explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2990: Late Cenozoic

2024-09-26T15:28:39Z

162.158.41.68:

first explanation, probably bad [[User:Sci09273.15|Sci09273.15]] ([[User talk:Sci09273.15|talk]]) 19:41, 25 September 2024 (UTC)
:It's a fine starting point. Welcome! [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 19:51, 25 September 2024 (UTC)

It would have been so cute if Randall had given the lecturer alien some features of Miss Lenhart. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 19:53, 25 September 2024 (UTC)

Luckily for future paleontologists, our infrastructure and earthmoving projects are sturdy enough that they should still look kinda funny in a hundred million years. They might not assume that there was a technological civilization until they identified the Manhattan Iron Deposits as ancient vehicles or found similar proof, but they would know SOMETHING weird was going on. [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 21:38, 25 September 2024 (UTC)

: Researchers have successfully detected and reconstructed the foundations of mud huts, and track down the fossilized trash heaps of humans and [https://www.usgs.gov/centers/geosciences-and-environmental-change-science-center/science/usgs-north-american-packrat animals]. Hard for me to imagine a circumstance in which the fossil exhibits of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Museum_of_Natural_History AMNH] (to name one) were preserved largely intact, that did not also preserve the AMNH itself in a recognizable form. The aliens might then be left to meditate on how a civilization that could create an AMNH [https://www.dude-n-dude.com/2021/05/02/amoebas-lorica-sanded/ fell over].

The gap in the fossil record between their extinction and sudden resurgence will be explained by a chance discovery of a prestine copy of the documentary Jurassic Park.
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.208.183|172.69.208.183]] 23:50, 25 September 2024 (UTC)

Hey, I made this same exact joke (offline) over 20 years ago! I believe that means [[827: My Business Idea|I am entitled to compensation]]. [[User:183231bcb|183231bcb]] ([[User talk:183231bcb|talk]]) 01:39, 26 September 2024 (UTC)

-Thinking emoji- pretty sure the typical museum dino skeleton is 100% fossil free. I might recall the dino (and similar rareness of fossils) skeletons on display as cast plaster (of paris?). SDT [[Special:Contributions/172.70.38.17|172.70.38.17]] 03:04, 26 September 2024 (UTC)
: As usual, the answer to the question "how much of a displayed dinosaur skeleton is composed of authentic fossil bones" is "it depends". See [https://www.fieldmuseum.org/blog/which-dinosaur-bones-are-real this article] from Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History for intel. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.146|172.71.147.146]] 05:30, 26 September 2024 (UTC)

I would be willing to suffer the fate of {{w|Tithonus}} for a chance to see those aliens try to figure out the Cenozoic biogeography of Hawai‘i - where, for instance, the (presumably fossilized remains of the) backyard birds would include, inter alia, the northern cardinal (North America), the Java finch (Indonesia), the saffron finch (Brazil), the English sparrow (western Europe), the zebra dove (Malaysia), the warbling white-eye (Japan), the common waxbill (South Africa), the common myna (India) ... [[Special:Contributions/172.68.23.151|172.68.23.151]] 05:58, 26 September 2024 (UTC)

I love the fact that we have a perfectly reasonable five sentence, three paragraph explanation with 5x as much text here on the talk page, especially after the disaster with Monday's (the previous) comic. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.24|162.158.90.24]] 07:22, 26 September 2024 (UTC)
:Haven't counted the sentences, but it's now four paragraphs. That's with a single (rendering-ignored) line-feed having been made into two (forcing a paragraph-break), when maybe someone should have contracted it instead.
:I just extracted a rather spaghetti-like inclusion of the nature(s?) of the future-beings from the flow, to streamline it. Readded that (further expounded, now with a bit of excusable elbow-room) as Trivia, to retain the speculative nature of that interesting but incidental bit of analysis. Hope this works for people. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.37|172.71.26.37]] 10:36, 26 September 2024 (UTC)

