minor goss

[hnpcc]

So Helen Razer and Kate Orman went to school together.

Who knew.

I'd say "small world" but.. it's Australia so that's kind of redundant.

Comments

[numbat.livejournal.com]

With a population of twenty million I don't see how you can claim Australia is a small world. On the other hand since Helen Razor is ex-Canberran I suppose you could get away with calling Canberra a small world.

[barrington.livejournal.com]

Ah...but of those 20 million people, you don't move through them all. You're subject to the limitations of geographical location, social position and interest groups. Once you've done that, starting with 20 million instead of 250+ million (like in the States or Europe) means the actual number of people you are likely to meet (and who will know other people you know) is pretty small.

Since this can apply to every city and regional location in Australia - they're all so isolated from each other, compared to cities/areas in most other countries - I think it's fair to say Australia is bunch of small worlds.

[numbat.livejournal.com]

All of which is quite irrelevant since hnpcc clearly implied that her fact was unsurprising because Australia is a small place. This is clearly incorrect as far as I can see.

[hnpcc]

I was thinking more in terms of degrees of separation, in which case Australia is often surprisingly small. Land-wise Australia is huge and population-wise it's kind of in the middle, but in terms of who knows who I often find that it's smaller than I think.

[barrington.livejournal.com]

Too true. It kinda figures though. They seem alike in some ways...