User:Durova/Did you know?

Durova's user page - Did you know? - Contributions - Travels - Barnstars - Miscellaneous

Did you know?

Getting a new article onto Wikipedia's main page is pretty simple. First, find an encyclopedic topic that Wikipedia doesn't already cover and start an article. Expand it to more than 1500 characters and include at least one reference. Before the new article is five days old, write a catchy summary and submit it to Template talk:Did you know. An image helps, but use only images that are GDFL copyright or public domain. A simple image that looks good at 100px is best. Or if you find a short stub and expand it to 5x its original size you can also earn DYK recognition for the page. After User:Ghirlandajo and User:Alex Bakharev helped me with Nadezhda Durova I wrote some more and started helping other people earn their own DYKs.

Did you know...

... that the film I'm No Angel (1933) starred Mae West as a circus lion tamer? and that West did her own stunts including riding an elephant into the ring and putting her face between the lion's jaws?
... that a historic Water Village built on stilts above a river is home to ten percent of the population of the country of Brunei?
... that a nineteenth century utopian socialist community known as Kaweah Colony identified the world's largest tree now called the General Sherman tree, and named it after Karl Marx?
... that Dawn Steel was the first woman to head a major Hollywood film studio?
... that William Shakespeare was an avid gardener and that modern Shakespeare gardens cultivate dozens of plant species mentioned in his plays?
... that Isabelle Romée was the mother of Joan of Arc and petitioned the Pope before her daughter's conviction for heresy was overturned?
... the Siege of Compiègne was Joan of Arc's final military action?
... that the spangenhelm was the most popular war helmet in Europe and the Middle East during the early Middle Ages?
... that most knights of the Middle Ages wore chausses as leg protection?
... that the aunt of poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning posed for a famous portrait by Thomas Lawrence?
... that bead crochet (pictured) was a popular method of creating women's fashion accessories during the 1920s?
... that apparel incorporating homemade granny squares was a 1970s fashion fad?
... that unmatched dye lots can frustrate weeks of labor for a knitter or crocheter?
... that handmade lace often begins as crochet thread?
... that stitch markers are mnemonic devices that demonstrate the underlying mathematical basis of crochet?
... that a hook gauge detects irregularities in manufacturer sizing of crochet hooks and knitting needles?
... that Navajo rugs sold for $50 in gold as early as 1850?
... that smocking is an embroidery technique that mimics the effects of elastic?
... that a shell stitch is a crochet motif often used for decorative borders?
... that the Felbrigge Psalter is the oldest embroidered bookbinding in England?
... that The Miroir or Glasse of the Synneful Soul was a manuscript translated, scribed, and embroidered for queen Katherine Parr by future queen Elizabeth I when the latter was eleven years old?
... that butterfly motifs in the textiles of Oaxaca reflect pre-Christian spiritual beliefs among the Mazatec people?
... that 39% of Israeli schoolchildren watch the educational television program Bli Sodot in their classroom?
... that Kloster Wienhausen, a medieval convent in Germany, has the world's oldest surviving example of rivet eyeglasses?
... that Shnaim Ohazin was an Israeli Educational Television show that taught basic concepts from the Talmud with fictionalized time travel segments?
... that the New York Times wrote that W. S. Gilbert's play Creatures of Impulse was a "burletta of the stamp that was in vogue a hundred years ago, resembling Midas"?
... that the success of the World War II bombing campaign Operation Strangle was unrelated to its original objective?
... that brightly colored leheria turbans were male business attire in Rajasthan, India during the 19th and early 20th centuries?
... that Benjamin Franklin's letter Advice to a Friend on Choosing a Mistress was cited in a 1973 United States Supreme Court opinion by justice William O. Douglas?
... that museum examples of sprang were misidentified as lace or knitting until archaeological discoveries brought public attention to the overlooked needlework technique?
... that Irving Berlin composed the song "I Want to Go Back to Michigan" more than 30 years before Judy Garland performed it for the 1948 film Easter Parade?
... that Huletts Landing, New York is one of three settlements near Lake George whose place names derive from members of General James Wadsworth's American Revolutionary War brigade?

That Mysterious Rag

... that T.S. Eliot's poem "The Waste Land" parodies the lyrics of the Irving Berlin & Ted Snyder song "That Mysterious Rag"?

