Random Facts about where you live
Offline Ok so in a fit of national pride I decided to complile a list of 20 interesting facts about South Africa. If your country can beat them feel free to put us to shame 
1) South Africa's government is split across several cities. The national capital is in Pretoria where the President resides, the national parliament is based in Cape town and the Constitutional Court, South Africa's highest court is located in Johannesburg, which is also the country's largest city and commercial capital.
2) South Africa is famed for its national parks and game reserves. Its largest game reserve is the Kruger National Park which at 18,989 square km (7332 square miles) is approximately the size of Wales. It runs from the Zimbabwean border south for approximately 350 km along the border with Mozambique.
3) South Africa is the one of the world largest producers of precious metals and gems. The country is the largest producer of gold and platinum, and although no longer the largest producer of diamonds still accounts for about 15% of the world's production.
4) South Africa is the largest economy in Africa, and contains several of the continents biggest companies, the largest of which is the privately held mining firm the Anglo-Amercian Corporation. The largest publicly owned firm in South Africa is the Standard Bank Group.
5) Popular sports in South Africa include Football (Soccer), Rugby Union and Cricket. Football is the most popular and South Africa has been chosen to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup, football's premier competition.
6) South Africa's longest river, and Africa's sixth longest, is the Orange River which rises in the Drakensberg mountains along the border between South Africa and Lesotho and runs for 2200 km (1367 miles) westwards where it goes on to form the border between Namibia and South Africa before it eventually discharges into the Atlantic Ocean.
7) South Africa's cuisine is very diverse reflecting the varied cultural influences in the country from the indigenous African cultures to the settler Dutch, Indian and Malay cultures amongst others. Popular foods include Biltong (dried meat), Bobotie (minced meat), Boerewors (spicy sausages),Serobe (offal casserole) and Umnqusho (beans porridge).
South Africa is home to the world's deepest pub. The pub is located on level 5 of a mine known as Shaft 14 six kilometres from Johannesburg's city centre and is 226 metres from the surface.
9) South Africa consists of 9 provinces; Eastern Cape (Bhisho), Free State (Bloemfontein), Guateng (Johannesburg), KwaZulu-Natal (Pietermaritzburg), Limpopo (Polokwane), Mpumalanga (Nelspruit), Northern Cape (Kimberley), North West (Mafikeng) and Western Cape (Cape Town). Provincial capitals are in brackets.
10) South Africa's national anthem is a combination of two anthems. Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrica and the The Call of South Africa (Die Stem van Suid Afrika). The two anthems were combined in 1996 and the result was approved by the South African government as the new national anthem.
11) South Africa has eleven official languages. English is the most commonly spoken, followed by Afrikaans, Zulu and Xhosa. The others are Pedi, Tswana, Sotho, Tsonga, Swati, Venda and Ndebele.
12) South Africa has the only street in the world to house two Nobel Peace Prize winners, it is in Soweto . Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu both have houses in Vilakazi Street , Orlando West.
13) South Africa has 7 World heratage sites,
The Cradle of Humankind
Fossil Hominid Sites of Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Kromdraai and Environs. This area contains thousands of fossils of animal, Stone Age artifacts and other tools.The Greater St Lucia Wetland Park
Contains five distinct eco systems and boasts a spectacular diversity of plant life, animals and bird species.Robben Island
Only a short boat trip from the Victoria and Albert waterfront in Cape Town , and is the island where political prisoners were held, the most famous of whom was former president Nelson Mandela. Wonderful trips and guided tours are available daily throughout the year.Ukhahlamba / Drakensberg Park
The outstanding natural beauty and wealth of evidence of early life earned this area its title.Mapungubwe, Limpopo
Declared a World Heritage Site in 2003, this Iron Age site was the centre of the largest kingdom in Southern Africa , where gold and ivory were traded to the east.Cape Floral Kingdom
Found at the Cape Peninsula and on Table Mountain is one of only 6 floral kingdoms in the world. As this area is under constant threat from development it was declared a World Heritage Site only recently.A seventh World Heritage site has just been declared in South Africa. The Vredefort Dome 120km south-west of Johannesburg, is a large crater - which has a radius of 190km - in the Free State which was created when a giant meteor struck the area some 2 billion years ago.
14) The world’s first heart transplant was done in South Africa in 1967 by South African Dr Chris Barnard.
15) There are only 12 countries in the world that supply tap water that is fit to drink, and South Africa is one of them. Our tap water quality is third best overall in the world.
16) South Africa also has the world’s most progressive and admired water legislation, and it is making a real difference on the ground. Since 1998 when the so-called “Blue Revolution” began, four million more poor people have access to clean water.
17) South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique are tearing down fences between the countries’ game parks to create a 35 000km2 game park which will become the largest conservation area in the world. It will be bigger than Switzerland, Belgium or Taiwan.
18) South Africa is ranked number one in the world for its floral kingdom
19) South Africa has the third highest level of biodiversity in the world
20) We also came up with the first, largest and most viable oil-from-coal refinery (which supplies 40% of our petrol). And did you know that a South African physicist co-developed the CAT-scan, that South Africa makes the seats for Concorde, and also designs and creates flight control technology for Britain’s fighter jets.
Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
No animal shall wear clothes.
No animal shall sleep in a bed.
No animal shall drink alcohol.
No animal shall kill any other animal.
All animals are equal.
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Well, the great state of Connecticut has the smartest elected officials anywhere on the planet. In fact, they are so smart that they can pass new laws without bothering to check with any experts to see if they actually say what they meant them to say.
Case in point is our new dangerous animals ban. It specifically outlaws all hominids. And I kid you not, the actual text of the law states “including but not limited to Chimpanzees, Gorillas and Orangutans”. Anyone who knows what the four hominids are should be staggered by the stratospheric intelligence of our elected officials for that one.
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... I've got two that I half remember about Scotland that I'm not sure are true.
1) Scotland was the first nation since Sparta to introduce a public education system.
2) Scotland accounts for <0.1% of the world population but 3% of the research output.
Like I say, I'm not sure if they're true but I hope they are. I'll try and compile a better list of things later on.
Forget Jesus, the stars died so that you could be here
- Lawrence Krauss
Lol I think i can beat that
not for stupidity but in plain crappy things countries try to hide style.
Here are the some matric (final year of school) results for the first term of this year (for my province Kwa-Zulu natal)
Maths - 72% failure rate
Life sciences ( its biology, they changed it for some reason) - 53% failure rate
accounting - 59% failure rate
now wtf, Matric is piss easy
Also our president has been to court on a rape charge (found innocent so fair enough), But worse is he was charged with corruption (the man he was supposed to of had a corrupt relasionship with is in jail for it) yet his charges were droped when he ran for president. now how are his charges droped when the person who he had a corrupt relasionship with was put in jail, logic tells you he is guilty. btw the guy who got pu in jail, is now out (realeased less than a month after Zuma (our president) became president on medical grounds (terminally ill), he is like the first person in history to be let out on medical grounds, and yesterday the "terminally ill" guy was seen driving around town doing his shopping etc. if he is well enough to do that he is well enough to still be in jail
We have the third highest murder rate in the world.
We are hosting the 2010 world cup next year yet most of the stadiums are not yet finished.
It takes the average south African 5 years to complete a 3 year course at university.
Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
No animal shall wear clothes.
No animal shall sleep in a bed.
No animal shall drink alcohol.
No animal shall kill any other animal.
All animals are equal.
Earth:
Mostly harmless.
1) Czech Republic is full of talent. There are the proverbial "golden hands". Famous inventions include blood types, contact lenses, cubic sugar, lightning conductor, screw propeller, laws of heredity, polarography, arc lamp, medicaments against viruses (herpes, AIDS), automatically antiseptic nanofibre tissue, press-button, SEMTEX (plastic explosive), supersonic aerodynamics (Mach's number) and sobering-up station (very useful here).
Czechs are reputedly (Americans told me) very hospitable. An American would send a guest to a hotel, so they both can be comfortable. But here the world is mean, the hotels are expensive and nobody can be so rude to send someone to the hotel. However, a guest should be at least a bit aware of a local proverb - "A fish and a guest start to stink on the third day."
A second famous talent is historically playing the instruments and singing.
2) Local democracy is not a quite a democracy. Traditionally low voting participation keeps the big parties in power, despite of frequent scandals and disgraces. Also, corruption and thievery is rampant. It is sometimes called a banana republic of Europe. Our politicians are the oligarchy and they trumph each other who will have a younger lover, who will insult their colleague the most in parliament (European Parliament is the next round), or who will be longer filmed naked in a foreign country's hotels. It would be funny, if these people wouldn't be the rulers of nation.
3) The Republic is a tiny, highly populated and industrialized country, and yet it has numerous natural parks with original populations of wolves, lynxes and bears. Medieval castles, ruins, chateaus, churches and cathedrals are also plentiful. It is a paradise for tourists, if they can watch their purses. For Khorne's devotees there is a traditional object of pilgrimage, the Sedlec Ossuary. All of 40-70 000 skeletons are 100% authentic and harvested from among the unbelievers.
4) There is the world's top rate of beer consumption, and a plenty of other alcohol. It's per capita, this means that there are still many women, young people, old people, and abstinents, but local heavy drinkers drink also for them. Traditional drinks are beer, wine, plum brandy, and then everything non-traditional that flows. I personally believe that pub pilgrimage and partying among my former classmates is an equivalent of religion.
