Subject: how much truth can we stand<br/>
Date: Aug 23, 2000 @ 16:46<br/>
Author: michael donner (michael donner &lt;m@...&gt;)<br/>
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<br/><br/>
<div id="ygrps-yiv-1776017704">the true continents & their owners<br/>
continued<br/>
<br/>
the exercise of determining the true continents & their controlling countries<br/>
  which was so well begun yesterday<br/>
need not at all be artificially limited to the traditional number of the<br/>
continents<br/>
  namely 7<br/>
nor to the traditional number of the superpowers<br/>
  namely 3 or 2 or 1<br/>
but can & perhaps really should be carried out either as far as possible or<br/>
else to the least arbitrary & most natural cutoff point available<br/>
<br/>
as the comparative area data appended below show<br/>
the most natural cutoff point is indeed the one that has traditionally been<br/>
observed<br/>
namely between australia & greenland<br/>
the former being normally considered the 7th & smallest continent<br/>
& the latter being normally called the largest island & not a continent<br/>
since the comparative sizes of the areas of these 2 land masses<br/>
  361% or 28%<br/>
mark the greatest step or discontinuity in the entire size rank sequence<br/>
<br/>
so the traditional 7 continents do boil down to the true 4<br/>
  as previously detailed<br/>
& they produce only australia as the sole continental superpower in the world<br/>
<br/>
& end of story<br/>
<br/>
indeed from a tri country point of view only the largest 2 continents<br/>
  afroeurasia & america<br/>
are worth mentioning as continents at all<br/>
so perhaps the story should have ended even sooner<br/>
<br/>
but if none of the natural break points that occur after the 2nd & 4th &<br/>
7th continents in the series are observed<br/>
& the effort is made to extend the list of the continents to the elite 8 or<br/>
sweet 16 or even just great 32 or 64<br/>
we get the following results<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
superpowers by rank<br/>
<br/>
first  in the group of 8 largest continents<br/>
1 australia<br/>
2 denmark<br/>
3 indonesia<br/>
4 madagascar<br/>
<br/>
  footnote<br/>
  madagascar<br/>
  even in contemporary illusory reality<br/>
  qualifies fully as a continent<br/>
  in geologic<br/>
  yet no way in geographic<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
in the group of 16 largest continents<br/>
1 indonesia 3++ continents<br/>
2 canada 3+<br/>
3 australia<br/>
4 denmark<br/>
5 madagascar<br/>
6 japan<br/>
7 united kingdom<br/>
8 new zealand<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
in the group of 32 largest continents<br/>
1 canada 6<br/>
2 indonesia 4<br/>
3 new zealand 2<br/>
4 philippines 2<br/>
5 japan 2<br/>
6 russia 2<br/>
7 australia 2<br/>
8 denmark<br/>
9 madagascar<br/>
10 united kingdom<br/>
11 cuba<br/>
12 iceland<br/>
13 sri lanka<br/>
<br/>
leaders in the group of 64 largest continents<br/>
1 canada 15<br/>
2 indonesia 9<br/>
3 russia 5<br/>
4 japan 4<br/>
5 new zealand 2<br/>
6 philippines 2<br/>
7 australia 2<br/>
8 italy 2<br/>
9 brazil 2<br/>
10 norway 2<br/>
11 many 1<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
& the score when i had eaten all 104 available continents<br/>
with canada still blissfully in the lead<br/>
  tho the lists could be indefinitely extended<br/>
1 canada 22<br/>
2 indonesia 13<br/>
3 philippines 8<br/>
4 russia 8<br/>
5 japan 4<br/>
6 united states 4<br/>
7 papua new guinea 3<br/>
8 denmark 3<br/>
9 france 3<br/>
10 many 2 or 1<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
as truly as i dare<br/>
pontiff max<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
appendix for raw data freaks only<br/>
<br/>
104 continents or land masses digested<br/>
   91 controlling powers tabulated<br/>
      areas in sq mi<br/>
<br/>
 1 afroeurasia 11687188+17176102+4065945=32929235=100%<br/>
 2 americas 9357294+6880638=16237932=49% of previous<br/>
first break<br/>
<br/>
 3 antarctica 5100023=31% of previous<br/>
 4 australia 3035651=60% etc<br/>
   1 australia<br/>
second break<br/>
<br/>
