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Page 96 - Other Facts

The Amazon pours so much water into the Atlantic that freshwater can be found so far offshore that there isn't any land in sight.

The Amazon River is the second longest river in the world, dwarfed only by the Nile. It’s 4,080 miles long and runs from the Andes Mountains in Peru all the way through Brazil to the Atlantic Ocean. It contains more water than any other river in the world. Not just more than the Nile, but more than the Nile, Mississippi, and Yangtze combined. In one second, the Amazon pours more than 55 million gallons of fresh water into the ocean.

That’s so much fresh water that it dilutes the ocean’s saltines for 100 miles- meaning the fresh water is so far out that you can be sitting in it and unable to see the land. The Amazon actually provides 20% of the world’s fresh water supply, making it extremely important. The Amazon is much wider than the Nile, and during the wet season can reach 40 kilometers in length.

Where it meets the Atlantic, it can be as wide as 325 kilometers- and it grows by 2 meters a year. There are even 2,000 species that live in its rivers. It’s pretty amazing what can be said about one river.

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There was a DC villain who gained super powers by doing cocaine.

Despite what the drug may make you think, you will never gain superpowers by using cocaine. That is, unless you discover you’re the supervillain known as Snow Flame. Snow Flame appeared only once, in The New Guardians issue number two.

Snow Flame ran a drug cartel, which the New Guardians attempted to stop. In the first battle, Snow Flame defeated the heroes, but in the second battle he was tossed into a shed which then exploded. His powers derived from his cocaine usage. When he ingested cocaine, his strength would increase and he would be covered in white fire.

Back in the burgeoning days of Super Hero comics, there were very strict rules on what themes and images could be depicted. It's amazing thinking that today we can have a super villain like this. New Guardians was a short series that only ran for twelve issues in the late 1980’s. Though much of it may not be too memorable, at least it gave Snow Flame to the world.

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In most Nordic countries it is legal to trespass, camp, fish and pick berries on private lands.

The Nordic countries certainly do a lot of things right. Finland and Norway, for example, both have free post secondary education and health care. The “freedom to roam,” or “everyman’s right” is something also popular in some of these countries. Freedom to roam is the right of the general public to access private and public lands for recreation and exercise.

Freedom to roam has had a history throughout many European countries, where it’s believed that it was once a common norm. Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden all still maintain this freedom. Today, you can go boating on privately owned waters, stay for a few nights on someone’s land, even pick flowers.

Of course, the responsibility that comes with it is the obligation to not harm any wildlife or crops, as well as the obligation not to litter. There are other restrictions, most of which fall into the common sense category, like not starting fires, not making too much noise, and (generally speaking) never outright living on someone’s property.

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Some awesome lists!

A man who was wrongly accused of murder had a sister who was a high school drop-out that put herself through law school to help prove his innocence!

This story may sound familiar. Well, it’s because the story is so incredible that Hollywood made a movie of it that was released in 2010. Conviction starred Hilary Swank as the sister and Sam Rockwell as the wrongly convicted brother. Of course, the film differs from the real life story, but it’s still cool.

The real story took place in 1980 in Massachusetts. Kenny Waters was convicted in 1983 for the 1980 crimes of murder and robbery and was sentenced to life in prison. Kenny’s sister, Betty Ann Waters, was a high school drop-out who believed in her brother. She believed in him so much, that she put herself through college and law school to participate in her brother’s case.

She worked with the Innocence Project to get him exonerated in 2001 after 18 years in prison. DNA testing ended up proving Waters’ innocence and the real culprit has never been found. Unfortunately, Kenny Waters died in a freak accident 6 months after his release.

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In Denmark there is a channel for children without any commercials and when it is time to sleep, the characters go to sleep, too!

The DR Ramasjang launched in 2009 and was a desperate attempt to reign in Danish viewers. Danish children were all but lost in the wonders of Cartoon Network and Disney. The DR caters to Danish humor and irony and is made for children between the ages of 3 through 10. It has become the most popular channel in Denmark among children.

The channel doesn’t show any commercials, which boosts their ratings among children and parents alike whose don’t have to deal with marking strategies geared for their young ones. The DR Channel’s characters are put to bed at night and are seen sleeping all night. It sounds like an adorable channel, except their use of “irony” would be considered very questionable in the U.S.

One movie on the channel shows a ten year old girl killing six adults by cutting of their limbs! A spokeswoman for the channel said that times are changing and kids want more than Barbie and Power Rangers. Those shows are now for kids under 5. The TV station has a hard time balancing shows for 3 year olds and 10 year olds. Ideally they want to open another channel and split the age group in half again.

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