explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

396: The Ring

2016-08-19T17:25:58Z

108.162.221.98: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 396
| date = March 14, 2008
| title = The Ring
| image = the_ring.png
| titletext = On the other hand, poor Samara -- transcoded to FLV. No one deserves that.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|The Ring (2002 film)|The Ring}} is a {{w|horror movie}} released in 2002 based off the Japanese movie {{w|Ring (film)|Ringu}}. In it, there is a video tape that causes everyone who watches it to die after seven days. However, the viewer can prevent their death by making a copy of the tape and giving it to someone else.

A young boy [[Cueball]] watches the tape and prevents his own death by "copying" the tape and uploading it to a video-sharing website, presumably {{w|YouTube}}. Cueball not only got one person to watch it, the requirement for escaping death, but 363,104 people (at most - some likely shared it with others, saving themselves and reducing the number doomed); all of whom are most likely going to die in seven days.

Rickrolling[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ] is an Internet meme where someone is lured into clicking on a video link of {{w|Rick Astley}} singing "{{w|Never Gonna Give You Up}}." When someone is Rickrolled, they usually get very upset. Cueball states in the comic that he uploaded the tape to get revenge on everyone who Rickrolled him, though it was obvious that he would likely kill many more people than those who Rickrolled him (or those who've Rickrolled anyone else).

The title text refers to the file format used by the YouTube player. Historically, YouTube was famous for having extremely poor quality videos because their Internet connections were slower and server storage space was expensive. So, all videos were {{w|transcode}}d into a very low quality {{w|FLV}} (flash video) format.

The girl shown in the video tape — a major part of The Ring series — is named Samara. Posting the tape on YouTube would result in heavily compressed videos in the FLV format. This, presumably, would reduce the quality of Samara's apparition. The title text also implies that nobody deserves that although [http://tinyurl.com/qxmreql Rickrolling] is apparently punishable by death.

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail is speaking to young Cueball sitting in front of a TV with a black background and a white ring.]
:Ponytail: You watched the tape!?
:Cueball: Yeah, sorry.

:Ponytail: Now you'll die in seven days!
:Cueball: It's worse than that.

:[TV is cut from the frame.]
:Ponytail: ...You didn't.
:Cueball: Yup.

:[Both are now in front of a computer, Ponytail leaning in.]
:Ponytail: Great, It's got 363,104 views ''already''.
:Cueball: They kept Rickrolling me! It was only fair.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Rickrolling]]

Talk:1709: Inflection

2016-07-24T02:37:16Z

108.162.221.98: xlation of dumb emoji

:It's also misleading to describe Chinese as a 'pictographic' language. The reason is that very few of the Chinese characters, as I recall from when I was studying it fewer than 100, are actually pictograms, that is to say an attempt to draw a picture of the thing in question. Some of these are 口 (kou, 'mouth'), 言 (yan, 'word', a picture of a mouth with sounds coming out of it), 日('ri', the Sun), 月 ('yue', the Moon), and some others. Then there is a somewhat larger group of characters best described as 'ideographs', that try to convey the meaning of the word symbolically, such as 中 ('zhong', middle), or which try to convey an idea using two or more other characters that may or may not themselves be pictograms. Examples of the latter would be 好 ('hao', good, with the character for 'mother' on the left and that for 'child' on the right), and 明 ('ming', bright, combining the characters for Sun and Moon above). But the vast majority of Chinese characters consist of a phonetic component, a part that is another character in its own right that conveys the sound (or conveyed it in ancient Chinese although the pronunciation may have shifted) and a part that gives a general notion of the meaning (called the radical). An example would be 钥 ('yue', key, composed of the character for the Moon (above) having the pronunciation 'yue', and the radical on the right which by itself means 'metal', so a metal thing that is pronounced 'yue'.

:I'm not sure how to handle this. The description above is more complicated than should appear in the main article, but the main article as written is somewhat misleading as to the role of pictograms in Chinese. [[User:Billjefferys|Billjefferys]] ([[User talk:Billjefferys|talk]]) 17:50, 21 July 2016 (UTC)

::Wow. You managed to write an entire dissertation on how Chinese isn't a pictographic language while managing to ignore the existence of Traditional Chinese and other previous reforms that simplified and standardised the brush strokes of the preceding writing form at the cost of losing the original resemblance to the object (eg 车/ 車). And you completely misunderstood how radicals affect pronunciation as shown from how your examples are contradictory. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.5|141.101.98.5]] 20:48, 21 July 2016 (UTC)

:::Please show how the radical in 钥 "affects the pronunciation". Here's a hint: The radical on the left is 金 ('jin', metal), and the phonetic part on the right is 月 ('yue', 4th tone, Moon). The character 钥 ('yue', 4th tone, key) is pronounced identically to 月. How has the presence of the radical affected the pronunciation if the two characters are pronounced identically? (And BTW this is a general rule, sometimes the tone changes, but it's not "because of the radical" since the same radical is used in different words, in some of which the tone may change and in others of which it does not.

:::No, Chinese is not a pictographic language. The relatively few real pictograms have indeed been simplified through the fact that the brush was traditionally used to write the characters that were originally more or less realistic pictures of the objects (as archaeology has shown). And sure, the simplification has continued as in the example of 车/ 車 ('che' vehicle) that you give. But this has nothing to do with whether the language is pictographic. Again for example, by no stretch of the imagination can 钥 be considered a picture of a key.

