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If you stretched out the entire coastline of Norway, it would be approximately 14,000 miles long.
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Considering fractals, all coasts are approaching (but not reaching) infinity. depending on magnification. The real-world, true length of a coastline is headland-to-headland. The shortest convex polygon that can be drawn around the coast without passing through land.
Another problem that arises in "coastal" measurement is illustrated in Delaware. Where does the coast stop being Delaware Bay and become the banks of the Delaware River?
Alaska is the only state without an interstate highway. Even Hawaii has a few, that connect to no other state. (Yet the Alaska Marine Highway does connect with Washington state in Bellingham, as well as a couple of places in British Columbia).
The shortest river in the world is said to be the D River of Lincoln City, Oregon-- 121 feet in total length.
We used to picnic and swim at an almost unknown natural spring near Lulaville, Florida, that couldn't have been more than 20 or 30 feet from the Suwanee River. That would be a named river, I'm sure, if a townsite had been developed around it. I can't see it on Google Maps to measure it, because it's completely covered by forest canopy that hangs out over the river. It might be the Telford River, the spring is Telford Springs, and is known only to locals and hard-core cave divers.
It's possible that there could be a spring somewhere in the world that expresses from a rock face, and falls vertically into a river, and that "river" would be a free vertical fall with a horizontal length of zero.
Everyone's familiar with the three main islands that comprise most of New York City: Manhattan, Long Island (the western end), and Staten Island. And after reading this thread, you probably know that Liberty and Ellis Islands are technically in New Jersey.
But New York City is also comprised of several other lesser-known islands. Among them:
1. Hart Island (part of The Bronx)- 131 acres, pop. over 850,000 (dead, that is; it's the site of a potter's field (cemetery for the poor). Contains no living residents. Was once the site of a penitentiary as well.
2. Randall's and Ward's Islands (off Manhattan)- total of .85 sq mi, pop. 1386. Site of a landfill.
3. Riker's Island (part of The Bronx)- 413 acres, pop. 11,355 permanent residents (inmates); this island contains a facility ran by the NY DOC.
4. Roosevelt Island (off Manhattan)- 147 acres, pop. 9520; former site of another penitentiary.
5. City Island (part of The Bronx)- .395 sq mi, pop. 4520. Home to a variety of brown snake.
6. Governor's Island (off Manhattan)- 172 acres, pop. about 3500. Former site of a military stockade.
7. North and South Brother Islands- 20 acres total, uninhabited. Former site of a quarantine for people with diseases; mostly a wildlife habitat today.
So-- we have a potter's field, penitentiaries, a landfill, snakes, a stockade, and a quarantine? No wonder NY doesn't boast about these islands!
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