Wikipedia:Recent additions/2009/October

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31 October 2009

19:28, 31 October 2009 (UTC) Halloween hooks

... that bodies (example pictured) buried in Chauchilla Cemetery still retain skins and hair?
... that the fictional Caribbean island of "San Sebastian" appears in RKO's The Ghost Ship, I Walked With a Zombie, and Zombies on Broadway?
... that one thousand human sacrifices are required to retrieve a treasure hidden in the Bopath Ella Falls?
... that infection by pistil smut induces the development of female sex organs in a male?
... that hairy black cups use toxic chemicals to kill living things?
... that The Haunted House written by Charles Dickens in 1859 is the inspiration for an attraction which can be seen at Chatham in Kent?
... that half-Egyptian Bazil Ashmawy spent a night with ghostbusters in a haunted shopping centre and was hypnotised by witches to meet his ancestors for his TV show Baz's Culture Clash?
... that on every Wednesday and Saturday, the demons of Sri Lanka assemble to give an account of their activities to their king?
13:00, 31 October 2009 (UTC) Halloween hooks

... that the painted suillus (pictured) is not, in fact, the feeding appendages of an underground monster that wants to eat your face?
... that Big Max pumpkins are not really pumpkins?
... that Cutting Edge haunted house was recently awarded the Guinness World Record for the largest haunted house attraction?
... that the title witch of action game Bayonetta can form giant boots with her hair to attack enemies, but loses some of her clothing in the process?
... that the demon Maha Sohona, whose head has been replaced with that of a bear, haunts graveyards and feasts on human flesh?
... that so many witnesses saw the spectre of Stephen Decatur appear at a window at Decatur House, one of the haunted locations in Washington, D.C., that the window was walled up?
... that The Sunday Business Post praised Fight Like Apes frontwoman MayKay for her "long black hair and banshee wail"?
... that Devil's doors allowed the Devil to escape from churches after leaving the souls of newly baptised babies?
07:00, 31 October 2009 (UTC) Halloween hooks

... that "pumpkin sauce," or mashed pumpkin (pictured), was served at inns in New England as early as 1704?
... that Mycena nargan was so named because its white speckles were like the eyes of the mythical nargun of Australian aborigines?
... that people paid to see a skeleton strike a thigh bone against a human skull every sixty minutes?
... that the carnivorous monster called a Hidebehind from American folklore cannot be accurately described because it is always hiding behind something?
... that the first Canadian musical staged at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival really sucked?
... that the Wells and Mendip Museum has a skeleton believed to be that of the Witch of Wookey Hole?
... that according to the Testament of Solomon, the one-winged demon Abezethibou is trapped underneath the Red Sea?
... that in the children's book I Like Pumpkins, the narrator sees Frankenstein and his pet alligator buying pumpkins?
01:00, 31 October 2009 (UTC)

... that Mary Bell (pictured) resigned from the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force in 1941 after being passed over as its director in favour of Clare Stevenson, only to rejoin the following year?
... that Terrestrial Physics is a sculpture made out of a 1 million volt (low energy) particle accelerator?
... that far right British National Party leader Nick Griffin feared for his safety over his first ever appearance on the BBC's Question Time panel?
... that the Seinfeld episode "The Phone Message" was written to replace a script in which one of the main characters bought a handgun, which was considered too provocative?
... that footballer James Constable worked in an undergarment lining factory while playing as a semi-professional?
... that the Alliance political party claimed in 1998 that the Royal New Zealand Navy ship HMNZS Charles Upham was "doing a passable imitation between a lemon and a white elephant"?
... that as special counsel for compliance in the United States Department of Energy, Paul Bloom recovered $6 billion from American oil companies that had overcharged refiners for their "old oil"?
... that in the 30 Rock episode "Into the Crevasse", Jack Donaghy redesigns a microwave oven, turning it into the Pontiac Aztek?

30 October 2009

19:00, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

... that streets in the Cambridge, New York, historic district (Hubbard Hall, pictured) intersect at odd angles because the village was created from the combination of three crossroads hamlets?
... that church services may be held in Serbia under the crown of a zapis, a large oak with a cross inscribed into its bark, sacred for the village at which it is situated?
... that noblemen in the Byzantine Empire were often mutilated to make them ineligible to be Emperor?
... that radio personality Yngvar Ustvedt has written more than seventy books?
... that the lyrics in the U2 song "No Line on the Horizon" were inspired by an image of a place "where the sea meets the sky and you can't tell the difference between the two"?
... that the dachshund-terrier, Otto, is the oldest dog in the world at one hundred and forty-five dog years?
... that during the Seven Years' War, Kolberg was besieged three times?
... that the Parks and Recreation episode "Beauty Pageant" was directed by Jason Woliner, who directed Parks star Aziz Ansari in the MTV sketch comedy show, Human Giant?
13:00, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the Nicolaus Copernicus Monument in Warsaw (pictured) was inspired by a comment made by Napoleon, and was nearly melted down by Nazi Germany after the Warsaw Uprising?
... that Les Cocker, a coach with the victorious England team at the 1966 World Cup, received a winner's medal in June 2009, nearly 30 years after his death, following a campaign launched by his family?
... that by the time their lands were ceded to the United States in the Kalapuya Treaty of 1855, only 400 Kalapuya Native Americans remained, the rest having died of disease or armed conflict?
... that ceftaroline is a novel antibiotic against MRSA and other resistant bacterial strains and is under clinical trial as a treatment for infectious diseases such as community-acquired pneumonia?
... that the 1919 novel Lad: A Dog is a fictionalized account of the life of author Albert Payson Terhune's real life rough collie Lad?
... that a 2008 study concluded that the Ramapo Fault in New York has the potential to cause a magnitude 7 earthquake and billions of dollars in damages?
... that the Pará class destroyers were based on the River class destroyers and served in the Brazilian Navy for 38 years?
... that former Louisiana State Senator Heulette Fontenot wrote legislation to require that disaster preparedness officials also provide for the safety of household pets during evacuations?
07:00, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

... that Angammedilla National Park is designated primarily to protect the drainage basin of Parakrama Samudra (pictured)?
... that from 1850 until 1872, the Party Processions Act made it illegal to parade in Ireland with music, flags or banners?
... that many congenital malformations in babies share the common life-threatening complication of pulmonary hypoplasia?
... that while tortillerias are a long-time fixture in Latin America, they now are becoming common in some areas of the United States?
... that when asked if she wanted to focus on drawing, painting, or sculpting in art school, Ruth Duckworth said she wanted to study all of them just as Michaelangelo had?
... that during the American Civil Rights Movement, Carraway Methodist Medical Center in Birmingham, Alabama, turned away a wounded Freedom rider, but treated the man who blew up the 16th Street Baptist Church?
... that despite making his national team debut in 1924, footballer James Mitchell remains the only player to represent England while wearing spectacles?
... that it took the U.S. government seven years to design, then two additional years to build, the Hoosick Falls, New York, post office after it acquired the land?
00:35, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

... that Fort Anjediva (pictured) built on Anjadip Island, under the jurisdiction of Goa, India, formerly under Portuguese rule, is in the vicinity of the Church of Our Lady of Springs built in 1505 AD?
... that the head of Polish communist secret police Stanisław Radkiewicz ordered his agents to "liquidate" members of the Polish Peasant Party, and make it look like the work of the anti-communist underground?
... that American band Cartel took one year to record their third full-length album, Cycles, after spending less than a month in the studio for each of their previous two albums?
... that Stephen Barnett was a leading critic of the Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970, arguing that it led to newspaper monopolies and the demise of smaller papers in cities in the United States?
... that the U2 song "Fez – Being Born", created by joining the two in-progress songs "Fez" and "Being Born" together, was originally called "Chromium Chords"?
... that contraception expert Dr. Sheldon Segal led the team that developed the implantable device Norplant, described as "the first significant advance in birth control since the pill"?
... that although United Kingdom law has a principle of "innocent until proven guilty", under parts of the Prevention of Crime Act 1953 the burden is on the defendant to prove his innocence?
... that Kentucky judge Benjamin Mills' opinion regarding the rights of slaves brought to the Northwest Territory was cited as a precedent in U.S. courts until the U.S. abolished slavery following the American Civil War?

29 October 2009

17:07, 29 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the Portland, Oregon, landmark Made in Oregon sign (pictured) originally advertised a brand of sugar?
... that as a Seattle School Board member during World War I, German-born Nathan Eckstein bowed to pressure to drop German language classes in Seattle Public Schools?
... that the Olympic Runners were widely assumed to be an American funk band until their identities were revealed to be British session musicians including Mike Vernon and Pete Wingfield?
... that part of the land where the depopulated Palestinian village territory of Jahula lay is used to cultivate cotton and watermelons today?
... that Kwame "The Snow Leopard" Nkrumah-Acheampong is the first Ghanaian to qualify for the Winter Olympics?
... that local lore in Salem, New York, has it that one of the first people buried in the Revolutionary War Cemetery was an unknown local Indian who wandered into town and died?
... that Emilia Malessa, a Polish soldier in the anti-communist resistance, committed suicide after she had trusted the security chief Różański and revealed her fellow soldiers which led to their arrest?
10:49, 29 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the Diu Fort (pictured) in India was voted one of seven wonders of Portuguese colonialism in an opinion poll in Portugal?
... that Germany's Federal Minister of the Interior Werner Maihofer resigned after Der Spiegel uncovered an illegal wiretapping of physicist Klaus Traube?
... that the Phosphorite War is regarded in Estonia as a catalyst that led to the dissolution of the Soviet regime?
... that Ritchie Yorke instigated and organized the first political meeting between a pop star and a prime minister, between John Lennon and Pierre Trudeau in 1969?
... that the Salem, New York, historic district was the site of one of the earliest churches built in New York north of Albany?
... that despite the escalating human-elephant conflict, the number of elephants in the dry zone of Sri Lanka has increased, and 211 individuals were counted in Kaudulla National Park?
... that PNC Financial Services bought National City Corp using TARP funds only hours after accepting the funds while National City itself was denied funds?
... that the annual Emsley Carr Mile was created to encourage athletes to break the four-minute mile, but by the second race in 1954, Roger Bannister had already broken it?
04:21, 29 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the earthquake of 226 BC in Rhodes destroyed the Colossus of Rhodes (pictured), one of the seven wonders of the ancient world?
... that a minute of silence was held in memory of murdered rugby player Shane Geoghegan at Ireland's 2008 international match against New Zealand?
... that Overlook Hospital, founded in 1906 by a 26-year-old entrepreneur, established the first hematology oncology children's clinic in New Jersey, in 1977?
... that despite serving as the editor of The Observer for fifty years, Lewis Doxat prided himself on never having written a single article for the paper?
... that the constitutions of Greece, Ireland, Switzerland and several U.S. states are enacted in the name of God?
... that Joseph G. Aulisi was the costume designer for Die Hard with a Vengeance and Bicentennial Man?
... that Hong Kong property developer Henderson Land Development claims to have sold the most expensive apartment in the world at 39 Conduit Road?
... that Sir Maurice Amos was the third member of his family to become a legal professor at University College London, after his father and grandfather?

28 October 2009

22:00, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

... that Clara Dow (pictured) was one of the last principal sopranos personally trained by W. S. Gilbert at the Savoy Theatre?
... that globs are millimeter sized modules in the V4 complex part of the brain where humans and other primates first perceive color hue?
... that her own troubled divorce prompted Louisiana State Senator Julie Quinn to work for the law that requires the violator of a protective order to serve at least a 90-day sentence?
... that the Charomskiy ACh-30B aircraft diesel engine was tested as a motorjet where the jet engine's compressor was driven by the piston engine's turbochargers?
... that of the 104 celebrity competitors that have appeared on the American version of Dancing with the Stars to date, three withdrew from the competition?
... that Bottisham Village College was the second of the Village Colleges established by Henry Morris in his vision for a better education for country people in Cambridgeshire?
... that the exact location of the city of Cialis, where Bento de Góis became convinced in 1605 that Cathay is China, has been a subject of debate among later historians?
... that Nephila komaci is the largest web-spinning spider known to date?
15:42, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

... that although the torpedo scad (pictured) is of major importance to Indian fisheries and extensively studied in that country, worldwide catch statistics for the species do not include India?
... that in 2003, Judge Sybil Moses ordered the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to release transcripts of employee radio transmissions in the World Trade Center during the September 11 attacks?
... that the Byzantine theme of Lykandos, which played an important role in the Byzantine–Arab wars of the early 10th century, was founded by Melias, an Armenian prince, and settled by Armenians?
... that actress Michelle Wild, whose real name is Katalin Vad, changed her name to accommodate to the international distribution of Hungarian pornography?
... that the Satyashodhak Communist Party was founded in Maharastra, India, in 1978, seeking to combine the philosophies of Karl Marx, B.R. Ambedkar and Jyotirao Phule?
... that the U.S. State Department tried to pressure International Astronomical Union delegate Leo Goldberg into demanding membership for the Republic of China, despite the country's lack of professional astronomers?
... that in 1944 the Soviet Factory No. 500 began to disassemble the stored Charomskiy M-40 engines to use their components in the closely related Charomskiy ACh-30B engine?
... that when the musical Kelly closed after one night on Broadway, a reviewer noted "Ella Logan was written out of Kelly before it reached the Broadhurst Theater Saturday night. Congratulations, Miss Logan"?
09:21, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the asymmetrical facade of the Granville, New York, post office (pictured) is unusual for a five-bay Depression-era post office in the state?
... that William Waterhouse considered the rapport between violist Cecil Aronowitz and cellist Terence Weil the special distinction of the Melos Ensemble?
... that the Wi-Fi Alliance plans to ease the task of setting up small Wi-Fi networks with their new Wi-Fi Direct standard?
... that Italian writer Dante Troisi was posthumously awarded the Feronia Literary Prize in 2005?
... that Finland band Nightwish was nominated for 27 awards including 2 Echo Awards and 13 Emma-gaala Awards?
... that Diane Winston lost a special election for the Louisiana State Senate in 2005, despite having led the first round of balloting?
... that in spite of the fact that child labour in India is illegal, children as young as five years are employed?
... that Arthur Schütz managed to get the Neue Freie Presse to print a letter in which he complained about the use of fireproof coal and oval wheels by the Federal Railway of Austria?
03:00, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

TEAM image of single sheet of graphite

... that with a TEAM one can see not only atoms, but also chemical bonds between them (see picture)?
... that by identifying watermarks in the paper of the incunabulum Missale Speciale, a book alleged to pre-date the Gutenberg Bible (c. 1455), Allan H. Stevenson proved it was printed nearly 20 years later?
... that the defeat of the US 8th Cavalry Regiment at the Battle of Unsan has been called "one of the most devastating US losses of the Korean War."?
... that although SS Empire Beatrice was scrapped in 1966, a 50-foot (15 m) long section of her can still be found off Dungeness, Kent?
... that Louisiana in 2008 became the fiftieth state to ban cockfighting, nearly two decades after former State Representative Garey Forster led the initial effort to halt the practice?
... that 26 nations have ratified the Treaty of Lisbon since 2007, and only one country, the Czech Republic, has yet to complete the process?
... that Japanese manga artist Seizō Watase worked at an insurance company for 16 years before retiring to work on manga full time?
... that New Jersey Route 324 is the only state highway in New Jersey where neither of its termini is another roadway?

