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.
30 April 2012
16:00, 30 April 2012 (UTC)
... that the flags hoisted by the Finnish icebreaker
Tarmo(pictured) on 3 March 1918 included a large white
tablecloth?
... that the Anacostia Community Museum was the first federally funded community museum in the United States?
... that Looking for Madonna, meant to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS in
Papua, used shots of a green bra to symbolise sex?
... that the Jarvislaunch vehicle was designed to deliver up to six satellites into different orbits on a single flight?
... that the website for the
viral videoKony 2012 crashed after the video became popular worldwide, but the video went on to have tens of millions of
page views on various websites?
... that "Snail" was the first woman to compete in an international motor race?
00:00, 27 April 2012 (UTC)
... that the male tropical rockmaster(pictured) can be distinguished from the male sapphire rockmaster by the size of the blue spots on the underside of its abdomen?
... that the number of ways to place n diagonally symmetric
rooks on an n × nchessboard in such a way that no two rooks attack each other is a telephone number?
... that although a Spanish treasure convoy was captured at the Action of 26 April 1797, the cargo had already been smuggled to safety aboard a fishing boat?
... that when Thomas M. Messer retired in 1988, after 27 years as director of the
Guggenheim Foundation, he had served longer than any other major museum director in New York City?
... that George Hubert Kemp, a
flying ace from
World War I, was fatally wounded on his last sortie, having shot down twelve enemy aircraft in the previous three weeks?
... that while the Rwanda women's national football team has not played a
FIFA-recognised match, a professional women's league in the country has attracted women from Uganda?
... that the Marlowe Academy(pictured), among "the worst schools in England", but now showing satisfactory progress, has a radio station on the
Isle of Thanet?
... that the Pacific leaping blenny is considered a
terrestrial fish, due to its ability to survive on land for several hours at a time?
... that Chinese politicians have engaged in debate over economic development using a metaphor for baking a cake?
... that soon after Jim Umbricht's death from melanoma in 1964, his brother flew above the
Astrodome construction site and scattered his ashes throughout the grounds?
... that as a result of the North Carolina Sullivan Acts,
Asheville is the only city in the state that cannot charge a higher water rate for consumers outside city limits?
... that Indonesian actress Sophia Latjuba received no fee for playing in her most recent film?
... that not long after it first appeared in 1631, the book Janua linguarum reserata(pictured) by
Comenius was published in translation in twelve European languages plus several Asian languages?
... that the 1925 Michigan football team allowed only three points all year and featured one of the sport's greatest passing combinations in "The Benny-to-Bennie Show"?
... that because the four founders of the Norwegian
ISPPowerTech Information Systems were still minors, the father of one of them became the company's first chairman?
... that until 1951, when the
Seward Highway was finished, in order for travelers to drive on the Hope Highway, they had to transport their cars on the
Alaska Railroad?
... that apartments in Jerusalem's Shmuel HaNavi neighborhood, near the street of the same name, have triple-thick concrete walls, roofs with gunner positions, and courtyards for mass troop call-ups?
... that West Virginia native Frank Harrigan led
Michigan to two
Big Ten basketball championships and played for the Cook Painter Boys' 1929 national championship team?
... that on the day the factory of Aspioti-ELKA in
Corfu obtained permission to move its equipment to
Athens, it got bombed?
... that Cherimoya's unanticipated victory at the 1911
Epsom Oaks(pictured), the only start of her career, left "the spectators too dumbfounded to cheer"?
... that an amendment to Slovakia's Citizenship Act, which states that any national who takes another citizenship loses their Slovak citizenship, was enacted in reaction to
Hungary's nationality law?
... that when early versions of iostat monitored multiprocessor computer systems, they could wrongly interpret one processor waiting for I/O to mean that all those in the system were waiting?
... that French sporting pioneer Camille du Gast was falsely accused of having posed nude for La Femme au Masque, but did not win the legal action she filed against her accuser?
... that the yellowhead wrasse changes both colour and sex during its life?
