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This is a record of material that was recently featured on the Main Page as part of Did you know (DYK). Recently created new articles, greatly expanded former stub articles and recently promoted good articles are eligible; you can submit them for consideration.

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Did you know...[edit]

30 April 2008

14:34, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

... that Runcorn Town Hall (pictured) was originally built as Halton Grange, a mansion for Thomas Johnson, a local soap and alkali manufacturer?
... that Palestinian nationalist poet Ibrahim Touqan wrote the poem Mawtini, which has been the national anthem of Iraq since 2003?
... that the Shell Quiz is the longest-running television programme in Thailand, being broadcast since 1965?
... that a Balzac comedy was inspired by an academic squabble over the claim that Spaniard Blasco de Garay built the first steam powered ship in 1543?
... that Kiev Governorate was one of the first eight other governorates of the Russian Empire?
... that a scandal arose when African-American actor Lorenzo Tucker, known as the "Black Valentino", playing a pimp in a play, kissed Mae West, playing a prostitute?
... that Pierre the penguin is the first bird to don a custom-made wetsuit?
... that a building fire destroyed the first designs for the South Australian National War Memorial?

08:11, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

... that American theater critic and historian T. Allston Brown (pictured) earned the title "Colonel" by riding on the back of a tightrope walker in a circus performance?
... that the endowment by Edmund Meyrick, a Welsh cleric and philanthropist who died in 1713, is still awarding scholarships to students at Jesus College, Oxford in England after nearly three centuries?
... that British author Bernard Newman, an authority on spies, gave more than 2,000 lectures throughout Europe during the Interbellum?
... that the February 4, 1998 Afghanistan earthquake, in which nearly 4,000 people were killed and 15,000 homes destroyed, was also felt at Tashkent and Dushanbe?
... that Kenyan public health advocate Miriam Were and British biomedical researcher Brian Greenwood are the inaugural laureates of the Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize?

02:12, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

...that after his climbing partner was killed in a fall, Jean-Christophe Lafaille survived a descent of the South Face of Annapurna (pictured) alone and with a broken arm?
...that the Thich Ca Phat Dai Buddhist temple in Vung Tau has a prominent lookout over the city?
...that George W. Woodbey was the sole African American delegate to the Socialist Party of America conventions in 1904 and 1908?
...that during hot greenhouse periods in Earth's history, the tropics appeared to be cooler than they are today?
...that Lieutenant-General Sir Maurice Johnston was made an Honorary Freeman of the Borough of Swindon in 2004?
...that the Capitol Center has been the tallest commercial building in Salem, Oregon, since its completion in 1926?
...that instead of voting to determine the site of a proposed hydroelectricity dam, tens of thousands of Tasmanians protested by writing "No Dams" on their ballot papers in the 1981 power referendum?
...that after unsuccessfully standing for the National Socialist German Workers Party in the 1925 German presidential election, Erich Ludendorff left the party to found the Tannenbergbund?

29 April 2008

17:33, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

...that Wilshire Boulevard Temple, with its landmark Byzantine dome (pictured), is the oldest Jewish synagogue in Los Angeles?
...that the government of Malaysia has been alleged to be behind Project IC, which involves the systematic granting of citizenship to hundreds of thousands of immigrants to alter the demographic and voting pattern in their favour?
...that priest Benjamin Pâquet was such a controversial figure in 19th-century Quebec that his possible nomination to bishopry was rejected for three different dioceses?
...that Detroit Tigers pitcher Denny Bautista is the second cousin of New York Mets pitcher Pedro Martínez?
...that Norwegian politician Helge Seip was succeeded by Helge Rognlien both as Minister of Local Government and Regional Development and later as leader of the Liberal Party?
...that veterinarian Martha Kostuch linked reproductive and immunological problems among cattle to sulphur dioxide emitted in the oil and gas industry in Alberta?
...that the Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize, for achievements in medical research and services to combat diseases in Africa, is named after a Japanese scientist whose portrait can be found on recent ¥1000 banknotes?
...that Ronald J. Rábago became the first Hispanic American to be promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral in the United States Coast Guard?

09:22, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

...that St. James' Episcopal Church (pictured) held the first U2charist in Wisconsin?
...that Sailor's Creek Battlefield State Park's Hillsman House still has bloodstains on its floor dating to its use as a hospital after the Battle of Sayler's Creek in April 1865?
...that the seeds of Trillium grandiflorum are dispersed by ants, who interpret the seeds as corpses?
...that Ringle Crouch Green, Sandhurst was the only five-sailed corn mill in Kent?
...that the first wife of Arizona Territorial Governor A.P.K. Safford printed notices accusing him of having venereal disease?
...that the Sembawang, discovered in 1909, is the only natural hot spring on the main island of Singapore?
...that the Camp Dump Strike in Omaha was Nebraska's first organized labor strike and the first to receive national attention?
...that the former Indian Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani famously promoted a Indo-Pakistani confederation, asserting that the partition was mutually harmful?
...that Johann Myburgh, a South African cricketer playing in New Zealand, broke Graeme Pollock's mark for the fastest first-class double century?
...that children are more vulnerable to pulmonary contusion because their chest walls are more flexible?

01:57, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

... that the Rhode Island state legislature met regularly at the Old Colony House (pictured) in Newport until 1900?
... that the National Courtesy Campaign was the first government campaign in Singapore to adopt a mascot?
... that after attempting to bribe a teammate to lose a game during the 1876 season, George Bechtel of the Louisville Grays became one of the first players banned for life from Major League Baseball?
... that Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Nancy Oliver considered leaving show business shortly before being offered her first full-time position writing for Six Feet Under?
... that merkhets were Ancient Egyptian timekeeping devices that tracked the movement of certain stars over the meridian in order to ascertain the time during the night, when sundials could not function?
... that after competing for many years on a world-class level in the 400 metres hurdles, German athlete Heike Meißner tried competing in the 800 metres?
... that Hollywood's Blessed Sacrament Church was the site of Bing Crosby's wedding and funerals for John Ford and Mack Sennett?
... that the Royal Air Force designed the rotabuggy as a combination autogyro/jeep?

28 April 2008

18:48, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

...that the bronze of Mary (pictured) atop Mary Star of the Sea, known as the "Fishermen's Church," is lit at night so she can be seen from the Port of Los Angeles harbor?
...that a recent report released by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has shown an increase in felony waivers by U.S. military recruiters?
...that young shoots of the ornamental Australian tree Alphitonia excelsa give off an odour of sarsaparilla when broken?
...that Canada's largest dry-bulk shipping company, The Fednav Group, has a fleet of over eighty ships?
...that construction of the stupa of Giac Lam Pagoda was halted for 18 years after the Fall of Saigon?
...that Kikuchi lines, formed in diffraction patterns by diffusely scattered electrons, are useful tools in electron microscopy of crystalline and nanocrystalline materials?
...that unlike other sampradayas in Hinduism, which insist that the clergy lead an ascetic's life, the clergy in most Rudra sampradaya sects are expected to marry and live a worldly life with their family?
...that Mary K. Shell, the first woman mayor of Bakersfield, California, chided NBC's Johnny Carson for his jokes about "beautiful downtown Bakersfield" and invited Carson to visit the city to see its improvements?

12:34, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

Tarot de Marseille

...that Florentine law required the commissioning of unflattering frescoes, pittura infamante (representation pictured), on the exterior of the Bargello, of those found in contempt of court for financial offenses?
...that anti-German and anti-Chinese sentiments have motivated two riots in the history of Calgary?
...that the World Bank says that investment commitments in Chile's water and sanitation sector reached US$ 5.7 billion in 1993–2005?
...that gallery owner Victoria Miro described Jake Chapman—now famous for art which includes explicit and distorted mannequins—as an "adorable" baby sitter?
...that hexachlorobutadiene, a colorless solvent commonly used for chlorine-containing compounds, is a potent herbicide, but this use has been discouraged because it is too toxic?
...that both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama refused to hand out street money, a political tactic common in Philadelphia, during the 2008 Pennsylvania primary?
...that Tuoba Gui, the prince of Northern Wei, crushed Later Yan forces at the Battle of Canhe Slope, leading to Later Yan's decline and Northern Wei's rise?
...that Julian Sturgis, the novelist, poet, librettist and lyricist, was the first American to play for the winning team in an English FA Cup Final in 1873?
...that environmental stress cracking accounts for around 15–30% of all plastic-component failures in service?

05:07, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

...that the Philadelphia Lazaretto (pictured) is the oldest surviving quarantine hospital in the United States?
...that Ukrainian poet Yevhen Hrebinka helped purchase fellow poet Taras Shevchenko's freedom from serfdom in 1838?
...that John Caldwell was originally given the name at birth of George Washington Caldwell because he was born on the Fourth of July?
...that the 1938 western Rawhide was baseball great Lou Gehrig's only feature film appearance?
...that the European Union is an example of a security community, in which war has become unthinkable?
...that the cost of building the base of the Great Mill, Sheerness was so great that the mill was left unfinished for over two years before being completed?
...that Australian cabaret singer, stage actor, dancer and comedienne Toni Lamond was nicknamed "Lolly-Legs Lamond" after being voted as having the second-best pair of legs in television while doing In Melbourne Tonight?
...that Sid Gillman is the only head coach in the San Diego Chargers to make it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame?

27 April 2008

23:04, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

...that McDonald's signs (pictured) once had only one golden arch?
...that the Greek musical group C:Real sang only in English before the arrival of lead vocalist Irini Douka in 2002, which led them to focus on Greek language songs?
...that Papa II, an Indian detention centre once infamous for reports of torture, is now the official residence of senior state politician Mehbooba Mufti?
...that the Confederate Monument of Glasgow, Kentucky honors Confederate soldiers of Glasgow and Barren County, Kentucky, who won more Southern Crosses of Honor than those from any other Kentucky county?
...that Hong Kong director Ann Hui's 1982 award-winning film Boat People depicting life in communist Vietnam was banned in Taiwan because it was filmed in communist China?
...that Swiss dissident Ami Perrin was the leader of the Libertine faction which rebelled against John Calvin's theocratic rule of Geneva in 1551?
...that Mark Twain's daughter Clara Clemens was saved from being dragged over a cliff by a horse by her future husband, the Russian-born concert pianist Ossip Gabrilowitsch?
...that it was at the urging of Pei Mian and Du Hongjian that Emperor Suzong of Tang China claimed the throne, despite the fact that his father Emperor Xuanzong was still alive?

16:30, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

...that the Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House (pictured) was renovated in different styles to depict the evolution of the oldest house in Newport, Rhode Island?
...that Kettle Falls, known to native peoples as Shonitkwu ("roaring or noisy waters"), lies silenced beneath the waters of Lake Roosevelt trapped behind the Grand Coulee Dam?
...that when the RAF's High Speed Flight won the Schneider Trophy in perpetuity in 1931, there were no other teams competing against them?
...that Josef Smrkovský boasted he had kept American units away from Prague in 1945, allowing the liberation of the city by the Red Army, and then in 1968 he and Dubček became the most popular politicians of the Prague Spring?
...that Igor Stravinsky agreed to compose the musical score for the ballet Circus Polka only under the condition that the elephants performing it be very young?
...that Cardinal Mahony petitioned Rome to name Padre Serra Church after Junipero Serra despite controversy over his treatment of California Indians?
...that William Glanville calculated the size of explosives required for Operation Chastise and was portrayed by Colin Tapley in the 1955 film The Dam Busters?

10:04, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

...that the distinctive pagodas created for Wadham's Oil and Grease Company of Milwaukee (pictured) are among the earliest examples of architecture used to forge a brand identity?
...that Sheesh Mahal ("Palace of Mirrors" in English) in Lahore Fort was originally decorated with frescoes that were later replaced with pietra dura and convex glass and mirror mosaic?
...that Martial van Schelle fought as an American soldier in World War I, but was executed as a Belgian citizen during World War II?
...that Allumette Island, the largest island in the Ottawa River, was once called One-Eyed Island because Algonquin chief Tessouat had only one eye?
...that mutations in the CNDP1 gene may cause carnosinemia, a rare metabolic disorder with diverse neurological problems, such as hypotonia, tremors and seizures, neuronal degeneration and mental retardation?
...that the John Coltrane Home is where the saxophonist composed many of his later works including the masterwork, A Love Supreme?
...that the first printing press in Sierra Leone was destroyed by the French before it could be used?