:::By concentrating on the fact that Chinese is written with a large set of characters, you miss the point. Most of these characters do not qualify as pictograms or even ideograms by any reasonable definition. They are just not constructed as attempts express in a picture the thing or concept being described (as emojis do attempt to do). The best you can say is that some Chinese characters (relatively few) are pictographic or ideographic, but that the vast majority use an entirely different principle of construction. [[User:Billjefferys|Billjefferys]] ([[User talk:Billjefferys|talk]]) 03:12, 22 July 2016 (UTC)

::::Even calling characters like 口 pictographic is a stretch. Their origins are pictographic, but so are the origins of Latin alphabet letters. The most famous one is "A" that comes from the pictograph of the head of an ox. If Chinese had been pictographic, it would accept several mouth-shaped drawings as the morpheme "mouth", but in reality, the Chinese character 口 is not a drawing, it is a character, as symbolic and abstract as the letter "A". Chinese is a logographic language (even if logo- is misleading, it's more morpheme-writing than word-writing), no matter what the origins of the characters are. [[User:Lingu|Lingu]] ([[User talk:Lingu|talk]]) 11:19, 22 July 2016 (UTC)

:::::I agree fully with Lingu's comment. In fact I was going to say something about the pictographic origins of Latin alphabet letters like the famous 'A'. Lingu is correct to point out that it's the origins of the standard characters that is pictographic, namely they are based on pictures that were written long ago but have been stylized and conventionalized as well as modified over thousands of years.

:::::Some useful article from Wikipedia describe this in more detail. There is a piece from the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_language#Chinese_characters Chinese Language] article that briefly describes it, as well as the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_characters#Principles_of_formation Chinese Characters] article.

:::::Even the Egyptian hieroglyphic writing system is a whole lot more complex than implied by calling Egyptian hieroglyphics a "pictographic language", which is a misleading term, as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_hieroglyphs#Writing_system this article] shows. In addition to its pictographic elements, it has a lot of phonetic and other components.

:::::I think this paragraph needs extensive rewriting. The term "pictographic language" should be eliminated entirely and replace with something more accurate, such as "the writing system has significant pictographic origins". After all, it is the writing system, and not the language, that is related to pictographs and ideographs. And even many of the common emojis are more ideographic in nature than pictographic! [[User:Billjefferys|Billjefferys]] ([[User talk:Billjefferys|talk]]) 13:19, 22 July 2016 (UTC)

Does anyone know what the emoticon part is trying to say?
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.170|108.162.215.170]] 16:59, 20 July 2016 (UTC)--
:A loose translation would be "Yes". [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.106|162.158.255.106]] 18:19, 20 July 2016 (UTC)
:👍=Correct 👏=Bravo/Congratulations 😊=I'm glad you get it --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.207|162.158.92.207]] 18:54, 20 July 2016 (UTC)
::Seems pretty unambiguous to me: "Hitchhikers will bitch-slap you and laugh." [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.98|108.162.221.98]] 02:37, 24 July 2016 (UTC)

This comic was posted 3 days after the [http://worldemojiday.com/faq/ "World Emoji Day" (July 17)] created by Emojipedia founder Jeremy Burge in 2014. The date July 17 appears in the calendar emoji used by Apple, but other tech companies use [http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/today-is-world-emoji-day/ different dates] in their version of this emoji. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.207|162.158.92.207]] 17:30, 20 July 2016 (UTC)

"Emojish" could be a good replacement for English which suffers from highly [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonemic_orthography nonphonemic orthography] and is a pain in the 🍑💨 to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghoti wright corecttly]. 😊 --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.207|162.158.92.207]] 17:57, 20 July 2016 (UTC)

I lost it at the end of the title text. My friend and I say wat to each other all the time. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.144|108.162.215.144]] 18:13, 20 July 2016 (UTC)

When I saw the emoji, I realized that I understand them without having a spoken or written language equivalence. We are so conditioned to say "what is it trying to say?" and expecting a language equivalent. But that does not have to be the case. It made me wonder if very early humans using pictographs for communication automatically had language equivalents, or could they think by mentally visualizing the pictograph without translating everything to words. If so, could we train ourselves to imagine emoji instead of words. They clearly communicate something that need not be verbal. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 18:59, 20 July 2016 (UTC)

I count 52 Spanish forms of "andar": ando andas anda andamos andáis andan andaba andabas andábamos andabais andaban anduve anduviste anduvo anduvimos anduvisteis anduvieron andaría andarías andaríamos andaríais andarían andaré andarás andará andaremos andaréis andarán anduviera anduviese anduvieras anduvieses anduviéramos anduviésemos anduvierais anduvieseis anduvieran anduviesen ande andes andemos andéis anden anduviere anduvieres anduviéremos anduviereis anduvieren andar andando andado andad. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.12|108.162.219.12]] 20:13, 20 July 2016 (UTC)

First person singualar "I" is a strange mix. It uses a verb not listed in that chart "am", uses the plural form "have" for present tense, and the singular form "was" for past tense. [[User:Tahg|Tahg]] ([[User talk:Tahg|talk]]) 01:32, 21 July 2016 (UTC)
:It also uses "were" for subjunctive ("If I were you..." // "If I were walking to the park right now instead of being on the computer...")[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.98|108.162.221.98]] 13:19, 21 July 2016 (UTC)

Why didn't Randall not use '''''MOAR''''' as a substitute for MORE? 😞😞😞 --Björn {{unsigned|Windowsfreak}}

The article says that Japanese Kanji (which uses Chinese characters) is uninflected. This is based on a confusion. Japanese itself is highly inflected, with grammatical markers that are usually expressed using either Katakana or Hirigana syllabaries. The Kanji themselves are used for many words but are embedded in sentences that use both Kanji and one or both of the syllabaries. Both nouns and verbs are inflected. There is no such language as "Japanese Kanji" so this is just wrong. I will delete the corresponding clause in the main article. [[User:Billjefferys|Billjefferys]] ([[User talk:Billjefferys|talk]]) 12:35, 21 July 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1709: Inflection

2016-07-21T13:20:37Z

108.162.221.98:

The article says that Japanese Kanji (which uses Chinese characters) is uninflected. This is based on a confusion. Japanese itself is highly inflected, with grammatical markers that are usually expressed using either Katakana or Hirigana syllabaries. The Kanji themselves are used for many words but are embedded in sentences that use both Kanji and one or both of the syllabaries. Both nouns and verbs are inflected. There is no such language as "Japanese Kanji" so this is just wrong. I will delete the corresponding clause in the main article. [[User:Billjefferys|Billjefferys]] ([[User talk:Billjefferys|talk]]) 12:35, 21 July 2016 (UTC)

