This is true? - Geographic oddities that defy conventional wisdom

Started by The Nature Boy, November 28, 2015, 10:07:02 AM

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The Nature Boy

Quote from: Pete from Boston on November 29, 2015, 03:15:41 PM
Pennsylvania reaches further north than Connecticut.  This always felt counterintuitive to me.

Along that same vein, Plattsburgh, NY is north of Augusta, ME.

New York is quite a northern state, the city's location at its southern tip skews people towards considering it "Mid-Atlantic."


jeffandnicole

Quote from: The Nature Boy on November 29, 2015, 07:48:28 PM
Quote from: Pete from Boston on November 29, 2015, 03:15:41 PM
Pennsylvania reaches further north than Connecticut.  This always felt counterintuitive to me.

Along that same vein, Plattsburgh, NY is north of Augusta, ME.

New York is quite a northern state, the city's location at its southern tip skews people towards considering it "Mid-Atlantic."

I've never heard New York considered a Mid-Atlantic state.

bing101


bing101


The Nature Boy

Quote from: jeffandnicole on November 29, 2015, 07:54:42 PM
Quote from: The Nature Boy on November 29, 2015, 07:48:28 PM
Quote from: Pete from Boston on November 29, 2015, 03:15:41 PM
Pennsylvania reaches further north than Connecticut.  This always felt counterintuitive to me.

Along that same vein, Plattsburgh, NY is north of Augusta, ME.

New York is quite a northern state, the city's location at its southern tip skews people towards considering it "Mid-Atlantic."

I've never heard New York considered a Mid-Atlantic state.

It gets tossed into the Mid-Atlantic for some things. The Little League World Series, for example, tosses NY into the "Mid-Atlantic" region. And here's an example of a Mid-Atlantic regional partnership that includes New York: http://midatlanticocean.org/

It's definitely iffy but it does sometimes get included as a Mid-Atlantic state. New York should be its own region, to be honest. It's not New England or the Midwest but north of the city, its eastern part is most similar to the former and its western part the latter. 

empirestate

Quote from: roadman65 on November 29, 2015, 03:55:23 PM
Yes Florida is quite west of the Mid Atlantic and New England as you can tell if you travel between the northern regions and Florida in Winter.

I once went to NJ for Thanksgiving weekend and was amazed at how dark it got so early in the late afternoon compared to home.

Well, that's more a function of north/south than of east/west. The length of daylight varies less as you get closer to the equator, which was a bit of a shock to me when I visited the British Isles (even though I know they are farther north than their temperate climate would have me expect).

SignGeek101

Quote from: empirestate on November 29, 2015, 08:20:39 PM
I'd expect the surprising fact to be that Kenora and Toronto are farther apart than Jacksonville and Toronto.

Wow.... I feel stupid. That's what I meant to say in the original post, not the other way around. I found a way to misunderstand/write the wrong text twice in a row.  :banghead:  :banghead: :banghead:

Well, anyway, that fact is ruined. Edited the original post.

So, yes, Kenora and Toronto are farther apart than Jacksonville and Toronto by linear distance, and about the same if you were to drive.

Of course, it would make sense the other way around.

empirestate

Quote from: SignGeek101 on November 29, 2015, 08:42:13 PM
Quote from: empirestate on November 29, 2015, 08:20:39 PM
Quote from: SignGeek101 on November 28, 2015, 11:50:58 PM
Quote from: empirestate on November 28, 2015, 11:40:03 PM
Quote from: SignGeek101 on November 28, 2015, 10:41:15 AM
By linear distance, it's closer to travel from Kenora Ontario to Toronto Ontario (same province), then Jacksonville Florida to Toronto (it's about the same distance by car).

Perhaps I'm misreading, but this seems to be perfectly in line with conventional wisdom. I would expect two points Ontario to be closer together than a point in Ontario and one in Florida.

I think if one didn't look at a map, it would be more difficult to visualize. I find it a bit interesting that a provincial capital is the same distance away from a small northern town than if one were to drive from northern Florida to that same particular capital, several states away, and pretty much across the US vertically. It just shows how vast Ontario is. The first time I heard that information that I posted earlier, I didn't believe them until I checked a map.

