Did You Know?

Alaska

 

More  than half of the coastline of the entire  United  States is in Alaska   .    

  

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 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

 

Next  to Warsaw ,  Chicago has the  largest Polish population

In the  world. 

  

Detroit

 

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

 

Los  Angeles  ' 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 1930s

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 manmade. 

  

Pitcairn  Island

 

The  smallest island with country status is  Pitcairn

In Polynesia , at just 1.75  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 ,  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. 

  

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

 

Chances  that a road is unpaved:

in the U.S.A. . =  1%;

in Canada   = ...75% 

  

Russia

 

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

 

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.