You Can't Make This Stuff Up!

[Lee Stewart]

The flag of Nicaragua features a rainbow in the center that includes a band of purple, while the flag of Dominica boasts a picture of a sisserou parrot, a bird with purple feathers. These elements make them the only two flags in the world that use the color purple.

[Lee Stewart]

The 1933 Double Eagle was a $20 U.S. coin made of gold that never went into circulation. A few of the coins were made, but most were destroyed—save for nine that were presumed stolen by U.S. mint workers. After years circulating the globe and falling into the hands of a few notable owners, including the king of Egypt, one of the coins was auctioned off at Sotheby's in 2002 for a stunning $7,590,020. That made it the most expensive coin ever sold at auction.

[Lee Stewart]

Due to over-fishing and disease, the oyster population in Maryland's Chesapeake Bay was seriously suffering. But thanks to dedicated work by scientists at the Horn Point Laboratory, the Army Corps, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Nature Conservancy, the state is now the location of the world's largest man-made oyster reef. Home to more than one billion oysters, the area is a no-fishing zone, which will hopefully give the population a chance to recover.

[Lee Stewart]

More than 52 percent of the world's population is under 30-years-old.

[Lee Stewart]

People 60 years and older make up 12.3 percent of the global population.

[Lee Stewart]

If the Earth's time zones were each one hour apart, then we would have 24 times zones, which sounds pretty straightforward. However, the situation is a little more complicated than that. Since many time zones only differ by 30 or 45 minutes, they don't fit into a neat and tidy 24 hour span, which means that there are more than 24

[Lee Stewart]

With 221,800 islands, Sweden is thought to have more islands than any other country in the world. Only about 1,000 of them are inhabited.

[Lee Stewart]

Castroville is a rural town in California that grows a lot of artichokes (and other vegetable crops), thanks to the fact that the area enjoys ideal weather year round. Because of this, it grows 99.9 percent of all commercially grown artichokes and has been nicknamed the "Artichoke Capital of the World."

[Lee Stewart]

According to a study developed for National Geographic in 2011, the world's "most typical" person is right-handed, makes less than $12,000 per year, has a mobile phone, and doesn't have a bank account.

[Lee Stewart]

Canada has nine percent of the world's forests.