Editing 804: Pumpkin Carving
Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
The edit can be undone.
Please check the comparison below to verify that this is what you want to do, and then save the changes below to finish undoing the edit.
Latest revision | Your text | ||
Line 8: | Line 8: | ||
==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
− | This comic is a reference to the | + | This comic is a reference to the custom of carving pumpkins to set out on porches and front steps for the holiday of {{w|Halloween}}, which occurs on October 31. The pumpkin has the inside emptied out and a face or design carved in the side. Then a light is placed inside (usually a candle). These are called "{{w|Jack-o'-lantern|Jack-O'-Lantern}}s". The Jack-O'-Lantern in the 3rd frame is the typical and standard design for a carved pumpkin. |
− | + | [[Beret Guy]], naturally, stays oddly on-topic by carving a pumpkin in his pumpkin. | |
− | In the | + | In the 2nd frame, [[Black Hat]] is putting {{w|nitroglycerin}} (a non-igniting explosive) into his carved pumpkin, which would cause it to explode when agitated. Teenagers are a rather impulsive and rebellious lot; as Halloween is a night with lots of meticulously erected decorations and more lax parental supervision, troublemaker teens see it as an enticing time to engage in rampant vandalism, including but not limited to pumpkin-smashing. Hence, the off-panel character presumes that Black Hat is setting up a trap to get back at these ne'er-do-wells.<br/> |
+ | Black Hat, rather unconvincingly, insists that his pumpkin is suffering from chest pains, and that he is merely treating them with nitroglycerin. While it is true that this chemical is used to treat {{w|angina}} (chest pain due to blocked arteries in the heart), nitroglycerin used for this purpose is dispensed in small spray bottles and controlled by prescription. Also, pumpkins do not contain nervous or circulatory systems of mammalian complexity{{Citation needed}}; even if they did, the process of pumpkin carving involves hollowing them out, making it a moot point.<br/> | ||
+ | To top it off, Black Hat plans to put up a sign warning passers-by to not smash the pumpkin. This would only serve to tempt impulsive teenagers to disturb it, which is very likely what the sadistic and chaos-loving Black Hat is hoping for. | ||
− | In the | + | In the 3rd frame, [[Megan]] is our typical emotional xkcd comic character. She is projecting herself onto the jack-o'-lantern as she tries to distract herself with holiday traditions that won't work to distract her. |
− | + | In the 4th frame, [[Cueball]] is referencing the {{w|Banach-Tarski paradox}}, a theorem which states that it is possible to carve a three-dimensional ball, in this case a pumpkin, into a finite number of "pieces," and then reassemble the "pieces" into two different balls identical to the original. This paradox has been proven for just about anything theoretically, but requires infinitely complicated pieces, which are impossible for anything made of physical {{w|atomic theory|atoms}} rather than mathematical {{w|point (geometry)|points}}. The person off-screen in that frame references the {{w|Axiom of Choice}}, which says that given a set of buckets or bins, each containing one or more objects, it is possible to select exactly one object from each bucket. The Banach-Tarski rests on several axioms which are fairly well respected, but also requires the Axiom of Choice to work correctly. So a person who does not believe in the Axiom of Choice would not have been able to do what [[Cueball]] managed to do. The axiom of choice was later referenced in [[982: Set Theory]] and much later in [[1724: Proofs]]. | |
− | + | The title text says that {{w|Solomon|King Solomon}} developed the Banach-Tarski theorem first. This is a reference to the story of two women being brought before him. Both were arguing that a particular child was their own. Solomon said that the solution was to cut the baby in half and give each woman one of the halves. One of the two women said that the other should have the baby whole. Solomon then knew she was the true mother, and gave her the child. The joke is that Solomon may have actually intended to cut the child, but, believing that two whole children could be made from the one, intended to give a baby to each woman, and the Banach-Tarski paradox states that, were the baby infinitely divisible, it should have been possible. | |
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
Line 38: | Line 28: | ||
:Interviewer (off-panel): ... | :Interviewer (off-panel): ... | ||
− | :[Black Hat stands behind a large orange pumpkin which has not been carved out as a lamp, but the stem at the top has been removed and is placed tilting on the side of the pumpkin. It is sitting on a table. A gray box stands next to and partly in front of the pumpkin. On the end of the box there is a label at the top with unreadable text and below that some kind of drawing with a circle at the top. The interviewer speaks from off panel.] | + | :[Black Hat stands behind a large orange pumpkin which has not been carved out as a lamp, but the stem at the top has been removed and is placed tilting on the side of the pumpkin. It is sitting on a table. A gray box with a labeled and a warning stands next to and partly in front of the pumpkin. On the end of the box there is a label at the top with unreadable text and below that some kind of drawing with a circle at the top. The interviewer speaks from off panel.] |
:Interviewer (off-panel): Taking on teen vandals, I see. | :Interviewer (off-panel): Taking on teen vandals, I see. | ||
− | :Black Hat: Heavens, | + | :Black Hat: Heavens, No. My pumpkin simply has chest pains. In fact, I'll leave a note ''warning'' them not to smash it. |
− | : | + | :Label: |
::Nitro- | ::Nitro- | ||
::glycerin | ::glycerin | ||
− | ::Do | + | :Waning: Do not shake |
− | |||
:[Megan stands next to a large orange pumpkin with the stem on top. It is sitting on a table. The pumpkin has been carved out as a typical Halloween lamp. The bottom part of a white candle stick is visible in the mouth shaped hole. The hole is in the shape of a typical jack-o' lantern, with two slanted eyes, double slit nose and a smiling mouth with a tooth sticking out from both upper and lower lip, on either side of the candle stick.] | :[Megan stands next to a large orange pumpkin with the stem on top. It is sitting on a table. The pumpkin has been carved out as a typical Halloween lamp. The bottom part of a white candle stick is visible in the mouth shaped hole. The hole is in the shape of a typical jack-o' lantern, with two slanted eyes, double slit nose and a smiling mouth with a tooth sticking out from both upper and lower lip, on either side of the candle stick.] | ||
Line 61: | Line 50: | ||
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]] | [[Category:Comics featuring Megan]] | ||
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] | [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] | ||
+ | [[Category:Axiom of Choice]] | ||
[[Category:Math]] | [[Category:Math]] | ||
[[Category:Logic]] | [[Category:Logic]] |