Wikipedia:Recent additions/2008/November

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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...

30 November 2008

19:06, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

... that Jacques-Désiré Laval (pictured), a Spiritan missionary to Mauritius, was the first person beatified by Pope John Paul II?
... that the shagreen ray is also known as the "fuller's ray" because its spiny back resembles devices used for fulling cloth?
... that in 2008, the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope received a one-million-dollar gift from the AEP Southwestern Electric Power Company to fund technical and industrial programs?
... that Bankrate monitors about 4,800 financial institutions throughout the United States?
... that Frank Tepedino, former Major League Baseball player, lost 343 colleagues from the New York City Fire Department during the September 11 attacks?
... that Thorbjørn Egners lesebøker, a series of readers for the Norwegian primary school, took the author 25 years to complete, but were made largely obsolete the year the last book was published?
... that in 1983, Rich Mountain Community College was formed as a merger of Rich Mountain Vocational-Technical School and Henderson State University's off-campus programs?
... that the recipe for the Tom Collins cocktail first appeared in the 1876 edition of The Bartender's Guide by noted American mixologist Jerry Thomas?

13:01, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

... that Punch founding editor Mark Lemon had to sit in the gallery when he worshipped at St John the Baptist's Church, Crawley (pictured) because no pews in the nave were large enough to accommodate him?
... that Albert Teveodjré once had a monopoly on journalism in Dahomey?
... that Plymouth Sound, Shores and Cliffs has units of rock showing the lower to early Middle Devonian period, laid 417–354 million years ago?
... that American football head coach Dick Vermeil coached two NFC championship teams 19 years apart—the 1980 Philadelphia Eagles and the 1999 St. Louis Rams?
... that Ira Needles co-founded the University of Waterloo in 1957 with Gerald Hagey, and later served as the university's second chancellor?
... that seven Cornish fishermen sailed to Australia in the lugger Mystery in 1854–55, a journey which is being recreated today by the Spirit of Mystery?
... that Betty James came up with the name of the Slinky toy created by her husband, Richard T. James, and ran the business for decades after he left her and their six children to live in Bolivia?
... that Megalictis ferox, a species of extinct predatory mustelid, resembled a modern wolverine but with three times the body mass?

06:55, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the border between Wales and England (The River Dee pictured) has followed broadly the line of Offa's Dyke since the 8th century, but was only finally determined in law in 1972?
... that Czech businessman František Mrázek is believed to have covertly influenced Czech politics for the 20 years before he was assassinated?
... that Glenn Dumke was the chancellor of California State University from 1962 to 1982, during which time it became the largest system of higher education in the United States with 319,000 students?
... that the design of the art nouveau Germania definitive stamp was personally chosen by Emperor Wilhelm II?
... that Tom Gish's newspaper The Mountain Eagle was the first newspaper in eastern Kentucky to challenge the damage caused to the environment resulting from strip mining?
... that the 1915 Pleasant Valley earthquake caused four fault scarps that, together, measured 59 kilometres (37 mi)^*?
... that Terrance Carroll, the grandson of a sharecropper, is slated to become the first African American ever to serve as Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives?
... that in 18th-century Europe, tobacco smoke enemas were considered the most potent method of resuscitating near-drowned people?

00:30, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

... that Hillary Rodham Clinton (pictured) may be ineligible for appointment as United States Secretary of State by Barack Obama unless a Saxbe fix can be worked out?
... that theories about the Shugborough inscription ciphertext include a love message, a biblical verse, a clue to a preserved Jesus bloodline or a reference to the Priory of Sion and the Holy Grail?
... that Vakkom Moulavi was the founder of the newspaper Swadeshabhimani which was banned by the Government of Travancore due to its criticisms against the government and the Diwan P. Rajagopalachari?
... that although Fairfield Grammar School, Bristol, expelled Cary Grant for going into the girls' lavatories, the city later erected a life-size bronze statue of him?
... that David Hoadley restructured management of the Panama Railway so that it avoided bankruptcy and finished its track a year early?
... that internet service provider McColo, taken down in November 2008, hosted the world's biggest botnet and was responsible for at least half of all email spam?
... that the death of Charles Gough was depicted in poetry and art by Walter Scott, William Wordsworth, Francis Danby and Edwin Landseer?

29 November 2008

18:25, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

... that Ilse Stanley (pictured), a German Jewish actress, secured the release of 412 prisoners in Nazi Germany between 1936 and 1938?
... that in 2000, the season finale of television series Survivor: Borneo had more viewers than the World Series, NBA finals, NCAA men's basketball finals, and Grammy Awards of that year?
... that the modern border between Iran and Iraq dates back to the Treaty of Zuhab, which concluded the Ottoman–Safavid War of 1623–1639?
... that singer Christina Milian's self-titled debut album had its U.S. release date delayed for three years, partly due to the September 11 attacks?
... that organisms exhibiting kleptoplasty retain active chloroplasts from the algae on which they feed, providing the new host with the products of photosynthesis?
... that architect Clarence W. W. Mayhew, known as an innovator of the contemporary ranch house in California, admitted copying "the underlying principle" from Japanese architecture?
... that English novelist Charles Dickens wrote the bestseller The Life of Our Lord for his children in 1849, but it was not published until 1934, 64 years after his death?
... that ABC moved the Roseanne episode "December Bride", which featured a same-sex wedding, from its usual broadcast time slot to one 90 minutes later, citing the episode's "adult humor"?

12:20, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the Bar-winged Prinia (pictured) is a common passerine bird endemic to western Indonesia?
... that General John B. Grayson died of pneumonia and tuberculosis three months after he joined the Confederate Army, without fighting a single battle?
... that the nematode Capillaria plica is a parasite found in the urinary bladder of dogs, cats and various mammals?
... that Exchange Plaza, the Western Australian state headquarters of the Australian Securities Exchange, is built on land owned by a historic gentlemen's club?
... that James Guthrie was Abraham Lincoln's first choice for Secretary of War, but he declined the position due to age and failing health?
... that poetry of the Hindu female-saint Bahinabai reflects the compromise between her devotion to husband and patron-god Vithoba?
... that the German company Jako threatened to sue the Football Association of Ireland when referee Anthony Buttimer refused to allow Sligo Rovers to wear their kit in a League of Ireland match?
... that in Japan during the Muromachi era, the shogun's representative would go to Wakamiya Ōji Avenue in Kamakura once a year to walk around a certain Shinto gate seven times?

06:15, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

... that during the War of the Castilian Succession, the Order of Calatrava supported Isabella (pictured) even though its Grand Master sided with Isabella's opponent, Juana?
... that, on the way to Liverpool, the engine of the diesel-powered cargo liner MV Rakaia failed and the crew had to design makeshift sails to complete the journey?
... that Pulicat Lake, a 450 km² (174 sq mi) bird sanctuary, adjoins the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, launch site of India's successful first lunar space mission, the Chandrayaan-1?
... that the 1921 congress of the Marxist Left in Slovakia and the Transcarpathian Ukraine endorsed all 21 conditions of Comintern, except the one demanding use of the name "Communist Party"?
... that Aaron Edlin, an expert in law and economics, co-founded the Berkeley Electronic Press?
... that most of the skeletons found at Talheim Death Pit, a mass grave in Germany dating to 5000 BC, show signs of skull trauma, and scientists have concluded that those buried there were victims of genocide?
... that when Jack Heslop-Harrison resigned as director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in 1976 he was the first director to do so in the 154 years of its existence?
... that there is no agreement as to the origin of the unusual name of Nameless, Tennessee?

00:10, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

... that a parasitic worm of the family Mermithidae (pictured) has been found in a spider preserved in Baltic amber for 40 million years?
... that Phil Ochs described "Power and the Glory" as "the greatest song I'll ever write"?
... that following his team's loss in the 1965 Rose Bowl, Oregon State Beavers football coach Tommy Prothro was hired as head coach at UCLA, where he led the team to victory in the following year's Rose Bowl?
... that the Pied Tamarin, an endangered primate of the Amazon basin, is being gradually displaced by the Red-handed Tamarin?
... that the Woodland Opera House was the first opera house to serve the Sacramento Valley?
... that Byron Brown was the first African-American to be elected mayor of Buffalo, New York, even though six African-Americans had been the nominee before him?
... that at least five mutations are known to cause diplopodia in chickens, resulting in the development of extra toes or other structural abnormalities in the hind limbs?
... that Benjamin Hanford ran as the Socialist Party of America candidate for Vice President of the United States in 1904 and 1908?
... that a bishop of the Church of England once won the World's Biggest Liar competition by simply stating, "I have never told a lie in my life"?

28 November 2008

18:02, 28 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the larvae (pictured) and pupae of African beetles in the genus Diamphidia are used by Bushmen to prepare arrow poisons?
... that Howard C. Belton lost the election to become the Oregon State Treasurer in 1948, only to be appointed to the same office 12 years later?
... that the first episode of the third season of 30 Rock is currently the most watched episode of the series?
... that Howard Pyle's 1883 children's novel The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood had a vast influence on portrayals of Robin Hood through the 20th century?
... that almost all documentation of PZL.49 Miś, a development of advanced Polish medium bomber PZL.37 Łoś, was destroyed during the siege of Warsaw to prevent it from falling into Nazi German hands?
... that Charles Thomas Campbell, who served as a Union Army general during the American Civil War, helped found the town of Scotland, South Dakota?
... that the oldest known text of the Martyrology of Tallaght is in a 12th-century manuscript now at University College, Dublin?
... that Democrat Paul J. Carmouche and Republican John C. Fleming face off on December 6, 2008, in one of the final two U.S. Congressional races of the year, delayed due to Hurricane Gustav?

09:14, 28 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the rebuilding of the Kumusi Bridge in Papua New Guinea, destroyed by the flooding of the Kumusi River (pictured) during Cyclone Guba, will cost upwards of K70 million?
... that General Charles G. Boyd, United States Air Force, is the only Vietnam War prisoner of war to later reach the 4-star rank?
... that a copy of Diana, Princess of Wales' wedding dress, made by David Emanuel, sold at auction in 2005 for £100,000, twice the original estimate?
... that Vatalanib, an anti-cancer drug currently in clinical trials, inhibits the growth of new blood vessels by selectively blocking receptors of vascular endothelial growth factors?
... that before becoming a general in the American Civil War, Robert Francis Catterson practiced medicine in Rockville, Indiana?
... that the epiphytic orchid Miltoniopsis vexillaria was discovered in 1867 by plant collector David Bowman and introduced from Colombia to England in 1873 by a fellow Veitch employee, Henry Chesterton?
... that Hilary Teague served as Liberia's first Secretary of State and wrote that country's Declaration of Independence?
... that perfluorononanoic acid, an environmental contaminant, has been detected in polar bears in concentrations over 400 parts per billion?

02:40, 28 November 2008 (UTC)

... that John Stuart Skinner and Francis Scott Key were on a mercy mission to get back Dr. William Beanes from British hands, when Key was inspired (painting pictured) to write "The Star Spangled Banner?"
... that Snarøya, a peninsula in Bærum, Norway, was an island until the 19th century?
... that before Korean American Tessa Ludwick became a child actress, she worked as a model, starting when she was only two and a half years old?
... that mokomokai, the preserved heads of Māori people with facial tattoos, were traded for firearms during the early 19th century in New Zealand?
... that Morten Wetland was the campaign manager for Gro Harlem Brundtland when she applied for the World Health Organization directorship in 1998?
... that Irwin Gunsalus discovered lipoic acid, an enzyme cofactor which has been proposed as a dietary supplement to prevent or delay the onset of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases?
... that Jacques Rabemananjara, former Vice President of Madagascar, was also an important negritude poet and playwright?
... that Bobby Leonard, Jack McKinney, Larry Brown and Rick Carlisle have each coached the Indiana Pacers for 328 regular season games in the NBA?

27 November 2008

20:35, 27 November 2008 (UTC)

... that William Herschel's 40-foot telescope (pictured) was the largest telescope in the world for 50 years?
... that the Indian Antarctic Program has two permanent bases in Antarctica and has sent 27 expeditions to the continent since 1981?
... that Houston attorney Joe Rollins successfully defended the city in a suit regarding cost overruns and construction delays at Bush Intercontinental Airport?
... that suffragette Lady Constance Lytton carved the letter "V" (for "Votes for Women") into her breast using a piece of broken enamel from a hairpin?
... that Vivaldi's opera Griselda is based on the folklore character Griselda as told by Giovanni Boccaccio in the The Decameron?
... that the 30-storey former AMP Building in Perth was the tallest building in the Western Australian city when it was completed in 1975?
... that publisher and biographer Newman Flower was criticized by some contemporaries for sanitizing aspects of his subjects' personal lives?
... that ATIC, a balloon-borne detector flying over Antarctica, recently found excess cosmic ray electrons that might provide evidence for dark matter consisting of Kaluza-Klein particles?

14:30, 27 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the chaplain of the Regiment de la Rey (badge pictured) of the South African Army once convinced two German soldiers that World War II had ended and then captured them with his officer's cane as his only weapon?
... that although Antonio Maria Bononcini's 1718 opera Griselda was successful, his older brother, Giovanni Bononcini, composed a more popular version in 1722?
... that Norwegian businessperson Anthon B. Nilsen, founder of the company of the same name, also wrote popular novels and served one term in the Norwegian Parliament?
... that the nematode Elaeophora sagitta is a parasite that infests the heart and blood vessels of animals such as buffaloes and kudus in Africa?
... that the cohort model in psycholinguistics attempts to describe the retrieval of words from the mental lexicon in terms of how speech stimulates neurons?
... that in 1909, the American Brass Company manufactured two-thirds of all the brass in the United States, consumed a third of all copper produced in the U.S., and was the largest fabricator of nonferrous metal in the world?
... that Jeffrey Blitz wrote Rocket Science based on his own adolescence despite claiming to be "allergic" to autobiographical films?
... that Soviet submarines patrolling in the North Atlantic in the 1970s reported mysterious frog-like sounds, dubbed "quackers", which have been classified as Unidentified Submerged Objects?

08:25, 27 November 2008 (UTC)

... that in The Abbey in the Oakwood (pictured) German romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich symbolically depicted "the burial of Germany's hopes for resurrection"?
... that the fungus Podaxis is often used as face paint by the Australian Aborigines?
... that Irish journalist Willie Wilde was described by Max Beerbohm as a "dark, oily suspect" sharing the "coy, carnal smile & fatuous giggle" of his younger brother, Oscar Wilde?
... that Lucky Dragons have not only released 19 albums, but also run an art society called Sumi Ink Club and an internet community called Glaciers of Nice?
... that the cave paintings at La Marche in France, which include detailed depictions of humans rather than stick figures, were met with skepticism when discovered in 1937?
... that former Princeton Tigers Will Venable and Chris Young were the first players named first-team All-Ivy League in both basketball and baseball?
... that the nematode Elaeophora elaphi is a parasite that infests the hepatic blood vessels of Red Deer in Spain?
... that Jane Brody was at first reluctant to write the Personal Health column in The New York Times, which has since been syndicated to more than 100 newspapers in the U.S.?

02:20, 27 November 2008 (UTC)

... that according to Hindu legend, the yogi Visoba Khechara taught his disciple Namdev the omnipresence of God by magically filling a whole temple with lingas—the symbols of god Shiva (pictured)?
... that the 350-acre (140 ha) Mar Y Cel estate, built in the early 1900s in the foothills of California's Santa Ynez Mountains, included an aqueduct, water works, arches, and statues?
... that Donald Finkel, a poet who had aspired to be a sculptor as a youth, created sculptures out of found items that he called "dreckolage"?
... that Plymouth Cathedral experienced subsidence after a Royal Navy officer fired new Turkish man-of-war guns in Plymouth Sound?
... that seven Caltrain stations have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places?
... that before becoming a famous opera singer, Ines Maria Ferraris had a career as a concert pianist beginning at the age of 12?
... that the only known picture of the Etruscan mythological daemon Tuchulcha is on the wall in the Tomb of Orcus, a 4th-century BC hypogeum in Tarquinia, Italy?
... that Abell 2142, a galaxy cluster, is one of the most massive objects in the universe?