I'd expect the surprising fact to be that Kenora and Toronto are farther apart than Jacksonville and Toronto.

Wow.... I feel stupid. That's what I meant to say in the original post, not the other way around. I found a way to misunderstand/write the wrong text twice in a row.  :banghead:  :banghead: :banghead:

Well, anyway, that fact is ruined. Edited the original post.

So, yes, Kenora and Toronto are farther apart than Jacksonville and Toronto by linear distance, and about the same if you were to drive.

Of course, it would make sense the other way around.

Ah! That certainly explains it. Well then I will edit out the now-superfluous portions of my confused replies. :-)

jeffandnicole

Quote from: empirestate on November 29, 2015, 08:20:39 PM
Quote from: roadman65 on November 29, 2015, 03:55:23 PM
Yes Florida is quite west of the Mid Atlantic and New England as you can tell if you travel between the northern regions and Florida in Winter.

I once went to NJ for Thanksgiving weekend and was amazed at how dark it got so early in the late afternoon compared to home.

Well, that's more a function of north/south than of east/west. The length of daylight varies less as you get closer to the equator, which was a bit of a shock to me when I visited the British Isles (even though I know they are farther north than their temperate climate would have me expect).

While there's a bit more daylight in Florida, it's a combination of the 2, although NJ's distance east is pretty significant.

Today in Orlando, sunset was 5:28pm

In Trenton, NJ, well east of Orlando, sunset was 4:34pm, nearly an hour earlier.

But in Cleveland, OH, roughly the same longitude as Orlando, sunset was 4:58pm, a half hour earlier.

The Nature Boy

The sunset tomorrow where I live is 3:56 PM. New England really needs to join the Atlantic time zone. It's pitch black here before 5.

SD Mapman

Quote from: jeffandnicole on November 29, 2015, 07:35:55 PM
I just want to know how busy of a town it is for it to have 4 traffic lights!!
I think they meant four lights.

Actually, towns that small aren't a surprise to those of us from that part of the world.

What was always weird to me was that US 81 acts as a dividing line in KS and OK, but is on the eastern edge in SD and ND.
The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see. - G.K. Chesterton

SignGeek101

Quote from: The Nature Boy on November 29, 2015, 10:50:15 PM
The sunset tomorrow where I live is 3:56 PM. New England really needs to join the Atlantic time zone. It's pitch black here before 5.

It's similar in Quebec city (3:59). The Atlantic time zone should be extended west IMO. It would follow the state line between NY and CT, MA, and VT border. Then it would cross the border and follow a line just east of Montreal.

Duke87

Quote from: SignGeek101 on November 29, 2015, 11:23:50 PM
Quote from: The Nature Boy on November 29, 2015, 10:50:15 PM
The sunset tomorrow where I live is 3:56 PM. New England really needs to join the Atlantic time zone. It's pitch black here before 5.
It's similar in Quebec city (3:59). The Atlantic time zone should be extended west IMO. It would follow the state line between NY and CT, MA, and VT border. Then it would cross the border and follow a line just east of Montreal.

Typically time zones are arranged to not split metro areas. This is why a chunk of eastern Oregon is in Mountain Time, to match Boise. For similar reasons, you wouldn't want southwestern CT in a different time zone from NYC. Realistically, it'd be difficult to move the border between Atlantic and Eastern into the US without making a mess of things. New England is too densely populated. Although you maybe could work something out where Connecticut and Western Mass stay in Eastern while the rest of New England goes Atlantic.


On that note, one of my favorite counterintuitive geography facts: the southwestern corner of Massachusetts is closer as the crow flies to New York City than it is to Boston.

