explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2465: Dimensional Chess

2021-05-20T14:56:32Z

141.101.99.251: Tyops. Bumpy bus journey.

How best to describe the addition of dimensions? The admirable first author goes as far as the second row, but there appear to be more... ahem... 'depths'. The first is 'sideways', though from this non-playing angle it's depthways; the second adds verticality; the third initially looks to be '4d represented in 3d' perspective (now further represented in 2d, by perspective method), but the sole cube atop confuses me; the fourth is... busy... and seems to go with a hyper(hyper)cubic continuation. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.161|141.101.99.161]] 18:05, 19 May 2021 (UTC)

not quite what is demonstrated in the comic but there is a game called 5 dimensional chess with multiverse time travel --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.57.189|172.68.57.189]] 19:00, 19 May 2021 (UTC)

I think this would require 5 dimensions rather than 4 as the middle rows are 4d slices of a 5d space just as the second row is a 2d slice of a 3d space
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.193|172.69.35.193]] 20:23, 19 May 2021 (UTC)
:I see it as there being a basic 1D between the opponents. On the Nth row away from you (on your half of the board) there's an additional N lateral dimensions. Row 1, sideways (8 columns). Row 2, sideways and up/down (7 levels). Row 3, those plus some form of superimposition indicated by scale/perhaps a sub-gridlevel elevation (6 of these?). Row 4, all those plus ??? (gonna assume 5). (...Row 5=Profit?) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.131|162.158.158.131]] 22:25, 19 May 2021 (UTC)

Is there an error on the top board of this image? If I look at the sequence of squares on the vertical, they alternate black/white except for the top board. Even if I were missing some aspect of the logic, I feel like there should be some symmetry between top and bottom. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.70|108.162.221.70]] 20:52, 19 May 2021 (UTC)

Note that white made a horse move on the left side of the board, forward one and up two [[Special:Contributions/172.68.57.189|172.68.57.189]] 21:11, 19 May 2021 (UTC)
:There's at least one black piece on (its) row 3, possibly a knight, and both players have at least one of their pieces on (their) row 4. There are four obvious white pieces forward of the two starting ranks (with no obvious sign that these are established starting positions in this esoteric board*) so there may be a third black piece out there, obscured from clear view. Or more likely that black Knight's movement (two squares forward, three up, one sideways and 0+ squares in the fourth-way direction) is multiple moves (2f1u then 2u1s would be the most simple projected moves).
:(* - The starting ranks appear to be as per 2D chess, with white's far bishop no longer in starting position, but if that's the one now in the nearest start-level 4th rank then it must not have made just one single 2D-like bishop's move to get there, nor is it obviously a pawn brought forward (2f starter then 1f second move, with or without an en-passant), so it may not be quite so simple, or else we've seen more than 4 white moves (and 3/4 black ones). Or both plus some possible exchange of pieces already.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.131|162.158.158.131]] 22:25, 19 May 2021 (UTC)

I interpreted the comic as the first row is normal chess- 2 dimensional. The second row starts the boards above and below- 3d. The third row would be 4d, and the 4th row would be 5d. ----

Pretty sure this is just funny commentary on people making more and more complex variations of chess, Quantum Chess, 4D Chess, 5D chess with time travel etc... but part of me looks at this and goes "that could be a real game... that could actually be a good game." just me? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.20|108.162.221.20]] 21:35, 19 May 2021 (UTC) Sam

Looking at this, I note that there seems to be an assumption in the explanation that n-dimensional chess means chess with an unlimited number of dimensions. I believe that what Randall was actually saying with the "N" was "any number N", not "all numbers N together", i.e. "The problem with 3, 4, 5, 6, ... , N dimensional chess is", and that his objection is that you always only get one number for N. His board, of course, is designed to give you as few as two dimensions up to five dimensions available for any particular piece depending upon the row.

