User:Cfekert

Cool Wikipedia Articles

Article Title	Hyperlink	Date Added	Category	Notes
S.A. (corporation)	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.A._(corporation)	1/20/2022	Finance	Describes a fundamental type of corporation that exists in “romance language speaking countries”. Has some interesting fundamental details about corporations.
Civil Law (legal system)	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_law_(legal_system)	1/20/2022	Law	Interesting article about a fundamental western legal system.
Kursdorf	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kursdorf	1/20/2022	Places of Interest	The “loudest village in Germany”.
The Door Tree	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Door_Tree	3/7/2022	Places of Interest	Brotherly rivalry strikes again.
List of Individual Trees	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_individual_trees	3/7/2022	Places of Interest List	Historical trees.
2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine	3/7/2022	World History	Ain’t living through history a hoot?!
Madzimbamuto v. Lardner-Burke	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madzimbamuto_v_Lardner-Burke	3/8/2022	British Law / British History	The court case that resulted in Rhodesia’s government being declared illegal by the U.K.
Margaret Lemon	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Lemon	3/8/2022	History / Art	She was the most painted female commoner of the seventeenth century.
Ghost of Kyiv	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_of_Kyiv	3/8/2022	World History	First fighter ace in the 21st century. May or may not be real.
Transhumanism	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transhumanism	3/8/2022	Science / Society	An interesting article on a far off socio-scientific idea.
Global Catastrophic Risk	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_catastrophic_risk	3/8/2022	Science / Society	A spooky idea.
Silurian Hypothesis	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silurian_hypothesis	3/8/2022	Science / Society	A thought experiment[1] which assesses modern science's ability to detect evidence of a prior advanced civilization, perhaps several million years ago.
Graupel	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graupel	3/9/2022	Science	A type of precipitation that forms when supercooled water droplets are collected and freeze on falling snowflakes. Graupel is distinct from hail and ice pellets.
Conway’s Game of Life	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway%27s_Game_of_Life	3/9/2022	Science / Computers	A zero-player game.
Bill Parker (inventor)	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Parker_(inventor)	3/9/2022	Biography	A guy from Waitsfield, VT who invented plasma globes.
Semantic Satiation	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_satiation	3/9/2022	Science / Linguistics	A psychological phenomenon in which repetition causes a word or phrase to temporarily lose meaning for the listener,[1] who then perceives the speech as repeated meaningless sounds.
Mildred Gillars	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mildred_Gillars	3/10/2022	American History	First woman to be convicted of treason against the United States.
270 Park Avenue	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/270_Park_Avenue	3/10/2022	World History	Tallest building to ever be voluntarily demolished.
Kowloon Walled City	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kowloon_Walled_City	3/10/2022	Chinese / British History	An ungoverned and densely populated de jure Chinese enclave within the boundaries of Kowloon City, British Hong Kong.
Norman Conquest	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Conquest	3/10/2022	British History	One of the most important historical wars fought over England in 1066. “No country in Europe, between the rise of the barbarian kingdoms and the 20th century, has undergone so radical a change in so short a time as England experienced after 1066”
The class the stars fell on	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_class_the_stars_fell_on	3/11/2022	American History	Of the 164 graduates of the West Point class of 1915, 59 (36%) attained the rank of general, more than any other class in the history of the Academy, hence the expression. Including Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Reef burial	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reef_burials	3/11/2022	Society	A type of burial where the remains are mixed with concrete and put on the seafloor as a place to encourage wildlife in areas where sea life has been diminished.
Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Trans-Antarctic_Expedition	3/14/2022	History	An expedition to Antarctica from 1915 - 17 that ended in failure, yet the expedition crew survived through wild odds. The shipwreck was recently discovered in 2022.
Yoon Suk-Yeol	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoon_Suk-yeol	3/14/2022	South Korean History	The newly elected South Korean president as of 2022.
Antarctic Gateway Cities	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_gateway_cities	3/14/2022	Society	The five cities on the rim of the Southern Ocean through which nearly all cargo and personnel bound for Antarctica pass.
Nadungamuwa Raja	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadungamuwa_Raja	3/15/2022	Asian History	One of the most celebrated elephants in Asia during his lifetime, Nadungamuwa Raja was the tallest tame elephant in Asia.
Southwestern North American megadrought	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwestern_North_American_megadrought	3/16/2022	Geology / History	An ongoing megadrought in the southwestern region of North America that began in 2000. This megadrought is the driest 22-year period since at least 800.
Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hercules%E2%80%93Corona_Borealis_Great_Wall	3/16/2022	Science / Cosmology	The largest known structure in the observable universe, measuring approximately 10 billion light-years in length.
Richard Riot	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Riot	3/17/2022	History / Sports	The riot caused an estimated $100,000 in property damage, thirty-seven injuries, and 100 arrests.
Dar al-Kiswa	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dar_al-Kiswa	3/17/2022	History	An artistic workshop in Cairo which operated from 1817 to 1997.
North Yemen Civil War	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Yemen_Civil_War	3/17/2022	Middle Eastern History	Egyptian military historians refer to the war in Yemen as "their Vietnam."[5] Historian Michael Oren (former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S) wrote that Egypt's military adventure in Yemen was so disastrous that "the imminent Vietnam War could easily have been dubbed 'America's Yemen.'"
Lathen train collision	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lathen_train_collision	3/17/2022	History	The first fatal accident involving a maglev train.
Vela incident	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vela_incident	3/17/2022	History	An unidentified double flash of light detected by an American Vela Hotel satellite on 22 September 1979 near the South African territory of Prince Edward Islands in the Indian Ocean, roughly midway between Africa and Antarctica. Today, most independent researchers believe that the flash was caused by a nuclear explosion.
Sara Jane Moore	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sara_Jane_Moore	3/17/2022	American History	An American criminal who attempted to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford in 1975.
229 West 43rd Street (Subsection: 1930s and 1940s)	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/229_West_43rd_Street#1930s_and_1940s	3/18/2022	American History	At the dedication ceremony for the new entrance in December 1946, Times officials could not find the key to lock the old entrances. It turned out that the door had not been locked since 1912, when the key had been thrown away; according to a Times veteran, the philosophy had been that "The Times would never close its doors".
Interplanetary medium	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interplanetary_medium	3/18/2022	Science / Astronomy	Consists of the mass and energy which fills the Solar System, and through which all the larger Solar System bodies, such as planets, dwarf planets, asteroids, and comets, move. The IPM stops at the heliopause, outside of which the interstellar medium begins. Before 1950, interplanetary space was widely considered to either be an empty vacuum, or consisting of "aether".
6th of October (city)	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6th_of_October_(city)	3/18/2022	Egyptian Society	A city in Giza Governorate, a satellite town and part of the urban area of Cairo, Egypt, 32 km (20 miles) outside the city.
Linguistics in Science Fiction	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistics_in_science_fiction	3/18/2022	Linguistics	Linguistics has an intrinsic connection to science fiction stories given the nature of the genre and its frequent use of alien settings and cultures.
Moondog Coronation Ball	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moondog_Coronation_Ball	3/21/2022	History	The first rock-and-roll concert ever.
Unintended consequences	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unintended_consequences	3/21/2022	Sociology	Gee Wikipedia has an article for everything!
Knightian uncertainty	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knightian_uncertainty	3/21/2022	Economics / Sociology	In economics, Knightian uncertainty is a lack of any quantifiable knowledge about some possible occurrence, as opposed to the presence of quantifiable risk
Moral hazard	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_hazard	3/21/2022	Economics / Sociology	In economics, a moral hazard is a situation where an economic actor has an incentive to increase its exposure to risk because it does not bear the full costs of that risk
Feudalism in England	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feudalism_in_England	3/22/2022	History / Sociology / Economics	A state of human society that organized political and military leadership and force around a stratified formal structure based on land tenure.
China Eastern Airlines Flight 5735	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Eastern_Airlines_Flight_5735	3/22/2022	History / Aviation	On 21 March 2022, the Boeing 737-89P operating the flight steeply descended and impacted the ground at high speed in Teng County, Wuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. All 132 on board (123 passengers and nine crew members) are presumed dead.
Pachuco	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachuco	3/22/2022	American Society	Pachucos are male members of a counterculture associated with zoot suit fashion, jazz and swing music, a distinct dialect known as caló, and self-empowerment in rejecting assimilation into Anglo-American society that emerged in Los Angeles in the late 1930s.
Operation Hope Not	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Hope_Not	3/23/2022	British History	Operation Hope Not was the code name of a funeral plan for Winston Churchill titled The State Funeral of the Right Honourable Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, K.G., O.M., C.H. that was started in 1953, twelve years before his death.
East Asian age reckoning	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Asian_age_reckoning	3/23/2022	Asian Culture	Refers to methods of counting personal age which have been used in East Asia for millennia. In China, where the system originated, people are considered to be born at one sui 嵗/岁, marking the first year of their lives, and on New Year's Day of the Lunar calendar, one is added.
Timeline of first images of Earth from space	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_first_images_of_Earth_from_space	3/23/2022	History	The initial photographs and digital images of planet Earth taken from outer space were preceded by aerial photography and continue in the form of satellite imagery. For the purpose of this list, a spaceflight is defined as any flight that crosses the Kármán line, the FAI-recognized edge of space, which is 100 kilometers (62 miles) above mean sea level (AMSL).
Man in Business Suit Levitating emoji	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_in_Business_Suit_Levitating_emoji	3/28/2022	Computer History	A very strange emoji.
