explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2132: Percentage Styles

2019-04-03T16:26:53Z

162.158.62.57: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 2132
| date = April 3, 2019
| title = Percentage Styles
| image = percentage_styles.png
| titletext = In a tribute to classical Latin, I started pronouncing it 'per-kent.' Eventually my friends had to resort to spritzing me with a water bottle like a cat to train me out of it.
}}

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

The comic lists ways in which you can write out phrases which phonetically are the same as "65%" listed from best to worst. They go from the common "65%" and "65 percent" to odd "sixty-five%" and "65 per¢" which nobody would ever actually use.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Percentage styles in order of acceptability

Best

65%

65 percent

65 per cent

Sixty-five%

65 per¢

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2130: Industry Nicknames

2019-03-31T13:43:28Z

162.158.62.57:

While I understand the humor value of using "big" as part of each nickname, "Detroit" would be a more realistic choice instead of "Big Car" (or even "Big Auto") for the car companies. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.208|108.162.216.208]] 16:04, 29 March 2019 (UTC)
:I’ve never heard that referred to as Detroit or big Detroit, thought you’re right about big auto. [[User:Netherin5|“That Guy from the Netherlands”]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 16:22, 29 March 2019 (UTC)
::"Detroit" (not big) was a very common way to refer to the automobile industry as a whole, long after the 1980s when most car manufacturing exited Michigan. And mining is referred to by sector, e.g., "big oil," and, "big coal," primarily. Anyway, [https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=pocket+of+big&year_start=1940&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cpocket%20of%20big%3B%2Cc0 the idiom didn't come into widespread use until the late 1970s.] [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.142|162.158.255.142]] 20:29, 29 March 2019 (UTC)

Real estate works too and rates pretty high: big house. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.210.16|172.69.210.16]] 17:24, 29 March 2019 (UTC)
:Big House often refers to prison. [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 19:13, 29 March 2019 (UTC)
::Big Money: banking industry? own the mortgages. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.24|172.68.65.24]] 04:38, 31 March 2019 (UTC)

I, for one, welcome our new big horse overlords [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.22|162.158.255.22]] 18:59, 29 March 2019 (UTC)
:Belgians or Percherons? [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 19:13, 29 March 2019 (UTC)

Thinking of the phrase "In the pocket of," I get thinking of clothing manufacturers: Being in the pocket of big shirt, or being in the pocket of big jeans. Mind you, you could look at the genetic analysis and manipulation industries, being in the pocket of big genes. That could work best phonetically. [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 19:13, 29 March 2019 (UTC)
:Those are certainly lost opportunities for this one. Similarly billiards. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.142|162.158.255.142]] 20:36, 29 March 2019 (UTC)
:Is billiards "big pockets" or "big balls"?
[[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 06:37, 30 March 2019 (UTC)

The Big Cheese in the Big Apple obviously spent Big Bucks persuading Randall to avoid a mention [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 08:35, 30 March 2019 (UTC)
: Some could interpret this comment as noting that Randall is in the pocket of Big Energy corporations, as he put them as "Big Hole" way over on the right near groups that have little coercive power. Communities have been devastated in conflict with energy corporations, with many many deaths, see for example {{w|Coal Wars}}. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.24|172.68.65.24]] 04:59, 31 March 2019 (UTC)

Little disappointed, here, that no one is in the pocket of Big Bird.
: Or Big Kanga! [[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.24|172.68.65.24]] 04:59, 31 March 2019 (UTC)

Big Egg -> Big testicles -> Big balls -> Big baller -> big balla

Barefoot running enthusiasts on reddit/r/barefootrunning and r/barefoot regularly and non-humorously refer to the shoe industry as "Big Shoe". From this perspective, the Board of Podiatric Medicine should be termed "Big Orthotics" or "Big Foot Surgery".

2126: Google Trends Maps

2019-03-20T15:42:26Z

162.158.62.57:

{{comic
| number = 2126
| date = March 20, 2019
| title = Google Trends Maps
| image = google_trends_maps.png
| titletext = It's early 2020. The entire country is gripped with Marco Rubio fever except for Alaska, which is freaking out. You're frantically studying up on etiquette and/or sexting.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an ALLIGATOR. Each map needs to be individually explained. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[https://trends.google.com/ Google Trends] is a website for visualizing Google search activity by date and region. Used properly, it can give a picture of what topics people are interested in (as evidenced by what they search for) at particular times and in different places. Used improperly, it can simply [[1845:_State Word Map|amplify random noise]].

[[Randall]] has created several Google Trends maps of search activity in the US. Each map colors in states according to which of two (or more) search queries was more popular. As noted at the top of the comic, all of these based on real queries (though not reflecting the same time period across all maps). However, none of them seem to show any especially ''useful'' comparisons.

