Wikipedia:Did you know archive 239

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Did you know...

2 February 2009

07:40, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
... that the Wilkinson motorcycle ([[:|pictured]]) failed to impress the British military – despite having a Maxim machine gun mounted on the handlebars?
... that Bardstown, Kentucky's Wickland, namesake of Shelbyville, Kentucky's Wickland, was the home of three different U.S. state governors?
... that Thriller – Live is a new West End musical, directed by the creator of a Michael Jackson fansite?
... that the recently defunct Pacific Magazine, a current affairs publication focusing on the Pacific Islands of Oceania, was the region's longest continuously published magazine?
... that Adolph C. Miller served as United States Assistant Secretary of the Interior before being appointed as an original Governor of the Federal Reserve System?
... that the account of the death of 12,000 prisoners aboard the Gulag ship Dzhurma has been disproven?
... that the Japanese band Daisy × Daisy provided the song "Brave your truth" as the opening theme song of the episodes of the Chrome Shelled Regios anime?
... that Maurice Catarcio, at age 69, pulled an 80-foot (24 m) boat filled with 125 passengers while swimming 300 feet (91 m) in a lake, which earned him a place in The Guinness Book of World Records?

01:48, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
... that singer Amy Winehouse ([[:|pictured]]) gained entry to the Guinness World Records in 2009 for having the most Grammy Awards won by a British female act?
... that Premier of Alberta John Edward Brownlee was forced to resign in 1934 due to a sex scandal?
... that the Jamaican Gun Court Act of 1974 mandated a sentence of indefinite imprisonment with hard labor for all firearms offenses, including possession of unlicensed guns?
... that only after the end of World War II was it publicly revealed that the Norwegian ships SS Irma and SS Henry had been sunk by the Royal Norwegian Navy?
... that then-President Bill Clinton's selection to give the 2000 Jefferson Lecture, the U.S.'s highest humanities honor, was criticized as a politicization of the National Endowment for the Humanities?
... that Indonesia's largest container terminal, handling more than 3.5 million TEU's of freight in 2007, is in the Port of Jakarta?
... that Dutch architect Kees Christiaanse, a proponent of mixed communities, has described his buildings as "socializing machines"?
... that the television series Use It or Lose It documented the return of former association footballers Niall Quinn and Ronnie Whelan to their respective youth teams?

1 February 2009

19:57, 1 February 2009 (UTC)
... that the largest kilns for Ancient Roman pottery ([[:|example pictured]]) fired up to 40,000 pieces at a time?
... that the first head coach of the NBA club now known as the Atlanta Hawks was Roger Potter, whose tenure only lasted seven games into the team's inaugural season in 1949?
... that six prehistoric meteorite impacts have created large astroblemes affecting the geology of Saskatchewan?
... that the New York Assembly passed a 1970 abortion rights law sponsored by Constance Cook and Franz Leichter after George Michaels broke a 74–74 deadlock by switching his vote?
... that of the ten Brough Superior Austin Four motorcycles built—eight in 1932 plus one each in 1933 and 1934—a total of eight have survived to this day?
... that according to US and Turkish officials, the MV Kısmetim-1 was deliberately sunk in December 1992 by its crew in order to prevent the capture of the illicit drug load?
... that James Brady, who wrote a celebrity profile for nearly 25 years in Parade magazine, won the Bronze Star Medal for his Korean War service and wrote a Pulitzer Prize-finalist book about his war experiences?
... that landscape architecture firm West 8 designed the so-called "Reptile Bridge" between Leidsche Rijn and Utrecht in the Netherlands?

14:08, 1 February 2009 (UTC)
... that the burning sensation caused by red hot chili peppers or the warmth caused by camphor are due to the activation of different TRPV ion channels ([[:|TRPV1 pictured]]), which are also thermosensitive?
... that two members of the Boston Red Sox's Golden Outfield have been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame?
... that ruins from Bradenstoke Abbey in Wiltshire, England, were bought by William Randolph Hearst and used in alterations to St Donat's Castle in Wales?
... that the GDP of the Ming Dynasty was 31 percent of the world's GDP, a percentage which is relatively higher than the GDP of the United States in 1997?
... that the Old L & N Station in Bardstown, Kentucky, was the state's only dry stone railroad station?
... that British economist Gilbert Slater suggested in the Madras Legislative Council that a committee be appointed to investigate the introduction of a common script for the Madras Presidency?
... that in Cheney v. United States District Court, Supreme Court Justice Scalia was alleged to have had a conflict of interest because he had recently hunted ducks with Dick Cheney, a party to the case?
... that Stephen Neill, former bishop of Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu, suffered from insomnia which helped him to author his magnum opus, History of Christianity in India?

08:16, 1 February 2009 (UTC)
... that Salvia fruticosa or Greek sage ([[:|pictured]]) was depicted on a 1400-BCE Minoan fresco on the island of Crete, and is still grown and used widely today?
... that Eddie Tolan, the first African-American to be the "world's fastest human" after winning double gold at the 1932 Olympics, returned home jobless and appeared in vaudeville with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson?
... that General Motors's pioneering CAD system, DAC-1, could digitize hand-drawn diagrams, turn them into 3D models, and then build models of them on milling machines?
... that Hungarian ballerina Nora Kovach's 1953 defection to the West was the first highly publicized Cold War-era defection of individuals in the field of dance?
... that the controversial 1982 anti-racism film White Dog was director Samuel Fuller's last American film due to his disgust with Paramount Pictures' refusal to release the film?
... that the small Croatian town of Jastrebarsko was home to two cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church, who were also both archbishops of the country's capital Zagreb?
... that the St. Louis Wrestling Hall of Fame is the only professional wrestling hall of fame that lets fans select the inductees?
... that in addition to his academic work, Norwegian history professor Øystein Sørensen is considered an expert on the Donald Duck universe?

02:27, 1 February 2009 (UTC)
... that the Appomattox Park ([[:|pictured]]) has a Court-house, Tavern, Jail, Store and Prizery, the Bocock-Isbell, McLean, Peers and Wright houses, the Sweeney and Sweeney-Conner cabins, the Jones and Woodson law offices, ruins and cemeteries?
... that Callianassa subterranea is a burrowing shrimp that ingests sediment particles and digests their organic coating?
... that Maurice Maeterlinck threatened legal action and physical violence against Claude Debussy after he did not cast Maeterlinck's lover, Georgette Leblanc, in the title role of their opera Pelléas et Mélisande?
... that the Willow Creek Transit Center in Oregon has artwork with a reading theme for a planned library branch nearby that was never built?
... that celebrated Azerbaijani activist of the French Resistance Ahmadiyya Jabrayilov was persecuted by the NKVD upon his return to the USSR?
... that Bob Foster’s win on a New Imperial in the 1936 Isle of Man TT was the last time that Great Britain won a Lightweight TT?
... that despite its acrid taste, Lactarius vietus is edible after boiling?
... that during World War I, President Woodrow Wilson reportedly stopped discussing important matters at Cabinet meetings because of the indiscretions of Interior Secretary Franklin Knight Lane?

31 January 2009

20:32, 31 January 2009 (UTC)
... that the worshippers of Xipe Totec ([[:|pictured]]), the Aztec god of renewal, wore the flayed skins of their sacrificial victims?
... that Lorene Rogers was described as the first woman to serve as head of a public university in the United States when she became president of the University of Texas at Austin in 1974?
... that Anacletus II is regarded as an antipope although he had received the majority of the votes in the Papal election of 1130?
... that economist John Kenneth Galbraith called The Go-Go Years, a book by John Brooks about Wall Street's speculative bubble in the 1960s, "a small classic in the history of financial insanity"?
... that during the Angolan Civil War, the surrounding area of Luanda's Palácio de Ferro, believed to be designed by Gustave Eiffel, was once used as a parking lot?
... that ice hockey referee Marcus Vinnerborg has officiated two Ice Hockey World Championship finals in row?
... that historian P. T. Srinivasa Iyengar believed that Kanchipuram was the southernmost outpost of Sanskrit culture during the pre-Pallava period?
... that female impersonator T. C. Jones played murderous transvestites in both a 1965 episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and a 1967 episode of The Wild Wild West?

14:16, 31 January 2009 (UTC)
... that one-time Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives Charles B. Moores' ([[:|pictured]]) uncle, father, and grandfather all served in the Oregon Legislature, while his son served in the Washington Legislature?
... that the Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Kamikaze was one of the few larger Japanese warships to survive the Pacific War without significant damage?
... that Robert Dallek researched JFK for five years by tapping National Security Archives, oral histories, White House tapes, and medical records to write An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963?
... that in December 1955, India became the first country outside the Eastern bloc to establish diplomatic relations with Mongolia?
... that results from the JUPITER trial indicated that rosuvastatin may lower the relative risk of heart attacks and stroke in patients with normal cholesterol levels?
... that New Zealand Transport Minister Steven Joyce started radio station Energy FM with a group of friends?
... that the remnants of 2005's Tropical Depression Ten partially contributed to the formation of Hurricane Katrina?
... that Fred Shaw Mayer was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire for breeding Birds of Paradise?

08:24, 31 January 2009 (UTC)
... that the Streamline Moderne building ([[:|pictured]]) of the Washington Talking Book & Braille Library is a former Dodge automobile dealership?
... that Johann Phillip Fabricius, a German Christian missionary, completed the first translation of the Bible to Tamil?
... that Malay monarchs lost their legal immunity after a series of amendments was made to the Constitution of Malaysia in 1993?
... that American writer Howard Norman stated there was a shorter distance between his unconscious life and his conscious life in Nova Scotia than anywhere else?
... that the effects of Hurricane Ivan in Jamaica proved among the most severe in the island's history?
... that Halle Jørn Hanssen was Norway's first television correspondent stationed in an African country?
... that radio stations WMFC and WMFC-FM originally broadcast from a Quonset hut in the heart of Monroeville, Alabama?
... that Andrew Ritchie named his Brompton folding bicycle company after the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary?

