Thursday, October 8, 2009
Monday, October 5, 2009
World’s Craziest Walk To School
For most parents the school-run may seem death-defying, but it usually only consists of a quick drive or walk to the gates.
So spare a thought for the families of Gulucan village in West China, who take their lives in their hands every day with a a school walk which involves navigating a narrow path carved into a 5,000-ft cliff-side.
It is the only way they can get to the school, which with its five concrete rooms is the known as the best construction in the village.
Hedge shaped like a Formula 1 car
These spectacular hedges cut like a Formula1 car and pit lane mechanics will set the hearts of any motoring fan racing.
Gardeners at the Williams F1 headquarters spend hours every month trimming their topiary - which is positioned in a gravel trap. The 11ft long car is made from six plants and each 6ft high mechanic is made from two.
How far to the Nearest McDonalds?
As expected, McDonald’s cluster at the population centers and hug the highway grid. East of the Mississippi, there’s wall-to-wall coverage, except for a handful of meager gaps centered on the Adirondacks, inland Maine, the Everglades, and outlying West Virginia.
For maximum McSparseness, we look westward, towards the deepest, darkest holes in our map: the barren deserts of central Nevada, the arid hills of southeastern Oregon, the rugged wilderness of Idaho’s Salmon River Mountains, and the conspicuous well of blackness on the high plains of northwestern South Dakota. There, in a patch of rolling grassland, loosely hemmed in by Bismarck, Dickinson, Pierre, and the greater Rapid City-Spearfish-Sturgis metropolitan area, we find our answer.
Between the tiny Dakotan hamlets of Meadow and Glad Valley lies the McFarthest Spot: 107 miles distant from the nearest McDonald’s, as the crow flies, and 145 miles by car!
Suffer a Big Mac Attack out there, and you’re hurtin’ for certain! For a coupla hours, at least, unless graced by the tender blessings of “manna from heaven” - that is, a fast food air drop from the Medi-Copter.
Behold, a visualization of the contiguous United States, colored by distance to the nearest domestic McDonald’s! There are around 13,000-or-so U.S. McDonalds restaurants.
Between the tiny Dakotan hamlets of Meadow and Glad Valley lies the McFarthest Spot: 107 miles distant from the nearest McDonald’s, as the crow flies, and 145 miles by car!
Suffer a Big Mac Attack out there, and you’re hurtin’ for certain! For a coupla hours, at least, unless graced by the tender blessings of “manna from heaven” - that is, a fast food air drop from the Medi-Copter.
Behold, a visualization of the contiguous United States, colored by distance to the nearest domestic McDonald’s! There are around 13,000-or-so U.S. McDonalds restaurants.