Does anyone know what the emoticon part is trying to say?
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.170|108.162.215.170]] 16:59, 20 July 2016 (UTC)--
:A loose translation would be "Yes". [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.106|162.158.255.106]] 18:19, 20 July 2016 (UTC)
:👍=Correct 👏=Bravo/Congratulations 😊=I'm glad you get it --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.207|162.158.92.207]] 18:54, 20 July 2016 (UTC)

This comic was posted 3 days after the [http://worldemojiday.com/faq/ "World Emoji Day" (July 17)] created by Emojipedia founder Jeremy Burge in 2014. The date July 17 appears in the calendar emoji used by Apple, but other tech companies use [http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/today-is-world-emoji-day/ different dates] in their version of this emoji. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.207|162.158.92.207]] 17:30, 20 July 2016 (UTC)

"Emojish" could be a good replacement for English which suffers from highly [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonemic_orthography nonphonemic orthography] and is a pain in the 🍑💨 to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghoti wright corecttly]. 😊 --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.207|162.158.92.207]] 17:57, 20 July 2016 (UTC)

I lost it at the end of the title text. My friend and I say wat to each other all the time. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.144|108.162.215.144]] 18:13, 20 July 2016 (UTC)

When I saw the emoji, I realized that I understand them without having a spoken or written language equivalence. We are so conditioned to say "what is it trying to say?" and expecting a language equivalent. But that does not have to be the case. It made me wonder if very early humans using pictographs for communication automatically had language equivalents, or could they think by mentally visualizing the pictograph without translating everything to words. If so, could we train ourselves to imagine emoji instead of words. They clearly communicate something that need not be verbal. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 18:59, 20 July 2016 (UTC)

I count 52 Spanish forms of "andar": ando andas anda andamos andáis andan andaba andabas andábamos andábais andaban anduve anduviste anduvo anduvimos anduvisteis anduvieron andaría andarías andaríamos andaríais andarían andaré andarás andará andaremos andaréis andarán anduviera anduviese anduvieras anduvieses anduviéramos anduviésemos anduviérais anduviéseis anduvieran anduviesen ande andes andemos andéis anden anduviere anduvieres anduviéremos anduviereis anduvieren andar andando andado andad. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.12|108.162.219.12]] 20:13, 20 July 2016 (UTC)

First person singualar "I" is a strange mix. It uses a verb not listed in that chart "am", uses the plural form "have" for present tense, and the singular form "was" for past tense. [[User:Tahg|Tahg]] ([[User talk:Tahg|talk]]) 01:32, 21 July 2016 (UTC)
:It also uses "were" for subjunctive ("If I were you..." // "If I were walking to the park right now instead of being on the computer...")[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.98|108.162.221.98]] 13:19, 21 July 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1709: Inflection

2016-07-21T13:19:35Z

108.162.221.98: Eerie Alice

The article says that Japanese Kanji (which uses Chinese characters) is uninflected. This is based on a confusion. Japanese itself is highly inflected, with grammatical markers that are usually expressed using either Katakana or Hirigana syllabaries. The Kanji themselves are used for many words but are embedded in sentences that use both Kanji and one or both of the syllabaries. Both nouns and verbs are inflected. There is no such language as "Japanese Kanji" so this is just wrong. I will delete the corresponding clause in the main article. [[User:Billjefferys|Billjefferys]] ([[User talk:Billjefferys|talk]]) 12:35, 21 July 2016 (UTC)

Does anyone know what the emoticon part is trying to say?
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.170|108.162.215.170]] 16:59, 20 July 2016 (UTC)--
:A loose translation would be "Yes". [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.106|162.158.255.106]] 18:19, 20 July 2016 (UTC)
:👍=Correct 👏=Bravo/Congratulations 😊=I'm glad you get it --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.207|162.158.92.207]] 18:54, 20 July 2016 (UTC)

This comic was posted 3 days after the [http://worldemojiday.com/faq/ "World Emoji Day" (July 17)] created by Emojipedia founder Jeremy Burge in 2014. The date July 17 appears in the calendar emoji used by Apple, but other tech companies use [http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/today-is-world-emoji-day/ different dates] in their version of this emoji. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.207|162.158.92.207]] 17:30, 20 July 2016 (UTC)

"Emojish" could be a good replacement for English which suffers from highly [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonemic_orthography nonphonemic orthography] and is a pain in the 🍑💨 to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghoti wright corecttly]. 😊 --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.207|162.158.92.207]] 17:57, 20 July 2016 (UTC)

I lost it at the end of the title text. My friend and I say wat to each other all the time. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.144|108.162.215.144]] 18:13, 20 July 2016 (UTC)

When I saw the emoji, I realized that I understand them without having a spoken or written language equivalence. We are so conditioned to say "what is it trying to say?" and expecting a language equivalent. But that does not have to be the case. It made me wonder if very early humans using pictographs for communication automatically had language equivalents, or could they think by mentally visualizing the pictograph without translating everything to words. If so, could we train ourselves to imagine emoji instead of words. They clearly communicate something that need not be verbal. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 18:59, 20 July 2016 (UTC)

I count 52 Spanish forms of "andar": ando andas anda andamos andáis andan andaba andabas andábamos andábais andaban anduve anduviste anduvo anduvimos anduvisteis anduvieron andaría andarías andaríamos andaríais andarían andaré andarás andará andaremos andaréis andarán anduviera anduviese anduvieras anduvieses anduviéramos anduviésemos anduviérais anduviéseis anduvieran anduviesen ande andes andemos andéis anden anduviere anduvieres anduviéremos anduviereis anduvieren andar andando andado andad. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.12|108.162.219.12]] 20:13, 20 July 2016 (UTC)

First person singualar "I" is a strange mix. It uses a verb not listed in that chart "am", uses the plural form "have" for present tense, and the singular form "was" for past tense. [[User:Tahg|Tahg]] ([[User talk:Tahg|talk]]) 01:32, 21 July 2016 (UTC)
:It also uses "were" for subjunctive ("If I were you...")[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.98|108.162.221.98]] 13:19, 21 July 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1697: Intervocalic Fortition