02:32, 31 January 2009 (UTC)
... that Harmon Northrop Morse was awarded the Avogadro Medal in 1916 for his extensive report on osmotic pressure and semipermeable membranes ([[:|concept pictured]])?
... that Itek Corporation was formed to build image retrieval systems, but instead became a reconnaissance camera vendor after winning the contract for the CIA's CORONA satellite?
... that British poisoner Frederick Seddon made a secret Masonic signal to his trial judge, prominent Freemason Thomas Townsend Bucknill, in an attempt to overturn the jury's guilty verdict?
... that The Hunters of Kentucky, which commemorated the Battle of New Orleans, was used as Andrew Jackson's 1828 campaign song?
... that Russian ski jumper Arthur Khamidulin retired after his violent crash in ski flying in Vikersund in 2000?
... that the Bradley Airport Connector, a freeway in the U.S. state of Connecticut, was renamed the "82nd Airborne Memorial Highway" in 1999 to honor the 82nd Airborne Division?
... that Sri Ponna, the classical Kannada language poet of c. 950, is considered one of the "three gems of Kannada literature?
... that the specific name of mushroom Lactarius theiogalus comes from the Greek for "brimstone" and "milk"?

30 January 2009

20:40, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
... that Niepołomice Forest in Poland incorporates the most protected nature reserve inhabited by European bison called wisent ([[:|pictured]]), the heaviest surviving land animal in Europe?
... that World Sculling Champion oarsman Joseph Sadler was a chimneysweep by profession?
... that Isaac Albéniz's opera Pepita Jiménez has been adapted several times by numerous people into different constructs and languages?
... that Pernessa C. Seele, the founder of the Harlem Week of Prayer for Healing of AIDS, is an immunologist and one of Time magazine's Top 100 Americans in 2006?
... that St. Mary's Islands, Karnataka, known for the distinctive geological formation of columnar basaltic lava, are a set of four small islands in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Malpe?
... that Ratchanya Yatreegam, magnum opus of Indian poet Henry Alfred Krishnapillai written in Tamil, was based on John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress?
... that no one knows the age of the Greaser Petroglyphs located in eastern Lake County, Oregon, USA, but they could be up to 12,000 years old?
... that Vilhelm Andreas Wexelsen, who had two tenures as Norwegian Minister of Education and Church Affairs, became a bishop after his political career?

14:48, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
... that 52 of Sholto Johnstone Douglas's paintings of First World War "dazzle ships" ([[:|dazzle camouflage pictured]]) are in the Imperial War Museum?
... that in Tanta, Egypt, some restaurants sell an "al-Tourbini sandwich", named after a serial child killer?
... that the Kay Moor coal mine near Fayetteville, West Virginia, was first worked with mule-drawn railcars?
... that Michael Christian Festing was Thomas Arne's mentor and it is through his influence that Arne was able to pursue a music career?
... that Guyana's sugar production was halved between 1978 and 1988 due to the economic decline of the nation during the 1980s?
... that Balanadarajah Iyer was the second Sri Lankan journalist to be assassinated in 2004?
... that although composed in late 1812, the popular Canadian War of 1812 song The Bold Canadian was not published until 1907, and not fully until 1927?
... that the noted medieval Telugu-language writer and poet Palkuriki Somanatha wrote important classics in Kannada and Sanskrit as well?
... that the Beverly Hilton Hotel has hosted the Golden Globe Awards since 1961?

08:56, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
... that 52 of Sholto Johnstone Douglas' paintings of First World War "dazzle ships" ([[:|dazzle camouflage pictured]]) are in the Imperial War Museum?
... that in Tanta, Egypt, some restaurants sell an "al-Tourbini sandwich", named after a serial child killer?
... that the Kay Moor coal mine near Fayetteville, West Virginia, was first worked with mule-drawn railcars?
... that Michael Christian Festing was Thomas Arne's mentor and it is through his influence that Arne was able to pursue a music career?
... that Guyana's sugar production was halved between 1978 and 1988 due to the economic decline of the nation during the 1980s?
... that Balanadarajah Iyer was the second Sri Lankan journalist to be assassinated in 2004?
... that although composed in late 1812, the popular Canadian War of 1812 song The Bold Canadian was not published until 1907, and not fully until 1927?
... that the noted medieval Telugu language writer and poet, Palkuriki Somanatha, wrote important classics in the Kannada language and Sanskrit language as well?
... that the Beverly Hilton Hotel has hosted the Golden Globe Awards since 1961?

08:48, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
... that Lucques ([[:|pictured]]), Aglandau, Salonenque, Picholine, Olivière, Tanche, Bouteillan, Cailletier, Grossane, Germaine, Cayon and Sabine are some of about a hundred French olive cultivars?
... that Trailanga Swami, an Indian yogi, is reputed to have lived nearly 300 years and reportedly "read people’s minds like books"?
... that the Hawthorn Farm rail station in Hillsboro, Oregon, has a piece of art that indicates the wind's direction by using lights and sounds?
... that both Charles Langbridge Morgan, a civil engineer, and his son Charles Langbridge Morgan, a playwright and novelist, served in the British Armed Forces during the First World War?
... that although Katharine Hepburn wrote most of the filmed script for Travels with My Aunt, she was denied screen credit because she was not a member of the Screen Writers Guild?
... that the village of Worsley is centred around the coal mines that helped kickstart the industrial revolution in nearby Manchester?
... that New York Road Runners CEO Mary Wittenberg was the first female director of a major international marathon?
... that Sega changed a dainty, big-eyed female character into a Vallejo-like golden bikini-clad female barbarian, to market the video game Alisia Dragoon to the Western market?

02:56, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
... that wolf lichen, fungal species Letharia vulpina ([[:|pictured]]), was used historically as a wolf poison by combining it with powdered glass and meat?
... that the first container ship arrived in the Port of Tokyo's Shinagawa terminal in 1967?
... that Haskel Lookstein, who succeeded his father Joseph Lookstein as Rabbi of New York City's Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in 1979, was Newsweek magazine's second-ranked U.S. pulpit rabbi in 2008?
... that around 80 percent of El Salvador's forests are associated with shade coffee plantations?
... that after serving as a Union Army general during the American Civil War, Joseph Alexander Cooper was enlisted to suppress Ku Klux Klan disturbances in Tennessee?
... that The Beatles appeared ten times on the BBC Radio programme Saturday Club in the early 1960s?
... that University of Pennsylvania track coach Ken Doherty removed Bruce Dern from the track team in 1957 after his Elvis-like sideburns caused a commotion while running the two-mile relay?
... that a split in India's Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party in 1988 resulted in a split in the Congress party in Tamil Nadu, leading to the birth of the new party Thamizhaga Munnetra Munnani?
... that the Diamond darter, discovered in 2008, lives only in the Elk River of West Virginia, USA?

29 January 2009

21:09, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
... that Vladas Jurgutis (pictured) is considered to be the "father of the Lithuanian litas"?
... that the invitations to the inauguration of Barack Obama were produced in an environmentally friendly manner by companies certified by the Forest Stewardship Council?
... that George Goschen, 2nd Viscount Goschen was the acting Viceroy of India from June 1929 to April 1931?
... that Chicago's Fountain of Time by Lorado Taft is considered the earliest outdoor concrete sculpture?
... that when Jean-Jacques Démafouth, in exile from the Central African Republic, agreed to lead the APRD rebel group in March 2008, he stipulated they must negotiate a peace deal?
... that controversy erupted when Virginia Tech was selected to play in the 2002 Gator Bowl college football game instead of Syracuse, which had more wins in the regular season?
... that Corethrellidae, a family of parasitic midges belonging to the same order as the common housefly, have been found to spread the disease-causing protozoan Trypanosoma among their host frog populations?
... that designer Shigeo Fukuda's poster "Victory 1945" of a projectile heading straight at the opening of a cannon barrel was described as a "bitingly satirical commentary on the senselessness of war"?

15:16, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
... that the color scheme for Israel Railways' new Siemens Viaggio Light trains ([[:|pictured]]) was chosen by the general public in a poll?
... that President George W. Bush appointed three Cabinet members who had been born outside of the United States, the most of any U.S. president?
... that Château de Cayx is a royal residence of the Danish monarch in France?
... that Holly Coors, wife of beer magnate Joseph Coors, stated while planning to run for Governor of Colorado that the way to help women was "not the Equal Rights Amendment but through free enterprise"?
... that Typhoon Wayne, which roamed the South China Sea and Formosa Strait for over three weeks in 1986, remains the longest lived tropical cyclone on record in the western Pacific Ocean?
... that in May 1776, the future Chaldean Patriarch Yohannan Hormizd was consecrated metropolitan bishop with right of succession at the age of 16 by his uncle, Patriarch Mar Eliya XII Denkha?
... that Star Trek: Countdown, a comic book prequel to the 2009 film Star Trek, is also a sequel to the 2002 film Star Trek Nemesis?
... that Barashnûm is a Zoroastrian purification ritual in which a "defiled" person is confined to a corner of the house called Armêsht-gah for a period of nine nights?

09:24, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
... that the Light-mantled Albatross (pictured) does not start breeding, on average, until 12 years old?
... that Count Hans von Schack of South Jutland was given Schackenborg Castle as a token of Frederick III of Denmark's gratitude for his military achievements in the Northern Wars?
... that Providence Newberg Medical Center in Oregon was the first hospital in the United States to earn a Gold LEED certification?
... that child actor Asa Butterfield appeared on the cover of Patrick Skene Catling's autobiography Better Than Working?
... that after surviving 1945's Battle of Manila, the Avenue Theater along Rizal Avenue was demolished in 2006 in order to turn it into a parking lot?
... that rapper T.I. is starring in T.I.'s Road To Redemption, an upcoming reality television show?
... that the legend of Sumbha and Nisumbha, demons from Hindu mythology, is used as a warning against the dangers of seduction in Shashi Tharoor's novel The Great Indian Novel?
... that Major League Baseball manager Billy Martin served five separate terms as manager of the New York Yankees?

