# ­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:** 253
**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:** [September 19, 2025, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5043 "2025-09-19T19:58:47Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I’ve also seen zero such evidence. I think the joke is that the evidence doesn’t exclude it. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2025, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5044 "2025-09-19T22:31:36Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > What’s weird to me is how realistically human a stick figure’s private parts look. You have to get re-e-ealy close. Of course, this is from the guy who finds OOTS’ Haley’s bare midriff mildly arousing. ---
**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 19, 2025, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5045 "2025-09-19T22:58:42Z")
I didn’t get that one, either. ---
**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 19, 2025, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5046 "2025-09-19T23:08:35Z")
To be fair, there were some scenes where Burlew did a really great job at making Haley sexy. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2025, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5047 "2025-09-23T21:51:04Z")
> **[Piercing](https://xkcd.com/3145/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/piercing.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/piercing.png) “Some lava around the piercing site is normal, but keep an eye out for spreading earthquakes and eruptive activity that might indicate rifting.” ---
**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 23, 2025, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5048 "2025-09-23T22:35:00Z")
Now is this the Brachistochrone curve for a [Gravity Train](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_train) through the Earth, or is there a better path? ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2025, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5049 "2025-09-24T20:26:39Z")
> **[Fantastic Four](https://xkcd.com/3146/)** It’s been done. > **[Neutron Tide](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutron_Tide)** > > "Neutron Tide" is a short story by British writer Arthur C. Clarke, first published in 1970 in Galaxy Science Fiction. It is among his shortest pieces of writing, consisting solely of a 2-page, detailed description of a futuristic scenario in order to use a pun as a punch-line, a play on the title of "The Star-Spangled Banner", the United States' national anthem. The story was reprinted later in the 1978 Starlord summer special. > A space battleship flies too close to the gravitational field o... ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5050 "2025-09-25T02:05:25Z")
If you’re going to post the link to an xkcd, please also post the link to the image, which produces a larger look here: [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/fantastic_four.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/fantastic_four.png) And the title-text: “One perk of being born at 0.88c is that your birthday is over two days long.” > [@Tatterdemalion](#): > > It’s been done. Different pun, though. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2025, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5051 "2025-09-26T19:25:56Z")
> **[Hiking](https://xkcd.com/3147/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/hiking.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/hiking.png) “Every downhill walk is a waterslide that might have been.” ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2025, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5052 "2025-09-30T04:03:27Z")
> **[100% All Achievements](https://xkcd.com/3148/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/100_all_achievements.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/100_all_achievements.png) “I’m trying to share my footage of the full run to prove it’s not tool-assisted, but the uploader has problems with video lengths of more than a decade.” ---
**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 30, 2025, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5053 "2025-09-30T17:06:15Z")
New “What-if” – Soylent Green is … not sustainable: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/PUtI3xoaHx0/maxresdefault.jpg "Could we survive eating only humans?") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUtI3xoaHx0) Brian ---
**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 30, 2025, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5054 "2025-09-30T17:25:44Z")
You could supply meat as a luxury item for a privileged class, but otherwise whatever meager sources such as plant protein that were available would be better utilized directly. ETA: the video was about a “how long” scenario, not doing without animal protein indefinitely. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2025, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5055 "2025-09-30T17:34:14Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > [xkcd: 100% All Achievements](https://xkcd.com/3148) > [https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/100\_all\_achievements.png](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/100_all_achievements.png) I can’t remember where I read it, but there was a plot point in some story I read years ago in which a perpetual university student would get all expenses paid by a trust fund as long as: (1) he was a student in good standing and; (2) until he graduated—so he was determined to remain a student as long as possible and never complete all of the degree requirements in any one major. As I recall, after many years, the university ultimately awarded him a Ph.D. in General Studies to get rid of him. This story might have been based on a real-life example described here: > **[The Perpetual Student (1908)](https://uselessinformation.org/the-perpetual-student-1908/)** > > Was William Cullen Bryant Kemp required to attend Columbia University for the remainder of his life to avoid losing an inheritance? But as it turns out, the student in this case did not have a contingent trust fund; he just loved going to school and had no need to make a living. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2025, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5056 "2025-09-30T18:17:17Z")
Some people don’t want to graduate because they don’t want to leave school and enter the real world. [![](https://contentassets.amuniversal.com/assets/fc51c480d5600132dfb4005056a9545d) ](https://contentassets.amuniversal.com/assets/fc51c480d5600132dfb4005056a9545d) I knew many students like that. ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2025, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5057 "2025-09-30T18:32:45Z")
Probably this one. > **[Doorways in the Sand](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doorways_in_the_Sand)** > > Doorways in the Sand is a science fiction novel by American writer Roger Zelazny. Featuring both detective fiction and comic elements, it was originally published in serial form in the magazine Analog Science Fiction and Science Fact; the hardcover edition was first published in 1976 and the paperback in 1977. Zelazny wrote the whole story in one draft, with no rewrites, and it subsequently became one of his five favorites among his own work. Doorways in the Sand was nominated for the Nebul A g... ---
**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:** [September 30, 2025, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5058 "2025-09-30T18:35:29Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > I knew many students like that. I _was_ a student like that. ---
**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:** [September 30, 2025, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5059 "2025-09-30T19:44:08Z")
Also Terry Pratchett’s “Moving Pictures.” But you are correct - the story description fits “Doorways” perfectly. ---
**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 30, 2025, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5060 "2025-09-30T20:29:22Z")
I had a roommate one semester who was in year 7 of his 4-year degree. He was milking Mom & Dad for all they were worth. He made the clever play of transferring from a semester-based college to a quarter-based college and then back again a couple years later. Which evaporated a bunch of his course credits due to their lossy conversion factors. His parents ran out of patience during year 8 and told him there was to be no year 9. At least not on their dime. So he transferred to a junior college where tuition was negligible. We stayed in touch for a few years after my own timely graduation. He eventually got a job in one of his study fields. But not nearly the job and career track he might have had if he’d had the degree(s) his efforts might have yielded. If only he’d aimed to get degrees not avoid getting degrees. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2025, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5061 "2025-09-30T21:00:41Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > You could supply meat as a luxury item for a privileged class In [_King Rat_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Rat_(Clavell_novel)), the first book written in what became James Clavell’s Asian Saga series, an American corporal in a Japanese POW camp raises rats to sell for food. > His comrades, though nearly starving themselves, are repelled by the idea of eating [rat meat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_meat), so King comes up with the plan of only selling the meat to officers without telling them the true source. A group of officers who stole money from their underlings are later seen greedily enjoying a meal of what they are told is [mouse deer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesser_mouse-deer) (_rusa tikus_ in Malay), not knowing they are actually eating rat meat. ---
**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 30, 2025, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5062 "2025-09-30T22:32:21Z")
I knew a child prodigy when I was in college, who started taking college classes when she was 7. When I met her, she was 18, and still taking classes. Her plan was to become an expert in many different fields, to hopefully catch interdisciplinary ideas that specialists would miss. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=252) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=254)