Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Interesting Geographic Facts

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Posted by Bob Maar (Member # 763) on 11-15-2005, 10:19 AM:

Interesting & Amazing Geographic Facts

Alaska

* More than half of the coastline of the entire United States is in Alaska.

Amazon

*The Amazon rainforest produces more than 20% the world's oxygen supply.

* The Amazon River pushes so much water into the Atlantic Ocean that, more than one hundred miles at sea, off the mouth of the river, one can dip fresh water out of the ocean.

* The volume of water in the Amazon river is greater than the next eight largest rivers in the world combined and three times the flow of all rivers in the United States.

Antarctica

*Antarctica is the only land on our planet that is not owned by any country.

* Ninety percent of the world's ice covers Antarctica. This ice also represents seventy percent of all the fresh water in the world.

* As strange as it sounds, however, Antarctica is essentially a desert. The average yearly total precipitation is about two inches.

* Although covered with ice (all but 0.4% of it, i.e.), Antarctica is the driest place on the planet, with an absolute humidity lower than the Gobi desert.

Brazil

* Brazil got its name from the nut, not the other way around.

Canada

* Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world combined.
* Canada is an Indian word meaning "Big Village."

Chicago

* Next to Warsaw, Chicago has the largest Polish population in the world.

Detroit

* Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan carries the designation M - 1, named so because it was the first paved road anywhere.

Damascus, Syria

* Damascus, Syria, was flourishing a couple of thousand years before Rome was founded in 753 BC, making it the oldest continuously inhabited city in existence.

Istanbul, Turkey

* Istanbul, Turkey is the only city in the world located on two continents.

Los Angeles

* Los Angeles's full name is El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula --and can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size: L.A.

New York City

* The term "The Big Apple" was coined by touring jazz musicians of the 1930s who used the slang _expression "apple" for any town or city. Therefore,to play New York City is to play the big time - The Big Apple.

* There are more Irish in New York City than in Dublin, Ireland; more Italians in New York City than in Rome, Italy; and more Jews in New York City than in Tel Aviv, Israel.

* Percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28. Percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38.

Ohio

* There are no natural lakes in the state of Ohio, every one is manmade.

Pitcairn Island

* The smallest island with country status is Pitcairn in Polynesia, at just 1.75 sq. miles/4,53 sq. km.

Rome

* The first city to reach a population of 1 million people was Rome,Italy in 133 B.C.

* There is a city called Rome on every continent.

Siberia

* Siberia contains more than 25% of the world's forests.

S.M.O.M.

* The actual smallest sovereign entity in the world is the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (S.M.O.M.).It is located in the city of Rome,Italy, has an area of two tennis courts, and as of 2001 has a population of 80, 20 less people than the Vatican. It is a sovereign entity under international law, just as the Vatican is.

Sahara Desert

* In the Sahara Desert, there is a town named Tidikelt, which did not receive a drop of rain for ten years.

Spain

* Spain literally means 'the land of rabbits.'

St. Paul Minnesota

* St. Paul, Minnesota was originally called Pigs Eye after a man named Pierre "Pig's Eye" Parrant who set up the first business there.

Roads

* Chances that a road is unpaved in the U.S.A.: 1%, in Canada: 75%.

Texas

* The deepest hole ever made in the world is in Texas.It is as deep as 20 empire state buildings but only 3 inches wide.

Waterfalls

* The water of Angel Falls (the World's highest) in Venezuela drops 3,212 feet (979 meters). They are 15 times higher than Niagara Falls.

YOU THINK YOU KNOW EVERYTHING?

A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.

A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.

A crocodile cannot stick out its tongue.

A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.

A "jiffy" is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.

A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.

A snail can sleep for three years.

Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.

All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill.

Almonds are a member of the peach family.

An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.

Babies are born without kneecaps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age.

Butterflies taste with their feet.

Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds. Dogs only have about 10.

"Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".

February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.

In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.

If the population of China walked past you, in single file, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.

If you are an average American, in your whole life, you will spend an average of 6 months waiting at red lights.

It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.

Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.

Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.

No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.

Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.

Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.

Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.

"Stewardesses" is the longest word typed with only the left hand and "lollipop" with your right.

The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.

The cruise liner, QE2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.

The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.

The sentence: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter of the alphabet.

The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely solid.

