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In this ninth episode of The Amazing Race Season 38 (U.S. Edition), all teams departed at different times but flew on the same airplane — therefore starting this leg of the race together. Teams left ROMANIA and arrived in Athens, GREECE and quickly proceeded to Pnyx (Pnyka) Hill near the National Observatory, Parthenon, and Acropolis. This area of ancient Greek civilization 🏺 is the birthplace of democratic voting. The Amazing Race chose this setting to conduct a Double U-Turn Vote. Each team voted two teams to slow down, requiring them to complete both Detour tasks 🚧. For coming in last place in the previous episode (↗), Adam and Joseph were penalized with one U-Turn Vote. This turned out to be a trivial disadvantage for the team since the most votes were against Eric/Tucker (4 votes), Jag/Jas (3 votes), and Kyland/Taylor (3 votes). The teams of Adam/Joseph, Chelsie/Jack, and Izzy/Paige only received one vote each. Here is a team-by-team vote tally in sequential order:
→ Adam and Joseph voted against Chelsie/Jack and Eric/Tucker.
→ Eric and Tucker voted against Jag/Jas and Kyland/Taylor.
→ Chelsie and Jack voted also against Jag/Jas and Kyland/Taylor.
→ Jag and Jas voted against Eric/Tucker and Kyland/Taylor.
→ Izzy and Paige voted against Eric/Tucker and Jag/Jas.
→ Kyland and Taylor voted against Izzy/Paige and Eric/Tucker.
While there were supposed to be two teams having to complete both Detours, Jag/Jas and Kyland/Taylor both tied in votes so a tiebreaker vote was held. Just like in the first round of voting, both teams received three votes. Therefore, Eric/Tucker, Jag/Jas, and Kyland/Taylor were required to complete both Detour challenges: “Music in the Air” 🎶 and “Olives Everywhere”. In “Music in the Air,” team members chose to carry or took turns carrying a Greek laterna piano 🎹 on her or his back to a nearby town square. They performed the musical instrument and caught everyone’s attention with various shenanigans (and begging) in hopes of earning at least 10 Euros 💶 from nearby pedestrians. Jag and Jas earned €12.20 relatively quickly, Eric and Tucker earned €18.40, Kyland and Taylor earned €11.10, and Adam and Joseph earned €13.03. For the “Olives Everywhere” Detour task, teams tasted, visually identified, and memorized 10 varieties of olives grown throughout Greece. They then quizzed their newfound olive knowledge by going to a different table somewhat close by to match 10 bowls of olives with their variety name.
Visiting another hill in Greece, teams went to a place called Hill of the Muses to roll a giant ball on it. Teams were then tasked with memorizing the 24 lowercase Greek letters, and they recited them as an elderly gentleman in ancient Greek garb pointed to each letter in random order. If I was a contestant on The Amazing Race, I would have loved to complete this task because these letters are used for designating stars in almost all the constellations in the night sky! I created the Amazing Astronomy Blog (↗) to share my passion for 🔭 stargazing and learning about the cosmos 🌌. Visitors accessing the Amazing Astronomy Blog may notice lowercase Greek letter symbols (α, β, γ, δ, ε, ζ, η, θ, etc.) within constellation maps and various posts.
Now back to recapping this episode! Jag memorized the letters in alphabetical order but did not realize the elder sage was going to point to them in random order. Nevertheless, he completed this task in first place. Meanwhile, Tucker struggled at this task despite usually finishing something in first or second place. Jag and Jas arrived at the Kotzia Square Pit Stop first and met Phil — and a lady dressed as Athena. Phil gave Jag and Jas a trip to CAMBODIA including the following destinations and activities: the world-famous Angkor Wat temple, the city of Siem Reap, ATV adventures, a Cambodian culinary tour, and Ta Prohm temple. Phil noted that Jag and Jas is the first team ever to have arrived first at the Pit Stop 🏁 after being U-Turned! Chelsie and Jack arrived at the mat in second place, followed by Adam and Joseph in third, Izzy and Paige in fourth, and Kyland and Taylor in fifth. Despite being a competent team and winning in four episodes in a row, Eric and Tucker arrived last at the Pit Stop and ended their Amazing Race journey in this episode.
