Subject:
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Re: Geography (was: We'll take in your poor....)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Mon, 12 Jul 2004 21:52:03 GMT
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Viewed:
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1500 times
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"Purple Dave" <purpledave@maskofdestiny.com> wrote in message
news:I0r5CA.243s@lugnet.com...
> In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Frank Filz wrote:
> > Hmm, I think I could come reasonably close to pointing out the location • of
> > every city I've lived in without just a map of North America including • major
> > natural features.
>
> Have you ever lived in Kansas? ;)
No, and I admit, I would have a harder time placing Kansas with just a map
of natural features.
> > To the average American who has never left his home state
>
> Home state?!?!? I have a friend in NYC who says many people there live • their
> entire lives within an area comprised of a few city blocks! All across • the US
> there are people who, like Samwise, never leave their home town.
True.
> I'd probably
> qualify as "well-traveled" in the US, as I've been to both Canada and • Mexico,
> and set foot in more than ten States (flying over them doesn't count).
Let's see, I'm reasonably well travelled:
44 US states (perhaps 45 if I count driving on the highway through the edge
of Alabama, I don't think we actually got out of the car)
4 Canadian provinces
UK, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Yugoslavia
(also Slovenia, Croatia, and I'm pretty sure Bosnia - I travelled back in
1972), Romania, and Austria.
Of course that's piddly compared to some folks here...
Farthest west I've been is somewhere on the Pacific coast between BC and CA
(hard to tell from the maps I have handy, but most likely the west coast of
Vancouver Island).
Farthest east is Bucharest Romania
Farthest north (on land) would be somewhere in Scotland
Farthest north (in the air) would be somewhere near the arctic circle on the
flight from Boston to London.
Farthest south would be Lower Matacumbe Key Florida
(hmm, two of those were scored just in the last year - though as a child,
I've been to Miami and probably a bit south, and seen more of the Pacific
coast than I have since moving out to Oregon a couple years ago). The
farthest north and east were scored as a kid back in '72 on our trip to
Europe. I had scored 40 or so states as a kid also.
> > These tales of Europeans who totally underestimate distances are just a • good
> > example (actually, one would think they would be a little better seeing • as
> > distances for a daytrip in Europe are considerably shorter than in the • US,
> > we once tried to take a daytrip from a city in Yugoslavia to the beach, • and
> > discovered we had really forgotten about the fact that a "highway" in • Europe
> > (especially in Yugoslavia) is not like a US interstate).
>
> I suppose it depends on where they're from. My friend's experience was • with
> Germans, and they've got the Autobahn, which was the model for the • original US
> highway system.
True. I should have said "highway in much of Europe"...
> Yeah, that's basically the rough equivalent to the Trans-Continental from • early
> US history, but they really only use the Trans-Siberia as a means to get • from
> Point A to Point B, whereas the Trans-Continental was also used as a means • of
> expanding outward from the original railway.
Of course if Russia ever starts to have a population explosion and wants to
settle more of it's land...
Frank
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: Geography (was: We'll take in your poor....)
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| (...) Look for the place with no elevation contours. :-) (...) What? False!!! Sam traveled Middle-earth from Mordor to the Grey Havens, something very few in Middle-earth could say that they had done. Now his old Gaffer, Hamfast, is given away by (...) (20 years ago, 13-Jul-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
| | | Re: Geography (was: We'll take in your poor....)
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| (...) See, there's one of the things I'm wondering about. Do Europeans and such have an easier time of placing their home town on a world map or globe where everything is color-blocked by nations? I grew up seeing a US map that was color-blocked by (...) (20 years ago, 13-Jul-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Geography (was: We'll take in your poor....)
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| (...) Have you ever lived in Kansas? ;) (...) Exactly. And to many Americans, knowing the geography of your neighboring States is roughly equivalent to knowing the geography of neighboring nations in Western Europe. The big difference is that most (...) (20 years ago, 12-Jul-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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