explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

17: What If

2024-11-26T08:32:26Z

141.101.99.153: Undo revision 357902 by 172.71.215.117 (talk) ..it's just a coincidence.

<noinclude>:''For other instances of this title, see [[What If (disambiguation)]].</noinclude>
{{comic
| number = 17
| date = October 7, 2005
| title = What If
| before = <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927001941/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=40#:~:text=10%3A41%20am-,Friday%20drawing!,-One%20of%20my Original title</span>]: '''Friday drawing!'''</big></big>
| image = what_if.jpg
| titletext = I once made an anniversary card for my then-girlfriend with this layout.<br><br><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927001941/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=40#:~:text=10%3A41%20am-,Friday%20drawing!,-One%20of%20my Original caption</span>]: One of my best friends just got engaged.<br>I really, truly think they're going to be very happy together.
}}

==Explanation==
This was the sixteenth comic originally posted to [[LiveJournal]]. The previous one was [[16: Monty Python -- Enough]], and the next one was [[18: Snapple]].

The comic features a man and a woman in a romantic setting, surrounded by a {{w|fractal}} combination of love and doubts; an arrangement based on the {{w|Apollonian gasket}} construction. Three circles are drawn tangent to each other, then additional circles are added that are tangent to three existing circles (without overlapping), ad infinitum. [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] hadn't standardized his character designs yet, so it's hard to say if the comic features [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] or [[Hairy]].

In the original caption, Randall reports that one of his best friends recently got engaged. The friends he's referring to are [[Scott]] and Sarah, as [https://web.archive.org/web/20060529065522/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/4279.html he confirms in the comment section] for this comic.

==Transcript==
:[A large black circle (drawn on grid paper) with white bubbles inside it, filled with hearts, question marks, and stick figure couples. The hearts are colored red.]
:[Bottom left circle - stick figure couple with a heart]
:[Top right circle - with couple:]
:what if this isn't everything it should be?
:[Two circles left of top-right:]
:i'm not even sure how i feel
:[One circle right of top-right:]
:what if i'm making a mistake?

==Trivia==
* This is the first xkcd comic featuring [[Scott]].
* Randall's later blog and books have the same name as this comic, ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'', but it's just a coincidence.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Posted on LiveJournal| 16]]
[[Category:First day on xkcd.com]]
[[Category:Checkered paper]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Scott]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]

Talk:3015: D&D Combinatorics

2024-11-25T14:51:24Z

141.101.99.153:

The bot originally created this page as “D Combinatorics”. I renamed it to the correct title and tried to get as many of the references as possible (including a few redirects). [[User:JBYoshi|JBYoshi]] ([[User talk:JBYoshi|talk]]) 00:54, 23 November 2024 (UTC)

:The title in the Atom feed (which I'm assuming the bot consumes) is "D Combinatorics". I'm guessing something in Randall's pipeline didn't like the ampersand. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.160|162.158.154.160]] 01:41, 23 November 2024 (UTC)

::Yup, if you look at [https://xkcd.com/3015/info.0.json 3015's JSON] you see that <code>title</code> and <code>safe_title</code> differ, and if you look at the HTML page source you'll see '''3''' different things: <code><title>xkcd: D Combinatorics</title></code>, <code><meta property="og:title" content="D&amp;D Combinatorics"></code>, and <code><div id="ctitle">D&D Combinatorics</div></code>! So probably what happened is Randall entered D&D but was supposed to enter D&amp;D, and the openGraph tags adder code, having to be HTML-aware, decoded & normalized D&D as HTML would, but the other parts of the pipeline just ate it for some reason. {{unsigned ip|172.69.65.224|06:09, 23 November 2024}}

