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Playing the “what if” game, here are the names Thomas Jefferson thought would be nice for the states of the American Midwest: Sylvania, Michigania, Chersonesus, Assenisipia, Metropotamia, Illinoia, Saratoga, Polypotamia, Pelisipia, and Washington. Aren’t you glad he didn’t get his way? It was hard enough to learn how to spell Mississippi! Link -via 22 Words
What does your state do best? What are you collectively worst at? Apparently we Oklahomans have the best license plate but the most female criminals; if this were still a time in which inmates stamped plates during their incarceration, I’d say it was obvious. As it stands, I think the rest of you states are just really slacking in the cool license plate department.
From environmental achievements to singular distinctions of badness, Big Think has more. Link
Have two minutes? Then you have time to check out author Paul Jury’s video that will surely anger everyone in the U.S. (Nah, it’s all in good fun.) Don’t have two minutes but still want to see what witty one-liner he assigned to your state? Check out the transcript.
A couple of my favorites:
Nebraska: “Footballs, drawls and overalls.”
Rhode Island: “No, seriously! We’re a state!”
Wisconsin: “It’s too cold to be sober.”
With the unrest happening in Egypt and other countries in the region many people are asking if a revolution could ever happen in the US of A. Some Americans, however, have been planning such a movement for years to rebel against what they consider the injustices of the US government. During the Civil War the Confederate States wanted to leave America so they could continue to own and trade humans. However there are lots of reasons why Americans may want to secede from the union even today, from religious views and environmental views to not wanting to live in the same country as Glenn Beck. The Second Republic of Vermont group even wants to return Vermont to its independent status. Here are a few examples of some of the most unique secession movements currently in the United States.
South Carolina’s Christian Exodus
Are you sick of the morally corrupt US government? Do you think Lindsay Lohan, The Jersey Shore and Obama are a sign of America’s moral depravity? Do you yearn for a more Christian nation? Then South Carolina’s Christian Exodus movement might be right for you. According to their website “The initial goal was to move thousands of Christian constitutionalists to South Carolina to accelerate the return to self-government based upon Christian principles at the local and State level…. with the ultimate goal of forming an independent Christian nation that will survive after the decline and fall of the financially and morally bankrupt American empire.”
South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union during the American Civil War and ever since then it has seen strong pro secession movements. Christian Exodus has a plan for this time to be successful and claims to have had a full 15 families move to Anderson, South Carolina, falling slightly short of their goal of twelve thousand people making the relocation. Christian Exodus founder Cory Burnell was unable to move to South Carolina from California himself after a job opportunity fell through there when his potential employer found out about his secessionist political views. The group now focuses on helping Christians form a “personal secession.”
The Nation of Cascadia
Do you think the US and Canada don’t do enough to protect our civil liberties? Do you want to give the power back to the people? Do you want to protect an environmentally sensitive bioregion? Then strap on your Birkenstocks and move to the North West would-be nation of Cascadia. This proposed independent country would be formed in the wake of the secession of Washington state and Oregon from the USA and the province of British Columbia from Canada. According to the Cascadia Now website “Aside from having an inter-connected bioregional infrastructure in fishing, forestry, transportation and disaster preparation, Cascadia has the facilities and technical expertise to produce a wide range of state of the art fighter, support, and commercial aircraft, as well as being home to some of the world’s leading software, manufacturing and biotechnological industries.”
Several serious attempts to organize an effort for Cascadian independence have occurred in the past decade, including the formation of the Cascadian National Party in September 2001. In 2005 the Cascadian Independence Project was launched. Basically, this is the opposite of Christian Exodus, a bunch of Seattle granola types want to start their own tree loving nation (not that there is anything wrong with that).
more …
Remember the United States of Shame, where each state was labeled with the statistic it was worst in? Ilya Gerner figured that there should be a statistic that each state is best in, and made a map accordingly. However, I’m not sure how proud I can be that Kentucky is the best armed state. Link to map. Link to explanation. -via Buzzfeed
The Economist created a map of the United States that matches each state with a national economy of comparable size as measured by Gross Domestic Product in 2009. It’s interactive. So at the link, you can hover your cursor over each state and get more detailed information.
Link via Ace of Spades HQ
Previously: Map of US States Showing Equal Population
What a neat idea! Type the name of each state in the US into the Google search field one at a time, and see what autocomplete suggestions come up. Then make a map of them. That’s what happened at Very Small Array, which resulted in this. I would have guessed Kentucky easily. See a larger version of this map at the site. Link -via The Daily What
Clinton N. Godlesky noticed that you can get souvenirs from every state, but those souvenirs are not necessarily made in that state -or even in the US! So he started collecting earth from states that he traveled through, and has samples from 34 states. If you have a hankering for a piece of Alabama or Oklahoma or Wyoming, it can be yours, for $1.99 for just a couple of teaspoons or more for larger size containers. You can even get a quarter representing that state added to your souvenir! This is one of those “why didn’t I think of that?” ideas. Link -Thanks, Stratoblogster!
