explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Little Bobby Tables

2024-03-28T11:27:13Z

141.101.99.79: /* Real life occurrences */

__NOTOC__{{Infobox character
| image = Little Bobby Tables.PNG
| imagesize = 200px
| caption = '
| first_appearance = [[327: Exploits of a Mom]]
| fix = yes
}}

<noinclude>:''For a list of comics, see [[:Category:Comics featuring Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;--|Comics featuring Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;--]].''
:''For Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;--'s sister, see [[Help I'm trapped in a driver's license factory Elaine Roberts]].''
:''For Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;--'s mother, see [[Mrs. Roberts]].''</noinclude>

'''Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;--''', also known as '''Little Bobby Tables''', is a [[stick figure]] character in [[xkcd]]. He is the youngest son of elite hacker [[Mrs. Roberts]] and [[Help I'm trapped in a driver's license factory Elaine Roberts]] is his older sister. His full name is known to cause problems with some computers. When he was first enrolled in school in [[327: Exploits of a Mom]], it exploited a vulnerability in the parsing of students' names into the school's student database resulting in the school losing all the student records for the year.

==Appearances==
[[File:Adult Bobby Tables.PNG|thumb|200px|Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;-- as an adult from [[884: Rogers St.]]]]
Within the five comics he is referenced, he is only drawn three times. The first two are in the [[:Category:1337|1337 series]] where he is drawn as a Cueball-like kid. But then he also appears as a young man with long curly hair in [[884: Rogers St.]]. Here it is only the title text that reveals that this is Bobby, that, and the fact that [[Randall]] in the official transcript does not mention the gender, but only that it is a person.
Here is how he looks in that comic:

There have been suggestions that the Robert in the table in [[596: Latitude]] was Bobby but given that [[Black Hat]] has never had any relation to him in the other comics, and that [[Rob]] has, it seems more likely that the Robert is Rob.

==Name==
In {{w|SQL}}, commands are terminated by semicolons <code>;</code> and data is often quoted using single quotes <code>'</code>. Commands may also be enclosed in parentheses <code>(</code> and <code>)</code>. Data is stored in tables of similar items (e.g., <code>Students</code>) and individual entries are "rows" in the table. To delete an entire table (and every row of data in that table), you use the command <code>DROP</code> (e.g., <code>DROP TABLE Students</code>). The <code>--</code> represents the start of a {{w|Comment_(computer_programming)#SQL|SQL comment}} which ensures that the rest of the command is ignored so an error will not occur.

The exploited vulnerability is that the single quote in the name input was not properly "escaped" by the software. Thus, when the name is embedded into some SQL statement, the quote is erroneously parsed as a closing quote inside that statement, rather than being parsed as part of the name. Lack of such escaping is a common SQL vulnerability; this type of exploit is referred to as {{w|SQL injection}}.

The name Bobby Tables inspired a website, [http://bobby-tables.com/ bobby-tables.com], a guide for beginning programmers to learn the right way to avoid SQL injection in their code. It appears in [[1253: Exoplanet Names]] as one of the suggested planet names.

===Example of SQL injection===

A typical, unsecured SQL command vulnerable to SQL injection would be something like:

database.execute("INSERT INTO Students (name) VALUES ('" + name + "');");

where <code>name</code> is a variable which is filled with the name to be inserted into the database. With a regular name, this would result in the following SQL command to be sent to the database system:

INSERT INTO Students (name) VALUES ('Elaine');

However, with Little Bobby Tables's full name, the SQL command would be:

INSERT INTO Students (name) VALUES ('Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;--');

Or, if split after each <code>;</code>:

INSERT INTO Students (name) VALUES ('Robert');
DROP TABLE Students;
--');

The first command inserts the name <code>Robert</code> into the database as in the first example. The second command however completely deletes the table <code>Students</code>. The remainder <code>--</code> is a comment to prevent syntax errors with the apostrophe and the closing parenthesis from the target command that the exploit code otherwise would have no use for.

===Real life occurrences===
In 2016, the British company <code>; DROP TABLE "COMPANIES"; --</code> was founded, and their name is still visible in the filings in [https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/10542519/filing-history Companies House]. The name is deliberately misformed (not containing a closing quote at the start) in order to avoid actual problems for data users.

In 2017, a Swiss group called their book <code><script>alert("!Mediengruppe Bitnik");</script></code> to make e-commerce websites display a hackneyed pop-up as soon as the book name loads. [https://i.imgur.com/Dd4XN7d.png It immediately worked on several sites] and to this day, [https://www.tomlinsons-online.com/p-16381221-scriptalertmediengruppe-bitnikscript.aspx some websites] are still affected.

In 2019, a person chose a vanity license plate that said <code>NULL</code> and subsequently [https://www.wired.com/story/null-license-plate-landed-one-hacker-ticket-hell/ received thousands of dollars in fines from random vehicles] for which the license plate was unavailable. Some database programmers somewhere along the way failed to consider the difference between the string <code>NULL</code> and the value {{w|NULL}}.

In 2020, the British corporate register [https://forum.aws.chdev.org/t/cross-site-scripting-xss-software-attack/3355/8 accepted a registration] for <code> “><SCRIPT SRC=<nowiki>H</nowiki>TTPS://MJT.XSS.HT> LTD</code>, which was soon officially renamed to <code>THAT COMPANY WHOSE NAME USED TO CONTAIN HTML SCRIPT TAGS LTD</code> to avoid a cross-site scripting problem.

{{navbox-characters}}
[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Minor characters]]

Little Bobby Tables

2024-03-28T11:25:52Z

141.101.99.79: /* Real life occurrences */

__NOTOC__{{Infobox character
| image = Little Bobby Tables.PNG
| imagesize = 200px
| caption = '
| first_appearance = [[327: Exploits of a Mom]]
| fix = yes
}}

<noinclude>:''For a list of comics, see [[:Category:Comics featuring Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;--|Comics featuring Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;--]].''
:''For Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;--'s sister, see [[Help I'm trapped in a driver's license factory Elaine Roberts]].''
:''For Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;--'s mother, see [[Mrs. Roberts]].''</noinclude>

'''Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;--''', also known as '''Little Bobby Tables''', is a [[stick figure]] character in [[xkcd]]. He is the youngest son of elite hacker [[Mrs. Roberts]] and [[Help I'm trapped in a driver's license factory Elaine Roberts]] is his older sister. His full name is known to cause problems with some computers. When he was first enrolled in school in [[327: Exploits of a Mom]], it exploited a vulnerability in the parsing of students' names into the school's student database resulting in the school losing all the student records for the year.

==Appearances==
[[File:Adult Bobby Tables.PNG|thumb|200px|Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;-- as an adult from [[884: Rogers St.]]]]
Within the five comics he is referenced, he is only drawn three times. The first two are in the [[:Category:1337|1337 series]] where he is drawn as a Cueball-like kid. But then he also appears as a young man with long curly hair in [[884: Rogers St.]]. Here it is only the title text that reveals that this is Bobby, that, and the fact that [[Randall]] in the official transcript does not mention the gender, but only that it is a person.
Here is how he looks in that comic:

There have been suggestions that the Robert in the table in [[596: Latitude]] was Bobby but given that [[Black Hat]] has never had any relation to him in the other comics, and that [[Rob]] has, it seems more likely that the Robert is Rob.

==Name==
In {{w|SQL}}, commands are terminated by semicolons <code>;</code> and data is often quoted using single quotes <code>'</code>. Commands may also be enclosed in parentheses <code>(</code> and <code>)</code>. Data is stored in tables of similar items (e.g., <code>Students</code>) and individual entries are "rows" in the table. To delete an entire table (and every row of data in that table), you use the command <code>DROP</code> (e.g., <code>DROP TABLE Students</code>). The <code>--</code> represents the start of a {{w|Comment_(computer_programming)#SQL|SQL comment}} which ensures that the rest of the command is ignored so an error will not occur.

The exploited vulnerability is that the single quote in the name input was not properly "escaped" by the software. Thus, when the name is embedded into some SQL statement, the quote is erroneously parsed as a closing quote inside that statement, rather than being parsed as part of the name. Lack of such escaping is a common SQL vulnerability; this type of exploit is referred to as {{w|SQL injection}}.

The name Bobby Tables inspired a website, [http://bobby-tables.com/ bobby-tables.com], a guide for beginning programmers to learn the right way to avoid SQL injection in their code. It appears in [[1253: Exoplanet Names]] as one of the suggested planet names.

===Example of SQL injection===

A typical, unsecured SQL command vulnerable to SQL injection would be something like:

database.execute("INSERT INTO Students (name) VALUES ('" + name + "');");

where <code>name</code> is a variable which is filled with the name to be inserted into the database. With a regular name, this would result in the following SQL command to be sent to the database system:

INSERT INTO Students (name) VALUES ('Elaine');

However, with Little Bobby Tables's full name, the SQL command would be:

INSERT INTO Students (name) VALUES ('Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;--');

Or, if split after each <code>;</code>:

INSERT INTO Students (name) VALUES ('Robert');
DROP TABLE Students;
--');

The first command inserts the name <code>Robert</code> into the database as in the first example. The second command however completely deletes the table <code>Students</code>. The remainder <code>--</code> is a comment to prevent syntax errors with the apostrophe and the closing parenthesis from the target command that the exploit code otherwise would have no use for.

===Real life occurrences===
In 2016, the company <code>; DROP TABLE "COMPANIES"; --</code> was founded, and their name is still visible in the filings in [Companies House](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/10542519/filing-history). The name is deliberately misformed (not containing a closing quote at the start) in order to avoid actual problems for data users.

In 2017, a Swiss group called their book <code><script>alert("!Mediengruppe Bitnik");</script></code> to make e-commerce websites display a hackneyed pop-up as soon as the book name loads. [https://i.imgur.com/Dd4XN7d.png It immediately worked on several sites] and to this day, [https://www.tomlinsons-online.com/p-16381221-scriptalertmediengruppe-bitnikscript.aspx some websites] are still affected.

In 2019, a person chose a vanity license plate that said <code>NULL</code> and subsequently [https://www.wired.com/story/null-license-plate-landed-one-hacker-ticket-hell/ received thousands of dollars in fines from random vehicles] for which the license plate was unavailable. Some database programmers somewhere along the way failed to consider the difference between the string <code>NULL</code> and the value {{w|NULL}}.

In 2020, the British corporate register [https://forum.aws.chdev.org/t/cross-site-scripting-xss-software-attack/3355/8 accepted a registration] for <code> “><SCRIPT SRC=<nowiki>H</nowiki>TTPS://MJT.XSS.HT> LTD</code>, which was soon officially renamed to <code>THAT COMPANY WHOSE NAME USED TO CONTAIN HTML SCRIPT TAGS LTD</code> to avoid a cross-site scripting problem.

{{navbox-characters}}
[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Minor characters]]

1578: Squirrelphone

2024-02-22T00:48:48Z

141.101.99.79: /* Explanation */ As the relevent statement suggests a degree of squirrel autonomy in the resolving action, making it a more neutral term than "putting"...

{{comic
| number = 1578
| date = September 16, 2015
| title = Squirrelphone
| image = squirrelphone.png
| titletext = After a while, the squirrel starts making that beeping noise and doesn't stop until it hops back up onto the stump.
}}

==Explanation==
"Squirrelphone" is a {{w|Compound (linguistics)|compound word}} combining "{{w|squirrel}}" and "{{w|phone}}".

In this comic, we see a squirrel pretend to be a telephone, only to bite [[Cueball]] when he tries to pick it up and use it as one. This is humorous because a living squirrel is not an appropriate creature to maintain a phone call.{{Citation needed}}

The sounds the squirrel makes correspond to the tones that the terminals make when you use the POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) in the US:
*When someone else calls you and the receiver of your phone is on the hook, the phone makes loud and long "riiing riiiing" tones. This is the case in the first frame of the comic.
*If a phone is left off hook without use for too long (referenced in the title text), an {{w|off-hook tone}} is played. This is to alert anyone present that the phone is off-hook. In this case, you should hang up so that you can receive calls. Once on-hook, the receiver can be picked up again to dial. In this case, this means having the squirrel back on the stump.

