explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2983: Monocaster

2024-09-11T23:12:10Z

141.101.98.251: /* Explanation */ Perhaps should just link https://tricycleassociation.org.uk/ or similar.

{{comic
| number = 2983
| date = September 9, 2024
| title = Monocaster
| image = monocaster_2x.png
| imagesize = 536x673px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = My competitors say the tiny single tiny caster is unsafe, unstable, and offers no advantages over traditional designs, to which I say: wow, why are you guys so mean? I thought we were friends!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a LAPTOP-CONTROLLED HAMSTER BALL - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
A caster, also spelled castor, is a small unpowered wheel, usually attached to a swiveling base. They are typically found on carts and office chairs to make them easy to move, and may be placed on heavy appliances to facilitate movement.

Randall has proposed a variant of the skateboard with only one caster on the bottom, the titular "monocaster", and devoted most of the comic to a {{w|Perceptual mapping|perceptual map}} showing the variety of wheeled vehicles. Market strategists and investors use such diagrams as a simple way of representing important differences between products or companies, but where a consumer might be more concerned with features like speed, cost, ease of use, or carrying capacity, this map focuses on the number of wheels (horizontal axis) and the diameter of those wheels (vertical axis).

Each axis uses a logarithmic scale, which is convenient for making the map look empty but also visually exaggerates the size of the "key gap" that the monocaster is filling, which can be described as "vehicle with a single wheel smaller than 25 cm". The nearest competitors appear to be a two-wheel skateboard sometimes called a {{w|caster board}} (wheel diameter under 8 cm) and a single-wheel self-balancing board resembling a {{w|Onewheel}} (diameter around 25 cm). The Onewheel is sometimes described as a {{w|monowheel}} (though these are traditionally larger like the "1920s monowheel" on the upper left). Randall appears to have combined these two names to create the monocaster. This gives up several of the competitors' features - the caster board's two wheels provide enough stability to propel the vehicle manually, while the Onewheel's single wheel is wide (assisting with sideways balance) and powered by a self-balancing mechanism.

The result resembles a {{w|Balance board#Sphere-and-ring|"Sphere-and-ring" balance board}}, or other types, though these provide limited locomotion potential. The joke depends on the caster's obvious impracticality in this role: the hole in the market was open ''for a reason''. The obvious drawback to any single-wheeled vehicle is that it's difficult to balance: the rider has to avoid falling forward or backward, as well as to either side. This is a major reason why one-wheeled vehicles are uncommon to begin with, but those vehicles which do exist compensate by using relatively large wheels, driven either by human power or a motor, which creates rotational inertia and allows the rider to balance simply by leaning forward.

A single, small, undriven wheel eliminates these balancing forces, meaning that the user would essentially need to balance on a single point. Also, most casters swivel, meaning that the balance point would move around under the rider's feet and make it even more difficult to balance. In addition, there's no apparent means of propulsion, which means the only way to move forward would be to either roll exclusively downhill, or use one foot to push off the ground. Either strategy would make retaining balance almost impossible.

Multiple wheeled vehicles greatly reduce the issue of balance simply by having multiple points of contact with the ground. The size of the wheels varies greatly; small, rigid wheels are generally suitable only for flat, smooth, rigid surfaces at relatively slow speeds, while vehicles expected to handle high speeds and varying road (and off-road) conditions will necessarily have larger wheels.

The "monocaster" design offers no advantages and would be nearly unrideable, making it obvious why such a vehicle has never been seriously proposed.

The title text extends the joke by listing the disadvantages mentioned above, but not providing a rebuttal. Instead it only attempts an emotional appeal by saying that the competitors are being mean and by commenting that Randall believed they were friends.

{| class=wikitable
! scope="col" | Vehicle
! scope=“col” | Number of wheels
! scope=“col” | Wheel Diameter
! scope="col" | Explanation
|-
| 1920s Monowheel || 1 || 3 meters || A monowheel is a vehicle in which the rider sits inside a single, large, hollow wheel. Versions have existed which were hand- or pedal cranked, but the "1920s" version portrayed here is apparently motor-driven. These vehicles have generally been seen as novelties, as their stability and practicality issues limit their usefulness for actual transport.
|-
| Unicycle || 1 || 45 centimeters || Probably the best known single-wheeled form of transport, a unicycle consists of a single wheel, directly drive by pedals, with a seat mounted on top. Due to their difficulty, they're generally been used as novelties and for comic performances more than as practical transport.
|-
| OneWheel || 1 || 20 centimeters || A one-wheeled electric skateboard in which the user stands on both sides of a large, central wheel. The design self-balances by increasing the velocity as the user leans forward. This allows balancing and speed control to operate in a single motion.
|-
| Bicycle || 2 || 45 centimeters || A two-wheeled, pedal-driven vehicle. The relatively simple, inexpensive and efficient design of these vehicles makes them practical for transport in a variety of situations. As a result, they've long been among the most popular and widely produced vehicles in the world.
|-
| Scooter || 2 || 8 centimeters || A two-wheeled vehicle driven either by pushing with a foot or by an electric motor or fuel-powered engine. Scooters are ridden both for recreation and as a form of transportation in cities.
|-
| Heelies || 2 || 1 centimeter ||
|-
| Tricycle || 3 || 20 centimeters || Appears to be a {{w|Big Wheel (tricycle)|"Big Wheel" type}} child's toy, which actually have smaller 'trailing wheels', rather than either {{w|Tricycle#Upright|upright}} or {{w|Tricycle#Recumbent|recumbent}} style cycles for adults which ''usually'' match the wheel-sizes of their bicycle equivalents.
|-
| Scooter (three-wheeled) || 3 || 3 centimeters ||
|-
| Monster Truck || 4 || 2.5 meters ||
|-
| Car || 4 || 50 centimeters ||
|-
| ATV || 4 || 20 centimeters ||
|-
| Skateboard || 4 || 2 centimeters ||
|-
| Three-Wheel Skates|| 6 || 4 centimeters ||
|-
| Roller Skates|| 8 || 2 centimeters ||
|-
| Semi-Trailer Truck (Articulated Lorry) || 10-18 || 1 meter ||
|}

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

:[A chart picturing many wheeled vehicles with a caption below the chart window. The vertical axis is labeled "Wheel Diameter", logarithmic from 1cm to 5m. The horizontal axis is labeled "Number of wheels", logarithmic from 1 to 16. From top left to bottom right, there is a person with a cap, seated in a circle, labeled "1920s monowheel", a monster truck with a skull and a lightning bolt on the side, a lorry (truck), a Cueball on a unicycle moving back and forth, a Cueball on a bicycle, a car, a Cueball using a Onewheel, a Cueball on a child's "Big Wheel" tricycle, a Cueball on a quad, a Cueball standing on a scooter, a Cueball standing on a board with one small wheel bellow, circled and labeled with two question marks, a three-wheel scooter, a skater, a Cueball using three-wheel skates, labeled "three-wheel skates", a Cueball crouching and using skates, and a small Cueball using shoes with wheels (Heelys) moving forward.]
:Caption: My new monocaster board fills a key gap in the wheeled vehicle market.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Characters with hats]]
[[Category:Skateboard]]

30: Donner

2024-08-20T09:27:07Z

141.101.98.251: /* Transcript */ Capitalise name. Go so far as to add as (commented) category.

{{comic
| number = 30
| date = November 7, 2005
| title = Donner
| before = <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=Monday%27s%20Drawing%20%2D%20Donner Original title</span>]: '''Monday's Drawing - Donner'''</big></big>
| image = donner.jpg
| titletext = Some people haven't heard of the Donner Party. They were pioneers who got stranded and likely resorted to cannibalism.
}}

==Explanation==
This was the twenty-ninth comic originally posted to [[LiveJournal]]. The previous one was [[27: Meat Cereals]], and the next one was [[34: Flowers]].

The {{w|Donner party}} was a group of pioneers who set out west along a new route that was supposed to be easier to travel, but ultimately proved slow and treacherous. They became trapped in the Sierra Nevada mountains, and many died. It is believed that many of the pioneers, low on food, resorted to cannibalism, eating the bodies of party members who had already died. In this comic, three Donner party members arrive at Joe's restaurant, where they have ordered a table for four, as given by the fact that the {{w|Maître d'hôtel|maître d'}} knows they are the Donner party and calls for a party of four. The three decline the table since they are already full. This suggests that they just have eaten the fourth member (unknown to us) of their party after they placed the order for a table at the restaurant, but before they strolled over to it anyway. Of course, since they are not in a survival situation in this comic, cannibalism would be completely unnecessary. However, it may be possible that they are suffering from {{w|Wendigo|Wendigo Psychosis}}. Alternatively, the Donner Dinner Party may have resorted to cannibalism because it took so long to be seated at the restaurant.

As with many of the earlier comics, the title text explains the joke rather than adding to it.

==Transcript==
:[Three people stand outside a restaurant; Megan, a man with some hair (who looks like Hairy) and another shorter person, probably a woman. There is a sign above the door which says "Joe's" (presumably the name of the restaurant) and a menu next to it. Outside the door, there is a maître d' with a cap behind a lectern. There is a sign on the lectern which says "Eat in".]
:maître d': Donner, party of four?
:Man: Actually, never mind.
:Megan: We're full.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Posted on LiveJournal| 29]]
[[Category:First day on xkcd.com]]
[[Category:Checkered paper]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]] 
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Characters with hats]]
[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]

Talk:1759: British Map

2016-11-14T20:47:29Z

141.101.98.251:

The actual location for Braintree should be Essex not North Yorkshire.
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.171|141.101.98.171]] 15:22, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Could Highland be a reference to Highlander? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.84|173.245.52.84]] 15:27, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

OK, I know you removed the </nowiki> that ruined the italics there, [[User:Davidy22|Davidy]]. Don't lie to me, you troll. [[User:Jacky720|Jacky720]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]]) 19:04, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Blick could be referring to Wick , at the top of Scotland ''Please sign your comments with <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>''

''Waterdown: Near [the actual] Grimsby'' Interestingly enough, in southern Ontario, Canada, there's a Waterdown not far from a Grimsby. Waterdown is considered part of Hamilton, and is towards its northwestern edge, while Grimsby is to Hamilton's east. --[[User:VonAether|VonAether]] ([[User talk:VonAether|talk]]) 17:01, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

The protractor off the West coast of Scotland is a reference to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mull_of_Kintyre_test
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.215|141.101.98.215]] 17:44, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Blick could also be Oldmeldrum.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.234.229|162.158.234.229]] 19:06, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Why aren't the coordinates part of the first table? [[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 20:05, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Is Waterdown perhaps another Watership Down reference? [[User:Miamiclay|Miamiclay]] ([[User talk:Miamiclay|talk]]) 20:38, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Pity there's no [[wikipedia:Towcester|Towcester]] :) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.251|141.101.98.251]] 20:47, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

1110: Click and Drag

2015-08-13T07:19:42Z

141.101.98.251: /* List of details and references */

{{comic
| number = 1110
| date = September 19, 2012
| title = Click and Drag
| image = click_and_drag.png
| titletext = Click and drag.
}}
To experience the interactivity, visit the [http://xkcd.com/1110/ original comic].
<div style="float:right"> __TOC__ </div>

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Some of the jokes in the larger world might benefit from an explanation.}}
This comic is a take on how vast and rich the world is, and on the thrill of exploring it. The world can be described as sad, as well as it can be described as wonderful, even if this seems a bit contradictory, just because it is so big and there are so many different things happening in it all at once. [[Cueball]] comments about this while hanging from a balloon, which brings to mind the expanded perspective over the landscape attained by early experimenters in overland flight.

The title text is the same as the comic title, and both of these invites the reader to ''Click and drag'' the inside of the last panel, with their mouse, and by dragging and dragging, explore what is hidden outside that panel. The image displayed at first turns out to be part of a huge landscape, filled with big or small things, humorous details, people here and there, cave mazes, things floating in the air, jokes and references, unexpected things, relaxing views, etc.

The fact that we only see a small part of the landscape at once refers to the idea that we cannot in real life comprehend the whole world altogether, but only what is around us and/or in the range of our understanding at the time. The click-and-drag process, in which it is impossible to go as fast as we would want to, also draws a parallel with the fact that exploration is always done gradually, step by step, and trying something (i.e. here dragging in a certain direction) always has a cost. This click-and-drag exploration reproduces the thrill of discovering new horizons, getting lost sometimes, finding unexpected things, seeing beauty, humor, desolation or happiness here and there... which can easily captivate an xkcd reader for a long time (and as such qualifies as [[356: Nerd Sniping|nerd sniping]]).

The exploration of the sad and wonderful aspects of the world is the subject of the short movie "{{w|The Red Balloon}}" in which a young boy experiences the complexity of human society through his interactions with a mysterious, intelligent balloon.

In comic [[1416: Pixels]] you zoom, by scrolling, until every pixel in this image turns into new pictures, and this can be continued again and again. Once you have zoomed in, you are able to ''click and drag'' the picture just like in this comic.

==Transcript==
:[This transcript only covers the first four panels as they are shown here above (i.e. before you click and drag).]

:[Cueball is narrating the story, all the text is written in boxes above and below him without speech lines connecting to him.]
:[Cueball is floating by holding onto a balloon with one hand.]
:From the stories
:I expected the world to be sad
:And it was

:[Cueball has grabbed hold of the balloon with both hands.]
:And I expected it to be wonderful.

:[The wind picks up and blows Cueball to the right.]
:It was.

:[Full width panel where the scene opens up. You see Cueball is about a tree's-height from the ground. To the right there is a tall tree with no leaves on it and a broken limb. Below him are some rocks and grass. This is the initial view of the world, that can be clicked and dragged. It is part of tile named 1 North 1 East.]
:I just didn't expect it to be so ''big''.

