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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Gatoclass (talk | contribs) at 05:23, 13 March 2008 (→‎Articles created/expanded on March 10). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Emerald-set box from Heaven on Earth
Emerald-set box from Heaven on Earth

This page is for nominations to appear in the "Did you know" section (reproduced on the right) on the Main Page. Eligible articles may only be up to 5 days old; for details see these rules.

Did you know?
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List new suggestions here, under the date the article was created or expanded (not the date you submit it here), with the newest dates at the top. If a suitable image is available, place it immediately before the suggestion. Any user may nominate a DYK suggestion; self-nominations are permitted and encouraged.

Remember:

  • Proposed articles should:
    • not be marked as stubs;
    • contain more than 1,500 characters (around 1.5 kilobytes) in main body text (ignoring infoboxes, categories, references, lists, and tables). This is a mandatory minimum; in practice, articles longer than 1,500 characters may still be rejected as too short, at the discretion of the selecting administrators.
    • cite their sources (these sources should be properly labelled; that is, not under an "External links" header); and
    • be no more than five days old (former redirects, stubs, or other short articles that have been expanded fivefold or more within the last five days are acceptable).
  • Articles on living individuals – these must be carefully checked to ensure that no unsourced or poorly sourced negative material is included. Articles and hooks which focus on negative aspects of living individuals should be avoided.
  • Articles with good references and citations are preferred.
  • To count the number of characters in a piece of text, you will need to use a free website like this, or an external software program that has a character-counting feature. For example, if you are using Microsoft Word, select the text from the article page (or, in the case of "Did you know" nominations, this Talk page) – not the edit page containing Wikitext – then copy and paste it into a blank document. Click "Tools", then "Word Count", and note the "Characters (with spaces)" figure. Other word processing programs may have a similar feature. (The character counts indicated on "Revision history" pages are not accurate for DYK purposes as they include categories, infoboxes and similar text in articles, and comments and signatures in hooks on this page.)
  • Suggested facts (the 'hook') should be:
    • interesting to draw in a variety of readers,
    • short and concise (fewer than about 200 characters, including spaces),
    • neutral,
    • definite facts that are mentioned in the article, and
    • preferably cited in the article with an inline citation.
  • Suggested pictures should be:
    • suitably and freely (PD, GFDL, CC etc) licensed (NOT fair use) because the main page can only have freely-licensed pictures;
    • attractive and interesting, even at a very small (100px-wide) resolution;
    • already in the article; and
    • relevant to the article.
    • formatted as [[Image:image name |right|100x100px| Description]] and placed directly above the suggested fact.
  • Proposed lists should have two characteristics to be considered for DYK: (i) be a compilation of entries that are unlikely to have ever been compiled anywhere else (e.g. List of architectural vaults), and (ii) have 2,000+ character non-stub text that brings out interesting, relational, and referenced facts from the compiled list that may not otherwise be obvious but for the compilation.
  • Please sign the nomination with the create/expand date and the name of the creator(s) or creator and nominator, such as:
    • *…that (text)? -- July 19, 2007 new article by [[User]]; Nom by ~~~~
    • *…that (text)? -- July 19, 2007 new article self-nom by ~~~~
    • *…that (text)? -- July 19, 2007 new article by [[User]] and ~~~~
    • *…that (text)? -- Article expanded fivefold on July 19, 2007 by [[User]]; Nom by ~~~~
    • *…that (text)? -- Article expanded fivefold on July 19, 2007 and self-nom by ~~~~
    • *…that (text)? -- Article expanded fivefold on July 19, 2007 by [[User]] and ~~~~
  • Please check back for comments on your nomination. Responding to reasonable objections will help ensure that your article is listed.
  • If you nominate someone else's article, you can use {{subst:DYKNom}} to notify them. Usage: {{subst:DYKNom|Article name|May 19}} Thanks, ~~~~

2024-05-19T00:00:00Z

BACKLOGGED?

This page often seems to be backlogged. If the DYK template has not been updated for substantially more than 6 hours, it may be useful to attract the attention of one of the administrators who regularly updates the template. See the page Wikipedia:Did you know/Admins for a list of administrators who have volunteered to help with this project.

