The "where are you all from" thread?

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 01 Sep 2005, 18:19

Really ?

The 6 continents:
-Africa.
-South America
-North America
-Eurasia
-Antarctica
-Oceania (also called Australasia).

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 01 Sep 2005, 18:24

D'oh! My bad

I know it as Australasia (which includes Australia and New Zealand).

In Bill Bryson's book "Down Under" he makes a classic mistake by saying Australia is "The only island that is also a continent, and the only continent that is also a country"

BTW Tom what is Eurasia? I thought it was just Asia?

Why are Asia/Europe combining?

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 01 Sep 2005, 18:28

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continents

Europe and Asia never were separated AFAIK.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 01 Sep 2005, 18:33

I didnt know it was called Eurasia.
Why do so many people refer to Europe and Asia as seperate continents then?
Australia is not a continent

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 02 Sep 2005, 01:43

I thought there was only five continents???

Europe
America
Africa
Asia
Australia

At least that's what I was taught in school...?

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 02 Sep 2005, 08:44

Yeah thats what I thought too, except I know Australasia as being the continent. Didnt know about Antarctica.???

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 02 Sep 2005, 17:34

grim_tales wrote:Yeah thats what I thought too, except I know Australasia as being the continent.

Yeah, that's what I meant.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 02 Sep 2005, 18:02

brassmonkey001 · Post by **brassmonkey001** » 02 Sep 2005, 22:04

The earth?
milky way??
the universe???

By Adrian Mole aged 13 1/2

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 03 Sep 2005, 02:57

Thanks Eva and Gojensen for posting on my Guest Map.

Eva yours' looks particularly looks particularly cool all on it's own.

EvaUnit02 wrote:Auckland

Auckland is a cool city, as it New Zealand a cool country.

grim_tales wrote:In Bill Bryson's book "Down Under" he makes a classic mistake by saying Australia is "The only island that is also a continent, and the only continent that is also a country"

Technically that's not a mistake.

How much does Bill pay you?

grim_tales wrote:Australia is not a continent

Yep it is.

EvaUnit02 wrote:I scoff at the idea of a continent called Oceania. A continent is a giant landmass, not a bloody group of islands.

Fine what continent are you from them?

The Pacific Ocean is as dumb using your argument as Oceania.

Markgway wrote:I thought there was only five continents???

Europe
America
Africa
Asia
Australia

At least that's what I was taught in school...?

That's more accurate than Tom's interpretation IMO

. Eurasia oh look I've just seen an elephant fly

Where would you put Antarctica? People live there, some 13,000 apparently are stationed each year.

Tom2681 wrote:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continents

Okay I'll fix the Oceania title 8)

Europe and Asia never were separated AFAIK.

And I'll post:

http://geography.about.com/library/misc/blcont.htm

There is more to a continent than land mass Tom old bean ;-D . If so then Africa, Asia and Europe are one continent. To me anyway it also encompasses thinking and outlook on life to a degree.

Your link also says 6 continents but instead of Eurasia it says America, which seems flimsy to me stating it's one continent just because you can't have a North and South continent. The only real similarity North and South America have is the name, that's not remotely strong enough link for me to say they're one continent.

Which is essentially what Wikipedia says:

Dividing the Americas (which is as reasonable geographically as dividing Africa from Eurasia)

Besides North, South and Central (to be ultra precise) makes up The Americas.

Russia encompasses both Europe and Asia. While maybe 1000s of years ago both were considered one continent but the idea in the last 100 years of considering it Eurasia is an utter joke. Surely?

Your link even says 8 with Georgia being a continent, which is really getting silly. I presume it means the country not the state?!?

Tom2681 wrote:-Oceania (also called Australasia).

No offence but you just used a scientific argument (Eurasia) but then throw Australasia into the mix which is far from scientific.

The source I read (which I can't find now) stated 7 continents with Australia (later known as Australia/Oceania) being the seventh. I used some artistic license and decided and dropped the Australia.

Why? Because I've never ever heard the land mass known as Australia, it's surrounding islands AND New Zealand as Australia before.

Eva are you Australian? Nope I didn't think so.

grim_tales wrote:Why do so many people refer to Europe and Asia as seperate continents then?

It really depends who you ask and what part of the world you're from. I didn't realise there was so many interpretations.

For my example I figured having seven was most accurate.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 03 Sep 2005, 03:21

How about -

Laurasia: the combined land mass of Eurasia and North America, which were connected by Beringia during the Ice Age

Yep I feel American today

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dividing the Americas (which is as reasonable geographically as dividing Africa from Eurasia) now made seven continents, nicely symmetrical with the magical number of the Seven Seas, Seven Heavens, and the seven heavenly bodies that gave their names to the seven days of the week.

