{"id":5206,"date":"2017-10-13T09:00:47","date_gmt":"2017-10-13T13:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=5206"},"modified":"2017-10-13T08:26:45","modified_gmt":"2017-10-13T12:26:45","slug":"they-just-wanted-to-fix-some-things-about-the-state-borders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/10\/they-just-wanted-to-fix-some-things-about-the-state-borders\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;They Just Wanted to Fix Some Things About the State Borders&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure style=\"width: 740px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/xkcd.com\/1902\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/state_borders.png\" width=\"740\" height=\"534\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Randall Munroe, &#8220;State Borders.&#8221; xckd, 13 October 2017.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/xkcd.com\/1902\/\">Today&#8217;s xkcd<\/a>. Apparently, the graphic-designer dictatorship will, in their zeal to fix the state borders, overlook <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Point_Roberts,_Washington\">Point Roberts<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today&#8217;s xkcd. Apparently, the graphic-designer dictatorship will, in their zeal to fix the state borders, overlook Point Roberts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[233],"tags":[274,192,273],"class_list":["post-5206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","hentry","category-unusual-maps","tag-comics","tag-funny","tag-xkcd","post_format-post-format-image"],"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":5206,"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 &quot;Unusual Maps&quot;","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":1844815,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/08\/how-xkcd-does-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":5206,"position":1},"title":"How xkcd Does Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"5 August 2025","format":"link","excerpt":"Randall Munroe, author of the xkcd web comic, posts a surprising amount of map-related content, which I invariably end up linking to here. With some exceptions, they fall into one of two categories, each of which has a recent example. The first category is a hand-drawn infographic map showing, in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Art&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/xkcd-inaturalist.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/xkcd-inaturalist.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/xkcd-inaturalist.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/xkcd-inaturalist.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/xkcd-inaturalist.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/xkcd-inaturalist.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1832472,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2024\/06\/xkcd-exterior-kansas\/","url_meta":{"origin":5206,"position":2},"title":"xkcd: &#8216;Exterior Kansas&#8217;","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 &quot;Unusual Maps&quot;","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":1788273,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/01\/xkcd-reaction-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":5206,"position":3},"title":"xkcd: Reaction Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"28 January 2020","format":"image","excerpt":"The latest xkcd comic suggests a fiendish way to express yourself: by creating phrases from driving direction waypoints. An obvious upgrade would be to use one or more of the places from the Magnificently Rude Map of World Place Names (previously).","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Mobile&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Mobile","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/mobile\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"xkcd: Reaction Maps","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/reaction_maps.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/reaction_maps.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/reaction_maps.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/reaction_maps.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3516,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/12\/xkcds-u-s-state-names\/","url_meta":{"origin":5206,"position":4},"title":"xkcd&#8217;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 &quot;Unusual Maps&quot;","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":1791321,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/06\/xkcd-no-the-other-one\/","url_meta":{"origin":5206,"position":5},"title":"xkcd: &#8216;No, The Other One&#8217;","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"23 June 2021","format":"image","excerpt":"How this map isn\u2019t nothing but Columbuses and Springfields, I have no idea.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Toponyms&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Toponyms","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/toponyms\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/xkcd-no-the-other-one-1024x650.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/xkcd-no-the-other-one-1024x650.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/xkcd-no-the-other-one-1024x650.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/xkcd-no-the-other-one-1024x650.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5206","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=5206"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5208,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5206\/revisions\/5208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}