Talk:3072: Stargazing 4

2025-04-06T14:03:53Z

108.162.221.151: Roche larger than Schwarzschild? Really?

Is it not possible and even likely, due to the simplistic nature of the dialog here, that the falling stars here in fact have nothing to do with black holes and merely refer to "falling stars"?
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.150.67|172.68.150.67]] 19:11, 5 April 2025 (UTC)
:I think they have to do with stars falling in to the black hole. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.17.125|172.69.17.125]] 00:53, 6 April 2025 (UTC)
::I must say that my first too hasty view of the comic page had me reading "...haven't seen a star fall''ing'' since...", and thus about "falling stars", i.e. meteorites (which... well, is another astronomically naïve 'fact'), but on a second reading I correctly realised it as "fall in" and therefore could only really be relating to the black hole thing that closes the comic-text.
::But so easy for a minor misreading to at least lead to this. If something about Earth's atmosphere had been mentioned, ''perhaps'' it could have remained ambiguous, but I don't have any doubts about its intention. Until someone points out ''another'' way to interpret the progressive back-referencing of text, I suppose, maybe leaving either me or they adamantly trapped down the wrong garden path/rabbit hole... ;) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.14|162.158.74.14]] 10:07, 6 April 2025 (UTC)

First comic explanation I've done. This is... somewhat harder than what I expected. [[User:MinersHavenM43|MinersHavenM43]] ([[User talk:MinersHavenM43|talk]]) 02:46, 5 April 2025 (UTC)

To be clear, the comic says grains of sand on Earth's *beaches* which presumably excludes deserts and such. I think another joke with that panel might be that Earth has more sand than just the beaches.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.31|108.162.212.31]] 03:21, 5 April 2025 (UTC)

Randal is rarely wrong. Have we seen TDEs (tidal disruption events) for Sag A* or only for other supermassive black holes? --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.242.247|172.70.242.247]] 07:44, 5 April 2025 (UTC)

I don't think the voice in the title text should be identified with Randall. Furthermore it is said that we haven't seen a star fall into a black hole, which is different from a TDE. --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.102.194|172.71.102.194]] 08:23, 5 April 2025 (UTC)

She's back. SHE'S BACK!!!! /ref [[User:CalibansCreations|'''<span style="color:#ff0000;">Caliban</span>''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 09:10, 5 April 2025 (UTC)

This feels like Cunk on Space [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.123|141.101.99.123]] 11:06, 5 April 2025 (UTC)

Indeed we never saw a TDE for Sag A* provided context for that --[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 11:13, 5 April 2025 (UTC)

In the last panel and title text, Megan states it's hilarious when "stars" fall into black holes, that they can't leave Yelp reviews, and that she has a list of stars she hopes are next to fall in. Is it possible she's now conflating Hollywood stars (movie/TV personalities) with the celestial bodies? Like she has a list of entertainment personalities she bears a grudge against and wishes they would leave the country (or universe)? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.154|172.70.126.154]] 11:54, 5 April 2025 (UTC)Pat
:I myself had that very thought, thinking that this statement might be a double-entendre that refers to some people. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 02:33, 6 April 2025 (UTC)

Why isn't Danish called Danish in the transcript instead of a long-haired Megan?--[[User:Darth Vader|Darth Vader]] ([[User talk:Darth Vader|talk]]) 10:43, 6 April 2025 (UTC)

Still no April fools? Sad :( [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!|Aprilfoolsupdate!]] ([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 11:05, 6 April 2025 (UTC)

"However, as the Roche limit of a black hole is always greater than its Schwarzschild radius,.." - I don't think so. Especially for heavy black holes the Schwarzschild radius is so far out that the tidal effects may be small. Additionally, the Roche limit depends on the structure of the small body too, while the Schwarzschild radius is just a function of the black holes mass and rotation. What does the community think?

Talk:1516: Win by Induction

2015-04-24T11:49:15Z

108.162.221.151: bored recursion?

