Days are getting shorter as winter approaches. But climate is not the same at every latitude. The jet stream gives Europe a more moderate climate throughout the year. The shadows will be the same length in Chicago and Rome this winter, but the weather will not be. We tend to associate weather to geography, but there are several surprising latitude equivalents.

Athens and Washington, DC share more than their love of Doric columns; they also share the same latitude. Istanbul in Iowa, pyramids in New Orleans, Red Square Alaska, and the Tampa Taj Mahal form a confusing impression of where latitudes from famous cities around the world fall in North America. Fortunately, the Canadians can speak some French to Parisians visiting the Vancouver Eiffel Tour. And most appropriate of all the latitudinal mix ups: Casablanca in Hollywood.

Either Pluto got a demotion or Xena got a promotion. Thank goodness the scientists at the International Astronomical Union (IAU) were sensitive to poor Pluto’s feelings. Owen Gingerich of Harvard University, who chaired the IAU panel said that:

“We might be demoting it from the list of eight classical planets, but we’re promoting it by making it the head of its own special class”

Pluto, Xena (aka 2003 UB 313) Charon and Ceres are tiny, distant rocks with wacky orbits. So the IAU decided that these not-quite-planets at the edge of the solar system (where a year lasts 200 or more earth years) will be called plutons. No word yet on whether this new category will rhyme “crouton” or “button,” though we expect President Bush to weigh in on it shortly.

So why all the fuss? Well, because Pluto is far smaller than any of the classic eight planets. Several moons in our solar system - including Earth’s - are larger than Pluto. In fact all of Pluto’s 16.7 million square kilometers of surface area would fit inside Russia. If IAU’s plan is approved, the four additional plutons will be classified as planets increasing our solar systems total to twelve.

Statastico got to wondering, what if the planets were shrunk down to the size of countries on Earth? If we scale all of the planets down to about 1/3600th of their total surface area, we can find a comparably-sized country for all of the planets and plutons.

The results? Jupiter would be revoking democracy in Russia, Saturn would be curling in Canada, Uranus would be trying to figure out how to speak Kalaallisut, Neptune would be desperately looking for water in Saudi Arabia, and Earth would be in Tajikistan searching in vain for Borat.

While the big planets get countries with huge tracts of land, you’re probably more likely to vacation on a Pluton. Zena would be playing World Cup soccer in Trinidad and Tobago while Pluto takes in the sweet sounds of Cesaria Evora in Cape Verde. Meanwhile, Charon would be doing some sunbathing in Martinique, and tiny Ceres would be snorkeling in the Dutch Antilles.

Sources: Statastic research; mean planet radius: Wikipedia; mean pluton radius: USGS

Notes: Surface area was calculated from the mean radius for each planet and assumes (incorrectly, I know) that the planets are all perfect spheres.

Planet images on the map are not to scale, not even close. However, the actual scale of 1:3592 does holds up surprisingly well. If you’re really interested click here for the percentage that each country over or under-represents each planet on the 1:3592 this scale.

Sure English has the most entries in Wikipedia - 1.3 million at last count - but we also have half a billion native speakers around the world. In fact, it takes 250 Internet users to produce a single English entry on Wikipedia.

So which country is the most prolific? A mere 2 million Slovenians have cranked out 32,000 entries, and they only needed an average of 30 Internet users to write each entry.

And 8.8 million Swedes have produced a whopping 177,000 entries. So if anyone ever asks you how many Swedes it takes to screw in a Wikipedia entry on lightbulbs, the answer is 50. The punchline is that it takes 389 English speakers and more than 11,000 Chinese speakers to do the same. This is hardly surprising given that Sweden is one of the most industrious and entrepreneurial countries in the world, home of Ikea, Volvo and the Swedish Chef.

But look out for the Lusophones. The 210 million Brazilians and Portuguese have produced 169,000 Wikipedia entries so far, and while they’re not the most efficient, that’s still an impressive 28% increase in entries since April, 2006.

Here are the top 25 languages used to write Wikipedia entries. The first statastic is a snapshot of which native speakers produce the most entries per capita. The second measure shows how productive the language groups are given their access to the Internet.

Sources: Statastic research, Wikipedia, World Bank, United Nations Millennium Devlopment Goals Indicators

Notes: Chinese speakers count Mandarin and Cantonese.

Internet usage: Wikipedia entries as of August 9, 2006. Internet usage data is from 2004. In cases where a language spans several countries, a weighted average was used to determine estimated Internet usage data for a language group.

It’s statastic’s first contest of contestation.

There are five disputed territories below. Once you’ve figured out the name of the disputed territory, match the letter of the description to the number of the correct map. The first to email me all five correct answers wins a prize. (Possibly the opportunity to buy Statastico a beer.)

Let the contest begin!

A. This region occupies the area between two countries with impressive corruption. Today it was reported that the independence leader of this potentially oil rich territory said, “The people have declared their own republic!” They also have a snappy new blue and white flag.

B. This territory has been a de facto independent state since a 1993 war forced 300,000 into exile. The geography is mostly mountainous forests, with tea and citrus plantations in lower areas.

C. The livestock of this unrecognized de facto sovereign state outnumbers the Muslim population by 7 to 1. May 17-18 is this state’s “Restoration of Sovereignty” holiday.

D. This separatist region has an economy based on the production of a strong spirit that appears on their currency, out-moded industry, and, allegedly, the trafficking of women.

E. This province is currently in talks with the United Nations about a path toward independence.

Note: Maps are not to scale, but they are oriented with north at the top.