* "Frostbite" vs "heat stroke": This is probably the most sensible comparison of the lot, showing which of these two risks of exposure people search up more often. However, the results are fairly obvious: in the colder northern and eastern states, "frostbite" is the more common search, while across the south and west, it's "heat stroke".
* "Best church" vs "best strip club": This map would seem to indicate people in Nevada (and only in Nevada) are more interested in strip clubs than religion. This may have something to do with the fact that Las Vegas is in Nevada.
* "Bigfoot" vs "Mike Pence": Apparently, everywhere except for Indiana, people in the US are more interested in a fictitious hairy creature than in the current (at the time of this comic's release) Vice President of the United States. This probably has something to do with the fact that Mike Pence is the former governor of Indiana.
* "Etiquette" vs "sexting": Similar to the church/strip club example, this map contrasts search interest in polite behavior against risqué behavior.
* "Little dog" vs "big cat": "Little Dog" is a television series. "Big cat" is a term for the largest members of the cat family (Felidae). Though the names are made up of opposites, there is no actual connection evident between these two things.
* "Shark attack" vs "childbirth": While both of these things might be considered risky, there is not much of a relationship between them. As might be expected, the "shark attack" search is more common in most coastal states (and, for some reason, both Kentucky and Nevada).
* "Snakes" vs "ants" vs "bees" vs "alligators": These are all dangerous animals that cause occasional human fatalities (mainly from allergic reactions for ants and bees). There is no noticeable pattern in which animal is searched most often, though only Florida has alligators as the most common search of the four. Florida presumably has Alligators as the most searched item on this list as it is where the Everglades are located, a vast area of swamp and marsh that, aside from maintaining the ecosystem and the water supply of Florida, also is home to an obscene amount of alligators.
* "Retirement planning" vs "bungee jumping": The implication here is that people in some states are more concerned with short-term fun rather than long-term planning.
* "Super Bowl" vs "funeral home": This is an attempt to contrast interest in a popular sports (and media) event against a rather somber topic.
* "Resume tips" vs "skateboard tricks": Another comparison between learning a "serious", goal-oriented skill (career advancement) and a "silly", fun skill (skateboarding).
* "Donald Trump" vs "What do I do": The implication here seems to be that people in some states are more likely to ask Google "what do I do?", either in panic or in ignorance, than they are to look up the latest doings of the US President. The split shown is not too different to the actual split between states voting for Trump and for his opponent, Hillary Clinton.
* "Existential crisis" vs "Marco Rubio": Senator Marco Rubio was a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. Everywhere but Alaska, people were more likely to look up his name than to search for "existential crisis".

The title text uses two of these maps to paint a picture of the year 2020 (implying that these search patterns are both meaningful and likely to continue into the future). In this scenario, most of the country continues to read about Marco Rubio (except for Alaskans, still searching for help with their existential crises), and individuals are trying to learn about etiquette, sexting, or both, depending on their location.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Add the colored states. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:The least informative
:'''Google Trends Maps'''
:I've created over the years

:(All are real but not all cover the same date range)

:[12 maps of the United States are shown with the states colored. There are labels for the colors. Refer to the explanation for details on which states or areas are which color.]

:[Map 1]
:[Blue:] Frostbite
:[Red:] Heat stroke

:[Map 2]
:[Blue:] Best church
:[Red:] Best strip club

:[Map 3]
:[Blue:] Bigfoot
:[Red:] Mike Pence

:[Map 4]
:[Blue:] Etiquette
:[Red:] Sexting

:[Map 5]
:[Blue:] Little dog
:[Red:] Big cat

:[Map 6]
:[Blue:] Shark attack
:[Red:] Childbirth

:[Map 7]
:[Blue:] Snakes
:[Red:] Ants
:[Yellow:] Bees
:[Green:] Alligators

:[Map 8]
:[Blue:] Retirement planning
:[Red:] Bungee jumping

:[Map 9]
:[Blue:] Super Bowl
:[Red:] Funeral home

:[Map 10]
:[Blue:] Resume tips
:[Red:] Skateboard tricks

:[Map 11]
:[Blue:] Donald Trump
:[Red:] What do I do

:[Map 12]
:[Blue:] Existential crisis
:[Red:] Marco Rubio

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Maps]]

Talk:2122: Size Venn Diagram

2019-03-13T13:02:27Z

162.158.62.57: Commenting

The word league is in a diamond-shaped region, which probably connotes to the baseball diamond.

I think Randall kind of missed an opportunity with the title text: he should have used the new terms as a way to fill the blank areas in the diagram, for instance 'Great Emerald' for the currently empty set Great+Small+Little+Large.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.221|141.101.99.221]] 14:31, 11 March 2019 (UTC)
:No, I think the diagram itself is meant to be completely correct. But I didn't check all 100+ combinations. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 14:57, 11 March 2019 (UTC)
::Yes, I believe the diagram is correct now, but as per the title text Randall will start using new combinations of terms, probably to get their usage mainstream and move the location of the words in the diagram. I'm saying he should have created terms that would fill some blank areas. For instance, his Large Dipper would make Dipper appear in the Big+Little+Large area where we already have League.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.95|141.101.99.95]] 15:16, 11 March 2019 (UTC)
:::I understood what you said (the first time around) and agree. Randall's title text is to acknowledge or engage the patterns he's discovered in the comic (as usual), and he could do that more thoroughly by making up words that would make the chart more balanced. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.100|162.158.78.100]] 16:27, 11 March 2019 (UTC)
:He could also have placed “man” between “little” and “big” just to reference the movie ☺

Any such diagram will inevitably have small lacunae. But "Friendly Giant" is a particularly large one. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.172|162.158.63.172]] 15:21, 11 March 2019 (UTC)

Endian? Scott? Tits?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.112|108.162.219.112]] 15:23, 11 March 2019 (UTC)
:Yeah, what about Little Endian? It's missing! [[Special:Contributions/172.68.143.156|172.68.143.156]] 19:28, 11 March 2019 (UT
:: "Endian" would go in the "Big/Little" area, which already has "Dipper", "Lies", "Planet" and "Sister"; no room...

Besides the transcript of what's in each category, what about a table to explain ''why'' the items categorized as they are, like:
{| class="wikitable"
!Item
!Big
!Great
!Large
!Little
!Small
|-
|Island
|Hawaii
|Cork Harbor, Ireland
|Antilles
|movie
|novel, movie
|-
|Pox
|n/a
|syphilis
|n/a
|n/a
|disease
|-
|White
|BC ski resort
|shark
|pig
|n/a
|butterfly
|}
{Unsigned|172.69.62.160}
:Yeah, it seems reasonable, I like it. Add it [[User:Netherin5|Netherin5]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 15:57, 11 March 2019 (UTC)
::Second but leave the unused cells blank dont put N/A in the cell. [[User:M|M]] ([[User talk:M|talk]]) 16:15, 11 March 2019 (UTC)

