explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2322: ISO Paper Size Golden Spiral

2020-06-23T05:45:17Z

162.158.34.210:

It annoys me that the hover text says 11/8.5 = pi/4, when 8.5/11≈0.77272727272 and pi/4≈0.78539816339. Claiming 8.5/11 equals pi/4 would be a much more beleiveable lie. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.37|162.158.79.37]] 15:29, 19 June 2020 (UTC)

The explanation says that the A series "side lengths shrink by a factor of the square root of two" but that's not true. The width of A(n+1) is half the length of A(n) as depicted. The sqrt(2) ratio referenced is between the length and width of any one piece of paper.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.62.124|172.69.62.124]] 15:35, 19 June 2020 (UTC)
:The side lengths do shrink by a factor of sqrt(2): the width of A(n) is sqrt(2) times the width of A(n+1), the length of A(n) is sqrt(2) times the length of A(n+1). Your statement that "the width of A(n+1) is half the length of A(n)" is also true, but it does not contradict that each step in the A-series shrinks the sides by a factor of sqrt(2). [[User:Zmatt|Zmatt]] ([[User talk:Zmatt|talk]]) 16:09, 19 June 2020 (UTC)

Fixed it [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.61|162.158.74.61]] 15:43, 19 June 2020 (UTC)

Hi ! How come 11/8.5 = Pi/4 ? First one is more thant 1, second one is less than one... Although Pi/4 and 8.5/11 (or the reverse) are pretty similar, as usual in "let's annoy mathematicians" Randall's style...

I think y’all just got nerd sniped by Randall’s title text.

https://xkcd.com/spiral/ --[[Special:Contributions/188.114.103.233|188.114.103.233]] 17:22, 19 June 2020 (UTC)

I understand why it annoys mathematicians (it's not the golden ratio), but why does it annoy graphics designers? Please add explanation!
::I suspect that what would annoy many (if not most) graphic designers (especially Americans) is the claim that the ISO standard for paper sizes (which is very rarely used in the US) is inherently and objectively beautiful, along with the implication that everyone should switch to using the international standard.
::The usual graphic for this is vertical and has the paper sizes getting smaller going towards the top left corner, not positioned in a spiral.
::More scientifically-minded designers would be just as annoyed as (most) mathematicians are by the persistent myth that there is something inherently beautiful about the "golden ratio" in the first place, but unfortunately they are probably not in the majority.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.50.76|172.69.50.76]] 17:50, 21 June 2020 (UTC)

It should be noted that the logarithmic spiral this comic implies it is would actually go outside the bounds of the paper. The leftmost point of the spiral would be about 6.4mm to the left of the left edge of the A1 sheet. [[User:Zmatt|Zmatt]] ([[User talk:Zmatt|talk]]) 18:39, 19 June 2020 (UTC)
:This drawing (as opposed to the singular mathematical formula behind the idealised spiral for the partitioning used) basically takes a simple quarter-oval across each distinct sheet size (with, as essentially mentioned elsewhere, the root(2) ratio between sides) alternating x/y and y/x as major and minor axes respectively. Even if it is not obviously discontinuous (x and y inflection transitions occur subtly) any derivative of the curve (as polar, say) would show jumps in gradient at each stage - probably an inclined-stepped/saw-toothy pattern whereas the true logarithmic line would demonstrate itself as a continuous function at any such level of derivation. The true spiral line followed from origin outwards would ''almost'' (not quite, because of the polar gradient) hit the 'outer edge' first in line with the ultimately recursive centre-point then withdraw again to hit the next transition slightly 'inward' of the next level out. The Golden Spiral approximation uses squares for each quarter, which therefore does not switch major and minor axes, but still changes the curve  and thus has the same not-quite-Golden nature. Although it's hard to describe, as you can see from my poor attempt that's probably inadvertently fallen foul of more specialised Pure Mathematics terminology due to the Pedant's Curse... ;) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.240|162.158.155.240]] 22:23, 19 June 2020 (UTC)

Mathematicians get annoyed by the claim that the golden ratio is everywhere. I love Disney's "Donald in Mathmagic Land" but they make some outrageous claims about the golden ratio's place in art and architecture. BTW, the ISO system of paper sizes is awesome! You can photocopy two A4 pages side-by-side, reduced to fit exactly on a single A4 page.
:Also they get pi wrong. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.209|162.158.79.209]] 22:18, 20 June 2020 (UTC)

Isn't grade closer to degrees than to radians? [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 15:03, 20 June 2020 (UTC)
:It's two different things. The "[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grade_(slope) grade]" of a slope is just the rise divided by the run, commonly expressed as a precentage. It is not an angle measure but the tangent of an angle measure. It is commonly used in North America for surveying and engineering purposes. "[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gradian Gradian]" is a badly named angle measurement that, worse, is often referred to informally as "grade" from "centigrade".It is an angle measure, though a useless one: ten-ninths of the measure in degrees. The gradian is commonly used for surveying and engineering in some parts of Europe. The text in the current explanation confuses them, which is common due to the bad naming of the second measure. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.197|162.158.187.197]] 16:45, 20 June 2020 (UTC)

A friend of mine, attempting to do graphic design, once created an approximate golden spiral using the boxes diagram with quarter circles. He then laboriously produced a logo by making copies of the spiral and using pieces of it for each curve. I then informed him that all the curves in his image were just circular segments. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.69.44|172.69.69.44]] 16:36, 20 June 2020 (UTC)

LiveJournal

2020-06-08T01:16:56Z

162.158.34.210: /* First and last on LiveJournal */

The '''list of all comics posted on LiveJournal''' can be found here: [[:Category:Comics posted on livejournal|Category:Comics posted on LiveJournal]].

Before [[Randall]] acquired the [[xkcd]] website, he started by posting comics on {{w|LiveJournal}} (specifically http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/).
 The comics posted on LiveJournal were reposted on the xkcd site, although not always in the same order, and almost never with [[3:_Island_(sketch)#Trivia|the same number]].

==First and last on LiveJournal==
The first comic posted on LiveJournal was [[7: Girl sleeping (Sketch -- 11th grade Spanish class)]], posted on Friday September 9th, 2005. On this [[:Category:First day on LiveJournal|first day on LiveJournal]] he posted the 13 comics within 12 minutes. But already from the next post he began the normal Monday, Wednesday, Friday release date routine, although he often posted the comic a little before midnight (making the Monday comic [[15: Just Alerting You|coming out on a Sunday]] etc. or even forgetting to post a Friday comic, so it [[32: Pillar|came out on a Saturday]]).

The 52nd and last comic posted on LiveJournal was [[55: Useless]], posted on January 27th, 2006.

The last posting to the LiveJournal account was on April 23rd, 2006, saying the account would be deleted soon. As of June 2020, the account still exists.

==Comics posted before xkcd==
The comic [[39: Bowl]] came out as the 41st on LiveJournal on December 5th, 2005 as the last comic to be released before the xkcd website was also used. The day after that comic came out Randall came with this announcement on LiveJournal:
::Announcement
::What with winter break starting and the like, I'll probably be going off my regular update schedule. I'll try to post something here and there, and might end up doing more drawings than I expect, but won't stick to the MWF schedule.
::
::Thanks for the support! This has been and will continue to be a lot of fun.

After this announcement the next comic, [[45: Schrodinger]], did not come out before January 4th 2006. But during this month long Christmas break Randall must have been busy preparing the new xkcd site.

The xkcd web site opened up on the 1st of January 2006 where comics with numbers from 1-44 was released.

*All 41 comics posted before that on LiveJournal was added to xkcd on this day, but in a different order.
**There were for instance five older comics posted after the previous [[39: Bowl]], before the next [[45: Schrodinger]].
**These now have the numbers between those two comics.
**It is the comics from [[40: Light]] to [[44: Love]].

===Special releases on xkcd only===
*There were, however, also two "new" comics added on this first day. Comics that had not previously been posted on LiveJournal:
**[[5: Blown apart]]
**[[12: Poisson]].
*They were probably released for the first time to the public on this day.
**But as this is not clear they have been given dates based on web archives.
 
*Finally comic 36 was originally by mistake a double post.
**So comic 36 showed the same comic as comic [[10: Pi Equals]].
**This was first corrected much later to [[36: Scientists]].
**See more about this in the [[36: Scientists#Trivia|trivia]] section for that comic.

===Checkered paper===
Before the xkcd site opened most of the comics released on LiveJournal (35 out of 41 as well as the three extra [[#Special releases on xkcd only|mentioned above]]) were hand drawn on [[:Category:Checkered paper|checkered paper]] and then scanned in to be posted.

After the xkcd site opened, none were released on this type of paper, not even among those mentioned here below.

==Comics posted after xkcd==
The next [[:Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd|11 post on LiveJournal]] from [[45: Schrodinger]] to the last [[55: Useless]] were posted (almost) on the same days both on LiveJournal and on xkcd. After a few mishaps over this first "shared release" month, he went back to an, almost, strict MWF (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) release day schedule.

For some reason [[54: Science]] was released a week earlier on LiveJournal than on xkcd, switching release date with [[51: Malaria]]. The three comics coming after this on LiveJournal (that is from [[51: Malaria]] to the second last [[53: Hobby]]) had their release dates shifted one comic-release-day later, compared to the xkcd release date. [[54: Science]] was finally released, just before the final LiveJournal comic was released, which meant that the last comic on LiveJournal was released the same day on both sites.

When the next comic, [[56: The Cure]], came out only on xkcd on January 30th, 2006 the following message was posted at the same day on LiveJournal:
::I'm closing down this journal. Friend the new feed.

==Original title, Randall quote and trivia sections==
Only 11 of the original LiveJournal titles was reused when posted on xkcd. Even among the last 11 comics posted on both sites only six used the same title. Several of the comics did not even get a title, but only the date as in Fridays comic.

Most of the comics posted on LiveJournal had an original Randall quote beneath the picture, and many had comments by LiveJournal users. Randall did not use [[Title text|title text]] before the xkcd site. All the comics reposted from LiveJournal to xkcd had a title text, but this almost never the same as the note beneath the picture from LiveJournal, although the gist of it was often along the same lines.

In the trivia section for all the comics posted on LiveJournal, the original title and note if any will be listed, as well as the original LiveJournal release number, and the previous and the next comic released there. It it thus possible to go through them in the original release order through the trivia section. Also in the [[:Category:Comics posted on livejournal|Category:Comics posted on LiveJournal]] the comics are also sorted in this correct LiveJournal release order.