2981: Slingshots

2024-09-05T17:45:53Z

162.158.41.68:

{{comic
| number = 2981
| date = September 4, 2024
| title = Slingshots
| image = slingshots_2x.png
| imagesize = 397x420px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = In my reboot, Dennis the Menace was just trying to send Mr. Wilson a nice comet, but accidentally wiped out his dinosaur garden.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a WRIST ROCKET SMUGGLED INTO MASSACHUSETTS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The {{w|Slingshot|slingshot}} (in this comic, styled "Regular Slingshot") is a hand-held device used for accelerating small projectiles, such as stones or steel balls. In an {{w|Sling (weapon)|earlier form}}, the concept had existed since ancient times, and has been used for personal defense and for hunting game such as squirrels, birds, and {{w|Goliath|Philistines}} through skillful use of its mechanical advantage and rotation. The more modern "forked stick and elastic" version (known as a catapult, in the UK) acts by a pull-back-and-release action, and has become associated with youthful recklessness (or an outright tendency towards vandalism), but is also the basis of manufactured sport/hunting devices as well as the more organic child-made contraptions.

The '''gravitational''' slingshot, or {{w|Gravity_assist|gravity assist}}, is not a device but a term used to describe how gravity may alter the path of an object in space, such as a spacecraft or an asteroid. A gravitational slingshot generally involves a small object passing by a much more massive object, which turns the smaller object's trajectory, trading momentum and kinetic energy between the two bodies. The smaller object can undergo a large change in velocity, "paid for" (in the sense of conserving the momentum and energy of the system) with a negligible change in the velocity of the more massive body.

This comic humorously compares the two, in tabular format.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!
! Regular slingshot
! Gravitational slingshot
|-
! Used for hunting
| ✓
| X
|-
! Used for sport shooting
| ✓
| X
|-
! Used for spacecraft propulsion
| X
| ✓
|-
! Large online enthusiast community
| ✓
| ✓
|-
! May have caused dinosaur extinction
| Probably not
| Maybe
|-
! Used by Dennis the Menace to terrorize Mr. Wilson
| ✓
| Not yet, but I'm pitching a reboot
|}

The first four categories accurately reflect reality. As a hunting tool (and as an offensive weapon), recent designs have been claimed to propel a projectile with [https://www.uslawshield.com/tactical-slingshots-mere-toy/ more force than .22 and .38 caliber pistols]. Consequently, several communities have prohibited the possession of such slingshots, which may be called "wrist rockets". The state of Massachusetts, where cartoonist Randall resides, is one of those communities. Gravitational slingshots would be inefficient and overkill for such purposes, as well as being difficult to achieve sufficient accuracy and specificity.

Conversely, gravitational slingshots are a useful way to change the velocity of a spacecraft without having to use large amounts of fuel, whereas building a regular slingshot capable of propelling a spacecraft is likely to be impractical - not to mention the destructive/fatal consequences, to vehicle and cargo, of near-instantaneous acceleration to useful velocities, such as the Mach33 required for an object at sea level to escape Earth's gravity, especially when there's an atmosphere present.

Both types of slingshot excite interest among many people who may form online communities to discuss them, but for quite different reasons, and the size of overlap between these communities is uncertain.

The fifth category ventures into the absurd, at least with respect to "regular" slingshots, which did not exist (so far as we know) at the time of the {{w|Cretaceous–Paleogene_extinction_event|Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event}}. (Humans, which invented them, did not exist at that time. Use of slingshots would therefore require some other contemporaneous intelligent species to have invented them, or some kind of {{w|A_Sound_of_Thunder|time}} {{w|A_Gun_for_Dinosaur|travel}}.) However, it is likely that the event resulted from the impact of a space-rock that was perturbed into an Earth-crossing orbit by a planet such as Jupiter, given at least a minor gravitational slingshot on its way to eventually crashing into the Earth.

