[kj] OT: CIA World fact book

[Jiri]

Yeah, that factbook is a really nice resource. I use it every time I 
prepare to go undercov-- awww, shit, so much for that.

The U.K.-Oregon thing is a good illustration (not that it excuses it) of 
why you can throw a dart at the map of the U.S. and find some people who 
stereotypically don't have the first clue about other countries. 
Geographically, there are about five U.K.-size states between me and 
Oregon, and if I made that trek, I'd still have only crossed about half 
the country, east-to-west, with everyone still speaking English (or some 
bizarre variation thereof).

It probably doesn't happen as much now with all the info available on 
that handy Internet, but in the late '80s on trips to the canyons in the 
Southwest U.S. I repeatedly ran into European tourists who had rented a 
mobile home for a "tour of America," only to be stunned by its size and 
the distance between destinations.  "We're now thinking maybe we won't 
make it to New York, New Orleans, Florida..." was the gist of what 
they'd say.

uncle benny's magical bra & liquorice factory wrote:

> Just doing some work & this cropped up as a possible area of interest 

> for a client.

> Thought I'd share.

> if people haven't seen it, it's detailed background information on 

> every county in the world compiled by the CIA for it's agents

> https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html

>

> Today I have learnt that the UK is slightly smaller than Oregon*

>

> factpotanga

>

> *After a quick google, I discover that Oregon has a population of 3.7 

> million people, while here in the UK, an area 'slightly smaller' than 

> Oregon we have just under 61 million people.

> And we wonder why we have problems.

> Hey, wouldn't it be great if we organised an exchange with Oregon; the 

> entire population of the UK went there and all Oreganos (as I'm sure 

> they are known) came here?

> Just for a week.

> For a laugh.

> Who's good at organising things?

> Hmmm - another google reveals that 7 million people live in London alone.

> It's no wonder we've had all these floods -- we're sinking.

> Incidentally I said that to my neighbour who replied "Really? I'd 

> never thought of that"

> Silly moo.

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

>

> _______________________________________________

> Gathering mailing list

> Gathering at misera.net

> http://four.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/gathering

>   

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://four.pairlist.net/pipermail/gathering/attachments/20070802/07082b68/attachment.html>