explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2087: Rocket Launch

2023-11-02T12:05:56Z

141.101.98.238:

I had to fight the urge to type Care Bare [[User:Arachrah|Arachrah]] ([[User talk:Arachrah|talk]])

This was published during the Arianespace launch livestream, between launch and satellite deployment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpHJoo0h8GQ [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 17:11, 19 December 2018 (UTC)

Looks like it could be an Ariane5 in the comic, it is a 3 stage. Anyone know if Max-CB is a real thing (and before I get any wisecracks, I know there aren't any Care Bears in the clouds) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.214|162.158.63.214]] 20:27, 19 December 2018 (UTC)

: A search for rocketry terminology reveals that Cb stands for Ballistic Coefficient, which is a measure of the ability to coast. It is related to both velocity and air density, which vary throughout a rocket launch, so it makes sense that there might be some point of maximum ballistic coefficient. (Note: I am not a rocket scientist, and this is clearly rocket science, so take this with a grain of salt!) [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 21:13, 19 December 2018 (UTC)
::That point is called "Max-Q". Source: I've seen a lot of rocket launches recently and they always mention it, because it's the second most likely moment to have a failure (first is the launch, of course). [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 07:28, 20 December 2018 (UTC)

: Pontificating further, it is reasonable to conjecture that as a rocket accelerates to higher speeds, the drag from the atmosphere increases with increasing speed, but past a certain point the drag begins to decrease as the air gets thinner. This suggests there is some point somewhere during the launch sequence where aerodynamic drag reaches a maximum value - aka Max Cb. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 21:26, 19 December 2018 (UTC)

: Finally one I can help with! Okay, I don't think this is ballistic coefficient for several reasons: 1. Ballistic Coefficient is typically noted by the greek letter Beta, not Cb. 2. Ballistic coefficient is mass divided by drag area (drag coefficient times reference area). Basically a shape parameter. So while the mass does change over the course of the flight (burning fuel), the drag area does not. Making this a somewhat useless parameter for a launch vehicle 3. Ballistic Coefficient is typically reported as a static parameter rather than a time-varying parameter, so "Max ballistic coefficient" is a rather unusual metric (and would occur on the launch pad in any case, when mass is highest). Finally, as an aside, objects with high ballistic coefficients tend to fly through the air easily and are not influenced very much by wind (such as rocks or bullets), whereas low-beta objects can by pushed and slowed down a lot by the wind (such as balloons). [[User:Tyanderson91|Tyanderson91]] ([[User talk:Tyanderson91|talk]]) 03:17, 20 December 2018 (UTC)
:: For rockets with side boosters, as the one shown, drag will potentially change dramatically at each staging event; when the side boosters are jettisoned they are no longer dragging on the rocket, and it's possible that the stage will have a higher ballistic coefficient because there's less surface area and not significantly less mass. Chad[[Special:Contributions/172.68.47.84|172.68.47.84]] 10:30, 20 December 2018 (UTC)

r/shittyspacexideas --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.139|173.245.52.139]] 19:53, 19 December 2018 (UTC)

If you trace the dotted lines, it seems that the Boosters are the winners[[User:CCCVVVA|CCCVVVA]] ([[User talk:CCCVVVA|talk]]) 03:02, 20 December 2018 (UTC)

:When I did it, I noticed that the boosters lost. After reading your comment, I traced it again and noticed that the last time they meet, when I saw them not crossing, could actually be interpreted as crossing (though it still seems to me that not crossing is more likely). Wonder if thst's purposeful confusion. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.223|162.158.89.223]] 01:26, 21 December 2018 (UTC)

This was posted on the day SpaceX was supposed to launch the GPS-III-2 satellite, which may be the reason for the mention of GPS [[User:Tyanderson91|Tyanderson91]] ([[User talk:Tyanderson91|talk]])

The max CB is clearly meant to spoof the real problem of rockets hitting birds. Since birds can't fly in the he upper part of the atmosphere, the point of highest likelihood of hitting a bird would presumably be below max-Q and not above it as in the comic. It is worth noting that there are no clouds at the altitude where max CB is shown in the comic, so it seems unlikely that any hypothetical cloud castle would be that high.

EDIT: ok, after checking the numbers it seems like it is technically possible to encounter birds and clouds at heights above max-Q for some rockets, but the position shown in the comic still seems too high. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 04:23, 20 December 2018 (UTC)

I suspect "pursuit phase" refers either to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pursuit_predation predation] or to some aspect of air warfare (either involving missiles chasing craft or craft vs. craft). [[User:Magic9mushroom|Magic9mushroom]] ([[User talk:Magic9mushroom|talk]]) 08:08, 20 December 2018 (UTC)

I believe "pursuit phase" refers to the Domestic Violence Cycle. There are just too many correlations. [[User:iraytrace|iraytrace]] ([[User talk:iraytrace|talk]]) (02:38 21 December 2018 (UTC)
:I see no reason what so ever that Randall was thinking of domestic violence, just because he called a pursuit of one rocket of another a "pursuit phase". Guess someone has this on their mind and see it everywhere. I would delete it but I don't have the time. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:01, 21 December 2018 (UTC)

::Pursuit phase or [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pursuit_guidance pursuit guidance] is something that crops up in missile guidance and ICBM interception a lot, which I think is probably more relevant here. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.203|108.162.246.203]] 18:24, 21 December 2018 (UTC)

I feel a reference to [[1133: Up Goer Five]] and 'will not go to space today' is needed, but not sure where - after dogfight? Possibly Kerbal (Care Bear?) Space Program too. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.178|162.158.34.178]] 15:09, 21 December 2018 (UTC)

I think there's some kind of a theme going on with the reunified stages & a traditional narrative arc of rise, fall & redemption (or something like that..). Like it's rising from its fall to try to regain a throne or something? I'm not sure where to put it but edit it in if you agree.
Also not changing it, but linking Wikipedia's article on 'pursuit guidance' as a 'possible reference' is a helluva stretch, don't you think? Cool article, but I don't think it's referenced any more than 'CB Radio' or 'Q-tips' would be
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.224|172.69.22.224]] 18:46, 24 December 2018 (UTC)

The GPS disabled may also be a reference to the COCOM altitude/speed limits placed on commercial GPS units. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.232|162.158.63.232]] 16:22, 25 December 2018 (UTC)

This comic can be solved by simply deleting a white space and replacing "a typical" with "atypical" [[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.125|162.158.91.125]] 10:04, 4 January 2019 (UTC)

Could the 'pilot panics' stage be a reference to JetBlue Flight 191, an incident where the pilot had an apparent mental breakdown and was locked out of the cockpit and restrained by passengers? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/JetBlue_Flight_191 [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.238|141.101.98.238]] 12:05, 2 November 2023 (UTC)

1245: 10-Day Forecast

2019-05-09T15:22:30Z

141.101.98.238: Removed unnecessary, comma.

{{comic
| number = 1245
| date = July 31, 2013
| title = 10-Day Forecast
| image = 10 day forecast.png
| titletext = Oh, definitely not; they don't have Amazon Prime.
}}

==Explanation==
The 10-day forecast is a prediction of the weather extending 10 days into the future (with varying degrees of accuracy). However, when [[Cueball]] checks the forecast for his local area, it apparently predicts progressively extreme lightning storms, a plague of insects which appear to be mosquitoes, what appears to be {{w|Rapture|The Rapture}}, and the appearance of the {{w|anti-Christ}}. Upon the anti-Christ (or perhaps {{w|Woden}} or {{w|Mothra}}) appearing, the forecast falls into static and nothingness with the day stuck on Tuesday, meaning that the world has ended.

When asked about this, [[Megan]] casually explains that Cueball put a minus (-) sign in front of his ZIP code. A {{w|Zone Improvement Plan|ZIP code}} is a numeric postal code used in the United States, but many more countries use similar systems. As ZIP codes are tied to a geographic location, it is also often used to specify a local region for the purposes of weather reports.

Many computer systems that let the user write in a number only work with certain numbers (such as positive numbers). Numbers the system is not designed to work with, such as negative numbers, may lead to errors or unpredictable behavior (or, more often, the system will just refuse to proceed until you input a valid number). When this happens with the number of a video game level, it can result in data of another type being loaded, creating a level with a corrupted or physically-impossible landscape; this is sometimes known as a "{{tvtropes|MinusWorld|Minus World}}".

Megan states that you get this result for any negative zip code. This may be an error deliberately put in by the programmers creating the system, to freak out any people who make a mistake.

Cueball, on the other hand reacts as if this negative zip code actually represents an actual geographical location, or a real-life Minus World, and that the weather forecaster is indeed showing an accurate forecast for the (corrupted) area. Since Megan stated that the forecast is always like that for these zip code Cueball expresses that he would never move there.

In the title text, Megan agrees with Cueball's desire not to move to that ZIP code area, the punchline being that her reason isn't to avoid the apocalypse, but to retain access to Amazon Prime, which shows that her priorities are amusingly bizarre. The service Amazon Prime is provided by {{w|Amazon.com|Amazon}}, where the user pays a flat annual fee and in exchange they get access a number of "enhanced" Amazon services, including free two-day shipping, free access to a library of streaming videos, and the ability to borrow books.

Later, a [[1606: Five-Day Forecast|Five-Day Forecast]] was also made into a comic.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball sits behind a computer desk when Megan calls to him.]
:Megan (off-panel): Is it going to rain this weekend? I have a thing.
:Cueball: Lemme check.
:*type type*
:Cueball: ...Uhh. What?

:[A caption is written above ten small panels in two rows. In each panel is an indication of the weather. Below each panel a label tells which day it is referring too.]
:'''Your 10-day forecast:'''
:[A yellow sun.]
:Today
:[Two gray clouds in front of the sun.]
:Tomorrow
:[Thunderstorms, with three gray clouds and a single lightning bolt.]
:Friday
:[Extreme thunderstorms with many large gray clouds and seven lightning bolts]
:Saturday
:[A swarm of insects, with one large black one close by and seven others close enough to discern details. The rest of the swarm is grayed out and just shown as small dots behind these other eight insects.]
:Sunday
:[Images of distorted people with very long legs. One Megan, one Cueball and someone in the background.]
:Monday
:[A humanoid figure with two large horns or a winged helmet silhouetted against a bleak red background. The ground beneath the figure is black.]
:Tuesday
:[Grey static]
:Tuesday
:[Black screen]
:Tuesday
:[Black screen]
:Tuesday

:[Megan has entered the panel and stands behind Cueball looking at his laptop over his shoulder. She points to the screen. Cueball holds his hand to his chest.]
:Megan: ...Oh! You typed a minus sign in the ZIP code. The negative ZIP codes are all like that.
:Cueball: Let's ''never'' move there.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

2034: Equations

2018-08-17T06:26:19Z

141.101.98.238: Started a table...?