In this eighth episode of The Amazing Race Season 38 (U.S. Edition), teams searched for an Easter egg, visited the world’s heaviest building, learned and performed a folk dance routine, played a handmade flute, and made street food in Bucharest, ROMANIA! The first task of the day involved searching for an Easter egg in a meadow and forest area to match one of the giant decorated eggs. Someone in a chicken costume accepted the eggs found by the teams and gave them their next clues. Jag and Jas used their Express Pass to skip the egg hunt and proceed to the Detour challenge near the People’s Palace (Casa Poporului) at Union Square (Piața Unirii). The People’s Palace of Romania is the world’s heaviest building weighing in at 4.1 million metric tons (tonnes) which equals over 9 billion pounds!
Adam and Joseph arrived to the Detour last because Adam struggled to find a hidden Easter egg. Teams who chose the “Find the Beat” task learned and performed a Romanian folk dance routine. Deciding that learning and performing this dance would be time-consuming, Kyland and Taylor was the second team to use the Express Pass in this episode. Teams who chose the “Hit the Note” task assembled two Romanian pan flutes (nai) and played a particular tune to a flute player’s liking. Teams completed their Detour challenge and visited the Green Hours jazz café. Here, teams learned about mici (mititei) street food which tends to involve a mixture of meat, herbs, and spices. Teams formed, grilled, and culinarily plated 20 sausages made with black pepper, thyme, garlic, paprika, and a mixture of beef, pork, and lamb. Team members were encouraged to try one, and most of them were impressed by the deliciousness.
The “navigational frustration” mentioned in the episode info above especially occurred to Chelsie and Jack. The father-daughter duo struggled to find almost every location in this episode, but they have had similar moments in previous episodes, too. They managed to surpass Adam and Joseph in arriving at the Royal Palace ( Mogoșoaia) Pit Stop location. Built in circa 1700, the palace is in the village of Mogoșoaia across the Colentina river northwest of Bucharest. Jag and Jas arrived at the Pit Stop in 1st place and won a trip to BERMUDA with an itinerary including an aquarium visit, crystal cave exploration, catamaran sailing, and an eatery and culinary tour in the town of Hamilton. Eric and Tucker arrived at the Pit Stop in 2nd, Kyland and Taylor in 3rd, Izzy and Paige in 4th, Chelsie and Jack in 5th, and Adam and Joseph in last place. Thankfully, Phil gave Adam and Joseph a non-elimination chance, so the brotherly team stayed in the competition!
I am thankful as always that you visited the GeoFact of the Day Blog today. I hope you and yours have a wonderful, happy, and blessed Thanksgiving!
In this seventh episode of The Amazing Race Season 38 (U.S. Edition), teams travelled eastward from the southern Croatian city of Split — the second most populated city (after Zagreb) in CROATIA — to the southern Romanian city of Bucharest, the capital and the most populated city of ROMANIA. Natalie and Stephanie — known as the “Yin Yang Sissies” according to Natalie — were the last team to depart from Croatia since they finished second to last in the previous episode. Teams arrived in Romania and slept overnight in bunk beds to do a thrilling and height-defying “Who’s Ready to Jump in the Race?” Roadblock. They achieved the highest skydive in Amazing Race history at 13,000 feet!
Teams flew from Croatia and arrived in Bucharest.
After landing in a grassy field and relishing the amazing experience they just had, teams went to a sheep farm to meet shepherds known locally as ciobhani. Teams were tasked with moving five sheep from one pen to another. This was occasionally difficult because the sheep had a herd mentality; teams tried to move one or two sheep without the whole herd following. Eric and Tucker successfully completed this task in relatively little time. Teams later built a floating pontoon raft by attaching empty blue water jugs to the bottom. They navigated the craft south of Bucharest through Delta Neajlovului and arrived at the Detour challenge.
