This is true? - Geographic oddities that defy conventional wisdom

[Max Rockatansky]

^^^

Heh....I used to find it amusing to talk about Miami in Florida and see the puzzled look people would give me when I talked about all the mines.  Usually I'd throw in "Highway 60" which added to the confusion since FL 60 isn't anywhere near Miami, FL.  I guess nobody would think a state like Arizona would have a fairly historic mining town which is also called "Miami."

[kalvado]

^^^

Heh....I used to find it amusing to talk about Miami in Florida and see the puzzled look people would give me when I talked about all the mines.  Usually I'd throw in "Highway 60" which added to the confusion since FL 60 isn't anywhere near Miami, FL.  I guess nobody would think a state like Arizona would have a fairly historic mining town which is also called "Miami."

Miami AZ, population 1800
Miami CA, abandoned
Miami IN, unincorporated community
Miami MS, population 175
Miami NM, unincorporated community
Miami OK, population 13500 - a seat of Ottawa county
Miami TX, population 600

Miami Indian nation gave name to many of the above; and also Miami counties in OH(population over 100k), IN(37k), KS(32k), village of New Miami OH (2500) etc


There is a reason for using city, state format...

[jeffandnicole]

And the only Miami University I've been to was in Ohio, not Florida.

[english si]

Heh....I used to find it amusing to talk about Miami in Florida and see the puzzled look people would give me when I talked about all the mines.  Usually I'd throw in "Highway 60" which added to the confusion since FL 60 isn't anywhere near Miami, FL.  I guess nobody would think a state like Arizona would have a fairly historic mining town which is also called "Miami."

For years, the furthest south I'd gone was Melbourne, FL. I'd always drop the 'FL' bit and confuse people into thinking I'd been to Australia's second city.

[SP Cook]

Is there a year in the description of WV's border?

Yes.  Virginia ceded the "territory north-west of the River Ohio" to the national government on 1781.  The so-called "Reorganized Government of Virginia" in 1863 granted the northwestern counties the power to form a new state (actually 90% of the support came from a few Ohio river counties, no place south of what is today US 50 or east of eastern continental divide was asked what they though about it).  WV Constitution 2-1 provides that WV is the successor to all of Virginia's claims to the Ohio and Big Sandy rivers.  So it all relates back to 1781.

BTW, both the Kentucky and West Virginia constitutions provide that "all Virginia laws or actions" not repealed later are still valid.  Thus Kentucky's Transylvania University and West Virginia's Bethany College operate under charters that granted them "all the degree granting power of the University of Virginia" which was the language used to incorporate a college in those days, to this day.  (Similar to Baylor, still under a charter granted by the Republic of Texas).

He said, "We don't allow gambling in Kentucky."

Guess he never went to Churchill Downs or Keeneland.

My favorite contortion of a law is your previous governor's deal on slot machines.  KY law prohibits slot machines, but allows horse racing.  So, legally slot machines inside the brain of a KY slot machine, the computer is picking the results of decades old horse races, and telling you that you won or lost in a code of pictures of fruit and 7s and the like.  The KY Supreme Court actually bought into that.

[The Nature Boy]

Is there a year in the description of WV's border?

Yes.  Virginia ceded the "territory north-west of the River Ohio" to the national government on 1781.  The so-called "Reorganized Government of Virginia" in 1863 granted the northwestern counties the power to form a new state (actually 90% of the support came from a few Ohio river counties, no place south of what is today US 50 or east of eastern continental divide was asked what they though about it).  WV Constitution 2-1 provides that WV is the successor to all of Virginia's claims to the Ohio and Big Sandy rivers.  So it all relates back to 1781.

BTW, both the Kentucky and West Virginia constitutions provide that "all Virginia laws or actions" not repealed later are still valid.  Thus Kentucky's Transylvania University and West Virginia's Bethany College operate under charters that granted them "all the degree granting power of the University of Virginia" which was the language used to incorporate a college in those days, to this day.  (Similar to Baylor, still under a charter granted by the Republic of Texas).

He said, "We don't allow gambling in Kentucky."

Guess he never went to Churchill Downs or Keeneland.

