# ­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:** 224
**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 16, 2025, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4463 "2025-06-16T19:30:30Z")
> **[Exoplanet System](https://xkcd.com/3103/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/exoplanet_system_2x.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/exoplanet_system_2x.png) Finally! Recognition that almost all of our exoplanet “knowledge” is extrapolated from in some cases extremely tenuous data. ---
**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:** [June 16, 2025, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4464 "2025-06-16T19:54:22Z")
Hover text: “Sure, this exoplanet we discovered may seem hostile to life, but our calculations suggest it’s actually in the accretion disc’s habitable zone.” ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4465 "2025-06-16T21:25:00Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Finally! Recognition that almost all of our exoplanet “knowledge” is extrapolated from in some cases extremely tenuous data. Also that most of the ‘habitable’ exoplanets would make Mars seem like a tropic paradise. ---
**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:** [June 17, 2025, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4466 "2025-06-17T18:27:13Z")
New “what-if?” on shoving too much water in a too narrow opening: > **[What if you funneled Niagara Falls through a straw?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfbzrrcQZjs%2F&=1)** > > Get a copy of What If? 2 and Randall’s other books at: https://xkcd.com/booksMore serious answers to absurd questions at: https://what-if.xkcd.com/This quest... Brian ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2025, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4467 "2025-06-17T19:54:33Z")
At the limit, everything is a particle accelerator. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2025, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4468 "2025-06-19T13:58:24Z")
> **[Tukey](https://xkcd.com/3104/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tukey.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tukey.png) “Numbers can be tricky. On the day of my 110th birthday, I’ll be one day younger than John Tukey was on his.” ---
**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 19, 2025, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4469 "2025-06-19T14:04:14Z")
Wearing my software dev hat I’d say more accurately that “dates can be tricky”. But that doesn’t go as well with the theme of the comic. ---
**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 19, 2025, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4470 "2025-06-19T14:10:59Z")
Every year, as my birthday is approaching, I calculate the date on which it’ll fall that year. That is to say, when it will be an integer number of full years since the moment of my birth, with each full year being approximately 365.2425 days long. It isn’t always the same date. ---
**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 19, 2025, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4471 "2025-06-19T14:51:25Z")
I believe that’s why astronomers go by counting seconds from a starting Julian date. As of this posting it’s 2460846.118079 ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2025, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4472 "2025-06-19T14:55:47Z")
That’s a really good quote. ---
**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 19, 2025, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4473 "2025-06-19T15:01:19Z")
Unsurprisingly (since I have a background in astronomy), my birthday-calculating program is based on Julian days. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2025, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4474 "2025-06-19T16:28:33Z")
Oh, dear! So now I have to start calculating my sidereal birthdays and my solar birthdays separatedly? I hope I don’t have to argue those with Julián and Gregorio, who are both quite the nitpicking nagging PITA personalities. ---
**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 19, 2025, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4475 "2025-06-19T19:08:59Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > So now I have to start calculating my sidereal birthdays and my solar birthdays separatedly? As a bonus, you can have the occasional leap birthday to keep things in sync. ---
**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 19, 2025, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4476 "2025-06-19T21:48:57Z")
For those born very near midnight we also have to contend with leap seconds. Timekeeping gets very deep very quickly once you tear off the “No user-serviceable parts inside” sticker & unscrew the cover. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2025, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4477 "2025-06-22T02:13:00Z")
> **[Interoperability](https://xkcd.com/3105/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/interoperability.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/interoperability.png) “We’re getting a lot of complaints from commuters who were routed onto a coaster, but the theme park patrons who spent hours stuck on an intercity line are also not happy.” ---
**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:** [June 22, 2025, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4478 "2025-06-22T02:34:46Z")
Does this mean we can expect a follow-up to **[Subways](https://xkcd.com/1196/)** with amusement parks added in? ---
**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 24, 2025, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4479 "2025-06-24T22:57:45Z")
Anyone know what’s up with Munroe? It’s not like him to miss an update. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4480 "2025-06-25T03:18:16Z")
> **[Farads](https://xkcd.com/3106/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/farads.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/farads.png) “‘This HAZMAT container contains radioactive material with activity of one becquerel.’ ‘So, like, a single banana slice?’” ---
**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 25, 2025, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4481 "2025-06-25T10:39:29Z")
It’s fun how some base units are so under- or over-sized versus normal human needs or concerns. ---
**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:** [June 25, 2025, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4482 "2025-06-25T10:40:31Z")
So, explanation? How much is a farad? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=223) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=225)