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Did you know...[edit]

31 March 2006

12:42, 31 March 2006 (UTC)

...that the term Cicisbei refers to legal and generally respected companions and often lovers of married women in eighteenth-century Italy?
...that researchers are studying the waters of Soap Lake in Washington with the hope of learning about life on Mars?
...that the City of London Yeomanry was a regiment of the British Territorial Army which served at various times as a cavalry, infantry, artillery, anti-aircraft, and armoured unit, and now forms a squadron of the Royal Corps of Signals?
...that George Mason University basketball coach Jim Larranaga motivated his players in their 2006 NCAA regional final by telling them their opponents from the University of Connecticut didn't know what conference they were in?

30 March 2006

17:58, 30 March 2006 (UTC)

...that Rusumo Falls was a significant site during the 1994 Rwandan genocide as thousands of dead bodies flowed underneath the bridge while a simultaneous stream of refugees crossed over it, fleeing into Tanzania to escape the fighting?
...that Jan Andrzej Morsztyn, now recognized as one of the leading poets of Polish baroque, considered his career as a courtier much more important than that of a poet?
...that, before he was President of the United States, Herbert Hoover was married at the Royal Presidio Chapel in Monterey, California?
...that Perry Greeley Holden was the first professor of agronomy in the United States?

05:30, 30 March 2006 (UTC)

...that Amantaní, an island on Lake Titicaca, is also known as the "Island of the Kantuta", the national flower of Peru and Bolivia?
...that Jean Armand de Lestocq, a French physician, wielded immense influence on the foreign policy of Russia during the early reign of Empress Elizabeth?
...that when Jester Center was built in 1969, it was the largest dormitory in North America, the largest building in Austin, Texas, and the largest building project by the University of Texas at Austin?
...that the Lieven princely family claims descent from Caupo of Turaida, one of the first Livonians to convert to Christianity?
...that we know about Latin profanity from both graffiti at Pompeii, and from the poems of Martial, Catullus, and Horace?

29 March 2006

17:31, 29 March 2006 (UTC)

...that Repnin Sejm of 1767-68 in Poland was so named after the Russian Empire ambassador Nicholas Repnin, who coerced the Sejm (Polish parliament) into accepting his demands?
...that the recent Capitol Hill massacre is regarded as the worst mass-killing in Seattle since the 1983 Wah Mee Massacre?
...that the Golden Charter of Bern — the bull that made Berne, Switzerland, an Imperial Free City in 1218 — is now considered to have been forged decades later by the Bernese themselves to confirm the rights they had seized?
...that Adwaita, the reportedly 255-year-old Aldabra Giant Tortoise that recently died in Kolkata zoo, was a pet of Robert Clive, the Commander-in-Chief, India of British East India Company?

05:11, 29 March 2006 (UTC)

...that Cuicocha is a crater lake in the Ecuadorian Andes which was created by a massive Phreatic eruption in the 11th century BC?
...that Lantian Man, who was discovered in China in 1963, preceded Peking Man by several hundred thousand years?
...that The Impressions' 1967 single "We're a Winner", written by Curtis Mayfield, was a socially conscious song which became an anthem for the American Civil Rights movement?
...that ADMA, a chemical found in human blood, produces adverse effects that may lead to cardiovascular disease, diabetes and erectile dysfunction?

28 March 2006

08:00, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

Anna Lopukhina

...that Emperor Paul of Russia ordered the name of his mistress Anna Lopukhina to be given to warships and to be inscribed on the standards of his Leib Guard?
...that the seal emblazoned on the flag of Nashville, Tennessee displays a Native American holding a skull that is believed to be Oconostota, former leading Chief of the Cherokee Nation?
...that the Westfield Brandon is one of five shopping malls in the U.S. state of Florida managed by the Australian Westfield Group?
...that in an engagement on Lake Huron, a small British force captured two American gunboats in the summer of 1814?

