Talk:1986: River Border

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
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The title text doesn't have a typo. Barmar (talk) 16:06, 27 April 2018 (UTC)

"It then occurred to Megan that she could break Nebraska state laws and the police couldn't catch her (because the river was in the way)."

I think it might actually be because Megan is under the mistaken impression that it's neither Nebraskan nor Missourian territory, so neither set of cops actually have jurisdiction (similar to that thing where apparently there's an area of Yellowstone where no one has jurisdiction).
I believe you're right. The title text seems to confirm this.162.158.255.172 20:03, 27 April 2018 (UTC)
I'd edit it myself, but I'm not entirely sure if I'm right. Thought I'd bring up the possibility so others could decide. --172.68.47.24 16:33, 27 April 2018 (UTC)
I fixed it. Grabadora304 (talk) -- Grabadora304 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
I also read it as the river physically keeping the police out of the region so I added it back (before even reading these comments), but only as a second possibility, leaving the jurisdiction as the primary. Note that the river actually IS a physical barrier, there are no roads across the river there. -boB (talk) 21:07, 27 April 2018 (UTC)

This isn’t the only place in the US, or even in Nebraska, where this has happened. The town of Carter Lake, Iowa is only accessible by car by driving through Omaha. 172.68.143.84 17:08, 27 April 2018 (UTC)

The story of the similar situation on the Walloon (Belgian)-Dutch border, and the headless corpse. There used to be a situation like this on the border between Visé, Wallonia, Belgium; and Eijsden-Margraten in the Netherlands. The border used to follow the path of the river Maas/Meuse at the time of the Treaty of London of 1839. Between 1970 en 1979, the river was straightened, and until 2018, the border no longer followed the path of the river. That led to situations similar to the one in this comic on both sides of the river. Especially the Belgian bit at the Dutch side of the river became popular for drug dealings and illicit sexual escapades. At one time, a group of Antwerpians with moustaches proclaimed the area the independent Republic of Snorravia. In 2012, a headless corpse was discovered there. (I have heard that it was a suicide, though details are scarce.) That lead eventually to a land swap agreed in 2016–2017, effective January 1st, 2018. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/belgium-netherlands-land-swap-agreement-river-meuse-borders-a7445751.htmlAdhemar (talk) 21:32, 27 April 2018 (UTC)

The Martian allusion - The joke about high seas, piracy, and maritime laws jumped out at me as echoing a joke made in The Martain, which we know is xkcd-approved. Does anyone else think that it's an intentional allusion? PvOberstein (talk) 23:45, 27 April 2018 (UTC)
How exactly can you commit suicide by beheading? -- Hkmaly (talk) 04:46, 28 April 2018 (UTC)