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This is a record of material that was recently featured on the Main Page as part of Did you know (DYK). Recently created new articles, greatly expanded former stub articles and recently promoted good articles are eligible; you can submit them for consideration.

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Did you know...

...that the Bordeaux winery Château Quinault was planned for destruction to build a new housing development?
...that soon after John Gabriel Jones helped convince the Virginia General Assembly to create Kentucky County, he was killed in an ambush led by Mingo chieftain Pluggy?
...that Robert Kennedy stayed at the Sportsmen's Lodge (sign pictured) (formerly the "Hollywood Trout Farms") in Studio City, California the night before his assassination?
...that Lee Bible had no experience in driving at land speed record speed when he was hired to drive the White Triplex in an attempt to take the record back from Henry Segrave?
...that Don Starkell and his son Dana paddled from Winnipeg, Manitoba to Belem, Brazil by canoe, a trip covering more than 12,000 miles (19,308 km)?
...that in 1877 the 4,000-seat Queen's Theatre staged a spectacular and expensive production of The Last Days of Pompeii that flopped: the earth did not quake, the volcano did not erupt, and acrobats fell onto the cast?
...that the Islamic Emirate of Bari in Southern Italy was conquered in 871 by Frankish and Lombard ground forces under Louis II of Italy, together with a Croatian fleet?
...that Kot Filemon is the hero of a Polish animated TV series by Academy Award-winning studio Se-ma-for?
...that leaders in Oswego, Oregon petitioned the United States Board on Geographic Names to change the name of the town's Sucker Lake to Oswego Lake (pictured)?
...that antiquarian Antonio Francesco Gori is alleged to have stolen Galileo's finger when the scientist's remains were transferred in 1737 to Santa Croce, Florence?
...that Gibraltar passports are full British passports which are particularly issued to Gibraltarians and only differ in some wording?
...that the 1901 Royal Norwegian Navy torpedo boat HNoMS Sæl was sunk by three German Schnellboots in 1940?
...that of Andrea Palladio's grand design for Palazzo Porto in Piazza Castello, Vicenza, ca 1571, only two bays were ever completed?
...that Major General Douglas Alexander Graham was once rescued by Victoria Cross recipient Henry May?
...that sunflowers have been used in rhizofiltration to remove radionuclides from contaminated water?
...that 'Opaeka'a Falls (pictured) on the Hawaiian island of Kauai is named after the native freshwater shrimp ("rolling shrimp" in Hawaiian) that "roll" down the falls?
...that Vice-Admiral Samuel Story was forced to surrender his Batavian fleet to the British navy without a fight in August 1799 because his officers started a mutiny?
...that KILI-FM started broadcasting in 1983 as the first Native American-owned radio station in the United States?
...that the United Kingdom House of Commons serves an English white wine called Fumé, produced by Wickham Vineyards?
...that Mavia was an Arab queen who in 378 AD personally led her troops out of southern Syria in revolt against Roman rule?
...that the 1979 Dechmont Woods Encounter in West Lothian, Scotland, is the only UFO sighting in the United Kingdom to have become the subject of a criminal investigation?
...that according to his hagiography, Saint Severus of Naples temporarily brought a man back from death in order to testify on the size of his debt and save his widow from slavery?
...that, instead of being displayed at the British Museum, the Warwick Vase (replica pictured), a Roman vase discovered at Hadrian's Villa in about 1771, was restored and preserved in a greenhouse at Warwick Castle?
...that despite inundating Omaha, Nebraska for more than 26 days the Great Flood of 1881 killed only two people there?
...that Moses, the first Arab Orthodox bishop, administered his duties while journeying with a nomadic confederation of Arabs in the fourth century?
...that Cuban First Lady Marta Fernandez Miranda de Batista became a contributor to Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital while in exile in Florida?
...that during the English Civil War, the Crown Inn in Nantwich, Cheshire was used as a place of worship, as the church was used as a prison?
...that Alene B. Duerk, head of the Navy Nurse Corps, was the first woman in the U.S. Navy to be promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral?
...that some legislatures resort to literally stopping the clock in order to meet constitutional or statutory deadlines?
...that according to Muisca mythology, Bochica (statue pictured) saved his people from a flood by creating the Tequendama Falls with a strike from his staff?
...that the effects of Hurricane Dennis in Alabama included $127 million dollars (2005 USD) in damage and three injuries?
...that despite dramatically improving the quality of education at Transylvania University, Horace Holley was forced to resign as the university's president over doctrinal differences with the Presbyterian Church?
...that the history of winemaking in Luxembourg, primarily in vineyards overlooking the Moselle River, goes back to Ancient Roman times?
...that Edward Cocker's Arithmetick was such a popular textbook of mathematics that over 100 editions were published over a period of more than a century?
...that, when the Comintern appointed him general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party, Alexander Danieliuk-Stefanski was still a member of the Communist Party of Poland and could not speak Romanian?
...that television critics have speculated as to how the 30 Rock episode "MILF Island" will avoid explaining the meaning of "MILF" since the last letter stands for an obscene word?
...that the Church of St Mary on the Rock, originally a house for the Céli Dé of St Andrews, was the first collegiate church in Scotland?