5) There is a natural affinity to hockey and football (soccer). Czechs won the hockey world cup in 1995 and 2005. Many of them are players of NHL, some are top players. I don't know how about soccer, I care even less about it than about hockey.
6) The humour. Local humour is traditionally pitch-black. Often features a lot of brutality, absurdity, sarcasm and misfortune. It was historically meant to help the nations during various catastrophes, like being nationally occupied by every other nation around. This is why it may sometimes seem not funny to some foreigners, but I like it. For example, this one, "You should stand up when I ask your hand!"
7) Local fridges have a half of the size of an average American fridge and a quarter of it's contents. Czech traditional cuisine is very unhealthy and not really significant. Pork+dumplings+sauerkraut is considered to be a national meal. There is however the original ripened curd cheese. It is best consumed with bread, butter, and garlic. It has a significant effect on preservation of virginity and job interviews.
Poppy is another specific of local cuisine. It is a traditional filling of pastry, this is why it's not illegal at all. Although it's not an usual crop-plant, it sometimes grows here. Once our relatives from Minnesota came for a visit and were really surprised by a nearby poppy field. Of course, this variety is meant for pastry, so opium yields are rather low.
Besides that, people generally like the foreigners (this is why I am at a foreign forum) and local young population loves to practice their english language. However, it makes it diffcult if you want to practice their language instead of yours, they won't let you easily, who would miss such an opportunity to practice english on a real, living foreigner? Here they act as a precious material on english lessons and attraction on Christian camps.
Beings who deserve worship don't demand it. Beings who demand worship don't deserve it.
1) has the longest coastline of any country in the world at 151,600 miles
2) has had the lowest temperature recorded for north America at -81.5 F or -63 C
3) has 9% of the worlds renewable water source
4) In 1527, John Rut of St. John's, Newfoundland, sent a letter to King Henry VIII—the first letter sent from North America.
5) Canadians have made many important inventions, including Kerosene, the electron microscope, the electronic organ, insulin, the IMAX film system, the snowmobile, and the electric cooking range
6) A black bear cub from Canada named Winnipeg (or “Winnie,” for short) was one of the most popular attractions at the London Zoo after it was donated to the zoo in 1915. Winnie became a favorite of Christopher Robin Milne and inspired the stories written by his father, A.A. Milne, about Winnie-the-Pooh
7) The world's strongest current is found in the Nakwakto Rapids at Slingsby Channel, British Columbia. The current has been measured at speeds up to 18.4 miles per hour
9) The border between Canada and the United States is officially known as the International Boundary. At 5,525 miles, including 1,538 miles between Canada and Alaska, it is the world's longest border between two nations
10) Newfoundland was the first part of Canada to be explored by Europeans. Ironically, it was the last area to become a province, in 1949
11) Alert, in Nunavut territory, is the northernmost permanent settlement in the world.
12) North America's earliest undisputed evidence of human activity, 20,000-year-old stone tools and animal bones have been found in caves on the Bluefish River in northern Yukon.
13) Canada is known as the home of large animals like the moose and grizzly bear, but it is also home to about 55,000 species of insects and about 11,000 species of mites and spiders
14) Charles Fenerty, a poet from Halifax, Nova Scotia, was the first person to use wood fibers to make paper. He started experimenting in 1839 and produced paper from wood pulp in 1841
15) The Moosehead Brewery in Saint John, New Brunswick, turns out 1,642 bottles of beer per minute.
17) The main highway in Canada is known as the Trans-Canada highway and it travels from St Johns, in Newfoundland and Labrador to Victoria in British Columbia. The highway is seven thousand six hundred and four kilometers long and is the longest national highway in the world
18) An unusual fact about Canada is its name origin, it comes from a St. Lawrence Iroquoian word, kanata, which means village or settlement
19) Despite being a really big country, it has the fourth lowest population density in the world, with only three people living per square kilometer
20) The Ice Hotel in Quebec, known as Hotel de Glace is created every year using 400 tons of ice and 12,000 tons of snow. It melts away every summer and is recreated every winter
and just a few more for shits and giggles
21) In 1883, the baseball glove was invented in Canada
22) Canada has two national sports; Lacrosse as the country's national summer sport, and Ice Hockey as the national winter sport.
23) Canada has only one desert, in the Okanagan Valley in Osoyoos in British Columbia.The desert is only 15 miles long, with over 100 rare plants, and over 300 rare animals. It is also the only desert in the world that has a long boardwalk, for people to walk on
Irvine, California:
The safest city in America in terms of per capita crime rates. It has won that position for a few consecutive years now.
