# ­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:** 304
**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:** [July 2, 2026, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6063 "2026-07-02T13:18:53Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > I looked up the “oops” entries: I learnt about these on [Geo Rutherford’s](https://www.georutherford.com/) Spooky Lake Month series. These are a fun (and educational) watch. > [@Chronos](#): > > Unfortunately, the Mexican crystal cave is super hot (triple digits Fahrenheit), so it’s no good for live tourism. Unfortunately for us. Very fortunate to the crystals themselves, as tourism would likely end up destroying them. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6064 "2026-07-02T13:28:24Z")
I don’t want to be a buzzkill, but I often think of how I would describe todays technology to my wife, who died over 30 years ago. How would she take me saying I’m going to take my phone out of my pocket to take a picture and send it to my friends. Or, let me find a restaurant on my phone and have it direct us to it. What do you mean, a ‘phone in your pocket’, that takes picture? ---
**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, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6065 "2026-07-02T13:37:44Z")
And that just barely scratches the surface. She almost would have lived to the point of seeing pocket phones with cameras. But that’s still a far cry from a complete computer in your pocket, and the Internet as a whole was only just barely getting started in her day. ---
**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:** [July 2, 2026, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6066 "2026-07-02T13:54:24Z")
Myself, I’ve been a science fiction fan all my life, so once I got past the terminology, I’d have no problem understanding the concept of networked, pocket-sized computers 30 years ago; I’d probably be disappointed that they haven’t yet figured out a way to connect them directly to our brains. Just say “We’re one step before cyborgs” and I’d get it right away. ---
**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:** [July 2, 2026, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6067 "2026-07-02T14:12:13Z")
You want AI, Google, data mining, spambots and phishing scams to have direct access to your brain?? ---
**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:** [July 2, 2026, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6068 "2026-07-02T14:15:54Z")
No, but 1996 me wouldn’t have known about those. ---
**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:** [July 2, 2026, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6069 "2026-07-02T14:19:59Z")
Someone should do a parody of the Borg as they would be if the collective was based on our actual Internet. ---
**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, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6070 "2026-07-02T14:28:52Z")
Sounds a lot like MAGA. An army of shambling brainwashed clones. ---
**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:** [July 2, 2026, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6071 "2026-07-02T15:11:51Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > I knew about the Cristal Cave, but I am stunned about the depth of the sediments below Lake Baikal. Lake Baikal is fascinating. It’s where the Amur subcontinent is splitting off from the rest of Asia. The depth is basically “all the way” through the crust. It might be a consequence of the Indian subcontinent collision. Something like one fifth of all the world’s fresh water is in Lake Baikal > **[Amur plate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amur_plate)** > > The Amur plate (or Amurian plate; also occasionally referred to as the China plate, not to be confused with the Yangtze plate)\[citation needed\] is a minor tectonic plate in the northern and eastern hemispheres. > The Amurian Plate is named after the Amur River, which forms the border between the Russian Far East and Northeast China. > It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Eurasian plate, on the east by the Okhotsk plate, to the southeast by the Philippine Sea plate along the Suruga ... I’d love to go visit it if weren’t in a politically problematic area. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6072 "2026-07-02T15:29:27Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > Something like one fifth of all the world’s fresh water is in Lake Baikal So what happens when the plates split further and the ocean comes in? ---
**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, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6073 "2026-07-02T15:30:03Z")
I went there with the trans-siberian railway 25 years ago, in Putin’s first year, when the Kursk sank. It was fascinating. Not only in positive ways, and seeing what the country has become today, I see many things in a different light. I will never go back there, but the memories are interesting. Getting into an internet café in the middle of nowhere and being able to read the _El País_ blew my mind. > [@thorny\_locust](#): > > So what happens when the plates split further and the ocean comes in? The only freshwater seals in the world will become seawater seals again. ---
**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:** [July 2, 2026, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6074 "2026-07-02T16:11:24Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > So what happens when the plates split further and the ocean comes in? Depends on the details. The current lake surface is about 1500 ft above sea level. It might be not so much the ocean comes in, but the lake goes out. Compare to the Great Lakes of North America. Lake Baikal would become a watershed with multiple smaller lakes that eventually drain into the ocean. The fresh water species would adapt to smaller bodies of water. If the lake surface reaches sea level, so that there’s two-way interchange of water, the “lake” would become a sea, comparable to the Red Sea. But there’ll still be freshwater watersheds that could support freshwater species. But the interconnection among the watersheds will be more limited, since there wouldn’t be a lake directly connecting them. I think a more likely scenario for Lake Baikal to become salty is that elevation changes cut off its outflow to the ocean. That is, it becomes an endorheic basin, which usually leads to increased salinity. There are multiple salt lakes in Asia like this. [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d5/Yeniseirivermap.png/960px-Yeniseirivermap.png) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d5/Yeniseirivermap.png/960px-Yeniseirivermap.png) ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2026, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6075 "2026-07-06T06:31:03Z")
> **[Types of Tornado Alert](https://xkcd.com/3267/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/types_of_tornado_alert.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/types_of_tornado_alert.png) “I hate the unearthly sound my phone makes when the weather service issues a tornado harbinger.” ---
**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 6, 2026, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6076 "2026-07-06T12:50:51Z")
Of course that xkcd immediately brings to mind this one I’ve always enjoyed: [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tornadoguard.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tornadoguard.png) from **[xkcd: TornadoGuard](https://xkcd.com/937/)** ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2026, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6077 "2026-07-06T13:36:14Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > Depends on the details. Thanks for very informative post! ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2026, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6078 "2026-07-06T23:32:44Z")
> **[Offside](https://xkcd.com/3268/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/offside.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/offside.png) “The arbiter gave my knight a red card for capturing with cleats up :(” ---
**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 6, 2026, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6079 "2026-07-06T23:36:48Z")
_Somebody_ is pissed about that game not-winning not-goal in extra time a few days ago. Croatia IIRC? ---
**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:** [July 7, 2026, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6080 "2026-07-07T01:27:26Z")
The last move must have been White moving his rook, so Black should have captured White’s queen with his a4 bishop on the previous move. ---
**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:** [July 7, 2026, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6081 "2026-07-07T02:06:54Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Croatia IIRC? You mean that team whose uniform looks like a chess board? ---
**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 7, 2026, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6082 "2026-07-07T11:45:34Z")
That’s what I think I remember, yes. And their red and white checkerboard clad fans going wild when they scored then being somewhere between crestfallen, bereaved, and furious when the goal was overturned. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=303) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=305)