<p>I once went to the trouble to prove to some kid here that some of the Maine colleges (353 for Bowdoin) were closer to NYC as Buffalo (374 miles).</p>
<p>We once flew to Scotland from NY via Chicago.</p>
<p>Here’s a stunner: in air miles, Los Angeles to Beijing (6250 mi) is almost exactly the same distance as Minneapolis-St. Paul to Beijing (6300 mi). It has to do with the curvature of the earth, and the shortest distance from MSP being north over Alaska, while from LAX you need to take a southern route around the fat part of the earth—so even though from LAX you’re starting much farther west, it’s no advantage.</p>
<p>For similar reasons but in the opposite direction, Minneapolis-St. Paul to Moscow (4930 mi) is almost exactly the same distance as Washington Dulles to Moscow (4890 mi).</p>
<p>Fun geography fact: If you took the distance between the northernmost city in Texas to the southernmost city (appx. 930 miles) and “flipped” it (northernmost city in TX + 930 miles due north), you’d be in Canada!</p>
<p>A little deceptive, that. If you draw a line from Booker TX to Brownsville TX, which pretty much looks like the northernmost town to the southernmost, and you extend that line an equal distance past Booker – i.e., “flip it” – you wind up along Interstate 94 in North Dakota just east of the Montana border. In order to get to Canada, you have to change the direction to due north (rather than NNW).</p>
<p>or, you know, we could stop caring about one error in a pamphlet and instead regard the university as a whole before declaring it as “geographically illiterate”</p>
<p>OK. A train leaves Penn Station with 500 people, but 60% get off in Mahweh, NJ. Three get on. At Haddonfield, NJ, 40% of all residents board the train. Then 60% of the remaining passengers spill their coffee. </p>
<p>How many times did the train stop?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>2 assuming that the train started at Penn Station and only stopped at the places mentioned in the question.</p>
<p>Geography fact: Flying from JFK to San Francisco via Salt Lake City will only get you 2 more airline miles than a nonstop flight (2588 vs. 2586)</p>
<p>Echoing mathmom, I once flew from Palm Springs to Los Angeles (110 miles) via Salt Lake City (1130 miles).</p>
<p>I received the brochure the OP is referring to, and half-believed it, with a sense of incredulousness, but I believed it nonetheless… Mostly because I have no idea what speed trains go at…</p>
<p>I think someone needs to remind UPenn that we haven’t invented time-warp trains yet, and someone needs to remind you guys that 60% of statistics are made up on the spot anyways :D</p>
<p>So is someone going to send U Penn a link to this thread?</p>