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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" align="center"><span style="font-size: 11pt;" lang="PT-BR">===========================================<br>
L O W L A N D S - L - 11 March 2009 - Volume 03<br>
===========================================</span></p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br>
From: <span class="gd"><span style="color: rgb(0, 104, 28);">Hellinckx Luc</span></span></span><span class="gi"> </span><span class="go"><<a href="mailto:luc.hellinckx@gmail.com">luc.hellinckx@gmail.com</a>></span><br>
Subject: <span class="gi">LL-L "Geography"</span></p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br>
Beste Paul,<br>
<br>
You wrote:</span></p>
<div style="margin-left: 40px; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">But most
imprtantly, rising from the discussion, there really is no "Europe"</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">
in any physical geographic or geological basis; it's an open door. The</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">
Urals are nominally taken as the boundary, but there is a gap over 500km</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">
wide between the southern end of the Urals and the Caspian Sea, that is</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">
as flat as pool table most of the way. Plenty of room to squeeze a
bagpipe</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">
through!</span></span><br><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></div><p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">
<br>
I crossed that "gap" by motorbike last summer. True, the land over
there is very flat. The roads themselves are quite the opposite though: never
seen worse potholes. Years of neglect, extreme temperatures and heavy trucks
usually made the highway look like Swiss cheese dotted with craters; felt like
WW III had just hit the road.<br>
So much space, and yet, nobody was living there, even Borat was no longer
around *s*...immediately felt at home.<br>
<br>
Bridging the gap: there used to be a sizeable Mennonite community in Orenburg (Southwest
Ural).<br>
<br>
People in the UK (and in Japan) often
think of themselves as being excentric (even eccentric). In my view, we're all
islanders, we're all surrounded by water. Only difference is that our island (Eurasia) is sooo big that sometimes words for lake and
sea get mixed up. Legend in China
and Japan
has it that the latter got populated by a couple of thousands of Chinese (some
sources say 500), leaving the mainland in search of immortality.<br>
<br>
<a href="http://tinyurl.com/behull" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/behull</a><br>
<br>
Others believe America (British Columbia?) may have been discovered by Chinese
Buddhist priests at yet another time: </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;" lang="ZH-CN">扶桑</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br>
<br>
Coming full circle: A couple of days ago, a Spanish historian claimed
Christopher Columbus was actually...a Scotsman...named Pedro Scotto<br>
<br>
<a href="http://tinyurl.com/c7foyn" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/c7foyn</a><br>
<br>
Kind greetings,<br>
<span style="color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"><br>
Luc Hellinckx</span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></p>
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