Candidate entries

Articles created/expanded on March 13

Articles created/expanded on March 12

File:ECUSA West Texas.PNG
  • I understand that does not include characters which don't show up in the entry (the hidden parts of the links and the marks for italics and bold). Right? In this case, lat me shorten it to:
Marked for use on St. Patrick's Day. :-) --PFHLai (talk) 17:36, 12 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Why particularly for St. Pat's? There's nothing particularly Irish to this article.--Bedford 20:17, 12 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Marked for use on St. Patrick's Day. :-) --PFHLai (talk) 17:45, 12 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
This fact could use an inline citation in the article. --PFHLai (talk) 17:56, 12 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I thought it already was. OK, I added one right next to the sentence.--Bedford 18:09, 12 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • ...that a passenger train ran away backwards for over three miles following a collision in Torquay railway station (pictured), and was only brought to a stop after passing through two level crossings and another station? (Expanded from 1,125 to 5,674 characters) (self-nom) Geof Sheppard (talk) 14:09, 12 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Articles created/expanded on March 11

  • There are no references in the article and it's entirely in universe. Espresso Addict (talk) 15:44, 12 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Why was Griffith changed to Griffiths? The article says Griffith, and Google agrees by 1280 to 2. Art LaPella (talk) 01:45, 12 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, but the article India national field hockey team has been updated with this historical event today by me. I agree article is old but this historical event addition is latest. I hope this qualifies it to DYK. gppande «talk» 13:42, 11 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
It doesn't. Under DYK rules, an expanded article must be 5X within the last 5 days. By my eyeball look at the page history, expansion doesn't even come close to 2X, much less 5X. — Dale Arnett (talk) 17:25, 11 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Portland City Hall
Portland City Hall
  • alt: ...that although a 1970 bomb at Portland, Oregon's City Hall (pictured) did $170,000 in damage, nobody was ever arrested for the crime? -Pete (talk) 20:26, 12 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Articles created/expanded on March 10

Alternative hooks:

alt (for april 1)?...that Samuel Johnson started one of the first English dictionaries but Daniel Juslenius had finished a Finnish one, first? by Leopea nom Victuallers (talk) 19:21, 11 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
If saved for that, wouldn't something along the lines of "...that in 1745, a Finnish Fennoman finally finished the first formal Finnish dictionary?" be better? (What a shame it wasn't a thesaurus!) GeeJo (t)(c) • 20:11, 11 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Or "founding Fennoman", if you dislike the repetition of Finnish, even with different links. GeeJo (t)(c) • 20:29, 11 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Here's two possible hooks for one article. The second is more provocative than the first:
Self-nom by House of Scandal (talk)
How about a hook about the characteristics of Ukrainian architecture? And a picture to show an example? --74.14.16.56 (talk) 14:14, 10 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
ALTERNATIVE:
File:Kiev Pechersk Lavra (General).jpg
...that Ukrainian Baroque architecture is distinct from Western European Baroque in that its designs were more constructivist, had more moderate ornamentation, and were simpler in form? -- article by Kuban kazak (talk · contribs); nom by --Riurik(discuss) 19:25, 10 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • ...that the French mycologist René Maire wrote a work on the local flora of the Haute-Saône in the Franche-Comté region of northeastern France when he was only 18 years old? self-nom [[::User:Casliber|Casliber]] ([[::User talk:Casliber|talk]] · [[::Special:Contributions/Casliber|contribs]]) 01:13, 11 March 2008 (UTC)
Carl Bechstein
Carl Bechstein

Articles created/expanded on March 9

  • ...that "Spieprzaj dziadu!" (Polish for "Piss off, old man!"), said by current Polish President Lech Kaczynski to a passerby during the 2002 Warsaw mayoral campaign, has become one of the most famous phrases in modern Poland? --new article, self-nom by Malick78 (talk) 20:14, 10 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Salem First United Methodist Church
Salem First United Methodist Church
  • ...that The Typing of the Dead's original arcade cabinet used two QWERTY keyboards? - Self nom. Completely rewritten today, but due to the removal of vast amounts of cruft is actually a little smaller than original. I've also got a free image, but it may not look too good when shrunk for the main page --Lenin and McCarthy | (Complain here) 04:04, 9 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]


  • ...that Chamunda (pictured), a fearsome aspect of the Hindu Divine Mother, was worshipped by ritual human and animal sacrifices, along with offering of wine?-- Article expanded approx. fivefold (expansion started on from 6 March, 2008) and self-nom by Redtigerxyz (talk) 13:16, 9 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
alternative
  • ...that Anne Brontë was in her novels, the most modern and radical of the three famous Brontë sisters?
Robert D. Knapp with his Airco DH.4 bomber around 1920
Robert D. Knapp with his Airco DH.4 bomber around 1920
The TransPacific at an oil pier.
The TransPacific at an oil pier.
Wesley L McDonald
Wesley L McDonald
File:Boletus barrowsii 4936.jpg
  • ...that the edible and highly regarded mushroom Boletus barrowsii (pictured) of the Southwestern United States is as popular with maggots, who often beat mushroomers to their goal, as it is with people? [[::User:Casliber|Casliber]] ([[::User talk:Casliber|talk]] · [[::Special:Contributions/Casliber|contribs]]) 01:40, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