==Links==
*The original page with broken pictures can be found here: [http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/ xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com]
*A backup with many original pictures can be found here: [http://liveweb.archive.org/web/20070927001941/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/ LiveJournal on archive.org]

[[Category:Meta]]

2309: X

2020-05-24T16:57:55Z

162.158.34.210: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2309
| date = May 20, 2020
| title = X
| image = x.png
| titletext = The worst is when you run out of monospaced fonts and have to use variable-width variables.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a COMIC SANS X AND A NEW PROGRAMMER. This page needs an expanded explanation of what esoteric languages are. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

[[Cueball]] has developed a new {{w|programming language}} with novel syntax. Such languages are usually classified as {{w|esoteric language}}s - programming languages developed for no practical use other than novelty or academic interest (although that doesn't stop people from trying to use them). Some classic examples of these are {{w|INTERCAL}} and {{w|brainfuck}}.

Normally, there is no law against developing bad programming languages or bad code (although some would argue there should be). The law often has to play catch-up with technology. However, as when the EPA took an interest in Cueball's [[Laptop Issues]], and [[:Category:Cueball Computer Problems|Cueball's other tech support problems]], it seems that a judge has previously ordered Cueball to stop developing new programming languages, possibly because the result was so egregious as to cause real harm. However, the ruling was overturned on appeal, and Cueball is free to inflict his work on the world once again, unless and until there is another appeal. Cueball's use of the phrase "''higher'' court" suggests that he did not get a ruling from the Supreme Court of the United States or whatever state has jurisdiction over him, or else he would have said so, and evidently the offscreen voices hope to appeal to them and get Cueball's injunction reinstated.

A {{w|Variable (computer science)|variable}} is a piece of data (such as an integer or a string of text) whose value can change over the run of a program. Variables are identified by name and can usually be named any string of alphanumeric characters. To make code easier for a human to follow, variables are usually given a name that indicates what the variable is for; for example, a variable counting how many seconds have passed since the program was launched might be called '''elapsedTime'''.

Some programmers, particularly if they are working under time pressure, may give their variables nondescript names such as '''x'''. This is considered bad coding practice, because anyone reading the code will not immediately understand what the variable does unless they are familiar with it. Even the original programmer may come back to it and find that they have forgotten what the variable was for.

Here, Cueball is developing a language where ''all'' variables are named '''X''' - and the only way to differentiate different Xs is to write it in different typefaces. Needless to say, this is a terrible idea. The language would be a nightmare to program in, as all of the variables would look very similar unless careful attention is being paid, and there would be little to no way to determine what each one does, since font names are typically not very descriptive. Additionally, the fact that some fonts look similar (such as Arial and Helvetica) would require the programmer to have an intricate knowledge of different fonts and how to distinguish them from only one letter.

Such a language would also require the source code files to be in some rich text format such as a Word document, in order to store the font information. Additionally, it would also require the use of a word processor or similar in order to edit the code. Programs would also run into difficulties if the system does not have the required fonts installed, or if the font is not licensed for them to use.

By contrast, normal code is always written in plain text (usually with ASCII or UTF-8 encoding), which does not specify a typeface and can be edited by even the most basic of text editors.

This comic may also be a jab at mathematicians, who by convention use variable names which are short and nondescript (e.g. "x"), and which can also be "typeface sensitive" - for example, ℕ denotes the set of natural numbers, and it is not uncommon to see the definition of a limit as "For every ℇ>0 there exists N in ℕ such that for every n in ℕ, if n>N, |f(n)-l|<ℇ". Or for example, ℜ may denote the real part of a complex number, whereas ℝ denotes the set of real numbers, and R might denote the radius of some circle in the complex place.

The title text references the fact that most code editors use a monospaced font (i.e., one where every character is the same width), as opposed to variable-width fonts, in which some characters like 'I' are narrower than others. This is partly because fixed horizontal alignment is sometimes useful when dealing with certain text strings.

'Variable-width variables', a pun on two meanings of the word 'variable', refers to the fact that the letter X, like all letters, has different widths in different fonts. This would make this fixed alignment almost impossible, thus creating yet another reason why Cueball's language would be highly unpleasant to use. It likely also directly (mis)refers to systems such as {{w|variable-width encoding}} in which the ''data'' linked to in a variable storage is packed into an unfixed number of bits and/or bytes. Such systems often use Huffman-type encoding to progressively differentiate, from the initial elements, how many more elements are needed to fully define the value, but a reserved deliminating value marking the end of a cummulative arbitrary-length array might be considered another form.

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

:[Cueball holds a laptop with code visible on the screen.]
:Cueball: I've developed a new programming language!
:Offpanel voice: Didn't a judge order you to stop doing that?

:[In a frameless panel, Cueball holds the laptop with one hand and types on the keyboard.]
:Cueball: Higher court threw out the ruling!
:Cueball: I'm back, suckers!
:Offpanel voice: ''Dammit.''

:[Cueball holds the folded down laptop at his side.]
:Cueball: But I promise it's good this time!
:Cueball: Just normal code. Good clean syntax. Nothing weird.
:Offpanel voice: Okay...

:[Cueball holds the laptop at his side, and raises a finger on his other hand.]
:Cueball: Except the only variable name is "X". To refer to different variables you have to write "X" in different fonts.
:Offpanel voice: I'm calling the court.
:Another offpanel voice: Maybe we can appeal.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category: Programming]]

2309: X

2020-05-21T10:07:39Z

162.158.34.210: /* Explanation */

2297: Use or Discard By

2020-05-07T22:49:52Z

162.158.34.210: Add a well known example of an emergency caused by the unsafe use of a flare gun

{{comic
| number = 2297
| date = April 22, 2020
| title = Use or Discard By
| image = use_or_discard_by.png
| titletext = One of the things of bear spray says that, and I'm not one to disobey safety instructions, but there are no bears around here. Guess it's time for a camping trip where we leave lots of food out!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT WITH A USE BY DATE. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Many products carry a "Use By", "{{w|Expiration date}}", "Discard by" or similar date. The date shows the latest date by which the product has been verified to provide its expected use. For example, a foodstuff will have a "consume by" date, showing the date after which the food may be unsuitable for eating. For most products, this is a conservative estimate, especially if a product is kept sealed and stored in a cool, dark place. A few products become dangerous to use after that point, some simply become stale and less palatable (as in the case of foods) or lose potency. For most consumer items, there's no immediate imperative to discard a product as soon as it expires; you simply take the risk of a decline in quality or reliability.

One of the issues around expiration dates is that the language used tends to be arbitrary and ambiguous. Some have explicit instructions to the consumer, such as "use by:", others have instructions to the seller, such as "sell by:", still others say things such as "best by:" or "freshest before:". This can make it confusing how important it is to get rid of a given product on that date.

In this comic, two similar emergency {{w|flare gun}}s, an item typically used to send out distress {{w|flare}}s, have slightly different expiry instructions. One has an instruction to "use by or discard by" a specific date (in this case, three days after the date of publishing). The other has an instruction to "use by" this date. These two phrases almost certainly have the same intent. There would be no reason to actually fire the flare. Even the instructions to discard the flare gun really just mean that the manufacturer cannot guarantee that it will work past the printed date, and so do not advise counting on it in an emergency situation.

Despite this implication, [[Megan]] seems to take the latter instruction literally, as an order to actually fire the flare gun prior to the expiration date, whether or not it's necessary. It may be taken that she wants the experience of firing a flare, and takes that instruction as an excuse to do so. [[Cueball]] immediately objects to this line of reasoning. Firing a flare unnecessarily is generally a bad idea. It could summon emergency responders to a non-emergency situation, diverting emergency resources that may be needed elsewhere. Even worse, if a flare is fired improperly, or in an unsafe direction, it could cause a fire and/or injuries, ironically creating an emergency situation, rather than signalling one. This was the cause of a serious fire at a Frank Zappa concert in Montreaux in December 1971, which inspired the well known song (and infamous guitar riff) 'Smoke on the Water' by Deep Purple.

The title text similarly indicates that Megan intends to follow the same instructions with a can of {{w|bear spray}}. Since there are no bears present, she will go camping and leave her food out to attract their attention, so that she may use the bear spray to repel bears before it "goes bad". This would involve approaching bears (close enough to spray them) and irritating them, potentially causing them to attack if the spray is ineffective or misapplied (perhaps it only works if they smell it, but Megan might spray another part of the bear), when it would be much safer to simply discard the bear spray and not get close to bears.

Expiration dates (for food) have also been mentioned in [[737: Yogurt]], [[1109: Refrigerator]], and [[2178: Expiration Date High Score]].

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

:[Megan stands in the middle of the panel, holding two flare guns, one in each hand.]
:Megan: These emergency flare guns are about to expire.
:Cueball [off-panel]: I forgot we had those.

:[Cueball sitting at a desk, working on a computer.]
:Megan [off-panel]: This one says "Use or discard by Apr 25 2020."
:Cueball: Okay...

:[Megan holds up one of the flare guns looking at it. She holds the other flare gun by her side.]
:Megan: But '''''this''''' one just says "Use by" ...
:Cueball [off-panel]: '''''No.'''''

== Trivia ==
* Twenty-seven years ago exactly ([https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1993/04/22 April 22, 1993]), ''Calvin and Hobbes'' made a similar joke about expiration dates on milk. Obviously the humor has a very long shelf-life.
* This comic shares some similarities with [[1821: Incinerator]], particularly in the last panel.

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

Talk:2296: Sourdough Starter

2020-04-21T10:46:36Z

162.158.34.210:

Symbiosis is good for the species involved in that relationship, but it may still be harmful to other organisms. What Randall is suggesting is that humans are collateral damage. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:37, 20 April 2020 (UTC)

Is there controversy around covid-19 coming from cave bats rarely visited by humans, or would the bats be part of the convoluted lifecycle? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.211|162.158.74.211]] 22:02, 20 April 2020 (UTC)

Is this comic suggesting the yeast would allow the virus to survive without a human host, and when we later swap sourdough starters the virus could then find a new human host to infect? [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 01:05, 21 April 2020 (UTC)

That is not a theory in the caption. It has no evidence and makes no testable predictions, at least as far as I can tell. It is just a hypothesis. [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 01:56, 21 April 2020 (UTC)
:Maybe not a theory in the real world, but this isn't the real world. Perhaps in the world of this comic there is evidence and there were predictions that have been tested, making it a theory to Cueball. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 02:17, 21 April 2020 (UTC)
:With a bit of reading online, I've discovered that your definition of "theory" is but one of many different definitions of the word. In some contexts, theory is synonymous with hypothesis, according to Merriam-Webster. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 02:31, 21 April 2020 (UTC)
: Theory: This comic is the same category as "My hobby". Aka: It's a joke. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 07:21, 21 April 2020 (UTC)

In the UK at least, it's been too successful. You can't get flour in the shops most times. Apparently, most flour goes into big sacks for bakeries and the like. The mills haven't been able to gear up their production of small bags for domestic use. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.56|162.158.159.56]] 09:24, 21 April 2020 (UTC)

My pet theory, before Boris Johnson got a bit better and ''didn't'' relax measures, was that COVID had deliberately infected half the Cabinet in order to gain the authority to infect everyone else, like common Pod People tropes would have happen. (That didn't happen, but maybe it's just being more clever. Like causing the PPE supply chains to break under the strain.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.210|162.158.34.210]] 10:46, 21 April 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2292: Thermometer

2020-04-10T23:21:26Z

162.158.34.210: Added a crucial thought to comments, don't criticise kelvin!