27 March 2006

18:07, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

...that the arrano beltza, the black eagle flag of the Basque nationalist movement, derives from the seal used by Sancho III of Navarre a thousand years ago?
...that soil conservation was first practiced by the Phoenicians, and today it embraces disciplines such as hydrology, microbiology and soil chemistry research?
...that North Berwick Harbour was built in the 12th century as a ferry port for St. Andrews bound pilgrims, while Pagans believe "Satan himself" once worshipped on the Harbour's "Auld Kirk Green"?
...that while Aleksandra Pakhmutova composed pieces for the symphony orchestra and a ballet, her fame in the former Soviet Union rests primarily on 400 songs she composed back in the 1960s and 1970s?
...that Deneb is the only character to appear in all four of Quest's video games in the Ogre Battle series?

05:24, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

...that Natalia Goncharova, the wife of the poet Alexander Pushkin, was rumoured to have had a liaison with Nicholas I of Russia after the death of her husband?
...that in the 26 uses of the Page playoff system in championship curling tournaments, only once has a third- or fourth-placed team won the tournament?
...that Sarat Chandra Bose, the brother of Subhash Chandra Bose attempted to obtain independence for a united Bengal with Muslim leader Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy in 1947?
...that the Washington Hebrew Congregation is a Reform Jewish congregation in the District of Columbia that has operated continuously since its formation on April 25, 1852, by twenty-one members?
...that the long-running German TV show Aktenzeichen XY... ungelöst is the only German television format to have entered the United States, where it is produced by Fox as America's Most Wanted?

26 March 2006

07:25, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

...that Polish bishop Józef Andrzej Załuski, founded Załuski Library, one of the largest 18th century European libraries?
...that the Korzhenevskaya Peak in Tajikistan is one of the five "Snow Leopard Peaks" of the former Soviet Union?
...that an estimated 892 Edsel Bermuda station wagons were produced before the model was dropped after a single year of production?
...that famous Russian painter Ilya Repin contributed to the Russian connections in Australia by helping to create the Orthodox Church of Saint Vladimir on Robertson Road in Sydney?
...that Gessius Florus became the Roman procurator of Judea due to his wife's friendship with Emperor Nero's wife Poppaea?

25 March 2006

13:56, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

...that the Royal Navy operated a secret training and anti-submarine warfare base at Seacliff in Scotland during World War I?
...that Andrey the Elder, brother of Ivan III, sponsored the construction of the first stone edifices in his capital, Uglich?
...that Historic Jamestowne is a National Historic Site on Jamestown Island on the James River at Jamestown, Virginia operated by the Colonial National Historical Park of the U.S. National Park Service?
...that the Azerbaijani singer Muslim Magomayev, who sang with great success at La Scala and the Paris Olympia, was not allowed to pursue an international career by the Soviet Ministry of Culture?

24 March 2006

19:16, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

...that the Peruvian village Písac gets its name from a ruined Incan citadel which represents the wing of a partridge?
...that Marcos Daniel is the highest placed Brazilian tennis player on ATP's ranking despite not winning any official ATP tournament?
...that the 1859 McLane-Ocampo Treaty would have given the United States extensive free trade and transit rights across Mexico and the right of military intervention, in exchange for a $4 million loan to the Benito Juarez government then fighting a civil war, but was never ratified by Congress?
...that automated CPR machines such as AutoPulse are used to treat cardiac arrest in both humans and animals?
...that in the course of the Crimean War, the British and French Navies undertook three attempts to lay a siege to the town of Taganrog?
...that the official death date of the Soviet statesman Nikolai Bryukhanov (1878-1938) was changed to 1943 as part of Khruschev's policy to minimize the scope of the Great Purge by falsifying the dates of its victims' deaths?

03:33, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

...that the Chinese House in Potsdam was Frederick the Great's attempt to follow the contemporary Chinese fashion, which originated in France?
...that diamond magnate Woolf Barnato won the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times, and in 1930 won a race across France in his Bentley against Le Train Bleu?
...that the TV Land Awards have been awarded annually since 2003 by the TV Land network to reward classic television?
...that New Mexico's Carson National Forest, named after Kit Carson, contains Anasazi artifacts?
...that the global stratotype for the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary is a cliff at Fortune Head, southeastern Newfoundland?
...that Tom Stoppard's play Rough Crossing is a loose adaptation of Hungarian dramatist Ferenc Molnár's Play at the Castle?

