Wikipedia:Recent additions/2005/October

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Did you know...

31 October 2005

22:59, 31 October 2005 (UTC)

...that there have been many toilet-related injuries throughout history, and that such injuries are also common in urban legend?
...that former National Hockey League rookie Michel Briere's career was tragically cut short following an automobile accident in 1970?
...that the Alamosaurus, named after Fort Alamo, Texas, is considered to be the last of the sauropods?
...that Seatack, Virginia, named for an "attack by sea" during the War of 1812, has an Internet "Tower Cam" in the Old Coast Guard Station Museum on the boardwalk at Virginia Beach?

10:08, 31 October 2005 (UTC)

...that the Capitol in Williamsburg, Virginia was the first capitol building in America in 1705?
...that the 999-year-old Gonbad-e Qabus in Golestan, Iran is the world's tallest brick tower at 70 meters (230 feet)?
...that André Meyer quit school at age 16 to work as a messenger boy, and was later described as "the most creative financial genius of our time in the investment banking world" by David Rockefeller?
...that the 2012 Summer Olympic Games will be the third London Olympics, and that no other city has hosted the games three times?

30 October 2005

22:02, 30 October 2005 (UTC)

...that German naturalist Amalie Dietrich, who spent 10 years working in Australia, was the first person to collect the highly venomous snakes known as taipans?
...that Scotland's Craigellachie Bridge, a revolutionary cast iron structure built by Thomas Telford in 1814, inspired a popular Strathspey reel tune?
...that Herb Thomas was the first NASCAR race-car driver to win two championships in the modern NEXTEL Cup?
...that the Shubert Theatre in New Haven was the location of the pre-Broadway premieres of five of the most famous Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, including Oklahoma!, The King and I and The Sound of Music?

28 October 2005

05:45, 28 October 2005 (UTC)

...that Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains, a Yuan Dynasty painting by Huang Gongwang, now exists in two halves, one of which is kept in Mainland China while the other is kept in Taiwan?
...that Lieutenant-Colonel John Nairne originally hoped to make his seigneurity, La Malbaie, a Protestant community?
...that the Yuanwang-class of ships is used by the People's Republic of China for tracking and supporting their Shenzhou spacecraft?
...that Captain Israel Pellew, brother of the more famous Sir Edward Pellew, sent his Captain of Marines to receive Admiral Villeneuve's surrender at the Battle of Trafalgar but in the heat of battle, Villeneuve's sword never reached him and it was later given to Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood who kept it much to Pellew's disgust?

27 October 2005

23:17, 27 October 2005 (UTC)

...that Francis Nicholson served as colonial governor or acting colonial governor of Nova Scotia, the Province of New York, the Colony and Dominion of Virginia, the Province of Maryland and the Province of South Carolina at various times during his career?
...that the Ao language is one of the few Kuki-Chin-Naga (Tibeto-Burman) languages that has been subject to acoustic analysis?
...that Tom Edur gave up a professional ice hockey career at the age of 24 to study Christianity?
...that Marlin Gray was executed on October 26 for his part in pushing two women off the Chain of Rocks Bridge over the Mississippi River in Saint Louis, Missouri in 1991?

07:41, 27 October 2005 (UTC)

...that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted the steroid hormone Prasterone orphan drug status in the treatment of Addison's Disease?
...that a traffic accident in New York City's Times Square eventually led to the downfall of the Joe K spy ring, headed by Kurt Frederick Ludwig?
...that the dummy of ventriloquist and magician Jay Marshall was actually his left hand dressed up as a rabbit?
...that in the 17th century Jean Gery, a French deserter, later served as a guide and translator for the Spanish in North America?

26 October 2005

23:43, 26 October 2005 (UTC)
...that in a British by-election in 1981, John Desmond Lewis ran for office under the name Tarquin Fin-tim-lim-bim-whin-bim-lim-bus-stop-F'tang-F'tang-Olè-Biscuitbarrel, drawing inspiration from a Monty Python skit about silly elections?

23:39, 26 October 2005 (UTC)

...that Francis Leon predated RuPaul's fame as an American one-named female impersonator by over 100 years?
...that Hong Lim Green was Singapore's first public garden?
...that Saga Castle is one of the few medieval castles in Japan to be surrounded by a wall, instead of being built on one?
...that the Jawami ul-Hikayat is an 800-year-old handwritten book of Persian political anecdotes, which—at 2500 pages long—has never been printed in full, but only in abridged editions?

