Editing 2513: Saturn Hexagon

{{comic
| number    = 2513
| date      = September 8, 2021
| title     = Saturn Hexagon
| image     = saturn_hexagon.png
| titletext = Sorry, in SI units that's "there's a big football in there."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by SATURNS POLAR HEXAGON - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
{{w|Saturn's Hexagon}} is a cloud formation on Saturn centered on its north pole. Similar to Jupiter's {{w|Great Red Spot}}, Saturn's Hexagon has proven a persistent feature observed by multiple space probes. The cause was not known until recently, when data from the 2006-2009 {{w|Cassini–Huygens}} probe could be analyzed in depth. This finding was widely publicized in popular science media (see for example [https://www.sciencealert.com/astronomers-think-they-figured-out-how-saturn-s-giant-hexagonal-storm-could-have-formed]) and is related to how currents flow deep within Saturn's atmosphere.

Randall proposes an alternate explanation: it is the top of a {{w|Ball_(association_football)|soccer ball}}. Soccer Balls have been made in the shape of a {{w|truncated icosahedron}}, where faces alternate between regular hexagons and regular pentagons to achieve a more uniform roll, since 1968 when the design was introduced as the {{w|Adidas Telstar}}, a design now considered the "traditional" soccer ball.

BSBIT stands for Bachelor of Science in Business Information Technology [https://www.acronymfinder.com/Bachelor-of-Science-in-Business-Information-Technology-(BSBIT).html], a relatively new specialization where business majors learn programming techniques [https://vt.edu/academics/majors/business-information-technology.html]. It is probably used in the comic to imply that a graduate of this major came up with the soccer ball model listed in the presentation. (Of course, BSBIT also stands for "Big Soccer Ball In There".)

Soccer is the name given in the United States to {{w|association football}}, the form of football practiced in most of the world. Since the so-called imperial system (inches, feet, miles, etc.) is also used in the United States whereas the SI/metric system (centimetres, metres, kilometres, etc.) is the system in use in most of the world, "football" is jokingly referred to in the title text as the SI name for "soccer". As much the web caters to a US-based audience many sites use only Imperial measurements and omit metric equivalents, which might cause annoyed international users to respond; Randall parodies this by sarcastically and non-seriously apologizing.