What are the odds of rolling 16 or higher on 3D6+D4? 3D6 average 10.5, D4 average is 2.5, total average should be 13. I do not know how to proceed from here. {{unsigned ip|172.71.147.206|01:14, 23 November 2024}}
:By raw combinatorics: 71 + 52 + 34 + 20 + 10 + 4 + 1 ways to get each of 16 - 22 respectively, for a total of 192, out of 4(6^3) = 864 total. 192/864 simplifies to exactly 2/9. I have no idea how Randall found this; if anyone has an idea, please let me know. [[User:Kaisheng21|Kaisheng21]] ([[User talk:Kaisheng21|talk]]) 01:33, 23 November 2024 (UTC)
::I used some simple python code to loop over every dice and confirm and it's 2/9 [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.111|162.158.158.111]] 12:11, 23 November 2024 (UTC)

It seems like we edited the transcript at the same time. The odds of rolling 16 or higher in this situation seem to be 2/9? [[User:Darkmatterisntsquirrels|Darkmatterisntsquirrels]] ([[User talk:Darkmatterisntsquirrels|talk]]) 01:29, 23 November 2024 (UTC)

: There are 864 possible rolls (6 * 6 * 6 * 4). If you enumerate all of the rolls you will find that 192 are 16 or higher. 192/864 = 2/9, the value from the explanation. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.139|172.68.54.139]] 01:41, 23 November 2024 (UTC)

I added a table of outcomes to clarify how it works out to 2/9, anyone know how to make it pretty? -- Laurence Cheers {{unsigned ip|172.71.150.247|02:03, 24 November 2024}}

A much simpler approach: Roll two six sided dice and sum the result. You are successful if the result is 5 or 9. That happens 8 times out of 36. 8/36 = 2/9. (Or successful if the sum is 4 or 6, or 2 or 7, or 2,3,4 or 11, or several other combinations.) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.139|172.68.54.139]] 01:41, 23 November 2024 (UTC)
:Clever, but dice rolls in D&D involving summing all the dice, applying modifiers, if any, and then comparing to one or more threshold values. Your method makes it very difficult to apply modifiers. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.41.8|162.158.41.8]] 02:49, 23 November 2024 (UTC)
::I think you misunderstand the problem here. This is not skill, no modifiers apply, it's purely probability [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.111|162.158.158.111]] 12:11, 23 November 2024 (UTC)

Minor quibble, arrows aren't fired (unless they're flaming or self-propelled, perhaps), they are shot. (Shotguns are fired of course.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.41.73|162.158.41.73]] 02:52, 23 November 2024 (UTC)
:Arrows are "loosed", even more accurately. At least to avoid the confusion from how so many things may be shot, or ''a'' shot. (Many different nouns, from a physical measure of liquer/coffee/vaccine to a projectile, or an even abstract fundemental of chance; and, as verb, projectiles perhps may be shot, then so may their targets.) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.178|172.68.205.178]] 14:32, 23 November 2024 (UTC)
:Well, lets not quarrel over it.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.103.67|172.71.103.67]] 14:37, 25 November 2024 (UTC)
:Too many barbed comments, and I'd be all of a quiver... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.153|141.101.99.153]] 14:51, 25 November 2024 (UTC)

Rolling 22 or lower on percentile dice (or, equivalently, 79 or higher) is close enough, and easier to come up with. (Give or take whether 00 is treated as 100 or zero.) Or directly represent the action: roll a d10. If it's 1-5, you lose. If it's 6-10, roll again; if it's 1-5 you lose, 6-9 you win, 10 roll again. (Modify slightly if you want to distinguish the case of grabbing *two* cursed arrows.) [[User:Jordan Brown|Jordan Brown]] ([[User talk:Jordan Brown|talk]]) 03:26, 23 November 2024 (UTC)

Alternative exact solution for getting this probability using dice: Roll: 1d8, 2d6, 1d4 succeed on 19 or higher.{{unsigned ip|172.68.55.11|03:54, 23 November 2024}}

I couldn’t remember the formula for binomial coefficients (“n choose k”), but there’s an easy way to calculate that the probability of drawing no cursed arrows is 2/9 without that formula. You just need to multiply the probabilities that each of the arrows drawn is not cursed. Since only two arrows are drawn, you only have to multiply two numbers.

