Archives are generally grouped by month of Main Page appearance. (Currently, DYK hooks are archived according to the date and time that they were taken off the Main Page.) To find which archive contains the fact that appeared on Did you know, go to article's
talk page and follow the archive link in the DYK talk page message box.
Please add the line ==={{subst:CURRENTDAY}} {{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}=== for each new day and the time the set was removed from the DYK template at the top for the newly posted set of archived hooks. This will ensure all times are based on UTC time and accurate. This page should be archived once a month. Thanks.
31 July 2011
17:15, 31 July 2011 (UTC)
... that the male common box turtle(pictured) has to lean back past the vertical to mate with the female?
... that though it was decided as early as 1882 to install a lighthouse at Contendas Point on
Terceira Island, the Ponta das Contendas Lighthouse was not built and inaugurated till almost 52 years afterwards?
... that since 1888, the Engelberg Huller Company in New York has made a Brazilian engineer's device (pictured) to remove the
husks and shells from rice and coffee during milling?
... that table tennis world champion Gertrude Kleinová's first husband was the chairman of her table tennis division, and her second husband was her coach?
... that the 18th-century Indian
automatonTipu's Tiger(pictured) shows a near life-size European being mauled by a tiger, and emits wails and grunts as well as containing a
pipe organ?
... that translator Marilyn Booth claimed that her original translation of the best-selling
Saudi novel Girls of Riyadh had been interfered with by the author and the publisher?
28 July 2011
22:39, 28 July 2011 (UTC)
... that 1000 years ago Japanese officials used bells(pictured) to procure horses?
... that I Am a Camera is a 1955 British film that received an X certificate from the
BBFC, but only after dialogue suggesting
foot fetishism was removed?
... that the late 1890s, British
philatelistPercival Loines Pemberton participated in stamp auctions in London where potential buyers were sometimes given alcoholic drinks to encourage bidding?
... that the Montenegrin part of Maglić massif has formed the Trnovačko Lake (mountain and lake pictured), said to be "one of the most beautiful of
Montenegro?"
... that despite being a boxing-themed short film, the Duke of Chicago was criticized for being "slow-paced and seemingly a lot longer than its fifty-nine minutes"?
... that in 2010, New Zealand Prime Minister
John Key said that 21-year-old Student Volunteer Army organiser Sam Johnson "might be Prime Minister one day"?
... that Orli Wald spent from 1936 to 1945 in Nazi prison and concentration camps for being a communist, only to leave the Communist Party in 1948 because of
Stalinism?
... that at the end of World War II, the British 133rd (Parachute) Field Ambulance were responsible for the medical care of 4,500 Russian prisoners of war?
... that American
NFLquarterbackRobert Halperin was awarded the
Navy Cross, won an Olympic bronze medal and a Pan American Games gold medal in sailing, and co-founded the
Lands' End clothing retailer?
... that the owl limpet maintains a small meadow of
algal turf for its own exclusive use?
... that although modernist Egyptian writer Edwar al-Kharrat described his novel Rama and the Dragon as "untranslatable", an English translation appeared 23 years after the original publication in Arabic?
... that the name of Tarkio River, a non-navigable river that stretches from Iowa to Missouri, meant a "place where walnuts grow"?
... that Selman Riza's 1952 work on Serbo-Croatian grammar is regarded as a work of
contrastive analysis, although the theory was not formulated until five years later by
Robert Lado?
... that
cornet player Bohumir Kryl offered his daughters US $100,000 to refrain from marriage until they reached the age of 30 years?
23 July 2011
16:00, 23 July 2011 (UTC)
... that consumption of the poisonous mushroom Inocybe godeyi(pictured) could lead to salivation, tears, urination, defecation,
gastrointestinal pain and vomiting?
... that blinded
Bristol boxer Dixie Brown was visited during World War II by African American soldiers, who respected him as "a much admired character"?
... that the
Louisiana State Rep.Thomas G. Carmody obtained passage in 2009 of a bill strengthening penalities for the crime of indecent behavior with juveniles?
... that military historian Lars Borgersrud's research includes taboo subjects like the fate of
war children and Norwegian military officers with Nazi sympathies prior to and during World War II?
... that when the Frog Boys went missing, South Korean President
Roh Tae-woo dispatched 300,000 police officers to search for them?
... that
Louisiana State RepresentativeBodi White has pushed for full financial disclosure and mandatory governmental ethics training for legislative officials?