... that the vice-president of the Bahrain Teachers' Association, Jalila al-Salman, was sentenced to three years in prison for her involvement in the
2011–2012 uprising?
... that the 2012 Preston Passion featured thousands of Preston residents and included Surely He Hath Borne Our Griefs from
Handel's Messiah?
... that the Sudanese Socialist Republican Party was nicknamed 'Mr. Hawkesworth's Party', in reference to a rumour that a British colonial officer by that name had engineered it?
... that despite being handicapped, Bahraini engineer Abduljalil Alsingace was allegedly tortured by being forced to stand on one leg without crutches for prolonged periods?
... that a male and female pair of sand
stars, Archaster typicus, engage in
pseudocopulation so that when they
spawn, some two months later, they will do so simultaneously?
... that Job 600 cost over 4 million pounds to build and was completed in 1965 to showcase Ghana and Africa to the world?
... that Thamudarit, who according to legend reigned over the
Pagan Kingdom from 107 to 152
CE, was only proclaimed the founder of this kingdom in 1829?
... that State Highway 7 in the US state of Minnesota follows the Minnesota River National Scenic Byway along
Lac qui Parle by the state line?
... that A. Teeuw, despite resorting to guesswork, still encountered indecipherable data in his successful dissertation on a
Kakawin?
... that the black sea rod coral contains large quantities of a lipid,
prostaglandin A, which deters
predatory fish from feeding on it by making them vomit?
01:31, 18 April 2012 (UTC)
... that the rice stink bug(pictured), a major pest of rice kernels, can safely be ignored when found on standing
corn?
... that "Hill Street Station", the first episode of Hill Street Blues, suffered "confusion and conflict in its marketing" to the point that it was considered a surprise the show survived to be aired?
... that
minors were barred from digitally purchasing "Drips", a track from South Korean singer
Seven's mini-album Digital Bounce?
... that the Second World War
homing pigeonTyke won a gallantry medal for reporting the location of a downed American bomber?
... that there are more plants of Alloxylon flammeum(pictured) in cultivation than there are in the wild in its native Queensland?
... that the only Japanese passenger aboard the Titanic survived, but was then shunned as a coward in his home country for not going down with the ship?
... that the new Titanic Belfast visitor attraction tells the story of the ill-fated
RMS Titanic through interactive videos, audio, replicas and displays?
... that the Titanic Memorial in
Belfast(pictured) depicts a personification of Death holding a wreath above the head of a drowned sailor who is borne above the waves by mermaids?
... that following the 1973
Toulouse congress of
PSOE a group of veteran Spanish socialists organized the "Historical" UGT, claiming to represent the original
UGT trade union?
... that Shakespeare scholars used Ford's Hospital, Coventry(pictured), to understand Elizabethan doorways while planning the reconstruction of the
Globe Theatre?
... that the extinct witchalder Fothergilla malloryi(pictured) is the oldest confirmed member of the genus Fothergilla?
... that the animated short film Sex Life of Robots, showing sexual activity among robots, is described as "
art-
porn"?
... that it is customary for
Viktor Tsoi's fans to leave a broken lighted cigarette in the special ash plate at the Tsoi Wall?
... that between 1800 and 1890, some 25,000 to 50,000 slaves were captured in present-day Tanzania, Mozambique, and Malawi and forced to work on plantations in Somalia?
... that the Latvian mathematician Emanuels Grīnbergs lost his job and his doctoral degree for serving in the
German Army during World War II, but then regained both by writing a new thesis?
... that when the feathers left in the Round Island Lighthouse keepers' living quarters were identified, the lighthouse cat was banished from that
Scillonian island?
00:00, 14 April 2012 (UTC)
... that poet
William Wordsworth said of the site of Holy Trinity Church, Brathay(pictured), "there is no situation out of the Alps, nor among them, more beautiful than that where this building is placed"?
... that the Maoist Youth Union demanded that a "Youth Charter" be included in the new Spanish constitution?
... that baseball player Josh Edgin won the
Pennsylvania state championship in
wrestling, finishing fourth in the national championship?
... that Deonar is one of India's oldest and largest waste dumping grounds?
