Wikipedia:Recent additions/2011/July

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31 July 2011

17:15, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

... that the male common box turtle (pictured) has to lean back past the vertical to mate with the female?
... that Dorothy Reitman was the first woman president of the Canadian Jewish Congress?
... that olaflur, a toothpaste ingredient for the prevention of caries, is synthesized from cattle's tallow?
... that Al Lerner, 1940s pianist in the Harry James band, wrote the music for "So Until I See You", the closing theme for Tonight Starring Jack Paar in the early 1960s?
... that in Bach's late chorale cantata Es ist das Heil uns kommen her, BWV 9, three bass recitatives deliver a Lutheran sermon on salvation, based on twelve stanzas of the chorale?
... that Gustaf Aspelin was the first Swedish consul in Kristiania?
... that though it was decided as early as 1882 to install a lighthouse at Contendas Point on Terceira Island, the Ponta das Contendas Lighthouse was not built and inaugurated till almost 52 years afterwards?

09:30, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

... that the extinct Eocene butterfly Prodryas persephone (pictured) from the Florissant Fossil Beds is the best preserved fossil lepidopteran discovered to date?
... that a cherry blossom made Fariz RM famous?
... that "seizing", "whipping", and "lashing" are all part of knot terminology?
... that although the 1928 Wittorf affair was a German scandal, Joseph Stalin played a key role?
... that same-sex couples in South Africa gained the right to adopt children jointly in 2002, four years before they gained the right to marry?
... that "Box Cutter", the fourth season premiere of the television series Breaking Bad, had a scene so bloody, it made actor Bryan Cranston's daughter faint?
... that the Furiiru people are interlacustrine, living between the African Great Lakes?

01:45, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

... that Kiever Synagogue (pictured) was the first building of Jewish significance to be designated a historical site by the province of Ontario?
... that Blanfordia have colonized land in Japan in an area with heavy snowfall?
... that a plan to use HMS Endymion as a flagship at Harwich was abandoned due to the loss of HMS Vanguard?
... that composer Danny Elfman agreed to score Sam Raimi's new film, Oz: The Great and Powerful, despite declaring he would never work with him again?
... that the Wigman House, which has been named a City of Pittsburgh Designated Historic Structure, is the last remaining mansion from Carrick's "Millionaire's Row"?
... that the fontanellar gun is a type of specialized weapon used by the North American termite to ward off enemy insects?

30 July 2011

18:00, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

... that Benjamin West's painting of General Johnson Saving a Wounded French Officer from the Tomahawk of a North American Indian (pictured) contrasts against Sir William Johnson's "White Savage" reputation?
... that following an electoral victory, Ollanta Humala visited Bolivia and called for the resurrection of the Peru–Bolivian Confederation?
... that pornographic actress Saori Hara was cast in the Japanese parody film Horny House of Horror?
... that Lille Graah was in charge of the most popular radio program in Norway in the 1950s?
... that the 7 CSSB of the Australian Army supports the 7th Brigade and participated in Operation Slipper?
... that quasi-opportunistic supercomputing aims for better performance than volunteer resource sharing?
... that the worldview of Conan the Barbarian has been described as existentialist?

10:00, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

... that since 1888, the Engelberg Huller Company in New York has made a Brazilian engineer's device (pictured) to remove the husks and shells from rice and coffee during milling?
... that Burrough Hill, an Iron Age hillfort in England, contains over 400 maculae?
... that Handel's Messiah, Part II contains the famous Hallelujah Chorus and the oratorio's longest movement, the air for alto He was despised?
... that Joseph Stalin deported the Balkar people from the Kabardino-Balkar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic on suspicions that they collaborated with Nazi Germany?
... that Jim Brieske, who set multiple placekicking records, had his kicking foot amputated in 1967?
... that Grevillea cyranostigma from Carnarvon National Park in Queensland was named for Cyrano de Bergerac?
... that Patriarch Joasaph I of Constantinople attempted suicide and was deposed because he opposed the second marriage of George Amiroutzes?

29 July 2011

23:24, 29 July 2011 (UTC)

... that the representation of waves and water in Bach's cantata Siehe, ich will viel Fischer aussenden, BWV 88, was termed a barcarolle, after barca (pictured)?
... that Eros Djarot formed Indonesia's Freedom Bull National Party after a disagreement with later-president Megawati Sukarnoputri?
... that Lady Godiva's cross stands in the churchyard of St Bartholomew's Church, Penn, in the West Midlands of England?
... that the Saudi royal family and the Al ash-Sheikh family provide mutual support under a pact dating from 1744?
... that George Binney pioneered the use of seaplanes for arctic exploration, wrote The Eskimo Book of Knowledge, and organised blockade running in WWII?
... that the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences is breeding Chinese sturgeon in captivity to restore river populations before the species disappears?
... that Michelle Obama performed the Dougie dance to promote her "Let's Move!" campaign?

15:09, 29 July 2011 (UTC)

... that former Illinois First Lady Lura Lynn Ryan organized schoolchildren to collect pennies for the construction of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (pictured), raising $47,000?
... that the Fali people of Nigeria and Cameroon wash their dead in a decoction of the plant Cissus quadrangularis?
... that English artist William Lakin Turner is not related to the famous artist, Turner, but he is a close relative of "Derbyshire's John Constable"?
... that the scientist Rainer Froese is the coauthor and coordinator of FishBase, an extensive online information system on fish?
... that the Middle Georgia Raceway, featured on a 2011 Dodge Durango commercial, was the location of a 300,000-person concert in which artists including Jimi Hendrix performed?
... that table tennis world champion Gertrude Kleinová's first husband was the chairman of her table tennis division, and her second husband was her coach?
... that The Old Lady and the Pigeons lost the Oscar but won the Genie?

06:54, 29 July 2011 (UTC)

... that the 18th-century Indian automaton Tipu's Tiger (pictured) shows a near life-size European being mauled by a tiger, and emits wails and grunts as well as containing a pipe organ?
... that Alberta has three provincially designated wilderness areas: Ghost River, Siffleur and White Goat?
... that Cursed Days consists of the diaries and notes of Nobel Prize-winning Russian anti-Bolshevik author Ivan Bunin about his country's first days under communism?
... that Polish-born cosmetics entrepreneur Lydia Sarfati is credited with introducing seaweed-based skin treatments in the United States?
... that the Palestinian Patriarchate was involved in redeeming formerly Jewish-owned land in Palestine?
... that Balanus perforatus is a barnacle shaped like a volcano?
... that translator Marilyn Booth claimed that her original translation of the best-selling Saudi novel Girls of Riyadh had been interfered with by the author and the publisher?

28 July 2011

22:39, 28 July 2011 (UTC)

... that 1000 years ago Japanese officials used bells (pictured) to procure horses?
... that the North Star House of Grass Valley, California, built for Arthur De Wint Foote and his wife, Mary Hallock Foote, was one of architect Julia Morgan's first projects?
... that due to laws regarding religion in Malaysia a non-Muslim must obtain the permission of his Muslim neighbours to get a pet dog?
... that the fall of the Hraschina meteorite in 1751 was the first fall of an iron meteorite reported by a significant number of witnesses?
... that Blood & Thunder is the biography of the creator of Conan the Barbarian?
... that the aquatic fungus Limnoperdon has been described as a floating puffball?
... that the Empire Dunnet was built in 1945 then sold and renamed three times before wrecking in Borneo in 1967?

14:24, 28 July 2011 (UTC)

... that Rabotnitsa (1923 cover pictured) was the first socialist women's magazine?
... that Norlom was one of the eighteen ships sunk in the air raid on Bari on 2 December 1943?
... that the Viking adventure film Severed Ways was shot partly in L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, the site of an 11th-century Norse settlement?
... that Lord Justice Brian Leveson of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales has been picked to lead the public inquiry into media regulation?
... that the 1973 second division game between Bavarian rivals FC Augsburg and TSV 1860 München was watched by 80,000 spectators, a record for the Olympic Stadium in Munich?
... that New York Post art critic William Anderson Coffin was awarded the French Legion of Honor?
... that acclaimed Scottish actor Iain Blair wrote a series of romantic novels under the pen name Emma?

06:09, 28 July 2011 (UTC)

... that in his expedition to Lapland, Sweden, Carl Linnaeus (pictured) found at least 100 previously undescribed plants?
... that twelve Indonesian newspapers and magazines were closed after the Malari incident in 1974?
... that the English country house of Chilston Park in Kent has been home to five members of Parliament and four members of the House of Lords?
... that Herbert Freudenberger fled Germany alone during WWII at the age of twelve, later becoming a well-known psychologist in the United States?
... that the name of the Beach Hebrew Institute was chosen to avoid attracting the attention of the Canadian German Party?
... that Carl Ward's 104-yard kickoff return in 1967 was the longest in the history of the Cleveland Browns?
... that the Somali bushbaby has particoloured hair on its belly so that it appears sandy by day and greyish by night?

27 July 2011

21:54, 27 July 2011 (UTC)

... that Sutjeska National Park (Perucica forest pictured) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the adjoining Durmitor National Park in Montenegro, demonstrate transboundary protected area co-operation in the former Yugoslavia?
... that the British 1st Airlanding Light Regiment used the American 75 mm pack howitzer during the Battle of Arnhem?
... that both David "Bakes" Baker and David "ODB" Baker have finished in the money at least four times in each of the last three World Series of Poker?
... that Empire Duke was lent to the team from Cambridge University Engineering Department to assist in the search for the cause of structural failures in a number of Liberty ships?
... that attorney Rizwana Hasan's focus on regulations for the shipbreaking industry in Bangladesh earned her the Goldman Environmental Prize?
... that Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball Tour: At Madison Square Garden earned 5 of HBO's 104 total nominations at the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards?
... that after his victory at the Crufts dog show, the Pekingese dog Yakee A Dangerous Liaison was falsely accused of having plastic surgery?

