explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2220: Imagine Going Back in Time

2019-10-26T03:05:23Z

108.162.241.148:

I wonder if Randall had a particular "frog pokemon" in mind? Croagunk, Toxicroak, Froakie, Frogadier, Greninja...? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.44.150|172.69.44.150]] 19:58, 25 October 2019 (UTC)

:Hint: First, Pokemon Go didn't finished deploying generation 5 pokemons yet. Second, Trump is totally toxic. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:17, 25 October 2019 (UTC)

:The Poliwhirl family dates from Generation 1 and is the "original" frog pokémon. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.122.36|162.158.122.36]] 23:59, 25 October 2019 (UTC)

"... and I suppose Marla Maples is the first lady!" [[Special:Contributions/172.68.38.88|172.68.38.88]] 20:04, 25 October 2019 (UTC)

I know that Randall, and by extension Cueball, are not enthusiastic about the idea of dealing with a player who goes by "Reelect Trump 2020", but what does it mean that there is a frog Pokemon in the gym alongside? In other words, is Cueball's annoyance just that there is a Trump-promoting player in the game or is there more to it than that? --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.90.46|172.69.90.46]] 20:16, 25 October 2019 (UTC)
:Definitely the Trump-promoting, as Toxicroak wouldn't be that hard pokemon to remove, with max CP 2488. Wait, "next to mine"? Ok, so he plays same team as Cueball and Cueball CANT remove it due to that. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:17, 25 October 2019 (UTC)

:The frog Pokemon is likely a reference to Pepe the Frog, which is a meme popular with Trump supporters--[[Special:Contributions/172.68.90.112|172.68.90.112]] 20:52, 25 October 2019 (UTC)

Trump was quite sufficiently (in)famous by 1999. Remember that he divorced his most famous wife, Ivana, in 1991. His various business and romantic <s>failures</s> ventures were regular tabloid fodder throughout the 90s. If you think a 1999 person would have never heard of Trump, you're obviously <s>too young to be using the internet</s> younger than I am. I think the main joke in this comic is that Cueball goes back expecting his younger self to go, "wait, re-elect WHO??", but his younger self doesn't even bat an eyelash at that part. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.175|173.245.52.175]] 21:03, 25 October 2019 (UTC)
:Famous, yes. Expected to became president, no. And young Cueball might be too young to care about tabloids and celebrities. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:17, 25 October 2019 (UTC)

Has no one considered that we have been "dumbed down" to the point that so-called adults playing Pokemon and so-called adults voting for Trump are inextricably linked and are symptoms of the same malaise - a general inability to think for ourselves and a deep susceptibility to marketing, advertising and following the herd[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.148|108.162.241.148]] 03:05, 26 October 2019 (UTC)

1352: Cosmologist on a Tire Swing

2019-10-18T14:06:33Z

108.162.241.148: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1352
| date = April 7, 2014
| title = Cosmologist on a Tire Swing
| image = cosmologist_on_a_tire_swing.png
| titletext = No matter how fast I swing, I can never travel outside this loop! Maybe space outside it doesn't exist! But I bet it does. This tire came from somewhere.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] and the curious [[Science Girl]] walk through a landscape with trees in the background and with many small pools of water. The setting of trees interspersed with these many small pools resembles the {{w|Wood between the Worlds}}, a meta-verse described in C.S. Lewis's ''{{w|The Magician's Nephew}}''; each pool leads into a different universe — one of these is ours, another is {{w|Narnia}}, and Charn (the world of Jadis the {{w|White Witch}}) is also visited through these pools.

Science Girl asks about the time before the {{w|Big Bang}}. Cueball says he thinks there was no time before — which is implied by most forms of the Big Bang theory. But then they happen upon a {{w|cosmologist}}, [[Megan]], on a swing who has several other theories about the universe.

Simply put, the tire swing is a symbolic representation of our universe. Scientific observations tell us that both space and time began with the Big Bang ~13.8 billion years ago. We don't know if there was such a thing as "before" the universe, or what that might be.

The first 6 panels reference ongoing speculation about where the universe came from and why it even exists in the first place. The last two panels relate to recent observations of the {{w|accelerating universe}} in which galaxies are now receding from each other at higher and higher speeds, due to {{w|dark energy}}.

The swing itself is likely a reference to the {{w|Cyclic Model}}, where the universe expands from a Big Bang, then contracts back in on itself under its own gravity for a {{w|Big Crunch}}, before bouncing outward again in another Big Bang, and repeating the whole process. On the other hand, the swing is accelerating as the universe — so it may also be a reference to the entire universe. We are all "trapped" on this swing — and it's accelerating! For the layman (and most scientists as well) cosmology is ''pretty confusing'' as Science Girl states at the end, to which the cosmologist just replies ''Wheeeee!'' and enjoys her ride with this accelerating swing/universe.

Another interpretation of the acceleration may referring to the physics of orbital motion in which a centrifugal force is always causing constant acceleration toward the center of the motion.

The title text references questions about the {{w|shape of the universe}} and what could lie "outside" of it. By the current understanding on physics laws, we can't see outside of the {{w|observable universe}}, but it's likely that the universe is bigger than this observable universe and uniform on large scale. Even though nobody can leave our own universe, Megan bets that such unknown worlds do exist - because this universe is here, and it must have come from somewhere — like her tire.

The shape of our universe was visited soon after in [[1365: Inflation]] where we can see what the outer boundaries of our universe looks like.

Science Girl is seen later in conjunction with a tire swing in [[1659: Tire Swing]]; maybe she is preparing to become a cosmologist herself. Also this may explain from where the tire came from...

==Transcript==
:[A tall panel with Cueball and Science Girl walking together through a landscape with three trees in the background and with many small pools of water. Their reflection is showing in the pool nearest to them.]
:Science Girl: What was before the big bang?
:Cueball: I think time began with the big bang.
:Cueball: So it doesn't make sense to ask what came before it.
:Cosmologist (off panel): ''Look out''

:[The next six panels are between the first tall panel and a similar panel at the end. They should be read from above and down in two columns of three images. The bottom of the first panel at the top is partly hidden by the second panel which is likewise partly hidden by the lower panel, and this repeats in the second column.]
:[A cosmologist looking like Megan comes swinging left past Science Girl and Cueball, who turns to look after her. She sit on an upstanding tire swing and the movement is indicated by two lines going from right to left.}
:Cosmologist: ''Wheeee'' Hi I'm a cosmologist on a tire swing!

:[The cosmologist swings back right, hanging in her arms with her body almost vertical. The other two also turns right.]
:Cosmologist: We don't know whether time

:[Going left, similar to the first of the small panels.]
:Cosmologist: started at the big bang.

:[Going right, similar to the second of the small panels, but with the cosmologist sitting more upright.]
:Cosmologist: It might have!

:[Going left, similar to the first of the small panels.]
:Cosmologist: Or maybe not! We don't know!
:Cueball: Oh. OK!

:[Going right, similar to previous going right panels.]
:Science Girl: ...Your tire swing looks fun!
:Cosmologist: I can't stop!

:[The last panel is again a full panel, with Cueball and Science Girl looking towards the right after the cosmologist who continued the last swing to the right from the last small panel, having just reach the upper part of the curve and has thus turned left to face them, before the swing will go down left again. The background is completely white with no indications of the trees and pools from the first panel.]
:Science Girl: Won't the swing stop on its own?
:Cosmologist: I thought it would, but it seems to be accelerating.
:Science Girl: Cosmology sounds pretty confusing.
:Cosmologist: ''Wheeeee!''

{{comic discussion}}

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

710: Collatz Conjecture

2019-10-17T14:17:54Z

108.162.241.148: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 710
| date = March 5, 2010
| title = Collatz Conjecture
| image = collatz_conjecture.png
| titletext = The Strong Collatz Conjecture states that this holds for any set of obsessively-hand-applied rules.
}}

==Explanation==
The {{w|Collatz conjecture}} is a longstanding unsolved problem in mathematics. It states that repeating the sequence of operations described in the comic will eventually lead to the number 1. The description in the comic starts out accurate, then veers into the joke.

The comic illustrates the sequence with a graph in which an arrow connects each number to its successor. For example, the number 22 is even, so the next number in the sequence is 22 ÷ 2 = 11, and there is an arrow from 22 to 11. On the other hand, 11 is odd, so the next number is 3 × 11 + 1 = 34, and there is an arrow from 11 to 34.

According to the caption, [[Cueball]] is obsessively writing out the graph by hand, and is so preoccupied with the task that he has stopped socializing with his friends. He will be busy for a very long time, because the Collatz conjecture has been confirmed for all starting values up to 5 × 1018.

The ''Strong Collatz Conjecture'' in the title text is a humorous extension of the Collatz Conjecture. Some other mathematical conjectures and axioms also have normal and Strong variants, where the Strong variant gives a more general rule. This practice is further parodied in [[1310: Goldbach Conjectures]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball sits in a chair at a desk, papers piled on top, writing furiously. Depicted above are apparently the writing, a series of nodes in various Collatz sequences (starting with 7, 21, 24, 29, 106, 176 and 256), all eventually leading back to 1.]
:The Collatz Conjecture states that if you pick a number, and if it's even divide it by two and if it's odd multiply it by three and add one, and you repeat this procedure long enough, eventually your friends will stop calling to see if you want to hang out.

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

Talk:1772: Startup Opportunity

2019-10-02T16:32:55Z

108.162.241.148:

More escapades of Beret guy's business - [[1021]], [[1032]], and probably more --[[User:AnotherAnonymous|AnotherAnonymous]] ([[User talk:AnotherAnonymous|talk]]) 15:41, 14 December 2016 (UTC)

it may be a reference a episode of the Adult swim show Rick and Morty. In season 1 episode 9 "Something Ricked This Way Comes" the devil sets up a shop that gives away magical items that appear to give the user some superpower or other advantage but turn out to be cursed, for example a type writer that helps the user make best selling murder mystery books but then the murders happen to them in real life. Rick decides to open his own business to un-curse items but letting them keep there magic power thus disrupting the devils entire business. {{unsigned ip|108.162.237.226}}

While it wasn't Beret guy, the idea of a business that doesn't do anything reminds me of [[1060]] --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.51|162.158.62.51]] 22:38, 14 December 2016 (UTC)

Has Berry Guy ever interacted with White Hat before? [[User:Username'); DROP TABLE users;--|Username'); DROP TABLE users;--]] ([[User talk:Username'); DROP TABLE users;--|talk]]) 00:57, 15 December 2016 (UTC)
;Online virtual world

I think this comic could be referring to online virtual world. There is several site that sell virtual good for real money. Players could also trade virtual currency for virtual magic item. The fact the shop is in virtual world could explain why they look like they never existed.

Temporary shops that sell items to adventurers in need are a common theme among many games. O'aka XXIII in FFX is the first one that comes to mind, but there are a LOT. A lot of these shops sell items that are of particular value at the time, but another common theme among them is to sell unidentified or even cursed items, admonishing the player for trusting some random guy that they met in the wilderness. Sometimes these "cursed" items end up being plot essential. The really crooked ones also offer to uncurse the items once they are identified (or the user has identified that they are cursed by equipping them before they are fully identified) Mordor: the depths of Dejenol is an old game that had cursed items that you had to pay the shop to have removed before you could level up. Some of the items, though, were "cursed" but provided real benefits, and players would equip them intentionally every level knowing that they'd have to pay because the benefit was great enough. [[User:Kashim|Kashim]] ([[User talk:Kashim|talk]]) 21:34, 14 December 2016 (UTC)

--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.94|108.162.219.94]] 18:12, 14 December 2016 (UTC)

Well does chair, actually mean chair like an object or Chairmen? Because I assumed the latter when first read the comic...
: I definitely read it like it was referring to the object. [[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 06:14, 15 December 2016 (UTC)

[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 01:54, 15 December 2016 (UTC)

:This is also how I read it. Since there are several people sitting at table, seemed likely to be an executive board (i.e. gathering of several chairpersons). This also plays on the tendency for the organization of an activity (administration) to become more important than the actual activity (at least to those administering it). "But it is possible, after a while, to develop certain dangerous habits of thought. One is that, while all important enterprises need careful organization, it is the organization that needs organizing, rather than the enterprise." (Pratchett, Thief of Time) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.208|108.162.245.208]] 06:22, 15 December 2016 (UTC)

2016 Kickstarters in a nutshell defined by this one comic. This is why I never do kickstarters. If they fail, you don't get your money. But if they succeed, people will question what's taking so long and can take hold of your project in court at any time. Any games I make, I make myself with my own money and budget. Still wouldn't mind having Beret Guy as a business partner, though. ;) --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 15:01, 15 December 2016 (UTC)

I wish I knew Beret Guy in real life. Dude you're awesome. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.64|108.162.221.64]] 15:06, 15 December 2016 (UTC)

How do we know that Cueball, Hairy, and the others are there as "advisers"? They might be potential investors looking into this startup!
--[[User:Lou Crazy|Lou Crazy]] ([[User talk:Lou Crazy|talk]]) 15:25, 16 December 2016 (UTC)

I don't think this is proper usage of [citation needed]. The way I understand it, it's supposed to be used for things that are widely believed to be true but aren't provable, and implying their possible falsehood is humorous. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.51.79|172.68.51.79]] 18:19, 15 December 2016 (UTC)

Seriously, with the amount of startups popping up these days, there might be a startup crash tommorow...[[Special:Contributions/162.158.46.88|162.158.46.88]] 15:36, 17 December 2016 (UTC)

I kinda take issue with insinuating that Beret Guy "is hopelessly out of touch with reality" - is he? Really? Or might he rather be intersecting with an alternate reality, which, at least when he's around, occasionally bleeds through to the reality of the rest of the comic. Maybe he "is hopelessly out of touch with the other characters' reality"(?) or something similar - [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 19:20, 12 January 2017 (UTC)

Perhaps his "endless wings" (1099: Tuesdays) resulted from consuming similarly endless, but cursed, wings. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.10|162.158.255.10]] 01:53, 9 June 2018 (UTC)

Category:Characters with hats

2019-10-02T16:31:37Z

108.162.241.148: /* Explanation */

*[[Randall]] frequently uses hats as a distinguishing feature for his stick figures.
**'''Click''' to expand for a more detailed explanation:
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
 

==Explanation==
Especially well known are three of his major characters [[Black Hat]], [[White Hat]] and [[Beret Guy]]. These three characters do not often appear together in the same comic, except in large comics where they can appear without interacting.

They have all three appeared in the [[:Category:Large_drawings|large drawing comics]] [[1000: 1000 Comics]], [[1110: Click and Drag]] and [[1608: Hoverboard]] and also in the [[:Category:Interactive comics|interactive comic]] [[826: Guest Week: Zach Weiner (SMBC)]] and on the cake in [[1581: Birthday]]. But in those instances they do not interact.

