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.
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 the article's talk page and follow the archive link in the DYK talk page message box.
Did you know...
29 July 2005
- 08:20, 29 July 2005 (UTC)
- ...that John Dryden created the genre of heroic drama as a way of reconciling plays with epic poetry?
- ...that Augustiner Bräu is Munich's only German-owned brewery?
- ...that Alexander Selkirk was travelling on the British galleon Cinque Ports when he was abandoned on the uninhabited Pacific island of Juan Fernández in 1704 and that his tale inspired the story of Robinson Crusoe?
- ...that Suudu is a culture-specific syndrome of painful urination and pelvic "heat" familiar in south India, especially in the Tamil culture?
- ...that despite apparently predicting that future naval warfare would rely on boarding actions, Kipling's satirical poem The Ballad of the "Clampherdown", was taken seriously when published in 1892?
- 00:14, 29 July 2005 (UTC)
- ...that the Ampelmännchen (German: little men on the traffic signal) of East Germany had a confident stride, thought to evoke enthusiasm in moving toward an ideal socialist future?
- ...that there are at least 60 different human and alien technologies in the fictional Stargate universe?
- ...that Marn Grook is the name of ball game played by Australian Aborginals which is thought to be the basis for the modern game of Australian Rules Football?
- ...that superfecundation is the fertilization of two or more ova by sperm from separate acts of sexual intercourse and can lead to twins with different fathers?
- ...that Toktogul Satilganov was the most famous of the Kyrgyz Akyn storytellers?
28 July 2005
- 11:05, 28 July 2005 (UTC)
Abel Maldonado
- ...that California State Senator Abel Maldonado ran for election to the Santa Maria City Council in 1994 after being involved in a building dispute?
- ...that the Dakar-Niger Railway was the site of a 1947 strike celebrated by author Ousmane Sembène as a turning point in West Africa's anti-colonial struggle?
- ... that the Mokola virus is a relative of the rabies virus and was first isolated in tree shrews?
- ...that there have only been two tied Tests in the 128 years of Test cricket, both involving the Australian cricket team?
- ...that misdirected letters are a common plot twist in the 19th century genre of theatre called the Well-Made Play?
27 July 2005
- 23:52, 27 July 2005 (UTC)
- ... that the Tatara Bridge in Japan has the longest span of any cable-stayed bridge in the world?
- ...that California's current State Senate Minority Leader Dick Ackerman ran for State Attorney General in 2002?
- ...that the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College is a rabbinical seminary established by Mordecai Kaplan, the founder of the Reconstructionist Judaism movement?
- ...that the BBC1 sitcom Grace & Favour was the sequel series to the long-running programme Are You Being Served?
- ...that 1980's Rescue at Rigel by Epyx was one of the first science fiction computer role-playing games?
- 02:20, 27 July 2005 (UTC)
- ...that the Carte Orange is a pass for the public transportation system in Paris and the surrounding region?
- ...that Department S was an ITC Entertainment production which not only led to a successful spin-off, Jason King, but was also a large source of inspiration for Austin Powers?
- ...that patients with acrocyanosis have dark or bluish hands and feet but are otherwise normal?
- ...that Andy Ducat suffered a heart attack and died whilst playing in a wartime cricket match and is the only person to have died during a cricket match on the Lord's Cricket Ground?
- ...that Frank Ryan earned a Ph.D. in mathematics while playing quarterback for the Cleveland Browns?
26 July 2005
- 16:29, 26 July 2005 (UTC)
- ...that Country-comedian and Hee Haw star Archie Campbell's childhood home has been preserved as a "tourism complex and museum" in Bulls Gap, Tennessee?
25 July 2005
- 19:51, 25 July 2005 (UTC)
- ...that the Teller-Ulam design is considered "the secret of the hydrogen bomb"?
- ...that children's book The Gruffalo was made into a play and was performed at the National Theater and on Broadway?
- ...that the powerful ancient Egyptian courtier Yuya is thought by some scholars to have been the historical Joseph of Genesis?
- ...that Internet entrepreneur Pete Ashdown is running against incumbent Orrin Hatch for the 2006 U.S. Senate race in Utah?
