explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:943: Empirical

2024-03-16T03:26:26Z

108.162.241.131:

Past results are not necessarily indicative of future results, Cueball might not be willing to marry Megan next month. Empirical measurements of human behavior are naturally flawed due to the complexity of our decision making processes. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:05, 9 March 2013 (UTC)
:Are you still happy that you wrote this comment? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 19:21, 21 January 2014 (UTC)

We may never know 😔

2898: Orbital Argument

2024-02-28T17:55:38Z

108.162.241.131: Undo revision 336066 by 172.69.194.82 (talk) NLP models are clearly relevant to text outputs and logic. Let's take further discussion on this to the talk page.

{{comic
| number = 2898
| date = February 23, 2024
| title = Orbital Argument
| image = orbital_argument_2x.png
| imagesize = 448x323px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = "Some people say light is waves, and some say it's particles, so I bet light is some in-between thing that's both wave and particle depending on how you look at it. Am I right?" "YES, BUT YOU SHOULDN'T BE!"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an ARGUMENTATIVE ORBITAL ELEMENT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
In this comic, [[White Hat]] is using the {{w|Argument to moderation|middle ground fallacy}} to try to make a compromise between the positions of [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]].

Cueball appears to be asserting a {{w|geocentric}} viewpoint, whilst Megan adheres to a {{w|heliocentric}} one, both of which are flawed descriptions of the way things are, but the latter is much closer to reality. White Hat, however, considers it {{wiktionary|politic#Adjective|politic}} to 'split the difference' and declares his intention to compromise with a 'middle' option, to try to uncritically please both parties. (Though it's probable that he may instead just equally annoy them both!)

On a naive reading, which imagines a point of common orbit midway between the bodies, his thesis is simply wrong. However, by one way of looking at it, it happens that he is also correct. Because two bodies exert equal but opposite gravitational forces on each other, each orbits around the average location of the other, and therefore they both orbit a common center. This {{w|Barycenter (astronomy)|barycenter}} is located somewhere between the centers of mass of the two bodies; the distance of each body's center of mass from the barycenter is proportional to the other body's mass. This is most apparent in systems where the two bodies have similar masses, but it is present to an extent in all orbital pairs, even when one body is far more massive than the other. For this reason, Earth does not orbit the center of the stationary Sun as described by the heliocentric model. However, the Earth-Sun barycenter is only slightly different from the Sun's own true center, still well within the Sun. It is around this which the Sun wobbles, in contrast to the way the Earth orbits around this unequally proportioned midpoint.

That White Hat has worded his compromise solution in a way that (arguably) encompasses the deeper truth of the barycentric viewpoint is not treated as justifying his mediating approach. It is clearly understood, by someone who seems to understand the complexities (e.g. a {{w|Randall Munroe#NASA|NASA physicist}}) that White Hat's 'successful' conclusion is just accidental, and such a person may therefore find this vexatious. This seems to be a case of a {{w|Gettier problem}}: White Hat reaches a true statement via unjustified logic.

The title text extends the principle of the comic's astronomical viewpoint down to the correspondingly opposing 'quantum world'. For various well-studied reasons, light is often described ''either'' as particles ''or'' as waves. White Hat's approach would be to give both viewpoints equal credit and suggest a compromising middle-ground explanation. In this case, also, he would have the {{w|Wave–particle duality|correct answer}} but, in the continuing view of an increasingly exasperated witness to his chronic {{w|False balance|"half-and-half"ism}}, not through a logical proof (averaging predictions of experts is used to reliably improve the accuracy of the {{w|Ensemble learning|ensemble}}, and in {{w|consensus forecast|consensus forecasting}}, so his heuristic may have validity in some cases).

Another example of the middle ground fallacy was used in [[690: Semicontrolled Demolition]], although in that case the person offering the compromise solution was not portrayed as getting the right answer by accident.

