# ­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:** 7
**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 8, 2020, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/121 "2020-08-08T22:38:32Z")
I’d wield an integral mostly like a staff, and you get the most effect out of those by sliding one hand along the shaft. The closed circle would get in the way of that, so I’d prefer an open integral. ---
**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 9, 2020, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/122 "2020-08-09T00:18:25Z")
Yeah. Hook that bad boy behind an ankle & pull; the opponent’s on the ground. Then wield it like an axe and drive the hook on the business end into their head. The closed integral circle is just weight and obstacle to wielding this long-pole weapon. Ref the original comic I do think a treble clef would be a good shield or maybe even, like nun-chucks, something you can get rotating as a dynamic shield to deflect incoming spear / swords. But it’s not an attacking weapon; way too much redundant weight. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2020, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/123 "2020-08-11T08:10:59Z")
> **[26-Second Pulse](https://xkcd.com/2344/)** > > There are some papers arguing that there's a volcanic component, but I personally think they're just feeling guilty and trying to cover the trail. It could be someone (the giant?) reciting the alphabet, one letter/second and then jumping when they get to Z. Further research needed. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/124 "2020-08-13T03:57:49Z")
> **[Wish on a Shooting Star](https://xkcd.com/2345/)** > > Congratulations to whoever wished for revenge on a forest near the Tunguska River, a 1980 Chevy Malibu in Peekskill NY, Alabama resident Ann Hodges, every building in Chelyabinsk with glass windows, and the non-avian dinosaurs. ---
**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:** [August 13, 2020, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/125 "2020-08-13T13:01:21Z")
> [@XKCD mouseover text](#): > > Congratulations to whoever wished for revenge on a forest near the Tunguska River, a 1980 Chevy Malibu in Peekskill NY, Alabama resident Ann Hodges, every building in Chelyabinsk with glass windows, and the non-avian dinosaurs. They know what they did! ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2020, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/126 "2020-08-15T00:39:44Z")
> **[COVID Risk Comfort Zone](https://xkcd.com/2346/)** > > I'm like a vampire, except I'm not crossing that threshold even if you invite me. I don’t want to get a virus in my spreadsheet. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/127 "2020-08-19T00:57:20Z")
> **[Dependency](https://xkcd.com/2347/)** > > Someday ImageMagick will finally break for good and we'll have a long period of scrambling as we try to reassemble civilization from the rubble. ---
**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:** [August 19, 2020, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/128 "2020-08-19T22:06:54Z")
> **[Boat Puzzle](https://xkcd.com/2348/)** > > 'No, my cabbage moths have already started laying eggs in them! Send the trolley into the river!' 'No, the sailing wolf will steal the boat to rescue them!' ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/129 "2020-08-19T22:26:29Z")
“Send the trolley over the bridge.” “But it takes 10 minutes to cross that bridge!” “That’s strange. I can cross it in 2 minutes.” ---
**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:** [August 19, 2020, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/130 "2020-08-19T22:56:47Z")
“Just put the trolley on a treadmill.” “OK, the treadmill is behind one of these three doors.” ---
**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 19, 2020, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/131 "2020-08-19T23:47:33Z")
Of course, absent the trolley, there’s a simple solution available starting in panel 2. These things only eat each other when unsupervised, and so once you have three people present, you just need to keep one on each bank and one in the boat, and then take the cargo across in whatever order you choose. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/132 "2020-08-20T00:02:49Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Of course, absent the trolley, there’s a simple solution available starting in panel 2. All right, who let this guy with the logical, simple solution in here? ---
**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 20, 2020, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/133 "2020-08-20T12:32:23Z")
That reminds me of one of my\* old sayings in IT: Any sufficiently complex problem statement affords a trivial solution which isn’t what the business users want. IOW: Requirements suck! Always have, always will. Godel proved it; I believe it; and that settles it. Bravo @Chronos! * * * \* I'm not claiming originality; just claiming use. ---
**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:** [August 20, 2020, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/134 "2020-08-20T14:05:48Z")
If the boat can’t carry a person, wolf, goat, and cabbage together, then I’m not sure you can fit anything more than a cabbage in the boat if you also have two people in it. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/135 "2020-08-20T14:15:24Z")
Perhaps the cartoonist for the Telegraph reads xkcd. [![](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2020/08/19/BOB200820_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqZpU5gVubpbxv1jqCXlzJreaD42_m2-pR0gKHCq3FeYY.jpg) ](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2020/08/19/BOB200820_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqZpU5gVubpbxv1jqCXlzJreaD42_m2-pR0gKHCq3FeYY.jpg) That’s about the grades fiasco in the UK: > [@Can someone explain the A Level and GCSE scandal in the U.K.?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-the-a-level-and-gcse-scandal-in-the-u-k/918325): > > I understand what the tests are from a previous GQ thread, but what is the current scandal all about? It seems like every news story starts in the middle and assumes I already know the background. Did the scoring system change? Some sort of weird Covid adjustment? ---
**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 20, 2020, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/136 "2020-08-20T14:33:39Z")
For those of us who don’t recognize British public figures by caricature, do the farmer and the fox there represent specific individuals? ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/137 "2020-08-20T14:39:33Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > do the farmer and the fox there represent specific individuals? Farmer = Boris Johnson Fox = Gavin Williamson, Education Secretary - there have been widespread calls, even from his own party, that he should be fired (given the sack), but Boris Johnson is backing him. ---
**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 20, 2020, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/138 "2020-08-20T15:06:01Z")
That’s a great cartoon. The Brits have such a better tradition of intelligent lampooning than does the US. I didn’t recognize the face on the fox, but it was obvious from context exactly who he was and what was happening. It helps I read a lot of British writing & get many British idioms. ---
**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 20, 2020, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/139 "2020-08-20T20:46:18Z")
“Get the sack” is understood in American English, too (maybe not the most common expression for being kicked out of a job, but enough to make the pun work). ---
**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:** [August 21, 2020, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/140 "2020-08-21T15:31:49Z")
> **[Rabbit Introduction](https://xkcd.com/2349/)** > > Washington state is seeing great success with reintroducing the Columbia River Basin subpopulation. We cannot allow them to further widen the interstate bun gap. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=8)