The internal borders of countries, with historical origins or determined by rivers, mountain ranges or lines of latitude and longitude, should be redrawn to compose interesting figures. Instead of looking like they were ascertained from the edges of ten eggs frying in a small pan, the frontiers would cause the states and counties to resemble animals, objects and well-known profiles.

Competitions could be held to find the best tessellations of interlocking shapes created by artists and computers. Instead of saying, “I grew up in [formless] Douglas County in [rectangular] Kansas,” one could proudly say, “I’m from Running Man County in Elephant.”

Of course, the county and state lines should be painted in broad, blue, glow-in-the-dark bands to be visible from airplanes. “And there’s Ladybug, oh and under it, that’s Wheelbarrow. Now I see my Oak Leaf County!”
-- FarmerJohn, Mar 09 2003

Alternatively, there could be US states, for example, exactly the same shapes as Australia, the British Isles, Iceland, etc.
-- hippo, Mar 09 2003


I still can’t figure out why mid-west US looks like squares from above. (+)
-- Shz, Mar 09 2003


Australia and Italy have done this already.
-- egbert, Mar 09 2003


Do you suppose it would enhance a sense of interdependence if we shaped borders like interlocking jigsaw puzzle pieces?

On a different note, as I've mentioned elsewhere, you can see the borders of Washington, D.C. from the air quite distinctly at night, because they installed different-colored street lights than those installed in Virginia and Maryland.
-- beauxeault, Mar 09 2003


It must make targeting easier for a terrorist pilot.
-- FarmerJohn, Mar 09 2003


Though I doubt established county lines will be redrawn anytime in the near future- this could be the next tactic for gerrymandering electoral district committees.

I especially like the jigsaw puzzle idea ;)
-- architerra, Mar 09 2003


I am from Ten Scrambled Eggs, next to Amorphous Mass.
-- Xoebe, Jul 08 2003


I'd laugh if this resulted in small, stateless territories where no state law applied.
-- FloridaManatee, Jul 08 2003


Actually Canada and the U.S. had a similar idea where by they wanted the boarder to be recognized by the air. The U.S. plan was to exfoliate the trees but in the end they went with the Canadian plan. Extra fertilizer. (Here's the set up...)
-- sartep, Jul 08 2003


I was told that the welcome sign on the Arizona border reads: Welcome to Arizona. If you don't like it, go to hell.
-- pashute, Nov 13 2012


Paging Mr. Escher, Mr. M.C. Escher, white courtesy telephone please...
-- smendler, Nov 13 2012



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