Orbits of celestial bodies are quantified using a set of parameters called orbital elements. Some of these parameters are commonly known as arguments, such as the {{w|Argument of periapsis}}. However, these kind of arguments tend to lead to consensus rather than disagreements. Independent measurements of the arguments might indeed be combined by taking the mean (to discover the middle ground).

The Earth-Moon barycenter is located approximately ¾ of the way from Earth's center of mass to its surface, towards the Moon's center of mass. The equivalent Jupiter-Sun barycenter, meanwhile, is located just ''above'' the 'surface' of the Sun due to the masses involved being not as different (but still significantly so), and the much greater distance between them. Pluto-Charon barycenter is located completely outside of Pluto, in part because they are much more similar masses, and are thus considered to orbit each other (tidally locked) around a point approximately 5.4% along the distance between the surfaces of Pluto surface and Charon, or 11% of their center-to-center distance.

As each of the planets and the Sun are simultaneously orbiting/'being orbited' (and every planet also measurably pulls on every other, etc, even discounting every smaller and/or more distant body in the universe), the combined solar-system's barycenter is a less simply-defined point (that being more likely to be within the Sun, at any given point of time), which can often be considered to more simply average out to "<each planet> orbits the Sun" for most purposes.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[From left to right, Cueball, White Hat and Megan standing. Cueball and Megan are arguing. Cueball is raising a finger while Megan's arms are outstretched. White Hat stands between them, both hands out in an equivocal gesture.]
:Cueball: The sun orbits the earth!
:Megan: The earth orbits the sun!
:White Hat: When two people disagree, the truth is always somewhere in the middle. Maybe the earth and the sun orbit a common center!

:[Caption below the panel:]
:It's annoying when people are right by accident.
{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Logic]]
[[Category:Compromise]]

2895: Treasure Chests

2024-02-17T15:51:52Z

108.162.241.131:

{{comic
| number = 2895
| date = February 16, 2024
| title = Treasure Chests
| image = treasure_chests_2x.png
| imagesize = 287x488px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = [earlier] "Your vintage-style handmade chest business is struggling. But I have a plan."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a- YOU KIDS GET OFF MY LAWN! - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic features [[Black Hat]] proposing a way to create significant business for a "lawn care company", for which the comic narrator has an attachment (perhaps owner or employee), albeit in an extremely unethical and likely illegal manner which is very much congruent with Black Hat's character of being a '[[classhole]]'.

The first step of his plan is to create the conditions for a large number of lawns all over a certain town to be dug out, via a combination of a large potential reward for digging up a lawn (in this case, a chest with $1,000 in the form of small silver and gold coins). Masking the effort, by waiting a year to let time obscure any obvious signs of disturbed earth and digging, this introduces a large element of chance when everyone is finally informed of the concept. The subsequent digging up of many lawns, almost all unrelated to the original three with actual chests in, will entices significant participation in Black Hat's scheme by everyone with firm-to-vague ideas of which lawns, and whereabouts within them, having filmed the burials in such a way that the subsequently posted videos are tantalisingly open to many interpretations as to where they actually were.

It is also possible that it leaves times for one or more chests to have been discovered prior to the 'start' of the deliebrate competition to find them. So long as all three weren't (publicly) discovered, it leaves open the possibility that those competing to find the 'unfound' chests will continue with their efforts to find what is now unfindable, prolonging the exercise beyond the point at which all chests could be known to be discovered and that there are no more chances to gain their riches.

However it pans out, this will all create a demand for the services of "our lawn care company" as treasure-hunters feverishly work to gain wealth and/or fame, in the process damaging lawns all over town; their own or (with or without permission) those of others. It may create the craze for children to randomly attack neighbours' lawns (before or after their parents' ones), at least until they're effectively curfewed for the trouble, but is a big enough prize to attract teenagers and adults into such (possibly night-time) forays, all with the hope and expectation of a significant cash reward.

