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31 December 2015
12:00, 31 December 2015 (UTC)
Kvitsøy Lighthouse
... that the Kvitsøy Lighthouse(pictured) is the oldest stone tower lighthouse still in operation in
Norway?
... that the suicide of Chinese
silent film actress Ai Xia inspired a film starring
Ruan Lingyu, who also committed suicide soon after the film's release?
... that it was once a tradition for
the English to consume Crécy soup, a type of carrot soup(example pictured), on the anniversary of the
Battle of Crécy?
... that after music producer Tom Collins' receptionist asked him to make a record of her singing, it won
BMI's Song of the Year and she won the
Academy of Country Music's Female Vocalist of the Year?
... that the California/Nevada border passes through both the main dining room and the swimming pool of the Cal Neva Lodge & Casino?
... that 13 years after Lydia Emelie Gruchy graduated her theological studies with honors, she was finally ordained in 1936 as the first female minister of the
United Church of Canada?
... that a cyclone caused historic flooding in Yemen in 1996?
... that at the age of 10, Zuriel Oduwole became the world's youngest person to appear in Forbes?
00:00, 30 December 2015 (UTC)
Skaill House, Orkney
... that Skaill House(pictured), the most complete 17th-century mansion in
Orkney, is built on a Pictish burial ground and overlooks the neolithic site of
Skara Brae?
... that Louis Moe's works include illustrations of literary classics (pictured), as well as paintings with decadent erotic motifs, such as naked women with monsters or animals?
... that Mrs Beeton became used as a generic name for "an authority on cooking and domestic subjects"?
... that the mushroom Boletopsis grisea is threatened by deforestation, air pollution, and the use of fertilizers and
lime used to increase timber production?
... that Daniel Montgomery Boyd was once described as a "liberal supporter financially of all worthy enterprises"?
... that the shorter the kaunakes(pictured), the lower the status?
... that, although Elizabeth Gray died, her family's tradition of collecting fossils at
Girvan lasted for 86 years?
... that the Bonifacio Monument in the Philippines is 45 feet (14 m) in height, with symbolic images and features, and known as the "Cry of Pugadlawin"?
... that Mozu kofungun was originally a group of more than 100 Japanese
kofun burial mounds of which now less than 50% remain of the key-hole, rectangular, round and unknown shapes?
... that Jane Fraser has been promoted to four
CEO posts at
Citigroup since joining in 2004?
... that Rakastava (The Lover) was first a song cycle for men's chorus by
Jean Sibelius which he transformed to a suite for string orchestra, percussion and triangle?
... that the Neor Lake, a shallow lake located in a hilly area south of the
Ardabil Province of Iran, was formed due to two fault zones during the
Eocene period?
... that writer Brendan McNamara wanted players to connect to the characters of L.A. Noire in a way not previously achieved in video games?
... that in
1972 Captain Tim Forster became the first victorious racehorse owner and trainer since World War II by winning the
Grand National with Well To Do?
... that Exercise Vigilant Eagle is a series of military exercises involving Canada, Russia, and the United States?
... that
Jonathan Swift satirized the building of the Magazine Fort(pictured) in Dublin, as he felt the conditions in the city too poor to warrant defence?
... that the British orthopaedic surgeon Samantha Tross made long jumps during her education?
... that the song "Vrehei Fotia Sti Strata Mou" ("It's Raining Fire In My Way"), heard in the 1970 film Visibility Zero, launched the career of Greek
laïko singer
Stratos Dionysiou?
... that
Chris Christie credits his wife, Mary Pat Christie, and her financial success on
Wall Street as the reason he could give up his law career and run for political office?
... that a white, straight, female character in Master of None was rewritten as a black lesbian after Lena Waithe read for the role?
22 December 2015
12:00, 22 December 2015 (UTC)
Chianti bottle
... that physicist Albert Wattenberg kept an empty
Chianti bottle (pictured) as a souvenir, the contents of which were consumed to celebrate the
Chicago Pile-1 nuclear reactor going
critical?
... that actor Alex Saxon was told that his character in Finding Carter was to be killed off, but a month later found out that plans had changed?
... that when a new digital system of payment was put in place to prevent the skimming of salaries for Afghan police, the policemen thought they had been given a raise?
00:00, 22 December 2015 (UTC)
Anbarrhacus adamantis male
... that the fossil millipede Anbarrhacus(pictured) was described from a single immature male preserved in
amber?
... that the Eckwersheim derailment in November 2015 is the only fatal accident of the
TGV since it entered commercial service in 1981?