The probability that the first arrow is not cursed is 5/10 – there are 5 non-cursed arrows and 5 cursed arrows out of 10 total. After taking out one non-cursed arrow, there are 4 non-cursed arrows and 5 cursed arrows out of 9 total, so the probability that the second arrow is not cursed is 4/9. Multiplying the two probabilities, the probability of drawing two non-cursed arrows is (4*5)/(10*9) = 20/90 = 2/9.

I was considering writing this observation in the Explanation section of the page, but I’m not if it belongs there. This solution avoids using formulas from combinatorics, so it might not be connected enough to the comic.—[[User:Roryokane|Roryokane]] ([[User talk:Roryokane|talk]]) 06:02, 23 November 2024 (UTC)

My simple-minded approach:
* Roll d10 once for your first arrow: if 1 to 5, the arrow is cursed, otherwise not;
* Roll d10 again for your second arrow: same rules, but repeat until you have a different number from the first one (so d10 is in fact only a d9 this time)
* I won't calculate probabilities – these are your arrows, live with it ;-) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.109.51|172.69.109.51]] 07:33, 23 November 2024 (UTC)
:That has the benefit (over 3d6+1d4) of telling you which arrow(s) (if either) was cursed. [[User:RegularSizedGuy|RegularSizedGuy]] ([[User talk:RegularSizedGuy|talk]]) 07:52, 23 November 2024 (UTC)
::Also tells you how many cursed arrows are left, which is useful if the next player wants to take their chances with them too.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.103.68|172.71.103.68]] 14:40, 25 November 2024 (UTC)
:If you don't like re-rolls, you can make d9 out of 2d3. Nine possibilities, so just assign one of them (perhaps by rolling them one at a time) to be the more significant digit. Don't have a d3 handy? Use d6 and modulo off the extra! (1=1, 2=2, 3=3, 4=1, 5=2, 6=3) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.150.91|172.68.150.91]] 05:59, 24 November 2024 (UTC)

There seems to be doubt that a "N locks and M keys to unlock them" system could be easily accomplished. I think it could be trivial, with strategically interlocking locked-restraints. A chain formed of bike-locks can give a larger locked loop that can be unlocked by just unlocking any ''single'' one of the constituent locks, leaving the other locked loops to not matter (or you could also try the {{w|Borromean rings}} system, whereby it is again secure against itself, until just one ring is opened up to reveal that the rest now ''aren't even locked at all''...). With almost arbitrary ability to cross-link (or, if you will, repeated/alternating-reflected Borromean triplet connections), you can extend the requirements to more than one unlocking being required (by looping chain elements to mre than just the 'adjacent' loops, sideways onto a parallel meta-loop or up/down the chain, all you might do is allow some slack (could be sufficient to get a thing held directly closed by the taut loop-of-loops, but not enough if the passage of the loop through a hasp/sneck actually prevents the otherwise free movement of the final slide-to-unlock action to occur), but a second (or third, or fourth) unlocking can be required to open-end the whole metaloop of locks. At the top end, M=N solutions are also trivial (e.g. two keys, two locks popularly of safety deposit boxes or [[2677: Two Key System|other things]]). Which is not to say that a specific M-of-N puzzle (where 1<M<N) might not need a ''little'' bit of thought to actually design and implement, but there's no obvious reason why all such combinations shouldn't be nicely doable. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.165|172.69.79.165]] 14:56, 23 November 2024 (UTC)
:Can we first confirm that the M-of-N Encryption was what Randall was referencing in the first place? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.140|172.71.154.140]] 03:17, 24 November 2024 (UTC)
::No, first confirm that this is what the explanation treats as what Randall was referencing. As it was, "complicated lock mechanics" and/or "magic" were suggested as the only ways of doing this, when this (or what we thought this was) just needs a little thought and N bike-locks suitably entangled. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.58.45|172.70.58.45]] 13:17, 24 November 2024 (UTC)
:I'm glad someone else chimed in on this, because it is definitely ''not'' difficult to require unlocking of multiple discrete locks! I can't even figure out why one might think it would be? [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 15:55, 24 November 2024 (UTC)