...that the Azov Cossack Host was the only Cossack Unit in the Russian Empire that had a naval role?
...that legendary Polish boxing champion Antoni Czortek fought for his life in boxing matches while at Auschwitz?
...that Puslinch Lake is the largest kettle lake in North America?
...that the authorship of the Declaration of Arbroath has been attributed by some to Bernard the Abbot of Arbroath?
...that the postmodernist Romanian writer Ruxandra Cesereanu retold Arthurian legends and co-authored poems through e-mail with the American Andrei Codrescu?
...that the cabinet of former Norwegian Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland resigned following a 1.9% drop in the popular vote?
...that Stalag fiction was a genre of Israeli pornography about concentration camp imprisonment, brutalization by female SS guards, and the prisoners' revenge?
...that Chorley Old Hall, the oldest inhabited country house in Cheshire, consists of two ranges, one medieval (c.1300) (pictured), the other Elizabethan (mid-16th century)?
...that the traditional Scottish folk song Ye Jacobites by Name was re-written by Robert Burns around 1791?
...that Amaranthus brownii, an endangered species of pigweed endemic to the Northwestern Hawaiian Island of Nihoa, was discovered in 1923, but has not been seen in the wild for twenty-five years?
...that although Desmond Lardner-Burke, Minister of Justice in Rhodesia, died in the 1980s, his name appeared on the electoral roll for the Zimbabwean parliamentary election, 2008?
...that mutations of the ATN1 gene result in dentatorubral-pallidoluysian atrophy, a neurological disorder with diverse problems as dementia, ataxia, seizures and obstructive sleep apnea?
...that, by the time the Florida Supreme Court finally ruled that William D. Bloxham had won the 1870 Lieutenant Governor election, it was 1872 and the term was effectively over?
...that after being captured by the rebel ruler An Lushan, the Tang Dynasty general Geshu Han offered to write letters to persuade other Tang generals to surrender to An?
...that the Roanoke Building sits on the site of a former building by the same name that was once an official climate site for the National Weather Service?
...that Karl Schnibbe was one of a group of three Hamburg teenagers arrested by the Gestapo in Nazi Germany during World War II for distributing anti-Hitler pamphlets?
...that Cuban Colonel Ramón Barquín, who unsuccessfully attempted to overthrow Fulgencio Batista in 1956, later founded Atlantic College and several other educational institutions while in exile in Puerto Rico?
...that after making the first ascent of the remote Mount Lucania, Robert Bates was forced to survive on squirrels and mushrooms during his 156-mile (251 km) trek out of the wilderness?
...that Hulme Arch Bridge in Manchester follows the design of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri, and rejoins two halves of a road that was sundered in 1969?
...that slate and stylus were invented by Louis Braille and Charles Barbier for blind people to write braille?
...that dairyman Henry W. Jeffers, a founder of Plainsboro Township, New Jersey, invented a bacteriology counter, a feed calculator, and an automated cow milking system?
...that Manitoba Provincial Road 373 became famous after a band from Norway House won an award for an album named after the highway?
...that Scottish footballer John Cushley was a modern languages graduate who acted as translator when Celtic F.C. attempted to sign Real Madrid striker Alfredo Di Stéfano in 1964?
...that the 1944 Appalachians tornado outbreak was the worst tornado outbreak in West Virginia history?
...that the edible mushroom Marasmius alliaceus tastes and smells like garlic?
...that Claire Clairmont blamed Lord Byron for the death of their daughter Allegra Byron?
...that scientists are unsure why Lake Phalen, in Saint Paul, Minnesota, is home to a population of rainbow darters, a fish normally found in fast moving streams?
...that 50 years after winning A£100 in a fridge decorating competition, Australian artist Robert Dickerson commands from A$80,000 for a painting today?
...that approximately half of the distributed water in Ghana is lost as non-revenue water due to leakage and illegal connections?
...that the Comer Strait in the Canadian Arctic, and the Gallinula comeri, the flightless moorhen of Gough Island, were both named after whaling Captain George Comer?
...that Ince Manor and Saighton Grange Gatehouse are the only two surviving monastic manorial buildings in Cheshire, UK?
...that the tallest building in Minneapolis, Minnesota is the 792-foot (241 m) IDS Tower (pictured)?
...that the Tang Dynasty general Wang Zhongsi was raised inside the palace of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang after Wang's father was killed in battle in army service when he was still young?
...that the Congolese artist Bodys Isek Kingelez was a restorer of African tribal masks before he began to create his models of fantasy cities?
...that due to the its economic growth, Taiwan served as a showcase for Japan's propaganda on the colonial efforts throughout Asia, as displayed during the 1935 Taiwan Exposition?
...that Miller's Court in Dorset Street was the location of the last murder by Jack the Ripper on November 9, 1888?
...that Omaha, Nebraska's Peony Park became famous after the Lawrence Welk Band made it their official headquarters during the Great Depression?
...that Hau Lung-pin, Mayor of Taipei, refused to update signage at nearby bus and metro stops to reflect the renaming of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall to National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall?
...that the Frédéric Chopin monument in Warsaw, Poland, was designed by Wacław Szymanowski in 1907, erected in 1926, destroyed by the Germans in 1940, and reconstructed in 1958?
