Wikipedia:Recent additions 43

Did you know...

 * ...that the decidua is the maternal contribution to the placenta?
 * ...that Jaja, one of the most successful merchant-kings in 19th-century Nigeria, began his life as a slave in Bonny?
 * ...that Raghib Ismail became the highest-paid player in gridiron football history when he joined the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League?
 * ...that a grand illumination is an outdoor ceremony involving the simultaneous activation of electric Christmas lights, and is derived from the English tradition of placing lighted candles in the windows of homes and public buildings to celebrate a special event?
 * ...that invasion literature, such as The War of the Worlds, was a literary genre influential in foreign politics during the years leading up to World War I?
 * ...that Come Out by composer Steve Reich was made out of the recorded speech of a young man injured in a race riot who was wrongly arrested for murder?
 * ...that the Combined Islands cricket team were dissolved the year after they won their first&mdash;and last&mdash;domestic trophy in West Indian cricket?
 * ...that over 50 parents contacted Gonzaga University's athletic department on the first day that a Sports Illustrated issue featuring a story on Gonzaga basketball player Adam Morrison and his life with Type 1 diabetes was available at retail outlets?
 * ...that Chetan Sharma, a former Indian cricketer, was the first Indian ever to get a ten wicket haul overseas, taking 10/188 against England in a Test Series in 1986?
 * ...that the Suramadu Bridge, connecting the islands of Java and Madura, will become the longest bridge in Indonesia when completed in 2009?
 * ...that George W. Atherton served as president of the Pennsylvania State University for 24 years and is buried on the university's main campus?
 * ...that Lamb Chop is a fictional sheep that was created by comedian and ventriloquist Shari Lewis and first appeared on the children's television show Captain Kangaroo in 1957?
 * ...that the Alfa Romeo Montreal was so named because it was first unveiled in prototype form at Montreal's Expo 67 world's fair?
 * ...that First Internet Backgammon Server is the earliest backgammon server on the Internet, in operation since July 19, 1992?
 * ...that Nadezhda Durova was a woman who became a decorated soldier in the Russian cavalry during the Napoleonic Wars, enlisted as a private in 1807 and retired with the rank of stabs-rotmistr(Captain) in 1816?
 * ...that silicosis is an occupational lung disease caused by inhalation of silica, the second most common mineral on Earth's crust?
 * ...that a sheriff officer is an officer of the Scottish Sheriff Court, responsible for serving documents and enforcing court orders within the area of their commission?
 * ...that Odoardo Beccari was an Italian naturalist best known for discovering the titan arum, the plant with the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world, in Sumatra in 1878?
 * ...that Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park in Oyster Bay, New York was the historic 353-acre estate of Gilded Age millionaire William R. Coe?
 * ...that the first-person shooter computer game Requiem: Avenging Angel was influenced by the Bible and Christian mythology?
 * ...that the genera Bergerocactus and Bergeranthus are named after Alwin Berger, a German botanist best known for his contribution to the nomenclature of succulent plants, particularly agaves and cacti?
 * ...that a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, directly elected by citizens of member countries, has been proposed by legislators in an effort to counter the influence of the World Trade Organization and other unelected international bodies?
 * ...that Lake Nockamixon is the start of a whitewater kayaking course going through northern Bucks County, Pennsylvania?
 * ...that as of 2005 James Neil Tucker was the last person executed in the United States using the electric chair?
 * ...that Amos Urban Shirk was a prodigious reader of encyclopedias?
 * ...that during the Indian independence movement, Tanguturi Prakasam bared his chest when the police threatened to shoot and that after the incident, he was given the with the sobriquet Andhra Kesari of Andhra (lion of Andhra)?
 * ...that "A Different Corner" by George Michael was the first song to reach #1 on the UK Singles Chart to be written, sung, played, arranged, and produced by the same person?
 * ...that Typhoon Vamei formed only 92 nautical miles north of the Equator, a record at the time?
 * ...that the Sanhedrin, part of the major Jewish religious text known as the Mishnah, focuses on criminal law, and that commentaries on the Sanhedrin by rabbis as recorded in the Talmud are noteworthy as precursors to the development of common law principals?
 * ...that Jean Laplanche, French psychoanalyst and co-author of the definitive Language of Psycho-Analysis, is also an accomplished vintner?
 * ...that Beau Sia, a perennial Nuyorican Poets Café favorite, first discovered slam poetry through MTV as a teenager?
 * ...that the Schmidt-Pechan prism is a type of roof prism used for image erection in binoculars?
 * ...that Jacob Bruce, a Russian nobleman of Scottish descent and one of the most educated people in Russia at the time, was famous among the 18th-century Muscovites as an alchemist and mage?
 * ...that the case of Yvonne Wanrow, a Colville Indian who was tried in 1972 in the shooting and killing a man who has attempted to molest her son, became a cause célèbre of the feminist and American Indian movements?
 * ...that Malaysian politician and MP Badruddin Amiruldin has publically said that those who oppose Islamic theocracy should leave the country?
 * ...that according to Breton folklore, not completing the 600 km-long Tro Breizh during one's lifetime would condemn their soul to repeating an equivalent length tour every seven years from within their coffin?
 * ...that the first Intercolonial cricket match in Australia was played in Launceston, Tasmania between players from Port Phillip and Van Diemen's Land in February 1851?
 * ...that a condenser is used to condense steam from a steam turbine to obtain maximum efficiency?
 * ...that Samuel Andrews was a English-born chemist and inventor whose request for investment capital to build an oil refinery in 1862 led to a partnership with John D. Rockefeller and formation of the Standard Oil companies?
 * ...that Sandia Pueblo in central New Mexico was discovered by Spanish conquistador Francisco Vásquez de Coronado in 1539 while on an expedition to discover the Seven Cities of Cibola?
 * ...that Chicanismo is a cultural movement by Mexican Americans to recapture their Mexican and Native American culture, which began in the 1930s in the Southwestern United States?
 * ...that Newman and Baddiel in Pieces was the final show on which the comic partnership of Robert Newman and David Baddiel worked together before going their separate ways?
 * ...that the parents of Rachel Whitear allowed a photograph of her dead body to be used in a campaign against heroin?
 * ...that at 67 years old, Elias Syriani was the oldest person executed in the United States since James Hubbard was executed by Alabama at the age of 74 in 2004?
 * ...that polydactyl cats, with extra toes as a genetic trait, were long considered good luck by many sailors, as their extraordinary climbing and hunting skills as ship's cats were helpful in controlling shipboard rodents?
 * ...that the video for the Tori Amos single "Silent All These Years" is #98 on the Rolling Stone list of the top 100 music videos of all time?
 * ...that fashion designer Katharine Hamnett once met with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher while wearing her own T-shirt with the slogan "58% Don't Want Pershing"?
 * ...that the wedding of the parents of Anne of Cleves took place at Schloss Burg, now the largest reconstructed castle in North Rhine-Westphalia?
 * ...that Tana Umaga is the only player to have played in the very first games of the Super 12 and the Super 14?