13:39, 27 July 2011 (UTC)

... that data from Mariner 10 (pictured) led to the discovery of Mercury's magnetic field in 1974?
... that Gründlehämmer was the first theatrical production of the Baltimore Rock Opera Society, an all-volunteer rock opera company formed in 2009?
... that the official magazine of the Polish Underground State published 80 issues in the dangerous conditions of occupied Poland?
... that six of the ten siblings of Norwegian stage actress Ada Kramm were actors themselves?
... that artist Ginger Gilmour, first wife of David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, was given a British Red Cross Award for "Services to Humanity"?
... that Swedish scientist Johan Rockström led a team that has initiated an international debate on planetary boundaries, the central concept in a new framework for sustainable development?
... that I Am a Camera is a 1955 British film that received an X certificate from the BBFC, but only after dialogue suggesting foot fetishism was removed?

05:24, 27 July 2011 (UTC)

... that Princess Tatiana von Metternich-Winneburg turned the East Wing of Schloss Johannisberg (pictured) into a concert hall for the Rheingau Musik Festival?
... that the Nazis documented murder and genocide during their perpetration of the Holocaust with euphemisms such as Sonderbehandlung?
... that when the extinct forester moth Neurosymploca? oligocenica was described, a second fossil was known but unavailable for study?
... that the Fort Pitt Blockhouse in downtown Pittsburgh was the only portion of Fort Pitt saved from demolition in 1797?
... that Bernt H. Lund became Norway's first ambassador to Namibia in 1990?
... that nearly half of all known RNA structures were determined through nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy of nucleic acids?
... that runner Garry Bjorklund qualified for the 1976 Summer Olympics in the 10,000 m despite losing a shoe during the U.S. Olympic Trials?

26 July 2011

21:09, 26 July 2011 (UTC)

... that the "carriage house" behind the Wheeler–Stallard House (pictured) in Aspen, Colorado, was not built until 1976?
... that Albany architect Marcus T. Reynolds' 1893 thesis, Housing of the Poor in American Cities, is still cited in scholarly work today?
... that composer Gil Shohat denies that his opera The Child Dreams is about the Holocaust?
... that the Bulldog Strathtay Prince Albert was the first non–terrier to win Best in Show at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show?
... that the first two destroyers scheduled to be constructed by domestic shipyards for the Polish Navy were never completed due to the German invasion of Poland?
... that Hefaiston is an annual international competition of blacksmiths that had more than 400 participants in 2010?
... that David Mendelblatt, an American former Optimist Pram National Champion, is the older brother of Olympian Mark Mendelblatt?
... that Sea Dogs were first seen running around Torbay in 1961?

12:54, 26 July 2011 (UTC)

... that Dermotherium, discovered in 1992, was the first unambiguous fossil colugo (Sunda colugo pictured) to be found?
... that the Domestic of the Schools was the commander-in-chief of the Byzantine army from the 9th to the 11th century?
... that Orange Phelps, later mayor of Hillsboro, Oregon, opened the first movie theater in that city in 1908?
... that Jamie Sadlowski won the 2008 and 2009 RE/MAX World Long Drive Championship, and has a personal-best golf drive of 445 yards (407 m)?
... that the synagogue building of Congregation Knesseth Israel (the "Junction Shul") is the oldest surviving in Toronto that is still in use?
... that the late 1890s, British philatelist Percival Loines Pemberton participated in stamp auctions in London where potential buyers were sometimes given alcoholic drinks to encourage bidding?
... that Shibuya-based video game localization company 8-4 is named after the final level of Super Mario Bros.?

04:39, 26 July 2011 (UTC)

... that the Montenegrin part of Maglić massif has formed the Trnovačko Lake (mountain and lake pictured), said to be "one of the most beautiful of Montenegro?"
... that the Score the Goals comic book – featuring ten soccer players – was launched by the UN to educate children on how to help reduce poverty by 2015?
... that David Olère was the only artist to have worked as a member of the Sonderkommando at Auschwitz concentration camp and survived?
... that Li Lu, an associate of Warren Buffett, was one of the pro-democracy activists rescued by Operation Yellowbird in 1989?
... that Richard Weiner, one of the most important Czech writers of the twentieth century, wrote a regular fashion column under a female pseudonym?
... that the environmentally-friendly ticketing system used for the 87th NCAA basketball season wastes less paper?
... that the mother of Georgine Darcy, an actress in Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window, urged her to become a stripper?

25 July 2011

16:00, 25 July 2011 (UTC)

... that St Mary and All Saints' Church (pictured) in Great Budworth is considered by architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner to be "one of the most satisfactory Perpendicular churches in Cheshire"?
... that All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes is author Maya Angelou's recounting of her years spent in Accra, Ghana, in the early 1960s?
... that in his campaign against the Malli in India, Alexander the Great was seriously injured and nearly died?
... that Clarence Crum's 15.43 earned run average was the worst on the 1918 Boston Braves?
... that the adjacent Big Jacks Creek Wilderness and Little Jacks Creek Wilderness in Idaho have been designated as wild rivers?
... that Duquesne University president Vernon F. Gallagher once composed an operetta and learned Slovak on his own?
... that despite being a boxing-themed short film, the Duke of Chicago was criticized for being "slow-paced and seemingly a lot longer than its fifty-nine minutes"?
... that baobab ice cream is a feature of Angolan cuisine?

08:00, 25 July 2011 (UTC)

... that disabled swimmer Priya Cooper (pictured) won five gold medals for Australia at the 1996 Summer Paralympics?
... that the public dispute between molecular nanotechnology founder Eric Drexler and Nobel laureate Richard Smalley has been characterized as being "reminiscent of a Saturday Night Live sketch"?
... that Empire Drum and Empire Dryden were both built in 1941 by William Doxford & Sons of Sunderland, UK, and that both ships were torpedoed and sunk by U-boats in April 1942?
... that the national football teams of North Korea and South Korea have met on numerous occasions?
... that Johann Karl Nestler was teaching scientific animal and plant breeding at the University of Olomouc in what is now the Czech Republic when Gregor Mendel studied there?
... that in the mid-1970s the Saint Helena Labour Party tried to boost links between Saint Helena and South Africa?
... that it took Chrisye multiple takes to finish recording Kala Cinta Menggoda because he would break down in tears after singing a few lines?

00:00, 25 July 2011 (UTC)

... that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes married at the Castello Orsini-Odescalchi (pictured)?
... that in 2010, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said that 21-year-old Student Volunteer Army organiser Sam Johnson "might be Prime Minister one day"?
... that indigenous territories organized as Native Community Lands in Bolivia cover 16.8 million hectares (168,000 km²), over 15% of Bolivian territory?
... that Orli Wald spent from 1936 to 1945 in Nazi prison and concentration camps for being a communist, only to leave the Communist Party in 1948 because of Stalinism?
... that Glenn Doughty rushed for 329 yards in his first two college football games for the 1969 Michigan Wolverines and later played eight years for the Baltimore Colts?
... that Rajinder Kaur Bhattal was the first female chief minister of Punjab, but only the eighth female chief minister of an Indian state?
... that Duquesne University has named one of its colleges and a street on its campus in honor of Henry J. McAnulty?

24 July 2011

16:00, 24 July 2011 (UTC)

... that Calvary Baptist Church (pictured), the oldest religious building in Ossining, New York, was built with marble quarried by inmates at nearby Sing Sing Prison?
... that the First Battle of Guinegate was the first use of the Old Swiss Confederacy pike square formation by non-Swiss powers?
... that the De Bruijn–Erdős theorem may be used to extend the four-color theorem from finite planar graphs to planar graphs with infinitely many vertices?
... that both the Pole Creek Wilderness and North Fork Owyhee Wilderness have some of the largest concentrations of sheer-walled volcanic rhyolite and basalt canyons in the western United States?
... that at the end of World War II, the British 133rd (Parachute) Field Ambulance were responsible for the medical care of 4,500 Russian prisoners of war?
... that American NFL quarterback Robert Halperin was awarded the Navy Cross, won an Olympic bronze medal and a Pan American Games gold medal in sailing, and co-founded the Lands' End clothing retailer?
... that Italian Vincenzo Sarno was 11 years old when he signed to play professional football with Torino F.C.?

08:00, 24 July 2011 (UTC)

... that painter Vittore Grubicy de Dragon (pictured) was largely responsible for introducing theories that led to divisionism in Italian painting?
... that while the Jersey Bridge was being replaced, the only way for tourists to visit the Drake Well Museum was by train?
... that Nama leader Simon Kooper received an annual allowance for not continuing his attacks on Imperial Germany's forces in German South-West Africa?
... that the owl limpet maintains a small meadow of algal turf for its own exclusive use?
... that although modernist Egyptian writer Edwar al-Kharrat described his novel Rama and the Dragon as "untranslatable", an English translation appeared 23 years after the original publication in Arabic?
... that Richmont Castle once overlooked the Chew Valley?
... that former Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Freddie Mitchell received threatening hate mail in 2003, apparently due to his appearance on a reality television show, A Dating Story?

00:00, 24 July 2011 (UTC)

... that no. 224 of the North British Railway (pictured post-accident) was the first inside-cylinder 4-4-0 and the first tandem compound to run in Great Britain; and the locomotive involved in the Tay Bridge disaster?
... that Karen Stollznow writes for two skeptical magazines (Skeptic and Skeptical Inquirer) and hosts two skeptical podcasts (Point of Inquiry and Monster Talk)?
... that Academy Award-winning director Jonathan Demme directed the first episode of the television series A Gifted Man?
... that the name of Tarkio River, a non-navigable river that stretches from Iowa to Missouri, meant a "place where walnuts grow"?
... that Selman Riza's 1952 work on Serbo-Croatian grammar is regarded as a work of contrastive analysis, although the theory was not formulated until five years later by Robert Lado?
... that a small single-runway airport serves Kapoeta South County in the Greater Kapoeta region of South Sudan?
... that cornet player Bohumir Kryl offered his daughters US $100,000 to refrain from marriage until they reached the age of 30 years?

23 July 2011

16:00, 23 July 2011 (UTC)

... that consumption of the poisonous mushroom Inocybe godeyi (pictured) could lead to salivation, tears, urination, defecation, gastrointestinal pain and vomiting?
... that blinded Bristol boxer Dixie Brown was visited during World War II by African American soldiers, who respected him as "a much admired character"?
... that the Louisiana State Rep. Thomas G. Carmody obtained passage in 2009 of a bill strengthening penalities for the crime of indecent behavior with juveniles?
... that Niccolò Machiavelli's military reforms were designed to create a citizen army in the style of Ancient Rome?
... that the 200-year-old Dundee Royal Infirmary was one of the first UK hospitals to acquire a catSCAN head scanner?
... that military historian Lars Borgersrud's research includes taboo subjects like the fate of war children and Norwegian military officers with Nazi sympathies prior to and during World War II?
... that when the Frog Boys went missing, South Korean President Roh Tae-woo dispatched 300,000 police officers to search for them?

