explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:3022: Making Tea

2024-12-11T09:00:29Z

141.101.98.22:

I wonder where [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Tea_Party making it in Boston Harbor, at ambient temperature, at scale] would fit on this scale. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.162|172.70.206.162]] 04:38, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
: A little to the left of the microwave thing. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.252|162.158.186.252]] 05:14, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
:: Oh, no, much further to the right. You stole our colony from us, set up some tinpot, pretended 'country' in its place, and you didn't even have the class to make a decent cup of tea first. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.93|12.68.205.93]] 06:24, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
:: And, even if [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-68085304 this guy] is right, ''way'' too much salt... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.130|172.70.91.130]] 07:03, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
::: Soyuz nyerushimyy respublik svobodnik... [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 14:13, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
:::: Well maybe if you didnt force us to buy discounted tea from you after fighting a war for us, we wouldn't be in this situation. [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 15:43, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
::::: Yeah, a tiny island should not have that much control over a fractionable part of a continent [[User:Danger Kitty|Danger Kitty]] ([[User talk:Danger Kitty|talk]])
: I would like to as a british person to corroborate this, in the 80's my Dad visited the USA (he did go to florida) and still is complaining that the freshly boiled water wasn't poured directly onto the tea bag but was instead the tea bag and the hot water(now luke warm water) and bag was delivered separately!!! The delivery of freshly boiling water on to the bag is the major issue with microwaves, not the nucleation thing in my experience. Bear in mind I don't even actually like tea, still care enough to right this, but i'll be signing this anonymously to avoid shame being bought on my family and my family's familys. Murderous royals are a lot less popular the tea [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.227|108.162.245.227]]
:: I first visited the US in 1980. A friend who was with hate coffee and was horrified when he ordered tea that he got the water and the tea bag separately. When he suggested they add the water as soon as it was boiled, the wait staff thought he was joking. Many years later in Texas, a waiter asked me why I, a Brit, was drinking coffee, not tea. "You don't know how to make it," I replied. (In my house, the electric kettle and teapot sit next to each other on the kitchen worktop.)--[[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.135|172.70.160.135]] 09:22, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

When I make ramen, I put the measuring cup in the microwave. Fight me. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.167.87|162.158.167.87]] 05:35, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
:: On behalf of the British Empire: whateva. [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 18:28, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

"...to the point virtually every home has an electric tea kettle as a standard appliance". If I'm reading it correctly, this and the comic suggests we (though not I, as I'm not a tea-drinker) make tea ''in the electric kettle''. Electric tea-urns, yes, or maybe a setup like a samovar. But, generally, the kettle itself (and, so far as I'm aware, always with an electric kettle) is used to heat the water, which you then pour into the tea''pot'' into which the requisite number of tealeaves/teabags are also put to steep. (Or, for the lazy way, into the mug-with-teabag.) I wouldn't be able to use my electric kettle to (for example) make my instant mashed-potato into the actual mash, if I'd have regularly used it to mash tea. Or top up the boiling saucepan that I'd realised I'd not quite enough water in to cover the pasta/vegetables/whatever. Or to easily add nust a little more heat (with less new water) to the washing-up bowl than would be possible from the hot tap, back to as hot as possible without scalding me. – Whether intentional or not, I suspect Randall has the role of kettle and teapot mixed up, and so (without the intent to parody) has the editor who wrote the above. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.135|172.70.160.135]] 05:49, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
:: Agree, we make tea in a mug using water from a kettle. I'd be furious if an American made tea in my kettle, how will I then make up my instant Nescafe? [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 18:28, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

I don't think the section on 'Boiling the water in a pot' refers to a teapot - I think it means boiling the water in a pot on the hob, and then making tea with it (in a pot/mug). [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.27|172.69.195.27]] 07:53, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
:I agree, but I also think there's a language issue with the use of pot vs. pan that makes things more confusing. I think there are several types of cookware that Americans call pot and British call pan. So British would not say they boil water in a pot but rather in a saucepan (if there's no kettle available of course). [[User:Mtcv|Mtcv]] ([[User talk:Mtcv|talk]]) 09:03, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

I (as Brit) am uncommon in using an electric filter coffee machine to make tea (two bags in what is supposed to be the coffee filter). Set up, press the button and come back to a not jug of fresh tea which is not stewed. If later, the hot plate has shut off and it is cold, you can zap it in a mug in the microwave. [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 08:11, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
: As another brit, what? I do not understand the mechanics of this, please elaborate. Additionally, my understanding is that the water would be *briefly acquainted* with the tea, thus would be a poor facsimile of "tea" and would rather be closer to something the americans would attempt. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.126|141.101.99.126]] 11:46, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
::I'm guessing the water would drip on to the teabags, then soak all the way through them and drip out into the jug, without allowing sufficient to accumulate that it would run straight out without passing fully through the bag. It's an intriguing idea. But most definitely wrong.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.239|172.70.85.239]] 17:15, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

Thanks, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yMMTVVJI4c Technology Connections]! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.109.167|141.101.109.167]] 09:51, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

You Westerners have literally no idea how to make proper, good tea! SMH [[User:TPS|TPS]] ([[User talk:TPS|talk]]) 13:00, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

As a Brit who grew up in sight of the Yorkshire Tea factory – and worked there on occasion – and having travelled very widely around the world – including in the US – I feel I'm supposed to have an opinion. However, I have ''never'' encountered the microwaving of water as mentioned here, and I would not object to it as supposedly problematic for tea-quality reasons. I'd object for reasons of common sense. What mystifies me is the idea that kettles are tea-specific. They are for heating water, not making tea. Coffee uses hot water. Pasta, rice and potatoes use hot water. Peas, carrots, cabbage, sweetcorn...

Baking bread often involves a pan of steaming water in the oven.

"But I can boil water in a pan for cooking pasta or vegetables."

Yes, but you'll be waiting a l-o-o-o-ng time. I'll heat my water in the kettle, pour it into the now-hot pan, cook my pasta, and I'll be eating before your water is boiling.

A kettle is not a tea-making item any more than a frying pan is an omelette-making item; tea is simply one of the things you can make with water from a kettle. Hot water is a basic civilised human commodity, predating recorded history. That we should live in a mechanised world, and the Consumer Nation doesn't have water-boiling appliances as standard (saying instead "I don't have a kettle because I don't drink tea") is ludicrous.

Using a microwave rather than buying a kettle is a bit like not buying a hammer for driving in nails because you've got a big pair of pliers that will do. Sure, they're heavy lumps of metal than live in your toolbag, but they're not the right thing.

The Brits, incidentally, are not tea lovers. They are prolific consumers of awful tea that actual tea lovers wouldn't use for cleaning their drains. The most enthusiastic tea enthusiasts I've ever met were from Maryland.

It's all just social ceremony in the UK. Milk first, tea first, must use a saucer, must use a pot...tea is a British religion, not a British drink.[[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 14:23, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
: How long does it take you to boil water for, let's say enough water for four people's worth of pasta, using an electric kettle? I reckon that's about 4 liters of water? I'm genuinely curious. Now also double the time, because as mentioned in the explanation, American outlets produce half the power of British outlets. And let me not fail to mention that almost all American homes have either special higher power outlets for stoves or gas powered stoves, and frequently have special high-power outlets for microwaves as well. 4 liters of water to boil takes about 5-6 minutes on a low-end American stove, about 3-4 minutes on a gas stove, and about 2 minutes on an induction stove. None of which strikes me as a particularly long time, especially when the most popular varieties of pasta in America all need to be boiled for 8+ minutes. How does this compare to twice the length of time as your electric kettle? Because if your Electric Kettle actually allows you to be eating your pasta before our water has even boiled, that would require your kettle to boil water in around -2min to -6min. And if your electric kettle can time travel, then that is truly an astonishing device. Honestly my takeaway from this is that British Stoves must be apparently heated by a single candle if "boiling water for pasta" is considered to take a "l-o-o-o-ng time". {{unsigned ip|162.158.126.161|21:51, 10 December 2024 (UTC)}}

I wonder what the Brits would feel about repurposing a single-cup coffee maker. These days, I usually put a tea bag in a mug and place it in a Keurig machine and run it (without a K-cup, of course) to deliver the hot water. Probably the wrong temperature, but fast and easy and the result is good enough. [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 14:52, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

Would any British person care to evaluate my tea making practices? Boil water in electric kettle. Pour water over teabag, allow to steep, remove teabag. Add sugar and ice cubes. [[User:RegularSizedGuy|RegularSizedGuy]] ([[User talk:RegularSizedGuy|talk]]) 15:54, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
:...well, seems a fairly standard "making one mug of tea for oneself" process. It lacks a milk-adding stage (thus no arguments about whether before or after the water). Removing the teabag at that point probably means it's not going to become a Builders' Brew, which is your choicd. Sugar is ok. And... Waitwhat... ''Ice Cubes?!?'' ...can I get back to you on that? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.163|172.70.162.163]] 17:50, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

I can confirm (by inadvertent experiments conducted on flatmates) that they indeed do not like tea being make in the kettle. What really makes them angry though is making coffee in the teapot. It ruins the taste of the teapot forever apparently. There is also a faction that insists that a teapot should never be washed, and washing it invokes a lesser anger.[[User:Gopher|Gopher]] ([[User talk:Gopher|talk]]) 15:56, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

On rare occasions where I don't have a kettle available, I use a microwave oven to boil water for tea. But it doesn't look and taste quite the same, and often leaves an ugly foam at the surface when the tea bag is added. This phenomenon is investigated here: https://cooking.stackexchange.com/a/22264. So the British might be right... Disclaimer: I'm neither from the UK nor from the US. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.126|172.69.68.126]] 16:16, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

There is a [https://www.tumblr.com/elodieunderglass/669449994039853056/wizardlyghost-silverjirachi-pidoop tumblr thread] about the topic of teamaking in microwaves, kettles, etc. Funnily enough it showed up in my Instagram reels feed just a few hours before this comic was posted. I was thinking perhaps Randall saw it too and was inspired by it? Both of them have to deal with the different ways of making tea and how "absurd" or "unconventional" (etc.) they are. Even if Randall didn't have it in mind, it's certainly a funny little coincidence. [[User:Pie Guy|Pie Guy]] ([[User talk:Pie Guy|talk]]) 16:36, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

I'm guessing my occasional summertime practice of filling a gallon jar with water and lots of tea bags, setting it on the back porch in the sun for a few hours until the water turns dark brown, then putting the whole thing in the refrigerator and later drinking it over ice would be toward the more angry end of the spectrum.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.204|172.70.126.204]] 16:39, 10 December 2024 (UTC)Pat
:I think the "in the sun for a few hours" part might just be too incomprehensible to most of us, here in Britain. If we ''have'' a few hours of sun (and we're not abroad and deliberately sunburning ourselves on the beach/beside the pool in our week at the Costa Lotta budget-all-inclusivs holiday) then we're either fuming at our workdesks complaining about the louts stripping down to their shirtsleeves and splashing in the town-centre fountains or we're on our lunch-break and we ''are'' the louts stripping down to our shirtsleeves and splashing in the town-centre fountains. In neither case would sun-stewed tea be a priority. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.163|172.70.162.163]] 17:50, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

Perhaps it's worth to mention how dangerous it is to boil water in a microwave. https://tastecooking.com/dangerous-microwave-water/
[[User:Mestafais|Mestafais]] ([[User talk:Mestafais|talk]]) 15:22, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

There are several comics with unmarked scales. It would be interesting if the descriptions started using pixels to point where each mark is along the line. As a rough estimate, the four points mentioned here are at X-values: 90px, 115px, 345px, and 645px, indicating that the pot method is 10% as infuriating as the chalice method - or that making tea in a pot ten times would be equally as infuriating as making it once in a chalice (at least, assuming the kettle method causes zero furons. I know of {{w|hedons and dolors}}. I guess 'furons' are a unit of fury, right? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.46.236|172.70.46.236]] 16:11, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

Interesting to see the interest in editing this. Had a quick check of the last ten comics, looking at the number of edits made in the first 14 hours (the exact time this page has been around, as of me starting the check) and in total, and extrapolated to edits/day (in the case of total edits, both just to the latest edit and right up to 'now'). Thought it'd be interesting to give you my results (assuming I tallied/etc correctly)...
*3022 - 14hr: '''61''' ('''105'''/day); Total: 61 ('''105/day...''')
*3021 - 14hr: 23 (39/day); Total: 39 (11/day -> 10/day)
*3020 - 14hr: 22 (38/day); Total: 36 (10/day -> 6/day)
*3019 - 14hr: 28 (48/day); Total: 54 (17/day -> 7/day)
*3018 - 14hr: 14 (24/day); Total: 48 (4/day -> 4/day)
*3017 - 14hr: 29 (50/day); Total: 33 (32/day -> 3/day)
*3016 - 14hr: 28 (48/day); Total: 46 (4/day -> 3/day)
*3015 - 14hr: 20 (32/day); Total: '''83''' (5/day -> 5/day)
*3014 - 14hr: 40 (69/day); Total: 66 (16/day -> 3/day)
*3013 - 14hr: 36 (61/day); Total: 68 (3/day -> 3/day)
...of course, the first 14 hours probably biases to British readers/editors, and it was too fiddly to add up ''|bytes changed per edit|'' as a more useful metric than mere number of pokes. But quite a bit of interest we already have here. More edits in fourteen hours than any other article less than fourteen (indeed, 17!) days old... ;) Seems to have really hit a mark, this subject! [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.201|172.69.195.201]] 19:21, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
:This one is super weird. I may be weirdness incarnate... but... [[User:Maybe Bill Cipher|An anonymous Gravity Falls expert]] ([[User talk:Maybe Bill Cipher|talk]]) 19:33, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
:Well obviously. I mean this one ''really'' matters![[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.23|141.101.98.23]] 08:52, 11 December 2024 (UTC)

I would argue that the more pessimistic interpretation of the two low-end options makes sense, rather than the more generous versions offered in the current explanation. I think the first one does literally mean making tea in the kettle, and the second one does mean boiling water in a teapot. Making tea *using* a kettle isn't anything to get mad about, it's the default practice. That should put it at the zero point of the line, but it isn't, it's to the right. On the other hand, obviously making tea *in* the kettle would incite a modest amount of rage (on the scale of zero to microwaving a mug), and it makes sense that boiling water in a teapot would incite about 50% more, as shown.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.160|172.69.134.160]] 19:51, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
: An American making tea in the correct way by boiling water in the kettle and then pouring that into a teapot with the tea would still probably conspire to make it badly and make the Brit angry. And Brits really do get quite upset about the idea of tea made with water boiled in a stovetop pan.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.23|141.101.98.23]] 08:55, 11 December 2024 (UTC)

There is a standard for making tea, ISO 3103: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3103, and apparently from the Royal Society of Chemistry.
And, of course, it must be really hot for in infinite improbability drive to work properly.
[[User:Lordpishky|Lordpishky]] ([[User talk:Lordpishky|talk]]) 20:24, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

All this blather and not one bit about that quintessential Kiwi staple, [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gumboot_tea gumboot tea]. Boil the kettle (about the size of a Dutch oven), throw in handfuls of leaf black tea, and let it sit until consumed. Reheat as needed. One sip, and the source of the Commonwealth aversion to the insane Yankee habit of drinking tea black is immediately apparent. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.123.8|172.70.123.8]] 20:31, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

So, I have a Quooker that boils my water. Add tea (leaves)... done. But *don't* add milk, please.... spoil... {{unsigned|Palmpje|20:50, 10 December 2024 (UTC)}}

''Ultimately, the real difference comes down to convenience: In the USA, the standard voltage for electric appliances (including an electric kettle) is 120 volts, while it is twice that (240 volts in practice, though nominally 230V) in the UK. Since the amperage for an electric kettle is the the same in both countries (15 amps), this means that an equivalent kettle in the UK has twice the power (3.2kw versus 1.6kw), and can heat the water in a fraction of the time. Meanwhile, a standard microwave has a similar power in both countries (from 700 to 1000 watts), for reasons unrelated to the supply voltage it is equipped to use. Therefore, heating a small cup in a microwave might take a few moments longer than a kettle in the USA, but is many times slower to wait for compared to using an electric kettle in the UK.'' Electric kettles are a bit faster in the UK due to the voltage difference, but it's not that much and I highly doubt speed is the main concern here. The main 'convenience' difference between boiling water in a kettle vs a microwave is quantity: Brits usually don't just make one cup/mug of tea! On the rare occasion Americans drink tea, it's more often just the one person drinking one cup, making a microwave a convenient choice.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.233.90|162.158.233.90]] 21:40, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

Add in some [https://www.foodandwine.com/why-you-should-add-salt-to-tea-8549735 salt]! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 21:44, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

It's not about voltage. They use different gauge heater wire to get the Watts wanted/allowed.

The classic UK plug is nominal 13 Amps. (The circuits may be nominal 16A but there is now better insulation than in 1949.) At 230 Volts that would be 3KW (near enuff). That will be the "legal numbers". At 240V it may be 3,250W true. OTOH a 10V sag might be expected in all but the poshest wall-wiring.

amazon.co.uk sells kettles nearly all rated 3KW. Exceptions are Greepas at 1800W ("However, some customers have reported that it's very slow to boil"); also Philips 2200W, Daewoo 1400W, and OLEGA 1500W 'Fast Boiling'.

OTOH!!

On Amazon US site nearly all kettles are 1500W, a few lower like 1100W. At assumed 120V 1500W is 12.5Amps. 15Amp circuits are still common in older houses (despite changes in 1960s) but we supposed to de-rate for 'long-running' (not clearly specified in old code) so 12 Amps is in a ballpark.

Note that all US kettles are lower power than all but the tamest UK kettles. Essentially half power.