... that of the more than 3,000
midwives working in the state of
Florida in the early 1920s, Victoria Joyce Ely was the only one who was trained and licensed?
... that Kennedy Creek is only about 5 miles (8 km) long, but is popular for canoeing?
... that pianist Ken Noda composed his first
opera at the age of ten?
00:00, 21 December 2015 (UTC)
Maureen O'Hara in 1947
... that Maureen O'Hara(pictured) was only the second actress to receive an
honorary Oscar without having previously been nominated for an Oscar in a competitive category?
... that the scientist Harold Horton Sheldon wrote as early as 1929 about the serious possibility of man visiting other planets one day with the aid of rockets?
... that New York's New Hurley Reformed Church(pictured) was founded by members of another area church who were cut off from their building after a flood washed out a bridge?
... that Vice Premier Chen Muhua, one of China's top women politicians, was forced to give away her daughter and did not reunite with her until three decades later?
... that India is celebrating 26 November as Constitution Day as part of the 125th birth anniversary celebrations for
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar?
... that one of the Brunei Museum exhibits consists of replicas of the
suits of armour and weapons used in Japan from the 8th to 14th centuries?
... that Priscilla Chan and her husband
Mark Zuckerberg pledged to donate 99 percent of their
Facebook shares, valued at $45 billion, to their charitable foundation?
... that Srimanthudu became the second-biggest
Telugu film opener of the year, with a first-day global gross of ₹310 million?
... that while working on her graduate degree in chemistry, Emīlija Gudriniece won the Latvian Women's Motorcycle Championship in 1949, and then won it again in 1953?
00:00, 20 December 2015 (UTC)
Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca, showing gills
... that the false chanterelle(pictured) is called guin'xacan ("delightful") or kia's gio' ("iguana lard") by the
Tepehuán people of northwestern Mexico?
... that the only building still extant that is definitely attributed to
Italian Renaissance artist Giovanni Mangone is Palazzo Massimo di Pirro in Rome?
... that at the age of 18, Mario Trafeli became the youngest winner of the North American Outdoor Speedskating Championship with a win in the final 5-mile (8.0 km) race?
... that the War of the Maidens involved neither war nor maidens, only men dressed up as women?
... that conservationist Rose Gaffney, known as "The Belle of Bodega Bay," helped halt the construction of a nuclear power plant in
Bodega Bay, California?
... that as of 2015, India's second highest civilian award has been conferred upon 18 non-citizen recipients including
Edmund Hillary, one of the first climbers to reach the summit of
Mount Everest?
... that Iris perrieri was named after Baron Eugène Pierre Perrier de la Bâthie, who ran a speciality plant nursery in Albertville?
... that the Gndevank, a well-preserved church dedicated to
St. Stephen, is built in the form of a cross-dome of four apses, with a circular
tambour over a
cupola?
... that the
New York City neighborhood of Spring Creek was once known as the place where "the city came to an end"?
... that at 101 years old, Esther Somerfeld-Ziskind was still attending patients at Los Angeles Children's Hospital?
00:00, 17 December 2015 (UTC)
Persoonia terminalis
... that the
type specimen of Persoonia terminalis(pictured) was collected 3.4 km (2.1 mi) south of the
Torrington pub in New South Wales?
... that searchers believed Michael Williams' body had been eaten by
alligators in
Lake Seminole after he disappeared 15 years ago today—until they learned alligators don't feed in winter?
... that the Sariraka Upanishad, a Hindu text on
human physiology(pictured), states that the body is a composite of constituent elements, and that the soul, or jiva, is "the lord of the body"?
... that the Tusheti National Park, called one of the "12 best places you’ve never heard of" by BudgetTravel, has rich biodiversity with aesthetic terrain, hamlets, old defense towers, and folk culture?
... that the HTC Desire 200, a low-end smartphone released in 2013, came with
HTC's "highest quality in-ear headset"?
... that May Owen discovered that the talcum powder used on surgical gloves caused infection and
peritoneal scarring?
... that the use of dairy salt that is impure can have adverse effects upon
butter, spoiling its flavor, grain and preservation?
... that art dealer Konrad Bernheimer was born in Venezuela after his grandfather made a deal with
Hermann Göring to allow the family to flee Germany?
... that the
Seven Coloured Earths in Chamarel are the result of the cooling of molten rock from 3.5 to 7 million years ago?