...that a year after Richard William Briginshaw entered the House of Lords as a life peer, he wrote a pamphlet calling for it to be abolished?
...that Japanese film tycoon Haruki Kadokawa built a full-size replica of Columbus' flagship Santa Maria which sailed from Barcelona to Japan?
...that the Temple of Divus Augustus was a major temple in imperial Rome dedicated to the first Roman emperor, Augustus, and completed by his adoptive grandson Caligula?
...that Hans P. Kraus claimed he was the only bookdealer to have owned both a Gutenberg Bible and the two Mainz Psalters?
...that the Fiji Woodswallow (pictured) is highly aggressive to predators and will harass the much larger Fiji Goshawk and Peregrine Falcon?
...that the Baháʼí Faith is one of only a few non-Christian religions recognised by the government of Cameroon?
...that Governor of New York David Paterson chose Jon Cohen as his Chief Advisor, although Cohen briefly ran against him for Lieutenant Governor?
...that "Maphriyono" (Maphrian) meaning, "to make fruitful", or "one who gives fecundity" is another term for Catholicos of India?
...that Dodge Street in Omaha, Nebraska is often erroneously said to be a namesake of Union Pacific Railroad chief engineer Grenville Dodge, when it was actually named for Iowa Senator Augustus C. Dodge?
...that a biography of Saladin, the 12th-century sultan of Egypt and Syria, written by his friend and confidant Baha ad-Din ibn Shaddad, is still in print after seven centuries?
...that Herm Doscher and his son Jack were the first pair of father and son to have both played Major League Baseball?
...that the earliest known portrait of Frédéric Chopin, painted by Ambroży Mieroszewski in 1829 when the composer was nineteen (pictured), was lost in the opening days of World War II?
...that Saint Paul, Minnesota was once known as "Pig's Eye"?
...that during the Third American Karakoram Expedition's attempt to climb K2, Pete Schoening saved the lives of six falling climbers?
...that Flora Sandes, who served with the Serbian Army, was the only British woman to officially enrol as a soldier in World War I?
...that Sara Larraín, who finished in fifth place in the 1999 Chilean presidential election, was a founder and the first director of Greenpeace in Chile?
...that the Australian states of New South Wales and Queensland both set rainfall records in 1950?
...that Mary Meader, best known for taking more than 1,000 aerial pictures, was also a major philanthropist, once giving US$4 million to Western Michigan University?
...that Chai Trong-rong, a Taiwanese legislator, was unable to return to Taiwan while studying abroad because he was placed on the Kuomintang's black list?
...that the parents of Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini gave him the middle name "Amilcare" in honour of the revolutionary anarchist Amilcare Cipriani (pictured)?
...that Myrialepis paradoxa, a species of palm trees native to Southeast Asia, is used to make thatched baskets?
...that, on a per capita basis, foreign aid donated by Saudi Arabia is one of the highest in the world?
...that at a cost of $7.9 billion, Meghna Bridge in Bangladesh is the single largest project with Japanese assistance in the world?
...that Brazilian singer Maria Bethânia released her first recording the same year as her brother Caetano Veloso, even though he was four years older?
...that in a Maranao myth, the Agus River was constructed to prevent Lake Lanao from becoming an ocean?
...that the Malay kite, a model of kite used for hundreds of years in the Far East and introduced to the West in 1894, is known to have provided the inspiration for the now very widespread and popular "Eddy" kite design?
...that Luis Palau, an evangelical minister based in Portland, Oregon, has collaborated with government leaders in Portland and neighboring cities, and 500 Christian pastors, to rally volunteers to address homelessness?
...that troco (pictured), also called "trucks" or "lawn billiards", is a traditional English lawn game played with wooden balls and long-handled cues at the ends of which are spoonlike ovals of iron?
...that the Colonel Wright was the first steamboat to run on the Snake River?
...that at the height of Wally Phillips' radio career, roughly half the entire Chicago listening audience, or about 1.5 million listeners, tuned into his show?
...that at the Council of Acre in 1148, the decision was made to attack Damascus, leading to the failure of the Second Crusade?
...that Scottish actor Russell Hunter was so concerned about being identified with "Lonely", the anxious, smelly sidekick he played in the 1960's spy series Callan, that he took pains to smell nice?
...that of the twenty-five clipper ships owned by the Loch Line, which operated between the United Kingdom and Australia, seventeen were lost at sea?
...that Pasquale Condello of the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta, recently captured by Italian police in February 2008, was previously sentenced in absentia to four life prison terms plus another 22 years in jail?
...that Charles D. Poston (pictured) petitioned the Shah of Persia for funds to build a Parsi fire temple near Florence, Arizona?
...that the utility of heavy water as a moderator in a nuclear reactor was demonstrated by Klara Döpel and her husband Robert in the 1940s?
...that Montreal Canadiens forward Maurice "Rocket" Richard was named the three best players of a National Hockey League playoff match, earning himself all three stars?
...that Emperor Xuanzong of Tang had the eunuch Gao Lishi strangle Consort Yang Yuhuan to prevent a rebellion by the imperial guards angry at her?