First non-Covid post other than April fools?[[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.167|162.158.107.167]]
23:04, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

A common practice in schools and the like prior to quarantine was temperature taking upon arrival. So it's like that this comic continues that to the home setting. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.112|162.158.78.112]] 23:19, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

Personally I'd welcome a home thermometer marked off in Kelvin, avois all the "twice as cold" sort of confusion you can get with an arbitrary zero as used in Celsius and Fahrenheit. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.210|162.158.34.210]] 23:21, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

2292: Thermometer

2020-04-10T22:35:23Z

162.158.34.210: Fixed Wikipedia link to preferred style

{{comic
| number = 2292
| date = April 10, 2020
| title = Thermometer
| image = thermometer.png
| titletext = I hate how many times you have to press it to get to the system normal people use, degrees Rømer.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a ROUGE RADIAN. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic makes fun of people's use of different units of temperature. Randall, as he was an engineer, would likely have strong opinions with units, as unit conversion is often a gripe for many engineers. Celsius units are used in most of the world, while Fahrenheit is used in the United States. Kelvin are a unit often used in scientific fields. It is based on Celsius, where 0 K is absolute zero or -273 °C. Degrees Rankine are similar to Kelvins, but far less well known. It is the Fahrenheit equivalent to Kelvin, starting at absolute zero with 0°R (equal to -459 °F). The use of either of these units for home temperature gauging is ridiculous, as they are far too large and uncommon to be practical for the average user. While at any temperature, the kinetic energy of a particle will vary wildly, the Average Translational Kinetic Energy for a molecule at a given temperature can be calculated using Boltzmann's Constant, hence why it is on the side of the device for convenience. The title text references another temperature unit, {{W|Rømer scale|Rømer}}, which is a scale whose fixed points are 7.5 as water's freezing point and 60 as water's boiling point. A unit on the Rømer scale is about 41/20 of a unit on the Celsius scale.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[Cueball stands in the center of the panel holding a thermometer.]
:Cueball: This thermometer is in Celsius. How do you change it?
:Off-panel voice: Long press the button.

[Cueball presses the button, and the thermometer beeps]
:Thermometer: Units: Kelvin
:Cueball: No...

[Cueball presses the button, and the thermometer beeps]
:Thermometer: Units: Degrees Rankine
:Cueball: What.

[Cueball presses the button, and the thermometer beeps]
:Thermometer: Units: Average Translational Kinetic Energy
:Cueball: This is the worst thermometer.
:Off-panel voice: Boltzmann's constant is on the side if you need it.
{{comic discussion}}

{{comic discussion}}

2292: Thermometer

2020-04-10T22:31:48Z

162.158.34.210: Spelling, plus link to Romer scale on wikipedia

{{comic
| number = 2292
| date = April 10, 2020
| title = Thermometer
| image = thermometer.png
| titletext = I hate how many times you have to press it to get to the system normal people use, degrees Rømer.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a ROUGE RADIAN. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic makes fun of people's use of different units of temperature. Randall, as he was an engineer, would likely have strong opinions with units, as unit conversion is often a gripe for many engineers. Celsius units are used in most of the world, while Fahrenheit is used in the United States. Kelvin are a unit often used in scientific fields. It is based on Celsius, where 0 K is absolute zero or -273 °C. Degrees Rankine are similar to Kelvins, but far less well known. It is the Fahrenheit equivalent to Kelvin, starting at absolute zero with 0°R (equal to -459 °F). The use of either of these units for home temperature gauging is ridiculous, as they are far too large and uncommon to be practical for the average user. While at any temperature, the kinetic energy of a particle will vary wildly, the Average Transnational Kinetic Energy for a molecule at a given temperature can be calculated using Boltzmann's Constant, hence why it is on the side of the device for convenience. The title text references another temperature unit, Rømer[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rømer_scale], which is a scale whose fixed points are 7.5 as water's freezing point and 60 as water's boiling point. A unit on the Rømer scale is about 41/20 of a unit on the celsius scale.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Cueball stands in the center of the panel holding a thermometer

Cueball: "This thermometer is in Celsius. How do you change it?"

Offscreen person: "Long press the button."

Cueball presses the button, and the thermometer beeps

Thermometer: "Units: Kelvin"

Cueball: "No..."

Cueball presses the button, and the thermometer beeps

Thermometer: "Units: Degrees Rankine"

Cueball: "What."

Cueball presses the button, and the thermometer beeps

Thermometer: "Units: Average Translational Kinetic Energy"

Cueball: "This is the worst thermometer."

Offscreen person: "Boltzmann's Constant is on the side if you need it."

{{comic discussion}}

2291: New Sports System

2020-04-09T19:21:54Z

162.158.34.210: /* Explanation */ Heads smashed into the canvas, e.g. Owner of the head 'pulls his punch' in the headbutt. Owner of the hand placed on the head 'rides' the movement but looks like he's pushing.

{{comic
| number = 2291
| date = April 8, 2020
| title = New Sports System
| image = new_sports_system.png
| titletext = Under my system, boxing and football suffered, pair figure skating still worked but had to adapt by dropping some moves, and pro wrestling was actually completely unaffected.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a VIRTUAL BALL. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is the 16th comic in a row (not counting the [[2288: Collector's Edition|April Fools' comic]]) in a [[:Category:COVID-19|series of comics]] related to the {{w|2019–20 coronavirus outbreak|2020 pandemic}} of the {{w|coronavirus}} {{w|SARS-CoV-2}}, which causes {{w|COVID-19}}.

As communities have been ordered to stay indoors to avoid spreading the virus, this has also affected sports leagues around the world, with many of them suspending their seasons, or cancelling them outright. (see {{w|Impact of the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic on sports|this Wikipedia article}} for a full list of sports or sporting events impacted) Some leagues have instead promoted e-sports, such as the [https://www.latimes.com/sports/clippers/story/2020-04-06/patrick-beverley-favorite-to-win-nba-2k-players-tournament NBA holding an ''NBA 2K20'' tournament between active NBA players].

[[Randall]], in this comic, proposes an obviously bad "new sports system" of "virtual sports", in which players play with a virtual ball in separate arenas, and are guided by online viewers. This obviously proves to be challenging, as the ball is virtual but the players are not wearing any virtual reality or augmented reality headsets, and thus they do not know how to interact with it properly. Playing in separate arenas would solve the problem of spreading the virus, as the players do not have any direct interactions with each other.

This would be a similar system to the {{w|Twitch Plays Pokémon}} experiment from February 2014 on Twitch, in which Twitch viewers "played" Pokémon video games in a crowdsourced manner. There are also many games that are intentionally constructed so that some players must accomplish a goal they cannot see or with incomplete information, while they are guided by other players. These include common team-building exercises (often involving blindfolds), and the bomb-disposal themed puzzle game {{w|Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes}}.

In the title text, Randall claims that boxing and football (unclear if American football or international football) proved to be difficult, with {{w|Pair skating|pairs figure skating}} still possible, and {{w|professional wrestling}} being unaffected. Boxing and any types of football would be difficult to play in these situations, without knowing where the other players are located. Pairs figure skating would be possible, excepting "throwing" moves or "lifts", as typically pairs figure skaters skate in unison, replicating the same moves.

Humorously, Randall claims that professional wrestling will be unaffected by his new system. This is in reference to the "open secret" that the matches have predetermined outcomes and are more "entertainment" than actual competition, with much of the 'forced' movement of one competitor being aided or even guided by the 'victim' rather than the 'aggressor'.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[Single wide frame representing a basketball court with a basketball goal at each end. There are seven players running around the court, with a virtual ball in the bottom right corner (indicated by being drawn as a dashed circle). Nine off-screen voices of "online viewers" are yelling instructions to the players. A caption is below the frame running nearly the full width of the frame.]

:Viewer One: No!
:Viewer Two: It's on the–
:Viewer Three: Look out!
:[A player with thick hair and a goatee is "air-shooting" into the left-hand basket.]
:Viewer Four: No!
:[A player with thick hair is running to the right.]
:Viewer Five: He's right there. Don’t run into–
:[A player with no hair is air-dribbling to the right.]
:Viewer Six: Riiight!
:Viewer Seven: Go left!
:Viewer Eight: Left!
:[A player with thick hair and a full beard is facing left and jumping, hands raised to intercept a ball.]
:[A player with no hair is facing left and crouching, reaching for a ball.]
:[A player is making an alley-oop motion towards the right-hand basket.]
:Viewer Nine: Stop dunking and find the ball!
:[The virtual ball is slowly moving right, unseen by the players]
:[A player is hanging on the rim of the basket, making a dunking motion.]

[Caption below the panel:]
:No one liked my new sports system, in which each player is in a separate arena sharing a single virtual ball that they can't see while online viewers yell instructions, but it was fun to watch while it lasted.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:COVID-19]]
[[Category:Sport]]
[[Category:Basketball]]
[[Category:American football]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]

Talk:2289: Scenario 4

2020-04-06T15:49:08Z

162.158.34.210:

Should definitely make a note re: this officially-Friday comic releasing late Saturday afternoon (EDT). [[User:TPS|TPS]] ([[User talk:TPS|talk]]) 22:06, 4 April 2020 (UTC)
Or is this actually the april fool comic, except it fooled us by being on a Saturday? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.81|162.158.74.81]] 22:12, 4 April 2020 (UTC) Sam
Perhaps more likely because the actual April Fool's comic (due Wednesday) delayed 'til Friday. [[User:TPS|TPS]] ([[User talk:TPS|talk]]) 22:19, 4 April 2020 (UTC)

The title should probably be changed, the xkcd site uses the numeral "4" whereas we're using the word "four."--[[User:GoldNinja|GoldNinja]] ([[User talk:GoldNinja|talk]]) 22:50, 4 April 2020 (UTC)
I accidentaly originally put it under Sequence Four. It shows in the image name.

