https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=108.162.216.12explain xkcd - User contributions [en]2026-04-15T13:47:43ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2452:_Aviation_Firsts&diff=210665Talk:2452: Aviation Firsts2021-04-21T13:21:28Z<p>108.162.216.12: added comment</p>
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<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
Someone got into editing just as I thought I'd start, so I'll leave it in case there's population of explanation afoot. But I'm waiting for both ''uncontrolled'' powered flight (I don't mean retrothrusted landing procedure) and controlled ''unpowered'' flight (ditto, not for parachute descents, at least until they make the subsonic ones full parasails). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.192|141.101.98.192]] 01:56, 20 April 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Is there a well-defined distinction between circumnavigation and orbit? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.249|172.69.33.249]] 04:13, 20 April 2021 (UTC)<br />
:given that the Wikipedia entry for “circumnavigation” includes a section for orbital circumnavigation, and that there exists a book with the title “Round About the Earth: circumnavigation from Magellan to Orbit” I think that there is not a well-defined distinction. Intuition is that circumnavigations could be split into two disjoint sets, those done at orbital speed, and those done slower, and that would provide a distinction most could agree with, but I found nothing official to support such a bifurcation.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.122|162.158.63.122]] 04:35, 20 April 2021 (UTC)<br />
:I'd instinctively suggest that a true circumnavigation would need to be bookended by touching the surface at the same point (or trivially near - different dock of the same port, hard-landed on a companion runway to that taken off from), or beyond and over its starting track before it finishes (like obviously hard to 'navigate' circumnavigating balloons - and not allowed to be too circumpolar). If a future orbit-inserted Mars-flier eventually 'lands' beyond the point it first started to achieve level flight below Mars's equivalent Karmen-line, having travelled all round the planet in the interim, I might accept that as a special case.<br />
:So far nothing (''but'' Ingenuity) has taken off from Mars, never mind (ditto) landed again, so all the orbiters clearly cannot be counted by this metric, and no rover has driven far enough to have attempted a surface-bound circumnavigation. A long-endurance rover with an advanced version of Ingy for look-ahead might ''jointly'' earn the benchmark as first surface and first (punctuated) flown circumnavigations.<br />
:A suborbital semi-ballistic non-stip circumnavigation might be achievable while trying out sample-return technology (though wouldn't be useful, probably only a failure mode of an orbital insertion attempt).<br />
:A surface-launched 'Martian weather balloon' might actually be the first success, though. It might be one designed to touch down, at least daily, for opportunistic sampling, but at the the risk of damage due to dragging/snagging. Or a non-stop trip, until it cannot maintain height/bumps into Olympus Mons. The engineering risks of a free-drifting balloon (capable of Martian flight) are probably being looked at by several teams right now for a future lander payload. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.109|141.101.99.109]] 12:06, 20 April 2021 (UTC)<br />
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where in the comic is the mile high club referenced???? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.69|108.162.219.69]] 13:35, 20 April 2021 (UTC)Bumpf<br />
:In the title text, along eith Amelia Earhart and the Hudson River. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:19, 20 April 2021 (UTC)<br />
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In my new favorite sci-fi series, DB Cooper, who got to know the local bigfoot tribe as a kid, and who is called in adulthood Falls-From-Sky, moves to the planet the sasquatch came from to live with the Starfoot and grow garlic with his grandson Charlie. Jerry Boyd's Bob & Nikki series. And their story is a *subplot*.[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 12:57, 20 April 2021 (UTC)<br />
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''Flight, Landing and Controlled Landing were variously achieved by some or all of the prior landers, depending upon your definition of flight.'' I would argue that not '''all''' landers achieved a controlled landing. I recall a couple that did not do enough aerobraking and ended up doing too much lithobraking instead and were not functional afterwards. Should that '''all''' remain in the sentence? [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 02:06, 21 April 2021 (UTC)<br />
:"variously achieved by some or all" means that different landers achieved different subsets. The ones you recall achieved flight (from Earth to Mars) and (crash) landing, but not controlled landing. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 03:51, 21 April 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Hmmm... Reading about how the explanation says "the notion of them [skeletal remains of Amelia Earhart] somehow ending up on the surface of Mars is practically impossible outside the remit of certain conspiracy theories." I immediately had to think on https://what-if.xkcd.com/53/ and https://what-if.xkcd.com/54/ [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 08:33, 21 April 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Adding a table to organize everything might be a good idea because right now the description is a bit confusing. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.12|108.162.216.12]] 13:21, 21 April 2021 (UTC)</div>108.162.216.12https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2452:_Aviation_Firsts&diff=2106622452: Aviation Firsts2021-04-21T13:18:26Z<p>108.162.216.12: /* Explanation */</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2452<br />
| date = April 19, 2021<br />
| title = Aviation Firsts<br />
| image = aviation_firsts.png<br />
| titletext = Mile High Club membership [✓] [ ] Discovery of parts of Amelia Earhart's skeleton [ ] [ ] Mid-flight incident that results in safe landing on the Hudson River [✓] [ ]<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by D. B. COOPER OF MARS. Put a table detailing all the events of the achievement checklist with an Earth and Mars column. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This comic reflects the [https://twitter.com/NASAPersevere/status/1384209173924089863 ''Ingenuity'' probe's first flight on Mars]. Now that ''Ingenuity'' has completed its first flight, Mars can be counted among planets with controlled flight.<br />
<br />
The previous categories were completed by the first space probes to reach and then land on Mars. Flight, Landing and Controlled Landing were variously achieved by some or all of the prior landers, depending upon your definition of flight, but certainly by the {{w|Mars_Science_Laboratory#Sky_crane_landing|Skycrane}} element used in landing both ''Curiosity'' and ''Perseverance'' rovers. These may not have qualified as Controlled Powered Flight as they only used their power to control the landing, before 'flying off' again under power without any more precise control than that needed to intentionally 'crash elsewhere'.<br />
<br />
The remaining have only been completed on Earth, if at all. A {{w|Aerobatic_maneuver|Loop}} does not yet seem to be practical or necessary to attempt over Mars, and the rest grow more bizarre and more specific further down the comic and extending into the title text. <br />
<br />
===Cultural references===<br />