The words 'racecar,' 'kayak' and 'level' are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left (palindromes).

There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.

There are more chickens than people in the world.

There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous

There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: "abstemious" and "facetious."

There's no Betty Rubble in the Flintstones Chewables Vitamins.

Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.

TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.

Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.

Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks; otherwise it will digest itself.

..............Now you do know everything

[ 11-15-2005, 02:44 PM: Message edited by: Bob Maar ]

Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 11-15-2005, 12:02 PM:

quote: Bob Maar
* The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one-mile in every five must be straight.These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies.

No... They aren't.

There was a plan to have airstrips built ALONGSIDE the interstates for military use, but the plan was dropped.

Bob, Bob, Bob... Research... [Smile]

At least you didn't post that 'a duck's quack doesn't echo, and nobody knows why' Then I would be really pissed. [Big Grin]

-Aaron

Posted by Ron Yost (Member # 1850) on 11-15-2005, 12:11 PM:

Adult-stage dragonflies have lifespans of weeks to a year, not just one day (depending where they live in the world and how good they are at avoiding predators and other hazards).

Ron Yost ... big dragonfly and praying mantis 'fan' as a lad.

Posted by Wolff King Morrow (Member # 2226) on 11-16-2005, 04:33 AM:

quote: Bob Maar
There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: "abstemious" and "facetious."

Though not in order, "uncopyrightable" has all the normal vowels, and it also displays the 6th special vowel of the letter "Y".

The part about the sneezing with your eyes open being impossible is BS. I forced myself to do it when I first heard that some years ago and it was easy.

Also...

quote:
Roads

* Chances that a road is unpaved in the U.S.A.: 1%, in Canada: 75%.

I don't know what exactly is meant by that. I live on an unpaved road, so the chances are 100%.

Posted by Carl Martin (Member # 1146) on 11-16-2005, 05:08 AM:

is there some conventional method that geographers use to measure coastlines? strictly speaking, the lengths of coastlines are indeterminate.

also, while the erie canal is manmade, i believe lake erie is natural.

carl

Posted by Matt Fields (Member # 3211) on 11-16-2005, 07:22 AM:

quote: Carl Martin
also, while the Erie canal is manmade, I believe lake Erie is natural.

Lake Erie is natural, but its not really in Ohio, we are just on the coast. After I read Bob's fact and thought about it, I couldn't think of any natural lake in Ohio. The lakes around here are either part of the old canal system, made for reacreational purposes (Lake Alma in my town, for example, was originally made as part of a amusement park), or reservoirs for drinking water.

-Matt

Posted by Matt Barth (Member # 3429) on 11-16-2005, 01:16 PM:

Albuquerque, NM is the only city in the US to have a nuclear bomb dropped on it and the only city in the world to have a nuke dropped on it and survive.

---Matt

Posted by Travis Hubrig (Member # 1745) on 11-16-2005, 01:32 PM:

quote: Bob Maar
There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.

Has anyone tested this? I don't believe it.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 11-16-2005, 03:35 PM:

quote: Bob Maar
Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan carries the designation M - 1...

...as does the 187-mile M1 motorway (freeway), linking London with the north of England.

quote: Bob Maar
Pitcairn Island

* The smallest island with country status is Pitcairn in Polynesia, at just 1.75 sq. miles/4,53 sq. km.

Are you sure about that? This story (link to BBC News Online page dated 29 October 2004 reporting that four inhabitants of Pitcairn Island have been convicted of multiple sex offences) describes the place as a 'remote British colony'. Given what appears to be going on there, I think I'd prefer it if Pitcairn was an independent country, though... we wouldn't be having to deal with those perverts. [puke]

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 11-16-2005, 06:42 PM:

Only if you include 50 cent pieces and the possibility of giving back another dollar piece.

Without 50 cent pieces you're looking at only 242 ways. Numerical partitions are fun. [Wink]

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 11-17-2005, 12:16 AM:

Are there 50 cent coins? I have never seen one.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 11-17-2005, 01:14 AM:

We give them (50¢) coins out as change all the time. People love it! "Wow, I haven't seen one of these in years" is a phrase I hear almost nightly.

