Most of this sounds right. If anyone sees something that is not true in this post, please let me know. I did not have time to fact check this stuff, but it is interesting all the same.
Alaska
More than half of the coastline of the entire United States is in Alaska.
Amazon
The Amazon rain forest 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. T his 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, i.e.), Antarctica is the driest place on the
planet, with an absolute humidity lower than the Gobi desert.
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, named
so 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’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
There are no natural lakes in the state of Ohio, ever y one is man made.
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 about 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, 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 Pigs 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%.
Texas
The deepest hole ever made in the world is in Texas. It is as deep as 20
empire state buildings but only 3 inches wide.
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.
