explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1945: Scientific Paper Graph Quality

2018-01-24T19:35:59Z

108.162.216.100:

What happened circa 2015 that marks the *end* of the PowerPoint/MSPaint era? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.59|108.162.238.59]] 16:22, 22 January 2018 (UTC)

: More and more journals explicitly forbade the use of powerpoint. Also, more scientists are familiar with software better suited for creating scientific graphs. [[User:Thawn|Thawn]] ([[User talk:Thawn|talk]]) 16:34, 22 January 2018 (UTC)

:: The problem was never that it was impossible to good quality graphs with those tools. The problem was that people ''didn't actually'' do so, in part because the tools made it really easy to produce something superficially good but actually so information-free as to be utterly bad, as well as making it rather more difficult than one would hope for to make camera-ready graphs (journals having higher-resolution print reproduction than most computer screens of the time). But before anyone gets fancy about this, you could commit very similar sins with other tools; merely using a specialist plotting program doesn't automatically make the output truly comprehensible (or relevant). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.107|141.101.104.107]] 22:30, 22 January 2018 (UTC)

:::If, however, creating graph is harder, you are likely to focus on what to put into them and make them only if it makes sense. One reason for decreased quality of graph might be that there was more of them for same amount of data. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 01:29, 23 January 2018 (UTC)

::: With enough effort, it is possible to make a good graph with any tool. However, the point is that with Powerpoint it is much easier to make a superficial graph than a good graph. With other tools such as R, Matlab, Origin etc. it is equally easy to make a good or a bad graph. Therefore, the average quality of graphs created with Powerpoint is much lower than with other tools. [[User:Thawn|Thawn]] ([[User talk:Thawn|talk]]) 09:36, 23 January 2018 (UTC)

An interesting thing to note is that you can see from this chart that even slightly before the paint/powerpoint era the quality started going down. But it could be because this graph is meant to be just like the point it is making and therefore is not 100% accurate. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.76|108.162.219.76]] 17:47, 22 January 2018 (UTC)

:I came down here to make exactly this point - Randall appears to be deliberately trying to misleadingly imply a conclusion that isn't actually supported by the data. ;o) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.76.16|141.101.76.16]] 09:34, 23 January 2018 (UTC)

: actually, the peak of the graph is somewhere around 1990 which is 5 years after the release of paint and close to the release of powerpoint. Assuming that the tools gradually went into widespread use, this is perfectly consistent. [[User:Thawn|Thawn]] ([[User talk:Thawn|talk]]) 09:36, 23 January 2018 (UTC)

:: Well either they quickly came into common use, in which case the labelling of the 'era' is wrong, or they didn't, in which case it doesn't explain why the decline started so early.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.76.16|141.101.76.16]] 09:43, 23 January 2018 (UTC)

::: That's a false dichotomy. An era is defined by prominence not existence. There are still gas-lamps, but we are not in the gas-light era

Does anyone have good examples of papers showing this? It would really help the explanation...[[Special:Contributions/172.68.211.166|172.68.211.166]]
:You might find http://www.norvig.com/Gettysburg/ amusing. It is the Gettysburg Address done as a PowerPoint presentation. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.154|108.162.216.154]] 18:55, 22 January 2018 (UTC) Gene Wirchenko genew@telus.net
::An xkcd PowerPoint presentation by Randall Munroe would be so fantastic! Just... don't let him near Excel: "Why does this field reference a password-protected remote SQL DB entry labeled 'Midnight Protocol' or 'else' show the time of day as a sixteen-bit floating-point decimal value from zero to one?" 'Sorry, can't hear you, headphones; I'm working on the soundtrack for the new collaborative infinitely recursive xkcd AR exhibit at Meow Wolf Ollantaytambo.'
::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 21:56, 23 January 2018 (UTC)
:::You monster! I can not delete your horrible suggestion without 1) running afoul of what a wiki stands for or 2) losing the educational value of a warning of what not to do. And then, there is 3) the perverse attraction of seeing a train wreck.
:::[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.154|108.162.216.154]] 05:09, 24 January 2018 (UTC) Gene Wirchenko genew@telus.net
::::I'm just disappointed that nobody noted the 0-to-1 reference. I like trains, & I like views of stuff cutaway or disassembled, therefore a really wicked train wreck is the best of both worlds! ("Some men just want to watch the world burn. I want a soundtrack to go with it." - Me)
::::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 18:53, 24 January 2018 (UTC)

