Post interesting facts about your country

[Brony Number 42 9,897]

That'd be terrible, saying my height in anything other than feet and inches is just too weird. 

 

 

Interesting fact about America:

We invented Freedom

 

I'm in the process of writing a "manifesto" about libertarian freedom for my Canadian friend.

 

But really, the metric system is far and away better than anything. There is no contest. How many horsepower hours are in a BTU? I don't know. But I know there is 1 joule = 1 watt * 1 second.

[Corgis 574]

-The province of Alberta is the only place in the world to completely ban rats.

-A single territory has 20% of the countries land space but has a population of less then 20,000 I think.

-By 1945 after WWII ended Canada had the 4th (maybe 3rd) largest navy.

-Newfoundland was it's own country until 1949.

-The worlds largest man made explosion prior to the atom bomb occurred in Halifax harbor during WWI.

 

Those are just a few I remember off the top of my head.

[Brightbart 268]

I'm in the process of writing a "manifesto" about libertarian freedom for my Canadian friend.

 

But really, the metric system is far and away better than anything. There is no contest. How many horsepower hours are in a BTU? I don't know. But I know there is 1 joule = 1 watt * 1 second.

In the scientific and engineering communities yes it is better. In fact the metric system is used by most scientists and many engineers in the US. But once these people leave work, I would make a bet that most switch back to using imperial units. At the end of the day people are more comfortable with whatever they were brought up in.

 

One thing that's not debatable though. Fahrenheit > Celsius. 

0 degrees fahrenheit is around the lower limit it'll get for many cities in the US. 100 degrees is around the upper limit. It's a completely logical system of temperature for everyday human need. 

0 degrees celsius, while cold, isn't that cold and for tens of millions in the US it gets much colder than 0 celsius which makes it a poor lower limit. Meanwhile no place on Earth even comes close to 100 degrees celsius, we'd all be dead. It's a completely useless and meaningless number for 99% of the people in the entire world which makes it a poor upper limit. 

[Brony Number 42 9,897]

In the scientific and engineering communities yes it is better. In fact the metric system is used by most scientists and many engineers in the US. But once these people leave work, I would make a bet that most switch back to using imperial units. At the end of the day people are more comfortable with whatever they were brought up in.

 

One thing that's not debatable though. Fahrenheit > Celsius. 

0 degrees fahrenheit is around the lower limit it'll get for many cities in the US. 100 degrees is around the upper limit. It's a completely logical system of temperature for everyday human need. 

0 degrees celsius, while cold, isn't that cold and for tens of millions in the US it gets much colder than 0 celsius which makes it a poor lower limit. Meanwhile no place on Earth even comes close to 100 degrees celsius, we'd all be dead. It's a completely useless and meaningless number for 99% of the people in the entire world which makes it a poor upper limit. 

Of course people will use whatever they grew up with. That would be true for people using cubits and furlongs. The metric system is very easy to use, and people who grew up with it have a much better time with things. 

 

The metric temperature scale is actually the Kelvin scale. The degrees between points is arbitrary, and 100 degrees between freezing and boiling of water is way more convenient. To say that 0 F is convenient is very flimsy. People live in places that go to -20 F. It is no more convenient to deal with - 20 F to 100 F versus - 28 C to 38 C. But it is way more convenient to know that water freezes at 0 C and boils at 100 C. Basing things on human experiences is not a good way to measure things, especially in a scientific world.

 

I grew up in the US, studied physics so I know the metric system, and I worked in Canada. Working with Americans versus Canadians, I can say that a lot of Americans are math illiterate. They have no concept of physical quantities, like energy, power, time, mass, weight. The average Canadians I worked with didn't necessarily know these things either. But if you're going to work with things that you don't know what they are, they might as well be convenient. I work with Americans who can't add fractions, yet will go on and on about how feet / inches is better than centimeters. One time I had to figure out how many horsepower is generated by a pump that pumps X gallons at Y psi. I had to find some stupid conversion factor. But I can immediately tell you that 1 Watt = 1 m^3 * 1 Pascal / 1 second

Edited October 30, 2016 by BronyNumber42

[Ganondorf8 11,118]

Canada is also very competitive--and obsessive--when it comes to hockey.

