2996: CIDABM

2024-10-11T09:49:19Z

AntAllan: /* Transcript */ formatting

{{comic
| number = 2996
| date = October 9, 2024
| title = CIDABM
| image = cidabm_2x.png
| imagesize = 423x480px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = There's a heated debate over whether the big island of Tierra del Fuego should qualify for membership.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A BOT DANGLING AWKWARDLY FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE WIKI - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The comic parodies intergovernmental cooperations, such as the {{w|G7}} "group of seven" (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States) or the {{w|BRICS}} group (originally '''B'''razil, '''R'''ussia, '''I'''ndia and '''C'''hina, with '''S'''outh Africa soon after rounding off the acronym before further nations attained membership). Such treaties, and other more casual associations between nations, can be based upon some close association in geographical, political, cultural and/or economic terms (or even, in some cases, by little more than sharing a common opposition to a ''different'' {{w|Trade bloc|bloc}} of nations).

The "CIDABM" group, named for the very specific membership criteria, has been formed on a rather more abstract basis than most geographically-focused groupings (e.g. {{w|NATO}} or the {{w|Pacific Islands Forum}}) and (currently) consists of four otherwise disparate islands:
*{{w|Sicily}} is an autonomous region of {{w|Italy}}, which is on the southern edge of the {{w|Eurasia}}n mainland.
*{{w|Sri Lanka}} is a nation in its own right, south of {{w|India}}, which is also on the southern edge of the Eurasian mainland.
*{{w|Hainan}} is a province of {{w|China}}, which is also on the southern edge of the Eurasian mainland.
*{{w|Tasmania}} is a state of the nation of {{w|Australia}}, south of the main {{w|Australia (continent)|continental}} mainland.

These four islands 'dangle below' their mainlands only because of the convention of having north at the top of maps. If the mapmaking convention had instead been to have south at the top, the islands might have been described as floating above their continents. Conversely, {{w|Madagascar}}, {{w|Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland}} or {{w|Adelaide Island}} might have been applicable members of similar 'dangling' alliances where the basic premise might come from one or other different map orientations.

The big island of Tierra del Fuego ({{w|Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego}}), mentioned in the title text, is off the southern tip of the {{w|Chile}}an mainland (as well as a small bit of {{w|Argentina}}). But, unlike the others in the comic, it doesn't prominently 'dangle' south of a mainland: It has narrow channels separating its northern and northwestern sides from the mainland, and other parts of the {{w|Tierra del Fuego}} archipelago surround its southwestern side and make it appear well-connected to the mainland. In addition, it isn't a single political entity: the island is split between Chile to the west and Argentina to the east. Also, the heated debate mentioned in the title text is a play on ''Tierra del Fuego'' being Spanish for ''Land of Fire''.

While the banner on stage depicts each of the islands with approximately the same size, Tasmania (68,400 km²) and Sri Lanka (65,600 km²) are much larger than Hainan (35,200 km²) and Sicily (25,800 km²). Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego is in the middle sizewise (48,000 km²). Other islands that didn't make the cut for the comic are {{w|Corsica}} (8,700 km², south of France's mainland), {{w|Cyprus}} (9,300 km², south of Turkey) or {{w|Kyushu}} (36,800 km²) and {{w|Shikoku}} (18,800 km²) that are very close and south of the Japanese mainland of Honshu - like Tierra del Fuego, the status of all these islands as "awkward dangling" could be disputed, when regarding the four 'founding members' of the new coalition. {{w|Gotland}} (3,200 km²) and {{w|Long Island}} (3,600 km²) are even smaller, and like {{w|Taiwan}} (36,200 km²) they are arguably dangling more to the east than the south of their respective mainlands. The {{w|Isle of Wight}} (merely 380 km²) probably qualifies for "awkward", but not for "big"; the same likely goes for {{w|Stewart Island}}/Rakiura (1,746 km²), which dangles south of the South Island of New Zealand. {{w|Cuba}} (105,800 km²) which "dangles" south of Florida seems also not quite fitting the theme. {{w|Sumatra}} (482,300 km²), dangling south of the Malay peninsula, might actually be too large to qualify for the club.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[A banner hangs at the top of the frame, labelled C.I.D.A.B.M., with several map segments on it. Four portions of land are shown in grey with a smaller island south of each in black.]
:[Hairbun, Cueball, Megan, and Hairy stand on a podium. The first two are shaking hands and Hairy is waving.]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Geopolitical news: Sicily, Sri Lanka, Hainan, and Tasmania have joined together to form the Coalition of Islands that Dangle Awkwardly from the Bottom of a Mainland.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Geography]]

