This is true? - Geographic oddities that defy conventional wisdom

[mgk920]

Before it became part of the city in the great amalgamation of 20 years ago, one of Toronto's (as in 'Ontario') suburbs (North York) was more populous than the city itself.

Mike

[texaskdog]

I thought I heard somewhere that the sheep population in NZ outnumbers the human population there 7 to 1???

20 to 1 is the conventional wisdom.

However it was 4.6 million people, and 29.5 million sheep in 2015 so 7 is about right. It was 22 to 1 in 1982 but sheep numbers have fallen to about 40% of what they were and population has increased by about 40% in the 35 years since.

That sounds like South Dakota, where there are, on average, 4.32 cows for every human.

They may be planning a revolt

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Some time ago I did some measurements around my area and found some long distances (for Spanish standards): 40 miles between two villages of the same municipality, 175 miles between two towns of the same province. Now that is something.

I don't know if this has been mentioned, but Vardø, Norway is further East than Kiev.

You posted the same thing on Page 5.

And exactly on the same date 2 years ago. And already on the first page I mentioned Virginia reaches farther West than West Virginia.

[Scott5114]

My favorite contortion of a law is your previous governor's deal on slot machines.  KY law prohibits slot machines, but allows horse racing.  So, legally slot machines inside the brain of a KY slot machine, the computer is picking the results of decades old horse races, and telling you that you won or lost in a code of pictures of fruit and 7s and the like.  The KY Supreme Court actually bought into that.

"Instant racing," they call it. I've never seen one of those machines, but they're limited to licensing to horse tracks. I think the Red Mile harness track in Lexington has a bank of them, and I'm pretty sure that racetrack in Franklin, just north of the Tennessee lines (Kentucky Downs?) has them too.

There's something about them that's still being litigated. A friend of mine (former chief of staff to Gov. Ernie Fletcher) is one of the lawyers in the case.

We had a similar contortion in Oklahoma, where tribes were allowed to operate bingo games but not slot machines. So companies sprang up (chiefly VGT, AGS, and Multimedia) creating electronic bingo games (i.e. Class II games) that also had a reel display. It looks like a slot machine, but the reels are marked "For entertainment purposes only" and the payout is determined by a bingo card that displays on a screen above the reels, though of course the reels are supposed to match what the card says. If the reels were to theoretically malfunction and show three sevens when the card showed no win, the casino would not pay out anything because the reels have no legal meaning, only the bingo card.

Operating real (Class III) slot machines is now legal in Oklahoma, but the gamblers are so used to the old VGT and AGS games that most casinos here still have plenty of them. Because VGT cabinets for the most part ship with real, physical bells inside that ring on a win, an Oklahoma casino sounds distinctively more rambunctious than a casino elsewhere.

[thenetwork]

Some things I also found weird in Oklahoma Casinos:

- The roulette wheels do not use the traditional wheel with the ball -- instead there is a roulette-type spinner that the employee spins then stops manually.  In each slot there is a card that shows a roulette number for the winner.

- Dice are not used on the crap tables -- instead there are playing cards that are used -- each "card" is a dice "roll", showing a pair of dice in various combinations.

[hotdogPi]

- Dice are not used on the crap tables -- instead there are playing cards that are used -- each "card" is a dice "roll", showing a pair of dice in various combinations.

Part of the fun of Craps is rolling the dice yourself...

[Roadgeekteen]

I thought I heard somewhere that the sheep population in NZ outnumbers the human population there 7 to 1???

20 to 1 is the conventional wisdom.

However it was 4.6 million people, and 29.5 million sheep in 2015 so 7 is about right. It was 22 to 1 in 1982 but sheep numbers have fallen to about 40% of what they were and population has increased by about 40% in the 35 years since.

That sounds like South Dakota, where there are, on average, 4.32 cows for every human.

They may be planning a revolt

I hope they win, I love some cheese and ice cream.

[SD Mapman]

I thought I heard somewhere that the sheep population in NZ outnumbers the human population there 7 to 1???

20 to 1 is the conventional wisdom.

However it was 4.6 million people, and 29.5 million sheep in 2015 so 7 is about right. It was 22 to 1 in 1982 but sheep numbers have fallen to about 40% of what they were and population has increased by about 40% in the 35 years since.

That sounds like South Dakota, where there are, on average, 4.32 cows for every human.

They may be planning a revolt

But we have all the guns

I hope they win, I love some cheese and ice cream.

But how would you get those without us to make them for you?

[SD Mapman]

I thought I heard somewhere that the sheep population in NZ outnumbers the human population there 7 to 1???

20 to 1 is the conventional wisdom.

