Talk:2258: Solar System Changes

Support except keep Uranus. 172.68.189.181 19:16, 22 January 2020 (UTC)

Wait ... WHAT??? Why isn't Niburu in this???? 162.158.154.229 19:22, 22 January 2020 (UTC) Its similar to https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1902:_State_Borders 172.68.47.102 19:37, 22 January 2020 (UTC)

What Venus has been through

For "what Venus has been through" see [1] 173.245.52.97 19:44, 22 January 2020 (UTC)

I feel like the transcript is unnecessary because it's wholly redundant with the table here. Anyone object to merging the two sections? 172.69.22.164 20:45, 22 January 2020 (UTC)

See the transcript for State Borders. I think we still need to have a transcript, since the locations of the arrows and other marks aren't made clear in the table. 162.158.74.27 20:57, 22 January 2020 (UTC)

We always need the transcript. There should be no explanations in the transcript. It is both for people who need it to "read" the comic, and to be able to search for text from comic. Also the description of the image is relevant, in case there could be misunderstandings of what is on the image. If the transcript gets that wrong, then it can be debated and corrected. --Kynde (talk) 12:54, 23 January 2020 (UTC)

Note that in future, we may be actually able to implement some of those changes ... however, at that point the consolidation of missions to Moon and Mars wouldn't be relevant :-). Also, I would be against: most of those changes would be likely to make our solar system considerably less stable. Except Venus would really deserve some moon. Just small one, it doesn't need to be as big as ours. Also, we should light up Jupiter, to warm it's moons (this is one of Clarke's ideas). -- Hkmaly (talk) 00:37, 23 January 2020 (UTC)

If Venus god a Moon it would most likely quickly be ejected by the interactions of the Sun, it is too close to the Sun not to see it as a three body problem, and that will always be chaotic. --Kynde (talk) 12:54, 23 January 2020 (UTC)

Wow - I only just noticed that "Jaturn" has Saturn's hexagon at the top. Should this be highlighted in the table? After all, it is cool science: https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2010-07-06 162.158.74.155 02:04, 23 January 2020 (UTC)

Yes, has already been done. --Kynde (talk) 12:54, 23 January 2020 (UTC)

I don't think the title text has anything to do with anthropomorphism. Rather, there is a person near R. just then who knows stuff about Jupiter. 162.158.214.82 03:44, 23 January 2020 (UTC)

The title text is Randall relaying a quote spoken by someone other than himself, with that person's identity "signed" after the two dashes (kind of like how we usually sign posts with --~~~~). Therefore, it is properly read as "someone (who knows Jupiter is within earshot)", not "(someone who knows Jupiter) is within earshot". If Randall had meant the latter, he would more likely have written something like "To the Jupiter fans: of course Jupiter already has a very impressive ring system!" --NotaBene (talk) 04:44, 23 January 2020 (UTC)

You are correct. The two dashes are indicative of signing a comment. Had Randall intended to comment that someone who knows Jupiter is close by, he would have put the comment in parentheses. 162.158.107.163 18:59, 23 January 2020 (UTC)

He may also refer to the God Jupiter, who is the God of sky and thunder, and may easily smite anyone offending him. --141.101.98.118 07:42, 23 January 2020 (UTC)

I agree with the first commenter: This is not about anthropomorphism. This is someone who states that Jupiter already has rings, and Randall comes those in advance by mentioning it in the title text. Annoying people who cannot see the difference between Saturn's Rings and other ring systems! --Kynde (talk) 12:54, 23 January 2020 (UTC)

Honestly, I originally read the title text, got confused due to its wording, and went with the second interpretation ("a Jupiter fan is within earshot and knows about its rings"). However it didn't quite feel right, and reading it again, the first interpretation ("a person knows that an anthropomorphized Jupiter is within earshot and wishes to placate him") makes just as much sense - in fact, grammatically, it makes more sense, since otherwise you have to suppose that Randall intended this weird combination of speech attribution and stage direction. However, it makes less sense in context, since the comic is talking about real planets and didn't mention gods or anthropomorphized planets at all. Randall simply seems to have been clumsy with his wording. Hawthorn (talk) 09:58, 24 January 2020 (UTC)

Someone needs to make a Kopernicus mod in KSP and load it with Principia to see how long it lasts. Assume scales are close to the real one. 172.69.63.47 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

This comic may alternatively be about climate change - something about satire, metaphors, acid rain, super-Earths, current-events, the nature of rings surrounding planets & extinction level events. I don't know. Don't listen to me. 108.162.216.160 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

We won't. Sure Randall makes those comics, but this is clearly not one of them. (oh and please sign you comments ;-) --Kynde (talk) 12:54, 23 January 2020 (UTC)

Oh please won't someone calculate the extent of low and high tides if we replace the Moon with Mars? Cellocgw (talk) 15:15, 23 January 2020 (UTC)

You know, for all my complaints about the Solar System, I always thought Jupiter and Saturn were well-balanced. Each of them has something interesting about it, and we don’t get too much of an overload of features from either one. In order to maintain variety while keeping the number of gas giants to a minimum, I think Neptune should get the rings. Jupiter can keep the moons, though, and otherwise I support this revision. —172.69.33.137 19:53, 23 January 2020 (UTC)

Actually, Neptune already has a very impressive ring system!162.158.158.233 10:28, 24 January 2020 (UTC)