27 October 2009

20:42, 27 October 2009 (UTC)

... that legends say Blackwell Island Light (pictured) was built by an inmate from an insane asylum?
... that in an Air Madagascar DC-4 crash in 1967 at Antananarivo Airport, among those killed was the Malagasy foreign minister Albert Sylla?
... that the proceedings of the British Summary Court were in both English and German?
... that Sara Szweber, one of a few women who held leadership positions in the Jewish socialist movement, after the invasion of Poland was threatened with arrest by the NKVD and fled to the United States?
... that the first golf course in North America was a three-hole course built in 1868 in the village of Sainte-Pétronille near Quebec City, Canada?
... that Chinese 'cultbuster' and qigong master Sima Nan has publicly exposed qigong trickery in China?
... that Sri Lankan cricketers hold the world record for the highest team total of 260 for 6 in Twenty20 Internationals?
... that when Swede Anna Bågenholm got trapped under a layer of ice in a river for eighty minutes, her body temperature decreased to 13.7 °C (56.7 °F) — the lowest survived body temperature ever recorded in a human?
14:28, 27 October 2009 (UTC)

... that Swedish painter Richard Bergh (pictured) was established as a portrait painter, although his landscape paintings played an important role in the development of Swedish romantic nationalism?
... that Tanco Mine in Manitoba, Canada, is the world's largest producer of caesium?
... that reporter M. A. Farber was jailed for 40 days and The New York Times fined $285,000, for Farber's refusal to turn over notes in the Mario Jascalevich "Dr. X" curare murder trial in 1978?
... that the 2009 science fiction television series Twin Spica was produced in cooperation with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency?
... that Judge Morris Pashman upheld a ban on the sale of the John Cleland book Fanny Hill in New Jersey, calling it "sufficiently obscene to forfeit the protection of the First Amendment"?
... that Lookingglass, Oregon, became nationally famous in the 1970s when a parking meter for horses was installed in front of the general store?
... that former New York City Medical Examiner Michael Baden credited Dr. Valentino Mazzia with creating the field of forensic anesthesiology?
... that during the Second World War, SS Hispania was detained by the French, seized by the Vichy French, declared a war prize, passed to the Kriegsmarine and eventually sold back to her original owners?
08:14, 27 October 2009 (UTC)

... that astronomer Rodger Doxsey was awarded the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal for "exceptional accomplishments and contributions to the Hubble Space Telescope" (pictured)?
... that the national park Sumapaz Paramo in Colombia, is the largest Paramo ecosystem in the world?
... that the mayor of Rongelap, James Matayoshi, led the Marshallese who suffered from radiation sickness due to nuclear testing in seeking monetary compensation?
... that the electricity generating capacity of Ethiopia is projected to double when the Gibe III dam and the associated hydropower plant, currently under construction on the Omo River, are completed?
... that as Bergen County, New Jersey prosecutor, Guy W. Calissi obtained murder convictions and death sentences for Edgar Smith and Thomas Trantino, though neither would ever go to the electric chair?
... that the Parnall Pixie won both the fuel consumption test and the speed prize at the 1924 Lympne Light Aircraft Trials, with the aid of interchangeable wings?
... that Canadian singer Térez Montcalm's debut album, Risque, saw her nominated for five Félix Awards in 1995?
... that Jamaica's Dry River isn't?
02:14, 27 October 2009 (UTC)

... that although the Galidiinae (pictured) resemble mongooses, they are more closely related to other Malagasy carnivorans such as the fossa?
... that outfielder Bill Taylor never made an error in his five-year Major League Baseball career?
... that there are five main types of metal casting defects: gas porosity, shrinkage defects, mold material defects, pouring metal defects, and metallurgical defects?
... that Narcyz Wiatr, a Polish activist in the agrarian movement and member of the anti-Nazi resistance group Peasant Battalions, was murdered by the communist secret police in Kraków’s Planty Park?
... that the Schluchsee, at 930 metres above sea level, is the highest reservoir in Germany and also the largest lake in the Black Forest?
... that Louisiana District Judge Stephen J. Windhorst is a former reserve police officer who also served eight years in the Louisiana House of Representatives as an anti-crime advocate?
... that in the Siege of Tripoli (1551) the Ottoman Empire captured the city of Tripoli in modern-day Libya from the Knights of Malta?
... that Robert Brown's 1818 botanical article Congo was deemed by one reviewer to be remarkable for its frequent use of the word "remarkable"?

26 October 2009

20:14, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the windmill Nooitgedacht (pictured) in Veenoord, Drenthe, has been moved three times since it was built in 1732?
... that Hubert Whittell, a career soldier in the Indian Army, studied Urdu, Pashto and Persian, before moving to Western Australia to become a farmer and ornithologist?
... that the U2 song "Stand Up Comedy" was recreated so many times during the No Line on the Horizon sessions that six different songs were written as a result?
... that former U.S. Ambassador to Laos G. McMurtrie Godley testified in 1992 to the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs that no POWs remained behind after the end of the Vietnam War?
... that after being reported as the site of the alleged murders by "Dr. X" Mario Jascalevich, Riverdell Hospital closed in 1981 due to declining numbers of patients?
... that the New Haven, which operated most of the steam railroad mileage in the U.S. state of Connecticut, also controlled a vast system of trolley lines through the Connecticut Company?
... that after defending American Nazi Party leader George Lincoln Rockwell, attorney David I. Shapiro was told by Rockwell to "listen up, Jewboy ... I'll watch as you and all the other Jews go to the gas chamber"?
... that before the 2004 Russia–Belarus gas dispute, Gazprom sold natural gas to Belarus at Russian domestic prices?
14:14, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

... that General Lucius D. Clay's (pictured) justification for U.S. food policy in occupied Germany was that "Germans should suffer from hunger and from cold ... to make them realize the consequences of a war which they caused"?
... that the Bavarian ministry of education once ordered 75,000 copies of a song book for school children to be destroyed because it contained Biermösl Blosn's Gott mit dir, du Land der BayWa?
... that Japanese high school pitcher Yusei Kikuchi could be the first player to bypass a domestic draft and play for a Major League Baseball team?
... that a CD by hazzan Samuel Benaroya of Seattle, Washington's Sephardic Bikur Holim Congregation is one of the few recordings of Ottoman Hebrew sacred music?
... that the 1896 Meiji-Sanriku earthquake caused the most devastating tsunami in Japanese history, destroying about 9,000 homes and killing more than 22,000 people?
... that Kobaïan is a lyrical language created by French drummer and composer Christian Vander for his progressive rock band Magma?
... that reviews for the pilot episode of Modern Family compared it to Arrested Development and Married...With Children?
... that U.S. Civil Rights Movement leader Marie Foster walked fifty miles in a march, despite receiving injuries two weeks earlier on Bloody Sunday?
08:14, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the Ahklun Mountains (pictured), located in the Togiak National Wildlife Refuge, support the only existing glaciers in western Alaska?
... that Arne Berge and Conrad Vogt-Svendsen, priests at the Norwegian seamen's church in Hamburg, played a central role in the White Buses operation?
... that all three former head coaches of the BC Lions already inducted to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, Annis Stukus, Eagle Keys and Cal Murphy, had losing records coaching this Canadian football club?
... that Bernard Lens III was the first English miniaturist to paint on ivory instead of vellum?
... that the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco houses one of the world's most comprehensive libraries of academic sexological and erotological resources?
... that in William Blake's poems, Imagination fights Reason in his version of Genesis, Eden, and Exodus while his son later starts revolutions in America, Europe, Africa and Asia?
... that in 2008 61-year-old Rosie Swale-Pope completed a five-year 20,000-mile around the world run to highlight the importance of early diagnosis of prostate cancer?
... that in 2008, a 49% stake in Air Malawi was offered to Comair for only US$3,500?
01:07, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the first winner of the contest to design the Parliament of Norway Building was rejected because it looked too much like a church (design pictured)?
... that Dominican baseball prospect Miguel Angel Sano received the highest international signing bonus in Minnesota Twins history, more than the Twins spent on 70 international prospects from 2006 to 2008 combined?
... that the Lulworthiaceae are a family of marine fungi that typically grow on submerged wood or seaweed?
... that Joseph Zack Kornfeder, a founding member of the Communist Party of America in 1919, became a vigorous anti-Communist after his wife was arrested by the NKVD during the Great Purge of 1937–38?
... that Saint Giles's leper hospital at Fugglestone was founded by Queen Adelicia?
... that Hawaiian Chiefess Kapiʻolani's walk into an active volcano in 1824 was the subject of a poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson?
... that Tadeusz Kościuszko initially did not want to support the Greater Poland Uprising of 1794 in order to avoid a two-front war against both Russia and Prussia?
... that the Rugrats episode "A Rugrats Passover" fell under controversy from the Anti-Defamation League over the designs of two characters featured in it?

25 October 2009

19:07, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the 1918 Quincy Mine No. 2 Shaft Hoist House (pictured) contains the largest steam hoisting engine in the world, which sits atop the largest reinforced concrete engine foundation ever poured?
... that after resigning in 2003 as Texas secretary of state, Gwyn Shea accepted employment with Harrah's Entertainment Company and lobbied for privatization of the state lottery?
... that Queen Victoria was "vastly amused" by a command performance in 1892 of La fille du régiment, presented by the Carl Rosa Opera Company at Balmoral Castle?
... that Jake Owen's 2009 single "Eight Second Ride" is a re-recording of a song from his 2006 debut album Startin' with Me?
... that Pedro Fróilaz de Traba (fl. 1086–1126) had an iron statue of himself erected in the square in front of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain ?
... that Maurycy Orzech and Leon Feiner wrote the telegraph informing Bundist member of the Polish government in Exile Szmul Zygielbojm of the outbreak of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising?
... that Mississippi-born Joshua Green had successive careers as a major figure in the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet and as a Seattle banker?
... that the copilot of the Tupolev Tu-8 could turn his seat 180° and man a 20 mm (0.79 in) Berezin B-20 cannon in the rear of the pilot's compartment?
13:07, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

... that Puerto Rican tenor Antonio Paoli's birthplace, the Casa Paoli (pictured), was a wedding gift to his parents, who already had five children together at the time of their marriage?
... that Sani Monastery in Zanskar contains a chorten thought to date to the Kushan emperor Kanishka’s reign in the 2nd century CE?
... that the fruiting structures of Conidiosporomyces fungi grow in the ovaries of various grass species?
... that in 2004, there were only 90 women for every 100 men in the age group 18–29 in the new federal states of Germany?
... that the officially unreleased material of Michael Jackson includes the song "A Place With No Name", which was leaked by website TMZ.com following the singer's death?
... that one of the most notable actions of minor sabotage in occupied Poland during World War II involved stealing a propaganda plaque from the monument of Mikołaj Kopernik?
... that research in which vertebrates or cephalopods are used in Canada must meet the ethical standards set by the Canadian Council on Animal Care?
... that Joseph T. Buckingham, a leading Boston journalist of the 1830s, was an indentured farm laborer as a boy?
07:07, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

... that a "white mutiny" by disgruntled officers of the East India Company in the precincts of Munger Fort (pictured) in Bihar, India, in 1766 was put down by Lord Clive?
... that John Ortved was signed to author the book The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History after writing an oral history of The Simpsons for Vanity Fair?
... that the French electro-swing band Caravan Palace was formed in 2005 after three of its members were hired by a film production company to provide the soundtrack for silent pornographic movies?
... that Pleurotus nebrodensis was declared to be a critically endangered mushroom in Sicily by the IUCN?
... that once the Motion Picture Association of America began enforcing the Hays Code in 1934, it became impossible to re-release Waterloo Bridge due to its controversial plot?
... that the Church of the Sacred Heart was transported via barge from Cambridge to St Ives?
... that teenage singer Faryl Smith's upcoming album Wonderland features a digitally produced duet with Luciano Pavarotti, who died in 2007?
... that a local resident created a board game based on roundabouts built in front of the Green Oak Village Place shopping mall in Brighton, Michigan?
01:07, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the elephants of Mole National Park, Ghana (pictured) do more damage to the economically important trees of the park than to less valuable species?
... that the Bolhrad High School in Bolhrad, Ukraine, was founded by the Bessarabian Bulgarian diaspora as the first high school of the Bulgarian National Revival period?
... that Cromwell Dixon died in a plane crash in 1911 only two days after becoming the first aviator to cross the Continental Divide of the Americas?
... that several groups have managed to add non-natural bases to DNA, while others have added non-natural amino acids into the genetic code?
... that the sculpture Critical Assembly used an actual central component of an atomic bomb?
... that prior to becoming White House Online Programs Director in the Obama Administration, Jesse Lee worked for Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi?
... that the Russian folk song "Kupala and Kostroma" was later renamed and the lyrics altered because of pagan references?
... that Werner Heubeck, the managing director of Ulsterbus during The Troubles, was known for personally removing IRA bombs from buses to keep them running on time?

