explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2326: Five Word Jargon

2020-08-29T22:35:51Z

108.162.215.96: /* Explanation */ TED talks

{{comic
| number = 2326
| date = June 29, 2020
| title = Five Word Jargon
| image = five_word_jargon.png
| titletext = My other (much harder) hobby is trying to engineer situations where I have an excuse to use more than one of them in short succession.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by BARYOGENESIS. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Another comic in [[Randall]]'s [[:Category:My Hobby|My Hobby series]], the first of two hobby comics released in the same week, the second being [[2328: Space Basketball]].

This hobby involves "collecting" and presumably using five-words-long technical jargon. In the comic, [[White Hat]] uses a phrases with five such words while talking to Randall (as [[Cueball]]), causing Randall to exclaim "cool" (as in what a cool sentence), and then proceed to type the phrase into his phone to add to his list of favorite Five Word Jargon.

Randall then proceeds to list his current favorites among really satisfying five word technical phrases (or jargon) as a caption below the panel, with White Hat's phrase as the last, possibly the newest. Maybe it was the one that caused Randall to consider other phrases and make this comic.

In the title text, Randall says that he has another much harder hobby, which is to engineer situations where he can use more than one of his favorite phrases. It would seem difficult to combine any of the four listed phrases in a given conversation, as they are from four separate fields (medicine, economics/statistics, biology, and physics/cosmology). However, he said "situations", which is broader term than "conversations". For example, someone could arrange for experts on these fields to deliver TED talks on these topics, so that he could introduce them by saying "today, we will learn about..." and list the phrases, but Randall cannot, because he has been [[541|banned from TED]]. At least he has succeeded in using them together in this comic.

===Technical jargon===
====Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt placement====
: A {{w|transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt}} (TIPS) is "an artificial channel within the liver that connects the inflow portal vein and the outflow hepatic vein". It is used to treat various intestinal bleeding. This term can be found in this publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16850140/
:;transjugular
::the shunt is inserted via the jugular vein
:;intrahepatic
::within the liver
:;portosystemic
::blood is shunted from the portal vein (draining blood from the intestines to the liver) to the systemic circulation (returning blood from the liver to the heart)
:;shunt
::a tube within the body that bypasses the normal flow of something (whether a natural defect, or an artificial device)
:;placement
::the operation to insert it

====Generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity model====
: A {{w|Autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity|generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity}} (GARCH) model is a statistical model for economic research. An {{w|autoregressive model}} of a {{w|time series}} is one that uses previous values of the time series to predict the next value. A {{w|conditional probability}} model is one that divides data into inputs and outputs and models the relation between them using a conditional probability distribution of the outputs given the inputs. A {{w|heteroskedastic}} distribution is one in which the variance (or standard deviation) of a random variable is not the same across all values of the variable. This phrase can be found in this publication: https://www.scirp.org/html/11-1241334_99870.htm

:;Generalized
::making more general, as opposed to a specific model
:;autoregressive
::using previous values to predict future values.
:;conditional
::outputs depending on specific inputs (in the sense of, "funding is conditional on meeting targets")
:;heteroskedasticity
::the property where the variance (that is, the random difference between an expected value and its observed value) itself varies in response to some variable. From Greek, meaning "different dispersion". For example, a graph of expenditure on food against income shows higher randomness at higher income levels, because poor people always eat cheaply, while rich people sometimes do and sometimes don't.
:;model
::a set of equations that attempt to describe some property of the world for the purpose of analysis

====Unicellular diazotrophic cyanobacteria group A====
: A {{w|unicellular}} {{w|diazotrophic}} {{w|cyanobacterium}} is a single-celled type of bacteria that is able to convert atmospheric nitrogen into a more usable form, and also generates oxygen through photosynthesis. The term can also be found in this publication: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4303622/
:;unicellular
::Consisting of only one cell ({{w|Unicellular organism}}), such as all bacteria. The opposite is {{w|Multicellular organism|multicellular}}, which includes almost all other lifeforms like animals, plants, algae, etc.
:;diazatrophic
::Having the property of {{w|Nitrogen fixation|fixing}} nitrogen from the air into other chemicals.
:;cyanobacterium
::A fairly broad category of bacteria which often play an important role in various habitats, using photosynthesis to convert light energy to oxygen. "Cyano" refers to their general blue colour, not cyanide.
:;group A
::the "first" group of several groups in a controlled experiment, or a scientific study; in this case, it is the first of several (B, C) groups of phylogenetically-related organisms, for which there is as yet no published scientific name, see here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308030272_The_small_unicellular_diazotrophic_symbiont_UCYN-A_is_a_key_player_in_the_marine_nitrogen_cycle.

====Anomalous electroweak sphaleron transition baryogenesis====
: This is a term from {{w|Particle physics}}/{{w|cosmology}}. {{w|Baryon}}s are subatomic particles containing an odd number of quarks; protons and neutrons are the most familiar examples. {{w|Baryogenesis}} is the hypothetical physical process that took place during the early universe that produced more matter than antimatter in the observable universe (or it could be any process that produces baryons). {{w|Sphaleron}} is a static (time-independent) solution to the {{w|electroweak}} field equations of the Standard Model of particle physics, and is involved in certain hypothetical processes that change the number of baryons or {{w|leptons}} (e.g. forming baryons and removing leptons). It is believed that the electroweak interaction is responsible for baryogenesis, but that at the temperatures involved (~10<sup>15</sup> K), sphaleron interactions would wipe out any excess of baryons; therefore, for baryogenesis to "stick", it must have occurred at the ''transition'' out of the electroweak era...unless there were some kind of ''anomaly'' in the formation or interaction of sphalerons. Google reports no matches (other than this page) for the entire phrase in quotes, but shows about 70 results unquoted, indicating it finds only partial matches.

:;Anomalous
::Deviating from normal or expected
:;electroweak
::A theory combining {{w|electromagnetism}} and the {{w|weak interaction}}, two of the four fundamental forces (alongside the strong interaction and gravity) in the Standard Model of particle physics.
:;sphaleron
::a single, time-independent, solution to electroweak field equations, represented as a saddle point between two different low energy equilibria
:;transition
::change
:;baryogenesis
::creating baryons, which are a category subatomic particles containing an odd number of quarks, including protons and neutrons. (-genesis is a general suffix for a process which creates something; eg carcinogenesis means, creating cancer)

==Transcript==
:[White Hat, holding his palm up, is speaking to Cueball, who is typing with both hands on his smartphone. What he types is indicated with a jagged line going up from his phone.]
:White Hat: Yeah, I learned about it when I was researching anomalous electroweak sphaleron transition baryogenesis.
:Cueball: Cooool.
:Text on phone: ''A-n-o-m-''

:[Caption below the panel:]
:My Hobby: Collecting really satisfying-sounding five-word technical phrases.

:<u>Current favorites</u>
:<li>Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt placement
:<li>Generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity model
:<li>Unicellular diazotrophic cyanobacteria group A
:<li>Anomalous electroweak sphaleron transition baryogenesis

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:My Hobby]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Statistics]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]

Talk:667: SkiFree

2020-08-29T11:09:32Z

108.162.215.96: to pay respects … faster

The reason that so many people think the monster is unbeatable is that the game was often found pre-installed on many computers along with the Windows operating system in older days. However, the game would typically be installed without any documentation, resulting in a generation of younger gamers discovering and playing the game, but not the unintuitive "F" command needed to survive the monster. [[User:Psyren|Psyren]] ([[User talk:Psyren|talk]]) 22:24, 17 May 2013 (UTC)

"F" does make you go faster than the monster, but it also makes it more likely that you'll hit an obstacle, at which point the monster will catch up and eat you. HOWEVER, if you pause the game with F3 and then repeatedly press "T", the game will go in slow motion.--[[User:Rael|Rael]] ([[User talk:Rael|talk]]) 20:16, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

The title text explanation is way deeper than it probably should be. Knowing Megan, she probably *literally* wore an F key pendant--looking for meaning in the wrong places. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.42|162.158.186.42]] 12:53, 27 October 2017 (UTC)

Yeah but maybe that's okay. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.50.46|172.69.50.46]] 14:45, 9 October 2018 (UTC)

This comic is much more profound when you're a Singularitarian. Huamn technology is still in its button-mashing stage, but how long until we find our F key that lets us stave off death as long as we want? [[User:Promethean|Promethean]] ([[User talk:Promethean|talk]]) 08:28, 21 December 2018 (UTC)

Has anyone noticed the term "press F to pay respects", changing the metaphor to "death is inevitable *unless you show sympathy to people*"? Just a thought [[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.228|172.68.65.228]] 02:30, 4 February 2019 (UTC)
:this comic was published in late 2009, while cod: advanced warfare (where the meme comes from) came out 5 years later [[Special:Contributions/162.158.103.197|162.158.103.197]] 12:57, 17 May 2020 (UTC)
::F [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.124|162.158.63.124]] 20:25, 14 July 2020 (UTC)
:::F [[Special:Contributions/172.68.38.44|172.68.38.44]] 23:51, 24 July 2020 (UTC)
::::F [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.96|108.162.215.96]] 11:09, 29 August 2020 (UTC)

2317: Pinouts

2020-06-09T02:28:47Z

108.162.215.96: /* USB-C */ electron-volt per Coulomb

{{comic
| number = 2317
| date = June 8, 2020
| title = Pinouts
| image = pinouts.png
| titletext = The other side of USB-C is rotationally symmetric except that the 3rd pin from the top is designated FIREWIRE TRIBUTE PIN.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a FIREWIRE TRIBUTE PIN. Should include a column for the actual purpose of the pin. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Electronics connecters are designed to transport both information and power. A {{w|pinout}} diagram describes the function of each pin such as to communicate data, transport power, physical function (keying), etc. In this comic there is an absurd alternative to the actual pins used in connectors.

The real life diagrams are as follows: [http://unitedtechnologies.com.pk/Nti/image/10ci.png HDMI], [https://www.arrow.com/en/research-and-events/articles/micro-connector-usb-pinout Micro USB], [https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technical-articles/introduction-to-usb-type-c-which-pins-power-delivery-data-transfer/ USB-C].

=== HDMI ===

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Label !! Explanation !! Pin No. !! Actual purpose
|-
| +3.3V DC
| 3.3V is a typical voltage in digital electronics. The "+" Indicates a
| 1
| TMDS Data2+
|-
| Data
| Most digital communications cables contain at least one wire that carries data. Typically there will be a more descriptive name if there are multiple data pins.
| 2
| TMDS Data2 Shield
|-
| -3.3V DC
| Negative voltages were used more frequently in the past, however modern systems typically generate any negative voltages they might require internally from the given positive voltages.
| 3
| TMDS Data2-
|-
| +5V
| Many actual pin configurations use +5 volts to supply power to a device. That's not what this means.
| 4
| TMDS Data1+
|-
| Tx
| "Tx" typically refers to pins used to transmit as opposed to "Rx"/receive
| 5
| TMDS Data1 Shield
|-
| +6VI
| V is usually used to represent volts, but here, VI represents the Roman numeral 6. (See Pin 4)
| 6
| TMDS Data1-
|-
| Wx
| "Wx" does not typically exist in the "Tx"/"Rx" scheme. In the weather forecasting community, Wx means "weather" .
| 7
| TMDS Data0+
|-
| +7VII
| V is usually used to represent volts, but here, VII represents the Roman numeral 7, continuing the pattern from above.
| 8
| TMDS Data0 Shield
|-
| Rx Only
| "Rx" typically refers to pins used to receive as opposed to "Tx"/transmit. In this case "Rx" is used as part of a pun on "Rx (prescription) only"
| 9
| TMDS Data0-
|-
| Antidata
| Some ports use differential signaling, where a signal and its inverse are sent over a pair of pins (e.g. D+ and D-). This mixes that practice with a humorous reference to the notion of matter versus antimatter. There is no such thing as antidata.
| 10
| TMDS Clock+
|-
| Unknown
| Occasionally extra pins will be included for future use, however they will typically be labeled "reserved" to point out that their usage is not yet defined.
| 11
| TMDS Clock Shield
|-
| Water
| Labs often have ports connecting to common supplies of various supplying (Oxygen, water, fuel, vacuum).
| 12
| TMDS Clock-
|-
| +240V DC
| High voltage DC is not typically used in small communications connectors. It would need to be low current to avoid generating excess heat.
| 13
| CEC
|-
| Vacuum
| Labs often have ports connecting to common sorces of various supplies (oxygen, water, fuel, vacuum).
| 14
| Reserved (1.0-1.3a), Utility (1.4+, optional)
|-
| 5V AC
| Pins often supply low voltage direct current to devices. This pin supplies 5V alternating current, which is not typically supplied.
| 15
| SCL (I²C serial clock for DDC)
|-
| Amazon Copyright Pin
| HDMI can optionally be protected by a digital rights management (DRM) scheme, known as HDCP. This pin humorously implies the presence of a different DRM scheme specific to Amazon.com, as well as poking fun at the fact that copyright is an explicit part of the HDMI protocol (although it is not assigned to a specific pin).
| 16
| SDA (I²C serial data for DDC)
|-
| GND
| GND typically refers to "ground" on pinout diagrams. Remarkably, this is correct.
| 17
| DDC/CEC Ground
|-
| Decorative
| Decorative elements are pieces of an assembly that serve only an aesthetic purpose without any technical function. This would not be particularly useful inside a connector, as almost no one will ever see it--however, in HDMI, pin 14 was reserved for future use in versions 1.0–1.3a (and was only assigned an official use in 1.4).
| 18
| +5V
|-
| Ground
| Compared to Pin 17 ("GND"), this appears to be the same ground pin. However, the presence of both GND and Ground seems to imply that GND represents something other than the standard "ground" pin, unless it is this one that supplies something like soil (like [[1293|soup]]). Some systems have different grounds for analog and digital sections, but they would typically be disambiguated by terms like AGND.
| 19
| Hot Plug Detect
|}

HDMI uses four pairs of shielded twisted-pair connectors, along with seven other connectors. (Twisted-pair means a wire is wrapped with the other wire that returns the current to the original device, thus minimizing electromagnetic noise. Shielding refers to wrapping a cable with a conductor to absorb the energy of noise.) Three of these pairs are for data (TMDS Data0, Data1, and Data2) and the other is a clock. These pairs take up three pins as one of them is a ground pin for the shielding wrapped around each pair. TMDS stands for "[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transition-minimized_differential_signaling Transition-minimized Differential Signaling]" and is also used in the DVI standard.

