Special Blog Post:
Middle East Geography Quiz
While preparing several articles for publication here at The Dark Wraith Forums, your host realized it might be worth the time to whip up a quiz sure to challenge and inform everyone. Actually, compared to that Missile Quiz last week, this one should be a somewhat less than a head-banger. Whether you score high or low on this one, you'll enjoy it. Without further ado, take your best shot. At the end of this post is the link to a modest map of the Middle East. If you get desperate, you can open it to see some of the answers to the quiz questions. I know you won't do that, however: you'll slog through the quiz, find out your score, then you'll click on the link to the map. Yes, indeed. That's the sporting way to do it.The Dark Wraith invites you to see the map of the Middle East and, as always, thanks you for taking this nice quiz.
Published 7/23/2006 07:12:00 PM
<< 51 Comments Total
Good Afternoon Dark Wraith:
80% again. I blew off the placement of Gaza, but, I'm not ashamed. While recovering from my hip and shin wounds (hip was left, a chunk out of the iliac crest and the shin was right, so no, I didn't have a good leg to kick with) I was assigned to a facility in the mountains above San Diego teaching map reading and navigation. I would begin sessions by claiming (in a shameless plagarism of Daniel Boone) that I had never been lost. Not once. Ever. Then I would hem and haw a bit and say "I was sorta confused once for a couple of days. . .but I knew exactly where I was the whole time. I was right the fuck there. Some of my tadpoles would even catch on to the philosophical impact of that statement.
Maps, compasses and stars are so much more romantic than the digital efficiency of GPS. I still own and cherish my sextant. It is on a shelf next to my morse code speed key.
Two of the answers to your quiz are incorrect. Number seven: Although Pakistan is indeed to the east of Iran, Iran's border with Afghanistan is substantially longer than the Iranian-Pakistani border, which, in a sense, lies on the southeastern side of Iran. Number nine: the Gaza strip borders Israel on the southwest, not the southeast.
Geographical errors aside, I very much enjoy your blog. Best regards.
Good evening, Anonymous.
You are correct about Gaza. That was an error in the javascript. I should have caught it, but I didn't.
The matter of the country that borders Iran to the east was an accident in terms of choices for answers. I certainly didn't mean to put Afghanistan in that list because it does, indeed, border Iran just like Pakistan does.
The Dark Wraith gets the quiz repaired.
Thanks DW. I learned that I'm a pretty good guesser. (70%) but feel in no way in charge of the map. Not knowing Syria was my downfall. And knowing that Israel attacked southern Lebanon helped my guess work. I was very sure of Iraq and Iran and the waterways-- process of elimination. I've never studied the area and only remember what little I know by seeing it on tv sporatically--don't watch it very often.
Have a good evening.
Ok recent comments would put me at 80% as I was pretty sure that Gaza was SW.
Im still not very much in command of the map. But thanks to you a little better.
BY the by I don't see a problem with the Pakistan answer as Afganistan is or seems more east northeast to me.Not directly east.
Ok-- nuf said
For Minstrel Boy: Good on ya with the sextant.
You and my dad could've had great conversations. He taught celestial navigation for the U.S. Power Squadron.
With the sextant he made obeisance to the sun-god, he consulted ancient tomes and tables of magic characters, muttered prayers in a strange tongue that sounded like Indexerrorparallaxrefraction, made
cabalistic signs on paper, added and carried one, and then, on a piece
of holy script called the Grail - I mean, the Chart - he placed his finger on a certain space conspicuous for its blankness and said, "Here we are." When we looked at the blank space and asked, "And where is that?" he answered in the cipher-code of the higher priesthood,
"31 -15 - 47 north, 133 - 5 - 30 west."
And we said, "Oh," and felt mighty small.
~~Jack London, The Cruise of the Snark
Wraith, so it really was SW, huh? Pfft. I'm not taking the test again. I didn't even be in charge of the maps the first time. ;-)
Sorry, but on another map I see the problem with Afganistan OK
NOW "nuf said
And good night.
LOL...
I didn't even WANT to be in charge ... the first time.
Good Afternoon Dark Wraith:
That means I aced it. But, you're right, it wasn't as hard as some of your others. I chose Pakistan rather than Afghanistan because it holds a truer east, although I can understand at least a pro forma argument from someone guessing incorrectly.