24 October 2009

19:07, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the Beaver River (pictured) flows through the heart of the Yukon Flats, one of the most productive waterfowl breeding areas in North America, and the most productive in Alaska?
... that Xiuhcoatl was a mythological Aztec fire-serpent, viewed as the spirit form of Xiuhtecuhtli, the fire god, and was the lightning-like weapon of the god Huitzilopochtli?
... that the U2 song "Breathe" is set on 16 June, an intentional reference to James Joyce's novel Ulysses?
... that, as a child, Jewish Romanian literary historian Zigu Ornea was persecuted by the antisemitic Ion Antonescu regime, and is said to have made a living selling humming tops?
... that Nancy Wexler, who discovered the location of the gene that causes Huntington's disease and created a genetic test for it, is herself at risk as the daughter of a sufferer?
... that the Bristol Guild of Applied Art has survived both Second World War bomb damage and a 1974 Provisional IRA attack?
... that Frank Kanning Mott was a messenger for Western Union, a telephone operator, a hardware business owner and a city councilman before he was elected mayor of Oakland, California in 1905?
... that some academics believe that the "First Great Debate" in international relations theory never actually took place?
13:07, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the large intestine of the Western Atlantic seabream (pictured) makes up roughly 90% of the fish's entire digestive tract?
... that the 464 BC earthquake in Sparta, Greece, led to a revolt of helots?
... that 43 miners were trapped for five days underground in the 1926 Pabst Mine Disaster in Michigan?
... that Asian women have been left traumatised and questioned by police investigating missing two-year-old Aisling Symes in New Zealand?
... that Martha Wainwright has contributed backing vocals on all of her brother's studio albums, and was a featured performer on his 2007 tribute album Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall?
... that Max Beerbohm's 1922 book Rossetti and His Circle contained caricatures of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood?
... that Cooper Mountain Nature Park in Oregon is located on an extinct volcano?
... that species in the aquatic fungus family Loramycetaceae have spores with gelatinous sheaths thought to act as flotation devices?
07:07, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

... that stand-up comedian Louis CK (pictured) appeared in the Parks and Recreation episode "The Stakeout" as a police officer attracted to Amy Poehler's main character?
... that the A,A Light Sculpture by Jim Sanborn at the University of Houston illuminates its surroundings with prose from different languages?
... that a complete interactive 3D reconstruction of the 3 mm marine slug Pseudunela cornuta has been accomplished?
... that in Bryan Talbot's graphic novel Grandville, France won the Napoleonic Wars, invaded Britain and guillotined the British Royal Family?
... that Katie Piper, a former model who was burnt by acid in an attack arranged by her ex-boyfriend, had her face removed and rebuilt in a single operation, which was the first of its kind?
... that the Dictionary of Welsh Biography contains the biography of nearly 5,000 eminent Welsh men and women over seventeen centuries?
... that two songs on Scott Miller's 2001 album Thus Always to Tyrants are based on unearthed family letters from the American Civil War?
... that theater reporter Sam Zolotow of The New York Times was said to be able to get any information he needed, as long as he had "a corned-beef sandwich, a cigar and a telephone"?
01:07, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the 1999 Suzuki Hayabusa (pictured) was named the fastest production motorcycle of the 20th century?
... that critic Robert Christgau called The Indestructible Beat of Soweto the most important record of the 1980s?
... that William M. Walton, Attorney General of Texas, withdrew his nomination for reelection when he learned his opponent was a disabled Confederate veteran with a family to support?
... that the Aldabra banded snail from the Seychelles died out due to climate change?
... that the Salar de Uyuni salt flat in Bolivia is one of the best objects for calibrating Earth observation satellites?
... that Chinese singer Ai Jing is best known for a folk rock song about the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to China?
... that Edward VI of England's 1547 Injunctions mandated that a copy of the English translation of the Paraphrases of Erasmus was to be kept in every parish church?
... that producer Daniel Melnick's films won more than 20 Academy Awards out of 80 nominations, while his play Kelly closed after only one night on Broadway?

23 October 2009

19:07, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

... that after fighting in six wars throughout Europe and Russia, General Hotze (pictured) was killed within 32 km (20 miles) of his birthplace on 25 September 1799 at the Second Battle of Zurich?
... that the eastern segment of Canada Park in Israel lies on the village site of the depopulated former Palestinian village of Dayr Ayyub?
... that while Tim Greve was editor-in-chief of Verdens Gang it became the largest newspaper in Norway?
... that the pink buses of Bermuda are specially designed for the island's roads?
... that economics professor Arnljot Strømme Svendsen chaired the board of the Bergen theatre Den Nationale Scene for 31 years, and also chaired the Association of Norwegian Theatres for 22 years?
... that Jason Aldean said his 2009 single "The Truth" was "one of those songs that I heard the first time and knew I wanted to cut"?
... that Czech jockey Josef Váňa won his sixth Velká pardubická steeplechase at the age of 56?
... that Pope Adrian VI was so angered by one of the talking statues of Rome that he wanted to have it thrown into the Tiber River?
13:07, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the acoustics at the South Granville Congregational Church (pictured) in New York are so good that community concerts are often held there despite other churches in the town being larger?
... that Sir Oliver Starkey was the only English knight present at the siege of Malta and is the only person to be buried in the crypt of Valetta Cathedral who was not a Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller?
... that the book 101 People Who Are Really Screwing America includes criticism of the Fox News Channel, The Wall Street Journal, and drivers of sport utility vehicles?
... that a drummer boy in the Irish Legion was given the Legion of Honor for beating the charge during the Siege of Astorga even after losing both legs?
... that iron chelate helps fix chlorophyll deficiency in garden plants but is toxic to slugs and snails?
... that the British Invincible class were the world's first battlecruisers?
... that the alternative country band The V-Roys were originally named The Vice Roys, but were forced to change their name after being threatened with a lawsuit from a Jamaican band?
... that some parts of the United Kingdom's Consumer Credit Act 1974, which received Royal Assent on 31 July 1974, did not come into force until 1985?
07:07, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the cliffs of Hart Mountain tower 3,600 feet above the floor of Oregon’s Warner Valley (pictured)?
... that during the Cadex 2009 military training exercises, Sri Lanka Navy cadets trained aboard vessels of the Indian Navy, while Indian cadets got a chance to visit historical places in Sri Lanka?
... that Life on Another Planet, a graphic novel by Will Eisner, has been called by James Morrow, "a kind of science fictional Bonfire of the Vanities"?
... that Mohammed bin Hadou was a Moroccan ambassador to the court of Charles II in England in 1681–82?
... that until 1950, only descendants of Massachusetts Bay or Plymouth colonists could become members of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts?
... that long distance runner Zersenay Tadese was the first person from Eritrea to win an Olympic medal in any sport?
... that the U2 song "Unknown Caller" was written from the perspective of a suicidal drug addict whose phone begins receiving cryptic text messages?
... that in a 1933 first-class cricket match, Jack Lee claimed the wicket of his older brother Harry, with the catch being taken by younger brother Frank?
01:07, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

... that Schwabacher's Wharf (pictured) survived the Great Seattle Fire, received the first "ton of gold" from the Yukon, and was the terminus for Seattle's first shipping trade route to the Orient?
... that the Commander Australian Fleet holds full command of all maritime combat forces and operations within the Royal Australian Navy?
... that despite being located in Worcester, Massachusetts, the Assumption Preparatory School followed French custom in holding classes on Saturday mornings but not on Thursday or Saturday afternoons?
... that the Belgrade Race Through History and Belgrade Marathon competitions were held in 1999, despite the fact that the NATO bombing campaign had caused widespread damage to the city that year?
... that the title of the Bob Dylan song "The Wicked Messenger" mirrors a Proverbs passage, which reads "A wicked messenger falleth into mischief; but a faithful ambassador is health"?
... that Moroccan alligator wrestler and circus strongman Tahar Douis set a world record by lifting 12 men weighing a total of 1,700 pounds on his shoulders?
... that by the time Lyon's Inn was dissolved it was being run by only two of the standard twelve governors, neither of whom had any idea what their duties were?
... that Aliquandostipitaceae members have the widest hyphae in the Ascomycetes?

22 October 2009

14:00, 22 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the Apostolic Prefecture of the United States was formed in 1784 after the end of the American Revolutionary War, with Pope Pius VI approving John Carroll (pictured) as its first Superior of the Missions?
... that Donna Mae Mims, known as the "Pink Lady" of racing, became the first woman to win a Sports Car Club of America national championship in 1963?
... that several ethnic Uighurs who were former inmates of the Guantanamo Bay prison are amongst the approximately 1,000 Chinese people living in Palau?
... that current Chief of National Defense General Staff of Greece, Air Chief Marshal Ioannis Giagkos, served as Commander in NATO Combined Air Operations Centre-7?
... that Gabriel Schanche Kielland's summer house Ledaal from the early 1800s later became a royal residence in custody of Stavanger Museum?
... that Puritan colonist Nicholas Upsall saved the lives of jailed Quaker pioneers Mary Fisher and Ann Austin, was later banished, and then helped found the first Monthly Meeting of the Quakers in America?
... that P53, a live album by experimental music group P53, features two classical grand pianists, a turntablist and a real-time sampler/processor?
... that A.W. Lawrence, the former Professor of Classical Archaeology at Cambridge University was the brother of 'Lawrence of Arabia'?
05:56, 22 October 2009 (UTC)

... that psalmotoxin is a spider toxin from the venom of the South American tarantula Psalmopoeus cambridgei (pictured)?
... that conservative State Senator Dan Morrish broke with the Louisiana Family Forum in 2009 by supporting a law which permits restaurants to levy cover charges for live entertainment and to sell alcohol?
... that after the Palestinian Safad village of Fir'im was depopulated in 1948, the Israeli settlement of Hatzor HaGlilit was established nearby?
... that after playing association football and coaching the Philippine women's national football team, Tony Chua switched to manage a team in the Philippine Basketball Association?
... that three Nobel Peace Prizes have led to withdrawal of members of the awarding Norwegian Nobel Committee?
... that until United States v. Georgia, no U.S. Supreme Court decision required US state prison systems to provide facilities for disabled inmates under ADA?
... that despite being one of the largest malls in the Denver area, Westminster Mall is half-vacant?
... that when sailors more than 320 kilometres (200 mi) off the coast of Massachusetts felt the 1755 Cape Ann earthquake, they thought their ship had run aground?

21 October 2009

21:56, 21 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the book The Israel Lobby credited the Brookings Institution for having William B. Quandt (pictured) as its Middle East policy expert, citing his "well-deserved reputation for even-handedness"?
... that the Lake George, New York, post office features aspects of modernistic and Art Deco architecture on a basic Colonial Revival building?
... that Monica C. Lozano is the publisher and Chief Executive Officer of the Los Angeles-based La Opinión, the largest Spanish language newspaper in the United States?
... that the CALERIE study subjects humans to a 25% reduction in food calories over a two-year period, to determine if calorie restriction prolongs life and reduces the incidence of cancer and cardiovascular disease?
... that Kevin Newsome was a two-time state champion hurdler at Western Branch High School before he enrolled at Penn State to play football?
... that the shrine at Saint Melangell's Church, Pennant Melangell is reputedly the oldest Romanesque shrine in Britain, dating from the early 1100s?
... that producer David Aukin has been nominated for two BAFTA Awards for films about Tony Blair?
... that pictures featured on Cake Wrecks, a photoblog founded in 2008, include a cake decorated with a sonogram image?

13:42, 21 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the tall stone Lhasa Zhol Pillar (pictured), is inscribed with what may be the oldest known Tibetan writing dating back as far as 764 CE?
... that in 1990 former Louisiana State Senator Fritz H. Windhorst spoke on behalf of a vetoed bill which would have made abortion a felony punishable by imprisonment?
... that many Jews of the Radom Ghetto in occupied Poland were forced to work in the local arms factory?
... that the Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends episode "Store Wars" was released on DVD with an audio commentary in which the characters discuss events not seen in the episode?
... that a 36-cell jail is located on the twelfth floor of the Oakland, California City Hall?
... that Eddie Eagan, a medalist at the 1932 Winter Olympics in bobsledding and at the 1920 Summer Olympics in boxing, is the only person to have won gold medals in both the Summer and Winter Olympics?
... that at a 2004 public demonstration, Segway inventor Dean Kamen drank his own urine after it had been passed through a Slingshot?

05:42, 21 October 2009 (UTC)

... that in 1999, an Air Botswana pilot committed suicide by crashing an ATR 42 (pictured) into, and destroying, the airline's fleet at Gaborone's airport?
... that in the book A Thousand Days, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. was highly critical of United States Ambassador to Laos J. Graham Parsons who he felt "drastically misconceived the situation" in Laos?
... that the song "Fuiste un Trozo de Hielo en la Escarcha" performed by Puerto Rican singer Chayanne was written by a member of the Spanish band Mecano?
... that items from the collection of Mark Samuels Lasner relating to Aubrey Beardsley, Oscar Wilde and other writers and artists of the 1890s have provided the basis for numerous publications and exhibitions?
... that B. Dalton, once the second-largest bookstore in the U.S., was founded in 1966 by the Dayton's department store chain?
... that in a 1981 case, Judge Fred C. Galda allowed a woman to claim she shot her husband in self-defense, making him the first judge in New Jersey to accept a battered woman defense in a spousal killing?
... that the 15th-century Ancient Priors in Crawley had hidden rooms reached by pulling meat-hooks to open a trapdoor and twisting a wall-carving to move a fireplace?
... that Basketball Hall of Fame coach Ernest Blood led the Passaic High School Hilltoppers to a 200–1 record over ten seasons, and started the team on a U.S. record 159-game winning streak?

20 October 2009

21:42, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the ritual baton called a shaku held by Japanese officials like Emperor Hirohito (pictured) was originally meant just to keep small sheets for memoranda and other notes?
... that Thomas Trantino spent 38 years in the prison system for the murder of two Lodi, New Jersey, police officers, making him the longest-serving prisoner in the state as of his parole in 2002?
... that Zhenguo Temple's Wanfo Hall is the only surviving building that was built during China's Northern Han dynasty?
... that Julius Beerbohm, a Victorian author and explorer, traveled to Patagonia in 1877 to survey the land between Port Desire and Santa Cruz in the footsteps of Ferdinand Magellan?
... that the name of the Black Abbey is based on the fact that the Dominicans were often referred to as Black Friars, because of the black cappa or cloak which they wear over their white habits?
... that the former Louisiana State Representative Peppi Bruneau of New Orleans secured passage of a bill clarifying the right of a victim to shoot carjackers?
... that although Saint-Thomas once was the largest tobacco producer in the province of Quebec, Canada, it no longer is cultivated there?
... that the skills of Michigan Wolverines football punter Zoltan Mesko were discovered in seventh grade gym class when he knocked out a light during a kickball game?