However it was 4.6 million people, and 29.5 million sheep in 2015 so 7 is about right. It was 22 to 1 in 1982 but sheep numbers have fallen to about 40% of what they were and population has increased by about 40% in the 35 years since.

That sounds like South Dakota, where there are, on average, 4.32 cows for every human.

They may be planning a revolt

But we have all the guns

Also Newell, SD is the Sheep Capitol of the World

I hope they win, I love some cheese and ice cream.

But how would you get those without us to make them for you?

[Roadgeekteen]

I thought I heard somewhere that the sheep population in NZ outnumbers the human population there 7 to 1???

20 to 1 is the conventional wisdom.

However it was 4.6 million people, and 29.5 million sheep in 2015 so 7 is about right. It was 22 to 1 in 1982 but sheep numbers have fallen to about 40% of what they were and population has increased by about 40% in the 35 years since.

That sounds like South Dakota, where there are, on average, 4.32 cows for every human.

They may be planning a revolt

But we have all the guns

I hope they win, I love some cheese and ice cream.

But how would you get those without us to make them for you?

They can evolve.

[Scott5114]

Some things I also found weird in Oklahoma Casinos:

- The roulette wheels do not use the traditional wheel with the ball -- instead there is a roulette-type spinner that the employee spins then stops manually.  In each slot there is a card that shows a roulette number for the winner.

- Dice are not used on the crap tables -- instead there are playing cards that are used -- each "card" is a dice "roll", showing a pair of dice in various combinations.

This is, of course, because dice games and roulette are both illegal in Oklahoma, while card games are fine.

An alternate way of dealing roulette in Oklahoma is to shuffle a 38-card deck and draw a card from it. That card is inserted into a scanner, which reads the card and displays the result on a CGI roulette wheel (king of clubs equals 0, king of diamonds equals 00, ace of spades equals 1, etc.) Then the bets are paid out accordingly. But because you're "really" getting paid out on that king of clubs instead of the 0 showing on the screen, it's legal.

[ghYHZ]

Even though St Pierre et Miquelon is in North America....to call Canada or the US....you must first dial the international access code +country code + area code + number. The clerk on the hotel desk said it might be expensive and then asked if I had a cell phone. I did and he said to just go up to the top of the street and I would connect with a tower about 10 miles away in Newfoundland. I did and it was then just a free call as if I was dialing from anywhere else in Canada!

[Max Rockatansky]

Even though St Pierre et Miquelon is in North America....to call Canada or the US....you must first dial the international access code +country code + area code + number. The clerk on the hotel desk said it might be expensive and then asked if I had a cell phone. I did and he said to just go up to the top of the street and I would connect with a tower about 10 miles away in Newfoundland. I did and it was then just a free call as if I was dialing from anywhere else in Canada!

Funny....if you stand at the end of Point Loma in San Diego it will connect you to cellular service in Baja California and will even send you a text welcoming you to Mexico.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Even though St Pierre et Miquelon is in North America....to call Canada or the US....you must first dial the international access code +country code + area code + number. The clerk on the hotel desk said it might be expensive and then asked if I had a cell phone. I did and he said to just go up to the top of the street and I would connect with a tower about 10 miles away in Newfoundland. I did and it was then just a free call as if I was dialing from anywhere else in Canada!

That happens because St. Pierre and Miquelon is part... of France! Being an overseas collectivity it also has its own country code, 508 (as opposed to Metropolitan France's 33, although calls from and to St. Pierre and Miquelon from there can be done as regular French phone numbers). It also has a time oddity, using UTC+3 which is half a hour ahead of Newfoundland despite being West of about half of Newfoundland, including St. John's and Dildo (However it uses North American DST as opposed to European DST).

[US 89]

Even though St Pierre et Miquelon is in North America....to call Canada or the US....you must first dial the international access code +country code + area code + number. The clerk on the hotel desk said it might be expensive and then asked if I had a cell phone. I did and he said to just go up to the top of the street and I would connect with a tower about 10 miles away in Newfoundland. I did and it was then just a free call as if I was dialing from anywhere else in Canada!

Funny....if you stand at the end of Point Loma in San Diego it will connect you to cellular service in Baja California and will even send you a text welcoming you to Mexico.

I had something similar happen in Babb, Montana near Glacier NP. The area has poor cell service to begin with, but when I drove near Babb my phone connected to a Canadian network and I got a text regarding international rates and plans (and they were steep! $1/min, $1.30 per video or photo sent, $0.50 per text message, and $2.05 per MB of data).

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Exactly the same happened to me some years ago near the Spain/France border, my phone connected to a French network and refused to return to Spain until I moved away from the border. Now it wouldn't happen anymore, as international rates have been abolished within the European Union.