08:00, 23 July 2011 (UTC)

... that on the Turban Head eagle (pictured), Liberty actually wears a cap, although it is disputed whether a Liberty cap was intended?
... that as political prisoners were released due to the fall of communism in Poland, regular prisoners rioted, demanding better conditions and an amnesty?
... that the school started in 1843 by Edward Baigent's wife at their home in Wakefield is today New Zealand's oldest public school?
... that Fort Peck Lake is the largest lake by surface area in Montana?
... that Louisiana State Rep. Chuck Kleckley has been instrumental in broadening the functions of the Lake Charles Harbor and Terminal District?
... that Morges Castle in Switzerland had a fortified kitchen that was attached to the castle's exterior walls?
... that Indonesian "renaissance man" Mochtar Lubis, co-founder of the daily Indonesia Raya, wrote novels involving superstition, corruption, and erectile dysfunction?

00:00, 23 July 2011 (UTC)

... that the Annunciation to the shepherds (pictured) in Handel's Messiah, Part I, is the only scene from a Gospel in the oratorio?
... that Louisiana State Rep. Brett Geymann once sought a legislative remedy for crawfish being pushed into neighboring ditches because of rising waters?
... that the United Nations Honour Flag was designed as a symbol of the Allies of World War II at the suggestion of Winston Churchill?
... that Late Gothic architect Benedikt Rejt rebuilt parts of Prague Castle and built the vault for St. Barbara's Church in Kutná Hora?
... that May 3rd Constitution Day, among the most important Polish holidays, was banned in the former communist state, the People's Republic of Poland?
... that Donald S. Nesti clashed with the Tamburitzans as president of Duquesne University?
... that the parenting book On Becoming Baby Wise tells parents to put their infant down to sleep while he is awake?

22 July 2011

16:00, 22 July 2011 (UTC)

... that in Handel's oratorio Messiah, Part III closes with the chorus "Worthy is the Lamb" (pictured), from text in the Book of Revelation, and an extended Amen fugue?
... that in 1960 Provincetown, Massachusetts, Town Manager Walter E. Lawrence requested financial aid from the state government to help fight the infiltration of beatniks into the town?
... that during the Battle of Drashovica over 3000 German soldiers died, more than 200 of whom were inside the barracks of Drashovicë?
... that despite holding a degree in architecture, Erwin Gutawa became a composer and conductor?
... that the fastest supercomputer in Europe is in France?
... that Louisiana State Representative Bodi White has pushed for full financial disclosure and mandatory governmental ethics training for legislative officials?

08:00, 22 July 2011 (UTC)

... that Władysław Szpilman (pictured), whose life inspired the film The Pianist, was the most famous Robinson Crusoe of Warsaw, hiding in the ruins of Warsaw after the Nazis destroyed it?
... that the East India Film Company, formed in 1932, was a pioneer in the production of films in Bengali, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu?
... that General Sir James Ronald Leslie Macdonald was an army balloon photographer who later served in India, Uganda, Sudan, South Africa, China and led a major expedition into Tibet?
... that Michael Gilbert was kept as a slave and regularly beaten by a family who eventually murdered him?
... that Wally Heider engineered the remote recording of the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival?
... that damage from the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake at the Peterborough Centre is estimated at NZ$12 million, only NZ$0.3M less than the insured value of this historic building?
... that Joseph Stalin expelled an American Navy captain from Moscow after learning he had fathered a "love child" with a well-known Soviet film actress, who was then banished to Siberia for eight years?

00:05, 22 July 2011 (UTC)

... that U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe Charles A. Ray (pictured) was the first person to serve as U.S. Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam?
... that in Bach's cantata Barmherziges Herze der ewigen Liebe, BWV 185 ("Merciful Heart of eternal love"), the closing chorale melody is prefigured in the first duet in dancing 6/4 time?
... that the Port of Tillamook Bay Railroad main line in Oregon was damaged by storms three times, then finally abandoned due to repair costs?
... that in the 2011 Asian Athletics Championships, Mayookha Johny became only the second athlete from India to win a gold medal in the long jump event?
... that retiring Louisiana State Rep. Hollis Downs broke with his party to support an anti-bullying bill?
... that East African Highland bananas are so important as staple food crops in Uganda that 'Matoke', the traditional meal made from steamed bananas, is synonymous with the word "food"?
... that the late 19th-century novel Homo sapiens, although well received in Germany, was withdrawn from sale in the U.S. after being called obscene?

21 July 2011

16:20, 21 July 2011 (UTC)

... that the design of Robertsbridge United Reformed Church (pictured) in England has been described as "truly horrible" and "most dissolute"?
... that Vice Admiral Sir John Inglis was the head of British Naval Intelligence and attempted to cover up the "Buster Crabb affair" in 1956?
... that although elk had disappeared from the Table Mountain Wilderness, they were reintroduced in 1979 and are now one of the largest herds in Nevada?
... that Keren Leibovitch, Israeli four-time gold medal winning Paralympic swimmer, is paralyzed from the waist down because of an injury she incurred during her service with the Israeli Defense Forces?
... that the International Broadcasting Bureau Greenville Transmitting Stations located in Greenville, North Carolina, were the most powerful international broadcaster in the world?
... that Louisiana State Representative John E. Guinn, a father of ten children, earns his livelihood as an auctioneer?
... that the Kauai remya is threatened by the banana poka?

08:00, 21 July 2011 (UTC)

... that in 1681 the strength of the Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Empire (grenadier pictured) was fixed at 28,000 infantry and 12,000 cavalry?
... that the shadow of nearby mountains first hit the Tower of Jericho on the sunset of the summer solstice and then spread across the entire proto-city in c. 8000 BCE?
... that a ruptured fuel pipeline leaked 1.5 million liters of jet fuel into the Zin Stream in southern Israel in June 2011?
... that although William FitzOsbern had given All Saints' Church of Newchurch, Isle of Wight, to an abbey in Normandy, Henry VIII later gave it to the See of Bristol?
... that Bobby Parks' son chose Manila's National University over Georgia Tech but was almost not cleared to play in the 74th UAAP basketball season due to eligibility issues?
... that American yachtsman Mark Mendelblatt won the International Optimist Dinghy National Sailing Championships when he was 11 years old?

00:00, 21 July 2011 (UTC)

... that the reservoir of Morris Dam (pictured) in Los Angeles County, California, was used as a testing site for torpedoes and underwater missiles beginning in World War II?
... that Zinaida Reich was expelled from school at the end of the eighth grade in the tsarist Russia for her political activities?
... that the Population Estimates Program sponsored by the U.S. Census Bureau helps determine the allocation of U.S. federal funds?
... that evidence for domesticated dogs between 10,150 and 9320 BC has been found at Hatula in modern-day Israel?
... that even after he was forced off two different crippled warships during the Battle of Copenhagen, the wounded Danish commodore Olfert Fischer still refused to concede defeat to Lord Horatio Nelson?
... that songwriter Doug Fieger has stated that The Knack's song "Baby Talks Dirty" was written about the same Sharona who inspired the group's No. 1 hit "My Sharona"?
... that Xavier Mertz is suspected to have died as a result of eating dog liver?

20 July 2011

16:00, 20 July 2011 (UTC)

... that the sea anemone Epiactis prolifera (pictured), starts life as a female and later becomes a hermaphrodite?
... that Russian broadside ironclad Ne Tron Menia was named after the biblical verse John 20:17?
... that "Dad" Moulton, a participant in Sherman's March to the Sea, was the U.S. sprint champion in the 1870s, and trained the "world's fastest human" in the 1880s?
... that the steepest roller coaster in the world, with a drop angle of 121°, is Takabisha at the Fuji-Q Highland amusement park in Japan?
... that the 19th-century Shrigley Hall in Cheshire, England, originally a country house, was later a Salesian school with a chapel added in 1936, and now is a hotel and country club?
... that Amanda Peet jokingly described her character in the upcoming television comedy series Bent as "a repressed woman who needs to get laid"?
... that the severed head of Julia Martha Thomas, murdered, boiled and dismembered by her maid in 1879, was found next door to Sir David Attenborough's house in 2010?

08:00, 20 July 2011 (UTC)

... that in his only full season in Major League Baseball, Jeriome Robertson (pictured) won 15 games and finished seventh in Rookie of the Year voting?
... that the song "Indonesia Maharddhika", from the critically acclaimed album Guruh Gipsy, has the names of the contributors hidden in its lyrics?
... that Arreton Manor on the Isle of Wight can be traced to AD 872 to the time of Alfred the Great and was owned by William the Conqueror, as mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1086?
... that Dick Campbell, as a theater producer and director, helped launch the careers of several black theater artists, including Ossie Davis, Frederick O'Neal, and Helen Martin?
... that the reputedly haunted Pioneer Park is the only intact Second Empire house in Aspen, Colorado?
... that Australian climate scientist Will Steffen helped initiate an international debate on planetary boundaries and has promoted the concept of the Anthropocene?
... that for many years, the Russian Soviet Republic did not have its own Communist Party?

00:00, 20 July 2011 (UTC)

... that Linnaeus wanted seeds of old-fashioned bleeding heart but was sent instead seeds of Corydalis nobilis (pictured), a flower then unknown to science?
... that Douglas Mawson was the sole survivor of the Far Eastern Party, enduring a month alone in the Antarctic and walking about 100 miles (160 km) to safety?
... that according to an Islamic tradition, the Invasion of Banu Qaynuqa was caused by a Jewish jeweler allegedly stripping a Muslim woman?
... that Jane Baker, a former cooking show host and community organizer, became the first female Mayor of San Mateo, California?
... that the Russian ironclad Pervenets was launched in the 1860s by the Imperial Russian Navy but was not scrapped by the Soviet Union until a century later during the 1960s?
... that Shotwick Hall in Cheshire, England, was built in 1662, replacing an earlier manor house on a nearby moated site?
... that environmentalists fear that the mine on Sebuku Island could sink it?