... that General Sir James Ronald Leslie Macdonald was an army balloon photographer who later served in India, Uganda, Sudan, South Africa, China and led a major expedition into Tibet?
... that Michael Gilbert was kept as a slave and regularly beaten by a family who eventually murdered him?
... that East African Highland bananas are so important as staple food crops in
Uganda that '
Matoke', the traditional meal made from steamed bananas, is synonymous with the word "food"?
... that the late 19th-century novel Homo sapiens, although well received in Germany, was withdrawn from sale in the U.S. after being called
obscene?
... that although
elk had disappeared from the Table Mountain Wilderness, they were reintroduced in 1979 and are now one of the largest herds in
Nevada?
... that the shadow of nearby mountains first hit the Tower of Jericho on the sunset of the
summer solstice and then spread across the entire
proto-city in c. 8000 BCE?
... that a ruptured fuel pipeline leaked1.5 million liters of jet fuel into the Zin Stream in southern
Israel in June 2011?
... that "Dad" Moulton, a participant in
Sherman's March to the Sea, was the U.S. sprint champion in the 1870s, and trained the "world's fastest human" in the 1880s?
... that the 19th-century Shrigley Hall in
Cheshire, England, originally a country house, was later a
Salesian school with a chapel added in 1936, and now is a hotel and country club?
... that
Amanda Peet jokingly described her character in the upcoming television comedy series Bent as "a repressed woman who needs to get laid"?
... that
Douglas Mawson was the sole survivor of the Far Eastern Party, enduring a month alone in the Antarctic and walking about 100 miles (160 km) to safety?
... that Ramsdell Hall in
Cheshire, England, has been described by architectural writers as a "curious" and "appealingly quirky" house?
08:00, 19 July 2011 (UTC)
... that the first
Columbian mammoth(artist's restoration pictured) found at the Snowmastodon site, an
Ice Age fossil dig near Denver, was initially dug out by a construction worker using a
bulldozer?
... that
Antiguan politician Molwyn Joseph, dismissed from the government after allegations of impropriety, was reappointed to the Cabinet after less than two years?
... that the author of An Embarrassment of Riches reimagined the Philippines as an island instead of an archipelago?
... that after several odd incidents during the recording for
Megadeth's TH1RT3EN, guitarist-vocalist Dave Mustaine speculated about a connection with
the unlucky number 13?
... that the
Living Willow Theatre, an open air theatre constructed of living
willow trees, is located near the village of Llanwrthwl and occasionally holds outdoor performances of
Shakespeare?
... that Joe Ebanks has on multiple occasions won two large multitable
online poker tournaments in the same day?
... that Tuttuki Bako players insert their finger 60 mm (2.4 in) into an electronic device to render images of that finger on an
LCD screen?
... that Air Vice-Marshal Frank Inglis was head of
RAF Intelligence in 1942 and persuaded President
Roosevelt to direct the main American war effort against Germany rather than Japan?
... that the nonconformist liturgy of the Octagon Chapel(pictured) in Liverpool, UK, was criticized by
Job Orton: "Grieved I am ... to see such an almost
deistical composition"?
... that females of the
jumping spiderPortia labiata use silk draglines as
territory marks, and use these to avoid females of higher fighting ability and spend more time around less powerful fighters?
... that despite the customary practice of
Catholic bishops tendering their resignations when they turn 75, Andrew Pataki's retirement was not accepted by the
Pope until after he turned 80?
... that the Gray-crowned Rosy Finch(pictured) may breed at a higher
altitude than any other breeding bird in North America?
... that
Elizabeth Báthory, known as the "Blood Countess" because of her reign of terror, torturing and murdering hundreds of women, once resided at the Burg Lockenhaus?
... that George Rowe, the High Bailiff of the Manor of
Cheltenham, left England to become an Australian gold prospector, but instead found success creating
watercolour paintings?
... that
Confederate officer William L. Brandon had an ankle-joint shattered in battle but initially refused whiskey as a
painkiller because he only liked it with sugar added?
... that Taiwanese singer Suming merges indigenous lyrics and electronic dance music to evoke specific qualities of attractive young men in his matrilineal
Amis tribe, such as fishing and cooking skills?
00:00, 13 July 2011 (UTC)
... that Leroy Petry(pictured) is receiving the U.S.
Medal of Honor today, marking only the second time that the award has been bestowed upon a living soldier for actions after the end of the
Vietnam War?
... that the fungus Tremella encephala was officially described in 1801, but it was not known until 1961 that its central core is actually the remains of its host Stereum sanguinolentum?