[[:Category:Squirrels|Squirrels]] are a recurring theme in xkcd. They also appear in ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'', where it has for instance been used as a cute animal to replace a drawing of something scary or unpleasant like in the articles ''[https://what-if.xkcd.com/98/ Blood Alcohol]'' or ''[https://what-if.xkcd.com/105/ Cannibalism]''.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is approaching a stump with a squirrel perched on it. A ringing noise is coming from the squirrel's back.]
:Squirrel: Riiiiing
:Squirrel: Riiiiiing

:[Cueball has picked up the squirrel and is holding it to his left ear.]
:Cueball: Hello?

:[The squirrel bites Cueball's head.]
:Squirrel: Chomp!
:Cueball: Ow!

:[Cueball holds his hand to his cheek while the squirrel leaps away, fleeing.]
:Cueball: ???

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Squirrels]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Phones]]

2893: Sphere Tastiness

2024-02-15T09:20:53Z

141.101.99.79: /* Explanation */ Composition of baseballs is covered by the link above

{{comic
| number = 2893
| date = February 12, 2024
| title = Sphere Tastiness
| image = sphere_tastiness_2x.png
| imagesize = 388x392px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Baseballs do present a challenge to this theory, but I'm convinced we just haven't found the right seasoning.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a STRANGELY TASTY MOON MADE OF RUSSIAN PELMENI - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic graphs the tastiness vs. the size of four roughly spherical objects: {{w|melons}}, {{w|grapes}}, {{w|Earth|Earth}} and the {{w|Moon}}. Based on the the fact that melons and grapes are (in this context) relatively small and tasty to most people, and that planetary scale bodies are relatively large and made mostly of rocks and metals generally considered not remotely tasty, [[Randall]] postulates the existence of an intermediate body, one which is approximately 800 meters in diameter and "tastes okay".

This is the second comic in a row to feature fruit, graphs and predictions (after [[2892: Banana Prices]]), and continues the theme of a logarithmic axis scale to facilitate plotting a linear regression. Here the line is interpolated between known data, rather than extrapolated beyond it. Such interpolation is quite common in scientific analysis, and is often useful, but this example clearly leads to a ludicrous conclusion. Using such ridiculous analyses to show the dangers of flawed and/or sloppy methodology is a common theme in xkcd.

There are multiple ways in which this analysis is flawed, and therefore why the conclusion is unsupportable:
* there are only four data points, which is insufficient to interpolate from.
* these clusters represent entirely different sub-classes of spherical object (fruit vs. astronomical bodies) while other subclasses are not represented at all (the title text mentions this flaw).
* as tight clusters of [[2533: Slope Hypothesis Testing|similarly sourced data]], it effectively reduces the data down to two useful data points. This also makes the choice of log-median interpolation unjustified.
* the 'tastiness' scale has no indication of what assessment (subjective or objective) it records. Nor does it even have graduations, making it unknown if the graph is linear-log or log-log (or otherwise), changing the implied meaning behind the choice of straight-line interpolation.
* according to astronaut John Young, who visited the Moon's surface during the Apollo 16 mission, [https://phys.org/news/2006-02-mysterious-moondust.html "moondust doesn't taste half bad"]. (Although other Apollo astronauts likened its smell and taste to burnt gunpowder, so make of that what you will.)

The title text points out that {{w|baseball (ball)|baseballs}} seem to refute this theory since they're not usually thought of as tasty, but they're between the sizes of grapes and melons, which would place them in the bottom left of the graph, way off the fit line. Baseballs are typically made of a combination of a rubber or cork center wrapped in yarn, and covered by either horsehide, cowhide or synthetic leather. In point of fact, there are many, many common round objects that completely fail to conform to this graph, but rather than acknowledge that this analysis is fatally flawed, Randall suggests that the problem is that we lack "the right seasonings". While seasonings can improve the taste of foods, it's implausible that the inedible components of baseballs would be rendered "tasty" with any conceivable combination of seasonings. This argument lampoons the use of "cherry picking" and motivated reasoning, in which researchers include only data points which fit their hypothesis and make up reasons to exclude those which don't. This is obviously very poor science, but less exaggerated versions are all too common in scientific studies.

The comic refers to this plot as research. This is an exaggeration, since two clusters of paired points are rarely considered sufficient for research purposes. But plotting a justifiably sufficient quantity of data points on a logarithmic plot, and then drawing a line through them, is a common way to visualize an actual exponential relationship more comprehensibly. An example of that is the {{w|Gutenberg–Richter law}} where the magnitude of earthquakes (an intrinsically logarithmic scale) in a particular region is plotted together with the frequency of occurrence, typically resulting in a statistically significant straight line.

Other fruit opinions have previously been mentioned in [[388: Fuck Grapefruit]], but it is unknown what the line would be like if Randall included grapefruit.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Graph with Y axis using an arrow indicating tastiness from "Not Tasty" to "Tasty" and X axis labeled "Sphere Diameter (meters)" with a logarithmic scale running from 10-5 to around 108 (with 10-3, 100, 103 and 106 labeled).]

:[The graph contains two points for "Grapes" and "Melons" at the "Tasty" end of the Y axis, between 10-2 and 10-1 meters, and two points for "The Earth" and "The Moon" at the "Not Tasty" end, both around 107 meters. A straight dashed line shows a linear interpolation between the points. There's a circle with a question mark about halfway between them.]

:[Caption below the panel:]
: My research suggests the existence of an 800-meter sphere that tastes okay.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Baseball]]

2893: Sphere Tastiness

2024-02-13T11:04:18Z

141.101.99.79: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2893
| date = February 12, 2024
| title = Sphere Tastiness
| image = sphere_tastiness_2x.png
| imagesize = 388x392px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Baseballs do present a challenge to this theory, but I'm convinced we just haven't found the right seasoning.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a STRANGELY TASTY MOON MADE OF RUSSIAN PELMENI - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic graphs the tastiness vs size of four roughly spherical objects: {{w|melons}}, {{w|grapes}}, {{w|Earth|Earth}}, and {{w|Moon|the Moon}}. Melons and grapes are, in this context, small and very tasty to most people, but the Earth and Moon are large and [https://news.uchicago.edu/explainer/formation-earth-and-moon-explained made of rocks and metals], which are not usually considered very tasty. The Earth is a bit higher than the Moon, probably due to the fact that some things on Earth are tasty. It is unknown what the line would be like if [[Randall]] included grapefruit.

The comic takes these four data points and makes a regression with them. Randall interpolates from this line that there must be a medium-sized sphere that "tastes okay".

The title text points out that {{w|baseball (ball)|baseballs}} seem to refute this theory since they're not usually thought of as tasty, but they're between the sizes of grapes and melons. Baseballs are balls used in the sport {{w|baseball}}, usually made out of a combination of a rubber or cork centre wrapped in yarn, and covered either by either horsehide, cowhide or synthetic leather. Although most baseballs may not be immediately lethal to consume, baseballs are not likely to be very delicious to eat by the sheer nature of the taste of the materials that make up it, something that any seasoning is unlikely to be able to mask (at least in reasonable quantities). However, it suggests that if the right seasonings were found, they would be as tasty.

This is the second comic in a row to feature fruit, graphs and predictions, after [[2892: Banana Prices]], and continues the theme of a logarithmic axial scale to facilitate plotting a linear regression. Here the line is interpolated between known data, rather than extrapolated beyond it. This would ordinarily be far more accurate than extrapolating outside the range of known data. However, Randall's analysis is flawed in multiple ways. Firstly, there are only four data points, which is insufficient to extrapolate from. Secondly, they are tightly clustered, effectively reducing it still further to two data points. Thirdly, these clusters represent entirely different sub-classes of spherical object - fruit and astronomical bodies - while other subclasses are not represented at all (as the title text makes reference to). Also, it should be noted that edible things are not manufactured in 800-meter (½-mile) spheres, as that may be hard to prepare and consume. The 800-meter wide sphere could also be a small asteroid or other celestial object, but would not be very tasty, as they are made of rocks and metals, just like the Earth and the Moon. If this is true, Randall’s interpolation on the graph would probably be incorrect. Or perhaps the problem is just seasoning, just like a baseball. However, it is hard to believe that sauce is the solution to making rocks tasty.

Other fruit opinions have previously been mentioned in [[388: Fuck Grapefruit]].

The comic refers to this plot as research. This is an exaggeration, since four data points are rarely considered sufficient for research purposes.{{Citation needed}} Plotting data on a logarithmic plot and then drawing a line through it, is a common way to visualize data. It makes the exponential relationship of the data more comprehensible. An example of that is the {{w|Gutenberg–Richter_law}} where the magnitude of earthquakes (a logarithmic scale) in a particular region is plotted together with the frequency resulting in a fairly straight line.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Graph with Y axis using an arrow indicating tastiness from "Not Tasty" to "Tasty" and X axis labelled "Sphere Diameter (meters)" with a logarithmic scale running from 10-5 to around 108 (with 10-3, 100, 103 and 106 labelled).]

:[The graph contains two points for "Grapes" and "Melons" at the "Tasty" end of the Y axis, between 10-2 and 10-1 meters, and two points for "The Earth" and "The Moon" at the "Not Tasty" end, both around 107 meters. A straight dashed line shows a linear interpolation between the points. There's a circle with a question mark about halfway between them.]

:[Caption below the panel:]
: My research suggests the existence of an 800-meter sphere that tastes okay.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Baseball]]

2886: Fast Radio Bursts

2024-01-29T16:18:04Z

141.101.99.79: /* Explanation */ Further notes on what sent-to-space microwave ovens there may/may not be, and various noted microwave sources that are already in space (and at least approaching the 'stellar-scale' sizes, if not more massive/extensive).

{{comic
| number = 2886
| date = January 26, 2024
| title = Fast Radio Bursts
| image = fast_radio_bursts_2x.png
| imagesize = 469x524px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Dr. Petroff has also shown that the Higgs boson signal was actually sparks from someone microwaving grapes, the EHT black hole photo was a frozen bagel someone left in too long, and the LIGO detection was just someone slamming the microwave door too hard.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an ENERGETIC OVEN-SIZED STAR - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

[[Cueball]] is at a convention, stating the different sources of {{w|fast radio burst}}s, which are short high-energy signals which have been detected by astronomers, but whose source is not known. His team is pretty sure that most of these bursts are energetic stellar objects in space - that is, astronomical phenomena.

He then says that some of them are caused by {{w|microwave oven}}s, citing Dr. Emily Petroff's work on identifying the apparent source of "{{w|Peryton (astronomy)|peryton}}s" at the {{w|Parkes Observatory}}.<ref>E.Petroff et al. (2015). "[https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/451/4/3933/1119649?login=false Identifying the source of perytons at the Parkes radio telescope]". ''Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society'', '''451'''(4):3933–3940.</ref> These are signals similar to fast radio bursts, but which originate on Earth and not in space; initial hypotheses included atmospheric effects related to {{w|lightning}}, and passing aircraft, but they were eventually identified as a much closer range signal from microwaves escaping as the oven door was opened inside the observatory.

After that, he explores two further options, combining attributes of the previous two:

* Energetic stellar-sized microwave ovens; this is unlikely since microwaves typically are not stellar-sized and all known microwave ovens originate on Earth rather than in space. (There is [https://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202106/30/WS60dbaca4a310efa1bd65ebc9.html apparently a microwave oven] installed in the Chinese Tiangong space-station, but it appears that the ISS [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-51235555 is less well equipped] than that. Neither facility is ever likely to have room for 'stellar-sized' equipment of any kind.)
* An energetic stellar-sized object in the break room, which would be surprising, as we have yet to see a break room large enough to contain a stellar-sized object. Although unlikely, he says he is sending a grad student there to double-check. Presumably the student is being sent rather than Cueball himself both because it is unlikely to give useful data, and because if there is indeed energetic stellar plasma in the break room, the million-degree temperatures would probably kill anyone who enters it, and grad students are disposable when compared to researchers.

