# Today's xkcd (Height) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 29, 2008, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todays-xkcd-height/465694 "2008-09-29T12:15:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todays-xkcd-height/465694/21 "2008-09-29T20:45:06Z")
> [@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. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todays-xkcd-height/465694/22 "2008-09-29T20:51:42Z")
**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. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todays-xkcd-height/465694/23 "2008-09-29T21:39:01Z")
I like the fact that he continued the log effect down to the grass, which looks huge. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todays-xkcd-height/465694/24 "2008-09-29T22:07:18Z")
I bet that cat lands on its feet… ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todays-xkcd-height/465694/25 "2008-09-29T22:44:24Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todays-xkcd-height/465694/26 "2008-09-29T23:09:22Z")
> [@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. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todays-xkcd-height/465694/27 "2008-09-30T23:18:21Z")
> [@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. ---
**Author:** ![kasuo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todays-xkcd-height/465694/28 "2008-09-30T23:58:09Z")
> [@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. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todays-xkcd-height/465694.md?page=1)