The sixth category references the long-running comic and cartoon character {{w|Dennis_the_Menace_(U.S._comics)|Dennis the Menace (USA)}}, in which the titular character unintentionally harasses neighbor Mr. Wilson with (regular) slingshots and other devices and behaviors. In Randall's projected reboot of the franchise, which is elaborated on in the title text, Dennis trades his regular slingshot for a gravitational slingshot. By miscalibrating his ammunition, or the force of his slingshot, he turns a demonstration ("a nice comet") into a destructive event (the loss of Wilson's dinosaur garden). The reference is to the relative size and velocity of the space objects responsible for, respectively, comets and "meteors" versus asteroid impacts.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Tables are bad? Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!
! Regular slingshot
! Gravitational slingshot
|-
! Used for hunting
| ✓
| X
|-
! Used for sport shooting
| ✓
| X
|-
! Used for spacecraft propulsion
| X
| ✓
|-
! Large online enthusiast community
| ✓
| ✓
|-
! May have caused dinosaur extinction
| Probably not
| Maybe
|-
! Used by Dennis the Menace to terrorize Mr. Wilson
| ✓
| Not yet, but I'm pitching a reboot
|}

==Trivia==
The "Dennis the Menace" that the [[Randall]] refers to, familiar to those in the US, is not to be confused with the ''other'' long-running comic and cartoon character from the UK, also called {{w|Dennis the Menace and Gnasher|Dennis the Menace}}, who has a surprisingly similar premise and identical date of creation but is more wilfully disruptive and capable of far more 'cartoonish' behaviour (which might well include planetary-scale fork-stick slingshots/catapults). {{w|Mark Hamill}} is a fan of the British character (possibly from his time filming the original Star Wars films in the local studios), and also has some experience with (fictional) disruption of planets by constructed weapons.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category: Charts]]
[[Category: Space]]
[[Category: Dinosaurs]]

Talk:2976: Time Traveler Causes of Death

2024-08-23T21:09:39Z

162.158.41.68:

How'd I do for my first 'explanation?' I know it's short...[[User:Onestay|Onestay]] ([[User talk:Onestay|talk]]) 17:56, 23 August 2024 (UTC)
:I added to it. It's a good start. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.191|172.69.134.191]] 17:57, 23 August 2024 (UTC)
::Please sign your comments [[User:Onestay|Onestay]] ([[User talk:Onestay|talk]]) 18:01, 23 August 2024 (UTC)
:::How's this [[Special:Contributions/127.0.0.1|127.0.0.1]] 18:24, 23 August 2024 (UTC)
:::added a table [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 18:20, 23 August 2024 (UTC)

Shouldn't there be a thin line for "meteor" just below "trampled", if the time traveller lands during the Chicxulub impact event? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 18:56, 23 August 2024 (UTC)
:Probably a mistake on Randall’s part. He might correct it later (he’s updated other comics before), but unless you have a magic red telephone that reach his personal number right now, all we can do is wait (or add it to the Explanation/Trivia). [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 19:20, 23 August 2024 (UTC)

I didn't think that the Cryogenian Ice Age was cold enough to be an immediate threat to a typical human, especially if that human was wearing winter clothes, just a long-term threat (mostly due to food). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.41.68|162.158.41.68]] 21:09, 23 August 2024 (UTC)

2963: House Inputs and Outputs

2024-07-25T15:29:08Z

162.158.41.68: /* Explanation */ shorten giant cells stilting the table

{{comic
| number = 2963
| date = July 24, 2024
| title = House Inputs and Outputs
| image = house_inputs_and_outputs_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x684px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = People think power over ethernet is so great, and yet when I try to do water over ethernet everyone yells at me.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a possible reference to [[1037: Umwelt]] in panel 16 - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This is another comic in a series depicting {{w|confusion matrix|confusion matrices}}, similar to [[2420: Appliances]], [[2813: What To Do]] and [[1890: What to Bring]]. It is arranged as a table of five columns of conduits to and from a house, by five rows of resources and people, each of which typically enter, exit or both enter ''and'' exit the house via a least one of the identified conduits. The table cells are given a green background for compatible methods of transit and a red tint is used for the more problematic pairings. Each panel can be read as "[row label] [entering and/or exiting] the house via the [column label]", for example, "Fresh water entering the house via the well".