Note that, as well as the ''universe-''sized {{w|Cosmic microwave background}} radiation, there are various microwave-bright {{w|Pulsar}}s and other strong microwave signals [https://www.space.com/40840-nanodiamonds-mysterious-cosmic-microwave-light.html originating from actual stars], but no reason to believe that they are deliberately purposed/engineered as any kind of actual oven.

The title text references a number of other discoveries, with Dr. Petroff suggesting explanations based on microwave ovens for each of them, as was the case with her own discovery:

* The apparent detection of the {{w|Higgs boson}} at the Large Hadron Collider was actually someone [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCrtk-pyP0I microwaving grapes], which generates plasma
* The [https://science.nasa.gov/resource/first-image-of-a-black-hole/ image of a black hole] captured by the Event Horizon Telescope was actually a burning bagel (a notably ring-shaped bread product)
* {{w|LIGO}} (the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) did not detect gravitational waves, but was instead disturbed by someone slamming the microwave door too hard

In each case, these are highly improbable - for instance, LIGO used a complex suspension system, and two sites (one in Louisiana and one in Washington State) comparing signals, to rule out such interference.

See [[2289: Scenario 4]] for a similar situation.

==References==
<references/>

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

:[Cueball standing behind a lectern, with a poster hung from the ceiling behind him]

:Potential sources of fast radio bursts:
:(1) Energetic stellar-sized astrophysical objects floating in space
:Cueball: We're pretty sure this is what most of them are.

:(2) Microwave ovens in the observatory break room
:Cueball: This was definitely some of them, oops. (Petroff et. al., 2015)

:(3) Energetic steller-sized microwave ovens floating in space
:Cueball: We think this one is unlikely.

:(4) Energetic stellar-sized astrophysical objects in the observatory break room
:Cueball: This is almost certainly not it, though we're sending a grad student to double-check.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Space]]

2881: Bug Thread

2024-01-16T15:10:53Z

141.101.99.79: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2881
| date = January 15, 2024
| title = Bug Thread
| image = bug_thread_2x.png
| imagesize = 317x495px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = After some account issues, we've added 6 new people from the beach house rental website support forum.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an UNFIXED BUG MEETUP - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

A bug thread, or issue tracker, is a type of forum intended for discussions of unintended behavior in a program, also known as a bug. Examples include Github and Bugzilla. Or a part of a more general forum may be expected to be used for such technical queries, as opposed to general feature requests, FAQs and other community interactions. Most bug threads have a rule to only leave a comment if you have something insightful to add, such as being able to reproduce how the bug occurs or possible solutions to resolving it. However in practice this rule is often ignored and many threads end up with multiple people simply commenting that the bug still exists, which may be acceptable if the facts are already there and do not need explicitly restating. Additionally, those who are perfectly content with a product have few reasons to enumerate their happy experience in a 'bug thread'. Those seeking help may tend to just see mostly the others who are, or have been, seeking help, if there are not also proper solutions and people to explain them.

The exact nature of the bug in the comic is unknown, but there are multiple people reporting the problem (based upon their distinctive profile pictures). Just one possible case (the user with the half-obscured thumbnail of the topmost visible post) may have followed up as one or other of the two most recently visible contributors, indicating that this is not a case of a rare problem where [[979: Wisdom of the Ancients|only one or two]] people have ever been known to be affected. Most of the visible posts just state the originator's inclusion in the list of those affected by the bug, including with just one word replies ("Same"), or shorthand as an expression of emotion ("{{w|Like button|+1}}. So frustrating."), although another has apparently seen fit to provide three links to the specific 'solutions' that they have already seen and (unsuccessfully) tried. There appear to be no official representatives of the {{w|Developer#Computers|'devs'}}, or any other knowledgable users, providing actual workarounds or seeking further information about the problem, at least within this small window upon the collected messages.

Although we cannot see the unreadable timestamp information on the posts, one author (the penultimate, using a [[White Hat]] image) makes the observation that the problem has now been ongoing for five years. This is followed by a [[Cueball]]-identified user pondering that, perhaps even in leiu of fixing the bug, this group of like-minded individuals may enjoy meeting up in the physical world. They suggest leasing a beachfront property for a weekend, which is more suggestive of taking a break than for brainstorming possible bug resolutions (although that type of event isn't unknown). Whether this is [[Randall]], or not, his own followup comic commentary suggests that bonding over such adversity is as good a reason for friendship as any.

The title text reveals that the meet-up was actually attempted, suggesting that there were at least some still active (and still bug-bound?) participants of the thread. Although it appears that (potentially unrelated) issues arose when attempting to use an online service to book the vacation venue. Now having gained a taste for linking up with fellow 'victims' of bugs, however, the organizer appears to have extended the general invitation (venue permitting) to several other new acquaintances who have likewise fallen foul of the holiday-home service's own problematic implementation, likely having started to similarly bond upon the bug-thread/forum where this latter issue must have stubbornly remained similarly unresolved.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Part of a discussion thread in progress on an online forum is shown. Each comment has the writer's avatar to the left of the text and small illegible text immediately above the text. Part of the first comment's text is cut off at the top.]
:Commenter #1: Same issue here.
:Commenter #2: I'm having this problem too. None of the posted fixes work.
:Commenter #3: Same.
:Commenter #4: +1. So frustrating.
:Commenter #5: I'm still having this. Did you all ever figure out a fix?
:Commenter #6: Same problem as everyone. I tried the steps in the posts here, here, and here. Nothing.
:Commenter #7: Add me to the list.
:Commenter #8: Same. Ugh. Can't believe this thread is 5 years old now.
:Commenter #9: Where does everyone live? Do we want to get a beach house for a weekend or something?
:[Caption below the image:]
:At some point, you just have to give up on fixing the bug and embrace the fact that you have dozens of new friends.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Internet]]
[[Category:Social interactions]]

Talk:2879: Like This One

2024-01-11T05:34:43Z

141.101.99.79:

i'm very confused what "this gas molecule" or "this skin microbe" is meant to be; it doesn't seem like there would contextually be an obvious specific instance of either of those classes? looking forward to seeing the conjecture given in the explanation when it settles down - [[User:Vaedez|Vaedez]] ([[User talk:Vaedez|talk]]) 02:48, 11 January 2024 (UTC)
:I believe it's referring to her holding her hand out to signify a (large number of) gas molecules. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.49|172.69.34.49]] 02:55, 11 January 2024 (UTC)
::ahh, what she meant was "like these ones"--ok, I understand what both would mean now. - [[User:Vaedez|Vaedez]] ([[User talk:Vaedez|talk]]) 03:02, 11 January 2024 (UTC)
:::She's pointing at one molecule. Just because you can't pick it out of the mass doesn't change that. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 03:55, 11 January 2024 (UTC)
:::: Indeed. And one wouldn't want to get the wrong idea about ''which'' molecule she might study. Obviously, there are a lot of N2 ones, and a few O2s, but they're not necessarily of interest. The odd noble gas atom (if that counts as a molecule-of-one) or CO2 would probably be the more useful, along with SO2 / O3 / other trace ones as what she might be indicating. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.79|141.101.99.79]] 05:34, 11 January 2024 (UTC)

Other possible instances would include "Hominids" and "False vacuums". I was sure it was going to end with, "Cartoons like this one." [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 03:55, 11 January 2024 (UTC)

2873: Supersymmetry

2023-12-28T14:29:56Z

141.101.99.79: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2873
| date = December 27, 2023
| title = Supersymmetry
| image = supersymmetry 2x.png
| imagesize = 313x375px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = High-speed collisions at the Baby Park track may support the hypothesis that Daisy is her own evil twin, a theory first suggested by Nintendo in the game Majorana's Mask.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A RELATIVISTIC WALUIGI ANNIHILATING AN UNSUSPECTING LUIGI - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic suggests that the theoretical physics concept of supersymmetry is related to something else commonly known to use "super" in its name, namely Super Mario Bros. and Super Nintendo, and giving an explanation improperly combining the two unrelated topics

Protons, Neutrons, Antiprotons, Antineutrons, Electrons, and Electron Neutrinos are subatomic particles. Typically, an atom is made up of nucleus (Protons and Neutrons), with a cloud of electrons.

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto"
|+ Caption text
|-
! Particle !! Symbol !! Type !! Charge !! Mass !! Mario Character 
|-
| {{w|Proton}}
| p / p+
| Baryon ('uud' quarks)
| +1
| ≲1 {{w|Dalton (unit)|mu}}
| Mario
|-
| {{w|Neutron}}
| n / n⁰
| Baryon ('udd' quarks)
| 0
| ≳1 mu
| Luigi
|-
| {{w|Antiproton}}
| p / p-
| Antibaryon ('uud' quarks)
| -1
| as proton*
| Wario
|-
| {{w|Antineutron}}
| n / n-0
| Antibaryon ('udd' quarks)
| 0
| as neutron*
| Waluigi
|-
| {{w|Electron}}
| e-
| Lepton (charged)
| -1
| 5.5x10-4 mu
| (Princess) Peach
|-
| {{w|Positron}} / Antielectron (not depicted)
| e+
| Antilepton (charged)
| +1
| as electron*

|-
| {{w|Electron Neutrino}}
| νe
| Lepton (uncharged)
| 0
| Assumed >0 (very small*)
| (Princess) Daisy
|-
| Electron {{w|Neutrino#Antineutrinos|Antineutrino}} (not depicted)
| νe
| Antilepton (uncharged)
| 0
| as electron neutrino*

|}
<nowiki/>* - to within experimental error

The right-handed Daisy (Electron Neutrino) means that Daisy’s direction of spin is the same as the direction of motion. A left-handed Daisy (Electron Neutrino) would be to the opposite.

The title text is a pun on the title of the Nintendo 64 game ''The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask'' and the {{w|Majorana fermion}}. It is referring to the fact that scientists cannot find an antiparticle for a neutrino, and that scientists wonder if a neutrino is its own antiparticle.