Posted by Jeremy Jorgenson (Member # 2989) on 11-17-2005, 05:53 AM:

quote: Mike Blakesley
"Wow, I haven't seen one of these in years" is a phrase I hear almost nightly.

er ... oh nevermind, too easy.
[Razz]

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 11-17-2005, 06:02 AM:

50 cent pieces & dollar coins are fairly regularly circulated coins in areas with casinos, etc. where they have slot machines.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 11-17-2005, 07:12 AM:

Dollar coins suck. I've only ever seen them used at the US Post Office and by a public transportation system (MBTA). Store cashiers will give funny looks to people who try to buy stuff with them.

I do like $2 bills, however, and wish that more were in circulation.

Posted by Bob Maar (Member # 763) on 11-17-2005, 07:48 AM:

I use all three on a regular basis. I buy a roll of .50 cent coins each week from my local bank. They also save $2.00 bills for me and when they get 10 I buy them every month or so. When I buy stamps I get the 1.00 coin and I have no trouble using them here in New York. I also have a great collection on the State quarters.

Daryl Since Tim Horton took over all of the Bess Eaton stores in Rhode Island I can now buy Butter Tarts when I go up there. You can buy one tart for .80 cents. So you spend your dollar coin and get back either twenty pennies or four nickles or two dimes and other variations of the 20 cent make up.

Thanks for asking. [Big Grin]

[ 11-17-2005, 09:03 AM: Message edited by: Bob Maar ]

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 11-17-2005, 07:53 AM:

$2 bills suck. You can't buy f$#k-all with them, and they cost more than $2 coins.

What really sucks is pennies, nickles and dimes. What's worse is having to carry around 1 penny so that you don't end up with four more.

I'm with Bob... I'd take a $1 coin over a $1 bill any day. I wonder how many butter tarts you could buy with a $1 coin.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 11-17-2005, 08:25 AM:

Our $1 coin looks almost identical at a glance as out quarter dollar coin. Completely retarded. Our $1 coins used to be much larger and were called "silver dollars" or some hunk of nonsense like that.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 11-17-2005, 08:27 AM:

Sorry William...most casinos (and more seem to be doing it everyday) are going to slotless slots...well no coin slots that is...they have bill changers...for payouts, you get a receipt that will either work in another "slot" or you can take it to the cashier to get your dough.

The Kennedy half-dollar is still in the US currency. It is probably my favorite US coin.

I have no problem with the penny, nickle, dime or quarter-dollar other than the government changing the look of them...there is no need for that.

I had no problem with the Eisenhower dollar....aka Silver Dollar. The more recent attempts at dollar coins suck...way too close to a quarter in size and smaller than the half-dollar (I've never truely been a fan of the dime being so small...especially as compared to the nickle).

If the mint went back to the Eisenhower dollar I would be all for it...however the reason it never caught on was its size...you KNEW you had a dollar in your pocket with those babies.

I too feel that the $2 bill is a wonderful currency and wish it had caught on...it will cut down on the $1 notes and is more in keeping with inflation. I'd like the $25 bill to come into existance...even at the expense of the $20 (sorry Pres. Jackson).

Posted by Anslem Rayburn (Member # 1267) on 11-17-2005, 02:48 PM:

quote: Travis Hubrig
quote: Bob MaarThere are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.

Has anyone tested this? I don't believe it.

Link

Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 11-17-2005, 05:01 PM:

quote: Bob Maar
All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill.

I took out a five bill with a date of 2003 and with a magnifying glass only found half of the states listed... could have been 24 or 26, my bill was pretty wasted and folded so many times...

but there was not all fifty states, unless they were printed in nanotype..

Ciao

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 11-17-2005, 05:19 PM:

The Bank of England stopped issuing £1 notes decades ago in favour of coins, but Scotland still has them. That makes it a real pain visiting Scotland, because businesses in England and Wales and are not legally obliged to accept Scottish notes, and most won't (although I understand that the reverse is not true: Bank of England notes are legal tender in Scotland, and Scottish businesses must accept them). The same applies in Northern Ireland - they issue their own banknotes which are not legal tender anywhere else. The IRA found this out the hard way when it carried out this bank robbery, only to find that it couldn't launder the cash, because it was worthless outside Northern Ireland (that story reminded me in the scene from Palookaville in which a gang of would-be jewellery store robbers discover that they've accidentally broken into a bakery).