...that Gustav Christian Schwabe decided to finance Thomas Henry Ismay's venture, the White Star Line, during a game of billiards?
...that in the 2007 documentary film Autism: The Musical, five autistic children in Los Angeles develop and star in an original stage production?
...that the Palazzo Filangeri-Cutò, featured in Giuseppe di Lampedusa's bestselling novel The Leopard and the 1963 Luchino Visconti film of the same name, was almost totally destroyed in a 1968 earthquake?
...that American showman Michael B. Leavitt staged the anti-Mormon play The Danites in the Mormon capital, Salt Lake City, Utah, as a publicity stunt?
...that Lytocaryum weddellianum, an endangered species of palm trees endemic to Brazil, may be saved from extinction as it has become a common potted plant in Europe?
...that the ancient Egyptians set up hundreds of ka statues in Abydos so the dead could participate in religious festivals?
...that the decision of a Pennsylvania provincial court in 1764, The King v. Haas, is one of the first attempts to apply the writ of habeas corpus in the Thirteen Colonies?
...that when Masashi Kishimoto was creating the characters of the Naruto manga, he used other shōnen manga as references, including Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball?
...that the former Australian Supreme Court justice and barrister, Sir John Vincent Barry, qualified as a lawyer after graduating from an articled clerk course?
...that the yellow livery of the German postal service was decreed by the Allied Control Council in 1946?
...that during a Viking funeral, human sacrifice was performed with sexual rites?
...that Foxy Brown namechecks Sean Combs on the song Pretty Girl Bullsh*t?
...that Woodside, Utah is a ghost town with a roadside cold water geyser?
...that Groucho Marx joined Hillcrest Country Club even though it was willing to have him as a member?
...that footballer Henry Martin scored on his Sunderland début against Liverpool, then again the following day against their neighbours Everton?
...that Retired Rear Admiral Roberta L. Hazard, once the highest ranking woman in the U.S. military, was a history teacher before she joined the navy?
...that every receipt issued by Taiwanese businesses, known as the Uniform Invoice, is also a lottery ticket?
...that part of the northern Oklahoma State Highway 92 is named after country singer Garth Brooks?
...that Judge James Yates resigned from the New York State Supreme Court to become General counsel to the Governor of New York David Paterson?
...that the Tegg's Nose Country Park in Cheshire has a collection of historical quarrying equipment (pictured) dating back to the 16th century?
...that Don Nicholson was so dominant that critics predicted the demise of the new Funny Car "craze"?
...that the New Guinean mouse Pseudohydromys germani is one of two rodent species to have only two molars in each jaw?
...that more than a dozen artists have recorded live albums in the back room of McCabe's Guitar Shop, including Tom Waits, Beck, and R.E.M.?
...that Gustav Wilhelm Wolff was nicknamed Teutonic in the British House of Commons after a steamship built by his company Harland & Wolff?
...that the Michigan Wolverines' practice of parading their live mascot Biff before matches was stopped as the animal grew larger and more ferocious?
...that Viet Nam Vong Quoc Su, a history text by Vietnamese nationalist Phan Boi Chau, changed the style of prose used in Vietnamese writing?
...that St Stephen's Church in Macclesfield Forest, Cheshire still practises a rush-bearing ceremony, largely abandoned in the 17th century?
...that at less than 11 feet (3.4 m) wide, the Skinny House (pictured) is the narrowest house in Boston, Massachusetts?
...that the fact that no one has been arrested in the murder of Indian ex-parliamentarian Ehsan Jafri is seen as evidence of government complicity?
...that Stone Bridge in Saint Petersburg, Russia was so steep, that in the 19th century bus passengers had to disembark in order for the bus to go over it?
...that attractions at Indianapolis, Indiana's White City Amusement Park included baby incubators and a Mount Vesuvius reenactment?
...that the Veterans for Peace erect a memorial called Arlington West every Sunday at Santa Monica Beach consisting of a cross in the sand for each U.S. military person who has died in the Iraq War?
...that since as early as the 10th century, Nabulsi soap, a traditional olive oil-based soap, has been exported across the Arab world and even to Europe?
...that prior to screening The Round-Up in Cannes, in order to appease the Hungarian government, director Miklós Jancsó had to declare the film was not an allegory of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956?
...that the fire and explosion of SS Fort La Monte wrecked the nearby Royal Navy destroyer HMS Arrow (pictured)?
...that John Latenser, Sr., an early architect in Omaha, Nebraska, designed more than 12 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places?
...that Michigan State University, which gave technical assistance to South Vietnam from 1955 to 1962, provided cover for the CIA?
...that the globe in the initial release of the NT$1,000 fifth series of the New Taiwan Dollar banknote was mirror-reversed?
...that the Hatfield Government Center light rail station in Hillsboro, Oregon, was the busiest on the Westside MAX extension within a year of opening?
...that Giampietro Campana financed his collection of Roman sculpture, Greek vases and Etruscan and Greek gold jewelry in part by embezzling money from the Papal pawnbroker?
...that in 1976, people reported feeling a floating sensation as they jumped in the air, caused by a Jovian-Plutonian gravitational effect?
