Interesting Facts about USA

USA.

Interesting Facts about USA.

- Over 32% of all the land in the United States is owned by the federal government.
- There was one president that believed the world was flat - Andrew Jackson.
- Gerald Ford was the only man who held both the Presidency and the Vice-Presidency, but who was not elected to either post.

- As of 2009, six of the 25 tallest buildings in the world are in the United States. (12-2009)

- As of 2009, the tallest building in the United States was the Sears Tower, also the 4th highest in the world. (12-2009)

- The Mustard Museum in the United States in in Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin. (4-12-2007)

- $12 was the cost of General Electric’s first set of 24 Christmas lights (equaled the average paycheck of one work week in 1903).

- The average number of lights on a Christmas tree is 200 lights.

- In 1882, Thomas Edison’s assistant, Edward Johnson, came up with the idea of electric lights for Christmas trees.

- There are 50,000 lights on the tallest lighted living Christmas tree, located in Blue River, Oregon.

- There are approximately 300,000 Christmas lights on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah

- The first train robbery in the United States was committed by the Reno brothers in 1866. They hopped the Ohio and Minnesota train as it pulled out of the Seymour, Indiana depot. Their take was $15,000.

- The Greene County (Indiana) viaduct was completed in 1906. Locally known as "Tulip Trestle", it is 180 feet high and 2,295 feet long making it the longest train trestle in the U. S.

- In 1862, Richard Gatling of Indianapolis, Indiana invented the rapid-fire machine gun.

- The tallest person in modern history was Robert Pershing Wadlow, born in Alton, IL. He was 8 feet & 11 inches tall. He was born in 1918. He died in 1940. Submitted by Emily R, Illinois, age 12 (8-20-03)

- America eats approximately 100 acres of pizza every day!! (7-29-03)

- The Lincoln Highway, U.S. Route 30 sparked a country's imagination as the nation's first coast-to-coast highway, running from New York to San Francisco and igniting a wave of automobile tourism in the early 20th century. (5-2001)

- The only time you may fly the U.S. flag upside down is when signaling for distress. (Submitted by April)

- The United States is the most obese society in the world with fully 33% of our population overweight -- over 30% fat by body weight, for women, 25% for men. Compare this fact to the 3% overweight in France!!

- In the early 1800's, a man named John Chapman crossed over and around the state of Ohio planting Apple seeds. We know him better as Johnny Appleseed. He was born and raised in Leominster, Massachusetts and finally settled in Mansfield, OH after his days of traveling were over

Scotland.

Interesting facts about Scotland.

Land & People

Scotland has three officially recognised languages: English, Scots (a relative of English) and Scottish Gaelic (a completely different language). Add to this Scottish English, which is English spoken with a more or less strong Scots accent and the occasional use of words from Scots or Scottish Gaelic.

Scottish surnames are divided in two main categories : Gaelic names (typically starting with "Mac-" or "Mc-") and Germanic names (e.g. Barclay, Blair, Brown, Carmichael, Cumming, Hamilton, Howard, Melville, Menzies, Stewart...).

Scotland is known as "Alba" in Gaelic.

Scotland has only 5 million inhabitants, about 8.5% of the UK's population.

Scotland has about the same land area as the Czech Republic, the United Arab Emirates, Panama, the US state of Maine, or the Japanese island of Hokkaido. This latter (Hokkaido) has the most similar climate and population density.

Scotland has some 790 islands, 130 of which are inhabited.

About 5 million Americans reported Scottish ancestry. The highest concentration of people of Scottish descent are found in New England and in the North-West.

At least 6 US Presidents were of Scottish descent : Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), James Madison (1751-1836), Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), James Knox Polk (1795-1849), William McKinley (1843-1901), Woodrow (Thomas) Wilson (1856-1924)

Other famous Americans with Scottish ancestry include John Paul Jones (father of the American Navy), Thomas Edison (inventor), Ben Affleck (actor), Heather Locklear (actress)

The two first Prime Minister of Canada, John A. Macdonald (1815-1891) and Alexander Mackenzie (1822-1892), were Scottish.

Many Australian Prime Ministers were also of Scottish descent, like George Reid (1845-1918). Andrew Fisher (1862-1928), Stanley Bruce (1883-1967), or Robert Menzies (1894-1978).

History

Scotland was an independent country until 1603. Then the king of Scotland became king of England (not the other way round), but the two country didn't merge their governments until 1707, to form the Kingdom of Great Britain .

Edinburgh was the first city in the world with its own fire-brigade.

The Bank of Scotland, founded in 1695, is the oldest surviving bank in the UK. It was also the first bank in Europe to print its own banknotes, a function it still performs today.

Skara Brae, on

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