AWESOME FACTS ABOUT EVERYTHING CIV

1. The U.S. Postal Service has no official motto. The well-known "creed" of letter carriers - Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these carriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds - is not official. In fact, the phrase is taken from an ancient book by the Greek historian Herodotus and refers to messengers of the Persian Empire. During the wars between the Greeks and Persians (500-449 B.C.), the Persians operated a system of mounted postal couriers who served with great fidelity. 

The U.S. Postal Service has no quarrel with the popular belief that Herodotus' description of the Persian postal service is about the U.S. Postal Service. It is considered a tribute to the hundreds of thousands of men and women who have delivered the mail reliably and dependably through all conditions for over 200 years. 

2. The largest shopping mall in the United States is the Mall of America, located in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, covering 5,600,000 square feet. 

3. The deepest point on earth is the Mariana Trench in the North Pacific Ocean, near Guam. At 36,000 feet deep, if Mt. Everest could fit inside it, its peak would be 7,000 feet under water.

4. The Pacific Ocean covers 65,000,000 square miles of the earth's surface.

5. Pigs can't look up.

6. Tuvalu is an independent island nation in the South Pacific Ocean, east of Papua, New Guinea. The United Nations World Tourism Organization has declared Tuvalu the least visited country in the world - with an average of 3,710 visitors per year.

7. The letter "U" is the rarest of the five vowels, occurring 1/4 as often as "E" - the most frequently used vowel (and letter).

8. Gene Autry is the only entertainer to have five stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He is recognized in the categories of Radio, Music, Film, Television, and Live Performance.