Difference between revisions of "Talk:1515: Basketball Earth"

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(estimation of points given by dunking the world)
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It's 13:23 right now, but the clock of explainxkcd.com says it's 13:37. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.201|108.162.221.201]] 13:37, 22 April 2015 (UTC)
 
It's 13:23 right now, but the clock of explainxkcd.com says it's 13:37. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.201|108.162.221.201]] 13:37, 22 April 2015 (UTC)
  
If we assume 9,000,000 basketballs sold every year (http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=82227), one basketball lasts about 10,000 bounces (http://www.sotruefacts.com/rule/770), and there's between 2,500 and 3,000 bounces per game (http://www.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_average_lifespan_of_a_basketball_in_bounces_in_National_Basketball_Association_play) we can extrapolate that on average a basketball doesn't live for more than a year, and the number of basketballs sold replace those which have lifed-out. Let's build in a 10% slush factor and say there 10m basketballs produced in the world last year. Let's further say that there's an extra 1m basketballs sold every year which don't get regular use and are in some kid's room and those have been accumulating for about ten years. Dunking a basketball gives two points, and at 20 million basketballs, that gives 40 million points – and a safe bet you're going to make it to the playoffs that year. [[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 13:51, 22 April 2015 (UTC)
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If we assume 9,000,000 basketballs sold every year ([http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=82227 bbs.ClutchFans.net]), one basketball lasts about 10,000 bounces ([http://www.sotruefacts.com/rule/770 SoTrueFacts.com]), and there's between 2,500 and 3,000 bounces per game ([http://www.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_average_lifespan_of_a_basketball_in_bounces_in_National_Basketball_Association_play Answers.com]) we can extrapolate that on average a basketball doesn't live for more than a year, and the number of basketballs sold replace those which have lifed-out. Let's build in a 10% slush factor and say there 10m basketballs produced in the world last year. Let's further say that there's an extra 1m basketballs sold every year which don't get regular use and are in some kid's room and those have been accumulating for about ten years. Dunking a basketball gives two points, and at 20 million basketballs, that gives 40 million points – and a safe bet you're going to make it to the playoffs that year. [[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 13:51, 22 April 2015 (UTC)

Revision as of 13:54, 22 April 2015

Apologies to the first editor, who made a snappier version of what I wrote. For the record, whilst fighting a dodgy internet connection I eventually ended up replacing the following...

 Cueball is seen trying to explain the relative sizes of the earth and moon by comparing the earth to a basketball and the moon to what looks like a golf ball. This explanation is constantly thwarted by passerby interacting with the basketball while Cueball is explaining it.
 For the title text, the answer is zero, since it is against basketball rules.

...with what I tried to keep short during my own writing from scratch. I also ommited several other concepts of my own thought: The fact that Blackhat must have used a very light-touch to only generate a megatsunami (albeit already unimaginably large, at Earthball's scale); The possibility of recursion (including something like the Men In Black 'cat collar' allusion); and that in the universe of the comic strip there is only one actual basketball (the Earthball itsself), although I like how we both had the idea that the basketballs upon Earthball would not have counted in a game of basketball with an Earthball-scaled hoop, due to quite obvious interpretations of the sport's regulations. 141.101.98.67 05:11, 22 April 2015 (UTC)

Oh yeah, and reversion is invited, if deemed preferable. As is amalgamation, and refinement and re-replacement by something even better, of course. As per the standard Wiki creed. Much as I am cringing at having upset the original contributor, I'm quite happy to be gazumped in turn. 141.101.98.67 05:14, 22 April 2015 (UTC)

If you look at the third frame of the Blackhat sequence and compare it to the frames underneath, you can see that he didn't just touch the Earth or an ocean--he actually rotated it 90 degrees.108.162.221.115 09:38, 22 April 2015 (UTC)

Well spotted! Edit that in! (Do it quickly with a pre-prepared edit. I kept getting hit by edit-conflicts, which I set about to resolve amicably without reversing anybody else's input; only to get hit by further edit-conflicts by the next person to come along and improve overlapping pieces, whom I also strived not to disregard.) 141.101.98.67 09:57, 22 April 2015 (UTC)
No he didn't. the Earth always rotates from the first panel to the next. So that it is in a different position when Black Hat touches it, to where it was the panel before does not imply that he rotated the Earth. If anything he only rotated it a few degrees, as it had already rotated most of those 90 degree from panel 1 to panel 2 before Black Hat reaches the Earth. As far as I can see there has not been any change to include this yet. So that is good. --Kynde (talk) 10:41, 22 April 2015 (UTC)

I really love this comic. It is great fun. Thanks Randall, happy Earth day. --Kynde (talk) 10:42, 22 April 2015 (UTC)

... a tennis ball an average 7.2 metres away, while the Sun would be 26 metres across and 2.8 km away. 108.162.250.165 13:25, 22 April 2015 (UTC)

It's 13:23 right now, but the clock of explainxkcd.com says it's 13:37. 108.162.221.201 13:37, 22 April 2015 (UTC)

If we assume 9,000,000 basketballs sold every year (bbs.ClutchFans.net), one basketball lasts about 10,000 bounces (SoTrueFacts.com), and there's between 2,500 and 3,000 bounces per game (Answers.com) we can extrapolate that on average a basketball doesn't live for more than a year, and the number of basketballs sold replace those which have lifed-out. Let's build in a 10% slush factor and say there 10m basketballs produced in the world last year. Let's further say that there's an extra 1m basketballs sold every year which don't get regular use and are in some kid's room and those have been accumulating for about ten years. Dunking a basketball gives two points, and at 20 million basketballs, that gives 40 million points – and a safe bet you're going to make it to the playoffs that year. Jarod997 (talk) 13:51, 22 April 2015 (UTC)