Andrew Goldsmith made this representation of the United States using words to represent the geographic boundaries of the named states. I wonder how Africa would look.
Click Andrew’s name to enlarge his work.
via Twisted Sifter
You know how you drive long distances and it always feels good to see a state welcome sign, because it’s another milestone in the journey (or maybe your destination)? Now you can see all of them! Here’s a collection of welcome signs from all 50 of the United States of America (and all on 1 page).
From the Upcoming 
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How many cities in Florida can you name? If you can name the twenty biggest cities in Florida in five minutes or less, you deserve a star! If you get half of them, you’ll be considered a winner. Try your hand in this Lunchtime Quiz from mental_floss, and let us know how you did. Or, if you prefer to name the biggest twenty cities in California or Texas instead, you’ll find links to those quizzes as well. I got over half, then I was stumped. I should take a vacation! Link
I love a good geography quiz! The United States has 23 states that border the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, or the Gulf of Mexico. In this quiz from mental_floss, you are challenged to name all 23 in three minutes. I did it with a half-minute to spare! And I would have done it faster if I could type as well as I read a mental map. Link
If history had swung in a slightly different direction, we may have spent fourth grade memorizing the capitals of Sylvania, Deseret, Texlahoma, and Forgottonia. I would be living in Transylvania!
American pioneer Daniel Boone also had a thing for the “sylvania” suffix. If he’d had his way, Kentucky would have been called Transylvania and we’d be placing bets on horses at the Transylvania Derby. Boone hoped to call the colony’s capital Boonesborough, but much to the explorer’s chagrin, North Carolina and Virginia voted against Transylvania’s existence.
Read about more of these “lost states” at NPR. Link -via Metafilter
The NCAA basketball tournament brackets were finalized last night. I am happy to see that Kentucky is a #1 seed, and the management at mental_floss is happy to see that Duke is also a #1 seed. But there are 64 teams in the tournament; some aren’t that easy to place. In Today’s Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss, you are challenged to match tournament colleges with the states they are in. I scored 75%. Link
Sure, the boring facts about states have been drilled into you by teachers and history books over the years. You might even remember all of the state capitals. But here are 50 trivia tidbits that you probably didn’t learn in second grade.
1. Alabama. New Orleans might be the hot spot for Mardi Gras these days, but it was actually started as a sedate tradition in what is now modern-day Mobile, Alabama.
2. Alaska. The Alaskan flag was created by a 13-year-old-boy in 1926. For his efforts, Benny Benson received $1,000 and an engraved watch. Picture from Alaska.edu.
3. Arizona. London Bridge – yes, the London Bridge – was shipped stone by stone and reassembled in Lake Havasu City. It was meant to be a tourist attraction in the retirement community and was rebuilt over land, not water.
4. Arkansas. Sam Walton started a little store in Bentonville, Arkansas – today, it’s known as Walmart. However, Bentonville is also home to the headquarters of a lesser-known company: The Whistler Group, a company that makes radar detectors.
5. California. We all know Cali is known for its wine and grapes – but it’s also home to the self-proclaimed Avocado Capital of the World (Fallbrook), the Raisin Capital of the World (Fresno) and the Artichoke Capital of the World (Castroville). In fact, Marilyn Monroe was the first Artichoke Queen in 1947.
6. Colorado. Although the cheeseburger wasn’t invented in Colorado, a Denverite held the copyright to the word for a while. In 1935, Louis Ballast, owner of the Humpty Dumpty Drive-In, applied for and received the copyright to a food he didn’t invent. That distinction goes to Lionel Sternberger of Pasadena, California.
7. Connecticut. PEZ is made in Orange, Connecticut.
8. Delaware. There’s no National Park System unit of any kind in Delaware – no park, no historic site, no battlefield, no memorial or monument. It’s the only state that doesn’t have something denoted by the National Park System (you can check out other National Park units here, though).
9. Florida. The first ATM designed just for rollerbladers resides in Miami. Of course.
10. Georgia. The sweetest onion in the world, the Vidalia, can only be grown in specifc Vidalia and Glennville areas of Georgia – only 20 counties in total. The Vidalia Onion is Georgia’s state vegetable.
11. Hawaii. Back in 1874, the village of Kalaupapa on the Island of Molokai was once a leper colony. The act naming the village such wasn’t repealed until 1969.