...that King Lancelot ended his life in a monastery in Dijon?
...that Wiener sausages are named after the mathematician Norbert Wiener?
...that the winner of the Ernie Awards is the person who gets the loudest boos from the audience?
...that the 31 mi (50 km) West Rim Trail along the Grand Canyon was selected by Outside Magazine as the best hike in Pennsylvania?
...that although presidents of Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan have been requested to give technical advice about software patches in open-source computer operating systems, only the Ukrainian president did so?
...that the World Snail Racing Championships were held annually for over 40 years, with only the 2007 event cancelled due to inclement weather?
...that James Garner sent two of his associates into a room filled with toxic chlorine gas?
...that Jan Wils won a gold medal in architectural design in art competitions at the 1928 Summer Olympics for his design of the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam?
...that the 24 Hours of LeMons includes such penalties as tarring and feathering a racer's car and crushing a car via audience vote (crushing of a car pictured)?
...that John F. Kennedy was shot dead in an ambush by government agents who had foreknowledge of his whereabouts?
...that Weber kettle grills are actually made out of buoys cut in half?
...that American entrepreneur Timothy Dexter defied the popular idiom and actually made a profit when he sold coal to Newcastle?
...that six latrines at Black Moshannon State Park in Pennsylvania are listed on the National Register of Historic Places?
...that Ben Affleck died while shoveling snow outside of his house, leaving behind an unexpectedly small estate speculated to be worth as little as US$20,000?
...that men are able to be insured against alien impregnation?
...that in a few villages and towns of southern France and Spain it is illegal to die, and that there are attempts to have the same law in a town in Brazil?
...that the student cheering section of the Penn State Nittany Lions men's basketball team is known as the Nittany Nation?
...that the species name of South Africa's Eastern Cape Blue Cycad (pictured), horridus, is Latin for 'bristly', after the plant's stiff, spiny leaflets?
...that Charles-Edward Amory Winslow was the founding professor of the Yale School of Public Health and the first editor-in-chief of the Journal of Bacteriology?
...that the Roman fort Longovicium has one of the best preserved ancient aqueducts in Britain?
...that Crispin Sanchez, a pioneer of education and sports among Mexican Americans in South Texas, turned down an opportunity to play baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals in order to attend college?
...that a higher H-point in an automobile design would lead to more legroom in the vehicle?
...that numerous wells and springs were dedicated to Saint Quirinus of Neuss, who was invoked against the bubonic plague, smallpox, gout, and a siege of the city of Neuss during the Burgundian Wars?
...that in Medellín v. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court held that, absent an act of Congress or Constitutional authority, the U.S. President lacks the power to enforce decisions of the International Court of Justice?
...that Robert Mondavi recommended that Christian Moueix establish his Dominus Estate winery in the Napa Valley?
...that Zygmunt Szendzielarz (pictured), regarded as one of the persons responsible for the Dubingiai massacre in 1944, got a posthumous award from Polish president Lech Kaczyński in 2007?
...that Dauer Sportwagen converted Porsche 962C racing cars into street-legal road cars, then converted them back into race cars in order to exploit a rulebook loophole and win the 1994 24 Hours of Le Mans?
...that Swedish–Ukrainian relations have long traditions and that the Swedish king Charles XII was named protector of Ukraine in the first Ukrainian constitution of 1710 and that Hetman Pylyp Orlyk lived in Sweden 1716–1720?
...that the practices of the Followers of Christ church in Oregon, United States, which include faith healing and forbid medical treatment, prompted a 1999 state law making parents liable if their children are harmed by a lack of treatment?
...that Georgia Tech professor Rebecca Grinter supervised a 2005 study which found that iTunes users in the workplace experience "playlist anxiety"?
...that Firestar's Quest, a book in the Warriors fantasy novel series, has been translated into Russian?
...that Mahendranath Gupta (pictured) was closely associated with two notable figures in Hinduism—as a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna and as a teacher to Paramahansa Yogananda?
...that Captain Michael Heck was an American B-52 pilot in the Vietnam War who became a conscientious objector and refused to continue bombing North Vietnamese targets during the Christmas operation of 1972?
...that Acorn Antiques The Musical was directed by Trevor Nunn and opened at the Theatre Royal Haymarket with a three month sell-out run?
...that footballer Graham Lewis was nearly prevented from making his début for Belper Town F.C. when the referee and assistant referee failed to spot his name on the team sheet?
...that Tony Dungy is the winningest coach, among Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coaches?
...that Thomas Rawson Birks, Cambridge Professor, used science and theology to reason that other stars did not have their own planets?
...that, inspired by Sylvester Stallone's experience selling the script for Rocky, actor/screenwriter J. P. Davis refused to sell his script for the film Fighting Tommy Riley unless he was guaranteed to play the lead?
...that the 1947 song "Pico and Sepulveda" by Felix Figueroa & His Orchestra about an intersection along LA's Pico Boulevard (pictured) was frequently featured on Dr. Demento's syndicated radio show?
...that the steamboat Flyer, which by 1930 had covered more miles than any other dedicated inland vessel, had an imperfectly sealed hull, causing it to list to port throughout its working life?
