xkcd

[Peelee]

Maybe we're all descendants of the microbes from a probe sent out by the denizens of Omicron Persei VIII.

That's a poor job from the Hrrr, Planetary Protection Officer of the planet Omicron Persei VIII. I can only hope their replacement, Drrr, Temp of the planet Omicron Persei VIII, was able to pick up the slack.

[DataNinja]

That's a poor job from the Hrrr, Planetary Protection Officer of the planet Omicron Persei VIII. I can only hope their replacement, Drrr, Temp of the planet Omicron Persei VIII, was able to pick up the slack.

I feel like you're missing out on a couple exclamation marks!!!! and/or bolding and/or CAPITALS in your statement there.

[Peelee]

I feel like you're missing out on a couple exclamation marks!!!! and/or bolding and/or CAPITALS in your statement there.

Thank you, Dtnj, ANDROID OF THE PLANET OMICRON PERSEI VIII! I also appreciate how you Earthicized your name for us.

[Tetrimino]

Flashback to a comic from last week because I've been too busy to look at the forum (or have any free time at all for that matter)...

https://xkcd.com/2201/

I actually just saw a Foucault Pendulum in person for the first time a few weeks ago, it was really interesting and I think I spent a solid 15 minutes waiting for it to knock down one of the "dominoes"

[Rodin]

Flashback to a comic from last week because I've been too busy to look at the forum (or have any free time at all for that matter)...

https://xkcd.com/2201/

I actually just saw a Foucault Pendulum in person for the first time a few weeks ago, it was really interesting and I think I spent a solid 15 minutes waiting for it to knock down one of the "dominoes"

I got to see one at Griffith Observatory in LA a few years back, and was suitably impressed. It's the sort of idea I'm amazed someone even came up with.

Today's comic reminds me of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, where someone used math to prove that life doesn't exist. The logic went as follows:

There is a finite population in the universe.

The universe is infinite.

To find the average population of the universe, you divide Population/Area. Over a large enough area, this number approaches 0 - ergo, all those people you think you see can safely be dismissed as a rounding error. Including yourself.

[Maryring]

If the universe is infinite, how can it expand?

[Lord Raziere]

If the universe is infinite, how can it expand?

If its infinite, how can it not be expanding? after all, it keeps expanding to make sure you never find its edge.

[Radar]

If the universe is infinite, how can it expand?

Take a fully booked hotel with infinite rooms. Ask each guest to move to a room with double its number. They will all have a place for themselves and there will be infinitely many rooms free now.

[Douglas]

There is a finite population in the universe.

[citation needed]

Doesn't matter how good the logic is if it starts from faulty assumptions.

[Fyraltari]

[citation needed]

Doesn't matter how good the logic is if it starts from faulty assumptions.

I’d say the faulty assumption is the universe being infinite.

[Rodin]

I’d say the faulty assumption is the universe being infinite.

Well, you have to remember that back in 70s it was.

[Peelee]

[citation needed]

Doesn't matter how good the logic is if it starts from faulty assumptions.

Well, I can prove I exist, but I can't prove anyone else exists. So by my math, the known population of the universe is 1.

[Radar]

Well, I can prove I exist, but I can't prove anyone else exists. So by my math, the known population of the universe is 1.

From this perspective, you cannot really prove that the universe exists to be honest.

[Rollin]

From this perspective, you cannot really prove that the universe exists to be honest.

By now, I'm pretty sure that's not what it exists for...

[Fyraltari]

Well, I can prove I exist, but I can't prove anyone else exists. So by my math, the known population of the universe is 1.

I can't prove solipsism exists so I just assume my brain is making that up.

[Willie the Duck]

If its infinite, how can it not be expanding? after all, it keeps expanding to make sure you never find its edge.

That is a really hard thing to explain to a kid or person first hearing this stuff. I've been asked multiple times exactly what it is expanding into then.

Take a fully booked hotel with infinite rooms. Ask each guest to move to a room with double its number. They will all have a place for themselves and there will be infinitely many rooms free now.

