geography

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NYT Goes After Worldle, Which Sounds Just a Bit Like Wordle

Owner of word game files legal challenge to similar-sounding geography-themed online game

(Newser) - Played any Worldle lately? Not Wordle (we got you, didn't we)—Worldle, a geography-themed game whose name is so close to the famous online word-based game that the owner of the latter is now going after the former. The BBC reports that the New York Times, which scooped up...

Word 'Negro' Nixed From Names of 16 Texas Locations

Follows vote of federal board

(Newser) - A federal board has voted to remove the word "negro" from the names of over a dozen Texas geographic locations. Per CNN , the US Board on Geographic Names approved the proposal Thursday to rename 16 geographical features in Texas that include the word. Per the Texas Tribune , the change...

2 Guys Just Made an 'Earth Sandwich'
2 Guys
Just Made
an 'Earth
Sandwich'
Jan 21, 2020 11:25 AM CST

2 Guys Just Made an 'Earth Sandwich'

They precisely placed slices of bread on the ground in New Zealand and Spain

(Newser) - Two strangers who live a world apart just made an unusual sandwich together. In New Zealand, 19-year-old Etienne Naude placed a slice of bread on the ground at a precisely calculated spot. In Spain, 34-year-old Angel Sierra did the same, reports the BBC . The result is an "earth sandwich"...

Geography Gaffe Costs Professor His Job

He didn't realize Australia was a country AND a continent

(Newser) - An online adjunct professor incorrectly told a student that Australia isn't a country and gave her a failing grade, prompting Southern New Hampshire University to replace the instructor. Buzzfeed News reports that the 27-year-old student in Idaho was assigned to compare American social norms to that of another country....

School District Is First in US to Adopt This World Map

They're trying to 'decolonize the curriculum'

(Newser) - The Boston school system says it is the first in the US to adopt a world map that shows how big countries really are in relation to each other, unlike the one most of us grew up with. The Gall-Peters projection, first published in 1974, gets rid of the distortion...

Geographic Profiling Backs Theory on Identity of Banksy

Robin Gunningham appears to be artist's real name

(Newser) - His name is Robin Gunningham. That's the finding of British scientists who think they've confirmed the identity of Banksy using geographic profiling, the BBC reports. In the study published in the Journal of Spatial Science (one that was temporarily delayed by the artist's lawyers because he apparently...

Here's the Total Number of Lakes on Our Planet

117M, according to new count

(Newser) - Eight years ago, a much-discussed study estimated that there were 304 million lakes on Earth—but a careful count reveals that the number is closer to a third of that. The planet holds 117 million lakes, researchers find in what LiveScience calls the "best count yet." And while...

Map Shows Russians What's Russia, What's Not

Canadian NATO delegation fires tweet at Mother Russia

(Newser) - Canadian officials had a message for Vladimir Putin this week: Here's where Russia isn't. NATO delegates from Canada tweeted a simplified map Wednesday that delineates Russia's borders, calling Russia "Russia" and Ukraine (including the Crimean region) "not Russia," the AP reports. "Geography can...

Guy Sues Airline That Flew Him to Grenada— Not Granada

You say 'tomato,' British Airways gives you 'tomahto'

(Newser) - There are innocent little geography flubs, and then there are the ones that accidentally send travelers 4,000 miles away from their intended destination and result in multi-thousand-dollar lawsuits and snotty headlines. Today we present the latter vis a vis the case of Edward Gamson, a Florida dentist who wanted...

Author: Romney Utterly Misread My Book
Author: Romney Utterly Misread My Book
OPINION
Aug 2, 2012 1:31 PM CDT

Author: Romney Utterly Misread My Book

Jared Diamond says candidate misquoted Guns, Germs, and Steel

(Newser) - In making his recent controversial comments about Israel's cultural superiority , Mitt Romney cited Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel, which he said argued that "physical characteristics of the land" like iron ore deposits determined nations' economic success. "That is so different from what my book actually...

