1768: Settling

2016-12-06T05:33:42Z

Edgoforth: /* Added short section on the sunk cost fallacy */

{{comic
| number = 1768
| date = December 5, 2016
| title = Settling
| image = settling.png
| titletext = Of course, "Number of times I've gotten to make a decision twice to know for sure how it would have turned out" is still at 0.
}}

==Explanation==

This is a chart showing when [[Randall]] made the wrong decision in leaving a place. It shows that he almost always was wrong in staying, and not in leaving to find something else to do. This kind of behavior, often tied to a need to fit in, is very common in teens, although some books and movies suggest that people do the opposite, and are wrong to do it. (An example, in ''The Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy'', is that a woman meets an alien, who offers to take her off planet, but she goes back for her bag and never sees him again.)

People often stick with situations they are not happy with (a broken relationship, an unfulfilling career, a stale piece of cake) because they think sticking with the situation is better than throwing it away. This risk aversion can lead to people sticking with something a lot longer than they ought to if they want to be happiest. Humans' aversion to loss is common; you, being at the necessary reading level for this wiki, surely can easily recall many times when you feared to lose access to something or someone you valued.

Economists and behavioral scientists refer to this behavior as the "sunk cost fallacy", more formally known as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escalation_of_commitment Escalation of commitment]. Colloquially, this is a situation where resistance to change is justified by the amount of effort or time already expended. A proverb recognizing the error in this thinking is [http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/186789/etymology-of-throw-good-money-after-bad "Throwing good money after bad"], while a competing proverb seemingly justifying the behavior is [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/in_for_a_penny,_in_for_a_pound "In for a penny, in for a pound"].

The title text references a common thread in human regret, which is wondering whether we should have turned the other way when making a choice ("I would have...", "I could have...", "I should have...", et al). Randall points out that it is literally impossible to know how it would have turned out, perhaps urging readers to not regret their decisions and live in the moment.

==Transcript==

'''Life Scorecard'''

Times when I thought...

{| class="wikitable"
|-
|"I'm not really happy here, but maybe this is the best I can expect and I'll regret giving it up."
|}

...It turned out I...

{| class="wikitable"
|-
|Should have stayed||Should have left sooner
|-
| || || <strike>||||</strike> <strike>||||</strike> |||
|}

{{comic discussion}}

1509: Scenery Cheat Sheet

2015-04-09T13:54:31Z

Edgoforth: Added filiming locations for Dirty Dancing

{{comic
| number = 1509
| date = April 8, 2015
| title = Scenery Cheat Sheet
| image = scenery cheat sheet.png
| titletext = At the boundary between each zone, stories blend together. Somewhere in the New Mexico desert, the Roadrunner is pursued by a tireless Anton Chigurh.
}}

==Explanation==
{{Incomplete|Explanation required.}}

{{w|GeoGuessr}} is a game using {{w|Google Street View|StreetView}} images that drops the player in a random location and challenges them to work out where they are. It is also referenced in [[1214: Geoguessr]].

Crash-landed astronauts probably refer to the movie {{w|Gravity (film)|Gravity}} where {{w|Sandra Bullock}} do crash land. It is not clear in the movie if it is in the United States, but if she new this Cheat Sheet, she would quickly be able to determine that...

Some entries (for instance, ''{{w|Groundhog Day (film)|Groundhog Day}}'') reflect the locations where the stories are set, and others (like ''{{w|Dances with Wolves}}'') reflect where they were filmed. Several regions on the map have labels which are not actually movies. The map is the most detailed in the {{w|Northeastern United States|northeast}}, which is where [[Randall]] lives. This is also the part of the US where the states are smallest and thus the sections also reflects this fact.

The title text references ''{{w|Anton Chigurh}}'' (portrayed by {{w|Javier Bardem}}), who is the main antagonist of the film ''{{w|No Country For Old Men}}.'' In this case he would have taken over the role of {{w|Wile E. Coyote}}, and would thus hunt down {{w|Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner|The Road Runner}} at the boundary between the sections for these two movies, which would be somewhere in the {{w|New Mexico}} desert.

==Table==
*In this table all the movies (and others) from the map are mentioned from top to bottom and (when possible) by going through the columns that seems to appear in the sections when going from left to right.
*The setting for the movie vs. the actual filming locations will be given to be compared to the section of the map where the titles are written.
*Explanations will be given in the Notes section.
*The {{w|State Postal Codes}} will be used when referring to the states covered by each section.

