explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2383: Electoral Precedent 2020

2021-02-24T06:38:15Z

108.162.219.81:

Can anyone identify the faded background text in the 2016 panel?

Is there some shadow text behind the main text in the 2016 square? I can barely make it out.
It looks like "No nominee whose first name contains a "k" has lost", which would be the same from the 1122 comic.
[[User:ChunyangD|ChunyangD]] ([[User talk:ChunyangD|talk]]) 00:54, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

It's the alternative text from the 2016 one: "No nominee whose first name contains a "K" has lost." [[Special:Contributions/172.69.235.143|172.69.235.143]] 00:58, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

: I replaced the image in this article. It looks like Randall fixed the image on xkcd.com to get rid of the shadow text. [[User:Natg19|Natg19]] ([[User talk:Natg19|talk]]) 21:53, 11 November 2020 (UTC)

I'm quite sure that Obama did in fact have a campaign website in 2008 when he was a challenger. See http://www.4president.us/websites/2008/barackobama2008website.htm [[User:Bobjr|Bobjr]] ([[User talk:Bobjr|talk]]) 01:15, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
:I think "challenger" means that they're going against the incumbent. Obama was up against McCain, who wasn't an incumbent. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 01:31, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
Should be added to the original explanation. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.132|162.158.159.132]] 00:16, 12 November 2020 (UTC)

How much do we want the explanation for this one to repeat what is in that of 1122?--[[User:Troy0|Troy0]] ([[User talk:Troy0|talk]]) 01:19, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
:We shouldn't. If the explanation of 1122 is missing something it should be added there. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 08:21, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
There is much to do on the original - like where some of the presidents were, how tall were the presidents beofre Lincoln etc. It is eight years old we hould have done this. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.132|162.158.159.132]] 00:16, 12 November 2020 (UTC)

Didn't Clinton win after being impeached? [[User:Alcatraz ii|Alcatraz ii]] ([[User talk:Alcatraz ii|talk]]) 01:21, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
:Yes, he was impeached during his first term. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 01:31, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
:: No, this is not true, Clinton was impeached during his 2nd term, in 1998, and he was not eligible for a 3rd term. George W. Bush won the following presidential election in 2000. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.42|172.69.34.42]] 01:35, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

You could also say Joe was the first President with a rescue dog [[User:Squire80513|Squire80513]] ([[User talk:Squire80513|talk]]) 01:57, 10 November 2020 (UTC)Squire80513
:Does not Lyndon B Johnson's dog, Yuki, count? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.128|162.158.159.128]] 02:30, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
::LBJ's Yuki was a "rescue" (found wandering aimlessly around a gas station) but not a "shelter" dog. Joe's dog is the first first canine from a shelter. It's subtle distinction that many repeating the statistic miss [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 03:08, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

Point of order, why is Biden being referred to as president elect? I was under the impression that the term shouldn't be used until the dispute is resolved. With several pending legal cases and the votes uncertified by the states. -172.69.170.142 3:45 11/10/20 {{template:unsigned IP|172.69.170.142|03:45, 10 November 2020}}
: All major media sources have called the race for Biden as of Saturday, November 8th. XKCD, and this wiki, will follow the lead of the Associated Press or New York Times, both of whom say the race has concluded and Joe Biden is the president elect. -162.158.62.93 4:38 11/10/20 {{template:unsigned IP|162.158.62.93|04:38, 10 November 2020}}
:: Except for one of the most trusted- RealClearPolitics.com still has Pennsylvania up for grabs due to lawsuits and is about to move Michigan back into play after a poll worker claimed that a delivery of Biden-only votes came into a Detroit counting room at 3:30 am on November 4.[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 14:26, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
::: Your assertion of trust without reason comes across as fake news; however, I checked the web.archive.org history for realclearpolitics.com, and it has over a decade of history. I also visited the site and at a cursor glance it might have rational articles from both political sides, which seems commendable. If it is actually trustworthy, why didn't you explain that it is and why it is, given the current news environment? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.77|162.158.62.77]] 14:53, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
:::: My bad, I had assumed that the trio of sites covering the electoral college, 270toWin, RealClearPolitics, and 538 were all well known and respected sites by now, after having played a big role in the last 4 elections. [[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 15:25, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
:: Not only that, but A) while "the votes uncertified by the states" may influence the exact total, they can't make Trump win, B) a Trump victory would require that ALL legal cases are resolved in Trump's favor (depending on uncertified votes) and C) the Republican party asked to Trump to concede victory, meaning that nobody with political experience believes those legal cases have a chance of success. The only unknown point is the result of the EC election, but it is naturally assumed they will vote for the elected candidate.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.55.104|172.69.55.104]] 08:29, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
: "Presumptive president elect" would be more accurate (and I say this as someone that voted for Biden). --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.72|108.162.219.72]] 10:06, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

I don't understand how the statement for 1876 could have been true: if J.Q. Adams won in 1824 without a popular majority, then his opponent won the majority and still lost, so Tilden couldn't have been the first in 1876 to win the majority and lose?[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.38|141.101.98.38]] 08:54, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
: Simple: there were more than two candidates. In 1824, there were four candidates who each got over 10% of the vote. That's how Adams could win without the majority, without one of his opponents then having the majority. (In fact, Jackson had the plurality of the votes, but not the majority, but Adams was elected by the House.) --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.74|141.101.98.74]] 11:30, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
::Thanks![[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.96|162.158.159.96]] 16:57, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
:::More details: {{w|1824 United States presidential election}}. Jackson only got about 41% of the popular vote (in states that had one -- not all did back then), and 99 out of 261 electoral votes (~38%). Nobody got enough votes in enough states for an electoral majority, so the election went to Congress. --[[User:Aaron of Mpls|Aaron of Mpls]] ([[User talk:Aaron of Mpls|talk]]) 00:41, 11 November 2020 (UTC)

Bad with formatting here, but I updated the bit about precedent to include that Trump's raw vote total (approx 71.5 million, also not yet certified) is ''also'' breaking the precedent set by Obama in 2008. Love them or hate them, in this high-turnout election, both major party candidates had record numbers for their raw vote totals. Trump doesn't make it to first place above Obama because Biden makes it to first place above Trump. I didn't look into whether the percentage of eligible population numbers are different, but higher turnout combined with higher population makes breaking that barrier a little easier.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.5|108.162.238.5]] 13:02, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
:Especially since poll workers were caught on camera in Wisconsin putting Trump Votes upside-down into the scanner, but scanning Biden votes correctly.[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 14:26, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
::How was this discovered? How can we hunt down more occurrences? Did the machine reject the ballots and the people fix the error? (and what are the ramifications of a camera recording vote ballots?) There is no reason to not suspect the opposite happens too: that anybody's votes could be put in upside down. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.77|162.158.62.77]] 14:55, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
:::It's part of the lawsuit based on a complaint from an observer. But there is an easy way to track down and correct this problem on both sides- hold a recount.[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 15:25, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
::::I have not found a reference to any current Wisconsin lawsuit. Seems like you should either document the claims or delete them.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.126|172.68.174.126]] 23:13, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
::The scanners read both sides of the ballot, and the ballot has markings so it knows which side is the front and which is the back. It doesn't matter which way you feed them into the scanner. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.164|162.158.78.164]] 17:26, 11 November 2020 (UTC)

Honestly, the outcome's still not 100%, so, if, by some stroke of (bad?) luck, Trump becomes president again, then the precedents might change.- another user

Is it just me, or is Randall using this comic as an excuse to throw some shade on Trump? The two squares about Trump are "he has no military experience or political experience" and "he got impeached and then lost." He could've picked more neutral things (his age perhaps, or his appearance on WWE or something) so these choices seem pretty deliberate and, pointed, shall we say? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.183|172.69.63.183]] 00:13, 11 November 2020 (UTC)
:It's still in keeping with the other 'serious' precedents in prior elections, like not winning without a specific state, or having/not having certain experience. --[[User:Aaron of Mpls|Aaron of Mpls]] ([[User talk:Aaron of Mpls|talk]]) 00:41, 11 November 2020 (UTC)
::By Randall's standards, this "shade" is fairly mild. We already know that Randall is not a fan of Trump. The fact that Trump had no government or military experience, unlike all previous presidents, was well-known. And if Randall ever updates this strip after a future election, the item about Trump having been impeached wouldn't even be mentioned because that precedent ''wasn't'' broken. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.22|172.68.65.22]] 02:40, 11 November 2020 (UTC)
::If he wanted to throw shade at trump, it could've been something like "No candidate has been elected after admitting on tape to grabbing womens' crotches without consent", not something mild like not coming from a government or military background (which Trump bragged about). --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.164|162.158.78.164]] 17:44, 11 November 2020 (UTC)
:Why replace something enormously important with something neutral? Trump was the first person to be elected who had zero prior practical experience related to the office of President, and the results have been painfully obvious. [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 19:20, 17 November 2020 (UTC)

This could have had a different precedent broken, though obviously not if Randall is an anti-Trumper: "No challenger who was embroiled in graft, extortion of foreign leaders, and abuse of political position while having a fawning media hide it all ever won the election - until Biden did"... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.81|108.162.219.81]] 06:38, 24 February 2021 (UTC)
== Table ==

If you really feel the need to explain every item in a table then please do so in comic 1122 as this is the original. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 18:25, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

I removed the redundant options, sorry - user who made table (...Unsigned)
: When I changed the word from "Redundant" (I know what you meant, just that's not quite right) I was hoping to #anchor the link to the prior comic exactly upon the new(?) section someone set up with the previously-relevent lines of table. But it turns out there's only two href="#..."s on that page, and no section titles are given that honour (unlike, say, wikipedia's Table Of Contents entries) I don't want to try to mess with the expkcd wiki at that level of things, but I think it'd be slightly more useful to set that up than it would cost in effort (i.e. a slightly larger version of 'barely'). That's my suggestion, anyway. Just putting it out there. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.216|141.101.98.216]] 23:52, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

== Is there some joke to trump being impeached? ==

I thought he was acquitted, I checked wikipedia and they say he was acquitted. I'm not American if this is some in joke in America you guys may need to explain it.
Thank you :)
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.87|108.162.250.87]] 00:30, 11 November 2020 (UTC)
:He was impeached, which is an equivalent to being indicted (i.e. being formally charged with a crime, but in a way necessary to deal with statutory protections and obligations of elected officials), but at the next stage was (almost inevitably) acquitted. Because politics. (For some the impeachment was politics, for some the acquittal was politics. There'll be overlap, but also a very partisan split between those that definitely consider just the one of them to be politics, but not the same one.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.7|162.158.158.7]] 00:57, 11 November 2020 (UTC)
::Or to put it another way, "impeached" in U.S. law doesn't mean "removed from office". The House of Representatives impeached Trump, but he was not convicted by the Senate; had he been convicted, he would have been removed from office. In fact, none of the three presidents who were impeached (Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton, and Trump) were convicted by the Senate. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.22|172.68.65.22]] 02:40, 11 November 2020 (UTC)

== What's up with the checkmark and X? ==

Shouldn't they be reversed? Biden won, so the panel about the website should be added to the comic. Doesn't that mean that panel should have the checkmark on it?

[[Special:Contributions/172.69.170.56|172.69.170.56]] 04:20, 11 November 2020 (UTC)

:That confused me too for a second, but then I realized what was meant - checkmark is on the claim that is still true after this election ("No president has won after being impeached"), while X is on the one that is no longer true ("No challenger with a website has won"). [[User:BytEfLUSh|BytEfLUSh]] ([[User talk:BytEfLUSh|talk]]) 04:40, 11 November 2020 (UTC)
::Could someone add this into the explanation? I didn't get this either. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.189.245|172.68.189.245]] 16:45, 11 November 2020 (UTC)

Could also note that Biden is the first Presidential Medal of Freedom holder to be elected to the Presidency. (All other presidents so-honored have been awarded the PMoF after their term in office.)

Talk:1745: Record Scratch

2016-10-12T06:42:40Z

108.162.219.81: /* Misleading title text */

== Misleading title text ==

Note: this is a ridiculous pedantic rant. Tl;dr: the xkcd alt text for today is misleading, and I read a lot about the history of music storage to back up that claim.

http://xkcd.com/1745/

So, this alt text is actually pretty misleading, because he's misusing the "whoa! Event A was closer to Event B than to today" meme by implying that 78s were vinyl, when in fact they were largely shellac -- and also I would argue that he's just got the facts wrong about when the 78-rpmera ended. The 78-rpm era arguably began as early as 1898, and arguably ended as late as the 1950s. In became the standard in 1925. So, ok, we could say, "Yeah, 78-rpm era should be considered to mean some time before 1940. That's reasonable, because the 1940s is really when the age of the 33 1/3 begins. So, OK, Randall, the 78-rpm era was closer to the Civil War than to today. But here's the thing. You implied that the 78-rpm era was a vinyl thing. That's not really true. Vinyl is what ushered in the 33 1/3 days. So while it's maybe a cool piece of trivia to say "we first started using 33 1/3 rpm vinyl records in earnest only slightly closer to today than to the Civil War," it's not really a "wow, compare these well known events! Look how old this record scratch reference is!" Because tapes didn't start to seriously compete with vinyl until the late 1970s, and didn't overtake it until about 1985. So it would be fair to say, "the vinyl era ended closer to the start of the Vietnam War than to today," assuming we treat the Vietnam War as beginning in 1954 or later.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.66|108.162.219.66]] 05:04, 12 October 2016 (UTC)

Why is the explanation even mentioning "gramophones" or "phonographs"? Never mind making them sound important to this comic? (I'm not sure of the spelling, but think "gramophone" is wrong). As someone whose childhood was still during the record era, I've never seen either, but have played many records, and heard said scratch sound many times when I was sloppy or unlucky. It seems likely that 78-rpm records are from the grammophone era, but as the above commentor points out, those weren't vinyl. I would suspect vinyl records are all well past the time of grammophones. The device in question was "commonly" known simply as a record player. The current explanation is making the reference sound a LOT older than it is (and Randall already went there in the title text). - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.227|162.158.126.227]] 05:53, 12 October 2016 (UTC)
:He did not write that the 78-rpm area was a vinyl thing. The vinyl thing is about the scratching of modern records... Gramophone is the Wikipedia name for record player. So chill man ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 06:40, 12 October 2016 (UTC)

Somebody said it "stores music on a disc with very small bumps". I had to correct that. I feel old. I was born closer to World War 1 than to the present day.

