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This is a selection of recently created new articles and greatly expanded former stub articles on Wikipedia that were featured on the Main Page as part of Did you know? You can submit new pages for consideration. (Archives are grouped by month of Main page appearance .)

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[edit] Did you know...

[edit] 31 March 2009

18:20, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the hallucinogenic mushroom Psilocybe naematoliformis (pictured) was first discovered in a tropical rain forest in the Uxpanapa Region of Veracruz, in southeastern Mexico?
... that the Ricky Hatton vs. Manny Pacquiao boxing match was confirmed only because Manny Pacquiao's friend drank three bottles of beer?
... that the roughtail stingray is the largest stingray in the Atlantic Ocean, at up to 2.2 metres (7.2 ft) across and weighing 300 kilograms (660 lb)?
... that Ebba Haslund's adolescence novel Nothing Happened was virtually ignored by the press when it was first issued in Norwegian in 1948, but was later regarded as one of her most important books?
... that the community of Weed Heights, Nevada, was built to support the open pit mining operation at the Anaconda Copper Mine?
... that Ælfhelm, ealdorman of York, was the grandfather of Harold Harefoot, king of England?
... that the NBC anthology series The Joseph Cotten Show (1956–1957) featured Virginia Gregg as Mary Surratt, the woman hanged for conspiracy stemming from the Lincoln assassination?
... that Tang Dynasty official Wei Chun changed his name to Wei Guanzhi to observe a naming taboo for Emperor Xianzong, whose personal name was Li Chun?

12:04, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the Chattri (pictured) in Brighton, England, stands on the site of the ghat where Hindu and Sikh soldiers of the First World War were cremated after dying while being treated at the Royal Pavilion?
... that ballerina Jocelyn Vollmar danced as the Snow Queen in the first American production of The Nutcracker?
... that the original Sinhalese Sports Club Ground was situated on land of Victoria Park with sandy soil and covered with cinnamon trees?
... that future A.B.A. president Loyd Wright represented Mary Pickford in her divorce of Douglas Fairbanks and Jane Wyman against Ronald Reagan?
... that the property of Sjøholmen in Bærum, Norway, started out as a farm, was suburbanized and is now, in part, an alternative school where children are taught to be mariners?
... that during his study of the palm family, Harold E. Moore collected all but 18 of the approximately 200 genera of palms, and earned membership in The Explorers Club?
... that the Galápagos hotspot, located in the east Pacific Ocean, is responsible for the creation of the Galápagos Islands?
... that association footballer Mikkel Diskerud played both for and against the United States national youth team in the spring of 2008?

07:17, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

... that Konstantin Danzas (pictured) was arrested for his role as Russian poet Alexander Pushkin's second in his fatal duel with d'Anthès and sentenced to hanging?
... that phylogenetic relationships between the mushroom Bovista nigrescens and species of Lycoperdaceae were established based on ITS and LSU sequence data from north European taxa?
... that Andrey Kirillovich Razumovsky, at the time Ambassador of the Russian Empire to the Austrian Empire, commissioned three string quartets from Beethoven?
... that in 1709, Ninguta, an important center of commerce, provided government-sponsored ginseng-harvesting expeditions?
... that Native American sculptor Willard Stone became a master wood carver despite an accidental explosion that cost him his right thumb and two fingers when he was 13 years old?
... that the Ludowy Theatre in Kraków gained countrywide notability in the People's Republic of Poland by staging performances evoking death camp experiences of Auschwitz?
... that Grammy-nominated CCM musician Ayiesha Woods was the first female to receive a "Producer of the Year" award at the Gospel Music Marlin Awards?
... that footballer Chic Brodie's professional career ended when he collided with a dog on the playing field?

01:23, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

... that Gerhard Schøning's (pictured) historical research papers documented travel through Norway in 1773–1775, becoming a "minor travel classic?"
... that of the 55 miles (89 km) of railways on the Isle of Wight inherited by British Railways in 1948, only 14 miles (23 km) are in use today?
... that The New York Times said that trumpeter Stephen Burns "uses his instrument with the lightness and flexibility of a singer in operatic arias"?
... that the willow-leaved cotoneaster, Cotoneaster salicifolius, is a woody plant which is native to Western China, with over 30 cultivars which range from tiny groundcovers to large shrubs?
... that in 1953, Christen Gran Bøgh administered the inaugural Bergen International Festival?
... that the PlayStation Portable video game Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem had a shorter development cycle than the film it was based on?
... that footballer Bob Wilson was the last player to captain the original Accrington Stanley club in a professional match?
... that each city council in the Philippines has a sectoral representative for women?

[edit] 30 March 2009

18:34, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

... that natural interbreeding between the banded stingaree (pictured) and the yellowback stingaree represent one of the few known cases of hybridization in cartilaginous fishes?
... that Oregon radio station KBZY is the flagship station for the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes of the Northwest League of Professional Baseball?
... that Sir Ronald Holmes, the acting Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong, made no compromise with the Communists during the 1967 Leftist Riots in that city?
... that video game Bloody Fun Day's theme of slaying cute creatures was inspired by the short story Everything Can Be Beaten by Jhonen Vasquez?
... that Debbie Kruger based her 2005 book Songwriters Speak on interviews with songwriters when publicising the 2001 Top 30 Australian songs list for the at the APRA Awards?
... that the McClellan Committee served 8,000 subpoenas, took testimony from 1,526 witnesses (343 of whom invoked the Fifth Amendment), and compiled almost 150,000 pages of evidence?
... that Gerhard Gran was appointed professor in the history of literature at the University of Kristiania in 1899, despite there being remarks about "the holes present in his knowledge"?
... that the 1933 film Design for Living is about three Americans in Paris and their risqué ménage à trois?

12:49, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

... that Daniel Thompson, poet laureate of Cuyahoga County, published work in the street newspaper Homeless Grapevine (advertisement pictured)?
... that the Ruby Cycle Co Ltd was bankrupted when a large motorcycle order from the Imperial Russian Army was stopped by the Russian Revolution?
... that former Houston Astro Craig Biggio won his first Silver Slugger Award as a catcher before winning four at second base?
... that young escapees from a military police boot camp in Serei Saophoan District, Cambodia, are beaten by other residents when they are recaptured?
... that while commonly found in central California, Agaricus lilaceps can sometimes be found at the campus of Stanford University under the eucalyptus located there?
... that despite being a professor of Finno-Ugric languages, Knut Bergsland spent his final years studying the unrelated language Aleut?
... that the Russian anarcho-syndicalist newspaper Golos Truda relocated from New York to Petrograd when its entire editorial staff decided to move to Russia following the February Revolution?
... that the development of Darkness over Daggerford, an expansion for the computer game Neverwinter Nights, was coordinated mostly over Skype?

04:05, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the clade mesangiosperms (pictured), representing one of four major clades of flowering plants, contains 99.95% of flowering plant species?
... that after the Tang Dynasty general Li Jiang died in a mutiny, his successor Wen Zao slaughtered the mutineers and offered their heads to Li Jiang as a sacrifice?
... that Laura Wilson's 2004 novel The Lover is a fictionalized account of Gordon Cummins, a British airman turned serial killer who began murdering prostitutes in London during World War II?
... that while Northman and Waltheof were ealdormen in northern Northumbria, Bamburgh was sacked by the Viking king Óláfr Tryggvason?
... that paper locals, which can be used to extort money from employers or secure sweetheart contracts, are denounced by the AFL-CIO Code of Ethical Practices?
... that the Tang Dynasty general Zhang Hongjing exhumed the bodies of the Anshi Rebellion leaders An Lushan and Shi Siming and destroyed their caskets?
... that "New Boss" is the first of six episodes of the U.S. version of The Office with appearances by The Wire actor Idris Elba?
... that the rules of the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna forbade mentioning any country or conflict by name, and instead human rights had to be discussed in the abstract?

[edit] 29 March 2009

21:53, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

... that radio stations WHOW and WEZC broadcast from a "big red barn" (pictured) just south of Clinton, Illinois?
... that pianist Mona Golabek wrote a book about her mother's experience as part of the Kindertransport, a mission to rescue children threatened by the Nazis?
... that only two of the seven non-Soviet ruling Communist political parties in the Eastern Bloc used the word "Communist" in their names when they were first established?
... that Leslie George Katz founded the Eakins Press, which printed a number of books by his wife Jane Mayhall, using funds from the sale of several Thomas Eakins paintings that Katz's father had secretly collected?
... that Entertainment Weekly reported comedian Ellie Kemper is set to take on the role of Dunder Mifflin receptionist in NBC's U.S. version of The Office?
... that in 2007, internet users in Slovenia had the highest Firefox use rate among European countries?
... that Robert Tills was the first American naval officer killed during the Battle of the Philippines, and had a ship named in his honor?
... that if the beak-like rostrum on Caridina gracilirostris is broken off, it will regrow itself?

15:43, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

... that all six species of the genus Eos (pictured) of parrots are native to only Indonesia?
... that the 1948 All-America team was the first to include separate offensive and defensive college football teams?
... that Alberto Cavos designed and rebuilt two Bolshoi Theatres—one in Saint Petersburg and one in Moscow?
... that Grace Kelly made her screen debut in Fourteen Hours, a 1951 film about a man contemplating suicide?
... that the postponement of the 2000 PBA All-Filipino Cup series between Purefoods TJ Giants and Tanduay Rhum Masters was the first one that was not for a typhoon, earthquake or bomb threat?
... that the Command & Conquer series has three main factions: The Global Defence Initiative, the Brotherhood of Nod and the Scrin?
... that London's Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway was built at the start of the 20th century, from parts of three other railways' routes?
... that even though he had inherited a fortune, the "millionaire hobo" James Eads How chose to live as a homeless vagrant?

09:36, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the harefoot mushroom (pictured) lasts only a few hours before its gills dissolve into a black liquid?
... that Arthur W. Ryder taught the Bhagavad Gita in Sanskrit to J. Robert Oppenheimer, who said it shaped his philosophy of life and famously quoted it at the Trinity nuclear test explosion?
... that the first SS class blimp entered service on 18 March 1915, fewer than three weeks after work began on it?
... that the Fifth Avenue Theatre became the first air-conditioned theatre in the world in 1877?
... that Sir Walter Scott of Branxholme and Buccleuch, chief of Clan Scott, survived the Battles of Flodden and Pinkie Cleugh only to be murdered in the High Street of Edinburgh in 1552?
... that the Christian Science Monitor once described radio station KSLM (now KVXX) in Salem, Oregon, as "a barricade holding questionable advertising material from the ears of listeners"?
... that Captain George Murray led Nelson's fleet at the attack on Copenhagen using knowledge he had gained from surveying the area a decade earlier?
... that the founders of the Pipeline, an early internet service provider, got together because of a shared interest in bridge?

03:31, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

... that Michigan, France, and the United States have all sued for claim to the “holy grail” of Great Lakes shipwrecks, French explorer La Salle’s ship Le Griffon (pictured) that sank in 1679?
... that the return value optimization is one of the very few compiler optimizations that are allowed to change the observable behaviour of a C++ program?
... that professional wrestler Johnny Valentine needed a clamp to hold his back together after a 1975 plane crash?
... that operatic tenor Chad Shelton has sung in numerous world premieres, including leading roles in Mark Adamo's Little Women and Philip Glass's Appomattox?
... that the Whisky Creek Cabin, built about 1880, is the oldest remaining mining cabin along the wild and scenic section of the Rogue River in southwest Oregon?
... that after his release from prison in 1087, the English rebel Siward Barn is thought by some historians to have founded a colony on the Black Sea with other refugees from the Norman Conquest of England?
... that Real Change was the first street newspaper in the United States to be published weekly?
... that Camp Gilwell is a Scouts Canada camp which features the haunted home of Maurice Macdonald Seymour?

[edit] 28 March 2009

21:15, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

... that Nidula niveo-tomentosa (pictured), a bird's nest fungus in the genus Nidula, produces a chemical that is a major component of raspberry flavor?
... that two of cellist Jeffrey Solow's recordings were nominated for a Grammy Award?
... that Operation Bringing Home the Goods was launched by Israel to capture Palestinian prisoners in Jericho to make sure they were not released?
... that the Charnockite in St. Thomas Mount, Chennai got its name from Job Charnock, the founder of Kolkata, whose tomb was made of rocks quarried from St. Thomas Mount?
... that Glenn Sundby, a co-founder of what is now USA Gymnastics, appeared in Ripley's Believe It Or Not! after walking down all 898 steps of the Washington Monument on his hands?
... that the collectivization of agriculture in the Eastern Bloc economies was less violent and disruptive than it had been in the Soviet Union?
... that golfer Jane Park reached the final of the U.S. Women's Amateur Championship in 2003 and 2004, and won the latter event?
... that post-anarchism theorist Saul Newman saw the publication of volume one of Anarchism: A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas as a sign of a resurgent interest in anarchist philosophy?

15:23, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the Illinois Centennial Monument (pictured) is a marble Doric column built to scale with the columns of the Parthenon?
... that baritone William Dooley performed the title role in the world premiere of Marcel Mihalovici's one character opera Krapp, ou, La dernière bande in 1961?
... that the 500-million-year-old Cambrian predator Hurdia was thought to be a number of separate organisms for 100 years, until the complete animal was reconstructed in March 2009?
... that Dr. Maurice Macdonald Seymour established the Saskatchewan Medical Association and the Saskatchewan Anti-Tuberculosis League?
... that one year after a fire damaged Lausanne Hall at Willamette University, the dormitory had to be evacuated due to a suspicious package?
... that there were two unrelated Jewish anarchists named Alexander Schapiro active in Russia during the civil war, one in the Bolshevik government and the other leading a cadre of anarchist revolutionaries against it?
... that Asad Ali Khan, one of a few remaining rudra veena players, was awarded the Indian civilian honor Padma Bhushan in 2008?
... that Blender magazine called the Huey Lewis and the News hit song "The Heart of Rock & Roll" one of the "50 Worst Songs Ever"?

09:12, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

... that George A. Steel (pictured) was elected as Oregon State Treasurer after his company went bankrupt?
... that although the name "Joni" was retired after the 1992–93 South Pacific cyclone season by the WMO, it remained on the naming lists to be used again for Cyclone Joni (2009)?
... that Carter Brey was appointed the principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic in 1996?
... that the Southern White-cheeked Gibbon may be a hybrid species of the Northern White-cheeked Gibbon and the Yellow-cheeked Gibbon?
... that former American football linebacker Craig Sauer has three brothers who have played professional ice hockey?
... that murri, an Arabic condiment akin to soy sauce, is made from barley dough allowed to ferment for 40 days?
... that the long jumper Fred Salle originally represented England in international competitions, then changed allegiance to Cameroon before returning to England some years later?
... that original Who Wants to be a Millionaire? host Chris Tarrant got his start in television as a news reporter for ATV Today?