Well that's certainly the answer that explains it, and I have no idea how old I was when I learned it. Only way I was able to explain Cantor's Continuum Hypothesis to my wife.

From this perspective, you cannot really prove that the universe exists to be honest.

Well, one can prove that something exists within which oneself can think about the fact that they can think (and thus exist).

I can't prove solipsism exists so I just assume my brain is making that up.

I always assumed that I was a figment of my imagination.

[Max_Killjoy]

Is the chair real?

If not, my butt would be on the floor.

That's all the discussion of "but what's real?" I need bother with, personally.

[Rodin]

All this about the true state of the universe is interesting and all, but we all know the REAL meaning for the existence of the universe is for the eventual evolution of the Unseen University's Professor of Anthropics.

[Peelee]

From this perspective, you cannot really prove that the universe exists to be honest.

Sure I can; the universe is everything that exists, so by my previous axiom, the universe is made up of at least me.

[Radar]

All this about the true state of the universe is interesting and all, but we all know the REAL meaning for the existence of the universe is for the eventual evolution of the Unseen University's Professor of Anthropics.

Fortunately, he allows us to tag along.

Sure I can; the universe is everything that exists, so by my previous axiom, the universe is made up of at least me.

A really good answer. I would surely tip my hat, if I had one.

[JeenLeen]

Are the "Capitol Numbers" a math reference I don't get, or just a "funny absurd" comic?

If mathy, please explain.

[georgie_leech]

Are the "Capitol Numbers" a math reference I don't get, or just a "funny absurd" comic?

If mathy, please explain.

Capital numbers, as oppose to capital letters. Certain parts of the Internet, including IT, typography geeks, and general lulz types, occasionally make references to them.

[Willie the Duck]

Are the "Capitol Numbers" a math reference I don't get, or just a "funny absurd" comic?

If mathy, please explain.

It is not mathy, it is half absurd, half typography joke. The numbers you use all the time are effectively 'capital' (if the word has any meaning) with lower case numbers not fitting to the rule (as in 'ruled paper'). The comic, however, is treating them as an video game Easter egg -- if you 'beat' the typing game, you get to use these special numbers that only the real experts know. Obviously it ignores the whole social construct aspect of language -- that if others don't know about it, you don't look like someone who has unlocked a special accomplishment, you're just failing to communicate as well as you otherwise would. I'm sure I've made a similar joke surrounding an 'Oxford semicolon' or the like -- some special 'secret' type of language you get if you're one of the real cool people.

[Rodin]

It's also taking a crack at the "secret symbols" that you can type on the keyboard by knowing the ASCII code for them. For example, you can trademark™ words by typing Alt + 0153 on the Numpad. My favorite for freaking out my friends at school was always the ¿

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Also, it's not uncommon, when working tech support and talking about passwords and such, to hear less-technically-literate people refer to symbols on the QWERTY keyboard as capital numbers if they don't know or can't think of the appropriate name for one of them, like # being a "capital 3" (though now you'll often hear "hashtag" instead ) or ^ being a "capital 6."

[DataNinja]

like # being a "capital 3" (though now you'll often hear "hashtag" instead )

#Octothorpe
That hurts to type, since I really don't like the "hashtag" thing creeping into everyday language, but that one's funny enough to me that I tend to use it if the subject warrants it.

[enderlord99]

It's also taking a crack at the "secret symbols" that you can type on the keyboard by knowing the ASCII code for them. For example, you can trademark™ words by typing Alt + 0153 on the Numpad. My favorite for freaking out my friends at school was always the ¿

I tried that with what Wikipedia said was the interrobang, and I got an equals instead.

[Peelee]

I tried that with what Wikipedia said was the interrobang, and I got an equals instead.

⸘Que‽

The trick is to type the interrobang in Spanish.

[Max_Killjoy]

Come on, who doesn't know that the name of "shift 6" is the caret?

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Come on, who doesn't know that the name of "shift 6" is the caret?

Far too many people, apparently.

Heck, one time when I was helping someone reset a password I set the new one to the stereotypical "password1!" and read it out to them, and their response was "Exclamation mark? That's the capital 1, right?"