... that one sickly lion, two Swedish kings, and 128 cannons were involved in the history of the
orangery of
Uppsala's Botanical Garden?
08:00, 12 July 2011 (UTC)
... that the bushy-tailed olingo(pictured) can produce a foul-smelling liquid from its anal
scent glands when alarmed, despite being more closely related to a
raccoon than a
skunk?
... that Mona Vale in
Christchurch,
New Zealand, was turned into a public park, following the threat of subdivision of the property and demolition of the homestead in the 1960s?
... that today you only really need to remember four names (North, East, South, West) to get around, but ancient Greeks and Romans had to memorize 12 different wind names to orient themselves?
... that when Jeff Mellinger, the last active-duty draftee in the
U.S. Army from the
Vietnam War era, received his draft papers, he thought that they were written to him by then-President
Richard Nixon?
... that Holby City character Oliver Valentine has been described as "a doctor with the blue eyes of Fonda and the medical competence of fondue"?
11 July 2011
16:00, 11 July 2011 (UTC)
... that the Tzeltal people(Tzeltal child pictured) of the Mexican state of
Chiapas are descended from the
Maya?
... that the earliest evidence for
domesticated wheat and barley comes from Iraq ed-Dubb in Jordan and dates to the mid-10th millennium BC?
... that the Redstone Test Stand was built in Alabama by
Wernher von Braun's rocketry team for just $25,000 out of concrete and salvaged materials?
... that the
Talent, a multiple unit passenger train in the rail system of Germany, Austria and Norway, was developed by Waggonfabrik Talbot in
Aachen?
... that Sir William Young, 1st Baronet, in his will gave four Caribbean estates to his son, but the father's 1788 death left behind £110,000 in debt, a figure equal to at least £11 million today?
... that in the 1950s, Wardang Island was the site of a pioneering experiment to develop a biological solution for controlling the plague of introduced rabbits in Australia?
... that the
penis of the Lesser Water Boatman Micronecta scholtzi creates mating calls of 99.2
decibels, making it the loudest animal on earth, scaled for its size?
... that there is a storytelling scene in the novel Ang mga Anak Dalita where the Philippines is compared to a pearl, Spain to a
fish, and the United States to a
leech?
... that the Norwegian brewery owners Ellef and Amund Ringnes have had two islands in Canada named after them?
... that the Passemant astronomical clock, designed to work until the year 9999, was the first clock used to set the official time in France?
... that military investigative reporter Carl Prine was accused by the
Railroad Development Corporation's owner, Henry Posner, of "profiting from the promotion of hysteria"?
... that an episode of
Living TV's Most Haunted claimed that there have been over 3000 reported experiences of ghosts at the Schooner Hotel since 1998?
... that Elizabeth Gatford, who endowed a charity that distributed bread to the poor at Horsham General Baptist Chapel, was buried in four coffins?
... that
Pepsi allowed
Madonna to retain her $5 million fee, despite cancelling their sponsorship deal following the controversy over the music video for "Like a Prayer"?
... that
Orangutans may provide their nest with pillows, blankets, bunk-beds and roofs?
9 July 2011
16:00, 9 July 2011 (UTC)
... that, in the Bhima River valley, of the 22 dams built, the Ujjani Dam(pictured) in
Maharashtra, India, is the terminal and also the largest dam in the valley?
... that, in 1913, American aviator Albert Jewell disappeared off
Long Island, New York, on his way to an air race?
... that more than one million copies of Loaded Questions have been sold, though the creator originally had to borrow about $18,000 from his parents and sell the game out of his car's trunk?
... that the construction of
One Liberty Place was in breach of a "gentlemen's agreement" not to build any building taller than the statue of
William Penn on
Philadelphia City Hall(both buildings pictured)?
... that during the First World War, the sail-steamer SS Lanthorn was attacked by a German
U-boat, and although her crew was rescued, she sank while under tow?
... that Mikhail Lakhitov started competing in international
poker competitions in 2010 and by June 2011 was one of the top 20 poker players in the world?
... that one of the oldest churches in
Costa Rica, Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de la Limpia Concepcion (pictured), built in the 1560s in Ujarrás, has been proposed as a
World Heritage Site?
... that the British steamship Nancy Moller was intercepted in 1951 by
HMS Cossack whilst carrying a cargo of rubber to China in contravention of a United Nations embargo imposed due to the
Korean War?
... that when
yeshiva students learn with their chavrusas, they may wave their hands and shout at each other?