... that at its extreme, serfdom in Poland required a peasant to work eight days a week for his feudal lord?
08:00, 13 April 2012 (UTC)
... that prolific food writer and
reality TV judge Mary Berry's(pictured) first job was to visit consumers' homes to show them how to use their own electric cookers?
... that last name of Peter Spani, one of the founders of the
League of Lezhë in 1444, is derived from the Greek word spanos (
Greek: σπανός) which means beardless?
... that the woodland at Dizzard Point in
Cornwall, which is part of the Boscastle to WidemouthSSSI, is of international importance for its lichen communities?
... that while Chinese emperors had
stone tortoises guard their tombs, some of their subjects in Fujian were laid to rest under plaster tortoises(example pictured)?
... that the Gabonese Socialist Union, initially an opposition party founded by formerly exiled student activists, aligned itself with the then incumbent president
Omar Bongo?
... that the statue of Shaka at Birth at
Tōdai-ji(pictured) is the largest example of a type of statue anointed with sweet hydrangea tea on April 8 in celebration of
Buddha's Birthday?
... that Sister Jackie Hudson served six months in prison for painting "Christ lives, Disarm" on the side of a bunker?
... that the 1917–18 team was the University of Michigan's first basketball team after an eight-year hiatus and the only winless conference season in the school's history?
... that
Argentine celebrity Calu Rivero(pictured) was the first actress from
Catamarca Province to appear in national television, thus being named Illustrious Citizen of
Recreo, her hometown?
... that the Albanian nobility was absorbed into the
Ottoman military class through the implementation of the
timar system within not more than two generations?
... that according to some sources, bulb-bearing water-hemlock is one of the most poisonous leafy plants native to North America?
... that the racehorses Pennekamp in 1995 and King of Kings in 1998 were both winners of the
2000 Guineas in May, found lame after losing the
Epsom Derby in June, and then retired to stud soon after?
... that former churches in
Chichester,
West Sussex, have been converted into a doll museum, a betting shop and a Chinese takeaway, among other things?
11 April 2012
16:00, 11 April 2012 (UTC)
... that on the southern slopes of Maja e Thatë(pictured) lies the Cave of Haxhia, a Nature Monument of Albania, explored by
Polishspeleologists?
... that Henry Hallowell Farquhar, the leading scorer on the first Michigan Wolverines basketball team in 1909, became a professor at Harvard Business School?
... that
The Who's bassist
John Entwistle kept skeletons in the bedroom of his Victorian mansion Quarwood to frighten guests?
... that British World War II fighter ace Noel Agazarian was rejected by
Trinity College, Oxford, allegedly because its President objected to his ethnicity?
... that Polish writer Łukasz Orbitowski was one of the pioneers of setting
horror stories in mundane, modern Polish cities?
... that naval architect William K. MacCurdy developed the Hydra-Cushion rail coupling at
SRI International, significantly changing freight transportation?
... that over 16 million years ago, four species of parrot in the genus Nelepsittacus made their home in subtropical rainforest in what is now
Otago, New Zealand?
... that at the
Romanian Communist Party congress of November 1989, Emil Bobu countered delegates' flagging enthusiasm by shouting slogans and applauding vigorously, even interrupting leader
Nicolae Ceauşescu?
... that infants are so motivated to engage in joint attention that they will turn away from interesting sights to do so?
... that prior to taking up
athletics, Olympic long-distance runner Väinö Koskela was a member of the winning team at an under-18 cross-country skiing championship?
... that Cat Creek was the site of the first commercially successful
oil field in
Montana, producing oil so pure it could be used in
Model T cars straight from the ground?
... that fossil leaves indistinguishable from the living Tasmanian waratah(pictured) have been dug up from lower
Oligocene (28–34 million year old) rock strata?
... that The Yama Yama Man may be hiding behind a chair, "ready to spring out at you unaware"?
... that the 1999 documentary Private Dicks: Men Exposed, in which men were interviewed about their penises, was described by
Ken Tucker as "quite literally touching"?