26 November 2008

20:15, 26 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the majority of the more than 90 stage works composed by Thomas Arne (pictured) are now lost, probably destroyed in the disastrous fire at Covent Garden in 1808?
... that historic Bordeaux wine estate Château d'Angludet was derelict after World War II, but its fortunes were reversed when wine producer Peter Sichel noticed it during an afternoon stroll?
... that Marc Feldmann and Ravinder N. Maini were awarded the 2000 Crafoord Prize for identification of TNF blockade as an effective therapeutic principle in rheumatoid arthritis?
... that according to the U.S. copyright law, musicians who accuse others of plagiarising their work must prove "access" and "similarity", in the absence of a confession?
... that Nabi Shu'ayb, Arabic for "the Prophet Jethro", is used in English to refer to the site where Druze tradition holds he was buried?
... that the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 reorganised the reserves of the British Army, creating the Territorial Force?
... that openly gay actor Robert La Tourneaux considered his role as the gay hustler in the 1970 film The Boys in the Band to be the "kiss of death" for his career?
... that Karl Marx called the Daily Express of Dublin "the Government organ" and accused it of "false rumours of murders committed, armed men marauding, and midnight meetings"?

14:10, 26 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the cat gap is a period in the fossil record (cat illustration pictured) of approximately 25 to 17 million years ago in which there were few cats or cat-like species?
... that more than a million tourists visit the wine-producing regions in Argentina annually?
... that Jerry Ziesmer, who delivered the line "Terminate with extreme prejudice" in Apocalypse Now, was also the film's assistant director?
... that, apart from inventing the saxophone, Belgian musician Adolphe Sax also devised the brass instrument saxotromba?
... that the character Seo Hell from the Old English Gospel of Nicodemus tells Satan to leave her dwelling, and has been compared to the female being Hel of Norse mythology?
... that former Detroit Tigers pitcher Pat Underwood's first game in the major leagues was a 1-0 victory against his brother Tom?
... that Réseau de Transport d'Électricité, Europe's largest transmission system operator, manages a 100,000-kilometre (62,000 mi) network of high-voltage power lines?
... that enraged plebs burned down the home of Lucius Aurelius Avianius Symmachus because of a rumor that he would rather slake lime with wine, than sell wine at the price they wanted?

08:05, 26 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the tower located at 100 McAllister St (pictured) in San Francisco used to be a Methodist church, a hotel and an IRS office building before it was refurbished for residential use by students at UC Hastings?
... that many of the members of the Australian Aboriginal cricket team which toured England in 1868 were Jardwadjali men?
... that before serving in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War, James M. Goggin worked as a cotton broker?
... that until the former Arab village of Nabi Rubin was captured by Israel in 1948, it was the site of a large annual religious festival with tens of thousands of Muslims participating?
... that a 12-mile (19 km)-long railway ride was planned to be built on Dunderberg Mountain in the 19th century, but was never completed?
... that mushrooms of the genus Calostoma are sometimes called "prettymouth" because of peristome tissue that appears on them when they expand?
... that 1996 U.S. Vice-Presidential nominee Jack Kemp won two American Football League Championships as the quarterback of the Buffalo Bills in 1964 and 1965?
... that the bankruptcy of property fund owner William Stern with debts of £118 million led directly to the creation of Britain's first Policyholders' Protection Act in 1975?

02:00, 26 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the 1943 sinking by Allied aircraft of the Hurtigruten passenger ship SS Sanct Svithun (pictured) led to protests by the Norwegian resistance movement?
... that Chicago hairstylist John Lanzendorf owned one of the world's largest collections of dinosaur-themed artwork?
... that Swedish scientist Per-Ingvar Brånemark’s discovery of osseointegration led to the development of titanium dental implants?
... that in the 1850s, the Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company was the largest marine and general insurance firm in North America?
... that in 1903, a toll of 10 pennies (equivalent to £14.00 today) was levied to take a flock of twenty sheep across Maidenhead Bridge?
... that Rosetta Reitz, whose Rosetta Records focused on the women of jazz, was behind the 1980 Newport Jazz Festival tribute called "Blues is a Woman", featuring Adelaide Hall and Big Mama Thornton?
... that Order of the Builders of People's Poland was the highest civilian decoration in the People's Republic of Poland?
... that Chuck Churn won only three games in his Major League Baseball career, one of them handing Elroy Face his only loss in 1959 when he finished with an 18–1 record?

25 November 2008

19:55, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

... that Caspar David Friedrich's 1824 painting The Sea of Ice (pictured) was seen as too radical in composition, and went unsold until after his death in 1840?
... that during the Great Bombay Textile Strike of 1982, nearly 250,000 workers and more than 50 textile mills went on strike in Mumbai, India?
... that Mieczysław Jagielski negotiated the agreement which recognized Solidarity as the first independent trade union within the Eastern Bloc?
... that Emperor Dezong of Tang ordered the former chancellor Dou Can to commit suicide as Dou was heading to his exile in Vietnam?
... that when it was completed in 1976, the 32-storey Allendale Square in Perth, Western Australia, was one of the largest fully aluminium-clad skyscrapers in the world?
... that the 1996 Orange Bowl had the lowest attendance of any Orange Bowl since 1947?
... that when Wales national rugby union team beat Scotland in the 1952 Five Nations Championship, Rex Willis played a large proportion of the match with a broken jaw bone?
... that at least one song written by Sonny Throckmorton was on the country music charts for almost every week between 1976 and 1980?

13:50, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

... that in the Sino-French War, Presbyterian missionary George Mackay refused to leave during the French bombardment of Tamsui (sketch pictured) because he could not take his Formosan converts with him?
... that the Lava River Cave in Newberry National Volcanic Monument is the longest known uncollapsed lava tube in Oregon, U.S.?
... that Charles Dinsmoor invented the endless chain tractor in 1886, forerunner of the continuous track vehicle?
... that Uncial 0212 is the first manuscript of Greek Diatessaron, a Gospel harmony, to be discovered in modern time?
... that in 1967, Dr. Adrian Kantrowitz performed the world's second human heart transplant, in a procedure on a 19-day-old infant at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York?
... that there are four types of spinning, a manufacturing process for creating polymer fibers—wet, dry, melt, and gel?
... that during the War of 1812, Grenadier Island, Canada, housed a small military installation?
... that U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes considered the founding of Ohio State University one of his two greatest achievements?
... that a proposal by James Armsey of the Ford Foundation led many major universities in the United States to integrate in the 1960s?

07:45, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

... that Captain William Hoste captured the French-held fortifications of Kotor (pictured) in 1814 by hoisting cannons from the HMS Bacchante onto the higher ground of the surrounding mountains?
... that the white horse in mythology is associated with the sun chariot, warrior-heroes, fertility or an end-time saviour?
... that American illustrator, painter and printmaker Ella Sophonisba Hergesheimer was the great-great granddaughter of Philadelphia artist Charles Willson Peale?
... that validation of ocean surface wave models through hindcasts and forecasts is important to the shipping industry, which relies on them for tactical seakeeping?
... that Dalberg Global Development Advisors developed a ranking system to assess the quality of 20,000 NGOs and UN agencies?
... that the bell tower of the Bărboi Church in Iaşi, Romania, is over a century older than the present church, and once contained a private library?
... that Fr. Finn wrote the 1890 novel Tom Playfair, telling the adventures of a 10-year-old at an all-boys Jesuit boarding school, to illustrate his ideal of a genuine Catholic American boy?
... that footballer Tommy Magee is the only West Bromwich Albion player to have won both a League Championship medal and an FA Cup winners' medal with the club?

01:40, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

... that Hittin was a Palestinian village located near the site of the Battle of Hattin, where Saladin (pictured) defeated the Crusaders in 1187?
... that traditionalist American art critic Royal Cortissoz denigrated the work of modern masters such as Vincent van Gogh as being the product of "egotists"?
... that singer Robb Johnson based the album Gentle Men on the experiences of his two grandfathers during the First World War?
... that in a kiss scene with Kirk Cameron in Fireproof, Erin Bethea was replaced by Cameron's real-life wife, Chelsea Noble, and the scene was shot in shadows?
... that the nematode Elaeophora poeli is a parasite that is found in the heart or aorta of various species of cattle?
... that the World Wrestling Federation's first coffin match took place at Survivor Series 1992 between The Undertaker and Kamala?
... that the German merchant ship SS Uhenfels was captured at sea during the Second World War, and subsequently became a British merchant?
... that when ABC's Birmingham, Alabama, affiliate WBMA-LP refused to air the Ellen coming out episode "The Puppy Episode", a local LGBT group sold out a 5,000-seat theatre so people could watch it via satellite?

24 November 2008

19:30, 24 November 2008 (UTC)

... that Áed Ua Crimthainn, abbot of Terryglass, Ireland, was the compiler and principal scribe of the Book of Leinster, a Middle Irish illuminated manuscript (pictured)?
... that even though they were five points ahead of 1. FC Saarbrücken, SV Alsenborn were not promoted to the higher level 2nd Bundesliga Süd, due to their financial position?
... that American abolitionist Parke Godwin criticized then-president Franklin Pierce in an essay entitled "American Despotisms"?
... that the initial ransom demand by Somali pirates to release the MT Stolt Valor, hijacked September 15, 2008, was US$6 million?
... that The Atlantic Monthly ran an article titled "Mother Doesn't Do Much" by Catherine Galbraith about her role as an ambassador's wife in India after her son wrote a school essay using those words?
... that the edible mushroom Agaricus abruptibulbus grows better in the presence of the normally toxic element cadmium?
... that Henry Greathead invented the lifeboat in 1790, but never sought to patent it?
... that Hacienda Arms on the Sunset Strip was the "most famous brothel in California" in the 1930s and now houses a celebrity-owned restaurant described by Newsweek as "so hip it hurts"?

13:25, 24 November 2008 (UTC)

Swadeshabhimani Ramakrishna Pillai

... that Swadeshabhimani Ramakrishna Pillai (pictured) wrote the Malayalam biography of Karl Marx, which is the first Marx biography in any Indian language?
... that Ohaveth Sholum Congregation, Seattle's first Jewish congregation, fell four days short of having the first synagogue in Washington?
... that in 1905, Fred Odwell led the National League in home runs with nine, but hit only one home run in the other three seasons he played in Major League Baseball?
... that local legend in Lajjun, a district center in Palestine under the Abbasids, held that the spring that served as its primary water source sprang from a stone after Abraham struck it with his staff?
... that when American sculptor Chester Beach was selected to the National Academy of Design, he was its youngest member?
... that Uskmouth Power Station has been described as one of the cleanest coal-fired power stations in the United Kingdom?
... that by the time he graduated from medical school, Patrick David Wall had already published three papers in prominent scientific journals?
... that the Navy Midshipmen discontinued the football series with the Maryland Terrapins for forty years after a Terrapins' linebacker twice "flipped the bird" to the Brigade of Midshipmen during the 1964 game?

07:20, 24 November 2008 (UTC)

... that in The Stages of Life (pictured), German painter Caspar David Friedrich depicted his son holding a Swedish flag because Friedrich considered himself half-Swedish?
... that after serving in U.S. embassies in Egypt and Lebanon, Edward Sheehan wrote his debut novel Kingdom of Illusion about the playboy king of a fictional Middle Eastern country?
... that the Community Services Appeals Tribunal was the first tribunal in Australia to use alternative dispute resolution?
... that Ngo Dinh Diem's presidential visit to the United States in 1957 was only the second time that Dwight D. Eisenhower had greeted a guest in person at the airport?
... that the Sclerodermataceae, a family of fungi, contains species with common names such as "hard-skinned puffballs", "earthstars" and "prettymouths"?
... that Constantine Richard Moorsom was listed as having been in the Battle of Trafalgar at the age of 13, even though he was actually in school at the time?
... that Worthy Streator never set foot in the city of Streator, Illinois, the town named for him, even though it was founded 36 years before his death?
... that Council House in Perth, Western Australia, was built to coincide with that city's hosting of the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games?

01:15, 24 November 2008 (UTC)

... that American showman P. T. Barnum proposed to buy Shakespeare's Birthplace (pictured) and ship it brick-by-brick from England to the U.S.?
... that Agnieszka Pilchowa, a noted clairvoyant in the Second Polish Republic, was also a herbalist who treated Prime Minister Józef Piłsudski and President Ignacy Mościcki?
... that Brown Mountain forest in East Gippsland, Victoria, is home to mainland Australia's largest marsupial carnivore, the Spotted Quoll?
... that the presence of indoleic acid in one's urine may indicate a pathological accumulation of the amino acid tryptophan in the blood?
... that Franklin M. Fisher served as the chief economic witness for IBM in the antitrust case U.S. v. IBM, and for the United States Department of Justice in United States v. Microsoft?
... that K-B-D, a triliteral root meaning "heavy" that is common to all Semitic languages, appears in the Old Testament 376 times?
... that the food shortages during the winter of 1946–1947 saw British farmers using pneumatic drills to harvest parsnips?

23 November 2008

19:10, 23 November 2008 (UTC)

... that Irworobongdo (pictured) is a Korean folding screen with a stylized landscape painting for symbolizing the political cosmology of the Joseon Dynasty?
... that after a plane crash killed the Governor of Oregon and the next two people in line for that office, the new governor's first act was to appoint Earl T. Newbry as Secretary of State?
... that the 1806 settlement of Chinese in Trinidad was the first organised settlement of Chinese people in the Caribbean, preceding the importation of Chinese-indentured labour by over 40 years?
... that Phil Johnson and Cotton Fitzsimmons are the only Sacramento Kings head coaches to have won NBA Coach of the Year?
... that the human bocavirus is the fourth most commonly found virus in samples collected from the respiratory system?
... that Michigan highway M-97 was simultaneously named both Reid Highway and Groesbeck Highway by different levels of government from 1927 until 1949, the year it was dedicated to Alex Groesbeck?
... that the mysterious rebel known as The Hidden claimed to be a secret prince given a divine revelation to save Spain in the Revolt of the Brotherhoods?

13:05, 23 November 2008 (UTC)

... that French explorer Robert de LaSalle (pictured) was murdered by a member of his own expedition while trying to locate the Mississippi River in 1687?
... that Indigenous Australian actor Brandon Walters had never heard of Nicole Kidman or Hugh Jackman when he signed on to co-star with them in Australia?
... that the park Ravnedalen in Kristiansand, Norway, was constructed by Colonel Joseph Frantz Oscar Wergeland and his soldiers?
... that painter T. E. Breitenbach's work Proverbidioms appeared on the TV show Beverly Hills, 90210?
... that the Minatogawa Man is among the oldest complete skeletons of modern humans recovered in East Asia?
... that Les West's cycle racing career spanned 47 years from 1960 to 2006, and included two victories in the Tour of Britain?
... that the book The Complex: How the Military Invades Our Everyday Lives explores U.S. military expenditures on items including Southern catfish restaurants and Dunkin' Donuts?

07:00, 23 November 2008 (UTC)

... that Italian mezzo-soprano Flora Perini (pictured) originated the role of the Princess in the world premiere of Puccini's Suor Angelica at the Metropolitan Opera in 1918?
... that Father Goose: His Book, an 1899 collection of poetry for children and considered at the time a liberal portrayal of multi-cultural America, is now seen as stereotyped, racist and offensive?
... that when completed in 1967, MS Finlandia was the largest ferry in the world?
... that in its second year after scholarship probation, the 2009–10 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team has four blue chip letter of intent signees?
... that, according to the answers Friedrich Engels gave in a Victorian Confession album, his idea of happiness was the wine Château Margaux 1848?
... that Mahatma Gandhi participated in the recovery and treatment of the wounded in the Second Boer War at the Battle of Colenso and Battle of Spion Kop?
... that the captain of the SS Empire Abbey died after going thirteen days without sleep in a storm off Newfoundland in February 1945?
... that Amazon.co.uk stopped selling The Complex: An Insider Exposes the Covert World of the Church of Scientology after receiving a legal letter from Scientology?

