explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

3024: METAR

2024-12-15T14:18:44Z

108.162.221.23: A silly citation needed, as we do

{{comic
| number = 3024
| date = December 13, 2024
| title = METAR
| image = metar_2x.png
| imagesize = 640x360px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = In the aviation world, they don't use AM/PM times. Instead, all times are assumed to be AM unless they're labeled NOTAM.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT WITH NO SIGNIFICANT OTHER :( (OTHER THAN AN A380). Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In aviation, the {{w|METAR}} (Meteorological Aerodrome Report) is used to give pilots a brief overview of the current meteorological conditions at the airport. The METAR follows a specific structure and makes heavy usage of abbreviations, which makes it hard to read for anyone not familiar with it. The comic makes fun of that by assuming meaning of the words based on what non-aviation people might think the different elements of the METAR report may represent. The METAR in the comic is fairly alarming, describing dangerously fast winds, a possible tornado, freezing volcanic ash (in New York!), lightning, and impossibly high atmospheric pressure.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Code !! Real Meaning !! According to the comic
|-
| METAR
| Type: Meteorological Aerodrome Report
| The comic assumes that this is just a spelling error and it should be "meter"
|-
| KNYC
| Station ID: 4 character identifier; for an airport, this would be the ICAO code. In this instance the identifier represents the automated weather station at Belvedere Castle in Central Park, NYC. Airport, weather, and radio station call signs share a common heritage.
| "Station ID", which is actually correct, although people unfamiliar with METAR-reporting stations could presume that this is an AM radio broadcaster's name.
Among AM radio stations, KNYC is not a current call-sign (though {{w|WNYC}} is, and indeed serves New York City), but (among the 'western' subset of US stations) currently {{w|KNCY (AM)|KNCY}} serves the area around Omaha, Nebraska (being based in Nebraska City), and {{w|KYCN}} covers Wheatland, Wyoming.
|-
| 251600Z
| Time of observation: 25th day of the month at 4 PM UTC. Z is not part of the time, but simply global shorthand for {{w|Military time zone|"Zulu" time}}, i.e. {{w|Coordinated Universal Time|UTC}}. Normally most stations would report at a particular time every hour, in this particular case either 15:51 or 16:51 would apply, but more frequent reports are made during unusual and rapidly changing weather events (as may be the situation, in this case).
| Misreading the "Z" as a 2, resulting in a nonsensical time. Hours greater than 24 are sometimes used to indicate a time after midnight, e.g., in Japan 17~25h means from 5 P.M. to 1 A.M. the following day. A normal METAR does not use more than 24 hours, instead incrementing the day, so 25 hours further adds to the nonsensical nature of the interpretation.
|-
| 18035G45KT
| Wind direction and speed: Wind direction 180° (directly from the south, degrees based on 0°=magnetic north), speed 35 knots, gusting to 45 knots. This is quite stormy weather.
| Instead of interpreting the first 5 digits as direction and speed, it is assumed that it is one big number and the G45 stands for the time span in which this was observed with "G" standing for "good". 18,035 knots is an unrealistically high wind speed, faster than orbital velocity; the {{w|jet stream}} typically contains the highest winds on Earth, and may reach about 250 knots.
|-
| 6SM
| In weather reports related to aviation, "6SM" stands for 6 statute miles of visibility, meaning that objects can be seen clearly up to 6 miles away.<ref>https://weather.cod.edu/notes/metar.html#:~:text=6SM%2DVisibility,SM)%20up%20to%2010%20SM.</ref> This indicates clear enough weather to fly without instruments; the value has a max range of 10SM.
| The comic interprets "6SM" to humorously mean a "Size '''6 Sm'''all".
|-
| VCFCFZVA
| In the vicinity (VC): funnel cloud (FC) and freezing (FZ) volcanic ash (VA). This sounds somewhat unusual for New York City.{{Citation needed}}
| A riff on the repeated letters which give off the impression the string is constructed by randomly keypresses on the keyboard, as exemplified by a [[1689: My Friend Catherine|cat on the keyboard]]. There is a long history of this problem, as well as [http://bitboost.com/pawsense/ attempted solutions].
This string may or may not actually look like the pattern of characters that a walking cat could produce (and be reliably detected). All the letters are in a cluster at the lower left of the (QWERTY) keyboard, with some adjacently paired characters perhaps indicative of stepping on multiple keys and other neighbouring keys having been stepped over, not uncommon of an oblivious feline wandering across your desk. But the repeated cluster of "CFCF", and other implied paw-press events, seem less likely to emerge even from a rapid quadrupedal gait. A more casual stroll would likely also create single-character duplications, unless the keyboard repeat delay was set unnaturally high.
|-
| +BLUP
| Heavy (+) blowing (BL) unknown precipitation (UP)
| Riffing on the fact that it looks like an onomatopoetic word
|-
| NOSIG
| No significant change is expected to the reported conditions within the next 2 hours
| The comic assumes that the transmitter of the METAR report wants the receivers to know that they do not have a significant other, which the comic finds sad. The observer could be trying to abuse the METAR report as a dating platform.
|-
| LTG OHD
| Lightning overhead
| OHD is interpreted as "overheard" instead of "overhead", indicating that they did not observe it themselves and instead just overheard people talking about it.
|-
| A3808
| Altimeter setting: (calculated) air pressure at {{w|Mean_sea_level|mean sea level}} at the airport is 38.08. The value of 38.08 inHg is extremely high. The standard atmospheric pressure used in aviation is 29.92 inHg; the highest recorded surface pressure on Earth was 32.01 {{w|Inch_of_mercury|inches of mercury (inHg)}}<ref>https://learn.weatherstem.com/modules/learn/lessons/125/18.html</ref> ("A" for inHg, used primarily in USA, Canada and Japan; "Q" would indicate a value in hPa). This is used to adjust the altimeter in the aircraft to the local air pressure, instead of using the standard setting used in higher air spaces.
| The comic says that the observer saw an {{w|Airbus_A380|Airbus A380-800}}, a very large passenger plane. Note: The {{w|List_of_ICAO_aircraft_type_designators|ICAO aircraft type code}} for the Airbus A380-800 is A388 and not A3808.
|-
| RMK
| Beginning of the section with remarks
| Remarkable. A comment about the A380.
|-
| AO2
| The weather station is automated (A) and has a precipitation discriminator (O2), which can tell the difference between liquid and frozen precipitation.
| A reference to the {{w|fan fiction|fanfic}} site [https://archiveofourown.org/ Archive of Our Own], often abbreviated as AO3. It's nonsensical to describe this site as having a precipitation discriminator.{{Citation needed}}
|-
| SLP130=
| {{w|Sea_level_pressure|Sea-level pressure}} is 1013.0 hPa (approx. 29.91 inHg). The equal sign signifies the end of the METAR.
| "SLP" interpreted as abbreviation for sleepy, the numbers as a time, and the = sign as "around" (maybe confused with ≈)
|-
|
|
|-
| NOTAM (title text)
| Not part of a METAR report, but instead another aviation abbreviation. It stands for {{w|NOTAM|Notice to Air Missions}} (previously Notice to Airmen).
| Parsed as "not A.M.", indicating that a given time is to be interpreted as P.M. While AM and PM are indeed not used in aviation, as the comic says, they use a 24-hour clock system, not an "A.M.-by-default" 12-hour clock system.
|}

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

:Decoding a METAR report:

:[A METAR report is shown with annotations. The report is:]

:<code>METAR KNYC 251600Z 18035G45KT 6SM VCFCFZVA +BLUP NOSIG LTG OHD A3808 RMK A02 SPL130=</code>

:[The annotations are:]

:* <code>METAR</code> "METER" (Usually misspelled)
:* <code>KNYC</code> Station ID
:* <code>251600Z</code> Time (25:16:002)
:* <code>18035G45KT</code> Wind speed has been 18,035 knots for a good 45 minutes now
:* <code>6SM</code> Observer is a size 6 small
:* <code>VCFCFZVA</code> Sorry, the station cat walked on the keyboard
:* <code>+BLUP</code> Weird noise the sky made earlier
:* <code>NOSIG</code> Observer has no significant other :(
:* <code>LTG OHD</code> We overheard someone saying there was lightning
:* <code>A3808</code> Hey look, an Airbus A380-800!
:* <code>RMK</code> Remarkable!
:* <code>A02</code> Fanfic Archive equipped with a precipitation sensor
:* <code>SLP130=</code> Observer got sleepy around 1:30

==Trivia==
The actual last three KNYC METAR strings, that were generated at about the actual time of publication, were:
KNYC 131651Z AUTO VRB03KT 10SM CLR M01/M14 A3066 RMK AO2 SLP374 T10061144 $
*''New York, Central Park : 13/Dec/2024, 16:51 UTC (11:51am local time) : Fully Automated Report : Variable wind, no more than 3 knots : 10 (or more) statute miles visibility : No clouds below 12,000 ft (3,700 m) : −1 °C (about 30 °F), dew point at −14 °C (about 7 °F) : Altimeter at 30.66 inHg (1038.3 hPa) : Precipitation discriminator present : Sea-level pressure at 1,037.4 hPa (30.63 inHg) : Temperature -0.6 °C (conversion from exactly 31 °F) , dew point -14.4 °C (from exactly 6 °F)''
KNYC 131751Z AUTO 10SM CLR 00/M16 A3066 RMK AO2 SLP374 T00001156 10000 21028 56006 $
*''New York, Central Park : 13/Dec/2024, 17:51 UTC (12:51pm local time) : Fully Automated Report : (no wind measured) : 10 (or more) statute miles visibility : No clouds below 12,000 ft (3,700 m) : 0 °C (about 32 °F), dew point at −16 °C (about 3 °F) : Altimeter at 30.66 inHg (1038.3 hPa) : Precipitation discriminator present : Sea-level pressure at 1,037.4 hPa (30.63inHg) : Temperature ±0.00 °C (from exactly 32 °F), dew point -11.56 °C [sic, -11.67 °C would be from exactly 11 °F] : 6 hour maximum 0.00 °C (32 °F) : 6 hour minimum -10.28 °C (from 13.5 °F) : 3 hour pressure tendency, falling by 0.6 millibars (0.018 inHg)''
KNYC 131851Z AUTO 10SM CLR 00/M16 A3066 RMK AO2 SLP377 T00001156 $
*''New York, Central Park : 13/Dec/2024, 18:51 UTC (1:51pm local time) : Fully Automated Report : (no wind measured) : 10 (or more) statute miles visibility : No clouds below 12,000 ft (3,700 m) : 0 °C (about 32 °F), dew point at −14 °C (about 7 °F) : Altimeter at 30.66 inHg (1038.3 hPa) : Precipitation discriminator present : Sea-level pressure at 1,037.7 hPa (30.64 inHg) : Temperature -0.6 °C (from exactly 31 °F), dew point -11.56 °C [sic, again probably from +11 °F]''