* The {{w|Hughes H-4 Hercules}} (the "Spruce Goose") was a prototype wooden airplane, known for being the largest flying boat ever constructed. The Hercules was designed by aviation pioneer (and, latterly, famed recluse) Howard Hughes. The design was intended as a lightweight transoceanic transport for the the military, but the prototype (built out of wood because of aluminium shortages during the 1940s) was not completed until well after the end of the Second World War and only actually flew a single time in 1947. Since 1991, it has been on permanent display at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon, USA.<br />
* In 1971, Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305 was famously hijacked by a man who bought a ticket under the pseudonym {{w|D. B. Cooper|"Dan Cooper"}} (but popularly known as D. B. Cooper). After being given a $200,000 ransom by the plane's crew, Cooper then proceeded to parachute jump out of the plane using the rear {{w|airstair}} and was never confirmed to have been heard from again; many experts agree that the parachute jump was very risky and it's unlikely that Cooper even survived. (Cooper was previously mentioned in [[1400: D.B. Cooper]] and [[1501: Mysteries]].)<br />
* The "{{w|mile high club}}" is a slang term for people who have had sexual intercourse while onboard an airplane in flight. Although the notion of {{w|sex in space}} is understood to be severely hampered by the total lack of gravity, it's not known whether Mars's low gravity (compared to Earth) would make it similarly challenging to have intercourse on or near the planet's surface.<br />
* {{w|Amelia Earhart}} was a female aviator who, along with her navigator {{w|Fred Noonan}}, went missing over the Pacific Ocean in 1937 while attempting a global circumnavigation flight and has never been found. While there's some possibility that some of Earhart and Noonan's remains will eventually be discovered somewhere on the Pacific coastline, the notion of them somehow ending up on the surface of Mars is practically impossible outside the remit of certain conspiracy theories. (Earhart was previously mentioned in [[1501: Mysteries]], [[950: Mystery Solved]], and [[2197: Game Show]].)<br />
* The {{w|US Airways Flight 1549|Miracle on the Hudson}} was a 2009 aviation incident in which a US Airways airliner struck a flock of geese shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport in New York City. Despite the plane losing all its engine power as a result of the bird strike, Captain Chesley Sullenberger successfully crash-landed in the nearby Hudson River with minimal injuries to the passengers onboard. Of course, it would be highly impractical for a powered flight that encounters a problem in the sky above Mars to then fly all the way to Earth just for an emergency landing. Still, one can imagine a river appearing on a terra-formed Mars, some time in the far future, and it being given the name Hudson river, in which case this scenario would become more plausible.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A chart is shown with nine items. To the right of each item there are two check boxes. Above the top row of check boxes are two underlined labels for the two columns. The first four rows have both boxes checked, the last five have only the first box checked. The last two items are so long that they take up three and four rows of text. The first seven items can be on one line each.]<br />
<br />
<u>Earth</u> <u>Mars</u><br />
Flight <big>[✓]</big> <big>[✓]</big><br />
Landing <big>[✓]</big> <big>[✓]</big><br />
Controlled landing <big>[✓]</big> <big>[✓]</big><br />
Controlled powered flight <big>[✓]</big> <big>[✓]</big><br />
Loop <big>[✓]</big> <big>[ ]</big><br />
In-flight meal <big>[✓]</big> <big>[ ]</big><br />
Planetary circumnavigation <big>[✓]</big> <big>[ ]</big><br />
<br />
Enormous wooden aircraft <big>[✓]</big> <big>[ ]</big><br />
built by a reclusive billionaire<br />
that flies exactly once<br />
<br />
Hijacking by someone dubbed <big>[✓]</big> <big>[ ]</big><br />
"D.B. Cooper" who demands<br />
money and then jumps out<br />
mid-flight to an unknown fate<br />
<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Mars rovers]]<br />
[[Category:Charts]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]<br />
[[Category:Sex]]</div>108.162.216.12https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2447:_Hammer_Incident&diff=2099782447: Hammer Incident2021-04-08T10:28:18Z<p>108.162.216.12: </p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2447<br />
| date = April 7, 2021<br />
| title = Hammer Incident<br />
| image = hammer incident normal.png<br />
| titletext = I still think the Cold Stone Creamery partnership was a good idea, but I should have asked before doing the first market trials during the cryogenic mirror tests.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by AAAHHH THE IMAGE WAS TOO BIG! Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
The {{w|James Webb Space Telescope}} (JWST) is a {{w|space telescope}} created to be the successor of the {{w|Hubble Space Telescope}} under construction at time of publishing and expected to launch in October 2021. <br />
<br />
It's implied that Cueball dropped a hammer on the mirror of the JWST, and breaking mirrors in superstition causes seven years of bad luck. But since the mirror panel are not glass it is likely that a dropped hammer would dent and distort the panel rather than shatter it. <br />
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The title text refers to the ice cream chain {{w|Cold Stone Creamery}}. Since the cryocooler of the JWST cools things down to 7K (-266.15°C, or -447.07°F), it would a bit of an overkill.<br />
<br />
The JWST has previously been mentioned in [[2014: JWST Delays]], [[1730: Starshade]], and [[1461: Payloads]]<br />
<br />
For some reason, the image for this comic is very large (4332×4838px). This is probably a mistake, as the double-resolution version [https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/hammer_incident_2x.png] is significantly smaller at 578×645px.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:[Cueball stands before a seated panel of four people (Ponytail, Hairy, a second Cueball and Hairbun).]<br />
:Cueball: Yes, I know you're mad that I dropped that hammer.<br />
:Cueball: But think about me—<br />
:Cueball: '''''Seven years of bad luck!'''''<br />
:[Caption below the panel]:<br />
:Man, NASA is really on my case about the James Webb Space Telescope.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]<br />
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]<br />
[[Category:Telescopes]]</div>108.162.216.12https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2445:_Checkbox&diff=2093962445: Checkbox2021-04-01T23:49:08Z<p>108.162.216.12: /* Explanation */</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2445<br />
| date = April 1, 2021<br />
| title = Checkbox<br />
| image = checkbox.gif<br />
| titletext = Check check check ... chhecck chhecck chhecck ... check check check<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a CHECKBOX. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} <br />
This is an April Fools comic that looks similar to a loading screen. The actual comic (this “loading screen”) consists of a gif of a checkbox (hence the name). <br />
<br />
The frame is replaced with an interactive panel. In the centre is a check box, which clears itself immediately when checked. In the bottom right is a mute button, which begins muted.<br />
<br />
Under the checkbox is a scrolling visual representation of the timing and duration of clicks in the check box, which also produce matching beeping sounds when unmuted.<br />
<br />
By varying between brief and long presses, and brief and long intervals between presses, it is possible to enter characters in Morse Code.<br />
<br />
The title text hints at the use of Morse Code in the comic; interpreting the "check" as a Morse Code dot and the "chhecck" as a Morse Code dash gives ...---..., which is the Morse Code for "SOS", the international distress signal. Incidentally, inputting the SOS signal gives "YOU TOO?".<br />