{{comic
| number = 2034
| date = August 17, 2018
| title = Equations
| image = equations.png
| titletext = All electromagnetic equations: The same as all fluid dynamics equations, but with the 8 and 23 replaced with the permittivity and permeability of free space, respectively.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{| class="wikitable" border="1" cellpadding="4" style="border-collapse: collapse"
|-
! Equation !! Label !! Explanation
|-
| <math>E = K_0t + \frac{1}{2}pvt^2</math> || All Kinematics Equations ||
|-
| <math>K_n = \sum_{i=0}^{\infty}\sum_{\pi=0}^{\infty}(n-\pi)(i-e^{\pi-\infty})</math> || All Number Theory Equations
|-
| <math>\frac{\partial}{\partial t}\nabla\cdot p = \frac{8}{23}
\int\!\!\!\!\int\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\;\;\;\bigcirc\,\,
\rho\,ds\,dt\cdot \rho\frac{\partial}{\partial\nabla}
</math> || All Fluid Dynamics Equations
|-
| <math>|\psi_{x,y}\rangle = A(\psi) A(|x\rangle \otimes |y\rangle)</math> || All Quantum Mechanic Equations
|-
| <math>\mathrm{CH}_4 + \mathrm{OH} + \mathrm{HEAT} \rightarrow \mathrm{H}_2\mathrm{O} + \mathrm{CH}_2 + \mathrm{H}_2 \mathrm{EAT}</math> || All Chemistry Equations
|-
| <math>SU(2)U(1) \times SU(U(2))</math> || All Quantum Gravity Equations
|-
| <math>S_g = \frac{-1}{2\bar{\epsilon}}i\eth \hat{\big(} \zeta_0 \dotplus p_\epsilon \rho_v^{abc}\cdot \eta_0 \hat{\big)} f_a^0 a\lambda(\zeta) \psi(0_a)</math> || All Gauge Theory Equations
|-
| <math>H(t) + \Omega + G \cdot \Lambda \, ... \begin{cases} ... > 0 & \text{(HUBBLE MODEL)} \\ ... = 0 & \text{(FLAT SPHERE MODEL)} \\ ... < 0 & \text{(BRIGHT DARK MATTER MODEL)} \end{cases}
</math> || All Cosmology Equations
|-
| <math>\hat H - \mu_{0} = 0</math> || All Truly Deep Physics Equations
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[TODO: Avoid using math markup here because the images of these equations isn't helpful in a transcript. Sigh.]
[Nine equations are listed and labeled as followed:]
 
<math>E = K_0t + \frac{1}{2}pvt^2</math> 
ALL KINEMATICS EQUATIONS 
 
<math>K_n = \sum_{i=0}^{\infty}\sum_{\pi=0}^{\infty}(n-\pi)(i-e^{\pi-\infty})</math> 
ALL NUMBER THEORY EQUATIONS 
 
<math>\frac{\partial}{\partial t}\triangledown\cdot p = \frac{8}{23}
\int\!\!\!\!\int\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\;\;\;\bigcirc\,\,
\rho\,ds\,dt\cdot \rho\frac{\partial}{\partial\triangledown}
</math> 
ALL FLUID DYNAMIC EQUATIONS 
 
<math>|\psi_{x,y}\rangle = A(\psi) A(|x\rangle \otimes |y\rangle)</math> 
ALL QUANTUM MECHANIC EQUATIONS 
 
<math>\mathrm{CH}_4 + \mathrm{OH} + \mathrm{HEAT} \rightarrow \mathrm{H}_2\mathrm{O} + \mathrm{CH}_2 + \mathrm{H}_2 \mathrm{EAT}</math> 
ALL CHEMISTRY EQUATIONS 
 
<math>SU(2)U(1) \times SU\left(U(2)\right)</math> 
ALL QUANTUM GRAVITY EQUATIONS 
 
<math>S_g = \frac{-1}{2\epsilon}i\eth \hat{\big(} \zeta_0 \dotplus p_\epsilon \rho_v^{abc}\cdot \eta_0 \hat{\big)} f_a^0 a\lambda(\zeta) \psi(0_a)</math> 
ALL GAUGE THEORY EQUATIONS 
 
<math>H(t) + \Omega + G \cdot \land \, ... \begin{cases} ... > 0 & \text{(HUBBLE MODEL)} \\ ... = 0 & \text{(FLAT SPHERE MODEL)} \\ ... < 0 & \text{(BRIGHT DARK MATTER MODEL)} \end{cases}
</math> 
ALL COSMOLOGY EQUATIONS 
 
<math>\hat H - \mu_{0} = 0</math> 
ALL TRULY DEEP PHYSICS EQUATIONS
 

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

Talk:2022: Sports Champions

2018-07-27T04:25:09Z

141.101.98.238: /* Chosen spelling - Citation needed */ section break for kerballs

Since Kate Dopingscandal has a bike, it seems to me she's actually likely a direct reference to Lance Armstrong. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:46, 20 July 2018 (UTC)
:Yeah, that's why I included him as an example. Feel free to clarify if you want, of course.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.68|162.158.155.68]] 06:09, 20 July 2018 (UTC)
::Why is a bike directly a direct reference to Lance Armstrong? and why are additionally only "many russians" listed? It is clearly not a phenomena only seen with mr. Armstrong, and Russians, but with cylcing sports in general. The biggest Cycling event, the {{w|Tour_de_France}} is hit by a doping scandal every year. Also other events have many {{w|List_of_doping_cases_in_cycling|cases}}. Lately actually there have even be cases of [http://www.cyclist.co.uk/news/542/motor-doping-is-happening-and-weve-tested-it Motor Doping]. So I think Lance Armstrong can stay as maybe the most famous example, but we should say that it is many others and not Lance Armstrong and Russians. [[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 08:22, 21 July 2018 (UTC)
:::Because he's easily the most famous example. I realize there are plenty of others - the France native below portrays it as downright epidemic in the sport - but Lance was so highly unbelievably visible. My impression is that in North America (which is where both Randall and I live), cycling as a professional sport enjoys notably less popularity than most other sports, and less than it might elsewhere in the world. Yet virtually EVERYBODY has heard of Lance (I follow no sports whatsoever, and I can even discuss him here). Lance attained nearly a hero status, he beat cancer... He started and/or inspired The LiveStrong movement, its support bracelets spread far and wide, inspiring imitators. At which point the scandal hit. Now combine this heightened visibility with Randall's history of comics portraying him - as Cueball - as knowing nothing about sports. Lance is the only cycling doping scandal _I_ can name, or even cyclist I can name at all, chances are it's the same for Randall. This comic is certainly referencing Lance. I only commented because the description was only listing him as an example. (I said nothing about Russians, I don't know of any Russian doping scandal) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 13:46, 22 July 2018 (UTC)
:::Having re-checked the description, I can answer the Russian portion: It says "many Russians" because those words link to a Wikipedia article about Russia in general, not one particular incident. The mere existence of the article tells me that enough Russians have been hit by doping scandals that they rate their own Wikipedia article. It's a great find for this ExplainXKCD article, no wonder somebody made sure to include it. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 13:55, 22 July 2018 (UTC)
::::I put both those in. In fact, I wrote almost the entire article. I'm English, but I try to "think American" when editing. I immediately thought of Armstrong,and totally agree with your reasoning; if you do searches for "doping scandal" you immediately see him, but also, the Russian thing. Centered on the 2012 Olympics, and state-sponsored doping, their subsequent exclusion from the 2016 Olympics is amongst the biggest ever sporting scandals of all time, worldwide. Perhaps more so outside America, but it's certainly of epic proportions.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.138|141.101.107.138]] 16:54, 22 July 2018 (UTC)
::I'm 46 and live in France. As far as I can remember (1980 ?) cycling has always been THE sport associated with doping. I can remember some famous cases in other sports (Ben Johnson in the 1988 olympics) but for cycling it was said to be quasi systematic. The Armstong case was a worldwide scandal, but Tour de France had a much severe problem in 1998 where entire teams were involved and excluded from the race. Five years later, after several trials and new analysis of the 1998 samples with more evolved techniques it was revealed that at least the 5 first finishers (and many more) were doped. If you consult the Wikipedia article “doping in sport”, you will note that cycling is by far the largest section, and almost 100 years old in Tour de France. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.34|108.162.229.34]] 12:57, 22 July 2018 (UTC)
:::Ah, but in cases like this, where different cultures can have an effect, I always bring it back to this: Where does Randall live? In America. While people in France (and cycling fans) might be well aware of many, many, MANY cycling doping scandals, I'd say the average American is not. Plus, Randall has been quite vocal about not knowing sports. Chances are, Lance Armstrong is the only cyclist he can even name at all, never mind doping scandals. And now I cause myself to wonder, did Randall think of Armstrong because his last name is also one made of words, that Lance Armstrong would be on this list himself if he had excelled at arm wrestling? :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 13:46, 22 July 2018 (UTC)

He should have listed, in the sport of eXtreme Software Engineering, the dominance of Little Bobby Tables in the late 2020's. ---- {{unsigned ip|172.68.141.136}}
:Damn, what a missed opportunity. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 13:46, 22 July 2018 (UTC)

Would Jebediah be a reference to Kerbal Space Program? Things tend to go disaterously in it. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.160|108.162.210.160]] 12:54, 20 July 2018 (UTC)

It's worth noting that the all-star right fielder for the Boston Red Sox, who are currently in first place in the MLB, is named Markus Lynn "Mookie" Betts, with the initials "MLB." Aside from the fact that he's already won several divisional titles with his team, there's a good chance he'll soon be on a world series winning team as well, perhaps to become the next high-profile example. (Full disclosure: I'm a huge Red Sox fan) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.22|172.68.54.22]] 13:47, 20 July 2018 (UTC)

Art Ball (1890’s)
Full name Arthur Ball
Born April , 1872, Madison, Indiana
Died December 26, 1915, Chicago, Illinois
Buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois
First MLB Game: August 1, 1894; Final MLB Game: October 15, 1898
Bat: Unknown Throw: Right Weight: 168 {{unsigned ip|172.68.54.76}}

What, no Cecil Fielder? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.46|162.158.63.46]] 19:32, 20 July 2018 (UTC)

What, no [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Moneymaker Chris Moneymaker? (Poker, 2000's)] [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 01:10, 22 July 2018 (UTC)

;Moved from the main talk page: --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:30, 21 July 2018 (UTC)
Misspelling in today's comic

Your article says: "Randall has chosen to spell his name as "Disasterous", rather than the more conventional "Disastrous"." Presumably he hasn't "chosen" to do this but merely made a spelling error. In that case, your comment is misleading. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.21|162.158.158.21]] 23:25, 20 July 2018 (UTC)

Brandon Sponsorship may also be read as Brand On Sponsorship, having two terms related.
:I know what you mean, and thought about it at the time, but the connection isn't completely obvious and I didn't want to bring in too much assumption on my part. I tried to reference it without making a judgement, by mentioning the word in the text, but not putting it in bold or directly saying that there was a connection. I think that's OK? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.214|141.101.98.214]] 16:27, 22 July 2018 (UTC)
(Previous person didn't sign) About the misspelling, I feel like that's a perfectly acceptable version of the word. It's how I'd instinctually spell it, he just added "ous" to the word "disaster". That's where the word comes from! It's actually ridiculous that this ISN'T the correct spelling! I blame the English language on this one. I'd guess that centuries ago that WAS the correct spelling, and the E just got dropped at some point, to streamline the pronunciation of the word. I just Googled it, and MANY articles showed up defining it as a common misspelling of the word, that's how common this spelling is. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 14:11, 22 July 2018 (UTC)

:There is no right or wrong spelling for a surname. You can be Mr. Tailor or Mr.Taylor, or a hundred other versions. That's why I deliberately wrote that Randall ''chose'' that spelling, and I think it's obvious from the way I phrased it that it's not the normal spelling of the word. I don't think we should pass judgement about his decision, even though there's a very high chance he just made a typo. I also concur with the opinion of NiceGuy1, so I have changed it back to the way it was. Best, [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.214|141.101.98.214]] 16:27, 22 July 2018 (UTC)
::Given that the USA has a dominantly prescriptivist spelling culture for non-names (i.e. in academics and business correctness is defined by books before common usage, coompare to descriptivist which would be the other way around), the phrasing here misleads the leader into believing that both spellings are currently considered correct, as is actually true for other words. There are a lot of misleading statements in this wiki; maybe we should be up-front about that until somebody has the energy to work through everything and stay on top of it all. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.118|162.158.63.118]] 14:45, 25 July 2018 (UTC)
:::There I fixed it. [[User:Faultwire|I'm me(citation needed)]] ([[User talk:Faultwire|talk]]) 23:28, 25 July 2018 (UTC)

From the transcript: "[Cueball with a golf club] Gary Player" and "[Cueball with a basketball] Lonzo Ball". I'm not familiar with all the conventions around here, but would it be NOT Cueball when it is very definitely someone else? Sure, the made-up names later on could be Cueball standing in for them, but for those, wouldn't it actually be the real person, just looking Cueball-ish due to the art style? (And as an aside, a slight pity that there wasn't a pool player named something like Randall Cueball in the comic... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.130|162.158.75.130]] 03:31, 23 July 2018 (UTC)

== Podium/Lectern ==

When I first wrote this explanation, without thinking much, I said Jeb was standing at a {{w|podium}}. Someone corrected it to "lectern", which is absolutely correct of them - see that Wikipedia article. But the interesting thing is, there is an xkcd cartoon about this very subject!

[[1661: Podium]]

Should this somehow be mentioned in the explanation? I thought probably not, because Randall made no mention of it; it was purely my own error, and just an interesting connection to today's comic. Right? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.138|141.101.107.138]] 16:36, 22 July 2018 (UTC)

== Margaret Court ==
She wasn't the best choice. Recently in Australia someone let her near a microphone & it turns out she's quite homophobic.

== Jebediah's Sport ==

It appears that, based on the person's name, their sport could be debating, public speaking, or giving live postgame press conferences.

[[User:Milesman34|Milesman34]] ([[User talk:Milesman34|talk]]) 03:48, 23 July 2018 (UTC)milesman34

== Why Baseball is a Problem ==

Did you ever notice that players named "White" are almost always black, and players named "Black" are usually white? Why is that? The last White major leaguer who was actually white was Mike White, who played for Houston in the early sixties. Since then we've had Bill White, Roy White, Frank White, and Jerry White, all of whom were black; Mike White probably would have been black except that his father played in the majors in the thirties and they didn't allow you to be black back then. The Royals also had a Black on their roster, Bud, who of course is white; in fact, the Royals had to set some sort of record by having four colored people on their team, White, Black, Blue, and Brown. Scott Brown is not any browner than anyone else, Vida is definitely not blue, nor for that matter is Darryl Motley. I suppose that is the nature of names, as with Peacekeeping Missiles and Security Police, to disguise the truth more often than they reveal it. Horace Speed stole only four bases in his career. Vic Power was a singles hitter, Bill Goodenough was not good enough, and Joe Blong did not belong for long.

-- Bill James, 1983

Me, I'm disappointed that Jim Gentile wasn't Jewish. [[User:WHPratt|WHPratt]] ([[User talk:WHPratt|talk]]) 12:16, 24 July 2018 (UTC)

== Chosen spelling - Citation needed ==

Re. Randall has chosen to spell his name as "Disasterous", rather than the more conventional "Disastrous".

Putting <nowiki>{{citation needed}}</nowiki> on that is a bit silly. You can see he chose to spell it that way from the cartoon. It's self-evident. What's the issue, what needs a citation? As to why he decided to spell it that way, nobody but Randall knows, and we're unlikely to ever find out. It's probably a typo, but isn't that just an assumption? He chose to type the word that way - whether that's because he doesn't know how to spell it correctly, or because he likes it that way. Nobody but Randall knows.

A couple of people think it should say he misspelled it, but see the discussions; others agree with me that there is not correct spelling of surnames (e.g. Tailor/Taylor). It's a name, not the word.

IMHO, the cite-needed is just clutter and confusing. I think the wording was good, without a messy tag. It's not really something I want to argue pointlessly and endlessly about, so I won't remove it myself right now; I'll see what other people say. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.138|141.101.107.138]] 14:52, 26 July 2018 (UTC)
== Kerbal ==
why am i the first one to see the kerbal space program reference? where are you my fellow kerbals?
:It's a bit of a tenuous link. I get it, Kerbal has disasters, and has a person named Jebediah, but it's a reasonably common name; there's nothing space-related in the cartoon to suggest a connection. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.104|162.158.155.104]] 04:21, 27 July 2018 (UTC)

2022: Sports Champions

2018-07-20T05:58:51Z

141.101.98.238: /* Explanation */ sp

{{comic
| number = 2022
| date = July 20, 2018
| title = Sports Champions
| image = sports_champions.png
| titletext = For a long time, people thought maybe Usain Bolt was the one for running, until the 2090s and the incredible dominance of Derek Legs.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a CHAMPION - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In an example of {{w|nominative determinism}}, the cartoon lists people whose surname relates to their participation in various sports. The first three are real sportspeople, the remainder are imaginary players of the future.

{| class="wikitable"
!style="width:20%"|Name
!style="width:10%"|Year
!style="width:70%"|Explanation
|-
|Margaret Court
|1960s
|{{w|Margaret Court}} is a retired Australian tennis player, former world number 1, who won many competitions in the 1960s and 70s. A {{w|tennis court}} is the playing arena used in that sport.
|-
|Gary Player
|1970s
|{{w|Gary Player}} is a South African golf player who won nine major championships in the 1960s and 70s. Game contestants are often known as "players".
|-
|Lonzo Ball
|2020s
|{{w|Lonzo Ball}} is an American professional basketball player, currently with the Los Angeles Lakers. Of course, basketball is a {{w|ball game}}.
|-
|Jake Halfpipe
|2030s
|A {{w|half-pipe}} is a structure used in gravity extreme sports such as snowboarding.
|-
|Sarah Goggles
|2030s
|{{w|Goggles}} are protective eyewear used in many sports, such as skiing.
|-
|Julia Chairlift
|2050s
|A {{w|chairlift}} is an aerial machine often used to transport winter sportsmen and women up mountains.
|-
|Dwight Shuttlecock
|2060s
|A {{w|shuttlecock}} is a projectile used in the sport of badminton.
|-
|Brandon Sponsorship
|2060s
|Sporting professionals are often {{w|Sponsor (commercial)|sponsored}} by corporations
|-
|Kate Dopingscandal
|2070s
|There have been many {{w|Doping in sport|doping}} scandals in the world of sport, notably cyclist {{w|Lance Armstrong}}, and {{w|Doping in Russia|many Russian competitors}} in the Olympics
|-
|Jebediah Disasterous Postgame PressConference
|2080s
|At the end of sporting events - ie post-game - there is often a {{w|News conference|press conference}} where the competitors discuss the result. Sometimes, these live interviews are a disaster. Randall has chosen to spell their name as "Disasterous", rather than the more conventional "Disastrous".
|}

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

{{comic discussion}}

928: Mimic Octopus

2017-09-13T04:35:54Z

141.101.98.238: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 928
| date = July 22, 2011
| title = Mimic Octopus
| image = mimic_octopus.png
| titletext = Even if the dictionaries are starting to give in, I refuse to accept 'octopi' as a word mainly because--I'm not making this up--there's a really satisfying climactic scene in the Orson Scott Card horror novel 'Lost Boys' which hinges on it being an incorrect pluralization.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a parody of fish and sea-life identification charts, referencing the {{w|mimic octopus}} which, as the name implies, is able to mimic other animals, so all animals and objects found in the sea could actually just be such an animal.

The identification chart for South East Asian sea life shows 13 creatures mimicked including eight individual fish (two of which are not yet recognized) and other objects and animals. In order, top-to-bottom, left-to-right: A {{w|Moorish idol}} (Gill, from {{w|Finding Nemo}}), unknown, A {{w|tuna}}, a {{w|clownfish}}, unknown, a {{w|lionfish}}, a {{w|shark}}, a {{w|crinoid|sea lily}}, an {{w|angler fish}}, an {{w|anchor}}, a {{w|submarine}}, a {{w|scuba diver}} and {{w|Shoaling and schooling|school of 11 fish}}. Finally there is an {{w|octopus}}, but rather than being the mimic octopus in its natural form it's actually two of them each mimicing part of an octupus.

The {{w|Orson Scott Card}} novel that the title text refers to is ''{{w|Lost Boys (novel)|Lost Boys}}'': "A withdrawn eight-year-old in a troubled family invents imaginary friends who bear the names of missing children" (Publisher's Weekly). The part of the story that [[Randall]] is referring to (Chapter 7, Crickets) involves a situation where the protagonist, Stewie, is given a C grade for an otherwise impeccable diorama featuring underwater animals involving clay sculptures (when only a poster would have sufficed) and a well-written presentation supposedly because the other children had destroyed the diorama before the end of the day. To make matters worse, his teacher, Ms. Jones, had made fun of his project and given the ribbon for first prize to someone else.

