Politics from the Palouse to Puget Sound

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Find Paraquay and Brazil On A Map

Here's a hint: They're not in Central America.

This morning's Spokesman-Review has an article about the world's largest hydroelectric dams. Grand Coulee is now the fourth largest. But, what made me laugh was the Spokesman's claim that Paraguay and Brazil were in Central America.

Update: After I sent the S-R a teasing e-mail regarding their geographic boo boo, they corrected the graphic that had the Parana River in Central America. It's now back in South America, as God intended.

When I first saw the article's headline, I was shocked. It showed the Itaipu Dam on Central America’s Parana River as the second largest in the world. This shocked me because, although Central America gets plenty of precipitation during its six month rainy season, none of the drainages are big enough to produce enough megawattage to compete on the world stage.
Then, I read on.

5 comments:

Adam J. Niehenke said...

Michael your ignorance is bliss. This dam is the largest power plant in the world, but it is not in south america. It produces 90% of the power for one country plus more that is sent to Brazil. FYI I use to work at Wanapum Dam and Priest Rapids.

Michael said...

Huh???????

Satanic Mechanic said...

I thought Three Gorges is the largest? Scratch that... they have two or three more turbines/generators to install. Three Gorges is the largest dam but not the biggest power producer. You are correct Adam.
Funny thing about that dam in Brazil, a portion of it is built on what use to be my family's land.

Michael said...

You guys are missing the point! The Spokesman-Review this morning had a huge graphic about the world's largest dams and they said that Paraguay and Brazil were in Central America.

Michael said...

Anybody who has clicked the link this afternoon is probably confused. The graphic in the S-R has been corrected, probably because I sent a teasing e-mail to an editor.