Did you know...: Did you know~8

...that many old buildings near Government Center in Boston, Massachusetts once hid fugitive slaves who traveled along the Underground Railroad?
...that the Irish Supreme Court sits at the Four Courts building in Dublin?
...that the Voting Rights Act of 1965 banned literacy tests as a voting qualification in the United States?
...that surgery patients who experience anesthesia awareness may suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder?
...that rapid single flux quantum is an electronics technology that relies on quantum effects in superconducting materials rather than the present-day transistor standard?
...that Pizza Hut was founded by Dan and Frank Carney?
...that the cucumber sandwichs and their association with high tea are referenced in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest?
...that in 1934 Leonid Nikolaev was executed by firing squad for the murder of Sergei Kirov, the popular chief of the Leningrad Communist Party?
...that the French flying ace René Fonck had the most confirmed World War I aerial victories, after Manfred von Richthofen, the "Red Baron"?
...that the Australian Corps was the largest single corps fielded by the British Army in France during World War I?
...that authentic shrunken heads have nose hair?
...that an apartment building known as Pavlov's House became a symbol of Soviet resistance during the Battle of Stalingrad?
...that color television public broadcasting in New Zealand began in 1975?
...that the first branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia was located at Philadelphia City Hall?
...that the Lion's Mane Jellyfish is the biggest jellyfish in the world?
...that residents of California buy more earthquake insurance than residents of any other U.S. state?
...that in architecture, there are at least five kinds of buttress: clasping, angle, flying, set-back and diagonal?
...that during the Cold War, Soviet leaders used the phrase "and you are lynching negroes" to counter American dicussion of human rights?
...that hoodoos are tall skinny spires of rock that protrude from the bottom of arid basins and badlands?
...that the evolution of sex is a major puzzle of evolutionary biology, due to the so-called two-fold cost of sex?
...that the hyper engine was a hypothetical aircraft engine design meant to deliver 1 horsepower from 1 cubic inch (46 kW/L) of displacement?
...that Gatianus of Tours was one of seven bishops sent by Pope Fabian from Rome to Gaul to preach the Gospel?
...that quantum optics is a field of research in physics, dealing with the application of quantum mechanics to phenomena of light?
...that the Hubbard Glacier is the longest tidewater glacier in Alaska?
...that former American decathlete Rafer Johnson ignited the Olympic Flame during the opening ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics?
...that it was the British geologist Joseph Prestwich who confirmed the findings of Boucher de Perthes?
...that England brokered the 1617 Treaty of Stolbova between Sweden and Russia?
...that Gabriel García Márquez's novel One Hundred Years of Solitude includes seven generations of characters?
...that Groundskeeper Willie, a character on The Simpsons, coined the phrase "cheese-eating surrender monkeys"?
...that the Mid-Canada Line of Canadian radar sites designed to warn of a Soviet nuclear attack replaced the Pinetree Line but later became almost entirely obsolete and was replaced with the Distant Early Warning Line as intercontinental ballistic missiles replaced strategic bomber as the main delivery system for nuclear weapons?
...that the caterpillar of the Western Tiger Swallowtail butterfly has large yellow eyespots?
...that on Dagen H ("H Day") on September 3, 1967, Sweden switched from driving on the left to driving the right at exactly at 5 a.m.?
...that professional baseball in Taiwan began in 1989, and the Chinese Professional Baseball League and Taiwan Major League merged in 2003?
...that the All-China Youth Network Civilization Convention is a short statement promulgated by the authorities in the People's Republic of China, regulating the use of the Internet by the Chinese youth and prohibitng such activities as "browsing 'malignant information'"?
...that the water-cooled Vickers machine gun was the standard weapon on all British and French military aircraft after 1916?
...that nearly half the eligible male population of New Zealand served in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force during World War I?
...that most people on a raw food diet won't eat anything heated to more than 46°C (115°F)?
...that the first helicopter flight was in 1906 in Lisieux, France?
...that the Exotic World Burlesque Museum is located on the site of an abandoned goat farm?
...that the Pascha greeting is an Easter custom amongst Orthodox Christians?
...that the Homestead Grays were the Negro League world champs every year from 1937 through 1945?
...that the Siam Tulip is not a tulip, but is related to ginger?
...that Marcin Kromer was a 16th-century prince-bishop of Warmia as well as a cartographer and historian in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth?
...that the so-called Loughall Martyrs were a group of eight men from the Provisional IRA's East Tyrone Brigade who were ambushed and killed on May 8, 1987 by the British SAS special forces?
...that the root of the Purple Salsify (Tragopogon porrifolius) tastes of oysters?
...that the Homomonument in Amsterdam commemorates all gay men and lesbians who have been subjected to persecution because of their sexual orientation?
...that the Diadochi were generals of Alexander the Great who sought power after his death?
...that when released, the film Waterworld was the biggest failure, in terms of financial returns?

Did you know...

Friday, May 23, 2008

Did you know~8

No comments: