I bet you didnt know that

Greybottle

Dublin is further north than parts of Alaska on the Aleutian Islands.

The most southerly point of Alaska on the US mainland is around the same latitude as Donegal town.


To put the lower 48 into perspective, its most northerly point is at the same latitude as Paris. So the first people to sail from the UK to the Americas would be sailing south.

retalivity

Gulf stream baby!

mzungu

Lesotho, Vatican City, and San Marino are the only countries completely surrounded by one other country. Lesotho is completely surrounded by South Africa, and Vatican City, and San Marino are both completely surrounded by Italy.

cdeb

I thought Swaziland was one too, but on googling I found that (a) it's bordered by Mozambique and South Africa, and (b) it's not called Swaziland any more as of yesterday. It's called eSwatini.

I think the last country to change its name was the Czech Republic, which is officially Czechia since 2016.

On a similar note, there's no such country as Ivory Coast (of the backwards tricolour). The official English translation of the French "Côte d'Ivoire" is "Côte d'Ivoire"

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

cdeb wrote: »

On a similar note, there's no such country as Ivory Coast (of the backwards tricolour). The official English translation of the French "Cd'Ivoire" is "Cd'Ivoire"

It is a little odd that we translate the name. We don't call Costa Rica "Rich Coast".

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

diomed wrote: »

Saint Pierre and Miquelon (pop 624) off the southern tip of Newfoundland is part of France.

624 is the population of Miquelon. Combined, there are over 6000 of them.

Skylinehead

Chancer3001 wrote: »

Pretty sure I posted those before.

And got less thanks too. Dicks

:pac:

Thinking back, yeah pretty sure the Panama stuff was done before, but I didn't see the California one.

razorblunt

cdeb wrote: »

I thought Swaziland was one too, but on googling I found that (a) it's bordered by Mozambique and South Africa, and (b) it's not called Swaziland any more as of yesterday. It's called eSwatini.

I think the last country to change its name was the Czech Republic, which is officially Czechia since 2016.

On a similar note, there's no such country as Ivory Coast (of the backwards tricolour). The official English translation of the French "Côte d'Ivoire" is "Côte d'Ivoire"

eSwatinini? How very CountriesOfTheWorld2.0!

stimpson

Greybottle wrote: »

Dublin is further north than parts of Alaska on the Aleutian Islands.

The most southerly point of Alaska on the US mainland is around the same latitude as Donegal town.


To put the lower 48 into perspective, its most northerly point is at the same latitude as Paris. So the first people to sail from the UK to the Americas would be sailing south.

Alaska is the most northerly, westerly and easterly state in the US.

Fitz*

stimpson wrote: »

Alaska is the most northerly, westerly and easterly state in the US.

North and Western I can see, but Eastern I am struggling with.

Any link to that longitude / latitude map people are talking about?

cdeb

The Aleutians straddle the International Date Line.

Greybottle

cdeb wrote: »

The Aleutians straddle the International Date Line.

To be more precise they straddle the 180 longitude line, which means they are in the Eastern Hemisphere.

The 180 degree longitude line is immovable. The International Date Line (IDL) is movable and this bends around the islands to ensure that they are all in the same day as the rest of Alaska and the Lower 48.

The last time the IDL changed was in 1995, as part of Kiribati straddled the IDL, meaning that some it it was one day ahead of the rest of it.

They moved the line eastwards to capitalise on tourism potential as it is the first place on earth to see the "new day" and thus the first place on earth that you can celebrate "New Years Day".

You can get a tour to go to Kiribati for New Years Day and then on to Hawaii, thus moving back to New Years Eve and you can then celebrate New Years Day again.

Gorgeousgeorge

razorblunt wrote: »

eSwatinini? How very CountriesOfTheWorld2.0!

I believe it is the original name of the country

cdeb

Gorgeousgeorge wrote: »

I believe it is the original name of the country

Apparently so, yep. Swaziland was just like Rhodesia, Nyasaland and Bechuanaland, or indeed Bangalore, Bombay and Madras in India.

Greybottle wrote: »

To be more precise they straddle the 180 longitude line, which means they are in the Eastern Hemisphere.

Indeed; a careless mistake to make on this thread!

Though the last change was in 2011; Samoa skipped 30 Dec '11 to go straight into 31st Dec and bring it from 21 hours behind Australia - its nearest trading partner - to 3 hours ahead. It also changed to driving on the left in 2009 for the same reason.

mzungu

Every continent has a city called Rome (actually called Roma), except Antartica.

MikeyTaylor

Oak trees don't have acorns until they're 50 years old.