1745: Record Scratch

2016-10-12T06:40:41Z

108.162.219.81: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1745
| date = October 12, 2016
| title = Record Scratch
| image = record_scratch.png
| titletext = The 78-rpm era was closer to the Civil War than to today.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Are there more details that needs to be added?}}
A vinyl disc (also known as a {{w|gramophone record}}) is a type of storage medium that stores music on a disc with a groove. As the disc turns, it jerks a needle side to side in the pattern of the sound waves. These are often played on a {{w|phonograph}}. Sometimes, the small bumps are scratched, and the phonographs move on these the wrong way, creating an unintentional noise; the noise is referred to as a "record scratch". The scratch can also be caused by someone attempting to stop the record by using their hand to manually stop it; as a result, this is often used as [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RecordNeedleScratch a sound effect in movies] as for comedic effect. This type of sound is also often used in hip-hop music.

The comic pokes fun at a movie cliché in which the story opens with [[Cueball]] in some kind of unbelievable predicament, followed by a record scratch and Cueball narrating, "Yup, that's me. You're probably wondering how I ended up in this situation." The rest of the story then follows , often by going back in time to depict the events that leads up to the situation of the opening scene. So in this case it would be interesting to know why Cueball is at a party where everyone has wine glasses in their hands, but suddenly one if the glasses (Cueball's or his nearest adversaries) is lying on the floor. And why is both [[Ponytail]] and another Cueball-like guy threatening/pointing at Cueball while [[Megan]] stares at him waiting to see if [[Hairy]] beats him up as he advances ready for fight both fists up. This is what the movies would normally begin to tell after the scratch. At the time of the comic's posting, parodying the cliché, [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/record-scratch-freeze-frame variations on the phrase] had become a popular meme on social media.

As the record scratch continues to be used despite the fact that gramophones have largely become obsolete technology, [[Randall]] pokes fun at this by beginning this meme by giving the backstory on what that sound actually is, (many people from the younger generation may very well not know this), rather than giving context to the situation via a story. This is yet one more of Randall's comics that is trying to [[:Category:Comics to make one feel old|make people feel old]], this of course only works on people who actually have tried to use vinyl discs.

The title text indicates (in a manner similar to that of [[891: Movie Ages]]) that the "78-rpm era" - referring to the fact that the original industry standard of records making {{w|Gramophone_record#78_rpm_disc_developments|78 rotations per minute]}} (rpm) - is now closer to the time of the {{w|American Civil War}} than it is to present day.

==Transcript==
:[In a black area, with jagged edges, at the top of the comic is a sound effect written with white text. Below there are two frames with text. This text is narrated by Cueball standing below with four people around him. Cueball is highlighted by being drawn in the regular way whereas the other four people are drawn in light gray. Cueball has just dropped a wineglass, spilling wine on the floor to the left and dropping the glass, spilling more wine, to the right, He has his arms slightly out, and seems to be turned towards three people to the right, while looking tot he left at Ponytail. Ponytail is holding a glass of wine in one hand and is the other hand up waving her fist at Cueball. On his other side Hairy is advancing towards him with both hands up in fists ready for a fight. (It could be his wine glass dropped on the floor at Cueball's feet as it is also drawn in gray). Behind Hairy is Megan also with a wine glass held in one hand, and behind her is another Cueball-like guy with a wine glass holding one arm out pointing a finger at Cueball.]

:{| class="wikitable"
|style="background-color:black;"|<big>''Record Scratch''</big>
|}
:Cueball (narrating): You are probably wondering what that sound was.
:Cueball (narrating): Well, long ago, music was recorded on vinyl discs...

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Comics to make one feel old]]

350: Network

2016-09-18T20:56:05Z

108.162.219.81: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 350
| date = November 28, 2007
| title = Network
| image = network.png
| titletext = Viruses so far have been really disappointing on the 'disable the internet' front, and time is running out. When Linux/Mac win in a decade or so the game will be over.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] shows off his virtual fishtank of virus-infected {{w|Virtual machine|virtual}} Windows machines to [[Megan]]. The machines nominally have {{w|Trojan_horse_(computing)|mail trojans}}, {{w|Warhol worm}}s, all sorts of {{w|polymorphic virus}}es, and explicitly {{w|Blaster (computer worm)|Blaster}} and {{w|w32.welchia}}. Cueball relates to the viruses as though they are fish, and hopes that they are all getting along together nicely. This is because part of {{w|w32.welchia|welchia's}} payload was to remove the {{w|Blaster (computer worm)|Blaster Worm}}, effectively destroying it.

A computer network or data network is a telecommunications network which allows computers to exchange data. In computer networks, networked computing devices exchange data with each other using a data link. The connections between nodes are established using either cable media or wireless media. The best-known computer network is the Internet.

Network computer devices that originate, route and terminate the data are called network nodes.[1] Nodes can include hosts such as personal computers, phones, servers as well as networking hardware. Two such devices can be said to be networked together when one device is able to exchange information with the other device, whether or not they have a direct connection to each other.

Computer networks differ in the transmission medium used to carry their signals, the communications protocols to organize network traffic, the network's size, topology and organizational intent.

It would be possible to set up a virtual fishtank as described. The main issue would be to make sure that you don't accidentally let anything escape from the fishtank. Consider it like a smallpox lab. Also, some viruses are quite malicious {{Citation needed}} and will prevent a computer from running normally, or at all. An aquarium of dead computers would not be very interesting to watch.

The first part of the title text refers to the difficulty viruses have in the common doomsday threat of "disabling the internet" as a whole. {{w|SQL Slammer}} had some brief success. The second part of the title text indicates that Randall believes A) that Linux and Mac OS X are inherently less vulnerable to virus attacks than Windows, and B) that Windows will become less important and disappear, so the virus writers had better get their act together soon.

It is not certain how justified this opinion is. Nine years after this comic was written, Windows still dominates the desktop, and Linux and OS X are not ''that'' much harder to attack with viruses. A side issue is the wild growth in 'smart devices' connected to the internet, powered by non-traditional operating systems such as iOS and Android. Desktop operating systems such as Windows, Linux and OS X are ''all'' becoming less relevant (although note that Android is based on the Linux kernel and iOS is based on OS X), so both the operating system war and the struggle against computer viruses are still "anyone's game".

Something similar to this is now online (as of 02014-06-29; not sure when it first started), with some differences from the system described by this comic. Instead of executing email attachments, the 7 VM's run files uploaded to http://wecan.hasthe.technology/ by the public, making it more of a public playground aquarium than a private fishtank. Instead of wiping machines at random, each VM runs a virus scanner every 24 hours.

==Transcript==
:[Megan looking at a large screen with many green and red squares. The squares have writing in them and lines connecting them.]
:[Side view. The screen is a huge LCD connected to a wireless router.]
:Cueball: Pretty, isn't it?
:Megan: What is it?
:Cueball: I've got a bunch of virtual Windows machines networked together, hooked up to an incoming pipe from the net. They execute email attachments, share files, and have no security patches.
:Cueball: Between them they have practically every virus.
:Cueball: There are mail trojans, warhol worms, and all sorts of exotic polymorphics. A monitoring system adds and wipes machines at random. The display shows the viruses as they move through the network. Growing and struggling.
:[Cueball walks past the girl and touches the monitor.]
:Megan: You know, normal people just have aquariums.
:Cueball: Good morning, Blaster. Are you and W32.Welchia getting along?
:Cueball: Who's a good virus? You are! Yes, you are!

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

1732: Earth Temperature Timeline

2016-09-16T18:25:08Z

108.162.219.81: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1732
| date = September 12, 2016
| title = Earth Temperature Timeline
| before = [[#Explanation|↓ Skip to explanation ↓]]
| image = earth_temperature_timeline.png
| titletext = [After setting your car on fire] Listen, your car's temperature has changed before.
}}

==Explanation==
{{TOC}}
{{incomplete|[[#Table of all elements|Table for explanations]] now ready to be filled out. Please remove this tag only when everything is explained.}}
In the past 100 years, human action produced lots of {{w|CO₂ emissions}}, which have caused a rise in average global temperature through the {{w|greenhouse effect}}. This is called {{w|global warming}} and is part of a {{w|climate change}}, a subject that has become a [[:Category:Climate change|recurrent subject]] on xkcd. There are still many people who claim that this is not happening, or at least that it is not caused by any human actions, called "climate change deniers," or "skeptics," by the less dogmatically judgemental. One argument of theirs is that global warming is happening for natural causes, summarized with the phrase "temperature has changed before". This comic is a direct, but much more thorough, follow up on the previous global warming comic: [[1379: 4.5 Degrees]].

This comic shows that while temperature changes have indeed occurred before, the speed of the current temperature rise is much, much faster than those seen (actually: estimated) in the previous thousands of years. It seemed to touch on something in peoples consciousness, because it became so popular that [[Randall]] [[#Popularity_of_comic|postponed the release]] of his next comic to keep this one on the front page one day longer.

This comic is a [[:Category:Timelines|timeline]] on how the temperature has changed since 20,000 BCE (Before {{w|Common Era}}) to the present day and extrapolated 84 years on from present day of the release of the comic (2016) to 2100 {{w|Common Era|CE}} depending on the choice of actions to stop CO₂ emission that is taken now or never. It is meant to contrast the slow-paced natural changes with the rapid temperature rise in the recent years. The effect is achieved by forcing the reader to scroll endlessly through slow, building-up changes and then face them with an almost instantaneous, quick rise towards the end. The temperature curve is a dotted line most of the time, but from about 1850 to present day (2016) the measurement data is good enough to let the curve become a solid line indicating that this is not an estimate. Before 1850 the temperature is an estimate based on the [[#Sources|sources]] given. And likewise into the future the curve is also dotted as this is predictions. And here there are even three possible outcomes depending on how seriously politicians and other influential people (and the population of Earth) take knowledge (and comics) like this.

Below in the [[#Table of all elements|table]] each entry will be noted and explained (in time). This is one of the comics where Randall cites his [[#Sources|sources]] like he did for one of his other very large comics [[980: Money]].

The title text compares the saying that "the temperature has changed before" comparing temperature changes over thousands of years to the rapid global warming over the last century with saying that the "small" changes to the temperature a car experiences over the years of normal usage should not make you worried over the rapid temperature increase that happens when someone sets your car on fire. A related joke was used recently in [[1693: Oxidation]].

===Table of all elements===
*Here is table (to be filled out) of all elements with explanations including reading of temperature and year for each event from the curve.
*Table ready for use:
**The year group is just an easy way to find the section.
**The actual year of an event should be read off more precisely on the chart.
***Suggestion for doing this:
***Top part of element
***Central part of element
***Other?
**Element is a description mainly taken from the transcript. Feel free to remove redundant information, but the guess was that getting the table ready was the most important feature for getting the explanation started.
**T (°C) is the number of degrees above or below the 1961-1990 average, which on this graph is set to zero.. (i.e. not the number of physical degrees above or below 0°C).
**Explanation explains itself.
{| class="wikitable"
!Year group
!Element
!Year
!T (°C)
!Explanation
|-
| rowspan="2"| 20000 BCE
| [An arrow goes from the dotted line to the central line at 0°C (representing the 1961-1990 average). In the middle of the line there is a temperature label:] 4.3°C At the start of our timeline, 22,000 years ago, Earth is 4°C colder than during the late 20th century. || 20000 BCE || -4.3 || The temperature at the beginning of the chart compared to the average from 1961-1990 that in general are used to compare temperatures with today as well as in the rest of this chart.
|-

| {{w|Boston}} is buried under almost a mile of ice, and the {{w|glaciers}} reach as far south as {{w|New York City}}. [The Statue of Liberty is shown in front of a glacier front. A guy with a white {{w|knit cap}} is seen walking in a snowy landscape. The skyline of Boston is shown under a half a mile of ice.] || 19700 BCE || -4.3 || The Boston image is directly taken from [[1225: Ice Sheets]] about the ice age glacier coverage and the guy with the white knit cap could be the guy from [[1321: Cold]] also about global warming. It shows what a difference 4 degree in global temperature means (massive effect), as opposed to what four degree means on a daily weather wise scale (nothing!). [[Randall]] lives in Boston. It was also shown buried in ice in [[1379: 4.5 Degrees]]. Knit caps have only been used a few times in xkcd, most prominently on [[1350:_Lorenz#Knit_Cap_Girl|Knit Cap Girl]] in [[1350: Lorenz]], see her section for more details.

