Did you know...: Did you know~6

...that the Canadian Tomb of the Unknown Soldier contains the remains of a Canadian soldier who died in France during World War I?
...that the use of the term President in its current sense, meaning executive government officer, may have come from the colonial-era American university system?
...that Tamale, Ghana obtains its electricity from Akosombo Dam in the central Ghana?
...that the colorful Sri Lanka Junglefowl is part of the junglefowl family from which our modern domestic chickens derive?
...that American Miranda rights set down in the U.S. Supreme Court case Miranda v. Arizona are named for Ernesto Miranda?
...that the Byzantine Senate survived, at least in name, from the end of the Roman Empire up until the time of the Fourth Crusade?
...that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera seria Idomeneo is set on the island of Crete following the Trojan War?
...that the Berry Islands of the Bahamas were settled in 1836 by a group of freed slaves?
...that the Scarlet King Snake can be distinguished from the Coral Snake by the mnemonic "red and yellow, kill a fellow" and "red and black venom lack"?
...that the white eagle on the coat of arms of Poland references the story of Lech, the legendary founder of Poland, who saw a white eagle's nest and was inspired to establish the city of Gniezno ("nest")?
...that writers in the literary genre known as fantastique include Stephen King and Honoré de Balzac?
...that the crown lands of the United Kingdom are different than crown lands in Canada and Australia, the latter being more like the public lands of the United States?
...that the Turin King List is an ancient Egyptian papyrus scroll, written in hieratic, which lists all the pharaohs and Egyptian gods believed to have ruled over the Nile?
...that the famous "horny toad" of North America is not an amphibian but a reptile officially known as the Short-horned Lizard?
...that a woman named Priscilla, wife of Aquila, was one of the first Christian evangelists?
...that Bambaiya Hindi, a pidgin used in Mumbai, is a combination of English, Marathi, Gujarati and several other languages?
...that in 1990 Cecil Fielder became the first Detroit Tiger since Hank Greenberg in 1938 to slug over 50 home runs in a season?
...that the concept of a motif of harmful sensation can be exemplified by the Monty Python joke-warfare sketch?
...that in Ron Suskind's book The Price of Loyalty former Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill compared Cabinet meetings with President George W. Bush as being in "a blind man in a roomful of deaf people"?
...that Hans Guido Mutke claimed to be the first person to break the sound barrier?
...that Grigol Peradze was a Georgian Eastern Orthodox priest and scientist who was killed at Auschwitz?
...that Labatt Park in London, Ontario, is thought to be the oldest continually operating baseball field in the world?
...that the USS Frank Knox (DD-742) was named in honor of Frank Knox, the United States Secretary of the Navy during World War II?
...that the Nicobar Pigeon is a large, heavy, 40-cm pigeon?
...that French Sinologist Paul Pelliot was caught up in the Boxer Rebellion and trapped in the siege of Peking?
...that Wyndham Halswelle was winner of the controversial 400-m run at the 1908 Summer Olympics?
...that the first military plane mass-produced in Germany was the Rumpler Taube in 1910?
...that, following the Russian Revolution, the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was established by the Soviet Union as a homeland for the large Volga German minority in Russia?
...that the Deluge or "flood myth" is a widespread theme in religion and mythology, with examples such as the story of Noah in the Torah or Gilgamesh flood myth?
...that Tom Hanks was in the 1982 TV movie called Mazes and Monsters about a group of college students and their interest in the eponymous role-playing game?
...that the Charioteer of Delphi, a near-intact ancient Greek statue, was lost for nearly 2000 years?
...that in addition to human spaceflight, there have been many animals in space, including monkeys, apes, mice, dogs, guinea pigs, frogs, rats, cats, tortoises, fish, newts, insects, snails, spiders and nematodes?
...that Winston Churchill, as Home Secretary, personally oversaw the Siege of Sidney Street?
...that the corticospinal tract contains both sensory and motor axons?
...that the Moro Rebellion was the second phase of the Philippine-American War?
...that leopard frogs are an environmental indicator species?
...that the sodium carbonate ("soda ash")—used in the production of glass, textiles, and paper—was historically made using the Leblanc process?
...that 1988's Hurricane Gilbert was the first to make landfall on Jamaica since 1955?
...that the Hungarian monarch wears the Crown of St. Stephen?
...that the first firearm to use a flintlock mechanism was produced in 1610 for Louis XIII of France?
...that William James Sidis, an eccentric and once world-famous genius, entered Harvard University in 1909 at the age of 11?
...that Napoleon's failed 1812 French invasion of Russia is called the "Patriotic War" (Отечественная война) by Russians?
...that the blood vessel present during fetal development that carries oxygenated blood from the placenta to the growing fetus is called the umbilical vein?
...that in 1996 then New Jersey governor Christine Todd Whitman sparked controversy by frisking Sherron Rolax while riding with Camden police?
...that few color-blind humans are truely monochromatic, with most being dichromats or anomalous trichromats?
...that there are only a handful of true freshwater lakes in Australia because of Australia's lack of glacial and tectonic activity?
...that osteomyelitis–infection of the bones or bone marrow–is particularly common in the tibia, femur, humerus and vertebral bodies?
...that religion in Canada is dominated by the Roman Catholic Church, the United Church of Canada and the Anglican Communion?
...that Orcas Island, named for the area's orcas, is the largest of Washington's San Juan Islands?
...that, like other yellow flowers of the genus Viola, yellow pansies can cause diarrhea if eaten in large quantities?
...that the story of Sada Abe, a woman who cut off her dead lover's genitals and carried them around with her for days, is one of Japan's most notorious scandals?
...that Swedish adventurer Saloman Andrée died while trying to reach the North Pole by hot air balloon in his ill-fated 1997 Arctic balloon expedition?

Did you know...

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Did you know~6

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