Reader Deborah provides today's tale of stupidity:

Once when I was on a flight to Nairobi, Kenya from Paris, France, I got up to stretch my legs and ended up in conversation with someone I knew from university. We glanced up to see our flight's location on the television screen map, and my classmate, well in his 30s, said, "look, we're passing over Ecuador." I asked if he meant "the equator," and he became a little standoffish and quickly returned to his seat. Perhaps I should preface this story by saying that we both attended an "international" university with multiple friends from the country of Ecuador.

Yikes. The equator, of course, does run through Ecuador, but that's no excuse (particularly as a flight from Paris to Nairobi wouldn't cross South America!). The equator also passes through:

  • São Tomé and Príncipe
  • Gabon
  • the Republic of the Congo, not to be confused with...
  • the Democratic Republic of Congo
  • Uganda
  • Kenya
  • Somalia
  • the Maldives (although itmisses every island, passing between Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll and Gnaviyani Atoll)
  • Indonesia
  • Kiribati (again, it misses every island, passing between Aranuka and Nonouti Atolls in the Gilbert Islands)
  • Colombia
  • Brazil

Despite its name, Equatorial Guinea is not crossed by the equator.

equator.jpg