Thanks to Palestine’s recent success at the United Nations, it is now a true country, according to the website Sporcle.
For those not familiar, Sporcle is an on-line trivia quiz site that features short quizzes on geography, entertainment, sports, history, literature and many other topics. The quizzes are timed so you might have three minutes to name all the presidents of the United States or five minutes to recognize photos of the famous people who died in 2012.
The games, while fun and quick, are also an excellent way to learn something. Even if you fail miserably, say at recognizing all the country flags, when the time expires, the answers pop up. Take the test two or three times on a topic you want to learn and you’d be surprised how quickly you catch on. For many, it’s a more effective way to memorize something than reading the same material in a text book.
Starting Jan. 16, sporcle.com now includes Palestine in every relevant quiz, including countries of the world and countries in Asia, etc.
In a post on its site, the company explained, “We realize that this decision won’t come without some controversy, but our guiding principle in regards to controversial topics on Sporcle has always been one of consistency. It boils down to this: If non-UN member countries like Vatican City, Taiwan and Kosovo are considered countries on our site, then we won’t exclude Palestine.”
And lest you think Palestine will only be mingled in with lots of other countries, it had its very own puzzle for its debut on Sporcle. It includes basic questions like what continent is it located on and what is its largest city (Gaza City). But it also lists East Jerusalem as the answer to its proposed capital.
Israel is listed as a bordering country, which is good to know since that part of the world doesn’t often acknowledge Israel’s existence.
Sporcle is quite popular on college campuses, and it keeps a running tally of which college students answer these quizzes most often. University of Maryland is often in the top 10. Right now, it’s number eight.
Let’s hope these students, or anybody else for that matter, don’t automatically accept every answer Sporcle puts forth.