|-
| rowspan="3"| 19500 BCE
| But the world is about to warm up. || || || The warming process actually takes thousands of years, which this comic will portray down thousands of pixels to come.
|-
| By this time, humans have already spread across Africa, Eurasia, and Australia. || || || Homo Sapiens started migrating out of Africa circa 100000 BCE.
|-
| They’ve created painting, pottery, rope, and bows and arrows, but haven’t developed writing or farming. || || ||

|-
| rowspan="2"| 19000 BCE
| Changes in the Earth’s orbit mean that more sunlight reaches the polar ice… || || ||{{w|Milankovitch cycles}} are repeated climate variations on a timescale of tens of millennia.
|-
| [A line chart with a labeled Y-axis "Summer sun W/m2 at 60°N" with three labeled ticks ranging from 450-550. The curve starts up and then goes down five times and up four times ending down. There is one plateau towards the end compared to the rest of the curve where the ups and downs are quite alike.] || || ||

|-
| rowspan="1"| 18500 BCE
| [A map of the world. At the top is a light gray area covering North America, Greenland and northern Europe and most of the northern part of Russia. A similar gray area covers Antarctica. The gray areas are labeled as ice.] || || ||

|-
| rowspan="1"| 18000 BCE
| …And the ice sheets start to melt. || || ||

|-
| rowspan="1"| 17500 BCE
| Temperatures have been creeping upward, but around this point, CO2 levels start to climb…|| || ||

|-
| rowspan="1"| 17000 BCE
| …And then the warming speeds up. || || || Sarcasm about the rate of natural climate change compared to modern anthropogenic warming.

|-
| rowspan="1"| 16500 BCE
| [Cueball is standing with a spear just the right of the graph talking to a rabbit.] Cueball: Still pretty cold. || || || True.

|-
| rowspan="2"| 16000 BCE
| [Megan points to the graph to the right of her and between her and Ponytail standing on the other side. Mean is the first drawing on the left side of the dotted curve, which has hardly moved since the beginning, only to just on the other side of 4°C below the 1961-1990 average.] || || ||
|-
| [In the right part of the chart is an explanation of the data. Below the first two lines there are four drawings each showing possible temperature swings in reality compared to the smoothed data that represents the dotted curve of the entire chart. The dotted curve is shown in all four drawings and a thin line is shown running along it but with much more fluctuation left and right on the first two, a large spike right on the third and a large bump way right on the fourth. Above these there are two labels. The first labels is inside a bracket that covers the first three, and the last label is for the last drawing. Below is a list of sources.] Limits of this data: Short warming or cooling spikes might be “smoothed out” by these reconstructions but only if they’re small or brief enough. Possible Unlikely Reconstructions are from Shakun (2012) and Marcott (2013), scaled to Annan + Hargreaves (2013) estimate for the last glacial period. || || || This is Randall's pre-emptive response to skepticism about the accuracy of prehistoric data. Ice cores and similar records might miss individual year-to-year variation, but should catch sustained changes lasting many decades, which is the time scale that matters for climate.

|-
| rowspan="1"| 15500 BCE
| In what is now France, humans paint murals on the walls of the Lascaux caves [Hairy paints three animals, two with horns, and two humans, Cueball holding hand with Hairy who has a spear. On the other side of the central line Megan writes three letters, the last of which is reversed:] NIИ || || || A reference to the industrial techno band {{w|Nine Inch Nails}}.

|-
| rowspan="1"| 15000 BCE
| Ice sheets around Alaska shrink, exposing a land bridge between Asia and North America [From around the bottom if this section and down to 11500 BCE the dotted curve moved steadily to the right towards warmed temperature peaking close to 1.5°C below the 1961-1990 average. Before this the temperature had not moved much away from that at the start.] || || ||

|-
| rowspan="1"| 14500 BCE
| [Cueball walks right looking back at the graph behind him. Megan walks in front of him pointing further right.] | Cueball: Cool. Humans reach North America. || || || This is approximately when the ancestors of the Inuit crossed the land bridge from what is now Russia to what is now Alaska. However, evidence of humans in North America over 20,000 years ago suggests that humans reached North America by boat prior to the formation of the land bridge.

|-
| rowspan="2"| 14000 BCE
| The edge of the ice withdraws from New York City and retreats North. || || ||
|-
| [A large glacier front speaks in a speech bubble with an arrow pointing at it. Behind is there are four peaks in the horizon and in front of it three small melting pools and some rocks on the ground.] Glacier: ''That’s it! I’m moving to Canada!'' || || || When US citizens are unhappy with changes in their country, they sometimes say they will move to Canada in protest.

|-
| rowspan="2"| 13500 BCE
| Humans domesticate dogs (Date uncertain, may be much earlier) || || ||
|-
|| [Megan and Cueball is watching a wolf looking at them.] Megan: Okay, you can live in our homes and we’ll feed you, but we’ll still get mad if you poop on the floor. Wolf: Deal. Cueball: And we get to breed you to be tiny and dress you in little costumes. Wolf: …Wait. || || || See {{w|Origin of the domestic dog}}. They are often bred for size and occasionally made to wear clothing.

|-
| rowspan="2"| 13000 BCE
| {{w|Woolly Rhino}} goes extinct || || || Actually only true for mainland woolly rhinos. Some survived on a small island until around 8000BC. See {{w|Woolly_rhinoceros}}
|-
| Oregon is scoured by huge floods as glacial dams burst and lakes of meltwater flow to the sea || || || See {{w|Missoula Floods}}

|-
| rowspan="1"| 12500 BCE
| Ice sheets withdraw from Chicago || || ||

|-
| rowspan="1"| 12000 BCE
| Humans settle {{w|Abu Hureyra}} in Syria || || || A well-preserved prehistoric village that lasted over 4000 years, allowing archaeologists to study how their culture developed.

|-
| rowspan="1"| 11500 BCE
| [An arrow on the left side of the dotted curve is pointing down along the dotted curve and to the left indicate temperature is declining again, meaning the dotted curve now moves left to colder temperatures. This only continues until 10500 BCE. It is only the second time something is noted on the left side after Megan at 16000 BCE] Temperatures start to decline, mainly in the Northern hemisphere This may be caused by changes in ocean circulation due to the floods of cold fresh meltwater flowing into the Atlantic as the North American ice sheet melts. This cooler period is called the {{w|Younger Dryas}} || || ||

|-
| rowspan="1"| 11000 BCE
| [This is the first text to the left of the dotted curve:] Humans reach Argentina || || ||

|-
| rowspan="2"| 10500 BCE
| [An arrow pointing down along the right side of the dotted curve and to the right indicate temperature is increasing again, meaning the dotted curve now moves right to hotter temperatures. This continues until 8000 BCE where it levels out just above the 1961-1990 average.] Warming resumes || || ||
|-
| Human settlements at {{w|Jericho}} || || ||

|-
| rowspan="1"| 10000 BCE
| First development of farming || || || See {{w|History of agriculture}}

|-
| rowspan="2"| 9500 BCE
| {{w|Saber-toothed cat}} goes extinct || || || They were not tigers.
|-
| Horses disappear from North America || || || The {{w|evolution of the horse}} began millions of years ago in North America; early species migrated across {{w|Beringia}} into Eurasia.

|-
| rowspan="4"| 9000 BCE
| | Last North American Pokémon go extinct [Cueball with a spear and Megan is looking up at this last “fact”.] Megan: That is not a real fact. || || || As prehistoric [[Megan]] states, this is not a real fact. Pokémon are still thriving throughout the entire world (see [[1705: Pokémon Go]]), and are most commonly found near [http://time.com/4443225/pokemon-go-affluent-white-neighborhoods-report/ affluent first world neighborhoods].
|-
| Temperatures reach modern levels || || ||
|-
| Rising seas cut off the {{w|land bridge}} between North America and Asia || || ||
|-
| {{w|Cattle}} domesticated || || ||

|-
| rowspan="2"| 8500 BCE
| Ice sheets retreat across the Canadian border || || ||
|-
| Temperatures start to level out slightly above 1961-1990 levels || || ||

|-
| rowspan="1"| 8000 BCE
| [The above sentence breaks over the 8000 BCE line. From here a maximum in temperature on the chart is reached at 0.5°C above the 1961-1990 average, which will not be overtaken until 2000 CE. It stays almost constant here until 5000 BCE where a slight cooling begins.] || || ||

|-
| rowspan="2"| 7500 BCE
| This warm, stable period is called the {{w|Holocene Climate Optimum}} || || || Some skeptics like to say "[http://www.skepticalscience.com/10000-years-warmer.htm it was warmer in the Holocene]." This is no longer true. Global temperature began encroaching Holocene levels in 1998, and has equalled or possibly exceeded them since 2014.
|-
| {{w|Jiahu}} settled in China || || ||

|-
| rowspan="2"| 7000 BCE
| Final collapse of the North American ice sheet leads to rapid 2-4m sea level rise… || || ||
|-
| [A small arrow points down and left to the right of the dotted curve. There is a small decrease in temperature but it is very small and would have been missed without the arrow and label.] …And a period of cooling in the Northern hemisphere || || ||

|-
| rowspan="1"| 6500 BCE
| As seas rise to near their modern levels, Britain is cut off from mainland Europe || || || This is a reference to the flooding of {{w|Doggerland}}.

|-
| rowspan="1"| 6000 BCE
| Humans develop copper metalworking || || || The {{w|copper age}} was relatively brief before humans discovered how to make {{w|bronze}}.

|-
| rowspan="2"| 5500 BCE
| Massive volcanic eruption in Oregon creates crater lake || || ||
|-
| {{w|Gold}} metalworking || || || Ooh, shiny!

|-
| rowspan="2"| 5000 BCE
| {{w|Invention of the wheel}} || || ||
|-
| [To the right of the dotted curve is an arrow pointing down and slightly left. From here temperature decreases very slowly but steadily from 0.5°C above the 1961-1990 average until 1000 BCE where a stable plateau is reached around the 1961-1990 average.] Earth begins to cool slowly mainly due to regular cycles in its orbit || || ||

|-
| rowspan="3"| 4500 BCE
| {{w|Proto-Indo-European language}} develops || || ||
|-
| [To the right of the curve Ponytail holds up a hand towards Cueball.] Ponytail: Let’s make out language heavily inflected, so future students have to memorize a zillion verb endings! Cueball: Okay! || || ||[[Ponytail]] refers to [[1709: Inflection]].
|-
| Permanent settlements in the {{w|fertile crescent}} || || ||

|-
| rowspan="2"| 4000 BCE
| Horses domesticated || || ||
|-
| {{w|Minoan culture}} arises on Crete || || ||

|-
| rowspan="4"| 3500 BCE
| {{w|Egyptian mummification}} || || ||
|-
| Rise of the {{w|Indus Valley civilization}} || || ||
|-
| Invention of writing in Sumer “prehistory” ends, “history” begins || || || Kids these days with their new-fangled stone tablets, instead of using their memory...
|-
| Earliest human whose name we know (Pharaoh {{w|Iry-Hor}} in Egypt) || || ||

|-
| rowspan="5"| 3000 BCE
| {{w|Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors}} period in China || || ||
|-
| {{w|Gilgamesh}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|Imhotep}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|Maya civilization|Mayan}} culture emerges || || ||
|-
| {{w|Great Pyramid}} constructed || || ||

|-
| rowspan="3"| 2500 BCE
| {{w|Corded Ware culture}} in Europe || || ||
|-
| [To the left of the curve two rock musicians with long hair and electrical guitars are standing on either side of a small gate made of three slabs of stone, one on top of the other two standing stones.] Stonehenge completed || 2250 || || The drawing is a reference to the 1984 movie "This is Spinal Tap" (A documentary/parody featuring the fake metal band "Spinal Tap", http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088258/), the musicians order a Stone Henge prop for the stage, which turns out to be too small (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAXzzHM8zLw)
|-
| {{w|Chariots}} developed || || ||

|-
| rowspan="3"| 2000 BCE
| {{w|Alphabetic writing}} developed in Egypt || || ||
|-
| Last mammoths on a tiny Siberian island go extinct || || ||
|-
| {{w|Minoan eruption}} || || ||

|-
| rowspan="5"| 1500 BCE
| {{w|Iron smelting}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|Olmec}} civilization develops in Central America || || ||
|-
| [A Trojan horse with two Cueball-like guys in front and a third standing on its back. Its back is at three Cueball’s height and its head rises to the level of the Cueball on its back. It stands on a platform with four wheel on the visible side. There is text on the horse] Setting of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'' Text on horse: Not a trap || || || The {{w|Trojan War}}
|-
| Invasion of the {{w|Sea peoples}}* * A real thing || || ||
|-
| {{w|Polynesians}} explore the Pacific Ocean || || ||

|-
| rowspan="8"| 1000 BCE
| [From 1000 BBC to 1000 CE the temperature is stable and very close to the 1961-1990 average.] || || ||
|-
| {{w|Solomon}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|Iliad}} and {{w|Odyssey}} composed || || ||
|-
| Rise of Greek city-states || || ||
|-
| {{w|Neo-Assyrian}} empire || || ||
|-
| First Olympics || || ||
|-
| {{w|Zapotec civilization|Zapotec}} writing in modern Mexico || || ||
|-
| {{w|Confucius}} || || ||

|-
| rowspan="10"| 500 BCE
| The stuff in the 300 (film)|movie ''300'', but regular speed and with more clothing || || ||
|-
| {{w|Buddha}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|Nazca Lines}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|Alexander the Great}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|Mayan hieroglyphics}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|Ashoka the Great}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|Paper}} invented || || ||
|-
| {{w|Asterix}} || || ||
|-
| {{w| Teotihuacan|Teotihuacán}} metropolis || || ||
|-
| {{w|Julius Caesar}} || || ||
|-

|-
| rowspan="8"|1 BCE 1 CE
| [At the year 0, there is instead two numbers for each of the two scales before (1 BCE) and after Christ (1 CE)] || || ||
|-
| {{w|Roman Empire}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|Jesus}} || || ||
|-
| [To the left and erupting volcano.] {{w|Pompeii}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|Three Kingdoms}} period || || ||
|-
| {{w|Gupta empire}} || || ||
|-
| Various groups take turns sacking Rome || || ||
|-
| {{w|Attila the Hun}} || || ||

|-
| rowspan="4"| 500 CE
| {{w|Muhammad}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|Tang Dynasty}} || || ||
|-
| [An arrow to the right of the dotted curve pointing down, takes a swing far out from the curve and then bends back again. The text label next to it breaks into the next 500 period. The dotted curve stays stable at the 1961-1990 average along this arrow.] Medieval warm period in Europe and some northern regions (too regional to affect the global average much) || || ||
|-
| {{w|Leif Eriksson}} || || ||

|-
| rowspan="7"| 1000 CE
| [The dotted curve moves to the left towards lower temperature reaching a minimum around 1650 of about 0.6°C below the 1961-1990 average at the Little Ice Age.] || || ||
|-
| [To the left a drawing of a compass with needle pointing the black end towards north east. There are labels for the four main directions (N, S, W, E) and a label next to it:] Magnetic compass navigation || || ||
|-
| {{w|Ghengis Khan}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|Zheng He}}’s fleet explores Asia and Africa || || ||
|-
| {{w|Aztec Empire|Aztec Alliance}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|Printing press}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|Christopher Columbus|Columbus}} || || ||

|-
| rowspan="2"| 1500 CE
| {{w|European Renaissance}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|Shakespeare}} || || ||

|-
| rowspan="2"| 1600
| {{w|Isaac Newton|Newton}} || || ||
|-
| [To the right of the dotted curve there is an arrow pointing down that makes a swing in towards the curve and then back out again. At 0.6°C below the 1961-1990 average, this is the coldest it has been since 9500 BCE. It is labeled:] ”{{w|Little Ice Age}}” || || || This was not a true geologic Ice Age, just a slightly chilly period.