03:32, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
... that symbiotic moss animals live on the bristles of the crab known as the Mud-Runner ([[:|pictured]])?
... that Captain John Maitland's decisive quashing of an attempted mutiny was termed 'Doctor Maitland's recipe' by Admiral John Jervis?
... that ever since the Griffin v. California case in the U.S. Supreme Court, judges and prosecutors are forbidden from mentioning that a defendant has refused to testify?
... that Al-Maquar, which contains the royal residence of Jordan, was built on the camp-site for the armies of the Arab Revolt, who captured Amman in 1918?
... that Marcia P. Sward, who created the children's environmental education program GreenKids, started her career as a mathematician?
... that because of differences in the demands for a separate nation called Dravida Nadu, India's DMK party split in 1962 and a short-lived Tamil National Party was formed?
... that Alexander Ross was Engineer-in-Chief of the Breydon Viaduct?
... that there was public outcry when the Sea Alarm—formerly one of Britain's WWII Empire ships—was scrapped after the closure of the Welsh Industrial and Maritime Museum?
... that in the World Wrestling Federation in the 1980s, Frenchy Martin accompanied Dino Bravo to the ring with a sign that read "USA is not OK"?

28 January 2009

15:48, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
... that one-time Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives Charles B. Moores' ([[:|pictured]]) uncle, father, and grandfather all served in the Oregon Legislature, while his son served in the Washington Legislature?
... that the Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Kamikaze was one of the few larger Japanese warships to survive the Pacific War without significant damage?
... that Robert Dallek researched JFK for five years by tapping National Security Archives, oral histories, White House tapes, and medical records to write An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963?
... that in December 1955, India became the first country outside the Eastern bloc to establish diplomatic relations with Mongolia?
... that results from the JUPITER trial indicated that rosuvastatin may lower the relative risk of heart attacks and stroke in patients with normal cholesterol levels?
... that New Zealand Transport Minister Steven Joyce started radio station Energy FM with a group of friends?
... that the remnants of 2005's Tropical Depression Ten partially contributed to the formation of Hurricane Katrina?
... that Fred Shaw Mayer was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire for breeding Birds of Paradise?

15:40, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
... that the Polish resistance in World War II designed and produced hundreds of flamethrowers, most of them of the K pattern model ([[:|pictured]])?
... that a Liveline phone-in debate on gay adoption staged by Evelyn O'Rourke led to more than half of the total complaints issued against the radio show in a six-month period?
... that in 1952, three BSA A7 motorcycles won the Maudes Trophy and the International Six Days Enduro, achieving 4,500 miles (7,200 km) without any problems?
... that Maraimalai Adigal, a Saivite and considered the father of the Pure Tamil movement, disagreed with the atheistic beliefs of Periyar's Self-Respect Movement?
... that in 2005, Gov. Ted Kulongoski signed a bill making Oregon the first U.S. state to require prescriptions for cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient used to make methamphetamine?
... that, being a descendant of Pliohippus, Astrohippus is not considered to be an ancestor to modern horses?
... that in 1975, Tivi Etok, a Quebec artist, was the first Inuk printmaker to have a collection of his own prints released?
... that a 2009 Pennsylvania court case ruled that poker is a game of skill, thus not subject to the state laws related to gambling?

09:48, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
... that this year's Tour of California will cross the Golden Gate Bridge ([[:|pictured]]) for the first time?
... that the Norwegian Minister of the Interior and President of the Storting, Johan Henrik Paasche Thorne, was a business partner of Theodor Peterson before entering politics?
... that Murder on a Sunday Morning, a French film about the 2000 Brenton Butler murder case in Jacksonville, Florida, won the Academy Award for Documentary Feature in 2001?
... that Étienne-Émile Baulieu, the "father of the abortion pill", first described the concept of neurosteroids?
... that NBC's 2009 reality television program Superstars of Dance is hosted by "Lord of the Dance" Michael Flatley?
... that East Wallabi Island has the highest number of plant species on any island of the Houtman Abrolhos archipelago in the Indian Ocean?
... that many modern legal commentators believe the decision in Stilk v Myrick was made at least partly due to public policy?
... that Steven Hoefflin grafted skin to Michael Jackson’s scalp after the singer was burnt during the filming of a Pepsi commercial in 1984?

03:56, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
... that the Trondheim Tramway of Norway could not sell their used Class 8 trams ([[:|pictured]]) because they had the unique combination of 260 cm (100 in) width and meter gauge?
... that Sedgeley, designed by Benjamin Henry Latrobe in 1799 and built in Philadelphia, was the first Gothic revival-style house in the U.S.?
... that Oslac, the first ealdorman of southern Northumbria, is said to have escorted the Scottish king Cináed mac Maíl Coluim to the court of the English king Edgar the Peaceful?
... that Ron Rothstein was the first head coach of the Miami Heat, an American professional basketball team based in Miami, Florida?
... that remnants of defensive walls and stone shelters on West Wallabi Island, constructed by survivors of the 1629 Batavia shipwreck, are the oldest known European-built structures in Australia?
... that Brett Queener, an American goalkeeper in professional field lacrosse, plays an offensive position in professional indoor lacrosse?
... that the Wolf Popper Synagogue in Kraków, Poland, was founded in 1620 by one of the richest European traders in saltpetre, used for the making of gunpowder?
... that Bob May got the role of the Robot in the 1960s TV series Lost in Space when he met the show's creator Irwin Allen in the studio lot who said "if you can fit in the suit, you've got the job"?

27 January 2009

22:08, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
... that the Thomas Paine Cottage ([[:|pictured]]) is where the Revolutionary War hero and author of Common Sense lived from 1802 to 1806, was buried in 1809, and was disinterred in 1819 by William Cobbett?
... that the Moss, Norway-based corporation Peterson started as a general store in 1801, later expanding into packaging and paper industry via timber trade and shipping?
... that the U.S. Olympic Committee awarded medals to Sam Stoller and Marty Glickman 62 years after the only two Jews on the U.S. track team were pulled from the 400-meter relay team at the 1936 Berlin Olympics?
... that Jagannatha Dasa is one of the widely known 18th-century saint-poets of the Kannada language?
... that the Weberian apparatus, a set of modified bones that link the swim bladder and inner ear of some fishes, is a distinguishing characteristic of the superorder Ostariophysi?
... that the collection of the Prague Aviation Museum, Kbely includes 275 aircraft, of which approximately 110 are on public display?
... that college football player Bob Ward is the only player to have been selected by the Associated Press as a first-team All-American in both an offensive and defensive position?
... that the 2005 World Series of Poker Ladies Champion had been nominated for an Academy Award in 1994?

16:16, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
... that the biennial world chef championship Bocuse d'Or, named for Paul Bocuse ([[:|pictured]]), is one of the world's most prestigious cooking competitions?
... that the Citizen's Briefing Book is a compilation work of citizen recommendations to Barack Obama, to be presented to him after his inauguration as President of the United States?
... that the birth place of Tipu Sultan, also known as the Tiger of Mysore, is located 150 metres (490 ft) south-west of Devanahalli Fort in Karnataka, India?
... that Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, the captain of US Airways Flight 1549, also runs an aviation safety consultant company and has worked as an accident investigator for the USAF, NTSB, and FAA?
... that Empire Athelstan was the first merchant ship built by Vickers-Armstrongs at Barrow in Furness after the Second World War?
... that C. Natesa Mudaliar was responsible for bringing bitter rivals Theagaroya Chetty and Dr. T. M. Nair together and is remembered as one of the founders of India's Justice Party?
... that development of the Namsos Line was halted both in 1908, when final plans for the Nordland Line used another route via Snåsa, and in 1927, when the Norwegian Minister of Labour stopped construction?
... that following Andrew Jackson's inauguration in 1829, a drunken mob inside the White House was only dispersed once bowls of punch and liquor were placed on the front lawn?

10:24, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
... that the unusual layout of bays in the aisles of St Luke's Church, Brighton ([[:|pictured]]), was described by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner as "curious" and "disturbing"?
... that Leonard Andrews created The New York Standard, the largest alternative paper printed during the 114-day 1962 New York City newspaper strike, with a peak circulation over 400,000 in its 67 issues?
... that the antimicrobial protein hydramacin-1 was extracted and isolated in 2008 by German scientists from Hydra, a freshwater relative of corals and jellyfish?
... that Russian poetess Anna Akhmatova regarded Osip Mandelstam's poem on Russian poetess Mariya Petrovykh as the "best love poem of the twentieth century"?
... that the Indiana Rangers inspired the creation of the more famous Texas Rangers?
... that the MV Domala was the first ship of the British-India Steam Navigation Company that was powered by diesel engines?
... that, in 2008, college football player Russell Wilson of North Carolina State became the first freshman quarterback to ever be named to the All-Atlantic Coast Conference first team?
... that the Little Wattlebird lacks the wattles which characterise the wattlebirds?

04:32, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
... that Mike Murphy ([[:|pictured]]) trained heavyweight boxing champion John L. Sullivan, was the first Michigan Wolverines football coach, and has been called the "the father of American track athletics"?
... that the Singsaker Line was the first part of the Trondheim Tramway, Norway, to be closed?
... that after escaping from German forces in World War II, Peter Lewis hid in a safe house in Modena for almost two months in late 1943?
... that the UNIO High School in Satu Mare, Romania, was established only to train and promote skilled workers for the UNIO Company?
... that entrepreneur Ralph D. Foster and his partner started Missouri radio station KGBX (now KSGF) in 1926 to advertise their Firestone Tires dealership?
... that Australian forces were deployed as a part of the North Russian Expeditionary Force and North Russia Relief Force during the Russian Civil War?
... that Stephen Etnier, an American realist painter, commanded the United States Navy ship USS Mizpah during World War II?
... that the title for Peter Benchley's best-selling 1974 novel Jaws was not agreed until 20 minutes before it went into production?

26 January 2009

22:40, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
... that species from Cookeina ([[:|pictured]]), a genus of cup fungi, are used in Peninsular Malaysia as fish bait?
... that IBM's Automatic Language Translator machines used by the US Air Force had optical disks that stored thousands of Russian-to-English translations?
... that during the captivity of Mangalorean Catholics at Seringapatam, 30,000 of the captured 60,000 Christians were forcibly converted to Islam by Tipu Sultan?
... that microbiologist Hans Knöll defended the historic center of Jena, which was threatened by the construction of the Jen-Tower?
... that the four-part A&E documentary series The Greatest Pharaohs is being used in many college and university courses on anthropology and archaeology?
... that after being sent to the GULAG, Ukrainian writer Hryhorii Epik continued to write and sent one of his works to the NKVD in Moscow before his execution during the Great Purge in 1937?
... that George Webb Restaurants locations each have two clocks that employees claim are set one minute apart to evade a local law banning businesses from being open 24 hours per day?
... that Steve Farrell, called "the greatest professional foot-racer" in America, raced against horses for several years in the 1890s and reportedly only lost a half dozen times?
... that the Russian artist Joseph Constantinovsky, who fled the Ukraine after an anti-Jewish pogrom, became a famous sculptor and author in Paris, writing an award-winning collection of short stories in French?