02:53, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

... that Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas mentioned the National Natural Landmarked Sunfish Pond (pictured) in his dissenting opinion in the Sierra Club v. Morton case?
... that the son of Sultan Ali of Johor, Tengku Alam Shah, inspired the Jementah Civil War in 1879 after he failed to claim inheritance of his father's territory at Kessang?
... that KNOE-FM, founded in 1967 by former Governor of Louisiana James A. Noe, was one of five stations in Louisiana that Noe named for himself?
... that when Bobby Folds joined Gillingham F.C. in 1966, he became the club's first ever apprentice-professional footballer?
... that with the winning Audi R15 TDI averaging a speed of 117.986 mph (189.880 km/h), the 2009 running was the fastest 12 Hours of Sebring in its history?
... that Indian independence activist and Managing-Director of The Hindu from 1905 to 1923, Kasturi Ranga Iyengar, was a brother of Anglophile Indian civil servant S. Srinivasa Raghavaiyangar?
... that the 1957–1958 CBS sitcom Mr. Adams and Eve featured Howard Duff and Ida Lupino, then married to each other in real life, as a fictitious husband/wife acting duo living in Beverly Hills?
... that after the foundation of the German Democratic Republic, Nazi General Arno von Lenski was formally acknowledged as a "Victim of Fascism" in 1949?

[edit] 27 March 2009

20:42, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the Bjørvika Tunnel, financed through Oslo Package 1, will allow urban renewal of Bjørvika (pictured) and Sørengautstikkeren by HAV Eiendom, as part of the Fjord City in Norway?
... that the 16-volume series of theatre history books, The London Stage, by J. P. Wearing has been called "invaluable, thoroughly accurate" and "a proverbial mine of useful information"?
... that the Miami Hurricanes won 26 Big East Conference football awards in the 14 years they belonged to the conference (1991–2004)?
... that Indian social worker and 2009 Padma Bhushan awardee, Sarojini Varadappan is a daughter of former Chief Minister of Madras, M. Bhaktavatsalam?
... that the American Bar Association Journal is allegedly read every month by half of the 1 million lawyers in the United States?
... that Polish writer Henryk Rzewuski fought for Poland's independence in 1809 but later collaborated with the Russian Imperial Viceroy of the Kingdom of Poland, Ivan Paskevich?
... that in 1960, the CBS anthology series The DuPont Show with June Allyson featured Harpo Marx in the role of a deaf mute who witnesses a gangland murder?
... that Tang Dynasty chancellor Quan Deyu was said to be able to write poetry at age three?

13:07, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

... that one ethnographic source suggests that the Zombie palm, Zombia antillarum (pictured), a native of the island of Hispaniola, can be used to awaken zombies or protect against their spying?
... that American architect Edward Brickell White contributed designs for buildings for five National Historic Landmarks and three on the National Register of Historic Places in South Carolina?
... that Romain Gary's 1970 fictional memoir White Dog, originally released as Chien Blanc, attacks Marlon Brando and Jean Seberg for their activist activities in the 1960s?
... that when Dorothea Holt Redmond was hired in 1938 in the "heretofore exclusively male field" of film production design, male co-workers demanded that she work in an area separated from them?
... that French submarine Doris was sunk by German submarine U-9 in May 1940, after being ordered to sortie with significant damage, rendering it unable to dive?
... that crew chief Drew Blickensderfer helped driver Matt Kenseth become the fifth driver to start a NASCAR season with back-to-back wins?
... that the building of the Festning Tunnel made it possible to turn Rådhusplassen, Oslo into a car-free square?
... that George Hedges, a lawyer who represented Hollywood stars and studios, was part of an archaeological team that discovered the remains of the ancient frankincense trading city of Ubar?

07:03, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the white bird's nest mushroom Crucibulum laeve (pictured) produces a chemical that inhibits an enzyme implicated in the formation of cataracts in individuals with diabetes mellitus?
... that flautist Eugenia Zukerman has been the Classical Music Correspondent for CBS News Sunday Morning since 1980?
... that the original Liberty ship was designed by the owners of J.L. Thompson and Sons shipyard in Sunderland?
... that Charles Scribner II's country house in Cornwall, New York, combined a Shingle Style exterior with a Colonial Revival interior?
... that after being imprisoned for allegedly leading Islamic militants in Azerbaijan, Ahmad Salama Mabruk began leading a new militant group within prison?
... that when the Vika Line opened in 1995, it was the first new street line of the Oslo Tramway since 1939?
... that politician Warren Tolman ran a campaign for governor of Massachusetts while suing to implement the state's Clean Elections law?
... that Street Fighter IV character Rufus has been listed as 12th on GameDaily's "Top 25 Most Bizarre Fighting Characters" list?

00:56, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

... that galbitang (pictured), a Korean soup made from beef short ribs called galbi, is a representative dish served at wedding receptions in South Korea?
... that the future of newspapers in the United States is in doubt: as of 2005, an estimated 70 percent of older Americans read a newspaper daily, while fewer than 20 percent of younger Americans did?
... that Kristian Kristiansen's main literary work is a trilogy about a boy growing up in an orphanage in the late 1600s?
... that the Batavier II and Batavier V, of the Dutch Batavier Line, were captured, released, and later sunk by four different submarines?
... that, fourteen years after the release of their debut album, heavy metal band Iced Earth charted on the Billboard 200 for the first time?
... that the 1908 Annual Bulletin of the Comparative Law Bureau was the first journal of comparative law in the United States?
... that British anthropologist Kathleen Gough and her husband were believed to be on the FBI's watchlist due to their alleged Marxist leanings?
... that the mockumentary Male Restroom Etiquette is the most viewed Sims video on YouTube?

[edit] 26 March 2009

18:26, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

... that Mount Triumph (pictured) in North Cascades National Park is well-known among regional climbers for its lack of easy climbing routes?
... that the father and son combination Cecil Fielder and Prince Fielder each won a Silver Slugger Award at first base?
... that a Fairey Swordfish from HMS Archer was the first aircraft ever to land on Ascension Island?
... that Sultan Ali of Johor signed a treaty on 10 March 1855 with the Temenggong which formally ceded his sovereignty claims over Johor?
... that, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the eldest son of Earl Siward of Northumbria, Osbeorn, died in battle against King Macbeth of Scotland in 1054?
... that in 1890, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Davis v. Beason that it was acceptable to prohibit religious polygamists from voting?
... that a sub-marine eruption near the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai volcano in Tonga began spewing steam, smoke, pumice, and ash thousands of feet into the sky on March 16, 2009?
... that the Borromeo String Quartet uses laptops instead of paper sheet music when they perform?

11:50, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the 6th-century St. Augustine Gospels (pictured) is the oldest surviving illustrated Latin Gospel book, but is still regularly used?
... that in the early 20th century there were two American newspapers called Hobo News, one published by the IBWA, a mutual aid society for migratory workers?
... that Kyryl Studynsky was among the first academics to protest against the Holodomor?
... that writer-director Joel Hopkins made Last Chance Harvey to recreate the chemistry he had seen between actors Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman in a theatre production?
... that the history of the Oslo Tramway started with the construction of a horsecar line to Homansbyen in 1875?
... that Trinity Episcopal Church in Columbia, South Carolina, is a Gothic revival church designed to resemble York Minster?
... that the discovery of feather-like structures on the primitive dinosaur Tianyulong raises the possibility that ancestral dinosaurs were feathered?
... that the South Park episode "The Coon" spoofs such dark comic book movies as The Dark Knight, The Spirit and Watchmen?

05:16, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the Cairo International Book Fair (pictured) is the oldest and largest book fair in the Arab world?
... that the U2 song "Magnificent" was originally titled "French Disco"?
... that Adolf Pilch, Polish resistance fighter trained by SOE during WWII, fought against both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union?
... that after the September 11 attacks, Korean Air Lines Flight 85 accidentally sent out a hijack signal?
... that Indian historian V. Kanakasabhai, who was the first to attempt a systematic chronology of Tamils, was of Sri Lankan Tamil ancestry?
... that the PSP video game Monster Kingdom: Jewel Summoner uses the PSP's internal clock to continually train the player's monsters, even when the console is not in use?
... that child actor Johnny Washbrook, though educated at two London art academies, spent his later adult years as a banker in Massachusetts?
... that Le Journal de Mickey, a French comics magazine first published in 1934, is credited with "the birth of the modern bande dessinée"?

[edit] 25 March 2009

22:49, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the USCGC Citrus (pictured) was rammed by the marijuana-smuggling ship MV Pacific Star, which was scuttled by its crew?
... that Chinese American sculptor Hai Ying Wu's work includes the Fallen Fire Fighters Memorial in Seattle and the Auto-Lite Strike Memorial in Toledo, Ohio?
... that the Straits Lumber mill at the ghost town of Red Gap, British Columbia was once the largest in the Pacific Northwest?
... that the Tang Dynasty chancellor Li Fan sought to dissuade Emperor Xianzong from seeking immortality by citing the failed examples of Qin Shi Huang, Emperor Wu of Han, and Emperor Taizong of Tang?
... that the Database Console Commands are a set of Transact-SQL statements used to check the consistency of a Microsoft SQL Server database?
... that mezzo-soprano Stephanie Novacek created roles in the premieres of two important operas, the role of Maria Callas in Daugherty's Jackie O and the role of heroine Jo March in Adamo's Little Women?
... that Sandomierz Voivodeship (1939), a proposed administrative unit of the Second Polish Republic, was projected to be 24,500 km² and to incorporate 20 or 21 powiats?
... that when only given enough money to paint half his ship, John Phillimore protested by asking the Navy Board which half they wished him to paint?

15:26, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

... that all the Dukes of Courland are buried in Jelgava Palace (pictured)?
... that one episode of the western TV series My Friend Flicka depicts 26th U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, played by Frank Albertson, trying to halt a range war?
... that sentences with reduced relative clauses, such as the horse raced past the barn fell, can lead you down a garden path?
... that Sweden could have been represented in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 with the Greek song "Alla"?
... that the Fountain of the Great Lakes, with semi-nude figures, was not dedicated until after Chicago changed its obscenity laws for public art in 1913?
... that Martin Knowlton conceived the Elderhostel concept, in which senior citizens take college-level courses in the summer, to overcome "the disturbing concept that people are all used up after age 65"?
... that Banksia lindleyana goes by the common name of "Porcupine Banksia"?
... that in the first eight years after Harvard Girl was published in mainland China, the number of Chinese applicants to Harvard increased tenfold?

09:18, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the woman depicted in the painting Miss Amelia Van Buren (pictured) was one of artist Thomas Eakins' most gifted students?
... that Davy Crockett (1954–1955) was the first miniseries in the history of television, although the term "miniseries" had not yet been coined?
... that according to the Zizhi Tongjian, the Tang Dynasty chancellor Pei Ji raised the assessed value of goods to avoid undue tax burden on people who paid taxes with goods?
... that St Bernard's Hospital is the only civilian general hospital in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar?
... that the first textbook in Hungarian, an encyclopedia by János Apáczai Csere, was written and published in The Netherlands?
... that the jilted bride Eliza Emily Donnithorne, who is buried in Camperdown Cemetery, may have been the model for Charles Dickens' reclusive Miss Havisham?
... that Chilkat weaving, a traditional technique of indigenous peoples of Alaska and British Columbia, is so complex that it may take a year to weave a blanket?
... that Trooper Patrick Fowler spent most of World War One hiding in a wardrobe in German-occupied France?

02:12, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

Laugh-Out-Loud Cats #736

... that among other sources, the lolcat-inspired Laugh-Out-Loud Cats comics (pictured) draw from the style of Sidney Smith's 1910s comic strip Old Doc Yak?
... that the peninsula Kadettangen got its name as a site of cadet training, conducted by the Norwegian Military Academy and discontinued from 1896?
... that the 1962 ABC sitcom Mr. Smith Goes to Washington featured a television appearance by mime artist Harpo Marx?
... that Tang Dynasty chancellor Yu Di lost his chancellorship in a scandal where he tried to use bribes to obtain a Jiedushi (military governor) position?
... that an edition of BBC radio programme Any Questions?, featuring former Prime Minister Edward Heath, was broadcast live from St Philip's Church, Hove in 1995?
... that after realizing the blogosphere was similar to a stock market, Seyed Razavi created BlogShares to allow people to buy shares of blogs with virtual currency?
... that Sloat's Dam is the only remaining intact dam on the Rockland County stretch of the Ramapo River?
... that at Against All Odds, Jeff Jarrett was not allowed to use a guitar as a weapon, so he used a cello instead?

[edit] 24 March 2009

20:19, 24 March 2009 (UTC)

Tanna japonensis song

... that Tanna japonensis, the Japanese cicada, makes a melancholy sound (example right) after sunset, when the temperature has dropped, or when it becomes cloudy?
... that during the 2008–09 Big Ten Conference men's basketball season, Wooden, Naismith, and Robertson Award committees all selected different Big Ten players for their midseason top candidates lists?
... that the Antelope Ground, Southampton was the first home of both Hampshire County Cricket Club and of Southampton Football Club?
... that in 1905, Edmund Harbitz declined to join the cabinet of his former law firm partner Christian Michelsen?
... that the edibility of the small woodland mushroom Agaricus semotus is disputed, with some sources claiming edibility and others warning of gastrointestinal discomfort?
... that the main house at Brykill Farms in Gardiner, New York, was expanded in a similar style and material 200 years after the first section was built?
... that Gears of War failed to win any prize at the 4th British Academy Video Games Awards, even though it was nominated for six?
... that, despite wrestling alongside each other for years and holding a tag team championship together, brothers Mark Starr and Chris Champion used different last names?

12:43, 24 March 2009 (UTC)

... that Native Americans occupied the Rogue River around the Rogue River Ranch (pictured) over 9,000 years before European settlers arrived?
... that when Per Øisang hosted the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation's election debates in the early 1960s, the questioning of politicians was conducted by other politicians?
... that Faith Lutheran College, Redlands was the first independent Christian school opened in the Redlands Shire, South East Queensland?
... that college basketball player Evan Turner was the only unanimous first-team All-Big Ten Conference choice by both the coaches and the media for the 2008–09 Big Ten Conference men's basketball season?
... that the porch of Macclesfield Castle in Macclesfield, dating from the reign of English King Henry II and the only standing part of the castle, was replaced by cottages and shops in 1932?
... that judge and law school dean George G. Bingham was once the coroner for Yamhill County, Oregon?
... that Australian Made, a 1987 concert tour promoting "Good Times" and the mateship of nine local acts, was headlined by INXS and ended with two band managers coming to blows?
... that James Beach was selected to run for the Camden County, New Jersey Board of Chosen Freeholders after appearing at a candidate recruitment interview complaining and waving his tax bill?