{| class="wikitable" style="background-color: lightpink;"
! !! Well !! Garage !! Power lines !! Front door !! Septic tank
|-
! Fresh water (Input)
|style="background-color: palegreen;"| The purpose of a well is usually to pump fresh water into the home, primarily for drinking or washing. It may be unnecessary in many places if a reliable {{w|water supply network}} is available. || Long gone are the days of {{w|Labours_of_Hercules#Fifth:_Augean_stables|having to clean up after your primary mode of transportation}}, for most people. || Water either shouldn't, or cannot be carried through electrical lines. || Many people prefer to control the amount of water they get, and the water may damage things inside the house. || Most people don't want anything they drink to contain (or go through pipes that have contained) sewage.
|-
! Cars (Input/Output)
| Most cars manufactured in recent years can't fit inside a well.
|style="background-color: palegreen;"| Garages are in fact built for the storage of cars and other similarly-sized vehicles. Placing a car in one will both help protect it from the elements and make it easier to access from inside your own home. || As of yet, cars cannot be transferred through power lines and require roads to travel on. However, this could significantly reduce travel costs. || Most cars can’t fit through doors, apart from the garage door. || Comedian {{w|Garrison Keillor}}'s 2008 ''More News from Lake Wobegon'' includes a story where an old septic tank is discovered to actually be a buried car.[https://theseriouscomedysite.com/comedy-cd-or-download/garrison-keillor-more-news-from-lake-wobegon/]
|-
! Electricity (Input)
| This would contaminate your water supply. || In the United States, lightning is responsible for causing around 24,600 structure fires annually, resulting in $8 to $10 billion in losses.
|style="background-color: palegreen;"| Power lines are designed to facilitate the connection of individual homes to the broader local power network. Randall does not identify that electricity can also be an output: e.g. houses with solar panels regularly export electricity too. || {{w|Benjamin Franklin}} independently re-invented the {{w|lightning rod}} to prevent lightning strike damage to structures. || As Knit Cap demonstrates, this would not be the most convenient idea.
|-
! People (Input/Output)
|style="background-color: lightpink"| This cell depicts a view from inside a well, a very dangerous place for most people.{{Citation needed}} As a [[:Category:Comics with inverted brightness|mostly dark scene]], it is drawn red-on-black instead of black-on-red. The motif resembles the poster art for the 2002 horror movie remake ''{{w|The Ring (2002 film)|The Ring}}'', which involves a girl left to die in a well and becoming a vengeful ghost (also referenced in [[396: The Ring]]).
|style="background-color: palegreen;"| Though not outright designed for it, a person can enter and exit their home through the garage door just fine, provided the garage has an internal door to the rest of the home. Not the best way to welcome guests though. || Overhead power lines to homes are generally not strong enough to climb, and attempting to do so incurs a very serious risk of electrocution.
|style="background-color: palegreen;"| The front door of a home is designed for entry and exit of humans and similarly sized items. || In general, people find crawling through waste unwanted. Also, the septic tank is not connected to the street.
|-
! Sewage (Output)
| Sewage in drinking water can cause disease. It is/was the main cause for most {{w|cholera}} epedemics.
|colspan=3| Sewage spills are smelly, disgusting, hard to clean, and can destroy carpets, floors, and drywall.
|style="background-color: palegreen;"| A {{w|septic tank}} is an underground chamber through which wastewater flows for basic {{w|sewage treatment}}.
|}

The title text references {{w|Power over Ethernet|power over ethernet (PoE)}}, first implemented in the early 2000s, which passes electric power along with data on twisted-pair Ethernet cabling. This is a welcome development, as it removes the need for many lower-power network-connected devices to have independent power supplies, usually simplifying their installation and relocation. While networked water delivery ("running water") is also a welcome development, doing so over ethernet cables would be disastrous, risking the destruction of linked electronic devices (nearly all of which are water-intolerant) while not providing enough water for 'normal' use. Randall would get off easy if he were merely to be yelled at.

