Monday Trivia No. 101 [James Hanley Wins!]

To celebrate the centennial of Monday Trivia, we’ve got a double-shot of trivia for you. It’s a trivia explosion, I tell ya.

What does the European Union lack, as do (currently) Afghanistan, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Denmark, Egypt, Faroe Islands, Guyana, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Macau, Mauritania, Myanmar, Nepal, Qatar, Seychelles, Sudan, Surinam, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen?

Burt Likko

Pseudonymous Portlander. Homebrewer. Atheist. Recovering litigator. Recovering Republican. Recovering Catholic. Recovering divorcé. Recovering Former Editor-in-Chief of Ordinary Times. House Likko's Words: Scite Verum. Colite Iusticia. Vivere Con Gaudium.

54 Comments

    • Huh! Turns out that is the case. Unless you list the component members of the EU, which would means Latvia is wrong, but I’m treating the EU as a single unit here.

      But the judges are looking for something else.

    • Further to the above, the United States of America and Canada do have this thing, which the listed jurisdictions lack.

      • Can we assume similar countries not named have it (e.g Ukraine, Syria, Morocco, Thailand, etc.)?

  1. Governmental legitimacy.

    Quibble: This should be Monday Trivia 100.1. Otherwise you’re engaging in false advertising about how many Mondays you’ve done trivia. I do intend to sue. In Michigan’s federal court, since this will be a diversity case.

  2. Clarification and Tuesday Clue: Further research by me reveals that Demark belongs on the list, separate and apart from its membership in the European Union. (I was using outdated information for Denmark.) The Faroe Islands still belong on the list despite Denmark’s inclusion. Greenland has never been eligible for either inclusion or exclusion. No other nation within the EU belongs on the list, and the EU continues to belong on the list in its own right.

    With that bit of Danish annoyance put to rest, the list is now, to the extent of my ability to have researched it, current, accurate, and comprehensive as of February 18, 2013.

    • Am I interpreting this properly to mean that the EU as an entity and the country of Denmark lack whatever this is, but the other EU members such as France and Germany do have it?

      • At the moment no EU nation other than Great Britain and Denmark is eligible for consideration. And the Brits have what the Danes lack.

        • Is Great Britain actually the island of Great Britain (England-Wales-Scotland but not Northern Island) or is it a reference to the UK? Ordinarily, I’d assume the the latter, but the whole ambiguity around nationhood makes me uncertain.

  3. Hint: It’s not a national motto.

    Fun fact: The national motto of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire was Indivisibiliter ac Inseparabiliter (Indivisibly and Inseparably).

  4. Wednesday clue: I used the word “jurisdiction” deliberately. Most jurisdictions are also nation-states. But not all. Some are supra-national, a few are sub-national. The thing we’re looking for is something about these sorts of jurisdictions. A certain something which about 150 of them outsource to a single private company.

  5. Thursday clue: Maybe your jurisdiction is a De La Rue customer, maybe not. The EU is, and so is Denmark, and there’s on the list.

    But then again, Great Britain is a De La Rue customer too, and it isn’t on the list. Come to think of it, there is no Commonwealth nation on the list at all. Which isn’t a coincidence at all.

          • Mo was too specific about it being an image of a head of state on the banknote, but I’m going to say that’s an assist because it’s pretty close to the mark.

            James and Johanna referring to the design of the banknotes generally was not specific enough.

            Maybe a reminder of the OP is in order:

            What [image on its banknotes] does the European Union lack, as do (currently) Afghanistan, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Denmark, Egypt, Faroe Islands, Guyana, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Macau, Mauritania, Myanmar, Nepal, Qatar, Seychelles, Sudan, Surinam, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen?

          • That’s it exactly. Pictures of people on the banknotes.

            You’re looking at the same 2002 series of Danish banknotes that confused me when I started. The 2009 series does not have people, just architecture.

          • The private company is De La Rue, which claims to design and manufacture banknotes for over 150 central banks worldwide. Its biggest client by far is the European Central Bank, which issues the Euro.

            It was learning that a single private company prints currency for so many countries that fascinated me, and I thought to wait until the centennial to think of some way to use money as the subject of the trivia puzzle.

            As it was, this subject was (I think) a bit trickier than most both to research and to phrase in a cogent fashion. But hey, any time I can put together a puzzle that baffles Randy Harris, I’m left feeling pretty clever.

          • Burt,

            It was more Johanna than me. If anyone gets credit in the title it really should be her.

            Fascinating challenge, by the way.

          • Darn,I thought this was going to be win. So close. The Commonwealth nations hint got me on the head of state track.

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