NEWS: Geography Showdown

CULTURE: Geography Showdown

The US vs. the UK!

Who is slightly less dumb than the other? We'll finally know in 2007!

A British man and and an American man who share a love for geography have developed a website pitting the two countries against one another in a test to see who can better pick out the lesser countries of the world on map.

British co-founder Daniel Raven-Ellison believes his country will prevail and prove its mastery of geography to be superior to that of the US. So far his theory holds water. Great Britain is leading the US with a score of 58.517 to 56.020. Unfortunately, as in countless other situations Americans are, at the very least, rising to the challenge in far greater numbers than their British counterparts. So far USA's participation trumps that of the UK's by over 5 to 1 (USA currently has 16,893 participants; UK currently has only a meager 3,071 participants).

The "Geography Cup" has been ongoing since November 12th and continues until the end of this year, when the cup winner will be announced. Prizes seem limited to bragging rights but this is only the first year of what Daniel Raven-Ellison and American co-founder Roger Andresen hope will be an annual competition. Maybe next year the winning country can get a new car or something.

To compete, you need only register and then the clock starts ticking. Participants are given two minutes to locate 13 countries on a map of the world. Before competing, I suggest brushing up on small Pacific Island states, those little Caribbean island nations, and possibly Africa. Be warned, no country is off limits, all 193 of 'em. You may take the quiz up to three times per day.

Registration is free and only open to residents of the UK and US. It may take a couple of visits as the server seems taxed by avid participants. Location is verified digitally via the Internet connection to reduce Canada's interference—you never know what side they are on.

I'm surprised the U.S. has done that well. Didn't Britney Spears think that Japan was in Africa or something like that?

This sounds interesting.

You aint cheatin, you aint tryin.

In 1998, I totally won the National Geographic Geography Bee at Amelia Earhart Junior High. I could take on these fuckers any day.