From the Oscars to Mount Everest

Issue 15

1. Hollywood’s Oscar award was originally called the “The Academy Award of Merit,” and the original statuette was actually a sword-wielding crusader for the arts, standing on a film reel.  Upon seeing the bronze and gold image of that familiar crusader, Academy Librarian Margaret Herrick reportedly remarked that it looked like her Uncle Oscar. This is one version of the story…there are others.

2. Nauru is the only country in the world without an official capital city. The government offices of the tiny Pacific island nation are located in the Yaren District.

3.  The Earth isn’t round. Technically the Earth is known as an “oblate spheroid” due to the bulge at the equator and the flattened poles.

4. The summit of Mount Everest is about the size of two Ping-Pong tables and oxygen levels are only a third of those at sea level.