:[The rest of the comic is transcribed below in the [[1110:_Click_and_Drag#List_of_details_and_references|List of details and references]] section.]

==Viewers==
*http://xkcd.com/1110/ (native zoom, click-and-drag)

'''''Warning:''' there are cheating possibilities—people have implemented ways to explore that world more easily—but the best way to enjoy this comic is to play the game, explore the comic's world the way you're supposed to, get lost in the caves or in the sky, be startled by unexpected things or happy when finding some people after lengthy click-and-dragging through a repetitive landscape. If you didn't do that already, '''reading any below will spoil you from truly enjoying the comic.'''''

Though you can download the full view, the easiest way to browse it is through a {{w|Zooming user interface}}.

*http://victorz.ca/xkcd_map/ '''[recommended]''' (all features of following viewer plus: content highlighted, minimap, less memory and bandwidth, goes to infinity)
*http://xkcd-map.rent-a-geek.de/ (zoom controls, scroll-zoom, click-and-drag, hash permalinks, full-screen)
*http://xkcdmap.webege.com/ Google-maps-style navigation and zooming, with tiles with content highlighted in black or white, allows easy finding of interesting tiles with small things hidden in the ground and sky

==Trivia==
*The click-and-drag portion of this comic is divided up into 2592 sections of 2048x2048 pixels.
*There are 225 separate 2048x2048 PNG files (plus the PNG container with the first panels). The other 2337 sections are simply filled black (in the south) or white (in the north) with HTML.
*The populated area is 81 frames wide (33 West - 48 East) and 32 frames tall (13 North - 19 South)
*According to [[Randall]] in #xkcd on the night this was released, a full size image of this comic (leaving out the blanks) would be 60 gigapixels, and a true single rectangular image would be close to a terapixel. The online version is 1 gigapixel without the blanks and 10 gigapixel as rectangular image (2048x2048x225 = 943,718,400 and 2048x2048x2592 = 10,871,635,968).
*Based on the height of figures as well as the "two mile" figure given on the left-hand side, the scale should be approximately 32 pixels per 5 feet, making the entire map 25920 feet wide (4.9 miles or 7.9 kilometers) by 10240 feet tall (1.9 miles or 3.1 kilometers). If it were an overhead area, it would be about 9.5 square miles (6093 acres or 24.7 square km), roughly the size of Block Island, Rhode Island, USA. Just the POPULATED area (225 tiles with something drawn on them) would be 529 acres, or 0.826 square miles — about the size of Princeton University.
*If the 2048x2048 PNGs were to be printed out as a single poster at 300 dpi, the poster would be 15.36 yards (14.05 meters) long and 6.07 yards (5.55 meters) tall. Most of the detail would be invisible, as these PNGs are optimized for ~72 dpi screens.
*There is one (very dark) green pixel in {{1110|9|s|7|e}} at 1643,1165. The remainder is all grayscale.
*At the end of the right side it shows Cueball pondering where he'll float next.

==Whole Image==
[[File:1110 full tiny.png|none|frame|Whole Image at 0.5% Zoom. The part visible at the beginning is marked red.]]

==List of details and references==

The 225 existing tiles are sorted by columns from West to East and from North to South in each column. (Note that this only includes the tiles that are not entirely white or black).

{| class="wikitable" |
! width="130px" | Grid coords
!Explanation and Transcript
|-
|{{1110|1|n|33|w}}
|[[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] reach the western edge of the image and decide to live there. This is a reference to the last line in the film ''{{w|Groundhog_Day_(film)|Groundhog Day}}''.
;Transcript
:[Cueball and Megan are in a valley at the western edge of the world. Megan is checking their distance traveled with a {{w|GPS}} device. Cueball is looking behind them (eastward).]
:Cueball: We've walked pretty far. We must be on the other side of the world by now.
:Megan: Let's see, we've gone... Two miles.
:Cueball: Darn. You know, this is a nice spot. Let's just live here.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|32|w}}
|Just terrain, no activity.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|31|w}}
|Just terrain, no activity.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|30|w}}
|Just terrain, no activity.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|29|w}}
|Just terrain, no activity.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|28|w}}
|The smooth hillocks at the far right of this panel appear to be the nose and belly of a giant sleeping on its back. The feet extend into the next panel to the east. Possibly a reference to the giant's drink from {{w|Ender's Game}}.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|27|w}}
|The westernmost hillock appears to be the feet of a giant sleeping on its back, continued from the next panel west. {{w|Velociraptor}}s in the high grass.
;Transcript
:[Rolling hills with tall grass.]
:[On the left there are two Velociraptors. The east-facing one looks to be a modern interpretation of the raptor, the west-facing is more Jurassic Park like.]
|-
|{{1110|1|n|26|w}}
|Just terrain, no activity.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|25|w}}
|A large {{w|radio telescope}} with a female listening for a signal. Possibly a reference to the movie {{w|Contact (film)|Contact}}.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|24|w}}
|Just terrain, no activity. Very nice trees though.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|23|w}}
|More nice trees.
|-
|{{1110|2|n|22|w}}
|The top of a large rocket that looks similar to the {{w|Saturn V}} rocket (the base is in {{1110|1|n|22|w}}).
;Transcript
:[A Launch Tower with a waiting Saturn V rocket look-alike attached by the umbilical lines. There are two Cueball-type characters standing on the top.]
:Person 1: So why did we build this? There have ''got'' to be other ways to get to space.
:Person 2: Believe it or not, this is the ''least'' crazy one anyone has come up with.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|22|w}}
|The base of the {{w|Saturn V}} rocket on a launchpad.
;Transcript
:[A Launch Pad and Tower with a waiting Saturn V rocket attached by the umbilical lines. There is a person scaling the rocket. They are at the base of the Second Stage.]
:[A military guardsman is walking the grounds unaware of the person on the rocket.]
|-
|{{1110|1|n|21|w}}
|[[Cueball]] asks Jesus why his footprints look like tire tracks. This is a reference to the inspirational text ''{{w|Footprints (poem)|Footprints}}'' as well as a reference to the {{w|Transformers}}.
;Transcript
:[Two characters stand on the shore by the sea. One has unkempt hair, the other is a Cueball character.]
:Cueball: Jesus, why do your footprints change to tire tracks whenever I was threatened by Decepticons?
|-
|{{1110|1|n|20|w}}
|Water
|-
|{{1110|1|n|19|w}}
|Water
|-
|{{1110|1|n|18|w}}
|Water
|-
|{{1110|1|n|17|w}}
|The scruffy character beneath the {{w|palm tree}} might be a reference to {{w|Desert Island Discs}}, a BBC radio program in which a celebrity chooses the records they would like to be stranded with if castaway. The hatch is a reference to {{w|Lost (TV series)|Lost}} in which the passengers on board a flight over the Pacific Ocean find themselves stranded on a strange island. Their first clue that they stumbled on something out-of-the-ordinary is the hatch.
;Transcript
:[An island in the middle of the sea. On its westward side is a hatch that leads down deep underground. A person is looking at the hatch. Meanwhile a person quietly climbs up a ladder built into the wall of the tunnel inside of the hatch.]
:[On the other side, a scruffy man is looking at a disc while being shaded by a tall coconut palm tree.]
|-
|{{1110|1|s|17|w}}
|A miner. The sliding stone walls behind him (to keep back the water if he digs too far) are a reference to Ted Chiang's "Tower of Babylon".
|-
|{{1110|2|s|17|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[Deep underground a vertical shaft gets wider the deeper you go.]
|-
|{{1110|3|s|17|w}}
|A reference to the game {{w|AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!!_–_A_Reckless_Disregard_for_Gravity|AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!!}}, where the game play consists of falling down while avoiding objects.
;Transcript
:[Deep underground a vertical shaft gets wider the deeper you go. A man wearing a headband has set up a lemonade stand on a plank stuck into the wall. There are people falling down the shaft right next to him.]
:Falling people: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
:Lemonade man: Lemonade? ...Aww, OK. Lemonade? ...Aww, OK. Lemonade?
|-
|{{1110|4|s|17|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[Deep underground a vertical shaft gets wider the deeper you go.]
|-
|{{1110|5|s|17|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[Deep underground a vertical shaft gets wider the deeper you go.]
|-
|{{1110|6|s|17|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[Deep underground a vertical shaft.]
|-
|{{1110|7|s|17|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[Deep underground a vertical shaft.]
|-
|{{1110|8|s|17|w}}
|An {{w|X-Wing}} fighter flies up a vertical shaft, its pilot communicating over radio. The quote is a reference to a scene of the {{w|Star Wars}} movie ''{{w|Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi|Return of the Jedi}}'', with an X-Wing piloted by {{w|Wedge Antilles}} escaping from inside the {{w|Death Star}} ([http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0000060/quotes]):
:{{w|Lando Calrissian}}: "All right, Wedge. Go for the power regulator on the north tower."
:Wedge Antilles: "Copy, Gold Leader. I'm already on my way out."
;Transcript
:[Deep underground, in a vertical shaft. There is an X-Wing fighter running along the shaft.]
:X-Wing pilot [over radio]: Copy that, Gold Leader. I'm already on my way out.
|-
|{{1110|9|s|17|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[Deep underground a vertical shaft gets slimmer the deeper you go.]
|-
|{{1110|10|s|17|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[Deep underground a vertical shaft gets slimmer the deeper you go.]
|-
|{{1110|11|s|17|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[Deep underground a vertical shaft.]
|-
|{{1110|12|s|17|w}}
|Cueball and Megan looking up from the bottom of the shaft. A tunnel goes to the east, there is a woman running eastward.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|16|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[A calm day out at sea.]
|-
|{{1110|12|s|16|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[Deep underground a tunnel comes from the west. A few feet before the end of it a vertical shaft goes down, just about wide enough for a single person to go down. It stops in a man-made cavern, then a tunnel continues eastward.]
|-
|{{1110|1|n|15|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[A calm day out at sea.]
|-
|{{1110|12|s|15|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[Deep underground a tunnel comes from the west and meets a tall cavern, buts keeps going all the way to the east. Cueball has dug up from the ceiling tunnel and is shoveling out a little cavern.]
|-
|{{1110|1|n|14|w}}
|People today can't seem to turn off their phones, unplug and just be by themselves. It has become a societal expectation that every person is constantly connected to the world and is there to respond at any moment. The idea of being indisposed has become a foreign concept.
;Transcript
:[To the west is a sea. There is a beach. Further in-land there are lots of trees with park benches under them.]
:[Cueball and White Hat are walking towards the benches.]
:White Hat: Do you ever put your phone away and just take a moment to breathe and be alone with your thoughts?
:Cueball: Yeah, once. It was ''terrifying''.
|-
|{{1110|12|s|14|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[Deep underground a tunnel with a very rough ceiling goes all the way from west to east.]
|-
|{{1110|1|n|13|w}}
|A rocky hill with a {{w|lighthouse}}. [[Megan]] and [[Ponytail]] sit atop the hill. A half-buried {{w|Statue of Liberty}} is on the other side in reference to ''{{w|Planet of the Apes(film)|Planet of Apes}}'' with [[Cueball]]'s "You Maniacs!" line parodying the final line from the film. Another western shore makes this a very small landmass.
;Transcript
:[Cueball shaking his fist at the half-buried Statue of Liberty.]
:Cueball: You ''maniacs!''
:Cueball: That sand sculpture trophy was supposed to be ''mine!''
|-
|{{1110|12|s|13|w}}
|Someone in a straw hat saying "Becky?". He is carrying either a grappling hook or the end of a rope. Probably a reference to {{w|The Adventures of Tom Sawyer}} in which the title character rescues his sweetheart, Becky Thatcher, from a cave.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|12|w}}
|Water
|-
|{{1110|12|s|12|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[Deep underground a two distant tunnels run from west to east connected by a thin vertical shaft. The lower tunnel has a man-made cavern dug out.]
|-
|{{1110|11|n|11|w}}
|An empty white tile with symmetric coordinates (11 North, 11 West).
|-
|{{1110|1|n|11|w}}
|{{w|Marco Polo (game)|Marco Polo}} is a game similar to tag but played in a swimming pool. The person who is "it" closes their eyes, or is blind-folded and calls out "Marco". All the other players must respond "Polo". The person who is it then tries to find the people by a sort of echo-location. It is a reference to {{w|Marco Polo}} the Venetian merchant who was the first European to make it to Central Asia and China.
;Transcript
:[Out at sea. A blindfolded character playing Marco Polo alone.]
:Blindfolded man: ...Marco? ...Marco?
|-
|{{1110|11|s|11|w}}
|A black tile with symmetric coordinates (11 South, 11 West).
Note, that this PNG file contains an ICC section which means that the blackness in this image is properly {{w|Color correction|color-corrected}}.
|-
|{{1110|12|s|11|w}}
|Deep underground, a cavern opens up to reveal trees, grass, rocks, and a lake. A bird flies toward the trees. A person sits on a rock thoughtfully gazing into the water.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|10|w}}
|Water.
|-
|{{1110|12|s|10|w}}
|A tunnel runs across the top of the tile. It grows rougher on the east side.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|9|w}}
|{{w|Bitcoin}} is a peer-to-peer currency, making it more difficult to trace than traditional currency. It is also difficult, if not impossible, for governments to confiscate. {{w|Peter Thiel}} is a co-founder of {{w|Seasteading#The_Seasteading_Institute|The Seasteading Institute}} that promotes permanent, autonomous ocean communities (similar to a {{w|micronation}}), enabling innovation with new political and social systems. Peter Thiel is also a co-founder of {{w|PayPal}}, a global e-commerce business allowing payments and money transfers to be made through the Internet. Peter Thiel and other co-founders' original vision for PayPal was to have an online payment service that enabled account holders to send money to anyone in the world with just an e-mail address. xkcd also supports [http://xkcd.com/bitcoin bitcoin donations]. This might be a reference to the unspent bitcoins from a recent [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19633980 $250,000 theft]. If they don't have any internet access they might find it hard to spend their loot.