My favorite contortion of a law is your previous governor's deal on slot machines.  KY law prohibits slot machines, but allows horse racing.  So, legally slot machines inside the brain of a KY slot machine, the computer is picking the results of decades old horse races, and telling you that you won or lost in a code of pictures of fruit and 7s and the like.  The KY Supreme Court actually bought into that.

And any school founded before the American Revolution is still operating under a charter from Great Britain.

[sparker]

^^^

Heh....I used to find it amusing to talk about Miami in Florida and see the puzzled look people would give me when I talked about all the mines.  Usually I'd throw in "Highway 60" which added to the confusion since FL 60 isn't anywhere near Miami, FL.  I guess nobody would think a state like Arizona would have a fairly historic mining town which is also called "Miami."

Miami AZ, population 1800
Miami CA, abandoned
Miami IN, unincorporated community
Miami MS, population 175
Miami NM, unincorporated community
Miami OK, population 13500 - a seat of Ottawa county
Miami TX, population 600

Miami Indian nation gave name to many of the above; and also Miami counties in OH(population over 100k), IN(37k), KS(32k), village of New Miami OH (2500) etc


There is a reason for using city, state format...

Back about '90 I was on one of my cross-country jaunts, this time in late February.  Was supposed to stay in Springfield, MO that particular evening, but a late-winter snowstorm stranded me in Miami, OK (I-44 was shut down east of there).  There was a large wooden sign on a brick superstructure at the foot of the turnpike ramp with the phrase "Welcome To Miami" dominating it and a bunch of other logos (lodges, chamber of commerce, etc.) below that -- and it was packed with at least 3 ft. of snow on the top.  One look and I decided I absolutely had to get a picture of that piece of unintentional irony!  Couldn't stop there, as everyone eastbound on 44 was either in front of me or right behind me.  Managed to find a halfway-decent motel a block away, and after checking in, trudged back to the interchange, camera in hand, and took several shots of the sign.  Unfortunately, several years later the pictures were in storage and disappeared when I had a storage-space theft (someone backed a truck through the roll-up door of my space and about 10 others around it and took a sampling of what was on either side of the doorway, including the filing cabinet where I had my photo albums).  That was one of the better pictures I had taken on my trips; I was sorry to see it go!

[hbelkins]

My favorite contortion of a law is your previous governor's deal on slot machines.  KY law prohibits slot machines, but allows horse racing.  So, legally slot machines inside the brain of a KY slot machine, the computer is picking the results of decades old horse races, and telling you that you won or lost in a code of pictures of fruit and 7s and the like.  The KY Supreme Court actually bought into that.

"Instant racing," they call it. I've never seen one of those machines, but they're limited to licensing to horse tracks. I think the Red Mile harness track in Lexington has a bank of them, and I'm pretty sure that racetrack in Franklin, just north of the Tennessee lines (Kentucky Downs?) has them too.

There's something about them that's still being litigated. A friend of mine (former chief of staff to Gov. Ernie Fletcher) is one of the lawyers in the case.

[US 89]

London is north of Calgary. (51.5N and 51.0N)

[The Nature Boy]

^^^

Heh....I used to find it amusing to talk about Miami in Florida and see the puzzled look people would give me when I talked about all the mines.  Usually I'd throw in "Highway 60" which added to the confusion since FL 60 isn't anywhere near Miami, FL.  I guess nobody would think a state like Arizona would have a fairly historic mining town which is also called "Miami."

Miami AZ, population 1800
Miami CA, abandoned
Miami IN, unincorporated community
Miami MS, population 175
Miami NM, unincorporated community
Miami OK, population 13500 - a seat of Ottawa county
Miami TX, population 600

Miami Indian nation gave name to many of the above; and also Miami counties in OH(population over 100k), IN(37k), KS(32k), village of New Miami OH (2500) etc


There is a reason for using city, state format...

This technically fits the thread:

Miami, Florida was not named after the Miami tribe in Ohio. It was named after the Mayami people that inhabited South Florida.

[bing101]

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

The population of New Zealand is about the same population as the city of Los Angeles.

