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Do You Know Where You Live?

Posted by michael on from the 1600-pennsylvania-avenue dept.

An anonymous submitter writes "Thanks to GPS, it seems quite a few people are discovering they don't live where they thought. Prior to GPS, state, county and city borders were part law, part measurement, and part guesswork. Now, they're able to go back and discover where actual borders should be, and it's making many people unhappy. Some familes in Rhode Island are finding out they may actually live in Connecticut. Each state, county and city wants as much land as possible, because it means more tax income. The people caught in the middle simply want to know where they'll send their kids for school."

13 of 442 comments (clear)

  1. Borders by ThereIsNoSporkNeo · · Score: 5, Funny

    NOOOOOOOoooooooo...

    I'm Canadian!

    --
    With my dying breath, I curse Zoidberg!
    1. Re:Borders by _ph1ux_ · · Score: 4, Funny

      "I'm Canadian"

      It like an american - but without the gun.

    2. Re:Borders by CableModemSniper · · Score: 5, Funny

      Redundant unfunny Simpson's quote:

      "Why should we leave America to visit America Junior?"

      --
      Why not fork?
    3. Re:Borders by paladin_tom · · Score: 5, Funny

      Ahem... may I as what you consider a real beer?

      Yes, you've used "eh" correctly. It's most often used to transform a statement ("American beer tastes like cow piss.") into a question ("American beer tastes like cow piss, eh?").

      However, if you replace "no" with "eh", you should remove the "Surely". Otherwise you're mixing "British aristocrat" with "Canadian lumberjack", in a way that nature did not intend.

      --
      #define sig "Every social system runs on the people's belief in it."
    4. Re:Borders by Zone5 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Interesting opinion. Have you ever tried *listening* to one of the british trying to speak their own language? It's obvious that at one time they spoke the queen's english, but that is no longer the case. Canadians do in fact on average speak a more 'pure' dialect of the english language than do the english people themselves.

      If one were to accept the premise that the shifting of a language over time in its homeland remained the accepted standard for that language, wouldn't welsh and manx both be considered alive and well, and stunningly similar to common english?

      --
      "So on one hand, honey is an amazingly sophisticated and efficient food source. On the other hand it's bee backwash."
    5. Re:Borders by cmallinson · · Score: 4, Funny
      Actually, it's like an american, but without pretending that you are the center of the universe.

      Why would americans pretend they're from Toronto?

    6. Re:Borders by wdr1 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Actually, it's like an american, but without pretending that you are the center of the universe.

      Or rather, it's like being an american, but without BEING the center of the universe. ;-)

      -Bill

      --
      SlashSig Karma: Excellent (mostly affected by moderatio
  2. No surprise by Deadstick · · Score: 4, Funny

    In writing the manual for some civil engineering software back in the 80s, I found that there are some very oddly laid-out survey markers out there, especially in the plains states. The client explained that most of these were laid in the mid-19th century, which was the peak period of American alcohol consumption.

    rj

  3. Very Easy Solution by unsinged+int · · Score: 5, Funny

    Just make a 51st state that includes Everyone Living on the Thick Black Lines of the US Map. Think of all the interstate commerce with all the states they'd border! Oh, but wait, what about the people living on the border between the new Border State and the other states? Let's create another...ouch. **Brain implosion**

  4. For all you non-Rhode Islanders by RadioheadKid · · Score: 4, Funny

    First off, c'mon RI is so small anyways, just let them have a little more land. You know that little chunk that Massachusetts has along the top of CT, I think CT is still pissed off about that and taking it out on RI.

    The other amusing thing is this quote: "It bothers me giving up my low-number license plate with my initials on it." It's kind of a hobby, maybe even an obsession, of some people in RI to try and get a low number (or as they say in RI "low numba") license plate, for example if you had w-12, you would be all the envy in the state. License plates are typically two letters and three numbers in RI.

    --
    "Karma can only be portioned out by the cosmos." -Homer Simpson
    1. Re:For all you non-Rhode Islanders by jc42 · · Score: 5, Funny

      > You know that little chunk that Massachusetts has along the top of CT, I think CT is still pissed off about that ...

      Well, I always thought that was a tab so that Massachusetts wouldn't just slide out to sea.

      --
      Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
  5. Re:well... by Lumpish+Scholar · · Score: 5, Funny
    No rational person wants that.
    True; but we're talking about lawyers and politicians....
    --
    Stupid job ads, weird spam, occasional insight at
  6. You mean? by aengblom · · Score: 5, Funny

    I can't believe these "surveyors" are that bad. I mean it's not as if the states aren't all different colors! I live in central PA so it's all green. New Jersey, as we all know, is orange! Perhaps we should get some non-color blind folks out there to define the borders!

    Hint: Black line=new state!

    --


    So close and yet so far from the world's perfect ID number