# ­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:** 121
**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, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2403 "2023-09-13T16:20:37Z")
That’s a common confusion. _Ghosts_ are tied to the location of their death, and thus the only ghosts on Mars are from native life or extraterrestrials that traveled to Mars while alive and died there. _Spirits_, on the other hand, get around. > **[Summit Spirits: What is the difference between a ghost and a spirit?](https://www.summitdaily.com/news/summit-spirits-what-is-the-difference-between-a-ghost-and-a-spirit/)** > > We use the word ghost and spirit interchangeably but there really is a strong difference between them. According to the late Hans Holzer, professor of Parapsychology and writer of ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2023, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2404 "2023-09-13T17:28:19Z")
There was definitiely a [Spirit](https://xkcd.com/695/) on Mars. ---
**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, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2405 "2023-09-13T17:58:59Z")
And now a Spirit ghost. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2023, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2406 "2023-09-13T21:17:04Z")
From the movie Poltergeist: “Poltergeists are usually associated with an individual. Hauntings seem to be connected with an area. A house usually.” - that’s why a movie about a particular house, and not an individual was called Poltergeist 😡 ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2023, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2407 "2023-09-13T23:18:12Z")
The title “The Haunting” was already taken. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2023, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2408 "2023-09-15T19:43:51Z")
> **[Iceberg Efficiency](https://xkcd.com/2829/)** > > Our experimental aerogel iceberg with helium pockets manages true 100% efficiency, barely touching the water, and it can even lift off of the surface and fly to more efficiently pursue fleeing hubristic liners. To me, “hubristic liner” sounds like a euphemism for adult diapers. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2023, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2409 "2023-09-19T05:05:30Z")
> **[Haunted House](https://xkcd.com/2830/)** > > You can leave at any time through the door over there. It's a Louisville door, so you'll need to find a compatible knob. No, don't be silly, that one is a Lexington knob! Of course it won't fit. ---
**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 19, 2023, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2410 "2023-09-19T22:38:12Z")
“Pennsylvania wiring” isn’t actually a thing, is it? This is just ANSI-nerds’ nightmare of what life would be like if it weren’t for them, right? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2023, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2411 "2023-09-19T22:43:56Z")
Not sure about that (I doubt it), but there is such a thing as a “California 3-way”. And not _that_, pervert. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2023, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2412 "2023-09-19T22:50:58Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > “Pennsylvania wiring” isn’t actually a thing, is it? This is just ANSI-nerds’ nightmare of what life would be like if it weren’t for them, right? ⁢ That’s what ExplainXKCD says: > **[2830: Haunted House - explain xkcd](https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2830:_Haunted_House#:~:text=In%20reality%2C%20electricity%20is%20standardized%20within%20any%20given%20country)** > > Explain xkcd is a wiki dedicated to explaining the webcomic xkcd. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2023, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2413 "2023-09-19T23:18:51Z")
Have you ever read this story [- Chapter 12](http://baencd.freedoors.org/Books/Prescription%20for%20Chaos/1416591435__12.htm) (“Bugs” by Christopher Anvil - a parody of computer incompatibility) > Stewart walked behind the vehicle they’d come in, pulled on a lever, and the lower half of the rear door opened down horizontally, the upper half swung up horizontally; and, as he pulled again, inner doors swung out right and left, the four half-doors making an extension open at the rear. Several inches underneath, two steel beams slid back below the lower door. > > “This is a so-called male port. The female port is wider and higher. Now, watch.” He heaved on the lever, and the two steel beams slid further, to project beyond the rear of the extension. “These support the floor of the joined ports, and the ends rest in brackets underneath the other vehicle’s port. That joins the vehicles, and nobody slips in the mud or drops freight overside. But, boy, if the troughs are curved, or the trucks don’t match just right—” > > “Why not just have a gate that drops down at the rear of the truck, with a chain on each side to keep the gate horizontal? That would work.” > > Stewart thought it over. “Maybe. Unfortunately, we’ve now got regulations that require male or female ports, made to the standard pattern. This is the standard pattern. At least it’s less bad than the gas nozzles. If they come out with one more pattern—” > > “What, for the