Is this true?

Superman · Post by **Superman** » 2004-12-28 02:22am

So today I was sitting at the Starbucks here at the Oimachi station in Tokyo reading a magazine and minding my own business. A few minutes later, these two other people came and sat next to me. One was a fat Australian and the other was a younger Japanese guy. They sat for about twenty minutes and talked. Rather, the Aussie did the talking. For the entire time, this moron sat and bragged about how great Australia is and how Japan is not nearly as good. I dont think the Japanese guy fully understood what he was saying. Anyway, on and on he went about he drives a sports car, how Australia is so warm and awesome, how great the food is, etc.

I then see him look at me through the corner of my eye. He then says, `Australia is very large too. Its much larger than America. It takes 4 hours to fly from Sydney to Melbourne... And the people are much friendlier... even more than Japan.` If I were back home, I probably would have smacked this dude just for being annoying. I just got up and moved to another table.

Anyway, is it true that Australia is larger than the USA?

TrailerParkJawa · Post by **TrailerParkJawa** » 2004-12-28 02:28am

The CIA World Factbook indicates that Australia is slightly smaller than the 48 contiguous states. So, homey was incorrect.

Deathstalker · Post by **Deathstalker** » 2004-12-28 02:28am

Google has answered!

1 Russia 6.6 million mi2 (17 million km2)
2 Canada 3.9 million mi2 (9.9 million km2)
3 China 3.7 million mi2 (9.6 million km2)
4 United States 3.7 million mi2 (9.1 million km2)
5 Brazil 3.3 million mi2 (8.5 million km2)
6 Australia 3 million mi2 (7.6 million km2)
7 India 1.2 million mi2 (3 million km2)
8 Argentina 1.1 million mi2 (2.7 million km2)
9 Kazakhstan 1,050,000 mi2 (2.7 million km2)
10 Sudan 966,000 mi2 (2.4 million km2)

Sam Or I · Post by **Sam Or I** » 2004-12-28 02:29am

No. The Continental US is roughly the same size as Australia, (Maybe slightly smaller I am not sure, but they are about the same size), if you throw in Alaska, the US is greatly larger.

PS, next time just tell him to bow to the British Queen.

Superman · Post by **Superman** » 2004-12-28 02:43am

next time just tell him to bow to the British Queen

Ill remember that. I knew it. The tard was as stupid as he looked.

Stofsk · Post by **Stofsk** » 2004-12-28 05:34am

Superman wrote:Anyway, on and on he went about he drives a sports car,

Sure he does.

how Australia is so warm and awesome,

It can be warm, it can be scorching, it can be freezing, it can be wet. This idiot may think it's warm 24/7, all year. Yeah, if you happen to live in Cairns or Port Douglas. I live in Melbourne. It's been raining in the middle of Summer, yesterday it was hailing. Eventually though, we'll get 40 C days.

how great the food is, etc.

Of course the fucking food is great! Whatever you want, you can get. We're a multicultural country. Feel like a curry? A burger? Pasta? Stir Fry? You got it. Fish & Chips? Yep. Pizza? Yep. Bragging about our food is... weird, because literally it comes from all over the world.

He then says, `Australia is very large too. Its much larger than America. It takes 4 hours to fly from Sydney to Melbourne... And the people are much friendlier... even more than Japan.`

Anyway, is it true that Australia is larger than the USA?

No, it isn't. IIRC Australia happens to be the smallest continent, or one of the smallest if not THE smallest. But this guy is seriously talking out his fucking arse. 4 hours between Sydney and Melbourne? BULLSHIT. It's one hour. Four hours roughly between Melbourne and, say, Brisbane.

As to the people being friendlier, it depends on where you go. But that's true of any country. We have our share of arseholes walking around down here, just like anyone else. We're no different.

I also don't know how friendly the Japanese are, since he was also comparing us to them in 'friendliness'.

kheegster · Post by **kheegster** » 2004-12-28 05:45am

The Japanese are one of the most polite people in the world, but on the other hand I find that they are actually pretty aloof and impersonal.

Jason von Evil · Post by **Jason von Evil** » 2004-12-28 06:18am

Uh no, the three largest countries on Earth are:

Russia
Canada
United States

I think we just barely edged out China by a few hundred or thousand miles.

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

Lord of the Farce · Post by **Lord of the Farce** » 2004-12-28 06:51am

Aya wrote:Uh no, the three largest countries on Earth are:

Russia
Canada
United States

I think we just barely edged out China by a few hundred or thousand miles.

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

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/fac ... os/ch.html
China:

total: 9,596,960 sq km
land: 9,326,410 sq km
water: 270,550 sq km

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/fac ... os/us.html
United States:

total: 9,631,418 sq km
land: 9,161,923 sq km
water: 469,495 sq km
note: includes only the 50 states and District of Columbia

SCRawl · Post by **SCRawl** » 2004-12-28 07:42am

That's weird. I've always learned (perhaps incorrectly so) that the pecking order in terms of land area was Russia (or, formerly, the USSR), Canada, China, USA. Now the CIA site shows that the USA is now #3. Did China lose some land recently, or are they counting Iraq as part of the US now?

Lusankya · Post by **Lusankya** » 2004-12-28 08:30am

Gah. That makes me think I should stop going on about how great Adelaide is.

Am I that annoying????

Jason von Evil · Post by **Jason von Evil** » 2004-12-28 08:45am

Lord of the Farce wrote:
Aya wrote:Uh no, the three largest countries on Earth are:

Russia
Canada
United States

I think we just barely edged out China by a few hundred or thousand miles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_area
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/fac ... os/ch.html
China:
total: 9,596,960 sq km
land: 9,326,410 sq km
water: 270,550 sq km
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/fac ... os/us.html
United States:
total: 9,631,418 sq km
land: 9,161,923 sq km
water: 469,495 sq km
note: includes only the 50 states and District of Columbia

Notice how it says the fifty states and DC? We do have other pieces of land under our control, you know, like Puerto Rico.

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2004-12-28 09:18am

I dont think the Japanese guy fully understood what he was saying.

The Japanese guy probably felt like committing suicide on the Aussie's behalf.

Drooling Iguana · Post by **Drooling Iguana** » 2004-12-28 06:37pm

Lord of the Farce wrote:A bunch of statistics

For those numbers, are they using all the lands that China claims are part of the PRC, all the lands that are undisputedly part of the PRC, or something in between?

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-28 06:45pm

Lusankya wrote:Gah. That makes me think I should stop going on about how great Adelaide is.

Am I that annoying????

No, because so far as I've seen you're not putting down other places while talking up Adelaide. That's usually where it crosses the line.

Unless of course we're talking about Texas and picking on say Arkansas, Oklahoma, or New Mexico. That's perfectly legitimate.

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