06:28, 24 March 2009 (UTC)

... that after the Battle of Glenmama in the Wicklow Mountains (pictured) in 999, Brian Boru's Munster forces occupied the city of Dublin for over a week?
... that Armenian Byzantinist Hrach Bartikyan wrote the introductions and translated select writings of Procopius, Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, and John Scylitzes from Greek into Armenian?
... that the "Golden Ticket" episode of the U.S. version of The Office was watched by 7.7 million viewers, tying with Grey's Anatomy for number one among the broadcast networks in adults 18–34?
... that when King Edward VII opened Medway Maritime Hospital in Kent, England, in 1905, that the main corridor was almost 1,000 feet (300 m) long?
... that Tin Pan Alley song "On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away" by Paul Dresser, Indiana's state song, became its first official state symbol in 1913?
... that Henry Cronin won the Military Cross in the First World War for assaulting enemy positions and taking prisoners of war, despite being assigned to build field defences?
... that during the filming of Dexter episode "The Damage a Man Can Do", actor Jimmy Smits accidentally stabbed a stunt man with a real knife?
... that Janet Beaton, Lady of Branxholme and Buccleugh, had five husbands and was immortalized as Sir Walter Scott's Wizard Lady of Branxholm in his poem "The Lay of the Last Minstrel"?

00:20, 24 March 2009 (UTC)

... that Orion P. Howe (pictured) was awarded the Medal of Honor for his childhood service as a Union Army drummer boy during the American Civil War?
... that the blind cave beetle Leptodirus hochenwartii, originally discovered in 1831 in the Postojna cave system, was the first animal to be recognized as a true cave dweller?
... that excavations at Locust Grove in Dillwyn, Virginia, revealed the grave of an infant in the kitchen garden?
... that Hulda Garborg was co-founder of Det Norske Teatret in Oslo, which was established in 1912?
... that Hudson Stuck, who was one of the first people to climb Mount McKinley's South Peak, thought Eagle Summit was one of the most difficult summits in Alaska?
... that India's S. Srinivasa Iyengar resigned as Advocate-General of Madras Presidency and returned his Order of the Indian Empire in protest against the Jallianwala Bagh massacre?
... that Laurelwood Academy moved to Eugene, Oregon, after 103 years in Laurelwood, Oregon, but did not change its name?
... that 17th-century baronet Sir Thomas Peniston received £50 per year as a member of the retinue of Richard Sackville, 3rd Earl of Dorset, and that his wife, Martha, was the Earl's mistress?

[edit] 23 March 2009

18:08, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

... that according to legend, clams casino (pictured), a dish that is popular with Italian-Americans, was first created in Narragansett, Rhode Island, in 1917?
... that in 1029, the ransom of the Hiberno-Norse prince Amlaíb mac Sitriuc included over 1,200 cows, 60 ounces of gold and of silver, "the sword of Carlus", and a large number of Irish hostages?
... that the Fromm Institute for Lifelong Learning was an inspiration for Bernard Osher's funding Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes for adults over age 50 at over 120 universities and colleges?
... that it was at the urging of Tang Dynasty chancellor Li Jifu that Emperor Xianzong ordered that husbands be found for imperial princes' daughters?
... that the 2007 video game My Spanish Coach contains nearly 10,000 words in the game's dictionary that the player can learn?
... that Canadian actress Cara Duff-MacCormick won a Theatre World Award for her role in Moonchildren, a play about coming of age during the Vietnam War era?
... that the Association of Polish Artists and Designers was disbanded by the Polish military authorities for opposing the 1981 imposition of martial law in communist Poland?
... that American Summit in Alaska is the location of what has been called one of the most remote liquor stores in the world?

08:31, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

... that even though the Mammoth Cave system has passages directly beneath Great Onyx Cave (pictured), they have never been connected?
... that the 1916 children's novel Just David was the second in a series of four consecutive bestsellers in the United States for Eleanor H. Porter?
... that in the Battle of Lalakaon in 863 AD, three Byzantine armies, marching from different directions, converged on time to surround an Arab army?
... that Darby Hinton, who played Fess Parker's son on NBC's Daniel Boone, as an infant lost his father in a plane crash but remains close to Parker nearly 40 years after the series ended?
... that during the Senate confirmation hearing for Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, Republican Senator John Barrasso read a passage from The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression?
... that the Kikuchi samurai clan was descended from the royal family of the Korean kingdom of Baekje?
... that Nolan Bushnell, founder of both Atari, Inc and Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza-Time Theaters, was made a fellow of BAFTA at the 5th British Academy Video Games Awards?

02:13, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the Islamic Cultural Center of New York (pictured), which opened in 1991, was the first purpose-built mosque in New York City?
... that Norwegian surrealist poet Triztán Vindtorn changed his first name into the name of his favorite pub?
... that, in the 1999 NCAA Division I men's lacrosse tournament, the Loyola Greyhounds under head coach Dave Cottle became the only first-seeded team ever to be eliminated before the semifinals?
... that Allah Bux Soomro, Premier of Sindh, renounced his OBE and the title of Khan Bahadur and resigned his membership in the National Defence Council of India during the Quit India Movement?
... that the Gable Mansion is one of the last Victorian Italianate mansions of its style, size, and proportion in California?
... that Lawrence Herkimer invented the cheerleading jump known as the herkie by accident while a cheerleader at Southern Methodist University in the 1940s?
... that Swedish writer, photographer, film maker, and artist Jan Lindblad kept two Bengal tigers as pets?
... that Mongolian Ninja miners are so named because the green bowls they carry on their backs for gold panning resemble the shells of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?

[edit] 22 March 2009

20:07, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

... that after losing the 1962 race for governor of California, Richard Nixon (pictured) held what he called his "last press conference" promising the media that "you won't have Nixon to kick around any more"?
... that during World War II, the Joshua Hendy Iron Works under the management of Charles E. Moore built one 137-ton Liberty ship engine every 40.8 hours?
... that the first and so far the only mathematics paper by Bill Gates was published in Discrete Mathematics in 1979?
... that the little skate pushes itself along the sea floor using a pair of leg-like fin lobes, a mode of locomotion known as "punting"?
... that record label manager TobyMac pulled his car over to the side of the road when he first heard Christian hip hop artist B. Reith's music?
... that Dadabhai Naoroji Road in South Mumbai, starting in Crawford Market and leading to Flora Fountain at its south end, is studded with neoclassical- and Gothic-style buildings of the 19th century?
... that the indie video game Gang Garrison 2 adapts the FPS Team Fortress 2 into a 2D shooter game with 8-bit graphics?
... that salsa music promoter Ralph Mercado got his start with "waistline parties", live music events where women paid based on their waist size (thinner women paid less) and Mercado measuring at the door?

12:26, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

... that marks remain on the Sloat House (pictured) in Sloatsburg, New York, from the accidental shooting death of John D. Sloat's father, who became the first burial in Old Sloatsburg Cemetery?
... that Lou Reed said "I knew I was in the presence of an angel" after hearing the Antony and the Johnsons song "Cripple and the Starfish"?
... that Ancistrochilus rothschildianus is a species of semi-terrestrial orchid endemic to the African tropics?
... that John Dyneley Prince, who later served as U.S. Ambassador to Denmark and Yugoslavia, learned the Romani language as a 12-year-old, which helped him when he ran away for three days to a gypsy camp?
... that Tang Dynasty official Zheng Yin opposed issuance of commissions for eunuch commandants on hemp paper, saying it was reserved for commissions of imperial princes and chancellors?
... that the 395th Infantry Regiment was the only unit during the Battle of the Bulge that did not retreat, earning the nickname Butler's Blue Battlin' Bastards?
... that Doris Abrahams started producing on Broadway as a teenager and co-produced the Tony Award-winning Equus with Kermit Bloomgarden?
... that the recently discovered dracula fish lost its teeth then re-evolved a set of bony fangs from its jawbone?

06:28, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

... that Lac de Monteynard Avignonet, a lake in the French Alps, has a 220-metre (720 ft) long, 85-metre (279 ft) high simple suspension bridge (pictured) for non-motorized use?
... that British lawyer and activist of the Indian independence movement Eardley Norton was instrumental in establishing an UK-chapter of the Indian National Congress?
... that in the Philippines, double-dead meat refers to meat from pigs that died of disease, which is sold for human consumption?
... that Tom Coughlin, head coach of the New York Giants, founded the Jay Fund charity to honor Jay McGillis, a player Coughlin coached at Boston College who died of leukemia?
... that after Tang Dynasty general Wu Chongyin died, his officers cut off and burned the flesh from their thighs as a sacrifice to him?
... that Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald's 1936 recording of "Indian Love Call" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame 72 years later?
... that Charles S. Lieber's baboon testing showed that cirrhosis is caused by alcohol, not malnutrition?
... that a date stone beetle virgin will have sex with her first son to reach maturity before eating him and all of his brothers?

00:15, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the pineapplefish (pictured) is also known as the "port-and-starboard light fish", because the two luminescent organs on its head resemble ship navigation lights?
... that the Inuvialuit Settlement Region's only deepwater port is located in Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, Canada?
... that the 2009 book Unfriendly Fire argues that bans on gays in the military were based on prejudices and fears, not empirical data?
... that during their first football game against Yale in 1884, the Dartmouth Big Green were routed, 113–0?
... that Indian National Congress politician and member of Indian parliament P. Thanulinga Nadar was a leader of Hindu nationalist organisation Hindu Munnani in his later years?
... that George Frideric Handel's cantata Ero e Leandro was first published in 1999, 292 years after it was composed?
... that the assassins of the Tang Dynasty chancellor Wu Yuanheng decapitated him and took his head with them?
... that the Stone Harbor Bird Sanctuary, known for annually returning egrets and herons, has not had any return since 2000?

[edit] 21 March 2009

17:53, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

... that Royal Navy frigate HMS Castor was captured by the French in 1794, but was retaken (pictured) just 20 days later?
... that Jim Cramer's appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart led to The Daily Show website's highest day of traffic in 2009?
... that the First Jassy-Kishinev Offensive is part of a series of "forgotten operations", almost completely ignored by Soviet archives and historiography?
... that because a car crashed through his store's window, Steve Bernard's Cape Cod Potato Chips company survived a difficult winter, after which business boomed?
... that the term Rock of Israel was the subject of controversy just hours before the promulgation of the Israeli Declaration of Independence?
... that Roy Rogers and Gene Autry called the western entertainer Eddie Dean the best cowboy singer of all time?
... that in the Battle of Barnet, Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick was fighting for Henry VI, whom he formerly deposed, and against Edward IV, whom he had helped to gain the throne?
... that Julien's Auctions sold Star Trek star William Shatner's kidney stone for US$25,000?

11:50, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

... that Jasper Cropsey may have helped design the Jacob Sloat House (pictured) in Sloatsburg, New York, which combines the Greek Revival and Picturesque architectural styles?
... that Danish mass murderer Peter Lundin got married twice while in prison?
... that the German Grossdeutschland division, located 50 miles (80 km) east of Târgu Frumos, repelled three Soviet divisions and recaptured the town 48 hours after receiving its initial order?
... that Robert E. A. Lee was executive producer of A Time for Burning, a cinéma vérité documentary about efforts to bridge race relations among Lutherans in Omaha, Nebraska?
... that R29, an R23X class airship, recorded the only success by any British wartime rigid airship when she took part in the sinking of German submarine UB-115 in 1918?
... that New York City rapper Coke La Rock is often credited as being the first MC in the history of hip-hop?
... that due to widespread censorship and control of media in the Eastern Bloc, underground distribution of clandestine information became common?
... that in 1934 State Representative Rupert Peyton of Shreveport ridiculed Huey P. Long by proposing a bill to grant the title "Your Majesty" to every adult in Louisiana?

05:43, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the Triumph Tiger Daytona motorcycle (pictured) was named after Buddy Elmore's win in the 1966 Daytona 200, Triumph's first Daytona victory?
... that when footballer Morten Knutsen left Odd Grenland due to persistent injury problems, he joined FK Arendal, only to immediately sustain another injury?
... that most of the 156 episodes of the 1950s series The Cisco Kid were filmed in color, more than a decade before color television became common?
... that having suffered a stroke in 1972, neuroanatomist Alf Brodal published the article Self-Observations and Neuro-Anatomical Considerations After a Stroke in the journal Brain in 1973?
... that in the last 50 years, 17 championships have been retired by current professional wrestling company World Wrestling Entertainment?
... that Australian Second World War flying ace Virgil Brennan shot down 10 Axis aircraft over Malta in a five month period during 1942?
... that New Jersey's Pigeon Swamp State Park, named for 18th-century landowner Ann Pidgeon, was a nesting place for passenger pigeons before they became extinct in the early 20th century?
... that according to Sextius Niger the salamander was an aphrodisiac if served in honey, but its power to extinguish fires was a myth?

[edit] 20 March 2009

23:50, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

... that Tecumseh's Confederation began as a nativist religious movement led by Tecumseh's brother Tenskwatawa (pictured), a Shawnee witch hunter?
... that six idols from the Sivagurunathaswamy temple in Sivapuram, India, were secretly smuggled out of the country in the 1950s?
... that from 1963 to 1991, only four nations—Canada, Czechoslovakia, Sweden and the Soviet Union—won medals at the Ice Hockey World Championships?
... that Frederick Stokes captained the England rugby team in the first ever international rugby match in 1871?
... that Prince George Winyah Episcopal Church in South Carolina has one of the oldest congregations in continuous service?
... that when cut, the poisonous mushroom Lactarius chrysorrheus bleeds white milk which quickly turns sulphur-yellow?
... that in 1892, future I.C.C. commissioner Henry C. Hall was journeying to California for his health, but stopped off in Colorado and liked it so much he settled there?
... that the cult of Kukulkan, the Yucatec Maya feathered serpent deity, was the first Mesoamerican religion to transcend earlier linguistic and ethnic divisions?

18:08, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

... that at 5 feet 4 inches (1.63 m), Rex White (car pictured) is the smallest person to ever win a NASCAR championship?
... that Australian thriller Incident at Raven's Gate was an early film by director Rolf de Heer, who would go on to make the AFI Award-winning Ten Canoes?
... that the twenty-four Liebherr T282B trucks at Barrick Gold's Cortez Gold Mine account for 10% of that model's sales worldwide?
... that the brownsnout spookfish is the only vertebrate known to use a mirror to focus an image in its eye?
... that the Saginaw Trail's name comes from the Ojibwe word for "where the Sauk were"?
... that in 1697 French Huguenot refugee Élie Bouhéreau brought church records from La Rochelle to Ireland to save them from destruction, and they remained there for nearly 200 years?
... that Barry Bonds has won 12 Silver Slugger Awards in his career as an outfielder in Major League Baseball?
... that over time, comets expel most of the volatile material from their nuclei and become extinct comets, small asteroid-like lumps of rubble?