Articles created/expanded on March 8

File:HoltzSkip.jpg
Coach Holtz in his first game as the Pirates' head coach.
Naulakha pavilion
Early Garner gas masks
Early Garner gas masks
  • Can this be reworded to be absurd and used as a hook for the April Fool's DYK? It would make an even more interesting hook if it appeared to be referring to the other James Garner, a famous American actor. Royalbroil 21:22, 10 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
(Cut out just one of the people in the pic and have) ... that although this person's mask was designed by James Garner it is not clear whether he was intended to look like Ned Kelly? confusing enough? Victuallers (talk) 17:34, 11 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Moved discussion to Wikipedia:April Fool's Main Page/Did You Know. Please do not run this hook, save it for April Fool's Day. Help there is appreciated. Royalbroil 01:57, 12 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Before changing the capitalization or adding an accent mark to this article please see the first footnote therein.--House of Scandal (talk) 22:09, 8 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
(I know, just over 1500 chars but unusual links and nice pic...I'll add as I find or source)
Would "inaugural" be more interesting? BTW, who scored 13 points? That's missing in the hook. --PFHLai (talk) 14:16, 11 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Alt - ...that the Howmet TX (pictured) earned the first win for a gas turbine racing car in 1968 before earning three more victories and setting six FIA land speed records? The359 (talk) 14:04, 8 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Anyone interested in holding this a few days until St. Patrick's Day? - House of Scandal (talk)
I'll see if I can expand Lóegaire mac Néill and Lugaid mac Lóegairi in time as they'd be more appropriate; a hook mentioning Saint Patrick would be no bother for them. Lugaid should be easy enough, Lóegaire is quite big now so making it five times bigger will be harder. Vita tripartita Sancti Patricii is another that would be easily expanded if people fancied a Saint Patrick theme for DYK on Saint Patrick's Day. Angus McLellan (Talk) 22:11, 10 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Articles created/expanded on March 7

Prior to this, we had said that no natural satellite was known to have its own natural satellite. However, this is a new discovery and will require follow-up observations for verification. — kwami (talk) 19:44, 9 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • This fact is currently on the Main Page at In The News. Art LaPella (talk) 00:02, 10 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Does the appearance in ITN mean it will never by in DYK? For the record, I would have suggested something more like "...that Saturn's moon Rhea may be surrounded by rings?" --BlueMoonlet (t/c) 00:53, 10 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Probably. The link to your article usually gets to stay on MainPage longer on ITN (~days) than on DYK (~hours). And you don't need to wait a few days. Enjoy the exposure. --PFHLai (talk) 05:31, 10 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Is "prominent" a bit WP:PEACOCK-ish? POV-ish? --PFHLai (talk) 06:59, 11 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Eh, at the time I wrote this I couldn't think of anything other than prominent. "Large" would suffice, taking out the adjective would work too. --ImmortalGoddezz 15:07, 11 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
According to History of Drexel University, Drexel (Drexel Institute of Technology) became a university in 1970, well after Kolbe's time there. Do we know when Brooklyn Poly became a university? How about a hook on Kolbe being president of three education institutions before they became universities? --PFHLai (talk) 16:34, 12 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
BTW, length & references are okay for DYK purposes. I just want to be careful about the wording in the one-liner we post on MainPage. --PFHLai (talk) 16:38, 12 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not comfortable using an "argued" fact like that, footnoted to an essay, as the hook. I could just as easily say that Jeremy Bentham preceded the Nazis by quite a large margin in pioneering animal rights. But it's a great article, perhaps a new hook like "...that Nazi Germany's animal protection laws were the first to abolish the distinction between domestic and wild animals?" ? :) Sherurcij (Speaker for the Dead) 01:59, 8 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Yes the second suggestion is good. Another is given "...that Nazi Germany was the first nation to ban vivisection?" Otolemur crassicaudatus (talk) 05:40, 9 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
This is an extremely interesting article; however, on the talk page, the reliability of the source (ref 3) for much of the article is questioned by Edison. Can someone more knowledgeable than I am look into this one? Espresso Addict (talk) 14:11, 12 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Ew, no I didn't. And if I did want to find out advertising facts about the latest Apple-brand electronics, I'd visit the Apple website, not Wikipedia. Try for more historical or interesting facts. Sherurcij (Speaker for the Dead) 00:24, 8 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I don't think these are "advertising facts." It's unusual for a modern OS to take so little space but still offer a lot of features, and the name would suggest it's just for the iPhone; both facts are interesting in their own right, and neither would exactly persuade someone to buy the product. -Pete (talk) 02:03, 8 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I feel that this one is overly commercial, unless there's something particularly special about this OS which could be brought out in the hook. Espresso Addict (talk) 00:42, 13 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
"Only" half a gigabyte, got to have a chuckle at that. My old Amiga could multitask in half a megabyte, LOL. Gatoclass (talk) 04:04, 13 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
...that Funny Car drag racing pioneer Jack Chrisman set a class record at 188 mph, only to have the engine blow up two weeks later and the car burn to the ground? (ALT suggestion) Julia Rossi (talk) 05:49, 8 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I like the ALT suggestion better. Thanks Julia! Royalbroil 14:20, 8 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]


