xkcd presents "What If?" 2: Electric Boogaloo

[Bob Schroeck]

Yee-hah! There's nothing like some good ol' parathermonuclear action!
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[robkelk]

"That's enough to tell us that we're going to have a hard time catching up with the Sun by eating more burgers."
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Bob Schroeck]

http://universesandbox.com/Universe Sandbox[/link

Oh, dear god, I want that.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[robkelk]

"I usually steer clear of experimental science in these articles, but am willing to make an exception when it involves eating a bunch of pizza."

Also, don't look at the mouseover text for the wing shape comparison chart until after you've read the entire chart.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[robkelk]

Column #150! (Obviously, he's got a big typewriter...)

Article: "That region has a name, by the way—it's called Alexander's dark band."
Image: Alexander's Dark Band, singing a song about rainbows
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Niteflier]

http://what-if.xkcd.com/151/]There are two numbers: 'Zero' and 'Anything that overflows your data type'.

Lets talk about fireflies and the black holes they create.

[robkelk]

"Any number you can fit on a whiteboard basically rounds down to zero."

"Technically, by the IAU definition, it's not a planet."
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[robkelk]

"All in all, the Salton Sea is a mess—and Nick wants to make another one."

With a close second to the image text "If you didn't want to read a bunch of paragraphs about this kind of trivia, you should find an article by someone who DIDN'T read the 1989 Guinness Book of World Records cover to cover as a kid."
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[robkelk]

EDIT: This article was pulled for revision.

"If you find a peptide containing a longer word, you could be eligible for a Nobel Prize—but only in the sense that anyone who's not dead is technically eligible."

Also:

"You know half those reviews are paid for by Big Amino Acid."

"We all like Julie Andrews, so we usually allow "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious." [Holy crap, I spelled that right on my first try.]"
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Black Aeronaut]

Apparently it needs a little more time in the oven. :p

[robkelk]

Okay, let's try #153 again, with a radically different topic.

"What if we compress the air some other way? (IMAGE TEXT: [6 hours later, we've forgotten what we were doing and have constructed a bouncy castle.])"

(BA should appreciate the punchline to this one.)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[robkelk]

"To travel the roughly 2,500 miles from New York to LA, you'd need to start off at least 5 miles up, higher than North America's highest mountain. I suggest bringing oxygen tanks."
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Bob Schroeck]

"Why do you have a bike made entirely of soft clay?"
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[robkelk]

"The winter temperature at night in Winnipeg is about the same as the inside of a freezer, so the environment there effectively simulates a freezer with infinite capacity to absorb heat. Suppose you put a toaster out on your porch one night, plugged in by an extension cord, and leave it running for a few hours, going outside every so often to collect the toast and put in some fresh bread. What will happen? Simple: You'll quickly be eaten by wolves."
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Bob Schroeck]

So, Rob, you done a postdoc yet?

(Yeah, yeah, I know, Ottawa =/= Winnipeg. Why let facts get in the way of a good line?)
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[robkelk]

No wolves near Ottawa.

We have coyotes instead.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[DHBirr]

"For the record, I've never been to Winnipeg and have nothing against it!  I hear from survivors that it's lovely."

I didn't know anyone survived Winnipeg....
-----
Big Brother is watching you.  And damn, you are so bloody BORING.

[firvulag]

I was going to argue about the pie chart, but then I recalled that the project I worked on as part of my thesis involved having two grad students strap on snow-shoes and haul a sledge through the backwoods of Ontario in the middle of January for about a week to gather survey data.
-- 
1.79 x 10^12 furlongs per fortnight - it's not just a good idea, it's the law!

[robkelk]

Justifying our thread subtitle "Electric Boogaloo":

"I'm not really into electrofishing these days. I'm more about post-dubstep nu-fishing."

With a close second to "Blue whales, which are even larger than humans,[cetacean needed]"
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012