08:00, 6 July 2011 (UTC)
... that
Robert Louis Stevenson, who stayed in Tautira,
Tahiti(pictured) for two months, called it “The Garden of the World” in his letters to his friends?
... that despite starting in the
1959 VFL Grand Final, Australian footballer Graham Leydin only started two games in the 1961 season?
... that Denmark–Eritrea relations are conducted via their embassies in Kenya and Sweden after Denmark closed their embassy in Eritrea less than five years after it opened?
... that scholars debate whether the Torrs Pony-cap and Horns(pictured) of c. 200 BC in the
Museum of Scotland were intended to be worn by a horse, a human or a statue?
... that Vinita Gupta is credited as being the first woman of
Indian origin to take her company public in the United States?
... that the freighter Noemijulia was bombed twice during the
Spanish Civil War but went on to survive World War II?
... that according to an account by a British officer, the marksmanship of
Kentucky rifleman Ephraim McLean Brank(pictured) contributed more than anything else to the US victory at the
Battle of New Orleans?
... that O moj Shqypni has been described as one of the most influential and most important poems written in
Albanian?
... that the benefactor of Soldiers Chapel, near
Big Sky Resort, wrote that hillbilly Bible thumpers, conscientious objectors, and those refusing to salute the
US flag should be excluded from the chapel?
... that the memoir I Married Wyatt Earp, supposedly by
Wyatt Earp's wife
Josephine, was regarded as factual and cited by scholars, but was discovered to be a "fraud" and a "hoax" after 23 years?
... that Tonogayato Garden in
Kokubunji, Tokyo is built on the terraced cliffs of
Musashino, with a lawn on the hilltop overlooking a bamboo forest and pond at the bottom?
... that the leaning minaret (pictured) of the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in
Mosul, Iraq, reputedly gained its tilt after it bowed to the prophet
Muhammad?
... that Owen Crowe has made four
World Series of Poker final tables in the past four years and two top-100 main event finishes in the last three years?
... that the Aguamilpa and Zimapán Dams in Mexico are over 185 m (607 ft) high and were funded in part by the same
World Bank loan?
... that retired hockey goaltender Rick St. Croix and his sons
Chris and Michael were all drafted in the 4th round of the
NHL Entry Draft, albeit in different years?
... that in 1943,
Horsa gliders were towed 3,200 miles (5,100 km) from England to Tunisia during Operation Turkey Buzzard without knowing whether this would be possible?
... that Madmen in the Yard, a drawing by the
Croatian painter Ignjat Job(pictured), was influenced by his two-year stay in a mental hospital?
... that Little Marton Mill was built in England in 1838 and restored in 1937 to become a memorial?
... that the United States mediated the 1962 New York Agreement as part of a plan "to prevent
Indonesia from falling under communist control and to win it over to the west"?
... that during World War II, the Germans built a bomb- and gas-proof bunker on Jerbourg Point, the southeastern point of
Guernsey in the English Channel?
... that the Philippine play Paglipas ng Dilim ("After the Darkness") tackles the conflicts of mixing cultures from the Philippines, Spain, and the United States?
... that although Norma Lyon studied animal science at Iowa State University, she ended up
sculpting butter at state fairs?
... that
USMC Lieutenant General Henry Louis Larsen was Governor of American Samoa and Governor of Guam after his father-in-law and brother-in-law were each Governor of Colorado?
... that Russian forces killed Abdulla Kurd,
al-Qaeda's top operative in Chechnya, one day after U.S. forces killed al-Qaeda head
Osama bin Laden?
... that initial student admission in 2010 for the Dominica State College planned for 900 applicants, was less than 400, and resulted in an extension of enrollment and waiver of the admission fee?
... that
Doris Lessing's book The Sweetest Dream was originally intended to be volume three of her autobiography, but she made it a novel to avoid offending people?
... that Union, a German-Hungarian trade union council, had substantial following amongst agricultural labourers in southwestern
Slovakia after the First World War?
... that during the Second World War, 10 countries formed Convoy HX 300, which consisted of 166 ships covering an area 9 miles (14 km) wide and 4 miles (6.4 km) long?
... that in 1584 Antonio Ricardo became the first printer in South America with the publication of the Doctrina Christiana, a book in Spanish,
Quechua and
Aymara?
... that the illegal loyalist paramilitary group the UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade was founded in 1972 by
Billy Hanna, a decorated war hero?
... that Ismaila Gwarzo, a former Nigerian National Security Advisor was accused of theft of US$2.45 billion and repaid a few hundred million?