...that the Haitian military leader and former slave Lamour Desrances allied with the enemies of Haitian Revolutionary hero Toussaint Louverture in the War of the Knives?
...that when Demi Moore appeared nude on the cover of Vanity Fair in the Joanne Gair/Annie Leibovitz body painting/photograph Demi's Birthday Suit, it commemorated More Demi Moore's one-year anniversary?
...that Shaw University’s Leonard Hall housed the first class of four year African-American medical students in the United States?
...that jazz drummer Butch Ballard was hired by Duke Ellington as a backup drummer due to the excessive drinking of his regular drummer Sonny Greer?
...that Evergreen Lutheran High School lost its lease in DuPont, Washington in 1988 and has been looking for another site while sharing land at a local church?
...that the Hofkirche (Court Church) in Innsbruck was built by Ferdinand I as a mausoleum for his grandfather, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor?
...that wine writer André Simon had only two magnums of claret in his cellar when he died in 1970, believing that "a man dies too young if he leaves any wine in his cellar"?
...that Hindus believe that god Vishnu falls asleep in the cosmic ocean of milk on the cosmic serpent, for a period of four months on the day of Shayani Ekadashi?
...that Gloria Shayne Baker and Noel Regney co-wrote the Do You Hear What I Hear? Christmas carol as a plea for peace during the Cuban Missile Crisis?
...that Reginald Turvey, "The Father of the Baháʼís of South Africa", spent 13 years unaware that there were fellow believers in the Baháʼí Faith in his country?
...that before the Second World War, the Synagogue in Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva apart from religious functions, was also used as a lecture hall for Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva?
...that stems and sheaths of Korthalsia palm trees, named after Dutch botanist P. W. Korthals who first collected them from Indonesia, can be made into rope?
...that the first Estonian stamps (example pictured) were put into circulation in November 1918?
...that Native American Thomas Wakeman organized the first Sioux Indian YMCA at Flandreau, Dakota Territory on April 27 1879?
...that the uncompleted Montana-class battleships would have had a heavier broadside than the Yamato-class battleships?
...that it took Midvinterblot, a controversial painting from Sweden, 82 years and a detour to a Japanese collector before it could finally be installed where it was intended to be?
...that Captain Frederick Lewis Maitland received the final surrender of Napoleon Bonaparte aboard his ship HMS Bellerophon after the Napoleonic Wars?
...that ITV Network Centre did not want to broadcast the first series of Cold Feet at 9 p.m. because that was a timeslot traditionally reserved for programmes that viewers could do their ironing to?
...that the proposed WALLY commuter rail line in southeast Michigan would run over track first laid over one hundred years ago?
...that a Carley float was a liferaft fashioned from a large ring of copper tubing surrounded by cork and canvas?
...that in 1806, Murrays' Mills in Ancoats, Manchester was the largest mill complex in the world?
...that Kitty Kielland had to take private landscape painting lessons from Hans Gude because she was a woman?
...that Andrei Kravchuk gave up his almost-completed master's degree in Mathematics to study film after Aleksei German offered him a job as a director's assistant?
...that Isaac Moores, Sr. served in the Oregon Territorial Legislature, with his son Isaac Moores, Jr. later serving in the Oregon State Legislature?
...that the hero of the Loch Ard disaster, Tom Pearce, lost one of his sons when the Loch Vennachar was wrecked off Kangaroo Island in 1905?
...that Richard Nixon credited Tony Mazzocchi with being the primary force behind enactment of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970?
...that Theophilus Browne disagreed with his congregations at Cambridge and Warminster and he was paid to leave the Octagon Chapel in Norwich in 1809?
...that Lord Francis Douglas fell 4,000 feet (1,200 m) to his death shortly after sharing in the first ascent of the Matterhorn (pictured)?
...that the oldest steam locomotive in Switzerland is an Engerth locomotive, a form of Articulated locomotive?
...that the Tlaxcaltec forces led by Xicotencatl II "The Younger" had nearly defeated the army of Hernán Cortés when he was ordered to ally with them instead?
...that the founder of Byzantine studies in Germany is Hieronymus Wolf who, approximately 100 years after the fall of Byzantium, began to edit and translate Byzantine literature?
...that the influence of wine critic Robert Finigan declined when he panned the 1982 Bordeaux vintage, which Robert Parker described as one of greatest of the century?
...that East Smithfield was given to the Knighten Guild by King Edgar, after they each performed three combats—one above the ground, one below, and one on water?
...that the Dunning House (pictured) in Wawayanda, New York, has features from several different 19th-century architectural styles?
...that the sinking of the ferry Greycliffe with the loss of 40 lives in 1927 was the deadliest shipping accident ever in Sydney Harbour, Australia?
...that the Fortress of Przemyśl was the site of one of the largest sieges of the First World War, the Siege of Przemyśl?
...that the Forum Against Islamophobia and Racism is a Muslim advocacy group which monitors media coverage of Islam and Muslims in the U.K.?
...that Jeremy Doner was the first student at Harvard University to write a screenplay as a creative thesis?
...that according to Inca mythology, lunar eclipses are caused by animals attacking Mama Quilla, the goddess of the moon?
...that American four-star admiral Lynde D. McCormick became NATO's first Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic despite opposition from British prime minister Winston Churchill?