I hope I fixed it correctly [[User:Bugstomper|Bugstomper]] ([[User talk:Bugstomper|talk]]) 02:17, 5 April 2020 (UTC)

Another instance of a graph with poor labels ("bad stuff"), even without the time travel. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.225|162.158.158.225]] 23:54, 4 April 2020 (UTC)

The issue of time-traveling COVID-19 problems has already be considered in Onion Public Radio's The Topical. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3GQwOcsChQ Apologies for any poor rule-following as this is my first edit. [[User:RandomEdditMemory|RandomEdditMemory]] ([[User talk:RandomEdditMemory|talk]]) 00:00, 5 April 2020 (UTC)RandomEditMemory

The time travel in this comic is probably a reference to the time offset resulting from the April Fool's comic, but possibly coincidentally the comic showed up here in New Zealand in the morning of the April 5 change to Standard Time when the clocks did turn back an hour. [[User:Bugstomper|Bugstomper]] ([[User talk:Bugstomper|talk]]) 01:55, 5 April 2020 (UTC)
: The time travel is almost certainly not a deliberate reference to the April Fool's comic being late (or to any implementation of DST). Rather, there's 4 graphs, each with an increasingly higher curve. the first tapers off, appearing to be approaching an asymptote, with an ever-decreasing rate of increase -- or even heading to a decrease. The second has a steeper slope for a while, but then does start to taper off. whether it becomes linear, approaches an asymptote, or starts declining off the edge of the graph is not known. The third scenario appears to be an exponential curve. The 3.5 scenario (not shown) would be to have a vertical asymptote, where "bad stuff" shoots off toward infinity as time approaches T. Then the only other thing left to do with a curve is to have it continue back the way it came. Been too long since I was in that level of math, but I'm pretty sure it's problematic if you Y-axis has two values at a point on the X-axis. This isn't showing two different functions converging as time progresses, but rather that a high values of "bad stuff," time goes backward.

From the explanation: "This is another comic in the coronavirus series." But ... is it? It certainly isn't explicitly so. The implicit argument is easy to make, but the fact that it is just "bad stuff" as a function of "time," it could easily be relevant to any number of bad scenarios: velociraptor attacks, Macarena flash mobs, mobile game IAP monetization, nationalistic views in politics, cat-based cheeseburger memes, or so on. It's not much of a stretch to say that the comic is topical to current events (especially given that there are many others in a sequence of implicitly or explicitly CoViD-related comics), but it still is a stretch to _definitely_ say so absent Mr. Munroe actually acknowledging so elsewhere, and then a citation would be needed, right?
:It definitely is. All those graphs (except the fourth, obviously) can be found in real countries' data. South Korea would be an example of scenario 1. The United States would be an example of scenario 3. The virus is on everybody's mind, so there's no way it's a coincidence. (I think labeling [[2283: Exa-Exabyte]] as a coronavirus comic is ''way'' more of a stretch.)

I suggest the mathematical background of the graph 'bending over backwards' should be explained in more detail because the contradiction between what is 'natural' tendency of the graph and what is possible mathematically is what makes for the core of the joke. I mean, let's imagine that the graph is a picture of some tangible object, as a non-mathematically inclined person might do. Let's say, it's a rope. Then after observing it 'bend upwards' more and more with each scenario that gets progressively 'worse', it would be reasonable to conclude that continuing to bend this object even more and 'overbending it' would naturally mean some kind of a catastrophe. In reality, of course, it is impossible just because of the way the graph is being plotted. Each next segment is added as time goes by and placed more to the right because the time is shown to flow right on the horizontal axis. Thus the only way this graph could bend like this is for the next added segment to be in time 'before' the last one. And since it is impossible to travel back in time (citation needed), such a graph is unlikely to be predicting a real scenario. --[[User:SomethingLike|SomethingLike]] ([[User talk:SomethingLike|talk]]) 06:30, 5 April 2020 (UTC)
:There are graphs, however, that have multiple Y-values for single X-values (graph of a square root function, at least for positive values of X, graphs of circles, or the batman equation. Might need an ELI5 why those are okay but the line curving back in time isn't.

You laugh here, but I have in fact seen graphs in corporate presentations which folded back. The presenter (a) didn't understand data analysis, (b) thought Excel was the right tool, and finally (c) decided the graph looked "better" by using the (incompetent) Excel pseudo-curve-smoothing graphics tool.

To me this comic seems a commentary on alocalypse. Some see COVID-19 as the start of a coming apocalypse, and some worst apocalypse scenarios involve either an explosive AI researching things like time travel or ending our timeline as physics knows it, or all of us going back to survival mode on a landscape without any modern infrastructure. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.250.58|172.69.250.58]] 22:03, 5 April 2020 (UTC)

I think that "The only way to make sense of it would be by using the common trope in science fiction of time traveling creating an alternate timeline in which events are different, thus the cases could be 100 in one timeline and 1000 in a different timeline."..etc is utterly wrong creating a new timeline would have two 'forward' lines over a stretch of chart but would not have a single inflection joining a forward over ibto a backwards one. Maybe a (reverse) Z-bend if you include the retrograde (tachyonic?) leg, but then the true alternate timeline (also as per a single line splitting into two forward-going streams at a given ''t'', whether or not that was invoked by time-travellers arriving at that point or 'mundane' quantum superpositioning if alternate outcomes) would not be backwards. (Alternative time-arrow, maybe, but that's more like a continuation of the existence of the usual one, which has no existence beyond the rotation of time into a backwards framing... However that happens - and this graph seems to indicate gradually, like the rate of time goes for +ve to -ve by having less seconds/'second' and passing zero, perhaps by somehow rotating in the imaginary time plane (similar, then, to a spacial one?) in which case there's probably more to worry about than the (presumably unrelated) Bad Stuff. (Darnit, forgot to sign...). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.210|162.158.34.210]] 15:49, 6 April 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2289: Scenario 4

2020-04-06T15:47:25Z

162.158.34.210:

2288: Collector's Edition

2020-04-03T11:46:22Z

162.158.34.210: /* Hints */

{{comic
| number = 2288
| date = April 3, 2020
| title = Collectors Edition
| image = collectors_edition.png
| titletext = I'm sure you can find some suitable worldbuilding material if you scavenge through the archives.
}}

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

This is an April 1st comic. It is a large image, of which only part is visible, but it can be dragged around. The large image contains a collection of items, sometimes humorous, often repeating. Items keep appearing in real time. Different viewers can place these items on the page by first collecting them from other comics.

There is a "backpack" at the bottom, similar to "backpacks" in video games containing items collected by the player. Items can be found by visiting different XKCD comics/pages. Randomly, some pages will have a treasure chest which will contain the sticker related to the page. It is believed that the hint represents what page currently has a chest.

The sticker images can be seen at `https://xkcd.com/2288/collectors/static/loot/loot_XXX.png`, where XXX is a number from 001-253.

===Hints===

{| class="wikitable"
!Hint
!Comic
!Notes
|-
|Doctors in a row|| ||
|-
|Get out the (US) vote|| ||
|-
|Find a box of nice stuff on a picture with words like these|| ||
|-
|Plug in or find another power source|| ||
|-
|Sweet dreams, kitty|| ||
|-
|What is this hint pointing to? Hell if I know.|| ||
|-
|Somebody set up us the bomb||[[286: All Your Base]] ||
|-
|Cowabunga|| ||
|-
|Take a ride in a barrel|| ||
|-
|I want to believe|| ||
|-
|Bleeped|| ||
|-
|why waste time say few word when lot word do trick|| ||
|-
|Cooler than electric scooters|| ||
|-
|Take it from the top|| ||
|-
|I accept the yucca gnocchi, this meal is a success!|| ||
|-
|Catch up on the news|| ||
|-
|Participation trophy|| ||
|-
|Find an opportunity for a sojourn|| ||
|-
|Tastier than tau day|| ||
|-
|418 I'm a teapot||[[1866: Russell's Teapot]] ||S.S. NASA: Space is Hard
|-
|26th September, 1983||[[2052: Stanislav Petrov Day]] ||White dove
|-
|Take it from the top|| ||
|-
|There are 4241 as of Apr 1, 2020|| ||
|-
|ASABLEIK|| ||
|-
|Critical mass elements|| ||
|-
|Some Februarys are more equal than others|| ||
|-
|Five spice||[[1554: Spice Girls]]||
|-
|Call the plumber|| ||
|-
|Was it a rat I saw?|| ||
|-
|Churchill's gonna have to seriously rehydrate|| ||
|-
|Keep coming back|| ||
|-
|A new model released each year|| ||
|-
|Tea Time|| ||
|-
|Try pattern-matching! Look for comic 'bout alphabet?|| ||
|-
|Where's Hilbert?||[[195: Map of the Internet]] ||maze
|-
|Science fiction fetish|| ||
|-
|The first one was funnier||[[1: Barrel - Part 1]] ||I am a turtle
|-
|It's up to over 260 million cycles!|| ||
|}

==Trivia==
* This comic is the 2020 April Fools comic, and was supposed to be released April 1st. However, the below message was displayed on the top of the page until early Friday (April 3rd) morning, when the comic finally went live. It remains to be seen if Friday's intended comic will be published later.
<blockquote>
Note: For technical reasons Wednesday's comic will be posted Thursday instead. Apologies for the delay!
</blockquote>

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball stands to the left of a vibrating box.]
:[The words "Collector's Edition" are written above him and boxed.]

{{comic discussion}}

2288: Collector's Edition

2020-04-03T11:42:32Z

162.158.34.210: /* Hints */

{{comic
| number = 2288
| date = April 3, 2020
| title = Collectors Edition
| image = collectors_edition.png
| titletext = I'm sure you can find some suitable worldbuilding material if you scavenge through the archives.
}}

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

This is an April 1st comic. It is a large image, of which only part is visible, but it can be dragged around. The large image contains a collection of items, sometimes humorous, often repeating. Items keep appearing in real time. Different viewers can place these items on the page by first collecting them from other comics.

There is a "backpack" at the bottom, similar to "backpacks" in video games containing items collected by the player. Items can be found by visiting different XKCD comics/pages. Randomly, some pages will have a treasure chest which will contain the sticker related to the page. It is believed that the hint represents what page currently has a chest.

The sticker images can be seen at `https://xkcd.com/2288/collectors/static/loot/loot_XXX.png`, where XXX is a number from 001-253.