... that in the 2014 edition of Indonesia's Jakarta Marathon, a limited number of African athletes were invited because of the
2014 Ebola outbreak in Africa?
... that the HTC RE Camera(pictured) has been described as "an upside down
asthma inhaler", "more
periscope than box", and "a
tube that's bent on one end, slightly narrower than a roll of
quarters"?
... that the chief of Cambodia's National Police Force, Neth Savoeun, is a member of the ruling party's Central Committee and married to
the Prime Minister's niece?
... that
Minnesotan actor Odin Biron moved to Moscow speaking almost no Russian but went on to become a popular character on the top-rated Russian sitcom Interns?
... that Wat Intharawihan was originally called Wat Rai Phrik, meaning "vegetable" in the
Thai language, because its location was within a vegetable garden?
... that Lidija Liepiņa worked with a team of other scientists in a mobile laboratory in a train boxcar, testing filters to create Russia's first functional
gas mask?
... that Catherine Feuillet led a team to successfully map the largest
wheat chromosome, 3B?
... that the zinc-iron statues of Court Square Fountain in
Montgomery, Alabama (1885) were replaced by aluminum statues in 1984, but these became corroded within twenty years?
... that after gaining a job as a singing waiter in 1938, Frank Sinatra(pictured) boasted that he would "become so big that no one could ever touch him"?
... that at his solo nightclub debut at the Riobamba, Frank Sinatra sang two songs "with trembling lips" and brought the house down?
... that Hank Sanicola, a boxer turned music manager, was Frank Sinatra's "song plugger"?
... that Frank Sinatra often visited the barber shop in the basement of the Hollywood Plaza Hotel to play
gin rummy with the barber?
... that at age 16, singer Julie Budd was the youngest-ever
opening act for Frank Sinatra?
... that Her Humble Ministry, featuring
Florence Lawrence as a character rehabilitated by nuns, was called "one of the most wisely conducted films" with a religious motif?
... that a
sulfur mine at 5,950 metres (19,520 ft) altitude on the
stratovolcanoAucanquilcha is notable for being the highest mine in the world?
... that
Chicago's 1000 South Michigan is a supertall skyscraper planned to rise to over 1,000 feet (300 m), even though it is in
a historic district zoned for buildings up to 425 feet (130 m)?
... that John Martin, the first Chief Justice of the Cherokee Supreme Court, had no formal legal training?
11 December 2015
12:00, 11 December 2015 (UTC)
Recruiting poster for the Cadet Nurse Corps
... that the Cadet Nurse Corps(recruiting poster pictured), established during World War II, influenced the way in which nurses would be educated and trained in the United States?
... that the Lukut Fort and Museum has a display of the traditional culture of the community, and the customs and practice of
adat perpatih (rules of life) typical of the state?
... that The Daily Telegraph has called Nicola Mendelsohn(pictured),
Facebook's vice president for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, "the most powerful woman in the British tech industry"?
... that Kathryn Parsons(pictured) co-founded a startup that teaches people how to "code in a day"?
... that Marguerite Lehr conducted a televised lecture course on mathematics in the 1950s?
... that ASI Corp., a wholesale distributor of computer components founded by Christine Liang, is one of the largest women-owned businesses in the United States?
... that leonite(pictured) has been found on
Mars?
... that more than 1.5 million beer bottles have been used in the construction of the
Buddhist temple site at Wat Pa Maha Chedi Kaew in Thailand?
... that Greek screenwriter and director Nikos Foskolos has been called the "Goldfinger of commercial shows"?
... that the Burkhan Khaldun mountain or its locality is believed to be the birthplace of
Genghis Khan, as well as the location of
his tomb?
... that on 2 April 1662, the Old Fortress of Livorno was the location of an experiment designed to test
Galileo's principle of the independence of motions?
... that
Jean Sibelius(pictured) described his string quartet Voces intimae as the "kind of thing that brings a smile to your lips at the hour of death"?
... that Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi said that "my India resides in people like Imran Khan"?
... that the Khongoryn Els in the Mongolian desert is popularly known as the "Singing Sands"?
... that following his death, Norwegian footballer Bjørn Borgen was described by former team-mate
Per Kristoffersen as the greatest
right winger the country had ever produced?
... that the Cereal Research Centre in Winnipeg produced over two hundred varieties of crop and ornamental plants resistant to pests and blights?
... that Mai Pokhari(pictured), a wetland in the
Ilam District of Nepal, designated a
Ramsar site in October 2008, is a pilgrimage center for both Hindus and Buddhists?
... that the 1996 Andhra Pradesh cyclone resulted in more than 1,000 fatalities, and damaged more than 600,000 houses?
