X-Nico

30 unusual facts about the world


Agent of influence

In 1955, SSIS published a list of what it described as the 82 most active and typical sponsors of communist fronts in the United States; some of those named had literally dozens of affiliations with groups that had either been cited as Communist fronts or had been labelled "subversive" by either the subcommittee or the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

Anything but Ordinary

Sheena Easton provides background vocals on "I Only Think of You".

Devil's Dyke

Devil's Dykes, a series of Roman fortifications between Hungary and Serbia

Doug Mallory

Mallory has two brothers that are currently football coaches: Older brother Mike, is the special teams coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the NFL, and younger brother, Curt, is the secondary coach at Michigan.

Fitna

The First Fitna (656–661 CE) the first Islamic "civil war" between Ali and the Umayyads

Golden Hill, San Diego

Golden Hill is home to Black Box Recording Studios, The Habitat Recording Studios, Los Reyes Mexican Food, Influx Cafe, Turf Supper Club, Krakatoa & Pizzeria Luigi (which was featured on the Food Network show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives).

Great Harwood

Mortimer Grimshaw (1824/5–1869), strike leader and political activist

Henry Ledyard

Lewis Cass Ledyard was a prominent New York lawyer in the firm Carter Ledyard & Milburn, president of the New York Public Library, and personal counsel to J. Pierpont Morgan.

Hermes and the Infant Dionysus

The face and torso of Hermes are striking for their highly polished, glowing surface, which John Boardman half-jokingly attributed to generations of female temple workers.

Jewish paper cutting

To a limited extent, Jewish paper cuts have become more popular in Poland as a result of the Jewish Culture Festival in Kraków, a festival that has been held in Kraków since the 1990s.

John Langstaff

Several of his early recordings were made in London, with noted producer George Martin.

Kabeli

Kabeli, Lääne-Viru County, village in Viru-Nigula Parish, Lääne-Viru County, Estonia

Kilmartin Glen

In 2007, Kilmartin Glen was the setting for Half Life, a piece of landscape art and performance created by the Scottish theatre company NVA in collaboration with the National Theatre of Scotland.

Klaus Raffeiner

Raffeiner played the 2007 BWF World Championships in men's singles, and was defeated in the first round by Simon Maunoury, of France, 23-21, 21-16.

Mac MacLeod

After Donovan's first UK tour MacLeod teamed up first with Dana Gillespie then with another regular on the St Albans music scene, Maddy Prior, to form Mac & Maddy.

Minimal change disease

Protein tyrosine phosphatase receptor type O - also known as glomerular epithelial protein 1 (GLEPP1) has been shown to be mutated in a number of cases.

Nicky Spesh

An emerging member of the British hip hop and Grime scene alongside the likes of Sway DaSafo, Nicky Spesh first became recognised when he freestyled over DJ Kool Herc's set at The Scala in London in 2002.

ODAC

Old Dominion Athletic Conference, a collegiate athletics conference in the southeastern United States

Power Boy

) After being rejected for membership in the Legion of Super-Heroes, he remained at the Academy and later became an instructor in the United Planets Militia Academy on Xolnar.

Reed contrabass

It was developed by the Belgian maker Mahillion in the 1860s based on a slightly earlier design by the Czech maker Červený.

Sandra Stevens

In January 1974 "When Love Catches Up on You" was released on Dawn Records and by the end of the year they had scored a European hit with "Lady" and had released an album.

Sivelestat

Sivelestat (INN, research name ONO 5046, marketed as Elaspol) is an inhibitor of human neutrophil elastase.

Spaced armour

The Whipple shield uses the principle of spaced armour to protect spacecraft from the impacts of very fast micrometeoroids.

St Mary the Virgin's Church, Little Bromley

The stained glass in the north and south windows dates from the 20th century, and depicts Archbishop Laud and Charles I.

The House on the Borderland

Its most popular version was by Arkham House Press, Sauk City, Wisconsin, in 1946 as part of The House on the Borderland and Other Novels, the same publishers that brought out many books by other authors of weird fiction, such as H. P. Lovecraft.

Thomas McGuire

Fortunately he landed safely in the water and was rescued by a PT boat.

United States v. Florida East Coast Railway Co.

Two railroad companies brought an action in the Middle District of Florida to set aside the per diem rates that had been established because they had only been allowed to make written submissions during "hearings" for the proposed rule and not oral arguments.

Viktor Sidyak

In 1994, Maffei's 1972 team-mate Mario Aldo Montano invited Sidyak to coach the young fencers, including his own son, at his club in Livorno.

William Ratcliff

Guglielmo Ratcliff (premiered 1895), a later opera by Pietro Mascagni

Zaporizhian Sich

The Zaporizhian Sich emerged as a natural method of defense by the Ukrainian people against the frequent and devastating raids of Crimean Tatars, who captured hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians, Belorussians and Poles.