Talk:2968: University Age

1477 anyone? 162.158.41.131 03:29, 6 August 2024 (UTC)

Not relevant in my opinion. In 1477: Star Wars Cueball is surprised by how fast time seems to flow past him. Not surprised that everything ages at the same rate as the Cueball in this comic. There are more than 40 comics relating to time on explain xkcd... Kynde (talk) 06:50, 6 August 2024 (UTC)

Was there a USA political debate this week that I didn't hear about? About. Hear of it's existence. I Assuredly didn't hear it. 172.70.175.121 06:27, 6 August 2024 (UTC)

On a related note, today I set a new personal best for time spent continuously being alive. I'm still well behind the world records, but I have beaten pretty much all of the current collegeate athletes. RegularSizedGuy (talk) 07:08, 6 August 2024 (UTC)

Happy birthday :) 172.70.86.16 12:59, 6 August 2024 (UTC)

"Unfortunately, I have terrible news" kind of feels to me like — almost — there is a pop culture reference here that I am missing (I'd say I feel 33% of the way towards that feeling; certainly somewhere less likely than even). It just seems like a little too strong of a statement to be what President Cueball would say in the moment. That said, I can't find any support for such a half-baked theory. Although there is an "I have terrible news" (without "Unfortunately") from The Office, Season 9, "Vandalism" (video), but it doesn't strike me as particularly significant.
¶ Apart from that, I sort of expected more emphasis on obscure schemes, like (a) increasing the average altitude of the rival university to increase its velocity for the tiny relativistic effect, e.g. by funding construction of an observatory for its astronomy department; (b) attempting to measure the founding dates more precisely, e.g. what if it were only 1-year-183-days older; (c) merger with the rival, ala the proposed MIT/Harvard mergers of the early 20th century; &c. JohnHawkinson (talk) 09:51, 6 August 2024 (UTC)

I thought the terrible new was that, after sending the rival university on a round trip at relativistic speed, due to an unfortuneate miscalculation, the rival university would collide with Earth while still going too fast, causing the destruction of the planet. --Itub (talk) 11:51, 6 August 2024 (UTC)

I think it's more a commentary on the futility of university administration plans and goals, given that actual success for a prestigious university involves mostly decisions entirely out of administration hands. 162.158.90.109 20:55, 6 August 2024 (UTC)

What do you think the universities alluded to were? I'm guessing MIT in 1861 and UMass (originally Amherst) in 1863. 162.158.186.20 21:39, 6 August 2024 (UTC)

From the deletions at [1], "The particular years referenced in the comic (218 years before 2024 would require a university founded in 1806) do not appear to match with any institution of higher learning in the United States. However, there is a very close near-twin that this might refer to - Miami University was founded in 1809, making it 215 years old, and Ohio University was founded in 1804, making it 220 years old."

Of course, those are in different states. 108.162.245.100 01:15, 7 August 2024 (UTC)

The way I read the "overtaking our rival by 3" part was that part of the "intensive program" was the sabotage of the other university, effectively ending its aging. This would then be the terrible news to share. 172.71.166.219 14:02, 6 August 2024 (UTC)