00:55, 23 November 2008 (UTC)

... that soprano Cesira Ferrani originated two of the most iconic roles in opera history, Mimì (pictured) in the world premiere of Puccini's La bohème and the title role in the premiere of Puccini's Manon Lescaut?
... that the Knight Foundry in Sutter Creek, California, is the last water-powered foundry in the United States?
... that INS Tabar, a Talwar class frigate, has escorted about 35 ships through the pirate-infested waters near the Horn of Africa?
... that the first registered clinical use of an NK₁ receptor blocker was the treatment of nausea and vomiting induced by chemotherapy?
... that after serving as a volunteer during the Mexican-American War, James W. McMillan returned to private life but still became a General during the American Civil War?
... that Natsume Sōseki's 1905 novel Kairo-kō is the earliest, and only major, prose treatment of the Arthurian legend in the Japanese language?
... that research by physician I. Bernard Weinstein investigated the cancer-causing potential of such foods as barbecued and cured meat?
... that four Portland Trail Blazers head coaches have spent their entire National Basketball Association coaching careers with the Trail Blazers?

22 November 2008

18:50, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

... that Walter Scott Lenox produced the first set of American-made china dishware (pictured) for the White House?
... that the recorded history of the Briolette of India dates back to the 12th century, making it possibly the world's oldest diamond on record?
... that opera superstar Giuseppe Cremonini's career was tragically cut short upon his sudden death at the age of 36?
... that even though the Flettner rotor bomblet was never mass-produced, William C. Patrick III called it "one of the better devices for disseminating microorganisms"?
... that Chief Justice of Queensland John Murtagh Macrossan also had two uncles who were chief justices as well?
... that the success of Gay Weddings as counterprogramming to Super Bowl XXXVII led television network Bravo to develop additional LGBT-interest programming, including Queer Eye and Boy Meets Boy?
... that Major League Baseball manager John McGraw had 2,583 wins as the New York Giants' manager?
... that Dr. Jay Katz, who escaped from Nazi Germany to the U.S. in the 1930s, opposed use of data from Nazi human experimentation, because "we cannot separate the data from the way they were obtained"?

12:45, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

... that Parkmill in Gower, South Wales, is now the home of La Charrette, the smallest cinema in Wales (pictured)?
... that Susan Crawford and Kevin Werbach have been selected by President-elect Barack Obama to lead the review of the Federal Communications Commission?
... that the antihypertensive drug Losartan becomes a more potent blocker of angiotensin receptors after it is metabolised in the body?
... that artist Adam Neate left 1,000 prints, valued at £1 million, on London streets for anyone to pick up and keep?
... that for the 1967 television documentary CBS Reports: The Homosexuals, the network concealed the identity of one of the gay interview subjects by seating him behind a potted palm tree?
... that research done by C. Harmon Brown showed that female athletes were more loose-jointed and more prone to dislocated shoulders than male athletes?
... that Mount Wycheproof, standing just 43 metres (141 ft) high, is the smallest registered mountain in the world?
... that the single "Don't Tear It Down" from Spy vs Spy's album A.O. Mod. TV. Vers. was inspired by a government agency's attempts to demolish a building the band were squatting in?

06:40, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the empire ruled by Agustín I of Mexico (pictured) lasted less than one year?
... that after initially deciding not to air the Roseanne episode "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" because it included Mariel Hemingway kissing Roseanne Barr, ABC promoted it as "the lesbian kiss episode"?
... that Harald N. S. Wergeland, Lieutenant General and Norwegian Minister of the Army, was raised by his uncle Nicolai Wergeland and enrolled at the Norwegian Military Academy at the age of twelve?
... that Washington State Route 504 was damaged when Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980 and had to be rebuilt on higher ground?
... that Cyclone Rosie was the first ever tropical cyclone to be monitored by the Tropical Cyclone Warning Center in Jakarta?
... that the 23 home runs hit by Johnny Rizzo in 1938 set a Pittsburgh Pirates team record at the time, and his nine RBI in a 1939 game set a single game team record that still stands today?
... that The Blood of Jesus was the first race film added to the U.S. National Film Registry?
... that the abuse suffered by Nia Glassie included being left in a tumble drier for 30 minutes?

00:35, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

... that C/1743 X1, the Great Comet of 1744 (pictured), is thought to have been the sixth intrinsically brightest on record and went on to develop six tails?
... that Toralv Øksnevad was known as the "voice from London" during the Second World War, when listening to foreign radio was a crime punishable by death in Norway?
... that some anti-obesity drugs, such as Rimonabant, are chemical compounds designed to specifically block cannabinoid receptors?
... that Pamela Munizzi succeeded John P. Daley, the son of former Chicago Mayor Richard J., brother of current Mayor Richard M., in office in both the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate?
... that the Catskill Escarpment is the only clearly defined boundary of the Catskill Mountains?
... that Meredith Burgmann claims to be the only Australian sent to prison after running onto a sports field during a major sporting event?
... that the proposed Levenmouth rail link in Fife, Scotland, could be used by Scotch whisky distillery freight trains as well as by passengers?
... that 2009 Michigan Wolverines football team recruit Anthony LaLota is rated among both the top ten high school offensive tackles and strong side defensive ends in the U.S.?
... that the leader of the 2004 Palm Island, Queensland riot, Lex Wotton, ran for mayor while out on bail?

21 November 2008

18:30, 21 November 2008 (UTC)

... that Sir John Luttrell, an English soldier and diplomat under Henry VIII and Edward VI, was the subject of an allegorical portrait (pictured) by Hans Eworth celebrating peace with France and Scotland?
... that the 1978 Orson Welles-directed documentary Filming Othello has never been theatrically released or presented on home video?
... that assassinated Israeli mobster Yaakov Alperon was tied to a protection racket in which restaurant owners paid by allowing the gangsters to collect empty returnable bottles from their businesses?
... that Papyrus 110, a Greek manuscript copy of the Gospel of Matthew from the New Testament, may have been composed as early as the 3rd century?
... that in addition to being a general in the Union Army, James Sanks Brisbin was also a prolific writer, and authored several works on a variety of subjects?
... that as a result of the 2006 Pine Middle School shooting in Reno, Nevada, 14-year-old shooter James Newman was sentenced to house arrest and 200 hours of community service?
... that the Związek Organizacji Wojskowej, a Polish resistance group inside the Auschwitz concentration camp, provided the first intelligence about the Holocaust to the Western Allies?
... that former Key West mayor Captain Tony Tarracino was a subject of Cuba Crossing, a 1980 film about a plot to kill Fidel Castro, and of the 1985 Jimmy Buffett song "Last Mango in Paris"?

12:25, 21 November 2008 (UTC)

... that a siphon (example pictured) is used by some marine snails for tasting, by some clams for reproducing, and by octopuses for jet propulsion?
... that although opera singer Rita Fornia began her career as a coloratura soprano, her voice lowered and darkened causing her to sing mostly mezzo-soprano roles?
... that SM U-4, commissioned in 1909, was the longest serving U-boat of the Austro-Hungarian Navy?
... that Tropical Storm Becky produced heavy rainfall in Tallahassee, Florida in 1970, causing flood-related losses to 104 families?
... that John H. Kelly was the youngest Confederate Brigadier General at the time of his appointment at 23, and one of the youngest generals to die during the American Civil War at 24?
... that there are 94 buildings with listed status in Crawley, England, including The Beehive, a circular Art Deco building that was the world's first integrated airport terminal?
... that Static Major featured in Lil Wayne's 2008 hit single "Lollipop" but died before the song was released in Tha Carter III?
... that John B. Curtis made the first commercially available chewing gum?

06:20, 21 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the 1902 discovery of gold in Interior Alaska by Italian immigrant Felix Pedro (pictured) marked the start of the Fairbanks Gold Rush?
... that during the German occupation of Norway, Astrid Løken combined entomological field research with secret photography for the resistance group XU?
... that the Melbourne Jazz Co-operative runs three jazz concerts a week and is the most active jazz presenter organisation in Australia?
... that Weraroa, a genus of pouch fungi, may represent an intermediate evolutionary stage between underground and above-ground fungi?
... that at the same time Francis "Mother" Dunn was coaching Dickinson College's football team, he was also playing professional football for the Canton Bulldogs under Jim Thorpe?
... that for his 2004 film Drum, director Zola Maseko received the top prize at FESPACO, the Golden Stallion of Yennenga, in addition to a cash prize of 10 million CFA francs (US$20,000)?
... that Julian Konstantinov, the brother of Bulgarian volleyball team captain Plamen Konstantinov, is an opera singer?
... that HMS Mahratta delivered a bathtub to Murmansk during World War II?

00:15, 21 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the Confederate Monument (pictured) in Murray, Kentucky, is the only Civil War Monument in Kentucky to prominently feature Robert E. Lee?
... that French racing cyclist Lucien Michard won four successive world championships and lost a fifth even though he crossed the line first?
... that the deaths of two pirates during the November 11, 2008 incident off Somalia, are believed to be the first time since the 1982 Falklands War that the Royal Navy has killed anyone on the high seas?
... that Arne Sunde, Norwegian Olympian, politician and World War II veteran, was President of the United Nations Security Council at the start of the Korean War?
... that the Interstate Income Act of 1959 prevents a U.S. state from collecting income tax on solicited sales within its borders, as long as the orders are filled or shipped outside of the state?
... that Don Bradman, universally regarded as the greatest batsman in cricket history, made a duck in his final Test innings?
... that the Kamchia biosphere reserve in Bulgaria is a major migratory bottleneck site where at least 60,000 White Storks pass overhead each autumn?
... that Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Irving Brown was dubbed "The Most Dangerous Man" by Time in 1952?

20 November 2008

18:10, 20 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the Nassak Diamond (replica pictured), pillaged in the 1800s from a Hindu temple where it had resided for 300 years, was later used as a gimmick to attract partygoers to a 1976 benefit?
... that Australian politician John Robertson worked as a construction worker for the New South Wales Parliament to which he was later elected?
... that Anita Bryant's participation in Save Our Children, a coalition working to overturn gay rights ordinances in Miami and other cities in 1977 and 1978, destroyed her career?
... that Major League Baseball pitchers Jim Palmer and Mike Mussina each made six Opening Day starts for the Baltimore Orioles?
... that the rare skin disorder ichthyosis bullosa of Siemens may be caused by a spontaneous mutation in the keratin 2e gene on chromosome 12?
... that actor Jesse Plemons had to get 11 stitches in his chin after offering to do his own stunts on Friday Night Lights?
... that Begonia boliviensis, one of the species used the production of the first hybrid tuberous begonia raised in England, was introduced from Bolivia by the Victorian plant collector Richard Pearce?
... that the M115 anti-crop bomb was known as the "feather bomb" because it dropped feathers laced with fungal spores in order to spread wheat stem rust?

12:05, 20 November 2008 (UTC)

... that 99 percent of Japanese municipalities collect and recycle steel cans despite not being required by law, giving the country one of the world's highest recycling rates for these cans? (Japanese recycling bins pictured)
... that Leo the Mathematician, called by some the cleverest man in 9th-century Byzantium, invented a system of beacons to warn of Arab raids and a fabled levitating throne for the emperor?
... that after the Victoria Cross began to be awarded to Royal Air Force members, navy members who had won it were required to replace their traditional blue ribbons with red ones?
... that current Colorado Rockies minor league catching instructor Marv Foley is the only baseball manager to win championships in the International League, Pacific Coast League, and American Association?
... that Anna Vissi, who represented Greece at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, has participated in the contest three times over a 26 year period?
... that Admiral Shigeyoshi Miwa commanded Imperial Japanese Navy submarine forces during the attack on Pearl Harbor?
... that the Pacific Electric Railroad Bridge in Torrance, California is used as a symbol on the patch of the local police department?
... that when rival colleague Zhang Yanshang suggested the Tang Dynasty chancellor Liu Hun be more silent, Liu commented that his tongue would not stop even if he were decapitated?

06:00, 20 November 2008 (UTC)

... that William Blake's The Wood of the Self-Murderers (pictured) is based on a passage from Dante's Divine Comedy in which bird-human hybrids feed on the leaves of trees entombing suicides?
... that in 2007, Vicki Berger played a major role in amending the Oregon Bottle Bill, which her own father had created 36 years earlier?
... that inhibitors of the enzyme dipeptidyl peptidase-4 can prevent the degradation of gastrointestinal hormones that regulate insulin release from the pancreas, making them effective anti-diabetic drugs?
... that the white deer of the Seneca Army Depot in Seneca County, New York, is the largest herd of white deer in the world?
... that Augustin Trébuchon, the last French soldier to die in the First World War, was shot 15 minutes before the war ended?
... that the Confederate Monument in Owensboro, Kentucky was sculpted by a Hungarian?
... that Tang Dynasty chancellor Li Mi declined chancellor appointments by Emperor Suzong and Emperor Daizong, eventually only accepting it under Emperor Dezong?
... that the Montecito Tea Fire, which destroyed more than 200 homes in California, was caused by smoldering embers from a bonfire party at an abandoned tea house?

19 November 2008

23:55, 19 November 2008 (UTC)

... that Hans Eworth was a Flemish artist of the Tudor court known for his allegorical paintings and his portraits of Queen Mary I (pictured)?
... that though communism was created by an atheist, communism and religion have not always had a hostile relationship?
... that the Sayre Fire resulted in the worst loss of homes due to fire in the history of Los Angeles, surpassing the loss of 484 residences in the 1961 Bel Air fire?
... that by Christmas Eve 1942, the German 17th Panzer Division had only eight tanks and one anti-tank gun left after its failed attempt to break through to Stalingrad?
... that Carl D. Keith and John J. Mooney co-invented the three-way catalytic converter, which has cut nitrogen oxide emissions from cars by 98 percent since the 1970s?
... that the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary formerly used Police Motu, a lingua franca pidgin of Motu, as its working language?
... that the church of Valmagne Abbey in south-central France has been used as a wine cave since the abbey was confiscated and sold during the French Revolution?
... that Whitcomb L. Judson is recognized as the inventor of the zipper?

17:50, 19 November 2008 (UTC)

...that George Julian Zolnay (pictured), the so-called "sculptor of the Confederacy," was actually Hungarian and did not move to the United States until decades after the Confederacy had ceased to exist?
... that the author of Autism's False Prophets, a critique of claims that autism is linked to vaccines, reportedly received death threats?
... that from 1962 to 1973, the Deseret Test Center in Fort Douglas, Utah, oversaw 46 tests using simulants and live biological and chemical agents?
... that Indian historian and Dravidologist K. A. Nilakanta Sastri served as the Director of UNESCO's Institute of Traditional Culture?
... that the music video for Sia Furler's latest single "Soon We'll Be Found" features American Sign Language?
... that the Soviet Union annexed Western Ukraine in 1939 following the invasion of Poland and an ultimatum to Romania?
... that American colonialists James Franklin and Ann Smith Franklin established Rhode Island's first printing press?
... that nephrotoxic djenkolic acid, found in the raw djenkol bean, can form needle-like crystals in the urine of people who eat the bean?

11:45, 19 November 2008 (UTC)

... that Suraj Tal (pictured), the highest lake in India, may be reached by National Highway NH-21, the highest mountain road in the world?
... that football player Michael Liddle made his international debut for Republic of Ireland under-19s although he was born in London, England?
... that the metabolic disorder Schindler disease may be caused by mutations in the NAGA gene on chromosome 22?
... that as Director of the Voice of America, Henry Loomis oversaw the introduction of Special English, in which news is read slowly with a limited vocabulary of about 1,500 words and a simplified grammar?
... that the small bright-blue mushroom Entoloma hochstetteri is featured on the reverse side of the New Zealand $50 bank note?
... that remnants of the pre-Columbian aqueduct carrying water from springs at Chapultepec can still be found in Mexico City today?
... that in 1899, Chinese immigration to Puerto Rico was prohibited by the United States Chinese Exclusion Act?
... that Imperial Japanese Navy submarine Commander Takakazu Kinashi was awarded the Iron Cross by Adolf Hitler for his role in the sinking of the American aircraft carrier Wasp?