...that the Bourbon County Confederate Monument (pictured) is unique for being shaped like a thirty-foot (nine-meter) chimney?
...that the Roman Baths of Strand Lane were featured in David Copperfield?
...that Chen Chi-mai received the flag of the World Games and officially made Kaohsiung the host city of World Games 2009?
...that production of the cervelat, the Swiss national sausage, is set to cease in 2008, causing a public upset in Switzerland?
...that Polish Countess Delfina Potocka served as muse to both Romantic poet Count Zygmunt Krasiński and composer Frédéric Chopin—who both wrote works in her honor?
...that the title of the film Woman Is the Future of Man comes from a line in a poem by Louis Aragon that the director Hong Sang-soo saw printed on a French postcard?
...that John Blackner, who wrote a history of Nottingham in 1815, explained why the anti-industrial group was called Luddites; a group he may have been a member of?
...that when the commander of the German forces in the Dodecanese came to surrender aboard HMS Kimberley, he did so aboard a captured British Motor Launch?
...that the historical landmark U-Drop Inn (pictured), located on Route 66 in Shamrock, Texas, was the inspiration for the fictional Ramone's body shop in the 2006 Disney and Pixar film Cars?
...that the Occupational Safety and Health Act went into effect in the United States on April 28, 1971, the same day as Workers' Memorial Day?
...that William M. Bass, a forensic anthropologist at the University of Tennessee, established the "Original Body Farm" in 1971 to study decomposition in cadavers?
...that Oregon State athletic director Percy Locey claimed that the Philadelphia Athletics stole John Leovich from the college, yet he ended up playing only one major league game?
...that the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union called off a merger with the United Mine Workers just two hours before the unions planned to announce the agreement?
...that one of Kentucky's first two judges, James John Floyd, was once a privateer?
...that Drew Goddard described writing the fourth-season episode titled "The Shape of Things to Come" as possibly his best experience while working on the television show Lost?
...that a replica of the château from the Bordeaux wine estate Château Beauregard was constructed for the Guggenheim family on Long Island, New York?
...that the Confederate Monument in Cynthiana, Kentucky was the first monument to the Confederate States of America in Kentucky, and long believed to be the first one anywhere?
...that traditional artisans in one village in the Bagmundi area of Purulia district in West Bengal make the masks used in Chhau dance?
...that a curse supposedly placed on Írgalach mac Conaing by Saint Adomnán for the killing of Niall mac Cernaig Sotal was said to be linked to Conaing's death in battle a year later?
...that Katie Sierra was accused of treason and suspended from high school in October 2001 for attempting to start an anarchist club?
...that Germany still held 1.2 million Russian prisoners of war in December 1918, nine months after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk obliged it to release them?
...that The Unicorn and the Wasp will be the first comedic episode in the science fiction television series Doctor Who since the 1966 serial The Gunfighters?
...that the number of recognized species of palm trees in the genus Hydriastele has jumped from 9 to 48 in the last four years?
...that when Catalyst museum (pictured) in Widnes, Cheshire was opened in 1989, it was the world's first museum devoted to the chemicals industry?
...that bad advice from Flaithbertach mac Inmainén, abbot of Scattery Island and chief adviser to King Cormac mac Cuilennáin, is said to have caused a war in which Cormac and many others died?
...that The Curse of Steptoe, a 2008 television play based upon the making of the BBC sitcom Steptoe and Son, gained the highest audience figures to date for BBC Four?
...that the Battle of Beaune-la-Rolande resulted in the death of the French impressionist painter Frédéric Bazille whilst leading his unit in the attack?
...that although he is famous for inventing the Crampton locomotive, Thomas Crampton was also responsible for the world's first international submarine telegraph cable?
...that scriptwriter Richard Baer's writing credits for television included twenty-three episodes of Bewitched and five episodes of The Munsters?
...that Captain Philip Beaver (pictured) once read the entire Encyclopædia Britannica during one of his cruises?
...that in February 1944, the retreating forces of Nazi Germany razed the Gdov Kremlin almost entirely with only its walls remaining?
...that Leon Greenman was reportedly the only Englishman sent to Auschwitz?
...that Carl Størmer, "the acknowledged authority" on aurorae and the motion of charged particles in the magnetosphere, began his academic career inventing formulae for π?
...that Quite Interesting Limited provides the research for UK TV programme QI and The Museum of Curiosity?
...that the Somers Hamlet Historic District in Westchester County, New York includes the Elephant Hotel considered the birthplace of the American circus?
...that after Edward Phelan was acquitted of murder, indicted on perjury charges and killed by companions in self-defense, one of the largest lakes in Saint Paul, Minnesota was named after him?
...that Haulotte Group are the third-biggest manufacturer of aerial work platforms (pictured) in the world?
...that apart from blowflies, some flesh-eating beetles can also be used by forensic entomologists in determining the time of death of a corpse?
...that Artie Wilson, who hit .402 in 1948 with the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro Leagues, is often considered the last professional major league baseball player to bat over .400 for a season?
...that the Palestinian town of Jifna, believed to be the biblical Gophna, was a Roman regional capital and considered the second most important town in Iudaea after Jerusalem?
