Talk:1487: Tornado

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
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Is there any point in including "like most amusement rides, it is for children"? I don't know about others but most of the amusement parks near me are for late teens-twenties. They all have a childrens section but it is pretty tiny. --173.245.56.202 14:29, 16 February 2015 (UTC)

Are we sure this is cueball? it seems like it might be just a generic newscaster cartoon. Reywas (talk) 07:41, 16 February 2015 (UTC)

Cueball is not a character; it's a name given to any featureless stick figure in XKCD. ImVeryAngryItsNotButter (talk) 15:14, 16 February 2015 (UTC)

Can a weather expert verify the claim that a tornado will destroy a merry-go-round? From what little I read and understood (Weather is confusing, and there was no graph!), a F0 or F1 tornado would not destroy it. From my estimations, a merry-go-round weighs 1350kg (2976.24054 lbs). Thanks, 141.101.106.95 08:53, 16 February 2015 (UTC)

Another type of "merry-go-round" is a very common playground device, much simpler than the type with seats or horses. This https://smilekiddo.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/zipline_merry-go-round.jpg is what I envisioned from the comic, although it could refer to either type. The freely-rotating small platform, usually with bars for children to hold onto while standing, and rotated merely by people-power, is probably the most common type of merry-go-round in the US. They may weigh from 500 to 2000 lbs, or mass from about 15 to 60 slugs (I'll assume xkcd readers can convert to other mass units if desired.) Taibhse (talk) 09:24, 16 February 2015 (UTC)

I think tornado can destroy the merry-go-round of either type and STILL make it a fun ride. The part of "no injuries" is the suspicious one. -- Hkmaly (talk) 10:25, 16 February 2015 (UTC)

Wait, what I got from this comic is the classical mass media sensationalism joke, there is no tornado, they simply invented one by taking a merry go round as one, that's why the victims say "Fun and Awesome", they interviewed the kids as victims while they were just enjoying the ride. The title text does the same, with the difference they went further this time, as trying to pass a teacup ride as a multi-vortex tornado is even more hilarious. 141.101.103.206 11:29, 16 February 2015 (UTC)