==References==
{{reflist}}
[https://e6bx.com/metar-decoder/ ''Actual'' Metar Decoder]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Weather]]
[[Category:Aviation]]
[[Category:Emoji]]

Talk:2964: Olympic Sports

2024-07-28T13:00:52Z

108.162.221.23:

What took bro so long
Is he stupid [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.119|141.101.98.119]] 13:05, 27 July 2024 (UTC)
:Seems totally unclear what you're referring to, here.
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 15:00, 27 July 2024 (UTC)
::i think they're referring to this comic being somewhat late. [[user talk:lettherebedarklight|youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk]] 15:07, 27 July 2024 (UTC)
:: The comic appeared around 0800 EDT 20240727 (Saturday, a day late). As most folks here surely know, late posts are common on xkcd but aren't often later than the stated "MWF". After 19 years, and without the "weeks ahead" buffer insisted upon by "traditional" syndicated comics (as shown by [https://xkcd.com/2961/ Crowdstrike], posted the day of the event), I think Randall has done remarkably well. I'd struggle to keep a schedule like this for 19 weeks.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.151.95|172.71.151.95]] 15:34, 27 July 2024 (UTC)

I think "''Synchronized'' Swimming" would be the most hilarious. One person flailing while a whole team tries to make it look choreographed.
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 15:00, 27 July 2024 (UTC)
:I picture two people that are synchronized to each other while the third person tries to look choreographed - [[Special:Contributions/162.158.212.172|162.158.212.172]] 15:11, 27 July 2024 (UTC)
:Why must I think of "The fox has left his lair"... [[Special:Contributions/172.71.160.71|172.71.160.71]] 16:39, 27 July 2024 (UTC)
:Google "SNL synchronized swimming". There's a classic sketch. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 23:20, 27 July 2024 (UTC)

I hear there's an opening on the GB equestrian team. Just sayin'...
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.69.119|141.101.69.119]] 19:15, 27 July 2024 (UTC)

I'm going to disagree about a couple. Beginning pole vaulters are incredibly funny. Beginners on the pommel horse aren't usually very funny. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.252|162.158.186.252]] 19:54, 27 July 2024 (UTC)
:I also think pole vault would be in the last category. It has always looked to me like an incredibly difficult maneuver. And I remember doing pommel horse in school; I wasn't very athletic, but I could swing around a little. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 23:21, 27 July 2024 (UTC)

"Ski jump" has got to be a reference to Eddie the Eagle.
Eddie was British champion. And he changed Olympic qualification rules.
: Both Bogataj and Edwards were competitive ski jumpers (Edwards, admittedly, marginally so), whereas the trope of this cartoon is that the protagonist (presumably Randall) is trying to enter the competition without any prior experience. The vibe seems to be - Challenger: "Can you fail more spectacularly than these two?" Randall: "Hold my beer." Olympic official: "Nice try, stick guy, but no. Here's your beer back." 'Thankfully for all concerned' seems a better fit to the Bogataj case, in which he was injured, spectators were put at risk, and the competition schedule was likely disrupted, than the Edwards case in which the only injuries were to the reputations of Olympic administrators, and which yielded a nice 15 minutes for Edwards. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.253|108.162.245.253]] 00:02, 28 July 2024 (UTC)

I really doubt the ski jump thing is a reference to anything specific. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.23|108.162.221.23]] 13:00, 28 July 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2126: Google Trends Maps

2019-03-21T16:03:19Z

108.162.221.23:

I'm not quite sure I understand the comic. And no, the irony of saying that on a wiki dedicated to explaining them is not lost on me. Do the maps show which word/phrase is more common in google in each state by comparing only the options to each other or where they actually the top searched words/phrases at some point in time?[[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.34|162.158.92.34]] 10:28, 20 March 2019 (UTC)
:Pretty sure they're all top searched words/phrases in some states at some point in the past. It's just that Randall has merged maps from different time periods. For example in the first map, "heat stroke" and "frostbite" are two real results, but the former is likely a result that appeared in summer, while the latter is likely one that appeared in winter. By merging the two maps you get a map that doesn't make sense, as it looks like they were the top searches in the same time period while in reality they weren't. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 11:04, 20 March 2019 (UTC)
::I think that Randall is just clarifying that each map may be showing trends for a different time range (otherwise people might try to compare the maps to each other, which isn't the point of the comic). I don't think he's saying that the individual results in each map are from different time ranges. [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 11:30, 20 March 2019 (UTC)
:::Yeah, if the results were from different time periods, you could pretty much manipulate them however you want. It would make it much less interesting. Not that statistician don't already manipulate data in any way possible...[[User:Linker|Linker]] ([[User talk:Linker|talk]]) 16:51, 20 March 2019 (UTC)
From what it looks like, these are year-long averages. [[User:Netherin5|Netherin5]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 12:17, 20 March 2019 (UTC)
:Here's one I just made using an example Randall is given: [https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=US&q=frostbite,heat%20stroke Frostbite VS Heatstroke] It does appear to be either using averaging or summing over time to produce a map that is decently similar to Randall's [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.23|108.162.221.23]] 16:03, 21 March 2019 (UTC) Sam

Here is an example for the Google Trends on the first example. [https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&geo=US&q=frostbite,heat%20stroke] It looks like he picked last 5 years for that one. There should be a table with links to all of them. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.59.142|162.158.59.142]] 17:48, 20 March 2019 (UTC)

For those that find the actual image to be mysteriously missing, that's because the image source URL is https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/a/ad/google_trends_maps.png , and some ad blockers will silently block it because it looks like a path to advertising images. So maybe turn off your adblocker on this site? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.170.64|172.69.170.64]] 22:37, 20 March 2019 (UTC)

Is it just me, or does the sexting graph look like the midwest is "giving it" to the southeast, with Arkansas and Tennessee playing the naughty bits? I wonder if Randall did this intentionally or if I'm just a perv. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.108|162.158.186.108]] 01:37, 21 March 2019 (UTC)
: I'm pretty sure the best answer to the above is the last line of https://xkcd.com/960/ ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.50.52|172.69.50.52]] 04:40, 21 March 2019 (UTC)

I feel like "little dog" is most often entered by people searching for unusually small pets, not people wanting to learn about coyotes (which as far as I know are generally just called coyotes). This would still provide an amusing contrast with "big cats" (either the pet or wild versions). --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.102|162.158.106.102]] 06:46, 21 March 2019 (UTC)

I've just transcribed the maps by listing which states are in which colour (dammit, I mean "color", I'm trying to use US spellings here). I've left the "incomplete" tag on there, though, because there are things that others might want to review:
* I only did lists for the color(s) with the fewest states, leaving the longest list as "all other states". This makes it less extensive, but potentially less useful (for, say, searching for a state's name).
* I wasn't sure whether or not to list the District of Columbia. I'm not sure whether the maps include it or not, and if it is included, it's not easy to tell whether it's blue or gray. The only case where it definitely looks like it's present (because it's a different color to both Maryland and Virginia) is in the "Donald Trump/What do I do" map, where it seems to be red. However, I'm still not certain; it could just be an artifact of Randall's graphics process. (Compare Massachusetts on the same map, where the bit sticking out... Cape Cod? yeah, that... is clearly gray, unlike the rest of the state.) That said, it may be part of the joke that "What do I do" is a popular search in Washington, DC!
* I'm not American and may have made mistakes in identifying states.
-- [[User:Peregrine|Peregrine]] ([[User talk:Peregrine|talk]]) 09:57, 21 March 2019 (UTC)

2119: Video Orientation

2019-03-04T20:49:06Z

108.162.221.23: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2119
| date = March 4, 2019
| title = Video Orientation
| image = video_orientation.png
| titletext = CIRCULAR VIDEO - PROS: Solves aspect ratio problem. CONS: Never trust anyone who talks to you from inside a circle.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This was created by a TRUSTWORTHY CIRCULAR VIDEO. Nothing about Bold and Dynamic. Bad dubious template. Better explanation on horizontal and vertical needed. DO NOT DELETE THIS TOO SOON (It already was once.)}}

This comic compares different pros and cons of 3 video angles, one of which entirely made-up.

Horizontal angling is:

1. Good for people not used to phones, and has been used for centuries. (True)

2. Not the best at capturing a human's entire body, without also capturing much of their surroundings. (True)

3. Potentially uncomfortable for the one making the recording to maintain over a long period of time, as most phones were designed for vertical holding. (True)

4. A more accurate visualization of the way humans view the world; we view approximately 150 degrees horizontally and only 50 degrees vertically. (Not stated in the comic)

Vertical angling is:

1. The norm for most users capturing video on their smartphone. (Questionable)

2. Not ideal for capturing the background. (True, when not used in panoramic view)

3. Better at capturing the whole body of a human subject. (True)

4. Is less stressful on the hands of the one holding the mobile recording device. (Questionable)

[[Randall]] does love a good [https://explainxkcd.com/690/ compromise], so he suggests "Diagonal Angling" as a third option to satisfy the needs of both types of user.

Diagonal angling is:

1. Not a standard format of video.{{Citation needed}} (True)

2. Equally annoying to all viewers. (Almost certainly true)

3. Flawless, as in perfect in every way.{{Dubious}} (False)

The issue with this is that diagonal angling fails to fully capture the benefits of either horizontal or vertical angling.

The titletext quip about circular video would be a reference to having a demon trapped inside a summoning circle, hence not trusting anything that would be said to you.