For the Detour task, teams chose either “Brick Builder” or “Mask Maker” — both located northeast of the delta near the Debarcader Lebǎda canoe and kayak rental service. In “Brick Builder”, teams formed ten bricks using a mixture of water, straw, and mud manure! Teams were definitely grossed out by having to shovel manure then forming said manure into sloppy, gooey bricks. Some of the manure conveniently landed on their shirts! Taylor joked about being “Miss Congeniality” to later becoming a “manure shoveler”. In the relatively tidy “Mask Maker” challenge, teams tried to replicate a winter mask purportedly said to ward off evil. This task required precision, craftiness, and sewing abilities, but at least did not require poop!
Teams crafted a floating pontoon raft and navigated it through Delta Neajlovului located about 9 miles (14.5 kilometers) south of Bucharest and closer to the border with BULGARIA.
With mixed success, teams accomplished the Detour and then arrived at the King Carol I Park (Parcul Carol) Pit Stop. The expansive 89-acre park is situated in the south side of Bucharest; use the top map above to locate Parcul Carol below the Sectorul 4 label. Amusingly, two locals were dressed in brown bear costumes and danced in homage of bears — which are rare in some European countries. For the fourth time in a row, Eric and Tucker arrived first at the Pit Stop! They won $5,000 each. Jag and Jas (with unused Express Pass) arrived second, followed by Adam and Joseph in third, Kyland and Taylor (also with unused Express Pass) in fourth, Chelsie and Jack in fifth, Izzy and Paige in sixth, and Natalie and Stephanie in last. The “Yin Yang Sissies” were eliminated from the The Amazing Race.
First of all, I want to express my thoughts and well wishes for everyone in JAMAICA, HAITI, CUBA, and other places in the Caribbean dealing with Hurricane Melissa and its destructive aftermath.
In the sixth episode of The Amazing Race Season 38 (U.S. Edition), teams drove a manual stick-shift vehicle northwest from Dubrovnik, CROATIA (HRVATSKA) to the town of Trsteno. Here, they visited the Trsteno Arboretum featuring trees that are over 500 years old. 🌳 Teams found a clue near the arboretum’s Neptune statue then drove further northwest along the Adriatic Sea coastline to the partially walled town of Ston. They encountered the “Bag It Up” versus “Pull It Up” Detour challenge. In “Bag It Up”, teams filled ten bags of local raw salt — each bag weighing slightly over 20 pounds each. In “Pull It Up”, teams visited a major oyster harvesting area known as Mali Ston Bay. They rowed a boat to find buoys with oysters attached; the teams then gave those oysters to a local restaurant known as Bota Sare. 🦪
Overview map of Trsteno — a town northwest of Dubrovnik and known for its arboretum
Remaining in the town of Ston, teams visited Park Komarda for the “Who Knows Their Way Around Croatia?” Roadblock. 🚧 With the navigational help of a 3D relief map of Ston, a member of each team visited several locations throughout the town to find and remember Croatian (Hrvatskan) facts. These facts involve multiple topics: letters not featured in the Croatian alphabet (Q, W, X, and Y), one of the several mottoes of Croatia (“As long as there is heart, there is Croatia”), highest mountain in Croatia at 6,007 feet* (Dinara), famous poet in Croatia (Ivan Gundulić), original length of the Walls of Ston (22,965 feet*), the date when Parliament proclaimed independence from Yugoslavia (June 25th, 1991), first king of Croatia (King Tomislav) 👑, and Croatia’s coastline length (3,625 miles*). Amazing Race contestants arrived back at the map and were tested with three questions asked by a Croatian. Contestants who did not answer the questions correctly had to answer a different set of questions for their next attempt, so some of them went back to the locations to memorize all facts.
Overview map of Ston — the second town featured in this episode
Prapratno Cove was the Pit Stop for this episode. 🏁 Eric and Tucker arrived in first place and both won another trip — this time to various locations in EGYPT including Cairo, Alexandria, and the famous pyramids. Tucker excitedly mentioned that Egypt was always on his bucket list, so it is awesome that he can check that one off! ☑ Kristine and Rubina were the eighth and last team to arrive, so they were eliminated from The Amazing Race.
