Fun and games...I'm having none of it...

Here's a fun link...

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/Geography.htm

Lots of fun games, with different levels of difficulty.
It's one thing clicking on a country's position on a blank map. It's another dragging a country's outline into its right place on a map without any borders... and yet another to take a country shape, and resize and rotate into its right place on a featureless map... EEP. There are tests of how many you get right, how long it takes, and even (for the country placement) the average number of miles your mistakes are out by.

I've just spent several hours of fun with another Gomer, Sarah, challenging each other onto higher levels.

I do pretty well at national capitals and country locations in Africa, Asia and Europe. Pacific Islands? Scary. Caribbean? Not even going to try. :)
Sarah's blitzing me on US states... but I know more about Canada ;)

I include here a chunk of our msn conversation.

Glenn: when i was in 3rd year uni, looking for a subject to fill my electives, i found a 1st-year education subject on world geography
Glenn: a lot of fun...
Sarah: :D
Glenn: it was called World Regions, and looked at the world... um... region by region
Glenn: so a chapter on the middle east geography/history, and a chapter on central asia, chapter on east asia... etc
Sarah: pretty nifty!
Sarah: :D
Glenn: a lot of fun
Glenn: expensive hardcover textbook, but worth keeping after graduation
Glenn: it's how i learnt about Nunavut
Sarah: :D
Glenn: i flipped open to canada and thought "why are the N.W.T. coloured in two colours? hang on... nunavut? what the?"
Glenn: and then read the relevant paragraphs to find out all about the referendums etc
Sarah: I don't remember nunavut from school
Glenn: it became a territory in 1998 or 1999
Glenn: split off from n.w.t.
Sarah: ok...that's why I don't remember....I was out of school in 1997
Sarah: just missed it
Glenn: i finished h.s. in 98
Sarah: and it's not listed in my atlas
Glenn: there was also a cool map of quebec in red and blue, showing distribution of yes/no votes in their referendum
Glenn: with pie charts for each major city to show how their citizens voted
Sarah: that sounds cool
Glenn: most of the anglophones live along the us border... :P
Sarah: gross....there is a green spider walking across my mous pad
Glenn: what's the first thing you do when you look at someone's atlas?
Sarah: *squishes it*
Sarah: uh....look at how old it is
Glenn: i don't
Sarah: to see if it's really outdated
Glenn: i look at maps, country names, and try to guess the publication date BEFORE looking at the title page
Glenn: "No Eritrea? OK, it's pre-1993..."
Sarah: :D
Glenn: sad but true.....
Glenn: "French West Africa? OK, pre-1960..."
Sarah: lol!
Glenn: there's an atlas at our house that we've inherited somehow... the spine's falling to bits... it's published about 1898 or something
Glenn: big bits of greenland's coastline are dotted lines
Sarah: so you really know geography and the history if you know the dates of all these countries
Glenn: and there are parts of Brazil with "unexplored" written across them...
Sarah: :O
Sarah: wow!
Sarah: that's cool!
Glenn: i know dates of most new countries after, say, 1980s...
Glenn: cos there's not many...
Glenn: and i know some of african history thanks to growing up there and having an atlas that included maps of various stages of colonial history
Sarah: :)
Glenn: middle east capitals level 1...
Glenn: 100% in 36s
Sarah: good job!!
Glenn: wanna try oceania capitals level 1?
Sarah: I think I'll sit this one out
Glenn: hmm its not working for me
Glenn: i'll try south america instead
Sarah: I'll attempt level 2 of south american capitals
Glenn: 95% in 48s on level 1... i'll try level 2
Glenn: i made one silly mistake...
Sarah: :D
Glenn: mixed up honduras and nicaragua...
Sarah: 15/20
Glenn: level 2... 100% in 63 s
Sarah: on level 2
Sarah: :P
Sarah: :D
Glenn: Costa Rica... do you know the way to San Jose
Sarah: la la la...
Sarah: :D
Glenn: gotta love countries like Guatemala, Panama, and Mexico, etc
Glenn: they have very imaginative capital city names... :P
Sarah: :D
Glenn: trying level 3...
Glenn: grr ran into programming errors again
Glenn: what would you say the first three letters of "La Paz" were?
Sarah: lap
Sarah: ?
Sarah: what did they say it was?
Glenn: it's L-A-space
Sarah: interesting...
Glenn: yes...
Sarah: I never would have thought that. I'd assume it was LAP
Glenn: i'm going to attempt the impossible and have a stab at canadian capitals
Glenn: lev 2
Sarah: I am working on US states level 8 with rotating them on an empty map
Sarah: 7/7 so far
Glenn: 77% of canadian capitals right... prince edward island? how would i know...
Glenn: what time is it for yu?
Sarah: 11:25pm
Sarah: it's gotta be really late or really early for you
Glenn: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/results.html?query=London
Glenn: -)
Sarah: you should go to bed!!
Glenn: i know, eh?
Glenn: crikey, it's father's day on sep 4... will have to remember to email dad
Sarah: 44/50 on level 8
Glenn: crikey... you must be american
Glenn: :D
Sarah: that could be it!
Sarah: :D
Glenn: i am just putting this site into a post on my blog...
Sarah: :D
Glenn: this is going online... "Sarah's blitzing me on US states... but I know more about Canada ;)"
Sarah: hahahaha!
Sarah: :D
Sarah: because I didn't know that nunavut existed
Sarah: :P

And having read through this, you will now spot the pun in the title of this post. :D My work is done here.

I'm going to go to bed now. I want a few hours sleep tonight.