...that photographer Stewart Shining has shot photos for the covers of both the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and the People Magazine Most Beautiful People issue?
...that the Church of St James the Great, Haydock, Merseyside was built with timber framing because its flexibility would provide greater protection against possible mining subsidence?
...that the Roman Emperor Maximian (coin pictured) was forced to abdicate on three separate occasions?
...that the presence of certain insects in a corpse may be indicators of elder or child abuse?
...that photographer Raphael Mazzucco has had images on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in each of the last four years?
...that Invicta was the steam locomotive built by Robert Stephenson and Company after building the Rocket?
...that in the 1934 film Evergreen the actress Jessie Matthews played both mother and daughter?
...that drag racer Al Hofmann had to get a friend to come over to start his first Funny Car?
...that Collected Cases of Injustice Rectified by Song Chinese investigator Song Ci documents some of the earliest work in forensic entomology?
...that the earliest full-length portrait of Elizabeth I by Tudor court painter Steven van der Meulen, was auctioned by Sotheby's in 2007 for £2.6 million, more than twice its expected maximum?
...that the goddess Hathor (pictured) was worshipped by miners in ancient Egypt?
...that Children and Youth Sports Schools, which originated in the Soviet Union, continue in Russia, and form the basis of the modern system in the People's Republic of China?
...that the Nokomis Community Library, named for Nokomis in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's The Song of Hiawatha, is the only library in the Minneapolis Public Library System to be named for a fictional character?
...that despite being appointed to the usually profitable post of comptroller to Prince Charles in 1616, John Vaughan, 1st Earl of Carbery later claimed that serving the Prince had cost him £20,000?
...that the steam locomotive thought for many years to be Timothy Hackworth's Bradyll may, in fact, be Thomas Richardson's Nelson?
...that journalist Néstor Mata was the sole survivor of the 1957 Cebu Douglas C-47 crash which killed Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay and 24 others?
...that the French once had an outpost called La Belle, where Louisville now stands?
...that John Orloff was inspired to write his own screenplay when his wife, working for the HBO network, continually brought home "awful" scripts?
...that the medieval wall paintings in the Norfolk church of Crostwight include one of the Seven Deadly Sins (pictured)?
...that activist Michael Mansell convinced Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi to recognise an Aboriginal Australian passport to draw world attention to the issue of Aboriginal land rights?
...that the St. Paul A.M.E. Church in Raleigh, North Carolina, founded in 1884, was the first independent African-American church in Raleigh?
...that when the 1987 America's Cup was raced off Fremantle, Western Australia it was the first time for 132 years that the regatta had not been hosted by the New York Yacht Club?
...that Merril Sandoval did not reveal to his family that he had served as a Navajo Code Talker in the United States Marines during World War II until records of the unit were declassified in 1968?
...that the Lackham campus of Wiltshire College created a "virtual farm" in 2005 to avoid limitations to practical teaching caused by foot and mouth disease?
...that the Confederate States of America bought fast steamboats from Edward Harland 's company Harland & Wolff during the American Civil War so they could outrun the Union blockade?
...that the artist commissioned by the Royal Marines in 1920 to paint Brigadier General F.W. Lumsden VC (pictured), was Helen Donald-Smith, whose views of Venice were described as "pretty pictures"?
...that the Polish interbellum organization Maritime and Colonial League‎ promoted Polish colonies and settlements in Africa and South America?
...that John Jacobs was expelled from the Weatherman organization after the Greenwich Village townhouse explosion for advocating the "military error" of violent revolution?
...that Israel's future Prime Minister, Yitzhak Shamir, and its future President of the Supreme Court, Meir Shamgar, were both interned in Africa by British Mandate authorities for membership in Lehi and Irgun?
...that Erkki Karu founded both Suomi-Filmi and Suomen Filmiteollisuus, the two largest film production companies during the 'Golden Age' of Finnish cinema?
...that U.S. Route 12 was extended into Washington in 1967, taking over most of the routing of U.S. Route 410?
...that Laurence Fox was cast in the British TV detective drama Lewis after his co-star Kevin Whately caught the last 10 minutes of a film he was in?
...that "many-sided" priest Father Patrick McLaughlin (pictured) promoted links between the Church and the world of literature by staging plays, and by commissioning lectures from T. S. Eliot and Dorothy L. Sayers?
...that video sharing website YouTube has held two YouTube Awards, which honor the best videos on the site, as voted by the YouTube community?
...that the petioles of some species of Eugeissona palm trees can be used as darts in blowgun hunting?
...that Home of Truth, Utah was a religious utopian community in the 1930s whose leader claimed to receive divine revelations through her typewriter?
...that 2006 novel Apex Hides the Hurt by Colson Whitehead, was featured among The New York Times' 100 Most Notable Books of The Year?
...that a rock edict of Emperor Ashoka found at Maski in the Indian State of Karnataka in 1915, was the first one to refer him by the name Asoka?
...that the Stalingrad Madonna was flown out on the last transport plane to leave the trapped Sixth Army during the Battle of Stalingrad?
...that the interrupted brome was the first plant species classified as extinct in the wild to be reintroduced in British history?