{"id":1789753,"date":"2020-12-05T17:33:05","date_gmt":"2020-12-05T22:33:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1789753"},"modified":"2020-12-05T17:33:05","modified_gmt":"2020-12-05T22:33:05","slug":"the-contiguous-41-states-wait-what","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/12\/the-contiguous-41-states-wait-what\/","title":{"rendered":"The Contiguous 41 States\u2014Wait, What?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Contiguous<\/a>
Randall Munroe, \u201cContiguous 41 States.\u201d xkcd, 4 Dec 2020.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The thing about this xkcd cartoon<\/a> is that at first glance it\u2019s entirely plausible: Randall has done violence to state boundaries while maintaining the rough overall shape of the lower 48. He\u2019s snipped out seven states without anyone noticing if they don\u2019t look too closely.<\/p>\n

Previously: xkcd\u2019s United States Map<\/a>;\u00a0\u2018They Just Wanted to Fix Some Things About the State Borders\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The thing about this xkcd cartoon is that at first glance it\u2019s entirely plausible: Randall has done violence to state boundaries while maintaining the rough overall shape of the lower 48. He\u2019s snipped out seven… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[233],"tags":[936,192,158,273],"class_list":["post-1789753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-unusual-maps","tag-fun","tag-funny","tag-usa","tag-xkcd","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1822446,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2023\/12\/xkcds-geography-challenge\/","url_meta":{"origin":1789753,"position":0},"title":"xkcd’s Geography Challenge","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"18 December 2023","format":"link","excerpt":"Stare at this map for a while until you figure out what Randall Munroe has done in last Friday\u2019s xkcd. Then scream. (Kottke says: \u201cThis is evil.\u201d) It\u2019s not the first time that xkcd has committed mischief and violence on an outline map of the contiguous United States: see, for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Unusual Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Unusual Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/unusual-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"An xkcd comic by Randall Munroe called Label the States","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/label_the_states.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/label_the_states.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/label_the_states.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/label_the_states.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1832472,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2024\/06\/xkcd-exterior-kansas\/","url_meta":{"origin":1789753,"position":1},"title":"xkcd: ‘Exterior Kansas’","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"28 June 2024","format":"link","excerpt":"Randall Munroe, \u201cBad Map Projection: Exterior Kansas,\u201d xkcd, 26 June 2024. In the latest iteration of xkcd\u2019s series of bad map projections, Randall puts Kansas\u2014the putative centre of the contiguous 48 states\u2014at the edge of the map.","rel":"","context":"In "Unusual Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Unusual Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/unusual-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"xkcd:","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/xkcd-exterior-kansas.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/xkcd-exterior-kansas.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/xkcd-exterior-kansas.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/xkcd-exterior-kansas.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/xkcd-exterior-kansas.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/xkcd-exterior-kansas.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1788218,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/01\/xkcd-all-south-americas\/","url_meta":{"origin":1789753,"position":2},"title":"xkcd: All South Americas","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"21 January 2020","format":"image","excerpt":"xkcd is back with another bad map projection: in this one, it\u2019s all South Americas. The alt-text:\u00a0\u201cThe projection does a good job preserving both distance and azimuth, at the cost of really exaggerating how many South Americas there are.\u201d Previously: xkcd\u2019s Time Zone Map; xkcd\u2019s Liquid Resize Map Projection; xkcd\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Unusual Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Unusual Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/unusual-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/bad_map_projection_south_america.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/bad_map_projection_south_america.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/bad_map_projection_south_america.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3516,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/12\/xkcds-u-s-state-names\/","url_meta":{"origin":1789753,"position":3},"title":"xkcd’s U.S. State Names","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"2 December 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"Randall is messing with us again in today's xkcd, which assigns malapropisms and synophones to U.S. state names.\u00a0The results are about what you'd expect. Previously:\u00a0xkcd\u2019s United States Map.","rel":"","context":"In "Unusual Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Unusual Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/unusual-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Randall Munroe, ","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/us_state_names.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/us_state_names.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/us_state_names.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/us_state_names.png?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1791423,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/07\/xkcd-the-greenland-special\/","url_meta":{"origin":1789753,"position":4},"title":"xkcd: The Greenland Special","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"16 July 2021","format":"link","excerpt":"At some point, xkcd cartoonist Randall Munroe is going to put out a book focusing on his map-related cartoons, isn\u2019t he. The latest in his \u201cBad Map Projection\u201d series (previously: All South Americas, Time Zones, Liquid Resize) is The Greenland Special, an equal-area projection except for Greenland, which uses Mercator.\u00a0And\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Unusual Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Unusual Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/unusual-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"xkcd: Bad Map Projections: The Greenland Special","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/xkcd-greenland-special-1024x895.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/xkcd-greenland-special-1024x895.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/xkcd-greenland-special-1024x895.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/xkcd-greenland-special-1024x895.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1787473,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/07\/xkcd-on-coordinate-precision\/","url_meta":{"origin":1789753,"position":5},"title":"xkcd on Coordinate Precision","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"3 July 2019","format":"image","excerpt":"In Monday's xckd, Randall Munroe points out that when it comes to coordinate precision, there is such a thing as too many decimal places.","rel":"","context":"In "Navigation"","block_context":{"text":"Navigation","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/navigation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/coordinate_precision_2x.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/coordinate_precision_2x.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/coordinate_precision_2x.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/coordinate_precision_2x.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/coordinate_precision_2x.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1789753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1789753"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1789753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1789760,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1789753\/revisions\/1789760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1789753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1789753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1789753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}