This is something I've been meaning to start for a long time. For four years, I lived on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Michigan is a state consisting of two large peninsulas jutting out into the Great Lakes. The Lower Peninsula is more well-known because the bulk of the population lives down there (including Detroit).


Map from Google Local

Now, one thing that I've noticed in recent years is that some people don't include the Upper Peninsula in maps of the United States or Michigan. Sometimes they clump it with Canada or associate it with Wisconsin.

I don't know why they do it -- whether it's an oversight, design error or just plain ignorance.

Here's an example from FOX's "Family Guy":



The screen cap is from Planet Family Guy. I didn't see the episode in question, but the character of Ollie Williams is clearly in front of a U.S. map missing the Upper Peninsula.

Some Yoopers get offended by these errors, and I think I can understand where they're coming from. The U.P. isn't a relatively tiny island like Long Island (which is often dropped from maps of New York). This is a large landmass about a third of the state andthe size of Denmark.

So to chronicle these goofs, I've decided to create a special section on my.RTOmedia.com. Under the "More" section, you'll shortly be able to find examples from the Internet and TV of the missing Upper Peninsula.

I've got a ton of examples saved on my computer from The Los Angeles Times, TextAmerica, the U.S. Weather Service and more. I can't wait to share them with you.

If you've got some examples, zip a message to ryan -at- rtomedia.com