Raise your hand if you’ve ever been in an elevator and the permits were expired by a range of two days to two years. Why I take notice of those rectangular size certificates in lift boxes worldwide isn’t hard to comprehend, for the most part I don’t want to get stuck in one. I don’t fancy the thought of getting trapped somewhere in between my final destination and so it peeves me that those certificates are almost never updated. Anywhoodle, this isn’t a piece about the lack of attention or examination of elevators. Nope, not at all. Not even close. It’s about things that do get updated. Things we can count on and trust like the online World Factbook.
Updated as of July 20, 2006 there are a couple points of interest in this new edition. For example Serbia and Montenegro are both formally and officially recognized as separate Balkan countries. There is a new Appendix G which includes weights and measures. Some country maps introduced in the 2001 edition have been revised and regional maps have been updated to reflect boundary changes and place and name spelling changes. Most of you who use the factbook on a day-to-day basis have probably already been made aware of the new changes and for those who haven’t – now you know.