{"id":1840430,"date":"2025-05-09T10:15:49","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T14:15:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1840430"},"modified":"2025-05-09T10:15:50","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T14:15:50","slug":"a-globe-safety-tip-from-xkcd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/05\/a-globe-safety-tip-from-xkcd\/","title":{"rendered":"A Globe Safety Tip from xkcd"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Randall Munroe, \u201cGlobe Safety<\/a>,\u201d xkcd, 7 May 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In Wednesday\u2019s xkcd comic<\/a>, Replogle has apparently been taken over by mad scientists. I\u2019m having a hard time resisting the urge to explain<\/em> the joke (I doubt many of my readers are physicists, but then I\u2019m not one either). But in a weird Einsteinian way Randall is doing with globes and mass what Carroll, Borges and Eco did with maps and space: assume a 1:1 ratio between the map and the mapped.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Wednesday\u2019s xkcd comic, Replogle has apparently been taken over by mad scientists. I\u2019m having a hard time resisting the urge to explain the joke (I doubt many of my readers are physicists, but then… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[378,274,936,192,26,273],"class_list":["post-1840430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-cartoons","tag-comics","tag-fun","tag-funny","tag-globes","tag-xkcd","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1844815,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/08\/how-xkcd-does-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":1840430,"position":0},"title":"How xkcd Does Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"5 August 2025","format":"link","excerpt":"Randall Munroe, author of the xkcd web comic, posts a surprising amount of map-related content, which I invariably end up linking to here. With some exceptions, they fall into one of two categories, each of which has a recent example. The first category is a hand-drawn infographic map showing, in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/xkcd-inaturalist.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/xkcd-inaturalist.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/xkcd-inaturalist.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/xkcd-inaturalist.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/xkcd-inaturalist.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/xkcd-inaturalist.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1791423,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/07\/xkcd-the-greenland-special\/","url_meta":{"origin":1840430,"position":1},"title":"xkcd: The Greenland Special","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"16 July 2021","format":"link","excerpt":"At some point, xkcd cartoonist Randall Munroe is going to put out a book focusing on his map-related cartoons, isn\u2019t he. The latest in his \u201cBad Map Projection\u201d series (previously: All South Americas, Time Zones, Liquid Resize) is The Greenland Special, an equal-area projection except for Greenland, which uses Mercator.\u00a0And\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Unusual Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Unusual Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/unusual-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"xkcd: Bad Map Projections: The Greenland Special","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/xkcd-greenland-special-1024x895.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/xkcd-greenland-special-1024x895.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/xkcd-greenland-special-1024x895.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/xkcd-greenland-special-1024x895.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1787473,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/07\/xkcd-on-coordinate-precision\/","url_meta":{"origin":1840430,"position":2},"title":"xkcd on Coordinate Precision","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"3 July 2019","format":"image","excerpt":"In Monday's xckd, Randall Munroe points out that when it comes to coordinate precision, there is such a thing as too many decimal places.","rel":"","context":"In "Navigation"","block_context":{"text":"Navigation","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/navigation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/coordinate_precision_2x.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/coordinate_precision_2x.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/coordinate_precision_2x.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/coordinate_precision_2x.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/coordinate_precision_2x.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1788273,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/01\/xkcd-reaction-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":1840430,"position":3},"title":"xkcd: Reaction Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"28 January 2020","format":"image","excerpt":"The latest xkcd comic suggests a fiendish way to express yourself: by creating phrases from driving direction waypoints. An obvious upgrade would be to use one or more of the places from the Magnificently Rude Map of World Place Names (previously).","rel":"","context":"In "Mobile"","block_context":{"text":"Mobile","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/mobile\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"xkcd: Reaction Maps","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/reaction_maps.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/reaction_maps.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/reaction_maps.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/reaction_maps.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1791321,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/06\/xkcd-no-the-other-one\/","url_meta":{"origin":1840430,"position":4},"title":"xkcd: ‘No, The Other One’","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"23 June 2021","format":"image","excerpt":"How this map isn\u2019t nothing but Columbuses and Springfields, I have no idea.","rel":"","context":"In "Toponyms"","block_context":{"text":"Toponyms","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/toponyms\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/xkcd-no-the-other-one-1024x650.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/xkcd-no-the-other-one-1024x650.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/xkcd-no-the-other-one-1024x650.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/xkcd-no-the-other-one-1024x650.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1787082,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/02\/pop-vs-soda-maps-spoofed-by-xkcd\/","url_meta":{"origin":1840430,"position":5},"title":"Pop vs. Soda Maps Spoofed by xkcd","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"6 February 2019","format":"image","excerpt":"By law, I am required to share every xkcd comic about maps. Today's makes great fun of pop versus soda maps\u2014the maps showing where in the U.S. carbonated beverages are referred to as pop versus where they're referred to as soda. Randall takes things to their ludicrous extremes, as he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Linguistics"","block_context":{"text":"Linguistics","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/linguistics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"xkcd (6 Feb 2019): Regional Terms for Carbonated Beverages","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/carbonated_beverage_language_map.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/carbonated_beverage_language_map.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/carbonated_beverage_language_map.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/carbonated_beverage_language_map.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1840430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1840430"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1840430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1840434,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1840430\/revisions\/1840434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1840430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1840430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1840430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}