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From: Warp
Subject: Distribution of McDonald's' in the US
Date: 23 Jul 2012 10:33:04
Message: <500d60a0@news.povray.org>
(I'm not exactly sure how you pluralize McDonald's. See the subject for my
attempt.)

Here's a map of all the McDonald's restaurants in the US. (Or, more
precisely, a coloration of the US based on the distance to the nearest
McDonald's.)

http://www.datapointed.net/visualizations/maps/distance-to-nearest-mcdonalds-sept-2010/

The one detail that immediately catches my eye is the clear distinction
in density between almost exactly the left half and the right half. What
explains this?

Does the right half of the US consist of mostly urban areas and the left
half mostly of rural areas? If yes, then how did this situation form,
historically speaking?


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From: Invisible
Subject: Re: Distribution of McDonald's' in the US
Date: 23 Jul 2012 10:40:16
Message: <500d6250@news.povray.org>
On 23/07/2012 03:33 PM, Warp wrote:
> (I'm not exactly sure how you pluralize McDonald's. See the subject for my
> attempt.)

Hypothetically, it ought to be McDonalds'. But I don't think many people 
know that.

> Here's a map of all the McDonald's restaurants in the US. (Or, more
> precisely, a coloration of the US based on the distance to the nearest
> McDonald's.)

> The one detail that immediately catches my eye is the clear distinction
> in density between almost exactly the left half and the right half. What
> explains this?
>
> Does the right half of the US consist of mostly urban areas and the left
> half mostly of rural areas? If yes, then how did this situation form,
> historically speaking?

The thing that immediately jumps out at *me* is... Wow. Considering that 
the scale on this map must be hundreds of miles to the inch, there are 
places where you'd have to drive the equivalent of several times the 
length of my entire country to get to the nearest McDonald's! o_O

I'm really surprised that the map isn't solid white over most of its 
surface. You wouldn't have thought that at this scale you would be able 
to see individual buildings.

Anyway, why the east/west split? My random guess: Westerners arrived at 
the East cost, and moved towards the "wild west", colonising it as they 
went. Maybe that legacy still lives on.

Alternatively, maybe half the country has better taste? :-P


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From: Invisible
Subject: Re: Distribution of McDonald's' in the US
Date: 23 Jul 2012 10:43:35
Message: <500d6317$1@news.povray.org>
> The thing that immediately jumps out at *me* is...

Actually, no. The *first* thing is... Wee, fractals! ;-)

> Anyway, why the east/west split? My random guess: Westerners arrived at
> the East cost, and moved towards the "wild west", colonising it as they
> went. Maybe that legacy still lives on.

On the other hand, I took a quick glance at Google maps, and it appears 
that virtually the entire Western half of North America is some sort of 
mountain range, so...


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From: Warp
Subject: Re: Distribution of McDonald's' in the US
Date: 23 Jul 2012 10:50:13
Message: <500d64a5@news.povray.org>
Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> The thing that immediately jumps out at *me* is... Wow. Considering that 
> the scale on this map must be hundreds of miles to the inch, there are 
> places where you'd have to drive the equivalent of several times the 
> length of my entire country to get to the nearest McDonald's! o_O

There are deserts in the US. Not very likely to have a McDonald's in the
middle of one. (Although, according to this map, there *are* McDonald's
in the middle of deserts... Just not as many.)


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From: clipka
Subject: Re: Distribution of McDonald's' in the US
Date: 23 Jul 2012 13:30:10
Message: <500d8a22$1@news.povray.org>
Am 23.07.2012 16:40, schrieb Invisible:
> On 23/07/2012 03:33 PM, Warp wrote:
>> (I'm not exactly sure how you pluralize McDonald's. See the subject
>> for my
>> attempt.)
>
> Hypothetically, it ought to be McDonalds'. But I don't think many people
> know that.

I'd rather suspect it to be "McDonald's [restaurants]"


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From: clipka
Subject: Re: Distribution of McDonald's' in the US
Date: 23 Jul 2012 13:31:50
Message: <500d8a86$1@news.povray.org>
Am 23.07.2012 16:40, schrieb Invisible:

> The thing that immediately jumps out at *me* is... Wow. Considering that
> the scale on this map must be hundreds of miles to the inch, there are
> places where you'd have to drive the equivalent of several times the
> length of my entire country to get to the nearest McDonald's! o_O
>
> I'm really surprised that the map isn't solid white over most of its
> surface. You wouldn't have thought that at this scale you would be able
> to see individual buildings.

McDonald's has many more competitors in the US, as compared to Europe. 
They're /not/ the leader of the pack there, AFAIK.


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From: nemesis
Subject: Re: Distribution of McDonald's' in the US
Date: 23 Jul 2012 14:35:01
Message: <web.500d98a2e0d28654ebb90cbd0@news.povray.org>
Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> > The thing that immediately jumps out at *me* is...
>
> Actually, no. The *first* thing is... Wee, fractals! ;-)
>
> > Anyway, why the east/west split? My random guess: Westerners arrived at
> > the East cost, and moved towards the "wild west", colonising it as they
> > went. Maybe that legacy still lives on.

well, but the first McDonald's is from California...

> On the other hand, I took a quick glance at Google maps, and it appears
> that virtually the entire Western half of North America is some sort of
> mountain range, so...

The Appalachian mountains, right?  and the Grand Cannyon, I guess...

BTW, relevant:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburger#Hamburg_steak


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From: Stephen
Subject: Re: Distribution of McDonald's' in the US
Date: 23 Jul 2012 14:39:57
Message: <500d9a7d$1@news.povray.org>
On 23/07/2012 3:33 PM, Warp wrote:
> (I'm not exactly sure how you pluralize McDonald's. See the subject for my
> attempt.)
>
It is an irregular plural, the correct form is McCrap. ;-)


>
http://www.datapointed.net/visualizations/maps/distance-to-nearest-mcdonalds-sept-2010/
>
> The one detail that immediately catches my eye is the clear distinction
> in density between almost exactly the left half and the right half. What
> explains this?
>

Compare it with this population map.

http://www.mapofusa.net/us-population-density-map.htm





-- 
Regards
     Stephen


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From: Darren New
Subject: Re: Distribution of McDonald's' in the US
Date: 23 Jul 2012 14:41:37
Message: <500d9ae1$1@news.povray.org>
On 7/23/2012 11:32, nemesis wrote:
> The Appalachian mountains, right?  and the Grand Cannyon, I guess...

The appalachians are on the east. Like, down the left side of pennsylvania 
and from new york down thru virginia, approximately.

The rocky mountains are what he's talking about.

The line is vaguely at the mississippi. West of that you have farm prairie, 
then desert, then mountains, then california, basically.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   "Oh no! We're out of code juice!"
   "Don't panic. There's beans and filters
    in the cabinet."


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From: Orchid Win7 v1
Subject: Re: Distribution of McDonald's' in the US
Date: 23 Jul 2012 15:01:01
Message: <500d9f6d$1@news.povray.org>
On 23/07/2012 07:39 PM, Stephen wrote:

> Compare it with this population map.
>
> http://www.mapofusa.net/us-population-density-map.htm

OK, now that's what I call correlation...


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