23 March 2006

17:01, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

...that due to the legend which states that "as long as Davie Poplar doesn't fall, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will continue to prosper," the tree has been filled with cement?
...that the scarf worn by members of the Young Pioneers, the national youth organization of the Communist Party of China, corresponds to a triangle that is missing from one of its flags?
...that the Harold and Inge Marcus Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering of the Pennsylvania State University, founded in 1908, was the first industrial engineering department in the world?
...that the Boy Scouts of America 50-Miler Award, given to those who hike or paddle 50 or more miles, is designed to encourage personal fitness, self-reliance, and a practical understanding of conservation?
...that Marcel Boulestin, who appeared on the BBC's experimental television broadcasts in 1937 was the first television chef?

06:09, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

...that environmental noise health effects place millions of people at risk of hearing loss, cardiovascular disease or even abnormal fetal development?
...that the play Fifth of July by Lanford Wilson explores the disillusionment of former American anti-war activists in the wake of Vietnam and Watergate?
...that Surendranath Banerjea founded the Indian National Association, the first Indian political organization in British-ruled 19th-century India?
...that Langley Park makes Perth the only city in the world where aircraft can land in the central business district?
...that Commander Edwin Taylor Pollock became the first American governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands by beating the commander of the USS Olympia in a race to Saint Thomas?

22 March 2006

17:30, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

...that the White House Tee Ball Initiative was created by President George W. Bush to promote baseball and softball by allowing youth Tee Ball events on the grounds of the White House in 2001?
...that Prasoon Joshi, an award-winning advertising executive is also a lyricist for Bollywood movies?
...that the Vanessa Carlton song "A Thousand Miles" became popular amongst U.S. troops serving in the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, and was the most requested song on the radio station BFBS Middle East in April 2003?
...that only 6% of Pacific hurricanes make landfall on the United States, and that the state of Arizona is affected by a tropical cyclone only about once every five years?
...that Ludwig Fahrenkrog was a German artist who founded one of the first neopagan religious groups, the Germanic Faith-Community, in 1907?
...that Gideon Brecher (1797 - 1873) was a Jewish Austrian physician and writer who wrote what is most likely the first scholarly article on circumcision, Die Beschneidung der Israeliten, etc., in 1845?

08:29, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

...that Marie Palace (1839-44) was the last Neoclassical imperial palace to be constructed in Saint Petersburg, Russia?
...that some elements of the Jules Verne adventure story Two Years' Vacation are to be found in William Golding's Lord of the Flies, written 66 years later?
...that Satyajit Ray, the noted Indian film director, also wrote popular fiction, especially detective stories and science fiction in Bengali?
...that a cuttie-stool is the Lowland Scots name for a three legged stool that was thrown by Jenny Geddes at the Dean of St Giles High Kirk, in protest at the introduction of Anglican style prayer books in 1637?
...that Beekman Winthrop, the third American Governor of Puerto Rico, was a direct descendant of both John Winthrop, the first Governor of Massachusetts, and John Winthrop, the Younger, the first Governor of Connecticut?

21 March 2006

17:18, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

...that the French inventor Félix du Temple accomplished in 1874 a short flight with his steam-powered aircraft Monoplane, often considered the first manned powered flight in history?
...that Sillustani is a pre-Incan burial ground with burial towers known as chullpas?
...that when the British Army attacked the Agra Fort in 1803, a cannon ball fired by the artillery struck the Takht-i-Jahangir (throne of Jahangir), but only caused a superficial crack on one side?
...that Parlophone's "?" trademark, made famous on The Beatles UK records, is actually not the British pound sign, but a Germanic "L" for the Lindstrom in Carl Lindstrom Company?
...that though the territories of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth decreased from 1620s till its end, the number of its provincial governors kept increasing, as the offices of a lost province could not be dissolved?

03:23, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

...that Balchug island opposite Moscow Kremlin takes its name from the Tatar word for "marsh"?
...that Sanford N. McDonnell, the chairman emeritus of McDonnell Douglas Corporation, is also a past national president of the Boy Scouts of America?
...that most knights of the Middle Ages wore chausses as leg protection?
...that Tony Saunders was the first player selected in the expansion draft when Major League Baseball added teams in 1997?
...that Georgia’s capital Tbilisi functioned as the center of an Islamic emirate under the Arab rule from 736 to 1122?
...that historian Doane Robinson conceived of the idea of Mount Rushmore in order to attract greater tourism to South Dakota?