On inquiring about, his father, Step, found out that the principal, Dr. Mariner, had already made the decision to hand Stewie the blue ribbon for first prize as she had reviewed the project before it had been destroyed, but Ms. Jones had secretly overruled her behind her back by announcing that another child (JJ) would receive the ribbon. So, the next day he met up with Ms Jones after school to have a word on the grading of his project. Needless to say, they ended up arguing about minor issues, with Mrs Jones justifying the reason for her decision on, among other things, the definition of a 'depiction', whether or not the amount of content was defined by the word count or the number of pages and of the importance of putting the report in a plastic cover. The argument finally comes to a head when Step points out that there was only one red mark on the project report, and that concerned an 'incorrect' pluralization of the word 'octopus'

:“But Mrs. Jones, surely you know that the plural of “octopus” is either ‘octopus’, with nothing added, or ‘octopuses’.”
:“I think not,” said Mrs. Jones.
:“Think again, Mrs. Jones.”
:She must have realized that she was not on firm ground here. “Perhaps ‘octopuses’ is an alternate plural, but I’m sure that ‘octopi’ is the preferred.”
:“No, Mrs. Jones. If you had looked it up, you would have discovered that ‘octopi’ is not the preferred spelling. It is not a spelling at all. '''The word does not exist, except in the mouths of those who are pretending to be educated but in fact are not.''' This is because the ‘us’ ending of ‘octopus’ is not a Latin nominative singular ending, which would form its plural by changing to the letter ‘i’. Instead, the syllable ‘pus’ in ‘octopus’ is the Greek word for ‘foot.’ And it forms its plural the Greek way. Therefore ‘octopoda’, not ‘octopi’. Never ‘octopi’.”
:“Well, then, octopoda. Your son’s paper said octopuses.”
:“I know,” said Step. “When he asked me the correct plural, I told him octopoda. But then he was still uncertain, because my son doesn’t think he knows something until he knows it, and so he looked it up. And to my surprise, octopoda is only used when referring to more than one species of octopus, rather than when referring to more than one actual octopus. What Stevie put in his paper is in fact the preferred dictionary usage. Which you would have known, too, if you had looked it up.”

After proving his case that his son did indeed deserve an A grade, he then threatened to bring the matter to the attention of the principal. He then warned Mrs Jones that while he wanted the grade to remain unchanged, he wanted her to inform the class that the ribbon would be awarded to Stewie, before revealing that he had been recording the conversation all along. And, after this, after Mrs Jones came crying for forgiveness before leaving, Step realized how vulnerable she was and how she was channeling her frustration at one particular student in each class to find some relief from that.

According to the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFyY2mK8pxk Merriam-Webster Dictionary], 'octopi', 'octopuses', and 'octopodes' (UK English) are all correct plural versions of "octopus." Supposedly, Randall would very much like the word 'octopi' to remain unrecognized by major dictionaries as otherwise it would lessen the magnitude of the climactic conclusion of this argument by rendering Step's mockery of Ms. Jones' perceived intellectual superiority factually invalid. This also offers another reason, apart from the pun, why the octopus in the chart is named ''two mimic octopuses'', so Randall can use the correct pluralization of the word in the comic. This is an example of a comic where the title text seems more important to Randall than the actual comic.

It should be noted that, at least according to [http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=octopus Etymology Dictonary], Octopi is wrong for exactly the reasons that Step lists and first appears over 60 years later.

==Transcript==
:[Captions above the panel:]
:<big>Southeast Asian Sea Life</big>
:Identification Chart
:[The chart consist of 14 black silhouettes which includes eight individual fish and several other object/animals. From top left: A fish, a fish, a tuna, a clownfish, a fish, a lionfish, a shark, a sea lilies, an angler fish, an anchor with chain, a submarine, a scuba diver, a school of seven large and four small fish, and and at the bottom right a silhouette of an octopus displaying eight arms and a tilted head with large white eyes. All 14 are labeled the same except the octopus:]
:Mimic Octopus
:Mimic Octopus
:Mimic Octopus
:Mimic Octopus
:Mimic Octopus
:Mimic Octopus
:Mimic Octopus
:Mimic Octopus
:Mimic Octopus
:Mimic Octopus
:Mimic Octopus
:Mimic Octopus
:Mimic Octopus
:Two Mimic Octopuses

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Sharks]]

Talk:1883: Supervillain Plan

2017-09-05T14:50:16Z

141.101.98.238:

California is UTC-8 during the winter, but UTC-7 during the summer. [[User:RandalSchwartz|RandalSchwartz]] ([[User talk:RandalSchwartz|talk]]) 15:16, 30 August 2017 (UTC)
:I've clarified this. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 16:13, 30 August 2017 (UTC)

For some reason, I can't help but to think of this [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5wpm-gesOY Tom Scott] video. I guess it represents well the feeling programers must have when talking about time zones. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.100|162.158.126.100]] 16:49, 30 August 2017 (UTC)

Is it at all clear that Cueball and Megan are "henchmen"? I assumed they were captured heros that were to be put to death, but first the supervillain was confessing his evil plan to them, ala {{tvtropes|EvilGloating}}. [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 18:20, 30 August 2017 (UTC)
:I think their purely technical concerns would suggest they don't object to the plan itself, they just want to make sure it's as painless for them as possible [[User:Charith|Charith]] ([[User talk:Charith|talk]]) 19:38, 30 August 2017 (UTC)

:To me, the position with black hat on a throne and the people opposite him seems more like a villain gloating over his plan. But the heroes this week are programmers (who else would go up against a madman who seems to be building a drone army?) - and when they hear what he's actually planning, the time zone thing becomes their biggest concern. -- [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.110|162.158.155.110]] 09:50, 31 August 2017 (UTC)

:Considering that they're giving feedback, helping define (and redefine, and make requests regarding to) the plan, I feel they can only be on the same side as Black Hat. In fact, the freedom they enjoy to do this suggests to me that they're higher than henchmen or minions, that they're likely his lieutenants, being the next step down in the managment heirarchy. "Right Hand Men", as it were. The ones he can confide in, plan with. Like Bob to Joker in the first Michael Keaton Batman movie (saw it again this weekend, no wonder it's the first example to come to mind, LOL!). [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:26, 5 September 2017 (UTC)

:The phrase 'can we be sure' makes it clear that they are members of Black Hat's organisation. Or at least Megan is; Cueball could be anyone including a captured hero. Also would it be too obvious to highlight the central premise of the comic, that instead of a normal person's reaction to hearing of the dastardly plan, Megan can only fixate on the time zone issue?

Also a nice one for programmers, when governments suddenly decide to change the rules: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34631326 --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.69.177|141.101.69.177]] 20:07, 30 August 2017 (UTC)

:About arizona, [https://www.timeanddate.com/time/us/arizona-no-dst.html the article on timeanddate.com] might be a better explanation. (The current link is [https://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2012-11-12/daylight-saving-donut-arizona-ken-jennings-maphead]). [[Special:Contributions/172.68.226.58|172.68.226.58]] 20:33, 30 August 2017 (UTC)

Fun fact: this technology can also be used by the good guys to fight the evil. We could move the tectonic plates around to precisely control Earth's moment of inertia, eliminating the need for leap seconds! --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.76|172.68.54.76]] 03:00, 31 August 2017 (UTC)

To whoever wrote the sentence starting with "Humans often avoid this issue": Kudos! Best sentence I read here for a very long time! Plus: something funny to read: http://infiniteundo.com/post/25326999628/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-time [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 07:36, 31 August 2017 (UTC)
:Thanks! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.88.172|141.101.88.172]] 10:11, 1 September 2017 (UTC)

I also appreciate the presence of the "citation needed" in that sentence - brilliantly placed! I'm delighted that Randall has raised awareness on this issue, because it gives me a chance to bring up my latest time discovery, Amsterdam time from May, 1 1909 until July 1, 1937, which was [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UTC%2B00:20 GMT +0h 19m 32.13s] (yes - to the hundredth of a second). My family visited Amsterdam this past summer, and as luck would have it we got to climb the Westertoren, giving me ample opportunity to inform the guides about its special place in timezone management hell (amusing for a church tower)! [[User:Tovodeverett|Tovodeverett]] ([[User talk:Tovodeverett|talk]]) 11:46, 31 August 2017 (UTC)
:I'm glad the "citation needed" is back (no I didn't add it back myself), I had two "Citation needed" in that sentence but they were removed because "not funny anymore", and I did notice that it wasn't used for many pages, so I wondered if the trope was still up to date. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.88.172|141.101.88.172]] 10:11, 1 September 2017 (UTC)
::The "Citation needed" template was used too much in the past{{Citation needed}} which some still liked and others not{{Citation needed}}. But consider, it doesn't explain anything which is the main purpose of the article.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 12:45, 1 September 2017 (UTC)
:::That's why I didn't add it back myself, I understand that some people may think it has been used too often. I've just checked "What if" to see how Randall himself is using the joke (well, with more variation than the explainxkcd version) and although he had a "citation needed" in the very last answer, there was none for fourteen pages in a row. So I guess using it lightly is best aligned with Randall's sense of humor. Which was always the goal of the {{Citation needed}} trope IMHO, not to explain, but to keep in touch with the XKCD culture. But since no joke should be left unexplained here, maybe the explanation that this trope is used as a joke on very obvious statement should be made into a more visible disclaimer on the {{Citation needed}} page. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.88.172|141.101.88.172]] 15:18, 1 September 2017 (UTC)

:That was "Amsterdam time", the time on which the sun is at its highest point at noon in Amsterdam. Earlier in the 19th century, most cities held to their own time. In 1892, the railways decided to use _Greenwich_ time, even though more and more cities used Amsterdam time -- so the trains were always using a time 19m32.12 different from the rest of the country. Until 1909, as you note, when everybody had to switch to Amsterdam time, that mostly meant the railways. 08:21, 1 September 2017 (UTC) {{unsigned ip|141.101.105.228}}

I was working on an application with multiple remote devices measuring temperatures. The units had internal clocks, but some units were set to change automatically with daylight savings time, some weren't, and some apparently had the wrong dates set for the switchover. They were also located in two different time zones. I would have loved to have them all set to UTC and handle the time zone conversion at the central facility. However, this wasn't really practical as parts of the network were already installed. However, it was good enough since the real need was to record trends and report when temperatures were above alarm levels. There is also a time standard that doesn't use leap seconds (TAI). (This is used for the GPS system.) I have heard a number of proposals that the timing standard for computer equipment use the time without leap seconds for recording events. http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/systime.html UTC is TAI with adjustments for leap seconds. Look at http://gpsworld.com/leap-second-implementation-confuses-some-receivers/ (There were other situations) Some systems had some calculations using UTC and some using TAI, and mistakes in consistency caused some major problems. [[User:BradleyRoss|BradleyRoss]] ([[User talk:BradleyRoss|talk]]) 20:46, 31 August 2017 (UTC)

