VISITING
AUTHOR/EDITOR ARTICLE
NOVEMBER
2009
GEOGRAPHY
YOU
DID NOT LEARN IN SCHOOL
Forwarded
by Magdalena Metzger
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More than half of the coastline of the entire United
States is in Alaska ..
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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 ..
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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.
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Brazil got its name from the nut, not the other way
around.
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Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world
combined. Canada is an Indian word meaning ' Big
Village .'
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Next to Warsaw , Chicago has the largest Polish
population in the world.
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Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, carries the
designation M-1, so named because it was the first paved
road anywhere.
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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.
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Istanbul, Turkey, is the only city in the world
located on two continents.
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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.
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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.
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There are no natural lakes in the state of Ohio; Every
one is man-made.
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The smallest island with country status is Pitcairn
in Polynesia , at just 1.75 sq. miles/4,53 sq. km.
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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.
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Siberia contains more than 25% of the world's
forests.
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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.
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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 literally means 'the land of rabbits.'
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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.
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Chances that a road is unpaved in the U.S.A : 1%,
in Canada : 75% |
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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