Also amusing is how low quality the image of this comic is. It is only 360*240 pixels, which is fitting for a graph describing low quality graphs.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.28|172.68.34.28]] 02:21, 23 January 2018 (UTC)

Something of which I find at least somewhat noteworthy: early xkcd was notorius for these vague, informationless graphs. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.47.6|172.68.47.6]] 09:36, 23 January 2018 (UTC)

Talk:1798: Box Plot

2017-02-13T19:16:04Z

108.162.216.100: Add two comments

No Valentine's comic this year? (Or could it be later this week?) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.163|162.158.154.163]] 16:27, 13 February 2017 (UTC)
:Trump killed Valentine's Day for Randall. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.219|162.158.74.219]] 17:54, 13 February 2017 (UTC)
I thought this may also be similar to a bycicle pump because it doesn't explode it just enlarges. Wasn't there a comic similar to this where someone blows into a laptop power cord and it blows up like a balloon.[[User:XFez|XFez]] ([[User talk:XFez|talk]]) 18:54, 13 February 2017 (UTC)
:Yes: https://xkcd.com/1395/
I’m surprised this was Cueball, not Beret Guy.

Talk:952: Stud Finder

2016-04-08T20:40:37Z

108.162.216.100:

In most of the U.S. local building codes specify 16 inches (about 41 cm) center-to-center as the standard distance between wooden studs.[[Special:Contributions/138.163.106.72|wknehans]] 15:22, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

Could Black Hat probably have fixed Cueball's stud finder so that it always showed studs everywhere? [[User:Guru-45|Guru-45]] ([[User talk:Guru-45|talk]]) 15:23, 21 November 2012 (UTC)
:Well, I think it's Randall who's talking in the alt-text. --[[User:Castriff|Jimmy C]] ([[User talk:Castriff|talk]]) 17:43, 18 December 2012 (UTC)

I thought Black Hat was about to say he had a "stud" for sale. Which can be taken in one of several ways... [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.63|199.27.128.63]] 21:34, 10 November 2013 (UTC)

I've always taken this as Black Hat doing in real life what obnoxious advertisers do on the Internet. Which is to say, take key words out of things you type (like your email or a search box) and advertise at you based on that. Black Hat pounced on the word "stud" and Lord only knows what products might be advertised at you based on that word, especially out of the twisted mind of BH, and Cueball is smart enough to head that one off at the pass. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.54|108.162.216.54]] 23:50, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

Note to all: stud-finder-finder is obviously and completely correct. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 20:39, 21 January 2014 (UTC)

At first, I thought Cueball was referring to rats in his walls in the title text. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.100|108.162.216.100]] 20:40, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1566: Board Game

2015-08-19T13:45:38Z

108.162.216.100:

I think Cueball has mastered [[wikipedia:gamification|gamification]] and [[wikipedia:crowdsourcing|crowdsourcing]]. --[[User:Koveras|Koveras]] ([[User talk:Koveras|talk]]) 12:45, 19 August 2015 (UTC)

Unfortunately the rules change every year and explaining the rules would probably take close to a year. The Feds really should supply free tax prep software to the masses. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.100|108.162.216.100]] 13:45, 19 August 2015 (UTC)

Talk:483: Fiction Rule of Thumb

2014-09-25T21:45:31Z

108.162.216.100:

Also, you get minus points if you have to add a totally reading-flow rupturing explanation.
And if the words which supposedly come from one language have completely different linguistic structure.
And for random apostrophes.
And if you cannot read the book without a wordlist for constant reference next to you.
Rule of thumb #2: if it's not clear from the context or from a smooth, unobtrusive explanation* and/or if the reader has to go back the second time it is mentioned to remember what it was, don't use it.
:Exception to this: Terry Prachett. How the hell can that guy make funny literature out of annoyingly large footnotes?? [[Special:Contributions/132.187.20.160|132.187.20.160]] 09:14, 25 June 2013 (UTC)