2016-06-22T21:07:24Z

108.162.221.98:

The idea, stated in the alt-text, that "meh" was created by writers of "The Simpsons", is incorrect. "The Simpsons", however, was responsible for widely popularizing it. See [http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2013/09/06/meh_etymology_tracing_the_yiddish_word_from_leo_rosten_to_auden_to_the_simpsons.html] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meh] [[User:Dubaaron|Dubaaron]] ([[User talk:Dubaaron|talk]]) 04:31, 22 June 2016 (UTC)
:Is it really saying that ''The Simpsons'' created the word? All it says is that it introduced the word, which does not seem to imply that it didn't exist before. If I introduce a friend of mine to another person, I most likely did not just create that other person, and there is no reason to believe that it should be any different for words.[[User:Mulan15262|Mulan15262]] ([[User talk:Mulan15262|talk]]) 13:24, 22 June 2016 (UTC)
::I don't think that "writers on The Simpsons decided to mess with future linguists" means "writers of The Simpsons introduced the word". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.13|108.162.221.13]] 14:25, 22 June 2016 (UTC)

"The" ends in a lax vowel, and it's the most ubiquitous word in the language, so that rule is wrong. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.10|108.162.221.10]] 04:45, 22 June 2016 (UTC)

: I've always seen "lax vowel" referring to full (unreduced) vowels. When unstressed, the vowel in "the" is reduced (/ðə/), and when stressed it's tense (/ði:/). [[Special:Contributions/188.114.109.66|188.114.109.66]] 05:08, 22 June 2016 (UTC)

:: Furthermore, the lax vowel is only used if 'the' is followed by another syllable, and so the utterance will not be lax-vowel-final. {{unsigned ip|162.158.2.219}}

::: How does that matter? The rule as stated was about the ending of words, not of utterances. [[User:Huttarl|Huttarl]] ([[User talk:Huttarl|talk]]) 19:21, 22 June 2016 (UTC)

:::What the? That can't be right... {{unsigned ip|162.158.83.102}}

Questions. Is this happening in (American) English? is "adverb" becoming /adferb/. Any other examples?[[User:Zeimusu|Zeimusu]] ([[User talk:Zeimusu|talk]]) 05:55, 22 June 2016 (UTC)
: I scanned some 'v' words and didn't see much. A plural of [http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000293.html dwarf] discussion; similarly wharf splits into both wharfs and wharves. 'Halving' might benefit in the sense that the 'l' is silent so it sounds like 'having' and might be more clear as 'halfing'. I've also noticed a smattering of YouTubers writing "could of/should of" instead of contracting 'have', i.e, "could've/should've". [[User:Elvenivle|Elvenivle]] ([[User talk:Elvenivle|talk]]) 06:50, 22 June 2016 (UTC)
::The pronunciation of both ''of'' and ''’ve'' is /əv/. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.13|108.162.221.13]] 13:35, 22 June 2016 (UTC)
:No, I don't think this is really happening. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.77|141.101.98.77]] 11:22, 22 June 2016 (UTC)
:"Adverb" doesn't have an intervocalic "v". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.13|108.162.221.13]] 14:21, 22 June 2016 (UTC)
::No, but the prank as stated in the comic "V's in the middle of words" applies to "adverb". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.178|108.162.237.178]] 15:34, 22 June 2016 (UTC)
:Yes, [[1677|absolutely]]. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.220|108.162.237.220]] 19:38, 22 June 2016 (UTC)

It's quite surprising to see Randall misusing apostrophes to form plurals (i.e. V's and F's instead of the correct Vs and Fs).  – [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.41|141.101.98.41]] 19:36, 22 June 2016 (UTC)
:That's one of those gray/grey areas where the "rules" for apostrophes aren't firmly in place. Typographically, the apostrophe is (often) used to form plurals of lower case letters ("i's" and "m's" for clarity over "is" and "ms") and this exception tends to get carried over to capital letters, numbers, and symbols though the need for insuring clarity is reduced. It becomes a matter for style manuals rather than grammar manuals: do you follow the exception -- or the exception to the exception?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.98|108.162.221.98]] 21:07, 22 June 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1677: Contrails

2016-05-06T19:01:43Z

108.162.221.98:

Aside: worst name ever for university department: Astronomy and Cosmology - it's almost as if they want people to make the association... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.20|141.101.104.20]] 10:58, 6 May 2016 (UTC)

Love the title text, you can choose to laugh or take offence irrespective of where you call home. Which you do says more about you than the text. [[User:Toltec|Toltec]] ([[User talk:Toltec|talk]]) 11:41, 6 May 2016 (UTC)

Worth noting that 'contrails' is itself a North Americanism? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.111|108.162.229.111]] 12:03, 6 May 2016 (UTC)

The final paragraph does not logically follow from the comic or from the explanation. He's hooking different pseudoscience terms on different cultures (astrology on the UK and chemtrails on the US) so the comic doesn't take a stance on which country's educational system is better or more prone to superstitions than the other. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.106|108.162.245.106]] 15:04, 6 May 2016 (UTC)

I've always called them vapour trails (north west England)

The comic reminded me of the Hungarian Phrasebook sketch from Monty Python - basically someone who enjoys causing confusion for its own sake between speakers of (in this case, slightly) different languages. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.175|108.162.237.175]] 18:21, 6 May 2016 (UTC)Pat

I grew up (US Midwest then Northwest) calling them "plane tracks" (by extension from "train tracks," I suppose) and later, "jet trails." I don't think I've ever /heard/ (as opposed to read) either "chemtrails" or "contrails," but they're both far outside my normal areas of work/interest, that there never would have been a reason for them to come up or pass by. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.98|108.162.221.98]] 19:01, 6 May 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1676: Full-Width Justification

2016-05-05T04:05:06Z

108.162.221.98:

I added the emoji snake. Is emoji snake the same as a Unicode snake would be? [[User:Azule|Azule]] ([[User talk:Azule|talk]]) 05:46, 4 May 2016 (UTC)
:I assumed Unicode snakes would use three different characters: a head, a body segment, and a tail. Your solution is good, but objectively not perfect compared to what's shown in the comic.
:So what ''would'' be the optimal snake transcription method here? A parenthetical aside saying "''A drawing of a snake stretches to the right end of the line.''"? Or should we just blackmail the Unicode consortium again? [[User talk:AgentMuffin|~AgentMuffin]]
::The correct solution is obviously to include a 16 Mpixel image of a snake.[[User:Henke37|Henke37]] ([[User talk:Henke37|talk]]) 07:41, 4 May 2016 (UTC)
:::Emoji full snake is already in Unicode as Azule knows. &#x1f40d = 🐍
:::Segmented snake needs at least three characteres: head, e.g. °, body e.g ~ and tail, e.g. ◝.
:::Three segment snake °~◝
:::Four segment snake: °~~◝
:::[[User:Demro|Demro]] ([[User talk:Demro|talk]]) 12:45, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

Could the title text also be a reference to the snake in umwelt? [[User:Azule|Azule]] ([[User talk:Azule|talk]]) 05:46, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

Amazon is notorious for being bad at this. Here's a somewhat related [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzdugwr4Fgk Computerphile video]. [[User:Eno|Eno]] ([[User talk:Eno|talk]]) 06:32, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

Also, funnily enough, the filler text and the snakes were used in medieval (hand-written) manuscripts. Although it's not a snake but usually a nondescript wriggle that could only pass as a snake when you're squinting really hard. For filler text it's usually low-content words like "truly", "verily", "indeed", "without fail", "in truth" or stuff like that. So it's really an old problem with no satisfactory solution developed in hundreds of years... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.85.93|162.158.85.93]] 08:19, 4 May 2016 (UTC)
:This practice of filling the line with a dingbat carried on into the days of handset letterpress (i.e. up until the early 1900's), although it gradually became more whimsical and so less frequent in serious works.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.123|108.162.241.123]] 12:28, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

In practice you reformulate. Not necessarily insert filler words, but just reorder the sentence enough that justification works. That is assuming the automated justification doesn't work, which will try a combination of multiple methods like word-spacing, letter-spacing and hyphenation. Imagine hyphenating at "de-" instead, but adding a little bit extra letter space in "between", and almost double normal word space between "between" and "de-".[[Special:Contributions/162.158.114.222|162.158.114.222]] 08:20, 4 May 2016 (UTC)
:Reformulating can only be done with the (tacit or explicit) permission of the author. There are situations where rewording would not be allowed.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.123|108.162.241.123]] 12:28, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

While the arabic part is interesting, I don't feel it to be very relevant here. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.156|108.162.249.156]] 09:11, 4 May 2016 (UTC)
:It is relevant because is yet another solution (useful only in Arabic). [[User:Demro|Demro]] ([[User talk:Demro|talk]]) 12:47, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

Sorry- how do add a [citation needed] in superscript? [[User:Transuranium|Transuranium]] ([[User talk:Transuranium|talk]])Transuranium

The "snake" option is actually less out there than the current explanation indicates. Snakes proper were not necessarily the go-to, but the same general strategy (decorative filling) was used heavily in illuminated manuscripts in the medieval period.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.217|162.158.214.217]] 14:36, 4 May 2016 (UTC)
:Came here just to say that. The current explanation needs reworking because that's actually one of the oldest ways of dealing with text justification. Check for example [https://nelabligh.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/book-of-kells-1.jpg the Book of Kells] [[Special:Contributions/162.158.203.141|162.158.203.141]] 20:15, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

:Modified the explanation accordingly.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.217|162.158.214.217]] 21:44, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

"the Unicode consortium is very specific about which characters are added[citation needed], and always require a good reason[citation needed] before adding a character or set of characters to the standard." Seriously? Then what are all the emoji pages added for? U+1F459 (Bikini) 👙, for example... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.98|108.162.221.98]] 04:05, 5 May 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1675: Message in a Bottle

2016-05-03T22:39:57Z

108.162.221.98: "witty" morpheme comment

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

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)

1669: Planespotting

2016-04-19T03:07:09Z

108.162.221.98: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1669
| date = April 18, 2016
| title = Planespotting
| image = planespotting.png
| titletext = No, a hydroplane doesn't land on water--that's an aquaplane. A hydroplane is a plane that gets electric power from an onboard water reservoir with a tiny dam and turbines.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|So far mainly a list. Could be listed better either bullet or in a table.}}

[[Cueball]] and a [[:Category:Characters with Hats|man with a hat]] are out '''planespotting''', or {{w|Aircraft_spotting|aircraft spotting}}, a hobby where tracking the movement of aircraft allows plane fans to see as many different types of planes as possible. A knowledgeable spotter would just by the silhouette and maybe the engine sound of the plane be able to tell what type of plane it is. (And may be rather proud of the fact, if he can tell this before one of the other spotters...)

The plane in the comic is most likely a {{w|Bombardier Dash 8|Bombardier Q400}}, a twin-engine regional turboprop with a T-tail as depicted.

The man with the hat asks Cueball to identify the airplane flying overhead. Cueball (or [[Randall]] qua the caption), who "assumes" he knows a lot about planes gives a long, nonsensical answer, proving that he does not. As mentioned in the caption he never actually checked if what he thought he knew was fact or fiction. As it turns out it is mainly fiction, but of course with some reference to real planes or vehicles. (Due to the fact the characters are drawn in silhouette it is impossible to determine whether the character with the hat is [[Black Hat]] or [[White Hat]] or some other character).