[kphoger]

From National Geographic:
Poor immigrants in Djibouti City trying to get cell signal from Somalia by standing on the shore of the Gulf of Aden

[7/8]

Exactly the same happened to me some years ago near the Spain/France border, my phone connected to a French network and refused to return to Spain until I moved away from the border. Now it wouldn't happen anymore, as international rates have been abolished within the European Union.

I wish Canada and the US would get rid of the extra charges. Why does it cost more for me to call Buffalo, NY than Vancouver, BC? And why are data and phone calls so expensive for me to make just across the border only a few hours from home, but there's no extra charges to this when I'm in Saskatoon, SK?

[kkt]

Because Telcos contribute big bucks to both parties' campaigns.

[jp the roadgeek]

Exactly the same happened to me some years ago near the Spain/France border, my phone connected to a French network and refused to return to Spain until I moved away from the border. Now it wouldn't happen anymore, as international rates have been abolished within the European Union.

I wish Canada and the US would get rid of the extra charges. Why does it cost more for me to call Buffalo, NY than Vancouver, BC? And why are data and phone calls so expensive for me to make just across the border only a few hours from home, but there's no extra charges to this when I'm in Saskatoon, SK?

Imagine being in Calais, ME and within sight of St. Stephen, NB across the St. Croix River, and it costs more to place a phone call or send a message to someone a mile or two away than it costs to do the same to someone in Honolulu almost 5500 miles away. 

[english si]

Now it wouldn't happen anymore, as international rates have been abolished within the European Union.

They'd have been abolished years ago, at least on the more premium contracts, if the EU hadn't butted in and said "ooh, that sounds like a good idea, we'll make you do this" and then took years to get the law that mandates no roaming charges in the EU (which means the poorer who don't travel as much subsidise the jet set who whizz around the continent) - they mostly all waited...

I say mostly as there were a few that charged something like 13p a text across several countries, but that was better, when travelling, than the 10p in the UK and 20p in France so you swapped sims or used two phones if you often went abroad.

And, of course, the UK networks suddenly went from roaming charges everywhere outside the UK to, after the law, no charges in 38-50 odd countries and territories (depending on network) - far more than the ~32 that are in the single market! Why? Because the EU had nothing much to do with them wanting to offer no roaming charges, merely made it prudent to delay.

Because Telcos contribute big bucks to both parties' campaigns.

You would have thought though, that there would be a market for cheap phone charges while abroad (even if you pay a bit more for it) - even if they don't want it mandatory (though that's always an excuse to up everyone's fees even if only some use the service).

[vdeane]

I guess I don't get why the EU deciding to make it a rule would incentivise delaying it.  I could see if they needed to wait for mandated specifications or something, but "don't charge for roaming" sounds pretty simple to me.

As for a market, there is... at least with some prepaid providers.  My plan with Cricket includes unlimited roaming in Canada and Mexico as long as at least half the usage is in the US.  Including data.  Many providers also sell (or did, anyways) special international data plans.

[GreenLanternCorps]

I thought I heard somewhere that the sheep population in NZ outnumbers the human population there 7 to 1???

20 to 1 is the conventional wisdom.

However it was 4.6 million people, and 29.5 million sheep in 2015 so 7 is about right. It was 22 to 1 in 1982 but sheep numbers have fallen to about 40% of what they were and population has increased by about 40% in the 35 years since.

That sounds like South Dakota, where there are, on average, 4.32 cows for every human.

They may be planning a revolt

Already did...

[english si]

I guess I don't get why the EU deciding to make it a rule would incentivise delaying it.

They lost initiative to spin it as their idea rather than 'you are being forced too', as it was always 'very soon', so marketing it would have been a nightmare. And, as it was always 'very soon' there was no reason not to milk more money out of customers and still keep them onboard as you could say "we'll offer it soon".

When all of a sudden, with the law being passed, networks are offering Max plans with free roaming in 53 countries/territories that include Australia, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand and the USA that they didn't offer before, it's clear the EU regulation only really affects cheap tariffs, which have to pay for it despite the people being unlikely to use it, as the higher tariffs have the regulation plus a lot more.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

The problem I had with my example from the cross-border phone network pickups is when I would get close to the Canadian border near Grand Portage, MN it meant my phone clock would jump to Eastern time and sometimes it would be stubborn about reverting to Central. Hell, for a time I remember if I got cell service back in Grand Marais (35 miles from the border) and subsequently re-entered a dead spot, of which there are many in Cook County that it would go *back* to Eastern. I didn't have any issues ultimately but I was concerned about getting screwed up on days where I did have a specific time to be doing something.