A few more:
- Cape May, NJ is as far south as Washington, DC
- New Jersey spans more north-south distance than Tennessee
- Hawaii is closer to Alaska than it is to California.
- Los Angeles is closer to New York City than it is to Honolulu
- Los Angeles is closer to Anchorage than it is to New York City!
If you always take the same road, you will never see anything new.

webfil

Quote from: SignGeek101 on November 29, 2015, 11:23:50 PM
Quote from: The Nature Boy on November 29, 2015, 10:50:15 PM
The sunset tomorrow where I live is 3:56 PM. New England really needs to join the Atlantic time zone. It's pitch black here before 5.

It's similar in Quebec city (3:59). The Atlantic time zone should be extended west IMO. It would follow the state line between NY and CT, MA, and VT border. Then it would cross the border and follow a line just east of Montreal.

The tendency is rather eastward; the province of Québec used to be divided in two at 68° West. Towns such as Rimouski and Baie-Comeau were located in the Atlantic Time Zone. In 1969, the government pushed east to 63° W the limits. However, in the Minganie region that includes ÃŽle d'Anticosti, Eastern Standard Time or Eastern Daylight Time applies even though it is east of meridian 63. Basse-Côte-Nord is not among the exceptions, because Atlantic Standard Time applies there year round as provided in section 2 of the Legal Time Act. In ÃŽles-de-la-Madeleine and the Listuguj Mi'kmaq reserve (Gaspésie), from the second Sunday in March at 2:00 a.m. to the first Sunday in November at 2:00 a.m., the legal time is Atlantic Daylight Saving Time, which is three hours behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC — 3 h).

There currently are discussions to harmonize the time zone limits with the eastward extensions of Route 138. I don't know how it will take form, though.

The Nature Boy

Quote from: Duke87 on November 29, 2015, 11:47:11 PM
Quote from: SignGeek101 on November 29, 2015, 11:23:50 PM
Quote from: The Nature Boy on November 29, 2015, 10:50:15 PM
The sunset tomorrow where I live is 3:56 PM. New England really needs to join the Atlantic time zone. It's pitch black here before 5.
It's similar in Quebec city (3:59). The Atlantic time zone should be extended west IMO. It would follow the state line between NY and CT, MA, and VT border. Then it would cross the border and follow a line just east of Montreal.

Typically time zones are arranged to not split metro areas. This is why a chunk of eastern Oregon is in Mountain Time, to match Boise. For similar reasons, you wouldn't want southwestern CT in a different time zone from NYC. Realistically, it'd be difficult to move the border between Atlantic and Eastern into the US without making a mess of things. New England is too densely populated. Although you maybe could work something out where Connecticut and Western Mass stay in Eastern while the rest of New England goes Atlantic.


On that note, one of my favorite counterintuitive geography facts: the southwestern corner of Massachusetts is closer as the crow flies to New York City than it is to Boston.

A few more:
- Cape May, NJ is as far south as Washington, DC
- New Jersey spans more north-south distance than Tennessee
- Hawaii is closer to Alaska than it is to California.
- Los Angeles is closer to New York City than it is to Honolulu
- Los Angeles is closer to Anchorage than it is to New York City!

There was a Facebook map recently that showed that Berkshire County, MA residents are more likely to be Yankee fans (the same trend held for Bennington County, VT too), likely influenced by proximity to Albany.

Pete from Boston


Quote from: Duke87 on November 29, 2015, 11:47:11 PM
Quote from: SignGeek101 on November 29, 2015, 11:23:50 PM
Quote from: The Nature Boy on November 29, 2015, 10:50:15 PM
The sunset tomorrow where I live is 3:56 PM. New England really needs to join the Atlantic time zone. It's pitch black here before 5.
It's similar in Quebec city (3:59). The Atlantic time zone should be extended west IMO. It would follow the state line between NY and CT, MA, and VT border. Then it would cross the border and follow a line just east of Montreal.

Typically time zones are arranged to not split metro areas. This is why a chunk of eastern Oregon is in Mountain Time, to match Boise. For similar reasons, you wouldn't want southwestern CT in a different time zone from NYC. Realistically, it'd be difficult to move the border between Atlantic and Eastern into the US without making a mess of things. New England is too densely populated. Although you maybe could work something out where Connecticut and Western Mass stay in Eastern while the rest of New England goes Atlantic.


