# ­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:** 186
**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:** [November 25, 2024, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3703 "2024-11-25T22:43:54Z")
I always liked the idea of using nuclear bombs to disrupt hurricanes. Especially if we drop them as they pass over Florida. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3704 "2024-11-27T13:49:17Z")
> [@SunUp](#): > > Let’s see: 5 choose 2 divided by 10 choose 2, 10/45 = 1/4.5 or 2/9 or 22.2… %. > > Roll 15-18 on 3d6: (10 + 6 + 3 + 1) / 216 = 20 / 216 = 9.26% > Roll 14 on 3d6 _and_ roll 2-4 on d4: (15 / 216) \* .75 = 5.21% > Roll 13 on 3d6 _and_ roll 3-4 on d4: (21 / 216) \* .5 = 4.86% > Roll 12 on 3d6 _and_ roll 4 on d4: (25 / 216) \* .25 = 2.89% > > Sum them up: 22.22% > > Never doubt the Munroe. There are two other ways of doing it with 4 dice: D10 + 2D8 + D6 is 21 or higher D20 + 2D12 + D10 is 36 or higher > [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > Some arbitrary fractions have easy answers; others don’t seem to. 37/120 can be done with d10+d12+d20, \>=27. 36/120 is d10+d12, \>=15. But 35/120 doesn’t find an answer with up to 7 dice (I didn’t wait any longer than that). I get: D12 + D4 is 12 or higher having probability 7/24, or 35/120 (Check: the valid (D12, D4) pairs are (8,4), (9,3), (9,4), (10,2), (10,3), (10,4), (11,1), (11,2), (11,3), (11,4), (12,1), (12,2), (12,3), and (12,4); that is 14 out of 48 possible, or 7/24.) ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3705 "2024-11-27T23:06:23Z")
> **[Neutrino Modem](https://xkcd.com/3017/)** > > Our sysadmin accidentally won a Nobel Prize while trying to debug neutrino oscillation error correction. ---
**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:** [November 28, 2024, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3706 "2024-11-28T00:46:09Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > I get: D12 + D4 is 12 or higher having probability 7/24, or 35/120 Yep. Claude’s script found the same. My buggy script did not. I’m too discouraged to even debug it. However, it also doesn’t find a solution for 4/9 even with 15 dice. I wonder if there is a mathematical proof of this. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2024, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3707 "2024-11-28T00:59:14Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > I always liked the idea of using nuclear bombs to disrupt hurricanes. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is apparently pretty tired of it though, the idea pops up every hurricane season. ---
**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:** [November 28, 2024, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3708 "2024-11-28T01:00:23Z")
Well, if they’d only _try it_, it might shut some of us up. Whether or not it actually works. ---
**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:** [November 28, 2024, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3709 "2024-11-28T01:31:49Z")
You can actually do much better than that. Most natural neutrino sources (solar in particular) produce low-energy neutrinos. The cross-section of a neutrino goes up with roughly the energy, however. And it’s possible to build a particle collider (muon colliders in particular) with much, much higher energies. Further, the scaling factors are such that the overall exposure goes up with the cube of the collider energy (basically: the beamwidth goes down, the per-neutrino cross-section goes up, and the energy per interaction goes up). So it you have a decent-sized muon collider at your disposal, it’s not difficult to beam a message to a target with minimal losses. If Black Hat had showed up in this strip, he’d further note that you can _kill_ with a neutrino beam that’s within reasonable levels of technology. I cite this paper: [https://arxiv.org/pdf/hep-ex/0005006](https://arxiv.org/pdf/hep-ex/0005006) [![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/WCZ1KuC.png "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/WCZ1KuC) [![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/OgJx9GU.png "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/OgJx9GU) The paper does not consider the possibility of _intentionally_ using the beam (or multiple beams) to dose a target. A rather expensive method but the only way to kill someone literally anywhere on (or under) the planet. ---
**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:** [November 28, 2024, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3710 "2024-11-28T03:50:12Z")
On the other hand, if you increase the cross section of the neutrino interaction by making the beam higher energy, aren’t you making the Earth effectively more opaque to the beam? ---
**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:** [November 28, 2024, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3711 "2024-11-28T03:54:40Z")
You are, but the opacity is still very low. It doesn’t change the net result much if 0.0001% is absorbed vs. 10% (totally made-up figures). ---
