Quote :

"If George Etzel Pearcy had his way, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s famous song would have been called “Sweet Home Talladego.” In 1973, the California State University geography professor suggested that the U.S. should redraw its antiquated state boundaries and narrow the overall number of states to a mere thirty-eight. Pearcy’s proposed state lines were drawn in less-populated areas, isolating large cities and reducing their number within each state. He argued that if there were fewer cities vying for a state’s tax dollars, more money would be available for projects that would benefit all citizens. Because the current states were being chopped up beyond recognition, part of his plan included renaming the new states by referencing natural geologic features or the region’s cultural history. While he did have a rather staunch support network—economists, geographers, and even a few politicians argued that Pearcy’s plan might be crazy enough to work—the proposal was defeated in Washington, D.C. Imagine all the work that would have to be done to enact Pearcy’s plan: re-surveying the land, setting up new voter districts, new taxation infrastructure—basically starting the whole country over. It’s easy to see why the government balked. The map above was published in 1973. Oddly, it doesn’t show any city locations to help illustrate Pearcy’s argument. At this point, I should tell you that I make maps for a living. So I did my best to replicate Pearcy’s map using population data from the 2000 census to show current high population cities and where they would fall within the new states."

other guy's map

2/28/2011 10:54:14 PM

at least throw a couple straight lines in there. jesus.

2/28/2011 10:55:31 PM

what a shitty map

who the fuck would go to Biscayne for a vacation?

2/28/2011 10:59:34 PM

I don't wanna live in Albermarle....

2/28/2011 11:01:00 PM

at least throw a couple straight lines in there. jesus.
at least throw a couple straight lines in there. jesus.
at least throw a couple straight lines in there. jesus.
at least throw a couple straight lines in there. jesus.
at least throw a couple straight lines in there. jesus.

2/28/2011 11:01:19 PM

he is supposed to split up cities, but of the 9 big ones, 3 are still in one state and 2 are in another. and biscayne would still have s a ton of very populous cities.

2/28/2011 11:02:40 PM

there's no littlefoot for bighorn to play with

2/28/2011 11:02:52 PM

he didnt provide a proposed abbreviation for each state though

2/28/2011 11:07:20 PM

Did he plan on changing the American Flag?

2/28/2011 11:08:25 PM

They would have to change the song to "38 Nifty United States" and that wouldn't work.

2/28/2011 11:09:04 PM

Albemarle State Wolfpack...

2/28/2011 11:11:43 PM

I don't think it would work because of how many states are land locked. Also, a lot of state's borders were decided so trains could go through them. This is pretty ridiculous, and i'm pretty sure the administrations decided very meticulously why our states have their borders.

I know that NC has that little change in latitude because of native american tribes...that was always interesting to me. However, a lot of states are based on that same latitude as NC's northern border.

That Stein guy wrote a really cool book about how the states got their shapes.

2/28/2011 11:15:41 PM

That seems really unfair to Charlotte to make it a part of what is essentially South Carolina. No city deserves that fate if it has already experienced freedom.

2/28/2011 11:18:21 PM

Quote :

"he is supposed to split up cities, but of the 9 big ones, 3 are still in one state and 2 are in another. and biscayne would still have s a ton of very populous cities."

He also made this map 38 years ago when city populations were much different than they are today.

Also, this ^

Plus I don't want to have to learn all the new states to hate.

[Edited on February 28, 2011 at 11:22 PM. Reason : ]

2/28/2011 11:21:39 PM

Quote :

"Albemarle State Wolfpack..."

LOL!


Then again, it would probably remain NC State. Wake Forest University left the town of Wake Forest and kept the name though.

2/28/2011 11:22:54 PM

whoever came up with this bullshit needs to get dey head checked

2/28/2011 11:22:56 PM

why the hell didnt he get rid of Michigans little tip that should belong to Minnesota

2/28/2011 11:24:10 PM

cochise?

2/28/2011 11:27:59 PM

pronounced COCK-EYES

2/28/2011 11:33:51 PM

he should have chopped off a little piece of hawaii and given it to cali

2/28/2011 11:35:11 PM

Quote :

"Also, a lot of state's borders were decided so trains could go through them."

the fuck are you talking about?

2/28/2011 11:43:28 PM

I seriously thought that said "Bonerville"

And kudos to Michigan for stubbornly holding on to the upper peninsula.

[Edited on February 28, 2011 at 11:47 PM. Reason : ]

2/28/2011 11:45:31 PM

It would serve those mormons right if we changed it to Bonerville.

2/28/2011 11:50:18 PM

3/1/2011 12:16:56 AM

The state called "Erie" would throw a fit for not having access to one of the Great Lakes. There was a show on the History Channel IIRC that explained why the states were shaped the way they were, and a lot of it, at least for the earlier states, came down to access to waterways. Hence why Pennsylvania has that little area that connects to Lake Erie.

3/1/2011 12:53:27 AM

lol @ cochise

3/1/2011 12:59:18 AM

NATHAN WIND

3/1/2011 4:29:27 AM

Fuck that. We are the real state of Carolina. South Carolina should be renamed Myrtle.

3/1/2011 6:41:26 AM

Quote :

"bonerville"

vote bonner james iv for '74 governor

3/1/2011 7:14:08 AM

Looks like someone was trying as hard as they could to justify some research $texas received or trying too hard to secure some $texas for further research. They had to come up with something jarring, otherwise the people that funded the study wouldn't be impressed. I mean he didn't even respect the Mississippi river as a natural border.