19 July 2011

16:00, 19 July 2011 (UTC)

... that columns at the Roman Macellum of Pozzuoli (pictured) remained upright over centuries while the site sank below sea level, then re-emerged?
... that Adrian van Kaam brought food to Jews and others in hiding during Holland's "hunger winter" of 1944?
... that 1964 CDC 6600 is considered as the first supercomputer in the world?
... that the Congregation of the Sons of the Holy Family was founded by the son of a peasant farmer?
... that World Bicycle Relief has distributed more than 70,000 bicycles, mostly in Africa, and nearly 70 percent of them went to women and girls?
... that the Fokker FG-2 made the world's first passenger flight with a glider in 1922?
... that the breed club of the Treeing Tennessee Brindle was founded in Illinois?
... that Ramsdell Hall in Cheshire, England, has been described by architectural writers as a "curious" and "appealingly quirky" house?

08:00, 19 July 2011 (UTC)

... that the first Columbian mammoth (artist's restoration pictured) found at the Snowmastodon site, an Ice Age fossil dig near Denver, was initially dug out by a construction worker using a bulldozer?
... that a door at Otterburn Tower still contains the initials of Jacobite rebel Mad Jack Hall, while nearby Otterburn Hall's land was recompense to the descendant of Lord Douglas who died at the Battle of Otterburn?
... that Philip Hench and Edward Kendall are the only two Nobel Prize winners affiliated with Mayo Clinic at the time of their award?
... that the Soviet Union's Yakovlev AIR-3 aircraft was designed by a student?
... that the 1994 Offshore Sanriku earthquake is considered an "ultra-slow" earthquake, as slip continued for more than a year afterwards?
... that environmental activist Pete Gray once threw his shoes at former Australian Prime Minister John Howard?
... that Operation Slapstick, part of the Allied invasion of Italy, was only planned after the Italians had offered to let them land unopposed?

00:00, 19 July 2011 (UTC)

... that the Berlin Sugar Museum features a 1903 painting (pictured) of Franz Carl Achard presenting King Frederick William III of Prussia with a loaf of beet sugar?
... that, while the first official suggestion of a nationwide association football league in Germany, the Reichsliga, was made in 1932, such a league was not introduced until 1963?
... that the reverse of the Common Security and Defence Policy Service Medal contains the Latin phrase Pro Pace Unum, meaning "United for Peace"?
... that Antiguan politician Molwyn Joseph, dismissed from the government after allegations of impropriety, was reappointed to the Cabinet after less than two years?
... that the Pangani Longclaw is only 20 cm (7.9 in) long?
... that the Spanish film Furtivos (Poachers) won best picture at the San Sebastián International Film Festival in 1975?
... that the novel My Sad Republic has a dash of "friar erotica" in it?

18 July 2011

16:00, 18 July 2011 (UTC)

... that Evel Knievel's preferred stunt bike, the Harley-Davidson XR-750 (pictured), has won the most AMA Races?
... that Tuscan admiral Jacopo Inghirami was Governor of Leghorn?
... that Handel's oratorio Messiah is structured in three parts, with a libretto about the Christian Messiah drawn from Bible verses, mostly taken from the Old Testament?
... that Haigh Hall, which replaced the ancient manor house of Haigh, was built between 1827 and 1840 by James Lindsay, 7th Earl of Balcarres?
... that former policeman Ian Oliver is the father of Craig Oliver, a special adviser in David Cameron's government?
... that BICA, ICAG and ICAJ are ICAC members, but as of 2008 CISPA was not?
... that the storehouse at Alpine Plantation in Alpine, Alabama, was torn down so its timber could be used to build a carport?
... that the Javanese eat cat rice?

08:00, 18 July 2011 (UTC)

... that Ireland's Wicklow Way (pictured) was originally proposed by J. B. Malone in a series of articles in the Evening Herald newspaper?
... that from 1936 to 1977, Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones was both president and head baseball coach of historically black Grambling State University in Louisiana?
... that one person was killed by police during disturbances occasioned by the site selection of the Ganga Rail-Road Bridge in India?
... that Theresa Two Bulls was the first American Indian woman elected to the South Dakota Legislature and the second woman elected as president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe of the Pine Ridge Reservation?
... that the overall cost for the Hungarian King in winning the Siege of Hainburg was 200,000 florins?
... that former professional wrestler Brick Bronsky was a leading man for Troma Studios in the early 1990s?
... that aburatorigami was used by kabuki actors to keep their thick makeup on while absorbing excess oil and sweat?

00:00, 18 July 2011 (UTC)

... that the Britannia Coco-nut Dancers (pictured) bang their nuts together each Easter in Bacup?
... that the campus of Mount Ida College is situated on land that once was the estate of Robert Gould Shaw II, a cousin of Robert Gould Shaw?
... that the Burmese–Siamese War (1765–1767) ended the four-century-old Ayutthaya Kingdom in 1767 but the Burmese were forced to withdraw within the year of their victory by the Chinese invasions of Burma?
... that the Trigg Hound, bred for hunting in Kentucky, was called "best" for big game hunting in Africa?
... that Matthew Jarvis became the third November Niner to earn a World Series of Poker bracelet in the following year?
... that the author of An Embarrassment of Riches reimagined the Philippines as an island instead of an archipelago?
... that after several odd incidents during the recording for Megadeth's TH1RT3EN, guitarist-vocalist Dave Mustaine speculated about a connection with the unlucky number 13?

17 July 2011

16:00, 17 July 2011 (UTC)

... that Aduston Hall (pictured) is built like a mid-20th century California ranch house despite being a mid-19th century plantation house in Gainesville, Alabama?
... that the Living Willow Theatre, an open air theatre constructed of living willow trees, is located near the village of Llanwrthwl and occasionally holds outdoor performances of Shakespeare?
... that Joe Ebanks has on multiple occasions won two large multitable online poker tournaments in the same day?
... that the HMCS Eyebright was a Flower-class corvette named after the genus Euphrasia of medicinal flowering plants?
... that the Benito Juárez borough of Mexico City has been ranked as having the highest standard of living in Mexico?
... that football club ASK Voitsberg changed both its name and team colours during the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany?
... that the name of Metro, Lampung, derives from the Javanese word for "friend"?

08:00, 17 July 2011 (UTC)

... that the rare and endangered Lewton's polygala (pictured) produces three kinds of flowers, including one that remains underground?
... that SS-Oberscharführer Peter Voss was the first commander of the Auschwitz crematoria and gas chambers, buildings used to kill 900,000 people?
... that the Palace of Versailles Research Centre is the first research centre established in a French palace?
... that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Long Service Medal was the first honour created specifically for Canada?
... that chemist Joan Berkowitz made important discoveries in the fields of spacecraft construction and pollution control?
... that Mureybet was a village in modern-day Syria believed to have been occupied between 10,200 and 8,000 BC?
... that representational momentum refers to a slight error in our perception of moving objects?

00:00, 17 July 2011 (UTC)

... that The New York Times referred to the Feathers Hotel (pictured) in Ludlow, Shropshire, as "the most handsome inn in the world"?
... that Bostonian Anna Eliot Ticknor is the "mother" of correspondence schools in the United States?
... that the Maupin Carbon Dragon has a 44 ft (13 m) wingspan but weighs only 145 lb (66 kg)?
... that John Michael Kudrick, the current bishop of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma, holds master's degrees in mathematics and computer and information science?
... that Theodore Dalrymple's book Our Culture, What's Left of It describes British culture as a "moral swamp"?
... that in the Macedonian Siege of Pelium, Alexander the Great managed to secure his line of retreat without a single reported death?
... that military historian Didrik Thomas Johannes Schnitler was named a knight by Norway, by Prussia, and twice by Sweden?

16 July 2011

16:00, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

... that bicycle racing champion William Van Wagoner (pictured) founded a namesake automobile manufacturing company?
... that Pierrepont School, Frensham, occupied a listed English country house designed by Richard Norman Shaw?
... that in its natural habitat, the Sand Live Oak often grows on white sand?
... that Georg Ræder played a central role in the planning and construction of the first public railway line in Norway?
... that Tuttuki Bako players insert their finger 60 mm (2.4 in) into an electronic device to render images of that finger on an LCD screen?
... that Air Vice-Marshal Frank Inglis was head of RAF Intelligence in 1942 and persuaded President Roosevelt to direct the main American war effort against Germany rather than Japan?
... that American painter Robert Beauchamp originally attended Cranbrook Academy of Art to make money by learning pottery ... and for the love of a girl?

08:00, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

... that the nonconformist liturgy of the Octagon Chapel (pictured) in Liverpool, UK, was criticized by Job Orton: "Grieved I am ... to see such an almost deistical composition"?
... that the Long-tailed Tit uses moss and the silk of spider egg cocoons as a natural form of Velcro for holding its nest together?
... that Nickelodeon Fit is a video game for the Nintendo Wii designed by its publishers to make children more physically active?
... that the independently produced 2006 US film The Teddy Bear Master was the subject of two separate lawsuits?
... that a No Walls show was described as "a brilliant collision of sinewy punk attack, angular-jazz maneuvers and catchy art-pop songwriting"?
... that during the Hesperian, Mars changed from a wet, warm world to today's dry, cold, and dusty planet?
... that John Donne's poem "The Good-Morrow" references seven sleeping children, cordiform maps and Paul the Apostle?

00:00, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

... that paling in 't groen (pictured) is a Flemish dish of eel in a green herb sauce?
... that Lee Felsenstein designed the Pennywhistle modem to replace a commercial design used on Community Memory, the first bulletin board system?
... that the novel Voyeurs & Savages features Peeping Toms from the Philippines and the United States?
... that automatic AK-47 rifles were used in 42% of killings in Ikotos County, South Sudan, in 2009?
... that even after Muhammad ordered the demolition of the pagan idol, Dhul Khalasa, it was resurrected and worshipped until 1815, when members of the Wahabbi movement demolished it with gunfire?
... that Lee Corner in Alexandria, Virginia, includes the homes of U.S. Revolutionary War Officer Light Horse Harry Lee, U.S. Attorney General Charles Lee, and Confederate General Robert E. Lee?
... that the hasty marriage of Thomas Thynne of Longleat may have helped to inspire Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet?

