[talk-ph] 7500 and counting.

[Jim Morgan]

On Saturday, 20 February, 2016 09:32 AM, Eugene Alvin Villar wrote:
> According to the latest news, there are now "exactly" 7,641 islands. 
> This is stated by the so-called Philippine Islands Measurements 
> Project of NAMRIA.
> I have previously e-mailed NAMRIA to get info on how they keep track 
> of islands and how the most often quoted figure of 7,107 islands was 
> derived. Predictably I didn't get any definitive answer.
I remember hearing that the number of islands varies depending on 
whether its high tide or low tide, so any figure which claims to be 
exact should be treated with suspicion. Unless they've come up with a 
definition of island which copes with this -- maybe it has to be visible 
for 12 hours in a 24 hour period! :-) Also when does a rock become an 
island?

Then there's the matter of islands whose ownership is in dispute, and 
the ones which are being blatantly stolen by our neighbours. But lets 
not get into that here ... :-)

Jim