12. Idaho is the only state that might have been named because of a hoax. A lobbyist suggested the name in the 1860s, claiming that it was an old Shoshone word meaning “the sun comes from the mountains” or “gem of the mountains.” After the name was adopted, the lobbyist admitted he made the word up.
13. Illinois was once home to the largest city in the United States – no, not Chicago. Up until about 1800, Cahokia, Illinois, had more than 40,000 residents in the area thanks to its strategic spot near the Mississippi, Missouri and Illinois Rivers. Philadelphia outgrew it sometime near the turn of the century.
14. Indiana. Santa Claus, Indiana, gets more than half a million letters from kids during the holidays. “Santa’s Elves,” a group of local volunteers, makes sure that each letter gets a reply from the man himself.
15. Iowa is the only state whose east and west borders are totally formed by water – the Mississippi on the east and the Missouri on the west. It’s also the only state whose name begins with two vowels.
16. Kansas. Amelia Earhart was from Atchison, Kansas.
17. Kentucky. The song “Happy Birthday to You” was written by sisters Patty and Mildred Hill, Louisville residents. The women were kindergarten teachers who wrote the song as a ditty called “Good Morning to All” that would be easy for young kids to remember and sing.
18. Louisiana. There used to be more to Louisiana. Prior to 1856, there was an island southwest of New Orleans called Last Island. On August 11, 1856, it was completely and utterly destroyed by a category four hurricane. It was hit with such force that the island was split into five smaller islands. Everything on the island – which had been a popular resort destination – was gone. When the water levels went down five days later, the only evidence that there had been human life on the island was a wrecked steamer sent to save the people on the island at the time. More than 200 people died.
19. Maine. Up until a couple of years ago, a vast majority (90 percent) of the toothpicks used in the United States were made in Maine.
20. Maryland. Residents of Saint Michaels found out that the British were going to attack in 1813, so they strategically placed lit lanterns at the tops of ships and on high tree branches and cut all sources of light from the usual places on the ground. It confused the British and they overshot the town, hitting just one single house.
21. Massachusetts is home to the first U.S. zip code ever – 01001 in Agawam.
22. Michigan makes cars, yeah, you already knew that. But it also manufactures the most magic supplies in the world. The little town of Colon (population: 1200) was where magician Harry Blackstone made his home, including his headquarters and magic workshop. He invited other magicians to his abode, and the town eventually sprouted Abbott’s Magic Company, the world’s biggest producer of handmade illusions, and Abbott’s Magic Get-Together, an annual four-day convention. The high school nickname is “The Magi” and their mascot is a rabbit (rabbit out of the hat, get it?).
23. Minnesota. Minneapolis has 52 blocks of skyway – more than five miles – so people who work downtown in the frigid Minnesota winter can get around without getting frostbite.
24. Mississippi was the last state to end prohibition. Even though nationwide prohibition had ended more than 30 years earlier, Mississippi didn’t repeal it at a state level until 1966.
25. Missouri. With more than 200 fountains, Kansas City claims to have the most fountains of any city in the world, with a single exception: Rome.
26. Montana. The Montana Yogo Sapphire is the only North American gemstone to be included in the the royal Crown Jewels.
27. Nebraska. Kool-Aid was invented in Hastings, Nebraska. It was made in inventor Edwin Perkins’ mother’s kitchen and originated as a liquid called “Fruit Smack.” When he needed a cheaper way to ship it, Perkins figured out how to remove the liquid and leave only a powder, creating Kool-Aid.
28. Nevada. The first casino to open on the Las Vegas Strip (before it was the Strip) was called the Pair-O-Dice Club. It opened its doors in 1931.
29. New Hampshire has its own Stonehenge. “America’s Stonehenge” has had charcoal pits carbon dated to 2000 BC to 173 BC, potentially making the site 4,000 years old. It allegedly inspired H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Dunwich Horror.”
30. New Jersey has the most diners in the world – and the most shopping malls in one area (seven major malls in a 25 square mile radius).
31. New Mexico. The cub that became known as Smokey the Bear, the National Fire Safety Symbol, was found trapped in a tree in New Mexico’s Lincoln National Forest when it caught on fire in 1950. The black bear was chosen to be the official state animal in the little guy’s honor 13 years later.
32. New York isn’t home to Dorothy Gale – that’s Kansas, of course – but it does call her creator, L. Frank Baum, a native. In Chittenango, his hometown, yellow brick sidewalks lead to Oz-themed businesses, and you can go to the yearly Oz-Stravaganza every June.
33. North Carolina can boast that they had the first child born in America to English parents. Her name was Virginia Dare and she was born in Roanoke.
