This is true? - Geographic oddities that defy conventional wisdom

[Mark68]

Helsinki, Finland is further north than Juneau, Alaska.

This is actually not a surprise (to me). The Alaska Panhandle is not THAT far north.

[english si]

This is actually not a surprise (to me). The Alaska Panhandle is not THAT far north.

Basic premise of Europe is further north than you'd have thought in North America that often comes up in these 'oddities'.

London is the same latitude as Calgary, Madrid is the same latitude as NYC.

Edmonton - pretty much the northernmost point of continuous North American civilisation (yes, there's Anchorage, etc, but we're talking very long distances between such places that aren't small villages) is (give or take 10 minutes) the same latitude as Manchester in England, Dublin in Ireland and Hamburg in Germany. Anything Scottish, Scandinavian, etc is further north than that. The Canadian territories begin at 60N - Oslo, Stockholm and St Petersburg are not far south of that line, Helsinki slightly to the north of it.

Nordkapp, the northernmost point on the European road network* is at 71.166714 North (according to Travel Mapping data). Prudhoe Bay is 70.206508 North, south of where the Nordkapp route meets the E6 main route through northern Norway. There's literally a whole road (E69) that's part of the European road network* north of the North American road network's northernmost point: 111km or 69 miles long and with one of the deepest tunnels in the world (-696ft wrt sea-level) - only beaten by 5 other Norwegian ones - it's not some dirt/ice road.

*Well Afro-Eurasian - one can drive to Cape Town or Singapore from there, at least theoretically.

[bing101]

[Chris]

This is actually not a surprise (to me). The Alaska Panhandle is not THAT far north.

Basic premise of Europe is further north than you'd have thought in North America that often comes up in these 'oddities'.

This is particularly pronounced in the eastern half of Canada. I live in a densely populated part of Europe, that is at the same latitude as the James Bay (total wilderness in Canada). There are no permanent roads to the Hudson Bay, a latitude that is very developed in Europe and even into Russia (same latitude as Moscow).

Many people also aren't aware how far south Greenland stretches. The southern tip is around the same latitude as Stockholm, which obviously is not located on a sheet of ice. I do find it interesting though, that the Canadian arctic islands like Ellesmere and Baffin aren't nearly as glaciated as Greenland is.

[SP Cook]

I like CGP Grey's work, but he is running out of ideas.

[english si]

in Europe and even into Russia

Here's another 'oddity' - 'conventional wisdom' in Western Europe has Europe become not-Europe at the Poland-Belarus border, despite Brest (western border city in Belarus) being slightly closer to Brest (at the tip of Brittany), than Asiatic Russia and so only about halfway across Europe!

[english si]

I like CGP Grey's work, but he is running out of ideas.

This is the best video I've seen from him in a while that wasn't just a travelogue. Why?
1) it shows him concerned about evidence and digging through multiple sources and all that
2) it shows him admitting he doesn't know something

Him not doing this is why I went off him.

In 2015 he made a video saying that the UK General Election was the most disproportionate in British history. He said something along the lines of "and when you have a majority, the other's votes don't count". The Conservatives got 330 seats (and thus a slim majority of 12) on 36.9% of the vote - pretty terrible but not as bad as a decade earlier: in 2005 Labour got 355 seats and a majority of 66 on just 35.2% of the vote. Cameron was looking over his back for the rest of his premiership, as a rebellion of 7 could easily happen and he would lose votes. Blair was jolly as his majority was healthy. It didn't matter if you were one of 12.6% who voted UKIP to only get 1 seat (while the SNP on 4.7% got 56) in 2015, nor a Tory voter in 2005 who got just 198 seats from 32.4% of the vote (92% of the vote Labour got, 59% of the seats Labour got) - your votes weren't represented by Government policy, which was his argument as to why 2015 was bad. It was clear that it wasn't about numbers, or maths, but that the Tories won a surprise victory (even the exit poll was showing just falling short of the line) and CGP didn't like it for political reasons - he was spouting a load of opinionated tosh and passing it off as objective fact.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

The "Europe is further North than North America" thing happens to me in my local area to a lesser scale: Navarre, Spain is actually further North than I think. I believe Tudela (Southern Navarre) is at the same latitude as Zaragoza, the Middle area at the same latitude as Huesca (my hometown) and Pamplona at the same latitude as Sabiñanigo and Jaca (the entrance to the main chain of the Pyrenees). In reality, however, Pamplona lies at the same latitude as the Aragon (Spain)/New Aquitanie (France) and Aragon/Occitania (also France) borders, which run mostly on the divide and thus on the highest chain of the Pyrenees.

[michravera]

This is actually not a surprise (to me). The Alaska Panhandle is not THAT far north.

Basic premise of Europe is further north than you'd have thought in North America that often comes up in these 'oddities'.

London is the same latitude as Calgary, Madrid is the same latitude as NYC.

Edmonton - pretty much the northernmost point of continuous North American civilisation (yes, there's Anchorage, etc, but we're talking very long distances between such places that aren't small villages) is (give or take 10 minutes) the same latitude as Manchester in England, Dublin in Ireland and Hamburg in Germany. Anything Scottish, Scandinavian, etc is further north than that. The Canadian territories begin at 60N - Oslo, Stockholm and St Petersburg are not far south of that line, Helsinki slightly to the north of it.

Nordkapp, the northernmost point on the European road network* is at 71.166714 North (according to Travel Mapping data). Prudhoe Bay is 70.206508 North, south of where the Nordkapp route meets the E6 main route through northern Norway. There's literally a whole road (E69) that's part of the European road network* north of the North American road network's northernmost point: 111km or 69 miles long and with one of the deepest tunnels in the world (-696ft wrt sea-level) - only beaten by 5 other Norwegian ones - it's not some dirt/ice road.