09:44, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

... that Józef Turowski's groundbreaking book about the World War II massacres of Poles in Volhynia (map pictured) was published only after the collapse of the Soviet Union?
... that the Wild Rugby Academy, formed in 2007, aims to enable Germany to participate in the 2015 Rugby World Cup?
... that Brendan Benson of The Raconteurs covered the Jape song "Floating", from the album The Monkeys in the Zoo Have More Fun Than Me, without the band's permission?
... that the three drunken Wierix brothers of Antwerp influenced Ethiopian iconography?
... that for the first four decades of its existence, the altar of the Reformed Dutch Church in Bloomingburg, New York, was on the same end as the main entrance?
... that Groucho Marx wanted to play the title role of an embittered Holocaust survivor in the 1964 film The Pawnbroker?
... that Sara Christian had the highest female finish in the history of NASCAR's top series at the 1949 Heidelberg Raceway event?
... that the Performing Garage, an off-Broadway theater, was never actually a garage?

03:01, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

... that from the 1860s, the New Zealand government established a network of castaway depots (example pictured) on their sub-antarctic islands for the use of shipwreck survivors?
... that Major General George F. Hopkinson was the only British airborne general to be killed during the Second World War?
... that Junkie XL's Booming Back at You was released by a joint venture between game developer EA and music company Nettwerk?
... that in 1996, the Kinjo family sued Lori Padilla for ¥62 million (US$580,000) blood money after a car Padilla was driving killed three of their family members in Okinawa?
... that the Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program searched Florida's Lake Crescent for the wreckage of Alligator, a paddle steamer used by archeologist Clarence Bloomfield Moore?
... that Hew Pike was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his "cool example and inspiring leadership" during a fierce battle in the 1982 Falklands War?
... that the Centre College Praying Colonels participated in the first game of American football played south of the Ohio River in 1880?
... that when refused leave to go to London with the order that he could only travel as far on land as he could get in his barge, Captain Henry Paulet put the barge on a cart and went anyway?

[edit] 19 March 2009

21:38, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the recently discovered Cobbe portrait (pictured) may be one of only two portraits of William Shakespeare done from life?
... that Adolph Diesterweg, a German educationist, is sometimes credited as originating the maxim "learn to do by doing"?
... that the viral video Saturday Morning Watchmen portrays Watchmen character Rorschach as a friend to the animals?
... that Desiderius Erasmus knew three unrelated people called Jacob Faber?
... that Bengaluru Pete, established by Kempegowda I in 1537 with roads laid in cardinal directions with entrance gates at the end of each road, is an integral part of the present-day Bangalore, India?
... that Chris Mullin was named the Big East Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year three consecutive times from 1983 to 1985?
... that the Oslo Tramway reached its greatest length with the opening of the Sinsen Line in 1939?
... that when the German U-boat UB-13 sank the neutral Dutch ocean liner Tubantia in March 1916, one of the German excuses was that the torpedo had been fired ten days before and just happened to hit the ship?

14:54, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

... that anethole, cause of the ouzo effect (pictured) in anise-flavored alcoholic beverages, yields a derivative drug that may be used in novel self-microemulsifying drug delivery systems?
... that the New York Philharmonic featured cellist Lorne Munroe as a soloist more than 150 times?
... that L-form bacteria are regarded either as insignificant laboratory curiosities, or important but unappreciated causes of disease?
... that triple quartets from Finland's oldest choir Akademiska Sångföreningen helped raise funds to build the Old Student House in Helsinki?
... that the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering awarded Raymond Damadian the 2009 Honorary Fellow Award for discovering the concept of MRI?
... that the Secretary of State of Texas from 1870 to 1874, James Newcomb, was a scout for the longest desert trek by U.S. military?
... that the album Ritual by Jape recently won the Choice Music Prize?
... that Moggy Hollow Natural Area was where Glacial Lake Passaic overflowed as the Wisconsin Glacier expanded in New Jersey?

07:35, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the Cape Kumukahi Light (pictured) was saved from destruction in the 1960 eruption of Kilauea when the lava flow parted and went to either side of it?
... that the primarily western television actor Chris Alcaide came out of retirement in 1987 to appear as the Chief Justice in Charles Bronson's film Assassination?
... that the British Council sponsored a "Rock the Referendum" concert for the 2005 Armenian constitutional referendum?
... that the "dancing doctor", pediatric toxicologist Michael Shannon, starred in a 2008 production of the Urban Nutcracker, his eighth year appearing in the annual performance?
... that the Boulton and Watt steam engine preserved in the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Australia, is the oldest surviving rotative steam engine?
... that American historian Constance McLaughlin Green won the 1963 Pulitzer Prize for History for her book Washington, Village and Capital, 1800-1878?
... that British heavy metal band Iron Maiden was nominated in the Best Live Return category at the 2008 Vodafone Awards, but disagreed with their nomination and asked to be withdrawn?
... that university founder Andrew White prevented the Cornell Big Red football team from playing Michigan, saying "I refuse to let 40 of our boys travel 400 miles merely to agitate a bag of wind"?

01:21, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the Atlantic stingrays (pictured) living in St. Johns River, Florida, are the only permanent freshwater population of cartilaginous fish in North America?
... that Russian politician Vladimir Nikolayev became mayor of Vladivostok, Russia, after his opponent was killed by a grenade left outside his office?
... that the science fiction novel Typewriter in the Sky by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard is set in the Caribbean during the 17th century?
... that Galen T. Porter was a New York City police captain who led the defense of the NY Draft Office when it was attacked by angry firefighters and mobs during the 1863 New York Draft Riots?
... that in Advanced Banter, the QI book of quotations, Alan Davies wrote the following proverb: "A small pie is soon eaten"?
... that medievalist Knut Helle led the editorial committee of the ten-volume encyclopedia Norsk biografisk leksikon?
... that Operation Cockade, a series of Allied deceptive operations during World War II, was so unsuccessful that it was later described as being “at best a piece of harmless play acting”?
... that Siward, the earl of Northumbria who defeated Macbeth in battle, was said to have been descended from a polar bear?

[edit] 18 March 2009

14:26, 18 March 2009 (UTC)

... that traffic light control and coordination systems include Pegasus crossings (pictured) for horse riders?
... that Einar Sverdrup, CEO of a Svalbard-based coal mining company, died during World War II during an attempt to secure Svalbard?
... that Wilmette, Illinois's Chicago and Northwestern Depot has been described as the most historic building in the village?
... that Romanus, the second Bishop of Rochester, drowned in the Mediterranean Sea?
... that Kathryn Erbe, who had previously played a murderer in Oz, was cast as Det. Alex Eames in the first season of Law & Order: Criminal Intent because producers thought she "just looked like a real cop"?
... that 17th-century Hungarian painter Jakob Bogdani highlighted his paintings with exotic red-coloured birds such as the Scarlet Ibis, Red Avadavat and Northern Cardinal?
... that the Royal Australian Navy's Kanimbla class ships can carry two Australian Army LCM2000 Landing Craft Mechanised on their bow?
... that in 1952, after giving the Checkers Speech, Richard Nixon dictated a telegram resigning as Eisenhower's running mate, but his campaign manager Murray Chotiner ripped it up unsent?

05:07, 18 March 2009 (UTC)

... that Ireland's 2008 Meteor Awards featured a duet between Sinéad O'Connor and Mick Pyro and a performance by Gary Lightbody and Lisa Hannigan (pictured) of the song "Some Surprise", taken from the self-titled album of The Cake Sale which was organised by former Bell X1 member Brian Crosby?
... that the black swallower can swallow fishes over twice its length and ten times its weight?
... that the U.S. Senate confirmed Winthrop M. Daniels as an I.C.C. commissioner by 36–27 after some opposing Democrats voted in favor so as not to offend President Woodrow Wilson by rejecting his friend?
... that the operation of malthouses in the UK were once strictly regulated to comply with the malt tax?
... that American art historian Charles Rufus Morey published a pamphlet on library planning called "Laboratory-Library"?
... that the founder of the artists' group Les Nabis, Paul Sérusier, spent long visits painting in the Breton village of Châteauneuf-du-Faou?
... that traditional performers, the Mulkerrin Brothers from the Aran Islands, won The All Ireland Talent Show two days ago?

[edit] 17 March 2009

23:07, 17 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the annual Skyfest fireworks display was held at the Rock of Cashel (pictured in 1986) in County Tipperary in 2008, the first time it was held outside Dublin?
... that Australian flying ace Russell Foskett was credited with 6½ aerial victories during the Second World War, before he was killed over the Aegean Sea in October 1944?
... that Damien Dempsey's critically-acclaimed 2005 album, Shots, contains a track called "Saint Patrick's Day"?
... that Slovenian graphic designer Miljenko Licul designed two national currencies, the tolar and (with others) the Slovenian euro coins?
... that the 1780 Atlantic hurricane season is the only season to date that had three hurricanes that caused at least 1,000 deaths each?
... that John Penn, the engineer famed for introducing wood bearings for screw-propeller shafts in steam-powered ships, was also president of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers on two occasions?
... that Fat Cupid died on St. Patrick's Day?

17:03, 17 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the 14"/50 caliber railway guns (pictured), used in France during World War I, were created when the U.S. Navy mounted five spare battleship guns on specially-made railway cars?
... that the small farming community of Laurelwood, Oregon, was the site of four execution-style murders in the 1970s ordered by the Hells Angels?
... that the Irish TV series Garda ar Lár focused on an incident which preceded Minister for Defence Paddy Donegan's "thundering disgrace" remarks and President Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh's resignation?
... that Yuki Kataoka, a character from the Japanese manga Saki, seems to play better at mahjong if she eats tacos?
... that Brodir and Ospak of Man were two 11th-century Danish brothers who fought on opposite sides at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014?
... that despite attracting the highest ratings ever for a comedy show debut on BBC Three, Horne & Corden was described by one critic as, "about as funny as credit default swaps"?

10:56, 17 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the Hiberno-Norse King of Dublin, Sigtrygg Silkbeard, established Ireland's first mint (coin of Sigtrygg pictured) in the 990s at Dublin?
... that "Tomorrow Never Dies", Sheryl Crow's theme song to the James Bond film of the same name, received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Original Song?
... that archaeologist Luigi Pernier, who found the Phaistos Disc, has been accused of having forged it?
... that the TV documentary series On the Street Where You Live featured contributions from locals, historians and the Grand Marshall of the 2008 Saint Patrick's Day parade in Kilkenny, Ireland?
... that the Butler's frogfish can hold onto objects with its finger-like pectoral fin rays?
... that though actors James Whitmore and Audra Lindley were divorced in 1979, the two starred in Tom Cole's 1990 production of About Time, as an elderly couple identified only as Old Man and Old Woman?
... that The Simpsons episode "In the Name of the Grandfather", scheduled to debut on Sky One, will be the first episode of the show to air in Ireland before airing in the United States?

04:00, 17 March 2009 (UTC)

... that, despite being the type species of the genus Cortinarius, the colour of the mushroom Cortinarius violaceus (pictured) is so dark it is only comparable with members of other genera?
... that research by Mark H. Beers on drug interactions in the elderly led to creating the eponymous Beers Criteria, listing prescription medications that may have negative side effects in older patients?
... that during the campaign for the 2007 Bermudan general election a bullet was mailed to the Premier of Bermuda, Ewart Brown?
... that in 1453, John Norman was the first Lord Mayor of London to travel by water to swear his oath at Westminster, a tradition that continued until 1856?
... that Street News, sold by homeless individuals in New York beginning in 1989, became the prototype for street newspapers worldwide?
... that Alfred Madsen, a high-ranking politician in the Norwegian Labour Party, started his career as a lithographer?
... that Arthur Miller threatened to sue Columbia Pictures over a short clip they placed in front of Death of a Salesman, a film based off of his play of the same name?
... that in the indie video game Clean Asia!, the eyes of all humans leave their bodies, fly to the moon, develop weapons, and attack the human race, taking over several countries?

[edit] 16 March 2009

22:15, 16 March 2009 (UTC)

... that Aleksander Świętochowski (pictured) was a founder and the leading ideologist of Polish Positivism?
... that the South Park episode The Ring parodies the Jonas Brothers and the marketing tactics of Walt Disney Company in using the band to pledge abstinence?
... that Jules De Martino of The Ting Tings was once in an indie band called "Babakoto" who played as a backing group for Bros?
... that logarithmic differentiation is a technique used in differential calculus to differentiate complicated functions by taking the natural logarithm of both sides of the equation $y = f (x)$ ?
... that the medieval citizens of the English town of Oxford called William de Chesney their alderman before such honorific was in common use?
... that at least 212 drawings by Douglas Hamilton illustrate his big game hunting experiences, forestry operations and Army surveys of new hill stations in Tamil Nadu, South India, in the mid 1800s?
... that Odd Langholm, who started out as a researcher of business administration, later won recognition for his studies of mediaeval economic thought?
... that the whitefin dogfish has light-producing organs on its upper eyelids?

15:33, 16 March 2009 (UTC)

... that Salvia tingitana (pictured) was named after the town of "Tingi", now known as Tangiers, even though the plant has never been found growing there?
... that singer Katie White named her group The Ting Tings after a Chinese girl who worked with her in a boutique?
... that the Haldane Reforms of 1906–1912 included the creation of the British Expeditionary Force and the Territorial Force?
... that George Keverian won election as a 21-year-old to the Common Council of Everett, Massachusetts, in 1954 using a new MIT high-speed camera to create individualized fliers for each voter?
... that voters in the 2005 Egyptian constitutional referendum could get free public transport in Cairo?
... that Prussian general Friedrich August Peter von Colomb commanded the Prussian forces throughout the Greater Poland Uprising of 1848?
... that Northern Canada’s Rivière La Roncière had its existence disputed since its discovery in 1868 by Émile Petitot until J. Keith Fraser determined in the 1950s that it was actually the Hornaday River?
... that the first Victoria's Secret Fashion Show featured models Stephanie Seymour, Beverly Peele and Frederique van der Wal?

09:12, 16 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the Hadwiger conjecture (diagram pictured) implies that the surface of any three-dimensional convex body can be illuminated by only eight light sources, but the best proven bound is that 16 lights are sufficient?
... that Richard Pankhurst, founder of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, is the son of suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst?
... that a 175-year-old shagbark hickory tree next to the Masten-Quinn House in Wurtsboro, New York, has helped to date its construction?
... that Robert Gentilis graduated from the University of Oxford aged 12 and became a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, aged 17, below the minimum fellowship age of 18?
... that Plasmatron television screens combined rows formed from liquid crystals with columns formed from plasma cells?
... that in the 1770s, Thaddeus Dod became the second minister to settle west of the Monongahela River and the first to establish a presbytery west of the Allegheny Mountains?
... that the flesh of the mushroom Russula fragilis tastes hot, while its smell is fruity?
... that Ernest Trova was best known for Falling Man, a series of works "about man at his most imperfect" depicting an armless human figure that appeared in sculptures, paintings, prints and wristwatches?

