2921: Eclipse Path Maps

2024-04-18T13:43:25Z

141.101.98.115: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2921
| date = April 18, 2024
| title = Eclipse Path Maps
| image = eclipse_path_maps_2x.png
| imagesize = 562x674px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Okay, this eclipse will only be visible from the Arctic in February 2063, when the sun is below the horizon, BUT if we get lucky and a gigantic chasm opens in the Earth in just the right spot...
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a TORNADO CAPITAL OF THE WORLD - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
A total {{w|solar eclipse}} occurred {{w|Solar eclipse of April 8, 2024|on April 8, 2024}} in North America, ten days before this comic. This comic comments on the fact that most solar eclipses happen on territories not easily reachable by humans, places with weather conditions that make viewing the eclipse less appealing, like cloudy skies (mentioned previously in [[2915: Eclipse Clouds]] and [[2917: Types of Eclipse Photo]]), fog, or tornadoes (also a [[:Category:Tornadoes|recurring subject]] on xkcd), or areas that experience only a short period of totality.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Zone label !! Geography !! Suitability for observation
|-
| Zone where totality lasts 1-2 seconds || Land || No stated issues for visiting, but rendered all too brief an experience for astronomically reasons.
|-
| Bay of shifting ice || Water (part frozen) || Open water might make this location accessible by boated observers. Solid ice ''might'' grant observers ready access by skidoo, ski and/or skid-plane. Shifting ice causes problems for all these modes of access.
|-
| Shipwreck cove || Water/Coast || The name describes the likely impediment to any boat access.
|-
| Desert so harsh they train Mars astronauts there || Land (peninsula) || Implied inhospitable, and probably a lack of any normal transport/accommodation infrastructure.
|-
| Sea of rocky crags and maelstroms || Water (straits) || Yet more risk of nautical hazards, including {{w|Whirlpool|strong rotating currents}}.
|-
| [State department travel advisory] || Island || Unknown risk, but probably involves some form of political instability that makes unnecessary visits highly inadvisable.
|-
| Isle of perpetual fog || Island (inc. littoral zones?) || Meteorologically unfortunate (ground visibility; ''may'' not fully obscure the skyward view).
|-
| Nice, scenic, accessible area (6 square miles, 40,000,000 visitors expected) || Land || Apparently ideal in all respects. Except for the crowds. (Would entail up to three people for every square metre, even before accounting for the existing population and obstructions, as well as a high probability of travel congestion.)
|-
| Tornado capital of the world || Land || Meteorologically unfortunate (frequent wind vortices, and cloud cover likely).
|-
| Area where the eclipse will be low in the sky, behind the tornadoes || Land || Astronomically disadvantageous, with added complications from the neighbouring weather system.
|}

The title text mentions the {{w|Solar eclipse of February 28, 2063|solar eclipse of February 2063}}, and claims it will only be visible from the Arctic, though in fact this annular eclipse will traverse through the Indian Ocean. The eclipse in the comic would supposedly happen when the {{w|Sun}} would be below the horizon, which is a contradiction in terms, since an eclipse is only an eclipse from the standpoint of the viewer — it is equivalent to saying that the eclipse is not visible from that location, but is visible from a location over the horizon, at a point that is at the other end of a direct straight line {{w|Chord (geometry)|through the Earth}} that is directed 'down' towards the unrisen Sun and Moon. It then jokingly suggests that a giant chasm could open up between the location being considered and the location from where it would be visible, allowing people to view it. If this did happen, the chasm itself would likely eclipse the eclipse as a spectacle. In most cases, it would also likely cause severely detrimental effects (for example, magma eruptions, tsunamis, etc.), and would therefore not be considered 'lucky' by most people, despite the small and short-term benefit of being able to view an eclipse from a previously unsuitable location.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:'''Every eclipse path map'''
:[A grey band representing the totality path of an eclipse travels along the map across several labels. Labels along the path from top to bottom:]
:Zone where totality lasts 1-2 seconds
:[On water] Bay of shifting ice
:[On water] Shipwreck cove
:[On land] Desert so harsh they train Mars astronauts there
:[On water] Sea of rocky crags and maelstorms
:[In square brackets] State department travel advisory
:[On an island] Isle of perpetual fog
:[On small part of a peninsula] Nice, scenic, accessible area (6 square miles, 40,000,000 visitors expected)
:[On land] Tornado capital of the world
:[On land] Area where the eclipse will be low in the sky, behind the tornadoes

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Solar eclipses]]
[[Category:Maps]]
[[Category:Tornadoes]]
[[Category:Weather]]

Talk:1690: Time-Tracking Software

2016-06-08T14:58:00Z

141.101.98.115:

I don't know how to interpret the "This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it." on the List of sexually active popes wiki page.
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.224|141.101.104.224]] 10:19, 6 June 2016 (UTC)
:They're asking you to become a pope, and be sexually active. Then you can get arrested, and do a helicopter prison escape to start the 'List of helicopter prison escapes involving sexually active popes.' {{unsigned ip|162.158.26.140}}
:It's because we can't know for sure if every single pope is secretly sexually active or if it's just limited to the ones caught red-handed. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.5|141.101.98.5]] 11:35, 6 June 2016 (UTC)
:Another interpretation: seduce the pope. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.85.99|162.158.85.99]] 15:39, 6 June 2016 (UTC)

Those ''estimated'' percentages have a strangely high degree of precision, I'd think limiting them to whole number percentages would do. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.58|141.101.98.58]] 11:48, 6 June 2016 (UTC)

Replacing lightsabers in Star Wars movies may be a reference to this amusing video of the sword fight in The Princess Bride where swords are replaced with light sabers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYVQooRSlzg {{unsigned ip|173.245.52.69}}

The Jack and Diane remix with one line repeated may be a reference to svantana's brilliant re-do of a Human League number: http://svantana.bandcamp.com/track/you-were-workin-as-a-waitress-in-a-cocktail-bar [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.109|108.162.245.109]] 13:31, 6 June 2016 (UTC)
**This is the greatest thing in the history of all remixes. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.49|173.245.54.49]] 03:01, 7 June 2016 (UTC)

Look what {{w|List of helicopter prison escapes involving sexually active popes|some loser tried to actually make}}, to no one's surprise..... [[User:Schiffy|Schiffy]] ([[User_talk:Schiffy|Speak to me]]|[[Special:Contributions/Schiffy|What I've done]]) 17:07, 6 June 2016 (UTC)
:Anyone took a copy before the page was deleted? {{unsigned ip|108.162.229.49}}
::I just took a look on the Wayback Machine, and unfortunately the first and only archive is after the deletion. If anyone knows of any other archive websites....-[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.69|108.162.215.69]] 05:30, 7 June 2016 (UTC)
::From Google cache - [https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:NIJDh4TsExwJ:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_helicopter_prison_escapes_involving_sexually_active_popes+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us List of helicopter prison escapes involving sexually active popes]--[[User:Attempt15|Attempt15]] ([[User talk:Attempt15|talk]]) 18:22, 7 June 2016 (UTC)

Notice that the last successful helicopter prison escape was exactly two years ago.. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.86.35|162.158.86.35]] 06:49, 7 June 2016 (UTC)

One thing that this comic brings to the table is that the managing effort to increase productivity usually has a significant (and many times negative) impact on productivity itself. In this graphic, the installation took him nearly 25% of his time. He'd be significantly more productive if he wasn't using any time tracking software at all.
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.115|141.101.98.115]] 14:58, 8 June 2016 (UTC) duartix

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2921: Eclipse Path Maps

Talk:1690: Time-Tracking Software