More than
half of the coastline of the entire United States is in Alaska.
THE
AMAZON
The Amazon
rainforest produces more than 20% of 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
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
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, Antarctica is essentially a desert;
The average yearly total precipitation is about two inches.
Although covered with ice (all but 0.4% of it, is ice),
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 a Native American word meaning 'Big Village.'
CHICAGO,
ILLINOIS
Next to
Warsaw, Poland, Chicago has the
largest Polish population in the world.
Woodward
Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, carries the designation M-1,
so named 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 that's located on two continents.
LOS
ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
The full
name of the home of Hollywood, the United States' film capital is:
El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula
-- and for good reason, it's abbreviated to 3.63% of its size, i.e.,
L A.
NEW YORK
CITY, NEW YORK
The term
'The Big Apple' was coined by touring jazz musicians of
the '30s who used the slang expression 'apple' for any town or city.
That is, 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 there are more Jews than in Tel Aviv, Israel.
OHIO,
U.S.A.
There are
no natural lakes in the state of Ohio, every lake is manmade.
PITCAIRN
ISLAND
The smallest
island in the world with country status is Pitcairn
in Polynesia, at just 1.75 Square Miles - 4.53 Sq. Km.
ROME,
ITALY
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,
RUSSIA
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 within the city of Rome, Italy and
it has an area of two tennis courts.
As of 2001, it's population was 80
-- 20 less people than the Vatican.
Has sovereignty under international
law, just as the Vatican does.
SAHARA
DESERT
In the Sahara
Desert of Africa, there is a town named Tidikelt,
Algeria, which did not receive a drop of rain for ten years.
Technically however, the driest area 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 Pig's Eye
after a man named Pierre 'Pig's Eye' Parrant
who set up the first business there.
ROADS
Chance that
a road is unpaved:
in the U.S.A. it is 1%;
in Canada it is 75%.
RUSSIA
The deepest
hole ever drilled by man is the
Kola Super Deep Borehole, in Russia.
It reached a depth of 12,261 meters
(about 40,226 feet or 7.62 miles).
It was drilled for scientific research.
It yielded some unexpected finds,
including a humongous deposit of
hydrogen so massive that the
mud coming from the hole
was boiling with it.
UNITED
STATES
The Eisenhower
interstate system requires
that one mile in every five must be straight.
The straight sections are 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),
15 times higher than U.S. Niagara Falls.