... that the development of basketball as "almost a major sport" led the University of Michigan to form its first basketball team in 1909?
... that
Seaman Frank vowed "Do you think I'm going to let them get away with that? Not pygmalion likely!" after he lost his foot to a German raider?
... that Keith Meinhold, who
came out publicly in 1992, was allowed to stay in the
US Navy after a 1994 court decision as long as he did not say he was gay again?
... that
Kookaburra gold medalist Jamie Dwyer met his girlfriend while playing professional field hockey in the Netherlands?
... that "Do Ya Thang" was described as a return to
Rihanna's roots, which were notably present in the songs from her first studio album Music of the Sun?
... that until Judge
Sonia Sotomayor ordered the creation of Krimstock hearings, there was often no way for thousands of owners to promptly recover their seized vehicles from the
NYPD?
00:00, 7 April 2012 (UTC)
... that isochrone maps(pictured) have been used since 1972 or earlier, and that since 2009 online versions have been used by house hunters wishing to evaluate
residential areas?
... that the Portage Glacier Highway is made up of a series of eight roads, bridges, and tunnels?
... that
Samuel Barber derived his choral composition Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) from his successful Adagio for Strings, showing "the work's sense of spirituality"?
... that the role of the
Rhodesian head of government gradually evolved, between 1890 and 1970, from that of a
company-appointed administrator to the prime ministerial office of a republic?
... that the Dynasphere monowheel was criticized for its poor braking and steering capabilities, as well as its gerbiling tendencies?
00:00, 5 April 2012 (UTC)
... that there were so many pubs in
Monmouth's market place that they said "A gin court here, a gin court there, No wonder they call it Agincourt Square" (sign pictured)?
... that Atretochoana eiselti, the largest
tetrapod to lack lungs, was until late 2011 known only from two museum specimens whose origin was unknown?
... that when U.S.
President Johnson signed Executive Order 11375 in 1967 banning sex bias in federal government hiring, women held just 809 of more than 40,000 federal civil service jobs?
... that the ruins of the
Maya city of Mixco Viejo in
Guatemala received their name because they were believed to be the remains of another city entirely?
08:00, 4 April 2012 (UTC)
... that labor lawyer and activist Khaled Ali(pictured) filed a landmark lawsuit against the Egyptian government in 2010 and won a higher minimum wage for all workers?
... that when the Basque trade union movement
ELA-STV suffered a split in the 1970s, the dissident ELA-STV (Askatuta) was accused of being bankrolled by Opus Dei?
... that Tristram Coffin led a group of investors who bought
Nantucket for thirty pounds and two beaver hats?
... that because of his escape from captivity in 1188 through a sewer, the medieval monk and future
Abbot of EveshamRoger Norreis was nicknamed "Roger Cloacarius" or "Roger the Drain-Cleaner"?
... that with an area of 1,865 square kilometres (720 sq mi),
Siling Co in Xainza County is the second largest saltwater lake in the northern
Tibetan Plateau?
... that the racehorse St. Frusquin lost the 1896
Epsom Derby by merely a neck to his brother
Persimmon, whose winning time of 2:42.0 set a new Derby record?
... that a review of Plastic Flowers, a 1977 Indonesian film directed by
a man known for romances, found him unfit to direct but praised a robbery scene?
... that The Panther, the favourite for the 1919
Epsom Derby, became agitated before the race and finished unplaced, possibly due to the presence of a
mare ridden by a
mounted policeman?
... that Ralph Dewey(pictured) blows up animals for Jesus?
... that a University of Washington fake mathematician created as a student prank became the author of several well-received papers in research journals?
... that Toronto officials considered replacing their moose with unicorns?
... that in 2007, the owners of a hairy Fabulous Willy were criticised for being homosexual?
... that the opening of Eston railway station(pictured in 1902) enabled passengers to travel from
Middlesbrough, England, to California in only 15 minutes?
... that Mr Grumpy was once bombed by the Americans?
... that in 1985 differences of opinion on the tactics of
general strikes led to a split in the
Galician nationalist trade union movement and the founding of CXTG?
