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Geography Trivia - Why not?
Check out these very interesting facts about World Geography.
* Alaska
More than half of the coastline of the entire United States is in
Alaska.
* Amazon
The Amazon rainforest produces more than 20% 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.
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.
 *
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.
* 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.
* New York
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.
* 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.
* Siberia
Siberia contains more than 25% of the world's forests.
* The driest on planet
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.
* Roads
Chances that a road is unpaved: in the U.S.A. = 1%; in Canada =
.75%.
* Russia
The deepest hole ever drilled by man is the Kola Superdeep Borehole, in
Russia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kola_Superdeep_Borehole).
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.
* United States
The Eisenhower interstate highway 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.
From the Geography Teachers’ Association of South Australia (http://www.gtasa.asn.au).
From Karen McCrimmon from Laurier C. I.
Calculate your Life Expectancy!
Answer a few questions to determine your life expectancy.
Create a Population Pyramid online...in less than a minute!
The U.S. Census Bureau web site allows you to obtain population pyramids
(graphs that show the distribution of population by age and sex) for one
country in less than a minute. To create a population pyramid for any
country in the world,
click here.
How old will you be in 2050?
Check your age grouping in the graph to see how many cohorts you
have.
Are there more males or females for your age grouping?
Canada's Population Clock
Did
you know that in Canada there is:
-
one birth every one minute and 32 seconds;
-
one death every two minutes and 14 seconds; and
-
a net migration gain of one person every 2
minutes and 24 seconds.
The population clock is using the annual growth rate (1.003%)
measured for the year ending on June 30th, 2006. By
applying this rate to the estimated Canadian population
as of July 1st, 2006, Canada's population is
growing by one unit
every minute and 36 seconds. To learn more,
click here.
WORD CLOUD...a visual depiction of user-generated words!
 Check
out this Word Cloud of Geographic Maps Terms using a cool tool known as
Wordle -
give
it a try.
HOME...a movie with an environmental message!
(movie)
We are living in exceptional times. Scientists tell us that we have 10
years to change the way we live, avert the depletion of natural
resources and the catastrophic evolution of the Earth's climate.
The stakes are high for us and our children. Everyone should take part
in the effort, and
HOME has been conceived to take a message of mobilization out to
every human being.
HOME has been made for you : share it! And act for the planet.
Click here to watch this breathtaking movie.
Create & Share Documents Online!
 Google Docs is a free web-based
program for creating documents, spreadsheets and presentations online.
Google Docs keeps documents current and lets
the people you choose update files from their own computers. You can,
for example, coordinate your student group's homework assignments,
access your family to-do list from work or home, or collaborate with
remote colleagues on a new business plan. To learn more,
click here.
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