European GP name change?

[Jericoke]

Most of the Blue Jays players can't even pronounce Toronto like Torontonians do.  (We pronounce it 'Chur ON oh'.  Which is probably nothing like the First Nations pronounced it in the first place.)

I'm coming to ChurONoh (Toronto) next summer and I'm going to a Blue Jays game. Do you think I can learn the rules between now and then? I was happy when I thought the man had to hit the ball with his stick and then run like hell! But then my friend was telling me about the build-up to Texas explaining:- "There are 9 innings to a baseball game and after 9 innings of play the game was tied 2 – 2 with Baltimore. However, there has to be a winner. In the 11th inning the BJ’s got a 3 run home run to win the game 5 – 2". At this point my head exploded! So I either have to learn the rules or remember to keep my mouth shut when I'm at the game (must not say - oh its like our girls game of rounders!!!).

The main things you need to know about going to a baseball game in Toronto:

1)  The stadium is identified as the 'RogersCentre', but it is really the 'Skydome'  Call it that.  (Whatever you call it, it's a monstrosity.  If you're into engineering and architecture, it's a wonder; if you're into things that look great... it's a pile of concrete)

2)  Bring a LOT of money.  Tickets just get you in the door, expect to spend twice that on food and drink.  Triple if you're drinking beer.  (If you're not a fan of the game, then drink beer)

[Jericoke]

Jeri and I are both happy right now. The Toronto Blue Jays and the beloved Cleveland Indians both made it to the American League Championship Series (ALCS). The series starts Friday night.


Go Tribe!

Who will win?  The racist caricatures, or the former beer ads owned by a monopolistic cable company?

[Monty]

Thanks Jeri I have taken full cognizance of your useful advice and condensed it to the key instruction:-

drink beer

Be assured I will take your advice seriously - mind you with the current value of the GB£ it sounds like I may need to take out a mortgage before I arrive!

[Alianora La Canta]

And whatever we might think of Azerbaijan and it's ruling regime, it is part of Europe: excluding them seems kind of harsh.

It's definitely Asia. Geographically and politically. Azerbaijan just wanted to be European at one point (it looks like the powers-that-be are less keen on that due to oil price collapses requiring attention to be turned to domestic matters.

Europe only includes Turkey and Russia because the former has 2% of its land west of the Bosphorous river and the latter only because part of it is west of the Ural mountains. These are the boundary of Europe; beyond is the Near East (which is where Azerbaijan is; the Middle East is south of there, just to confuse matters further).

[Jericoke]

And whatever we might think of Azerbaijan and it's ruling regime, it is part of Europe: excluding them seems kind of harsh.

It's definitely Asia. Geographically and politically. Azerbaijan just wanted to be European at one point (it looks like the powers-that-be are less keen on that due to oil price collapses requiring attention to be turned to domestic matters.

Europe only includes Turkey and Russia because the former has 2% of its land west of the Bosphorous river and the latter only because part of it is west of the Ural mountains. These are the boundary of Europe; beyond is the Near East (which is where Azerbaijan is; the Middle East is south of there, just to confuse matters further).

As a North American, I never quite understood why 'Europe' and 'Asia' were considered separate. 

And then I recently learned that many people consider North and South America to be a single continent.  (And that all of us are 'Americans'!)

Why can't it be simple?

[cosworth151]

At least we've got the skinny bit as the dividing line. 

[Alianora La Canta]

And whatever we might think of Azerbaijan and it's ruling regime, it is part of Europe: excluding them seems kind of harsh.

It's definitely Asia. Geographically and politically. Azerbaijan just wanted to be European at one point (it looks like the powers-that-be are less keen on that due to oil price collapses requiring attention to be turned to domestic matters.

Europe only includes Turkey and Russia because the former has 2% of its land west of the Bosphorous river and the latter only because part of it is west of the Ural mountains. These are the boundary of Europe; beyond is the Near East (which is where Azerbaijan is; the Middle East is south of there, just to confuse matters further).

As a North American, I never quite understood why 'Europe' and 'Asia' were considered separate. 

And then I recently learned that many people consider North and South America to be a single continent.  (And that all of us are 'Americans'!)

Why can't it be simple?

Short version: originally people, now tectonics.

Europe and Asia are on separate tectonic plates (in fact, Asia is on several separate tectonic plates). This works now, but not when the notion of separate continents was advanced in antiquity (before tectonics were discovered as a science, rather than the "Oh no" moment when your local volcano suddenly spat lava everywhere or the ground's wobbling scared off your sheep). Basically, when "continents" became solidified, it was a way of separating where the "white people" (Europe), "black people" (Africa) and "yellow people" (Asia) lived. America initially didn't get such divisions, firstly because the Europeans who invented the concept didn't know where it was, then because it didn't seem terribly relevant (ethnographical geography is less of a concern when survival and making one's own colony work are the top priorities). It was still seen as a separate continent because even racially-motivated geographers realised calling the Americas part of Europe simply because lots of white people lived there was silly, what with the whole 3000 miles of water separating them.

Racism gradually became a less prominent element of continental decisions, but tectonics allowed a concrete method of identifying where one continent ends and another begins: generally by picking the nearest tectonic line to wherever the old divisions were. At this point, the Americas became North and South America due to the tectonic plate in Central America (though for political purposes the division is usually said to be the Panama Canal, which is neither old nor tectonic. Politics!)

Some people do believe Europe and Asia are the same continent: the term for that would be Eurasia. I'm not convinced the Azerbaijani government could be persuaded that "The Eurasian Grand Prix" had the same ring to it, even if it's probably the term that fits the sum total of their political ambitions for the race best.