Next week I am heading west. And by west I mean Austin, Texas. I mean you could argue that Austin is more south than west, but if you throw a “×” in there you get South × Southwest. Anyway, the allure of the western remains strong and that reminded me of an old xkcd piece reflecting on the relative length of the western period vs. the “west” in American culture.

It’s kind of like how M*A*S*H lasted far longer than the actual Korean War.
Credit for the piece goes to Randall Munroe.