13:42, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

... that Viedma Glacier (pictured) is part of the huge Southern Patagonian Ice Field, the third largest expanse of continental ice after Greenland and Antarctica?
... that although the Maryland Toleration Act of 1649 is recognized as an important milestone in the development of religious freedom, it still allowed the execution of non-Christians?
... that Jayden Stockley made his debut in the Football League for Bournemouth whilst still a student at secondary school?
... that of the three semi-deck lenticular truss bridges known to have been made, the Hadley, New York, Bow Bridge is the only one that still exists?
... that forty-eight U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico allow the courts of other jurisdictions to ask for answers to certified questions of unsettled law?
... that Konawaena High School's 18th place finish in the 1990 World Solar Challenge was the basis for the 1996 film Race the Sun?
... that the Accurate News and Information Act, passed in 1937 by the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, gave a committee of legislators the authority to compel a newspaper to reveal its sources?
... that Alfred Newman Gilbey arranged that Fisher House, Cambridge would only be demolished, quite literally, over his dead body?

05:42, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

... that according to Hindu mythology, Balipratipada commemorates the victory of the god Vishnu in his dwarf incarnation Vamana (pictured), defeating demon king Bali, and pushing him to the nether world?
... that Hall of Fame jockey Jorge Velásquez won the Young America Stakes four times; in 1978 with Spectacular Bid, in 1979 with Koluctoo Bay, in 1980 with Lord Avie and in 1987 aboard Firery [sic] Ensign?
... that family members living overseas with members of the British Armed Forces can be tried in the military courts?
... that after two consecutive games in which Florida Panthers centre Nathan Horton scored goals in overtime, the Miami Herald called him the "King of Overtime"?
... that the Commissioner's House of the Bermuda Maritime Museum is the world's first residence that was constructed with prefabricated cast-iron structural supports?
... that Oakwood Cemetery in Troy, New York, is the resting place of the progenitor of Uncle Sam, Samuel Wilson, financier Russell Sage, and educators Emma Willard and Amos Eaton?
... that the 7th Earl of Pembroke was convicted of murder but pardoned by King Charles II?

19 October 2009

21:42, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the three caducei on the Flag of Brisbane (pictured) represent Hermes' role as the protector of commerce, and not their more familiar meaning of being associated with medicine?
... that the 2009 film Heart of Stone is the story of Weequahic High School beset by gangs, and its principal working with Black and Jewish alumni and gang members to restore its glory prior to 1960?
... that that SS Empire Bay was sunk by bombs dropped from a Dornier Do 217 of 8 Staffeln, Kampfgeschwader 2 in 1942?
... that the Houston businessman, philanthropist, and politician George Strake, Jr., was among the benefactors in the restoration of the World War II vessel, USS Cavalla (SS-244)?
... that the sinking of the Romanian-flagged crude oil carrier MT Unirea was classified by Lloyd's List as the world's largest ship accident of 1982?
... that sailor Thomas Bourne won the Medal of Honor for actions during the 1862 Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip in which he "remained steadfast at his gun" despite heavy fire his ship was taking?
... that some copies of Greek singer Chrispa's new album Mehri Edo accidentally contained church hymns instead of her songs?
... that in his response brief in Beck v. Eiland-Hall, attorney Marc Randazza cited the U.S. Supreme Court case Hustler Magazine v. Falwell?
10:00, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

... that one of the two extant buildings from the first electric power station in Saratoga Springs, New York, is one of the few remaining 19th-century gasholder houses (pictured) in the Northeast?
... that Judge George C. Pratt blamed Angelo Errichetti for luring U.S. Senator Harrison A. Williams to accept Abscam bribes, with Pratt describing Errichetti as "the center of a cesspool of corruption"?
... that the British passenger liner RMS Persia was the largest ship in the world at the time of her launch in 1855?
... that under British law, credit brokers include not only loan and mortgage brokers, but also solicitors, car dealers and retail shops?
... that homosexual novelist Myron Brinig wrote several novels about homosexuality, yet he was closeted all his life?
... that the song "Full Circle", from The Byrds' 1973 reunion album, was not released as a single in the United Kingdom until August 1975, more than two years after The Byrds' reunion had come to an end?
... that The British Museum Friends recently provided funding to help the British Museum acquire twelve Greek papyri from the Oxyrhynchus Papyri?
... that Nikolai Menshutkin discovered in 1890 a chemical reaction which is still used to study the effect of solvent on reaction rate?
02:00, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

... that 19th-century smugglers in Worthing, West Sussex, England, were known to store their contraband in table-tombs at West Tarring's St Andrew's Church (pictured)?
... that consumption of the psychoactive mushroom Psilocybe argentipes by mice who compulsively bury marbles significantly inhibits this behaviour?
... that Dar Lyon was the only English cricketer involved in the 1924 Test Trial match not to go on to represent England at Test cricket?
... that Lionel Copley was appointed the first royal governor of the colony of Maryland after a Protestant rebellion, but died after only a year in office?
... that in 1924 the Texas historian Rupert N. Richardson became one of the founders of the West Texas Historical Association?
... that the jail wing at the old Warren County courthouse in Lake George, New York, has an unusual structural system in which the second floor is supported by steel rods suspended from the roof trusses?
... that Kerala's Angadipuram Laterite is formed from the weathering of many rock types, including charnockite, anorthosite and gabbro?
... that the Little Green House on K Street in Washington, D.C. was where the Ohio Gang hatched such schemes as the Teapot Dome scandal?

18 October 2009

18:00, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the Herschel graph (pictured) is the smallest possible polyhedral graph that does not have a Hamiltonian cycle?
... that the Continuity of Government Commission in 2003 recommended a constitutional amendment to ensure that vacancies in the U.S. House were filled quickly in the event of a massive attack?
... that Puerto Rican boxer José Ruíz Matos was the World Boxing Organization's first super flyweight champion?
... that Irish politician John O'Donoghue resigned as Ceann Comhairle over various expense claims, including a £1 charity donation to UNICEF?
... that the Liberty Colored High School, built to replace a Rosenwald school for African-American students in Liberty, South Carolina, is now the Rosenwood community center?
... that the genus name of the commonly grown Australian garden plants Dianella caerulea and D. tasmanica is derived from the goddess Diana?
... that Paul Miller, who later headed Gannett Company and the Associated Press, was the city editor of a Pawhuska, Oklahoma, newspaper before he started college?
... that the Japanese Manga de Dokuha series published a controversial manga version of Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler?
10:00, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the Spotted Seal (pictured) has a narrow snout like that of a dog?
... that the yacht Adele served with the Royal Australian Navy in both world wars—as HMAS Franklin in the first and HMAS Adele in the second?
... that Gilberto Zaldívar's New York City-based Repertorio Español, called "a national treasure ... unmatched by any other Spanish-language theater company", has staged over 250 productions in 40 years?
... that in the last hundred years some of the commercially fished Hawaiian stocks have decreased by 80–85%?
... that Leonie Pray House hosted recitals by Liberace and Risë Stevens and served as the home of Patrick Swayze's character in Donnie Darko?
... that Le Vélo's impassioned reporting of the Dreyfus affair led indirectly to the creation of the Tour de France?
... that Puerto Rican singer Chayanne received a Grammy Award nomination for his self-titled 1988 album?
... that Robert Walpole, father of England's first Prime Minister, holds the record for the longest overdue library book at 288 years?
02:00, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

... the current flag of Bhutan (pictured) was introduced after it was noticed the previous square version didn't flutter like the Indian flag?
... that The Heartland Series, produced by a Knoxville, Tennessee, TV station, has been called "the nation's longest-running sociological video repository"?
... that the majority of the traditional dishes of the cuisine of Dorset originated in the 17th and 18th centuries?
... that Canadian editorial cartoonist Stewart Cameron so alienated followers of the Alberta Social Credit League that his house was once bombed?
... that the mushroom Entoloma austroprunicolor of Tasmania's wet forests changes from bluish-purple, to reddish purple, to purplish grey as it ages?
... that Prirazlomnaya oil platform on the Prirazlomnoye field is equipped with the topsides of the former Hutton oilfield's platform Hutton TLP, which was the first Tension Leg Platform ever built?
... that Michigan Wolverines football player Obi Ezeh was invited to try out for the United States national rugby union team?
... that the 1937 Social Credit backbenchers' revolt was resolved by a government bill for which all members of government disavowed any responsibility?

17 October 2009

17:42, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

... that while the rest of India worships the Hindu wealth-goddess Lakshmi, Bengalis venerate the fearsome goddess Kali (pictured) today on Kali Puja?
... that in March 1997, Lucia Newman became the first United States journalist in twenty-seven years to be based in Cuba?
... that the Mussabini Medal sought to celebrate the coaches of British sportspeople who had achieved outstanding success on the world stage?
... that Josh Turner was "elated to discover that he wouldn't have to do any acting" in the music video for his single "Why Don't We Just Dance"?
... that the bark of the Caribbean tree Canella winterana can be used as a spice similar to cinnamon?
... that local exchange carriers in the rural USA have partnered with phone sex providers in traffic pumping arrangements that earn them millions of dollars in phone connection fees?
... that one of Sydney's most expensive houses, Boomerang, includes a private cinema that at one time could seat 200 people?
... that the Treaty of Grimnitz allowed Brandenburgian prince-electors to touch Pomeranian flags?
09:42, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the Old St. Thomas Church (pictured), built in 1822–1824, is the burial site of a Canadian soldier who died in the Battle of Williamsburg in the American Civil War?
... that since 2007, Alien Resident Certificates issued to foreign residents in Taiwan have included an integrated circuit containing personal information?
... that Sydney Rippon, father of a UK Cabinet minister, played in a first-class cricket match under an assumed name so that his employer, the Inland Revenue, would not find out?
... that 300 civilians living in Ostrach survived in their cellars while 70,000 Austrians and French battled overhead in March 1799?
... that the 2.44-mile (3.93 km) long Iowa Highway 107 consists of two segments wholly within Meservey and Thornton, Iowa?
... that a recently rediscovered Union Jack presented to James Clephan after the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 is the only surviving flag from the battle?
... that the creation of the German parliamentary electoral district of Berlin Lichtenberg proved controversial, being perceived as disadvantageous to the Party of Democratic Socialism?
... that during a scripted rivalry, professional wrestler Rhett Titus had the face of female professional wrestler Daizee Haze airbrushed onto his ring gear?
01:42, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the basement of Seattle's Temple De Hirsch (pictured) was the site of Jimi Hendrix's first professional gig?
... that during Operation Doomsday, the British 1st Airborne Division suffered 34 casualties, despite the Second World War having ended several days previously?
... that a benefit concert taking place in Dublin tonight will be broadcast live to an audience in Gaza City?
... that the Georgia Marble Company supplied the marble used to build the statue of Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial?
... that after Larry Niven's first attempt at writing a Star Trek: The Animated Series screenplay was rejected, Gene Roddenberry suggested he adapt one of his short stories which became "The Slaver Weapon"?
... that the yellow-green mushroom Entoloma rodwayi of wet forests in Tasmania turns a vivid blue-green upon drying?
... that Victor G. Carrillo, chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission, completed law school at night while he worked as a geophysicist for Amoco Oil Company?
... that Irene Vilar's memoir Impossible Motherhood was rejected 51 times before it was successfully published?

16 October 2009

17:28, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the Saratoga Springs, New York, post office (pictured) had one of the most elaborate lobbies in the state when it was opened in 1910?
... that Edmund Dummer, Surveyor of the Navy, founded Britain's Royal Navy dockyard at Devonport in the 1690s, but died bankrupt in the Fleet debtors' prison?
... that although the teeth of the extinct rodent Holochilus primigenus are almost identical to those of Lund's Amphibious Rat, it is probably more closely related to marsh rats?
... that the Holding Institute, now a community center in Laredo, Texas, was formerly a boarding school destroyed in 1954 by Rio Grande floods, relocated, and thereafter closed for financial reasons?
... that in 1913 Gravel Island National Wildlife Refuge became the twenty-ninth wildlife refuge in the U.S. and third in the Great Lakes region?
... that the Franklin Borough School District in rural New Jersey had a baseball field said to have been designed by Babe Ruth and local engineers to match the dimensions of the original Yankee Stadium?
... that lawyer Raymond A. Brown's clients included boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, Black Liberation Army member Joanne Chesimard and "Dr. X" physician Mario Jascalevich?
... that Alexander the Great was one of the greatest supporters of Homonoia?
09:28, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

... that Swedish figure skater Gillis Grafström, one of the 83 medal winners at the 1928 Winter Olympics, won the men's individual figure skating competition (pictured) even though he was skating on an injured knee?
... that the distribution of galaxy types found within the Eridanus Group provides evidence for the theory of cold dark matter?
... that Englishman Bob Bootland, who was the first foreigner to coach a football club in India, arrived in the country on holiday and never left?
... that Kordian, a romantic drama by one of Poland's Three Bards, Juliusz Słowacki, is a polemic with Dziady, an earlier work by another of the Three Bards, Adam Mickiewicz?
... that Dallata was one of the villages that locals of Fir'im, Mughr al-Khayt and Qabba'a fled to in the first days of May 1948, when they were attacked during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War?
... that the September 1988 unemployment statistics for the United Kingdom were briefly over-recorded due to the 1988 United Kingdom postal workers strike?
... that the Van Buren Street Bridge in Oregon is the last movable-span truss bridge constructed by the pin connection method located on the West Coast?
... that Blackpool's director, Julie Anne Robinson, and writer, Peter Bowker, wanted to co-create a television serial set in Funny Girls, a British cabaret featuring male dancers in drag?
03:28, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the Casa Alcaldia de Ponce (pictured) has been used as a jail, for executions, and as the site of speeches from three Presidents of the United States?
... that in 1882, almost a century after the final partition of Poland, Polish explorer Stefan Szolc-Rogoziński tried to found a Polish colony in Cameroon?
... that Rear Admiral Ellis M. Zacharias, who had been deputy chief of Navy intelligence in World War II, later narrated the NBC Cold War docudrama Behind Closed Doors, titled after one of his own books?
... that the Korean Painting of the Eastern Palace, is actually of two royal palaces to the east of Gyeongbokgung palace?
... that an annual award for "outstanding state legislators" presented by the National Bar Association is named for Louisiana State Representative Pinkie C. Wilkerson?
... that from 1946 to 1991, Ordnance Survey International provided a central survey and mapping organisation for British colonies and protectorates?
... that the destruction of Ayn Ghazal by Israeli forces during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war was condemned by Count Bernadotte?
... that in the case Coleman v. Schwarzenegger a three-judge panel gave the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation two years to cut prison populations to 137.5% of capacity?

