# ­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:** 162
**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:** [June 27, 2024, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3223 "2024-06-27T10:23:07Z")
That projection is truly mind-bending. One wonders if this is perhaps a subtle dig at Kansas’s waaaay out there fringe politics. ---
**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:** [June 27, 2024, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3224 "2024-06-27T11:36:27Z")
Oh, that’s a very useful map, if you want to figure out what direction to go to reach Kansas. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3225 "2024-06-27T13:29:53Z")
Carry on My Wayward Map. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3226 "2024-06-27T15:53:05Z")
🤣 !! ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3227 "2024-06-27T18:14:48Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > Oh, that’s a very useful map, if you want to figure out what direction to go to reach Kansas. In a certain way, it is. If you’re in Texas, head towards Oklahoma to get to Kansas. If you’re in Illinois, don’t head towards Indiana, head towards Missouri or Iowa. ---
**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:** [June 27, 2024, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3228 "2024-06-27T18:21:15Z")
Don’t matter where you start. Just go in a straight line and soon enough you’ll be in Kansas. Yes, some routes are more direct than others. But all straight routes lead to Kansas. It’s sorta like to being at the North pole: whichever direction you choose to go, it’s gonna be South. ---
**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:** [June 27, 2024, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3229 "2024-06-27T18:54:29Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > Oh, that’s a very useful map, if you want to figure out what direction to go to reach Kansas Not really, since neither great circles nor cardinal directions are straight lines on that map. ---
**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:** [June 27, 2024, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3230 "2024-06-27T19:20:34Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > > [@Pleonast](#): > > > > Oh, that’s a very useful map, if you want to figure out what direction to go to reach Kansas > > Not really, since neither great circles nor cardinal directions are straight lines on that map.   That’s a feature, not a bug! But to stay serious, the straight lines in one metric space are not going to be straight lines in another. For example, great circles are not going to be straight in non-spherical metric spaces. ---
**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:** [June 27, 2024, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3231 "2024-06-27T20:07:21Z")
There are some map projections which turn all great circles on a sphere into straight lines on the flat map, and vice-versa. Unfortunately, these projections all map the circle at 90º from the center of the projection to an infinite distance away on the map, so it’s impossible to put any locale on the boundary. ---
**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:** [June 29, 2024, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3232 "2024-06-29T16:55:30Z")
> **[Routine Maintenance](https://xkcd.com/2952/)** > > The worst was the time they accidentally held the can upside down and froze all the Earth's magma chambers solid. “They”??? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2024, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3233 "2024-06-29T19:22:52Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > “They”??? God’s non-binary ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2024, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3234 "2024-07-02T11:47:10Z")
> **[Alien Theories](https://xkcd.com/2953/)** > > They originally came here to try to investigate our chemtrail technology, and got increasingly frustrated when all their samples turned out to just be water ice with trace amounts of jet exhaust. ---
**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:** [July 2, 2024, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3235 "2024-07-02T12:34:52Z")
That’s one of the twisted-funniest in awhile. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3236 "2024-07-06T02:37:50Z")
I’ve been off the internet for a few days (believe me, it was tramatic) so you’re going to get two strips posted in a row. > **[Bracket Symbols](https://xkcd.com/2954/)** > > ’"‘”’" means "I edited this text on both my phone and my laptop before sending it" ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3237 "2024-07-06T02:38:34Z")
> **[Pole Vault](https://xkcd.com/2955/)** > > Ugh, and we JUST went through this yesterday with javelin. ---
**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:** [July 6, 2024, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3238 "2024-07-06T12:24:21Z")
The similarities between _Pole Vault_ and the recent _Routine Maintenance_ make me wonder if Randall is worried about some geophysical catastrophe involving lava; lots and lots of lava. ---
**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:** [July 6, 2024, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3239 "2024-07-06T17:13:45Z")
Now I think I should research Unicode characters for more obscure bracket symbols. Maybe ☞ and ☜.【 】looks good too. ---
**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:** [July 6, 2024, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3240 "2024-07-06T19:06:48Z")
And just for completeness, the French animorph might also be programming a Hewlett-Packard calculator. ---
**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:** [July 6, 2024, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3241 "2024-07-06T19:27:51Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The similarities between _Pole Vault_ and the recent _Routine Maintenance_ make me wonder if Randall is worried about some geophysical catastrophe involving lava; lots and lots of lava. He’s been obsessed with supervolcanos for a while. ---
**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:** [July 8, 2024, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3242 "2024-07-08T16:41:54Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > [xkcd: Pole Vault](https://xkcd.com/2955) I feel like he’s missing the interesting question: for an Earth-sized balloon, is it actually possible for a human to pop it with sports equipment? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=161) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=163)