<br />
The check box then begins operating by itself, producing sounds which can be decoded as Morse Code.<br />
<br />
For the majority of inputs, the check box responds with 'WHAT'. Some keywords have special responses.<br />
<br />
===Special Responses===<br />
[.s are short presses, -s are long presses, and /s are spaces (just for readability)]<br />
<br />
xkcd -> FILE NOT FOUND<br />
<br />
[-..- -.- -.-. -..]<br />
<br />
SOS -> YOU TOO?<br />
<br />
[... --- ...]<br />
<br />
HI -> HELLO! ANYBODY OUT THERE?<br />
<br />
[.... ..]<br />
<br />
HELLO -> HELLO TO YOU TOO!<br />
<br />
[.... . .-.. .-.. ---]<br />
<br />
HELP -> YES PLEASE<br />
<br />
[.... . .-.. .--.]<br />
<br />
WHAT -> ECHO<br />
<br />
[.-- .... .- -]<br />
<br />
ECHO -> ECHO<br />
<br />
[. -.-. .... ---]<br />
<br />
CHECK -> MATE<br />
<br />
[-.-. .... . -.-. -.-]<br />
<br />
E (''repeat n times'') -> E (''repeat n times'')<br />
<br />
[.]<br />
<br />
T (''repeat n times'') -> T (''repeat n times'')<br />
<br />
[-]<br />
<br />
WHO ARE YOU -> SOJOURNER<br />
<br />
[.-- .... --- / .- .-. . / -.-- --- ..-]<br />
<br />
SOJOURNER -> CFM<br />
<br />
[... --- .--- --- ..- .-. -. . .-.]<br />
<br />
CQ -> CQD DE SOJ<br />
<br />
[-.-. --.-]<br />
<br />
SOJOURNER -> CFM (short for Confirm)<br />
<br />
[... --- .--- --- ..- .-. -. . .-.]<br />
<br />
QUIET -> (turns the volume off)<br />
<br />
[--.- ..- .. . -]<br />
<br />
MUTE -> (turns the volume off)<br />
<br />
[-- ..- - .]<br />
<br />
BEEP -> (turns the volume on)<br />
<br />
[-... . . .--.]<br />
<br />
QRS -> (reduces playback speed)<br />
<br />
[--.- .-. ...]<br />
<br />
QRQ -> (increases playback speed)<br />
<br />
[--.- .-. --.-]<br />
<br />
QRA -> QRA SOJOURNER<br />
<br />
[--.- .-. .-]<br />
<br />
QRB -> QRB 264 MILLION KM<br />
<br />
[--.- .-. -…]<br />
<br />
QRH -> QRH 0.652 METERS<br />
<br />
[--.- .-. ....]<br />
<br />
QRG -> QRG PATHFINDER<br />
<br />
[--.- .-. --.]<br />
<br />
QRZ -> QRZ SOJOURNER<br />
<br />
[--.- .-. --..]<br />
<br />
QTH -> QTH ARES VALLIS<br />
<br />
[--.- - ....]<br />
<br />
QSL -> QSL<br />
<br />
[--.- ... .-..]<br />
<br />
ET -> PHONE HOME<br />
<br />
[. -]<br />
<br />
LS -> DID YOU MEAN DIR<br />
<br />
DIR -> ENTER IMAGE NUMBER<br />
<br />
(any number <=2445) -> (loads xkcd comic in new tab)<br />
<br />
MAKE ME A SANDWICH -> NOT A CHANCE<br />
<br />
[-- .- -.- . / -- . / .- / ... .- -. -.. .-- .. -.-. ….]<br />
<br />
SUDO MAKE ME A SANDWICH -> NOT POSSIBLE HERE<br />
<br />
[... ..- -.. --- / -- .- -.- . / -- . / .- / ... .- -. -.. .-- .. -.-. ....]<br />
<br />
F -> DID YOU MEAN FORTUNE<br />
<br />
[..-.]<br />
<br />
FORTUNE -> NEVER FEAR THE END OF SOMETHING MARKS THE START OF SOMETHING NEW<br />
<br />
[..-. --- .-. - ..- -. .]<br />
<br />
<nowiki />:) -> :D<br />
<br />
[---... -.--.-]<br />
<br />
<nowiki />:( -> :C<br />
<br />
[---... -.--.]<br />
<br />
UWU -> OWO<br />
<br />
[..- .-- ..-]<br />
<br />
OWO -> UWU<br />
<br />
[--- .-- ---]<br />
<br />
STATUS -> RADIO ONLINE, MOTOR ONLINE, UNILATERAL PHASE DETRACTOR UNPOWERED, CARDINAL GRAMMETER UNSYNCHRONIZED<br />
<br />
[... - .- - ..- ...]<br />
<br />
FORTUNE -> NEVER FEAR THE END OF SOMETHING MARKS THE START OF SOMETHING NEW<br />
<br />
[..-. --- .-. - ..- -. .]<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
Loading...<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>108.162.216.12https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2254:_JPEG2000&diff=186181Talk:2254: JPEG20002020-01-18T14:35:59Z<p>108.162.216.12: </p>
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<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
Cubeball's keyboard has disappeared in the third panel. 22:24, 13 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Pretty sure the woman in this comic should be called Hairbun. Updating transcript... [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 01:31, 14 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Jpeg2000 is widely used on archive.org (scans are stored as .jp2 there). For example, the image of this page [https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.215730/2015.215730.The-Theory#page/n99/mode/1up] is internally from a jp2.zip file:<br />
https://ia601604.us.archive.org/BookReader/BookReaderImages.php?zip=/16/items/in.ernet.dli.2015.215730/2015.215730.The-Theory_jp2.zip&file=2015.215730.The-Theory_jp2/2015.215730.The-Theory_0099.jp2<br />
where BookReaderImages.php seems to be able to read .jp2 in zip and send it to you as a legacy format your browser can handle. [[User:Yosei|Yosei]] ([[User talk:Yosei|talk]]) 01:48, 14 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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I wonder if as a result of this comic, xkcd fans will cause rapid adoption. [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 05:11, 14 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Looks like [https://pdf-aktuell.ch/pa/language/en/is-jpeg2000-compression-suitable-for-pdf-files-for-prepress/ it just isn't worth it].<br />
<br />
GIMP seems to be able to load JPEG2000 images. To export as JPEG2000, you need an external plugin. [[User:Fabben|Fabben]] ([[User talk:Fabben|talk]]) 12:02, 14 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
:That’s correct, I changed the text. --17:06, 14 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
I wonder if Randall is deliberately referencing Valve's Artifact's [https://steamcommunity.com/games/583950/announcements/detail/1712958942366879379 long haul]. Even has a loose connection with image artifacts. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.47.102|172.68.47.102]] 12:20, 14 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Would a brief description of the .png format (more typically used for comic images) be appropriate? {{unsigned|162.158.78.70}}<br />
<br />
I was pretty sure that patents were the main problem with adoption, at least in time when .gif patents were problem. However, seems the patent status is getting better and it isn't helping ... meanwhile, WEBP, which is using similar technology, is gaining traction.<br />
... which would also answer question of previous commenter: while brief mention of PNG might be worth it, mention of WEBP and similar alternatives would be more important -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:46, 14 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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It's also used for [http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Image_System textures in Second Life]. In fact, that page also states that decompressing JPEG2000 is much more processor-intensive than other image compression methods, so I guess that might be another reason for the lack of general adoption? [[User:EddyM|EddyM]] ([[User talk:EddyM|talk]]) 00:50, 15 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
JPEG2000 is not at all unknown in the geospatial community. Both USGS and NASA offer various aerial and satellite imagery products in JPEG2000 format only. I assume it is one of the most versatile non-proprietary photographic imaging formats out there. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.167.184|162.158.167.184]] 06:30, 15 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