15 October 2009

21:28, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

... that during a rouge test (example pictured), an experimenter places a colored dot on a child's nose to assess self-recognition when looking in the mirror?
... that in 1906 Ernest Archdeacon commissioned an Aéromotocyclette (propeller driven motorcycle) which achieved 79.5 kph?
... that the Microsoft data loss of 2009 has been described as the biggest disaster to affect the concept of cloud computing?
... that Kenny Chesney has won four consecutive Billboard Touring Awards for Top Package Tour?
... that Judge Theodore Trautwein jailed a New York Times reporter for 40 days for refusing to turn over notes in a murder trial, saying that the reporter put his own rights above those of the defendant?
... that the Seven Sisters women's magazines include five of the ten largest circulation magazines in the United States?
... that Tom Frost participated in the first ascent of the Salathé Wall in Yosemite Valley in 1961?
... that the song created for The Coca-Cola Company's marketing campaign Open Happiness peaked at the number one spot on record charts in China?
15:28, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the Gideon Putnam Burying Ground (pictured) is the only extant remnant of the founder of Saratoga Springs, New York?
... that Hugo Raudsepp, one of Estonia's greatest comedic playwrights, became a "non-person"?
... that the French School at Athens, which provides archaeological discoveries for the Delos Archaeological Museum, began excavating at Delos in 1872 and is still excavating the area today?
... that Porgy and Bess earned a "landmark place in theater history" when Douglas Watt encouraged producer Cheryl Crawford to create a second run on Broadway after a disappointing 1935 debut?
... that thoroughbred horse Lord Avie, bought for $37,000 in 1980, was put to stud after retiring in 1981 and by 2002 had sired 578 starters, including 429 individual winners with total earnings of $35 million?
... that several coalition governments in Norway have operated with suicide paragraphs, meaning that the coalition will disintegrate if the question of Norway and the European Union is put on the agenda?
... that after footballer Barrie Thomas transferred from Scunthorpe United to Newcastle United in January 1962, attendances at Scunthorpe's home games dropped by 20%?
... that one scene of the Cold Feet television episode "Going to Australia" was filmed on a set that was physically falling apart as the camera was rolling?
09:28, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the Provost Marshal General (flag pictured) supervises all aspects of law enforcement within the United States Army, reporting to the Army Chief of Staff?
... that in the Polish–Muscovite War of 1577–1582, Muscovy failed in its attempt to gain access to the Baltic Sea?
... that Peg Mullen's change into an antiwar activist after her son's death in Vietnam by shrapnel fired from U.S. artillery, became the Emmy Award-winning 1979 film Friendly Fire starring Carol Burnett?
... that the Czech Republic hosts more than fifty international music competitions in 2009?
... that a trirated cable is an electrical cable that meets the safety and performance requirements of three different international standards set by the Americans, the British and the Canadians?
... that the socialist Romanian General Jewish Labour Bund had a strong presence in kehilla elections in Chişinău during the interbellum but largely lacked representation outside Bessarabia?
... that American economic historian John Ulric Nef was the co-founder of the University of Chicago's Committee on Social Thought?
... that Baseball Rubbing Mud, used by every team in Major League Baseball to give baseballs a rougher texture, originates from a secret location on the Delaware River?
03:28, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the rodents of the Caribbean include the hutias (pictured) and two extinct species: the bear-sized Amblyrhiza and the cat-sized Megalomys desmarestii?
... that winemaker David Lake made Washington State's first Syrah and pioneered the use of single vineyard labeling in the state?
... that in his account of "Christian expeditions" into China (first published in 1615), Matteo Ricci strongly criticized feng shui practices?
... that the Bosworth fracture is named after the first non-Japanese to be awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure, American David M. Bosworth?
... that Takthok Monastery is the only monastery of the Nyingma sect of Tibetan Buddhism in Ladakh?
... that Roman Catholic missionary Aengus Finucane often flew with Mother Teresa while delivering food supplies to Bangladesh?
... that the Hiram Charles Todd House was the very first property in Saratoga Springs, New York, to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places?
... that a Polish railway worker, Wojciech Najsarek, was one of the first victims of World War II?

14 October 2009

21:28, 14 October 2009 (UTC)

... that St Mary's Cathedral (pictured) in Perth, Western Australia, is expected to be completed in 2009, almost 80 years after expansions were halted due to the Great Depression?
... that Howell Peacock, while a medical student, coached the North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team as well as future Governor of North Carolina Luther H. Hodges?
... that the Anatolic, Armeniac, Opsician, and Thracesian themes, the first four Byzantine themes to be established, descended from the field armies of the East Roman army?
... that naval architect and author W.I.B. Crealock designed a yacht that was inducted into the American Sailboat Hall of Fame?
... that the new Utah towns of Bryce Canyon City, Hideout, and Independence were incorporated under a controversial, short-lived state law?
... that Sir George Power, 7th Baronet of Kilfane created the role of Ralph Rackstraw in Gilbert and Sullivan's HMS Pinafore in 1878?
... that Hakgala Strict Nature Reserve is an important and isolated cloud forest, however its small size and isolation is jeopardizing its long term survival?
... that during World War II, James Hill captured two Italian tanks using only his revolver but was wounded while attempting to capture a third?
09:28, 14 October 2009 (UTC)

... that Disciotis venosa, Hygrophorus subalpinus, Mycena overholtsii, Plectania nannfeldtii, Ramaria botrytis, and Clitocybe glacialis (pictured) are all mushrooms that grow in or near snowbanks?
... that Leigh Hunt's works involve: a juvenile poem about the pleasure palace, Hero's suicide, the jilted Ariadne, a diary with a calendar, poetic feasts, a masque, nymphs, and a deadly love affair?
... that Benjamin Britten composed many viola parts for Cecil Aronowitz, a co-founder of the Melos Ensemble?
... that France–Asia relations span more than two millennia, and have involved numerous alliances between France and Asian countries?
... that in 1961, a year before he died, turn-of-the-century racecar driver Gus Monckmeier recreated his 1911 1,000-mile run around Lake Michigan?
... that the people of Pachuca call the city the "Cradle of Mexican Soccer"?
... that some historians believe that Edith Rogers was left out of the Alberta cabinet in 1935 because she was a woman?
... that the United States Army's Camp Warner in south central Oregon was so cold that on several occasions the camp's entire detachment of soldiers had to walk in circles all night to keep from freezing?
03:28, 14 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the first two movie theatres in Detroit opened in 1906 in the Monroe Avenue Commercial Buildings (pictured) historic district, and by 1914 six of the 13 buildings housed movie theatres?
... that his fine bass voice turned Leonid Kharitonov from a poor villager in Siberia into a renowned singer performing all around the Soviet Union?
... that Voina is a Russian art collective whose provocative works have included public group sex and staged hangings?
... that Judge Peter T. Farrell presided over the trial of bank robber Willie Sutton, who claimed to have stolen millions from banks in his career, and sentenced him to 30–120 years in Attica State Prison?
... that the Polish town of Polanów was completely destroyed during the Second World War?
... that in 1989, Carlos D. Ramirez led a group that purchased El Diario La Prensa, the oldest Spanish-language newspaper in the United States?
... that director Asit Sen received his first and only Filmfare Best Director Award for his 1970 film Safar?
... that Lithuanian Chief of Defence Arvydas Pocius was freestyle wrestling champion of Lithuania in junior, youth and adult groups?

13 October 2009

21:28, 13 October 2009 (UTC)

... that Raven Ridge (pictured) displays sedimentary rock from the K–T boundary, a time period when numerous plant and animal species, including dinosaurs, disappeared completely from the fossil record?
... that Jeannette Kagame, the current First Lady of Rwanda, works to help victims of the Rwandan Genocide and HIV/AIDS?
... that Al-Ard ("The Land") was a Palestinian nationalist movement made up of Arab citizens of Israel?
... that the late Louisiana State Senator Bryan A. Poston was an aerial engineer gunner sergeant on a B-17 bomber?
... that by 1984, less than 40 years after his death, Mori Koben had more than 2,000 descendants, who were Micronesians of Japanese descent?
... that GM executive Harlow Curtice turned down a generalship during World War II, and was Time magazine's Man of the Year for 1955?
... that Anders Haugen, one of the 104 medalists at the 1924 Winter Olympics, was awarded his bronze medal in ski jumping fifty years after the games ended?
... that British explorer Christina Dodwell was initiated into manhood by the crocodile people of the New Guinea lowlands?
15:28, 13 October 2009 (UTC)

... that lots on the West Side (houses on Washington Street, pictured) of Saratoga Springs, New York, were so uniformly narrow that even bungalows were built with their sides facing the street?
... that French indie rock band Stuck in the Sound got their name from the fact that when the group formed, the four band members locked themselves in a basement with their music?
... that the Meadowlands Rail Line can transport 10,000 fans per hour to and from events at Giants Stadium and other venues in the Meadowlands Sports Complex?
... that the popularity of Sunday night repeats of the 1967 BBC television drama The Forsyte Saga were said to be a threat to both publicans and clergymen?
... that 'Asta Bowen's novel Wolf: A Journey Home is based on the recorded lives of a pack of wolves relocated from Pleasant Valley, Montana, to Glacier Park in 1989?
... that remains of Lund's Amphibious Rat, one of the largest living rice rats, have been found in association with saber-toothed cats, ground sloths, and glyptodonts?
... that World War II RAAF fighter ace John Waddy later became a Minister of the Crown, while British Army paratrooper John Waddy went on to command the SAS?
09:28, 13 October 2009 (UTC)

... that women's professional wrestlers Tammy Sytch and Dawn Marie (pictured) resumed a ten-year-old feud when they were reunited in Women Superstars Uncensored?
... that patient activist Rose Kushner is credited with helping to end the practice of treating breast cancer by performing both a biopsy and a mastectomy as a one-step surgical procedure?
... that the first six of Do As Infinity's studio albums from Break of Dawn to Need Your Love reached the top 5 of the Japanese Oricon albums chart?
... that in order to register themselves as a political association according to Austro-Hungarian regulations, the Jewish socialist Bund of Bukovina had to limit its membership to male Austrian citizens?
... that video game Jungle Strike was accused of jingoism?
... that although a yellow fever epidemic forced the team to play the final month of the season on the road, Otto Williams batted .278 and helped the New Orleans Pelicans win the 1905 pennant?
... that the Municipality of Crabtree in Quebec, Canada is named after Edwin Crabtree, whose paper mill led to the town's development?
... that Irish international sporting brothers Louis Magee and James Magee both had the middle name Mary?
03:28, 13 October 2009 (UTC)

... that when the steamer SS Myron (pictured) sank in 1919, she defied the adage that “Lake Superior seldom gives up her dead” when 17 of her crew were found frozen to death wearing their lifejackets?
... that the work of Violet Tillard, a British nurse and relief worker who died during the Russian famine of 1921, was mentioned in the writings of Leon Trotsky?
... that although Spottail pinfish are known from both south Florida and the Gulf of Mexico, there are no confirmed reports of them from the West Indies?
... that Arunah Shepherdson Abell, founder of the Baltimore Sun newspaper, used pony express routes, telegraphy, steamships, and even carrier pigeons to gather the news more quickly?
... that the Embassy of Russia in Copenhagen was designed by Danish architect Vilhelm Dahlerup, who also designed the Hotel D’Angleterre?
... that twin brothers Bubber Jonnard and Claude Jonnard formed the Nashville Volunteers baseball team's battery in 1920 and 1921?
... that the Abir Congo Company was once described as "the black spot on the history of Central African settlement"?
... that John Hyson published articles on the history of the toothbrush, George Washington's dentures, and one entitled "Did You Know A Dentist Embalmed President Lincoln?"?

12 October 2009

21:28, 12 October 2009 (UTC)

... that due to scarcity of iron in Puerto Rico, the Spanish government contracted for the Arenas Bridge (pictured) to be built by a Belgian firm in 1894, and shipped to be assembled in place?
... that Dr. John J. Wild, credited with the first successful detection of breast cancer using ultrasonography, was awarded the $370,000 Japan Prize for his development of ultrasound imaging?
... that the star attraction of the Westminster Pit, a Victorian blood sport arena, was a dog named "Billy", who was reportedly able to kill 100 rats in five minutes?
... that marketing executive Edward Gelsthorpe, who introduced Ban roll-on deodorant and Manwich sloppy joe sauce, earned the nickname "Cran-Apple Ed" after developing the juice drink for Ocean Spray?
... that two steam trains were involved in a head-on collision on the Lößnitzgrundbahn heritage railway in Saxony, Germany, on 12 September 2009?
... that David Davies was transported to Australia for his part in the Rebecca Riots, an uprising that saw the mob leaders cross-dressing as women?
... that the Quarter pony horse breed was developed from horses that did not meet the American Quarter Horse Association's original height requirement of 14.2 hands (58 inches, 147 cm) high?
... that Yehuda Hiss has been the chief pathologist at Israel's National Institute of Forensic Medicine since 1988?
15:28, 12 October 2009 (UTC)

... that Uncle Tom's Cabin author Harriet Beecher Stowe moved to Mandarin, Florida, to help educate emancipated slaves, which she wrote about in a memoir named Palmetto Leaves (pictured)?
... that Mexican masked professional wrestler La Parka is the second man to wrestle under this ring name?
... that the East Side Historic District of Saratoga Springs, New York, contains 379 structures including 82 buildings formerly used by Skidmore College?
... that Giuseppe Giulietti, a leader of the Italian seamen's union, once hijacked a ship that was transporting weapons to the White movement in Russia?
... that a team of archaeologists has recently discovered the remains of a 5000-year old circle of bluestone monoliths, about 1 mile (1.6 km) from Stonehenge?
... that Michigan Wolverines football defensive end Brandon Graham was captain of his U.S. Army All-American Bowl team?
... that the historic Streamline Moderne Greyhound Bus Depot in Columbia, South Carolina, is now the office for a plastic surgeon?
... that the illegal Galician castle constructed by Muño Peláez in 1121 was considered a "den of robbers and bandits" by contemporaries, and was soon razed?
09:28, 12 October 2009 (UTC)

... that Yana in Karnataka, India, offers treks to two rock outcrops of black crystalline limestone (pictured) that house a cave temple where a "self-manifest" Shiva Linga is venerated?
... that the Giant Bible of Mainz, on display at the U.S. Library of Congress, was seized from Mainz Cathedral as a prize of war by King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden in 1631?
... that the Norwegian-British-Swedish Antarctic Expedition (1949–1952) found evidence that suggests a portion of Antarctica was once joined to southern Africa?
... that the architect John Douglas designed a pair of houses at 31 and 33 Dee Banks, Chester, Cheshire, England, one for his own use and the other probably as an investment?
... that there are 1,000 species and subspecies of eucalypts at South Australia's 32 ha (79 acres) Currency Creek Arboretum?
... that Heinrich Roller invented a popular shorthand system in 1875 after having been sued unsuccessfully for publishing a popular textbook on Leopold Arends' shorthand system?
... that the Kodaikanal–Munnar Road in Tamil Nadu and Kerala was built by the British in 1942 as an evacuation route in preparation for a possible Japanese invasion of South India?
... that the platform of Austro–Hungarian Jewish politician Benno Straucher, who represented his Bukovina constituency in the Reichsrat, has been called "a sort of half-hearted Zionism"?
03:28, 12 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the spiny puffball (pictured), an edible fungus, can inhibit the growth of several bacteria pathogenic to humans?
... that Billy Lauder coached Baseball Hall of Famer Eddie Collins in college, and Collins later hired Lauder to coach the Chicago White Sox?
... that the 1979 Abbotsford landslip was the biggest landslide ever in an urban area in New Zealand?
... that Lee Robins "pioneered the field of psychiatric epidemiology" and "played a key role in determining the prevalence of mental problems in the United States and the world"?
... that Greeks in pre-Roman Gaul founded Marseilles, the oldest city of France, circa 600 BCE?
... that it is claimed that in 1888 Victorian medium Robert James Lees led police to the home of Jack the Ripper?
... that the deaths of coal and iron miners in the Forest of Dean are commemorated by an 11 feet (3.4 m) sculpture at New Fancy?
... that Karl Wilhelm Scheibler, the "Cotton King" of Łódź, sold his stock at triple the price after the American Civil War broke out?