I don't know why, but the shape of this diagram feels really satisfying to me. [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 16:29, 11 March 2019 (UTC)
:For me it’s just hard to look at. [[User:Netherin5|Netherin5]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 16:41, 11 March 2019 (UTC)
:Came here to say exactly that. The symmetry is really pleasing. I've been considering how effective adding colours would be as well. [[User:Cosmogoblin|Cosmogoblin]] ([[User talk:Cosmogoblin|talk]]) 17:55, 11 March 2019 (UTC)
:: I beg to differ. xkcd finally went pear-shaped. (runs for his life) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.223|162.158.89.223]] 11:44, 13 March 2019 (UTC)
::It looks like these style Venn diagrams are generated by http://bioinformatics.psb.ugent.be/webtools/Venn/ ... haven't tried it myself. Don't know if they invented it or took it from elsewhere. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.149|162.158.79.149]] 21:17, 11 March 2019 (UTC)
:::This particular geometric configuration for five category Venn diagrams was popularized by [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/32440128/nice-looking-five-sets-venn-diagrams Adrian Dusa's venn package for R]. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.142.179|172.68.142.179]] 17:55, 12 March 2019 (UTC)

:Could it be because they look like eggplants? Kind of like the eggplant emojis? [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 15:45, 12 March 2019 (UTC)

Again I wonder if he does these sorts of comics just to see how far we'll take it [[User:Cgrimes85|Cgrimes85]] ([[User talk:Cgrimes85|talk]]) 16:51, 11 March 2019 (UTC)

Uhhh...isn’t the bottom part just the transcript?[[User:Netherin5|Netherin5]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 17:08, 11 March 2019 (UTC)

Shouldn't this go in the Venn Diagram category? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.95|172.68.132.95]] 00:10, 12 March 2019 (UTC)
:Done. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.182.154|172.68.182.154]] 17:58, 12 March 2019 (UTC)

Can anyone make the table's cells be more regular in size across columns? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.95|172.68.132.95]] 00:54, 12 March 2019 (UTC)
:Done [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.35|141.101.104.35]] 15:28, 12 March 2019 (UTC)

I am disappointed that he only referenced the "little big planet" game but not the "little big adventure" one. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.96.187|141.101.96.187]] 08:04, 12 March 2019 (UTC)

Large Frog is an [https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/8743/large-frog-new-version artwork], apparently. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.200|162.158.155.200]] 22:56, 12 March 2019 (UTC)

Why Are we so sure that planet being in both the little and big categories is a reference to the game? [[User:V|V]] ([[User talk:V|talk]]) 01:23, 13 March 2019 (UTC)

2122: Size Venn Diagram

2019-03-11T17:20:46Z

162.158.62.57:

{{comic
| number = 2122
| date = March 11, 2019
| title = Size Venn Diagram
| image = size_venn_diagram.png
| titletext = Terms I'm going to start using: The Large Dipper, great potatoes, the Big Hadron Collider, and Large Orphan Annie.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a Large Terror. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is a {{w|Venn diagram}} illustrating the complete set of possible intersections of five different size descriptors: "little, "large", "small", and "great", “big”. Each unique intersection contains a short list of terms that can be preceded by each applicable descriptor. For example, "flying fox" (a type of bat) appears at the intersection of "large", "small", and "great", because the species {{w|large flying fox}}, {{w|small flying fox}}, and {{w|great flying fox}} all exist, but there is no such species as a "big flying fox" or a "little flying fox". {{w|Small intestine}} and {{w|large intestine}} both exist, not the rest.

Some descriptors are applied in pairs; for example, "planet" is placed to be in both the "little" and "big" groups, a reference to the video game Little Big Planet.

The title text has Randall suggesting he will start using term combinations that don't appear in the above diagram.

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

The comic is a five-variable venn diagram, with some words that fit with those prefixes.

:Big: [[wikipedia:Big Bang Theory|Bang Theory]], [[wiktionary:big enchilada|Enchilada]], [[wikipedia:Big Board|Board]], [[wikipedia:Big Sur|Sur]]
:Little: [[wikipedia:Little Orphan Annie|Orphan Annie]], [[wikipedia:Little House on the Prairie|House on the Prairie]], [[wikipedia:Little Richard|Richard]]
:Large: [[wikipedia:large format|format]], [[wikipedia:Large Millimeter Telescope|Millimeter Telescope]], [[wikipedia:Large Hadron Collider|Hadron Collider]]
:Small: [[wikipedia:small claims court|claims court]], [[wiktionary:small potatoes|potatoes]]
:Great: [[wikipedia:Great Barrier Reef|Barrier Reef]], [[wikipedia:Great Wall of China|Wall of China]], [[wikipedia:Great Depression|Depression]], [[wikipedia:Great Terror|Terror]], [[wiktionary:great-aunt|aunt]]

:Big/Little: [[wikipedia:Big Dipper|Dipper]]/[[wikipedia:Ursa Minor|Dipper]], Planet, lies, sister
:Big/Large: Toothed Aspen
:Big/Small: time, screen
:Big/Great: Bend, Bear Lake
:Little/Large: Professor [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Professor], Forest Bat
:Little/Small: wonder, soldiers
:Little/Great: Blue Heron
:Large/Small: intestine, Magellanic Cloud
:Large/Great: Billed Seed Finch
:Small/Great: pox, cardiac vein

:Big/Little/Large: foundation
:Big/Little/Small: foot
:Big/Little/Great: league
:Big/Large/Small: Eyed Conger, Blue
:Big/Large/Great: hearted
:Big/Small/Great: end
:Little/Large/Small: emerald
:Little/Large/Great: (none)
:Little/Small/Great: circle, room
:Large/Small/Great: flying fox

:Big/Large/Great/Small: game, white
:Little/Big/Large/Great: (none)
:Little/Big/Large/Small: (none)
:Little/Big/Great/Small: (none)
:Little/Large/Great/Small: (none)