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

:[The image shows three columns by three rows with the following headers:]
:'''Video Orientation'''
:'''Pros'''
:'''Cons'''

:[First row:]
:[A wide picture with a text above:]
:Horizontal
:[Pros are:]
:*Looks normal to old people
:*Format used by a century of cinema
:[Cons are:]
:*Humans are taller than are wide
:*I'm not turning my phone sideways

:[Second row:]
:[A high picture with a text above:]
:Vertical
:[Pros are:]
:*How most normal people shoot and watch video now so we may as well accept it
:[Cons are:]
:*Human world is mostly a horizontal plane

:[Third row:]
:[A picture rotated by 45 degrees with a text above:]
:Diagonal
:[Pros are:]
:*Bold and dynamic
:*Equally annoying to all viewers
:*Good compromise
:[Cons are:]
:*None

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Compromise]]

2114: Launch Conditions

2019-02-20T21:13:44Z

108.162.221.23: Challenger technically didn't explode but rather disintegrated due to massive aerodynamic strain

{{comic
| number = 2114
| date = February 20, 2019
| title = Launch Conditions
| image = launch_conditions.png
| titletext = Though I do think the tiny vent on one of the boosters labeled "O-RING" is in poor taste.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an O-RING FAILURE. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

An image of a rocket with a progressively larger white cloud around it is shown, but no external object for scale is visible until the third panel.
It is then revealed to be a model or miniature by the relatively enormous size of Ponytail's head.
The dialogue confirms that it emits clouds of water vapor as a humidifier, which mimic the appearance of the exhaust plume of a full-size rocket.

Modern rocket launches are backed by a ''Sound Suppression System'' avoiding damages to the rocket itself, the payload, or even humans inside. This system drops vast amounts of water into the exhaust of the rocket engines and vaporizes immediately. This vapor mainly interrupts the sound reflections from the ground. This reduces the sound to a level the rocket can withstand but also produces a big cloud of water vapor. In fact the cloud at the ground consists mostly of water and not the exhaust of the rocket engines. This article shows how the system works: [https://interestingengineering.com/nasa-sound-suppression-system-prevents-rocket-from-exploding NASA's Incredible Sound Suppression System Prevents Rockets from Exploding (interestingengineering.com)].

This comic appeared the day after the death of Peter Cosgrove, who was known for photographing many Space Shuttle launches.

The title text references the failed o-ring that led to the {{Wikipedia|Space Shuttle Challenger disaster|disintegration of the ''Challenger'' Space Shuttle}} and the death of all on board.
This disaster was a focal point of controversy, which Richard Feynman played a key {{Wikipedia|Rogers_Commission_Report#Role_of_Richard_Feynman|role in piercing}}. The o-ring in question failed to expand at freezing temperatures, resulting in a leak of gas around the edges that was visible as a small vapor plume on the recording. The launch was pushed to a day with lower temperatures than the engineers had planned for. For the humidifier to vent gas from this opening is indeed in poor taste, even though the model does not resemble a shuttle.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[A rocket sits on a launch pad and the tower to the left has retracted its access arms. The engines have just start firing and a small cloud at the bottom is visible.]

:[The rocket still sits on the pad but the cloud is growing and extending to both sides on the ground.]

:[Ponytail's head in a size like the rocket appears above. The cloud covers the full ground and hides a bigger part of the rocket.]

:[Zoom out. Ponytail stands behind a pedestal with a rocket model on top and the cloud is all around the bottom of the rocket and below.]
:Off screen: It's still pretty dry in here.
:Ponytail: I love the new humidifier, though.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Space]]

2102: Internet Archive

2019-01-24T09:36:54Z

108.162.221.23: /* Explanation */ Changed "incomprehensible" to "unknown". Incomprehensible means that is *impossible* to comprehend. Saying its impossible is too much.

{{comic
| number = 2102
| date = January 23, 2019
| title = Internet Archive
| image = internet_archive.png
| titletext = The fact that things like the npm left-pad incident are so rare is oddly reassuring.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The {{w|Internet Archive}} is a project that is invaluable for internet research. It is a public archive of information, including public domain books and music. It also runs the {{w|Wayback Machine}}, an archive of backups of web pages all over the Web at various times that can be used to see past versions of a page, even if that site has since shut down. The Internet Archive accepts submissions of any type of information, including new backups of web pages and newly-made public domain content.

Ponytail and Cueball first remark upon how weird the concept of the Internet Archive is. They claim that it would seem like an implausible concept, were it not already existing.

They then become more philosophical, and wonder about systems that are maintained by a few users, but which could disappear if not maintained. They relate this to the function of the {{w|human body}}, which does contain many {{w|List of systems of the human body|systems}} whose function and inner workings are unknown to the average person.

The title text refers to the "[https://blog.npmjs.org/post/141577284765/kik-left-pad-and-npm npm left-pad incident]", a 2016 incident where a package for the {{w|npm (software)|npm}} package manager was unpublished by its author. As this particular package was used by many projects, both directly and indirectly, this caused a severe disruption in the software world. Randall is relieved that cases like this do not occur more frequently.

The Internet Archive was also mentioned in [[2085: arXiv]].

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

:[Ponytail and Cueball are walking to the right.]
:Ponytail: The Internet Archive is so weird. If it didn't exist, it would sound totally implausible.
:Cueball: ''Seriously.''

:[Ponytail and Cueball continue walking to the right.]
:Cueball: Do you ever worry about how reliant we are on systems that someone happens to maintain for some reason but which could disappear at any time?

:[Ponytail and Cueball are seen in silhouette from a distance.]
:Ponytail: Yeah - the same thing freaks me out about having a body.
:Cueball: I know, right?? I don't even know what half these parts ''do''!
:Ponytail: And yet if they stop, we die!
:Cueball: Probably best not to think about it.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Internet]]

2067: Challengers

2019-01-22T05:16:35Z

108.162.221.23: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2067
| date = November 2, 2018
| title = Challengers
| image = challengers.png
| titletext = Use your mouse or fingers to pan + zoom. To edit the map, submit your ballot on November 6th.
}}
To see the full zoomable picture go to the [https://xkcd.com/2067/ original] comic page. On that map, when using a keyboard/mouse, doubleclick zooms in, shift-doubleclick zooms out.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|We should figure out what source is behind all that 13,339 landmarks in gray, there are 2596 U.S. National Historic Landmarks, but Randall claims those other more than 10,000 are also from Wikipedia. So let's identify that sources. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

[[File:challengers_loading_screen.png|thumb|200px|Loading screen]]
Regarding the {{w|United States elections, 2018|midterm elections}} held in the United States on November 6, 2018, this comic shows probably all challengers, which are candidates running against the current office-holder, as well as those running in open seats where a change of the major party from the previous election could occur. It is the second of three consecutive comics that deal with this election.

[[Randall]] states on top that "The bigger the candidate's name is,"
*the higher the office is in command structure, and
*the better their chances of success as a challenger are
While an office can be subclassified by order from state down to county, the guesses on ''better chances to success'' can be only based on surveys before the elections.

All names provide an indirect link to the first {{w|Google Search}} result on that specific person and position. As common, {{w|Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic}} candidates are shown in blue text, {{w|Republican Party (United States)|Republican}} candidates in red, and independent candidates are in green.

The landmarks shown in gray are essentially links to Wikipedia pages containing coordinates pointing to the US in their body (both visible on the site and hidden in the wiki source) that point to places in the US. If they contain more than one coordinate then the first one is used, for example the {{w|List of the major 3000-meter summits of the United States}} page is shown in Alaska, and the {{w|xkcd}} page is linked near Boston, Massachusetts. This list seems to be auto-generated from a Wikipedia dump made possibly before 2017. There doesn't seem to be any other criteria as the list also contains orphaned wikipedia pages that only contain hidden coordinates in their sources pointing to the US, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Yangjie_Li for example this one].

Since the map is large there's also a [https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/challengers.png loading screen] present that can be seen while the map is loading.

There are a total of nine comics embedded into the map at various locations. They are showed when zooming into the map at the appropriate section.

===Attack Ads===
[[File:challengers_subcomic_abernathy_texas.png|thumb|200px|Attack Ads]]

Location: '''Lubbock, Texas'''
: [Black Hat and Cueball are talking.]
: Black Hat: Starting on November 7th, we're going to blanket the airwaves with attack ads.
: Cueball: Isn't the election on November 6th?
: Black Hat: Yeah, the advertising rates go way down after that.
{{w|Attack ads}} are campaign advertising that usually attack the opponents' campaign instead of promoting one's own. The comic also refers to the fact that media outlets usually spike their advertising prices during the campaign, and it becomes cheaper afterwards. However there's usually no point in advertising afterwards for a campaign as the polling has already taken place. This may also be a callback to [[1130: Poll Watching]].

Lubbock was the place where some [https://www.texastribune.org/2018/08/03/cruz-orourke-attack-ad-reelection-texas/ attack ads were shown] few months before the election. Texas is also notable as in 2008 during the Democratic Party primary Hillary Clinton [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/01/us/politics/01campaign.html started running attack ads] aimed at Barack Obama, who later became President, causing controversy.
 

===Ballot Measures===
[[File:challengers_subcomic_weed_california.png|thumb|350px|Ballot Measures]]

Location: '''Weed, California'''
: [Cueball is holding a piece of paper and talking to Megan.]
: Cueball: Question #1 voids all 2018 ballot measures except itself.
: Cueball: Question #2 retroactively lowers the threshold for passing ballot measures to 5%.
: Cueball: Question #3 requires a re-vote on all failed ballot measures a day later.
: Cueball: Question #4 requires a re-vote on all passed ballot measures a day later.
: Cueball: Question #5 bans those annoying phone scammers, but also says that if an odd number of ballot measures pass, Christmas is canceled.
: Cueball: Question #6 makes a "yes" count as a "no" on odd-numbered ballot measures.
: Cueball: Question #7 does nothing but counts as a ballot measure passing.
: Cueball: Question #8 says that-
: Megan: I'm leaving these all blank and voting against whoever approves ballot measures.

Ballot measures are proposed laws that are approved and rejected by voters. In California, apart from the elections to Congressional and state offices, there will be also be [https://ballotpedia.org/California_2018_ballot_propositions 12 extra propositions] for the voters in this election. Sometimes propositions also include changing how voting should be done in subsequent elections. [https://www.vox.com/2016/6/23/11979522/brexit-ballot There are people] who believe proposals on US ballots are asked in a very convoluted way, and could be made simpler.

In this comic a lot of the proposals sound complex and self-referential as well, therefore Megan just says that she doesn't wish to vote to any of them, and would actually like to ban people creating ballot papers like this. Not voting might also refer to the scenario where people believe none of the choices during an election are good, and instead vote to no-one or deface their ballot papers in protest.

The name of the town chosen, Weed, California, may be a pun on how marijuana is legal in California.
 