26 April 2008

23:25, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

...that the Long View Center (pictured) in Raleigh, North Carolina is used as a church, concert venue, office building, and art gallery?
...that Paul Auster's Leviathan is named after the biblical whale used by Thomas Hobbes as a metaphor for the State in his own book of that title?
...that from 1787 to 1793, American music printer John Aitken was the only publisher of sheet music in the United States?
...that the first ever tea in Russia was a gift from Mongolian ruler Altyn Khan to Tsar Michael I?
...that Ukrainian Nazis have been blamed for the 1944 Huta Pieniacka massacre of Polish civilians?
...that the National Library of Wales was established in Aberystwyth instead of the capital, Cardiff, partly because its founder regarded Cardiff as having "a non-Welsh population"?
...that Mahendralal Sarkar, an allopath-turned-homeopathic physician, was the founder of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, the first national science association of India?

15:51, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

...that Theodor von Holst was the first illustrator of Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein (illustration pictured)?
...that photographer Burt Glinn was at a New Year's Party when Fidel Castro took over Cuba, and he arrived at the scene before dawn?
...that mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton helped cricketers Gary Kirsten and Jacques Kallis overcome personal crises and helped Virender Sehwag stay focused as he scored 319 in the 2008 Chennai Test?
...that the healthcare system in France was ranked number one in the world by the World Health Organization in 1997 and 2000?
...that the San Ardo Oil Field is the 13th-largest oil field in California, and of the top twenty California oil fields in size, it is the most recent to be discovered?
...that Lower Mill, Woodchurch, a smock mill in Kent, is a Scheduled Ancient Monument?
...that Kaash was the last Hindi film in which Kishore Kumar did playback singing?
...that David Goodstein's book Out of Gas: The End of the Age of Oil rejected the notion that after peak oil alternative energy will be able to keep industry supplied?

09:35, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

...that the travel time of the sternwheeler Lytton (pictured) on the stretch of the Columbia River known as Little Dalles was six hours upriver, but less than seven minutes downriver?
...that Boston Red Sox pitcher Mike Nagy was selected as American League rookie pitcher of the year in 1969, but never pitched another full season due to injury?
...that Monk Estill, who was captured by the Wyandot prior to the Battle of Little Mountain and escaped during the battle, was the first slave to be freed in the state of Kentucky?
...that at one point during his chancellorship, Yang Guozhong simultaneously served in over 40 posts?
...that guests on the American PBS television series Soul! (1967–1971) included Stevie Wonder, African musician Hugh Masekela, and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan?
...that the 2008 film Forever the Moment is based on the real life story of South Korea's women's handball team which won silver at the 2004 Summer Olympics, and is also the first film to revolve around the sport of handball?

01:58, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

...that the Our Lady of Atonement Cathedral (pictured), consecrated in 1936, is the largest Catholic church building in Baguio City?
...that after losing to Tiger Woods in the 1994 U.S. Amateur Championship, amateur golfer Trip Kuehne pursued a career in finance in lieu of professional golf?
...that San Sebastian Church, the only all-steel church in Asia, is threatened by rust caused by the salty sea breeze from nearby Manila Bay?
...that Lt. John Weston Brooke, a veteran of the Second Boer War and an explorer with the East African Syndicate, was the first Englishman to gain an audience with the Dalai Lama, in 1906?
...that the first U.S. patent, numbered X000001, was issued to Samuel Hopkins on July 31, 1790 for "the making of pot ash and pearl ash"?
...that the inscription eulogising Kappe Arabhatta, a 7th century Chalukya warrior, records the earliest example of Kannada poetry metre Tripadi?
...that the court appointment of valet de chambre, nominally as a personal servant, was given to a wide range of artists, musicians, poets and others, including the first air crash fatality?

25 April 2008

19:22, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

...that Oregon's Boone Bridge (pictured) is named for Daniel Boone's grandson, who operated the first river crossing at that location?
...that Enfield Old Park contained 207 fallow deer in April 1620, of which 73 were antlered males?
...that Major League Baseball catcher Ellie Rodríguez caught the fourth of Nolan Ryan's seven career no-hitters?
...that William Godwin's philosophical work Political Justice (1793) argues that the existence of governments indicates that people are not yet ready to rely on their reason to regulate their conduct?
...that Davison's Mill, Stelling Minnis, was the last windmill in Kent working commercially by wind when it closed in the autumn of 1970?
...that the Tang Dynasty chancellor Chen Xilie first endeared himself to Emperor Xuanzong by explaining the Tao Te Ching and the I Ching to Emperor Xuanzong?
...that the Chigi vase is the earliest representation of the ancient Greek hoplite phalanx?
...that "4 Mots sur un piano", which deals with the theme of a romantic relationship between two men and one woman, was the fifth best-selling single of 2007 in France?
...that Kevin O'Brien, an Independent Baptist minister in Lubbock, Texas, was among the founders of the fundamentalist Heartland Baptist Bible College in Oklahoma City?

09:48, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

...that Kloster Wienhausen, a medieval convent in Germany (pictured), has the world's oldest surviving example of rivet eyeglasses?
...that sprinter Jaysuma Saidy Ndure holds both the Gambian and Norwegian records in both the 100 and 200 metres?
...that the Ellsworth Street Bridge in Albany, Oregon, was designed by Conde McCullough who was both a bridge engineer and an attorney?
...that Sarre Windmill was the first windmill in Kent to have a steam engine installed as auxiliary power?
...that at 15 years and 156 days, Albert Geldard became the youngest player to appear in The Football League in 1929?
...that Annie Armstrong, for whom the Southern Baptist Easter collection for domestic missions is named, resigned from the missionary organization she founded vowing never to serve the SBC again?
...that Magat Dam was at one time Southeast Asia's largest multipurpose dam?
...that in May 1899, less than 18 months after he led the Australian cricket team to an Ashes victory over England in 1897–08, Australian Test cricket captain Harry Trott was committed to a psychiatric hospital?
...that Platt Fields Park in Manchester, England, was used as a country park for over 400 years before being converted for public use in 1908–1910?

03:46, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

...that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow never lived in Minneapolis's Longfellow House (pictured), a two-thirds scale model of his house built by an admirer of his work?
...that certain flies such as the Cayman crab fly Drosophila endobranchia live solely in and on land crabs?
...that in the 2000 offseason Matt Lytle, a former American football quarterback, played for the Rhein Fire of NFL Europe who won World Bowl VIII?
...that the titular planet in the Doctor Who episode "Planet of the Ood" is in the same planetary system as the Sense-Sphere, the location for the 1964 serial The Sensorites?
...that during the Shuliavka workers' uprising of 1905, groups of 150 armed men patrolled the streets of the Shuliavka neighborhood in Kiev to clean the area of any resistors to their movement?
...that architect John Desmond was able to design the acclaimed Louisiana State University Student Union building in Baton Rouge so that it could be built without disturbing a canopy of stately oak trees?
...that Edgar Allan Poe's 1831 short story "Bon-Bon" features an amateur philosopher who meets a soul-eating devil?

24 April 2008

20:43, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

...that Halemaʻumaʻu crater (pictured) in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park erupted explosively on March 19 2008 for the first time since 1924?
...that Siegfried Kasche, the Third Reich's ambassador to Croatia from 1941 to 1945, was tried for "complicity in deportations and murders" by a Yugoslav court and executed in June 1947?
...that the first organochromium compound was described by German scientist Franz Hein in 1919?
...that American pioneer John Bowman, granduncle of Kentucky University founder John Bryan Bowman, presided over the first county court held in Kentucky?
...that Cryptosporidium hominis, an obligate parasite usually spread through fecal-contaminated drinking water, is responsible for a seasonal increase in cases of cryptosporidiosis in the Netherlands in autumn?
...that nineteenth-century Irish portrait painter Richard Rothwell is buried next to the Romantic poet John Keats in the Protestant cemetery in Rome?
...that as Kid Galahad, The Furze recorded "Stealin’ Beats" which featured on the PlayStation 2 game Dancing Stage MegaMix?

13:15, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

...that Annette E. Brown (pictured) was the first female commander of Navy Region Southeast of the United States Navy?
...that BY Draconis, a multi-star system in the constellation Draco, includes a binary star system with an orbital period of only 5.98 days?
...that the cultures of the Western Mexico shaft tomb tradition not only considered dogs to be soul guides for the dead, but a major source of protein as well?
...that despite Al Gore's efforts to appease Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. and Jesse Jackson, at the 2000 Democratic National Convention they agreed that endorsing Gore was like taking castor oil?
...that modern historians still debate on whether or not the Ming Dynasty of China had sovereignty over Tibet?
...that Lesotho is the only country in the world that lies entirely over 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) above mean sea level?
...that the recent Typhoon Neoguri was the earliest tropical cyclone on record to affect China?

04:29, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

...that St. Brendan's Church (pictured) has been a location for two apocalypse movies: the Martian attack in 1953's War of the Worlds and the wedding at the end of Armageddon?
...that Percy Hoskins was the only journalist working for a national British newspaper to defend suspected serial killer Dr. John Adams when he was arrested for murdering patients in 1956?
...that the Washington Irving sidewheeler, the biggest passenger-carrying riverboat ever built, sank after colliding with an oil barge in 1926?
...that legal experts consider the YouTube divorce video posted by British playwright Tricia Walsh-Smith be the first of its kind?
...that Eliza Tibbets planted the first two navel orange trees in California?
...that Filipe Nhussi, the current defence minister of Mozambique, was president of the top-division football club Clube Ferroviário de Nampula?
...that American diplomat Elbridge Durbrow was one of the 730 delegates who attended the Bretton Woods conference in July 1944?

23 April 2008

21:55, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

...that the Palace of Culture and Science (pictured) defining socialist realism in Poland, was designed in the Soviet Union and erected by 3500 Soviet workers brought into Warsaw in 1952–1955?
...that the inscription on King Ahiram's sarcophagus housed in the National Museum of Beirut is the earliest known example of alphabetical writing?
...that Carl Agar developed new techniques for flying helicopters by flying high in the Canadian Rockies?
...that the Saskatchewan Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure employs 1,476 employees diversified amongst 105 communities, maintaining 198,239 kilometres (123,180.0 mi) of roads and highways?
...that American photojournalist Daniel Smith was once kidnapped by members of the Mehdi Army and taken to meet Muqtada al-Sadr?
...that Po-on and the rest of the Rosales Saga novel series by F. Sionil José resemble the story-telling tradition found in the U.S.A. trilogy by John Dos Passos?
...that Lincoln's Lost Speech may have been so provocative that it was intentionally suppressed?
...that Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich, cousin of Nicholas II of Russia, was called "the terror of jealous husbands as well as of watchful mothers"?
...that the Winchester Bible, the largest surviving 12th-century English Bible, incorporated the skins of 250 calves?

12:33, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

...that the four main influential figures to Filipino women writers are Gabriela Silang, Leonor Rivera (pictured), Imelda Marcos and Corazon Aquino?
...that water privatization in Brazil began under Brazil's post-colonial Empire Pedro II of Brazil?
...that, although he wrote most of his work in Romanian, Romanian poet Panait Cerna is thought to have had a better grasp of his native Bulgarian?
...that founder Maria Weston Chapman was able to persuade Elizabeth Barrett Browning to submit anti-slavery poetry twice to the abolitionist fundraising gift book The Liberty Bell?
...that two US Presidents, Thomas Jefferson and William Henry Harrison, are responsible for the layout of the Old Jeffersonville Historic District?
...that when the YMCA of Berwick was incorporated in Pennsylvania in 1883, the majority of the organization's trustees were current executives of Jackson and Woodin Manufacturing Company?
...that Sir John Betjeman wrote of Joan Jackson (née Hunter Dunn) being "Furnish'd and burnish'd by Aldershot sun"?
...that Commodore Cruise Line was the first Florida-based company to operate week-long cruises around the year?

