How do you claim an island that doesn't exist?

[bayonetbrant]

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/29/ephemeral-islands/#ftn10

the sea boiled and bubbled and a column of smoke was visible from Sciacca on the Sicilian coast, where the pervasive stink of brimstone turned the silverware black. When a basalt-like chunk of land rose above the waves and stayed there, no less than four European countries rushed to claim the island, strategically located in the Strait of Sicily between that island and the coast of Tunisia

Another eruption briefly resurrected the island, and its powder keg potential, in 1863. In 2002, as seismic rumblings suggested yet another reincarnation of the island, the Italians pre-emptively lowered a marble plaque onto the summit of Empedocles, emblazoned with the slogan: "This piece of land, once Ferdinandea, was and shall always belong to the Sicilian people"

[meadbelly]

Note to self: get italians to send plaques to asteroids before Cameron gets there. Change "ferdinandea" to "meadbelly."

[Gusington]

Leave it to the Japanese to out-do the Sicilians in geographic ephemera.

[mirth]

^Nice job working 'ephemera' into a sentence.

[Gusington]

I have been waiting 35 years to do that.

[mirth]

I'm just glad I was around when you did.

[Gusington]

I could not have done it without you.

[mirth]

I am the wind beneath your wings.

[Gusington]

^That's crossing the line.

[mirth]

What can I say? I'm a line crosser.

[Gusington]

^You should be banned for bringing that song up.

[mirth]

You may have a point about that. At least I didn't bring up the related movie.

[Gusington]

^You just did.

[mirth]

^Damn. Let the banning commence!

[Gusington]

You know, I think only one person has been banned since this shop has been opened.