16:50, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
... that the first egg laid in a clutch by Crested penguins ([[:|pictured]]) of the genus Eudyptes is as little as 60% of the size of the second egg?
... that undercover apartheid agent Fabio Barraclough used a cover identity as an anti-apartheid campaigner?
... that the 1983 song "Everyday I Write the Book" was Elvis Costello's first hit single in the United States?
... that Malaysian royalty's immunity from legal prosecution was removed after a 1992 assault incident, involving Tunku Majid of Johor, sparked a constitutional crisis?
... that the US Air Force's cold-weather testing facility was moved from Ladd Field in Fairbanks, Alaska, to a refrigerated hangar, the McKinley Climatic Laboratory, at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida?
... that an electronic opera Raab by the Czech composer Jaroslav Krček was banned by the communist regime in 1972?
... that the United States Department of Transportation incorrectly lists the former Interstate 87 bridge on Warren County Route 35 as an old state road?
... that professional wrestler George "Two Ton" Harris was promised continued employment with Jim Crockett Promotions when he assured the owner that he would learn to read and write?

11:00, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
... that Eugène Delacroix's efforts to produce The Barque of Dante ([[:|pictured]]) in time for the Paris Salon of 1822 left him weak and in need of recuperation?
... that Cheshire landowner Rowland Egerton-Warburton arranged for his house, Arley Hall, to be designed in Tudor style while the chapel was designed in Gothic style?
... that after being saved from the scrapyard by a U.S. delegation, two Japanese warships of the Amagi and Tosa classes, Akagi and Kaga, were converted to aircraft carriers and took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor?
... that only 100 Mahatma Gandhi 10 Rs. stamps were overprinted with "Service", making it the world's least printed stamp?
... that disputes between Confederate Generals William Hardee and John Creed Moore caused Moore to resign his commission?
... that Cosmos 1818, which has an inactive nuclear reactor, was fractured by either a collision or thermal stresses, generating radioactive debris in a high earth orbit?
... that Elliott Woods, who was Architect of the Capitol from 1902 to 1923, oversaw the construction of the Cannon House Office Building and the Russell Senate Office Building?
... that protozoologist Leonard Goodwin claimed to have started the use of hamsters as pets in the United Kingdom?

05:10, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
... that the United States Navy has trained Common Bottlenose Dolphins ([[:|pictured]]) to locate sea mines?
... that the Temple of Human Passions, first building of Art Nouveau's architect Victor Horta, was closed three days after its inauguration under the pressure of the puritanic Belgian public in 1899?
... that Joseph P. Williams led the team that created the BankAmericard in 1958, the first national bank credit card in the United States?
... that the Candy cap mushroom species Lactarius camphoratus has been used as part of a pipe tobacco mix?
... that the "London Cage," a World War II prisoner of war facility commanded by Lt. Col. Alexander Scotland, was beset by allegations of torture?
... that Bryan Trottier, Denis Potvin, Mike Bossy, and Bryan Berard all won the Calder Memorial Trophy while playing for the New York Islanders?
... that sprint champion Charles Hoyt, who lost a chance for an Olympic medal when the 1916 games were cancelled due to World War I, later coached Eddie Tolan to two gold medals in the 1932 Olympics?
... that people have had to be taken to hospital due to drug overdoses at dance parties?

25 January 2009

23:20, 25 January 2009 (UTC)
... that the orange webcap mushroom ([[:|pictured]]) can bioaccumulate the toxic element mercury?
... that instead of abducting people, Francesco Paolo Varsallona, who became an outlaw in 1893, introduced tribute payments for guaranteed safety and was credited with modernizing brigandage in Sicily?
... that in June 1991, a gasoline tanker attempting to exit from Interstate 68 at Cumberland, Maryland, overturned and set eight houses on fire, causing US0,000 in damages?
... that Royal Air Force pilot Robert Leith-Macgregor was twice shot down during World War II and then strafed by German fighters, but survived uninjured both times?
... that Kentucky's Great Saltpetre Cave, which produced saltpetre for the War of 1812, was later used to film part of the 1997 Steven Seagal film Fire Down Below?
... that composer Egidio Duni was particularly influential in creating a new genre of opera which blended Italian opera elements with traditional French ones?
... that the Polhemus Memorial Clinic in Brooklyn, New York, is considered to be the first skyscraper hospital ever built?
... that despite its name, the Corsican Hare is not native to Corsica and is rarely found on this Mediterranean island today?

17:30, 25 January 2009 (UTC)
... that Tricholoma ustaloides ([[:|pictured]]), generally considered an inedible species of mushroom, is consumed by inhabitants of some Mexican communities?
... that composer Jonathan Battishill once performed several airs from Samuel Arnold's oratorio The Prodigal Son without the sheet music, and after not hearing the work for more than 20 years?
... that the first Filipinos to settle in the Netherlands arrived in 1947?
... that in addition to her academic career, German-Norwegian political scientist Helga Hernes has been a State Secretary as well as an ambassador to several European countries?
... that though students spend their entire high school career at Tech Valley High School in New York's Capital District, their diploma comes from their home school district?
... that Robert Millar has been credited for establishing modern marketing in Norway?
... that the private railroad car Georgia 300 has been used by United States Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama, as well as presidential candidate John Kerry?
... that Sam, an army dog who served with the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, posthumously received the Dickin Medal in 2003 for holding off armed rioters in Bosnia and Herzegovina?

11:40, 25 January 2009 (UTC)
... that Thomas Eakins' wife is credited with painting him into The Agnew Clinic ([[:|pictured]])?
... that the Dalsenget fire in 1956 caused the Trondheim Tramway to lose its 26 newest trams?
... that Hedda and Ingrid Berntsen became the first siblings in Norway to compete in different events at the same Olympic Games?
... that the avant-garde magazine 291 is credited with first introducing visual poetry to the United States back in 1915?
... that according to De primo Saxonum adventu, Osulf of Bamburgh was the first English "earl" of Northumbria?
... that a BSA Lightning fitted with a working missile launching system featured in the 1965 James Bond film Thunderball?
... that Robert Elliott-Cooper lived for 12 more years after the journal Nature described him as "among the oldest of English engineers"?
... that Catch My Soul, a rock musical adaptation of Othello set in a late 1960s commune in New Mexico, USA, was the only film directed by the late Patrick McGoohan?
... that Australian photographer Olive Cotton captured her childhood friend, photographer Max Dupain, in Fashion shot, Cronulla Sandhills, and married him in 1937?

05:50, 25 January 2009 (UTC)
... that Barnet Burns ([[:|pictured]]) toured England from 1835, exhibited his Māori tattoos and recounted his adventures in New Zealand?
... that Beaver Creek State Park in Ohio, USA, is home to both Little Beaver Creek, a National Scenic River, and a restored 1837 mill?
... that the Pysähdy ajoissa - Stanna i tid ("Stop in time") traffic campaign was the result of the public response to a road death of a nine-year-old girl in Finland?
... that Mark Donaldson became the first recipient of the Victoria Cross for Australia, for his gallant actions under enemy fire in Afghanistan in September 2008?
... that the Madhu church shelling affected the Shrine of Our Lady of Madhu, the holiest Roman Catholic shrine in Sri Lanka?
... that poppy seed, harvested from the opium poppy seed head, has had its use dated back to the Sumerians?
... that before John Parker became Archbishop of Tuam and of Dublin, he had been imprisoned by Oliver Cromwell's forces as a suspected Royalist spy?
... that in its heyday, the historic Mountain Springs Hotel in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, hosted U.S. Presidents Lincoln, Grant, and Buchanan?
... that both parents of the Cryptoheros septemfasciatus fish care for their fry intensively?

00:00, 25 January 2009 (UTC)
... that the lush canyon Ein Avdat ([[:|pictured]]) and its surroundings have been experiencing continuous human activity for some 80,000–90,000 years?
... that Joseph Yuill and his wife Margaret operated Ontario's first travelling dairy?
... that the Sunday Magazine Editors Association gives out journalism awards recognizing work in writing, investigative journalism, and design in Sunday newspaper magazines?
... that Said al-Shawa was the first mayor of Gaza, appointed in 1906?
... that before the chancery records began around 1200, the Pipe rolls were the only continuous records kept by the English government?
... that Harlington Wood Jr. is credited with helping to negotiate a truce between federal officers and Native Americans during the Wounded Knee incident in 1973?
... that the extinct coral Coelosimilia is the first known example of a scleractinian coral to have a skeleton not composed of the mineral aragonite?
... that Wisconsin Highway 131 crosses nine bridges in 7.3 miles (11.7 km) between the communities of Rockton and Ontario?
... that at different times Phnom Voar (Vine Mountain) in southern Cambodia was a B-52 target, a rebel base, a killing field, a kidnapping site, and finally a peaceful mountain?

24 January 2009

18:10, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
... that the white coral fungus Clavulina cristata ([[:|pictured]]) contains the conjugated fatty acid α-parinaric acid?
... that Rose Byrne said that filming the opening scene of Damages episode "Get Me a Lawyer" on a winter's morning in only underwear and a coat was "very traumatic"?
... that the earliest Roman glass found in China comes from a 1st-century-BC tomb in Guangzhou, dated to the Han Dynasty?
... that Thomas Robbins, the Connecticut Historical Society's first librarian, owned the 385 volume Journal des sçavans, the earliest published scholarly periodical?
... that world motorcycle champion Mike Hailwood won the 1965 Hutchinson 100 Production race at Silverstone on a BSA Lightning Clubman?
... that Francis Mallison was elected to the New York State Assembly after being held as a Union prisoner of war during the American Civil War?
... that the private company Gråkallbanen reopened the Trondheim Tramway in 1990, two years after it had been permanently closed by the city council?
... that wrestling manager Lou Albano's part in a Cyndi Lauper music video inspired storylines for World Wrestling Federation shows The Brawl to End it All and The War to Settle the Score?

