explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2889: Greenhouse Effect

2025-03-12T09:15:05Z

141.101.99.164: Undo revision 368673 by DKMell (talk) Normally more correct, but the title text (necessarily) is not formatted that way.

{{comic
| number = 2889
| date = February 2, 2024
| title = Greenhouse Effect
| image = greenhouse_effect_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x315px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Once he had the answer, Arrhenius complained to his friends that he'd "wasted over a full year" doing tedious calculations by hand about "so trifling a matter" as hypothetical CO2 concentrations in far-off eras (quoted in Crawford, 1997).
}}

==Explanation==

This comic has [[:Category:Climate change|climate change as its topic, a recurring theme]] on xkcd. There is no 'joke' per se, just a wry (and serious) observation on the timeline of climate change, and our understanding of it. The fact in question here is when science became aware of anthropogenic global warming and its primary cause.

The comic depicts a timeline with three events:
* The introduction of the {{w|Watt steam engine}} in 1776. The comic takes it as the start of the {{w|Industrial Revolution}}, and the event that most directly ushered in the boom of fossil fuels' burning.
* [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/On_the_Influence_of_Carbonic_Acid_in_the_Air_upon_the_Temperature_of_the_Ground The first quantitative prediction] of the {{w|greenhouse effect}} by {{w|Svante Arrhenius}} in January and April 1896 (that doubling CO2 concentration would increase mean temperature by 5 to 6 °C, depending on latitude). Arrhenius drew on and included a summary of {{w|Arvid Högbom}}'s 1894 Swedish article, which dealt with carbon cycle over geological periods and first estimated annual global carbon emissions.
* The present day, early 2024.

As the caption points out, less time elapsed between the start of the Industrial Revolution and the work by Arrhenius, than has elapsed since then. Some present-day climate discussions may cite [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.2153-3490.1957.tb01849.x a 1957 paper by Revell and Seuss] as "the starting point" for modern inquiries into global warming. While it was more advanced and detailed, the comic notes "we figured out the greenhouse effect" 61 years prior; see both [https://folk.universitetetioslo.no/roberan/t/EarlyEstimates1.shtml Robbie 2018] and even longer {{w|History of climate change science}} which includes earlier, qualitative works.

The implication, consistent with other [[:Category:Climate change|climate change themed xkcd comics]], is that humans have taken insufficient action to stop global warming despite knowing about it for more than a century, and understanding, at least intellectually, the consequences of inaction.

The title text portrays Arrhenius as dismissive of his work. A reading of the reference cited (page 8 in [https://courses.seas.harvard.edu/climate/eli/Courses/EPS281r/Sources/Greenhouse-effect/Arrhenius/3-optional-Crawford-1997.pdf Crawford 1997]: 'Writing to a friend at the end of [1895], he found it "unbelievable that so trifling a matter has cost me a full year".') suggests instead that Arrhenius was complaining about the unanticipated difficulty of answering what he thought initially was a simple question, about the historical (geological time) connection between carbon dioxide concentrations and global temperature. Per this reading, Arrhenius's complaint was about the work required to achieve the result, not about the significance of the result. His interpretation of the significance, though, differed from today's (page 11 in Crawford 1997): "[Global warming will] allow our descendants, even if they only be those of a distant future [estimating the doubling time as 500 years], to live under a warmer sky and in a less harsh environment than we were granted".

==Transcript==
:[At the top of the comic a timeline is shown as a long line. It has three dots, one at each end a bit inside the end of the line and one close to the middle Each dot has a gray curved line going up to it from below. Below the end of these lines a year is given. And beneath the year is a caption. Above the time line are two gray double arrows going from three gray lines above each of the three dots. The lines are broken in the middle where a label is written.]

:[Label of arrow that spans from first to second dot:]
:120 years

:[Label of arrow that spans from second to third dot:]
:128 years

:[Label for the first dot:]
:'''1776'''
:James Watt develops a steam engine that helps kick off the Industrial Revolution

:[Label for the second dot:]
:'''1896'''
:Arvid Högbom and Svante Arrhenius note that industrial activity is adding CO2 to the atmosphere, and calculate how much the Earth will heat up if the CO2 concentration doubles. Their answer closely matches modern estimates.

