Wikipedia:Recent additions 41

Did you know...

...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 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?
...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?
...that the Victorian era 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?
...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?
...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?
...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?
...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?
...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?
...that Common Short Codes are five-digit numbers that can receive Short Messaging Service messages, just like normal 10-digit numbers?
...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?
...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"?
...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?
...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 PhD 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?