{| class="wikitable"
! Movie Title
! Setting for Movie
! Actual Filming Location(s)
! Section on map
! Notes
|-
| {{w|The Goonies}}
|
| Cannon Beach, and Astoria, OR
|
|
|-
| {{w|Twilight (2008 film)| Twilight}}
| Forks, WA
| Portland, OR
| rowspan="2" | {{w|Washington (state)|WA}}, {{w|Oregon|OR}} and most northern part of {{w|California|CA}} except for the part taken up by The Goonies.
| Same sections as 50 Shades of Grey
|-
| {{w|Fifty Shades of Grey (film)|50 Shades of Grey}}
| Seattle, WA
| Vancouver, BC
| Same sections as Twilight which is clear from this fact:. The Fifty series was originally a {{w|fan fiction}} version of Twilight, but then developed into three full novels. It became the first film based on a fan fiction book.
|-
| {{w|Zodiac (film)|Zodiac}}
| San Fransisco Bay Area
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|The Rock (film)|The Rock}}
| {{w|Alcatraz Island}}
| {{W|Alcatraz Island}}
|
|
|-
| {{w|Dances with Wolves}}
| Fort Sedgwick, CO
| South Dakota and Wyoming
| rowspan= "2" |
|
|-
| {{w|Starship Troopers (film)|Starship Troopers}}
| Planet Klendathu
| Hell's Half Acre, WY
|
|-
| {{w|Napoleon Dynamite|Napoleon Dynamite}}
| Preston, Idaho
| Preston, Idaho
|
|
|-
| {{w|The Sandlot|The Sandlot}}
| Suburban Los Angeles
| Salt Lake City, Utah
|
|
|-
| {{w|Wild Wild West|Wild Wild West}}
| The southwest area
| Tuscon, Arizona; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Pierce, Idaho
|
|
|-
| {{w|Top Gun|Top Gun}}
| NAS Miramar, San Diego, CA
| Nevada, NAS Miramar, San Diego, CA
| rowspan="2" |
|
|-
| {{w|Independence Day (1996 film)|Part of Independence Day}}
| Grand Canyon & Area 51
| Utah / Nevada
|
|-
| {{w|Sideways|That movie about wine & talking}}
| {{w|Santa Ynez Valley}}
| {{w|Santa Ynez Valley}}
|
| He clearly means ''Sideways''. Mapped area does not include the Santa Ynez Valley wine country, but instead shows the {{w|Central_Valley_(California)|California Central Valley}}.
|-
| {{w|List of most expensive films|Every movie with a big budget...}}
|
|Hollywood, CA
|
|
|-
| {{w|Brokeback Mountain|Brokeback Mountain}}
| Wyoming
| Southern Alberta
|
|
|-
| {{w|Oregon Trail (video_game)|Oregon Trail}}
| {{w|Platte River|Platte}}, {{w|Snake River|Snake}}, and {{w|Columbia River|Columbia}} river valleys
|Video Game, not a film
|
| Could also refer to the film "{{w|The Oregon Trail (1936 film)}}".
|-
| {{w|Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner|Roadrunner cartoons}}
| {{w|Southern Arizona}}
|Animated, not filmed
|
|
|-
| {{w|The Truman Show|The Truman Show}}<br>but with desert in the background
|
|
|
| If it were filmed in Las Vegas ...
|-
| {{w|Tombstone (film)|Tombstone}}
| {{w|Tombstone, Arizona|Tombstone, AZ}}
| Arizona
| rowspan="2" |
|
|-
| {{w|The Mask of Zorro|The Mask of Zorro}}
| California
| Mexico
|
|-
| {{w|No Country for Old Men (film)|No Country for Old Men}}
| (West) Texas
| Texas, New Mexico
|
|
|-
| {{w|Fargo (film)|Fargo}}
| Fargo ND, Brainerd MN, Minneapolis MN
| Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN area, Hallock MN, Bathgate, ND
|
|
|-
| {{w|Interstellar (film)|Interstellar}} (Earth parts)
| {{w|Northeast_megalopolis|BosWash}} (converted to farmland), probably near former NYC
| Alberta
| rowspan="3" |
| "Earth Parts"
|-
| {{w|Star Trek (film)|Star Trek (2009)}} (Earth parts)
| Iowa
| Iowa
| "Earth Parts"
|-
| {{w|Field of Dreams|Field of Dreams}}
|
| Dyersville, IA
|
|-
| {{w|The Music Man (1962 film)|The Music Man}}
| River City, IA
| Warner Bros Studio, Burbank, CA
|
|
|-
| {{w|The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz}}
| Kansas, Oz
|
|
| The Judy Garland version, presumably. The earth parts.
|-
| {{w|Twister (1996 film)|Twister}}
| Oklahoma
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|True Grit (1969 film)|True Grit}}
| Arkansas
|New Mexico
|
| Obviously the {{w|True Grit (2010 film)|2010 version}}
|-
| {{w|Office Space|Office Space}}
|
| Austin, TX
| rowspan="3" |
|
|-