DDC stands for "Display Data Channel" and is based on the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%C2%B2C I²C] serial standard. It is used to allow the transmitting device to learn what formats of data the receiving device can accept.

CEC stands for "Consumer Electronics Control" and is supposed to allow a single remote control to control multiple devices.

"Hot Plug Detect" refers to hot-plugging, where a cable is connected to a device already turned on. The device should then ideally detect that the cable has been plugged in and respond appropriately.

=== Micro USB ===

A ground pin is commonly found on USB and other pin connectors. At least one ground is necessary to complete the circuit, and some cables use multiple ground lines to distribute current or to support {{w|twisted pair}}s. However, there is no purpose served by having many more ground pins than data pins. Therefore, it seems rather silly for the micro USB to have 4 ground pins and only 1 functional "USB" pin. It also does not give much information about what the "USB" pin would do, as opposed to a standard pinout diagram. This diagram also leaves out the +5V power pin that is present in the real micro USB connector, which would render most USB peripherals unable to function.

The ordering and count of the pins may be an allusion to {{w|Monty Python}}'s {{w|Spam (Monty Python)|"Spam"}} sketch, in which one of the many Spam-related menu items is "Spam, Spam, Spam, egg, and Spam".

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Label !! Explanation
|-
| GND
| A ground pin
|-
| GND
| A second ground pin
|-
| GND
| A third ground pin
|-
| USB
| Apparently the only data pin in this connector.
|-
| GND
| A fourth ground pin. A real micro USB only has one ground pin.
|}

=== USB-C ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Label !! Explanation
|-
| +5V DC
| A common electronics supply voltage.
|-
| +3.3V DC
| Another common electronics supply voltage. This pin is not present on USB type C, mostly because the voltage is too low to supply useful levels of power at the current limit of the pins.
|-
| +120V AC
| Residential supply voltage in the United States; its use on an electronics connector would be very unusual, as it would burn out any unguarded transistor-logic electronics.
|-
| Boobytrap Pin (Pure Solder)
| {{w|Solder}} is a metal alloy with a low melting temperature, used to bond electronic components together permanently. Making a connector pin out of it would likely result in the pin overheating and melting, thus bonding the connector to its receptacle, and thereby "trapping" the receptacle.
|-
| Mechanical
| All connectors include portions whose job is to ensure a solid connection between the cable and the port. This is typically not the job of the pins, however. In real USB type C connectors, this task is performed by the center tongue of the female connector.
|-
| +3.3eV/C
| {{w|Electron-volts}} per {{w|coulomb}} would be a very unusual unit to see in a pinout. It would be a unit of electric potential equivalent to approximately 1.60217662 * 10^-19 volts. There 3.3eV/C would be 5.287183 * 10^-19 volts, or slightly more than 1/2 attovolt.
|-
| Candlepin
| Randall is making a pun on the word ''pin'', which refers to a electrical connector pin as well as a thing to knock down in bowling. {{w|Candlepin bowling}} is a form of bowling.
|-
| Facebook use
| This would imply that Facebook had a hand in specifying USB type C, and had a pin dedicated to their use. This would be strange given Facebook's primary business is web technology and would have little need for a dedicated pin in the USB standard.
|-
| +5V (Positrons)
| {{w|Positron}}s are the antimatter counterparts to electrons. So this pin is supplying +5V, but does so by sourcing positrons into the device rather than sinking electrons out. NOTE: Positrons cannot be conducted through normal matter conductors as they would annihilate with the electrons.
|-
| Pin Roulette
| Presumably in the same vein as "Chat Roulette", this pin's purpose is not rigidly defined and is instead left to chance. According to the title text, this pin's counterpart on the other side of the connector is the "FireWire Tribute Pin", so this cable would only be truly rotationally symmetric (which is the whole point of the USB-C connector) when the pin roulette ball lands on that same function.
|-
| GND
| Ground pin. Typically denoted as "GND".
|-
| SKY
| Reference to the ground pin, which refers to the common grounding on the larger metal body. There is no corresponding "sky" pin, although sky is often thought as the opposite of ground.
|-
| FireWire Tribute Pin
| ''In Title text:'' {{w|FireWire}} is Apple's version of IEEE 1394 which is a 6 pin connector that has a ground pin a power pin and two pairs of data pins. It was something of a competitor to USB, and had faster data rates than USB 2.0, but is much less popular now. Presumably the writers of the USB-C standard (which far outpaces its data rates) wished to memorialize it somehow, although it's not clear how the pin actually works for that purpose.
|}

=== Coax ===

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Label !! Explanation
|-
| Pin
| An {{w|RF connector|coaxial RF connector}} has two contacts - one pin, and the shield; typically the whole connector is labeled with whatever function/signal is carried by the pair.
|}

==Transcript==

:[Caption at top]
:Pinouts
:Quick Reference Guide

:[Four common connectors are depicted - vertically, rather than the usual horizontal orientation.]

:[The first connector is a 19-pin HDMI connector.]
:[The nine pins on the left are labeled:]
:*Data
:*+5V
:*+6VI
:*+7VII
:*Antidata
:*Water
:*Vacuum
:*Amazon Copyright Pin
:*Decorative
:[The ten pins on the right are labeled:]
:*+3.3V DC
:*-3.3V DC
:*Tx
:*Wx
:*Rx Only
:*Unknown
:*+240V DC
:*5V AC
:*GND
:*Ground

:[The second connector is a 5-pin Micro USB connector.]
:[The five pins are labeled:]
:*GND
:*GND
:*GND
:*USB
:*GND

:[The third connector is a 24-pin USB-C connector, with only the right side labeled.]
:[The twelve pins on the right are labeled:]
:*+5V DC
:*+3.3V DC
:*+120V AC
:*Boobytrap Pin (Pure Solder)
:*Mechanical
:*+3.3eV/C
:*Candlepin
:*Facebook Use
:*+5V (Positrons)
:*Pin Roulette
:*GND
:*SKY

:[The fourth and final connector is a 1-pin COAX connector.]
:[The one pin in the center is labeled:]
:*Pin

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Computers]]

2317: Pinouts

2020-06-09T00:44:14Z

108.162.215.96: /* Transcript */ category

{{comic
| number = 2317
| date = June 8, 2020
| title = Pinouts
| image = pinouts.png
| titletext = The other side of USB-C is rotationally symmetric except that the 3rd pin from the top is designated FIREWIRE TRIBUTE PIN.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a FIREWIRE TRIBUTE PIN. Should include a column for the actual purpose of the pin. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Electronics connecters are designed to transport both information and power. A {{w|pinout}} diagram describes the function of each pin such as to communicate data, transport power, physical function (keying), etc. In this comic there is an absurd alternative to the actual pins used in connectors.

The real life diagrams are as follows: [http://unitedtechnologies.com.pk/Nti/image/10ci.png HDMI], [https://www.arrow.com/en/research-and-events/articles/micro-connector-usb-pinout Micro USB], [https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technical-articles/introduction-to-usb-type-c-which-pins-power-delivery-data-transfer/ USB-C].

=== HDMI ===

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Label !! Explanation
|-
| Data
| Most digital communications cables contain at least one wire that carries data. Typically there will be a more descriptive name if there are multiple data pins.
|-
| +5V
| Many actual pin configurations use +5 volts to supply power to a device. That's not what this means.
|-
| +6VI
| V is usually used to represent volts, but here, VI represents the Roman numeral 6.
|-
| +7VII
| V is usually used to represent volts, but here, VII represents the Roman numeral 7, continuing the pattern from above.
|-
| Antidata
| Some ports use differential signaling, where a signal and its inverse are sent over a pair of pins (e.g. D+ and D-). This mixes that practice with a humorous reference to the notion of matter versus antimatter. There is no such thing as antidata.
|-
| Water
| Labs often have ports connecting to common supplies of various supplying (oxygen, water, fuel, vacuum).
|-
| Vacuum
| Labs often have ports connecting to common supplies of various supplying (oxygen, water, fuel, vacuum).
|-
| Amazon Copyright Pin
| HDMI can optionally be protected by a {{w|digital rights management}} (DRM) scheme, known as {{w|High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection|HDCP}}. This pin humorously implies the presence of a different DRM scheme specific to {{w| Amazon (company)|Amazon.com}}, as well as poking fun at the fact that copyright is an explicit part of the HDMI protocol (although it is not assigned to a specific pin).
|-
| Decorative
| Decorative elements are pieces of an assembly that serve only an aesthetic purpose without any technical function. This would not be particularly useful inside a connector, as almost no one will ever see it--however, in HDMI, pin 14 was reserved for future use in versions 1.0–1.3a (and was only assigned an official use in 1.4).
|-
| +3.3V DC
| As with the +5V pin, this could be used to supply power to a device. 3.3V is a typical voltage in digital electronics.
|-
| -3.3V DC
| Negative voltages were used more frequently in the past, however modern systems typically generate any negative voltages they might require internally from the given positive voltages.
|-
| Tx
| "Tx" typically refers to pins used to transmit as opposed to "Rx"/receive.
|-
| Wx
| "Wx" does not typically exist in the "Tx"/"Rx" scheme. In the weather forecasting community, Wx means "weather".
|-
| Rx Only
| "Rx" typically refers to pins used to receive as opposed to "Tx"/transmit. In this case "Rx" is used as part of a pun on "Rx (prescription) only"
|-
| Unknown
| Occasionally extra pins will be included for future use, however they will typically be labeled "reserved" to point out that their usage is not yet defined.
|-
| +240V DC
| High voltage DC is not typically used in small communications connectors. It would need to be low current to avoid generating excess heat.
|-
| 5V AC
| Pins often supply low voltage direct current to devices. This pin supplies 5V alternating current, which is not typically supplied.
|-
| GND
| GND typically refers to "ground" on pinout diagrams.
|-
| Ground
| Compared to the above pin, this appears to be the same ground pin. However, the presence of both GND and Ground seems to imply that GND represents something other than the standard "ground" pin. Some systems have different grounds for analog and digital sections, but they would typically be disambiguated by terms like AGND.
|}

=== Micro USB ===

A ground pin is commonly found on USB and other pin connectors. At least one ground is necessary to complete the circuit, and some cables use multiple ground lines to distribute current or to support {{w|twisted pair}}s. However, there is no purpose served by having many more ground pins than data pins. Therefore, it seems rather silly for the micro USB to have 4 ground pins and only 1 functional "USB" pin. It also does not give much information about what the "USB" pin would do, as opposed to a standard pinout diagram. This diagram also leaves out the +5V power pin that is present in the real micro USB connector, which would render most USB peripherals unable to function.

The ordering and count of the pins may be an allusion to {{w|Monty Python}}'s {{w|Spam (Monty Python)|"Spam"}} sketch, in which one of the many Spam-related menu items is "Spam, Spam, Spam, egg, and Spam".

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Label !! Explanation
|-
| GND
| A ground pin
|-
| GND
| A second ground pin
|-
| GND
| A third ground pin
|-
| USB
| Apparently the only data pin in this connector.
|-
| GND
| A fourth ground pin. A real micro USB only has one ground pin.
|}

=== USB-C ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Label !! Explanation
|-
| +5V DC
| A common electronics supply voltage.
|-
| +3.3V DC
| Another common electronics supply voltage. This pin is not present on USB type C, mostly because the voltage is too low to supply useful levels of power at the current limit of the pins.
|-
| +120V AC
| Residential supply voltage in the United States; its use on an electronics connector would be very unusual, as it would burn out any unguarded transistor-logic electronics.
|-
| Boobytrap Pin (Pure Solder)
| {{w|Solder}} is a metal alloy with a low melting temperature, used to bond electronic components together permanently. Making a connector pin out of it would likely result in the pin overheating and melting, thus bonding the connector to its receptacle, and thereby "trapping" the receptacle.
|-
| Mechanical
| All connectors include portions whose job is to ensure a solid connection between the cable and the port. This is typically not the job of the pins, however. In real USB type C connectors, this task is performed by the center tongue of the female connector.
|-
| +3.3eV/C
| {{w|Electron-volts}} per {{w|coulomb}} would be a very unusual unit to see in a pinout. It is equivalent to volts, however, so technically this pin would be a +3.3V pin.
|-
| Candlepin
| Randall is making a pun on the word ''pin'', which refers to a electrical connector pin as well as a thing to knock down in bowling. {{w|Candlepin bowling}} is a form of bowling.
|-
| Facebook use
| This would imply that Facebook had a hand in specifying USB type C, and had a pin dedicated to their use. This would be strange given Facebook's primary business is web technology and would have little need for a dedicated pin in the USB standard.
|-
| +5V (Positrons)
| {{w|Positron}}s are the antimatter counterparts to electrons. So this pin is supplying +5V, but does so by sourcing positrons into the device rather than sinking electrons out. NOTE: Positrons cannot be conducted through normal matter conductors as they would annihilate with the electrons.
|-
| Pin Roulette
| Presumably in the same vein as "Chat Roulette", this pin's purpose is not rigidly defined and is instead left to chance. According to the title text, this pin's counterpart on the other side of the connector is the "FireWire Tribute Pin", so this cable would only be truly rotationally symmetric (which is the whole point of the USB-C connector) when the pin roulette ball lands on that same function.
|-
| GND
| Ground pin. Typically denoted as "GND".
|-
| SKY
| Reference to the ground pin, which refers to the common grounding on the larger metal body. There is no corresponding "sky" pin, although sky is often thought as the opposite of ground.
|-
| FireWire Tribute Pin
| ''In Title text:'' {{w|FireWire}} is Apple's version of IEEE 1394 which is a 6 pin connector that has a ground pin a power pin and two pairs of data pins. It was something of a competitor to USB, and had faster data rates than USB 2.0, but is much less popular now. Presumably the writers of the USB-C standard (which far outpaces its data rates) wished to memorialize it somehow, although it's not clear how the pin actually works for that purpose.
|}

=== Coax ===

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Label !! Explanation
|-
| Pin
| An {{w|RF connector|coaxial RF connector}} has two contacts - one pin, and the shield; typically the whole connector is labeled with whatever function/signal is carried by the pair.
|}

==Transcript==

:[Caption at top]
:Pinouts
:Quick Reference Guide

:[Four common connectors are depicted - vertically, rather than the usual horizontal orientation.]

