Which country or state is the biggest?

[XemaSab]

Poll question: Which country or state is the biggest?

:shrug:

[d_b]

1. Alaska

[XemaSab]

2. What makes you say that?

:D

[d_b]

6. Cuz it is?

I dunno.

[JVS]

3. Iran is big

[Kelly Rupert]

8. Alaska is bigger. n/t

[JVS]

10. Not according to the CIA

https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ir.html

But yeah. I was checking on Wikipedia and Alaska had a few thousand sq km on Iran

[Art_from_Ark]

49. Alaska is smaller than Iran

According to World Book, Iran, at 636,372 sq.mi is larger than Alaska (587,878 sq.mi) and Tennessee (42,146 sq.km) combined. Wikipedia isn't worth squat as a reference.

[JVS]

51. Damned wikishit!

[Art_from_Ark]

52. That's what I say

To me, "According to Wiki..." means "OK, guys, take this with a big grain of salt..."

[Jim Lane]

54. Defending Wikipedia's accuracy

Wikipedia has a showing their total area, land area, and water area. Alaska has much more water area than any other state (about 90,000 square miles). Thus, it's too simple to say "the area of Alaska is ____" without specifying what you mean. Both figures for Alaska's area are defensible, depending on whether you include water area.

According to the infoboxes in the Wikipedia articles, 's total area is 13.7% water, while 's total area is only 0.7% water. The result is that Iran's land area is greater than Alaska's but Alaska's total area is greater than Iran's.

So, in this case, "According to Wiki..." means "It's more complicated than you thought."

The intrepid oil man in the White House keeps trying to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Both Alaska and Iran are threatened by him, regardless of their comparative size.

By the way, if next week's poll is about the world's tallest building, then the answer is that it's either or the , again depending on you use.

[Blue_In_AK]

4. I said Alaska, too...

d_b and I live here and we know NO place is bigger. :rofl:

Honestly, I'm really not sure about those other places. The Ukraine might be bigger. All I know is Alaska is 1/5 the size of the rest of the U.S.

[XemaSab]

5. You should get out more.

;)

[Blue_In_AK]

17. I agree. :)

See my answer below - we come in second to Iran. I should have known this was a trick question.

[d_b]

14. Exactly

"d_b and I live here and we know NO place is bigger."

:D

[DRoseDARs]

7. Alaska is the biggest in total area of those options...

Bigger than Iran by ~26,000 sq. miles and the France-Germany-Spain combo by ~70,000 sq. miles per the numbers provided by Wikipedia.

[XemaSab]

15. I was going off the numbers given by the CIA

https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ir.html

[lvx35]

18. It blows my mind that Iran is bigger than France-Germany-Spain nt

[XemaSab]

38. It blows my mind

that they're bigger than 'Nam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand AND that they're bigger than Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as that they're bigger than three of the biggest countries in Europe put together. And you know how easy it was taking Europe back during WWII. :eyes:

[lvx35]

43. I guess its just the density of culture...

So many amazing things have come out of some seriously small areas, the population density must seriously play a role in what's large and what's not. (edit: in our minds)

[XemaSab]

44. Or what we're familiar with in the West

I can think of a dozen museums/historical sites/churches/famous buildings in France, Spain, *or* Germany, (none of which I have been to) but Iran? Not a one. :(

on edit: tried to list some, put "half a" in front of dozen. :P

[lvx35]

45. True, true. Same here. nt

[lvx35]

9. Is everybody on crack?

everybody knows the biggest is Texas, George BUSH is from there! ;)

[DRoseDARs]

11. No, but some of us can do quick research and simple arithmetic...

;)

[lvx35]

20. Stop putting Texas down. nt

[DRoseDARs]

23. George W. Bush was born in New Haven, Connecticut...

...and moved to Texas during his Terrible Twos. At least you're spared that humiliation: He's just a spoiled poser Texan-wannabe who never grew up. ;)

[lvx35]

27. Whatever. That's just your liberal reality intervening.

George Bush is a born cowboy, I know because Fox news implicitly told me so.

[DRoseDARs]

36. And hung like a horse...

*Swoon*



Nothing like a little Karl Rove-produced soft porn to stir passions...



...and vomit. That poor bunny in his pants. :(

[lvx35]

39. Yes! You can fly! Fly away to never-never land to live with me and Peter Pan!

All you have to have to do is BELIEVE! When you believe, you can overcome the wicked Capt. Liberal Hook, and create your own Reality! All you need is a little help from Fox News, The president, and a little toilet paper to tuck around your private parts...Here, let "Big Dick" Cheney show you how its done!!! (edit: see crotch area)



:) :P You see??? In republican reality, all you need for something to come true is for people to BELIEVE its true. Cheney's endowment is big if you believe its big! The Iraq war will be won when the media REPORTS that its being won, and the people don't know that soldiers are dying! Don't you BELIEVE???? :)

[XemaSab]

41. Which is bigger: Iran, Alaska, or Cheney's hernia?

:shrug:

:puke:

[lvx35]

42. hehehehe!