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.
30 April 2012
16:00, 30 April 2012 (UTC)
... that the flags hoisted by the Finnish icebreaker
Tarmo(pictured) on 3 March 1918 included a large white
tablecloth?
... that the Anacostia Community Museum was the first federally funded community museum in the United States?
... that Looking for Madonna, meant to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS in
Papua, used shots of a green bra to symbolise sex?
... that the Jarvislaunch vehicle was designed to deliver up to six satellites into different orbits on a single flight?
... that the website for the
viral videoKony 2012 crashed after the video became popular worldwide, but the video went on to have tens of millions of
page views on various websites?
... that "Snail" was the first woman to compete in an international motor race?
00:00, 27 April 2012 (UTC)
... that the male tropical rockmaster(pictured) can be distinguished from the male sapphire rockmaster by the size of the blue spots on the underside of its abdomen?
... that the number of ways to place n diagonally symmetric
rooks on an n × nchessboard in such a way that no two rooks attack each other is a telephone number?
... that although a Spanish treasure convoy was captured at the Action of 26 April 1797, the cargo had already been smuggled to safety aboard a fishing boat?
... that when Thomas M. Messer retired in 1988, after 27 years as director of the
Guggenheim Foundation, he had served longer than any other major museum director in New York City?
... that George Hubert Kemp, a
flying ace from
World War I, was fatally wounded on his last sortie, having shot down twelve enemy aircraft in the previous three weeks?
... that while the Rwanda women's national football team has not played a
FIFA-recognised match, a professional women's league in the country has attracted women from Uganda?
... that the Marlowe Academy(pictured), among "the worst schools in England", but now showing satisfactory progress, has a radio station on the
Isle of Thanet?
... that the Pacific leaping blenny is considered a
terrestrial fish, due to its ability to survive on land for several hours at a time?
... that Chinese politicians have engaged in debate over economic development using a metaphor for baking a cake?
... that soon after Jim Umbricht's death from melanoma in 1964, his brother flew above the
Astrodome construction site and scattered his ashes throughout the grounds?
... that as a result of the North Carolina Sullivan Acts,
Asheville is the only city in the state that cannot charge a higher water rate for consumers outside city limits?
... that Indonesian actress Sophia Latjuba received no fee for playing in her most recent film?
... that not long after it first appeared in 1631, the book Janua linguarum reserata(pictured) by
Comenius was published in translation in twelve European languages plus several Asian languages?
... that the 1925 Michigan football team allowed only three points all year and featured one of the sport's greatest passing combinations in "The Benny-to-Bennie Show"?
... that because the four founders of the Norwegian
ISPPowerTech Information Systems were still minors, the father of one of them became the company's first chairman?
... that until 1951, when the
Seward Highway was finished, in order for travelers to drive on the Hope Highway, they had to transport their cars on the
Alaska Railroad?
... that apartments in Jerusalem's Shmuel HaNavi neighborhood, near the street of the same name, have triple-thick concrete walls, roofs with gunner positions, and courtyards for mass troop call-ups?
... that West Virginia native Frank Harrigan led
Michigan to two
Big Ten basketball championships and played for the Cook Painter Boys' 1929 national championship team?
... that on the day the factory of Aspioti-ELKA in
Corfu obtained permission to move its equipment to
Athens, it got bombed?
... that Cherimoya's unanticipated victory at the 1911
Epsom Oaks(pictured), the only start of her career, left "the spectators too dumbfounded to cheer"?
... that an amendment to Slovakia's Citizenship Act, which states that any national who takes another citizenship loses their Slovak citizenship, was enacted in reaction to
Hungary's nationality law?
... that when early versions of iostat monitored multiprocessor computer systems, they could wrongly interpret one processor waiting for I/O to mean that all those in the system were waiting?
... that French sporting pioneer Camille du Gast was falsely accused of having posed nude for La Femme au Masque, but did not win the legal action she filed against her accuser?
... that the yellowhead wrasse changes both colour and sex during its life?
