Today's xkcd (Height)

[OtakuLoki]

First off: Link


This one is covered in awesome sauce!

I especially liked the absurdity of having the Hat Guy dropping a cat off the 45 billion light year mark.



What I was hoping was that some smart Dopers would be able to help me with the in-jokes that I'm not getting from this:

First at the same height as Discovery from 2001 there's a streamlined space ship, with the tag, "Hey, a heaping bowl of salt!" WHAT is that from?

Then, beyond the edge of the galaxy there appears to be a cat on a keyboard. Is that from anything in particular?

[Just Some Guy]

Originally Posted by OtakuLoki

First at the same height as Discovery from 2001 there's a streamlined space ship, with the tag, "Hey, a heaping bowl of salt!" WHAT is that from?

It's Futurama's Planet Express Ship but the line threw for a few moments until I remembered the episode where Bender served a bowl of salt.

Then, beyond the edge of the galaxy there appears to be a cat on a keyboard. Is that from anything in particular?

Not as far as I know.

[OtakuLoki]

Thanks, Just Some Guy!

[BrotherCadfael]

I was assuming the reference was to the "Great Salt Vampire" episode of Star Trek TOS. Thanks for the correction.

[Amp]

I like the Human Altitude Record.

First Place: Apollo 13

Second Place: Snoop Dogg

[chrisk]

Originally Posted by OtakuLoki

Then, beyond the edge of the galaxy there appears to be a cat on a keyboard. Is that from anything in particular?

Apparently a weird internet meme - try googling Catonakeyboardinspace

(I never heard of that before today - somebody mentioned it on the xkcd forum.)

[St. Urho]

Originally Posted by Just Some Guy

It's Futurama's Planet Express Ship but the line threw for a few moments until I remembered the episode where Bender served a bowl of salt..

Bender made the slug, with salt. The salt level was 10% less than lethal.

Fry: That's the saltiest thing I've ever eaten! And I once at a heaping bowl of salt!

[Quercus]

There's so much awesome there that I am compelled to ask: Is there anything like this in a higher-quality format, suitable for hanging on a wall? (In other words, not a quickly-drawn cartoon, but a nice graphic, using actual images of galaxies, etc.)

And if not, who do we encourage to make one?

[Mycroft H.]

There is a forum for xkcd in which a number of people are asking Randall Munroe (the cartoonist/creator) for a door-sized poster of the cartoon. I just checked the xkcd Store section and about 3/4 way down I see that he has a 28” poster available for US$15.

Wow! Talk about a quick response from the artist.

[Mycroft H.]

Now that that bit of business is out of the way, some of the in-jokes I’ve noticed.

Near Betelgeuse is the name Ford Prefect, a main character from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy who was from a planet circling that star.

A bit below that, near the star Arcturus, is listed “Missing WMDs.” I guess they have to be somewhere.

A little above Neptune is a reference to Discordia which I do not follow but many people do and will understand.

Just to the left of Saturn are asteroids along with the spaceship from the video game of the same name.

There are a few more that I can’t quite recall the reference, such as the spaceship(?) between the GPS satellites and the International Space Station.

Yeah, a great comic in awesome sauce.

[Gut]

Originally Posted by Quercus

There's so much awesome there that I am compelled to ask: Is there anything like this in a higher-quality format, suitable for hanging on a wall? (In other words, not a quickly-drawn cartoon, but a nice graphic, using actual images of galaxies, etc.)

And if not, who do we encourage to make one?

This picture is similar but not cartoony.

[Yllaria]

Originally posted by Mycroft
. . .A little above Neptune is a reference to Discordia which I do not follow but many people do and will understand. . .

It's Discordianism added to the dwarf planet Eris. Hail Eris!

[Least Original User Name Ever]

I'm meh over this. I appreciate the brainpower and the in-jokes, but perhaps the disconnect I feel is that 1) it's simply not funny to insert references everywhere and 2) it must be the same feeling that some lurkers get when they don't post here because of any in-jokes.

Oh yes. 3) Hi Opal.