*'''Boeing''': {{w|Boeing}} is a company that designs and builds aircraft, although not the Q400. It is one of the best known Aerospace companies in the world, so putting this in front is not a way of displaying any particular knowledge of planes.
*'''Q404''': The reference to Q404 is close to the Q400, which this likely is. [[404]] also refers to an error shown when a specific internet address or file is not found, or as in this case, the plane is not found!
*'''Twin-engine''': {{w|Category:Twin-engined_aircraft|Twin-engine}} refers to aircraft with two engines, so at least Cueball got that right.
*'''Quad band''': Communication equipment that can use 4 different radio frequency bands is called {{w|Quad band}}.
*'''MiG''': {{w|MiG}} is a Russian manufacturer of military aircraft, formerly the Mikoyan-and-Gurevich Design Bureau. However, MIG-380 is a type of welding equipment ({{w|metal inert gas}}, 380V).
*'''Hybrid vehicle''': A {{w|Hybrid vehicle}} is able to use more than one distinct power source. The most common combination is a combustion engine and an electric motor.
*'''Dual wield''': {{w|Dual wield}}ing is using two weapons, one in each hand. It is highly unlikely that the aircraft is dual-wielded by its pilot, and it is equally ridiculous to imagine that the plane is dual-wielding anything.
*'''Mk.''': "Mk." (or Mark) is usually used to specify a model number using a Roman numeral.
*'''IVII ''': IVII is not a standard number in the {{w|Roman_numerals|Roman numeral system}}, under standard rules it would be written like VI = 6. On the other hand, it could be a mishmash way of writing "42", (IV = 4, II = 2) which could then make it a reference to the {{w|Phrases_from_The_Hitchhiker's_Guide_to_the_Galaxy#Answer_to_the_Ultimate_Question_of_Life.2C_the_Universe.2C_and_Everything_.2842.29|Answer to Life, The Universe, and Everything}} according to {{w|Douglas Adams}}' {{w|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy}}, something referenced before in xkcd, for instance in [[1608: Hoverboard]] if you got [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/1/1c/42_coins.PNG 42 coins]. The correct way to say 42 in Roman numerals is XLII. The number could also be MI, or 1001, but this is unlikely.
*'''Turbo diesel''': {{w|Aircraft_diesel_engine|Turbo diesel}} engines are sometimes used in aircraft.
*'''797''': The {{w|Boeing 797}} has never been produced, but a hoax design has been circulating the Internet since the mid-2000's.
*'''Hydroplane''': A hydroplane either refers to {{w|aquaplaning}} a very undesirable activity of a wheeled vehicle crossing shallow water, or a type of {{w|hydroplane (boat)|boat}} for which hydroplaning is the desired mode of travel.

In the title text the concept of hydroplane is mixed up with other concepts, none of which has anything to do with airplanes:
*'''Aquaplane''': An aquaplane is a similar to a short {{w|surfboard}}, on which a person stands while the board is pulled by a speedboat. The correct name for a plane that lands on water (on purpose) is a {{w|seaplane}}.
*'''Dam and turbines''': Powering an aircraft with a miniature {{w|hydroelectric dam}} connected to an on-board reservoir is an absurdity. Hydroelectric plants derive power from the potential energy released by a mass of water as it falls. Because the plane is lifting the water reservoir in addition to its own weight, such a dam could never produce enough power. Ludicrously small hydroelectric power systems were previously considered in [[what if?]] "{{what if|91|Faucet Power}}". In 2008, Randall discussed the more reasonable physics problem of whether an airplane would be capable of [https://blog.xkcd.com/2008/09/09/the-goddamn-airplane-on-the-goddamn-treadmill/ flight from a treadmill].

Only three weeks prior to this comic, [[1660: Captain Speaking]] was released only with a drawing of a plane in the air, where the captain eventually finds out that his plane is probably a Boeing...

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and a man with a hat is seen in silhouette standing on the ground looking towards the sky. A fixed wing aircraft can be seen in the sky, also in silhouette.]
:Man with hat: What's That Airplane?
:Cueball:Oh, That's a Boeing Q404 twin-engine quad-band mig-380 hybrid dual-wield Mk. IVII Turbodiesel 797 Hydroplane.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I've always assumed I'm one of those people who knows a lot about planes, but I've never actually checked.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Characters with Hats]]

Talk:1516: Win by Induction

2015-04-24T16:27:28Z

108.162.221.98:

Should it be noted that the Pikachu is drawn without its tail? It would normally a have lightning bolt shaped tail that appears to the side or from behind its head. (Trivia or other note?) [[User:Azule|Azule]] ([[User talk:Azule|talk]]) 15:22, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

In Pokemon games from Gold and up, pokemon are able to hold items, including pokeballs. While in the game, once a pokeball is filled it is no longer available to select as an item, this comic would seem to imply the possible 'inception' scenario of having a pokemon hold an active pokeball (as the games have already shown that a pokeball can go into a pokeball). --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.193|173.245.54.193]] 14:13, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

Is the alt text a reference to double-yolkers (eggs with two yolks)? [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16118149 They're only about 1 in every 1000] but it seems like an obvious reference. --[[User:Fenn|Fenn]] ([[User talk:Fenn|talk]]) 08:32, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
:Makes sense to me. I didn't even think of double yolks until you mentioned it here. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.89|173.245.50.89]] 09:04, 24 April 2015 (UTC)BK201
::Seconded. --[[Special:Contributions/188.114.110.52|188.114.110.52]] 14:34, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

The explanation currently says that doubling makes it uncountably infinite. I'm pretty sure that doubling at each step (or every few steps) is still a countable infinite set. Proof here: http://practicaltypography.com/the-infinite-pixel-screen.html (see section "The internet demands a recount", because the first attempt is wrong). We can also prove it using the same argument as when proving that N x N is countable infinite (making zig-zag), but in this case making a breadth-first search of the tree of Pikachus: map 1 to the first Pikachu, map 2 and 3 to the two Pikachus at the second level, map 4, 5, 6, 7 to the four Pikachus at the third level, map (2^(n-1))…((2^n) - 1) to the 2^(n-1) Pikachus at level n. {{unsigned ip|108.162.229.177}}
:Saw this too late. Yes, I agree, and I have fixed it accordingly. --[[User:Stephan Schulz|Stephan Schulz]] ([[User talk:Stephan Schulz|talk]]) 09:28, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
:The problem being that we don't have an exact number for how many steps include double Pikachus. Granted, this is just a problem of practice, not theory. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.88|173.245.50.88]] 12:37, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