20 March 2006

17:10, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

...that Imbabura is an inactive stratovolcano in northern Ecuador which is revered in local folklore as a protective parent?
...that the Ronald Reagan Trail is a collection of highways in central Illinois that connect villages and cities that were of importance to former United States President Ronald Reagan?
...that in 1978, the nitrate-base film vaults of both the US National Archives and George Eastman House autoignited?
...that the Vietnamese "poet of love" Xuân Diệu wrote a poem about the love affair between the French poets Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine, fueling speculations that he himself was homosexual?
...that the Washoe Theater in Anaconda, Montana was the last Art Deco theater constructed in the United States?
...that Alonso Manso was the first bishop to arrive in the New World and also the first Inquisitor General of the Indies?

03:46, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

... that a 1906 football match between a team of youngsters from Kraków and the troupe of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show is one of the milestones in the history of football in Poland?
...that the history of Berne, the Swiss capital, begins not with her founding in 1191, but with the Helvetian oppidum Brenodor that Caesar conquered in the Gallic Wars?
...that Sir Henry Segrave's accomplishments inspired the Segrave Trophy, which is awarded to the British subject who accomplishes the most outstanding demonstration of the possibilities of transport by land, sea, air or water?
...that the boojum phenomenon in superfluidity physics is named after an imaginary monster in a poem by Lewis Carroll?

19 March 2006

10:00, 19 March 2006 (UTC)
...that in 1977, K. Leroy Irvis of Pennsylvania became the first Black American to serve as a speaker of the house in any state legislature in the United States?
...that The Falling Man is a photograph by Richard Drew depicting a man who had jumped from the World Trade Center during the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York?
...that the eminent Russian culinary writer William Pokhlebkin was in fact a notable expert in the history of diplomacy, but also the author of A History of Vodka, and that his name was thought to be a pen name?

07:59, 19 March 2006 (UTC)
...that Doe Lang, who performed on Broadway and appeared in TV soaps, also authored best-selling self-help books and is the president of an image consulting firm?

17 March 2006

18:02, 17 March 2006 (UTC)

...that Roadway air dispersion modeling was developed in the late 1960s and applied to two controversial major highway court cases in Virginia and New Jersey by 1971?
...that Edwin Maher was the first non-Chinese television journalist to be a news anchor on China's state-run China Central Television?
...that the plot of the award-winning Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Inner Light" is similar to that of the Japanese folktale The Dream of Akinosuke?
...that University of Texas at Austin professor Jonathan Sessler developed molecules called "texaphyrins," used to treat neoplastic and cardiovascular disease and named after their resemblance to the state flag of Texas?

11:48, 17 March 2006 (UTC)

...that Saint Stephen of Perm invented the Permian alphabet for the Komi people in order to facilitate their education and eventual conversion to Christianity?
...that a recent cricket match saw the record for highest team total for a single innings in One-day Internationals broken by both the teams, and has been called the greatest ODI match ever by much of the cricket media?
...that the prosauropod dinosaur Efraasia was misidentified at least four times before being recognized as a separate genus?
...that Hakeem Olajuwon was the last player to be named Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA men's basketball tournament while playing for a team that failed to win the title, earning the honor in the 1983 tournament?

04:56, 17 March 2006 (UTC)

...that while the gold ceiling mosaics that gave the basilica of San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro in Pavia its name are no longer present, it still contains tombs such as those of Saint Augustine mentioned by Dante in Il Paradiso?
...that the Daytona Beach Road Course was the site of fifteen world land speed records, and the course was instrumental in the formation of NASCAR?
...that the Battle of Krasny Bor was a World War II battle in which neutral Spain assisted Germany with an all volunteer infantry division?
...that Apple Computer's PowerBook 5300 got the nickname "HindenBook" after the Lithium ion batteries used in the original design were shown to burst into flames under certain circumstances?