The many homeowners who later soon find themselves with ruined lawns would then proceed to contact Black Hat's lawn care company in order to fix the broken lawns, thus making Black Hat's business lots of money. For the initial expenditure of $3000 (plus the cost of the containers, and other trivial overheads), significant remediation work will be generated. According to the caption below the panel, the proposal set out by Black Hat turns out to be VERY profitable and EXTREMELY effective, as cheaper than most other forms of effective advertisement, such as mass-flyering neighbourhoods and buying advertising time/space in traditional broadcast or print media, and much more focused than the cheapest forms of online advertising.

The title text shows how Black Hat, before sharing his proposal in this comic, saw a struggling business that made vintage-style handmade chests and found it to be a very useful addition to his plan and presumably sought out their cooperation, likely with the promise of profits that would be made in Black Hat's scheme. By already obtaining the chests (possibly unsold stock, donated or bought below ticket price), this reduces the expense to the 'prize money' and perhaps the hire of the equipment to dig the holes (which the lawn-care business might also care to donate). The original business might profit from the increased publicity/demand for their product, much as with the lawn-care, or have been promised a proportion of the comission that Black Hat will take from the lawn company. Or, knowing Black Hat, he has convinced the chest company that he can make money with a single chest, uses that as a prop to convince the lawn company that they can make money from holes, possibly then to convince someone else that they can make money from a further stage in this {{tvtropes|ChainOfDeals|chain of deals}}. At each point being paid for the pleasure (and keeping the accumulated proceeds), leaving arbitrary amounts of disruption in his wake.

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

:[Black Hat is holding a treasure chest in one hand and pointing with a stick to a poster that features a shovel at the top, three circled X's below it, and five question marks around them.]
:Black Hat: First, I'll fill three of these chests with $1,000 each in small silver and gold coins, and take videos of them being buried in unidentified lawns around town.
:Black Hat: Next year, I post the videos.
:Black Hat: Then we sit back and let the local kids do the rest.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:The proposal for creating business for our lawn care company was unorthodox but ''extremely'' effective.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]

515: No One Must Know

2024-02-04T14:52:04Z

108.162.241.131: /* Transcript */ consistency

{{comic
| number = 515
| date = December 10, 2008
| title = No One Must Know
| image = no_one_must_know.png
| titletext = Or perhaps they knew he was there, and were just trying to torment him first.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Black Hat]] and [[Danish]] are more known for {{w|Psychopathy#Sociopathy|sociopathy}} than affection. In the first panel, they are affectionate towards each other, holding hands and using terms of endearment, i.e. {{w|danish pastry}} and {{w|pie}}. This behavior is common with couples but unexpected coming from these normally cynical characters. (However, [[433: Journal 5]] confirms that they are dating—so the surprise here is their unusually affectionate language rather than their relationship.) The entrance of [[Cueball]] and his subsequent discovery of them in this state prompts Black Hat and Danish to kill him. Their return to their more typical behavior contrasts with the first panel, presumably motivated by a desire to either dissimulate the warmer aspects of their personalities or their relationship altogether.

The title text provides the alternative hypothesis that they were planning on killing him the whole time and were intentionally acting affectionate for the mental effect it would have on their victim.

[[542: Cover-Up]] provides a possible continuation of this story.

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat and Danish are talking and holding hands.]
:Black Hat: You're my dearest darling danish.
:Danish: And you're my lovely cutie pie.
:Black Hat: Well, you're-
:[Cueball enters.]
:[Black Hat and Danish look at each other and let go of each others hands.]
:[Black Hat holds a bloody sack, while Danish pushes down on a shovel to make a hole for what is presumably Cueball's body.]