:[The first connector is a 19-pin HDMI connector.]
:[The nine pins on the left are labeled:]
:*Data
:*+5V
:*+6VI
:*+7VII
:*Antidata
:*Water
:*Vacuum
:*Amazon Copyright Pin
:*Decorative
:[The ten pins on the right are labeled:]
:*+3.3V DC
:*-3.3V DC
:*Tx
:*Wx
:*Rx Only
:*Unknown
:*+240V DC
:*5V AC
:*GND
:*Ground

:[The second connector is a 5-pin Micro USB connector.]
:[The five pins are labeled:]
:*GND
:*GND
:*GND
:*USB
:*GND

:[The third connector is a 24-pin USB-C connector, with only the right side labeled.]
:[The twelve pins on the right are labeled:]
:*+5V DC
:*+3.3V DC
:*+120V AC
:*Boobytrap Pin (Pure Solder)
:*Mechanical
:*+3.3eV/C
:*Candlepin
:*Facebook Use
:*+5V (Positrons)
:*Pin Roulette
:*GND
:*SKY

:[The fourth and final connector is a 1-pin COAX connector.]
:[The one pin in the center is labeled:]
:*Pin

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Computers]]

2317: Pinouts

2020-06-09T00:40:50Z

108.162.215.96: /* HDMI */ wlinks

{{comic
| number = 2317
| date = June 8, 2020
| title = Pinouts
| image = pinouts.png
| titletext = The other side of USB-C is rotationally symmetric except that the 3rd pin from the top is designated FIREWIRE TRIBUTE PIN.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a FIREWIRE TRIBUTE PIN. Should include a column for the actual purpose of the pin. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Electronics connecters are designed to transport both information and power. A {{w|pinout}} diagram describes the function of each pin such as to communicate data, transport power, physical function (keying), etc. In this comic there is an absurd alternative to the actual pins used in connectors.

The real life diagrams are as follows: [http://unitedtechnologies.com.pk/Nti/image/10ci.png HDMI], [https://www.arrow.com/en/research-and-events/articles/micro-connector-usb-pinout Micro USB], [https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technical-articles/introduction-to-usb-type-c-which-pins-power-delivery-data-transfer/ USB-C].

=== HDMI ===

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Label !! Explanation
|-
| Data
| Most digital communications cables contain at least one wire that carries data. Typically there will be a more descriptive name if there are multiple data pins.
|-
| +5V
| Many actual pin configurations use +5 volts to supply power to a device. That's not what this means.
|-
| +6VI
| V is usually used to represent volts, but here, VI represents the Roman numeral 6.
|-
| +7VII
| V is usually used to represent volts, but here, VII represents the Roman numeral 7, continuing the pattern from above.
|-
| Antidata
| Some ports use differential signaling, where a signal and its inverse are sent over a pair of pins (e.g. D+ and D-). This mixes that practice with a humorous reference to the notion of matter versus antimatter. There is no such thing as antidata.
|-
| Water
| Labs often have ports connecting to common supplies of various supplying (oxygen, water, fuel, vacuum).
|-
| Vacuum
| Labs often have ports connecting to common supplies of various supplying (oxygen, water, fuel, vacuum).
|-
| Amazon Copyright Pin
| HDMI can optionally be protected by a {{w|digital rights management}} (DRM) scheme, known as {{w|High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection|HDCP}}. This pin humorously implies the presence of a different DRM scheme specific to {{w| Amazon (company)|Amazon.com}}, as well as poking fun at the fact that copyright is an explicit part of the HDMI protocol (although it is not assigned to a specific pin).
|-
| Decorative
| Decorative elements are pieces of an assembly that serve only an aesthetic purpose without any technical function. This would not be particularly useful inside a connector, as almost no one will ever see it--however, in HDMI, pin 14 was reserved for future use in versions 1.0–1.3a (and was only assigned an official use in 1.4).
|-
| +3.3V DC
| As with the +5V pin, this could be used to supply power to a device. 3.3V is a typical voltage in digital electronics.
|-
| -3.3V DC
| Negative voltages were used more frequently in the past, however modern systems typically generate any negative voltages they might require internally from the given positive voltages.
|-
| Tx
| "Tx" typically refers to pins used to transmit as opposed to "Rx"/receive.
|-
| Wx
| "Wx" does not typically exist in the "Tx"/"Rx" scheme. In the weather forecasting community, Wx means "weather".
|-
| Rx Only
| "Rx" typically refers to pins used to receive as opposed to "Tx"/transmit. In this case "Rx" is used as part of a pun on "Rx (prescription) only"
|-
| Unknown
| Occasionally extra pins will be included for future use, however they will typically be labeled "reserved" to point out that their usage is not yet defined.
|-
| +240V DC
| High voltage DC is not typically used in small communications connectors. It would need to be low current to avoid generating excess heat.
|-
| 5V AC
| Pins often supply low voltage direct current to devices. This pin supplies 5V alternating current, which is not typically supplied.
|-
| GND
| GND typically refers to "ground" on pinout diagrams.
|-
| Ground
| Compared to the above pin, this appears to be the same ground pin. However, the presence of both GND and Ground seems to imply that GND represents something other than the standard "ground" pin. Some systems have different grounds for analog and digital sections, but they would typically be disambiguated by terms like AGND.
|}

=== Micro USB ===

A ground pin is commonly found on USB and other pin connectors. At least one ground is necessary to complete the circuit, and some cables use multiple ground lines to distribute current or to support {{w|twisted pair}}s. However, there is no purpose served by having many more ground pins than data pins. Therefore, it seems rather silly for the micro USB to have 4 ground pins and only 1 functional "USB" pin. It also does not give much information about what the "USB" pin would do, as opposed to a standard pinout diagram. This diagram also leaves out the +5V power pin that is present in the real micro USB connector, which would render most USB peripherals unable to function.

The ordering and count of the pins may be an allusion to {{w|Monty Python}}'s {{w|Spam (Monty Python)|"Spam"}} sketch, in which one of the many Spam-related menu items is "Spam, Spam, Spam, egg, and Spam".

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Label !! Explanation
|-
| GND
| A ground pin
|-
| GND
| A second ground pin
|-
| GND
| A third ground pin
|-
| USB
| Apparently the only data pin in this connector.
|-
| GND
| A fourth ground pin. A real micro USB only has one ground pin.
|}

=== USB-C ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Label !! Explanation
|-
| +5V DC
| A common electronics supply voltage.
|-
| +3.3V DC
| Another common electronics supply voltage. This pin is not present on USB type C, mostly because the voltage is too low to supply useful levels of power at the current limit of the pins.
|-
| +120V AC
| Residential supply voltage in the United States; its use on an electronics connector would be very unusual, as it would burn out any unguarded transistor-logic electronics.
|-
| Boobytrap Pin (Pure Solder)
| {{w|Solder}} is a metal alloy with a low melting temperature, used to bond electronic components together permanently. Making a connector pin out of it would likely result in the pin overheating and melting, thus bonding the connector to its receptacle, and thereby "trapping" the receptacle.
|-
| Mechanical
| All connectors include portions whose job is to ensure a solid connection between the cable and the port. This is typically not the job of the pins, however. In real USB type C connectors, this task is performed by the center tongue of the female connector.
|-
| +3.3eV/C
| {{w|Electron-volts}} per {{w|coulomb}} would be a very unusual unit to see in a pinout. It is equivalent to volts, however, so technically this pin would be a +3.3V pin.
|-
| Candlepin
| Randall is making a pun on the word ''pin'', which refers to a electrical connector pin as well as a thing to knock down in bowling. {{w|Candlepin bowling}} is a form of bowling.
|-
| Facebook use
| This would imply that Facebook had a hand in specifying USB type C, and had a pin dedicated to their use. This would be strange given Facebook's primary business is web technology and would have little need for a dedicated pin in the USB standard.
|-
| +5V (Positrons)
| {{w|Positron}}s are the antimatter counterparts to electrons. So this pin is supplying +5V, but does so by sourcing positrons into the device rather than sinking electrons out. NOTE: Positrons cannot be conducted through normal matter conductors as they would annihilate with the electrons.
|-
| Pin Roulette
| Presumably in the same vein as "Chat Roulette", this pin's purpose is not rigidly defined and is instead left to chance. According to the title text, this pin's counterpart on the other side of the connector is the "FireWire Tribute Pin", so this cable would only be truly rotationally symmetric (which is the whole point of the USB-C connector) when the pin roulette ball lands on that same function.
|-
| GND
| Ground pin. Typically denoted as "GND".
|-
| SKY
| Reference to the ground pin, which refers to the common grounding on the larger metal body. There is no corresponding "sky" pin, although sky is often thought as the opposite of ground.
|-
| FireWire Tribute Pin
| ''In Title text:'' {{w|FireWire}} is Apple's version of IEEE 1394 which is a 6 pin connector that has a ground pin a power pin and two pairs of data pins. It was something of a competitor to USB, and had faster data rates than USB 2.0, but is much less popular now. Presumably the writers of the USB-C standard (which far outpaces its data rates) wished to memorialize it somehow, although it's not clear how the pin actually works for that purpose.
|}

=== Coax ===

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Label !! Explanation
|-
| Pin
| An {{w|RF connector|coaxial RF connector}} has two contacts - one pin, and the shield; typically the whole connector is labeled with whatever function/signal is carried by the pair.
|}

==Transcript==

:[Caption at top]
:Pinouts
:Quick Reference Guide

:[Four common connectors are depicted - vertically, rather than the usual horizontal orientation.]

:[The first connector is a 19-pin HDMI connector.]
:[The nine pins on the left are labeled:]
:*Data
:*+5V
:*+6VI
:*+7VII
:*Antidata
:*Water
:*Vacuum
:*Amazon Copyright Pin
:*Decorative
:[The ten pins on the right are labeled:]
:*+3.3V DC
:*-3.3V DC
:*Tx
:*Wx
:*Rx Only
:*Unknown
:*+240V DC
:*5V AC
:*GND
:*Ground

:[The second connector is a 5-pin Micro USB connector.]
:[The five pins are labeled:]
:*GND
:*GND
:*GND
:*USB
:*GND

:[The third connector is a 24-pin USB-C connector, with only the right side labeled.]
:[The twelve pins on the right are labeled:]
:*+5V DC
:*+3.3V DC
:*+120V AC
:*Boobytrap Pin (Pure Solder)
:*Mechanical
:*+3.3eV/C
:*Candlepin
:*Facebook Use
:*+5V (Positrons)
:*Pin Roulette
:*GND
:*SKY

:[The fourth and final connector is a 1-pin COAX connector.]
:[The one pin in the center is labeled:]
:*Pin

{{comic discussion}}

2317: Pinouts

2020-06-09T00:38:18Z

108.162.215.96: /* Coax */ wlink

{{comic
| number = 2317
| date = June 8, 2020
| title = Pinouts
| image = pinouts.png
| titletext = The other side of USB-C is rotationally symmetric except that the 3rd pin from the top is designated FIREWIRE TRIBUTE PIN.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a FIREWIRE TRIBUTE PIN. Should include a column for the actual purpose of the pin. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Electronics connecters are designed to transport both information and power. A {{w|pinout}} diagram describes the function of each pin such as to communicate data, transport power, physical function (keying), etc. In this comic there is an absurd alternative to the actual pins used in connectors.

The real life diagrams are as follows: [http://unitedtechnologies.com.pk/Nti/image/10ci.png HDMI], [https://www.arrow.com/en/research-and-events/articles/micro-connector-usb-pinout Micro USB], [https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technical-articles/introduction-to-usb-type-c-which-pins-power-delivery-data-transfer/ USB-C].