However, this division never appealed to Latin America, which saw itself spanning America as a single landmass, and there the conception of six continents remains, as it does in scattered other countries such as Japan. From a modern perspective, the continent with the least reason for separate recognition is Europe, and in scientific circles people generally prefer to subsume Europe and Asia into Eurasia. This appealed to Russia, which spans Eurasia, and in Russia and (at least formerly) in Eastern Europe, Eurasia is or was taught as being one of six continents.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Okay I'm happy for there to be 6 continents with The Americas being one continent but the idea of Eurasia seems all wrong.

I'm sticking with my 7 continents thank you but can see technically speaking maybe it's 6 (i.e - The Americas).

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 03 Sep 2005, 03:31

@ Eva again taken from Tom's rather cool Wikipedia link

-

From political and cultural perspectives, the word has little utility, as although Australia and New Zealand are both relatively wealthy, predominantly English-speaking countries and alike in many ways, they share little in common with the other nations in the area.

The term is unpopular in New Zealand because it is seen to emphasize Australia and seemingly implies the region is part of Asia; instead, the term Oceania is preferred

:rr:

brassmonkey001 · Post by **brassmonkey001** » 03 Sep 2005, 23:15

I've always thought there were seven continents.
Aren't the seven rings of the Olympics meant to represent them all?

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 04 Sep 2005, 03:18

brassmonkey001 wrote:I've always thought there were seven continents. Aren't the seven rings of the Olympics meant to represent them all?

Yeah, that's why there's only five!!

Mordib · Post by **Mordib** » 04 Sep 2005, 08:41

this seeems to have turned into a geography lesson... my head hurts!!

Toge · Post by **Toge** » 04 Sep 2005, 10:30

7 continents?

:mrgreen: :mrgreen:

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 04 Sep 2005, 20:04

Brad what do you mean "technichally" Brysons quote is not a mistake?
Australasia includes Australia and New Zealand, no?

brassmonkey001 · Post by **brassmonkey001** » 04 Sep 2005, 22:19

Markgway wrote:
brassmonkey001 wrote:I've always thought there were seven continents. Aren't the seven rings of the Olympics meant to represent them all?
Yeah, that's why there's only five!!

What!! Where are the other two??
Honestly, you can't leave anything lying about these days.

Maybe it's six continents then and the five rings represent them all bar Antarctica because the Greeks weren't aware of it back then. I'm sure there's a link between the rings and the continents.

No, wait! It is seven cos one sank didn't it?

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 06 Sep 2005, 04:46

There would be no need for this argument if the super-continent Pangaea still existed, but then there'd be no homo sapiens, the climate would be different... I can now remember why I hated science in high school.

bradavon wrote: Auckland is a cool city, as it New Zealand a cool country.

I thought England was a cool country when my family was holidaying there for 2-weeks back in January '96 (I was 9 at the time). Our hotel was in Kings Cross, London and we rode the Underground everyday. Someone else's mundane daily activities is a tourist's adventure.

It was the middle of spring, yet the temperature was pretty much minus 0 degrees and it rained often. With climate like that, I can imagine why all those emo-rock guys like Thom Yorke, Chris Martin, Richard Ashcroft (etc) seem like manic depressants.

The event of the holiday that particularly stands out for me is visiting Grenwich and standing on imaginary dateline. My family rode on the Docklands Light rails about 4 days before the IRA bombings. It was quite mind-blowing seeing buildings on the news with all their windows blown out, which I'd seen in person a only few days earlier in their undamaged states.

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 09 Sep 2005, 21:53

Quite useful knowledge though. Yeah mine hurts too.

I'm fae Aberdeen min, wiz bidin in Glasgow till aboot 4 weeks ago like.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 19 Sep 2005, 00:31

Has anybody managed to find their house via GoogleEarth ?

It took me 5 hours but I've found mine:

The picture doesn't look too recent, though (the roof is still there

).

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 11 Mar 2008, 12:10

Why bump?

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 11 Mar 2008, 12:15

Brad needed something to help fill his daily quota of aimless/needless moderator duties.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 11 Mar 2008, 18:05

Because we've had lots of members join since 2005. I'd have thought that was obvious

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 06 Feb 2012, 20:19

Another bump, same reason.

Bullets 'n' Babes

The "where are you all from" thread?

What continent do you live in?

Re: The "where are you all from" thread?