And IIRC, the 13/16A rating which allows super-power kettles in the UK was not for tea but for "electric fire", room heat. In post-War rebuilding, smokey coal was already depreciated in cities, steam plumbing and chimneys are expensive. Copper wire is costly too, but you "have" to have electric, and low-cost plans like ring-main were investigated.
[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 22:44, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

"accept that tea-appropriate boiling water can be obtained directly from the sink's plumbing" - unless it comes out literally at boiling temperature, it isn't tea appropriate. I live in France now, and order catering bags of tea from Amazon because French tea is dismally awful, not helped at all by this fairly widespread belief that black tea steeps at 60C. When I share tea bags with friends, I have to keep reminding them, boiling! Boiling! So, see, there are worse things than using a microwave to heat the water... [[Special:Contributions/172.71.126.208|172.71.126.208]] 06:00, 11 December 2024 (UTC)
:Not boiling - OFF boiling. Higher than 60C, yes, but if you put actually boiling water straight on to the tea, that's at least as bad. (And how far off the boil exactly depends on the type of tea.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.22|141.101.98.22]] 09:00, 11 December 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2992: UK Coal

2024-10-01T07:46:50Z

141.101.98.22:

nuclear power is better in all aspects anyway [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.105|172.70.90.105]] 19:40, 30 September 2024 (UTC)

Here before the explanation :) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.9|172.71.154.9]] 20:12, 30 September 2024 (UTC)

I made an initial explanation, but it needs a lot of work still; hopefully someone with more experience editing on this wiki can improve it (this is my first explanation) [[User:MathEnthusiast|MathEnthusiast]] ([[User talk:MathEnthusiast|talk]]) 20:27, 30 September 2024 (UTC)

: the sole rabbit-run coal plant was shut down in the 1990s. [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 20:43, 30 September 2024 (UTC)
Just checking, but this isn't referencing some particularly egregious, badly managed coal power plant in the U.K., is it? [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 20:43, 30 September 2024 (UTC)

:I don’t think so; I believe it’s simply that Ratcliffe-on-Soar power plant is the last UK coal plant to be shut down.

Randal uses SI units in the formula, as every person with the tiniest bit of tech/science education would, but then gives the result in inches (3.15) instead of centimeters (8.0). Americans are weird. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.110.162|162.158.110.162]] 20:56, 30 September 2024 (UTC)

:^^ This! {{unsigned|172.70.90.109}}

One should not forget that the 3 inches are very unevenly distributed. Some areas on top of coal mines have sunken in much further creating new flooding risks that require continued future interventions.
--[[Special:Contributions/172.64.236.34|172.64.236.34]] 21:08, 30 September 2024 (UTC)

:Indeed, I used to line in the north of England and road signs would say, "Road liable to subsidence." I also wonder about the year 1853. Mining was going on long before that. The industrial revolution started in the mid-eighteenth century.--[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.22|141.101.98.22]] 07:46, 1 October 2024 (UTC)

I understand that Watership Down is sometimes categorized as "children's literature", but it always catches me off guard. The Wikipedia page for it calls it an "adventure novel" and it's in the adult fiction section at my library. I'm just wondering if perhaps the explanation here should be a little less specific in its categorization of the book.[[User:Dextrous Fred|Dextrous Fred]] ([[User talk:Dextrous Fred|talk]]) 21:35, 30 September 2024 (UTC)

From the perspective of someone who lived through the 1980s Miner's Strike (not directly affected, my father worked at a steel-works, not at a pit like my friends' fathers) and then the decline of the steel manufacturing industry (which ''did'' affect my father, obviously), I have rather naturally kept a general eye on the extraction and use of coal. There still are working coal-mines (though there isn't going to be that new one, in Cumbria), and there are still uses for UK coal (enough to import to add to tht which we dig out). It's really a bit early to say that the layer of total coal dug out ''won't'' deepen slightly (very, very slightly) in the future. And coal that is dug is only loosely associated with coal which is turned into electricity, so the last coal-generator stopping seems like an oddly off-topic detail for Randall to leap into the amortised accumulation of extracted volume. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.165|172.68.205.165]] 22:01, 30 September 2024 (UTC)

Full conversion to US Customary Units (AKA US Bullshit Units):

(25e9 Tonnes / (1.3 kg/L * 2.4e5 km^2)) * (1000 kg / 1 Tonne) * (1 km^2 / (1000 m)^2 ) * (1 m^3 / 1000 L) * (39.37 in / 1 m ) ~= 3"

--[[User:JayTeeEll|JayTeeEll]] ([[User talk:JayTeeEll|talk]]) 22:57, 30 September 2024 (UTC)

He has not added the amount of "flotation" that results from the removal of all that material from the islands. Have the islands risen more than 3 inches in the crust, due to the removal? [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 23:37, 30 September 2024 (UTC)
:Scotland's still going up (after the last Ice-Age melt) and the south of Britain is still going down, IIRC. Which'll confuse matters. But I don't see how the component contributions to raising level (due to the digging out) could outpace the removal (due to that digging), by any significant amount. Rebound takes a while, and the effects should roughly equal out (so long as we haven't been digging too deep). [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.151|172.68.205.151]] 23:41, 30 September 2024 (UTC)

I have a nagging feeling that although rabbit-run coal plants aren't (known to be) a thing, there must be Victorian children's books (e.g. Beatrix Potter) in which bunnies use coal scuttles or coal fires. "When Horace Hedgehog arrived, it was tea-time, so Mr Hoppy put some more coal on the fire..." [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 00:36, 1 October 2024 (UTC)

UK DESNZ refers to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, which is a ministerial department of the UK government. So basically that text is citing the source for the data.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.185|172.70.162.185]] 03:33, 1 October 2024 (UTC)

To help balance this out, should someone import coal into the formerly coal producing areas to fill in the now empty veins, or would that be selling coal to Newcastle? [[User:RegularSizedGuy|RegularSizedGuy]] ([[User talk:RegularSizedGuy|talk]]) 05:35, 1 October 2024 (UTC)

1002: Game AIs

2023-05-17T16:10:54Z

141.101.98.22: /* Computers cannot compete */ Improved phrasing, on top of improved nesting of punctuation.

{{comic
| number = 1002
| date = January 11, 2012
| title = Game AIs
| image = game_ais.png
| titletext = The top computer champion at Seven Minutes in Heaven is a Honda-built Realdoll, but to date it has been unable to outperform the human Seven Minutes in Heaven champion, Ken Jennings.
}}

==Explanation==
To understand the comic, you have to understand what the games are, so let's go (but first, the years in parenthesis in the comic are the year that the game was mastered by a computer):

===Solved===

: These games are considered "solved", meaning the ideal maneuver for each game state (Tic-Tac-Toe, Connect Four) or each of the limited starting positions (Checkers) has already been calculated. Computers aren't so much playing as they are recalculating the list of ideal maneuvers. The same could be said for the computer's human opponent, just at a slower pace.

*'''{{w|Tic-tac-toe}}''' or '''Noughts and Crosses''' in most of the rest of the British Commonwealth countries is a pencil-and-paper game for two players, X and O, who take turns marking the spaces in a 3×3 grid. This game nearly always ends in a tie, regardless of whether humans or computers play it because the total number of positions is small. Randall posted a complete guide to the winning tactics more than a year before as [[832: Tic-Tac-Toe]].

*'''{{w|Nim}}''' is a mathematical game of strategy in which two players take turns removing objects from distinct heaps. On each turn, a player must remove at least one object, and may remove any number of objects provided they all come from the same heap.

*'''{{w|Ghost (game)|Ghost}}''' is a spoken word game in which players take turns adding letters to a growing word fragment. The loser is the first person who completes a valid word or who creates a fragment that cannot be the start of a word. Randall himself has written a perfect solution to Ghost, [https://blog.xkcd.com/2007/12/31/ghost/ which he posted on his blog]. Depending on the dictionary used, either the first player can always force a win, or the second player can.

*'''{{w|Connect Four}}''' (or '''Captain's Mistress''', '''Four Up''', '''Plot Four''', '''Find Four''', '''Fourplay''', '''Four in a Row''', '''Four in a Line''') is a two-player game in which the players first choose a color and then take turns dropping their colored discs from the top into a seven-column, six-row vertically-suspended grid. Randall made a reference of this game at [[1767: US State Names]].

*'''{{w|Gomoku}}''' (or '''Gobang''', '''Five in a Row''') is an abstract strategy board game. It is traditionally played with go pieces (black and white stones) on a go board (19x19 intersections); however, because once placed, pieces are not moved or removed from the board, Gomoku may also be played as a paper and pencil game. This game is known in several countries under different names.
:Black plays first, and players alternate in placing a stone of their color on an empty intersection. The winner is the first player to get an unbroken row of five stones horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.

*'''{{w|Draughts|Checkers}}''' (in the United States, or '''draughts''' in the United Kingdom) is a group of strategy board games for two players which involve diagonal moves of uniform game pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over opponent pieces.

===Computers Beat Humans===

:The below games have not been "solved". Some of them may be solved some day, but the large number of possible moves has so far prevented this from being done. Others cannot be "solved" due to the influence of randomness or the existence of multiple "ideal" maneuvers for each position. That said, a computer's faster reaction time, higher degree of consistency in making the right decision, and reduced risk of user error make the computer objectively better than the human opponent in nearly all situations.

*'''{{w|Scrabble}}''' is a word game in which two to four players score points by forming words from individual lettered tiles on a gameboard marked with a 15-by-15 grid.