Archives are generally grouped by month of Main Page appearance. (Currently, DYK hooks are archived according to the date and time that they were taken off the Main Page.) To find which archive contains the fact that appeared on Did you know, go to article's
talk page and follow the archive link in the DYK talk page message box.
Please add the line ==={{subst:CURRENTDAY}} {{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}=== for each new day and the time the set was removed from the DYK template at the top for the newly posted set of archived hooks. This will ensure all times are based on UTC time and accurate. This page should be archived once a month. Thanks.
31 July 2011
17:15, 31 July 2011 (UTC)
... that the male common box turtle(pictured) has to lean back past the vertical to mate with the female?
... that though it was decided as early as 1882 to install a lighthouse at Contendas Point on
Terceira Island, the Ponta das Contendas Lighthouse was not built and inaugurated till almost 52 years afterwards?
... that since 1888, the Engelberg Huller Company in New York has made a Brazilian engineer's device (pictured) to remove the
husks and shells from rice and coffee during milling?
... that table tennis world champion Gertrude Kleinová's first husband was the chairman of her table tennis division, and her second husband was her coach?
... that the 18th-century Indian
automatonTipu's Tiger(pictured) shows a near life-size European being mauled by a tiger, and emits wails and grunts as well as containing a
pipe organ?
... that translator Marilyn Booth claimed that her original translation of the best-selling
Saudi novel Girls of Riyadh had been interfered with by the author and the publisher?
28 July 2011
22:39, 28 July 2011 (UTC)
... that 1000 years ago Japanese officials used bells(pictured) to procure horses?
... that I Am a Camera is a 1955 British film that received an X certificate from the
BBFC, but only after dialogue suggesting
foot fetishism was removed?
... that the late 1890s, British
philatelistPercival Loines Pemberton participated in stamp auctions in London where potential buyers were sometimes given alcoholic drinks to encourage bidding?
... that the Montenegrin part of Maglić massif has formed the Trnovačko Lake (mountain and lake pictured), said to be "one of the most beautiful of
Montenegro?"
... that despite being a boxing-themed short film, the Duke of Chicago was criticized for being "slow-paced and seemingly a lot longer than its fifty-nine minutes"?
... that in 2010, New Zealand Prime Minister
John Key said that 21-year-old Student Volunteer Army organiser Sam Johnson "might be Prime Minister one day"?
... that Orli Wald spent from 1936 to 1945 in Nazi prison and concentration camps for being a communist, only to leave the Communist Party in 1948 because of
Stalinism?
... that at the end of World War II, the British 133rd (Parachute) Field Ambulance were responsible for the medical care of 4,500 Russian prisoners of war?
... that American
NFLquarterbackRobert Halperin was awarded the
Navy Cross, won an Olympic bronze medal and a Pan American Games gold medal in sailing, and co-founded the
Lands' End clothing retailer?
... that the owl limpet maintains a small meadow of
algal turf for its own exclusive use?
... that although modernist Egyptian writer Edwar al-Kharrat described his novel Rama and the Dragon as "untranslatable", an English translation appeared 23 years after the original publication in Arabic?
... that the name of Tarkio River, a non-navigable river that stretches from Iowa to Missouri, meant a "place where walnuts grow"?
... that Selman Riza's 1952 work on Serbo-Croatian grammar is regarded as a work of
contrastive analysis, although the theory was not formulated until five years later by
Robert Lado?
... that
cornet player Bohumir Kryl offered his daughters US $100,000 to refrain from marriage until they reached the age of 30 years?
23 July 2011
16:00, 23 July 2011 (UTC)
... that consumption of the poisonous mushroom Inocybe godeyi(pictured) could lead to salivation, tears, urination, defecation,
gastrointestinal pain and vomiting?
... that blinded
Bristol boxer Dixie Brown was visited during World War II by African American soldiers, who respected him as "a much admired character"?
... that the
Louisiana State Rep.Thomas G. Carmody obtained passage in 2009 of a bill strengthening penalities for the crime of indecent behavior with juveniles?
... that military historian Lars Borgersrud's research includes taboo subjects like the fate of
war children and Norwegian military officers with Nazi sympathies prior to and during World War II?
... that when the Frog Boys went missing, South Korean President
Roh Tae-woo dispatched 300,000 police officers to search for them?
... that
Louisiana State RepresentativeBodi White has pushed for full financial disclosure and mandatory governmental ethics training for legislative officials?
