Size Matters

Did you know Russia's eastern border is with the US and its western border is with China.
In the middle of the Bering Strait are two small, sparsely populated islands: Big Diomede, which sits in Russian territory, and Little Diomede, which is part of the United States. At their closest, these two islands are a little less than two and a half miles apart, which means that, on a clear day, you can definitely see one from the other.  Big Diomede, Russia is 21 hours ahead of Little Diomede, US, because of this the islands are sometimes called Tomorrow Island (Big Diomede) and Yesterday Isle (Little Diomede). Yes, it is true that you can see Russia from Alaska.


Incidentally, China is bordered by the most countries. In total, China borders 14 other countries: On the northern border, China borders (west to east) Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Russia. To the west, China shares boundaries with (north to south) Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

Russia and US Border

The news media usually fails to mention that Russia and the US share a border. There is no wall and not much traffic of refugees trying to pass illegally.

The Russia / United States maritime boundary follows the June 1, 1990 USA/USSR Maritime Boundary Agreement, but it has yet to be approved by the Russian parliament. The United States Senate gave its consent to ratification on September 16, 1991.

Two islands, Little Diomede, US and Big Diomede, Russia lie between Russia and the United States. The islands are only 35 km away from both Chukotka, Russia and Alaska, US. Because the international Date Line runs between them, the time difference between them is about 21 hours.

Incidentally, Russia's Eastern border is with China.

Happy Conception Day

September 12 is Conception Day in Russia and couples get the day off specifically to have sex. Who says Russians have it so bad?

WWII is Not Over

There are a string of volcanic islands in the Pacific, known as the Kurils. A dispute between Russia and Japan, has prevented the two nations from signing a peace treaty to formally end World War II.



The islands are equidistant between the two countries and are rich in natural resources, including potentially large oil and natural gas reserves. Known in Japan as the Northern Territories and in Russia as the South Kurils, four of these islands are at the center of a dispute over ownership that continues. Many potential solutions to the conflict have been proposed, but talks between the countries have led to a stalemate and lack of war ending treaty.

Top 10 Viewers of Shubsthoughts

The top ten countries viewing my blog this month, in order are: Russia, US, Germany, France, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Portugal, India, China. Thank you to all my new BFFs. I hope you continue to enjoy. Hey Soedinyonnye Shtaty Amerik watzup! 

Russia and DST

Russia will turn back its clocks for the last time March 8 to permanently adopt winter hours. It will also increase its time zones from nine to eleven, from the Pacific to the borders of the European Union. The Soviet Union introduced Daylight Saving Time in 1981. In 2011, then President Dmitry Medvedev introduced measures to reduce Russia's time zones to nine, and to keep summer time all year round. Russians put their clocks forward one hour, but did not put them back in winter time. For the last three years, Russia kept permanent summer time, but it proved to be highly unpopular with many Russians. When Crimea was annexed by Russia from Ukraine in March, Crimea's time was adjusted to match Moscow time.

Interesting Facts

A friend of mine, Bob D. passed on these tidbits, some old some new, but all interesting. The population of the world could fit into the state of Texas and it would still be less crowded than New York City. The surface area of Russia is slightly larger than that of Pluto. Lego makes more tires than any company, including tire companies. The combined weight of all ants on earth is about equal to the combined weight of all humans. Alexander the Great conquered half the known world by age 22. Tenth US president John Tyler (born 1790) has two grandsons (born 1924, 1928) still living (as of Jan, 2015). The last known widow of a civil war veteran died in 2008.

Shubsthoughts Blogviews

The top ten viewers to my blog last month in order are:
Russia
United States
Malaysia
Germany
France
China
United Kingdom
Poland
Canada
Ukraine
Thank you to all my new best friends from Russia for being number one. Thank you to all the rest of my new friends from around the globe. Hope you enjoy the content.

Diamonds are Formed from Coal Myth Debunked

According to evolutionists and geologists, diamonds were formed about 1 to 3 billion years ago, much earlier than any known record of Earth’s first land plants. Coal is formed from the dead remains of vegetation like trees and other plants. The formation of coal takes millions of years and can be traced back 300 to 400 million years, but not a billion years.

Coal is an amorphous form of carbon and at the most can change its chemical composition and transform into its nearly purest form which is Graphite, but not diamond. The conversion of coal into diamond is almost impossible due to its impurities and the fact that coal is rarely found at depths greater than two miles which is not conducive to the formation of diamonds.

Natural diamonds require depths of 87 to 120 miles in the Earth’s mantle, very high temperatures, and resulting pressure that exists at those depths to form. Unlike other gems which are formed by a combination of elements, diamonds are made up of one single element, Carbon. Carbon-containing minerals present in the Earth at those depths, crystallize to form diamonds, because of the immense pressure together with the heat from molten magma.

The diamond crystals, along with other minerals are transported to the earth's surface during deep-source volcanic eruptions in the magma. This is quite a rare occurrence as diamonds are formed at depths usually 3 to 4 times deeper than normal volcanoes originate.