... that the vice-president of the Bahrain Teachers' Association, Jalila al-Salman, was sentenced to three years in prison for her involvement in the
2011–2012 uprising?
... that the 2012 Preston Passion featured thousands of Preston residents and included Surely He Hath Borne Our Griefs from
Handel's Messiah?
... that the Sudanese Socialist Republican Party was nicknamed 'Mr. Hawkesworth's Party', in reference to a rumour that a British colonial officer by that name had engineered it?
... that despite being handicapped, Bahraini engineer Abduljalil Alsingace was allegedly tortured by being forced to stand on one leg without crutches for prolonged periods?
... that a male and female pair of sand
stars, Archaster typicus, engage in
pseudocopulation so that when they
spawn, some two months later, they will do so simultaneously?
... that Job 600 cost over 4 million pounds to build and was completed in 1965 to showcase Ghana and Africa to the world?
... that Thamudarit, who according to legend reigned over the
Pagan Kingdom from 107 to 152
CE, was only proclaimed the founder of this kingdom in 1829?
... that State Highway 7 in the US state of Minnesota follows the Minnesota River National Scenic Byway along
Lac qui Parle by the state line?
... that A. Teeuw, despite resorting to guesswork, still encountered indecipherable data in his successful dissertation on a
Kakawin?
... that the black sea rod coral contains large quantities of a lipid,
prostaglandin A, which deters
predatory fish from feeding on it by making them vomit?
01:31, 18 April 2012 (UTC)
... that the rice stink bug(pictured), a major pest of rice kernels, can safely be ignored when found on standing
corn?
... that "Hill Street Station", the first episode of Hill Street Blues, suffered "confusion and conflict in its marketing" to the point that it was considered a surprise the show survived to be aired?
... that
minors were barred from digitally purchasing "Drips", a track from South Korean singer
Seven's mini-album Digital Bounce?
... that the Second World War
homing pigeonTyke won a gallantry medal for reporting the location of a downed American bomber?
... that there are more plants of Alloxylon flammeum(pictured) in cultivation than there are in the wild in its native Queensland?
... that the only Japanese passenger aboard the Titanic survived, but was then shunned as a coward in his home country for not going down with the ship?
... that the new Titanic Belfast visitor attraction tells the story of the ill-fated
RMS Titanic through interactive videos, audio, replicas and displays?
... that the Titanic Memorial in
Belfast(pictured) depicts a personification of Death holding a wreath above the head of a drowned sailor who is borne above the waves by mermaids?
... that following the 1973
Toulouse congress of
PSOE a group of veteran Spanish socialists organized the "Historical" UGT, claiming to represent the original
UGT trade union?
... that Shakespeare scholars used Ford's Hospital, Coventry(pictured), to understand Elizabethan doorways while planning the reconstruction of the
Globe Theatre?
... that the extinct witchalder Fothergilla malloryi(pictured) is the oldest confirmed member of the genus Fothergilla?
... that the animated short film Sex Life of Robots, showing sexual activity among robots, is described as "
art-
porn"?
... that it is customary for
Viktor Tsoi's fans to leave a broken lighted cigarette in the special ash plate at the Tsoi Wall?
... that between 1800 and 1890, some 25,000 to 50,000 slaves were captured in present-day Tanzania, Mozambique, and Malawi and forced to work on plantations in Somalia?
... that the Latvian mathematician Emanuels Grīnbergs lost his job and his doctoral degree for serving in the
German Army during World War II, but then regained both by writing a new thesis?
... that when the feathers left in the Round Island Lighthouse keepers' living quarters were identified, the lighthouse cat was banished from that
Scillonian island?
00:00, 14 April 2012 (UTC)
... that poet
William Wordsworth said of the site of Holy Trinity Church, Brathay(pictured), "there is no situation out of the Alps, nor among them, more beautiful than that where this building is placed"?
... that the Maoist Youth Union demanded that a "Youth Charter" be included in the new Spanish constitution?
... that baseball player Josh Edgin won the
Pennsylvania state championship in
wrestling, finishing fourth in the national championship?
... that Deonar is one of India's oldest and largest waste dumping grounds?
