1257: Monster

2024-10-30T15:38:20Z

172.69.59.64: Added further explanationa s well as new reading

{{comic
| number = 1257
| date = August 28, 2013
| title = Monster
| image = monster.png
| titletext = It was finally destroyed with a nuclear weapon carrying the destructive energy of the Hiroshima bomb.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, officials and police are evidently trying to describe the extraordinary qualities of a huge monster by comparing it with everyday objects instead of numbers, which seems to be a recurring theme on xkcd (see [[526: Converting to Metric]], [[1047: Approximations]]) and also in the [[Blag]] article [http://blog.xkcd.com/2013/05/15/dictionary-of-numbers/ Dictionary of Numbers] where [[Randall]] says that he doesn't "like large numbers without context."

This comic pokes fun at how common it is in the media to compare things of extraordinary qualities to a certain narrow set of well-known objects. The comic features people discussing a fictional monster which - apparently - can be only described by these overused comparisons. The three used by [[Megan]], [[Cueball]] and [[Ponytail]] are:
*The monster is as long as a football field. This is most likely an {{w|American_football#Field_and_equipment|American football field}} (given the author is American). So the monster is about 120 yards/110 m long.
**Here is an {{w|Marco Polo Park|example from Wikipedia}} where a building is compared to the length of a football field.
*The monster runs as fast as a cheetah, at least 60 mph or 96 kmh.
**The {{w|cheetah}} is famous for being the fastest land animal at full sprint. Like the monster, the cheetah is prone to comparisons: to cars, since 60 mph is a common highway speed limit. Unlike a cheetah, however, the monster's speed is almost certainly thanks to its large stride.
*The monster is as heavy as a {{w|blue whale}} (about 180 tonnes).
**Here is an [http://factismals.com/tag/fish/ example] where the weight of a blue whale is used in two different comparison (something heavier and something lighter).
*Finally it is stated that it has the intelligence of a two-year-old child. Comparing someone's intelligence to a child of a given age is very common.
**Here is an [http://www.livescience.com/5613-dogs-smart-2-year-kids.html example] where a dog is compared to a two year old kid.
**There is even an xkcd comic that is referring to this age IQ: [[1364: Like I'm Five]].

The caption below the panel names the monster the ''Frequently-Made Comparisons Monster'', joking that the monster was created by comparing it to things, and continues the joke by comparing the number of killed people to those that could fill a (sports) stadium (of the order tens of thousands), and the area of devastation to the smallest state in the US {{w|Rhode Island}} It is also possible that the monster actually attacked a stadium full of people, and only devastated Rhode Island, similar to the title text.(1,214 sq mi/3,140 km<sup>2</sup>) (a state Randall also used for comparison in the What if? [http://what-if.xkcd.com/8/ Everybody Jump]. In another What if? he uses a football stadium filled with ants as a comparison: [https://what-if.xkcd.com/73/ Lethal Neutrinos].)

The title text takes the joke one step further by comparing the {{w|nuclear bomb}} used to destroy the monster to {{w|Little Boy|the bomb dropped on Hiroshima}} at the end of the Second World War, i.e. they dropped a relatively small nuclear bomb on it (nuclear weapons have advanced significantly since WWII). Here is an {{w|Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event#Effects of impact|example from Wikipedia}} of such a comparison with the strength of a meteor strike.

==Transcript==
:[Four people are standing around a table-top crisis planning model. Cueball and Ponytail are wearing police-style hats; Megan holds a clipboard and Blondie has her hands on the table.]
:Megan: It's as long as a football field. Runs as fast as a cheetah.
:Cueball: Weighs as much as a blue whale.
:Blondie: Can we negotiate with it?
:Ponytail: No. It has the intelligence of a two-year-old child.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:By the time the Frequently-Made Comparisons Monster was finally defeated, it had eaten enough people to fill a stadium and devastated an area the size of Rhode Island.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Blondie]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:American football]]
[[Category:Nuclear weapons]]

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1257: Monster