*'''{{w|Counter-Strike|CounterStrike}}''' most likely refers to the popular multiplayer shooter video game about terrorists and counter-terrorists. Counter-Strike is notorious for the large variety of cheating tools that have been made for it; a computer would have essentially perfect accuracy and reflexes, essentially making it the {{w|aimbot}} from hell. It is theoretically possible for a skilled player to beat an AI, but it would be ''extremely'' difficult to do so.

*'''{{w|Beer pong}}''' (or '''Beirut''') is a drinking game in which players throw a ping pong ball across a table with the intent of landing the ball in a cup of beer on the other end.
:[https://youtu.be/HkhMCCOHFmM?t=30s Here's the video] of the University of Illinois robot mentioned in the comic.

*'''{{w|Reversi}}''' (marketed by Pressman under the trade name '''Othello''') is a board game involving abstract strategy and played by two players on a board with 8 rows and 8 columns and a set of distinct pieces for each side. Pieces typically are disks with a light and a dark face, each face belonging to one player. The player's goal is to have a majority of their colored pieces showing at the end of the game, turning over as many of their opponent's pieces as possible.

*'''{{w|Chess}}''' is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. Each player begins the game with sixteen pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and eight pawns, each of these types of pieces moving differently.
:The note mentions "the first game to be won by a chess-playing computer against a reigning world champion under normal chess tournament conditions", in the {{w|Deep Blue versus Garry Kasparov}} match on February 10, 1996, and the [http://en.chessbase.com/post/bilbao-the-humans-strike-back Ponomariov vs Fritz] game in the Man vs Machine World Team Championship on November 21, 2005, considered the "last win by a human against top computer".

*'''{{w|Jeopardy!}}''' is an American quiz show featuring trivia in history, literature, the arts, pop culture, science, sports, geography, wordplay, and more. The show has a unique answer-and-question format in which contestants are presented with clues in the form of answers, and must phrase their responses in question form.
:Ken Jennings, mentioned in the title text, is a famous Jeopardy champion who was beaten by {{w|Watson (computer)|Watson}}, an IBM computer. This was [https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/science/17jeopardy-watson.html an exhibition match] featuring Jennings, Brad Rutter, and Watson that took place in February 2011.

===Humans Beat Computers===

:The below games are incredibly difficult to "solve" due to the near-infinite number of possible positions. Computers built in the early 21st century would take years to calculate a single "ideal" move. Worse, the human opponent has the ability to "bluff"; that is, to make a bad move, thus baiting the computer into a trap. Complex algorithms have been devised to make moves in a reasonable timeframe, but so far they are all highly vulnerable to bluffing. As mentioned in the comic, focused research and development is working on refining these algorithms to play the games better.

*'''{{w|StarCraft}}''' is a military real-time strategy video game series. The game revolves around three species, Terran (humans), Zerg, and Protoss, fighting for dominance in a distant part of the Milky Way galaxy known as the Koprulu Sector. Players must gather resources, build buildings and units, attack the opponent's base, and defend their base. While even average Starcraft players can defeat the AIs that originally shipped with the games, Starcraft has since been adopted as a standard benchmark for AI research, largely because of its excellent balance. Thanks to that attention, computers can now defeat at least 99.8% of all players, and the trend does not look promising for humans.

*'''{{w|Poker}}''' is a family of card games involving betting and individualistic play whereby the winner is determined by the ranks and combinations of their cards, some of which remain hidden until the end of the game. It is also, however, a game of deception and intimidation, the ubiquitous "poker face" being considered the most important part of the game. 
'''Update:''' In a 20-day poker tournament from January 11 to 31, 2017, the poker AI {{w|Libratus}} [https://www.theverge.com/2017/1/31/14451616/ai-libratus-beat-humans-poker-cmu-tournament won against four top-class human poker players].

*'''{{w|Arimaa}}''' is a two-player abstract strategy board game that can be played using the same equipment as chess. Arimaa was designed to be more difficult for artificial intelligences to play than chess. Arimaa was invented by Omar Syed, an Indian American computer engineer trained in artificial intelligence. Syed was inspired by Garry Kasparov's defeat at the hands of the chess computer Deep Blue to design a new game which could be played with a standard chess set, would be difficult for computers to play well, but would have rules simple enough for his then four-year-old son Aamir to understand. 
'''Update:''' on April 18, 2015, a computer won [http://arimaa.com/arimaa/challenge/ the "Arimaa Challenge"], so this comic is now out of date with respect to Arimaa; it should move above ''Starcraft'' or ''Jeopardy!''.

*'''{{w|Go (game)|Go}}''' is an ancient board game for two players that originated in China more than 2,000 years ago. The game is noted for being rich in strategy despite its relatively simple rules. The game is played by two players who alternately place black and white stones on the vacant intersections (called "points") of a grid of 19×19 lines (beginners often play on smaller 9×9 and 13×13 boards). The object of the game is to use one's stones to control a larger amount of territory of the board than the opponent. That computers would soon beat humans was the subject in [[1263: Reassuring]]. 
'''Update:''' on March 15, 2016, Google's {{w|AlphaGo versus Lee Sedol|AlphaGo beat Lee Sedol}}, who was often seen as the dominant human player over the last decade, 4 games to 1 in a widely viewed match, and {{w|Computer Go}} was expected to become more dominant over time. In May 2017, Google's AI AlphaGo [http://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/google-ai-becomes-world-s-top-ranking-go-player-1.3097756 defeated the world's top human Go player]. This was referenced three months later in [[1875: Computers vs Humans]].

===Computers cannot compete===

*'''{{w|Snakes and Ladders}}''' (or '''Chutes and Ladders''') is an ancient Indian {{w|race game}}, where the moves are decided entirely by die rolls or other random number generators. (However, any person or computer choosing the numbers needed directly is called "cheating".) A number of tiles are connected by pictures of ladders and snakes (or chutes) which makes the game piece jump forward or backward, respectively. Since the game is decided by pure chance, it occupies the limbo where a computer will always be ''exactly'' as likely to win as a human (indeed, Randall's arrow points at the dividing line between 'humans beat computers' and 'computers cannot compete').

*'''{{w|Mao (card game)|Mao}}''' is a card game similar to {{w|Crazy Eights}} or {{w|Uno}}, with the twist that new players aren't told any of the rules and have to deduce them by trial and error. (The rules are sometimes summarized as "The only rule I can tell you is this one"). The goal of the game is to be the first player to get rid of all the cards in their hand, at which point that player invents a new rule and adds it to the ones already in the game. Computers would have a difficult time integrating into Mao as they would need a complicated learning engine capable of deducing rules with no prior training, and would also need the ability to be able to invent rules itself.

*'''{{w|Seven minutes in heaven|Seven Minutes in Heaven}}''' is a teenagers' party game first recorded as being played in Cincinnati in the early 1950s. Two people are selected to go into a closet or other dark enclosed space and do whatever they like for seven minutes. Sexual activities are allowed; however kissing and making out are more common.
:Because this is not a competitive game, players cannot "outplay" or "lose to" each other, regardless of whether they are humans or computers. Additionally, as the game is focused on human interaction, there's not a whole lot a modern computer can ''do'' in the closet. It would need some kind of robotic body in order to interact with its human partner, and emotion engines that could feel pleasure and displeasure in order to make decisions. The title text claims that {{w|Honda|Honda Motor Company}} has invented a "{{w|RealDoll}}" (sex toy shaped like a mannequin) with rudimentary Seven Minutes in Heaven capabilities, but they pale in comparison to a human's (specifically, Jeopardy champion Ken Jennings).

And finally
*'''{{w|Calvin and Hobbes#Calvinball|Calvinball}}''' is a reference to the comic strip {{w|Calvin and Hobbes}} by {{w|Bill Watterson}}.
:Calvinball is a game played by Calvin and Hobbes as a rebellion against organized team sports; according to Hobbes, "No sport is less organized than Calvinball!" Calvinball was first introduced to the readers at the end of a 1990 storyline involving Calvin reluctantly joining recess baseball. It quickly became a staple of the comic afterwards.
:The only hint at the true creation of the game ironically comes from the last Calvinball strip, in which a game of football quickly devolves into a game of Calvinball. Calvin remarks that "sooner or later, all our games turn into Calvinball," suggesting a similar scenario that directly led to the creation of the sport. Calvin and Hobbes usually play by themselves, although in one storyline Rosalyn (Calvin's baby-sitter) plays in return for Calvin doing his homework, and plays very well once she realizes that the rules are made up on the spot.
:The only consistent rules state that Calvinball may never be played with the same rules twice, and you need to wear a mask, no questions asked. Scoring is also arbitrary, with Hobbes at times reporting scores of "Q to 12" and "oogy to boogy." The only recognizable sports Calvinball resembles are the ones it emulates (i.e., a cross between croquet, polo, badminton, capture the flag, and volleyball.)
::Long story short, the game is a manifestation of pure chaos and the human imagination, far beyond the meager capabilities of silicon and circuitry, at least so far. The closest thing you could possibly get is having an AI automatically generate rules on the fly, similar to something like the currently-existent AI Dungeon or a similarly robust text algorithm; but even still, the computer would be unable to ''act'' upon these new rules in that state.

