US states redrawn so as to have equal populations • Hacker News Board

Re: US states redrawn so as to have equal populations

#31

Post by shpxnvz » Sun, Jan 24, 2010, 4:43 AM UTC

kscaldef wrote: post #27

smallblacksun wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having Chesapeake split by Baltimore-Washington is unfortunate too.

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.

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.

Re: US states redrawn so as to have equal populations

#32

Post by RK » Sun, Jan 24, 2010, 8:38 AM UTC

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...

Re: US states redrawn so as to have equal populations

#33

Post by pmichaud » Sun, Jan 24, 2010, 2:20 PM UTC

fuzzmeister wrote: post #8

Interesting to see that Missouri hardly changes at all.

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

Re: US states redrawn so as to have equal populations

#34

Post by eru » Sun, Jan 24, 2010, 5:29 PM UTC

akkartik wrote: post #14

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 caveat…

> 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.

Re: US states redrawn so as to have equal populations

#35

Post by dalke » Sun, Jan 24, 2010, 11:18 PM UTC

eru wrote: post #34

akkartik wrote: post #14

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 caveat…

> 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.

And when a new state is added - free rethrows!