===Hints===

{| class="wikitable"
!Hint
!Comic
!Notes
|-
|Doctors in a row|| ||
|-
|Get out the (US) vote|| ||
|-
|Find a box of nice stuff on a picture with words like these|| ||
|-
|Sweet dreams, kitty|| ||
|-
|What is this hint pointing to? Hell if I know.|| ||
|-
|Somebody set up us the bomb||[[286: All Your Base]] ||
|-
|Cowabunga|| ||
|-
|Take a ride in a barrel|| ||
|-
|I want to believe|| ||
|-
|Bleeped|| ||
|-
|why waste time say few word when lot word do trick|| ||
|-
|Cooler than electric scooters|| ||
|-
|Take it from the top|| ||
|-
|I accept the yucca gnocchi, this meal is a success!|| ||
|-
|Catch up on the news|| ||
|-
|Participation trophy|| ||
|-
|Find an opportunity for a sojourn|| ||
|-
|Tastier than tau day|| ||
|-
|418 I'm a teapot||[[1866: Russell's Teapot]] ||S.S. NASA: Space is Hard
|-
|26th September, 1983||[[2052: Stanislav Petrov Day]] ||White dove
|-
|Take it from the top|| ||
|-
|There are 4241 as of Apr 1, 2020|| ||
|-
|ASABLEIK|| ||
|-
|Critical mass elements|| ||
|-
|Some Februarys are more equal than others|| ||
|-
|Five spice||[[1554: Spice Girls]]||
|-
|Call the plumber|| ||
|-
|Was it a rat I saw?|| ||
|-
|Churchill's gonna have to seriously rehydrate|| ||
|-
|Keep coming back|| ||
|-
|A new model released each year|| ||
|-
|Tea Time|| ||
|-
|Try pattern-matching! Look for comic 'bout alphabet?|| ||
|-
|Where's Hilbert?||[[195: Map of the Internet]] ||maze
|-
|Science fiction fetish|| ||
|-
|The first one was funnier||[[1: Barrel - Part 1]] ||I am a turtle
|-
|It's up to over 260 million cycles!|| ||
|}

==Trivia==
* This comic is the 2020 April Fools comic, and was supposed to be released April 1st. However, the below message was displayed on the top of the page until early Friday (April 3rd) morning, when the comic finally went live. It remains to be seen if Friday's intended comic will be published later.
<blockquote>
Note: For technical reasons Wednesday's comic will be posted Thursday instead. Apologies for the delay!
</blockquote>

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball stands to the left of a vibrating box.]
:[The words "Collector's Edition" are written above him and boxed.]

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2288: Collector's Edition

2020-04-03T07:23:14Z

162.158.34.210: Added a comment.

... is this going to be like [[1190: Time]]? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.63|162.158.74.63]] 04:08, 3 April 2020 (UTC)
: I hope so, otherwise I don't get the joke [[User:Forresthopkinsa|Forresthopkinsa]] ([[User talk:Forresthopkinsa|talk]]) 04:15, 3 April 2020 (UTC)
: The page just went down for me so maybe what we've seen isn't what it's supposed to be? [[User:Avi m|avis_magpie]] ([[User talk:Avi m|talk]]) 04:20, 3 April 2020 (UTC)
Looks like the whole comic was just taken down. [[User:Parzivail|Parzivail]] ([[User talk:Parzivail|talk]]) 04:27, 3 April 2020 (UTC)
: Can confirm - the most recent comic is Pathogen again [[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.207|162.158.187.207]] 04:26, 3 April 2020 (UTC)
It is still up on the mobile website, but only if you directly go to comic page https://m.xkcd.com/2288 [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.146|172.69.22.146]] 05:10, 3 April 2020 (UTC)
: Perhaps this is a collector's edition because it was only up for a limited amount of time? {{unsigned ip|108.162.219.60|05:12, 3 April 2020}}
:: That was my immediate assumption. The title text says, "I'm sure you can find some suitable worldbuilding material if you scavenge through the archives." And I was viewing the comic by using the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine — which, wouldn't you know it, captured the page exactly once before it went down. Between that and the title "Collector's Edition", I can't help thinking that the comic was actually intended to be viewed this way. Though for what reason, and what intended meaning, I couldn't tell you. …And jeez, in the time it took me to type this, the comic is back, but changed! Oy vey. [[User:NoriMori|NoriMori]] ([[User talk:NoriMori|talk]]) 06:42, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

Maybe it's called collectors edition, because it was only available quite limited and to an unusual time? But that logic doesn't fit with the title text. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 05:14, 3 April 2020 (UTC)
:I doubt that could be caused by "technical difficulties". [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.186|172.69.34.186]] 06:14, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

It looks like it went back up about 5 minutes age. I can't figure out if it's possible to do more than pan right now though. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.120|108.162.215.120]] 06:39, 3 April 2020 (UTC)
:Yeah I see the same thing, looks like they're just testing it live. What a shame :(--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.242|108.162.215.242]] 06:47, 3 April 2020 (UTC)
::what makes you assume that this is testing right now? however it doesn't seem to be very interactive apart from panning through it, and that it seems to chagne over time (the moon from [[1300]] wasn't there a few minutes ago, was it? --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:49, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

:It's a giant pan similar to [https://xkcd.com/1110], although it's mostly empty, with some content at [https://xkcd.com/2288/#-361,-161]
. The title reads that you can find world building material, if you scavenge through the archives. I assume, more content will be unlocked as you read through past comics. [[User:Goatfryed|Goatfryed]] ([[User talk:Goatfryed|talk]]) 06:52, 3 April 2020 (UTC)
::That would mean it is individual? That everyone gets their own picture? --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:03, 3 April 2020 (UTC) Edit: I can kinda rule that out. I get the same picture on my phone and my work laptop, the work laptop is in a different country via vpn, and doesn't share any logins/advertisement ID's apart from explain xkcd with my phone... --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:05, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

Yeah, it definitely changes. The orange swimming pool just showed up now. Also, at the bottom of the page, it says something about "backpack", and what appears to be a reference to some other xkcd comic. For example, "Hint: why waste time say few word when lot word do trick", which I think refers to Up Goer Five. But I have no idea what to do with that info. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.141.190|172.68.141.190]] 06:55, 3 April 2020 (UTC)
:and the content seems to be related to previous comics and what-ifs... but still no clue what to do apart from exploring the page. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:57, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

So I just stumbled upon this and it seems to be exactly as other commentors have theorised: as you read previous comics more stuff gets added to the page. There seems to be some kind of backpack mechanic where you collect items from previous ones somehow, but, perhaps because I've already read all previous comics, that didn't seem to work for me. Instead I just had to click the link above the backpack, which opened the comic in a new tab, and it had a bunch of stuff there. We may need to co-ordinate to figure out if different people end up with different sets of items, and to ensure we have all of them, but I think other than that it should be just a cut and dry thing of making a table with every item in it. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.202|162.158.34.202]] 07:12, 3 April 2020 (UTC)
:Hang on, mine just changed: before there was only 1 pool on the left, now there are two. I only went back to pathogens and then forwards agin. This may be harder than I thought, I'm going to start keeping a screenshot log of actions vs. results. [[User:Benkor42|Benkor42]] ([[User talk:Benkor42|talk]]) 07:17, 3 April 2020 (UTC)
:You may need to try xkcd.com instead of www.xkcd.com - there seems to be an issue with the latter at the moment. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.216|162.158.255.216]] 07:18, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

I was briefly able to do things. Open the archieve, navigate it to one of the comics, that are hinted for (e.g. compiling or iata) and when viewing that comic I get a lootbox, with an image I can then place in the 2288. It worked twice, and now it doesn't again... neither with those that have worked before, nor with others I am fairly sure have been placed by other people. (such as galilean moons) --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:21, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

I almost feel like someone needs to show them this xkcd... https://xkcd.com/169/

Talk:2287: Pathogen Resistance

2020-04-01T11:23:01Z

162.158.34.210:

Note that the title text says "not not" -- meaning we're both trapped in here together [[User:John.Adriaan|John.Adriaan]] ([[User talk:John.Adriaan|talk]]) 04:38, 31 March 2020 (UTC)
:Randall fixed that. [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 16:38, 31 March 2020 (UTC)

Do bacteriophages "afflict" humanity? To my knowledge, they only infect bacteria and are even considered a possible future alternative to antibiotics by some. What is up with them being represented here? 09:12, 31 March 2020 (UTC)
: Yeah, bacteriophage is just wrong here, it's a generic virus. This type of virus is depicted on the bacteriophage wikipedia page but viruses that affect humans can have that shape also. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.51.94|172.68.51.94]]
: There are no known human viruses of that shape (source: I'm a biologist), so this seems like more of a mistake on Randall's side (albeit an odd one for him to make, so perhaps somehow deliberate?). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.155|162.158.91.155]] 08:55, 31 March 2020 (UTC)
::But... if it affects bacteria and humen have many bacteria (and many/most of them useful) in them, shouldn't it affect the human then as well? indirectly? Source: I have very vague knowledge :D --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 09:06, 31 March 2020 (UTC)
::It may be deliberate in the sense that almost everyone will go "Oh, that's a virus!" when they see this shape, contrary to the other 2 which look more like big molecules or bacteria.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.111.7|162.158.111.7]] 09:20, 31 March 2020 (UTC)
:: The bacteriophage point is now very nicely addressed in the explanation. Good job to all who contributed to that part! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.93.105|162.158.93.105]] 21:04, 31 March 2020 (UTC)

Don’t worry, pathogens! All is not lost. There will always be some humans whose brains don’t work very well, who will buy into ideas like “vaccines cause autism”, or “faith healing”, or “natural remedies”, or “Trump is always right”. You’ll still have hosts. [[User:Tualha|Tualha]] ([[User talk:Tualha|talk]]) 07:27, 31 March 2020 (UTC)
:That's right [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.158|108.162.216.158]] 13:13, 31 March 2020 (UTC)
::Not really "always". Those might eventually go extinct. Assuming this kind of stupidity is hereditary ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 22:17, 31 March 2020 (UTC)

Bacteriophages only infect bacteria and some kinds of Archaea, not humans, so the explanation is slightly wrong. They are probably the prettiest and easiest to recognise viral shape though, which is why they are so commonly used in cartoons and illustrations.[[User:Phil|Phil]] ([[User talk:Phil|talk]]) 08:29, 31 March 2020 (UTC)
:I am just as much a hobby-virologist as anybody else suddenly is, but I have no clue what you are talking about. I don't even know which of the 3 shapes you mean. So please edit the explanation yourself if you see, that it is wrong. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 08:37, 31 March 2020 (UTC)
:: The narrator-virus in the middle of the three, that looks somewhat like a rotation of a mosquito, with a D20 on top. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacteriophage#/media/File:PhageExterior.svg Wikipedia diagram] [[Special:Contributions/141.101.69.13|141.101.69.13]] 12:17, 31 March 2020 (UTC)
:::D20 systems have a lot to answer for. The original D6 Star Wars worked well enough, and now I learn the D20 version spread viruses! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.210|162.158.34.210]] 11:23, 1 April 2020 (UTC)