16:32, 26 October 2005 (UTC)

...that at its creation in 1877, the 40-strong Haverly's United Mastodon Minstrels was the largest blackface minstrel troupe to have ever been formed?
...that Norwegian director Nils Gaup was nominated for an Academy Award for the Sami language film The Pathfinder?
...that Cécile Guillaume was the first female engraver of postage stamps in France?
...that Vladimir Nabokov described D.S. Mirsky's book A History of Russian Literature : From Its Beginnings to 1900 as "the best history of Russian literature in any language, including Russian"?
...that the national sport of Nauru is Australian rules football?

03:26, 26 October 2005 (UTC)

... that in the 1880s Billy Kersands was the most popular African American comedian in the United States?
...Shakespeare's sexuality is sometimes debated?
...that British singer Maxine Nightingale first charted on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 after a massive marketing push by her label, United Artists?
...that Current Biography is a standard reference work in American libraries?

25 October 2005

19:29, 25 October 2005 (UTC)

...that in 1712 Jane Wenham is commonly but erroneously regarded as the last subject of a witch trial in England?
...that Victoire Thivisol was the youngest winner ever of the Best Actress award at the Venice International Film Festival for her title role in the 1996 French film Ponette?
...that Edward Falkingham ordered the construction of prisons in Ferryland, Bonavista and Carbonear in 1732 while he was Governor of Newfoundland?
...that Redline was the last game published by Accolade before being acquired by Infogrames in 1999?

09:38, 25 October 2005 (UTC)

Rapidan Camp President s Cabin The Brown House 1931.jpg

...that Rapidan Camp, the rustic mountain fishing retreat of U.S. President Herbert Hoover located near Big Meadows in Virginia, was the forerunner of Camp David in Maryland?
...that Basheba Spooner was the first woman to be executed in the United States of America, for the murder of a Minuteman who had raped her?
...that the first James Bond gun barrel sequence, in the film Dr. No, was filmed through the barrel of an actual gun?
...that Withering Abalone Syndrome can cause an abalone to eat its own foot?

24 October 2005

21:45, 24 October 2005 (UTC)

...that Mayanist scholar and archaeologist Sylvanus Griswold Morley was also an American secret agent in World War I?
...that the first unfurling of the new flag of the United States occurred at the Middlebrook encampment?
...that in 1878, Sam Lucas became the first African American actor to play the role of Uncle Tom in a serious production of Uncle Tom's Cabin, only to do the same for film 37 years later?
...that Bill Ranford, who won the 1990 Conn Smythe Trophy as NHL playoff MVP, later appeared in the movie Miracle, as Team USA goaltender Jim Craig?

03:48, 24 October 2005 (UTC)

...that anticuchos (pictured), one of the most popular dishes in South America, consists of skewered pieces of cow hearts?
...that Euclid Beach Park, an amusement park in Cleveland, Ohio that was modelled after Coney Island, was home to a race riot in 1946?
...that E. Sreedharan, the managing director of Delhi Metro, earned the sobriquet of Metro Man for ensuring that the first phase of the metro project was executed without any cost or time overruns?
...that the Central Railroad of Pennsylvania was a failed plan by the Central Railroad of New Jersey to avoid certain taxes from 1946 to 1952?

21 October 2005

21:32, 21 October 2005 (UTC)

Cover of the Mauritius Command

...that Commodore Josias Rowley's campaign to capture the Indian Ocean islands of Reunion and Mauritius in 1810 was the source material for the exploits of Jack Aubrey in Patrick O'Brian's novel The Mauritius Command?
...that the Tucson Citizen is the oldest newspaper in Arizona?
...that Luis Ramirez was the 15th person executed in 2005 in the U.S. state of Texas?
...that the Busette, in 1973, was the first successful small school bus to be built on a cutaway van chassis with a low center of gravity and dual rear wheels?

14:53, 21 October 2005 (UTC)

Pankejeff's original drawing of the dream of the wolves.

...that a dream by Sergei Pankejeff, whom Sigmund Freud dubbed the "Wolf Man", was considered to vindicate Freud's theory of the unconscious and psychosexual development?
...that Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is India's richest woman?
...that James Autry received a stay on his execution in October 1983 after the needles for his lethal injection had been inserted into his arms?
...that Torchwood will be the first spin-off from Doctor Who since an unsuccessful pilot for K-9 and Company in 1981?

