This is true? - Geographic oddities that defy conventional wisdom

[elsmere241]

It should just be Eurasia

I know this is just a vocabulary thing, but in my view at least, the whole thing should be just Asia, with Europe being the westernmost part of it.

Also, the French tend to think of North America and South America as two parts of the same continent (called l'Amérique), and I wish they would stop.

The Olympic flag also thinks of the Americas as a single continent. Thus only five rings instead of six.

That's because they separated Oceania from Asia, and didn't want to add a sixth ring to the flag.

[CtrlAltDel]

It should just be Eurasia

I know this is just a vocabulary thing, but in my view at least, the whole thing should be just Asia, with Europe being the westernmost part of it.

Also, the French tend to think of North America and South America as two parts of the same continent (called l'Amérique), and I wish they would stop.

The Olympic flag also thinks of the Americas as a single continent. Thus only five rings instead of six.

That's because they separated Oceania from Asia, and didn't want to add a sixth ring to the flag.

I don't think that's the case. The rings represent Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia, and the Americas.

[elsmere241]

It should just be Eurasia

I know this is just a vocabulary thing, but in my view at least, the whole thing should be just Asia, with Europe being the westernmost part of it.

Also, the French tend to think of North America and South America as two parts of the same continent (called l'Amérique), and I wish they would stop.

The Olympic flag also thinks of the Americas as a single continent. Thus only five rings instead of six.

That's because they separated Oceania from Asia, and didn't want to add a sixth ring to the flag.

I don't think that's the case. The rings represent Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia, and the Americas.

We did a mock Olympics in school (complete with a mock IOC) in 1984, and at that time Australia and the rest of Oceania was considered part of Asia.

[JayhawkCO]

It should just be Eurasia

I know this is just a vocabulary thing, but in my view at least, the whole thing should be just Asia, with Europe being the westernmost part of it.

Also, the French tend to think of North America and South America as two parts of the same continent (called l'Amérique), and I wish they would stop.

The Olympic flag also thinks of the Americas as a single continent. Thus only five rings instead of six.

That's because they separated Oceania from Asia, and didn't want to add a sixth ring to the flag.

I don't think that's the case. The rings represent Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia, and the Americas.

We did a mock Olympics in school (complete with a mock IOC) in 1984, and at that time Australia and the rest of Oceania was considered part of Asia.

Apropos of nothing at all, but Australia competes with Asia for World Cup qualification.

[GaryV]

Apropos of nothing at all, but Australia competes with Asia for World Cup qualification.

They didn't used to - but when they competed against those little island nations, they racked up scores like 31-0.

For that matter, and again apropos of nothing, Israel competes in Europe.

[Bruce]

Apropos of nothing at all, but Australia competes with Asia for World Cup qualification.

They didn't used to - but when they competed against those little island nations, they racked up scores like 31-0.

For that matter, and again apropos of nothing, Israel competes in Europe.

For a brief period of time, Israel also played in the Oceania qualifiers because they had been expelled from Asia and didn't have full membership in UEFA (Europe). They even won the Oceania qualifiers for the 1990 World Cup but fell to Colombia in the inter-continental playoffs.

[NWI_Irish96]

Apropos of nothing at all, but Australia competes with Asia for World Cup qualification.

They didn't used to - but when they competed against those little island nations, they racked up scores like 31-0.

For that matter, and again apropos of nothing, Israel competes in Europe.

For a brief period of time, Israel also played in the Oceania qualifiers because they had been expelled from Asia and didn't have full membership in UEFA (Europe). They even won the Oceania qualifiers for the 1990 World Cup but fell to Colombia in the inter-continental playoffs.

Sometimes I wonder if we might end up with the US and Mexico in CONMEBOL.

[kkt]

I recently learned that Hawaii is not part of NATO.

Neither is Mississippi. Damn.

How do you figure? The reason Hawaii isn't technically part of NATO, so far as I can tell, is because it's south of the Tropic of Cancer.

Hawaii is one of the 50 United States, which is decidedly a member of NATO. Let's let Putin take a free whack at it and find out.

Doesn't matter.  The United States is perfectly capable of defending Hawaii without requiring a response from other NATO countries.

USA!  USA!

Somebody's seen Iron Eagle II a few too many times.

I suppose someone probably has, but not me.  I have never seen it. 

Do you seriously think any country could attack Hawaii without a devastating counterattack?

[J N Winkler]

Do you seriously think any country could attack Hawaii without a devastating counterattack?

It's certainly true that the last country that tried it had atomic bombs dropped on it.

