The national gemstone of Australia is the opal.
The national dish of Nicaragua is Gallo Pinto.
According to Wikipedia, Nicaragua ranks 177th in the world in terms of population density measured on the basis of arable land, with 307 people per km[sup]2[/sup]. For the world as a whole the figure is 325 people per km[sup]2[/sup].
Singapore has the highest density, at 440,998 km[sup]2[/sup]. Australia has the lowest, at 43 people per km[sup]2[/sup].
The first US attempt at a canal from the Atlantic to the Pacific was supposed to be in Nicaragua, but the remnants of the French Panama Canal Company worked to sabotage the route. One of their attempts was to point out an illustration of the Momtombo Volcano on Nicaraguan stamps that showed it erupting. Rumors were spread that the whole area had major volcanic activity, and a false story was planted that the volcano had erupted. After the eruption of the volcano in Martinique (Congressmen were no better at geography then than they are now), the fear of further eruptions put an end to the Nicaragua plan.
Panama appears in the well-known palindrome:
which has subsequently been expanded to:
Nicaragua’s chief export commodities are coffee, beef, shrimp and lobster, cotton, tobacco, beef, peanuts, sugar, bananas; and gold. Coffee has held the number one spot since the 1870s.
Recent research has led scientists to believe that lobsters may be one of a small number of species which do not die of aging.
The reason for this indefinite longevity is said to be due to telomerase, an enzyme that repairs DNA sequences, such that they effectively live indefinitely, barring injury, disease, capture, etcetera.
The Lionel Television Network in Moncton, New Brunswick, which reaches four Canadian provinces, uses a caricature of a friendly lobster as its logo.
The Newman family is the most successful group of film composers in Hollywood history. Starting with the three brothers, Lionel, Alfred (who inspired the name of the Mad Magazine mascot) and Emil, it also includes second generation Randy, David, Maria, and Thomas, and third generation Joey.
Mad Magazine first hit the stands in 1952, as a comic book.
The word ‘magazine’ comes from the Arabic word for ‘storehouse’, originally applied by Europeans for a storehouse of ammunition. In the late 1600s publishers began to use it in the context of a storehouse of information. Magazine Street is one of the most important streets in New Orleans, so named for its military storage use by the troops.
The Victoria Cross for Australia is the highest military award for gallantry in Australia.
The most recent living recipient is Corporal Daniel Keighran of the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment. He was honoured with the award on 1 November 2012 for his actions in the Battle of Derapet (Oruzgan province, Afghanistan) in August 2010.
Three Canadian recipients of the Victoria Cross in World War I (two posthumous) all lived on the same street in Winnipeg. It has since been re-named Valour Road.
Winnipeg was adversely affected by the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914. The new canal offered an alternative route to traders who wanted to transport their goods, thus reducing reliance on the Canadian railways. Vancouver ended up prospering at Winnipeg’s expense.
Lake Winnipeg is larger than Lake Ontario, one of the Great Lakes.
When the Edmund Fitzgerald was launched on June 8, 1958, she was the largest ship on the Great Lakes, and she remains the largest to have sunk there.
In the song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” by Gordon Lightfoot, the singer says the ship was headed for Cleveland. It was actually headed for Detroit. (It was supposed to Cleveland after Detroit)
Edward FitzGerald, county executive of Cuyahoga County (the greater Cleveland area), was the Democratic candidate for Governor of Ohio this year. He was badly defeated by the incumbent, Republican John Kasich.
Edmund FitzGerald was the owner of a Milwaukee insurance company which underwrote a lot of shipping policies… The ship was named for him.
Edward FitzGerald translated the Rubiyyat of Omar Kyayyam
Metallica’s cover version of Queen’s “Stone Cold Crazy”, which appeared exclusively on the album Rubáiyát: Elektra’s 40th Anniversary, won the 1991 Grammy for Best Metal Performance.