Since 1996, what noteworthy thing has happened in Antarctica, Bolivia, Cambodia, Cape Verde*, Czech Republic, Egypt (twice), France, Greece, India (twice), Ireland, Italy (twice), Japan (twice), Kazakhstan, Mexico, Nepal (twice), New Caledonia*, Norway (once but in two separate locations*), the People’s Republic of China, Peru (twice), Thailand (twice), Tunisia*, the United Kingdom (four times), and the United States of America (twice)?
* Areas listed with an asterisk are approximated.
Without doing any research I’m going to throw out a WAG.
Asteroid strike?
I’m thinking it has to be something involving astronomy.
Solar eclipses?
There have been a couple where the totality path cut across several African countries that aren’t on the list.
Four times in the UK is really throwing me off. It looks like some geographic or meteorological phenomenon, but that’s a huge number for a tiny island.
I’d say “soccer riots of a particular size” but the US is on there.
Maybe they’re tying one of the “let off some steam” riots that LA tends to have with a victory or a loss of that David Beckham team?
the “let off some steam” riots that LA tends to have
That may be the whitest thing you’ve ever said.
Yeah, but Antarctica’s last big soccer riot was in 1994, and the list is from 1996 on.
It looks like some geographic or meteorological phenomenon, but that’s a huge number for a tiny island.
But over almost 17 years, so something that could happen repeatedly. Record high temperatures of some sort?
Record precipitation of some sort
Tuesday hint: the approximated locations are all undersea. Hence the subject of the question can occur undersea.
Some sort of archaelogical discovery? With the undersea ones being sunken ships or similar (and the Antarctica one, I remember hearing about the discovery of a ship lost in Antarctica)?
Earthquake above a certain magnitude. Let’s say 7.
The threshold would have to be much lower to get the UK on the list 4 times and would subsequently add a whole bunch of other spots in doing so.
Oh yeah, good point re: the UK.
Discovery of new animal species.
IIRC, there have been multiple new species found in Madagascar in the last decade. Yep, Wikipedia has a long list of just mammals described so far in the 21st century.
IIRC some are ultra-cute lemurs. (This is not the answer to the question BTW, but I do think lemurs are pretty damnable cute.)
Maybe, but sometimes the whole “staring” thing just weirds me out.
WWII memorial/cemetary opened?
Wednesday clue: while Fnord was not on the bulls-eye above, he was in one of the middle rings of the target.
Discovery of new undersea oil fields.
Or natural gas.
Uh…guys, Kazakhstan is landlocked.
So is Nepal for that matter.
Entrances to the hollow earth?
Doctor Who sightings. Explains the GB cluster ..
Nd Bolivia and Czech Republic. Which doesn’t foreclose the possibility of underwater ruins being discovered in a lake or river, I guess, but this is not the answer we’re looking for. Well, a tiny little bit it might be. But not really close enough for an assist IMO.
The “little bit” clue refers to underwater ruins (Johanna’s guess below), not fossil fuel deposits.
Kazakhstan borders both the Caspian Sea and what’s left of the Aral Sea.
I’m going to just throw it out there: bordering the Aral Sea does not disqualify a nation from being considered “landlocked.” Is it even still navigable?
Discovery of a new aquatic species?
underwater cities, ruins
UNESCO World Heritage sites named since 1996?
hello
How does Nepal have anything undersea?
Previously undiscovered city ruins found?
Or rather, buried ruins.
or ruins of lost civilizations due to climate change like sea level changes.
Discovery of new earthquake faults.
New previously unknown bacteria found.
along that line, discovery of a non-carbon based life-form. (or just one that eats the sulfur coming out of hydrothermal vents)
Recovered rockets from space missions.
Ok, one last try. Ancient sites found.
Discovery of human bodies that have been largely/somewhat preserved by the elements?
Nice one, KatherineMW, I’d refine it to discovery of mummified human remains?
One of those water tornado thingies you see in Sinbad movies?
Some porton of Jimmy Hoffa’s remains.
Whale fossils? Or shark fossils?
Portals to the the civilizations that live beneath the crust of the earth. At least according to the hollow earth people. I know there is supposed to be one Antarctica. Some dude flew an airplane in that one. Heard it on ancient aliens.
Newly discovered Baldwin brothers.
I could go for this answer. But I can not figure out how they discovered one Baldwin brother in two different places in Norway. *shrug* maybe it was Harry Baldwin.
New dinosaur species discovered?
Eruptions of submarine volcanoes.
The number of places Burt Likko has dropped his watch into the ocean
Thursday hint: we’re talking about a form of new media. It’s been mentioned in comments threads on the front page recently.
Tomb Raider games have been set in those locations?
I knew the Thursday clue would either totally mystify or completely reveal.
I’m surprised Lara Croft hasn’t been to China more. Or, for that matter, that her adventures in her native UK have been at her own house rather than in the abundance of castles and cairns there.
Good job Fnord!
Hmm. You said, what noteworthy thing has happened in.
100% splitting hairs, but a game set in places =/= happened in places.
And congratulations, Fnord. Figuring that hobbit riddle out conveys special powers of some sort!
How should I have phrased the original question, then?
I’ve been thinking on that; perhaps, “appears to have happened?”
And really, I was just being the geeky question-the-teacher kid before my first cup of coffee.
The underlying insight from your challenge that really intrigues me is how we’ll differentiate between virtual reality events and real events as we progress; is it live or is it Memorex?
Well, I don’t know that it’s a new question. Where did Don Quixote have his adventures? A) Spain or b) “Nowhere, silly, it’s a work of fiction”? Either answer seems fair to me.
FWIW, I think a fairer phrasing would’ve been “what has taken place in ….” — Don Quixote took place in Spain but it didn’t happen in Spain. That phrasing would rule out natural stuff and perhaps point more directly to fiction, but it could also refer to real-life events, so it might not have removed all the misdirection.
My quibble is that the question said ” noteworthy.” 😉
There’s that, too.
I suppose it’s a matter of perspective.
/must google laura croft to see what she’s drawn as someday soon. then again, why bother?
Whoo!
I never figured I’d be winning one of these things, given how utterly clueless I usually feel reading them.
Ah… I read the Tuesday hint wrong…
Well done, Burt.