12:20, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
... that Keene Fitzpatrick ([[:|pictured]]) invented modern pole-vaulting technique, coached five Olympic gold medalists, and trained the University of Michigan's "Point-a-Minute" football teams from 1901 to 1905?
... that when NBC pulled "Steve Burdick", an AIDS-themed episode of the medical drama Lifestories, gay and AIDS activists accused the network of fearing advertiser backlash?
... that the Port of Piraeus is the largest passenger port in Europe and one of the largest in the world with total traffic of 21,522,917 people in 2007?
... that Harold Snyder said that the 1985 New York Stock Exchange listing of Biocraft Laboratories, which he founded, was the first such listing for a generic pharmaceutical company?
... that Kalvar is a type of photographic film that can be developed simply by heating it?
... that British actor Norman Lumsden, who played J. R. Hartley in the popular 1983 Yellow Pages Fly Fishing advert, was originally an opera singer who created roles for Benjamin Britten?
... that "Girls on Film" by Duran Duran served as the opening theme for the Japanese anime Speed Grapher though FUNimation was unable to obtain its license for US release?
... that in 1865, a party led by Captain Franklin B. Sprague of the 1st Oregon Volunteer Infantry descended an 800-foot (240 m) caldera wall to become the first explorers to reach the shore of Crater Lake?

06:30, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
... that the equestrian statue of Tadeusz Kościuszko ([[:|pictured]]), Polish American hero of independence, which was erected around 1920 at the Wawel Castle in Kraków, Poland, has a duplicate in Detroit, Michigan?
... that Magnolia Park was the first park in Hillsboro, Oregon, to include a recreational water fountain?
... that Justice M. Fathima Beevi was the first woman judge of the Supreme Court of India and also first of any highest judiciary of a nation in Asia?
... that radio station WLIQ (now WMOB) broadcast from the historic Battle House Hotel in Mobile, Alabama, from 1964 to 1971?
... that amateur photographer George Caddy's 70-year-old lost negatives that surfaced in 2007 are the only documents of an historic Bondi beach acrobatic troupe?
... that, in his 2000 book The Ingenuity Gap, Thomas Homer-Dixon argues the nature of problems faced by our society are becoming more complex and that our ability to implement solutions is not keeping pace?
... that Trondhjems Omnibus Aktieselskab started the first scheduled coach route in Trondheim, Norway, in 1893?
... that consuming the elfin saddle mushroom would result in the harmful formation of monomethylhydrazine, a component of rocket fuel, in your body?

00:40, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
... that to defend Indiana during the War of 1812, Governor Harrison ([[:|pictured]]) had to recruit militia from Kentucky as those from Indiana would not join the army?
... that before entering politics, Guro Fjellanger studied to be a goldsmith?
... that the fungus Humaria hemisphaerica is commonly known as the "hairy fairy cup"?
... that, upon being hired by the WWF, professional wrestler Lanny Kean was told to base his persona on Jethro Bodine from The Beverly Hillbillies?
... that the Port of Thessaloniki in Greece will double its container terminal capacity after an investment of US600 million made by the Hutchison Port Holdings company based in Hong Kong?
... that the interactive fiction Lost Pig won four XYZZY awards and took first place in the 2007 Interactive Fiction Competition?
... that The New York Times credited the success of promoter Gary Kurfirst's 1968 New York Rock Festival featuring Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and The Doors as inspiring the 1969 Woodstock Festival?
... that Shire Brook in Sheffield, England, was part of the boundary between Yorkshire and Derbyshire for 900 years?
... that Frank Vandiver received his high school diploma while serving as Acting President of Rice University?

23 January 2009

18:50, 23 January 2009 (UTC)
... that American soldiers and sailors did not have access to dental service until Confederate Surgeon General Samuel P. Moore ([[:|pictured]]) brought in the first dentists at military hospitals during the Civil War?
... that the 13th-century French romance Palamedes describes the adventures of the fathers of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table?
... that a 42–3 win by the North Carolina Tar Heels in the 1998 Gator Bowl was the worst loss for the Virginia Tech Hokies college football team since a 45–0 shutout in 1983?
... that the popular Calypso Carol was written by an Englishman, Michael Perry, while still a student, and only became famous by accident?
... that the proposed Rampart Dam on the Yukon River in Alaska would have created a man-made reservoir larger than Lake Erie?
... that the Bank of Issue in Poland, created by the Nazis to support the Nazi economy, was penetrated by the Polish resistance which used it as a source of falsified documents?
... that Edmund W. Wells, a delegate to Arizona's constitutional convention, refused to sign the final document due to its radical features?
... that the Meråker Line railway of Norway branches off from the Nordland Line at Hell?

13:00, 23 January 2009 (UTC)
... that the controversial sculpture Entropa, unveiled in Brussels on January 13, 2009, depicts Bulgaria as a series of squat toilets ([[:|example pictured]])?
... that Scuderia Ferrari factory driver Peter Sutcliffe was also a textile manufacturer?
... that in July 1905, during the Theriso revolt, three insurgent leaders met the consuls of the European Great Powers at a monastery surrounded by rebels, and that martial law was declared after the talks failed?
... that college football cornerback Kevin Barnes of Maryland delivered a tackle hard enough to cause Heisman Trophy prospect Jahvid Best to vomit on the field, footage of which became a viral video?
... that the Jastrzębie-Zdrój 1980 strikes forced the government of the People's Republic of Poland to sign the last of three agreements establishing the Solidarity trade union?
... that after Kent Williams was elected speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives, his party expelled him from its caucus?
... that the extinct fish Santanichthys is the oldest known member of Order Characiformes, which includes the tetras and the piranha?
... that Oklahoma historian Angie Debo won numerous honors for her books on Native American history, but never found a permanent position in an academic history department?
... that the first World Series of Poker Champion did not win by defeating his opponents?

07:10, 23 January 2009 (UTC)
... that University of Michigan athletic director Philip Bartelme ([[:|pictured]]) hired Branch Rickey as a baseball coach in 1910, and the two later worked together for the St. Louis Cardinals and Brooklyn Dodgers?
... that a Soviet P-19 radar (Flat Face B) was captured in the 1987 Chadian–Libyan conflict and reviewed by French experts?
... that child actor Laura Ann Kesling, who made her film debut in Adam Sandler's 2008 film Bedtime Stories, is the daughter of LPGA golfer Danielle Ammaccapane?
... that according to legend, Anandibai led to the assassination of the 13-year-old king Narayanrao Peshwa by changing one letter dha to ma, thus changing the order "capture him" to "kill him"?
... that the NSB Class 66 was the first Norwegian train capable of 120 km/h (75 mph)?
... that Melissa Anelli and Emerson Spartz, webmasters for Harry Potter fansites, were the only Americans invited to Edinburgh to interview J.K. Rowling the day after the Half-Blood Prince was released?
... that Teedyuscung, known as the King of the Delawares, lost much of his territory to colonial Pennsylvania in the Walking Purchase and later sought retribution for the massive land loss?
... that The Visitors is the only opera Mexican composer Carlos Chávez ever scored?
... that ACLU director Aryeh Neier, a refugee from Nazi Germany, supported the Neo-Nazi National Socialist Party of America in its efforts to march in Skokie, Illinois, an area with many Holocaust survivors?

01:20, 23 January 2009 (UTC)
... that when an upgraded part of the Østfold Line ([[:|pictured]]) opened in 1996, it was the first railway in Norway built for speeds of 200 km/h (120 mph)?
... that, according to theories by Dennis MacDonald, the earliest books of the New Testament are responses to the Homeric Epics, thus "nearly everything written on early Christian narrative is flawed"?
... that a pipeline exploded in Nigeria on October 18, 1998, killing a total of 1,082 people and injuring hundreds more?
... that college football tailback Mikell Simpson of Virginia ran for a 96-yard touchdown in the 2008 Gator Bowl, which is the longest rush by a running back in an NCAA bowl game?
... that the 1904 Advance 2 3/4hp motorcycle displayed at the National Motorcycle Museum (UK) is thought to be the only complete Advance motorcycle in existence?
... that Thomas D. Brock discovered Thermus aquaticus, an extremophile living at greater than 70 °C in hot springs at Yellowstone which became the source of the enzyme used in PCR?
... that the film All About Eve (1950) gained Barbara McLean a record seventh nomination for the Academy Award for Film Editing, and that this record remains unbroken?
... that the 450 aircraft that conducted the opening aerial bombardment during the Battle of Aachen failed to hit a single German pillbox?

22 January 2009

19:30, 22 January 2009 (UTC)
... that the Los Carneros AVA ([[:|pictured]]), located in both Napa and Sonoma counties, was the first wine region in California to be defined by its climate characteristics instead of political boundaries?
... that Group Officer Clare Stevenson was the first Director of the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF)?
... that in the 1894 case Schillinger v. United States, the Supreme Court ruled that a patent infringement suit can't be pursued against the U.S. because it held sovereign immunity for intentional torts?
... that Sir Abdur Rahim KCSI was President of the Central Legislative Assembly of India for ten years?
... that Air and Simple Gifts, performed at the inauguration of Barack Obama on 20 January 2009, was the first classical music quartet ever performed at a United States presidential inauguration?
... that Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, the Dominican priest and Bible scholar, is a cousin of Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster?
... that thanks to its fluorescence, α-parinaric acid has been used to analyze the stability of beer foam?
... that in light of the Nazi Germany attempt to destroy Polish culture, the Secret Teaching Organization created an underground education system with over a million students?