When I clicked on th3 .jp2 as ljnked in the Trivia, my tablet wanted to open it only in my (pre-installed bog-standard) ebook reader ''or'' GPS Essentials (perhaps confirming 162.158.167.184's comment, just above). But mention of JPEG2000 takes me back (25 years or so!) to a time a similar scare to the GIF patent issue had motivated alternatives to the 'public' common picture standard. And reminds me also of the "masking" technique used on (regular?) JPEGs, based upon keyword-hash shuffling/deshuffling of selected 8x8-pixel DCT units of a JPEG image (and of the hues apllied to the curves) to reversibly censor images, IIRC driven largely by Japanese censorship rules. Somewhere on an old hard disk I must still have the reverse-engineered 'solver' I wrote for that, written in Delphi... ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.144|141.101.107.144]] 18:14, 15 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Odd that Randall would use a lossy JPEG2000 image for a cartoon rather than a lossless one. A friendly reminder that JPEG is best for photography and is not intended for line drawings. [[User:Thisisnotatest|Thisisnotatest]] ([[User talk:Thisisnotatest|talk]]) 08:04, 16 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
: That's his loss, then! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.196|141.101.98.196]] 17:15, 16 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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I was browsing a series of 70+ page PDFs that was a very high quality image scan, and the PDF browser would regularly grind to a halt for a second or two when trying to move forward a few pages. I eventually discovered that the images were embedded in JPEG2000. They were definitely small file sizes and definitely high quality, but it was just too much. I decoded the entire 500+ pages and re-encoded them as jpeg. Bigger file size, lower resolution, but scrolling was smooth as butter again.</div>108.162.216.12https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1652:_Conditionals&diff=114313Talk:1652: Conditionals2016-03-07T15:15:47Z<p>108.162.216.12: </p>
<hr />
<div>The title text... So he should both stop being pedantic in general and stop caring about conditionals in particular. What is it he does in the title text... the current explanation of that part is not clear to me. Is it completely clear who speaks which line in the title text...? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:03, 7 March 2016 (UTC)<br />
:It is fairly obvious that the line "If you're done being pedantic, we should get dinner," is provided by Cueball's friend, as it is already established that Cueball was the one being pedantic about conditionals in the first place. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.12|108.162.216.12]] 15:15, 7 March 2016 (UTC)</div>108.162.216.12https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1648:_Famous_Duos&diff=113389Talk:1648: Famous Duos2016-02-26T14:18:10Z<p>108.162.216.12: /* No rhyme nor reason to these pairings? */ new section</p>
<hr />
<div><!-- Remember to sign your comments with a ~~~~ --><br />
Aren't "Pinky and Clyde" also the names of the pink and orange Pacman ghosts? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.36|108.162.216.36]] 11:48, 26 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== No rhyme nor reason to these pairings? ==<br />
<br />
It appears the pairings are completely random. I was looking for some deeper meaning to them but it seems this is one of those comics to be taken entirely at face value. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.12|108.162.216.12]] 14:18, 26 February 2016 (UTC)</div>108.162.216.12https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1643:_Degrees&diff=1117841643: Degrees2016-02-15T14:16:53Z<p>108.162.216.12: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1643<br />
| date = February 15, 2016<br />
| title = Degrees<br />
| image = degrees.png<br />
| titletext = "Radians Fahrenheit or radians Celsius?" "Uh, sorry, gotta go!"<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|First explanation}}<br />
[[Cueball]] is being asked by a friend for the temperature. There are two common ways to give this in the US: in degrees Celsius and degrees Fahrenheit. The former is the metric system, not used in America. The latter is the Imperial system. Cueball weighs up the benefits of both, but is rushed by his friend to give an answer to give the answer in radians, which is a system used to measure <i>angular</i> degrees, not temperature. Thus, this answer is unhelpful.<br />
0.173 radians is 9.91 degrees. Since temperature is also measured in degrees, this could be a confusing conversion. It is unclear whether or not Cueball gave the Celsius or Fahrenheit conversion, however, radians and Celsius both share a c, and 9.91 degrees is a more common Celsius temperature, being 49.8 Fahrenheit.<br />
<br />
The title text indicates that Cueball’s friend still wants to know whether the answer is in radians Fahrenheit or radians Celsius, which, despite being a silly way to express temperature, makes Cueball nervous, and he runs off.The answer Cueball gives is 0,173 radians, which amounts to about 10 degrees, which implies Cueball means radians Celsius, sense 10 degrees Celsius is a much more common temperature than 10 degreed Fahrenheit. <br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball is looking at his phone]<br />
:Off-screen person: Hey, what's the temperature outside?<br />
:Cueball [thinks]: Should I give it in °F or °C?<br />
<br />
:<u>Degrees Celcius</u><br />
:* International standard<br />
:* Helps reduce America's wierd isolationism<br />
:* Nice how "negative" means below freezing<br />
:* Physics major loyalty<br />
:* Easier to spell<br />
:* We lost a Mars probe over this crap<br />
<br />
:<u>Degrees Fahrenheit</u><br />
:* 0°F to 100°F good match for temperature range in which most humans live<br />
:* Rounds more usefully (70's, 90's)<br />
:* Unit-aware computing makes imperial less annoying<br />
:* SI prefixes are less relevant for temperatures<br />
:* Fahrenheit is likely more clear in this context<br />
<br />
:Cueball [thinks]: Crap, gotta pick something. Uhh...<br />
:Cueball: ...0.173 radians.<br />
:Off-screen person: I'll just go check myself<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>108.162.216.12https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1621:_Fixion&diff=1078071621: Fixion2015-12-25T20:04:18Z<p>108.162.216.12: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1621<br />
| date = December 25, 2015<br />
| title = Fixion<br />
| image = fixion.png<br />
| titletext = My theory predicts that, at high enough energies, FRBs and perytons become indistinguishable because the detector burns out.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|This explanation is very incomplete. It is a small and terrible draft, only listing some immediate things I have noticed. This article should be structured as: General idea, table of explanations for each property.}}<br />
The second [[:Category:Christmas|Christmas]] comic in a row, this one - released on Christmas day - is a present to all physicists of a new particle, the ''Fixion'', which explains everything.<br />
<br />
In physics, there are still many big questions and mysteries. There are many phenomena which don't seem to fit, and we don't know how to explain yet. The "fixion" is satirically presented as a particle which acts as a {{w|Deus ex machina}} (see also [https://www.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeusExMachina tvtropes]) which solves all of these mysteries without any serious fundamental reasons.<br />
<br />
The style of the chart suggests a {{w|Feynmann diagram}} - an easy way of drawing particle interactions. Typically, fermions (the "solid" particles like electrons and quarks) are shown with solid lines, photons (and generally the weak-force-carrying bosons) are shown with wavy lines, gluons with spiraling lines and other mediating particles (such as pions in the nuclear force, or the Higgs) with a dotted line. Randall obeys these rules only very loosely, which makes sense - many of the things involved in this Feynmann diagram are either so theoretical that they have no widely used standard representation, or would never appear in a sensible diagram (spacecraft, for instance).<br />
<br />
===Table of Phenomena===<br />
{| border =1 width=100% cellpadding=5<br />