True n-dimensional chess, where there are an unlimited number of dimensions, would probably be unplayable by any Turing machine, including, of course, humans. [[User:Geek Prophet|Geek Prophet]] ([[User talk:Geek Prophet|talk]]) 23:58, 19 May 2021 (UTC)
:If you have an infinite number of dimensions to work with, there is a straightforward means for a king to escape forever - just alternate linear moves with diagonal moves, always away from the opposing pieces, and always along a dimension not previously traversed (there are an infinite number of these, so always one more). Any opposing piece will be one dimension behind, at the very least. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.4|108.162.237.4]] 01:45, 20 May 2021 (UTC)
::That surely only works if you don't end up stuck in an infinitely-dimensioned corner (infinite dimensions but still finite+nonwrapping extent in each dimension).
::I'm not sure if there's a foolproof way not to find yourself in that corner, by evading through heretofor unused dimensions strictly around the centre of the board (where a finite number of pieces may not be able to coordinate an all-sides trap) but once there a single infinitely-dimensional queen moved one square away from all the relevent edges, protected by some handy rearward piece, could force the endgame.
::If the king itself is in that one-space-out position (not yet immediately restricted by the edge, ''any'' edge) I ''think'' it can still be considered corralled by a suitably-placed finite smattering of sufficiently-positioned (for their respective powers of projection) pieces, so even if the centre squares are freely dodgable round (which they might not be, if the opposing king is already safely stationed there, denying 3x3x3x...3 spots to the victimised king) there's a potential to be tactically/psychologically forced towards a definitely entrapping position the moment you stray towards any edge.
::(If the queen/etc is '≤2D in movement, like a 2D queen except throughout the ∞D of choice' (i.e. confined to a planar diagonal), then it may be less potent for a given distance and not be able to project a no-king-may-pass barrier even without confounding pieces, so might not be the key to the corner-shoving tactic. But then the king would surely be 'choose your single plane' too, in the moves available in its attempt to escape.)
::Boundaryless arenas (including wrap-around finite boards, or at least 'only' 8<sup>∞</sup> in their infiniteness) might well be trivially always in an escapable position. But I have my doubts even about the fully-wrapping version, as the attacker's 'left behind' pieces may be considered significant danger again as they are then actually ''ahead'' of any king's fleeing move, and the question now is whether the king can still dodge ever-'sideways' against a concerted and sufficiently analytic opponent still with enough (2? 16? However-many-you-can-initially-start-with-on-such-a-board?) pieces of the right kinds.
::That said, whatever my proficiency with dimensional projections, I'm definitelt rubbish at chess in its standard form. So ICBW. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.60|141.101.98.60]] 09:24, 20 May 2021 (UTC)

It looks like the 3rd row adds a cube on a stack of alternating colored squares, and then the 4th row does something similar with a tesseract. It gets a little crowded, so hard to be sure. [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 01:36, 20 May 2021 (UTC)

It might make sense to just add a link to chessvariants.com, since there are a surprising number of multidimensional chess variants in existence besides the aforementioned 5D chess with time travel. [[User:JakobWulfkind|JakobWulfkind]] ([[User talk:JakobWulfkind|talk]]) 02:38, 20 May 2021 (UTC)

Ah yes, the Ra̷s̵̡̡̛͍̖̗͖̟̞͊̀̓̉͂̈́̇̉p̵̛̤̔̂͐͗̄̿̋͛̿͗͒͒̚͘̚̚͝u̵̞̿̒̃̾̑͒̎ṱ̶̨̧̡͍̜̙͖̣̗͙̥͈̳̱̼̫͗͊̌͑̇̆͝i̵n opening. A good choice!
Also, when is someone going to make a playable version of this??? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.74|108.162.249.74]] 04:58, 20 May 2021 (UTC)

I don't think the explanation really needs anything to do with intelligence. "Fourth-dimensional chess" is lingo for complexity or cunning, so I think the comic is a joke based on that phrase. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.142.50|172.69.142.50]] 05:36, 20 May 2021 (UTC)

