--- In BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com, "adamnvillani"
<avillani@u...> wrote:

> > but sometimes for a break we do consider extremities
> > of various sorts
>
> Is there a general name for these

easternmost/northwesternmost/etc.

> type of points? Extremors? Superlatives?

we have been calling them cardinal extremities
& semicardinal extremities

& of course there are always several versions of each such point
like its dry & continental & absolute expressions just for starters
& rarely are any of them as punctiliously exacting as multipoints
& they are not prized at bp nearly so much as the multipoints
except perhaps when an entire ensemble can be presented
which is very rare indeed

in fact i think we can only count connecticut delaware colorado
utah & the netherlands among the places anyone has actually
visited in so comprehensive a way

a complete ensemble of the cardinal extremities of any given
place is called its news tour
& it is a truly newsworthy accomplishment

if you throw in its high & low & center points then you have its
rainbow tour
an even grander grand tour to be sure

performing either of these tours on even a small place is a
manifoldly demanding task & a truly remarkable
accomplishment

& anyone who has done this should be sure to report it here
even if it is of just your own home town

but tho there are occasional coincidences
extremities are generally not the same points as multipoints
& while try pointing of any sort is fun
it is good to distinguish real tripointing for its uniquely multifold
significance

> > like the fact that alaska is actually the easternmost state
> > etc etc
>
> Depending on one's frame of reference, of course. I would

certainly

> consider it valid to speak of easternmost and westernmost

points

> relative to the U.S. Capitol, in which case one would be dealing

with

> the actual extremors relative to the rest of the U.S., not

extremors

> of the U.S. relative to Greenwich.

well i dont simply mean to say the westernmost point of alaska
is the westernmost point of the usa

i dont believe that for a minute

but we do speak of longitude as being either east or west
& we do assign a number of degrees to it
which are nothing but the degree of the extremity of a given place
as we have defined & use this frame of reference
so unless we stop doing this it is far from arbitrary of us to
measure our extremities in accordance with our own system of
doing so

really
why should east & west be any different from north & south

so i wouldnt even hesitate to consider the easternmost point in
the usa to be the point of highest east longitude in the usa
& no matter whether of the dry or the wet persuasion etc
so long as one simply specifies whatever one is talking about

> > > - Farthest points, continental US
> > > - W: Cape Alava, WA
>
> I've got a friend who's currently hiking to Cape Alava and

should

> reach it Saturday. It's less than a mile west of Cape Flattery.

The

> USGS maps on Topozone show that budding off of Cape

Alava, there is a

> so-called "Tskawahyah Island," which actually looks like a big

rock

> attached to the mainland by a narrow tombolo. I'll be sure to

ask my

> friend when he's done whether or not the tombolo remains

during high

> tide. There are also a few islands just offshore. So in actuality
> Cape Alava or Tskawahyah "Island" would be the westernmost

point on

> the mainland of the 48 contiguous states, but one of those

islands

> offshore would contain the actual westernmost point in the 48
> contiguous states.

interesting
& i for one have also made this try
so lets have the full report when you get it
& no matter whether an island can be called contiguous or not

>
> > > - Farthest points, entire US
> > > - W: South Point, HI
>
> I visited this point (called Ka Lae in Hawai'ian) back in 1996,

and

> for about a minute or so was the southernmost person in the

U.S., not

> counting territorial waters. That area's kinda funny; Na'alehu
> proudly reminds you that it is the southernmost town in the

U.S., and

> I did laundry at a little strip mall that proclaimed itself
> the "southernmost shopping center" in the U.S.A.
>
> Adam

yes & that must count for something
tho american samoa is in the united states too
even if it isnt in any 1 of them