# ­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:** 247
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2025, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4923 "2025-09-02T06:59:52Z")
> **[Pull](https://xkcd.com/3136/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/pull.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/pull.png) “Be careful fighting gravity. If you win, it’s a long way down.” ---
**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:** [September 2, 2025, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4924 "2025-09-02T18:32:00Z")
All those tropes of people being pulled away into space ala’ “Black Hole Sun” never seem to realize that long before that could happen first the atmosphere and oceans would be sucked away in supersonic hurricanes and five-mile high tsunamis; and then the Earth would be wracked by magnitude 20 earthquakes. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2025, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4925 "2025-09-04T06:22:55Z")
> **[Cursed Number](https://xkcd.com/3137/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/cursed_number.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/cursed_number.png) “Another group of mathematicians is working to put an upper bound on the number, although everyone keeps begging them to stop.” ---
**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:** [September 4, 2025, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4926 "2025-09-04T06:32:43Z")
Perhaps, once the number is discovered, we could learn to look at it safely, by viewing small portions or a weakened version of it, like the children in _Different Kinds of Darkness_ or the people in Monty Python’s _The Funniest Joke in the World_. ---
**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:** [September 4, 2025, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4927 "2025-09-04T11:16:54Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > like the children in _Different Kinds of Darkness_ Thanks for reminding me of the name of [that story.](https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/different-kinds-of-darkness/) ---
**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:** [September 4, 2025, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4928 "2025-09-04T16:10:23Z")
Beat me to it. Beware the Parrot ---
**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:** [September 4, 2025, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4929 "2025-09-04T16:13:50Z")
It’s a great story! But it wasn’t until I started writing the comment did I realize that it is actually quite similar to _The Funniest Joke in the World_. One of the translators accidentally saw _two_ words and had to be hospitalized for weeks… ---
**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:** [September 4, 2025, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4930 "2025-09-04T16:37:33Z")
Old one from _Mad Magazine_: [![](https://i.ibb.co/20wmQKjX/gaze-of-death.png) ](https://i.ibb.co/20wmQKjX/gaze-of-death.png) ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2025, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4931 "2025-09-04T18:14:55Z")
I’ve always wondered if _The Funniest Joke in the World_ was inspired by Henry Kuttner’s story _Nothing but Gingerbread Left_. ---
**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:** [September 4, 2025, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4932 "2025-09-04T18:21:32Z")
Now that’s a deep cut. I’d never heard of it. Will have to give it a read. ---
**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:** [September 4, 2025, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4933 "2025-09-04T21:14:25Z")
It’s terrific. Left his poor wife and seventeen (I’d best not continue) ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2025, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4934 "2025-09-06T04:52:43Z")
> **[Dimensional Lumber Tape Measure](https://xkcd.com/3138/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/dimensional_lumber_tape_measure.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/dimensional_lumber_tape_measure.png) “A person with two watches is never sure what time it is, especially if I got them one of the watches.” ---
**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:** [September 6, 2025, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4935 "2025-09-06T16:52:54Z")
Why does the lumber industry do that? I gather that due to swelling/shrinkage you’re never going to get anything made of wood to have perfect dimensions; but why get it wrong from the start? ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2025, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4936 "2025-09-06T17:01:24Z")
There’s a history here: [Nominal Versus Actual: A History of the 2x4 - Harvard Design Magazine](https://www.harvarddesignmagazine.org/articles/nominal-versus-actual-a-history-of-the-2x4/) There are actually rulers called “shrink rules” which do kind of what Munroe proposes, except they are marked larger, not smaller, than the nominal dimensions that their labeling claims. I think they’re mostly used in ceramic and casting work, to account for the shrinkage of the work during drying and firing. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2025, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4937 "2025-09-09T03:08:23Z")
> **[Chess Variant](https://xkcd.com/3139/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/chess_variant.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/chess_variant.png) “The draw-by-repetition rule does a good job of keeping players from sliding a tile back and forth repeatedly, but the tiles definitely introduce some weird en passant and castling edge cases.” ---
**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:** [September 9, 2025, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4938 "2025-09-09T03:12:56Z")
That actually looks like something someone might propose, or more generally variable-geometry playing fields. ---
**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:** [September 9, 2025, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4939 "2025-09-09T03:26:55Z")
First thought was: what if the left and right edges wrapped around? And sure enough, it’s been proposed: > **[Cylinder chess](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cylinder_chess)** > > Cylinder chess (or cylindrical chess) is a chess variant. The game is played as if the board were a cylinder, with the left side of the board joined to the right side. > The cylindrical board is used in some chess problems. > The game is played as if the left and right sides of the board are connected. When a piece goes off one edge of the board, it reappears from the other edge. For example, it is legal to move a rook from a3 to h3, even if there is a piece on b3, since the rook can move left fr... ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2025, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4940 "2025-09-09T08:15:17Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Why does the lumber industry do that? I gather that due to swelling/shrinkage you’re never going to get anything made of wood to have perfect dimensions; but why get it wrong from the start? The size given is the size immediately after cutting from the tree trunk. After cutting the wood has to be dried out before it’s usable. There is always some shrinkage during the drying. ---
**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:** [September 9, 2025, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4941 "2025-09-09T10:47:59Z")
My understanding is that its not just shrinkage, but also wood lost by planning the boards smooth. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2025, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4942 "2025-09-09T11:57:30Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > it wasn’t until I started writing the comment did I realize that it is actually quite similar to _The Funniest Joke in the World_. Pretty sure the choice of name for that killer BLIT is intentional… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=246) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=248)