05:14, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

...that the village of Denshaw in Greater Manchester (pictured) achieved international notoriety when spoof information added to its Wikipedia entry was reported in national and international media?
...that in his first major league appearance, Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Jim Nelson struck out Willie Mays and got Willie McCovey to hit into a double play?
...that although spoken by less than 18,686 people, the Kulung language has eight dialects and covers the "Mahakulung" ethno-linguistic area?
...that Juan Garcia Abrego, in 1995, was the first drug trafficker to be listed on the FBI's Top Ten Most Wanted List?
...that in 2006 Austrian alpine style mountain climber Christian Stangl went up the northeast ridge route of Everest from Camp III (elev. 6,500 m) to the summit (elev. 8,848 m), alone and without an oxygen tank, in the record time of 16h 42min?
...that L. B. Henry of Pineville, overcame a missing forearm at birth to become a plumber-businessman and then a statewide figure in Louisiana parish government?
...that Wilf Hurd, a former member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly, resigned less than a year after being re-elected?

22 April 2008

23:00, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

...that Jamshedji Framji Madan (pictured) was a pioneer of Indian cinema, whose film production company Madan Theatres Limited once controlled half of British India's box office?
...that cyber law author and professor Jonathan Zittrain co-founded StopBadware.org to distribute the task of collecting data about malware to Internet users at large?
...that the Main Building of Peace College was first used as a Confederate military hospital and regional headquarters for the Freedmen's Bureau?
...that John Madden has most wins of any Oakland Raiders head coach?
...that despite winning the 1989 World Indoor Championships, West German 400 metres sprinter Helga Arendt failed to reach the final round at the European Championships one year later?
...that Stewart White has presented the regional BBC News programme Look East for 24 years?
...that Tori Amos got the melody for her song "1000 Oceans" from a "dark angel" singing to her in a dream?
...that at the height of its popularity, New York's Easter Parade drew crowds of over a million?
...that John Dick, the high scorer in the first-ever NCAA men's basketball championship, would later command the U.S. Navy supercarrier USS Saratoga?

15:02, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

...that Academy Award winner Going My Way was filmed at St. Monica's (pictured), and the irascible old Irish priest character was based on its pastor?
...that Lionel Monckton, the most popular musical theatre composer of the Edwardian period, after dropping into obscurity by the end of the 20th century, recently has had two albums of his music released?
...that over 25% of Brazil's electricity is generated by a hydroelectric plant at Itaipu on the Paraná River?
...that state senator Larry George sued Senate President Peter Courtney in an attempt to prevent an experimental session of the Oregon Legislature?
...that a Muslim fundamentalist beheaded a statue of the Virgin Mary at St. Augustine's and carted a statue of Father Serra to a nearby mosque in October 2001?
...that Vasyl Krychevsky, a Ukrainian artist, designed the state emblem of the National Republic at the request of Mykhailo Hrushevskyi?
...that Sheenboro, Quebec, started as a trading post on the Ottawa River and has retained its character as a "Little Corner of Ireland"?
...that John Percy Farrar recommended George Mallory for inclusion on the 1921 British Reconnaissance Expedition to Mount Everest?
...that the Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, founded in 1853, was edited for 68 years by the Lankester family?

07:22, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

...that Stonewall Jackson camped with his men at Carter Hall (pictured), and allowed his physician to perform a cataract operation on the owner, on the portico of the mansion?
...that the Tang Dynasty chancellor Li Linfu, because of his treachery, was described in Chinese idiom as having honey in his mouth and a sword in his belly?
...that Anglican archdeacon Kay Goldsworthy will be Australia's first woman bishop when she is consecrated on 22 May 2008?
...that in medieval Europe, a town clockkeeper would often be well-paid to monitor and regulate the town clock?
...that Charles Inglis, past-president of the Institution of Civil Engineers was expected to die during birth and was hurriedly baptised in his father's drawing room?
...that several songs from Michelle Williams's debut album, Heart to Yours, are tribute to the September 11, 2001 attacks?
...that villagers in the drought-prone Ranibandh area in West Bengal's Bankura district migrate to neighbouring districts in the harvesting season?
...that many of the lines for the Three Witches in Shakespeare's Macbeth are copied word for word from the 1577 work Holinshed's Chronicles?
...that Sha'arai Shomayim Cemetery was established by Alabama's first Jewish congregation and one of the oldest Reform Jewish congregations in the US?

01:13, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

...that the rare mushroom Hygrocybe aurantipes (pictured) was first collected in suburban Sydney's Lane Cove National Park and may be threatened by water pollution and weeds?
...that Omaha, Nebraska has a history of riots and civil unrest beginning just twenty years after the city was founded?
...that Johan Teterisa was recently sentenced to life in prison for waving the banned secessionist flag of the so-called Republic of the South Moluccas in front of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during a nonviolent protest?
...that a proposed strategic road link through Bangladesh and its capital Dhaka will reduce the travel distance between the Indian cities of Agartala and Kolkata from 1,700 kms to 400 kms?
...that Fritz Schilgen was the final torchbearer for the first Olympic torch relay at the 1936 Summer Games?
...that the Japanese manga series Soul Eater by Atsushi Okubo has been developed into an animated television series that plans to adopt the source material over fifty-one episodes?
...that the Iraq Veterans for Congress group includes the son of U.S. Congressman and former presidential candidate Duncan Hunter?
...that Mulaut Abattoir provides Islamic-sanctioned slaughtering facilities to local Bruneian farmers and butchers?
...that Oregon’s first Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries, O. P. Hoff, was in charge of the first minimum wage law in the U.S. that was enforceable?

21 April 2008

19:20, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

...that the Condemnations of 1277 at the University of Paris (pictured) are cited by historians as the birth of science, as they forced scholars to question Aristotle and think about the physical world in new ways?
...that Pullmantur Cruises is the largest Spain-based cruise line?
...that a diary attributed to Jose Enrique de la Peña claims that Davy Crockett surrendered at the Battle of the Alamo and was executed on the orders of General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna?
...that Hurricane Cosme in 2007 helped relieve a persistent drought in Hawaii?
...that Cognos Reportnet is compatible with multiple databases including Oracle, SAP, Teradata, Microsoft SQL server, and Sybase?
...that Secretary of War Robert Todd Lincoln sent the Secret Service and Pinkerton's detectives to find and capture convicted embezzler Capt. Henry W. Howgate?
...that Moti Masjid, built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, was turned into a gemstone repository during the Sikh rule of Punjab?
...that archbishop Joseph Signay cited the man's poor eyesight to delay Michel-Édouard Méthot's tonsuring?
...that while James Howard was Mayor of Bedford in 1864, he entertained Giuseppe Garibaldi, who planted a Giant Sequoia that was later struck by lightning?
...that the Rab battalion was a Yugoslav partisans unit of Jewish survivors of Rab concentration camp?
...that George Steiner's 1975 book on language and translation, After Babel, was the first comprehensive study of the subject?

12:32, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

...that Emmy Noether (pictured) was called "the most significant creative mathematical genius thus far produced since the higher education of women began" by Albert Einstein?
...that the Poughkeepsie Trust Company building has been described as the Hudson Valley's first modern skyscraper despite being only six stories high?
...that the Pontiac Pacific Junction Railway to Waltham, Quebec was completed in 1888, but not opened until 1894, stopped in 1959, and finally was removed in 1984?
...that despite being one of the strongest tropical cyclones to make landfall on Western Australia, Cyclone Glenda caused minimal damage and no deaths?
...that broken remains of three medieval high crosses were found in 1874 during the construction of Barnes Hospital in Cheadle, Greater Manchester, but the location of only one is known today?
...that the Delhi-Lahore Bus, a symbol of Indo-Pakistani friendship, continued running during the 1999 Kargil War?
...that actor Jason Beghe became best friends with John F. Kennedy, Jr. and David Duchovny when they attended Collegiate School in New York City?
...that Children At Risk, a Houston-based non-profit, publishes a biannual report, Growing Up In Houston, which tracks 130 Quality of Life Indicators?
...that the mine countermeasures ship USS Scout used her sonar to locate hazardous sunken debris off the Louisiana coast after Hurricane Katrina?
...that Chillenden Windmill was the last post mill built in Kent, replacing a mill that had blown down in 1868, and that it was itself blown down in 2003?

06:32, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

...that the gates (pictured) of Warrington Town Hall, Cheshire, erected in 1895, had been shown at the 1862 International Exhibition in London?
...that Reuben Gaylord, the recognized leader of missionary pioneers in Omaha City, Nebraska Territory, has been called the "father of Congregationalism in Nebraska"?
...that many gift books, decorative anthologies published annually just before the holidays to be given as gifts, featured popular authors of the day such as Dickens, Wordsworth and Poe?
...that Poughkeepsie's Market Street Row includes one of the oldest houses in the city?
...that the southern terminus of the first suburb-to-suburb commuter rail in the United States is Wilsonville Station in Oregon?
...that Richard Devlin, the majority leader of the Oregon State Senate, has faced Republican Bob Tiernan three times, in races for two offices?
...that despite being dominated by the military elite, the Guatemalan Institutional Democratic Party was ousted from power in 1978 by a military opposition?
...that film director Brett Simon taught film history, film theory and video production at the University of California, Berkeley while completing two degrees there?
...that the Nez Perce thought they gave nicer gifts to the Lewis and Clark Expedition than they received at a meeting in the Weippe Prairie in 1805?

00:31, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

...that St. Cyril of Jerusalem Church (pictured) was the site of the baptism of Clark Gable's son and the funeral of Mercury Seven astronaut "Gordo" Cooper?
...that John Lavarack was the first person born in Australia to be an Australian State Governor?
...that the exposed bedrock of the Duluth Complex was formed from magma emitted when the North American plate began to split apart in the Midcontinent Rift?
...that even though his predecessor was a Republican, Democrat Kurt Schrader faced no Republican opponent in his 2002 run for the Oregon State Senate?
...that police patrolled Incarnation Church during the 2000 funeral of a Hispanic youth killed by Armenian-Americans?
...that Booksfree is the first online book rental company in the U.S. to offer flat rate rental-by-mail to its customers?
...that Joe Shell, the conservative Republican who challenged Richard Nixon for the 1962 California governorship was a champion football halfback in 1939 and 1940?
...that Carl Hans Lody was the first German spy to be executed in the United Kingdom during World War I?

20 April 2008

15:18, 20 April 2008 (UTC)

...that Oldbury-on-the-Hill, part of Didmarton, has a 30-metre (98 ft) Bronze Age round barrow called Nan Tow's Tump (pictured)?
...that the Battle of Mataquito, part of the Arauco War, was lost by the Mapuche after disaffected local Indians betrayed their location to the Spanish?
...that the Wrawby Junction rail crash involved a locomotive supposedly renumbered after a psychic predicted a locomotive with the original number would be involved in a crash?
...that the Tang Chinese government of Emperor Xuanzong achieved considerable savings from reforms implemented by Chancellor Pei Yaoqing?
...that Old Catholic Cemetery was created for Roman Catholics after a yellow fever epidemic struck Mobile, Alabama in the 1830s?
...that before working as biomechanist to the Indian cricket team, Ian Frazer helped Australian cricketer Greg Chappell develop a patented cricket training program?
...that tourism in Zanzibar is the top income generator for the islands, out-earning the lucrative spice industry?

09:00, 20 April 2008 (UTC)

...that Rev. D'Ewes Coke (pictured), colliery owner and philanthropist, was descended from Dr. George Coke (pictured), Bishop of Hereford who was charged with high treason?
...that Helen Yglesias, best known for writing the 1981 novel Sweetsir, died one day before her 93rd birthday?
...that New Zealand cricketer and Test match captain Merv Wallace has been called "the most under-rated cricketer to have worn the silver fern"?
...that the Fifteen Guinea Special, one of the last British Rail steam services before the steam ban of 1968, was so called because of the high prices from popular demand for it?
...that East German sprinter Sabine Günther won three gold medals in 4 x 100 metres relay at three different European Championships?
...that rugby union footballer Farah Palmer captained the Black Ferns to three consecutive Women's Rugby World Cup titles?
...that Harlow Row was named for and designed by a former mayor of Poughkeepsie?
...that Maseru, the capital of Lesotho, was founded in 1869 as a police camp?
...that anti-conscription activist Ivan Toms served as the only physician for approximately 60,000 people in a Cape Flats shanty town during South Africa's Apartheid era?