11 October 2009

21:28, 11 October 2009 (UTC)

... that Nikolai Militov and Makary Ivanov of the Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Church (pictured) in Kenai, Alaska, travelled the Kenai Peninsula and vaccinated thousands of Alaskan natives against smallpox?
... that Nollywood actress Stephanie Okereke went back to acting and directing her own films after her car accident in 2005?
... that the people of Scilla spent the night on the beach after the first shock of the 1783 Calabrian earthquakes sequence only to be caught by the tsunami caused by the second?
... that Jesuit Louis J. Gallagher, who brought to Rome the relics of Andrew Bobola which were rescued from the Bolsheviks by Edmund A. Walsh, later published books about both men?
... that Archduke Charles personally led his Hungarian Grenadiers in a charge against the French line at the Battle of Stockach in 1799?
... that banker Jacob Furth, whom historian Bill Speidel called "Seattle's leading citizen for thirty years," began his career as a confectioner in Budapest?
... that realising the many sexual and drug pressures facing young people, a student association in Morocco encourages their youth to seek Answers, Solutions and Knowledge?
... that in 1991, Victor Erlich, the grandson of Henryk Ehrlich, was informed that his father, a Jewish Bund leader who had been executed on Stalin’s orders, had been "rehabilitated"?
15:28, 11 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the Encyclopaedia Hebraica (pictured), which Bracha Peli started in 1946 with her son, Alexander supervising, issued its final volume 50 years later?
... that Lucas Murray, who was born blind, is one of the first British people to learn to visualise his surroundings using a technique similar to bats and dolphins, called echolocation?
... that Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA, was founded by Jonas Gilman Clark in 1887?
... that Indigenous Australian artist and illustrator Bronwyn Bancroft was the first Australian fashion designer invited to show her work in Paris?
... that, having begun as an affiliate of the fascist Iron Guard, Romanian author Ion Negoiţescu became a noted anti-fascist, before defying the communist regime as an openly homosexual dissident?
... that Mary of Woodstock, daughter of Edward I of England, travelled widely as a nun despite a papal travel prohibition?
... that the stink-bug Nezara viridula can feed on plants from over 30 families, but its preference for legumes, such as beans and soybeans, make it an economically important pest on crops?
... that The Kinks founded their own recording studio and record label in 1973, named "Konk"?
07:28, 11 October 2009 (UTC)

... that Cantharellus lateritius (pictured) may typically be distinguished from other chanterelles by its smooth under surface?
... that in 1493, 150 Pomeranian prelates and landlords confirmed the Treaty of Pyritz by oath?
... that Maria Gulovich sheltered Jews, worked for the anti-fascist underground, and was awarded the Bronze Star for saving the lives of OSS agents during World War II?
... that the Tuvan People's Revolutionary Party was admitted as a "sympathizing party" in the Communist International in 1935?
... that Per Arne Watle, current chairman of Hurtigruten and former CEO of Widerøe, was also president of the European Regions Airline Association?
... that William Herbert Shipman owned a historic house in Hilo, Hawaii, a refuge from World War II near a volcano, and a remote beach estate where endangered nēnē were raised?
... that more than 4,000 people died in 1933 on Nazino Island in the Soviet Union, many of whom were deported there only because they did not have an internal passport?
01:28, 11 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the double-decker sight-seeing boat Jalakanyaka (pictured) sank on 30 September in Thekkady, Kerala, killing 45 tourists?
... that in 941 CE, the Byzantine chamberlain Theophanes, commanding only 15 old ships armed with Greek fire, defeated a Rus' fleet of 1,000 ships?
... that Marie Wadley helped to introduce legislation to establish the Five Civilized Tribes Museum in Oklahoma and later served as its first president?
... that the Cypriot women's basketball team was disqualified at the 2009 Jeux de la Francophonie for exceeding the permitted number of naturalized players?
... that the animated television series Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends was nominated for thirty-one awards throughout its run?
... that Michał Klepfisz, a hero of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, saved his comrades' lives by throwing himself on a German machine gun?
... that Rakhine State in present-day western Burma was an independent country before it was invaded and annexed by Konbaung Burmese forces led by Thado Minsaw in 1784?
... that if a tree falls on seedlings of the Walking Palm its stilt roots allow it to re-root in a different location?

10 October 2009

19:28, 10 October 2009 (UTC)

... that De Hoop (pictured), located in Norg, Drenthe, is the only windmill in the Netherlands still equipped with Bilau sails?
... that the Indian Army during World War II was the largest volunteer army in history, rising to over 2.5 million men in August 1945?
... that according to the book Who's Your City?, in the United States the highest concentrations of people whose dominant personality trait is neuroticism are found in the New York and ChiPitts area?
... that in the 1679 Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Brandenburg was forced by France to return recently conquered Swedish Pomerania to Sweden?
... that Alex Rodriguez set the AL record with 7 RBI in one inning in the team's final game of the 2009 season, the same game where he reached 30 HRs and 100 RBI for a record 13th consecutive year?
... that Hirsh Lekert, a Bundist, tried unsuccessfully to assassinate the governor of Vilna, and became a folk hero in the Jewish workers’ movement, with poems and dramas written about him in Yiddish?
... that William Michael Crose was the first Governor of American Samoa styled as such, the previous ones holding the title "Governor of Tutuila"?
... that the teenage Prince Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar's music collection had a long-term influence on the musical style of Johann Sebastian Bach?
13:22, 10 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the name of the village Kokrebellur, an important breeding ground for the Spot-billed Pelican (pictured), is derived from the word "Kokkare" meaning stork or pelican in the Kannada language?
... that to avoid being hit by Allied bombers during the Battle of Elephant Point in 1945, troops of the British Indian Army carried orange umbrellas?
... that the leader of the Bund and organizer of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, Victor Alter, was executed on Stalin’s orders, which provoked an international outcry of protest?
... that Lord Nuffield rejected the first designs for the buildings of Nuffield College, Oxford by the architect Austen Harrison, saying that they were "un-English"?
... that Marie Haupt, Josephine Schefsky‎ and Friederike Grün‎ each premiered a character in Richard Wagner's first Ring cycle at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus in August 1876?
... that Hurricane Brenda was the first tropical cyclone on record to make landfall in Mexican state of Campeche?
... that the Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends special "Destination: Imagination" won the Primetime Emmy Award for "Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming One Hour or More)" in 2009?
... that Euphorbia celastroides, a spurge closely related to the poinsettia, is sometimes used as a treatment for cancer?
06:29, 10 October 2009 (UTC)

... that seismologists use isoseismal maps (example pictured) to help work out the epicenter, focal depth, magnitude and mechanism of an earthquake?
... that Antonio Frasconi spent ten years creating an artwork that shows the people who disappeared during the dictatorships in Uruguay?
... that Tropical Storm Christine was the easternmost forming Atlantic tropical cyclone on record?
... that Bill Cullen took the Guinness World Record for the largest ever book signing by signing 1849 copies of his self-help book Golden Apples on 16 April 2005 in Easons, O'Connell Street?
... that the first known Japanese settlement in the Federated States of Micronesia dates back to 1890?
... that the Belgian-born Dutch politician Robert van Genechten collaborated with the German occupiers in Belgium during World War I and in the Netherlands during the Second World War?
... that the chicks of the Australian Little Bittern are covered with orange-buff down and are fed by regurgitation by both parents?
... that the Sholes and Glidden typewriter was the first commercially successful typewriter?
00:28, 10 October 2009 (UTC)

... that a church in Worthing, England (pictured), has the world's only known replica of the Sistine Chapel ceiling, hand-painted at two-thirds scale by an untrained artist?
... that under university president of Northwest Missouri State University Dean L. Hubbard's tenure a program was started to replace students' printed textbooks with the electronic books or ebooks?
... that The Other Economic Summit (TOES), founded in 1984, was a counter-summit to the G7 meetings, held each year for the next two decades in the G7 host country?
... that Napoleon's coronation involved two orchestras with four choruses, numerous military bands and over three hundred musicians?
... that risk management firm Verisk Analytics raised $1.9 billion in its October 7, 2009 initial public offering, making it the largest IPO in the United States to date in 2009?
... that nine years before being cast as J. Homer Bedloe on CBS's Petticoat Junction, Charles Lane appeared as a hard-nosed newspaper editor in Peter Lawford's short-lived NBC sitcom, Dear Phoebe?
... that the engine house of the Pinchbeck Engine, Pinchbeck, Lincolnshire, England, is a Scheduled Ancient Monument?
... that Luise Jaide created two roles in Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen opera cycle?

9 October 2009

18:28, 9 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the discovery of geometrical body Gömböc (pictured) in 2006 helped understanding the body shape of turtles?
... that Discovery Channel called Ardi, "The evidence that Darwin could only have dreamed of"?
... that Mimi Weddell, whose acting career started in her mid-sixties, was named as one "The Most Beautiful New Yorkers" by New York magazine in 2005 at age 90?
... that "Papa" De Hem's oyster-house in Soho was patronised by poets, spies and rock-stars?
... that Far Rockaway High School in Queens, whose alumni include three Nobel Prize laureates and Bernard Madoff, stopped accepting students in 2008 as part of a planned closure due to declining grades?
... that Anna Deinet created the role of Brangäne in Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, the first of two Wagner characters she premiered?
... that in Toyota v. Williams, the U.S. Supreme Court held that under the ADA, a disability includes limitations in a "major life activity", but excludes limitations in specific job-related tasks?
... that the termite Globitermes sulphureus uses autothysis, a form of suicidal altruism, to entangle intruder ants in a sticky substance?
12:28, 9 October 2009 (UTC)

... that by the 17th century, the Norman church of St James the Less (pictured) in Lancing, West Sussex was so dilapidated that birds were nesting and pigeons were breeding inside?
... that Eugenio Pacelli's (future Pope Pius XII) 1936 visit to the United States was planned, in part, to investigate and silence Catholic priest and New Deal opponent Charles Coughlin?
... that for the score of the Prince of Persia, composer Inon Zur combined classical orchestral music with Arabic flutes and the woodwind duduk?
... that following the capture of Kafr 'Inan during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, its inhabitants were expelled by the Israel Defense Forces on three separate occasions in 1949?
... that John Martin Poyer was appointed Naval Governor of American Samoa after he had retired from active duty?
... that "Stop Lasnamäe!" was one of the slogans of the Estonian Singing Revolution?
... that the remains of Melanie Hall who went missing in 1996 were discovered by the M5 motorway in October 2009?
... that the Seinfeld writers, attempting to produce a "Quentin Tarantino version of a sitcom", included the title character’s death in a dream sequence in "The Baby Shower"?
06:28, 9 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the 1863 Point Douglas-St. Louis River Road Bridge (pictured), near Stillwater, Minnesota, is the oldest standing stone arch bridge in Minnesota?
... that journalist Savik Shuster who used to work for Russian TV channels now prefers to work for the Ukrainian TV because he felt the Russian Government was limiting his journalistic freedom?
... that in 1644, during the English Civil War, Haggate was the scene of a skirmish in which five people were killed by King Charles I's troops?
... that Clark Daniel Stearns was removed from command of the USS Michigan for allowing the sailors under his command to organize advising committees?
... that it is uncertain whether the extinct oryzomyine rodent Megalomys audreyae came from Barbuda or Barbados?
... that W. Horace Carter won a 1953 Pulitzer Prize for anti-KKK reporting, "waged on their own doorstep at the risk of economic loss and personal danger" that led to the conviction of over 100 Klansmen?
... that in June 2004, the only businesses in operation at Normal, Illinois' College Hills Mall, now The Shoppes at College Hills, were three anchor stores and a restaurant?
... that footballer Arthur Wood had a metal plate inserted in his forehead following an injury received in the First World War, and was never again able to head the ball?
00:28, 9 October 2009 (UTC)

... that most attacks on humans by the blacktip reef shark (pictured) consist of people being bitten on their legs or feet while wading in shallow water?
... that the selection of Ernie "Indian Red" Lopez for the California Boxing Hall of Fame led to his discovery in a Texas homeless shelter after being missing for 12 years?
... that during filming of The Emperor Waltz in Jasper National Park, director Billy Wilder had California pines planted on location because he was unhappy with the look of the native trees?
... that Likir Monastery in Ladakh contains a statue of Avalokiteśvara with 1000 arms and 11 heads?
... that before becoming an ICC commissioner, James D. Yeomans helped manage two railroads and ran a stock farm?
... that potbelly sculpture is a crude non-Maya sculptural style distributed along the Pacific slope of southern Mesoamerica and dating to the Preclassic Period?
... that some of the thrust horses in Montana's Adel Mountains Volcanic Field fold some of the intrusions, while others are cut by them?
... that Charles Langdale was one of the first Roman Catholics in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom following the passing of the Catholic Relief Act 1829?