==Transcript==
:[A diagram with a caption above the diagram. The left column describes various levels of skill for the most capable computers in decreasing performance against humans. The right side lists games in each particular section, in increasing game difficulty. There are labels denoting the hard and easy ends of the diagram.]

:Caption: Difficulty of Various Games for Computers

:Top of Diagram: <big>Easy</big>

:;Solved Computers can play perfectly

::;Solved for all possible positions

:::Tic-tac-toe
:::Nim
:::Ghost (1989)
:::Connect Four (1995)

::;Solved for starting positions

:::Gomoku
:::Checkers (2007)

:;Computers can beat top humans

:::Scrabble
:::CounterStrike
:::Beer Pong (UIUC robot)
:::Reversi
:::Chess

:::* February 10, 1996: First win by computer against top human
:::* November 21, 2005: Last win by human against top computer

:::Jeopardy

:;Computers still lose to top humans (but focused R&D could change this)

:::StarCraft
:::Poker
:::Arimaa
:::Go

:;Computers may ''never'' outplay humans

:::Snakes and Ladders
:::Mao
:::Seven Minutes in Heaven
:::Calvinball

:Bottom of Diagram: <big>Hard</big>

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Board games]]
[[Category:Games]]
[[Category:Chess]]
[[Category:Calvin and Hobbes]]
[[Category:Artificial Intelligence]]

2452: Aviation Firsts

2021-04-20T14:24:03Z

141.101.98.22: /* Explanation */ Some adjustments, arguable.

{{comic
| number = 2452
| date = April 19, 2021
| title = Aviation Firsts
| image = aviation_firsts.png
| titletext = Mile High Club membership [✓] [ ] Discovery of parts of Amelia Earhart's skeleton [ ] [ ] Mid-flight incident that results in safe landing on the Hudson River [✓] [ ]
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a DRONE ON MARS. Put a table detailing all the events of the achievement checklist with an Earth and Mars column. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is made in light of recent events of the [https://twitter.com/NASAPersevere/status/1384209173924089863 Ingenuity probe's first flight on Mars]. Now that Ingenuity has completed its first flight, it marks the first controlled powered flight on Mars.

The previous categories were completed by the first space probes to reach and then land on Mars. Flight, Landing and Controlled Landing were variously achieved by some or all of the prior landers, depending upon your definition of flight, but certainly by the {{w|Mars_Science_Laboratory#Sky_crane_landing|Skycrane}} element used in landing both Curiosity and Perserverence rovers. These may not have qualified as Controlled Powered Flight as they only used their power to control the landing, before 'flying off' again under power only to intentionally 'crash elsewhere', without any more precise control.

The remaining have only been completed on Earth, such as the {{w|https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerobatic_maneuver|Loop}} which does not yet seem to be practical to attempt over Mars, growing steadily more bizarre and more specific firther down the comic and extending into the title text.

===Cultural references===
* The {{w|Hughes H-4 Hercules}} (the "Spruce Goose") was a prototype wooden airplane, known for being the largest flying boat ever constructed. The Hercules was designed by aviation pioneer (and, latterly, famed recluse) Howard Hughes. The design was intended as a lightweight transoceanic transport for the the military, but the prototype (built out of wood because of aluminium shortages during the 1940s) was not completed until well after the end of the Second World War and only actually flew a single time in 1947.
* In 1971, Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305 was famously hijacked by a man who bought a ticket under the pseudonym {{w|D. B. Cooper|"Dan Cooper"}} (but popularly known as D. B. Cooper). After being given a $200,000 ransom by the plane's crew, Cooper then proceeded to parachute jump out of the plane using the rear {{w|airstair}} and was never confirmed to have been heard from again; many experts agree that the parachute jump was very risky and it's unlikely that Cooper even survived. (Cooper was previously mentioned in [[1400: D.B. Cooper]] and [[1501: Mysteries]].)
* The "{{w|mile high club}}" is a slang term for people who have had sexual intercourse while onboard an airplane in flight. Although the notion of {{w|sex in space}} is understood to be severely hampered by the total lack of gravity, it's not known whether Mars's low gravity (compared to Earth) would make it similarly challenging to have intercourse on or near the planet's surface.
* {{w|Amelia Earhart}} was a female aviator who, along with her navigator {{w|Fred Noonan}}, went missing over the Pacific Ocean in 1937 while attempting a global circumnavigation flight and has never been found. While there's some possibility that some of Earhart and Noonan's remains will eventually be discovered somewhere on the Pacific coastline, the notion of them somehow ending up on the surface of Mars is practically impossible outside the remit of certain conspiracy theories. (Earhart was previously mentioned in [[1501: Mysteries]], [[950: Mystery Solved]], and [[2197: Game Show]].)
* The {{w|US Airways Flight 1549|Miracle on the Hudson}} was a 2009 aviation incident in which a US Airways airliner struck a flock of geese shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport in New York City. Despite the plane losing all its engine power as a result of the bird strike, Captain Chesley Sullenberger successfully crash-landed in the nearby Hudson River with minimal injuries to the passengers onboard. Of course, it would be highly impractical for a powered flight that encounters a problem in the sky above Mars to then fly all the way to Earth just for an emergency landing.

==Transcript==
:[A chart is shown with nine items. To the right of each item there are two check boxes. Above the top row of check boxes are two underlined labels for the two columns. The first four rows have both boxes checked, the last five have only the first box checked. The last two items are so long that they take up three and four rows of text. The first seven items can be on one line.]

Earth Mars
Flight <big>[✓]</big> <big>[✓]</big>
Landing <big>[✓]</big> <big>[✓]</big>
Controlled landing <big>[✓]</big> <big>[✓]</big>
Controlled powered flight <big>[✓]</big> <big>[✓]</big>
Loop <big>[✓]</big> <big>[ ]</big>
In-flight meal <big>[✓]</big> <big>[ ]</big>
Planetary circumnavigation <big>[✓]</big> <big>[ ]</big>

Enormous wooden aircraft <big>[✓]</big> <big>[ ]</big>
built by a reclusive billionaire
that flies exactly once

Hijacking by someone dubbed <big>[✓]</big> <big>[ ]</big>
"D.B. Cooper" who demands
money and then jumps out
mid-flight to an unknown fate

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Mars rovers]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Sex]]

2451: AI Methodology

2021-04-17T03:22:50Z

141.101.98.22: /* Explanation */ Punc.

{{comic
| number = 2451
| date = April 17, 2021
| title = AI Methodology
| image = ai_methodology.png
| titletext = We've learned that weird spacing and diacritics in the methodology description are apparently the key to good research; luckily, we've developed an AI tool to help us figure out where to add them.
}}

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

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

:[Cueball stands in front of a projection on a screen and points with a stick to a histogram with a bell curve to the left and one bar to the far right marked with an arrow]
:Cueball: Despite our great research results, some have questioned our AI-based methodology.
:Cueball: But we trained a classifier on a collection of good and bad methodology sections, and it says ours is fine.

{{comic discussion}}

2448: Eradication

2021-04-11T10:29:09Z

141.101.98.22: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2448
| date = April 9, 2021
| title = Eradication
| image = eradication.png
| titletext = When you get to hell, tell smallpox we say hello.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a REVENGE-BASED PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This is another comic in the [[:Category:COVID-19|COVID-19 series]] related to the {{w|2019-20 coronavirus outbreak|2020 pandemic}}, caused by the {{w|coronavirus}} {{w|SARS-CoV-2}}.

[[Megan]] wants revenge on the pandemic virus, and is talking to [[Cueball]] - who has already demonstrated a [[2306|merciless attitude]] towards endemic ones.

Megan assumes SARS-CoV-2 will remain in circulation even after the pandemic is over. "Vaccines and stuff" will, in all likelihood, reduce it to a background threat, but eradicating an infectious disease entirely is difficult. This can be seen in the ongoing struggle to {{w|Polio eradication|eradicate polio}}.

{{W|Smallpox}}, mentioned in the title text, was the first human disease that was successfully wiped out in the wild. This is why Megan tells Covid-19 to say hello to Smallpox when we send it permanently to Hell.

To date, the only other documented successful eradication was of {{w|rinderpest}}, a livestock disease declared eradicated in 2011.