Is the alt text a reference to double-yolkers (eggs with two yolks)? [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16118149 They're only about 1 in every 1000] but it seems like an obvious reference. --[[User:Fenn|Fenn]] ([[User talk:Fenn|talk]]) 08:32, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
:Makes sense to me. I didn't even think of double yolks until you mentioned it here. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.89|173.245.50.89]] 09:04, 24 April 2015 (UTC)BK201

The explanation currently says that doubling makes it uncountably infinite. I'm pretty sure that doubling at each step (or every few steps) is still a countable infinite set. Proof here: http://practicaltypography.com/the-infinite-pixel-screen.html (see section "The internet demands a recount", because the first attempt is wrong). We can also prove it using the same argument as when proving that N x N is countable infinite (making zig-zag), but in this case making a breadth-first search of the tree of Pikachus: map 1 to the first Pikachu, map 2 and 3 to the two Pikachus at the second level, map 4, 5, 6, 7 to the four Pikachus at the third level, map (2^(n-1))…((2^n) - 1) to the 2^(n-1) Pikachus at level n. {{unsigned ip|108.162.229.177}}
:Saw this too late. Yes, I agree, and I have fixed it accordingly. --[[User:Stephan Schulz|Stephan Schulz]] ([[User talk:Stephan Schulz|talk]]) 09:28, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

"infinite, but countable" {Cough.} Someone doesn't understand infinity. Perhaps they meant "enumerable". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.155|108.162.250.155]] 09:29, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
:Someone doesn't understand countability. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.217|141.101.89.217]] 09:46, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

"The front most Pikachu speaks." Hey, look, it has those little lines to show it's speaking, not the blank white space behind it. Duh. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.155|108.162.250.155]] 09:32, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

Looks like Megan is looking at her watch as well. Mention in transcript/explanation? [[User:Fenn|Fenn]] ([[User talk:Fenn|talk]]) 09:34, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
:Are Megan and Cueball supposed to fight each other? It seems like Cueball still has his closed Pokéball in his hands. Is it then Megan's Pokéball that has evolved into all these Pikachu? And is it because she waits for her Pokémon to be ready to fight Cueball, that she checks her watch? I do not know anything about the Pokémon game/world. But it seems to me that some part of this setup is unexplained by the above... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:23, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

Friendly reminder: Grammatically speaking, Pokémon are like sheep or deer. Singular and plural are both written the same. One Pikachu, many Pikachu, all the Pikachu. You'd be surprised at how much rage forgetting this causes in certain corners of the Internet. {{unsigned ip|141.101.99.42}}

What doesn't make sense to me is how this could continue indefinitely – after all, each of those Pikachu must have caught its own Pikachu beforehand. I don't see any infinite loop here, just a bunch of Pikachu that already had one another caught itselves. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.96.217|141.101.96.217]] 10:13, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

The word "induction" could also be intended to have a double meaning, referring also to electromagnetic induction. Pikachu is, after all, and electric pokémon. {{unsigned ip|141.101.105.194}}
:Yes, I think this is right. Something about Maxwell's equations and induction. {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.203}}
::From an engineering standpoint, in my opinion, Pikachu act more like biological capacitors (stored electric charge at potentially high voltage able to deliver large discharge currents) than inductors ("storing" magnetic energy via constant current, able to deliver high voltage when interrupted, like the ignition coil for an older automotive engine). I'm not too familiar with the Pokémon in-game/in-show universe, but I would imagine the Nurse Jenny corps could use electric Pokémon such as Pikachu (or Raichu) like defibrillators for cardiac events! --BigMal // [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.177|173.245.50.177]] 11:42, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

There's a point floating about how infinity doesn't imply completion. For instance, the number of all even integers is infinite, yet any given integer "only has a 50% chance of being even", so the series is quite obviously incomplete. This article seems to tend towards the idea (in diction) that an infinite number of pikachu would result in a win based on a 'logical' premise, without referring specificially to the terms of it's assumption. [[User:Xerxesbeat|Xerxesbeat]] ([[User talk:Xerxesbeat|talk]]) 11:38, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

What happens if the Pikachu in the ball is recursing - picking himself? That doesn't fit the 30-40 double yolk thing, but would explain an infinite series. Food for thought. Megan is bored, waiting for the fight to start. I thought the game was supposed to begin when the players choose, though, so I don't understand why the wait is happening at all.

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:3072: Stargazing 4

Talk:1516: Win by Induction