So if you take money out of a Scottish (or NI) ATM or hand over a high value Bank of England note in a shop and get Scottish change, you've got to get rid of it before heading south. On my last visit that involved consuming several large single malts at Aberdeen Airport: the barman in the departure lounge there must have thought I was a right dipso!

Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 11-17-2005, 05:23 PM:

Yes there is a 50-cent piece... in the military in Vietnam, we called that a cheap piece of ass...

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 11-17-2005, 05:25 PM:

quote: Joe Redifer
Our $1 coin looks almost identical at a glance as out quarter dollar coin.

Maybe the new dollar coin hasn't made it to Colorado yet. It is gold in color, is thicker than the quarter, slightly bigger than a quarter, has a smooth edge, and has Sacajawea on it.

Nobody will use them, so you don't see them very often.

Posted by Mark Hajducki (Member # 1732) on 11-17-2005, 05:47 PM:

The banknotes issued in Scotland are cheques issued by private companies (a throwback to when banks throughout the UK issued their own banknotes).

£1 (1 GBP) notes are rarely used now (only one Scottish bank) issues them with £ 1 and £ 2 notes becoming the most used notes.

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

Posted by Travis Hubrig (Member # 1745) on 11-17-2005, 06:02 PM:

has anyone seen a $1,000.00 bill? Are they still in circulation?

Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 11-17-2005, 06:03 PM:

...an example of a 50-cent piece... half-dollar:

...

The biggest bill I've ever seen was a $10,000 bill which I think is no longer in circulation. I don't think they made anything bigger...

Posted by Andy Muirhead (Member # 712) on 11-17-2005, 06:25 PM:

quote: Leo Enticknap
The same applies in Northern Ireland - they issue their own banknotes which are not legal tender anywhere else.

I'm not sure about that Leo, I often end up with NI £5 notes and use them in shops here. I also accept them at work and I don't believe the cinema has any bother banking them. If I do get any hassle in shops I point out that it is 'sterling' and last time I checked, NI was part of the UK. I mean you may well be correct that it's not technically legal tender, just pointing out that in my experience most places will take them. As for the scottish pound note, they are getting rarer up here.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 11-17-2005, 07:00 PM:

Has anyone ever noticed that US coins do not have their value stated anywhere on them? The quarter comes the closest by saying "Quarter dollar" as does the half dollar.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 11-17-2005, 08:12 PM:

quote: Phil Hill
The biggest bill I've ever seen was a $10,000 bill which I think is no longer in circulation. I don't think they made anything bigger...

Visit this page to see the $100,000 bill, or rather "gold certificate." It was in circulation only for a short time, and was illegal for anyone outside of the Federal Treasury to own.

The $100 bill is currently the largest note in circulation. Notes higher than that have not been produced since World War II.

Posted by Christian Volpi (Member # 2370) on 11-17-2005, 09:46 PM:

oops

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 11-17-2005, 10:00 PM:

The US penny says One Cent" on the back. The nickle gets its name from the material it was made of, not some number...it just happens to be worth 5-cents. On the back of the Nickel it does indeed say "Five Cents" so, Joe, you are wrong.

The "Quarter" is short for Quarter Dollar and it does indeed say that. As such it and the Half-dollar are properly labeled.

In fact, only the "dime" requires someone to know what "dime" means to know its value...its size sure won't give it away...as I said before, it is my least favorite US currency in use in terms of its size/value.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 11-17-2005, 10:23 PM:

quote: Steve Guttag

In fact, only the "dime" requires someone to know what "dime" means to know its value...its size sure won't give it away...as I said before, it is my least favorite US currency in use in terms of its size/value.

The penny is worth 1/10th of what a dime is and takes up MORE space! That is MY least favorite form of US currency in terms of it's size/value.

You must be smoking some of that I-30 stuff. [Razz]

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 11-17-2005, 10:29 PM:

Coins of other currencies also have irregular sizes, or let's say, sizes not apparently related to their value relative to each other. I wonder if there is some kind of secret logic behind it.

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 11-18-2005, 01:43 AM:

quote: Steve Guttag
Sorry William...most casinos (and more seem to be doing it everyday) are going to slotless slots...well no coin slots that is...they have bill changers...for payouts, you get a receipt that will either work in another "slot" or you can take it to the cashier to get your dough.