08:09, 21 October 2005 (UTC)

...that after Joel Sweeney (pictured) popularized the banjo in the United States he did the same in Europe as a member of the Virginia Minstrels?
...that with a dynamometer car in tow, the Northern Pacific Railroad was able to drive Timken 1111 on a demonstration run as fast as a sustained 142 km/h while pulling the North Coast Limited passenger train?
...that Roger Lemerre has won the Football World Cup, European Football Championship, Confederations Cup and the African Nations Cup?
...that a voluntary caregiver is an unpaid spouse, relative, friend or neighbor of a disabled person or child who assists with activities of daily living?

00:51, 21 October 2005 (UTC)

... that the Imperial Japanese Navy's 1888 warship Kotaka is considered as the first effective design of a destroyer?
...Miles Copeland, Jr., the father of Stewart and Miles III, was a CIA spy involved in several Mideast coups, but began his career as a trumpeter for big bands including Glenn Miller?
...that Cleveland may today still have been spelled "Cleaveland," were it not for a newspaper dropping the first 'a' to fit the name onto their masthead?
... that New Orleans street vendor Old Corn Meal is one of the earliest known African Americans to have had a documented influence on the development of blackface minstrelsy specifically and American popular music in general?

20 October 2005

22:20, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

...American artist Samuel W. Rowse's lithograph of escaped slave Henry "Box" Brown emerging from a shipping box in 1849 was used to raise funds by anti-slavery activists for the Underground Railroad?
...that the Adolph Beck case was the most notorious case of mistaken identity in British legal history, resulting in a conviction of an innocent man not once but twice?
...that the battleship Satsuma of the Imperial Japanese Navy was the first ship in the world to be designed and laid down as an "all-big-gun" battleship, although the British HMS Dreadnought was eventually the first one to be completed in 1906?
...that the 1959 court case K. M. Nanavati vs. State of Maharashtra was the last jury trial ever held in India?

18 October 2005

23:25, 18 October 2005 (UTC)

...that the Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962, one of the most destructive Nor'easters to ever impact the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States, killed 40 people, injured over 1,000 and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage in six U.S. states?
...that the Gurkha Contingent of the Singapore Police Force is the world's only police department outside of Nepal to be comprised of Gurkhas, and it is currently the only military or police unit in Singapore to be headed by a Briton?
...that the Canon Episcopi, which was inserted into canon law by Burchard of Worms in the 11th century, demanded that Roman Catholics be skeptical about witchcraft?

17 October 2005

22:18, 17 October 2005 (UTC)

...that David Laird negotiated the Qu'Appelle Lakes Treaty with resident natives of Saskatchewan in 1874 to procure land for the Canadian Pacific Railway?
...that tradition credits King Gebra Maskal Lalibela with carving the monolithic churches of Lalibela from stone with his own hands, helped only by angels?
...that a strap-on dildo may be used by heterosexual couples for the sexual practice of pegging?
...that the Liverpool Blitz was a sustained bombing campaign on the city of Liverpool, United Kingdom, by the German Luftwaffe during the Second World War?

09:03, 17 October 2005 (UTC)

...that Nobuo Fujita of the Imperial Japanese Navy conducted the only wartime bombing on the continental United States in 1942?
...that the Mandara kingdom of West Africa was conquered by Modibo Adama of the Fulani Empire, Muhammad Ahmad of Sudan, and Germany within a single hundred year span?
...that in Scots law the civil action known as lawburrows—in use since 1429 and intended to prevent violence—is a simple, bond-based alternative to interdicts or court orders?
...that Robert Meeropol, son of Communists Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, was adopted by "Strange Fruit" lyricist Abel Meeropol following the Rosenbergs' execution for espionage?

16 October 2005

22:53, 16 October 2005 (UTC)

...that the Victorian parlour game of Snap-dragon involved children plucking raisins out of burning brandy and eating them?
...that the Paragould Meteorite is the third-largest meteorite ever discovered in North America?
...that Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches, an 1899 book by Charles Godfrey Leland, was one of the foundational texts of Wicca, but has been suspected of being a fraud?
...that more than 700 of the caricatures on display at Sardi's restaurant in New York City were drawn by a Russian refugee in exchange for meals at the restaurant?

