# will Randall Munroe become the new Cecil Adams? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 24, 2012, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-randall-munroe-become-the-new-cecil-adams/629220 "2012-07-24T09:27:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![curwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@curwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curwin)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-randall-munroe-become-the-new-cecil-adams/629220/1 "2012-07-24T09:27:53Z")
First of all, it’s strange to me that there isn’t an obvious place to discuss the reason this board came into being - Cecil Adams. I know there’s a forum for his columns, but this isn’t quite about that. So I hope this forum is an acceptable option. I’ve been really enjoying the new weekly feature by Randall Munroe (creator of XKCD) - “[What If](http://what-if.xkcd.com/)”. It’s really funny and really smart - something in the past I had only associated with Cecil (for these kinds of questions). And the art - well, sorry Slug, but I actually enjoy it. What do you all think? Who do you trust more? Who do you enjoy more? And why does only one of them actually have an RSS feed? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-randall-munroe-become-the-new-cecil-adams/629220/2 "2012-07-24T09:44:25Z")
Heathen. ---
**Author:** ![curwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@curwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curwin)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-randall-munroe-become-the-new-cecil-adams/629220/3 "2012-07-24T10:00:20Z")
Newcomer. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-randall-munroe-become-the-new-cecil-adams/629220/4 "2012-07-24T10:02:29Z")
Nah insufficent snark. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-randall-munroe-become-the-new-cecil-adams/629220/5 "2012-07-24T10:33:17Z")
I think Randall’s stuff is _really_ good, but it’s a different niche. Can’t I like both? ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-randall-munroe-become-the-new-cecil-adams/629220/6 "2012-07-24T13:36:25Z")
> [@curwin](#): > > What do you all think? Who do you trust more? Who do you enjoy more? And why does only one of them actually have an RSS feed? It looks fairly entertaining on the goofy side. On the more mundane “imponderables” side of The Straight Dope, I like Slate’s Explainer. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-randall-munroe-become-the-new-cecil-adams/629220/7 "2012-07-24T14:51:41Z")
From the OP’s XKCD what-if link: “Plumes of hot meat and bubbles of trapped gases like methane—along with the air from the lungs of the deceased moles—periodically rise through the mole crust and erupt volcanically from the surface, a geyser of death blasting mole bodies free of the planet.” Hey, anybody here got Bruckheimer’s phone number? I like some humor and debunking, so RM fits at least in the first department. _Explainer_, OTOH, is very tame. Plus an amazing fraction of topics are ones Cecil has already covered … better. As for RM vs. CA: It’s the artwork that makes the difference. RM is no SS. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Know\_Nothing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f04885/32.png) [@I\_Know\_Nothing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Know_Nothing)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-randall-munroe-become-the-new-cecil-adams/629220/8 "2012-07-24T16:36:48Z")
Why do you hate freedom? ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-randall-munroe-become-the-new-cecil-adams/629220/9 "2012-07-24T19:24:56Z")
(Just so we’re clear, I’m talking about the mole of moles one if the page changes.) Unless there’s some joke I’m missing, 1 pound is not 1 kilogram. And that’s not even close to rounding error, like I might allow that 1 quart = 1 liter. When xkcd is funny, it’s very funny. But sometimes it’s not. This feature looks promising, although I might point out that it’s “Answering your hypothetical questions with physics, every Tuesday.” Whereas Cecil can do more than physics. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-randall-munroe-become-the-new-cecil-adams/629220/10 "2012-07-24T19:31:57Z")
> [@curwin](#): > > What do you all think? Who do you trust more? Who do you enjoy more? And why does only one of them actually have an RSS feed? If the way Ed Zotti (i.e. Cecil Adams) runs this site is any indication, then I’d be surprised if he actually knew what an RSS feed was. Plus, Ed has a bunch of minimally paid minions who he outsources a bunch of his work to. Does this XKCD guy understand the value of slave labor? ---
