Geography 101. (Continents)

OK so back onto Geography.
There is a big discusion in the geography community that has been going every sense some smart ass Geography student looked at the map and said.

Wait.... Europe and Asian are basically the same landmass.
Or.
Wait..... North and South America are connected by a small strip of land.
Or.
Wait..... Asia and Africa are connected by a small strip of land.

OK so the problem stems from one fact.
There is no GOOD definition of a Continent.
The most widly used is "Continents are understood to be large, continuous, discrete masses of land, ideally separated by expanses of water."

OK so that means.
#1. Large. But large is a general term. Asia makes up 30% of the earth's landmass. So its Large by any comparison, but really just saying large is pretty slip shot.
#2.Continuous. OK so this one isn't that bad. And this is were most people throw in Asia/Africa and North/South America. The Argument is that a tiny little strip of land doesn't constitute Continuous.
#3. Discrete. So if you take Europe to a hotel and do the Nasty it wont kiss and tell.... No wait, when they say Discrete they mean apart from other 'enter word here' land masses in this case.
#4. Ideally Separated by Expanses of water. That's kind of iffy as well that's like saying a Sandwich Ideally has bread on it.. but we will let it slide.


OK so there are a number of opinions about how many continents there are, but they tun the gamut from 5 to 7.

Now what we are looking for hear is a good CONSISTENT count of Continents.

7. The first being the Seven Continents model. This is the one most westerners are taught in school. North/South America Africa, Australia, Antarctica, Europe and Asia. OK so the only trouble with this one is that Asia and Europe have NOTHING dividing them. Some people say the Ural Mountains do. But screw them, no one said anything about Mountains counting, if they did then India/California would be there own Continents.
Now the reason that Asia and Europe are separate is ~Drum Roll~ Because the Europeans and Asian's want it that way. NO REALLY that's why, because the cultures of the two land.... area's (Senses its the same landmass) Are so different they like it that way. That and if its was the same area then it would be HUGE. 36% of the earth's land mass. and holding 71% of the earth's population.

6a. aka:The smart six.
ok so the first of two counts just stats the above. That Asia and Europe are the same land mass, and should be the same Continent, in fact many people who use the 7 Continent count still use the term Eurasia (Notice that Europe is first in the name, Despite being small, having less people and being 2nd alphabetically, Course Asiope sounds dumb) the up side to this count is that it's consistent at least.

6b. aka:The crazy six.
ok so this one has the same number of Continents as the above, but this time idle is that Europe and Asia are different land masses but the America's (North and south) are the same land mass. Now i think most people right away would see the trouble, THIS is not consistent. If north and south America are the same land mass, shouldn't Africa/Asia be the same? or Europe and Asia be the same? I mean North and south america are only connected by a 70 mile wide Isthmus most of it being lake.
Africa and Asia minor. (The middle easy) are only connected by 119 mile wide Isthmus, most of it being natural river. So what that 30 miles make all the difference?

Now to be fair, this is mostly taught in South / Middle America. And most people who teach this also think North America is much smaller then it is. (As do most Americans) So there grasp of Geography is more of a Social idle and less of a Earth Science.

5. The Crazy five!
ok so this one is crazy for the same reason as above, this one is a combination of the two above. America (A combo of the north/south) Eurasia, Africa, Australia, Antarctica.
OK so again we go back to the Africa/Asia thing. Why are they separate if north and south America arent?

And Finally.

4! aka: The consistent one.
You ever see a movie were there is ONE Sane guy in the whole movie? This is that guy.
This one just takes the 5 Continent idle and makes it NOT CRAZY by saying.
"Hay is Africa is touching Asia, And Asia is touching Europe. Then.... Arent they all the same landmass?

Yes, yes it is. Afro-Eurasia aka Afrasia aka Eurafrasia aka Eurasica.
Or as i like to call it the African-Eurasia SUPER CONTINENT!
is just that idle that you must be consistent in your counting, and that anything touching anything else is the same landmass. The problem with this model is simply that this new super continent comprises 56% of the worlds landmass and 85% of the population of the planet.

The idle of Continents is to divine the worlds landmass into smaller parts so you can quickly and easily refer to places, if you say Afro-Eurasian Crisis. That's pretty general.

PS: Tectonic theory.
So people have the idle, or have posed the idle that you could just use Tectonic plates to decide how many Continents there are. But there are a couple problems with this idle, #1. Continents are older then Tectonic Drift theory. By o..... 1800 some odd years. #2. Continents are a matter of Geography, Tectonic plates are a matter of Geology. And THOSE are NOT the same subjects my friend. #3. If you did that there would be screwed up Continents.