I wonder how that will affect the behavior/compulsion/ritual/whatever of the folks who flush their money at the casinos? I've gone with some other folks, & often hear people whose big weekend feature is going to play the slots at the casino, & what strikes me even more than the evasion of which side of the ledger you come out on or how the casinos pay to keep all those lights burning is the ritualistic behavior at the slot machines. Got their big plastic cup, it's filled with nickels, quarters or half-dollars or dollars, whichever is their unwavering choice of machine denomination, they sit on the stool watching the slot machine with the flat affect of those 2 kids in the Road Runner cartoon who wonder why the coyote wants to catch the Road Runner, & put in the coin, smack the button, watch the machine deadpan, reach for the next coin without moving the head, put it in, etc. For hours. Maybe all day. When they walk, they carry their cup of change like the wise men carrying myrrh & gold in nativity scenes.

It's interesting, but not as feature-packed & weird as the ritual behavior of people who are preparing to receive coffee at the coffee machine. I sort of want to put a priest's miter on top of the coffee machine, or a cardboard cutout of the Moloch head from Metropolis.

The UK 50p piece has corners. It works in coin machines; it seems like they could figure out a way to make the US dollar coin's shape similar so you could identify it in your pocket.

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 11-18-2005, 07:23 AM:

quote: William Hooper
It's interesting, but not as feature-packed & weird as the ritual behavior of people who are preparing to receive coffee at the coffee machine.

With the one big exception that you usually actually get what you want from coffee machines.
One thing which has not ceased to amaze me yet is that when you feed dollar bills into vending machines, they nearly always take the bill, even if it's really old. In Europe, most of the machines which claim to take bills reject the majority of Euro bills you feed them, even if they are fairly new. If I think about it, that's actually the one thing that works better here than in Europe [Wink]

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 11-18-2005, 09:17 AM:

quote: Andy Muirhead
If I do get any hassle in shops I point out that it is 'sterling' and last time I checked, NI was part of the UK. I mean you may well be correct that it's not technically legal tender, just pointing out that in my experience most places will take them. As for the scottish pound note, they are getting rarer up here.

I'm not sure what the constitutional basis behind all this is (presumably the same one which allows for slightly different legal systems in England and Scotland), but after having failed to persuade anyone in York to accept a Scottish tenner for a week after getting back from a trip there, I went into my local Royal Bank of Scotland (it was an RBS note, so it seemed a logical thing to do) and asked. They were happy to change the note for a Bank of England one: in fact, the lady explained that she usually did the same thing several times each day. She told me what I put in my last post - that businesses in England are not legally obliged to accept Scottish or Northern Irish banknotes, but that businesses in Scotland and Northern Ireland are legally obliged to accept Bank of England notes.

I'd guess that in border areas, on the south-west coast of Scotland and parts of NI which receive frequent visitors from the British mainland, the three 'currencies' are effectively interchangeable. This certainly seems to be the case in Berwick Upon Tweed, which I've visited quite a few times. But when you offer someone a Scottish note as far south as York, they might not recognise it and that's where the confusion sets in. I can't remember ever having handled any NI currency (not surprising, given that I haven't visited NI). In fact, after that visit to the RBS in York, I'd forgotten that NI has its own notes until the IRA/Northern Bank story broke.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 11-18-2005, 09:19 AM:

Actually, in the US where our currency WAS based on the bi-metal system (Gold and Silver standards)...the penny nickel dime thing was easy to figure out...pennies were copper, Nickels were, well Nickel and dimes started the Silver coins...so the size and metal determined its worth. Up until the mid 1960s, the silver coins were indeed all silver...then the composite coins came out with copper and silver...now zinc has found its way into them...most people know that the penny is only copper clad now with zinc just below the surface.

Posted by Mark Hajducki (Member # 1732) on 11-18-2005, 09:30 AM:

quote: Leo Enticknap
businesses in Scotland and Northern Ireland are legally obliged to accept Bank of England notes.

I think in Scotland businesses are obliged to accept Bank of England notes with a value of less than £5. Since no such notes are issued the only legal tender is coins.

Posted by Edwin Schwing (Member # 1270) on 11-19-2005, 04:18 AM:

I bought my current car (4 years ago) with 1700 $1.00 gold Sacaj-however you spell it coins. The salesman did not want to accept them until I threw in the chest I kept them in.

Best $1700.00 I ever spent!