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

:[A 5x5 grid of squares. The columns are labeled: Well, Garage, Power lines, Front door, Septic tank. Each row's label has an arrow and a house next to it. The rows are: Fresh water (horizontal arrow towards house), Cars (two-directional horizontal arrow and house), Electricity (horizontal arrow into house), People (two-directional horizontal arrow and house), Sewage (vertical arrow out of bottom of house).]

:Well, Fresh water: [green]
::Voice from house: Mmm! Refreshing!

:Garage, Fresh water: [red]
::''Fwoosh''

:Power lines, Fresh water: [red]

:Front door, Fresh water: [red]
::Voice from house: Stop it!
::''Fwoosh!''

:Septic tank, Fresh water: [red]
::Voice from house: Eww.

:Well, Cars: [red]

:Garage, Cars: [green]

:Power lines, Cars: [red]

:Front door, Cars: [red]
::Cueball: Do you think I scratched the paint?

:Septic tank, Cars: [red]

:Well, Electricity: [red]
::Cueball's laptop: ⚠Low battery

:Garage, Electricity: [red]
::''Boom''

:Power lines, Electricity: [green]

:Front door, Electricity: [red]
::''Boom''

:Septic tank, Electricity: [red]
::Knit Cap: Why won't my console turn on?

:Well, People: [red (and black)]

:Garage, People: [green]
::Cueball: Bye!

:Power lines, People: [red]
::Cueball: Bye!

:Front door, People: [green]
::Cueball: Bye!

:Septic tank, People: [red]
::Cueball: Bye!

:Well, Sewage: [red]
::Voice from house: ''Why do I keep getting sick???

:Garage, Sewage: [red]
::Cueball: Oh no.

:Power lines, Sewage: [red]
::Cueball: Eww.

:Front door, Sewage: [red]
::Cueball: Oh ''no''.

:Septic tank, Sewage: [green]
::''Flush''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Knit Cap]]
[[Category:Confusion matrices]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Charts]]

2963: House Inputs and Outputs

2024-07-25T08:27:10Z

162.158.41.68: /* Explanation */ more circumspect

{{comic
| number = 2963
| date = July 24, 2024
| title = House Inputs and Outputs
| image = house_inputs_and_outputs_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x684px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = People think power over ethernet is so great, and yet when I try to do water over ethernet everyone yells at me.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a possible reference to [[1037: Umwelt]] in panel 16 - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This is another comic in a series depicting {{w|confusion matrix}}es, similar to [[2420: Appliances]], [[2813: What To Do]] and [[1890: What to Bring]]. It is arranged as a table of five columns of conduits to and from a house, by five rows of resources and people, each of which typically enter, exit, or enter and exit the house via one or two of the conduits. The table cells are shaded green for compatible methods of transit and red for the more problematic pairings.