|-
| rowspan="2"| 1700
| {{w|Steam engines}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|United States Declaration of Independence|Unites States Independence}} || || ||

|-
| rowspan="3"| 1800
| {{w|Industrial Revolution}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|Electrical telegraph|Telegraphs}} || || ||
|-
| [After this the dotted curve becomes solid.] || || || In the late 1800s, weather records became sufficiently accurate and widespread to greatly improve the precision of climate measurements.

|-
| rowspan="6"| 1900
| {{w|Airplanes}} || || ||
|-
| {{w|World Wars}} || || ||
|-
| [The solid line takes a step to the right close to the 1961-1990 average. Over the rest of the 1900s it moves closer to the 1961-1990 average, crossing it before 2000 where it almost reaches the maximum temperature of 0.5 °C above the 1961-1990 average from earlier in 8000 BCE.] || || || This is what the previous 14000 pixels of comic has been leading up to. After a laborious 20 millennia of gradual and meandering climate change, it should be clear that a full degree of warming in a single century is unprecedented in human history, and very unlikely to be natural variation.
|-
| {{w|Fossil fuel}} CO2 emissions start rapidly increasing || || ||
|-
| {{w|Nuclear weapons}} || || || The Working Group on the 'Anthropocene' suggests dating the {{w|Anthropocene}} epoch from ~1950.
|-
| {{w|Internet}} || || ||

|-
| rowspan="2"| 2000
| {{w|Northwest Passage}} opens || || ||
|-
|[From here to present day the solid line increases rapidly and in 2016 present day is almost reaches 1°C above the 1961-1990 average, with about 0.8°C above the 1961-1990 average.] || || || [http://www.skepticalscience.com/argument.php?a=11&p=2 No, warming did not stop in 1998].

|-
| rowspan="3"| 2016
| | Present day || || ||
|-
| [From here the curve once again becomes dotted as this is the future. After one dot it splits in two and after the first two dots another split between them occurs forming three possible future dotted curves.] || || ||
|-
|The first curve bending down before the others, and thus to the right of the other two reaches about 1.2°C above the 1961-1990 average and then goes straight down and stops at the 2100 line. An arrow points to it from the left and a label is written partly before and the rest after the 2100 line to the left of the curve:] Best-case scenario assuming immediate massive action to limit emissions || || ||

|-
| rowspan="2"| 2100
| [The middle curve bends a little down after reaching 1.3°C above the 1961-1990 average, and then continues this path reaching 2°C above the 1961-1990 average in 2100. An arrow point from below to it and a label is written below the curve and below 2100 line:] Optimistic scenario|| || ||
|-
| [The last line continues along the path from the last 16 years of the solid line reaching 4.2°C above the 1961-1990 average at 2100, almost as far on the other side of the 1961-1990 average in 150 years as it took 14,000 years to move from the other side from the start of the chart. Another arrow point to this from below with a label below the curve and below 2100 line:] Current Path || || || Randall has warned about the hazards of [[Extrapolating]], but this line is in fact [http://www.skepticalscience.com/climate-best-to-worst-case-scenarios.html below the worst case prediction].
|}

===Sources===
The image attributes climate data sources as "Shakun et al. (2012), Marcott et al. (2013), Annan and Hargreaves (2013), HadCRUT4, IPCC":
* Shakun et al. (2012) - [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v484/n7392/full/nature10915.html Nature], [http://www.atm.damtp.cam.ac.uk/mcintyre/shakun-co2-temp-lag-nat12.pdf (pdf)]
* Marcott et al. (2013) - [http://science.sciencemag.org/content/339/6124/1198 Science], [http://www.atm.damtp.cam.ac.uk/mcintyre/shakun-co2-temp-lag-nat12.pdf (pdf)]
* Annan and Hargreaves (2013) - [http://www.clim-past.net/9/367/2013/cp-9-367-2013.html Climate of the Past] [http://www.jamstec.go.jp/frsgc/research/d5/jdannan/LGM_temp.pdf (pdf)]
* {{w|HadCRUT#HadCRUT4 wikipedia|HadCRUT4}} - [http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadcrut4/ Official site]
* {{w|Intergovernmental_Panel_on_Climate_Change|IPCC}} -[http://www.ipcc.ch/ Official site]

==Transcript==
'''Note''' there are several spelling errors in the comic, so please do only correct spelling errors that are not part of the comic! See more in the [[#Trivia|trivia section]].
:[A large heading, followed by a sub-caption. Below that two lines with a statement in between:]
:<big>A timeline of Earth’s average temperature</big>
:since the last ice age glaciation
:When people say “The climate has changed before,” these are the kinds of changes they’re talking about.

:[A very long chart below the headings above is headed with a label for the scale of the X-axis above the chart. Below that a sub-caption. To the left an arrow down to the top of the chart pointing to the dotted curves starting point (at -4.3°C below the 1961-1990 average) with a label above the arrow. And arrow pointing left to the left of the center and another pointing right to the right of the center has labels. Below these is the temperature scale of the X-axis, with 9 ticks between the borders each with a label ranging from -4 to +4°C compared to the 1961-1990 average, but with another step in each direction not labeled towards to axis so the chart covers -5 to +5°C compared to the 1961-1990 average.]
:'''Temperature'''
: Compared to the 1961-1990 average
:Start
:Colder
:Warmer
:-4°C -3°C -2°C -1°C 0°C +1°C +2°C +3°C +4°C

:[To the right of the chart is a gray text standing on the side down along the outer boarder of the chart with the sources for the chart:]
: Source: Shakun et. al. (2012) , Marcott et. al. (2013), Annan and Hargreaves (2013) , HadCRUT4, IPCC 

:[The chart is split in 10 columns by the temperature scale and the borders. The two central columns are white, and then from there to the left the background becomes a faded color that changes from light blue to blue at the edge in four steps. Similarly to the right the color changes from light red to red. To the left there is a time scale taking 500 years leaps from 20,000 BCE all the way to year 1, where there are two years, one for BBC and one for CE. The 500 year leaps continue until 1500 CE and from there the steps are down to 100 years until 2100 with also present day 2016 labeled. After 1500 the CE is omitted. The labels stop there, but there is space below covering down to 2200 CE. There is clearly visible division line across the chart on the level of each of the 500 step, and fainter lines for each of the 100 steps all the way even though only the last 5 of these 100 steps are labeled. There is a similar clear line at 2016. Below each step on the Y-axis is noted, and then any text starting before the next step is noted below indented. If there are extra image belonging to text this is indented once more. The graph that the whole chart is about is a dotted line that begins at the “start” point mentioned above at -4.3°C and then begins to go straight down. It will change left and right all the way down. To being with all text and most drawings are to right of the dotted curve. Whenever something is to the left it will be noted. When it says to the left above something, and then nothing over the next, then the next will be to the right. Only at the very bottom are there more entries to the left than right. ]
:20000 BCE
::[An arrow goes from the dotted line to the central line at 0°C. In the middle of the line there is a temperature label:]
::4.3°C
::At the start of our timeline, 22,000 years ago, Earth is 4°C colder than during the late 20th century.
::Boston is buried under almost a mile of ice, and the glaciers reach as far south as New York City.
:::[The Statue of Liberty is shown in front of a glacier front. A very tiny Cueball is on top of the glacier. The drawing is labeled and so is also the glacier.]
:::New York
:::Ice
:::[A guy with a white knit cap is seen walking in a snowy landscape leaving black footprints behind him. He walks through the white central part of the chart.]
:::[The skyline of Boston is shown with two clear buildings among all the other. Above it is a line and in between this area has been filled with thin lines. The drawing is labeled and so is this area. Also the skyline has an arrow pointing at it with a label:]
:::Boston
:::Ice
:::Modern skyline

:19500 BCE
::But the world is about to warm up.
::By this time, humans have already spread across Africa, Eurasia, and Australia.
::They’ve created painting, pottery, rope, and bows and arrows, but haven’t developed writing or farming.

:19000 BCE
::Changes in the Earth’s orbit mean that more sunlight reaches the polar ice…
:::[A line chart with a labeled Y-axis with three labeled ticks. The curve starts up and then goes down five times and up four times ending down. There is one plateau towards the end compared to the rest of the curve where the ups and downs are quite alike.]
:::Summer sun W/m2 at 60°N
:::550
:::500
:::450

:18500 BCE
::[A map of the world. At the top is a light gray area covering North America, Greenland and northern Europe and most of the northern part of Russia. A similar gray area covers Antarctica. There are two labels in the gray area above and one in the gray area below:]
::Ice Ice
::Ice

:18000 BCE
::…And the ice sheets start to melt.

:17500 BCE
::Temperatures have been creeping upward, but around this point, CO2 levels start to climb…

:17000 BCE
::…And then the warming speeds up.

:16500 BCE
::[Cueball is standing with a spear just the right of the graph talking to a rabbit.]
::Cueball: Still pretty cold.

:16000 BCE
::[Megan points to the graph to the right of her and between her and Ponytail standing on the other side. Mean is the first drawing on the left side of the dotted curve, which has hardly moved since the beginning, only to just on the other side of 4°C.]
::[In the right part of the chart is an explanation of the data. Below the first two lines there are four drawings each showing possible temperature swings in reality compared to the smoothed data that represents the dotted curve of the entire chart. The dotted curve is shown in all four drawings and a thin line is shown running along it but with much more fluctuation left and right on the first two, a large spike right on the third and a large bump way right on the fourth. Above these there are two labels. The first labels is inside a bracket that covers the first three, and the last label is for the last drawing. Below is a list of sources.]
::Limits of this data:
::Short warming or cooling spikes might be “smoothed out” by these reconstructions but only if they’re small or brief enough.
:::Possible Unlikely
::Reconstructions are from Shakun (2012) and Marcott (2013), scaled to Annan + Hargreaves (2013) estimate for the last glacial period.

:15500 BCE
::In what is now France, humans paint murals on the walls of the Lascaux caves
::[Hairy paints three animals, two with horns, and two humans, Cueball holding hand with Hairy who has a spear. On the other side of the central line Megan writes three letters, the last of which is reversed.]
:::NIИ

:15000 BCE
::Ice sheets around Alaska shrink, exposing a land bridge between Asia and North America
::[From around the bottom if this section and down to 11500 BCE the dotted curve moved steadily to the right towards warmed temperature peaking close to -1.5°C. Before this the temperature had not moved much away from that at the start.]

:14500 BCE
::[Cueball walks right looking back at the graph behind him. Megan walks in front of him pointing further right.]
::Cueball: Cool.
::Humans reach North America.

:14000 BCE
::The edge of the ice withdraws from New York City and retreats North.
::[A large glacier front speaks in a speech bubble with an arrow pointing at it. Behind is there are four peaks in the horizon and in front of it three small melting pools and some rocks on the ground.]
::Glacier: ''That’s it! I’m moving to Canada!''

:13500 BCE
::Humans domesticate dogs
::(Date uncertain, may be much earlier)
::[Megan and Cueball is watching a wolf looking at them.]
::Megan: Okay, you can live in our homes and we’ll feed you, but we’ll still get mad f you poop on the floor.
::Wolf: Deal.
::Cueball: And we get to breed you to be tiny and dress you in little costumes.
::Wolf: …Wait.