Diamonds color is influenced by impurities and can be blue (boron), yellow (nitrogen), brown (lattice defects), green (radiation exposure), purple, pink, orange, red, and grades of those colors. Red diamonds are the rarest and most exotic diamonds. They are also the most expensive. Here are examples of a red and orange diamond.

When this magma cools, it forms igneous rocks known as kimberlites and lamproites, used as an indicator by geologists that diamonds may be found in the area. The Kimberlites form narrow pipe shaped fissures which are also referred to as diamond pipes. Many of the pipes are also rich sources of garnets. The most prominent kimberlites are located in South and Central Africa, which contribute almost half of the natural diamonds mined in the World. Over 500 kimberlite deposits have also been found in Northern Canada.

Africa, Russia, Australia, and Canada are the largest diamond producing countries. BTW - Diamonds are not in short supply and are a terrible investment because there is no aftermarket.

Renminbi and Sterling

Now that Australia joins a host of nations that are bypassing the US Dollar as the world's "reserve currency" and trading currency directly with China, I thought it might be good to discuss confusion about the name of the Chinese currency.

Renminbi is the name of China’s currency, but yuan is the denomination of bills. It is equivalent to Britain’s currency, which is sterling with its pound as denomination of bills. The number of renminbi per dollar or sterling per dollar is incorrect. Renminbi and Sterling are the currency, but not a unit of the currency.  Prices and exchanges are measured in yuan and pounds, not Renminbi or Sterling.

The primary unit of renminbi is the yuan. One yuan is subdivided into 10 jiao , which is subdivided into 10 fen. Renminbi banknotes are available in denominations from 1 jiao to 100 yuan and coins have denominations from 1 fen to 1 yuan.

During the past two years - China and Japan economies bypass dollar and engage in direct currency trade, China and Russia drop dollar for direct trade, China and Iran bypass dollar, India and Japan bypass dollar, Iran and Russia replace dollar with rial and ruble in trade, India and Iran transact directly in rupees, Brazil bypasses dollar for direct China currency, Australia and China bypass dollar for direct currency trade.

Interesting Country Facts

Most Lakes in the World – Canada: With over 3 million lakes 9% of Canadian territory is actually fresh water and over 60% of all the lakes in the world are found in Canada. It also has 50% of its population educated at the post secondary level, making it the most educated in the world.

Country Covered with the Highest Percentage of Desert – Libya: With 99% of the country covered in desert, Libya is one of the most arid places in the world and in some regions decades may go by without a drop of rain.
Russia: Siberia is home to approximately 25% of the world’s forests that span an area larger than the continental United States.

Least Densely Populated– Mongolia: With 4 people per square mile, Mongolia is the least densely populated country on Earth. Compare this to the Mong Kok district of Hong Kong that has the highest population density in the world with 340,000 people per square mile.

Suriname: It has 91% of its land covered in jungle.

Alaska and Calendars

Speaking of days and dates, did you know that Alaska was the last state to adopt our current, Gregorian calendar? Many think our calendar has been around forever, but it is not that old.

In Alaska, the change took place when Friday, 6 October 1867 was followed again by Friday, 18 October after the US purchase of Alaska from Russia. Eleven days were skipped, and the day of the week was repeated on successive days, because the International Date Line was shifted from Alaska's eastern to western boundary along with the change to the Gregorian calendar.

In Russia the Gregorian calendar was accepted Wednesday, 31 January 1918, followed by Thursday, 14 February 1918, thus dropping 13 days from the calendar.

The last country of Eastern Orthodox Europe to adopt the Gregorian calendar was Greece on Thursday, 1 March 1923, which followed Wednesday, 15 February 1923. Korea adopted the Gregorian calendar on 1 January 1895. China finally agreed to use the Gregorian calendar 1 January 1929 (Yes, only eighty three years ago).

Many religious sects and countries still use other official calendars, but have unofficially adopted the Gregorian calendar for convenience of doing business. Kind of makes one question the exact dates in many history books. . .

Billionaires

Maybe the old saying about the rich getting richer is no longer true, at least in the US. Brazil, Russia, India, and China produced 108 of the 214 new billionaires in the recent Forbes list of richest people. These four nations are home to one-in-four members, up from one-in-ten five years ago. Before this year, only the US had ever produced more than 100 billionaires. China now has 115 and Russia 101. The US used to have one in two, now it has one in three billionaires and it is down 56 billionaires from 2008 peak. So sorry, I didn't see your name on the list either.

SUX

FAA identifiers for airports aren’t technically acronyms, but the three-letter codes can give rise to their own headaches. Just ask the Sioux City Gateway Airport, which the FAA saddled with the unfortunate designator “SUX.” Airport authorities petitioned for a new code, and the FAA, not a joke, offered them “GAY” as a nod to the “Gateway” part of the airport’s name.

Sioux City decided that switching to GAY probably wouldn’t save them any taunting, so officials decided to make the best of the SUX situation. Now the airport markets playful t-shirts emblazoned with slogans like “Fly SUX.”

SUX might not even be the worst code. According to a 2008 LA Times story, Fresno’s is FAT, and Perm, Russia’s is PEE. The big winner has to be Fukuoka, Japan, though. Hmmm, how does that one get abbreviated.