:Little/Big/Large/Great/Small: Island

==List of Items in the Diagram==
{| class="wikitable"
!Item
!Big
!Great
!Large
!Little
!Small
|-
|'''Blue'''
|IBM (also movie)
|
|butterfly
|
|butterfly
|-
|'''Eyed Conger'''
|eel
|
|eel
|
|eel
|-
|'''Forest Bat'''
|
|
|bat
|bat
|
|-
|'''Format'''
|
|
|photography
|
|
|-
|'''Hadron Collider'''
|
|
|particle accelerator
|
|
|-
|'''House on the Prairie'''
|
|
|
|novel (and TV)
|
|-
|'''Intestine'''
|
|
|gut
|
|gut
|-
|'''Island'''
|Hawaii
|Cork Harbor, Ireland
|Antilles
|movie
|novel, movie
|-
|'''Magellanic Cloud'''
|
|
|galaxy
|
|galaxy
|-
|'''Millimeter Telescope'''
|
|
|radiotelescope
|
|
|-
|'''Orphan Annie'''
|
|
|
|comic strip
|
|-
|'''Pox'''
|
|syphilis
|
|
|disease
|-
|'''Professor'''
|
|
|rap artist
|calculator (also Asperger's)
|
|-
|'''Richard'''
|
|
|
|musician
|
|-
|'''Screen'''
|movies
|
|
|
|TV
|-
|'''Time'''
|major
|
|
|
|minor
|-
|'''Toothed Aspen'''
|tree (bigtooth)
|
|tree
|
|
|-
|'''White'''
|ski resort
|shark
|pig
|
|butterfly
|}

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2043: Boathouses and Houseboats

2018-09-08T19:40:08Z

162.158.62.57:

The state of California already believes that a house held by a car is a housecar:
:Vehicle Code - VEH
:DIVISION 1. WORDS AND PHRASES DEFINED [100 - 681] ( Division 1 enacted by Stats. 1959, Ch. 3. )
:362.
:A “house car” is a motor vehicle originally designed, or permanently altered, and equipped for human habitation, or to which a camper has been permanently attached. A motor vehicle to which a camper has been temporarily attached is not a house car except that, for the purposes of Division 11 (commencing with Section 21000) and Division 12 (commencing with Section 24000), a motor vehicle equipped with a camper having an axle that is designed to support a portion of the weight of the camper unit shall be considered a three-axle house car regardless of the method of attachment or manner of registration. A house car shall not be deemed to be a motortruck.[http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=VEH&sectionNum=362.]
Bonus: "motortruck" does indeed refer to a truck that holds a motor.
[[User:Jordan Brown|Jordan Brown]] ([[User talk:Jordan Brown|talk]]) 15:57, 7 September 2018 (UTC)
:: The State of California believes [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/796:_Bad_Ex all sort of strange things] [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 18:20, 7 September 2018 (UTC)
Randall did just correct the comic. The first version said "this [row] held by this [column]", which would have meant, that e.g. a towtruck is a car held by a car, which is just wrong. It has just be updated to the correct "a this [column] that holds a this [row]". I do not know how to change that here. Should be mentioned in Trivia [[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 16:11, 7 September 2018 (UTC)
:Thanks for your eagle eyes. I've uploaded the new version, please be patient until the cache is expired and you can see it. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 16:48, 7 September 2018 (UTC)

'''Boat boat'''

Shouldn't a boat that holds another boat be some sort of either carrier, or at-sea repair dock?

Sort of like a mothership, or a drydock?
Or an oil rig (technically considered a ship by international law), etc?

For that matter, how about the distinction between a boat and a ship?
[[User:Keybounce|Keybounce]] ([[User talk:Keybounce|talk]]) 16:34, 7 September 2018 (UTC)
:well... with the original version it fits. a boat held by another boat is a lifeboat. But the new version it doesnt. a boat that holds another boat would be, as you say, carrier, mothership, etc. looks like randall didn't think this through to the end... [[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 16:40, 7 September 2018 (UTC)
:Floating Drydock? [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_dock#Floating] {{unsigned|OldCorps}}
:As far as I can remember, a ship is a boat that can manage being away from shore for more than a day [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 18:16, 7 September 2018 (UTC)

::Similar failing: an ''apartment'' is the small entity—the "house" that is contained by the larger house. ''Apartment building'' (or ''apartment complex'') would have been the term to be replaced. [[User:Jameslucas|jameslucas]] ([[User talk:Jameslucas|" "]] / [[Special:Contributions/Jameslucas|+]]) 17:42, 7 September 2018 (UTC)
::: Agreed. His list of words contains elements that fall into either the 'x held by y' or 'x that holds y' definition, so neither definition can work for all the words! Only way to fix is to replace some of the words as suggested ('apartment building' instead of 'apartment').[[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.241|162.158.154.241]] 17:52, 7 September 2018 (UTC)

You're entirely correct on both counts. Lifeboats are carried by other boats, and ships that can carry other ships do exist. This comic also fails to distinguish between boats and ships, and cars, trucks, and trailers.
While a Boathouse is indeed a house for boats, a boat ''trailer'' is usually a trailer and not a car- the name already follows Randell's suggested logic: it's a trailer (characterized by lacking it's own engine, steering, and driver's cabin) that holds one or more boats. In addition, both tow trucks and car carriers are large enough to be properly referred to as trucks (the smallest type of tow truck I know of is built on a pickup truck chassis) and are fully capable to towing or carrying other trucks as well as cars, making the term carcar inaccurate. Yes, I'm being pedantic, but this might be worth mentioning in explanation. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.122.60|162.158.122.60]] 16:44, 7 September 2018 (UTC)Chris Long

