TRIVIA:
Thanks to an email from Bud Casselberry (Neither
Bud nor I have established the validity of the statements below.
But they look OK. If you find a discrepancy please let me know.)
Alaska:
More than half of the coastline of the entire
United States is in Alaska.
Amazon:
The Amazon rain forest produces more than
20 percent 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. 90% of the world's ice covers Antarctica.
This ice also represents 70% of all the fresh water in the world. As strange
as it sounds, Antarctica is essentially a desert. The average yearly precipitation
is about two inches. Although covered with ice (all but 0.4 percent of
it), 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 Ave. in Detroit, Michigan, carries
the designation M - 1, because it was the first paved road anywhere.
Damascus:
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:
Istanbul, Turkey is the only city in the world
located on two continents.
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.
Wilderness:
Percentage of Africa that is wilderness 28%.
Percentage of North America that is wilderness 38%.
Ohio:
There are no natural lakes in the state of
Ohio, every one is man-made.
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 percent of the
world's forests.
SMOM:
The smallest sovereign entity in the world
is the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM). 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, as is the Vatican.
Sahara Desert:
In the Sahara Desert, there is a town named
Tidikelt, which did not receive a drop of rain for ten years.
St. Paul:
St. Paul, Minnesota was originally called
Pigs Eye after a man named Pierre "Pig's Eye" Parrant who set up the first
business there (bootlegging).
Roads:
Chances that a road is unpaved in the USA
is 1 percent Chances that a road is unpaved in Canadais 75
percent.
United States:
The Eisenhower interstate system requires
that one mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are
meant to be usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies.
QUOTES:
When an insult was an INSULT -- Fred Deitz
found this collection.
"He has all the virtues I dislike and none
of the vices I admire."
--Winston Churchill
"A modest little person, with much to be modest
about."
--Winston Churchill
"I have never killed a man, but I have read
many obituaries with great pleasure."
--Clarence Darrow
"He has never been known to use a word that
might send a reader to the dictionary."
--William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway)
"Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions
come from big words?"
--Ernest Hemingway (about William Faulkner)
"Thank you for sending me a copy of your book;
I'll waste no time reading it."
--Moses Hadas
"He can compress the most words into the smallest
idea of any man I know."
--Abraham Lincoln
"I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But
this wasn't it."
--Groucho Marx
"He inherited some good instincts from his
Quaker forebears, but by diligent hard work, he overcame them."
--James Reston (about Richard Nixon)
"In order to avoid being called a flirt, she
always yielded easily."
--Charles, Count Talleyrand
"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a
nice letter saying I approved of it."
--Mark Twain
"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others
whenever they go."
--Oscar Wilde
"He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked
by his friends."
--Oscar Wilde
"I am enclosing two tickets to the first night
of my new play, bring a friend... if you have one."
--George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill
"Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend
second...if there is one."
--Winston Churchill, in reply
"A sheep in sheep's clothing."
--Winston Churchill, on Clement Atlee
"There but for the grace of God, goes God."
--Winston Churchill, on Stafford Cripps
"He occasionally stumbled over the truth, but
hastily picked himself and hurried on as if nothing had happened."
--Winston Churchill, on Stanley Baldwin