Black Hat and White Hat has only ever spoken together in two comics: [[1708: Dehydration]], where Black Hat talks to White Hat and [[1881: Drone Training]], where Black Hat visits a store run by White Hat.

Similar Beret Guy has also only twice spoken to White Hat in [[291: Dignified]] and [[1772: Startup Opportunity]]. White hat replies in the title text of [[291:Dignified]] comic, but White Hat has never spoken directly to Beret Guy in the main comic. However, they do speak to each other in the main comic of [[1772:Startup Opportunity]].

Beret Guy has though been in at least six other comics together with Black Hat and two others with White Hat. He has, however, never interacted directly with Black Hat!

White Hat and Beret Guy also appeared in [[1028: Communication]], where they showed two different examples of communication, and thus did not appear together, and similar in [[1645: Toasts]] where there is no reason to believe that they toast at the same party.

Black Hat and Beret Guy appear together in both [[785: Open Mic Night]] and [[804: Pumpkin Carving]] but in both comics they talk to other people and not to or with each other. The open mic stage is the same, but they are not on it at the same time, and the pumpkin carving could be done in different locations. In [[434: xkcd Goes to the Airport]] and [[442: xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel]] they appear in different panels showing situations taken out of context with each other and finally there are two special comics where both appear; [[1037: Umwelt]], where they appeared in two different versions of the comic, not visible from the same location; and [[1663: Garden]] where both characters can grow out of the ground, but of course they do not interact here either.
</div>
 

[[Category:Comics by characters]]

Talk:1772: Startup Opportunity

2019-10-02T16:28:15Z

108.162.241.148:

More escapades of Beret guy's business - [[1021]], [[1032]], and probably more --[[User:AnotherAnonymous|AnotherAnonymous]] ([[User talk:AnotherAnonymous|talk]]) 15:41, 14 December 2016 (UTC)

it may be a reference a episode of the Adult swim show Rick and Morty. In season 1 episode 9 "Something Ricked This Way Comes" the devil sets up a shop that gives away magical items that appear to give the user some superpower or other advantage but turn out to be cursed, for example a type writer that helps the user make best selling murder mystery books but then the murders happen to them in real life. Rick decides to open his own business to un-curse items but letting them keep there magic power thus disrupting the devils entire business. {{unsigned ip|108.162.237.226}}

While it wasn't Beret guy, the idea of a business that doesn't do anything reminds me of [[1060]] --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.51|162.158.62.51]] 22:38, 14 December 2016 (UTC)

Has Berry Guy ever interacted with White Hat before? [[User:Username'); DROP TABLE users;--|Username'); DROP TABLE users;--]] ([[User talk:Username'); DROP TABLE users;--|talk]]) 00:57, 15 December 2016 (UTC)
;Online virtual world

I think this comic could be referring to online virtual world. There is several site that sell virtual good for real money. Players could also trade virtual currency for virtual magic item. The fact the shop is in virtual world could explain why they look like they never existed.

Temporary shops that sell items to adventurers in need are a common theme among many games. O'aka XXIII in FFX is the first one that comes to mind, but there are a LOT. A lot of these shops sell items that are of particular value at the time, but another common theme among them is to sell unidentified or even cursed items, admonishing the player for trusting some random guy that they met in the wilderness. Sometimes these "cursed" items end up being plot essential. The really crooked ones also offer to uncurse the items once they are identified (or the user has identified that they are cursed by equipping them before they are fully identified) Mordor: the depths of Dejenol is an old game that had cursed items that you had to pay the shop to have removed before you could level up. Some of the items, though, were "cursed" but provided real benefits, and players would equip them intentionally every level knowing that they'd have to pay because the benefit was great enough. [[User:Kashim|Kashim]] ([[User talk:Kashim|talk]]) 21:34, 14 December 2016 (UTC)

--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.94|108.162.219.94]] 18:12, 14 December 2016 (UTC)

How do I add a comic to the explanation of a category? I want to add this to the explanation of [[Category:Characters with Hats]]

Well does chair, actually mean chair like an object or Chairmen? Because I assumed the latter when first read the comic...
: I definitely read it like it was referring to the object. [[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 06:14, 15 December 2016 (UTC)

[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 01:54, 15 December 2016 (UTC)

:This is also how I read it. Since there are several people sitting at table, seemed likely to be an executive board (i.e. gathering of several chairpersons). This also plays on the tendency for the organization of an activity (administration) to become more important than the actual activity (at least to those administering it). "But it is possible, after a while, to develop certain dangerous habits of thought. One is that, while all important enterprises need careful organization, it is the organization that needs organizing, rather than the enterprise." (Pratchett, Thief of Time) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.208|108.162.245.208]] 06:22, 15 December 2016 (UTC)

2016 Kickstarters in a nutshell defined by this one comic. This is why I never do kickstarters. If they fail, you don't get your money. But if they succeed, people will question what's taking so long and can take hold of your project in court at any time. Any games I make, I make myself with my own money and budget. Still wouldn't mind having Beret Guy as a business partner, though. ;) --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 15:01, 15 December 2016 (UTC)

I wish I knew Beret Guy in real life. Dude you're awesome. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.64|108.162.221.64]] 15:06, 15 December 2016 (UTC)

How do we know that Cueball, Hairy, and the others are there as "advisers"? They might be potential investors looking into this startup!
--[[User:Lou Crazy|Lou Crazy]] ([[User talk:Lou Crazy|talk]]) 15:25, 16 December 2016 (UTC)

I don't think this is proper usage of [citation needed]. The way I understand it, it's supposed to be used for things that are widely believed to be true but aren't provable, and implying their possible falsehood is humorous. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.51.79|172.68.51.79]] 18:19, 15 December 2016 (UTC)

Seriously, with the amount of startups popping up these days, there might be a startup crash tommorow...[[Special:Contributions/162.158.46.88|162.158.46.88]] 15:36, 17 December 2016 (UTC)

I kinda take issue with insinuating that Beret Guy "is hopelessly out of touch with reality" - is he? Really? Or might he rather be intersecting with an alternate reality, which, at least when he's around, occasionally bleeds through to the reality of the rest of the comic. Maybe he "is hopelessly out of touch with the other characters' reality"(?) or something similar - [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 19:20, 12 January 2017 (UTC)

Perhaps his "endless wings" (1099: Tuesdays) resulted from consuming similarly endless, but cursed, wings. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.10|162.158.255.10]] 01:53, 9 June 2018 (UTC)

722: Computer Problems

2019-10-01T13:30:49Z

108.162.241.148: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 722
| date = April 2, 2010
| title = Computer Problems
| image = computer_problems.png
| titletext = This is how I explain computer problems to my cat. My cat usually seems happier than me.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] explains to [[Megan]] that he is having computer problems. Normally, he is able to manipulate a "pattern" on his "metal rectangle full of little lights" (a reasonable, if oversimplified description of generated images displayed on a monitor). Today, however, the "pattern" is "all wrong". Megan suggests that he might be able to fix it by pressing more buttons, but following her advice doesn't seem to have the desired effect.

According to the title text, [[Randall]] uses a similar technique to explain his computer problems to his cat. Cats have the habit to walk over or lay on keyboards so they press a lot of buttons. This is, however, not to fix the "pattern" which they usually don't care about but rather to get the same attention the keyboard receives from the cat's owner. Often cats prefer to lay on a warm place — and a keyboard belonging to a notebook is designed to dispense some heat.

As evidenced by both past and future comics, Randall likes to [[1133: Up Goer Five|make an effort]] to explain things for simple minds.

Speculatively, Randall may be commenting on the abstract nature of events that effect Cueball's happiness or well being. While the work Cueball does on the computer seems very important to him, the deconstructed version as discussed by Megan and Cueball make his resulting distress seem out of proportion. This interpretation is further supported by the title text in which Randall's cat, unaware of more abstract representations of activity on the computer, enjoys greater happiness overall.

The concept of using simple English to explain complicated problems was first used in [[547: Simple]] and has been revisited in [[1133: Up Goer Five]], [[1322: Winter]], [[1436: Orb Hammer]], and [[2163: Chernobyl]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan are looking at his computer, on the desk.]
:Cueball: You know this metal rectangle full of little lights?
:Megan: Yeah.

:Cueball: I spend most of my life pressing buttons to make the pattern of lights change however I want.
:Megan: Sounds good.

:Cueball: But today, the pattern of lights is ''all wrong''!
:Megan: Oh god! Try pressing more buttons!
:Cueball: ''IT'S NOT HELPING!''

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Simplified language]]
[[Category:Cueball Computer Problems]]

722: Computer Problems

2019-10-01T13:30:27Z

108.162.241.148: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 722
| date = April 2, 2010
| title = Computer Problems
| image = computer_problems.png
| titletext = This is how I explain computer problems to my cat. My cat usually seems happier than me.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] explains to [[Megan]] that he is having computer problems. Normally, he is able to manipulate a "pattern" on his "metal rectangle full of little lights" (a reasonable, if oversimplified description of generated images displayed on a monitor). Today, however, the "pattern" is "all wrong". Megan suggests that he might be able to fix it by pressing more buttons, but following her advice doesn't seem to have the desired effect.

According to the title text, [[Randall]] uses a similar technique to explain his computer problems to his cat. Cats have the habit to walk over or lay on keyboards so they press a lot of buttons. This is, however, not to fix the "pattern" which they usually don't care about but rather to get the same attention the keyboard receives from the cat's owner. Often cats prefer to lay on a warm place — and a keyboard belonging to a notebook is designed to dispense some heat.

As evidenced by both past and future comics, Randall likes to [[1133: Up Goer Five|make an effort]] to explain things for simple minds.

Speculatively, Randall may be commenting on the abstract nature of events that effect Cueball's happiness or well being. While the work Cueball does on the computer seems very important to him, the deconstructed version as discussed by Megan and Cueball make his resulting distress seem out of proportion. This interpretation is further supported by the title text in which Randall's cat, unaware of more abstract representations of activity on the computer, enjoys greater happiness overall.

The concept of using simple English to explain complicated problems was first used in [[547: Simple]] and has been revisited in [[1133: Up Goer Five]], [[1322: Winter]], [[1436: Orb Hammer]], and [[2163:Chernobyl]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan are looking at his computer, on the desk.]
:Cueball: You know this metal rectangle full of little lights?
:Megan: Yeah.

:Cueball: I spend most of my life pressing buttons to make the pattern of lights change however I want.
:Megan: Sounds good.

:Cueball: But today, the pattern of lights is ''all wrong''!
:Megan: Oh god! Try pressing more buttons!
:Cueball: ''IT'S NOT HELPING!''

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Simplified language]]
[[Category:Cueball Computer Problems]]

730: Circuit Diagram

2019-09-23T17:11:47Z

108.162.241.148: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 730
| date = April 21, 2010
| title = Circuit Diagram
| image = circuit_diagram.png
| titletext = I just caught myself idly trying to work out what that resistor mass would actually be, and realized I had self-nerd-sniped.
}}

==Explanation==
Another fine example of [[356|nerd sniping]].
There are pieces of circuit diagrams, road maps, chemical diagrams, and other things all mixed in.
Explanations for each below!

