Spotty's Little Known Facts

[Prufrock]

Damn it, not enough time! I knew that webcam one. Read it on Mental Floss a while back. Good website for trivia.

[bobo the clown]

I shall reveal all tomorrow.

go on then!

Sorry, I was recounting them when someone rang so I had to start all over.

6,289 on the data I read.

Apparently that doesn't count the Channel Islands as they are physically more aligned to the mainland continent.

[Montreal Wanderer]

I shall reveal all tomorrow.

go on then!

Sorry, I was recounting them when someone rang so I had to start all over.

6,289 on the data I read.

Apparently that doesn't count the Channel Islands as they are physically more aligned to the mainland continent.

Okay, I did some research. Clearly it all depends on the definition of an island. Does it include inland islands such as Eel Pie Island on the river Thames. Does it include islands that sound like them but are not such as the Isle of Dogs or the Isle of Ely. It is a little known fact that only 120 of these islands are inhabited. Less well known is that Great Britain is the ninth largest island in the world. In short there is no answer pending a universally accepted definition.

[bobo the clown]

I understand that it DOES include islands within islands. So the one on Derwentwater will apply.

It doesn't include islands whuch aren't islands (Dogs), island's of land (Ely), pubs with the word 'island' in the name or people called Madagascar or Anglesey.

I understood there were 169 inhabited ones.

I admit that the numbers are from web searches ... I haven't actually counted them personally.
I apologise for my lack of intellectual rigour.

Has anyone ever implied that you complicate matters Monty ?

[Montreal Wanderer]

I understand that it DOES include islands within islands. So the one on Derwentwater will apply.

It doesn't include islands whuch aren't islands (Dogs), island's of land (Ely), pubs with the word 'island' in the name or people called Madagascar or Anglesey.

I understood there were 169 inhabited ones.

I admit that the numbers are from web searches ... I haven't actually counted them personally.
I apologise for my lack of intellectual rigour.

Has anyone ever implied that you complicate matters Monty ?

It might have been suggested on occasion I could complicate matters, but surely no one would take this seriously....

[thebish]

^don't we all love a discussion between two people who don't actually have the personal knowledge but are just looking stuff up on the internet!!

(I never do this!!)

[Il Pirate]

Elephants are 70% water.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Well well well. I know an OS nerd and I thought this island question would be right up his street and so I've asked him if his group had any stats on this. And sure enough I'm sitting here with him going through his numbers.
First of all the figures vary depending on how you count, using what you count.
So for example: using OS 1/25000 orange explorer ( with some of the old green series), you get a different answer to the commonly used 1/50000 series.
These are 1/25000 and define an island as something marked seperately on the maps in question with some land exposed.
There are three different results.
All separate islands at high tide. = 7645
All separate islands at low tide = 7009
All separate islands at low tide which include exposed areas at high tide 6501
This includes all areas of England, Scotland, Ulster, Wales, Eire, I of Man, and Rockall, but excluded Channel Islands.

[Montreal Wanderer]

If Rockall is an island, would the Needles count as three?

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Yes.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Also to the east of rockall is a shelf of rock. It does not count as an island at high tide. It counts as 17 islands at low tide, but counts again as no islands for land at low tide with some exposed area at high tide.
And PS Rockall is the only British area not included on the orange 1/25000 series maps - that is a little known fact.

[Montreal Wanderer]

Also to the east of rockall is a shelf of rock. It does not count as an island at high tide. It counts as 17 islands at low tide, but counts again as no islands for land at low tide with some exposed area at high tide.
And PS Rockall is the only British area not included on the orange 1/25000 series maps - that is a little known fact.

It was the last expansion of the British Empire when claimed in 1955 - perhaps the maps predate that claim.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Also to the east of rockall is a shelf of rock. It does not count as an island at high tide. It counts as 17 islands at low tide, but counts again as no islands for land at low tide with some exposed area at high tide.
And PS Rockall is the only British area not included on the orange 1/25000 series maps - that is a little known fact.

It was the last expansion of the British Empire when claimed in 1955 - perhaps the maps predate that claim.

No Monty, it's just too far west to be accomodated. The Explorer series is quite modern, the last full edition was, I think, 2004. So it's not because the maps predated the landgrab.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Elephants are 70% water.

The closest living relative to the elephant is the manatee...



The second closest living relative are the rock hyrax (about the size of a hamster)



The third closest living relative to the elephant is the rhinoceros (about the size of four brick shithouses)

[thebish]

ahhhh.... you've brought to mind a song my kids used to sing all the time when they were younger...

it's a classic!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXm1ICO8Nec

[Lost Leopard Spot]

ahhhh.... you've brought to mind a song my kids used to sing all the time when they were younger...

it's a classic!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXm1ICO8Nec

That is a wonderful song. The cow of the sea!

[Lost Leopard Spot]

It is a little known fact that no British born person can trace their ancestry back into Roman times. Not even the royal family - the oldest attested person in the royal ancestry is Cerdic king of the Gewissae (in Dark Age Britain).

[Montreal Wanderer]

It is a little known fact that no British born person can trace their ancestry back into Roman times. Not even the royal family - the oldest attested person in the royal ancestry is Cerdic king of the Gewissae (in Dark Age Britain).

Any claim is questionable but Cunedda ap Edern, first King of Gwynedd, was the grandson of the Roman commander, Padarn Beisrudd (allegedly). Lineage from him is claimed today. It is hard to prove any claim in the absence of written records of which there were none after the Romans left for some time, while the Welsh relied on oral tradition.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

It is a little known fact that no British born person can trace their ancestry back into Roman times. Not even the royal family - the oldest attested person in the royal ancestry is Cerdic king of the Gewissae (in Dark Age Britain).

Any claim is questionable but Cunedda ap Edern, first King of Gwynedd, was the grandson of the Roman commander, Padarn Beisrudd (allegedly). Lineage from him is claimed today. It is hard to prove any claim in the absence of written records of which there were none after the Romans left for some time, while the Welsh relied on oral tradition.

Oh yes, there are many oral traditions of Welsh genealogical claims back to Roman sources, including via Old King Cole (Coel Hen). But none are attested, and whilst the Welsh certainly had an oral tradition they also had a written tradition too (such as Nennius, Gildas, and other historians, along with written deeds and church charters) and no connection can be ascertained between the purely oral and the historic. It doesn't have to be the Welsh who wrote in order to attest a genealogical connection, Irish and continental sources can count too (and bridge the British dark age gap nicely) but even these do not give a definitive connection for any genealogical source.
And it is not just Britons who cannot trace ancestry back to the Romans, even Italians have difficulty - in fact there are only three clans (the most famous being the Anici) who can demonstrate an actual link - and none of those married into any surviving royal family. Both the Massimo and the Orsini clans also claim ancient ancestry but both were debunked back in the medieval period as forgeries to support Consul (medieval Roman) and Papal claims to land within the bounds of the 'donation of Constantine' - itself a medieval forgery.

[Bruce Rioja]

The closest living relative to the elephant is the manatee...

Awwwww. But that just has to be number one on the list of animals that both need and deserve a MAHOOOOOSIVE hug?!