#415 – Orb

I came across lots of different globes back in school. I liked looking at all of the differences between them. They all had some outdated names on them. I think the Belgian Congo was my favorite. One of my history teachers had a globe that was black with white writing on it. We always joked that it was the earth at night.

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0 thoughts on “#415 – Orb”

  1. Heinrich says:

    lol yeah that might have been a good idea.

  2. Sleepingorange says:

    Biff looks very gangly today.

  3. anon says:

    yeah he does, the shirt looks like it doesnt fit very well, I think all these strange food and catastrophies are taking their toll on Buff’s health.

  4. Taz says:

    I used to have a small globe like that, but it was very cheap and broke pretty quickly. Luckily, the base was a pencil sharpener, so it wasn’t a total loss.

  5. Seraphine says:

    I can’t read maps anyway.
    It wouldn’t make a difference.
    There’s only one direction, it’s
    called “Guess” and usually gets
    me where I’m going eventually.

  6. nikie says:

    to sleepingorange –

    he does look a bit on the slim side. maybe he’s lost some weight. it could have been his new years resolution.

  7. PsychoDuck says:

    I had a globe, but the base broke off of it. I actually still have the globe portion of it, but it just sits there on a box now.

    The Duck Has Spoken.

  8. Ben says:

    my aunt has a rather neat globe, all the countries are made of gemstones. I can’t remember all of them, but I remember the ocean was made of lapis lazuli

  9. Elle says:

    I have a 3D puzzle globe. It’s cool, the pieces are kind of curved so you can make the world. The last piece is a bit difficult though.

  10. Dark Jaguar says:

    Wat the whole Earth at night? What did the sun burn out?

  11. SEA says:

    Heh, that made my day =)

  12. Bryce says:

    -Ben, that sounds awesome man, bet it cost alot.

    Also, poor Biff what with bad things always happening to him..too bad its funny as well.

  13. Reg says:

    My History teacher says that all globes you’ll ever encounter are actually wrong. The earth is not a perfect sphere and it budges out around the equator. It kind of makes me think of the Earth wearing an inner tube.

  14. Micah says:

    This image makes me think that Biff actually misunderstood the dimensions of the globe in a catalog and got stuck with a smaller one than what he wanted.

    Either that or he’s plotting world domination.

  15. Yohimba says:

    Weird how things happen: just yesterday I told my hubby we needed a world globe. I want to see places in relation to other places which I can never get in my head from maps. Anyway today what do I spy in Biff’s hand?! Weeeeird…

  16. MaskedMan says:

    Biff appears to have been lost so long that he’s lost weight. Maybe he should have brought a Zagat guide…

    My father also has one of the gemstone globes – an older one. Of course, the countries are somewhat out of date, but updating or replacing it would cost rather a lot… So I have to explain to my daughter what East Germany is, and why Russia is called USSR, and why there are so many missing eastern European countries.

  17. Lisa says:

    I have one of those black ones, I got it at a garage sale.

  18. Tuesday says:

    I think the black globe is for writing on with chalk. Mmmhm.

    All the flat maps are incorrect, also. Maps were altered to straighten the travel lines for sailors when they were first made. Antarctica is so huge that it’s gravity pushes down and squishes the earth,

  19. fishmeester says:

    Ha, I am a Belgian. But not from Belgian Congo though.
    I have a globe projected on a cube. Now that is awesome.
    http://britton.disted.camosun.bc.ca/polymap/jbpolymap.htm

  20. AwesomeAud says:

    I bought a stuffed fabric globe at a garage sale. It’s from some company called ‘Hug a Planet’ or something like that. It labels major geological features such as continents and mountain ranges and that’s about it. Not very detailed at all!

  21. PsychoDuck says:

    @ fishmeester:

    That’s a really cool page you got there. I wanna make a tetrahedron 😀

    The Duck Has Spoken.

  22. pieman says:

    i read sumwhere that people put non-existent islands on their maps to see if anyones copied their map.

    Damn you copyright laws!

  23. j2 says:

    SPEAKING OF GLOBES: http://www.flickr.com/groups/hatsonglobes/

    And, Pieman: That’s like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trap_street (which is like Esquivalience.)

  24. Nick Steele says:

    Yup, and, on a more local scale, they change the street names every now and again.

  25. PsychoDuck says:

    CURSE YOU, RAND MCNALLEY!!!

    The Duck Has Spoken.

  26. Thom says:

    Maybe he looks gangly because he’s slumping his shoulders in dissapointment… and hes slumped so hard that he has dislocated his shoulder.

    …and maybe his elbow.

    Hey, what color are Biff’s eyes?

  27. Reg says:

    In Rand McNally, the toilets flush backwards and people where shoes on their hands! At least, that’s what Lisa said.

  28. Reg says:

    In Rand McNally, the toilets flush backwards and people wear shoes on their hands! At least, that’s what Lisa said.

    @Micah: If Biff was plainning on world domination I’m sure he could build a war machine.

  29. me says:

    a few years ago one of the globes at my school still had the ussr labeled on it but “belgian congo” is alot better

  30. Micah says:

    I think you’re right, Reg.

    Hey, Chris…I don’t know if I speak for everyone here, but I’d like to see Biff in pain more. I mean, the non-pain bits are funny, I’m just sadistic.

  31. Trevor says:

    Really good comic.

  32. MOD says:

    i just used to draw and write on my globes.
    i used to write the generally geetings of each country in its (main) language. also i would write things next to certain countries. for example next to tukey i would write ‘close relation of chicken’ and other things. it used to amuse me back when i was a kid (not that long ago really)

    p.s thanks for the bending water trick on the static page. its so fun!

  33. dragonbrad says:

    I saw a globe like this http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/science/98b8/

    that is so cool how it floats, how to they do that without another magnet to equal it out.

  34. shadowfax272 says:

    Hehe, I remember when I was younger we had a map which still had ‘USSR’ written on it, I thought it was pretty old until I saw a map on the wall in one of the classrooms.

    Not only did it have the USSR, but West and East Germany, too. Oops.

    I love finding old names in maps. 😛

  35. Grep Agni says:

    My History teacher says that all globes you’ll ever encounter are actually wrong. The earth is not a perfect sphere and it budges out around the equator. It kind of makes me think of the Earth wearing an inner tube.

    The bulge is tiny. The distance from pole to pole is only about 43 km less than from equator to equator. Since actual globes are cardboard, they have vastly larger errors in them.

    Not only did it have the USSR, but West and East Germany, too. Oops.

    God, I feel old.

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