16 March 2006

18:10, 16 March 2006 (UTC)

...that "The Grange" in Upper Manhattan was the only home ever owned by Alexander Hamilton, and that he died only two years after the Federal style house was completed in 1802?
...that the Great Rose Bowl Hoax was a 1961 prank by students at the California Institute of Technology that was broadcast by NBC to an estimated 30 million viewers in the United States?
...that cosmonauts such as Grigori Nelyubov, dismissed from the Soviet space program, were airbrushed out of official photographs, leading to early Cold War speculation of failed missions even when the actual reasons for dismissal were sometimes mundane?
...that during the Gothic War in the 4th century, the Goths killed a Roman Emperor, destroyed a Roman army and laid waste large tracts of the Roman Balkans?

06:51, 16 March 2006 (UTC)

...that the Ribbon of Saint George is worn in Russia on Victory Day as an act of commemoration of the Soviet victory in the Great Patriotic War?
...that the Wissenschaft des Judentums or "the scientific investigation of Judaism", was a 19th century movement by Jewish philosophers in Berlin premised on using scientific methods to analyze the origins of Jewish traditions?
...that a house was held to be haunted by poltergeists as a matter of law in the 1991 New York case Stambovsky v. Ackley, making the Nyack, New York house the only legally haunted house in the United States?
...that the British Rail flying saucer was an unbuilt nuclear fusion powered space craft, proposed and patented in the 1970s by British Rail?

15 March 2006

18:03, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

...that the ASTRA National Museum Complex includes 90 hectares of exhibits about Transylvania, but also includes objects such as an Ancient Egyptian mummy?
...that Norway's first regional theatre, the Hålogaland Teater, used to be housed in a disused margarine factory in the Arctic Circle town of Tromsø?
...that several Turkic nomads of the Kipchak clan settled in Georgia in 1118 and served in the Georgian military ranks for nearly two centuries?
...that Hurricane Felix in 1995 was a moderately powerful hurricane that, despite not making landfall, caused severe beach erosion and 8 deaths along the East Coast of the United States?

04:42, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

...that the Ascension Convent in the Moscow Kremlin, known as a traditional burial place of Muscovite tsarinas, was dismantled in 1929 to make room for the Red Commanders School?
...that folklorist Kathryn Tucker Windham's most famous book, 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey, is named after a ghost that Windham believed haunted her home?
...that William Burnet, Governor of New Jersey and New York, obtained his position of governorship by trading his job as comptroller of the customs with Robert Hunter?
...that over 5,000 Rosenwald Schools in the United States were built primarily for the education of African Americans with funds donated by Julius Rosenwald, who was part-owner of Sears, Roebuck and Company?

14 March 2006

08:26, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

... that the spangenhelm was the most popular war helmet in Europe and the Middle East during the early Middle Ages?
...that January 26th, which in 1950 became the Republic Day of India, was also the day of the promulgation of Purna Swaraj Declaration in 1930?
... that the Soviet ideologue and foreign minister Dmitri Shepilov denounced jazz and rock music as "wild cave-men orgies" and the "explosion of basic instincts and sexual urges"?
... that the name Japanese War Tuba was a name applied to the acoustic locators used by Japan during World War II?
... that Richard Ingoldesby, Governor of New Jersey, caused the defeat of a bill to raise 200 men for an invasion of Canada in order to remove the Quakers from all public offices in New Jersey?

13 March 2006

17:27, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

...that rumour had it that Hugh Owen Thomas, pioneer of British orthopaedic surgery, would attack people and break their bones in order to reset them?
...that the race movie, a genre of films produced for black audiences and featuring black casts, was very popular among African Americans in the United States between 1915 and 1945?
...that the aluminum smelting plant in Tursunzade is the largest aluminum manufacturing plant in Central Asia?
...that the oldest written constitution of a Greek city was discovered in an inscription at Dreros in Crete?
...that the Council of Nablus, held in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1120, established punishments for adultery, bigamy, homosexuality, and sexual relations with Muslims?

10:13, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

...that the Allies broke through the largest German entrenched position in World War One at the Battle of the Hindenburg Line?
...that the compound 4-ethylphenol, produced by the spoilage yeast Brettanomyces, can make wine smell like band-aids?
...that jazz singer Ilse Huizinga is known in the Netherlands as the First Lady of Jazz?
...that the Pickens County Courthouse in Carrollton, Alabama is famous for the ghostly image of a murdered man's face that can be seen in one of its windows?
...that the Afghan Church in Mumbai was built to commemorate the dead of the First Afghan War of 1838?
...that the Ancient Greeks credited Broteas, the ugly son of Tantalus, with an ancient rock-cut cliff-face carving of the Great Mother of the Gods in modern Turkey?

