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Did you know...
30 October 2004
- ...that The Subservient Chicken is a viral marketing promotion by Burger King?
- ...that Luis Francisco Ojeda is a Puerto Rican television host?
29 October 2004
- ...that the Battle of Bazentin Ridge marked the start of the second phase of the Battle of the Somme?
- ...that Bobby Sherman became a very popular teen idol after his first single rose to number 3 on the Billboard charts?
- ...that modern bicycle frame construction is usually founded on a diamond-frame design?
- ...that a muscle contraction occurs when a muscle fiber shortens?
- ...that the first railroad steam locomotive built by Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works was also the first locomotive to operate in the U.S. state of Ohio?
- ...that the most common causes for an ingrown toenail are improperly fitted shoes and nails that are improperly trimmed?
- ...that during David Vetter's short life he only had contact with another human being twice, on the time of his birth and on the time of his death, at the age of 12?
- ...that the Georgian Uprising of Texel is sometimes described as the last European battlefield of World War II?
- ...that both species of Corroboree frog are critically endangered?
- ...that enfleurage was once the only method for extracting essential oils from fragile flowers like jasmine and tuberose?
28 October 2004
- ...that Nigeria, which contains what was once the Kingdom of Benin, has repeatedly called for the U.K.'s return of the Benin Bronzes, in a situation similar to Greece's petition for the return of the Elgin Marbles?
- ...that the Battle of Cape St. George, November 26, 1943, was the last time the Tokyo Express ran to the Solomon Islands?
- ... that text figures—a style of typesetting numerals with descenders—are the original style of Arabic numerals in the occident and still often used?
- ...that Dickey Chapelle was the first war correspondent killed during the Vietnam war?
- ...that the Marginated Tortoise is the largest European tortoise?
- ...that British Airways unveiled a new corporate identity in 1997 which involved repainting its fleet with around 20 daring tailfin designs by world artists?
- ...that Samuel Lawrence was a Canadian politician and trade unionist?
27 October 2004
- ... that oldstyle numerals — a style of typesetting numerals with descenders — are the original style of Arabic numerals in the occident and still often used?
26 October 2004
- ...that the Comedian Harmonists was one of the most successful 20th century musical groups in Europe before World War II?
- ...that the Z machine, operated by Sandia National Laboratories, is the most powerful x-ray generator in the world?
- ...that the Battle of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska, 1942–1943, was the last battle fought on the soil of the United States?
25 October 2004
Jill Ker Conway
- ...that Jill Ker Conway grew up on a sheep farm and was Smith College's first woman president?
24 October 2004
US troops hauling supplies on Attu, May 1943
- ...that the USS Pogy was named after a Californian trout and sank 16 ships during World War II?
- ...that the Müller-Thurgau hybrid grape is a 19th century cross between the Riesling and Chasselas?
747
- ...that the judges on the Maryland Court of Appeals, the supreme court of the U.S. state of Maryland, wear red robes, rather than the traditional black?
22 October 2004
- ...that Sigismondo d'India, a 17th century Italian composer, produced music in nearly all the forms of the day, including monody, madrigal and motet?
- ...that golf ball design is a real world application of Platonic solids?
- ...that the American Winterberry is also called the fever berry for its medicinal use among Native Americans?
21 October 2004
Sunflowers
- ...that Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers paintings were intended to decorate the bedroom of his friend and fellow painter, Paul Gauguin?
- ...that Pictish stones are the largest visual relics of Picts of Scotland?
- ...that Larnach Castle is one of only two castles in New Zealand?
- ...that ostracoderms are the earliest known vertebrate animals?
- ...that the iconic Sydney Opera House sits on Bennelong Point?
Sunflowers
- ...that 1940's The Mark of Zorro is often considered the best of the Zorro movies?
- ...that the helix-turn-helix structural motif is found in many proteins that regulate gene expression?
- ...that the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. has hosted an Inaugural ball under every U.S. President since Calvin Coolidge?
20 October 2004
- ...that the Nephila genus of long-jawed orb weaver family of spiders spins gold-colored webs?
- ...that Dunston Pillar, a land lighthouse south of Lincoln, England, was built in the 18th century to aid navigation across the treacherous eastern heathlands?
- ...that Joseph Schenck was the first chairman of 20th Century Fox?
- ...that WWI vet and Tour de France winner Ottavio Bottecchia was killed by either fascists or an angry farmer?
- ...that Bibliothèque nationale du Québec, the national library of Québec, and the public library of the city of Montréal, will share a facility beginning in 2005?
- ...that the charity organization Child's Play raised over $250,000 in 2003 in the form of cash and toy donations from the readers of popular web comic Penny Arcade?
- ...that a real-life German alchemist named Johann Georg Faust was the inspiration for Marlowe-Goethe Faust of fictional fame?
- ...that the Burgundy Wars led to the annexation of Burgundy by France?
19 October 2004
A Hard Day's Night
- ...that there is some debate about whether a Gm7 add 11 or G sus 4th chord opens the Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night"?
- ...that with a peasant revolution Chinese emperor Huizong was overthrown, ending the Yuan Dynasty?
- ...that many bog bodies from the time of the Roman Iron Age have been found in southern Scandinavia?
- ...that Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis was the first major socialist of the Netherlands?
- ...that market power is usually a predicate to anti-competitive behavior?
- ...that there's no Dr Pepper in a Flaming Dr. Pepper?
18 October 2004
Toronto flag
- ...that Irish pirate radio is a general consequence of the lack of commercial radio until 1989?
- ...that Toronto, Ontario was once known as Methodist Rome?
16 October 2004
- ...that Domela Nieuwenhuis was Holland's first major socialist?
14 October 2004
- ...that crop losses caused by the desert locust are described in the Bible and the Qur'an?