==Trivia==
*This comic inspired the use of "Danish" to refer to [[Black Hat]]'s girlfriend on this wiki.
**It is obviously not her real name, as it was just a cake-related term of endearment. But at least one person thinks it is better than the name used before this comic.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Danish]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Comics with blood]]

Talk:114: Computational Linguists

2024-01-04T23:42:17Z

108.162.241.131: /* this is the worst xkcd comic out there */ new section

Why {{w|Ryan North}}? [[Special:Contributions/108.233.253.211|108.233.253.211]] 21:49, 8 January 2013 (UTC)

First of all, Ryan North happened to specialize in computational linguistics in his masters degree. He was mentioned because he was a computational linguist. On a side note, Ryan North's father was called Randall (though he was not the Randall whose comics this wiki explains). This may have somehow influenced Ryan's name appearing on this list.--[[User:Commarchinin|Commarchinin]] ([[User talk:Commarchinin|talk]]) 12:44, 30 August 2013 (UTC)

: It may also be a joke on Ryan's webcomic name: "Dinosaur Comics" [[Special:Contributions/121.44.164.207|121.44.164.207]] 09:52, 20 October 2013 (UTC)

Don't particle physicists have the same issue: string theorists, Bohmians, Many-worldsians, Copenhagen-interpretians, all-possible-pathians, etc.? [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 02:55, 1 March 2017 (UTC)

Having multiple theories and models is literally what makes science science in any field, as mentioned above physics is the same. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.231|172.70.110.231]] 23:45, 11 October 2022 (UTC)

Even though this comic was made in jest, I actually think old-school computational linguists' days are numbered, with their complicated theoretical models outperformed by softmax(QK^T/sqrt(d_k))V. "Every time I fire a linguist, the performance of the speech recognizer goes up." Perhaps computational linguists are the new easy target? [[User:Phlaxyr|Phlaxyr]] ([[User talk:Phlaxyr|talk]]) 03:36, 12 July 2023 (UTC)

This is interesting in light of GPT though... [[Special:Contributions/172.71.22.39|172.71.22.39]] 02:56, 7 September 2023 (UTC)

== this is the worst xkcd comic out there ==

i will never forgive randall munroe for talking crap about this field

his days are numbered

2875: 2024

2024-01-02T17:26:49Z

108.162.241.131: Undo revision 331922 by 172.70.86.166 (talk)

== Headline text ==
<noinclude>:''This page refers to the comic named "2024". For comic #2024, see [[2024: Light Hacks]].''</noinclude>
{{comic
| number = 2875
| date = January 1, 2024
| title = 2024
| image = 2024_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x553px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = It wasn't originally constitutionally required, but presidents who served two terms have traditionally followed George Washington's example and gotten false teeth.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by OBAMA'S TEETH - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
In what starts off almost like a "[[:Category:Comics to make one feel old|doesn't time fly?]]" scene, the unstoppable progression of the calendar is observed, as [[Ponytail]] points out that it's now 2024. [[Cueball]], in response, notes that it is an election year, in this context a {{w|President of the United States#Election|US ''Presidential'' election}} year, which occurs every four years and has (in one form or other) since 1788. Ponytail then replies in some form of exasperated tone that they "keep on happening", which is true but (normally) unsurprising, even/especially with other major elections happening every two years, presumably not compared to how [https://www.bristol247.com/news-and-features/news/youre-joking-not-another-one/ some other democracies] might be less predictable/more frequent.

On top of this, Ponytail seems to have not been aware (or maybe has chosen to forget) the passing of two whole election cycles (and two newer incumbents) as the discussion focuses upon {{w|Barack Obama}}, the ''former'' US President. Ponytail seems to be quite behind the times as she asks if Obama is still president (he left office January 20th, 2017, which was 7 (!) years ago, a fact that Cueball cannot quite believe Ponytail is ignorant of). Ponytail states that she liked him, and wonders if he'll be up for taking on the position again. But Cueball states that he ''can't'' be made President again, having already served two terms, which Ponytail confirms by checking for herself the details of the {{w|Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution}}.

