explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:3159: Continents

2025-10-25T08:37:46Z

2A00:23CC:D248:8901:B565:548B:1709:B532:

FIRST (ignore the timestamps) --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|converse]] 13:59, 24 October 2025 (UTC)
:More first. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 15:26, 24 October 2025 (UTC)
::Firstest (don't ignore the timestamps) [[Special:Contributions/164.90.218.225|164.90.218.225 (via pigeon mail)]] 10:35, 23 June 1508 (UTC)

hi - [[Special:Contributions/97.64.61.191|97.64.61.191]] 13:40, 24 October 2025 (UTC)

I added a transcription. [[User:Artem|Artem]] ([[User_talk:Artem|talk]]) 14:00, 24 October 2025 (UTC)

Related: [https://youtube.com/watch?v=T1-cES1Ekto Continental Drift: Alfred Wegener Song by The Amoeba People] [[User:Solomon|Solomon]] ([[User talk:Solomon|talk]]) 15:55, 24 October 2025 (UTC)
:Related: [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3159:_Continents&diff=prev&oldid=389482 comment drift]. [[Special:Contributions/64.201.132.210|64.201.132.210]] 18:31, 24 October 2025 (UTC)

Is this referencing any particular actual statements by Armstrong or other astronauts? [[Special:Contributions/130.44.139.195|130.44.139.195]] 23:12, 24 October 2025 (UTC)
:Probably not. [[User:Redacted II|Redacted II]] ([[User talk:Redacted II|talk]]) 23:29, 24 October 2025 (UTC)
:Nothing I've seen (genuinely) attributed to Armstrong seems to match this, from past passing over it or a quick search now.
:He was a self-avowed deist, perhaps simplifiably as being in a "fire and forget" Creator who let things be as they turned out to be, so possibly ''before'' he could have been convinced about plate techtonics he ''might'' have indeed considered the apparently unchanging fundement of Earth to be just as unchanging as it he had assumed. Upon hearing good arguments for continental drift having happened (and perhaps getting an eyeful of [[3132: Coastline Similarity|at least the smoke from the smoking gun]], directly), I don't think he'd have stuck dogmatically to that view. He did later thank the politicians for letting him see what the Creator had made, but that was post-Apollo 11 and so probably into the era of accepting there were moving-continents (and at that time being stood firmly on the ground).
:Generally, even the other astronauts seemed to avoid anything particularly religiously conservative, even if they were religious, though notably Apollo 8 (after this) broadcast an extended reading of Genesis and attracted some First Amendment objections. Buzz Aldrin had a toned-down 'holy communion' whilst at Tranquility Base, probably to balance against that backlash.
:I think it's a good enough joke without a real-world 'original comment' being riffed upon (or even correctly quoted) as the inspiration behind it. The humour is in the Timeghosty way in which the chronology of certain events is in a rather unexpected juxtaposition. But if someone can find some NASA transcripts to say otherwise, I'm sure it'd be worth a link or two adding in above... [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 23:53, 24 October 2025 (UTC)

Gagarin's flight was in 1961. I was still at school at the time and had recently become a space enthusiast. I came down to breakfast one morning and my mother told me the news.
Incidentally, I took an O-level exam in geology in 1969 and continental drift was not on the syllabus.--[[Special:Contributions/2A00:23CC:D248:8901:B565:548B:1709:B532|2A00:23CC:D248:8901:B565:548B:1709:B532]] 08:36, 25 October 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3159: Continents

2025-10-25T08:36:29Z

2A00:23CC:D248:8901:B565:548B:1709:B532:

FIRST (ignore the timestamps) --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|converse]] 13:59, 24 October 2025 (UTC)
:More first. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 15:26, 24 October 2025 (UTC)
::Firstest (don't ignore the timestamps) [[Special:Contributions/164.90.218.225|164.90.218.225 (via pigeon mail)]] 10:35, 23 June 1508 (UTC)

hi - [[Special:Contributions/97.64.61.191|97.64.61.191]] 13:40, 24 October 2025 (UTC)

I added a transcription. [[User:Artem|Artem]] ([[User_talk:Artem|talk]]) 14:00, 24 October 2025 (UTC)

Related: [https://youtube.com/watch?v=T1-cES1Ekto Continental Drift: Alfred Wegener Song by The Amoeba People] [[User:Solomon|Solomon]] ([[User talk:Solomon|talk]]) 15:55, 24 October 2025 (UTC)
:Related: [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:3159:_Continents&diff=prev&oldid=389482 comment drift]. [[Special:Contributions/64.201.132.210|64.201.132.210]] 18:31, 24 October 2025 (UTC)

Is this referencing any particular actual statements by Armstrong or other astronauts? [[Special:Contributions/130.44.139.195|130.44.139.195]] 23:12, 24 October 2025 (UTC)
:Probably not. [[User:Redacted II|Redacted II]] ([[User talk:Redacted II|talk]]) 23:29, 24 October 2025 (UTC)
:Nothing I've seen (genuinely) attributed to Armstrong seems to match this, from past passing over it or a quick search now.
:He was a self-avowed deist, perhaps simplifiably as being in a "fire and forget" Creator who let things be as they turned out to be, so possibly ''before'' he could have been convinced about plate techtonics he ''might'' have indeed considered the apparently unchanging fundement of Earth to be just as unchanging as it he had assumed. Upon hearing good arguments for continental drift having happened (and perhaps getting an eyeful of [[3132: Coastline Similarity|at least the smoke from the smoking gun]], directly), I don't think he'd have stuck dogmatically to that view. He did later thank the politicians for letting him see what the Creator had made, but that was post-Apollo 11 and so probably into the era of accepting there were moving-continents (and at that time being stood firmly on the ground).
:Generally, even the other astronauts seemed to avoid anything particularly religiously conservative, even if they were religious, though notably Apollo 8 (after this) broadcast an extended reading of Genesis and attracted some First Amendment objections. Buzz Aldrin had a toned-down 'holy communion' whilst at Tranquility Base, probably to balance against that backlash.
:I think it's a good enough joke without a real-world 'original comment' being riffed upon (or even correctly quoted) as the inspiration behind it. The humour is in the Timeghosty way in which the chronology of certain events is in a rather unexpected juxtaposition. But if someone can find some NASA transcripts to say otherwise, I'm sure it'd be worth a link or two adding in above... [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 23:53, 24 October 2025 (UTC)

Gagarin's flight was in 1961. I was still at school at the time and had recently become a space enthusiast. I came down to breakfast one morning and my mother told me the news.
Incidentally, I took an O-level examine in geology in 1969 and continental drift was not on the syllabus.--[[Special:Contributions/2A00:23CC:D248:8901:B565:548B:1709:B532|2A00:23CC:D248:8901:B565:548B:1709:B532]] 08:36, 25 October 2025 (UTC)