"They bought lots of pasta." More like they bought lots of toilet paper! Humans, when we think rationally, can make great things happen. Humans, when we panic, can make incredibly foolish decisions. [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 11:32, 31 March 2020 (UTC)
:It's both. At least in the supermarkets close to my place (western Germany), pasta, toilet paper, rice, milk, flour, yeast are all common to be out of stock or almost out of stock and usually their shelfes have by now signs that they will only sell a certain amount of them to each customer. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 12:14, 31 March 2020 (UTC)
Why does one of the voices say, "I hate lungs"? --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.62|108.162.216.62]] 13:08, 31 March 2020 (UTC)
:To emphasize that they really do want to destroy those lungs. All good here. 13:13, 31 March 2020 (UTC)
::It actually doesn't make sense. Pathogens LOVE lungs - it's a great place for them to have party in. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 22:17, 31 March 2020 (UTC)
:::I always imagined it was just a reiteration of a past conversation, to whit something like: "Not another lung? We never get to see anything else. Really, George, I don't know why you keep on booking the same old package deal ''every'' time we go abroad. You know, Janice's family always try something different. Instead of just flying in and sitting on the lung all the time they do exciting things like camping out on an interesting door handle then hitching rides on fingers into noses, or even dining out and taking a chance on an unwashed cup to introduce them to an interesting new throat..." [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.210|162.158.34.210]] 11:23, 1 April 2020 (UTC)

This comic is a positive message giving good advice to people on how to beat the current COVID-19 spread. But the numbers clearly show it is not working (https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-52066105/coronavirus-us-death-rates-v-china-italy-and-south-Korea, and many other locations on the internet.) Continuing to believe this pandemic can be beat with only lock-downs, hand washing and telling people to not do things they do naturally without thinking, is the public health equivalent of engineering design with friction-less surfaces and mass-less pullies. We need solutions that understand human nature and tell people to do things they actually will do, not keep saying the same things over and over again despite experience screaming at us that people are not doing it. The 6 places that have controlled the outbreak (China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Japan) have used different methods of testing, tracing, isolating, restricting travel, etc., but the one thing they have in common is a large portion of the population is wearing masks in public. The 5 places with the largest uncontrolled outbreaks (USA (especially NYC) Italy, Spain, Germany and France) are all using the same lock down strategy and all have public health officials discouraging / preventing people from wearing masks in public. This should not be hard to figure out. And saying the limited supply of masks need to go to certain people, not working to increase the number of masks, is what failure looks like. {{unsigned|Godzilla}}
:You know that it's possible to make a mask from piece of fabric at home? It may not be as good as professional mask but would still provide some sort of protection. Also, the amount of masks will go up if China starts making them ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 22:17, 31 March 2020 (UTC)
:Masks like the 1.2 million defective ones that a Chinese manufacturer sold to the Dutch government for the care workers? Or the simpler ones that Dutch experts say aren't effective because they're bound to be used incorrectly and thus give a false sense of security? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.54.219|172.69.54.219]] 18:09, 31 March 2020 (UTC)
:In a situation like the current one it is wise even for expert epidemiologists, virologists and medical practitioners to be very careful in their assumptions, analyses and conclusions. For anyone with little or no expertise in those fields, that goes doubly so. Note, for instance, that the regions you name as having controlled the outbreak also have very different social customs from those you name as uncontrolled. To an Italian, the everyday way Asians (excuse the generalizations) interact with each other is pretty much equivalent to "social distancing". When you regularly shake hands or hug (and then touch your nose or eyes, which people do constantly and subconsciously), the mask is not protective. In other words, there are many factors beyond simply wearing masks that can explain the current differences in virus spread, if such differences are even real (the current numbers are heavily skewed by test availability and criteria for who gets tested). More generally, we currently simply do not have enough information to confidently answer all the questions about this disease and how we should best combat it. Thus, I would recommend using expressions such as "this should not be hard to figure out" sparingly, especially given the knowledge that many very smart and highly trained people are working on "figuring it out"... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.93.105|162.158.93.105]] 21:21, 31 March 2020 (UTC)
::I agree it's not so trivial to figure out, but also that we should both start wearing masks and stop with the shaking hands - both is easy enough to try. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 22:17, 31 March 2020 (UTC)

(Hey, people have been putting replies to someone else's unsigned comment under my joke. Lemme just move mine down here. -Jacky720)
{|class="wikitable"
|
Pathogens: ''infect humans through day-to-day contact'' 
Humans: ''stop day-to-day contact'' 
Humans: Checkmate.
|}
[[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 16:38, 31 March 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2286: 6-Foot Zone

2020-03-27T23:34:42Z

162.158.34.210:

Ok... 34 feet, in total, but how many hands? (That you should wash!) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.210|162.158.34.210]] 23:34, 27 March 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2285: Recurring Nightmare

2020-03-27T17:47:55Z

162.158.34.210:

Could it just be that Megan is anthrophobic? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.247|162.158.62.247]] 16:22, 25 March 2020 (UTC)
:She's friendly (and socially proximate) enough with Cueball. That said, I know first hand how one can be asocial in general (in the verging on mildly enochlophobic sense) and still somehow tolerate acquaintances acquired in familial or vocational settings. (I'm pretty sure it's the obvious current mass nosophobic tendency being referenced, myself. If not, it's a far more complicated joke than it needs to be.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.222|162.158.34.222]] 19:26, 25 March 2020 (UTC)
::To misquote The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, no, that's just the normal paranoia we all have- a couple of million years of strangers killing everybody in the tribe, leaves the survivors with a deep set instinct identifying and running away from .... strangers [[User:Seeberboringert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 21:16, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

This is an instructive video [https://youtu.be/WinPcASr8xw Why the US already practiced social distancing before coronavirus] [[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 21:16, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

"Revise" seems to be British for "study." So if u 4got to revise /study, and show up in class with without a pencil and naked just tell the people that u r dreaming and as soon as the dream gets interesting you will wake up, because your dreams are boring. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.236|108.162.216.236]] 21:50, 25 March 2020 (UTC)
:I think you'll find the word in the comment is "REALIZE"[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 21:53, 25 March 2020 (UTC)
:: I'm sure I won't. Qwotegeneral "forgotten to revise for the exam"endqwote is from the explain.
Please be aware that "revise" means "edit, generally to make the text conform to a belief" to me, while to a Britisher it means what "do homework" or "study" means to me.
:Revise does not mean this in British, or as we say in the UK, Proper English. Revise means to review/amend/take another look
at. [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 18:17, 26 March 2020 (UTC)
:Revise can have both meanings in Australian English, and I think the same is true for British English. "I forgot to revise for my test" means a very similar thing to "I forgot to study for my test". However, "revise" has the additional implication that you have already studied the material, you are just consolidating it more in your mind and catching all the bits that you missed [[User:ZerGreenOne|ZerGreenOne]] ([[User ZerGreenOne|talk]]) 02:45, 27 March 2020 (UTC)
::I'm British and fairly ancient and while "study" and "revise" are similar in meaning (where they overlap, i.e. aside from the respective examine/rewrite senses and other non-synonymical aspects) I would study something I did not already know but revise something I should already know and now need to make sure I haven't forgotten (probably morphed before my time from the original "review(s)", as semi-soundalike). To me, "studying for a test" is either ''very'' last minute preparation (not having attended the classes all year, now cramming from someone else's notes or textbooks) or something I'd have heard said in an imported US school-based comedy/drama. Happy Days? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.210|162.158.34.210]] 17:47, 27 March 2020 (UTC)
:These comments about "revise" make absolutely NO sense!![[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.88|162.158.214.88]] 11:23, 26 March 2020 (UTC)
:You can use the view history button on top of the page to find that where it currently says "This can be added to something such as a general "forgotten to prepare for the exam you're sitting" to build upon various[...]" it did say "revise" instead of "prepare" in an earlier revision --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 11:35, 26 March 2020 (UTC)

Is it worth mentioning in the list of (non-nudity) precautions that wearing a facemask isn't actually a very good protective measure. Masks (especially everyday/ad-hoc types such as could have been seen worn by people outdoors in those in those halcyon days when anybody ''did'' still go outdoors) are practically useless in protecting the wearer from others. They'd still touch surfaces infected by non-wearers and then easily transfer the infection the next time they adjust/remove it or otherwise touch other vulnerable bits of their face. They can wash their hands before removing it, in their home 'airlock', but if the mask is breath-moistened it could still be holding the virus and retransfer onto the clean hands again. OTOH, if someone is infected then their mask does more to safeguard others. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.202|162.158.34.202]] 17:24, 27 March 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2275: Coronavirus Name

2020-03-04T22:51:10Z

162.158.34.210:

Covid-19 is more dangerous than the flu and has already killed more people. And any death rate that starts with 0.00 and then has a number other than zero can only be called "basically zero" if you value human life very little. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.94.132|162.158.94.132]] 21:49, 2 March 2020 (UTC)
:addendum: this seems to depend on what source you use for the chinese yearly flu death rate. number of deaths is either much higher or somewhat lower.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.123|162.158.91.123]] 21:53, 2 March 2020 (UTC)
:It's Trump taking point that the coronavirus is a hoax and no worse than the flu. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.213|162.158.74.213]] 22:14, 2 March 2020 (UTC)
:At the very least, the fact the virus has over 90,000 confirmed cases makes it a significant disease. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.246|172.69.34.246]] 22:28, 2 March 2020 (UTC)
:It doesn't seem like the point of the comic is to comment on the severity of the virus. Seems more on-topic to say things that are objectively true, like "Many people are concerned about the virus" rather than discussing disputed stats.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.132|162.158.106.132]] 22:58, 2 March 2020 (UTC) Patb
::I agree, and suggest we remove the line with stats entirely. It isn't relevant to the comic, and having it refer to "current estimates" means someone will have to keep updating it when new estimates are made. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.54.57|172.69.54.57]] 08:17, 3 March 2020 (UTC)
:::A running total here wouldn't be necessary, there is at least one web site especially for that (or a page for Covid-19 on a general disease outbreak tracking site). To me it looks like this virus is about equally dangerous as flu, except that this virus is only in about 70 countries and counting, so if it isn't in yours yet (as far as you know) then you are not yet in danger (as far as you know). Also, flu kills a lot of people, numerically, every year, and if this virus kills an equal number of people, every year, there are twice as many people dead, total. (ish) So it's worth trying to stop this virus from existing, while we might still do that. Robert Carnegie rja.carnegie@gmail.com [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.76|162.158.159.76]] 13:40, 3 March 2020 (UTC)
::Let's inject a little sanity here: Trump's "talking point" about it being no on par with the flu is, for once, correct. Most people who are infected have mild symptoms, or none at all. In fact, that's how it's suddenly turned out that the spread is so much greater than previously reported: Because most people never even know they have it. Given this, the mortality rate is a tiny fraction of what was previously reported, perhaps 0.3% instead of 3%. And it was only ostensibly 3% in a primitive region where some people still have dirt floors, and almost nobody is willing to deal with their socialized health care system except in an emergency. Therefore most of the infected were not showing up for treatment, only those in serious trouble. In fact, the vast majority of those who have died are elderly or immunocompromised, ''exactly'' the same group who are killed in the tens of thousands each year by the flu, in the US. So no, this has been a tempest in a teapot, stirred up by the unscientific CDC in order to pad their budget, the way they do periodically with a new fake pandemic threat. SARS, West Nile, bird flu, h1n1, and ebola...no competent epidemiologist would ever seriously have expected those to become a threat in the US, or anywhere else outside of primitive regions. But the CDC has continued to redouble their unearned budget on this fraudulent fearmongering. As I learned when consulting for such ilk in DC, "Fear Equals Funding". Oh, and no, 90,000 cases only make it a "significant disease" in the way that another coronavirus, the common cold, is significant. It's not significantly dangerous. In fact, it really is just a strong kind of common cold. « [[User:Kazvorpal|Kazvorpal]] ([[User talk:Kazvorpal|talk]]) 21:32, 3 March 2020 (UTC)
:::While it doesn't seem to be more lethal than flu (or in general having more severe symptoms), either it's more contagious or the fact it's contagious for weeks before symptoms makes it spread easier. In this sense it's more serious threat - imagine for example if ALL employees of nuclear power plant would be infected leaving noone capable of caring of the reactor. That said, it seems that panic is currently more dangerous than the virus itself. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:14, 3 March 2020 (UTC)