{|class="wikitable table-padding left-align"
!Image Fragment
!width="130px" | Image Location
!Description
|-
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=19|Y=25|W=106|H=37|image=circuit_diagram-019-025-106-037-scale.png|text=A map scale. Lists kilometers and miles as equivalent. And makes the diagram many miles wide.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=15|Y=62|W=40|H=85|image=circuit_diagram-015-062-040-085-antenna.png|text=An antenna. Typical of radio receivers or transmitters. Or the Turtle in {{w|Logo (programming language)|LOGO programming language}}.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=53|Y=60|W=41|H=87|image=circuit_diagram-053-060-041-087-inductor.png|text=A coil or {{w|inductor}}. Normal, but unlabeled.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=107|Y=86|W=85|H=93|image=circuit_diagram-107-086-085-093-cloverleaf.png|text=A {{w|cloverleaf interchange}} or junction is a feature of road networks that does not belong in a circuit diagram. Of course, other types of {{w|p–n junction|junction}} are important in electronics.
A cloverleaf junction has previously been used in comic: [[253: Highway Engineer Pranks]].}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=184|Y=12|W=87|H=63|image=circuit_diagram-184-012-087-063-battery.png|text=A battery. The voltage of square root of two is strange, but getting about 1.41412... volts is not unheard of. This could also indicate an [[wikipedia:Root_mean_square|RMS]] voltage, although this is unlikely given that this is a DC power supply and not an AC generator. The marked polarity is also the reverse of what is implied by the symbol (where the larger terminal is positive). A possible reference to [[567: Urgent Mission]].}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=187|Y=110|W=94|H=71|image=circuit_diagram-187-110-094-071-resister.png|text=A 120 ohm {{w|resistor}} is normal enough. "Or to taste" is odd for a circuit diagram and more like instructions from a recipe, e.g., "1 tbsp tomato purée, or to taste".}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=283|Y=50|W=90|H=63|image=circuit_diagram-283-050-090-063-switch.png|text=A normal {{w|switch}}, with a notation to glue it open. Reminiscent of the [http://catb.org/esr/jargon/html/magic-story.html MAGIC/MORE MAGIC] switch.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=337|Y=101|W=69|H=64|image=circuit_diagram-337-101-069-064-transisitor.png|text=A {{w|Bipolar_junction_transistor#PNP|bipolar PNP transistor}}, except that it has two emitters and no collector. It also resembles one of the schematic symbols for a {{w|DIAC}}, except the arrows are backwards.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=52|Y=141|W=79|H=107|image=circuit_diagram-052-141-079-107-compass-points.png|text=Compass points. A map feature, not a circuit feature, but possibly useful given the circuit is many miles wide.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=415|Y=18|W=63|H=58|image=circuit_diagram-415-018-063-058-resister.png|text=A normal resistor, labeled with color code. Brown-Blue-Orange would be 16000 ohms. {{w|Electronic color code|Resistor color codes}} are for reading the value on the physical device itself. They would not normally be shown on the circuit diagram, where it's much easier to just write the number, e.g. 16K.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=517|Y=14|W=42|H=32|image=circuit_diagram-517-014-042-032-diode.png|text=A normal {{w|diode}}.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=615|Y=55|W=73|H=74|image=circuit_diagram-615-055-073-074-666timer.png|text=A chip. The normal timer is a "{{w|555_timer_IC|555}}". "666" would be the number of the beast in [http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Rev&c=13&v=18&t=KJV#18 Rev. 13:18]. The pin connected to "?" is the CTRL pin on a normal 555 timer, which would typically be connected to ground (via a decoupling capacitor) if used at all; the implication here seems to be that it would be connected directly to Hell itself.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=632|Y=138|W=69|H=41|image=circuit_diagram-632-138-069-041-bat.png|text=A Batman logo.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=650|Y=211|W=75|H=71|image=circuit_diagram-650-211-075-071-squirrel.png|text=A squirrel, or perhaps a wire bent into the shape of a squirrel. {{w|Electrical disruptions caused by squirrels|Squirrels are among the leading causes of disruptions to electrical grids,}} so having one as part of a circuit is inviting disaster. Squirrels also appear in past and future xkcd comics.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=606|Y=165|W=54|H=53|image=circuit_diagram-606-165-054-053-inductor.png|text=A coil or inductor, or a spring symbol in Physics force diagrams, probably the latter as it is labeled with an 11-kilogram mass.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=538|Y=209|W=99|H=59|image=circuit_diagram-538-209-099-059-generator.png|text=A 240-volt AC generator (or other power source).}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=483|Y=186|W=111|H=103|image=circuit_diagram-483-186-111-103-shorted-generator.png|text=A shorting wire around a generator. The label reads "Omit this if you're a '''wimp.'''" If this wire is included, it will quickly melt - or worse.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=419|Y=78|W=57|H=75|image=circuit_diagram-419-078-057-075-scarab-beetles.png|text=A jar of {{w|Scarabaeidae|scarab beetles}}.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=482|Y=47|W=28|H=44|image=circuit_diagram-482-047-028-044-variable-resister.png|text=A {{w|variable resistor}} with center tap. Normally, there would be an arrowhead on the center tap.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=507|Y=53|W=22|H=27|image=circuit_diagram-507-053-022-027-capacitor.png|text=A normal {{w|capacitor}}.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=577|Y=318|W=96|H=62|image=circuit_diagram-577-318-096-062-magic.png|text="{{w|Magic Smoke}}" is the legendary stuff that all circuit components require to function. This is why all components cease to function after releasing smoke.{{Citation needed}} }}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=669|Y=315|W=51|H=66|image=circuit_diagram-669-315-051-066-frayed-wires.png|text=Some frayed or dangling wires.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=567|Y=392|W=58|H=48|image=circuit_diagram-567-392-058-048-buoy.png|text=An object which is either a {{w|Fishing float|float}} used in fishing, a {{w|Tippe top}}, or perhaps a {{w|Naval mine|mine}}.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=458|Y=336|W=111|H=86|image=circuit_diagram-458-336-111-086-moral-rectifier.png|text=A {{w|Diode_bridge|bridge rectifier}}, which would normally turn alternating current at the top and bottom into direct current on the left and right. In this case, it is labeled as a "moral rectifier". This is presumably a play on the idea of moral rectitude – it makes your circuit more moral. Why this matters in a circuit is unclear.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=423|Y=259|W=80|H=85|image=circuit_diagram-423-259-080-085-warm-front.png|text=This resembles both the schematic symbol for part of a {{w|transformer}} and the meteorological symbol for a warm front. A {{w|warm front}} is a feature on a {{w|Surface weather analysis|synoptic weather map}}.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=190|Y=199|W=54|H=52|image=circuit_diagram-190-199-054-052-battery.png|text=A normal 50-volt battery.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=173|Y=200|W=89|H=56|image=circuit_diagram-173-200-089-056-shorted-battery.png|text=A battery is grounded on both sides. Something will melt or burn out quickly, unless these are separate "earth ground"s, in which case the ground might get a bit cooked.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=259|Y=198|W=174|H=25|image=circuit_diagram-259-198-174-025-pull-wire.png|text=Text reads "Pull this wire really tight". This kind of physical-property issue may indicate a high-frequency radio device. Or, given the absurdity of the context, it's a silly reference to a "high tension wire."}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=141|Y=211|W=41|H=91|image=circuit_diagram-141-211-041-091-3-8-inch.png|text=A specified 3/8-inch separation. This probably indicates a carefully controlled capacitance issue. Also contradicts the scale of the drawing, by which the distance shown would be about 0.8 miles or 0.8 km.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=173|Y=309|W=92|H=59|image=circuit_diagram-173-309-092-059-eel.png|text=An {{w|electric eel}}. This may be an effective power source in the circuit, capable of producing a shock at up to 600 volts and 1 ampere of current (600 watts), but for less than 2 ms.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=266|Y=307|W=35|H=41|image=circuit_diagram-266-307-035-041-resistor.png|text=A normal resistor.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=222|Y=358|W=34|H=29|image=circuit_diagram-222-358-034-029-capacitor.png|text=A normal capacitor.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=130|Y=335|W=44|H=40|image=circuit_diagram-130-335-044-040-resistor.png|text=A normal resistor, labeled "ë". This may be a play on {{w|e (mathematical constant)|Euler's Number}}, which doesn't normally have a {{w|tréma}} or an {{w|umlaut (linguistics)|umlaut}}. Alternatively instead of being an umlaut or tréma it may indicate the second {{w|derivative}} of e with respect to time in {{w|Newton's notation}}, in which case, as e is a constant, the resistance of this element is zero.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=65|Y=249|W=61|H=92|image=circuit_diagram-065-249-061-092-blender.png|text=Our best guess is that this is a {{w|blender}}. Due to the scale, this would certainly be the worlds largest blender. Record setting blenders are not typically part of computer circuits{{Citation needed}}}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=20|Y=342|W=115|H=73|image=circuit_diagram-020-342-115-073-arduino.png|text=An {{w|arduino}}, labeled "Arduino, just for blog cred". May refer to the fact that inexpensive, easy-to-integrate single-board computers like the arduino, which have contributed to the rise of {{w|Maker culture}}, are used and discussed frequently in that culture, and the use of one might impress readers. The comment implies that an arduino is not otherwise needed in this circuit, although it is necessarily hard to tell, given the other components of the circuit.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=39|Y=423|W=118|H=82|image=circuit_diagram-039-423-118-082-meca.png|text=A chip labeled "Most expensive chip available". The small curve at the top is a part of the packaging designed to show its orientation.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=159|Y=428|W=91|H=50|image=circuit_diagram-159-428-091-050-neck-strap.png|text=Labeled "Neck Strap". Perhaps a piece of torture equipment or indicating that the circuit is part of an {{w|electric chair}}? May also be a reference to the grounded wrist straps people working with electronics commonly wear, to prevent accidental static discharges from frying the circuitry.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=147|Y=480|W=110|H=88|image=circuit_diagram-147-480-110-088-switch.png|text=A switch labeled "Hire someone to open and close switch real fast." Possibly meant to perform the function of an {{w|Electronic oscillator|oscillator}} in a more hackish manner and the reason for the neck strap. Could also be a reference to {{w|Maxwell's Demon}}.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=273|Y=498|W=61|H=64|image=circuit_diagram-273-498-061-064-resistor.png|text=A 5 ohm resistor labeled "(decoy)". One end is not attached to anything. Perhaps this indicates wishful thinking that electrons might be tricked into entering this part of the circuit despite the fact that there's nowhere for them to go?}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=307|Y=453|W=103|H=56|image=circuit_diagram-307-453-103-056-tongue.png|text=A pair of contacts, labeled "Touch Tongue Here". Could be referring to the practice of daring someone to touch their tongue to the contacts of a 9V battery.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=301|Y=270|W=45|H=45|image=circuit_diagram-301-270-045-045-frown.png|text=A frowny-face. See the float/mine.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=294|Y=311|W=128|H=124|image=circuit_diagram-294-311-128-124-IC.png|text=A small integrated circuit. The lower gate is an {{w|Inverter (logic gate)|inverter}}, wired as a free-running oscillator. The upper gate is an {{w|XOR gate|XOR}} wired to act as either a free-running oscillator or a latch. Since the XOR will be slower than the inverter, the overall output of the upper gate is probably very chaotic. Two "input" wires are not connected at all. An additional wire is attached to the top with hot glue. This last wire probably acts to control static electricity and leakage.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=302|Y=235|W=91|H=25|image=circuit_diagram-302-235-091-025-curve.png|text=A caution sign at a curve. Another road feature in the circuit. This is a play on the notion that 90-degree corners on printed circuit board traces can disrupt signal integrity.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=401|Y=455|W=67|H=68|image=circuit_diagram-401-455-067-068-CH3.png|text=A {{w|methyl group}} (chemistry) attached to a corner. If the circuit were an organic chemical, it would be reasonable to find a number of these.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=453|Y=167|W=43|H=93|image=circuit_diagram-453-167-043-093-baloon.png|text=A balloon, possibly blowing in a breeze.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=572|Y=68|W=22|H=43|image=circuit_diagram-572-068-022-043-inductor.png|text=A coil or inductor.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=508|Y=96|W=42|H=20|image=circuit_diagram-508-096-042-020-inductor.png|text=A coil or inductor.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=534|Y=61|W=22|H=31|image=circuit_diagram-534-061-022-031-ground.png|text=A ground connection.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=472|Y=49|W=134|H=140|image=circuit_diagram-472-049-134-140-solderr-blob.png|text=A {{w|Soldering#Soldering_defects|solder blob}} covering a portion of the circuit. Normally, this would not be part of the circuit diagram, but a mistake in building the circuit.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=493|Y=443|W=207|H=158|image=circuit_diagram-493-443-207-158-res-rats-nest.png|text=A rat's nest of 1 ohm resistors. It is labeled "Oh, so you think you're such a whiz at EE201?" The name EE201 (Electrical Engineering 201) follows US course naming conventions for what appears to be a basic level course in electrical engineering (compare the term {{w|101 (term)|101}}), which would include being taught how to [http://www.wikihow.com/Calculate-Series-and-Parallel-Resistance calculate the effective resistance of various resistor networks]. Performing the calculation on a network this complex would probably be extremely difficult. It appears to work out to 0.75800964845 ohms.
A grid of 1 ohm resistors has appeared earlier in [[356: Nerd Sniping]], a comic also referred to in the title text.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=315|Y=533|W=232|H=200|image=circuit_diagram-362-531-151-167-arena.png|text=An {{w|arena}}, with a few bodies in it. Note the direction of movement enforced by the surrounding diodes, {{w|Mad_Max_Beyond_Thunderdome|"two men enter, one man leaves"}}, a film reference.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=569|Y=653|W=47|H=51|image=circuit_diagram-569-653-047-051-resistor.png|text=A "{{w|pi}}" ohm resistor.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=610|Y=655|W=75|H=70|image=circuit_diagram-610-655-075-070-generator.png|text=A 500-volt AC generator. The wiring to the right shorts out this generator.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=481|Y=682|W=85|H=64|image=circuit_diagram-481-682-085-064-ground.png|text=A ground connection, labeled "Bury deep, but not too deep". This type of ground connection is called an "earth ground" The "too deep" part might be a reference to {{w|Moria (Middle-earth)|Moria}} in Lord of Rings. The dwarves dug too deeply and disturbed a Balrog. See also comic [[760]].}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=17|Y=610|W=75|H=73|image=circuit_diagram-017-610-075-073-fishhook.png|text=A ground connection at the end of a curve, looking like a fishhook. Means perhaps "earthed down under", i.e., Australia or the southern hemisphere.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=206|Y=662|W=66|H=45|image=circuit_diagram-206-662-066-045-yarn.png|text=A length of "wire" is labeled "yarn". This probably makes it a terrible conductor.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=102|Y=590|W=93|H=88|image=circuit_diagram-102-590-093-088-fluxcapacitor.png|text=The {{w|DeLorean time machine#Flux capacitor|flux capacitor}} from {{w|Back to the Future}}. This may be difficult to implement, since flux capacitors are not available to most people{{Citation needed}},}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=138|Y=685|W=54|H=24|image=circuit_diagram-138-685-054-024-I95.png|text=A road sign for "I-95". {{w|Interstate 95}} is the main north-south highway on the east coast of the United States, running from Maine to Florida.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=12|Y=713|W=134|H=36|image=circuit_diagram-012-713-134-036-tothesun.png|text=A connection labeled "To center of Sun". A 93-million-mile or 150-million-km circuit is rather large, but...}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=31|Y=753|W=144|H=177|image=circuit_diagram-031-753-144-177-rats-nest.png|text=A rat's nest of wires. Everything winds up being connected. May also be a parody diagram of an [http://i.stack.imgur.com/np2p9.png undirected graph], from graph theory.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=22|Y=513|W=97|H=61|image=circuit_diagram-022-513-097-061-esf.png|text=A label reading "Electrons Single File". If this happens, the resistance in this section of wire would be rather high.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=256|Y=619|W=29|H=39|image=circuit_diagram-256-619-029-039-ground.png|text=A ground connection.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=589|Y=600|W=58|H=46|image=circuit_diagram-589-600-058-046-vibrator.png|text=A vibrator, which would be a motor with an off-center weight attached to it.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=532|Y=779|W=74|H=52|image=circuit_diagram-532-779-074-052-motor.png|text=A motor, labeled "To Scale". This indicates that the physical size and shape of the motor must match the size of the parts around it, or is consistent with the specified scale of the drawing. }}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=662|Y=822|W=73|H=109|image=circuit_diagram-662-822-073-109-holy-ground.png|text=A ground connection, in a beaker labeled "{{w|Holy Water}}", possibly creating {{w|Holy ground (religion)|holy ground}}.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=197|Y=740|W=48|H=55|image=circuit_diagram-197-740-048-055-speed.png|text=A sign indicating a speed limit of 55 MPH. This is a rather typical road sign, but inappropriate for a circuit diagram.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=238|Y=706|W=100|H=116|image=circuit_diagram-238-706-100-116-flipflop.png|text=A pair of {{w|NOR gate}}s wired as a SR (set-reset) {{w|Flip-flop (electronics)|flip-flop}}. The label reads "May use an actual sandal instead", which is a play on the meanings of the term "{{w|Flip-flops|flip-flop}}".}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=322|Y=708|W=70|H=54|image=circuit_diagram-322-708-070-054-holdingpen.png|text=Something that could be the side view of a fence, labeled "Holding Pen".}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=339|Y=777|W=42|H=49|image=circuit_diagram-339-777-042-049-knot.png|text=A simple {{w|overhand knot}}. Also looks like a pretzel, which would have pretty high resistance.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=191|Y=889|W=149|H=33|image=circuit_diagram-191-889-149-033-ecg.png|text=This appears to be an {{w|Electrocardiography|electrocardiograph}} (ECG) trace, but not the sort that would be seen in a healthy person. If this were a real ECG trace, the absence of large, clear {{w|P wave (electrocardiography)|P waves}} might indicate {{w|Atrial Fibrillation|fine atrial fibrillation}}, but in some recording configurations, P waves are sometimes lost in the noise anyway. Additionally, without a time scale to tell us the ventricular heart rate, it is impossible to make a strong educated diagnosis of any hypothetical disease at all. If we assume it is atrial fibrillation, is not clear if Randall intended this, or if he is just not familiar with how a normal ECG should look. Lastly, it does not appear that this is an actual ECG machine, but simply a bent wire, much like the "Not a resistor" label nearby.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=223|Y=826|W=82|H=68|image=circuit_diagram-223-826-082-068-photodiode.png|text=A {{w|photodiode}}, labeled "Tear Collector". A photodiode is a light-sensing device.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=373|Y=859|W=49|H=68|image=circuit_diagram-373-859-049-068-lamp.png|text=A lamp. This is not [http://electronicsclub.info/circuitsymbols.htm the symbol used in electrical circuits], but a drawing of a lightbulb.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=450|Y=887|W=65|H=32|image=circuit_diagram-450-887-065-032-inductor.png|text=A coil or inductor.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=537|Y=847|W=120|H=72|image=circuit_diagram-537-847-120-072-inductor.png|text=A coil or inductor, labeled "Take off shirt while wiring this part. Ooh, yeah, I like that."}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=504|Y=860|W=34|H=41|image=circuit_diagram-504-860-034-041-resistor.png|text=A resistor labeled "?". Presumably this means the resistance is unknown.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=459|Y=828|W=55|H=38|image=circuit_diagram-459-828-055-038-resistor.png|text=A resistor labeled "YES". Likely another improper unit - a reference to boolean values YES (TRUE) and NO (FALSE). Depending on the limits of a circuit, a resistor would still have a YES boolean value. Possibly indicating that this is a real resistor, as opposed to the one above it in the circuit, labeled "not a resistor."}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=389|Y=774|W=58|H=53|image=circuit_diagram-389-774-058-053-resistor.png|text=A resistor labeled "8 mm". Resistance is measured in ohms, so 8 millimeters seems nonsensical.}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=443|Y=747|W=93|H=84|image=circuit_diagram-443-747-093-084-resistor.png|text=A resistor labeled "Not a resistor; wire just does this". Apparently the wire is or must be physically bent into a zig-zag shape, which would not serve much useful purpose in a low frequency or DC circuit, or perhaps it reflects the fact that any wire has a certain (small) amount of resistance just by being a wire. In a {{w|Radio frequency|high frequency circuit}} this can be actually useful, as the shape and length of the {{w|Transmission line|transmission line}} alters the {{w|Electrical impedance|impedance}} of the line. ([https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phaseshifter2.png Example])}}
{{circuit-diagram-part|X=415|Y=863|W=82|H=24|image=circuit_diagram-415-863-082-024-unsure.png|text=A symbol for a feedthrough capacitor, labeled "3 Liters". Probable word-play on "capacity/capacitor." Also similar to the symbol for an orifice or flow restriction used on plumbing or hydraulic diagrams, in which case the "3 Liters" might mean 3 liters per minute or per second.}}
|}