Seriously, it looks like he went out of his way to make sure none of the new state lines matched up with an old state. They couldn't shift the state border of "Talladego" on all sides by about 30-40 miles because -gasp- that would be the same as the existing border... and we simply can't have that!

Meh, they couldn't even get the US on metric, I don't see how this had any hopes. Especially considering all things politics: Senate/Congress seats, people in power vying to get as much tax revenue as possible, etc.

[Edited on March 1, 2011 at 7:43 AM. Reason : -]

3/1/2011 7:38:49 AM

Heard they're instating this on Friday.

The line at the DMV is gonna be super serial.

3/1/2011 7:53:25 AM

Quote :

"They would have to change the song to "38 Nifty United States" and that wouldn't work."

38 Pretty Great United States?

3/1/2011 7:54:21 AM

This is the stupidest thing I've ever heard of and I don't even know why history remembers that crap.

3/1/2011 9:26:30 AM

I like what he's trying to do. Re-drawing the entire country for efficiency's sake could save trillions.

3/1/2011 9:27:54 AM

Thiessen polygons ftw


[Edited on March 1, 2011 at 9:41 AM. Reason : .]

3/1/2011 9:41:00 AM

Why would he split Alaska? The northern part doesn't even have a city big enough to list.

And I've never seen it called "Boise city"

3/1/2011 9:41:45 AM

Quote :

"Heard they're instating this on Friday. The line at the DMV is gonna be super serial."

lolz

3/1/2011 10:25:26 AM

i like that many of the names are connected to riverine or geologic names of the area. i may actually be able to remember where some shit is now

3/1/2011 10:29:20 AM

We can just give Alaska to Canada...solve the whole Palin for president thing real quick like. Amirite?

Also, San Luis has a boner.

3/1/2011 10:29:25 AM

^^^^^Polygons

3/1/2011 10:48:43 AM

Quote :

"lol @ cochise"

3/1/2011 10:50:06 AM

Quote :

"That seems really unfair to Charlotte to make it a part of what is essentially South Carolina. No city deserves that fate if it has already experienced freedom."

haha I was thinking that too.

3/1/2011 11:05:23 AM

I am okay with this idea. Would be a fun change

3/1/2011 11:09:14 AM

AL - Alamo
AM - Albemarle
AG - Allegheny
AP - Appalachia
BY - Bayou
BH - Bighorn
BS - Biscayne
BR - Bitterroot
BV - Bonneville
CR - Carolina
CA - Cascade
CH - Chesapeake
CO - Cochise
CU - Cumberland
DK - Dakota
DB - Dearborn
ED - El Dorado
ER - Erie
HD - Hudson
KN - Kennebec
KI - Kilauea
KD - Kodiak
MA - Mackinac
MO - Mohawk
OS - Osage
OZ - Ozark
PM - Piedmont
PT - Platte
PY - Plymouth
PR - Prairie
SG - San Gabriel
SL - San Luis
SW - Seward
SH - Shawnee
SU - Superior
SQ - Susquehanna
TA - Talladego
WA - Wabash

3/1/2011 11:19:48 AM

some of these are descriptions...some of them just illustrate what the abbreviation means. you figure it out...and the ones i left blank
 
AL - big gay guy from south park
AM - any time after midnight but before noon
AG - what wal mart nation knows our school as, and frankly it's cool because we're good at it. suck it chapel hill.
AP - almost the full spelling of games on the iphone
BY - something you don't end a sentence with.  wait a minute...
BH - bull hockey
BS - poop from a bull
BR - break room (lame yes...but i'm at work and about to go eat lunch in one, so it's on my mind)
BV -
CR -
CA - already used for california...too many people that live there are currently high. this would confuse them. try again.
CH - the worst school ever
CO - already used for colorado...too many people that live there are currently high. this would confuse them. try again.
CU - L8R
DK - super awesome fun times nintendo game
DB - 
ED - disease for which we have viagra
ER - emergency room...not fun to be in.
HD - hillary duff?
KN - ights of the round table
KI - abbreviation for the fight for your right intro
KD -
MA - already used for massachusetts...too many people that live there are currently arrogant. this would infuriate them. try again.
MO - larry and curly
OS - operating system
OZ - where the wizzard lives
PM - any time after noon but before midnight.
PT - physical training
PY - is delicious...but you spelled it wrong
PR - personal record
SG - a sweet guitar
SL -
SW - this is already a direction. too many people that are alive are currently high. this would confuse them. try again
SH -
SU - short for 'sup'
SQ -
TA - this guy fumbles too much and doesn't deserve to have a state abbreviated after him.
WA - add more a's and it's a meme...

3/1/2011 12:22:02 PM

I don't understand why they still gave the upper peninsula to the Mackinac/Michigan instead of Superior/Wisconsin.

3/1/2011 12:22:10 PM

I was trying so hard not to laugh out loud in the middle of my office that I share while reading this thread.

then I came to:

Quote :

"Also, San Luis has a boner."

and scrolled up and sure enough, it does.

I laughed!

I got busted!

3/1/2011 4:43:30 PM

LOL I agree that he totally disregarded natural borders like the frikking Mississippi River and Rocky Mountains. A lot of our state lines don't make any sense, but it's not like his make any more sense. Seems ridiculous that he ever thought this would be adopted, people have waaaaay too much of an emotional connection to their state. Can you imagine Texas signing on to this?

3/1/2011 5:19:49 PM

NERDCHICK WHY ARE YOU TROLLING THIS SERIOUS MAPMAKER

TROLL TROLL TROLL TROLL TROLL

3/1/2011 5:25:06 PM

set em up

3/1/2011 5:30:40 PM