:Each of the compound words that Randall has made up here are still "correct" - but general. The failure to distinguish between multiple examples isn't a "bug" here; it's a feature of the productive nature of novel compounding in English. Each of 'apartment', 'tow truck' and 'lifeboat' should be treated as ''an'' example of 'househouse', 'carcar' and 'boatboat', respectively, but given the way English treats novel compounds, they can't be the ''only'' examples. {{unsigned ip|172.68.150.76}}
::He tries to get a logic in there, as in the difference between boathouse and houseboat, to show which supports which, but fails to do so. While your comment is in itself ok, the comic clearly tries to put in a logic and fails to do so.[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 20:41, 7 September 2018 (UTC)

::I wouldn't read too much into it. This comic is, of course, lighthearted in nature, and I'm pretty sure Randall doesn't ''literally'' hold these views and call for the creation of a "carcar" or something. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.46.41|172.68.46.41]] 04:35, 8 September 2018 (UTC)

To continue the convention, "boatboat", as a "life-boat" is a mistake. But i don't think Randall is much of a practical sailor. He lives inland, and probably isn't nearly as familiar with ships as he is with cars. more correct choices to repeat the convention used elsewhere in the comic, could easily be tugboat, carrier ship, or barge. sep 8, guest

'''Bananaphone'''

Is this a spoiler for the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2000:_xkcd_Phone_2000 XKCD phone 2001]? Will this phone be edible, yellow and be 10G-erine compatible? [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 18:16, 7 September 2018 (UTC)

More like this [https://bananaphone.io/ banana phone][[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.16|172.68.34.16]] 20:12, 7 September 2018 (UTC)

I believe it references [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIiZ3vvZ78s this song] by Raffi.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.134.112|162.158.134.112]] 09:28, 8 September 2018 (UTC)

'''Compounding nouns'''

As a native German speaker I've learned in school that compounding nouns in German like "Hausboot" are always written as "house boat" in English, the nouns do not form to a new single noun. And I'm still sure that "Hausbootbriefkasten" (Haus-boot-brief-kasten) still translates literally to something like "house boats letter box" in the original Oxford English domain, while "letterbox of a houseboat" is probably the much better translation. Nonetheless the order at the German ''looong'' noun is still correct: There's a box, for a letter, on a boat, which supports a house. And a record holder in German: {{w|Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft}}, even Germans are annoyed... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:31, 7 September 2018 (UTC)

If a boat that carries a boat is called a ship, should "ship" be in the boatboat square instead of "lifeboat"? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.62.64|172.69.62.64]] 01:37, 8 September 2018 (UTC)

Talk:2042: Rolle's Theorem

2018-09-07T02:05:08Z

162.158.62.57:

Now we wait for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munroes_theorem. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.54.165|172.69.54.165]] 15:51, 5 September 2018 (UTC)
:Can't wait to see how long it takes to remove the article. [[User:Linker|Linker]] ([[User talk:Linker|talk]]) 17:05, 5 September 2018 (UTC)

:Proposed ideas for Munroe's Law:
::- Any seemingly simple idea will be difficult to prove; the simpler it seems, the harder the proof.
::- Any proof which is discovered by a layperson will have been previously discovered by an expert (or an "expert") in the field.
:[[User:Rajakiit|Raj-a-Kiit]] ([[User talk:Rajakiit|talk]]) 17:57, 5 September 2018 (UTC)
:I do not have the time to do it good, so here a suggestion: Would someone go to the wikipedia page of Rolle's theorem and add a "in popular culture" section? may be a first? Not even "Nash equilibrum" has that :-) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.234.16|162.158.234.16]] 08:13, 6 September 2018 (UTC)

I feel like Euclid beat Randall to the punch here, a couple millennia. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.146|162.158.155.146]] 16:54, 5 September 2018 (UTC)

I don't see that Thales has proven Randall's theorem. Do not to be confused with {{w|Thales's theorem}}, that's about right angles. Maybe I'm blind or just dumb, but if so it has to be explained with more traceable background. I just believe that this diagonal is so trivial that even the ancient Greeks weren't engaged on a proof. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:38, 5 September 2018 (UTC)
* From {{w|Thales|Wikipedia}}: Other quotes from Proclus list more of Thales' mathematical achievements: "They say that Thales was the first to demonstrate that the circle is bisected by the diameter, the cause of the bisection being the unimpeded passage of the straight line through the centre." [[User:Alexei Kopylov|Alexei Kopylov]] ([[User talk:Alexei Kopylov|talk]]) 05:39, 6 September 2018 (UTC)
* On the other hand not all historian believe Proclus. But van der Waerden does: [https://books.google.com/books?id=HK3vCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA88#v=onepage&q&f=false]. [[User:Alexei Kopylov|Alexei Kopylov]] ([[User talk:Alexei Kopylov|talk]]) 05:49, 6 September 2018 (UTC)

:''Rolle's Theorem counterexample?''
Isn't the TAN(x) function a counterexample to this? Starting at a given point, it rises to infinity, then returns from negative infinity to the same point without ever having a slope of zero. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.58.89|172.68.58.89]] 06:58, 6 September 2018 (UTC)
:TAN(x) isn't differentiable at pi/2, hence the theorem doesn't apply--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.40|162.158.92.40]] 07:48, 6 September 2018 (UTC)
::And tan(x) has a slope of 0 at pi, so even if it applied, it wouldn't prove it wrong. A better example would be 1/x, but still invalid. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 08:01, 6 September 2018 (UTC)
:::Nope: tan(x) has a slope of 1 at pi, and its slope is never less than 1. Of course, that doesn't make it a counterexample. Zetfr 09:17, 6 September 2018 (UTC)

The math in the comic is well explained, but shouldn't there be something about the "math equivalent of the clueless art museum visitor..." part? Zetfr 09:17, 6 September 2018 (UTC)

