Today I decided to press the Wikipedia “Random Article” link a couple of times and see what I could learn from this great resource. Personal comments are in italics.

Possibly the coolest link ever.

1. The Highlands School (presumably for Witchcraft and Wizardry) is a college preparatory school in Irving, Texas (USA) ranging from grades PK-12. It is a Catholic school headed by the Legionaries of Christ (They sound very scary), founded in 1986 in the front room of the Hennesey family’s house. (He must have a big house.) In the last twenty years The Highlands School changed location twice, all the time staying in Irving.
2. Wayne Lakes is a village in Darke County, Ohio, United States. The population was 684 at the 2000 census. (That’s small.) here were 684 people, 283 households, and 200 families residing in the village. The population density was 480.2 people per square kilometer. There were 307 housing units at an average density of 215.5/km². The racial makeup of the village was 97.95% White, 0.58% African American, 0.29% Native American, 0.15% Asian, and 1.02% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.88% of the population. (I imagine the Census Bureau had to do some massive stalking to complete these statistics.)
3. Jane Kolling, born July 12, 1968, is a Danish team handball player (I wonder how competitive team handball is.) and Olympic champion (Team Handball is an Olympic sport?). She received gold medals with the Danish national team at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.
4. The Best Swedish Crime Novel Award, or Bästa svenska kriminalroman, is a literary prize awarded annually since 1982 by the Swedish Crime Writers’ Academy. (They probably don’t have to choose between that many novels.) The most recent winner, in 2007, was Håkan Nesser for En helt annan historia.
5. Bobby Hill or Bob Hill may refer to Bobby Hill, the fictional character in the cartoon series King of the Hill; Bobby Hill, an American professional baseball player; Bobby Hill, a fictional police officer on the television series Hill Street Blues; Bobby Joe Hill (1943–2002), an American basketball player; Bob Hill, an American basketball coach; or Bob Hill, an American race car driver.
6. Terry Savarise is the senior vice president of stadium operations for the Chicago White Sox major league baseball team. (That sounds like quite the exciting position.) He is the executive responsible for all aspects of the operation of U.S. Cellular Field, including the over 2,000 employees who staff the ballpark on game days. Under Savarise’s leadership seating has been moved closer to the field of play and the entire color scheme of the ballpark was changed from whites and blues to dark greys and greens. (I’d like to imagine that viewership tripled once they switched from blues to the dark greens.)
7. 2-1-1 is a special abbreviated telephone number reserved in Canada and the United States as an easy-to-remember three-digit telephone number meant to provide quick information and referrals to health and human service organizations. (Why they don’t have a special abbreviated telephone number reserved to provide quick information to pizza is something I won’t understand.)
8. Guiseppi Guarnieri (1856-1918) was an Italian physician. Guarnieri bodies are named for him. (Apparently that’s all the info available on him. He should have gone out more.)
9. Malosma is a plant genus for which only a single species, Malosma laurina, is proposed. Common names for the species include laurel sumac and lentisco. Malosma laurina is found along the southern California and Baja California coasts; the name “laurel” was chosen because the foliage is reminiscent of bay laurel, Laurus nobilis), which is an otherwise unrelated small tree of the Mediterranean region. The species was previously assigned to the genus Rhus, and was known as Rhus laurina. (Exciting.)
10. Kyzyldzhildyz is a village in the Issyk Kul Province of Kyrgyzstan. (I assume this city was named by hitting a keyboard at random. It’s the only explanation that makes sense.) It’s coordinates are 42°43′48″N 78°3′36″E, 42.73°N 78.06°E (In case you want to check out the local shopping they probably don’t have) and it has an elevation of 1,641m. Its time zone is UTC +5. (Who knew?).

Be Sociable, Share!

•