XKCD: It's more than a comic

Yeah, most of those things are ones I already wanted to do.

Maryland is a disaster of borders and should be subsumed by its neighbors.

So we get the Alaska Panhandle and Mexico gets the Gadsden Purchase back. I support it.

Give bits of Maryland to its neighbours and then just call the remainder "Greater DC" and add Washington DC to it. The Senate stays at 100 members, DC gets to be a state, everyone's happy.

edited 13th Oct '17 2:31:57 PM by Galadriel

I thought the purpose of DC was that the federal government must not be in any state?

Likewise, Maryland's borders always looked more like other states are eating out of it than it is eating out of them, so I disagree with the assertion that we need to let them eat more out of it.

Yes, but that was when it was a nascent city built on a swamp, with a small population, not a major metroplitan area. Declare the Mall and a couple blocks around it to be the "federal" part of DC and let the rest be a state. It makes no sense to have so many people unrepresented in the legislature.

Bun Trend. At first I thought he meant the pastry kind of bun. ^_^;;

Yeah, I'm not used to using "bun" as a typical synonym for rabbit. Rabbits are rabbits, bunnies, or hares. And yes, I'm pretty sure there's some technical distinction between a rabbit and a hare.

It's a different genus.

edited 16th Oct '17 5:41:33 PM by Aetol

"Bun" is basically "kitty" or "pupper" but for rabbits.

edited 16th Oct '17 5:50:19 PM by frosty

I read it as a diminutive of bunny, but I think some people treat those words the other way around. Which is admittedly the way the language normally works.

He's had other bun comics before, so I knew what it meant immediately.

Bun is not a common way to refer to rabbits, it's a cutesy endearing term used by rabbit enthusiasts. That's half the joke, really: using the term "bun" in wildly inappropriate contexts.

Ah, so the alert system is still active.

Already posted, earlier.

#1904: Research Risks

You know, just for originality, I'd like to see a supervillain threaten the world with molasses*, or teeth break out of a research lab and go on a rampage.

* I would be remiss if I failed to mention Yahtzee Croshaw's satirical novel Jam, which could be said to have molasses threaten the world.

edited 18th Oct '17 8:08:23 AM by Fighteer

Once again, the threat of birds and fish are critically underappreciated.

I think neuroscience should be a bit more to the right. For one exellent example, read Arthur Machen's The Great God Pan, where a neuroscientist's tinkering with a woman's brain unleashes her half-god eldritch abomination child on the male population (and one female teenager) of London.

I would put astronomy higher up. What happens if some crazy Bond villain starts throwing asteroids at Earth?

Eh, the potential damage might be high, but the probability is negligible, so it can't be said to be risky.

Cast Iron Pan. Sheesh, why doesn't he take out an insurance policy on it?

I've heard, memetically, that cast iron pans are a bitch to take care of, but I don't really know the truth or falsehood of those ideas.

Really, there are two rules. One, don't clean it with soap and water — it has less to do with damaging the seasoning and more to do with the soap taste getting ingrained in the pan's texture. Two, after rinsing with water, rub it down with a paper towel to get it dry. Use a paper towel because otherwise you'll get your cloth towels dirty.

You mean it doesn't turn into a demon pan if you cook with it after midnight? My grandma has some serious explaining to do...

The real truth is that your Grandma turns into a Demon if you make her cook after midnight and she was just trying to hide that fact.

&Now that I got to hear. XD

An ancient cult has sworn me to secrecy. Except that I just gave it away by telling you. Oh, well.

#1906: Making Progress

Anyone else have days like that sometimes? I know I do.