| {{w|Dazed and Confused (film)|Dazed and Confused}}
| Austin, TX
|
|
|-
| {{w|Kill Bill|Kill Bill}}
| El Paso, TX
|
|-
| {{w|The Blues Brothers (film)|Blues Brothers}}
| Chicago
| Chicago and Milwaukee
|
|
|-
| {{w|8 Mile (film)|8 Mile}}
| Wayne County, Michigan
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|A Christmas Story|A Christmas Story}}
| Indiana
| Cleveland, OH
| rowspan="2" |
|
|-
| {{w|Jack & Diane|That song about Jack and Diane}}
|
| Lake Monroe, IN
| "In the Heartland"
|-
| Anything by {{w|Mark Twain}}
| Hannibal, MO
|
|
| The mapped area doesn't quite include Twain's home town of Hannibal, MO.
|-
| {{w|Walk the Line|Walk the Line}}
| Tennessee
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Big Fish|Big Fish}}
|
| Wetumpka and Montgomery, AL
| rowspan="2" |
|
|-
| {{w|O Brother, Where Art Thou?|O Brother Where Art Thou}}
| Parchman Farm, MS
| Canton, MS; Florence, SC
|
|-
| {{w|Duck Dynasty|Duck Dynasty}}
| {{w|West Monroe, Louisiana|West Monroe, LA}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|The Princess and the Frog|Princess and the Frog}}
| New Orleans
|Animated, not filmed
| rowspan="2" |
|
|-
| {{w|All Dogs Go to Heaven|All Dogs go to Heaven}}
| New Orleans
|Animated, not filmed
|
|-
| {{w|Beasts of the Southern Wild|Beasts of the Southern Wild}}
| Louisiana
| Montegut, LA
|
|
|-
| {{w|Groundhog Day (film)|Groundhog Day}}
| {{w|Punxsutawney,_Pennsylvania|Punxsutawney, PA}}, {{w|Pittsburgh|Pittsburgh}}
| Woodstock, IL
|
|
|-
| {{w|Dirty Dancing|Dirty Dancing}}
| {{w|Catskill Mountains|Catskill Mountains}}
| {{w|Mountain_Lake_(Virginia)|Mountain Lake, VA}} and {{w|Lake_Lure,_North_Carolina|Lake Lure, NC}}
|
|
|-
| {{w|October Sky|October Sky}}
| Coalwood, WV
| East Tennessee
|
|
|-
| {{w|Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind}}
| Tara, near {{w|Jonesboro, Georgia|Jonesboro, GA}}
|
| rowspan="2" |
|
|-
| {{w|Forrest Gump|Forrest Gump}}
| Alabama
|
|
|-
| {{w|The Truman Show|The Truman Show}}
| Los Angeles area
| {{w|Seaside, Florida|Seaside, FL}}
|
|
|-
| {{w|Adaptation (film)|Adaptation}}
| Everglades, FL and surrounding areas
|
|
| Very loosely based on the book "The Orchid Thief" by Susan Orlean, which chronicles the lifestyle of orchid thief and dealer John Laroche. The movie is about a screenwriter who struggles to adapt the book into a movie, turning himself into a main character in his own story.
|-
| {{w|Miami Vice|Miami Vice}}
| Miami
|
|
| Or the {{w|Miami Vice (film)|film}}
|-
| {{w|Super Troopers|Super Troopers}}
| Vermont, NY ("Somewhere near the border")
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|My Side of the Mountain|My Side of the Mountain (book)}}
| Adirondack Mountains, NY
| Catskill mountains, near Delhi, NY
|
| The area shown on the map includes the Adirondacks, as well as the Tug Hill Plateau and the Finger Lakes. The Catskills appear to be excluded.
|-
| {{w|War of the Worlds (2005 film)|War of the Worlds (2005)}}
| Massachusetts
| California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia
|
| Also referenced in [[556: Alternative Energy Revolution]]
|-
| {{w|Signs (film)|Signs}}
| {{w|Doylestown, Pennsylvania|Doylestown, PA}}
|
| rowspan="2" |
|
|-
| {{w|The Village (2004 film)|The Village}}
| Covington, PA
| {{w|Chadds Ford Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania|Chadds Ford, PA}}
|
|-
| [Generic City]
| Washington DC, Baltimore, New York City, Philadelphia
| N/A
|
|
|-
| {{w|Deep Impact (film)|Deep Impact}}
| Atlantic Coast
|
|
| The Mega-tsunami
|-
| {{w|Pet Semetary|Pet Semetary}}
| Ludlow, Maine
|Hancock, Maine
|
|
|-
| {{w|What About Bob?|What about Bob}}
|Lake Winnipesaukee, NH
|Smith Mountain Lake, VA
|
|
|-
| {{w|The Departed|The Departed}}
| Boston, MA
| Boston & New York
|
|
|-
| {{w|Jaws (film)|Jaws}}
| Amity Island (stand-in for Martha's Vineyard)
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|The Hunt for Red October (film)|The Hunt for Red October}}
| Atlantic Ocean
|
|
|
|}