... that at its extreme, serfdom in Poland required a peasant to work eight days a week for his feudal lord?
08:00, 13 April 2012 (UTC)
... that prolific food writer and
reality TV judge Mary Berry's(pictured) first job was to visit consumers' homes to show them how to use their own electric cookers?
... that last name of Peter Spani, one of the founders of the
League of Lezhë in 1444, is derived from the Greek word spanos (
Greek: σπανός) which means beardless?
... that the woodland at Dizzard Point in
Cornwall, which is part of the Boscastle to WidemouthSSSI, is of international importance for its lichen communities?
... that while Chinese emperors had
stone tortoises guard their tombs, some of their subjects in Fujian were laid to rest under plaster tortoises(example pictured)?
... that the Gabonese Socialist Union, initially an opposition party founded by formerly exiled student activists, aligned itself with the then incumbent president
Omar Bongo?
... that the statue of Shaka at Birth at
Tōdai-ji(pictured) is the largest example of a type of statue anointed with sweet hydrangea tea on April 8 in celebration of
Buddha's Birthday?
... that Sister Jackie Hudson served six months in prison for painting "Christ lives, Disarm" on the side of a bunker?
... that the 1917–18 team was the University of Michigan's first basketball team after an eight-year hiatus and the only winless conference season in the school's history?
... that
Argentine celebrity Calu Rivero(pictured) was the first actress from
Catamarca Province to appear in national television, thus being named Illustrious Citizen of
Recreo, her hometown?
... that the Albanian nobility was absorbed into the
Ottoman military class through the implementation of the
timar system within not more than two generations?
... that according to some sources, bulb-bearing water-hemlock is one of the most poisonous leafy plants native to North America?
... that the racehorses Pennekamp in 1995 and King of Kings in 1998 were both winners of the
2000 Guineas in May, found lame after losing the
Epsom Derby in June, and then retired to stud soon after?
... that former churches in
Chichester,
West Sussex, have been converted into a doll museum, a betting shop and a Chinese takeaway, among other things?
11 April 2012
16:00, 11 April 2012 (UTC)
... that on the southern slopes of Maja e Thatë(pictured) lies the Cave of Haxhia, a Nature Monument of Albania, explored by
Polishspeleologists?
... that Henry Hallowell Farquhar, the leading scorer on the first Michigan Wolverines basketball team in 1909, became a professor at Harvard Business School?
... that
The Who's bassist
John Entwistle kept skeletons in the bedroom of his Victorian mansion Quarwood to frighten guests?
... that British World War II fighter ace Noel Agazarian was rejected by
Trinity College, Oxford, allegedly because its President objected to his ethnicity?
... that Polish writer Łukasz Orbitowski was one of the pioneers of setting
horror stories in mundane, modern Polish cities?
... that naval architect William K. MacCurdy developed the Hydra-Cushion rail coupling at
SRI International, significantly changing freight transportation?
... that over 16 million years ago, four species of parrot in the genus Nelepsittacus made their home in subtropical rainforest in what is now
Otago, New Zealand?
... that at the
Romanian Communist Party congress of November 1989, Emil Bobu countered delegates' flagging enthusiasm by shouting slogans and applauding vigorously, even interrupting leader
Nicolae Ceauşescu?
... that infants are so motivated to engage in joint attention that they will turn away from interesting sights to do so?
... that prior to taking up
athletics, Olympic long-distance runner Väinö Koskela was a member of the winning team at an under-18 cross-country skiing championship?
... that Cat Creek was the site of the first commercially successful
oil field in
Montana, producing oil so pure it could be used in
Model T cars straight from the ground?
... that fossil leaves indistinguishable from the living Tasmanian waratah(pictured) have been dug up from lower
Oligocene (28–34 million year old) rock strata?
... that The Yama Yama Man may be hiding behind a chair, "ready to spring out at you unaware"?
... that the 1999 documentary Private Dicks: Men Exposed, in which men were interviewed about their penises, was described by
Ken Tucker as "quite literally touching"?