13:40, 22 January 2009 (UTC)
... that the "scarlet elf cup", fungal species Sarcoscypha coccinea ([[:|pictured]]), has been used medicinally by the Oneida First Nations people?
... that Brian Hill is the only head coach for the Orlando Magic to serve during two non-consecutive periods?
... that while in the service of the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I, Polish Legionnaires decided to mutiny, fighting their former master at the Battle of Rarańcza?
... that post-black artist Rashid Johnson had multiple works in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago before the age of 25?
... that Kanthirava Narasaraja I was the first ruler in the Kingdom of Mysore to create symbols associated with Mysore royalty, such as the coins (Kanthiraya) that he named after himself?
... that Philip De Witt Ginder won the Distinguished Service Cross for actions in Germany during World War II and became the youngest American general to command a combat division in the Korean War?
... that there are 115,200 solutions to the ménage problem of permuting six couples at a twelve-person table so that men and women alternate and are seated away from their partners?
... that, shortly after breaking Donn Lewin's nose during a professional wrestling match, Danny McShain was introduced to Lewin's sister, who he later married?

07:50, 22 January 2009 (UTC)
... that the Classic Period Maya archaeological site of Quiriguá in Guatemala has what is possibly the largest free-standing worked monolith ([[:|pictured]]) in the New World?
... that because the Indo-Pacific sea urchin Diadema setosum has been found in Turkish waters, it is the first invasive echinoid in the Mediterranean?
... that Marcus Schrenker, after committing pseudocide, may face charges from the Coast Guard, the Federal Aviation Administration, as well as Indiana, Alabama, and Florida law enforcement?
... that German rugby club SC 1880 Frankfurt adopted a red and black strip after a set of friendlies in 1894 against the English club Blackheath F.C., who also played in those colours?
... that William K. Jones, awarded the Navy Cross and the Silver Star for valor at Tarawa and Saipan, was the youngest commander of a U.S. Marine Corps battalion during World War II?
... that a "lively controversy" occurred at the 1902 International Congress of Americanists over the word "Amerind"?
... that Charles Morgan, Jr. resigned from his ACLU position after the group's head criticized Morgan for calling a New Yorker a bigot for his refusal to consider voting for Jimmy Carter as President?
... that the Carnegie Library in Runcorn, Cheshire, England, was designed in 1906 by the local council's surveyor and water engineer and is now a listed building?
... that at 5 feet 5 inches tall and 165 pounds, Howard Stevens was one of the smallest players ever in the National Football League?

02:00, 22 January 2009 (UTC)
... that in 1901, the steamboat City of Erie ([[:|pictured]]) beat the steamboat Tashmoo in a 94-mile (151 km) long race, from Cleveland, Ohio, to Erie, Pennsylvania, by 45 seconds?
... that between 20,000 and 80,000 Filipinos live illegally in Italy?
... that the Ames-Florida House is one of a few houses in Minnesota built with timber framing before balloon framing and dimensional lumber were well-known in that U.S. state?
... that following TV3's axing of Night Shift the presenter, model Michelle Doherty, was said to have been left feeling "completely bewildered, and absolutely gutted"?
... that the Lipari Landfill in New Jersey, where nearly 3 million gallons and 12 thousand tons of hazardous waste were dumped, was called the worst toxic dump in the United States?
... that Hans Jørgen and Worm Hirsch Darre-Jenssen, sons of industrialist Lauritz Jenssen, both served as Norwegian Minister of Labour?
... that Marra Farm is one of only two historic agricultural parcels inside Seattle, Washington, city limits that retains an agricultural use today?
... that, in 2008, college football quarterback Rodney Landers of James Madison became the first player from an FCS school to win the Dudley Award for most outstanding player in Virginia since 1998?
... that until recent XMM-Newton images, the supernova remnant G350.1-0.3 was mistakenly thought to be a distant galaxy?

21 January 2009

20:10, 21 January 2009 (UTC)
... that out of 281 T-26 tanks supplied to the Popular Front ([[:|example pictured]]), the Nationalists were able to capture 178 during the war, putting at least 50 into service against their former users?
... that Nigel Hamilton's biography of the young John F. Kennedy, JFK: Reckless Youth, was turned into a television miniseries of the same name starring Patrick Dempsey as JFK?
... that the whorl snail Nesopupa turtoni, previously known only as a fossil, was discovered alive in 2003 in the Prosperous Bay Plain area of Saint Helena?
... that Bob Francis is the only Phoenix Coyotes head coach to have won the Jack Adams Award, having won it in the 2001–02 NHL season?
... that the T2000 stock of the Oslo T-bane, Norway, is equipped with both a pantograph and a third rail shoe so they can operate both east and west of the city center?
... that in 1923, Charles Scott Haley conducted California's first statewide comprehensive study of tertiary fluvial placers, dredge fields, and dry placers?
... that relations between Japan and The Netherlands date back 400 years when the first formal trade relations were established in 1609?
... that Noella Marcellino, a Benedictine nun and modern connoisseur of cheese, was named the official cheesemaker of Connecticut's Abbey of Regina Laudis?

14:20, 21 January 2009 (UTC)
... that one year after delivery, six of eleven NSB Class 93 trains ([[:|example pictured]]) were out of service due to technical problems?
... that "pig's ears", fungal species Gomphus clavatus, are the only Gomphus species in North America?
... that as a junior officer Rear Admiral Teddy Gueritz served as beachmaster on Sword Beach from D-Day until he was severely wounded 19 days later, and was awarded a bar to his Distinguished Service Cross?
... that the Chennai Book Fair is an annual event in Chennai, India, which takes place between the last week of December and the third week of January?
... that composer Michael Arne's obsession for alchemy and the search for the philosopher's stone led him into serious financial problems resulting in his arrest and confinement in a Dublin sponging-house?
... that the War of 1812 battle Spur's Defeat was so named due to the survivors having to spur their horses in order to escape?
... that due to the Arab League boycott of Israel, McDonald's did not open in Israel until 1993 when they opened their first branch in Ramat Gan?
... that professional wrestler Susan Green legally changed her name to Susan Tex Green to differentiate herself from another woman named Susan Green who was writing bad checks?

08:10, 21 January 2009 (UTC)
... that Poli's Stellate Barnacle ([[:|pictured]]) is hermaphroditic and has a penis significantly longer than its body?
... that Norwegian footballer Jostein Grindhaug scored the first league goal for the club FK Haugesund?
... that during the Battle of New Haven, the fort the Confederate howitzer aimed at was not damaged, but the town's only hotel and bar were?
... that intercepted by a larger French force on 6 November 1794, Captain Richard Bligh of HMS Alexander chose to stay and fight, allowing his companion ship, HMS Canada, to safely retreat?
... that glucuronidation of hyodeoxycholic acid by the UGT2B4 and UGT2B7 isoforms is an example of redundancy in the natural protection against harmful endogenous compounds?
... that college football coach Don Brown led the UMass Minutemen to their best five-year record in school history?
... that the mushroom Lactarius glyciosmus smells strongly of coconuts?
... that in a 1967 television interview, David Frost compared Welsh nationalist activist Dennis Coslett to Israeli general Moshe Dayan, because both wore eyepatches?
... that a 25-foot (7.6 m) tall, traditionally-dressed Ukrainian woman offers bread and salt to Saskatchewan Highway 5 travelers at Canora, a town in Saskatchewan, Canada?

02:00, 21 January 2009 (UTC)
... that when Muhammad Ali ([[:|pictured]]) won the BBC's Sports Personality of the Century Award he received more votes than the other candidates put together?
... that the first steamship in the Mediterranean Sea basin, Real Ferdiando I, was launched on September 27, 1818, from the Port of Naples?
... that the Barack Obama "HOPE" poster designed by artist Shepard Fairey was based on a photograph from before Obama officially launched his presidential campaign?
... that the olive cultivar Bosana makes up more than half the olive production of Sardinia?
... that Norwegian historian Tore Linné Eriksen has published several books about Namibia, including one on what was described as the first genocide in the twentieth century?
... that the day when Exxon canceled its Colony Shale Oil Project in Colorado is known by locals as "Black Sunday"?
... that Anthony, Charles, Cecilia, Isabella, Sr., Isabella, Jr., Esther, Elizabeth, and Polly Young were part of an English family of musicians that included several professional singers and organists in the 17th and 18th centuries?
... that Chōji Suitengu, a character from the anime Speed Grapher, rolls his cigarettes with 10,000 yen bills?

20 January 2009

19:50, 20 January 2009 (UTC)
... that with hundreds of birds found in the state ([[:|Western Meadowlark pictured]]), Oregon ranks fifth in the United States in terms of avian species diversity?
... that soon after understudy Eric Lewis left the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in frustration that George Grossmith rarely took a day off, Grossmith fell gravely ill?
... that venture capitalists committed US$25,000 to the Next Big Sound after a group of Northwestern University students presented it as their entrepreneur class assignment?
... that George Miller Bligh was present at Nelson's death at Trafalgar, and was subsequently incorporated into Arthur William Devis's painting of the event?
... that Kentucky's Cherokee State Park, now part of Kenlake State Resort Park, was the first blacks-only state park in the Southern United States?
... that Jon Tvedt took up competitive mountain running in his late thirties, his career in orienteering having peaked several years earlier?
... that B.Day, Bakery Music's tenth-anniversary and parting concert, was performed at Rajamangala Stadium to an audience of 50,000 and was the largest concert ever held in Thailand at the time?
... that the poor grade sandstone used in the original U.S. Capitol Gatehouses and Gateposts required them to undergo a complete restoration in 1938?

13:40, 20 January 2009 (UTC)
... that all 17 etchings by Juste de Juste show only naked men, in five cases forming human pyramids ([[:|example pictured]])?
... that rabbits that were introduced as food for arctic foxes still populate Anangula Island in the Aleutian Islands, although the foxes were removed in the 1940s?
... that Bhausaheb Kolte was the first to edit Leela Charitra, the first written biography in the Marathi language?
... that Harry Endo had been filmed in a commercial for the bank in Hawaii where he worked when he was asked to play the role of "Che Fong", an original cast member of the television series Hawaii Five-O?
... that Istanbul Hezarfen Airfield hosts around 30,000 music fans every September for the annual Rock'n Coke open air music festival?
... that anthropologist Donat Savoie was the first director of Canada's Inuit Relations Secretariat?
... that the book Outliers, written by Malcolm Gladwell, claims that the key to success in any field is practicing a specific task for 10,000 hours?
... that college football coach Jim Tatum secured a national championship without a single losing season in his nine years at Maryland, but was called a "parasitic monster" by one student newspaper?
... that Appollo received the Dickin Medal on behalf of all search and rescue dogs who participated in rescue operations after the September 11 attacks?