==Transcript==
:[In the upper left corner there is a map scale, labeled with 1 mi (1 km).]
:[Underneath the scale is a circuit diagram with the following items connected:]
:An antenna symbol.
:A blender.
:An Arduino, labeled with "Arduino, just for blog cred".
:A chip, labeled "Most expensive chip available".
:A symbol for an inductor.
:A pattern that looks like a highway cloverleaf.
:A battery symbol (with the + and - symbols on the wrong ends) with a value of √2V.
:A resistor symbol label "120Ω or to taste".
:A switch that is labeled "glue open".
:A transistor with two emitters, one P and one N, and no collector.
:A jar of scarab beetles.
:A resistor labeled "brown blue orange".
:An unlabeled resistor with a center tap.
:A capacitor.
:A diode.
:A ground.
:An inductor.
:An another inductor.
::The two inductors and ground are all covered by a "solder blob".
:A "666 timer" that has pin 5 going into a question mark.
:A compass rose.
:A battery, labeled 50V, with grounds on both sides.
:A long horizontal wire that is labeled "pull this wire really tight".
:An AC source that is labeled 240V, shorted out, with a label on the short "Omit this if you're a wimp."
:An inductor that is labeled with "11kg".
:A Batman symbol.
:A squirrel.
:A wire that is labeled as a distance 3/8".
:A 50V battery.
:A frowny face.
:A vertical wire with a 90 degree bend labeled "caution".
:A balloon.
:An inductor symbol with a line on the bottom edge labeled as "warm front".
:A resistor labeled "ë".
:An electric eel.
:A capacitor.
:An unlabeled resistor.
:A gob of hot glue attached to a chip with an inverter hooked to an XOR gate, both with feedback into each other.
:A neck strap.
:A bridge rectifier labeled as "Moral rectifier".
:A bottle of magic smoke.
:A fishing bobber.
:A broken wire labeled with a question mark.
:A vertical wire labeled with "electrons single file".
:A switch labeled "Hire someone to open and close switch real fast."
:A contact labeled "touch tongue here".
:A resistor labeled "5Ω (decoy)" with only one terminal connected.
:A methyl group attached to a wire.
:A complex mesh of 1Ω resistors labeled with "Oh, so you think you're such a whiz at EE201?"
:A wire labeled "electrons single file".
:A wire bent in a U shape with an upside-down ground on the end.
:A flux capacitor with the bottom wire labeled "I-95".
:A wire labeled "yarn".
:An arena with two diodes going in and one leaving.
:An anode labeled "Bury deep, but not too deep."
:A motor labeled "vibrator".
:A resistor with a value of π.
:A 500V AC source.
:A wire that leads out of frame with a label "to center of sun".
:A 55 MPH speed limit sign.
:An SR latch (flip-flop) labeled "may use an actual sandal instead".
:A holding pen.
:A wire in a knot.
:A resistor labeled "8mm".
:A resistor symbol labeled "not a resistor; wire just does this".
:A motor symbol labeled "to scale".
:A tangled mess of wires connected and jumping over each other.
:A photo diode labeled "tear collector".
:A wire in the shape of a ECG.
:A light bulb.
:A capacitor-looking symbol labeled "3 liters".
:A resistor labeled "yes".
:An unlabeled inductor.
:A resistor with a question mark as a label.
:An inductor labeled "Take off shirt while wiring this part. Ooh, yeah, I like that."
:A ground symbol immersed in a beaker of holy water.

==Trivia==

*This is one of the [[:Category:Footer comics|five footer comics]] linked at the bottom part of the {{xkcd}} website.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Maps]]
[[Category:Footer comics]]
[[Category:Squirrels]]

2204: Ksp 2

2019-09-19T19:34:03Z

108.162.241.148: {{Citation needed}}

{{comic
| number = 2204
| date = September 18, 2019
| title = Ksp 2
| image = ksp_2.png
| titletext = "The committee appreciates that your 2020 launch is on track, but the 'human capital/personnel retention' budget includes a lot more unmarked cash payments than usual. What are th--" "Public outreach."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a KERBAL. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[[Cueball]], a programmer, is sitting at his computer while four other persons from {{w|NASA}}, [[Hairy]], [[Ponytail]], [[Hairbun]] and another Cueball-like guy try to convince him to delay the release of Ksp 2.

''{{w|Kerbal Space Program}}'' (Ksp for short) is a space flight simulation video game with a realistic orbital physics engine, allowing for real-life orbital maneuvers. Ksp is a [[:Category:Kerbal Space Program|recurring theme]] in xkcd. A sequel, abbreviated here as Ksp 2, is planned to be released in 2020.

Also planned for 2020 is a [[:Category:Mars rovers|Mars rover]] mission, {{w|Mars 2020}}. The joke in the comic comes as engineers are likely to want to extensively play with Ksp 2 to the exclusion of other things, and NASA is worried about the Mars 2020 mission being delayed, or failing, because the engineers are too focused on playing Ksp 2, including taking extensive vacation and "sick" days off.

Cueball, sitting at a desk in front of a computer, is represented here as being in charge of Ksp 2, and the other characters standing around him are pleading with him to delay the release of Ksp 2 until the Mars rover program is complete, even being willing to "give [him] a moon".

Literally giving a moon to Cueball is impossible{{Citation needed}}, but it is possible to {{w|Naming of moons|name a moon}} after Cueball, so that may be what is implied instead.

Perhaps this could also be a reference to Kerbal Space Program's mascots, the Kerbals, and their resemblance to the Minions from Despicable Me. The plot of the first film revolves around Gru and his Minions trying to literally steal the Moon.

The title text is a sentence said by someone from a committee in NASA that oversees the progress and budget of the Mars 2020 mission. They are satisfied that the launch in 2020 is still on track, but has a question regarding the 'human capital/personnel retention' budget, which has several unmarked cash payments, more than they would expect. As they begin to ask what they are, someone from the Mars 2020 project interrupts, having probably foreseen this question, stating that it is Public outreach.

Thus the title text suggests NASA could be paying Squad, the developers of Kerbal Space Program, money to delay their release until after the Mars mission. NASA has dabbled in game physics engines for "public outreach," with the same mixed record of success as any promising R&D endeavor. Pertinent projects included a series of collaboration laboratories on various forms of social media including {{w|Second Life}} which hosted a "NASA CoLab" region active from 2007 to around 2013. While the unrealistic constraints imposed by real time physics engine simulation prevented much actual engineering, such shared 3D {{w|computer aided design}} (CAD) systems provide a measure of drafting training in a play sandbox system outside of a formal work environment. [https://contest.techbriefs.com/2019/entries NASA frequently holds design competitions,] including some in which winning participants have spoken highly of KSP, and some of which are used for [https://www.techbriefs.com/component/content/article/tb/stories/news/17581 developments in medical informatics,] for example, outside the field of aerospace engineering and space colonization simulation. The use of game development competitions to assist scientific progress is also used in the [https://fold.it/portal/ Fold.it] competitive protein folding game, where the winners build antibodies to save the lives of those who have health care. Such efforts have often been supported by {{w|SBIR}}-sized government agency grants from several countries, along with other individual (i.e., customer) support and help from organizations to build software improving competitive score achievement. NASA has also been involved in asking software publishers to remove, withdraw, or restrict their releases, such as the {{w|COMSOL}} plasma physics engine library, rumored to be useful for the design of nuclear weapons. But whether any government agency has ever paid for the delay of a computer simulation game in order to increase their productivity is an open question.

The other suggestion of the title text is that NASA gave cash bribes to members of the KSP 2 team to delay the game release, thus ensuring 'personnel retention' because their engineers won't take time off before the 2020 launch.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is sitting in an office chair at his desk in front of a computer. He is surrounded by four people, and is looking over his shoulder on the ones standing behind him, Hairy - holding his palms up - and Ponytail stretching her arms out towards him. On the other side of the desk is another Cueball-like guy holding his arms out palms up and Hairbun who stretches her arms out to the side.]
:Hairy: Please hold off until the end of summer. We can't afford the personnel hit right before the late July launch window.
:Ponytail: People have ''already'' started calling in sick!
:Hairbun: Do you want a moon? '''''We'll give you a moon!'''''

:[Caption below the panel:]
:NASA tries desperately to get the Kerbal Space Program team to delay '''''KSP 2''''' until after the '''''Mars 2020''''' mission launches.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Mars rovers]]
[[Category:Kerbal Space Program]]

666: Silent Hammer

2015-09-21T02:27:47Z

108.162.241.148: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number =666
| date =November 23, 2009
| title =Silent Hammer
| image =silent_hammer.png
| titletext ='I bet he'll keep quiet for a couple weeks and then-- wait, did you nail a piece of scrap wood to my antique table a moment ago?'
}}
==Explanation==
[[Black Hat]] has created a set of tools that work in complete silence so that he can go to the house of the chairman of the {{w|The Skeptics Society|American Skeptics Society}} late at night, do some rearranging of walls and moving of windows, just to screw with him in typical Black Hat fashion. A {{w|skeptic}} is someone who questions knowledge, facts and beliefs, especially of supernatural phenomena like the existence of poltergeists which Black Hat is trying to imitate with his rearranging and scratching noises.

The American Skeptics Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting skeptical and critical thinking in education and public discourse. The executive editor, Michael Shermer, is a leading proponent of skepticism, and has written many books and articles debunking pseudoscience, fringe science, quack medicine, alien abductions, conspiracy theories and supernatural phenomena. The Skeptic Society website [http://www.skeptic.com] and Skeptic magazine feature a lot of material debunking anecdotal accounts of these phenomena, explaining how events like "hauntings" could have occurred without supernatural intervention.

One of the premises of modern skepticism is that the supernatural is not rejected out of hand; if a skeptic ever encountered an event with no possible explanation other than a supernatural one, he would be forced to acknowledge the existence of that type of supernatural force or entity. Skeptics maintain that no such event has ever occurred. Black Hat's prank is designed to give Mr. Shermer a seemingly supernatural experience that he would not be able to debunk, so he would have to accept a supernatural explanation, to the detriment of his life's work and that of the society he runs.

In the title text Cueball realizes that Black Hat has (probably intentionally) ruined his antique table by demonstrating his silent hammer.

Black Hat's tools are seen in two boxes labelled "drills" and "non-drills", likely a reference to the phrase "this is not a drill", used to differentiate an emergent situation from a practice of procedure for such.

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat is hammering something on a table.]
:Cueball: What—
:Black Hat: Silent hammer. I've made a set of silent tools.
:Cueball: Why?
:Hammer: ''woosh woosh woosh''

:Black Hat: Stealth carpentry. Breaking into a house at night and moving windows, adjusting walls, etc.
:[He takes his silent hammer over to a tool bench with other things on it. Two boxes underneath are labeled "Drills" and "Non-Drills."]

:Black Hat, narrating: After a week or so of questioning his own sanity, the owner will stay up to watch the house at night. I'll make scratching noises in the walls, pipe in knockout gas, move him up to his bed, and never bother him again.
:[The events he's describing are shown in two mini-panels below.]

:Cueball, off-panel: Nice prank, I guess, but what's the point?
:Black Hat: Check out the owner's card, on the table.
:Cueball, off-panel: Chair of the American Skeptics Society? Oh, god.
:Black Hat: Yeah, this doesn't end well for him.

==Trivia==
The comic number is 666, which is the "mark of the beast" according to the book of Revelation in the Christian Bible.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]

1274: Open Letter

2015-09-20T02:51:36Z

108.162.241.148: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1274
| date = October 7, 2013
| title = Open Letter
| image = open_letter.png
| titletext = Are you ok? Do you need help?
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a reference to the {{w|United States federal government shutdown of 2013|US government shutdown in 2013}} that had been ongoing for a week and was still current as of the time of this comic. Under some circumstances, the United States Federal Government {{w|Government shutdown in the United States|can temporarily shut down}} pending budget legislation being passed by the United States Congress. These shutdowns are typically due to political disagreements between the President, the House of Representatives, and the Senate. Due to the shutdown, numerous government services and facilities are shut down, often resulting in many logistical issues for the public.

