# ­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:** 303
**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 28, 2026, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6043 "2026-06-28T16:57:58Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > if it happened once accidentally, it can happen again intentionally In theory, yes. In practice, according to Douglas Adams… > Wowbagger The Infinitely Prolonged was - indeed, is- one of the Universe’s very small number of immortal beings. > > Most of those who are born immortal instinctively know how to cope with it, but Wowbagger was not one of them. Indeed, he had come to hate them, the load of serene bastards. He had his immortaility inadvertantly thrust upon him by an unfortunate accident with an irrational particle accelerator, a liquid lunch, and a pair of rubber bands. The precise details are not important because **no one has ever managed to duplicate the exact circumstances under which it happened, and many people have ended up looking very silly, or dead, or both, trying**. [bolding mine] ---
**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:** [June 28, 2026, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6044 "2026-06-28T18:10:59Z")
I was using “rotation” to mean just ordinary rotation in 3D space, like what happens when you turn around and walk in a different direction. Changing the chirality of proteins seems like it would be a mirror reflection, which would (perhaps?) change matter into antimatter. The fact that it also changes protein chirality would then be the least of your worries. ---
**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 28, 2026, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6045 "2026-06-28T18:20:56Z")
Of course, now that I think about it, if the chirality-flip is reproducible, you could just do it again to yourself. But then, there are different levels of reproducibility. My main character in a superhero video game got his powers by being briefly separated from the timestream. He thinks he could reproduce the event… except that any time it happens, a whole bunch of variables like chirality and charge take on random values, and he just got lucky the first time and hit on the one and only chance that left him alive, so he’s not willing to risk it again. ---
**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 28, 2026, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6046 "2026-06-28T22:58:23Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > I was using “rotation” to mean just ordinary rotation in 3D space, like what happens when you turn around and walk in a different direction. Changing the chirality of proteins seems like it would be a mirror reflection, IANAPhysicist, but I thought a rotation in a higher dimension could alter CPT. > [@Chronos](#): > > But then, there are different levels of reproducibility. > **[Technical Error](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_Error)** > > "Technical Error" is a science fiction short story by English writer Arthur C. Clarke. It was published in 1950 under the title "The Reversed Man" and appeared again in Clarke's collection of short stories Reach for Tomorrow, in 1956. > The first power plant to exploit superconductivity has been built, and technician Richard Nelson is "laterally inverted" following an accidental short-circuit while he is working inside the massive stator of the disassembled generator. Nelson finds himself wearin... ---
**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:** [June 28, 2026, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6047 "2026-06-28T23:40:42Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > IANAPhysicist, but I thought a rotation in a higher dimension could alter CPT. Rotation in a higher dimension can be the same as mirror reflection, just like you can mirror reflect a 2-dimensional drawing on a (transparent) piece of paper by turning it over in 3 dimensions. ---
**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 29, 2026, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6048 "2026-06-29T00:14:19Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > > [@markn\_1](#): > > > > IANAPhysicist, but I thought a rotation in a higher dimension could alter CPT. Well, maybe? You can definitely get a parity inversion that way. What it would do to C or T? Well, if you have any higher-dimensional rotators we could borrow, we’ll let you know. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2026, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6049 "2026-06-29T23:53:29Z")
> **[Asteroid Threat](https://xkcd.com/3265/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/asteroid_threat.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/asteroid_threat.png) “Paleontologists have long worried that the dinosaurs blasted into space 66 million years ago will one day complete their orbits and fall back 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:** [June 30, 2026, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6050 "2026-06-30T02:28:54Z")
I thought I read somewhere that 65 million years ago the Deccan Traps were opposite the impact site, leading some to speculate that the impact might have somehow caused those eruptions. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2026, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6051 "2026-06-30T02:37:19Z")
The Deccan Traps and Chicxulub weren’t exactly opposite at that time, but somewhat close. I’m not exactly sure how close, since the two have moved around a bit in the last 65 Myears. But the Traps were errupting before the impact, so at most, it caused the erruptions to increase. And I believe there was an increase in lava output at roughly that time, but proving causation is difficult. ---
**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 30, 2026, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6052 "2026-06-30T02:38:50Z")
Single-panel cartoon from a few decades back: on a barren plain, several giant stone pairs of feet are sticking up out of the ground as three explorers look on. “According to my map, we’re at the exact opposite side of the Earth from Easter Island…” ---
**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 30, 2026, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6053 "2026-06-30T09:24:57Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > the exact opposite side of the Earth from Easter Island I think this is in Rajasthan, India. Somebody should take a look. Or set up some giant feet pointing upwards as a fun project. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6054 "2026-07-02T02:33:55Z")
> **[Holes](https://xkcd.com/3266/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/holes.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/holes.png) “If you’re thinking ‘Wait, a giant crystal cave in Mexico? What’s that?’ then I’m SO excited for the image search you’re about to do.” ---
**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:** [July 2, 2026, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6055 "2026-07-02T02:51:58Z")
Better resolution: [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/holes_large.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/holes_large.png) ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6056 "2026-07-02T02:55:52Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > “If you’re thinking ‘Wait, a giant crystal cave in Mexico? What’s that?’ then I’m SO excited for the image search you’re about to do.” I did indeed search. It is impressive. ---
**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:** [July 2, 2026, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6057 "2026-07-02T03:00:32Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > “…I’m SO excited for the image search you’re about to do.” [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/ten_thousand_2x.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/ten_thousand_2x.png) ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6058 "2026-07-02T03:15:01Z")
The only ones I’ve been to are the Bingham Canyon Mine and the Ryfylke Tunnel (and the Hudson River, I guess). ---
**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:** [July 2, 2026, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6059 "2026-07-02T05:27:20Z")
I looked up the “oops” entries: - The Retsof (not Restof) Mine collapsed in 1994 causing some pretty awful environmental damage to the ground water aquifer. - In 1980, an oil rig in Louisiana accidentally drilled into an underground salt mine, causing Lake Peigneur to drain into the mine and then refill with saltwater from the Gulf. The whirlpool as the lake drained sucked in the oil rig, barges and land. The formerly shallow freshwater lake became a 200-foot deep saltwater lake. - The Pantai Remis Mine was an open tin mine where a retaining wall separating it from the Strait of Malacca collapsed, causing it violently flood. ---
**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:** [July 2, 2026, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6060 "2026-07-02T05:59:37Z")
I knew about the Cristal Cave, but I am stunned about the depth of the sediments below Lake Baikal. ---
**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:** [July 2, 2026, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6061 "2026-07-02T12:02:38Z")
Here we all go: **[Cave of the Crystals - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_the_Crystals)** and **[Cave of the Crystals - Google Image Search](https://www.google.com/search?q=cave+of+the+crystals&hl=en&source=hp&oq=cave+of+the+crystals&sclient=img&udm=2)**. Pretty darn impressive. Although that image search includes a few from other caverns. ---
**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:** [July 2, 2026, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6062 "2026-07-02T13:05:55Z")
Unfortunately, the Mexican crystal cave is super hot (triple digits Fahrenheit), so it’s no good for live tourism. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=302) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=304)