The humor in the comic comes in the second half; Cueball and Ponytail discuss whether Obama is the same person (like the mythical {{w|Ship of Theseus}}, most of his constituent cells are frequently replaced), with Ponytail looking into the possibility of Obama's re-election based upon philosophical/biological technicalities (as applied to the Constitution's words), rather than as legal/political convention might normally suggest. But when even that approach is seen to be wanting, requiring a wait significantly exceeding 30 years, Ponytail suggests negating that issue by having all of Obama's teeth removed and replaced with false teeth.

In order to facilitate the latter goal, Ponytail announces her intention to consult a dentist and (for exact reasons that can only be guessed at) a lawyer. Seeing where her current misplaced, and {{w|Dunning–Kruger effect|less than informed}}, zeal might be leading her, Cueball gives his prediction that the probable {{w|Supreme Court of the United States|ultimate legal arbiters}} of her plan might be unanimous in rejecting its validity (if not dissuading its attempt). SCOTUS being unanimous on an issue is now a [https://www.scotusblog.com/2022/07/as-unanimity-declines-conservative-majoritys-power-runs-deeper-than-the-blockbuster-cases/ comparatively rare event].

The title text references {{w|George Washington's teeth|George Washington's (in)famous 'false teeth'}}. Washington's dentures are often falsely claimed to be made of wood; in truth they were ''real'' teeth procured from other sources. Regardless, this would have likely resolved the rather specific problems established in the philosophical conundrum, and the title text claims that other presidents used this plan to get around the Constitutional limitations concerned in case they wanted to serve more than two terms.

However, no one has yet even ''needed'' to carry out this plan. Only one President has exceeded the limit; {{w|Franklin D. Roosevelt}} died in office during his ''fourth'' term, but he served prior to the 22nd Amendment and was thus unaffected by the rule, which was enacted six years after his death. (FDR did have a partial denture, but given that he retained some of his natural teeth, he did not engage in Ponytail's proposed scheme.) Presidents since then have definitely tried various schemes aimed at securing a second term, with both successes and failures, but nobody has yet planned ''this particular plan'' to achieve a third or beyond. Or at least one can assume that those that perhaps did (including, as noted, all those who were not yet 'required' to go to these lengths) failed to attain their goals for entirely different reasons.

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

:[Ponytail and Cueball are walking.]
:Ponytail: So this is 2024.
:Cueball: Yup. Guess it's an election year now.
:Ponytail: Again? Man, those just keep happening, huh?

:[Ponytail and Cueball now standing.]
:Ponytail: Who's the president these days, anyway? Is it still Obama?
:Cueball: What? No? He hasn't been... How do you not...

:[Ponytail and Cueball still standing.]
:Ponytail: Darn, I liked him. Is he running this time?
:Cueball: No, he's not allowed to.
:Ponytail: He's not? Why?
:Cueball: Constitution.

:[Ponytail checks her smartphone.]
:Phone: ''Amendment 22''
:Phone: No person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice
:Ponytail: What?? C'mon...

:[Ponytail talking to Cueball.]
:Ponytail: Don't all your cells get replaced every seven years, Ship of Theseus-style? Is he even the same person?
:Ponytail: Maybe "no person shall be elected more than twice" isn't a prohibition, it's more of an observation, like "you can't step in the same river twice."

:[Zoom in on Cueball.]
:Cueball: Isn't the cell thing a myth?
:Cueball: I think tooth enamel has a turnover half-life of 30+ years. His teeth molecules are probably the same.

:[Ponytail heads off with a finger raised.]
:Ponytail: So if Obama just gets false teeth, he can run again! I need to talk to a dentist and a lawyer!
:Cueball: The Supreme Court is about to vote 9-0 to block your number.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Elections]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Biology]]

2875: 2024

2024-01-01T22:37:26Z

108.162.241.131: Fixed the last day in office of Obama, and the time since then.

