Sunday, July 30, 2023

2023 quiz

Landlocked Quiz


it's been ages since the last update, here we go:

1.   What is the world's most populous landlocked nation?

2.  What is the most populous landlocked US state?  (note having a port on the Great Lakes/St
 Lawrence Seaway does  not make you not landlocked ).
   Bonus - if having a port on the Segway made you not landlocked, what would be the .out populous landlocked state?

3.  Despite its large size, Canada only has two landlocked provinces.   This should be easy...

4.  Rank the continents by number of landlocked nations they contain.  We'll go by the US standard of 7 continents for this, splitting South and Noth America and Europe separate from Asia.   Yes, there can (will) be a tie...  also only internationally generally recognized nations, no Micronations or stuff only recognized by a couple countries 

5.  What is the most populous city located in a landlocked nation?

that's enough for now.   At the current rate next update will be in 2026 or 2027.


5.   

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

2020, time for a new quiz.  Today's focus:  Islands.

1.  With the UK leaving the European Union, that leaves only two entirely island nations in the EU.  What are they?

2.  Speaking of the UK, its history as a naval power has left it with many overseas territories also on islands.  While they have had large pieces of mainland territory in the past overseas (including Canada, the United States, India, etc), not to mention Calais, they now retain only two overseas territories that are NOT on islands.  What are they?

3.  Of the members of the EU that are not entirely insular, what nation has the largest percentage of its territory on islands.     Okay, now if you only count territory in Europe, what nation has the largest percentage of its territory on islands?

4.  The UK's departure takes the largest EU island, Great Britain, as well as part of the second largest, Ireland.   What is the largest remaining island in the EU (that is in Europe, not going to wrangle over the quasi-status of Greenland)?

5.  As far as the western hemisphere, the two largest archipelagos are the canadian arctic (which I'm going to lump Greenland in with) and the Caribbean.  The next two largest are also in Canada (Newfoundland and Vancouver).   Aside from Canada (and Greenland) and the Caribbean, where will you find the largest island in the western hemisphere?

Sunday, February 2, 2020

here's a fun trivia thing I came up with while looking up something.
Every state has an official motto. e.g., Georgia, where I live, has "Wisdom, Justice and Moderation".
Over half the states, 29, like Georgia, have a state motto in english.
16 more states have state mottos in Latin, e.g., New York's motto is "Excelsior" (latin for "Ever Upward").
That leaves 5 states whose state mottos are not in English or Latin. Without googling, it, anyone care to take a guess on what those 5 states are, and what languages they are in?

Monday, April 1, 2019

Rivers of Time...

Here is a fun US geography trivia question I came up with while looking at a wall map...

How many rivers in the United States can you name that are used for time zone boundaries?

i.e., the time zone is different on each bank for a length.   So you can have an example I will give you one, the Colorado river is the boy dart between Mountain and Pacific along the ArizonazCalifornoa border (and Nevada-Arizona as well).   We will count that even though certain parts of the year Arizona is the same time as California, caused by Arizona not using Daylight Savings Time.

I found 10 on a quick glance search.  We are not gonna count Lake Michigan as part of the St. Lawrence Seaway.

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

So its been almost 3 years since my last post.   Okay, time for another geography quiz then.   None of that easy stuff.  I try to make them google-proof, though that is increasingly difficult.   Okay, then, without further ado:

1.  What is the longest river to flow through both the United States and another country?

2.  What is the largest island in the Mediterranean which does not belong to a European nation?   By European we mean a nation primarily in Europe.

3.  Not counting Puerto Rico, its outlying islands and the Virgin Islands, the United States owns one other island in the Caribbean.   What is it?

4.  This island, in the indian ocean, is so named not because it is run by the mob, but from a swahili phrase meaning "Heathy Dwelling Place".

5.  A few years after winning independence from the British, India successfully invaded and annexed a colonial territory belonging to which other European nation?

okay, been 3 years, we'll start with a short one.   Post your answers (yeah, right)....

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Geography Quiz 2013


Geography Quiz...

1. You should all know that the largest lake island is Manitoulin in Lake Huron. What is the largest island in a lake that is not the largest island in its lake?

2. What is the largest US city that is not on an interstate highway (the Hawaii H- roads are part of the interstate system)

3. The two largest rivers by outflow into the sea the US are the Mississippi and the Columbia. What is third? (going by the amount of water that actually flows from its mouth into the sea)

4. As you should know, Mauna Kea is the highest US peak on an ocean island. Mauna Loa is a close second. Not counting Hawaii, what is the highest US point on an ocean island? (I don't want some glacial pond in colorado claiming it due to the lake being at such high altitude). Bonus question - okay, now not counting Alaska either.

5. What is the largest city (or town or settlement) on an island inside each of the world's oceans. As much as I hate the designation "Southern Ocean", it somehow seems to be more and more accepted these days so I guess we get five:
a. Pacific
b. Atlantic
c. Indian
d. Arctic
e. "Southern"

Count arms of the oceans and attached seas as part of that ocean (e.g., Mediterranean ounts as part of Atlantic). Suez still divides Atlantic from Indian. If in doubt, go by the CIA factbook boundaries not the IHO, as the IHO does not include attached seas. So... as far as Indonesia you can count the southern series of islands (Sumatera, Krakatoa, Java, Bali, Lombok, Komodo, Timor, etc) as being in the Indian, and the northern part (Borneo, Sulawesi, Ambon, New Guinea etc) as being in the Pacific. The abomination called the "Southern" ocean is defined as anything outside of 60 degrees south, so basically Antarctica's associated islands.

