110 replies to this topic

[ELeFevre]

Which nation is scattered over an area wider than the continental United States and has a cumulative land size smaller than New York City?

[Hans van der Maarel]

I'm too lazy to actually look it up on Wikipedia, but I'd say the Federated States of Micronesia.

Excellent idea by the way, let's see if we continue this the same way as our Google Earth competition... Whoever answers a question correctly (after the original poster confirms the correct answer) gets to post a new question.

[ELeFevre]

I'm too lazy to actually look it up on Wikipedia, but I'd say the Federated States of Micronesia.

Excellent idea by the way, let's see if we continue this the same way as our Google Earth competition... Whoever answers a question correctly (after the original poster confirms the correct answer) gets to post a new question.

Not exactly the right answer...but you're in the ballpark. Try again. Let's see if we can keep a trivia thread going.

[Hans van der Maarel]

Not exactly the right answer...but you're in the ballpark. Try again. Let's see if we can keep a trivia thread going.

Well, here's my second answer: Kiribati...

[ELeFevre]

You got it! You're up.

[Hans van der Maarel]

Here comes:

Which point on the Earth's surface is the furthest removed from the center of the Earth?

[rmcculley]

Summit of Everest?

[Edit]Nope, after actually searching for the answer, Chimborazo in the Andes wins.[/Edit]

[Hans van der Maarel]

It's Chimborazo alright. Even though Everest is ~2000 meters taller, the fact that Chimborazo is almost right on top of the equator means that due to the flattening towards the poles, its summit is further away from the center than Everest's.

You're up next.

[rmcculley]

Alright,

What is the smallest country in the world that is a UN member state?

[benbakelaar]

Since the only way I'll ever get any of these questions is by looking up the answer online, I'll just throw out my first guess based on a glance at the UN member states list...

Andorra

[Hans van der Maarel]

Well...

After Andorra, there's still plenty of other small countries. Way smaller countries even... So... the smallest full-member of the UN is Monaco, the Vatican City is even smaller, but it's only an observer so I'm not sure whether that can be counted.

However... there is a whole possible side-debate about what *really* can be counted as a country...

[rmcculley]

Monaco it is!

I chose UN member state to try and bypass the whole "what defines a country' argument. As you say, there are a ton of territories etc. that are tiny, but Monaco is the smallest UN member state at ~5 km squared.

[Edit]Apparently the forum doesn't support extended characters. I tried to make a superscript 2 for km squared using Alt 0178, which properly creates the superscript 2, but after submitting it to the forum, it get's converted to a question mark.[/Edit]

[Hans van der Maarel]

Actually, Monaco is even smaller than that... 1.6 sq. km (0.75 sq. mile)

Right, new one, a 2-parter:

What is the highest point in The Netherlands today?

What is going to be the highest point in The Netherlands after July 1st 2007?

[Matthew Hampton]

The answer to the first part is Vaalserberg at 322 M. If indeed you are talking about land forms, however the 2nd part of the question makes me think you are including buildings...

[Hans van der Maarel]

The answer to the first part is Vaalserberg at 322 M. If indeed you are talking about land forms, however the 2nd part of the question makes me think you are including buildings...

Nope. It'll be an actual land form And I'm not talking about heaping some dirt on top of the Vaalserberg (which we did a few years ago, went from 321 to 323 meters...)