:The 2% death rate in the explantion is outdated. [https://news.sina.cn/zt_d/yiqing0121 Here (in Chinese)] is the compiled data for all China. As of March 3rd, the death rate calculated by (death toll)/(confirmed infected patients) is 3.7% for all China and 4.6% for Wuhan city (the epicenter). The number for Wuhan is likely to grow in the following days, too. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.190.86|162.158.190.86]] 20:11, 3 March 2020 (UTC)
::The mortality rate in China is only relevant if one lives in an area with a primitive socialized health care system. As with SARS, it won't turn out to have a significant death rate among people infected in the US who are not elderly or immunocompromised. Perhaps, in fact, a zero death rate outside of that high risk group. « [[User:Kazvorpal|Kazvorpal]] ([[User talk:Kazvorpal|talk]]) 21:32, 3 March 2020 (UTC) @kazvorpal your comment is inappropriate for several reasons, including "primitive" and deprecating socialized medicine. Since there've already been deaths among the small group of known cases in the USA, it's way too early to calculate mortality rates here. [[User:Cellocgw|Cellocgw]] ([[User talk:Cellocgw|talk]]) 16:24, 4 March 2020 (UTC)
::Though you're right in that there ''is'' sophistication in the system (potentially), while the US famously has a situation so broken that "almost nobody is willing to deal with their '''non-'''socialized health care system except in an emergency" either. I think if the meaning was "a health system which is primitively socialised(/ist)" I could accept the utterer's original intent, though I don't actually know enough about the the practicalities of the Chinese system to know how it actually transpires in individual off-the-street transactions. I live within the somewhat social UK one, and directly see its problems, but I've been done well by it myself despite it being notably sabotaged by various politicians on the scene by forcing some changes or refusing to implement others. I haven't myself experienced the strange US one, even during my visits there, but I've had such info as a live online chat (early 1990s, via IRC, for reference) with someone who daren't go to a doctor/A&E for a clearly in-progress medical issue - if it wasn't even a real thing (as cynics might suggest may have happened in the text-only pre-Eternal September entirely pseudonymical medium) it must have had a grounding on experience and yet it totally blew my mind that something that would cost a few GBP (in medical supplies) and literally a few minutes of a doctor's time (underpaid, arguably) could instead potentially end up as billed for USDthousands either directly or as private insurance overheads. Still, this is an old (and perpetual) politically-biased discussion that has had few actual new arguments added to any side for years, and will doubtless rumble on as long as it can - I think we should all realise that all the systems are bad, we just fundementally disagree about which particular ones are least bad. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.148|141.101.98.148]] 19:53, 4 March 2020 (UTC)

If the Godzilla movies have taught me anything, it's that giant insects aren't a problem biologists can solve anyways. That's more of a "nuclear paleontology" sort of job. [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 01:43, 3 March 2020 (UTC)

It is legitimately difficult to tell if Ponytail's use of the word 'catchy' as a descriptor for 'coronavirus' is an intentional or unintentional pun. Either way, it's very opportune. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.239|108.162.221.239]] 03:55, 3 March 2020 (UTC)

The current chapter of Wilde Life (a totally unrelated webcomic) as a giant spider interacting with two of the main characters, starting [https://www.wildelifecomic.com/comic/710/ here]. [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 05:05, 3 March 2020 (UTC)

I think they missed a trick with the naming. CORVID-19 would have reminded everyone of H5N1 'bird flu', and we could just blame the crows. Kill a magpie to avoid infection!
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.253|162.158.158.253]] 10:53, 3 March 2020 (UTC)
:What? How is CORVID-19 supposed to remind anyone of H5N1 or bird flu? --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 13:20, 3 March 2020 (UTC)
::Corvidae is the family including crows, ravens, jays, magpies; so, CORVID~=bird. Not sure how many people would make that connection, but I think that's what the previous poster was getting at.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.91|162.158.187.91]] 13:13, 4 March 2020 (UTC)
:I think "SARS-CoV-2: Electric Boogaloo" has a nice ring to it although a little wordy for everyday use. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.238.116|198.41.238.116]] 08:16, 4 March 2020 (UTC)

Yeah really dodged a bullet on those rhinoviri. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.44|172.69.22.44]] 11:36, 3 March 2020 (UTC)

Is it relevant to mention that some spiders grow larger in cities? https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0105480
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 15:39, 3 March 2020 (UTC)

I'm not really wanting to catch COVID-19. I'm holding out for COVID-19b, which is going to be better beta-tested. (But by the time COVID-19c comes out, it's just going to be a bandwagon of planned obsolescence by then - I'd rather stick with what I've got until the next significent release version and keep a close eye on the advanced reviews and what other vendors are innovating.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.46|162.158.34.46]] 16:15, 3 March 2020 (UTC)

This is only 3 years too early to be a reference to the spiders in Colorado https://xkcd.com/1688/ especially with Megan holding bio-hazardous material. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.33|162.158.62.33]]

Assorted catchier names: a)Corona-chan (works for every disease with a girl name, Ebola, Zika, Lassa, Malaria, Cholera, Yersinia...Ask 4chan), b) My Corona (OK, a bit 1970-ish), c) Coronjob (for conspiracy buffs). (Personally, I'm less afraid of getting infected than getting, showing no symptoms as always and killing half of my environment...) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.54.9|172.69.54.9]] 09:36, 4 March 2020 (UTC)
:Yeah, "My Corona" got largely superceded by the fad for "e-Corona", except for some niches, and then along came "iCorona" and changed everything. Though there was also the short-lived Corona Millenium Edition. (It didn't stay bad. Corona XP became the highpoint. And if you did't like that, you might as well just go back to Corona Bob.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.43|162.158.154.43]] 16:59, 4 March 2020 (UTC)

I think that it's worth noting that this comic came out the day after the American Super Tuesday primaries.--[[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.64|172.69.71.64]] 15:42, 4 March 2020 (UTC)

Shoulda called it Coronavirus-2019.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.210|162.158.34.210]] 22:51, 4 March 2020 (UTC)

2206: Mavis Beacon

2019-09-26T14:16:16Z

162.158.34.210: The mental health line is unnecessary and unhelpful.

{{comic
| number = 2206
| date = September 23, 2019
| title = Mavis Beacon
| image = mavis_beacon.png
| titletext = There are actually lowercase-like 'oldstyle' forms of normal numbers with more pronounced ascenders and descenders, which is why some numbers like '5' in books sometimes dangle below the line. But the true capital numbers remain the domain of number maven Mavis Beacon.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is being congratulated by the game he plays, Mavis Beacon, on his computer, because he has beaten the end boss and unlocked a new ability - the ability to type capital numbers...

''{{w|Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing}}'' is a computer game first released in 1987, with the goal of teaching touch-typing and improving typing speed on a computer keyboard. Unlike many video games, ''Mavis Beacon'' contains no combat and therefore does not feature any "{{w|Boss_(video_gaming)#Final_boss|end boss}}" (a very powerful enemy encountered as the final challenge of the game). In many video games, defeating major opponents "unlocks" special features, such as improved weapons. Also, playing ''Mavis Beacon'', although it may improve typing skill, has no effect on how typing works on one's computer.

In the caption, however, [[Randall]] asserts that after 30 years of playing ''Mavis Beacon'', he encountered and defeated such a boss. Playing the same game for 30 years is rare. Regardless, Randall claims that defeating this "end boss" unlocked an ability to type esoteric "capital numbers," which Randall depicts as more extravagant versions of the familiar numerals. Although modern {{w|Latin letters}} have different {{w|letter case}} (i.e. capital or upper case and small or lower-case), {{w|Arabic numerals}} - the conventional numerals 0-9 used in the Western world - do not.

Stating that the game is old enough that it could have been played for 30 years, could be another attempt at making people, who actually did play the game in the early days, [[:Category:Comics to make one feel old|feel old]]. But is doesn't seem to be the main point of the comic.

Typing such numerals is said to require pressing the Alt, tilde (~), Scroll Lock, and numeral keys at the same time. Some keyboard layouts do not have a scroll lock key or a separate tilde key (such that pressing ~ actually requires pressing a shift key along with the ~ key), and in any event pressing four or five keys at once would be quite difficult. Needless to say, pressing all those keys simultaneously does not, in fact, do anything like what the comics describes in any known computer system, though some smaller subset of those keys together (i.e. "Alt ~" or "Alt numeral-key") might activate other operating system or user-defined shortcuts.

Keyboards vary in how many simultaneous key presses they can process ({{w|Rollover (key)|rollover}}). Computer keyboards for English may be limited to as few as 3 simultaneous keys, whereas other languages or higher quality keyboards may be able to handle an unlimited number of keys at once. (A musical keyboard might need to handle 10 or more simultaneous keys, likewise gaming or braille keyboards may need to handle many simultaneous keys.)

In the title text, Randall notes that [https://www.bamagazine.com/Text-type-typeface-s/105.htm certain typefaces] feature {{w|text figures}}, numerals that have ascenders and descenders, much as lower-case letters do, rather than all standing at the full X-height like capital letters. He then goes on to joke that, conversely, there are true "capital numerals," but they are a guarded secret of Mavis Beacon. {{w|Mavis Beacon (character)|Mavis Beacon}} was the character created as the typing instructor for the ''Mavis Beacon'' game, and is fictional, not a real person. Additionally, as a typing instructor, this person (even if she actually existed) would not be able to change typographical standards. Randall's description of Mavis Beacon as a "number {{w|maven}}" (that is, expert or connoisseur) contrasts with her supposed field of expertise in typing, which involves letters and punctuation more than numbers.

