casablanca working class?
 * ...that the New York-New Jersey Line War lasted more than half a century until it was finally settled by action of the King of Great Britain?
 * ...that French officer Charles Mangin was despised by his troops during World War I due to his aggressive tactics, which earned him the nickname "The Butcher"?


 * ...that Marguerite Clark left school at age 16, debuted on Broadway a year later, and then quickly became one of the major stage and film stars of the first two decades of the 20th century?
 * ...that the Tu’i Tonga Empire was the most influential local empire in the history of Oceania?
 * ...that Yunfa, a 19th-century ruler of the Africa kingdom of Gobir, made a personal attempt on the life of Fulani reformer Usman dan Fodio, triggering the Fulani War?
 * ...that Ed Roberts became one of the founders of the disability rights movement when he lobbied for basic accommodations at the University of California, Berkeley?
 * ...that Wash Woods is a lost town on Virginia's False Cape, which was built by survivors of a shipwreck using cypress wood that washed ashore?


 * ...that the Sicilian cart is a colorful folk art form based on a cart design adopted from the ancient Greeks?
 * ...that not all Polish names end in -ski?
 * ...that in 1930, the footballer Gerard Keizer played for both Arsenal and Ajax Amsterdam simultaneously, flying between England and the Netherlands to play in matches?
 * ...that a sailor from the SS Thames owed his life to a cask of porter after the ship wrecked on the Isles of Scilly in 1841?
 * ...that the town of Moronvilliers was totally destroyed in WWI and was also a site for French dry-nuclear testing?


 * ...that Shakespeare and Company, an English-language bookstore in left bank Paris, first published James Joyce’s Ulysses in 1922, but the book was subsequently banned in the United States, United Kingdom and the author's home country Ireland?
 * ...that 1980s video game publisher BudgeCo was formed to distribute just two games?
 * ...that the Reverend Dr. James Blair of Scotland was a clergyman and missionary to the Virginia Colony, and is best known as the founder in 1693 of the College of William and Mary, where he served as President for 50 years?
 * ...that the Bombay Quadrangular cricket tournament originated in an 1877 game to foster interracial harmony, but was abandoned in 1946 over fears that its racial basis threatened Indian independence?


 * ...that the 18th century Governor's Palace, originally completed in 1722 and last occupied by Thomas Jefferson in 1780, was carefully reconstructed, opening in 1934 as one of the two larger buildings at Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia?
 * ...that booth capturing is a kind of electoral fraud that is seen mainly in India, where armed gangs belonging to political parties try to "capture" a polling booth and indulge in bogus voting?
 * ...that at the Second Battle of the Aisne in World War I, the French suffered over 187,000 casualties?
 * ...that Lott Cary was an African American slave who became educated, bought his freedom, became a minister and physician, and helped found the Colony of Liberia in Africa in 1822?


 * ...that Green Spring Plantation in James City County was home of Sir William Berkeley, who served three non-consecutive terms as governor of the Virginia Colony, and for whom Berkeley Plantation is named?
 * ...that a young Aruna Asaf Ali had to commence the Quit India Movement in 1942 as all the major leaders were arrested the night before to prevent them from reaching the venue?
 * ...that the Nivelle Offensive during World War I involved around 1.2 million French troops and over 7,000 guns?
 * ...that American comics writer and artist Don Rico started his creative career in the Works Progress Administration Federal Art Project during the Great Depression?


 * ...that Batman's Treaty was a treaty made between settler John Batman and local Wurundjeri elders in 1835 for the sale of land around Port Phillip and that it was one of the few attempts made by white settlers to negotiate with Australian Aborigines?
 * ...that the 1970 Ancash earthquake and the landslide that followed killed at least 47,194 people and was the worst natural disaster ever recorded in the history of Peru?
 * ...that Herman Ashworth was the fourth person to drop his appeals since the U.S. state of Ohio resumed the death penalty in 1999?
 * ...that Indonesian women's rights organisation Gerwani was banned when General Suharto became President in 1965?
 * ...that A. R. R. A. P. W. R. R. K. B. Amunugama has more initials than any other first-class cricketer?
 * ...that W. G. Collingwood, John Ruskin's secretary and assistant was a noted scholar of Norse history and art?
 * ...that during the 1976 Pacific hurricane season three consecutive storms made landfall?
 * ...that Vicente Leñero, a prominent Mexican novelist, journalist and playwright, was a screenwriter for El Crimen del Padre Amaro, one of Mexico's all-time highest grossing films?
 * ...that the U.S. Navy has been training Bottlenose Dolphins to subdue terrorists as part of the Cetacean Intelligence Mission?


 * ...that the extinct Australian dromornithids, which included the largest birds known, are related to ducks and geese?
 * ...that when the eight-mile Texas and Northern Railway began operations in 1948, it was designated a Class I railroad, in the same class as giants like the Pennsylvania Railroad?
 * ...that Carmen Boullosa is a leading Mexican novelist, poet, and playwright whose award-winning play Teatro herético satirically addresses the issue of gender roles?


 * ...that in 1915, Hollywood actress Anita King became the first female to ever drive an automobile across the continental United States alone and whose only companions, according to the Los Angeles Times, were "a rifle and a six shooter"?
 * ...that Valrhona, a company based in the small town of Tain l'Hermitage in the Rhône Valley in France, is one of the world's leading manufacturers of high-quality chocolate?
 * ...that it is estimated that more than 85 percent of all business information exists as unstructured data, commonly appearing in e-mails, memos, reports, letters, presentations and Web pages?
 * ...that Elizabeth Taylor made her London stage debut in 1982 at the Victoria Palace Theatre in a revival of Lillian Hellman's play The Little Foxes?
 * ...that Adolf Hitler was a self-proclaimed vegetarian and had a large greenhouse built to keep him supplied with fresh fruits and vegetables throughout World War II?
 * ...that John W. Peoples, Jr. tried to have his execution carried out by electric chair instead of lethal injection?
 * ...that Science Service used to broadcast information from its Science News magazine on the radio?
 * ... that Igor Spassky, the head of the Russian Rubin Design Bureau, was the chief designer of 187 submarines (91 diesel-electric and 96 nuclear) as well as Halliburton oil platforms and the marine part of the Sea Launch complex?
 * ...that the Casino Goa in Goa is the only legal casino in India?
 * ...that Lancelot Blackburne was thought to have spent time in the Caribbean as a buccaneer as a young man, and lived openly with his mistress whilst Archbishop of York?
 * ...that Nağaybäk Tatars of Russia constructed their own Paris, with Eiffel Tower?
 * ...that the current German Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth Renate Schmidt was forced to quit school at the age of seventeen because of a pregnancy?
 * ...that virtual plagues can infect and kill the characters in a massively multiplayer online role-playing game and are usually caused by unexpected problems with the programming code?