Really TRUE odd factoids

[Chris S]

False etymologies annoy me. They sound so plausible and people just blindly repeat them as fact without checking.

Another meme claimed that the phrase 'daylight robbery' originated with the Window Tax!

 

[Chris S]

Between 1821 and 2021 England's population increased by over 540%. During the same time period Ireland's population (including Northern Ireland) remained more or less constant at around 6.8 to 6.9 million.

 

[Chris S]

Italians drove on the right in the countryside and on the left in cities until the 1920s.

 

[markemark]

Italians drove on the right in the countryside and on the left in cities until the 1920s.

Unlike Italy to change sides half way through……

 

[Chris S]

France's longest border is shared with Brazil

 

[T4tomo]

Uniquely, anyone of any nationality can live and work indefinitely in Svalbard without a visa.

 

[markemark]

France's longest border is shared with Brazil

View attachment 742866

<boring_maths> All borders are infinitely long </boring_maths>

 

[Beebo]

That’s taken me down a Wiki rabbit hole. French Guiana is actually part of France and in the EU.

 

[Chris S]

Uniquely, anyone of any nationality can live and work indefinitely in Svalbard without a visa.

But would they want to?

 

[Chris S]

That’s taken me down a Wiki rabbit hole. French Guiana is actually part of France and in the EU.

They could send all their assylum seekers there and get away with it

 

[Punkawallah]

That’s taken me down a Wiki rabbit hole. French Guiana is actually part of France and in the EU.

Fun fact. France‘s longest land border - with Brazil - is courtesy of French Guiana.

 

[Andy in Germany]

That’s taken me down a Wiki rabbit hole. French Guiana is actually part of France and in the EU.

If you look at the Euro banknotes French Guyana is featured on the "map" along with a few Islands, including Saint Martin which is 34 square miles and shared between France and the Netherlands.

 

[Andy in Germany]

But would they want to?

I believe only working people can go there anyway.

 

[T4tomo]

I believe only working people can go there anyway.

You have to be able to support yourself, via work or wealth, which is fair enough. You need some cash to buy jumpers and a big coat.

 

[Seevio]

<boring_maths> All borders are infinitely long </boring_maths>

This refers to the shoreline paradox. If you have any interest in mathematics it's really not boring. Regardless, it doesn't apply.

Georg Cantor proved that infinities are not all the same size. You can argue that the infinitely long Brazil border is longer than the other infinitely long borders but I suspect this doesn't apply. I thought I would mention it anyway if anyone wants to look it up.

More relevant is the fact that real world shorelines are not fractal and have a finite length. Even if you choose to go sub-atomic, you will eventually get down to planck length distances between points. From this, you can get a definitive length of the coastline.

Finally, the shoreline paradox only applies to, errr, shorelines. Normal people don't bother with any of that fractal nonsense so when they make land borders they generally just make a bunch of normal lines between a series of points.