I have to question this: "However, in reality, time zones in the United States are determined by Department of Transportation regulations, and California's time zone is not defined based on its longitude.". While I'm convinced it's true that this department does this, it wouldn't be able to ignore reality! Time Zones EXIST because of the sun being in different positions depending on your longitude. That 4pm sun is at 3pm position over there. If California moved far enough, the Time Zone would NEED to change, they'd have no choice! I mean, I know most of the zone borders are hardly straight, in order to to work in conjunction with other borders, but there are limits. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:09, 5 September 2017 (UTC)
:I've been to the Maldives in March. There you have a different timezone on every island, regardless of it's possition (Mali +1, Mali +0,5...). The sun does not care much. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.90|162.158.90.90]] 13:01, 5 September 2017 (UTC)Thomy

1864: City Nicknames

2017-07-17T10:47:47Z

141.101.98.238: /* Nicknames and Demonyms */

{{comic
| number = 1864
| date = July 17, 2017
| title = City Nicknames
| image = city_nicknames.png
| titletext = This place has so many demonyms. Northlanders. Fair Folk. Honey Barons. Lake Dwellers. Treasurers. Swamp Watchers. Dream Farmers. Wellfolk. Rockeaters. Forgotten Royals. Remote Clients. Barrow-Clerks. The People of Land and Sky.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|stub}}

Cities often have official or unofficial nicknames. For instance, [[wikipedia:St._Louis|St. Louis, Missouri]], is known as "Gateway to the West" among several other nicknames. The nicknames typically invoke some historical or geographic feature of the city, but can sometime be opaque to those not familiar with the city.

[[Black Hat]] appears to believe they are near [[wikipedia:New York City|New York City]], despite the skyline being clearly recognizable as St. Louis due to the [[wikipedia:Gateway Arch|Gateway Arch]]. However, the nickname he gives is neither a common New York nickname (such as "[[wikipedia: List of nicknames of New York City|The Big Apple]]") nor a St. Louis nickname. [[Megan]] tries to correct him, but it becomes clear that Black Hat is making up nicknames. Many of his suggestions are puns for real nicknames of other places.

The title text contains made up [[wikipedia:Demonym|demonymns]] in the same pattern. A demonymn is a word for the people who live in a particular place. They are typically derived from the name of the place (e.g. "St. Louisan" for people from St. Louis), but some regions have an [[wikipedia:Demonym#Informal|informal demonymn]] that can be used colloquially by those familiar with the place to refer to its residents.

===Nicknames and Demonyms===

{| class=wikitable
! City nickname in comic
! Reference
! Explanation

|-
| The Hot Tamale
| {{w|Hot Tamales}}
|

|-
| The Winged City
| The Windy City
| Chicago. Possibly also [http://www.airport-technology.com/projects/incheon-international-airport/ Incheon International Airport (ICA/RKSI), South Korea]

|-
| The Gold Trombone
|
|

|-
| Castleopolis
|
|

|-
| The Kissing Kingdom
|
|

|-
| Sandland
|
|

|-
| The High Place
|
|

|-
| Ol' Ironhook
|
|
|-
| The Thousand Spires || ||
|-
| The Graveyard of Kings || ||
|-
| Bloomtown || ||
|-
| Lantern City USA || ||
|-
| The City of Many Daughters || ||
|-
| Big Mauve || ||
|-
| The Glass Cradle || ||
|-
| The Road Source || ||
|-
| London Prime || ||
|-
| Hamtown || ||
|-
| The Salad Bowl || ||
|-
| God's Boudoir || ||
|-
| The Glittering Swamp || ||
|-
| The Steel Forest || The Concrete Jungle || The Concrete Jungle is a name often given to New York's Manhattan area
|-
| The Mobius Strip || || A Mobius strip is a one-sided piece of paper
|-
| The Land of Trains and Fog || || In the webcomic [[wikipedia:Homestuck | Homestuck]] a deadly game takes place on planets named in the format "The Land of X and Y" e.g. "The Land of Light and Rain".
|-
| The Meeting Place || ||
|-
| The Dark Star || ||
|-
| The Walled Garden || ||
|-
| Skin City || [[wikipedia:Sin City (description)|Sin City]] || Generic term for a city well known for gambling, drugs, or other vices. Also Los Vegas.
|-
| The Horse Rotary || ||
|-
| Turkeytown || ||
|-
| The Naked Towers || ||
|-
| The Meta-City || ||
|-
| The Urban Orb || ||
|-
| The City of Angles || City of Angels || Los Angeles. Also, the titular City of Angles in the web novel [http://stefangagne.com/cityofangles/ City of Angles].
|-
| The Big Wheel || ||
|-
| Bird City USA || ||
|-
| The City of Seven Crowns || City of Seven Hills || Rome
|-
| Hilltopia || ||
|-
| Bug City || || A nickname for the bug-infested Chicago in the roleplaying game Shadowrun. Also, a sourcebook for the game.
|-
| The Bottomless Cup || ||
|-
| Lorde's Fen || ||
|-
| The Last Town || ||
|-
| The Empty Set || ||
|-
| Ghost Harbor || ||

|}

{| class=wikitable
! Demonymn in comic
! Reference
! Explanation
|-
| Northlanders || ||
|-
| Fair Folk || || The elves in ''The Lord of the Rings'' are referred to as the 'fair folk'.
|-
| Honey Barons || ||
|-
| Lake Dwellers || ||
|-
| Treasurers || ||
|-
| Swamp Watchers || ||
|-
| Dream Farmers || ||
|-
| Wellfolk || ||
|-
| Rockeaters || ||
|-
| Forgotten Royals || ||
|-
| Remote Clients || ||
|-
| Barrow-Clerks || ||
|-
| The People of Land and Sky || ||
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Black Hat, Megan, and Ponytail are standing on a hill overlooking a city. The Gateway Arch is visible, as well as a number of skyscrapers in the skyline.]
:Black Hat: Ah, New York. The Hot Tamale.
:Megan: This is St. Louis. Also, that's not–
:Black Hat: The Winged City. The Gold Trombone. Castleopolis.
:Megan: It's none of those.

:[Close-up of Black Hat]
:Black Hat: The Kissing Kingdom. Sandland. The High Place. Ol' Ironhook.
:Megan (off-panel): Still wrong.
:Black Hat: The Thousand Spires. The Graveyard of Kings. Bloomtown. Lantern City USA.
:Megan (off-panel): Please stop.

:[Black Hat, Megan, and Ponytail are walking]
:Black Hat: The City of Many Daughters. Big Mauve. The Glass Cradle. The Road Source. London Prime. Hamtown. The Salad Bowl. God's Boudoir. The Glittering Swamp. The Steel Forest. The Mobius Strip. The Land of Trains and Fog. The Meeting Place. The Dark Star. The Walled Garden. Skin City. The Horse Rotary. Turkeytown. The Naked Towers. The Meta-City. The Urban Orb. The City of Angles. The Big Wheel. Bird City USA. The City of Seven Crowns. Hilltopia. Bug City. The Bottomless Cup. [Text size getting smaller] Lorde's Fen. The Last Town. The Empty Set. Ghost Harbor.
:Megan: How long does this last?
:Ponytail: No city has ever let him stay long enough to find out.

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

1792: Bird/Plane/Superman

2017-01-30T20:55:00Z

141.101.98.238: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1792
| date = January 30, 2017
| title = Bird/Plane/Superman
| image = bird_plane_superman.png
| titletext = You can apply special translucent films to your windows to help keep birds/Superman from accidentally flying into them.
}}

==Explanation==

This comic is a logical comparison of observations to resolve the classic comic book trope of: "Look, up in the sky... It's a bird!... It's a plane!... It's {{w|Superman}}!" Taking the random citizens' declarations at face value -- a quite exaggerated position -- this comic aims to help such clueless folks identify the airborne object.

The observations compared range from the mundane to the bizarre.