  • Does Goossens qualify as a reliable source? I'm never quite sure. He seems to know a lot about ships, but it's essentially a self-published blog and I don't recall him quoting sources for his research, and if you do a Google search for any of the books he has claimed to publish, you will draw a blank. Gatoclass (talk) 15:58, 12 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Good point, Goossens probably isn't the most reliable source in the world. Based on Cunard fleet lists available on various website I presumed this would be the case before I read Goossens' article, but looking at the fleet list on Cunard's own website, there are several ships that aentered service after her for which no details are provided what they were used for. It's possible some of those were built for transat service. So perhaps we'd better scrap this one? (Shame, but I can't think of an interesting enough hook part from this one). -- Kjet (talk · contribs) 21:36, 12 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • 2008 sports trophies belong more on Portal:Sports, I'd suggest recommending the fact for inclusion there instead? To the "average reader" who doesn't follow that sport, "57 out of 82" doesn't mean much, is that a lot? what's normal? I think it's a fact better suited to sports fans :) Sherurcij (Speaker for the Dead) 00:28, 8 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Actually, it was 2007, not 2008. --PFHLai (talk) 06:34, 9 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Yikes! thanks for catching that! -Pete (talk) 17:03, 10 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Good point. Could you maybe help me come up with a better hook? This is an important sports figure, with lots of media attention in his 2 years. The article was very short and incomplete, so I think it's a significant expansion worthy of a DYK. I'll try to think of a better one, but welcome any input. -Pete (talk) 07:43, 8 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Should this version mention basketball? Art LaPella (talk) 18:24, 8 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • ...that basketball player Brandon Roy won the NBA Rookie of the Year award by a near-unanimous vote, in spite of missing 20 games due to a heel injury? --(basically rephrasing original nom) -Pete (talk) 20:57, 8 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Brandon Roy
Brandon Roy
That works for me, thanks! -Pete (talk) 20:29, 9 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • I added some words I think you intended: "destroy", "was", and the pipe to "hickory stick". Art LaPella (talk) 01:19, 8 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Expired noms

Articles created/expanded on March 6

Articles created/expanded on March 5

I tried my best to wikify the article, every city has an article on Wiki and I linked to them. Any better? §tepshep¡Talk to me! 20:31, 10 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Unfortunately the general prose is only one sentence. Blnguyen (vote in the photo straw poll) 23:04, 10 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • President of a City Council doesn't sound very notable. Can someone please confirm this is a notable politician? Gatoclass (talk) 10:14, 11 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • He was also a Democratic nominee for Congress. Read the article. I believe nominees for either major party for congress are notable by standard conventions. Furthermore, he has been cited in the New York Times (a newspaper 400 miles outside of his city of jurisdiction) six times including three excluding the congressional race. This article has already survived a notability WP:CSD challenge.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTD) 11:32, 11 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Yeah, but he was basically only cited in passing in the NYT, he wasn't the subject of the article.
I have my doubts about a failed candidate for Congress being notable, but I'm not an expert on notability guidelines for US politicians, which is why I have asked for a second opinion. Gatoclass (talk) 11:50, 11 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
In larger cities, all city councilmen pass notability provided someone takes the time to write them a decent bio (e.g., Chicago City Council). However, every candidate for Congress gets a page and they don't get taken down after the election is over, so yes failed candidates pass, AFIK.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTD) 13:35, 11 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Comment Is it possible to add the 3/5 David Franczyk hook here with this Buffalo image?--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTD) 14:48, 12 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
As the editor who added the image, I don't agree with adding David Franczyk as I feel the subject is insufficiently notable for highlighting. Espresso Addict (talk) 15:25, 12 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Is there a different notability standard at DYK than for WP? I have never heard of an article that survived notability challenges not being allowed at DYK.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTD) 15:30, 12 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I don't think there are hard and fast rules about what is suitable for DYK, though some differences from the overall encyclopedia notability standards are apparent; for example, there seems to be consensus to avoid more commercial articles. However, I was referring to my personal criteria for selecting hooks for the update page, not to any general rule. If some other editor cares to select the article I won't object. Espresso Addict (talk) 15:40, 12 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Frederick Valentine Melsheimer
Frederick Valentine Melsheimer
Hook fact not cited inline. Daniel Case (talk) 17:22, 10 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Articles created/expanded on March 4

This is not new at all - John White (English colonist/artist ) (note extra space) has been around forever. A homemade copy and paste "move" was done, leaving the old version (which I have now added to & improved)! I have now redirected the fork version back to the original article (renamed again) Johnbod (talk) 04:44, 6 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

See also

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