07:30, 20 January 2009 (UTC)
... that the largest surface action during World War I in the Adriatic Sea was the Battle of the Strait of Otranto ([[:|ships pictured]])?
... that radio station WMSP in Montgomery, Alabama, broadcasts the college football games of both the Alabama Crimson Tide and arch-rival Auburn Tigers?
... that when Charles, Prince of Wales was attacked for calling his friend Kuldip Singh Dhillon "Sooty", Dhillon defended the Prince as a man of "zero prejudice"?
... that when a young Mozart toured Italy, Pope Clement XIV awarded the composer a knighthood, but Empress Maria Theresa dismissed Mozart and his father as "useless people"?
... that J. K. Gill started a bookstore in Portland, Oregon, in 1870 that grew to a chain of 63 stores before the company folded in 1999?
... that despite its fishy smell, Lactarius volemus is considered a choice mushroom for eating?
... that the 1895 deaths of Richard Corney Grain and Alfred German Reed ended the German Reed Entertainments, which had been presented since 1855?
... that according to Hindu mythology, the devotee Pundalik kept the god Krishna waiting because he was busy serving his parents?

01:20, 20 January 2009 (UTC)
... that during the 1927 Nagpur riots in India, in which 22 people were killed, the house of Hindu nationalist leader K. B. Hedgewar ([[:|pictured]]) was stoned?
... that Evelyn Lauder, who co-created and popularized the pink ribbon as a symbol for breast cancer awareness, helped create Estée Lauder's Pink Ribbon lipstick and blusher as a breast cancer fundraiser?
... that the BSA M20 was one of the longest serving British military motorcycles and the most numerous with 126,000 produced?
... that the Mahalia Jackson Theater of the Performing Arts is the first of three major theaters in New Orleans, USA, to reopen since Hurricane Katrina struck the city in August 2005?
... that Australian Second World War flying ace Adrian Goldsmith was credited with shooting down 12¼ Axis aircraft over Malta between the months of February and July 1942?
... that Michael Jackson was only 10 years old when he recorded "Big Boy", the first single by The Jackson 5?
... that Father Émile Petitot was the first European to reach the Tuktut Nogait National Park area in northern Canada?
... that professional wrestler Mighty Igor Vodic used to bring kielbasa to his matches and share it with the fans?

19 January 2009

19:10, 19 January 2009 (UTC)
... that from 1904 to 1927, passengers travelling by rail from Stavanger to Oslo, Norway, needed to change to steam ship at Flekkefjord Station (pictured)?
... that To My Surprise was the only album ever released by the alternative rock band To My Surprise before they disbanded in 2006?
... that while Captain Horatio Nelson was initially enthusiastic about his new command HMS Albemarle, his more experienced uncle, Maurice Suckling, expressed doubts?
... that the 4,400-acre (1,800 ha) McLean Game Refuge was privately created by George P. McLean, a Senator and Governor of Connecticut?
... that Liverpool-based singer-songwriter Eugene McGuinness once performed for Sir Paul McCartney?
... that the filming of Dexter was forced to move from Miami to Los Angeles, beginning with the episode "It's Alive!", because of the overlap between the show's production window and Miami's hurricane season?
... that the shooting of a sparrow, during the preparations for the Domino Day World record attempt, was investigated by the Dutch Society for the Protection of Animals in 2005?
... that Frank Layden is the only Utah Jazz head coach to have a number retired by the Jazz?
... that Leon Keyserling was the head of the Council of Economic Advisers advising U.S. President Truman, yet never finished his own graduate dissertation in economics?

13:00, 19 January 2009 (UTC)
... that after Captain Hugh Pigot was killed in a mutiny, Captain Edward Hamilton led the force (pictured) that recaptured his ship HMS Hermione?
... that the post office in Coxs Creek, Kentucky, had to be moved because it created many accidents along U.S. 31E?
... that, due to racial segregation, African American wrestlers like Tiger Conway, Sr. competed on the "chitterling circuit", named after pig innards that were fed to slaves?
... that on the outbreak of the First World War Bat sold all their remaining stock of Bat No. 2 Light Roadster motorcycles to the Russian military but were never paid?
... that baseball pitcher Nick Carter was the Philadelphia Athletics' Opening Day starting pitcher in 1908, his only season on the Major Leagues?
... that a November 2008 appearance by a dance troupe called Satanic Sluts, featuring the granddaughter of actor Andrew Sachs, on The Late Late Show led to a significant number of complaints?
... that the U.S. Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989 provided penalties ranging from a life sentence to a term of any number of years for violators?
... that Sir Norman Denning anticipated an attack on Singapore by the Japanese as early as the mid-1930s, but his report was dismissed as him "over-exercising his imagination"?

06:50, 19 January 2009 (UTC)
... that the "monstrous" five-masted steel barque Potosi ([[:|pictured]]) was named after the highest city in the world?
... that Harry Kinnard was the inspiration for General Anthony McAuliffe's one-word reply "Nuts!" in response to a German demand for surrender at the Siege of Bastogne?
... that two perpetrators of the 1977 Moscow bombings were caught after attempting to bomb the city's Kursky Rail Terminal later that year?
... that in 1966, Donald Gleason developed the Gleason score, still used as the standard to measure the aggressiveness of prostate cancer despite millions spent in attempts to displace it?
... that though the Vigo Ordnance Plant never produced any biological agents it did produce 8,000 pounds (3,600 kg) of the anthrax simulant Bacillus globigii?
... that Swedish painter and pop artist Sven Inge changed his name twice?
... that a Chardonnay from the Robert Young Vineyard in the Alexander Valley AVA was one of the first premium vineyard designated wines in California history?
... that Leon Kruczkowski, a major figure in post-WWII Polish theater, was also involved in introducing the socrealism doctrine in Poland?
... that Hamilton Clarke, a prolific composer of the Victorian era, is remembered today chiefly for his compilation of the overture to Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado?

00:40, 19 January 2009 (UTC)
... that because of difficulties customers had using square milk jugs ([[:|pictured]]), a Sam's Club offered lessons in how to pour them without spilling?
... that church music composer Geoffrey Shaw was the father of Sebastian Shaw, who played Anakin Skywalker in Return of the Jedi?
... that the Bernard Daly Educational Fund, established in 1922, has provided over 2,000 college scholarships to students from communities in Lake County, Oregon?
... that Théodore Vienne, who founded the Paris-Roubaix cycle race, was described by the New York Times as "the leading fight promoter of France"?
... that the East African plant Commelina lukei has been informally recognised as a separate species since 1969, but was only formally described in 2008?
... that industrialist S. Anantharamakrishnan became the first Indian director of the British-owned Simpson's group of companies of Madras in 1938?
... that during her husband's presidential campaign, Michelle Obama met with Mormon officials in their Church Administration Building?
... that Harvey, Barnes, Brown, Johnson, Loxton and Hassett were members of Bradman's Invincibles who won the First, Second and Fourth Ashes series Test matches of 1948 and drew the Third?

18 January 2009

18:30, 18 January 2009 (UTC)
... that Michigan's first athletic director Charles Baird ([[:|pictured]]) built the largest college athletic ground in the United States and negotiated the school's appearance in the first Rose Bowl game?
... that the Australian government hopes to use the Australia-Chile Free Trade Agreement as a model for future free trade agreements with other countries?
... that in 1636, Phineas Hodson, Chancellor of York Minster, lost his 38-year-old wife Jane during the birth of the couple's 24th child?
... that the character of Biff Tannen in the Back to the Future films was named after studio executive Ned Tanen, who had reacted aggressively towards writers Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis at a meeting?
... that TT racer Harold Daniell tested the new Norton motorcycle frame in 1950 and declared that it was like "riding on a featherbed" – and it has been called the "Featherbed frame" ever since?
... that William Thomas Pecora, who headed the United States Geological Survey from 1965 to 1971, was a member of the U.S. fencing team at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin?
... that on 22 October 2008, 15,000 members of the "grey army" descended on Ireland's government buildings to protest the proposed abolition of their previously guaranteed free health treatment?
... that the Great Divide Brewery won a prestigious Great American Beer Festival award less than three months after opening?
... that Sahu Mewalal scored the only goal in the final of the first Asian Games football competition held at Delhi, India, in 1951?

12:20, 18 January 2009 (UTC)
... that immature specimens of the lantern stinkhorn fungus ([[:|pictured]]), with an odor of dog feces, sewage, or rotting flesh when mature, are considered an edible and medicinal delicacy in China?
... that during the Puna de Atacama dispute the U.S. minister in Buenos Aires and two delegates from Chile and Argentina drew the northern portion of the border between Chile and Argentina?
... that Arthur Dodd, a British prisoner of war during World War II, was an eye-witness to the horrors of Auschwitz?
... that Philip Leget Edwards, the first teacher in what became the U.S. state of Oregon, later served in the legislatures of Missouri and California?
... that from 1936 to 1998, the Germany national football team had just five managers, each of whom won a major trophy, with Helmut Schön (1964–1978) winning two?
... that John Clarke Hawkshaw was a member of the Royal Commission set up by King Edward VII to decide the British representation at the 1904 St Louis World's Fair?
... that professional wrestler Rufus R. Jones used to tell opponents that his middle initial stood for "guts"?
... that a helicopter once crashed on Interstate 84 in New York, stopping traffic and causing a power outage?
... that the 1871 election of Father Eduard Müller to the new Reichstag was considered "an astonishing victory of a nobody" over an aristocratic landowner?