{{w|Edwin S. Shneidman}} was a pioneer in the field of suicide prevention. He published 20 books on suicide and its prevention, one of which, ''A Commonsense Book of Death'', defines most people to be death-postponers. A death-postponer hopes that death will not occur in anything like the foreseeable future; the event must be staved off for as long as possible. The reference to a "death-postponer" is also the literal opposite to the actual name of the item Cueball throws, a {{w|life preserver}}.
;Transcript
:[Out at sea. There is an anti-aircraft platform with four people aboard, and one person in the water.]

:[On the west side of the aircraft a man with hair is speaking to a bearded man half a head taller than the haired man.]
:Man with hair: I'm not saying our bitcoin-only island nation was a bad idea, but we really should've secured Internet access ''before'' we left.

:[On the east side of the platform a man wearing a sailor's hat walking toward the control tower. Cueball is on the edge holding a lifebuoy.]
:Cueball: Hey, you in the water! Hang on-
:Cueball: I'm gonna throw you a death postponer!
|-
|{{1110|2|s|9|w}}
|Jellyfish playing some sort of console game.
|-
|{{1110|12|s|9|w}}
|A rocky tunnel descends unevenly from the west, growing wider to the east. In the middle, a curving roof with two pointed recesses, together with the upward arching tunnel on either side, is reminiscent of the shape of a bat with wings spread.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|8|w}}
|{{w|Poop deck}} is the nautical term for the deck that forms the roof of a cabin built in the rear of the ship.

The character climbing the rigging is apparently {{w|Elizabeth Warren}}, who said at the {{w|2012 Democratic National Convention}}, "People feel like the system is rigged against them. And here's the painful part: They're right. The system is rigged."

The {{w|pirate}} onboard is shouting "{{w|Glossary of nautical terms#Avast|Avast!}}" (meaning stop), but no one is apparently listening. Possibly a reference to the comic being released on {{w|International Talk Like a Pirate Day}}.

The three-masted sailing ship with the pirate could be a reference to {{w|Monty Python}}'s short film {{w|The Crimson Permanent Assurance}} in which rebellious office clerks turn their office building into a pirate ship, raiding financial districts in numerous big cities, before falling off the edge of the world.
;Transcript
:[Out at sea. There is a three-masted sailing ship at full sail with a healthy wind billowing the sails. There are five crew out on deck, four are aloft, and one on watch in the bowsprit.]

:[A girl is seated on the spanker.]
:Girl: Haha, "Poop Deck."

:[Aloft on the mizzen-mast a woman is standing talking to another woman climbing the rigging between the mizzen and main masts.]
:Mizzen-mast woman: Elizabeth, why are you climbing the rigging?
:Elizabeth: Forget ''this'' rigging. The whole ''system'' is rigged against the middle class and families trying to ''climb'' out of poverty.
:Mizzen-mast woman: ...Ok, but for real, what are you doing on this boat?

:[Fore of the mizzen-mast a classic bearded pirate stands with his sword drawn.]
:Pirate: Avast! Avast! ...Avast?

:[Fore of the main-sail, a Cueball-type character looks over the railing.]

:[Aloft a man is swinging around the fore-mast pretending to be Spiderman.]

:[Lower on the fore-mast a Cueball-type character is adjusting the rigging. On the deck another is adjusting more rigging.]

:[Out on the bowsprit Megan is keeping watch, and telling the runner Ponytail what is ahead.]
:Megan: We should go slow -
:Megan: That water up ahead looks pretty deep.
|-
|{{1110|12|s|8|w}}
|A wide rocky tunnel slopes from the west off the bottom of the tile.
|-
|{{1110|13|s|8|w}}
|An opening from above narrows and flattens out as the rough tunnel turns eastward.
|-
|{{1110|7|n|7|w}}
|A {{w|Boeing 717}} in landing configuration.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|7|w}}
|Water
|-
|{{1110|13|s|7|w}}
|A tunnel descends unevenly from the west, opening up somewhat in the bottom corner to the east. [[Megan]] and [[Ponytail]] are climbing a near-vertical section of the rocky wall.
|-
|{{1110|14|s|7|w}}
|Loose stones form the bottom of a small cavern that extends upward out of the tile. A tunnel runs out of it to the east.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|6|w}}
|Water
|-
|{{1110|1|s|6|w}}
|Jellyfish
|-
|{{1110|13|s|6|w}}
|Mostly solid rock; the east side and roof of a cave is in the lower westward corner.
|-
|{{1110|14|s|6|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[A flat tunnel runs the length of the whole tile. It is rough cut on the ceiling, but a smooth surface for walking. There is a hint that the ceiling draws away from the floor to the west. Cueball is walking east along the tunnel.]
|-
|{{1110|6|n|5|w}}
|[[Red spiders]] from earlier comics falling from the sky
|-
|{{1110|1|n|5|w}}
|"{{w|I'm on a Boat}}" is a single from {{w|The Lonely Island}}'s debut album {{w|Incredibad}}.
;Transcript
:[Out at sea. On the west side are two buoys, on the east is only one, in the center there is a sailboat. Cueball and another person wearing a beanie are on the small sailboat.]
:Beanie: I'm on a boat! I expected more from the experience! Instead, all I can think to do is tell people where I am! ...I'm on a boat!
|-
|{{1110|14|s|5|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[A flat tunnel runs the length of the whole tile. It is rough cut on the ceiling, but a smooth surface for walking.]
|-
|{{1110|2|n|4|w}}
|An {{w|Embraer E-Jet family|Embraer E-190}}
|-
|{{1110|1|n|4|w}}
|The coast of the body of water at a beach with some sea birds and beachgoers.
|-
|{{1110|14|s|4|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[A flat tunnel runs the length of the whole tile. It is rough cut on the ceiling, but a smooth surface for walking. The shaft grows in diameter as it goes eastward.]
|-
|{{1110|3|n|3|w}}
|
; Transcript
:[High in the sky.]
:[Cueball is sitting in a swing attached to the end of a crane, and is swinging.]
:Cueball: WHEEE!
|-
|{{1110|2|n|3|w}}
|An empty white tile. Exactly the same as {{1110|8|n|1|w}}
|-
|{{1110|1|n|3|w}}
|The west wall of a large building which staircases narrower as it rises.
|-
|{{1110|14|s|3|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[A flat tunnel runs the length of the whole tile. It is rough cut on the ceiling, but a smooth surface for walking. A small vertical shaft goes up to a very small cavern.]
|-
|{{1110|8|n|2|w}}
|This seems to be the peak of the {{w|Burj Khalifa}} to which {{1110|6|n|27|e}} refers.
|-
|{{1110|7|n|2|w}}
|
|-
|{{1110|6|n|2|w}}
|[[Black Hat]] is seen in the picture with a {{w|gatling gun}}, probably the Imperial cannons referred in {{1110|8|n|6|e}}. Also at bottom, a cueball is flying a paper airplane off the building.
;Transcript
:Ponytail: We're so high up that if you threw a penny off the edge, inflation would reduce its value to 0.00999999975 by the time it landed.
:[Further south, on a balcony]
:Megan: The Wikipedia article on this balcony says the view is nice.
:Cueball: I thought so.
|-
|{{1110|5|n|2|w}}
|A construction crane lifting another, smaller, construction crane. Possibly a reference to the [http://vimeo.com/46359692 Truck Truck Truck] gag from the Simpsons. Also, self-erecting {{w|tower crane}}s do usually not lift {{w|crawler crane}}s
|-
|{{1110|4|n|2|w}}
|
|-
|{{1110|3|n|2|w}}
|On the west side, the top of a (different) construction crane. On the east side, Cueball is firing a clay pigeon launcher while Ponytail fires a shotgun at the target. Meanwhile, Megan comes up from behind with CDs.
;Transcript
:Megan: I found some more CDs
:Ponytail: PULL!
|-
|{{1110|2|n|2|w}}
|On the west side, the bottom of the construction crane. On the upper eastern side, [[Hair Bun Girl]] is laid back, relaxing in a chair while using a laptop. On the next step down, a party crowd is out on a balcony.
;Transcript
:Person: I'm working at a small startup. Our business model is 'taking free drinks from industry events and reselling them.'
:Person: Oh, hey, I should get going...
|-
|{{1110|1|n|2|w}}
|The bulk of the base of the building with one terrace visible on either side. Megan says "I came here to chew bubblegum... And I'm all out of bubblegum" is a reference to the movie {{w|They Live}} in which the character Nada famously says "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass...and I'm all out of bubblegum". That line is also used in the game {{w|Duke Nukem 3D}} by Duke himself, when Shrapnel City (Episode 3) starts. Also, Cueball says "That's a shame" a line popularised by Jerry in the sitcom {{w|Seinfeld|Seinfeld}}. Pool line is a reference to "pool on the roof" prank from the movie {{w|Hackers (film)|Hackers}}.
|-
|{{1110|14|s|2|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[A flat tunnel runs the length of the whole tile. It is rough cut on the ceiling, but a smooth surface for walking. There is a single vertical shaft that would have gone down. The ceiling above the shaft has crumbled, and the rubble has filled in the shaft.]
|-
|{{1110|8|n|1|w}}
|An empty white tile. Exactly the same as {{1110|2|n|3|w}}
|-
|{{1110|5|n|1|w}}
|The tail of the crawler crane lifted at {{1110|5|n|2|w}}.
|-
|{{1110|2|n|1|w}}
|An empty white tile.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|1|w}}
|The western wall at the base of a large building including its {{w|portico}}, a remote control rocket-powered bicycle attempting to launch from the first terrace, a balcony on the second terrace and a {{w|satellite dish}} and other exhausts on the third. Two trees with a squirre stand in front of the building leading to a parking lot with cars and one {{w|Wienermobile}}
|-
|{{1110|14|s|1|w}}
|
;Transcript
:[A flat tunnel runs the length of the whole tile. It is rough cut on the ceiling, but a smooth surface for walking. There are two rough cut vertical shafts going down, there is a rock pile on the ground between the two. A small vertical shaft goes up to a very small empty cavern.]
|-
|{{1110|15|s|1|w}}
|This is a sad statement about where the Internet is right now. The Internet should be a vast and diverse place filled with new and exciting content that breaks the mold of already established media. But instead, everyone on the Internet has become a shill for their Facebook page and their Twitter stream. It feels like everything links back to these two sites. Even stuck at the bottom of a shaft, these two people care more for how many Facebook likes and twitter followers they have, than for their own lives and safety.
;Transcript
:[Deep underground. There are two shafts, the western one ends abruptly with a pile of rubble at the bottom. The other changes direction and becomes a tunnel to the east.]
:[Cueball and Megan are stranded at the bottom of the western shaft.]
:Cueball: Is anyone up there? If you can hear us, ''friend us on Facebook!''
:Megan: ''Follow us on Twitter! Please!''
|-
|{{1110|13|n|1|e}}
|Two whales is possibly a reference to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and the planet [http://hitchhikers.wikia.com/wiki/Magrathea Magrathea], where (improbably) two incoming missiles are turned into a whale and a bowl of petunias. It may also be a reference to the album From Mars to Sirius by the French heavy metal band Gojira, specifically the track, "Flying Whales." A third possibility is a reference to Respighi's "The Pines of Rome" from Fantasia II.
|-
|{{1110|6|n|1|e}}
|A {{w|hot air balloon}} is the oldest form of human-carrying flight.
;Transcript
:[High in the sky. Cueball and Megan are in a hot air balloon.]
|-
|{{1110|1|n|1|e}}
|The {{w|Origin (mathematics)|"center"}} of the world; the default loaded image with Cueball floating by balloon. The balloons may be a reference to comic [[1106]]. This may also be a reference to {{w|Winnie The Pooh}}. The parking lot to the west ends to a grassy/rocky field with a tree. A hill runs up to the east with a fountain.

; Transcript:
:[Open scene.]
:[To the extreme left there is the end of a parking lot. Right from that Cueball is holding onto a balloon several feet from the ground.]
:Cueball [narration]: I just didn't expect it to be so ''BIG''.
:[About 50 feet east of Cueball there is a lone tree with no leaves on it. Cueball is approximately parallel to with the top of it.]
:[Farther east and much higher up is a single balloon floating away.]
:[More east and on the ground Beret Guy is waving a butterfly net, chasing an RC Helicopter.]
:[Two girls, one blonde and one darker, are walking away from Beret Guy.]
:[On the extreme right is a fountain spraying water.]
|-
|{{1110|14|s|1|e}}
|
;Transcript
:[A flat tunnel runs the length of the whole tile. It is rough cut on the ceiling, but a smooth surface for walking. A single vertical shaft extends southward, rough cut all around.]
|-
|{{1110|15|s|1|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|16|s|1|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|17|s|1|e}}
|Alaska at the bottom of the shaft.
At the lowest level of the cave, a fish leaps from water.
|-
|{{1110|9|n|2|e}}
|A reference to the {{w|Apollo 13}} manned mission to the moon in 1970. Two days after launch, en route to the moon, an oxygen tank exploded. Astronaut Swigert {{w|File:Apollo13-wehaveaproblem.ogg|reported}} the incident to Mission Control in Houston saying 'Houston, we've had a problem.' The 1995 movie {{w|Apollo 13 (film)|Apollo 13}} deliberately misquoted Swigert's famous statement as 'Houston, we have a problem' because the original made it seem that the problem had already passed.

