Bits and pieces of an article that might whet your curiosity

The Amazon rainforest produces more than 20% of the world's oxygen supply.
The Amazon River pushes so much water into the Atlantic Ocean that, more than one hundred miles at sea off the mouth of the river, one can dip fresh water out of the ocean. The volume of water in the Amazon river is greater than the next eight largest rivers in the world combined and three times the flow of all rivers in the United States.

United States

The Eisenhower Interstate System is a network of  freeways that is part of  the National Highway System of the United States, and it  requires that one mile in every five must be straight and flat. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies. It was President Dwight Eisenhower who in 1956 authorized the construction of this highway system by the Federal Aid Highway Act.

How did this idea come about ? At the end of WWII General Dwight Eisenhower, after surveying the war damage in Germany, was impressed by the durability of the Autobahn (a Federal Expressway System). Since in the 1950’s America feared a nuclear attack from the Russians, Eisenhower decide to provide evacuation routes from the cities.

The longest interstate is the I-90, which runs from Seattle, Washington, to Boston.

More than half of the coastline of the entire United States is in Alaska.

There are no natural lakes in the state of Ohio, everyone is manmade.

New York City

The term "The Big Apple" was coined by touring jazz musicians of the 1930s
who used the slang expression 'apple' for any town or city. Therefore, to play New York City is to play the big time - The Big Apple.

There are more Irish in New York City than in Dublin, Ireland; more Italians in New York City than in Rome, Italy;(N.Y.is home to 3.4 million Italians, which is among the largest concentration in the world after Sao Paolo, Buenos Aires, Milan and Rome.) and more Jews in New York City than in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Antarctica is the only land on our planet that is not owned by any country. Ninety percent of the world's ice covers Antarctica. This ice also represents seventy percent of all the fresh water in the world. As strange as it sounds, however, Antarctica is essentially a desert; the average yearly total precipitation is about two inches.
Although covered with ice (all but 0.4% of it is ice.), Antarctica is the driest place on the planet, with an absolute humidity lower than the Gobi desert.

Canada, the second largest country in the world, has more lakes than the rest of the world combined.  The name Canada was first used by Jacques Cartier in 1535.  It derives from an Iroquoian word  Kanata  meaning "Big Village".

Next to Warsaw, Chicago has the largest Polish population in the world.

Damascus, Syria, was flourishing a couple of thousand years before Rome was founded in 753 BC, making it the oldest continuously inhabited city in existence.

Istanbul, Turkey, is the only city in the world located on two continents.

Rome

The first city to reach a population of 1 million people was Rome, Italy, in 133 B.C.
There is a city called Rome on every continent.

The actual smallest sovereign entity in the world is the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, a Roman Catholic religious order.  It is located in the city of Rome, Italy, has an area of two tennis courts and, as of 2001, has a population of 80 -- 20 less people than the Vatican.
It is a sovereign entity under international law, just as the Vatican is.

.Waterfalls

The water of Angel Falls (the world's highest) in Venezuela drops 3,212 feet (979 meters)- 15 times higher than Niagara Falls.

I have always said that we learn something new every day. Unfortunately, many of us are at that age where what we learn today, we forget tomorrow.
But, give it a shot anyway.