explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

98: Fall Apart

2026-06-30T13:23:03Z

77.159.181.114: /* Explanation */ It's fun that someone mentioned Twitter not being popular yet then, considering 2 weeks earlier it would not even have existed yet

{{comic
| number = 98
| date = May 5, 2006
| title = Fall Apart
| image = fall_apart.jpg
| titletext = <nowiki>#pugglewumper Tashari got me some ink pens! I've been experimenting with them.</nowiki>
}}

==Explanation==
Despite [[Randall]] being enthusiastic about receiving ink pens, his first experiment with them has resulted in a rather bleak comic.

Instead of multiple panels, the entire comic is a single drawing, with an apparent passage of time as we travel down the page. The frame, which represents the world of the characters, gradually disintegrates and leaves them falling helplessly. At the top, we see some people standing alone, apparently happy enough, and a couple. As we descend the page, we see examples of a couple split by a narrow chasm, someone huddled isolated and alone on their own world fragment, a couple desperately trying to hang on to each other, and a single figure falling chaotically and without control.

The comic seems to be expressing what it feels like to someone when a relationship breaks up — their world falls apart, and one of the implications is that the process cannot easily be reversed -- an idea further explored in [[104: Find You]].

The identity of '#pugglewumper Tashari,' the supplier of the pens, is not known. Judging by the use of the hash sign, it is someone with whom Randall communicates in {{w|IRC}}. In fact, 'pugglewump' appears to be an IRC channel. Although hashtags later came to be strongly associated with {{w|Twitter}}, this was not true at the time the comic was drawn (i.e. two weeks after the creation of Twitter).

==Transcript==
:[Various people struggle as the comic disintegrates. Toward the top, people are standing calmly, some holding hands. As the parts of the comic break apart, people try to reach for each other, hold parts together, or curl up into a ball. By the bottom, a Cueball is falling, surrounded by pieces of the comic.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]

Talk:3265: Asteroid Threat

2026-06-30T09:22:28Z

77.159.181.114: typo

I must be getting ''old''; when I was a kid, the Chicxulub impact was said to have been only 65 million years ago, and now it's 66?! --[[User:Itub|Itub]] ([[User talk:Itub|talk]]) 21:25, 29 June 2026 (UTC)
:No! (But [[:Category:Comics to make one feel old|these]] will also make you feel old)(Seriously, though, probably just different estimation.) [[User:RadiantRainwing|K9Dragon23, or RainWingSquares (talk)]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 21:42, 29 June 2026 (UTC) 
::Reassured to see I'm not the only one. I went to check, and apparently a study from 2013 estimated the Chicxulub crater to be 66.038 ± 0,011 million years old. [[Special:Contributions/77.159.181.114|77.159.181.114]] 09:22, 30 June 2026 (UTC)

Can anyone think of a reason to link this to the What-If comic "Cassini"? And how do we do that on this platform? Oh, wow. Hey, on Cassini-Earth, it looks like the Chicxulub crater (21°24′N 89°30′W) would happen near Tunguska (60°54′11″N 101°54′35″E). Or not. [[Special:Contributions/158.173.67.90|158.173.67.90]] 00:10, 30 June 2026 (UTC)
:You might link to it with <code><nowiki>{{what if|10|something like this}}</nowiki></code>, using the {{template|what if}} template in lowercase, which looks {{what if|10|something like this}} and sends you to the appropriate bit of the table on this site's catalogue page. Or else <code><nowiki>{{What If|10|something like that}}</nowiki></code>, using {{template|What If}} template in TitleCase, which looks {{What If|10|something like that}} and sends you to the actual what-if site original.
:It would all depend on what your preference is. (Going to the former gives you a further jumping-off point to going to the latter, but also to any youtube videos noted to be about it, etc.):I'm not actually convinced that there's any reason to link to {{What If|10}}, in this case, but that's how you would do it, FYI. Knock yourself out, or just remember enough about it to work it out from scratch the next time you really think you ought to. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.200.152|81.179.200.152]] 00:51, 30 June 2026 (UTC)
::Thanks! Anyway, it looks like Cassini's Chicxulub event would happen somewhere on the 1100-km stretch between Tunguska and Norilsk. I haven't figured out the math yet, just compared maps. [[Special:Contributions/158.173.67.61|158.173.67.61]] 01:07, 30 June 2026 (UTC)
Only 3 million more years to go! [[User:RG|RG]] ([[User talk:RG|talk]]) 00:16, 30 June 2026 (UTC)