=== HDMI ===

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Label !! Explanation
|-
| Data
| Most digital communications cables contain at least one wire that carries data. Typically there will be a more descriptive name if there are multiple data pins.
|-
| +5V
| Many actual pin configurations use +5 volts to supply power to a device. That's not what this means.
|-
| +6VI
| V is usually used to represent volts, but here, VI represents the Roman numeral 6.
|-
| +7VII
| V is usually used to represent volts, but here, VII represents the Roman numeral 7, continuing the pattern from above.
|-
| Antidata
| Some ports use differential signaling, where a signal and its inverse are sent over a pair of pins (e.g. D+ and D-). This mixes that practice with a humorous reference to the notion of matter versus antimatter. There is no such thing as antidata.
|-
| Water
| Labs often have ports connecting to common supplies of various supplying (Oxygen, water, fuel, vacuum).
|-
| Vacuum
| Labs often have ports connecting to common supplies of various supplying (Oxygen, water, fuel, vacuum).
|-
| Amazon Copyright Pin
| HDMI can optionally be protected by a digital rights management (DRM) scheme, known as HDCP. This pin humorously implies the presence of a different DRM scheme specific to Amazon.com, as well as poking fun at the fact that copyright is an explicit part of the HDMI protocol (although it is not assigned to a specific pin).
|-
| Decorative
| Decorative elements are pieces of an assembly that serve only an aesthetic purpose without any technical function. This would not be particularly useful inside a connector, as almost no one will ever see it--however, in HDMI, pin 14 was reserved for future use in versions 1.0–1.3a (and was only assigned an official use in 1.4).
|-
| +3.3V DC
| As with the +5V pin, this could be used to supply power to a device. 3.3V is a typical voltage in digital electronics.
|-
| -3.3V DC
| Negative voltages were used more frequently in the past, however modern systems typically generate any negative voltages they might require internally from the given positive voltages.
|-
| Tx
| "Tx" typically refers to pins used to transmit as opposed to "Rx"/receive
|-
| Wx
| "Wx" does not typically exist in the "Tx"/"Rx" scheme. In the weather forecasting community, Wx means "weather" .
|-
| Rx Only
| "Rx" typically refers to pins used to receive as opposed to "Tx"/transmit. In this case "Rx" is used as part of a pun on "Rx (prescription) only"
|-
| Unknown
| Occasionally extra pins will be included for future use, however they will typically be labeled "reserved" to point out that their usage is not yet defined.
|-
| +240V DC
| High voltage DC is not typically used in small communications connectors. It would need to be low current to avoid generating excess heat.
|-
| 5V AC
| Pins often supply low voltage direct current to devices. This pin supplies 5V alternating current, which is not typically supplied.
|-
| GND
| GND typically refers to "ground" on pinout diagrams.
|-
| Ground
| Compared to the above pin, this appears to be the same ground pin. However, the presence of both GND and Ground seems to imply that GND represents something other than the standard "ground" pin. Some systems have different grounds for analog and digital sections, but they would typically be disambiguated by terms like AGND.
|}

=== Micro USB ===

A ground pin is commonly found on USB and other pin connectors. At least one ground is necessary to complete the circuit, and some cables use multiple ground lines to distribute current or to support {{w|twisted pair}}s. However, there is no purpose served by having many more ground pins than data pins. Therefore, it seems rather silly for the micro USB to have 4 ground pins and only 1 functional "USB" pin. It also does not give much information about what the "USB" pin would do, as opposed to a standard pinout diagram. This diagram also leaves out the +5V power pin that is present in the real micro USB connector, which would render most USB peripherals unable to function.

The ordering and count of the pins may be an allusion to {{w|Monty Python}}'s {{w|Spam (Monty Python)|"Spam"}} sketch, in which one of the many Spam-related menu items is "Spam, Spam, Spam, egg, and Spam".

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Label !! Explanation
|-
| GND
| A ground pin
|-
| GND
| A second ground pin
|-
| GND
| A third ground pin
|-
| USB
| Apparently the only data pin in this connector.
|-
| GND
| A fourth ground pin. A real micro USB only has one ground pin.
|}

=== USB-C ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Label !! Explanation
|-
| +5V DC
| A common electronics supply voltage.
|-
| +3.3V DC
| Another common electronics supply voltage. This pin is not present on USB type C, mostly because the voltage is too low to supply useful levels of power at the current limit of the pins.
|-
| +120V AC
| Residential supply voltage in the United States; its use on an electronics connector would be very unusual, as it would burn out any unguarded transistor-logic electronics.
|-
| Boobytrap Pin (Pure Solder)
| {{w|Solder}} is a metal alloy with a low melting temperature, used to bond electronic components together permanently. Making a connector pin out of it would likely result in the pin overheating and melting, thus bonding the connector to its receptacle, and thereby "trapping" the receptacle.
|-
| Mechanical
| All connectors include portions whose job is to ensure a solid connection between the cable and the port. This is typically not the job of the pins, however. In real USB type C connectors, this task is performed by the center tongue of the female connector.
|-
| +3.3eV/C
| {{w|Electron-volts}} per {{w|coulomb}} would be a very unusual unit to see in a pinout. It is equivalent to volts, however, so technically this pin would be a +3.3V pin.
|-
| Candlepin
| Randall is making a pun on the word ''pin'', which refers to a electrical connector pin as well as a thing to knock down in bowling. {{w|Candlepin bowling}} is a form of bowling.
|-
| Facebook use
| This would imply that Facebook had a hand in specifying USB type C, and had a pin dedicated to their use. This would be strange given Facebook's primary business is web technology and would have little need for a dedicated pin in the USB standard.
|-
| +5V (Positrons)
| {{w|Positron}}s are the antimatter counterparts to electrons. So this pin is supplying +5V, but does so by sourcing positrons into the device rather than sinking electrons out. NOTE: Positrons cannot be conducted through normal matter conductors as they would annihilate with the electrons.
|-
| Pin Roulette
| Presumably in the same vein as "Chat Roulette", this pin's purpose is not rigidly defined and is instead left to chance. According to the title text, this pin's counterpart on the other side of the connector is the "FireWire Tribute Pin", so this cable would only be truly rotationally symmetric (which is the whole point of the USB-C connector) when the pin roulette ball lands on that same function.
|-
| GND
| Ground pin. Typically denoted as "GND".
|-
| SKY
| Reference to the ground pin, which refers to the common grounding on the larger metal body. There is no corresponding "sky" pin, although sky is often thought as the opposite of ground.
|-
| FireWire Tribute Pin
| ''In Title text:'' {{w|FireWire}} is Apple's version of IEEE 1394 which is a 6 pin connector that has a ground pin a power pin and two pairs of data pins. It was something of a competitor to USB, and had faster data rates than USB 2.0, but is much less popular now. Presumably the writers of the USB-C standard (which far outpaces its data rates) wished to memorialize it somehow, although it's not clear how the pin actually works for that purpose.
|}

=== Coax ===

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Label !! Explanation
|-
| Pin
| An {{w|RF connector|coaxial RF connector}} has two contacts - one pin, and the shield; typically the whole connector is labeled with whatever function/signal is carried by the pair.
|}

==Transcript==

:[Caption at top]
:Pinouts
:Quick Reference Guide

:[Four common connectors are depicted - vertically, rather than the usual horizontal orientation.]

:[The first connector is a 19-pin HDMI connector.]
:[The nine pins on the left are labeled:]
:*Data
:*+5V
:*+6VI
:*+7VII
:*Antidata
:*Water
:*Vacuum
:*Amazon Copyright Pin
:*Decorative
:[The ten pins on the right are labeled:]
:*+3.3V DC
:*-3.3V DC
:*Tx
:*Wx
:*Rx Only
:*Unknown
:*+240V DC
:*5V AC
:*GND
:*Ground

:[The second connector is a 5-pin Micro USB connector.]
:[The five pins are labeled:]
:*GND
:*GND
:*GND
:*USB
:*GND

:[The third connector is a 24-pin USB-C connector, with only the right side labeled.]
:[The twelve pins on the right are labeled:]
:*+5V DC
:*+3.3V DC
:*+120V AC
:*Boobytrap Pin (Pure Solder)
:*Mechanical
:*+3.3eV/C
:*Candlepin
:*Facebook Use
:*+5V (Positrons)
:*Pin Roulette
:*GND
:*SKY

:[The fourth and final connector is a 1-pin COAX connector.]
:[The one pin in the center is labeled:]
:*Pin

{{comic discussion}}

2317: Pinouts

2020-06-09T00:35:28Z

108.162.215.96: /* USB-C */ wlinks

{{comic
| number = 2317
| date = June 8, 2020
| title = Pinouts
| image = pinouts.png
| titletext = The other side of USB-C is rotationally symmetric except that the 3rd pin from the top is designated FIREWIRE TRIBUTE PIN.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a FIREWIRE TRIBUTE PIN. Should include a column for the actual purpose of the pin. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Electronics connecters are designed to transport both information and power. A {{w|pinout}} diagram describes the function of each pin such as to communicate data, transport power, physical function (keying), etc. In this comic there is an absurd alternative to the actual pins used in connectors.

The real life diagrams are as follows: [http://unitedtechnologies.com.pk/Nti/image/10ci.png HDMI], [https://www.arrow.com/en/research-and-events/articles/micro-connector-usb-pinout Micro USB], [https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technical-articles/introduction-to-usb-type-c-which-pins-power-delivery-data-transfer/ USB-C].

=== HDMI ===

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Label !! Explanation
|-
| Data
| Most digital communications cables contain at least one wire that carries data. Typically there will be a more descriptive name if there are multiple data pins.
|-
| +5V
| Many actual pin configurations use +5 volts to supply power to a device. That's not what this means.
|-
| +6VI
| V is usually used to represent volts, but here, VI represents the Roman numeral 6.
|-
| +7VII
| V is usually used to represent volts, but here, VII represents the Roman numeral 7, continuing the pattern from above.
|-
| Antidata
| Some ports use differential signaling, where a signal and its inverse are sent over a pair of pins (e.g. D+ and D-). This mixes that practice with a humorous reference to the notion of matter versus antimatter. There is no such thing as antidata.
|-
| Water
| Labs often have ports connecting to common supplies of various supplying (Oxygen, water, fuel, vacuum).
|-
| Vacuum
| Labs often have ports connecting to common supplies of various supplying (Oxygen, water, fuel, vacuum).
|-
| Amazon Copyright Pin
| HDMI can optionally be protected by a digital rights management (DRM) scheme, known as HDCP. This pin humorously implies the presence of a different DRM scheme specific to Amazon.com, as well as poking fun at the fact that copyright is an explicit part of the HDMI protocol (although it is not assigned to a specific pin).
|-
| Decorative
| Decorative elements are pieces of an assembly that serve only an aesthetic purpose without any technical function. This would not be particularly useful inside a connector, as almost no one will ever see it--however, in HDMI, pin 14 was reserved for future use in versions 1.0–1.3a (and was only assigned an official use in 1.4).
|-
| +3.3V DC
| As with the +5V pin, this could be used to supply power to a device. 3.3V is a typical voltage in digital electronics.
|-
| -3.3V DC
| Negative voltages were used more frequently in the past, however modern systems typically generate any negative voltages they might require internally from the given positive voltages.
|-
| Tx
| "Tx" typically refers to pins used to transmit as opposed to "Rx"/receive
|-
| Wx
| "Wx" does not typically exist in the "Tx"/"Rx" scheme. In the weather forecasting community, Wx means "weather" .
|-
| Rx Only
| "Rx" typically refers to pins used to receive as opposed to "Tx"/transmit. In this case "Rx" is used as part of a pun on "Rx (prescription) only"
|-
| Unknown
| Occasionally extra pins will be included for future use, however they will typically be labeled "reserved" to point out that their usage is not yet defined.
|-
| +240V DC
| High voltage DC is not typically used in small communications connectors. It would need to be low current to avoid generating excess heat.
|-
| 5V AC
| Pins often supply low voltage direct current to devices. This pin supplies 5V alternating current, which is not typically supplied.
|-
| GND
| GND typically refers to "ground" on pinout diagrams.
|-
| Ground
| Compared to the above pin, this appears to be the same ground pin. However, the presence of both GND and Ground seems to imply that GND represents something other than the standard "ground" pin. Some systems have different grounds for analog and digital sections, but they would typically be disambiguated by terms like AGND.
|}

=== Micro USB ===

A ground pin is commonly found on USB and other pin connectors. At least one ground is necessary to complete the circuit, and some cables use multiple ground lines to distribute current or to support {{w|twisted pair}}s. However, there is no purpose served by having many more ground pins than data pins. Therefore, it seems rather silly for the micro USB to have 4 ground pins and only 1 functional "USB" pin. It also does not give much information about what the "USB" pin would do, as opposed to a standard pinout diagram. This diagram also leaves out the +5V power pin that is present in the real micro USB connector, which would render most USB peripherals unable to function.

The ordering and count of the pins may be an allusion to {{w|Monty Python}}'s {{w|Spam (Monty Python)|"Spam"}} sketch, in which one of the many Spam-related menu items is "Spam, Spam, Spam, egg, and Spam".