Graces7

MikeyTaylor wrote: »

Oak trees don't have acorns until they're 50 years old.

Wise wise trees! Indeed yes!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

MikeyTaylor wrote: »

Oak trees don't have acorns until they're 50 years old.

I beg to differ. I have an oak wood planted just 35 years ago and it has produced acorns for at least 10 years.

SuperS54

Anders Shy Aircraft wrote: »

I beg to differ. I have an oak wood planted just 35 years ago and it has produced acorns for at least 10 years.

Age
The majority of oak trees do indeed bloom acorns well before the age of 50. “Most species of oaks begin producing acorns at about 20 years old. Peak production occurs from about 50 to 80 years,” reports the University of Tennessee Extension service. Oak trees younger than 50 are likely producing acorns, but perhaps not in especially noticeable numbers.

From https://www.ehow.com/facts_7822364_oak-until-50-years-old.html

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

Bolivia has lost all of this territory, including its entire coast, in various wars and annexations. They haven't had much luck.

In the War of the Pacific, when they lost the coast, they folded very quickly (Leaving Peru, who thjey had dragged into the war, to fight on) because they didn't have a navy and Chile did. Ironically, Bolivia now does have a navy which is restricted to rivers and lakes because they don't have a coastline.

The war against Paraguay (The Chaco War) was a particular humiliation because Paraguay had a much smaller population. Nevertheless, they made a superior war effort and managed to take the Chaco territory from Bolivia. They had thought there was oil there but there wasn't, making the whole thing a colossal waste.

mzungu

Russia showed up 12 days late to the 1908 Olympics in London. The reason? Russia were still using the Julian calendar which was 12 days behind the Gregorian calendar in the UK.

This would be the reason why the February revolution took place in March and the October revolution took place in November.

Russia would not switch to the Gregorian calendar until 1918.

cdeb

Prince Philip is so old he has two birthdays.

His current one is 10th June, but as he was born in 1921 when Greece was still using the Julian calendar, it was 28th May there at the time.

Greybottle

One of the first studies on the impact of wheat on coeliac disease cam as a result of observations made in a childrens hospital ward in the Dutch Famine of 1944-45.

Bread was heavily rationed, going from 2,200g per adult in October 1944 to 400g in January 1945. Children in a special coeliac ward of a hospital started to get better when the rations went down and this inspired studies by Dr. Wilhelm Dicke after the war. The link was made (it had been suspected for a while) and he proved his theory in proper scientific studies.

Capt'n Midnight

cdeb wrote: »

Prince Philip is so old he has two birthdays.

His current one is 10th June, but as he was born in 1921 when Greece was still using the Julian calendar, it was 28th May there at the time.

Mrs Windsor / Saxe-Coburg-Gotha or whatever she calls herself these days also uses two birthdays 21 April , and whatever the second Saturday in June is. They also use multiple addresses. And thanks to an old loophole she can legally eat swans.

I smell benefit fraud.

ohnonotgmail

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Mrs Windsor / Saxe-Coburg-Gotha or whatever she calls herself these days also uses two birthdays 21 April , and whatever the second Saturday in June is. They also use multiple addresses. And thanks to an old loophole she can legally eat swans.

I smell benefit fraud.

she can eat them because she owns all of them personally.

ohnonotgmail

Æbbe the Younger (d.870) was an Abbess at Coldingham. To avoid rape by Viking invaders, Æbbe & her nuns cut off their noses & lips. When they were attacked, the nuns weren’t raped, but were burned alive. It’s possible this is the origin of ‘cutting off the nose to spite the face’

Cookie_Monster

mzungu wrote: »

Every continent has a city called Rome (actually called Roma), except Antartica.

Where's the Rome in Zealandia?

ohnonotgmail

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Where's the Rome in Zealandia?

there is a town call Roma in Queensland

Cookie_Monster

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Mrs Windsor / Saxe-Coburg-Gotha or whatever she calls herself these days also uses two birthdays 21 April , and whatever the second Saturday in June is. They also use multiple addresses. And thanks to an old loophole she can legally eat swans.

I smell benefit fraud.

And the first Monday in June in Nz and second Monday of June in Aus...

Cookie_Monster

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

there is a town call Roma in Queensland

Australia ain't part of Zealandia....
And just for the record Zealandia is now considered a proper (albeit sunken) continent rather than just an extra bit lying around

In 2017, a team of eleven geologists from New Zealand, New Caledonia and Australia concluded that Zealandia fulfills all the requirements to be considered a drowned continent, rather than a microcontinent or continental fragment.[4] This was widely covered by news media

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zealandia