About 100 miles NE of Bergen, Norway, is the world’s longest tunnel, the Lærdal Tunnel. The Lærdal Tunnel is over 15 miles long.
Bouvet Island, with Bouvetøya, is the world’s most remote island. It is owned by Norway.
gMap Google Maps — Lærdal Tunnel, from Bergen
gMap Google Maps — Bouvetøya, Bouvet Island
The second-longest road tunnel (for automobile traffic) in the world, behind the Lærdal Tunnel, is the Zhongnanshan Tunnel in the Shaanxi province of China. This tunnel is an 11 mile long twin-bore tunnel. Each of the tubes has colored and patterned lighting to keep drivers alert. Artificial plants and pictures of clouds projected over the roof of the tube interiors make for pleasant journeys through the tunnel.
The Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel in Alaska, more commonly known as the Whittier Tunnel, is the second-longest highway tunnel, and longest combined rail and highway tunnel, in North America. It is just under 2½ miles long. It was created in 1941 when the US Army began construction of the railroad spur from Whittier to Portage. The tunnel was completed in 1943 and became Alaska’s main supply link for the war effort.
gMap Google Maps — Whittier Tunnel, 1 hour south of Anchorage
Portage, Alaska, was devastated by the 1964 Good Friday earthquake, to the point that the settlement was abandoned. Amazingly, the town sank approximately 6-10 feet during the quake, putting it below the high tide level which caused devastating floods. Residents quickly abandoned the area as it was impossible to rebuild.
The Turnagain Arm, Alaska, is at the northeast end of the Cook Inlet, which is at the northwest edge of the Gulf of Alaska and connects Anchorage AK to that gulf, which in turn is east of the Bering Sea and at the northeast corner of the Pacific Ocean. Portage AK was on the Turnagain Arm and at the mouth of Portage Creek which drains Portage Lake. Portage AK was located at the approximate latitude and longitude coordinates of 60.831196, -148.986062.
The Turnagain Arm is one of the few places in the USA where one can view a tidal bore. The bore tide there can get as tall as 7 feet and as fast as 10-15 MPH.
gMap — Google Maps — Lat / Long 60.831196, -148.986062
YouTube — Alaska's bore tide attracts surfers from around the world - YouTube — tidal bore turnagain arm, with surfers
Capt. James Cook, the intrepid explorer and navigator, is mentioned by Capt. John “Lucky Jack” Aubrey in Patrick O’Brian’s 1981 novel The Ionian Mission as a Royal Navy officer of modest birth who nevertheless went on to do great things for King and Country.
The motto of Yale University is “For God, for Country, and for Yale”. The phrase is included in its unofficial alma mater, “Bright College Years”, to the tune of “Die Wacht am Rhein”, and traditionally concluding performances by the Whiffenpoofs.
Yale University has more graduate and professional students than it does undergraduate students.
(Well, I found that interesting)
ETA: 7,469 GRADUATE & PROFESSIONAL STUDENTS; 5,964 UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
In 1940, only 25% of American adults had graduated high school and only 5% from college.
The number of undergraduate students in the Ivy League colleges ranges from 4,410 (Dartmouth) to 14,907 (Cornell). By contrast, the school with the most undergraduate students in the country is Arizona State University, with 59,382 students.
Arizona is one state that has an official state fossil. It is petrified wood.
Arizona is one of four US states that meet at a point. It *touches *Colorado there (Four Corners), but technically does not border Colorado.
Cool. So can the same be said for Utah and New Mexico? That they touch, but they don’t border each other?
I imagine so.
In play: The Colorado River, 1,450 miles long, flows through seven states of USA and MEX: in order, they are CO UT AZ NV CA BC SO, or Colorado Utah Arizona Nevada California, then Baja California and Sonora. Its water used to reach 80 degrees F, but due to the dams along it the water is now cold all year long, staying at about 42 degrees F. With the change in temperature many of the fish that once lived in the Colorado River can no longer thrive in the river’s waters.
The Grand Canyon, carved by the Colorado River, is 277 miles long and 18 miles wide at its widest point. It attains a depth of 6,093 feet.
The Cotahuasi Canyon in Peru and the Kali Gandaki Gorge in Nepal are deeper than the Grand Canyon.
gImages — https://is.gd/wkrazX — Cotahuasi Canyon Peru
gMap — Google Maps — Cotahuasi Canyon Peru
gImages — https://is.gd/1KZDcI — Kali Gandaki Gorge Nepal
gMap — https://goo.gl/maps/EH3whcqSxtm3Tq696 — Kali Gandaki Gorge Nepal
Originally known as Bromley, the name of the Vermont town was changed to “Peru” by the land grantees as a way of attracting land buyers to an area that had been described as 36 square miles of “trees, bears and mountain lions”. To which I can only add “Oh My!”
Potatoes are grown in Peru – over 30,000 varieties of them.
The Irish potato famine lasted from 1845 to 1849. During this time, about one million people died and another million emigrated from Ireland. The country’s population decreased by 20%.
In the Khmer Rouge famine of the late 1970s, 1.5M to 2M people died.
There is an Irish Famine memorial in Cleveland, Ohio, marked by a stone with a Celtic cross, and the flags of both Ireland and the United States. It was dedicated in Sept. 2000.