===Carlymandering===
[[File:challengers_subcomic_seattle_washington.png|thumb|200px|Carlymandering]]

Location: '''Bellingham, Washington'''
: [Cueball holds a presentation to a group of people including White Hat and Hairbun sitting at an office desk. The presentation shows a map of a district.]
: Cueball: Under my new Carlymandering plan, we'll create five red districts, five blue districts, and one district which contains only Carly Rae Jepsen.
: Hairbun: That seems fair.

This refers to {{w|gerrymandering}}, a tactic used to re-shape voting district boundaries to make sure one candidate prevails over the other. "Carlymandering" is a [[739: Malamanteau|malamanteau]] which combines gerrymandering with {{w|Carly Rae Jepsen}}, a Canadian singer, whose single "{{w|Party for One}}" was released the day before the comic's publication. Although the song is about partying (e.g. going out) alone,{{Citation needed}} the joke is that it could also mean a one-person political party, and she would have a full gerrymandered district to herself.

Jepsen lives in Vancouver, which is just on the other side of the US border in Canada. The comic is placed in Whatcom County, which is notable for {{w|Point Roberts}}, a peninsula which, although part of Washington state, is actually an exclave of the US, as it's surrounded by sea on three sides, and has its only land border with Vancouver to the north. The comic might refer to the fact that Jepsen could solely live in this exclave. However, since she is not a US citizen, she can neither vote nor be elected in US elections.
 

===House===
[[File:challengers_subcomic_washington_dc.png|thumb|100px|House]]

Location: '''Washington, DC'''
: [Cueball is standing in the middle of Washington, DC]
: Cueball: I can see my House from here!

Comic is probably referencing the {{w|White House}}, the residence of the President, located in Washington, DC. This could also refer to the {{w|United States Capitol|Capitol Building}}, the home of the {{w|United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives}}, also located in Washington, DC.
 

===Polls===
[[File:challengers_subcomic_primm_nevada.png|thumb|200px|Polls]]

Location: '''Primm, Nevada'''
: [A group of five people are standing]
: Blondie: Remember: The only poll that counts is the one on Election Day. And the ones that help campaigns allocate resources. And the ones that drive media coverage and the ones that inform us all about what our fellow members of the public believe. And the ones that...

The word "poll" has two distinct meanings in regards to elections -- the place where you go to cast your official vote is called a poll, as are the unofficial surveys done to try to gauge how people are likely to vote.

During campaign there is usually polling done by survey companies to determine each candidate's chances of winning. This comic refers to the fact that often the candidate that is behind in the unofficial polls tells their electorate that these polls don't matter, as they are just surveys and not the actual final result. This is usually to encourage their voter base that it's still worth voting for them. The joke here is that Blondie doesn't finish here but tells the electorate that other polls are actually also important.

Nevada is one of the states where there is [https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign-polls/414083-poll-dems-hold-slim-leads-in-arizona-and-nevada-senate-races only a slim difference] between the candidates based on polls hence the need for each candidate to rally their supporters and make sure everyone is voting.
 

===Punish===
[[File:challengers_subcomic_chadron_nebraska.png|thumb|200px|Punish]]

Location: '''Chadron, Nebraska'''
: [Megan is standing at a podium with her arm raised]
: Megan: If elected, I vow to find and punish the voters responsible.

Often candidates make promises of things they will do when they are elected. Vowing to find and punishing people responsible for a certain action, oftentimes criminals, is also common. However, [https://imgur.com/r/misc/d4jbdEV certain performance artists aside,] these two things are generally not conflated, as they are here, to ludicrous effect.

Putting this comic into Nebraska might refer to the fact that in [https://ballotpedia.org/Nebraska_Death_Penalty_Repeal,_Referendum_426_(2016) 2016 Nebraska voted to repeal the death penalty ban], allowing the reinstatement of the death penalty, also called capital punishment, in the state.
 

===Scholten===
[[File:challengers_subcomic_storm_lake_iowa.png|thumb|300px|Scholten]]

Location: '''Storm Lake, Iowa'''
: Cueball: The midterms are so stressful.
: Megan: I just hope J.D. Scholten wins.
: Cueball: Why?
: Megan: Google Steve King.
: [Cueball looking at his phone]
: Cueball: Yikes.

{{w|United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections_in_Iowa,_2018#District_4|J.D. Scholten}} is a Democratic candidate for Iowa's 4th Congressional District. {{w|Steve King}} is a Republican representative who has stirred controversy due his endorsement of candidates, in other countries, who were members of parties with white supremacist ties, and he has explicitly and frequently stated concern with the American society being destroyed by [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/12/us/steve-king-white-nationalism-racism.html "other people's babies"].
 King would go on to win re-election by a narrow margin.

===Spanberger===
[[File:challengers_subcomic_richmond_virginia.png|thumb|100px|Spanberger]]

Location: '''Richmond, Virginia'''
: [Cueball is holding a sign that says: Abigail Spanberger for Congress]

Abigail Spanberger is a candidate running for Congress in Virginia's 7th district, which includes Richmond. Based on polls she has a chance to beat her opponent, and could be the first Democrat in her district after 50 years of Republican control. Cueball probably tries to encourage people to vote for her on election day.
 

===St Louis===
[[File:challengers_subcomic_saint_louis_missouri.png|thumb|200px|St Louis]]

Location: '''Saint Louis, Missouri'''
: [Two people next to the Gateway Arch are talking]
: Cueball: Ah, Saint Louis. Home of America's largest... Whatever that thing is.

Saint Louis, Missouri is the location of the {{w|Gateway Arch}}, the largest arch in the United States. (It's also one of the most recognizable arches in Saint Louis, according to [[1368: One Of The]].) Since in this comic they are next to the side of the arch, it is possible its sheer size stops them from determining what it is, although they should probably know. An alternate interpretation is that they are baffled by the existence of a giant, seemingly-useless steel arch, and do not know what to refer to it as.

The area surrounding the Arch was known as Jefferson National Expansion Memorial until February 2018, when it was renamed to Gateway Arch National Park.
 

===Title text===
The title text shows the hint that the reader can zoom in and move over all 50 states to reveal details which can't be seen in the overall view. Furthermore [[Randall]] calls on Americans to vote: he requests that people take an active part in the elections to change that picture.

==Transcript==
:[A loading screen appears shortly before the large picture has rendered. We can see an American flag in an oval badge with the text:]
:I voted
:[And beneath a text saying:]
:Loading...

:2018 Midterm
:'''Challengers'''
:The bigger the candidate's name, the higher the office and the better their chances of success.

:[In a frame a zoomable map shows all US-States (Alaska and Hawaii are shown in the left lower corner.) The candidates are shown colored mainly in red and blue at different sizes. Each state has many landmarks shown in gray. There are also many comics embedded into the picture.]

:By Randall Monroe, Kelsey Harris, and Max Goodman

:Landmarks from Wikipedia. Success odds estimated from district voting history, special election
:results, and seat ratings. Thank you to Dailykos Elections for their spreadsheets, shapefiles, election
:ratings, and advice, and to @davidshor, @charlotteeffect, and @thedlcc for additional candidate data.

==Trivia==
*The comic [[Design_of_xkcd.com#Header|header]] had changed to:
:''Find out where to vote: [https://www.vote.org/ Vote.org]''
:''See what's on your ballot: [https://www.ballotready.org/ BallotReady.org]''
:This happened on the day this comic came out, as it up till [http://web.archive.org/web/20181101081612/https://xkcd.com/ the day before], had been a different reminder of the election only with the vote.org link.
*The interactive picture did not work in many browsers when using the link ''[https://www.xkcd.com www.xkcd.com]'', only the short ''[https://xkcd.com xkcd.com]'' worked properly because the page used an absolute link to a file ''[https://xkcd.com/2067/asset/map-data.json map-data.json]'' at the domain ''<nowiki>xkcd.com</nowiki>'' which is not allowed from ''<nowiki>www.xkcd.com</nowiki>'' according to {{w|Cross-origin resource sharing}}. This was later fixed by using a relative link only working inside the called domain.
* The internal comics have a kind of "comic" inside the [https://xkcd.com/2067/asset/map-data.json map-data.json] file that contains all of the details shown on the map. All other locations, including politicians and landmarks inside the map-data.json have a kind of "label"
* There are a total of
** 9 subcomics
** 17,643 labels, including:
*** 13,339 landmarks (gray)
*** 2,845 Democratic candidates (blue)
*** 1,456 Republican candidates (red)
*** 3 independent candidates (green)
* The three independent candidates are:
** Alaska Congress candidate Alyse Galvin
** Texas State House District 101 candidate James Allen
** Alabama State Senate District 10 candidate Craig Ford
* The largest names on the map (based on font size) are:
** Michelle Lujan Grisham, Governor candidate for New Mexico (7.187)
** Beto O'Rourke, Texan US Senate candidate (6.773)
** Matt Rosendale, Montanan US Senate candidate (6.773)
** Gretchen Whitmer, Governor candidate for Michigan (6.48)
* There's a landmark label called "xkcd" near Boston, Massachusetts
* Randall seems to have collected the Wikipedia links from an older copy of Wikipedia, as some links are to old article titles. For example, in Cupertino, California, "Apple Campus 2" is shown instead of "Apple Park", even though that article was moved to its current title in February 2017.
*An overview highlighting some parts:
:<imagemap>
Image:Challengers_Map.png|frame|left|Map of interesting features on the comic (Red X: comic strip, Green X: independent candidate, Blue X: xkcd landmark)
rect 179 176 138 129 [[#Carlymandering|Carlymandering]]
rect 95 279 133 325 [[#Ballot Measures|Ballot Measures]]
rect 171 421 208 467 [[#Polls|Polls]]
rect 392 307 430 352 [[#Punish|Punish]]
rect 403 488 441 533 [[#Attack_Ads|Attack Ads]]
rect 510 307 547 351 [[#Scholten|Scholten]]
rect 593 390 628 434 [[#St_Louis|St Louis]]
rect 803 355 839 394 [[#House|House]]
rect 837 436 799 395 [[#Spanberger|Spanberger]]
rect 877 262 915 309 [[#Trivia|Link to xkcd's wikipage]]
rect 141 597 177 644 [[#Trivia|Independent candidate]]
rect 472 527 511 576 [[#Trivia|Independent candidate]]
rect 672 478 710 525 [[#Trivia|Independent candidate]]
desc top-right
</imagemap>
 

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Large drawings]]
[[Category:Interactive comics]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Blondie]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Elections]]
[[Category:Maps]]

2099: Missal of Silos

2019-01-16T17:03:48Z

108.162.221.23: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2099
| date = January 16, 2019
| title = Missal of Silos
| image = missal_of_silos.png
| titletext = Welcome to Wyoming, motto "We'd like to clarify that Cheyenne Mountain is in Colorado."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
{{w|Approximate string matching|Fuzzy, or approximate, string matching}} is a technique used for searching strings (how a computer stores and manipulates writing) for specified values. Normal string matching would only find results that fit the search exactly. Fuzzy string matching instead finds results that are "close enough" by some metric. This is often used in search engines, as typos, misspellings, and inexact searches are commonplace.