<noinclude>:''This page refers to the comic named "2024". For comic #2024, see [[2024: Light Hacks]].''</noinclude>
{{comic
| number = 2875
| date = January 1, 2024
| title = 2024
| image = 2024_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x553px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = It wasn't originally constitutionally required, but presidents who served two terms have traditionally followed George Washington's example and gotten false teeth.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by OBAMA'S TEETH - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Ponytail notes that it's now 2024, to which cueball notes is an election year. Ponytail then replies in some form of exasperated tone that they keep on happening.

After this, they then devolve onto a discussion about Obama. Ponytail seems to be quite behind the times as she asks if Obama is still president (when he left January 20th, 2017, which was 7 (!) years ago). Ponytail states that she liked him, but cueball states that, due to the {{w|Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution}}, he can't come back.

The humor in the comic comes in the second half; cueball and ponytail discuss wether Obama is the same person, ironically misinterpreting the constitution, but then finding that in 30 years, Obama might be re-elected.

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

:[Ponytail and Cueball are walking.]
:Ponytail: So this is 2024.
:Cueball: Guess it's an election year now.
:Ponytail: Again? Man, those just keep happening, huh?

:[Ponytail and Cueball now standing.]
:Ponytail: Who's the president these days, anyway? Is it still Obama?
:Cueball: What? No? he hasn't been... How do you not...

:[Ponytail and Cueball still standing.]
:Ponytail: Darn, I liked him. Is he running this time?
:Cueball: No, he's not allowed to.
:Ponytail: He's not? Why?
:Cueball: Constitution.

:[Ponytail checks her smartphone.]
:Phone: ''Amendment 22''
:Phone: No person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice
:Ponytail: What?? C'mon...

:[Ponytail talking to Cueball.]
:Ponytail: Don't all your cells get replaced every seven years, Ship of Theseus-style? Is he even the same person?
:Ponytail: Maybe "no person shall be elected more than twice" isn't a prohibition, it's more of an observation, like "you can't step in the same river twice."

:[Zoom in on Cueball.]
:Cueball: Isn't the cell thing a myth?
:Cueball: I think tooth enamel has a turnover half-life of 30+ years. His teeth molecules are probably the same.

:[Ponytail heads off with a finger raised.]
:Ponytail: So if Obama just gets false teeth, he can run again! I need to talk to a dentist and a lawyer!
:Cueball: The Supreme Court is about to vote 9-0 to block your number.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Elections]]
[[Category:Politics]]

2227: Transit of Mercury

2023-11-17T20:35:34Z

108.162.241.131: /* Explanation */ 859; resolving parens

{{comic
| number = 2227
| date = November 11, 2019
| title = Transit of Mercury
| image = transit_of_mercury.png
| titletext = For some reason the water in my pool is green and there's a weird film on the surface #nofilter
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is in reference to [https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/11/20958727/mercury-transit-sun-planet-nasa-astronomy the transit of the planet Mercury across the Sun] on November 11, 2019 (the date of the publication of this comic), which appeared from Earth as a small black dot moving against the background of the Sun. [[Randall]] has made comics about solar transits before, albeit about the transit of the International Space Station, in [[1828: ISS Solar Transit]] and [[1830: ISS Solar Transit 2]]. Viewing a solar transit requires a {{w|Astronomical filter|special lens filter}} to prevent the intense light from the Sun from burning out a telescope's imaging sensor.

The {{w|hashtag}} #nofilter is typically used on photo sharing sites, especially Instagram, to humblebrag about having encountered situations so photogenic that no further image enhancement ("{{w|Photographic filter|filter}}") is required to prepare them for general advertisement. In this comic, the hashtag is instead used to cap off an image about the predicament of the poster, where the lack of a proper astronomic filter has led to damage of personal property. The image shown on the comic is quite bright and {{w|Clipping (photography)|blown out}}, and though the poster did manage to get a picture of Mercury, the sun's bright light permanently damaged their telescope.

The title text refers to a still different meaning of the word "filter"; it imagines a swimming pool growing {{w|Algae|green scum}} in the absence of a {{w|Swimming_pool_sanitation#Private_pool_filtration|water filter}}, as opposed to a photographic or astronomic filter.