Just so we're on the same page, while the proof of Rolle's theorem is not completely trivial, neither is it difficult by any means. Proving it seems to be a pretty common homework assignment in undergrad math classes, for example, so one might legitimately ask why it deserved to be named. Perhaps it's simply that it's old enough that the methods at the time were crappy, and so modern proofs are much easier. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.140|172.69.22.140]]
: It is named because it's a very important theorem in calculus, used to prove many other theorems or results. So when you need to prove something using this property, instead of re-demonstrating it or merely saying "it is well known that..." (which often raises alarm bells in the mind of the reader/corrector), all you have to do is reference Rolle's theorem.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.158|162.158.155.158]] 11:08, 6 September 2018 (UTC)
:: It could almost be called "Rolle's lemma". [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.103|162.158.154.103]] 12:28, 6 September 2018 (UTC)

Has anyone else noted the irony of having a wiki page to explain a comic whose subject is how some things are self-evident? [[User:JamesCurran|JamesCurran]] ([[User talk:JamesCurran|talk]]) 20:13, 6 September 2018 (UTC)

Does the Kepler Conjecture actually belong on that list at the end? Most of the others are "derp" level intuitively obvious and/or essentially tautological on a very basic level, but the Kepler Conjecture couldn't actually be exhaustively proven until machine computation, nor is it intuitively definitive--if you've ever stacked round things into a box you've noticed that it feels like you're wasting a lot of space at the edges. So...? [[User:AtrumMessor|AtrumMessor]] ([[User talk:AtrumMessor|talk]]) 21:37, 6 September 2018 (UTC)

"Munroe's theorem" should definitely refer to the circle thing in the alt text

1389: Surface Area

2018-09-05T11:00:30Z

162.158.62.57: /* The Moon */ spelling

{{comic
| number = 1389
| date = July 2, 2014
| title = Surface Area
| image = surface_area.png
| titletext = This isn't an informational illustration; this is a thing I think we should do. First, we'll need a gigantic spool of thread. Next, we'll need some kind of... hmm, time to head to Seattle.
}}
*A [http://xkcd.com/1389/large/ larger version] of this image can be found by clicking the image at xkcd - which can be reached easily from here as always, by clicking on the comic number above.
{{TOC}}

==Explanation==
This map shows the total {{w|surface area}}s of all {{w|terrestrial planet}}s, {{w|dwarf planet}}s, {{w|natural satellite|moons}}, {{w|asteroid}}s and {{w|minor planet}}s that are larger than 100 m in the {{w|Solar System}}. They have all been represented as regions of a single massive landmass - a {{w|supercontinent}} like {{w|Pangaea}} - which is clearly surrounded by some kind of ocean.
===Solid Surfaces Present in Comic===
====Earth====
On the area that signifies {{w|Earth}} the {{w|continents}} are drawn using a {{w|map projection}} that keeps the scale of the continents correct. (This is something that [[Randall]] cares about as can be seen in [[977: Map Projections]]). The parts of the surface of the Earth that are covered by oceans are also included in the surface area of the Earth (i.e. the map shows the Earth's {{w|Crust (geology)|crust}}). An extra layer of 3–4 km of water seems rather insignificant when comparing to the Earth's radius of 6,370 km.

====The Moon====
{{w|Moon|The Moon}} has been inlaid in this map next to {{w|Antarctica}} which thus makes a great comparison of how small the Moon is compared to the Earth (there is room for more than 13 lunar surfaces on the Earth). Similarly, it is clear that the planet {{w|Venus}} is almost as big as the Earth.

This is also the general idea of the map - to give an idea about how big the Earth is and how small many of the other known planets etc. are; both compared to Earth and to each other. The map drawn on the Earth is probably there mainly as a guide to size, because none of the features that are known on some of the other objects, especially The Moon (i.e. {{w|Impact crater|craters}} and "{{w|Lunar mare|seas}}") and on {{w|Mars}} (i.e. {{w|Olympus Mons}}), are included.

====Other Moons, Asteroids, and Dwarf Planets====
The objects mentioned by name on the map are all but one amongst those that have reached {{w|hydrostatic equilibrium}} and these are all included on this {{w|List of gravitationally rounded objects of the Solar System}}.

The one named object that is '''not''' on the above list is the asteroid {{w|4 Vesta|Vesta}}, which is included because it is the second largest object in the {{w|Asteroid belt}}. It is placed right next to the largest object in this belt, the dwarf planet {{w|Ceres (dwarf planet)|Ceres}}, which is no longer considered an asteroid. And next to these two are the rest of the asteroids in two areas (see below), which thus groups all asteroids together.

The only object from the above list, (that qualifies for having a solid surface in hydrostatic equilibrium), '''which is not included''' is the {{w|Saturn}} moon {{w|Mimas (moon)|Mimas}}, which is also clearly the smallest object on the list.

This moon should have been located amongst the other five smaller moons of Saturn between the Earth and {{w|Titan (moon)|Titan}} (the largest of Saturn's moons). Mimas has a surface area of 490,000 km2 which is somewhat smaller than the smallest included Saturn moon {{w|Enceladus}} with a surface area of 799,000 km2.

Generally the moons that belong to a given planet (for those with more than one moon large enough to be included), have been clustered together. Apart from the six (not seven...) moons of Saturn to the right of Earth, the four {{w|Galilean moons}} moons of {{w|Jupiter}} are located above the Earth, the five included moons from {{w|Uranus}} is located to at the top to the far right.

The last planet to have many moons is {{w|Neptune}}, but only {{w|Triton (moon)|Triton}} is included. This is a fairly large moon, and the only of the 14 known moons of Neptune to be on the above list. However, there is one other moon, {{w|Proteus (moon)|Proteus}} which is notable for being as large as a body of its density can be without being pulled into a spherical shape by its own gravity. It has a length of 424 km in the longest direction, and a mean radius of 210 km. A rough calculation of its surface area from this mean radius gives an area of 550,000 km2, making the surface area slightly larger than Mimas. As there is an '''unlabeled area''' located right next to the other Neptune moon Triton, it is most likely that this small area '''should represent Proteus''', and that it is an error that it was not labeled.