**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:** [November 28, 2024, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3712 "2024-11-28T04:10:23Z")
I read an article that mentioned the possibility of destroying nuclear weapons on the other side of the earth by beaming Neutrinos at them. ---
**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 28, 2024, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3713 "2024-11-28T17:26:23Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > If Black Hat had showed up in this strip, he’d further note that you can _kill_ with a neutrino beam that’s within reasonable levels of technology. I cite … **[xkcd](https://what-if.xkcd.com/73/)** 😉 ---
**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 28, 2024, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3714 "2024-11-28T17:48:03Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is apparently pretty tired of it though, the idea pops up every hurricane season. It’s even in their FAQs. See **[Hurricane FAQ - NOAA/AOML](https://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd-faq/#project-stormfury)** and click the “Nuclear Weapons” entry below the first bob of text. ---
**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, 2024, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3715 "2024-11-28T20:27:27Z")
I read a Poul Anderson story once where the protagonists had (limited) weather-control tech, based on powerful lasers, that they used to disrupt hurricanes. Even though the lasers had far lower power than the hurricane, they had a much greater local intensity, so they could cause dramatic effects at the spots that they hit. And if you have enough data (collected by heroic figures in jets flying through the storm), you can pick just the right spots to change the course of the whole storm. It’s like the old joke of the invoice for $0.50 for tapping the machine with the hammer, $499.50 for knowing the right spot to tap. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2024, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3716 "2024-11-28T21:11:48Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I read a Poul Anderson story once where the protagonists had (limited) weather-control tech, based on powerful lasers, that they used to disrupt hurricanes. I believe that’s _Orion Shall Rise_ or possibly another story in the same future-verse. ---
**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, 2024, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3717 "2024-11-28T22:35:33Z")
Yup, that’s the one. I wasn’t trying to be mysterious; just didn’t think that the precise book was relevant. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2024, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3718 "2024-11-28T22:39:48Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > just didn’t think that the precise book was relevant. It wasn’t relevant, but it’s hard to keep an SF nerd from being pedantic. ---
**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:** [November 29, 2024, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3719 "2024-11-29T13:13:21Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > Well, if they’d only _try it_, it might shut some of us up. Whether or not it actually works. Maybe on the next one headed towards West Palm Beach. ---
**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:** [November 29, 2024, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3720 "2024-11-29T21:14:30Z")
> **[Second Stage](https://xkcd.com/3018/)** > > Hmm, they won't do in-flight delivery, so let's order a new first and second stage to our emergency landing site and then try to touch down on top of them to save time. I’m not sure I get it, beyond the simple absurdity of launching a rocket that somehow omitted a second stage. ---
**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, 2024, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3721 "2024-11-29T22:17:41Z")
Perhaps it’s just wry commentary on the modern habit of people failing to plan ahead and expecting instant connectivity to everyone else involved to save the situation at the last minute. e.g. Made inadvertently (read “sloppily”) ambiguous plans to meet at someplace for drinks and at start time somebody notices there are two locations with that name in different parts of town and half of us guessed one way and half the other? Mobile phones to the rescue. And/or the modern habit of people expecting same-day Amazon to save whatever goods-related shortcomings they have from failures to plan? It 10am on Thanksgiving and you discover you have no potatoes to mash. Quick, hit Amazon; they can bring us anything in 2 hours flat! Oops, not today they can’t. We are soooo screwed. I doubt it’s any deeper than that. ---
**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:** [November 29, 2024, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3722 "2024-11-29T22:38:34Z")
Got it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=185) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=187)