Because of my advancing age and aching old wounds I respectfully decline any leadership position. I would be proud to serve hot chow up at the base camp however, and would be content to serenade the nightwatch during my late hour baking sessions. Lessons on the sextant would be given gratis but sextants, like all truly valuable things are bring your own.
Well, well, well.
Good evening, Dark Wraith.
I got an 80% only because I cheated! I didn't realize you'd have a quiz and I hadn't actually looked at a Middle Eastern map in some time. I knew where to find the countries on the globe, should the need arise, but out of the blue like that! Well!
Thanks for the quiz, though. It's always nice to take a refresher.
Good evening, Old White Lady.
Actually, I should be used to—shall we say—"creative" test taking methods. This semester has been the worst in a progressively challenging situation at the colleges where I teach. I've never had so many students openly cheating in my life, and giving them a break has led to several even worse problems with the students becoming more brazen and actually attempting to intimidate me. (Note: that was a bad idea on their part.)
But here, the emphasis is on offering a refresher, as you put it so well, on what countries are where in the Middle East. The names of the nations are tossed around in the news media, but it seems like it helps to know the physical configuration of the players (willing or otherwise) in this latest Middle East drama.
The Dark Wraith should probably be handing out gold and silver stars, or something like that.
Good evening, Mistrel Boy.
I think underneath my error was exactly the same sentiment regarding the geometry of Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. For some reason, as meEE noted, I just think of Afghanistan as east and north of Iran, but it's actually only on the eastern side; but I nevertheless consider Pakistan "true" or "dead" (to use what might come to be an unfortunate term) east of the Persian state.
Anyway, I did fix that question, as well as the misassignment of the correct answer in the other one.
This is the first time I've done a ten-question quiz with this coding. I was actually sweating bullets when I hit the "Publish" button. As soon as I hit it, I knew I'd made a really stupid error, and I had to rapidly jump into the post editor and fix that one. I was so relieved I didn't go back through and test the full, live-fire version, which I have made to work only on this blog.
Although I think it's pretty cool, I don't know whether or not I'll have the emotional wherewithal to push it past 10 questions. That should be a relief to folks who don't like 100-question, multiple-choice tests.
Unfortunately, while I was just writing that last paragraph, it suddenly hit me how I can rewrite the code to make a test of any length I want without having to do any further custom coding.
Oh my goodness! That means I could post a ONE THOUSAND question test without breaking a sweat!
Cool.
The Dark Wraith might try that some time.
[And thereby watch his hit meter not move a single digit for the next two weeks.]
Good evening, Moody Blue.
Thank you for that message you sent me.
I've tried to respond twice now, but your server is throwing my messages back at me. I don't know whether that server is having a problem or if it's looking at keywords and bouncing because of some I used. (No, they're not those kinds of words; they're words involving military hardware.) Whether or not I get the message through to you eventually, I do appreciate the information. I am working on a post that actually addresses the one weapon, what the article refers to as the "GLU-109," which actually has another designation.
Anyway, the spooks of the Internet might be at work, or it might be nothing more than another one of those glitches that vex cyberspace every now and then.
The Dark Wraith works around the barbed wire.
Barbed wire
Cute. LOL
I'm sorry you're having a problem with my server, Wraith. I don't like knowing they are messing up. You have my yahoo, too? (Or you could've PM-ed.) It's not that important. I wasn't even sure if the info was useful to you or not.
I sure would prefer more pleasant things on my mind these days. Even those words would be a welcome change!
WTF?
Mine to you just came back:
"Permanent Failure: 550-Callback_setup_failed_while_verifying"
I'm confused.
Good evening, Moody Blue.
I'm being blocked on your network. In fact, I've been blocked on at least two in the past 12 hours.
If it weren't for coffee and weirdness, the Dark Wraith would have little for which to live.
Good morning, Dark Wraith.
100%. Not as difficult as most of your quizzes. Informative and fun nevertheless.
Don't think I'm ready for the topographical map though.
Good evening, once again, Moody Blue.
You can send me messages through the message form in the sidebar, of course. That flows exclusively through my own server and is quite secure. Even if someone tries to disrupt it, I can track the attacker without breaking a sweat.