E

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 11-19-2005, 05:01 AM:

quote: Leo Enticknap
She told me what I put in my last post - that businesses in England are not legally obliged to accept Scottish or Northern Irish banknotes, but that businesses in Scotland and Northern Ireland are legally obliged to accept Bank of England notes.

See Leo, that's why in the more progressive parts of Europe, they now have the Euro (see below), so they don't have to waste time with such nonsense anymore. I can see why in some more remote areas people still want to stick to their medieval trading systems with chicken, sheep, buckets of grain, colored stones, but - it's just money.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 11-19-2005, 05:53 AM:

quote: Michael Schaffer
See Leo, that's why in the more progressive parts of Europe, they now have the Euro (see below)...

...and 15% unemployment and rising.

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 11-19-2005, 06:50 AM:

Nobody said integrating all these countries would be easy. But it has to be done. That is why the EU was also opened to the East. It will take a lot of time to work everything out, but it's worth it.
These problems don't have much to do with the currency though.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 11-19-2005, 07:48 AM:

quote: Michael Schaffer
Nobody said integrating all these countries would be easy. But it has to be done.

With respect, that's an easy thing to say, given that you emigrated out of the EU. If it weren't for (i) the 'no politics' rule on this board (the line between economics and politics is too thin to risk going there, I think), and (ii) the fact that I'm thinking seriously about emigrating out of the EU myself (thereby putting myself in a very weak position as far as criticising anyone else for doing so is concerned), I'd expand on that point.

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 11-19-2005, 09:01 AM:

I didn't emigrate - I am on temporary leave, and I didn't go because I didn't like it anymore. I just wanted to try something new for a while. But I have only been gone 2 1/2 years, and who knows where the future will lead me? Anyway, I am still a big supporter of the EU and common currency. That isn't even a political point of view - apart from the fact that we don't want to discuss politics here, it is a far too complex matter to have a simple "opinion" about it - for me, it is a matter of principle. People have to come closer together and work with each other. The opening of the EU to the East is a massively problematic undertaking, as is the EU itself with all its bureaucratic nonsense and waterhead. But it still is a good idea. Just the fact that you can go, work and live anywhere in the EU without hurdles is a great thing.
But there isn't that much connection between these matters and the artificial clinging to medieval habits that I pointed out, so please don't start a political discussion which has nothing to do with the subject!

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 11-19-2005, 09:31 AM:

I seem to recall that it was you who started extolling the virtues of the euro, not me. Leaving aside the political reasons why I am opposed to European monetary union on principle, there are plenty of purely economic ones to be getting on with: inflationary pressures, a reduction in growth and an increase in unemployment being but three. And as for the 'it makes life easier' argument, computer-based money transfer makes it perfectly possible for money to be transferred between currencies with a minimum of hassle. It takes me no more time and effort to order something from a foreign country using my credit or debit card than it does from within the UK. Incidentally, I gather that there are now serious (as in, believed by independent commentators to have a significant chance of succeeding) campaigns underway in The Netherlands and Italy to abandon the euro and go back to lire and guilders.

And as for the England/Scotland/NI banknotes issue, that isn't a problem with sterling per se, but rather an internal administrative problem. I'm sure that if the UK did adopt the euro, some English outlets wouldn't accept euro notes printed by the Royal Bank of Scotland and vice-versa.

Getting back to the 'interesting geographical facts' theme, five western European countries - Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland and the UK - have not adopted the single currency, and as far as I know, they're not performing significantly worse than comparable eurozone nations - quite the opposite, in most cases.

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 11-19-2005, 10:57 AM:

quote:
I seem to recall that it was you who started extolling the virtues of the euro, not me.

...

Getting back to the 'interesting geographical facts' theme, five western European countries - Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland and the UK - have not adopted the single currency, and as far as I know, they're not performing significantly worse than comparable eurozone nations - quite the opposite, in most cases.

I didn't extoll any virtues, and I didn't say that having the Euro makes things automatically better. It's just money, pieces of of metal and paper representing a nominal value, it doesn't have anything to do with larger economic problems and developments. But it makes things a little easier for everyone involved. English money working in Scotland but not the other way around is just an example of silly isolationism in an allegedly "United" Kingdom. Imagine if here we had California Dollars which work in Arizona, but not the other way around.