How to visit our countries.

I've never been to Alaska, but ever since I read a book about why state borders are what they are, I've had a simplification project in mind, and a major part of it is trading Alaska (and Angle Township in Lake of the Woods, Minnesota) to Canada in exchange for New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, the bit of Quebec that's south of the St. Lawrence, and (certainly the most controversial part), Ontario south of Ottawa.

Not because I want to corrupt Toronto with U.S. culture, just because it cleans up the lines.

... "The bit of Quebec that's south of the St. Lawrence" is like 3/4 of their population.

And the Maritimes are as fiercely Canadian as anything you'd ever find. As is southern Ontario.

Your plan is silly. Especially the reasoning. (Look at Europe and tell me the lines are "clean.")

Once North America is simplified, I'll move on to cleansing Europe's cartography.

It's a thought experiment, really.

I'm conflicted as to whether to cede Florida to Mexico or take Baja California, but I think looking at the continent as a whole it's better to take BC. I only have half of Texas to offer in return, and I don't think it's anything like parity.

edited 30th Sep '12 7:10:15 PM by TParadox

I don't think the Quebecois would like to be a part of the U.S. at all. Dunno about the New Brunswickians or Nova Scotians.

And there you have it.

edited 30th Sep '12 7:17:04 PM by Sakan4k

It'd be an interesting wrinkle to try to keep the continent's borders relatively smooth, but allow for Quebecois independence.

edited 30th Sep '12 7:14:35 PM by TParadox

As a Nova Scotian, can I just say: no, just no.

How would you like half of New England, then?

You wouldn't be able to do that, T Para. As I said; a huge chunk of Quebec's population lives in the area you're after.

Never mind that "making the borders smooth" doesn't make sense in the first place, seeing as about the only places on the planet with "smooth" borders have arbitrarily drawn in borders. (See; Saskatchewan, Colorado, other square regions on maps.)

Like Alaska's straight-line border with Canada. There is no geographical reason why it is that way.

I don't mean throwing in half of New England to get all of Canada south of the St. Lawrence, I mean instead of it.

All borders are arbitrary. But they should make sense.

edited 30th Sep '12 7:24:35 PM by TParadox

Hell, the Canada/US border is another good example. They pretty much just arbitrarily said "Let's make the 49th Parallel the border for everything west of Ontario."

They do make sense at this point. The land was settled by people who disagreed on things, and became different nations. The land they claimed became their nations. Ergo, the borders were determined by where people lived.

That makes perfect sense.

edited 30th Sep '12 7:25:39 PM by Grimview

I wouldn't mind extending that back east...

... No.

Once upon a time, arbitrary borders were set down in Africa by European powers. It didn't go well.

edited 30th Sep '12 7:28:23 PM by Sakan4k

This is especially thorny when dealing with international borders, moreso with the scale of North America.

I just want to condense all borders down to "this is a river, this is a mountain range, this is a lake, this is a line of latitude or longitude".

Middle East, too.

I do want to respect local culture more finely than Britain did.

edited 30th Sep '12 7:29:25 PM by TParadox

Then leave the borders that already exist as they are, because they've created communities and cultures over the past several centuries?

Changing borders for "neatness" doesn't make sense when you're trying to preserve cultural respect and differences.

The point is to smooth things out while keeping it vaguely recognizable, and remembering this is entirely impractical.

Mostly I just want to reformat the states. Simplify borders created as compromises to problems or influences that no longer exist mainly. Also break up California and Texas into more manageable sizes that reflect individual area cultures. Maryland is probably going to have to go.

TPara, you wouldn't happen to have a cousin,◊ would you?

I don't know who that is.

A young man who is obsessed with symmetry to the point of mania.

This is a cerebral hobby.

You are suffering from the 'neat little boxes' disorder, T Para. Not a smart idea to go there. People don't fit in them.

My first thought was this.

They both work. My favorite though is Death the Kidd. Its soooo much fun to find one at a con and point out how "asymmetical" he is today X3

BUT BUT BUT DEMOCRACY. TEA. D:

Also;

When visiting Britain, don't discuss politics. You'll either find people who will kill you for discussing it, or people who will kill you because they're so angry at the government/opposition/European Union/[insert name of vaguely-political thing].

edited 4th Oct '12 2:06:39 PM by Inhopelessguy