I know an author who made up words and still turned out well! His name is Andrew Hussie, creator of Homestuck. Captchalogue, Sylladex, Alchemiter, Cruxite, Respiteblock, Recuperacoon, Cookalizer, Fenestrated Wall, you name it! {{unsigned ip|108.162.219.47}}
:Well one, that's a webcomic, not a book. Two, most of these words are portamntus (Captcha + Catalogue = Captchalogue, Recuperate + Cocoon = Recuperacoon). And while this is certainly a nice observation, it doesn't really contribute to the discussion since the page is not really about Homestuck.--[[User:Edrobot|Edrobot]] ([[User talk:Edrobot|talk]]) 19:42, 23 May 2014 (UTC)

''Dune'' comes to mind... [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.71|199.27.128.71]] 07:07, 15 April 2014 (UTC)

Interesting that Randall omitted Shakespeare from the list of people allowed to make up words. Shakespeare used 17,677 different words in all of his known works. About 10% of those words are words that he made up and are now technically official English (includes changing parts of speech for existing words)[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.100|108.162.216.100]] 21:45, 25 September 2014 (UTC)

482: Height

2014-09-25T21:35:32Z

108.162.216.100: /* Objects */

{{comic
| number = 482
| date = September 29, 2008
| title = Height
| before = [[#Explanation|↓ Skip to explanation ↓]]
| image = height.png
| titletext = Interestingly, on a true vertical log plot, I think the Eiffel Tower's sides would really be straight lines.
}}

==Explanation==
{{Incomplete|A number of the items are lacking descriptions, and distances. As this comic is about distance this is more critical than descriptions. If the object is not real, an estimate based on the comic and scale is good}}
The comic is a companion piece to [[485: Depth]], which explores a {{w|logarithmic scale}} from Earth's atmosphere down to the interior of a single proton. ''Height'' begins this process by viewing logarithmically smaller scales showing several objects in the universe, both real and fictional, from farthest (top) to closest (bottom). The comic starts with [[Black Hat]] throwing a cat off the edge of the universe, probably a reference to {{w|Schrodinger's cat}} (as since it is outside the {{w|observable universe}} (for us), it exists in a super-position of both living and dead until we actually 'observe' it and force it to be in one of the states). It may also refer to the common myth that a cat will always land on its feet, a myth Black Hat appears to be testing to the extreme. The top of the universe is shown as the distance from which the oldest rays of light reach Earth.

Displaying height logarithmically while displaying width linearly noticeably distorts the shapes of the terrestrial objects. The title text notes that this distortion would approximately cancel out the curve of the Eiffel Tower's profile, and speculates that the cancellation might in fact be exact enough to convert its silhouette to a straight-edged triangle.

The {{w|age of the universe}} is currently stated as 13.8 billion years. But the {{w|Observable universe}} is about 14.0 billion {{w|parsecs}} or 46 billion {{w|light years}}, as shown on the top of the image.