Over the years, various conspiracy theories have been proposed claiming that the United States Government is not controlled by publicly-elected officials, but rather by one or more organizations that secretly control the actions of the government (sometimes termed a {{w|Shadow government (conspiracy)|"shadow government"}}). In this strip, [[Randall]] writes a letter to the shadow government, telling them that the situation (having the country's government shut down) is embarrassing and asking them to fix the problem.

This comic also implicitly argues against the plausibility of the aforementioned conspiracy theories if one assumes that a shadow-controlled government would be more likely to operate with a singular purpose and therefore be less susceptible to paralyzing political disagreements. Randall previously alluded to this in the title text to [[1081|comic 1081]]: "Really, the comforting side in most conspiracy theory arguments is the one claiming that anyone who's in power has any plan at all." This is one of several comics in which Randall expresses dismay at how many intelligent people can fall for absurd conspiracy theories; see comics [[258]] and [[690]], among others.

The title text addresses the leadership of the shadow government in more colloquial terms, asking if they are suffering from personal problems that are impeding their ability to keep things under control. This is patronizing, and thus hilarious.

The message, as titled, is in the form of an "Open Letter", being a directed and 'personal' message to a person or group of people which is nonetheless intended by the sender to be publicly aired (unlike a standard commentary or editorial, which is intended for public consumption, but addresses the concerned 'target' almost as an aside). In some cases this may be to ensure the correspondence is not kept confidential by the recipients and/or that the public as a whole are ''also'' indirectly addressed ('Cc'ed) in the correspondence, without having to compose a companion piece for that purpose. In this case, however, it may additionally be because the intended recipient(s) are not so easily identified for direct communication, and a public airing would ensure 'delivery' even without compromising the integrity of the message. Open Letters are often aired (or pre-copied, verbatim, from actual correspondence) in one or area or other of the public media, and while web-comics aren't ''necessarily'' the most publicised of forums, the xkcd readership almost certainly leads to covering both the 'named' recipients and the intended public view.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Addressee !! Brief Description
|-
| {{w|Freemasonry|The Freemasons }}|| Fraternity claiming the legacy of medieval stonemasons. Some of the {{w|Founding Fathers of the United States}} were members of the organization. Organised in local groups, the so-called ''Lodges''.
|-
| {{w|Illuminati}} || Secret society formed in Bavaria to further the ideas of {{w|enlightenment}}. Although officially banned in 1785, many conspiracy theorists believe the organisation might have survived and is still secretly exerting influence.
|-
| {{w|Church of Scientology|Scientology}} || A church founded by science-fiction writer {{w|L. Ron Hubbard}}. Often criticised for alleged {{w|brainwashing}} of its members and accused of hiding commercial interests behind religious claims.
|-
| {{w|Federal Emergency Management Agency|FEMA}} || Agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security, that has been granted extensive authorisations in cases of emergency and is therefore believed to act as an entity independent of governmental control.
|-
| {{w|New World Order (conspiracy theory)|The New World Order}} || Not a secret organisation itself, but rather the concept of establishing a totalitarian system controlled by any elitist group in this list.
|-
| {{w|Federal Reserve System|The Federal Reserve}} || Central state bank system of the United States, therefore to some degree able to control the monetary circulation of the {{w|US Dollar}}.
|-
| {{w|Citigroup}} || One of the four biggest American financial service corporations. Considered by the {{w|Financial Stability Board}} to be a {{w|Too big to fail|"systemically important financial institution"}}.
|-
| {{w|Halliburton}} || International corporation offering technical services, especially in the field of oil and gas production. Also a major supplier for the {{w|US military}}. Halliburton was in the headlines for unethical business practise and connections to the former US Vice President {{w|Dick Cheney}}.
|-
| {{w|Google}} || Corporation offering Internet services, most notably the Google search engine. Known for collecting massive amounts of data about its users in order to sell personalised advertisement. The idea of secret plans of Google has been mentioned in comic [[792]].
|-
| {{w|Holy See|The Vatican}} || Central government of the {{w|Catholic Church}} and residence of the {{w|pope}}. Historically important not only as a religious authority, but also as a {{w|Papal States|secular political power}}.
|-
| {{w|Bilderberg_Group|Bilderburg (correctly: ''Bilderberg'')}} || Annual conference of important politicians, bankers, directors of major corporations and other {{w|List of Bilderberg participants|people of influence}}, therefore considered the quintessential elitist meeting.
|-
| {{w|Walmart}} || American retail corporation, best known for the eponymous chain of warehouse stores. As of January 2013, Walmart is the world's largest public corporation by revenue.
|-
| {{w|Rothschild_family|The Rothschilds}} || Family of Jewish financiers that was later elevated into European nobility. Believed to exercise influence through considerable wealth. The subject of conspiracy theories since the mid-19th century, when they amassed the largest fortune in world history.
|-
| {{w|Knights Templar}} || Originally a medieval Christian military order of considerable influence, the Knights Templar were inspiration for many successive (secret) organisations that are sometimes believed to undermine governmental authorities. There is also an {{w|Knights Templar (Freemasonry)|eponymous order}} affiliated with Freemasonry. It may also be a reference to the ''{{w|Assassin's Creed|Assassins Creed}}'' video game series, in which several historical figures are claimed to have been Templars.
|-
| {{w|High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program#Conspiracy theories|HAARP}} || Ionospheric research project of the US military. Believed by some conspiracy theorists to conceal attempts to control the weather and trigger catastrophes.
|-
| {{w|United Nations|The UN}} || Large intergovernmental organization; most countries in the world are members. It has little direct power unless its member states choose to cooperate.
|-
| {{w|Skull and Bones|Skull & Bones}} || A secret society at the {{w|Yale University}} that has many influential American politicians amongst its members, including former Presidents {{w|George H. W. Bush}} and {{w|George W. Bush}}, as well as current Secretary of State {{w|John Kerry}}.
|-
| {{w|Bohemian Grove}} || Campground of the private {{w|Bohemian Club}} in San Francisco, known for hosting an annual encampment of club members and selected guests who are among the most powerful men in the world.
|-
| {{w|Political activities of the Koch brothers|The Koch Brothers}} || Owners of the second-largest private company in the USA, known for supporting libertarian and conservative political causes.
|-
| {{w|George Soros}} || Business magnate and investor, known for supporting liberal political causes.
|-
| {{w|The Trilateral Commission}} || {{W|Think tank}} and associated meeting, emphasizing cooperation between North America, Western Europe, and Japan; founded by {{w|David Rockefeller}}
|-
| {{w|Sovereign Military Order of Malta|The Knights of Malta}} || Religious order that was once a sovereign state; contemporary {{w|Malta|Republic of Malta}} is not controlled by this order. Its exact status now is debated; it considers itself a "sovereign subject of international law" and has observer status at the United Nations.
|-
| {{w|Council on Foreign Relations|The CFR}} || Acronym for the {{w|Council on Foreign Relations|Council on Foreign Relations}}. Foreign policy think tank in the United States
|-
| {{w|ExxonMobil|Exxon Mobil}} || Major petroleum corporation; third largest company in the world, by revenue
|-
| {{w|Zionism|The Zionists}} || Political movement favouring the creation of a Jewish homeland, a goal achieved with the creation of the state of {{w|Israel}}. In a conspiracy-theory context, it references the belief that wealthy and powerful Jews (such as the above-referenced Rothschilds) control political and social institutions, as presented e.g. in the (fake) {{w|Protocols of Zion}}.
|-
| {{w|Vril#Vril society|The Vril Society}} || The "Vril" are a hidden subterranean race from the novel ''Vril, the Power of the Coming Race'' by {{w|Edward_Bulwer-Lytton|Edward Bulwer-Lytton}}. The novel allegedly inspired a "Vril Society" in Nazi Germany; however, there is no real evidence that the society existed, much less that it had the influence sometimes ascribed to it.
|-
| {{w|Reptilians|The Lizard People}} || Secret snake-men, similar to the aliens from {{w|V (TV series)}}. This is probably a reference to the conspiracy theories of {{w|David Icke}}, which include the idea that an ancient race of god-like, shapeshifting Lizards have interbred with humans, and that these half-bloods now secretly control the world.
|-
| and everyone else who secretly controls the {{w|Federal government of the United States|US Government}} || Note the implicit notion that so many different groups each have control, which makes no sense.
|}

==Transcript==
:[The picture shows a letter.]
:October 7th 2013
:To: The Freemasons, the Illuminati, Scientology, FEMA, the New World Order, the Federal Reserve, Citigroup, Halliburton, Google, the Vatican, Bilderburg, Walmart, the Rothschilds, the Knights Templar, HAARP, the UN, Skull & Bones, Bohemian Grove, the Koch Brothers, George Soros, the Trilateral Commision, the Knights of Malta, the CFR, Exxon Mobil, the Zionists, the Vril Society, the Lizard People, and everyone else who secretly controls the US government
:Can you please get your shit together?
:This is embarrassing.
:Sincerely,
:A Concerned Citizen

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theory]]

1549: xkcd Phone 3

2015-09-20T01:55:13Z

108.162.241.148: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1549
| date = July 10, 2015
| title = XKCD Phone 3
| image = xkcd_phone_3.png
| titletext = If you're not completely satisfied with the phone after 30 days, we will return you to your home at no cost.
}}

==Explanation==
This is a follow-up to [[1363: xkcd Phone]] and [[1465: xkcd Phone 2]]. It parodies common smartphone specs by attributing absurd or useless features to a fictional phone.

{| class="wikitable"
!Feature
!Explanation
|-
|'''Ear screen'''
| An overcomplicated term for a speaker, connecting a screen which emits light to send visual information and the portion of a speaker which vibrates to send auditory information. Comparing the two makes a speaker a screen for the ear.
|-
|'''Heartbeat accelerator'''
| A mashup of heartbeat sensor and accelerometer. May be some sort of external pacemaker. If that's the case, it's worrying that it only accelerates, potentially causing a positive feedback (heart attack). It may also be the result of the phone being so exciting or frustrating that it increases its user's heart rate.
|-
|'''MobilePay money clip'''
| While mobile pay is a form of payment involving electronic transfers via cellphone, this model includes a money clip; a way of holding physical bills together, which defeats the purpose of electronic payment. Whether this is a clip that transfers money digitally or the phrase mobile pay is just a marketing tag is unknown.
|-
|'''Siri, or whoever it was we put in here'''
| A joke on intelligent personal assistants. It also jokes that Siri and the like are actual people, trapped inside of phones.
|-
|'''Instead of being on surface only, screen goes all the way through'''
| A reference to surface screens. Possible reference to smartphones with screen display wrapping one or more edges, like Samsung Galaxy Note Edge or Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, or dual-screen smartphones with screen on the back (usually e-ink) like YotaPhone 2, or smartphones with minimal bezel like e.g. Sharp AQUOS Crystal.

Screen going ''all the way through'' would leave no place for innards of smartphone: processor, battery etc, and unless each layer is designed to be semi-transparent to see the inner {{w|voxel}}s the inner displays would be unseeable anyway.
|-
|'''theknot.com partnership: Phone licensed to perform wedding ceremonies and does so at random'''
| [https://www.theknot.com/ theknot.com] is a website that assists in all stages of wedding planning. Due to this partnering, the phone has apparently obtained legal status as a {{w|Justice of the peace}} capable of performing legally valid marriages. It exerts this capability randomly, however, so the phone's owner (or potentially any other unsuspecting bystander) could suddenly find themselves with a new spouse without their knowledge, generally an undesired effect{{Citation needed}}. Whether this would result in unintentional {{w|bigamy}} or if the phone restricts itself to pairing up singles, or even enacts divorce first if necessary, is left unclear. May be a reference to how same-sex marriage was fully [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obergefell_v._Hodges legalized] in the United States just two weeks prior to the release of this comic.
|-
|'''Fingerprint randomizer'''
| Presumably randomises the user's fingerprint, which may or may not be inconvenient depending on the intent of the user. It is not clear whether the device will change the person's fingerprint into a human-like fingerprint that is randomly selected from all possibilities, or if it completely mangles the fingerprint of the user. Either way, physically altering the user's finger to this degree will likely involve a painful process. Likely a cynical reference to fingerprint scanners, which are touted as password replacements.
|-
|'''USB E (hotswappable)'''
| A USB port that makes fun of the three current systems, A, B, and recently C, by skipping D completely and jumping to E. The port presumably charges the phone and allows to transfer files like normal, but this kind lets you perform {{w|Hot swapping}} (replacing computer system components without turning the system off) with it, which has always been a feature of USB, so mentioning it is redundant at best.
May be a reference to the eSATAp (Power over eSATA) hybrid port that is functioning as a USB and eSATA port at the same time. The Serial ATA bus interface has standardized hot swapping support.
|-
|'''Waterproof, but can drown'''
| Perhaps a reference to Siri or the person trapped in the phone drowning, but the phone itself staying functional. This is another human-like function, which the first 2 XKCD Phone comics had.
|-
|'''Foretold by prophecy'''
| Likely mocking people on the internet who attempt to predict when Apple will release their next device. Might also be a joke on many videogames, in which the main character is 'the chosen one', because 'the prophecy' foretold it.
|-
|'''Runs Natively'''
| Usually a description given to ported software, as this statement doesn't make any sense when referring to hardware (notable {{w|Transmeta Crusoe|exceptions}} to the norm are few and far between). When software writers would like to run their apps on multiple platforms, they usually have three choices: re-compile the source code into each platform's codebase (often requiring tweaking to handle practical differences in resources between the systems); use a specially 'pre-portable' code that you can {{w|write once, run anywhere}}, such as Java, but requires a suitable interpreter to be written for each platform (and may still require code tweaks to absorb differences in implementations); create a specific emulator/virtual machine to allow existing code to 'see' the platform it was written for, despite the underlying system.
Only the first option is 'running natively', often the most optimised and thus best-performing option, and is usually qualified such as "Runs <Software Name> natively", for particular packages full compiled upon that platform. It would also make little sense for the OS ''itself'' to be non-native, except when intentionally emulating another system (ideally on a more powerful system that can power past the inefficiencies of conversion and translation).
Or, in this case, it may be that the phone has legs and can literally run.
|-
|'''Wristband'''
| Probably mocking trending smart watches, this feature would not be very useful on a full-sized smart phone, as it would be uncomfortable to wear due to its size. Also possibly a follow-up to xkcd Phone 2 being described as a 'phone for your other hand', as the wristband would make it possible to have all three phones accessible at once.
|-
|'''Wireless discharging'''
| Many modern cellphones feature wireless charging, which uses electromagnetic induction to charge the battery of the device. This model, apparently uses the same technology to discharge the battery; which, of course is something undesired, as one needs the battery's energy to run the phone. May also refer to the standard behavior of the phone's antenna, which communicates wirelessly via EM radio waves, but discharges the battery in doing so. It could also be simply and literally describing the nature of all cell phones, and indeed all battery-powered electronic devices, to gradually use the battery (discharging) when there are no wires attached (wireless), since wireless also means no power cord is plugged in (and assuming the absence or non-use of the aforementioned wireless charging function, which this phone may not even have).
|-
|'''Magnetic stripe'''
| Likely a dig at the NFC (near-field communication) wireless radio modules in many modern phones. NFC allows, among others functions, mobile payment. This magnetic stripe could be a cheap way to imitate payment functionality, but "compatible" with classic credit cards.
Magnetic stripes are a data storage method used by devices such as credit cards and key cards to hold and transfer small amounts of information like key codes. Usually cellphones don't have them as they utilize more robust and protected ways to store and transmit data (such as NFC). The magnetic stripe shown would likely be unusable with current magnetic stripe readers due to the phone's thickness, in contrast to that of regular cards, thus breaking all imagined 'compatibility' arguments.
It would also be very annoying as it seems to block part of the screen.
|-
|'''2 AA batteries (not included)'''
| A phrase usually shown on small, low-powered, electronic devices like remote controllers, and not on cellphones; which use lithium-ion batteries and need to be constantly recharged for continuous use.
The apparently thin phone (according to the scale as judged by the wristband) would also preclude inserting AA batteries, unless a protruding battery compartment is hidden out of view on the back of the phone.
Alternatively could mean two Anti-Aircraft (artillery) "batteries" which would be large-caliber guns.
|-
|'''Boneless'''
| Reference to meat or fish products being boneless, i.e. having all the bones removed, making it convenient to cook or eat. Unclear why a phone would be boneless since it is mostly inedible, perhaps a reference to the person trapped inside having their bones removed to make them easier to fit inside, or stating that the phone is flexible. A possible reference to the iPhone 6's reported problems with its chassis, where it {{w|IPhone 6#Chassis bending|could bend under pressure}}
Likely a reference to "Bone Conduction Microphones" implying that needing bones to work is a disadvantage and this phone has the feature of being "Boneless".
|}

