Reno is farther west than L.A??

[VoldtaEngler]

So I was watching some game show while eating chinese and one of the questions was "Which of these cities is farthest west?"

Reno, NV
Los Angeles, CA
San Diego, Ca
Spokane, Washington

I would have guessed San Diego, with LA being probably obvious, but the answer was Reno...which on a map..is east of all those cities.

So i tried looking it up. And found some people saying of course not, and some saying some reasonable ones (Such as one city angles east, while the other angles west), Yet if i was on that game show and got it wrong, I would have told them to pull a map out.

So is this a trick question or just one of the worlds mysterious fucked up mysteries?

[helcyon]

in what is now the generally accepted theory of world spherical-ness everywhere is eventually further west than everywhere else. in a flat-world world if you keep travelling west you ultimately fall off the edge to be gobbled up by stylised wood-cuts of sea-monsters who seem to be supporting the whole thing upon their backs... what? I didn't come up with this meself! don't shoot the messenger.

[Morning Glory]

so you are saying that it is farthest west on the basis that your central point is, say, the California border. Traveling on a straight course due west (north/sound boundaries not withstanding) the last one of these cities that you would come to would be Reno, NV, after you had already crossed into the eastern hemisphere and circled back across the Atlantic ocean and the states.

Yes, that is technically correct. but it is stupid and it requires postulations that weren't given in the original question, and so therefor can't be considered reasonable assumptions.

[VoldtaEngler]

Makes reasonable sense now..but for shits and giggles I still would have made them give me their explanation. :^)

Doesn't help either that I just arrived home from a unexpected 3 week stay in Chicago, and was braindead.

[ForrestBlack]

the answer was Reno...which on a map..is east of all those cities.

What kind of map are you looking at? Reno is fairly obviously farther west than the others.

[VoldtaEngler]

What kind of map are you looking at? Reno is fairly obviously farther west than the others.

Ha..i can officially say I'm fucking retarded. I just looked at it again and I was putting it where Vegas is. De-De-DE!
Telling ya, me and 14 hour car rides with nothing to eat doesn't fare well

[ForrestBlack]

Ha..i can officially say I'm fucking retarded. I just looked at it again and I was putting it where Vegas is. De-De-DE!
Telling ya, me and 14 hour car rides with nothing to eat doesn't fare well

No biggie I'm not so good at the midwestern cities, but I'm pretty familiar with the West Coast geography.

[Morning Glory]

after that forrest, I had to bust out the map too. God, we are dumb.

I consider myself a pretty well educated person, or just that i know a lot of stupid pointless crap. I always kick ass at jeopardy and gameshows, but I really suck at geography for some reason. I when it comes to that, I have no clue. But I am good with directions, oddly enough. If I've been to a place or I see it on a map I can figure out how to get there. of course I couldn't for the life of me tell you where it is, I don't know any streets or adresses (that's geography) but I could show you.

[VoldtaEngler]

after that forrest, I had to bust out the map too. God, we are dumb.

I consider myself a pretty well educated person, or just that i know a lot of stupid pointless crap. I always kick ass at jeopardy and gameshows, but I really suck at geography for some reason. I when it comes to that, I have no clue. But I am good with directions, oddly enough. If I've been to a place or I see it on a map I can figure out how to get there. of course I couldn't for the life of me tell you where it is, I don't know any streets or adresses (that's geography) but I could show you.

I'm with ya...Driving back from Chicago i asked my girlie "Hey lets Stop in Biloxi..."
With her response of... "uh..we dont go through Mississippi..that was last time when we drove to NOLA."..... "Oh right...fuck." :^)

Lol..but I understand the "Dont know where it is, but I can take you to it" thing!

[Lady Alias]

Haha, don't feel bad. I didn't know New Mexico was a state until a couple years ago. It blew my mind.