Frog Legs Rag

... that "Frog Legs Rag" was the second highest selling ragtime song after "Maple Leaf Rag" in publisher John Stillwell Stark's catalog?

I'm Just Wild About Harry

... that the song "I'm Just Wild About Harry" was the most popular number from the first successful Broadway show to have an all African-American cast?

That International Rag

... that Irving Berlin stuffed towels into a piano while he was composing "That International Rag" (listen) to muffle the sound because other hotel guests made noise complaints?

Ain't We Got Fun?

... that George Orwell interpreted the lyrics of "Ain't We Got Fun?" (listen) as representative of post-World War I working class unrest?

Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning

... that Irving Berlin wrote the song "Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning" while serving in the United States Army during World War I?
... that Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel won a medal as a fine artist in Paris before becoming a children's book illustrator?
... that the Thika River supplies eighty percent of the water for Nairobi, Kenya?
... that Jean Desbouvrie persuaded the government of France to test swallows as an alternative to carrier pigeons?
... that Pointe des Almadies is the westernmost point on the continent of Africa?
... that Suez Canal construction reduced the salinity of Lake Timsah?
... that Lake Manzala had to be expanded to allow the building of the Suez Canal, as it was previously less than 5 feet (1.5 m) deep?
... that Uncle Tom was a virile Christian martyr in his original depiction in the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin?
... that José Sabogal was "the most renowned early supporter" of the artistic indigenist movement of Peru?
... that Amalia Mesa-Bains, a Ph.D. psychologist, was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship for her artwork?
... that Rigoberto Torres and John Ahearn collaborated on the South Bronx Hall of Fame, monuments of ordinary people, as a response to the practice of enshrining public figures?
... that Gold Toe Brands produces more than half the men's dress socks sold in United States department stores?
... that Raquel Forner was one of the earliest fine artists to portray scenes of outer space?
... that Hector Hyppolite was a Haitian Vodou priest who was classified as a surrealist painter by the surrealist theorist André Breton?
... that Haitian expatriate artist Edouard Duval-Carrié criticized the regime of Jean-Claude Duvalier by creating artwork that parodied Duvalier?
... that Mark Twain wrote the essay "The Awful German Language" to express his frustrations when learning German?
... that A Vision of the Last Judgment is a painting by William Blake that disappeared after an exhibition was cancelled in 1810?
... that William Blake's poem "The Mental Traveller" went unpublished during Blake's lifetime but was translated multiple times after his death?
... that Samuel Taylor Coleridge was accused of plagiarism over his poem "Hymn Before Sunrise"?
... that Bartolommeo Coriolano's skill at woodcuts (example pictured) earned him a knighthood from Pope Urban VIII?
... that the Queen of Hearts first had her tarts stolen in April 1782?
... that Randall's Thumb was the first of a long series of W.S. Gilbert's plays at Marie Litton's newly christened Royal Court Theatre?
... that journalist Lauro Aguirre planned a violent takeover of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico in 1906?

I Didn't Raise My Boy ...

... that "I Didn't Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier" was a popular pacifist song of World War I?

spangenhelm
Shakespeare garden
bead crochet
granny square
crochet thread
stitch marker (crochet)
hook gauge
Navajo rug
Smocking
shell stitch
Felbrigge Psalter
The Miroir or Glasse of the Synneful Soul
Textiles of Oaxaca
Kloster Wienhausen
Ziegler Polar Expedition
"I Want to Go Back to Michigan"
Huletts Landing, New York
Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel
Pointe des Almadies
Lake Manzala
Engraving from first edition of Uncle Tom's Cabin
Bartolommeo Coriolano woodblock print
"The Queen of Hearts" from a 1901 edition of Mother Goose, illustration by William Wallace Denslow

Articles I nominated for DYK but didn't write:

Casu marzu - the infamous maggot cheese from Sardinia, ran April Fool's Day 2006.[1]
Short draw (spinning) - thanks to the hard work of Loggie, ran 29 February 2008.[2]
Ziegler Polar Expedition - Written by Steve Crossin, ran 15 July 2008.
Le trompeur trompé - Written by Shoemaker's Holiday, ran 18 September 2008.
State highways in Hamilton County, New York - more Mitchazenia than me (someone awarded co-credit although Mitch nominated), ran 20 September 2008.

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