The New Sudoku Players' Forum

[Hud]

I've heard about many of these, but some I just don't know if true:

"INTERESTING GEOGRAPHY"

Not sure these are all correct but that will give some of us something to do.

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

*AMAZON*
*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. *

*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, i.e.), 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, TUKEY*
*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, every one is
manmade. *
(I think I've heard the same thing about Arizona?)

*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. *
(This one sounds fishy to me?)

*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, 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%.

*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. *

[RW]

*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. *

You Americans always want to claim everything for yourselves... What about the Russian hole?

RW

[Hud]

I'm sure there are other errors in the list as well.

Not to change the subject, but I just saw a special on the oil field off Sakhalin Island in Siberia. They plan to drill many wells from one platform.

[tarek]

*CANADA*
*Canada* has more lakes than the rest of the world combined.
Canada is an Indian word meaning "Big Village." *

I always thought that Finland had the most lakes (Probably Most lakes per unit of area)

*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. *

the Angel falls are so high (only mist hits the ground below!!!!!)

tarek

[MCC]

*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. *
(This one sounds fishy to me?)

Firstly - Define your continents

Wiki:Continents.


MCC

[RW]

*CANADA*
*Canada* has more lakes than the rest of the world combined.
Canada is an Indian word meaning "Big Village." *

I always thought that Finland had the most lakes (Probably Most lakes per unit of area)

I'm afraid Finland will come in second here. Finland has 187888 lakes larger than 500m2 and 56000 larger that 10000m2. Canada has an estimated amount of 31191 lakes larger than 3km2 and a lot of smaller, but apparently they're not interested in getting any exact numbers...

*ISTANBUL, TUKEY*
*Istanbul, Turkey, is the only city in the world located on two
continents. *

Interesting, I thought Tukey was mostly known for the fast Fourier transform algorithm.

RW

[MCC]

Since this thread is about facts and figures, how about this:

North Pole.

The City of North Pole is a Home Rule Charter city and operates under the Council-Mayor form of government. The mayor and six (6) council members are elected for terms of three years, with two council members elected each year. The city has an annual operating budget of 3 million dollars, and derives its revenue from a four percent sales tax and a 3.0 mill rate levied against properties.

The city provides Police, Fire and Emergency Medical services to its residents. The city also maintains streets and roads within the city limits and operates water and wastewater treatment facilities. Electric and phone service is provided from outside the city.

Population.

1,646 - Corporate City Limits

30,440 within a 15 mile radius of the city.

Schools.

North Pole Elementary
400 students 250 Snowman Lane
Phone: 488-2286

North Pole Middle School
650 students
300 East 8th Ave.
Phone: 488-2271

North Pole High School
1000 students
601 NPHS Blvd.
Phone: 488-3761

Sunshine.

Longest day - June 21 - 21 hours 49 minutes

Shortest day - December 21 - 3 hours 42 minutes

And if you fancy joining in -

August 19, 1st Annual North Pole Contemporary Christian Music Festival
Come rain or shine the 1st Annual North Pole Contemporary Christian Music Festival will take place on Saturday, August 19th from 2:00 - 8:00 p.m. at Lord of Life Lutheran Church located at 1005 St. Nicholas Dr. Bring your lawn chair and enjoy the music food and fun. For more information you can contact Carol at 488-3390, Michelle at 488-4610 or Ranae at 388-5308.


MCC

[tarek]

This also should be interesting...

Murmansk (Coordinates: 68°58′″N, 33°05′″E)

Murmansk (Russian: Му́рманск) is a city in the extreme northwest of Russia (north of the Arctic circle) with a seaport on the Kola Gulf, 12 km from the Barents Sea on the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula, not far from Russia's borders with Norway and Finland. Population: 308,100 (2004 est.); 336,137 (2002 Census). The city is the centre of Murmansk region and the largest seaport on the Arctic Ocean.