The comic itself hotlinks to this article: [https://www.fonts.com/content/learning/fontology/level-3/numbers/oldstyle-figures Oldstyle Figures]. It is about oldstyle/text figures.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is sitting in an office chair at his desk in front of his computer reading a message that is shown coming from the screen with a zigzag line, going to the text above him. The two upper lines (of five) are separated from the lines below, but connected with a small zigzag line. The computer short cut is written in three boxes. The last line is the numbers from 1 to 9 and 0, in a highly stylized format but recognizable in this context. The digits are shown below in their standard appearance since the stylized versions cannot be reproduced in this transcript.]
:Congratulations.
:Use this power wisely.

:Key Code (secret!!):
:<kbd>Alt</kbd> + <kbd>Tilde</kbd> + <kbd>Scroll Lock</kbd> + Number
:1234567890

:[Caption below the panel:]
:After 30 years, I finally beat the end boss of ''Mavis Beacon'' and unlocked the ability to type capital numbers.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Computers]]

Talk:2206: Mavis Beacon

2019-09-24T14:53:20Z

162.158.34.210: added discussion note

== So the # key, then? ==

Shifted or not? The implication is that it is, since that's where ‘~’ is. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.41|141.101.99.41]] 18:44, 23 September 2019 (UTC)
: On a typical German QWERTZ layout keyboard, the tilde key '~' can/must be entered via AltGr++; alternatively, Ctrl+Alt++ should work when there is no AltGr key. On certain "dead key" keyboard layouts, there even is no single and direct '~' key: To type a tilde, one would have to press AltGr++ followed directly by a space or to double-tap + while holding AltGr. This would mean even more complicated or pretty much impossible key combinations that would be needed to be pressed at the same time. However, holding AltGr or Ctrl+Alt to try and type a tilde would probably cancel out the "single" Alt key necessary for the comic's secret key code. So, once you've managed to type a tilde, it likely wouldn't count any more for the key combo, making it impossible to type this key combination on such keyboard. --[[User:Passerby|Passerby]] ([[User talk:Passerby|talk]]) 19:26, 23 September 2019 (UTC)
: I've seen many programs provide hotkey instructions calling the grave key the tilde key due to the difficulty of differentiating between the grave key and the apostrophe key. So I'd assume no shifting is required. [[User:CJB42|CJB42]] ([[User talk:CJB42|talk]]) 01:51, 24 September 2019 (UTC)

The link from Friday's comic to this new one is missing. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 19:21, 23 September 2019 (UTC)
: This page was created by the bot only a short while ago. I may be wrong, but I think those links will be set automagically by such bot at some point after the creation of this page. --[[User:Passerby|Passerby]] ([[User talk:Passerby|talk]]) 19:31, 23 September 2019 (UTC)

== Unicode ==

Presumably a lot of this could be achieved with Unicode; any advances on 𝟙𝟚𝟛𝟜𝟝𝟞𝟟𝟠𝟡𝟘? [[User:Sabik|Sabik]] ([[User talk:Sabik|talk]]) 05:07, 24 September 2019 (UTC)

Simple means of checking: <pre>
>>> import unicodedata as ucd
>>> for i in range(0x110000):
... c = chr(i)
... if ucd.normalize("NFKD", c)[0] in "0123456789":
... print(c, end=", ")
</pre>

It actually spits out <pre>0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, ², ³, ¹, ¼, ½, ¾, ⁰, ⁴, ⁵, ⁶, ⁷, ⁸, ⁹, ₀, ₁, ₂, ₃, ₄, ₅, ₆, ₇, ₈, ₉, ⅐, ⅑, ⅒, ⅓, ⅔, ⅕, ⅖, ⅗, ⅘, ⅙, ⅚, ⅛, ⅜, ⅝, ⅞, ⅟, ↉, ①, ②, ③, ④, ⑤, ⑥, ⑦, ⑧, ⑨, ⑩, ⑪, ⑫, ⑬, ⑭, ⑮, ⑯, ⑰, ⑱, ⑲, ⑳, ⒈, ⒉, ⒊, ⒋, ⒌, ⒍, ⒎, ⒏, ⒐, ⒑, ⒒, ⒓, ⒔, ⒕, ⒖, ⒗, ⒘, ⒙, ⒚, ⒛, ⓪, ㉑, ㉒, ㉓, ㉔, ㉕, ㉖, ㉗, ㉘, ㉙, ㉚, ㉛, ㉜, ㉝, ㉞, ㉟, ㊱, ㊲, ㊳, ㊴, ㊵, ㊶, ㊷, ㊸, ㊹, ㊺, ㊻, ㊼, ㊽, ㊾, ㊿, ㋀, ㋁, ㋂, ㋃, ㋄, ㋅, ㋆, ㋇, ㋈, ㋉, ㋊, ㋋, ㍘, ㍙, ㍚, ㍛, ㍜, ㍝, ㍞, ㍟, ㍠, ㍡, ㍢, ㍣, ㍤, ㍥, ㍦, ㍧, ㍨, ㍩, ㍪, ㍫, ㍬, ㍭, ㍮, ㍯, ㍰, ㏠, ㏡, ㏢, ㏣, ㏤, ㏥, ㏦, ㏧, ㏨, ㏩, ㏪, ㏫, ㏬, ㏭, ㏮, ㏯, ㏰, ㏱, ㏲, ㏳, ㏴, ㏵, ㏶, ㏷, ㏸, ㏹, ㏺, ㏻, ㏼, ㏽, ㏾, ０, １, ２, ３, ４, ５, ６, ７, ８, ９, 𝟎, 𝟏, 𝟐, 𝟑, 𝟒, 𝟓, 𝟔, 𝟕, 𝟖, 𝟗, 𝟘, 𝟙, 𝟚, 𝟛, 𝟜, 𝟝, 𝟞, 𝟟, 𝟠, 𝟡, 𝟢, 𝟣, 𝟤, 𝟥, 𝟦, 𝟧, 𝟨, 𝟩, 𝟪, 𝟫, 𝟬, 𝟭, 𝟮, 𝟯, 𝟰, 𝟱, 𝟲, 𝟳, 𝟴, 𝟵, 𝟶, 𝟷, 𝟸, 𝟹, 𝟺, 𝟻, 𝟼, 𝟽, 𝟾, 𝟿, 🄀, 🄁, 🄂, 🄃, 🄄, 🄅, 🄆, 🄇, 🄈, 🄉, 🄊</pre>

So unless you're mis-using characters which are not supposed to be numbers (which would change the screenreader experience from annoying in this case to actually unintelligible and is therefore ill-advisable), that's probably the closest you'd get. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.139|141.101.104.139]] 09:35, 24 September 2019 (UTC)

== Trochees ==
To tie this to a recurring theme in Mr. Munroe's comics... "Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing - Heroes on the half shell." [[User:Ryanker|Ryanker]] ([[User talk:Ryanker|talk]]) 20:14, 23 September 2019 (UTC)

== Other ==
Currently, the button on Comic #2205 to go to this comic is missing - someone with more technical expertise than me, please fix this [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.134|172.69.22.134]] 21:07, 23 September 2019 (UTC)

Fixed it - to do it, go to https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2205:_Types_of_Approximation&action=Purge , this works for any page if you change "2205:_Types_of_Approximation" to what it should be.

==Discussion==
Is it worth mentioning "Typing of the Dead" and its sequel?--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.210|162.158.34.210]] 14:53, 24 September 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2202: Earth-Like Exoplanet

2019-09-13T22:01:51Z

162.158.34.210:

I'm assuming this is in reference to exoplanet K2-18b? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.52|108.162.241.52]] 18:30, 13 September 2019 (UTC)
: I was thinking the same thing. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 18:41, 13 September 2019 (UTC)

I'm seeing the actual comic alt-text as "Fire is actually a potential biosignature, since it means something is filling the atmosphere with an unstable gas like oxygen. If we find a planet covered in flames, it might be an indicator that it supports lifeâ€”or used to, anyway, before the fire." Note the tab before "actually" and the odd characters after "life". But that's not what it has on this site. Is that difference intentional?[[Special:Contributions/172.68.70.70|172.68.70.70]] 19:07, 13 September 2019 (UTC)
: I've noticed a similar difference on other pages. For me, there are glitches in the title text on many XKCD pages, but here they appear as I assume they should. [[User:DanTheTransManWithoutAPlan|DanTheTransManWithoutAPlan]] ([[User talk:DanTheTransManWithoutAPlan|talk]]) 19:23, 13 September 2019 (UTC)
::AFAIS the XKCD-webserver claims incorrectly that the charset of the page is ''windows-1252''. --[[User:DaB.|DaB.]] ([[User talk:DaB.|talk]]) 19:49, 13 September 2019 (UTC)

A non-tidally-locked planet (like ours) needs to be firmly in a habitable zone (like ours) to allow the daily and seasonal cycles (like ours) to not send every square foot of the planet well outside any 'reasonable' range of conditions so that there's no possible adaptation possible by life (like ours).

OTOH, a tidally-locked planet probably sustains a belt of habitability upon it somewhere between the most sun-scorched face-centre and the most astronomy(-if-not-''astronomer'')-friendly area of the farside, and it may even let the lifeforms survive more extreme stellar 'seasons' than a swirling planet could, so long as that belt doesn't move so far as to 'lift off' either face, if there exist effective migration paths available for the mobile life and hibernation/aestivation states and hidey-holes for those that are forced/choose to be immobile.

There's the argument about a constant hurricane-force surface wind passing between hot and cold hemispheres, but that assumes a reverse upper flow in atmospheric cells (or a phase-cycle of liquid?) which would promote and reinforce elements of turbulance that might interact with 'surface' features (perhaps subsurface, in waterworld environment) to create areas that are lucuna in the chaos, 'islands' of calm.

Though with many theories of abiogenesis and evolution requiring some form of cycling conditions to filter out the unadaptable and promote the adaptable, so the actual 'interesting' zones are probably in habitable-edges surrounding the habital spots of constancy within the habitable belt upon the habitable-zone planet.

It's a bit moot how all this would work, though, given our knowledge based upon post-facto knowledge of a sample of one life-bearing planet. Hard to know how little or much Earth is typical compared with everyone else. At least until my people come back to rescue me, when I'll have to remember to catch up on the basic classes I've obviously missed. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.210|162.158.34.210]] 22:01, 13 September 2019 (UTC)