==Transcript==
:[Above the frame is the following text.]
:'''A cheat sheet for'''
:figuring out where in the US you are
:by recognizing the background from movies
:(for use by GeoGuessr players and crash-landed astronauts)

:[In the frame is a map of the mainland USA with the 48 mainland states lined out in thin gray lines. All areas on the map have been enclosed in sections divided by curved black lines. These sections sizes goes from encompassing several states down to just a small section of a single state. The sections cover the entire USA without any holes. There is also one section in the Atlantic Ocean. All sections are labeled. If the section is large enough the text stands inside, if it is too small, the text is outside and an arrow will point to the relevant section

:[Here below all the text on the map (mainly film titles) will be transcribed from top to bottom and (when possible) by going through the columns that seems to appear in the sections when going from left to right. The {{w|State Postal Codes}} will be used when referring to the states covered by each section]

:[Small section on the west coast around the state border between WA and OR, which is surrounded on three sides by the next section mentioned below. It is labeled with an arrow:]
:The Goonies
:[Large section covering WA, OR and top of CA. The section has two titles, with the second one standing with smaller font below the first:]
:Twilight
:50 Shades of Grey
:[Small section around San Francisco, CA:]
:Zodiac
:[Very tine section covering only Alcatraz off the coast of San Francisco, CA. It is labeled with an arrow:]
:The Rock
:[ Large section covering most of MT as well as part of WY, SD and NE. The section has two titles:]
:Dances with Wolves
:Starship Troopers
:[Medium section section covering most of ID and part of MT:]
:Napoleon Dynamite
:[Medium section section covering part of OR, ID, NV and UT:]
:The Sandlot
:[Medium section section mainly covering the top part of NV:]
:Wild Wild West
:[Medium section section covering most of NV and small part of CA. The section has two titles, with the second one standing with smaller font below the first plus description:]
:Top Gun
:& the part of Independence Day where Will Smith crashes
:[Small section covering central CA:]
:That movie about wine & talking
:[Medium section section covering a large part of the southern part of CA around Hollywood, Los Angeles:]
:Every movie with a big budget, explosions or someone who says "cool!"
:[Medium section section covering half of WY and small parts of UT and CO:]
:Brokeback Mountain
:[Medium section section covering part of WY, CO and NE. The part in parenthesis in a smaller font:]
:Oregon Trail
:(the only part I ever got to)
:[Large section covering small part of UT and the half bottom of UT and CO and top half of AZ and NM:]
:Roadrunner cartoons
:[Medium section section covering a small part of the southern CA and small part of AZ. The part beneath the title in a smaller font:]
:The Truman Show,
:but with desert as the background
:[Small part at the bottom of AZ. The section has two titles:]
:Tombstone
:& The Mask of Zorro
:[Large section covering the a small part of AZ, the bottom half of NM as well as a third of TX:]
:No Country for Old Men
:[Large section covering all of ND, most of MN, half of SD and a small part of MT:]
:Fargo
:[Medium section section covering most of NE and small parts of MN and IA. The section has three titles. The top two are marked with a square bracket to the left. The text of this given before the third title:]
:Interstellar
:Star Trek (2009)
:] Earth parts
:Field of Dreams
:[Medium section section covering large parts of IA, MO and IL:]
:The Music Man
:[Medium section section covering mainly KS, but also a small part of Co and OK:]
:The Wizard of Oz
:[Medium section section covering most of OK and small part of MO and AR:]
:Twister
:[Covering the top part of TX and small parts of OK and AR:]
:True Grit
:[Large section covering a third of TX (the eastern part all the way down) and small parts of AR and LA. The section has three titles:]