05:42, 19 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the critically endangered Golden White-eye (pictured) of Saipan is threatened by a snake that eliminated practically all the forest birds of nearby Guam?
... that actor Don Collier, who co-starred on NBC's western series Outlaws and The High Chaparral, played football for the Brigham Young Cougars?
... that in the Ofira Air Battle, at the outset of the Yom Kippur War, two Israeli F-4 Phantom IIs shot down seven Egyptian MiGs?
... that film directors Sidney Meyers and Jay Leyda used pseudonyms for their screen credits on the 1937 production People of the Cumberland?
... that throughout his lifetime, cyclist Reggie McNamara broke his collarbone 17 times, broke his skull, nose, jaw, and leg once, had 500 stitches, and accumulated 47 scars?
... that NASDA's ETS-VII was the world's first satellite to be equipped with a robotic arm and to conduct autonomous rendezvous docking operations successfully?
... that the 14th-century Hungarian occupation of the Bulgarian city of Vidin was described by contemporaries as a "great pain for the people"?
... that the white suckerfish responds to a touch on its belly by forcefully erecting its pelvic fins?

18 November 2008

23:35, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

... that Chicago alderman Sandi Jackson (pictured) transferred from Georgetown University Law Center to University of Illinois College of Law to be with her future husband, U.S. Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr.?
... that most of the world's population of Northern Bald Ibis, an endangered species of birds, are found at Souss-Massa National Park in Morocco?
... that the World Charter for Prostitutes' Rights, adopted in 1985, calls for the right to unemployment insurance and decriminalization of adult prostitution?
... that oil company Idemitsu Kosan is exploring the potential for geothermal power in Japan?
... that Bert Olmstead played 14 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) and appeared in 11 Stanley Cup finals?
... that the Semitic triliteral Q-D-S meaning "holy" has been used in ancient and modern Semitic languages since at least the 3rd millennium BCE?
... that when asked what the most beautiful place he had ever seen in all his travels was, Gore Vidal chose the view from the belvedere at Villa Cimbrone?
... that the symptoms of exposure to the blister agent methyldichloroarsine clinically resemble poison ivy?

17:30, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

... that Maharana Pratap Sagar or Pong Dam Lake, created by the highest earthfill dam in India on the Beas River (pictured), intercepts migratory birds on their trans-Himalayan fly path during each migration season?
... that ancient Greek klismos chairs became fashionable again in the late 18th century?
... that other than visits to other institutions as a guest lecturer, James Feast lectured at the University of Durham for over 35 years?
... that Greenville Presbyterian Church was the first non-Dutch church established in New York's Catskill region?
... that species from the underground-dwelling mushroom genus Gautieria are the preferred food source of the Northern flying squirrel?
... that after testing the biological Brucella cluster bomb on 11,000 guinea pigs, a U.S. general remarked "Now we know what to do if we ever go to war against guinea pigs"?
... that the Flekkefjord Line was built to be part of the main line from Stavanger to Oslo, but a change of plans made it only a branch line?
... that the National Guard Militia Museum of New Jersey has on display the Intelligent Whale, an experimental Civil War-era submarine propelled by a hand crank operated by its four-man crew?

11:25, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

... that Manitowoc, Wisconsin, held a "Sputnikfest" in 2008 to celebrate a piece of the Soviet Sputnik 4 spacecraft that crashed near the Rahr West Art Museum (pictured) in 1962?
... that pre-operative transsexual Miki Mizuasa was nominated for the Best Actress award at the 2007 Adult Broadcasting Awards even though she was born a male?
... that Sanctus Real was the most-played artist on American Christian radio in 2006?
... that Hugo Bettauer, author of a satire depicting Vienna after expulsion of its Jews, was shot and killed in 1925 after Nazis branded him a "Red poet" and "corruptor of youth"?
... that the M143 bomblet held the equivalent of 300 million lethal doses of anthrax?
... that Lionel Baker is the first cricketer from Montserrat to represent the West Indies senior side at international level?
... that most of the place names in Palestine are Arabised words with ancient Semitic roots that were preserved by the local indigenous population, facilitating their identification with biblical sites?
... that John Daly, a New York City criminal, was rumored to be paying $100,000 a week in protection money to the New York Police Department in the late 1800s?

05:20, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

... that in 1967, the M139 bomblet (interior pictured) was tested in Hawaii using live Sarin nerve agent?
... that in Norse mythology, Sinmara is a female companion of Surtr, a fire jötunn?
... that veteran LGBT rights activist Hank Wilson started or co-founded at least ten LGBT organizations in the San Francisco area?
... that the soil-dwelling nematode-killing fungus Paecilomyces lilacinus has been known to cause human eye infections?
... that "Still Alive", the theme to action-adventure video game Mirror's Edge, was written by Rami Yacoub, who has also written material for Britney Spears?
... that according to British wine critic Jancis Robinson, only certain wines can improve significantly with age, and most wine is consumed too late rather than too early?
... that the graphical plot of the Sabatier principle, a concept used in chemical catalysis, is often called a "volcano plot" because of its distinctive shape?
... that before she was disassembled for scrap in 1932, USS Holland, the first submarine commissioned by the U.S. Navy, spent many years as an attraction in Starlight amusement park in New York City?

17 November 2008

23:15, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

... that architect Harry Seidler described the skyscraper QV.1 (pictured) in Perth, Western Australia, as the best building he had ever built?
... that at one time, the Sneath Glass Company produced almost 90 percent of the glassware used in consumer refrigerators in the United States?
... that Beijing Communist Party chief Li Ximing was a leading supporter of military action against the Tiananmen Square protests that resulted in the deaths of hundreds, possibly thousands, of people?
... that Glen Ord is the only remaining single malt scotch whisky distillery on the Black Isle in the Highlands of Scotland?
... that the wide variety of people who have been deported from the United States includes Jamaican boxer Trevor Berbick, political activist Emma Goldman, and Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh?
... that prehistoric ridgeway trails, though often steep, were usually the firmest and safest cart tracks before the advent of paved roads in western Europe?
... that Mike Davis envisioned making recreational boats available on the Hudson River in New York City after seeing how boats could be rented in Istanbul and rowed on the Bosporus?

17:10, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

... that George J. Seabury with Robert Wood Johnson I developed a medicated adhesive plaster (pictured) with a rubber base as a precursor to the Johnson & Johnson Band-Aid?
... that James John Skinner was the only White member of the Zambian cabinet when that nation gained independence in 1964?
... that Loyola College in Maryland, a Jesuit college with "little athletic tradition," has had 13 first-team All American honorees from the men's lacrosse team?
... that Terence Mitford, who spent his whole academic career as an archaeologist at the University of St Andrews, was a member of the Special Air Service during the Second World War?
... that the historic Wayne Morse Farm in Eugene, Oregon, was the home of Wayne Morse who represented Oregon in the United States Senate from 1944 until 1968?
... that Rob Epstein, Academy Award-winning director of The Times of Harvey Milk, also directed Paragraph 175 chronicling the treatment of homosexuals in Nazi Germany?
... that the first railroad depot in Stanford, Kentucky, was built due to a compromise between Union general Ambrose Burnside and the Louisville and Nashville Railroad?
... that as part of Operation Large Area Coverage the U.S. Army sprayed much of the eastern United States with zinc cadmium sulfide particles?

11:05, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

... that at the inauguration of the sixth Aztec Templo Mayor in 1487 (scale model pictured), thousands of prisoners of war were ritually sacrificed, bathing the steps of the pyramid in blood?
... that Operation Steel Box moved 100,000 American chemical weapons from Clausen, West Germany, to Johnston Atoll in the South Pacific Ocean?
... that Hedley Howarth helped lead New Zealand to its first ever test cricket win on the Indian subcontinent with a five-wicket bag against India in 1969?
... that in a baseball match held at the Capitoline Grounds on June 14, 1870, the Brooklyn Atlantics defeated the Cincinnati Red Stockings, ending their 84 game winning streak?
... that the acquisition of the Corus Group in October 2006 has made Tata Steel India's second largest company in the private sector?
... that the Confederate Memorial in Nicholasville, Kentucky, took sixteen years to fund, and was originally a statue of a Union soldier?
... that German entrepreneur, race driver and yacht skipper Udo Schütz won the 1000 km Nürburgring in 1967, the Targa Florio in 1969, and the Admiral's Cup in 1993?
... that Louis Dicken Wilson left Edgecombe County US$40,000 upon his death in 1847, but US$28,000 of it was wasted?

05:00, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

... that Symphony in C by Georges Bizet (pictured) was a completely unknown piece until it was discovered at the Paris Conservatory library in 1933, nearly 60 years after Bizet's death?
... that the Survival of the Shawangunks is a Hudson Valley triathlon which requires competitors to carry their running shoes as they swim?
... that Turkish poet Süleyman Nazif witnessed first hand the decaying corpses of persecuted Christians in his home town of Diyarbakır in July 1915?
... that Frank Filchock, Jack Faulkner, Mac Speedie, Jerry Smith, John Ralston, and Red Miller have all spent their entire coaching careers with the Broncos?
... that the habitat of the rare West Virginia land snail Triodopsis platysayoides is protected by a fence?
... that Anarchy Alive!, a 2007 book by Oxford-educated academic and anti-authoritarian activist Uri Gordon, has been cited as a "defining text" of the contemporary anarchist movement?
... that Joe Hyams' first celebrity interview, with Humphrey Bogart, came after a chance meeting with Bogart's press agent at the pool of The Beverly Hills Hotel?
... that Leverett Candee became the first person in the world to manufacture rubber footwear?

16 November 2008

22:55, 16 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the Rolls-Royce LiftSystem (pictured) was awarded the prestigious Collier trophy in 2001?
... that Erie County voters elected Antoine Thompson to the New York State Senate after he defeated cousins Marc Coppola and Al Coppola during the 2006 Democratic primary election?
... that French anarchist and writer Charles Malato had a Neapolitan grandfather who suppressed a popular insurrection as commander-in-chief of the army of the last King of Naples?
... that after first taking the Fifth Amendment in 1951, director Robert Rossen named 57 people as Communists to the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1953 to escape the Hollywood blacklist?
... that the turnout in the 1997 Pakistani general election was the lowest ever in Pakistan?
... that Florence Wald, former Dean of Yale School of Nursing, has been credited as "the mother of the American hospice movement"?
... that the 1916 film Cenere contains the only cinematic performance by the Italian theater star Eleanora Duse?
... that the Honolulu High-Capacity Transit Corridor Project led to Honolulu's 2008 mayoral elections being referred to as a "referendum on rail transit"?

16:50, 16 November 2008 (UTC)

... that millwrights from Canterbury, Kent, built Moses Montefiore Windmill (pictured) in Jerusalem, Israel, in 1857?
... that James-Younger Gang member "Dick" Liddil surrendered to authorities after killing Jesse James' cousin, reportedly out of fear of that James would seek revenge?
... that despite being captured during the Battle of the Philippines, the Nurse Corps regiment known as the Angels of Bataan continued to serve as a nursing unit throughout their internment?
... that the term battery in baseball was first used by Henry Chadwick in reference to the firepower of a team's pitching staff, inspired by artillery batteries then in use in the American Civil War?
... that wine writer Malcolm Gluck has been involved in a row with Salman Rushdie over who is the quicker book-signer?
... that Bridgwater Bay is the location of the last mudhorse fisherman in England?
... that Paul Callaway was so short a hydraulically-operated pedalboard was custom-made for the Washington National Cathedral's organ, so he could reach the pedals comfortably?
... that Eduard August von Regel, a 19th-century German botanist, named and described over 3,000 new plant species?

10:45, 16 November 2008 (UTC)

... that Li Yong (pictured with Guido Mantega) was the first and second secretary to the United Nations Mission from China?
... that the day after his birthday, General Archibald Gracie III was looking out at the Union lines through his telescope when an artillery shell exploded in front of him killing him instantly?
... that Sir Philip Cohen has written over 470 peer-reviewed papers, and was the third most cited academic in the UK during the 1990s?
... that anthropologist Richard Price was one of the first to show that Maroons, previously considered largely "without history," possessed rich and deep historical consciousness?
... that author Tom De Haven attended Catholic school in Bayonne, New Jersey with fellow writer George R. R. Martin?
... that Zeno Vendler's model of lexical aspect, first proposed in 1959, is still widely used in multiple areas of linguistic research today?
... that physician William Beierwaltes, a pioneer in nuclear medicine, was one of five attendees at the first course for doctors offered by the Atomic Energy Commission on the medical use of radioisotopes?
... that John Trudeau established the Britt Festival in Oregon in 1962, the first of its kind in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S., and now a four-month long celebration of music and musical theater?

04:40, 16 November 2008 (UTC)

... that Rear Admiral Minoru Ōta (pictured), commander of the Imperial Japanese Navy at the Battle of Okinawa, had earlier been earmarked to command Japanese landing forces at the Battle of Midway?
... that the walls of Peter the Great's first "palace" in the nascent St Petersburg, a 60 m² (650 sq ft) log cabin, were painted to resemble brickwork?
... that Michael Higgins prepared himself for a career in the theater by working to rid himself of his Brooklyn accent as a teenager?
... that the fungus Albatrellus subrubescens was first collected from Florida and Czechoslovakia?
... that Caterpillar Inc. employs 4,000 Central Illinois workers at its Peoria headquarters?
... that English mathematician and geographer Robert Hues served his master Thomas Grey, the last Baron Grey de Wilton, while Grey was imprisoned in the Tower of London?
... that Columbia Park in Torrance, California served as the home field for U.S. Women's soccer players Joy Fawcett and Carin Jennings-Gabarra?
... that Gwilym Davies was the first person to broadcast in Welsh, on Saint David's Day in 1923?

15 November 2008

22:35, 15 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the top of the 51-storey Central Park tower (pictured) in Perth, Western Australia sways about 30 cm (12 in) in the wind?
... that French opera singer Gustave Huberdeau performed roles ranging from lead roles to character roles to mute roles?
... that the bacterium Propionibacterium freudenreichii is responsible for forming the holes in Swiss cheese by releasing carbon dioxide?
... that the intricate rococo decoration of the Grand Church of the Winter Palace was recreated in papier-mâché after a fire destroyed most of the original interiors of the Winter Palace in 1837?
... that the proposed Bigeye bomb was designed to spray VX nerve agent over a target area by gliding through the air over it?
... that Jewish immigration to Puerto Rico began in the 15th century and that Puerto Rico has the largest and richest Jewish community in the Caribbean?
... that the first journal articles written by the entomologist Robert Perkins were published when he was a classics student with no scientific education?
... that U.S. federal judge Malcolm Marsh's father and uncle both served as presidents of the Oregon State Bar?

16:30, 15 November 2008 (UTC)

... that Henry Pitkin and his brother produced the first American-designed pocket watches (pictured) with machine-made parts?
... that when the SS Mahratta ran aground on the Goodwin Sands in 1939, it settled on top of a ship that had sunk thirty years earlier and was also named Mahratta?
... that a 30-metre (98 ft) tsunami was created when Broke Off Cliff fell into Western Brook Pond, which is a fjord in Canada?
... that Bridgwater Bay is the location of the last mudhorse fisherman in England?
... that the members of Montreal-based electronic music duo Beast first met while working for a video game company?
... that protests by Rev. Abraham Woods about the 1990 PGA Championship at the Shoal Creek country club led the club to admit its first black member?
... that "There's No One As Irish As Barack O'Bama" is a folk song first performed in the village where Barack Obama's great-great-great grandfather was born?
... that early childhood educator Barbara T. Bowman co-founded the Erikson Institute, a graduate school in child development, with the support of philanthropist Irving Harris?

10:25, 15 November 2008 (UTC)

... that Richard Maack (pictured) was a Russian naturalist who led some of the first major scientific expeditions to remote Siberia and the Russian Far East?
... that Taishō Baseball Girls is a light novel series about an all-girl baseball team set in Taishō era Japan?
... that Thirumangai Alvar, considered one of the most learned Alvar saint-poets in Hinduism, was a robber before becoming a saint?
... that Henry Cornelius Burnett is one of only five members in history to be expelled from the United States Congress?
... that Austro-Hungarian submarine SM U-16, which sank two ships and captured a third during World War I, was the only boat of the U-10-class to sink during the war?
... that the largest earthquake ever recorded in the U.S. state of Illinois took place at approximately 11:02 a.m. on November 9 1968?
... that the Jadad scale is the world's most widely used means of assessing the methodological quality of clinical trials?
... that when Veronica Mars was cancelled after its third season, fans sent more than 10,000 Mars Bars to the CW television network, hoping to persuade it to renew the series?