{| class="wikitable"
! !! Bird !! Plane !! Superman !! Explanation
|-
| Carries people || || ✓ || ✓ || Some birds are capable of carrying a small human, but this happens extremely rarely (although hoax stories are often reported). Most planes are created specifically designed to carry human passengers, although many are cargo planes with humans only acting as crew, and autonomous drones without humans also exist. Superman, a comic book character created in 1933, is an alien with superpowers, including the power of unaided flight. He often carries other people with him, such as girlfriends or rescued victims of various villains.
|-
| Often flies in groups || ✓ || ✓ || || Many types of birds fly in flocks, particularly during long-range migrations. Planes sometimes fly in group formation, particularly when engaged in military operations where mutual support is tactically useful (or when conducting practice maneuvers for such operations). Superman is a unique person, and thus does not fly in groups of Supermen. While Superman occasionally operates alongside other flying superheroes, and in some stories is duplicated or split into multiple beings, Randall apparently considers these circumstances too unusual to meet the "often" qualifier.
|-
| Created in 20th century || || ✓ || ✓ || Birds evolved from dinosaurs, appearing as early as the Late Jurassic period, roughly 150 million years ago. The first successful flight of a powered heavier-than-air craft took place on December 17, 1903. Superman first appeared in ''Action Comics'' #1, published on April 18, 1938.
|-
| Uses magnetic navigation || ✓ || ✓ || || Some types of birds use {{w|magnetoreception}} to navigate using the earth's magnetic field as a guide. Artificial magnetic compasses, along with other navigational equipment, are used by planes. Superman, while possessing a plethora of super-senses, does not appear to be particularly sensitive to magnetism.
|-
| Enthusiast community obsesses over small coloration details || ✓ || ✓ || ✓ || Bird-watchers identify bird species by a range of characteristics, including the bird's color pattern. Similarly, airplane hobbyists take note of the colors of a plane's paint job and insignia. Comics fans can similarly identify the artist and date of a depiction of Superman by the coloration and configuration of his costume.
|-
| Preyed on by cats || ✓ || || || Cats kill several billion birds a year, often - but not always - eating them. There are never been a case of a cat successfully catching and eating either a plane or Superman.{{Citation needed}}
|-
| Occasional mid-air sex || ✓ || ✓ || ✓ || Birds sometimes have sex in flight. Mid-air sex involving planes usually invovles passengers (and potentially air crew), not the plane itself. However, this could also be a metaphorical reference to in-flight refueling (such as the depiction, set to romantic music, in the opening scene of the movie ''Dr. Strangelove''), or to this incident where one plane landed atop another in mid-air: http://avstop.com/news/plantcity.html. As for Superman, there have been occasional moments in the comics which indicate or at least imply that he sometimes engages in mid-air sex.
|-
| Eaten during seasonal feasts || ✓ || || || {{w|Turkey (bird)|Turkeys}}, a type of bird, are eaten by Americans during {{w|Thanksgiving}}, a "seasonal feast" held on the fourth Thursday of November of each year. Britons eat Turkey or Goose at Christmas.
|-
| Propelled by flapping || ✓ || || || Birds fly by flapping their wings. Planes have fixed wings, and fly by maintaining forward velocity and exploiting the aerodynamic effects of air flowing over the upper and lower wing surfaces, which are shaped and angled to produce lift. Superman flies using superpowers which require neither wings nor flapping.
|-
| Sometimes loses ability to fly, needs to sunbathe to regain it || ✓ || || ✓ || Birds can "lose" the ability to fly, if their wings are weighed down by water from swimming. One way for birds to dry out their wings is to [http://birding.about.com/od/birdbehavior/a/Bird-Sunning.htm sunbathe]. One of Superman's superhero abilities is the ability to fly. However, he may lose this ability with prolonged exposure to Kryptonite. Superman's ability to fly is a superpower caused by "electromagnetic radiation from the rays of a yellow sun", so he could regain his strength and superhuman abilities through sunbathing.
|-
| Can take a punch || || ✓ || ✓ || Birds are generally small, fragile creatures, whose bone structures are meant to be light in order to fly, and thus are not vary durable. If you punched, say, a pigeon, you would probably break/dislocate most of it's bones, either killing it immediately or leaving it in a state from which it will probably not ever recover. However, there are definitely some big, flightless birds that could take a punch from a human such as ostriches or emus, but since both are large creatures that would probably react by fighting back, it would not be wise to try. Randall is plainly ignoring these. Planes are usually massive, or at least big enough to carry a human, and have to be made of materials durable enough to withstand hurtling through the sky at hundreds of miles an hour reliably on a regular basis. You could definitely punch one safely. One of Superman's trademark abilities is his near indestructibility. A punch from any regular human would not hurt him.
|-
| Mating behaviour often observed by a hidden David Attenborough || ✓ || || Not that we know of || {{w|David Attenborough}} is an English broadcaster and naturalist, who produced a documentary series ''{{w|The Life of Birds}}''. Included in the series is an episode entitled "Finding Partners", which discussed mating rituals of birds. The comic clarifies that we don't know for sure if he is also interested on the mating rituals of Superman.
|-
| Capable of intentionally releasing poop mid-flight || ✓ || || ✓ || Birds often poop during flight; it is arguably more important to shed excess mass while flying, to increase efficiency. Some planes may be able to intentionally purge their septic tanks mid-flight, depending on the design of the waste interlocks, especially assuming the controls are inside the cockpit or cabin. As the TV show ''MythBusters'' has shown, a leaky septic disposal system can unintentionally lose liquid waste and cause a "blue ice" sighting on the ground. Superman, being more or less human, is certainly capable of pooping during flight, but this would generally result in unnecessary drycleaning bills.
|-
| Chases and eats bugs || ✓ || || Only when bored || Many bird species prey on insects and similar-sized animals. Planes often fly into and kill insects (as well as birds), but this is unintentional and doesn't provide them with nutritional value. Superman is not known for eating insects, but Randall implies that he does sometimes, but only when he's bored.
|-
|}
The title text refers to stickers used to enhance the visibility of clear glass windows or doors. At ground level, these reduce the risk of people accidentally walking into them; at any level, they serve to warn birds (or Superman) away.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

{| class="wikitable"
! !! Bird !! Plane !! Superman
|-
| Carries people || || ✓ || ✓
|-
| Often flies in groups || ✓ || ✓ ||
|-
| Created in 20th century || || ✓ || ✓
|-
| Uses magnetic navigation || ✓ || ✓ ||
|-
| Enthusiast community obsesses over small coloration details || ✓ || ✓ || ✓
|-
| Preyed on by cats || ✓ || ||
|-
| Occasional mid-air sex || ✓ || ✓ || ✓
|-
| Eaten during seasonal feasts || ✓ || ||
|-
| Propelled by flapping || ✓ || ||
|-
| Sometimes loses ability to fly, needs to sunbathe to regain it || ✓ || || ✓
|-
| Can take a punch || || ✓ || ✓
|-
| Mating behaviour often observed by a hidden David Attenborough || ✓ || || Not that we know of
|-
| Capable of intentionally releasing poop mid-flight || ✓ || || ✓
|-
| Chases and eats bugs || ✓ || || Only when bored
|-
|}

{{comic discussion}}

1583: NASA Press Conference

2015-09-28T15:23:23Z

141.101.98.238: /* Explanation */ I think you mean title text. Subtext means something else entirely.

{{comic
| number = 1583
| date = September 28, 2015
| title = NASA Press Conference
| image = nasa_press_conference.png
| titletext = Why are we spending billions to ruin Mars with swarms of robots when Elon Musk has promised to ruin Mars for a FRACTION of the cost?
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a reference to the press conference to be held by NASA on 28th September 2015, (the same day this comic is published), which promises to solve "The Mars Mystery", and possibly announce the discovery of water or life on Mars.

The "questions" portion of the press conference is derailed by [[Beret Guy]], acting as a reporter for a network known only as "The News". He asks irrelevant questions about how the data relates to other (entirely unrelated) fields and also asks questions related to the Star Wars movie franchise. This causes the other reporters to forget their original questions and to join in on the irrelevant discussion, much to the dismay of the NASA scientist.

The title text refers to Elon Musk, who suggested [http://edition.cnn.com/2015/09/11/us/elon-musk-mars-nuclear-bomb-colbert-feat/ nuking Mars] as a faster way of warming it up to make it habitable.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[Cueball is standing at a podium with the NASA logo on it]
:Cueball: That concludes the press conference. Any questions?
:Cueball: Yes, you, from... it just says "The News"?

:[Beret Guy is standing in a crowd holding a microphone]
:Beret Guy: Hi! I have a microphone so I'm real loud now.
:Beret Guy: How does this Mars data compare to data from other fields? Like medicine? Or sports?

:Cueball (offscreen): That question makes no sense.
:Beret Guy: If there's water on Mars, is it ruined?
:Beret Guy: Or will it be okay when it dries out?
:Cueball (offscreen): Any ''other'' questions?

:[The shot zooms out, now showing both Cueball at the podium and the crowd]
:Beret Guy: What were those guys hassling Luke in the Mos Eisley Cantina trying to accomplish? I felt like I was supposed to understand that.
:Cueball: Anyone ''else?''
:Ponytail: That's now my question, too.
:Megan: Were they just picking a fight?
:Ponytail: If so, why did...

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]

1575: Footprints

2015-09-09T12:34:25Z

141.101.98.238: "an result" and missing comma

{{comic
| number = 1575
| date = September 9, 2015
| title = Footprints
| image = footprints.png
| titletext = "There's one set of foot-p's cause I was totes carrying you, bro!" said Jesus seconds before I punched him.
}}

==Explanation==

The comic is a satirical graphical representation of the inspirational Christian poem "{{w|Footprints (poem)|Footprints}}," which has been recounted in many versions and is of disputed authorship.

The basic idea of the poem is that the narrator looks back at scenes of his life and sees two sets of footprints, his and those of Jesus. During the most difficult times of his life, the narrator sees only one set of footprints and assumes that Jesus had left him during those times. In the climax of the poem, Jesus responds to the narrator that he saw only one set of footprints during the most difficult times of his life because Jesus was carrying him during those times.

The poem is seen by many as overly sentimental and is thus ripe for parody of this kind. The graph mockingly illustrates various times when Jesus or the narrator left the scene, or otherwise gives various reasons why the number of footprints may have been other than two, such as at one point "riding around in captured AT-ST", a reference to a two-legged combat "walker" from Star Wars. The implication is that Jesus would have participated in forcibly taking a war machine, which appears somewhat out of character. The reference at the end to Jesus drowning in a patch of quicksand, and then the narrator simply going home, again subverts the poem's earnestness. "Going home" may be a reference to dying, implying that the narrator died without Christ.

The title text continues the parody by imagining that Jesus delivers the poem's climactic lines in stereotypical {{w|California English|"surfer dude"}} speak, a dialect perceived by many to be obnoxious. The reference to punching Jesus is possibly another reference to the poem's perceived excessive sentimentality. Another interpretation is that the narrator, like many people, dislikes usage of textese and punched Jesus as a result of this hatred.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

A graph with time on the x-axis and numbers 1 through 5 on the y axis, labeled "Sets of footprints". A single red line runs through from left to right, showing different values at different times. Until the very end, the line always returns to the value 2, signifying two sets of footprints in the sand.

* The line starts at the value 2, then dips twice to the value 1. The two troughs are labeled, "Jesus carried me".
* The line then dips once again to the value 1. The trough is labeled, "I carried Jesus".
* The line rises to 3 briefly, and is labeled, "Who was that guy?"
* The line rises to 5 sharply, and then falls in a sharp staircase pattern, labeled "Ducklings imprinted on Jesus and followed him around".
* The line rises to 4, labeled "Got lost and followed our own footprints".
* The line dips for very short periods five times to the value 1. The troughs are labeled, "Jesus disappeared for an evening each time a new Twilight movie came out". The first dip is between "I carried Jesus" and "Who was that guy?", the second between "Who was that guy?" and "Duckings imprinted on Jesus..." and the final three are all between the "Ducklings imprinted on Jesus..." and "Got lost and followed our own footprints".
* The line dips to 1, labeled "Rode around with Jesus in captured AT-ST"
* The line dips and stays level at 1, labeled "Hit quicksand patch. Jesus didn't make it :("
* The line dips to zero at the end, and is labeled "Went home".

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Language]]

1499

2015-03-16T13:43:48Z

141.101.98.238: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1499
| date = March 16, 2015
| title = Arbitrage
| image = arbitrage.png
| titletext = The invisible hand of the market never texts me back.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Very early draft.}}
In economics and finance, arbitrage is the practice of taking advantage of a price difference between two or more markets to make risk-free profit by buying in the market with a lower price and simultaneously selling in the market with the higher price. In real-world liquid financial markets, the possibility of arbitrage ensures that there is only a single price for a given product, since if a product is available for a low price in one market and a high price in another, the buying and selling of arbitrageurs will bid the price up in the low-price market and down in the high-price market until the prices are equal.

