Fun with maps

[BillVol]

From 1960 on, Mexico leads.

[tandfman]

Where Oscar Best Picture Nominees Are Liked Most:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...opularity.html

(Larger versions of each map below the main article.)

[gh]

From 1960 on, Mexico leads.

On the other hand, over the last decade, more Mexicans have left the U.S. than have come in.

[bad hammy]

What I found more interesting is that Canada was in the top three from 1910 through 1960. Something tells me we shouldn't expect too many more Canadian immigrants for a few years . . .

[TN1965]

How many states can you identify from a map of outline?

https://www.zoo.com/quiz/only-1-out-...Q_KHI3s2hxMnxA

[trevorp]

40/50. Quite pleased with that - some of those squareish states sure do look alike!

[gh]

I've always thought that an awesome map quiz would be to list all the states (by name, no picture) and you have to name all the other states that touch that state.

It would be scored using my all-time favorite collegiate testing method (not!), wrongs from rights. In other words, you're better off staying mum unless you have a high degree of certainty. Unless you're trying to win, of course.

[lonewolf]

50/50..as trevorp said, had to ponder the squarish states.

[bambam1729]

lonewolf beat me - got 49/50 - missed Wyoming - one of those square states

[lonewolf]

lonewolf beat me - got 49/50 - missed Wyoming - one of those square states

Helpful hint: There are only two absolutely rectangular states. CO and WY. Since states are shown with no reference of scale, the clue here is WY has fewer, larger counties.

[26mi235]

gh's quiz is much harder, because I know the shapes in general, but the finer details are not so closely in memory. The hardest were the 'almost' rectangular states and if they had had ND SD and Kansas all together I would have had to think, but picking between four was too easy.

[lonewolf]

In most cases the multiple choices make it easy. Only Co and WY are "identical" in shape with no wiggles in the border.

[gh]

How about the No. 2 religion in each state?

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-l...tianity-2014-6

[gh]

ooo! it also contians a sub-map with religion by county

[Master403]

Only Co and WY are "identical" in shape with no wiggles in the border.

Certainly for the purposes of this quiz, and differentiating between states, this is correct, but I ran across something recently that fascinated me.

Heaven knows I'll never be able to work this into a conversation, so maybe hooking to your comment is the only way I'll be able to share this.

I enter a lot of addresses in my smartphone contacts as GPS coordinates. While I was snagging the Four Corners coordinates, I noted some deviations in Google Maps along the Utah-Colorado border. That got me curious, so I found a few references, including

http://geology.utah.gov/map-pub/surv...-utahs-border/

The 276-mile border between Utah and Colorado was the result of an 1879 survey. Although the survey hit the Wyoming line over a mile west of the expected point, the survey was accepted as official. (Considering the equipment of the day, this was pretty much spot on.) Subsequent work identified a westward one-mile error between mileposts 81 and 89 and another half-mile westward between 100 and 110.

Even though there are identified surveying errors, the official border remains the accepted 1879 survey, as Utah and Colorado have never acted to revise it.

On a much larger scale, check out the history of the Northwest Angle above Minnesota.