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Label !! Explanation
|-
| GND
| A ground pin
|-
| GND
| A second ground pin
|-
| GND
| A third ground pin
|-
| USB
| Apparently the only data pin in this connector.
|-
| GND
| A fourth ground pin. A real micro USB only has one ground pin.
|}

=== USB-C ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Label !! Explanation
|-
| +5V DC
| A common electronics supply voltage.
|-
| +3.3V DC
| Another common electronics supply voltage. This pin is not present on USB type C, mostly because the voltage is too low to supply useful levels of power at the current limit of the pins.
|-
| +120V AC
| Residential supply voltage in the United States; its use on an electronics connector would be very unusual, as it would burn out any unguarded transistor-logic electronics.
|-
| Boobytrap Pin (Pure Solder)
| {{w|Solder}} is a metal alloy with a low melting temperature, used to bond electronic components together permanently. Making a connector pin out of it would likely result in the pin overheating and melting, thus bonding the connector to its receptacle, and thereby "trapping" the receptacle.
|-
| Mechanical
| All connectors include portions whose job is to ensure a solid connection between the cable and the port. This is typically not the job of the pins, however. In real USB type C connectors, this task is performed by the center tongue of the female connector.
|-
| +3.3eV/C
| {{w|Electron-volts}} per {{w|coulomb}} would be a very unusual unit to see in a pinout. It is equivalent to volts, however, so technically this pin would be a +3.3V pin.
|-
| Candlepin
| Randall is making a pun on the word ''pin'', which refers to a electrical connector pin as well as a thing to knock down in bowling. {{w|Candlepin bowling}} is a form of bowling.
|-
| Facebook use
| This would imply that Facebook had a hand in specifying USB type C, and had a pin dedicated to their use. This would be strange given Facebook's primary business is web technology and would have little need for a dedicated pin in the USB standard.
|-
| +5V (Positrons)
| {{w|Positron}}s are the antimatter counterparts to electrons. So this pin is supplying +5V, but does so by sourcing positrons into the device rather than sinking electrons out. NOTE: Positrons cannot be conducted through normal matter conductors as they would annihilate with the electrons.
|-
| Pin Roulette
| Presumably in the same vein as "Chat Roulette", this pin's purpose is not rigidly defined and is instead left to chance. According to the title text, this pin's counterpart on the other side of the connector is the "FireWire Tribute Pin", so this cable would only be truly rotationally symmetric (which is the whole point of the USB-C connector) when the pin roulette ball lands on that same function.
|-
| GND
| Ground pin. Typically denoted as "GND".
|-
| SKY
| Reference to the ground pin, which refers to the common grounding on the larger metal body. There is no corresponding "sky" pin, although sky is often thought as the opposite of ground.
|-
| FireWire Tribute Pin
| ''In Title text:'' {{w|FireWire}} is Apple's version of IEEE 1394 which is a 6 pin connector that has a ground pin a power pin and two pairs of data pins. How this pin is a tribute to FireWire is unclear.
|}

=== Coax ===

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Label !! Explanation
|-
| Pin
| A coax connector has two contacts - one pin, and the shield; typically the whole connector is labeled with whatever function/signal is carried by the pair.
|}

==Transcript==

:[Caption at top]
:Pinouts
:Quick Reference Guide

:[Four common connectors are depicted - vertically, rather than the usual horizontal orientation.]

:[The first connector is a 19-pin HDMI connector.]
:[The nine pins on the left are labeled:]
:*Data
:*+5V
:*+6VI
:*+7VII
:*Antidata
:*Water
:*Vacuum
:*Amazon Copyright Pin
:*Decorative
:[The ten pins on the right are labeled:]
:*+3.3V DC
:*-3.3V DC
:*Tx
:*Wx
:*Rx Only
:*Unknown
:*+240V DC
:*5V AC
:*GND
:*Ground

:[The second connector is a 5-pin Micro USB connector.]
:[The five pins are labeled:]
:*GND
:*GND
:*GND
:*USB
:*GND

:[The third connector is a 24-pin USB-C connector, with only the right side labeled.]
:[The twelve pins on the right are labeled:]
:*+5V DC
:*+3.3V DC
:*+120V AC
:*Boobytrap Pin (Pure Solder)
:*Mechanical
:*+3.3eV/C
:*Candlepin
:*Facebook Use
:*+5V (Positrons)
:*Pin Roulette
:*GND
:*SKY

:[The fourth and final connector is a 1-pin COAX connector.]
:[The one pin in the center is labeled:]
:*Pin

{{comic discussion}}

2317: Pinouts

2020-06-09T00:28:36Z

108.162.215.96: /* Explanation */ fix

{{comic
| number = 2317
| date = June 8, 2020
| title = Pinouts
| image = pinouts.png
| titletext = The other side of USB-C is rotationally symmetric except that the 3rd pin from the top is designated FIREWIRE TRIBUTE PIN.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a FIREWIRE TRIBUTE PIN. Should include a column for the actual purpose of the pin. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Electronics connecters are designed to transport both information and power. A {{w|pinout}} diagram describes the function of each pin such as to communicate data, transport power, physical function (keying), etc. In this comic there is an absurd alternative to the actual pins used in connectors.

The real life diagrams are as follows: [http://unitedtechnologies.com.pk/Nti/image/10ci.png HDMI], [https://www.arrow.com/en/research-and-events/articles/micro-connector-usb-pinout Micro USB], [https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technical-articles/introduction-to-usb-type-c-which-pins-power-delivery-data-transfer/ USB-C].

=== HDMI ===

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Label !! Explanation
|-
| Data
| Most digital communications cables contain at least one wire that carries data. Typically there will be a more descriptive name if there are multiple data pins.
|-
| +5V
| Many actual pin configurations use +5 volts to supply power to a device. That's not what this means.
|-
| +6VI
| V is usually used to represent volts, but here, VI represents the Roman numeral 6.
|-
| +7VII
| V is usually used to represent volts, but here, VII represents the Roman numeral 7, continuing the pattern from above.
|-
| Antidata
| Some ports use differential signaling, where a signal and its inverse are sent over a pair of pins (e.g. D+ and D-). This mixes that practice with a humorous reference to the notion of matter versus antimatter. There is no such thing as antidata.
|-
| Water
| Labs often have ports connecting to common supplies of various supplying (Oxygen, water, fuel, vacuum).
|-
| Vacuum
| Labs often have ports connecting to common supplies of various supplying (Oxygen, water, fuel, vacuum).
|-
| Amazon Copyright Pin
| HDMI can optionally be protected by a digital rights management (DRM) scheme, known as HDCP. This pin humorously implies the presence of a different DRM scheme specific to Amazon.com, as well as poking fun at the fact that copyright is an explicit part of the HDMI protocol (although it is not assigned to a specific pin).
|-
| Decorative
| Decorative elements are pieces of an assembly that serve only an aesthetic purpose without any technical function. This would not be particularly useful inside a connector, as almost no one will ever see it--however, in HDMI, pin 14 was reserved for future use in versions 1.0–1.3a (and was only assigned an official use in 1.4).
|-
| +3.3V DC
| As with the +5V pin, this could be used to supply power to a device. 3.3V is a typical voltage in digital electronics.
|-
| -3.3V DC
| Negative voltages were used more frequently in the past, however modern systems typically generate any negative voltages they might require internally from the given positive voltages.
|-
| Tx
| "Tx" typically refers to pins used to transmit as opposed to "Rx"/receive
|-
| Wx
| "Wx" does not typically exist in the "Tx"/"Rx" scheme. In the weather forecasting community, Wx means "weather" .
|-
| Rx Only
| "Rx" typically refers to pins used to receive as opposed to "Tx"/transmit. In this case "Rx" is used as part of a pun on "Rx (prescription) only"
|-
| Unknown
| Occasionally extra pins will be included for future use, however they will typically be labeled "reserved" to point out that their usage is not yet defined.
|-
| +240V DC
| High voltage DC is not typically used in small communications connectors. It would need to be low current to avoid generating excess heat.
|-
| 5V AC
| Pins often supply low voltage direct current to devices. This pin supplies 5V alternating current, which is not typically supplied.
|-
| GND
| GND typically refers to "ground" on pinout diagrams.
|-
| Ground
| Compared to the above pin, this appears to be the same ground pin. However, the presence of both GND and Ground seems to imply that GND represents something other than the standard "ground" pin. Some systems have different grounds for analog and digital sections, but they would typically be disambiguated by terms like AGND.
|}

=== Micro USB ===

A ground pin is commonly found on USB and other pin connectors. At least one ground is necessary to complete the circuit, and some cables use multiple ground lines to distribute current or to support {{w|twisted pair}}s. However, there is no purpose served by having many more ground pins than data pins. Therefore, it seems rather silly for the micro USB to have 4 ground pins and only 1 functional "USB" pin. It also does not give much information about what the "USB" pin would do, as opposed to a standard pinout diagram. This diagram also leaves out the +5V power pin that is present in the real micro USB connector, which would render most USB peripherals unable to function.

The ordering and count of the pins may be an allusion to {{w|Monty Python}}'s {{w|Spam (Monty Python)|"Spam"}} sketch, in which one of the many Spam-related menu items is "Spam, Spam, Spam, egg, and Spam".

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Label !! Explanation
|-
| GND
| A ground pin
|-
| GND
| A second ground pin
|-
| GND
| A third ground pin
|-
| USB
| Apparently the only data pin in this connector.
|-
| GND
| A fourth ground pin. A real micro USB only has one ground pin.
|}

=== USB-C ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Label !! Explanation
|-
| +5V DC
| A common electronics supply voltage.
|-
| +3.3V DC
| Another common electronics supply voltage. This pin is not present on USB type C, mostly because the voltage is too low to supply useful levels of power at the current limit of the pins.
|-
| +120V AC
| Residential supply voltage in the United States; its use on an electronics connector would be very unusual, as it would burn out any unguarded transistor-logic electronics.
|-
| Boobytrap Pin (Pure Solder)
| Solder is a metal alloy with a low melting temperature, used to bond electronic components together permanently. Making a connector pin out of it would likely result in the pin overheating and melting, thus bonding the connector to its receptacle, and thereby "trapping" the receptacle.
|-
| Mechanical
| All connectors include portions whose job is to ensure a solid connection between the cable and the port. This is typically not the job of the pins, however. In real USB type C connectors, this task is performed by the center tongue of the female connector.
|-
| +3.3eV/C
| Electron-volts per coulomb would be a very unusual unit to see in a pinout. It is equivalent to volts, however, so technically this pin would be a +3.3V pin.
|-
| Candlepin
| Randall is making a pun on the word ''pin'', which refers to a electrical connector pin as well as a thing to knock down in bowling. "[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_pin#Candlepins candlepins]" is a form of bowling.
|-
| Facebook use
| This would imply that Facebook had a hand in specifying USB type C, and had a pin dedicated to their use. This would be strange given Facebook's primary business is web technology and would have little need for a dedicated pin in the USB standard.
|-
| +5V (Positrons)
| Positrons are the antimatter counterparts to electrons. So this pin is supplying +5V, but does so by sourcing positrons into the device rather than sinking electrons out. NOTE: Positrons cannot be conducted through normal matter conductors as they would annihilate with the electrons.
|-
| Pin Roulette
| Presumably in the same vein as "Chat Roulette", this pin's purpose is not rigidly defined and is instead left to chance. According to the title text, this pin's counterpart on the other side of the connector is the "FireWire Tribute Pin", so this cable would only be truly rotationally symmetric (which is the whole point of the USB-C connector) when the pin roulette ball lands on that same function.
|-
| GND
| Ground pin. Typically denoted as "GND".
|-
| SKY
| Reference to the ground pin, which refers to the common grounding on the larger metal body. There is no corresponding "sky" pin, although sky is often thought as the opposite of ground.
|-
| FIREWIRE TRIBUTE PIN
| ''In Title text:'' Firewire is Apple's version of IEEE 1394 which is a 6 pin connector that has a ground pin a power pin and two pairs of data pins. How this pin is a tribute to firewire is unclear
|}

=== Coax ===

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Label !! Explanation
|-
| Pin
| A coax connector has two contacts - one pin, and the shield; typically the whole connector is labeled with whatever function/signal is carried by the pair.
|}

==Transcript==

:[Caption at top]
:Pinouts
:Quick Reference Guide

:[Four common connectors are depicted - vertically, rather than the usual horizontal orientation.]

:[The first connector is a 19-pin HDMI connector.]
:[The nine pins on the left are labeled:]
:*Data
:*+5V
:*+6VI
:*+7VII
:*Antidata
:*Water
:*Vacuum
:*Amazon Copyright Pin
:*Decorative
:[The ten pins on the right are labeled:]
:*+3.3V DC
:*-3.3V DC
:*Tx
:*Wx
:*Rx Only
:*Unknown
:*+240V DC
:*5V AC
:*GND
:*Ground

:[The second connector is a 5-pin Micro USB connector.]
:[The five pins are labeled:]
:*GND
:*GND
:*GND
:*USB
:*GND

:[The third connector is a 24-pin USB-C connector, with only the right side labeled.]
:[The twelve pins on the right are labeled:]
:*+5V DC
:*+3.3V DC
:*+120V AC
:*Boobytrap Pin (Pure Solder)
:*Mechanical
:*+3.3eV/C
:*Candlepin
:*Facebook Use
:*+5V (Positrons)
:*Pin Roulette
:*GND
:*SKY

:[The fourth and final connector is a 1-pin COAX connector.]
:[The one pin in the center is labeled:]
:*Pin

{{comic discussion}}

2317: Pinouts

2020-06-09T00:27:41Z

108.162.215.96: /* Explanation */ real life pinouts

{{comic
| number = 2317
| date = June 8, 2020
| title = Pinouts
| image = pinouts.png
| titletext = The other side of USB-C is rotationally symmetric except that the 3rd pin from the top is designated FIREWIRE TRIBUTE PIN.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a FIREWIRE TRIBUTE PIN. Should include a column for the actual purpose of the pin. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Electronics connecters are designed to transport both information and power. A {{w|pinout}} diagram describes the function of each pin such as to communicate data, transport power, physical function (keying), etc. In this comic there is an absurd alternative to the actual pins used in connectors.

The real life diagrams are as follows: [http://unitedtechnologies.com.pk/Nti/image/10ci.png HDMI], [https://www.arrow.com/en/research-and-events/articles/micro-connector-usb-pinout Micro USB], https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technical-articles/introduction-to-usb-type-c-which-pins-power-delivery-data-transfer/ USB-C].