Talk:1211: Birds and Dinosaurs

2019-11-14T18:56:47Z

AntAllan: phylogenetic distance

I'm very confused by this article, for the following reasons:
1. The math is blatantly incorrect in this comic. Saurischians/Ornithischians diverged around 230 mya [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_dinosaurs (wikipedia has good sources on this)], while we can date the oldest Tyrannosauroids (present after the split between T. rex and the first birds) at around 160 mya [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrannosauroidea (same)]. Adding in Stegosaurus at 155 mya, T. rex at 65 mya, and Sparrows at 0 mya, we get 255 mya of distance between Tyrannosaurus/modern birds but only 240 mya of distance between Tyrannosaurus/Stegosaurus. This comic would be true if Stegosaurus were replaced by Triceratops, but as it stands Randall seems to be getting the argument incorrect, and I'm not sure why that's not in the description of this article.
2. For some reason the article explanation refers to a Science article that's exactly the opposite of what it's described as suggesting; since almost all dinosaurs are likely to have had some feathers [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feathered_dinosaur (I can replace this with a non-wikipedia source when I have more time)], this makes T. rex more similar to other dinosaurs.
~~thunderbeard

:I think you might not be doing the right sums. “The phylogenetic distance between two species is an estimate of the amount of time since the most recent common ancestor of both species, in other words the time that each has evolved independently of the other.” https://phylodiversity.net/wcornwell/papers/Vellend_etal_2011_bookchap.pdf So, I think what you should be comparing is (a) the time since the LCA of sparrow and ''T. rex'' to the present day and (b) the time since the LCA of ''T. rex'' and ''Stegosaurus'' to the ''T. rex''; i.e., just the longer branches of the two inverted red Υ’s. [[User:AntAllan|AntAllan]] ([[User talk:AntAllan|talk]]) 18:56, 14 November 2019 (UTC)

I added the transcript, That was legit enough. [[Special:Contributions/121.54.48.38|121.54.48.38]] 06:03, 13 May 2013 (UTC)

: So the next question is, how tall is Ryan North? This is such a shout out! : ) {{unsigned ip|24.193.34.113}}

: - According to https://what-if.xkcd.com/16/ (Lightning), "paleontologists estimate he stood nearly five meters tall at the shoulder".[[Special:Contributions/162.158.38.196|162.158.38.196]] 11:33, 21 October 2018 (UTC)

A few minor edits, Made the text "Falco Peregrinus" italic for the lulz. [[Special:Contributions/121.54.48.38|121.54.48.38]] 10:34, 13 May 2013 (UTC)

Transcript currently says "...showing that T.Rex came at the same time as sparrows", which isn't what is showed at all (or at least implied, and certainly isn't correct). But I'm not sure about alternate wording of this. Something to do with the common ancestor to both branching much more recently, perhaps, if that isn't already dealt with? [[Special:Contributions/31.110.57.223|31.110.57.223]] 12:07, 13 May 2013 (UTC)

:Sorry about that, I added the transcript and I was an idiot at the time so I thought "Maybe they came at the same time?", So I just added that, Sorry about that. [[Special:Contributions/121.54.48.38|121.54.48.38]] 22:55, 13 May 2013 (UTC)

;Quote

So I take it that the last line marks him as a Browncoat? --Thisfox [[Special:Contributions/122.148.216.22|122.148.216.22]] 07:20, 13 May 2013 (UTC)
:Yes, I believe you will. [[Special:Contributions/121.54.48.38|121.54.48.38]] 07:53, 13 May 2013 (UTC)

;Diagram

Some evolution diagrams are honest enough to use solid vertical lines for the bits that are actually known and dotted horizontal lines for the wishful thinking bits connecting the different families. [[Special:Contributions/121.74.153.117|121.74.153.117]] 00:00, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2996: CIDABM

Talk:1211: Birds and Dinosaurs