Learn Something New Every Day...!
Alaska
More
than half of the coastline of the entire United
States is in Alaska.
Amazon
The Amazon
rainforest produces more than 20% the world's oxygen
supply. The Amazon River pushes so much water into the Atlantic Ocean that, more than one hundred miles
at sea, off the mouth of the river,
one can dip fresh water out of the ocean. The volume of water in
the
Amazon river is greater than the next eight largest rivers in the world
combined and three times the flow of all rivers in the United States.
Antarctica
Antarctica
is the only land on our planet that is not owned
by any country. Ninety percent of the world's ice covers Antarctica. This ice also represents seventy
percent of all the fresh water in the world. As strange as it sounds,
however, Antarctica
is essentially a desert. The average yearly total precipitation is
about two inches. Although covered with ice (all but 0.4% of it, i.e.),
Antarctica is the driest place on the planet, with an absolute humidity
lower than the Gobi desert.
Brazil
Brazil
got its name from the nut, not the other way around.
Canada
Canada
has more lakes than the rest of the world combined. Canada is an Indian word meaning "Big Village."
Chicago
Next
to Warsaw, Chicago has the largest Polish
population in the world.
Detroit
Woodward
Avenue in Detroit, Michigan carries the designation M-1, named so
because it was the first paved road anywhere.
Damascus,
Syria
Damascus,
Syria, was flourishing a couple of thousand years before Rome was
founded in 753 BC, making it the oldest continuously inhabited city in
existence.
Istanbul,
Turkey
Istanbul,
Turkey
is the only city in the world located on two continents.
Los
Angeles
Los
Angeles's
full name is El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora
la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula
–--and can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its
size: L.A.
New
York City
The
term "The Big Apple" was coined
by touring jazz musicians of the 1930's who used the slang _expression
"apple" for any town or city. Therefore, to play New York City is to
play the big time - The Big Apple.There
are more Irish in New York City than in Dublin, Ireland; more Italians
in New York City than in Rome, Italy; and more Jews in New York City
than in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Ohio
There
are no natural lakes in the state of Ohio, every one is man made.
Pitcairn
Island
The
smallest island with country status is Pitcairn in Polynesia,
at just 175 sq. miles/4,53 sq. km.
Rome
The
first city to reach a population of 1 million people,
was Rome, Italy in 133 B.C. There is
a city called Rome
on every continent.
Siberia
Siberia
contains more than 25% of the world's forests.
S.M.O.M.
The
actual smallest sovereign entity in the world is
the
Sovereign Military Order of Malta (S.M.O.M.).
It is located in the city of Rome, Italy, has an area of two tennis
courts, and as of 2001 has a population of 80, 20 less people than the
Vatican. It is a sovereign entity under international law, just as the Vatican
is.
Sahara
Desert
In
the Sahara
Desert, there is a
town named Tidikelt, which did not receive
a drop of rain for ten years. Technically
though, the driest place on Earth is in the valleys of the Antarctic
near Ross
Island. There has
been no rainfall there for two million years.
Spain
Spain
literally means 'the land of rabbits.'
St.
Paul
Minnesota
St.
Paul,
Minnesota was originally called Pigs
Eye after a man named Pierre
"Pig's Eye" Parrant who set up
the first business there.
Roads
Chances
that a road is unpaved in the U.S.A.:
1%, in Canada:
75%.
Texas
The
deepest hole ever made in the world is in Texas. It is as deep as 20
empire state buildings but only 3 inches wide.
United
States
The
Eisenhower interstate system requires that one-mile in every five must
be straight. These straight sections or usable as
airstrips in times of war or other emergencies.
Waterfalls
The
water of Angel Falls(the World's highest)in
Venezuela
Drops 3,212 feet (979 meters). They are 15 times higher than Niagara Falls.
There...now
I bet you learned something!