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| ==Explanation== | | ==Explanation== |
− | Typical news broadcasts are divided into local, national, and global news segments. The broadcast in this comic presented by [[Blondie]], the [[:Category:News anchor|news anchor]], has been broken into real local, (about city council election) and what the newscaster calls "nonlocal". Rather than focusing on national or global news, the nonlocal segment deals with news of a {{w|nonlocality}} nature; more likely dealing with causal nonlocality.
| + | This comic contrasts the term local with the Quantum mechanics jargon [[wikipedia:Quantum nonlocality|nonlocality]]. [More likely dealing with causal nonlocality.] |
− | | + | A "tachyon" is a theoretical or thought-experiment particle which can travel faster than the speed of light. It has many strange properties, including being able to go back in time. The comic and title text are based on this, with the comic making a pun on "local news". |
− | A "{{w|tachyon}}" is a theoretical or thought-experiment particle which travels {{w|Faster-than-light|faster}} than the {{w|speed of light}}. It has many strange properties, including being able to go back in time. This is how the newscaster is able to send a beam back in time to kill her past self. The comic does not explain {{w|Grandfather paradox|the paradox}} of how someone who died in the past could still be alive in the present/future, nor any of the many other paradoxes that arise when {{w|time travel}} is involved, a [[:Category:Time travel|recurring theme]] in xkcd. | |
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− | The title text asks if there could ever be a greater physics term than ''{{w|tachyonic antitelephone}}'', a theoretical device which would allow messages to be sent to the past. The text then continues to answer the question via a message from the future (presumably sent by antitelephone). The answer is ''No'' - there will never be a greater physics term.
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| ==Transcript== | | ==Transcript== |
− | :[Blondie as a news anchor is sitting behind a table with her arms resting on the tabletop.]
| + | [Newscaster sitting at her desk] |
− | :Blondie: In local news, city council elections were held today.
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− | :Blondie: In nonlocal news, I killed my past self with a tachyon beam.
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− | ==Trivia==
| + | Newscaster: In local news, city council elections were held today. |
− | *Blondie was finally named as a new character based on this comic. See the discussion below and this [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#New_character_category_for_blonde_woman_news_reporter_.28from_1699.29|community portal discussion]].
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− | *And seeing she was often used as a news anchor that [[:Category:News anchor|new category]] was also based on this comic.
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| + | Newscaster: In nonlocal news, I killed my past self with a tachyon beam. |
| {{comic discussion}} | | {{comic discussion}} |
− | [[Category:Comics featuring Blondie]]
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− | [[Category:News anchor]]
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− | [[Category:Politics]]
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− | [[Category:Physics]]
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− | [[Category:Time travel]]
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