Winter of Discontent	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_of_Discontent	3/28/2022	British History	The period between November 1978 and February 1979 in the United Kingdom characterized by widespread strikes by private, and later public, sector trade unions demanding pay rises greater than the limits Prime Minister James Callaghan and his Labour Party government had been imposing, against Trades Union Congress (TUC) opposition, to control inflation. Some of these industrial disputes caused great public inconvenience, exacerbated by the coldest winter in 16 years, in which severe storms isolated many remote areas of the country.
Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergey_Prokudin-Gorsky	3/29/2022	Russian History	An incredible photographer active around the turn of the 20th century. He is best known for his pioneering work in colour photography and his effort to document early 20th-century Russia.
William Martin (Royal Marine officer)	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Martin_(Royal_Marine_officer)#Glyndwr_Michael	3/31/2022	World War II	Major William Martin was a person invented by British Military Intelligence for Operation Mincemeat, the Second World War deception plan that lured German forces to Greece prior to the Allied invasion of Sicily.
Isekai	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isekai	4/1/2022	Japanese Literature	A genre that includes novels, light novels, films, manga, anime and video games that revolve around a person or people who are transported to and have to survive in another world, such as a fantasy world, virtual world, another planet, future/past time, or parallel universe.
Zoosphaerium darthvaderi	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoosphaerium_darthvaderi	4/1/2022	Biology	Also known as the Darth Vader giant pill millipede, is a species of giant pill millipede endemic to the island state of Madagascar. It is named after the Star Wars character Darth Vader.
Suicide squad (New Zealand)	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_squad_(New_Zealand)	4/1/2022	New Zealand / History	Was a so-nicknamed group of New Zealand Legislative Councillors appointed in 1950 by Prime Minister Sidney Holland tasked with voting the New Zealand Legislative Council out of existence.
Canal Mania	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canal_Mania	4/1/2022	British History	Was the period of intense canal building in England and Wales between the 1790s and 1810s, and the speculative frenzy that accompanied it in the early 1790s.
Wikipedia: Unusual articles	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Unusual_articles	4/1/2022	Wikipedia (Meta)	Of the over six million articles in the English Wikipedia there are some articles that Wikipedians have identified as being somewhat unusual.
Mazer	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maser	4/4/2022	Physics	We’ve all heard of a Laser - but have you heard of a Maser?
The Malice at the Palace	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Malice_at_the_Palace	4/4/2022	Sports History / Hockey	The Associated Press (AP) called it "the most infamous brawl in NBA history."
Siegfried Lederer’s escape from Auschwitz	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siegfried_Lederer%27s_escape_from_Auschwitz	4/5/2022	History / WWII	On the night of 5 April 1944, Siegfried Lederer, a Czech Jew, escaped from the Auschwitz concentration camp wearing an SS uniform provided by SS-Rottenführer Viktor Pestek. Pestek opposed the Holocaust; he was a devout Catholic and was infatuated with Renée Neumann, a Jewish prisoner
Epicureanism	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicureanism	4/6/2022	Philosophy	(Recommended by Mom!) Let’s get philosophical! A system of philosophy founded around 307 BC based upon the teachings of the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus.
2017-present Peruvian political crisis	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017%E2%80%93present_Peruvian_political_crisis	4/7/2022	Peruvian Politics / History	Maybe it was a good idea to not travel to Peru in the Summer of ‘22 after all… It can be divided so far into ten periods: the first period, or "first crisis", was due to a series of events that officially started on 15 September 2017, which led to a total fracture of the State in two.
Moral equality of combatants	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_equality_of_combatants	4/11/2022	Warfare	The principle that soldiers fighting on both sides of a war are equally honorable, unless they commit war crimes, regardless of whether they fight for a just cause. “A toast to the troops - all the troops, both sides.” ~ Ryan (The Office)
Cacerolazo	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cacerolazo	4/13/2022	History	A form of popular protest which consists of a group of people making noise by banging pots, pans, and other utensils in order to call for attention.
Middle Way	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Way	4/13/2022	Religion / Buddhism	Refers to a spiritual practice that steers clear of both extreme asceticism and sensual indulgence. “Show me the way!”
Bongcloud Attack	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bongcloud_Attack	4/14/2022	Chess	The opening's name is thought to originate either from Chess.com user "Lenny_Bongcloud", who used the opening with little success, or more generally in reference to a bong, a device used to smoke cannabis. It is considered a joke opening, and is associated with internet chess humor. Being a poor move, its usage can suggest a self-imposed challenge.
420 (cannabis culture)	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/420_(cannabis_culture)	4/20/2022	Society	Blaze it.
Colorado Coalfield War	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Coalfield_War	4/20/2022	Economics / Labor / Class Warfare	A major labor uprising in the Southern and Central Colorado Front Range between September 1913 and December 1914. Tensions climaxed at the Ludlow Colony, a tent city occupied by about 1,200 striking coal miners and their families, in the Ludlow Massacre on 20 April 1914 when the Colorado National Guard attacked. In retaliation, armed miners attacked dozens of mines and other targets over the next ten days, killing strikebreakers, destroying property, and engaging in several skirmishes with the National Guard along a 225-mile (362 km) front.
Trial by ordeal	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_by_ordeal	4/20/2022	Law	An ancient judicial practice by which the guilt or innocence of the accused was determined by subjecting them to a painful, or at least an unpleasant, usually dangerous experience.
List of informally named dinosaurs	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_informally_named_dinosaurs	4/21/2022	Paleontology	This list of informally named dinosaurs is a listing of dinosaurs (excluding Aves; birds and their extinct relatives) that have never been given formally published scientific names.
Wally the Walrus	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wally_the_Walrus	4/26/2022	History	Also known as Wally the Wandering Walrus, is a male arctic walrus who attracted much media attention for appearing, and hauling out, in several locations across the coast of western Europe, mainly the British Isles, during 2021, far away from the typical range of a walrus.
Desert island	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_island	4/28/2022	Geography	An island, islet or atoll that is not permanently populated by humans.
Man camp	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_camp	5/2/2022	Society	Temporary housing to accommodate a large influx of workers in the resource extraction industries, especially in Canada and the United States
Preparedness paradox	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preparedness_paradox	5/3/2022	Sociology	The idea that the more a society or individual prepares for a disaster, pandemic, or catastrophe, the less harmful the event will be when it occurs. Paradoxically, because the harm was minimized, the necessity of the preparation will be questioned.
List of ethnic slurs	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_slurs	5/3/2022	Sociology / Linguistics	I swear I randomly came across this article from the Hun Speech.
African emerald cuckoo	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_emerald_cuckoo	5/3/2022	Biology	What a beautiful birdy.
Forcemeat	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forcemeat	5/10/2022	Cuisine	A uniform mixture of lean meat with fat made by grinding or sieving the ingredients.
Long, hot summer of 1967	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long,_hot_summer_of_1967	5/11/2022	American History	refers to the 159 race riots that erupted across the United States in the summer of 1967.
Agitprop	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agitprop	5/13/2022	Sociology	Portmanteau of agitation and propaganda. Refers to an intentional, vigorous promulgation of ideas. The term originated in Soviet Russia where it referred to popular media, such as literature, plays, pamphlets, films, and other art forms, with an explicitly political message in favor of communism.
Fool’s errand	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fool%27s_errand	5/13/2022	Sociology	Grab me a can of steam and some headlight fluid from out back will ya?
Sarajevo Rose	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarajevo_Rose	5/13/2022	World History / War	A type of memorial in Sarajevo made from concrete scar caused by a mortar shell's explosion that was later filled with red resin.
Claudian letters	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudian_letters	5/17/2022	Linguistics	Bonus letters that almost made it into the latin alphabet.
Me generation	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me_generation	5/18/2022	History / Sociology / Society	A term referring to Baby Boomers in the United States and the self-involved qualities that some people associate with this generation.[1] The 1970s were dubbed the "Me decade" by writer Tom Wolfe;[2] Christopher Lasch was another writer who commented on the rise of a culture of narcissism among the younger generation of that era.
Roanoke Star	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roanoke_Star	5/19/2022	Places of Interest	Also known as the Mill Mountain Star, is the world's largest freestanding illuminated man-made star, constructed in 1949 at the top of Mill Mountain in Roanoke, Virginia. See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_on_the_Mountain
Windthrow	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windthrow	5/19/2022	Forestry	In forestry, windthrow refers to trees uprooted by wind. Breakage of the tree bole (trunk) instead of uprooting is called windsnap.[1] Blowdown refers to both windthrow and windsnap.
Bushism	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushism	5/19/2022	US History / US Politics	Are unconventional statements, phrases, pronunciations, Freudian slips, malapropisms, as well as semantic or linguistic errors in the public speaking of former President of the United States George W. Bush.
Metre Convention	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre_Convention	5/20/2022	World History / Metrology	We always hear about how the US is one of the only countries that doesn’t use the metric system - but did you know the US is actually partly responsible for the creation of the metric system - which we do use. (Plot twist!) The Metre Convention is an international treaty that was signed in Paris on 20 May 1875 by representatives of 17 nations (Argentina, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Norway, Switzerland, Ottoman Empire, United States of America, and Venezuela). The treaty created the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM), an intergovernmental organization under the authority of the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) and the supervision of the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM), that coordinates international metrology and the development of the metric system.
Tower of Silence	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Silence	5/23/2022	Religion (Zoroastrianism)	is a circular, raised structure built by Zoroastrians for excarnation (that is, the exposure of human corpses to the elements for decomposition), in order to avert contamination of the soil and other natural elements by the dead bodies.
Sequin (coin)	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequin_(coin)	5/24/2022	History	The design of the Venetian gold ducat, or zecchino, remained unchanged for over 500 years, from its introduction in 1284 to the takeover of Venice by Napoleon in 1797. No other coin design has ever been produced over such a long historical period.