I was disappointed that Randall did not include two odd squares - one on either side of the board - for the one-dimensional chess starting point. Of course since he does things by rows, this would necessarily limit the number of 1D starting points to one per player - and it would break the symmetry of an 8x8x? board and make it tough to pick which piece starts on the 1D row. [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 13:14, 20 May 2021 (UTC)
:My (nearly) initial thoughts, too. Row0: Square; Row1: Lateral line of squares (7 or 9 wide, to centre?); Row2: Stacked array of squares (7||9 x 5||7?); Row 3: A cube(/tesseract-slice) of oportunities; then Row4 either Row3 from the other side or a further hyper-version (singular, or doubled with anti-Row4, leading onto anti-Row3, etc...)
:Another thought I had was that every enhanced-Manhattan step from the home-row should lead to additional spread into a new dimension - to keep that consistent arrange for the branches out from each side to 'kiss' exactly in (non-euclidean) perfect contact. As with 2D chess, any four moves away from the back row (not backwards, not the most basic sideways movement) puts you onto the opponent's half. Or make it Euclidean but then it'd be on one ''several'' opponents' 'halves'. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.251|141.101.99.251]] 14:54, 20 May 2021 (UTC)

Couldn't you play some of the middle parts with components from 5D chess with time traveling and multiverses or whatever it was(forgot the name)? [[User:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)|Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)]] ([[User talk:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)|talk]]) 13:53, 20 May 2021 (UTC)

Talk:2465: Dimensional Chess

2021-05-20T14:54:54Z

141.101.99.251:

How best to describe the addition of dimensions? The admirable first author goes as far as the second row, but there appear to be more... ahem... 'depths'. The first is 'sideways', though from this non-playing angle it's depthways; the second adds verticality; the third initially looks to be '4d represented in 3d' perspective (now further represented in 2d, by perspective method), but the sole cube atop confuses me; the fourth is... busy... and seems to go with a hyper(hyper)cubic continuation. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.161|141.101.99.161]] 18:05, 19 May 2021 (UTC)

not quite what is demonstrated in the comic but there is a game called 5 dimensional chess with multiverse time travel --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.57.189|172.68.57.189]] 19:00, 19 May 2021 (UTC)

I think this would require 5 dimensions rather than 4 as the middle rows are 4d slices of a 5d space just as the second row is a 2d slice of a 3d space
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.193|172.69.35.193]] 20:23, 19 May 2021 (UTC)
:I see it as there being a basic 1D between the opponents. On the Nth row away from you (on your half of the board) there's an additional N lateral dimensions. Row 1, sideways (8 columns). Row 2, sideways and up/down (7 levels). Row 3, those plus some form of superimposition indicated by scale/perhaps a sub-gridlevel elevation (6 of these?). Row 4, all those plus ??? (gonna assume 5). (...Row 5=Profit?) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.131|162.158.158.131]] 22:25, 19 May 2021 (UTC)

Is there an error on the top board of this image? If I look at the sequence of squares on the vertical, they alternate black/white except for the top board. Even if I were missing some aspect of the logic, I feel like there should be some symmetry between top and bottom. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.70|108.162.221.70]] 20:52, 19 May 2021 (UTC)

Note that white made a horse move on the left side of the board, forward one and up two [[Special:Contributions/172.68.57.189|172.68.57.189]] 21:11, 19 May 2021 (UTC)
:There's at least one black piece on (its) row 3, possibly a knight, and both players have at least one of their pieces on (their) row 4. There are four obvious white pieces forward of the two starting ranks (with no obvious sign that these are established starting positions in this esoteric board*) so there may be a third black piece out there, obscured from clear view. Or more likely that black Knight's movement (two squares forward, three up, one sideways and 0+ squares in the fourth-way direction) is multiple moves (2f1u then 2u1s would be the most simple projected moves).
:(* - The starting ranks appear to be as per 2D chess, with white's far bishop no longer in starting position, but if that's the one now in the nearest start-level 4th rank then it must not have made just one single 2D-like bishop's move to get there, nor is it obviously a pawn brought forward (2f starter then 1f second move, with or without an en-passant), so it may not be quite so simple, or else we've seen more than 4 white moves (and 3/4 black ones). Or both plus some possible exchange of pieces already.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.131|162.158.158.131]] 22:25, 19 May 2021 (UTC)