"other polyhedral dice, with the number of faces denoted by dX (e.g., d10 is a 10-sided die, with numbers from 1 to 10 on it)." - the d10 may be a poor choice as exemplar here; Back in the last century, when I was playing D&D, d10 were typically (and uniquely) numbered 0-9, not 1-10. This may no longer be the case, and I may be showing my age, but if it is still the norm, the d8 or d20 might be a better choice of example. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.210.6|172.68.210.6]] 02:40, 24 November 2024 (UTC)
:Typically, I've only seen 0-9 d10s, as part of a "d100" dice pair, with one reading 0-9 & the other reading 0⁰-9⁰... Single d10, mostly seem to come in 1-10? Maybe it depends which reseller one shops at... [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 15:49, 24 November 2024 (UTC)
::They are usually numbered 0-9, but the 0 represents 10, since writing 10 would require that face to have a different font size. It is still a d10, since the die has ten sides, and still cannot roll at 0. The d100 variant does the same thing with 100, but for the added reason that the 00 face actually does mean 0 when the other die rolls a 1-9. This is the convention, so a die that actually writes 10 on it instead of 0 will be rare. [[User:Stardragon|Stardragon]] ([[User talk:Stardragon|talk]]) 23:14, 24 November 2024 (UTC)

You've all been nerd-sniped. [[User:CalibansCreations|'''<span style="color:#ff0000;">Caliban</span>''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 10:53, 24 November 2024 (UTC)

Combinatorics degree? Does such a degree really exist? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.130.37|162.158.130.37]] 17:19, 24 November 2024 (UTC)
:There are degrees for all kinds of things. A quick search reveals a number of "Combinatorics" or "Combinatorics and <Foo>" (e.g. "Optimisation") degrees. Some of them are marked as Masters degrees, and I haven't dug into the others to see if there are any 'pure' undergraduate ones (apart from anything else, I know there are crucial differences between the structures and scopes of UK and US 'degree courses' to consider, in particular), but there seems to be representation on both sides of the Atlantic (and elsewhere, e.g. Oceana).
:At the very least, it could be a selected specialised segment of an even wider mathematical degree course, or a cross-disciplinary one (like my own, which was part under Physics and part under Computing, but could have included a Stats-based element). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.49|162.158.74.49]] 19:07, 24 November 2024 (UTC)

2979: Sky Alarm

2024-09-02T08:17:22Z

141.101.99.153: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2979
| date = August 30, 2024
| title = Sky Alarm
| image = sky_alarm_2x.png
| imagesize = 332x302px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = During the day it also activates for neat clouds and pretty sunsets.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic shows [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] being alerted by a 'Sky Alarm' that a 'cool space thing' is happening. The alarm is triggered when a relatively interesting astronomical event occurs, for example, the {{w|Perseid meteor shower}} and blue {{w|supermoon}} that happened recently. Randall remarks in the caption how he wants this device and wishes it existed. Cueball and Megan (and by extension [[Randall]]) feel that they regularly miss events they'd like to see, so such a device would help prevent this.

The title text further specifies that he would want it even to activate for more common sky-related phenomena, such as interesting clouds and nice sunsets (which still can be very beautiful). In short, it would help its owner to not miss interesting outdoor sights.

Randall last referred to cool sky phenomena in [[2971: Celestial Event]]. There have been quite a few of them lately (such as the aforementioned {{w|Perseid meteor shower}}), so they may be on Randall's mind.