[Brightbart 268]

Of course people will use whatever they grew up with. That would be true for people using cubits and furlongs. The metric system is very easy to use, and people who grew up with it have a much better time with things. 

 

The metric temperature scale is actually the Kelvin scale. The degrees between points is arbitrary, and 100 degrees between freezing and boiling of water is way more convenient. To say that 0 F is convenient is very flimsy. People live in places that go to -20 F. It is no more convenient to deal with - 20 F to 100 F versus - 28 C to 38 C. But it is way more convenient to know that water freezes at 0 C and boils at 100 C. Basing things on human experiences is not a good way to measure things, especially in a scientific world.

 

I grew up in the US, studied physics so I know the metric system, and I worked in Canada. Working with Americans versus Canadians, I can say that a lot of Americans are math illiterate. They have no concept of physical quantities, like energy, power, time, mass, weight. The average Canadians I worked with didn't necessarily know these things either. But if you're going to work with things that you don't know what they are, they might as well be convenient. I work with Americans who can't add fractions, yet will go on and on about how feet / inches is better than centimeters. One time I had to figure out how many horsepower is generated by a pump that pumps X gallons at Y psi. I had to find some stupid conversion factor. But I can immediately tell you that 1 Watt = 1 m^3 * 1 Pascal / 1 second

Yeah I can see that, the US does needs to improve its education standards. Which I guess can be an interesting fact for the US..

 

Though my point on the fahrenheit scale being better was that most people aren't members of the scientific community thus fahrenheit represents a realistic range of temperatures that can be experienced. Though for those who use celsius/work with temperatures I see why that'd be preferred. 

[Ziggy + Angel + Rain 11,298]

The United States, so far as I know, is the first country to earnestly consider an Oompa Loompa for president.

[Anneal 2,194]

The United States, so far as I know, is the first country to earnestly consider an Oompa Loompa for president.

> Duterte, who has supported vigilante killings of drug cartels and had a mouth a lot worse than Trump, won in Philippines this year.

> Norbert Hofer, NEARLY won presidency in Austria of all places, and is actually more far-right than Trump ever is.

> Frauke Petry doesn't nearly has as much support, but the alt-right movement in Germany is growing strong.

[TeeSix 116]

• 30% of New Zealand's land mass is protected in areas such as national parks.
• New Zealand is the furthest country in the world from the origin country of one of its official languages (English / U.K.)
• There are very few reptiles and just two native species of mammal in New Zealand, both of which are bats.
• There are actually five different types of the famous Kiwi.
• New Zealand has the world's only Alpine parrot, the Kakapo. They are incredibly intelligent and love to eat car window sealant for whatever reason. One Kakapo called Sirocco is famous for trying to mate with a television presenter's head, and was appointed Chief Spokesbird for Conservation by our Prime Minister.
• New Zealand is the only country in the world to have a government-appointed wizard.
• New Zealand's Minister for Labour, Steven Joyce, was famously hit in the face with a sex toy by a protester. He laughed it off, the police asked the protester to leave the venue, and she complied without any resistance.
• Nuclear weapons and mining of Uranium are banned in New Zealand, which caused a rift with the United States over nuclear-powered ships that has only properly been repaired in the last five years.
• New Zealand produces 1/3 of the world's cow milk and a significant proportion of general farm-related foods.
• The indigenous Maori people signed a treaty with British colonisers in 1840, the Treaty of Waitangi, to bring the semi-unified country into the British Empire. The Treaty signing is still celebrated annually, but sporadic warfare due to disagreement on terms continued almost until the 1920s.

Also, literally everything is expensive here. Damned isolation can be a pain with some things.