[JackBeck]

12. Umm...other?

Rhode Island?

Hell-looo!

:eyes:

[lvx35]

22. My back yard!

[JackBeck]

46. I've driven through your backyard.

Hope I didn't leave tire tracks.

[LSK]

13. Iowa

Takes forever to drive through it.

:popcorn:

[Blue_In_AK]

33. Kansas is worse. n/t

[XemaSab]

47. Shuddup, Lieberman

:eyes:

[LSK]

48. Goodnight, D Hunter

:hi:

[Blue_In_AK]

16. I looked it up for you.

Iran is first at 636,000 square miles
Alaska comes in second at 586,412
Afghanistan and Pakistan are at 559,200
France, Germany and Spain are 543,217

The others are quite a bit smaller.

Did you already know?

ed. I should say that I got these answers by going to MSN Search and typing in How big is "whatever," or How many square miles is "whatever." These are the answers I got.

I still think Alaska is BIGGER. I KNOW we have more coastline than Iran. Hahahaha.

[XemaSab]

19. I was flipping through demographic data on CIA.gov

and I was FLOORED at how big Iran is. FLOORED I tells ya.

The whole idea of going to war with them is a total nonstarter. Bigger than Alaska and just as rough in places? No thanks.

[DRoseDARs]

21. Erm, where'd you get your Alaska numbers?

Is it total area or just the land area. Hair-splitting, yes, BUT THIS IS A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH!!!

:P

[XemaSab]

24. US out of Alaska!

No blood for oil! :o

on edit: sorry, it's been a long evening. :D

[DRoseDARs]

28. Your oil will save this country from the looming energy crisis...

...for an hour or so. :shrug:

[XemaSab]

34. Exactly.

One more golden hour of happy, mindless TV... mmmmmm.

[Blue_In_AK]

25. Since you asked....

According to this site http://www.flyalaska.com/alaskafacts.html


At 656,425 square miles, Alaska is the largest state, twice the size of Texas, and one fifth the size of the entire United States. 570,374 square miles of Alaska are land areas and 86,051 square miles of Alaska are covered by water. North to South, Alaska is 1,400 miles long. East to West, it is 2,700 miles wide.


I JUST KNEW IT! I KNEW we were bigger than anything.

[d_b]

32. AND WE HAVE THE BIGGEST MOUNTAIN!

THAT PUSSY EVEREST SITS ON a 10,000ft PLATFORM. KILL EM ALL!

:rofl:

[DRoseDARs]

35. Well, if it's just land area we're talking about, Alaska gets knocked down a notch...

18 countries are larger, including Iran. Britannica gives me 629,315 sq. miles land area for Iran versus ~570,000 land area for Alaska. The numbers for total area make the two bodies switch. Either way, yeah, attacking Iran is a fool's errand any way you look at it. Too much land (and water) to cover, too many people to fight, to little actual threat.

[BlueStateModerate]

26. If you count water...

Alaska is bigger.

663,267 sq mi vs. 636,372 sq mi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran

[Blue_In_AK]

29. Yep...

ALASKA RULES !!!

[XemaSab]

40. Meh, I've seen 2 red-legged kittiwakes in the lower 48.

You're not so special. :P

edit: forgot that Washington state is not a part of California. :P

[Warren DeMontague]

30. Other: California.

We're swingin' some pipe, baby.

[Blue_In_AK]

31. The bottom line here

would seem to imply that if ** thinks he can successfully invade a country that's ALMOST as big as Alaska, he's c-r-a-z-y .... but we already knew that, didn't we?

[XemaSab]

37. It's one thing if the country is Vietnam (which is slightly larger than

New Mexico), Somalia (which is slightly smaller than Texas), Iraq (which is slightly more than twice the size of Idaho), or Afghanistan (which is slightly smaller than Texas), any of which would be easy to take out, but Iran is freakin' HUGE!!!!! :o

[G Hawes]

50. Geographical reality is not determined by a poll

Geographic reality is simply reality. "Polling" to find out which country or state is larger than another? That's just weird.

[XemaSab]

53. I was "polling"

to see how much my fellow DU'ers knew about comparative land area. I personally learned a lot making the poll. :shrug:

[-..__...]

55. Kazakhstan is biggest.

Is also number one producer and exporter of potassium.

Jegshemash!