“I was contemplating the logo and slogan of `The Hospitality Industry`, the vaguely named corporation that apparently makes foil/paper wrappers for hamburgers, wondering just what `Special World` they were talking about,” writes `Abner Cadaver, hamburger eater`. ”Then I realized the world depicted had only vague similarities to our own – the Hospitality Industry inhabits a `special world` of tectonics gone horribly, horribly awry.”
Indeed.
Florida and Cuba have merged to form one giant peninsula of the North American continent, jutting deep into an islandless Caribbean. Canada`s Far North only boasts one island – or none, if that is Greenland, split in two. The British Isles are presented as a single blob, while smaller dots in the North Atlantic mark out probably Iceland, and possibly Spitsbergen. Denmark and Italy have melted away from the European continent, and the Mediterranean is broadly connected to the Atlantic and Indian Oceans by Africa`s drifting south. Madagascar is counter-drifting north, towards India. Most of Asia is hidden from sight, the visible part of the mainland dominated by two huge lakes, the Black/Caspian Sea and a super-version of Lake Baikal.
Thanks to Abner Cadaver for sending in this map on a wrapper. Let`s hope this map was more off than his burger.
No map?
Comment by Greg Wilson — October 11, 2008 @ 10:14 am
I guess Sarah Palin was right – you CAN see Russia from Alaska, On the US East coast, however… is that the Chesapeake Bay stretching all the way to Chicago? Now, where’s Dubai gone? I’m sure I left it right there..!
Comment by brian t — October 11, 2008 @ 10:15 am
The Great Lakes and Michigan have disappeared as well.
Comment by zhoen — October 11, 2008 @ 1:33 pm
#2: Either that is Chesapeake Bay, or else the St. Lawrence River has flooded out most of the Eastern USA
Comment by LAJ — October 11, 2008 @ 2:02 pm
Contrary to indications presented by the map, we Australians are hospitable.
Comment by Stephen D. Moore — October 11, 2008 @ 2:10 pm
And poor Egyptians – the Suez canal has split their country into two. The Sinai penisula has become a little blob on Israel – like a tumour. The Aqaba strait is swallowed, so I guess the little coastline Jordan has, is gone now. The coastline is now directly Israel – Sinai – Saudia.
Comment by thatdudeyouknow — October 11, 2008 @ 2:11 pm
Clearly this is the result of global warming. All the ice in Greenland has melted, leaving a smaller island on the East and West. As a result coastlines around the world have been drastically altered.
Comment by Ben — October 11, 2008 @ 2:56 pm
Abner Cadaver? I think you’ve been had.
Comment by Bill Daugherty — October 11, 2008 @ 3:10 pm
@8 my guess is that is his “nom de ‘net”, more and more common when people choose to use online aliases in communicating.
Think about it, as far as I know, we still don’t know the real name of our favourite blogger, we only call him (?) “Strange Maps”!
Comment by David Kendall — October 11, 2008 @ 5:17 pm
I warned Panama to watch the fried food.
Comment by Hungry Donner — October 11, 2008 @ 5:37 pm
No more Michigan! Yay!
Comment by Cappy — October 11, 2008 @ 8:36 pm
New Zealand is not an island off the coast of Australia. Truly. And our Cook strait has disappeared. We may be small, but we like our detail – and our two parts.
Comment by Debbie McGregor — October 11, 2008 @ 9:24 pm
@12: I don’t even see New Zealand or Australia on this map! Perhaps they are the most detailed landmasses on the map, but the circle prevents them from being seen …
Comment by David Kendall — October 11, 2008 @ 9:47 pm
Is this the same entity that puts the circle in the middle of the paper so deaf, dumb, and blind teenagers know where to put the burger?
Comment by BigD145 — October 11, 2008 @ 10:23 pm
I guess that they have replaced the salt water oceans with seas of frying pan grease.
Comment by White Horse Pilgrim — October 11, 2008 @ 10:49 pm
That’s the map I made when I was finished with my war plans about Iran.
Comment by John McCain — October 12, 2008 @ 8:01 am
Hmm, if the north pole is placed in the middle of the Arctic Ocean on this map, that would mean that the equator would be below the southern tip of Africa.
Comment by Kandice — October 12, 2008 @ 10:20 am
Haha, I guess their special world is one in which everything starts to look like ketchup stains.
Comment by chadhend — October 12, 2008 @ 11:38 am
The Panama isthmus is wider than Florida or Greenland. But not to worry, we don’t need the Suez Canal, as Africa is separated from Asia by a gap which is at least as wide as the one between Gibraltar and Morocco.
Comment by Bernard Massé — October 12, 2008 @ 12:08 pm
Debbie, I think you may have mistaken a distorted Africa for a distorted Australia, and a misplaced Madagascar for a misplaced and consolidated New Zealand. That shape is probably almost as close to Australia’s as it is to Africa’s, so it’s not too surprising.
Comment by MikeRM — October 12, 2008 @ 8:45 pm
Хороший сайт. Подписался к вам на фид.
Comment by Kostikes — October 12, 2008 @ 10:10 pm
Мне очень понравилось! Я Ваш подписчик теперь )
Comment by lexdrive — October 13, 2008 @ 4:49 am
is this map of the earth or mars? hehe
Comment by Parantar — October 13, 2008 @ 6:32 am
Ooh, I’m going to use this map to create a new game world for D&D.
Comment by Gilmoure — October 13, 2008 @ 2:25 pm
Прекрасно все написано. Большое спасибо.
Comment by Livinskij — October 13, 2008 @ 3:32 pm
Cappy – you must be from Wisconsin
to hold such a sentiment?
PS – Fun map. Thanks for the diversion
Comment by Art — October 13, 2008 @ 3:40 pm
Интересно написано… спасибо.
Comment by Illichglop — October 14, 2008 @ 5:06 am
Подписалась на rss но приходят только заголовки ((( Почему ?
Comment by caqasa — October 14, 2008 @ 7:43 pm
Хорошо написано, только очень уж умно для меня))))
Comment by Sobolev — October 14, 2008 @ 8:03 pm
But where are the 57 states?
Comment by Barack Obama — October 14, 2008 @ 10:46 pm
Errors like that would be forgiveable until a decade ago, but nowdays any of us can get a most accurate mape by creating it on Earth Viewer and having it edited on Corel Tracer. Anyways I chose to have the good faith to assume it’s a very old original graphic that is being reprinted over and over after a couple decades.
Comment by Alberto Roberto — October 16, 2008 @ 10:34 pm
I don’t think Greenland is split in two; it’s merely become skinny. The other large island is Baffin Island.
Comment by Mike Beidler — October 20, 2008 @ 7:12 pm
Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica are not here. Does that make them inhospitable?
Comment by LA Jimm — October 25, 2008 @ 9:58 pm
Мы мыслим в унисон ) Как раз думал об этом.
Comment by akrotov — December 7, 2008 @ 5:16 pm
Vielen Dank
Comment by moon — July 3, 2009 @ 5:28 am
Muchas gracias
Comment by sun — July 4, 2009 @ 7:52 am