Happy Thanksgiving Day

Happy Thanksgiving!
I hope you have a wonderful day! Don't eat too much turkey :)

S Countries

The A to Z categories are based on the English language and inadvertently might not include all native country names.

There are many 'S' countries in the world, from Saint Kitts and Nevis in North America to Syria in the Middle East. The newest country in the world is an S country: South Sudan, which is found in North Africa. S countries are found in all areas of the world: on the continents of Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America, and in the Pacific Ocean (Samoa and the Solomon Islands).

Africa: Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, and Swaziland

Asia: Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, and Syria

Europe: San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland

North America: Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Oceania: Samoa and Solomon Islands

South America: Suriname

Go to the Countries page — below the blog's header image — to find individual posts about these countries.

R Countries

The A to Z categories are based on the English language and inadvertently might not include all native country names.

The world has three countries that have names starting with the letter R. They are of vastly different sizes. Russia is the largest country in the world, Romania is 'medium-sized' in comparison to most other countries, and Rwanda is very small.

ROMANIA: In Eastern Europe surrounded by Bulgaria, Hungary, Moldova, Serbia, and Ukraine, Romania has more than 100 miles of frontage along the western shore of the Black Sea, and the wide Danube River flows along most of the country's southern border. The Carpathian Mountains stretch across Northern Romania while the Transylvanian Alps are in the central and south-central parts of Romania. Satellite images show dense forests that reveal the areas of mountainous terrain, where trees have been largely spared from human activity. The country's capital and largest city, situated in Southern Romania, is Bucharest.

RUSSIA: Practically on top of the world, Russia is vast with a west-to-east span of more than 4,000 miles. Like Turkey among a few others, Russia is one of the only countries to be part of two continents (Asia and Europe). It is surprising to believe that the former Soviet Union was even larger than Russia is today! The capital, Moscow, is a well-known metropolis in Eastern Europe with a population greater than 11 million. The city's road system resembles a spider web, with concentric circles of highways and roads radiating outward from the city's center.

RWANDA: Infamous for a bloody civil war between the Tutsi and Hutu peoples in the 1990s, Rwanda is a small country west of Lake Victoria in Eastern Africa; bordering countries are Burundi to the south of Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, Tanzania to the east and southeast, and Uganda to the north and northeast. Fortunately, Rwanda is experiencing much more peace than it did during the genocide period two decades ago. The capital and largest city is Kigali.

The REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO could be considered as an additional R country. This country is also featured in the C Countries post.

Nepal Flag

The flag belonging to NEPAL is truly unique. Nepal (↗), a mountainous country with Mount Everest (the world's highest mountain) on its northeastern border, has a flag not shaped like a square or rectangle. The shape is comprised of two attached right triangles, and the top triangle is shorter than the bottom one. The body of the flag is red and there is a dark blue border. There are two white symbols. A symbol representing a crescent moon is on the top, smaller triangle, while a sun with twelve points is the symbol on the bottom triangle.

Saint Lucia Nature Reserves

One of the Windward Islands in the Caribbean Sea, SAINT LUCIA boasts the idyllic beauty that more famous Caribbean islands have. Much of Saint Lucia is still covered with rainforests, but development has encroached a little bit on all sides. Fortunately, nature reserves include a lot of land in the small island country. Two forest reserves - Edmund and Quilesse - are in South-Central Saint Lucia. Grand Bois Forest and Millet Bird Sanctuary are in North-Central Saint Lucia. Maria Islands Nature Reserve is located off the south-southeast coast of the main island, while Pigeon Island National Park is off the northern coast. Lastly, the Mamiku Gardens (Facebook page link) are near the eastern coast. Many of these reserves and parks are home for endemic and endangered species, like the Saint Lucia Black Finch.

Weather Update - 5:00 P.M. Eastern

All weather alerts in this post are now CANCELLED.

For weather updates, go to weather.gov. Crossed out counties no longer have a tornado warning.
Tornado Warnings have pushed off to the east into Indiana, Western Kentucky, and Western Ohio. As of this update, the Tornado Warnings are in the following counties.
Northern Indiana/Ohio: Adams and Allen in Indiana and Allen, Paulding, Putnam, and Van Wert in Ohio (3:45 p.m.), extreme Western Blackford, Huntington, Howard, Kosciusko, Marion, Miami, Wabash, extreme Western Wells, and Whitley Counties
Central Indiana: Northwest Delaware (recent update), Madison, parts of Boone, Clinton, Fountain, Hamilton, Montgomery, Parke, Putnam, and Tipton Counties
Southern Indiana: Jefferson and Scott (recent update), Southern Decatur, Northern Jennings, and Northern Ripley (recent update); Spencer (recent update), Bartholomew, Brown, Jackson, Knox (recent update), northeast Daviess, southeast Greene, Lawrence, Martin, and extreme Southeast Monroe
Western Kentucky: Butler (recent update), Caldwell, Christian, southern Crittenden, Henderson, Hopkins, Lyon, and Southern Muhlenberg.