Freetown Christiania	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freetown_Christiania	5/26/2022	Denmark	An intentional community and commune[3][4][5] of about 850 to 1,000 residents, covering 7.7 hectares (19 acres) in the borough of Christianshavn in the Danish capital city of Copenhagen on the island of Amager.
Christian Zionism	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Zionism	5/27/2022	Religion / Christianity / Judaism	A belief among some Christians that the return of the Jews to the Holy Land and the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 were in accordance with Bible prophecy.
Thalassocracy	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalassocracy	5/31/2022	Politics	Sometimes also known as a maritime empire, is a state with primarily maritime realms, an empire at sea, or a seaborne empire.[1] Traditional thalassocracies seldom dominate interiors, even in their home territories.
Interregnum (England)	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interregnum_(England)	6/1/2022	British Politics	Was the period between the execution of Charles I on 30 January 1649 and the arrival of his son Charles II in London on 29 May 1660 which marked the start of the Restoration. During the Interregnum, England was under various forms of republican government.
Album era	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Album_era	6/2/2022	History	Was a period in English-language popular music from the mid-1960s to the mid-2000s in which the album was the dominant form of recorded music expression and consumption.
Arcade (architecture)	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcade_(architecture)	6/2/2022	Architecture	A succession of contiguous arches, with each arch supported by a colonnade of columns or piers.
Dissolution of the Soviet Union	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Union	6/8/2022	History	RIP USSR.
Revolutions of 1989	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutions_of_1989	6/8/2022	History	Formed part of a revolutionary wave in the late 1980s and early 1990s that resulted in the end of communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe and beyond. The period is often also called the Fall of Communism,[3] and sometimes the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Nations,[4][5][6][7][8] a play on the term Spring of Nations that is sometimes used to describe the Revolutions of 1848.
Peaceful Evolution theory	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peaceful_Evolution_theory	6/8/2022	Political Science	“The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend.” ~ Abraham Lincoln
Clathrate hydrate	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clathrate_hydrate	6/8/2022	Geology	One of the main potential causes of abrupt climate change.
Drifting ice station	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drifting_ice_station	6/8/2022	History	A temporary or semi-permanent facility built on an ice floe. During the Cold War the Soviet Union and the United States maintained a number of stations in the Arctic Ocean on floes such as Fletcher's Ice Island for research and espionage, the latter of which were often little more than quickly constructed shacks. Extracting personnel from these stations proved difficult and in the case of the United States, employed early versions of the Fulton surface-to-air recovery system.
Castaway depot	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castaway_depot	6/13/2022	Maritime History	A store or hut placed on an isolated island to provide emergency supplies and relief for castaways and victims of shipwrecks.
Ultra-prominent peak	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-prominent_peak	6/21/2022	Geology/ Geomorphology	Ultra for short, is a mountain summit with a topographic prominence of 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) or more; it is also called a P1500.
Col	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Col	6/21/2022	Geology / Geomorphology	The lowest point on a mountain ridge between two peaks.[1] It may also be called a gap.[1] Particularly rugged and forbidding cols in the terrain are usually referred to as notches.
Conjunction fallacy	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conjunction_fallacy	6/23/2022	Logic	A formal fallacy that occurs when it is assumed that specific conditions are more probable than a single general one.
Packet Radio Van	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packet_Radio_Van	6/23/2022	Computing / Internet	A van refitted by Don Cone at SRI International, and equipped with technology that was used in the first two-way internetworked transmission on August 27, 1976, and the first three-way internetworked transmission on November 22, 1977; the latter of which is considered the start of the Internet.
List of largest cosmic structures	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_cosmic_structures#List_of_largest_voids	6/30/2022	Cosmology	Your momma.
Hippie trail	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippie_trail	7/25/2022	History / Geography	The name given to the overland journey taken by members of the hippie subculture and others from the mid-1950s to the late 1970s[2] between Europe and South Asia, mainly from Turkey through Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan,[3] India, to Nepal; an alternative route ran from Turkey to the Levant. Came to an end due to the Iranian Revolution and Communist Invasion of Afghanistan.
Cozad, Nebraska	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cozad,_Nebraska	7/26/2022	United States POI	The 100th meridian, which roughly marks the eastward boundary of the arid plains, passes just west of the town as is marked nearby on a prominent sign across U.S. 30. In the early 1860s, the meridian was a stop along the Pony Express.
Ice speedway	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_speedway	7/27/2022	Sports	A developed form of motorcycle speedway racing, featuring racing on frozen surfaces. The sport uses bikes enhanced for the terrain. Participants can compete at international level.
Yousuf Karsh	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yousuf_Karsh	7/27/2022	Art History	A Canadian-Armenian photographer known for his portraits of notable individuals. He has been described as one of the greatest portrait photographers of the 20th century.
National Scenic Byway	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Scenic_Byway	7/28/2022	United States POI	A road recognized by the United States Department of Transportation for one or more of six "intrinsic qualities": archeological, cultural, historic, natural, recreational, and scenic. This article contains a list of all of the United States Scenic Byways.
Millionaires’ Mile	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millionaires%27_Mile	7/28/2022	Culture	The exclusive residential neighborhoods of various cities, often along one scenic strip such as a riverside or hilltop drive, or a wide city boulevard. E.g., Spear St. in Burlington VT.
Korean Axe Murder incident	https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_axe_murder_incident	8/8/2022	US-North Korean Relations	Led directly to Operation Paul Bunyon.
Second British Invasion	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_British_Invasion	8/9/2022	US Music History	Yes, one British Invasion is nice - but what about a second British Invasion?
Syncretism	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syncretism	8/11/2022	Religion / Spirituality	The combining of different beliefs and various schools of thought.
Schiller Woods magic water pump	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schiller_Woods_magic_water_pump	9/1/2022	Religion / Weird	A public water pump at Schiller Woods Forest Preserve in Cook County, Illinois, near Chicago. It is believed by many local residents to have magical properties, improving health and vigor.[1][2] Some believe that the pump's water extends the life of anyone who drinks from it regularly, leading to the nickname "Chicago's fountain of youth".
William McGonagall	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_McGonagall	9/6/2022	Poetry / History	Declared to be the worst english-language poet ever.
The Hum	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum	9/23/2022	Weird	A name often given to widespread reports of a persistent and invasive low-frequency humming, rumbling, or droning noise not audible to all people. Hums have been reported all over the world, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada.
Landing of the first Filipinos	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landing_of_the_first_Filipinos	10/18/22	History	October 18, 1587, the first Filipinos landed in what is now the Continental United States at Morro Bay. Believed to be the first Asians to land in the Americas.
List of humorous units of measurement	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement	10/20/22	Funny	Many people have made use of, or invented, units of measurement intended primarily for their humor value. This is a list of such units invented by sources that are notable for reasons other than having made the unit itself, and that are widely known in the anglophone world for their humor value.
Quaker gun	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quaker_gun	11/2/2022	Warfare	A deception tactic that was commonly used in warfare during the 18th and 19th centuries. Although resembling an actual cannon, the Quaker gun was simply a wooden log, usually painted black, used to deceive an enemy.
Anna Wintour	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Wintour	11/3/2022	Historical Figures	The real-life person that Edna Mode is based on.
Le Vaillant	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Vaillant	11/10/22	Historical Figures	Was a pigeon used by the French Army in the First World War. The bird was posthumously appointed to the Legion of Honour and is commemorated by a plaque at the fort.
Cosa Nostra	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicilian_Mafia	11/14/2022	History	The Sicilian Mafia, also simply known as the Mafia and frequently referred to as Cosa nostra (Sicilian: "our thing") by its members, is an Italian Mafia-terrorist-type[2] organized crime syndicate and criminal society originating in the region of Sicily and dating to at least the 19th century.
Apalachin meeting	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apalachin_meeting	11/14/2022	US History	One of the most direct and significant outcomes of the Apalachin Meeting was that it helped to confirm the existence of a nationwide criminal conspiracy, a fact that some, including Federal Bureau of Investigation Director J. Edgar Hoover, had long refused to acknowledge.
Day of Eight Billion	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_Eight_Billion	11/15/2022	History / Demographics	The Day of Eight Billion, being marked at 8:00 UTC on 15 November 2022, has been designated by the United Nations as the approximate day when the world population reached eight billion people. It follows the Day of Seven Billion, which was marked on 31 October 2011, and the Day of Six Billion, which was marked on 12 October 1999.
Flag families	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_families	11/18/2022	Vexillology
Nanook of the North	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanook_of_the_North	12/20/2022	Film History	The first documentary ever. A 1922 American silent film which combines elements of documentary and docudrama, at a time when the concept of separating films into documentary and drama did not yet exist.[citation needed][1] In the tradition of what would later be called salvage ethnography,[citation needed] the film follows the struggles of the Inuk man named Nanook and his family in the Canadian Arctic.
Tom Swifty	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Swifty	12/27/2022	Linguistics	A phrase in which a quoted sentence is linked by a pun to the manner in which it is attributed. E.g., "You find it Very Large?" said Mr. Podsnap, spaciously.
Edinburgh of the Seven Seas	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edinburgh_of_the_Seven_Seas	1/5/2023	Places of Interest	Edinburgh of the Seven Seas is regarded as the most remote permanent settlement on Earth, located over 1,500 miles (2400 kilometres) from the nearest human settlement, on Saint Helena.