:[Label for the third dot:]
:'''2024'''
:Today

:[Caption below the panel:]
:We figured out the greenhouse effect closer to the start of the Industrial Revolution than to today.

==References==
<references/>

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Climate change]]
[[Category:Timelines]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]

Talk:3032: Skew-T Log-P

2025-01-03T15:48:14Z

141.101.99.164:

...did the ip address user really just have chatgpt write an explanation of this page without a proper understanding of what is happening in this page? the only reasonable content in this explanation page right now was contributed by other users and is a couple lines at the beginning. also they didn't even try to hide that the entire text was AI-generated - [[User:Vaedez|Vaedez]] ([[User talk:Vaedez|talk]]) 05:09, 2 January 2025 (UTC)

: Better than hiding it. I'm guessing they just wanted to help but didn't know what the graph in question was. But I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume this mostly vapid explanation is as good as no explanation, and remove it for now. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.132|108.162.216.132]] 05:42, 2 January 2025 (UTC)

:Bringing a whole new meaning to the default "Created by a bot" unfinished message --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.157|172.70.214.157]] 05:43, 2 January 2025 (UTC)

skewtie --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.65|172.70.206.65]] 05:47, 2 January 2025 (UTC)

So, all the real nerds are still on holiday?[[User:Tommyds|Tommyds]] ([[User talk:Tommyds|talk]]) 09:39, 2 January 2025 (UTC)
:I know enough about the subject to appreciate the comic, and generally recognise the real vs. not-so-real things in it to a decent degree, but (as of my first viewing, slightly after the first linkless "seems to be about the weather" text went in) couldn't really quickly muster a decent explanation together. From the above conversation, looks like I ''could'' have spent time on it, but it was late night/early morning and I was hoping something better would arrive while I was asleep. (From the above comments, and what little has effectively been added, I was wrong. Might poke away at it, now I've dealt with my morning tasks and had my dinner.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.164|141.101.99.164]] 13:09, 2 January 2025 (UTC)

:I think I'm a nerd, but I really don't see much difference between Randall's version and the diagram referenced in Wikipedia. The humor, if there is any, is either a superb success or a dismal failure, either way being very much like weather forecasting. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.23.88|172.71.23.88]] 14:00, 2 January 2025 (UTC)

Newbie here. I wondered whether the timing of this may be related to the recent publishing of a log-log chart by the Economist newspaper called "The Chart of Everything" (https://www.economist.com/interactive/christmas-specials/2024/12/21/the-chart-of-everything) based on the paper "All objects and some questions" (https://pubs.aip.org/aapt/ajp/article/91/10/819/2911822/All-objects-and-some-questions). If not, I hope you find it diverting. [[User:Stevejohnston|Stevejohnston]] ([[User talk:Stevejohnston|talk]]) 13:51, 2 January 2025 (UTC)
:The former is (as expected) hidden behind a pester-/registration-/pay-wall that I'm not going to take the time and effort to navigate past/through. Maybe the second isn't, but want to recover from the experience of the first one, first. But, without breaking copyright rules, it could have been better if you had chosen a different link in the initial case. (Don't rely on us being paid-up subscribers, or maybe employing devious browser-scripts/noscripts to dodge the issue.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.244|141.101.98.244]] 16:16, 2 January 2025 (UTC)
::That's disappointing. I was pretty sure the Christmas specials weren't pay-walled. Apologies for not checking first. Here is the direct link to the American Journal of Physics article image of the chart https://pubs.aip.org/view-large/figure/89607967/819_1_5.0150209.figures.online.f2.jpg hopefully you'll now see where my suggestion originated, and apologies for wasting your time. {{unsigned|Stevejohnston|14:19, 3 January 2025}}
:::Don't apologise. It's what online news-sites do (mostly... e.g. bbc.co.uk doesn't even have ads, as a non-commercial broadcaster, though I believe bbc.com does do some lighter-than-other-places additional bumf; and, other than them, maybe pop-up "spamvertising" sites that want their extremely biased output seen by as many gullible people as they can). Whether that's a full-blown "you're not getting in without paying" (give or take various ways round it) or just one of those annoying ones that pushes play-on-open videos on ''maybe''-related subjects, behind a large notice pestering you to accept a couple of hundred "associate" cookies, it's something I'd be surprised not to encounter, just to try to balance costs and (by whatever means) incomes whilst maintaining their chosen profile of visitors/customers.
:::But, having become a 'customer' personal or institutional subscription/registration?), you might not realise that those who haven't yet become a 'member' might have to weave their way through the "five free views, and a lot of pop-ups reminding you of that" process to get their ''first'' look at any given thing. I'm sure ''you'' have encountered the same (elsewhere, at least), as a curious denizen of the web. It's how net-economics seem to mould the online news ecosystem. (I even get pestered by news.bbc.co.uk, but much less harshly and barely any effort needed to shrug off the pesters, given that I don't want to use their iPlayer/News/Weather apps but only take news articles and weather info directly from the web-pages.)
:::PS., the original aip.org link actually works well enough, I found out, once I'd made time to absorb any further battles with web-pages (though, as it turned out, there were none, except for a ''sensible'' cookie-control with a simple (not hidden!) "reject all" option... bliss!). Interesting, and (nicely!) info-dense. Maybe a deeper dive could hit registration-requirements, but what I saw looked like I was straight in. Will look at the direct picture link once I've submitted this (long-winded!) reply, but I think I know what it is that you mean now. ''edit:Yep, that's what I thought you meant. Again, interesting!'' [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.164|141.101.99.164]] 15:48, 3 January 2025 (UTC)