02:29, 16 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the "Rosary and the Scapular are inseparable" (rosary beads and brown scapular pictured) are words attributed to the Virgin Mary during the Marian apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima in 1917?
... the Golden banded goby was originally differentiated from similar species by the structure of its anal fin?
... that Major League Baseball pitcher Jaime Cocanower set an unofficial record in 1985 by throwing a wild pitch in eight straight appearances?
... that with the financial crisis of 2008–2009 the small house movement has attracted more attention?
... that Gabriel Goldney, M.P. for Chippenham, is commemorated in a stained glass window of The Foundling Hospital?
... that Leptotrombidium is a genus of harvest mites that are able to infect humans with scrub typhus (Orientia tsutsugamushi infection) through their bite?
... that John D. Boon's former store and former home in Salem, Oregon, are both on the National Register of Historic Places?
... that Operation Sundevil, a seizure of boards by the United States Secret Service, was named after the football stadium of Arizona State University?

[edit] 15 March 2009

20:43, 15 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the bitter and inedible mushroom Russula fellea (pictured) smells of geraniums or apple sauce?
... that Barack Obama met his future speechwriter Jon Favreau while rehearsing his keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention?
... that according to the Zizhi Tongjian, the Tang Dynasty general Li Su launched a surprise attack to defeat the warlord Wu Yuanji in a heavy snowstorm?
... that the Bay Street Emeryville mall was built on a Native American burial ground and a former toxic waste contaminated site?
... that editor Hedley Donovan was responsible for redirecting TIME from a conservative magazine to one "more toward the middle"?
... that Pitomnik Airfield was the primary German airfield within the city during the Battle of Stalingrad in World War II?
... that Eline Berings won the 60 metre hurdles event at the 2009 European Indoor Championships ahead of Lucie Škrobáková?
... that the stoplight loosejaw is the only known animal that uses chlorophyll to see?

13:09, 15 March 2009 (UTC)

... that while normally a scavenger, the snubnosed eel (pictured) also burrows into the bodies of larger fish to feed, and two specimens were found inside the heart of a shortfin mako shark in 1992?
... that the Prussian general Karl Wilhelm von Willisen was forced out of the Grand Duchy of Posen only two weeks after his arrival?
... that Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise's 1857 Minhag America, an effort at a prayer book for American Reform Jews, was supplanted by the Union Prayer Book in the 1890s, which in turn was replaced by Gates of Prayer in the 1975 and then Mishkan T'filah in 2007?
... that according to the Zizhi Tongjian, Tang Dynasty warlord Wu Yuanji painted an archery range with the blood of a family he had executed?
... that Jawaharlal Nehru wrote The Discovery of India – a book on Indian history – while he was imprisoned at Ahmednagar Fort during the Quit India Movement?
... that Oregon politician Medorem Crawford's son was the first white American male born on the west side of the Willamette River?
... that adult and juvenile snake mackerels both make daily vertical migrations, but in opposite directions?
... that Dan & Dave both won Olympic medals, but lost their endorsement deal?

06:58, 15 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the emphasis on erotic mythological subjects (example right) in late Northern Mannerism reflected the taste of Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor?
... that Clement O. Miniger, founder of the Electric Auto-Lite Company, lost $5 million in 1931 due to the economic effects of the Great Depression?
... that the Toronto Women's Bookstore is the largest nonprofit, feminist bookstore in Canada?
... that T. S. Avinashilingam Chettiar was responsible for the creation of the first encyclopedia in Tamil?
... that revenue from trading cards was one of the key issues, and among the last to be resolved, during the 1992 NHL players' strike, the first such labor stoppage in National Hockey League history?
... that Isabella Gilmore reestablished the female diaconate in the Anglican Communion?
... that the relationship between two gay men at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in Robert Chesley's erotic and emotional play Jerker takes place entirely over the telephone?
... that despite being Member of Parliament for Chippenham, Wiltshire, for nearly 24 years, Joseph Neeld never spoke in the House of Commons?

00:55, 15 March 2009 (UTC)

... that a single egg case of the big skate (pictured) may contain up to seven embryos?
... that Anthony Deane-Drummond, a British Army officer, made two parachute drops, was taken prisoner after both, and escaped each time?
... that the 1935 Disney cartoon Three Orphan Kittens was later censored for having negative portrayals of African Americans?
... that James Allan scored 12 goals in one match, when Sunderland beat Castletown 23–0 in an exhibition football game?
... that the expression of HMGA2 in cancer cells is linked to poor prognosis in cancer patients, but also with these cells' sensitivity to some forms of treatment?
... that when Barbara Parker left a law career to take a master's, her thesis went on to be short listed for an Edgar Award as a best first mystery novel?
... that the University of Cambridge's West Cambridge site includes the site of an ancient Roman settlement?
... that the film The Cloud Door, by Indian director Mani Kaul, features a parrot telling erotic stories?

[edit] 14 March 2009

18:48, 14 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the World War II Marine Corps Air Station in Santa Barbara (pictured) is now home to the University of California, Santa Barbara and the Santa Barbara Municipal Airport?
... that English printer John Wolfe's business practices so incensed his contemporaries, they accused him of Machiavellianism?
... that It's Just a Plant, a children's book, was heavily criticized by Republican Congressman Mark Souder, who argued that it supported marijuana use by children?
... that sports agent and author Colleen Howe, known as "Mrs. Hockey", passed away from Pick's disease?
... that German U-boat UB-4 was sunk in August 1915 by a fishing smack?
... that Charlie Biederman was the last surviving dog sled mail carrier in the United States when he died in 1995?
... that In Case of Fire were the opening act for the 2009 Kerrang! awards tour supporting Bring Me the Horizon, Black Tide, Dir en Grey and Mindless Self Indulgence?
... that a modeling agency once demanded that swimsuit model Ariel Meredith have breast reduction surgery, but she refused and was dropped from the agency?

11:59, 14 March 2009 (UTC)

... that Vicars' Close, Wells (pictured) was called "that rarest of survivals, a planned street of the mid-14th century" by John Julius Norwich?
... that high jumper Bohdan Bondarenko won the World Junior Championships bronze medal in 2006 and the gold medal in 2008, both times with a 2.26 metres (7.4 ft) jump?
... that the non-profit SAME Cafe in Denver, Colorado, serves food for either an hour of work or whatever you can pay?
... that Henry Seymour King, Member of Parliament for Kingston upon Hull Central for 25 years, was the first climber to reach the summits of Mont Maudit and Aiguille Blanche de Peuterey?
... that country music singer Ty Herndon's grandmother Myrtle hosted a Gospel music radio show on WPRN and WPRN-FM in Alabama for more than 40 years?
... that American historian Roy Franklin Nichols won the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for History for his book The Disruption of American Democracy?
... that the Pepper Pot tower in Brighton, England, has been used as a public toilet, printworks, Scout headquarters, wartime observation tower and artist's studio, but its original function is unknown?
... that Mexican wrestler Octagón took his name from the 1980 film The Octagon starring Chuck Norris?

05:32, 14 March 2009 (UTC)

... that an equitable coloring of a graph (pictured), in which the numbers of vertices of each color are as nearly equal as possible, may require far more colors than a graph coloring without this constraint?
... that the sharptail mola has become an important commercial fish in Taiwan, since the promotion of an ocean sunfish festival in Hualien County?
... that the Canadian Mohawk chief, the Flemish Bastard, was considered the primary spokesman for the pro-French faction of Canada in the 17th century?
... that the DVD boxsets of the first three seasons of Law & Order: Criminal Intent were released out of order to encourage viewers to watch season 4?
... that according to the Book of Tang, Tang Dynasty general Li Guangyan, while in mourning over the death of his mother for three years, did not return to his wife's bedchambers?
... that Clare Potter was one of the first fashion designers in the United States to be known by name and is credited with inventing American sportswear?
... that after the Australian light destroyer project was canceled, the Australian Government ordered frigates which the Royal Australian Navy had previously assessed as being "second rate escorts"?
... that the equipment designed by the physicist Gwyn Jones to liquefy small amounts of helium for work at temperatures near absolute zero was made from parts of a motorcycle engine?

[edit] 13 March 2009

23:23, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

... that after London Road viaduct (pictured) in Brighton, England, was bombed in 1943, trains were using it again within 24 hours even though the road below was visible through gaps in the damaged brickwork?
... that Pavel Lednyov has won seven Olympic medals in modern pentathlon, more than anybody else in this sport?
... that in the English plural, the letter -s is pronounced differently in words like "cats", "cabs", and "buses", because of a phonological rule?
... that human rights activist Ayse Nur Zarakolu, an Amnesty International "prisoner of conscience", was arrested 30 times and jailed four for violating censorship laws in Turkey?
... that the fish king-of-the-salmon is so named because, according to Makah legend, it is responsible for leading salmon to their spawning grounds?
... that the British rigid airship No. 9r, completed in 1916, featured an early example of thrust vectoring?
... that George Washington Hill was the American businessman who introduced women to cigarettes?
... that the opposition in Nagorno-Karabakh ironically described the 2005 Nagorno-Karabakh parliamentary election as having "fair and transparent irregularities"?

16:26, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the deep-sea unicorn crestfish (pictured) can expel a cloud of black ink as a defense against predators?
... that Wilfried Dietrich won five Olympic medals during his career, more than any other Olympic wrestler?
... that the 1809 Treaty of Fort Wayne led to the outbreak of Tecumseh's War and the subsequent Battle of Tippecanoe?
... that no matter how biased a coin one uses, flipping a coin to determine whether each edge is present or absent in a countably infinite graph will always produce the same graph, the Rado graph?
... that Gary O'Donnell is the first person in 26 years to be awarded a second George Medal, the last one posthumously for "immense bravery" in Afghanistan?
... that in the June 2005 Swiss referendum, Switzerland became the first country in Europe to hold a referendum on increased rights for same-sex couples?
... that osteoblast milk protein added to Mengniu Deluxe milk in China is supposed to promote bone growth, but its safety has been questioned?
... that psychologist John Neulinger envisioned a future society based on leisure?

11:09, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

... that Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace was intended to mirror the opulent Stroganov Palace (pictured) on the opposite side of Nevsky Prospekt, St. Petersburg?
... that Henry Wilde melted iron bars to demonstrate the power of his self-energizing dynamo, a machine based on his paper presented to the Royal Society in 1866?
... that the upcoming U2 360° Tour is named for a new kind of stage design that will permit all-round viewing in football stadiums?
... that author Guillaume Prévost created The Book of Time series to help children understand that history can be fascinating?
... that in 2008, chronic bee paralysis virus was discovered in the carpenter ant Camponotus vagus?
... that early sources suggested that Moses had taken an Ethiopian wife named Tharbis after laying siege to her city, prior to his ascendancy to prophethood in the Jewish faith?
... that while the history of rugby union matches between Argentina and France dates back to 1949, Argentina did not win a match until their 16th clash in 1985?
... that in October 1965, Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps LtGen Richard C. Mangrum, Navy Cross recipient at Guadalcanal, became the first Marine to be the "Gray Eagle" of Naval aviation?
... that the new Polish party called Forward Poland rejected an alliance with Declan Ganley's Libertas?
... that Tony Bennett literally threw up before recording his 1970 album Tony Sings the Great Hits of Today!, a misguided collection of Beatles and other current songs done under record company pressure?

04:15, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

... that based on its skull anatomy, the small Early Jurassic crocodile relative Dibothrosuchus (reconstruction pictured) probably had a keen sense of hearing and was vocal like modern crocodiles?
... that the 1993 fundraiser Friends of Gilda featured Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Paul Shaffer and others who knew Gilda Radner from a Toronto production of Godspell?
... that Richard Swinefield, a medieval Bishop of Hereford, tried during his episcopate to secure the canonization of his predecessor Thomas de Cantilupe, but it did not happen until after Swinfield's death?
... that Benjamin Franklin Burch, a teacher at the first school in Polk County, Oregon, was a member of the Oregon Constitutional Convention and President of the Oregon State Senate?
... that the World War I German U-boat UB-2 was the only one of the Type UB I submarines in the Flanders Flotilla not to be shipped by rail to Antwerp?
... that in early 2001, three teenagers in Anchorage, Alaska, conducted and videotaped a series of racially motivated drive-by shootings with a paintball gun?
... that members of the Kasakela chimpanzee community were the first non-human animals observed making tools?
... that a U.S. Forest Service district ranger lived in a tent for eight years while waiting for a residence to be built at the Rand Ranger Station?

[edit] 12 March 2009

22:08, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the medieval scheduled monuments of Cheshire include Vale Royal Abbey (pictured) which was the largest Cistercian church in England?
... that after seeing a performance by child pianist Joseph Alfidi of Yonkers, New York, Pope John XXIII said he may turn out to be "the next Mozart"?
... that the MV Belgian Airman was carrying a cargo of sorghum when she was torpedoed and sunk on 14 April 1945?
... that Thomas Forester, the only American stock mutual fund manager to make a profit in 2008, had previously been one of only two mutual fund managers to make a profit in the second quarter of 2002?
... that the Nigeria women's national basketball team became the first African team ever to win an Olympic game in women's basketball at the 2004 Summer Olympics?
... that William Joseph Rainbow's work, A Census of Australian Araneidae, was the first catalogue of Australian spiders?
... that American rock band Disturbed has released three consecutive number-one debuts on the Billboard 200 chart since 2002?
... that Buffalo Bills punter John Nies and younger brother Eric Nies (later of MTV's The Real World fame) posed nude for photographer Bruce Weber?

16:02, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the founding members of Congregation Mickve Israel (pictured) were Jews who arrived in Savannah, Georgia, in 1733, the same year that the colony was founded?
... that Itoro Umoh-Coleman was one of two Hephzibah High School graduates to play on the Nigerian women's national basketball team in the 2004 Summer Olympics?
... that listed buildings in Minshull Vernon, Cheshire, include five canal bridges, two aqueducts and a former privy?
... that Interstate Commerce Commissioner Walter L. Bragg died after suffering from the effects of Civil War wounds, a quarter century after the war ended?
... that Gilling Abbey, located in present-day Yorkshire, was founded shortly after 651 AD on an estate granted as weregild?
... that the CEO of toonlet has also worked on The Sims, SimCity and Spore?
... that the Moon of Pejeng in Bali is the largest single-cast bronze kettle drum in the world?
... that Dr Delano Meriwether won the 100 yard event at the 1971 Amateur Athletics Union championships wearing a hospital shirt, swimming trunks and gold suspenders (braces)?