13 October 2005

22:31, 13 October 2005 (UTC)

...that identical Norwegian Lady Statues commemorating a shipwreck are located in the sister cities of Moss, Norway and Virginia Beach, Virginia facing each other across the Atlantic Ocean?
...that British archaeologist J. Desmond Clark discovered a site at Zambia's Kalambo Falls containing artifacts from over 250,000 years of human culture?
...that Operation Gibraltar was the name given to the failed plan by Pakistan to infiltrate Jammu and Kashmir, India and start a rebellion and that it eventually sparked the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965?
...that Francisco Pradilla Ortiz was a prolific Spanish painter who not only produced over 1,000 paintings but also was briefly the director of the Prado Museum?

12 October 2005

23:56, 12 October 2005 (UTC)

...that Vermilion Lighthouse is a replica of the 1877 iron lighthouse that was forged from recycled smooth-bored cannons that had been obsoleted after the American Civil War?
...that Naseeruddin Shah could not bag the title role in Gandhi, but later had opportunities to portray the Mahatma in a play and in a film?
...that the Tremont Street Subway in Boston, Massachusetts is the oldest subway tunnel in North America?
... that religious identity in Israel for Jews differs strikingly from that recognized in the Jewish diaspora?
... that Dolores Erickson, the woman on the album cover for Whipped Cream & Other Delights by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, was actually covered in shaving cream?

10:11, 12 October 2005 (UTC)

...that Taprogge GmbH supplies cleaning systems to clean condenser tubes from debris with sponged rubber balls?
...that Abelisaurus had a lighter skull than other dinosaurs due to large fenestrations behind its eyes?
...that Papillon is a famous memoir written by Henri Charrière about his numerous escape attempts from a French penal colony in French Guiana?
...that Varina Farms, the plantation of John Rolfe and Pocahontas, was site of the first successful cultivation of export tobacco in the Virginia Colony in 1612?

11 October 2005

21:12, 11 October 2005 (UTC)

...that the anabolic steroid Methandrostenolone was prescribed to women in the 1960s as a tonic, until its masculinising effects were discovered?
...that Iannis Xenakis wrote Metastaseis to represent the sounds of warfare and Einsteinian views of time?
...that parts of the first law passed by the U.S. Congress are still on the books?
...that Nagesh Kukunoor made Hyderabad Blues, the most successful independent film from India in just 17 days?

09:28, 11 October 2005 (UTC)

...that Hurricane Gordon was a Category 1 hurricane that killed 1,122 people in Haiti in 1994 and that the hurricane name was not retired by the World Meteorological Organization?
...that Major League Cricket plans to launch a professional cricket league in the United States, with the goal of qualifying the U.S. for the Cricket World Cup by 2011?
...that the Valley Pike was a toll road managed by Harry F. Byrd which followed a Native American migratory trail in the Shenandoah Valley?
...that to prepare for future examinations, Singapore students use the ten year series to practice on past years' examination papers, some of which date back to before they were born?
...that "Toro Mata" ("The Bull Kills" in Spanish) is one of the most famous folk songs in Peru?

10 October 2005

22:08, 10 October 2005 (UTC)

...that according to an old Polish legend, the sorcerer Pan Twardowski was the first man on the Moon?
...that a single verb in the Nez Percé language, which is currently spoken by fewer than 100 people, can contain as much information as a complete sentence in English?
...that there are only 75 nonprismatic uniform polyhedra?
...that Norge, an unincorporated town in James City County, Virginia was established by Norwegian-Americans in the late 19th century?
...that the well-publicized defection of German agent Erich Vermehren in early 1944 led directly to the demise of the Abwehr?

9 October 2005

23:10, 9 October 2005 (UTC)

...that the Pittsburgh and West Virginia Railway opened in 1904 as a leg of George J. Gould's planned transcontinental railroad, but went bankrupt in four years and later became part of the Alphabet Route?
...that amorphous ice is a solid form of water that, like glass, has no crystal structure?
...that American novelist Harold MacGrath had 18 of his 40 novels and 3 of his fictional short stories made into motion pictures?
...that the single "F.E.A.R." is based on Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise", which was in turn adapted from Stevie Wonder's "Pastime Paradise"?

