# ­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:** 300
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2026, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5983 "2026-06-06T03:23:10Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > And then you repeat that with the several thousand papers that have been published while you were working your way through the previous papers. Nah. We train an AI to do it. Should be done in no time. ---
**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 7, 2026, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5984 "2026-06-07T13:47:18Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > > [@Chronos](#): > > > > And I think that pencil leads also have additives to make them softer. Clay, I think? > > No, the clay definitely makes them a lot harder. 8B is around 90% graphite, while 2H is around 60% graphite (and 35% clay, 5% wax) Now it occurs to me to wonder just what the H rating of a battery graphite rod is. All I can say for certain is “harder than a standard #2 pencil”. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2026, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5985 "2026-06-09T01:15:57Z")
> **[Nostalgia Content](https://xkcd.com/3256/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/nostalgia_content.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/nostalgia_content.png) “Gen-Z got a chunk of the Carboniferous, and now all their memes are about how pathetic and small today’s dragonflies are.” ---
**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 9, 2026, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5986 "2026-06-09T12:09:22Z")
As best I can Google, “parataxite” is Randall’s coinage, not a real thing. But I did learn about two other useful things: **[Parataxis - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parataxis)** which partly explains certain well known politician’s unexpected rhetorical power. **[Parataxic distortion - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parataxic_distortion)** which mostly explains my erroneous but thankfully brief second marriage. [Insert official timeout for further furious Googling …] Upon further review … It appears Randall meant **[Prototaxites - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prototaxites)**. Which are really cool things; wish we still had them. Oops. ---
**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 9, 2026, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5987 "2026-06-09T12:42:18Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Upon further review … It appears Randall meant **[Prototaxites - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prototaxites)**. Which are really cool things; wish we still had them. Oops. Yeah, those things were so cool back in the 80s. ---
**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 9, 2026, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5988 "2026-06-09T12:48:45Z")
Golf clap! Well played Good Sir! A meta-question: Did Randall make the para/proto substitution intending to trigger his legions of fans to reprise my own voyage of discovery? Or was it a goof? The serendipity runs strong in that one, and as few as his seeming errors are, on closer examination they mostly aren’t error. Second meta-question: If Millennials got the Devonian, and Gen-Z gets the Carboniferous, what should most Dopers, the Boomers and mostly Late Boomers, plus some Gen-X, get? See **[Generation → Western World - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation#Western_world)** and **[Geologic time scale → Modern International Time Scale - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geologic_time_scale#Modern_international_geological_time_scale)** for background info. We’re older than they are, which suggests an earlier period, but we’re also cooler and hipper (net of a few total dipsticks), and IMO most of the neato periods are later. ---
**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:** [June 10, 2026, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5989 "2026-06-10T04:08:18Z")
Silurian, just because I like the way it sounds. ---
**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:** [June 10, 2026, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5990 "2026-06-10T06:31:14Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > A meta-question: Did Randall make the para/proto substitution intending to trigger his legions of fans to reprise my own voyage of discovery? Or was it a goof? It seems he has now changed the text, so probably an error. ---
**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 10, 2026, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5991 "2026-06-10T11:05:05Z")
Damn. I sorta liked the other hypothesis better. But now we know. Thanks for noticing. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5992 "2026-06-11T10:39:50Z")
> **[Beam Pipe](https://xkcd.com/3257/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/beam_pipe.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/beam_pipe.png) “‘If you keep trying to spray your collaborators with the beam when they’re not looking, I’m turning off the ion source and NO one will get to play with the beam!’ --Physics’s mom” ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5993 "2026-06-11T15:38:49Z")
For a second I thought this was going to be about H. Beam Piper… ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2026, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5994 "2026-06-12T22:29:15Z")
> **[Plate Flip](https://xkcd.com/3258/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/plate_flip.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/plate_flip.png) “It’s great for exfoliating your skin, bones, houses, cities, landscape, etc.” ---
**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 12, 2026, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5995 "2026-06-12T22:39:16Z")
They’ll last twice as long if you flip them regularly. 4x as long if you also turn them pole for pole every other time. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2026, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5996 "2026-06-13T02:11:50Z")
Maybe it depends on whether they use natural or synthetic graphite? Pure graphite is pretty soft, though. ---
**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 13, 2026, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5997 "2026-06-13T02:15:29Z")
This is, what, the third or fourth one with the geological real-estate assessor? ---
**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 13, 2026, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5998 "2026-06-13T02:22:37Z")
Plus it’s great for the inner springs. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2026, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5999 "2026-06-16T03:31:37Z")
> **[Tethys](https://xkcd.com/3259/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tethys.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tethys.png) “In order to carry the necessary crafting supplies, they built the ships at 12:1 scale.” ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2026, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6000 "2026-06-17T18:14:41Z")
> **[Messi](https://xkcd.com/3260/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/messi.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/messi.png) “Commentators agree that this will probably be the last World Cup in which Messi faces serious competition.” Another linear extrapolation strip. Like the one about the number of husbands: [xkcd: Extrapolating](https://xkcd.com/605/) ETA: Well, not linear. I just noticed the curved dashed line. Still, the same issue. ---
**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 17, 2026, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6001 "2026-06-17T18:34:24Z")
The other day I watched an interesting YouTube on [how the Fibonacci series was extended](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBupt2Db3Xg) as a function to first the real numbers (specifically Pi) and then the complex plain. The point was made that infinitely many curves could be contrived to fit a set of discrete points like the integers, so extra definitions of what the Fibonacci series properly requires of all candidates were necessary. Extrapolation in this case is the attempt to make a function out of something that fundamentally simply isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2026, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6002 "2026-06-17T23:49:00Z")
It is a perfectly cromulent function; the question is, does its domain include 2040? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=299) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=301)