15 July 2011

16:00, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

... that Easwaran's God Makes the Rivers to Flow claims that we are like a sculptor releasing a trapped elephant (pictured) when we seek god- or self-realization by meditating on a sacred text?
... that the writer of Harry Potter, J. K. Rowling, lived as a child at Church Cottage, Tutshill, a Grade II listed building constructed in about 1852 in the Victorian Gothic style?
... that Badi Uzzaman was granted political asylum in the United Kingdom after acting in a film hostile to the government of Pakistani General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq?
... that fish ponds at the Great Budbridge Manor on the Isle of Wight appear to be medieval?
... that females of the jumping spider Portia labiata use silk draglines as territory marks, and use these to avoid females of higher fighting ability and spend more time around less powerful fighters?
... that Frederik Wilhelm Stabell's merits at the Battle of Trangen and other battles of the Dano-Swedish War of 1808-1809 earned him the Order of Dannebrog?
... that despite overseeing the construction of the crematoria and gas chambers at Auschwitz, what specifically shocked SS-Obersturmführer Robert Mulka at the camp was his colleagues' dress sense?

08:00, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

... that the only extant octagonal pagoda (pictured) in Japan is located at Anraku-ji?
... that, according to tradition, Stephen Collins Foster was inspired to write the ballad My Old Kentucky Home after a visit to Federal Hill, the mansion of Kentucky Senator John Rowan?
... that HMCS Galt, a Flower-class corvette of the Royal Canadian Navy, escorted trade convoys during the Battle of the Atlantic?
... that a small fetus is preserved in the holotype fossil of the extinct stingray Asterotrygon?
... that enrollment at the University of Louisiana at Monroe grew nearly fivefold between 1958 and 1976 during the tenure of its president, George T. Walker?
... that some ant species on Sebuku island may be descended from survivors of the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa?
... that on 20 June 2011, the hacking groups Anonymous and LulzSec announced they were joining forces for Operation Anti-Security?

00:00, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

... that art dealer Jacques Seligmann & Company sold Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (pictured) to the Museum of Modern Art for $24,000 in 1937?
... that despite the customary practice of Catholic bishops tendering their resignations when they turn 75, Andrew Pataki's retirement was not accepted by the Pope until after he turned 80?
... that the Oregon white truffle is a major component of the diet of Northern flying squirrels?
... that in 2007 politician Mary Deros of Montreal helped prevent an historic city avenue from being renamed after Robert Bourassa, a former Quebec premier?
... that bass voice and trombone carry the cantus firmus of a famous chorale melody in the opening chorus of Bach's cantata Ach Herr, mich armen Sünder, BWV 135?
... that tennis player Scott Lipsky, winner of the 2011 French Open Mixed Doubles Championship, was ranked #1 in the U.S. Juniors in both singles and doubles in 1995?
... that many people still plant Jove's beard on the roofs of houses, as Charlemagne recommended?

14 July 2011

16:00, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

... that Jean Thurel (pictured) was a soldier in the French Régiment de Touraine for more than 90 years?
... that Picasso said he discovered "what painting was all about" after seeing African art in the Paris Musée d'Ethnographie du Trocadéro?
... that detailed drawings by French explorer Louis Delaporte guided the reconstruction of Pha That Luang, a major Buddhist temple in Laos?
... that the world has been divided into 11 constituencies for French residents overseas to vote in the 2012 legislative election?
... that Sam Stein won his first World Series of Poker bracelet at the 2011 World Series of Poker but his largest single-event prize was a $1 million result at the 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure?
... that the vocals in the music of Nier are sung in versions of French, English, and Japanese after 1000 years of language drift?
... that conversation in a Paris café inspired the Surrealist sculpture Object (Le Déjeuner en fourrure), consisting of a fur-covered teacup, saucer and spoon?

08:00, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

... that the Gray-crowned Rosy Finch (pictured) may breed at a higher altitude than any other breeding bird in North America?
... that Elizabeth Báthory, known as the "Blood Countess" because of her reign of terror, torturing and murdering hundreds of women, once resided at the Burg Lockenhaus?
... that the Japanese government once put a bounty on the head of photojournalist H. S. Wong?
... that Louis Agassiz Shaw Junior, grandson of Quincy Adams Shaw and a member of an influential Boston Brahmin family, was co-inventor of the iron lung?
... that Rami Levi introduced supermarket price wars to Israel?
... that all five of Owais Ahmed's in the money finishes at the 2011 World Series of Poker were in Mixed poker games?
... that Martin Luther's chorale Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir (From deep affliction I cry out to you) was sung at his own funeral?
... that the 1987 baseball film Long Gone, starring William Petersen, has been described as "three parts Bull Durham, two parts Slap Shot, add a dose of Bingo Long and a pinch of The Longest Yard"?

00:00, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

... that the main temple at the Plaza of the Seven Temples (pictured) in the Maya city of Tikal, in modern Guatemala, was decorated with a skull and crossbones?
... that triple Formula One world champion Ayrton Senna cited Terry Fullerton, his teammate in their karting days, as the driver he felt most satisfied racing against throughout his career?
... that costume designer Sandy Powell earned her third Academy Award for the 2009 film The Young Victoria?
... that the figure of Józef Tusk, grandfather of current Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, was in the center of the "Wehrmacht affair" of the 2005 Polish presidential election?
... that capnomancy was still practiced in New England as late as 2003?
... that during the Swedish campaign against Norway in 1814 commander Andreas Samuel Krebs successfully led his troops to victory both in the Battle of Lier and in the Battle of Matrand?
... that the 2001 BMW F650CS motorcycle's offbeat, "iMac-inspired" styling was meant to attract non-motorcyclists of the extreme sports generation?

13 July 2011

16:00, 13 July 2011 (UTC)

... that the man who bought Sterne's Captive (detail pictured) had John Raphael Smith's engraving plate broken after only 20 prints had been made?
... that of Chris Moorman's twelve World Series of Poker in the money finishes, three have been in $10,000 Championship events and five in six-handed events?
... that the mining settlement of Bwana Mkubwa received thousands of Polish refugees who arrived in Northern Rhodesia during World War II?
... that George Rowe, the High Bailiff of the Manor of Cheltenham, left England to become an Australian gold prospector, but instead found success creating watercolour paintings?
... that in 1953, the Jacksonville Braves became one of the first two racially integrated baseball teams in the South Atlantic League by fielding players including Hank Aaron and Félix Mantilla?
... that in 1929 Thomas Ford Chipp found Bidens chippii in the Imatong Mountains?
... that Confederate officer William L. Brandon had an ankle-joint shattered in battle but initially refused whiskey as a painkiller because he only liked it with sugar added?

08:00, 13 July 2011 (UTC)

... that the 16th century painting Virgin and Child with Four Angels (pictured) by Gerard David is a modified copy of Jan van Eyck's 15th century painting Virgin with Child at a Fountain?
... that the 2011 royal tour of Canada featured the first Canadian citizenship ceremony to include a member of Canada's royal family?
... that Goman was an ex-slave leader who led a peasant revolt in Southern Grand'Anse, Haiti between 1807 and 1820?
... that the colonial city of Batavia (today Jakarta) was founded after the previous city, governed by the Sultanate of Banten, was completely eradicated by the Dutch colonists?
... that Reinhold and Ruth Benesch discovered the key role played by 2,3-bisphosphoglyceric acid in the transport of oxygen by hemoglobin?
... that Brad Pitt's Plan B Entertainment beat Leonardo DiCaprio's production company in a bidding war for the rights to produce World War Z, an upcoming post-apocalyptic horror film?
... that Taiwanese singer Suming merges indigenous lyrics and electronic dance music to evoke specific qualities of attractive young men in his matrilineal Amis tribe, such as fishing and cooking skills?

00:00, 13 July 2011 (UTC)

... that Leroy Petry (pictured) is receiving the U.S. Medal of Honor today, marking only the second time that the award has been bestowed upon a living soldier for actions after the end of the Vietnam War?
... that the fungus Tremella encephala was officially described in 1801, but it was not known until 1961 that its central core is actually the remains of its host Stereum sanguinolentum?
... that during Sotir Kolea's term as director of the National Library of Albania the number of books there was tripled?
... that the Punchiná Dam is part of the largest power station in Colombia?
... that after the Siege of Retz, the Kingdom of Hungary occupied the city, leading to the growth of its wine industry?
... that the Austrian Church of St. Nikolaus in Lockenhaus includes an organ with 2400 pipes, as well as an unusual black Madonna on the altar of the crypt?
... that the Quiet Birdmen were noisy?

12 July 2011

16:00, 12 July 2011 (UTC)

... that Sir Peter Lely's series of portraits, the Flagmen of Lowestoft (example pictured), commemorates English naval commanders who fought at the Battle of Lowestoft in 1665?
... that the man behind the courteous baritone "Mind the gap" announcements in the Delhi Metro is Shammi Narang?
... that the Livingstone Museum, opened in 1934, is the oldest and largest museum in Zambia?
... that Fay Ajzenberg-Selove had to fight a discrimination case against the University of Pennsylvania to be hired as a tenured professor of physics?
... that Winston Churchill's funeral train carried the headcode of a breakdown train?
... that the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act freed slaves in Washington, D.C. almost nine months before the passage of the Emancipation Proclamation?
... that one sickly lion, two Swedish kings, and 128 cannons were involved in the history of the orangery of Uppsala's Botanical Garden?

08:00, 12 July 2011 (UTC)

... that the bushy-tailed olingo (pictured) can produce a foul-smelling liquid from its anal scent glands when alarmed, despite being more closely related to a raccoon than a skunk?
... that Air Commodore Peter Raw had joined the Royal Australian Air Force after being rejected by the Royal Australian Navy?
... that Mona Vale in Christchurch, New Zealand, was turned into a public park, following the threat of subdivision of the property and demolition of the homestead in the 1960s?
... that Arkansas State Representative Robert W. Glover of Sheridan introduced the resolution in 1909 which led to the establishment of the future Arkansas State University in Jonesboro?
... that today you only really need to remember four names (North, East, South, West) to get around, but ancient Greeks and Romans had to memorize 12 different wind names to orient themselves?
... that unlike most hotels from the same period, the Eagle Hotel, built in 1826 in Waterford, Pennsylvania, has quoining?
... that producer Katrina Dunn of Vancouver was awarded the Golden Bra in 2010?

