You're Never More Than 115 Miles From McDonald's

There is some bad news for McNugget lovers. Thanks to a store closure in northeastern California, you can now be as far 115 miles from a McDonald's in the contiguous United States. The new "McFarthest" spot is in northwest Nevada, replacing the previous in South Dakota by eight heart-pounding, artery-clogged miles.

ISS

[vlm]

The ISS orbits around 190 nm aka 220 or so statute (regular) miles. So, if you're willing to count the ISS while its over the lower 48, I think it has this record beat even if it passes directly over my local McD.

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[WolfeCanada]

Not exactly the contiguous US, is it?

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[ModernGeek]

Maybe not, but the space station is awesome and should be mentioned as much as possible. I wish that we would have just kept launching Saturn Vs into orbit and deep space instead of retiring them. Imagine the space station we could have if each module was the size of SkyLab!

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[Yvan256]

190 nanometers = 0.00019 millimeters.

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[Ohrion]

nautical miles maybe?

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[Yvan256]

And I suppose km means kilomiles?

Re:ISS

[BobNET]

km = knotical miles

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[Jurily]

km = Kraut miles.

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[Decker-Mage]

Only if you are un-American/pro-MKS ;-). For me it means Nautical Mile (equivalent to 2000 yards) but I'm qualified as helmsman, quartermaster, and navigator of the watch including under-way refueling.

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[jgagnon]

Go read a dictionary... nautical miles can also be abbreviated nm. Just because you only know one interpretation for nm doesn't mean other valid ones do not exist.

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[Rob Kaper]

The ISS is international, so metric units would be the logical assumption. I'm not going to trash imperial units and say that nautical miles have no place, but they certainly make little sense in space.

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[harrytuttle777]

The problem is the the Eurofags don't like the imperial system because it makes no sense. The Usians don't like metric because it is Eurpoean, and makes you gay.

I propose a compromise at least as far as mass is concerned. The official ANSI standard for mass should be the turd. The turd is defined as the mass of an average piece of human excrement, which just so happens to be 2.20462262 pounds. This will make the US happy because it is something we can relate to and have direct experience with. (not lik

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[Winckle]

Well Americans are full of shit so theirs would be a larger unit.

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[johosaphats]

theirs would be a larger unit.

That's what she said.

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[jedidiah]

We're Americans. We're capable of adapting and working with more than one system even if the French are completely incapable. We are willing to adjust to accommodate our more feeble-minded partners.

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[jedidiah]

> From the guy whose sig shows that he is incapable of grokking that kilo can have different meanings, depending on what is being measured, in different unit systems. (KB=1024 bytes)

Clearly you haven't been keeping up with "current events" at all and for quite awhile too.

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[vawarayer]

You are wrong. All of those ridiculous units you use in the states haven't been used anywhere else for years. The metric system is the only one, therefore nm is nanometers. You are a stupid person for suggest otherwise.

I don't know why I'm replying to this as you seem a bit reluctant in other's opinion, but I'll try anyway.

The Nautical Mile is recognized internationally and used primarily in navigation, ie. marine & air (ISS is air, right?) The International Civil Aviation Association uses nm as its symbol ( Wikipedia page [wikipedia.org] or the initial reference [icao.int] )

And should it matter - which I don't think it does - I am not a US citizen. I am working in the marine field, and the nm is the de-facto unit here.

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[clone53421]

Okay... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nautical_mile [wikipedia.org]

The nautical mile (symbol M, NM, Nm or nmi) is a unit of length corresponding approximately to one minute of arc of latitude along any meridian. By international agreement it is exactly 1,852 metres (approximately 6,076 feet).

Oh look, it seems that nm isn’t considered a valid abbreviation for nautical miles probably due to it being such a common abbreviation for nanometres...

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[kramulous]

I last had Maccas around 1996. I don't see me having it anytime soon.

I discovered the joys of cooking ... and flavour.

I'm lovin' it!

[ModernGeek]

I might just drive my SUV half a mile and get some McD right now.

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[jhoegl]

"Because they put a chemical in their food to make you crave for it nightly smartass!" - "Dad" - So I married an Axe Murderer

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[gstoddart]

"Because they put a chemical in their food to make you crave for it nightly smartass!"

Not "crave for it nightly". It's crave it fortnightly [imdb.com] -- you know, every two weeks.

And, it was KFC not McD's.

interesting pic

[initialE]

why is the east coast that must more dense?

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[ScrewMaster]

why is the east coast that must more dense?

Population density. Many of the Western states are comparatively sparsely populated.

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[Moddington]

For extra fun, compare the pic in the article to this actual population density map: http://i.treehugger.com/files/population-density-us.jpg [treehugger.com]

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[istartedi]

Yep. For example, Rhode Island has about 1000 people per square mile, Wyoming has 5.

I've been to both states. You don't really feel crowded in Rhode Island, but you certainly feel isolated in Wyoming. Frighteningly isolated, and then you get to the city you've been wating to reach for several hours, and it's really just a town.

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[krazytekn0]

would you do that any day? or just some days? or conversely, any day?

North Eastern California AKA Nevada?

[Animaether]

I haven't poked at the actual data, but just by looking at the map for 2009...
http://www.datapointed.net/visualizations/maps/distance-to-nearest-mcdonalds/ [datapointed.net] ...and then the one for 2010...
http://www.datapointed.net/visualizations/maps/distance-to-nearest-mcdonalds-sept-2010/ [datapointed.net] ...aside from seeing a bunch of new restaurants opening, a bunch of restaurants shifting (corrections in data or stores moving locations), there's the one obvious 'big blob' one that disappears near the west coast. But not in California

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[Animaether]

oh silly me.. wrong blob. north east california it is; in or near Alturas

Advert for McD or is it beyond a mere company?

[fantomas]

Cheap advertising for McDonalds or does it transcend merely being a company and is more like a cultural identification in the USA?

Probably in France the equivalent would be "how far are you from a Michelin starred restaurant?"

Mind you here in the UK it might be "how far are you from the nearest chippie?" to be fair.....

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[gstoddart]

Cheap advertising for McDonalds or does it transcend merely being a company and is more like a cultural identification in the USA?

Sadly, I think it is.

Probably in France the equivalent would be "how far are you from a Michelin starred restaurant?"

I don't think most French people regularly dine in Michelin starred restaurants. More like historically, even the peasants in France cooked really good, simple food that led to a food culture being fairly entrenched. That and the wine.

Mind you here in the UK it m

Stop Making Me Hungry

[muphin]

geeze people stop talking about Mc Donalds, Tim Hortons, foooood.... i'm hungry now.

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[clone53421]

I usually fix it by taking “idle.” out of the URL.

I'm a little surprised

[buckeyeguy]

that the center of Nevada isn't more remote, but there are McDs in Battle Mountain and Ely. Hmm. Probably still a wait at the damn drive-thru there, too.

It isn't the acid test for fast food

[smchris]

My stepfather lives probably 50+ from the nearest McD -- but the town has a Subway. Cheaper franchise that a smaller town can support.

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[Allnighte]

Actually, there are more Subways than there are McDonalds. For the US at least. Has been that way for a few years IIRC.