09:56, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

... that John Thomas North (pictured), originally a Yorkshire mechanic, became a friend of the future King George V and was worth $10 million in 1889?
... that when torpedoed in May 1915 by German submarine UB-8, SS Merion was disguised as the Royal Navy battlecruiser HMS Tiger?
... that the only countries to medal at all three Nordic skiing disciplines (cross-country skiing, Nordic combined, ski jumping) at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 were Germany, Norway, and the United States?
... that a woodcut by the German Renaissance block-cutter Hans Lützelburger showed himself and the artist nearly naked?
... that it was said of Interstate Commerce Commissioner Judson C. Clements that no opinion ever written by him had been overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court?
... that the U2 song "White as Snow" was written from the perspective of a dying soldier in Afghanistan?
... that Charlie Chaplin Studios, founded in 1917 and now home to Jim Henson Productions, has a 12-foot (3.7 m) color statue of Kermit the Frog dressed as the "Little Tramp" above the main gate?
... that Doug Hele designed the three-cylinder Triumph Trident and developed it into the most successful race bike of the time?

03:32, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

... that several thousand bauls, a community of wandering minstrels who sing devotional songs, assemble annually for the fair at Jaydev Kenduli (temple sculpture pictured) in West Bengal, India?
... that engineer William Mylne fled to America following the collapse of his North Bridge in Edinburgh in 1772, but later returned to run the Dublin Water Works?
... that Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx have separate dependent and independent verb forms?
... that television writer Steve Higgins was nominated for two Emmy Awards for his work on Saturday Night Live before becoming the announcer for NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon?
... that the Dacia Duster is the first concept car entirely made by the Romanian automaker Automobile Dacia?
... that Welsh military pilot and journalist, Wing Commander Patrick Gibbs, published two volumes of wartime memoirs 49 years apart: Not Peace, But a Sword (1943) and Torpedo Leader (1992)?
... that Michael Jackson's official concert tour website could not deal with the traffic—16,000 applications a second—for pre-sale ticket registration?
... that visits to the workshop of Hieronymus Andreae by Maximilian I gave rise to a Nuremberg saying "The Emperor has gone to the women's alley again"?

[edit] 11 March 2009

21:10, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

... that until December 2008, the Red Lemur and the Red-fronted Lemur (pictured) were considered the same species?
... that motorcycle racer Percy Tait was estimated to have driven over a million miles road-testing Triumph motorcycles?
... that Jane Sterk joined the Green Party of British Columbia after witnessing environmental degradation in Mexico and became its leader six years later?
... that when German U-boat UB-3 disappeared on her first patrol in May 1915, she was the first of her class to be lost?
... that the plot of Abel Gance's 1931 science fiction film, End of the World, features a comet hurling toward Earth as the world prays for help?
... that the percentage of Sudanese-born persons living in the Australian electoral district of Yeerongpilly is twelve times the national average?
... that the medieval bishop John de Breton was credited with having written a legal treatise regarding statutes created after his death?
... that Thomas Sangster had to learn how to play the guitar left-handed to portray Paul McCartney in the upcoming John Lennon biopic Nowhere Boy?

15:22, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

... that in 1911, HMA No. 1 Mayfly (pictured), Britain's first rigid airship, broke in two as a result of strong winds before she could attempt her first flight?
... that Indian freedom fighter T. S. S. Rajan practised as a doctor in Burma and England before being appointed as the Minister for Health and Religious Endowments of the Madras Presidency?
... that the 1959 NBC series Five Fingers features David Hedison as an American counterintelligence officer in the Cold War who poses as a theatrical agent to investigate communist activities in Europe?
... that Jost de Negker cut a chiaroscuro woodcut with seven different colour-blocks, a record number for a German Renaissance print?
... that Martin Luther King's speech at the 1957 Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom, a non-violent demonstration in Washington, DC, established him as a national leader for the Civil Rights movement?
... that in a bid to get his name in the Guinness Book of World Records, child bullfighter Michelito Lagravere killed six bulls in a single fight in a bullring in Mérida, Mexico?

09:38, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the land snail Indrella ampulla (pictured) lives only in the rainforests of the Western Ghats, in India?
... that Smith Clove Meetinghouse in Highland Mills, New York, is the oldest religious building in the town and village of Woodbury?
... that Rhena Schweitzer, Albert Schweitzer's only child, married David C. Miller, a doctor who cared for her father, and the couple traveled around the world offering aid to victims of famine and war?
... that KCET Studios, where Invasion of the Body Snatchers was filmed, is the longest continuously-producing studio in Hollywood?
... that Josh Billings was the Tigers Opening Day starting pitcher in 1928, despite being only 20 years old and having only won five Major League baseball games prior to the season?
... that Pixiv is a Japanese online community for artists, which as of February 2009 consists of over 600,000 members, and 3 million submissions?
... that in the late 1800s, Charles Patrick Daly, president of the American Geographical Society, was also Chief Justice of the New York Court of Common Pleas?
... that the No Parking Whitebeam, a rare tree, was named after a road sign nailed to the type specimen?

02:59, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

... that Winston Churchill and his daughter, Diana, visited Bernard Baruch's Hobcaw Barony (pictured) near Georgetown, South Carolina?
... that the spiny butterfly ray stuns its prey with blows from its wing-like pectoral fins?
... that the Tang Dynasty general Gao Chongwen asked to be moved from his post at Chengdu as he was illiterate and disliked the paperwork?
... that the now-defunct Arbogast & Bastian abbatoir in Allentown, Pennsylvania, could process most of the 850,000 hogs raised annually in Pennsylvania?
... that the architectural designs of Mannerist painter and printmaker Wendel Dietterlin (d. 1599) have been characterized as a "bizarre ornamental fantasy"?
... that a decasyllabic quatrain is a poetic form in which each stanza consists of four lines of ten syllables, usually with a rhyme scheme of AABB or ABAB?
... that the biologist Lourens Bass Becking was imprisoned by the Germans and spent his time studying typhoid fever as it spread amongst the inmates?
... that the classical "boy band" Blake formed via the social networking website Facebook and replaced a member by using Twitter?

[edit] 10 March 2009

21:47, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

... that prior to the creation of the Winter Olympics, an ice hockey tournament (winning team pictured) was held at the 1920 Summer Olympics?
... that although La princesse jaune is the third opera that Saint-Saëns’ composed, it was his first opera to actually be mounted on the stage?
... that author Jonathan Krohn gave a two-minute speech at the 2009 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at age thirteen?
... that Sheldon Manor, a Grade I listed building, is Wiltshire's longest continuously inhabited manor house?
... that Yakub Hasan Sait, who served as the Minister of Public Works for the Madras Presidency from 1937 to 1939, was a native of Nagpur and a former member of the All India Muslim League?
... that Tropical Storm Faxai of the 2007 Pacific typhoon season injured six people when a plane encountered severe turbulence produced by the storm?
... that Alan Landers, who was featured in Winston cigarette ads, became an anti-smoking advocate calling himself the "Winston Man" and died of laryngeal cancer after a longtime 2½-pack-per-day habit?

15:05, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

... that attempts to reintroduce a species of thick-billed parrot (pictured) into Arizona have so far failed?
... that the librettists for Saint-Saëns's Le timbre d’argent, Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, also wrote the librettos for Gounod’s Faust and Offenbach’s Les contes d'Hoffmann?
... that Interstate Commerce Commissioner John H. Marble died in 1913 following an attack of acute indigestion after only eight months in office?
... that the 900,000-year-old hand axes found at Olorgesailie in southern Kenya were probably used for butchering animals?
... that American baritone James Billings has portrayed more than 175 opera roles on stage during his long career?
... that election monitors described the behaviour of the people of Suriname during the 2005 Surinamese legislative election as a good example to the Caribbean?
... that Samuel Brand, a survivor of the Buchenwald concentration camp in Nazi Germany, was officially the first immigrant to enter Israel after its creation?
... that two psychedelic frogfish were recognized as "something different" in 1992, but were not declared a new species until this year?

08:51, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the tough skin of the cowtail stingray (pictured) is used to polish wood?
... that the Showtime television series Dexter has won two Primetime Emmy Awards?
... that bishop David of Basra was one of the first Christian missionaries to India, circa 300 CE?
... that although the summit of underwater volcano Loihi is 969 metres (3,180 ft) below sea level, it is still twice as tall, measured from the base of its southern flank, as Mount St. Helens ever was?
... that Boris Eikhenbaum was a key member of the Society for the Study of Poetic Language (OPOJAZ)?
... that after being kidnapped by Shawnees and adopted by a Mingo chief, Jonathan Alder became the first white settler of Madison County, Ohio?
... that the Peninsular Gneiss rock exposure in the Lalbagh botanical gardens in Bangalore, India, is a National Geological Monument?
... that Robert Bruce, a former wrestler, played a small role in the 1971 science fiction film A Clockwork Orange?
... that doctor and politician Orlando Plummer had the first telephone in Portland, Oregon, installed at his drug store?

02:49, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

... that in 2006, a descendant of the 17th century Hebridean chieftain who once fortified himself in Stac Dhòmhnaill Chaim (pictured), scaled the stack and found a piece of possibly Neolithic pottery?
... that film director Arie Posin's father did not allow him to watch television as a child despite being a professional filmmaker himself?
... that after the Glorious Revolution Scottish troops who deserted couldn't be punished until the passage of the first Mutiny Act in 1689?
... that Jean Desbouvrie persuaded the government of France to test swallows as an alternative to carrier pigeons?
... that slaves comprised roughly one percent of the population of China during the Han Dynasty (202 BCE – 220 CE)?
... that in 1999, Somalian Mahmood Hussein Mattan was the first person to have his case overturned by the UK's Criminal Cases Review Commission, 45 years after his execution?
... that King Edward the Confessor (d. 1066) granted Regenbald, a royal clerk, the status of a bishop without the actual office?
... that Mantis in Lace is a 1968 sexploitation film about a topless go-go dancer who becomes a serial killer after ingesting LSD?

[edit] 9 March 2009

20:48, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

... that No. 40 Wing RAF (DH.9 aircraft pictured) was credited with destroying the bulk of the Turkish Seventh Army during the Battle of Armageddon in 1918?
... that William G. Hare, his father William D. Hare, and his son John all served in the Oregon State Senate?
... that many voters in the 2005 Mongolian presidential election voted in traditional Mongolian dress?
... that the city of East Layton, Utah, now a part of Layton, was incorporated in 1936 to qualify for funding from the Works Progress Administration for a municipal water system?
... that Peter of Aigueblanche, a medieval Bishop of Hereford, was once besieged in the city of Hereford?
... that large swells produced by Hurricane Howard resulted in about 1,000 lifeguard rescues in southern California during the Labor Day weekend in 2004?
... that Pliny the Elder claimed that the toxic spine of the Common stingray could kill trees and corrode iron?
... that writer-director Bruce A. Evans described directing his first film in 15 years, Mr. Brooks, as "like riding a bicycle"?

12:55, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

... that George Stewart, 9th Seigneur d'Aubigny (pictured) who was killed at the age of 24 at Edgehill, the first pitched battle of the English Civil War, was a cousin of King Charles I of England?
... that the Overland Trail was the first road to reach the Klondike gold fields in Canada's Yukon?
... that syndicalist trade unionist Frank Hodges once played a game of golf with George VI of the United Kingdom?
... that although it is considered a gamefish, the flat needlefish is seldom eaten because of its green-colored flesh?
... that former FedEx Office CEO Ken May was elected the March of Dimes' board of trustees chairman in 2007?
... that the Belt of Orion Award, for organizations that have advanced aviation in Canada, was bestowed upon the Air Cadet League of Canada in 1989?
... that before becoming Governor of Pennsylvania, John K. Tener was a Major League Baseball player who once explained the game to the future King Edward VII?
... that, due to a pressing error, the first shipment of Faryl Smith's debut album Faryl instead contained the music from The Fall's album Imperial Wax Solvent?

06:07, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

... that Force India's 2009 Formula One car, the VJM02 (pictured), is painted in the colours of the Indian flag, but the team is based in England and neither of the drivers is Indian?
... that Swedish singer Sofia Berntson entered Sweden's Melodifestivalen with the Greek song "Alla" and won the international jury vote?
... that before it was merged into the Department for Constitutional Affairs in 2003 the Lord Chancellor's Department was the oldest existing Government Department in the United Kingdom?
... that the Jurassic crocodile relative Phyllodontosuchus had two types of teeth; one type resembled those of some herbivorous dinosaurs, indicating it may not have been a strict carnivore?
... that until U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt named him to the Interstate Commerce Commission, Edgar E. Clark had served for 16 years as Grand Chief Conductor of the Order of Railway Conductors?
... that Hurricane Fausto of the 2008 Pacific hurricane season reportedly produced hurricane-force winds on Socorro Island despite being 115 mi (185 km) away from the island?
... that Sir Allan Quartermaine, a former member of the British Royal Fine Art Commission, was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry in the First World War?
... that the western yellowjacket, an invasive species in Hawaii, can be baited with poisoned catfood?

00:16, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

... that Captain (later Air Vice Marshal) Henry Wrigley (pictured) piloted the first trans-Australia flight, from Melbourne to Darwin, in 1919?
... that the 17th-century Knights of the Royal Oak received silver medals that displayed the Royal Oak where Charles II of England hid after the Battle of Worcester?
... that at the Tiananmen Square protests, Cui Jian gained notoriety for performing "Nothing To My Name" while wearing a red blindfold?
... that Guy de Beauchamp, 10th Earl of Warwick, is best remembered for his role in the execution of a favourite of Edward II?
... that in a Spanish language scene of the Dexter episode "Return to Sender", actor David Zayas learned all of his dialogue in English and translated each line mentally during each take?
... that the Alpirod, a defunct 1,000-kilometre (620 mi) European sled dog race, was the longest competition of its kind outside of North America?
... that American film director Keith Gordon decided to adapt the novel of obsessive passion, Waking the Dead, into a movie before he finished reading it?
... that French Pass has the fastest tidal flows in New Zealand, reaching nearly nine knots and capable of stunning fish?

[edit] 8 March 2009

18:02, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

... that Centruroides limbatus (pictured) and Centruroides bicolor are Central American bark scorpions belonging to the same species group?
... that former Union Army Brigadier-General Patrick Henry Jones acted as a negotiator in the Alexander Stewart body snatching case?
... that the highest circulation newspaper in the United Kingdom at the start of the 19th century sold only 4,000 copies a day?
... that "You Are Everything", 2008's most-played song on contemporary Christian radio, was recorded after singer Matthew West's surgery for vocal fold hemorrhaging?
... that monastic historian David Knowles wrote that Dominic of Evesham (who died before 1145) authored the deathbed account of the Abbot Æthelwig of Evesham in the Chronicon Abbatiae de Evesham?
... that Viper's Creed, a Mecha action anime series, takes place after the Earth's cities are underwater due to global warming and a third world war has caused calamity and turmoil?