... that the ant species Myrmecia inquilina does not have a worker caste, and is
parasitic on M. nigriceps and M. vindex colonies?
8 December 2015
12:17, 8 December 2015 (UTC)
Summit of Aiguille de Bionnassay
... that in 1865, the first
alpine climbers to reach the summit of the Aiguille de Bionnassay(pictured) arrived in a thunderstorm, their ice axes humming with electrical activity?
... that
baritoneLiao Changyong won first prize in three different international singing competitions in 1996 and 1997?
... that only the first three volumes of the
manga series Princess Lucia have been licensed in English?
... that WSTRN bandmember Akelle Charles is the brother of
Angel?
... that American artist Lily Furedi had an
ekphrastic poem called "Eyes Alive" written about her often-reproduced painting The Subway?
... that the Cokato Temperance Hall(pictured) was the social hub of a
Finnish American community even though its members had to pledge to abstain from alcohol?
... that Portuguese tennis coach Frederico Marques was recently reported to be the youngest coach with a player in the
ATP top 100?
... that a Cambodian tour bus company takes "hospital tourists" 160 kilometres (100 mi) from
Siem Reap to the border crossing at O Smach to see doctors in Thailand?
... that Yueh-Lin Loo invented
nanotransfer printing, a technique that allows electrical circuits to be printed onto plastic surfaces?
... that
Henning Mankell preferred the African storytelling style used in his novel Chronicler of the Winds to European storytelling because of its ability to "jump between realities"?
... that
Jackie Gleason called his orchestra leader Ray Bloch "the flower of the music world"?
... that the Eurasian bittern may visit reedbeds, rice fields, watercress beds, fish farms, gravel pits, sewage works, ditches, flooded areas and marshes?
... that the tower of Föra Church contains what may be one of Sweden's oldest toilets?
00:00, 5 December 2015 (UTC)
Qiu Huizuo
... that although General Qiu Huizuo(pictured) was persecuted at the beginning of the
Cultural Revolution, he authorized the torture of 462 people after returning to power, causing eight deaths?
... that the Narayana Upanishad states that one who worships with the
mantra "Om Namo Narayanaya" goes to
Vishnu's heaven, and becomes free from birth and
saṃsāra?
... that the Northern Thai chronicle Cāmadevivaṃsa recounts the founding of
Lamphun as the capital of the ancient
Hariphunchai Kingdom by a
Mon princess?
4 December 2015
12:00, 4 December 2015 (UTC)
Frontispiece of A New System of Domestic Cookery
... that A New System of Domestic Cookery(frontispiece pictured) has been called "a publishing sensation" and "the most famous cookery book of its time"?
... that in the armies of Mycenaean Greece,
chariots were initially used as fighting vehicles, but by the 13th century BC their role was probably limited to battlefield transport?
... that the Circuit des Champs de Bataille, a stage race held across devastated northern France, Belgium and Luxembourg in spring 1919, has been described as the toughest cycle race in history?
... that a post in the
Arizona Territory was not the first or even second choice of future Arizona Territorial Supreme Court justice Owen Thomas Rouse?
... that the Coexist symbol used on bumper stickers started life as a 3 m × 5 m (9.8 ft × 16.4 ft) outdoor poster in a juried art exhibition in
Jerusalem?
... that voice teacher Beverley Peck Johnson told actor
Kevin Kline that he had to choose between her and cigarettes if he wanted to be her pupil?
2 December 2015
12:00, 2 December 2015 (UTC)
Simtokha Dzong
... that the Simtokha Dzong(pictured), built in 1629 by
Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, functions as a monastic and administrative centre and is the oldest
dzong to survive in its original form?
... that Fallout Shelter became the most popular free
iOS application in the US and UK within a day of its release?
... that the main proponent of the Hamilton Canal, Gavin Hamilton, was found to have embezzled £19,675 from the Colonial Government, following his death in 1803?
... that Tebello Nyokong is helping to pioneer a safer method of cancer detection and therapy that does not have the harmful side effects of
chemotherapy?
... that police searches during Operation Puttur yielded two bombs and a pistol used by the suspects?
Deportation of Jews to Treblinka death camp from the ghetto in Siedlce, 1942
... that Cypora Zonszajn could not live without her closest family and returned to the Siedlce Ghetto to perish along with them (deportation pictured)?
... that of the three Baolis of Mehrauli, the Gandhak ki Baoli (step well pictured) was built during the 13th century by
Iltutmish of the slave dynasty of the
Delhi Sultanate who ruled in Delhi?