As you know, Heathrow is the world's largest and busiest airport, second only to Schiphol in Amsterdam and JFK in New York. All three are eclipsed, of course, by O'Hare in Chicago and Minneapolis/Saint Paul airport in Bloomington, Minnesota.
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« New Theories of Noah's Ark | Main | Gay Marriage? »
"Why Civilization Is on the Verge of Collapse"
Posted on: January 6, 2010 5:16 PM, by Greg Laden
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Comments
Don't want to sound like a pedant, but:
'Heathrow is the world's largest.... second only to (two others!!!)...????
That would make it the third largest.
But of course, if all three are eclipsed by two others,
that would make Heathrow the 5th largest airport etc.
Posted by: orion | January 6, 2010 7:25 PM
Orion... it makes no sense at all!!!!!!!!
... unless you go read the whole post.
Posted by: Greg Laden | January 6, 2010 7:48 PM
Thanks Greg - I had read it and agree with the nonsensical nature of a lot of these 'records'.
Here's one for you:
Did you know the largest city in the world is Mt Isa in outback Queensland?
Reason - the 'city' boundaries cover more than 44,000 sq km, even though no-one lives in most of it (pop 23,000).
On the subject of sport - I am a cricket fan, and it's incredible the statistics and record the commentators come up with all the time. I guess baseball is pretty similar.
Did you know that Australia just defeated Pakistan in a test match? It was largely because Mike Hussey and Peter Siddle scored the highest 9th wicket partnership for Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground in test history.
Posted by: orion | January 6, 2010 9:17 PM
The city with the largest dimension in the world (or the us or Minnesota, can't remember) is Duluth because it owns some crazy RR right-of-way that runs out of town several miles.
Or so I hear.
But I might have that wrong.
Do you know about the Aborigine Cricket Team and its defeat of the English team?
See: Cricket Walkabout: The Aboriginal Cricketers of the 1860s
Posted by: Greg Laden | January 6, 2010 10:01 PM
Oh yes - every Australian cricket fan knows about the Aborginal cricket team.
We know EVERY time the poms get beaten - its our lifeblood.
Posted by: orion | January 6, 2010 10:28 PM
A good friend of mine wrote that book.
Posted by: Greg Laden | January 6, 2010 10:32 PM
Ah, good old airport envy. I wonder if Antwerp still has the record as the busiest seaport on the planet - not that such claims have any relevance whatsoever to society. Well, "most expensive city to live in on the planet" is certainly not a good title for a city.
Posted by: MadScientist | January 7, 2010 4:22 AM
Their 123-run stand was in fact the second-highest 9th wicket stand, to be precise, and threatened to break the 116-year-old record of 154 runs set by Syd Gregory and Jack Blackham.
Posted by: Rorschach | January 7, 2010 6:36 PM
@Orion:
Wood Buffalo, Alberta is larger than Mt Isa in both population, (103,000) and physical area, (63,343 sq km).
Posted by: Rick Pikul | January 7, 2010 6:40 PM
Rorschach,
I stand corrected! I relied on a commentator, I should have checked Wisden.
Rick
Wood Buffalo is a 'regional municipality' and comprises several hamlets and other communities. Mt Isa is just a city.
See what you can do with records!!!
Posted by: orion | January 7, 2010 10:39 PM