02:21, 20 April 2008 (UTC)

...that the Battle of Palikao was a victory for the British and French forces during the Second Opium War which enabled them to take Beijing and defeat the Qing Empire?
...that the Hebron glass industry goes back to at least the thirteenth century?
...that current International Bobsleigh and Tobogganing Federation president Robert H. Storey survived a 1966 four-man bobsleigh crash that took the life of one teammate and severely injured another?
...that St. Finbar Church in Burbank, faced with a dwindling flock and changing demographics, was one of the first U.S. parishes to offer Spanish language Mass?
...that British international rally driver Tony Ambrose was given an MG sports car by his father for winning a scholarship to Jesus College, Oxford?
...that the Maitreyi Express was launched on Pohela Baisakh in 2008 to revive the railway link between India and Bangladesh that had been closed for 43 years?
...that like building a better mouse trap, there is still a challenge for inventors to produce a kinder and more gentle scallop dredge?

19 April 2008

19:32, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

...that Sans Pareil (pictured), one of five locomotives to compete in the 1829 Rainhill Trials, was later used on the Bolton and Leigh Railway?
...that A. V. Meiyappan produced India's first dubbed film, Harischandra, in 1944?
...that Cyclone Gamede in February 2007 was among the wettest tropical cyclones on record, dropping more than 5.5 metres (18 ft) of precipitation in a nine day period on Réunion island?
...that John Heisman, namesake of the Heisman Trophy, played for the Brown Bears before eventually transferring to the University of Pennsylvania?
...that the original specimen of the mauve splitting waxcap, a fungus from eastern Australia, found its way from Melbourne to Budapest but disappeared during the First World War?
...that there was an element of eroticism concerning death in Viking culture, and that the dead were often described as being received by a lady?
...that the world's largest factory trawler, the 144 metres (472 ft) long Atlantic Dawn, is able to process 350 tonnes of fish a day?
...that when St. Andrew's Church in Pasadena was built in the 1920s, it was compared to "a jeweled crown on the head of a Byzantine queen"?

13:08, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

...that the former Lady Washington Hose Company firehouse (pictured) in Poughkeepsie incorporates both Japanese and Gothic Revival elements in its design?
...that reputed 25-year-old gangster Nicodemo Scarfo, Jr. was the victim of a notorious mob hit by a gunman wearing a Batman mask on Halloween in 1989?
...that Kevin Reiman, a MLS footballer for Real Salt Lake, helped Maryland U. win an NCAA title, then transferred after their addition of Robbie Rogers?
...that the papal election, 1292–1294 was the last election of a pope which did not take the form of a conclave?
...that the Tang Chinese chancellor Zhang Jiuling offered a five-volume historical work that he authored as a birthday gift to Emperor Xuanzong?
...that neither the far right Lizard Union nor the communist Armia Ludowa, both parts of the Polish resistance in World War II, recognized the Polish Underground State?
...that having moved to South Africa to start his missionary work at age 22, Joseph Gérard died at age 83 in Lesotho without ever returning to his home country of France?

05:25, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

...that in 1998, an oil fire at the Lost Hills Oil Field (pictured) in Kern County, California burned for 14 days and was visible more than 40 miles (64 km) away?
...that Italian Jesuit priest Sabatino de Ursis moved to China in 1607 to assist Matteo Ricci in his astronomical research, and attempted to reform the Chinese calendar?
...that migrants from India form over 40% of the total population of the United Arab Emirates?
...that East German athlete Henry Lauterbach competed on an international level in both high jump and long jump?
...that the Hasbrouck House is an unusually large Romanesque Revival dwelling for a city the size of Poughkeepsie?
...that future ice hockey stars Brett Hull and Dominik Hašek participated in the Calgary Cup, a preview event for the 1988 Winter Olympics?
...that screenwriter Tim Calpin says he picked up most of his writing experience from the television series South Park, despite never being part of the writing staff?
...that Egypt had an active national cricket team before World War II, but only one player was a native Egyptian?

18 April 2008

17:58, 18 April 2008 (UTC)

The church of St Mark in Vrba

...that St Mark's Church (pictured) in the small village of Vrba was mentioned in a sonnet by the Slovene national poet?
...that English cricketer Roger Davis was once struck so hard on the head by a ball that his heart and breathing stopped, and he had to be revived by a doctor from the crowd?
...that Jean Follain was a corporate lawyer, magistrate and award-winning author and poet who wrote the poem "Death of the Ferret"?
...that "The Fires of Pompeii" is the first Doctor Who episode since the television show's revival where the cast filmed abroad?
...that AT&T engineer Otto Zobel helped to establish that electronic noise cannot be completely eliminated from radio and cable transmissions?
...that Louis XIV of France employed a native Chinese librarian, Arcadio Huang, to organize the royal library's collection of Chinese books?
...that coal mining in Nigeria, for which the Nigerian Coal Corporation had a monopoly until 1999, peaked in the 1950s, then suffered from the use of oil and the Nigerian Civil War afterwards?
...that Thomas R. Kimball gutted the central part of the Burlington Headquarters Building in Omaha to make it resemble the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad headquarters in Chicago?

11:20, 18 April 2008 (UTC)

...that a pit crater (example pictured), unlike an impact crater, is formed by the ground sinking over a void such as an emptied magma chamber or caldera?
...that when Gui de Cavalhon besieged Castelnaudary in the fall of 1220 he requested assistance from friend and fellow troubadour, Bertran Folcon d'Avignon, in a poem?
...that river miles measure distances along a river from its mouth and are used to reference locations and to name islands?
...that the Rev. Teddy Boston was immortalized as "the Fat Clergyman" in The Railway Series of children's books by the Rev. W. V. Awdry?
...that Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino was the largest naval shipbuilding firm of the Austro-Hungarian Empire?
...that although Norman Rockwell felt Freedom of Speech and Freedom to Worship were the most successful of his Four Freedoms painting series, Freedom from Want has had the most enduring success?
...that Muhamed, a German horse, seemed to extract cube roots and tap out the answer with his hooves?
...that in 1933, Ed Walsh (Jr.), son of Hall of Famer Ed Walsh, stopped Joe DiMaggio's minor league record 61 game hitting streak?
...that the headquarters for Crater Lake National Park are in the Munson Valley Historic District near the summit of the Cascades where average annual snowfall is 533 inches (1,354 cm)?

04:17, 18 April 2008 (UTC)

...that the O. H. Booth Hose Company (pictured) in Poughkeepsie was named after the fire chief who formed it after a previous company of volunteer firefighters quit because they were jealous of other companies' facilities?
...that mutations in the FLNB gene cause boomerang dysplasia, a lethal congenital disorder in which the limbs' long bones malform into the shape of a boomerang?
...that incendiary ammunition may be used against tanks, as it can penetrate armor and spread phosphorus through the compartment, burning the crew and depleting their oxygen?
...that filming on The Office episode "Dinner Party" was interrupted for over four months due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike?
...that the 1943 Greater East Asia Conference praised Pan-Asianism and condemned Western colonialism but did not produce plans for the region's development?
...that George Francis Train promoted Columbus, Nebraska as "the new center of the Union and quite probably the future capital of the U.S.A." in order to sell Credit Foncier land there?
...that in the 1830s, anticipating construction of the Long Island Rail Road, land developer Ambrose George purchased a large tract of land between Bethpage and Hardscrabble in Suffolk County?

17 April 2008

22:18, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

...that a painting by Antoine-Jean Gros (pictured) shows Napoleon Bonaparte touching the armpit of a plague victim in Jaffa?
...that, besides smuggling and distributing Colombian cocaine and Mexican and Southeast Asian heroin, Sinaloa Cartel produces its own opium and marijuana?
...that the 2008 Hillsong United album The I Heart Revolution: With Hearts as One was released as a USB flash drive containing the MP3 files of the songs, embedded into a rubber wristband?
...that Which Moped with Chrome-plated Handlebars at the Back of the Yard?, a comedic novella by Georges Perec, has an index of rhetorical devices used, including anadiplosis and metalepsis?
...that Spanish artifacts excavated at Citico, Tennessee suggest that the historic Native American site may have been the village of "Satapo" visited by the Juan Pardo expedition in 1567?
...that the automated tank cleaning machine used to clean oil tankers after discharging cargo was patented by Arthur Butterworth in 1920?
...that lumpenbourgeoisie, a neologism formed from lumpenproletariat and bourgeoisie, is used to describe colonial and neocolonial elites in Latin America?

13:37, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

...that Hawaii's Chain of Craters Road has been blocked repeatedly by lava flows from Kīlauea volcano (pictured) since it was built in 1928?
...that Hemerdon Mine in Devon, England is one of the world's largest sources of tungsten and tin, but has not been mined since World War II?
...that Camling is an ancient and endangered Kiranti language, spoken by only about 10,000 people in eastern Nepal, Bhutan and India?
...that the polska—the Swedish word for Polish—is the signature music and dance form in Swedish folk music?
...that Jewish screenwriter Barry Levy has taught Hebrew at Temple Israel California in between writing jobs?
...that My Brother, My Executioner, a 1970s novel by F. Sionil José, is a narrative about two half-brothers with opposing Filipino ideologies?
...that Frank Morse once outsourced the research for a speech on globalization to a company in India?
...that the British colonials employed Indian agents called gomasthas to obtain goods from local weavers and fix their prices?
...that American actor Vincent Piazza was coached for a Puerto Rican accent by a woman who usually did the opposite?
...that in 1582 Ursula Kemp confessed to using familiar spirits to kill her neighbours and was later hanged for witchcraft?
...that on a 1922 expedition to Everest, Howard Somervell entertained fellow climbers by reading Shakespeare in the tents?

06:49, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

...that objects found in 1939 in the ship burial at Sutton Hoo (helmet pictured) were not a treasure trove as their owners intended to bury them permanently?
...that Quirinus Kuhlmann, a German poet who called himself "son of the Son of God", was denounced as theologically and politically dangerous, and burnt at the stake for heresy in Moscow in 1689?
...that the Militia of the Faith of Jesus Christ was founded to defend the lands of Amaury de Montfort, leader of the Albigensian Crusade?
...that the Tang Dynasty chancellor Yuwen Rong was known in traditional history to have served for 100 days—even though he only served 99 days?
...that before the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League adopted its current name, they had already won two Stanley Cups by defeating the Vancouver Millionaires in 1918 and in 1922?
...that the Palace Hotel in Perth, Western Australia was described at its opening as "one of the most beautiful and elegant hotels in Australasia"?
...that Palwankar Shivram, brother of the Dalit cricketers Baloo and Vithal, was a spin bowling all-rounder who represented the All-India cricket team that toured England in 1911?
...that the pastor of Burbank's St. Bellarmine Church was a World War I chaplain who modeled the campus on Monticello and Independence Hall?

00:47, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

...that mineralogist George Switzer persuaded Harry Winston to donate the Hope Diamond (pictured) to the Smithsonian Institution, establishing the National Museum of Natural History's gem and mineral collection?
...that Douglas Hadow slipped on the descent after the first ascent of the Matterhorn, dragging Lord Francis Douglas, Charles Hudson and Michel Croz to their deaths?
...that some species of Vireo, a genus of passerines, bind their nests with spider silk and ornament them with spider eggs?
...that Hugh Daily, a pitcher with only one arm, once struck out 19 batters in a Major League Baseball game?
...that Bob Kames was given his stage name when an announcer on Armed Forces Radio could not pronounce his real name?
...that Section 171 of the Criminal Code of Cyprus, which prohibited homosexual acts between men, was repealed just eight days before a May 29, 1998 deadline set by the Council of Europe?
...that the Order of the Faith and Peace, founded by the Archbishop of Auch c. 1230 for the defence of the peace in Gascony, was patronised by Gaston VII of Béarn?

16 April 2008

18:19, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

...that the portrait by Pontormo of Maria Salviati with the young Giulia de' Medici (pictured) is one of the first portraits in Europe of a child with presumed African and European ancestry?
...that the sound of fingernails scraping chalkboard may not be the world's most unpleasant sound?
...that the palm tree Ptychococcus lepidotus is used in the New Guinea highlands to make bows and arrows?
...that medieval Perpendicular Gothic Somerset Towers typically feature pinnacles, lacy tracery windows and bell openings, gargoyles, arches, buttresses, merlons, and external stair turrets?
...that the American mathematician Anna Johnson Pell Wheeler married a former professor, who was actually a Russian double agent named Sergei Degaev?
...that David Powel compiled and published the first printed history of Wales in 1584, which popularized the legend that Prince Madoc discovered America in about 1170?
...that Hero of the Soviet Union Ivan Sidorenko, a World War II Soviet sniper, destroyed a tank and three tractors, in addition to killing five hundred Wehrmacht soldiers?
...that the Omaha and Council Bluffs Railway and Bridge Company was among the earliest and the last major electric streetcar systems in the United States?

