

US states redrawn so as to have equal populations - pc
http://jamesfallows.theatlantic.com/assets_c/2010/01/reform_gis_main_map_800-20713.php

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lunchbox
Original: <http://www.fakeisthenewreal.org/reform/>

Close-up of NYC area: <http://www.fakeisthenewreal.org/reform/nyc/>

This was probably carved out by hand. However, this would be an interesting
problem to solve using integer programming, a technique that has been used to
model the related problem of gerrymandering.

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bhousel
For some reason I find it hilarious that on the new map Staten Island is part
of Jersey..

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gabrielroth
As a Brooklynite, the idea of being affiliated with Long Island rather than
Manhattan fills me with horror.

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camccann
On the other hand, as a resident of Michigan, there are no words, in any
language on Earth, that could begin to capture the joy I feel at the idea of
excising Detroit (though I fear it may have already metastasized).

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lief79
This data is already 10 years old. That means Detroit has already started
shrinking, and therefore the new Detroit, if kept as an independent city,
would be consuming more of Michigan.

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akkartik
Brilliant. Even in the senate, you can argue that low-population states like
Wyoming shouldn't get 2 seats, or that Wyoming needs 2 seats to maintain
control of its interests. Periodically redrawing state boundaries sidesteps
this whole debate/dilemma.

Can this idea be further generalized? Minorities can be oppressed or powerful;
strive to so intertwine motivations that minorities are eliminated.

But with some caveats. <http://akkartik.name/blog/2010-01-23-21-24-35-soc>

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eru
> Can this idea be further generalized?

A silly generalization: At birth everyone draws a lot --- or throws a die with
fifty sides --- to decide which state he will belong to.

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dalke
And when a new state is added - free rethrows!

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dalke
It looks like Washington State and Alaska are merged. That makes little sense
politically or organizationally. Where's Hawaii fit into this? Assuming 50
reapportioned states that's 6 million per state, and Hawaii only has 1.3
million people.

Rio Grande State should go north with the Rio Grande and not include Arizona.
That is, it should be El Paso/Las Cruces/Albuquerque/Santa Fe and up into
southern Colorado. As it is, it looks like ABQ would be a border city, and
that makes little sense.

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camccann
Hawaii is problematic, being a significant fraction of the target population
level, yet very isolated. Alaska doesn't really make sense to combine with
anything either, but its population is pretty much rounding error (it's got,
what, as many people as maybe three blocks of Manhattan?) so it probably
wouldn't matter that much.

Though maybe it'd make more sense to just grant Hawaii independence and sell
Alaska back to the Russians or something--the whole noncontiguous territory
never sat well with me anyway.

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ghshephard
Wouldn't it make more sense to sell it to the Canadians if contiguous
territory was a big issue?

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rtyuhjikjh
Only with vacant possession - you aren't getting rid of Palin that easily

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javery
My only complaint is that they still left the UP as part of Michigan... it
would look much cleaner to throw that into another piece. If you ever wondered
why it became part of Michigan read up on the "War of Toledo" -
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toledo_War>

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smallblacksun
Having Chesapeake split by Baltimore-Washington is unfortunate too.

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kscaldef
Well, the alternative view is that it's split by the Chesapeake Bay. It's a
bit tough to tell whether it got Annapolis and the Bay Bridge, though.

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shpxnvz
It's pretty clear that both Annapolis and the bay bridge went to BW, but
Chesapeake got the Bay Bridge-Tunnel which almost makes up for it.

For all the trouble it would cause, I know quite a few people who wouldn't
mind parting with old Baltmo' for good.

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fuzzmeister
Interesting to see that Missouri hardly changes at all.

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pmichaud
That means the MO just so happens to have roughly 1/50th of the US population.

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RK
So are the populations normalized to one Long Island?

And on a totally unrelated note, sometimes Rhode Islands are used as units of
area. I knew a girl in college that told me she grew up on .53 RI ranch in
Texas. I had no idea what she was talking about, then she explained to me that
RI = Rhode Island. I think they used a small plane to get around.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unusual_units_of_measur...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement#Various_countries.2C_regions.2C_and_cities)

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zephjc
Only change I would make: Include Santa Cruz in SF Bay state

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pc
(Attribution: I found it on Fallows's blog:
[http://jamesfallows.theatlantic.com/archives/2010/01/thought...](http://jamesfallows.theatlantic.com/archives/2010/01/thought_experiment.php.))

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rubyrescue
working link
[http://jamesfallows.theatlantic.com/archives/2010/01/thought...](http://jamesfallows.theatlantic.com/archives/2010/01/thought_experiment.php)

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imperator
Link to the creator's page, with said map:
<http://www.fakeisthenewreal.org/reform/>

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Ennis
Can anyone tell how he did this? Was it through trial/error?

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zephjc
Probably looking at county populations

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josephkern
The state of Willamette would be the place to live. Nice weather, mountains,
desert, ocean ... Linus.

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Luyt
I don't like crowded places. So when I go visit the U.S.A, the best places to
stay for me are the Great Basin, High Plains, and Rocky Mountain High.

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kscaldef
Most of Willamette is not very dense.

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bobbyi
What happened to Hawaii?

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russell
Part of Coronado.

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datura
what's happening with HN?