8 October 2009

18:28, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

... that while naval attaché in Tokyo, future four-star admiral Frederick J. Horne (pictured) became the first United States Navy officer to be decorated by the Empire of Japan?
... that in 2008 over two-thirds of all prisoners in Switzerland were non-Swiss nationals?
... that Isaac Baker Brown was an English surgeon who in 1867 was expelled from the Obstetrical Society of London for performing clitoridectomies without his patients' consent?
... that Pindus National Park is one of three areas in Greece that hosts populations of bears?
... that William J. Calhoun's report on the death of an American in Cuba persuaded President McKinley that war against Spain was advisable?
... that Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz was suspected of involvement in the first of several military coup attempts in Pakistan?
... that professional wrestler Misterioso, Jr.'s nickname translates as "the King of Yogurt"?
... that John Travolta's older brother Joey Travolta produced the documentary film about autism Normal People Scare Me?
12:28, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the former Union Mill Complex (pictured) in Ballston Spa, New York, was built to manufacture textiles, but later produced paper bags and, even later, chocolate?
... that old houses in England saw an increased number of visitors in the 1840s due to published lithographs depicting architecture and historical scenes in them drawn by Joseph Nash?
... that Phuntsok Wangyal, a progressive pro-communist Tibetan who founded the Tibetan Communist Party, once taught at Tromzikhang in Barkhor, Lhasa?
... that Joseph Flores, the first Chamorro Governor of Guam, also published the island's first locally owned newspaper?
... that the Kultur Lige was a socialist Jewish organization associated with the Jewish Labour Bund, established in Kiev in 1918, whose aim was to promote Yiddish language literature, theater and culture?
... that Raymond B. West developed a new standard of double exposure photography while directing a 1917 film in which one actress played two sisters?
... that a feud between Bartolomeo Prignano and Pierre de Cros fueled the outbreak of the Western Schism?
... that the Riverside International Automotive Museum in Riverside, California, houses the largest and most comprehensive collection of Maserati road cars in the United States?
06:28, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the three high crosses at Monasterboice—including Muiredach's High Cross (pictured)—have been described as possibly Ireland's greatest contribution to European sculpture?
... that despite the efforts of fledgling writers Norman Lear and Larry Gelbart, Celeste Holm bombed after only eight episodes in her 1954 CBS sitcom Honestly, Celeste!?
... that the biography Van Morrison: Too Late to Stop Now concludes the influence of religion on Morrison's music may be his most lasting contribution?
... that 29 years after his defection to the Soviet Union, American Victor Norris Hamilton was discovered in a mental hospital?
... that Llandovery Bank, established in Wales in 1799, was known locally as the "Black Ox Bank" because it issued banknotes bearing a black ox?
... that Tacchi Venturi, the personal liaison between Mussolini and the popes, was the architect of the Lateran Treaty, which created Vatican City and made Catholicism the state religion of Italy?
... that the 1976 crash of Turkish Airlines Flight 452 is the all-time worst aviation accident in Turkey?
... that Truman C. Everts was lost for 37 days while exploring what would become Yellowstone National Park?
00:28, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the brilliantly-coloured blue and black neon cuckoo bee of Australia (pictured) is a parasite of the Blue banded bee?
... that the Rev. George W. Bridges libelled anti-slavery activists Escoffery and Lecesne when he said they wanted to "sheath their daggers in the breasts of their white inhabitants"?
... that the Hankensbüttel Otter Centre won first prize in the German Ministry of Transport Regions of the Future competition in 2000?
... that one of the tenants of Bloomington, Illinois' Eastland Mall had operated a store in town since 1892?
... that The Coronas had to be escorted out of the building after being mobbed by their fans following a performance at The Music Show in 2008?
... that the three Habsburg-class battleships were the first ocean-going battleships built by the Austro-Hungarian Navy since the ironclad SMS Tegetthoff of the 1870s?
... that George Washington and James Fenimore Cooper visited the springs at Brookside, an early resort in Ballston Spa, New York?
... that the Punch of the Hamburg Police has educated children in road traffic safety since 1948?

7 October 2009

18:28, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

... that The Atlanta Constitution wrote that William S. Hart's face (pictured) was "the synonym for power and manliness" in its review of the film Wagon Tracks?
... that Lady Emma Herbert, a bridesmaid of Camilla Parker-Bowles, is now a circus trapeze artist?
... that in May 2007 alone, 987,000 unique visitors tried Starfall, a free website that helps children learn to read?
... that the museum of Epidaurus has a reconstruction of part of the entablature of a Temple of Artemis, dated to 370–310 B.C.?
... that in the 2003–04 AHL season, Binghamton Senators defenceman Andy Hedlund went 17 games without scoring a goal following his game-winning shot against Syracuse?
... that Cuban poet Cintio Vitier published his first book of poetry in 1938, at the age of seventeen?
... that English actress Maxine Audley was married four times?
... that the deadliest aircraft incident in Russia occurred because one air traffic controller fell asleep on the job?
11:35, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

... that in the 1861 Tsushima Incident Japanese warships (pictured) failed to repel a Russian naval intrusion and had to be helped by Britain's Royal Navy?
... that the Inmos microprocessor factory in Newport was the first building in Wales designed by Richard Rogers?
... that one driver was killed at Japan's Suzuka Circuit when he was struck by another car just after he exited his stricken car?
...that Archbishop Leon Tourian was assassinated in a Manhattan church on Christmas Eve, 1933, for his refusal to publicly support independent Armenia?
... that English author Selina Davenport, in an attempt to support herself and her two daughters after separating from her husband, ran both a coffee house and a dance school?
... that the library in Michigan's Calumet and Hecla Industrial District originally housed public baths in its basement?
... that medieval English bishop Alexander of Lincoln was patron of the chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth, who dedicated his Prophecies of Merlin to the bishop?
... that the Jensen Arctic Museum in Monmouth, Oregon, is the only museum on the West Coast other than in Alaska that focuses solely on Arctic culture?
05:35, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

... that silent film star Clara Williams (pictured), known for her "forty famous frocks", appeared in more than 100 films between 1910 and 1918?
... that the Mahiyangana Raja Maha Vihara is one of the Solosmasthana, the 16 religious sites in Sri Lanka that Buddhists believe to have been hallowed by visits of Gautama Buddha?
... that over 19 days, the magnitude-6 1703 Apennine earthquakes progressed southwards 36 km and killed an estimated 10,000 people?
... that Adolf Bniński, Polish presidential candidate in 1926, was the Government Delegate of the Polish Underground State for the Polish territories annexed by Nazi Germany?
... that the 58-foot (18 m) motor yacht Sundowner, manned by Charles Lightoller, his son Roger, and a Sea Scout called Gerald, evacuated 130 men from Dunkirk?
... that C. Gardner Sullivan, once named among the ten greatest contributors to the motion picture industry, has four films in the U.S. National Film Registry?
... that Elia Kazan's 1947 film Boomerang!, about a murder defendant whose innocence was proven by the prosecutor, was based on the true story of Harold Israel?
... that George Osbaldeston was twice Master of the Quorn?

6 October 2009

23:35, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

... that Cranbury Park (pictured) near Winchester, England, was the home of Sir Isaac Newton?
... that husband and wife Heinrich and Therese Vogl portrayed the incestuous lovers Siegmund and Sieglinde in Richard Wagner's Die Walküre on June 26, 1870?
... that in 1900 alone the Eastern German provinces lost about 1,600,000 people due to Landflucht?
... that amateur telescope maker Robert E. Cox helped make the first live coverage of a solar eclipse?
... that "Black Is Black," a 1966 song by Los Bravos, was the first international hit single by a Spanish rock band?
... that Bank Indonesia Governor J. Soedradjad Djiwandono was not officially informed of his dismissal from office in 1998 until six days after President Suharto's decree?
... that the writers of the title track to Toby Keith's 2009 album American Ride told him he was "the only guy in the world that could get away with cutting" that song?
... that Dutch rocker Wally Tax learned English by age 11 by working as a pimp for American sailors in the Port of Amsterdam?
16:42, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

... that Tutinama is a collection of 52 Persian stories narrated through a parrot to prevent his owner (pictured) from committing adultery while her husband was away?
... that silent film comedian Shorty Hamilton died in 1925 when his automobile crashed into a steam shovel in Hollywood?
... that wine produced from grapes grown in Washington, California, Chile, Argentina or South Africa can be labeled "Cellared in Canada" and sold as Canadian wine?
... that Peter Rosted served as chief judge at Inderøy District Court for 46 years, from 1733 to 1776?
... that the sculptor Emile Norman's largest and most famous work is a four-story high endomosaic window in the lobby of the Masonic Memorial Temple in San Francisco?
... that Paul L. Foshee, who served in both houses of the Louisiana State Legislature, holds a patent on an airplane mount bracket?
... that the 1914–1944 Japanese presence in the Marshall Islands resulted in about 10% of the present-day islanders having some Japanese ancestry?
... that Gina Krog and Hagbard Emanuel Berner founded the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights in 1884?
10:42, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

... that images from the 1965 book A Child Is Born were sent into space aboard the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 space probes (replica pictured)?
... that as a child, Czech painter Kamil Lhoták was infected with poliomyelitis by his father, a physician?
... that Spinellus fusiger is a pin mold that parasitizes several species of mushrooms?
... that American folk blues guitarist and Grammy-winning music historian Elijah Wald is the son of prominent biologists Ruth Hubbard and Nobel laureate George Wald?
... that the French Church in Bucharest, Romania, is topped by a Gallic rooster?
... that Rabbi Wolfe Kelman prepared the way for the rabbinic ordination of women in Conservative Judaism and his daughter Naamah Kelman was the first woman in Israel ordained by the Reform Judaism movement?
... that Horkstow Bridge in North Lincolnshire, completed in 1836, is the only suspension bridge designed by Sir John Rennie, builder of London Bridge?
... that more than 6,000 fans of Michael Jackson attended at a memorial service at U.S. Steel Yard in Gary, Indiana?
04:42, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

I Didn't Raise My Boy ...

... that "I Didn't Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier" was a popular pacifist song of World War I?
... that the Vienna-born historian Saul K. Padover wrote definitive biographies of figures as diverse as Karl Marx and Thomas Jefferson?
... that James Howden invented the marine forced draught system that was used on the Lusitania and Mauretania?
... that the married Western Ukrainian Clergy became a hereditary caste that dominated western Ukrainian society?
... that National Football League offensive tackle Jake Long was hospitalized in intensive care for smoke inhalation while in college?
... that the Great Western Railway built three different stations to serve the town of Wootton Bassett in just 63 years?
... that the monogram of King Haakon VII of Norway, H7, became a resistance symbol during the Second World War?

5 October 2009

22:41, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the 1915 film The Italian tells the story of an immigrant played by George Beban (pictured) who goes to America in search of fortune but finds a "Darwinian jungle" on New York's Lower East Side?
... that the cryptographic primitives CAST-128, CAST-256, Grain, and HAVAL were all designed using bent functions for cryptographic security?
... that former Romanian secret police chief Nicolae Pleşiţă, notorious for his dealings with Carlos the Jackal, admitted dragging dissident writer Paul Goma around his cell by his beard?
... that the new world's record for the largest formation of women skydivers was organized by the daughter of Lamb Chops puppeteer, Shari Lewis?
... that although Andrew Bonar Law originally had fewer than forty supporting Members of Parliament, he became Leader of the UK Conservative Party after both of the frontrunners simultaneously withdrew?
... that the recording of "Fría Como el Viento" by Luis Miguel became his third number-one song in the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks chart?
... that philanthropist James W. Davidson spent CAN$250,000 of his own money in 1914 and 1915 to establish over 20 branches of Rotary International on three continents?
... that people used home-made balloons and submarines to escape across the inner German border between East and West Germany during the Cold War?
12:28, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

Elenska basilica, Bulgaria

... that a legend ties the name of the late Roman Elenska Basilica (pictured) in west central Bulgaria to deer sacrifice which predated its construction?
... that Archuleta v. Hedrick was a pro se petition for a writ of habeas corpus brought by an insanity defense acquitee, hospitalized against his will?
... that while being a member of the Spanish colonial guardia civil, Francisco Carreón also served as a member of the Philippine Revolutionary group Katipunan?
... that Byne's disease is not actually a disease, but a chemical reaction that attacks shells in storage or on display?
... that footballer Tony Hawksworth had only made three appearances for Manchester United's reserve team when he made his Football League debut, but never played another League match?
... that the last recorded sighting of the Knob-billed Duck, now thought to be extinct in Sri Lanka, occurred in Lahugala Kitulana National Park?
... that the American progressive rock/avant-jazz group The Muffins were influenced by the English Canterbury scene?
... that women complained when celebrity chef Neven Maguire posed for a Food & Wine photo shoot alongside a bikini-wearing model and a plate of food?
06:28, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the epic anti-war film Civilization (poster pictured), depicting Jesus walking through the carnage of war, was credited with helping re-elect U.S. President Woodrow Wilson in 1916?
... that despite historically good relations, Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi called for Switzerland's dissolution in September 2009?
... that the Eparchaean Unconformity in India is a major discontinuity between Proterozoic Nagari Quartzites and Archaean granite with a time gap of at least 500 million years between the two formations?
... that the term "Moonie" was first used by American media sources to refer to members of Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church in 1974, during church events at the Madison Square Garden?
... that one of the French ships captured at the Battle of Cape Ortegal in 1805 went on to serve the Royal Navy for 144 years?
... that the 1974 floods along the Finke River in Australia's Northern Territory resulted in the dramatic spread of the introduced Athel Tamarisk (T. aphylla) through the desert?
... that French politician Jean Fontenoy, initially a communist, later became a fascist?
00:28, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

... that breaker boys (pictured) were at risk for acid burns, asthma, black lung disease, accidental amputation, and death by smothering or crushing while working in coal breakers?
... that John Cantius, patron saint of the Jagiellonian University, is buried in the Church of St. Anne, Kraków?
... that the Byzantine chapel of the Theotokos of the Pharos at Constantinople housed a huge collection of holy relics, many of which were acquired by Louis IX of France for his Sainte-Chapelle?
... that referee Johnny LoBianco awarded boxer Roberto Durán a 1972 knockout despite his apparent low blow, with sportswriter Red Smith stating "anything short of pulling a knife is regarded indulgently"?
... that the Classic Period Mesoamerican archaeological site of Bilbao on the Pacific coastal plain of Guatemala, features a significant amount of sculpture with ballgame imagery?
... that the Australian town of Acland, once host to Queensland's oldest and smallest continuously worked coal mine, now has a population of one?
... that Lucy Vodden was John Lennon's inspiration for the song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"?

