Talk:3031: Time Capsule Instructions

2025-01-01T21:31:49Z

198.41.242.244:

Neither date has a calender suffix, which allows the finder to assume it to be a BC date, which would render the issue… moot.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.102.192|172.71.102.192]] 22:45, 30 December 2024 (UTC)
:Given that they open it at New Year 2025 and that this was known to be the year to open it, probably standing in the small text on the sign, they are of course years in the normal calendar and when not writing CE og BEC as Randall would do then it is always CE. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:13, 31 December 2024 (UTC)

The answer is simple! Open the box after 2025 (Vikram Samvat calendar) and before 2024 (gregorian) [[User:Nerd1729|Nerd1729]] ([[User talk:Nerd1729|talk]]) 22:49, 30 December 2024 (UTC)

1: Open first box in a GMT+X tz, where is already 2025; 2: Travel to tz GMT+X-Y, where is still 2024, remove second box from inside first box and open it; 3: Wait for the year to turn 2025, close the first box and open it again; 4: Now both first and second boxes were open in the same tz and you can open the third one. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.49.76|162.158.49.76]] 22:50, 30 December 2024 (UTC) auroralimin
:you have overthought this so much but it works surprisingly [[User:Nerd1729|Nerd1729]] ([[User talk:Nerd1729|talk]]) 23:16, 30 December 2024 (UTC)
::Only if you can convince yourself that it was not the first opening that counted as opening in the text on the third. I would not be able to convince my self of that. And although the explanation at this times suggest there is no enforcement method, then maybe Black Hat who obviously made this capsule may have booby trapped the boxes. And only because you managed to move it did it not explode! ;-) The Australian solution in the explanation may work, but only if you did not open the first box until in Australia on New Years Day 2025... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:13, 31 December 2024 (UTC)

Open it standing next to a border between time zones, step across, then stand in both? {{unsigned ip|162.158.62.154|02:36, 31 December 2024}}

The third box can be defeated by being at one of the two geographic poles, which have no time zones (or at least, which can't be said to be in any time zone). [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 03:23, 31 December 2024 (UTC)
:Both poles (indeed, all poles) still have a timezone (and, when I last read the page, I also wanted to point out that east/west travel wasn't consistently later-to-earlier, and even without considering going to a pole, it's not just E-W journeys that can step your timezone across). Even the ISS has a timezone, even if that's just the old backup of UTC. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.54|141.101.98.54]] 11:03, 31 December 2024 (UTC)
:'''Only remember not to open either before on the pole! Oh and you did not know the instructions on box 2 and box 3 until you opened them! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:13, 31 December 2024 (UTC)
'''
"WHAT'S IN THE BOX?!" (sorry folks) [[User:Jaap-Jan|Jaap-Jan]] ([[User talk:Jaap-Jan|talk]])
:A fourth box saying do not open this unless on a another planet than the one you opened the first three boxes on. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:43, 31 December 2024 (UTC)
:"You must open this box if (and only if) you haven't opened any of the other boxes"... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.5|172.70.85.5]] 13:07, 31 December 2024 (UTC)

The best solution I can think of is to use solar time. First, open the first box in time zone X once 2025 has begun according to solar time. Second, cross the year line according to solar time, while remaining in time zone X, to reach 2024. Open the second box. Third, immediately open the third box while remaining in time zone X, which is the same time zone in which the first and second boxes were opened. That said there is almost certainly a fourth box, but, cross that bridge when you come to it. If anyone agrees with this, add it to the explanation? [[User:Mrfoogles|Mrfoogles]] ([[User talk:Mrfoogles|talk]]) 14:02, 31 December 2024 (UTC)
:I considered a variation on that, but shall leave that to someone who can word it right/fit it in. I'm edited out, right now (having, amongst other things, added the "imaginary and prematurely celebrated New Year" excuse/solution, assuming the comic is contemporary/reporting past events, rather than somehow portraying slightly into the future from its publication time).
:PS, as I write, maybe some editors/lurkers here have started their own 2025s (legitimately!), though I'm personally still 8h35m (plus change) within 2024 (and others will be more so). Hello to the Future, from here in the Past! (Is 2025 any good, yet?) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.244|141.101.98.244]] 15:25, 31 December 2024 (UTC)

Who says you have to follow the instructions. I would say "screw it" and open al the boxes anyway. Or use a circular saw to cut the box open, bypassing the lids. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.71.44|172.68.71.44]] 15:18, 31 December 2024 (UTC)

I don't have a problem with the "Potential solutions" or any subsection really, but the six paragraphs up top should really be three. TL is a leading cause of DR. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.186|172.70.214.186]] 18:13, 31 December 2024 (UTC)

Alternate calendars to the rescue? According to the Greeks, it will be 2024 for another couple weeks. [[User:Cwallenpoole|Cwallenpoole]] ([[User talk:Cwallenpoole|talk]]) 18:54, 31 December 2024 (UTC)
:use islamic calendar for box 2 and you have centuries to open it! [[Special:Contributions/198.41.242.244|198.41.242.244]] 21:31, 1 January 2025 (UTC)