[Storm Striker 34]

Australia is one of the biggest gold producers in the world. Coming in at second, behind China .

[superdogz1999 551]

Australians eat more meat than any other country on Earth.

Soft Drinks made in Australia have real sugar.

[4april 374]

More than 186 Members of Parliament in my country have serious criminal charges against them including murder and rape!

Edited November 1, 2016 by 4april

[LordSwinton 759]

My national anthem is based off a popular foreign tune of the time. Some say it's Hawaiian, some say it was French.

 

The story goes that the head of a state wanted to look more professional to foreign dignitaries so he made up a state anthem on the spot by humming a tune that was popular at the time.

 

There's actually a few theories on it but this is the one I've heard the most.

[EpicEnergy 22,064]

My country, the USA, has a wide variety of climates. It also has various natural landmarks, such as The Grand Canyon in Alaska, The Smoky Mountains, a redwood forest, and the Niagara Falls.

Edited November 11, 2019 by EpicEnergy

[Splashee 28,537]

We can see the Big Dipper 24/7 (if it was dark all day long, which is isn't, unless being above the polar circle, which is crossing Sweden, so yay! Maybe)

[Pastel Heart 6,463]

In my home state of Nevada, USA it is illegal to ride a camel on the highway.

Yes, this is a real law

[Bastian 13,319]

You will never find what you are looking for.

You want bananas? Sorry, we ran out, you want glasses? Three years to get a single pair, you want water to reach your house? Sorry, today is not-water day.

And I could go on and on...

[Vefka 1,499]

- Russia is the biggest country in the world

- One of the few countries which uses full central heat system (boiler in a house is an extremely rare thing). Government turns on and off hot water supply to our radiators twice a year on schedule and we don't have hot water for a month every summer because of maintenance

- We have 10 time zones

 

[Partialgeek514 4,920]

Canada has the farthest north permanent human settlement in the world, Alert, Nunavut. It's really just a small military station left over from the Cold War though. It still always has a handful of people there keeping watch over the northern skies though. Probably a pretty boring job these days. 

[Splashee 28,537]

We have Dala horses, our own MLP brand, kinda:

Not me in the picture!

[Evil Pink One 12,947]

......its more fun in the Fillypinnes??

[zerox 1,050]

We have a very beautiful breed of horses here. Google lipizzaier houses.

Edited August 1, 2020 by zerox

[Splashee 28,537]

We invented the smorgasbord spelled smörgåsbord if you had those letters 

[I used to be a stranger 7,988]

As a Canadian, I try to be conscious of the ways in which we as a society failed, and should do better.

 

In the 1880s, Canada constructed a national trans-continental railroad, the Canadian Pacific Railway. While most of the effort was cool (albeit expensive and dangerous), native land was appropriated to lay the right of way. This land remains under CPR's ownership.

CPR hired thousands of Chinese immigrant-workers, under false promises that trans-pacific ferrying, room and board, tools and transportation would be paid for by the company. They were effectively indentured servants unable to go home. British Columbians openly expressed racist attitudes towards Chinese peoples and even prevented identification as persons until 1920. Hundreds died in the extremely dangerous construction conditions in the Fraser Canyon, the region now known as Hell's Gate.

Beginning in the 1900s and carrying on until 1993, the Canadian government prosecuted a systematic reeducation program meant to extinguish or eradicate social and cultural identities of native groups nation-wide. This system was called "Indian Residential Schools" and over its time inculcated over 100000 people, mainly children. These "schools" were more like prison camps which destroyed families and has caused tremendous suffering. The Truth and Reconciliation Foundation begun in 2011 is undertaking to restore some of these cultures and undo the social damage.

Following WWII, Canada received over 1000 Nazi War Criminals as refugees redirected after initially being sent from Ukraine towards Argentina. The exact identity of these peoples is still a matter of ongoing investigation.

[cuteycindyhoney 13,282]

We elected a reality show star, and plunged our once great nation into Chaos.