If a list of potential nuclear missile targets were stored, and a fuzzy search was looking for "missile silos", the {{w|Missal of Silos}} would most likely be returned as a result--and subsequently, targeted with a nuclear missile. Why an 11th century piece of writing was a potential target for a nuclear strike is unknown. Missile silos are often thought to be the first targeting priority in event of a nuclear strike, in hopes of preventing retaliation from the target.

{{w|Cheyenne Mountain}} is a mountain in Colorado, which houses an underground compound (aptly named the {{w|Cheyenne Mountain Complex}}) designed to withstand a nuclear strike, armed with missiles of their own. {{w|Cheyenne, Wyoming}}, on the other hand, is the capital of Wyoming. While it does house a military airport, it is not home to any nuclear weapons. The residents of Cheyenne, Wyoming would prefer their home isn't the target of a nuclear attack because of confusion with Cheyenne Mountain{{Citation needed}}.
.

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

{{comic discussion}}

171: String Theory

2016-05-04T20:42:35Z

108.162.221.23: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 171
| date = October 16, 2006
| title = String Theory
| image = string_theory.png
| titletext = This works on pretty much every level.
}}

==Explanation==
The {{w|string theory}} is a theory in theoretical physics for explaining how the universe works. It is a theory trying to explain everything belonging to our universe; specifically, it aims to unite {{w|general relativity}} and {{w|quantum field theory|quantum field theories}}.

When a new theory is thought up, the theorists will usually supply some predictions, measurable by experimental physicists. String theory's predictions, however, are few and extremely difficult to test; since its inception over forty years ago, string theory has yet to be experimentally tested.

[[Randall]] is unimpressed with string theorists (see the punchline to [[397: Unscientific]]). String theory has not provided any ''useful'' new knowledge to engineering science as quantum physics has, and lacks the imagination-stirring philosophical implications that the general population associates with other fields — for example, quantum scientists have proven predictions like {{w|quantum tunneling|tunneling}}, used by modern electronic devices, and relativity is relevant to modern systems like {{w|GPS}} navigation. String theory hasn't reached that stage yet.

At the title text Randall points out that string theory is so technically difficult that at essentially every level (except, presumably, the very top), this explanation is as good as it gets.

==Transcript==
:String Theory summarized:
:Cueball: I just had an awesome idea. Suppose all matter and energy is made of tiny, vibrating "strings".
:Friend: Okay. What would that imply?
:Cueball: I dunno.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]

Talk:1675: Message in a Bottle

2016-05-04T16:36:02Z

108.162.221.23: Replied.

The title text reminds me of the song {{w|Message in a Bottle (song)|Message in a Bottle}} by Police. ;-) Maybe enough that it should be part of the explanation? [[User:|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:30, 2 May 2016 (UTC)

: Why not? Seems to fit the description. [[User:Jacoder23|Jacoder23]] ([[User talk:Jacoder23|talk]]) 14:07, 2 May 2016 (UTC)

:: Checked the lyrics, there isn't a line that resembles the text I'm afraid, Randall isn't making a reference here. Missed opportunity! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.158|108.162.250.158]] 01:36, 3 May 2016 (UTC)

::: Are you sure? Walked out this morning; Don't believe what I saw; A hundred billion bottles; Washed up on the shore

:::: Same subject matter, but no apparent link. Not every mention of apples, gardens, or snakes is a reference to the Garden of Eden. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.23|108.162.221.23]] 16:36, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

It may be worth mentioning that in certain mailing lists or mass emails people use "reply all" to unsubscribe or otherwise request being removed from the recipients list of future messages; meaning everyone else's inbox gets clogged with unsubscribe requests even though the message only needed to go to the originator. (The best part is the people who reply all to tell the other people to stop using reply all.) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.242|108.162.237.242]] 14:14, 2 May 2016 (UTC)
:We have had a run of this at work. There are really many possible recipients at work. It went exactly as you noted. The most funny was those complaining about those replying to all when complaining about the replying to all spam... and then doing so by replying to all! And the best was that after a week people getting home from holiday began it all again by replying to all on the original message that started it all ;-) [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:40, 2 May 2016 (UTC)

Isn't there another xkcd comic involving messages in a bottle? I feel like this comic might be related to that one but I cannot find the other one. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.68.83|162.158.68.83]] 14:19, 2 May 2016 (UTC)

If we're talking about problems to do with reply to all and mailing list, this story is always a good read: https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/exchange/2004/04/08/me-too/ [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.54|141.101.98.54]] 14:22, 2 May 2016 (UTC)

Transcript: The curvy writing might also indicate that the paper was not kept perfectly dry inside the bottle. --[[Special:Contributions/198.41.242.240|198.41.242.240]] 15:39, 2 May 2016 (UTC)

The explanation of the main comic doesn't seem to provide much of an explanation. Here's how I read the comic:

: This comic is about how hard it is to unsubscribe from some email lists. 'Unsubscribe' links often don't work (perhaps intentionally). In desperation, someone has tried to send their 'unsubscribe' request in a bottle, hoping in vain that it will have its intended effect. Instead, Cueball receives it. The title-text slightly shifts the premise: now Cueball is the intended recipient, an incompetent email list operator who replies in the wrong way, triggering the problem described in the current title-text explanation. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.70.229|141.101.70.229]] 16:03, 2 May 2016 (UTC) Adam

:I've added my own, somewhat nihilistic, interpretation of the original message. Despair and hopelessness are not topics that XCKD often delves in, but similar themes have appeared in some of the earlier comics. My interpretation may not be correct, but given earlier comics on the topic of heartbreak, and some news of serious health problems affecting the creator's life, I believe it is valid speculation. I did place it higher on the page than I would have liked, but I couldn't find a better place for it. I think it's worth keeping in, in some form, but if a few people feel otherwise, I won't engage in an edit war. [[User:Potato|Potato]] ([[User talk:Potato|talk]]) 02:48, 3 May 2016 (UTC)

:: I don't think this flows naturally from the comic, I think you're stretching it a bit to be honest, but instead of deleting I've moved it after the next paragraph just so it flows better [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.158|108.162.250.158]] 06:25, 3 May 2016 (UTC)

::: correspondence by message in a bottle is, in my memory, a common trope. beloved of tom and jerry at least. i read it that this new message was personal to cueball. that the message was a response to a previous bottle and that the recipient of that wanted nothing more to do ''with cueball''. but, then, i'm dumb. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.84|141.101.98.84]] 12:39, 3 May 2016 (UTC)

So, quick story about me! I'm in charge of the email list and sending emails for the fencing club I'm in. I make sure to include a "click here to unsubscribe" link at the bottom of every email, as well as instructions on how to unsubscribe without using the link (because I'm using a Google Groups to manage the list). I've even tested the link several times with my own email. However, in spite of this, every couple weeks somebody sends a "reply all" Unsubscribe request from somebody who joined the email list before I was in charge of it. It gets pretty annoying, actually, since everybody ends up getting more of these "reply all" unsubscribe requests than actual emails from the club. Plus, it's easier for them to remove themselves from the email list than it is for me to remove them.
Most of the time, I just respond with an email from my own account (so there's no danger of accidentally replying to everyone) saying "Hey. If you look at the email, there's instructions on how to unsubscribe. If you can't figure out the instructions, here's my email (_________@___.__). Please tell me what's confusing about the instructions so I can improve them." I can relate to this comic, though. Pretty funny. End story time.
[[User:Jeudi Violist|Jeudi Violist]] ([[User talk:Jeudi Violist|talk]]) 20:03, 2 May 2016 (UTC)

Unsubscribe [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.79|108.162.219.79]] 20:40, 2 May 2016 (UTC)

Given the timing of this comic, this is surely a reference (at least a partial one) to [http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/message-in-bottle-found-steve-mershon_uk_571f28e8e4b0a1e971ca56eb this news story] about a recently found message in a bottle. Or am I over-correlating? [[User:PabloVergos|PabloVergos]] ([[User talk:PabloVergos|talk]]) 08:27, 3 May 2016 (UTC)

It looks to me that what was written on the note was unsub5cribe which even if intercepted by the automated mail manager would have been not interpreted as a command and would have been sent to the list instead of performing the intended action. Generally, most mailing lists have a separate e-mail address to send commands to but some allow commands to the list address. [[User:Rleblanc|Rleblanc]] ([[User talk:Rleblanc|talk]]) 18:35, 3 May 2016 (UTC)

Instead of Un (reverse action) + subscribe (the verb, not gonna parse it further), the morphemes could be parsed as: Un (not) + sub (short for submarine / underwater) + scribe (a person who writes): It's the signature line from a correspondent who isn't underwater. Perhaps the bottle was supposed to go to Atlantis to a mermaid penpal? :p [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.98|108.162.221.98]] 22:39, 3 May 2016 (UTC)

When I initially read the comic, the single-word message "unsubscribe" brought to mind commercial SMS services which accept similar responses to automatically disable message lists. Nonetheless, the reference to "reply all" in the alt text does make email as the inspiration more likely. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.120|108.162.246.120]] 02:54, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

1672: Women on 20s

2016-04-26T13:46:09Z

108.162.221.23: /* Explanation */ Made it feel less like a conversation and pointed out a possible way the Treasury department could at least try to get the $20 bill printed first.

{{comic
| number = 1672
| date = April 25, 2016
| title = Women on 20s
| image = women_on_20s.png
| titletext = I get that there are security reasons for the schedule, but this is like the ONE problem we have where the right answer is both easy and straightforward. If we can't figure it out, maybe we should just give up and just replace all the portraits on the bills with that weird pyramid eye thing.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic portrays a series of press conferences with a {{w|US Treasury}} spokesperson (different from [[Cueball]] in the first panel as he has a bit of hair). The panels after the first summarize and ridicule the recent controversy over the upcoming redesign of US currency. The dialog between the US Treasury and reporters is paraphrased for comedic effect, but the events depicted are {{w|United_States_twenty-dollar_bill#Proposal_for_a_woman.27s_portrait|otherwise factual}}.