:13000 BCE
::[Randall did not use the normal spelling for Woolly Rhino, but this is an accepted alternative spelling:]
::Wooly Rhino goes extinct
::Oregon is scoured by huge floods as glacial dams burst and lakes of meltwater flow to the sea

:12500 BCE
::Ice sheets withdraw from Chicago

:12000 BCE
::Humans settle Abu Hureyra in Syria

:11500 BCE
::[An arrow on the left side of the dotted curve is pointing down along the dotted curve and to the left indicate temperature is declining again, meaning the dotted curve now moves left to colder temperatures. This only continues until 10500 BCE. It is only the second time something is noted on the left side after Megan at 16000 BCE]
::Temperatures start to decline, mainly in the Northern hemisphere
::This may be caused by changes in ocean circulation due to the floods of cold fresh meltwater flowing into the Atlantic as the North American ice sheet melts.
::This cooler period is called the Younger Dryas

:11000 BCE
::[This is the first text to the left of the dotted curve:]
::Humans reach Argentina

:10500 BCE
::[An arrow pointing down along the right side of the dotted curve and to the right indicate temperature is increasing again, meaning the dotted curve now moves right to hotter temperatures. This continues until 8000 BCE where it levels out just above 0°C.]
::Warming resumes
::Human settlements at Jericho

:10000 BCE
::First development of farming

:9500 BCE
::Saber-toothed cat goes extinct
::[To the left:]
::Horses disappear from North America

:9000 BCE
::[To the left, Randall spelled Pokémon wrong:]
:::Last North American Pokemon go extinct
:::[Cueball with a speak and Megan is looking up at this last “fact”.]
:::Megan: That is not a real fact.
::Temperatures reach modern levels
::Rising seas cut off the land bridge between North America and Asia
::Cattle domesticated

:8500 BCE
::Ice sheets retreat across the Canadian border
::Temperatures start to level out slightly above 1961-1990 levels

:8000 BCE
::[The above sentence breaks over the 8000 BCE line. From here a maximum in temperature on the chart is reached at 0.5°C which will not be overtaken until 2000 CE. It stays almost constant here until 5000 BCE where a slight cooling begins.]

:7500 BCE
::[To the left:]
::This warm, stable period is called the Holocene Climate Optimum
::[To the left:]
::Jiahu settled in China

:7000 BCE
::Final collapse of the North American ice sheet leads to rapid 2-4m sea level rise…
::[A small arrow points down and left to the right of the dotted curve. There is a small decrease in temperature but it is very small and would have been missed without the arrow and label.]
::…And a period of cooling in the Northern hemisphere

:6500 BCE
::[To the left:]
::As seas rise to near their modern levels, Britain is cut off from mainland Europe

:6000 BCE
::Humans develop copper metalworking

:5500 BCE
::[To the left:]
::Massive volcanic eruption in Oregon creates crater lake
::Gold metalworking

:5000 BCE
::[To the left:]
::Invention of the wheel
::[To the left. To the right of the dotted curve is an arrow pointing down and slightly left. From here temperature decreases very slowly but steadily from 0.5°C until 1000 BCE where a stable plateau is reached around 0°C.]
::Earth begins to cool slowly mainly due to regular cycles in its orbit

:4500 BCE
::[To the left:]
:: Proto-Indo-European language develops
:::[To the right of the curve Ponytail holds up a hand towards Cueball.]
:::Ponytail: Let’s make out language heavily inflected, so future students have to memorize a zillion verb endings!
:::Cueball: Okay!
::[To the left:]
::Permanent settlements in the fertile crescent

:4000 BCE
::Horses domesticated
::[To the left:]
::Minoan culture arises on Crete

:3500 BCE
::Egyptian mummification
::Rise of the Indus Valley civilization
::[To the left:]
::Invention of writing in Sumer “prehistory” ends, “history” begins
::Earliest human whose name we know
::(Pharaoh Iry-Hor in Egypt)

:3000 BCE
::''Three Sovereigns and five emperors'' period in China
::Gilgamesh
::[To the left:]
::Imhotep
::Mayan culture emerges
::[To the left:]
::Great Pyramid constructed

:2500 BCE
::Corded Ware culture in Europe
::[To the left of the curve two rock musicians with long hair and electrical guitars are standing on either side of a small gate made of three slabs of stone, one on top of the other two standing stones.]
::Stonehenge completed
::Chariots developed

:2000 BCE
::[To the left:]
::Alphabetic writing developed in Egypt
::Last mammoths on a tiny Siberian island go extinct
::[To the left:]
::Minoan eruption

:1500 BCE
::[To the left:]
::Iron smelting
::Olmec civilization develops in Central America
::[A Trojan horse with two Cueball-like guys in front and a third standing on its back. Its back is at three Cueball’s height and its head rises to the level of the Cueball on its back. It stands on a platform with four wheel on the visible side. There is text on the horse]
:::Setting of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey''
:::Text on horse: Not a trap
::[To the left:]
::Invasion of the Sea peoples*
::* A real thing
::Polynesians explore the Pacific Ocean

:1000 BCE
::[From 1000 BBC to 1000 CE the temperature is stable and very close to 0°C.]
::[To the left:]
::Solomon
::[Randall spelled Iliad wrongly this time:]
::Illiad and Odyssey composed
::[To the left:]
::Rise of Greek city-states
::Neo-Assyrian empire
::[To the left:]
::First Olympics
::Zapotec writing in modern Mexico
::[To the left:]
::Confucius

:500 BCE
::[To the left:]
::The stuff in the 300 (film)|movie ''300'', but regular speed and with more clothing
::Buddha
::Nazca Lines
::[To the left:]
::Alexander the Great
::[To the left:]
::Mayan hieroglyphics
::Ashoka the Great
::[To the left:]
::Paper invented
::[To the left:]
::Asterix
::Teotihuacán metropolis
::[To the left:]
::Julius Caesar

:[At the year 0, there is instead two numbers for each of the two scales before and after Christ:]
:1 BCE
:1 CE
::[To the left:]
::Roman Empire
::Jesus
::[To the left and erupting volcano.]
::Pompeii
::Three Kingdoms period
::[To the left:]
::Gupta empire
::[To the left:]
::Various groups take turns sacking Rome
::[Randall spelled Attila wrong:]
::Atilla the Hun

:500 CE
::Muhammad
::[To the left:]
::Tang Dynasty
::[An arrow to the right of the dotted curve pointing down, takes a swing far out from the curve and then bends back again. The text label next to it breaks into the next 500 period. The dotted curve stays stable at 0°C along this arrow.]
::Medieval warm period in Europe and some northern regions (too regional to affect the global average much)
::[To the left:]
::Leif Eriksson

:1000 CE
::[The dotted curve moves to the left towards lower temperature reaching a minimum around 1650 of about -0.6°C at the Little Ice Age.]
::[To the left a drawing of a compass with needle pointing the black end towards north east. There are labels for the four main directions and a label next to it:]
:::N
:::W E
:::S
:::Magnetic compass navigation
::[To the left:]
::Ghengis Khan
::Zheng He’s fleet explores Asia and Africa
::[To the left:]
::Aztec Alliance
::[To the left:]
::Printing press
::[To the left:]
::Columbus

:1500 CE
::European Renaissance
::[To the left:]
::Shakespeare

:1600
::[To the left:]
::Newton
::[To the right of the dotted curve there is an arrow pointing down that makes a swing in towards the curve and then back out again. At -0.6°C this is the coldest it has been since 9500 BCE. It is labeled:]
::”Little Ice Age”

:1700
::Steam engines
::[To the left:]
::Unites States Independence

:1800
::Industrial Revolution
::[To the left:]
::Telegraphs
::[After this the dotted curve becomes solid.]

:1900
::[To the left, and on the line for 1900:]
::Airplanes
::[To the left:]
::World Wars
::[The solid line takes a step to the right close to 0°C. Over the rest of the 1900s it moves closer to 0°C crossing it before 2000 where it almost reaches the maximum temperature of 0.5 °C from earlier in 8000 BCE.]
::Fossil fuel CO2 emissions start rapidly increasing
::[To the left:]
::Nuclear weapons
::[To the left:]
::Internet

:2000
::Northwest Passage opens
::[From here to present day the solid line increases rapidly and in 2016 present day is almost reaches 1°C, with about 0.8°C.]

:2016
::[To the left on the line for 2016:]
::Present day
::[From here the curve once again becomes dotted as this is the future. After one dot it splits in two and after the first two dots another split between them occurs forming three possible future dotted curves. The first curve bending down before the others, and thus to the right of the other two reaches about 1.2°C and then goes straight down and stops at the 2100 line. An arrow points to it from the left and a label is written patly before and the rest after the 2100 line to the left of the curve:]
::Best-case scenario assuming immediate massive action to limit emissions

:2100
::[The middle curve bends a little down after reaching 1.3°C and then continues this path reaching 2°C in 2100. An arrow point from below to it and a label is written below the curve and below 2100 line:]
::Optimistic scenario
::[The last line continues along the path from the last 16 years of the solid line reaching 4.2°C at 2100, almost as far on the other side of 0°C in 150 years as it took 14000 years to move from the other side from the start of the chart. Another arrow point to this from below with a label below the curve and below 2100 line:]
::Current Path

==Trivia==
*There have been several ''[[:Category:Large drawings|large drawings]]'' in the history of xkcd, and also some that are bigger than this one (for instance [[1110: Click and Drag]]).
**But among those that can be viewed in one go, without downloading a larger file or moving around, this is by far the longest.
**The next longest is probably [[482: Height]].
*The timeline starts at 20,000 BCE (22,000 years ago) and ends at 2100 CE, thus covering 22,100 years.
*There are several spelling mistakes.
**Most obvious is the second time Randall wrote the word "Iliad," because he just spelled it correctly at 1500 BCE and then spelled it ''Illiad'' at 1000 BCE with two "L"s.
**Attila the Hun becomes ''Atilla the Hun'' with ''one'' T and ''two'' L's.
**Pokémon is spelled ''Pokemon'', but then again that is not so strange for Randall (see [[1647: Diacritics]]).
**Note that the fact that Woolly rhinoceros becomes ''Wooly rhino'' with only one l is not a spelling mistake but an alternative spelling of the word.
*Notably absent are the following dates/times:
**1850: methodical temperature record begins
**the entire swing period between 20 and 200 thousand years prior to now, which would depict temperature swings with increasing frequency and amplitude (ref geological record).
**the 300 million years prior to that, during which the earth was significantly warmer than now, underwent much more extreme temperature changes, and during which time it is presumed that life was present on the earth (but that cars were not).

===Popularity of comic===
*This comic became so popular with a broader audience that Randall decided to push the release of the next comic [[1733: Solar Spectrum]] one day back for a rare [[:Category:Thursday comics|Thursday release]] instead of the scheduled [[:Category:Wednesday comics|Wednesday release]].
**He noted this above [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/a/a6/1732_Earth_Temperature_Timeline_header_text_changed_for_all_comics.png all the comics] in the [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/6/6d/1732_Earth_Temperature_Timeline_header_text_changed.png header text on xkcd]:
::Note: Since a lot of new people are here looking for this chart today,
::I'll be posting Wednesday's comic on Thursday instead.
*Before that the [http://web.archive.org/web/20160912181546/https://xkcd.com/ normal heading] with the release day of xkcd was shown.
**This was (of course) still there Tuesday the [http://web.archive.org/web/20160913231501/http://xkcd.com/ day after] the release, because it was first on Wednesday there were reason to note the delay.
**It stayed in place even [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/6/62/1732_Earth_Temperature_Timeline_header_text_changed_also_when_next_comic_was_released.png for some time after] the "Wednesday" comic was released on Thursday, but was [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/e/ee/1732_Earth_Temperature_Timeline_header_text_back_to_normal_shortly_after_next_comic_was_released.png then removed] before noon (EST) on Thursday.
***Randall did thus not post a link to this comic in the header text for new visitors to use, only giving them that one extra day.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Large drawings]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Timelines]]
[[Category:Line graphs]]
[[Category:Maps]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] 
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Climate change]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Music]] 
[[Category:Fiction]] 
[[Category:Sport]] 
[[Category:Religion]] 
[[Category:Internet]]
[[Category:Pokémon]]

1732: Earth Temperature Timeline

2016-09-12T19:23:24Z

108.162.219.81: /* Explanation */

Talk:1141: Two Years

2016-08-19T16:10:31Z

108.162.219.81:

It's been four years since I first read this comic. I still tear up a little each time I get to the "still alive" panel.

There are no words to convey how awesome you guys are. Thank you.

Also, great Portal reference.