04:20, 15 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the final section of La Nouvelle branch (pictured), a canal in south-central France, was constructed in 1776 to link Narbonne to the Canal du Midi?
... that following In re Bilski, a decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the legal validity of many business method patents is now uncertain?
... that Norwegian mathematician Bernt Michael Holmboe played an important role in the career of Niels Henrik Abel?
... that the Mucking excavation, one of the largest archaeological digs of its time in Europe, uncovered artifacts spanning a period of some 3,000 years?
... that overseas revenues rose tenfold during the decade that Richard Rompala helped to lead the paint and coatings manufacturer Valspar?
... that "Hindu Taliban" is a pejorative term used by some tolerant or "secular" Hindus to describe the supporters of the Hindutva movement?
... that Juniper Networks has updated its JUNOS software every 90 days since its creation in 1998?
... that after endangering himself to control the imperial horse, Qi Ying was made an imperial attendant by Emperor Dezong of Tang?

14 November 2008

22:15, 14 November 2008 (UTC)

... that Psilocybe montana (pictured), the type species of the well-known genus of hallucinogenic mushrooms, does not contain any psychedelic compounds?
... that one poetic focus in William Wordsworth's early life, especially in the "Lucy" poems, the "Matthew" poems, We are Seven, and Lucy Gray, is man's relationship with death and nature?
... that Japan and India signed a peace treaty and established diplomatic relations in April 1952, one of the first such treaties by Japan after World War II?
... that Vânia Fernandes, who represented Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, was Portugal's first entrant to qualify for the Contest's final from its semi-final round?
... that the President of Colombia's administrative department has an annual budget of over COL$16 billion?
... that after a federal jury in Portland, Oregon decided against the defendant in Byron v. Rajneesh Foundation International, an inner circle of Rajneesh followers plotted to murder the plaintiff?
... that Japanese admiral Ogasawara Naganari, close confidant and biographer of Fleet Admiral Togo Heihachiro, was tutor to Emperor Hirohito on naval matters?
... that, due to his support of Kentucky's efforts to secede from the Union, Henry Cornelius Burnett is one of only five members in history to be expelled from the United States Congress?

16:10, 14 November 2008 (UTC)

... that a large earthquake monitoring network was established in China's Yunnan Province 25 years after the 1970 Tonghai earthquake (location pictured)?
... that SOE officer Joachim Rønneberg was a leader of the Norwegian team attempting to sabotage the German nuclear energy project during WWII?
... that legend has it that Nainital Lake in Uttarakhand, India, was created when three pilgrims dug a hole which filled from the sacred Tibetan Lake Manasarovar?
... that the growth of Astragalus brauntonii, a species of milkvetch, is spurred by fire?
... that Beninese political figure Justin Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin remained under house arrest from 1972 to 1981 after being overthrown in a coup d'état?
... that St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Troy, New York, was originally built as a replica of a Church in New Haven, Connecticut?
... that Norwegian Constituent Assembly member Nicolai Wergeland was father of feminist writer Camilla Collett and poet Henrik Wergeland?
... that, when amateur club TSV Vestenbergsgreuth beat German champions FC Bayern Munich 1–0 in the 1994-95 DFB Cup, a memorial stone was later erected to commemorate the event?

10:05, 14 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the Royal Coachman (pictured), first made in 1878, may be the world's best-known fly?
... that Ranulf le Meschin ruled Cumberland before becoming Earl of Chester in 1120?
... that Rheinmetall's 120mm gun L/55 tank gun can attain muzzle velocities of up to 1,750 meters per second (5,700 ft/s) with new kinetic energy penetrators?
... that Izzat Darwaza, the Arab nationalist leader of al-Fatat, was a principal organizer of the 1936-1939 Arab revolt in Palestine?
... that the U.S. Marine Corps celebrates its birthday on the anniversary of the day that the 2nd Continental Congress authorized the creation of the Continental Marines?
... that Beast vocalist Béatrice Bonifassi sang on Champion's album Chill'em All, and also provided the singing voices for Les Triplettes de Belleville?
... that the football rivalry between ASV Herzogenaurach and FC Herzogenaurach can be traced back to the rivalry between the clubs' sponsors, Adidas and Puma?
... that Mike Tompkins, the Natural Law Party vice-presidential candidate in the 1992 and 1996 U.S. elections, is a direct descendant of U.S. presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams?

04:00, 14 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the Montigny mitrailleuse (pictured), an 1860s mobile volley gun, was very heavy at 2,000 pounds (910 kg)?
... that Lucy of Bolingbroke paid King Henry I of England 500 marks after the death of her third husband, Ranulf le Meschin, for the right not to remarry?
... that the ataaba is a traditional Arabic music form in which oral folk poetry is melodically improvised by a solo vocalist?
... that the Sheffield Iris newspaper's first editor fled the UK when troops tried to arrest him, and its second was imprisoned for six months on charges of malicious libel?
... that Andreas Lauritz Thune, who took over the manufacturing company Thune at the age of 23, was among the founders of the Federation of Norwegian Manufacturing Industries in 1889?
... that Jack Bruce's 1969 LP Songs for a Tailor was titled in tribute to the wardrobe designer for Bruce's former band, Cream?
... that Joe Wendryhoski, an inaugural member of the New Orleans Saints, played every offensive snap as the starting center for the team's first two seasons?

13 November 2008

21:55, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

... that plant collector Charles Curtis, who first introduced the Nepenthes northiana (pictured) variety of pitcher plant to England, went on to become the first superintendent of the Penang Botanic Gardens?
... that the successful escape from the multi-ship mutiny at the Nore by Royal Navy Captain Charles Cunningham in 1797 led to that mutiny's failure?
... that in 1969, Toyota Motor Corporation imported McLaren M12s and installed their own V8 engines in a bid to better compete against Nissan in Japanese Group 7 races?
... that Amy Peterson competed in the first five Olympics in which short track speed skating was a sport?
... that the sticky bomb was designed by Stuart Macrae at a laboratory known as "Winston Churchill's Toyshop"?
... that because Fred Perrett switched from rugby union to rugby league he was often left out of lists of Wales players who died in action during World War I?
... that the only significant Koreatown established by Koreans in Spain is in Las Palmas on the island of Gran Canaria?
... that on July 8, 1942, pitcher Doyle Lade threw a no-hitter and won the game 1–0, with his solo home run providing the only run support for his team?

15:50, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the insectivorous plant Heliamphora nutans (pictured) was re-discovered in British Guiana in 1881 and successfully introduced to England by David Burke?
... that Charles Taylor was the first of thirteen Welsh international rugby players to die in action during World War I?
... that Almoloya del Río, a Mexican small town with the population of 7,992, hosts an international biker rally every year?
... that Hurricane Lisa of the 1998 Atlantic hurricane season attained forward motion of over 58 mph (93 km/h) on October 9?
... that The Finnish Association of Graduate Engineers has been in charge of publishing Finland's ethical guidelines on engineering for over 40 years?
... that the first submarine boat and self-propelled torpedo, and the engines for the ironclad warship USS Monitor were all built at the foundry operated by Cornelius DeLameter?
... that the Ropar Wetland, in addition to being home to several endangered and threatened species, was the site of the signing of an 1831 treaty between the English and the Sikhs?
... that Wonderland Greyhound Park in Revere, Massachusetts features over 7 miles (11 km) of underground piping which heats the race track on cold and wet days?

09:45, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

... that despite having only 28 men to his opponent's 92, William Rogers (pictured) not only defended his ship from a privateer, but boarded and captured her with just five men?
... that Grace Church is one of few remaining structures from the once-thriving town of Ca Ira, Virginia?
... that the Manifesto of the Sixteen was a controversial declaration of support for the Allied cause in World War I from a group of prominent anarchists?
... that in 2007 the Kenyon Athletic Center was surrounded by Knox County residents to "form a shield of protection" in preparation for a Billy Graham Evangelistic Association event?
... that the Commission on Social Welfare, from 1983 to 1986, reviewed social welfare in Ireland?
... that former American Medical Association president Ronald Davis played a major role in the AMA's 2008 apology to black doctors for the organization's history of racial discrimination?
... that at 440 meters (1,440 ft), Della Falls in British Columbia is the tallest waterfall in Canada and 16th-tallest in the world?
... that Rear Admiral John Adams of the Royal Navy was the author of The Adventure of Charlie the Cone, based on stories about a traffic cone, that he made up for his children on long trips?

03:40, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

... that eight Kaba class destroyers (destroyer pictured) of the Imperial Japanese Navy were based in Malta in World War I?
... that Tarab Abdul Hadi co-founded the first Palestinian women's organization in 1929?
... that arcing horns are projecting conductors used to protect insulators on high voltage transmission systems from damage during flashover?
... that the Stella Artois television advertisement Good Doctor won more awards than any other television campaign in 2002?
... that relief pitcher Doug Nickle was assigned to seven different clubs over the course of his six-year major league baseball career?
... that with his appointment to Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in 1966, Robert C. Weaver became the first African American to hold a U.S. Cabinet Secretaryship?
... that Finnish-born filmmaker Antero Alli shot his 1995 science fiction feature The Drivetime on a budget of U$5,000?
... that Canadian-born Jim Koleff spent three decades in Europe as an ice hockey player, coach and manager after telling coach Dave Chambers that he would play in Italy for one year?

12 November 2008

21:35, 12 November 2008 (UTC)

... that Bernard Courtois was the discoverer of iodine (crystal structure shown)?
... that the Banc Ty'nddôl sun-disc, a gold ornament discovered at Cwmystwyth, is over 4,000 years old, making it the earliest gold artifact discovered in Wales?
... that quartic reciprocity was first conjectured by Swiss mathematician Euler in 1748–1750, but not proved until 1836–37 by Prussian mathematician Jacobi?
... that Hitachi Zosen Corporation built the first oil tanker in Japan in 1908 per an order by Standard Oil Company?
... that before becoming a full-time professional footballer at the age of 21, Mike Bickle worked as a milkman?
... that the Lebanese Navy SEALs undergo heavy military training, which spans three months and sometimes reaches 20 hours per day?
... that U.S. President Benjamin Harrison appointed James R. Tanner Commissioner of the Pension Bureau in 1889, but had to remove him six months later because he vastly exceeded his office's budget?

15:30, 12 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the force-feeding (pictured) of suffragette, arsonist and hunger-striker Lilian Lenton caused food to enter her lungs and led to public outrage?
... that men from the 1st Oregon Volunteer Infantry Regiment were the first explorers to climb down the 800-foot (240 m) caldera wall to reach the shore of Crater Lake?
... that Dream Cinema is the last remaining single-screen movie theater in Seoul, Korea?
... that athlete Al Hall won three Pan American Games gold medals in the hammer throw in three consecutive decades, with wins in 1959, 1963 and 1971?
... that the Australian band Spy vs Spy had to change its name to avoid legal action from the publishers of Mad magazine?
... that of the over 4,000 U.S. chemical munitions found to be leaking chemical agents in 2002, more than 2,000 were Sarin-containing M55 rockets?
... that lice from mummified guinea pigs and mites preserved in amber while feeding on spiders have provided evidence for researchers in the field of paleoparasitology?
... that the first same-sex kiss on an American soap opera was between fictional characters Lena Kundera and Bianca Montgomery in 2003, who were also American soap opera's first lesbian couple?

09:25, 12 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the Little Pied Cormorant (pictured) lays eggs that are covered in lime?
... that in 2005, Shannon Sohn became the first helicopter news reporter to win a national Emmy Award, which she won for her coverage of the crash of the helicopter of a rival TV station?
... that among other methods, archaeoparasitologists study historical human parasites by looking for references to them in art and literature?
... that the Ghost Town Trail in Western Pennsylvania utilizes 36 miles (58 km) of donated and abandoned railroad and features many abandoned mining ghost towns?
... that Tropical Depression One-C of the 2005 Pacific hurricane season caused minor flooding on the Island of Hawaii?
... that the Confederate Memorial in Fulton, Kentucky is the only one in the state with a statue atop an arch?
... that HMS Hinchinbrook was Horatio Nelson's second navy command, and his first as post-captain?
... that editor Kenneth P. Johnson, who ran a story that led to the article subject's suicide as threatened, stated that "if a story is newsworthy and supported by the facts, it is our policy to publish"?

03:15, 12 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the first platform scale was built in 1830 by Thaddeus Fairbanks (pictured) to measure large loads accurately?
... that Norwegian researchers published Gay Kids in November 2008 to educate children about homosexual love?
... that Miguel Ramón Izquierdo was the last Francoist mayor of Valencia, Spain and secured the transfer of the Turia River gardens from the Spanish crown to local administration?
... that in November 1864, Camp Nelson′s Union soldiers forced 400 ex-slaves outside its shelter, resulting in 102 exposure deaths?
... that actor David Morrissey gained 2 stone (28 lb; 13 kg) for his role as Gordon Brown in the 2003 film The Deal?
... that only nine goaltenders have scored a goal in a National Hockey League game?
... that Ernest Peixotto′s 1916 work Our Hispanic Southwest was the first appearance of the ethnic slur "spic" in writing?
... that American Joe Lutz became the first foreigner to manage a team in Japanese professional baseball when he was selected to manage the Hiroshima Carp in 1975?

11 November 2008

21:10, 11 November 2008 (UTC)

... that when completed in 1988, the 52-storey BankWest Tower in Perth, Western Australia (pictured) was the eighth tallest concrete skyscraper in the world?
... that Henry Fitz was the first American to make refractor telescopes and constructed the largest refracting telescopes in America on five different occasions?
... that BOHICA is an acronym that means "Bend Over, Here It Comes Again"?
... that Ann Nixon Cooper, the subject of Barack Obama's presidential acceptance speech, served for more than fifty years on the board of Gate City Nursery Association?
... that during the history of San Diego State University some students joined the armed forces during World War II and assisted in the Doolittle Raid over Japan?
... that Soviet defector Boris Bazhanov became the only assistant at Joseph Stalin's secretariat to ever turn against the Soviet regime?
... that Edi Gathegi fell into acting when he took up an undergraduate acting class as an "easy course" after sustaining a basketball injury?
... that actor Nate Parker was an All-American wrestler in both high school and college?

15:05, 11 November 2008 (UTC)

... that U.S. president-elect Barack Obama delivered his acceptance speech (pictured) from behind 2 inches (51 mm) of bulletproof glass?
... that Ludvík Čelanský was the founder and the first principal conductor of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra?
... that historian Richard C. Lukas estimated that upwards of one million Poles were involved in the rescue of Jews by Polish communities during the Holocaust?
... that ballerina Rosella Hightower received critical acclaim in 1947 after filling in for the sick Alicia Markova and learning the role of Giselle in five hours, having never danced the part before?
... that the curfew law associated with the curfew bell started by Alfred the Great was abolished by Henry I of England?
... that David G. Booth gave US$300 million—the largest ever gift to a business school—to his alma mater, now renamed the University of Chicago Booth School of Business?
... that Henri Joseph Fenet, a soldier in World War II, was awarded both the Croix de Guerre by France and the Knight's Cross by Germany?
... that the historic Charles Shorey House mixes both gambrel and gable roofs?
... that Polish-Armenian Roman Catholic priest, Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski was ordered to be silent by the Krakow Curia because of his clergy lustration activities?

09:00, 11 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the Boy Scouts of America celebrated their fortieth anniversary in 1950 with the theme of Strengthen the Arm of Liberty (Lady Liberty statue pictured)?
... that Captain Odd Isaachsen Willoch, an uncle of later Norwegian Prime Minister Kåre Willoch, was lost with his ship in 1940 during the Battles of Narvik?
... that in 2008, the biofuel company Mascoma received a US$26 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop a cellulosic fuel production facility?
... that Eugene Vaulot of the Waffen SS destroyed eight tanks during the Battle of Berlin in 1945, earning himself a Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross days before he was killed in action by a sniper?
... that one of the international polls on the 2008 U.S. presidential election found 22 percent of German women would have an affair with Barack Obama?
... that Nausicaä, the main character from the Hayao Miyazaki manga and film, is based on Nausicaa from the Odyssey and "The Princess Who Loved Insects", a Japanese folk hero?
... that when cellist George Sopkin auditioned for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at age 18, conductor Frederick Stock looked at him and remarked "so we're taking Boy Scouts now?"
... that Foggerty's Fairy by W. S. Gilbert included a plot device that anticipates modern fantasy and science fiction stories like the film Back to the Future?
...that B.P. Newman, a business entrepreneur from Laredo, began operations with a dairy distributorship but branched into restaurants, subdivisions, apartments, and ranches throughout much of Texas?