Some place is giving away unlimited free chips while Cueball and Buzzcut are eating there -- effectively a market selling chips for $0. Buzzcut is taking advantage of this fact to turn a profit for himself by collecting the chips and attempting to resell them at a higher price elsewhere. In the real world one wouldn't be allowed to carry bags full of chips out of the restaurant, nor would there be many buyers for chips taken from a restaurant in this manner, so one is not expected to try to do this. In financial terms, the extreme illiquidity of the chip market is what allows the obvious arbitrage opportunity to persist indefinitely.

Randall suggests that society only functions because we don't take people like Buzzcut to dinner. On the face of it, this means not taking people like that to dinner since they would abuse any complimentary parts of the meal, but Randall also suggests that it goes deeper that this. A distinguishing feature of social animals, rather than animals simple sharing habitat, is that they perform tasks that benefit their group. All such societies rely on some situations where the individual is not working purely on short term self interest. The payoff for this is generally that co-operation makes things better for the group as a whole, or perhaps just individuals who closely share genes (e.g. helping your children/nephews/nieces). Complex human society equally needs people to not act as pure arbitrageurs all the time and respect each other. An upshot of these evolution is that most people would find Buzzcut's behavior embarrassing and shameful, and thus would not socialize we people who behave like that. That is, such individuals would be rejected from society. By rejecting such individuals, society protects itself from such people.

There are some similarities between Buzzcut's behavior (extreme self interest) and sociopathic behavior.

(Another, related, issue is the poor [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fungibility fungibility] of chips. Chips that are factory-sealed in a bag or served in a restaurant are served in a context where cleanliness and food safety practices can be assumed to have been followed. Chips sold from an open bag by some random person do not have that expectation associated with them and would not expected to command as high a price.)

Title text

In economics, the invisible hand is a metaphor used by Adam Smith to describe unintended social benefits resulting from the individual actions of self-interested parties. In the context of arbitrage, the "invisible hand" compels all of a given fungible substance to be sold for the same price, as a result of the actions of individuals like Buzzcut who are only seeking personal profit.

==Transcript==
[Cueball and Buzzcut are sitting at a table with a bowl of chips in the middle. Buzzcut has one hand in the bowl of chips, and the other hand behind him in a large bag marked "Chips".]

Buzzcut:
:'''They're''' the ones giving chips away!
:If they don't see the arbitrage potential, sucks for them.

[Below the main frame]: In a deep sense, society functions only because we generally avoid taking these people out to dinner.

[Title Text]: The invisible hand of the market never texts me back.

{{comic discussion}}

1499

2015-03-16T13:43:02Z

141.101.98.238: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1499
| date = March 16, 2015
| title = Arbitrage
| image = arbitrage.png
| titletext = The invisible hand of the market never texts me back.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Very early draft.}}
In economics and finance, arbitrage is the practice of taking advantage of a price difference between two or more markets to make risk-free profit by buying in the market with a lower price and simultaneously selling in the market with the higher price. In real-world liquid financial markets, the possibility of arbitrage ensures that there is only a single price for a given product, since if a product is available for a low price in one market and a high price in another, the buying and selling of arbitrageurs will bid the price up in the low-price market and down in the high-price market until the prices are equal.

Some place is giving away unlimited free chips while Cueball and Buzzcut are eating there -- effectively a market selling chips for $0. Buzzcut is taking advantage of this fact to turn a profit for himself by collecting the chips and attempting to resell them at a higher price elsewhere. In the real world one wouldn't be allowed to carry bags full of chips out of the restaurant, nor would there be many buyers for chips taken from a restaurant in this manner, so one is not expected to try to do this. In financial terms, the extreme illiquidity of the chip market is what allows the obvious arbitrage opportunity to persist indefinitely.

Randall suggests that society only functions because we don't take people like Buzzcut to dinner. On the face of it, this means not taking people like that to dinner since they would abuse any complimentary parts of the meal, but Randall also suggests that it goes deeper that this. A distinguishing feature of social animals, rather than animals simple sharing habitat, is that they perform tasks that benefit their group. All such societies rely on some situations where the individual is not working purely on short term self interest. The payoff for this is generally that co-operation makes things better for the group as a whole, or perhaps simple individuals who closely share genes (e.g. helping your children/nephews/nieces). Complex human society equally needs people to not act as pure arbitrageurs all the time and respect each other. An upshot of these evolution is that most people would find Buzzcut's behavior embarrassing and shameful, and thus would not socialize we people who behave like that. That is, such individuals would be rejected from society. By rejecting such individuals, society protects itself from such people.

There are some similarities between Buzzcut's behavior (extreme self interest) and sociopathic behavior.

(Another, related, issue is the poor [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fungibility fungibility] of chips. Chips that are factory-sealed in a bag or served in a restaurant are served in a context where cleanliness and food safety practices can be assumed to have been followed. Chips sold from an open bag by some random person do not have that expectation associated with them and would not expected to command as high a price.)

Title text

In economics, the invisible hand is a metaphor used by Adam Smith to describe unintended social benefits resulting from the individual actions of self-interested parties. In the context of arbitrage, the "invisible hand" compels all of a given fungible substance to be sold for the same price, as a result of the actions of individuals like Buzzcut who are only seeking personal profit.

==Transcript==
[Cueball and Buzzcut are sitting at a table with a bowl of chips in the middle. Buzzcut has one hand in the bowl of chips, and the other hand behind him in a large bag marked "Chips".]

Buzzcut:
:'''They're''' the ones giving chips away!
:If they don't see the arbitrage potential, sucks for them.

[Below the main frame]: In a deep sense, society functions only because we generally avoid taking these people out to dinner.

[Title Text]: The invisible hand of the market never texts me back.

{{comic discussion}}

357: Flies

2014-12-20T20:30:10Z

141.101.98.238: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 357
| date = December 14, 2007
| title = Flies
| image = flies.png
| titletext = I don't know about houseflies, but we definitely caught a lot of fruit flies with our vinegar bowl. Hooray science!
}}

==Explanation==
The saying "you catch more flies with honey than vinegar" means that people are more likely to be won over with politeness than hostility.

When [[Cueball]]'s friend tells him this after he replies to a "{{W|noob}}" using swear words, he then says that the saying is literally false by saying that {{w|balsamic vinegar}} attracts more flies than honey. He then tells his friend to try it with his own {{w|Fruit fly|fruit flies}}. Fruit flies are attracted to the products of fermentation, particularly to alcohol and ethanoic acid. The acidity in vinegar is due mostly to ethanoic acid.

When Cueball's statement is found true, as balsamic vinegar smells like sweet and decomposing fruit to the fruit flies, his friend complains to his mother that she lied to him. He then says that another saying, "a watched pot never boils", is also literally false. That saying means that an event that is monitored with impatient attention will seem to take longer.

In the title text it seems that [[Randall]] explains why he wrote this comic — his vinegar bowl attracted a lot of fruit flies. However, he has not done the experiment with {{w|Housefly|houseflies}}.

The notion of a watched pot not boiling is ascribed to Benjamin Franklin under the pseudonym "Poor Richard". He writes "a watched pot is slow to boil", meaning "Time feels longer when you're waiting for something to happen."[http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/watched-pot-never-boils.html]

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is typing on a computer, and his friend is lying on the floor.]
:Cueball: *$@#!
:Friend: Hey, ease up on the noobs. Like my mom always said, you catch more flies with honey then with vinegar.

:[Cueball has turned his chair around.]
:Cueball: No, you don't.
:Friend: You don't?
:Cueball: Nope, set out a bowl of balsamic and a bowl of honey. The vinegar gets more.

:[Cueball's friend is now sitting on the floor.]
:Friend: ...Seriously?
:Cueball: You have fruit flies. Try it yourself.

:Later:
:[Cueball's friend is standing in front of a table, talking into a phone. On the table, there are two bowls, and the bowl on the left seems to be surrounded by flies.]
:Friend: Mother! You ''lied'' to me! And it gets worse. I was watching a pot yesterday, and guess what it did? It ''boiled,'' mother.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Science]]

357: Flies

2014-12-20T20:24:58Z

141.101.98.238: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 357
| date = December 14, 2007
| title = Flies
| image = flies.png
| titletext = I don't know about houseflies, but we definitely caught a lot of fruit flies with our vinegar bowl. Hooray science!
}}

==Explanation==
The saying "you catch more flies with honey than vinegar" means that people are more likely to be won over with politeness than hostility.

When [[Cueball]]'s friend tells him this after he replies to a "{{W|noob}}" using swear words, he then says that the saying is literally false by saying that {{w|balsamic vinegar}} attracts more flies than honey. He then tells his friend to try it with his own {{w|Fruit fly|fruit flies}}. Fruit flies are attracted to the products of fermentation, particularly to alcohol and ethanoic acid. The acidity in vinegar is due mostly to ethanoic acid.

When Cueball's statement is found true, as balsamic vinegar smells like sweet and decomposing fruit to the fruit flies, his friend complains to his mother that she lied to him. He then says that another saying, "a watched pot never boils", is also literally false. That saying means that an event that is monitored with impatient attention will seem to take longer.

In the title text it seems that [[Randall]] explains why he wrote this comic — his vinegar bowl attracted a lot of fruit flies. However, he has not done the experiment with {{w|Housefly|houseflies}}.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is typing on a computer, and his friend is lying on the floor.]
:Cueball: *$@#!
:Friend: Hey, ease up on the noobs. Like my mom always said, you catch more flies with honey then with vinegar.

:[Cueball has turned his chair around.]
:Cueball: No, you don't.
:Friend: You don't?
:Cueball: Nope, set out a bowl of balsamic and a bowl of honey. The vinegar gets more.

:[Cueball's friend is now sitting on the floor.]
:Friend: ...Seriously?
:Cueball: You have fruit flies. Try it yourself.