 5 greenland 840000=28% sharpest dropoff<br/>
   2 denmark<br/>
 6 new guinea 306000=36%<br/>
 7 borneo 280100=92%<br/>
   3 indonesia  aggregate of 6 & 7 above<br/>
third break<br/>
<br/>
 8 madagascar 226658=81%<br/>
   4 madagascar<br/>
fourth break<br/>
<br/>
 9 baffin 195928=86%<br/>
   5 canada<br/>
10 sumatra 165000=84%<br/>
   6 indonesia 2<br/>
11 honshu 87805=53% last sharp decline<br/>
   7 japan<br/>
12 great britain<br/>
   8 united kingdom<br/>
13 victoria<br/>
   9 canada 2<br/>
14 ellesmere<br/>
   10 canada 3<br/>
15 celebes<br/>
   11 indonesia 3<br/>
16 south island<br/>
   12 new zealand<br/>
fifth break<br/>
<br/>
17 java<br/>
   13 indonesia 4<br/>
18 cuba<br/>
   14 cuba<br/>
19 north island<br/>
   15 new zealand 2<br/>
20 newfoundland<br/>
   16 canada 4<br/>
21 luzon<br/>
   17 philippines<br/>
22 iceland<br/>
   18 iceland<br/>
23 mindanao<br/>
   19 philippines 2<br/>
24 novaya zemlya<br/>
   20 russia<br/>
25 ireland<br/>
26 hokkaido<br/>
   21 japan 2<br/>
27 hispaniola<br/>
28 sakhalin<br/>
   22 russia 2<br/>
29 banks<br/>
   23 canada 5<br/>
30 tasmania<br/>
   24 australia 2<br/>
31 sri lanka<br/>
   25 sri lanka<br/>
32 devon<br/>
   26 canada 6<br/>
sixth break<br/>
<br/>
33 grande tierra del fuego<br/>
34 alexander  antarctica<br/>
35 axel heiberg<br/>
   27 canada 7<br/>
36 melville<br/>
   28 canada 8<br/>
37 southampton<br/>
   29 canada 9<br/>
38 marajo<br/>
   30 brazil<br/>
39 vestspitsbergen<br/>
   31 norway<br/>
40 kyushu<br/>
   32 japan 3<br/>
41 new britain<br/>
   33 papua new guinea<br/>
42 taiwan<br/>
   34 taiwan<br/>
43 hainan<br/>
   35 china<br/>
44 prince of wales<br/>
   36 canada 10<br/>
45 yuzhny novaya zemlya<br/>
   37 russia 3<br/>
46 vancouver<br/>
   38 canada 11<br/>
47 timor<br/>
   39 indonesia &gt;5<br/>
48 sicily<br/>
   40 italy<br/>
49 somerset<br/>
   41 canada 12<br/>
50 sardinia<br/>
   42 italy 2<br/>
51 bananal tocantins<br/>
   43 brazil 2<br/>
52 shikoku<br/>
   44 japan 4<br/>
53 halmahera<br/>
   45 indonesia 6<br/>
54 ceram<br/>
   46 indonesia 7<br/>
55 new caledonia<br/>
   47 france<br/>
56 kotelny<br/>
   48 russia 4<br/>
57 bathurst<br/>
   49 canada 13<br/>
58 prince patrick<br/>
   50 canada 14<br/>
59 thurston antarctica<br/>
60 sumbawa<br/>
   51 indonesia 8<br/>
61 flores<br/>
   52 indonesia 9<br/>
62 nordaustlandet svalbard<br/>
   53 norway 2<br/>
63 oktyabrskoy revolyutsii<br/>
   54 russia 5<br/>
64 king william<br/>
   55 canada 15<br/>
seventh break<br/>
<br/>
65 samar<br/>
   56 philippines 3<br/>
66 negros<br/>
   57 philippines 4<br/>
67 palawan<br/>
   58 philippines 5<br/>
68 yos sudarso dolak<br/>
   59 indonesia 10<br/>
69 panay<br/>
   60 philippines 6<br/>
70 bangka<br/>
   61 indonesia 11<br/>
71 bolshevik<br/>
   62 russia 6<br/>
72 ellef ringnes<br/>
   63 canada 16<br/>
73 sumba<br/>
   64 indonesia 12<br/>
74 bylot<br/>
   65 canada 17<br/>
75 jamaica<br/>
   66 jamaica<br/>
76 hawaii<br/>
   67 united states finally<br/>
77 viti levu<br/>
   68 fiji<br/>
78 cape breton<br/>
   69 canada 18<br/>
79 bougainville<br/>
   70 papua new guinea 2<br/>
80 mindoro<br/>
   71 philippines 7<br/>
81 prince charles<br/>
   72 canada 19<br/>
82 buru<br/>
   73 indonesia 13<br/>
83 kodiak<br/>
   74 united states 2<br/>
84 cyprus<br/>
85 komsomolets<br/>
   75 russia 7<br/>
86 puerto rico<br/>
   76 united states 3<br/>
87 corsica<br/>
   77 france 2<br/>
88 new ireland<br/>
   78 papua new guinea 3<br/>
89 qeqertarsuaq disko greenland<br/>
   79 denmark 2<br/>
90 carney antarctica<br/>
91 chiloe<br/>
   80 chile<br/>
92 crete<br/>
   81 greece<br/>
93 anticosti<br/>
   82 canada 20<br/>
94 vrangelya<br/>
   83 russia 8<br/>
95 roosevelt antarctica<br/>
96 leyte<br/>
   84 philippines 8<br/>
97 sjaelland<br/>
   85 denmark 3<br/>
98 cornwallis<br/>
   86 canada 21<br/>
99 prince of wales alaska<br/>
   87 united states 4<br/>
100 grande terre kerguelen<br/>
   88 france 3<br/>
101 east falkland<br/>
   89 great britain 2<br/>
102 wellington<br/>
   90 chile 2<br/>
103 siple antarctica<br/>
l04 graham  2456 sq mi<br/>
   91 canada 22<br/>
not really a break at this point</div>