Connecticut is too small and dense to split.  It's too connected to New York in the Southwest to put it in Atlantic.  Hartford is too connected to Springfield to separate there.  Maybe Connecticut and Western Mass. and Vermont stay in EST, and the rest shift to Atlantic. 

Someone wrote an op-ed piece here on this:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2014/10/04/why-massachusetts-should-defect-from-its-time-zone/zusFxWGPQmwv6bfUb1ssxH/story.html

I think it's all rubbish when you go trying to allocate daylight for some over others.  Every October and December there is a steady stream of complaints about getting up in the dark.  This would only become much more pervasive.

empirestate

Quote from: jeffandnicole on November 29, 2015, 09:30:23 PM
Quote from: empirestate on November 29, 2015, 08:20:39 PM
Quote from: roadman65 on November 29, 2015, 03:55:23 PM
Yes Florida is quite west of the Mid Atlantic and New England as you can tell if you travel between the northern regions and Florida in Winter.

I once went to NJ for Thanksgiving weekend and was amazed at how dark it got so early in the late afternoon compared to home.

Well, that's more a function of north/south than of east/west. The length of daylight varies less as you get closer to the equator, which was a bit of a shock to me when I visited the British Isles (even though I know they are farther north than their temperate climate would have me expect).

While there's a bit more daylight in Florida, it's a combination of the 2, although NJ's distance east is pretty significant.

Today in Orlando, sunset was 5:28pm

In Trenton, NJ, well east of Orlando, sunset was 4:34pm, nearly an hour earlier.

But in Cleveland, OH, roughly the same longitude as Orlando, sunset was 4:58pm, a half hour earlier.

Yes, I meant to add that longitude does have an effect, depending on where you are in relation to the edges of the time zone. But the variation in daylight through the year is affected by latitude, whereas longitude just shifts everything earlier or later.

Quote from: Duke87 on November 29, 2015, 11:47:11 PM
Typically time zones are arranged to not split metro areas. This is why a chunk of eastern Oregon is in Mountain Time, to match Boise. For similar reasons, you wouldn't want southwestern CT in a different time zone from NYC. Realistically, it'd be difficult to move the border between Atlantic and Eastern into the US without making a mess of things. New England is too densely populated. Although you maybe could work something out where Connecticut and Western Mass stay in Eastern while the rest of New England goes Atlantic.

Just follow the Yankees/Red Sox line. :-D

Quote from: Duke87 on November 29, 2015, 11:47:11 PM
On that note, one of my favorite counterintuitive geography facts: the southwestern corner of Massachusetts is closer as the crow flies to New York City than it is to Boston.

Yes, and that's part of why Boston Corner (so-called because it's nowhere near Boston) was ceded to New York, resulting in that funny bevel at the corner of Massachusetts. (Mostly it was because the area was topographically isolated, however.)

Socially, the result is that Berkshire County is a traditional vacation spot for New Yorkers, while Bostonians tended more toward Cape Cod or the White Mountains.

NWI_Irish96

Quote from: The Nature Boy on November 29, 2015, 10:50:15 PM
The sunset tomorrow where I live is 3:56 PM. New England really needs to join the Atlantic time zone. It's pitch black here before 5.

If that happens though, you are then pushing sunrises in December after 8:00.  When you live that far north, you're going to have it dark at some inconvenient times in the winter.

Where I live, we have the opposite problem.  I'm almost 200 miles west of where the border between Eastern and Central should be but am on Eastern.  The latest sunset we ever get is 5:22, which seems nice, but sunrise is after 7:30 from November 22-February 18, and then when DST kicks in, sunrise is again after 7:30 from March 13-30 and September 22-November 5.

And I'm at the far southern end of Indiana.  Right before DST ends, South Bend gets sunrises as late as 8:15.  That's insane.

