xkcd

by **joee** » Mon May 11, 2009 4:07 am UTC

Link: http://xkcd.com/582/

Alt: It was the funniest 6.5 seconds of my life, although as usual like 80% of it was just Tom and Ray's gasping, hacking laughter.

I'm guessing some kind of radio talk show?

by **suso** » Mon May 11, 2009 4:07 am UTC

Haha! This happened to me once. Randall get out of my head.

by **joeyhndc** » Mon May 11, 2009 4:08 am UTC

That would be my guess.

Cliff is 207 meters high. Hope it's a nice view, Randall.

by **Comic JK** » Mon May 11, 2009 4:09 am UTC

The cliff doesn't look nearly that high...maybe it's a huge car?

by **DarthMarth** » Mon May 11, 2009 4:10 am UTC

It's Car Talk! Amazing show to listen to, even though I know little of cars. People call in with car-related questions of any kind and get help--and tons of wit--from Tom and Ray. And lots of their trademark laughter. Amazing comic. XD

suso wrote:Haha! This happened to me once. Randall get out of my head.

You drove you car off a cliff, then got onto Car Talk?

Website · by **Kni7es** » Mon May 11, 2009 4:12 am UTC

Oh. My. God. That was a blast from the past. I've not listened to Car Talk in ages! Holy shit, Randall. So much nostalgia. @_o

by **Aikee** » Mon May 11, 2009 4:13 am UTC

hahaha-it just isn't Saturday without wasting a perfectly good hour on Cartalk! Brilliant comic-truly made me laugh.

by **AcidPops** » Mon May 11, 2009 4:14 am UTC

Finally, a joke I don't need someone to explain to me :mrgreen:

I love Car Talk...and I don't even have a car!

by **Lone Pyro** » Mon May 11, 2009 4:15 am UTC

That's so awesome! I never thought I would see Car Talk in an xkcd comic. Nice going

by **sadleric** » Mon May 11, 2009 4:18 am UTC

Randall has been out-geeked at the exact same moment: http://www.bunny-comic.com/?id=1364

by **arbivark** » Mon May 11, 2009 4:19 am UTC

http://www.cartalk.com/content/puzzler/
the show is good. xkcd types might be interested in the weekly puzzle.
(for those unfamiliar with the show, people call in with car problems, and the two brothers often are able to fix the problem - but not in time frame the comic provides.)

by **GodShapedBullet** » Mon May 11, 2009 4:21 am UTC

For high school kids that just took basic Physics, feel free to calculate how far the car fell (assuming this was on earth and neglecting the time necessary to get through to Car Talk).

by **sje46** » Mon May 11, 2009 4:23 am UTC

Would've been better if I knew what Car Talk was.

by **abzman2000** » Mon May 11, 2009 4:28 am UTC

my head, please vacate it. I just started listening to their podcast (though I've been listening to them for as long as I can remember), their entire show can be sent to your prefered rss reader the day after it is broadcast. I was also just discussing how they took 10 minutes to answer a 2 minute question....
As I don't remember last week's puzzler I must say farewell.
Now, I would instruct you not to drive like my sibling, but I have no siblings that drive.

by **ShadowLurker** » Mon May 11, 2009 4:37 am UTC

this comic would have been much better without the words at the top.

by **Kaijyuu** » Mon May 11, 2009 4:41 am UTC

Man, I need to get my car radio fixed. I never actually listened to car talk, but I heard a few advertisements that were quite hilarious.

by **Eternal Density** » Mon May 11, 2009 4:41 am UTC

sje46 wrote:Would've been better if I knew what Car Talk was.

I didn't, and I had no problem understanding it. I thought it was rather obvious what it meant even without any background knowledge.

ShadowLurker wrote:this comic would have been much better without the words at the top.

I thought the words at the top made it so much better. Each to their own, I guess.

by **Eschiesser** » Mon May 11, 2009 4:45 am UTC

Car Talk was a mainstay of my childhood, and I thought I was alone. Haha the hacking laughter always made me crack up even more than the goofy car diagnoses they would give: "Now is the gurgling sound coming from your radiator or your wiper fluid?" "No my radio is fine, its something else" *hack hack hack*

by **aion7** » Mon May 11, 2009 4:47 am UTC

Kni7es wrote:Oh. My. God. That was a blast from the past. I've not listened to Car Talk in ages! Holy shit, Randall. So much nostalgia. @_o

Same here.

I was not expecting a Car Talk reference. I was very pleasently surprised. I'm going to have to see about that podcast.

by **RandallGetOutOfMyHead** » Mon May 11, 2009 4:50 am UTC

I just drove my car off a cliff!

by **Nathanb** » Mon May 11, 2009 4:52 am UTC

GodShapedBullet wrote:For high school kids that just took basic Physics, feel free to calculate how far the car fell (assuming this was on earth and neglecting the time necessary to get through to Car Talk).

You need to factor in the terminal velocity of the car though.

by **Iluvatar** » Mon May 11, 2009 5:02 am UTC

by **Whispering** » Mon May 11, 2009 5:12 am UTC

Ha, Car Talk I haven't listened to that in years.

by **Flesh_Of_The_Fallen_Angel** » Mon May 11, 2009 5:13 am UTC

Me and my dad just replaced the brakes in my car. Get out of my head. NOW!

