- Trainwreck Labs Newsletter
- Posts
- Wellington is the world’s southernmost capital, when remembered
Wellington is the world’s southernmost capital, when remembered
Answers for Globle, Chronogram, and Metazooa from Jan 15 - Jan 21
Abe Train
January 22, 2024
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…
A fun fact inspired by a recent Globle: Capitals answer
Answers to last week's games
Player showcase
Wellington is the world’s southernmost capital, when remembered
The hypothetical underside of a map in which New Zealand is not visible because it has sunk to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. Image generated by DALL-E.
Everyone knows the old saying: it’s lonely at the top. But if you think that’s tough, you should see what those on the bottom are dealing with. The bottom of the globe, that is.
If you lined up the capital cities of the world in order from North to South, right at the very bottom you’d find last Monday’s answer to Globle: Capitals: Wellington, New Zealand. (Although it’s technically closer to the equator than the south pole!)
Sadly, this unique position comes at a price. As a result of its isolated spot on the globe, New Zealand is often left off of world maps. This phenomenon is so prevalent that there is a subreddit dedicated to it. r/MapsWithoutNZ has over 100,000 subscribers and features daily posts of maps committing this geographical sin.
Naturally, this is a serious problem for the people of NZ. So much so that former Prime Minister Jacinda Arden and comedian Rhys Darby even did a tourism campaign to draw attention to this issue (or conspiracy?) called #GetNZOnTheMap.
Although professional cartographers and avid Globle players are unlikely to make this mistake, the maps on your board games and stress balls might not be so detail-oriented. So keep an eye out for New Zealand-less maps, and call them out when you see them! It’s all of our responsibility to #GetNZOnTheMap.
Answers to last week's games
Monday, January 15 to Sunday, January 21.
Globle
| Globle: Capitals
|
Chronogram
| Fictogram
|
Metazooa
| Metaflora
|
Forgeous
 "Samson and Delilah" by Lucas Cranach the Elder |  Forgery of week, from Jan 15 |
Cranach the Elder, Lucas. Samson and Delilah. 1528. Oil paint on lime panel, 57.2 x 37.8 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Play Forgeous for Jan 22.
Player Showcase
Sometimes, when we’re lucky, a member of Trainwreck Labs Discord server named Ray will share pictures of their vibrant terrarium. I know are more than a few entomologists and bug-enthusiasts among Metazooa players, so I asked Ray if I could share those pictures in the newsletter.
Warning: Creepy-crawlies ahead!
I'm a lifelong lover of bugs and plants, and the two intersected when I pulled soil from my parents' 30 year old compost pile to plant a set of ferns and nerve plants in an old fish bowl. A few days later I started noticing the tunnels made through the soil by the centipedes that I had inadvertently planted as well. It got me looking into how I could create tiny environments for other bugs, and I soon added a few types of isopods and millipedes to my collections. I like figuring out how to tip the balance one way or the other when I see an issue pop up, like adding a spider I caught in the hallway when one of my terrariums got an infestation of fruit flies, or perfecting my method for adding calcium to the soils (washed and crushed eggshells from breakfast work great!).
Metazooa and Metaflora (which I do enjoy but don't manage to do as frequently as Globle) give me a chance to learn about parts of the animal and plant kingdoms outside of my normal purview. As a geologist, nearly everything I know about living things comes from a very specific interest, and I always appreciate getting the thread to learn more outside of that.
Thank you Ray for sharing your pictures!
I would love to do more player showcases, so if you have any educational hobbies you’d like to share with the Trainwreck Labs crowd, please respond to this email and let me know!
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading!
Before you go, please rate this week's newsletter!Be honest (but don't hurt my feelings) |