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"Welcome to the explain xkcd wiki! We have an explanation for all 3294 xkcd comics, and only 44 (1.3%) are incomplete. Help us finish them!"

"This comic shows Cueball and Ponytail escaping from a mob of angry people. The reason for the mob is unclear, but it is led by Black Hat, so they are likely caught up in one of his nefarious schemes. However, Ponytail remembers that the land they are now on used to be an island, which attached to North America, and uses a control panel (possibly referencing the Universe Control Panel) to reverse the process and split off that part of the continent. The pursuers are left behind and either do not have long-range weapons (Black Hat has a spear, followed by others with a sword, an axe, and a halberd), do not wish to use them, or else did not get in range to practically use them in time, and are left shouting across the water now separating them from Cueball and Ponytail."

"The "island arc" refers to the Taconic orogeny, when, approximately 550 through 440 million years ago, the Bronson Hill Arc island chain, consisting of modern-day New England and Eastern Canada, collided with the rest of modern-day North America, forming parts of the modern Piedmont region of the Appalachian Mountains."

"In reality, much like Russell's teapot, there is no evidence that control panels for continental drift exist.[citation needed] Merely reversing the direction of drift would also be unhelpful: continental drift is so slow that it was unknown for most of human history. Speeding drift up by a factor of 1000 would result in a movement of inches per day. Using a factor of one million would result in movement slower than walking speed. This might be enough to escape: the mob leader is 120 to 150 feet behind Cueball (about 21 times the leader's height), and the panel needs to open a discouraging rift before that distance is crossed (at least 5 feet if the mob is surprised and misses the chance to make a running jump). Generously assuming that the mob is tired and slowed by their bulky weapons, the distance takes at most 30 seconds (an athlete might cross several times faster). The slowest speed of travel that might possibly escape is 0.1 miles per hour, though this would only stop a comically slow, incompetent and unlucky mob. Faster pursuit, delays operating the panel, and having the rift boundary located anywhere other than directly behind Cueball would require 1 mile per hour or faster for a close call."

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