12:15, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the Triumph Bonneville T140 Jubilee model of 1977 (pictured) was launched as a limited edition of 1,000 to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II?
... that Utah Governor Stephen S. Harding used his home in Milan, Indiana, to help slaves escape through the Underground Railroad in Indiana?
... that film critic Stephen Holden of The New York Times called the 2004 documentary film The 3 Rooms of Melancholia "one of the saddest films ever made"?
... that Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Paul Herman Buck was the first Provost of Harvard University?
... that a Jones reductor can be used to prepare solutions of ions, such as chromium(II), Cr²⁺, which are immediately oxidized on contact with air?
... that the brick walls in the historic Balch Hotel in Dufur, Oregon, are 18 inches (460 mm) thick and keep the hotel's interior rooms cool during the hot summer months?
... that when Will Sessoms ran for mayor of Virginia Beach, Virginia, in 2008 he had a US$321,000–$5,600 fundraising edge over the incumbent mayor, Meyera E. Oberndorf?
... that 1972 is seen as a pivotal year for Christian music due to the Explo '72 Christian music festival?

05:26, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

... that images of 243 Ida (pictured) returned from the space probe Galileo, and processed on 17 February 1994, provided the first confirmation of a moon orbiting an asteroid?
... that CBS's Harts of the West featured Beau Bridges and his father, Lloyd Bridges, in a comedy/western set at the fictitious Flying Tumbleweed Dude Ranch in Nevada?
... that Rome needed eight years to confirm the election of Peter Jarweh as Patriarch of the Syrian Catholic Church because he had received funds from Protestant missionaries to buy a printing press?
... that Eric Blau, co-creator of the Off Broadway show Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, looked so much like Groucho Marx that he would be approached by fans of the comedian?
... that Chilean Líder supermarkets sold Cuban rum at half price to eliminate it from stock in anticipation of becoming a Wal-Mart subsidiary, causing a controversy in Chile?
... that the original cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation will appear in "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven", a seventh season episode of Family Guy?
... that Muir's Corella is listed in Western Australia both as a ‘declared pest of agriculture’ and as ‘rare or likely to become extinct’?
... that answering service operator Mary Printz, who served New York's theater and business elite, was the inspiration for the 1956 Broadway musical Bells Are Ringing and the 1960 film of the same name?

[edit] 7 March 2009

23:22, 7 March 2009 (UTC)

... that Henry Fielding's (pictured) early plays before the 1733 Actor Rebellion include Love in Several Masques, Temple Beau, Author's Farce, Tom Thumb, Rape upon Rape, Tragedy of Tragedies, Letter Writers, Welsh Opera, Grub Street Opera, Lottery, Modern Husband, Old Debauchees, Covent Garden Tragedy, and Mock Doctor?
... that GRB 970508 was the first gamma-ray burst to have its redshift measured?
... that the Western Australian carnivorous plant Drosera zonaria was first witnessed flowering in 1954, 106 years after it was described as a new species?
... that baritone Hans von Milde sang for nearly forty years at the Staatskapelle Weimar where he performed the role of the High Priest in the world premiere of Saint-Saëns's Samson et Dalila in 1877?
... that in 1969, building work in the Southgate area of Crawley, England, uncovered evidence that northern Sussex was a pre-Roman industrial area?
... that NBC's The Road West featured Andrew Prine and Brenda Scott in 1966 as brother and sister though the actors had been married to each other?
... that fashion model Frankie Rayder has posed with her sisters Molly and Missy for Gap holiday ads?

16:53, 7 March 2009 (UTC)

... that Moissaye Olgin (pictured), a member of the communist Workers Party, translated several books including Jack London's Call of the Wild and Friedrich Engels’ The Peasant War in Germany into Yiddish?
... that the extinct Pliocene dolphin Australodelphis from the Vestfold Hills of Antarctica has been described as an example of convergent evolution with whales?
... that Captain Thomas Dundas's ship, HMS Naiad, towed the crippled HMS Belleisle through a gale to safety after the Battle of Trafalgar?
... that Ross Memorial Park and Alexandre Stadium, Washington & Jefferson College's combined lacrosse, baseball, and soccer facility, is the largest continuous artificial playing surface in the world?
... that big-game hunters, Douglas Hamilton and Victor Brooke, shot the largest elephant ever killed in South India?
... that the United Nations General Assembly has endorsed the ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Cooperation for its provisions on regional cooperation?
... that before his political career, future Interstate Commerce Commissioner Charles A. Prouty worked at an observatory until he returned home to Vermont due to ill health?
... that "Care", the first episode of Law & Order: UK, is a remake of an original Law & Order episode from 1992?

10:50, 7 March 2009 (UTC)

... that Australian flying ace Charles Scherf (pictured) was credited with 14½ aerial victories from 38 operational sorties during the Second World War, with an additional nine aircraft destroyed on the ground?
... that after being destroyed by the Confederate Army, the Potomac Creek Bridge was rebuilt in just nine days?
... that the Dominica Freedom Party of former Prime Minister Eugenia Charles failed to win any seats in the 2005 Dominican general election for the first time in 35 years?
... that Nonnie Moore, a woman who had been fashion editor at Mademoiselle and Harper's Bazaar, was hired by GQ in 1984 in a move that was called an "an odd choice, but... was actually the perfect choice"?
... that in 1940 the unarmed Norwegian steamship Dronning Maud was sunk by German aircraft while she was flying Red Cross flags and carrying a company of medical personnel?
... that the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon is one of only ten urban National Wildlife Refuges in the United States?
... that despite the office existing for 118 years, only nine individuals ever served as Permanent Secretary to the Lord Chancellor's Office?
... that Don Chafin, the sheriff of Logan County, West Virginia, received bribes of at least $32,700 annually for preventing the unionization of coal miners?

04:24, 7 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the Black-headed Spider Monkey (pictured), a New World monkey, is estimated to have declined by more than 80% over the past 45 years due to human encroachment on its habitat?
... that Ranga Ediriwickrama could become the first Australian Football League player of Sri Lankan descent?
... that the 2.5-litre, 68-bhp diesel Land Rover engine was also used in the Austin FX4 London Black Cabs and the Freight Rover 300 commercial vans?
... that Canadian Elmer Lach retired as the National Hockey League's leading scorer in 1954?
... that Al-Firdaws Madrasa, established in 1236 under the patronage of Malik az-Zahir's wife, Dayfa Khatun, is the largest and best known of the Ayyubid madrasas in Aleppo?
... that German bass Hans Herbert Fiedler sang the role of Moses in the original 1954 production of Arnold Schoenberg's Moses und Aron?
... that the American militia group known as the Yellow Jackets gained their name by having dyed bright yellow cuffs and fringes on their buckskins and wool coats?
... that Gail Trimble, captain of the team which won BBC TV's University Challenge before being disqualified, has been called the "human Google" and the "Usain Bolt of general knowledge"?

[edit] 6 March 2009

22:19, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the Early Christian Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus (c. 359) shows Pontius Pilate making a gesture to avert the evil eye (pictured, right) during his trial of Jesus?
... that Japanese video game designer Makoto Kanoh worked on the first three Metroid games, as well as 17 other games for Nintendo?
... that the Rothschild Prayerbook has been since 1999 the most expensive illuminated manuscript ever sold at auction?
... that Camille Saint-Saëns's 1911 opera Déjanire was originally a 1898 play accompanied by symphonic music, choruses and a ballet?
... that Irishman Henry Nugent was created Count Valdesoto before he was appointed Governor of Gibraltar?
... that the Rushmore Memorial Library in Highland Mills, New York, takes its name from Charles E. Rushmore, the same man Mount Rushmore is named for?
... that Nordahl Rolfsen's readers for elementary school, Læsebog for folkeskolen (published 1892–1895), became the most widely used schoolbook in Norway?

14:04, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the largest native land slug species in Australia is the red triangle slug, which can be yellow, cream, pink, red, grey or olive green (pictured)?
... that the Nassau-class battleships laid down in 1907 were the first class of German dreadnoughts built in response to the British HMS Dreadnought?
... that the Navarrese prince Ramiro Garcés was betrayed and murdered at Rueda in 1083?
... that Jane Austen's novel Sense and Sensibility is a critique of Charlotte Turner Smith's novel of sensibility Celestina?
... that Bangladesh's first Citizenship Order after it gained independence was issued by the President of Bangladesh in 1972?
... that Canada's first paper mill was built in Saint-André-d'Argenteuil, Quebec, in 1803?
... that the 1983 translation of the Gospel into Azerbaijani by Mirza Khazar has been republished five times in subsequent years?
... that Claud Schuster served as Permanent Secretary to the Lord Chancellor's Department for a record 29 years under 10 different Lord Chancellors?

07:59, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

... that Scarlet Robins (male pictured) defend a territory not only from rivals of their own species but also from those of the related Flame Robins?
... that solar power in Romania has, as of 2007, an installed capacity of 0.81 megawatts?
... that Rwandan film-maker Eric Kabera was inspired to start a career in film after losing 32 family members in the Rwandan Genocide?
... that the non-ferrous smelter built for the Phoenix Mine in 1900 by the Granby Consolidated Mining, Smelting and Power Company was the largest in the British Empire?
... that the Yukon Quest is considered the toughest sled dog race in the world?
... that Wilbert Tatum, editor of the New York Amsterdam News, ran front-page editorials from 1986 to 1989 critical of Mayor of New York Ed Koch with the title "Why Koch Should Resign"?
... that the stegosaurid Miragaia had more neck vertebrae than almost all of the sauropod dinosaurs, known for their long necks?
... that the 2001 best seller Germs: Biological Weapons and America's Secret War includes the case in which followers of Osho sprayed salmonella onto salad bars in The Dalles, Oregon?

01:58, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

Fitzwilliam Sonata No. 3

... that George Frideric Handel's Fitzwilliam Sonatas (No. 3 here) were not originally intended to be a set, and were only designated such in 1948?
... that the engineers of the Triumph Bonneville 790 motorcycle deliberately built in some vibration to give it "character"?
... that the aquaculture industry in New Zealand aims to be a sustainable NZ$1 billion industry by 2025?
... that Kjell Heggelund has translated poems by Mao Zedong, as well as the French surrealists Paul Éluard and Robert Desnos into the Norwegian language?
... that the "Hilo Massacre" resulted in 50 casualties after Hawaiian police fired on 200 union protesters?
... that operatic tenor Franz Ferenczy portrayed the role of Samson in the world premiere of Saint-Saëns's Samson et Dalila on 2 December 1877?
... that according to the U.S. Supreme Court's Will v. Michigan Dept. of State Police ruling, state officials are not always people for legal purposes?
... that in 1887, Norwegian Labour Party politician and physician Oscar Nissen claimed that only 10% of women had libido?

[edit] 5 March 2009

18:03, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

... that in the midst of battle, Joseph W. Revere (pictured), grandson of Paul Revere, apparently overwhelmed by news of his new command, rode to his men and yelled "Rearward!", causing him to be court-martialled?
... that Camille Saint-Saëns's opera Hélène was recorded in 2008 after not being heard since 1919?
... that at #425 on the ATP Singles Rankings, Ivaylo Traykov is the second-highest ranked Bulgarian tennis player?
... that Sony sold 280 million Trinitron televisions and monitors during the 40 years they were being produced?
... that according to a local legend, shoemaker Hans von Sagan heroically took the initiative and led the Teutonic Knights to victory in the Battle of Rudau?
... that American historian Fred Albert Shannon won the 1929 Pulitzer Prize for History for his two-volume book The Organization and Administration of the Union Army, 1861-1865?
... that the author of the "'Gersony Report", the controversial conclusion by UN contractors that the new government in post-genocide Rwanda had carried out systematic killings of civilians, was instructed never to discuss his findings?
... that when NCAA Division I basketball head coach John Beilein's son was a high school recruit, Beilein was restricted by NCAA rules from talking to him at a basketball camp?

10:38, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

... that Geoffroy's Spider Monkey (pictured) is the only Central American monkey species that occurs in all seven Central American countries?
... that the oldest bell in St Michael's Church, East Peckham was cast in 1747?
... that the Gloster Gannet aircraft, which was originally built solely to compete in the Lympne Trials, never flew at the event due to engine troubles?
... that Modern School activist Harry Kelly founded the most successful and longest lasting anarchist colony in America?
... that the Moravian Duets was the starting point for subsequent works which propelled Antonín Dvořák to international fame?
... that Marcus Adam, who competed in three sprint events at the 1992 Summer Olympics, later shifted to bobsleigh and competed at the 2002 Winter Olympics?
... that the British Indian passport was seen as a symbol of colonialism and was only valid for travel in the British Empire and seven other countries?
... that, during a television interview, Romanian politician Elena Udrea made reference to the "President of Norway", apparently unaware that the country is a monarchy?

04:30, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

... that Donizetti wrote the title role of his opera Adelia for Giuseppina Strepponi (pictured), the second wife of Giuseppe Verdi?
... that the former Checkerboard Inn in Monroe, New York, got its name because an early owner supposedly painted it in a checkerboard pattern to attract travelers?
... that Sir Nevill Maskelyne Smyth was awarded the Victoria Cross during the Battle of Omdurman for saving the lives of two war correspondents?
... that the Haudenosaunee women's lacrosse team will be the first team of women to represent the indigenous peoples of the Americas when they play in the 2009 World Cup?
... that Barbara Tuge-Erecińska, the Republic of Poland Ambassador to the United Kingdom, became Poland's first female Deputy Foreign Minister in 1999?
... that the front cover of Rufus Wainwright's album Release the Stars is from the gigantomachy frieze at the Pergamon Altar?
... that Peter N. Myhre was the first leader of the Youth of the Progress Party in Norway, from 1978 to 1984?
... that in 1920 the publishers of the White Pine Series of Architectural Monographs invented the fictional town of Stotham, Massachusetts, as the purported home for several early New England structures?

[edit] 4 March 2009

22:45, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the grey knight (pictured) is a small, edible mushroom that is often confused with the larger and poisonous dirty trich?
... that Emperor Frederick II exempted the hospitaller Order of Saint James of Altopascio from taxes?
... that Mexican professional wrestler Charly Manson was injured so badly that a surgical steel plate on his femur bent more than 20 degrees and had to be replaced?
... that 35 species of woodlice are native to the British Isles?
... that former professional footballer Charlie Sillett was one of two Royal Navy gunners killed when the Norwegian steamship SS Corvus was sunk by a torpedo launched from the German U-boat U-1018?
... that Thai students pay respect to their teachers in the wai khru ceremony near the beginning of every school year?
... that Robin Buckston, High Sheriff of Derbyshire in 1960, was previously the captain of Derbyshire County Cricket Club?
... that male Western Bowerbirds attract potential mates with bowers decorated with fruits, shells, and bones, as well as man-made objects like bullet casings and glass?

