# ­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:** 192
**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:** [December 31, 2024, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3823 "2024-12-31T14:02:39Z")
How would they know there is a third box, much less what its label says? Sometimes being the omnipotent narrator has its advantages. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2024, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3824 "2024-12-31T14:11:53Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > How would they know there is a third box, much less what its label says? Maybe the second box has a window in one of the other sides and the label is displayed through that? Maybe one of the New Year’s celebrants is Homelander and the second box isn’t made of zinc? But “omniscient narrator” is definitely the “horses, not zebras” answer. ---
**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 31, 2024, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3825 "2024-12-31T14:28:11Z")
Obviously the openers of the first box were resourceful enough to hop onto a plane and fly into a different time zone where it was still 2024. And the creator of the time capsule anticipated that possibility, and so included the third box so they’d still be stuck. ---
**Author:** ![Chelonaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9a140/32.png) [@Chelonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chelonaut)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2024, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3826 "2024-12-31T14:30:59Z")
If they are on Polynesian Samoa, they can open it and then imediately take a plane and cross the dateline to US Samoa. Open the second box. They can’t open the third box (unless they cheat) but they can know whats written on the side. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2024, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3827 "2024-12-31T15:01:15Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > “Inside is a third box, labeled DO NOT OPEN UNLESS YOU ARE IN THE TIME ZONE WHERE YOU OPENED BOTH PREVIOUS BOXES.” And here I was expecting Michigan J. Frog to hop out and immediately start a rendition of “Michigan Rag”… ---
**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:** [December 31, 2024, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3828 "2024-12-31T15:34:25Z")
Either that, or a cat that may or may not be dead. ---
**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:** [December 31, 2024, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3829 "2024-12-31T15:38:05Z")
Or, per LeGuin, may turn out to no longer be in the box at all. ---
**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:** [December 31, 2024, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3830 "2024-12-31T15:50:06Z")
I suppose it might contain a simple picture of a box. With the caption “_Ceci n’est pas une boîte_”. ---
**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:** [December 31, 2024, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3831 "2024-12-31T20:37:59Z")
Break the damn third box open and to Hell with whoever set it up. I don’t care if the box was the containment vessel for a basilisk, a xenomorph facehugger, an open sample of Captain Trips, or a large charge of antimatter. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2024, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3832 "2024-12-31T20:39:59Z")
This is why we can’t have nice things. ---
**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:** [December 31, 2024, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3833 "2024-12-31T21:22:04Z")
If we’re lucky it’s just a box of Cap’n Crunch from year [whatever]. Which probably hasn’t gotten stale yet; that stuff is eternal. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3834 "2025-01-02T13:01:57Z")
> **[Skew-T Log-P](https://xkcd.com/3032/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/skew_t_log_p.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/skew_t_log_p.png) “The most important quantity for meteorologists is of course the product of latent pressure and temperostrophic enthalpy, though ‘how nice the weather is’ is a close second.” ---
**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:** [January 2, 2025, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3835 "2025-01-02T14:05:38Z")
This one’s too esoteric for me. I mean, I’ve seen diagrams that are vaguely similar to that in various thermodynamic contexts, but without knowing what one of the real ones is supposed to mean, I can’t interpret how this fake one is humorously different. ---
**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:** [January 2, 2025, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3836 "2025-01-02T15:01:53Z")
Here’s some (scant) info on a real one with an example. > **[Skew-T log-P diagram](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skew-T_log-P_diagram)** > > A skew-T log-P diagram is one of four thermodynamic diagrams commonly used in weather analysis and forecasting. In 1947, N. Herlofson proposed a modification to the emagram that allows straight, horizontal isobars and provides for a large angle between isotherms and dry adiabats, similar to that in the tephigram. It was thus more suitable for some of the newer analysis techniques being invented by the United States Air Force. > Such a diagram has pressure plotted on the vertical axis, with a logar... Meteorology is one of the most baffling sorts of messy applied science I’ve dealt with. These diagrams are real info-dense with the plotted data speaking volumes to the experts and being a “blah blah Ginger” experience for the likes of me. Despite my knowing the basics. ---
**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:** [January 2, 2025, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3837 "2025-01-02T15:37:50Z")
As usual, Tom Weller’s “Science Made Stupid” showed the way: [![](https://www.besse.at/sms/relative.gif) ](https://www.besse.at/sms/relative.gif) ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2025, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3838 "2025-01-03T22:05:06Z")
> **[Origami Black Hole](https://xkcd.com/3033/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/origami_black_hole.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/origami_black_hole.png) “You may notice the first half of these instructions are similar to the instructions for a working nuclear fusion device. After the first few dozen steps, be sure to press down firmly and fold quickly to overcome fusion pressure.” ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2025, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3839 "2025-01-03T22:21:54Z")
Mythbusters managed to do it 11 times, with a sheet of paper the size of a football field. Would be more interesting to see how big the paper would need to be to fold it 189 times… ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2025, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3840 "2025-01-03T22:44:06Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Would be more interesting to see how big the paper would need to be to fold it 189 times… You know that the length/width [more than] doubles each time you fold it? There was that girl who, for extra credit in mathematics, folded a 10x10cm square of gold foil 12 times, as well as folded a 1.2 km-long roll of toilet paper 12 times, so I’m not sure why Mythbusters was not ashamed to broadcast their inferior performance. ---
**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:** [January 3, 2025, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3841 "2025-01-03T23:46:20Z")
Britney Gallivan > **[Morning Start: A high schooler broke the world paper-folding record](https://www.summerlandreview.com/news/morning-start-a-high-schooler-broke-the-world-paper-folding-record-4206165)** > > Your morning start for Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021 ---
**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:** [January 4, 2025, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/3842 "2025-01-04T02:25:56Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Mythbusters managed to do it 11 times, with a sheet of paper the size of a football field. Would be more interesting to see how big the paper would need to be to fold it 189 times… Since 2189 is a bit more than 7x1056 thicknesses, I’d guess a pretty big piece of paper. Even if it was a sheet of nucleons, it wouldn’t fit in the observable universe. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=191) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=193)