{| class="wikitable" style="background-color: lightpink;"
! !! Well !! Garage !! Power lines !! Front door !! Septic tank
|-
! Fresh water (Input)
|style="background-color: palegreen;"| The purpose of a well is usually to pump fresh water into the home, primarily for drinking or washing. || Long gone are the days of {{w|Labours_of_Hercules#Fifth:_Augean_stables|having to clean up after your primary mode of transportation, for most people. || Water either shouldn't, or cannot be carried through electrical lines. || Many people prefer to control the amount of water they get, and the water may damage things inside the house. || Most people don't want anything they drink to contain (or go through pipes that have contained) sewage.
|-
! Cars (Input/Output)
| Most cars manufactured in recent years can't fit inside a well.
|style="background-color: palegreen;"| Garages are in fact built for the storage of cars and other similarly-sized vehicles. Placing a car in one will both help protect it from the elements and make it easier to access from inside your own home. || As of yet, cars cannot be transferred through power lines and require roads to travel on. However, this could significantly reduce travel costs. || Most cars can’t fit through doors. || Comedian {{w|Garrison Keillor}}'s 2008 ''More News from Lake Wobegon'' includes a story where an old septic tank is discovered to actually be a buried car.[https://theseriouscomedysite.com/comedy-cd-or-download/garrison-keillor-more-news-from-lake-wobegon/]
|-
! Electricity (Input)
| This would contaminate your water supply. || In the United States, lightning is responsible for causing around 24,600 structure fires annually, resulting in $8 to $10 billion in losses.
|style="background-color: palegreen;"| Power lines are designed to facilitate the connection of individual homes to the broader local power network. || {{w|Benjamin Franklin}} independently re-invented the {{w|lightning rod}} to prevent lightning strike damage to structures. || As Knit Cap demonstrates, this would not be the most convenient idea.
|-
! People (Input/Output)
|style="background-color: black; color: lightpink;"| This cell depicts a view from inside a well, a very dangerous place for most people.{{Citation needed}} The motif resembles the poster art for the 2002 horror movie remake ''{{w|The Ring (2002 film)|The Ring}}'' which involves a girl left to die in a well becoming a vengeful ghost.
|style="background-color: palegreen;"| Though not outright designed for it, a person can enter and exit their home through the garage door just fine, provided the garage has an internal door to the rest of the home. Not the best way to welcome guests though. || Overhead power lines to homes are generally not strong enough to climb, and attempting to do so incurs a very serious risk of electrocution.
|style="background-color: palegreen;"| The front door of a home is designed for entry and exit of humans and similarly sized items. || In general, people find crawling through waste unwanted. Also, the septic tank is not connected to the street.
|-
! Sewage (Output)
| Sewage in drinking water can cause disease.
|colspan=3| Sewage spills are smelly, disgusting, hard to clean, and can destroy carpets, floors, and drywall.
|style="background-color: palegreen;"| A {{w|septic tank}} is an underground chamber through which wastewater flows for basic {{w|sewage treatment}}.
|}

The title text references {{w|Power over Ethernet|Power over ethernet}}, first implemented in the early 2000s, which passed electric power along with data on twisted-pair Ethernet cabling. This was a welcome development, as it removed the need for many network-connected devices to have independent power supplies. While networked water delivery ("running water") is also a welcome development, doing so over ethernet cables would be an unmitigated disaster, and Randall would get off easy if he were merely to be yelled at.

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

[A 5x5 grid of squares.
The columns are labeled: Well, Garage, Power lines, Front door, Septic tank. Each row's label has an arrow and a house next to it.
The rows are: Fresh water (horizontal arrow towards house), Cars (two-directional horizontal arrow and house), Electricity (horizontal arrow into house), People (two-directional horizontal arrow and house), Sewage (vertical arrow out of bottom of house).]

Well, Fresh water: [green]

Garage, Fresh water: [red]

Power lines, Fresh water: [red]

Front door, Fresh water: [red]

Septic tank, Fresh water: [red]

Well, Cars: [red]

Garage, Cars: [green]

Power lines, Cars: [red]

Front door, Cars: [red]

Septic tank, Cars: [red]

Well, Electricity: [red]

Garage, Electricity: [red]

Power lines, Electricity: [green]

Front door, Electricity: [red]

Septic tank, Electricity: [red]

Well, People: [red]

Garage, People: [green]

Power lines, People: [red]

Front door, People: [green]

Septic tank, People: [red]

Well, Sewage: [red]

Garage, Sewage: [red]

Power lines, Sewage: [red]

Front door, Sewage: [red]

Septic tank, Sewage: [green]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Comics with confusion matrices]]