Sunday, December 31, 2017

Which country enters the New Year first?

The first country to celebrate the New Year is the Republic of Kiribati, parts of which lies within the earliest time zone, UTC+14. These areas include Christmas Island and the uninhabited Caroline Island, which is also known as Millennium Island for being one of the first points of land to enter the year 2000. The next time zone to enter the New Year is UTC+13, which includes Samoa, Tonga, Tokelau and Kiribati's Phoenix Islands. The first sizable countries comes with New Zealand an hour later(UTC+12), and eastern Australia two hours after that (UTC+10.)

On the flip side, the last time zone to reach the New Year is UTC-12, which includes Baker Island and Howland Island, two uninhabited islands belonging to the United States. The last inhabited places to celebrate the New Year lies in the UTC-11 time zone, and includes American Samoa and Niue, a self-governing state in free association with New Zealand.

Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Which place has the most reviews on Yelp?

The business with the most Yelp reviews is Bottega Louie, a combination Italian restaurant, French patisserie and gourmet market in downtown Los Angeles. It currently boasts 14,104 reviews and 24,059 photos, which is also the highest number of photos associated with a Yelp business. Bottega Louie opened in 2009, five years after Yelp was founded, and gets about 15,000 visitors a week. It's popularity on Yelp is likely due to the photogenic appeal of its pastries, as well as being located in a busy part of a large city.

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Where is White Sands, Brooklyn?

White Sands was a small neighborhood located in the southwestern portion of Brooklyn, New York. Its borders were the Belt Parkway to the north, the Coney Island Creek to the east and south, and Calvert Vaux Park to the west. The neighborhood received its name from the white-colored sand that once covered its shores before it was replaced with landfill. Some of the area's first homes were bungalows that were built on stilts atop these sands. In the 90's, home-improvement retailer The Home Depot started purchasing homes in White Sands in order to raze down and open up a new store. This new Home Depot store was opened in 2002, and occupies roughly two-thirds of the neighborhood's previous homes. The remaining houses that were not sold to the retail giant are located on two streets - Bay 52nd and Bay 53rd. White Sands is not an officially-recognized neighborhood today, and is considered to be a part of the larger Gravesend community.