For instant Austrailia and India are on the same plate. The middle east is on its own plate, Greece is ALMOST on its own plate, All of Eurasia is on one plate with the exception of the north easy part of Russia. The Phillippines are on there own plate, Panama as well. So you see the trouble.

Geography 101. (You get a F)

OK so as i stated before, I am a Geography student, at a university.

And something i have come to appreciate is people who can find stuff on a map.

A study done by 50+ University's, using college student's, college professors, school children, there teachers, people on the street and MEMBERS OF CONGRESS. Has shown that 1 out of 5 American's can't find the United States on a map.

And that's not a average, that's almost across the boards, for instance college professors and members of congress had the best scores, at 5 out of 6 being able to find it. So that means that one out of six of the people leading our nation can't find it on a map. And ~Clears thought~ Not to upset some people with the rest of the study but, Briggam young university were the people doing the congress part. (If you don't know Brigham young is a fairly conservative college) And they found that. Out of the 90 members of congress that could not find the United stats on a map. 67 of them were Republicans.

Now I'm not bringing that up to make fun of Republicans. (They do that with out my help) I bring it up to make a latter point. But moving on, out of the 4 of 5 americans who can't find the US on a map, 1 out of 4 of them Can't find Canada or Mexico on a map. And out of the 3 remaining 1 of them can't find France, Great Britten, Germany, Japan, China, Russia, Vietnam, Korea, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Afghanistan or Pakistan on map. (That none of them, not just can't find one of them)

Why?

Because under Regan, Most of the funding for Geography, and many other "Liberal arts" Subjects were cut, and the stats that suffered the most were pore southern stats. (Mostly Republican) Hence the reason they had lower scores.

And the reason is simple, Many American's, Notable the Extreme right, but largely across the board, just don't think its Important to know were other places are, and maybe there right, but think about this.
When the same test was done in other nation's, Almost every one knows were the U.S. is even, people who don't know were there own county is. (This happened allot in African country's)
Why? Because the U.S. has allot of power, and many would say does allot of good and or bad, in other nations. So American Citizens should at least be able to find places that we influence.


Just memorize the nations i have mentioned today people.
If you don't your on my Idiot list.

you might be able to spell, but your still a moron.

OK again a little context.
I as you might have gathered can't spell for crap. For one i am Dyslexic, And secondly I was LIED to in school when i was a child.

You see as part of the No Moron's opinion left behind program. I was told that I could spell the English Language Phonetically. Pho,no,net,ick,ly... ... ... (Looks it up on Google) phonetically.
And there in lies my point. Phonetically isn't spelled Phonetically. Its spell Funetickly.

But that isn't the English languages fault. It's the fault of the moron's who made the English Language.

I mean I'm not the worse speller I have ever seen, in fact I don't normally misspell words, I spell the wrong words. Homophones are my bane. (That's not a metro guy's Nokia) Those are words that sound just alike but are spell and mean different things. (Two, Too and To)

The reason that these words are like this is because of one fact. The people who came up with the English language think the reader is stupid. And I mean that in the most serious manner, the people who came up with English, Made it because they wanted a simple language that there Stupid Plebeians in Great Brighten could speak. Before that they all spoke Gaelic, Latin or French.

Example.

It's nice to meet you.
Vs.
It's nice to meat you.

Now the makers of the English language just assume that if you use the latter of the two sentences, that the ignorant masses would think... Why is this guy I don't know trying to make me into a pork chop.

Meat is the food right not meet? I forget some times.

Any ways the point of this is that just because I can't spell that well, It dose not mean that I, or any one else that can't spell is less intelligent then you. For instance, the VAST majority of people I have talked to in college cant find Crap on a map. (I'm a geography Major) One out of five American's can't find America on a map! And one out of the four that can can't find Canada or Mexico on a map.

It's all about applied knowledge.
I think English rules are Stupid, so I don't pay them much attention, Most people Are Ignorant Self Absorbed Morons, and don't think they need to know were other country's are. (Because "America IS THE GREATEST COUNTRY ON EARTH!") Like they have been too or know about any were else.

We are both in fact right.
Your not stupid because you don't know were Bangladesh is, and I'm not stupid because I can't spell.

BUT YOU WERE NEVER LIED TO IN SCHOOL ABOUT HOW TO FIND STUFF! I WAS LIED TO IN SCHOOL ABOUT HOW TO SPELL.
_

In all seriousness. It's very easy to talk to some one and tell if they are a Moron or not, it's not so easy to read what they are writing. And in all fairness, My spelling is in fact, Improving over time.