The response is a parody of the inspirational quote 'There are no problems, only opportunities.'
;Transcript
:[The Apollo 13 mission is en route to the moon. An astronaut on board the craft informs Mission Control of an incident.]
:Astronaut: Houston, we have a problem.
:Mission Control: That's a negative, Apollo. There are no problems - only opportunities. Over.
|-
|{{1110|3|n|2|e}}
|A reference to the {{w|Greek myth}} of {{w|Icarus}} and his father's escape from {{w|Crete}} by building wings of feathers and wax. The joke is that, the incredible part of the story, the fact that Icarus and his father actually flew with simple wax and feathers, is downplayed to try to give children an object lesson about {{Wiktionary|humility}} and {{Wiktionary|hubris}}.
;Transcript
:[High in the air. There are feathers floating gently down. Below them is Icarus falling head first, he has the remains of wax and feather wings strapped to his arms.]
:Icarus: I only hope the story of how ''building wax wings enabled me to fly'' teaches everyone a lesson about hubris.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|2|e}}
|
;Transcript
:[To the left, Ponytail is climbing up while Cueball has second thoughts.]
:Cueball: We should turn back.
:Ponytail: Wimp.
:[In the middle, Cueball and Megan seem to be soaking in some sort of pond.]
:[To the right, Ponytail is standing on top of a castle while Megan pushes a boulder and Cueball is playing some music.]
|-
|{{1110|14|s|2|e}}
|
;Transcript
:[A flat tunnel runs the length of the whole tile. It is rough cut on the ceiling, but a smooth surface for walking.]
|-
|{{1110|17|s|2|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|3|n|3|e}}
|[[Megan]] is surfing on a {{w|Boeing 767|Boeing 767-300W}}
|-
|{{1110|2|n|3|e}}
|[Ground slops uphill, left-to-right (West to East). Close to the far right boundary is the Christmas Tree from {{w|A Charlie Brown Christmas}}. In the middle is an electronic listening station. Left and Up-slope of the listening station, Megan and Cueball are lying on the ground, talking. Near bottom left is Ponytail, wearing sunglasses, roller-skiing off a ski jump. Top left are four birds in the sky.]
;Transcript
:Megan: Ever wonder if there's life up there ''beyond'' the stuff we're covering up?
:Cueball: Nah.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|3|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|14|s|3|e}}
|
;Transcript
:[The tunnel opens up to a small cavern. The ground of the cavern is grass covered, and there is a tree growing in the center. Cueball is lounging near the tree.]
|-
|{{1110|17|s|3|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|18|s|3|e}}
|{{w|Minecraft}} reference: Someone escapes a creeper, running deeper into the cave he just fell in.
|-
|{{1110|2|n|4|e}}
|The {{w|Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory}} as seen in [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Great_Blue_Hill_Weather_Station_Milton_MA_01.jpg this particular photo]. The radio tower depicted shows the antennas for the {{w|WGBH (FM)|WGBH}} and {{w|WKAF}} FM stations.
A reference to George Mallory's famous response to the question: "Why do you want to climb Mount Everest?".
;Transcript
:[Megan seems to be helping Cueball climb the hill.]
:Megan: "Because it's there" is more poetic than "I'm rich enough that my goals are arbitrary."
|-
|{{1110|1|n|4|e}}
|A black empty tile (required because unspecified North tiles are automatically filled with white).
|-
|{{1110|18|s|4|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|19|s|4|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|2|n|5|e}}
|Cueball can't get cellphone reception, while two wingsuit flyers are leaping off a cliff above him.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|5|e}}
|A black empty tile (required because unspecified North tiles are automatically filled with white).
|-
|{{1110|17|s|5|e}}
|Possibly The {{w|Nautilus (Verne)|Nautilus}}, the submarine from Jules Verne's novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870) and The Mysterious Island (1874) Also, possibly an allusion to {{w|Schwa (art)|Schwa}}.
|-
|{{1110|19|s|5|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|8|n|6|e}}
|{{w|Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope|Red Five}} is both Anakin and Luke Skywalker's call sign. Anakin uses the sign in the Battle of Coruscant and Luke uses it in the Battle of Yavin. Also note the use of "{{w|cannon}}" and "{{w|Canon (basic principle)|canon}}."
;Transcript
:Red Five to Red Leader - I'm out of range of any Imperial cannons or canons.
|-
|{{1110|2|n|6|e}}
|Giant airborne jellyfish.
;Transcript
:[Two birdwatchers with binoculars walk on the slope of a hill, one facing the tree at the far right of {{1110|2|n|5|e}} with her back to the giant jellyfish and the other one staring at it]
:Birdwatcher #1: Ooh, a {{w|yellow warbler}}!
:Birdwatcher #2: Cool.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|6|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|16|s|6|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|17|s|6|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|19|s|6|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|1|n|7|e}}
|Level 1-1 of the original {{w|Super Mario Bros.}} This is confirmed by text on {{1110|3|s|7|e}}. Compare with [http://www.mariowiki.com/images/e/e4/World_1-1_SMB.png screenshot]. The level's "bottomless pits" continue downward.
|-
|{{1110|1|s|7|e}}
|Two people climbing up/down the holes, and one falling.
|-
|{{1110|2|s|7|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|3|s|7|e}}
|Two people are talking next to a "bottomless pit" from the Mario level, one is saying: "The walls... worn smooth by billions of tumbling Mario corpses".
|-
|{{1110|4|s|7|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|5|s|7|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|6|s|7|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|7|s|7|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|8|s|7|e}}
|{{w|Role-playing game|RPG}} style pit trap
|-
|{{1110|9|s|7|e}}
|Another {{w|Minecraft}} reference. Cueball standing while a girl swings a pickaxe to further dig out a tunnel. Farther down, part of the mine shaft has collapsed and sealed the hole.
|-
|{{1110|10|s|7|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|11|s|7|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|12|s|7|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|13|s|7|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|14|s|7|e}}
|A cane is wedged in the right hand mine shaft. Likely a reference to the first {{w|Where's Waldo}} book, where Waldo loses his walking stick (and other items) and readers must scour the detailed illustrations to find Waldo and each of the items he drops.
|-
|{{1110|15|s|7|e}}
|
|-
|{{1110|16|s|7|e}}
|
;Transcript
:[Deep below the surface, the two boreholes finally end. The bones of the unfortunate ones to have fallen down the holes are scattered. A single man-made shaft is covered by a plug of some kind. The shaft goes down to supported deck {{w|arch bridge}} spanning a large chasm, the bottom of which is not shown.]
|-
|{{1110|17|s|7|e}}
|
;Transcript
:[A Pyramid in a cavern. Most likely a reference to Neon Genesis Evangelion's [http://evangelion.wikia.com/wiki/GeoFront NERV HQ], which is also located in a deep underground cavern. Most of a thatch-roof gazebo can be seen to the east of the pyramid.]
|-
|{{1110|19|s|7|e}}
|Horizontal tunnel
|-
|{{1110|1|n|8|e}}
|Four wind turbines
|-
|{{1110|16|s|8|e}}
|Mostly solid rock; the roof of a cave is in the bottom corner to the west.
|-
|{{1110|17|s|8|e}}
|A small graveyard.
|-
|{{1110|18|s|8|e}}
|There are tentacle-like objects restricting the passing of objects through this tunnel, the art of which closely resembles the Xbox Live Arcade game {{w|Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet}}, and also bears a resemblance to the mouth of a {{w|Sarlacc Pit}} from Star Wars.
|-
|{{1110|19|s|8|e}}
|A tunnel from the west intersects with a vertical passage from above. To the east of the intersection the tunnel dead ends, and the opening downwards is filled with rocks and impassable.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|9|e}}
|Reference to the first line of "{{w|99 Problems}}" by {{w|Jay-Z}} ("If you're having girl problems I feel bad for you son. I've got 99 problems but a <rhymes with "witch"> ain't one."). Just left of the fence is a small cleared area with what appears to be a frog in the center. Frog Prince? Also a reference to {{w|Off-by-one error#Fencepost error|fencepost error}}. Ironically, there may be an off-by-one error in the joke, since it would only take 100 fenceposts to cover 99 problems, not 101.
|-
|{{1110|3|n|10|e}}
|The outline of the {{w|Bombardier Dash 8}} Q400 aircraft shown in Wikipedia.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|10|e}}
|Hilly terrain with a tree, and a [[Cueball]] standing on a rock.
|-
|{{1110|11|n|11|e}}
|An empty white tile with symmetric coordinates (11 N, 11 E).
|-
|{{1110|1|n|11|e}}
|A {{w|sine}} curve {{w|oscillate}}s between -1 and 1.
;Transcript
:[A bridge begins. The land falls down to meet the water with an almost sinusoidal curve.]
|-
|{{1110|11|s|11|e}}
|An empty black tile with symmetric coordinates (11 N, 11 E).
Note, that this PNG file contains an ICC section which means that the blackness in this image is properly {{w|Color correction|color-corrected}}.
|-
|{{1110|5|n|12|e}}
|This is a re-enactment of one of the last scenes in {{w|2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey}}, in which Dave Bowman shuts down {{w|Hal 9000}} by one-by-one pulling out processor modules. Hal eventually regresses to his first programmed memories, the song {{w|Daisy Bell}} which he sings for Bowman.
;Transcript
:[High above the ground. Cueball has scaled the outside of a hot air balloon and is using a knife to cut it open while the gondola sings Daisy Bell.]
:''RIIIP''
:Gondola [singing, getting slower]: Daiiisyyy... Daiiiiiiisy...
|-
|{{1110|1|n|12|e}}
|{{w|Bourne Bridge|Bourne}} or {{w|Sagamore Bridge}}
;Transcript
:[The bridge continues.]
|-
|{{1110|1|n|13|e}}
|The bridge is either the {{w|Bourne Bridge|Bourne}} or {{w|Sagamore Bridge}}.

The {{w|covered wagon}} was popularized during the {{w|American Frontier|American expansion west}}, as a good way to bring goods along with as a family journeyed from the crowded eastern states out west (usually to Oregon or California).
;Transcript
:[Center of the bridge.]

:[A covered wagon is crossing east, there is a person driving driving, and a person poking out the back. A footman is walking quite a ways ahead of the carriage.]

:[On top of the bridge structure, Megan and Ponytail are sitting and eating some kind of picnic.]
:Megan and Ponytail: Nom nom nom

:[A tank, vaguely resembling a {{w|Sherman Firefly}}, is crossing west, possibly in a reference to the WWII film {{w|A Bridge Too Far}}. Ponytail is sitting on the turret. Cueball is being more daring and is balancing with arms outstretch on the end of the gun.]

:[Underneath the tank a two-masted junk rigged sailboat is resting with sails furled. Megan and Cueball are fore standing at the railing looking out over the sea.]
:Megan: So, um, here's the thing—
:Megan: I'm married to the sea, but it's a very ... ''open'' marriage.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|14|e}}
|{{w|Bourne Bridge|Bourne}} or {{w|Sagamore Bridge}}
;Transcript
:[Land again.]
|-
|{{1110|1|n|15|e}}
|[[Cueball]] is singing the chorus to the song "{{w|Flagpole Sitta}}" by {{w|Harvey Danger}}. The characters in the wagon reference the {{w|Oregon Trail (computer game)|Oregon Trail}} computer game.

[[Black Hat]] seems to be up to his usual shenanigans.

;Transcript
:[The bridge meets land again, and at the western foot of the bridge is a cannon. Black Hat is sitting behind the cannon, and has lit its fuse.]
:[Where the river meets the land there are stairs leading up to a landing.]

:[The covered wagon has made it across the bridge. Everything is drooping, now. The horse is not walking as upright, the driver is slouching, the person out the back is now lounging on the back with a gun clearly visible.]
:Someone inside wagon: You brought no food but ''how'' many boxes of bullets?

