# ­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:** 56
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2021, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1102 "2021-11-18T03:44:08Z")
> **[Never Told Anyone](https://xkcd.com/2543/)** > > Even if you said you were an employee of the website, if you asked for my password, I'd tell you. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2021, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1103 "2021-11-18T13:14:05Z")
The long con has worked. Now that he has access to her Etsy account, expect every cozy imaginable to show up at her door. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2021, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1104 "2021-11-19T22:37:03Z")
> **[Heart-Stopping Texts](https://xkcd.com/2544/)** > > Was this your car? \[looping 'image loading' animation\] ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2021, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1105 "2021-11-22T22:57:02Z")
> **[Bayes' Theorem](https://xkcd.com/2545/)** > > P((B|A)|(A|B)) represents the probability that you'll mix up the order of the terms when using Bayesian notation. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2021, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1106 "2021-11-22T23:15:03Z")
If you don’t know the chapter is on Bayes’ Theorem, you can use Bayes’ Theorem to determine the probability of that being the case, given the observation of a bunch of questions about false positives. ---
**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:** [November 23, 2021, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1107 "2021-11-23T00:47:54Z")
Well, given a suitable prior, at least. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2021, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1108 "2021-11-26T06:11:56Z")
> **[Fiction vs Nonfiction](https://xkcd.com/2546/)** > > The real challenge is how to file Boba Fett's biography of Doris Kearns Goodwin. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1109 "2021-11-28T04:38:54Z")
> **[Siren](https://xkcd.com/2547/)** > > Directions from CITY OF TROY to ITHACA / Total time: 10y 54d 14h 25m / Warning: Route crosses an international border / route includes capture by the goddess Calypso / route includes a ferry ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1110 "2021-11-30T06:19:13Z")
> **[Awful People](https://xkcd.com/2548/)** > > Hm, this burger place has a couple of good reviews, but LakeSlayer7 says he got food poisoning there and everyone should try this other place down by the lake instead. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2021, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1111 "2021-12-02T17:53:04Z")
> **[Edge Cake](https://xkcd.com/2549/)** > > Every time IERS adds or removes a leap second, they send me a birthday cake out of superstition. ---
**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:** [December 2, 2021, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1112 "2021-12-02T23:36:24Z")
Surely, the North Pole thing couldn’t lead to more than one day of ambiguity, and Leap Year one more than that… ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2021, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1113 "2021-12-03T00:20:22Z")
But if the plane circled the pole a number of times, they could have gone into the past/future by many years… ---
**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:** [December 3, 2021, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1114 "2021-12-03T00:23:17Z")
The Bureau people are just being cautious. I mean, they enjoy digging into the details of a problem, but at some point, they just have to throw up their hands, and give the guy cake. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2021, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1115 "2021-12-03T01:12:20Z")
Some countries were very late in switching from the Julian to Gregorian calendars, though I don’t believe any did the switchover before regular international polar flights. That could lead to another ~2 weeks of ambiguity, though. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2021, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1116 "2021-12-03T04:52:49Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > Some countries were very late in switching from the Julian to Gregorian calendars, though I don’t believe any did the switchover before regular international polar flights. I think you mean “after” there. The most recent Julian-Gregorian switchover I know of was Greece in 1923, but that’s way too early for polar flights. Perhaps one of the countries was still using a non-Roman based calendar – Chinese, Arabic, Hebrew or some such. ETA: Oh, I know, someone (BHG probably) was using the French Revolutionary Calendar. ---
**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:** [December 3, 2021, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1117 "2021-12-03T21:58:09Z")
Now that you mention it, if Emily was born in 1900 (and hence the flight was a zeppelin or something), then the Julian calendar being involved would also mean we could have disagreement about whether it was a leap day or not. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2021, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1118 "2021-12-04T04:10:30Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Julian calendar being involved would also mean we could have disagreement about whether it was a leap day or not. Yes, but the leap days involved were separated by 14 days, so it couldn’t have contributed to the uncertainty in the time of her birth. ---
**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:** [December 4, 2021, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1119 "2021-12-04T15:01:34Z")
Ah, right. The way you’d get the most mileage (er, dayage) out of the disagreement over leap years would be to look at the cumulative effect of many disputed leap years… which is of course the net discrepancy between the two calendars. So the best you can do amounts to just “any time after 1900, when both calendars were still in use”. The most-discrepant calendar would be the Islamic one, which is purely lunar with always 12 lunar months per “lunar year”, which thus has a discrepancy from the tropical year (what most other calendars are based on) of nearly 11 days per year, cumulative (The Chinese and Jewish calendars are also lunar, but with “leap months” inserted every so often to reset to matching the tropical year). And I think that there are still some countries where that’s the official calendar. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2021, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1120 "2021-12-04T23:46:47Z")
[![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/webb.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/webb.png) Each one contains a chocolate shaped like a famous spacecraft and, for the later numbers, a pamphlet on managing anxiety ---
**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:** [December 5, 2021, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1121 "2021-12-05T00:18:21Z")
And since there are probably a lot of folks who don’t get it: The James Webb Space Telescope, formerly the Next Generation Space Telescope, the successor to the Hubble, has a very large mirror made up of a number of smaller mirrors (it’s difficult to make a mirror that large all in one piece, and even more difficult to launch it into space). Presumably, the sub-mirrors are numbered as in the picture. As for the mouseover, scientists are always anxious whenever a mission is launched, because a rocket is basically a giant pile of explosives, and it’s all too common for one to explode in the wrong way and ruin a decade or more of work. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=55) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=57)