=== HDMI ===

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Label !! Explanation
|-
| Data
| Most digital communications cables contain at least one wire that carries data. Typically there will be a more descriptive name if there are multiple data pins.
|-
| +5V
| Many actual pin configurations use +5 volts to supply power to a device. That's not what this means.
|-
| +6VI
| V is usually used to represent volts, but here, VI represents the Roman numeral 6.
|-
| +7VII
| V is usually used to represent volts, but here, VII represents the Roman numeral 7, continuing the pattern from above.
|-
| Antidata
| Some ports use differential signaling, where a signal and its inverse are sent over a pair of pins (e.g. D+ and D-). This mixes that practice with a humorous reference to the notion of matter versus antimatter. There is no such thing as antidata.
|-
| Water
| Labs often have ports connecting to common supplies of various supplying (Oxygen, water, fuel, vacuum).
|-
| Vacuum
| Labs often have ports connecting to common supplies of various supplying (Oxygen, water, fuel, vacuum).
|-
| Amazon Copyright Pin
| HDMI can optionally be protected by a digital rights management (DRM) scheme, known as HDCP. This pin humorously implies the presence of a different DRM scheme specific to Amazon.com, as well as poking fun at the fact that copyright is an explicit part of the HDMI protocol (although it is not assigned to a specific pin).
|-
| Decorative
| Decorative elements are pieces of an assembly that serve only an aesthetic purpose without any technical function. This would not be particularly useful inside a connector, as almost no one will ever see it--however, in HDMI, pin 14 was reserved for future use in versions 1.0–1.3a (and was only assigned an official use in 1.4).
|-
| +3.3V DC
| As with the +5V pin, this could be used to supply power to a device. 3.3V is a typical voltage in digital electronics.
|-
| -3.3V DC
| Negative voltages were used more frequently in the past, however modern systems typically generate any negative voltages they might require internally from the given positive voltages.
|-
| Tx
| "Tx" typically refers to pins used to transmit as opposed to "Rx"/receive
|-
| Wx
| "Wx" does not typically exist in the "Tx"/"Rx" scheme. In the weather forecasting community, Wx means "weather" .
|-
| Rx Only
| "Rx" typically refers to pins used to receive as opposed to "Tx"/transmit. In this case "Rx" is used as part of a pun on "Rx (prescription) only"
|-
| Unknown
| Occasionally extra pins will be included for future use, however they will typically be labeled "reserved" to point out that their usage is not yet defined.
|-
| +240V DC
| High voltage DC is not typically used in small communications connectors. It would need to be low current to avoid generating excess heat.
|-
| 5V AC
| Pins often supply low voltage direct current to devices. This pin supplies 5V alternating current, which is not typically supplied.
|-
| GND
| GND typically refers to "ground" on pinout diagrams.
|-
| Ground
| Compared to the above pin, this appears to be the same ground pin. However, the presence of both GND and Ground seems to imply that GND represents something other than the standard "ground" pin. Some systems have different grounds for analog and digital sections, but they would typically be disambiguated by terms like AGND.
|}

=== Micro USB ===

A ground pin is commonly found on USB and other pin connectors. At least one ground is necessary to complete the circuit, and some cables use multiple ground lines to distribute current or to support {{w|twisted pair}}s. However, there is no purpose served by having many more ground pins than data pins. Therefore, it seems rather silly for the micro USB to have 4 ground pins and only 1 functional "USB" pin. It also does not give much information about what the "USB" pin would do, as opposed to a standard pinout diagram. This diagram also leaves out the +5V power pin that is present in the real micro USB connector, which would render most USB peripherals unable to function.

The ordering and count of the pins may be an allusion to {{w|Monty Python}}'s {{w|Spam (Monty Python)|"Spam"}} sketch, in which one of the many Spam-related menu items is "Spam, Spam, Spam, egg, and Spam".

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Label !! Explanation
|-
| GND
| A ground pin
|-
| GND
| A second ground pin
|-
| GND
| A third ground pin
|-
| USB
| Apparently the only data pin in this connector.
|-
| GND
| A fourth ground pin. A real micro USB only has one ground pin.
|}

=== USB-C ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Label !! Explanation
|-
| +5V DC
| A common electronics supply voltage.
|-
| +3.3V DC
| Another common electronics supply voltage. This pin is not present on USB type C, mostly because the voltage is too low to supply useful levels of power at the current limit of the pins.
|-
| +120V AC
| Residential supply voltage in the United States; its use on an electronics connector would be very unusual, as it would burn out any unguarded transistor-logic electronics.
|-
| Boobytrap Pin (Pure Solder)
| Solder is a metal alloy with a low melting temperature, used to bond electronic components together permanently. Making a connector pin out of it would likely result in the pin overheating and melting, thus bonding the connector to its receptacle, and thereby "trapping" the receptacle.
|-
| Mechanical
| All connectors include portions whose job is to ensure a solid connection between the cable and the port. This is typically not the job of the pins, however. In real USB type C connectors, this task is performed by the center tongue of the female connector.
|-
| +3.3eV/C
| Electron-volts per coulomb would be a very unusual unit to see in a pinout. It is equivalent to volts, however, so technically this pin would be a +3.3V pin.
|-
| Candlepin
| Randall is making a pun on the word ''pin'', which refers to a electrical connector pin as well as a thing to knock down in bowling. "[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_pin#Candlepins candlepins]" is a form of bowling.
|-
| Facebook use
| This would imply that Facebook had a hand in specifying USB type C, and had a pin dedicated to their use. This would be strange given Facebook's primary business is web technology and would have little need for a dedicated pin in the USB standard.
|-
| +5V (Positrons)
| Positrons are the antimatter counterparts to electrons. So this pin is supplying +5V, but does so by sourcing positrons into the device rather than sinking electrons out. NOTE: Positrons cannot be conducted through normal matter conductors as they would annihilate with the electrons.
|-
| Pin Roulette
| Presumably in the same vein as "Chat Roulette", this pin's purpose is not rigidly defined and is instead left to chance. According to the title text, this pin's counterpart on the other side of the connector is the "FireWire Tribute Pin", so this cable would only be truly rotationally symmetric (which is the whole point of the USB-C connector) when the pin roulette ball lands on that same function.
|-
| GND
| Ground pin. Typically denoted as "GND".
|-
| SKY
| Reference to the ground pin, which refers to the common grounding on the larger metal body. There is no corresponding "sky" pin, although sky is often thought as the opposite of ground.
|-
| FIREWIRE TRIBUTE PIN
| ''In Title text:'' Firewire is Apple's version of IEEE 1394 which is a 6 pin connector that has a ground pin a power pin and two pairs of data pins. How this pin is a tribute to firewire is unclear
|}

=== Coax ===

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Label !! Explanation
|-
| Pin
| A coax connector has two contacts - one pin, and the shield; typically the whole connector is labeled with whatever function/signal is carried by the pair.
|}

==Transcript==

:[Caption at top]
:Pinouts
:Quick Reference Guide

:[Four common connectors are depicted - vertically, rather than the usual horizontal orientation.]

:[The first connector is a 19-pin HDMI connector.]
:[The nine pins on the left are labeled:]
:*Data
:*+5V
:*+6VI
:*+7VII
:*Antidata
:*Water
:*Vacuum
:*Amazon Copyright Pin
:*Decorative
:[The ten pins on the right are labeled:]
:*+3.3V DC
:*-3.3V DC
:*Tx
:*Wx
:*Rx Only
:*Unknown
:*+240V DC
:*5V AC
:*GND
:*Ground

:[The second connector is a 5-pin Micro USB connector.]
:[The five pins are labeled:]
:*GND
:*GND
:*GND
:*USB
:*GND

:[The third connector is a 24-pin USB-C connector, with only the right side labeled.]
:[The twelve pins on the right are labeled:]
:*+5V DC
:*+3.3V DC
:*+120V AC
:*Boobytrap Pin (Pure Solder)
:*Mechanical
:*+3.3eV/C
:*Candlepin
:*Facebook Use
:*+5V (Positrons)
:*Pin Roulette
:*GND
:*SKY

:[The fourth and final connector is a 1-pin COAX connector.]
:[The one pin in the center is labeled:]
:*Pin

{{comic discussion}}

1266: Halting Problem

2020-06-06T18:33:26Z

108.162.215.96: /* Transcript */ caption

{{comic
| number = 1266
| date = September 18, 2013
| title = Halting Problem
| image = halting_problem.png
| titletext = I found a counterexample to the claim that all things must someday die, but I don't know how to show it to anyone.
}}

==Explanation==
In 1936 {{w|Alan Turing}} proved that it's not possible for an algorithm to decide whether an arbitrary program will eventually halt, or run forever. This was later called the {{w|Halting problem}} by {{w|Martin Davis}}. The official definition of the problem is to write a program (actually, a {{w|Turing Machine}}) that accepts as parameters a program and its parameters. That program needs to decide, in finite time, whether that program will ever halt running these parameters.

The halting problem is a cornerstone problem in computer science. It is used mainly as a way to prove a given task is impossible, by showing that solving that task will allow one to solve the halting problem.

[[Randall]], however, is providing a simpler solution. He implements his own code for the question ''"Does it halt?"'' which always returns "true", and directs us to think about the bigger picture.

From a '''physical''' perspective, according to our current understanding of physics, this is right. Given enough time, any program will halt. This is due to factors external to the actual program. Sooner or later, electricity will give out, or the memory containing the program will get corrupted by cosmic rays, or corrosion will eat away the silicon in the CPU, or the {{w|second law of thermodynamics}} will lead to the {{w|Heat death of the universe}}. Nothing lasts forever, and this includes a running program.

From a '''mathematical''' point of view, this is not true: a Turing machine will never have a hardware failure because it's not a physical machine. It's a theoretical construct, and it's '''defined''' mathematically, independent of any physical hardware. Similarly, ⅓ + ⅓ + ⅓ = 1 no matter what any physical hardware you are computing it on claims.

Another interpretation of [[Randall]]'s code is that the Program in the parentheses is actually being run whenever his function is called, as is consistent with some programming constructs. In this case, the function would wait until the program finishes and exits before returning "True". Therefore, [[Randall]]'s function is mathematically accurate. It does not solve the problem though, as it simply shifts the question to whether the function itself will ever halt.

From a '''practical''' point of view, there are of course times that a programmer would want to return "false", since some programs can be mathematically shown to run forever.

The title text further relates to this issue by claiming to have found a case where something need not die, but Randall does not know how to actually show it to anyone, because just the fact everyone will die sooner than it doesn't prove it will not die. The wording of the title text might also be a reference to {{w|Fermat's Last Theorem}}.

It should be noted that Randall's solution, barring its unsoundness, solves more than the halting problem in the form it is usually stated. The halting problem requires two parameters (a program and its parameters), while Randall's function only accepts one (the program). The question of whether a program halts for every input can be shown to be even harder to solve than the halting problem, meaning that even if a Turing machine had an additional instruction allowing it to check whether a program halts with given parameters, it still could not always confirm that a given program that halts for all parameters does so.

The code in this comic is written in {{w|pseudocode}}, to demonstrate the "algorithm" rather than an implementation in some existing programming language. The syntax resembles a mix of {{w|C (programming language)|C}} and {{w|Python (programming language)|Python}}.

The proof that the halting problem is unsolveable is to write a new function that uses Randall's program:

: DEFINE META_DOESITHALT():
: {
:: IF ( DOESITHALT(META_DOESITHALT) )
::::WHILE ( TRUE ) DO_NOTHING ;
::ELSE
::::HALT ;
: }

If Randalls function says that META_DOESITHALT halts by returning "TRUE" - then that makes META_DOESITHALT loop forever. But if it decides that it must halt by returning "FALSE" - then META_DOESITHALT halt.

This proves that DOESITHALT can't possibly work - no matter what it actually does.

This is the software equivalent of "Everything I say is a lie".

==Transcript==
:[A short computer program.]
'''Define''' DoesItHalt(program):
{
'''return''' true;
}
:[Caption below the panel]:
:The big picture solution to the halting problem.

==Trivia==
*A similar useless computer program can be found here: [[221: Random Number]].

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Computers‏‎]]
[[Category:Programming]]

2316: Hair Growth Rate

2020-06-06T18:28:36Z

108.162.215.96: /* Transcript */ remove, transcript is exactly what the comic says

{{comic
| number = 2316
| date = June 5, 2020
| title = Hair Growth Rate
| image = hair_growth_rate.png
| titletext = Hourly haircuts would be annoying, but they'd be easier to do yourself, since you'd have adjacent hairs as a guide. Growing it out would be a huge pain, though.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a HAIR-GROWTH-POWERED SPACE SHUTTLE. Should probably calculate the heat concentration of one single hair growing by five feet in an instant. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This strip is one of the simpler jokes that xkcd has done, being an observation on mathematics, biology, and human expectation. White Hat starts by sharing various facts about hair with Ponytail; hair count, individual hair growth rate, and finally total hair growth rate. Ponytail proceeds to snark about how unpleasant it would be if, rather than 100,000 hairs growing at a gross total of five feet an hour, humans grew a single hair at five feet an hour. The comic then delves into the absurdity of gradual versus spontaneous growth, and then the sound effects involved therein.

The comic touches on what information can be obscured by just looking at aggregate values. A person whose 100,000 hairs grow a half-inch per month experiences the same total new hair growth as a person with one hair growing five feet in an hour, but their grooming experiences would be very different. Likewise, a person with one hair growing steadily for an hour has the same average rate of hair growth as a person experiencing sudden hair growth on the hour, but the profile of instantaneous energy conversion and protein production would be very different. One of Ponytail's suggestions for what five feet of instantaneous hair growth might sound like is a sound effect generally used for directed-energy weapons (''Pew!'').