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

:Mario : Proton
:Luigi : Neutron

:Wario : Antiproton
:Waluigi : Antineutron

:Peach : Electron
:Daisy : Electron neutrino

:Free Luigi decay:
:[Illustration of Luigi → Mario + Peach + Daisy]
:[Label below Daisy:] (Right-handed)

:[Caption below the panel:]
:The theory of Supersymmetric Mario Bros suggests that each fundamental particle has a Super Nintendo partner.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Mario Kart]]
[[Category:Physics]]

Talk:2814: Perseids Pronunciation

2023-08-19T08:10:12Z

141.101.99.79:

I'm afraid to google the Kentucky Meat Shower. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.139|162.158.158.139]] 14:43, 11 August 2023 (UTC)
:SPOILER ALERT
:I can give you a very quick summary: when startled, vultures will sometimes regurgitate their last meal, both to lighten themselves for a quick escape, and make a potential predator lose its appetite. Apparently, something startled a bunch of vultures at the same time, and nobody knows exactly what. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.247.42|172.69.247.42]] 14:55, 11 August 2023 (UTC)

:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_meat_shower [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 14:59, 11 August 2023 (UTC)

"can" is repeated in the title text. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.68.54|141.101.68.54]] 14:53, 11 August 2023 (UTC)

On August 11, 2023, XKCD was not the only web comic to reference the "Kentucky Meat Shower". It is the full subject of the day's Dinosaur Comics, at http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=4085. And August 11 is not even an anniversary of the event (March 3, 1876). Coincidence? Time travel? You be the judge. [[User:JohnB|JohnB]] ([[User talk:JohnB|talk]]) 15:32, 11 August 2023 (UTC)

This tells me neither how acceptable things like my default lazy pronunciation, nor the original ancient greek pronunciation of its namesake, are considered. How am I supposed to guess where combinations of variations like PEER-, -seh-, and -ides would affect placement in the list? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.142.35|172.71.142.35]] 19:12, 11 August 2023 (UTC)

It's not ''wrong'', per-se. (ed.)
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 21:40, 11 August 2023 (UTC)
:That's exactly how I pronounce it. (per se) + ids. per-say-ids. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.4.168|172.68.4.168]] 10:04, 12 August 2023 (UTC)
::ed ≠ id, though.
::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:07, 13 August 2023 (UTC)

*PER-see-ids: standard(ish, YMMV) 3-syllable verson of the word.
*PURSE-yids: standardish 2-(/2.5-)syllable version.
*Per-SEE-ids: yeah, I'd accept that emphisis, in a pinch.
*Per-SAY-ids: ok, so you like ''that'' version of the 'ei' digraph; might even be 'classical'.
*Per-SIDES: Germanic digraph and irregular (in this case) phomeme boundries, but each to their own.
*Per-ZAY-uds: I can see most of this, accent permitting; the '<schwa>ds' is a surprising twist.
*PER-suds: you dont care about the digraph at all, do you?
*Perky-ids: Back-formed through "C/S equivalence", I'm guessing, but from the wrong s(e)ide?
*Pewpewpews: Onomatopœia!!!
*Per-say-say: Bowdlerised, as if the original is a 'naughty' word.
*Percies: Shortened through familiarity.
*Purps: Shortened/perhaps linked to "perp(etrator)s".
*Pepsids: Sponsorship! (Did we also get the "Dracokids", 6-10 Oct?)
*Peeps: Anthopomorphised, the lot of 'em!
...my first thoughts, but I'm sure there are competing claims so I'll leave this down here for the time being. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.47|162.158.74.47]] 23:28, 11 August 2023 (UTC)

: Per-ZAY-uds seems like it could be acceptable in New Zealand. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.35|172.71.178.35]] 08:40, 16 August 2023 (UTC)

The list in the Explanation's table was missing most of them, and the Transcript separated the two-word entries into separate entries! Fixed all that. Filled in my analyses of the missing pronunciations, I'm sure others can flesh them out better, add relevant links as I couldn't be bothered to both think of things to link and figure out the best way to link them (and make the multi-entry rows look proper). Also, someone severely misunderstood what "Peeps" would mean, it seems clearly to be the slang for "people". The goofy entries seemed to require separate descriptions, so I left them as separate rows as the cleanest/clearest layout I can think of for that, with the rudimentary understanding of Wiki tables I could glean from what was already there. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:46, 12 August 2023 (UTC)
:I'm convinced it's "Percies" and "Purps" and "Pepsids" and "Peeps", at the end, not "Percies Purps" and "Pepsids Peeps". Just arrayed in two columns as they're shortened enough to make it an unasethetic layout to extend by two rows and add so much gap at the end of four lines. "Pewpewpews" aside, none of the others more than double the "p"s from the original single one. It can be forgiven to bookend a short phoneme (Purps, Peeps), but sounds off to revisit the pattern (twice!) in this manner, with no clear connection between paired elements. Just my own observation, though. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.46|162.158.74.46]] 20:22, 12 August 2023 (UTC)
::I know! Look at the size of the spacing between the left and right elements - those aren't two-word terms, no way.

::I can see how an at-a-glance read might come up with "Pepsids Peeps" and "Percies Perps"...but at-a-glance reading seems a little out of place on an analytical forum!

::Those are four seperate names.[[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 07:35, 13 August 2023 (UTC)

:::I don't know why SO many of you are making this mistake! No, last 2 lines are unquestionably 2 entries, sorry. It's weird Randall put so much space, it's unfortunate the spaces line up to be easily mistaken for columns, but they're only 2. Randall can make the comic longer to fit more lines if he wanted them to be separate entries. Sorry, there is no room for debate here. Normally I wouldn't make such changes/decisions so unilaterally, but this is so beyond question that I know there's no room for error, it's safe to proceed. How can I say this so certainly with such conviction? Easy. None of the 4 words can alone reasonably replace "Perseids". They work as a team. "Percies" and "Pepsids" replaces "Perse-", "Purps" and "Peeps" replaces "-ids". "Percies" is even spelled SO similarly to "Perse-", enough that we would pronounce them the same, except for the S on "Percies"! How do you imagine the 1-syllable "Purps" and "Peeps" replaces the 3-syllable "Perseids"? Notice how "Percies" and "Pepsids" are 2 syllables each, meaning that as two teams, they're each 3-syllables replacing 3-syllables! Actually, this is true of the whole Definitely Wrong group, all are 3-syllables. IDK, maybe I'm just more used to people who mangle words, but it makes a certain sense, actually. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:25, 19 August 2023 (UTC)
::::"Sorry, there is no room for debate here." - That's tue main error. (I repeat the "too many 'P's" as a direct counter to "too few syllables", for example. It's at least as significant an argument, based upon preceding ’words' in the list.)
:::: Might have been more fortunate if it had been something like...
:::: {|
|colspan="2"|Fulllengthitem
|-
|Longitem||Item
|-
|Item||Longitem
|}
:::: ...but it wasn't, for whatever reason. ''Maybe'' for the same aesthetic reason as made it preferable to not run "long long" and "short short" (aligned) or each to their own line with loads of trailing deadspace. So, instead, what trouble we now have? Obscured by the ambiguity... (''Unintentional'' ambiguity? Or possibly even done with full consciousness of how readers might be nerdsniped. Wouldn't put that past him, either.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.79|141.101.99.79]] 08:10, 19 August 2023 (UTC)

I think the "Pepsids Peeps" is a reference to the Pepsi x Peeps soda that got released a few months ago—the first word could be a cross between PEPSI and perseiDS. Presumably, they are very sugary meteors. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.150.46|172.68.150.46]] 12:00, 12 August 2023 (UTC)

Is someone familiar with the phonetic notation system used in the comic able to convert it to something more generally acceptable like IPA? [[User:Tharkon|Tharkon]] ([[User talk:Tharkon|talk]]) 17:14, 12 August 2023 (UTC)

: It's "informal", and seems to be similar to the wikipedia one. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.238.54|198.41.238.54]] 01:50, 13 August 2023 (UTC)
No "per-seed"? I once heard a newscaster say it that way. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 18:38, 12 August 2023 (UTC)
:I heard a BBC newsreader say "PER-sid" yesterday. As though it were a compound of "perse" and "id".[[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 07:41, 13 August 2023 (UTC)

Why not "per-sayds"? [[Special:Contributions/198.41.238.54|198.41.238.54]] 01:50, 13 August 2023 (UTC)

: I always rhymed it with “Mercedes” for some reason. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.43|172.69.71.43]] 11:09, 18 August 2023 (UTC)

It seems likely to me this is going to be regional. I was always taught "Per-SAY-ids" to be correct (EN-GB). I've never heard anyone say "PER-see-ids" or "PURSE-yids". [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.218|172.70.85.218]] 09:58, 13 August 2023 (UTC)

I've been saying pur-see-IDES (where instead of ids, i say ides, like the Ides of March) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.222.253|172.71.222.253]] 19:03, 14 August 2023 (UTC)

Pepsident Media Shower [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.79|172.70.91.79]] 08:43, 16 August 2023 (UTC)

1219: Reports

2023-06-14T12:22:40Z

141.101.99.79: /* Explanation */ Mild improvements, hopefully, to the recent re-edit.

{{comic
| number = 1219
| date = May 31, 2013
| title = Reports
| image = reports.png
| titletext = If that fails, just multiply every number by a thousand. 'The 2nd St speed limit should be set at 25,000 mph, which would likely have prevented 1,000 of the intersection's 3,000 serious accidents last month.'
}}

==Explanation==
Normally, the text in technical reports is written by technical people working in the same place as the incident. This makes for rather boring, technical text. For the average reader, this may not be very engaging. However, to make it more intresting, Randall asks that the text be read as if it was written because the spouse of the head of the project is making unhelpful personal comments due to their failing marriage. This turns the phrase from being a simple statement of relevent (if potentially dull) facts into an opinionated diatribe compounding all the many sore-points that have turned the relationship sour, or at least have been perceived as such.

This leads onto the related point that the quoted text of the report could (and indeed probably ''would'', given the apparent contents) be stereotypically read out loud by the author, or internally by the reader, in an essentially monotonal manner, as exhibited by any number of popularised film and TV characters such as 'Arthur Pewtey' from the {{w|Marriage Guidance Counsellor|Monty Python sketch}}. But this comic asks us to imagine it instead voiced in the voice of an upset spouse, presumably berating the project leader on various real or imagined infractions, and it works just as well. The jagged nature of the speech bubble indicates that the report has typed out on the computer's screen, but also helps to re-enforce the nagging internal voice.

The title text joke relates to an alternative plan, namely to proportionally exaggerate everything you read. What would have been one serious accident that would have been prevented in the previous month had the speed limit been 25 mph, out of the three that actually occurred under the current limit, now becomes one ''thousand'' people saved. And all those lives would have been saved by reducing the speed limit to a 'mere' 25,000 miles per hour. Of course, around 2000 accidents would not have been prevented because people still try to mess with vehicles that are moving at hypersonic velocities.

Note that the title text is inconsistent; if every number were to be multiplied by a thousand, then the speed limit would apply to 2000th Street. Somewhat surprisingly, there do exist streets of this name, mainly in Illinois. Although unlikely, the street may be 0.002th street, giving us 2 when multiplied per the title text. Though in this case 2nd St is a proper noun and thus should not be modified.

==Transcript==
:How to make boring technical reports more fun to read:
:Imagine they were written and sent in, unsolicited, by the estranged spouse of the head of the project.
:[Cueball is crouching alone over his computer in an empty room, typing on a laptop. He is surrounded by papers and books, apparently related to whatever project is working on. The laptop has a message on it, the text of which is displayed above the computer.]
:Computer: Six guard rails have erratic reflector placement, and one even lacks reflectors entirely, despite rule G31.02(b) clearly mandating consistent usage.
:Cueball: ...Sharon!

==Trivia==
Originally the title text proposed a speed limit of 2,500 miles per hour, which would mean the original message is about a ridiculously low speed limit of 2.5 mph. This was later corrected.

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

2785: Marble Run

2023-06-07T14:00:52Z

141.101.99.79: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2785
| date = June 5, 2023
| title = Marble Run
| image = marble_run_2x.png
| imagesize = 438x512px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I have so many plans. It would incorporate a Galton board, a Ranque-Hilsch marble vortex tube, and a compartment lined with pinball bouncers with a camera-and-servo Maxwell's Demon that separated the balls into fast and slow sides.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by MAXWELL'S DEMON - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT roll away this tag too soon.}}
A {{w|Rube Goldberg machine}} is a fancifully complex system (either real or imagined), which makes use of an overly elaborate chain of actions. The name comes from an American cartoonist who was one of those who became famous for depicting convoluted and outlandish processes for accomplishing simple tasks.

There's a long history of people building actual contraptions along these lines. Such devices are almost never intended for practical purposes, but exist entirely for entertainment, and as an exercise in building complex and carefully planned systems. This has become particularly common in the internet age, as videos of particularly interesting examples can gain popularity online. The most common category of these systems is probably the marble run (also known as a {{w|rolling ball sculpture}}), in which the goal of the system is to move one or more balls or marbles from the beginning of the arrangement to the end in interesting ways. This contrasts to the {{w|Domino toppling|domino run}} where motions are transferred by many intermediate pieces painstakingly arranged, although both aspects are commonly combined in such contrivances.

When [[Megan]] tries to show [[Cueball]] an example of such a video, he refuses, not because he lacks interest, but because of how he predicts it will impact him. Cueball (likely as a stand-in for [[Randall]]), has sufficiently strong interest in things like designing, building and engineering complexity that he's certain he will eventually adopt building such systems as a hobby, and that it will dominate his time and attention. Accordingly, he appears to be deliberately delaying his exposure to them so that he can continue to pursue other hobbies, with the assumption that he will eventually succumb to this one. Randall foresees the amount of time he might use if he first began trying to construct his ideas into a marble run.

Megan responds that he knows where he's going, but is taking "a really interesting and circuitous path" to get there. This draws a parallel between the type of systems he's avoiding and his approach to life more generally, which Cueball expands upon by suggesting he would do some of the things a marble typically would in a marble run.

The title text mentions specific ideas Cueball plans to incorporate into such a set-up.

A {{w|Galton board}} is a device that distributes falling balls into a {{w|normal distribution}}. Its design is similar to those used in {{w|pachinko}}-style games.

A Ranque-Hilsch {{w|Vortex tube}} is a device for separating compressed gas into hot and cold streams. While such a device isn't directly applicable to marbles, one can imagine using the principle to separate a stream of marbles based on speed.

Pinball bouncers are properly supposed to be the {{w|Pinball#Bumpers|Bumpers}} in {{w|Pinball}} machines. In Randall's marble run there will be a compartment where the walls are lined with these bumpers. Supposedly there will be many marbles on the floor of this segment of the run, which will hit these bumpers and get a kick so they will move fast and randomly around the compartment, which is where the Demon comes in.

{{w|Maxwell's Demon}} is a thought experiment by James Clerk Maxwell which would violate the {{w|Second Law of Thermodynamics}}. Maxwell proposed that, if a container of air was separated by a divider, with a door that allowed only one molecule through at a time, and a theoretical "demon" were to control the door to sort high-energy atoms into one side and low-energy atoms into the other, the two sides would develop a temperature difference with no energy input. The problems are many: first of all, how would the door open and close without using energy; and how would the demon gain knowledge of the speed and position of all the molecules, particularly at the same time, in violation of Heisenberg's {{w|uncertainty principle}}?

Randall's version of this apparently involves the marbles bouncing around inside the bouncer-lined compartment, with an automated system to divert the fastest moving marbles into one side, and the slowest moving into the other, presumably to output higher velocity balls into one subsequent part of the arrangement, and slower ones into another. As these are macroscopic scales this would not be impossible, just really difficult.

Knowing Randall and his fans, some might design something using his ideas from this comic.

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

:[Megan is walking towards Cueball and showing her phone. Cueball holds a hand to his face and looks away.]
:Megan: Check out this cool video of a Rube Goldberg marble run.
:Cueball: No! Not yet.

:[Megan has lowered her phone. Cueball has his hand in a fist.]
:Cueball: I've always known I'm doomed to eventually become one of those people who builds elaborate marble runs in their garage.
:Cueball: I can feel the pull.
:Cueball: So satisfying.

:[Close-up on Cueball.]
:Cueball: I just want to do as many other things as I can before I give in and disappear into that world.

:[Megan and Cueball are walking.]
:Megan: So you know where you're going to end up, but you're trying to take a really interesting and circuitous path to get there.
:Cueball: Exactly. Bounce around, maybe go off a few jumps.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Statistics]]

2487: Danger Mnemonic

2021-07-12T08:19:04Z

141.101.99.79:

{{comic
| number = 2487
| date = July 9, 2021
| title = Danger Mnemonic
| image = danger_mnemonic.png
| titletext = It's definitely not the time to try drinking beer before liquor.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a DRUNKEN SAILOR'S POISON IVY SNAKE. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The teacher [[Miss Lenhart]] warns two small kids with a danger mnemonic, hence the title.

However, this is a mash-up of three different common danger mnemonics:
*Red touches yellow, dead fellow. Red touches black, happy Jack
*Leaves of three, leave them be; berries white, poisonous sight
*Red sky at morning, sailors take warning. Red sky at night, sailor's delight

The combination of the three sayings make it sound somewhat like an ominous prophecy, citing odd, specific conditions under which some unknown disaster will occur- in which case, you probably should get out of there.

Miss Lenhart refers to three different mnemonics that remind people how to recognize dangerous things or situations. If all are true at once, then things must be especially bad. The sayings are:

*'''Red touches yellow, kills a fellow.''' This is a saying for how to recognize a venomous {{w|coral snake}}, which has red, black, and yellow stripes, with the red and yellow stripes adjacent. A nonvenomous {{w|king snake}} also has red, black, and yellow stripes, but the black stripes separate the red and yellow ones. Note that this identification is only accurate in eastern North America, coral snakes in other parts of the world sometimes have black stripes touching red stripes. The safest course of action is to avoid any snake with the warning colors of red, yellow/white, and black stripes. Another corruption of same warning features in [[1604: Snakes]].
*'''Leaves of three, leave them be''' is used to identify {{w|poison ivy}} (on the east coast) and {{w|poison oak}} (on the west coast) from its many lookalikes, such as the Virginia creeper in [[443: Know Your Vines]].
*'''Red sky at morning, sailor take warning.''' The {{w|Red sky at morning|mnemonic}} predicts bad/good weather conditions based on a particularly red sunrise/sunset. It is predictive at {{w|middle latitudes}} where the prevailing winds go from west to east. Regions of higher air pressure will cause a particularly red sky at sunrise/sunset, so a red sky in the evening indicates a high pressure system is coming in from the west with its calmer weather, while a red sky in the morning indicates a low pressure front coming in (usually with rain/rougher weather). In some countries (such as the United Kingdom), the saying mentions shepherds rather than sailors. Randall actually wrote a [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/13/science/what-makes-a-red-sky-at-night-and-at-morning.html newspaper article] explaining this phenomenon.

The title text refers to the myth of '''Beer before liquor, never been sicker; liquor before beer, you're in the clear''', or one of various other colloquial folk variations that clearly already inspired [[2422: Vaccine Ordering]]. Unlike the first three mnemonics which are genuinely useful for avoiding danger, this one is [https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/07/health/the-claim-mixing-types-of-alcohol-makes-you-sick.html closer to a myth], unless the order affects how much you drink. Perhaps the title text is a warning against getting drunk around deadly snakes, and poison ivy, in bad weather.

Also see [[2038: Hazard Symbol]] for another combination of danger warnings.

==Transcript==

:[Miss Lenhart is holding a finger up in front of two children a boy with spiky hair and Science Girl.]

: Miss Lenhart: Now, remember:
: Miss Lenhart: If red touches yellow amid leaves of three under a red sky at morning,
: Miss Lenhart: You should probably just get out of there.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Science Girl]]
[[Category:Food]]

2487: Danger Mnemonic

2021-07-12T08:18:31Z

141.101.99.79: Add link to Randall's NYTimes article on "Red skies"

{{comic
| number = 2487
| date = July 9, 2021
| title = Danger Mnemonic
| image = danger_mnemonic.png
| titletext = It's definitely not the time to try drinking beer before liquor.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a DRUNKEN SAILOR'S POISON IVY SNAKE. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The teacher [[Miss Lenhart]] warns two small kids with a danger mnemonic, hence the title.

However, this is a mash-up of three different common danger mnemonics:
*Red touches yellow, dead fellow. Red touches black, happy Jack
*Leaves of three, leave them be; berries white, poisonous sight
*Red sky at morning, sailors take warning. Red sky at night, sailor's delight

The combination of the three sayings make it sound somewhat like an ominous prophecy, citing odd, specific conditions under which some unknown disaster will occur- in which case, you probably should get out of there.

Miss Lenhart refers to three different mnemonics that remind people how to recognize dangerous things or situations. If all are true at once, then things must be especially bad. The sayings are:

*'''Red touches yellow, kills a fellow.''' This is a saying for how to recognize a venomous {{w|coral snake}}, which has red, black, and yellow stripes, with the red and yellow stripes adjacent. A nonvenomous {{w|king snake}} also has red, black, and yellow stripes, but the black stripes separate the red and yellow ones. Note that this identification is only accurate in eastern North America, coral snakes in other parts of the world sometimes have black stripes touching red stripes. The safest course of action is to avoid any snake with the warning colors of red, yellow/white, and black stripes. Another corruption of same warning features in [[1604: Snakes]].
*'''Leaves of three, leave them be''' is used to identify {{w|poison ivy}} (on the east coast) and {{w|poison oak}} (on the west coast) from its many lookalikes, such as the Virginia creeper in [[443: Know Your Vines]].
*'''Red sky at morning, sailor take warning.''' The {{w|Red sky at morning|mnemonic}} predicts bad/good weather conditions based on a particularly red sunrise/sunset. It is predictive at {{w|middle latitudes}} where the prevailing winds go from west to east. Regions of higher air pressure will cause a particularly red sky at sunrise/sunset, so a red sky in the evening indicates a high pressure system is coming in from the west with its calmer weather, while a red sky in the morning indicates a low pressure front coming in (usually with rain/rougher weather). In some countries (such as the United Kingdom), the saying mentions shepherds rather than sailors. Randall actually wrote a [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/13/science/what-makes-a-red-sky-at-night-and-at-morning.html](newspaper article) explaining this phenomenon.

The title text refers to the myth of '''Beer before liquor, never been sicker; liquor before beer, you're in the clear''', or one of various other colloquial folk variations that clearly already inspired [[2422: Vaccine Ordering]]. Unlike the first three mnemonics which are genuinely useful for avoiding danger, this one is [https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/07/health/the-claim-mixing-types-of-alcohol-makes-you-sick.html closer to a myth], unless the order affects how much you drink. Perhaps the title text is a warning against getting drunk around deadly snakes, and poison ivy, in bad weather.

Also see [[2038: Hazard Symbol]] for another combination of danger warnings.

==Transcript==

:[Miss Lenhart is holding a finger up in front of two children a boy with spiky hair and Science Girl.]

: Miss Lenhart: Now, remember:
: Miss Lenhart: If red touches yellow amid leaves of three under a red sky at morning,
: Miss Lenhart: You should probably just get out of there.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Science Girl]]
[[Category:Food]]

Talk:2482: Indoor Socializing

2021-06-29T21:37:03Z

141.101.99.79:

I think he's not afraid of getting COVID, he's just now aware he's inhaling the respiratory particles that everyone else is exhaling, which pre-COVID he never thought about. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.142.162|162.158.142.162]] 05:38, 29 June 2021 (UTC)
:Mitigated that in my own edit. (And wait 'til he learns how many water molecules may have been through dinosaur guts, etc!) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.79|141.101.99.79]] 06:23, 29 June 2021 (UTC)
::Just for context for others, this comment I think is based on [https://what-if.xkcd.com/74/ this what if]. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 12:37, 29 June 2021 (UTC)

[[Special:Contributions/141.101.69.205|141.101.69.205]] 20:20, 29 June 2021 (UTC) exec
Check this http://www.vendian.org/envelope/dir2/breath.html

Earlier on, the explanation suggested that this might not be ''at'' an Indoor Sociali[s|z]ing moment, which I found quite convincing, but has been edited out. White Hat (already a known close contact who has been shown as a being in the presence of Cueball in an obvious inside situation) could be trying to psyche up Cueball to go indoors to meet people. Or the question isn't a bland social-nicety (over-reacted to) but an actual question of concern when Cueball has had to flee/avoid an indoors situation. If the latter, Cueball is actually giving a correctly ''contextual'' response to the far-from-rhetoric question, but then consciously toning it down to the non-commital response that over-sensitive people might retreat to if they're in denial about their internal strifes. - Randall should have helped by adding a little extra detail, like internal furniture, the porch/doorway to a house (either side) trees and plants to establish this as a public green-space setting. Without that, I'm unable to tell which interpretation to actually apply to the words in use - which words to stress in the question ("How ''are'' you?", "How are ''you''?", maybe "''How'' are you?") included... But maybe that's just me? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.79|141.101.99.79]] 21:37, 29 June 2021 (UTC)

2482: Indoor Socializing

2021-06-29T11:34:17Z

141.101.99.79: /* Explanation */ ...proof? (If it's the same instance of Cueball, and timeline.)

