Geography
World’s Tallest Tent – Camping for Giants
Many people know Kazakhstan only from Soviet era news and the movie Borat. It’s just one of those “cold -stan” countries out in Central Asia, right? Well after reading this article, you will know Kazakhstan for something else from now on: it houses the world’s tallest tent. Technically, the tent, formally called the Khan Shatyry Entertainment Center, [...]
Netherlands beats Uruguay 3-2, and now for a geography lesson
The World Cup is in its final week and the Netherlands advanced to the World Cup final, defeating Uruguay 3-2 today. The Netherlands will meet the winner of Germany and Spain, but before you sound your vuvuzela off about your World Cup knowledge, you might want to learn where the countries are located. The Netherlands is [...]
The Failed States Index 2010: Worst Travel Destinations this Summer
When Dinner Topics was created, we promised to keep you up to date on whatever is in the news from pop stars to politics, and this week we are really showing our range with topics from BP to Apple to Australia to Hollywood marriages. Now we move on to the Failed States Index to make [...]
Rare Earth Elements – your iPhone depends on it!
So you’ve seen it in the headlines — the U.S. has uncovered an estimated $1 trillion worth of minerals in Afghanistan. Besides iron and copper (largest mineral deposits discovered), there are deposits of niobium, a soft metal used in producing superconducting steel, lithium, gold, copper, and rare earth elements (REEs).1 If your chemistry is as [...]
What’s going on in Azerbaijan?
You may have heard in the news about problems between the United States and Azerbaijan. Where is Azerbaijan, and what is the problem? Azerbaijan, slightly smaller than Maine, is a republic sandwiched between Iran to the south and Russia and the Caucus Mountains to the north. Armenia and Georgia border Azerbaijan on the west, and [...]
Volcanic Eruption and Tropical Storm in Guatemala
Guatemala has been hit with a double whammy in the past few days: a volcano has erupted, and a tropical storm has hit the southern coast. These two natural disasters have devastated Guatemala, killing hundreds of people and forcing the relocation of thousands more. The Pacaya Volcano in Guatemala’s southern department of Escuintla started to [...]
Who are the Red Shirts and why are they angry?
Shortly after leaders called off protests in Thailand, a group of Red Shirts still set fire to Thailand’s Stock Exchange floor. Headlines about Red Shirts are all over the world news, and you are wondering who they are and why they are so angry. Red Shirts is the unofficial name given to the members of the [...]
Times Square bombing attempt
The big news in America the past couple days has been the attempted bombing in Times Square. A suspect has been found and more details have been released. If you haven’t been following the news, here are the basics: On Saturday, an SUV in Times Square was set on fire with explosives inside, but luckily the [...]