Atlantic Flyway	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Flyway	1/10/2023	Nature / Ornithology	One of the four major north-south flyways for migratory birds in North America. (Others being Mississippi, Central and Pacific)
Milliners (Hatmaking)	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatmaking	1/10/2023	Society	The design, manufacture and sale of hats and other headwear. A person engaged in this trade is called a milliner or hatter. Huh, what a weird name I wonder what that is all about.
Harbor Defenses of Long Island Sound	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harbor_Defenses_of_Long_Island_Sound	1/10/2023	US History / Warfare	It was a United States Army Coast Artillery Corps harbor defense command.[1] It coordinated the coast defenses of Long Island Sound and Connecticut from 1895 to 1950, beginning with the Endicott program. These included both coast artillery forts (all but two on islands in the sound) and underwater minefields. The area defended included the approach via the Sound to New York City, the port cities and manufacturing centers of New London, New Haven, and Bridgeport, and eventually included the submarine base and shipyard in Groton.
Statue of Lenin (Seattle)	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Lenin_(Seattle)	1/13/2023	US History / Politics	A 16 ft (5 m) bronze statue of Russian Communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. It was created by Bulgarian-born Slovak sculptor Emil Venkov and initially put on display in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in 1988, the year before the Velvet Revolution. After the dissolution of the USSR, a wave of de-Leninization brought about the fall of many monuments in the former Soviet sphere. In 1993, the statue was bought by an American who had found it lying in a scrapyard. He brought it home with him to Washington State but died before he could carry out his plans for formally displaying it.
Guerrillero Heroico (Che Guevara Portrait)	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrillero_Heroico	1/13/2023	Photography / History	An iconic photograph of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara taken by Alberto Korda. It was captured on March 5, 1960, in Havana, Cuba, at a memorial service for victims of the La Coubre explosion. By the end of the 1960s, the image, in conjunction with Guevara's subsequent actions and eventual execution, helped solidify the leader as a cultural icon.[2] Korda has said that at the moment he shot the picture, he was drawn to Guevara's facial expression, which showed "absolute implacability"[3] as well as anger and pain.[4] Years later, Korda would say that the photograph showed Che's firm and stoic character.[5] Guevara was 31 years old at the time the photograph was taken.
List of calques	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_calques	1/19/2023	Linguistics	A calque /kælk/ or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal, word-for-word (Latin: "verbum pro verbo") translation. This list contains examples of calques in various languages.
Phantom kangaroo	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_kangaroo	2/9/2023	Weird	Is a report of kangaroos, wallabies, or their accompanying footprints in areas where there is no native population
Ekistics	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekistics	2/9/2023	Sociology / Science	The science of human settlements including regional, city, community planning and dwelling design. Its major incentive was the emergence of increasingly large and complex conurbations, tending even to a worldwide city.
Ecumenopolis	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecumenopolis	2/9/2023	Ekistics / Sociology	The hypothetical concept of a planetwide city. E.g., Coruscant from Star Wars.
Halaib Triangle	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halaib_Triangle	2/10/2023	Geography / Politics	An area of land measuring 20,580 square kilometres (7,950 sq mi) located on the Northeast African coast of the Red Sea. With the independence of Sudan in 1956, both Egypt and the Sudan claimed sovereignty over the area.
Terra nullius	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_nullius	2/10/2023	Geography / Politics	Latin expression meaning "nobody's land". It was a principle sometimes used in international law to justify claims that territory may be acquired by a state's occupation of it. There are currently three territories claimed to be terra nullius, two of which are caused by border disputes between sovereign states.
Salient (geography)	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salient_(geography)	2/10/2023	Geography	A salient (also known as a panhandle or bootheel) is an elongated protrusion of a geopolitical entity, such as a subnational entity or a sovereign state.
All of Mexico Movement	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_of_Mexico_Movement	2/11/2023	Politics / US History	Was a political movement to expand the United States to include all of Mexico. It was an expression of Manifest Destiny but never went into effect.
Third man factor	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_man_factor	2/11/2023	Sociology	The third man factor or third man syndrome refers to the reported situations where an unseen presence, such as a spirit, provides comfort or support during traumatic experiences. The video game franchise Fallout features a perk called “Mysterious Stranger” which causes a man in a suit to appear and help the player when they are in a tough fight.
Rump state	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rump_state	2/14/2023	Politics	The remnant of a once much larger state, left with a reduced territory in the wake of secession, annexation, occupation, decolonization, or a successful coup d'état or revolution on part of its former territory. In the last case, a government stops short of going into exile because it controls part of its former territory.
Dark tourism	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_tourism	3/2/2023	Sociology	Has been defined as tourism involving travel to places historically associated with death and tragedy. More recently, it was suggested that the concept should also include reasons tourists visit that site, since the site's attributes alone may not make a visitor a "dark tourist". The main attraction to dark locations is their historical value rather than their associations with death and suffering.
Surrogate alcohol	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrogate_alcohol	3/2/2023	Sociology	A term for any substance containing ethanol that is intentionally consumed by humans but is not meant for human consumption. Some definitions of the term also extend to illegally produced alcoholic beverages.
Banana wine	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_wine	3/2/2023	Weird	Banana wine is a fruit wine made exclusively from bananas.
Ivan Ivanovich (Vostok programme)	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Ivanovich_(Vostok_programme)	3/9/2023	History / Space	The name given to a mannequin used in testing the Soviet Vostok spacecraft in preparation for its crewed missions.
Kunstformen der Natur	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunstformen_der_Natur	3/9/2023	Biology	A book of lithographic and halftone prints by German biologist Ernst Haeckel. Lots of cool pictures in this article.
Night-watchman state	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night-watchman_state	3/9/2023	Politics	Also known as a minarchy. Proponents are known as minarchists. It is a model of a state that is limited and minimal, whose functions depend on libertarian theory. Right-libertarians support it only as an enforcer of the non-aggression principle by providing citizens with the military, the police, and courts, thereby protecting them from aggression, theft, breach of contract, fraud, and enforcing property laws.
Hope Bay incident	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hope_Bay_incident	3/14/2023	History / Politics	The only instance of shots fired in anger on the Antarctic continent. So far…
Catatumbo lightning	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catatumbo_lightning	3/15/2023	Climate Science	An atmospheric phenomenon that occurs over the mouth of the Catatumbo River where it empties into Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela. Catatumbo means "House of Thunder" in the language of the Bari people. It originates from a mass of storm clouds at an altitude of more than 1 km (0.6 mi), and occurs for 140 to 160 nights a year, nine hours per day, and with lightning flashes from 16 to 40 times per minute. Effectively a perpetual storm.
Hypercane	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercane	3/15/2023	Climate Science	A hypothetical class of extreme tropical cyclone that could form if sea surface temperatures reached approximately 50 °C (122 °F), which is 15 °C (27 °F) warmer than the warmest ocean temperature ever recorded. Such an increase could be caused by a large asteroid or comet impact, a large supervolcanic eruption, anthropogenic climate change, or a large submarine flood basalt.
Typhoon Tip	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_Tip	3/15/2023	History	Occurring in 1979, this was the largest storm ever recorded.
Edward Dando	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Dando	3/16/2023	Weird	Was a thief who came to public notice in Britain because of his unusual habit of overeating at food stalls and inns, and then revealing that he had no money to pay. Although the fare he consumed was varied, he was particularly fond of oysters, once having eaten 25 dozen (300) of them with a loaf and a half of bread with butter.
Rocky Mountain oysters	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Mountain_oysters	3/16/2023	Culture	A.K.A mountain oysters, or meat balls, also known as prairie oysters in Canada (French: animelles), is a dish made of bull testicles. The organs are often deep-fried after being skinned, coated in flour, pepper and salt, and sometimes pounded flat. The dish is most often served as an appetizer.
Tulare Lake	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulare_Lake	3/28/2023	Geography	A freshwater dry lake with residual wetlands and marshes in the southern San Joaquin Valley, California, United States. After Lake Cahuilla disappeared in the 17th century, Tulare Lake was the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River and the third-largest freshwater lake entirely in the United States (after Lake Michigan and Lake Okeechobee in Florida), based upon surface area. A remnant of Pleistocene-era Lake Corcoran, Tulare Lake dried up after its tributary rivers were diverted for agricultural irrigation and municipal water uses.
Category: Airliner accidents and incidents with an unknown cause	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Airliner_accidents_and_incidents_with_an_unknown_cause	3/28/2023	History / Aviation / List	Spooky! Don’t think about this on your next flight! Good articles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_Balkan_Bulgarian_Tupolev_Tu-134_crash https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avion_Pirata https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commando_(aircraft) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1933_Imperial_Airways_Diksmuide_crash
Fairy chess piece	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_chess_piece	3/28/2023	Culture	A fairy chess piece, variant chess piece, unorthodox chess piece, or heterodox chess piece is a chess piece not used in conventional chess but incorporated into certain chess variants and some chess problems. Compared to conventional pieces, fairy pieces vary mostly in the way they move, but they may also follow special rules for capturing, promotions, etc. Because of the distributed and uncoordinated nature of unorthodox chess development, the same piece can have different names, and different pieces can have the same name in various contexts.
Old Man of the Lake	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Man_of_the_Lake	4/3/2023	Weird	A 30-foot (9 m) tall tree stump, most likely a hemlock, that has been bobbing vertically in Oregon's Crater Lake since at least 1896.
Sarajevo Tunnel	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarajevo_Tunnel	4/6/2023	History / War	Also known as Tunel spasa (Тунел спаса, English: Tunnel of salvation) and Tunnel of Hope, was a tunnel constructed between March and June 1993 during the Siege of Sarajevo in the midst of the Bosnian War. It was built by the Bosnian Army in order to link the city of Sarajevo, which was entirely cut off by Serbian forces, with Bosnian-held territory on the other side of the Sarajevo Airport, an area controlled by the United Nations.