{{comic
| number = 2482
| date = June 28, 2021
| title = Indoor Socializing
| image = indoor_socializing.png
| titletext = The problem with learning about biology is that everyone you meet is it.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a RESPIRATORY DROPLET. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[[Cueball]] is meeting [[White Hat]], who is probably not in the same household — hence the (awkward) attempt at a typical smalltalk greeting. He could be indoors, which normally carries a higher risk of respiratory disease transmission than outdoors. The lack of any other drawn elements could also mean that it's a "safe" meeting outside — either in anticipation of the imminent internal meet-up of the title, or a sincere check upon wellbeing after having fled such an encounter — and White Hat may be within [[2468: Inheritance|the same household bubble]] but personally not so overcome with anxiety.

Like many of us, he has become primed to worry about spreading or receiving COVID-19 from the other person. Cueball may have [[2459: March 2020|already been vaccinated]], but that is still not considered perfect guarantee against Covid, newly emerging Covid variants or non-Covid illnesses in general.

People like him may be now oversensitive about taking insufficient precautions related to the various amorphous risks, possibly because [[2395: Covid Precaution Level|it is impossible to find a precaution level that feels just right]].

The title text shows how although Biology may be interesting, it can be disgusting. Unfortunately, everyone IS biology.

==Transcript==
:[White Hat and Cueball are having a conversation.]
:White Hat: How are you?
:Cueball: Excruciatingly aware of how much of each other's gross lung air we're breathing.
:Cueball: I mean, fine! How are you?

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Social interactions]]
[[Category:Biology]]

Talk:2482: Indoor Socializing

2021-06-29T06:23:37Z

141.101.99.79:

Talk:2480: No, The Other One

2021-06-25T11:14:31Z

141.101.99.79:

We might want a table for this comic, with three columns: one for the name of the town, one for which state the copycat is in, and one for the original. We could also add a column for "why the original is well known," but that might be a bit much. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.124|108.162.245.124]] 20:38, 23 June 2021 (UTC)
: I agree, this feels like a very table-able comic. Especially to get all the cities and not make readers try to see "hey, did I miss one?" [[Special:Contributions/172.70.117.158|172.70.117.158]] 20:49, 23 June 2021 (UTC)
:: I think the term copy-cat should not be used here, since Lincoln, IL, for instance is older and carries the name longer than Lincoln, NE.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.74|162.158.88.74]] 21:05, 23 June 2021 (UTC)
::: Although the people in Lincoln, UK (also Boston, Washington, Richmond, Plymouth, Newhaven...) might have prior claims - Richmond is an even more interesting case, in fact. And of course I also recognise Lisbon and others. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.244|141.101.98.244]] 21:26, 23 June 2021 (UTC)
:::: May I suggest merging the first two columns and just listing [City, State] under "Place name in comic"? [[User:MajorBurns|MajorBurns]] ([[User talk:MajorBurns|talk]]) 21:38, 23 June 2021 (UTC)

In the map there are (at least) three Lincoln, two Jamestown, five Houston... [[User:Vdm|Vdm]] ([[User talk:Vdm|talk]]) 20:52, 23 June 2021 (UTC)
: There is a Jamestown in NY and PA also. I would expect to find a Jamestown in at least half of the states. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 22:06, 23 June 2021 (UTC)

There seems to be an extra dot in the northeast corner of Colorado - It looks like it might correspond with the Atlanta label, but there is no Atlanta in Colorado. Based on the position of the dot I'm guessing it may correspond to Akron or Yuma.--[[User:MajorBurns|MajorBurns]] ([[User talk:MajorBurns|talk]]) 21:56, 23 June 2021 (UTC)
: Google Maps says there's an Atlanta, Colorado, but it is in the south-east corner of the state, not where the dot is. It looks like it is in the middle of nowhere outside of Springfield. [[User:Blaisepascal|Blaisepascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 00:42, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Jersey Shore PA - I just drove from New Jersey across the state of Pennsylvania, and saw the sign for Jersey Shore in the mountains in the middle of PA. What the? Turns out there was a town founded by two brothers from New Jersey called Waynesburg. When a neighboring town wanted to insult them by calling them "Jersey Shore" they went ahead and officially made Jersey Shore the name of the town. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_Shore,_Pennsylvania https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_Shore,_Pennsylvania]. I wonder how many people turn off the highway in the middle of PA wanting to go to the Jersey Shore hundreds of miles away. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 22:06, 23 June 2021 (UTC)

Why no Hollywood, Florida? [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood,_Florida https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood,_Florida]
: Same reason there's no Richmond, Dublin, or Pittsburg (admittedly, a different spelling), California, just to name some of the closest ones to me. The map would be solid black if it labeled every "other one." [[User:Borglord|Borglord]] ([[User talk:Borglord|talk]]) 01:57, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

..''No'' Springfields? Really? There's gotta be 30+ of them! [[User:Danish|Danish]] ([[User talk:Danish|talk]]) 02:00, 24 June 2021 (UTC)
:The comic doesn't seem to include the duplicates that are fairly well known, like Hollywood, FL. And the prevalence of Springfield is well known due to "The Simpsons". I think Groening chose that name ''because'' it wouldn't be associated with any particular state. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 04:06, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

`The most frequently occurring community name varies through the years. In a past year, it was "Midway" with 212 occurrences and "Fairview" in second with 202. More recently, "Fairview" counted 288 and "Midway" 256. The name "Springfield" is often thought to be the only community name appearing in each of the 50 States, but at last count it was in only 34 states.` https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-most-common-citytown-name-united-states [[User:Steve|Steve]] ([[User talk:Steve|talk]]) 02:48, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

The comic has been updated to remove Charlestown and move Salem, CT. The extra dot in Colorado remains, however. The image attachment has been updated, but I think I'm still seeing the cached version. [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 03:47, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Since so many of the names are duplicated multiple times, shouldn't the title be "No, ''An'' Other One"? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 04:06, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

I'm surprised he missed Minneapolis, Kansas (about 75 miles west of Manhattan). Though maybe it would've made Kansas too crowded. --[[User:Aaron of Mpls|Aaron of Mpls]] ([[User talk:Aaron of Mpls|talk]])

:I'm surprised he missed Duluth, GA too, but we can't have everything we want. ( --Don from Rochester . . . but not from New York ;^) Oh yeah; there's also a Buffalo in MN too. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.34.190|172.70.34.190]] 11:00, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

::In Indiana, there's also another Nashville, another Columbus, a Kokomo... even a Mexico. If every fairly well-known place name were included, wherever it was duplicated, it would need one of those scrollable mega-maps, just to fit it all. -- Just visiting from Indiana, 12:53 UTC 24 June 2021

I'd like to see a map of all these. Lines linking each of the dots to the location of the more famous town. Possibly with lines in different colours connecting to the oldest and largest other ones, where they're not the same as the most famous one. (I suspect a significant number of the "oldest" lines would point off the right edge of the image) [[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 08:37, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

:There's also a Bowling Green, Missouri. [[User:WhiteDragon|WhiteDragon]] ([[User talk:WhiteDragon|talk]]) 13:12, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

I wish Lansing Illinois (just south of Chicago off I-80) had made the list. When I was traveling there for work, our hotel reservations were frequently messed up, because the central booking office had us in Michigan. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.144|172.70.130.144]] 13:17, 24 June 2021 (UTC)
: Reminds me of the time a "Microsoft tech support" scammer called and claimed to be calling from Lansing despite obviously being in a call center in India. When we asked what state Lansing was in, he claimed to be calling from "Lansing, Miami." [[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.121|172.69.63.121]] 13:41, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

I feel like there is an opportunity for adding "Other examples not in comic" such as Brooklyn, Iowa or the absurd number of Mount Pleasants [[User:OddOod|OddOod]] ([[User talk:OddOod|talk]])

: At first, I thought about suggesting this, as well. But, it would be an enormous list (orders of magnitude longer than the ones that _are_ in the comic), and therefore not really tenable. For example, I sometimes describe the place I live as being on the line from Jamaica to Florida, adjacent to Jacksonville and just off Halifax. That's Florida, MA and the rest in southern Vermont. That's four just within 20 miles of where I sit. Also, I grew up in Bristol (RI, not England), but there are about 40 places in the US with that name. And, on a different tack the nearby "city" actually promotes itself in being the _only_ place named Brattleboro. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 22:27, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

I can't believe they missed Dublin and/or Albany in the SF bay area in California!

I actually have a place in Bangor,NY it confuses people all the time [[User:Mr.Do|Mr.Do]]

Is the {{w|Washington_(state)|State of Washington}} not considered more significant than a mere district? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.149|172.69.35.149]] 18:14, 24 June 2021 (UTC)
: I mean, Washington DC is the capital of the entire country, so both are very significant. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.97|172.69.33.97]] 20:08, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Ontario, CA - I have gotten packages that originated in Ontario, CA and wondered why they were shipping from Canada, until I realized that they were coming from Ontario, California. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 20:57, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

How did Lebanon come to be such a popular name (sixth most common according to the Wikipedia list)? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.182|162.158.92.182]] 09:04, 25 June 2021 (UTC)

How about entries for what the lesser-known city is known for? I can start: Austin MN is home of Hormel, maker of Spam, and features the Spam Museum. Who is next? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.58|172.70.126.58]] 10:29, 25 June 2021 (UTC)
:Richmond, VT is home of a person (also apparently given the job of "Weigher Of Coal") who helped to establish the name of Spam (as in unwanted advertising)... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.79|141.101.99.79]] 11:14, 25 June 2021 (UTC)

So, anyway, the Transcript is both empty and marked incomplete. Really, it would at best be a Transcriptised non-tabular list of the named places, grouped to their 'other one' states. I can't see much more that can be done, save for "line-drawn state lines and dots" being mentioned. It's very much an inferior copy of the table itself, but definitely should be there to fulfil the general needs of the Transcript. I'll do it myself if nobody else has (or otherwise resolved) by the time the next comic goes up. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.79|141.101.99.79]] 11:14, 25 June 2021 (UTC)

Talk:2476: Base Rate

2021-06-16T18:14:34Z

141.101.99.79:

"''Aaaand we're back!''" [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:01, 15 June 2021 (UTC)
: What happened? [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 09:02, 16 June 2021 (UTC)
::I missed you! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.244|141.101.98.244]] 19:18, 15 June 2021 (UTC)
:::There is this : [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Miscellaneous#So_what_happened_to_the_site.3F post], but it does not help much yet... But great to be back live as long as it stays like this --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:08, 16 June 2021 (UTC)

I can't tell if cueball is holding the pointer in his left or right hand [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.122|141.101.98.122]] 21:30, 15 June 2021 (UTC)
:If he's facing the audience, it's in his right hand. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:32, 15 June 2021 (UTC)
:Typically cueball has a slightly noticeable 'chin' that indicates the direction he is looking (ex: #2471, #2468, #2460(cell 2 he looks at Megan and cell 3 looks away from her) ). So in this case I'd say he is looking to the right with his body facing the audience. --[[User:TallJason|TallJason]] ([[User talk:TallJason|talk]]) 15:52, 16 June 2021 (UTC)

I wonder if we can expect a comic soon about fan sites going offline. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:32, 15 June 2021 (UTC)
:I really don't think Randall keeps an eye on this page... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:36, 16 June 2021 (UTC)