:[Farther east Cueball is sitting on top of a flagpole singing. Just northwest of him, a leaf spins through the air.]
:Cueball [singing]: I'm not sick, but I'm not wellll
|-
|{{1110|2|n|16|e}}
|Top of VLF antenna.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|16|e}}
|A cabin which appears to be hooked up to a VLF antenna.
|-
|{{1110|2|n|17|e}}
|Top of VLF antenna.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|17|e}}
|VLF antenna and a steep cliff dropoff to water. Cueball watches a butterfly flit around as they did in the {{w|Peanuts}} comic strip.
The VLF antenna is likely to be a representation of the [http://www.stormfax.com/wireless.htm Marconi Station] on Cape Cod as it existed in the early 1900's. This station transmitted the first trans-Atlantic wireless telegram in 1903. It had the same four towers and steep drop-off to the beach as depicted in this comic with possible original photo [http://capecodhistory.us/Wellfleet-records/pictures/Marconi-pc.jpg here].
|-
|{{1110|3|n|18|e}}
|A {{w|Boeing 717}} with landing gear deployed. Caption: "Folks, this is your captain speaking. I need you all to turn on every electronic device your have. There's no time to explain." (a reference to {{w|No Time To Explain|the game with the same name}}?)
|-
|{{1110|1|n|18|e}}
|Two swimmers in the ocean saying "Stupid {{w|FreeBSD}}...". FreeBSD is a Unix-like operating system. A reference to [[349: Success]].
|-
|{{1110|1|n|19|e}}
|A {{w|humpback whale}} breaching.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|20|e}}
|A rocky shore. The uppermost rock formation in this panel appears to be a laughing face in profile.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|21|e}}
|A fin-shaped object protrudes from the ground.
|-
|{{1110|2|n|22|e}}
|{{w|Guy-wire}}s
|-
|{{1110|1|n|22|e}}
|An anchor for {{w|Guy-wire}}s. To the east of the anchor, a very small Cueball and an equally tiny Megan can be seen in the grass.
|-
|{{1110|3|n|23|e}}
|{{w|Guy-wire}}s
|-
|{{1110|2|n|23|e}}
|{{w|Guy-wire}}s
|-
|{{1110|1|n|23|e}}
|An anchor for {{w|Guy-wire}}s
|-
|{{1110|4|n|24|e}}
|{{w|Guy-wire}}s
|-
|{{1110|3|n|24|e}}
|{{w|Guy-wire}}s
|-
|{{1110|2|n|24|e}}
|{{w|Guy-wire}}s
|-
|{{1110|1|n|24|e}}
|An anchor for {{w|Guy-wire}}s.
|-
|{{1110|5|n|25|e}}
|{{w|Guy-wire}}s
|-
|{{1110|4|n|25|e}}
|{{w|Guy-wire}}s
|-
|{{1110|3|n|25|e}}
|{{w|Guy-wire}}s
|-
|{{1110|2|n|25|e}}
|{{w|Guy-wire}}s
|-
|{{1110|1|n|25|e}}
|{{w|Guy-wire}}s with terrain
|-
|{{1110|6|n|26|e}}
|{{w|Guy-wire}}s
|-
|{{1110|5|n|26|e}}
|{{w|Guy-wire}}s
|-
|{{1110|4|n|26|e}}
|Black Hat is hanging from one of the wire supports.
|-
|{{1110|3|n|26|e}}
|{{w|Guy-wire}}s
|-
|{{1110|2|n|26|e}}
|{{w|Guy-wire}}s
|-
|{{1110|1|n|26|e}}
|An anchor for {{w|Guy-wire}}s.
|-
|{{1110|7|n|27|e}}
|Top of the radio tower mentioned under 6N27E (right below).
|-
|{{1110|6|n|27|e}}
|This appears to be the former record-holder for the tallest man-made structure, the {{w|KVLY-TV mast}} in {{w|North Dakota}}. It was surpassed by the {{w|Burj Khalifa}} (829.84 m (2,723 ft)) located in Dubai (also included in the comic).
;Transcript
:[Top of a radio tower. There are four guy-wires that connect to the tower, two on each side. A woman is standing on the top, holding onto the antenna for stability.]
:Woman: Dubai may have taken the record for "Tallest Manmade Structure," but North Dakota still has "[http://www.realnd.com/jamestownbuffaloindex.htm Largest Buffalo Monument]," "[http://heritagerenewal.org/bigthings/hamburger.htm Biggest Hamburger]," and "[http://www.realnd.com/casseltoncanpileindex.htm Tallest Pyramid of Oil Cans]." So ''there''.
|-
|{{1110|5|n|27|e}}
|{{w|Radio tower}} with {{w|guy-wire}}s.
|-
|{{1110|4|n|27|e}}
|{{w|Radio tower}} with {{w|guy-wire}}s.
|-
|{{1110|3|n|27|e}}
|{{w|Radio tower}} with {{w|guy-wire}}s.
|-
|{{1110|2|n|27|e}}
|{{w|Radio tower}} with {{w|guy-wire}}s.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|27|e}}
|The base of a {{w|radio tower}}.
|-
|{{1110|6|n|28|e}}
|{{w|Guy-wire}}s
|-
|{{1110|5|n|28|e}}
|{{w|Guy-wire}}s
|-
|{{1110|4|n|28|e}}
|{{w|Guy-wire}}s
|-
|{{1110|3|n|28|e}}
|{{w|Guy-wire}}s
|-
|{{1110|2|n|28|e}}
|{{w|Guy-wire}}s
|-
|{{1110|1|n|28|e}}
|An anchor for {{w|Guy-wire}}s.
|-
|{{1110|5|n|29|e}}
|{{w|Guy-wire}}s
|-
|{{1110|4|n|29|e}}
|Someone is sliding down the wire. Possibly a reference to the game {{w|Infamous (video game)|Infamous}}.
|-
|{{1110|3|n|29|e}}
|{{w|Guy-wire}}s
|-
|{{1110|2|n|29|e}}
|{{w|Guy-wire}}s
|-
|{{1110|1|n|29|e}}
|{{w|Guy-wire}}s with terrain
|-
|{{1110|4|n|30|e}}
|{{w|Guy-wire}}s
|-
|{{1110|3|n|30|e}}
|{{w|Guy-wire}}s
|-
|{{1110|2|n|30|e}}
|{{w|Guy-wire}}s
|-
|{{1110|1|n|30|e}}
|An anchor for {{w|Guy-wire}}s
|-
|{{1110|3|n|31|e}}
|{{w|Guy-wire}}s
|-
|{{1110|2|n|31|e}}
|{{w|Guy-wire}}s
|-
|{{1110|1|n|31|e}}
|An anchor for {{w|Guy-wire}}s.
|-
|{{1110|2|n|32|e}}
|{{w|Guy-wire}}s
|-
|{{1110|1|n|32|e}}
|An anchor for {{w|Guy-wire}}s.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|33|e}}
|A tree with a tractor.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|34|e}}
|A rolling grassy landscape with a fence. Some of the fence posts are topped with bluebird boxes, and birds sit on the fence wires.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|35|e}}
|a {{w|barn}} and some trees.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|36|e}}
|Reference to the original Pokémon games. When Prof. Oak tells you not to go into the tall grass without a Pokémon.
;Transcript
:[There is a large hill with very tall grass (taller than any character in this section).]
:[Left-most is some structure of some kind.]
:[West of the structure is Cueball shouting to Megan, who is running into the long grass.]
:Cueball: Don't go into the long grass! (Line from Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World which precedes the velociraptor attack.)
:Megan: Pikachu, I choose ''DEATH''—
:Megan: And with it immortality.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|37|e}}
|Grass.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|38|e}}
|Grass with a short rectangular structure.
|-
|{{1110|2|n|39|e}}
|The top of a water tower. Cueball and Megan on the catwalk at the top. Cueball looking out. Megan using some mounted device (maybe a telephone?, or some controls?).
|-
|{{1110|1|n|39|e}}
|The base of a water tower.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|40|e}}
|Grass.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|41|e}}
|Grass.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|42|e}}
|Grass.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|43|e}}
|Grass.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|44|e}}
|Grass.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|45|e}}
|Grass.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|46|e}}
|Grass.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|47|e}}
|Grass.
|-
|{{1110|1|n|48|e}}
|[[Cueball]] with a balloon in his hand, flying towards the image border. He says "I wonder where I'll float next". This is a reference to [[1|the very first xkcd comic]]. It may also be a reference to {{w|World of Goo}}, a computer game, where at the end of level 1 the goo balls leave the screen carried by balloons, wondering what will be next. Alternatively, this may be a reference to the detail and variety of earlier panels.
;Transcript
:[Grassy hill slowly rolls until the extreme right which ends in a much larger drop-off. This is the end of the world.]
:[Cueball is still floating holding his balloon, heading further east.]
:Cueball: I wonder where I'll float next.
|-
|}

==References by Category==
===Vehicles===
{| class="wikitable" |
! Name
! width="130px" | Grid coords
! Thumbnail
|-
|{{w|covered wagon|Covered wagons}}
|{{1110|1|n|13|e}} {{1110|1|n|15|e}}
|[[File:covered-wagon.png]] [[File:covered-wagon-2.png]]
|-
|Remote-controlled rocket-powered bicycle
|{{1110|1|n|1|w}}
|[[File:rocket-powered-bicycle.png]]
|-
|{{w|Sailboat}}
|{{1110|1|n|5|w}}
|[[File:sailboat.png]]
|-
|{{w|Sailing ship}}
|{{1110|1|n|8|w}}
|[[File:sailing-ship.png]]
|-
|{{w|Junk-rigged Sailboat}}
|{{1110|1|n|13|e}}
|[[File:junk-rigged-sailboat.png]]
|-
|{{w|Hot air balloons}}
|{{1110|6|n|1|e}}
|[[File:hot-air-balloon-1.png]] [[File:hot-air-balloon-2.png]]
|-
|{{w|Cars}}
|{{1110|1|n|1|w}} {{1110|1|n|1|e}}
|[[File:cars-sedans-1.png]] [[File:cars-sedans-2.png]] [[File:cars-sedans-3.png]] [[File:cars-sedans-4.png]]
|-
|{{w|Wienermobile}}
|{{1110|1|n|1|w}}
|[[File:wienermobile.png]]
|-
|{{w|Tractor}}
|{{1110|1|n|33|e}}
|[[File:tractor.png]]
|-
|{{w|Tank}}
|{{1110|1|n|13|e}}
|[[File:tank.png]]
|-
|{{w|Submarine}}
|{{1110|17|s|5|e}}
|[[File:submarine.png]]
|-
|{{w|Boeing 717}} Jet airliner
|{{1110|7|n|7|w}} {{1110|3|n|18|e}}
|[[File:boeing-717-jet.png]] [[File:boeing-717-jet-landing.png]]
|-
|{{w|Embraer E-Jet family|Embraer E-190}} Jet airliner
|{{1110|2|n|4|w}}
|[[File:embraer-e-190-jet.png]]
|-
|{{w|Boeing 767|Boeing 767-300W}} Jet airliner
|{{1110|3|n|3|e}}
|[[File:boeing-767-300w-jet.png]]
|-
|{{w|Bombardier Dash 8|Bombardier Dash-8 Q400}} turboprop airliner
|{{1110|3|n|10|e}}
|[[File:bombardier-dash-8.png]]
|-
|{{w|Saturn V}} Rocket
|{{1110|1|n|22|w}} {{1110|2|n|22|w}}
|[[File:saturn-v-rocket.png]]
|-
|{{w|Apollo 13}} spacecraft
|{{1110|9|n|2|e}}
|[[File:apollo-13-spacecraft.png]]
|-
|{{w|X-Wing fighters}}
|{{1110|8|n|6|e}} {{1110|8|s|17|w}}
|[[File:x-wing-fighter-1.png]] [[File:x-wing-fighter-2.png]]
|-
|}

===Man-made Structures===
{| class="wikitable" |
! Name
! width="130px" | Grid coords
! Thumbnail
|-
|{{w|Burj Khalifa}}
|{{1110|8|n|2|w}}, {{1110|6|n|27|e}}
|[[File:burj-khalifa.png]]
|-
|{{w|Statue of Liberty}}
|{{1110|1|n|13|w}}
|[[File:statue-of-liberty.png]]
|-
|{{w|Pyramid}}
|{{1110|17|s|7|e}}
|[[File:1110-pyramid.png]]
|-
|Bridges (Suspension bridge, Arch bridge)
|{{1110|1|n|12|e}} {{1110|1|n|13|e}} {{1110|1|n|14|e}}
|[[File:arch-bridge.png]]
|-
|{{w|Lighthouse}}
|{{1110|1|n|13|w}}
|[[File:lighthouse.png]]
|-
|Water tower
|{{1110|1|n|39|e}} {{1110|2|n|39|e}}
|[[File:water-tower.png]]
|-
|Mine shafts
|{{1110|1|s|17|w}}
|[[File:mine-shafts.png]]
|-
|Graveyard / cemetery
|{{1110|17|s|8|e}}
|[[File:graveyard-cemetary.png]]
|-
|Parking lot
|{{1110|1|n|1|w}} {{1110|1|n|1|e}}
|[[File:cars-sedans-1.png]] [[File:cars-sedans-2.png]] [[File:cars-sedans-3.png]] [[File:cars-sedans-4.png]]
|-
|Fence posts
|{{1110|1|n|34|e}}
|[[File:fenceposts.png]]
|-
|Bluebird boxes
|{{1110|1|n|34|e}}
|[[File:bluebird-boxes.png]]
|-
|Barn
|{{1110|1|n|35|e}}
|[[File:barn.png]]
|-
|Tire Swing
|{{1110|2|n|4|e}}
|[[File:tire-swing.png]]
|-
|Fountain
|{{1110|1|n|1|e}}
|[[File:1110-fountain.png]]
|-
|Park benches
|{{1110|1|n|14|w}}
|[[File:park-benches.png]]
|-
|Buoys
|{{1110|1|n|5|w}}
|[[File:buoy-1.png]] [[File:buoy-2.png]] [[File:buoy-3.png]]
|-
|Beach Umbrella
|{{1110|1|n|4|w}}
|[[File:beach-umbrella.png]]
|-
|Butterfly Net
|{{1110|1|n|1|e}}
|[[File:butterfly-net.png]]
|-
|}

===Technology===
{| class="wikitable" |
! Name
! width="130px" | Grid coords
! Thumbnail
|-
|{{w|Construction Cranes}} (Tower crane, Crawler crane)
|
|
|-
|Anti-aircraft platform
|{{1110|1|n|9|w}}
|[[File:anti-aircraft-platform.png]]
|-
|Wind turbines
|{{1110|1|n|8|e}}
|[[File:wind-turbines.png]]
|-
|{{w|Meteorological Observatory}}
|{{1110|2|n|4|e}}
|[[File:meteorological-observatory.png]]
|-
|{{w|Radio station}}
|{{1110|1|n|16|e}} {{1110|2|n|16|e}} {{1110|1|n|17|e}}
|[[File:marconi-station.png]]
|-
|{{w|Radio mast}}
|{{1110|2|n|16|e}}
|[[File:kvly-tv-mast.png]] [[File:guy-wires-with-mast.png]]
|-
|{{w|Radio Telescope}}
|{{1110|1|n|25|w}}
|[[File:1110-radio-telescope.png]]
|-
|{{w|Satellite Dish}}
|{{1110|1|n|1|w}}
|[[File:1110-satellite-dish.png]]
|-
|{{w|GPS}}
|{{1110|1|n|33|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Bitcoins}}
|{{1110|1|n|9|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Game Console}}
|{{1110|2|s|9|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Guns}} (Anti-Aircraft Gun, Shotgun)
|{{1110|6|n|2|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Laptop}}
|{{1110|2|n|2|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Cellphones}}
|{{1110|2|n|5|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|FreeBSD}}
|{{1110|1|n|18|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|Facebook}}, {{w|Twitter}}
|{{1110|15|s|1|w}}
|
|-
|}