You can also use the backchannel messaging system at The Dark Wraith Forums Message Board. That way is about as secure and sure of getting through as I can get.
Either way, I'll get your messages and anyone else's who wants to communicate on a secure channel with me. I can also authenticate much more quickly, too.
The Dark Wraith wishes Internet nonsense could still annoy him, but it just doesn't anymore.
Good evening, Progressive Traditionalist.
Yes, sometimes I do like to field a slow pitch just to keep spirits from sinking too low. Don't worry, though: now that I've worked out the coding for these longer quizzes, I have a quiz planned for August that's sure to make people think they should enroll in Ace Trucking School rather than the Dark Wraith's School of Scholarly Gruel.
The Dark Wraith needs to get a trademark on that school name.
I am and have been on the phone with tech support for just over an hour and 20 minutes.
And I just blew up. Ka-BOOM.
Yikes.
The Dark Wraith eases out of the room.
Huh.
Yer askeered of lil ol' me? Just cuz I beat ya to the beast carving station?
Pffft.
If it weren't for coffee and weirdness, the Dark Wraith would have little for which to live.
You forgot the dark chocolate. And don't look in the cabinet behind the stash of fresh chips, either.
80%: failed on both the water questions. Knowing where Oman is and Aden and Persia were didn't stop me ignoring that to place their waterways elsewhere...
90% - and I didn't even have to look it up. *heh*
100% without assistance or breaking a sweat. Much more satisfying than 3/5 on the missiles quiz. Thanks for the exercise!
I've been lurking since the 'misplaced message' incident a few weeks back. Delightfully dark design married to throroughly thought-provoking content.
Please, continue.
Peace!
Hello Gorgeous,
90% here but I object to the Gaza answer. Gaza is on the western border but it isn't in the southern part of Israel at all.
Good afternoon, Liz.
Now you know very well that I'm always willing to take a reasonable argument for an alternate answer on a test.
Here's a map of the region in question.
Notice, folks, that Liz has a point: if you look from the perspective of the longest north/south border, which is on the eastern side of Israel, Gaza sits in the middle of the western side.
But, with respect to the western side—the side of Israel in which the Gaza Strip is situated—it is on the very southern-most end of the border.
Alright, Liz, here's what we'll do: I shall give you the credit for the answer provided you submit a three-page paper detailing the history of the Middle East from 1948 to 2006.
Uh... no, huh?
Okay, how about a one-paragraph statement on the best way to make my shoes stop smelling so beastly in the hot summer weather.
No, huh?
Okay, fine, I'll give you the credit.
Sheesh.
The Dark Wraith will do just about anything to keep the classroom rioting to a minimum.
!00%. Having been to all the countries and sailed all the waters in question, I would have had to hang my head in shame had it been otherwise.
On a pedantic note, the 1947 UN Partition Plan for the Palestine has the Gaza Strip covering the half the current claimed southern Israeli border with Egypt. Only the USA recognises the smaller Gaza shown on that map .. but then only the USA recognises an Israeli border within 40 miles of Jerusalem.
The ecological way to make your shoes stop stinking:
Get an old (but clean) pair of thin cotton socks. Stuff them with sawdust and place them in your shoes when you take them off. All the odours and perspiration get absorbed by the sawdust.
;)
100% and no guessing either. I got lucky on the missle quiz but I had this one down cold.
9. On what side of Israel is the Gaza Strip?
But, with respect to the western side—the side of Israel in which the Gaza Strip is situated... (emphisis added)
Good afternoon Mr. Wraith,
I would side with Blonsense Liz, if I had picked west, but I told you I was 99% ignorant of Israel, so I did not. I figured Gaza Stirp to be somesort of bandage to patch the wounds of the civilians.
Good evening, Mr. Goat.
I do believe I sense that the test-takers are forming a coälition of insurgency here.
The Dark Wraith needs his own Green Zone.
Good evening, Anonymous.
Yes, that missile quiz really took people's heads off. I keep track of the score distribution, but I don't attach any personal information to scores other than a running log so I don't double-count those who take the test more than once. (The problem there is that I'm pretty sure I have at least a handful of IPs where more than one person logging the same IP is taking the test, so I might want to just drop the log altogether.)
