{"id":1822446,"date":"2023-12-18T09:29:45","date_gmt":"2023-12-18T14:29:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1822446"},"modified":"2023-12-18T09:29:45","modified_gmt":"2023-12-18T14:29:45","slug":"xkcds-geography-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2023\/12\/xkcds-geography-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"xkcd’s Geography Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"An<\/a>
Randall Munroe, “Label the States,” xkcd, 15 Dec 2023.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Stare at this map<\/a> for a while until you figure out what Randall Munroe has done in last Friday\u2019s xkcd. Then scream. (Kottke says<\/a>: \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 example this one<\/a>, or this one<\/a>. I worry it may not be the last.<\/p>\n

Previously: xkcd\u2019s United States Map<\/a>; The Contiguous 41 States\u2014Wait, What?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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… 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":[192,158,273],"class_list":["post-1822446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-unusual-maps","tag-funny","tag-usa","tag-xkcd","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1789753,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/12\/the-contiguous-41-states-wait-what\/","url_meta":{"origin":1822446,"position":0},"title":"The Contiguous 41 States\u2014Wait, What?","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"5 December 2020","format":"link","excerpt":"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 states without anyone noticing if they don\u2019t look too closely. Previously: xkcd\u2019s United States Map;\u00a0\u2018They\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Unusual Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Unusual Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/unusual-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Contiguous 41 States (xkcd)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/xkcd-contiguous-41-states-1024x806.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/xkcd-contiguous-41-states-1024x806.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/xkcd-contiguous-41-states-1024x806.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/xkcd-contiguous-41-states-1024x806.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1788218,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/01\/xkcd-all-south-americas\/","url_meta":{"origin":1822446,"position":1},"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":1832472,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2024\/06\/xkcd-exterior-kansas\/","url_meta":{"origin":1822446,"position":2},"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":3516,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/12\/xkcds-u-s-state-names\/","url_meta":{"origin":1822446,"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":1791918,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/10\/xkcd-sabotages-those-flag-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":1822446,"position":4},"title":"xkcd Sabotages Those Flag Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"17 October 2021","format":"link","excerpt":"Maps where countries are coloured in with flag patterns: I\u2019ve seen a lot of them around, especially on Reddit, but I haven\u2019t necessarily liked them; xkcd\u2019s comic from last Wednesday goes one step further in that it offers a way to hack them.","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/flag_map_sabotage.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/flag_map_sabotage.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/flag_map_sabotage.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1789802,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/12\/xkcds-2020-election-map\/","url_meta":{"origin":1822446,"position":5},"title":"xkcd\u2019s 2020 Election Map","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"16 December 2020","format":"link","excerpt":"xkcd did another map thing, so I have to post about it; it\u2019s a rule. This time Randall revisits the design of the map he did for the 2016 U.S. presidential election, in which one figure represents 250,000 votes for each candidate. In a Twitter thread, he explains the rationale\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/xkcd-2020-election-map-1024x769.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/xkcd-2020-election-map-1024x769.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/xkcd-2020-election-map-1024x769.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/xkcd-2020-election-map-1024x769.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1822446","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=1822446"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1822446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1822448,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1822446\/revisions\/1822448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1822446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1822446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1822446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}