* 6,007 feet equals 1,831 meters, 22,965 feet equals 7,000 meters, and 3,625 miles equals 5,834 kilometers.
In this fifth episode of The Amazing Race Season 38 (U.S. Edition), teams left Budapest and arrived together in Dubrovnik, a seafaring city near the very southern tip of CROATIA. I looked on an interactive map of Dubrovnik and noticed an island 🏖️ with a pinpoint saying “Qarth – Game of Thrones”. I am familiar with the Game of Thrones but have never watched the HBO series. I had no idea what Qarth is, but I found out it is a fictional setting that is partly inspired by Dubrovnik. Some scenes were filmed in and around Dubrovnik. Please let me know with a comment if you wish to see more GeoFact of the Day posts that are focused on cinema and TV filming locations around the world. If you don't mind, maybe share about your travel experiences 📷 if you ever visited a place featured in the The Amazing Race.
Anyways, teams arrived at a classy statue of a famed Croatian poet, Ivan Gundulić. Teams found the Detour and chose between 1) lugging a heavy fishing net 🐟 and chum bucket for a ½ mile to the Old Port or 2) preparing and filleting one slimy monkfish (grdóbína) each. Whoever named this fish likely noticed the pointy shape — the monkfish somewhat looks like it is wearing a monk’s hood. It is possible that whoever named it did not think very highly of monks since the monkfish is quite ugly and ghastly! 😱 Next, teams made their way through a hard-to-see stone walkway and arrived at the proverbial “light at the end of the tunnel”: the scenic seaside sojourn known as the Buža Bar watering hole. Here is where teams found the infamous ↪️ Double U-Turn ↩️ board. Eric and Tucker did not use the U-Turn to ensure that teams would not be upset with them. Jag and Jas did not have that thinking when they U-Turned Izzy and Paige. I don’t usually mention middle fingers right here on the GeoFact of the Day Blog, but I will mention that Izzy used both middle fingers to flip off the Jag and Jas photo at the Double U-Turn board. Adam and Joseph used the second U-Turn against Kristine and Rubina.
Teams arrived at the Ploče Gate to take on the frustrating Roadblock challenge mentioned above in the episode info. One member of each team had to assemble a not-so-sturdy scooter board by hand with many types of screws and wooden pieces. Natalie and Simone had the most struggles in assembling the handmade kart. The same team member who assembled the rectangular board with wheels then sat on and raced it with the help of their hands and/or feet for propelling. Chelsie, Izzy, Kristine, and Simone struggled to race the scooter in under 36 seconds. While Natalie took relatively long to create the kart, she steered it quite well — clocking in at about 38 seconds for the first attempt then crossing the finish line in about 35.7 seconds for the second race.
Finally, teams arrived at the Pit Stop known as Fort Bokar, a cylindrical bastion fortification overlooking the Adriatic Sea. Just like the previous episode, Eric and Tucker arrived 1st but each won $2,500 this time. Kyland and Taylor arrived 2nd, followed by Jag and Jas 3rd, Adam and Joseph 4th, Natalie and Stephanie 5th, Chelsie and Jack 6th, Izzy and Paige 7th, Kristine and Rubina 8th, and Hannah and Simone 9th. Host Phil Keoghan told Hannah and Simone that they were eliminated from this season of the The Amazing Race. I am wondering if there will be a non-elimination leg in this season since it hasn’t happened yet. The next episode will be Wednesday, October 29th at 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time on CBS and soon streaming on Paramount+.
In this fourth episode of The Amazing Race Season 38 (U.S. Edition), teams left Prague and boarded one of two train routes that either went through eastern AUSTRIA or western SLOVAKIA in order to reach Budapest, the national capital of HUNGARY. Teams arrived at the Széchenyi Thermal Baths to search for a king chess piece. Teams then gave it to locals who were swimming and playing chess on a floating platform in a large pool. After completing this task first, Eric and Tucker encountered a Fast Forward. They decided to complete the Fast Forward and both solved a Rubik’s Cube in less than 7½ seconds after much practice. Kudos to them because I don’t remember if I ever solved a Rubik’s Cube — or maybe I completed it in several days! Due to the Fast Forward, they quickly surpassed the competition and arrived at the Pit Stop: Várkert Bazár (Castle Garden Bazaar), a neo-Renaissance style promenade near the Royal Palace and Danube riverfront in Buda. The historic site was closed in the 1980s and sat neglected until a beautiful restoration in 2014.
For arriving in first place at this Pit Stop, Eric and Tucker won a trip to BOLIVIA including stops at the city of La Paz, the largest salt flat in the world (Uyuni, also known as Tunupa), and Charquini Mountain. Meanwhile, teams carefully steered a carriage with two horses along a figure eight course in less than 45 seconds. Next, teams arrived at the House of Houdini to unlock a chained wooden container — reminiscent of Harry Houdini’s escapist stunts but without the danger. Finally, teams chose either the “Juggling Act” or “Balancing Act” Detour task. For Juggling Act, teams juggled five rings and had to keep them dangling in midair for ten seconds. For Balancing Act, teams practiced and performed a folk dancing routine. One team member balanced a bottle on his or her head, while the other teammate maneuvered a large stick. Kat had trouble completing her routine but nevertheless persisted even though she was the last performer at the Detour. Therefore, Alex and Kat arrived last at the Pit Stop and ended their Amazing Race journey.
The next episode was on Wednesday, October 22nd at 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time on CBS. The episode 5 recap will be posted in several days.
In this third episode of The Amazing Race, teams started in the CZECH REPUBLIC’s national capital (Prague) and went eastward to Kutná Hora. Teams quickly encountered the Driver’s Seat; Natalie and Stephanie was the first team to arrive. Therefore, they decided which teams would be assigned one crate (Hannah/Simone and Izzy/Paige), two crates (Alex/Kat, Kristine/Rubina, Kyland/Taylor, Matt/Megan, and themselves), or three crates (Adam/Joseph, Chelsie/Jack, Eric/Tucker, and Jag/Jas). Teams visited an over 450-year-old Kutná Hora Municipal Brewery to complete the “Tapped Out” task. Teams first had to fill pilsner lager beer bottles — but making sure to let bubbles subside so there would be plenty of liquid in each bottle. After filling, teams placed about a dozen or so bottles in each crate. Rubina sprayed beer onto herself multiple times since the nozzle was tricky to operate. She was able to “laugh it off” despite being kind of drenched! To receive their next clue, teams visited the historic Church of Saint Anne in the village of Nové Dvory northeast of Kutná Hora.
Teams then plowed a field with a ruchadlo for their next clue. The ruchadlo is a traditional Czech plow that was usually pulled by an especially strong animal such as a horse, mule, or ox but this is The Amazing Race, so one team member was in front to pull while the other steered. After being outside on a rather pleasant and sunny day, teams went indoors to a hockey stadium in or near Kutná Hora. A member of each team had to score a goal in hockey. The puck had to be chucked far away from the goal area — and within several small holes in a cardboard cutout covering the whole goal space. Thankfully they were able to play without a vicious hockey team barreling at them, although some hockey players were in the goal area for blocking. Like with the ski bowling in episode 1 (↗), some teams completed this task rather quickly while one team took a lot of tries (24) before scoring.
The referee gave teams a souvenir token depicting a building (↗) known as Zàmek Kačina (Kačina Castle) which is home to a National Agricultural Museum (Národní Zemědělské Muzeum). Natalie and Stephanie arrived at the Kačina Castle Pit Stop second after Jag and Jas, but the brother team graciously gave the first place to Natalie and Stephanie! Natalie was celebrating her birthday the next day, so she and Stephanie won a nice prize to celebrate: $2,500 each. Matt and Megan were the last team to arrive — they ran out of time to complete all challenges — and ended their journey on The Amazing Race with very positive attitudes and completely in love. The next episode will be Wednesday, October 15th (tomorrow) at 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time on CBS and soon streaming on Paramount+.
In the second episode of The Amazing Race (U.S.) Season 38, teams train-travelled from the NETHERLANDS through GERMANY and into the CZECH REPUBLIC. Several teams got off at the wrong train stop in Berlin. They exited the train at Spandau instead of the Gesundbrunnen stop that they needed. After arriving in Prague, teams quickly proceeded to the Žižkov TV Tower to tackle the height-defying “Who Wants a Breath of Fresh Air?” Roadblock challenge. One member of each team had to carefully walk on a scary, narrow plank over 100 feet above the city below and grab a clue at the plank’s end. They were harnessed for safety, but of course it is still scary to be at that height and having to walk a narrow surface.
Amazing Race did not mention this, though: completed in 1992, the tower was unfortunately and haphazardly placed in a part of a historic Jewish cemetery in Prague. One competitor said something like “oh no, not above the cemetery” because his plank was high above the cemetery directly below. The Žižkov Tower has been ridiculed by residents of Prague for being so modern in a historic section of the grand city. Fun Fact: David Ćerný sculpted multiple crawling baby statues that were attached to the tower. Strangely though, these metal babies have a barcode punched on their faces instead of the usual eyes, mouth, and nose!
The next challenge was the Detour task. In one of the two detours, teams gathered four dozen (48) colorful Bohemian glass goblets — then moved the goblets carefully and gave them to three different vendors. In the other detour, teams found Czech city crests on restaurant chairs and learned the pronunciations of each crest’s respective city. Teams then marveled at a statue of renowned painter Josef Mánes and found their Pit Stop clue. They arrived at Žofín Palace and found host Phil Keoghan waiting for them at the Pit Stop. Jag and Jas arrived first again and therefore received a trip to SRI LANKA. Angela and Lexi arrived last and were eliminated from the competition. The next episode will be Wednesday, October 8th at 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time on CBS and soon streaming on Paramount+.
Season 38 of The Amazing Race (U.S. Edition) rolled off to a good start; teams enjoyed playing a NETHERLANDS version of bowling! One teammate was positioned on a sled, and the other teammate pushed him/her into the ten bowling pins. Some teams earned a strike right away, while others took many attempts before knocking all the pins down. Kyland and Taylor earned an Express Pass for completing the task first. They were also given a pass to give to another team, so they chose Jag and Jas. Other teams were puzzled given that Jag and Jas were known as strong competitors on CBS’ Big Brother show and therefore wouldn’t necessarily need help in this competition — indeed, they finished first in this leg of The Amazing Race!
I found it interesting that teams completed the first task before meeting with show host Phil Keoghan. Usually teams would meet Phil first, then after “ready, set, go” they would run (or drive, or fly, etc.) to the first challenge. Enzo and Jack were the last team to accomplish a strike, so Phil gave them a Hazard card. This rarely seen feature was last used in Season 19 (2011) and gives the team a penalty, sort of like a Speed Bump. Enzo and Jack had to complete two penalties: eat a herring (some folks wouldn’t mind it but it is an acquired taste, after all) and ride an interesting clog bike that was hard to steer. I was very intrigued by the clog bike… part of it is a big yellow wooden clog shoe. What’s more Holland than that 😃? Jack was seated in the clog, while Enzo struggled to steer the clunky bike.
Teams drove to the Port of Volendam; some teams easily found it, while others took practically hours before arriving at the correct place. They rode a tandem bike to the canal-facing Edam Cheese Market where they had to stack Beemster cheese spheres on a platform that both teammates carried. As he often does, Phil gives us a factoid. However, this one might not be totally surprising if you know anything about Holland or Amsterdam: people of the Netherlands are #1 in the world when it comes to bike riding. I sometimes wonder how globally ranked facts are figured out — “how would you know for sure?” — but this one makes total sense. After cheese-stacking, teams visited Van der Wilt Gerberas, a massive greenhouse with possibly hundreds of thousands of gerbera daisies! Out of 42 different varieties, teams had to choose the correct nine colors and arranged 36 flowers (four per color) in a pattern. Finding the correct color out of many subtle color variations would be difficult enough, but the greenhouse facility actually turned on huge shades that blocked the sun. Teams literally had to wear a head lamp — as if they were searching for gold instead of flowers! Jag and Jas completed this challenge relatively quickly and arrived first at the Pit Stop: Museum Square. They earned $2,500 each and proved once again they are winning competitors like they were as Big Brother contestants. Jack and Enzo were the last to arrive out of 13 teams and could not proceed to the next episode.
The next episode will be Wednesday, October 1st at 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time on CBS and soon streaming on Paramount+.
The Indiana Department of Health has a new Mosquito-Borne Illness Dashboard (↗) featuring two statewide maps. These maps show counties with mosquitoes and people infected by the West Nile Virus. The right-side map shows human infections. So far in 2025 as of September 5th, there were 10 people infected in the counties of Bartholomew (1), Hamilton (1), Madison (1), Marion (4), Vanderburgh (6), and Wells (1).
Almost all counties have at least one infected mosquito (based on test results) except the following ones mostly in Southern Indiana: Crawford, Dubois, Jefferson, Lawrence, Martin, Orange, Owen, Perry, Pike, Vermillion, and Washington. Union County has not tested for mosquitoes so far this year, or the test results have not been updated on the map. At first, the left map shows Hamilton County (Carmel, Fishers, Noblesville, Westfield, etc.) with the most mosquito infections at 128. However, the Collection tab and corresponding mosquito collection map shows this county tested a tremendous amount of mosquitoes (28,112) for the virus resulting in the inflated infection number. By comparison, Marion County (Indianapolis area) has 48 mosquito infections based on 9,847 tests.
The original data is incomplete, not showing data for various places with high literacy — rates of which are likely at or near 100% — such as Andorra, Australia, Austria, the Bahamas, Belgium, Bermuda, Canada, Denmark, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Micronesia, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turks and Caicos, Tuvalu, United Kingdom, United States, etc. Places having 100% literacy rate data are listed and include the most recent year of data:
— Armenia, 2020
— Azerbaijan, 2023
— Barbados, 2016
— Belarus, 2019
— Cuba, 2012
— Estonia, 2011
— Georgia, 2022
— Guam, 2000
— Kazakhstan, 2009
— Kyrgyzstan, 2022
— Latvia, 2021
— Lithuania, 2021
— Moldova, 2021
— Poland, 2021
— Russia, 2021
— San Marino, 2022
— Slovenia, 2001
— Tajikistan, 2010
— Ukraine, 2021
— Honorable mentions: China, Japan, and South Korea have 100% youth literacy rates, while adult literacy is very close behind at 97% to 99%.
The worldwide literacy rate of adults is approximately 87%, while the youth literacy rate is about 93% (2023 estimates).
GeoFact of the Day is concerned about the politicization of election maps in the United States. Gerrymandering has been an issue for many years but hasn't been properly resolved in most states. Ideally, elections should be competitive to where either party could theoretically win in a district, but fewer and fewer districts are like this as the years go on. 10 of the 11 most gerrymandered states are Republican. I feel obliged to note that Republican Party has been notorious, in my opinion, for gerrymandering (they've done this for many years and in dozens of states). Gerrymandering results in districts that look elongated and ugly on a map. Ideal districts should be relatively squarish or circular and keep together neighboring counties and communities. Some districts have a length of more than 100 miles, connecting areas that are not exactly connected culturally and socially. GeoFact of the Day encourages lawmakers to hand redistricting duties over to cartographers, demographers, and other social scientist-minded individuals who will draw districts that will help revitalize United States elections and bring forth high-quality candidates and public servants — who will try to serve the interests of all constituents in their district, not just big-moneyed special interests.
Hello there! I hope you are enjoying the GeoFact of the Day Blog. I have a question for you: what would you like to see to make this geography website better? What kinds of topics should I focus on in upcoming posts? What kind of maps should I make, and about which places? I really enjoy reading your comments. I occasionally come across a nice and very helpful comment with constructive criticism. Your feedback is greatly appreciated!
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