Coming to your inbox every Monday with educational fun-facts and all the answers to Trainwreck Labs games from the past week.
This week, we have…
Sponsorship
A fun fact inspired by a recent Globle answer
Answers to last week's games
NEW GAME ANNOUNCEMENT!
Sierra Leone is the roundest country in the world
A circle and a square getting married in a beautiful, drama-free Sierra Leonean marriage ceremony. Image generated by DALL-E.
The countries of the world come in all shapes and sizes. Usually, that doesn’t mean circles and rectangles, but sometimes it (almost) does! According to Australian geo-statistician David Barry, Sierra Leone (Globle answer for Feb 9) is 93.4% circular, making it the roundest country in the world.
It might not be not be surprising that this honour belongs to an African nation. As a result of colonisation, many African countries have unusual borders that follow geometric patterns rather than geographic features. These borders were often drawn based on the whims of European empires rather than the tribes and nations that were inhabiting the land. By the same token, the winner for most rectangular country is Egypt.
The history of Sierra Leone is somewhat typical in this way, but fascinating in others. The British colony originated with the resettlement of escaped slaves, some of whom had fought for the British in the American Revolution in exchange for emancipation from American slave owners. The inland borders of the country were established at the Berlin Conference (1884 - 1885), and the country remained a British colony until it gained independence in 1960.
In addition to being round, Sierra Leone is also notable for being “well-rounded”; the African nation is famously one of the most religiously tolerant countries in the world. It boasts a constitution that guarantees freedom of religion, and is home to many interfaith marriages between Muslim and Christian families. It is also the home to a unique musical and culinary culture, and beautiful nature sites.
At the end of the day, does the geometric shape of a country have any importance? Not really. But it doesn’t hurt to be number one! When the most triangular country is identified, you’ll hear about it here first.
Answers to last week's games
Monday, February 5 to Sunday, February 11.
Globle
Feb 5 Costa Rica
Feb 6 Switzerland
Feb 7 Monaco
Feb 8 Bolivia
Feb 9 Sierra Leone
Feb 10 Samoa
Feb 11 Canada
Feb 12 Play now!
Globle: Capitals
Feb 5 Dhaka
Feb 6 Taipei
Feb 7 Luxembourg
Feb 8 Tashkent
Feb 9 Djibouti
Feb 10 Kathmandu
Feb 11 Georgetown
Feb 12 Play now!
Chronogram
#310 John Milton
#311 Oliver Cromwell
#312 John Calvin
#313 Michelangelo
#314 George S. Patton
#315 Thomas Aquinas
#316 Robert Louis Stevenson
#317 Play now!
Fictogram
#78 Arthur Dent
#79 Rooster Cogburn
#80 Pi Patel
#81 Gordon Gekko
#82 Dracula
#83 Harry Lime
#84 Tessie Liu
#85 Play now!
Metazooa
#189 Hamster
#190 Praying mantis
#191 Fiddler crab
#192 Cat
#193 Tardigrade
#194 Leech
#195 Fruit fly
#196 Play now!
Metaflora
#128 Persimmon
#129 Cabbage
#130 Tiger lily
#131 Chestnut
#132 Lotus
#133 Coffee
#134 Weeping willow
#135 Play now!
Forgeous
"A Benedictine Monk" by Hugo van der Goes
Forgery of week, from Feb 5
96.9% accurate
Hugo van der Goes. (1478). A Benedictine Monk. [Oil paint on panel]. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. Retrieved from https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436522.
Play Forgeous for Feb 12.
New Game Announcement
Exciting news! A brand new game from Trainwreck Labs is open for beta testing.
Linxicon is the first Trainwreck Labs game on the subject of English. There’s no shortage of English games out there, but instead of just testing your spelling, Linxicon tests how well you know what words mean.
If you want to help test the game, just reply to this email and let me know!
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading!