11:41, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

...that the entrance to Neptune's Grotto (pictured) in Sardinia lies only around a meter (3 ft) above the sea, so the cave can only be visited when the waters are calm?
...that Fred Walker boosted sales of his new spread Vegemite, now an Australian cultural icon, by giving away free jars?
...that only about 10% of Brazil's water resources is located in the southeast, the agricultural and industrial heartland of the country, where 73% of the population lives?
...that revolution in the Kingdom of Poland, part of the Russian Revolution, included a three-year-long school strike against the russification of the Polish educational system?
...that nationalists seek a Greater Nepal that extends into Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Sikkim in India?
...that Rondel was the first racing team founded by current McLaren chairman and CEO Ron Dennis?
...that British politician Jock Stallard was expelled from the Labour Party in the 1950s for flying the red flag from St Pancras town hall, but later served as a Labour MP and life peer?
...that Ermita are all namesakes for a character, a place, and a novel by Filipino author F. Sionil José?
...that the asymmetrical monoplane BV 141 is one of many military aircraft designed by Richard Vogt?

03:57, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

...that while Peover Hall in Cheshire, England (pictured), is a Grade II* listed building, its stable block is listed Grade I because of its elaborate internal architecture?
...that Max Weber argued that the increasing rationalization of human life traps individuals in an "iron cage" of rule-based, rational control?
...that Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha'nish, founder of the Mazdaznan religion, claimed to have been sent as a child to a secret society of Zarathustrians?
...that Royal Brunei Catering, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Royal Brunei Airlines, was named as Best Regional Caterer 1995/1996 by Singapore Airlines?
...that Pei Guangting, a chancellor of the Tang Dynasty, traced his ancestry to officials serving several dynasties, including the Han Dynasty?
...that Abraham Esau was the head of the physics section of the Reich Research Council, Nazi Germany's centralized planning institution for almost all basic and applied research?
...that although the 1996 Tropical Storm Arthur made landfall in North Carolina, total damage amounted to only $1 million?
...that former Anglican clergyman and Liberal Party life peer Tim Beaumont was the only Green Party representative in the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1999 until his death in 2008?

15 April 2008

21:31, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

...that Agnolo Bronzino's 1542 painting of Bia de' Medici (pictured) was painted from the girl's death mask?
...that Alojzy Ehrlich ate rolls and a Polish sausage while playing a table tennis match in which neither he nor his opponent scored for over an hour?
...that rumors of the beating of a teenage shoplifter set off a race riot in 1935 in Harlem, New York?
...that despite the recorded influence of American Sign Language, Filipino Sign Language has a history that can be traced from the works of European missionaries in the Philippines as early as the 1600s?
...that William Whitaker introduced orange groves to Florida?
...that besides being the first president of the International Luge Federation, Bert Isatitsch was also a special education teacher?
...that Palwankar Vithal became the first Dalit cricketer to captain the Hindus team in the Bombay Quadrangular cricket competition, a milestone in the Hindu society's struggle against caste discrimination?

15:25, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

...that at age 23, Johanne Schmidt-Nielsen (pictured) was the youngest Danish politician ever to participate in a nationally televised debate for party leaders?
...that Lualhati Bautista’s Tagalog novel, Bata, Bata… Pa’no Ka Ginawa? became a film starring Vilma Santos, an actress turned first female governor of Batangas of the Philippines?
...that Gilbert Patten, the author of the Frank Merriwell dime novels, managed a semi-professional baseball team in Camden, Maine during the 1890–1891 season?
...that although it is used in aquaculture, there are only two known cases of Palometa being traded as aquarium fish over a five-year period?
...that George Rea was the first paid president of the "New York Curb Exchange," now known as the American Stock Exchange?
...that Ingmar Bergman's film The Virgin Spring is based on the medieval Swedish ballad "Töres dotter i Wänge"?
...that pioneer Omaha physician George L. Miller served as president of the Nebraska State Historical Society after being labeled a "raving maniac" by the press?

09:25, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

...that the former Farmer's and Manufacturer's Bank (pictured) is the only commercial Greek Revival building in Poughkeepsie?
...that Su Huan-chih is the second member of the Democratic Progressive Party to ever hold the position as Tainan County magistrate?
...that although the damages by Hurricane Dennis in Mississippi in 2002 were mostly minor, 41 counties in the state were declared federal disaster areas?
...that a subsidiary of Royal Brunei Airlines operates restaurants in Brunei including two halal Chinese restaurants?
...that in order to cut costs, Olau Line re-flagged their cruiseferry Olau Hollandia to Luxembourg in January 1993, but were forced to revert the ship to German flag only a month later?
...that Ronnie Thompson, the first Republican to have served as mayor of Macon, Georgia in the 20th century, also had a career as a singer of gospel and country music?
...that Brad Avakian, Oregon's recently appointed Labor Commissioner, previously worked as a civil rights attorney, and was honored by two unions during his time in the Oregon Legislative Assembly?

00:13, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

...that exhibits at the Bailey House Museum on Maui include a 33 feet (10 m) fishing boat, a collection of snail shells, a unique wooden statue of a Hawaiian demi-god, and 19th century Maui landscapes (pictured)?
...that although the Czech Republic village of Blevice has a Jewish cemetery it has no matching community?
...that František Kriegel was the only political leader of Czechoslovakia deported to Moscow in 1968 who refused to sign the Moscow Protocol dictated by Brezhnev?
...that Fabian de la Rosa was not only mentor to the Filipino painters Fernando and Pablo Amorsolo, but a leading painter in his own right?
...that the chief purpose of the military order the Militia of Jesus Christ was to combat heresy?
...that the Norwegian black/death metal band Cor Scorpii cites inspiration from classical composers such as Prokofiev, Grieg, Rachmaninov, and Satie?
...that the SS Blairspey was hit by at least three torpedoes from two different U-boats, but still managed to reach port because her cargo of timber kept her afloat?

14 April 2008

17:55, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

...that the Decker building (pictured), an 1892 Moorish-influenced design, is where Andy Warhol had his Factory from 1967 to 1973, and was shot in 1968?
...that Opération 14 juillet, a French mission to rescue Ingrid Betancourt from FARC guerrillas, was launched without the knowledge of the French president?
...that Gregory XV was acclaimed as the new pope in the papal conclave of 1621 even though Cardinal Robert Bellarmine had received the most votes in the ballot?
...that Levi Todd, the grandfather of Mary Todd Lincoln, wrote the first and last contemporary accounts of the Battle of Blue Licks, one of the last battles of the American Revolutionary War?
...that only two days before Payment on Demand was scheduled to open at Radio City Music Hall, RKO executive Howard Hughes called the director and the two leads into the studio to film a new ending?
...that the Draco Dwarf spheroidal galaxy is one of the faintest companions of the Milky Way and the most dark matter dominated object known?

11:56, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

...that the Luckey, Platt & Company Department Store (pictured) in Poughkeepsie once claimed it had 2 miles (3.2 km) of counter space?
...that the Church of Scientology purchased Castle Kyalami, formerly a tourist attraction near Johannesburg, to serve as an advanced Scientology spiritual retreat in South Africa?
...that Theodorus van Capellen was appointed a vice-admiral in the Dutch navy in 1814 even though he had previously been cashiered and sentenced to banishment for life for his role in a mutiny?
...that the medieval Swedish ballad "Stolt Herr Alf" contains an unusual name for the Norse god Odin?
...that the Pentecostal Union of Romania has experienced rapid growth in recent years due to conversions and high birthrates, with some families having up to 18 children?
...that 17th-century actress Julia Glover was sold in marriage by her father for £1,000?
...that Heitsi-eibib is a life-death-rebirth figure in the Khoikhoi mythology and as a result, his funeral cairns can be found in many locations in southern Africa?

04:23, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

...that local legends say that a white witch lives in Mother Ludlam's Cave (pictured) near Waverley Abbey in Surrey, South East England?
...that after Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms were published in the Saturday Evening Post, 25 million people bought posters of them?
...that Haraprasad Shastri discovered the Charyapada, poems written in the earliest-known precursor to the Indo-Aryan languages?
...that Polish war correspondent Melchior Wańkowicz was charged with "slandering the People's Republic of Poland", for criticizing the state in a private letter?
...that Unabomber for President was a 1996 write-in campaign to elect Theodore Kaczynski as President of the United States?
...that two people, including a 15-year-old boy, were killed during the 2008 Egyptian general strike?
...that the brother of Australian rugby player Dean Mumm was assistant coach to the Fijian rugby team, whilst their grandfather played for the All Blacks?

13 April 2008

22:01, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

...that Paul Salamunovich, choir director since 1949 at St. Charles Borromeo Church (pictured) in North Hollywood, has also conducted choirs for dozens of feature films, including The Devil's Advocate?
...that a novel human polyomavirus is associated with Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare and highly aggressive form of skin cancer?
...that Thaba Bosigo, a Basotho stronghold in Lesotho, was the only fortress to remain impregnable during the Free State–Basotho Wars?
...that political opponents of Kentucky governor Thomas Metcalfe nicknamed him "Old Stone Hammer" because they felt his previous work as a stonemason was a background unbecoming a governor?
...that the SS Assyrian started life as a German merchant ship in the First World War and ended it as British merchant in the Second World War?
...that despite being called the "Aladdin's Castle of George Francis Train," the Cozzens House Hotel in Omaha operated for only four years before sitting empty for several more?
...that 39% of Israeli schoolchildren watch the educational television program Bli Sodot in their classroom?

14:06, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

...that the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Quail (pictured) was mined in November 1943, but did not sink until May 1944?
...that the Adipose in the Doctor Who episode "Partners in Crime" were based on a stuffed toy that writer Russell T Davies owned?
...that the Ligonier Valley Railroad's reliance on verbal orders resulted in a head-on collision between a freight train and a train carrying partygoers?
...that Jessie Vasey was helping Australian war widows before she became one herself when her husband, George, died in an air crash?
...that the Samnite gladiator type likely went out of fashion in Ancient Rome when the people of Samnium, whom it was intended to mock, became assimilated into the Roman Empire?
...that Irish computer programmer Gavin Walsh owns the world's largest collection of Sex Pistols records and memorabilia?
...that the use of multiple strains of rhizobacteria as composite microbial inoculants has been shown to benefit the cultivation of crops such as rice and barley?
...that the Birhor people are a tribal forest people, traditionally nomadic, living primarily in the Indian state of Jharkhand?

05:12, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

Monte Testaccio in the 19th century

...that Monte Testaccio (pictured) in Rome is an artificial hill, 35 m (115 ft) high and 1 km (3,300 ft) in circumference, consisting entirely of the fragments of 53 million ancient Roman amphorae?
...that the Blank family, the maternal ancestors of Vladimir Lenin, were relatives to Nazi field marshal Walter Model, archeologist Ernst Curtius, and President of Germany Richard von Weizsäcker?
...that Charles Starr and Bruce Starr were the first father and son to serve at the same time in the Oregon State Senate?
...that William Thomas Havard, who was bishop of two Welsh dioceses (St Asaph, then St David's), once represented Wales in an international rugby union match?
...that, with an estimated 308,000 members as of 2005, the Bahá'í community in Kenya constitutes 1% of the country's population?
...that Naats'ihch'oh National Park Reserve takes its name from a Dene phrase meaning "stands like a porcupine"?
...that despite peaking at 38 in the UK Albums Chart, seven-year-old child singer Connie Talbot's debut album Over the Rainbow was rated gold in Britain shortly after its release?