As this is the smallest area, the cut-off of objects could have been at 500,000 km2, as Vesta is also larger than this, which would make room for Proteus, but explain the missing Mimas.

Two of the included objects also have moons that are large enough to be included: Earth, of course, and the dwarf planet {{w|Pluto}} with its moon {{w|Charon (moon)|Charon}}. In both cases these moons have been inlaid in the area of their mother planet.

Whereas the moons of the {{w|gas giant}}s and the asteroids have been located above and to the right of the Earth, the planets and dwarf planets have been included below earth (along with the two moons mentioned above). {{w|Mercury (planet)|Mercury}}, Mars and Venus all touching Earth, and then below them the four {{w|Trans-Neptunian object|Trans-Neptunian}} dwarf planets - the {{w|Plutoid}}s.

====Not Included Dwarf Planets====
On the list from above there are, however, also these {{w|List of gravitationally rounded objects of the Solar System#Most-likely additional dwarf planets|10 objects}} which have not been included with name on the map. These object are, however, only likely candidates for being dwarf planets (depending on whether they have reached hydrostatic equilibrium or not), and on the map they have thus been relegated to the sections without individual names. These object are thus probably grouped together (along with other relatively small objects like comets and smaller moons) in the area labeled ''Various small moons, comets, etc'', which is located at the bottom of the map between Mercury and Mars. The surface area for all of these object, when the surface area have been estimated, are larger than 1 million square kilometer, and thus larger than several of the named objects. So it is not the size that is the reason why such objects as {{w|90377 Sedna|Sedna}} and {{w|50000 Quaoar|Quaoar}} are not included with name, but probably the fact they are not investigated enough yet.

The remaining objects in the Solar System with a solid surface are the minor planets, which on the map has been labeled as asteroids even though these objects are grouped together in several other "belts" than the Asteroid belt. Here they have been assigned to two regions at the top of the map. Above the right part of the Earth area is the area ''Asteroids (1 km+)'' which include any object not already included larger than 1 km. (As these objects are no longer round it is the largest dimension, the length, that should be at least 1 km long). And finally the area ''Asteroids (100 m+)'' thus include any object not already included larger than 100 m.

Most of the rest of the objects that have been included in these three sections can likely be found on this {{w|List of Solar System objects by size}}.
====Very Small Objects====
Tiny objects smaller than 100 m down to space dust are excluded altogether as explained in the note below the headings. This is probably because their total surface area is impossible to estimate accurately, and also because any estimate would likely be too large to fit easily into the map.

===Non-Solar Bodies===
Between Earth and Titan is a tiny speck noted ''all human skin'', which is an interesting sort of solid surface. A rough estimate of the average {{w|body surface area}} and thus of the average area of all {{w|Human skin|humans skin}} can be made from these {{w|Body surface area#Average values|average values}} and from {{w|Population pyramid|population pyramids}} as this [http://populationpyramid.net/world/2015/ pyramid for 2015]. Average adults have a skin area of around 1.7-1.8 m2, but as a large part of the [https://www.census.gov/popclock/ human population] are children (with skin area down to about 0.25 m2 for infants) the total average will be smaller. By extrapolating the given values an average area of about 1.6 m2 can be found. This would make the area 7.2 billion × 1.6 m2 ≈ 11,500 km2. This is 60 times smaller than the smallest of the labeled moons {{w|Miranda (moon)|Miranda}} (of Uranus) with a surface area of 700,000 km2.

===Title Text===
The title text jokingly claims that this comic is not actually for information, but rather is something Randall thinks we should really do – that is, to stitch all the solar system's solid surfaces together, as the sub-sub heading says. To do this, we would need a giant spool of thread and then something he has to go get in Seattle… which presumably must be the {{w|Space Needle}}, a needle-like tower in Seattle, which should then be used in this grand project.

This could also have been a reference to the [http://articles.latimes.com/2011/nov/13/travel/la-tr-seattle-20111113 Seattle seamstresses] if it weren't for the fact that it's not.

====Skinning Planets and Surface Areas====
Since the land areas are on the surfaces of spheres, this would seem impossible as it would involve lots of deformation and be particularly challenging. It will also be very gruesome when he comes to the part of collecting (and stitching) all human skin together. The inclusion of this speck on the map is, however, also there to make it clear what the real intention is with the planets. Their surface is to be "skinned" of them, as you would have to do with the humans! Then it is all these "planet skins" that should be stitched together using the space needle. This also explains the ragged edges, and why the continents keep their correct size. It would make Randall into a planetary version of {{w|The Silence of the Lambs (film)|The Silence of the Lambs}} movies character ''{{w|Buffalo Bill (character)|Buffalo Bill}}'', a serial killer who tried to make a suit out of the skin from the women he killed.

Randall would also need quite a lot of space for the very large ocean. However, the whole supercontinent is just somewhere between 3-4 times larger than the area of the Earth. And the area of the entire image is less than 9 times the area of the earth. As the {{w|Sphere#Area|formula}} for calculation surface areas for {{w|sphere}}s (4*π*r2) goes with the radius (r) squared, the diameter of the planet needed for the experiment do not need to be larger than 3 times that of the earth. Although there are no objects in the Solar System with this particular size, it is still smaller than the {{w|gas giant}}s, the smallest of these have a radius of almost 4 times that of the earth. {{w|Exoplanet}}s with this range of diameters have certainly been found, however, already at {{w|Exoplanet#Super-Earths, mini-Neptunes, and gas dwarfs|1.7 times the earth radius}} most planets size to be of the {{w|Super-Earth}} type and turns in to the {{w|Gas dwarf#Gas dwarf|gas dwarf}} type of planets. So an ocean of the size needed are not easy to come by.

As has been explained above the earth's surface is included disregarding surface water (oceans) and the same is valid for other objects with surface water, as the Saturn moon Titan which has great lakes (or even oceans) of liquid {{w|methane}} on the surface or the Jupiter moon {{w|Europa (moon)|Europa}} which is covered in a deep ocean with a thick cap of ice. (Interestingly this moon is placed on the map very near to the continent of {{w|Europe}} - maybe for easy comparison of these two areas).