==Transcript==
:[A square device with a light on top and a label on its side, is seen resting on a stool to the left. It is activated and the light on top of it is glowing and a voice is emanating from it, maybe even speaking the siren part of the sound that comes between sentences. Cueball, sitting on an office chair at his desk, looks away from his laptop so he is now facing the device while Megan is on the other side of the desk running away from it towards the right edge of the panel.]
:Label: Sky Alarm
:Sky alarm: ''Weeee Ooooo Weeee Ooooo''
:Sky alarm: ''There's a cool space thing happening!''
:Sky alarm: ''Weeee Ooooo Weeee Ooooo''
:Sky alarm: ''Go outside and look up!''

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I want this device.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Weather]]

2979: Sky Alarm

2024-09-02T08:16:02Z

141.101.99.153: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2979
| date = August 30, 2024
| title = Sky Alarm
| image = sky_alarm_2x.png
| imagesize = 332x302px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = During the day it also activates for neat clouds and pretty sunsets.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic shows [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] being alerted by a 'Sky Alarm' that a 'cool space thing' is happening. The alarm is triggered when a relatively interesting astronomical event occurs, for example, the {{w|Perseid meteor shower}} and blue {{w|supermoon}} that happened recently. Randall remarks in the caption how he wants this device and wishes it existed. Cueball and Megan (and by extension [[Randall]]) feel that they regularly miss events they'd like to see, so such a device would help prevent this.

The title text further specifies that he would want it even to activate for such simple everyday things as interesting clouds and nice sunsets (which still can be very beautiful). In short, it would help its owner to not miss interesting outdoor sights.

Randall last referred to cool sky phenomena in [[2971: Celestial Event]]. There have been quite a few of them lately (such as the aforementioned {{w|Perseid meteor shower}}), so they may be on Randall's mind.

==Transcript==
:[A square device with a light on top and a label on its side, is seen resting on a stool to the left. It is activated and the light on top of it is glowing and a voice is emanating from it, maybe even speaking the siren part of the sound that comes between sentences. Cueball, sitting on an office chair at his desk, looks away from his laptop so he is now facing the device while Megan is on the other side of the desk running away from it towards the right edge of the panel.]
:Label: Sky Alarm
:Sky alarm: ''Weeee Ooooo Weeee Ooooo''
:Sky alarm: ''There's a cool space thing happening!''
:Sky alarm: ''Weeee Ooooo Weeee Ooooo''
:Sky alarm: ''Go outside and look up!''

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I want this device.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Weather]]

Talk:2364: Parity Conservation

2020-09-26T22:54:46Z

141.101.99.153:

Would it be possible to mirror the light particles bouncing off a mirror in an experiment similar to what cueball is trying to do? [[User:Donthaveusername|Donthaveusername]] ([[User talk:Donthaveusername|talk]])
:Not sure exactly what you are asking, but photons (and gluons, and Z-bosons, and if they exist, presumably gravitons) are their own anti-particle, so photons are the same regardless if the source is matter or antimatter. https://van.physics.illinois.edu/qa/listing.php?id=1153 for more info.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.187|173.245.52.187]] 04:25, 26 September 2020 (UTC)
:I'm also not exactly sure what you mean, but if you're asking about using a mirror to conduct an experiment in reality, the answer is no. Particles in our world will either pass through a mirror or reflect off of it. Either way, they're still in our world. Mirrors are of use when we want to see how reflection works (assuming the mirror reflects the particles concerned). The benefit to enlisting Bloody Mary's help here seems to be that she is located in another location inside or connected to the mirror, which is why she has to perform the measurements; the measurements can't be performed outside her secondary universe. The experiment here confirms whether her universe and our universe work in the same way. [[User:Nathan|Nathan]] ([[User talk:Nathan|talk]]) 06:39, 26 September 2020 (UTC)
::I guess what I'm trying to say is like, imagine the image on the mirror, but mirrored onto our side of the mirror, so you get a near 2d hologram. That was a terrible job of explaining, but maybe it offered some insight? [[User:Donthaveusername|Donthaveusername]] ([[User talk:Donthaveusername|talk]])
: I don't understand physics very well, but my simplistic understanding is that the electric and magnetic field components of the photons that are normal to the surface of the mirror are indeed actually mirrored. I don't believe the orientation of the photons, like that filtered by 3d glasses to separate the eyes, is mirrored. I could be wrong. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.245|162.158.62.245]] 16:30, 26 September 2020 (UTC)
:: The "orientation" you speak about is called polarization and I suspect mirror destroys it. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 18:53, 26 September 2020 (UTC)