I interpreted the comic as the first row is normal chess- 2 dimensional. The second row starts the boards above and below- 3d. The third row would be 4d, and the 4th row would be 5d. ----

Pretty sure this is just funny commentary on people making more and more complex variations of chess, Quantum Chess, 4D Chess, 5D chess with time travel etc... but part of me looks at this and goes "that could be a real game... that could actually be a good game." just me? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.20|108.162.221.20]] 21:35, 19 May 2021 (UTC) Sam

Looking at this, I note that there seems to be an assumption in the explanation that n-dimensional chess means chess with an unlimited number of dimensions. I believe that what Randall was actually saying with the "N" was "any number N", not "all numbers N together", i.e. "The problem with 3, 4, 5, 6, ... , N dimensional chess is", and that his objection is that you always only get one number for N. His board, of course, is designed to give you as few as two dimensions up to five dimensions available for any particular piece depending upon the row.

True n-dimensional chess, where there are an unlimited number of dimensions, would probably be unplayable by any Turing machine, including, of course, humans. [[User:Geek Prophet|Geek Prophet]] ([[User talk:Geek Prophet|talk]]) 23:58, 19 May 2021 (UTC)
:If you have an infinite number of dimensions to work with, there is a straightforward means for a king to escape forever - just alternate linear moves with diagonal moves, always away from the opposing pieces, and always along a dimension not previously traversed (there are an infinite number of these, so always one more). Any opposing piece will be one dimension behind, at the very least. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.4|108.162.237.4]] 01:45, 20 May 2021 (UTC)
::That surely only works if you don't end up stuck in an infinitely-dimensioned corner (infinite dimensions but still finite+nonwrapping extent in each dimension).
::I'm not sure if there's a foolproof way not to find yourself in that corner, by evading through heretofor unused dimensions strictly around the centre of the board (where a finite number of pieces may not be able to coordinate an all-sides trap) but once there a single infinitely-dimensional queen moved one square away from all the relevent edges, protected by some handy rearward piece, could force the endgame.
::If the king itself is in that one-space-out position (not yet immediately restricted by the edge, ''any'' edge) I ''think'' it can still be considered corralled by a suitably-placed finite smattering of sufficiently-positioned (for their respective powers of projection) pieces, so even if the centre squares are freely dodgable round (which they might not be, if the opposing king is already safely stationed there, denying 3x3x3x...3 spots to the victimised king) there's a potential to be tactically/psychologically forced towards a definitely entrapping position the moment you stray towards any edge.
::(If the queen/etc is '≤2D in movement, like a 2D queen except throughout the ∞D of choice' (i.e. confined to a planar diagonal), then it may be less potent for a given distance and not be able to project a no-king-may-pass barrier even without confounding pieces, so might not be the key to the corner-shoving tactic. But then the king would surely be 'choose your single plane' too, in the moves available in its attempt to escape.)
::Boundaryless arenas (including wrap-around finite boards, or at least 'only' 8<sup>∞</sup> in their infiniteness) might well be trivially always in an escapable position. But I have my doubts even about the fully-wrapping version, as the attacker's 'left behind' pieces may be considered significant danger again as they are then actually ''ahead'' of any king's fleeing move, and the question now is whether the king can still dodge ever-'sideways' against a concerted and sufficiently analytic opponent still with enough (2? 16? However-many-you-can-initially-start-with-on-such-a-board?) pieces of the right kinds.
::That said, whatever my proficiency with dimensional projections, I'm definitelt rubbish at chess in its standard form. So ICBW. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.60|141.101.98.60]] 09:24, 20 May 2021 (UTC)

It looks like the 3rd row adds a cube on a stack of alternating colored squares, and then the 4th row does something similar with a tesseract. It gets a little crowded, so hard to be sure. [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 01:36, 20 May 2021 (UTC)

