The nine nations of North America--which are you from?
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37 members have voted
Quote: SanchoPanzaFor whatever reason (presumably a bad experience) that someone has with the topic of this sub-thread, that still does not fully explain the distortions, spurious implications and outright misstatements.
Sancho there is a simple explanation for MKL's in ability to accept facts. HE IS A TEACHER. With very few exceptions teachers never admit they are wrong. Just be glad that we aren't in his class we would fail for not accepting his distorted view of the facts. You notice that as usual for him once he gets caught out on his BS he never backs up his views with any facts simply blusters away with more BS. Hi moto is I know I am right don't confuse me with facts.
Quote: kenarmanSancho there is a simple explanation for MKL's in ability to accept facts. HE IS A TEACHER. With very few exceptions teachers never admit they are wrong. Just be glad that we aren't in his class we would fail for not accepting his distorted view of the facts. You notice that as usual for him once he gets caught out on his BS he never backs up his views with any facts simply blusters away with more BS. Hi moto is I know I am right don't confuse me with facts.
How many years did you spend in grade school? I can see why you might hate teachers.
(Added thought: or perhaps, are you still there?)
In contrast, you seem to have explicitly ruled out several times the possibility of including Central America in North America by denying that Panama could be part of North America. I know that this thread began as a discussion of someone else's book, but it appears that saying Panama is not part of North America is your own claim, right? Just so I don't misinterpret, do you consider Central America to be a continent of its own or part of no continent at all, even though (unlike Hawaii or Greenland) it is part of a continuous land mass of the Americas?
I have never looked at the National Geographic web site so far as I recall, and I no longer have a membership, but I do still have a number of their maps. Do you consider their printed maps to be reasonably reliable reference sources? Several of them, including the World Map, have the continents labeled. They show North America and South America, but (of course) they do not show Central America as a continent.
I do note that some of the National Geographic maps may be either inconsistent or in support of your apparent position. I have a copy of one called "Natural Hazards of North America", which discusses earthquakes, volcanoes, tornadoes, etc. That map specifically addresses Canada, the US, and Mexico, without showing any of the countries of Central America. This may not really be due to the National Geographic Society not considering that region to be part of North America. Instead, the map is a presentation of findings by a team of scientists from those three countries and may just not have had any data to present on the others, in which case the map title would be a bit misleading.
Quote: mkl654321I don't let my students use or quote so-called "standard Web sources" because there is no provenance or independent fact-checking done for those sources. Doubtless, most of the material on those sites is, in fact, accurate. But a LOT of it is not. Yes, my students whine and complain about my prohibition.
And of course, you are more expert and have more than 50 years' experience in geography, more than Perry-Castaneda, Rand McNally, National Geographic and our government:
""North America is commonly understood to include the island of Greenland, the isles of the Caribbean, and to extend south all the way to the Isthmus of Panama."--https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/xx.html 0
Quote:Refusal to look at some anonymous person's blog or website on the internet
It was not anonymous. It was signed by a geographer hired by one of the top 10 research sites on the Net.
So let's see your great source. It is notable you have not cited one geographer of basal source.
Quote:And the only way I'm presenting myself as a "role model", as you put it, if at all, is when I say, "Don't believe everything you read on the internet."
My family, both direct and extended, has far more teachers in it than all other occupations combined. Being a role model is deeply ingrained in any halfway decent teacher.
Quote: kenarmanWith very few exceptions teachers never admit they are wrong. Just be glad that we aren't in his class we would fail for not accepting his distorted view of the facts. You notice that as usual for him once he gets caught out on his BS he never backs up his views with any facts simply blusters away with more BS. His motto is I know I am right don't confuse me with facts.
As I posted nearby, I have been surrounded by teachers (and for anyone who knows teachers, their friends, too) for my entire life. They can be determined and strong willed, but I've very rarely encountered the dodo who insisted on sticking his head in the ground when shown pretty good evidence.
Quote: SanchoPanzaAs I posted nearby, I have been surrounded by teachers (and for anyone who knows teachers, their friends, too) for my entire life. They can be determined and strong willed, but I've very rarely encountered the dodo who insisted on sticking his head in the ground when shown pretty good evidence.
And is such a person a "dodo" if the so-called "evidence" is selectively culled from a vast array of "sources"?