Absurd?? You're laughing. Dinosaurs could be back ''any century now'' and you're laughing. --[[Special:Contributions/37.19.210.20|37.19.210.20]] 03:42, 30 June 2026 (UTC)

I think there's a typo in the comic: it says "dire" instead of "exciting". [[Special:Contributions/94.249.207.231|94.249.207.231]] 06:46, 30 June 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3265: Asteroid Threat

2026-06-30T09:22:11Z

77.159.181.114: discussion on the datation of Chicxulub

I must be getting ''old''; when I was a kid, the Chicxulub impact was said to have been only 65 million years ago, and now it's 66?! --[[User:Itub|Itub]] ([[User talk:Itub|talk]]) 21:25, 29 June 2026 (UTC)
:No! (But [[:Category:Comics to make one feel old|these]] will also make you feel old)(Seriously, though, probably just different estimation.) [[User:RadiantRainwing|K9Dragon23, or RainWingSquares (talk)]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 21:42, 29 June 2026 (UTC) 
::Reessured to see I'm not the only one. I went to check, and apparently a study from 2013 estimated the Chicxulub crater to be 66.038 ± 0,011 million years old. [[Special:Contributions/77.159.181.114|77.159.181.114]] 09:22, 30 June 2026 (UTC)

Can anyone think of a reason to link this to the What-If comic "Cassini"? And how do we do that on this platform? Oh, wow. Hey, on Cassini-Earth, it looks like the Chicxulub crater (21°24′N 89°30′W) would happen near Tunguska (60°54′11″N 101°54′35″E). Or not. [[Special:Contributions/158.173.67.90|158.173.67.90]] 00:10, 30 June 2026 (UTC)
:You might link to it with <code><nowiki>{{what if|10|something like this}}</nowiki></code>, using the {{template|what if}} template in lowercase, which looks {{what if|10|something like this}} and sends you to the appropriate bit of the table on this site's catalogue page. Or else <code><nowiki>{{What If|10|something like that}}</nowiki></code>, using {{template|What If}} template in TitleCase, which looks {{What If|10|something like that}} and sends you to the actual what-if site original.
:It would all depend on what your preference is. (Going to the former gives you a further jumping-off point to going to the latter, but also to any youtube videos noted to be about it, etc.):I'm not actually convinced that there's any reason to link to {{What If|10}}, in this case, but that's how you would do it, FYI. Knock yourself out, or just remember enough about it to work it out from scratch the next time you really think you ought to. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.200.152|81.179.200.152]] 00:51, 30 June 2026 (UTC)
::Thanks! Anyway, it looks like Cassini's Chicxulub event would happen somewhere on the 1100-km stretch between Tunguska and Norilsk. I haven't figured out the math yet, just compared maps. [[Special:Contributions/158.173.67.61|158.173.67.61]] 01:07, 30 June 2026 (UTC)
Only 3 million more years to go! [[User:RG|RG]] ([[User talk:RG|talk]]) 00:16, 30 June 2026 (UTC)

Absurd?? You're laughing. Dinosaurs could be back ''any century now'' and you're laughing. --[[Special:Contributions/37.19.210.20|37.19.210.20]] 03:42, 30 June 2026 (UTC)

I think there's a typo in the comic: it says "dire" instead of "exciting". [[Special:Contributions/94.249.207.231|94.249.207.231]] 06:46, 30 June 2026 (UTC)