Talk:3258: Plate Flip

Writing this to keep people from saying "First!" on this comic. AmethystSky14 (talk) 16:17, 13 June 2026 (UTC)

"First!" on this comic. 82.13.184.33 08:51, 15 June 2026 (UTC)

Second! Logalex8369 (talk) 16:32, 13 June 2026 (UTC)

Now you know how come comment boxes disappeared from blogs. I'm the shortstop. 2605:59C8:160:DB08:39D0:2269:6983:E38 16:52, 13 June 2026 (UTC)

Fourth! (But third base I guess?) 47.151.65.120 04:03, 14 June 2026 (UTC)

Hey, this is a family friendly blog! 2A0A:EF40:2D3:201:1CE2:157D:BC39:D800 08:28, 15 June 2026 (UTC)

I don't know, Abbott. 2605:59C8:160:DB08:39D0:2269:6983:E38 04:29, 14 June 2026 (UTC)

Should we add a category for the "Ponytail the planetary housing inspector" saga? Previously in the series: 3192, 3037, probably others that I forgot as well. Also of note, when the comics contain a geologist it is almost exclusively Ponytail, perhaps that deserves a category like Category:Doctor Ponytail? 185.36.194.22 04:28, 14 June 2026 (UTC)

There already is one. There's the Home Inspection saga. GSLikesCats307 (talk) 09:53, 14 June 2026 (UTC)

Okay the current explanation says the underside of the plate would melt just about anything currently on the surface. What wouldn’t it melt? Or is this just hedging? Salsmachev (talk) 13:22, 14 June 2026 (UTC)

Nah - I reckon the hedging would go too. Maybe burnt rather than melted though. 82.13.184.33 08:54, 15 June 2026 (UTC)

Is this the same ponytail as in 3192: Planetary Alignment? (After typing I saw that GSLikesCats307 had the same idea) SacrifycedStoat (talk) 16:20, 14 June 2026 (UTC)

I reckon it is. This particular ponytail is a semi-recurring character it seems. RG (talk) 04:48, 15 June 2026 (UTC)

If anyone can explain the "isostatic depression" / "rebounding" section, I came for that! 87.115.198.74 08:09, 15 June 2026 (UTC)

I guess this is the geological equivalent to an impression in a mattress. Ice shields (from the ice ages) leave lasting depressions in the plates which need 1000s of years to "rebound" even after the ice is gone. Canada and Scandinavia, for example, are still rising. All these lakes there will be gone one day, as will be the entire baltic sea. So Ponytail complains about this depression as if it were a major problem (like an impression in am mattress, and Cueballs "It's rebounding!" is kind of defensive. --2A02:8071:B84:FE60:B8CD:F85A:6078:B152 08:36, 15 June 2026 (UTC)

Also, 'weathering' is probably staining (though possibly also wearing of the fabric), and 'debris basins' is, well, yuck. 82.13.184.33 08:56, 15 June 2026 (UTC)

Some mattresses have a "winter" (warmer) side and a "summer" side, so you should flip them twice a year. --85.159.196.162 08:11, 15 June 2026 (UTC)

This reminded me of a similar bit in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams:

"Moments before the flare light reached Kakrafoon the pounding desert cracked along a deep faultline. A huge and hitherto undetected underground river lying far beneath the surface gushed to the surface to be followed seconds later by the eruption of millions of tons of boiling lava that flowed hundreds of feet into the air, instantaneously vaporizing the river both above and below the surface in an explosion that echoed to the far side of the world and back again.

Those - very few - who witnessed the event and survived swear that the whole hundred thousand square miles of the desert rose into the air like a mile-thick pancake, flipped itself over and fell back down. At that precise moment the solar radiation from the flares filtered through the clouds of vaporized water and struck the ground.

A year later, the hundred thousand square mile desert was thick with flowers. The structure of the atmosphere around the planet was subtly altered. The sun blazed less harshly in the summer, the cold bit less bitterly in the winter, pleasant rain fell more often, and slowly the desert world of Kakrafoon became a paradise. Even the telepathic power with which the people of Kakrafoon had been cursed was permanently dispersed by the force of the explosion."

Rps (talk) 10:19, 15 June 2026 (UTC)

Another related story (from an old Usenet post: https://groups.google.com/g/rec.humor.funny/c/lK4FGG676eo )

"The congregation of a small stone church (in England?) decided that the stone which formed the step up to the front door had become two worn by its years of use, and would have to be replaced. Unfortunately, there were hardly any funds available for the replacement. Then someone cam up with the bright idea that the replacement could be postponed for many years by simply turning the block of stone over.

They discovered that their great-grandparents had beaten them to it."

Rps (talk)