|'''Phenomenon''' || '''Description''' || '''Solved?'''<br />
|- <br />
| Main component of {{w|dark matter}} || Dark matter is needed to explain the difference between how we think gravity behaves and the actual behavior of galaxies. The two leading theories of dark matter are that it is made of {{w|MACHOs}} (massive compact halo objects; effectively dead stars too dim to see) or {{w|WIMPs}} (weakly interacting massive particles; unknown particles which barely interact with matter except through gravity. || No, and proving the nature of dark matter will win someone the Nobel Prize.<br />
|-<br />
| Confines {{w|quark}}s and {{w|gluon}}s || {{w|Quark confinement}} means that we never see particles with {{w|colour charge|color charge}} (i.e. quarks and gluons) on their own. Try to separate them, and new one pops into existence. || The basic facts of confinement are well understood, but some of the details are too complicated to tease out.<br />
|-<br />
| Suppresses antimatter in early universe || The universe today is made almost entirely of matter. Antimatter and matter are identical, except that the charges are opposite, and that they annihilate when they come in contact with each other. So why is the universe made of matter? Why didn't the universe have equal amounts of both, and if it did, why didn't it annihilate itself immediately? This is a big question in physics today. Of course, the fixion explains this. || Lots of theories, not a shred of evidence for any yet. Now that the Higgs boson has been found, the biggest project for the {{w|Large Hadron Collider}} experiments is to try to crack this.<br />
|-<br />
| Neutralizes monopoles || {{w|Magnetic monopoles}} should exist, according to many GUTs (grand unified theories) and string theories, but none have ever been seen. || No (despite claims that pop up in the news every year, creating a monopole-like state in the magnetic spins of a crystal is not the same as creating a real monopole.)<br />
|-<br />
| Spontaneously emits {{w|dark energy}} || Dark energy is needed to explain why the universe expands as quickly as it does... but so much dark energy is needed that it would make up 70% of the universe! The nature of dark energy is totally unknown. || Again, Nobel Prize territory.<br />
|-<br />
| Mediates {{w|proton decay}}, but then hides it. || Many GUTs predict that protons will decay, but experiments have shown the proton to have a half life of at least the age of the universe. || It's not ''necessarily'' a problem. All theories predict that proton decay is a very slow process (10<sup>32+</sup> seconds), which is consistent with the current data.<br />
|-<br />
| Broken symmetry causes ϴ=0, explaining unobserved neutron dipole moment || The {{w|neutron electric dipole moment}} is a measure of how balanced electric charge is inside the neutron. ϴ (theta) is a number in quantum chromodynamics which quantifies the the breaking of a type of symmetry called {{w|CP violation|CP symmetry}}. If ϴ is not 0, one result of this should be a neutron dipole moment. {{w|Symmetry breaking}} is a common explanation of effects in some areas of theoretical physics (for instance, it's an important part of Higgs' theory about why particles have mass), but normally it explains why a value is ''not'' zero. Presumably the fixion breaks CP symmetry independently of QCD, which means that ϴ can be 0 while preserving observed CP-breaking effects. || Again, it's not (yet) a problem - the predicted dipole moment is tiny, and we're only just reaching the point when we can measure it that accurately.<br />
|-<br />
| Introduces dispersion in perytons from kitchen microwaves, explaining fast radio bursts || {{w|Fast radio burst}}s are unexplained bursts of radio-frequency energy from space. {{w|Peryton}}s are things that ''look like'' FRBs, but come from Earth (specifically, from the microwave oven at Parkes Observatory. Randall's fixions makes some perytons change frequency distribution so they appear to come from space. || No, but it's probably something very big - a star collapsing to a black or (as now looks likely) a {{w|magnetar}} (magnetic neutron star)<br />
|-<br />
| Covers naked singularities || A {{w|naked singularity}} is like a black hole without an {{w|event horizon}}. So far no naked singularity has been observed (except, arguably, the big bang) and the {{w|cosmic censorship hypothesis}} suggests they can't exist, although some people have suggested ways of making them. || Not necessarily something that needs explaining - none have been seen, and most theories say they don't exist. If support grows for {{w|loop quantum gravity}}, then we might have to start really searching.<br />
|-<br />
| Causes {{w|alpha effect}} || A weird effect from chemistry, where putting an "alpha" atom with a {{w|lone pair}} of electrons close to a molecule makes the molecule more likely to give up its electrons. || Lots of competing explanations.<br />
|-<br />
| Causes coronal heating || For some reason the outer layer of the sun (the {{w|corona}}) is hotter than most reasonable theories predict. || It's a mystery, but it possibly has something to do with waves in the corona (for example, the {{w|High Resolution Coronal Imager}} has seen "braids" in the corona that whip around and unravel themselves).<br />
|-<br />
| Intercepts certain {{w|gravitational waves}} before they're observed. || If gravity behaves like the other forces, it must be conveyed by waves. Our best detector, {{w|LIGO}} has yet to detect any gravitational waves, though this is probably just due to the low probability of events that would be detectable. Only extreme events like binary black hole mergers are detectable with the current setup. The proposed LISA spacecraft will be able to see things like orbiting black holes and neutron stars. || Let's wait for the LISA data before jumping to conclusions.<br />
|-<br />
| Higgs-ish || The {{w|Higgs boson}} is a manifestation of the Higgs field... but many supersymmetry and string theories predict multiple Higgs-like particles. It's almost a prerequisite of any new theory that it has a Higgs-ish element. || N/A<br />
|-<br />
| Accelerates certain spacecraft during flybys || This refers to the {{w|flyby anomaly}} which is sometimes (but not always) seen when spacecraft fly close to planets and pick up more speed than expected. It's not always seen - ROSETTA had no flyby anomaly when it swooped extremely close to Mars. || It could be an unpredicted quirk of gravity and relativity... or it could be experimental error.<br />
|-<br />
| Superluminally smooths anisotropies in early universe (but adds faint polarization for BICEP3 to find) || The CMB (Cosmic Microwave Background) is incredibly uniform. In fact it is so uniform that the conclusion is that these areas must have been in contact at some time in the early universe. But with the age of the universe, even traveling at the speed of light, opposite sides never touch. The explanation usually given is that the universe expanded really fast in the beginning ("inflation"). {{w|BICEP2}} is a radio telescope at the South Pole whose operators claim to have seen polarization in the CMB indicative of inflation. || As stated, inflation is the standard explanation and it holds up fairly well. Other studies haven't seen the polarization that BICEP2 has - the {{w|Planck (spacecraft)|Planck space telescope}} also suggests that BICEP2 team were looking at an unusually dusty bit of space, which could cause polarization.<br />
|-<br />
| Triggers Siberian sinkholes || Recently, several sinkholes opened up in remote parts of Siberia. The explanation is currently unknown. || While there are lots of weird theories, there's a good chance they were [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/mystery-of-the-siberian-holes-at-the-end-of-the-world-solved-scientists-offer-explanation-9642988.html caused by melting permafrost] (possibly due to global warming)<br />
|-<br />