*Well Afro-Eurasian - one can drive to Cape Town or Singapore from there, at least theoretically.

The entire continent of Europe (a few islands and southern tips of peninsulas excepted) is north of Washington DC, and San Jose, CA. Havana and Cabo San Lucas are the same latitude as Aswan, Egypt. Miami is just a bit north of that.

[roadman65]

Tampa, FL is further west than Key West, FL.

Jacksonville is due north of Big Pine Key, which is two thirds of the way from the mainland to Key West, the last drivable key.

Florida's Peninsula is not due N-S.  The east coast heads S-SE and at Palm Beach straightens out to due N-S.  The Gulf Coast is not due N-S either as south of St. Pete it curves SE and at Naples the coast moves more to the east and eventually the peninsula is very narrow at the extreme southern part of Everglades NP.

[bing101]

[dvferyance]

Here is an interesting one. You can get the New York AM radio stations from the Outer Banks of NC.

[ftballfan]

Here is an interesting one. You can get the New York AM radio stations from the Outer Banks of NC.

On a somewhat related note, radio stations can be received on opposite sides of the Great Lakes. For example, stations in eastern Wisconsin can be heard on Michigan's west coast and vice versa

[ipeters61]

Here is an interesting one. You can get the New York AM radio stations from the Outer Banks of NC.

On a somewhat related note, radio stations can be received on opposite sides of the Great Lakes. For example, stations in eastern Wisconsin can be heard on Michigan's west coast and vice versa

Are you talking about at night?  Or during the day?

[Verlanka]

Here is an interesting one. You can get the New York AM radio stations from the Outer Banks of NC.

On a somewhat related note, radio stations can be received on opposite sides of the Great Lakes. For example, stations in eastern Wisconsin can be heard on Michigan's west coast and vice versa

Are you talking about at night?  Or during the day?

Night mostly. I don't know if you can hear them in the daytime.

[KEVIN_224]

Propagation mostly due to salt water and a vast open area. Two areas I received a nearly local signal at noon time or early afternoon:

WBZ-AM 1030 of Boston in many parts of Portland, ME
WCBS-AM 880 of New York City in Newport, RI (at least I did in 2004 for my lone visit)

[jeffandnicole]

Here is an interesting one. You can get the New York AM radio stations from the Outer Banks of NC.

On a somewhat related note, radio stations can be received on opposite sides of the Great Lakes. For example, stations in eastern Wisconsin can be heard on Michigan's west coast and vice versa

Are you talking about at night?  Or during the day?

Night mostly. I don't know if you can hear them in the daytime.

Propagation mostly due to salt water and a vast open area. Two areas I received a nearly local signal at noon time or early afternoon:

WBZ-AM 1030 of Boston in many parts of Portland, ME
WCBS-AM 880 of New York City in Newport, RI (at least I did in 2004 for my lone visit)

Actually, that has nothing to do with it. If it's a 50,000 watt AM station, you can hear them all over the eastern US at night. I can hear 1060 in Philly while in Nashville, for example. It has to do with the sound waves from the particular frequencies and radio signals.

This was more significant when there was actually something to listen to on AM radio, and our music option choices were limited.

[SP Cook]

This was more significant when there was actually something to listen to on AM radio, and our music option choices were limited.

Yeah.  The two great things about clear channel AM were greater musical choice and baseball.    Today, the only clear channel stations playing music are WSM (classic country, Nashville) and CFZM (adult standards, Toronto) .  I cannot say how many still are the originating station for baseball, such as WLW Cincinnati or KMOX St. Louis, as it is easier to just pay the $12 for the app.

[KEVIN_224]

Salt water does affect an AM signal. Something to do with the salinity of salt water. While WBZ-AM 1030 of Boston is nearly like a local in the daytime for Portland, ME, I'll get almost no signal along the Connecticut River in Hartford.

WFAN-AM 660 and WCBS-AM 880 are strong in greater Hartford during the day. It helps that their respective transmitters are in the High Island section of The Bronx. It's also the closest part of New York City to Connecticut.

[Bruce]

These two schools share a campus that straddles the King-Snohomish county line. Part of the same district, though.

[kalvado]

These two schools share a campus that straddles the King-Snohomish county line. Part of the same district, though.

Local campus of State University has portions in 3 adjacent municipalities. So 911 dispatch has some deciphering to do when they get a call.
And in order to "represent student population better"  city voting was gerrymandered with districts going across the campus. So dorm students have to provide their building and room number - and in some cases location of their bed within the room - for voting purposes.

[NWI_Irish96]

These two schools share a campus that straddles the King-Snohomish county line. Part of the same district, though.

Same exact situation in the school district bordering the one I attended.  Elementary school in one county and the Jr/Sr High School just across the county line road.

[ftballfan]

These two schools share a campus that straddles the King-Snohomish county line. Part of the same district, though.

Same exact situation in the school district bordering the one I attended.  Elementary school in one county and the Jr/Sr High School just across the county line road.

Benzie County Central Schools in Michigan has an elementary school in Manistee County. In a related note, one of the three districts that consolidated to form Benzie County Central was based in Manistee County, but the village where that district was is relatively isolated from the rest of Manistee County and is closer to three other county seats than Manistee, the county seat of Manistee County

[Chris]

I like this website: https://thetruesize.com/

You can drag countries to other latitudes to get a better perspective of size compared to the traditional Mercator projection.

Brazil is absolutely enormous if you project it over Europe:


While Russia isn't as 'half of the world' big once you project it over Africa.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Only when you move Greenland to the Equator you'll realize it's not that large.