Interesting quick facts about our world.

GEOGRAPHY FACTS, this is good.

 

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, 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 an 
Indian word meaning ' Big Village .'

 

  
 

Chicago

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 Next to Warsaw , Chicago has the largest Polish population in the world.

  

Detroit

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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 located on two continents.

  

Los Angeles

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 Los Angele'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

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There are no natural lakes in the state of Ohio , everyone is manmade.

  

Pitcairn Island

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 The smallest island with country status is Pitcairn in Polynesia ,
at just 1.75 sq. miles/4,53 sq. km.

  

Rome

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 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

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In the Sahara Desert , there is a town named Tidikelt , Algeria , 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.

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Spain

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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

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Chances that a road is unpaved in the U.S.A : 1%, in Canada : 75% 

 

Russia

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The deepest hole ever drilled by man is the Kola Superdeep 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 and gave up some unexpected discoveries,
one of which was a huge deposit of hydrogen - so massive that the mud
coming from the hole was “boiling” with it.
 

 United States

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 The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one-mile in every five must be straight.
These 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).
They are 15 times higher than Niagara Falls .

 

I have always said , you should learn something new every day.

Unfortunately, many of us are at that age where what we learn today,

we forget tomorrow.

But, give it a shot anyway.

via us.mc329.mail.yahoo.com

Posted via web from Steve's posterous