:Later:
:[Cueball's friend is standing in front of a table, talking into a phone. On the table, there are two bowls, and the bowl on the left seems to be surrounded by flies.]
:Friend: Mother! You ''lied'' to me! And it gets worse. I was watching a pot yesterday, and guess what it did? It ''boiled,'' mother.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Science]]

Talk:1152: Communion

2014-08-09T03:19:35Z

141.101.98.238:

This was one of the reasons early Christians were persecuted by the Romans. They thought the Christians were cannibals. [[Special:Contributions/76.20.159.250|76.20.159.250]] 00:53, 27 December 2012 (UTC)

:Did they actually though that or did they only used it as pretext for persecution? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:20, 27 December 2012 (UTC)

Isn't he making fun of that doctrine?[[User:Guru-45|Guru-45]] ([[User talk:Guru-45|talk]]) 07:16, 27 December 2012 (UTC)

Transubstantiation isn't about bread literally turning into flesh. I don't know how to explain it properly, but it is based on Middle Age Christian philosophy (scholastic, St. Thomas, I think) that differentiates the accidents (appearance, taste etc.) of a thing from its true substance. Transubstantiation means that the bread becomes flesh (acquires the substance of Jesus' flesh) even though it retains the appearance and all qualities of bread.
This doctrine is of course highly outdated and I can't think of why the Catholics haven't dropped it yet. It also causes a lot of confusion. --[[User:Artod|Artod]] ([[User talk:Artod|talk]]) 09:07, 27 December 2012 (UTC)

:If it's middle age Christian, what was the explanation before that? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:20, 27 December 2012 (UTC)

::I would think that the original interpretation is symbolism. Jesus and his diciples were eating the {{w|passover}} meal, and the central piece was a {{w|Korban Pesach|sacrifical lamb}}. I think that it's a way for Jesus to say that the purpouse of the lamb is becoming dated, cause I'm about to be murdered, and that is what will save you in the end, not sacrifices. From start christians have called him the {{w|Lamb of God}}. Hope you had a merry Christmas! -- [[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 10:14, 27 December 2012 (UTC)

:::The "lamb of God" is thought to be a malpropism from one ancient language to another. I don't have my source material to hand, but it seems likely that the original was "word of God", and "lamb" had a similar sound and so became entangled in the confusion

::::As a New Testament student, I would be interested in seeing a source for that. There are two Greek words translated as "Lamb" in the New Testament. Are you saying that one or both of them sound like an Aramaic word for "word", for instance? Both are used in contexts where "Lamb" makes sense and "Word" does not (i.e. referring to Jesus as a sin-bearing sacrifice). Also, John's Gospel has called Jesus "the Word" several times just before quoting John the Baptist as referring to Jesus as "the Lamb of God" twice. Seems strange that a mistake would be made twice on one page (for instance) when it was avoided five times on the previous page.[[Special:Contributions/75.157.92.41|75.157.92.41]] 08:53, 10 January 2013 (UTC)

::Thomism (the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas) is built on Aristotle's thought and thus this understanding has always been applied to the Eucharist, albeit possibly not as explicitly as through Thomism.

:::In fact, Wikipedia does have a pretty good article about transubstantiation.--[[User:Artod|Artod]] ([[User talk:Artod|talk]]) 11:53, 27 December 2012 (UTC)

::::It does seem quite good. Were you thinking about anything in particular? -- [[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 19:25, 27 December 2012 (UTC)

:[http://www.wftv.com/news/news/body-of-christ-snatched-from-church-held-hostage-b/nD9rH/ Are you sure?] Note the "kidnapping" line about halfway down. The literalness of the belief seems a bit vague to me in practice. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.117|108.162.238.117]] 03:42, 19 January 2014 (UTC)

The 'punchline' and title text are two of the most macabre things I've ever seen Randall write in this comic - and the hilarity still comes across!--[[User:Dangerkeith3000|Dangerkeith3000]] ([[User talk:Dangerkeith3000|talk]]) 16:22, 27 December 2012 (UTC)

Has anybody figured out what the '1970s murder victim' reference in the hovertext is referring to? Lot of people died then - I have no idea how to even start narrowing it down [[Special:Contributions/76.116.83.55|76.116.83.55]] 16:39, 27 December 2012 (UTC)
:Will it referring to this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_in_the_Box_(Philadelphia) [[User:Ykliu|Ykliu]] ([[User talk:Ykliu|talk]]) 06:58, 2 January 2013 (UTC)

Just remind me of a film: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Baby_of_Mâcon

Speaking as a Catholic, my first reaction was "Oy, I've never heard ''that one'' before (eye roll)". It is a pretty old gag, but Randall definitely has a gift for putting comedic timing into 2-dimensional comic panels; I still laughed. [[User:Tractarian|Tractarian]] ([[User talk:Tractarian|talk]]) 16:06, 28 December 2012 (UTC)

Randall misspelled "parishioner". [[Special:Contributions/87.189.145.75|87.189.145.75]] 12:00, 29 December 2012 (UTC)

The last sentence of the explanation is is really awkward to me. I want to rewrite it but I'm not too smart on theology so I'm not sure if this is the right way. What do you think?

: ''Protestant denominations (e.g., Baptists, Mennonites, Anabaptists, Pentecostals) reject the doctrine of Transubstantiation, with some taking the words as wholly symbolic of Jesus' sacrificial death. Others (e.g, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Anglican, Methodist) believe Christ is actually present in the bread and wine although the bread and wine are not changed in any physical way .'' --[[User:Smartin|Smartin]] ([[User talk:Smartin|talk]]) 03:35, 2 January 2013 (UTC)

Hold on a minute. The church in the title text is evidently ritually sacrificing/apotheosizing persons and then transubstantiating their flesh and blood for consumption in order to redeem their sins. (Presumably ritual sacrifice is kosher.) Now the police have a blood sample from a 1970 murder victim as a result of confiscating the transubstantiated materials. How did they get the blood from the victim for comparison if he was killed by the church and they disposed of the remains? I hope Dexter isn't involved on this one. [[Special:Contributions/98.225.182.131|98.225.182.131]] 09:15, 3 January 2013 (UTC)

note that some presbyterian churches share the opinion that the Lords Supper is only "sign and seal of the covenant of grace". So they don't believe that Jezus is spiritual in the bread and wine.

Folks, I updated the theological explanation a bit to make it more accurate without hopefully getting too theologically geeky, but given the wonderfully geeky nature of this site (and comic), I'll go deeper in the comments. Full disclosure that I am Protestant but studied this stuff a lot in Divinity School (and love this new Pope). The Catholic belief in transubstantiation was developed within a world-view based on Plato & Aristotle, which is how the thinkers of the time understood reality and the world. Thomas Aquinas, probably the most influential of Catholic theologians, was a big fan of Aristotle, and that philosophical understanding of the nature of things fit well into an explanation of the Eucharist that makes a little more sense than how it is commonly understood. The change in the elements (bread/wine) happens when the priest consecrates them, not when they enter the mouth or stomach, and it was pretty obvious to everyone that they don't taste or look like flesh and blood. But Aristotle argued that the true nature--what something really was--could be and often was different from its simple outward appearance. Good example is that most anyone would say that each of us is more than simply our biological mechanisms. When someone dies, they look exactly the same as when they are sleeping, but there is obviously something fundamentally different about who/what they are. I don't say that to start a debate about the soul or anything but just for some context. What the Catholics argued was that there was an actual change in the substance--what the bread and wine REALLY were--when the priest blessed them, and that change gave them special salvific and "soul-cleansing" abilities. I had a theology prof who described it as the scrubbing bubbles of the spiritual world...they don't return your toilet back to its pristine condition, but they run all over cleaning it up. So enter the Reformation, and Luther (a Catholic priest) did not want to give up the significance of the Eucharist but was more focused on interpretation of the Bible (where most would think it seems pretty clear that Jesus isn't speaking literally). Perhaps more importantly though, he felt the centrality of the Catholic-ordained clergy in the process of salvation and access to God created abuses and stumbling blocks for the faithful. So he argued basically that there was still a scrubbing bubbles-type affect from the Eucharist, but that was not because the substance of the bread and wine changed when blessed but because the ritual, prayer, and remembrance created a special and unique spiritual connection to Christ. Calvin took it a step further and made a more symbolic claim, but as with Luther, didn't want to veer too far from the universal ideal that there was a real spiritual impact. The Anabaptists said it was purely symbolic. Modern Protestants pretty much all believe that it is symbolic, if special, and a reminder of our covenant with God and Christ's sacrifice...and few Christians know or bother with the more detailed theological reasoning behind this whole debate. As noted by someone above, Presbyterians use "sign and seal," and as someone who went through the rather rigorous ordination exams for the Presbyterian Church, I know we would not have been passed without providing that framing of symbol and promise. Most Catholics don't understand what it is they are supposed to believe about Transubstantiation, but the Church fathers worked very hard to make the details of their theology actually make sense and fit the world they knew and saw around them. The Bible does the same, and it is a shame that many Christians come to believe that faith calls on them to accept things they know not to be true as a test. As an aside, it has always struck me as ironic and tragic that there is such a fight over the creation narrative when the progression laid out in Gen 1 matches up so perfectly with what science now believes, and is how one might try to describe what we know about the history of the earth to a young child--or to people thousands of years ago who knew nothing of science, dinosaurs, etc. It is also frustrating how hard some fight to deny science when Genesis 1 is unique among the ancient creation myths in saying life started in the water and that plants and then birds came before animals, and people came last. As Randall is so fond of pointing out, "birds" did come first and ruled the earth for millions of years. Anyway, the more detailed explanation on the Eucharist and this little mini-rant against some of my fellow evangelicals on creationism stems from my strong agreement with St. Augustine's quote I'll conclude this comment with. I wish more Christians paid as much attention to Augustine's teachings like this as they do to the sex parts. “Usually, even a non-Christian knows something about the earth, the heavens, and the other elements of this world, about the kinds of animals, shrubs, stones, and so forth, and this knowledge is held to as being certain from reason and experience. It is therefore a disgraceful and dangerous thing for a non-believer to hear a Christian, presumably giving the meaning of Holy Scripture, talking nonsense on these topics. If non-believers finds a Christian mistaken and maintaining foolish positions supposedly because of Scripture in a field which they themselves know well, how are they going to believe Scripture in matters concerning the resurrection of the dead, the hope of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven, when it appears the pages of Scripture are full of falsehoods and on facts which they themselves have learnt from experience and the light of reason? Reckless and incompetent expounders of Holy Scripture will try to call upon Holy Scripture for proof and even recite from memory many passages which they think support their utterly foolish and obviously untrue statements, and will bring untold trouble and sorrow on the faithful.”--St. Augustine of Hippo, around 400 AD.
[[User:Sapper14|Sapper14]] ([[User talk:Sapper14|talk]]) 14:59, 18 December 2013 (UTC)Eric
:tl;dr or tl;nwr! (nobody will read!). My 2 cents. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:11, 18 December 2013 (UTC)
:Paragraphs, please. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.117|108.162.238.117]] 03:33, 19 January 2014 (UTC)

Isn't the title text's date (1970) an epoch pun ? They would have killed a baby on year 0, but not on the right calendar... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.238|141.101.98.238]] 03:19, 9 August 2014 (UTC)