It might make sense to just add a link to chessvariants.com, since there are a surprising number of multidimensional chess variants in existence besides the aforementioned 5D chess with time travel. [[User:JakobWulfkind|JakobWulfkind]] ([[User talk:JakobWulfkind|talk]]) 02:38, 20 May 2021 (UTC)

Ah yes, the Ra̷s̵̡̡̛͍̖̗͖̟̞͊̀̓̉͂̈́̇̉p̵̛̤̔̂͐͗̄̿̋͛̿͗͒͒̚͘̚̚͝u̵̞̿̒̃̾̑͒̎ṱ̶̨̧̡͍̜̙͖̣̗͙̥͈̳̱̼̫͗͊̌͑̇̆͝i̵n opening. A good choice!
Also, when is someone going to make a playable version of this??? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.74|108.162.249.74]] 04:58, 20 May 2021 (UTC)

I don't think the explanation really needs anything to do with intelligence. "Fourth-dimensional chess" is lingo for complexity or cunning, so I think the comic is a joke based on that phrase. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.142.50|172.69.142.50]] 05:36, 20 May 2021 (UTC)

I was disappointed that Randall did not include two odd squares - one on either side of the board - for the one-dimensional chess starting point. Of course since he does things by rows, this would necessarily limit the number of 1D starting points to one per player - and it would break the symmetry of an 8x8x? board and make it tough to pick which piece starts on the 1D row. [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 13:14, 20 May 2021 (UTC)
:My (nearly) initial thoughts, too. Row0: Square; Row1: Lateral line of squares (7 or 9 wide, to centre?); Row2: Stacked array of squares (7||9 x 5||7?); Row 3: A cube(/tesseract-slice) of oportunities; then Row4 either Row3 from the other side or a further hyper-version (singular, or doubled with anti-Row4, leading onto anti-Row3, etc...)
:Another thought I had was that every enhanced-Mwnhwttan step from the home-row should oead to additional spread into a new dimension - to keep that consistent arrange for the branches out from 3ach side to 'kiss' exactly in (non-euclidean) perfect contact. As with 2D chess, any four moves away from the back row (not backwards, not the most basic sideways movement) puts you onto the opponent's half. Or make it Euclidean but then it'd be on one ''several'' opponents' 'halves'. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.251|141.101.99.251]] 14:54, 20 May 2021 (UTC)

Couldn't you play some of the middle parts with components from 5D chess with time traveling and multiverses or whatever it was(forgot the name)? [[User:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)|Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)]] ([[User talk:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)|talk]]) 13:53, 20 May 2021 (UTC)

2463: Astrophotography

2021-05-17T15:02:37Z

141.101.99.251: Upsmanship mis-spelled in caption

{{comic
| number = 2463
| date = May 15, 2021
| title = Astrophotography
| image = astrophotography.png
| titletext = [One hill over, a competing astrophotographer does a backflip over a commercial airliner while throwing a tray of plastic space stations into the air, through which a falcon swoops to 'grab' the real one.]
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BACKFLIPPING ASTROPHOTOGRAPHER. Title text needs to be outlined as the main explanation. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
{{w|Astrophotography}} is the practice of taking pictures of astronomical objects. Sometimes it is specified as a hobby, as opposed to the work of professional astronomers. Astrophotographers like to take pretty pictures of all sorts of objects in the sky, but photographing the {{w|Sun}} is a popular subgenre within the field, especially if something is transiting in front of it. Typical things include planes, the {{w|International Space Station}} (ISS), and the {{w|Moon}} ({{w|Solar eclipses}}).

During the [[:Category:Total Solar Eclipse 2017|Total Solar Eclipse 2017]] visible across US it was possible to see the ISS pass in front of the Sun during a partial part of the Eclipse (from a site that was later in the total Eclipse zone.) This was [https://www.smartereveryday.com/eclipse photographed] and filmed by Destin from Smarter Every Day and can be seen in his video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lepQoU4oek4&feature=youtu.be Space Station Transiting 2017 ECLIPSE]. (Go to the time of the flyby of the ISS in the video [https://youtu.be/lepQoU4oek4?t=209 here]).