I feel like we should make a note about how this comic was published on New Year's Day in EST [[Special:Contributions/141.101.109.192|141.101.109.192]] 14:44, 2 January 2025 (UTC)
:In a number of ways, we already are doing. At least two of them predating your suggestion, but haven't checked the history for exact timings on ''all'' the non-automatic indicators. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.244|141.101.98.244]] 16:16, 2 January 2025 (UTC)
::The date is at the top... But I have rewritten the trivia about it, since it is clearly the first 2025 comic as it was released on New Years Day. In stead the trivia now mentions the odd fact that it is not a comic about New Year. A rare incident. But then again the Christmas Day comic was not about Christmas either, which was a first. For New Year a second since they began as a regular thing. But at least we did get a New Year comic this New Year just before in the last comic of 2024. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:33, 2 January 2025 (UTC)

The Heavyside/Heaviside layer is also the heaven-like destination in the musical (and movie) /Cats/. [[User:Nickdenny|Nickdenny]] ([[User talk:Nickdenny|talk]]) 21:15, 2 January 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3032: Skew-T Log-P

2025-01-02T13:09:34Z

141.101.99.164:

3028: D&D Roll

2024-12-26T15:56:22Z

141.101.99.164: /* Explanation */ Expanding heavily upon this newly offered alternative (which I deem not likely, in this depiction, but it's all interesting to talk about, anyway...).

{{comic
| number = 3028
| date = December 23, 2024
| title = D&D Roll
| image = dnd_roll_2x.png
| imagesize = 312x313px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Under some circumstances, if you throw a D8 and then a D12 at an enemy, thanks to the D8's greater pointiness you actually have to roll a D12 and D8 respectively to determine damage.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a D20 FORGED IN THE CAVES OF A BOT. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is a scene from a tabletop roleplaying game, probably {{w|Dungeons & Dragons}}. In [[3015: D&D Combinatorics]], the same people, [[Cueball]], [[Megan]], [[Ponytail]], [[White Hat]] and [[Knit Cap]], are seated playing D&D in the same seats, where Cueball seems to represent [[Randall]].

Here Cueball announces "I roll D20... 18," referring to rolling a 20-sided die and getting the relatively high score of 18, presumably while in a fight with a {{w|kobold (Dungeons & Dragons)|kobold}} (a small reptilian humanoid creature in D&D.) The {{w|gamemaster|Dungeon Master}}, Ponytail, responds that the kobold is unaffected, but humorously suggests using a sword instead, pointing out the absurdity of trying to defeat an enemy by rolling dice at them. (Ponytail was also the gamemaster in the previous D&D comic).