We never see what sort of hairstyle White Hat has under his hat, but Ponytail's hair is fairly long. If she had to grow it out by one hair per hour, as in the title text, then it would take over eleven years before all 100,000 hairs had grown out.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[White Hat and Ponytail are walking to the right.]
:White Hat: The average head has about 100,000 hairs.
:White Hat: And hair grows at about ½" per month.
:White Hat: Plus or minus.
:Ponytail: Okay...

:White Hat: So our heads are producing an inch of hair every minute.
:Ponytail: I see.

:Ponytail: I'm just glad it's evenly distributed. It would suck if we grew a single new five-foot-long hair every hour.

:[White Hat and Ponytail are seen in silhouette from a distance.]
:White Hat: Hmm, would the hair grow steadily, or would it suddenly shoot out 5 feet on the hour?
:Ponytail: If the latter, what noise would it make?
:Ponytail: ''Ziiip? Pwiff?''
:White Hat: ''Fwip?''
:Ponytail: Blip.
:White Hat: ''Zhooop.''
:Ponytail: Pew!

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]

2316: Hair Growth Rate

2020-06-05T23:44:44Z

108.162.215.96: /* Transcript */ categories

2314: Carcinization

2020-06-02T01:20:52Z

108.162.215.96: Corrected the date

{{comic
| number = 2314
| date = June 1, 2020
| title = Carcinization
| image = carcinization.png
| titletext = Nature abhors a vacuum and also anything that's not a crab.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a CRAB. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
As Megan is telling Cueball, separate species of animals have evolved into "crab-like" forms at different times. Naturalists who noticed the tendency gave it the name {{w|Carcinisation|carcinization}}".

It is a specific form of {{w|convergent evolution}}, where differing families of animals (in this case, nominally across the {{w|crustacea}}) develop a tendency towards developing a 'crab' bodyplan to a greater degree than their origins would suggest. A similar process has created several varieties of {{w|river dolphin}} with similar adaptations to their environments, despite being 'stranded' offshoots of different forerunner pelagic species.

"True crabs" ({{w|Brachyura}}) form just a small subset of the Crustacea subphylum, and the Cancer genus is a subset of that, yet there appears to be something about the bodyplan and even resulting behaviour that has meant a number of species have arisen from alternate areas of the family tree that are now trivially indistinguishable without extensive study.

Carl Linnaeus even initially included all Crustacea under the 'Cancer' genus (using the Latin name for crabs), and his taxonomic classification has been heavily refined as further knowledge has come to light, in order to reveal this phenomenon.

Apparently this principle is much stronger in the webcomic than in real life, as shortly after being told this, Megan notices that Cueball (not a crustacean!) has himself turned into a crab. This isn't really evolution as we know it, which refers to gradual changes in a species across generations. What happens to Cueball is more like a transformation, but it could still be called 'carcinization', since he becomes crab-like.

Cueball's sudden transformation is perhaps explained by the [[title text]], that "Nature abhors a vacuum and anything that's not a crab". The text is a reference to Aristotle's {{w|Horror_vacui_(physics)|Horror vacui}}, a statement about how empty space tends to be immediately refilled by surrounding things, so vacuums seem to be impossible to maintain. As does "not being a crab", it seems.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball and Megan are walking next to each other towards the left.]
:Megan: Have you heard of "Carcinization"?
:Megan: The tendency of nature to evolve things into crabs.
:Cueball: Oh?

:[Same scene]
:Megan: Yeah, the basic "crab" design has evolved separately a number of times.
:Cueball: Evolution just loves making crabs, I guess!

:[Narrower panel - Only Megan is seen, still walking, and appearing to shrug.]
:Megan: Apparently!

:[Two smaller panels, one above the other. The first panel shows Megan continuing to walk along. The second shows Megan turning and looking back to see where Cueball has gone.]

:[Megan has stopped walking and is looking at a small crab scuttling along on the ground, which Cueball apparently evolved into.]
:Megan: Oh no

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Biology]]

Talk:1196: Subways

2016-07-20T09:46:10Z

108.162.215.96:

I think the comic is making fun of the ridiculous scale-inaccuracies found in public transport plans, including subway plans, which make it hard to estimate actual distances and travel times. {{unsigned ip|‎130.60.152.125|08:15, 8 April 2013‎ (UTC)}}

I think it's deffently a factor. <that one editor who always forgets to login> {{unsigned ip|82.16.27.115 |08:35, 8 April 2013‎ (UTC)}}

: (Let's try again, dodgy internet link, here, and someone's editing in parallel it seems.) I don't personally find the scale-inaccuracies ridiculous. Take a scale-consistent map of a "city-and-its-suburbs" and it's way too busy/cramped in the centre and very sparse at the fringes. Personally I like the way that [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Moscow_metro_map_en_sb.svg Moscow] treated this problem. But my favourite is of course the classic London Underground maps. Or, for fun, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Bear_%28lithograph%29 this variant] (image link available there, but I've already got a copy on my wall anyway). In fact, what ''I'' take from Randall's Subways image is something akin to what I like about this latter. Instead of playing with identity, playing with connectivity. Anyone want to add the Tube/Paris Metro/Berlin U&S-Bahn, etc, onto the edges of Randall's effort? ;) [[Special:Contributions/178.99.244.212|178.99.244.212]]

Evocative (perhaps far too?) of the frontispiece of [http://www.amazon.com/Transit-Maps-World-Mark-Ovenden/dp/0143112651 "Transit Maps of the World"]. A stylized representation of all of the world's subway maps connected together.
[[Special:Contributions/199.167.121.226|199.167.121.226]] 18:38, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

What does it mean "(with respect to geography)"? As a non US citizen I don't know what is odd about this map. Is this actually how the lines connect up? Are these real stations/lines? Can you really go from san fransisco to new york on subway? {{unsigned ip|31.221.13.140|09:19, 8 April 2013‎ (UTC)}}
:Of course not. These are all different subway systems, only connected on this map because their official individual maps use the same colors for different lines. I expect this explanation will be updated to list all the different systems seen here, including Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) and the New York Subway. [[Special:Contributions/75.37.205.50|75.37.205.50]] 09:30, 8 April 2013 (UTC)
::"I expect this explanation will be updated to list all the different systems seen here" As a New Yorker, I can say that while most of the map is quite accurate, some lines cannot be named because each color belongs to multiple lines (with some exceptions) and Randall has taken some serious liberties at the connections to other systems. (E.g. there is no blue line with one end in Hoboken and the other end at 34th Street, as shown on this map) [[User:Bdemirci|Bdemirci]] ([[User talk:Bdemirci|talk]]) 12:17, 8 April 2013 (UTC) EDIT: That blue line might be part of the NJ Transit, but including a New Jersey line in with the Subway is quite heretical. [[User:Bdemirci|Bdemirci]] ([[User talk:Bdemirci|talk]]) 12:25, 8 April 2013 (UTC)
:::That blue line is part of PATH, a subway between NJ and NYC. It's not part of NJ Transit; it's run by the Port Authority, an agency created by a bi-state compact between NY and NJ. And its official map does indeed use blue for the line from hoboken to 33rd street. [[Special:Contributions/66.202.132.250|66.202.132.250]] 13:57, 8 April 2013 (UTC)
::::[Insert standard New Yorker response about how we're not expected to know anything having to do with New Jersey, and that Path and NJ Transit are all the same crap blah blah blah]. Regardless, is it any less heretical? [[User:Bdemirci|Bdemirci]] ([[User talk:Bdemirci|talk]]) 07:28, 10 April 2013 (UTC)
:::I heard they're starting to talk about extending the 7 to Secaucus... [[Special:Contributions/128.220.159.17|128.220.159.17]] 15:35, 11 April 2013 (UTC)
:Also, the comic is using an extremely loose definition of "subway". (Chicago and Cleveland, for example, do not have anything that would fit a normal, dictionary definition of the word. And no, what they do have is certainly not connected in any case -- unless you count highways, in which case the map is ridiculously incomplete.) [[User:Jonadab|Jonadab]] ([[User talk:Jonadab|talk]]) 11:17, 8 April 2013 (UTC)
::I don't know about Cleveland, but you're just plain wrong about Chicago. Chicago most definitely has a subway system in the traditional (as well as in the pedantic) sense. [[Special:Contributions/207.229.139.18|207.229.139.18]] 22:58, 10 April 2013 (UTC)
::You're definitely wrong about Cleveland as well, although it's little used and not very practical, there is absolutely a subway system. As for connection between Cleveland and Chicago, other than by highway or by train, yes, obviously they are not connected. But there is in fact a subway system in Cleveland that fits the traditional (and pedantic) sense of the word, even if it is not massively used by locals (other than on St. Patrick's day, and other large events) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.96|108.162.215.96]] 09:46, 20 July 2016 (UTC)

:It's often hard to realize the distances involved when one is talking about a country or region one is unfamiliar with. In the case of North America, and this semi-fictitious subway system, the distances between the furthest points is about 3,000 miles (about 5,000km); it would generally take about 2 days of highway driving, with no stops, to get from any one end to the opposite other. Randall took real subway maps from different cities, already not to scale, and fictitiously joined them together as if the cities were right next door to each other and really connected. They are not. In most cases, you have to fly, drive, take a bus, or take a regular (non-subway) train if you wanted to go from one city's subway system to another's. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 14:47, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

Hmmm, there is no mention of the 7 or so underground stations in Edmonton, Canada. It is classified as light rail as opposed to heavy rail but still meets the "pedantic rail enthusiasts" definition included under the comic.
Quote: For the pedantic rail enthusiasts, the definition of a subway used here is, with some caveats, "a network containing high capacity grade-separated passenger rail transit lines which run frequently, serve an urban core, and are underground or elevated for at least part of their downtown route." For the rest of you, the definition is "a bunch of trains under a city.[[Special:Contributions/220.239.66.60|220.239.66.60]] 10:10, 8 April 2013 (UTC)
:I suspect the Edmonton, Alberta system got left out for the same reason as the (similarly sized) Buffalo, NY system got left out. The Buffalo system consists of a single line connecting a dozen or so stations below ground and about 5-6 above ground. It fits the "pedantic rail enthusiasts" definition, with the possible exception of being a "network". But more importantly, since it is a single line, I don't think they color-coded it. Without a color-code, where would it hook into Randal's map? [[User:Blaisepascal|Blaisepascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 14:14, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

In Montreal, the Longueuil station is misspelled as "Longueil". --[[User:Prooffreader|Prooffreader]] ([[User talk:Prooffreader|talk]]) 15:32, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

I don't know the other cities' subway maps well enough, but the NYC map has several jokes in it. The "G" line is listed as having "Random service", which is pretty accurate (it's extremely unreliable). The blue and orange lines in Jamaica (a former independent city now part of the boro of Queens) are listed as coming together in "Kingston", which not in NYC, it's the capital of the island nation of Jamaica. There is a fictional "Puerto Rico Submarine" listed as a complement to the real Staten Island Ferry. The (non-existent) connection from Staten Island NY to DC is listed as the "Robert Moses High speed line", in other words, a freeway such as Robert Moses was known for (presumably I-95, although Moses had nothing to do with that). [[Special:Contributions/66.202.132.250|66.202.132.250]] 13:57, 8 April 2013 (UTC)
:Just realized that the green line extending north from Hoboken to "Green" is supposed to be the Green Line of the {{w|Hudson-Bergen Light Rail}} which has elevated and subway segments (the rest of the system is at-grade). The real line ends at the Tonnelle Avenue parking lot in North Bergen. It only has service during weekdays (not nights). [[Special:Contributions/66.202.132.250|66.202.132.250]] 14:56, 9 April 2013 (UTC)
::I don't think that's supposed to be the HBLR. If it were, the (larger) part that runs south from Hoboken Terminal would be there too. I think that's just a connection he threw in between green-colored lines. NJT, surprisingly enough for an agency of its size, doesn't have any kind of rapid transit service, so I wasn't expecting to see any of NJT on there. (Except *maybe* the Newark Light Rail, formerly known as the Newark City Subway.) [[Special:Contributions/128.220.159.17|128.220.159.17]] 15:35, 11 April 2013 (UTC)
:Strange why the Jay-Z doesn't extend to "Kingston"; they end at Jamaica Center just like the E. Maybe this is a reference to Kingston's actual public transit? I tried looking it up, thinking that maybe Kingston has two subway lines (blue and orange for the E and F), but I got nothing. [[User:Bdemirci|Bdemirci]] ([[User talk:Bdemirci|talk]]) 08:27, 10 April 2013 (UTC)
:Speaking of, Randall missed a connection opportunity here since the Orange line of the MBTA ends at "Forest Hills", just like the M in New York. (Maybe because the F keeps going, and there's no way to tell them apart? Plus, it would take an overlap of the lines to match them up.) [[User:Bdemirci|Bdemirci]] ([[User talk:Bdemirci|talk]]) 22:17, 10 April 2013 (UTC)
::Well, what the Orange Line continues onto *does* end up going to a Forest Hills... one that's even labeled... [[Special:Contributions/128.220.159.17|128.220.159.17]] 15:35, 11 April 2013 (UTC)