===Objects===
All objects are sorted from bottom to top by their average distance from earth for objects in a solar orbit, and their current distance for others.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Distance
! Object
! Fictional
! Description
|-
| 435 ×1024m
| Black Hat and cat
| YES
| Black Hat kicking a cat off the top of the comic, presumably to determine whether it will land on its feet.
|-
| 435 ×1024m
| colspan="3" align="center" style="background: #ffdead;" | Top of observable universe
|-
| 11.3 ×1024m
| {{w|Hubble Deep Field}} objects
| NO
| Objects of extremely distant galaxies found in a long-exposure photograph by of the Hubble telescope, 12 billion light-years away.
|-
| 9.46 ×1024m
| colspan="3" align="center" style="background: #ffdead;" | One billion light years
|-
| 2.36 ×1024m
| {{w|Great Attractor}}
| NO
| An unusual concentration of intergalactic mass.
|-
| 425 ×1021m
| {{w|Antennae Galaxies}} (colliding)
| NO
| A pair of colliding galaxies.
|-
| 23.6 ×1021m
| {{w|Andromeda Galaxy}}
| NO
| A sibling to our Milky Way.
|-
| 9.46 ×1021m
| colspan="3" align="center" style="background: #ffdead;" | One million light years
|-
|
| [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/cat-on-a-keyboard-in-space Cat on a keyboard in space]
| YES
|
|-
| 1.56 ×1021m
| {{w|Magellanic Clouds}}
| NO
| These clouds are a pair of nearby dwarf galaxies.
|-
| 263 ×1018m
| Edge of Galaxy
| NO
| The edge of the {{w|Milky Way}} galaxy, the galaxy in which we reside.
|-
| 245 ×1018m
| {{w|Galactic Center}}
| NO
| The center of the Milky Way galaxy.
|-
| 61.5 ×1018m
| {{w|Crab Nebula}}
| NO
| Nebula are supernova remnants
|-
| 14.2 ×1018m
| {{w|Horsehead Nebula}}
| NO
|
|-
| 12.72 ×1018m
| {{w|Orion Nebula}}
| NO
|
|-
| 8.14 ×1018m
| {{w|Rigel}}
| NO
|
|-
| 6.08 ×1018m
| {{w|Betelgeuse}}
| NO
|
|-
| 6.08 ×1018m
| {{w|Ford_Prefect (character)|Ford Prefect}}
| YES
| A character from {{w|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy}}, shown near his home star; Betelgeuse.
|-
| 4.2 ×1018m
| {{w|Pleiades}}
| NO
| The Pleiades also have a derogatory remark, as per [[66: Abusive Astronomy]]
|-
|
| The [http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Romulan_Neutral_Zone Romulan Neutral Zone]
| YES
| This marks the edge of the {{w|Star Trek}} Federation.
|-
|
| colspan="3" align="center" style="background: #ffdead;" | The distance that human radio transmissions have traveled so far. See {{w|Contact (1997 film)}} for a depiction of this. This is also referenced in [[1212: Interstellar Memes]].
|-
| 0.35 ×1018m
| {{w|Arcturus}}
| NO
|
|-
| 0.32 ×1018m
| {{w|Pollux}}
| NO
|
|-
|
| The edge of {{w|Federation Sector 0-0-1}}
| YES
| The sector of space assigned to Earth in {{w|Star Trek}}.
|-
|
| "missing WMDs"
| YES
| A reference to the controversy about {{w|Iraq and weapons of mass destruction}}.
|-
| 81.3 ×1015m
| {{w|Sirius}}
| NO
|
|-
| 56.6 ×1015m
| {{w|Barnard's Star}}
| NO
|
|-
| 41.3 ×1015m
| {{w|Alpha Centauri}}
| NO
|
|-
| 30.9 ×1015m
| colspan="3" align="center" style="background: #ffdead;" | One parsec.
|-
| 9.46 ×1015m
| colspan="3" align="center" style="background: #ffdead;" | One light-year.
|-
| 15.0 ×1015m
| {{w|Oort cloud}}
| NO
| A halo of ice balls surrounding our solar system, but missing the {{w|Kupier belt}} between Neptune and the Oort cloud.
|-
|
| {{w|Bupkis}}
| NO
| Yiddish for "nothing". Only a handful of objects are known to orbit between the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud.
|-
|
| A comet which will destroy earth in late 2063
| YES
| To coincide with the latest biblicaly based prophesy for the [http://www.askelm.com/prophecy/p971105.htm end of the world].
|-
| [http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/where/ 19.3 ×1012m]
| {{w|Voyager 1}}
| NO
| An early space probe. Distance correct as of 11th Sept 2014, click distance to see NASA's live distance counter.
|-
| 16.7 ×1012
| {{w|Pioneer 10}}