14:33, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the archaeological site of Topoxte (pictured) has the best surviving example of Postclassic Maya architecture in the Petén region of Guatemala?
... that if its congestion pricing proposal is approved, San Francisco will be the first U.S. city to implement this method of reducing traffic congestion?
... that Preah Netr Preah District in Cambodia is home to the “Dam of Widows”?
... that Mosby Tavern, a private residence, has served as the courthouse and jail for both Cumberland County and Powhatan County, Virginia?
... that with eight world titles, the UAE's Victory Team is one of the most successful in the sport of offshore powerboat racing?
... that the Augustine Band of Cahuilla Indians is the smallest Indian tribe in the U.S., with only eight members?
... that although John Thompson Productions' pornographic films have won several awards, they have been banned in several countries, including Canada and Switzerland?

08:30, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

... that a Khmer Rouge dam has now become a refuge for an endangered crane (pictured)?
... that a portrait of Tadeusz Kościuszko in the uniform of a Brigadier General of the American Revolutionary Army is featured at the Polish American Museum in Port Washington, New York?
... that Indigenous Australian actor Steve Dodd worked as a stockman before going on to appear in twenty Australian films spanning more than fifty years?
... that although the Jersey Act of 1913 limited the registration of American-bred Thoroughbreds in the British General Stud Book, it wasn't actually a law?
... that in the first Gulf Art Fair in 2007, the Pékin Fine Arts gallery exhibited a Mini Cooper car painted with coloured spots by Damien Hirst?
... that the Gloster Survey, a 1920s British photo-survey biplane, had only two prototype models made before production was discontinued?
... that the deaths of Phillip Esposito and Louis Allen were one instance of only two publicly known cases of alleged fraggings involving United States military forces during the Iraq War?
... that the Inner Hebridean crannóg of Dùn Anlaimh may be the remains of a fortified island dating back to the late Middle Ages?

01:02, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

... that baseball pitcher Walter Johnson (pictured) made 14 Opening Day starts for the Washington Senators between 1910 and 1926?
... that St.GIGA was a satellite radio company that used to broadcast gaiden-versions of Nintendo's most popular franchises?
... that John Ordronaux, an American Civil War army surgeon, went on to become a professor at Columbia Law School and an expert on medical jurisprudence and U.S. constitutional law?
... that Stan Smyl was the longest-tenured Vancouver Canucks captain?
... that German socialist politician Siegmund Glücksmann initiated the first socialist protests against the Piłsudski government in Poland?
... that American Airlines Flight 6780 crashed on approach to Newark Airport in 1952, killing everyone onboard including pilot Thomas J. Reid, with the plane crashing just blocks from his home?
... that Syrian Orthodox bishop Michael Jarweh with a large number of his faithfuls revitalized the Syrian Catholic Church?
... that the White-capped Albatross breeds in New Zealand's subantarctic possessions but nonbreeding birds may range to the southwestern South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands?

[edit] 3 March 2009

18:56, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the Umpqua Bank Plaza (pictured), a high-rise in Portland, Oregon, remained named for a failed savings and loan association for 15 years until adopting the present moniker?
... that twin brothers Yuen and Yong Poovorawan from Thailand are both Outstanding Researcher Award-winning scientists, although in the different fields of computer science and medicine?
... that the Pirate Party of the United States was formed after a 2006 raid by the Swedish police on the servers of The Pirate Bay, a popular file sharing website?
... that earliest mention of the Slavs occurs in the 6th century, in De Bellis of Procopius?
... that the ABC children's TV series The Marshal of Gunsight Pass, considered primitive even for 1950, was telecast live to stations on the West Coast and seen elsewhere by kinescope?
... that the Secret Military Printing Works of the WWII Polish resistance Home Army was probably the largest underground publisher in the world?
... that Hawaii House Bill 444 would allow civil unions in the state of Hawaii?
... that the Japanese manga Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens went on a hiatus because the mangaka fell ill, though there was speculation that the hiatus was caused by a fan controversy over Nagi's virginity?

12:40, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

... that The Concert Singer (pictured) was Thomas Eakins' first full-length portrait of a woman?
... that Ludvig Meyer, the defender of writer Hans Jæger during the high-profile censorship case in 1886, later became the leader of the Norwegian Labour Party?
... that Jupiter is the only planet capable of pulling an interstellar comet into a Sun-centered orbit?
... that New Zealand journalist Bill Ralston was shot at a Soweto school in South Africa in 1986?
... that even though the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma only has 519 members, they created the first and only eagle rehabilitation center in Oklahoma?
... that Typhoon Conson of the 2004 Pacific typhoon season was the first of the record ten typhoons to impact Japan that season?
... that New York City Police Commissioner Douglas I. McKay was so successful in reviving the use of the police lineup that the police department kept it on a permanent basis?
... that a foreshock before the 1930 Salmas earthquake caused residents of Dilman to sleep outside, probably saving thousands of lives from the actual earthquake?

05:34, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

... that gigantotomy is the art of carving human-shaped hill figures such as the Cerne Abbas giant (detail pictured)?
... that Derrell Palmer, winner of both AAFC and NFL championships with the Cleveland Browns, was called one of the two best defensive tackles he ever coached by Paul Brown?
... that, upon hearing they were to be laid off, 100 Waterford Crystal workers occupied the plant, accompanied by a Sinn Féin politician?
... that Ted Pickett has been called "probably the greatest all-round sportsman Tasmania has produced"?
... that the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Baltimore Branch Office is located in a historic building designed in 1926 in the Second Renaissance Revival style?
... that archaeologist Eigil Knuth was co-leader of the first Danish Greenland expedition to make use of an airplane, a Tiger Moth?
... that the winner of the first Coupe Charles Drago, predecessor of the Coupe de la Ligue, was decided by a coin-toss, after the scores finished equal after extra time?
... that English playwright David Edgar was the first pupil in Oundle School's 300-year history to be permitted to direct a school play?
... that the fishing trawler Bugaled Breizh is considered to have been pulled under by a submarine that got caught in its lines?

[edit] 2 March 2009

23:30, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the Italian island of Asinara (pictured) is inhabited by a wild population of albino donkeys?
... that Native American activist Robert Robideau was acquitted in the 1975 shooting deaths of two FBI agents, for which his cousin Leonard Peltier was later convicted and is serving two life sentences?
... that although it was prohibited by a 1951 law, Pakistan now officially allows its citizens to hold dual citizenship with 16 other countries?
... that New Writings in SF is the earliest of the notable science fiction anthology series published in the 1960s and 1970s?
... that Russian poet Alexander Pushkin stopped at Wolf and Beranget Confectionery located at historic Kotomin House before heading off to a duel where he was mortally wounded?
... that the TV series Pony Express (1959–1960) roughly coincided with the centennial of the real Pony Express that operated from 1860 to 1861?
... that a record 25 candidates stood in the 2005 Anguillan general election?
... that J. Max Bond, Jr. ignored a Harvard professor's advice not to pursue a career in architecture due to his race and went on to oversee the museum at the National 9/11 Memorial?

16:48, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the frontispiece (pictured) of the medieval Liber feudorum maior shows King Alfonso II of Aragon and his scribe selecting documents for inclusion?
... that the Mount Zion Temple organized the first synagogue and was led by the first rabbi in Minnesota?
... that the character of Lady Thisbe Crowborough in Max Beerbohm's 1919 satire Seven Men was probably drawn from real-life socialite Helen Vincent, Viscountess D'Abernon?
... that Triumph Bonneville T120s achieved the first three places in the Thruxton 500 endurance race in 1969?
... that conservation reliant species, which require continuing wildlife management interventions for their survival, comprise 80% of endangered species in the US?
... that the sports club Idrottslaget i Bondeungdomslaget i Oslo has co-organized the Bislett Games, an IAAF track and field event event, since 1966?
... that Alfred J. Kahn spent 57 years on the faculty of the Columbia University School of Social Work, where he wrote multiple reports regarding child welfare in New York City for the Citizens' Committee for Children?
... that Mario Duschenes was the widely admired conductor of young people's orchestra concerts across Canada?
... that University of Pittsburgh basketball player DeJuan Blair grew up 600 yards (550 m) from the university's campus?

10:54, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the M7 grenade launcher attachment for the M1 Garand rifle (pictured) allowed it to fire grenades up to 350 metres (1,150 ft)?
... that the Old Icelandic Homily Book is a collection of Norse sermons dating from the 13th century?
... that the Stand in the Schoolhouse Door was reenacted in the film Forrest Gump?
... that Kōmyō-ji, a Jōdo temple in Japan dedicated to the training of Buddhist priests and scholarly research, has a pet cemetery on its premises?
... that trainer/driver Stanley Dancer drove the Harness Horse of the Year seven times, with trotters Su Mac Lad in 1962 and Nevele Pride in 1967 through 1969, and with pacers Albatross in 1971 and 1972 and Keystone Ore in 1976?
... that Paul Gauguin described the Tahitian goddess he sculpted in 1894, Oviri, as "monstrous and majestic, drunk with pride, rage and sorrow"?
... that the towers of the Cymbalista Synagogue and Jewish Heritage Center at Tel Aviv University are an architectural squaring of the circle?
... that Phnom Srok District of Cambodia is home to the rare Eastern Sarus Crane?
... that the historic district in the Village of Monroe includes the factory where Velveeta was first made and the oldest Masonic lodge in New York state?

04:48, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the Soviet atheist magazine Bezbozhnik (cover pictured) accused some rabbis of having organized anti-Jewish pogroms in the Russian Empire?
... that in 132 CE, Zhang Heng, a Chinese court astronomer during the Han Dynasty, produced a seismometer with an inverted pendulum that indicated the direction of earthquakes that occurred hundreds of kilometers away?
... that the World's Largest Cedar Bucket was burned by arsonists in 2005?
... that Nikolaus Pevsner, writing in 1965, described the recently built Crawley Hospital in the town's West Green neighbourhood as "easily the best building in Crawley up to date"?
... that The Salt Box, one of the first Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments, was razed by fire seven months after being relocated to make room for a $500 million skyscraper development?
... that Norwegian poet Gunnar Reiss-Andersen is grandfather to mystery author Berit Reiss-Andersen, a former Norwegian Secretary of State?
... that Rogatien Vachon, who was the head coach of the Los Angeles Kings for three non-consecutive stints, coached the fewest games of any of the Kings' head coaches?
... that in 1917, a fleet of 47 naval drifters, used by the British to blockade the Otranto Straits, was attacked by the Austro-Hungarian Navy?
... that the death of the chimpanzee Travis inspired a New York Post cartoon that was later called racist?

[edit] 1 March 2009

22:33, 1 March 2009 (UTC)

... that Polish historical painter Juliusz Kossak (pictured) was the progenitor of a family of painters and poets spanning four generations?
... that Cyclone Arthur of the 2006–07 South Pacific cyclone season reached its peak intensity just 18 hours after being named?
... that Charles Hoff was the first Norwegian to set a world record in a track and field event?
... that a series of innovative computers, including the first transistor computer and the world's fastest computer, were produced by a small team working at Manchester University between 1947 and 1977?
... that during World War II, the Tunnel Railway in Ramsgate, England, became part of an air-raid shelter capable of housing more than 60,000 people?
... that when 2001 Chicago Marathon winner Catherine Ndereba set the world record, she joined four-time winner Khalid Khannouchi with a current world record time set at the Chicago Marathon?
... that the A. R. Bowman Memorial Museum in Prineville, Oregon, was opened in 1971 and is housed in the historic Crook County Bank Building?
... that Joseph Ferguson Peacocke, Archbishop of Dublin, was painted by Philip de László?
... that haejangguk is a kind of Korean guk (soup) consumed as a remedy for hangovers?

16:22, 1 March 2009 (UTC)

... that Xiuhtecuhtli (mask pictured), the Aztec god of fire, was one of the nine Lords of the Night even though he was a solar deity?
... that the band Animo is said to derive its name from Spanish slang for "get going"?
... that the 1803 Treaty of Fort Wayne dictated that the Native Americans were given up to 150 bushels of salt?
... that despite being an object of ridicule in popular culture, over 8 million British Rail sandwiches were sold in 1993?
... that the tunnel on the Busan-Geoje Fixed Link, under construction in South Korea, is slated to become the deepest immersed roadway tunnel?
... that Peter of Canterbury, who drowned near Boulogne, was the first abbot of what became St Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury?
... that during the filming of The Linguists in the Andes, the cast coped with altitude sickness by drinking coca leaf tea?
... that the Western Australian carnivorous plant Drosera erythrorhiza was split into four related subspecies in 1992?
... that Christ Church in Greenville, South Carolina, has a window depicting the Last Supper dedicated to Confederate general and bishop Ellison Capers?

10:32, 1 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the 1909 silent short film Wilbur Wright und seine Flugmaschine (pictured) is considered to be the first-ever use of aerial movie photography?
... that the highly-regarded edible mushroom Cortinarius caperatus is known as the granny's nightcap in Finland?
... that Cornwall Friends Meeting House is the oldest religious building in Cornwall, New York?
... that over 400,000 people consulted over 4 million documents during the Central Case Examination Group's investigation of President Liu Shaoqi of the People's Republic of China in 1968?
... that Muzzammil Hassan is the CEO of Bridges TV, the first American Muslim television network to broadcast in English?
... that during the Brazilian Tenente revolts the Prestes Column of guerrillas marched more than 25,000 kilometers (16,000 mi)?
... that the Palm Court, called "the most beautiful room in Los Angeles," has been the site of speeches by Presidents Taft and Wilson and balls where Rudolph Valentino danced with starlets?
... that according to Ernst Lohmeyer, "the Christian faith is only Christian as long as it retains in its heart the Jewish faith"?
... that Kentucky Jones featured Dennis Weaver, in his first TV series since Gunsmoke, as a widowed veterinarian and guardian of a 10-year-old Chinese orphan?

04:35, 1 March 2009 (UTC)

... that the U.S. Treasury Department was opposed to Georgina Klitgaard's mural (pictured) of the nearby Historic Track in the Goshen, New York post office because it considered harness racing an inappropriate subject for public art?
... that the planned International Finance Complex in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, will be the tallest man-made structure in the country?
... that 1 SS Infantry Brigade took part in numerous anti-partisan operations and the Holocaust?
... that the Buckner homestead and farm is used by the National Park Service as an interpretive center to show visitors what pioneer life was like in Washington?
... that novelist Charles Dickens received news of the death in India of his son Walter Landor Dickens on his own birthday on February 7, 1864?
... that in the 1898 case Smyth v. Ames, the United States Supreme Court unanimously declared a Nebraska railroad tariff law unconstitutional?
... that the Dexter episode "Our Father", aired September 2008, was Showtime's highest-rated drama season premiere since 2004?
... that Polkagris is a Swedish candy stick invented in 1859 by a widow in Gränna?