Looks like Randall goofed with one of his jokes. West Trenton is one of the final stops on one of Philadelphia's passenger rail lines (SEPTA). SEPTA isn't really a subway as it's only underground in the city center. But he happened to draw it in the "Cleveland" area of the map, and ended up connecting it to Boston's Cleveland Circle. That doesn't make sense since there's no west Trenton in Cleveland. [[Special:Contributions/66.202.132.250|66.202.132.250]] 13:57, 8 April 2013 (UTC)
:Philadelphian here. I did a double-take at that one, as I was looking at what Philly's system was hooked up with, then spotted the words "West Trenton" in approximately the same relative position to Philly's subways as it is on the SEPTA map. And then I looked for ways that the West Trenton label might be justified where it is, but I couldn't find any. Also, "SEPTA isn't really a subway" ignores the two real subway lines it does run, plus the subway line run by a separate agency (PATCO) into Philadelphia, plus the subway segment of the trolley lines (which definitely qualify for inclusion if the MBTA Green Line did), all of which are shown. You seem to have been thinking of the commuter rail (Regional Rail) only, which doesn't qualify for the map, period. [[Special:Contributions/128.220.159.17|128.220.159.17]] 15:35, 11 April 2013 (UTC)

The comic leaves out the Newark Light Rail (formerly known as the Newark Subway). It's only one line with about 15 stops, but it does connect with the PATH system (which is in the comic) {{unsigned|JamesCurran|21:21, 8 April 2013‎ (UTC)}}

Good couple of jokes in the Boston area: 1) The real station of Braintree is accompanied by the fictional stations of Bonevine and Skinflower; 2) Ashmont-Mattapan High Speed Line has conveniently become Ashmont-Manhattan High Speed Line; 3) The Green Line extension currently under development has been rerouted to Canada; 4) The Cleveland Circle Station has become the departure point for the shuttle to Cleveland. [[Special:Contributions/209.6.46.147|209.6.46.147]] 14:26, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

The downtown area has the Caribbean Metromover. It's not visible on this map because by scale, the Metromover system's tiny; the stops are only a couple blocks apart. Its actual shape is similar to the icon on weather maps for a hurricane but mirrored horizontally. There is no mention of the unused ghost station at Government Center, surprisingly. [[Special:Contributions/75.95.79.214|75.95.79.214]] 20:32, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

I wasn't aware of a town called Sunnydale in the USA.
However, whilst researching whether this was a pun to the Buffy Television series it turned out the metro station named Sunnydale actually exists: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunnydale_Avenue_Station ...
[[User:Kaa-ching|Kaa-ching]] ([[User talk:Kaa-ching|talk]]) 15:44, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

The map shown in this comic is the BART system (Bay Area Regional Transit), not the San Francisco Muni. So, I suspect this is meant as a Buffy reference. Also, Sunnyvale (note the V) is a real town in the SF Bay Area, but it does not have BART service. {{unsigned|Armckoe| 15:50, 8 April 2013‎ (UTC)}}
:Nope, Randall conflates both Muni and BART in this (which is what the whole comic is, really...) On the western part of the SF map, the purple is the the L-Taraval, the Green is the M-OceanView , the blue is the N-Judah, the Red appears to be the T-Third, the orange the J-Church. On the eastern side, tho, the chart looks more BART-ish. Hmmm, I'm going to have to take the N-Judah to the end of the line some day (or at least farther along.) I've always wanted to go back to Vancouver. -> [[Special:Contributions/64.7.70.234|64.7.70.234]] 04:49, 9 April 2013 (UTC)
:: (The Muni route map is [http://transit.511.org/static/providers/maps/SF_712200722226.pdf here]) -> [[Special:Contributions/64.7.70.234|64.7.70.234]] 04:49, 9 April 2013 (UTC)
:: I don't like how he merged in the Muni lines though. The Muni map (Not Randal's, I mean the real one in the stations) is not accurate to the actual geography of the lines, it is more of an indication of the relative direction the lines run. Also, the Muni map isfar more zoomed in than the Bart map. Both these factors caused Randal's map to have some oddities, like having the Sunnydale station south east of the airport (And somewhere in the bay I would guess).[[Special:Contributions/24.5.180.33|24.5.180.33]] 08:06, 25 April 2013 (UTC)

Curious that the Sunnydale line connects to San Francisco instead of Los Angeles, considering that the latter is actually depicted in the show and is the setting for the Angel spinoff. [[Special:Contributions/71.211.186.75|71.211.186.75]] 00:56, 9 April 2013 (UTC)
: Sunnydale is a real exit along the Muni 'T' line. Also, Buffy's zip code placed here nearish San Jose and Santa Cruz (actually sort of closer to San Jose). This made UC Santa Cruz a possibility for the college they depicted her attending. [[Special:Contributions/24.5.180.33|24.5.180.33]] 08:06, 25 April 2013 (UTC)

I'm not sure what prevented the St. Louis MetroLink from making the cut. There are 2 lines (Red and Blue - yes, it's only two, but isn't that still a network?). It's got grade separation in the urban core and other high-traffic areas, it's high-traffic, runs frequently (every 10-20 minutes) and is underground in downtown St. Louis. The only reason I can think of is insufficient grade-separation, but Randall doesn't define a threshold for that. {{unsigned ip|66.148.130.2|16:44, 8 April 2013 (UTC)}}

Pittsburgh Light Rail, or "The T", currently has only 2 lines as well, and parts of it are above ground, but I still would have liked to see it make the cut. It gets heavy usage in downtown Pittsburgh. {{unsigned ip| 24.154.252.235 |19:53, 8 April 2013‎ (UTC)}}

The "Morgantown WV Automated Line is clearly a reference to the WVU Personal Rapid Transit system. The PRT goes underground for all of about 15', but the whole lower half is elevated. It's also nice that the area attributed to it is approximately the route the PRT does take. An interesting side note - the PRT is not rails. Its a wheeled system that runs on pavement. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgantown_Personal_Rapid_Transit Having said that, I'd also like to echo that the Pittsburgh and Newark subways should have been included. I suspect a v 2.0 in the future. {{[[Special:Contributions/98.236.92.146|98.236.92.146]] 23:34, 8 April 2013 (UTC)|hewhocaves}}

Atlanta's subway map is found at http://www.itsmarta.com/rail-schedules-or-route.aspx [[Special:Contributions/134.24.147.160|134.24.147.160]] 13:53, 9 April 2013 (UTC)Max

I just noticed that the plane icon for the MIA airport is a paper airplane as opposed for the typical icon used for the other airports. Is this a reference to something? [[Special:Contributions/107.205.37.99|107.205.37.99]] 18:39, 9 April 2013 (UTC)

:You must not have left the house during all of 2007. I envy you. http://youtu.be/ewRjZoRtu0Y 22:18, 9 April 2013 (UTC)

:Sounds like a reference to the song Paper Planes by M.I.A. (sometimes written MIA), aka Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam. I think it is her most popular (in a Billboard sense) so far and has charted in countries scattered all over the world. [[Special:Contributions/129.176.151.14|129.176.151.14]] 18:06, 10 April 2013 (UTC)

The Seattle monorail is not a loop, so the "Springfield Monorail" is not a reference to it. Also, Randall neglected to include Seattle's own subway that connects downtown to the airport. [[Special:Contributions/50.46.145.200|50.46.145.200]] 05:33, 10 April 2013 (UTC)

I liked seeing something actually acknowledge the existence of the Baltimore Metro Subway. It's one of the best-kept transit secrets in Baltimore - a number of lifelong Baltimoreans I know were quite surprised to learn that Baltimore has an actual subway. (The existence of its light rail is much better known.) The green belt by Greenbelt (a Washington Metro station) was a nice touch - there's really no other natural way to connect the Greenbelt and Johns Hopkins stations without forming a loop like that anyway. I'm not sure how pleased Owings Mills will be at suddenly having West Philly one stop away though... [[Special:Contributions/128.220.159.17|128.220.159.17]] 15:35, 11 April 2013 (UTC)

:Are you serious, they grew up there and don't know about it? Where do they live? I guess the Johns Hopkisn station is pretty obscure, and they'd have to never see the other two or so and not live in the northwest but still, don't they have friends or family or acquaintences or TV or talk to people or like trivia at all? To tell the truth one of the first things a normal New Yorker would do upon reaching a new city is see what their subway map's like. One line (almost a half of a line, it ends like 1.7 stops past the city center) and a light rail, that's underwhelming. {{unsigned ip|108.27.91.16|21:22, 12 April 2013‎ (UTC)}}

Seems like Randall also flubbed the location of YVR in the Vancouver system. Yes, it's the YVR/Richmond line, but Richmond is the one that goes straight down and YVR branches off to the west.[[Special:Contributions/174.6.48.164|174.6.48.164]] 03:22, 16 April 2013 (UTC)

51: Malaria

2015-05-30T05:59:49Z

108.162.215.96: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 51
| date = January 18, 2006 
| title = Malaria
| image = malaria.jpg
| titletext = The malaria party was David's idea.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic humorously combines the {{w|pox party}}s with more dangerous diseases like malaria. In these "parties" adults bring their children to deliberately expose them to a virus to promote {{w|Immunity (medical)|immunity}}. This is commonly done for a childhood disease like {{w|chickenpox}} and {{w|measles}}.

In this comic we see four [[Cueball]]-like children in party hats with a balloon lying on the ground. As it says their malaria party did not turn out to be fun.

Some illnesses are more serious for adults than children. For example chickenpox is far less severe than its adult onset form {{w|shingles}}, and after contracting chickenpox the {{w|immune system}} has developed {{w|antibodies}} for it and so is not as vulnerable to the virus, and the person is immune for a significant period of time, possibly life. For more dangerous diseases like measles {{w|vaccines}} are used to prevent illness. However, malaria does not work this way, but instead once one has suffered from malaria, it can recur on its own even after apparent healing from symptoms. So having a malaria party would not promote immunity, but only make people sick and further vulnerable in the future. A Malaria party would be an especially bad idea as many could suffer significant illness and die, but it is similarity a bad idea to expose your children (and thus also others) to potentially lethal and damaging diseases like measles instead of taking a safer vaccine.

===Malaria===
{{w|Malaria}} is a {{w|Mosquito-borne disease}} of humans and other animals caused by {{w|protists}} (a type of microorganism) of the genus ''{{w|Plasmodium}}''. It begins with a bite from an infected female {{w|mosquito}}, which introduces the protists, via its saliva, into the circulatory system, and ultimately to the liver where they mature and reproduce. The disease causes symptoms that typically include fever and headache, which in severe cases can progress to coma or death.

===Context===
There has been a lot of {{w|MMR vaccine controversy|controversy}} over the {{w|MMR vaccine}} which works against {{w|measles}}, {{w|mumps}} and {{w|rubella}}. Whereas the last two are only dangerous to adults, and only because they can affect the abilities to have children, measles are a very dangerous disease also for children. In the US between 1987 and 2000 there were a 0.3% risk of a {{w|Measles#Complications|fatal complication}}. It can be much worse in underdeveloped countries. The controversy was based on a claim in an article that was later completely {{w|MMR_vaccine_controversy#Full_retraction_and_fraud_allegations|discredited}}. But this incidence has still caused many parents to keep their children out of this program.

So now parents deliberately take their children to measles parties like the Malaria party here. And although they may become immune if they survive (as opposed to malaria) then there is still a serious risk of death or other complications. And this lack of vaccination can reduce the {{w|Herd immunity}} that would protect infants, the weak and those with a poor immune system from catching these diseases.

==Transcript==
:[Four Cueball-like children wearing party hats, a discarded balloon is lying to the right. The first part of the text is written above the children, the second below.]
:We had a malaria party
:but it turned out not to be very much fun.

==Trivia==
*This was the 49th comic originally posted to [[LiveJournal]].
**The previous was [[54: Science]].
**The next was [[52: Secret Worlds]].
*This comic kept it's original title: "Malaria"
*It is part of the last six comics on LiveJournal which all had a title without the word "Drawing" in it.
**Five of these had exactly the same title on both sites.
**Only 11 comics have the same title on both sites.
**Apart from the [[:Category:First day on LiveJournal|thirteen first comics]] posted to LiveJournal, there were only three other comics without the word "Drawing" in the title before these last six.
*Original [[Randall]] quote: "'''Current Mood:''' ''Credit to David for this one''"
**In this version he give David credit. In the title text it is more like he blames him for the idea.
*This comic was one of the last 11 comics posted on LiveJournal.
**These 11 comics were [[:Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd|posted both on LiveJournal and xkcd]] after the [[xkcd]] site opened on the 1st of January 2006.
**The first six comics were posted on both sites on the same day. But not this one.
*For some reason [[54: Science]] was posted before this one on LiveJournal on the 18th of January 2006, but first a week later on xkcd on the 25th of January 2006.
**So [[51: Malaria]] were released on xkcd the same day as [[54: Science]] came out on LiveJournal on Wednesday the 18th of January 2006 .
**It then came out on LiveJournal three days later on Saturday the 21th of January 2006.
**The release date here on explain xkcd uses the first release date, so that is the one on xkcd.
*After the mishap with [[54: Science]] the next three comics came out on LiveJournal a release day later.
**First with the last comic released on LiveJournal, [[55: Useless]], did the two sites release the same comic on the same day again.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics posted on livejournal| 49]]
[[Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd]]
[[Category:David]]

Talk:240: Dream Girl

2014-07-04T00:52:21Z

108.162.215.96:

Someone who was there? Want to share what happened? Also, I know it's a bad thing to do, but I just gotta say, Premiere![[Special:Contributions/121.222.232.156|121.222.232.156]] 13:02, 14 September 2013 (UTC)

"The comic was changed after the date mentioned within it; the last speech bubble was different.."
:I'm looking at it in the Wayback Machine, and it looks the same to me [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.66|199.27.128.66]] 09:44, 5 December 2013 (UTC)

Is it just me, or does the upper right panel look a lot like what happens in comic 82?