Geography and Space

Bizarre Fact #261:
Did you know...
US Route 66 ran from Chicago to Los Angeles, approximating the course of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, a railroad which, we might mention, no longer goes to any of those three towns.

Bizarre Fact #262:
Did you know...
Using satellite-surveying techniques, scientists have determined that Los Angeles, California is moving east. At a rate estimated to be about one-fifth on an inch per year, the city is moving closer to the San Gabriel Mountains.

Bizarre Fact #263:
Did you know...
West Virginia consists of those counties of Virginia which refused to secede from the Union at the start of the Civil War. Maine used to be part of Massachusetts. The original colonies made all kinds of land claims for the frontier west of them.

Bizarre Fact #264:
Did you know...
When the Eiffel Tower was built in 1884, Parisians referred to it as "the tragic lamppost" and nearly universally hated it.

Bizarre Fact #265:
Did you know...
Without any greenhouse effect, Earth would be cold and lifeless with an average temperature of 0.4 degrees Fahrenheit.

Bizarre Fact #266:
Did you know...
Zanzibar is known as "Spice Island."

Bizarre Fact #267:
Did you know...
Zion, Illinois - located on the shores of Lake Michigan north of Chicago - was founded by the followers of John Alexander Dowie, whose Christian Catholic Church disapproved of pharmacies, doctors, theaters or dance halls. Smoking, drinking and the eating of pork also was prohibited in town.

Bizarre Fact #268:
Did you know...
Astronomers once believed a planet named Vulcan existed between Mercury and the Sun.

Bizarre Fact #269:
Did you know...
Every 238 years, the orbits of Neptune and Pluto change making Neptune at times the farthest planet from the sun.

Bizarre Fact #270:
Did you know...
In the early 1700's, Siberia became a place of exile for many criminals and political extremists.