First of all, sorry about the delay this morning, team. Some technological snafus, mysterious, and equally mysteriously resolved just by shutting off the box and starting it up again.
But the headaches that arrive on our doorsteps with technology provide a perfect segue into a discussion of the ease and grace of nature, so segue we shall.
For most of my adult life, "tourism" for me meant visiting cities, mostly, in America and around the world; oceanside towns, for a few days; other American towns in parts of the country where I hadn't spent much time.
Then it struck me about three years ago that I had turned my back completely on nature. Which is to say, I had turned my back completely on one great source of beauty in life. Did beauty exist only inside museums, in the facades of buildings ? which is to say, in the hand of man? Of course not! Some would call the thought impious, but even if one is not a believer, one can agree that it was a ridiculous pose. I vowed to change (I am, as you know, a believer in change).
It was when we were going to Santiago in early 2008, a combined business-pleasure trip, that I became obsessed with going (while we were there) to Patagonia. The literal end of the earth. What could be more humbling a reckoning with nature's power than that? Unfortunately it didn't take long to learn that Patagonia was fully another six-hour flight from Santiago (!), and it just wouldn't work out. We weren't really "there" at all, which brings up a practical issue, i.e., that these kinds of sites are often fairly hard to get to.
I still haven't seen much nature, beyond that which I grew up with, which was in its way very profound. I mean, I've seen lots of nature ? who hasn't, even if from airplanes. But I have not feasted mine eyes upon nature's great natural wonders. And that is the subject of our quiz this week. So let's dive in.
1. Which of these is generally thought to be the world's oldest existing active volcano, dating back 350,000 years and emitting its most recent lava flow in January of this year?
a. Mauna Loa, Hawaii
b. Mt. Etna, Sicily
c. Krakatoa, Indonesia
2. This archipelago was a whaling destination in the early 1800s, when New England-based ships came over and discovered vast quantities of sperm whales in the nearby waters; not long after that, it became known for its large number of species, including 13 or 14 different kinds of finches.
a. Hawaiian Islands
b. Canary Islands
c. Galapagos Islands
3. This 277-mile long marvel has mostly been thought to have formed 5 to 6 million years ago, although more recent scientific estimates date it back even farther; the government of the nation in question a few years ago obscured matters by insisting that the gift shop at the destination stock a book arguing that the site had been created 4,500 years ago by Noah's flood.
a. Alborz Valley, Iran
b. Grand Canyon, United States
c. Izmir plain, Turkey
4. This is the world's largest single structure made by living organisms.
a. The Great Barrier Reef
b. Greenland
c. Christmas Island
5. This phenomenon also occurs on other planets, such as Jupiter and Saturn, and evidently more intensely than on earth; even so, it is likely true that a certain former half-term governor can indeed observe the earthly version from her own backyard.
a. Aurora Borealis
b. The decennial "brightening" of the Milky Way, which last happened in November 2005
c. The annual occurrence (July in the north, January in the south) of shooting stars being clearly visible from near the Earth's poles
6. The harbor of this city, surrounded by mountains up to 3,500 feet (1,066 m) tall, is usually called one of the world's seven natural wonders; explorers who arrived there in the 1500s, confused by its massive size, originally thought they'd discovered a river.
a. Honolulu
b. Hong Kong (Kowloon)
c. Rio de Janeiro
7. The 2006 David Sharp controversy grew out of the fact that Sharp, an English math teacher, was seen by as many as 40 other people but left by them to die where?
a. In the tourist-friendly but shark-infested waters off of Cyprus
b. About 28,000 feet up Mount Everest
c. On the Serengeti Plain, cornered by two lions, but still rescue-able according to some witnesses
8. Rare six-option question: Which of these countries or international borders is not home to one of the world's most dramatic waterfalls?
a. United States/Canada
b. Argentina/Brazil
c. Iceland
d. China/Vietnam
e. Zambia/Zimbabwe
f. Croatia
9. The Puerta Princesa Underground River, a Unesco World Heritage site, runs about five miles and contains chambers that are as large as 400 feet (120 m) high and 200 feet (60 m) wide. Where is it located?
a. The Philippines, Palawan Province
b. Costa Rica
c. Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula
10. Temperature differences of as much as 50 degrees Fahrenheit (28 degrees Celsius) in the course of a single day are a regular occurrence in:
a. The Sahara Desert
b. The Australian Outback
c. Siberia
11. The world's largest ice caves, which run 24 miles in length and feature not only stalactites and stalagmites, but for some stretches are entirely covered in ice, are to be found in:
a. Canada
b. Norway
c. Austria
12. Who wrote these words, capturing the spirit of today's quiz more than a century before it was written:
There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more.
a. Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass
b. Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage
c. Henry David Thoreau, Walden
A little curve ball there on 12, but a rather lovely stanza, wouldn't you say? Let's check the answers.
Answers: 1-b; 2-c; 3-b; 4-a; 5-a; 6-c; 7-b; 8-d; 9-a; 10-a; 11-c; 12-b.
Notes:
1. Probably a tough one, unless maybe you follow that sort of news closely and knew about the time it blew this year. Why does Italy have all these massive volcanoes but not (as far as I know) Croatia or Greece or other nearby places?
2. Since 1 was tough, I made this easy; finches.
3. Heh heh.
4. Fascinating, eh? But coral reefs are the calcium carbonate secreted by corals, so they're animal-made.
5. Couldn't resist. Did any of you actually go for one of the fake answers?
6. Big hint in the question's last word. Rio. River. Got it?
7. I did not know this. I guess you Brits did?
8. Tricky, cuz I could see people choosing either Iceland or Croatia, but this list says they both have awesome falls.
9. This is another I didn't know about. Sounds astonishing.
10. Daily temperatures vary greatly in the Outback, but not by that much. Siberia, not so much.
11. Hard one, but here's my backup.
12. Well, Walden wasn't a poem, and Leaves of Grass was really mostly about America, not nature.
Tell us how you did, and especially ? I hope this thread might be great for this ? about your travels to wondrous natural destinations.
Liza Minnelli United Nations Real estate Animals Radio Australia
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