I am wary about "an entire anti-person would annihilate a normal person if they touch"-type stuff. It was a trope used in '60s cartoons that there'd be an anti-matter world and ''only'' representative being/item A and representative being/item anti-A touching would create mutual (or not, if even more laughably plot-driven in favour of one of them surviving) vanishing of both... And often with just vanish-in-smoke. Whereas we all know that ''any'' matter meeting ''any'' anti-matter (notwithstanding that 'all electrons and positrons are the same electron bouncing back and forth in time) will annihilate, and if the energies produced don't yet actively push the non-fingertip (or breath, or just space-suit glove on anti-spaceship airlock handle) counter-matters apart there's going to be ''more'' annihilation after the first fizzle. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.171|162.158.158.171]] 10:59, 26 September 2020 (UTC)
:Not just cartoons; see also the ST:TOS episode 'The Alternative Factor', 1967, which got the whole "antimatter", "individuals", "destroy the universe" stuff laughably, painfully wrong. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 15:14, 26 September 2020 (UTC)
::Although it's not technically the same thing, I found myself reminded of the climax of the movie ''TimeCop'' while I was adding that to the explanation. I don't think 100% of the matter and antimatter in two opposite-matter people would annihilate when they touch, because the contact surface is indeed quite small, but clarifying that went further into the technical weeds than I wanted to go. When a nuclear weapon goes off, for instance, not all of the fuel is consumed, but that detail is usually overshadowed by the explosion. [[User:Captain Video|Captain Video]] ([[User talk:Captain Video|talk]]) 16:28, 26 September 2020 (UTC)
:::Using "overshadowed" for something accompanied by big amount of gamma radiation is funny. But yes, ANY antimatter annihilates ANY matter and if you touch hand of person from antimatter your hands annihilate but rest of you would likely be thrown in opposite direction and cooked by radiation. Assuming, of course, you are in vacuum, as otherwise either you or him would be annihilated by the (anti)air. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 18:53, 26 September 2020 (UTC)
::::I've removed the stuff about "Dr. Edward Anti-Teller" and added a paragraph about the bad SF about antimatter people. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 20:16, 26 September 2020 (UTC)
:::Timecop wasn't even antimatter, it was (supposedly) the ''same'' matter (which it wouldn't be, with lifetime elemental recycling through most bodily tissues, so it needs a form of Ship Of Theseus teleology built into the universe - close to being a 'soul'-based argument). And... It's been a while since I last saw it (not sure I ever saw the sequel that I expect they made), but didn't it not so much explode the person (both of them, in a laser-guided bit of plot-karma) as kind of mush them into a weird biofractal special-effect? More related to the critically damaged T1000 than anything with an E not far off the mc²ness of total matter-energy conversion. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.153|141.101.99.153]] 22:54, 26 September 2020 (UTC)

I am skeptical that any joke about "party conversation" is intended. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 15:14, 26 September 2020 (UTC)

It looks like Randall has been exposed to a variant of this myth where bloody mary murders the person saying her name. This would explain the preceding comic about bloody Mary too: the ghost could be leaping to murder the person incanting their name. It would be good to add to the article a reference to this interpretation of the myth if anybody is excited about it. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.245|162.158.62.245]] 16:30, 26 September 2020 (UTC)

Ooohh, a comic about the same topic as my worldbuildingSE question, nice! https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/135950/32102 [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 16:54, 26 September 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2362: Volcano Dinosaur

2020-09-23T20:14:49Z

141.101.99.153:

