WWTBAM Bored

One of tonight's questions on Jeopardy was #7 on this section of Ear's quiz (the one I flubbed & then edited in.) BTW, they say there are actually two such countries!

earendel wrote:The seventh section was people and places:

1. Which of the Great Lakes is the only one not to border Canada?
2. How many letters are there in the Hawaiian alphabet?
3. What nation was the first to give its women the right to vote?
4. Which of the five boroughs of New York City is the largest in area?
5. The Riviera lies along the coast of France and what other country?
6. What is the official language of Pakistan?
7. What is the only predominantly Roman Catholic country in Asia?
8. Who co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates?
9. Which First Lady, after throwing out a pitch at a Chicago Cubs game, prompted an article in the Atlantic Monthly entitled "Throwing Like a Girl"?
10. What mythological figure is depicted on a statue in Rockefeller Center?

We got 7 out of 10 on this section.

Spoiler

What is The Philippines or what is East Timor

I still wonder about saying these countries are "in Asia" -- same as I wonder about calling Iceland "in Europe" or Hispanola "in North America."

Asia has traditionally been defined as the landmass itself plus Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia and surrounding countries down to but not including the island of New Guinea.

New Guinea is considered part of the Australian land mass which is also typically separated by a distinct fauna division noted by the Wallace and Weber lines which meander between New Guinea and most of the rest of the Indonesian island chain.

Australian related species predominant on one side while Asian species predominant on the other.

Whether or not that is reasonable I can't say.

Thank you Tan! I just wonder about stuff like that, that's all

Started a couple years ago when I was watching Jeopardy (of course!) and learned that Iceland was considered part of Europe. I did not know that previously.

VAdame wrote:Thank you Tan! I just wonder about stuff like that, that's all

Started a couple years ago when I was watching Jeopardy (of course!) and learned that Iceland was considered part of Europe. I did not know that previously.

Although a dive site this talks a bit about the division.

http://www.starfish.ch/dive/Wallacea.html

Also the Sahul shelf shows why New Guinea is considered part of the Australian landmass. In the last ice age the two were connected as a result. And why New Zealand is geographically distinct from Australia as there is a deep channel between the two so that they were never on the same land mass or even close to one another.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahul_Shelf

jarnon wrote:

Spoiler

At the time Ear's test was created, East Timor was still a Portugese colony, so the Philippines was the only answer.

East Timor ceased being a Portuguese colony in 1975.

Bob Juch wrote:

jarnon wrote:

Spoiler

At the time Ear's test was created, East Timor was still a Portugese colony, so the Philippines was the only answer.

East Timor ceased being a Portuguese colony in 1975.

The occupation by Indonesia until 2002 was probably the relevant factor.

VAdame wrote: I still wonder about saying these countries are "in Asia" -- same as I wonder about calling Iceland "in Europe" or Hispanola "in North America."

What continent would you put Hispaniola in?

Easily part of North America as are the Bahamas, most of the Antilles and Central America down to Panama.

Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire, and Trinidad and Tobago are harder to classify. I'd put them in South America but I can live with them going either way.

andrewjackson wrote:

VAdame wrote: I still wonder about saying these countries are "in Asia" -- same as I wonder about calling Iceland "in Europe" or Hispanola "in North America."

What continent would you put Hispaniola in?

Easily part of North America as are the Bahamas, most of the Antilles and Central America down to Panama.

Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire, and Trinidad and Tobago are harder to classify. I'd put them in South America but I can live with them going either way.

The division is often rather arbitrary. The ABC's and Trinidad and Tobago rest on the continental shelf of South America so I would tend to include them with South America if you eliminate the consideration of a Central or Middle America.

So from Panama up and from Grenada up I think of that as North America while the rest is South America.

Doesn't mean that is correct, just how I conceptualize it! YMMV.

Of course much of the Caribbean sits on a separate tectonic plate the excludes Cuba but includes much of the rest of the Greater Antilles, including Hispaniola, and the Lesser Antilles as well as most of what we call Central America, from Guatemala to Panama. Then again tectonic plates aren't very helpful as the North American Plate includes a good chunk of eastern Siberia!

Of interest (well, ok, of interest to me…), the Caribbean tectonic plate divides Trinidad and Tobago. Trinidad (along with Barbados, the red headed step child of the Caribbean, are both on the South American plate while Tobago is on the Caribbean plate.

I don't like the tectonic plate distinction, because as you say, you wind up with more exceptions than clarity.

Arabia, India, and the Philippines also have their own plates. Are they separate from Asia or not?

I try to make it simple. Panama is a pretty easy to define break between North and South America. Everything north of that is North America unless it is attached to South America. That puts most of the Antilles in North America and for continuity sake you might as well put all of them in North America.

Except the ones that I mentioned which are just off the coast of Venezuela. And, as I said, if you want to put them in North America go right ahead. It is probably simpler that way.

What kills me is that European soccer fans continually talk about combining North and South American soccer confederations because "it's all one land mass anyway" but are also completely convinced of the absolute separation of Europe and Asia. Showing them maps doesn't help.

No, I don't think tectonic plates are particularly helpful either. And I agree that if forced to choose I would put Central America and most of the Caribbean in North America with the exceptions of the ABC's and T&T.

What continent would you put Hispaniola in?

None, really. I guess I don't think of ocean islands as being part of any continent -- I think of them as separate bits of land entirely.

Wrongly, I suppose.

VAdame wrote:

What continent would you put Hispaniola in?

None, really. I guess I don't think of ocean islands as being part of any continent -- I think of them as separate bits of land entirely.

Wrongly, I suppose.

How about Great Britain or Ireland?

Or Japan?

Not trying to be picky, just curious.