# ­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:** 311
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6203 "2026-07-28T17:35:59Z")
Just for added info, Polish notation has the operator first, so ‘+’ means “stand by, numbers are coming, so be ready to add them.” ---
**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 28, 2026, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6204 "2026-07-28T17:39:40Z")
And operator-first notation is incredibly common, even if most programmers don’t think of it that way. Most operators that aren’t built into a programming language are implemented using functions, and most programming languages do functions as function name first, then arguments. E.g., " add(2,2) ". ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6205 "2026-07-28T17:49:42Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > But in the mouseover text, it looks like the ❤ is taking four inputs,“I”, “Notation”, “Polish”, and “Reverse”. Perhaps it should have been I Notation Polish SWAP ❤ Hmm, or perhaps I Notation Polish SWAP ❤ −ROT ---
**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 29, 2026, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6206 "2026-07-29T21:11:19Z")
> **[Vera Rubin Observatory](https://xkcd.com/3278/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/vera_rubin_observatory.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/vera_rubin_observatory.png) > [@](#): > > “'Spurious signals from the kitchen' is harder for an optical telescope than a radio one, but with enough determination and creativity, I believe it's possible.” There’s a lot less absurdity than typical in this one. Most of these are quite plausible. ---
**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 29, 2026, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6207 "2026-07-29T21:16:02Z")
Hmm… Looking over the card, I think the most likely first winner would be row 4, the bar sinister, or column I. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6208 "2026-07-29T23:05:22Z")
Spurious signals from the observatory kitchen actually happened at a radio telescope. AIUI, they happened when the microwave was opened while it was running. Yes, the microwave does shut down when you do that, but it’s not quite an immediate shutdown. The magnetron takes a couple of seconds to actually stop radiating. ---
**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 29, 2026, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6209 "2026-07-29T23:17:27Z")
Lots of things have caused spurious signals at radio telescopes, and lots more would if they hadn’t anticipated them and put in measures to prevent it. In Green Bank, West Virginia, there are no local radio or broadcast TV stations, cars with spark plugs are not allowed in the facility, and the control room for the big telescope needs mesh in the windows or the scope would pick up its own control computers. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6210 "2026-07-29T23:29:37Z")
OK, but the microwave thing actually has a name: > **[Peryton (astronomy)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peryton_(astronomy))** > > In radio astronomy, perytons are short man-made radio signals of a few milliseconds resembling fast radio bursts (FRB). A peryton differs from radio frequency interference by the fact that it is a pulse of several to tens of millisecond duration which sweeps down in frequency. They are further verified by the fact that they occur at the same time in many beams, indicating that they come from Earth, whereas FRBs occur in only one or two of the beams, indicating that they are of galactic origin. \[1... ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6211 "2026-07-30T03:01:58Z")
I didn’t understand many of these, but I did understand, and appreciate, **Free Space**. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6212 "2026-07-30T03:16:39Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Spurious signals from the observatory kitchen actually happened at a radio telescope. The optical version has been observed at least once. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Rj0Tj8dnrYw/hqdefault.jpg "Aurora Borealis?") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rj0Tj8dnrYw) ---
**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 30, 2026, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6213 "2026-07-30T10:52:46Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > The optical version has been observed at least once. At that time of the year, at that part of the world and exclusively in Principal Skinner’s kitchen window? ---
**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 31, 2026, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6214 "2026-07-31T17:12:40Z")
> **[Main Span](https://xkcd.com/3279/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/main_span_2x.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/main_span_2x.png) “Wind stress? Don’t be silly. When has wind stress ever been a problem for a suspension bridge?” ---
**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 31, 2026, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6215 "2026-07-31T17:28:29Z")
I know, I know! Teacher, pick meee! Just replace the balloon with a space elevator and it’s easy. No more wind worries. The extra mass of the bridge just simplifies the anchoring of the space tether to the ground. ---
**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:** [August 1, 2026, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6216 "2026-08-01T13:17:34Z")
Of course, using space-elevator material for the cables would probably also extend the length limit considerably… ---
**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:** [August 1, 2026, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6217 "2026-08-01T15:43:35Z")
It occurs to me: Would this technically be a pontoon bridge? ---
**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:** [August 1, 2026, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6218 "2026-08-01T18:41:40Z")
Hmmm. That is a tough question. Truss bridges can have the truss above or below the payload deck and are still truss bridges. I suppose there’s nothing about a pontoon bridge that says the buoyancy component has to be on the underside. 🤪 It occurred to me just now that if the central balloon is cheaper than the conventional towers near either shore, then why not have zero towers & three balloons? At which point the max length of a suspension bridge becomes “as long as you can afford” without needing any space elevator carbon-nano-unobtanium. And no tricky and dangerous underwater construction either. ---
**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:** [August 1, 2026, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6219 "2026-08-01T19:20:08Z")
And you can pick the thing up and move it wherever you want! ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2026, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6220 "2026-08-01T19:26:07Z")
Or wherever the wind takes it… ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6221 "2026-08-03T23:32:49Z")
> **[Maze](https://xkcd.com/3280/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/maze.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/maze.png) “As a side effect of the research, mice are now the only known animals other than humans to have developed a Backrooms mythology.” ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6222 "2026-08-06T19:44:41Z")
> **[Antiques Roadshow](https://xkcd.com/3281/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/antiques_roadshow.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/antiques_roadshow.png) “The family lore was that we’ve had it ever since it was ejected from a star-forming gas cloud, but it seems more likely that my great-grandparents probably just bought it while on vacation in the galactic thin disk.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=310) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=312)