- ...that alternative theories of speciation besides natural selection include Lamarckism and orthogenesis?
- ...that all Native American pottery made before the arrival of Europeans was done without the use of a potter's wheel?
- ...that the Sausage Valley of WWI-era France was so named because the Germans frequently flew a sausage-shaped observation balloon above it?
- ...that the Polynesian Rat is used to track human migrations across the Pacific Ocean?
13 October 2004
- ...that Joe Massino, formerly the head of New York's Bonanno crime family, was described as a real-life "last don"?
- ...that Operation Predator, a U.S. government initiative, seeks to end child sex tourism, which may victimize as many as two million children annually?
- ...that actress Susan Sullivan made comebacks to television no less than twice?
- ...that France Antarctique, a short-lived French colony, was not in Antarctica but in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil?
- ...that the Viceroyalty of La Plata—covering Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay—was the last viceroyalty created by Spain?
- ...that New Zealand is sometimes called The Half Gallon Quarter Acre Pavlova Paradise?
- ...that Liederkranz cheese is extinct?
12 October 2004
- ...that the trans-Planckian problem refers to the appearance of unlikely quantities beyond the Planck scale in black-hole physics and inflationary cosmology?
- ...that the process for the evacuations of civilians in Britain during World War II was reversed in 1944?
- ...that the Ten Years' War, which began in 1868, was the first attempt by Cuba to secure its independence from Spain?
- ...that the Roman era of the early history of Switzerland began when the armies of Julius Caesar drove the Helvetii back from Gaul?
- ...that the year and a day rule regarding homicide was abolished because of advances in medicine and forensic science?
- ...that the U.S. District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands is the only U.S. District Court without an associated U.S. Attorney's Office?
11 October 2004
- ...that the Angolan War of Independence lasted from 1961 until 1989, even though Portugal left Angola in 1975?
- ...that among those who do not believe John the Apostle was the author of the Johannine works of the Bible, John the Evangelist is the most commonly mentioned possible alternative author?
- ...that the Great Train Robbery of 1963 is the best-known example of the type of mail fraud known as "theft from the mails"?
- ...that Japanese toilets are the most technologically advanced toilets in the world today?
Combo bidet-toilet like those used in Japan
- ...that active camouflage would allow people to change clothing color or luminosity like chameleons and blend into their surroundings?
- ...that U.S. late-night talk-show host Johnny Carson was once a writer for The Red Skelton Show?
- ...that in mathematics, an Apollonian gasket is a fractal generated from three circles, any two of which are tangent to one another?
10 October 2004
- ...that Clay Oliver Hill is the Populist Democratic Viking candidate for the 2004 United States presidential election?
8 October 2004
- ...that the style and subject matter of German Expressionism, which produced movies like Nosferatu, influenced film genres like horror and film noir?
- ...that the yobidashi serves as a sumo wrestler's handyman, promoter and assistant?
- ...that when the John Bull ran under its own power in 1981 it became the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world?
- ...that narrow gauge railways are cheaper than standard-size tracks and are often built in developing countries?
- ...that developing countries hoping to participate in globalization are experimenting with a U.S.-originated economic policy called Rubinomics?
7 October 2004
- ...that the visit of King George IV to Scotland in 1822 led to the reinvigoration of the kilt and tartan as symbols of Scottish national identity?
- ...that the Berlaymont building in Brussels, Belgium houses European Commission headquarters?
- ...that the evolution of Hawaiian volcanoes ends with the Guyot Stage, and that most, if not all, the volcanoes west of Kure Atoll are guyots?
- ...that in high energy physics experiments, wire chambers are used to detect the path of particles emitted from the collisions in particle accelerators?
- ...that zoomusicology studies sounds, vocalizations and the organization of the noisy communications of animals?
- ...that pre-dreadnought battleships saw their most notable service in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905?
6 October 2004
- ...that the album Louder Than Bombs by The Smiths consisted of all singles and B-sides that hadn't been released before in the United States?
- ...that the PHOSITA or "person having ordinary skill in the art" is a legal fiction used by the patent law to check if an invention is just too obvious?
- ...that at age 19 after Barry Watson lost his job as a soap opera child star, he used to park cars at the House of Blues night club in Los Angeles?
- ...that Dragon's teeth were square-pyramidal concrete fortifications used during the Second World War to impede the movement of tanks?
- ...that the movie I Am Cuba was filmed in 1964 as Cold War Soviet propaganda but only became widely viewed internationally when it was shown to audiences in the United States in 1994?
5 October 2004
US Army troops passing through "dragon's teeth" on the Siegfried Line
- ...that in 1968, Swedish pentathlete Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall became the first Olympian disqualified for drug use, for drinking two beers?
- ...that, unlike corporate creations Betty Crocker and Ronald McDonald, food-brand icon Chef Boyardee was real?
2 October 2004
- ...that cotton candy was first sold to the public at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair?
- ...that the books and manuscripts in the Renaissance era Cotton library were categorized by their location in relation to busts of Caesars shelved alongside them?
1 October 2004
- ...that the Astrakhan Cossack army existed from 1737 until 1919 when they were defeated alongside their White Russian allies during the Russian Civil War?
- ...that earthquake lights, although described in 373 BC, were not convincingly documented until the 1960s?
- ...that Victor Chang AC was a famous Australian heart surgeon and was murdered on 4 July, 1991, following an extortion attempt on his family?
- ...that the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw holds the remains of a Polish soldier killed at the Battle of Lvov in 1919?
- ...that only fragments of the famous altar triptych by Geertgen tot Sint Jans could be saved after the siege of Haarlem of 1572-1573?
- ...that Alfred J. Kwak, a duck from a Dutch television cartoon, lives in a clog?
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