==Transcript==
:[Megan holding a hand up, palm held out, is walking with Cueball.]
:Megan: Even if the threat eventually fades, thanks to vaccines and stuff,

:[They walk on, both with their arms down.]
:Megan: And it becomes just another circulating common cold virus,

:[Megan holds her hand up in a fist, while Cueball hold his hand to his chin as they walk on.]
:Megan: I think we should pursue global eradication of SARS-CoV-2 out of ''spite''.
:Cueball: Revenge-based public health policy. I like it.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:COVID-19]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

Talk:2446: Spike Proteins

2021-04-08T05:43:42Z

141.101.98.22: comment

I got my 1st dose today. My apartment is swarming with spike proteins. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 01:17, 6 April 2021 (UTC)
:My Dad got his second dose on Thursday & got allll the usual symptoms. He's not on antibiotics, but his breath smells like the taste of antibiotics to me. I swear, dogs aren't the only ones that can smell a body's reaction to coronavirus (and also, for reference, cancer ''stinks'').
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 16:39, 6 April 2021 (UTC)

Can someone here create a "COVID-19 vaccine" category (as a subcategory of COVID-19)? Randall has been posting a lot of vaccine-related comics recently. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.113|172.69.35.113]] 02:11, 6 April 2021 (UTC)
:Done [[:Category:COVID-19 vaccine]]. Please add more if I missed some earlier ones. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:23, 7 April 2021 (UTC)

I don't think the description as it is right now is very accurate. It seems to be stating that the spike protein is a normal protein normally produced by humans, rather than a protein used by SARS-CoV-2 (and likely other similar viruses (virii?) to aid in their infection. In this case, beret guy has gotten an MRNA vaccine (either Moderna or Pfizer), so has given his cells the recipe to make this spike protein for themselves, until the immune system realizes it shouldn't be there. [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 07:08, 6 April 2021 (UTC)
:[[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]], The J&J vaccine also would've given his cells the recipe to make the spike protein. It just uses an adenovirus to deliver DNA into your cells, where the cells convert it into mRNA and then use that to make the spike proteins. [[User:Ahecht|Ahecht]] ([[User talk:Ahecht|talk]]) 19:29, 7 April 2021 (UTC)

I'm a bit suprised there was no Ever Given comic... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.111.161|162.158.111.161]] 13:45, 6 April 2021 (UTC)
:It's been delayed by two weeks, by having been sent round Africa...
:(Srsly, though, if the sufficient dose of inspiration hasn't happened - and it's not his usual geek-out topic - then it's no more likely to be mentioned than (say) Brexit issues seriously messing with exports, especially of foodstuffs. And I think the US is largely proof from Suez (or Channel) cargo movements, so may not be on the radar. Chip shortages, etc, are likely from C19 disruptions, not from the otherwise unaffected trans-Pacific shipping.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.108|162.158.159.108]] 22:28, 6 April 2021 (UTC)
::Just thought that the event itself is big and interesting enough to warrant a comic, even if it doesn't influence US as much as Europe. (Good joke, though!) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.81|141.101.104.81]] 10:48, 7 April 2021 (UTC)

As a new 'image' of the Corona virus has recently been used in a scientific publication (as discussed in https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/moist-coronavirus-image/ ), showing a 'moist' Corona virus, I got the impression that the "Why is it so wet?" part of the comic refers to this. (Otherwise it seems like a remark coming out of nowhere.) Of course, at the normal scale of a virus, 'wet' and 'dry' don't really mean anything, but as 'images' of the virus are mostly artistic representations anyway, there's no reason not to show them as 'moist'. (Unsigned addition by 162.158.92.102)
:That article has the odd assertion that "it’s important to remember that art is objective." I think they mean "subjective". [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 17:25, 6 April 2021 (UTC)
:I subject to such a misuse of terms! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.218|141.101.98.218]] 22:31, 6 April 2021 (UTC)

EDIT: Removed annoying tag. Sorry! [[User talk:Quillathe Siannodel|{)|(}]][[User:Quillathe_Siannodel|Quill]][[User talk:Quillathe Siannodel|{)|(}]] 18:15, 6 April 2021 (UTC)
:It's marked as "incomplete" because it's new and still under active revision. I don't know if there's a formal criterion set down anywhere, but I don't think it would be appropriate to remove that tag from any page that's been repeatedly edited in the previous ten days or so. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 18:33, 6 April 2021 (UTC) EDIT: I find it especially eyebrow-raising when someone edits a page ''and'' removes that tag at the same time. If I edit a page, I ''want'' at least one more pair of eyeballs to check what I've done. As opposed to the implied "Now that I have made my changes, the page is in its final form."
::Agree with the above user. This text is always placed when a comic is new and is not usually removed for a few days (or even longer). Also, although you say that "this is not spamming", it feels like spamming if you place this exact same text on multiple comics, without even having a real discussion on why a comic is incomplete. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.249|172.69.33.249]] 22:59, 6 April 2021 (UTC)
:::Yes please do not use that [[User_talk:Quillathe_Siannodel#IncompleteIncomplete|template]] you have made! It is a very bad idea! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:04, 7 April 2021 (UTC)
::::Sorry. I will delete the template and topics. [[User talk:Quillathe Siannodel|{)|(}]][[User:Quillathe_Siannodel|Quill]][[User talk:Quillathe Siannodel|{)|(}]] {{Date}}

;Beret Guy superpowers?
Sorry, I don't know if this is the right format for this, but it seems that not only does Beret Guy often misunderstand, he also has superpowers. Making a life-sized spike protein would classify as that to me. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 01:28, 7 April 2021 (UTC)
:Yes I have added this already. I made this category long time ago: [[:Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy]]. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:53, 7 April 2021 (UTC)

Can't help but wonder if this is a masturbation joke

2440: Epistemic Uncertainty

2021-03-24T04:28:02Z

141.101.98.22: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2440
| date = March 22, 2021
| title = Epistemic Uncertainty
| image = epistemic_uncertainty.png
| titletext = Luckily, unlike in our previous study, we have no reason to believe Evangeline the Adulterator gained access to our stored doses.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by GEORGE THE DATA TAMPERER. Better explanation for epistemic uncertaininty and epistemology in general required. Do NOT tamper this tag too soon.}}

This comic is a comparison of two different research studies, one which shows "regular uncertainty" and one which shows "epistemic uncertainty." In both panels, the core data is the same - the drug in question is 74% effective - but the uncertainty qualities are different. The first is straightforward; the confidence interval (the error bars on the chart) is from 63 to 81%. The second panel includes the additional wrinkle of "George the Data Tamperer, whose whims are unpredictable."

In statistics, a {{w|confidence interval}} is an estimate which provides a range of values, based on the statistical probability that the data collected represents a certain result. It is a reflection on the uncertainty imposed by the limits of study sample sizes. Since no study will ever have an infinite data set{{Citation needed}}, it is possible for a small sample to give a skewed result, but the small skews are more probable than large ones. For example, if a drug was 80% effective it would be possible for a study with a sample size of 100 to randomly end up with 74 positive and 26 negative results. If the drug was 99% effective it would still be possible to randomly end up with the same data, but it would be highly unlikely. This gives us a spread of "likely" results, with results outside a certain interval being considered too unlikely to be realistic.

George the Tamperer and Evangeline the Adulterator (from the title text) are analogous to the characters from {{w|Alice and Bob}} cryptography thought experiments. In the most basic examples, Alice and Bob are communicating and a third party, Eve the Eavesdropper, is spying on them. Both George and Evangeline have the ability to alter the study's results, adding uncertainty to the final data product. Specifically, they add ''epistemic'' uncertainty.

{{w|Epistemology}} – unlike {{w|epidemiology}} – is the branch of philosophy related to knowledge; thus epistemic uncertainty is the ultimate impossibility to be sure that what we know is accurate, not by failures in measurement but for the intrinsic limits of knowledge. It seems that the "epistemic uncertainty" data has a 25% chance of data {{w|tampering}} by George. In contrast to the previous study, where the data is known but its reflection of the general case is uncertain to an extent, in this study even the knowledge of whether any single data point is correct is uncertain. Thus, their data has a 25% chance of being incorrect with no possible statement about how incorrect it may be.

The title text mentions an individual called "Evangeline the Adulterator," who [https://www.dictionary.com/browse/adulterate adulterates] their drug doses. If this happened, the researchers would not even be sure the patients received the dosages (or exacting medicines/placebos) as prescribed, and the study methodology itself would be in doubt.

==Transcript==
:[Two panels are shown with labels above them.]
:Regular Uncertainty
:Epistemic Uncertainty

:[In both panels Megan stands in front of a data presentation on a slide behind her. She is pointing at the slide with a stick.]

:[In the left panel titled 'Regular Uncertainty'. Megan standing in front of a presentation of a graph with data and error bars. The percentage 74% can be seen above the dot at the center between the error bars]
:Megan: Our study found the drug was 74% effective, with a confidence interval from 63% to 81%.
:74%

:[In the right panel titled 'Epistemic Uncertainty'. Megan stands in front of a presentation of data with a silhouette of a man with a hat labelled with a white question mark. Above this are three 3 confidence intervals.]
:Megan: Our study found the drug to be 74% effective.
:Megan: However, there is a 1 in 4 chance that our study was modified by George the Data Tamperer, whose whims are unpredictable.
:73 -> 74%??
:47 -> 74%??
:0 -> 74%?
:?