On the missile quiz, the overall median score was (actually, still is, since I've had ten people take it today!) 40%. For this geography quiz, the running median is holding steady at 80%.
That's truly heartening to me: I'd certainly rather have people be really sharp at geography than at missile identification.
I suppose that's a sort of bias I might not have were I to live in the Middle East.
--------
Israeli child: Mommy, look. It's a Fajr-3 missile coming this way. Let's RUN!
Israeli mother: No, sweetie, that's one of those inaccurate Qassam missiles. See? It's coming at us, which means that, by the time it gets here, it'll be off course and land over there in that park with the atrocious landscaping.
--------
Lebanese child: Look, Mommy! It's a GB-28A/B with the Paveway III GPS/INS navigation package and the 4,500 pound bomb! Let's RUN!
Lebanese mother: No, sweetie. That F-15I did that loft maneuver, but the bomb didn't release. That's the pilot's used barf bag he ejected because he pulled up too hard on the maneuver.
-------
The Dark Wraith should probably lay off the good-outcome missile plays.
Good evening, Mark.
I hope you're not pulling my leg because tomorrow I'm going over to where the new campus building is being put up and grab a pile of sawdust. I'm going to need to figure out some excuse for what I'm doing if someone asks me why I'm taking it.
And no, I'm not planning on telling them the real reason.
The Dark Wraith just hopes this sawdust thing is worth the effort.
Good evening, Don, and welcome to The Dark Wraith Forums.
Don't be too down about getting three out of five on that missile quiz. That thing wasn't easy, but as I had noted on the thread for the quiz, the media every now and then tosses out some missile term, and it's good to know what the journalists are talking about.
And it's also good to know when they don't know what they're talking about. Minstrel Boy brought up that point when he told about a picture of a Qassam being incorrectly identified as something else. I've seen several examples of that, but I've also noticed that reporters appear now to avoid getting specific with naming the hardware they're showing in their reports. I would bet that, every time they get a name wrong, they receive a whole bunch of calls and e-mails from ex-military types correcting them.
Fortunately, a few rounds of that should disabuse the average reporter of trying to talk in anything other than the vague, scripted, quasi-jingoisms more suited to their lot in life. If they're really good, they might one day get to be like Ted Koppel, doing the "embedded reporter" gig and being allowed to wear real Army fatigues.
Sorry. I got a little wound up there. Something about the TV and newspaper version of war horror just doesn't seem to be giving the average American the key to Clueville about how monstrously unproductive any solution that goes BOOM! usually is.
The Dark Wraith needs to lighten up on the American electorate.
[Who knows? Maybe someday they will once again elect a President with frontal lobes. That would be cool.]
90%
Good evening Mr. Wraith,
if this had been an exam in college and you were my professor I would be outside your door right now asking what you ment by "directly east" of Iran meant.
Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan are all east of Iran.
I suppose the correct answer would be Afghanistan which is directly east while Turkmenistan is Northeast and Pakistan is Souteast.
I see your students have been discussing this issue.
Had this been an exam I would have crossed out the choices and penciled in Afghanistan.
Lucky for Dark Wraith, I was not one of his students in college.
Trust me, PoliShifter, I have many students every semester who take quite a bit of pleasure in challenging test questions I provide. I usually have to work a little to get them over some degree of timidity, but once they know I enjoy and encourage that aspect of our general dialogue, they have a certain zeal.
And as for crossing out answers and providing your own, that's not a good idea: a professor who knows what he's doing has a purpose in providing the framework of answers from which to choose. In some cases, I'm looking for an answer that is correct but not the obvious answer that too many would know without serious study or deep insight. For example, in a statistics class, I might ask the following:
Which of the following probability density functions has the general shape of a so-called "bell curve"?
A) the Chi-squared pdf
B) the Cauchy pdf
C) the binomial pdf
D) the exponential pdf
E) the Poisson pdf
Now, PoliShifter, I would hope to God no one would strike out any of these obtuse answers and write in "the Normal pdf" just because it's the obvious and first example of a "bell curve" probability density function.
As another example of a question students might decide to answer to their preferences, when I ask about the essay, "The Age of Reason," I most certainly don't want a deeply religious student striking out answers and providing his or her own interpretive analysis.