Murmansk is a strange city in many ways:

*It is above the polar circle, so endures weeks of total darkness in the winter and enjoys weeks of 24 hour sunshine in the summer.

*It is above the tree line; the trees peter out a couple of hundred miles to the south.

*It is above the 10 degree isotherm; that is a line drawn around the arctic where the average June temperature is 10 degrees celsius or less. And

*Despite cold winters, the sea doesn't freeze (because of the Gulf Stream). Go in winter, and you can have air temperatures of -16 degrees Celsius, with great clouds of steam coming off the water and hanging over the port area as fog.

From Wikipedia & World66


tarek

[Hud]

About the only time I've heard of Murmansk, was during WWII it was the main port for supply of the Russians from the rest of the allies.

I was wondering what the list maker's definition of a continent was also. I always used the second one in Wiki's list. I don't think there's a Rome in Antarctica and have my doubts about some of the others as well.

[robert@fm]

One pair of interesting geographic facts I recently read was in Dan Brown's Angels and Demons (so how accurate they are, I couldn't say); "St. Peter's Square" isn't a square, it's an ellipse (it would more accurately have been called "St. Peter's Circus"), and whether it's in Rome or in Vatican City is a matter of dispute.

[robert@fm]

*ROME*
*The first city to reach a population of 1 million people was Rome,
Italy in 133 B.C.

That sounds extremely dubious to me -- a city of one million, that early in history?

I'd heard that the earliest 1-million city was Rome, but not until the late 18th century.

One claim I've heard is that the resort town of Blackpool, Lancashire UK, has enough hotel and bed-and-breakfast accomodation to house the entire population of Portugal with room to spare.

[Hud]

Robert, I don't know whether Rome had a million people way back then or not, but Rome (the country) was pretty highly populated. I heard that an estimated 50,000 Romans died in a single battle against the Carthagenians, I think.

I saw this question on Jeopardy last summer I think. This is also a test of your integrity so no cheating allowed. I didn't get it right at the time, but came close:

You decide to travel west on the arctic circle starting at the west end of Canada. Name the countries in proper sequence that have land on the circle ending in Canada. Don't post the answer, but see who gets it right, sans cheating.

[Smythe Dakota]

.... The City of North Pole ....

.... Longest day - June 21 - 21 hours 49 minutes ....

.... Shortest day - December 21 - 3 hours 42 minutes ....

I don't know where your "City of North Pole" is, but it's obviously nowhere near the north pole, not even north of the Arctic Circle, otherwise it would have some 24-hour days in June and some 24-hour nights in December.

Bill Smythe

[tarek]

Regarding this 24 hours of sunshine..........

In Murmansk....... the period this year was around 63 days between surise & sunset (Sunset finally came at around 21:40 GMT on 22 July 2006)

But the 300,000+ inhabitants of that city will have to endure 24 hours without sunsshine in winter - I have to re-check my program for this but it seems that after the sun sets on 30 Nov 2006, it would stay like that until 11 Jan 2007 (about 42 days) - probably a good time for a trip to Australia.....

[Edit: corrected sunrise/sunset times]

tarek

[udosuk]

I don't know whether Rome had a million people way back then or not, but Rome (the country) was pretty highly populated. I heard that an estimated 50,000 Romans died in a single battle against the Carthagenians, I think.

50,000? That's nothing... In the Battle of Changping in 260BC, 400,000 were buried alive...

I read that Baghdad could have been the 1st city with 1 million people in about 775 to 935 AD... But then it's not entirely impossible that some cities in ancient China in 1000BC could have gathered that size of population (pure speculation)...

But the 300,000+ inhabitants of that city will have to endure 24 hours without sunsshine in winter - I have to re-check my program for this but it seems that after the sun sets on 2 Dec 2006, it would stay like that until 13 Jan 2007 (about 42 days) - probably a good time for a trip to Australia...

Or a trip to Antartica if they dig 24-hour sunshine... The beaches and babes in Oz are all good, but you also have to endure the flies, which could become a major nuisance...