In which you curse my name

I've been somewhat addicted to this quiz website, Sporcle. There are new quizzes every day, most of which take the form of lists. My favorite section has been the geography quizzes, found here, particularly the one in which you are called upon to name all the countries of the world. There is a map, and a little text box will appear over the country as you name it. It allows 15 minutes, which is plenty of time if you know how to spell the countries correctly. I have taken it every night over the past week. My scores, out of a possible 195, have been 185, 190, 192, 193, 193, 193, 194. The countries that I miss always vary, because the map is pretty small and has low resolution, and it gets covered up by your correct answers. It's a fun challenge.

I didn't start out with knowledge of 185 countries. There are also quizzes for the various regions of the world (5 continents plus Oceania) that I mastered before attempting the big enchilada. These are much easier to learn from, since the countries are colored in as you name them. Are YOU ready to possess this kind of raw knowledge? Do YOU want to be able to kick serious booty in a very specific subset of geography-related categories on Jeopardy? Then head on over to Sporcle and get hooked. Pro tip: Vatican City.

Of further internet-related interest, I've solved part of my productivity issues at work. I exclusively use Firefox, and there is an add-on called Leechblock (Tools menu -> Add Ons -> search for Leechblock). It will block your access to specified websites between certain hours. You can schedule in a lunch break, or tell it to permit 10 minutes every hour or two. There are a lot of options. You can have your access restricted by a password, but I don't trust myself with such an easy fix: I have it set up so that I can't access the settings during working hours. To avoid temptation, I eliminated Safari from my always-visible dock on my MacBook. It's only been two days, but I feel like I'm adjusting to life without Boardgamegeek, ESPN, Facebook, this blog, the Seattle Times, and Sporcle at work. When I do waste time, it is to flip through Science, Nature, or PNAS, which is slightly more germane to my work situation than the latest argument in the Religion, Sex, and Politics forum on the Geek (or even successfully naming the 195 recognized countries of the world).

Update, several hours later: I did it!!!