In fact, this has happened to me with precisely that essay. In one instance, asking the students to review "The Age of Reason" and answer the question, 'In your judgment, do we now live in an age of reason as Paine described such?', I had a woman launch into a diatribe about Jesus and how she prayed for her baby in the hospital; and all the other babies died, but hers lived, and it was because she prayed to Jesus to save her baby.
Jesus might very well have saved her baby, but I flunked her ass.
The Dark Wraith does not suffer well answers he doesn't want.
Hi Dark Wraith,
in your example you wrote:
Which of the following probability density functions has the general shape of a so-called "bell curve"?
A) the Chi-squared pdf
B) the Cauchy pdf
C) the binomial pdf
D) the exponential pdf
E) the Poisson pdf
"Which of the following" in my mind is operative. I would not go looking in my mind for a more correct answer since I am being asked "which of the follwing" not "What country borders Iran directly to the East?".
Now "which of the follwing country borders Iran directly to the East?" would be very acceptable in my mind. But my mind is no measure of any degree of sanity.
If you would have asked me about pdf's I would like reply "you mean portable document files?"...that's about as much as I know about probablilty density functions in regards to bell curves. If it's somewhat like an elecron orbital or wave function then perhaps we can talk on some obtuse plain.
It's a shame that people do not actually READ Age of Reason...By people I mean the religious types who are propagandized to hate Paine and his work. TDR called him a "dirty little aetheist".
Such a tragic figure in history is Paine and one of my favorites. His pamphleteering fueled the revolution. If alive today who would likely have a blog.
Comnon Sense in many ways is applicable to this very day as does The Crisis.
It's been a while since I have read Age of Reason. Perhaps I should dust it off my book shelf next. I do recall Paine railing against organized religion but not spirituality.
I congratulate you on having the balls to flunk her. She could have circled the church groups around your classroom and have you declared a dirty little aetheist as well.
Still, I don't recall Age of Reason having anyting to do with praying to Jesus to save babies in hospitals.
I would have asked her why she didn't pray for all the babies. And if she really followed the teachings of Jesus then she would have prayed for everone's baby but her own and done everything in her power to save everyone else's baby.
Good morning, PoliShifter.
Trust me when I tell you that, in a more than a few cases, religious groups have come down on me on academic matters regarding members of their flock. The same has happened over the years with respect to failing athletes, of course: generally speaking, college sports programs have proved much more dangerous, at least in the short run, to my career and safety than fundamentalist religious groups have.
The principal difference between the two is that school administrators are much less likely in the case of a religious student to go back and change my grade from an F to a C.
The Dark Wraith is saddened by the continuing religious persecution.
100%. Much better than that missile test.
By the way I enjoy taking tests. Any kind except physical. Test anxiety is something that I do not suffer from. Even if I don't know the subject I like to take the test just to see if I can figure it out.
Do they have medication for that disorder? Not that I would take it, but it would make me feel better if somebody besides me suffered from this. Not that I'm suffering.
Good Morning Dark Wraith:
It's looking more and more like this geography quiz will be quite dated soon. . .
Did the Secretary of State go to the region merely to have a better seat for viewing the carnage?
100%. W00t! A youth lost to Strategy & Tactics magazine pays off for something. (S&T or no, I still wouldn't go near that missile quiz, though.)
Good evening, ballgame. Welcome back.
What?! You didn't even try the missile quiz?
I guess that falls under the old "discretion is sometimes the better part of valor" rule.
I've been using that rule myself of late in holding my tongue on some of the attacks I've taken by commenting on other blogs. That's something I never understood in some military campaigns: if the enemy is holed up on a mountain top, and if the only time they're going to shoot at you is when you try to go up there, why keep trying to take the stupid mountain top, for God's sake?!
I think it goes back to the old Eddie Murphy point about the horror movies where there's some evil, haunted house: what motivates people to open the door of a house, and when the house growls, "GET OUT," the people go on in and set up residence?
Yes, sometimes discretion is definitely the better part of valor.
The Dark Wraith listens at the door before deciding whether or not to go in.
Hunky Dark One wrote:
"But, with respect to the western side—the side of Israel in which the Gaza Strip is situated—it is on the very southern-most end of the border."