Two years later he did another episode [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nk0MRxXqo9s South American Eclipse - Argentina]. In this video there was only the moon eclipsing the sun, at first, but then [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nk0MRxXqo9s&t=610s towards the end] the sun begins to set behind the distant mountains creating a shadow scenario between Moon and mountain shadows as displayed in this comic.

This comic thus combines those two videos, which Randall must have seen, and then adds several more layers caused by the Astrophotography community's One-Upmanship. The practice of "one-upmanship" refers to the practice of achieving something superior to what another has achieved, or "getting one up on" them. The term being coined by Stephen Potter in "One-Upmanship: Being Some Account of the Activities and Teachings of the Lifemanship Correspondence College of One-Upness and Games Lifemastery." the third of his sequence of comic self-help books.

The caption claims that the photo shown in the comic is the result of a continuous string of one-upmanship among astrophotographers in a community, each striving to one-up the other.

In this comic there seems to be an abundance of things:
* The ISS can be seen transiting in the upper center.
* There is an ongoing {{w|partial solar eclipse}} so the view of the Sun is partially obscured by the Moon in the upper right quadrant.
**These two things are what Destin managed in his first video.
* The Sun is setting or rising from behind a hill while partially eclipsed.
** This is what Destin managed in his second video.
* This photographer achieved a combination of those two plus several other ones-up those two videos.
* [[Megan]] is standing slightly below the peak of a hill and seems to be juggling, with five balls, which are also in front of the sun. One or more of those balls might actually be {{w|sunspots}} or the planets Mercury or Venus.
* [[Cueball]] is standing at the peak of the hill, shooting an arrow from a bow, one arrow has pierced what at first appears to be one of the juggling balls, but may be a {{w|Transit of Venus}}.
** A simultaneous Eclipse and Transit of Venus is actually expected in the future, but not until April 5, 15232 (13211 years after the publishing of this comic).
*** It would though likely be easier to make the arrow "hit" Venus than one of the juggled balls, as the planet's angular velocity is significantly lower.
*** The other four balls are too large that any of them could represent Mercury, the only other planet that can transit the Sun, when seen from Earth. But Megan has been careful to make one ball go so much higher than the middle two, that it seems to fit that Venus has been shot out from between them.
** Given the long time before this could happen, it could also just be five balls. And in that case the easiest way to make this picture is to put the fifth ball on the arrow before shooting it.
* Two airplanes pulling banners with the words "nice" and "shot" (which could refer to both the archer and the photographer) are flying in opposite directions above them. (Airplane banners that are not continuous sheets are made with thin support lines spanning the openings, which explains the presence of the apparently unsupported central disc in the "O"s.)

Taking the picture required precisely scheduling and arranging the relative positions of several of the various subjects (and photographer) to coincide with the predictable but rare conjunctions of the rest of the scene, as well as special equipment:
* All this had to be timed very very precisely as the [https://youtu.be/lepQoU4oek4?t=209 transit of the ISS only takes a second].
* A solar filter must be used to photograph the sun without overexposing the image or even damaging equipment.
* The photograph must be taken during a partial solar eclipse. These only happen a few times per year and are only visible in part of the world.
* Related to the last point, a nearby person appears larger than the moon. It is possible to photograph the silhouette of a person or a cityscape in front of a full moon, making the moon look comparatively larger or smaller by adjusting the distance to the closer subject, and then the lenses used by the photographer to make them both fill just the right amount of the frame. The photographer needed to carefully choose their position relative to the subjects to make this happen.
* The exposure time of the photograph had to be short enough to capture clear silhouettes of the ISS, the juggling balls and the arrow while these were in the air.
* The mountain had to be in a location that would happen to see the ISS passing in front of the sun at the same time as the sun was rising from behind it.
* The subjects had to achieve a moment in which four juggling balls were in the air and an arrow had pierced the point where Venus would appear, while sideways relative to the sun's light, with still near normal intensity.
* The planes also needed to be flying in the correct directions for the text of the signs to be visible, and with very precise timing for them to be in the correct positions to read "Nice" as coming before "Shot" just as the ISS passes by.
* The sky (at least between the photographer and the Sun) had to be free of clouds.