6. Same thing, only highest mountain on an island in each:
a. Pacific
b. Atlantic
c. Indian
d. Arctic
e. "Southern"

Monday, December 17, 2012

Middle Earth Map Notes

I've taken a few other fantasy maps to task.  Seeing as I just saw the Hobbit (first film), figured it was time to take a stab at what is basically the iconic map of fantasy literature, Middle Earth.

First, the map:

Middle Earth
Okay basically the area we call middle earth, is an area bounded by Forodwaith, Thun, Mordor, Gondor and the Great Sea.   Note I am not going to try and put all the accent marks and diacreticals in this piece.


Watersheds

In terms of watersheds we have everything west of the Misty Mountains (and south of their extension, the White Mountains, much of which is part of the Greyflood drainage basin... and on the other side we have the Great River Anduin, which flows through a gap between Mindolluin (the mountain above Minas Tirith) and some smaller hills called the Emyn Armen which look like a continuation of the white mountains.  

However, we also have two large enorheic basins which drain into landlocked "seas" (lakes).  All of Mordor is basically one endorheic basin draining into the "Sea" of Nurnen, and you have the larger Rhun basin likewise draining into the "Sea" of Rhun.   While the northern part of Mordor is barren, by accounts the southern part, Nurn, around the Sea of Nurn is actually green and fertile, and that is where Sauron had slave farms producing the food for his vast armies.    Still, as an endorheic basic this means we must have enough rainfall to sustain the rivers that flow into the lake to keep it stable.  If we had more rainfall in theory the lake would enlarge, and in theory enough could have turned Mordor into a giant lake.   Well in theory it would have an outlet in Udun, the one break in the mountains, or at least it would had Sauron not built Morannon (the Black Gate).  There is a tiny piece of Mordor drained by the Morgulduin stream that flows into the Anduin, this stream flows past Minas Morgul.

The Rhun basin includes the Celduin (aka the River Running) and its tributary the Forest River which joins it at Long Lake, and flows across Mirkwood.   In fact its source in the Gray Mountains is very close to the Anduin.  This means for all its might the Anduin does not pull that much a watershed from its eastern bank, at best maybe half of Mirkwood is in its basic, which places a divide running down the middle of Mirkwood.  On the map every tributary of the Anduin (and it doesn't really have any great ones) are short rivers tumbling down the Misty Mountains.   (there is one river that looks like it flows in from the east, the Greylin, but that is actually a source stream of the Anduin.  Its source is very close indeed to the Forest River.   It does perhaps drain the Dead Marshes.

The Celduin is interesting as it commands a huge basin.   It has a tributary called the Carnen (Redwater) whose source is in the Iron Hills, meaning at least part if not all of these hills are inside the Rhun basin.  For more detail of the main branch of the Celduin, we turn to the map from the hobbit:
Hobbit Map
This confirms even more of the Mirkwood being in the Rhun basin as we have a tributary of the Forest River, the Enchanted River also being part of the watershed.    We do see some mountains in wood (aptly titled "Mountains of Mirkwood".   I'm going to hazard a guess that the watershed south of these mountains is more towards Anduin, and north more towards the Celduin (River Running).  But that is just a guess.

and for more detail, Thror's map which was carried by Thorin Oakenshield.

Thror's map
Note that North is to the left in this map.   One intersting note is that the Forest River is depicted as a larger river than the Running River (Celduin).  Implying that it may be the principle source.   This would make sense, as it is longer, flows through a green vegated landscape and has a long tributary of its own.   The Running River on the other hand...  Its source is depicted as basically Erebor.  The Lonely Mountain.     Which is a presumably volcanic peak standing alone in a flat plain, miles from anything higher than it.   Which begs the question what kind of water table exactly could it hold, such to source a river like the Celduin.  The mountain's upper peak is apparently snowcapped, it must be to source such a river.  Even so it would not have that much to draw upon.   So I conclude the Forest River is actually the parent stream, though this may be obfuscated by the fact they both meet in Long Lake, and the natural inclination may have been to map it as if the stream in the same direction were.

Volcanos

It is notable that at least two prominent peaks... Erebor and Doom both appear to be volcanic in origin.  Erebor has all the signs of volcanism, arms that appear to have been "flows" and being isolated from any other mountain.   (if you really want to debate whether it is volcanic, I suggest this thread.    Further, its steep flanks point to a thicker, less hot magma than the basaltic variety we see in Hawaii, that would result in a much more gradual shield volcano (unlesss it subsequently eroded which is possible).     This might explain why its lava was unsuitable to destroy the one ring.   Only problem is Mount Doom itself does not appear to be a shield volcano either.  Unless Sauron just willed it that way.   But if you cop that out, you can use that for anything (e.g., the mountains around Mordor for example)./

Anyway those are just some quick observations.   There's a ton more to break down, will see if i feel the urge to continue...