Talk:3273: Latitude and Longitude
Randall mentioned expanding Earth in the What if? blog and book, but I suppose this is to prevent the Earth from expanding, and possibly shrink it. YZ100 11:17, 17 July 2026 (UTC)
How strong is the force from shrinking compared to the firmness of the earth? Velocifyer (talk) 00:34, 18 July 2026 (UTC)
- No, dude, that ain't it! How the [redacted] strong is that force compared to the fluidity of the water? Which should have flooded into crevices in the land areas on a massive scale, killing and displacing millions of people not already reeling from catastrophic earthquakes, flood basalts and other forms of global-scale induced volcanism, and this ... this ... thing that just appeared out of nowhere in what's left of my living room? Once again, the human imagination (or what passes for it) trumps physics. 2605:59C8:160:DB08:201A:4B4:168C:6EA 12:25, 18 July 2026 (UTC)
You say "looking like a balloon tied tightly with string" I say "looking like a roasted ham".--94.73.51.68 10:04, 18 July 2026 (UTC)
I dont agree that the comic implies the earth has been washed (no. 3). It could be just the lines. Caber (talk) 20:00, 18 July 2026 (UTC)
- I concur. The caption is pretty (but not absolutely, alas) clear that (some of) the grid lines, and only the gridlines, were in the washing load that went awry. 2605:59C8:160:DB08:201A:4B4:168C:6EA 20:20, 18 July 2026 (UTC)
But the lines are usually getting washed regularly, by rain. These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For (talk) 03:17, 19 July 2026 (UTC)
- Cold water. No detergent. Solar drying. Probably all indicated on the label, had anyone bothered to look before tossing them in the top-loader. 2605:59C8:160:DB08:895E:B258:C080:D56F 15:25, 19 July 2026 (UTC)
I remember a comic about rocket snatching onto one of these lines. Does anyone remember which one that was? 159.224.64.162 02:01, 20 July 2026 (UTC)
"all the latitude circles (except the equator) form small circles and would simply slip to the north or south upon shrinking" - not if the whole thing is a net construction, with the lat and long lines attached to each other. 82.13.184.33 10:26, 20 July 2026 (UTC)
- Yes absolutely, the comic looks much more like a net of lines joined at the crossovers. Hence, no slippage. 115.130.248.217 02:50, 22 July 2026 (UTC)
This is totally lost on all the flat earthers. 66.212.184.170 11:50, 20 July 2026 (UTC)
I measured the indent to be about 4 pixels (inset of the lines from the outer radius of the sphere), of a total earth diameter of 319 pixels. This would correspond to about 160km indent on the lines! I think it's safe to say that this change would have quite catastrophic consequences. Since the Earth surface seemed to be pulled in with some elasticity somehow, I'd even say the oceans might drain almost completely into the new ridges made by the contraction. 71.212.153.9 22:23, 20 July 2026 (UTC)
- A lot of you seem to think the oceans should flow towards the indents. That is clearly not what we afe seeing. Somehow the lines have an influence over gravity. Not so strange, if you ask me. Caber (talk) 21:39, 23 July 2026 (UTC)
Does anyone know if there's any notable change between the two versions of WGS84 (G2296 vs G730) that could have inspired this comic? 31.201.224.86 14:23, 28 July 2026 (UTC) Maarten
- Yes, that would be most useful. Randall is not known for throwing random unrelated technical specs. The best I could find is that G2296 compared to G730 has "shrunk" error bars, i.e. it more precise, as can be seen e.g. in figure6 here. Still I don't feel confident enough to put it in main explanation. --192.42.116.44 18:58, 3 August 2026 (UTC)
Is there a category for xkcd comics that intentionally misinterpret imaginary/theoretical objects as real life objects, like this and 2740 "Square Packing"? HaruruChanDesu (talk)