# ­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:** 248
**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:** [September 9, 2025, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4943 "2025-09-09T12:34:27Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > That actually looks like something someone might propose, or more generally variable-geometry playing fields. Star Trek 3D chess has those floating 4 square mini-boards which are moveable. ---
**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:** [September 9, 2025, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4944 "2025-09-09T19:57:30Z")
Thinking about the chess on a sliding number puzzle game … Would a turn consist of moving a piece OR moving a tile never both, or should it be AND where both are required, or should it be one or both at player’s choice? For any of the both options, which comes first: piece, tile, or player’s choice? How do pieces move across the empty space? As if isn’t there, or is it an impenetrable obstacle that not even a knight can overfly on the way to a real space? There are a lot of rabbit holes here if somebody wanted to seriously noodle on game play. Chess. With just a hint of Calvinball. 🤪 ---
**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, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4945 "2025-09-09T20:39:10Z")
Another _What If_ animation. I’ve occasionally brought up thought experiments like “what if you had a gram of electrons in one place?” The answer is that bad things happen. But… what if the _entire Moon_ were made of electrons? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/DiWFXv9N0Vs/maxresdefault.jpg "What if the Moon were made entirely of electrons?") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiWFXv9N0Vs) ---
**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:** [September 9, 2025, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4946 "2025-09-09T21:34:08Z")
Damn I wish he would still write anything long form. I _really_ don’t like vids. ---
**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 9, 2025, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4947 "2025-09-09T22:43:53Z")
As far as I know, all his videos are dramatizations of long form text entries. This is the one about the electron moon. > **[Proton Earth, Electron Moon](https://what-if.xkcd.com/140/)** ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2025, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4948 "2025-09-09T22:46:37Z")
Most of his _What If_ articles he writes now, he saves them for his books. Some of the videos have been made from articles that were only in the books, never on the website. ---
**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:** [September 9, 2025, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4949 "2025-09-09T22:54:02Z")
Thanks. I’ve got a couple of the books. This is his job and he needs to make a living at it. But somehow society can run advertising supported video streaming but not advertising-supported text webpages? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2025, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4950 "2025-09-09T23:45:46Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > This is the one about the electron moon. > > [Proton Earth, Electron Moon](https://what-if.xkcd.com/140/) > [@](#): > > As Dr. Keeler put it, “Nobody likes a naked singularity.” Put some pants on, for cripes sakes! ---
**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, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4951 "2025-09-09T23:53:10Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > but not advertising-supported text webpages It can. It’s just that the pages would be like _What if I had a Coca-Cola Zero Sugar X Star Wars BB8 Collectible Bottle, except filled with electrons?_. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4952 "2025-09-11T04:02:43Z")
> **[Biology Department](https://xkcd.com/3140/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/biology_department.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/biology_department.png) “Welcome to the Linguistics Department - It has been [2] [DAYS] since someone noticed that the Biology Department sign has a one-day-long singular/plural disagreement after it resets.” ---
**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:** [September 11, 2025, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4953 "2025-09-11T09:59:21Z")
COMPUTER SCIENCE DEPARTMENT: It’s been \[4d09h24m33s]\ since we noticed that the Linguistics Department’s sign is incorrect a significant fraction of every day unless they roll over the days number at local midnight; which they do not. The Biology Department suffers that same bug, but at a different time of day. We can hardly wait to see what happens when DST ends. ---
**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:** [September 11, 2025, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4954 "2025-09-11T11:05:47Z")
Would the # of days roll over at midnight, or at the time of the occurrence? Brian ---
**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 11, 2025, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4955 "2025-09-11T15:01:08Z")
My own personal opinion: The day of the incident is day zero. Day one starts at the following midnight. At the end of day one, the next midnight, you can put up the sign “1 day since [incident]” ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4956 "2025-09-11T15:18:54Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > COMPUTER SCIENCE DEPARTMENT: It’s been [4d09h24m33s]\ since we noticed that the Linguistics Department’s sign is incorrect a significant fraction of every day unless they roll over the days number at local midnight; which they do not. The Biology Department suffers that same bug, but at a different time of day. LINGUISTICS DEPARTMENT addendum: It’s been [5][DAYS] since we had an argument about whether the word “days” in the Computer Science Department sign should have an apostrophe or not. ---
**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:** [September 11, 2025, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4957 "2025-09-11T16:30:45Z")
LITERATURE DEPARTMENT: It has been [40,000] [DAYS] since Franz Kafka did a better job of that than the Biology Department ever will. ---
**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:** [September 13, 2025, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4958 "2025-09-13T01:05:26Z")
Anyone else notice that there’s only hooks for one digit on the sign? ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4959 "2025-09-13T01:44:16Z")
I mean, you could have number placards with two-digit (and perhaps even three-digit, if you use a narrow font) numbers. But honestly, one digit is probably all they’ll ever need. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4960 "2025-09-13T05:09:46Z")
> **[Mantle Model](https://xkcd.com/3141/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/mantle_model.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/mantle_model.png) “Mantle plumes explain Hawaii, Yellowstone, Iceland, the East African Rift, the Adirondack uplift, the Permian extinction, the decline of Rome, the DB Cooper hijacking, and the balrog in Moria. Those little hills of sand in your yard are caused by antle plumes.” ---
**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 13, 2025, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4961 "2025-09-13T13:06:41Z")
The end of that is actually one of my nightmares - that somewhere, somewhen, a universe-destroying event occurred that’s expanding outward at the speed of light, and one day, with no warning whatsoever (because how can there be?), we’ll all simply pop out of existence, and there’s nothing we can possibly do about it. ---
**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:** [September 13, 2025, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4962 "2025-09-13T13:54:22Z")
OTOH there’s also this POV … > [@Amusing Signs](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-signs/997074/641): > > A couple weeks ago I saw something on the back of a car that looked from a distance like a campaign bumper sticker. Background was three wide horizontal stripes in bright blue / red / blue pattern. The writing was white letters and included some 5-pointed stars. So far so ordinary. But as I got closer I saw it said GIANT METEOR \*\*\*\*\* 2024 \*\*\*\*\* Just End it Already I’m sure lots of us can get into that sentiment. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=247) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=249)