[StBernard] Fascinating Information

Westley Annis Westley at da-parish.com
Thu Mar 4 08:02:28 EST 2010


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.





More information about the StBernard mailing list