00:00, 12 July 2011 (UTC)

... that The Cenotaph, Whitehall (pictured) replaced a wood-and-plaster cenotaph erected in 1919 for the Allied Victory Parade?
... that Collins H. Johnston, halfback on the first Michigan football team in 1879, later published papers on eclampsia, tuberculosis, cardiac murmurs, and pulmonary abscess?
... that the only loss of life recorded in the 70-year history of the Union Steamship Company of British Columbia was as a result of the sinking of the steamship Cheslakee?
... that Carl Legien organized a massive general strike in Germany to counter the right-wing Kapp-Putsch of March 1920?
... that according to violinist Gidon Kremer, the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival in Austria philosophically resembles the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont, US?
... that when Jeff Mellinger, the last active-duty draftee in the U.S. Army from the Vietnam War era, received his draft papers, he thought that they were written to him by then-President Richard Nixon?
... that Holby City character Oliver Valentine has been described as "a doctor with the blue eyes of Fonda and the medical competence of fondue"?

11 July 2011

16:00, 11 July 2011 (UTC)

... that the Tzeltal people (Tzeltal child pictured) of the Mexican state of Chiapas are descended from the Maya?
... that the earliest evidence for domesticated wheat and barley comes from Iraq ed-Dubb in Jordan and dates to the mid-10th millennium BC?
... that the Redstone Test Stand was built in Alabama by Wernher von Braun's rocketry team for just $25,000 out of concrete and salvaged materials?
... that Simon Cowell conceived the idea for Red or Black?, the most expensive game show ever made?
... that the pabasa is a chanting marathon practised during Holy Week in the Philippines?
... that the Talent, a multiple unit passenger train in the rail system of Germany, Austria and Norway, was developed by Waggonfabrik Talbot in Aachen?
... that Tsar Alexander II of Russia had a special crystal bottle of Roederer champagne made for the Three Emperors Dinner in 1867 so he could admire the bubbles?

08:00, 11 July 2011 (UTC)

... that as the full-sized clay mock-up of the original new Mini Hatch (pictured) was missing an exhaust pipe, chief designer Frank Stephenson, had to make one out of an empty beer can?
... that observers of the 2007 French presidential election could tell which major candidate had earned each rating in a majority judgment poll, even though the winner under this voting system was not the official one?
... that the fee-for-service model encourages overutilization, which is a major factor behind the high cost of U.S. health care?
... that The Ride to Conquer Cancer raised more money than any other cycling fundraiser in Canadian history?
... that Clemenstone, a hamlet in south Wales near Wick, was the seat of several high sheriffs of Glamorganshire?
... that the U.S. commanders at the Battle of La Flor and Battle of Las Cruces were each awarded the Navy Cross for their actions against the Sandinistas in the Banana Wars?

00:00, 11 July 2011 (UTC)

... that svið (pictured), a traditional Icelandic dish, consists of a sheep's head that has been cut in half, singed and boiled with the brain removed?
... that Anino ng Kahapon is one of the few pro-American novels written while the Philippines was still a territory of the United States?
... that years after long-time actress Kathleen Cody retired to Florida, she was cast in the Peter Bogdanovich film Illegally Yours when it was filming in her town?
... that Sir William Young, 1st Baronet, in his will gave four Caribbean estates to his son, but the father's 1788 death left behind £110,000 in debt, a figure equal to at least £11 million today?
... that a de Cock decorated the ceiling at Breda Palace?
... that in the 1950s, Wardang Island was the site of a pioneering experiment to develop a biological solution for controlling the plague of introduced rabbits in Australia?
... that before he began shaping sculptures of the American West, Grant Speed of Utah had been a ranch-hand, horse breaker, and rodeo performer?
... that the penis of the Lesser Water Boatman Micronecta scholtzi creates mating calls of 99.2 decibels, making it the loudest animal on earth, scaled for its size?

10 July 2011

16:00, 10 July 2011 (UTC)

... that the Dutch novel Van de koele meren des doods (1900) was made into a movie in 1982 by Nouchka van Brakel, with Renée Soutendijk (pictured) starring as the sexually repressed main character?
... that yak butter stays edible for up to a year and finds a new use after it gets old and rancid?
... that Dorice Reid died less than a month before she was supposed to become High Commissioner of the Cook Islands to New Zealand?
... that the Aparados da Serra is one of the first national parks of Brazil and was created to protect the Itaimbezinho canyon?
... that Martin Wines was the first state representative from Greene County, Indiana?
... that during the Popish Plot, John Plessington was seized at Puddington Old Hall in Cheshire, England, and hanged at Chester Castle in 1679?
... that there is a storytelling scene in the novel Ang mga Anak Dalita where the Philippines is compared to a pearl, Spain to a fish, and the United States to a leech?

08:00, 10 July 2011 (UTC)

... that ophthalmologist John Chase (pictured) commanded the Colorado National Guard in the Colorado Labor Wars, the arrest of Mother Jones, and the Ludlow Massacre?
... that the Gorno-Altai Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic lasted for only nine months as an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, which turned it into the Altai Republic?
... that the Norwegian brewery owners Ellef and Amund Ringnes have had two islands in Canada named after them?
... that the Passemant astronomical clock, designed to work until the year 9999, was the first clock used to set the official time in France?
... that military investigative reporter Carl Prine was accused by the Railroad Development Corporation's owner, Henry Posner, of "profiting from the promotion of hysteria"?
... that an episode of Living TV's Most Haunted claimed that there have been over 3000 reported experiences of ghosts at the Schooner Hotel since 1998?
... that Elizabeth Gatford, who endowed a charity that distributed bread to the poor at Horsham General Baptist Chapel, was buried in four coffins?

00:00, 10 July 2011 (UTC)

... that a Spanish fort attacked the US schooner Rampart and USS Macedonian (pictured) on two separate days in the Callao Affair during the Peruvian War of Independence even though the US was neutral in the war?
... that one of Jupiter's moons, Io, is an X-ray source?
... that not only will Jennifer Westfeldt make her directorial debut with Friends with Kids, but also write, produce and act in it?
... that the endangered Hawaii bog orchid is the rarest orchid species native to Hawaii?
... that Japanese international footballer Aya Sameshima worked at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plants prior to the disaster there?
... that Pepsi allowed Madonna to retain her $5 million fee, despite cancelling their sponsorship deal following the controversy over the music video for "Like a Prayer"?
... that Orangutans may provide their nest with pillows, blankets, bunk-beds and roofs?

9 July 2011

16:00, 9 July 2011 (UTC)

... that, in the Bhima River valley, of the 22 dams built, the Ujjani Dam (pictured) in Maharashtra, India, is the terminal and also the largest dam in the valley?
... that, in 1913, American aviator Albert Jewell disappeared off Long Island, New York, on his way to an air race?
... that The Warring States is a 2011 film based on the rivalry between two ancient military tacticians, Sun Bin and Pang Juan?
... that more than one million copies of Loaded Questions have been sold, though the creator originally had to borrow about $18,000 from his parents and sell the game out of his car's trunk?
... that, in 1874, Kansas State University's Department of Industrial Journalism began offering the first American program of study in printing?
... that the Battle of Leitzersdorf cost the Holy Roman Empire the Archduchy of Austria?
... that swimming instructor Robert Emmet Odlum died from the first jump off the Brooklyn Bridge?

08:00, 9 July 2011 (UTC)

... that St Mary de Crypt Church (pictured) was an ammunition factory during the First English Civil War?
... that Makhdoom Mohiuddin, the president of the All Hyderabad Trade Union Congress, was arrested at the founding meeting of the organization in 1946?
... that Georgia O'Keeffe's first skull painting which is held by the Arizona State University Art Museum references the memento mori concept?
... that the Ruskin Dam has been a filming location for the TV series The X-Files, MacGyver, Smallville, Dark Angel and the movie The Invisible?
... that Martin Camaj's novel Rrathë is considered to be the first psychological novel in Albanian?
... that the Museum of Broken Relationships received the 2011 Kenneth Hudson Award for the most innovative museum in Europe?
... that Suleiman the Magnificent supposedly gave İncili Çavuş a pearl to wear to distinguish him from other sergeants?

00:00, 9 July 2011 (UTC)

... that the construction of One Liberty Place was in breach of a "gentlemen's agreement" not to build any building taller than the statue of William Penn on Philadelphia City Hall (both buildings pictured)?
... that Christine Jorgensen Reveals is a docudrama about the first celebrity transsexual, who was called the world's most famous woman at the time?
... that though generally uncommon, tornadoes in New England have nevertheless included two of the ten most damaging such storms in U.S. history?
... that the object of worship at Omura Shrine is a sword?
... that Elizabeth Maitland was a member of the secret organisation the Sealed Knot and that she was accused of witchcraft due to her political influence?
... that during the First World War, the sail-steamer SS Lanthorn was attacked by a German U-boat, and although her crew was rescued, she sank while under tow?
... that the world's fastest supercomputer, in Japan, costs $10 million a year to operate?

8 July 2011

16:00, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

... that Charles S. Mitchell (pictured), goalkeeper on the first Michigan football team, became the editor-in-chief of the Washington Herald?
... that in Azerbaijan, the Heydar Aliyev Foundation builds more schools than the Ministry of Education?
... that in the 2011 NBA Draft, reigning NBA champion Dallas Mavericks selected Qatari basketball player Tanguy Ngombo, even though his age and eligibility were disputed?
... that the Theil–Sen estimator can accurately fit a line to a set of sample points even when up to 29% of the points have been arbitrarily corrupted?
... that the National Archaeology Museum of Bolivia has been described as Bolivia's most prominent museum?
... that Duchy of Opole and Racibórz, one of many Duchies of Silesia, was created in the 13th century, split by the end of it, and recreated in the 16th by the last Piast?
... that students at the Stella Maris Polytechnic university in Monrovia, Liberia, pay only US$5 tuition per credit?

