Marines: Liberia 51st State

When a U.S. military leader "looks at" Liberia as the 51st state, of course, I'm going to take notice. Liberia was actually in...

Pickles and the 53rd state

It looks like an example of product placement in a comic strip, but I'm not that clever. Nonetheless, I think it's cool that one of ...

4 in 10 Americans want to annex Canada

A very well-administered poll by Leger Marketing of Montreal found that nearly four in 10 Americans favor annexing Canada. So should we get ...

51st state elects representative

The 51st state of Washington DC elected it's representative to Congress Tuesday. OK, so Washington DC isn't a state yet. But like m...

Law professor wants statehood for bird-poop islands

How's that for a bizarre headline? But you can read the article for yourself--the one where Columbia law professor Christina Duffy Burne...

Long Island "state flag"

I'm sure that Cesidio Tallini is an excellent designer... and I'm certainly not against Long Island statehood. But the color combina...

Yooper rest area = tree

Mother Jones just did a piece on Yooper statehood. For you non-locals, a Yooper us someone who lives in the U.P. (Upper Peninsula) of Michig...

Author talks - Book signing thingy

If you're in the Milwaukee are and you want to catch my Lost States  talk, you have two opportunities coming up. (Hey, it's free—and...

Is Alaska leaving the U.S.??

Is Alaska leaving the United States? Newsweek magazine tosses around the idea this week. It's not as bizarre as you might think. There ...

51st state plates

For ten years, the license plates for residents of the District of Columbia have been emblazoned with the slogan "Taxation Without Repr...

Statehood for Northern Virginia

I thought I covered every possible 51st state proposal in Lost States, but I did miss one or two—like North Virginia. Since the 1970s, the ...

The Last, Worst Place

What place name is dead last in the geographic dictionary? It's Zzyzx, on the Interstate between LA and Vegas. It was a resort, of sorts...

How many states again?

American Crossroads is one of those political action committees that likes to communicate via TV ads. They may be fine folks, I don't...

Stephen Colbert explains DC statehood

OK, so Washington D.C.'s not a state, but why can't the residents of DC at least get their own senator or member of congress? The mo...

When Japan invaded America

It's true. Nearly 70 years ago, during WWII, Japan invaded a portion of the U.S. and held the land for more than a year. The location wa...

Ann Coulter supports Alberta statehood

Love her or hate her, you have to admit that Ann Coulter knows how to get attention. And so when she mentioned that Alberta should become th...

Secession Event of the Year

Some "Lost States" movements never die, especially if you can turn them into a tourist event. So it is with Sovereign State of Win...

Visit the 3rd Dakota

If your summer vacation this year takes you to Yellowstone National Park, you might take a side trip to one of America's oddest geograph...

New U.S. state named "Seven"

Thanks to Mike DeBow for alerting me to a new attempt to create the 51st state. It's the brainchild of Alabama Rep. Mary Moore, a Democr...

Fly your (51-star) flag

The 4th of July is the perfect weekend to fly your 51-star flag. Show your solidarity with the fine folks of Puerto Rico.... or Washington D...

Montpelier takes "freedom" a bit far

Last week I mentioned that Montpelier, Vermont is the only capital city in America without a McDonalds. Now it turns out that Montpelier has...

Milwaukee Supervisor's incredible blunder

In a recent public meeting, Milwaukee Supervisor Peggy West said she couldn't support Arizona's immigration laws, because Arizona do...

What is the only state capital without a McDonalds?

I don't know if this is good or bad, but there is only one U.S. state capital city that doesn't have a McDonalds. Can you name it? ...

Katie Couric flunks geography

Tonight (June 21, 2010) Katie Couric called Key West, Florida the "southernmost city in the U.S." That's so wrong. We have 50 ...

A bad name for the 51st state

Say it isn't so, Washington Post.  On Sunday, the respected newspaper reported on recent efforts to make Washington D.C. the 51st state...

Colorado's map confusion

So the big news in college football recently is Colorado joining the Pacific-10 conference. In it's quest for more money, the Pac-10 has...

"Lost States" got talent...

....the book's designer does, that is. Doogie Horner, who designed Lost States --and created the terrific cover--had a spot on America...

Why we can't have 87 states

On flag day you may have heard about mathematician Skip Garibaldi's computer program designed to figure out how our flag would look as ...

Flag Day can make you rich!

Monday is Flag Day - a holiday that originated just a few miles from my home here in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin. How can Flag Day make you ri...

Montezuma's Revenge

With everyone so concerned about Arizona's new immigration law, I'm surprised no one's talked about how we actually got our bord...

Radio day

If you're here, you probably heard me on the radio today talking about Lost States. Feel free to explore the site... and of you'd li...

Map Puzzler #2

While we are on the topic of strange map facts, here's an unexpected tidbit. Let's say you get in a plane in St Louis, Missouri an...

Car Talk makes a big goof!

