Post random maps here

[platypeanArchcow]

Here, I'll make it easier for you:

Light Red
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Croatia
Italy
Kansas
Kentucky
Oklahoma
Pennsylvania
Poland
Portugal
Prince Edward Island
Quebec
Tennessee
Texas
Turkey

Dark Red
Belarus
Belgium
Bosnia & Herzegovina
British Columbia
Bulgaria
Delaware
Denmark
District of Columbia
Greece
Idaho

Dark Orange
Alabama
Alaska
Albania
Alberta
Illinois
Latvia
Lithuania
Louisiana
Luxembourg

Light Yellow
Austria
Cyprus
Estonia
Finland
Florida
France
Hawaii
Hungary
Iceland
Ohio
Saskatchewan (omg I spelled this right the first time?!?)
Serbia
Slovenia
South Carolina
South Dakota
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland

Dark Yellow
Azerbaijan
Virginia
Vermont

Dark Green
England
Indiana
Macedonia
Maine
Malta
Manitoba
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Moldova
Montana
Montenegro
Nebraska
Netherlands
Nevada
New Brunswick
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
Newfoundland & Labrador
North Carolina
North Dakota
Northern Ireland
Northwest Territories
Norway
Nova Scotia
Nunavut
Ontario

Dark Blue
Arizona
Arkansas
Armenia
Iowa
Ireland
Oregon
Romania
Russia
Ukraine
Utah
Wales
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Yukon Territory

Light Pink
Czech Republic

Dark Purple
Georgia (the country)
Georgia (the state)
Germany

I even alphabetized it

Couldn't find anyone who answered this, so I will.  It's the phonetic characteristics of the first consonant sound in the name.  Green is nasal, yellow is fricative, and so on.  Dark means voiced, light means unvoiced.  As a speaker of American English, I demand a separate color for Idaho and Italy, where the first consonant is a flap.

[platypeanArchcow]

A non-political map.  Have fun.

Edit: apparently the blue stuff has been done before, and New York could be dark as well as light blue.  Vermont could be pink in a stretch.

[platypeanArchcow]

Whoa. Long time no see. Welcome back! (Even though you disappeared in the middle of your Senate run )

Yeah, sorry about that.  I spent two weeks without touching a computer because I was too busy, and then I was too ashamed to come back :/

[platypeanArchcow]

Nothing to do with politics or demographics:

Percentage of land owned by the national park service, or number of national parks, or something of the sort?

Edit: on second glance, that doesn't explain New York.  Percentage of protected land?

[platypeanArchcow]

Nothing to do with politics or demographics:

Percentage of land owned by the national park service, or number of national parks, or something of the sort?

Edit: on second glance, that doesn't explain New York.  Percentage of protected land?

No, sorry, but good try.

Think more about the geographical landscape itself.

Difference between highest and lowest point:

>20: x< 2500 ft
>30: 2500 ft < x < 5000 ft
>40: 5000 ft < x < 7500 ft
>50: 7500 ft < x < 10000 ft
>60: 10000 ft < x < 12500 ft
>70: 12500 ft < x < 15000 ft
>80: x > 15000 ft (I think California and Alaska are the same color...)

[platypeanArchcow]

No idea if this has been done before, but it should have been. DC and VT should be D>90. AL should be R>100.

Something to do with state politics. Alaska would imply that it has to do with the legislature, though California nullifies that...

Nope. Wrong track entirely. This is about a presidential election.

Given the large number of blue states, I'm thinking something to do with percentage of counties going to candidates.

[platypeanArchcow]

Gray is the first 15 states.  Yellow is all the rest admitted until 1820.  So I guess this is the time that each state did something which is not being admitted to the union, but somehow coincided with that for the first few states?

[platypeanArchcow]

Oh, OK.  First vote for president:
gray=George Washington
yellow=D-R
orange=Whig
red=Dem
blue=Rep
green=Populist

[platypeanArchcow]

Here's an interesting one.

The Carolinas should be ties.

[platypeanArchcow]

Yep.

[platypeanArchcow]

I want to say "1932 with massive swing to Hoover," but it's not actually right.  Am I on the right track though?

[platypeanArchcow]

1952 with 10-point swing to Stevenson.

[platypeanArchcow]

1952 Senate election, except you got Wyoming wrong.

[platypeanArchcow]

Inspired by Xahar's map:

As a hint, the hardest call was Oregon.

[platypeanArchcow]

PlatypeanArchcow - proportion of state's border which is straight?

No -- the colors are not actually percentages -- but it does have to do with straight borders, of course.

[platypeanArchcow]

Aw come on.  Don't just guess wildly.

[platypeanArchcow]

Aw come on.  Don't just guess wildly.

States that are more perfectly square/rectangular than their neighbors?

Closer; think about what happens if you enclose each state in a rectangle.

[platypeanArchcow]

This didn't involve any fancy area calculations, just staring at Google maps for a while.

[platypeanArchcow]

I'm tired of responding to guesses, so...

It's the number of extreme points of the state (out of north, south, east, west) that are lines rather than points, from gray=0 to darkest green=4.  The Oregon-California and Virginia-North Carolina borders are almost straight east-west, but slightly screwy; they ended up counting for Oregon (because of the straighter Nevada bit) and Virginia  (because it is straight in the east, but bends slightly north in the west) but not California or North Carolina.  In the case of Oregon-California, the surveyor was apparently a fairly heavy drinker.

[platypeanArchcow]

I'm tired of responding to guesses, so...

It's the number of extreme points of the state (out of north, south, east, west) that are lines rather than points, from gray=0 to darkest green=4.  The Oregon-California and Virginia-North Carolina borders are almost straight east-west, but slightly screwy; they ended up counting for Oregon (because of the straighter Nevada bit) and Virginia  (because it is straight in the east, but bends slightly north in the west) but not California or North Carolina.  In the case of Oregon-California, the surveyor was apparently a fairly heavy drinker.

Isn't the Montana-Wyoming border a bit messed up in Yellowstone?  (although, if it's messed up in Montana's favor, that may not make a difference for your purposes).

Hm, you're right.  So Colorado is the only actually rectangular state.  But it is in Montana's favor.

[platypeanArchcow]

Hint: Minnesota could change due to current events

Party of senior senator; changes R->D in January for light red states.

[platypeanArchcow]

I'm guessing this has been done sometime before, but I found this curious:

[platypeanArchcow]

I'm guessing this has been done sometime before, but I found this curious:

Which party the state has voted for most frequently in the past 100 years?

No, it has to do with a specific election.

[platypeanArchcow]

I'm guessing this has been done sometime before, but I found this curious:

Which party the state has voted for most frequently in the past 100 years?

No, it has to do with a specific election.

1980 shift to Carter

Yeah... a 2.5-point swing switching 10 states, including a solid block in the South.  Thought that was pretty funny.

[platypeanArchcow]

a 4 point swing gives Carter New England and the north and he wins even though loose in the poplare vote

Nah, you're looking at an 8-point swing (an 8-point change in the margin.)  A 4-point swing would only change New York and Maine in addition to these.