The phrase "We made another one®©™" is a reference to how phone companies release new phones very often, and the trademarks that surround the phone itself.

The title text is a joke on guarantees and customer service. Usually the advertisement says that if the customer is not satisfied with the product, they'll refund the money and take the product back at no additional cost. In this case they guarantee the customer they'll send him/her home without charge; implying they won't fix or refund anything. Or that due to anticipated but unspecified faults of some kind, the phone's owner will ''need'' help to get back home when things go wrong, and probably be thankful for such assistance, in yet another example of a worryingly non-specific 'reassurance'.

==Transcript==
{{Incomplete transcript}}
:Ear screen
:Heartbeat accelerator
:MobilePay money clip
:Siri, or whoever it was we put in here
:Instead of being on surface only, screen goes all the way through
:theknot.con partnership: Phone licensed to perform wedding ceremonies and does so at random
:Fingerprint randomizer
:USB E (hotswappable)
:waterproof, but can drown
:Foretold by prophecy
:Runs Natively
:Wristband
:Wireless discharging
:Magnetic stripe
:2 AA batteries (not included)
:boneless

:Introducing
:The XKCD phone 3
:we made another one®©™

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Smartphones]]

526: Converting to Metric

2015-09-20T01:53:48Z

108.162.241.148: /* Temperature */

{{comic
| number = 526
| date = January 5, 2009
| title = Converting to Metric
| image = converting to metric.png
| titletext = According to River, "adequate" vacuuming systems drain the human body at about half a liter per second.
}}
==Explanation==
Most people will eventually develop an intuitive feel for how big certain measurements are (e.g., how long an inch or a foot is, how much a pound weighs). This comic points out that people who were brought up using the {{w|United States customary units|United States system of customary units}} probably don't have the same intuitive understanding for metric units and attempts to provide some benchmarks for these people. Most of the benchmarks are common sense, highly-useful ones (e.g., if it's 30 degrees centigrade [86 °F], you'd be quite comfortable outside dressed for the beach) but some of the benchmarks are humorous and/or completely useless. Benchmarks include:

===Temperature===
* {{w|Extremes on Earth|Earth's hottest}}: 60⁠°C [140 °F]: The hottest temperature recorded on earth is actually {{W|List_of_weather_records#Heat|"only" 56.7}}. There have been reports of ten-twenty degrees higher (70-80⁠°C) but these measurements are not verified or accepted as world records.
* Various heat waves: {{w|Dubai}} is a city in the United Arab Emirates, and is smack-dab in the middle of an equatorial desert, so their heat waves can get ''hot!''. The southern Unites States will typically be a few degrees hotter than the northern United States simply because it's closer to the equator, but as mentioned they're both above "Beach Weather".
*30°C [86 °F]: A little too hot so perfect for a trip to the beach.
*20°C [68 °F]: Is defined as room temperature in many experimental settings. For some this would feel a little cool. But 25°C [77°] would as mentioned be too warm for room temperature...
*10°C [50 °F]: Definitely wear a jacket. Especially if there is just a little breeze.
*0⁠°C [32 °F]: The freezing point of water (32°⁠F)
*-5 to -10°C: In Moscow -10°C is not really that cold - it can go "spit goes clink" cold in {{W|Moscow#Climate|Moscow}}, whereas -5°C [23 °F] in {{W|Boston#Climate|Boston}} may be very cold...
*-20°C: FuckFuckFuckCold and -30°C - Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck!: This is implied to be basically what some people would say when they step outside at this temperature. In reality, it would be best to keep ones's mouth firmly closed. At -30°C, without taking wind chill into account, exposed skin will feel painful in under a minute and frostbite could begin in as little as ten minutes [http://www.ec.gc.ca/meteo-weather/default.asp?lang=En&n=5FBF816A-1]. The differing statements seem to imply that at -20°C, the user would be saying "fuck" repeatedly, whereas at -30°, the user is incapable of closing their mouth after starting the first "fuck", and so extends it into one long one.
*-40⁠°C: Spit goes "clink": As shown in the drawing your spit would freeze ''before'' it hits the ground. This is the crossing point of the two temperature scales i.e. -40°C = -40 °F.

===Length===
*1 cm [.4 inch] : Width of microSD card and 3 cm - Length of SD card: Refers to the {{w|MicroSD card|memory cards}} used in cell phones, digital cameras, etc.
*12 cm [almost 5 inches]: CD-ROM is a common object so nice to know it is a dozen centimeters.
*14 cm [5 1/2 inches]: Most males would probably exaggerate the size of their penis, but 14–15 cm is very average.
*15 cm [almost 6 inches]: A Bic pen
*80 cm [31 1/2 inches]: A typical doorway is also of standard size. This is barely over the minimum size typically required by codes for buildings [30 inches or 76.2 cm], but more than 50% over the size required for aircraft emergency exits. (It may seem illogical that larger doors are required in buildings than in airplanes, given airplanes are arguably more dangerous. However, there is no real disadvantage to using larger doors in buildings, which are not significantly pressurized, but using larger doors in aircraft would increase the force on the door caused by cabin pressure proportionally.)
*1 m [39.37 inches]: {{w|Lightsaber|Lightsaber blade}}: Refers the weapon used in the {{w|Star Wars}} movie franchise. Canonically, the length of a lightsaber's blade varies greatly depending on the setting of the weapon, but "one meter" is by no means a bad approximation.
*170 cm [5 feet, 7 inches]: {{w|Summer Glau}}: Refers to the height of the actress who portrays the character River Tam on the TV show {{w|Firefly (TV series)|Firefly}}.
*200 cm [6 feet, 6 and 3/4 inches]: Darth Vader: Refers to the height of the main antagonist from Star Wars.
*2.5 m [almost 10 feet]: Ceiling - of course very much depending on which type of building you are in!
*5 m [almost twenty feet]: Car length - also very much depending on the car...
*16 m 4 cm: Human tower of Serenity crew: Again, this refers to the Firefly TV show, which takes place mostly on a space ship called Serenity.
**Presumably, if all the crew of Serenity were stacked on top of each other, this would be their combined height.
**The comic depicts four characters from the show standing on top of each other; the bottom figure is the crew's captain, {{w|Malcolm Reynolds}} in his signature coat. Judging from the other drawing of Summer Glau from the volume section, she is standing on top of the captain.
**The other five members of the crew should also be stacked on top of these four to reach the 16m height - giving them an average height of 1.82 m (12 cm more than Summer Glaus height!)

===Speed===
:Here both the SI unit m/s as well as the more used unit kph (km per hour) is given.
*5 kph [3 mph] - 1.5 m/s: Walking at a normal pace
*13-25 kph [8-15 mph]: Jogging to sprinting.
*35 kph [21.75 mph] - 10 m/s: Fastest human: As of 2009, the fastest a human has been recorded to run in a single sprint is actually 45 kph, a record set by {{w|Usain Bolt}}.
*45-55 kph: Both cats and rabbits go much faster than normal people.
*75 kph [46.6 mph] - 20 m/s: Raptor: It's a comic written by [[Randall]], of course a reference to the {{w|velociraptors}} from ''{{w|Jurassic Park (film)|Jurassic Park}}'' was going to be here.
*100 kph - 25 m/s: A slow highway (62 mph).
*110 kph [68.35 mph] - 30 m/s: Interstate (65 mph): Refers to the {{w|Interstate|American highway system}}. (65 mph would actually be only 104.6 kph.)
*120 kph - 35 m/s: Speed you actually go when it says "65": People routinely break the aforementioned speed limit, and the police typically don't mind as long as it's not posing any danger. For the record, 120 kph is 74 mph.
*140 kph - 40 m/s (87-89mph): Raptor on hoverboard: The {{w|hoverboard}} is probably a reference to the ''{{w|Back to the Future Part II}}'', though it's a fairly common trope in older science fiction stories. Randall obviously did a lot of google searching on this subject the week before - see [[522: Google Trends]].

===Volume===
*3 ml: The amount of blood in a fieldmouse. A similar amount is used in comic [[434: xkcd Goes to the Airport]], but instead of a fieldmouse, the measurement of blood is of a churchmouse, an imaginary animal created by Lewis Carroll. Click [[434: xkcd Goes to the Airport|here]] for a more on [[434: xkcd Goes to the Airport|comic 434]].
*5 ml: A teaspoon - a very common measure.
*30 mL: Nasal passages and 40mL - Shot glass: The comic points out that you could just about fill a shot glass using the mucus from your nose. Since shot glasses are usually used for mixed drinks, the comic jokes that this mucus could constitute a new, disgusting drink - and this is depictured in the drawing.
*350 ml: Soda can (this is roughly correct for the cans used in the U.S., which hold 12 fluid ounces; in Europe, soda cans commonly hold 330ml or 500 ml).
*500 ml: Water bottle (this is the also the volume of a European water bottle).
*3 L: Two-liter bottle: Refers to a bottle which contains two liters (in the US usually soda). There is debate as to the reason for the discrepancy in volume. It may be a reference to stereotypical Americans consuming a lot of high-calorie foods and drinks.
*5 L: An adult male has about 5 L of blood in his body (An ''adequate'' vacuuming system could drain this blood out in 10 s - as per the title text!)
*30 L: Milk crate: Refers to a {{w|Milk crate|type of small box}} originally used to transport milk but now often in demand to be used as bicycle basket, storage spaces, etc.
*55 L: Summer Glau: Again, this refers to the actress from Firefly.
*65 L: {{w|Dennis Kucinich}}: An American politician belonging to the {{w|Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic party}}, noted for his relatively strong (for the US) leftist views.
*75 L: {{w|Ron Paul}}: An American politician belonging to the rival {{w|Republican Party (United States)|Republican party}}, noted for his strong rightist views.
*200 L: Volume of refrigerator.
*As shown in the drawing of this part of the comic, the three persons mentioned above - Glau, Kucinich and Paul (summing up to 195 L) - could in principle all fit inside a standard refrigerator. Cueball thus attempts to push them all inside of one - though it would obviously be very uncomfortable for all parties involved to be trapped in such a small space with not much room between them.

===Mass===
*3 g: {{w|M&M's|Peanut M&M}}: A small chocolate candy with a peanut inside
*100 g: Cell phone - this very much depends on the age of the cell phone, and the type etc.
*500 g [1 lb.]: A bottle of water contains 500 ml according to the volume section and thus have mass of 500 g.
*1–3 kg: Different types of laptops. The newest and the best is the lightest...
*5 kg [11 lb.]: {{w|LCD monitor}}: A modern flat-screen-style monitor.
*15 kg: {{w|CRT monitor}}: An older-style, cathode ray tube-based monitor.
**This ends the section on computer screens, which overrode the normal sequence by weight as the next two feline inspired entries are lighter than the two before.
*4 kg: Cat and 4.1 kg - Cat (with caption): Refers to the internet's love of putting {{w|Lolcat|captions on cats}}. Usually, this is done in a graphics program, but here the cat is actually physically carrying around his caption. The "with caption" part is most likely a reference to [[262: IN UR REALITY]], where [[Black Hat]] glues captions to cats, after running out of staples.
*60 kg [130 lb.]: Lady - for instance if she is Summer Glau - could be her again depicted in the comic - average weight of an adult woman.
*70 kg [150 lb.]: Dude - here depicted as Cueball who is the average guy, and 70 kg is average weight for an adult man.
*150 kg: Shaq: {{w|Shaq|Shaquille O'Neal}}, a famously tall basketball player.
*200 kg [440 lb.]: Your mom
*220 kg: Your mom (incl. 20 kg of cheap jewelry) and
*223 kg: Your mom (also incl. 3 kg of makeup)
*These last refers to a common type of {{w|Your mom}} joking insult whereby someone insults someone else's mother in a creative way. Here, the comic slyly calls your mom fat, then implies she wears way too much jewelry and finally also almost 7 pounds of makeup. This is a common theme in [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Your_Mom xkcd]. (Twenty kg of "cheap" jewelry has several times the volume than 20 kg of gold jewelry, because of the difference in density.)

===Title text===
The title text refers once again to Summer Glau's Firefly character, {{w|River Tam}}, who (after being subjected to a long series of medical experiments) is severely mentally ill and often comes out with macabre — though scientifically accurate — pronouncements.

