# ­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:** 94
**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:** [December 9, 2022, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1863 "2022-12-09T14:12:07Z")
Acme Earthquake Seeds, maybe? Used by only the finest coyotes. Other natural disaster initiators are availible. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2022, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1864 "2022-12-09T14:42:59Z")
Volcano seeds? [Maybe here?](https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20141210#.Y5NJQ_fP2Uk) ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2022, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1865 "2022-12-09T19:05:03Z")
Any cat weighing 12 solar masses is going to collapse into a star. I figured the alt text referred to telescope laser compensation systems, that is, astronomers seeing a new cat star in the sky start pointing their laser compensated telescopes at it. Now I wonder what he really meant? ---
**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:** [December 9, 2022, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1866 "2022-12-09T19:14:22Z")
I figured that twelve solar masses was big enough to bend light. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2022, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1867 "2022-12-09T22:26:48Z")
Not just light. Spacetime itself, more likely. > **[Chandrasekhar limit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrasekhar_limit)** > > The Chandrasekhar limit (/tʃʌndrəˈseɪkər/) is the maximum mass of a stable white dwarf star. The currently accepted value of the Chandrasekhar limit is about 1.4 M☉ (2.765×1030 kg). > White dwarfs resist gravitational collapse primarily through electron degeneracy pressure, compared to main sequence stars, which resist collapse through thermal pressure. The Chandrasekhar limit is the mass above which electron degeneracy pressure in the star's core is insufficient to balance the star's own gravita... ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2022, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1868 "2022-12-09T22:32:44Z")
Doesn’t everything with gravity bend both light and spacetime, even if only barely? (By “everything with gravity” I mean planets or bigger.) ---
**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:** [December 9, 2022, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1869 "2022-12-09T22:41:01Z")
You don’t even need to make that caveat. _Anything_ with mass bends light and spacetime, even the tiniest mass. I personally took the line to mean that he was fitting 12 solar masses into the volume of a standard sized cat, which would actually make it far denser than a black hole, which should be more like 15 miles in radius. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2022, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1870 "2022-12-10T04:35:58Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > [xkcd: Mystery Asterisk Destination](https://xkcd.com/2708) > Yeah, but what about the double dagger? It’s past 8:30 pm (PST) on Friday, and this Wednesday strip is still the latest on offer. Is there any way to find out if something’s going on? ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2022, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1871 "2022-12-10T07:40:34Z")
> **[Solar System Model](https://xkcd.com/2709/)** > > The Earth is, on average, located in the habitable zone, but at any given time it has a certain probability of being outside it, which is why life exists on Earth but is mortal. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2022, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1872 "2022-12-13T06:28:40Z")
> **[Hydropower Breakthrough](https://xkcd.com/2710/)** > > A hydroelectric dam is also known as a heavy water reactor. One ripped from the headlines… ---
**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 13, 2022, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1873 "2022-12-13T22:52:40Z")
That’s the advantage of writing your own webcomic, instead of working for a syndicate. Your lead time is whatever you want it to be, so you can react instantly to current events. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2022, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1874 "2022-12-15T07:49:21Z")
> **[Optimal Bowling](https://xkcd.com/2711/)** > > If you want to bowl a strike, the optimal place is almost certainly inside a bowling alley, although with a little luck any establishment uphill from one could also work. ---
**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:** [December 15, 2022, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1875 "2022-12-15T23:08:27Z")
Sounds like _The Sorcerer’s Apprentice_. ---
**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:** [December 15, 2022, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1876 "2022-12-15T23:28:19Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > [xkcd: Optimal Bowling](https://xkcd.com/2711) I question the data. This shows equipment damage with a mass around 107 to 108 kg. By 102 kg, you’re going to have trouble rolling it with any speed, and its stationary mass will damage the floor long before 107 kg. ---
**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 15, 2022, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1877 "2022-12-15T23:36:25Z")
He’s optimizing around the previously-found optima for the other parameters. Having found an optimum speed of approximately 10 m/s, he’s continuing to use that value. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2022, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1878 "2022-12-17T04:04:35Z")
> **[Gravity](https://xkcd.com/2712/)** > > It's a long way down. Where’s the turtles? ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2022, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1879 "2022-12-17T11:46:20Z")
So far I’ve discovered there’s more than one body in this system, and your spaceship changes if you hit that cannonball that’s in mid-flight. There’s probably a ton more spoilers on the explainxkcd page by now. ---
**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 17, 2022, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1880 "2022-12-17T13:15:13Z")
And so far I’ve discovered that this page causes a really nasty crash if you try to view it in Firefox. It’s particularly nasty because, when you re-open Firefox, it doesn’t ask you if you want to restore all of your pages, so unless you’re very quick to hit the stop button at just the right time, it instantly re-crashes every time you restart. Playing around with it in Chrome, I’ve also discovered that some objects in the system seem to have negative gravity, and will repel you. And there seem to be some weird coordinate singularities, where if you pass them the whole screen suddenly pivots around. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2022, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1881 "2022-12-17T13:41:39Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And so far I’ve discovered that this page causes a really nasty crash if you try to view it in Firefox To be fair, he has this disclaimer at the bottom of the page: > [xkcd.com](http://xkcd.com) is best viewed with Netscape Navigator 4.0 or below on a Pentium 3±1 emulated in Javascript on an Apple IIGS at a screen resolution of 1024x1. Please enable your ad blockers, disable high-heat drying, and remove your device from Airplane Mode and set it to Boat Mode. For security reasons, please leave caps lock on while browsing. ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2022, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1882 "2022-12-17T15:45:20Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And so far I’ve discovered that this page causes a really nasty crash if you try to view it in Firefox. It’s particularly nasty because, when you re-open Firefox, it doesn’t ask you if you want to restore all of your pages, so unless you’re very quick to hit the stop button at just the right time, it instantly re-crashes every time you restart. I’ve run it for 5 minutes at a time in Firefox v.107 without any issues. It doesn’t even use all that much RAM or CPU. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=93) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=95)