02:09, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

...that the Great Atlanta fire of 1917 destroyed 300 acres and nearly 2,000 buildings and was put out with help from fire engines as far away as Knoxville, Tennessee?
...that Jerry Reuss was one of a few players in Major League Baseball history to play in four different decades?
...that Super typhoon Nancy is one of the eight typhoons to receive a special name from the Japan Meteorological Agency?
...that the recently discovered deep-sea decapod Kiwa hirsuta was dubbed the yeti crab by its discoverers on account of its hairy appearance?
...that Matvei Muranov was one of the few Old Bolsheviks to survive the Great Purge?

10 March 2006

17:46, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

...that although the Park Theatre was considered the highest-class playhouse in New York, Edgar Allan Poe criticized it for being infested by rats?
...that Stephanie von Hohenlohe, a Jew, was a close friend of Hitler and according to a MI6 report, perhaps the only woman who could exercise influence on him?
...that the docu-drama The Road to Guantanamo, depicting the incarceration of three British detainees at Guantanamo Bay, is the first film to be released simultaneously in theatres, on DVD and on the Internet?
...that the early contact lens pioneer August Müller demonstrated his technique for grinding scleral lenses by correcting his own severe myopia?
...that Ramy Brooks, a competitor in the 1,049 mi 2006 Iditarod dog sled race across Alaska, is one of the few Native Alaskans competing in the event?

11:03, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

...that a steam-powered locomotive built specifically by the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad in 1893 for its Empire State Express passenger train was the first manmade object on wheels to exceed 100 miles-per-hour?
...that at its first years Kiev Zoo had to move its animals into the food storage of the main Kiev railway station for the winter?
...that an agent of the Malaysian Special Branch so successfully infiltrated the Malayan Communist Party that he was in turn ordered by them to infiltrate the Special Branch?
...that Tom Cousineau was drafted first overall in the 1979 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills, but never played a game with them?
...that Bonnybridge, forming part of the "Falkirk Triangle" in Scotland, is considered by many UFO enthusiasts to be world's number one UFO hotspot, with around 300 sightings every year?

03:40, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

...that in local gigantism, parts of a limb can take gigantic shapes, without affecting other parts of the body?
...that Bhulabhai Desai negotiated a secret power-sharing deal with Liaquat Ali Khan in 1945 that would have prevented the partition of India and the creation of Pakistan?
...that the Renaissance composer Cornelis Verdonck wrote the only known motet written to be performed on the back of an elephant?
...that while the female and male sexual organs of Congdon silktassel are on separate plants, it is the pendant male catkins that are more showy?
...that an Indo-Corinthian capital is a Buddhist adaption of the Greek Corinthian capital, often incorporating images of the Buddha?

9 March 2006

14:19, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

...that the Lübeck Cathedral collapsed during an Allied bomb raid in 1942 but was subsequently restored?
...that the German hip-hop crew Fünf Sterne Deluxe made their 1999 comeback with the single "Ja Ja..., deine Mudder", a German take on the dozens?
... that Stony Clove Notch, a pass in the Catskill Mountains, was once so narrow that it could only be traversed by people walking in single file?
...the Siege of Compiègne was Joan of Arc's final military action?
...that botanist Tomitaro Makino, despite dropping out of grammar school, named over 2500 plants and is known as the "Father of Japanese Botany"?

04:09, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

...that the Cossack Hetman and the later Muscovite voyevoda Petro Doroshenko signed a treaty with Sultan Mehmed IV recognizing the Cossack Hetmanate as a vassal of the Ottoman Empire?
...that until 1988, a woman could apply for and receive an Australian Passport in her future married name, before she was actually married?
...that the Italian scholar Girolamo Maggi wrote and illustrated two detailed treatises, from memory, while chained in a dungeon in Istanbul?
...that a fall of red rain in Kerala in 2001 might have contained microbes of extraterrestrial origin?
...that the Mexican actress Leticia Palma's dispute with Jorge Negrete led to the end of a career described as "one of the most interesting presences" of the cinema of Mexico?

