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7 Amazing Facts from All Around the World
1) In the last century, the east coast of the United States has moved about 8 ft. farther
away from Europe. 2) In 1888, Nellie Bly (aka Elizabeth Cochrane)
discussed with her editor at ‘New York World’ an idea to write a story, and beat the fictitious
character ‘Phileas Fogg’ in Jules Verne’s book “Around the World in 80 Days” by
actually accomplishing the feat in less than 80 days. The story became so big that competing
New York newspaper “Cosmopolitan” sent its own reporter Elizabeth Bisland to race
Nellie Bly, by going in the opposite direction as Bly. So on November 14th, 1889 Bly set
off on a steamer headed to Europe, while Bisland departed westward from New York, on a 24,899-mile
race around the World. Bly beat both the fictional ‘Phileas Fogg’ from the book and Bisland
for a total travel time of 72 days, 6 hours and 11 minutes. Bisland reached four and a
half days later, both beating Jules Verne’s character Phileas Fogg.
3) Mount Everest grows around 5-10 millimeters every year thanks to the Indian subcontinent
pushing against Eurasia. 4) Considered one of the nation’s smallest
towns, Buford is located in southeastern Wyoming between Cheyenne and Laramie on the Interstate
80 and consists of 10 acres with a convenience store, gas station, and modular home. The
town was first founded during the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad in Wyoming
and at one point boasted a population of about 2,000 people, mostly railroad workers. However
in 1980, when Don Sammons, first moved in with his wife Terry and their son from Los
Angeles, they made up the whole population. After the death of his wife, Sammons bought
the entire town in 1992 and kept the lights burning for longer than most expected. He
ran Buford’s only General/ Hardware/ Liquor Store and gas station. He was also considered
the town’s mayor. His son moved away in 2007, making Don Sammons the only resident
of the town. In April of 2012, at age 61 Don decided to retire and move closer to his son
in Colorado, putting the town of Buford up for auction on Ebay. The online auction of
the town created a lot of buzz, with people from 46 countries reported to have viewed
and bid on it. In 11 minutes it sold to two Vietnamese buyers, who had always dreamed
of owning land in the U.S. 5) Canada has over 3 million lakes, making
them home to 60% of the World’s lakes. In other words, they have more lakes than all
other countries combined. 6) The East-African country of Uganda has
a population of over 35 million people. But the astonishing part is that, according to
the 2010 census, 48.4% of the population is below the age of 15! A mere 2.5% of the population
was 65 years and older, making it the youth capital of the World.
7) There is an ATM at McMurdo Station in Antarctica, about 840 miles from the South Pole. Not surprisingly,
this ATM is the most southern ATM in the world. The most northern ATM in the world is in Longyearbyen,
Svalbard, Norway, which is about half way between mainland Norway and the North Pole
(about 800 miles from the North Pole). The world’s highest ATM is in Nagchu County,
Tibet and is about 14,800 ft above sea level. Finally, the world’s lowest ATM is in Ein
Bokek, near the Dead Sea in a grocery store that is just shy of 1400 feet below sea level.