Canada-US border overwhelmingly unfenced
Unlike the US-Mexico border, the Canada-US border — the world's longest international border — is overwhelmingly unfenced.
Snapshot · Modern Wisdom
Who You Meet Down America’s Forgotten Backroads - Peter Santenello - #1132
Explore episode
Aug 3, 2026
Where this was said
UK vs. US: Regional Identity, Geography & Political Fragmentation
At 1:38:40 · chapter starts 1:37:50
Chris describes growing up in Stockton-on-Tees — 50 miles south of Newcastle, famous for its wide high street and teen pregnancy rates — as a place invisible to London and the national press. The UK's North-South divide is less East-West than vertically oriented: Liverpool to Newcastle feel relatively similar; cross the M25 going south and you're in a different country. Peter draws a comparison to American regional identity, and they discuss how the US's three-lifetime-short history has produced layers of unresolved coordination problems — competing law enforcement jurisdictions, power grabs, communication failures — that older systems like the UK's have either solved through pruning or buried under centuries of institutional habit. A Google Maps tour of the Scottish Hebrides tangents into a fascinating Smith Island, Maryland cameo: a waterman named Jerry whose family has lived on the island for 374 years and still uses some archaic English vocabulary.
US-Mexico border is ~2,000 miles long
The US-Mexico border stretches nearly 2,000 miles, with only about 700–750 miles (35–38%) covered by some form of primary fence or wall.
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