Return hand-defined list of place names to skip and not attempt to geolocate. If users would like to exclude
    country names, this would be the function to do it with.

def make_skip_list(cts):
    """
    Return hand-defined list of place names to skip and not attempt to geolocate. If users would like to exclude
    country names, this would be the function to do it with.
    """
    # maybe make these non-country searches but don't discard, at least for
    # some (esp. bodies of water)
    special_terms = ["Europe", "West", "the West", "South Pacific", "Gulf of Mexico", "Atlantic",
                    "the Black Sea", "Black Sea", "North America", "Mideast", "Middle East",
                     "the Middle East", "Asia", "the Caucasus", "Africa",
                    "Central Asia", "Balkans", "Eastern Europe", "Arctic", "Ottoman Empire",
                    "Asia-Pacific", "East Asia", "Horn of Africa", "Americas",
                    "North Africa", "the Strait of Hormuz", "Mediterranean", "East", "North",
                     "South", "Latin America", "Southeast Asia", "Western Pacific", "South Asia",
                    "Persian Gulf", "Central Europe", "Western Hemisphere", "Western Europe",
                    "European Union (E.U.)", "EU", "European Union", "E.U.", "Asia-Pacific",
                 "Europe", "Caribbean", "US", "U.S.", "Persian Gulf", "West Africa", "North", "East",
                     "South", "West", "Western Countries"
                ]

    # Some words are recurring spacy problems...
    spacy_problems = ["Kurd", "Qur'an"]

    #skip_list = list(cts.keys()) + special_terms
    skip_list =  special_terms + spacy_problems
    skip_list = set(skip_list)
    return skip_list