But that wasn't the question. You asked what side of Israel Gaza was on. It's on the west side. I don't see a 'southwest' on a map of Israel.
The question ought to be re-worded for your next batch of students: "Where is Gaza in relation to Jerusalem?" or "If you only look at the top part of Israel and pretend that the rest of it doesn't exist, where is Gaza?"
Try some foot powder and put baking soda in your shoes at night. ;)
Okay, okay! I'll give you the credit for the question.
Sheesh. This quiz business is rough work!
Now, I tried the sawdust. It actually worked, at least to some extent. Unfortunately, whatever kind of sawing instrument those guys we using produced sawdust mixed with splinters. I didn't see them; but let me tell you, I sure felt some of them.
I was walking along thinking to myself, "You know, I look stupider than usual today the way I'm walking around like I'm afflicted of some urge to do ballet."
Yes, the baking soda is probably a good idea. I usually use that stuff in recipes, but I suppose it should work in shoes, too. If that works, I might try some other foodstuffs for ailments. I remember my mother used eggs to wash her hair. I thought that was pretty normal until I figured out that the stuff they were advertising on TV, like Prell, worked a whole lot better.
Still, it seems to me that the eggs would have the advantage of adding a little cholestrol to an otherwise unclogged follicle or two.
I'm digressing here, aren't I?
The Dark Wraith needs to regain his grip on reality.
100%. But I remember all that crap from Lebanon War I (Israel invasion of Lebanon, Act I), Lebanon War II (Israel invasion of Lebanon, Act II, punctuated by U.S. invasion of Lebanon, Act I, followed by U.S. Marines blown up and U.S. evacuation of Lebanon, Act I), and Oil War I (a.k.a. Let's Trick Saddam into Invading Kuwait). The more things change, the less things change, now we have Lebanon War III and Oil War II. It's deja vu all over again.
- Badtux the Elderly Penguin
Debra
said...
100%. Much better than that missile test.
By the way I enjoy taking tests. Any kind except physical. Test anxiety is something that I do not suffer from. Even if I don't know the subject I like to take the test just to see if I can figure it out.
Do they have medication for that disorder? Not that I would take it, but it would make me feel better if somebody besides me suffered from this. Not that I'm suffering.
You're not alone. My dad used to bring me all the employment tests from work(he was personel manager) back when I was in High School because I like taking tests. He was pissed when I scored higher than he did on the supervisory one :) I also took the SAT twice, simply because I scored higher in math the first time and knew I was better in English...I reversed scores and added 20 to each the second time...which was 8AM the morning after my senior prom.
I have in the past been accused of nerddom.
Good afternoon, Wild Clover.
I strongly suspect that nerdhood is a more common affliction than most doctors are willing to admit. Lord knows, I've fought it most of my life.
That test-taking fascination is something I've seen in a number of people. They are usually quite bright, and some of them get downright irritable when they hit a test that befuddles them. It took me years to realize that this really is a genuine psychological affinity for some.
I think I might have had it, too, but for the fact that the first intelligence quotient test I ever took got me labeled a "moron" and relegated to a small class of kids with various and sundry mental disabilities. (Apparently, a lisp I had at that stage of my development was the final proof that I belonged in the "special education" class.) I didn't know exactly what was going on; but fortunately, I mentioned something to my mother about it awhile after the transfer, and she raised enough Holy Hell that they put me back in with the "normal" kids. I was, however, for a very long time after that considered quite "learning disabled" (to use the modern term) by teachers before they would actually have me in a class.
To this very day, I dislike with an intense passion "intelligence tests" and profiling instruments of any kind: in the former, I dislike having to work out the assumptions of the test writer; in the latter, it's usually too obvious what the responses to each question are intended to accomplish in terms of the final profile that gets created.
I favor the fact-based tests like you see here at The Dark Wraith Forums. Even disputes are clear-cut in means of resolution. And besides, anyone who comes to this blog most definitely could not be considered a moron.
You might have just surmised that this is the reason we almost never see a Right-wing trouble-maker around here.
The Dark Wraith does like the peace and quiet.
BOO-YAH! 100% on my first try!!!
Good afternoon, SAP.
Well, I'm impressed.
The Dark Wraith definitely needs to get butch on the next quiz.