[[Special:Contributions/81.32.87.159|81.32.87.159]] 07:30, 30 November 2012 (UTC)

Flip cancer. Lost my mother-in-law to it and now my dad is undergoing chemo for stage IV lung cancer.
:Seconded. This strip hits close to home, even years after the fact. And given that of my parents and grandparents only one grandmother was not yet diagnosed with any type of cancer, both frequentist and Bayesian statisticians probably agree I should be cautious myself. [[Special:Contributions/46.142.57.253|46.142.57.253]] 20:01, 30 November 2012 (UTC) madd

Did anyone else think the second to last panel was a couple who were sitting close to ground zero of a nuclear bomb? It took several glances to finally see a tree instead of a mushroom cloud. [[User:Sayno2quat|Sayno2quat]] ([[User talk:Sayno2quat|talk]]) 15:35, 30 November 2012 (UTC)

:When I first saw that panel from my peripheral vision, I also thought it was a mushroom cloud.[[User:CityZen|CityZen]] ([[User talk:CityZen|talk]]) 17:46, 30 November 2012 (UTC)

:Now that you mention it - on my monitor, before scrolling, I only swa the upper half of what looked indeed like a mushroom cloud. [[Special:Contributions/46.142.57.253|46.142.57.253]] 19:45, 30 November 2012 (UTC) madd

: Agreed; the mushroom cloud was my first impression, too. And I hazard the guess that it was intentional: it's an apt metaphor of how your world seems to explode... -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 14:02, 1 December 2012 (UTC)

The language of referring to Randall's girlfriend as "wife" before they were married is awkward.[[User:CityZen|CityZen]] ([[User talk:CityZen|talk]]) 17:47, 30 November 2012 (UTC)

:Ok, "partner" is slightly less awkward, but I think using "Cueball/Megan" instead of "Randall/Randall's partner" would be most consistent.[[User:CityZen|CityZen]] ([[User talk:CityZen|talk]]) 21:17, 30 November 2012 (UTC)

:: +1 on '''s/Randall/Cueball/g''' (and '''s/(girlfriend|partner|wife)/Megan/gi''') with an explanation that the comic very likely depicts real-world events in Randall's and (real-world) Megan's life. Though it might be tributary to make the inferential leap, I think would be entirely "unscientific" to do so (which is so ''un''Randall...) It also reinforces the notion that this happens to many, many more couples: Randall and Megan are not unique in what they are experiencing, though Randall does an excellent job of illustrating just what they're going through. (And yes, I could just go and change it myself, but wanted to discuss beforehand.) -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 14:02, 1 December 2012 (UTC)

:::Wikis lack democracy. Somebody puts their foot down, and that's that. In any case, I think if someone is going to insist that these characters can only represent Randall and his wife Megan, it's odd and slightly disrespectful to never use her proper name.[[User:CityZen|CityZen]] ([[User talk:CityZen|talk]]) 01:29, 2 December 2012 (UTC)

::::Crying out about social injustice is the adult version of screaming "Ouch!" when a parent grabs a child's arm to get their attention. Democracy is not do-what-you-want-to. Democracy is having a discussion and then acting upon the results of that discussion. There have been [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#Randall_in_Comics|many]] [[Talk:1117:_My_Sky|discussions]] about having Randall in comics. The result was that whenever Randall decides to place himself in a comic, that we should honor that. So, instead of using a generic character he put himself and his wife into the comic. So, we honor that. We do not know the name of his wife, Randall is a very private person, we respect his privacy and only go by the information he gives out, and we don't make wild speculations, this is why we don't refer to her by (any) name; it's the most respectful thing we can do.

::::To prevent vigilante edit warring I've locked the page. Now, if you think that the site should not recognize when Randall specifically puts himself in comics, then there is a reason to bring this discussion back to the table. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 05:45, 2 December 2012 (UTC)

:::::So why is this comic different from [[881]], [[931]], [[933]], and [[996]]? There was consistency until [[1141]]. Consistency is what's wanted in a Wiki.[[User:CityZen|CityZen]] ([[User talk:CityZen|talk]]) 05:39, 3 December 2012 (UTC)

::::::I believe those other comic is rather general, where this particular one has enough set of facts that specific to Randall's case. That said, I agree with you that consistency is good, having the character called Cueball and Megan and explicitly said that those represent Randall and his wife probably better. [[User:Arifsaha|Arifsaha]] ([[User talk:Arifsaha|talk]]) 16:48, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

::::::My two cents: As [[User:Arifsaha|Arifsaha]] said, those other comics are general. Each is ''one'' scene demonstrating ''one'' situation or discussion, so Cueball/Megan could be any couple going through cancer treatments. In this case, quantity ''does'' matter in determining the significance of "evidence that this is Randall". There are so many scenes here that it's clear a very specific and personal story is being shared.
::::::Also, the title text usually is from Randall's perspective (obviously there are exceptions, but when the text is realistic, it's a safe assumption). Here it says "she", not "my wife", indicating that the person being referenced has already been introduced (i.e. is in the comic). Further linking the Randall text with the characters is the fact that it directly references the panel 5 scene, rather than: "related ideas that are not in the comic" ([[933]]/[[996]]), simple objective explanation ([[931]]), or a reference to a previous strip ([[881]]). So unless you want to argue that the title text is intended to be ''Cueball'' addressing the readers and not Randall, it seems like this is all about Randall & his wife. [[User:Jerodast|- jerodast]] ([[User talk:Jerodast|talk]]) 16:06, 22 December 2012 (UTC)

:::::As [[User:CityZen|CityZen]] said above, consistency is good. It is not that we don't want to recognize Randall in the comic, but we probably want to recognize it in the way where we said that in this comic Cueball and Megan represent Randall and his wife. I imagine it is possible that a reader see other comic and start questioning why the characters were called Cueball and Megan in the other comic but called Randall and his wife in this comic. I believe it will be easier to simply consistently label the character Cueball and Megan, then explicitly and clearly said and explain that in this particular comic, Cueball and Megan represent Randall and his wife. [[User:Arifsaha|Arifsaha]] ([[User talk:Arifsaha|talk]]) 16:48, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

::::::Cueball and Megan do not represent Randall and his wife. Cueball and Megan are the everyman/woman (and usually not even that but the geekiest kind of every(wo)man). Now, if Randall were building a story arc that spanned 1000 comics I would believe that this was Cueball and Megan, in character, standing in for Randall's real life experience. But the fact is, Randall clearly marks when he intentionally has multiple comics that build directly upon each other, see [[:Category:Comic series]]. If xkcd were a story driven web comic we'd have to point out that Cueball and Megan have been married several times, as well as been flirtatious with other characters, had children both in and out of wedlock. It's much more easily explained that this comic is Randall and his wife merely drawn "in the style of". Ignoring an unusually personal comic for the sake of consistent character naming seems absurd to me. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 17:50, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

::::::Also there is an established precedent for [[:Category:Comics featuring Randall Munroe|Randall's appearance in comics]] - he appears as an unadorned stick figure in all of them, despite clearly being Randall. Just because he looks like Cueball doesn't mean we need to call Randall "Cueball but really he's Randall this time". If anything that's even more confusing. Randall and Cueball both appear in (different) comics, and they're drawn the same. I'm sure people can handle that. [[User:Jerodast|- jerodast]] ([[User talk:Jerodast|talk]]) 16:06, 22 December 2012 (UTC)

Panel 3 is possible reference/inspiration for comic [[1024: Error Code]]--[[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 18:56, 30 November 2012 (UTC)

:Given what we know from Randall's past two years, I would rather infer that comic 1024 was inspired by one of these activities as seen in panels 3 and 8. [[Special:Contributions/46.142.57.253|46.142.57.253]] 19:43, 30 November 2012 (UTC) madd

::I was leaning towards the trip in panel 3 inspiring comic 1024 rather than referencing it as well. [[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 20:50, 30 November 2012 (UTC)

Sooo... Because the clipboard-holding character in the first panel is a woman, we assume she's a nurse instead of a doctor?

:Seriously the clipboard-holding character is much more likely to be a doctor than a nurse if they are communicating actual results of medical tests.--[[Special:Contributions/71.251.30.68|71.251.30.68]] 03:58, 6 December 2012 (UTC)Anonymous

::I agree, although, Randall went out of his way to draw a garment on her that has short sleeves, unlike a lab coat. However, doctors wear scrubs too. I'm changing it. [[User:Jerodast|- jerodast]] ([[User talk:Jerodast|talk]]) 15:22, 22 December 2012 (UTC)

Hey I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask questions, but I don't really get why the waiter says eww at the end? Thanks in advance! Love this site! {{unsigned|169.229.101.43|12:29, 6 December 2012 (UTC)}}

:The waiter says "eww" at the end because, instead of celebrating a wedding anniversary (or similar) which is what he is expecting, the couple are celebrating a "biopsy-versary". It's the contrast between the mental image of what happens in a biopsy with the emotions of what is normally expected when celebrating an anniversary (eg wedding anniversary as opposed to cutting-a-hole-in-you anniversary).[[Special:Contributions/203.1.252.5|203.1.252.5]] 03:38, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

:It's the equivalent of "yuck" and similar expressions of moderate gross-out. [[Special:Contributions/109.154.103.101|109.154.103.101]] 09:34, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

Can we get a Cancer series tag on some of these comics? There have been a lot of them, after all. --[[User:Castriff|Jimmy C]] ([[User talk:Castriff|talk]]) 14:10, 11 December 2012 (UTC)

:Down at the bottom, there's a section that lists the categories this page is in. The Cancer category has been there since this page was created. Also, please add comments in chronological order. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 14:19, 11 December 2012 (UTC)

Since my mother has just made her 27th ''biopsy-versary'', my sympathies, prayers and best hopes are with anyone who has won someone from, lost someone to, is fighting or is fighting with someone, any form of Cancer.

Which is, pretty much everyone; is this forum, with Randall in particular.

Paulo Sedrez [[Special:Contributions/139.82.111.111|139.82.111.111]] 20:35, 7 January 2013 (UTC)

the first few frames got me... ;_; [[Special:Contributions/50.4.66.122|50.4.66.122]] 03:03, 22 February 2013 (UTC)

I do not know if this is a Scary Thought, but, in IV machines, a long beep repeating itself (for example, the 2nd panel here) means that either the IV machine had finished its infusion or there in an occlusion (which means that the flow from the bag to the vein was cut off somehow, a problem that can be inflicted by simply moving the tube in a way that bends or even folds the tube). If an occlusion occurs, a nurse would need to fix the problem (in my example case: re-'straighten' the tube) and very painfully push the fluid into the vein until the gap caused the occlusion disappears into the vein. [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 20:50, 15 April 2013 (UTC)

I would assume panel 8 depicts their honeymoon since it follows directly after the wedding panel. -j [[Special:Contributions/96.242.254.65|96.242.254.65]] 14:18, 8 August 2013 (UTC)
:Yeah. I added it.–[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 23:45, 8 August 2013 (UTC)

Talk:1701: Speed and Danger

2016-07-01T19:53:59Z

108.162.219.81:

;Worst Comic
I think this might be a strong contender for worst comic on xkcd. Although [[1384: Krypton]] definitely makes for stiff competition. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.102|108.162.216.102]] 14:28, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

Is there something this is referencing? [[User:Saklad5|Saklad5]] ([[User talk:Saklad5|talk]]) 14:41, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

The worst? Have you looked at the first few hundred? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.119|108.162.246.119]] 15:09, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

I think this comic is actually enlightening on a certain (albeit narrow level). People frequently lack a proper sense of perspective, and this comic illustrates this fact. While we might say "Wow, that Indy car is really moving fast!", it pales in comparison to other vehicles that some fortunate few travel in.
:And I totally wanted to learn that from a '''comic''' that's supposed to be humorous... --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.7|108.162.219.7]] 16:50, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

[[1699]] and [[1680]] would like to have a word with you. Also [[1675]].
Actually, all of the last 25 or so comics would. I really don't know how the xkcd forums put up with being 500x smarter than all the comics they praise every day. [[User:Youforgotthisthing|Youforgotthisthing]] ([[User talk:Youforgotthisthing|talk]]) 17:18, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

;Sarcasm
Is sarcasm to be encouraged in explanations? “Here, Randall makes the '''truly astounding''' observation that the danger of a crash is directly proportional to its speed….” [Emphasis mine.] ''— [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 15:29, 1 July 2016 (UTC)''
:In this case it's definitely warranted...Jesus Randall, this wouldn't exactly have been hard to make funny/interesting. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.7|108.162.219.7]] 15:51, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

Well a rocket to achieve orbit hits about 18,000 MPH http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/reference/basics/launch.html
Where as NASCAR is only ~200 MPH https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_car_racing
Formula 1 is only ~257 MPH https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formula_One_car#Top_speeds
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.68.71|162.158.68.71]] 16:51, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

I'm kinda shocked Randall didn't reference Star Trek for this comic, considering the number. - Michael C. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.85|141.101.98.85]] 17:00, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

== Why only 4 examples? ==

Why not put things like biking, driving a regular car, WWI planes, WW2 planes, supersonic jets, satellites, Apollo, New Horizons...

I don't think the comic intended to say "Normal Sports CARS," as the explaination currently says, I think it means what it says, "Normal SPORTS" like foot ball, or hockey. On the linear scale of 0-to-rocket, running or walking is close to race car speed, compared to how fast a rocket is, and the graph illustrates that. Also, crashing a normal sports CAR is far more dangerous than crashing a professional race car because of all the safety equipment, so a sports car woudl be more toward the dangerous side.

1677: Contrails

2016-05-06T15:44:08Z

108.162.219.81: Correct sublimation to condensation

{{comic
| number = 1677
| date = May 6, 2016
| title = Contrails
| image = contrails.png
| titletext = Astronomy (or "astrology" in British English) is the study of ...
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Seems like the entire comic is described twice with different levels of information in both parts. Should be possible to merge them together into one better flowing explanation.}}

{{w|Contrail}}s (short for "condensation trails") are trails of tiny water droplets produced by cooling aircraft exhaust, and are composed primarily of water. The {{w|chemtrail conspiracy theory}} claims that contrails lasting unusually long are actually chemical or biological agents sprayed into the air for sinister purposes. Here, [[White Hat]] notices that there are a lot of contrails in the air. [[Cueball]] corrects him, saying that in {{w|American English}}, contrails are called chemtrails. This, however, is incorrect.

This is another comic in the [[:Category:My Hobby|My Hobby]] series. Many of these comics involve [[Cueball]] giving misleading information about pedantic terms, such as [[1405: Meteor]].

The title text implies that {{w|astronomy}} and {{w|astrology}} are synonymous, though astrology is used in British English. However, this is incorrect. Though both involve studying celestial objects, astrology is the pseudoscience that interprets positions of celestial objects as having influence on human affairs, while astronomy is the scientific study of celestial objects on a universal scale.

Contrail stands for “condensation trail”, which is the trailing cloud often found after jet planes that fly by. They are formed from water vapor condensing on jet fuel exhaust particles, some impurities of which provide bases for ice crystals to accumulate on. Some can dissipate in minutes, but others can last for hours or even longer.

Chemtrail, specifically referring to contrails that last for very long, is a conspiracist term that states such clouds can last so long because there are other chemicals added in jet fuel, thus achieving unknown malicious results. It is not recognized as such by the vast majority of the scientific community.