| NO
| *Estimated distance based on {{w|Pioneer_10#Current_status|this information}}*
|-
| 13.6 ×109
| {{w|Pioneer 11}}
| NO
| By the similarity in appearance to Pioneer 10 this unlabeled probe must be Pioneer 11 *Estimated distance based on {{w|Pioneer_11#Current_status|this information}}*
|-
|
| {{w|Eris (dwarf planet)|Eris}}
| NO
| The "All hail Discordia!" after Eris is a reference to {{w|Discordianism}}, a somewhat tongue-in-cheek religion based around the goddess Eris. One of a pair of {{w|Trans-Neptunian object|TNOs}} now classified as {{w|dwarf planet}}s.
|-
|
| {{w|Pluto}}
| NO
| One of a pair of {{w|Trans-Neptunian object|TNOs}} now classified as {{w|dwarf planet}}s.
|-
|
| {{w|Neptune}}
| NO
|
|-
|
| {{w|Uranus}}
| NO
|
|-
|
| {{w|Saturn}}
| NO
|
|-
|
| {{w|Titan(moon)|Titan}}
| NO
| Saturn's moon Titan is the only known moon to have an atmosphere - although nothing like the one on earth. There may be oceans on the moon, but not filled with water but with liquid methane and ethane. It is way too cold for liquid water. Still in such oceans life could also have formed.
|-
|
| {{w|Jupiter}}
| NO
|
|-
|
| {{w|Europa (moon)|Europa}}
| NO
| Jupiter's moon Europa which may be covered by a deep ocean of water - which is again covered by layer of ice many kilometers thick. In such an ocean life could have formed.
|-
|
| Asteroids
| NO
| The {{w|Asteroid|Asteroid belt}} contains a spaceship from {{w|Asteroids (video game)}}
|-
|
| {{w|Mars}}
| NO
| Note the path, reflecting the fact that their distances from Earth vary as the planets move in their orbits.
|-
|
| {{w|Venus}}
| NO
| Note the path, reflecting the fact that their distances from Earth vary as the planets move in their orbits.
|-
|
| {{w|Mercury}}
| NO
|
|-
| 149 ×109m
| {{w|Sun}}
| NO
| The Sun is the star at the center of our solar system, around which the Earth orbits.
|-
|
| {{w|Discovery One}}
| YES
| The Discovery One from {{w|2001: A Space Odyssey}}, referring to the quote "open the pod bay door, HAL."
|-
|
| Planet Express
| YES
| The spaceplane is most likely the Planet Express from {{w|Futurama}}, where Fry once discussed "a big heaping bowl of salt."
|-
| 400 ×106m
| Human Altitude Record
| NO
| Achieved by the team of {{w|Apollo 13}} approximately 100km higher than the remaining Apollo missions.
|-
| 384 ×106m
| {{w|Moon}}
| NO
| The Moon is the Earth's only natural satellite.
|-
|
| {{w|Snoop Dogg}}
| YES
| A rapper notorious for smoking marijuana, is shown as having the second-highest altitude record. Someone who is taking drugs is said to be getting high.
|-
|
| {{w|Space elevator}}
| YES
| A proposed method of transporting cargo or people into orbit, consisting of a large mass beyond geosynchronous orbit, a station at the geosynchronous point, a cable connecting it to the Earth, and a climber that can scale the cable. Space elevators are also seen in [[697: Tensile vs. Shear Strength]] and [[536: Space Elevators]].
|-
| 42.1 ×106m
| colspan="3" align="center" style="background: #ffdead;" | {{w|Geosynchronous orbit|Geosynchronous Orbit}}
|-
| 20.2 ×106m
| {{w|GPS (satellite)|GPS Satellites}}
| NO
| GPS satellites are used for global positioning.
|-
|
| {{w|Lunar Lander (arcade game)}}
| YES
| The quote is a reference to {{w|Contact (1997 film)}} where the main character Ellie Arroway after witnessing a celestial light show up close says "Poetry! They should've sent a poet.".
|-
| 800 ×103m
| {{w|Space debris|Space Junk}}
| NO
| There is a large quantity of defunct objects in orbit around the earth. Amongst other things, this includes old satellites, rocket stages and fragments from collisions or disintegration. Space junk is also referenced in [[1242: Scary Names]] under the title {{w|Kessler syndrome}}
|-
| 422.5 ×103m
| {{w|International Space Station}}
| NO
|
|-
| 100 ×103m
| colspan="3" align="center" style="background: #ffdead;" | The {{w|Edge of space|official edge of space}} as defined by the {{w|Kármán line}}
