Speaking of Africa, I was a little surprised to find that if you wanted to fly from Los Angeles to sub-Saharan Africa, you would take off pointing slightly north of due east.
I don’t remember where exactly in Africa I had the other end of the string when I was trying this; it might even have been the RSA.
Well, quite a chunk of Africa is actually north of LA. The northern tip of Tunisia is on the same latitude as Virginia and Missouri.
That is exactly DS’s point. 
Mostly because most people who live outside of Illinois usually think of Chicago whenever they think of that state, and Chicago seems a mllion miles away from the idea that people have of the South (again, I’m sure this is mainly true people who do not live there). So it’s surprising to realize that the other end of Illinois is practically in the South, and borders Kentucky. In fact, when Abraham Lincoln was growing up his family moved from western Kentucky, to Ohio, and finally to Illinois, and the total distance moved was relatively minor.
Regarding property that sits on a state border, how does this happen? Could it still happen today, or are private houses with this peculiarity old houses that were built before the borders were established? I have heard of a casino/restaurant somewhere on the CA/NV border; of course gambling is only allowed on the NV side.
Re my remarks on Illinois, I was similary surprised, when reading Uncle Tom’s Cabin, to realize that fugitve slaves in Kentucky needed only to make it north through Ohio to be able to catch a boat to Canada.
Lazlo:
Nice. 
It didn’t look like a one-horse town, but try finding a decent hair jelly.
I suspect that the boundary was in the river when the cutoff first took place and the bayou that resulted has silted or been filled in since then.
You are probably right about the accuracy of Google. Maus Magill’s post has a different explanation of what happens. I guess that straightening out such screwups are what courts and lawyers are for.
And, come to think of it, that Kentucky nipple is doubless an artifact of that 1811 earthquake near New Madrid, MO that reportedly rang church bells in Boston. I know that it changed the course of the Mississippi and that’s probably what cut off that little piece of Kentucy.
There is an exclave of the City of Aurora, Colorado, that is completely surrounded by the City of Denver and Greenwood Village.
The Izu and Ogasawara Islands, 1,850 kilometers from the Japanese mainland at their most distant, are part of Tokyo Prefecture.
Maybe “refute” wasn’t the correct word, but when you call a geographic factoid “odd,” you’re implying that it contravenes something – something like a widely held belief that forms the basis of some kind of common assumption or a seeming violation of common sense or something. How is it in any sense of the word “odd” that the distance between Chicago and Cairo is greater than the distance between Cairo and Memphis, any more than Kansas City, Mo., is closer to Kansas City, Kan., than it is to St. Louis, Mo.?
Millions of people live near the borders of states. Surely, most or all of them are aware of such simple spatial realities in their own daily lives. Why would they find it “odd” in the case of Chicago?
Would it help if there was a hooker draped over it?
Pretty much the entire continent of South America lies east of Jacksonville, FLorida.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania also lies east of Jacksonville, Florida.
It only looks that way from the grassy knoll.
Parts of mainland Scotland are further south than parts of mainland Germany.
I’m not sure about other areas, but where I live, it’s mostly farms that straddle the NC/SC line.
And the most northerly point in Scotland is further north than the southernmost point of Greenland.
This may not be a geopgraphical oddity as much as a definitional one, but the City of London in England is only one square mile.
The furthest point from the center of the earth is not Mt. Everest. It is Mount Chimaborazo in Ecuador.
On a slightly smaller scale, my local branch of Homebase (a big DIY store) is actually bisected by the county boundary between Surrey and Berkshire. The boundary follows the course of a stream, which is now culverted under the car park. Large-scale maps show that the boundary still follows the former course of the stream. (Somewhere between Garden Furniture and Power Tools )
I wonder which council they pay rates etc to…
I was surprised when I learned that the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal is East of the Caribbean entrance.
I’m not doubting you, but could you clarify a bit? Memphis (SW corner) and Tri-cities TN, (NE corner) is a bit over 500 miles. Memphis (bottom part of TN) is over 500 miles from Chicago, over 700 miles from Cleveland (just for reference), which you would have to pass to get to Canada, with many more miles to go.
In terms of driving distances, Google Maps gives Jellico TN to Windsor ON as 459 miles, and gives Memphis TN to Laurel Bloomery TN as 536 miles. So the shortest drive from Tennessee to Canada is shorter than the longest drive from one end of Tennessee to the other. I think that’s what Xema meant.