... that General Sir James Ronald Leslie Macdonald was an army balloon photographer who later served in India, Uganda, Sudan, South Africa, China and led a major expedition into Tibet?
... that Michael Gilbert was kept as a slave and regularly beaten by a family who eventually murdered him?
... that East African Highland bananas are so important as staple food crops in
Uganda that '
Matoke', the traditional meal made from steamed bananas, is synonymous with the word "food"?
... that the late 19th-century novel Homo sapiens, although well received in Germany, was withdrawn from sale in the U.S. after being called
obscene?
... that although
elk had disappeared from the Table Mountain Wilderness, they were reintroduced in 1979 and are now one of the largest herds in
Nevada?
... that the shadow of nearby mountains first hit the Tower of Jericho on the sunset of the
summer solstice and then spread across the entire
proto-city in c. 8000 BCE?
... that a ruptured fuel pipeline leaked1.5 million liters of jet fuel into the Zin Stream in southern
Israel in June 2011?
... that "Dad" Moulton, a participant in
Sherman's March to the Sea, was the U.S. sprint champion in the 1870s, and trained the "world's fastest human" in the 1880s?
... that the 19th-century Shrigley Hall in
Cheshire, England, originally a country house, was later a
Salesian school with a chapel added in 1936, and now is a hotel and country club?
... that
Amanda Peet jokingly described her character in the upcoming television comedy series Bent as "a repressed woman who needs to get laid"?
... that
Douglas Mawson was the sole survivor of the Far Eastern Party, enduring a month alone in the Antarctic and walking about 100 miles (160 km) to safety?
... that Ramsdell Hall in
Cheshire, England, has been described by architectural writers as a "curious" and "appealingly quirky" house?
08:00, 19 July 2011 (UTC)
... that the first
Columbian mammoth(artist's restoration pictured) found at the Snowmastodon site, an
Ice Age fossil dig near Denver, was initially dug out by a construction worker using a
bulldozer?
... that
Antiguan politician Molwyn Joseph, dismissed from the government after allegations of impropriety, was reappointed to the Cabinet after less than two years?
... that the author of An Embarrassment of Riches reimagined the Philippines as an island instead of an archipelago?
... that after several odd incidents during the recording for
Megadeth's TH1RT3EN, guitarist-vocalist Dave Mustaine speculated about a connection with
the unlucky number 13?
... that the
Living Willow Theatre, an open air theatre constructed of living
willow trees, is located near the village of Llanwrthwl and occasionally holds outdoor performances of
Shakespeare?
... that Joe Ebanks has on multiple occasions won two large multitable
online poker tournaments in the same day?
... that Tuttuki Bako players insert their finger 60 mm (2.4 in) into an electronic device to render images of that finger on an
LCD screen?
... that Air Vice-Marshal Frank Inglis was head of
RAF Intelligence in 1942 and persuaded President
Roosevelt to direct the main American war effort against Germany rather than Japan?
... that the nonconformist liturgy of the Octagon Chapel(pictured) in Liverpool, UK, was criticized by
Job Orton: "Grieved I am ... to see such an almost
deistical composition"?
... that females of the
jumping spiderPortia labiata use silk draglines as
territory marks, and use these to avoid females of higher fighting ability and spend more time around less powerful fighters?
... that despite the customary practice of
Catholic bishops tendering their resignations when they turn 75, Andrew Pataki's retirement was not accepted by the
Pope until after he turned 80?
... that the Gray-crowned Rosy Finch(pictured) may breed at a higher
altitude than any other breeding bird in North America?
... that
Elizabeth Báthory, known as the "Blood Countess" because of her reign of terror, torturing and murdering hundreds of women, once resided at the Burg Lockenhaus?
... that George Rowe, the High Bailiff of the Manor of
Cheltenham, left England to become an Australian gold prospector, but instead found success creating
watercolour paintings?
... that
Confederate officer William L. Brandon had an ankle-joint shattered in battle but initially refused whiskey as a
painkiller because he only liked it with sugar added?
... that Taiwanese singer Suming merges indigenous lyrics and electronic dance music to evoke specific qualities of attractive young men in his matrilineal
Amis tribe, such as fishing and cooking skills?
00:00, 13 July 2011 (UTC)
... that Leroy Petry(pictured) is receiving the U.S.
Medal of Honor today, marking only the second time that the award has been bestowed upon a living soldier for actions after the end of the
Vietnam War?
... that the fungus Tremella encephala was officially described in 1801, but it was not known until 1961 that its central core is actually the remains of its host Stereum sanguinolentum?
