# ­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:** 148
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2024, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2943 "2024-04-18T15:56:37Z")
Really that says it perfectly. ---
**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:** [April 18, 2024, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2944 "2024-04-18T16:14:43Z")
[side digression] I have always admired how plausible Randall’s made up maps seem to be. Sometimes they’re a little too complicated, but they have a realistic scale-appropriate fractal feel to them. At least to me they do. I wonder if he draws them from scratch, or starts with some sort of computer program to generate plausible virtual maps, then tunes the results up a bit with artistic license to fit the stories’ needs? ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2024, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2945 "2024-04-19T17:23:32Z")
> **[Pub Trivia](https://xkcd.com/2922/)** > > Bonus question: Where is London located? (a) The British Isles (b) Great Britain and Northern Ireland (c) The UK (d) Europe (or 'the EU') (e) Greater London ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2024, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2946 "2024-04-19T18:37:54Z")
Question 5: Seven, by the original definition of the term “planets”. ---
**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:** [April 19, 2024, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2947 "2024-04-19T22:04:12Z")
Maybe eight, if you count Venus twice (as it was initially). ---
**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:** [April 19, 2024, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2948 "2024-04-19T22:40:03Z")
The original number of planets was zero. Then the first one coalesced enough to be spherical enough and clear its orbit enough to become a “planet” and then there was one. Lather rinse repeat as that number slowly increased. And may have decreased or increased suddenly a time or three along the way due to collisions. Then a couple-few billion years later people invented the word “planet” and began refining what they meant by it. Once both the orbiting bodies and the word’s definition had sufficiently coalesced and cleared their area of competing bodies / definitions, we arrive at the modern value of eight. But zero is the correct trivia answer IMO. ---
**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:** [April 19, 2024, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2949 "2024-04-19T22:51:04Z")
Floating balls of rock existed long before humans. But a name for a _particular class_ of ball of rock didn’t exist before humans. And _planet_ came from the Greeks in particular. So in that sense, the first set of planets was the exact category of objects that they named with that word. Between 5 and 8, depending on how you count them (you can add the Sun, Moon, and a second Venus). ---
**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:** [April 19, 2024, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2950 "2024-04-19T23:06:20Z")
You’re assuming the question is about our solar system. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2951 "2024-04-20T00:18:10Z")
Question 3 brings to mind Michael Scott’s description of Lake Scranton as “America’s largest non-indigenous body of water.” ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2952 "2024-04-20T00:58:00Z")
_My_ platonic solid has many sides to her, it wouldn’t behoove me to enumerate them. ---
**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:** [April 20, 2024, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2953 "2024-04-20T13:46:03Z")
My takes on them (without Googling, in the spirit of pub trivia questions): 1: OK, I don’t know any members of BTS. But given “has” rather than “had”, it’d have to be one whose birthday has not yet come this year. Which one’s birthday is latest on the calendar? 2: 4, 6, 8, 12, and 20 are all correct answers. So is 30, due to the ambiguity over whether “side” means “face” or “edge”. 3: I’m going to go with Lake Isa (more famous for straddling the Continental Divide and draining into both the Atlantic and Pacific). I’ve seen it; it barely even qualifies as a pond. I’d expect any smaller body of water to not be called a “lake”, and Isa only gets the name as a courtesy to its other special status. 4: Jaws. 5: Zero. The fact that they weren’t called planets at the time (because there was nobody to call them anything) is irrelevant. We can still ask questions like “when did the first planets form?”. 6: Wilt Chamberlain. 7: Most of the time, the answer will probably be Cessna. Or whoever the highest-volume GA manufacturer is. 8: Yes. Prove me wrong or give me my points. 9: Melbourne. At least, I’m pretty sure it’s the capital of one of the states of Australia. 1. Richard Feynman. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2954 "2024-04-20T13:59:34Z")
1. [Yes, among other instruments.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Who) [Yes](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes_(band)) said no - they were booked. ---
**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:** [April 20, 2024, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2955 "2024-04-20T14:17:55Z")
Shouldn’t that question have been on first, in place of the BTS one? ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2956 "2024-04-21T03:34:43Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > 6: Wilt Chamberlain. I love the outside the box thinking, but Wilt hasn’t been the NBA all-time points leader for a while. I would have guessed Kareem and been wrong as well. It’s Lebron. Chamberlin is 7th. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2957 "2024-04-21T03:42:17Z")
But, that’s not the question. First of all, it’s NFL, not NBA. Secondly, it’s most points scored _outside_ of a game. So, what football player “scored” the most? (Wilt claimed 20K). ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2958 "2024-04-21T13:48:23Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > First of all, it’s NFL, not NBA. > Secondly, it’s most points scored _outside_ of a game. > > So, what football player “scored” the most? (Wilt claimed 20K). I’m sorry, I was unaware that Wilt played in the NFL /s Note: He didn’t. So the answer is wrong on that count too. ---
**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:** [April 22, 2024, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2959 "2024-04-22T01:23:04Z")
And here I was thinking it was points accrued on your license for DUI and whatnot. ---
**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:** [April 22, 2024, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2960 "2024-04-22T02:02:01Z")
There are a few NFL players who played baseball or basketball. Brian ---
**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:** [April 22, 2024, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2961 "2024-04-22T02:04:48Z")
But they were still scoring inside of a game. ---
**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:** [April 22, 2024, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2962 "2024-04-22T21:48:33Z")
Of course the entire point of these questions is that they’re deliberately ambiguous enough that we can each reason out an answer, and the moderator / emcee can always blow the raspberry and invent some other rationale that’s claimed to be the “right” answer. As we’re all doing here. Such fun. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=147) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=149)