The show "The OC" is not filmed in Orange County and has no relation to anything I have ever seen here.
The city of Irvine was founded when a man by the last name of Irvine donated some of his land to the state government so they could build a university on it. He owned all of the surrounding land and got rich renting it to businesses that cater to the students. If you look at the tables outside of businesses anywhere in town, you'll see that they all have the Irvine Company's logo built into their design since the Irvine Company owns virtually all of the land that businesses rent. All apartment complexes and condominiums are also owned by the Irvine Company.
That logo is on almost everything here.
"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."
British General Charles Napier while in India
Many thanks to latincanuck. I started a post, but after 5 entries I couldn't continue properly with this systems limitations. Amazingly, only one of those 5 entries was covered, so I'll add the other 4 for more shits and giggles:
1: Canada is the worlds most stable and dependable source of oil, possibly even the largest, though I may be off on that.
2: Canada is home to the world's tallest freestanding structure: The CN Tower, at 553.33 metres (1815.4 ft).
3: Canada is the only country to force the surrender of the US, as a colony of Britain, and assistance of the same. The proof that Canada was already Canadian lies in the rebuilding of the White House.
4: Canada is home to the highest tides in the world between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, in the Bay Of Fundy. The difference between high and low tide is a whopping 17 metres (55.8 feet).
Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.
This is very true. I've visited the Czech Republic a couple of times now and found the people to be very friendly.
As a side note I'm pretty sure the Czech language (or czech individuals) also gave us the words "Robot", "Pistol" and "Howitzer".
Forget Jesus, the stars died so that you could be here
- Lawrence Krauss
1) Scotland occupies 77,772 km2 making it the 117th largest country in the world. The nation itself is comprised of the mainland and over 790 seperate islands. Mainland Scotland has 9,911 km of coastline.
2) The population is 5.1 million, made up of 88% Scots and much smaller populations of English, Welsh, Irish and "Other". This means that Scots account for approxiamtely 8% of the population of the United Kingdom but cover about 30% of the land mass.
3) Thanks to the Gulf Stream from the Atlantic Scotland tends to be warmer than locations on similar latitudes - like Labrador (Canada) or Moscow.
4) The Scottish head of state is Queen Elizabeth II. The country holds partial self-governance within the United Kingdom as well as representation in the UK government. The devolved parliament is a unicameral legislature containing 129 members. One member of the parliament is appointed by the Queen, on nomination of the parliemant (i.e. by vote), to be First Minister.
5) Donald Dewar was Scotland's first First Minister and is remembered fondly for driving Scotland toward devolution.
6) The GDP in 2006 was £86 billion or £16,900 per capita (or US$27,980).
7) Scotland is Europe's largest petroleum producer. Over 2.5 billion tonnes of crude oil were recovered from North Sea sites between 1975 and 2002. Most oil fields are expected to last until 2020. Work is currently underway to develop new methods of oil exploration to try and tap currently undiscovered reserves.
9) Scotland has a mixed economy which is tied strongly to the UK and the European Market. While the country used to be an industrial powerhouse in manufacture and ship building, the economy is now largely driven by the electronics and service industries.
10) Scotland gave the world the first recorded declaration of independence in the form of the Declaration of Arbroath. "...for, as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom – for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself."
11) In 1750, during the "scottish enlightenment" the Scots were among the most literate people in Europe, with an estimated literacy level of 75%
12) The Scottish Enlightenment gave the world Francis Hutcheson, Alexander Campbell, David Hume, Adam Smith, Thomas Reid, Robert Burns, Adam Ferguson, John Playfair, Joseph Black and James Hutton as well as many others.
13) Scotland made schooling compulsory in 1496, making it the first country since Sparta to have a public education system. There are 14 Universities in the country which produce 1% of the world's research output (I knew I was wrong earlier...) with <0.1% of the population.
14) Scottish innovations are frankly legendary: the steam engine, the flush toilet, the bicycle, macadamization, the telephone, the first working television, penicilin, radar, insulin, electromagnetics... and many, many others. I'll list the notables just because I can
And so on and so forth. We're a scientific powerhouse baby!
15) Scotland loves rugby, football and golf. Sports we have various claims to inventing (with Golf being the only solid one) but are generally crap at.
Forget Jesus, the stars died so that you could be here
- Lawrence Krauss
But now I remember. Guess who invented the dollar. According to Wikipedia, the name comes from the czech name Tolar (in german Thaler). This coin was minted in 16th century from the silver mined at Údolí Svatého Jáchyma (in german: Joachimsthal) in Bohemia.
Beings who deserve worship don't demand it. Beings who demand worship don't deserve it.