08:00, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

... that writer Arthur Mee was once advised not to mistake Greatham Church (pictured) for a haystack?
... that Juan Gualberto Gómez was the most conspicuous Afro-Cuban leader during the Cuban War of Independence?
... that the main house at Dicksonia Plantation in Alabama was destroyed by fire twice during the 20th century?
... that Tamil writer A. K. Chettiar published his first magazine at the age of 20?
... that in the 1948 municipal polls in Pondicherry, largely assumed to have been rigged, the French India Socialist Party won all 102 seats?
... that, in 1927, Jessie Miller became the first woman to complete an England-to-Australia flight?
... that the music video for "Pon de Floor", a dancehall and funk carioca song by Major Lazer, contains scenes of people dry humping and incorporates daggering choreography?

00:00, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

... that, in 1898, the United States government annexed the Kingdom of Hawaii despite protestation from Queen Liliuokalani (pictured)?
... that in 1954 The New York Times warned that the Communist Party of French India was likely to seize power in the colony?
... that the CFTR inhibitory factor can induce cystic fibrosis (CF) -like conditions in the lungs of a non-CF patient?
... that following a landmark decision of the United Kingdom's Supreme Court, the same judge passed sentence on each of the six politicians in separate trials charged in relation to the 2009 Parliamentary expenses scandal?
... that American journalist Charles Franklin Hildebrand earned the Purple Heart and Silver Star for his World War I service in the battles of the Marne River and Argonne Forest?
... that the anarchist Revolutionary Avengers group from 1910 to 1914 has been described as the most radical terrorist organization in the history of Poland?
... that witnesses have reported ghostly lights and phantom fires emanating from the Dr. John R. Drish House in Tuscaloosa, Alabama?

7 July 2011

16:00, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

... that Bach has a trumpet tell God's glory in cantata Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes, BWV 76, first performed in the Thomaskirche (pictured), but oboe d'amore and viola da gamba express "brotherly devotion"?
... that Demi Lovato and Miley Cyrus partnered with The Jed Foundation to help teenagers cope with personal struggles?
... that Marimba Ani first introduced the term Maafa to describe the African holocaust?
... that Mikhail Lakhitov started competing in international poker competitions in 2010 and by June 2011 was one of the top 20 poker players in the world?
... that the critically acclaimed 2010 novel And the Land Lay Still by James Robertson won the prestigious Scottish Book of the Year Award?
... that Germany, prohibited by the Treaty of Versailles from having an air force, operated the secret fighter-pilot school Lipetsk in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1933?
... that the Nigerian NAPEP poverty reduction program has been a recent target for hacktivists?

08:00, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

... that Gottfried Schloemer (pictured with car) is considered by some to have built the first practical gasoline automobile in the United States?
... that Norwegian journalist Bjørn Bjørnsen started his journalistic career when 15 years old?
... that the Kentucky physician and Yale alumnus Forest Shely was for 56 years a trustee of the Baptist institution Campbellsville University?
... that by making her debut in the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup at the age of 16, Cecilia Santiago became the youngest-ever goalkeeper to appear in a World Cup?
... that Keechaka Vadham was the first silent film made in South India?
... that Mitch Schock, who earned his first World Series of Poker bracelet at the 2011 World Series of Poker has finished in the money at least five times in each of the last three World Series of Poker?
... that American perennial candidate Jack Fellure, whose platform is based on the Authorized 1611 King James Bible, received the 2012 presidential nomination of the Prohibition Party?

00:00, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

... that one of the oldest churches in Costa Rica, Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de la Limpia Concepcion (pictured), built in the 1560s in Ujarrás, has been proposed as a World Heritage Site?
... that the movies Green Street Hooligans and Cass are based on West Ham United F.C. supporters?
... that The Captive King is a lost painting by Joseph Wright of Derby that showed Guy de Lusignan taken prisoner, after the relics of the true cross were said to be lost?
... that the McArthur Mining Company was Michigan's first coal mine?
... that 17-year-old Uruguayan footballer Juan Cruz Mascia has been hailed as the heir to 2010 FIFA World Cup star Diego Forlán in the English and South American media?
... that on 12 June 1944, during the Battle of Breville, friendly fire killed the commander of the attacking force and wounded two British brigadiers?
... that the Big Moose from Antigonish was the "King of the Klondike?"

6 July 2011

16:00, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

... that Alfred Ronalds' The Fly-fisher's Entomology (1836) (plate pictured) was the first work on fly fishing to illustrate named artificial flies and their counterpart natural insects?
... that Herlinatiens' first novel about lesbian relationships is considered the "coming out" for Indonesian writings about gays and lesbians?
... that Mietek Pemper, who was forced to work as Amon Göth's secretary, compiled and typed Oskar Schindler's famous list, which saved 1,200 Jewish prisoners from the Holocaust?
... that the 225th (Parachute) Field Ambulance a British airborne forces unit, became responsible for the medical welfare of German U-boat crews?
... that Benjamin Wistar Morris, III designed the first skyscraper in Portland, Oregon?
... that the British steamship Nancy Moller was intercepted in 1951 by HMS Cossack whilst carrying a cargo of rubber to China in contravention of a United Nations embargo imposed due to the Korean War?
... that when yeshiva students learn with their chavrusas, they may wave their hands and shout at each other?

08:00, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

... that Robert Louis Stevenson, who stayed in Tautira, Tahiti (pictured) for two months, called it “The Garden of the World” in his letters to his friends?
... that the Cherry Hill Farmhouse in Falls Church, Virginia, appears in the works of American poet James Whitcomb Riley?
... that despite starting in the 1959 VFL Grand Final, Australian footballer Graham Leydin only started two games in the 1961 season?
... that Denmark–Eritrea relations are conducted via their embassies in Kenya and Sweden after Denmark closed their embassy in Eritrea less than five years after it opened?
... that the African Methodist Episcopal University is the second largest university in Liberia?
... that shortly before Doris Lessing's Alfred and Emily was published, the Nobel Prize-winning novelist announced it was her final book?
... that despite failing eyesight, Fred Townsend played for the 1887 Michigan football team and later became chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party?

00:00, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

... that among the Jewish ghettos in German-occupied Poland the most populous was the Warsaw Ghetto (pictured) with over 400,000 inhabitants crammed into an area of 1.3 sq mi (3.4 km²)?
... that The Herald said the character Manda from Alan Warner's 2010 novel The Stars in the Bright Sky was "the most vivid, aggravating lynchpin in recent Scottish fiction"?
... that when the SS Ava was wrecked off the coast of Ceylon in February 1858, her passengers included Lady Julia Inglis and her sons, John and Alfred, who were evacuees from the Siege of Lucknow, and the ship's doctor, James Little, who was later to become Honorary Physician to King George V?
... that Temple III at the Maya city of Tikal in Guatemala was the last pyramid ever built there?
... that Green Seamount, an underwater volcano, could have taken up to 260,000 years to reach its present height?
... that, in 1933, when attempts were made to restore the monarchy in Bavaria to stall the Nazis' rise to power, Adolf Hitler warned the Bavarian government that this would lead to a "terrible catastrophe"?
... that although Jeremy Howard-Williams was a fighter pilot, he wrote the "classic account of the sail-maker's art"?

5 July 2011

16:00, 5 July 2011 (UTC)

... that scholars debate whether the Torrs Pony-cap and Horns (pictured) of c. 200 BC in the Museum of Scotland were intended to be worn by a horse, a human or a statue?
... that Vinita Gupta is credited as being the first woman of Indian origin to take her company public in the United States?
... that the freighter Noemijulia was bombed twice during the Spanish Civil War but went on to survive World War II?
... that the fan campaign to release specific Wii video games by the game developer Nintendo received an official response from the company?
... that the rose garden at Lymm Hall in Cheshire, England, was Edward Kemp's first recorded commission?
... that unlike the 1990 film version starring Johnny Depp, the 2005 theatrical adaptation of Edward Scissorhands was set in the 1950s and performed to musical accompaniment?
... that young mushrooms of Pholiota communis are sticky?

08:00, 5 July 2011 (UTC)

... that the Gudea cylinders (pictured) are the longest literary composition ever found in the Sumerian language?
... that U.S. Army pilot Mayhew Foster in 1945 transported Luftwaffe chief Hermann Göring from Austria to Germany, where Göring stood trial for war crimes at Nuremberg?
... that the 1995 novel Angel Angel is being adapted into the film Long Time Gone starring Meg Ryan?
... that John Philip Sousa considered David Wallis Reeves "The Father of Band Music in America"?
... that Tropical Storm Debra developed from a cold low and a tropical wave?
... that Slobodan Branković ran in the men's 400 metres (1,300 feet) race in the 1992 Barcelona Games as an Independent Olympic Participant?
... that University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp at age 17 won a regional contest for the fastest time solving a Rubik's Cube puzzle?

00:00, 5 July 2011 (UTC)

... that according to an account by a British officer, the marksmanship of Kentucky rifleman Ephraim McLean Brank (pictured) contributed more than anything else to the US victory at the Battle of New Orleans?
... that the Shankar Mahadevan Academy is an online music academy founded by award-winning composer and singer Shankar Mahadevan?
... that despite winning seven national championships from 1899 to 1912, the Yale football team had 14 head coaches in those 14 years, including a lingerie manufacturer, "the phantom line cleaver", a manufacturer of machine guns, a victim of typhoid fever, a Harvard law student, the senior partner of Smith Barney & Co., the grandfather of a noted documentary filmmaker, the nephew of the U.S. Secretary of State, and the president of a historically black university?
... that O moj Shqypni has been described as one of the most influential and most important poems written in Albanian?
... that the benefactor of Soldiers Chapel, near Big Sky Resort, wrote that hillbilly Bible thumpers, conscientious objectors, and those refusing to salute the US flag should be excluded from the chapel?

4 July 2011

16:00, 4 July 2011 (UTC)

... that Die Elenden sollen essen, BWV 75, performed in 1723 in the Nikolaikirche (pictured), was the first cantata of Bach's annual cycles, each containing works for the Sundays and church holidays through a year?
... that journalist Nils Vogt was the first chairman of the Norwegian Press Association?
... that the memoir I Married Wyatt Earp, supposedly by Wyatt Earp's wife Josephine, was regarded as factual and cited by scholars, but was discovered to be a "fraud" and a "hoax" after 23 years?
... that the Udmurt Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, first formed in 1920, has since been renamed three times, most recently as the Udmurt Republic in 1991?
... that Odessa, Texas oil industialist and banker Bill Noël also raised pecans for commercial food production on a ranch in Sutton County?
... that the Philippine play Walang Sugat ("Not Wounded") was a statement against imperialism by its author, the father of the Tagalog zarzuela?
... that a pauper received a state burial in Namibia two days ago?