02:50, 11 November 2008 (UTC)

... that at age 14, Jack Dorsey (pictured) developed software that is still used to dispatch taxicabs and inspired him to create Twitter?
... that the Connecticut River Museum is located in a restored 1878 steamboat warehouse?
... that, though there is no evidence for it, Louis Rocca is credited with having coined the name Manchester United?
... that a digital time capsule "A Message From Earth" was transmitted to the planet Gliese 581c and included a message by actress Gillian Anderson consisting of images of George W. Bush and Barack Obama?
... that ballet impresario George de Cuevas faced Serge Lifar in a 1958 duel with swords, that was described as "the most delicate encounter in the history of French dueling"?
... that Jheryl Busby, once President and CEO of Motown Records, was a major shareholder of the first African-American-owned national bank in the U.S. along with Janet Jackson and Magic Johnson?
... that Pacific University's first building at its Health Professions Campus in Hillsboro, Oregon, attained LEED gold status in 2007?
... that in 784, due to wars and famine in the capital Chang'an region, Emperor Dezong of Tang sent the official Liu Zi to Nanchang to conduct imperial examinations for examinees from southern China?

10 November 2008

20:45, 10 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the Arabian Hall of the Winter Palace (pictured) was named after four "massive Negroes" who were attendants of the Tsar?
... that India's Harike Wetland has a concentration of migratory waterfowl with a number of globally threatened species?
... that Harrison Gray Dyar erected the first telegraph line and dispatched over it the first message ever sent, making him the real inventor of the telegraph?
... that the works of Azerbaijan-born artist Semyon Bilmes have been featured in Reader's Digest, The New York Times and in advertisements for AT&T and Citibank?
... that Clarence W. Spangenberger was the last president of Cornell Steamboat Company, whose more than sixty vessels once made it the largest tugboat company in the United States?
... that Qualifying Industrial Zones are special free-trade zones in Jordan and Egypt created to take advantage of the free trade agreements between the United States and Israel?
... that Zeituni Onyango is the half-aunt of President-elect Barack Obama and a political asylum claimant from Kenya whose case was disclosed in the final days of the 2008 U.S. presidential election?
... that at Royal Rumble (1993), the winner was guaranteed a match for the WWF Championship at WrestleMania, which subsequently became an annual tradition?

14:40, 10 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the 1835 Greek Revival Cannon Building (pictured) in Troy, New York was rebuilt with a mansard roof after several fires in the 1870s?
... that during one trial of the Mexican Inquisition, 123 men were accused of homosexuality but 99 managed to escape before the proceedings?
... that Mark Canton, producer of 300 and The Spiderwick Chronicles, started his movie career working in the mail room of Warner Bros.?
... that The ABC of Communism by Nikolai Bukharin and Evgenii Preobrazhensky was the most widely read political work in Soviet Russia?
... that the Confederate Memorial Gateway in Hickman, Kentucky took ten years and US$10,000 to build?
... that Tzvia Greenfeld is the first Haredi woman to serve as a member of the Knesset?
... that Lexington, North Carolina's urban revitalization efforts include the Pigs in the City public art initiative?
... that Bill Stall of the Los Angeles Times won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing for a series of editorials the Pulitzer board said "served as a model for addressing complex state issues"?
... that Black Iraqis still maintain their African heritage in healing ceremonies?
... that attorney P. Cameron DeVore died of an apparent heart attack, but jested in a self-written obituary that he had succumbed to "a surfeit of pâté de foie gras ice cream smothered in huckleberries"?

10:35, 10 November 2008 (UTC)

... that according to musical analyst Sir Donald Tovey, every page of Opus 20, composed in 1772 by Joseph Haydn (pictured), is "of historic and aesthetic importance"?
... that the Union Station in Owensboro, Kentucky was once turned into a discothèque and a pizza parlor?
... that in 1919, Poland tried to overthrow the Lithuanian government, but the Sejny Uprising resulted in the plan's failure?
... that pianist and composer Moshe Cotel chose to become a rabbi after meeting a Holocaust survivor who was so inspired by his retelling of the story of Alfred Dreyfus that she had returned to Judaism?
... that most of the information available about English novelist Phebe Gibbes is derived from an application to the Royal Literary Fund for financial support in 1804?
... that the Michigan Tech Huskies, from Michigan's Upper Peninsula, have won three NCAA Division I championships in ice hockey, with players such as Tony Esposito?
... that in 1966, Vin Denson became the first British rider to win a stage of the Giro d'Italia?
... that William Jay Bolton was the first artist in the United States to design and manufacture figural stained glass windows?
...that before becoming a general in the American Civil War, Robert Alexander Cameron worked as a newspaper publisher?

06:30, 10 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the Kohler-Andrae State Park (pictured) consists of two separate state parks, one donated by an electric company president and another by Kohler Company?
... that SM U-5, ceded to Italy in 1920 as war reparations, was the only member of the U-5-class submarines of the Austro-Hungarian Navy to survive World War I?
... that Manny Harris was the first player to start for three consecutive Detroit Public School League Basketball Champions since Jalen Rose and Voshon Lenard?
... that bilateral trade between India and Poland has grown by more than seven times from 1992 to 2007?
... that William Louis Abbott, American doctor and philanthropist, went to Madagascar to enlist in the native army against the second French occupation of the island?
... that an initial €1 million was allocated for the new political foundations at European level in 2007–08?
... that the historic ranger's residence in the Clackamas Lake Ranger Station Historic District, no longer needed by park rangers, is now used mainly by recreational visitors?
... that the subprime mortgage crisis, among several other factors, led to a negative demand shock in the U.S. economy, which causes demand for goods and services to decrease?
... that Terence Tolbert, Nevada state director for Barack Obama's presidential campaign, died of a heart attack at age 44, two days before the 2008 U.S. presidential election?

02:26, 10 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the Bert Bolle Barometer (pictured) in Denmark, Western Australia, is the largest barometer in the world?
... that after serving in the Norwegian Parliament for four terms, Ingvald Godal involved himself in solidarity work for Chechnya?
... that the Urakami class destroyer Kawakaze of the Imperial Japanese Navy was built in Scotland, sold to the Regia Marina of Italy and sunk as a ship of the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany?
... that memorials to the Confederacy in Mayfield, Kentucky include a fountain and a series of cemetery gates?
... that SM U-10 and SM U-11, which were U-10-class submarines constructed in Germany and shipped to Austria-Hungary by rail, were both commissioned into the German Imperial Navy and the Austro-Hungarian Navy during World War I?
... that Thomas Paton worked on the construction of the Owen Falls Dam which was responsible for the first complete stoppage of the White Nile in history?
... that Castle Rushen in the Isle of Man was founded by the Norse king Magnus III in the 13th century and used today as a museum and lawcourt?
... that the "Valley of Tears" in the Golan Heights was so named after it became the site of a major battle in the Yom Kippur War?
... that Japanese admiral Mitsumi Shimizu authorized the midget submarine operation during the attack on Pearl Harbor?
... that General James Deshler was killed instantly by a Union cannon's artillery shell at the Battle of Chickamauga?

9 November 2008

19:15, 9 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the CZ 2075 RAMI (pictured) was named by combining the first two initials of the two people who originally designed it?
... that William Munroe was the first manufacturer of pencils in the United States?
... that Subtropical Storm One in 1978 is the only Atlantic subtropical cyclone to develop in the month of January?
... that David Jeaffreson served as Commissioner of ICAC before retiring from the Hong Kong government in 1991?
... that the restoration of the Tithe Barn, Pilton in Somerset, England was supported by profits from the Glastonbury Festival?
... that Zaki Tun Azmi became the Chief Justice of Malaysia after serving just over one year in the superior courts of Malaysia?
... that director Peter Ustinov instructed Richard Burton not to blink during his performance as the sociopath in the 1972 film Hammersmith is Out?
... that Tang Dynasty official Li Mian kept places at feasts for two deceased subordinates for three years after their deaths, offering meals and wine to their spirits?
... that Nationalist commanders offered 500 pesetas for each T-26 Spanish Army tank captured from the Popular Front during the Spanish Civil War?
... that Ylon Schwartz, main event finalist at the 2008 World Series of Poker, has gambled on backgammon, darts, horses, and his ability to toss lemons across a street onto the roof of a Burger King?

15:10, 9 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the Hart-Cluett Mansion (pictured) in Troy, New York, is the only intact example of the luxury homes commonly built in early–19th century New York City?
... that veteran Tour de France commentator Daniel Mangeas has been called a "talking encyclopedia of cycling" because he never needs notes?
... that the steamboats Enterprise and Maria once had a monopoly on transport along the Fraser River in British Columbia?
... that al-Karmil, an Arabic language newspaper first published in Haifa in 1908, was founded with the express purpose of "opposing Zionist colonization"?
... that Joseph C. Hare, American politician and lumberman, has a railroad station, railroad stop, and valley all named after him?
... that Meare Pool was an important source of fish for Glastonbury Abbey before being drained between 1500 and 1750?
... that Policeman Bluejay, a children's novel by L. Frank Baum of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz fame, was first published in 1907 under the pen name "Laura Bancroft"?
... that Schloss Vollrads claims to be the oldest winery of Germany?
... that the Mediterranean land snail species Papillifera bidens lived in England for over 100 years before being discovered?
... that Franz Burgmeier became the first Liechtensteiner to play football in England after being signed on the advice of a club chairman's twelve-year-old grandson?

11:06, 9 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the threatened noonday globe land snail (pictured) is known only from a two-mile (3 km)-long area inside the gorge of the Nantahala River in North Carolina?
... that when Australian cricketer Jack Massie fought at Gallipoli, he wore a scarlet rag on his right arm to distract snipers from his bowling arm?
... that William Shockley, co-inventor of the transistor, also helped calculate the solar cell's Shockley-Queisser limit?
... that Rear-Admiral Charles Austen′s family included Admiral of the Fleet Francis Austen, and the novelist Jane Austen?
... that Ford Road in Dearborn, Michigan, was named for William Ford, father of Henry?
... that Zhang Yanshang, his father, son, and father-in-law were all Tang Dynasty Chinese chancellors?
... that Kentucky's Paducah Freight House was bigger than required because it was originally intended to service a larger rail network?
... that the meaning of "Der Pleier", the pseudonym of the 13th-century author of the romance Garel, is unknown, though it might refer metaphorically to glassblowing?
... that Milan Bandić was elected in 2005 as the mayor of Zagreb, Croatia, with the support of only a seventh of eligible voters?
... that country music singer Jeremy McComb was once a tour manager for comedian Larry the Cable Guy?

06:50, 9 November 2008 (UTC)

... that art historian Albert Boime theorized that Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night (pictured) was based on positions of celestial objects at 4 a.m. on June 19, 1889?
... that Amasa Holcomb was the first in the United States to manufacture telescopes?
... that Nemattanew, a renegade Powhatan captain dubbed "Jack-of-the-Feather" in 1611 for his extravagant regalia, believed he was invincible to English bullets?
... that the Fodder Scam involved the alleged embezzlement of about Rs. 950 crore (US$ 199 million) from the treasury of the Indian state of Bihar?
... that the silhouette artist S. John Ross had a 60-year association with the Sydney Royal Easter Show, and created portraits of Vivian Leigh and Nicole Kidman?
... that broadcaster Tony Dean was eulogized by a South Dakota Senator for striking a balance in "his advocacy on behalf of conservation and sportsmen alike"?
... that Ingres painted Jupiter and Thetis to fulfill his obligations to the French Academy in Rome, a body famous for the patriarchal attitude that the work seeks to repudiate?
... that the Norwegian manufacturing company Thune, started in 1815 as a blacksmith's workshop, later expanded to build agricultural machinery, turbines and locomotives?

02:40, 9 November 2008 (UTC)

... that William Blake's painting The Ghost of a Flea (pictured) caused some contemporaries to believe that he was a madman?
... that Jacob Earl Fickel is credited with firing the first gunshots from an airplane?
... that India's Kanjli Wetland, a manmade wetland created in 1870, has been recognised by the Ramsar Convention for its rich biodiversity?
... that the 1855 Wairarapa earthquake was the most powerful earthquake in New Zealand?
... that Scotsman Adam Menelaws became the de facto leading architect of the Russian Empire when he was around seventy years old?
... that Clärenore Stinnes was the first person to circumnavigate the world by automobile in an Adler Standard 6?
... that the California Milk Processor Board spent US$1.5 million in 2002 to popularize the Latin American drink licuado as a way to promote milk consumption?
... that an outer jacket, magoja was introduced to Korea after the king's father, Heungseon Daewongun, returned from Manchuria in 1887?
... that horror novelist Anne Rice has cited the 1936 film Dracula's Daughter as an inspiration for her own homoerotic vampire fiction?

8 November 2008

20:24, 8 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the cruise ship MS Astor (pictured) was ordered in 1985 as an ocean liner for Safmarine's UK–South Africa service, but the service was abandoned before the ship was completed?
... that a riot at Paducah, Kentucky's Woolfolk Home led to Ulysses S. Grant's promotion above his superior officer, Brigadier General Charles Ferguson Smith?
... that India's Sir Arcot Ramasamy Mudaliar was the first President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council?
... that the LAPD Air Support Division in Los Angeles is the nation's largest municipal airborne law enforcement organization?
... that after his diagnosis with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, tributes to Allan Rosenfield included a song dedication by Bono at a U2 concert?
... that in his 1933 essay In Praise of Shadows, Junichirō Tanizaki includes monastery toilets in his reflections on Japanese aesthetics?
... that in 1917, baseball managers John McGraw and Christy Mathewson were arrested after a game for playing on Sunday?
... that the Egyptian Communist Organisation was nicknamed "Mishmish", meaning apricot in Arabic?
... that the Wishram Indian Village Site is believed to have been occupied for at least 10,000 years?

15:40, 8 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the original owner of the diamond Star of the South (replica pictured) sold it for a mere £3,000, and the buyer later deposited it in the bank of Rio de Janeiro for £30,000?
... that the book Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control was runner-up in the 2005 Times Higher Education Supplement Young Academic Author Award?
... that the Observer Group was the first joint-United States Army/Marine unit to be organized and trained specifically for amphibious reconnaissance?
... that for building a giant reservoir, King Mahasen, who ruled Sri Lanka from AD 275 to 301, was declared a God by his subjects?
... that Paducah, Kentucky's Lloyd Tilghman Memorial honors a Marylander, and was built by an English immigrant from Boston?
... that William David Davies was the first Welsh non-conformist to obtain a Bachelor of Divinity degree from the University of Oxford?
... that the state of Wisconsin proposed the route of Wisconsin Highway 57 as an Interstate Highway corridor in the 1950s?
... that Gants Mill is an historic watermill now generating hydroelectric power from the River Brue?
... that James Wandin, the first Australian Rules footballer of aboriginal descent to play with St Kilda Football Club, was also the tribal leader of the Wurundjeri people?

11:29, 8 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the British War Office placed orders for the Norton 16H (pictured) longer than for any other single make of motorcycle?
... that Symantec was originally founded by Gary Hendrix to focus on AI-related projects such as natural language processing?
... that the Valencian regional parliament, the Corts Valencianes, has its origins in assemblies established in the thirteenth century by King James I of Aragon?
... that Byron recorded seeing the "tigers sup" at the Exeter Exchange menagerie in central London owned by Edward Cross?
... that the Zlín International Film Festival for Children and Youth, one of the oldest youth film festivals, included over 500 films from 52 countries in 2008?
... that in 2004, The Hershey Company released three flavors of a new product called Snack Barz?
... that the 1919 Ihlen Declaration, made by Norwegian Foreign Minister Nils Claus Ihlen on the subject of Greenland's sovereignty, led to an international court case?
... that Estelle Reiner′s deadpan line —"I'll have what she's having"—after Meg Ryan's faked orgasm in When Harry Met Sally, was ranked by the AFI as one of the best ever movie quotes?