And after 5 hours of car-related anger, I have nothing to eat because my dad took longer than he said he would and my cooking is completely destroyed.

by **BwaHaHa** » Mon May 11, 2009 5:13 am UTC

Iluvatar wrote:

Our depth perception is distorted? Yeah, let's go with that.

by **Gojoe** » Mon May 11, 2009 5:26 am UTC

Or maybe that is not the bottom of the cliff. Maybe it goes like this.

Code: Select all: \ \ \ \ ---- \ \ \

and we only see to the little landing...

by **Chuff** » Mon May 11, 2009 5:28 am UTC

BwaHaHa wrote:Our depth perception is distorted? Yeah, let's go with that.

I much prefer the 50 foot tall car.

by **Kaelin** » Mon May 11, 2009 5:54 am UTC

I'm more of a "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!" listener, but it's another well-played comic. The alt-text sentence doesn't read so smoothly, though.

by **ozalba** » Mon May 11, 2009 6:30 am UTC

Never had the pleasure of eavesdropping on Tom and Ray's merry banter, so this just instantly brought to mind one of Calvin & Hobbes's death-defying billycart leaps into the great unknown

by **hthall** » Mon May 11, 2009 6:43 am UTC

Wow. In all seriousness, today I got an email from my dad reminding us of the scouting trip he went on as a teenager, where the brakes failed and the truck that everyone was piled into rolled backwards and off of a 35-foot drop-off. Help was a long time in coming and 13 people eventually died, including my first cousin once removed (before I was born).

http://byhigh.com/History/HoleintheRock ... -Rock.html

I've always wanted to have the authority to say this:

Cool, funny, a good comic.

Maybe the 6.5 seconds started when the brakes failed. I love Car Talk.

by **rbrausse** » Mon May 11, 2009 6:59 am UTC

coincidence? I think not...

bunny comic - only a matter of time

by **Kailen** » Mon May 11, 2009 7:11 am UTC

I've listened to Car Talk on and off for well over a decade. I find the show to be quite amusing. For those interested, the weekly shows are put up on their web site to listen to, or purchase via iTunes, but only the most recent one is free.

by **exploto** » Mon May 11, 2009 7:17 am UTC

joeyhndc wrote: Cliff is 207 meters high. Hope it's a nice view, Randall.

How do you know how high the cliff is? Wouldn't his time in the air depend on the speed he went off the cliff at?

Edit: Okay I'm tired of waiting around for someone to angrily correct me. I'm going to go to bed now and stop trolling for nerds.

by **flyonthewall** » Mon May 11, 2009 7:46 am UTC

suso wrote:Haha! This happened to me once. Randall get out of my head.

That was my initial reaction. Now YOU get out of MY head!

by **PossibleSloth** » Mon May 11, 2009 7:48 am UTC

Awesome. Just awesome. And unless I'm mistaken, Randall lives in Boston which is but a stone's throw away from Cambridge, MA "Our Fair City".

Have to say I didn't predict this crossover of interests.

by **keithc** » Mon May 11, 2009 7:49 am UTC

exploto wrote:How do you know how high the cliff is? Wouldn't his time in the air depend on the speed he went off the cliff at?

No, it doesn't. At least not if he went off the cliff horizontally. There is a nice naïve physics example that asks which hits the ground first, a bullet dropped from shoulder height or a bullet fired horizontally from shoulder height. Surprisingly, to most people at first glance, both hit the ground at the same time. (For the real physics nerds we are ignoring the curvature of the earth and assuming no obstacles)

exploto wrote:Edit: Okay I'm tired of waiting around for someone to angrily correct me. I'm going to go to bed now and stop trolling for nerds.

I hope I'm not too angry-sounding (or nerdy) ;-)

by **sje46** » Mon May 11, 2009 7:53 am UTC

PossibleSloth wrote:Awesome. Just awesome. And unless I'm mistaken, Randall lives in Boston which is but a stone's throw away from Cambridge, MA "Our Fair City".

Have to say I didn't predict this crossover of interests.

He lives in Somerville, which is right next to Cambridge.

hthall wrote:Wow. In all seriousness, today I got an email from my dad reminding us of the scouting trip he went on as a teenager, where the brakes failed and the truck that everyone was piled into rolled backwards and off of a 35-foot drop-off. Help was a long time in coming and 13 people eventually died, including my first cousin once removed (before I was born).

http://byhigh.com/History/HoleintheRock ... -Rock.html

I've always wanted to have the authority to say this:

Cool, funny, a good comic.

Maybe the 6.5 seconds started when the brakes failed. I love Car Talk.

That's really sad

I'll give you the authority to say that.

by **Papaya** » Mon May 11, 2009 9:35 am UTC

My finals are coming up and I have physics next week, so I was happy to find that I could calculate the height of the cliff too! :mrgreen:

Very funny comic, loved it. <3 Randall didn't get inside my head this time.

by **Xbehave** » Mon May 11, 2009 11:54 am UTC

keithc wrote: Surprisingly, to most people at first glance, both hit the ground at the same time. (For the real physics nerds we are ignoring the curvature of the earth and assuming no obstacles)

Your also assuming no lift & that bullet is uncharged

by **PatrickRsGhost** » Mon May 11, 2009 12:09 pm UTC

This is bizarre, as we were talking about brakes just the other day.

For those of you outside the States, or those of you in the States who don't listen to CarTalk, here's a bit of trivia: The two hosts provided their voices for the sponsor cars of the company that sponsored Lightning McQueen (Rust-Eze). As McQueen is backing up into Mack before they head off to the big race, they each warn McQueen to not drive like their sibling, which is their signature sign-off line.

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