[TJdude825]

Did you guys read the alt text? "Interestingly, on a true vertical log plot, I think the Eiffel Tower's sides really would be straight lines."

Anyone know if that's true?

[Chronos]

Did you guys read the alt text? "Interestingly, on a true vertical log plot, I think the Eiffel Tower's sides really would be straight lines."

Anyone know if that's true?

Can't be. For that to be true, it would have to be infinitely wide at ground level. On a true log plot, zero is infinitely far off the bottom of the plot.

[Wheeljack]

Originally Posted by OtakuLoki

Then, beyond the edge of the galaxy there appears to be a cat on a keyboard. Is that from anything in particular?

See http://whatyouseewhenyoudie.ytmnd.com/

[mobo85]

What is "In retrospect, they shouldn't have sent a poet...I have no idea how to land" referring to? "They should have sent a poet" appears to be a Carl Sagan quote that was referenced in Contact, but I don't really get the joke there.

Also the guy saying "Woo Python!" What does this refer to?

[WhyNot]

And what're the dotted ovalesque lines around Mars and Venus about? I tried to make it fit some Men...Women, thing, but I'm stumped.

[Bosstone]

Originally Posted by mobo85

What is "In retrospect, they shouldn't have sent a poet...I have no idea how to land" referring to? "They should have sent a poet" appears to be a Carl Sagan quote that was referenced in Contact, but I don't really get the joke there.

It's not deep or anything. Yes, it's from Contact, but all the comic strip is saying is they shouldn't have sent a poet because a poet isn't trained in operating a spacecraft like, say, an astronaut is.

This has little actual relevance to Contact, but there it is.

[Balance]

Originally Posted by WhyNot

And what're the dotted ovalesque lines around Mars and Venus about? I tried to make it fit some Men...Women, thing, but I'm stumped.

I would guess they represent the the relationship of the orbits of those planets to their distance from Earth. They're close enough in astronomical terms that the variation in distance is relatively significant. The pointy part at the bottom would represent the closest approach to Earth.

Originally Posted by mobo85

Also the guy saying "Woo Python!" What does this refer to?

Probably this strip, which greatly amuses me.

[OtakuLoki]

Originally Posted by WhyNot

And what're the dotted ovalesque lines around Mars and Venus about? I tried to make it fit some Men...Women, thing, but I'm stumped.

Because of the effects of the Earth's orbit, and the orbits of those two planets, there's often a huge variation in distance between Earth and Venus, and between Earth and Mars.

[OtakuLoki]

Balance, I'm sorry I missed your explanation of the same point I just made. In my defense I can only say that the Dope is going so slowly for me, that your explanation wasn't there when I started writing my response.

[Yllaria]

I like the fact that he continued the log effect down to the grass, which looks huge.

[kaylasdad99]

I bet that cat lands on its feet...

[FriarTed]

Eris & Discordia are the Greek & Latin names for the Goddess of Chaos, sister of Ares/Mars, mother of Emperor Norton, and patroness of Hagbard Celine.

[OtakuLoki]

Originally Posted by mobo85

What is "In retrospect, they shouldn't have sent a poet...I have no idea how to land" referring to? "They should have sent a poet" appears to be a Carl Sagan quote that was referenced in Contact, but I don't really get the joke there.

I missed the reference to Contact. I simply thought it was a bit of a rebuttal to all the nit-pickers and naysayers who keep pointing out that Neil Armstrong flubbed his famous line.

[chrisk]

Originally Posted by Bosstone

It's not deep or anything. Yes, it's from Contact, but all the comic strip is saying is they shouldn't have sent a poet because a poet isn't trained in operating a spacecraft like, say, an astronaut is.

This has little actual relevance to Contact, but there it is.

Okay, in what context in 'Contact' was somebody saying to send a poet to space, and why?? I'm curious now.

[kasuo]

Originally Posted by chrisk

Okay, in what context in 'Contact' was somebody saying to send a poet to space, and why?? I'm curious now.

When Jody Foster's character was whizzing around the wurmhole expressway, she stopped and saw something that moved her to tears and expressed how the world governments should have sent a poet to better describe what she saw and experienced.