- ...that the Russian musical group Terem Quartet performs classical works on folk instruments in a humorous, virtuosic style?
- 09:54, 25 July 2005 (UTC)
- ...that the field of island restoration is usually credited with having been started in New Zealand in the 1960s?
- ...that Edgar Evans was the first person to die on the ill-fated Scott Polar Expedition of 1910-1912?
- ...that Bitòn Coulibaly transformed a Ségou youth organisation into an army that he used to found the eighteenth-century Bambara Empire?
- ...that Johnny Rodgers was voted the University of Nebraska's college football "Player of the Century" and College Football News called him "the greatest kick returner in college football history"?
24 July 2005
- 22:45, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
- ...that the soleus muscle is a leg muscle important for standing, walking, and running?
- ...that the Peul preacher and social reformer Seku Amadu led a jihad against the Bambara Empire of nineteenth-century West Africa to found his own theocratic Massina Empire?
- ... that the Working Group on Internet Governance is a United Nations body set up to investigate the future governance of the Internet and the role of ICANN?
- ...that adjustable gastric banding is a form of weight loss surgery which does not cut into or remove any part of the digestive system?
- ... that Puerto Rican painter Antonio Martorell was about to board the Underground shortly before the 7 July 2005 London bombings, but he stopped at his hotel to get breakfast and learned about the bombings while at the restaurant?
22 July 2005
- 06:06, 22 July 2005 (UTC)
- ...that the poems of Richard Dehmel were set to music by composers like Richard Strauss, Max Reger, Arnold Schönberg and Kurt Weill, or inspired them to write music?
- ...that Clyde Tunnel in Glasgow was built rather than a bridge to not interfere with shipping, a concern which was out of date by the tunnel's completion?
- ... that NASA, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! are shipping their own GIS killer applications known as the "virtual globe"?
- ...that the Super Buddies, a team of DC Comics superheroes, were a comedic Justice League offshoot who first appeared in the Eisner Award-winning miniseries Formerly Known as the Justice League?
21 July 2005
- 02:28, 21 July 2005 (UTC)
- ... that Yogi Rock is a rock found on Mars by the Mars Pathfinder mission that looks surprisingly like Yogi Bear's head?
- ... that California Certified Organic Farmers was one of the first U.S. based organizations to certify organic farmers?
- ... that the St'at'imcets language, an endangered language of British Columbia, is similar to Semitic languages in that it also has pharyngeal consonants?
- ... that the Perioikoi were free inhabitants but not citizens under Spartan rule?
19 July 2005
- 11:52, 19 July 2005 (UTC)
- ... that businessman Ginery Twichell started in stage lines before transitioning to railroads and three terms in the U.S. Congress?
- ... that the Wallkill River is one of the few rivers that drains into a creek, because it is impounded just before the confluence?
- ... that Wilfred Stamp, 2nd Baron Stamp holds the record for holding a peerage for the shortest length of time due to a legal fiction in English law?
- ... that The Springboro Star Press is a weekly newspaper in southwestern Ohio published since 1976?
- ... that the Karl-Marx-Hof in Vienna is the longest single residential building in the world and spans four tram stations?
17 July 2005
- 07:20, 17 July 2005 (UTC)
- ...that the Karl-Marx-Hof in Vienna is the longest single residential building in the world and spans four tram stations?
- ...that khash is a traditional Armenian dish from the Shirak region which has cow's feet as its main ingredient?
- ...that the first known classical fiction in Korean literature called Kumo shinhwa (Kumo's tales) by Kim Shi-sup was written in Chinese characters?
- ...that the Swedish Bikini Team, an advertising and marketing campaign for Old Milwaukee beer was shut down in the U.S. following protests by the National Organization for Women?
15 July 2005
- 11:14, 15 July 2005 (UTC)
- ...that First Monday was a U.S. television program about a moderate U.S. Supreme Court Justice appointed to a court evenly divided between conservatives and liberals?
- ...that the Choristodera are extinct reptiles that lived during the time of the dinosaurs and have a skull structure similar to that of the modern day Gharial?
- ...that legendary producer and arranger Quincy Jones produced jazz vocalist Helen Merrill's self-titled debut album when he was just 21 years old?