34. North Dakota is a great state to drive through if you can manage to make the Enchanted Highway part of your route. It’s a 32-mile stretch of highway with giant sculptures. This one, called “Theodore Roosevelt Rides Again,” is 51 feet tall and weighs more than 9,000 pounds. Photo from EnchantedHighway.net.
35. Ohio, so far, has been the home state of seven U.S. presidents, making it the state that has produced the second-most Commander in Chiefs (Virginia wins that title with eight). In case you’re wondering, they are: Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, William Howard Taft and Warren G. Harding.
36. Oklahoma is where the first-ever parking meter was installed. Oklahoma City was the first to start charging for prime parking real estate in 1935.
37. Oregon has the most ghost towns of any U.S. state, with 18 spots officially designated as such.
38. Pennsylvania is where you’ll find the Mutter Museum, a museum dedicated to medical oddities (for educational purposes, of course). Exhibits include a woman whose corpse turned to soap, famous Siamese twins Chang and Eng Bunker, and the tumor removed from Grover Cleveland’s hard palate in a top-secret operation the world didn’t know about until years later.
39. Rhode Island claims the oldest, still-operating tavern in the U.S. The White Horse Tavern was built in 1673.
40. South Carolina. In case you’re interested in the first boll weevil ever found in South Carolina, don’t worry – you can still see it. The insect is on display at the Pendleton District Agricultural Museum.
41. South Dakota has the world’s only Corn Palace, a building entirely decorated in different varieties of corn kernels and cobs. Exterior murals on the palace are redesigned every year.
42. Tennessee has the largest underground lake in the United States (and the second-largest in the world). It’s part of Craighead Caverns in Sweetwater and is known as The Lost Sea.
43. Texas has the only hotel in North America entirely built over water. The Flagship Hotel in Galveston juts out 1,000 feet over the Gulf of Mexico.
44. Utah has a hotspot known as “Little Hollywood” – Kanab earned the nickname because so many movies and T.V. series have been filmed in the area. Which ones, you ask? To name a few: Gunsmoke, Planet of the Apes, The Outlaw Josey Wales, The Lone Ranger and Stagecoach
45. Vermont’s capital, Montpelier, is the only state capital that lacks a McDonalds.
46. Virginia is where you’ll find a couple of Presidents’ mansions, including Jefferson’s Monticello, which is on the back of the $2 bill. Incidentally, the gift shop at Monticello is probably one of the only establishments in the country to routinely give $2 bills as change.
47. Washington is the only state named after a president.
48. West Virginia had a hand in the invention of billboards and outdoor advertising. A tobacco company there started painting barns and bridges with their slogan, “Treat Yourself to the Best, Chew Mail Pouch.”
49. Wisconsin. Love mustard? Then you’ll love Mount Horeb, which is where you’ll find the world’s largest collection of prepared mustards at the Mustard Museum. It is run by Barry Levenson, who used to be the Assistant Attorney General for the state.
50. Wyoming was the first state that gave women the right to vote.
What better for a Labor Day cookout than a steak in the shapes of the USA? Philadelphia artist Dominic Episcopo took photographs of states that look good enough to grill. Link -via the Presurfer
As I’m sure you’ve noticed, there are some pretty universal state symbol categories: the state bird, the state flag, the state flower, even the state gemstones. But since those declarations are left up to the individual state, the categories can be as obscure as any state will allow them to be (check out the official state neckwear category). Here are some of the stranger ones – and if your state has something particularly interesting that I missed, share it in the comments.
Similarly, 19 states have declared milk as the official state beverage. How original. However, in addition to milk, Nebraska has Kool-Aid because the beverage was invented in its town of Hastings in 1927. Oh yeah!! (Sorry, couldn’t resist.) Florida’s orange juice should come as no surprise, but what about Rhode Island’s coffee milk? Yeah – not coffee, not milk – coffee milk. It’s like chocolate milk, but instead of chocolate syrup, coffee-flavored syrup is used. Umm… yes, please. Why hasn’t this caught on across the country? We’re not sure if it originated in R.I. or not, but Rhode Islanders definitely have a special affinity for the drink. One of the major producers of coffee syrup is located in Rhode Island, and I’ve read you’ll find it on tap in the Brown dining halls (true, Bears??). Another quick fact: the drink was invented because back when diners were all the rage, owners were always introducing new drinks and dishes to try to differentiate themselves from the many competitors. Photo from Kraft Foods.