Wire of Death	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire_of_Death	4/11/2023	History / War	Was a lethal electric fence created by the German military to control the Dutch–Belgian frontier after the occupation of Belgium during the First World War.
Nusantara (planned city)	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nusantara_(planned_city)	4/11/2023	Ekistics / Indonesia	Officially the Capital City of Nusantara (Indonesian: Ibu Kota Nusantara, IKN), is the future capital of Indonesia, set to be inaugurated on 17 August 2024, coinciding with the Indonesian Independence Day. Nusantara will replace Jakarta as the national capital, a position it has held since independence in 1945.
Moon tree	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_tree	4/12/2023	Science / History	Are trees grown from seeds taken into orbit around the Moon, initially by Apollo 14 in 1971, and later by Artemis 1 in 2022.
Akhand Bharat	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akhand_Bharat	4/20/2023	Politics	(transl. Undivided India), also known as Akhand Hindustan, is a term for the concept of a unified Greater India. It posits that modern-day Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka are one nation.
East Asian cultural sphere	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Asian_cultural_sphere	4/20/2023	Sociology / Linguistics	Also known as the Sinosphere, the Sinic world, the Sinitic world, the Chinese cultural sphere, or the Chinese character sphere, encompasses multiple countries in East Asia and Southeast Asia that were historically influenced by Chinese culture. The East Asian cultural sphere is made up of several countries and territories: Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, and Vietnam. Other definitions may include Mongolia and Singapore, because of limited historical Chinese influences or increasing modern-day Chinese diaspora.
MV Wilhelm Gustloff	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Wilhelm_Gustloff	4/26/2023	Maritime History / World War II	Was a German military transport ship which was sunk on 30 January 1945 by Soviet submarine S-13 in the Baltic Sea while evacuating civilians and military personnel from East Prussia and the German-occupied Baltic states, and German military personnel from Gotenhafen (Gdynia) as the Red Army advanced. By one estimate, 9,400 people died, making it the largest loss of life in a single ship sinking in history.
List of chess variants	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chess_variants	5/8/2023	Chess	This is a list of chess variants. Many thousands of variants exist. The 2007 catalog The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants estimates that there are well over 2,000, and many more were considered too trivial for inclusion in the catalog.
List of IBA official cocktails	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_IBA_official_cocktails	5/17/2023	Mixology	The IBA official cocktails are cocktails recognized by the International Bartenders Association (IBA) to be the most requested recipes.
Zombie (cocktail)	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie_(cocktail)	5/17/2023	Mixology	The Zombie is a Tiki cocktail made of fruit juices, liqueurs, and various rums. Legend has it that Donn Beach originally concocted the Zombie to help a hung-over customer get through a business meeting. The customer returned several days later to complain that he had been turned into a zombie for his entire trip. Its smooth, fruity taste works to conceal its extremely high alcohol content.
Planter’s punch	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planter%27s_punch	5/17/2023	Mixology	Planter's punch is an IBA Official Cocktail made of Jamaican rum, fresh lime juice, and sugar cane juice.
Curveball (informant)	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curveball_(informant)	5/17/2023	World History	Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi (born 1968), known by the Defense Intelligence Agency cryptonym "Curveball", is a German citizen who defected from Iraq in 1999, claiming that he had worked as a chemical engineer at a plant that manufactured mobile biological weapon laboratories as part of an Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (WMD) program. Alwan's allegations were subsequently shown to be false by the Iraq Survey Group's final report published in 2004.
Usonia	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usonia	5/19/2023	Culture	A word that was used by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright to refer to the United States in general (in preference to America), and more specifically to his vision for the landscape of the country, including the planning of cities and the architecture of buildings. Wright proposed the use of the adjective Usonian to describe the particular New World character of the American landscape as distinct and free of previous architectural conventions.
Nonce word	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonce_word	5/19/2023	Linguistics	A lexeme created for a single occasion to solve an immediate problem of communication.
Lexeme	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexeme	5/19/2023	Linguistics	Is a unit of lexical meaning that underlies a set of words that are related through inflection. It is a basic abstract unit of meaning, a unit of morphological analysis in linguistics that roughly corresponds to a set of forms taken by a single root word. For example, in English, run, runs, ran and running are forms of the same lexeme, which can be represented as run.
Hindustan	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindustan	5/23/2023	Culture	Hindūstān, along with its shortened form Hind, is the Persian-language name for India, broadly the Indian subcontinent, that later became the commonly used name of the region in the Hindustani language. Since the Partition of India in 1947, Hindustan continues to be used to the present day as a historic name for the Republic of India.
Scientific Socialism	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_socialism	6/13/2023	Politics / Sociology	A term which was coined in 1840 by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon in his book What is Property? to mean a society ruled by a scientific government, i.e., one whose sovereignty rests upon reason, rather than sheer will.
Xi Jinping Thought	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi_Jinping_Thought	6/13/2023	Politics	Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, commonly abbreviated outside China as Xi Jinping Thought, or more recently, Xi'ism is an ideological doctrine created during General Secretary Xi Jinping's leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that combines Chinese Marxism and national rejuvenation. According to the CCP, Xi Jinping Thought "builds on and further enriches" previous party ideologies and has also been called as the "Marxism of contemporary China and of the 21st century". The theory's main elements are summarized in the ten affirmations, the fourteen commitments, and the thirteen areas of achievements.
Rounders	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rounders	6/14/2023	Sports	Is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams. Rounders is a striking and fielding team game that involves hitting a small, hard, leather-cased ball with a wooden, plastic, or metal bat that has a rounded end. The players score by running around the four bases on the field. Precursor to Baseball.
Hi-Tek incident	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hi-Tek_incident	6/15/2023	American History	Was a series of protests in 1999 by Vietnamese Americans in Little Saigon, Orange County, California in response to Trần Văn Trường's display of the flag of communist Vietnam and a picture of Ho Chi Minh in the window of Hi-Tek Video, a video store that he owned.
List of photographs considered the most important	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_photographs_considered_the_most_important	6/15/2023	History	Good photos!
Marker Wadden	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marker_Wadden	6/21/2023	Engineering	An artificial archipelago under development in the Markermeer, a lake in the Netherlands. The first island was inaugurated on 24 September 2016. It is a nature reserve alternative to the much bigger proposed Markerwaard polder that was begun in 1941 but paused and finally abandoned in 2003.
Putinism	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putinism	6/26/2023	Russian History	The social, political, and economic system of Russia formed during the political leadership of Vladimir Putin. It is characterized by the concentration of political and financial powers in the hands of "siloviks", current and former "people with shoulder marks", coming from a total of 22 governmental enforcement agencies, the majority of them being the Federal Security Service (FSB), Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, Armed Forces of Russia, and National Guard of Russia. According to Arnold Beichman, "Putinism in the 21st century has become as significant a watchword as Stalinism was in the 20th."
Unknot	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unknot	6/26/2023	Math / Knot Theory	In the mathematical theory of knots, the unknot, not knot, or trivial knot, is the least knotted of all knots. Intuitively, the unknot is a closed loop of rope without a knot tied into it, unknotted.
Monopoly on violence	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly_on_violence	6/27/2023	Politics / Society	In political philosophy, a monopoly on violence or monopoly on the legal use of force is the property of a polity that is the only entity in its jurisdiction to legitimately use force, and thus the supreme authority of that area. While the monopoly on violence as the defining conception of the state was first described in sociology by Max Weber in his essay Politics as a Vocation (1919), the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force is a core concept of modern public law.
2003 Chicago balcony collapse	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Chicago_balcony_collapse	6/29/2023	US History	On June 29, 2003, the deadliest porch collapse in United States history occurred in Chicago. An overloaded balcony collapsed during a party in an apartment building, killing thirteen people and seriously injuring fifty-seven others. The ensuing investigation was highly critical of the way the balcony was built, finding a large number of errors in its construction which ultimately resulted in the collapse.
Taumatawhakatangi­hangakoauauotamatea­turipukakapikimaunga­horonukupokaiwhen­uakitanatahu	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taumatawhakatangi%C2%ADhangakoauauotamatea%C2%ADturipukakapikimaunga%C2%ADhoronukupokaiwhen%C2%ADuakitanatahu	7/5/2023	Weird	A hill near Porangahau, south of Waipukurau in southern Hawke's Bay, New Zealand. The height of the hill is 305 meters (1,001 ft). The hill is notable primarily for its unusually long name, which is of Māori origin; it is often shortened to Taumata for brevity. It has gained a measure of fame as it is the longest place name found in any English-speaking country, and possibly the longest place name in the world, according to World Atlas.
Lake Chaubunagungamaug	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Chaubunagungamaug	7/5/2023	Weird	A lake that has become famous beyond Central Massachusetts for having the longest name of any geographic feature in all of the United States.
Place names considered unusual	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Place_names_considered_unusual	7/5/2023	Weird / List	A place most peculiar.
Free Speech Flag	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Speech_Flag	7/5/2023	Technology	A symbol of personal liberty used to promote freedom of speech. Designed by artist John Marcotte, the flag and its colors correspond to a cryptographic key which enabled users to copy HD DVDs and Blu-ray Discs. It was created on May 1, 2007, during the AACS encryption key controversy.
Communist nostalgia	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_nostalgia	7/5/2023	Society	The nostalgia in various post-communist states of Central and Eastern Europe and Russia for the prior communist states.
Egyptian days	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_days	7/18/2023	Society	During the Middle Ages in Europe, Egyptian days (Latin: dies Ægyptiaci) were certain days of the year held to be unlucky.