[thenetwork]

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

The population of New Zealand is about the same population as the city of Los Angeles.

I thought I heard somewhere that the sheep population in NZ outnumbers the human population there 7 to 1???

[vdeane]

Oswego County, NY has approximately the same population as all three Canadian territories combined.

The Rochester metro area has more population than all of Vermont.

[Road Hog]

^^^

Heh....I used to find it amusing to talk about Miami in Florida and see the puzzled look people would give me when I talked about all the mines.  Usually I'd throw in "Highway 60" which added to the confusion since FL 60 isn't anywhere near Miami, FL.  I guess nobody would think a state like Arizona would have a fairly historic mining town which is also called "Miami."

Miami AZ, population 1800
Miami CA, abandoned
Miami IN, unincorporated community
Miami MS, population 175
Miami NM, unincorporated community
Miami OK, population 13500 - a seat of Ottawa county
Miami TX, population 600

Miami Indian nation gave name to many of the above; and also Miami counties in OH(population over 100k), IN(37k), KS(32k), village of New Miami OH (2500) etc


There is a reason for using city, state format...

Miami, OK is pronounced Miama. I think Miami, TX is too.

[english si]

I thought I heard somewhere that the sheep population in NZ outnumbers the human population there 7 to 1???

20 to 1 is the conventional wisdom.

However it was 4.6 million people, and 29.5 million sheep in 2015 so 7 is about right. It was 22 to 1 in 1982 but sheep numbers have fallen to about 40% of what they were and population has increased by about 40% in the 35 years since.

No statistics are given for the number of sheep-human hybrids.

[hotdogPi]

No statistics are given for the number of sheep-human hybrids.

The total number of sheep, humans, and hybrids combined is (√29.5M+√4.6M)² = 57.4 million.
Since there are 29.5 million sheep, and 4.6 million humans, that means there are 23.3 million hybrids.

Another way to get the answer of 23.3 million is 2*√29.5M*√4.6M.

[kalvado]

^^^

Heh....I used to find it amusing to talk about Miami in Florida and see the puzzled look people would give me when I talked about all the mines.  Usually I'd throw in "Highway 60" which added to the confusion since FL 60 isn't anywhere near Miami, FL.  I guess nobody would think a state like Arizona would have a fairly historic mining town which is also called "Miami."

Miami AZ, population 1800
Miami CA, abandoned
Miami IN, unincorporated community
Miami MS, population 175
Miami NM, unincorporated community
Miami OK, population 13500 - a seat of Ottawa county
Miami TX, population 600

Miami Indian nation gave name to many of the above; and also Miami counties in OH(population over 100k), IN(37k), KS(32k), village of New Miami OH (2500) etc


There is a reason for using city, state format...

Miami, OK is pronounced Miama. I think Miami, TX is too.

I wonder if Waze and other navigation programs would recognize the difference...

[hotdogPi]

^^^

Heh....I used to find it amusing to talk about Miami in Florida and see the puzzled look people would give me when I talked about all the mines.  Usually I'd throw in "Highway 60" which added to the confusion since FL 60 isn't anywhere near Miami, FL.  I guess nobody would think a state like Arizona would have a fairly historic mining town which is also called "Miami."

Miami AZ, population 1800
Miami CA, abandoned
Miami IN, unincorporated community
Miami MS, population 175
Miami NM, unincorporated community
Miami OK, population 13500 - a seat of Ottawa county
Miami TX, population 600

Miami Indian nation gave name to many of the above; and also Miami counties in OH(population over 100k), IN(37k), KS(32k), village of New Miami OH (2500) etc


There is a reason for using city, state format...

Miami, OK is pronounced Miama. I think Miami, TX is too.

I wonder if Waze and other navigation programs would recognize the difference...

I'm not sure. However, fairly recently, Waze started pronouncing "Reading" correctly. It was Reading, MA, which is correctly pronounced with the first syllable as "red", just like Reading, PA. Previously, Waze (or more likely the iPhone itself) was pronouncing "Reading" as if it was something you do to a book.