We sacrifice a lot of morning sunlight (when lots of people are driving to work while kids are waiting on school buses) in order to get it in the evening.  It seems ridiculous to me.
Indiana: counties 100%, highways 100%
Illinois: counties 100%, highways 61%
Michigan: counties 100%, highways 56%
Wisconsin: counties 86%, highways 23%

bing101

Rhode Island a state that's the size  of San Joaquin County but carries the population size of Sacramento county. Also Rhode Island Carries the population of the City of San Jose.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhode_Island

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Joaquin_County,_California

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacramento_County,_California

The Nature Boy

Quote from: bing101 on November 30, 2015, 11:29:59 AM
Rhode Island a state that's the size  of San Joaquin County but carries the population size of Sacramento county.

Along this same vein, Grafton and Coos Counties in New Hampshire and the majority of Maine's counties are all larger than Rhode Island.


Zeffy

I don't think people are surprised at how small and dense the east coast states, especially NJ, CT, RI and MA are. It's common knowledge that we stack people on top of each other. 
Life would be boring if we didn't take an offramp every once in a while

A weird combination of a weather geek, roadgeek, car enthusiast and furry mixed with many anxiety related disorders

triplemultiplex

"That's just like... your opinion, man."

jeffandnicole

Quote from: triplemultiplex on November 30, 2015, 01:26:54 PM
Quote from: SD Mapman on November 29, 2015, 11:05:06 PM
Quote from: jeffandnicole on November 29, 2015, 07:35:55 PM
I just want to know how busy of a town it is for it to have 4 traffic lights!!
I think they meant four lights.



I viewed the area on GSV.  I don't even think they have 4 paved streets!  But I did find the bar though!

hbelkins

Quote from: cabiness42 on November 30, 2015, 08:48:06 AMI'm almost 200 miles west of where the border between Eastern and Central should be...

Oh no you aren't. Unless you want to put all of Indiana in the Central Time Zone and be an hour different than across the river in Louisville. I hate Central Time. Passionately. I can't imagine how badly it would perform fellatio this time of year to get dark so early. It already gets dark too early this time of year in Eastern Time.

Quote from: cabiness42 on November 30, 2015, 08:48:06 AM
We sacrifice a lot of morning sunlight (when lots of people are driving to work while kids are waiting on school buses) in order to get it in the evening.  It seems ridiculous to me.

Makes perfect sense to me. You can actually do things outside in the daylight when you get home from work. It's dark now when I get home, and it's only going to get worse for the next four weeks before it gets better.

Quote from: Pete from Boston on November 30, 2015, 07:43:56 AMEvery October and December there is a steady stream of complaints about getting up in the dark.  This would only become much more pervasive.

Getting up the dark doesn't bother me, because I'm just showering and getting dressed for work. Getting home in the dark bothers me.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

SignGeek101

Quote from: hbelkins on November 30, 2015, 01:46:12 PM
Quote from: cabiness42 on November 30, 2015, 08:48:06 AMI'm almost 200 miles west of where the border between Eastern and Central should be...

Oh no you aren't. Unless you want to put all of Indiana in the Central Time Zone and be an hour different than across the river in Louisville. I hate Central Time. Passionately. I can't imagine how badly it would perform fellatio this time of year to get dark so early. It already gets dark too early this time of year in Eastern Time.

Quote from: cabiness42 on November 30, 2015, 08:48:06 AM
We sacrifice a lot of morning sunlight (when lots of people are driving to work while kids are waiting on school buses) in order to get it in the evening.  It seems ridiculous to me.

Makes perfect sense to me. You can actually do things outside in the daylight when you get home from work. It's dark now when I get home, and it's only going to get worse for the next four weeks before it gets better.

Quote from: Pete from Boston on November 30, 2015, 07:43:56 AMEvery October and December there is a steady stream of complaints about getting up in the dark.  This would only become much more pervasive.

Getting up the dark doesn't bother me, because I'm just showering and getting dressed for work. Getting home in the dark bothers me.

You guys live quite a bit south of me. Length of day right now is 8 hours, 27 min. Sunrise 8:03, sunset 4:31. I prefer going home in the dark rather than getting up in the dark, but I don't like either.



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