And if you successfully open all boxes against all odds, your reward is just a printed picture of a still frame of that one Spongebob episode where the guy says "I couldn't afford a present this year, so I got you this box." [[Special:Contributions/172.70.176.14|172.70.176.14]] 07:15, 1 January 2025 (UTC)

After opening the '25 box, take the set to where it's still '24. Open the '24 box, close the '25 box, and wait till it is '25 to open it again. The 3rd box can be opened freely. {{unsigned ip|198.41.227.114|08:57, 1 January 2025}}
:I believe that's been covered. (Note: extract the '24 box from the '25, before closing it, if you might have to close the '24 before the '25 can be... Or just fully extract unopened box#3, before closing '24-then-'25, if that still satisfies you ''having'' had opened all boxes once you re-open '25 in the was-'24 TZ. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.201|172.69.195.201]] 13:30, 1 January 2025 (UTC)

Is anyone aware of any time capsules that were due to be opened in 2025? [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you desire conversing]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 09:28, 1 January 2025 (UTC)

Insert a colon and open the second box somewhen between 12:00 and 20:23. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.76.169|141.101.76.169]] 12:05, 1 January 2025 (UTC)

1662: Jack and Jill

2016-03-30T15:19:20Z

198.41.242.244: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1662
| date = March 30, 2016
| title = Jack and Jill
| image = jack_and_jill.png
| titletext = Jill and Jack / began to frack. / The oil boosts their town. / But fractures make / the bedrock shake / and Jack came tumbling down.
}}

==Explanation==
"{{w|Jack and Jill (nursery rhyme)|Jack and Jill}}" is a traditional English nursery rhyme. The rhyme dates back at least to the 18th century, one version even with 15 stanzas. On Wikipedia there are five versions listed.

The first and most commonly repeated verse is also the one alluded to by Jill in the comic as she almost says the first three lines:
:Jack and Jill
:went up the hill
:To fetch a pail of water.
:Jack fell down
:and broke his crown,
:And Jill came tumbling after.

The comic makes fun of how it's weird that they go up a hill to fetch water, because water is usually found in valleys rather than on top of hills. Natural water sources, like rivers and streams, flow down from hills, so it shouldn't be necessary to go up the hill to get the water. Similarly, if the water is coming from a well, then building the well at the top of a hill is an odd choice. The ground water table stays at about the same level over smaller areas, so building the well on a hill just means you have to dig further.

The title text is [[Randall|Randall's]] own version, a parody of this first verse, where the names have been switched in the first and last line:
:Jill and Jack
:began to frack.
:The oil boosts their town.
:But fractures make
:the bedrock shake
:and Jack came tumbling down.

This version, which may explain why they went up the hill after water, connects the idea to {{w|hydraulic fracturing}} (or fracking) methods for oil and gas extraction. In these methods, highly pressurized liquids are forced into a given ground stratum (or layer). With enough pressure, the stratum starts to deform and crack. This allows potential gas and oil to flow more freely. The liquid used for fracturing usually also contains materials like sand or ceramics which, once the liquid is removed, will help to maintain the newly formed cracks so as to further allow the desired free movement of oil and gas.

A common {{w|Environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing|side effect of this method}} is that water levels and presence at the surface might be modified. In this comic, water can now be found at the top of the hill. This goes against the usual laws of hydraulics, themselves subject to the laws of gravity, which indicate that water should go down through ground cracks. Thus water is usually found at the bottom of valleys or hills. But in the comic, fracking at the bottom forces the water up, thus explaining why the kids go get water up the hill, which, as [[Megan]] points out, is messed-up {{w|hydrology}}. Also, fracking may cause {{w|induced seismicity}} in the form of {{w|microearthquake}}s, as alluded to in the title text, which is the cause for tumbling down in the title text version. Although since the oil at first caused an economic boost to the kids town, then when the earthquakes came then maybe the citizens of the town turned against Jack making him "fall down". Oor also his economy collapsed due to law suits, another way to fall down. Note that they did not go up any hill in the title text comic, so there were no place to fall down from.

The third verse of the title text does not match the expected meter --- it misses a syllable.
This may be because Randal made a mistake when setting the title text.
For example, he may have omitted the word "boom" after "oil".

This is the second Wednesday in a row that Randall uses two children to make a reference to a serious environmental issue, the first being [[1659: Tire Swing]], about {{w|tire recycling}}.

==Transcript==
:[Megan is watching as the two kids Jill with hair bun and a ponytail and Jack with spiky hair are walking by her. Jack has a pail in his hand.]
:Jill: Me and Jack are going up the hill to fetch a pail of water.

:[Megan, standing back alone, calls out after them.]
:Megan: Okay, have fun!

:[Megan just stand there for a beat panel.]

:[Megan suddenly realizes something while looking down on the ground.]
:Megan: ... Wait. What the ''heck'' is going on with the hydrology around here?

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

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Talk:3031: Time Capsule Instructions

1662: Jack and Jill