The title text describes a similarly outlandish photo attempting to one-up Cueball and Megan, done simultaneously on the next hill over, thus a place where the same ISS transit can be seen:
* A commercial airliner is flying in front of the Sun, thus this has to be timed with the flight plan (or it has to be chartred, to pass there at the correct height and position, within a few seconds.
* The astrophotographer is performing a backflip such that they appear to be over the airliner.
* The astrophotographer is tossing several tiny models of the ISS from a tray, so they also appear in front of the Sun with the real one (like the joggling balls and Venus).
* A falcon is flying in front of the Sun, presumably intending to capture prey, in such a way that it appears to be snatching the real ISS out of the fakes. The falcon moves slowly compared to the ISS, so it just needs it's talons to be on the line the ISS makes across the Sun, then a picture where it is close to the talons can be used. The other parts are slower than this.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan stand on a hill with the dark yellow sun setting behind them. Outside the Sun's disc everything is black. All that can be seen is silhouettes against the sun. Cueball is at the top-left of the hill, holding a bow in his left arm, which has been recently shot, as indicated with lines along the string. The the arrow is to right, where it has speared a ball. Megan is at the bottom-right of the hill, juggling four other balls, one near her hand, two above her and one higher up than the path of the arrow. There are two planes going in opposite directions with banners on them with words readable against the Sun. Above the planes is the shadow of the International Space Station. Finally Sun is partially eclipsed by the moon in the upper right corner.]
:[Banner 1]: Nice
:[Banner 2]: Shot

:[Caption beneath the panel]:
:Our astrophotography community's one-upsmanship[sic] is getting out of hand.

==Trivia==
*Randall has commented on extreme photography in comics [[1855: Telephoto]] and [[1719: Superzoom]], and the ''How To'' chapter "How to take a selfie".

{{comic discussion}}

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

2461: 90's Kid Space Program

2021-05-12T09:04:19Z

141.101.99.251: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2461
| date = May 10, 2021
| title = 90's Kid Space Program
| image = 90s_kid_space_program.png
| titletext = NASA may not want to admit it, but at this point they ARE the 90's Kid Space Program.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an ORBITAL LAUNCH SYSTEM. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The "launch system" is just one of the {{w|Eye popper|rubber popper toys}} popular in the 1990s. These toys are little rubber hemispheres, about 1" (25 mm) in diameter and 1/8" (3 mm) thick. When turned inside-out and placed on a hard surface, they will, after a short wait, snap back to their original shape, popping up into the air. The joke is that kids who grew up with these toys will think they're a great idea to propel a space ship to orbit, when in fact the toys launch at mere tens of kilometers per hour, far short of the thousands needed to reach {{w|orbital speed}}. But now kids playing with these are those that make rockets, hence the title 90's Kid Space Program (KSP).

Even if the popper-based propulsion system could generate enough acceleration to reach orbit, the abrupt impulse would likely cause serious harm to any astronauts.

The title text implies that many working now at {{w|NASA}} are/were in fact 90's kids. Both categories would include Randall, as he was born in 1984 and previously worked at NASA.

The title is a reference to the Kerbal Space Program (KSP) which has been [[:Category:Kerbal Space Program|recurring theme]] on xkcd, and it has previously been hinted at that NASA's employees uses this program in [[1244: Six Words]] and [[2204: Ksp 2]]. And also that you learn more about orbital Mechanics by using KSP than from being hired by NASA in [[1356: Orbital Mechanics]].

==Transcript==
:[A command and service module representing the tip of a spacecraft, is attached by four long trusses to four equidistant points on the edge of a giant light green popper (a green "hill" with a round raised edge around it). The popper is in its inverted configuration, ready to pop. There is a caption beneath the panel:]
:The 90's Kid Space Program prepares for their first orbital launch

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Kerbal Space Program]]