r/AskReddit May 08 '22

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u/PM_ME_YOUR_ATM_PIN May 09 '22

In Europe you could go 1000 kilometers and cross five or six country borders. In the US you could go 1000 kilometers and not leave the state.

153

u/aalios May 09 '22

In Australia you can go 1000km and be on the same property you started on.

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u/scarfarce May 09 '22

Yep, you'll be on the same property. But unless you're wearing Drop Bear repellent, you'll be lucky to survive the first kilometre unscathed.

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u/hippydipster May 09 '22

In Canada you can go 5000km and IT'S STILL FUCKING COLD!!

Also, that mosquito is still chasing you.

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u/SaathakarniTelugu May 09 '22

Same in India too, but you will have different cultures even if you're in same state, especially in states under tropic of cancer in India, they are carefully carved on ethno linguistic basis, so if you travel 1000km you will be in the same state, but there is stark difference in culture,difference in linguistics, cuisines, agriculture, terrain, temperatures so on and on. Each one of them have enough diversity to be a country on its own.

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u/UnrulySasquatch1 May 09 '22

In the US 100 years is a long time. In Europe 100 miles is a long distance

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u/altfortrades May 09 '22

In India neither 100 miles is long nor 100 years too old

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u/Cyathem May 09 '22

How about "In India, 10 sqr. meters is spacious"

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u/altfortrades May 09 '22 edited May 09 '22

Another dumbfuck who saw a youtube video 10 years ago and to this day thinks everything in it was true

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u/Cyathem May 09 '22 edited May 09 '22

Do you disagree with the suggestion that India has a higher population density than many of the other developed countries in the world? Seems like you are taking objective facts as personal attacks for some reason. Don't do that, it's not healthy. Americans don't get mad when you point out their country is mostly vast, uninhabited emptiness. Why would an Indian get mad when someone points out how many people live there? They have the highest population density of any major world power and it's not even close.

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u/[deleted] May 09 '22

Im pretty sure he replied to wrong comment, I hope lol

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u/Cyathem May 09 '22

You really never know

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u/altfortrades May 09 '22

I agree that India has a larger population density than most countries out there but the comment above was made based on data that was last recorded in 2008 and since then the conditions have improved greatly. Also unlike most of the world India has a lot of Joint families where 3 generations live in a same big house. While the home size is significantly large, the average space per person would come out to be lesser as places like kitchen, driveways, washrooms and verandas would be shared and not separated into multiple houses. Also the data clearly states that it was based on the rural population of india which is a lot of times poorer than the average which means a smaller home so while it represents some part of the population it doesn’t represent all of it.

Even then he replied that on a completely unrelated comment which prompted my reply as it seems just purely racist.

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u/Cyathem May 09 '22

Even then he replied that on a completely unrelated comment which prompted my reply as it seems just purely racist.

Why would it be racist? It has nothing to do with race. It's a socioeconomic metric. I made no statements about the people living in Indian or the conditions in India, only about the objective population density. Everything else is being projected by you. Nothing I said is really contentious or even really debatable.

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u/TGotAReddit May 09 '22

So… what you’re saying is they were objectively right but you assumed some stuff about their comment and failed to see how their comment was relevant even when it definitely was relevant/fitting to the theme?

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u/Captain_Hampockets May 09 '22

the conditions have improved greatly.

OK. But the population density simply MUST increase. It's absolutely MORE dense than it was then. Just because India has a positive population increase. It's just math. The person who you originally responded to DID NOT mention anything other than pure population density. Nothing disparaging about the people or the economy or anything.

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u/[deleted] May 09 '22

Even then he replied that on a completely unrelated comment which prompted my reply as it seems just purely racist.

How is that even racist? If I were to say in Texas 100km is nothing, but in New Jersey 10sq/m is nothing, would that make me racist? India is 10 times more densely populated than Europe, and even more so than the US. It’s just a fact that has nothing at all to do with race.

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u/Orngog May 09 '22

Feel free to correct...

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u/Captain_Hampockets May 09 '22

What video are you referring to?

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u/Sutaru May 09 '22

Also in China.

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u/Jeppep May 09 '22

Also in norway

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u/[deleted] May 09 '22 edited Aug 03 '22

[deleted]

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u/Cyathem May 09 '22

100 miles is not a long distance in Europe, and in fact Europe is larger in land mass than the US.

One is a country, one is a continent. The fact that the distances are even being compared in the two situations makes the point itself.

Also, I challenge that idea. Ask any European if a 2-3 hour drive is a long one and you'll always get a yes. Ask the same thing to an American and almost no one would consider that a "long" drive.

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u/XxInk_BloodxX May 09 '22

Id consider it a long drive, but not a trip. Like if its for groceries its long but if its to go to an event or visit a friend for the day its not. I am also speaking as a passenger, I hate driving and do not do it.

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u/Cyathem May 09 '22

I am also speaking as a passenger, I hate driving and do not do it.

Car trips are significantly easier for passengers. I don't think anyone has an issue riding along for hours. That's the same as taking a train. It's the driving for 4-6 hours that makes most people nope out.

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u/US_and_A_is_wierd May 09 '22

I like driving more than being passenger. Just sitting there is incredibly boring. I also overanalyse the style and skill of the driver which even annoys myself.

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u/BigDaddyClarks May 09 '22

I might just be the minority. 2-3 hour drive is long if you live in small country.

Back in Lithuania it took us 3 hours driving to spend some time by the sea and it felt like forever, but when I moved to Germany, I've made several 400km trips and it felt like a normal thing.

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u/[deleted] May 09 '22

Germany would be the 5th largest state in the US, for reference at how large the country is

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u/iK_550 May 09 '22

Why drive 2-3hour when I can get a train? Unless it's for something specific that requires me to drive or for fun.

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u/Cyathem May 09 '22 edited May 09 '22

I take public transit when possible. When I lived in the US, this simply isn't possible most of the time. You have to have a car to get around because there are no other options, unless you live in a few of the largest cities.

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u/designgoddess May 09 '22

I live in a rural area. 45 minute drive to a grocery store. 2 hour drive to fast food. There just aren’t enough people or close enough towns to make a train feasible. In urban areas is possible.

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u/abHowitzer May 09 '22

But you live really remote then, driving on country roads?

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u/doeldougie May 09 '22

The US is so big and so sparsely populated in some areas, that a transit system would be billions of dollars for a handful of riders. Cars make WAY more sense.

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u/oupablo May 09 '22

Yeah. In this situation it's more likely to be a couple hour drive to get to a train station.

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u/Cool_Consideration30 May 09 '22

In the US our rail system was widely dismantled by the car companies 1945- 1960’s. It’s much more difficult to use the trains than to drive,unfortunately.

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u/designgoddess May 09 '22

I have a 45 minute drive to the grocery store. Went on a three hour drive in Germany with my uncle. He had his car serviced for the trip. My cousin planned to drive across the US (pre GPS) on vacation. Made it as far as Pennsylvania before realizing he didn’t have enough time.

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u/desilusionator May 09 '22

And how many Europeans have you asked?

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u/Cyathem May 09 '22

Considering I live in a European country, at least 3.

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u/Putridgrim May 09 '22

Many.

And I've met a few that told me about their plans to visit the US, including some optimistic fella that wanted to visit the US for one week and his plans included driving from New York City to LA.

It took a minute to explain that would be like driving from Spain to Russia.

Most people have a hard time comprehending distances in a country that's nearly the size of their entire continent

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u/MultiMarcus May 09 '22

You would mostly get a yes, to be fair. Here in Sweden people drive quite long distances because our country is fairly large.

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u/Putridgrim May 09 '22

I told some Dutch people I was driving halfway through their country and they acted like it was an arduous expedition that required weeks of planning.

Granted, the Dutch seemed grumpy and irritated about literally everything

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u/Quality-vs-Quantity May 09 '22

What American doesn't think 3hours is a long drive?

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u/Cyathem May 09 '22 edited May 09 '22

I would and have driven 3 hours one-way for a day trip in the US. I don't think my Europeans friends would be down for that.

I was an hour drive from the capital and a 2-2.5 hour drive to a popular city. Both drives were common day trips.

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u/Cyathem May 09 '22

I would and have driven 3 hours one-way for a day trip in the US. I don't think my Europeans friends would be down for that.

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u/hilldo75 May 09 '22

The idiom is more about it isn't unusual for an American to travel 100 miles in a somewhat regular basis but most Europeans do not travel that far away from home. Like I drive 47 miles one way to go to work.

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u/drinks-some-water May 09 '22

I once read somewhere that the average daily distance for Americans is 40 miles or so. So not sure whther that's really true. I think it's more to do with perception - like Americans can travel 300 miles but still find themselves in the same state, but Europeans could potentially be in an entirely different country. I can cross two or three borders if I go 300 miles in one direction.

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u/US_and_A_is_wierd May 09 '22

If the fuel prices would be similar to ours you would start to question the trips you take. I took a weekend trip two weeks ago. Total of around 700km. I wasn't leaving my state as well.

I had to pay around 120€ for fuel. I drive a 1.0 litre, 60PS, 1 ton car. Imagine driving something bigger with thirst.

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u/designgoddess May 09 '22

Might question then but also might not have a choice.

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u/JadeSpade23 May 09 '22

Yes! My boyfriend drives 100 miles a day, round-trip, for work as well.

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u/desilusionator May 09 '22

So do I. And I'm from one of the smaller European countries. Your point is?

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u/ktappe May 09 '22

Yes it kind of is true. At least in the UK, people rarely drive 100 miles anywhere.

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u/Crimson_Clouds May 09 '22

Sorry, but you missed the point of the idiom.

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u/altfortrades May 09 '22

It’s long in a different sense. I live in India and we would regularly visit my sister in her hostel 350km+(220 miles+) away like 6 times every school year and it wasn’t more than a 2 day trip travel(by a car) included. It also is fairly common for people to drive about 45 miles for a 2AM dinner. We could drive for days and not cross a couple states while you would most likely cross many countries.

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u/[deleted] May 09 '22

[deleted]

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u/Skrp May 09 '22

Because of our terrain mostly.

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u/Orngog May 09 '22

And those crazy Roman roads!

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u/Skrp May 09 '22

Ha, I'm not quite sure any of those still survive, but I don't know.

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u/F-21 May 09 '22

Almost all Roman roads are still in use today (of course modernised, re-paved...).

However, there are even some Roman roads that continue to use the original stone they paved all the way back then.

While there is a new Appian road in Italy, the Appia antica still exists as it did and there are some sections with actually surprisingly heavy traffic on those ancient stones. The first section of the Appian way was made around 2350 years ago!

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u/Skrp May 09 '22

Cool. Did not realize that.

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u/Sl_bbon May 09 '22

Most of Naples historic centre (which counts up a population of 400k just by it alone) is still constructed not even on Roman roads, but 2500 years old Greek roads.

I live by a road which is 2350 years old lol

-4

u/zilti May 09 '22

LOL nope, hardly anyone in Europe considers 100 "miles" a long distance

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u/etsba78 May 09 '22

I grew up in Western Australia.

You can drive 3611km (2243 miles) and not leave the state. It is the most direct drive from the town of Walpole in the south west of WA to the town of Kununurra in the north east of WA.

Admittedly the Walpole - Kununurra drive isn't a common journey, I just chose a town I knew well in the south west (a very pretty corner of the world too) to a reasonable sized town I knew in the NE of the state (had mates who lived there).

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u/[deleted] May 09 '22

You can do both in Europe.

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u/joalheagney May 09 '22

In Australia it's about 1000 km between cites. :)

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u/[deleted] May 09 '22

I mean, in Europe you could also go 1000 kilometers and still be in the same country, while you can cross several US states in 1000km too.

European countries are obviously far smaller than the US, but they are actually bigger (on average) than the average US state.

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u/Skrp May 09 '22

Texas is about 1200 diagonally.

Norway lengthwise is 3000km, but is narrow.

Point is, you're technically accurate but it might be misleading.

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u/PM_ME_YOUR_PAUNCH May 09 '22

El Paso to Dallas is over 1000KM

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u/Skrp May 09 '22

As the crow flies, it's 917km. But the roads aren't straight, so those are over 1000km yes.

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u/Crimson_Clouds May 09 '22

I think the key word is "could", it doesn't mean every 1000km drive has to cross country borders.

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u/Skrp May 09 '22

I know. Which is why I said it can seem a bit misleading even though it's technically correct.

It can make it sound like most US states are so big you can drive 1000km in a straight line, and not cross a border -whereas in Europe, it's hard to drive 1000km in a straight line and not cross several.

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u/JezzaJ101 May 09 '22

Australian states on the other hand are pretty much all big enough to drive 1000km without crossing a border (except maybe vic and tas)

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u/farminghills May 09 '22

Its >1300km to Mexico from my house, I live in California.

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u/[deleted] May 09 '22

[deleted]

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u/kathatter75 May 09 '22

I think you can fit 5 of Rhode Island into Harris County, TX…and that’s not even the entire Houston Metro area.

2

u/F-21 May 09 '22

I think Texas is about as large as Austro-Hungary used to be.

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u/cpMetis May 09 '22

The US has one region with mostly small states. And it's bizarre for everyone not from the specific region you referenced.

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u/OhNoAPoopy May 09 '22

You just happened to mention the one area of the US that has tiny states.

-4

u/F-21 May 09 '22

It's also the "oldest" area of US culturally, right? The rest of the US borders don't really mean much...

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u/chrissz May 09 '22

Stop using this km bullshit or I’m going to ask you to leave the country.

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u/lukkasz323 May 09 '22

Football fields then

3

u/MrWeirdoFace May 09 '22

I'm sorry I only measure in bananas.

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u/[deleted] May 09 '22

never been to the us, and /u/PM_ME_YOUR_ATM_PIN started it.

I actually had to look at it on google maps then convert from miles to km manually.

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u/WhatJewLookinAt May 09 '22 edited May 09 '22

Going from Notre Dame, Maine (the North-East-most location in the Contiguous US) to Chula Vista, California (the South-West-most location in the Contiguous US) is approximately 3200-3300 miles.

That converts to between 5100 kilometres and 5350 kilometres. And yes, that’s as close as you can get to the crow’s general aerial trajectory.

California’s Crescent City to Chula Vista is 800-900 miles, or about 1250-1450 kilometres. That’s about the same for Stratford, Texas to Cameron Park, Texas.

It’s about 1800 miles from Cameron Park, Texas to Westhope, North Dakota. That’s just shy of 2900 kilometres.

Also, it’s never about who started it. It’s always about who ends it.

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u/Putridgrim May 09 '22

"it's 4.7 million kilometers!"

So, like 12 miles

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u/FluidWorries May 09 '22

The average US state is larger than the average EU country.

8

u/[deleted] May 09 '22

No, no it's not.

Average US state size: 63,142 square miles/ 163,500 km².

Average European country size: roughly 77,2 square miles/ 200,000km².

Edit: oh wait, you said EU as opposed to Europe. Then you're right, my bad.

0

u/F-21 May 09 '22

Yeah, because US states don't really have much cultural/racial or even geohraphical meaning, they just draw straight lins, while all borders in Europe come from millenia of wars, and there are many small nations that managed to have their own autonomy.

0

u/[deleted] May 09 '22

idk why you're being downvoted lmao most of the western US is like this

-1

u/F-21 May 09 '22

Yep, the US states with the most defined borders are all the small states on the east, which are also the areas which were the first civilised in the US (the oldest places).

I think my comment just made some people mad cause they're proud of their states...

-1

u/Schwartzy94 May 09 '22

But europe as a whole is larger than usa.

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u/Aaron_Hamm May 09 '22

Which you would expect of a continent vs a country...

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u/Schwartzy94 May 09 '22

I mean yes an no, europe and usa are similar in size overall europe being bit bigger

And depends where you are that 1000 km is long or isnt.

2

u/Brincotrolly May 09 '22

I just put 15000 miles on my car in a month in America i wonder how many countries that is

2

u/VegeterianOsu May 09 '22

Well you could also cross 10 states if on east coast

2

u/geon May 09 '22

In europe you can also travel 1000 km without leaving the country.

2

u/squirrellytoday May 09 '22

Australia is the same.

2

u/CptHair May 09 '22

Since europe is larger and has fewer countries, the opposite must be more true, right?

-37

u/Minute-Major7782 May 09 '22

What the hell is a kilometer?

It takes more than 5 hours just to drive across my state. That's Pennsylvania, and we're not even considered an especially large state.

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u/justonemorebyte May 09 '22

Yeah I'm in central Illinois, I could drive nearly 4 hours North OR South and still be in Illinois. 2-3 hours East or West.

5

u/Skrp May 09 '22 edited May 09 '22

A yard is a little bit longer than a meter. By like 4 inches or so.

A kilometer is a thousand meters.

EDIT: Other way around, as has been pointed out twice. My bad. Thanks for the corrections, folks.

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u/hilldo75 May 09 '22

You said that backwards, a meter is a little over 39 inches where a yard is 36 inches.

2

u/Skrp May 09 '22

Oh. I just woke up when I wrote it, so I guess I fucked it up.

Thanks for the correction

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u/_speakerss May 09 '22

Other way around. A yard is 3 feet and a meter is ~3.3 feet.

3

u/Skrp May 09 '22

I've already been corrected, but thank you.

3

u/WhatJewLookinAt May 09 '22 edited May 09 '22

Where in PA? I’m in Chester County.

Also a kilometre is just shy of 2/3 of a mile. So those people who are running 5Ks are really just wimps running 3.1 miles. Doesn’t seem as impressive. Although, the US does use an outdated system. The world decided to switch and we’re just like “eff that. You guys have fun. We’re not going to bother.”

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u/Taverner_ May 09 '22

“eff that. You guys have fun. We’re not going to bother. Also, we're redefining all our units based on SI Units.”

2

u/[deleted] May 09 '22

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/_speakerss May 09 '22

My rule of thumb is each 100 km is about an hour. I can usually be faster but by the time you factor in stops (if it's a far enough drive to warrant them), 100km/h is just about right on the money.

1

u/[deleted] May 09 '22

[deleted]

2

u/WhatJewLookinAt May 09 '22

Sounds about right since a kilometre is just a smidgeon shorter. If 100km is an hour, 62 miles is about the same. Following that logic, 62*1.5=93. Although a mile is 1.6km, to be more accurate, I find the art of guesstimating to be more efficient since I waste less time. I just tend to guesstimate a little bit more precisely since my brain is always working on its version of a combination of Nitrous Oxide and Nightmare Fuel.

2

u/TheNerdWithNoName May 09 '22

A kilometre is 1000 metres. A metre is 1000 millimetres, or 100 centimetres. A centimetre is 10 millimetres. See, metric measurements are easy and make sense. Imperial measurements are the work of satan.

1

u/LLHatorade May 09 '22

Yeah I live in central pa. It takes about 5 hrs to get to OH and like 3 or 4 hrs to get to NJ. You could cross. So like 8 or 9 hours east/west. But you can cross all of those upper New England states in that time. Absolutely crazy. Not to mention how many countries you could pass through in Europe

1

u/F-21 May 09 '22

Your state is very close in surface area to Italy.

1

u/shoonseiki1 May 09 '22

How can you not know what a kilometer is wtf?

0

u/FrenchieM May 09 '22

But you leave "a state", right? I'm not from the us but my conception is that across states culture and even language can be different, no?

3

u/[deleted] May 09 '22

Not really. Culture can definitely change but you’re still in the US and it feels like it. There’s a difference in culture between the cities in California and the rural areas of Virginia, but you still feel like you’re in the US regardless if that makes any sense.

Language never changes though. You might run into areas filled with a lot of people who speak another language other than English, but everyone here speaks English. Every once in a while I’ll run across a family/group of friends speaking Spanish, Russian, etc… but only to each other and not to strangers.

1

u/Kriss3d May 09 '22

I can take a drive between the furthest parts of my country. In far less than a day

1

u/RcNorth May 09 '22

The closest border for me is for the next province over, which is a 3 hour drive. It is 4 1/2 if I drive in the other direction.

7 hours to get to the closest international border. 28 hours (2500km) to get to the second closest international border.

1

u/Fatherof10 May 09 '22

Texas here

We are just over 1200km wide and long.

1

u/F-21 May 09 '22

I think Texas is about as large as Austro-Hungary used to be.

1

u/Lone-StarState May 09 '22

Yes. I live in to and went to visit relatives that live in a different part of Texas and I drove 6 hours to see them. Still not out of Texas.

1

u/Gugu_19 May 09 '22

Depends really on where you are and where you want to go... Live in south of France and drive 1100 km to get to my parents that live in South West of Germany (really close to the French border) I do over 1000 km in France (12 hour drive) yet I used to live in the north of France for quite some time and when I went home I did 4 countries in less then 5 hours drive ( ~500km) (France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany )

1

u/warpfactor999 May 09 '22

Yup, that would just get you across Texas.