View St. George FL in a larger map Here's proof that "Lost States" readers are a bit more detail-oriented (read "smarter...

Geographic Puzzler

Kudos to NPR's Car Talk guys for this interesting puzzler: "There is only one city in the United States whereby traveling along the...

5-state point winner

View Larger Map Hats off to Vic Fieger who will go down in history as the first person to identify the 5-State Point; the place in America ...

Simpsons Map Mystery

On last night's episode of the Simpsons, Sideshow Bob took Bart to "5 Corners" the only place in America where 5 states meet--...

Jefferson, copper, and Hitler

The curious thing about most of the statehood proposals I researched is that very few seemed to produce actual maps. That is, proponents wou...

Statehood for Moosylvania

One of the C-SPAN callers asked about Moosylvania... a state proposed by the creator of the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon.  This was purely a...

C-SPAN gives me 40 minutes...

...to talk about "Lost States." Sure, I'm funny-looking, but the interview went well--got to talk about lots of interesting st...

Puerto Rico needs Lincoln

Yesterday the US Senate authorized a vote in Puerto Rico: for the first time in the island's history, residents will be asked what they ...

Puerto Rico statehood in Congress this week

In the next few days, the U.S. Congress will vote on a bill that would mandate a referendum in Puerto Rico on the island's status. Congr...

Statehood for Iceland

Everyone's been thinking about Iceland the last week or so, but why hasn't the news media been reporting on proposals to make Icelan...

Oops! Now? Writing for the Wall Street Journal

Writing an article for the Wall Street Journal (the top-selling paper in the country) was a fun challenge... WAY different from writing a b...

WALL STREET JOURNAL

YES, IT'S ALL CAPS, BECAUSE I AM SHOUTING! GET A COPY OF TODAY'S (SATURDAY APRIL 17TH) WALL STREET JOURNAL.

Lower your tax bill... form a new state

Sure it sounds silly, but it's a time-honored tradition in American life. if you don't like how your state is spending your tax doll...

Don't confuse secession with secession

It's one thing to secede from your state and form a new state. It's a VERY different thing to secede from the country! Eagle eye Rya...

A Superior review

"Superior" is the very first lost state I ever came across... I read about the proposal in a Newsweek article in the 1970s--when I...

Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel review

Lots of nice reviews have been coming in, but it's especially nifty when one's hometown paper chimes in. I appreciate that the Milwa...

Response to the Mormons

Wow, a number of Mormons have written some rather nasty things about me on the NPR site; I feel compelled to offer a bit of a response. Fir...

Biggest geographic goof ever

You may have already seen Rep. Hank Johnson's now-infamous statement... the most bizarre geographic fact ever spoken by anyone in the U....

Yahoo home page

Forgive a bit of self-indulgence. Yesterday's Yahoo home page featured Tiger Woods, the iPad, and Lost States. Now if I could just get T...

All Things Considered

Today was the day for my interview... You can listen here.

Bobby Brown, Kevin Federline: map "geniuses"

Did you see this on Leno last night? In "Battle of the Stars" Jay posed a series of questions to Bobby Brown, Kevin Federline, and...

Google and Topeka

Did you see Google's home page this morning. That's it--unretouched--above. It's a reference to Topeka's attempt to curry fa...

Where Forgottonia?

So where the heck is the lost state of Forgottonia? I forgot. Kidding.... bad joke. It's the western bulge of Illinois.

Why Forgottonia?

I have been fortunate enough to do two national radio interviews in the past week, and I must admit surprise that both hosts wanted to talk ...

Spring Break - make a state

It's Spring break season, and for a lot of people that means a week of sunburn on the Florida beaches. Doing research for Lost States t...

Fess, Daniel, and Transylvania

Fess Parker's recent passing has reminded many of his iconic portrayal of Daniel Boone in the 1960s TV series. Mr. Parker had a history ...

Henry gets traction

Maine's would-be breaker-upper Henry Joy is at it again... this week he's been pressing his plan to split Maine into two states. (He...

Listen to the national radio interview...

... on public radio's "Here and Now" program. With a little editing, they made me sound a lot more coherent than I really am. ...

Maine to split?

There is a new push in the Maine legislature in the last few days to split the state into two states. The guy behind the proposal is Henry J...

Lost States on national public radio

I did an interview on "Here and Now" which will air today (March 16) in most places. ( Find your station here. ) Host Robin Young ...

Palin's blunder (part 2)

Politicians make mistakes. And it's fun to point them out. So I didn't shy away from President Obama's mention of the "57 s...

Palin's geographic faux pas

A Minnesota newspaper is reporting a major geographic faux pas by Sarah Palin... and in a bizarre coincidence, I witnessed it personally. No...

The city that wants to switch states

It's ironic that Utah and Nevada are adjacent; the two states couldn't be more different. In Utah, you can't get a drink. In Nev...

How to win the Oscar

Here's how to win the Oscar: play the most movie-worthy real-life character in American history. The guy's name was William Bowles. ...