Every once in a while, at the bottom of the page main page, there appears a section entitled “Interesting Notes.” It didn’t occur to me at the time that I should archive these notes as well, but I have decided to rectify that situation now. Unfortunately, since there has already been a year’s worth of Interesting Notes that have gone undocumented, this is not, nor will it ever be, a complete archive. I have, however, attempted to recall as many Interesting Notes as possible.
Interesting Notes for 2005
There are a few bonus bits of trivia on every page, if you know where to look.
- The file name for each page is the Internet country code for each country.
- Each page banner is based on the country’s flag.
- All noun and adjectival forms on the page are correct. This includes “Monegasque,” “Motswana,” and the Holy See, which doesn’t have an adjectival form.
Interesting Notes for Jan. 29–Feb. 4, 2006
The other doubly-landlocked country is Uzbekistan.
Interesting Notes for Feb. 12–Feb. 18, 2006
The other six countries with a 100% literacy rate are Andorra, Finland, Georgia, the Holy See, Luxembourg, and Norway. Australia and Denmark have both left the ranks of the fully literate, although there are large sections of Denmark with 100% literacy, including Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
Interesting Notes for Mar. 19–Mar. 25, 2006
The other four places with more heliports than airports are Antarctica, Brunei, East Timor, and Monaco.
Interesting Notes for July 30–Aug. 5, 2006
The adjectival form of Azerbaijan can be either “Azerbaijani,” as used on this site, or “Azeri.” Both are considered correct.
Interesting Notes for Sept. 17–Sept. 23, 2006
I did some peeking into the Danish Royal family. The first king of Denmark was Gorm the Old in 936. There haven’t been any Gorms since (so sad), but every king since 1534 has been a Christian or a Frederik. The heir apparent will be King Frederik X. Also, while Queen Margrethe II is the current queen, there was no Margrethe I. There was, however, a Queen Margrete I in 1387.
Interesting Notes for Oct. 1–Oct. 7, 2006
The newest country in the world is Montenegro, which gained independence from Serbia on June 3rd, 2006.
Interesting Notes for Oct. 15–Oct. 21, 2006
I chose this week’s fact thinking that soap production would be one of those unique things like Swiss watches. However, upon further research, it appears that soap manufacture is a major industry in several countries throughout the Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the East Pacific. It must be popular to be clean in the Third World, despite what they show us on TV.
Interesting Notes for Dec. 17–Dec. 23, 2006
There are 193 countries, but only 192 members of the United Nations. The Holy See is the only country in the world that is not in the UN.
Interesting Notes for Mar. 4–Mar. 10, 2007
The only country with more time zones than Canada is Russia, with eleven.
Interesting Notes for Aug. 31–Sept. 6, 2008
I realize that Burma has been in the news a lot lately under the name Myanmar. However, in spite of what the media may think, according to the United States government, the offical English name of that country remains the Union of Burma, or just “Burma” for short.