**Author:** ![Tanbarkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@Tanbarkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tanbarkie)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-randall-munroe-become-the-new-cecil-adams/629220/11 "2012-07-24T19:37:31Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > (Just so we’re clear, I’m talking about the mole of moles one if the page changes.) > > Unless there’s some joke I’m missing, 1 pound is not 1 kilogram. And that’s not even close to rounding error, like I might allow that 1 quart = 1 liter. > > When xkcd is funny, it’s very funny. But sometimes it’s not. This feature looks promising, although I might point out that it’s “Answering your hypothetical questions with physics, every Tuesday.” Whereas Cecil can do more than physics. It’s not a joke - you’re just missing what Randall is doing there. He’s not saying that the two units are equal, just that they’re close enough for his “wild ballpark estimation.” He notes a few sentences later that this estimate could easily be off by several orders of magnitude in either direction, which is why he immediately proceeds to more precisely calculate the likely mass o’ moles using “better numbers.” ---
**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:** [July 24, 2012, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-randall-munroe-become-the-new-cecil-adams/629220/12 "2012-07-24T21:34:13Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > (Just so we’re clear, I’m talking about the mole of moles one if the page changes.) It’s now a weekly feature, updating on Tuesdays. A link like [this](http://what-if.xkcd.com/4/) will keep its freshness, though. > [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Unless there’s some joke I’m missing, 1 pound is not 1 kilogram. And that’s not even close to rounding error, like I might allow that 1 quart = 1 liter. Probably just a brain fart. Doesn’t really alter the dynamics. And do keep in mind his disclaimer: _… if anyone asks, I did not tell you it was ok to do math like this._ > [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > When xkcd is funny, it’s very funny. But sometimes it’s not. This feature looks promising, although I might point out that it’s “Answering your hypothetical questions with physics, every Tuesday.” Whereas Cecil can do more than physics. There have only been four so far, but entertainment-wise, they’ve all been [knocked out of the park](http://what-if.xkcd.com/1/) (you should pardon the expression). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Universe\_Lashes\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8797f3/32.png) [@The\_Universe\_Lashes\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Universe_Lashes_Out)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-randall-munroe-become-the-new-cecil-adams/629220/13 "2012-07-25T02:57:41Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > When xkcd is funny, it’s very funny. I have clicked on links to xkcd probably a hundred times over the years, and it’s made me laugh exactly once. Although it can be interesting, and sometimes informative. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-randall-munroe-become-the-new-cecil-adams/629220/14 "2012-07-25T04:32:22Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Probably just a brain fart. Doesn’t really alter the dynamics. It’s not a brain fart, it’s deliberate. He’s just trying to get some sort of order of magnitude grasp of the problem. A factor of two isn’t worth talking about in that context. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-randall-munroe-become-the-new-cecil-adams/629220/15 "2012-07-25T17:38:25Z")
I want a t-shirt with a picture of a turkey in a mortarboard fighting a stick figure in a battle to the death. Someone should definitely make me one of those. ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-randall-munroe-become-the-new-cecil-adams/629220/16 "2012-07-26T09:53:13Z")
> [@The\_Universe\_Lashes\_Out](#): > > I have clicked on links to xkcd probably a hundred times over the years, and it’s made me laugh exactly once. Although it can be interesting, and sometimes informative. Well, which one was it? ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-randall-munroe-become-the-new-cecil-adams/629220/17 "2012-07-26T10:22:30Z")
Those were fun articles. I hope he can keep them going. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-randall-munroe-become-the-new-cecil-adams/629220/18 "2012-07-26T14:04:48Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > It’s not a brain fart, it’s deliberate. He’s just trying to get some sort of order of magnitude grasp of the problem. A factor of two isn’t worth talking about in that context. [Remember, he’s a physicist…](http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2679#comic) ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-randall-munroe-become-the-new-cecil-adams/629220/19 "2012-07-27T10:07:08Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Unless there’s some joke I’m missing, 1 pound is not 1 kilogram. And that’s not even close to rounding error, like I might allow that 1 quart = 1 liter. I’d ask you how many piano tuners there are in New York City, but Google’s pretty much ruined that for us, so I’ll just come out with it: Math is a language, and it can be as vague as any other language humans have. If you’re saying that a mole is a pound the world around, as opposed to creating a statistical distribution and aiming for really tight little error bars, equating pounds to kilograms is not going to make the result meaningfully worse. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2012, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-randall-munroe-become-the-new-cecil-adams/629220/20 "2012-08-21T10:58:06Z")
Hey everyone, Cecil is referenced in the latest “[What If](http://what-if.xkcd.com/8/)”!!!