06:10, 18 January 2009 (UTC)
... that under the command of Georg Ritter von Trapp, the World War I Austro-Hungarian Navy U-boat SM U-14 sank the Italian steamship Milazzo ([[:|pictured]]), reported as the largest cargo ship in the world?
... that professional wrestler Gene Petit was hired by the World Wrestling Federation because of a picture he took as a joke?
... that prior to the fall of Mazar-i-Sharif, all American military flights into Afghanistan had to be launched from Uzbekistan or aircraft carriers in the Arabian Sea?
... that "I'll be a bridge over deep water if you trust in my name", from Claude Jeter's 1961 song "Mary Don't You Weep", was the inspiration for Paul Simon's 1970 song "Bridge over Troubled Water"?
... that the Alternanthera mosaic virus, a type of Potexvirus, has been misdiagnosed as the closely-related Papaya mosaic virus?
... that U.S. Route 20 in Massachusetts used to be part of the Boston Post Road, one of the earliest roads established in the United States?
... that Sin Chang-won, a South Korean fugitive criminal famous for his close escapes, was first arrested at the age of 15 after being turned in by his father for stealing a watermelon?
... that the historic McGehee-Stringfellow House in Greensboro, Alabama, collapsed in the 1980s when the MacMillan Bloedel company tried to move it?
... that while Kevin Thomas played for Edinburgh Athletic in the East of Scotland Football League he also worked for a hotel booking agency run by his mother?

00:00, 18 January 2009 (UTC)
... that 19th-century politician Søren Jaabæk ([[:|pictured]]) is the longest-serving member of parliament in the history of Norway?
... that Prairieville, Alabama's Italianate Browder Place was inspired by an 1852 Samuel Sloan publication?
... that archivist Margaret Storrs Grierson was founder and first director of the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College?
... that the proposed Suchindram Theroor Birds Sanctuary would be the southernmost protected area on the Central Asian Flyway, a bird migration route covering 30 countries and used by 279 migratory waterbird populations?
... that Lucien Heath, the first Oregon Secretary of State, later served in the California State Assembly?
... that in 1991, Manufacturers Hanover CEO John McGillicuddy was the chief architect of a merger with the Chemical Banking Corporation that was the largest US bank merger to that time?
... that winemakers in the Carmignano region of Tuscany have been blending Cabernet Sauvignon with Sangiovese since the 18th century, long before the emergence of "Super Tuscans"?
... that, despite competing for over 20 years, Alberto Madril now reportedly refuses to acknowledge that he was once a professional wrestler?

17 January 2009

17:50, 17 January 2009 (UTC)
... that unlike most historical homes, the Paul Dresser Birthplace ([[:|pictured]]) in Terre Haute, Indiana, USA, reflects the furnishings of a working class family, not the well-to-do?
... that goalkeeper Jack Wheeler and his five defenders set a Football League record in the 1952–53 season by all playing in every league game for Huddersfield Town?
... that Mount Hamiguitan in the Philippines has a protected area with a 2,000-hectare (4,900-acre) pygmy forest of century-old trees growing in ultramafic soil?
... that professional wrestlers Jos LeDuc and Paul LeDuc played the role of brothers so well that news that they were not related created a sensation on talk shows?
... that Kanhopatra is venerated as a saint in the Varkari sect of Hinduism, despite spending most of her life as a courtesan?
... that Cialis, the erectile dysfunction drug developed by Icos, was originally researched in the hopes of a treatment for cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension and angina?
... that when Norwegian alpine skier Ole Kristian Furuseth won a silver medal in slalom at the 1998 Winter Olympics, he had not placed this high in a major race since March 1995?
... that pathologist Kenneth Walton conducted a 1973 study into the causes of heart disease in which he got participants to eat greasy fry-ups?

11:40, 17 January 2009 (UTC)
... that the development of the linotype machine ([[:|matrix pictured]]) was initiated by James O. Clephane, a court reporter who sought a quick way to transcribe legal briefs?
... that shale oil was used to light the streets of Modena, Italy, at the turn of the 17th century?
... that in his later years, Union Army general Thomas Alfred Davies published a number of books supporting the divine inspiration of the Bible, and refuting the materialistic philosophy?
... that The Softwire is PJ Haarsma's young adult science fiction series about a thirteen-year-old Johnny T, and his struggles with "the Knudniks, the Nagools, and his indentured slavery"?
... that professional wrestler Ray Gunkel won his final match despite suffering a heart injury in that match that killed him later that day?
... that the Phnom Penh Commercial Bank was Cambodia's 23rd bank and the first Japanese-financed bank in the country?
... that in addition to his academic works, Norwegian mycologist Leif Ryvarden is known as a conveyor of popular science and a former board member of Greenpeace?
... that in 2006, a prisoner escaped from HM Prison Ranby, England, by hiding in a rubbish lorry?

05:30, 17 January 2009 (UTC)
... that 1966 European Rally Champion Günter Klass ([[:|pictured]]) was given no spare parts as Porsches "simply don't break"?
... that Khmer numerals were the first material evidence of the figure zero as a numerical figure?
... that before starring in This is Nightlive, John Ryan was co-creator with Derek O'Connor of blogorrah.com, and a former co-owner of the unsuccessful New York Dog and Stars on Sunday publications in partnership with Kiss and Stellar founder Michael O'Doherty?
... that Bishop Auckland F.C. was the only football club to win the FA Amateur Cup in three consecutive seasons?
... that historic Glencairn in Greensboro, Alabama, was built in 1835 by Alabama legislator John Erwin?
... that Lucy Kennedy has described The Lucy Kennedy Show as "Livin' with Lucy in a studio" and "a bit like The Charlotte Church Show gone wrong"?
... that professional wrestler Dan Kroffat created the ladder match during a feud with Tor Kamata in Stampede Wrestling?
... that the Spanish–American War-era Fort Terry on Plum Island was used as a U.S. biological weapons research facility from 1952 to 1969?
... that former Beninese army Chief of Staff Alphonse Alley was known as "the wine, women and song officer"?

16 January 2009

23:20, 16 January 2009 (UTC)
... that Napoleon Bonaparte is said to have visited the St. Peter's Church ([[:|pictured]]) in Jaffa during his campaign in Egypt and Syria in 1799?
... that British plant physiologist Daphne Osborne showed that the gas ethylene is a natural plant hormone which regulates ageing and the shedding of leaves and fruits?
... that 1944 was proclaimed the "Year of naturalization and the Hebrew name" by the Zionist leadership?
... that Anatoly Koryagin was imprisoned for conducting psychiatric interviews with Soviet dissidents confined to mental institutions and smuggling a paper about his findings to the Lancet?
... that the Seashell Trust is the oldest charity for deaf children in North West England?
... that Okinawan folk singer Rinshō Kadekaru was gravely wounded during World War II, and reported dead, only to survive and enjoy a lengthy career, living until 1999?
... that We Were Dancing, The Astonished Heart, Red Peppers, Hands Across the Sea, Fumed Oak, Shadow Play, Ways and Means and Star Chamber were presented in rotation, in groups of threes, as part of Noël Coward's 1935 play cycle Tonight at 8:30?
... that, due to a government-imposed curfew, professional wrestler Mario Milano had to wrestle under a mask at the beginning of his career because he was underage and not allowed out after 9 o'clock?

17:10, 16 January 2009 (UTC)
... that VIP and TV Now magazines give their names to the VIP Style Awards ([[:|venue pictured]]) and TV Now Awards respectively, the latter of which regularly features Lorraine Keane?
... that the 30 June 1961 wrestling match between Pat O'Connor and Buddy Rogers had ticket sales of US8,000, which was a North American professional wrestling record for almost 20 years?
... that the Empire Arnold was torpedoed and sunk less than five months after her launch?
... that in 1914, railway official Lucius Seymour Storrs became president of the Connecticut Company?
... that Relative Values, a satire of postwar snobbery, marked the return of Noël Coward to playwriting after World War II?
... that Tangton Gyelpo, a 15th-century Nyingma yogi, physician, treasure finder, and founder of Tibetan opera, is known for building numerous iron chain suspension bridges in Tibet?
... that Mohammad Usman was the first Indian to act as the Governor of Madras Presidency in British India?
... that one draft of the 1982 Spanish film Labyrinth of Passion had Salvador Dalí and the Pope meeting and falling passionately in love?

11:04, 16 January 2009 (UTC)
... that the genus Platax, composed of five species of marine batfishes (orbicular batfish pictured), used to include the freshwater angelfish?
... that Karim el-Mejjati was implicated in the bombing of targets in Casablanca, the American barracks in Riyadh, the 2004 Madrid train bombings and the 2005 London bombings?
... that Joseph Losey directed both the first U.S. theatrical version of Bertolt Brecht's Galileo in 1947 and the 1975 film version?
... that after three years as a back-up, college football quarterback David Johnson threw for 46 touchdowns in 2008 and led Tulsa to an 11–3 record?
... that ships built by the Grangemouth Dockyard Company during World War II included the SS Empire Arthur and the SS Empire Clansman?
... that despite her illiteracy, Catherine Ferguson founded the first Sunday school in New York City which later became known as Murray Street Sabbath School?
... that the RTÉ series Five Women Go Back to Work follows five women as they attempt to compile a glossy magazine aimed at working women?
... that pitchers Bill Wilkinson and Jim Bluejacket are the only great-grandfather and great-grandson pair to both play in Major League Baseball?
... that many soldiers in the Wehrmacht forces deployed for the Ardennes Offensive could not speak German?

05:27, 16 January 2009 (UTC)
... that the cruise ship MS Rhapsody (pictured) was designed in part by Hugh Hefner, who envisioned the ship as a "floating Playboy Club"?
... that Teiji Honma became one of the first goaltenders in ice hockey to wear a mask when he used one that resembled a baseball catcher's mask at the 1936 Winter Olympics?
... that the Revolutionary Communist candidate at the 1945 Neath by-election was the first Trotskyist to stand in a British parliamentary election?
... that the NAACP forced the cancellation of some wrestling events in Mississippi to protest a tar-and-feather match featuring Melvin Nelson wrestling as "Burrhead Jones"?
... that the Edmund Barton Building, named after the first Prime Minister of Australia, is the largest example of the late 20th-century International Style of Australian architecture in Canberra?
... that more than 3,000 containers of the chemical agent lewisite were dumped off the Florida coast during Operation Geranium?
... that after acquiring Movado in 1983, Gedalio Grinberg heavily promoted the modernistic "Museum Watch", based on a design by Nathan George Horwitt included in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art?
... that during a blowout, fans often chant to request that players who only play in garbage time be put in the game?