3251: Time Machine Conversation - Revision history

82.13.184.33: /* Explanation */

2026-06-11T13:17:30Z

‎Explanation

81.179.199.253: /* Transcript */ Removing the extra linefeed that the (temporary) addition of the empty reflist section added.

2026-06-05T18:55:43Z

‎Transcript: Removing the extra linefeed that the (temporary) addition of the empty reflist section added.

YZ100 at 14:55, 5 June 2026

2026-06-05T14:55:22Z

YZ100 at 14:55, 5 June 2026

2026-06-05T14:55:03Z

82.132.239.219: /* Explanation */ Spelling. Capitals. "May" have used,l. And Viking era was not exactly Iron Age either. Almost worth deleting, but better to address the misconceptions directly than to see them return just as erroneously.

2026-06-03T13:53:01Z

‎Explanation: Spelling. Capitals. "May" have used,l. And Viking era was not exactly Iron Age either. Almost worth deleting, but better to address the misconceptions directly than to see them return just as erroneously.

92.237.46.83: /* Explanation */

2026-06-03T10:26:31Z

‎Explanation

81.179.199.253: /* Explanation */ Refined the wikilink, using default plural-inclusiveness behaviour.

2026-06-02T19:28:21Z

‎Explanation: Refined the wikilink, using default plural-inclusiveness behaviour.

Strontium: Page on Wikipedia didn't exist.

2026-06-02T17:12:54Z

Page on Wikipedia didn't exist.

81.179.199.253: Undo revision 413970 by PlaceReporter99 (talk) Two things: 1) Citation Neededs on this site already do not need any Citation. 2) We also avoid Ref-tags, and use {{w}}s for wikilinks.

2026-05-30T22:43:23Z

Undo revision 413970 by PlaceReporter99 (talk) Two things: 1) Citation Neededs on this site already do not need any Citation. 2) We also avoid Ref-tags, and use {{w}}s for wikilinks.

PlaceReporter99: Iron Age obviously predates 1970s

2026-05-30T21:57:09Z

Iron Age obviously predates 1970s

@@ Line 16: / Line 16: @@
 He is then also concerned that he has managed to 'spoilerise' the concept of 'the spoiler'. The modern meaning of "spoiler" didn't arise until the 1970s, which post-date the Iron Age.{{Citation needed}} Spoiler warnings became common on {{w|Usenet newsgroup}}s in the late 1980s. Cueball may have created a temporal paradox by introducing the concept thousands of years earlier, although any such 'change' made to that time might easily have been forgotten again in the two or three thousand years since this encounter. In any event, while telling people thousands of years ago that there was a way to make a compass might have changed history significantly, telling them that there are stories that they would enjoy less if they knew the ending before hearing the story seems less likely to have made a significant impact. It's also likely that, even if the term 'spoiler' was adopted by these Iron Age people, it would long have fallen out of use by the time it came to be invented in the late twentieth century.
-The title text has Cueball about to unleash another 'spoiler' on how to navigate without a compass, but he stops himself before saying it. However, he does still end up accidentally revealing that {{w|Polynesians}} know about it, though whether this was another unintentional slip or a deliberate clue left for Hairbun is unclear. It is thought that so-called '{{w|Polynesian navigation}}' used other methods of marine navigation ({{w|celestial navigation}}, observation of birds, ocean swells, and wind patterns). As the Polynesians lived in the Pacific, which would probably be unknown to Hairbun and difficult to reach from her location, the clue is useless. It is unclear where Hairbun is, but it is likely that she is in {{w|Europe}} or the area around the {{w|Arabian Peninsula}}, where the term 'Iron Age' is most relevant, and which are quite far from the Pacific. Revealing the existence of the Pacific and its inhabitants to her may cause its own disruptions to history, though.  Cueball also seems to have forgotten the possibility of chatting to the Vikings, who may have used polarized crystals to be able to navigate during overcast days when the Sun wasn't visible, although there is little evidence for this being done during the Iron Age.
+The title text has Cueball about to unleash another 'spoiler' regarding how to navigate without a compass, but he stops himself before saying it. However, he does still end up accidentally revealing that {{w|Polynesians}} know about it, though whether this was another unintentional slip or a deliberate clue left for Hairbun is unclear. It is thought that so-called '{{w|Polynesian navigation}}' used other methods of marine navigation ({{w|celestial navigation}}, observation of birds, ocean swells, and wind patterns). As the Polynesians lived in the Pacific, which would probably be unknown to Hairbun and difficult to reach from her location, the clue is likely to be of little use. It is unclear where Hairbun is, but it is likely that she is in {{w|Europe}} or the area around the {{w|Arabian Peninsula}}, where the term 'Iron Age' is most relevant, and which are quite far from the Pacific. Revealing the existence of the Pacific and its inhabitants to her may cause its own disruptions to history, though. Cueball also seems to have forgotten the possibility of chatting to the Vikings, who may have used polarized crystals to be able to navigate during overcast days when the Sun wasn't visible, although there is little evidence for this being done during the Iron Age.
 Whether or not this was an intentional connection, the stars known by some as "{{w|the Plough}}" (''Ursa Major'', perhaps more popularly known as "the Big Dipper" in the US<!-- though pre-Columbian Americas did not even have an Iron Age for any farmer to live in, so discounting Leftpondian conventions, as well as its Websterian spelling! -->) are also useful in finding the northern {{w|pole star}} (not the same star then as now but still in the same constellation), hence potentially linking both of the farmer's initial remarks.