Tycho Brahe days	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tycho_Brahe_days	7/18/2023	Society	In the folklore of Scandinavia, Tycho Brahe days (Danish: Tycho Brahes-dage; Norwegian: Tycho Brahedager; Swedish: Tycho Brahe-dagar) are days judged to be especially unlucky, especially for magical work, and important business transactions (and personal events).
Corsi Rosenthal Box	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corsi%E2%80%93Rosenthal_Box	7/21/2023	Science	A design for a do-it-yourself air purifier that can be built comparatively inexpensively. A 2022 study found the clean air delivery rate on the five-filter design was between 600 and 850 cubic feet per minute (depending on fan speed), costing roughly 10 times less than commercial air filters. Made popular by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Daniel Lambert	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Lambert	7/21/2023	History	Was an English gaol (jail) keeper and animal breeder from Leicester, famous for his unusually large size. He was a keen sportsman and extremely strong; on one occasion he fought a bear in the streets of Leicester. In 1805, Lambert's gaol closed. By this time, he weighed 50 stone (700 lb; 320 kg), and had become the heaviest authenticated person up to that point in recorded history. Unemployable and sensitive about his bulk, Lambert became a recluse.
Community for Democracy and Rights of Nations	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_for_Democracy_and_Rights_of_Nations	7/21/2023	Society / International Policy	Also commonly and colloquially known as the Commonwealth of Unrecognized States, is an international organization in Eastern Europe uniting several states in the former Soviet Union, all of which have limited to no recognition from the international community.
List of individual cats	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_individual_cats	7/24/2023	History	This is a list of real, famous cats which achieved some degree of popularity either in their own right or by association with someone famous.
Escalope	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escalope	8/3/2023	Food	Traditionally a piece of boneless meat that has been thinned out using a mallet or rolling pin or beaten with the handle of a knife, or merely butterflied. The mallet breaks down the fibers in the meat, making it more tender. The meat is then coated and fried. The thinner meat cooks faster with more moisture loss.
Epanorthosis	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epanorthosis	8/3/2023	Linguistics	A figure of speech that signifies emphatic word replacement. "Thousands, no, millions!" is a stock example. Epanorthosis as immediate and emphatic self-correction often follows a Freudian slip (either accidental or deliberate).
Hex sign	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hex_sign	8/4/2023	Culture	A form of Pennsylvania Dutch folk art, related to fraktur, found in the Fancy Dutch tradition in Pennsylvania Dutch Country. Barn paintings, usually in the form of "stars in circles", began to appear on the landscape in the early 19th century and became widespread decades later when commercial ready-mixed paint became readily available. By the 1950s commercialized hex signs, aimed at the tourist market, became popular and these often include stars, compass roses, stylized birds known as distelfinks, hearts, tulips, or a tree of life.
Barnstar	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnstar	8/4/2023	Culture	(Or barn star, primitive star, or Pennsylvania star) is a painted object or image, often in the shape of a five-pointed star but occasionally in a circular "wagon wheel" style, used to decorate a barn in some parts of the United States. They have no structural purpose but may be considered lucky, akin to a horseshoe mounted over a doorway.
List of Unusual Deaths	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unusual_deaths	8/7/2023	History / Weird	Death comes in the strangest of ways.
Agent 355	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_355	8/8/2023	US History	Was the code name of a female spy during the American Revolution, part of the Culper Ring. She was one of the first spies for the United States, but her real identity is unknown. The number 355 could be decrypted from the system the Culper Ring used to mean "lady."
L-8	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L-8	8/16/2023	US History / Weird	L-8, later renamed America and popularly known as the "Ghost Blimp", was a United States Navy L-class airship whose crew disappeared over the Pacific Ocean on August 16, 1942. At 11:15 a.m., several hours after the airship lifted off from Treasure Island, San Francisco, California, L-8 reappeared off the shore of Ocean Beach near Fort Funston. L-8 briefly made contact with the ground at Ocean Beach, causing damage to the airship, then drifted over San Francisco and crashed on Bellevue Avenue, Daly City. No traces of its crewmen, Lieutenant Ernest DeWitt Cody and Ensign Charles Adams, have ever been found.
Early migrations mercator	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human#/media/File:Early_migrations_mercator.svg	9/26/2023	Human History	Map of the chronology of human migrations across the globe.
Ghost Dance	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Dance	10/4/2023	American History	(Nanissáanah, also called the Ghost Dance of 1890) is a ceremony incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems. According to the teachings of the Northern Paiute spiritual leader Wovoka (renamed Jack Wilson), proper practice of the dance would reunite the living with spirits of the dead, bring the spirits to fight on their behalf, end American Westward expansion, and bring peace, prosperity, and unity to Native American peoples throughout the region.
St. George, Vermont	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._George,_Vermont	10/12/2023	Vermont Geography	A tiny town right next to Shelburne and Charlotte. St. George has the smallest land area of any town in Vermont, though the incorporated cities of St. Albans, Vergennes, and Winooski are smaller.
Foo fighter	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foo_fighter	10/13/2023	Weird	The term foo fighters was used by Allied aircraft pilots during World War II to describe various unidentified flying objects or mysterious aerial phenomena seen in the skies over both the European and Pacific theaters of operations.
Grindhouse	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grindhouse	10/31/2023	History	An American term for a theater that mainly shows low-budget horror, splatter, and exploitation films for adults. According to historian David Church, this theater type was named after the "grind policy", a film-programming strategy dating back to the early 1920s which continuously showed films at cut-rate ticket prices that typically rose over the course of each day.
Connecticut field pumpkin	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connecticut_field_pumpkin	10/31/2023	Culture	A type of pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo) first attested in the 16th century. They are one of the oldest varieties of pumpkin in existence and are known as an heirloom plant. One of the most popular Halloween pumpkins, Connecticut field pumpkins are commonly used for autumn decorations and jack-o'-lanterns; a strain of Connecticut field pumpkins have been described as "the original commercial jack-o'-lantern pumpkin".
Hyper-real religion	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyper-real_religion	10/31/2023	Sociology / Religion	A sociological term to describe a new consumer trend in acquiring and enacting religion.
Liminality	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liminality	10/31/2023	Sociology / Spirituality	The quality of ambiguity or disorientation that occurs in the middle stage of a rite of passage, when participants no longer hold their pre-ritual status but have not yet begun the transition to the status they will hold when the rite is complete.
Postmodernity	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernity	10/31/2023	Culture / History	The economic or cultural state or condition of society which is said to exist after modernity. Some schools of thought hold that modernity ended in the late 20th century – in the 1980s or early 1990s – and that it was replaced by postmodernity, and still others would extend modernity to cover the developments denoted by postmodernity.
Saint Brendan’s Island	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Brendan%27s_Island	11/2/2023	History / Geography	Is a phantom island or mythical island, supposedly situated in the North Atlantic somewhere west of Northern Africa. It is named after Saint Brendan of Clonfert. He and his followers are said to have discovered it while traveling across the ocean and evangelizing its islands. It appeared on numerous maps in Christopher Columbus's time, most notably Martin Behaim's Erdapfel of 1492.
Phantom island	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_island	11/2/2023	Geography	Is a purported island which was included on maps for a period of time, but was later found not to exist. They usually originate from the reports of early sailors exploring new regions, and are commonly the result of navigational errors, mistaken observations, unverified misinformation, or deliberate fabrication. Some have remained on maps for centuries before being "un-discovered." Unlike lost lands, which are claimed (or known) to have once existed but to have been swallowed by the sea or otherwise destroyed, a phantom island is one that is claimed to exist contemporaneously, but later found not to have existed in the first place (or found not to be an island, as with the Island of California).
Fata Morgana (mirage)	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fata_Morgana_(mirage)	11/2/2023	Science / Optics	A complex form of superior mirage visible in a narrow band right above the horizon. The term Fata Morgana is the Italian translation of "Morgan the Fairy" (Morgan le Fay of Arthurian legend). These mirages are often seen in the Italian Strait of Messina, and were described as fairy castles in the air or false land conjured by her magic.
Fiddler’s Green	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiddler%27s_Green	11/2/2023	Maritime / Culture	An after-life where there is perpetual mirth, a fiddle that never stops playing, and dancers who never tire. In 19th-century English maritime folklore, it was a kind of after-life for sailors who had served at least fifty years at sea.
Cockaigne	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockaigne	11/2/2023	Medieval Culture	Is a land of plenty in medieval myth, an imaginary place of extreme luxury and ease where physical comforts and pleasures are always immediately at hand and where the harshness of medieval peasant life does not exist.
If Day	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_Day	11/2/2023	History / World War 2	Was a simulated Nazi German invasion and occupation of the Canadian city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and surrounding areas on 19 February 1942, during the Second World War. It was organized as a war bond promotion by the Greater Winnipeg Victory Loan organization, which was led by prominent Winnipeg businessman J. D. Perrin. The event was the largest military exercise in Winnipeg to that point. If Day included a staged firefight between Canadian troops and volunteers dressed as German soldiers, the internment of prominent politicians, the imposition of Nazi rule, and a parade. The event was a fundraiser for the war effort: over $3 million was collected in Winnipeg on that day. Organizers believed that the fear induced by the event would help increase fundraising objectives.
George Catlin	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Catlin	11/3/2023	American History	An American lawyer, painter, author, and traveler, who specialized in portraits of Native Americans in the American frontier.
Frying Pan Lake	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frying_Pan_Lake	11/3/2023	Geography	The world's largest hot spring. It is located in the Echo Crater of the Waimangu Volcanic Rift Valley, New Zealand and its acidic water maintains a temperature of about 50 to 60 °C (122–140 °F).