"infinite, but countable" {Cough.} Someone doesn't understand infinity. Perhaps they meant "enumerable". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.155|108.162.250.155]] 09:29, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
:Someone doesn't understand countability. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.217|141.101.89.217]] 09:46, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
::enumeration is counting, in the simplest sense. "To name one by one; specify, as if in a list". That said, the whole of infinite whole numbers CAN be counted, just not by a human and not within a reasonable amount of time. --[[Special:Contributions/188.114.110.52|188.114.110.52]] 14:34, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

"The front most Pikachu speaks." Hey, look, it has those little lines to show it's speaking, not the blank white space behind it. Duh. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.155|108.162.250.155]] 09:32, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

Looks like Megan is looking at her watch as well. Mention in transcript/explanation? [[User:Fenn|Fenn]] ([[User talk:Fenn|talk]]) 09:34, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
:Are Megan and Cueball supposed to fight each other? It seems like Cueball still has his closed Pokéball in his hands. Is it then Megan's Pokéball that has evolved into all these Pikachu? And is it because she waits for her Pokémon to be ready to fight Cueball, that she checks her watch? I do not know anything about the Pokémon game/world. But it seems to me that some part of this setup is unexplained by the above... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:23, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

Friendly reminder: Grammatically speaking, Pokémon are like sheep or deer. Singular and plural are both written the same. One Pikachu, many Pikachu, all the Pikachu. You'd be surprised at how much rage forgetting this causes in certain corners of the Internet. {{unsigned ip|141.101.99.42}}

What doesn't make sense to me is how this could continue indefinitely – after all, each of those Pikachu must have caught its own Pikachu beforehand. I don't see any infinite loop here, just a bunch of Pikachu that already had one another caught itselves. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.96.217|141.101.96.217]] 10:13, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

The word "induction" could also be intended to have a double meaning, referring also to electromagnetic induction. Pikachu is, after all, and electric pokémon. {{unsigned ip|141.101.105.194}}
:Yes, I think this is right. Something about Maxwell's equations and induction. {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.203}}
::From an engineering standpoint, in my opinion, Pikachu act more like biological capacitors (stored electric charge at potentially high voltage able to deliver large discharge currents) than inductors ("storing" magnetic energy via constant current, able to deliver high voltage when interrupted, like the ignition coil for an older automotive engine). I'm not too familiar with the Pokémon in-game/in-show universe, but I would imagine the Nurse Jenny corps could use electric Pokémon such as Pikachu (or Raichu) like defibrillators for cardiac events! --BigMal // [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.177|173.245.50.177]] 11:42, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
:::There are certain moves, including some that Pikachu can learn, that appear to be based on induction (Thunder Wave and Shock Wave). Besides, they build up charge in their bodies from somewhere; I'd suspect induction from the surrounding environment is what charges them up. --[[Special:Contributions/188.114.110.52|188.114.110.52]] 14:34, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

There's a point floating about how infinity doesn't imply completion. For instance, the number of all even integers is infinite, yet any given integer "only has a 50% chance of being even", so the series is quite obviously incomplete. This article seems to tend towards the idea (in diction) that an infinite number of pikachu would result in a win based on a 'logical' premise, without referring specificially to the terms of it's assumption. [[User:Xerxesbeat|Xerxesbeat]] ([[User talk:Xerxesbeat|talk]]) 11:38, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

What happens if the Pikachu in the ball is recursing - picking himself? That doesn't fit the 30-40 double yolk thing, but would explain an infinite series. Food for thought. Megan is bored, waiting for the fight to start. I thought the game was supposed to begin when the players choose, though, so I don't understand why the wait is happening at all.

I doubt this is an intentional part of the joke, but the strongest Ground-type moves (Earthquake, Precipice Blades, etc.) are multi-target, hitting all foes in a 1v5 situation such as Horde Battles. In theory, a strong enough super effective move from Cueball's lead would still end the battle in one turn. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.176|173.245.56.176]] 12:04, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
:Not Land's Wrath, Dig, or Earth Power, which are strong ground-type moves.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.126|173.245.48.126]] 13:05, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
::Actually, Land's Wrath is multi-target. (The ones you named are also weaker than Earthquake and Precipice Blades, so the original comment stands regardless. Although a lucky Magnitude is more powerful than any of those.) --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.98|108.162.221.98]]

I normally get a hearty chuckle out of Randall's graphical musings, but this one had me scratching my head. Fortunately, ExplainXKCD always comes to the rescue! After reading this page, my first thought was: Pokéception! 13:17, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

== Induction ==

Two other possibilities: one, in a bit of googling, it would appear that there is a type of Pokémon evolution called induced evolution, which involves stones of some kind? Alternately, we can use the term induction in the sense of soneone being ''inducted'' into a group. In this case, Megan has trained her Pikachu to be a Pokémaster. (Perhaps by arranging for it to be inducted into a rarified "gym"? I confess, I know nothing about the show.) [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.196|173.245.56.196]] 13:11, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

I'm surprised no one mentioned that Pokémon is a game a long time before becoming a show. Although it was because of the animated series that Pikachu became "special" among the hundreds of other cute critters.

Also, no mention to the russian matryoshka dolls? Come on...
Closest other xkcd I recall is https://xkcd.com/878/

== Axiom of choice ==

Could this be to do with the {{w|axiom of choice}} from set theory? From my understanding, it's a fundamental axiom of set theory that says 'given a set of sets, it's possible to choose one element from each of those sets'. "Choosing" is in this case a specific operation that can be performed on an element.

One specific detail about the axiom is that all sets under consideration must be nonempty; that is, they must contain at least one element. So I think this is analogous to the situation of a Pokemon trainer owning multiple (full) Pokeballs: his Pokeballs are a collection of non-empty sets from which he is now trying to choose a single element ("Pikachu, I choose you!").

