# Rhode Island has lost it's trivia status
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhode-island-has-lost-its-trivia-status/281079
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [December 22, 2004, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhode-island-has-lost-its-trivia-status/281079 "2004-12-22T00:12:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2004, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhode-island-has-lost-its-trivia-status/281079/21 "2004-12-22T15:34:55Z")
> [@Laughing Lagomorph](#):
>
> BTW **wolf\_meister** it looks like the bridge hasn’t had that status since the early nineties (scroll down linked page).
Looks to have depended on how it’s measured, anyway. [Built in 1932, Australia’s Sydney Harbour Bridge is 1600 feet wide, carries two railway tracks, eight lanes of roadway, cycle track, and a footway](http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/gwr5/content_pages/record.asp?recordid=49813).
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### Author:  [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2004, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhode-island-has-lost-its-trivia-status/281079/22 "2004-12-22T16:18:54Z")
> [@Aesiron](#):
>
> I was wondering if Guam had become a state without my realizing it myself.
Myself, I nearly thought some tiny little county had split off and gotten accepted to the US as ‘Central Dakota’ 😉
Obligatory repetition of my favorite dialog quote:
“You’d better think about who your friends are. Because it’s a long drive to Providence.”
“This is Rhode Island!! It’s not a long drive **anywhere!!** ”
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### Author:  [@Hook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hook)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2004, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhode-island-has-lost-its-trivia-status/281079/23 "2004-12-22T18:07:51Z")
Lute Skywatcher, as an expat I would love to recognize that fact about the Sydney Harbour Bridge, but someone’ calculator is not working. 48.8 metres is closer to 160 feet.
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### Author:  [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)
#### Post date: [December 25, 2004, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhode-island-has-lost-its-trivia-status/281079/24 "2004-12-25T05:25:32Z")
> [@Hook](#):
>
> Lute Skywatcher, as an expat I would love to recognize that fact about the Sydney Harbour Bridge, but someone’ calculator is not working. 48.8 metres is closer to 160 feet.
I was gonna say…I’ve seen the Sydney Harbor bridge and it is an impressive structure, but 1600 feet wide? No way.
From what I can gather the Crawford St. Bridge consisted of continuous decking over the river or canal or whatever the heck it is. My hazy memories of the area from way back when (I only get to Providence once or twice a year, and usually don’t sightsee) seem to be of a lot of empty lots and parking lots in that area in years past. Am I correct?
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### Author:  [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)
#### Post date: [December 25, 2004, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhode-island-has-lost-its-trivia-status/281079/25 "2004-12-25T05:31:04Z")
> [@Eutychus](#):
>
> That’s us, all the way. You can drive across our state in just over an hour (depending on what route you take) but if you have some event more than 5 minutes away, we’d just as soon stay home.
Are you _serious???_ I knew it was small, but jeez! You can’t get across my city in an hour, at 3:00 in the morning!
:: jealous ::
(Hey, though, it snows up there, right? Like a lot of snow, right?)
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### Author:  [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)
#### Post date: [December 25, 2004, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhode-island-has-lost-its-trivia-status/281079/26 "2004-12-25T09:14:26Z")
> [@Caricci](#):
>
> It does give me a chance to see our hot Attorney General on the news though.
Uuh? Link?
Seriously, you can’t go posting references to hot Attorneys General without providing a pic.
:mad:
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### Author:  [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)
#### Post date: [December 25, 2004, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhode-island-has-lost-its-trivia-status/281079/27 "2004-12-25T12:00:34Z")
> [@Dolores Reborn](#):
>
> Are you _serious???_ I knew it was small, but jeez! You can’t get across my city in an hour, at 3:00 in the morning!
>
> :: jealous ::
>
> (Hey, though, it snows up there, right? Like a lot of snow, right?)
I assume most of the drive across Rhode Island would be on a highway or interstate with high speed limits and relatively low traffic. In places like Houston or New York, I can see the drive from one block to the next taking an hour or two though. I still remember being \*\*\*shocked \*\*\*when I was younger and my dad told me that he had to get up three hours before his shift started in Houston just to get to his job on time at some place only a few miles away.
I could not live in such a large city.