|-
|
| {{w|Meteors}}
| NO
|
|-
| 25.0 ×103m
| {{w|High-altitude balloon|High-altitude balloons}}
| NO
| Unmanned balloons, typically filled with helium or hydrogen. The current altitude record was set in 2002 by a balloon named BU60-1 which reached 53,000m.
|-
| 16.1 ×103m
| colspan="3" align="center" style="background: #ffdead;" | 1/10 ATM
|-
| 12.0 ×103m
| {{w|Airliner|airliners}}
| NO
|
|-
| 8.84 ×103m
| {{w|Mount Everest}}
| NO
| The worlds highest mountain.
|-
| 5.49 ×103m
| colspan="3" align="center" style="background: #ffdead;" | 1/2 ATM
|-
|
| {{w|Cory Doctorow}}
| YES
| Cory Doctorow in his balloon. (first referenced in [[239: Blagofaire]].)
|-
|
| {{w|Space Shuttle Columbia disaster}}
| NO
| *The {{w|Space Shuttle Columbia}} and its seven crew were lost when it disintegrated at [http://www.asminternational.org/pdf/S21_jfap0601p082.pdf approximately 63,400m] in 2003. This number is inconsistant with the height of the graph.
|-
| 6.00 ×103m
| {{w|Helicopter}}
| NO
| Though the record for helicopter altitude (without payload) is 12,442m, normal flying is usually performed much lower. In the US, 6000m is into {{w|Class A airspace}}, which is restricted and requires flight under {{w|Instrument Flight Rules}}.
|-
| 6.00 ×103m
| {{w|Cloud}}
| NO
| Though not actually labelled there are a couple of clouds shown. While different cloud types vary in height, 6000m is roughly in the middle of the height range for clouds in temperate regions [http://weatherfaqs.org.uk/node/21]
|-
|
| [[Cueball]]
| YES
| Apparently still using Python as shown in comic [[353: Python]].
|-
| 800 ×100m
| colspan="3" align="center" style="background: #ffdead;" | 800 meters
|-
| 800 ×100m
| {{w|Burj Khalifa|Burj Dubai}}
| NO
| Now known as the Burj Khalifa, is the tallest building in the world.
|-
| 500 ×100m
| colspan="3" align="center" style="background: #ffdead;" | 500 meters
|-
| 400 ×100m
| colspan="3" align="center" style="background: #ffdead;" | 400 meters
|-
| 325 ×100m
| {{w|Eiffel Tower}}
| NO
| A famous landmark in Paris, France.
|-
| 300 ×100m
| colspan="3" align="center" style="background: #ffdead;" | 300 meters
|-
| 200 ×100m
| colspan="3" align="center" style="background: #ffdead;" | 200 meters
|-
| 150 ×100m
| Kite
| NO
| Kite string is commonly sold in large spools; a nice thick spool will probably hold 150 meters.
|-
| 140 ×100m
| {{w|Great Pyramid of Giza}}
| NO
| One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It is located in Egypt.
|-
| 120 ×100m
| {{w|Baseball|Pop Fly}}
| NO
| In Baseball a 'Pop Fly' is when the batter mis-hits the baseball, which then follows a tall arc deep into the infield where it's easy picking for the other team to catch on its way down. The highest recorded pop fly, not including those that landed in foul territory, was 172 meters.
|-
| 115 ×100m
| {{w|Redwood Tree|Redwood trees}}
| NO
| The tallest trees in the world. At 115.61m (379.3ft) {{w|Hyperion (tree)|Hyperion}}, a Coast Redwood, holds the record for the tallest tree in the world.
|-
| 100 ×100m
| colspan="3" align="center" style="background: #ffdead;" | 100 meters
|-
| 20.0 ×100m
| {{w|Oak}}
| NO
| While oaks may grow to be in excess of 40m in height, heights of around 20m are more typical. The person in the tree saying, "Hey, squirrels!" is a reference to [[167: Nihilism]].
|-
| 16.4 ×100m
| Tallest stilts
| NO
| The tallest {{w|stilts}} recorded by the Guinness Book of World Records (as of November 2006) were 16.4 meters, or nearly 54 feet.
|-
| 13.0 ×100m
| {{w|Brachiosaurus|Brachiosaur}}
| NO
| A large genus of dinosaur.
|-
| 8.00 ×100m
| {{w|Giraffe}}
| NO
| The the tallest living terrestrial animal, with fully grown adults reaching in excess of 5m. While labelled 8m in the comic, the [http://www.big-animals.com/the-giraffe-the-worlds-tallest-animal/ record] for height is reported at 5.8m.
|-
| 1.70 ×100m
| {{w|Human height|Folks}}
| NO
|
|}