4 October 2009

18:28, 4 October 2009 (UTC)

... that before taking Charles Darwin to South America as captain of HMS Beagle, Robert FitzRoy visited the Galápagos Islands a decade earlier as a midshipman aboard HMS Owen Glendower (pictured)?
... that Freddy Bienstock was the designated song screener for Elvis Presley?
... that W. S. Gilbert's 1878 play The Ne'er-do-Weel was the second that he wrote for actor E. A. Sothern, who did not appear in either?
... that the Christian Byzantine Emperor Leo V performed pagan rituals in Constantinople at the signing of a peace treaty in 815 with the Bulgarians?
... that Karen L. Gould, a scholar of French-Canadian literature and francophone women writers, is the first woman president of Brooklyn College?
... that Abba Garima Monastery, located near Adwa, Ethiopia, contains the crown of the Emperor Zara Yaqob of the Solomonic dynasty?
... that during the Second World War, the Japanese-American family of Tsuyako "Sox" Kitashima were interned in a horse stall?
12:28, 4 October 2009 (UTC)

... that Gibraltar's National Day is celebrated every 10 September by releasing 30,000 red and white balloons (pictured) which represent the people of Gibraltar?
... that Bruce Spizer, a New Orleans tax attorney, wrote 2,592 questions for a special Beatles edition of the board game Trivial Pursuit?
... that people of Austronesian origin traveled in and around the Philippine Islands using balangays, which were eventually used to trade with the Srivijayan empire?
... that Jean de La Forêt was the first French ambassador to the Ottoman Empire in 1534, and that he negotiated in 1536 a Franco-Ottoman treaty of alliance?
... that the electronic version of the Encyclopedia of Chicago was the second extensive Internet encyclopedia dedicated to the history of a U.S. city?
... that the Indian film Shehar Aur Sapna, a love story set in a drain pipe, won the National Film Award for Best Film and Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award for actor Nana Palsikar?
... that reticulated foam is used to protect the fuel tanks of military aircraft such as the A-10 Thunderbolt II?
... that Richard Prince's controversial "rephotograph" of Garry Gross's nude image of Brooke Shields at age 10 was recently banned from the Tate Gallery in London?
06:28, 4 October 2009 (UTC)

... that Colombia produces most of the world's emeralds (Gachala Emerald pictured)?
... that Gary Lakes became an opera singer because a cracked vertebra sustained as a high school football defensive tackle derailed his plans for a sports career?
... that some of the mallees in the Australian Inland Botanic Gardens may be up to 2,500 years old?
... that William S. Dix was recognised as one of the American Libraries' 100 most important figures although he never obtained a degree in library science?
... that the Lhasa Brewery Company, which produces Tibetan beer is the highest commercial brewery in the world?
... that Finnish chemist Edvard Hjelt organized the training of a infantry unit later used in the Finnish Civil War in 1918?
... that Women of the Sun was the first Australian television series to portray the lives of Aboriginal women in 19th-century Australia?
... that Roy Frankhouser, a Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragon, was arrested at least 142 times?
00:28, 4 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the spined pygmy shark (head pictured), dwarf lanternshark and pygmy ribbontail catshark are candidates for being the smallest shark in the world, all maturing at under 20 cm (8 in) long?
... that the rapid automatized naming of objects, pictures and colors in pre-literate children predicts their later success in learning to read?
... that Wong Fu Productions does not make a profit from the short films it produces?
... that the Klamath Diversion in the 1960s would have involved diverting the entire Klamath River to the Central Valley and Southern California?
... that the Norwegian company Maarud was the largest snack food producer in Scandinavia in the 1970s?
... that the Stone Bridge near Hart Mountain in Lake County, Oregon, is completely underwater?
... that Dymitr of Goraj, one of the most powerful people in the late 14th-century Kingdom of Poland, was instrumental in preventing the marriage between Jadwiga of Poland and William, Duke of Austria?
... that philanthropist Joseph Gurwin lost more than $36 million to Bernard Madoff, but promised he would continue making charitable donations even if he had "to sell apples on the street"?

3 October 2009

18:28, 3 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the golden-green carpenter bee (pictured) defends its nesting burrow by blocking the entrance with its abdomen?
... that Julius Anton Glaser's 1873 code of criminal procedure was the first to introduce trial by jury in Austria?
... that the Distomo Archaeological Collection of Greece has an exhibition of photographs related to the Distomo massacre in 1944 by Nazi troops?
... that BBC traffic reporter Sally Traffic has also narrated poetry albums for the blind?
... that the Christian music industry was the fastest growing segment of the music industry in the 1990s?
... that in 2007, Rachel Robinson, the wife of Jackie Robinson, was the first non-player to be presented with Major League Baseball's Commissioner's Historic Achievement Award?
... that 51 Ophiuchi has a disk of dust and gas that is likely a planetary system in the late stages of formation?
... that the biography Van Morrison: No Surrender discusses the musician's spiritual exploration of Gestalt therapy, Jehovah's Witnesses, mysticism, Rosicrucianism, and Scientology?
12:28, 3 October 2009 (UTC)

... that Dutch Golden Age painter Adriaen Coorte, who signed still lifes (example pictured) from 1683 to 1707, was almost completely forgotten until the 1950s?
... that the newspaper and radio of Vatican City during World War II ceased reporting the weather at the request of the Italian government?
... that in 1833, romantic poet Panagiotis Soutsos envisioned the revival of the ancient Olympic Games, 63 years before the first International Olympics?
... that the Abraham Glen House, now the Scotia branch of the Schenectady County, New York, public library, is a rare surviving Dutch Colonial heavy timber frame house in the Capital District?
... that after World War II, designs of the London Transport brand were simplified to reduce manufacturing and maintenance costs?
... that historian Sue Eakin published an edited version of Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup, a free black taken from New York into slavery in Louisiana?
... that successful repair of both cruciate ligaments in a human knee was first reported in 1903?
... that prior to writing the episode "The Apartment" of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld, writer Peter Mehlman had "barely written any dialogue in [his] life"?
06:28, 3 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the teddy bear bee (pictured) of eastern Australia is covered with orange-brown fur?
... that author Tom Spanbauer became so stressed while writing the LGBT novel The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon that he fainted in Penn Station?
... that a series of measures taken by Romanian Prime Minister Ion Gigurtu, including official persecution of Jews, failed to sway Adolf Hitler from his demand that Romania cede Northern Transylvania to Hungary?
... that Don Larsen won the 1956 World Series Most Valuable Player Award after pitching the only perfect game in World Series history?
... that Ernst Märzendorfer was the first conductor to record the complete symphonies of Joseph Haydn?
... that "Do-Over", the third-season premiere of the television comedy series 30 Rock, is the highest-rated episode of the series to date?
... that besides serving as famine food, the tree Balanites aegyptiaca can be used to make furniture, cooking oil, snail repellent, and glue, and provides raw materials for making birth control pills?
... that Abd el-Aziz el-Zoubi was the first non-Jewish member of an Israeli government?
00:28, 3 October 2009 (UTC)

... that six new species of marine slugs in the genus Phyllodesmium (pictured) have been described in the last two years?
...that the Scotia, New York, post office was one of the last to be built in the state under Depression-era relief programs?
... that L.C. Lecesne rose to prominence as an activist against slavery after the British Government compensated him for his illegal exile from Jamaica?
... that the posthumous Michael Jackson album This Is It will include a spoken word poem by Jackson titled Planet Earth?
... that disabled veteran street vendors have been exempt from certain municipal regulations in New York state since 1894?
... that Operation Fair Play was the codename for the 1977 military coup that overthrew the regime of Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto?
... that the only operable AWACS equipped aircraft of the Iranian Air Force was destroyed in a mid-air collision on 22 September 2009?
... that professional wrestler Dukes Dalton teamed with World Wrestling Entertainment veteran Steve Lombardi at a "Toys for Tots" event hosted by the United States Marines?

2 October 2009

18:28, 2 October 2009 (UTC)

... that Rear Admiral Bradley A. Fiske patented the aerial torpedo (example pictured) in 1912, and said it could be used against an enemy fleet in its own harbor?
... that despite establishing the mandate that Port wine should only come from the Douro, the Marquis of Pombal allowed grapes grown from his own estate in Carcavelos to be used by Port producers?
... that Edward Fokczyński knew that Poland had solved Germany's Enigma ciphers, but kept the secret even while being worked to death at Sachsenhausen?
... that Robert Southey composed five epic poems that describe: human sacrifices, murderous Hindu demons, evil sorcerers, a Goth rapist, and a violent maid?
... that personal injury lawyers mapped the sidewalks of New York City for defects, rendering the city liable for $600 million in judgments between 1997 and 2006?
... that Australian musician Jim Keays, who fronted The Masters Apprentices during 1965–1972, was diagnosed with myeloma in 2007 and is in remission after stem cell transplants?
... that the decision in Gyles v Wilcox established the legal precedent of fair abridgement, which later evolved into the modern concept of fair use?
... that director Paul Weiland, whose credits include Mr. Bean, 66 and more than 500 television commercials, owns an 18th-century country estate in Wiltshire, England?
12:28, 2 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the map cowry (pictured) is collected both for its shell and for food?
... that American opera singer Margaret Harshaw portrayed more Wagnerian heroines on stage at the Metropolitan Opera than anyone else in the opera's history?
... that Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington helped popularize the Portuguese wine Bucelas in London after he discovered it while fighting in the Peninsular War?
... that the Ballston Spa, New York, post office was once located in an opera house?
... that baseball player Warren Cromartie filed an injunction against screening of the comedy film Cromartie High - The Movie because the (fictitious) school was portrayed as full of thugs and delinquents?
... that the mural by Leon Kroll in the Worcester Memorial Auditorium was the largest in the United States when completed?
... that Emmy Award winner and Golden Raspberry nominee John Herzfeld has directed films about the Long Island Lolita, the Preppie Murder, Ryan White, Don King, and 2 days in the Valley?
... that during one of several British airborne operations in North Africa, an officer knocked unconscious was heard to ask a waiter for fish?
04:19, 2 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the ancient city of Tikal (pictured) in Guatemala was one of the most powerful kingdoms of the ancient Maya civilization?
... that during the First World War Edwin Flavell was awarded the Military Cross three times?
... that wine critic Robert Parker has said that all Grolleau vines should be ripped out of the Loire Valley and replaced with other grape varieties?
... that the Wilsonville railroad bridge in Oregon does not need to be painted?
... that in 1953, former SS-Obergruppenführer Emil Mazuw received an eight year prison sentence for severely abusing political prisoners and Jews?
... that the designers of the proposed Vigilant Eagle system hope to be able to create an invisible protectant dome around an airport to block a missile?
... that casting director Caro Jones cast for more than 1,000 films and television shows, including Rocky, The Beverly Hillbillies and The Karate Kid?
... that at one point in the history of the TNA Women's Knockout Championship, a male argued that he was the rightful champion?

1 October 2009

20:42, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the National Bottle Museum in Ballston Spa, New York, was evicted from the historic Verbeck House (pictured) by its parent organization?
... that Irish folk-singer Tommy Sands received an Honorary Doctorate from The University of Nevada, Reno?
... that Japanese settlement in Palau dates back to the 19th century?
... that "Mad" Micky McAvoy committed what was dubbed "the crime of the century" in 1983?
... that the confidential academic paper more commonly known as the "Cornell Paper", which detailed an abortive 1965 coup d'état attempt in Indonesia, was eventually published in 1971 to avoid any misconception of its contents?
... that Milwaukee's first underground parking garage was built in 1927 in the basement of George Brumder's Germania Building?
... that an exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1980 argued that "everything we know as Hollywood traces to Wilfred Buckland", film innovator and Hollywood's first art director?
... that scenes from the 2009 advertisement Carousel were used in the music video for 50 Cent's single "Ok, You're Right"?
12:42, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

... that the restoration of Jal Mahal (pictured) plays an important role in improving the tourist industry of Jaipur in Rajasthan?
... that Michael Lockett, a British sergeant who was killed by a roadside bomb, was the first British soldier awarded the Military Cross to die in Afghanistan?
... that physical chemist Jerome Karle won the 1985 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, making him the third alumnus of Brooklyn's Abraham Lincoln High School to win a Nobel?
... that in 1960, excavations uncovered the remains of a medieval fort from the Hussite Wars at the bottom of a lake in Záběhlice, Czech Republic?
... that Kent Blazy, co-writer of Garth Brooks' "If Tomorrow Never Comes," has had a cut on all but one of Brooks' albums?
... that despite tensions between Pakistan and India, a village called Pakistan in India's Bihar state was named in honour of its former inhabitants?
... that Essex cricketers Frank Vigar and Peter Smith shared a club record 218-run last-wicket stand in 1947?
... that the Eureka Diamond, the first diamond discovered in South Africa, was used as a toy by the boy who discovered it, given away for free by his mother, and sent by mail to a mineralogist in an ordinary paper envelope?
04:42, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

... that Hereford Road Skew Bridge (pictured) has been described as one of the most "skew" railway bridges in England?
... that Ateneo and La Salle supporters wore yellow as a sign of respect for Corazon Aquino who died a week prior to their first basketball game of the 2009 season?
... that the Palestinian village of Bayt 'Itab was situated on a rocky knoll identified as the biblical Rock of Etam, within which Samson hid after burning the grain of the Philistines?
... that Richard Adeney, who played principal flute with the English Chamber Orchestra, was a founding member of the Melos Ensemble?
... that the ancient wall paintings in Coombes Church in West Sussex include a man grimacing as he holds up the 30-inch (76 cm)-thick chancel arch?
... that Emmy Award-winning director Dearbhla Walsh described one scene in Talk to Me where a teacher commits adultery with her 15-year-old pupil as "not so much about sex as about love"?
... that Randall's Thumb was the first of a long series of W.S. Gilbert's plays at Marie Litton's newly christened Royal Court Theatre?
... that an argument between a Catalan woman and a soldier over a chicken helped inflame the Revolt of the Barretinas against the Spanish government?

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