... that one sickly lion, two Swedish kings, and 128 cannons were involved in the history of the
orangery of
Uppsala's Botanical Garden?
08:00, 12 July 2011 (UTC)
... that the bushy-tailed olingo(pictured) can produce a foul-smelling liquid from its anal
scent glands when alarmed, despite being more closely related to a
raccoon than a
skunk?
... that Mona Vale in
Christchurch,
New Zealand, was turned into a public park, following the threat of subdivision of the property and demolition of the homestead in the 1960s?
... that today you only really need to remember four names (North, East, South, West) to get around, but ancient Greeks and Romans had to memorize 12 different wind names to orient themselves?
... that when Jeff Mellinger, the last active-duty draftee in the
U.S. Army from the
Vietnam War era, received his draft papers, he thought that they were written to him by then-President
Richard Nixon?
... that Holby City character Oliver Valentine has been described as "a doctor with the blue eyes of Fonda and the medical competence of fondue"?
11 July 2011
16:00, 11 July 2011 (UTC)
... that the Tzeltal people(Tzeltal child pictured) of the Mexican state of
Chiapas are descended from the
Maya?
... that the earliest evidence for
domesticated wheat and barley comes from Iraq ed-Dubb in Jordan and dates to the mid-10th millennium BC?
... that the Redstone Test Stand was built in Alabama by
Wernher von Braun's rocketry team for just $25,000 out of concrete and salvaged materials?
... that the
Talent, a multiple unit passenger train in the rail system of Germany, Austria and Norway, was developed by Waggonfabrik Talbot in
Aachen?
... that Sir William Young, 1st Baronet, in his will gave four Caribbean estates to his son, but the father's 1788 death left behind £110,000 in debt, a figure equal to at least £11 million today?
... that in the 1950s, Wardang Island was the site of a pioneering experiment to develop a biological solution for controlling the plague of introduced rabbits in Australia?
... that the
penis of the Lesser Water Boatman Micronecta scholtzi creates mating calls of 99.2
decibels, making it the loudest animal on earth, scaled for its size?
... that there is a storytelling scene in the novel Ang mga Anak Dalita where the Philippines is compared to a pearl, Spain to a
fish, and the United States to a
leech?
... that the Norwegian brewery owners Ellef and Amund Ringnes have had two islands in Canada named after them?
... that the Passemant astronomical clock, designed to work until the year 9999, was the first clock used to set the official time in France?
... that military investigative reporter Carl Prine was accused by the
Railroad Development Corporation's owner, Henry Posner, of "profiting from the promotion of hysteria"?
... that an episode of
Living TV's Most Haunted claimed that there have been over 3000 reported experiences of ghosts at the Schooner Hotel since 1998?
... that Elizabeth Gatford, who endowed a charity that distributed bread to the poor at Horsham General Baptist Chapel, was buried in four coffins?
... that
Pepsi allowed
Madonna to retain her $5 million fee, despite cancelling their sponsorship deal following the controversy over the music video for "Like a Prayer"?
... that
Orangutans may provide their nest with pillows, blankets, bunk-beds and roofs?
9 July 2011
16:00, 9 July 2011 (UTC)
... that, in the Bhima River valley, of the 22 dams built, the Ujjani Dam(pictured) in
Maharashtra, India, is the terminal and also the largest dam in the valley?
... that, in 1913, American aviator Albert Jewell disappeared off
Long Island, New York, on his way to an air race?
... that more than one million copies of Loaded Questions have been sold, though the creator originally had to borrow about $18,000 from his parents and sell the game out of his car's trunk?
... that the construction of
One Liberty Place was in breach of a "gentlemen's agreement" not to build any building taller than the statue of
William Penn on
Philadelphia City Hall(both buildings pictured)?
... that during the First World War, the sail-steamer SS Lanthorn was attacked by a German
U-boat, and although her crew was rescued, she sank while under tow?
... that Mikhail Lakhitov started competing in international
poker competitions in 2010 and by June 2011 was one of the top 20 poker players in the world?
... that one of the oldest churches in
Costa Rica, Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de la Limpia Concepcion (pictured), built in the 1560s in Ujarrás, has been proposed as a
World Heritage Site?
... that the British steamship Nancy Moller was intercepted in 1951 by
HMS Cossack whilst carrying a cargo of rubber to China in contravention of a United Nations embargo imposed due to the
Korean War?
... that when
yeshiva students learn with their chavrusas, they may wave their hands and shout at each other?
