1617: Time Capsule

2015-12-16T09:50:50Z

Mwmitchell: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1617
| date = December 16, 2015
| title = Time Capsule
| image = time_capsule.png
| titletext = Oh no, I changed the future and now I'm disappearing! Wait, never mind, it was just my hat slipping down over my eyes.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page.}}
[[Beret Guy]] has mixed up the purpose of a time machine and a time capsule.

Beret Guy claims he has been subsisting on newspapers; newspaper clippings are a stereotype of time capsules.

Beret Guy mentions he got inside his "time machine" to attempt an assassination an against Adolf Hitler. This is a common trope in speculative fiction.

Beret Guy traveled to the future before in [[209: Kayak]]. The concept of "traveling" through time was also used in [[630: Time Travel]].

Besides [[1063: Kill Hitler]], time machines are also referenced in [[102: Back to the Future]], [[209: Kayak]], [[716: Time Machine]] and [[1203: Time Machines]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Ponytail have just dug out a time capsule. Cueball is standing on the edge of the hole, Ponytail is in it and proceeds to lift up the lid of the box that makes up the time capsule.]
:Ponytail: All right, let's open the time capsule.

:[Slight zoom in on Ponytail and the box, of which Beret Guy comes out, revealing that he was inside all along.]
:Beret Guy: Hi!
:Ponytail: Where did you come from?!
:Beret Guy: The past! I traveled here in this time machine.

:[Frame widens to include Cueball, in the same position as in the first frame.]
:Cueball: How did you... '''''get''''' here from the past?
:Beret Guy: I dunno. I couldn't '''''not'''''.
:Cueball: But... what did you eat?
:Beret Guy: Newspapers, mostly.

:[Zoom in again on Ponytail and the box, Beret Guy still in it and now holding a hammer.]
:Beret Guy: Anyway, I'm here to kill Hitler.
:Ponytail: But he died long ago!
:Beret Guy: Oh, good! That was easy.
:Beret Guy: Want to get sandwiches?
:Beret Guy: Do you still have sandwiches?

==See also==
*[[1063: Kill Hitler]]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Time travel]]

1584: Moments of Inspiration

2015-09-30T12:46:00Z

Mwmitchell:

{{comic
| number = 1584
| date = September 30, 2015
| title = Moments of Inspiration
| image = moments_of_inspiration.png
| titletext = Charles, I just talked to John and Mildred, who run that company selling seeds and nuts, and their kids with MOUTHS are starving!
}}

==Explanation==

{{w|Isaac Newton|Newton}}'s original examples describing the force of gravity show an apple falling from a tree in order to explain why the apple falls toward the Earth, instead of the Earth falling toward the apple, however, over time this developed into the legend that he was originally inspired by watching an apple fall, and the legend further evolved into the idea that the inspiration came from being actually struck by the apple. The first part of this comic retells that famous legend. The later comics depict similar (but more implausible) legends that could emerge if we were to assume that other scientists' most famous examples and discoveries were based on actually observing these events taking place:

Someone (possibly {{w|Otto Hahn}}?) threw a ball at {{w|Lise Meitner}}'s porcelain (model) atom collection, and Meitner discovered a way to split the atom. The porcelain might also be also be a reference to {{w|Meissen porcelain}}, in German called "Meißner Porzellan", where "Meißner" is phonetically very similar to "Meitner".

Some of {{w|Charles Darwin}}'s children had beaks, which made them less able to drink soda. (The comic is unclear on whether this makes them more or less fit to survive and reproduce; considering the negative health consequences of soda consumption, it would seem that evolution would favor the humans who cannot drink soda.) This is a reference to Darwin's initial findings on the RMS Beagle on how Galapagos finches with differently shaped beaks are better suited for specific types of food, and therefore are better selected for in environments where those foods are available. (The alt-text furthers this with a description of how beaks rather than mouths are more useful when the foods have shells that need to be cracked open.)

{{w|Albert Einstein}} remarks to a man that it's annoying that the man's twin brother keeps flashing a light from a train when Einstein is trying to check his clock. He then comes to a sudden revelation. This references several of Einstein's (separate--it makes little sense together in this manner) thought experiments on special relativity, such as the twin paradox (the twin on the train should be younger after decelerating to a stop), the time between separate flashes of light, and the time dilation experienced by the observer in the moving reference frame.

The "John" and "Mildred" of the title text may be Mildred and {{w|John T. Scopes}} of the famous 1925 "monkey trial" in which John was fined $100 for teaching evolution in a Tennessee school.

==Transcript==
:[Heading: Isaac Newton] 
:[Isaac sits under a tree. An apple falls and hits him on the head] 
:Isaac Newton: Ow! 
: 
:Isaac Newton: Aha! 
: 
:[Heading: Lise Meitner] 
:Cueball: Hey Lise! Think fast! 
:[Crash] 
: 
:Lise Meitner: Oh no! My collection of porcelain atoms! ...Hmm. 
: 
:[Heading: Charles Darwin] 
:Megan: I gave our kids soda, but the ones with beaks always have trouble drinking it. 
:Charles Darwin: I've noticed that 
:Kid 1: [Sip Sip] 
:Kid 2 (with beak): [Crunch] 
:Kid 3 (with beak): [Peck Peck] 
:Kid 4: Sluurp 
: 
:[Heading: Albert Einstein] 
:Albert Einstein: I wish your twin brother would stop shining lights at us from that train. I can barely see my clock! ...Wait! 

{{comic discussion}}

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1617: Time Capsule

1584: Moments of Inspiration