Although not directly referred to in this comic (although a variant was used in [[1911: Defensive Profile]]), a third common [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=No%20Filter variation of "No filter"] is possibly alluded to here and can refer to someone who makes, or posts, tactlessly candid comments. While often this means comments that reflect the individual's actual views which are potentially offensive or socially unacceptable, it could also refer to someone who posts every mundane detail of their lives, such as what is growing in their swimming pool (as is shown in the title text). Multiple layers of meaning makes this pretty clever word play.

==Transcript==
:[Panel showing the sun partially obscured by clouds with faded gray blue sky around the sun, mainly upper right, as there are clouds in the lower left part. The image is very bright and blown out at the bottom left, obscuring most of the surface detail of the sun. A small black dot is visible in the upper-right part of the sun's image.]

:[Caption below panel, with a yellow unhappy smiley before the hash tag:]
:This photo of the transit of Mercury fried my telescope's imaging sensor 🙁 #NoFilter

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Puns]]

2818: Circuit Symbols

2023-08-22T02:42:48Z

108.162.241.131: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2818
| date = August 21, 2023
| title = Circuit Symbols
| image = circuit_symbols_2x.png
| imagesize = 438x362px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = A circle with an A in it means that the circuit has committed a sin and has been marked as punishment.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a NAUGHTY CIRCUIT WHICH DESERVES TO BE PUNISHED - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
{| class="wikitable"
! Symbol !! Comic Description !! Comments
|-
| Switch
| Drawbridge
| The symbol represents a physical on/off switch in a circuit, but also resembles a medieval drawbridge.
|-
| Capacitor
| Overpass
| A capacitor is a component that can be used to hold electric charge, but also looks a bit like the map symbol for a highway overpass.
|-
| Ground
| Pogo Stick
| This symbol represents a connection to "ground" (aka earth for folks in the UK). If you squint, it also looks like a pogo stick
|-
| Inductor
| Sheep
| Inductors are essentially the opposite of capacitors and generally consist of a coil of wire. The symbol can also look like fluffy curls of wool.
|-
| Transformer
| Two sheep in love, trapped on opposite side of a fence.
| The input and output coils on a transformer are represented as curly loops, which Randal claims resemble sheep, and the straight line (which represents the core) is a fence.
|-
| Battery
| Battery
| No joke, that's the symbol for a battery
|-
| Battery (sorted)
| Baertty
| Randall seems to be mapping the vowels and 't's to the inner lines in the symbol, and asserting that if you sort them long long, short short, you need to put the vowels in the front and the 't's in the back.
|-
| Battery, with far too many short lines
| Batttttttttttery
| Or, you know, you could just throw in a ton of 't's.
|-
| Photodiode
| Check out this really cool diode
| A photodiode generates current in response to light (the arrows pointing at it.) Randall is instead pretending that the arrows are pointing at it because it's really cool.
|-
| Oscillator
| Wave Pool
| An oscillator generates signals at a given frequencies. A wave pool, it could be argued, is in fact a type of oscillator, just with water instead of electricity
|-
| Transistor
| Trolley Problem
| A transistor will switch on a current flow depending on the input from a input signal. Thus, it switches electricity in the same way that the trolley problem switches the trolley. The symbol also somewhat resembles the usual pictorial depiction of the problem.
|-
| Circle with an A in it (Title text)
| Committed a sin and marked for punishment
| Circles with letters are usually some special component. In this case the "A" stands for ammeter, a device used to measure current. If a circuit misbehaves or "sins", the engineer may use an ammeter to examine the circuit and figure out what is going wrong. This could be considered a form of punishment.
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
picture of drawbridge:drawbridge

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Engineering]]
[[Category:Charts]]

Talk:438: Internet Argument

2016-10-13T03:34:05Z

108.162.241.131:

