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| Border Message |
 Title text: Thanks to differences in logging regulations, the messages actually turned out to be visible from the air. |
Explanation
In this comic, legislators who were negotiating the boundary between two geographic areas ("Southlake" and "East Valley") livened up the normally boring process by arranging for the boundary to spell out a message when viewed on a map. It's unknown whether the areas are municipal regions, counties, etc. The boundary definition includes multiple areas β such as the bottom of the W, the interior of the O's and other letters with "holes", the apostrophe and so on β that are exclaves (probably of the northern territory, that are surrounded by the southern one, in most cases) or else may be (unlabeled) enclaved territories in their own right that are associated with no other disconnected area.
The title text implies that the area around the border is forested. Due to the different logging regulations in the two areas, the densities or types of trees on each side of the border are so different that you can see the border, and hence the messages, when looking down on the land.
This comic may have been inspired by gerrymandering: defining voting districts to favor a particular group. This often results in districts with very unusual shapes. The comic was published on the day after Virginia voters passed a referendum approving redistricting that favored the Democratic Party. See also the Belgium-Netherlands border, which is extremely chaotic.
Transcript
[A section of a map showing the border between the geographic areas East Valley and Southlake. The border is shown as a dotted line, and it spells out a message:]
WE HOPE YOU'RE ENJOYING THIS MAP
[Caption below comic:]
When local legislators get bored
View comic discussionNew here?
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