10 November 2024

Sunday morning quiz: Rivers of the world

After memorizing the names of countries, their capitals and currencies (got stuck with the flags with one third done), tying to now learn about the Top 50 Rivers in the world (by length). Learnt some fascinating facts. There are about 10-12 rivers in the Top 50 that I had never heard the name of!!

See how many of these you might get. The answers are posted here.

1. Which is the country that has most number of rivers in it? (The answer might surprise you)
2. Which country has the most number of Top 50 (by length) rivers running thru it? (It is a whopping 11 of them!)
3. Which river runs thru the most number of countries?
4. Which is the largest country with no rivers at all? (It used to have one long time back)
5. Which is the longest river entirely in one country? (Hint: Second longest such river is also in the same country)
6. Which is the river that has the most number of country capitals on its banks?
7. Which river has two country capitals bang opposite to each other on the two banks?
8. Which river (in the Top 50) has a country capital on it that is an anagram of the river name itself (but two different words)?
9. The longest river is the Nile. The widest is the Amazon. Which is the deepest river?

And finally a controversial one… since Guinness Book of World Records withdrew this category. So I am going by the recorded length of all rivers in the world.

10. What is the shortest river in the world? (It is barely 18 meters – yes meters. Apparently, if there is a constant flowing water, it is considered a river. I could find at least 7 rivers that are not even 100 meters long!!)

11 February 2024

Puzzle: Numismatism – of a slightly different ilk

After putting all those currency notes under the table glass top, I had thought of sitting down and trying to learn all the modern currencies of the world. This has turned out to be much easier than remembering capital names and much much easier than flags (which I am still working on at a slow pace).

See how many of these you can answer. Since the definition of “country” can be a bit subjective, the scope of these questions are the 195 countries in the UN (193 members, 2 observers).

1. What is the currency used by the most number of countries? (US and Canada both use dollars – but they are different currencies with different paper bills – US Dollars and Canadian dollars)

2. If you found the above easy – try this: which is the second one?

3. A surprising number of countries have “dollars” in their currency names (e.g. Canadian dollars). Can you take a rough guess how many of them have it?

4. What would be your guess as the next common word in currency name? How many countries would you guess? I am talking of same currency name but differentiated by its region or country name. e.g. “rupee” is used by both Pakistan (Pakistani rupee) and India (Indian rupee)

5. Speaking of the rupee, and this surprised me – how many countries have the word “rupee” (or its close derivative) in its name?

6. There are many countries which have its own currency – but also use US Dollars (e.g. the Bahamas). But there are other countries than the US that use US Dollars as the only currency. Take a guess how many and who are they?

7. What would be your guess as the shortest currency name (without attaching the country name in it)? How many letters? How many of them would you guess are there?

8. This might be a hint to the previous question. How many countries have currencies that are only 4 letters?

You can find the answers here.

30 July 2023

Did something new today!!

After hearing Prabasaj-da talk about canoeing, I had developed a more than passing curiosity about it. Never got around to taking the plunge. Today, woke up very early and went to Stone Mountain Lake to get the first taste of canoeing in Prabasaj-da’s canoe. In the process, learnt the difference between a canoe and a kayak!

It was very serene at 7 in the morning with near still water! Loved the experience. Might be yet another thing I will get into!!

By the way, I wore my brightest orange shirt and bright colored life vest to leave nothing to chances in terms of others spotting me if I fell in the water 🙂

11 March 2023

“Murder, he wrote”

Went for a typewriter show and tried a few. I think I am zeroing in on what I want. In all likelihood, a portable Royal (e.g Royal Arrow). Last time I had typed on a real typewriter was in 1983. After my tenth class exams, I had started going to a typewriting class in Benachity.

That old feeling of tactile feedback came back all over again. (Very different than computer keyboards). Also got to know Tom – who is an absolute authority on typewriters. He has a collection of over 100 typewriters. That matches my fountain pen count.

But unlike my fountain pens, he makes some serious money by simply renting out his typewriters to movie sets!!

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29 April 2022

Learning one more skillset

Thanks to Gagan and Bharti’s push when they were visiting Atlanta a few weeks back, Sharmila and I finally took the plunge and started learning how to drive a boat (safely). And consequently, enjoy some more time in the water. One day of lessons and hands on training later today was the first time the two of us took a boat out in the water for a few hours!

I have a feeling I will like this hobby and I have to give a lot of thanks to Gagan and Bharti for getting us here.

In terms of picking up skills in the last fifteen or so years, for me, the scorecard looks like this: (you will notice that most people learn these skills much earlier than me)

1. Long distance running (moderate success)
2. Mixology (moderate success)
3. Motorbiking (moderate success)
4. Unicycling (complete disaster; gave up)
5. Flyfishing (did not keep up; need to get back to this)
6. Skateboarding (still a beginner, need to put in more hours)
7. Driving motorboats (too new)