Last ever CRT monitor?[[Special:Contributions/89.243.117.162|89.243.117.162]] 20:52, 15 August 2013 (UTC)
:Yeah, I did try to start a category here, but it was deleted by an admin here.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:11, 26 August 2013 (UTC)
:Well, yes. He is using Linux. The beauty of linux: you don't need to buy the newest and the most expensive computers just so you can run the programs you want. *cough cough* Windows 10 *cough* Ubuntu 16.10 user *cough cough* -- [[User:JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 7:58, 9 September 2016
:There is a CRT monitor in [[1305]] [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.131|108.162.241.131]] 03:34, 13 October 2016 (UTC)

An explain on trolling is missing. Cueball is a {{w|Troll (Internet)|Troll}}.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:11, 26 August 2013 (UTC)

I've written a (hopefully) complete explanation, and removed the incomplete tag. I included an explanation for trolls, however I don't think this comic is about trolling. I think it's about how people who is friendly in daily life can be much harsher when there's not a face to be friendly to, but only a block of text. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.117|173.245.53.117]] 04:07, 5 December 2013 (UTC)
:[Note to self: think of a trolling comment and return to enter it here] -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 19:12, 4 November 2014 (UTC)

No apparent reference to trolls in the comic. Not even one. The two Cueballs are exact mirrors of each other. How is one a troll? Also, not sure why there is a very specific explanation regarding people who troll cancer forums... This definitely needs to be fixed.--[[User:Flewk|flewk]] ([[User talk:Flewk|talk]]) 17:40, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1631: Longer Than Usual

2016-01-18T10:27:37Z

108.162.241.131:

Can we keep this as the explanation? [[User:Untothebreach|Untothebreach]] ([[User talk:Untothebreach|talk]]) 08:30, 18 January 2016 (UTC)

the "orgasm" part of the interpretation feel really shaky, i don't believe it to be what the strip is about; Gmail and firefox are not exclusive user of those specific messages, i am not sure whether an extended or complete list would help[[Special:Contributions/108.162.228.161|108.162.228.161]] 09:58, 18 January 2016 (UTC)
:Eh, it seems right to me unless "maybe we should just go to bed" is a quote from something. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.131|108.162.241.131]] 10:27, 18 January 2016 (UTC)

Talk:928: Mimic Octopus

2015-12-08T13:33:43Z

108.162.241.131: I argued! Yaaaaay!

How does the mimic octopus manage to mimic multiple fish? Does it split it's own body up or something? '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:30, 8 January 2013 (UTC)
:"When under attack, some octopuses can perform arm autotomy, in a similar manner to the way skinks and other lizards detach their tails. The crawling arm serves as a distraction to would-be predators. Such severed arms remain sensitive to stimuli and move away from unpleasant sensations.[23]"[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus#Defense] {{unsigned ip|173.245.48.113}}
::Fine, but in the SCUBA diver depiction, would it really need to rip parts out of itself to mimic bubbles? I don't think that that is quite necessary.

For the record, octopus is from the Greek ὀκτάπους, a compound of ὀκτά (eight) and πούς (foot); πούς is a third declension masculine noun, whose plural is πόδες. Therefore, the etymologically correct plural of octopus should be octopodes, not (as Orson Scott Card suggests) octopoda, since πούς is not a neuter.
:Actually, it would be "octopuses", as it showed up ''after'' the regularization of English plurals to a final -s. As the video in the explanation explains, someone in the Victorian Grammarian Era "realized" it was "Latin" and pluralized it as such. This caught on and still haunts us to this day. "Octopdes" was coined around the same time by a more observant someone, who realized it was actually Greek. Personally, I avoid the whole trichotomy by saying "octopods". Unrelated etymologically, but has the same meaning and is unequivocally regular. Anonymous 08:08, 5 December 2013 (UTC)

Has anyone checked to see if the title text is true? Whether it is or not, this should be added to the description. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.18|108.162.212.18]] 11:53, 16 October 2015 (UTC)