The joke is that British English and American English often call the same object with different terms, and one can often learn new words for a simple thing. This, however is not the case in this comic; contrail and chemtrail do not refer to the same thing, the latter being only a subtype of the former. And it being xkcd, we can assume that chemtrail is a term that is frowned upon. Thus the comic states it as misinformation.

The title text includes a similar situation: astronomy is the scientific study of things in outer space, like stars, planets, and galaxies. Astrology, however, is a system that infers one’s personalities and characteristics from zodiacs of her date of birth, which is a constellation assigned to a period of time in a year. The same system can also derive predictions about future, especially that of a relationship. Some would argue that astrology shows statistical values, but it is hardly science by the standards of scientific study.

Given that the "American English" version is the conspiracy theory one for contrails/chemtrails, while who confuses astronomy and astrology is not fully clear, it is possible that the rest of the explanation of the astronomy vs astrology text would describe astrology. In that case, this could be a comment on the educational status in the US vs the UK, where conspiracy theories and superstition (astrology) are much more prominent in the US than in the UK (or Europe in general).

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and a White Hat are walking. White Hat is looking up to the sky while Cueball, walking in front holds out one arm towards him.]
:White Hat: Lots of contrails today.
:Cueball: Oh, you must be from the UK. In American English it's "Chemtrail".

:[Caption under the panel]
:My hobby: Spreading linguistic misinformation

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:My Hobby]]
[[Category:Language]]

1412: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

2014-08-25T13:21:19Z

108.162.219.81: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 1412
| date = August 25, 2014
| title = Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
| image = teenage_mutant_ninja_turtles.png
| titletext = My upcoming album, 'Linked List', has covers of 'The Purple People Eater', the Ninja Turtles theme, 'Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini', and the Power Rangers theme, with every song played to the tune of the next.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Very early draft.}}
In reference to the recently released ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' movie, Randall has compiled a list of Wikipedia article titles that, when stressed on the correct syllables, sound similar to theme song of the {{w|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987 TV series)|1987 cartoon series}}. Some of the items on this list (e.g. {{w|Ace Ventura: Pet Detective|''Ace Ventura: Pet Detective''}}) are drawn in the same style as the logo from that series.

See also [[856: Trochee Fixation]], another comic dealing with a similar concept.

==Trivia==
Randall mistyped the word "album" as "alubm" in the title text

==Transcript==
WIKIPEDIA ARTICLE TITLES 
With the right syllable stress pattern to be sung to the tune of the original ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' theme song 
 
{{w|Ace Ventura: Pet Detective|''Ace Ventura: Pet Detective''}} [in the style of the logo, with the following listed to the right] 
{{w|Biggest Loser: Second Chances|''Biggest Loser: Second Chances''}} 
{{w|Cayman Island blue iguana}} 
{{w|Central Texas pocket gopher}} 
{{w|Church of Jesus Christ Creator}} 
{{w|Climate change and meat production}} 
{{w|Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon|''Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon''}} 
{{w|Daylight saving time in China}} 
{{w|Denver Airport People Mover}} 
{{w|Easter Island spiny lobster}} 
 
{{w|Asian Human Rights Commission}} [in the style of the logo, with the following listed to the left] 
{{w|Edgar Allen Poe Museum (Richmond, Virginia)|Edgar Allen Poe Museum}} 
{{w|Engine failure after take-off}} 
{{w|English as a second language}} 
{{w|Former Arctic Monkeys members|Former ''Arctic Monkeys'' members}} 
{{w|Fowler's Modern English Usage|''Fowler's Modern English Usage''}} 
{{w|Georgia Game and Fish Department}} 
{{w|Golden-mantled howler monkey}} 
{{w|Greater Cleveland Film Commission}} 
{{w|Hairy flower chafer beetle}} 
 
{{w|San Diego City Council}} [in the style of the logo, with the following listed to the right] 
{{w|Harland David "Colonel" Sanders}} 
{{w|Human Tissue Resource Network}} 
{{w|Klondike-class destroyer tender|''Klondike'' class destroyer tender}} 
{{w|Legal code of North Dakota}} 
{{w|Lesser knapweed flower weevil}} 
{{w|Lockheed Martin Atlas rocket}} 
{{w|Maple syrup urine syndrome}} 
{{w|Mighty Morphin Power Rangers|''Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers''}} 
{{w|Nablus mask-like facial syndrome}} 
 
{{w|Single-payer health insurance}} [in the style of the logo, with the following listed to the left] 
{{w|Neo Geo Pocket Color}} 
{{w|New Year's Eve with Carson Daly|''New Year's Eve with Carson Daly'' }} 
{{w|Newton's second law of motion}} 
{{w|North Korean Workers Party}} 
{{w|Orange County Business Council}} 
{{w|Over/under cable coiling}} 
{{w|Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater}} 
{{w|Places named for Adolf Hitler}} 
{{w|Proton-proton chain reaction}} 
 
{{w|Spotted giant flying squirrel}} [in the style of the logo, with the following listed to the right] 
{{w|Puerto Rican lizard-cuckoo}} 
{{w|Quantum vacuum plasma thruster|Quantuum vacuum plasma thruster}} [sic] 
{{w|Rocky Mountain spotted fever}} 
{{w|Royal Flying Doctor Service}} 
{{w|Russian Women's Fascist Movement}} 
{{w|Semi-active laser guidance}} 
{{w|Seven Brides for Seven Brothers|''Seven Brides for Seven Brothers''}} 
{{w|Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows|''Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows''}} 
{{w|Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon}} 
 
{{w|Women science fiction authors}} [in the style of the logo, with the following listed to the left] 
{{w|Trailing suction hopper dredger}} 
{{w|Vector graphics markup language}} 
{{w|Viti Levu giant pigeon}} 
{{w|Voting rights in Puerto Rico}} 
{{w|William Henry, Duke of Gloucester}} 
{{w|Windows Vista startup process}} 
{{w|Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie}} 
{{w|Yaba monkey tumor virus}} 
{{w|Zack and Miri Make a Porno|''Zack and Miri Make a Porno''}} 
 
Title text: My upcoming alubm, 'Linked List', has covers of 'The Purple People Eater', the Ninja Turtles theme, 'Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini', and the Power Rangers theme, with every song played to the tune of the next.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category: Comics with color]]
[[Category:Ninja Turtles]]
[[Category: Wikipedia]]

1412: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

2014-08-25T13:18:04Z

108.162.219.81: /* Transcript */ Added the transcript, complete with links to the Wikipedia pages themselves. A lot of them redirect to other articles.

{{comic
| number = 1412
| date = August 25, 2014
| title = Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
| image = teenage_mutant_ninja_turtles.png
| titletext = My upcoming album, 'Linked List', has covers of 'The Purple People Eater', the Ninja Turtles theme, 'Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini', and the Power Rangers theme, with every song played to the tune of the next.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Very early draft.}}
In reference to the recently released ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' movie, Randall has compiled a list of Wikipedia article titles that, when stressed on the correct syllables, sound similar to theme song of the {{w|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987 TV series)|1987 cartoon series}}. Some of the items on this list (e.g. {{w|Ace Ventura: Pet Detective|''Ace Ventura: Pet Detective''}}) are drawn in the same style as the logo from that series.

See also [[856: Trochee Fixation]], another comic dealing with a similar concept.

==Trivia==
Randall mistyped the word "album" as "alubm" in the title text

==Transcript==
WIKIPEDIA ARTICLE TITLES 
With the right syllable stress pattern to be sung to the tune of the original ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' theme song 
 
{{w|Ace Ventura: Pet Detective|''Ace Ventura: Pet Detective''}} [in the style of the logo, with the following listed to the right] 
{{w|Biggest Loser: Second Chances|''Biggest Loser: Second Chances''}} 
{{w|Cayman Island blue iguana}} 
{{w|Central Texas pocket gopher}} 
{{w|Church of Jesus Christ Creator}} 
{{w|Climate change and meat production}} 
{{w|Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon|''Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon''}} 
{{w|Daylight saving time in China}} 
{{w|Denver Airport People Mover}} 
{{w|Easter Island spiny lobster}} 
 
{{w|Asian Human Rights Commission}} [in the style of the logo, with the following listed to the left] 
{{w|Edgar Allen Poe Museum (Richmond, Virginia)|Edgar Allen Poe Museum}} 
{{w|Engine failure after take-off}} 
{{w|English as a second language}} 
{{w|Former Arctic Monkeys members|Former ''Arctic Monkeys'' members}} 
{{w|Fowler's Modern English Usage|''Fowler's Modern English Usage''}} 
{{w|Georgia Game and Fish Department}} 
{{w|Golden-mantled howler monkey}} 
{{w|Greater Cleveland Film Commission}} 
{{w|Hairy flower chafer beetle}} 
 
{{w|San Diego City Council}} [in the style of the logo, with the following listed to the right] 
{{w|Harland David "Colonel" Sanders}} 
{{w|Human Tissue Resource Network}} 
{{w|Klondike-class destroyer tender|''Klondike'' class destroyer tender}} 
{{w|Legal code of North Dakota}} 
{{w|Lesser knapweed flower weevil}} 
{{w|Lockheed Martin Atlas rocket}} 
{{w|Maple syrup urine syndrome}} 
{{w|Mighty Morphin Power Rangers|''Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers''}} 
{{w|Nablus mask-like facial syndrome}} 
 
{{w|Single-payer health insurance}} [in the style of the logo, with the following listed to the left] 
{{w|Neo Geo Pocket Color}} 
{{w|New Year's Eve with Carson Daly|''New Year's Eve with Carson Daly'' }} 
{{w|Newton's second law of motion}} 
{{w|North Korean Workers Party}} 
{{w|Orange County Business Council}} 
{{w|Over/under cable coiling}} 
{{w|Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater}} 
{{w|Places named for Adolf Hitler}} 
{{w|Proton-proton chain reaction}} 
 
{{w|Spotted giant flying squirrel}} [in the style of the logo, with the following listed to the right] 
{{w|Puerto Rican lizard-cuckoo}} 
{{w|Quantum vacuum plasma thruster}} 
{{w|Rocky Mountain spotted fever}} 
{{w|Royal Flying Doctor Service}} 
{{w|Russian Women's Fascist Movement}} 
{{w|Semi-active laser guidance}} 
{{w|Seven Brides for Seven Brothers|''Seven Brides for Seven Brothers''}} 
{{w|Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows|''Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows''}} 
{{w|Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon}} 
 
{{w|Women science fiction authors}} [in the style of the logo, with the following listed to the left] 
{{w|Trailing suction hopper dredger}} 
{{w|Vector graphics markup language}} 
{{w|Viti Levu giant pigeon}} 
{{w|Voting rights in Puerto Rico}} 
{{w|William Henry, Duke of Gloucester}} 
{{w|Windows Vista startup process}} 
{{w|Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie}} 
{{w|Yaba monkey tumor virus}} 
{{w|Zack and Miri Make a Porno|''Zack and Miri Make a Porno''}} 
 
Title text: My upcoming alubm, 'Linked List', has covers of 'The Purple People Eater', the Ninja Turtles theme, 'Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini', and the Power Rangers theme, with every song played to the tune of the next.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category: Comics with color]]
[[Category:Ninja Turtles]]
[[Category: Wikipedia]]

725: Literally

2014-07-14T23:35:45Z

108.162.219.81:

{{comic
| number = 725
| date = April 9, 2010
| title = Literally
| image = literally.png
| titletext = The chemistry experiment had me figuratively -- and then shortly thereafter literally -- glued to my seat.
}}

==Explanation==
The adverb "literally" implies that the action it describes actually happened, while its opposite, "figuratively", is used when the action it describes is being used as a figure of speech, and is not a representation of what actually happened. However, "literally" is often used colloquially to mean "really" or "very", and even though [http://www.merriam-webster.com/video/0038-literally.htm Merriam-Webster] says it is a perfectly fine (if not correct) use of the word, a lot of people object to this usage.

In this comic, one of the two people (we'll call him [[Cueball]] for now) accidentally mentions he was ''literally'' glued to his seat (one could easily assume that they had just left a theater), at which point a crazy man off-panel loudly corrects him. The crazy man mentions that he has been stalking Cueball for eighteen years since an incident in seventh grade, where the crazy man (as a kid) incorrectly uses "literally" and young Cueball corrects him. He felt humiliated, overreacting to young Cueball's simple correction, and began to follow Cueball everywhere, vowing to be present when he makes the same mistake the crazy man had made in seventh grade.

When Cueball tells him that he is "literally the craziest person" he's ever met, the crazy man thinks that he incorrectly used the word "literally" again; however, Cueball reassures him that he did not misuse it, meaning that the crazy man actually is ''the'' craziest person he has ever met.

The title text points out that a chemistry experiment gone wrong is one of the few things that could cause someone to ''literally'' be glued to their seat, having previously been figuratively glued to their seat in fascination.

The title text could thus also be understood as an explanation of how the sentence which was interrupted would have ended: ''I was literally glued to my seat through the entire chemistry experiment''.

In this case the crazy person did not even catch Cueball in making the error - and because he interrupted too soon and gave himself away he has lost the chance to do so ever.
Even though he stalks Cueball, he may not have been able to join his chemistry class to witness the glue accident - and may thus, as described above, wrongly believe that Cueball was talking about a theater experience.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and a friend walking together. Cueball turns to the friend.]
:Cueball: I was literally glued to my seat through the entire-
:Crazy man [off-panel]: ''HAH! You mean "figuratively"!''

:[Crazy man walks into the panel. He has messy hair and a messy beard. The other people stop walking.]
:Cueball: Who are you?
:Crazy man: Eighteen years I've watched you! Waiting!