===Games===
{| class="wikitable" |
! Name
! width="130px" | Grid coords
! Thumbnail
|-
|{{w|AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! – A Reckless Disregard for Gravity|AaAaAA!!!}}
|{{1110|3|s|17|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Clay pigeon}}
|{{1110|3|n|2|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Duke Nukem 3D}}
|{{1110|1|n|2|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Marco Polo (game)|Marco Polo}}
|{{1110|1|n|11|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Super Mario Bros.}}
|{{1110|1|n|7|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|Minecraft}}
|{{1110|18|s|3|e}} {{1110|9|s|7|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|inFamous}}
|{{1110|4|n|29|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|The Oregon Trail (video game)|The Oregon Trail}}
|{{1110|1|n|15|e}} {{1110|1|n|13|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|Pokémon}}
|{{1110|1|n|36|e}}
|
|-
|}

===Movies===
{| class="wikitable" |
! Name
! width="130px" | Grid coords
! Thumbnail
|-
|{{w|2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey}}
|{{1110|5|n|12|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|A Bridge Too Far (film)|A Bridge Too Far}}
|{{1110|1|n|13|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|Apollo 13 (film)|Apollo 13}}
|{{1110|9|n|2|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|Contact (film)|Contact}}
|{{1110|1|n|25|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Groundhog Day (film)|Groundhog Day}}
|{{1110|1|n|33|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Hackers (film)|Hackers}}
|{{1110|1|n|2|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Jurassic Park (film)|Jurassic Park}}
|{{1110|1|n|36|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|Planet of the Apes (1968 film)|Planet of the Apes}}
|{{1110|1|n|13|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi}}
|{{1110|8|s|17|w}} {{1110|18|s|8|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|The Crimson Permanent Assurance}}
|{{1110|1|n|8|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|They Live}}
|{{1110|1|n|2|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Transformers}}
|{{1110|1|n|21|w}}
|
|-
|}

===Television Shows===
{| class="wikitable" |
! Name
! width="130px" | Grid coords
! Thumbnail
|-
|{{w|Lost (TV series)|Lost}}
|{{1110|1|n|17|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|The Simpsons}}
|{{1110|5|n|2|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Seinfeld}}
|{{1110|1|n|2|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|A Charlie Brown Christmas}}
|{{1110|2|n|3|e}}
|
|-
|}

===Books===
{| class="wikitable" |
! Name
! width="130px" | Grid coords
! Thumbnail
|-
|{{w|Ender's Game}}
|{{1110|1|n|28|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Footprints (poem)|Footprints}}
|{{1110|1|n|21|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|Tower of Babylon}}
|{{1110|1|s|17|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|The Adventures of Tom Sawyer}}
|{{1110|12|s|13|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|A Commonsense Book of Death}}
|{{1110|1|n|9|w}}
|
|-
|{{w|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy}}
|{{1110|13|n|1|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|Where's Waldo}}
|{{1110|14|s|7|e}}
|
|-
|}

===Music===
{| class="wikitable" |
! Name
! width="130px" | Grid coords
! Thumbnail
|-
|{{w|99 Problems}}
|{{1110|1|n|9|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|Daisy Bell}}
|{{1110|5|n|12|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|Flagpole Sitta}}
|{{1110|1|n|15|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|I'm on a Boat}}
|{{1110|1|n|5|w}}
|
|-
|}

===Radio Programs===
{| class="wikitable" |
! Name
! width="130px" | Grid coords
! Thumbnail
|-
|{{w|Desert Island Discs}}
|{{1110|1|n|17|w}}
|
|-
|}

===Flora and Fauna===
{| class="wikitable" |
! Name
! width="130px" | Grid coords
! Thumbnail
|-
|Trees
|{{1110|1|n|14|w}} {{1110|14|s|3|e}}
|
|-
|{{w|Squirrel}}
|{{1110|1|n|1|w}}
|
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|{{1110|2|n|6|e}} {{1110|1|s|6|w}} {{1110|2|s|9|w}}
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===People===
{| class="wikitable" |
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|{{w|Peter Thiel}}
|{{1110|1|n|9|w}}
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|{{w|Icarus}}
|{{1110|3|n|2|e}}
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|{{w|George Mallory}}
|{{1110|2|n|4|e}}
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|{{w|Dubai}}
|{{1110|6|n|27|e}}
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|{{w|Alaska}}
|{{1110|17|s|1|e}}
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{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hair Bun Girl]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Large drawings]]
[[Category:Interactive comics]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Velociraptors]]
[[Category:Squirrels]]
[[Category:Wingsuit]]
[[Category:Firefly]]
[[Category:Pokémon]]
[[Category:Red Spiders]]

1561: Water Phase Diagram

2015-08-07T06:55:52Z

141.101.98.251: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1561
| date = August 7, 2015
| title = Water Phase Diagram
| image = water_phase_diagram.png
| titletext = Vanilla Ice was produced in small quantities for years, but it wasn't until the 90s that experimenters collaborated to produce a sample that could survive at room temperature for several months.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete| Expansion of scientific detail required.}}

This is an amended {{w|phase diagram}} for water - a real one looks more like this [http://ergodic.ugr.es/termo/lecciones/water1.html] (though note the y-axis is the other way up). Randall has made some changes for the higher pressures, and seems to have omitted very low temperatures.

From bottom up, David Bowie and Queen are {{w|Under Pressure}}. This song, released as a single in 1981 was later, controversially sampled and released in 1990 by Vanilla Ice in his hit song {{w|Ice Ice Baby}}, quite why Randall has used these songs I am unsure however it may simply be due to the convenient connection between the names of the songs and the remainder of the comic. The rest, as the title suggests does indeed resemble a simple water phase diagram, designed to show the properties the molecular H2O will have at various combinations of temperature and pressure.

The title text makes clear the connection between "Ice Ice Baby" and "Under Pressure" with reference to the line "All right stop, '''Collaborate and listen'''. Ice is back with my brand new invention.", from Ice Ice Baby, and small quantities of Ice Ice Baby can be found in Under Pressure which was released several years earlier.

No mention of {{w|Ice-nine}}, of either the real or the fictional variety.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

{{comic discussion}}

1561: Water Phase Diagram

2015-08-07T06:55:04Z

141.101.98.251: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1561
| date = August 7, 2015
| title = Water Phase Diagram
| image = water_phase_diagram.png
| titletext = Vanilla Ice was produced in small quantities for years, but it wasn't until the 90s that experimenters collaborated to produce a sample that could survive at room temperature for several months.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete| Expansion of scientific detail required.}}

This is an amended {w|phase diagram} for water - a real one looks more like this [http://ergodic.ugr.es/termo/lecciones/water1.html] (though note the y-axis is the other way up). Randall has made some changes for the higher pressures, and seems to have omitted very low temperatures.

From bottom up, David Bowie and Queen are {{w|Under Pressure}}. This song, released as a single in 1981 was later, controversially sampled and released in 1990 by Vanilla Ice in his hit song {{w|Ice Ice Baby}}, quite why Randall has used these songs I am unsure however it may simply be due to the convenient connection between the names of the songs and the remainder of the comic. The rest, as the title suggests does indeed resemble a simple water phase diagram, designed to show the properties the molecular H2O will have at various combinations of temperature and pressure.

The title text makes clear the connection between "Ice Ice Baby" and "Under Pressure" with reference to the line "All right stop, '''Collaborate and listen'''. Ice is back with my brand new invention.", from Ice Ice Baby, and small quantities of Ice Ice Baby can be found in Under Pressure which was released several years earlier.

No mention of {{w|Ice-nine}}, of either the real or the fictional variety.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1408: March of the Penguins

2015-06-25T11:13:12Z

141.101.98.251:

Isn't it Danish not Megan? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.195|141.101.99.195]] 05:30, 15 August 2014 (UTC)
: No, Danish has longer hair. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.47|108.162.245.47]] 05:37, 15 August 2014 (UTC)

: Also, if it were Danish, she would have a good come back for black hat. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.108|108.162.216.108]] 13:54, 15 August 2014 (UTC)BK

Would Movie Ages (http://www.xkcd.com/891) be just as pertinent, if not more so, than Timeghost? Should we include a reference to it in the explanation? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.170|173.245.54.170]] 14:08, 15 August 2014 (UTC)DBrak
: Good idea. I think we should, so I've included that reference now.<br />--[[User:Das-g|Das-g]] ([[User talk:Das-g|talk]]) 14:42, 15 August 2014 (UTC)

This is totally off-topic, but I can't help myself. I remember reading somewhere that the film was made by a French team (I think) and they realized they had a hit on their hands. But when they were negotating with a distributor for the USA market that it was demanded that all reference to the penguins' amazing behavior being due to their evolutionary development had to be removed. "Evolution" was a dirty word for the USA market. --[[User:RenniePet|RenniePet]] ([[User talk:RenniePet|talk]]) 22:28, 15 August 2014 (UTC)
:I don't think RenniePet's comment is off-topic; the same audience that they deleted "Evolution" for used it as an example for family values and ID - is the "Oh God" dialog an allusion to whether Black Hat been playing God? --[[User:FractalgeekUK|FractalgeekUK]] ([[User talk:FractalgeekUK|talk]]) 00:17, 16 August 2014 (UTC)
::I found a NY Times article on the evolution point: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/13/science/13peng.html?_r=0&pagewanted=print [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.99|173.245.52.99]] 01:23, 17 August 2014 (UTC)

A thought: possibly at least partially inspired by much-repeated note about current events as of the time of writing -- with Lauren Bacall's death, all the people mentioned in Madonna's Vogue are dead. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.215|173.245.52.215]] 03:33, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

Finally, we get some Black Hat antics! Have you noticed that Randall has lately done less Black Hat comics? Or is just me?
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.90|173.245.48.90]] 20:43, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

Am I missing something? Nobody seems to ask WHY Black Hat apparently killed the penguins or even HOW (?!)

Talk:1379: 4.5 Degrees

2014-11-01T19:04:31Z

141.101.98.251:

Scary thoughts there... [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 05:11, 9 June 2014 (UTC)

I imagine the Earth's axial tilt wouldn't change even if the temperature changed by +2 IAU. So, would palm trees survive the extreme day/night lengths at the poles? [[Special:Contributions/103.22.201.239|103.22.201.239]] 05:31, 9 June 2014 (UTC) P.S. Also, wouldn't the North Pole be underwater, so incapable of supporting palm trees?
Also, regarding the IAU, is it a reference to the {{w|International Astronomical Union|IAU}} that named an {{w|4942 Munroe|asteroid}} after Randall?

"While it says it's "probably no big deal," this is probably a joke, because even half of an Ice Age would be a lot of ice." The article has it wrong. It's a 2 degree increase, not decrease. Ice would melt. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.134|108.162.238.134]] 07:33, 9 June 2014 (UTC)
:-- Fixed {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.77}}

To prevent global warming, act yesterday! ... or, well, since we already failed to do it, maybe ... just maybe ... we should invest some resources to ADAPTING to the change. Because the USSR communist party wanted to command “wind and rain” and how it worked?
... of course, we SHOULD be trying to lower the CO2 emissions ... not like Germany, which [http://www.realclearenergy.org/charticles/2014/01/16/germanys_plans_for_new_coal_plants_107463.html replaced it's nuclear power plants with coal ones] ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:03, 9 June 2014 (UTC)
:While it is true that we have build more coal plants, the majority part that replace the nuclear power is from renewable energy, see [https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strommix#mediaviewer/Datei:Energiemix_Deutschland.svg diagram] on wikipedia. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.75.89|141.101.75.89]] 15:51, 9 June 2014 (UTC)
:: ... note that burning biomass, while renewable, also adds CO2. Not speaking about oil. You shouldn't be closing nuclear plants, you should be closing coal ones if you have exceed energy. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:02, 10 June 2014 (UTC)
::: While burning biomass adds CO2, the whole point of "burning a biologically-sourced fuel" like biodiesel is that you are merely returning to the atmosphere CO2 that was sucked out of the atmosphere by the biological material in the first place. So you grow an acre of plant material, and that acre of plant material sucks a certain amount of CO2 out of the atmosphere. When you then burn that plant material, you are releasing that CO2 back in to the atmosphere. Thus it is a "net zero" operation. While yes, it would be better to do a "net negative" operation (plant more plants while NOT releasing ANY CO2,) a net zero operation is still better than what we're doing now - releasing massive amounts of CO2 that have been locked up for geological-scale lengths of time, all in a VERY short timeframe. If you were to replace all work-generation power sources with "net zero" sources like biodiesel production and biomass generation, the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere would stop rising immediately. (Well, once they have reached equilibrium from other sources, anyway.) But of course, the difficulty is growing sufficient biological fuel material fast enough to create enough fuel for our needs. (The famous "it would take more farmland than currently exists on all of planet Earth, all of it dedicated to growing corn, to grow enough corn to make enough corn-derived ethanol to fuel every vehicle on the planet" problem.) So obviously energy efficiency and non-bio-fuel renewable energy methods are also needed. But biofuel (burning biomass, ethanol, biodiesel, etc,) is still a SIGNIFICANT improvement over oil/natural gas/coal. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.216|108.162.245.216]] 07:31, 20 June 2014 (UTC)

Well, ''this'' seems like a topic that could generate heated comments. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.208.9|108.162.208.9]] 10:09, 9 June 2014 (UTC)

Would anyone care to comment on the +200 meter sea rise? I googled "how much would sea level rise" a bit, and I seem to bump into 60 to 70 meters repeatedly for all glaciers melting. I found nothing direct from IPCC. I wonder if Randall really has another view on this. {{unsigned ip|108.162.254.45}}
:Cretaceous sea levels are generally accepted to have been 200m above the present level - you have large shallow seas (with geological evidence showing depths of 200m) over many of the continents - e.g. the Eromunga Sea in Australia. This is not from the IPCC, it predates that considerably. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.237|108.162.250.237]] 11:35, 15 June 2014 (UTC)
:I hope the explanation isn't that he made a meter/feet mistake. [[Special:Contributions/103.22.201.239|103.22.201.239]] 13:04, 9 June 2014 (UTC)
::I would assert that he rounded for a clean read for a relative scale. Also, the '+' denotes the likelihood of a larger actual amount. {{unsigned ip|108.162.217.41}}
:::60 meters is indeed the amount the sea would rise if all the glacial ice melted. However, that figure presumably does not take into account have much the sea would rise by expansion due to the increased heat. That is, after all, the main reason for rising sea levels today. So I would guess that the +200 figure is the 60 meters of added water from glacial ice ''plus'' the amount it would rise due to warming and expanding. [[User:Calebxy|Calebxy]] ([[User talk:Calebxy|talk]])
::::While that's possible, and desalination of water can also cause it to expand (sea water is more dense than fresh), we shouldn't try to justify the numbers if they are incorrect. If we can find some reliable data to suggest the rise would be 200 ft instead of 200m, we should include that. Or at least include a range of estimates from reliable sources. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.134|108.162.238.134]] 15:42, 9 June 2014 (UTC)
:::::Having just re-read the explanation after posting my comment, I can see that the article attempts to do just that. But the link provided says 110 to 770 <b>mm</b>. Isn't the millimeters? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.134|108.162.238.134]] 15:44, 9 June 2014 (UTC)
:::::But the sea level ''would'' rise more than 60m if the expansion of the sea is taken into account. If the earth became as hot as the graph indicates, then logically the seas would expand considerably. [[User:Calebxy|Calebxy]] ([[User talk:Calebxy|talk]]) 16:04, 9 June 2014 (UTC)
:Cretaceous sea levels seem to have been that high, but this tends to be attributed to the shape of the ocean basins, in particular the mid-ocean ridges, rather than to the temperature. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.35|108.162.219.35]] 17:01, 9 June 2014 (UTC)

So sad that Randall is pushing the carbon tax agenda long after the AGW myth has been debunked. [[User:IGnatius T Foobar|IGnatius T Foobar]] ([[User talk:IGnatius T Foobar|talk]]) 16:00, 9 June 2014 (UTC)
:Waitwhat? a) I saw no mention of tax. b) AGW==Anthropogenic Global Warming==debunked? This may not be the place for this whole discussion (despite the relevance), but it's ''far'' from debunked. And even if "there was going to be some Global Warming anyway", you can't dismiss the probability that we're adding ''something'' to this effect and making it more extreme. If not pushing it over the edge in some way. (I'm actually more optimistic than that, but I do find "it's a myth!" to be annoyingly naive, so excuse me if I try to balance that out. It's really not worth tying this discussion box up in this debate, however.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.232|141.101.98.232]] 18:36, 9 June 2014 (UTC)
::I'm not as sure that it isn't worth it. GCC is fact. GW, might be. AGW, that's where we get into the mythical and unproven range, because it's *really hard* to tell the difference between correlation and causation, and because of other problems I wrote below.[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 19:28, 10 June 2014 (UTC)
:Randall is a scientist. He follows scientific consensus. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.134|108.162.238.134]] 20:03, 9 June 2014 (UTC)
::Randall is a comic artist. While he's a really smart guy, he popularizes science, he doesn't do the experiments himself.[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 19:28, 10 June 2014 (UTC)
:::No snark intended here, and I am a non-scientist, so I do not speak from a position of authority. However, I thought (one of the) the point(s) of science was that you don't ''have'' to do the science yourself in order to understand and interpret the results. In fact, you can read the reports and conclusions of others in order to draw your own. In law, for example, we follow the cases that have been established in similar situations so that we can advise our clients on the ''best'' course (and by best, I mean the course that won't land you in court paying outrageous fees) of action. We don't have to experience it ourselves in order to reach the desired outcome. We can draw analogies from similar fact patterns. Right? [[User:Orazor|Orazor]] ([[User talk:Orazor|talk]]) 09:09, 9 October 2014 (UTC)
::There is nothing scientific about following consensus. {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.86}}
:::Of course there is... When 99% of climatologists are reasonably certain (which means "very very sure" for non-scientists) that there is Global Warning and that the primary cause is us (humanity greenhouse gas emissions), I wouldn't say that AGW has been "debunked" and that there is nothing scientific in following this consensus (after having made sure of its existence by reading diverse peer-reviewed studies of the field) ! You may have an agenda to defend but could you at least try to make some sense, please. Note that this doesn't mean that the current political propositions are the right way to go about it and that this comic doesn't say anything about that. [[User:Jedaï|Jedaï]] ([[User talk:Jedaï|talk]]) 21:47, 9 June 2014 (UTC)
::::And this is why climatologists playing with models instead of actually examining data from the real world, aren't scientists. It's possible to get so addicted to your models, that you fail to realize that you've fallen into confirmation bias. And consensus, also known as mob-based peer pressure, is only as smart as the lowest IQ in the mob. Which is why climatologists, attempting to top each other's predictions, have a tendency to fall for worst case scenarios, such as Randall's scenario above.[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 02:42, 10 June 2014 (UTC)
::::There really ISN'T anything scientific about following consensus. Correlation is not causation. The 99% figure will be scientifically relevant if it will be produced by every scientist independently proving it, not by consensus. And even then ... 100% scientists though time is same everywhere ... then Einstein came with theory and models ... and THEN the models were verified. By Sir Arthur Eddington four years later. THAT made Einstein famous. We don't really have the same kind of proof for AGW. We have lot of data which has been tampered with or cherry-picked, even the scientists can't be sure what to believe. What we DO have proof for is that climate is changing (although some of those changes are LOWERING of temperature).
::::And about the political propositions ... most of them fail to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions itself, not speaking about global temperature - but their economic effect would be huge. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:02, 10 June 2014 (UTC)
:Where is he speaking about carbon tax? "Acting now" does not equal one possible instrument. There are plenty of ways for climate change mitigation.--[[User:Ojdo|Ojdo]] ([[User talk:Ojdo|talk]]) 07:55, 11 June 2014 (UTC)

I *think* (haven't confirmed) that the 200 m figure is the difference between the peak of the last ice age (sea level low—"-1 IAU" in the strip) and if everything melted. We've already come up 140 m, so we can't go up 200 m from here. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.86|108.162.215.86]] 20:16, 9 June 2014 (UTC)

There are several troubling things with this comic (including the sea level figure), but the most basic is the opening statement: "Without prompt, aggressive limits on CO2 emissions, the Earth will likely warm by an average of 4°-5°C by the century’s end." This is probably from the latest IPCC report, but it takes the worst of several proposed scenarios, and claims it to be the likely one. RCP8.5 projects 2.6C-4.8C, and I suppose that's what getting averaged *up* to "4.5C" for the temperature line in the comic. The second most troubling thing is that mouse-over text, regarding the 2C lid if we "enact aggressive emissions limits now"—this is an entirely arbitrary (unscientific) number based on largely unspecified changes to what the world is doing now. It gives me the sense that Randall didn't look too deep... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.86|108.162.215.86]] 20:43, 9 June 2014 (UTC)

According to Wikipedia, the polar forests during the Ceretaceous period were temperate, not tropical. Thus Firs in the North and Evergreens in Antartica, not Palm trees. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_forests_of_the_Cretaceous [[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 21:17, 9 June 2014 (UTC)

Oh wait, did he really say "Palm trees at the poles"? The north pole is already 4,261 meters under water. The nearest land is 700 km away. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.86|108.162.215.86]] 05:14, 10 June 2014 (UTC)
:It's hyperbole. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.134|108.162.238.134]] 05:46, 10 June 2014 (UTC)
::Not completely. It's refering to a specific time, the ceretaceous period. When there where forests above 85 degrees in both north and south poles. The forests where temperate though, so palm trees are hyperbole. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.217|141.101.80.217]] 12:18, 10 June 2014 (UTC)
:::No, it's not hyperbole at all, actually there were tropical-climate trees in polar latitudes in the northern hemisphere during parts of the Cretaceous. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.237|108.162.250.237]] 11:26, 15 June 2014 (UTC)
::::Citation please- everything I could find was Temperate Rain Forests (kind of like still exist in Washington State and British Columbia).[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 12:28, 16 June 2014 (UTC)

Independent of everything else, I'm having a tough time reconciling the fact that sea level was apparently 6m or more higher during the Roman era. E.g. the roman settlements and their harbors in places like Caister and Burgh Castle in Norfolk, England? I'm not aware that England has risen 6m. Seems to me that if see levels were to rise as much as 6m we'd just be back to where things were 1600-1700 years ago. {{unsigned ip|103.22.201.239}}
:I'd like to research that, so [needs citation][[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 17:22, 11 June 2014 (UTC)
:Things can be complicated by the likes of 'rebound' of the local area of the Earth's crust after the removal of the weight of glacial ice from various landmasses (although I'm not sure whether that was still producing such measureable effects to those particular locations in Roman times) and other effects. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.232|141.101.98.232]] 11:07, 12 June 2014 (UTC)
:1600-1700 years ago there were 6+ billion fewer people (a large proportion with dwellings near shorelines, or economically dependant on them somehow) on the planet! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.237|108.162.250.237]] 11:38, 15 June 2014 (UTC)

According to the Scientific Forecasts from 1986, this should have had already happened by the year 2000: http://www.nytimes.com/1986/06/24/movies/earth-s-climatic-crisis-examined-by-nova.html [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.217|108.162.246.217]] 01:18, 28 June 2014 (UTC)

Since I used to live next to Burgh Castle, can I point out that the castle is indeed now c6m higher than the current estuary level. The nearby town of Great Yarmouth is built on land that first appeared above the waves around 1100AD. In Roman times it was possible to sail from Burgh Castle to the castle at Caistor - that's why they were built, to defend the mouth of the estuary between them.If you look at [https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Acle,+Norwich,+Norfolk+NR13/@52.6213598,1.6099949,13z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x47d9ff1ac61e4df5:0x957c4241ca1f0de3 map] very roughly all the green was under water circa 300AD --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.251|141.101.98.251]] 19:04, 1 November 2014 (UTC)

Talk:1213: Combination Vision Test

2014-09-28T04:53:31Z

141.101.98.251:

Number is "42".
The 4 is composed of 2's and 3's and 7's.
The 2 is composed of 3's and 7's and 9's.
--[[User:RainbowDash|RainbowDash]] ([[User talk:RainbowDash|talk]]) 05:16, 17 May 2013 (UTC)
:What about 7s? --[[Special:Contributions/81.23.24.34|81.23.24.34]] 06:13, 17 May 2013 (UTC)

Also both have 5's. I'm not very good at this counting thing. That link below is way better, anyhow. --[[User:RainbowDash|RainbowDash]] ([[User talk:RainbowDash|talk]]) 05:28, 17 May 2013 (UTC)

http://i.imgur.com/BLIQR6w.png

Credit: http://www.reddit.com/user/silly-moose

: Thanks --[[User:Zom-B|Zom-B]] ([[User talk:Zom-B|talk]]) 07:06, 17 May 2013 (UTC)

I'm not confident enough about this to write up an explanation, but given that synesthesia is a sensory experience where the senses blend into each other (hearing colors, tasting sounds, etc...) that a round shape or black and white (why is it not in color? that would help the joke imho) give the sense of a number to the synesthete. The alt text at least makes sense, seeing two big numbers fits with diplopia (double vision) and the squinting covers myopia (nearsightedness) so it is consistent with the main joke, but I feel like I'm really missing something in the main joke. [[User:Chexwarrior|Chexwarrior]] ([[User talk:Chexwarrior|talk]]) 06:43, 17 May 2013 (UTC)

In the original b&w image, I keep seeing an 8 on the right and a vague 0, 9, or 4 on the left. I'm not certain if the b&w actually has a definite "answer" or specific number(s) one is supposed to be seeing. I seem to recall an xkcd with an Ishihara test before (but can't find it so it may just be a confabulation), in which case this one may be a reference to that and actually have a referential "answer".

I'm not an optometrist, but Chexwarrior,'s explanation of the alt text seems correct to me. [[User:Plazma|Plazma]] ([[User talk:Plazma|talk]]) 07:00, 17 May 2013 (UTC)

On the left half, the number 9 is missing. Similarly, on the right the number 2 is missing. This makes the number 92 or 29 (any ideas?). There is a floating 2 in the bottom center, the origin is unknown but it does look like a decimal point but that yould defeat the purpose of the number 42 (any ideas?) --[[User:Zom-B|Zom-B]] ([[User talk:Zom-B|talk]]) 07:06, 17 May 2013 (UTC)

I was thinking the explanation of the descriptive text (not alt-text) is as follows: the synesthesia is seeing numbers and associating colors with them. So when you look at the numbers in the image, you see certain colors, so the large numbers stand out because they are different colors from the background. But if you're colorblind, (hypothetically) then some of those number-colors might look the same and so the numbers (not sure why only one) would not be visible. [[User:Bplimley|Bplimley]] ([[User talk:Bplimley|talk]]) 07:18, 17 May 2013 (UTC)
:Maybe if the synesthesia is as follows: Even numbers get one color and odd numbers get another color. I was actually able to see the 2 because of this effect, while I was in photoshop, zoomed in, and coloring the 3's. I know from myself that I have number to color synesthesia, but (in my case) that doesn't apply to a bunch of randomly placed digits like here, but only to complete numbers like "144" looks yellow, red, and white (in no particular order), while "38" looks grayish dark blue. --[[User:Zom-B|Zom-B]] ([[User talk:Zom-B|talk]]) 07:22, 17 May 2013 (UTC)

::I seriously doubt ANYONE have so "hard" case of number to color synesthesia it can "color" a bunch of randomly placed digits like this. Like ... if your number-recognizing neurons are working on the small numbers, how can they work on the big numbers in the same time? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:01, 17 May 2013 (UTC)

::: Good catch! I'm not sure how exactly how synesthesia works, but even if the perceived number (due to a perceived colour) further incites a perceived colour, you can still have a combined diagnostic. You just have to make sure that the big number is made up of little ones of the same number; or, atleast made of other numbers which are of the same colour as the desired big number. The latter requires that you assume synesthesia is one way only (for instance - perceiving number triggers colour, but not vice versa) [[Special:Contributions/220.224.246.97|220.224.246.97]] 11:00, 17 May 2013 (UTC)

::: No no, it pretty much works! I've got colored-grapheme synesthesia, and while the numbers don't jump out at me as easily as they would if they were made of real colors, I am able to see them pretty clearly if I lean close enough to my monitor to be able to take in all of the small numbers' shapes at once. I posted a description of what it looks like to me here: [http://otherthings.com/blog/2013/05/ishihara-eat-your-heart-out/#more-899 Rungy Chungy Cheese Bees] It's a bit harder for me to see because I'm an "associator" type of synesthete, as opposed to a "projector" type. But I imagine for a true projector synesthete this would be about as easy as a normal Ishihara colorblindness test. [[User:Otherthings|Otherthings]] ([[User talk:Otherthings|talk]]) 20:35, 17 May 2013 (UTC)

:::: It didn't work at all for me. I've got coloured-grapheme synesthesia too, but all the colours were too different - I have no real pattern for even and odd numbers, so I never saw the big numbers. I looked at your link, you got a nice contrast! [[Special:Contributions/121.219.96.178|121.219.96.178]] 02:29, 4 June 2013 (UTC)

<Nitpicking> The alt text is slightly off the mark isn't it? Wouldn't a diplopic(?) person see two images of the diagnostic rather than two numbers in the same diagnostic? Also, you needn't be colour blind to fulfill the condition of perceiving only one digit. Your synesthesia might have a colour blindness, while your optical system does not. </Nitpicking> [[Special:Contributions/220.224.246.97|220.224.246.97]] 11:07, 17 May 2013 (UTC)

I think that as no two... synaesthetes? ...have exactly the same 'conversion routine' in place that one can't assume the colour dominance of either digit, under an (actual, or synaesthetic) colour-blindness condition. Also, I wouldn't be surprised to hear "Well, the left hand side smells a bit like a 4, but the right ''sounds'' like a 2..." ;) [[Special:Contributions/178.98.207.61|178.98.207.61]] 12:54, 17 May 2013 (UTC)

I will take some LSD and look at this and report back later! [[Special:Contributions/46.166.163.150|46.166.163.150]] 16:22, 17 May 2013 (UTC)

I don't think myopia actually makes sense, unless you're reading the comic on a large screen 30 or 40 feet away. The comic is most probably near you, if you're near-sighted you should see it in focus without squinting. [[Special:Contributions/64.223.217.58|64.223.217.58]] 17:19, 17 May 2013 (UTC)
:As a myopic person, I can say that you are generalizing too much. Without glasses, I can see no thing in focus unless it is 2-4 inches from my face[[Special:Contributions/75.69.96.225|75.69.96.225]] 20:22, 17 May 2013 (UTC)

I see a big zero!

In the end this test couldn't work, colorblindness is due to a physical effect in the eyeball where synesthesia works in the brain, if someone had both synesthesia and colorblindness then the two numbers in the circle above would be the _only_ color they could see (although being colorblind they may not understand it to be a color at that point) [[User:Odysseus654|Odysseus654]] ([[User talk:Odysseus654|talk]]) 19:37, 17 May 2013 (UTC)
:It's a JOKE. Sure it does not work for many more reasons. But the combining of all this things is hard to understand and it did last a couple of hours until the first people did understand. In my opinion this is one of the BEST jokes Randall ever did.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:47, 17 May 2013 (UTC)
::Yah, I laughed pretty hard when I saw it last night. Still worth explaining all the intracacies, like people wondering what's wrong with "Locate City" nukes [[User:Odysseus654|Odysseus654]] ([[User talk:Odysseus654|talk]]) 20:10, 17 May 2013 (UTC)
:Actually, there's research on that. People with colorblindness and synesthesia do "see" some numbers in colours that they don't recognise from their everyday experience. (That's because as you said, colorblindness happens at the receptor level and synesthesia happens in the brain). Check out this TED talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/vilayanur_ramachandran_on_your_mind.html?quote=222 --- Mel
:: Sorry, wrong link. I meant this talk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW_lsSx5w14 --- Mel
:I am not colourblind and my synesthesia STILL gives me colours that don't exist, so I'm sure colourblind people's colourblindness wouldn't necessarily translate to their synesthesia. [[Special:Contributions/121.219.96.178|121.219.96.178]] 02:29, 4 June 2013 (UTC)

As a colorblind person, I would like to point out that it is not obvious to everybody that a normal person sees neither large number. At first glance, I assumed that normal people see both numbers, colorblind people see neither, and synthesesia allows colorblind people to see one.[[Special:Contributions/75.69.96.225|75.69.96.225]] 20:22, 17 May 2013 (UTC)
: No, even normal people can't see the numbers because the image is just black and white. But that's just the first joke. Synthesesia in this comic just do see colours on black and white pictures.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:36, 17 May 2013 (UTC)
::Shouldn't the big-4 and big-2 have it's own color? The big-4 might then blend with the background 4's.
:::What's with the extraneous little-2 underneath the big numbers also?[[Special:Contributions/50.8.61.60|50.8.61.60]] 21:32, 17 May 2013 (UTC)
::::We are just talking about "colorblind persons" here. I am trying to help them to understand because they even they can`t see that the original picture is just B/W. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:12, 17 May 2013 (UTC)

I'm not convinced that this cartoon works. I have a friend who is synaesthetic, and she can't see the big numbers. The thing is, if someone has the sort of synaesthesia where they see numbers in colours, then they see each digit in a different colour, and so there is no reason why primes (or any other particular group of digits) would stand out for them. Yes, I know it's a joke, but the joke doesn't work if it doesn't take into account how synaesthesia works.
:I might do some fiddling with various colour palette overlays, but I think that if there is a large cluster of a few colours which don't appear elsewhere in the image, the synaesthete could probably pick up the pattern. However, the actual function of synaesthesia is not really important in this, I suppose. {{unsigned ip|86.14.71.242}}

I saw the number 12 without checking here first, and I'm not a synesthete. Anyone see something similar? [[Special:Contributions/71.176.19.228|71.176.19.228]] 00:13, 18 May 2013 (UTC)
:Reading it on an iPad, by zooming right out, I can get occasional brief flashes of the number while moving my eyes - though I initially read it as 92, probably because I couldn't look directly at it. I can't work out what it is that makes it jump out at me, though - maybe my eyes are catching the pattern of sevens, or something? --[[Special:Contributions/123.243.65.31|123.243.65.31]] 09:43, 18 May 2013 (UTC)
:: I also read it as 92, but without any tricks. Just by painfully staring at the image my brain makes out lines and curves, till i found the 92. Is that normal? :D [[Special:Contributions/88.70.142.19|88.70.142.19]] 13:23, 18 May 2013 (UTC)
::: I can see the 2 vaguely (probably because the numbers making it up are a bit smaller and denser), and would have said "92" too, but only at gunpoint. So it IS normal. Wait, I'm not normal :D [[Special:Contributions/108.162.230.137|108.162.230.137]] 11:33, 21 July 2014 (UTC)

In the last image, I think it would be better to have the background, the 4, and the 2 be made of different shades of 3 different colors to make it clear why someone who is colorblind would only see one of the numbers. Say, the background is different shades of green, the 4 is blue, and the 2 is red. That is, if I'm understanding this comic correctly. [[Special:Contributions/184.170.166.111|184.170.166.111]] 07:43, 18 May 2013 (UTC)

This would be incredibly confusing to a synesthete. Wouldn't he/she see the big 4 and 2 as being colors of their own? And then, of course, its component numbers would be made of so many different colors. I think we need a real synesthete to look at this. [[Special:Contributions/71.176.19.228|71.176.19.228]] 15:11, 18 May 2013 (UTC)
:I have heard from real synesthete people that there are too many chaotic numbers on the picture. I did add an explanation on the bottom of the main page. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:37, 19 May 2013 (UTC)
::I experience the same. But what about [[User:Otherthings]] who claims he sees all colors at once. Different synesthesia or fake? Also, when examining numbers to invoke colors, you forget past colors, unless the subject has a photographic memory and won't lose the colors? Even then s/he still needs to look at every single digit in the image in individually. --[[User:Zom-B|Zom-B]] ([[User talk:Zom-B|talk]]) 08:03, 20 May 2013 (UTC)
::: I think you're the closest to right. I have sound-to-image synesthesia, so when I hear a sound, it brings to mind a certain image. However, this image is only in my mind's eye. And as I've gotten older, I've become less able to hold on to that image in my head. The images follow a sort of dream logic. Anyway, even though I have a different type of synesthesia, it stands to reason that this type should work similarly. It seems to me that they would, when reading each digit, get an impression or be reminded of the corresponding color. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.36|108.162.216.36]] 00:31, 19 January 2014 (UTC)

What does it mean if I can see multiple giant numbers? When I looked at this, I immediately saw a giant 58 - and had no idea what 58 was supposed to mean. Then I could see other numbers as well, of varying mixed sizes.

PLEASE understand that this Black and White "color perception test" can not work. Nobody can see that Big Numbers. And this is just only the first part of this joke.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:00, 23 May 2013 (UTC)

I think it should say "one digit" or "two digits", rather than one or two "numbers", as 42 is just one number (consisting of two digits), though of course it _could_ be read as the two numbers 4 and 2, that just happen to be placed next to each other. I know this is less important when it doesn't actually work :P

In response to people saying no one can see the big numbers - I saw them easily. I don't have any particularly special condition, though (that I know of), but I saw the '42' before I even read the caption. It jumps out at me whenever I shift my point of focus slightly. Surely I'm not the only one? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.251|141.101.98.251]] 04:53, 28 September 2014 (UTC)

1068: Swiftkey

2013-11-01T10:03:55Z

141.101.98.251: /* Explanation */ grammar

{{comic
| number = 1068
| date = June 13, 2012
| title = Swiftkey
| image = Swiftkey.png
| titletext = Although the Markov chain-style text model is still rudimentary; it recently gave me "Massachusetts Institute of America". Although I have to admit it sounds prestigious.
}}

==Explanation==
Swiftkey is a product that is installable only on Android-based phones and tablets. Swiftkey have noticed their inclusion in xkcd and have created a blog post for other users to comment with their default phrase when they hit the "central prediction key". The results are pretty funny. [http://www.swiftkey.net/swiftkey-on-xkcd]

The statement “I am so sorry - that's never happened before” appears to be a sexual reference, something that a guy might say after a particularly unsatisfying sexual encounter in an attempt to convince his sexual partner to give sleeping with him another try some time, even though they didn’t like it that time. Since this is apparently Cueball's typical sentence, he presumably has texted that phrase many times before.

In the title text, a {{w|Markov chain}} refers to a system that transitions between a countable number of states, based only on the current state and none of the previous ones that led up to it. Swiftkey follows this property since it provides outputs based only on the most recently entered word or words, not the whole sentence.

"Massachusetts Institute of America" is a nonexistent location that appears to have formed by combining "Massachusetts Institute of Technology" and either "[Field] Institute of America" (e.g. Mining) or "United States of America". This illustrates the memoryless property of a Markov chain; after generating "Masschusetts Institute of", Swiftkey may have attempted to predict the next word using only the last "of" or "Institute of". Since it was not considering the word "Masschusetts" at all, the word "America" was viewed as the most likely follow-up.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball shows off phone to Megan.]
:Cueball: Have you tried SwiftKey? It's got the first decent language model I've seen. It learns from your SMS/Email archives what words you use together most often.

:Cueball: Spacebar inserts its best guess. So if I type "The Empi" and hit space three times, it types "The Empire Strikes Back".
:Megan: What if you mash space in a blank message?

:Cueball: I guess it fills in your most likely first word, then the word that usually follows it...
:Megan: So it builds up your "typical" sentence. Cool! Let's see yours!
:Cueball: Uh—

:SwiftKey: I
:SwiftKey: Am
:SwiftKey: So
:SwiftKey: Sorry—
:SwiftKey: That's
:SwiftKey: Never
:SwiftKey: Happened
:SwiftKey: Before.

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