First trials of the Deparochialiser

[fivemack]

Did you know that the US was more than 41 times the size of Portugal and Belarus combined? That Russia was more than 405 times the size of Denmark? That India was just under 78 times the size of Lower Saxony?

This kind of useful information is a side-effect of a proxy I've always wanted to write to remove the parochialisms in the CIA World Factbook - it's of little use to point out that some place is twice the size of Oregon. I haven't quite figured out how to set it up as a proxy yet (and also would rather avoid things that could be construed as imitating the CIA]

Comments

[scottscidmore.livejournal.com]

And perhaps a reference database of the most interestingly named geographic units would be a Good Thing for comparisons. Never mind that the reader has never heard of it, looking it up will educate them. And make sure you've sufficient digits, none of this 'almost exactly eighty-one times...' stuff but rather 'is 80.947 times...'

Expressing distances in bus, bowling alley (2.19 buses), or similar, lengths adds to this educational value.