Geog. Trivia Question

[Sooner or later]

Post 29.

"The Aleutian islands extend past the Anti-Meridian which makes Alaska the state that is both the farthest east and the farthest west."

[URY914]

Originally Posted by masraum

Really?

Once the answer is out, it should be simple and irrefutable what the answer is. Are the folks that are still arguing also flat-earthers?

Some folks just can't their head around it.

[stevej37]

Ok..I see it now. Post 29 (too many things going on at once here)
https://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/infopage/nsewusa.htm

[stevej37]

The answer is technically true...but hard to think of being correct.

Good job Masraum!

Weird that Alaska is three of the four directions winner. (I thought you gave it away with that SOL)

[RWebb]

which states extend furthest from the geographic centroid of the US??

[mattdavis11]

Ones that are not in the USA! I win.

[A930Rocket]

Originally Posted by URY914

You don't have maps of the USA in SC?

Two answers to your question:

Didn’t you see our entry into the Miss Teen pageant years ago!😂

It’s Folly Beaches marketing gimmick.🤪

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww

[stevej37]

I thought Michigan was the most northern....today I'm sure I'm right.

[Norm K]

Geographic "oddities" are interesting.

One that surprises a lot of people (like pretty much everyone) is that the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal is to the east of the Caribbean entrance.

_

[Sooner or later]

Originally Posted by Norm K

Geographic "oddities" are interesting.

One that surprises a lot of people (like pretty much everyone) is that the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal is to the east of the Caribbean entrance.

_

I never knew that.

[stevej37]

Originally Posted by Norm K

Geographic "oddities" are interesting.

One that surprises a lot of people (like pretty much everyone) is that the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal is to the east of the Caribbean entrance.

_

I found that out when visiting two years ago.
It's near impossible to understand directions when touring that area.
(because of the bending, looping of the isthmus.)

When approaching to land from Miami...the flight crew told us we were landing from the Pacific Ocean.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by masraum

The extremes of east and west are not based on the Prime Meridian. That's the starting point of east and west, so if you are near the Prime Meridian, you are as least East or West as you can be.

The states that are closest to the Anti-Meridian from each direction would then be the farthest east and west.

It looks like I was close/half correct.

The Aleutian islands extend past the Anti-Meridian which makes Alaska the state that is both the farthest east and the farthest west. (which would be fubar if you used the actual Intl Date line since due to political borders, the Intl date line curves out to ensure that all of the US is on the same side.

If one uses the anti-meridian at the point of departure from going west and now going east it is furthest east and west is the two side of a single line. Literally microns apart is the same east west far point. So it is very possible to stand on both the east and west hemisphere.

Like going to the north pole, there is no way to continue further north, every direction in 360 degrees is south. Latitude is simply an arbitrary point some British dude spit on the ground, and said this is point zero. No one can argue about the equator as the division from north to south. It is the equator.

So the real answer to the "trick" question is a line in Alaska is both the furthest east and west. And Alaska is certainly the furthest north one can go and be in America. So the answer is Alaska, Alaska and Alaska.

For common sense answer, some point in Maine is the first to see the sun rise in the east, yet much of Alaska never has the sun set, and some times never rises so the sun rise alone is not a valid marker.

Only if one uses the Prime meridian and some old British dude setting the beginning of the world in Greenwich England as the zero point (pure arbitrary point) then it is correct on a technicality.

Common sense is go as far east as possible in the USA and you hit water in northern Maine. Travel west and and at some point the Aleutian islands become Russian territory and you can't go any further west in the USA.

[stevej37]

^^^ Not a trick question...ask Hoda or Jenna.

[GH85Carrera]

The 4 corners monument is in the wrong place! Sort of.

In 1919, New Mexico sued Colorado to have border discrepancies corrected. The Supreme Court upheld the original borders, acknowledging that they were off by a bit, but that the original markers (including the Four Corners Monument) were legally binding as the actual borders. The U.S. Geodetic Survey states that the quadripoint is actually 1,807 feet east of where modern surveying technology would place it.
So when you stand on the monument, you're not technically at the intersection of the four states, but you are legally on the quadripoint! Does it matter to the thousands of people who visit this place every year? We doubt it

https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/utah/the-four-corners-ut/

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by stevej37

^^^ Not a trick question...ask Hoda or Jenna.

Who? I honestly have no idea who they are.

[stevej37]

^^^ Only the two experts on NBC morning news that asked the original question.

[Sooner or later]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

The 4 corners monument is in the wrong place! Sort of.

In 1919, New Mexico sued Colorado to have border discrepancies corrected. The Supreme Court upheld the original borders, acknowledging that they were off by a bit, but that the original markers (including the Four Corners Monument) were legally binding as the actual borders. The U.S. Geodetic Survey states that the quadripoint is actually 1,807 feet east of where modern surveying technology would place it.
So when you stand on the monument, you're not technically at the intersection of the four states, but you are legally on the quadripoint! Does it matter to the thousands of people who visit this place every year? We doubt it

https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/utah/the-four-corners-ut/

What? You mean I stood in the wrong damn spot?

[oldE]

Here's another geographic trivia question:

Where can you stand with one foot on the European plate and one foot on the North American plate?


Best
Les

[stevej37]

No idea....Greenland?

[masraum]

Longest day and longest night in Point Barrow, AK, summer and winter solstices. 2 months of night and 2 months of daylight. Fark me, that would get old.

A town in northern Alaska, Utqiaġvik, formerly known as Barrow will experience the night for a span of two months after it witnessed the last sunset of the year 2020 on November 15. The town of nearly 4,000 inhabitants now prepares for 65 days of darkness as it will greet the sunrise in 2021, next year, on January 22. The northernmost town in the United States, which is sparsely populated and is abound in wetlands, wilderness, and tundra will also face a harsh winter with an average high temperature of below 0 degrees until March 2021.

According to an update by the US Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management, Alaska, one of the largest states in the US, is renowned as strange and mysterious as it now enters into 24-hour darkness throughout the winters. Alaska’s north and south poles are geographically located as such that the arctic community had their last sunset at 1:29 pm AKST (5:29 pm ET) on November 15 and will now see the sunrise at 1:16 pm AKST (5:16 pm ET) straight on January 22.

24-hour day during 'summer solstice'

According to a report by The Weather Channel, the Alaskans in Utqiaġvik experience two months of prolonged daylights during the summer solstice. The sun in the mysterious town is overhead for 24 hours, all through the day, including in the nights. This happens due to the location of the Arctic region on the globe towards the extreme northern pole, which sets the sun at only 6 degrees below the horizon. This gives rise to a civil twilight, the phenomenon that gives the impression of daytime in the town round the clock.