| Melts ice in "{{w|Snowball Earth}}" scenario || "Snowball Earth" is the theory that the whole planet was covered in ice at some point. To melt all that ice by the greenhouse effect would require far more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than seems plausible. However, if volcanoes were to deposit black soot on the surface of the ice, it would start absorbing heat more efficiently (in scientific terms, the Earth's {{w|albedo}} would decrease) and that would also make the planet heat up. || There's no firm evidence one way or the other for Snowball Earth.<br />
|-<br />
| Transports neutrinos faster than light, but only on certain days through one area of France || Refers to the {{w|faster-than-light neutrino anomaly}}, where it seemed that a neutrino beam from {{w|CERN}} on the France/Switzerland border to the {{w|OPERA experiment}} in Italy traveled fast than light. This result was not able to be replicated. || In the end, there was no mystery. Just a dodgy cable causing a measurement error.<br />
|-<br />
| Suppresses sigma in experiments || Sigma (σ) refers to the {{w|standard deviation}} - a mathematical measure of how much an observed value differs from the expected value. For a formal scientific discovery in particle physics, the standard is 5 sigma which means that there is about a 1 in 3.5 million chance that the results were caused by random errors (of course, they could be caused by ''systematic'' errors, such as measurement problems). Some tantalizing experiments have found interesting results at 3 or 4 sigma but either can't reach 5 sigma or {{w|Oops-Leon|are subsequently disproven}}. The fixion means that actually, these experiments ''have'' found what the experimenters wanted to find, but because of the fixion's dastardly behavior, the sigma has been artificially lowered below the proof threshold.|| N/A<br />
|}<br />
<br />
The title text is a further joke about FRBs and perytons. GUTs normally predict that all the forces we see are the different low-energy versions of a single force which can only be seen at extremely high energies (much higher than any Earth-based collider could produce). A high-energy FRB would be a {{w|gamma ray burst}} and if it came from a close enough object, would obliterate all life on Earth... and wreck the sensitive electronics at Parkes Observatory. This "high energy unification" is stated in a way reminiscent of the unification of electromagnetic and weak forces at high energies; but unlike the latter, it involves two things only "appearing" (or, in this case, not appearing) to be the same, not actually becoming the same.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><br />
<font size="5">A Christmas gift for physicists: <br>'''The Fixion'''</font><br />
<br /><br />
<font size="4">A new particle that explains everything</font><br />
<br /><br /><br />
[A diagram is shown below the title. The diagram is supposedly a Feynmann diagram.]<br />
</div><br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable" style="width: 80%; margin: 1em auto;" <br />
! style="width: 70%; padding: 5px;"| Characteristics <br />
! style="width: 30%; padding: 5px;"| Part of the diagram being pointed to<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Main component of dark matter <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Near the beginning of the main thick line<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Confines quarks and gluons <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Near the beginning of the main thick line<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Suppresses antimatter in early universe <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| N/A<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Neutralizes monopoles <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| First thin line, branching from the main thick line<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Spontaneously emits dark energy <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| First two dotted lines, branching from the main thick line<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Mediates proton decay but then hides it <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Three thin lines merging with the main thick line<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Broken symmetry causes ϴ=0, explaining unobserved neutron dipole moment <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Slightly below the merging of three thin lines with the main thick line<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Introduces dispersion in perytons from kitchen microwaves, explaining fast radio bursts <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Four squiggly lines, branching from the main thick line<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Covers naked singularities <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| N/A<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Causes alpha effect <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| N/A<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Causes coronal heating <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| N/A<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Intercepts certain gravitational waves before they're observed. <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Looping line, branching from the main thick line<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Higgs-ish <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| N/A<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Accelerates certain spacecraft during flybys <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Two thin lines directing to satelites, branching from the main thick line<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Superluminally smooths anisotropies in early universe (but adds faint polarization for BICEP3 to find) <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Near the end of the main thick line<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Triggers Siberian sinkholes <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| N/A<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Melts ice in "Snowball Earth" scenario <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| N/A<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Transports neutrinos faster than light, but only on certain days through one area of France <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| A dotted part of the main line, with two portals at the beginning and end of the dotted line<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Suppresses sigma in experiments <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| N/A<br />
|}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Christmas]]<br />
[[Category:Charts]]<br />
[[Category:Science]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]]<br />
[[Category:Space]]</div>108.162.216.12https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1621:_Fixion&diff=1078061621: Fixion2015-12-25T20:03:32Z<p>108.162.216.12: /* Table of phenomenons */ → /* Table of Phenomena */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1621<br />
| date = December 25, 2015<br />
| title = Fixion<br />
| image = fixion.png<br />
| titletext = My theory predicts that, at high enough energies, FRBs and perytons become indistinguishable because the detector burns out.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|This explanation is very incomplete. It is a small and terrible draft, only listing some immediate things I have noticed. This article should be structured as: General idea, table of explanations for each property.}}<br />
The second [[:Category:Christmas|Christmas]] comic in a row, this one - released on Christmas day - is a present to all physicists of a new particle, the ''Fixion'', which explains everything.<br />
<br />