I could, without half trying, pull up a bunch of "web sources" that would show plenty of "pretty good evidence" that the Holocaust never happened, that pyramids have telegenetic powers, or that Wheat Thins carry encoded messages. Neither I nor anyone else that insists that Central America is an actual place is "sticking his head in the ground" by not accepting claims to the contrary.
In any case, this debate is kind of stupid, since there is no real agreement on what defines a "continent" in the first place.
Quote: SanchoPanzaMy family, both direct and extended, has far more teachers in it than all other occupations combined. Being a role model is deeply ingrained in any halfway decent teacher.
Perhaps so, but I was simply refuting your somewhat ridiculous claim that I was presenting myself as such a role model. It was only some other (abrasive, rude) poster that brought up the fact that I'm a teacher, and in any case, I'm an English teacher, not a social studies teacher.
Quote: Docmkl, perhaps I missed something in my reading of this thread. I did not see anywhere that anyone denies that Central America exists. They just don't consider it a continent to itself. Instead, they consider it part of the North American continent. I view this a bit like claiming that the Great Plains or New England is indeed its own region (neglecting for the moment the possible inclusion of New Brunswick, etc.), but that either is also part of North America.
In contrast, you seem to have explicitly ruled out several times the possibility of including Central America in North America by denying that Panama could be part of North America. I know that this thread began as a discussion of someone else's book, but it appears that saying Panama is not part of North America is your own claim, right? Just so I don't misinterpret, do you consider Central America to be a continent of its own or part of no continent at all, even though (unlike Hawaii or Greenland) it is part of a continuous land mass of the Americas?
I have never looked at the National Geographic web site so far as I recall, and I no longer have a membership, but I do still have a number of their maps. Do you consider their printed maps to be reasonably reliable reference sources? Several of them, including the World Map, have the continents labeled. They show North America and South America, but (of course) they do not show Central America as a continent.
And those maps don't show ANY land mass "as a continent", in that they don't, for example, label Africa as "The Continent of Africa." If they separately label North, Central, and South America, they aren't explicitly saying that one land mass or the other is or is not a "continent."
There are plenty of places that are not islands that are nonetheless not unequivocally part of a continent. Take the Arabian Peninsula, for example. We don't really consider it part of Asia (we call that region "Asia Minor"), and if we considered it part of ANY continent, Africa would make more sense. The Ukraine is in a similar position--is it in Europe or Asia? Both? Neither? Going back to islands for a moment, is New Zealand part of the continent of Australia? (And to consider Greenland as part of ANY continent is just goofy, CIA Factbook notwithstanding.)
So to answer your question, yes, I do consider Central America to be part of neither the continent of North America nor the continent of South America.
Quote: mkl654321I could, without half trying, pull up a bunch of "web sources" that would show plenty of "pretty good evidence" that the Holocaust never happened, that pyramids have telegenetic powers, or that Wheat Thins carry encoded messages.
Quote:
But you have not, you cannot and you will not do anything of the sort with the question at hand.Quote:Neither I nor anyone else that insists that Central America is an actual place is "sticking his head in the ground" by not accepting claims to the contrary.
Got any of those "anyone elses"?Quote:In any case, this debate is kind of stupid, since there is no real agreement on what defines a "continent" in the first pla0ce.
There is agreement by every source except you. Maybe that's not the least bit odd. Where does that planar earth end again?
Quote: mkl654321It was only some other (abrasive, rude) poster that brought up the fact that I'm a teacher,
Endear yourself to others and one of the consequences is that they tend to remember some of the more flamboyant moments.
Quote:and in any case, I'm an English teacher, not a social studies teacher.
A crack in the facade?
Quote: SanchoPanzaEndear yourself to others and one of the consequences is that they tend to remember some of the more flamboyant moments.
A crack in the facade?
I don't know what you're getting at here, but I'm pretty sure it's both rude and condescending, so I won't bother to figure it out.
I know I haven't "endeared" myself to either you or the aforementioned poster who got in an anti-teacher lather, but I can live with that--c'est la vie, sic transit gloria, and all that.
The Republicans revolt! They want to leave California (roughly 1/3 of the population of the state). I guess San Diego would become the new state capital.
Quote: pacomartin
The Republicans revolt! They want to leave California (roughly 1/3 of the population of the state). I guess San Diego would become the new state capital.
From the LA Times:
"Secession proposals are just ways of thinking about California, and are also ways for people who feel neglected get the attention that they deserve," said USC historian Kevin Starr, who has written extensively on California. "It's never passed, and it will never pass. It's been up to bat 220 times and struck out every time.''