[jp the roadgeek]

^^^

Heh....I used to find it amusing to talk about Miami in Florida and see the puzzled look people would give me when I talked about all the mines.  Usually I'd throw in "Highway 60" which added to the confusion since FL 60 isn't anywhere near Miami, FL.  I guess nobody would think a state like Arizona would have a fairly historic mining town which is also called "Miami."

Miami AZ, population 1800
Miami CA, abandoned
Miami IN, unincorporated community
Miami MS, population 175
Miami NM, unincorporated community
Miami OK, population 13500 - a seat of Ottawa county
Miami TX, population 600

Miami Indian nation gave name to many of the above; and also Miami counties in OH(population over 100k), IN(37k), KS(32k), village of New Miami OH (2500) etc


There is a reason for using city, state format...

Miami, OK is pronounced Miama. I think Miami, TX is too.

I wonder if Waze and other navigation programs would recognize the difference...

I'm not sure. However, fairly recently, Waze started pronouncing "Reading" correctly. It was Reading, MA, which is correctly pronounced with the first syllable as "red", just like Reading, PA. Previously, Waze (or more likely the iPhone itself) was pronouncing "Reading" as if it was something you do to a book.

Makes be wonder how programs pronounce Berlin when it comes to CT, MA, NH, and NY.  Do they pronounce it like the city in Germany, or correctly put the emphasis on the first syllable and say BER-lin?

[CNGL-Leudimin]

There was a thread about place name pronounciations some time ago: https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=2910.0

[US 89]

I thought I heard somewhere that the sheep population in NZ outnumbers the human population there 7 to 1???

20 to 1 is the conventional wisdom.

However it was 4.6 million people, and 29.5 million sheep in 2015 so 7 is about right. It was 22 to 1 in 1982 but sheep numbers have fallen to about 40% of what they were and population has increased by about 40% in the 35 years since.

That sounds like South Dakota, where there are, on average, 4.32 cows for every human.

[sparker]

No statistics are given for the number of sheep-human hybrids.

The total number of sheep, humans, and hybrids combined is (√29.5M+√4.6M)² = 57.4 million.
Since there are 29.5 million sheep, and 4.6 million humans, that means there are 23.3 million hybrids.

Another way to get the answer of 23.3 million is 2*√29.5M*√4.6M.

What would the hybrids be called -- I'll guess "Schumanns" (the late composer would be so pleased with the association!).  Baa!

[english si]

What would the hybrids be called -- I'll guess "Schumanns" (the late composer would be so pleased with the association!).  Baa!

It ought to be a loan word from the Welsh, so: Defaidyn - a portmanteau of Defaid, the Welsh for sheep, and Dyn, the Welsh for man. I've totally butchered the grammar and all that, but who cares.

If you must make it English, then 'eweman' seems rather good.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

"Taiwan" isn't just Taiwan. It also includes several islands off the Fujian coast (most notably Kinmen or Jinmen as I spell it, of course all of them claimed by China), which are administered as a separate province. This Fujian province is of course different from the "true" Fujian Province of mainland China. This has led me to change my shorthand name for the so-called "Republic of China" as a whole from Taiwan to Chinese Taipei (however I spell the city as Taibei for consistency sake).

[jwolfer]

^^^

Heh....I used to find it amusing to talk about Miami in Florida and see the puzzled look people would give me when I talked about all the mines.  Usually I'd throw in "Highway 60" which added to the confusion since FL 60 isn't anywhere near Miami, FL.  I guess nobody would think a state like Arizona would have a fairly historic mining town which is also called "Miami."

Miami AZ, population 1800
Miami CA, abandoned
Miami IN, unincorporated community
Miami MS, population 175
Miami NM, unincorporated community
Miami OK, population 13500 - a seat of Ottawa county
Miami TX, population 600

Miami Indian nation gave name to many of the above; and also Miami counties in OH(population over 100k), IN(37k), KS(32k), village of New Miami OH (2500) etc


There is a reason for using city, state format...

Miami, OK is pronounced Miama. I think Miami, TX is too.

Miam-uh is how old time native Floridians called the city in Florida. My Grandparents from Alachua and Marion Counties said it that way.  Even Miami natives said it that way, back when Miami natives had Southern accents

LGMS428