# ­xkcd thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comic-strips\ **Created:** [May 28, 2020, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574 "2020-05-28T00:57:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 120
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2023, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2383 "2023-09-02T02:47:16Z")
Yep, my own domain name and email is really gmail, the university I work for part time is really gmail, all the Chicago Public School email addresses are really gmail… ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2023, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2384 "2023-09-02T09:38:56Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > As an aside, it seems like most email addresses are gmail these days, but most of them aren’t of the form \*@gmail.com . All sorts of institutional emails nowadays are run by gmail, but with the institution’s domain name. Of course they try to hide it. People might complain if `ibm.com` or `mit.edu` or `mail.mil` transparently turned into Google. It’s fairly easy for an individual or institution to run their own email server, but to set up a bulletproof, fault-tolerant, highly secure e-mail system requires real expertise. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2023, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2385 "2023-09-02T13:46:20Z")
I don’t know about those specific cases, but all of the schools I’ve worked for have used gmail, without any attempt to hide it. I mean, sure, someone outside of the organization won’t know the difference, but anyone inside accesses their email with a link that says “Gmail”, and sees a loading screen with the M logo. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2023, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2386 "2023-09-05T06:29:41Z")
> **[Abstract Pickup](https://xkcd.com/2824/)** > > Escape Artist Frees Self From Conversation With Pickup Artist ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2023, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2387 "2023-09-05T21:34:38Z")
That looks like good news, to me… If they’re chatting up canvasses, they’re leaving humans alone. ---
**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 6, 2023, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2388 "2023-09-06T00:03:18Z")
My DIL claims that you can’t boop a trilobite because they don’t have a cute little snoot. My son and I (the rest of the household) contend that booping is in the mind of the boopee. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2023, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2389 "2023-09-06T19:57:48Z")
> **[Autumn and Fall](https://xkcd.com/2825/)** > > Of course in reality this is just a US/UK thing; in British English, 'fall' is the brief period in between and 'autumn' is the main season. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2023, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2390 "2023-09-06T20:02:49Z")
This seems appropriate. > **[Is it true summer in Ireland starts May 1?](https://www.straightdope.com/21341338/is-it-true-summer-in-ireland-starts-may-1)** ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2023, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2391 "2023-09-06T22:00:19Z")
Yeah, there are a lot of different standards for marking the seasons, and none of them is any more “official” than the others. The last day of summer can be August 31, or Labor Day, or the day before school starts up again, or July 31, or the Autumnal Equinox, or the last day you wear shorts, or the last day before the first day you wear long pants, or the last day when the temperature is above Xº (with the value of X varying to taste), etc. All are valid, in the appropriate context. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2392 "2023-09-09T03:28:13Z")
> **[Gold](https://xkcd.com/2826/)** > > It can be expensive to hire a professional spectroscopist for your wedding, but the quality of the spectra you get is worth it. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2023, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2393 "2023-09-11T11:43:02Z")
As a follow-up to this, it seems that some U.S. government agencies used Microsoft for their e-mails and [Chinese hackers accessed all their mail.](https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/6/23861890/microsoft-azure-data-breach-investigation-failures-outlook) My point was both that having your organization’s address `@gmail.com` looks totally unprofessional to someone outside the organization— this is of course mitigated by using your own domain name— but also that an organization may not want, or be legally allowed, to trust sensitive emails and documents to an external corporation at all; at the same time an unprofessional in-house solution will be much worse than using Microsoft or Google services. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2023, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2394 "2023-09-11T15:01:01Z")
Some had snoots. [Pointy snoots](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopyge). [Dolphin snoots](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huntoniatonia). Or [giant spherical clown snoots](https://scontent-lhr8-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/127175638_10157153738021991_34645132927351805_n.jpg?_nc_cat=107&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=Ea6S9S0cJ-YAX-KMANa&_nc_ht=scontent-lhr8-1.xx&oh=00_AfCWyvj-IABmM4J-WMVj60bsMM2u7_TLRqEdEzfyp8J_Ig&oe=65268C49). Or … [this](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walliserops). ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2023, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2395 "2023-09-11T16:46:13Z")
Some of those are distinctly less boopable than others ---
**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 11, 2023, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2396 "2023-09-11T17:41:15Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Some had snoots. [Pointy snoots](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopyge). [Dolphin snoots](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huntoniatonia). Or [giant spherical clown snoots](https://scontent-lhr8-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/127175638_10157153738021991_34645132927351805_n.jpg?_nc_cat=107&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=Ea6S9S0cJ-YAX-KMANa&_nc_ht=scontent-lhr8-1.xx&oh=00_AfCWyvj-IABmM4J-WMVj60bsMM2u7_TLRqEdEzfyp8J_Ig&oe=65268C49). > > Or … [this](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walliserops). Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2023, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2397 "2023-09-11T18:09:07Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Or [giant spherical clown snoots](https://scontent-lhr8-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/127175638_10157153738021991_34645132927351805_n.jpg?_nc_cat=107&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=Ea6S9S0cJ-YAX-KMANa&_nc_ht=scontent-lhr8-1.xx&oh=00_AfCWyvj-IABmM4J-WMVj60bsMM2u7_TLRqEdEzfyp8J_Ig&oe=65268C49). I assume that one went extinct due to excessive booping. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2023, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2398 "2023-09-11T20:31:41Z")
Has anyone written a country song named _Snoot Booping Boogie_ yet? ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2023, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2399 "2023-09-12T08:05:09Z")
> **[Brassica](https://xkcd.com/2827/)** > > Sequoia Brussels sprouts are delicious but it's pretty hard to finish one. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2023, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2400 "2023-09-12T21:43:14Z")
Let’s see… Cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kale, collards, redwood, cauliflower, broccoli, broccoflower, romanesco, rapini, kohlrabi… Plus there’s rape/canola, in a different species but still Brassica. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2023, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2401 "2023-09-13T15:52:36Z")
> **[Exoplanet Observation](https://xkcd.com/2828/)** > > NASA prefers to say that their rovers are 'looking for signs of past life on Mars' and not 'ghost hunting.' ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2023, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2402 "2023-09-13T16:02:37Z")
If there are ghosts on Mars, is that evidence that there was _life_ on Mars? I mean, who says ghosts from Earth can’t travel to other planets? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=119) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=121)