# ­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:** 308
**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:** [July 18, 2026, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6143 "2026-07-18T13:59:21Z")
😂 Discourse ---
**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 18, 2026, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6144 "2026-07-18T14:23:13Z")
But if they used a finer mesh of gridlines it could be used to contain the swelling of the seas due to AGW. Which is a large part of the sea level rise that’s currently threatening low-lying land everywhere on Earth. As long as the gridlines are strong enough. AIUI, the pressure of thermally expanding water is rather a lot per unit volume. And there’s rather a lot of volume out there. ---
**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 18, 2026, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6145 "2026-07-18T17:26:16Z")
We are lucky he only drew the version with nine latitude and 18 longitude lines. There are much finer meshed variants. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6146 "2026-07-20T21:29:39Z")
> **[Arthurian Connector](https://xkcd.com/3274/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/arthurian_connector.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/arthurian_connector.png) “Most coffee shops have a descendant of Sophia of Hanover on staff for this, but just as I was about to ask for help, a previously unknown heir of Uther Pendragon who was ordering a muffin tripped on my laptop cord.” ---
**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 20, 2026, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6147 "2026-07-20T21:34:37Z")
Fortunately, the watery tart distribution limits how many actual use these. ---
**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 20, 2026, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6148 "2026-07-20T21:36:16Z")
If it’s the rightful heir to the throne of the _ **Bretons** _, then candidates are going to be very obscure indeed. ---
**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 20, 2026, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6149 "2026-07-20T21:39:49Z")
How many people, these days, aren’t descendants of Sophia of Hanover? ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6150 "2026-07-20T21:41:48Z")
The moistened bint shows up in today’s SMBC, by sort of a coincidence. However, note there were two swords in Authurian legend: Excaliber, distributed by the strange woman lying in the pond, and the Sword in the Stone. They are not the same sword. > **[Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - Sword](https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/sword-3)** > > Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - Sword ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6151 "2026-07-20T21:48:11Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > How many people, these days, aren’t descendants of Sophia of Hanover? Most people, actually. You have to go back more than about 300 years (which is when Sophia lived) before everyone is descended from all the people then who have descendants. ---
**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 20, 2026, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6152 "2026-07-20T22:16:44Z")
**[I’m not.](https://youtu.be/QereR0CViMY?t=28)** ---
**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:** [July 20, 2026, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6153 "2026-07-20T22:18:46Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > The moistened bint shows up in today’s SMBC, by sort of a coincidence. However, note there were two swords in Authurian legend: Excaliber, distributed by the strange woman lying in the pond, and the Sword in the Stone. They are not the same sword. Conflated by several modern reinterpretations of Arthurian myth. ---
**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 20, 2026, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6154 "2026-07-20T22:23:37Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Most people, actually. You have to go back more than about 300 years (which is when Sophia lived) before everyone is descended from all the people then who have descendants. Where you’re descended from everyone, yes. But the upper crust is usually a bit more efficient at spreading their genes around, so from any particular royal, it’s usually easier. Also gets easier when you look, say, on the same continent as the person of interest (or a place mostly settled by people from that continent, like the US). ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6155 "2026-07-20T23:12:42Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Also gets easier when you look, say, on the same continent as the person of interest (or a place mostly settled by people from that continent, like the US). But there’s lots of people in east and southern Asia who almost certainly aren’t descended from Sophia. Even if they have some European ancestry, that doesn’t guarantee it. Forthat matter, there’s undoubtedly many, probably most, South Americans who are also in the Not-Descended category. ---
**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 20, 2026, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6156 "2026-07-20T23:28:14Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > However, note there were two swords in Authurian legend: Excaliber, distributed by the strange woman lying in the pond, and the Sword in the Stone. They are not the same sword. Maybe, maybe not. _Excalibur_ means literally “out of steel”. This could refer to the sword being _pulled_ out of a block (see the XKCD comic). Or, it could refer to the sword being _made_ out of steel. The conflation has been around for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6157 "2026-07-20T23:29:20Z")
But the Sword in the Stone was, as the name indicates, in a block of stone, not steel. ---
**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 20, 2026, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6158 "2026-07-20T23:31:45Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Forthat matter, there’s undoubtedly many, probably most, South Americans who are also in the Not-Descended category. Also most Jews. ---
**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 20, 2026, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6159 "2026-07-20T23:43:10Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > But the Sword in the Stone was, as the name indicates, in a block of stone, not steel. Yes, that is a good point. But on the other hand, a sword being made from steel is not especially noteworthy. ---
**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:** [July 20, 2026, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6160 "2026-07-20T23:45:57Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > How many people, these days, aren’t descendants of Sophia of Hanover? Interesting question. Let’s try a back of the envelope calculation. Sophia had 6 children that lived to their mid 20s or greater. Take 1700 as a start point, her surviving children then aged 26 to 40. Call that generation 1 Assume average 2.5 children per person per generation, and a generation is 25 years. 1725 gen 2 born, about 15 children 1750 gen 3 born, about 38 children 1775 gen 4 born, about 96 children 1800 gen 5 born, about 240 children 1825 gen 6 born, about 600 children 1850 gen 7 born, about 1,500 children 1875 gen 8 born, about 3,750 children 1900 gen 9 born, about 9,375 children 1925 gen 10 born, about 23,438 children (only a few still alive) 1950 gen 11 born, about 58,600 children (estimate 45,000 still alive) 1975 gen 12 born, about 146,500 children (estimate 132,000 still alive) 2000 gen 13 born, about 366,250 children (estimate 360,000 still alive) 2025 gen 14 born, about 915,625 children (Most still alive, I’d hope) Somewhere around 1.5 million living descendants, unless I’ve screwed up the calculation. However, only members of the Church of England are eligible. Many of her children and grandchildren married into European families, and their descendants probably aren’t C of E. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6161 "2026-07-20T23:54:32Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > However, only members of the Church of England are eligible. Many of her children and grandchildren married into European families, and their descendants probably aren’t C of E. I don’t think the magic in the stone cares about parliaments and their rules, if you are a descendant of Uther Pendragon then you can unplug the connector… unless the magic cares about “legitimacy” then probably nobody can at this point. ---
**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:** [July 21, 2026, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6162 "2026-07-21T01:18:52Z")
After a few generations, many of those descendents married each other, and the number of unique new descendents becomes smaller than your estimate. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=307) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=309)