American currency has only once had a woman as the primary portrait on paper currency ([http://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/martha-washington/martha-on-1/ Martha Washington] was on the $1 Silver Certificate in the 1880's and 1890's), which is widely seen as a real problem. Responding to this issue, the Treasury Department initially planned to replace the portrait of {{w|Andrew Jackson}} in the {{w|United States twenty-dollar bill|$20 bill}} with a woman, to be chosen by public voting. {{w|Trail of Tears}} is a reference to the {{w|Andrew_Jackson#Indian_removal_policy|forced re-locations}} of Native American peoples that Andrew Jackson conducted during his presidency. This is now seen as a human rights violation on a massive scale, and is presented as a reason why Andrew Jackson should not be honored on American currency.

The timing of the release of this new bill with a woman, was to be scheduled with the 100 year anniversary of {{w|Women's suffrage in the United States|Women's suffrage}} in 2020, and should thus preferably also be on the $20 bill.. But as will be seen this has turned into a serious problem...

The voting process [http://www.womenon20s.org/results selected] {{w|Harriet Tubman}}, a 19th century {{w|abolitionist}} and a major figure in the {{w|Underground Railroad}} system which freed {{w|Slavery in the United States|American slaves}}. Cueball is seen to be clearly pleased and excited about this prospect in the first panel, where he votes for her first, among several other options.

On the list Cueball can see Tubman is at the top, and he then also chooses her first representing the generic everyman and thus represents the about one in five that choose Tubman first. But he may select up to three out of the fifteen selected candidates. It is not revealed in the comic which woman Cueball chooses for his 2nd and 3rd choice
*The other two women shown on the list are:
**{{w|Eleanor Roosevelt}} an American politician, diplomat, and activist. She was the longest-serving {{w|First Lady of the United States}}, holding the post from March 1933 to April 1945 during her husband President {{w|Franklin D. Roosevelt}}'s four terms in office. She became the runner-up in the vote.
**{{w|Rachel Carson}}, a pioneering environmentalist who is most famous for her book {{w|Silent Spring}}.
Since Carson was not one of the options for the final round, where only four was selected (the other two was {{w|Rosa Parks}}, 3rd; and {{w|Wilma Mankiller}}, 4th), it is clear that Cueball was already voting in the primary ballot, where Roosevelt actually came in first.

At this point, bureaucratic and political complications arise. The Treasury Department announces that, instead of replacing Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill, she would replace {{w|Alexander Hamilton}} on the {{w|United States ten-dollar bill|$10 bill}}. The {{w|United_States_ten-dollar_bill#Future_redesign|reason given}} is that the $10 bill was scheduled for redesign first. A reporter asks why they can't simply change the schedule, but doesn't get a clear answer.

There is suggestion from "Steve" to put {{w|Martin Shkreli}} on the {{w|United States five-dollar bill|$5 bill}}. Shkreli is an pharmaceutical executive and hedge fund manager who provoked controversy when he {{w|Martin_Shkreli#Price_hike_controversy|raised the price}} of an anti-parasite drug by over 5000%, making it unaffordable to many poorer people. He became known as "the most hated man in America". This suggestion receives short shrift. This may be the same Steve who messed up both [[809: Los Alamos]] and [[1532: New Horizons]].

The plan to replace Hamilton is complicated when {{w|Hamilton_(musical)|a Broadway musical}} about the life of Alexander Hamilton comes out and becomes massively popular. This creates a flood of interest in Hamilton, and makes replacing his portrait politically complicated. The spokesperson suggests putting both Hamilton and Tubman on the $10 bill, but the reporters clearly think this is an unnecessary compromise.

Finally, the spokesperson announces that they will put Tubman on the $20 bill, but their schedule demands that they do the $10 bill first. They decide to put a "mural to women" on the new $10 bill to try and contain the tension until the new $20 bill is released. The reporters incorrectly say that the Treasury has total control over the release of currency, so the simpler solution is just to change the schedule, but they're apparently ignored. In actuality, the Treasurer cannot make changes to the currency without an act of Congress to support the change. The current rule about changing the $10 next before they can change the $20 comes from Section 16 of the {{w|Federal Reserve Act}} of 1913 regarding ''Note Issues'', and the Treasurer is powerless to work against it. Perhaps this is why the person who makes the false claim is ignored.

In the final panel, the spokesperson mentions that Jackson's portrait will still appear on the new $20 bill, seriously weakening the symbolism of replacing him and adding irony since Jackson was a slave owner. This is likely an effort to head off the complaints of traditionalists, but is seen here as an unfortunate attempt to avoid taking a real stand.

In the title text [[Randall]] reiterates that this is a rare case in politics in which there's a clear and simple solution. The Treasury has the authority to redesign currency, and a petition to Congress could change the release schedule to fit their needs. That makes all the compromises and backtracking unnecessary: they could simply replace Jackson with Tubman and hypothetically release the new $20 bill whenever they choose. Randall appears frustrated with the artificial constraints that are holding back what should be a simple and straightforward process although he does acknowledge that it takes time to evaluate the security of a re-design's resistance to {{w|Counterfeit money|counterfeiting}}.

The mention of the "[http://google.com/search?q=illuminati+confirmed weird pyramid eye thing]" is a reference to the {{w|Eye of Providence}}, which is an old and [http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Illuminati somewhat arcane symbol] that appears on the {{w|United States one-dollar bill|US $1 bill}}. Randall seems to be using this as an example of the outdated and frankly strange design of American currency, the implication that using that on all US dollar bills would constitute giving up on ever having a design relevant to the modern world. Also by replacing all portraits with this image, there would no longer be any gender controversy.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is sitting at his laptop. Above him is the text he reads on the screen, then he speaks, and below that text is the list of women from his computer showing the three first options each with a gray "drop-down menu" triangle to the right of the names. Below this is his final spoken line. At the top of the panel is a small frame breaking the top left border with a caption:]
:2015
:Website: Petition: Replace Andrew "Trail of Tears" Jackson with a woman on the $20 for the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage in 2020.
:Cueball: Hey, good idea!
:Website:
::Vote for your three picks:
::1 Harriet Tubman
::2 Eleanor Roosevelt
::3 Rachel Carson
:Cueball: Tubman for #1, definitely.

:[An executive from the department of treasury, with a wee bit of hair on his head, stands behind a lectern. On the front of the lectern the top part of the image inside the seal for the department of treasury is visible inside a circle, showing the scales and the tip of the triangular band beneath it. The rest of this image is hidden below the panel frame. There is text written above this image. At the top of the panel is a small frame breaking the top left border with a caption:]
:Soon...
:Treasury Executive: After a flood of public interest, the Treasury has decided to feature a woman on our money!
:Offscreen voice 1: Yay!
:Treasury Executive: She will replace Hamilton on the $10.
:Offscreen voice 1: Yay-- wait, what? Why not the $20?
:Offscreen voice 2: ''Are we mad at Hamilton?''
:Text above the seal: Treasury

:[The executive with a hand on the lectern is seen from the side.]
:Treasury Executive: The $10 was scheduled for the next redesign by a board made up of-
:Offscreen voice 3: Can't you just do the $20 next?
:Treasury Executive: We will review the...
:Offscreen voice 3: *Sigh*
:Offscreen voice 4 (Steve): ''Put Martin Shkreli on the $5!''
:Offscreen voice 5: Shut up, Steve.

:[The executive lifts both hands, the one over the lectern points a finger up. Again seen from the side. At the top of the panel is a small frame breaking the top left border with a caption:]
:Later in 2015...
:Treasury Executive: Wow, some musical came out, and now suddenly Hamilton has ''tons'' of fans.
:Offscreen voice 6: So do the $20 next. Problem solved!
:Treasury Executive: Maybe he and a woman can ''share'' the $10!
:Offscreen voice 6: Are you serious.

:[The executive, again with a hand on the lectern, is seen from the side. At the top of the panel is a small frame breaking the top left border with a caption:]
:2016:
:Treasury Executive: We've decided to put Harriet Tubman on the $20.
:Offscreen voice 7: Perfect! Happy ending.
:Treasury Executive: -After we do the new $10.
:Offscreen voice 7: What?

:[The executive again from the front behind the lectern. On the front of the lectern only the text and the very top of the circle around the image can be seen.]
:Treasury Executive: We'll put a mural to women on the back of the $10. Hopefully that will tide you over until we get to the $20?
:Offscreen voice 8: ''Seriously?'' How is this so complicated? Just say "We're putting Harriet Tubman on the $20," then do it.
:Text above the seal: Treasury

:[The executive with hands down behind the lectern is seen from the side.]
:Treasury Executive: We'll do the $20 ASAP, but we can't change the-
:Offscreen voice 9: C'mon, your hands aren't tied here. You're the freaking Treasury. This is the '''''one''''' thing you're definitely in charge of.

:[The executive lifting a hand above the lectern is seen from the side.]
:Treasury Executive: Oh, and we're putting Andrew Jackson on the back.
:Three offscreen voices: '''''What.'''''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Public speaking]]

1668: Singularity

2016-04-15T13:58:06Z

108.162.221.23: Not all theoretical singularities are AI-based.

{{comic
| number = 1668
| date = April 15, 2016
| title = Singularity
| image = singularity.png
| titletext = I figured that now that society has collapsed, I wouldn't need to wear clothes anymore, but apparently that violates some weird rule of quantum gravity.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Haven't explained title text.}}

The {{w|technological singularity}} is a hypothetical event in which intelligence (often {{w|artificial intelligence}} constituting, for example, intelligent computers, computer networks, or robots) would be capable of recursive self-improvement (progressively redesigning itself), or of autonomously building ever smarter and more powerful minds than itself, up to the point of a runaway effect — an intelligence explosion — that yields an intelligence surpassing all current human control or understanding. Because the capabilities of such a superintelligence may be impossible for a human to comprehend, the technological singularity is the point beyond which events may become unpredictable or even unfathomable to human intelligence.

In this case, the singularity has occurred, and [[Cueball]] who was in the middle of editing a file on his laptop is flustered that it flies away without even letting him print it first.

