Almanac chapter 22: Places

                                     Chapter 22

                                       PLACES

              The population of the world grows by about 185,000 people per
         day.  That's  67.5 million new people every year.  That's about as
         many people as live in New York, Texas, California and Ohio.

              Every one of the seven continents in the world begin and  end
         with the same letter of the alphabet. Can you name all seven? I'll
         tell you in a minute. Here's a hint, six of the seven begin with A
         and end with a.

              Modernization  has  recently  taken China by storm, but until
         recently they had some customs that  really  surprised  Americans.
         Their  compasses  pointed  South. When encountering a friend, they
         shook their own hands, not the hands of the friend.   They  served
         tea  with the saucer over the top of the cup to keep the tea warm,
         not under the cup to catch spills.

              Old-fashioned Chinese typewriters have 5,700 characters.

              When Chinese people are in mourning they do not  wear  black,
         they wear white.

              The Chinese symbol which looks like two women standing in one
         house means "trouble."

              There  is a place in Hong Kong so populated, that each person
         has 42.69 square feet.  It would seem that this allows only  about
         6  X  7  feet  floor space per person, but most buildings are many
         stories high.  If all the people came out on the streets at  once,
         such  as  during  an  earthquake, there will not be enough room to
         stand.

              Japan has 130 times more people  per  square  mile  than  the
         state of Montana.

              The  most expensive commercial real estate in the world is in
         Tokyo. It sells for $650.00 per  square  foot.   The  second  most
         expensive  is  57th  St,  New York City at $435 per square foot. A
         piece of a typical midwest "Main St.," U.S.A. is $7.27 per  square
         foot.

              Japanese  rickshaws  were  invented  by an American, Reverend
         Jonathan Scobie, who visited Okinawa in 1869.

              In Tokyo, to buy a three-line  classified  in  the  newspaper
         costs $3,000 per day.

              This  joke was popular in Russia a couple of years ago: A man
         had a frog on his head so he went to a doctor.  The  doctor  Said,
         "So,   what   seems   to   be   the  problem?"  And the frog said,
         "There's something stuck to my butt."

              In the Soviet Union, blue jeans, the height of fashion,  cost
         $50 a pair.

              There  are  many  kremlins in the Soviet Union.  Kremlin just
         means the center of  government,  which  can  be  applied  to  the
         government buildings in any town.

              When you travel in Europe, be careful about water faucets. In
         Spain the word for hot is caliente, in France hot is chaud, and in
         Italy  you  say caldo when you mean hot.  Therefore, the hot water
         faucets are marked with 'C'.

              Evidently  the  folks  in  England are cleaner than people in
         other lands. The per capita use of soap in the  Great  Britain  is
         forty ounces per year.  In France it is only 22.6 ounces per year.

              There  is  a  place  in  Wales  that  has  a  very long name:
         Llanfairpwllgwynggyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.    It
         means  "Church of Saint Mary in a hollow of white hazel, near to a
         rapid whirlpool and Saint Tysilio's Church of the red  cave."  See
         if you can say it.

              If  you  visit Australia, here are some things you might want
         to know:
              Light switches in Australia are backwards - down is  for  on,
         up is off.
              In Australia, "jif" means cleaner.
         


In Australian outback, students send in their
         homework by mail, and listen to lectures by their teacher  on  the
         radio.
              "Beaut work" means good job.

              The  Australian Bushmen had a custom that you might not like.
         When a member of the family died, that person was  sliced  up  and
         token pieces were eaten by other members of the family.

              In  Russia,  the  average citizen earned $8,850 last year. In
         America, the average citizen earned $19,970 last year.  In  Japan,
         the average citizen earned $14,340 last year. In West Germany, the
         average citizen earned $14,260 last year.