[thspfc]

Ironwood, MI is 75 miles closer to Minneapolis than it is to the Mackinac Bridge. It's also only 75 miles closer to Ohio than it is to Montana.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

We could put the whole America/Americas/North and South America thing to rest, by renaming North America to Laurentia (like it is know in geological circles), and then South America could be plain America. The downside is that the USA would need to be renamed as well.

[Road Hog]

We could put the whole America/Americas/North and South America thing to rest, by renaming North America to Laurentia (like it is know in geological circles), and then South America could be plain America. The downside is that the USA would need to be renamed as well.

Some would suggest Gilead.

[CtrlAltDel]

It should just be Eurasia

I know this is just a vocabulary thing, but in my view at least, the whole thing should be just Asia, with Europe being the westernmost part of it.

Also, the French tend to think of North America and South America as two parts of the same continent (called l'Amérique), and I wish they would stop.

The Olympic flag also thinks of the Americas as a single continent. Thus only five rings instead of six.

That's because they separated Oceania from Asia, and didn't want to add a sixth ring to the flag.

I don't think that's the case. The rings represent Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia, and the Americas.

We did a mock Olympics in school (complete with a mock IOC) in 1984, and at that time Australia and the rest of Oceania was considered part of Asia.

I'm going by the Journal of Olympic History, Volume 10 (December 2001—January 2002), page 31:

[kphoger]

We could put the whole America/Americas/North and South America thing to rest, by renaming North America to Laurentia (like it is know in geological circles), and then South America could be plain America. The downside is that the USA would need to be renamed as well.

I don't see how that would be a requirement.

[CtrlAltDel]

We could put the whole America/Americas/North and South America thing to rest, by renaming North America to Laurentia (like it is know in geological circles), and then South America could be plain America. The downside is that the USA would need to be renamed as well.

I don't see how that would be a requirement.

Like how they never renamed the Holy Roman Empire?

[Scott5114]

I saw a social media post saying the biggest problem with the United States of America was that they forgot to ever actually name the country anything, they just describe it to you every time it's mentioned.

Anyway, if we stopped being in America but wanted to keep the "USA" abbreviation, you know what else starts with A? Alan.

[Rothman]

This is my United States of Whatever.

[GenExpwy]

I saw a social media post saying the biggest problem with the United States of America was that they forgot to ever actually name the country anything, they just describe it to you every time it's mentioned.

I wonder if those same people have the same objection to the "Central African Republic" , or the "Republic of South Africa" .

[Scott5114]

Probably (although I should note that the post was undoubtedly meant to be a joke). At least the two you mention tell you they're theoretically republics. The United States of America could be pretty much anything.

[Evan_Th]

Probably (although I should note that the post was undoubtedly meant to be a joke). At least the two you mention tell you they're theoretically republics. The United States of America could be pretty much anything.

According to the document that established the name (the Articles of Confederation), it's an international organization of independent sovereign states in America.  That bland descriptiveness has been followed by subsequent international organizations such as the "Organization of American States" or the "United Nations."

Unfortunately, when the Constitution of 1788 turned that international organization into a sovereign state in its own right, nobody changed the name.

[webny99]

In the 330 miles between San Diego and Las Vegas, I-15 does not enter a county with less than 2 million people. 

(Edited per the following discussion)

[Scott5114]

In the 270 miles between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, I-15 does not enter a county with less than 2 million people. 

You can go even further if you say between Las Vegas and the southern terminus. San Diego County has 3.2 million.

[webny99]

In the 270 miles between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, I-15 does not enter a county with less than 2 million people. 

You can go even further if you say between Las Vegas and the southern terminus. San Diego County has 3.2 million.

Yep, that's much better (I actually forgot that I-15 went to San Diego  ).

[US 89]

In the 270 miles between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, I-15 does not enter a county with less than 2 million people. 

You can go even further if you say between Las Vegas and the southern terminus. San Diego County has 3.2 million.

Yep, that's much better (I actually forgot that I-15 went to San Diego  ).

And then north of Vegas, it's mostly a whole lot of nothing. Of the 26 counties it passes through north of Las Vegas, only one of them has over 1 million people (Salt Lake UT).

Only six other counties on I-15 even have more than 100k. One is Mohave AZ, which somehow has over 200,000 people but the county is so big area-wise that very little of that is anywhere near I-15. Three are in the greater Wasatch Front region in northern Utah (Utah, Davis, and Weber UT). The other two are Washington UT (St George) and Bonneville ID (Idaho Falls).

[kirbykart]

 Here's another interesting one: Between the WV-VA border and the NY-ON border, I-81 only passes through two counties with population under 100k (Susquehanna PA and Cortland NY). We can add in Frederick County, VA if we add in the population of the City of Winchester.