I removed the claim that Cueball was left-handed; I don't think we can tell whether he is or isn't. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.82|172.70.130.82]] 22:36, 15 June 2021 (UTC)
:There's now a claim that he's ''right''-handed, and I don't think that's reliable either. Yes, the "proper" way to do a presentation is to be facing away from the screen, but I've seen a lot of not-very-good presenters. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 04:30, 16 June 2021 (UTC)
::I’ll bet that about 90% of the not-very-good presenters you’ve seen were right-handed, therefore if Cueball is not very good, he’s probably right-handed.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.190|172.69.34.190]] 04:53, 16 June 2021 (UTC)
Wouldn't cueball be technically correct, despite his logical error? Given a set of people who make base-rate errors, with no other qualifications, and given that 90 percent are right handed, wouldn't that make 90 percent of the people who make base rate errors right handed? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.180|172.69.71.180]] 13:21, 16 June 2021 (UTC)

Can someone explain here in the comments how, in the explanation, we go from that example of 1% / 5% false-positive rate to a 17% / 83%? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.190|172.69.34.190]] 17:14, 16 June 2021 (UTC)
:Take a population of 10,000 tests. From the premise: 1% (100) are true positives and 99% (9,900) are true negatives, regardless of testing. 5% of those TNs (9900*5% = 495) register positive, falsely. We aren't given a false-negative rate, so assuming all 100 TPs register as positive, correctly. 595+100=595 people showing as positive, but only the 100 TPs actually truly were, which is slightly ''less'' than 17% (100/595 = 16.8ish%) who have an accurate positive test, leaving a whopping value of slightly more than 83% of tested-positive individuals who were ''wrongly'' identified as positive. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.105|162.158.158.105]] 18:11, 16 June 2021 (UTC)

77: Bored with the Internet

2015-08-18T10:07:59Z

141.101.99.79: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 77
| date = March 17, 2006
| title = Bored with the Internet
| image = bored_with_the_internet.jpg
| titletext = I used to do this all the time.
}}
==Explanation==
A character that has hair (not to be confused with [[Hairy]]) suggests to [[Black Hat]] that he is wasting his life on the internet and they should go explore the world. They appear to walk a great distance, through what appears to be a swamp or perhaps a forest in winter, across a plain, and down to a river valley. At the last panel they agree to post their journey on Livejournal, thus indicating that they can't get the Internet off their mind.

{{w|Livejournal}} is a website on which users can make accounts and, effectively, blog; although the site is designed around the premise that the blogs ought to be used as personal journals, with the ability to privatize the journal or only let certain friends see certain entries. Livejournal was an early social network and an early blog platform, and was a good way for people to let others know what was going on in their lives. As of 2013, Livejournal still exists; although sites like Facebook have become far more powerful and popular sites for sharing one's daily life.

Unlike in most of his appearances (especially later ones), Black Hat does not exhibit any of his signature like at "[[72: Classhole]]".

The title text suggests that [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] has overcome a tendency to think about how he will document what he has been doing, rather than concentrate on the thing itself.

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat and Hair are talking in a room with a computer on.]
:Hairy: I feel like I'm wasting my life on the internet. Let's walk around the world.
:Black Hat: Sounds good.
:[The two men are shown walking through trees.]
:[The two men are shown walking on flat stretch, with mountains in the distance.]
:[The two men are shown in a magnificent canyon. They stand, silently looking at the scene.]
:Hairy: And yet all I can think is, "This will make for a great LiveJournal entry."

==Trivia==
*Livejournal was the site where Randall presented his comics before starting xkcd.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Internet]]

Talk:1524: Dimensions

2015-05-13T17:31:33Z

141.101.99.79:

The explanation says his favourite co-ords could still be x,y and z. Shouldn't that really by r, phi, theta since that's the best system for a spherical Earth? Also, I don't think you need to mention special relativity, even in classical physics you consider time to be the fourth dimension, you just lack a co-ordinate transformation between space and time. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.193|141.101.98.193]] 15:22, 13 May 2015 (UTC)

This almost seems to be making fun of the frivolity with which people discuss the existence of multiple dimensions without realizing what that actually means. Anyone else get that feeling?

Reminds me of http://xkcd.com/417/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patema_Inverted which make fun of dimensions too.
:Great - I will add 417. please sign you comment with <nowiki>--~~~~</nowiki> ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:57, 13 May 2015 (UTC)

My first thought about Title Text was that moving sideways (standard x or y axis) would be bad, but not as bad as moving upwards (standard z axis). Z direction would be my least favourite! --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.57|141.101.104.57]] 08:20, 13 May 2015 (UTC)

The explanation looks more and more like a discussion. Four dimensions or eleven? I see that string theory "predicts 10 or 26 dimensions" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacetime). I think someone (but not me) should rewrite the discussion in a more comprehensive way.[[User:Jkrstrt|Jkrstrt]] ([[User talk:Jkrstrt|talk]]) 08:35, 13 May 2015 (UTC)

We might had a link to the 2 what-if related to move steadlily in one direction : http://what-if.xkcd.com/135/ and http://what-if.xkcd.com/64/

Isn't the alt text a reference to the fact that a cartoon only has two physical dimensions? That's how time can be in his top three. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.113|141.101.99.113]] 09:09, 13 May 2015 (UTC)

"Being pushed in one of the other directions could be lethal, if you where pushed hard enough against a rock, over a cliff or in front of a truck..."
Being pushed in the dimension of time is also ultimately fatal though. Push someone through time for long enough and they'll certainly die. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.92.8|141.101.92.8]] 09:20, 13 May 2015 (UTC)

Why the hang up on fixed coordinate systems even though there isn't even a practical way to establish one. (To the best of my knowledge distance can only be measured relative to some object.) it's more likely that the top three dimensions would be along the lines of North/South, East/West and time which is a much more practical point of view.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.183|108.162.237.183]] 11:32, 13 May 2015 (UTC)

''So if it is in the top three out of four, it must be number one...''.
I don't agree. What if Randall would hate going to Zazane galaxy or Ottzello galaxy (X axis), but wouldn't mind going to Xanthrus spiral or Rizoku galazy (Y axis) [http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/spore/images/6/61/INTERGALACTIC_MAP-2.png/revision/latest?cb=20100616044044]. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.144|108.162.238.144]] 13:50, 13 May 2015 (UTC)
:The argument would be that this is an arbitrary/anthropocentric classification of X, Y and Z that the universe neither confirms nor denies as the 'true' direction of the three dimensions (which can be in any direction, so long as each is perpendicular to the two others, in a Euclidean sense).
:(And personally. as opposed to the current description. I tend to think of x/y as the horizontal plane and z as vertical motion (up or down, depending on utility), in everyday use, although I'm flexible and will subscribe to one or other standard (and handedness of unit directions!) when dealing with other modelling systems. It's all easily convertible-between.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.79|141.101.99.79]] 17:31, 13 May 2015 (UTC)

I was going to say that if we think of three dimensions simplistically as length-width-height, it might make sense for someone to have a least-favorite spatial dimension--maybe width, since we're always fighting increases in that one. But, I REALLY like the idea above that time would be in the "top three" dimensions for a TWO-dimensional comic-strip character! (Note that Randall plays with this in the Wired comic series linked above, noting that in a comic strip, a small movemement indicates movement through space, but a large one--like between panels--indicates time: see panel #15 in the series) Clever and Randall-esque idea!! I suggest adding this idea to the main text and taking out some of the other discussion around this point.[[User:Jv|Jv]] ([[User talk:Jv|talk]]) 16:32, 13 May 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1501: Mysteries

2015-04-02T17:13:15Z

141.101.99.79:

Here's a list of wikipedia links I compiled that will be useful for anyone wanting to update this page. http://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/2zog5d/xkcd_1501_mysteries/cpktray {{unsigned ip|‎141.101.106.155}}

And I've got a solar eclipse to see (explainable, but weird!) but I started to compile things. Haven't got any links sorted yet, and percentages are (badly) done by eye. If someone does it better, ignore it.


[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.63|141.101.98.63]] 09:33, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

:(Whoops, pasted the flatfile format version by accident, in my rush, rather than the more Wikifriendly one that I discarded. Commenting it out until/unless I redo it. But you should still be able to see the details via the Talk Edit pages if you're bothered. Oh, and there was really too much cloud to see the eclipse for what it was. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.63|141.101.98.63]] 10:29, 20 March 2015 (UTC))

::I dropped the image into our CAD system and plotted the point co-ordinates. I've filled in the resulting percentages, which should be somewhere about right with a little rounding. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 10:35, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

:::Exactly right. (Although I didn't read the zero/zero crossing point is supposed to be maybe 50% on both scales, but instead ±zero. Still, doesn't matter. And perhaps displays/sorts better.) And looks like I don't need to recover my formatted notes after all. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.63|141.101.98.63]] 11:19, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.176|199.27.128.176]] 09:49, 20 March 2015 (UTC) XKCD has explained the Voynich Manuscript before: http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/593:_Voynich_Manuscript

:XKCD has also 'explained' DB Cooper before ([[1400: D.B. Cooper]]) if that is worth mentioning. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.167|108.162.250.167]] 12:06, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

I have to wonder if Randall has ever seen http://keithledgerwood.com/post/79838944823/did-malaysian-airlines-370-disappear-using and if so, whether he simply doesn't believe it. Not to sabotage his 100%-100% example if he wants to keep it there, but I'd put it at only 50% weird and 10% unexplainable. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.27|199.27.133.27]] 14:02, 20 March 2015 (UTC)
: Oh lawdy, the tinfoil hat brigade has arrived. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.202|173.245.56.202]]

Anyone else reminded of [[Fuck Grapefruit]]? [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.203|199.27.128.203]] 00:19, 24 March 2015 (UTC)

;Carly Simon

The Carly Simon explanation includes the text "This sets up a paradox in which the song is and isn't about the vain person." This isn't correct. The song is definitely about the person. Carly is thus asserting that the subject's vanity will lead him to a correct interpretation of the song. Going to change the explanation. [[User:EverVigilant|EverVigilant]] ([[User talk:EverVigilant|talk]]) 14:51, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

I don't see why this is on Randall's chart. The Wikipedia article is all the explanation the world needs. And Warren Beatty's reaction to the song simply seals it for me. No Big Deal. Move On. ''– [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 18:41, 20 March 2015 (UTC)''

;WOW signal

It now says "This is the strongest evidence to date of extraterrestrial radio signals.", which is technically incorrect. We observe radio signals from outer space all the time, they originate from young stars, Big Bang, active galaxies, and so on. This should probably be rephrased to something about extraterrestrial intelligence, but I'm not sure if it deserves to be called "evidence". [[User:Jolindbe|Jolindbe]] ([[User talk:Jolindbe|talk]]) 16:18, 20 March 2015 (UTC)
:Regarding the "evidence" bit, I'd go so far as to say that it's a single signal that can't actually be tied down (even in the light of further study) to: a) receiver error/interference; b) terrestrial(/orbital) origin; c) natural universal processes. (In the latter case, especially, c.f. Pulsars, which were ''tentatively'' blamed on "Little Green Men" at first, but are now understood for what they are.) Maybe if we'd have had some more WOWs (or longer to listen to the one that we had) we could have analysed it, but it remains a mystery because neither is true. Pretty much everything else has been explained as "not evidence for aliens" (definitively, or on the balance of probability there's a better working theory that it's not) leaving this as... an anomoly. Not 'evidence', but not ''explained'', either. For now! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.192|141.101.98.192]] 20:45, 21 March 2015 (UTC)
:I agree with Jolindbe. Extraterrestrial only means "not of terrestrial origin," which applies to all natural radio sources, as well as extraterrestrial intelligence. It's too broad a phrase to be used in this way. A better description might be "This radio signal is the strongest candidate to date as evidence for extraterrestrial intelligence."[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.192|108.162.216.192]] 14:25, 23 March 2015 (UTC)