... that the development of basketball as "almost a major sport" led the University of Michigan to form its first basketball team in 1909?
... that
Seaman Frank vowed "Do you think I'm going to let them get away with that? Not pygmalion likely!" after he lost his foot to a German raider?
... that Keith Meinhold, who
came out publicly in 1992, was allowed to stay in the
US Navy after a 1994 court decision as long as he did not say he was gay again?
... that
Kookaburra gold medalist Jamie Dwyer met his girlfriend while playing professional field hockey in the Netherlands?
... that "Do Ya Thang" was described as a return to
Rihanna's roots, which were notably present in the songs from her first studio album Music of the Sun?
... that until Judge
Sonia Sotomayor ordered the creation of Krimstock hearings, there was often no way for thousands of owners to promptly recover their seized vehicles from the
NYPD?
00:00, 7 April 2012 (UTC)
... that isochrone maps(pictured) have been used since 1972 or earlier, and that since 2009 online versions have been used by house hunters wishing to evaluate
residential areas?
... that the Portage Glacier Highway is made up of a series of eight roads, bridges, and tunnels?
... that
Samuel Barber derived his choral composition Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) from his successful Adagio for Strings, showing "the work's sense of spirituality"?
... that the role of the
Rhodesian head of government gradually evolved, between 1890 and 1970, from that of a
company-appointed administrator to the prime ministerial office of a republic?
... that the Dynasphere monowheel was criticized for its poor braking and steering capabilities, as well as its gerbiling tendencies?
00:00, 5 April 2012 (UTC)
... that there were so many pubs in
Monmouth's market place that they said "A gin court here, a gin court there, No wonder they call it Agincourt Square" (sign pictured)?
... that Atretochoana eiselti, the largest
tetrapod to lack lungs, was until late 2011 known only from two museum specimens whose origin was unknown?
... that when U.S.
President Johnson signed Executive Order 11375 in 1967 banning sex bias in federal government hiring, women held just 809 of more than 40,000 federal civil service jobs?
... that the ruins of the
Maya city of Mixco Viejo in
Guatemala received their name because they were believed to be the remains of another city entirely?
08:00, 4 April 2012 (UTC)
... that labor lawyer and activist Khaled Ali(pictured) filed a landmark lawsuit against the Egyptian government in 2010 and won a higher minimum wage for all workers?
... that when the Basque trade union movement
ELA-STV suffered a split in the 1970s, the dissident ELA-STV (Askatuta) was accused of being bankrolled by Opus Dei?
... that Tristram Coffin led a group of investors who bought
Nantucket for thirty pounds and two beaver hats?
... that because of his escape from captivity in 1188 through a sewer, the medieval monk and future
Abbot of EveshamRoger Norreis was nicknamed "Roger Cloacarius" or "Roger the Drain-Cleaner"?
... that with an area of 1,865 square kilometres (720 sq mi),
Siling Co in Xainza County is the second largest saltwater lake in the northern
Tibetan Plateau?
... that the racehorse St. Frusquin lost the 1896
Epsom Derby by merely a neck to his brother
Persimmon, whose winning time of 2:42.0 set a new Derby record?
... that a review of Plastic Flowers, a 1977 Indonesian film directed by
a man known for romances, found him unfit to direct but praised a robbery scene?
... that The Panther, the favourite for the 1919
Epsom Derby, became agitated before the race and finished unplaced, possibly due to the presence of a
mare ridden by a
mounted policeman?
... that Ralph Dewey(pictured) blows up animals for Jesus?
... that a University of Washington fake mathematician created as a student prank became the author of several well-received papers in research journals?
... that Toronto officials considered replacing their moose with unicorns?
... that in 2007, the owners of a hairy Fabulous Willy were criticised for being homosexual?
... that the opening of Eston railway station(pictured in 1902) enabled passengers to travel from
Middlesbrough, England, to California in only 15 minutes?
... that Mr Grumpy was once bombed by the Americans?
... that in 1985 differences of opinion on the tactics of
general strikes led to a split in the
Galician nationalist trade union movement and the founding of CXTG?