In physics, there are still many big questions and mysteries. There are many phenomena which don't seem to fit, and we don't know how to explain yet. The "fixion" is satirically presented as a particle which acts as a {{w|Deus ex machina}} (see also [https://www.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeusExMachina tvtropes]) which solves all of these mysteries without any serious fundamental reasons.<br />
<br />
The style of the chart suggests a {{w|Feynmann diagram}} - an easy way of drawing particle interactions. Typically, fermions (the "solid" particles like electrons and quarks) are shown with solid lines, photons (and generally the weak-force-carrying bosons) are shown with wavy lines, gluons with spiraling lines and other mediating particles (such as pions in the nuclear force, or the Higgs) with a dotted line. Randall obeys these rules only very loosely, which makes sense - many of the things involved in this Feynmann diagram are either so theoretical that they have no widely used standard representation, or would never appear in a sensible diagram (spacecraft, for instance).<br />
<br />
--===Table of Phenomena===<br />
{| border =1 width=100% cellpadding=5<br />
|'''Phenomenon''' || '''Description''' || '''Solved?'''<br />
|- <br />
| Main component of {{w|dark matter}} || Dark matter is needed to explain the difference between how we think gravity behaves and the actual behavior of galaxies. The two leading theories of dark matter are that it is made of {{w|MACHOs}} (massive compact halo objects; effectively dead stars too dim to see) or {{w|WIMPs}} (weakly interacting massive particles; unknown particles which barely interact with matter except through gravity. || No, and proving the nature of dark matter will win someone the Nobel Prize.<br />
|-<br />
| Confines {{w|quark}}s and {{w|gluon}}s || {{w|Quark confinement}} means that we never see particles with {{w|colour charge|color charge}} (i.e. quarks and gluons) on their own. Try to separate them, and new one pops into existence. || The basic facts of confinement are well understood, but some of the details are too complicated to tease out.<br />
|-<br />
| Suppresses antimatter in early universe || The universe today is made almost entirely of matter. Antimatter and matter are identical, except that the charges are opposite, and that they annihilate when they come in contact with each other. So why is the universe made of matter? Why didn't the universe have equal amounts of both, and if it did, why didn't it annihilate itself immediately? This is a big question in physics today. Of course, the fixion explains this. || Lots of theories, not a shred of evidence for any yet. Now that the Higgs boson has been found, the biggest project for the {{w|Large Hadron Collider}} experiments is to try to crack this.<br />
|-<br />
| Neutralizes monopoles || {{w|Magnetic monopoles}} should exist, according to many GUTs (grand unified theories) and string theories, but none have ever been seen. || No (despite claims that pop up in the news every year, creating a monopole-like state in the magnetic spins of a crystal is not the same as creating a real monopole.)<br />
|-<br />
| Spontaneously emits {{w|dark energy}} || Dark energy is needed to explain why the universe expands as quickly as it does... but so much dark energy is needed that it would make up 70% of the universe! The nature of dark energy is totally unknown. || Again, Nobel Prize territory.<br />
|-<br />
| Mediates {{w|proton decay}}, but then hides it. || Many GUTs predict that protons will decay, but experiments have shown the proton to have a half life of at least the age of the universe. || It's not ''necessarily'' a problem. All theories predict that proton decay is a very slow process (10<sup>32+</sup> seconds), which is consistent with the current data.<br />
|-<br />
| Broken symmetry causes ϴ=0, explaining unobserved neutron dipole moment || The {{w|neutron electric dipole moment}} is a measure of how balanced electric charge is inside the neutron. ϴ (theta) is a number in quantum chromodynamics which quantifies the the breaking of a type of symmetry called {{w|CP violation|CP symmetry}}. If ϴ is not 0, one result of this should be a neutron dipole moment. {{w|Symmetry breaking}} is a common explanation of effects in some areas of theoretical physics (for instance, it's an important part of Higgs' theory about why particles have mass), but normally it explains why a value is ''not'' zero. Presumably the fixion breaks CP symmetry independently of QCD, which means that ϴ can be 0 while preserving observed CP-breaking effects. || Again, it's not (yet) a problem - the predicted dipole moment is tiny, and we're only just reaching the point when we can measure it that accurately.<br />
|-<br />
| Introduces dispersion in perytons from kitchen microwaves, explaining fast radio bursts || {{w|Fast radio burst}}s are unexplained bursts of radio-frequency energy from space. {{w|Peryton}}s are things that ''look like'' FRBs, but come from Earth (specifically, from the microwave oven at Parkes Observatory. Randall's fixions makes some perytons change frequency distribution so they appear to come from space. || No, but it's probably something very big - a star collapsing to a black or (as now looks likely) a {{w|magnetar}} (magnetic neutron star)<br />
|-<br />
| Covers naked singularities || A {{w|naked singularity}} is like a black hole without an {{w|event horizon}}. So far no naked singularity has been observed (except, arguably, the big bang) and the {{w|cosmic censorship hypothesis}} suggests they can't exist, although some people have suggested ways of making them. || Not necessarily something that needs explaining - none have been seen, and most theories say they don't exist. If support grows for {{w|loop quantum gravity}}, then we might have to start really searching.<br />
|-<br />
| Causes {{w|alpha effect}} || A weird effect from chemistry, where putting an "alpha" atom with a {{w|lone pair}} of electrons close to a molecule makes the molecule more likely to give up its electrons. || Lots of competing explanations.<br />
|-<br />
| Causes coronal heating || For some reason the outer layer of the sun (the {{w|corona}}) is hotter than most reasonable theories predict. || It's a mystery, but it possibly has something to do with waves in the corona (for example, the {{w|High Resolution Coronal Imager}} has seen "braids" in the corona that whip around and unravel themselves).<br />
|-<br />
| Intercepts certain {{w|gravitational waves}} before they're observed. || If gravity behaves like the other forces, it must be conveyed by waves. Our best detector, {{w|LIGO}} has yet to detect any gravitational waves, though this is probably just due to the low probability of events that would be detectable. Only extreme events like binary black hole mergers are detectable with the current setup. The proposed LISA spacecraft will be able to see things like orbiting black holes and neutron stars. || Let's wait for the LISA data before jumping to conclusions.<br />
|-<br />
| Higgs-ish || The {{w|Higgs boson}} is a manifestation of the Higgs field... but many supersymmetry and string theories predict multiple Higgs-like particles. It's almost a prerequisite of any new theory that it has a Higgs-ish element. || N/A<br />
|-<br />
| Accelerates certain spacecraft during flybys || This refers to the {{w|flyby anomaly}} which is sometimes (but not always) seen when spacecraft fly close to planets and pick up more speed than expected. It's not always seen - ROSETTA had no flyby anomaly when it swooped extremely close to Mars. || It could be an unpredicted quirk of gravity and relativity... or it could be experimental error.<br />
|-<br />
