# ­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:** 316
**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:** [September 1, 2026, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6303 "2026-09-01T01:06:22Z")
> **[Geology Class](https://xkcd.com/3292/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/geology_class.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/geology_class.png) > [@](#): > > “The rise of AI review bombing tools threatens to take away a crucial source of experience for geology undergraduates.” ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2026, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6304 "2026-09-01T08:11:01Z")
That got me to thinking - as a geologist, I don’t think I’ve _ever_ encountered where anyone dug their own exposure _just_ for looking at the geology. _Drilling_, sure, but cuts? You wait for _other_ people to build roads, mines, quarries, tunnels and work with those. In archaeology one digs all the time, ditto palaeontology, but not pure geology. ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2026, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6305 "2026-09-01T12:19:16Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > as a geologist, I don’t think I’ve _ever_ encountered where anyone dug their own exposure _just_ for looking at the geology. Wouldn’t digging require a geologist to admit they had a preference for the rocks underneath over the rocks on the top? Seems unethical ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2026, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6306 "2026-09-01T12:48:20Z")
Oh, no, just removing the soil. We don’t care about that - we’re not [_pedos_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedology), after all. ---
**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:** [September 1, 2026, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6307 "2026-09-01T12:57:17Z")
You should be stoned for that. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2026, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6308 "2026-09-01T12:59:13Z")
Who’s to say he isn’t? ---
**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:** [September 1, 2026, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6309 "2026-09-01T13:07:11Z")
That’s a rock-solid conclusion. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2026, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6310 "2026-09-01T16:10:07Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > You should be stoned for that. That’s basalt with a deadly weapon. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6311 "2026-09-02T00:00:28Z")
Now, now, let’s be gneiss to each other here! ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6312 "2026-09-02T00:09:51Z")
Gneiss or dirty talk … ? ---
**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:** [September 2, 2026, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6313 "2026-09-02T01:13:52Z")
Per “Science Made Stupid” by Tom Weller (1985) [![](https://html.scribdassets.com/i8jk78qoa2awc/images/34-47f6484756.jpg) ](https://html.scribdassets.com/i8jk78qoa2awc/images/34-47f6484756.jpg) ---
**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:** [September 2, 2026, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6314 "2026-09-02T01:23:14Z")
Whoa, and tomorrow somebody will fail geology for not knowing about metaphoric rocks and travestine… ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6315 "2026-09-02T02:50:45Z")
All I can say is that it went to schist pretty suddenly. ---
**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:** [September 2, 2026, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6316 "2026-09-02T10:01:59Z")
Great cite. In 1985 people would know that was BS written for humor. Here in 2026 if that gets any publicty I expect it will be in a curriculum somewhere in the US within a couple years. Satire is dead; our timeline merged with the all satire is all truth all the time timeline ~20 years ago. We are so doomed. ---
**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:** [September 2, 2026, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6317 "2026-09-02T11:30:34Z")
I think that even today, the rose in a bud vase, resting on the “mantle” is kinda a clue. 😆 ---
**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:** [September 2, 2026, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6318 "2026-09-02T12:56:50Z")
I do wonder if “sodomite” is a rock found on the shores of the Dead Sea. ---
**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:** [September 2, 2026, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6319 "2026-09-02T13:13:10Z")
It _does have_ a high salt content. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6320 "2026-09-02T21:54:20Z")
> **[Handedness](https://xkcd.com/3293/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/handedness.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/handedness.png) “A ‘left-handed specialist’ is a physicist who studies the weak interaction.” ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2026, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6321 "2026-09-04T16:23:37Z")
> **[Asteroid Mission](https://xkcd.com/3294/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/asteroid_mission.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/asteroid_mission.png) “Lander, this is Houston. There’s been a request that you turn clipping back on and instead set the mass to 1kg. The theorists believe that will be pretty funny.” ---
**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:** [September 4, 2026, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/6322 "2026-09-04T16:55:39Z")
For those lost, “noclip” is a video game cheat code that allows objects (like asteroids) to pass through other solid objects (like walls or Earth). Setting the mass to 1 kg…I guess that’s funny because it won’t do much damage? I don’t get that part. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=315) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=317)