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Statistics]]
[[Category:Research Papers]]
[[Category:Biology]]

Talk:2439: Solar System Cartogram

2021-03-20T22:34:39Z

141.101.98.22:

;Planet list seems incomplete
Where's Pluto? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.154|172.68.65.154]] 20:30, 19 March 2021 (UTC)
:Demoted to dwarf planet status in 2006, to the continued frustration of people like myself. [[User:Captain Video|Captain Video]] ([[User talk:Captain Video|talk]]) 20:33, 19 March 2021 (UTC)
::If the biggest Kuiper Belt object is a planet, the biggest Asteroid Belt object (Ceres) should be one too. They're both dwarf planets. Ceres was also considered a planet upon discovery until the rest of the similar-looking belt around it was discovered. [[User:Zowayix|Zowayix]] ([[User talk:Zowayix|talk]]) 00:24, 20 March 2021 (UTC)
:::Okay. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.186|172.69.34.186]] 02:11, 20 March 2021 (UTC)
::::See [[473: Still Raw]]--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:31, 20 March 2021 (UTC)
::::: The Pluto thing is just never going to go away. The IAU is in ego lock about how bad this decision was. "Clearing the neighborhood" serves no scientific value whatsoever. Supporters I've asked can't even articulate how big Pluto's neighborhood actually is. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.106|162.158.75.106]] 12:55, 20 March 2021 (UTC)

What about exoplanets? [[User:Wilh3lm|Wilh3lm]] ([[User talk:Wilh3lm|talk]]) 20:49, 19 March 2021 (UTC)
:They're not in our solar system. [[User:Bubblegum|bubblegum]]-[[User_talk:Bubblegum|talk]]|[[Special:Contributions/Bubblegum|contribs]] 20:57, 19 March 2021 (UTC)
::We should rectify that ASAP! A few more planets slotted between/woven through the current set would make for some interesting possibilities... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.207|141.101.99.207]] 22:52, 19 March 2021 (UTC)
:::Yes, interesting in the "ancient Chinese curse" way: despite most of solar system being empty, you would need to be VERY careful to fit even single planet inside without risking collision. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 04:31, 20 March 2021 (UTC)
::::We'll never know for sure without trying, right? ;p [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.22|141.101.98.22]] 22:34, 20 March 2021 (UTC)

Surprised no one has gotten technical and talked about how Earth is not drawn to be 7.8 billion times larger than the others (which would be around 300,000px wide) , meaning it's still off the same way other depictions tend to be. [[User:Trlkly|Trlkly]] ([[User talk:Trlkly|talk]]) 05:51, 20 March 2021 (UTC)
:Maybe it's a logarithmic cartogram. Log scales are generally needed when differences in sizes are so vast. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 06:01, 20 March 2021 (UTC)
::The dots are dimensionless, thus have zero size according to their population. Only exception is Mars, but with two it would still almost be zero size and thus just a dot. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:31, 20 March 2021 (UTC)

Needs to be amended to note that this reflects only HUMAN life detected on these planets. Just because we haven't found any yet doesn't mean that Jupiter might not be housing billions of Jovians, or Mars isn't teeming with Martians. [[User:RAGBRAIvet|RAGBRAIvet]] ([[User talk:RAGBRAIvet|talk]]) 06:53, 20 March 2021 (UTC)
:Well there is no evidence of any lifeforms in the solar system beyond Earth. It talks about Persons in the title text, thus it needs to be intelligent to have that label. And thus animals would not count. So until we have evidence of aliens on the other planets, or until we inhabit them, their population would be zero. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:31, 20 March 2021 (UTC)

;Bad map projection?
IMHO, this also qualify as kind of a [[:Category:Bad_Map_Projections|bad map projection]] (in the wider sense of a population density-anamorphic cartogram) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.77.160|141.101.77.160]] 21:11, 19 March 2021 (UTC)
:No, it is not a map at all. But you could mention in the explanation that it has similarity to bad maps projections. But this one is not actually bad, it is technically correct, it is just useless. Also removed the map category as there is not map in this comic! It is a globe. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:31, 20 March 2021 (UTC)
:: How do you tell the difference between a picture of a globe and a picture of a map? In any case a picture of a globe is a map with an orthographic projections. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.71|172.69.63.71]] 19:08, 20 March 2021 (UTC)

Talk:2436: Circles

2021-03-14T18:04:24Z

141.101.98.22:

AS for the overlapping edits, it is because this just showed up in my RSS reader. I was surprised to see that there wasn't anything written yet. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.206.92|172.68.206.92]] 18:56, 12 March 2021 (UTC)
*If Randall was willing to realign the Audi logo, I think he could have stretched the model to accommodate Disney at the 3-ring slot! [[User:Jameslucas|jameslucas]] ([[User talk:Jameslucas|" "]] / [[Special:Contributions/Jameslucas|+]]) 18:58, 12 March 2021 (UTC)
*Audi's logo has the four circles in a straight line, not staggered (</pedant>) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.58|108.162.237.58]] 19:09, 12 March 2021 (UTC)
**If we are being pedantic it was originally the Auto Union logo and Audi was one of the four rings - along with Horch, DKW and Wanderer. Augustus Horch founded Horch and Audi (horch means hark or listen so translates into Latin as Audi). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.6|141.101.98.6]] 18:42, 13 March 2021 (UTC)
**The same is true for MasterCard - the two circles are not staggered, but "in a straight line" (horizontal, that is) [[User:Mathmannix|Mathmannix]] ([[User talk:Mathmannix|talk]]) 20:15, 12 March 2021 (UTC)
ER are shared by both halves of the MC logo. Not AR. Anyone have another explanation?
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.41|172.68.132.41]]
* I was thinking about this too! Maybe Randall made a mistake, or is it something unexplained? We'll have to wait for an explanation.
::(Why are we (y'all) bullet-indenting?) Though the circles of the "(MAST(ER)CARD)" might well co-share the "ER", assuming that's correct, here the set {M A S T E R} and the set {C A R D} have clearly been put through an (unordered) set-union to highlight the {A R} that are not ''solely'' members of either original set. Don't know why that, in particular. Maybe it just worked better, and mixed things up better than the "(MAST(ER)CARD)" interpretation which doesn't really parody anything in the process... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.97|162.158.158.97]] 20:53, 12 March 2021 (UTC)
::Ok, just checked, and the word(s) "MASTERCARD" do(es) not appear on Mastercard logos any more, ''anyway'', having vanished/been relocated below the circles in various stages of cosmetic rebranding between 2006 and 2016. So "(ER)" enclosure wouldn't be strictly true for a number of years. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.97|162.158.158.97]] 21:00, 12 March 2021 (UTC)
My bad, I saw wrong. I thought it was between all the logos.[[User:Hiihaveanaccount|Hiihaveanaccount]] ([[User talk:Hiihaveanaccount|talk]]) 20:26, 12 March 2021 (UTC)
Oh no Randall, please don't turn me into an oversimplified logo! Noooooooo!

Well, the AR completes both the MSTE and the CD (ie, MasteR CarD)... as I expect one of the previous commenters was getting at. Perhaps it is a riff on picture in as much as AR completes MASTERCARD just as MASTERCARD's circles Complete Audi's circles... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.41|162.158.75.41]] 05:03, 13 March 2021 (UTC)

This bugs me more than any other xkcd comic, I could see the mastercard circles being tilted and still in a straight line, but then the Audi logo should be the same: straight line, but they line up to form the actual Olympic ring configuration giving preference to that logo... then there's the color, it would make me happy if the colors lined up with the actual Mastercard colors but they don't... so I don't know why I'm complaining here, probably because Randall doesn't have an actual comment system, so, sorry.... carry on with your day! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.40|162.158.75.40]] 15:11, 13 March 2021 (UTC) Sam

Should the current Audi logo box be a totally empty square? Reloaded several times, there's nothing in there. The other boxes all have pictures in them. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.105|108.162.250.105]] 09:02, 14 March 2021 (UTC)
:Looks OK here. And ''should'' be far simpler SVG than the historic logo's shading/etc. But maybe it's slightly newer SVG doctype (would need to read its source, to be sure, and this browser has recently removed its original view-source: method so I'd have to switch machines) or inadvertently use a fancier dialect that your browser refuses to render. (If 'current logo' is not actually just five flat, black rings, then maybe ''my'' browser is lagging, too, but differently.
:...but then, do you have a 'dark' theme? Black rings on black (through transparency) background, thus apparently blank? A possibility, perhaps... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.207|141.101.99.207]] 17:37, 14 March 2021 (UTC)
:OK, have checked, and current logo is ''absurdly'' simple (in one 'element' it moves focus and draws four rings! in black!) while the prior logo's SVG actually failed to load (rendering in full-screen, the gradient-shaded components appear with much lag) for reasons not understood if it wasn't file-size issues (doubt it). I'm still leaning towards dark-theme confusion, then. If it aint that, I'm stumped. But its the only obvious thing to me right now, so I'll leave further resolution to when future details can be given. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.22|141.101.98.22]] 18:04, 14 March 2021 (UTC)

Talk:2435: Geothmetic Meandian

2021-03-11T03:23:12Z

141.101.98.22: ...yeah, that is probably needed. Simplest way without adding another statement. Really must try it for real, some time!