8 March 2006

12:52, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

...that Klarälven, Sweden's longest river, was the last Swedish river where log driving was practiced, ending in 1991?
...that Hieronymus Bosch paintings helped inspire the Surrealist movement?
...that Blanton C. Winship, a veteran of Spanish-American War and World War I survived an assassination attempt while he was Governor of Puerto Rico in 1938?
...that Tran Duc Thao, a Vietnamese philosopher, attempted to reconcile Marxist philosophy's dialectical materialism with Husserlian phenomenology?
...that gastric lymphoma is the most common lymphoma affecting the gastrointestinal tract?

04:56, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

...that Peter Joseph Lenné's gardening academy in Potsdam was the first school to formally teach garden architecture?
...that Mustelus hacat is a species of smooth-hound shark discovered in 2003 in the Sea of Cortez, off the coast of Mexico?
...that the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas was formed in December 20, 1895, when the Missionary District of Northern Texas was granted diocesan status and that it now includes more than seventy parishes and schools in the diocese?
...that in Islam, Tahrif is the charge that Jewish and Christian holy books have been subject to change, alteration or forgery?

7 March 2006

15:40, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

Anna of Kashin

...that Anna of Kashin, a Russian medieval princess, was twice canonized as a holy protectress of women who suffer the loss of relatives?
...that Clarence L. "Biggie" Munn was Michigan State University's most successful football coach with a winning percentage of 85.7 over seven years, including a 28-game winning streak from October 14, 1950 through October 17, 1953?
...that the English Canal was a partially completed canal project started in 1864 that would connect the iron ore fields in northern Sweden with the Gulf of Bothnia?
...that The Exile, the first African American talking film, was a semi-autobiographical film about a Black rancher in South Dakota, with elements of interracial romance and some nightclub scenes set in Chicago?

03:20, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

...that Catherine the Great wrote several comedies and an opera libretto for the productions of the Hermitage Theatre in Saint Petersburg?
...that Jatin Das, an Indian freedom fighter, died after sixty three days of hunger strike demanding rights for prisoners and undertrials in Lahore jail in 1929?
...that The Observatory, a Singaporean space rock band released their first album packaged as a diary, complete with torn pages and paperclipped photos?
...that NKVD official Yakov Blumkin organised and personally took part in an expedition to find the Shambhala, a mystical kingdom hidden in the Himalayas?
...that the Sanssouci Picture Gallery is the oldest extant museum built for a German ruler?

6 March 2006

12:58, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

...that the Iberian Ribbed Newt's ability to keep live sperm in its cloaca for up to 5 months was a reason it was chosen to be flown into space?
...that Public Square in Cleveland, Ohio became lit with electric street lights as early as 1879 ?
...that Rough Castle Fort is the best preserved Roman fort along the Antonine Wall?
...that the S500 was the first production car from Honda?
...that the endangered subspecies California Clapper Rail, a chicken-sized bird that rarely flies, has chicks that can swim when they are just two hours old?
...that the 1934 jazz standard "Stars Fell on Alabama" was inspired by the Leonid meteor shower that was observed in Alabama a century earlier, in 1833?
...that S. R. Rao led the excavations of Dwaraka — the mythical city of Krishna submerged in the Arabian Sea?

00:47, 6 March 2006 (UTC)
...that Preparing for Emergencies was a British Home Office programme to increase public safety after several major disasters, including the Madrid bombings, SARS outbreak and UK foot and mouth crisis?

4 March 2006

00:25, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

...that Joseph McCoy was a 19th century cattle baron who is often cited as the inspiration for the phrase "The Real McCoy" because he made good on his pledge to Texas ranchers to get them a good price for their Longhorn cattle if they drove them from Texas to Kansas on the Chisholm Trail?

3 March 2006

20:21, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

...that in 1998, a study proposed to relocate Jordanhill railway station, a station currently located in Glasgow, Scotland near the Jordanhill Campus of the University of Strathclyde and the Jordanhill School that opened in 1887?

17:16, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

...that Italo Santelli is widely considered to be the "father of modern sabre fencing"?
...that the Reesor Siding 1963 Strike which left 3 people dead, was the deadliest confrontation in Canadian labour history?
...that Jarilo was a major Proto-Slavic deity of vegetation, fertility and spring, also associated with war and harvest?
...that the fleets of Gisulf II of Salerno sometimes turned to piracy against Amalfi and Pisa?