12 April 2008

22:43, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

...that yearly whale counts of the endangered Humpback Whale (pictured) in the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary show their numbers are increasing by 7% per year?
...that the Spanish-introduced limestone house of the Ivatans was designed to withstand typhoons?
...that English printer Thomas Adams published John Dowland's The Third and Last Booke of Songes or Aires out of his shop in St. Paul's Churchyard?
...that the Mill Mountain Zoo is host to three endangered species: the Red Panda, Snow Leopard and White-naped Crane?
...that Black Grace, an internationally-touring New Zealand contemporary-dance company, melds Maori and Pacific Islander indigenous dance with modern dance and hip hop?
...that "the light arises in the East", an apparently pro-Soviet slogan coined by Romanian writer Mihail Sadoveanu in 1945, is seen by some as a coded warning to his fellow Freemasons about communization?
...that the discovery of Lazarussuchus showed that choristoderes, a type of aquatic reptile, had not gone extinct in the Eocene, but persisted for millions of years after?

15:40, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

...that Rear Admiral Ralph Christie (pictured) of the U.S. Navy was so incensed by the decision not to award Samuel Dealey the Medal of Honor, he sent a blunt message to Thomas Kinkaid that some viewed as bordering on insubordination?
...that in 1989, the Popular Front of Moldova was initially backed by a range of ethnic groups, but quickly lost support from Russian speakers and Gagauz?
...that Australian veterinary student Barry Larkin carried a fake Olympic Flame in the 1956 Summer Olympics as a protest, because he thought the flame was given too much reverence?
...that film producer Neil Kopp stood in as a location scout, location manager, assistant director and grip while filming Old Joy?
...that the second-largest mobile operator in Slovenia, Si.mobil, was one of the first worldwide to offer EDGE?
...that Jeremy Dalton was suspended, and later expelled, from the British Columbia Liberal Party caucus in the provincial legislature?

08:25, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

...that the funerary art (pictured) of many cultures includes psychopomps, like the Zapotec bat god, who conduct souls to the afterlife?
...that the Emperor of Russia, Alexander III bought the art of Ukrainian realist painter Volodymyr Orlovsky?
...that twenty out of the thirty five merchant ships of convoy SC-7 were sunk by German U-boats?
...that Canadian band Article One took their name from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights after hearing about it on U2's Vertigo Tour?
...that Josiah Failing became the fourth mayor of Portland, Oregon less than three years after moving there from New York City?
...that actress Anna Kendrick was nominated for a Tony Award at the age of twelve, making her the youngest-ever Tony nominee as of 2008?
...that, on D-Day, attorney and U.S. Army Ranger Leonard Lomell managed to destroy five concealed, long-range German guns pointed at the landing beaches even though he had been wounded by machine gun fire?

01:35, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

...that Nathaniel Higginson (signature pictured), the first Mayor of Madras city and the second American-born President of Madras, was the son of Puritan minister John Higginson, a leading investigator in the Salem witch trials?
...that the Taipei Metro C301 cars were built in the former Otis plant in Yonkers, New York, which was the first elevator factory in the world?
...that the Biographicon aspires to be an online directory of biographies for "all the people of the world"?
...that after becoming Bishop of Brechin at the instigation of the Earl of Argyll, Alexander Campbell of Carco, still only a minor, handed most of his bishopric's lands over to the earl?
...that the 1937 Western fiction book Buckskin Brigades was Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard's first published novel?
...that Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, impressed with Zhang Jiazhen but forgetting his name, almost made Zhang Qiqiu chancellor instead of Zhang Jiazhen?
...that the Shoshone was the first of only two steamboats to be brought down through Hells Canyon, North America's deepest gorge, to the lower Snake River?

11 April 2008

16:57, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

...that Red Dog was such a well-known and beloved dog in Western Australia's Pilbara region that a statue (pictured) was built in his honour?
...that Princess Margaret of Prussia had her jewels stolen by American soldiers in the aftermath of World War II?
...that Jacqueline Audry was the first commercially successful woman film director of post-war France?
...that his son's infection with polio in 1930 led electrical engineer Reinhold Rudenberg to develop an electron microscope as a tool to study the poliovirus?
...that Jewish American surfer Doc Paskowitz helped bring surf boards to Gaza to help promote peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
...that Dutch topologist Johannes De Groot is the academic grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather of his namesake via four different paths of academic supervision?
...that, between 1945 and 1947, correspondent John Roderick spent seven months living with Mao Zedong and other Chinese Communist leaders in the caves of Yan'an?
...that Dory Dean of the 1876 Cincinnati Reds was the first pitcher to include turning his back to the hitter in his delivery before pitching the ball?

09:37, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

...that Comfort Stations No. 68 (pictured) and No. 72 in the Rim Village Historic District of Oregon, listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1988, are public restrooms built in the 1930s?
...that Rev. Thomas Dyche is credited with writing the first book in English published in Asia?
...that the Battle of Sugar Point was the last major battle fought between Native Americans and the United States Army?
...that Cyclone Jokwe killed 16 people in Mozambique and left at least 55,000 homeless?
...that the Alabama-Huntsville Chargers ice hockey team is the only Division I collegiate hockey team located south of the Mason-Dixon Line?
...that kimchi bokkeumbap is a Korean fried rice made with kimchi and any available ingredients?
...that Quilceda Creek Vintners Cabernet Sauvignon is the first American wine from outside California to earn perfect 100-point score reviews from wine critic Robert M. Parker, Jr. in The Wine Advocate?
...that a horreum was a type of public warehouse used in Ancient Rome to store foodstuffs such as grain and olive oil?
...that despite writing a full action-and-dialogue screenplay for his film Raising Victor Vargas, Peter Sollett never showed the actors a script, so as to encourage authenticity through improvisation when filming?

00:08, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

...that sailors use a tool called a needlegun (pictured) to remove old paint and corrosion aboard ships?
...that the Chronicle of Man claimed William Russell to have been the first Bishop of the Isles consecrated by the pope, even though he was not consecrated by the pope, and even if he had been, he would not have been the first?
...that the Danville 97s minor league baseball team name of 97s was selected as a tribute to the victims of the Wreck of the Old 97 train accident?
...that Banaag at Sikat, a novel by Lope K. Santos, was once considered the “Bible of Filipino laborers”?
...that the name of Lake Burrumbeet, a large but shallow eutrophic lake in Victoria, Australia, derives from the local aboriginal word burrumbidj, meaning "muddy or dirty water"?
...that The Guardian newspaper was founded 189 years ago in Manchester, England as a direct response to the Peterloo Massacre?
...that Adrianne Calvo is the youngest chef to have cooked for the United Nations?

10 April 2008

16:33, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

...that Mid-State Regional Airport is a Keystone Opportunity Zone to promote economic growth, but, to protect the Pennsylvania state park and forest (pictured) it was formed from, cannot legally expand?
...that in 1998, the Hopi Dictionary: Hopìikwa Lavàytutuveni, the first comprehensive Hopi language dictionary, was almost prevented from being published for fear of having non-Hopis learning the language?
...that real-life medical cases in the book The Medical Detectives, by Berton Roueché, inspired many of the medical mysteries on the television show House?
...that Johanne Sørensen became the first Bahá'í in Denmark in 1925, and the only Bahá'í in her country till 1947?
...that Moseley Wanderers represented Great Britain and Ireland at Rugby Union in the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, winning the Silver medal despite losing their only game?
...that the US National Park Service is funding improvements to county road H-58, the main access road to the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan?
...that the Madras Bank, India's oldest Western-style banking institution, was established in 1683 by William Gyfford, the Agent of Madras at the time?

10:05, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

...that Myer Lyon, hazzan of the Great Synagogue of London, doubled as opera star Michael Leoni (pictured) whose contract excused him on the Sabbath?
...that despite its bitter taste, the heart of the palm tree Plectocomiopsis geminiflora is a delicacy in Borneo?
...that Pullen Memorial Baptist Church is the first Baptist church in the Southern United States to have chosen an openly gay lead cleric?
...that Titanium La Portada is expected to briefly become the tallest skyscraper in Chile, before being overtaken by Torre Gran Costanera of the Costanera Center complex?
...that Beinn an Tuirc windfarm in Scotland is trying to repel Golden Eagles from their turbines by reintroducing Mountain Hares?
...that New York writer and socialite Anthony Haden-Guest is both son of the 4th Baron Haden-Guest and the brother-in-law of actress Jamie Lee Curtis?
...that Shelby Place Historic District was begun due to the woodworking industries that revitalized New Albany, Indiana?
...that despite its name, the Badminton Library of Sports and Pastimes does not contain a volume about badminton?

03:17, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

...that the Funerary Monument to Sir John Hawkwood (pictured) is the oldest authenticated and extant work of Paolo Uccello?
...that when Norman Rockwell's model for his World War II Willie Gillis series enlisted, The Saturday Evening Post demanded that Rockwell continue the character?
...that seven whaling ships escaped the Whaling Disaster of 1871, but were forced to abandon their catch in order to accommodate 1,219 people from 33 other ships trapped in ice off the Alaskan coast?
...that Etta Palm d'Aelders, whose salon in Paris was frequented by Jean-Paul Marat, François Chabot and other prominent political figures during the French Revolution, might have been an agent for the Dutch government?
...that when the senior officials Yuan Qianyao, Song Jing, and Zhang Shuo were commissioned with new offices in 729, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang held an elaborate ceremony, with music and food from the imperial kitchen?
...that Polyandrococos, a genus of palm trees endemic to Brazil, is so named partly because of its hairy tomentum?
...that Alojz Rebula is a Slovene author who wrote extensively about the philosophy of Jacques Maritain?
...that natural gas in the Marcellus Formation could increase United States energy reserves by one trillion U.S. dollars?

9 April 2008

18:51, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

...that Gordon Dam (pictured), a 140-metre (460 ft) tall arch dam on the Gordon River, is the tallest in Tasmania, Australia?
...that the USS Mount Vernon, a control ship in the cleanup of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, was destroyed off the coast of Hawaii in 2005?
...that New Albany, Indiana's Cedar Bough Place is the only "private street" in a city near Louisville, Kentucky?
...that compression of the duodenum by the aorta and the overlying superior mesenteric artery may lead to nausea, bilious vomiting, abdominal pain and weight loss?
...that turquerie became popular in Europe and America primarily due to the writings of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu?
...that as a result of a 1972 referendum, the boundary between time zones in British Columbia ended up being different from the provincial boundary?
...that the C-Leg microprocessor-controlled prosthetic leg records the motion of the user?
...that the Hawai`i Institute of Marine Biology is the only research center in the world built on a coral reef?
...that among the effects of Hurricane Dennis in Georgia was the death of a Decatur man from a tree that fell on his bedroom?

12:47, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

...that Claire Clairmont (pictured) was the inspiration for Percy Bysshe Shelley's posthumously published poem "To Constantia, Singing"?
...that the Gens de Terre River in Quebec, Canada, has a 25 km (15.5 mi) section with continuous whitewater while flowing through 25 m (80 ft) high cliffs?
...that in 1985, overflowing from the Adolfo Ruiz Cortines Dam in Sonora, Mexico resulted in the evacuation of 20,000 people?
...that books by the writer of romantic fiction Denise Robins sold more than one hundred million copies?
...that the barnacle Megabalanus can reach 7 cm (2.8 in) in length?
...that in 1128 Geoffrey, Prior of Christ Church, Canterbury, became the first Abbot of Dunfermline?
...that nearly US$1 million worth of tickets were sold during the week following the first New York Times ad announcing Elizabeth Taylor's appearance in the 1981 Broadway revival of Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes?
...that Thurston Rostron is the fourth-youngest player in the history of the England national football team?
...that the name of Mohrland, Utah was formed as an acronym from the surnames of the principal investors in its coal mining company?

06:24, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

...that Dovedale (pictured), a National Nature Reserve in the Peak District, England, attracts a million visitors a year?
...that no governing party in British Columbia has won a provincial by-election since 1981?
...that Audrey Stubbart worked until age 105, becoming the oldest verified full-time employee ever in the United States?
...that despite Herodotus's claim that the sundial was invented in Babylonia, the oldest known example is from Egypt?
...that during a period of widespread family ownership in the industry, the Falstaff Brewing Corporation was one of the few publicly-traded breweries in the United States?
...that Elm Yellows is a disease of elm trees caused by mycoplasma-like organisms infecting the phloem?
...that English printer John Day raided the printing premises of his son, Richard Day, after the latter had pirated his father's works and illicitly published his own versions?
...that Antley-Bixler syndrome is a rare but severe congenital malformation disorder with symptoms that include flat forehead, closure of cranial sutures and fused bones in the limbs?
...that New York Governor David Paterson's press secretary Errol Cockfield Jr. was previously Albany bureau chief of Newsday?

