Triveria

Did you know four of the longest rivers in the world are partly or completely in Russia? They are the Yenisei - Angara - Selenga (#5), Ob - Irtysh (#7), Amur - Argun (#9), and Lena (#10).

Also from that same page... You know that the Amazon is the largest river by volume, but did you know by how much? Its discharge is fully five times the discharge of the second largest river, the Congo, and seven times that of the might Yangtze, the third largest.

The Geopolitics of China

Fascinating insight on China's geopolitics, indirectly from the smarties at Stratfor.

I would totally subscribe to the service if it wasn't so expensive ($349/year), and if I thought I could keep up with the reading. The Economist is pretty good, but Stratfor outsmarts them. They're based in Austin... maybe I could get a job. All I need is a Master's or Ph.D in fields I know almost nothing about. Ah well.

Update: I have a minor quibble:

The United States intervened, defeated the North Korean Army and drove to the Yalu, the river border with China. The Chinese, seeing the well-armed and well-trained American force surge to its borders, decided that it had to block its advance and attacked south.

The US Army of the Korean War was a far cry from the efficient killing machine that won World War II just 5 years earlier, as described by (among others), David Halberstam in The Coldest Winter. Certainly they were better than the pathetic North Korean forces, but the Communist Chinese had been fighting the Japanese for 8 years and then the Nationalists for another 4 years, only achieving victory over the mainland in 1949; the American troops sent to Korea had a lot of fast and bloody learning to do to be able to match the battle-tested Chinese. This is hardly a significant issue, but it's Stratfor... they're supposed to be perfect.

The Panama Canal

Though it connects the Atlantic on the east to the Pacific on the west, the Panama Canal goes from Colon in the northwest to Panama City in the southeast.


View Larger Map

Kiwitaly

Italy is the world's top producer of Kiwi fruit, growing some 42% of the world's crop. The Kiwi is native to China, and is the national fruit of that country, even though it isn't even in the top 10 producers.

The Swedish/Finnish border

Sweden and Finland have a land border to the north of the Gulf of Bothnia. Less well-known is the uninhabited island of Märket in the southern part of said gulf. Part of the island belongs to Sweden, and the other part to Finland. And the border isn't even a straight line.

How many islands?

How many islands does Thousand Island Lake (in California) have? According to Wikipedia, "many."

Most recursive island ever

Todd explains Manitoulin Island.

Gun Barrel City

There's a Gun Barrel City, TX.