@@ Line 46: / Line 46: @@
 :Hairbun: What's a spoiler?
 :Cueball: ...Spoilers for the concept of a spoiler, too.
 {{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:55, 5 June 2026
Line 47:		Line 47:
	:Cueball: ...Spoilers for the concept of a spoiler, too.		:Cueball: ...Spoilers for the concept of a spoiler, too.

−	~~== References ==~~
−	~~{{Reflist}}~~

	{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>		{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 ==Explanation==
 [[Cueball]] has used a time machine to travel to the {{w|Iron Age}} and has a conversation with an ancient-times version of [[Hairbun]] (who seems to be a farmer, since she's holding a pretty modern-looking {{w|Hoe (tool)|hoe}} and seems to be particularly knowledgable of the 'latest' {{w|plow}} developments). However, he is very surprised to find that she does not know about the {{w|compass}} (a very common tool in the present day). The magnetic compass was first invented in China around 200 BCE, well after the end of the Iron Age, and it wasn't used for navigation until the 11th century AD. For an Iron Age farmer the concept of a 'weird rock that always points north', as Cueball puts it, would seem quite ridiculous, and the inherent dangers of sea travel might well seem to be insurmountable ones. The subject of how many things that today are seen as perfectly normal and standard could seem very strange to those who lived before they were created has been [[3199|covered]] [[2809|before]] in xkcd.
@@ Line 47: / Line 46: @@
 :Hairbun: What's a spoiler?
 :Cueball: ...Spoilers for the concept of a spoiler, too.
 {{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

@@ Line 17: / Line 17: @@
 He is then also concerned that he has managed to 'spoilerise' the concept of 'the spoiler'. The modern meaning of "spoiler" didn't arise until the 1970s, which post-date the Iron Age.{{Citation needed}} Spoiler warnings became common on {{w|Usenet newsgroup}}s in the late 1980s. Cueball may have created a temporal paradox by introducing the concept thousands of years earlier, although any such 'change' made to that time might easily have been forgotten again in the two or three thousand years since this encounter. In any event, while telling people thousands of years ago that there was a way to make a compass might have changed history significantly, telling them that there are stories that they would enjoy less if they knew the ending before hearing the story seems less likely to have made a significant impact. It's also likely that, even if the term 'spoiler' was adopted by these Iron Age people, it would long have fallen out of use by the time it came to be invented in the late twentieth century.
-The title text has Cueball about to unleash another 'spoiler' on how to navigate without a compass, but he stops himself before saying it. However, he does still end up accidentally revealing that {{w|Polynesians}} know about it, though whether this was another unintentional slip or a deliberate clue left for Hairbun is unclear. It is thought that so-called '{{w|Polynesian navigation}}' used other methods of marine navigation ({{w|celestial navigation}}, observation of birds, ocean swells, and wind patterns). As the Polynesians lived in the Pacific, which would probably be unknown to Hairbun and difficult to reach from her location, the clue is useless. It is unclear where Hairbun is, but it is likely that she is in {{w|Europe}} or the area around the {{w|Arabian Peninsula}}, where the term 'Iron Age' is most relevant, and which are quite far from the Pacific. Revealing the existence of the Pacific and its inhabitants to her may cause its own disruptions to history, though.  Cueball also seems to have forgotton the possibility of chatting to the vikings, who used polarized crystals to be able to navigate during overcast days when the sun wasn't visible.
+The title text has Cueball about to unleash another 'spoiler' on how to navigate without a compass, but he stops himself before saying it. However, he does still end up accidentally revealing that {{w|Polynesians}} know about it, though whether this was another unintentional slip or a deliberate clue left for Hairbun is unclear. It is thought that so-called '{{w|Polynesian navigation}}' used other methods of marine navigation ({{w|celestial navigation}}, observation of birds, ocean swells, and wind patterns). As the Polynesians lived in the Pacific, which would probably be unknown to Hairbun and difficult to reach from her location, the clue is useless. It is unclear where Hairbun is, but it is likely that she is in {{w|Europe}} or the area around the {{w|Arabian Peninsula}}, where the term 'Iron Age' is most relevant, and which are quite far from the Pacific. Revealing the existence of the Pacific and its inhabitants to her may cause its own disruptions to history, though.  Cueball also seems to have forgotten the possibility of chatting to the Vikings, who may have used polarized crystals to be able to navigate during overcast days when the Sun wasn't visible, although there is little evidence for this being done during the Iron Age.
 Whether or not this was an intentional connection, the stars known by some as "{{w|the Plough}}" (''Ursa Major'', perhaps more popularly known as "the Big Dipper" in the US<!-- though pre-Columbian Americas did not even have an Iron Age for any farmer to live in, so discounting Leftpondian conventions, as well as its Websterian spelling! -->) are also useful in finding the northern {{w|pole star}} (not the same star then as now but still in the same constellation), hence potentially linking both of the farmer's initial remarks.