:Office Space
:Dazed and Confused
:Kill Bill
:[Small section around and below Chicago, IL, which is surrounded on three sides by the next large section mentioned below. It is labeled with an arrow:]
:Blues Brothers
:[A small circle centered around Detroit, MI completely inside the section here below. It is labeled with an arrow:]
:8 Mile
:[Large section covering all of WI, MI, IN and OH as well as parts of IL and KY. That is except for the two small sections described above, which are inlaid in this one. There are two items in this section. The one below is in smaller font:]
:A Christmas Story
:&That song about Jack and Diane
:[Medium section section covering half of AR, small parts of IL and MO as well as bits of KY, TN and MS:]
:Anything by Mark Twain
:[Medium section covering half of TN and part of KY:]
:Walk the Line
:[Large section covering all of AL most of MS and half of GA. There are two titles in this section:]
:Big Fish
:O Brother Where Art Thou
:[Small section covering top of LA and small part of MS:]
:Duck Dynasty
:[Medium section covering the bottom half of LA and the very bottom of MS. There is a very small section at the bottom of LA that are not included in this but in the next. There are two titles in this section:]
:Princess and the Frog
:All Dogs go to Heaven
:[Small section covering the very eastern end of the bottom of LA – maybe including New Orleans. It is labeled with an arrow:]
:Beasts of the Southern Wild
:[Medium section section covering half of PA and western part NY:]
:Groundhog Day
:[Small section covering the middle part of VA as well as small parts of PA, MD and WV:]
:Dirty Dancing
:[Medium section section covering most of WV, half of TN, a small parts of KY as well as tiny bits of VA, NC and GA:]
:October Sky
:[Large section covering all of SC, most of NC as well as half of VA and GA. There are two titles in this section:]
:Gone with the Wind
:Forrest Gump
:[Large section covering most of FL except the bottom part which are covered by the next two sections:]
:The Truman Show
:[Small section covering the very bottom of FL except the east coast. It is labeled with an arrow:]
:Adaptation
:[Small section covering the very bottom the east coast of FL. It is labeled with an arrow:]
:Miami Vice
:[Small section covering most of the top of VT and a small part of NY. It is labeled with an arrow:]
:Super Troopers
:[Small section covering the central part of NY.]
:My Side of the Mountain (book)
:[Small section covering the eastern part of NY, western part of MA, top part of CT as well as bits of VT and RI.:]
:War of the Worlds (2005)
:[Small section covering the eastern part of PA and small bits of NY and MD. There are two titles in this section:]
:Signs
:& The Village
:[Medium section section covering several large cities of the east coast including New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, DC. It covers most of DE and NJ and large parts of MD (with DC) and the bit of NY with the city. The text is not a title and the it is written in square brackets…:]
:[Generic city]
:[Small section covering the east coast along VA and NC, but also with small bits of MD and DE at the top:]
:Deep Impact
:[Medium section section covering all of ME, the top tip of NH and eastern top of VT:]
:Pet Semetary
:[Small section covering the most of the bottom parts of NH and VT:]
:What about Bob
:[Very small section surrounding Boston in MA. It is labeled with an arrow:]
:The Departed
:[Small section covering the east coast along MA, RI, CT and NJ:]
:Jaws
:[Large section off the east coast in the Atlantic Ocean:]
:The Hunt for Red October

==Trivia==

Not everything {{w|Mark Twain}} wrote was really set on the {{w|Mississippi River}}. For instance, he first gained attention as a fiction writer with "{{w|The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County}}," which is about {{w|Northern California}}.

==See also==
*[https://geoguessr.com/ GeoGuessr's official website]
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Maps]]

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1768: Settling

1509: Scenery Cheat Sheet