Oh, this one's good. Just checked in (no, I wasn't hovering over the refresh button, my first visit today!) and one glance had me in paroxysms of laughter. But how to explain it? Gonna have to think about that. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.96|141.101.98.96]] 01:12, 11 March 2021 (UTC)

I made a really bad spreadsheet to understand better how it works: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fqmHwDmirJrsKPdf94PutFDw31DMAYxNeR7jef1jneE/edit?usp=sharing

Someone fix my ''awful'' transcript edits please. --[[User:Char Latte49|Char Latte49]] ([[User talk:Char Latte49|talk]]) 02:31, 11 March 2021 (UTC)

Seeing the Python added to the Explanation, try this Perl (typed straight here, so not tested)...
## Your prefered variations of "#!/usr/bin/perl", "use strict;" and "use warnings;" here! ##
sub F { my (@vals)=@_; my $nVals=int(@vals);
my ($geo,$arith,$med)=(1); # Only defining $geo, so first *= works correctly!
while (@vals) { my($lo,$hi)=(shift @vals,pop @vals); # $hi may be undef - this is intended!
$arith+=$lo; $geo*=$lo; unless (defined $hi) { $med = $lo; last }
$arith+=$hi; $geo*=$hi; unless (@vals) { ($med)=F($lo,$hi) }
}
return ($arith/$nVals, $geo**(1/$nVals), $med);
}
sub GMDN { my (@vals)=sort @_; my $lim=10**(-5); # Adjust $lim to taste...
return "Error: No vals!" unless @vals; # Catch!
return $vals[0] unless ($vals[$#vals]-$vals[0]) > $lim;
return GMDM(F(@vals));
}
my @test=(1,1,2,3,5);
print "Values: @test\nGeothmetic Meandian: ".GMDN(@test)."\n";
...debugged in my head, so probably fatally flawed but easily fixed/adapted anyway. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.109|141.101.99.109]] 03:04, 11 March 2021 (UTC)

Why so complicated?
perl -e 'use strict; use warnings; sub F { my ($s,$p) = (0,1); my @srt = sort {$a<=>$b} @_; for (@_) { $s += $_; $p *= $_; } return ($s/@_,$p**(1/@_),$srt[$#_/2]); } sub Gmdn { print join(", ",@_=F(@_)),"\n" for 0..20; return @_; } print join(", ",Gmdn(1,1,2,3,5)),"\n";'
(With interim results) SCNR -- [[User:Xorg|Xorg]] ([[User talk:Xorg|talk]]) 03:18, 11 March 2021 (UTC)

Talk:2018: Wall Art

2018-07-11T13:19:39Z

141.101.98.22:

Wohooo, XKCD#2018! XKCD is finally older than the current year. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.93.219|162.158.93.219]] 13:12, 11 July 2018 (UTC) Michael

Nope, it will be true for XKCD#2019. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.22|141.101.98.22]] 13:19, 11 July 2018 (UTC)

Talk:1843: Opening Crawl

2017-05-29T20:30:17Z

141.101.98.22:

Rogue One has no opening crawl. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.22|141.101.98.22]] 20:30, 29 May 2017 (UTC)

327: Exploits of a Mom

2017-04-28T15:18:13Z

141.101.98.22: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 327
| date = October 10, 2007
| title = Exploits of a Mom
| image = exploits_of_a_mom.png
| titletext = Her daughter is named Help I'm trapped in a driver's license factory.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Mrs. Roberts]] receives a call from her [[Little Bobby Tables|son]]'s school. The caller, likely one of the school's administrators, asks if she really named her son <code>Robert'); DROP TABLE students;--</code>, a rather unusual name. Perhaps surprisingly, Mrs. Roberts responds in the affirmative, claiming that she uses the nickname "Little Bobby Tables". As the full name is read into the school's system's databases without {{w|Data sanitization#SQL injection|data sanitization}}, it causes the student table in the database to be deleted.

The title of this comic is a pun. ''Exploit'' can mean an accomplishment or heroic deed, but in computer science the term refers to a program or technique that takes advantage of a vulnerability in other software. In fact, one could say that her exploit is to exploit an exploit (her achievement is to make use of a vulnerability). The title can also refer to her choice of name for her son, which is rather extraordinary.

In {{w|SQL}}, a database programming language, commands are separated by semicolons <code>;</code> and strings of text are often delimited using single quotes <code>'</code>. Parts of commands may also be enclosed in parentheses <code>(</code> and <code>)</code>. Data entries are stored as "rows" within named "tables" of similar items (e.g. <code>Students</code>). The command to delete an entire table (and every row of data in that table) is <code>DROP TABLE</code>, as in <code>DROP TABLE Students;</code>.

The exploited vulnerability here is that the single quote in the name input was not correctly "escaped" by the software. That is, if a student's name did indeed contain a quote mark, it should have been parsed as one of the characters making up the text string and not as the marker to close the string, which it erroneously was. Lack of such escaping is a common SQL vulnerability; this type of exploit is referred to as {{w|SQL injection}}. Mrs. Roberts thus reminds the school to make sure they have added data filtering code to prevent code injection exploits in the future.

For example, to add information about Elaine to a data table called 'Students' the SQL query could be:
 <code>INSERT INTO Students (firstname) VALUES ('Elaine');</code>

However, using the odd name <code>Robert');DROP TABLE Students;-- </code> where we used "Elaine" above, the SQL query becomes:
 <code>INSERT INTO Students (firstname) VALUES ('Robert');DROP TABLE Students;-- ');</code>

By insertion of the two semi-colons in the odd name this is now three well formed SQL commands:
 <code>
INSERT INTO Students (firstname) VALUES ('Robert');

DROP TABLE Students;

-- ');
</code>

The first line is valid SQL code that will legitimately insert data on a Student called Robert.

The second line is valid injected SQL code that will delete the whole Student data table from the database.

The third line is a valid code comment ( --  denotes a comment) which will be ignored by the SQL server.

For this to work, it helps to know a little about the structure of the database. But it's quite a good guess that a school's student management database might have a table named <code>Students</code>.

Of course, in real life most exploits of this kind would be performed not by socially engineering a person's name such that it would eventually be entered into a school database query, but rather by accessing some kind of input system (such as a website's login screen or search interface) and guessing various combinations by trial and error until something works, perhaps by first trying to inject the <code>SHOW TABLES</code> command to see how the database is structured.

To correctly and harmlessly include the odd name in the Students table in the school database the correct SQL is:
 <code>INSERT INTO Students (firstname) VALUES ('Robert\');DROP TABLE Students;-- ');</code>

Note that the single quote after Robert is now sanitized by a backslash, which changes it from malicious code to harmless data.

It should be noted that while data sanitization can mitigate the risks of SQL injection, the proper prevention technique is to use {{w|Prepared statement}}s.

The XKCD title text references that Mrs. Roberts' daughter is named "Help I'm trapped in a driver's license factory". This is a play on how if someone is stuck and forced to work in a manufacturing factory/plant then they will write on the product "Help I am trapped in a ____ factory" in order to tell people on the outside. Having this name would cause any police officer that pulls her over to show some concern, as well as getting the license in the first place would be difficult. The idea of inserting a help message like this was already used in [[10: Pi Equals]].


This xkcd comic has become rather famous, spawning a site about preventing SQL injection named http://bobby-tables.com and also at the official [https://docs.python.org/2/library/sqlite3.html Python SQLite documentation]. Noted security expert {{w|Bruce Schneier}} (who often quotes xkcd) [https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2010/10/pen-and-paper_s.html mentioned a similar attack] which happened in the 2014 Swedish general elections.

It is later revealed in [[342: 1337: Part 2]] that the daughters middle name is [[Elaine]] (full name: ''Help I'm trapped in a driver's license factory Elaine Roberts''), and this is thus the first time Elaine is mentioned. Seems like this comic was just a setup for the "[[:Category:1337|1337]]" series where both this exploiting mom's kids are shown for the first time.

==Transcript==
:[Mrs. Roberts receives a call from her son's school on her wireless phone. She is standing with a cup of hot coffee or tea (shown with a small line above the cup) facing a small round three-legged table to the right. The voice of the caller is indicated to come from the phone with a zigzag line.]
:Voice over the phone: Hi, This is your son's school. We're having some computer trouble.

:[In this frame-less panel Mrs. Roberts has put the cup down on the table turned facing out.]
:Mrs. Roberts: Oh, dear - did he break something?
:Voice over the phone: In a way -

:[Mrs. Roberts is now drinking from the cup again looking right. The table is not shown.]
:Voice over the phone: Did you really name your son <code>Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;--</code> ?
:Mrs. Roberts: Oh, yes. Little Bobby Tables, we call him.

:[Mrs. Roberts holds the cup down.]
:Voice over the phone: Well, we've lost this year's student records. I hope you're happy.
:Mrs. Roberts: And I hope you've learned to sanitize your database inputs.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Mrs. Roberts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Little Bobby Tables]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Elaine Roberts]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Computers]]

1807: Listening

2017-03-06T12:01:43Z

141.101.98.22: /* Explanation */ google to the rescue

{{comic
| number = 1807
| date = March 6, 2017
| title = Listening
| image = listening.png
| titletext = Sure, you could just ask, but this also takes care of the host gift thing.
}}

==Explanation==

This comic depicts [[Cueball]] and [[Ponytail]] welcoming [[Black Hat]] and [[Danish]] to their house. The guests immediately tell "Alexa" (the [https://developer.amazon.com/alexa-voice-service Amazon voice service]) to order two tons of creamed corn. This would be quite expensive, and the hosts would be charged because it was ordered on their Alexa.

The title text says that this takes care of the "host gift thing," where the guests are intended to buy something for the hosts. However, Black Hat is making the hosts pay for it, so it can be as expensive as he wants!

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Danish]]