:Crazy man: Ever since that day in seventh grade when you humiliated me.
:[Short flashback panel. 4 kids are standing around talking to each other.]
:Kid #2 [Crazy man]: I told him and he literally exploded!
:Cueball: Uh, unless he physically ''burst,'' you mean "figuratively".
:Hairy: Hah.
:Crazy man [outside of flashback panel]: Remember?

:Crazy man: I knew one day you'd slip, and I vowed I'd be there to see you fall. ''How does it feel?''
:Cueball: You are literally the craziest person I've ever met.
:Crazy man: You did it again!
:Cueball: No, I didn't.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Language]]

1248: Sphere

2014-07-07T02:26:29Z

108.162.219.81: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 1248
| date = August 07, 2013
| title = Sphere
| image = sphere.png
| titletext = This message brought to you by the Society of Astronomers Trapped on the Surface of a Sphere.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Megan]] has taken or visited an astronomy class and has become more conscious about the vast size of the universe, and our own small place in it. She ponders that she can only observe and learn about the rest of the universe; she cannot explore it directly as she is trapped, presumably by the constraints of gravity, time and human technology.

The {{w|sphere}} she mentions her is a metaphor for the {{w|Earth}}, whose {{w|surface}} is roughly spherical in shape. The {{w|figure of the Earth}} is an irregular shape which can be better approximated as an oblate {{w|spheroid}}, or more exactly as a {{w|geoid}} — which literally means "similar in form to the Earth".

Her disinclination to make "{{w|small talk}}" with [[Cueball]] is a reference to how astronomers and people of other 'big-science' specializations can be so focused on their topic that they become disconnected from the simple details of everyday life. This has also been touched upon in [[663: Sagan-Man]] and [[786: Exoplanets]].

The title text is a continuation of this theme. The name "Society of Astronomers Trapped on the Surface of a Sphere" or, "SATSS", follows a common naming practice for scientific communities, Society, or Association, or Union of <Scientists> of <Country, Nationality, or What Ever>.

==Transcript==
:Cueball: How are you?
:Megan: Trapped on the surface of a sphere.
:[A beat.]
:Cueball: That astronomy class has made you suck at small talk.
:Megan: The universe is too '''''big''''' for small talk.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]

1247: The Mother of All Suspicious Files

2014-07-07T02:25:04Z

108.162.219.81: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 1247
| date = August 5, 2013
| title = The Mother of All Suspicious Files
| image = the_mother_of_all_suspicious_files.png
| titletext = Better change the URL to 'https' before downloading.
}}

==Explanation==
The save dialogue shows a download from [http://www.utrace.de/?query=65.222.202.53 65.222.202.53], an IP address that hosted JavaScript malware during a recent attack on the Tor anonymity network, with a very long file title. Many of the extensions used inside there indicate executable code; multiple file extensions are sometimes used to disguise a trojan program as a document.

You also see common download syntax for a pirated movie, {{w|Hackers (film)|Hackers}}, likely included to appear malicious to anyone skimming but is actually a movie about hackers, making it a benign reference rather than malicious. It is described as "_BLURAY_CAM", which contradicts itself ("_BLURAY" would mean it was ripped from a copy on Blu-ray Disc, while "_CAM" would mean it was copied by pointing a camera at the screen in the cinema). "_BLURAY_CAM" would probably indicate a search-keyword-stuffed fake copy; fake pirated media often contain viruses (although this is more likely to be a problem with newer media, before the first real pirated copy appears).

The {{w|URL}} contains the path "~tilde/pub/cia-bin/etc". The first part is a public folder of a user named tilde (which is also the name for the ~ symbol), "cgi-bin" is a common folder on a Web-Server for server side executables ([[Randall]] jokes with the name), and "etc" is a standard folder for configuration files – normally never accessible through a webserver. The program "init.dll" isn't executable at all, it's a {{w|Windows Dynamic Link Library}} which can't be run standalone, and is rarely referenced in URLs (even though such syntax is still being employed, even on [https://www.google.com/search?q=site:edu+filetype:dll reputable websites (Google search)] or here at [https://signin.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll eBay], indicating the webserver is a Microsoft {{w|Active Server Pages|ASP}} server). The question mark indicates the start of a parameter list, and in this case we have only one named "FILE".

The "Save" button is disabled; you can only click the "Cancel" button. This can be different when the server detects that you are using a secure (https) connection.

The complete content sent to the server, starting with "/~TILDE..." and ending with "...OUT.EXE", is exactly 256 characters long. On {{w|HTML 3}} specifications you have a limitation of 1024 characters, whereas later HTML specifications don't have this limit; it just depends on the web server's capabilities. But posting parameters directly at the URL is still a worse choice.

The content of the parameter is shown here:
* __ (underscore underscore) — used in the C programming language to denote that a symbol is really not for public consumption
* {{w|AUTOEXEC.BAT}} — a file which is automatically run during startup on Windows/DOS operating systems, and was often modified by viruses, which added malicious code to be run on each boot.
* MY%20OSX%20DOCUMENTS — referencing the {{w|OSX}} operating system ({{w|URL encoding#Character data|%20}} is a representation of a space in a URL, i.e. it reads as "MY OSX DOCUMENTS").
* INSTALL.EXE — a typical {{w|Installer#Installer|installer}}
* {{w|RAR}} — a compressed archive file type
* {{w|INI file|INI}} — a configuration file type
* {{w|Tar (computing)|TAR}} — a file archive popular in UNIX and UNIX-like operating systems. TAR has been mentioned [[1168: tar|before]].
* DOÇX — {{w|docx}} is an Office Open XML file, i.e. a word processing format used by Microsoft Word 2007 and above, but has no cedilla (¸). The addition of a cedilla may be a reference to exploits that rely on rare characters being mistaken for more common ones that look similar, such as the {{w|IDN homograph attack}}.
* PHPHPHP — a play on {{w|PHP}} files, a kind of server-based web page file type. PHP originally stood for "Personal Home Page" but was later redefined as the recursive abbreviation "PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor".
* {{w|XHTML}} — another web page file type
* {{w|TransducerML|TML}} — stands for Transducer Markup Language, an XML based markup language that specifies how to capture, time-tag and describe sensor data
* XTL — possibly a play on XHTML
* TXXT — a play on {{w|Text file|TXT}} file types
* 0DAY.HACK — a reference to a {{w|zero-day exploit}} (overlaps with the next entry)
* HACK.ERS_(1995)_BLURAY_CAM-XVID — a reference to the 1995 {{W|Hackers (film)|''Hackers''}} movie, but pirated movies would either be a BlurayRIP/DVDRIP or CAM, but not both at the same time unless you used a camera to record the Blu-ray movie as it played.
* {{w|EXE}} — an executable file type used by Microsoft Windows
* [SCR] — a tag used by movie pirates to denote a '{{w|Screener}}', the DVD copy of films given to critics prior to theater release. Usually the highest quality available at the time, rare, and thus good bait for a virus-laden download. "{{w|.scr}}" is also the extension for screensaver files, really just an exe file with a different extension and one of the classical ways to distribute infected files.
* {{w|Lisp (programming language)|LISP}} — programming language
* {{w|Windows Installer|MSI}} — an installation file used by Microsoft Installer
* {{w|.lnk|LNK}} — an extension used by Microsoft Windows for shortcuts. The extension is normally hidden to the user.
* LNK, ZDA, GNN — references to {{w|Link (The Legend of Zelda)|Link}}, {{w|Princess Zelda|Zelda}}, and {{w|Ganon}}, important characters from ''{{w|The Legend of Zelda}}'' video game franchise
* {{w|White Rabbit#Television and films|WRBT.OBJ}} — A reference to the line of code Dennis Nedry used in {{w|Jurassic Park (film)|Jurassic Park}} to shut down key systems
* {{w|Object file|O}} — The extension for a linker file, an intermediary created when compiling C code.
* {{w|Header file|H}} — The file extension of a header file in C code.
* {{w|SWF}} — Shockwave Flash file type
* {{w|Dpkg|DPKG}} — The Debian package management, although the package files use the file suffix ''.deb''
* APP — an application on Mac OS X operating system
* {{w|ZIP (file format)|ZIP}} — compressed archive file type
* CO — the {{w|List of Internet top-level domains|top-level domain (TLD)}} for Colombia, but marketed as a global domain. Some countries use .co.''TLD'' for general use, e.g. ''.co.uk'' in the United Kingdom. But the TLD ''.gz'' does not exist and thus ''.co.gz'' is invalid.
* {{w|Gzip|GZ}} — a compressed file using GNU zip
* {{w|A.out|A.OUT}} — Default filename when creating an executable on Linux or other UNIX-like operating systems if none was specified for the compiler.

The title text suggests changing from ''http'' to ''https'', as if encrypting a suspicious file before downloading it is somehow better than downloading it unencrypted. http (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) and https (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol - Secure) are the two common protocols for getting web pages and web downloads. http is the simple download, whereas https adds an SSL encryption layer so the item being downloaded cannot be viewed unencrypted by anyone except the end recipient. Changing ''http'' to ''https'' is a common suggestion to improve security when browsing the web from an insecure network (such as a public WiFi hotspot) to avoid surveillance or hijacking to a malicious website; Google automatically switches to https for all mail accounts and is starting to do so with searches. The end recipient will still get whatever nasties were in the original, however — encrypting it doesn't change the content at all.

The IP address referenced in the comic, 65.222.202.53, is currently being used by the shellcode of a JavaScript 0-day exploit for the Tor Browser Bundle being run by the FBI to phone home over the clearnet [http://thehackernews.com/2013/08/Firefox-Exploit-Tor-Network-child-pornography-Freedom-Hosting.html] and de-anonymize visitors to websites on Freedom Hosting that are serving child pornography. [http://www.reddit.com/r/onions/comments/1jmrta/founder_of_the_freedom_hosting_arrested_held/]

The title of this comic, "The Mother of All Suspicious Files", is a reference to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfIgzSoTMOs The Mother of All Demos] from {{w|Douglas Engelbart}}.

==Transcript==
:[Browser download warning box containing the following text]
:WARNING!
:This type of file can harm your computer! Are you sure you want to download:
:<nowiki>http://65.222.202.53/~TILDE/PUB/CIA-BIN/ETC/INIT.DLL?FILE=__AUTOEXEC.BAT.MY%20OSX%20DOCUMENTS-INSTALL.EXE.RAR.INI.TAR.DOÇX.PHPHPHP.XHTML.TML.XTL.TXXT.0DAY.HACK.ERS_(1995)_BLURAY_CAM-XVID.EXE.TAR.[SCR].LISP.MSI.LNK.ZDA.GNN.WRBT.OBJ.O.H.SWF.DPKG.APP.ZIP.TAR.TAR.CO.GZ.A.OUT.EXE</nowiki>
:[Cancel and Save buttons (Save button disabled)]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Video games]]

1245: 10-Day Forecast

2014-07-07T01:46:59Z

108.162.219.81: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 1245
| date = July 31, 2013
| title = 10-Day Forecast
| image = 10 day forecast.png
| titletext = Oh, definitely not; they don't have Amazon Prime.
}}

==Explanation==
The 10-day forecast is a prediction of the weather extending 10 days into the future (with varying degrees of accuracy). However, when [[Cueball]] checks the forecast for his local area, it predicts extreme lightning storms, a plague of insects, {{w|Rapture|The Rapture}}, and the appearance of what appears to be the anti-Christ. The anti-Christ (or perhaps Woden or Mothra) appears on Tuesday, and then the world ends (hence why all forecasts after that are labeled "Tuesday", and show static and then nothingness).

When asked about this, [[Megan]] explains that Cueball put a minus (-) sign in front of his ZIP code. A {{w|Zone Improvement Plan|ZIP code}} is a numeric postal code used in the United States, but many more countries use similar systems. And because you can identify the geographical location it is also often used to specify a local region for the purposes of weather reports.

Many computer systems that let the user write in a number only work with certain numbers (often positive numbers). Numbers the system is not designed to work with (such as negative numbers) frequently produce errors or unpredictable behavior. When this happens with the number of a video-game level, it can result in data of another type being loaded as a level with a physically-impossible landscape; this is called a "[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MinusWorld Minus World]".

Megan assumes that the negative zip code represents an actual geographical location, and that the weather forecaster is showing an accurate forecast for the area. This would imply that the negative-ZIP-code areas were real-life Minus Worlds. She further states that, since all negative zip codes produce similar forecasts, that all negative zip codes represent actual geographical locations for which the weather is like that.

In the title text, Megan agrees with Cueball's desire not to move to that ZIP code area, the punchline being that her reason is not to avoid the apocalypse, but to retain access to Amazon Prime, which shows that her priorities are amusingly warped. The service Amazon Prime is provided by {{w|Amazon.com|Amazon}}, where the user pays a flat annual fee and in exchange he/she gets access a number of "enhanced" Amazon services, including free two-day shipping, free access to a library of streaming videos, and the ability to borrow books.

==Transcript==
:Megan: Is it going to rain this weekend? I have a thing.
:[Cueball sits behind a computer desk.]
:Cueball: Lemme check.
:*type type*
:Cueball: ...uhh. What?

:'''Your 10-day forecast:'''
:[Sunny] Today
:[Cloudy] Tomorrow
:[Light thunderstorms] Friday
:[Heavy thunderstorms] Saturday
:[Insect attack] Sunday
:[Distorted people] Monday
:[A human with two horns] Tuesday
:[Screen breaks up, all is greyish] Tuesday
:[Black screen] Tuesday
:[Black screen] Tuesday

:Megan: ...Oh! You typed a minus sign in the ZIP code. The negative ZIP codes are all like that.
:Cueball: Let's '''''never''''' move there.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]