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Re: Random, Random 2.0

Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2023 7:38 pm
by ponchi101
Old definition: Debate. A form of dialectical exchange in which disagreeing parties tried to reach the truth.
Modern Definition: Debate. An exercise in which you try to make ANY point you hold valid, by demeaning the opposing position.

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I like yours A LOT.

Re: Random, Random 2.0

Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2023 1:07 am
by ashkor87
Reading this great book now 'mistakes were made, (but not by me) ' - makes me realize how pointless it is to argue with someone in the hope of changing their opinion/mind.

Re: Random, Random 2.0

Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2023 4:56 am
by ponchi101
If your hope is to change somebody's mind, sure, it is a very difficult thing to do.
If you find other people willing to just exchange proper information, it might be worth it.

Re: Random, Random 2.0

Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2023 10:59 pm
by ti-amie


Without the Suez Canal that separated the continent of Africa from its original location this does really show that Asia and Africa are one land mass. We can argue about Europe being Asia-West no? :)

Re: Random, Random 2.0

Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2023 2:41 am
by ashkor87
Yes, and the people who live there should be called human beings..not migrants, terrorists, kafirs, whatever...

Re: Random, Random 2.0

Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2023 2:47 pm
by ponchi101
ti-amie wrote: Fri Sep 22, 2023 10:59 pm

Without the Suez Canal that separated the continent of Africa from its original location this does really show that Asia and Africa are one land mass. We can argue about Europe being Asia-West no? :)
From the point of view of geography, it stopped making sense centuries ago to have the three continents named as separate land masses. In a sense, Europe is an Asian Peninsula, but then again, that is also a very strange nomenclature. How big do you have to be before you are no longer a peninsula? Spain and Portugal are usually referred as "The Iberian Peninsula" (at least in Spanish), and so are the Koreas, but the group of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar are never referred as such.
The quirks of geography. It was always a fun subject for me.

Re: Random, Random 2.0

Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2023 4:44 pm
by meganfernandez
ponchi101 wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 2:47 pm
ti-amie wrote: Fri Sep 22, 2023 10:59 pm

Without the Suez Canal that separated the continent of Africa from its original location this does really show that Asia and Africa are one land mass. We can argue about Europe being Asia-West no? :)
From the point of view of geography, it stopped making sense centuries ago to have the three continents named as separate land masses. In a sense, Europe is an Asian Peninsula, but then again, that is also a very strange nomenclature. How big do you have to be before you are no longer a peninsula? Spain and Portugal are usually referred as "The Iberian Peninsula" (at least in Spanish), and so are the Koreas, but the group of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar are never referred as such.
The quirks of geography. It was always a fun subject for me.
I have alwyas been a map nerd. But not enough to join the Reddit group this came from...

My husand, from Mexico, learned that the Americas were one continent. Did you? I learned two, North and South America. He also doesn't consider Antarctica a continent, and I do. He says there are 5 contintents, I say 7.

In 1990, when I was 16, I was navigating my mom around Boston with paper maps and so frustrated that we couldn't know if we were in a turn late or if there was constrution ahead until it was too late. I though there should be a computer in your car that would give you directions and alert you of such things... Since this was before wireless technology, I thought you'd have to get the map on CD, updated every so often. :lol:

I still like to look at big map, even in an app. I have to have my bearings.

I don't know the origins of the continent names. Guessing the designations made sense at the time to the people calling the shots.

Re: Random, Random 2.0

Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2023 6:13 pm
by ponchi101
We were taught THREE Americas: North, Central and South. There were groups placing MEXICO in North America, others in Central (due to the language). But basically, Central ended in Panama and Vennie/Colombia were the northernmost countries in S. America.
Antarctica is a huge land mass; I cannot NOT see it as continent.
The only continent whose name I know the origin is the Americas, named after the explorer Americo Vespucio. Australia of course originates from AUSTRAL, the word for SOUTH. The rest is a mess, and with the changing names of so many countries, it is hard to now know them all (Africa especially has been renamed so much sometimes it is hard to know the history).
I play Globle, Worldle and Flaggle every day, to try to keep my memory of countries and locations up to date.

Re: Random, Random 2.0

Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2023 6:49 pm
by meganfernandez
ponchi101 wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 6:13 pm We were taught THREE Americas: North, Central and South. There were groups placing MEXICO in North America, others in Central (due to the language). But basically, Central ended in Panama and Vennie/Colombia were the northernmost countries in S. America.
Antarctica is a huge land mass; I cannot NOT see it as continent.
The only continent whose name I know the origin is the Americas, named after the explorer Americo Vespucio. Australia of course originates from AUSTRAL, the word for SOUTH. The rest is a mess, and with the changing names of so many countries, it is hard to now know them all (Africa especially has been renamed so much sometimes it is hard to know the history).
I play Globle, Worldle and Flaggle every day, to try to keep my memory of countries and locations up to date.
I play Worldle... haven't tried Globle. Flaggle, I'd suck at.

We learned Central America, too, but it was part of North America. Not a continent.

Re: Random, Random 2.0

Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2023 6:55 pm
by ti-amie


We were taught three America's too.

The Suez Canal in this hemisphere becomes the Panama Canal which separated North and Central America from South America.

Re: Random, Random 2.0

Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2023 7:25 pm
by skatingfan
I was taught seven continents - Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America. Interesting that everything outside of Europe starts with an A in English.

Re: Random, Random 2.0

Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2023 7:32 pm
by Suliso
I was thought only two America's. Where exactly would a Central America end in the North anyway?

Re: Random, Random 2.0

Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2023 7:37 pm
by skatingfan
Suliso wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 7:32 pm I was thought only two America's. Where exactly would a Central America end in the North anyway?
One side of Mexico, or the other, depending on the map.

Re: Random, Random 2.0

Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2023 1:39 am
by ashkor87
Of course, country borders themselves are so arbitrarily drawn sometimes,, what can we expect of continents?

Re: Random, Random 2.0

Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2023 2:22 pm
by ponchi101
skatingfan wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 7:37 pm
Suliso wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 7:32 pm I was thought only two America's. Where exactly would a Central America end in the North anyway?
One side of Mexico, or the other, depending on the map.
Central America was from Panama to Guatemala/Belize or, for those that said Mexico was in C. America, to the border between USA/MEX.
As I said, it was that since Mexico is a Spanish speaking country, it did not belong with the English speaking Americans and Canadians. Silly idea, but they all are.