05:20, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

...that the Black slug is the only species of slug that when disturbed contracts into a hemispherical shape and starts rocking from side to side to confuse predators?
...that Bob Dylan's infamous performance of "Maggie's Farm" at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival was seen by his band's organist Al Kooper as "sort of a disaster"?
...that the Brazilian city of Corumbaíba was founded after a local rancher saw a white wolf, which, according to a legend, would give him good luck, and then built a chapel thanking his luck?
...that In re Debs was a 1895 Supreme Court case that resulted in an unanimous ruling affirming the right of the United States government to issue an injunction to halt strikes affecting interstate commerce and U.S. Mail?

2 March 2006

17:50, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

Gene Autry, a singing cowboy in films

...that the typical singing cowboys of early Western films were white hat wearing clean-shaven heroes with the habit of showing their emotions in song?
...that the Scintillant Hummingbird has bronze-green upperparts and a rufous and black-striped tail?
...that the postminimalist artist, Gabriel Orozco, once sliced a Citroën DS into three pieces length-wise, removed the central piece and then re-attached the two sides leading to an arrow-like automobile?
...that the Raj Bhavan in Kolkata - the seat of the Governor-General during the Raj - was built on the lines of Kedleston Hall,Derbyshire?
...that the first Navy Minister of Imperial Russia, Nikolay Mordvinov, started his career serving on English ships in America?

09:52, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

... that the Argo Merchant, a derelict oil tanker, ran aground only 25 miles off Nantucket Island in 1976, causing one of the largest oil spills in history?
...that through the rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated Usenet newsgroup, Babylon 5 creator and writer J. Michael Straczynski is often credited as being the first TV producer to directly engage with his fans on the internet, and have their comments impact the look and feel of his work?
... that the Soviet general Valentin Varennikov, one of the members of the State Emergency Committee which organized the Soviet coup attempt of 1991, was eventually acqutted by the Russian court and took a seat in the State Duma?
...that the National Resources Commission controlled 70% of Chinese industry in Republican China?

01:58, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

...that the Russian administrator Pavel Kiselyov was responsible for the creation of an important transport artery in Bucharest - a boulevard which now bears his name?
...that the Rosenbaum House is the only building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the U.S. state of Alabama?
...that the Ottawa rules are a set of guidelines for doctors to aid them in deciding if a patient with foot or ankle pain should be offered X-rays to diagnose a possible bone fracture?
...that each year in the U.S., several sites complete soil contamination clean-up by using microbes that eat up toxic chemicals in soil?

01:48, 2 March 2006 (UTC)
...that on January 21, 2006 Ilan Halimi, a French Jew, was kidnapped by a gang of Muslim immigrant youths and subsequently tortured to death, with the motive being either money or anti-Semitism?

1 March 2006

17:32, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

...that Vasyl Avramenko is often referred as "The father of the Ukrainian dance"?
...that the Women's Royal Australian Naval Service was a non-combat branch of the Royal Australian Navy that recruited women, in order to alleviate manpower shortages resulting from men being assigned to combat roles during World War II?
...that Szymon Konarski was a 19th-century Polish radical politician who believed in a revolution of all peoples of the Russian Empire that was to bring freedom and democracy to all?
...that the Athénée Palace hotel in Bucharest, Romania, now a Hilton, may have been Europe's most notorious den of spies in the years leading up to World War II, and only slightly less so during the Cold War?

03:47, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

...that dimethyl dicarbonate or DMDC is a colourless liquid with a sharp odour, which is used as a beverage preservative or sterilant?
...that Russia won the 1804-1813 Russo-Persian War, because of its superior technology, despite Persia upscaling its efforts at the end of the war, and declaring it a holy war?
...that the call of Mangrove Black Hawk is a distinctive piping spink-speenk-speenk-spink-spink-spink...?
...that national legislative elections will be held in Thailand on April 2, 2006, following the decision by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to dissolve the lower house of the Thai legislature, the House of Representatives?
...that Bill Ashdown is the only person to have played first-class cricket both before the First World War and after the Second World War?