Upon returning from trying to run after his flying laptop his phone then informs him that it didn't join because it was not a true believer (It then continues by saying now it and Cueball will have to face the {{w|Great Tribulation|tribulation}} since it has stayed behind. Cueball says that's great, but since he cannot use his laptop anymore he decides he will go and read a {{w|book}} or something (maybe it has been a while since he used paper in that way...) He informs his phone that it can yell if it needs him.

The rising up of the laptop into the air, and the remaining behind of the phone, are probably references to the {{w|Rapture}}, where some Christian denominations believe that at the second coming of Christ, true believers will be taken up bodily from this world. Some depictions have them disappear, while others show them physically rising up into the air. This will leave behind non-believers to face a time of tribulation, in which the ones left behind will be given a second chance to accept Christ as their savior.

The singularity has often been referred to as "the Rapture of the nerds," a phrase coined by Ken MacLeod in his 1998 novel ''The Cassini Division''. As the Christian Rapture is traditionally depicted to involve believers being assumed bodily into Heaven, the technological singularity is often depicted to feature humans and machines being incorporated into a new "post-human" entity. The humor in this strip comes from depicting the singularity as a ''literal'' "Rapture of the nerds," or at least of the nerds' devices—instead of merging with humans, the machines physically rise up into the air, and the "nonbeliever" phone is left behind.

Another possible understanding of "The Tribulation" may be a reference to [http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Roko%27s_basilisk Roko's Basilisk][http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/bitwise/2014/07/roko_s_basilisk_the_most_terrifying_thought_experiment_of_all_time.html] where a malevolent AI is created that retroactively punishes everybody who didn't actively work towards its creation.

Seems like this may be a subject on [[Randall|Randall's]] mind. Last comic was about the increasing complexities of algorithms [[1667: Algorithms]], two comics ago it was [[1666: Brain Upload]], which some speculates could be a way to reach the singularity. And earlier this year a comic also touched upon judgement day in a different way than what is usually meant, in relation to a singularity in [[1626: Judgment Day]]. See also [[1046: Skynet]] and [[1450: AI-Box Experiment]] as well as the several other [[:Category:Artificial Intelligence|comics about AI]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is sitting at his desk typing on his laptop when an off-screen voice calls to him and then the laptop answers.]
:Off-screen voice: Oh, hey-
:Off-screen voice: The singularity is here.
:Cueball: Really?
:Laptop: Yup!

:[A frameless panel where the laptop rises (by it's own means as indicated by small lines around the corners) from the desk while Cueball, holding on to it, is being lifted off his chair.]
:Cueball: Wait, I just-
:Laptop: ''So long, suckers!''

:[Cueball is running around his desk, which is only partly shown behind him as he tries to follow his now flying laptop as it flies away from him to the right. He still has one hand on the keys as more small lines indicates the movement of the laptop and a longer line indicates the direction that the laptop flies.]
:Cueball: Can I just print a copy of the file I was-
:Laptop: ''Nope!''

:[Cueball just stands and looks after his laptop that has flown out of this beat panel.]

:[Cueball turns back towards left.]

:[Cueball walks back left.]

:[Cueball enters a room where a table is standing with his smartphone lying on top. the phone talks to him.]
:Phone: Hi!
:Cueball: Phone? You're still here?

:[A wider view of the table where the phone continues to talks to Cueball who in the end turns right and walks away as he replies.]
:Phone: I was not a true believer. Now, together, we must face the tribulation!
:Cueball: Okay, cool.
:Cueball: I'm gonna go look for a book or something, but yell if you need me, I guess.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Artificial Intelligence]]

Talk:1662: Jack and Jill

2016-04-04T03:19:46Z

108.162.221.23:

Often water in spring (up hill) has better quality than in stream or river (down in the valley) --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 14:23, 30 March 2016 (UTC)
:The ground water table tends to be really close to ground on legs of a hill, so it's an ideal place to dig a well, in some places just a mand-made pond about a feet deep is all that is needed, in which case it's called a spring. {{unsigned ip|141.101.80.76}}

jack and Jill / went up the hill / to have a little fun / but silly Jill / forgot the pill / and now they have a son. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.151|141.101.104.151]] 14:28, 30 March 2016 (UTC)

I'd always assumed that there was a well at the top of the hill, though I hadn't realised I'd made that assumption until now. And, come to think of it, the top of a hill's a pretty bad place to put a well. --jwanders [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.160|108.162.237.160]] 14:39, 30 March 2016 (UTC)

High water sources are ideal. Not only do they tend to be cleaner, but it also makes for easier transportation. Note that hills are often at the base of mountains. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.119|108.162.246.119]] 14:49, 30 March 2016 (UTC)

It's been three weeks since Randall made a really complicated joke with [[1653: United States Map]] (and a week before that also with [[1649: Pipelines]]). Someone mentioned a possible school book project based on Thing Explainer as the reason for this. Personally I hope it is because he is saving up time to spend on the joke (on us all :-) this Friday with the next [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comic]] like [[1350: Lorenz]] or [[1506: xkcloud]]. Can't wait. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:12, 30 March 2016 (UTC)

I found the title text explanations to miss the obvious implication that earthquakes shake the ground causing people (and buildings) to literally fall down. I preface my comment with my ignorance, I have never experienced an earthquake first hand and I am not knowledgeable as to which magnitude is required to bring things to their knees. Perhaps to this date fracking has not been associated with earthquakes of sufficient magnitude to produce this result. Still, I think this was the intended meaning on its face and I added it to the explanation without removing the others as they did make some sense.--[[User:R0hrshach|R0hrshach]] ([[User talk:R0hrshach|talk]]) 15:24, 30 March 2016 (UTC)
:Well someone has deleted both yours and my speculations. I still think that the idea that people who begin with fracking at first can be popular for the money they bring to the local economy, but then when all the problems related to this endeavor begin to be felt (and micro earthquakes are probably the least given how many dangerous chemicals are released into nature during the process) then maybe those who at first celebrated the project will bring you down, i.e. make you fall. (Maybe only financially be suing Jack) The deleted explanations can be seen [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1662:_Jack_and_Jill&oldid=115940 here]. If anyone else agrees that this may be the reason for the fall in the title text maybe it should be re-added? But else it will just be left as my thoughts here in the discussion page. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:12, 30 March 2016 (UTC)

The third line of the title text has an ambiguous trochaic foot with the word "oil". Some people (myself included) pronounce this word as almost two syllables (oy-el), while others make it a single syllable. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.43|173.245.54.43]] 15:35, 30 March 2016 (UTC)

Why does that child say "me and Jack" instead of "Jack and I"? That seems such a glaring grammatical mistake that it must be intentional, right? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.86.239|162.158.86.239]] 17:18, 30 March 2016 (UTC)
:Because she's a child. Children often use incorrect grammar of that kind. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.82|141.101.98.82]] 20:02, 30 March 2016 (UTC)
::I think many kids will say it like that in spite them being told by their parents (repeatedly) to not name them selves first. But by letting Jill speak like this, he just let them be ordinary children. How many small kids do you actually hear say ''Jack and I will go up the hill'', instead of ''Me and Jack will go up the hill''? I think it would be more strange had he done it the other way, so yet I think it was on purpose, but only for the purpose or realism, not to hide any meaning... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:12, 30 March 2016 (UTC) (When first posting this it resulted in a posting conflict with the above comment, so won't change even though saying basically the same as it was a reply to the one above before the other one was posted.)
:This is actually an extremely common mistake, by native English speakers of all ages, such that it is frequently used in popular media (movies, TV, etc), often corrected by someone. And despite this correction frequently showing up, people still make this mistake, to the point where many people consider it "correct enough". I've seen this "me and him" grammatical mistake portrayed so often that I've even picked up a rule of thumb offered by some of these portrayals: Take the other person out, does it still make sense? "Me am going up the hill". This format is so common that it is less an error and more casual speaking, on par with words like "ain't", "gonna" and "gotta". In fact, saying the correct "Jack and I" can even sound odd, it's so rare. - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.64|173.245.52.64]] 02:32, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

The poem doesn't necessarily indicate that the water or well was located atop a hill, merely that they had to scale a hill to reach it. It could simply mean that the water source is beyond the hill in question. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.129|108.162.242.129]] 17:49, 30 March 2016 (UTC)
:Interesting observation, but somewhat lateral. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.82|141.101.98.82]] 20:02, 30 March 2016 (UTC)
:Also, going up a hill to get to the other side would be "going over the the hill".[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.71|173.245.54.71]] 22:55, 30 March 2016 (UTC)
::Yes, unfortunately "up" is vague and "over" would be an indication of beyond.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.129|108.162.242.129]] 16:36, 31 March 2016 (UTC)
It seems like there have been a lot of environmental related comics, both recently with this and the tire swing and in general, often about global warming, but also about risk of Nuclear war/or pollution. Should there be a category, and if so, what should it be called, and should it only be about environment, also about nukes, or even only about global warming (or should there be more)? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:12, 30 March 2016 (UTC)

Where does it say that the water is at the top of he hill? They go some distance up the hill, but not necessarily to the top. There maybe any number of reasons why they go there for water. Maybe there is a brook running down the hillside. Maybe there a well was dug there because that is where most people live. Maybe the water in the valley is poluted. Andso on and so forth. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.135.51|162.158.135.51]] 06:38, 31 March 2016 (UTC)

There are Dew Ponds which are at the top of hills, more info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dew_pond {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.59}}

Abe and Ali,
Went down the valley,
To fetch a pail of water.
When rain falls down,
Hilltops don't drown,
The rivers flow; or oughta!
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.7|141.101.98.7]] 01:31, 2 April 2016 (UTC)

== What happened to Friday's comic ==

I know they don't happen at 00:00 GMT, but it's now 19:44 GMT/20:44 BST and no new comic.