Under ''normal'' circumstances, he can do this without invoking the axiom of choice because he knows the names of all his Pokemon and so can select one from each set. In this case, he could prove his ability to make the choice simply by releasing all of his Pokemon from their balls one at a time. (The Pokemon's name is actually irrelevant, because simply releasing the Pokemon counts as a choice).

However, the situation becomes more complex if it turns out that his Pokemon also possess Pokeballs, because now his ability to make the choice is uncertain. In this situation, there could be ''infinitely many'' Pikachus, and so he can't definitely select a Pikachu from all the Pokeballs under his control. In a situation like this, a mathematician would invoke the axiom of choice.

However, it seems that Cueball is actually having a go at it using an inductive method of choice: first by choosing a Pikachu, then having each Pikachu choose a Pikachu. If the number of Pikachus carrying Pokeballs is finite, then eventually, this will demonstrate that the choice can be made and so the axiom of choice is unnecessary. However, if it's ''infinite'', then this will generate a neverending stream of Pikachus. In the latter case, the game never begins, because you can't begin a Pokemon battle until all participants have chosen Pokemon. Most likely, the other players would simply abandon the game, which Cueball could claim as a victory. [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 13:52, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1012: Wrong Superhero

2015-04-06T14:54:10Z

108.162.221.98:

Maybe they wanted to know what the plural form of mantis is, if more were to show up? Looks like a job for etymology man. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 14:30, 30 October 2012 (UTC)

So what is the title text referring too? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.98|108.162.221.98]] 14:54, 6 April 2015 (UTC)

465: Quantum Teleportation

2015-03-27T14:26:41Z

108.162.221.98: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 465
| date = August 20, 2008
| title = Quantum Teleportation
| image = quantum teleportation.png
| titletext = Science should be exactly as cool as the headlines sound. Like the "RUSSIANS CUT APART AND REASSEMBLE DOGS" thing
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Quantum teleportation}} is a method of effectively taking a quantum state that exists in one laboratory and destroying it in the current laboratory and later recreating exactly the same — still unmeasured — quantum state in another laboratory that could potentially be very far away.

This is achieved by first creating an entangled quantum state in a laboratory and moving one part of the entangled quantum state to a faraway laboratory. Now let's say a scientist desires to teleport the quantum state |ψ> to a faraway lab. The scientists does a specific measurement on the combination of |ψ> and their half of the entangled quantum state and the outcome of their measurement will be two bits of classical information. They can then telephone over the results of their two bits of information to tell scientists at the faraway lab how to do a measurement on their half of the entangled quantum state, which will recreate the quantum state |ψ> at the faraway lab, effectively teleporting it. This is an important result in quantum mechanics, especially in regards to quantum computing.

The name is misleading in that it does not create an efficient means of transportation via teleportation — something like the {{w|Transporter (Star Trek)|teleporters}} from {{w|Star Trek}} i.e. a ''conventional teleporter'' — where macroscopic objects like humans (composed of [http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=number+of+atoms+in+a+human&lk=4&num=3 7x1027 atoms]) could be teleported to an arbitrary place.

The comic jokes with the fact that news reporters wish to get a story about Star Trek teleporters and the scientist is angry that there is no interest in his quantum version — the reporters are even disapointed when they write their story. The last panel appears to indicate this scientist not only has a quantum teleporter he also has a "regular" teleporter of the type the reporter is asking about, which would be a gigantic news item — and also impossible according to the laws of physics. He uses the conventional to escape to The Bahamas.

The whole method of quantum teleportation is predicated on being able to first create entangled quantum states and then transport, by conventional means, one-half of the entangled state. Only after this step, could you then destroy the shared entangled quantum state, to "teleport" a different quantum state to the new location.

Quantum teleportation is deeply related to {{w|Bell's theorem}} where it's shown that quantum mechanics is incompatible with the idea of local hidden variables and which has been experimentally demonstrated (though a few very small loopholes still have not been conclusively ruled out). Explaining "it's a particle statistics thing" is a great explanation of the related Bell's theorem experiments, which demonstrate quantum entanglement which is at the root of quantum teleportation. In these experiments, physicists take an entangled quantum state move it apart and then randomly decide which direction to measure each side of the quantum states. Through a statistical analysis of the results, you can demonstrate and measure each entangled particle in a randomly chosen direction. The statistical correlations between the particles are consistent with quantum mechanics and inconsistent with any local hidden variable theory; however this instantaneous wave-function collapse does not break special relativity as wave-function collapse {{w|No-communication theorem|does not allow communication of any information}}. Instead you can just analyze the correlations after the fact and compare the hypothesis of local hidden variables to the inconsistent hypothesis predicted by quantum mechanics, and verify the quantum mechanical prediction.

The title text refers to the controversial 1940s Soviet {{w|Experiments in the Revival of Organisms}} video that depicts a dog's head being cut off and revived. The film is controversial in that the footage is often perceived as being staged, though the {{w|Sergei S. Bryukhonenko|Soviet scientist}} depicted in the video was attempting these sorts of experiments and this research eventually led to the first Soviet open heart operation in 1957. Another instance of crazy headlines that may not be as interesting to the public when first explained — but may be an important step on the way to some type of practical use.

==Transcript==
:[Reporter and Cueball are facing each other, sitting in chairs.]
:Reporter: So, Quantum Teleportation-
:Cueball: The name is misleading. It's a particle statistics thing.
:Reporter: So it's not like Star Trek? That's boring.
:Cueball: Okay, I'm sick of this. Every time there's a paper on quantum teleportation, you reporters write the same disappointed story.
:[Cueball leaves seat and moves behind it.]
:Reporter: But-
:[Cueball has gone to device that was behind him and was out of the scope of the three previous panels.]
:Cueball: Talk to someone else. I'm going to the Bahamas. ''Click''
:[Cueball switches a device on.]
:[Device labelled "TELEPORTER" is switched from "Quantum" to "Regular".]
:''VRMMM''
:[Cueball is beamed up in classic Star Trek fashion.]

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