Thus it was written in the epistle of Wirt Atmar,
> Ted writes:
>
> > Go to Attu island sometime.  Get to know the natives.  Ask them which
> > direction
> >  Unimak is from there.  Watch which direction they point.  East.  Go to
> > Unimak.
> >  Ask the folks there which direciton Sand Point is.  East.  Continue this
> >  process until you fall into the Atlantic.  Have a good swim.  Go home and
> >  write your memoirs.
>
> That's fine, of course, but all that you're doing in this form of
> cartographical relativism is redefining the prime meridan (east-west dividing
> line) to be whereever you happen to be at the moment. But that presents a
> miserable way to run a railroad, or a steamship line, or even draw a map.

With due respect, I don't believe I am.  I've answered the question asked in a
void in a different context than you.  I didn't answer it as if I were running
a railroad across the Aleutians (which might well have other problems ;-) but
rather as if I were talking about the country in which I live.

*  I suspect that folks in Alaska who talk about events "back east" aren't
   referring to Attu.
*  If I were trying to sum up the whole of the US, in a song, for instance, it
   would be fairly unsuccessful to refer to "America the Beautiful, from Attu
   to Akutan" (or whatever is just on this side of the line).
*  And for that matter, if I were drawing a map of North America, it jolly well
   would be a better thing to put Attu on the left-hand side rather than
   provide it as an addendum to be placed some distance to the right of the
   rest of the map.

The problem with these esoteric questions answered by arbitrary human decision
is that they don't take into account the purpose.  If the purpose is to confuse
and/or amaze, then unquestionably Alaska is the easternmost state.  Take it and
enjoy it.

But there are other purposes for which it is not.  Just as the 3000 is *not*
the best computer if the purpose is "for a date with Mr. Sledgehammer".

Ted
--
Ted Ashton ([log in to unmask]), Info Sys, Southern Adventist University
          ==========================================================
These thoughts did not come in any verbal formulation. I rarely think in
words at all. A thought comes, and I may try to express it in words
afterward.
                                        -- Einstein, Albert (1879-1955)
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         Deep thoughts to be found at http://www.southern.edu/~ashted