Talk:3261: Side Effect

2026-06-23T00:02:00Z

TicTac:

FIRST COMMENT! [[User:YZ100|YZ100]] 2:07, 20 June 2026 (UTC)
:i hate you [[User:TicTac|TicTac]] ([[User talk:TicTac|talk]]) 00:02, 23 June 2026 (UTC)

I do believe this takes the cake from [[Doppler Effect]] as my all time favorite. [[User:Jjj|Jjj]] ([[User talk:Jjj|talk]]) 02:43, 20 June 2026 (UTC)
:The Doppler Effect one was a good one. [[User:YZ100|YZ100]] ([[User talk:YZ100|talk]]) 2:51, 20 June 2026 (UTC)
I tried my best to add a little bit of an explanation, it’s probably not very good and it’s certainly missing some stuff, but at least there’s something now.[[User:IllegallyNamed|IllegallyNamed]] ([[User talk:IllegallyNamed|talk]]) 03:01, 20 June 2026 (UTC)

even the hat changes. I guess its part of him [[User:Student Driver|Student Driver]] ([[User talk:Student Driver|talk]]) 03:22, 20 June 2026 (UTC)
:Maybe he's been applying the medication to his hat, for reasons best known to him. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 08:01, 22 June 2026 (UTC)

I've added a (probably massively incorrect) detail on "The chirp". Someone with better understanding of black holes will probably need to amend it! [[Special:Contributions/161.65.236.209|161.65.236.209]] 05:46, 20 June 2026 (UTC)

His beret expands and shrinks because it's stapled to his head -- his head underneath it is expanding and shrinking, dragging the top of the beret with it. [[Special:Contributions/142.134.94.223|142.134.94.223]] 16:23, 20 June 2026 (UTC)

Would Beret Guy be experiencing discomfort from these distortions of spacetime? If it was caused by something like the tidal forces at differing distances from a nearby neutron star or black hole, large enough to cause that much stretching, I'd expect it to be very harmful. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 20:14, 20 June 2026 (UTC)
:In [[Meeting]], it is stated that they "physically cannot die." [[User:Jjj|Jjj]] ([[User talk:Jjj|talk]]) 06:26, 21 June 2026 (UTC)

Gravity waves are generated whenever any mass accelerates. It's just that the energy involved is so enormously small (if you don't mind a seeming oxymoron). When I stand up from this chair, it will generate gravity waves, but the energy involved will be so low that even in principle, no conceivable instrument would detect them. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 20:15, 21 June 2026 (UTC)

I think the conclusion about the beret changing size is because he put the sunscreen on the hat, allowing it to experience the side effect along with him. --Spencer[[Special:Contributions/198.54.129.215|198.54.129.215]] 20:52, 22 June 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3124: Grounded

2026-06-22T23:59:30Z

TicTac:

I don't get the joke at all {{unsigned ip|2601:646:9d00:4bb8:39c8:4f9d:f1c0:978f|20:49, 4 August 2025 (UTC)}}
:The idea is to simply drive the plane on the ground to the destination. {{unsigned ip|129.2.89.185|21:02, 4 August 2025 (UTC)}}
::Ok, should we mention this is because they mention the taxing speed {{unsigned ip|2601:646:9d00:4bb8:39c8:4f9d:f1c0:978f|21:11, 4 August 2025 (UTC)}}
:::Taxiing speed, not taxing speed. The pilots are not mulling how quickly they can file their 1040s. [[Special:Contributions/136.226.19.75|136.226.19.75]] 21:23, 4 August 2025 (UTC)

Even if a plane could taxi at around 60 MPH (car highway speed), 2 hours is only 120 miles. Not many flights on commercial jets are so short. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:37, 4 August 2025 (UTC)
:You are presuming they will stay on the ground. Once clear of storms, they could (theoretically, if not legally) take off and land at the original desired airport. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 23:55, 7 August 2025 (UTC)
::Also presuming they have any intention of respecting the speed limit. They seem ready and willing to get pulled over, so assuming they don't care about speeding tickets, the V1 (last point at which a takeoff can be safely aborted) speed of the Embraer E-170 is 145 knots (167mph, 269kph) giving a much more useful 334 miles in 2 hours. Assuming sufficiently clear major highways, of course.

I would hope that Randall was aware of John Finnemore's radio sitcom "Cabin Pressure", as a very compatible sense of intelligent humour (with the 'u', 'cos British!). Though maybe not ('cos British radio, might be too fringe a taste), and so the fact that one of the episodes has a somewhat similar plotpoint to it (not saying which, and how, as anyone who'd like to start listening might just appreciate not knowing "this is the one where..." before it happens) probably isn't worth fully analysing (with an 's', 'cos British! :p ) in the explanation. But just mentioning it here, in passing, given that it reminds me of it.
 ...also, as well as bridge heights, I hope they have a good idea about carriageway widths, for the undercarriage, and road furniture (like lampposts/roadsigns, and telegraph/powerline poles) ''plus'' structures (buildings, and bridge-spans, and even groundworks like cuttings through an overlying grade) , for the wings. Though maybe a flight(/taxi) between two places in a relatively undeveloped landscape, having just wide surfaced roads and nothing more immediately prominent than relatively sliceable giant saguaro cactii. Which I can imagine (for the sake of the joke) in the US, but would probably rule out absolutely every possible road route here in the Uk, for any aircraft bigger than a microlight. (Or an autogyro, with the rotors tied front/back, or doing a Mad Max 2 because of prior damage, but that was also in feature-sparse desert...) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.244.251|82.132.244.251]] 22:22, 4 August 2025 (UTC)
:: I'm pretty sure the episode of Cabin Pressure involved taxing an aircraft down a desert road in the Sahara, so very few obstructions to worry about. Definitely very few, if any, roads it would work in the UK. [[Special:Contributions/2A01:4B00:BB19:1900:5850:2A83:2F71:20F0|2A01:4B00:BB19:1900:5850:2A83:2F71:20F0]] 09:09, 7 August 2025 (UTC)
:::That was two separate things. The circumspect non-spoilery reference to the comedy, then looking at more realism-based situation. (I'd be more worried about wheels dropping off the edge of the road surface, into the sand, anyway. But G-ERTI is a 16-seat "Lockheed McDonnell 312", so may not have a particularly wide airframe and thus undercarriage wheelbase.) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.244.198|82.132.244.198]] 05:22, 8 August 2025 (UTC)

American Airlines is already making their flights from Chicago O'Hare and Philadelphia do this! On busses. Yes, busses at the airport boarding gates. They're calling it American [https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/experience/landline.jsp Landline]. [[User:Aaron Liu|Aaron Liu]] ([[User talk:Aaron Liu|talk]]) 22:48, 4 August 2025 (UTC)
:KLM does this as well, with [https://www.klm.nl/information/ticket-services/air-rail trains] between Brussels (ZYR) and Antwerp (ZYR) and Schiphol Airport (AMS). However, it is a "normal" Eurostar (formerly Thalys) train journey on your flight ticket: you check in your luggage between the train and flight and you're mixed with "normal" train passengers. Annoyingly, you can not count this trip towards your Eurostar miles. There used to be a train service from Brussels Central to Zaventem Airport where you checked in at Brussels Central. [[User:IIVQ|IIVQ]] ([[User talk:IIVQ|talk]]) 07:24, 5 August 2025 (UTC)
:: Antwerp is ZWE 😉 --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 09:33, 5 August 2025 (UTC)

I'm reminded of Douglas Adams's comments on the l2th radio episode of HHGttG, about how delays in getting a flight off the ground (for reasons that were almost entirely pointless) made it slower than making the trip by train would have been, in addition to the plane travel being less comfortable and less convenient. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 23:01, 4 August 2025 (UTC)
: All the more telling, seeing as the Late Great Douglas Adams later died of complications caused by deep vein thrombosis after a flight. [[Special:Contributions/124.150.67.115|124.150.67.115]] 22:45, 5 August 2025 (UTC)

Continuing on the ground is occasionally done when a flight is diverted to somewhere reasonably close (a few 100km). Of course, they don't take the plane, they get some buses or hand out some train tickets. --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 09:33, 5 August 2025 (UTC)

Massachusetts RMV frowns at the idea of allowing anything bigger than a roller skate on Memorial Drive or Storrow Drive. Stuck trucks at the nine-foot zero inches MIT bridge (oops, HARVARD Bridge) are a regular feature of Boston driving. Airplane wouldn't fit through the Boston motorway tunnels, either. Randall will have to use alternate transport. Perhaps the airplane would fit inside a Tardis? [[Special:Contributions/174.130.100.64|174.130.100.64]] 12:30, 5 August 2025 (UTC)
:Huh? This seems…not even wrong? The Mass RMV doesn't have jurisdiction over Memorial Drive or Storrow Drive. Both are DCR roadway, not MassDOT/MassHighway, but even if they were normal state or local roads, the Mass RMV wouldn't have authority? And it's…not even right?…because bicycles are not prohibited from Memorial Drive, although many people think it's pretty inadvisible (probably worse on Storrow, though). Maybe I'm misunderstanding, though, since obviously cars are bigger than rollerskates. So perhaps the intention was to comment on trucks and planes being disallowed. Still, there are Massachusetts airports that are not near these two DCR roadways that seem a much better fit for the desired transit. [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 15:07, 6 August 2025 (UTC)

Is this still an incomplete summary {{unsigned|Mathmaster|23:37, 5 August 2025 (UTC)}}
:Is this an incomplete answer? [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 15:56, 6 August 2025 (UTC)

I find the idea that this is Logan Airport a little presumptuous. Surely there are some airports in the Midwest where you could, theoretically, taxi from one to the other without encountering any major obstacles? --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 07:33, 6 August 2025 (UTC)

:Having lived there, i can pretty confidently say that any airport in Nebraska can be taxied to any other. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 19:24, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

The whole bullet list under "motives and feasibility" seems very out of place, and the sentence preceding it is completely vacuous. I mean, "a number of factors contribute to the dilemma"? Which dilemma? There's no dilemma here, only a joke. And what dilemma does ''not'' have more than one contributing factor? This communicates nothing and just takes up space. The items in the bullet list itself just seem off topic; a comparison between on-plane and off-plane ground transport does not belong in a section titled "motives and feasibility". That belongs in a table, with rows for every aspect impacted by each choice and columns for every mode of transport. [[Special:Contributions/2A02:A466:A997:0:74BA:2E0:D85C:CED1|2A02:A466:A997:0:74BA:2E0:D85C:CED1]] 17:36, 6 August 2025 (UTC)
:Oh great... our first AI-generated explainxkcd. You knew it had to happen. [[User:Gbisaga|Gbisaga]] ([[User talk:Gbisaga|talk]]) 19:01, 7 August 2025 (UTC)
::Anonymous 2A02, the dilemma was whether to switch to regular ground travel or make a bizarre long-distance taxi. You are welcome to refine it further - I only had a short time to make up for the prior lack of curiosity about "why would anyone do this?" and "could it work?". Gbisaga, you insult my entirely manual effort, coincidentally close to the [[3126|latest issue]]. --[[User:Magtei|Magtei]] ([[User talk:Magtei|talk]]) 08:06, 10 August 2025 (UTC)
At first i thought they ment that they would try and take off without permission [[User:TicTac|TicTac]] ([[User talk:TicTac|talk]]) 23:59, 22 June 2026 (UTC)

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:3261: Side Effect

Talk:3124: Grounded