Cueball made the mistake of assuming that Ponytail would understand which of his weapons or other {{w|melee}} attacks he intended to use, but she had no way of knowing that, so she decided to gently tease him about the omission. This is a common mistake, and being gently made fun of is a common result. The player will usually be allowed to state the specific attack intended and roll again.{{cn}}

Alternately, DMs may take umbrage at a player's presuming to roll dice for actions before being asked to, and this could be interpreted as a chiding. Sometimes rolls are not necessary in cases where success is automatic (the kobold is effectively helpless) or impossible (the kobold is magically immune to physical attacks), although it should be the DM's own choice whether to still test for a meaningful critical [https://rpgmuseum.fandom.com/wiki/Critical_failure failure] or [https://rpgmuseum.fandom.com/wiki/Critical_hit success], despite it being an apparently foregone conclusion of either kind. There are also other circumstances where the required dice is(/are) different ''in this instance'' from that which the player may assume. From a practical perspective, if the performed rolling of the dice is not required (or correctly composed) for the DM's purposes, they can choose to ignore it and/or ask for some other roll(s) to be made. It mayvthen be the player that might be most upset by having rolled a 'good' roll that has been 'wasted', on the principle that they would have liked it to have it happen later, when it actually mattered, despite this being statistically irrelevant, assuming that the DM doesn't keep any such details mysteriously hidden.

However, the possibility exists that the players' characters have actual dice, such as those which were role-played as being produced in [[244: Tabletop Roleplaying]]. The title text suggests that if you literally threw dice as weapons, an eight-sided die (D8) would do more damage than a twelve-sided die (D12) because of its {{w|Dice#Common variations|pointier shape}}, so ironically, you might need to roll the D12 to determine the D8's damage and vice versa, in "some circumstances."

===Background===
When you make an attacking play, a character might be equipped with a particularly obvious weapon, i.e. they only have a sword, and so the unspoken suggestion is that you wish to attack them with your sword (in the only, or most obvious, way; assuming the game also doesn't distinguish differences between different acts such as slashing, piercing, etc). But a character might have a choice, such as to throw (or stab, or slash) a dagger or, as a magic user, to cast a given offensive spell (and may have access to fireballs, blasts of ice). It may be important to know which attack is being tried against which enemy, as one that is impervious to iron or particularly susceptible to blunt trauma (whether or not the player knows this, yet) might need a player to be more specific. Assuming the choice of a D20 is not enough information (the smaller, but in this case more useful, "Icepick of Instant Kobold Death" could require a simpler 4 on a D4 to make its paralysing blow), you might have to say "I draw my elvish serrated iron sword and slash downward upon the kobold in the leather thong <rolls a D20>... 18!", or as much of that as you need to make clear that you're not trying to attack the kobold wearing full plate-steel with a jab of the orcish wooden staff.

By D&D 5.0 rules, a stone hurled from a sling does [https://5e.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/weapons.htm#simpleWeapons 1d4 bludgeoning damage]. A sling bullet typically weighs [https://5e.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/equipment.htm#tableAdventuringGear 3/40 pound (1.2 oz, 35 g)], a plausible weight for a normal-sized die made of a moderately dense material. Presumably, an object of similar weight that's thrown "by hand" rather than with a sling would do less damage, though a heavier object might do similar damage (albeit with less range). The D&D 3.5 spell [https://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/magicStone.htm ''Magic Stone''] enhances ordinary small stones so they do 1d6+1 damage when hurled, or 2d6+2 when striking undead creatures. Apparently, thrown dice do significantly more damage than mere stones, in the xkcd universe.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball, Megan, Ponytail, White Hat, and Knit Cap are sitting around a table in a tabletop gaming session. Both Cueball and Knit Cap are sitting in office chairs at the ends of the table, with Cueball leaning forward and holding his hand above the table and Knit Cap leaning back on her arm. Behind the table, Megan sits to the left of Ponytail and White Hat to the right. They are both looking at Ponytail, while Ponytail is looking at Cueball. Objects such as dice, miniatures, a map, and papers are on the table.]
:Cueball: I roll D20... 18.
:Ponytail: The kobold is unaffected.
:Ponytail: Honestly, I don't know why you thought dice would help. You should probably try a sword or something instead.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Knit Cap]]
[[Category:Games]]

Talk:2840: Earth Layers

2023-10-13T20:36:18Z

141.101.99.164:

Why are the seeds outside of the pith? Is there a fruit that is organized this way? [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 18:01, 11 October 2023 (UTC)
:If there's one that's this way that contains pith, i can't find it, but raspberries, cashew apples, and blackberries all have their seeds on the outside [[User:SomeoneIGuess|SomeoneIGuess]] ([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk]]) 20:09, 11 October 2023 (UTC)
:The pith is the innermost part of a tree trunk. The part of a fruit is the ''pit'', which is basically the same thing as a seed.--[[Special:Contributions/172.64.236.13|172.64.236.13]] 20:19, 11 October 2023 (UTC)
::Ummm...the white, fibrous stuff within fruits that wraps around the seeds (like in oranges, for example) is called "pith", whether trees contain something by that name or not.[[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 21:43, 11 October 2023 (UTC)
:Strawberries are an (albeit rare) example of a fruit with the seeds on the outside of the pith (and skin, for that matter) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.116|162.158.159.116]] 15:52, 12 October 2023 (UTC)
::Actually, the white specks on strawberries that we commonly call seeds are achenes, which are actually individual, smaller fruits. It's the seeds within these achenes that are the actual strawberry seeds. [[User:SomeoneIGuess|SomeoneIGuess]] ([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk]]) 20:43, 12 October 2023 (UTC)
:Clear tootsie roll tootsie pop joke miss (awwaiid) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.39.49|172.70.39.49]] 01:40, 12 October 2023 (UTC)

Something that seemed to be excessive to edit into the Explanation, but noting here in passing, the additional issue of magnets (in a Kinder context) is the problems of ingesting them. In addition to other issues, they can attract each other/separate bits of metal across folds of the digestive system and cause problems beyond merely their passage through the system (which they might not now be able to do). I don't even know if Kinder has ever included magnets, but I think they'd be extremely limited even outwith the US. (Though, as counter-example, there are {{w|Hardware disease#Prevention|Cow Magnets}}, designed for ingestion but not further digestion. And not for humans, nor the size of either a standard Kinder-yoke or a planetary one.) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.69|172.71.242.69]] 08:50, 12 October 2023 (UTC)

When I saw guacamole in the comic, I assumed it was a reference to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_Guacamole Apache Guacamole], as might be seen in a diagram of the different layers involved accessing some complicated computer system. [[User:Sandor|Sandor]] ([[User talk:Sandor|talk]]) 17:49, 12 October 2023 (UTC)

Some parts of the explanation, particularly the last paragraph, seem to assume that the diagram is supposed to be to scale. I don't think it is, since all the layers except the kinder toy capsule at the center are about the same size. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:32, 13 October 2023 (UTC)
:I've gone in and altered the last paragraph (it looks like the author of that wasn't too concerned about the near-similar thicknesses of the sliced-through strata, but I presume that it was a basic measurement and calculation of the relative radii of innermost and outermost spheres that came to the 900km conclusion). A very quick glance didn't suggest anything about the similar thicknesses in the list (may have missed it, it was a ''very very'' quick read-through!), but note that there ''is'' obvious variation, belying it being a "just line 'em up regularly" diagram but maybe just happens to be semi-accurately representing a semi-similar set of thicknesses. Because sometimes the things just turn out to be semi-regular like that, maybe? (Ok, so it's in a fiction/imagination, already, but if we're not allowed to be meta in xkcd then where else can one?) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.164|141.101.99.164]] 20:36, 13 October 2023 (UTC)

Talk:1396: Actors

2014-07-19T15:21:27Z

141.101.99.164:

Could be Bieber... 04:42, 18 July 2014 (UTC)
:Good point. [[User:Sjrsimac|Sjrsimac]] ([[User talk:Sjrsimac|talk]]) 04:48, 18 July 2014 (UTC)
:More likely Timberlake.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.207|108.162.246.207]] 06:48, 18 July 2014 (UTC)Nix
:It's referring to Justin Theroux, currently in ninth place on IMDB's Most Popular Males list. (http://www.imdb.com/search/name?gender=male) Yeah, I have no idea who he is either. I feel old. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.170|108.162.237.170]] 06:49, 18 July 2014 (UTC)
Do you think it's necessary to add that the temperature is in Fahrenheit, and that normal body temperature is around 98.6? The part about getting a bit of his shirt should also probably be explained in that context. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.211|173.245.56.211]] 05:39, 18 July 2014 (UTC)
:Yeah, please do. Most Americans can't handle metric units, and I can't handle Fahrenheit. The only thing I can remember is that body temperature is around 100°F. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.59|108.162.254.59]] 07:26, 18 July 2014 (UTC)
:Inserted Fahrenheit and Celcius into the explanation...
:Compared Suns temp. to Xi Persei, inserted link to films about birds (them being the hottest warm-blooded creatures I know of) [[User:Tier666|Tier666]] ([[User talk:Tier666|talk]]) 08:03, 18 July 2014 (UTC)