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 Cueball inadvertently starts explaining compasses and then worries about the impact his words might have. According to common {{tvtropes|TimeTravel|time travel tropes}}, this interaction might cause a chain of events that will lead to {{w|grandfather paradox|Cueball not existing}}, or {{tvtropes|butterflyofdoom|worse}}, which would create a paradox (if it isn't already already a different kind of paradox through being {{w|Novikov self-consistency principle|a pre-existing component of Cueball's original timeline}}). However, rather than the potential radical impact he might have on history by introducing this concept earlier than should have happened, he appears to be concerned that he may have given her a {{w|Spoiler (media)|spoiler}} for upcoming history[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eg4mcdhIsvU]. Presumably he feels he has deprived her (or humankind more generally) of the joy that would have come with its eventual discovery.
-He is then also concerned that he has managed to 'spoilerise' the concept of 'the spoiler'. The modern meaning of "spoiler" didn't arise until the 1970s, which post-date the Iron Age.{{Citation needed}} Spoiler warnings became common on {{w|Usenet newsgroup|Usenet newsgroups}} in the late 1980s. Cueball may have created a temporal paradox by introducing the concept thousands of years earlier, although any such 'change' made to that time might easily have been forgotten again in the two or three thousand years since this encounter. In any event, while telling people thousands of years ago that there was a way to make a compass might have changed history significantly, telling them that there are stories that they would enjoy less if they knew the ending before hearing the story seems less likely to have made a significant impact. It's also likely that, even if the term 'spoiler' was adopted by these Iron Age people, it would long have fallen out of use by the time it came to be invented in the late twentieth century.
+He is then also concerned that he has managed to 'spoilerise' the concept of 'the spoiler'. The modern meaning of "spoiler" didn't arise until the 1970s, which post-date the Iron Age.{{Citation needed}} Spoiler warnings became common on {{w|Usenet newsgroup}}s in the late 1980s. Cueball may have created a temporal paradox by introducing the concept thousands of years earlier, although any such 'change' made to that time might easily have been forgotten again in the two or three thousand years since this encounter. In any event, while telling people thousands of years ago that there was a way to make a compass might have changed history significantly, telling them that there are stories that they would enjoy less if they knew the ending before hearing the story seems less likely to have made a significant impact. It's also likely that, even if the term 'spoiler' was adopted by these Iron Age people, it would long have fallen out of use by the time it came to be invented in the late twentieth century.
 The title text has Cueball about to unleash another 'spoiler' on how to navigate without a compass, but he stops himself before saying it. However, he does still end up accidentally revealing that {{w|Polynesians}} know about it, though whether this was another unintentional slip or a deliberate clue left for Hairbun is unclear. It is thought that so-called '{{w|Polynesian navigation}}' used other methods of marine navigation ({{w|celestial navigation}}, observation of birds, ocean swells, and wind patterns). As the Polynesians lived in the Pacific, which would probably be unknown to Hairbun and difficult to reach from her location, the clue is useless. It is unclear where Hairbun is, but it is likely that she is in {{w|Europe}} or the area around the {{w|Arabian Peninsula}}, where the term 'Iron Age' is most relevant, and which are quite far from the Pacific. Revealing the existence of the Pacific and its inhabitants to her may cause its own disruptions to history, though.