14 July 2005
- 09:42, 14 July 2005 (UTC)
- ...that the Irish cricket team didn't become an official member of the International Cricket Council until 1993, despite having played first-class cricket matches since 1902, including games against Scotland, Australia and New Zealand?
- ...that King Ali bin Hussein of Hejaz succeeded to his father's titles of king and Sharif of Mecca in 1924, only a year before their territory was conquered and annexed by the House of Saud?
- ...that "Jive Talkin'" is considered to be the "comeback" song for the Bee Gees, after an absence of three years from the Top 40 charts?
13 July 2005
- 11:36, 13 July 2005 (UTC)
Dia de Sol painting by Quinquela Martín
- ...that Argentine painter Benito Quinquela Martín, who painted Dia de Sol (right), was adopted at the age of 6 from an orphanage where he was abandoned as a baby on March 21, 1890?
- ...that the Gwenn ha du organisation made a bomb out of a condensed milk carton which blew up a statue in Rennes?
- ...that the composer Johannes Brahms premiered his Academic Festival Overture, a musical fantasy based on several student drinking songs, at the University of Breslau's convocation to thank the institution for granting him an honorary doctorate?
12 July 2005
- 19:17, 12 July 2005 (UTC)
- ...that foxtail millet has the longest history of cultivation among the millets, having been grown in China since between three and four thousand years ago?
- ...that Dr. Ibrahim Oweiss, Georgetown University economics professor, coined the term "petrodollars" to describe the US dollar income of oil-producing countries in 1973?
- ...that Chingay Parade in Singapore, a display of floats, music and dances, is a major festival in Asia attended by more than 200,000 people and watched by millions on TV across Asia?
- ...that tobacco advertising is one of the most highly-regulated forms of marketing, along with alcohol, and is banned in many countries?
- 12:48, 12 July 2005 (UTC)
- ...that research on U.S. compulsory sterilization legislation by American eugenicist E.S. Gosney was cited by officials in Nazi Germany as the basis of their own forced sterilization policy?
- 09:22, 12 July 2005 (UTC)
- ...that like many desert rodents, kangaroo mice go their entire lives without drinking and get water from their food?
- ...that Ronald Bass, the Academy Award-winning screenwriter of Rain Man, taught himself to read by the age of three?
- ...that Chris Woods cost Queens Park Rangers 250,000 pounds from Nottingham Forest in 1979 even though he had never played a League game before his transfer?
11 July 2005
- 11:26, 11 July 2005 (UTC)
La Papesse
- ...that the Tarot of Marseilles is the source of most contemporary designs of tarot cards?
- ...that Malian fashion designer Chris Seydou pioneered the use of bògòlanfini, a traditional Bamana mudcloth, in international fashion?
- ...that Lord of the Nutcracker Men was a 2001 children's novel about World War I?
- 08:11, 11 July 2005 (UTC)
- ...that the bite of the hematophagous assassin bug, which causes the rare South American parasitic infection known as Chagas disease, could have been the reason behind Charles Darwin's illness?
- 04:00, 11 July 2005 (UTC)
- ...that Huchoun was one of the earliest Scottish poets and wrote a number of important alliterative verse romances in the early 14th century?
- ...that the Indian Railways Fan Club is the Internet's largest website devoted to the Indian Railways and rail transport in the Indian subcontinent?
- ...that London Pride is a garden flower symbolic of ordinary Londoners' resilience under attack?
9 July 2005
- 11:50, 9 July 2005 (UTC)
- ...that William Dudley Chipley first brought rail lines to Pensacola, Florida, connecting the Atlantic coast of Florida with other Gulf Coast states for the first time?
- ...that Barbara Cassani founded the budget airline Go Fly before becoming the initial leader of London's bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics?
- ...that the genetically modified plum C5 is the only Prunus species resistant to the devastating plant disease plum pox?
- ...that Ferrellgas, the largest propane retail distributor in the United States, started in 1939 as a family-owned business in Atchison, Kansas?
8 July 2005
- 09:20, 8 July 2005 (UTC)
- ...that many of the scenes Louisa May Alcott depicts in her book Little Women took place when her family was living in The Wayside in Concord, Massachusetts?
- ...that Watson's Hotel is India's oldest cast iron building and is among the "100 Most Endangered Sites"?
- ...that the French battleship France sank after hitting an uncharted rock during a patrol of Quiberon Bay on August 26, 1922?
- ...that measuring the levels of certain enzymes called transaminases can help to diagnose some liver diseases?
7 July 2005
- 10:14, 7 July 2005 (UTC)
Marcabian racing cars
- ... that according to Scientology doctrine, the inhabitants of the alien Marcab Confederacy liked to race high-speed automobiles on tracks booby-trapped with atom bombs?
- ...that the Olympic Javelin is a high-speed rail service announced as part of the public transport regeneration of London in readiness for the 2012 Summer Olympics?
- ...that the Indian Meteorological Department was set up as a result of a tropical cyclone that hit Calcutta in 1864, and the subsequent famines in 1866 and 1871 due to failing monsoons?
- ...that Mandinka prince Sundiata Keita defeated Sosso king Soumaoro Kanté at the Battle of Kirina in 1240, securing the future of the Mali Empire?
- 00:40, 7 July 2005 (UTC)
- ...that shrimp farms are a serious threat to the environment because they cause widespread destruction of mangroves and disperse antibiotics through their wastewater?
- ...that the Plan of Saint Gall is the only surviving architectual drawing from the 700-year period between the fall of Rome and the 13th century, and is a national treasure of Switzerland?
- ...that Cyrus K. Holliday was a founder of the city of Topeka, Kansas, as well as the first president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad?
- 00:09, 7 July 2005 (UTC)
- ...that the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight contains the world's oldest airworthy survivor of the Battle of Britain, alongside ten other historic aircraft - two of which fought over Normandy on D-Day?
6 July 2005
- 10:05, 6 July 2005 (UTC)
The Stream Boy by Ernst Josephson
- ...that the main work of the Swedish painter Ernst Josephson, Strömkarlen (the Nix), was refused by the Swedish Nationalmuseum in 1884, and later bought by Prince Eugén, the youngest son of king Oscar II?
- ...that soap opera actor Cameron Mathison suffered from Perthes disease as a child, requiring him to wear leg braces for nearly four years?
- ...that Henry Horne, 1st Baron Horne was the only British artillerist to command an army in World War I?
- ...that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency supported the Chushi Gangdruk guerilla fighters in their attempts to overthrow the Communist Party of China in Tibet in the 1950s?
5 July 2005
- 09:27, 5 July 2005 (UTC)
- ...that Carolingian art permitted the drawing of human figures during the Iconoclasm controversy of the 9th century?
- ...that five teams in cricket's 2005 ICC Trophy will be granted official one-day international status for the next four years?
- ...that in the 1850s, El Hadj Umar Tall founded a short-lived Islamic empire covering modern day Guinea, Senegal, and Mali?
- ...that Constable Stephen Tibble had been in the Metropolitan Police Force of Greater London for six months before he was killed by an IRA gunman?
4 July 2005
- 08:07, 4 July 2005 (UTC)
- ...that the only effective way to manage the bacterial plant disease citrus canker is to destroy all infected citrus trees?
- ...that panel painting was the primary painting medium used in the West, from about the 13th to the 16th century, before canvas and oil paint became the norm?
- ...that George Gershwin selected tap dance innovator John W. Bubbles to play a major role in his opera Porgy and Bess, even though he did not read music?
- ...that after actor Philip Loeb committed suicide, an article in the New York Times noting his passing commented that "He died of a sickness commonly called 'the blacklist'."?
2 July 2005
- 11:37, 2 July 2005 (UTC)
- ...that the Siglas Poveiras are a proto-writing system inherited from the Vikings and have been used for more than a thousand years by the fishermen of Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal?
- ...that Massachusetts Avenue, home of Washington D.C.'s Embassy Row, is both the longest and widest avenue in the city?
- ...that the Dictionary of the Middle Ages (1989) is the largest English language encyclopedia of the Middle Ages, covering over 100,000 topics?
- ...that J. Willard Marriott grew a small root beer stand to a huge hotel and resort chain, Marriott International?