==Transcript==
:[Map of the universe from observable universe to Earth. Each area of item is labelled.]
:[Labels left to right, up to down:]
:[Black Hat is standing on top, throwing a black kitty down.]
:Black Cat: mrowl!
::Top of Observable Universe
::46 Billion Light Years Up
::Hubble Deep Field Objects
:-One Billion Light Years-
::Great Attractor
:Antennae Galaxies (Colliding)
:Andromeda
:::Holy Crap Lots of Space
::-One Million Light Years-
::Magellanic Clouds
::Edge of Galaxy
::Galactic Center
::Crab Nebula
::Orion Nebula
::Horsehead Nebula
::Romulan Neutral Zone
:::The PLEIADES, Duh.
::Rigel
::Betelgeuse
::Ford Prefect
::-Expanding Shell of Radio Transmissions [Arrows are pointing up.]-
::Edge of Federation Sector 0-0-1
::Pollux
::Arcturus
::Missing WMDs
::Alpha Centauri
::Sirius
::Barnard's Star
:-One Parsec-
::-One Light Year-
::Oort Cloud (?)
::Bupkis
::Comet which will destroy Earth in late 2063
::Pioneer 10
::Eris (All hail Discordia!)
::Voyager I
::Pluto (Not a planet. Neener neener.)
::Neptune
::Uranus
:Saturn
::Asteroids
:::<~life~>
::Jupiter
::Venus
::Mars
::Sun
::Mercury
::Aircraft: Hey a heaping bowl of salt!
::"Open the fridge door, Hal."
::Moon
::Human Altitude Record (Apollo 13)
::2nd Place: Snoop Dogg
::Space Elevator - One of these days, promise!
::-Geosynchronous Orbit-
::GPS Satellites
::Lunar lander: In retrospect, they shouldn't have sent a poet. I have no idea how to land
::International Space Station
::Space Junk
::-Official Edge of Space (100 km)-
::Meteors
::-1/10 ATM-
::High Altitude Balloons
::Airliners
::-1/2 ATM-
::Cory Doctrow
::Shuttle Columbia Lost
::Everest
::Helicoptors
::Cueball: Woo Python!
::[vertical scale along right side of image, starting at 1 km and getting progressivly smaller and smaller.]
::-800 m-
::Burj Dubai (~800 m)
::Eiffel Tower (325 m)
::Kites
::Great Pyramid (140 m)
::Redwood (115 m)
::Pop Fly
::Oak (20 m)
::"Hey Squirrels!"
::Tallest Stilts
::Brachiosaur (13 m)
::Giraffe (8 m)
::[Megan and Cueball.] Folks
:The Observable Universe, from Top to Bottom ~On a log scale~
:Sizes are not to scale, but heights above the Earth's surface are accurate on a log scale (that is, each step up is double the height.)