Ironically, the UK is the birthplace of association football, which is the default understanding of the term there, with rugby football (league or union) being the closest common cultural confusion between officionados of differing forms. Qualification is definitely needed for all other variations, such as 'American' football (gridiron, or jocularly "hand-egg"), 'Aussie Rules', etc. It is also a partial hold-out for imperial measures. Officially many everyday measurements must now be primarily given in their metric forms, if not more specifically SI, but: road distances remain signed in miles (though horse racing distances remain in furlongs, and their prizes in guineas), with road-speeds in miles per hour; glasses of brewed alcohol and doorstep milk deliveries are in pints; feet (plus inches) and stones (plus pounds) are still commonly used for a person's height and weight. As a further sop to those who still think better in 'old money' measures (an allusion to how the currency itself was non-metric in nature until 1971), a weather presenter may add to their summary (with the windspeeds in mph, except when in Beaufort scale) the equivalent fahrenheit temperatures involved, in addition to the more official (i.e. 'new money') celsius variety, and perhaps also give the inches version of any rainfall mentioned.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
{{comic discussion}}
@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 ==Explanation==
-[[File:PIA20513_-_Basking_in_Light.jpg|thumb|200px|Saturn's hexagon]]
+{{incomplete|Created by SATURNS POLAR HEXAGON - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
+{{w|Saturn's Hexagon}} is a cloud formation on Saturn centered on its north pole. Similar to Jupiter's {{w|Great Red Spot}}, Saturn's Hexagon has proven a persistent feature observed by multiple space probes. The cause was not known until recently, when data from the 2006-2009 {{w|Cassini–Huygens}} probe could be analyzed in depth. This finding was widely publicized in popular science media (see for example [https://www.sciencealert.com/astronomers-think-they-figured-out-how-saturn-s-giant-hexagonal-storm-could-have-formed]) and is related to how currents flow deep within Saturn's atmosphere.
-{{w|Saturn's hexagon}} is a cloud formation on Saturn centered on its north pole. Similar to Jupiter's {{w|Great Red Spot}}, it is a persistent feature observed by multiple space probes. The cause was not known until recently, when data from the 2006-2009 {{w|Cassini–Huygens}} probe could be analyzed in depth. This finding was widely publicized in popular science media (see for example [https://www.sciencealert.com/astronomers-think-they-figured-out-how-saturn-s-giant-hexagonal-storm-could-have-formed this]) and is related to how currents flow deep within Saturn's atmosphere.
+Randall proposes an alternate explanation: it is the top of a {{w|Ball_(association_football)|soccer ball}}. Soccer Balls have been made in the shape of a {{w|truncated icosahedron}}, where faces alternate between regular hexagons and regular pentagons to achieve a more uniform roll, since 1968 when the design was introduced as the {{w|Adidas Telstar}}, a design now considered the "traditional" soccer ball.
-[[Cueball]] proposes an alternate explanation: it is the top of a {{w|Ball_(association_football)|soccer ball}}. Soccer balls are made in the shape of a {{w|truncated icosahedron}}, where faces alternate between regular hexagons and regular pentagons to achieve a more uniform roll. This design was introduced in 1968 as the {{w|Adidas Telstar}}, and is now considered the "traditional" soccer ball. The article refers to this as the "BSBIT model", a technical-sounding acronym from "Big Soccer Ball In There".
+BSBIT stands for Bachelor of Science in Business Information Technology [https://www.acronymfinder.com/Bachelor-of-Science-in-Business-Information-Technology-(BSBIT).html], a relatively new specialization where business majors learn programming techniques [https://vt.edu/academics/majors/business-information-technology.html]. It is probably used in the comic to imply that a graduate of this major came up with the soccer ball model listed in the presentation. (Of course, BSBIT also stands for "Big Soccer Ball In There".)
-"Soccer" is the name used in the United States for {{w|association football}}, a game called simply "football" in much of the world. Similarly, the US makes wide use of {{w|United States customary units|customary units of measurement}} (inches, feet, miles, pounds, etc.) where much of the world uses the SI or metric system (centimetres, metres, kilometres, kilograms, etc.), so "football" is jokingly referred to in the title text as the SI name for "soccer". Just as the American customary units derive from earlier {{w|English units}} (that also developed into the British {{w|Imperial units}}), the term "soccer" originated in the UK, originally to {{w|Names_for_association_football#Background|distinguish it}} from rugby football (sometimes "rugger"), before soccer became the most common form of football there. A possible interpretation of this is that as much of the Web panders to a significantly US-based audience, many sites use only American customary measurements and omit metric equivalents, which might annoy non-US users; Randall parodies this by sarcastically and non-seriously apologizing.
+Soccer is the name given in the United States to {{w|association football}}, the form of football practiced in most of the world. Since the so-called imperial system (inches, feet, miles, etc.) is also used in the United States whereas the SI/metric system (centimetres, metres, kilometres, etc.) is the system in use in most of the world, "football" is jokingly referred to in the title text as the SI name for "soccer". As much the web caters to a US-based audience many sites use only Imperial measurements and omit metric equivalents, which might cause annoyed international users to respond; Randall parodies this by sarcastically and non-seriously apologizing.
-This comic may also reference something often quoted to students decades ago that Saturn [https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/saturn/in-depth/#:~:text=Structure-,Structure,by%20intense%20pressure%20and%20heat. would float] if there were a large enough pool of water to hold it, often having been stated as "Saturn is a giant beach ball".  This refers to the property that Saturn is the planet with the {{w|Saturn#Physical_characteristics|lowest average density}}.  This, of course, is a lot more [https://www.wired.com/2013/07/no-saturn-wouldnt-float-in-water/ complicated] in reality.
+Ironically, the UK is the birthplace of association football, which is the default understanding of the term there, with rugby football (league or union) being the closest common cultural confusion between officionados of differing forms. Qualification is definitely needed for all other variations, such as 'American' football (gridiron, or jocularly "hand-egg"), 'Aussie Rules', etc. It is also a partial hold-out for imperial measures. Officially many everyday measurements must now be primarily given in their metric forms, if not more specifically SI, but: road distances remain signed in miles (though horse racing distances remain in furlongs, and their prizes in guineas), with road-speeds in miles per hour; glasses of brewed alcohol and doorstep milk deliveries are in pints; feet (plus inches) and stones (plus pounds) are still commonly used for a person's height and weight. As a further sop to those who still think better in 'old money' measures (an allusion to how the currency itself was non-metric in nature until 1971), a weather presenter may add to their summary (with the windspeeds in mph, except when in Beaufort scale) the equivalent fahrenheit temperatures involved, in addition to the more official (i.e. 'new money') celsius variety, and perhaps also give the inches version of any rainfall mentioned.
-Incidentally, the presentation of the truncated-icosahedral 'football', pressing one clear polygonal face up along the upper limit of the planetary sphere, has much in common with the (non-truncated) icosahedron that floats within a {{w|Magic 8-Ball}}, arranged to display just one random triangular face whenever its viewing window is upwards. This may be coincidence. Randall has previously parodied the magic 8-ball in [[1525: Emojic 8 Ball]].
 ==Transcript==
+{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
-:[Cueball is presenting in front of a poster, which he is pointing at with a stick.
-:The poster shows Saturn and its ring-system. There is a massive football/soccer ball drawn inside the semi-transparent planet, taking up slightly less than half of it by volume. One of the ball's hexagons coincides with Saturn's polar hexagon, and is labelled "Hexagon". Other labels are illegible.
-:The poster's title is "There's a Big Soccer Ball In There". The rest of the poster is illegible, except for a section heading that reads "BSBIT Model".]
-:Cueball: We're proud to announce that our team has finally determined the origin and nature of Saturn's polar hexagon.
 {{comic discussion}}
-[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
-[[Category: Astronomy]]
-[[Category:Soccer]]