7 October 2005

11:46, 7 October 2005 (UTC)

...that the Third Battle of the Aisne was the final battle of the Aisne river during WWI?
...that when the Toledo Harbor Lighthouse was automated with solar cells by the United States Coast Guard in 1965, it was staffed by a uniformed mannequin officer in order to prevent vandalism?
...that Farkhor Air Base in Tajikistan is India's only extraterritorial military base?
...that Bertrand Russell is the longest-lived of any Nobel Prize in Literature winner?
...that in 1969, a world record number of 15 million people attended the funeral of C.N.Annadurai, the first non Congress Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, India?

6 October 2005

23:18, 6 October 2005 (UTC)

...that Glasgow's Wellington Church was founded in 1792 as an Anti-Burgher congregation?
...that the contradictory term foot cavalry was first used to describe the rapid movement of infantry troops of General Stonewall Jackson during the American Civil War?
...that Elbert Frank Cox was the first black person in the world to get a Ph.D in mathematics?
...that Manga Sewa of Falaba surrendered his city to Mandinka conqueror Samori Ture by detonating himself and his family in the city's powder magazine?

5 October 2005

22:17, 5 October 2005 (UTC)

...that the British Army used the Gatling gun in combat for the first time at the Battle of Ulundi during the Anglo-Zulu War?
...that former Moroccan prime minister Abderrahmane Youssoufi involved himself in socialist causes as early as the age of 20, by attempting to organize the Casablanca working class?
...that the New York-New Jersey Line War lasted more than half a century until it was finally settled by action of the King of Great Britain?
...that French officer Charles Mangin was despised by his troops during World War I due to his aggressive tactics, which earned him the nickname "The Butcher"?

09:35, 5 October 2005 (UTC)

...that Marguerite Clark left school at age 16, debuted on Broadway a year later, and then quickly became one of the major stage and film stars of the first two decades of the 20th century?
...that the Tu’i Tonga Empire was the most influential local empire in the history of Oceania?
...that Yunfa, a 19th-century ruler of the Africa kingdom of Gobir, made a personal attempt on the life of Fulani reformer Usman dan Fodio, triggering the Fulani War?
...that Ed Roberts became one of the founders of the disability rights movement when he lobbied for basic accommodations at the University of California, Berkeley?
...that Wash Woods is a lost town on Virginia's False Cape, which was built by survivors of a shipwreck using cypress wood that washed ashore?

4 October 2005

22:51, 4 October 2005 (UTC)

...that the Sicilian cart is a colorful folk art form based on a cart design adopted from the ancient Greeks?
...that not all Polish names end in -ski?
...that in 1930, the footballer Gerard Keizer played for both Arsenal and Ajax Amsterdam simultaneously, flying between England and the Netherlands to play in matches?
...that a sailor from the SS Thames owed his life to a cask of porter after the ship wrecked on the Isles of Scilly in 1841?
...that the town of Moronvilliers was totally destroyed in WWI and was also a site for French dry-nuclear testing?

3 October 2005

22:16, 3 October 2005 (UTC)

...that Shakespeare and Company, an English-language bookstore in left bank Paris, first published James Joyce’s Ulysses in 1922, but the book was subsequently banned in the United States, United Kingdom and the author's home country Ireland?
...that 1980s video game publisher BudgeCo was formed to distribute just two games?
...that the Reverend Dr. James Blair of Scotland was a clergyman and missionary to the Virginia Colony, and is best known as the founder in 1693 of the College of William and Mary, where he served as President for 50 years?
...that the Bombay Quadrangular cricket tournament originated in an 1877 game to foster interracial harmony, but was abandoned in 1946 over fears that its racial basis threatened Indian independence?

02:02, 3 October 2005 (UTC)

...that the 18th century Governor's Palace, originally completed in 1722 and last occupied by Thomas Jefferson in 1780, was carefully reconstructed, opening in 1934 as one of the two larger buildings at Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia?
...that booth capturing is a kind of electoral fraud that is seen mainly in India, where armed gangs belonging to political parties try to "capture" a polling booth and indulge in bogus voting?
...that at the Second Battle of the Aisne in World War I, the French suffered over 187,000 casualties?
...that Lott Cary was an African American slave who became educated, bought his freedom, became a minister and physician, and helped found the Colony of Liberia in Africa in 1822?