Geography and Space-Page 4

Bizarre Fact #151:
Did you know...
In Calama, a town in the Atacama Desert of Chile, it has never rained.

Bizarre Fact #152:
Did you know...
In downtown Lima, Peru, there is a large brass statue dedicated to Winnie-the-Pooh.

Bizarre Fact #153:
Did you know...
In May 1948, Mt. Ruapehu and Mt. Ngauruhoe, both in New Zealand, erupted simultaneously.

Bizarre Fact #154:
Did you know...
In New Zealand, the Presidential highway links the towns of Gore and Clinton. Gore is also known as the Brown Trout Capital of the World and New Zealand's country music capital.

Bizarre Fact #155:
Did you know...
In Papua New Guinea there are villages within five miles of each other which speak different languages.

Bizarre Fact #156:
Did you know...
In the Andes, time is often measured by how long it takes to smoke a cigarette.

Bizarre Fact #157:
Did you know...
Iowa has more independent telephone companies than any other state.

Bizarre Fact #158:
Did you know...
Ireland currently has the fastest growing economy in Europe - the economy grew by 40% from 1993-1997. It is for this reason that the country is referred to as the Celtic Tiger.

Bizarre Fact #159:
Did you know...
John Stetson learned hatmaking in Dunn's Falls.

Bizarre Fact #161:
Did you know...
La Paz, the capital city of Bolivia is the highest capital in the world. Ski resorts there operate only on weekends during the South American summer (November to March). At an elevation of over 17,000 feet, it is too cold to operate during the South American winter.

Bizarre Fact #162:
Did you know...
Los Angeles and San Francisco become 2.5 inches closer together each year because they are on opposite sides of the San Andreas fault.

Bizarre Fact #163:
Did you know...
MCW in Columbus was the first state college for women in the country established in 1884.

Bizarre Fact #164:
Did you know...
Mississippi Facts:

Bizarre Fact #165:
Did you know...
Mississippi was the first state to outlaw imprisonment of debtors.

Bizarre Fact #166:
Did you know...
Mongolia is the largest landlocked country.

Bizarre Fact #167:
Did you know...
Montpelier, Vermont is the only U.S. state capital without a McDonald's.

Bizarre Fact #168:
Did you know...
Morocco was the first country to recognize the United States in 1789.

Bizarre Fact #169:
Did you know...
Mount St. Helens dropped 1,313 feet in 1980.

Bizarre Fact #170:
Did you know...
Nepal's flag isn't rectangular. Or square. It's two triangles, sorta.

Bizarre Fact #171:
Did you know...
Newfoundland's time zone is half an hour off of all the others. So are Iran's, bits of India's, Afghanistan's, Burma's, and Nauru's. And some other islands. Like Australia.

Bizarre Fact #172:
Did you know...
Ninety percent of all volcanic activity occurs in the oceans. In 1993, scientists located the largest known concentration of active volcanoes on the sea floor in the South Pacific. This area, the size of New York state, hosts 1,133 volcanic cones and sea mounts. Two or three could erupt at any moment.

Bizarre Fact #173:
Did you know...
Norway contains the largest icefield in Europe.

Bizarre Fact #174:
Did you know...
On a trip to the South Sea islands, French painter Paul Gauguin stopped off briefly in Central America, where he worked as a laborer on the Panama Canal.

Bizarre Fact #175:
Did you know...
On international license plates Spain is represented by the letter E for Espana.

Bizarre Fact #176:
Did you know...
Only five countries in Europe touch only one other: Portugal, Denmark, San Marino, Vatican City, and Monaco.

Bizarre Fact #177:
Did you know...
Peavey Electronics in Meridian is the world's largest manufacturer of musical amplification equipment.

Bizarre Fact #178:
Did you know...
Pennsylvania has more covered bridges than any other state. Vermont, a much smaller state, claims a greater density of covered bridges. (More bridges per square mile). Parke County, Indiana, claims more covered bridges than any other county, but Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, comes in second.

Bizarre Fact #179:
Did you know...
People in Sweden, Japan, and Canada are more likely to know the population of the United States than are Americans.

Bizarre Fact #180:
Did you know...
Persia changed its name to Iran in 1935.

Bizarre Fact #181:
Did you know...
Pittsburgh was named for a British prime minister.

Bizarre Fact #182:
Did you know...
Portugal is the world's largest producer of cork. The country has regulations protecting cork trees dating back to 1320. During the 1920’s and 30’s, it became illegal to cut down the trees other than for essential thinning and removal of old non-producing trees.

Bizarre Fact #183:
Did you know...
Residents of the Havasupai Indian Reservation in Northern Arizona get their mail delivered by mule.

Bizarre Fact #184:
Did you know...
Resin Bowie, the inventor of the Bowie knife is buried at Pt. Gibson.

Bizarre Fact #185:
Did you know...
Reversing Falls is in Canada, where the St. John River flows into the Bay of Fundy at St. John, New Brunswick. The rapids at this juncture flows normally at low tide, backwards at high tide. Between tides there is a 15-minute period in which the river is placid and boaters sail by very quickly.

Bizarre Fact #186:
Did you know...
Rome is considered "The Eternal City."

Bizarre Fact #187:
Did you know...
Seoul, the South Korean capital, just means "the capital" in the Korean language.

Bizarre Fact #188:
Did you know...
Several nations (Norway, Australia, New Zealand, France, Great Britain, Chile, and Argentina) have advanced claims on sections of the continent of Antarctica. The United States does not recognize any claims.

Bizarre Fact #189:
Did you know...
Shortest Intercontinental Commercial Flight in the world is from Gibraltar (Europe) to Tangier (Africa.) Distance 34 miles, flight time 20 minutes.

Bizarre Fact #190:
Did you know...
Since the 1930’s the town of Corona, CA has buried, and lost, all 17 of its time capsules.

Bizarre Fact #191:
Did you know...
South Africa produces two-thirds of the world's gold.

Bizarre Fact #192:
Did you know...
Spains biggest source of income is tourism.

Bizarre Fact #193:
Did you know...
St. Petersburg, FL once had 427 consecutive days of sunshine.

Bizarre Fact #194:
Did you know...
Surprisingly, there was a time that the Vatican owned shares of the Watergate complex in Washington DC, the Pan American building in Paris, and the Hilton hotel in Rome.

Bizarre Fact #195:
Did you know...
Thailand used to be called Siam.

Bizarre Fact #196:
Did you know...
The 4-H Club started in Holmes County.

Bizarre Fact #197:
Did you know...
The birthplace of Elvis was in Tupelo.

Bizarre Fact #198:
Did you know...
The Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. has 365 steps, representing every day of the year.

Bizarre Fact #199:
Did you know...
The Chang Jiang river is the fourth longest river in the world.

Bizarre Fact #200:
Did you know...
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel - which crossing Chesapeake near its mouth, at Norfolk, Virginia - uses a combination of bridge spans and tunnels. Manmade islands allow the roadway to enter the tunnels beneath the Bay's shipping channels.