I seem to recall several other comics making fun of these generic headlines of the form "The <n> <adjective> <nouns> you must see". I could only find one though: http://xkcd.com/1283/ --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.95|141.101.104.95]] 07:40, 18 July 2014 (UTC)
: http://www.xkcd.com/1307/ (Buzzfeed Christmas) has plenty of these. [[Special:Contributions/103.22.201.239|103.22.201.239]] 08:58, 18 July 2014 (UTC)

Forget animals and "stars" with fevers: certainly the "hottest" objects involved in creating characters are the server farms behind CGI cartoon films! I can only imagine the heat load during final rendering. (Note: I stated "creating characters" akin to acting; to use movie-making in general, the hottest objects would be stage lighting, or the Sun during outdoor scenes.) --BigMal // [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.88|173.245.55.88]] 12:20, 18 July 2014 (UTC)
: Rendering is not acting. The computation of {{w|MASSIVE_(software)|crowd behaviour}}, on the other hand, is. So question is how hot will became CPUs (or GPUs) of computers involved in computing the battles like in LOTR. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 12:35, 18 July 2014 (UTC)
::I'm sure there are plenty of movies in which the sun is a character. There might also be special effects or a separate voice actor, but if the sun plays itself for some of the time, it might be considered an (uncredited) actor. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Mr._Sun][http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=VEfomqnif34#t=833] [[Special:Contributions/103.22.201.239|103.22.201.239]] 16:54, 18 July 2014 (UTC)
:For that matter isn't ξ Persei visible in some night-sky scenes, making it once again the hottest? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.38|108.162.216.38]] 21:51, 18 July 2014 (UTC)
::Does it play a major role in any movie? Or are we lumping irrelevant background extras with actors? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.208.251|108.162.208.251]] 04:16, 19 July 2014 (UTC)

I'm not sure there is misunderstanding about stars. I mean, the misunderstanding about the meaning of ''hot'' is enough to rank ξ Persei as hotter that any actress, including Kirsten Dunst (which is sexiest according to [http://top10for.com/top-10-sexiest-hollywood-actresses-2014/ this list], my opinion is different). I'm also sure ξ Persei is more attractive if you measure the force in fixed distance of 10 meters from surface. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 12:35, 18 July 2014 (UTC)

Anybody else suddenly notice that ξ looks a lot like the new name of the "Artist formerly known as Prince"? And thus miss the Astronomical reference entirely and wonder if his last name was now Persei?[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 20:38, 18 July 2014 (UTC)
:I don't understand any of what you just said, but "The artist formerly known as Prince" has been referring to himself as "Prince" for at least 13 years. That strange symbol was only his name from 1993 to 2000. [[User:NealCruco|NealCruco]] ([[User talk:NealCruco|talk]]) 01:27, 19 July 2014 (UTC)

The article says "They are shooting stars with a laser beam...", is this a typo, or a phrasing I don't understand? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.38|108.162.216.38]] 21:51, 18 July 2014 (UTC)

Incidentally, an IR thermometer is great for the kitchen -- the best way to heat a skillet to a consistent temperature for making perfect pancakes or stir-fry.
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.99|173.245.52.99]] 23:43, 18 July 2014 (UTC)

The fact that "ξ Per rises in Hollywood every night" is incorrect: the time of rise can be at any time of the day/night and it depends on the time of year. Moreover, the explanation using ξ Per's declination is incorrect: the stars with declination δ rise in a location with latitude φ if and only if |δ| < 90° - |φ|, so the given statement "star rises every night if (approximately) δ = φ" is only correct for |φ| < 45° (and so is incidentally correct in this case). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.164|141.101.99.164]] 15:21, 19 July 2014 (UTC)