The nearest living relative of any 125 million-year-old dinosaur is all living birds. They are all descended from the same "stem bird," which was a dinosaur of a different group. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 02:08, 22 September 2020 (UTC)
: But some living birds will be fewer generations removed from that dinosaur than others [[User:Jeremyp|Jeremyp]] ([[User talk:Jeremyp|talk]]) 08:57, 22 September 2020 (UTC).
::True, but is a 100,000,000th cousin that different from a 100,000,001th cousin? [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 11:25, 22 September 2020 (UTC)
:::One might wade in caustic lakes, except when it flies to its feeding grounds, the other breeds in icy wastes and be flightless but a superb swimmer in freezing oceans. And if there's a large intestate estate needing to be inherited then be prepared for legal challenges! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.198|162.158.155.198]] 11:47, 22 September 2020 (UTC)
:::Just in case, if you have a parrot you should ask it if its family has any stories of a great-to-the-millionth uncle who went missing around the time of an eruption. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 13:37, 22 September 2020 (UTC)
::::But how close are parrots to dinosaurs? They might be the poor dino's 100,000,002nd cousin. [[User:Donthaveusername|Donthaveusername]] ([[User talk:Donthaveusername|talk]])
:::That would depend on the value of the estate. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 17:32, 22 September 2020 (UTC)
::::After 65 million years of inflation and compounding, it must be worth quite a bit. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 17:40, 22 September 2020 (UTC)
:::::Compounding would indeed increase the value, but wouldn't inflation decrease the value? The value after 125 million years should depend on which factor is outpacing the other, on average. Also, bird species with short generations would be more distantly related than bird species with long generations. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.89|162.158.107.89]] 23:49, 22 September 2020 (UTC)
:::::That would depend upon many things, like how it turns out if progeniture is the basis of branch-prioritisation (male/female-preference giving different results to the absolute version) and sallic (including semi-sallic and quasi-sallic) rules which could see an entitlement even dive back up out of the avian branch and down into any other sprawl of the tree-of-life... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.153|141.101.99.153]] 01:27, 23 September 2020 (UTC)

:This specimen is described as "basal ornithopod dinosaur" which means it is close to root of the species and is also described as adapted for burrowing which would make it a very unlikely to fly. So it seems to me that there is very low possibility that there are any DIRECT descendants. So to find the "closest living relative" would require going back up many prior generations to find an ancestor of modern birds. Unless birds are descended from burrowing dinosaurs who escaped getting wiped out with all the other dinosaurs.

I'm only who feeling that [CITATION NEEDED] joke is overused by now? In every second comic there is [CITATION NEEDED] at least once. We have around 450 pages with that, https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:WhatLinksHere/285:_Wikipedian_Protester [[Special:Contributions/162.158.183.205|162.158.183.205]] 09:15, 23 September 2020 (UTC) LauLain
:There are 358 links to that page from actual comics (excluding redirect, talk pages, etc.). Since we have 2,362 comics, that's around 15% of the explanations. Quite high, but I guess not really overused, especially since it's not annoying. [[User:Justhalf|Justhalf]] ([[User talk:Justhalf|talk]]) 09:33, 23 September 2020 (UTC)
::Links or pages? Some pages, like this one, have multiple links to it. [[User:JBYoshi|JBYoshi]] ([[User talk:JBYoshi|talk]]) 17:30, 23 September 2020 (UTC)

Why would 2020 not be a good year to dig it up and potentially let it free? 2020 is the perfect year for that. Let's get all the scary stuff over with so we can move on. I say we use the remaining three months of the year to open as many sealed graves, haunted houses and such things as possible. [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 19:35, 23 September 2020 (UTC)
:Well, I ''tried'' to build my luxury hotel and backpacker's hostel in the woodlands that grew over the old Indian Burial Ground that they burnt all those witches in, but my builders said they were still too busy building the secret government bunker for extradimensional gateway research and development of an RNA-based immortality serum for the military. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.153|141.101.99.153]] 20:14, 23 September 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2362: Volcano Dinosaur

2020-09-23T01:27:46Z

141.101.99.153: