Editing 485: Depth
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| number = 485 | | number = 485 | ||
| date = October 6, 2008 | | date = October 6, 2008 | ||
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| title = Depth | | title = Depth | ||
| image = depth.png | | image = depth.png | ||
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The comic is a companion piece to [[482: Height]], which explored a {{w|logarithmic scale}} from the edge of the observable universe down to the Earth's surface. ''Depth'' continues the process, viewing logarithmically smaller scales from Earth's atmosphere down to the interior of a single {{w|proton}}. This combination is reminiscent of Charles and Ray Eames' 1977 short film [http://youtu.be/0fKBhvDjuy0 Powers of Ten]. | The comic is a companion piece to [[482: Height]], which explored a {{w|logarithmic scale}} from the edge of the observable universe down to the Earth's surface. ''Depth'' continues the process, viewing logarithmically smaller scales from Earth's atmosphere down to the interior of a single {{w|proton}}. This combination is reminiscent of Charles and Ray Eames' 1977 short film [http://youtu.be/0fKBhvDjuy0 Powers of Ten]. | ||
− | + | Starting from the Earth's surface, the view descends into a house, a tower PC, its CPU, and eventually a proton inside a silicon atom, with various humorous | |
+ | incongruities. | ||
− | + | What should be a computer mouse is an actual rodent, yet still somehow plugged into the PS/2 (6-pin mini-DIN) connector that is clearly labelled. | |
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− | + | From a possibly punning connection between a chip's connector pin to the pin of "how many angels can dance on the head of..?" fame, we are given a joke based upon a 2's-complement overflow/rollover condition, changing from maxint (greatest positive) to minint (greatest negative). A negative angel might well be a demon. Another version of this joke appears in [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=571:_Can%27t_Sleep 571: Can't Sleep]. | |
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− | + | A blood-sucking insect appears to be 'leeching' a torrent. | |
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− | + | There is a suggestion that the computer concerned is being {{w|Rickrolling|Rick-rolled}}, seeing that it contains the observation (at probably the scale of memory address storing circuitry in the CPU's cache) that there is at least one pixel's-worth of Rick Astley's image being stored at the moment but, one imagines, probably enough for the current video frame. | |
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− | + | A "fork();" command points at one of several unlabeled spermatazoa. Both the 'fork' function (mostly in various C-family programming languages) and the spermatazoon (after joining with an ovum, one of which ''is'' labelled slightly higher up in a position appropriate to its corresponding size) are capable of spawning 'child processes'. | |
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− | + | Peter Norton is famous for being the person behind Norton Antivirus <!-- Note, I expected this to be a reference to The Fantastic Voyage, at first... -->, who is therefore appropriately attacking a virus. Though in this case a bacteriophage, rather than informatic malware. | |
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− | + | Showing the relative scale of carbon nanotubes, the suggestion is that these then lead on to a more megastructural Space Elevator, for which carbon nanotubes are often cited as a suitably strong component needed for the cable. | |
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− | + | In the {{w|electron cloud}}, the squiggles made out of arrows are {{w|Feynman diagram}}s. | |
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+ | Such a diagram, in the shape of a stick figure, is saying "Sup?", which may reference both the "Wassuuup..!" meme and the "Sup" particle (supersymmetric partner 'squark' to the Up quark). | ||
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+ | An 'iPod Femto' is shown (presumably at the femtometre level of scale), as a pun on the 'iPod Nano' (which, despite its name, is ''not'' mere nanometres in size). | ||
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+ | Brian Greene is a theoretical physicist and {{w|Popular science|pop scientist}} who discusses the nature of the universe. The picture of him knitting is a pun on his book and PBS miniseries, {{w|The Fabric of the Cosmos}}. | ||
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+ | The {{w|Planck length}} is the smallest theoretically measurable distance, due to the {{w|Uncertainty principle}} of quantum mechanics. Planck length is vastly smaller than any known particle, and modern physics is a long way from being able investigate such a scale. | ||
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+ | [[1162: Log Scale]] is another comic about the use of log scales. | ||
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
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:Megan using witchcraft to ban vista "Out, Vista!" | :Megan using witchcraft to ban vista "Out, Vista!" | ||
:Ponytail and Megan play Rock Band | :Ponytail and Megan play Rock Band | ||
− | : | + | :Man and woman are having "fun" on a shaking bed. |
:[Below this series of images, an image of a man on the computer.] | :[Below this series of images, an image of a man on the computer.] | ||
:Cueball is on a computer and the image expands as it goes down. Here are the labels from left to right, up to down: | :Cueball is on a computer and the image expands as it goes down. Here are the labels from left to right, up to down: | ||
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:North Bridge | :North Bridge | ||
:PS/2 | :PS/2 | ||
− | :Mouse ( | + | :Mouse (a physical mouse) |
:RAM | :RAM | ||
:CPU Socket Pin | :CPU Socket Pin | ||
− | :32,767 Angels Dancing (one more and they'd roll over and become | + | :32,767 Angels Dancing (one more and they'd roll over and become 32,768 Devils), Rice, Torrent (a bug), CPU, upcoming segfault |
:dust mite | :dust mite | ||
:hair | :hair | ||
:OVUM | :OVUM | ||
:Data (a pixel on Rick Astley's shoulder), rust mite, fork(); | :Data (a pixel on Rick Astley's shoulder), rust mite, fork(); | ||
− | :Peter Norton fighting a | + | :Peter Norton fighting a baxteriophage |
:memory | :memory | ||
:carbon nanotubes | :carbon nanotubes | ||
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:silicon nucleus | :silicon nucleus | ||
:IPod femto | :IPod femto | ||
− | :Brian Greene knitting furiously | + | :Brian Greene knitting furiously ''clank, clunk'' |
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{{comic discussion}} | {{comic discussion}} | ||
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[[Category:Charts]] | [[Category:Charts]] | ||
[[Category:Physics]] | [[Category:Physics]] | ||
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[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]] | [[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]] | ||
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] | [[Category:Comics featuring real people]] | ||
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