Digging Through Planet Earth? Here's Where You'd Appear

AntipodeMap.com shows your geographic 'opposite'

(Newser) - A journey through the center of the Earth would spit you out on the other side—but where? A Google Maps-based website aims to answer that question. AntipodeMap.com allows you to pick a location and automatically see the spot on the opposite side of the globe, Mashable reports. Most...

White House Gets F in Geography

It confuses Wyoming and Colorado on map for press credentials

(Newser) - The White House issued press credentials for President Obama's trip west this week with an embarrassing gaffe: The map issued to reporters gets a state wrong. It highlights California and Washington state correctly, but then confuses Wyoming for Colorado. See CNN for an image of the mistaken map. In...

UCLA Students Came Close in 2009 Osama Prediction

Professor, class had the wrong city but the right idea

(Newser) - A UCLA geography professor and his class who tried to predict Osama bin Laden's whereabouts in 2009 don't get an A-plus, but easily a solid B. Professor Thomas Gillespie and crew determined that bin Laden would be within about 180 miles of Tora Bora and living in a...

Scientists Spot 657 New Islands
 Scientists Spot 657 New Islands 
Apr 20, 2011 7:31 AM CDT

Scientists Spot 657 New Islands

Study identifies hundreds of new barrier islands worldwide

(Newser) - Scientists poring over satellite images and topographical charts have discovered a flood of new islands. A study has identified 657 new barrier islands around the world, bringing the total number of islands in the world to 2,149, LiveScience reports. Such islands tend to occur in chains, forming a series...

Gov. Perry Makes Texas-Sized Geography Mistake

Momentarily places Juarez within the 50 US states

(Newser) - Rest easy, America: The most dangerous US city is ... in Mexico. Or so discovered Texas Gov. Rick Perry after an embarrassing goof yesterday. While talking to reporters about border enforcement, Perry brought up the violence in Mexico, saying, "There have been 34,000 Mexicans killed directly attributable to the...

Hey, Kids: Learn Geography From Sarah Palin!

Jimmy Kimmel mocks Palin for latest snafus

(Newser) - Jimmy Kimmel poked fun at Sarah Palin’s latest grammar and geography screw-ups last night, culminating in this brilliant Schoolhouse Rock parody, in which a cartoon Palin valiantly tries and fails to name all 50 states.

Palin Screws Up Geography
 Palin Screws Up Geography 
Jul 20, 2010 7:39 AM CDT

Palin Screws Up Geography

Says Kodiak, Alaska is biggest island in US; Hawaii pissed

(Newser) - OK, so this isn’t anywhere near as bad as thinking Africa was a country , but Sarah Palin has messed up her geography once again. In a Facebook post endorsing New Hampshire Senate candidate Kelly Ayotte, Palin said she was headed to Kodiak, Alaska, “America’s largest island.”...

Prof Says He's Found bin Laden
 Prof Says He's Found bin Laden 
Feb 18, 2009 2:49 PM CST

Prof Says He's Found bin Laden

Study narrows possible hiding places to three buildings

(Newser) - Osama bin Laden is probably in one of three buildings in Parachinar, Pakistan, according to a UCLA geography professor. His research team applied data on where bin Laden was last spotted to models that explain how animal species spread to determine the region bin Laden is most likely in, then...

Palin 'Didn't Know Africa Is a Continent'

Insiders spill beans on Mac's troublesome veep choice

(Newser) - Sarah Palin's shaky grasp of geography stressed out the McCain campaign, the Chicago Tribune reports. A Fox News reporter, sworn to secrecy until after the election, said a campaign insider told him Palin was unaware that Africa was a continent rather than a single country, and she was unable to...

It's Time to Bring Back Geography to Classrooms
It's Time to Bring Back Geography to Classrooms
OPINION
May 22, 2008 9:40 PM CDT

It's Time to Bring Back Geography to Classrooms

Americans can't find their way around world maps

(Newser) - The impressive skills of 11-year-old Akshay Rajagopal—the nation's new geography bee champ—are all too rare. In fact, lots of Americans are geographically illiterate to an appalling degree, writes Evan Sparks in the American. At some point, the nation decided to leave the subject out of school curricula. Geography,...

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