Weather Alerts for Midwest

There are various Tornado Warnings in Illinois, Northwest Indiana, and Southeast Missouri. Visit weather.gov for the latest updates. A Tornado Watch is in affect for all or most parts of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and also Northeast Arkansas, Western Kentucky, Southeast Missouri, Western Ohio, Northwest Tennessee, and South and Southeast Wisconsin.

Upcoming Post about the Eastern Missasauga Snake

Hello and thanks for reading today! I am planning on creating a post about the Eastern Missasauga Rattlesnake and how its population in the United States is declining. I will also create an Indiana map showing where the Eastern Missasauga snake is listed as endangered. Stay tuned for that and more!

What in the World? Name that Continent

Situated in the Nubian Desert to the west of the Red Sea, I am Bir Tawil, a small four-sided area that is not claimed by the countries to the north (EGYPT) and south (SUDAN) of me. I am also located to the west of Hala’ib Triangle, a border dispute between the two countries. You will also find me to the southeast of Lake Nasser, a manmade lake created when the Aswan High Dam was built. On what continent am I on?















The answer is found below!


















Answer: AFRICA

Poem for Veterans

The Veterans' Valor
By The GeoWhiz

To all United States veterans of past and present,
You represent the United States of America with Dignity.
And we know that our blessings are not free,
You courageously sacrifice so that we can have our Freedoms and Liberty,
Thank you so much for your service to Americans and your Country.
You offer us hope that the world will soon be filled with Peace.

Wonderful Images on Bing

If you have not been on the search engine Bing, you are missing out on enlightening images showcasing the world's beauty. Google is a nice search engine to let you get the answers you want, but Bing offers something special. Sometimes, if you are ever feeling down, the homepage images on Bing are so enchanting and amazing that they can make you feel happy! Plus, Bing seems to cater to the geographers. Today's homepage, for instance, shows Lake Tanganyika in East Africa. There are countless other examples of satellite imagery and images of gorgeous landscapes that were used on Bing's homepage.

If you are still a Google fanatic and adamantly intent on never switching search engines, that is perfectly fine; but just check Bing out whenever you want to see a wonderful image. National Geographic's Photo of the Day is another great site for images.

Bolivia Salt Flats

A landlocked country straddling the Andes Mountains of the western part of South America, BOLIVIA boasts two large salt flats (salt pans) that are visible from outer space satellite imagery. Zoom in to Southwest Bolivia with your favorite online mapping service and you will see noticeable white areas. The largest of the two "white areas" in Bolivia and the largest salt pan in the world is Salar de Uyuni, known as Uyuni Salt Flat in English. The smaller salt pan north of Salar de Uyuni is Salar de Coipasa. This landform is also called Lago Coipasa (Coipasa Lake) because it sometimes look like a lake rather than a salt flat (like on Bing Maps); in this case, the water did not fully evaporate and therefore salt is not revealed.

Danube River

The important Danube River stretches for almost 2,000 miles in Central and Southeast Europe. It begins its journey in Southern GERMANY and then flows eastward, passing by German cities like Ingolstad, Regensburg, and Straubing. The Danube then crosses AUSTRIA, passing by cities like Linz and Vienna (Austria's capital). Next, it forms part of SLOVAKIA's southern border and HUNGARY's northern border, passing cities like Győr, Komárom, and Esztergom in Hungary and Slovakia's capital, Bratislava. The river takes a 90 degree turn towards Budapest (Hungary's capital) and heads straight down through Hungary until meeting up with SERBIA's northwest border. It then travels east through the northern part of Serbia, running by cities like Backa Palanka, Novi Sad, and Belgrade (Serbia's capital). The Danube then forms most of ROMANIA's southern border and BULGARIA's northern border. Finally, it crosses the eastern part of Romania and ends at the Black Sea delta.

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines' Highest Point

La Soufrière is the highest point in SAINT VINCENT and the GRENADINES, a Caribbean island country comprised of Saint Vincent — the largest island in the country — and The Grenadines islands which include Bequia, Mustique, and Union. La Soufriere, a volcano, stands over the northern part of Saint Vincent at about 4,098 feet (1249 meters), south of the town of Fancy.

Lesotho Flag

The flag of LESOTHO (link to blog post) changed in 2006 and features three horizontal stripes and a center design of an important cultural icon. The top stripe is blue (representing rain), the middle is white (peace), and the bottom is green (prosperity), representing the motto Khotso, Pula, Nala that is found on Lesotho's coat of arms, currency, and more. The black element in the flag's center is a Basotho hat representing the people and cultural heritage of Lesotho.