08:00, 6 July 2011 (UTC)
... that
Robert Louis Stevenson, who stayed in Tautira,
Tahiti(pictured) for two months, called it “The Garden of the World” in his letters to his friends?
... that despite starting in the
1959 VFL Grand Final, Australian footballer Graham Leydin only started two games in the 1961 season?
... that Denmark–Eritrea relations are conducted via their embassies in Kenya and Sweden after Denmark closed their embassy in Eritrea less than five years after it opened?
... that scholars debate whether the Torrs Pony-cap and Horns(pictured) of c. 200 BC in the
Museum of Scotland were intended to be worn by a horse, a human or a statue?
... that Vinita Gupta is credited as being the first woman of
Indian origin to take her company public in the United States?
... that the freighter Noemijulia was bombed twice during the
Spanish Civil War but went on to survive World War II?
... that according to an account by a British officer, the marksmanship of
Kentucky rifleman Ephraim McLean Brank(pictured) contributed more than anything else to the US victory at the
Battle of New Orleans?
... that O moj Shqypni has been described as one of the most influential and most important poems written in
Albanian?
... that the benefactor of Soldiers Chapel, near
Big Sky Resort, wrote that hillbilly Bible thumpers, conscientious objectors, and those refusing to salute the
US flag should be excluded from the chapel?
... that the memoir I Married Wyatt Earp, supposedly by
Wyatt Earp's wife
Josephine, was regarded as factual and cited by scholars, but was discovered to be a "fraud" and a "hoax" after 23 years?
... that Tonogayato Garden in
Kokubunji, Tokyo is built on the terraced cliffs of
Musashino, with a lawn on the hilltop overlooking a bamboo forest and pond at the bottom?
... that the leaning minaret (pictured) of the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in
Mosul, Iraq, reputedly gained its tilt after it bowed to the prophet
Muhammad?
... that Owen Crowe has made four
World Series of Poker final tables in the past four years and two top-100 main event finishes in the last three years?
... that the Aguamilpa and Zimapán Dams in Mexico are over 185 m (607 ft) high and were funded in part by the same
World Bank loan?
... that retired hockey goaltender Rick St. Croix and his sons
Chris and Michael were all drafted in the 4th round of the
NHL Entry Draft, albeit in different years?
... that in 1943,
Horsa gliders were towed 3,200 miles (5,100 km) from England to Tunisia during Operation Turkey Buzzard without knowing whether this would be possible?
... that Madmen in the Yard, a drawing by the
Croatian painter Ignjat Job(pictured), was influenced by his two-year stay in a mental hospital?
... that Little Marton Mill was built in England in 1838 and restored in 1937 to become a memorial?
... that the United States mediated the 1962 New York Agreement as part of a plan "to prevent
Indonesia from falling under communist control and to win it over to the west"?
... that during World War II, the Germans built a bomb- and gas-proof bunker on Jerbourg Point, the southeastern point of
Guernsey in the English Channel?
... that the Philippine play Paglipas ng Dilim ("After the Darkness") tackles the conflicts of mixing cultures from the Philippines, Spain, and the United States?
... that although Norma Lyon studied animal science at Iowa State University, she ended up
sculpting butter at state fairs?
... that
USMC Lieutenant General Henry Louis Larsen was Governor of American Samoa and Governor of Guam after his father-in-law and brother-in-law were each Governor of Colorado?
... that Russian forces killed Abdulla Kurd,
al-Qaeda's top operative in Chechnya, one day after U.S. forces killed al-Qaeda head
Osama bin Laden?
... that initial student admission in 2010 for the Dominica State College planned for 900 applicants, was less than 400, and resulted in an extension of enrollment and waiver of the admission fee?
... that
Doris Lessing's book The Sweetest Dream was originally intended to be volume three of her autobiography, but she made it a novel to avoid offending people?
... that Union, a German-Hungarian trade union council, had substantial following amongst agricultural labourers in southwestern
Slovakia after the First World War?
... that during the Second World War, 10 countries formed Convoy HX 300, which consisted of 166 ships covering an area 9 miles (14 km) wide and 4 miles (6.4 km) long?
... that in 1584 Antonio Ricardo became the first printer in South America with the publication of the Doctrina Christiana, a book in Spanish,
Quechua and
Aymara?
... that the illegal loyalist paramilitary group the UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade was founded in 1972 by
Billy Hanna, a decorated war hero?
... that Ismaila Gwarzo, a former Nigerian National Security Advisor was accused of theft of US$2.45 billion and repaid a few hundred million?