07:13, 8 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the so-called "lobster mushroom" (pictured) is a delicacy created by one fungus, Hypomyces lactifluorum, parasitising another, usually Russula brevipes?
... that Grandmaster Valentina Golubenko, the first and only World Youth Chess Champion born and raised in Estonia, is a Russian citizen playing under the Croatian flag?
... that the 1925 Irish Senate election required a change in the law governing the layout of the ballot, to allow all 76 candidates to be listed?
... that Lt. Henry B. Hidden is believed to be first officer of Union volunteer cavalry killed in the American Civil War?
... that the Sunday Closing Act of 1881, which restricted the opening of public houses in Wales, was the first legislation for over three centuries to recognise that country as distinct from England?
... that Tang Dynasty official Xiao Fu refused to placate the chancellor Wang Jin by offering Wang ancestral property that Wang wanted?
... that the entrance to Kaipara Harbour has treacherous sandbars known as "the graveyard", which are responsible for more shipwrecks than any other place in New Zealand?
... that Terence Fox was made the first Shell Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Cambridge despite never having published a research paper?

02:58, 8 November 2008 (UTC)

... that Rowland Lockey, an English painter and miniaturist, made copies of the work of other artists, including Hans Holbein the Younger (detail of one such copy pictured)?
... that Ōe Taku, after spending 12 years in prison for treason, was elected to the lower house in the Diet of Japan in 1890?
... that the 2008-09 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team is in its first season off of scholarship probation following the University of Michigan basketball scandal?
... that rather than await execution, Russian anarchist assassin Moishe Tokar doused himself in paraffin from his prison cell lamp and burned himself alive?
... that in geometric group theory, a Dehn function is an optimal function associated to a finite group presentation which estimates the area of a relation in that group in terms of its length?
... that Alfred D'Orsay Tennyson Dickens, the son of novelist Charles Dickens, died in New York in 1912 while on a lecture tour celebrating the centenary of his father's birth?
... that many Norwegian political parties opposed the establishment of a State Secretary, only to expand that institution when in power?

7 November 2008

19:50, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

... that "bleeding tooth fungus" is a member of the woody toothed fungus genus Hydnellum (example pictured)?
... that until his death in 1927, James C. Donnell was the last man to call John D. Rockefeller simply "John"?
... that the controversial Scout Moor Wind Farm, which opened in September 2008, is presently the largest onshore wind farm in England?
... that Tang Dynasty chancellor Jiang Gongfu was removed from office when he opposed Emperor Dezong's wish to build a pagoda in mourning his daughter Princess Tang'an?
... that Camp Beauregard, an American Civil War camp in western Kentucky, was abandoned in less than six months due to over 1,000 cases of typhoid and pneumonia?
... that in 1999, the government of India issued a postage stamp to commemorate Madras politician P. Kakkan?
... that in his 2001 post-anarchist book From Bakunin to Lacan, Saul Newman questions how modernist anarchism can refrain from reproducing the forms of oppression that it tries to overcome?
... that Richard Petty and his crew chief Dale Inman presented the first artifact to the NASCAR Hall of Fame, the car that Petty drove to a record 27 victories in 1967?

15:48, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

... that although the Ariel W/NG 350 (pictured) was not initially selected by the British War Department, they were in great demand after the evacuation of Dunkirk in the World War II?
... that the Shinbashi Enbujō in Ginza, Japan, today a major kabuki theatre, was originally built to serve as a venue for geisha dances?
... that the 20 deaths in the Donora Smog of 1948, called one of the worst air pollution disasters in American history, have been credited with leading to passage of the U.S. Clean Air Act in 1970?
... that the Moon of Baroda, a 24.04-carat diamond, was worn by actress Marilyn Monroe and Empress Marie Therese of Austria?
... that the Wooldridge Monuments have been dubbed "The Strange Procession Which Never Moves"?
... that Kukkarahalli lake adjoining the University of Mysore, was created in 1864 during Mummadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar's rule of the Kingdom of Mysore, to provide water for irrigation?
... that Judith Wachs, who spent 30 years with her Sephardic music group Voice of the Turtle, first turned to music when she filled in for her husband who signed up for recorder lessons but could not attend?
... that Bruce McLaren Motor Racing's first use of the color now known as "McLaren Orange" was on their McLaren M6As, which won the 1967 Can-Am Challenge Cup?

11:36, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

... that Nebuchadnezzar (pictured), a colour monotype by William Blake, depicts the Babylonian king "crawling like a hunted beast" with "his wild eyes full of sullen terror"?
... that the hen Matilda lived to age 16 and became the world's oldest chicken in 2004, never laying any eggs?
... that the documentary series Bertie and Haughey on the lives of former taoisigh Bertie Ahern and Charles Haughey were made by Mint Productions?
... that Swiss balloonist Eduard Spelterini was acclaimed for aerial photography before the development and proliferation of aeroplanes?
... that no multicellular organisms have ever evolved wheels or similar propulsion methods, although the Pleuroptya ruralis caterpillar can roll and a species of mantis shrimp performs somersaults?
... that the Polish Righteous among the Nations, Alfreda and Bolesław Pietraszek, rescued families of 18 Jews during the Holocaust on their farm in Ceranów?
... that Japanese author Jun'ichirō Tanizaki attributed his phobia of earthquakes to the collapse of his family house in the 1894 Meiji Tokyo earthquake?

06:18, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the green flash (pictured) is a by-product of a corresponding mirage of an astronomical object?
... that Akkamma Cherian, an Indian freedom fighter, was popularly known as the "Jhansi Rani of Travancore?"
... that redistributive change is a theory of economic justice that promotes the recognition of poverty as a suspect classification under U.S. law?
... that Cavallo's multiplier was an 18th-century electrostatic influence machine used to amplify electric charge?
... that Floyd Rayford was the baseball player that Cal Ripken, Jr. replaced in the starting lineup to begin his streak of 2,632 consecutive games played?
... that the Apostlebird of inland Australia is so named after the Twelve Apostles as it was seen to travel in groups of twelve?
... that "Guan ju", one of the oldest poems in Chinese literature, was praised by Confucius for its restrained emotions?
... that Mayor of New York City John Lindsay was said to have been so angered by Edith Evans Asbury of The New York Times that he broke his telephone after slamming down the receiver?

02:05, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

... that shortly after architect Ralph Anderson's early "modernist glass-box phase" he began rehabilitating turn-of-the-century buildings (example pictured) in Seattle's Pioneer Square district?
... that the pilot edition of the BBC Radio 7 comedy A Series of Psychotic Episodes was nominated for a Sony Radio Academy Award?
... that at Washington State University from 1948 to 1950, Bob Gambold was the quarterback of the school's football team and the starting forward for its basketball team during all three of those years?
... that after retiring from the stage opera singer Emma Carelli managed the Rome Opera House for almost 15 years?
... that Bowie Seamount on the British Columbia Coast of Canada is one of the most biologically rich submarine volcanoes on Earth and was an active volcanic island throughout the last glacial period?
... that the award nominated film Lonesome Jim had a last minute budget cut from US$3 million down to US$500,000 and had to be shot in only 17 days?
... that Microsoft made its largest acquisition ever when it purchased digital marketing company aQuantive for over US$6 billion?

6 November 2008

20:24, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

... that Albrecht Dürer's Great Piece of Turf (pictured) shows plants such as cocksfoot, creeping bent and hound's-tongue?
... that Minneapolis hip hop duo Ill Chemistry performed live as part of a Minnesota Ballet production?
... that biologist J. B. S. Haldane replied "Precambrian rabbits" when asked what would destroy his confidence in the theory of evolution?
... that Vienna Fingers cookies, first sold in 1915, were mentioned in American playwright and screenwriter Neil Simon's 1965 play The Odd Couple?
... that Fort Pearce, a former defensive facility in Point Nepean, Victoria, Australia, was active during World War I but never fired its guns in anger?
... that S&H Green Stamps, co-founded by Thomas Sperry, produced more trading stamps in some years than stamps printed by the U.S. Postal Service?
... that five of the video games nominated for the Annie Award for Best Animated Video Game are adaptations of animated films?
... that Mark Rubin, a safety for the Penn State Nittany Lions, defeated Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps in swimming while in high school?

15:38, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the snail Elimia virginica (pictured) colonized the Oswego River but was out-competed from there by another non-indigenous snail?
... that during World War II Robert Furman served as director of intelligence and espionage for the American atomic bomb project?
... that Sunday Island in Victoria, Australia is a private game reserve surrounded by a marine park?
... that the Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired Massaro House has an 18-foot (5.5 m)-high living area illuminated by 26 triangular skylights?
... that in 1844 Gazulu Lakshminarasu Chetty established the Crescent, the first Indian-owned newspaper in Madras Presidency?
... that Father Nelson Baker, founder of the Basilica of Our Lady of Victory in Lackawanna, New York, is buried in the basilica's transept in a grotto hewn from Vesuvian black lava?
... that the fishing industry in New Zealand works an exclusive economic zone fourteen times larger than the land area of New Zealand itself?
... that the Black-throated Finch has a black-rumped and a white-rumped subspecies?
... that Larry McCall was released by the Baltimore Orioles and was signed with the New York Yankees as a free agent both on the same day?

11:37, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the head of the passerine bird, the Noisy Friarbird (pictured), is mostly bare of feathers?
... that two white supremacists allegedly plotted to assassinate Senator Barack Obama as part of a supposed plan to murder more than 100 African Americans in Tennessee?
... that Nike Flywire uses Vectran fibers to reduce the weight of shoes used in athletics, basketball, badminton, and tennis by as much as 50%?
... that Yunus-bek Yevkurov, the current president of Ingushetia, is a recipient of the Hero of Russia award, the country's highest honourary title?
... that the double balcony of Proctor's Theater in Troy, New York, made it ideal for showing motion pictures when that medium became popular in the 1920s?
... that India's Mafia Raj, or "mafia regime," first emerged around the state-owned coal mines of Jharkhand?
... that David W. Mullins Jr. abruptly resigned in 1994 as vice-chairman of the United States Federal Reserve to join a "dream team" of financial engineers at the hedge fund Long Term Capital Management?
... that in the 1965 film The Greatest Story Ever Told, California's Death Valley was used as the setting of Jesus' 40-day journey into the wilderness?

07:07, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

... that Spectacle Reef Light (pictured), a lighthouse on Lake Huron, Michigan, has been described as "one of the greatest engineering feats on the Great Lakes"?
... that the Guatemalan Black Howler and Mantled Howler monkeys are sympatric over parts of Mexico and Guatemala?
... that when Adobe Systems acquired the company Scene7 in May 2007, its CEO, Doug Mack, became vice president of the Creative Solutions Services division at Adobe?
... that Nazi Germany used thousands of Polish laborers to build infrastructure for their invasion of the Soviet Union?
... that Kirk DeMicco, writer-director of the 2008 animated film Space Chimps, conceived of the film after hearing a line from Chuck Yeager in The Right Stuff?
... that conviction politics have been criticized as being a "hard ideology"?
... that the French navigation authority Voies navigables de France manages 3,800-kilometre (2,400 mi) of canals and 2,900-kilometre (1,800 mi) rivers on the largest network of waterways in Europe?
... that soprano Meagan Miller, accustomed to wearing US$10,000 gowns on stage in her opera performances, chose to wear her mother's simple gown for her summer 2008 wedding?

03:00, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the Lazarus syndrome is named after Lazarus of Bethany (pictured), who the Bible says was raised from the dead by Jesus?
... that three roads in Guide Board Corners, New York were damaged and closed by Hurricane Agnes?
... that punch bowls were occasionally used as baptismal fonts in dissenting families?
... that E. Roger Muir, creator and producer of The Howdy Doody Show, suggested that the title puppet run for "President of the Boys and Girls" in the 1948 U.S. presidential election?
... that the Chengziya Archaeological Site in China is thought to be the largest prehistoric settlement found to date?
... that out of the ten players that attended Morehead State University who eventually played in Major League Baseball, Ron Klimkowski was the only one who attended the college for only one year?
... that two members of the French band Zebda ran for political office in Toulouse during the 2001 municipal elections, and won 12.38 percent of the vote?
... that magazine publishing company Condé Nast Publications made its largest acquisition ever when it purchased Fairchild Publications for US$650 million?

5 November 2008

19:44, 5 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the Buffalo pebble snail (pictured) is adapted to survive both on rocks in a fast stream and also on sandy bottoms in stagnant water?
... that computer software company Red Hat made its largest acquisition ever when it acquired free software support company Cygnus Solutions for US$674 million?
... that the African and Malagasy Union was a former intergovernmental organization created to promote cooperation among African states, but went defunct in 1985?
... that M-68 was a discontinuous state trunkline highway in Northern Michigan between 1940 and 1946?
... that Jean Robic, winner of the 1947 Tour de France, was so light that at mountain summits he was handed lead and mercury-ballasted drinking bottles for gravity-assisted descents?
... that the connective tissue disorder gerodermia osteodysplastica is also known as "Walt Disney dwarfism" because the first known patients were described as resembling "dwarves from a Walt Disney film"?
... that Milton Hebald's 1960 sculpture depicted the 12 signs of the zodiac on the Pan Am Worldport at John F. Kennedy International Airport?

14:27, 5 November 2008 (UTC)

... that Market Square (pictured) in Lviv, Ukraine, together with the historic city center, was recognized in 1998 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site?
... that David Wagner was the number-one ranked quadriplegic wheelchair tennis player in both singles and doubles in 2007?
... that technology company Dell made its largest acquisition ever when it purchased EqualLogic, a storage device manufacturer, for US$1.4 billion in January 2008?
... that Bob McDonald, a Canadian Football League player who survived polio, was elected to the 25th Canadian Parliament at age 25?
... that the small mountain-top Aztec temple of El Tepozteco in Mexico, dedicated to the god of pulque, an alcoholic beverage, attracted pilgrims from as far away as Guatemala?
... that a friction hoist can require up to 30 percent less motor power than a drum hoist for a given application?
... that The Outsiders, a novel written by S.E. Hinton, has sold over 14 million copies since it was published in 1967?
... that when Tang Dynasty general Zhang Yi signed a peace treaty with Tufan, he made an offering of goats instead of the customary cattle and horses because he was embarrassed to be dealing with "barbarians"?

10:24, 5 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the northernmost extreme point of Sweden is Treriksröset (pictured), where the borders of Sweden, Norway and Finland meet?
... that basketball player Jojo Duncil was prevented from playing for the UST Growling Tigers in his final year of eligibility when a birth certificate stated that he was overage?
... that the Japanese novel Kanikōsen is one of the best-selling books of 2008, despite being published in 1929?
... that Thomas Gold Appleton, the brother-in-law of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow known as "the Boston wit", is reported to have said as he was dying, "It will be a new experience"?
... that the Export Control Act of 1940 ceased the exportation of military equipment to pre-WWII Japan which pushed the United States and Japan closer to war?
... that On the Green Carpet was the first North Korean film to be invited to the Berlin International Film Festival, where it was screened in 2004?
... that The Edgewater, an over-water hotel on Seattle's Central Waterfront, used to advertise that you could "fish from your room"?
... that actress Dina Cocea was known in Romania as the "Queen of the Theater" and received the country's highest civil award, the Order of the Star of Romania?

03:29, 5 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the elongated tails possessed by the males of some species of paradise-flycatchers (pictured) are thought to be the products of sexual selection?
... that Bernard Sainz, known as "Dr Mabuse" because of his success in horse racing and cycling, was jailed for three years for administering doping products?
... that the U.S. Navy's SC-21 program to rethink warship design led to the "tumblehome" hull of the Zumwalt class destroyer?
... that Wales rugby international and Welsh Rugby Union Secretary Bill Clement was awarded the Military Cross for his actions in World War II?
... that Hanwei Group is the biggest producer of eggs in the People's Republic of China?
... that five individual career records were set during the 2008 season of Canadian university football?
... that "Milk and Alcohol" ranked on Britain's top-10 hit singles chart in 1979 and was the biggest hit for the band Dr. Feelgood?
... that the Saint John River is one of six major rivers in Liberia?
... that Hall of Fame Major League Baseball pitcher Phil Niekro had no wins and six losses in eight Opening Day starts for the Atlanta Braves?

