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Have you ever wondered how your city’s economy would compare to a small country? Well, if you happen to live in one of America’s larger cities, you can now find out thanks to this fascinating article on The Atlantic. Take LA for example:
With a gross metropolitan product (GMP) of $737.9 billion, the LA metro’s economy is bigger than Turkey’s ($732.2) and slightly smaller than the Netherlands’ ($782.3) — the equivalent of the 18th largest nation in the world.
If your city isn’t listed, where do you think it might fit in?
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I enjoy the challenge of trying to figure out when a world map was made by looking at the countries on it. That challenge is easier with a handy chart from Replogle Globes that tells what year nations came into existence or changed names. Metafilter, on the other hand, took the question and made a joke thread, with each joke trying to one-up the one before.
My globe is so old…
HOW OLD IS IT?
My globe is so old it still says “here be dragons.” On France.
The chart does not yet have South Sudan listed, but may someday soon. Link
Do you know which countries produce the most crude oil? That’s the subject of today’s Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss. You are challenged to name the 12 nations that produce the most oil (not the ones that have or export the most) in three minutes. There was only one left when I ran out of time. Link
Putting your meal between slices of bread is a trick people do all over the world -with slight differences from country to country. In Australia you may have a chance to try the yeast paste Vegemite. In Japan you can have your noodles in your sandwich. In Vietnam you might encounter the spicy Vietnamese bahn mi.
A baguette stuffed to the brim with meat and pickled veggies, the banh mi is fusion food at its best. But be warned: it’s usually sprinkled with cilantro, so don’t be surprised by an herby kick when you take a bite.
Find more sandwich styles from around the world at National Geographic Traveler. Link -Thanks, Marilyn!
Yes, there are some countries in which the consumption of beer, along with other alcoholic beverages, is prohibited. Meanwhile, the rest of the world is brewing, selling, and imbibing the ancient drink.
Mesopotamia: Beer dates back to at least 4,000 BC. The earliest Sumerian writings mention it. The earliest recorded recipe for brewing beer found so far is from the ancient Babylonians. It is thought that the drink arose independently in several locations during the switch from hunting and gathering to agricultural communities, as stored crops fermented naturally and produced alcohol.
New Zealand: Beer was unknown in New Zealand until introduced by Europeans in the 1800s. The first beer brewed on the island was made from an indigenous evergreen tree and was intended as a cure for scurvy. Captain Cook brewed it himself in 1770, and it worked.
Mongolia: In the 2010 World Beverage Competition, the top beer prize went to the United States. However, Mongolia won both a gold medal and a silver medal for Fusion Beer and Borgio, both brewed by the Mongolian beverage company APU.
Peru: When drinking beer with a group in Peru, one person buys a bottle, pours a glass, passes the bottle on to the next person, drinks it, pours the dregs on the floor, then passes the glass to the next person, who repeats the process. The last person to get a drink from the bottle usually buys the next bottle. Sometimes shenanigans result as some try their best to avoid taking the last drink!
Ireland: In 1756, Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000 year lease on a building in Dublin that has been producing beer ever since. Guinness, still run by Arthur’s descendants, is now produced in more than forty countries.
South Africa: Umqombothi is an ancient South African beer made from corn and sorghum. It is also the title of a song about beer sung by South African singer Yvonne Chaka Chaka, that was featured in the 2004 movie Hotel Rwanda.
Czech Republic: According to global statistics for 2004 (the most recent year available), the Czech Republic leads the world in per capita beer consumption. Over 156 liters per year are consumed per person in that country. That’s 41.5 gallons for every man, woman, and child!
Australia: All the large breweries in Australia are owned by only three companies. The one most familiar to Americans is Foster’s, which is brewed mainly for export and isn’t all that popular in its home country!
China: The biggest beer market in the world is China, which consumes more beer than any other nation. However, that doesn’t mean the Chinese are big beer drinkers; only that there are more people in China than anywhere else. Beer companies are trying to take advantage of that market by making beer a popular social drink instead of “something you only drink to get drunk.”
Denmark: In April of 2010, workers at the Carlsberg brewery in Copenhagen went on strike to protest new rules limiting their workday beer consumption to lunchtime only. The strike ended a few days later when management promised to meet with the union.
USA: The US state with the highest per capita beer consumption is Nevada, at 44 gallons a year per person. However, you can imagine a lot of that is consumed by tourists. The next highest state is New Hampshire at 43 gallons per person per year.
Germany: The beer brewed in German homes for thousands of years was ale, until about 500 years ago when lager became popular. There is no written evidence of the earliest beer, but a Bavarian grave dating to about 800 BC contained beer made from bread. When the Roman Empire invaded Europe, soldiers found the residents of what would become Germany were already mass-producing beer.
(Image credit: Flickr user Eli Duke)
Antarctica: The McMurdo Research Station in Antarctica has three bars, although only one, Gallagher’s Pub, serves beer year-round. In December, as new supplies come in, old or spoiled beer is destroyed by driving nails into the cans. There are competitions to see who is the best nail-driver!
The authors of an article in Focus magazine, a BBC publication, took a look at statistics in 35 countries to rank those nations according to their tendency towards the seven deadly sins. Australia was found to be the most “sin-prone” nation, with the US coming in second. Canada, Finland, and Spain rounded out the most “sin-prone” rankings.
Topping each of the sin categories were South Korea (lust), the US (gluttony), Mexico (greed), Iceland (sloth and pride), South Africa (wrath) and Australia (envy).
Of course, some question the research methods and the results. Link -via Simply Left Behind
The annual United Nations human development index, released today, names Norway the best country in which to live. The list of 182 countries is based on 2007 statistics on life expectancy, literacy, school enrollment, gross domestic product, and other criteria.
The top ten countries listed on the index are: Norway, Australia, Iceland, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, France, Switzerland and Japan.
The United States ranks 13th, down one spot from last year.
China wins the most-improved award, moving up to number 92. Niger was at the bottom, and Afghanistan came in second to last. Link -via Digg
Digital Inspiration features a map illustrating the countires least affected by the global recession, as ranked according to a survey conducted by Servcorp for the Herald Sun.
Australia takes the top spot followed by China with India and Singapore in equal third place. Qatar is the only gulf nation that figures in this “relatively” recession-proof list.
The data is based on the results of a business confidence survey that was done on international business people of 24 nations to identify which countries they believe are surviving the crisis the best.
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by mrsmojorisin.
The Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development released a new study ranking the world’s nations by the happiness levels of their citizens. According to the published results, northern Europeans are the happiest people in the world. The top ten are:
1. Denmark
2. Finland
3. The Netherlands
4. Sweden
5. Ireland
6. Canada
7. Switzerland
8. New Zealand
9. Norway
10. Belgium
The US ranked above average. Link to article. Link to slideshow. -via the Presurfer
(image credit: Eddie Gerald/Alamy)
