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How Old Is the Average Country?

Posted by timothy on from the we-just-eat-a-lot-of-yogurt dept.

Daniel_Stuckey writes with a snippet from his piece at Vice: "I did some calculations in Excel, using independence dates provided on About.com, and found the average age of a country is about 158.78 years old. Now, before anyone throws a tizzy about what makes a country a country, about nations, tribes, civilizations, ethnic categories, or about my makeshift methodology, keep in mind, I simply assessed 195 countries based on their political sovereignty. That is the occasion we're celebrating today, right?"

7 of 375 comments (clear)

  1. you lost me at... by RedHackTea · · Score: 5, Funny

    Excel and About.com

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    The G
  2. So much for "New Republic" by ebno-10db · · Score: 4, Funny

    Given that this is America's 237'th birthday, which make us 78.22 years older than the average (49.26%), should they change the name of the magazine from "The New Republic" to "The Somewhat-Older-Than-Average Republic"?

  3. Re:If a King rules a Kingdom, by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 5, Funny

    A count, I presume? (Although nowadays, from what people are telling me, it more like someone called a "countant" rules the land, or how this horrible notion is spelled.)

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    Ezekiel 23:20
  4. Re:Interesting I though I would try this: by GumphMaster · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Oh we've got both kinds, we've got country and western."

    As sensible an answer as the OP

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    Patent litigation: A doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction... in which everyone seems willing to push the button
  5. Re:If it makes you sleep well at night.... by ebno-10db · · Score: 5, Funny

    Please explain to me why the UK is as old as the Act of Union while you did not measure the age of your country starting with the annexation of Texas or some other quaint date like that.

    Mentioning Texas is hitting below the belt.

  6. Re: If it makes you sleep well at night.... by bfandreas · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yep. England is older than the UK. But it's the UK that's on the map. The Acts of Union created a new entity. This is not an Edward Longshanks style of conquest. And it happened just a couple of decades after England had been conquered by the Netherlands.

    Frankly that guy armed with Wikipedia and Excel either had a lot of balls or was blissfully unaware into what kind of mess he just stepped. Just wait until the French wake up in the morning.

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    20 minutes into the future
  7. Re:If it makes you sleep well at night.... by Livius · · Score: 3, Funny

    Humor is a medical term. You might be thinking of humour.