Contest #22 Answer

I couldn’t resist this one. It has been in the news lately, but I didn’t know it was so far along as to appear on Google Earth. It is “The World”, a manmade archipelago off the coast of Dubai. You can own your own part of the world for only a few million dollars. Personally, I’d invade my neighbors and try to reconstruct ancient empires. Or, I’d get my neighbors to play enormous games of Risk.

Getting this one right, a record number of people:

  • Wedny
  • Matt Manolides
  • ACG
  • Andy McAllister
  • Kal…the Ameristani
  • Ben Bayer
  • Brian T
  • Kevin Lew
  • Karel
  • Roland
  • Ron Schott
  • Stephen Hope
  • Martha
  • Deion

Contest #21 Answer

We are starting out the new decade of contests with a softball. The answer is the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul (not Constantinople), Turkey. For almost 1,000 years, the Hagia Sophia was the largest church in the world. It became a mosque after the fall of Constantinople and now is a museum. If you are interested in Byzantium, there is an excellent podcast lecture series called “12 Byzantine Rulers” which gives a great overview of the Byzantine Empire.

Getting this one correct:

  • Brian T
  • Matt Manolides
  • Chris Christensen
  • Andy McAllister
  • Ron Schott
  • Florian Jenn
  • ACG
  • Stephen Hope
  • Karel
  • Ben Bayer

Please expect some overlap in future contests. I can queue up contests in advance, but answers require me to do sit down and go through answers. This will also me to get contests out in a more timely manner as I am traveling.

Hagia Sophia HDR (by javierly.com)
Image by Javierly.com

Hagia Sophia (by RK Catch)
Image by RK Catch

Contest #22

Picture 2

Note: The photo is NOT oriented to true north. Also, try to be specific in your answer.

Contest #20 Answer

This was a harder one. Only four people got the correct answer. The answer is Iquitos, Peru which is the largest city in the world which cannot be accessed by road. If you go to Iquitos, you have to fly or travel by boat.

Getting this one correct:

  • Ron Schott
  • Spathiinc
  • Karel
  • ACG

The leaderboard will be reset starting with contest #21. The winner of the first decade #11-21 is Ben Bayer with 9/10.

Iquitos peru

Iquitos, Peru

Contest #20

This is the last contest for this series. We’ll start the leaderboard over from scratch with contest #21.

Picture 1.png

Contest #19 Answer

I was surprised that so many people go this one. This is the isle of Elba off Italy where Napoleon was first exiled. (Perhaps I should have picked St. Helena??) Elba is famous, but small and most people don’t see an image of the island when it comes up in discussion. When Napoleon was exiled, he was given the title “Emperor of Elba”. I’m sure he appreciated that…

Getting it right this week:

  • Karel
  • Dr. Benjamin J. Bayer, PhD
  • Wendy
  • ACG
  • Nate D.
  • Spathiinc
  • Stephen Hope
  • Ron Schott

Elba HDR
Image by Scott Ingram Photography

Elba
Image by Kalamita