==Transcript==
:'''Guide to Converting to Metric'''

:[There are five frames with tables for different units. Between the two upper frames is the following text:]
:The key to converting to metric is establishing
:new reference points. When you hear "26°C",
:instead of thinking "That's 79°F" you should think,
:"that's warmer than a house but cool for swimming."
:Here are some helpful tables of reference points:

:[The frame to the left of the above text:]
:Temperature:
:{| class="wikitable"
|60°C||Earth's hottest
|-
|45°C||Dubai heat wave
|-
|40°C||Southern US heat wave
|-
|35°C||Northern US heat wave
|-
|30°C||Beach weather
|-
|25°C||Warm room
|-
|20°C||Room temperature
|-
|10°C||Jacket weather
|-
|0°C||Snow!
|-
| -5°C||Cold day (Boston)
|-
| -10°C||Cold day (Moscow)
|-
| -20°C||Fuckfuckfuckcold
|-
| -30°C||Fuuuuuuuuuuck!
|-
| -40°C||Spit goes "clink"
|}
:[Next to the last three entries we see Cueball spitting on the ground. The spit bounces.]
:Cueball: Ptoo
:Spit: Clink!

:[The frame to the right of the above text:]
:Length
:{| class="wikitable"
|1 cm||Width of microSD card
|-
|3 cm||Length of SD card
|-
|12 cm||CD diameter
|-
|14 cm||Penis
|-
|15 cm||BIC pen
|-
|80 cm||Doorway width
|-
|1 m||Lightsaber blade
|-
|170 cm||Summer Glau
|-
|200 cm||Darth Vader
|-
|2.5 m||Ceiling
|-
|5 m||Car-length
|-
|16 m 4 cm||Human tower of Serenity crew
|}
:[To the right of the table is a human tower of four of the people from the Serenity crew. The head of the upper person is right below the first entry.]

:[The frame below to the left:]
:Speed
:{| class="wikitable"
|kph|| m/s||
|-
|5||1.5||Walking
|-
|13||3.5||Jogging
|-
|25||7||Sprinting
|-
|35||10||Fastest human
|-
|45||13||Housecat
|-
|55||15||Rabbit
|-
|75||20||Raptor
|-
|100||25||Slow highway
|-
|110||30||Interstate (65 mph)
|-
|120||35||Speed you actually go when it says “65”
|-
|140||40||Raptor on hoverboard
|}

:[The frame below in the middle:]
:Volume
:{| class="wikitable"
|3 mL||Blood in a fieldmouse
|-
|5 mL||Teaspoon
|-
|30 mL||Nasal passages
|-
|40 mL||Shot glass
|-
|350 mL||Soda can
|-
|500 mL||Water bottle
|-
|3 L||Two-liter bottle
|-
|5 L||Blood in a human male
|-
|30 L||Milk crate
|-
|55 L||Summer Glau
|-
|65 L||Dennis Kucinich
|-
|75 L||Ron Paul
|-
|200 L||Fridge
|}
:[Next to the entry on nasal passages and shoot glass (starting one entry higher and finishing one entry lower) are the following text:]
:So, when it's blocked
:the mucus in your
:nose could about
:fill a shot glass.
:[Below this text is a drawing of a mucus filled shot glass.]
:Related: I've
:invented the
:worst mixed
:drink ever.
:[Below this next to the four last entries we see Cueball shoving Summer Glau, Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul into an open fridge. Above the fridge in a loosely drawn ellipse are the following text:]
:55+65+75<200

:[The frame below to the right:]
:Mass
:{| class="wikitable"
|3 g||Peanut M&M
|-
|100 g||Cell phone
|-
|500 g||Bottled water
|-
|1 kg||Ultraportable laptop
|-
|2 kg||Light-medium laptop
|-
|3 kg||Heavy laptop
|-
|5 kg||LCD monitor
|-
|15 kg||CRT monitor
|-
|4 kg||Cat
|-
|4.1 kg||Cat (with caption)
|-
|60 kg||Lady
|-
|70 kg||Dude
|-
|150 kg||Shaq
|-
|200 kg||Your mom
|-
|220 kg||Your mom (incl. cheap jewelry)
|-
|223 kg||Your mom (also incl. makeup)
|}
:[Next to the entries of cat and cat (with caption) are two drawings of cats. The second one has a caption across its chest.]
:Cat (with caption): Mrowl?
:[Below this and next to the lady and dude entries (and the Shaq entry) are drawings of Megan and Cueball.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Velociraptors]]
[[Category:Your Mom]]
[[Category:Firefly]]

1465: xkcd Phone 2

2015-09-20T01:48:16Z

108.162.241.148: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1465
| date = December 26, 2014
| title = xkcd Phone 2
| image = xkcd_phone_2.png
| titletext = Washable, though only once.
}}

==Explanation==
This is a followup to [[1363: xkcd Phone]], which debuted the original xkcd phone. Like xkcd Phone "1", this comic parodies modern smartphone advertising with a promotional image for a fictional phone. Like the previous xkcd phone, the advertisement features a useless tagline (very few people can use two phones at the same time) and touts a variety of features which are either pointless, misleading, or physically impossible. Clockwise, from the top left, they are:

*'''MaxHD: Over 350 pixels per screen''': 350 pixels is not very impressive, as each would be about 0.5×0.5 cm in size, making the resolution hopelessly blocky. Even if it implies 350 pixels along the edge, this is still less than standard definition TV (PAL gives 576 lines of horizontal resolution). Likely a reference to HD+, FullHD, QuadHD and other marketing expressions for screen resolutions, by which common users are often confused. In [[732: HDTV]] Randall has observed that HD is not an especially high resolution when compared with smartphone or computer monitors. This one is even worse by far, but MaxHD sounds similar to FullHD, so it could fool some users into thinking that this is equal or better.
: ''Note:'' A high pixel density display is more than 200 pixels per '''''inch''''', not per '''''screen'''''. An example would be the Retina Display in Apple hardware which varies from 218 pixels per inch to 401 pixels per inch depending on the device.
*'''Always-on Speaker''': An always-on microphone is a genuine feature, allowing voice activated intelligent personal assistant software such as Google's "Google Now", Apple's "Siri" or Microsoft's "Cortana" to respond without having to be turned on. An always-on speaker would be less useful especially if it implies the phone is always making noise.
*'''Blood Pressure reliever''': This appears to be where a real phone would have its front facing camera. This could imply that it's a sharp part that you can cut yourself on, thus ''relieving'' your blood pressure, or else implying that the other features of the phone are so frustrating that a feature was required to relieve the users' blood pressure. This is likely a play on modern smartphones with built-in heart rate/blood pressure sensors.
*'''Auto-Rotating Case:''' Phones often feature an "auto-rotating screen", meaning that the display switches between portrait and landscape mode depending on its orientation with respect to gravity. But the case is a physical part of the phone, so making a case that did '''not''' "auto-rotate" with the phone would be the real challenge.
*'''Ribbed:''' A reference to ribbed {{w|condom}}s, which are often advertised as superior to standard ones because the texture can be more physically stimulating to the genitalia. Some other objects can be advertised with the word ribbed as well, but mostly in the context where it allows a firmer grip on the device when wet. Since phones are usually not meant to be used wet, this is a fairly useless feature. May also be a reference to the first phone where the "exterior may be frictionless".
*'''Waterproof (interior only)''': Waterproofing is done to the outside to prevent water from getting in. Exactly what "interior only" means is unclear (the case may be porous, or it may prevent water from ''escaping'') but it's clear that the designers have missed the point.
*'''Googleable''': Another non-feature. Advertising as "-able" is a way for marketing to add features, without really adding features. This may be (for example) a recyclable paper bag, when paper is normally recyclable. Any term may be "Googled", so being "Googleable" is not an actual feature. Alternatively, while "Googleable" meaning "being able to be Googled" is a non-feature, the related concept of "being able to Google" is a legitimate feature that a phone may advertise, as in having a Google search app built in.
*'''Cheek toucher''': The screen will touch your cheek when making a hand-held phone call. Obviously a redundant/pointless feature to advertise.
*'''Cries if lost:''' Arguably a useful function, as it would help the owner find the cellphone in case it was lost. This is offset by how annoying it would sound if it happened to cry with a human voice. May refer to people's habit of calling their own cellphones to help find it. It also resembles the first xkcd phone's functions of 'Screaming when falling' and 'Saying hi when lit'.
*'''Bug drawer:''' This is most likely the cover for other ports, though it looks like a small drawer, capable of only holding bug-sized items. Possibly a joke on software bugs, which would, being virtual rather than physical, easily fit inside this area. SD cards containing software bugs may also fit in this area. May also be a reference to "Phone may attract/trap insects; this is normal" from the original ''xkcd Phone'' comic.
*'''Coin slot:''' In most phones, this would be the charging port. Payphones have coin slots, not smartphones. It is unclear what use such a feature would have, or if it implies that the phone either cannot be recharged through this slot as usual or if cash payment is somehow required to charge the phone.
*'''Scroll lock:''' A computer key on most keyboards which is practically never used. This feature seems to be placed where a usual cellphone's "home" button is, which would make it very frustrating. Despite [[978|a previous xkcd strip]], the Scroll Lock button was '''''not''''' invented by {{w|Steven Chu}}.
*'''OS by Stackoverflow®:''' [http://stackoverflow.com/ Stack Overflow] is a very useful and popular question/answer forum for programmers, and many recent software products probably have benefited from advice given there, so Randall may be giving credit where credit really is due. Or it may be a reference to the rampant problem of code reuse, where programmers use the pre-written code on Stack Overflow rather than writing their own, regardless of the fact that the code on Stack Overflow may contain bugs, not be applicable to the programmer's situation, or otherwise cause problems for their specific program. Alternatively, it could be saying that the OS was written by the people on Stack Overflow who go there ''with'' programming issues, implying that the OS was written from code that was posted as not working.
*'''3D Materials:''' All real materials are three-dimensional, so this feature is not special. May be a reference to [[880: Headache]], in which Cueball claims that "3D stuff" (aka the real world) gives him a headache.
*'''Dog Noticer''': Can be interpreted as either alerting the user to nearby dogs, or alerting nearby dogs of the user. The former is very situational, and the latter is probably a negative.
*'''FitBit® Fitness Evaluator''': {{w|Fitbit}} make wristbands that measure heart rate, count user steps, and act as an aid to planning an exercise program. This comic is published on Boxing Day (26 December) 2014 and is relevant as Fitbits are a popular Holiday Gift at this time. However, the name "Fitness Evaluator" suggests that the product merely gives an evaluation on the user's fitness, which may mean that in practice it only criticizes the user's weight, diet etc. Another interpretation is that this monitors the fitness ''of'' the user's FitBit, that is, the state of the armband the person is wearing.
*'''Volume and density control:''' A pun between {{w|volume (disambiguation)|volume}} as in speaker loudness, and {{w|volume}} as in a physical property inversely related to {{w|density}}. Interpreting it as the latter, apparently this feature would allow the user to change the size of the phone (which would indeed be a very useful feature, or a [[1422: My Phone is Dying|very]] {{w|Black hole|worrying}} one), thus changing the volume and the density. It may be able to affect its mass (instead of volume) in some unexplained way. Note that some computer mice indeed have a feature where the user can put weights inside the case to customise the weight and thus actually affect its density.

Like the previous xkcd phone comic, the title text continues the list of features:
*'''Washable, though only once.''': Nothing prevents the phone from physically being washed, however after the first time doing this the phone will obviously cease to function. A play on phrases "washing machine safe" or "dishwasher safe" in real advertisements.

==Transcript==
:[An image of a smartphone, with many labels pointing to it. Clockwise from the top left they read:]
:MaxHD: Over 350 pixels per screen
:Always-on speaker
:Blood pressure reliever
:Auto-rotating case
:Ribbed
:Waterproof (interior only)
:Googleable
:Cheek toucher
:Cries if lost
:Bug drawer
:Coin slot
:Scroll lock
:OS by Stackoverflow®
:3D materials
:Dog noticer
:FitBit® fitness evaluator
:Volume and density control

:[Below the phone:]
:Introducing
:'''The xkcd phone 2'''
:A phone for your other hand®

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Smartphones]]
[[Category:Puns]]

Talk:1577: Advent

2015-09-14T20:18:01Z

108.162.241.148:

16800 squares counted, corresponding to a projected lifespan of 46 years. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.225.124|108.162.225.124]] 04:09, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

This description says "64 small drawers" but each of the small drawer sets contains 70. 7 columns, 10 rows. (Then there are 20 columns of drawer sets, and 12 rows.) [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.115|199.27.133.115]] 04:54, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

Same counting here, I changed the description. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.160|199.27.133.160]] 05:07, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

Use × not x. (Editing with this phone is really hard.) [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.171|173.245.55.171]] 05:13, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

I corrected the number of drawers ((70×12×20)÷365.25≈50) then used that calculation to work out Cueball's approximate age.
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.185|141.101.98.185]] 06:36, 14 September 2015 (UTC)
:Note that (70×12×20)÷365.25≈46. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.154|173.245.50.154]] 12:32, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

Reminds me on the [http://store.waitbutwhy.com/collections/life-calendars Life calendar] from this [http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/life-weeks.html Wait but why post] [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 07:54, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

There is a (common) mistake in the life expectancy calculation in the description. If the life expectancy in the US is 75.9, then that doesn't mean you expected remaining life at 25 will be 50.9 years - otherwise that would imply no-one dies under 25. Since, sadly, many people do die before their 25th birthday, the life expectancy remaining at 25 will be somewhat larger than 50 years. As these tables show: http://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html 50 years remaining corresponds roughly to an age of 27-28. In other words your remaining life expectancy drops by less than one year per year, if no new information is presented (i.e. assuming you don't take up smoking etc.) {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.205}}

There's a link in this explanation stating that the life expectancy refers back to comic 1070. I think this may be the wrong comic, not sure what the correct one should be :/ [[User:apbarratt|apbarratt]] 09:17, 14 September 2015 (UTC)
This is about the title text that mentions "The few dozen doors". 1070 explains that "a few" for most people seems to be anything more than one but at most five.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.49.97|173.245.49.97]] 11:07, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

What struck me about the comic, and which didn't come out clearly yet in the explanation, is the idea of countdown. An advent calendar is a countdown to Christmas, one day at a time. This is a countdown to Cueball's death. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.167|108.162.241.167]] 11:54, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

I was expecting that the alt text would say "'''Your life may be shorter if you eat all of the chocolate'''". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.148|108.162.241.148]] 14:25, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

I don't know about the USA, but in the UK, advent calendars may contain chocolate, but many just show a picture (related to either the Christian or the commercial aspects of Christmas). I'm going to change the description slightly to make that clear. [[User:Cosmogoblin|Cosmogoblin]] ([[User talk:Cosmogoblin|talk]]) 17:10, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

:Yes, I would normally get the chocolate ones from my parents. One year my grandmother gave me one with just pictures inside. I was '''not''' amused. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.148|108.162.241.148]] 20:18, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1577: Advent

