The Worst World Map of All Time

Tannu Tuva: The Center of Asia - Ken Jennings

Read the full article HERE

What Counts as a Mountain? - Tom Scott

Mountains: super tall, rocky landforms that rise high above the surrounding environment, much higher than hills. We might draw one as a single peak like Mount Fuji, or as a zig zag line of peaks representing a mountain range. Mount Everest (also known as Sagarmāthā and Chomolungma) is Earth’s highest peak above sea level, but it’s also surrounded by tall mountains in the Mahālangūr range. Do those count as some of the tallest on Earth, too?

Tom Scott asks “what counts as a mountain” on the 4,350 meter (14,271 foot) peak of Mount Evans in Colorado, North America’s 41st highest. Then he explains the answer… mostly.

Read more about topographical prominence and edge cases.

ZIP codes - Vox

The ‘zip’ in zip code stands for The Zone Improvement Plan, an address code system that was invented in 1963 to help the United States Postal Service (USPS) deliver the increasing amount of mail being sent around the country. Each subset of numbers within the zip code identifies where you live with 10 main regions of the country (numbered 0-9 at the national level), followed by two digits that identify the larger post offices where mail is sorted, and two digits for the smaller city post office that delivers to your address.

From the team at Vox: How zip codes helped organize America. They also explore geocoding, which uses latitudes and longitudes to identify specific locations.