Curse of the Colonel	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_the_Colonel	11/8/2023	Weird / Japanese History	A 1985 Japanese urban legend regarding a reputed sports curse placed on the Japanese Kansai-based Hanshin Tigers baseball team by the ghost of deceased KFC founder and mascot Colonel Sanders. The curse was said to be placed on the team because of the Colonel's anger over treatment of one of his store-front statues, which was thrown into the Dōtonbori River by celebrating Hanshin fans before their team's 1985 Central League pennant. As is common with sports-related curses, the Curse of the Colonel was used to explain the team's subsequent 18-year pennant drought and 38 year title drought.
Vkusno i tochka	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vkusno_i_tochka	11/15/2023	History / Weird	A Russian fast food chain based in former McDonald's restaurants, with a menu that largely consists of rebranded McDonald's items. McDonald's closed their Russian stores in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine; Vkusno i tochka restaurants mostly occupy former McDonald's restaurants that were sold to business magnate and entrepreneur Alexander Govor, who was a company licensee in Siberia.
List of last stands	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_last_stands	11/15/2023	History	A military situation on which a normally-small defensive force holds a position against a more powerful opposing military force. At various times in history, last stands have ended with a defeat in the strict immediate military sense, but they have become moral victories by creating a heroic myth, which can be a great political asset to the cause for which the last stand had been fought.
Battle of Raseiniai (The lone Soviet tank)	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Raseiniai#The_lone_Soviet_tank	11/15/2023	History / WWII	During the battle for the village of Raseiniai, which took place 23–27 June 1941, a lone KV tank held off the advance of the 6th Panzer Division for a single day, before being overrun and knocked out on the morning of June 25.
Oldest dated rocks	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldest_dated_rocks	11/15/2023	Science / Geology	The oldest dated rocks formed on Earth, as an aggregate of minerals that have not been subsequently broken down by erosion or melted, are more than 4 billion years old, formed during the Hadean Eon of Earth's geological history. Meteorites that were formed in other planetary systems can pre-date Earth. Particles from the Murchison meteorite were dated in January 2020 to be 7 billion years old.
Era of Good Feelings	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Era_of_Good_Feelings	11/17/2023	US History	Marked a period in the political history of the United States that reflected a sense of national purpose and a desire for unity among Americans in the aftermath of the War of 1812. The era saw the collapse of the Federalist Party and an end to the bitter partisan disputes between it and the dominant Democratic-Republican Party during the First Party System.
List of United States presidential assassination attempts and plots	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_assassination_attempts_and_plots	11/22/2023	US History	Assassination attempts and plots on the president of the United States have been numerous, ranging from the early 19th century to the present.
Diamond Rock	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_Rock	12/12/2023	History / Weird	It is notable for having been commissioned by the British Empire's Royal Navy as HMS Diamond Rock, a "stone frigate" serving from February 1804 until June 1805 during the Napoleonic Wars, when the First French Empire captured the rock in the Battle of Diamond Rock and held it until the British recaptured it in the invasion of Martinique in 1809. Diamond Rock was returned to French control as part of a postwar trade of Martinique in 1815, and it remains part of Martinique in the present day.
Three Alls policy	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Alls_policy	12/13/2023	History / WWII	Was a Japanese scorched earth policy adopted in China during World War II. The three "alls" being "kill all, burn all, loot all". This policy was designed as retaliation against the Chinese for the Communist-led Hundred Regiments Offensive in December 1940.
Twelve-Mile Circle	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve-Mile_Circle	12/13/2023	American History / Surveying	The Twelve-Mile Circle is an approximately circular arc that forms most of the boundary between Delaware and Pennsylvania. It is a combination of different circular arcs that have been feathered together. It is nominally a circle with an approximate and variable 12-mile (19 km) radius, centered in the town of New Castle, Delaware.
Delaware Wedge	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delaware_Wedge	12/13/2023	American History / Surveying	The Wedge (or Delaware Wedge) is it a 1.068-square-mile (684-acre; 2.77 km2) tract of land along the borders of Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania. Ownership of the land was disputed until 1921; it is now recognized as part of Delaware. The tract was created primarily by the shortcomings of contemporary surveying techniques when the boundaries were defined in the 18th century.
Climate change in Vermont	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change_in_Vermont	12/15/2023	Climate / Vermont	The state is already seeing effects of climate change that affect its ecosystems, economy and public health. According to the Vermont state government, rainfall has significantly increased in the last 50 years, storms and flooding have increased, and winters have become warmer and shorter. These changes have led to significant impacts on both the winter tourism industry, and a decline in critical agricultural and woodland industries like maple sugaring. The state openly acknowledges and is developing programs that respond to global warming. Vermont was one of the first states in the United States to adopt greenhouse gas emissions goals in 2006.
Geoffrey Holt (philanthropist)	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Holt_(philanthropist)	11/15/2023	Notable People	He was an American groundskeeper, miller, factory worker, and town eccentric. He gifted US$3.8 million to his town of Hinsdale, New Hampshire, upon his death. Holt's wealth was unknown to his neighbors. His fortune came from investing a payout from a grain mill, where he was a production manager. Later in life he worked as a groundskeeper in a mobile home park where he resided, choosing to navigate town aboard a lawn mower rather than using a car.
Weather Station Kurt	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_Station_Kurt	1/4/2024	WWII History	Was an automatic weather station, erected by a German U-boat crew of the Kriegsmarine in northern Labrador, Dominion of Newfoundland, in October 1943. Installing the equipment for the station was the only known armed German military operation on land in North America during the Second World War. After the war it was forgotten until its rediscovery in 1977.
Panjandrum	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panjandrum	1/4/2024	WWII History	Also known as The Great Panjandrum, was a massive, rocket-propelled, explosive-laden cart designed by the British military during World War II. It was one of a number of highly experimental projects, including Hajile and the Hedgehog, that were developed by the Admiralty's Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapons Development (DMWD) in the final years of the war. The Panjandrum was never used in battle.
Operation Cowboy	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Cowboy	1/4/2024	WWII History / Weird	Was fought in the town of Hostau, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (now Hostouň in the Czech Republic), on 28 April 1945, in the last days of fighting in the European Theater of World War II. It is one of two known incidents during the war in which Americans and Germans of the Wehrmacht fought side by side against the Waffen-SS, the other being the Battle of Castle Itter.
USS Sable	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Sable	1/4/2024	WWII History / US History	Was a United States Navy training ship during World War II, originally built as the passenger ship Greater Buffalo, a sidewheel excursion steamboat. She was purchased by the Navy in 1942 and converted to a training aircraft carrier to be used on the Great Lakes. One of two freshwater aircraft carriers, the other being the USS Wolverine.
Clair Cline	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clair_Cline	1/17/2024	WWII History / US History	Was an American carpenter and cabinetmaker, who was a prisoner of war during World War II. At Stalag Luft I, he built a violin out of scrap wood and other materials found in the prison camp, and played simple tunes to lift the mood of fellow prisoners.
Wicked Bible	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked_Bible	1/18/2024	History	Sometimes called the Adulterous Bible or the Sinners' Bible, is an edition of the Bible published in 1631 by Robert Barker and Martin Lucas, the royal printers in London, meant to be a reprint of the King James Bible. The name is derived from a mistake made by the compositors: in the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:14, the word "not" was omitted from the sentence, "Thou shalt not commit adultery," causing the verse to instead read, "Thou shalt commit adultery."
Dausuva	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dausuva	1/31/2024	History	A proposed Lithuanian colony. Several locations were proposed. Interrupted by WWII.
Deck prism	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deck_prism	2/2/2024	Maritime Technology	Or bullseye, is a prism inserted into the deck of a ship to provide light down below.
Clear view screen	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clear_view_screen	2/2/2024	Technology	Or clearview screen is a glass disk mounted in a window that rotates to disperse rain, spray, and snow. A clear view screen is typically driven by an electric motor at the center of the disk, and is often heated to prevent condensation or icing.
Creeping Normality	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creeping_normality	2/7/2024	Psychology	Also called gradualism, or landscape amnesia is a process by which a major change can be accepted as normal and acceptable if it happens gradually through small, often unnoticeable, increments of change. The change could otherwise be regarded as remarkable and objectionable if it took hold suddenly or in a short time span.
Trial Balloon	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_balloon	2/7/2024	Sociology	Or kite-flying (used in the UK and elsewhere), is information sent out to the media in order to observe the reaction of an audience. It is used by companies sending out press releases to judge customer reaction, and by politicians who deliberately leak information on a policy change. The term is of French origin. Trial balloon translates French ballon d'essai, which was a small balloon sent up immediately before a manned ascent to determine the direction and tendency of winds. Its earliest use in English is figurative.
Hallin’s spheres	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallin%27s_spheres	2/7/2024	Sociology / Journalism	Is a theory of news reporting and its rhetorical framing posited by journalism historian Daniel C. Hallin in his 1986 book The Uncensored War to explain the news coverage of the Vietnam war. Hallin divides the world of political discourse into three concentric spheres: consensus, legitimate controversy, and deviance. In the sphere of consensus, journalists assume everyone agrees. The sphere of legitimate controversy includes the standard political debates, and journalists are expected to remain neutral. The sphere of deviance falls outside the bounds of legitimate debate, and journalists can ignore it. These boundaries shift, as public opinion shifts.
SS Green Mountain State	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Green_Mountain_State	2/14/2024	US History	A crane ship in ready reserve for the United States Navy. The ship was named for the state of Vermont, which is also known as the Green Mountain State. Part of the famed “Ghost Fleet” of Suisun Bay.