8 April 2008

23:09, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

...that the free-floating fruit of Posidonia oceanica (pictured), a Mediterranean seagrass, is known as the "olive of the sea"?
...that the Financial Stability Forum consists of officials from ministries and central banks of a dozen countries, who coordinate international financial stability?
...that when Ahmad Said was appointed as Chief Minister of the Malaysian state Terengganu by King of Malaysia Mizan Zainal Abidin, it was against the wishes of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi?
...that the economy of Omaha, Nebraska has expanded to embrace the burgeoning information technology sector since the city was labeled the "Motor Mouth City" by The New York Times?
...that the 1990 Strangeways Prison riot at 25 days was the longest British prison riot?
...that the Taipei Metro Xinbeitou Branch Line, consisting of two stations, was severely restricted due to complaints of noise pollution?
...that 16 of the 72 fiction authors with at least 100 million copies of their works in print did not write in English, and 16 of the 72 are women?

16:45, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

...that the Creeping Groundsel (pictured), a climbing succulent perennial native of South Africa, is a problem weed in New Zealand, but cultivated in parks in Spain and Germany?
...that the acquisitions of Joseph Smith, British consul in Venice, formed the basis of the drawings collection in the Royal Collection and the "King's Library" of George III at the British Library?
...that Charles J. O'Byrne, Secretary to Governor David Paterson of New York, is a former priest who officiated at the marriage of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette in 1996 and presided over their funeral in 1999?
...that City of Truro was the first railway locomotive to exceed 100 mph (160 km/h) while hauling a train near Wellington station on the Reading to Plymouth Line in England?
...that residents of 22½ St. in Minneapolis petitioned the City Council and changed the street's name to Milwaukee Avenue because the '½' made them feel as if they lived in an alley?
...that the Bordeaux winery Château Quinault was planned for destruction to build a new housing development?
...that soon after John Gabriel Jones helped convince the Virginia General Assembly to create Kentucky County, he was killed in an ambush led by Mingo chieftain Pluggy?

10:35, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

...that Robert Kennedy stayed at the Sportsmen's Lodge (sign pictured), formerly the "Hollywood Trout Farms", in Studio City, California the night before his assassination?
...that Lee Bible had no experience in driving at land speed record speed when he was hired to drive the White Triplex in an attempt to take the record back from Henry Segrave?
...that Don Starkell and his son Dana paddled from Winnipeg, Manitoba to Belem, Brazil by canoe, a trip covering more than 12,000 miles (19,000 km)?
...that in 1877 the 4,000-seat Queen's Theatre staged a spectacular and expensive production of The Last Days of Pompeii that flopped: the earth did not quake, the volcano did not erupt, and acrobats fell onto the cast?
...that the Islamic Emirate of Bari in Southern Italy was conquered in 871 by Frankish and Lombard ground forces under Louis II of Italy, together with a Croatian fleet?
...that Kot Filemon is the hero of a Polish animated TV series by Academy Award-winning studio Se-ma-for?

04:19, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

...that leaders in Oswego, Oregon petitioned the United States Board on Geographic Names to change the name of the town's Sucker Lake to Oswego Lake (pictured)?
...that antiquarian Antonio Francesco Gori is alleged to have stolen Galileo's finger when the scientist's remains were transferred in 1737 to Santa Croce, Florence?
...that Gibraltar passports are full British passports which are particularly issued to Gibraltarians and only differ in some wording?
...that the 1901 Royal Norwegian Navy torpedo boat HNoMS Sæl was sunk by three German Schnellboots in 1940?
...that of Andrea Palladio's grand design for Palazzo Porto in Piazza Castello, Vicenza, ca 1571, only two bays were ever completed?
...that Major General Douglas Alexander Graham was once rescued by Victoria Cross recipient Henry May?
...that sunflowers have been used in rhizofiltration to remove radionuclides from contaminated water?

7 April 2008

21:23, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

...that 'Opaeka'a Falls (pictured) on the Hawaiian island of Kauai is named after the native freshwater shrimp ("rolling shrimp" in Hawaiian) that "roll" down the falls?
...that Vice-Admiral Samuel Story was forced to surrender his Batavian fleet to the British navy without a fight in August 1799 because his officers started a mutiny?
...that KILI-FM started broadcasting in 1983 as the first Native American-owned radio station in the United States?
...that the United Kingdom House of Commons serves an English white wine called Fumé, produced by Wickham Vineyards?
...that Mavia was an Arab queen who in 378 AD personally led her troops out of southern Syria in revolt against Roman rule?
...that the 1979 Dechmont Woods Encounter in West Lothian, Scotland, is the only UFO sighting in the United Kingdom to have become the subject of a criminal investigation?
...that according to his hagiography, Saint Severus of Naples temporarily brought a man back from death in order to testify on the size of his debt and save his widow from slavery?

14:28, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

...that, instead of being displayed at the British Museum, the Warwick Vase (replica pictured), a Roman vase discovered at Hadrian's Villa in about 1771, was restored and preserved in a greenhouse at Warwick Castle?
...that despite inundating Omaha, Nebraska for more than 26 days the Great Flood of 1881 killed only two people there?
...that Moses, the first Arab Orthodox bishop, administered his duties while journeying with a nomadic confederation of Arabs in the fourth century?
...that Cuban First Lady Marta Fernandez Miranda de Batista became a contributor to Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital while in exile in Florida?
...that during the English Civil War, the Crown Inn in Nantwich, Cheshire was used as a place of worship, as the church was used as a prison?
...that Alene B. Duerk, head of the Navy Nurse Corps, was the first woman in the U.S. Navy to be promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral?
...that some legislatures resort to literally stopping the clock in order to meet constitutional or statutory deadlines?

08:11, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

...that according to Muisca mythology, Bochica (statue pictured) saved his people from a flood by creating the Tequendama Falls with a strike from his staff?
...that despite dramatically improving the quality of education at Transylvania University, Horace Holley was forced to resign as the university's president over doctrinal differences with the Presbyterian Church?
...that the effects of Hurricane Dennis in Alabama included $127 million dollars (2005 USD) in damage and three injuries?
...that the history of winemaking in Luxembourg, primarily in vineyards overlooking the Moselle River, goes back to Ancient Roman times?
...that Edward Cocker's Arithmetick was such a popular textbook of mathematics that over 100 editions were published over a period of more than a century?
...that, when the Comintern appointed him general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party, Alexander Danieliuk-Stefanski was still a member of the Communist Party of Poland and could not speak Romanian?
...that television critics have speculated as to how the 30 Rock episode "MILF Island" will avoid explaining the meaning of "MILF" since the last letter stands for an obscene word?

00:44, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

...that the Church of St Mary on the Rock (pictured), originally a house for the Céli Dé of St Andrews, was the first collegiate church in Scotland?
...that the Azov Cossack Host was the only Cossack Unit in the Russian Empire that had a naval role?
...that legendary Polish boxing champion Antoni Czortek fought for his life in boxing matches while at Auschwitz?
...that Puslinch Lake is the largest kettle lake in North America?
...that the authorship of the Declaration of Arbroath has been attributed by some to Bernard the Abbot of Arbroath?
...that the postmodernist Romanian writer Ruxandra Cesereanu retold Arthurian legends and co-authored poems through e-mail with the American Andrei Codrescu?
...that the cabinet of former Norwegian Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland resigned following a 1.9% drop in the popular vote?
...that Stalag fiction was a genre of Israeli pornography about concentration-camp imprisonment, brutalization by female SS guards, and the prisoners' revenge?

6 April 2008

17:00, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

...that Chorley Old Hall, the oldest inhabited country house in Cheshire, consists of two ranges, one medieval (c.1300) (pictured), the other Elizabethan (mid-16th century)?
...that the traditional Scottish folk song Ye Jacobites by Name was re-written by Robert Burns around 1791?
...that Amaranthus brownii, an endangered species of pigweed endemic to the Northwestern Hawaiian Island of Nihoa, was discovered in 1923, but has not been seen in the wild for twenty-five years?
...that although Desmond Lardner-Burke, Minister of Justice in Rhodesia, died in the 1980s, his name appeared on the electoral roll for the Zimbabwean parliamentary election, 2008?
...that mutations of the ATN1 gene result in dentatorubral-pallidoluysian atrophy, a neurological disorder with diverse problems as dementia, ataxia, seizures and obstructive sleep apnea?

10:10, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

William D. Bloxham

...that, by the time the Florida Supreme Court finally ruled that William D. Bloxham (pictured) had won the 1870 Lieutenant Governor election, it was 1872 and the term was effectively over?
...that after being captured by the rebel ruler An Lushan, the Tang Dynasty general Geshu Han offered to write letters to persuade other Tang generals to surrender to An?
...that the Roanoke Building sits on the site of a former building by the same name that was once an official climate site for the National Weather Service?
...that Karl Schnibbe was one of a group of three Hamburg teenagers arrested by the Gestapo in Nazi Germany during World War II for distributing anti-Hitler pamphlets?
...that Cuban Colonel Ramón Barquín, who unsuccessfully attempted to overthrow Fulgencio Batista in 1956, later founded Atlantic College and several other educational institutions while in exile in Puerto Rico?
...that after making the first ascent of the remote Mount Lucania, Robert Bates was forced to survive on squirrels and mushrooms during his 156-mile (251 km) trek out of the wilderness?

01:49, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

...that Hulme Arch Bridge in Manchester (pictured) follows the design of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri, and rejoins two halves of a road that was sundered in 1969?
...that slate and stylus were invented by Louis Braille and Charles Barbier for blind people to write braille?
...that dairyman Henry W. Jeffers, a founder of Plainsboro Township, New Jersey, invented a bacteriology counter, a feed calculator, and an automated cow-milking system?
...that Manitoba Provincial Road 373 became famous after a band from Norway House won an award for an album named after the highway?
...that Scottish footballer John Cushley was a modern-languages graduate who acted as translator when Celtic F.C. attempted to sign Real Madrid striker Alfredo Di Stéfano in 1964?
...that the 1944 Appalachians tornado outbreak was the worst tornado outbreak in the history of West Virginia?
...that the edible mushroom Marasmius alliaceus tastes and smells like garlic?

5 April 2008

19:04, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

...that Claire Clairmont blamed Lord Byron for the death of their daughter Allegra Byron (pictured)?
...that scientists are unsure why Lake Phalen, in Saint Paul, Minnesota, is home to a population of rainbow darters, a fish normally found in fast-moving streams?
...that 50 years after winning A£100 in a fridge-decorating competition, Australian artist Robert Dickerson commands from A$80,000 for a painting today?
...that approximately half of the distributed water in Ghana is lost as non-revenue water due to leakage and illegal connections?
...that the Comer Strait in the Canadian Arctic, and the Gallinula comeri, the flightless moorhen of Gough Island, were both named after whaling Captain George Comer?
...that Ince Manor and Saighton Grange Gatehouse are the only two surviving monastic manorial buildings in Cheshire, UK?

11:08, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

...that the tallest building in Minneapolis, Minnesota is the 792-foot (241 m) IDS Tower (pictured)?
...that the Tang Dynasty general Wang Zhongsi was raised inside the palace of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang after Wang's father was killed in battle in army service when he was still young?
...that the Congolese artist Bodys Isek Kingelez was a restorer of African tribal masks before he began to create his models of fantasy cities?
...that due to its economic growth, Taiwan served as a showcase for Japan's propaganda on the colonial efforts throughout Asia, as displayed during the 1935 Taiwan Exposition?
...that Miller's Court in Dorset Street was the location of the last murder by Jack the Ripper on 9 November 1888?
...that Omaha, Nebraska's Peony Park became famous after the Lawrence Welk Band made it their official headquarters during the Great Depression?

