explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1902: State Borders

2017-10-13T13:40:48Z

Martini:

Let's be honest- it should ''all'' be Canada. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.123|162.158.74.123]] 12:24, 13 October 2017 (UTC)

Could Arizona, New Mexico be a reference to Trump? Like, make the border straighter so it's easier to build a wall? [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 12:35, 13 October 2017 (UTC)
:More likely the joke is that conceding territory to Mexico is about the last thing Trump would do [[User:AnotherAnonymous|AnotherAnonymous]] ([[User talk:AnotherAnonymous|talk]]) 13:04, 13 October 2017 (UTC)

My first thought is to wonder if it would be possible to arrange the map such that all internal borders are "straight lines" that span the entire country, to satisfy as many criteria as possible:
* The number of states remains unchanged
** …and they all get to keep their capitals (probably quite difficult)
*** …or (and?) each state manages to keep either its current population, land area, or coastline length
* Or all internal borders are parallels or meridians
* Or all states have the same land area
** …or population; or population density
* Or if you're allowing more (or fewer) states than the present layout, what's the greatest number of states possible such that they all contain at least one complete city?

Which of those criteria would be the most interesting challenge? And which could you construct an algorithm to solve?
I really should refrain from trying to build those algorithms, because I'm supposed to be working --[[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 13:28, 13 October 2017 (UTC)

There are some great videos on YouTube about weird State boundaries. There are some REALLY weird oddities out there. Take for instance the "Give to Canada" piece - that's the Northwest Angle in Minnesota. It's really an accident that it ever ended up in the USA at all, and doesn't make any sense! [[User:Martini|Martini]] ([[User talk:Martini|talk]]) 13:40, 13 October 2017 (UTC)Martini

1902: State Borders

2017-10-13T13:36:50Z

Martini: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 1902
| date = October 13, 2017
| title = State Borders
| image = state_borders.png
| titletext = A schism between the pro-panhandle and anti-panhandle factions eventually led to war, but both sides spent too much time working on their flag designs to actually do much fighting.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Add a table of all the proposed changes, explain title text... Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In this comic, graphic designers take control of the United States, but the only thing they do is change the state borders slightly so that they look more aligned, as shown in the map.

* {{w|Southeast Alaska}} should be given to {{w|Canada}}, presumably because it more neatly fits with {{w|British Columbia}}.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

State Borders 
Give to Canada 
This should be Wisconsin 
Move Long Island to NJ or CT or make it its own state 
Align to grid 
Clean Up 
Enlarge Rhode Island & Delaware 
If we're going to have a panhandle, why not commit to it? 
Fix this thing 
Clean Up 
Straighten to fix survey errors 
Good curve! Keep. 
Let's be honest - this should be Canada, too. 
Why should Florida get Alabama's coastline? It has plenty. 
 
[Caption below the panel:] It was scary when graphic designers seized control of the country, but it turned out they just wanted to fix some things about the state borders that had always bothered them. 
 
[Mouseover text:] A schism between the pro-panhandle and anti-panhandle factions eventually led to war, but both sides spent too much time working on their flag designs to actually do much fighting.

{{comic discussion}}

1902: State Borders

2017-10-13T13:35:40Z

Martini: /* Transcript */ Oops - fixed the location of the transcript.

{{comic
| number = 1902
| date = October 13, 2017
| title = State Borders
| image = state_borders.png
| titletext = A schism between the pro-panhandle and anti-panhandle factions eventually led to war, but both sides spent too much time working on their flag designs to actually do much fighting.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Add a table of all the proposed changes, explain title text... Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In this comic, graphic designers take control of the United States, but the only thing they do is change the state borders slightly so that they look more aligned, as shown in the map.

* {{w|Southeast Alaska}} should be given to {{w|Canada}}, presumably because it more neatly fits with {{w|British Columbia}}.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

State Borders 
Give to Canada 
This should be Wisconsin 
Move Long Island to NJ or CT or make it its own state 
Align to grid 
Clean Up 
Enlarge Rhode Island & Delaware 
If we're going to have a panhandle, why not commit to it? 
Fix this thing 
Clean Up 
Straighten to fix survey errors 
Good curve! Keep. 
Let's be honest - this should be Canada, too. 
Why should Florida get Alabama's coastline? It has plenty. 
 
It was scary when graphic designers seized control of the country, but it turned out they just wanted to fix some things about the state borders that had always bothered them. 
 
Mouseover text: A schism between the pro-panhandle and anti-panhandle factions eventually led to war, but both sides spent too much time working on their flag designs to actually do much fighting.

{{comic discussion}}