4 November 2008

19:39, 4 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the guns at Fort Nepean (pictured) in Victoria, Australia fired the first Allied shots of both World War I and World War II?
... that at the time he was appointed Governor of Arizona Territory, C. Meyer Zulick was a prisoner in Mexico?
... that the Welsh village name Ynysddu means "black island", although the village is not located on an island?
... that the first Chinese migrant to Madagascar arrived in 1862, starting a community that would become Africa's third-largest Chinese population?
... that while enrollment at U.S. tribal colleges and universities has increased significantly since 1982, California's only tribal college, D-Q University, had just six students in 2006?
... that HMS Braak was seized and brought into the Royal Navy when the former Dutch ship anchored in Falmouth, unaware that the Dutch had gone to war with Britain?
... that the 2006 novel The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery was a "publishing phenomenon" in Europe?
... that Hall of Famer Mel Ott made his final appearance as a Major League Baseball player pinch hitting for Ken Trinkle?

15:16, 4 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the adolescent subject of Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres's Mademoiselle Caroline Rivière (pictured) died within a year of her portrayal by the French master?
... that five historic districts in downtown Troy, New York were merged in 1986 to create the Central Troy Historic District?
... that Wales rugby international Harry Payne finished his playing career after breaking his ankle in a match, at the age of 84?
... that the musical Conversation Piece by Noel Coward starred a French actress, Yvonne Printemps, who spoke no English?
... that former child actor Roger Mobley served as a Green Beret in the Vietnam War and is now a Christian pastor in Texas?
... that Tiger's Whip, a piece of installation art by Singaporean artist Tang Da Wu, highlights how the tiger is being hunted for its penis?
... that Norwegian industrial company Denofa used whale oil as a basis for refinement before the use of soy became common?
... that the Colonel Robert A. Smith Monument, which honors Smith and the 10th Mississippi Infantry, is believed to be the second-biggest single-stone monument in the United States?

09:53, 4 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the citadel and city at Sigiriya (pictured) in Matale, Sri Lanka were constructed by Kashyapa I in the 5th century?
... that IMS Associates, Inc. became one of the earliest successful personal computing companies, before going bankrupt in 1979 after just six years?
... that the recent persecution of albinos in Tanzania and Burundi is based on the belief that their body parts have magical power and impart prosperity?
... that for a short time in the late 1940s, it was planned that USS Hawaii (CB-3) would be the U.S. Navy's first guided missile cruiser?
... that Polish composer Rafał Augustyn′s Symphony of Hymns took twenty years to complete, typically lasts for 100 minutes and requires an orchestra of over 170 players?
... that the Gotham Book Mart in Manhattan's diamond district, with its iconic Wise Men Fish Here sign, was frequented by distinguished authors such as Henry Miller and Allen Ginsberg?
... that Italian tennis player Federico Luzzi was prohibited from wearing a shirt with a Playboy bunny logo while competing at the 2007 U.S. Open tournament?
... that Lou Dorfsman considered the Gastrotypographicalassemblage he created for the CBS Building's cafeteria to be his magnum opus?

04:26, 4 November 2008 (UTC)

... that Tsomoriri (pictured), with an altitude of 4,595 metres (15,075 ft) in Ladakh, is the largest of the High Altitude Lakes in the Trans-Himalayan biogeographic region entirely within India?
... that the first military aerodrome in Britain was at Larkhill, and the first squadron to use aeroplanes was formed there?
... that the Special Administrative Unit of Civil Aeronautics is the Colombian government agency in charge of managing the airspace, civil aviation, and the aviation industry in Colombia?
... that the Victorian Wader Study Group catches and releases, on average, more than 7000 birds a year?
... that Svend Borchmann Hersleb Vogt, the Auditor General of Norway from 1898 to 1923, was also a judge and a member of the Norwegian Parliament?
... that operatic soprano Gail Robinson won the Metropolitan Opera auditions at the young age of 19?
... that Tang Chinese General Guo Ziyi would not let the women in his household meet government official Lu Qi when he visited the Guos' mansion because he considered Lu too ugly and treacherous?
... that Expedia, Inc. made its largest acquisition ever when it purchased Travelscape for over US$89 million?

3 November 2008

22:28, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the mossy leaf-tail gecko (pictured) of Madagascar possesses dermal flaps which disguise its outline?
... that Jens Jensen initiated the establishment in 1901 of the International Secretariat of National Trade Union Centres?
... that there are 30 million smokers in Japan, making the country one of the largest tobacco markets in the world?
... that the liberal film company Brave New Films has produced full-length videos and paper advertisements in addition to the viral videos for which it is known?
... that Waardenburg syndrome is named after Dutch ophthalmologist Petrus Johannes Waardenburg?
... that the Workers Committee for National Liberation, a communist labour group, was broken up by the Egyptian government in January 1946?
... that after retiring from the entertainment industry, actress/singer Francine Everett took a clerical job at Harlem Hospital in New York City?
... that Estonia generates 90 percent of its power from oil shale?
... that Henri Pépin extended the notion of riding the Tour de France to stopping in good restaurants and sometimes finishing 12 hours behind the leaders?

12:17, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

The Transit of Venus March

... that John Philip Sousa's "Transit of Venus March" (listen) was rediscovered by a staffer at the Library of Congress in 2003 after it had been believed lost for over 100 years?
... that German geologist Heinrich Edmund Naumann discovered a new species of fossil elephant in Japan?
... that Grigory Orlov is credited with subduing the Russian plague of 1770-1772?
... that the cruise ship Costa Allegra was originally built as the container ship Annie Johnson?
... that the Gashash HaHiver trio, which included Shaike Levi, was awarded the Israel Prize in 2000 for lifetime achievement and contribution to Israeli entertainment and society?
... that the Troy, New York post office has been in ten different places since it was first established in 1796?
... that Dr. T. M. Nair founded India's Justice Party along with Theagaroya Chetty?
... that Actionable Offenses is a CD compilation of profane and sexually explicit phonograph recordings from the 1890s, which Anthony Comstock’s Society for the Suppression of Vice managed to get banned?

06:47, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

... that there are 91 locks on the Canal du Midi (pictured) in the south of France?
... that The Mass Psychology of Fascism, a book written by Wilhelm Reich in 1933, blamed sexual repression for the rise of fascism?
... that the oceanic dolphin Costero is officially the same species as the river dolphin Tucuxi, even though they have been unambiguously demonstrated to be genetically different?
... that the 2007 Bengali film Kaal, based on the lives of four women trapped in the world of human trafficking, is in trouble with the Bengali regional censor board over some scenes considered too graphic?
... that after failed attempts for 1964, 1968 and 1972, the Calgary Olympic Development Association successfully brought the Winter Olympics to Calgary, Canada in 1988?
... that Japanese admiral Misu Sotarō lost his left eye while commanding the Nisshin at Battle of Tsushima in the Russo-Japanese War?
... that during Mexico City's colonial period, so many grand mansions were built that the city gained the nickname of the "City of Palaces"?
... that the inshore marine fish bumpnose trevally and longfin trevally are similarly shaped and thus often misidentified, reportedly even in some museum collections?

00:30, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

... that Lake Pichola (pictured), an artificial fresh water lake created in 1362, is named after the nearby Picholi village in Udaipur city?
... that despite pioneer Japanese journalist Kuga Katsunan's advocacy of Japanese nationalism, government censors shut his newspaper down 30 times between 1889 and 1896?
... that the acceptance of a Cannes Gold Lion by the art director for Nike's Pretty television ad marked the first time the award was given to a Lebanese person?
... that King Dhatusena, who ruled Sri Lanka from 455 to 473, constructed 18 irrigation tanks, an irrigation canal, and the Avukana Buddha Statue?
... that the gate piers of Ferne Park, a country house built in 2001 in Wiltshire, England, are Grade II listed structures?
... that an opponent of Australian politician Ian West suggested he was better known by "seagulls" than by the constituents of Manly?
... that Major League Baseball player Nolan Ryan had three wins and no losses as the California Angels' Opening Day starting pitcher?
... that angry St Ives, New South Wales residents threatened to disrupt upcoming film Accidents Happen by playing the bagpipes during filming?

2 November 2008

18:44, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

... that Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel won a medal as a fine artist in Paris before becoming a children's book illustrator (example pictured)?
... that the Ediacaran organism Eoandromeda may represent the earliest animal fossil unless it turns out to be an alga?
... that Naganandini is the 30th Melakarta rāgam in the 72 melakarta rāgam system of Carnatic music?
... that during the mid-20th century, cemesto panels were used in both prefabricated housing and houses designed by prominent architects?
... that New York noise-rock band Flux Information Sciences's 2001 album Private/Public was recorded before an invited audience of 50 friends who stood around the studio naked and blindfolded?
... that Australian politician Christine Robertson once addressed a "Dorothy Dixer" question to the wrong Minister in Parliament?
... that St Mary's Cathedral, Tuam in County Galway, Ireland, contains a 12th-century arch which has been called "the finest example of Hiberno-Romanesque architecture"?

13:27, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

... that during World War I, the German Army produced shale oil from Yarmouk oil shale deposits in Jordan to operate the Hijazi Railway (pictured)?
... that Daryl Veltman was the first overall selection in the 2008 Entry Draft by the Boston Blazers of the National Lacrosse League?
... that in order to get her first and only film role, actress Phyllis Welch MacDonald had to sign a contract pledging not to marry or become engaged for six months?
... that in 1929, Western Australia celebrated its Centenary of foundation, which included dances, race meetings, an air race and other sporting events?
... that the Wingspread Conference on the Precautionary Principle established the internationally accepted definition of the precautionary principle?
... that the blue trevally, a popular gamefish in South Africa, was first described in 1775 based on a specimen taken from the Red Sea?
... that pitcher Jackson Todd threw 13 complete games during the 1973 college baseball season, a University of Oklahoma record which still stands?
... that in Hopi mythology, the Kachina Nataska enforces good behavior among children?
... that Australian politician Lynda Voltz's step-father and grand step-father were also politicians?

08:11, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the deep water offshore fish whitefin trevally (pictured) has excellent eyesight in the dark due to the presence of tapetum in its eyes?
... that the 1996 Opening Day game for the Oakland A's at Cashman Field in Las Vegas marked the first time in 39 years that a regular season major league game was played in a minor league stadium?
... that four questions about how to assess the patentability of software-related inventions have been referred to the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office?
... that the Henry DeLand House has served as a private house, an inn, a speakeasy, a bar, a restaurant and most recently, a catering hall?
... that gemstones and heroin are traded from Burma to China for motorcycles and household goods across the Shweli River, which forms part of the boundary between the two countries?
... that Kalaallit Dr. Karla Jessen Williamson was Editor of the Journal of Indigenous Studies before she became the first woman and first Inuk Executive Director at the Arctic Institute of North America?
... that an enterolith is a calculus found in the intestine of an animal, usually a horse or human?
... that Abram S. Piatt was an American Zouave colonel and Civil War general who later built a castle in Logan County, Ohio?

02:08, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the Apega of Nabis was an ancient torture device similar to the iron maiden, invented by King Nabis of Sparta (pictured on coin)?
... that the call made by Limnodynastes dorsalis, a frog species in Western Australia, is similar to the sound of a plucked banjo string?
... that William Headline, who spent 12 years as the Washington, D.C. bureau chief for CNN, was described by Wolf Blitzer as having "the best name in news"?
... that purity of the Sasthamkotta Lake water for drinking use is attributed to presence of a large number of larvae called cavaborus, which consume much of the lake's bacteria?
... that former Norwegian government minister Johan Henrik Rye Holmboe was subject to an impeachment case in 1926–27, but found not guilty?
... that actor Spencer Williams played a female fortune teller in his 1946 film Dirty Gertie from Harlem U.S.A.?
... that the Yellowspotted trevally is a species of inshore marine fish of the family Carangidae found in the Indo-Pacific region?
... that writers associated with the modernist literary magazine Profil included Køltzov, Lunden, Obrestad, Haavardsholm and Vold?
... that the William Forst House was the site where the Confederate government of Kentucky was founded, commemorated nearby with the Confederate Monument in Russellville?

1 November 2008

19:55, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

... that Naksansa (pictured) is a Korean Buddhist temple founded in 671 CE near the place where the Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva is believed to live?
... that cargo ship USS West Ekonk was laid down, launched, and completed in 73 working days in 1918, becoming the ninth-fastest-constructed ocean-going ship in the world?
... that P. T. Rajan, the Chief Minister of Madras Presidency from April 1936 to August 1936, was a graduate of Jesus College, Oxford?
... that Major League Baseball pitchers Jesse and Virgil Barnes, who each made two Opening Day starts for the New York Giants, were brothers?
... that Australian-born lumber executive John A. Campbell was said to have introduced surfing on the Cornwall coast of England?
... that the teenage couple in Nicholas Sparks' 1999 novel A Walk to Remember refrain from sex, due partly to the author's concern that such a plot twist might offend his readership?
... that children have trouble attributing implicit meaning to aspect verbs implicating non-completion such as start, but find implicit meaning in degree modifiers such as half, as in half-finished?
... that African-American actor Gaius Charles is named as an homage to Gaius Julius Caesar?

13:48, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

... that in 1889, Frank Wyatt created the role of the Duke of Plaza Toro (pictured) in The Gondoliers before becoming owner of the Duke of York's Theatre?
... that guest stars on The Greatest Show on Earth, an ABC circus drama in 1963–1964, included Lucille Ball, James Coburn and Edgar Bergen?
... that after suffering from serious design problems, the Norwegian Marinens Flyvebaatfabrikk M.F.9 fighter aircraft was retired in 1932 on the orders of defence minister Vidkun Quisling?
... that Manchester United gave Stockport County a freezer full of ice cream in exchange for the transfer of footballer Hugh McLenahan in May 1927?
... that Three Emperors' Corner is a former tripoint between the Austrian Empire, German Empire and the Russian Empire, created in the late 19th century in the aftermath of the partitions of Poland?
... that Manor Community College, a Cambridge school, has a headteacher who used to present a BBC childen's programme?
... that Dushanbe riots in 1990 were sparked by the rumour that a couple of thousand Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan had been resettled to Dushanbe?
... that the roof of the 12th-century St Nicolas Church, Portslade had to be jacked back into place over several months in 1959, having moved a foot (30 cm) out of alignment over the centuries?

07:38, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

... that Wycoller Hall (pictured) is supposedly haunted by the ghost of a murdered wife, who foretold the hall's ruin?
... that in the aftermath of the Second Partition of Poland in 1793, the Kościuszko Uprising occurred in 1794?
... that a tour guide at Fond du Lac's Octagon House claims that visitors hear the ghosts of an earlier owner's small children laughing and playing?
... that lawyer Hal Kant spent 35 years as principal lawyer and general counsel for the Grateful Dead, exercising so much influence with the band that his business cards identified his role as "Czar"?
... that sightings of a ghostly figure in the Culbertson Mansion is one of Indiana's many ghost legends?
... that Western Local Escort Force was organized by the Royal Canadian Navy in February 1942 as a response to German U-boat raids known as the Second Happy Time?
... that when New Paltz's Elting Memorial Library caught a possible ghost on its security camera, the YouTube video received more views than the village has residents?

02:11, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

... that the DR 6 nebula (pictured) was nicknamed "The Galactic Ghoul" by scientists at NASA because of its resemblance to a human face?
... that the future King George V was among 13 people aboard HMS Bacchante who saw the infamous ghost ship Flying Dutchman off South Africa in 1881?
... that the theme of poison dress can be found in Greek mythology, Mughal Indian folklore, and American urban legends?
... that educational music has been shown in research to promote learning?
... that the Halloween Pennant is a North American species of dragonfly?
... that when Cornelius Holmboe was appointed Norwegian Minister of Justice in 1928, the cabinet lasted only for 18 days?
... that Hawgsmoke is a biennial United States Air Force bombing, missile, and tactical gunnery competition for A-10 Thunderbolt II units?
... that the Windsor Pumpkin Regatta is a race featuring large hollowed-out pumpkins in which contestants paddle a half-mile course across a lake?
... that among the ghost sightings involving the American Civil War are a ghost reenacting one of his defeats in a battle that took place 415 miles (668 km) away?

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