03:59, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

...that Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-pin refused to update signage at nearby bus and metro stops to reflect the disputed renaming of the "Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall" (pictured) to "National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall"?
...that the Frédéric Chopin monument in Warsaw, Poland, was designed by Wacław Szymanowski in 1907, erected in 1926, destroyed by the Germans in 1940, and reconstructed in 1958?
...that a year after Richard William Briginshaw entered the House of Lords as a life peer, he wrote a pamphlet calling for it to be abolished?
...that Japanese film tycoon Haruki Kadokawa built a full-size replica of Columbus' flagship Santa Maria which sailed from Barcelona to Japan?
...that the Temple of Divus Augustus was a major temple in imperial Rome dedicated to the first Roman emperor, Augustus, and completed by his adoptive grandson Caligula?
...that Hans P. Kraus claimed he was the only bookdealer to have owned both a Gutenberg Bible and the two Mainz Psalters?

4 April 2008

20:57, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

...that the Fiji Woodswallow (pictured) is highly aggressive to predators and will harass the much larger Fiji Goshawk and Peregrine Falcon?
...that the Bahá'í Faith is one of only a few non-Christian religions recognised by the government of Cameroon?
...that Governor of New York David Paterson chose Jon Cohen as his Chief Advisor, although Cohen briefly ran against him for Lieutenant Governor?
...that "Maphriyono" (Maphrian) meaning, "to make fruitful", or "one who gives fecundity" is another term for Catholicos of India?
...that Dodge Street in Omaha, Nebraska is often erroneously said to be a namesake of Union Pacific Railroad chief engineer Grenville Dodge, when it was actually named for Iowa Senator Augustus C. Dodge?
...that a biography of Saladin, the 12th-century sultan of Egypt and Syria, written by his friend and confidant Baha ad-Din ibn Shaddad, is still in print after seven centuries?
...that Herm Doscher and his son Jack were the first pair of father and son to have both played Major League Baseball?

13:21, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

...that the earliest known portrait of Frédéric Chopin, painted by Ambroży Mieroszewski in 1829 when the composer was nineteen (pictured), was lost in the opening days of World War II?
...that Saint Paul, Minnesota was once known as "Pig's Eye"?
...that during the Third American Karakoram Expedition's attempt to climb K2, Pete Schoening saved the lives of six falling climbers?
...that Flora Sandes, who served with the Serbian Army, was the only British woman to officially enrol as a soldier in World War I?
...that Sara Larraín, who finished in fifth place in the 1999 Chilean presidential election, was a founder and the first director of Greenpeace in Chile?
...that the Australian states of New South Wales and Queensland both set rainfall records in 1950?
...that Mary Meader, best known for taking more than 1,000 aerial pictures, was also a major philanthropist, once giving US$4 million to Western Michigan University?
...that Chai Trong-rong, a Taiwanese legislator, was unable to return to Taiwan while studying abroad because he was placed on the Kuomintang's black list?

06:18, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

...that the parents of Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini gave him the middle name "Amilcare" in honour of the revolutionary anarchist Amilcare Cipriani (pictured)?
...that Myrialepis paradoxa, a species of palm trees native to Southeast Asia, is used to make thatched baskets?
...that, on a per capita basis, foreign aid donated by Saudi Arabia is one of the highest in the world?
...that at a cost of US$7.9 billion, Meghna Bridge in Bangladesh is the single largest project with Japanese assistance in the world?
...that Brazilian singer Maria Bethânia released her first recording the same year as her brother Caetano Veloso, even though he was four years older?
...that in a Maranao myth, the Agus River was constructed to prevent Lake Lanao from becoming an ocean?
...that the Malay kite, a model of kite used for hundreds of years in the Far East and introduced to the West in 1894, provided the inspiration for the now widespread and popular "Eddy" kite design?
...that Portland, Oregon–based evangelical minister Luis Palau has collaborated with government leaders, and 500 Christian pastors, to rally volunteers to address homelessness?

3 April 2008

23:52, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

...that troco (pictured), also called "trucks" or "lawn billiards", is a traditional English lawn game played with wooden balls and long-handled cues at the ends of which are spoon-like ovals of iron?
...that the Colonel Wright was the first steamboat to run on the Snake River?
...that at the height of Wally Phillips' radio career, roughly half the entire Chicago listening audience, or about 1.5 million listeners, tuned into his show?
...that at the Council of Acre in 1148, the decision was made to attack Damascus, leading to the failure of the Second Crusade?
...that Scottish actor Russell Hunter was so concerned about being identified with "Lonely", the anxious, smelly sidekick he played in the 1960s spy series Callan, that he took pains to smell nice?
...that of the twenty-five clipper ships owned by the Loch Line, which operated between the United Kingdom and Australia, seventeen were lost at sea?
...that Pasquale Condello of the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta, recently captured by Italian police in February 2008, was previously sentenced in absentia to four life prison terms plus another 22 years in jail?

16:37, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

...that Charles D. Poston (pictured) petitioned the Shah of Persia for funds to build a Parsi fire temple near Florence, Arizona?
...that the utility of heavy water as a moderator in a nuclear reactor was demonstrated by Klara Döpel and her husband Robert in the 1940s?
...that Montreal Canadiens forward Maurice "Rocket" Richard was named the three best players of a National Hockey League playoff match, earning himself all three stars?
...that Emperor Xuanzong of Tang had the eunuch Gao Lishi strangle Consort Yang Yuhuan to prevent a rebellion by the imperial guards angry at her?
...that Gustav Christian Schwabe decided to finance Thomas Henry Ismay's venture, the White Star Line, during a game of billiards?
...that in the 2007 documentary film Autism: The Musical, five autistic children in Los Angeles develop and star in an original stage production?
...that the Palazzo Filangeri-Cutò, featured in Giuseppe di Lampedusa's novel The Leopard and the Luchino Visconti film of the same name, was almost totally destroyed in a 1968 earthquake?

10:08, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

...that American showman Michael B. Leavitt (pictured) staged the anti-Mormon play The Danites in the Mormon capital, Salt Lake City, Utah, as a publicity stunt?
...that Lytocaryum weddellianum, an endangered species of palm trees endemic to Brazil, may be saved from extinction as it has become a common potted plant in Europe?
...that the ancient Egyptians set up hundreds of ka statues in Abydos so the dead could participate in religious festivals?
...that the decision of a Pennsylvania provincial court in 1764, The King v. Haas, is one of the first attempts to apply the writ of habeas corpus in the Thirteen Colonies?
...that when Masashi Kishimoto was creating the characters of the Naruto manga, he used other shōnen manga as references, including Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball?
...that the former Australian Supreme Court justice and barrister, Sir John Vincent Barry, qualified as a lawyer after graduating from an articled clerk course?
...that the yellow livery of the German postal service was decreed by the Allied Control Council in 1946?

03:19, 3 April 2008 (UTC)
...that during a Viking funeral (pictured), human sacrifice was performed with sexual rites?
...that Woodside, Utah is a ghost town with a roadside cold water geyser?
...that Groucho Marx joined Hillcrest Country Club even though it was willing to have him as a member?
...that footballer Henry Martin scored on his début against Liverpool and again the next day against their neighbours Everton?
...that Retired Rear Admiral Roberta L. Hazard, once the highest-ranking woman in the U.S. military, was a history teacher?
...that every receipt issued by Taiwanese businesses, known as the Uniform Invoice, is also a lottery ticket?
...that part of the northern Oklahoma State Highway 92 is named after country singer Garth Brooks?
...that Judge James Yates resigned from the New York State Supreme Court to be General counsel to the Governor of New York David Paterson?

2 April 2008

18:34, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

...that the Tegg's Nose Country Park in Cheshire has a collection of historical quarrying equipment (pictured) dating back to the 16th century?
...that Don Nicholson was so dominant that critics predicted the demise of the new Funny Car "craze"?
...that the New Guinean mouse Pseudohydromys germani is one of two rodent species to have only two molars in each jaw?
...that more than a dozen artists have recorded live albums in the back room of McCabe's Guitar Shop, including Tom Waits, Beck, and R.E.M.?
...that Gustav Wilhelm Wolff was nicknamed Teutonic in the British House of Commons after a steamship built by his company Harland & Wolff?
...that the Michigan Wolverines' practice of parading their live mascot Biff before matches was stopped as the animal grew larger and more ferocious?
...that Viet Nam Vong Quoc Su, a history text by Vietnamese nationalist Phan Boi Chau, changed the style of prose used in Vietnamese writing?
...that St Stephen's Church in Macclesfield Forest, Cheshire still practises a rush-bearing ceremony, largely abandoned in the 17th century?

12:14, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

...that the fire and explosion of SS Fort La Monte wrecked the nearby Royal Navy destroyer HMS Arrow (pictured)?
...that John Latenser, Sr., an early architect in Omaha, Nebraska, designed more than 12 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places?
...that Michigan State University, which gave technical assistance to South Vietnam from 1955 to 1962, provided cover for the CIA?
...that the globe in the initial release of the NT$1,000 fifth series of the New Taiwan Dollar banknote was mirror-reversed?
...that the Hatfield Government Center light rail station in Hillsboro, Oregon, was the busiest on the Westside MAX extension within a year of opening?
...that Giampietro Campana financed his collection of Roman sculpture, Greek vases and Etruscan and Greek gold jewelry in part by embezzling money from the Papal pawnbroker?

06:02, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

...that at less than 11 feet (3.4 m) wide, the Skinny House (pictured) is the narrowest house in Boston, Massachusetts?
...that the fact that no one has been arrested for the murder of Indian ex-parliamentarian Ehsan Jafri is seen as evidence of government complicity?
...that Stone Bridge in Saint Petersburg, Russia was so steep, that in the 19th century bus passengers had to disembark in order for the bus to go over it?
...that attractions at Indianapolis, Indiana's White City Amusement Park included baby incubators and a Mount Vesuvius reenactment?
...that the Veterans for Peace erect a memorial called Arlington West every Sunday at Santa Monica Beach consisting of a cross in the sand for each U.S. military person who has died in the Iraq War?
...that since as early as the 10th century, Nabulsi soap, a traditional olive oil-based soap, has been exported across the Arab world and even to Europe?
...that prior to screening The Round-Up in Cannes, in order to appease the Hungarian government, director Miklós Jancsó had to declare the film was not an allegory of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956?

00:01, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

...that in 1976, people reported feeling a floating sensation as they jumped in the air, caused by a Jovian–Plutonian gravitational effect (Jupiter pictured)?
...that Wiener sausages are named after the mathematician Norbert Wiener?
...that the winner of the Ernie Awards is the person who gets the loudest boos from the audience?
...that the 31-mile (50 km) West Rim Trail along the Grand Canyon was selected by Outside Magazine as the best hike in Pennsylvania?
...that although presidents of Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan have been requested to give technical advice about software patches in open-source computer operating systems, only the Ukrainian president did so?
...that James Garner sent two of his associates into a room filled with toxic chlorine gas?
...that Jan Wils won a gold medal in architectural design in art competitions at the 1928 Summer Olympics for his design of the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam?

1 April 2008

13:01, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

...that the 24 Hours of LeMons includes such penalties as tarring and feathering a racer's car and crushing a car via audience vote (crushing of a car pictured)?
...that John F. Kennedy was shot dead in an ambush by government agents who had foreknowledge of his whereabouts?
...that in a few villages and towns of southern France and Spain it is illegal to die, and that there are attempts to have the same law in a town in Brazil?
...that Weber kettle grills were actually made out of buoys cut in half?
...that men are able to be insured against alien impregnation?
...that Ben Affleck died while shoveling snow outside of his house, leaving behind an unexpectedly small estate speculated to be worth as little as US$20,000?
...that American entrepreneur Timothy Dexter defied the popular idiom and actually made a profit when he sold coal to Newcastle?
...that six latrines at Black Moshannon State Park in Pennsylvania are listed on the National Register of Historic Places?

03:02, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

...that taxpayers of Palenville, New York argued so bitterly over the costs of Rowena Memorial School (pictured) that some called for it to be demolished?
...that physicist Siegfried Flügge collaborated with Fritz Houtermans, Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker, and others in an effort to create an atomic weapon for Nazi Germany?
...that the Berlin Rules adopted in 2004 is the authoritative summary of all customary international law applicable to waters and the relevant international standards for environmental and humanitarian laws?
...that Kentucky Governor Joseph Desha pardoned his son Isaac after he had twice been convicted of murder?
...that the Carrikeri Harlequin Frog, a critically endangered toad endemic to northern Colombia, was recently rediscovered after an absence of 14 years?
...that the Great Platte River Road through the Nebraska Territory is considered today to be an early superhighway in the American Old West?