gas pumps?” > > “At last count, there were eighteen different designs, and they make the intake on the auto to fit the nozzle. It depends on which car company strikes what deal with which gas company. Well, let’s go see Jake.” > > Randy, his head spinning, cranked the car and climbed in. Stewart started to pull out onto the road, then jammed on the brake. Out in the street, a truck rumbled past pushing a row of little shovels through the concrete troughs, to leave dirt and trash in long low piles to either side. > > Randy massages his temples, and watched a horse and open carriage rumble past at the corner. The horse was moving right along, and the people in the carriage grinned at Stewart and Randy waiting for the trough-cleaner. Stewart said, “Ah, nuts,” and let the clutch out so fast the car bucked and stalled. This brought gales of laughter from the carriage. > > Stewart snarled, “I’ll crank it. You work the throttle.” > > Randy dragged his mind off the question why, if this were a dream, he hadn’t woken up yet. He discovered that Stewart had left the car in gear just as Stewart found out, and said some words Randy hadn’t heard before. Then they had the vehicle started, and jounced and slammed through the dirt piled into the junctions as the main troughs were cleaned out. > > “It would all be so easy,” said Stewart, fighting the wheel, “if it weren’t for the details. This is obviously the transportation system of the future—and yet—look at this.” > > On the street in front were two long things like narrow trap doors that popped open as they crossed the intersection. It dawned on him that these were trough-covers, closed to keep the horses from falling where horse-streets and car-streets crossed on the same level. And, of course, the covers had to open for the vehicles to get through. > > “Quite a thing,” said Stewart cynically, “when the trough cover gets grit in its hinges. Either the horses break their legs, or the cars climb out of the troughs.” > > “Why not pave the whole street and have done with it?” > > “We can never vote it in. The horse interests go along with whoever favors the present set-up, and together they vote down any change. To pave the street would mean cars could go near horses, and scare the daylights out of them. And it would end the set-up we’ve got now, when only horses can go everywhere. Naturally, the horse-freight outfits want to keep that. It makes you wish Gritz hadn’t invented the security slot in the first place.” ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2023, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2414 "2023-09-21T02:11:42Z")
> **[xkcd Phone Flip](https://xkcd.com/2831/)** > > Theranos partnership: Sorry, we know, but we signed the contract back before all the stuff and the lawyers say we can't back out, so just try to keep your finger away from the bottom of the phone. ---
**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 21, 2023, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2415 "2023-09-21T02:18:41Z")
And the fortune-telling app is pre-installed! ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2023, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2416 "2023-09-24T01:38:13Z")
> **[Urban Planning Opinion Progression](https://xkcd.com/2832/)** > > If they're going to make people ride bikes and scooters in traffic, then it should at LEAST be legal to do the Snow Crash thing where you use a hook-shot-style harpoon to catch free rides from cars. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2023, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2417 "2023-09-24T08:53:58Z")
I’m going to be in Amesterdam this Wednesday; let’s see how it influences me (my guess is probably not much - I already agree with their approach). ---
**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 24, 2023, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2418 "2023-09-24T17:34:53Z")
It seems to me that everyone in the comic is basically in agreement. Where’s the part that stops the city from decreasing cars? ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2023, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2419 "2023-09-24T17:46:38Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Where’s the part that stops the city from decreasing cars? This is just the discussion among the policy wonks, I assume. When someone actually proposes to the public some action that would restrict cars, then they get so much pushback from everyone else that it dies. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2023, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2420 "2023-09-24T19:33:24Z")
Did you read the first few panels? The comic’s showing a progression in views through time. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2023, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2421 "2023-09-27T01:58:49Z")
> **[Lying](https://xkcd.com/2833/)** > > I was, at least at the start of this disastrous game night, your friend. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2023, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2422 "2023-09-27T10:35:41Z")
I HATE social deduction games. I’ll purposely lose in Werewolf just so I can be eliminated and play a game more to my liking. Brian [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=120) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=122)