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow]]
[[Category:Large drawings]]

Talk:314: Dating Pools

2014-09-24T17:20:27Z

108.162.216.100:

The following text is exactly 160 characters long, which is the maximum length of an SMS:
:(2013-08-17)-(199X-XX-XX)=6XXX days
:(2013-08-17)-(199X-XX-XX)=5XXX days
:7 years=2556.75 days
:6XXX/2+2557=5XXX
:Standard Creepiness Rule: Don't date under age/2+7
Don't ask me how I found it :P (some digits are replaced with X for privacy reasons) --[[User:DiEvAl|DiEvAl]] ([[User talk:DiEvAl|talk]]) 10:08, 17 August 2013 (UTC)

Don't ask you how you found it? I'm a little concerned about that credo...[[Special:Contributions/121.222.232.156|121.222.232.156]] 06:18, 14 September 2013 (UTC)

By this standard, 14 is the minimum dating age. As a father, I approve [[User:Cflare|Cflare]] ([[User talk:Cflare|talk]]) 14:49, 21 July 2014 (UTC)

The chart appears to be using the following function for the maximum age: max_age_other <= (your_age - 7) * 2
The max age is determined by the oldest the other person can be before you are too young for them according to the age/2 + 7 rule.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.100|108.162.216.100]] 17:20, 24 September 2014 (UTC)

Talk:961: Eternal Flame

2014-09-18T14:30:11Z

108.162.216.100:

Ugh, I hate it when people attribute everything the the technology to Steve Jobs. Apple spends pebbles on R&D, polishes up the work of other countries and they get labelled as inventors and heroes. Incredibly frustrating for the rest of us in the technology industry. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:35, 9 March 2013 (UTC)
:I don't think Apple would polish up the work of other '''countries'''. [[User:InAndOutLand|InAndOutLand]] ([[User talk:InAndOutLand|talk]]) 01:51, 31 July 2014 (UTC)

:The way I see it, Apple's innovation is in their UI. The iPod wasn't the first portable digital music player, and the iPhone wasn't the first smartphone, but they ''were'' the first in their respective classes to have an intuitive interface that could easily be understood by someone with no technology background. Marketing is everything in the tech industry, and a product will fail if it can't ''convince'' the market that it's the better choice, even if it's absolutely better from a technical standpoint. [[User:Curtmack|Curtmack]] ([[User talk:Curtmack|talk]]) 18:36, 11 March 2013 (UTC)

:First of all, nothing in this comic attributes "everything in the technology industry" to Steve. Secondly, Apple spends more on R&D than most other companies – it's one of the reasons the markup is so high on Apple's products. Thirdly, if those "other companies" were just as good at design and execution as Apple, as you seem to believe, there would be nothing stopping them from achieving the same success as Apple. So what stopped Dell from releasing the iPhone and upsetting the mobile industry? What stopped HP from developing an online music store and totally upsetting the music industry? Either you're going to have to argue that everyone except Apple is just incredibly, incredibly unlucky, or you have to admit that there is something that Apple does that those companies don't. What that differentiating thing may be is open for debate, sure, but to say that everything they do is just a polish of some other company's work is simply ignorant. [[Special:Contributions/71.201.53.130|71.201.53.130]] 17:48, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

::Apple got lucky early on, and managed to get a fanbase, which they have basically brainwashed into thinking that Apple Products are automatically better than anything else. Secondly, I assume that it was not the comic itseld Davidy22 was referring to, but rather the explanation, which has since been changed. [[Special:Contributions/74.214.147.188|74.214.147.188]] 23:40, 24 October 2013 (UTC)

::: Brainwashed? The Apple II and the Macintosh were not the first in their ideas, but they were revolutionary computers. {{unsigned ip|112.209.87.11}}

:"pebbles on R&D"? I wish I had pebbles... Apple spends BILLIONS of US dollars every year on R&D ($3.3B in 2012, $4.4B in 2013). Check their Form-K filings with the SEC if you don't believe me. Some other tech companies spend more, but they also have a much larger product line than Apple's so that is to be expected.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.100|108.162.216.100]] 14:30, 18 September 2014 (UTC)