Squonk	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squonk	2/14/2024	US Cryptids	A mythical creature that is reputed to live in the hemlock forests of northern Pennsylvania in the United States. Johnstown, Pennsylvania celebrates the Squonk at the Squonkapalooza in August.
Great Australian Bight	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Australian_Bight	2/21/2024	Geography	A large oceanic bight, or open bay, off the central and western portions of the southern coastline of mainland Australia.
Adamstown, Pitcairn Islands	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adamstown,_Pitcairn_Islands	3/11/2024	Weird Geography	As of January 2020, Adamstown has a population of 47, which is the entire population of the Pitcairn Islands. All the other islands in the group are uninhabited. Adamstown is where most residents live, while they grow food in other areas of the island.
Ig Nobel Prize	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ig_Nobel_Prize	3/12/2024	Weird / Science	A satiric prize awarded annually since 1991 to celebrate ten unusual or trivial achievements in scientific research. Its aim is to "honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think." The name of the award is a pun on the Nobel Prize, which it parodies, and on the word ignoble.
Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Scott_Key_Bridge_collapse	3/26/2024	US History / Disaster	On March 26, 2024, at 01:28 EDT (05:28 UTC), the main spans of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, United States collapsed after the container ship Dali struck one of its support pillars.
Microwave auditory effect	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_auditory_effect	4/10/2024	Weird / Science	Also known as the microwave hearing effect or the Frey effect, consists of the human perception of audible clicks, buzzing, hissing or knocking induced by pulsed or modulated radio frequencies. The perceived sounds are generated directly inside the human head without the need of any receiving electronic device. The effect was first reported by persons working in the vicinity of radar transponders during World War II.
Moscow Signal	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_Signal	4/10/2024	History / Cold War	Was a reported microwave transmission varying between 2.5 and 4 gigahertz, directed at the Embassy of the United States, Moscow from 1953 to 1976, resulting in an international incident. The US government eventually determined that it was powering a successful espionage device, which after its discovery was called The Thing until its function was understood.
Phaeton (hypothetical planet)	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaeton_(hypothetical_planet)	4/23/2024	Astronomy	Was the hypothetical planet hypothesized by the Titius–Bode law to have existed between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, the destruction of which supposedly led to the formation of the asteroid belt (including the dwarf planet Ceres). The hypothetical planet was named for Phaethon, the son of the sun god Helios in Greek mythology, who attempted to drive his father's solar chariot for a day with disastrous results and was ultimately destroyed by Zeus.
Nemesis (hypothetical star)	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemesis_(hypothetical_star)	4/23/2024	Astronomy	Is a hypothetical red dwarf or brown dwarf, originally postulated in 1984 to be orbiting the Sun at a distance of about 95,000 AU (1.5 light-years), somewhat beyond the Oort cloud, to explain a perceived cycle of mass extinctions in the geological record, which seem to occur more often at intervals of 26 million years. In a 2017 paper, Sarah Sadavoy and Steven Stahler argued that the Sun was probably part of a binary system at the time of its formation, leading them to suggest "there probably was a Nemesis, a long time ago".
American Equatorial Islands Colonization Project	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Equatorial_Islands_Colonization_Project	4/24/2024	US History	Was a plan initiated in 1935 by the United States Department of Commerce to place U.S. citizens on uninhabited Howland, Baker, and Jarvis Islands in the central Pacific Ocean so that weather stations and landing fields could be built for military and commercial use on air routes between Australia and California. Additionally, the U.S. government wanted to claim these remote islands to provide a check on eastern territorial expansion by the Empire of Japan.
Hallmark holiday	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallmark_holiday	4/24/2024	US Culture	In the United States, a Hallmark holiday is a holiday that is perceived to exist primarily for commercial purposes, rather than to commemorate a traditionally or historically significant event.
Badalisc	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badalisc	4/24/2024	Christmas Folklore / Italian Culture	A mythical creature of the Val Camonica, Italy, in the southern central Alps. The Badalisc is represented today as a creature with a big head covered with a goat skin, two small horns, a huge mouth and glowing eyes.
Caganer	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caganer	4/24/2024	Christmas Folklore / Spanish Culture	Is a figurine depicted in the act of defecation appearing in nativity scenes in Catalonia and neighboring areas such as Andorra, Valencia, Balearic Islands, and Northern Catalonia (in southern France).
Korvatunturi	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korvatunturi	4/24/2024	Christmas Folklore / Finnish Culture	According to Finnish folklore, this land is said to be the location of Father Christmas’ secret workshop, where toys, trinkets and gifts are said to be made and eventually wrapped by elves. Known for their good-natured demeanour and their role as guardians of homes, these elves are also said to be responsible for analysing weather patterns for the yearly gift-giving trip around the world.
Zebroid	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebroid	5/8/2024	Biology	The offspring of any cross between a zebra and any other equine to create a hybrid.
Hinny	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinny	5/8/2024	Biology	A domestic equine hybrid, the offspring of a male horse (a stallion) and a female donkey (a jenny). It is the reciprocal cross to the more common mule, which is the product of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare).
Art competitions at the Summer Olympics	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_competitions_at_the_Summer_Olympics	5/13/2024	History	Art competitions formed part of the modern Olympic Games during its early years, from 1912 to 1948. The competitions were part of the original intention of the Olympic Movement's founder, Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin.
DX-pedition	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DX-pedition	5/28/2024	Amateur Radio	An expedition to what is considered an exotic place by amateur radio operators and DX listeners, typically because of its remoteness, access restrictions, or simply because there are very few radio amateurs active from that place.
Piasecki PA-97 Helistat	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piasecki_PA-97_Helistat	5/28/2024	Aviation / Weird	Was an American experimental heavy-lift aircraft, built by Piasecki by fastening four H-34J helicopters to a framework beneath a helium-inflated blimp envelope. The sole prototype was lost during a test flight, killing a test pilot and injuring another four in the course of a single incident.
Galileo’s middle finger	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo%27s_middle_finger	5/30/2024	History / Weird	The middle finger of Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) is a secular relic in the collection of the Museo Galileo in Florence, Italy. The finger was removed from his body posthumously and is encased in a gilded glass egg.
List of individual body parts	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_individual_body_parts	5/30/2024	History / Weird / Lists	This is a list of notable body parts of people. It includes specific, individual instances of organs and appendages which are famous in their own regard. Many noted body parts are of dubious provenance and most are removed post-mortem, some after being stolen (body snatching).
Lawfare	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawfare	5/30/2024	War	The use of legal systems and institutions to damage or delegitimize an opponent, or to deter an individual's usage of their legal rights. The term may refer to the use of legal systems and principles against an enemy, such as by damaging or delegitimizing them, wasting their time and money (e.g., strategic lawsuits against public participation), or winning a public relations victory.
Hogmanay	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogmanay	6/3/2024	Scottish Culture	The Scots word for the last day of the old year and is synonymous with the celebration of the New Year in the Scottish manner. It is normally followed by further celebration on the morning of New Year's Day (1 January) and, in some cases, 2 January—a Scottish bank holiday.
Peri-urbanism	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peri-urbanisation	6/20/2024	Society	Relates to the processes of scattered and dispersive urban growth that create hybrid landscapes of fragmented and mixed urban and rural characteristics. Such areas may be referred to as the rural–urban fringe, the outskirts or the urban hinterland.
Colonia	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonia_(United_States)	6/20/2024	US Society	In the United States, a colonia is a type of unincorporated, low-income, slum area located along the Mexico–United States border region that emerged with the advent of shanty towns.
Well he would, wouldn’t he?	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Well_he_would,_wouldn%27t_he%3F	6/28/2024	British Politics	"Well he would, wouldn't he?", often invoked by saying "Mandy Rice-Davies applies" (shortened to MRDA), is a British political phrase and aphorism that is commonly used as a retort to a self-interested denial.
Fedorenko v. United States	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fedorenko_v._United_States	6/28/2024	US History	The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Feodor Fedorenko, a former Nazi concentration camp guard, had fraudulently obtained his U.S. citizenship by concealing his wartime activities, leading to his denaturalization. After deportation to the Soviet Union, Fedorenko was tried, convicted, and executed for his wartime crimes. This case established significant legal precedents regarding the revocation of citizenship obtained through deception and the prosecution of war criminals.
Edwin Walker	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Walker	7/15/2024	US History	Was a United States Army major general who served in World War II and the Korean War. He became known for his staunch conservative political opinions and was criticized by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower for promoting personal political views while in uniform. Walker reported that he was the target of an assassination attempt at his home on April 10, 1963, but escaped serious injury when a bullet fired from outside hit a window frame and fragmented. After its investigation into the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the Warren Commission concluded that Walker's assailant had been Lee Harvey Oswald. Walker was said to have inspired the character of General Jack D. Ripper (played by Sterling Hayden) in Stanley Kubrick's anti-war movie Dr. Strangelove.
War Plan Red	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Plan_Red	7/15/2024	US History	Also known as the Atlantic Strategic War Plan, was one of the color-coded war plans created by the United States Department of War during the interwar period of 1919–1939, covering scenarios related to a hypothetical war with the British Empire (the "Red" forces, likely in reference to the Red Ensign). Many different war plans were prepared by mid-level officers primarily as training exercises in how to calculate the logistical and manpower requirements of fighting a war, and War Plan Red outlined those steps necessary to defend against any attempted invasion of the United States by British forces. It further discussed fighting a two-front war with both Japan and Great Britain simultaneously (as envisioned in War Plan Red-Orange).
New Zealand bat fly	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_bat_fly	7/16/2024	Biology	A fly that can’t fly.