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### Author:  [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)
#### Post date: [December 25, 2004, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhode-island-has-lost-its-trivia-status/281079/28 "2004-12-25T19:16:38Z")
> [@betenoir](#):
>
> Exactly. I thought I was going to open this thread and find out it had grown :eek: .
Great, now you’ve planted the notion of invading CT. Where will the madness end?
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [December 25, 2004, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhode-island-has-lost-its-trivia-status/281079/29 "2004-12-25T22:37:03Z")
Browsing through old newspapers, I notice that Middletown had a DQ throughout the 1950’s.
What did you do to drive them away? 🙂
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### Author:  [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)
#### Post date: [December 25, 2004, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhode-island-has-lost-its-trivia-status/281079/30 "2004-12-25T23:20:37Z")
Rhode Island is a state?
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### Author:  [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2004, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhode-island-has-lost-its-trivia-status/281079/31 "2004-12-26T03:26:04Z")
> [@](#):
>
> The Rhode Island Individual Income Tax Return form (RI-1040) is the only state tax return with frowny and smiley faces. (They appear on the “This is the amount you owe” and “This is the amount you over paid [sic]” lines, respectively.)
Ha!
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### Author:  [@LilyoftheValley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheValley)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2004, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhode-island-has-lost-its-trivia-status/281079/32 "2004-12-26T04:26:24Z")
It’s the biggest little state in the union…
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### Author:  [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2004, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhode-island-has-lost-its-trivia-status/281079/33 "2004-12-26T14:18:55Z")
> [@bouv](#):
>
> Ha!
We are also, I think, the only state to give some sort of official staus to Stan Lee. The Attorney general attached a plaque to his office, with great fanfare and publicity, with the quote “With great power comes great responsibility” from Spider Man.
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### Author:  [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2004, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhode-island-has-lost-its-trivia-status/281079/34 "2004-12-27T01:52:19Z")
> [@bienville](#):
>
> Uuh? Link?
>
> Seriously, you can’t go posting references to hot Attorneys General without providing a pic.
> :mad:
Not that I hold any opinion as to whether he’s hot, but here’s a photo and some info on [Patrick Lynch.](http://www.naag.org/ag/ag_bios.php?id=98)
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### Author:  [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2004, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhode-island-has-lost-its-trivia-status/281079/35 "2004-12-27T08:52:48Z")
The Rhode Island State Capitol is one of the 4 self-supporting marble domes in the world. Says so right [here](http://www.sec.state.ri.us/shtour/ststats.htm). All 4 of them are very impressive, but the painting in the dome of the basilica is definitely the best.
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### Author:  [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2004, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhode-island-has-lost-its-trivia-status/281079/36 "2004-12-27T17:13:34Z")
> [@duffer](#):
>
> Great, now you’ve planted the notion of invading CT. Where will the madness end?
Just in case that option needs to be considered, how big is the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation’s national guard?
Any tanks?
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### Author:  [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2004, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhode-island-has-lost-its-trivia-status/281079/37 "2004-12-27T17:35:18Z")
Any chance of a mod fixing this thread title? The apostrophe bugs me every time I see it in New Posts.
No offence **Euty**.
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### Author:  [@cuban\_ninja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuban_ninja)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2005, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhode-island-has-lost-its-trivia-status/281079/38 "2005-01-19T01:18:20Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#):
>
> Did you forget that your true claim to fame is the smallest state? Like so small that many people in Texas mentally compare it in multiplies of their living room in order to visulaize it. That is a pretty impressive honor.
Rhode Island may still (correct me if I’m wrong) may have the dubbious distinction of being the most densely populated state. though New Jersey (where I live) may have surpassed it.
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### Author:  [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2005, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhode-island-has-lost-its-trivia-status/281079/39 "2005-01-19T01:35:38Z")
Let’s not forget RI is home to world’s [largest termite](http://www.wlra.us/wl/wltrmite.htm). 😃
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### Author:  [@Uvula\_Donor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uvula_Donor)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2005, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhode-island-has-lost-its-trivia-status/281079/40 "2005-01-19T01:49:11Z")
> [@duffer](#):
>
> Great, now you’ve planted the notion of invading CT. Where will the madness end?
We shall repel any invasion from Rogue Island with our crack infantry, [The Governor’s Foot Guard.](http://governorsfootguard.com/gallery/misc/2003094-7.jpg)
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