Oklahoma really went all out – they declared 11 “state menu items,” plus a state fruit and a state vegetable. In case you ever want to have yourself an official Oklahoma state buffet, here are the menu items: barbequed pork, chicken fried steak, sausage, biscuits and gravy, fried okra, squash, grits, corn, black-eyed peas, cornbread and pecan pie. Sounds like a veritable feast to me, but I’d probably need the official state medical apparatus after that: the stomach pump. (Note: There isn’t really an official state medical apparatus. I don’t think.) Massachusetts and Pennsylvania both declared the chocolate chip cookie as the official state cookie, but the official state snack food of Utah makes me a little urpy: Jell-O. I can’t stomach Jell-O; it’s the texture. This was unbeknownst to me, but apparently it’s a popular stereotype that Mormons adore Jell-O – the Mormon Corridor is sometimes even referred to as the “Jell-O Belt.” Photo from Flickr’s Stu_Spivack.
D.C.’s official state dinosaur and official state fossil is the Capitalsaurus. This dino was found in downtown D.C. in the late 1800s while ground was being excavated for sewer lines. However, despite the fact that it holds two official state categories, there’s a problem: the Capitalsaurus isn’t scientifically recognized, according to the Smithsonian. http://paleobiology.si.edu/dinosaurs/collection/nmnh_collections/speci men_c12.html Because only a bit of vertebra was found, there’s not really enough to declare a whole new genus, which is what “Capitalsaurus” would be. But this hasn’t stopped the Capitalsaurus craze in D.C. – the street where it was discovered has even been renamed “Capitalsaurus Court” and January 28 marks Capitalsaurus Day.
Twenty-one states call the square dance their official state dance; some states get greedy and declare it the official folk dance and then claim other dances as well. South Carolina claims three dances – the square dance as its folk dance, the Richardson waltz as its waltz, and the Shag as… the Shag. As you might suspect, Hawaii has the Hula. New York has staked the Lindy Hop, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania both take the polka, and Texas has the Texas Two-Step.
Only a handful of states have declared official state theaters, and fittingly, one of them is California. I thought it was perhaps El Capitan, the theater on Hollywood Boulevard in L.A. It has been around since 1926 and Citizen Kane had its premiere there. But nope – the state theater is the Pasadena Playhouse. It’s nine years older than El Capitan. A theatre arts school was founded there in the late ’20s and it has definitely churned out its share of stars – in fact, the Playhouse is sometimes called “The Star Factory” in Hollywood circles. Notable graduates include Eve Arden, Charles Bronson, Raymond Burr, Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, William Holden, George Reeves, Sally Struthers, Gloria Stuart and Robert Young. Photo from the California State Library.
Of all places, Alabama has declared a state Renaissance Fair. But it’s not as strange as it sounds – the city that plays host to it is Florence, Alabama, which is known as the Renaissance City. They also have an official outdoor drama – The Miracle Worker – and an official outdoor musical drama – The Incident at Looney’s Tavern.
Maybe it’s no surprise that Arizona has called the bolo tie their official state neckwear since 1971, but as of 2007, Texas and New Mexico do too. I had no idea any state had declared official state neckwear at all, so this is all very surprising to me. Although the bolo tie is said to be a pioneer creation, Arizona silversmith Victor Cedarstaff claimed that he invented the tie (he did patent the slide on the tie) in the late 40s. Photo from StevieRay.com (it’s Stevie Ray Vaughan’s bolo).
Maryland has two official state sports – individual and team. They’re jousting and lacrosse, respectively. Alaska’s official state sport is dog mushing, which makes sense but is definitely unique to the state. South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming all call rodeo their state individual sport. Hawaii has surfing as their individual sport, of course, and outrigger canoeing as their team sport.
Some state dogs are named simply because they bear the name of the state. But I like the story of North Carolina’s Plott Hound. The story goes something like this: Johannes Plott of Germany (or possibly Bohemia) settled in present-day Cabarrus County, N.C., with a group of big-game hunting dogs he brought with him from Europe. They quickly became known for their courage and tenacity and would hunt big game – even bear – for days at a time. Johannes bred them, and so have his descendants ever since. Other states with official dogs: Texas (the Blue Lacy) and Wisconsin (the American water spaniel). Photo from PuppyDogWeb.
Just a few other incredibly specific state insignia – Georgia has a State Peanut Monument (it’s in Ashburn on the west side of I-75, if you’re road tripping), Kentucky has an official state tug-o-war contest (it’s in Fordville), Massachusetts’ official Glee Club song is The Great State of Massachusetts, North Carolina’s state carnivorous plant is the Venus Flytrap, Ohio has an official state groundhog named Buckeye Chuck and Oregon has official state parents (mother: pioneer Tabitha Moffatt Brown, father: Dr. John McLoughlin who helped early settlement of the state).