| Superluminally smooths anisotropies in early universe (but adds faint polarization for BICEP3 to find) || The CMB (Cosmic Microwave Background) is incredibly uniform. In fact it is so uniform that the conclusion is that these areas must have been in contact at some time in the early universe. But with the age of the universe, even traveling at the speed of light, opposite sides never touch. The explanation usually given is that the universe expanded really fast in the beginning ("inflation"). {{w|BICEP2}} is a radio telescope at the South Pole whose operators claim to have seen polarization in the CMB indicative of inflation. || As stated, inflation is the standard explanation and it holds up fairly well. Other studies haven't seen the polarization that BICEP2 has - the {{w|Planck (spacecraft)|Planck space telescope}} also suggests that BICEP2 team were looking at an unusually dusty bit of space, which could cause polarization.<br />
|-<br />
| Triggers Siberian sinkholes || Recently, several sinkholes opened up in remote parts of Siberia. The explanation is currently unknown. || While there are lots of weird theories, there's a good chance they were [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/mystery-of-the-siberian-holes-at-the-end-of-the-world-solved-scientists-offer-explanation-9642988.html caused by melting permafrost] (possibly due to global warming)<br />
|-<br />
| Melts ice in "{{w|Snowball Earth}}" scenario || "Snowball Earth" is the theory that the whole planet was covered in ice at some point. To melt all that ice by the greenhouse effect would require far more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than seems plausible. However, if volcanoes were to deposit black soot on the surface of the ice, it would start absorbing heat more efficiently (in scientific terms, the Earth's {{w|albedo}} would decrease) and that would also make the planet heat up. || There's no firm evidence one way or the other for Snowball Earth.<br />
|-<br />
| Transports neutrinos faster than light, but only on certain days through one area of France || Refers to the {{w|faster-than-light neutrino anomaly}}, where it seemed that a neutrino beam from {{w|CERN}} on the France/Switzerland border to the {{w|OPERA experiment}} in Italy traveled fast than light. This result was not able to be replicated. || In the end, there was no mystery. Just a dodgy cable causing a measurement error.<br />
|-<br />
| Suppresses sigma in experiments || Sigma (σ) refers to the {{w|standard deviation}} - a mathematical measure of how much an observed value differs from the expected value. For a formal scientific discovery in particle physics, the standard is 5 sigma which means that there is about a 1 in 3.5 million chance that the results were caused by random errors (of course, they could be caused by ''systematic'' errors, such as measurement problems). Some tantalizing experiments have found interesting results at 3 or 4 sigma but either can't reach 5 sigma or {{w|Oops-Leon|are subsequently disproven}}. The fixion means that actually, these experiments ''have'' found what the experimenters wanted to find, but because of the fixion's dastardly behavior, the sigma has been artificially lowered below the proof threshold.|| N/A<br />
|}<br />
<br />
The title text is a further joke about FRBs and perytons. GUTs normally predict that all the forces we see are the different low-energy versions of a single force which can only be seen at extremely high energies (much higher than any Earth-based collider could produce). A high-energy FRB would be a {{w|gamma ray burst}} and if it came from a close enough object, would obliterate all life on Earth... and wreck the sensitive electronics at Parkes Observatory. This "high energy unification" is stated in a way reminiscent of the unification of electromagnetic and weak forces at high energies; but unlike the latter, it involves two things only "appearing" (or, in this case, not appearing) to be the same, not actually becoming the same.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><br />
<font size="5">A Christmas gift for physicists: <br>'''The Fixion'''</font><br />
<br /><br />
<font size="4">A new particle that explains everything</font><br />
<br /><br /><br />
[A diagram is shown below the title. The diagram is supposedly a Feynmann diagram.]<br />
</div><br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable" style="width: 80%; margin: 1em auto;" <br />
! style="width: 70%; padding: 5px;"| Characteristics <br />
! style="width: 30%; padding: 5px;"| Part of the diagram being pointed to<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Main component of dark matter <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Near the beginning of the main thick line<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Confines quarks and gluons <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Near the beginning of the main thick line<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Suppresses antimatter in early universe <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| N/A<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Neutralizes monopoles <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| First thin line, branching from the main thick line<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Spontaneously emits dark energy <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| First two dotted lines, branching from the main thick line<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Mediates proton decay but then hides it <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Three thin lines merging with the main thick line<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Broken symmetry causes ϴ=0, explaining unobserved neutron dipole moment <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Slightly below the merging of three thin lines with the main thick line<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Introduces dispersion in perytons from kitchen microwaves, explaining fast radio bursts <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Four squiggly lines, branching from the main thick line<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Covers naked singularities <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| N/A<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Causes alpha effect <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| N/A<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Causes coronal heating <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| N/A<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Intercepts certain gravitational waves before they're observed. <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Looping line, branching from the main thick line<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Higgs-ish <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| N/A<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Accelerates certain spacecraft during flybys <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Two thin lines directing to satelites, branching from the main thick line<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Superluminally smooths anisotropies in early universe (but adds faint polarization for BICEP3 to find) <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Near the end of the main thick line<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Triggers Siberian sinkholes <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| N/A<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Melts ice in "Snowball Earth" scenario <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| N/A<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Transports neutrinos faster than light, but only on certain days through one area of France <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| A dotted part of the main line, with two portals at the beginning and end of the dotted line<br />
|-<br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| Suppresses sigma in experiments <br />
| style="padding: 5px;"| N/A<br />
|}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
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