;Dyatlov Pass Incident

Um, Wikipedia regards avalanche as most plausible explanation of the Dyatlov Pass incident, and it appears to be most widespread and down-to-earth explanation that doesn't involve the supernatural or secret soviet weapons test, things like that. Shouldn't we include mention of the avalance then, perhaps? I mean, with such high "explainability" rating it's pretty clear that Randall probably assumes avalanche, since if he assumed other, less widespread theory he probably would downgrade the "explainability" to account for the fact that it's more disputed version. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.222|141.101.89.222]] 18:13, 20 March 2015 (UTC)
:The Key points of the accident were: hypothermia, fatal injuries from strong force, tent that ripped from within, traces of wandering, weird tan, lost tongue, lack of clothing. The most scientific and easiest explanation I know was: Avalanche that accounts for fatal injuries; Snow glare that accounts for weird tan; paradoxical undressing and hypothermia that accounts for lack of clothing and signs of wandering; and Scavenging animals that accounts for the lost tongue and ripped tent. [[User:Kagakujinjya|Kagakujinjya]] ([[User talk:Kagakujinjya|talk]]) 02:54, 22 March 2015 (UTC)

Actually Wikipedia really seems to suggest secret USSR military tests both parachute mines and nuclear missile related. Beyond being between two test facilities, the soviet conspiracy would imply secret operations, if it were just an avalanche, the USSR wouldn't have covered details up. It's not that extreme to believe the USSR did some secret testing, because it's more or less fact. Therefore, the idea secret testing was involved isn't *that* strange or unreasonable. Occam's Razor, given the difficulty for some of those things, like the tent being torn from the inside out, or the tan.
Also ball lightning is worth mentioning in your quest for not Secret Soviet test or supernatural in nature.
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.26|173.245.55.26]] 04:53, 22 March 2015 (UTC)
:Though I can't say anything about supernatural nature of the incident because I don't have proof,(well, I don't have any proof at all because the incident was happened in 1959) I think I can give you an argument about the weapon test and the cover up. Occam's Razor. I mean, weapon test normally done in secured military area, not out in public area. All the more reason if you want to test a secret weapon. Basically, there's no point of doing weapon test there. Furthermore, 1959 was a time when government very sensitive about data, I'd say that they would even declare the recipe of a pie as a national secret. And since we probably read the same source that is Wikipedia, I don't know where they suggest the weapon test theory since the first sentence under the subtitle 'theories' unambiguously say that "avalanche damage is considered one of the more plausible explanation for this incident". Then, about the ball of lightning and (if I may) radioactivity, since I'm pretty sure that none of that stuff turns up in the original documents from the incident, I'll argue that those were added later by people who just can't resist making things spookier than the incident actually are. [[User:Kagakujinjya|Kagakujinjya]] ([[User talk:Kagakujinjya|talk]]) 06:53, 22 March 2015 (UTC)

As a semi-professional mountaineer and a last-year medical student, I'd like to point out some commonly and mistakenly believed data. Surely I'm not a professional and I underline that I still can't explain what really happened there. But some facts should be understood. Firstly, I don't think the Avalanche explanation is reasonable. It's very clear that 4 of dead bodies found in a place which about 1.5 kilometers away from the tent. If it's really an avalanche, I asure you, you cannot be able to run away (like 1.5 kilometers!) before it catches and bury you under the snow. Plus, such an avalanche should bury all the tent under the snow level, not particially. Yet, sometimes it isn't an avalanche, I mean, an amount of snow comes down from the peak, makes a loud noise and terrifies you to the bones as you mistakenly think that "Avalanche is coming and will bury me alive".. and may partly covers the tent. Yes, this is more reasonable. The tent might have been covered up with the snow and made it all fallen-down, frightening the Dyatlov squad so bad that they tore the tent to get out immediately. But, there I need to object. These are a group of experienced mountaineers. When got out from the hole of the tent, experienced mountaineers should have easily seen that it wasn't an avalanche. They should have relax and, after enough time, start mocking each other for how he/she pissed off like a kitty. But they ran down the hill for 1.5 kilometers without their suitable clothes and equipment! No sir, I don't think such replacement of snow levels in this amount, would make the Dyatlov squad to act this way. In the diary of the squad, a member of group wrote they had settled the tent on a low degree of slope on the eastern facade of the mountain, which makes the avalanche and snow replacement less possible. By the way, I have seen four different avalanches so far. I have seen a couple mountaineers died of it. Yet, I don't see any possibility of such avalanche may cause a spot and penetrative head injury as it happened in the incident. An avalanche smashes you. The snow gets in your nostrils and ears, makes you paralyzed with permanant necrosis in your extremites, usually damages your urinary tracts, causes mesenteric ischemia due to the shock, applies pressure on your ribs (rarely can make fractures, either) But it doesn't make your skull crashed. It's clear to say spot injuries on skull needs spot or high-pressured impacts, not blunt ones. (A better and more detailed account for this point is also can be read on the official document)

And secondly, scavenging animal idea can be an explanation for the lost tongue, true. However, in autopsy report (I didn't save the link for the original report, I wish I did), it said that the loss of tongue starts from glottal root, which makes whole thing another debate. During the process of decay, soft tissues like tongue degenerate and regress. It would be normal if a smaller tongue was found. And a missing part in the tongue could mean wolves, rats or pigeons had had a feast of fresh human meat. But even after many years of decay, corpse should still obtain some amount of tongue tissue. And unless you're an animal obsessive with the little red worm in the hunt's mouth, you don't spend extra effort to eat it all starting from the root. You prefer more muscled and delicious parts like femoral area or abdominal organs.

Yet, the general scientific idea for the weird shade of skin is right I think. All the decay processes includes this so-called "tanning". Furthermore, the radiation issue is explained with Kyshtym disaster happened 18 months before the incident. I don't know how radiation effects on the material like in these occasions months later. But it seems satisfying to me. It's not mentioned here but another theory is based on the foamy saliva seen on the perioral region of Igor Dyatlov's dead body. I don't know if we can use Occam's Razor on this finding but when I was a student in Forensic Medicine Rotation, we were tought that most basic explanation for foamy saliva is toxication. So if we'll talk about Occam's Razor, signs of dread and delirium in the squad, panic-caused runaway from the tent, injuries could be caused of it and the foamy saliva may lead us to the toxication of gas, which is compatible with Soviet weapon claims.

I know some people wants such incidents to remain mysterious. Nevertheless, I see sometimes we skeptical people are over-simplistic to have an explanation. So, unlike Randall do, I see no point of marking the Dyatlov Pass Incident as "Very Explainable".
I apologize for my bad English grammar. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.79|141.101.99.79]] 17:13, 2 April 2015 (UTC)

;Off the chart up and to the right

How the Universe came into existence (the physics and math behind "Why is there something rather than nothing?") is far weirder with less of an explanation than anything on Randall's chart – scientists' claims, which redefine "nothing," notwithstanding. And then how life started and evolved (the chemistry and biology – and quantum physics? – at the transition point between inanimate amino acids and cells and the subsequent arrival of ''homo sapiens'') is almost as strange as the Big Bang. ''– [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 18:34, 20 March 2015 (UTC)''
:Yep. And how to make a star. And how to make a planet. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.158|108.162.249.158]] 11:19, 21 March 2015 (UTC)
::Hydrogen + Time [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.192|108.162.216.192]] 14:28, 23 March 2015 (UTC)
:::Plus... magic? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.158|108.162.249.158]] 05:22, 24 March 2015 (UTC)

;Inaccurate explainability rating

I've read the Russian wikipedia article on Dyatlov Pass Incident and not only it's incredibly weird (much more details than condensed English article), but also no plausible explanation is provided that would account for all the incredibly weird stuff going on. I have no idea how that could be awarded 96% explainability.

UVB-76, on the other hand, is a pretty easy to explain as one-time-pad encrypted military broadcast, with buzzing to occupy the frequency and discourage others from using it. How is that just 23% explainable, I have no idea. That's what I've found in Russian sources, anyway.

Also, the Toynbee Tiles mystery is pretty much solved if you trust "Duerr, Justin. Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles" as a source.

There are even more inconsistencies pointed out above. At first I've suspected that the scale is accidentally inverted, but D.B. Cooper story is pretty poorly explained, so it's more like the whole thing is just randomly messed up.
--[[User:Shnatsel|Shnatsel]] ([[User talk:Shnatsel|talk]]) 19:54, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

;UVB-76

Is it seriously that hard to explain the "UVB-76" thing? I've been listening to this thing for a year now and even have explained how it works from the innards a few months back. Besides, it's not even called UVB-76, it was a mishear of UZB-76, and it's not even that callsign anymore. The callsign has changed to MDZhB and it is a marker to occupy the frequency of the "Codename Vulkan" communications channel. The way this thing works is that it is a bunch of gears that control a buzzer, when the Buzzer goes down you can hear it winding down and the repairmen screwing in some things when they come in.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.9|108.162.219.9]] 20:49, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

The Obvious: one of at least three such stations used by the Russian military(see also the pip and the squeaky wheel)
The less obvious: the purpose being either secret communication, time synchronization, measuring ionosphere changes, emergency Russian military mobilization with a dead man's switch style of constant commmunication to keep the frequency clear of other users as well as in case Moscow (or in this case Pskov [crazy side note: sister city of Roanoke, Virginia]), or something else
Unclear: other things about it
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.26|173.245.55.26]] 05:16, 22 March 2015 (UTC)

;Lost Colony

Before the Roanoke colonists left, they carved "Croatan" into a post. The Croatan were a small native tribe living on the coast, who'd had friendly relations with the colonists. They disappeared along with them. A generation or two later, a completely new tribe called the Lumbee were found living further inland, with some caucasian features and using European farming techniques. It's pretty obvious what happened. [[User:Shanek|Shanek]] ([[User talk:Shanek|talk]]) 19:20, 21 March 2015 (UTC)

; MH370

I had no idea that *'''nothing'''* of MH370 was ever found (or at least so far). Reading up on the wikipedia article makes me even more confused: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MH370_initial_search_Southeast_Asia.svg this map] shows the plane going westward basically towards india but then [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MH370_SIO_search.png this map] shows the searches *'''west of Australia'''* and going *'''down to Antartica'''*! WTF?? What the hell happened to that plane?! It's now been a *'''year'''* and *'''nothing'''* was found at all. Totally weird and unexplained. --[[User:Anarcat|Anarcat]] ([[User talk:Anarcat|talk]]) 23:50, 21 March 2015 (UTC)

: ... and here's the explanation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_search_for_MH370.png. Still freaking mind-boggling if you ask me. That thing could as well be in Khazakstan for all we know. Terrifying. --[[User:Anarcat|Anarcat]] ([[User talk:Anarcat|talk]]) 00:02, 22 March 2015 (UTC)

; sort order

The arrangement of entries in the table seemed random to me. I moved them around so the weirdest entries are at the beginning and the most easily explained are at the end. Thus the joke entry is last, as a punch line. [[User:Pesthouse|Pesthouse]] ([[User talk:Pesthouse|talk]]) 01:18, 23 March 2015 (UTC)

; The Taman Shud Case

This is one of the weirdest mysteries I've come across. I'd be surprised if Randall hasn't heard of it, though. See [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taman_Shud_Case Wikipedia]. [[User:Mark314159|Mark314159]] ([[User talk:Mark314159|talk]]) 01:22, 23 March 2015 (UTC)

; z axis

Too bad that comics can't be 3D (or at least not convincingly) since an axis
"Time you wasted on googling around on topic X after reading the comic" would
be very interesting...I browsed on Songfacts more than all else combined -
talk about priorities :-) [[Special:Contributions/198.41.243.240|198.41.243.240]] 16:13, 26 March 2015 (UTC)