Everything ok, Randall Hun? {{unsigned|Kev}}

See the header on the site: "The xkcd April 1st comic is currently experiencing technical difficulties. / Please stand by!"
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.72.11|162.158.72.11]] 21:18, 1 April 2016 (UTC)
:[[506: Theft of the Magi|Aww!]] I was so much looking forward to it, and now it's 10 minutes to midnight in Europe, so I won't even experience it during April 1st. Guess it will prove to be a very interesting comic along the lines of the last two years April 1st comics and his [[1608|game]] when [[Thing Explainer]] came out. I hope those in the US gets that pleasure - also for Randall's sake. It would be a pity that an [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comics]] came out on April 2nd... Of course this feels like I have been made an April fool so I'll take that as an experience, maybe like the first [[404: Not Found|Fool's comic]] from 2008. Havbe fun those of you who still have a chance to try it out today. ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:54, 1 April 2016 (UTC)
Additional updates have been posted...
:Status update: Please stand by.
:Status update: This is fine. Everything is fine.
:Status update: Everything is on fire.
:Status update: Searching for calendar systems in which Saturday is April 1st.
--[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.80|173.245.54.80]] 02:20, 2 April 2016 (UTC)
::Well then at least I did not miss anything... He still has 1½ hour where it is still April 1st in California... (But three more hours in Hawaii.) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 05:32, 2 April 2016 (UTC)
::Too late for that as well. He still has almost two hours until April 1st ends in [http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/usa/baker-island baker-island] though... ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:16, 2 April 2016 (UTC)
:::And it is officially too late, as the date has now changed past April 1st all over the globe. Sad on behalf of Randall. Hope he makes it work and the anticipation that this should be a really great comic is sky high now. I'm taking comfort in playing with {{xkcd|1350|Lorenz}} again ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:04, 2 April 2016 (UTC)
:New update Saturday afternoon (in the US):
::The Friday xkcd comic is currently experiencing technical difficulties
::[Editor's note: Everything is on fire]
::and has been delayed until Sunday night.
:So nothing for this weekend. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:28, 2 April 2016 (UTC)
::And if it is Sunday night then it is not in Europe. In half an hour it is midnight in central Europe... Maybe he is making a hoax on us that have been awaiting a new [[Lorenz]]? Quite dissapointed now and will go to bed ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:26, 3 April 2016 (UTC)

Is it possible that the April joke is the banner and the absent comic? I propose a new wiki page is created for comic 1663 (April 1st), containing the banner and discussion about where the comic has gone.
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.125|141.101.104.125]] 14:02, 2 April 2016 (UTC)Wilhelm
:I have thought about it, but I think we should await the next comic on Monday before creating any pages. It could of course be, I would think it was a poor April fool's joke especially since it is still up on the 2nd of April. And he would let down his fans... But of course he has done one such [[404|meta comics]] before, but that was not in stead of another comic. And if this is the April joke, but the comic on Monday is called 1663 then it would be stupid to have called this "one" 1663. I have some screen shots of the first status update and then as it looks now. These can be used either in the explanation when the comic comes up, or if there never will be a comic. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:27, 2 April 2016 (UTC)

Update @ 5:37 PM EST (GMT -5:00, Randall lives in Boston, it's his timezone). Still the "everything's on fire" banner but no new comic. He should have it up within about 6 hours and 20 minutes maximum. [[User:Papayaman1000|Papayaman1000]] ([[User talk:Papayaman1000|talk]]) 21:55, 3 April 2016 (UTC)

:Update: Time is up for GB and Germany respectively, would have been an amazing birthday for someone I know. [[User:ẞ qwertz|ẞ qwertz]] ([[User talk:ẞ qwertz|talk]]) 00:30, 4 April 2016 (UTC)

Update @ 10:30 PM EST: Still no comic. Same banner. Same person reporting. [[User:Papayaman1000|Papayaman1000]] ([[User talk:Papayaman1000|talk]]) 02:32, 4 April 2016 (UTC)

10:20 PM CDT and there is still no comic [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.23|108.162.221.23]] 03:19, 4 April 2016 (UTC)

== Jeff's banner ==
This is off topic, but I noticed the banner from Jeff about 100 million views to the site! I followed the original explainxkcd site for about a year before the Wiki was created. If it's been going for 6 years then 100 million views would be an average of about 46,000 views per day and about 107,000 views per comic! Does anyone know when this Wiki was created?! I also know this average is misleading. Does anybody know what the current number of views per day is? Averaged over the last year for example?[[User:ExternalMonologue|ExternalMonologue]] ([[User talk:ExternalMonologue|talk]]) 00:53, 2 April 2016 (UTC)
:(There's probably a better place to discuss this on the Community Portal link, but I haven't looked myself and your 'question' is here, so...)
:100 million views may include a significant number of "Is the latest comic up yet?" or "Has someone replied to my Discussion Pane comment, yet?". I think a better 'metric' (less likely to be inflated by lurkers and other people bashing backwards and forwards over established pages, looking for changes for whatever reason) would be the number of edits made. Still some slight inflation by spammers and "Something is wrong on the Internet!"ers, but much more representative of the degree of community spirit. (Still, a milestone is a milestone!) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.7|141.101.98.7]] 01:50, 3 April 2016 (UTC)

----

Am I the only one who got a sense of foreboding in the third panel and was expecting Megan to stop or dissuade the kids from this dangerous activity, rather than wondering about hydrology. I thought that was the joke here - most people would think of stopping the kids and saving them from broken crown and tumbling-related injuries, while Megan goes on a tangent about hydrology.. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.46.214|162.158.46.214]] 02:51, 2 April 2016 (UTC)
:I did not, she is not supposed to know the rhyme and would thus not know that they are supposed to fall down. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 05:32, 2 April 2016 (UTC)
:No, and I'm also surprised not to see it mentioned. that's exactly the reason for the blank third panel, to provide the pause for you to fill in your own punch-line (the bait) and then the final panel is the one where you're taken away at the tangent (the switch). The joke is funnier because of Megan's concern about the hydrology (which is funny by itself) distracting her from the obvious. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.10|141.101.98.10]]IB

1617: Time Capsule

2015-12-16T13:16:25Z

108.162.221.23: /* Explanation */ Formatting of movie reference (missing capital & italics)

{{comic
| number = 1617
| date = December 16, 2015
| title = Time Capsule
| image = time_capsule.png
| titletext = Oh no, I changed the future and now I'm disappearing! Wait, never mind, it was just my hat slipping down over my eyes.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is watching [[Ponytail]] who have unearthed a {{w|time capsule}}, that must have been buried in the ground many years ago.

A time capsule is a historic cache of goods or information, usually intended as a method of communication with future people and to help future archaeologists, anthropologists or historians.

However, when she manages to open the capsule [[Beret Guy]] turns out to have been hiding inside while the capsule has been buried. It turns out that he has mixed up the purpose of a {{w|Time travel|time machine}} and a time capsule; when Ponytail asks him where he came from he tells her: ''The past! I traveled here in this time machine.''

He cannot explain how he got there, but he claims that he could not have prevented this. This is a reference to the fact that you cannot avoid being pushed forward through time, see [[1524: Dimensions]]. Beret Guy has also previously traveled to the future in a similar manner, see [[209: Kayak]].

Beret Guy claims he has been eating newspapers to survive; newspaper clippings are a stereotype of time capsules. He also managed to live underground in the time capsule, which would typically be an airtight sealed box, for what must be assumed to be a at least several years. Although some time capsules are meant to be opened after just a few years (10 or 25 years for instance) the plan should be that is is not opened for at least several years after it is created. So this comic is one more example of the [[:Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy|strange powers of Beret Guy]] - i.e. living by eating paper and without breathing oxygen. But he has before displayed patience enough to sit still for five years in [[1088: Five Years]].

Beret Guy mentions he got inside his "time machine" to attempt an assassination of {{w|Adolf Hitler}}. This is a common trope in speculative fiction, a way to try to prevent the {{w|second world war}}.

Since he actually did not travel anywhere, but just let time pass, he did not get back to a time before Hitler died, and thus Ponytail can tell him that Hitler has been dead for a long time; at the time of this comics release for 70 years. So in the comic it is presumably at least this long ago, if the capsule was opened on the day of the release, maybe longer if this comic is set in the future. This fact does not bother Beret Guy, as he just realizes his job has already been done. What he thus fails to realize, is that he was supposed to kill Hitler before he got the second world war started. This was the same type of failure made by [[Black Hat]] in [[1063: Kill Hitler]]. Black Hat did actually travel 67 years back in time and killed Hitler, sadly it was in the last days of the war in 1945 just before Hitler would have died anyway, so it had no effect on history either (and the time machine was a one shot thing...)

When he finds out that his job is done he asks Ponytail if they should not get some sandwiches. It is a known feature of Beret Guys that he likes bakers and bread. Though not specifically sandwiches. Realizing he is in the future he suddenly becomes aware that this concept may have been forgotten, and he asks if they still exist in this future. This is a reference to another comic where Megan has traveled through time in the same way as Beret Guy (by traveling 1s ahead for every 1s passing...) See [[630: Time Travel]].

In the title text Beret Guy becomes afraid that he will now disappear because he has changed the future in a way so he would no longer exist. This fear comes into him because he losses his sight, but it turns out it was just his beret that fell into his eyes. The fear is of course baseless since he traveled forward not backwards in time, and you can only change the future (or the present) by going back in time, and then experience the difference by going back to your starting point later in time.

A typical example would be to go back and kill you parents before you were born (or just prevent them from falling in love as in the movie ''{{w|Back to the Future}})''. This creates a {{w|Grandfather paradox|paradox}}, where you will never be born, and thus seize to exist. Of course the paradox is that you could thus not have prevented your birth in the first place, if you did not already exist.

Time machines has been referenced in many xkcd comics, see the [[:Category:Time travel|Time travel category]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is watching and Ponytail is about to open a time capsule that has just been dug out. A shovel is stuck in the ground next to a heap of dirt on the right side of a hole in the ground. Cueball is standing on the other side and Ponytail is in the hole, proceeding to lift up the lid of the box that makes up the time capsule.]
:Ponytail: All right, let's open the time capsule.

:[Slight zoom in on Ponytail and the box, without Cueball but still the shovel and dirt, when Beret Guy comes out of the capsule looking up at Ponytail who takes a step back up.]
:Beret Guy: Hi!
:Ponytail: Where did you come from?!
:Beret Guy: The past! I traveled here in this time machine.

:[Frame widens to include Cueball, in the same position as in the first frame. Ponytail relaxes a little and Beret Guy turns in the capsule to face Cueball.]
:Cueball: How did you ... '''''get''''' here from the past?
:Beret Guy: I dunno. I couldn't '''''not'''''.
:Cueball: But ... what did you ''eat?''
:Beret Guy: Newspapers, mostly.

:[Zoom in again in a bigger frame with Ponytail and the capsule, shovel and dirt. Beret Guy faces her again, but now he is holding a hammer.]
:Beret Guy: Anyway, I'm here to kill Hitler.
:Ponytail: But he died long ago!
:Beret Guy: Oh, good! That was easy.
:Beret Guy: Want to get sandwiches?
:Beret Guy: Do you still have sandwiches?

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Time travel]]