Last updated: 3/14/06
What’s New: Lobby Display: Measuring Up to Rhode Island: A Display the Size of R.I.

Rhode Island is often used as a unit of measure as it is compared geographically to the size of icebergs, deserts, wildfires and asteroids, and figuratively to things like body parts, clothing, and jewelry.

Rhode Island is the smallest state in the US with its area measuring 1,045 square miles or 1,545 square miles if you include Narragansett Bay. The rounded-off figures of 1,000 or 1,500 square miles make RI a convenient measuring tool. Its small size also makes it a target for jokes and exaggerations.

This display shows examples of news stories and Web sites that use RI as a measuring tool and includes a handy conversion chart to compare different countries to the size of the Ocean State.

Selected Bibliography

Quahog.org
http://www.quahog.org/

How Big is Rhode Island?
http://www.slate.com/id/2090806

Staggering end to Antarctic ice shelf
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3313340/

Development outpaces conservation in Amazon rain forest
http://archives.cnn.com/2001/NATURE/01/22/amazon.forest.enn/index.html

Conservationist singled out as 'Hero for the Planet
http://www.cnn.com/TECH/science/9812/08/heroes.for.planet/index.html

Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula
http://www.kenaipeninsula.com/misc/pen_schools.html

Rolling wheat fields are also Wi-Fi country
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/189699_vivato07.html

A Forest the Size of Rhode Island in PNG
http://www.worldwildlife.org/bsp/bcn/why/png.htm

Brown Admission: Providence
http://www.brown.edu/Administration/Admission/studentlife/providence.html

Chatham Island temperate forests (AA0401)
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/aa/aa0401.html

Yapen rain forests (AA0108)
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/aa/aa0108.html

HUGE ANTARCTIC ICEBERG MAKES A BIG SPLASH ON SEA LIFE
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2003/1010iceberg.html

About the Size of It
http://www.sciam.com/print_version.cfm?articleID=00000934-FD6A-1CDB-B4A8809EC588EEDF

Kodokai Karate & Zen
http://www.branchdojo.com/pages/947659/

Rhode Island-sized iceberg moves into Antarctic ship lanes
http://www.cnn.com/US/9908/18/iceberg/

World's land turning to desert at alarming speed
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/news/2004-06-15-global-drying_x.htm

Lord of the Flies, the movie scene locations
http://lordoftheflies.org/img/island.htm

Plane, ship photograph huge iceberg
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/resources/coldscience/2005-01-20-bergs-5-10-2000_x.htm

Hawaii Vacation Rentals
http://www.vacationbigisland.com/

Massive Jade Deposit Unearthed
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/2003775.stm

U.N. Says Globe Drying Up at Fast Pace
http://www.worldrevolution.org/article/1465

Cooking Light - Hawaii
http://www.cookinglight.com/cooking/hl/travel/article/0,13803,408944,00.html

Earth turning to dust, U.N. says
http://www.tdn.com/articles/2004/06/16/nation_world/news04.txt

Denali State Park
http://www.alaskanha.org/denali-state-park.htm

The Icewoman Cometh Back to Campus
http://www.brown.edu/Administration/George_Street_Journal/vol27/27GSJ09d.html

New Hope for the Bali Starling?
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Canopy/7360/tc00013.html

Hazardous Wastes from Large-scale Metal Extraction: The Clark Fork Waste Complex, MT
http://ibscore.dbs.umt.edu/clarkfork/Past_Proceedings/1990_proceedings/moore/Moore.htm

B-15A Iceberg (the Size of Rhode Island) Blocks McMurdo Sound
http://www.stevequayle.com/News.alert/04_Cosmic/041215.big.berg.html

DePalma, Anthony. “In Catskills, It’s Development vs. the Drinking Supply.” New York Times, (9/17/2005) Metropolitan Desk, B1.

Mamsnerus, Laura. “The Giants, the Jets And Coach Codey.” New York Times, (8/21/2005) New Jersey Weekly Desk, 5.

Broad, William J. “In Guatemala, a Rhode Island-Size Jade Lode.” New York Times, (5/22/2002) Foreign Desk, A1.

Joyce, Terrance. “The Heat Before the Cold.” New York Times, (4/18/2002) Editorial Desk, A27.

Chang, Kenneth. “Early Warnings When the Volcano Starts to Slip.” New York Times, (3/5/2002) Science Desk, F3.

Kinzer, Stephen. “A Faded City Brightens in Nicaragua.” New York Times, (2/17/2002) Travel Desk, 10.

Associated Press. “Imagine Being Rammed by Rhode Island.” New York Times, (8/18/1999) Foreign Desk, A4.

Finkel, Michael. “Wide Open Trails in a Postage-Stamp Land.” New York Times, (12/15/1996) Travel Desk, 8.

Compiled by:

Jim Kinnie
Assistant Professor/Humanities Reference Librarian
jkinnie@uri.edu / (401) 874-9240