08:00, 4 July 2011 (UTC)

... that a May 2011 flood along the Musselshell River (pictured) was one of several floods that resulted in a state of emergency being declared in 51 Montana counties, cities, and Indian reservations?
... that Ang Singsing ng Dalagang Marmol (c. 1905) is one of the Philippines' first historical novels written in the twentieth century?
... that Louisiana Tech University English professor Robert C. Snyder worked on the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, during World War II?
... that Tonogayato Garden in Kokubunji, Tokyo is built on the terraced cliffs of Musashino, with a lawn on the hilltop overlooking a bamboo forest and pond at the bottom?
... that in the 2002 Jammu & Kashmir Assembly election, communist candidate Mohammad Khalil Naik won the Wachi seat by only 80 votes?
... that "Déjame Entrar" by Colombian singer-songwriter Carlos Vives was awarded the Latin Grammy Award for Best Tropical Song?
... that despite Spider-Man 2 being the most critically praised entry in the franchise, it is also the lowest grossing in the trilogy?

00:00, 4 July 2011 (UTC)

A leaning cylindrical tower seen through a pointed archway

... that the leaning minaret (pictured) of the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul, Iraq, reputedly gained its tilt after it bowed to the prophet Muhammad?
... that Owen Crowe has made four World Series of Poker final tables in the past four years and two top-100 main event finishes in the last three years?
... that the Aguamilpa and Zimapán Dams in Mexico are over 185 m (607 ft) high and were funded in part by the same World Bank loan?
... that retired hockey goaltender Rick St. Croix and his sons Chris and Michael were all drafted in the 4th round of the NHL Entry Draft, albeit in different years?
... that in 1943, Horsa gliders were towed 3,200 miles (5,100 km) from England to Tunisia during Operation Turkey Buzzard without knowing whether this would be possible?
... that Theodore W. Brevard, a military officer who served with the Confederate States Army, was captured by General George Custer's cavalry?
... that in 1981 an Israeli 69 Squadron F-4 Phantom II numbered 222 collided in mid-air with an F-16 Fighting Falcon bearing the exact same number?

3 July 2011

16:00, 3 July 2011 (UTC)

... that Madmen in the Yard, a drawing by the Croatian painter Ignjat Job (pictured), was influenced by his two-year stay in a mental hospital?
... that Little Marton Mill was built in England in 1838 and restored in 1937 to become a memorial?
... that the United States mediated the 1962 New York Agreement as part of a plan "to prevent Indonesia from falling under communist control and to win it over to the west"?
... that during World War II, the Germans built a bomb- and gas-proof bunker on Jerbourg Point, the southeastern point of Guernsey in the English Channel?
... that Shigeo Satomura pioneered non-invasive monitoring of blood flow in the human body using ultrasonic Doppler techniques in the 1950s?
... that the Philippine play Paglipas ng Dilim ("After the Darkness") tackles the conflicts of mixing cultures from the Philippines, Spain, and the United States?
... that although Norma Lyon studied animal science at Iowa State University, she ended up sculpting butter at state fairs?

08:00, 3 July 2011 (UTC)

... that the hairy rubber cup fungus (pictured) kills nematodes?
... that the Ritz-Carlton in Atlantic City was home to Nucky Johnson, the political boss portrayed in the American television series Boardwalk Empire?
... that USMC Lieutenant General Henry Louis Larsen was Governor of American Samoa and Governor of Guam after his father-in-law and brother-in-law were each Governor of Colorado?
... that the Grade II* listed Lower Huxley Hall in the English town of Huxley, Cheshire, is approached by a Grade II* listed bridge and archway, and stands on a moated site that is a scheduled monument?
... that in 2011 Jonathan Audy-Marchessault became the first player to lead the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League in playoff scoring despite not playing in the final playoff round?
... that the Nehru Setu, built in 1900, was the longest railway bridge in India until a longer one was opened in February 2011?
... that after the Ottoman general Turahanoğlu Ömer Bey wiped out one of Dracula's armies in 1462, he deposited 2,000 severed heads at the feet of Sultan Mehmed II?

00:00, 3 July 2011 (UTC)

... that Bach's chorale cantata Meine Seel erhebt den Herren, BWV 10, is based not on a chorale, but on the Magnificat sung by Mary when she visited Elizabeth (pictured)?
... that The Last Ringbearer, an English translation of a Russian alternative retelling of Lord of the Rings, has been published as a non-commercial ebook after a 10-year delay due to fears of litigation?
... that the Robert Hull Fleming Museum at the University of Vermont includes a complete set of the Description de l'Égypte, a book series based on the French campaign in Egypt under Napoleon?
... that the Cape dune mole rat can excavate up to 500 kg (1,100 lb) of soil in a month?
... that Celebrity Autobiography: In Their Own Words is a theatrical work that involved readings of celebrity memoirs by performers including a few Saturday Night Live cast members?
... that the 2002 Costa Rican presidential election was the first in the country's history to go to a second round?
... that during World War II, an officer from a British airborne forces unit recommended a German NCO for the Iron Cross?

2 July 2011

16:00, 2 July 2011 (UTC)

... that the Lake Cachí dam project (pictured), opened in 1966, is one of Costa Rica's earliest hydroelectric projects?
... that basaloid squamous cell lung carcinoma was first described in 1992 and declared a lung cancer variant by the World Health Organization in 1999?
... that Russian forces killed Abdulla Kurd, al-Qaeda's top operative in Chechnya, one day after U.S. forces killed al-Qaeda head Osama bin Laden?
... that initial student admission in 2010 for the Dominica State College planned for 900 applicants, was less than 400, and resulted in an extension of enrollment and waiver of the admission fee?
... that the Austin Powers films won 20 awards, including one for Beautiful Stranger sung by Madonna?
... that the 87th season of the Philippines' NCAA kicks off today at the Araneta Coliseum?
... that jelly babies are considered inedible?

08:00, 2 July 2011 (UTC)

... that the Stave Falls Dam (original power house pictured), completed in 1912 and formerly the largest source of hydroelectric power in British Columbia, is a Canadian National Historic Site?
... that other than the Second World War, there has never been a declaration of war by Canada?
... that the Duke of Cambridge's Personal Canadian Flag was first used during the 2011 Royal tour of Canada?
... that Mount Ida Plantation in Talladega County, Alabama, burned to the ground after being struck by lightning?
... that Riella is the only liverwort to grow as a submerged aquatic?
... that Doris Lessing's book The Sweetest Dream was originally intended to be volume three of her autobiography, but she made it a novel to avoid offending people?
... that although the first six of Ben Lamb's World Series of Poker in the money finishes were in Texas hold 'em, all three of his final tables have been in pot limit Omaha hold 'em?

00:00, 2 July 2011 (UTC)

... that the Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve contains a "stone tree" (pictured)?
... that during World War II, Wyoming State Senator Robert H. Johnson flew bombing missions in support of the French Resistance against the Nazis?
... that although wine production is important to the economy of Tequisquiapan in Mexico, the locals do not generally consume it?
... that journalist Sony Esteus had his arm broken by the Port-au-Prince police while covering a story?
... that Hockey: Canada's Royal Winter Game, published in 1899, was the first book on ice hockey, and only four copies are now known to exist?
... that Frederick Settle Barff invented a device, similar to a catalytic converter, to remove SO₂ and CO₂ from the exhaust fumes of locomotives in the 1860s?
... that reportedly haunted locations in Scotland include a tenement where bubonic plague victims were quarantined and starved to death by local councilmen?

1 July 2011

16:00, 1 July 2011 (UTC)

... that the coach house, dovecote and the Eastcote House Gardens (pictured) are all that remain of the 16th-century Eastcote House?
... that as part of the DC Universe reboot, Justice League Dark has been launched featuring some of DC Comics' more bizarre and supernatural characters?
... that The Dominica Museum in Roseau contains an example of the pwi pwi, a miniature raft native to Dominica?
... that Union, a German-Hungarian trade union council, had substantial following amongst agricultural labourers in southwestern Slovakia after the First World War?
... that 94 pieces of Spanish colonial silver and 22 New Mexican santos are part of the University of New Mexico Art Museum's collection?
... that during the Second World War, 10 countries formed Convoy HX 300, which consisted of 166 ships covering an area 9 miles (14 km) wide and 4 miles (6.4 km) long?
... that musician David Rothenberg appears in a YouTube video playing jazz with cassini periodical cicadas, insects noted for their synchronized rhythm?

08:00, 1 July 2011 (UTC)

... that the American wildflower clay phacelia (pictured) is one of Utah's most endangered species and one of the nation's rarest plants?
... that the Slovak Social Democrats founded their own party in 1905, but merged back into the Hungarian Social Democratic Party after a few months due to economic problems?
... that several fires and the construction of the Croton Aqueduct shaped the Downtown Ossining Historic District of New York?
... that in 1584 Antonio Ricardo became the first printer in South America with the publication of the Doctrina Christiana, a book in Spanish, Quechua and Aymara?
... that the illegal loyalist paramilitary group the UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade was founded in 1972 by Billy Hanna, a decorated war hero?
... that Ismaila Gwarzo, a former Nigerian National Security Advisor was accused of theft of US$2.45 billion and repaid a few hundred million?
... that though located on the Eastern Michigan University campus, the Bruce T. Halle Library houses one of the largest collections of children's literature in the US?

00:00, 1 July 2011 (UTC)

... that the stone pulpit in the Roseau Cathedral (pictured) in Dominica was carved by prisoners who were kept on Devil's Island?
... that South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson is the adopted son of Congressman Joe Wilson?
... that the SS Silesia was a German ship, a British ship, and then an Italian ship before being wrecked in Uruguay?
... that the disused Såner Station was purchased by a family for 1.3 million Norwegian kroner in 2003?
... that the religion editor Helen Derr was the first female deacon of the First Presbyterian Church of Alexandria, Louisiana?
... that The Clash adopted the song "I Fought the Law" after Joe Strummer and Mick Jones heard it on a vintage jukebox at The Automatt?
... that the first report of the D–Day landings received in the British mainland was delivered by Gustav, a messenger pigeon?