# ­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:** 128
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2023, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2543 "2023-11-15T02:07:03Z")
Damn, that might be _THE_ definitive argument against those (understandably cat-hating) flat earthers. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2023, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2544 "2023-11-16T04:38:56Z")
> **[Empiricism](https://xkcd.com/2855/)** > > The problems started with my resolution next year to reject temporal causality. ---
**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:** [November 17, 2023, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2545 "2023-11-17T12:10:13Z")
In his autobiography, Mike Collins tells the story about a press officer talking about a shift in coordinate systems that the Apollo computers made partway through flight and the associated change in ship’s velocity and position due to the shift in frames - and how the press officer fumbled so badly that the press came away with the fixed impression that the crew should have felt a jolt when the changeover happened. This xkcd makes me think of that story. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2546 "2023-11-17T13:39:50Z")
Coordinate shifts, and especially those at the Date Line, have a long history of causing problems: > **[F-22 Squadron Shot Down by the International Date Line](https://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/f22-squadron-shot-down-by-the-international-date-line-03087/)** > > Aircraft software can be serious business. DID's F-22A Raptor FOCUS Article mentioned recent flight software problems that delayed the aircraft's first foreign deployment from Hickam AFB in Hawaii to Kadena AFB, Japan.What we didn't mention at the I _hate_ it when that happens. ---
**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:** [November 17, 2023, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2547 "2023-11-17T23:58:28Z")
Same thing happened with the equator > **[SOFTWARE BUGS TURNING DEADLY IN COMPLEX ERA](https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1986-12-14-8604030475-story.html)** > Lethal bugs in computer software are unusual but not unique. Edward Yourdon, a vice president of DeVry Inc. who has written books about software, said that a programming error in an F-16 fighter plane avionics program would cause the plane to flip upside down whenever it crossed the equator, a bug that fortunately was found before it caused an accident. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2023, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2548 "2023-11-18T00:55:39Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > > Lethal bugs in computer software are unusual but not unique. It works on my machine… ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2023, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2549 "2023-11-18T02:44:18Z")
On Tuesdays during day shift. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2023, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2550 "2023-11-18T04:23:30Z")
> **[Materials Scientists](https://xkcd.com/2856/)** > > If a materials scientist gives you a present, always ask whether regifting will incur any requirements for Federal paperwork. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2023, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2551 "2023-11-21T02:50:55Z")
> **[Rebuttals](https://xkcd.com/2857/)** > > The mainstream dogma sparked a wave of dogmatic revisionism, and this revisionist mainstream dogmatism has now given way to a more rematic mainvisionist dogstream. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2552 "2023-11-23T06:33:09Z")
> **[Thanksgiving Arguments](https://xkcd.com/2858/)** > > An occasional source of mild Thanksgiving tension in my family is that my mother is a die-hard fan of The Core (2003), and various family members sometimes have differing levels of enthusiasm for her annual tradition of watching it. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2023, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2553 "2023-11-25T07:11:29Z")
> **[Oceanography Gift](https://xkcd.com/2859/)** > > Shipping times vary. Same-ocean delivery may only take a few years, but delivery from the Weddell Sea in Antarctica may take multiple decades, and molecules meant for inland seas like the Mediterranean may be returned as undeliverable by surface currents. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2554 "2023-11-28T18:15:46Z")
> **[Decay Modes](https://xkcd.com/2860/)** > > Unlike an Iron Age collapse, a Bronze Age collapse releases energy, since copper and tin are past the iron peak on the curve of binding energy. ---
**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:** [November 28, 2023, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2555 "2023-11-28T22:23:25Z")
Rather atypical for this sort of XKCD, that half of the examples are real (though some of them fairly rare). Usually he starts going crazy well before that. ---
**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:** [November 29, 2023, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2556 "2023-11-29T13:35:24Z")
Any reference to the Late Bronze Age Collapse makes me happy. ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2023, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2557 "2023-11-29T16:01:32Z")
Why did the Bronze Age collapse, and why was it not on time when it did? ---
**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:** [November 29, 2023, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2558 "2023-11-29T16:16:30Z")
I don’t know why it was late, but i was tapping my toes waiting ---
**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:** [November 29, 2023, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2559 "2023-11-29T22:30:11Z")
Oh, and is Omega Decay a specific reference to something? It feels like it should be. Also: > **[X Value](https://xkcd.com/2861/)** > > The value of n is still unknown, but new results constrain it to fall between 8 and 10^500, ruling out popular 'n=1' and 'n=2' theories. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2023, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2560 "2023-11-29T23:45:18Z")
Perhaps a reference to the science fiction movie **[The Omega Man - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Omega_Man)** about the sole survivor of an earth-ravaging disease that leaves most of the infected dead and the few infected survivors as living kinda-zombies? ---
**Author:** ![Petek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/petek/32/1590_2.png) [@Petek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Petek)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2023, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2561 "2023-12-02T00:54:12Z")
XKCD What If ? is now available on [What if we aimed the Hubble Telescope at Earth? - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LSyizrk8-0) ---
**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:** [December 2, 2023, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2562 "2023-12-02T01:00:29Z")
> **[Typical Seating Chart](https://xkcd.com/2862/)** > > Now that airlines have started adding wheel locks to their drink carts, less than half of flights have one accidentally fall out through the hole. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=127) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=129)