Bubbles
Cidu Bill on Jul 30th 2010
Jim Moore: The punchline must be in that forcefield bubble, ’cause I can’t get through to it.
Filed in Bill Bickel, CIDU, Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, Zach Weiner, comic strips, comics, humor | 31 responses so far
Kit Jul 30th 2010 at 12:15 am 1
The President has claimed the Sun in the name of the United States.
James Schend Jul 30th 2010 at 12:50 am 2
And he needed the bubble so the flag wouldn’t burn up. Makes sense to me.
Molly J Jul 30th 2010 at 01:26 am 3
What is the flag stuck into? Looks like a detonator.
John Small Berries Jul 30th 2010 at 01:44 am 4
The flag is attached to a plasma field generator.
HnrSpk Jul 30th 2010 at 05:35 am 5
It’s not the sun, it’s the moon (see how close it is to Earth) - it’s just colored badly. The plasma field generator prevents any other country from taking down the American Flag.
Kit Jul 30th 2010 at 06:51 am 6
Nope, it’s the Sun. See the corona?
Keera Jul 30th 2010 at 06:53 am 7
Unless somebody not from the US lands on the moon, nobody ever will take down the American flag there.
Dang, I just ruined the joke for myself. It was funny until I started to think.
George Jul 30th 2010 at 06:58 am 8
I thought it was the moon, too.
The distance is right, and the “corona” looks like craters.
I also agree that the “plasma field generator” looks like a detonator.
Can someone point me to a news article about the President “claiming” the sun?
Dave in Asheville Jul 30th 2010 at 07:18 am 9
It’s the moon… Earth is too close for the sun. The “corona” are the moon’s mountains on the horizon. The orange-yellow sure is a cheesy color though.
Keera Jul 30th 2010 at 07:29 am 10
That’s the Sun? Well, not sure that’s how I’d draw its surface, but OK. I see the corona Kit referred to.
Eric Jul 30th 2010 at 07:30 am 11
It is meant to be the sun. Why else would Zach mention the plasma shield can withstand temperatures of up to 6000 kelvins. The surface of the sun is just a hair under 6000 k.
Keera Jul 30th 2010 at 07:33 am 12
*goes back and reads comic again*
*googles*
It’s the sun. The point about the plasma shield protecting up to 6000 Kelvin is a clue. The surface of the Sun is slightly less than that. I guess our Earth is drawn in to show its our sun.
mister obvious Jul 30th 2010 at 07:34 am 13
The sun’s surface temperature is just shy of 6000K, but the corona is much, much hotter (5 million K?). So the plasma forcefield wouldn’t be able to withstand the sun’s heat. Thus, it is likely this is the moon.
Dave in Asheville Jul 30th 2010 at 07:59 am 14
OK, I’ll waffle. I’ve been convinced it’s the sun now. The 6000k is the prime clue, the “swirls” that I took as craters aren’t crater-y enough for Zach’s drawing standards (it’d be more sunlike without them, but OK the sun’s surface is active), the color, the corona, and the fact that the US already has a flag on the moon that don’t need no protective force field… the force field isn’t to protect the flag from poachers, but from the local environment.
The earth is too close in the drawing, but I’ll allow that it’s comic license to show that it is at least *our* sun.
mitch4 Jul 30th 2010 at 08:06 am 15
Okay, why is she so downcast in panel 4?
Tracy Jul 30th 2010 at 08:17 am 16
Maybe she realizes what a stupid reason this is for spending billions on a plasma generator
Kamino Neko Jul 30th 2010 at 08:50 am 17
Weiner knows the moon is not orange. It’s the sun.
And she’s downcast because she facilitated the US playing ‘we got the biggest wiener’ by ‘claiming’ the sun.
(Yes, that euphemism was chosen deliberately.)
Jeff Jul 30th 2010 at 09:04 am 18
I didn’t know you could create a plasma force field by sticking a corn-cob pipe in a Twinkie.
Powers Jul 30th 2010 at 09:31 am 19
Kamino - Weiner also knows you can’t see the Earth in that much detail from the sun. So it’s a wash.
Kilby Jul 30th 2010 at 09:50 am 20
The idea that any nation could claim ownership of the sun is only slightly more ridiculous than the recent circus about planting a Russian flag on the seabed at the north pole.
There’s also an ancient canard about an upstart space-faring nation (take your pick) that wanted to score prestige points by landing the first man on the sun. The punchline is that it’s easy to do safely: “We’ll land him at night.”
Winter Wallaby Jul 30th 2010 at 11:27 am 21
It’s the sun. Weiner needs to draw the Earth in the picture so that we understand that it’s another planet - otherwise we’d be arguing over whether that was the Earth, destroyed by nuclear bombs or something. But he doesn’t want to draw the Earth in appropriate perspective, because then we wouldn’t see it. Thus the inaccuracy. On the other hand, if it’s the moon, there’s no explanation as to why he’d color it orange.
Also, there’s no reason for all this technology to put a flag on the moon when the U.S. already has one there.
Elyrest Jul 30th 2010 at 11:32 am 22
Well, I (think) I’m glad this is here because I thought it was a badly colored moon too. I especially like Kamino Neko’s references to wieners. Anyone who claims any part of space is a big one.
Detcord Jul 30th 2010 at 01:57 pm 23
What about My Space?
David N Jul 30th 2010 at 08:50 pm 24
Maybe he was watching Eddie Izzard in “Dressed to Kill” again … “Do you have a flag?”
What I wonder is why the President is “The Goddamn President”, unless I’m exposing my lack of street talk knowledge here.
Jeff S. Jul 30th 2010 at 10:15 pm 25
The only problem is, the plasma bubble would be great for surviving on the surface, but the corona is about 5 million degrees K. It would never make it there.
Jeff S. Jul 30th 2010 at 10:18 pm 26
I doubt if that’s the moon since the protection afforded would be way overkill.
Kamino Neko Jul 30th 2010 at 10:29 pm 27
Clearly, the president is Batman.
Usual John Jul 31st 2010 at 12:40 am 28
Why is the questioner curious as to how the scientist was able to obtain the necessary funding? The described force field obviously has enormous value, entirely separate from its ability to land flags on celestial objects.
Dan Jul 31st 2010 at 11:48 pm 29
That’s no moon …
Dan W Aug 2nd 2010 at 09:20 am 30
It is definitely the sun:
(1) It’s yellow/orange
(2) There’s no need for a force field to survive 6000K on the moon
(3) We already have a flag on the moon. No need to plant another one. The sun, on the other hand, is still “unclaimed.”
Presumably, Weiner knows that parts of the sun can get quit a bit hotter than that, and that the sun isn’t that close to the earth, etc etc. But then again, he doesn’t really need 100% scientific accuracy for the joke. I mean, come on, it’s not XKCD…
Chris Aug 2nd 2010 at 08:15 pm 31
The corona, whilst as hot as mentioned, is vanishingly diffuse. More diffuse even than than the plasma in the tokamac, which while even hotter, can impact the walls of the reactor with no effect. High heat, low energy density; like burning yourself with a 5 million degree bit of matter 1/1000th of a speck in size.