2015-09-14T14:26:06Z

108.162.241.148:

Talk:1577: Advent

2015-09-14T14:25:46Z

108.162.241.148:

16800 squares counted, corresponding to a projected lifespan of 46 years. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.225.124|108.162.225.124]] 04:09, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

This description says "64 small drawers" but each of the small drawer sets contains 70. 7 columns, 10 rows. (Then there are 20 columns of drawer sets, and 12 rows.) [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.115|199.27.133.115]] 04:54, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

Same counting here, I changed the description. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.160|199.27.133.160]] 05:07, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

Use × not x. (Editing with this phone is really hard.) [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.171|173.245.55.171]] 05:13, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

I corrected the number of drawers ((70×12×20)÷365.25≈50) then used that calculation to work out Cueball's approximate age.
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.185|141.101.98.185]] 06:36, 14 September 2015 (UTC)
:Note that (70×12×20)÷365.25≈46. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.154|173.245.50.154]] 12:32, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

Reminds me on the [http://store.waitbutwhy.com/collections/life-calendars Life calendar] from this [http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/life-weeks.html Wait but why post] [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 07:54, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

There is a (common) mistake in the life expectancy calculation in the description. If the life expectancy in the US is 75.9, then that doesn't mean you expected remaining life at 25 will be 50.9 years - otherwise that would imply no-one dies under 25. Since, sadly, many people do die before their 25th birthday, the life expectancy remaining at 25 will be somewhat larger than 50 years. As these tables show: http://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html 50 years remaining corresponds roughly to an age of 27-28. In other words your remaining life expectancy drops by less than one year per year, if no new information is presented (i.e. assuming you don't take up smoking etc.) {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.205}}

There's a link in this explanation stating that the life expectancy refers back to comic 1070. I think this may be the wrong comic, not sure what the correct one should be :/ [[User:apbarratt|apbarratt]] 09:17, 14 September 2015 (UTC)
This is about the title text that mentions "The few dozen doors". 1070 explains that "a few" for most people seems to be anything more than one but at most five.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.49.97|173.245.49.97]] 11:07, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

What struck me about the comic, and which didn't come out clearly yet in the explanation, is the idea of countdown. An advent calendar is a countdown to Christmas, one day at a time. This is a countdown to Cueball's death. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.167|108.162.241.167]] 11:54, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

I was expecting that the alt text would say "'''Your life may be shorted if you eat all of the chocolate'''". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.148|108.162.241.148]] 14:25, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1572: xkcd Survey

2015-09-02T16:20:20Z

108.162.241.148:

Mildly interesting to note that the ordering of most of the checkbox/radiobutton lists randomise each time the survery is loaded. Also, there is at least one other comic where Randall comments about not having figured out HTML imagemaps. Anyone remember which? --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 10:52, 2 September 2015 (UTC)
:It was in one of his "under the logo" news bars, about him starting What If, iirc --[[User:Aescula|Aescula]] ([[User talk:Aescula|talk]]) 11:28, 2 September 2015 (UTC)
I wonder how many people, on reading 'Type "cat" here:', typed '"cat" here:'? I know I did... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.214|141.101.98.214]] 11:58, 2 September 2015 (UTC)
:Guilty...--[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 12:08, 2 September 2015 (UTC)
: Me too... However you could have typed '"cat" here:', as well... (/edit: I wonder how many different entries the survey's result will reveal) (/edit2: I did not read properly... sorry. I typed '"cat"' not '"cat" here:' -.-)[[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 12:27, 2 September 2015 (UTC)
: I typed meow -[[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.86|141.101.105.86]] 12:41, 2 September 2015 (UTC)
Not sure if it was just me, but the comic wasn't a link at all! The cursor changed into a No cursor for me everytime I mouseover'd the comic. I went to survey using the "Bonus Link!" below the comic page. [[User:Brilliantnut|Brilliantnut]] ([[User talk:Brilliantnut|talk]]) 12:01, 2 September 2015 (UTC)
:Never mind, this was probably due to the WebComics reader extension that I have in my browser. [[User:Brilliantnut|Brilliantnut]] ([[User talk:Brilliantnut|talk]]) 12:03, 2 September 2015 (UTC)
From hearing people on reddit comment about not being able to completely fill the text box (not just the visual box) with the error "Answer too long", it's caused by a 10k character limit. Presumably by Google Docs. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.192|108.162.249.192]] 13:18, 2 September 2015 (UTC)

The validation choices are interesting.
* "Enter a number between 1 and 100" rejects numbers outside this range (e.g. -1) but also reject valid responses (e.g. π).
* "Enter your age" and "Enter the number of $SIBLING" accept invalid responses such as -1. [[User:Paddles|Paddles]] ([[User talk:Paddles|talk]]) 13:29, 2 September 2015 (UTC)
:I (with ''fairly'' honest intention) tried to give non-numeric answers to the two Think Of A Number questions and my the age one (honestly, I had to actually think about that one, for a moment) and found them restricted to numbers only. So obviously Randall's not ''so'' subversive as to allow free text. (BTW, I've ''only'' driven 'stick shift', though an old friend of mine has just gotten an automatic, I think for the first time, which said was rather posh of him.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.108|141.101.99.108]] 15:55, 2 September 2015 (UTC)

"it's possible that someone may be able to identify you by looking at your responses"
Then why send those informations to Google ? I find the idea of thee survey interesting but why Google doc ? There are other options like Lime Survey. [[User:Seipas|Seipas]] ([[User talk:Seipas|talk]]) 13:37, 2 September 2015 (UTC)
: Given the stated intention to make the collected dataset available publicly, there's no information-security reason to prefer another survey tool over Google. [[User:Paddles|Paddles]] ([[User talk:Paddles|talk]]) 14:21, 2 September 2015 (UTC)

==Not a transcript==
This is mildly interesting, but it is not a transcript. Transcripts are meant mainly for blind people and search engines. Different letter sizes and a frame are not needed. [[User:Xhfz|Xhfz]] ([[User talk:Xhfz|talk]]) 12:54, 2 September 2015 (UTC)
:{| style="text-align:center; border:1pt black solid;"
|| Introducing '''THE XKCD SURVEY''' A search for weird correlations Note: This survey is anonymous, but all responses will be posted publicly so people can play with the data. '''Click here to''' '''take the survey''' Or click here, or here. The whole comic is a link, because I still haven't gotten the hang of HTML imagemaps. 
|}
::The transcript is not only for blind people. And an enhanced layout doesn't harm them but instead it would help them. A speech synthesizer would tell them something like "headline" or "small text at bottom" so that the impaired people would get a much better feeling of the comic. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 15:12, 2 September 2015 (UTC)

I wonder how many people included "battery, horse, staple, correct" in the five random words box.
:I typed ');drop table survey; -- at the end of the random characters text box. I must have been the first person to think of that because the survey was still working. [[User:Jeremyp|Jeremyp]] ([[User talk:Jeremyp|talk]]) 13:46, 2 September 2015 (UTC)

I wish it was funny. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.148|108.162.241.148]] 16:20, 2 September 2015 (UTC)

== Tables Vs Bulleted List ==

The list of questions and possible responses has been added to the explanation by myself and xhfz, in different formats. I went for a wikitable, xhfz used a bulleted list. Rather than just overwrite each other, I think we need to have a discussion on which is the best choice. The reasons I believe a wikitable is the best option:
:*Far better expandability, in anticipation of survey results
:*More structured and neater presentation
In general I tend to lean towards tables, but it is probably a constructive discussion to have for the wiki as a whole. I would be interested to hear opinions of bulleted list vs tables in these types of situation.--[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 13:42, 2 September 2015 (UTC)

If we have a table we need colspan instead of rowspan. On the other hand a table is very difficult to maintain. In addition, the table didn't have space for explanations (another column, maybe). [[User:Xhfz|Xhfz]] ([[User talk:Xhfz|talk]]) 13:44, 2 September 2015 (UTC)

:If you used colspan, questions like "How many of these 20 words do you know" would be excessively wide. Perhaps a combination of colspan and rowspan, or simply a single cell with the responses listed as comma seperated list. As far as adding a column for explanations, its pretty trivial. What I'm getting at is that perhaps the format of a table would need to be optimised, but that is entirely feasible.
:I agree with you as far as tables being more intimidating to edit and maintain, but once set up they aren't that bad.
:Bulleted lists (to me at least) look messy, and tend to lack a coherent structure. As more information is added, sub-levels and sub-sub-levels are added without much thought as to the overall intent. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 14:14, 2 September 2015 (UTC)

By colspan I mean this:
{| class="wikitable"
!Question
!Possible Answers
|-
|colspan="2"|When you think about stuff on the internet, where do you picture it being physically located? Even if you know it's not really how things work, is there a place you imagine websites and social media posts sitting before you look at them? If so, where is it?
|-
|
|''Multi-line text box''
|-
|colspan="2"|Which of these words do you know the meaning of?
|-
|
|Slickle
|-
|
|Rife
|-
|
|Soliloquy
|-
|
|Fination
|-
|
|Stipple
|-
|
|Peristeronic
|-
|
|Modicum
|-
|
|Trephony
|-
|
|Tribution
|-
|colspan="2"|Have you ever thrown out all your different pairs of socks/underwear, bought a bunch of replacements that were all one kind, and then told all your friends how great it was and how they should do it too?
|-
|
|Yes
|-
|
|No
|-
|
|I did the throwing out thing, but didn't talk to everyone about it
|-
|
|No, but I'm totally doing that now
|}
[[User:Xhfz|Xhfz]] ([[User talk:Xhfz|talk]]) 14:44, 2 September 2015 (UTC)

==Missing questions==
Something notably missing which would have greatly helped later analysis was a question about where someone is - Country and/or State. Some of the questions and answers will be differently understood because of that (eg meaning if 'sandwich') --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.65|141.101.98.65]] 14:23, 2 September 2015 (UTC)

:I think that is the whole point though, to provide a data set that actively attempts to ''prevent'' the obvious simple analysis. There are plenty of statistics on how people from place A are more likely to do thing B. What I want to know is "How many people who would class a taco as a sandwich and can drive stick shift are able to juggle?". Also, is it true that most people think they are above average drivers? --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 15:09, 2 September 2015 (UTC)

== Subsections were added for ease of editing ==

You can delete the subsections later. [[User:Xhfz|Xhfz]] ([[User talk:Xhfz|talk]]) 15:30, 2 September 2015 (UTC)
:Ok, I agree on that. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 15:42, 2 September 2015 (UTC)

== I think we shouldn't force the reader to go to Wikipedia ==

I added explanations in "Activities" and twice they were deleted. Why? [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1572:_xkcd_Survey&diff=prev&oldid=100879] [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1572%3A_xkcd_Survey&diff=100921&oldid=100920] [[User:Xhfz|Xhfz]] ([[User talk:Xhfz|talk]]) 15:39, 2 September 2015 (UTC)

:Personally, I think those activities are so easily understood, that adding an "explanation" is not necessary. I think wiki links are sufficient, so that if somehow people don't know what the activities are, they can go look. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 15:45, 2 September 2015 (UTC)

::I know 20,000 words in [http://testyourvocab.com testyourvocab.com]. I also know soliloquy, modicum, amiable and salient. I had never heard of dunk, sheet bend, bowline, or stick shift, but I know the meaning of manual transmission without going to Wikipedia. [[User:Xhfz|Xhfz]] ([[User talk:Xhfz|talk]]) 15:47, 2 September 2015 (UTC)

:::For the record, it wasn't me who deleted the explanations. The fact that Randall included those words in his survey without any explanation shows that they are fairly common words. In the context of the question, the meaning becomes clearer (Tie a sheet bend or bowline = its very likely those are knots), and if people still don't know, they can click on the wiki link. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 16:14, 2 September 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1569: Magic Tree

2015-08-27T05:36:23Z

108.162.241.148: /* It's not Batesian mimicry */

Explanation may benefit from adding that cell phone tower appearance has evolved to be more treelike.
[[http://www.linkedin.com/in/Comet Comet]] 05:07, 26 August 2015 (UTC)

I know XKCD isn't really heavy on proportions, but the heads look slightly bigger in all but the last panel. It kinda makes both characters look like children initially. -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.162|108.162.250.162]] 07:02, 26 August 2015 (UTC)

Could the "giants in yellow helmets" be a reference to Clash of Clans? [[User:Aruta|Aruta]] ([[User talk:Aruta|talk]]) 10:13, 26 August 2015 (UTC)
:I don't think so. [[User:Sobsz|Sobsz]] ([[User talk:Sobsz|talk]]) 10:30, 26 August 2015 (UTC)

== It's not Batesian mimicry ==

Evolutionary biologist here: '''it's not Batesian mimicry. It's mimesis.'''

Archetypal mimesis is a stick insect looking like a twig, because predators don't care about twigs. It's the same thing here: trees looking like telegraph poles, because people don't care about telegraph poles.

It has nothing to do with the telegraph pole's defences (what would that mean?). Without defences, you can't have Batesian mimicry. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.176|141.101.98.176]] 11:29, 26 August 2015 (UTC)

Cell phone towers evolved to look like trees to defend themselves against people who would object to their presence on grounds of visual blight.
http://www.wired.com/2013/03/dillon-marsh-invasive-species/
[[http://www.linkedin.com/in/Comet Comet]] 22:41, 26 August 2015 (UTC)

I think that cell towers do have defenses. When you wound them, they start emiting utility workers, policemans and lawyers. (I'm sure the operator will get message if BTS is disconnected.) -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 12:49, 26 August 2015 (UTC)

I don't if it is relevant but there is an old MSX game called magical tree that displayed the tree in side view in a very similar way. http://www.mobygames.com/game/msx/magical-tree ZeroA4 {{unsigned ip|188.114.98.202}}

:That is a striking resemblance and an identical name. Makes me wonder if it was an inspiration. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.148|108.162.241.148]] 05:36, 27 August 2015 (UTC)

The third paragraph needs amending. "...attempt to mimic cellphone towers" implies conscious evolution, and the reference to the tower's "defenses" is a relic of the Batesian mimicry reference. What I'm guessing is happening (I'm not an evolutionary biologist) is that trees with a slightly more towerlike appearance are slightly less likely to be cut down by predatory Beret Guys, and will survive to pass similar traits onto their offspring, and over millions of years certain lineages of celltowertrees will increasingly resemble treecelltowers built by humans in turn to resemble them. The claim that this is a "standard textbook example of convergent evolution" is tongue-in-cheek more than facetious; a real example of it ought to be used rather than the Terry Pratchett reference, which seems to illustrate conscious evolution.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.108|141.101.99.108]] 17:00, 26 August 2015 (UTC)