===Gas Giants===
The gas giants Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune have, however, not been included because they do not have any "solid surfaces"; even if they had a solid core (which is itself not clear), this would not comprise any "surface". The gas giants are believed to lack any well-defined surface at all, with the gases that make them up simply becoming thinner and thinner with increasing distance from the planets' centers, eventually becoming indistinguishable from the interplanetary medium. But if they were included via some sort of surface definition, the map of this comic would become a tiny speck amongst the map of the gas giants. Similarly, the surface of the {{w|Sun}} is also not considered a solid surface but hot {{w|Plasma (physics)|plasma}}; if it were included it would reduce even a map of the gas giants to a tiny speck.

===Other Comics===
The map is drawn in a similar style to the two maps of the Internet that Randall has created in the past:
*[[256: Online Communities]]
*[[802: Online Communities 2]]

===Data table===
Below is a table listing the object roughly in the order they would be read of the map (the same order as in the transcript.) But they can be sorted by each of the columns.

The data is taken when possible from the following table: {{w|List of gravitationally rounded objects of the Solar System}}, and surface area is given with three significant digits.

For {{w|4 Vesta|Vesta}} and {{w|Proteus (moon)|Proteus}} (the most likely candidate for the unlabeled area next to Triton) the area is calculated from their mean radius (i.e. they are not spherical). See also above in the explanation, also for calculating the area of all human skin.

The surface for a given object is also given as a ''Fraction of Earth's surface'', and from this the number of times the object could be placed on the Earth's surface is given as one divided by this fraction. For instance it can be seen that The Moon's surface can be placed more than 13 times on top of that of the Earth.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+Surface area of mentioned objects
!Object
!Type
!Surface area (km2)
!Fraction of Earth's
!1/Fraction
|-
|{{w|Io (moon)|Io}}||Moon of Jupiter||data-sort-value="41900000"| 4.19×107||0.082||12.2
|-
|{{w|Callisto (moon)|Callisto}}||Moon of Jupiter||data-sort-value="73000000"| 7.30×107||0.143||7.00
|-
|{{w|Europa (moon)|Europa}}||Moon of Jupiter||data-sort-value="30900000"| 3.09×107||0.061||16.4
|-
|{{w|Ganymede (moon)|Ganymede}}||Moon of Jupiter||data-sort-value="87000000"| 8.70×107||0.171||5.80
|-
|{{w|Ceres (dwarf planet)|Ceres}}||Dwarf planet||data-sort-value="2800000"| 2.80×106||0.0055||180
|-
|{{w|4 Vesta|Vesta}}||Asteroid||data-sort-value="870000"| 8.70×105||0.0017||590
|-
|{{w|Asteroids}} (1 km+)||Asteroid||N/A||N/A||N/A
|-
|{{w|Proteus (moon)|Proteus}} (not labeled)||Moon of Neptune||data-sort-value="550000"| 5.50×105||0.00011||910
|-
|{{w|Triton (moon)|Triton}}||Moon of Neptune||data-sort-value="23000000"| 2.30×107||0.045||22.2
|-
|{{w|Asteroids}} (100 m+)||Asteroid||N/A||N/A||N/A
|-
|{{w|Oberon (moon)|Oberon}}||Moon of Uranus||data-sort-value="7290000"| 7.29×106||0.014||71.4
|-
|{{w|Miranda (moon)|Miranda}}||Moon of Uranus||data-sort-value="700000"| 7.00×105||0.0014||714
|-
|{{w|Ariel (moon)|Ariel}}||Moon of Uranus||data-sort-value="4210000"| 4.21×106||0.008||125
|-
|{{w|Umbriel (moon)|Umbriel}}||Moon of Uranus||data-sort-value="4300000"| 4.30×106||0.008||125
|-
|{{w|Titania (moon)|Titania}}||Moon of Uranus||data-sort-value="7820000"| 7.82×106||0.015||66.7
|-
|{{w|Earth}}||Planet||data-sort-value="510000000"| 5.10×108||1||1
|-
|{{w|Tethys (moon)|Tethys}}||Moon of Saturn||data-sort-value="4940000"| 3.574×106||0.007||143
|-
|{{w|Enceladus}}||Moon of Saturn||data-sort-value="799000"| 7.99×105||0.0016||625
|-
|{{w|Dione (moon)|Dione}}||Moon of Saturn||data-sort-value="3970000"| 3.97×106||0.0078||128
|-
|{{w|Iapetus (moon)|Iapetus}}||Moon of Saturn||data-sort-value="6700000"| 6.70×106||0.0132||75.8
|-
|All {{w|Human skin|humans skin}}||Human organ||data-sort-value="11500"| 1.15×104||0.000023||43400
|-
|{{w|Rhea (moon)|Rhea}}||Moon of Saturn||data-sort-value="7340000"| 7.34×106||0.0144||69.4
|-
|{{w|Titan (moon)|Titan}}||Moon of Saturn||data-sort-value="83000000"| 8.30×107||0.163||6.14
|-
|{{w|Mercury (planet)|Mercury}}||Planet||data-sort-value="75000000"| 7.50×107||0.147||6.80
|-
|{{w|Moon|The Moon}}||Moon of Earth||data-sort-value="37900000"| 3.79×107||0.074||13.5
|-
|Various small {{w|Natural satellite|moons}}, {{w|comet}}s, etc.||N/A||N/A||N/A||N/A
|-
|{{w|Mars}}||Planet||data-sort-value="140000000"| 1.40×108||0.2745||3.64
|-
|{{w|Makemake (dwarf planet)|Makemake}}||Dwarf planet||data-sort-value="6400000"| 6.40×106||0.013||76.8
|-
|{{w|Haumea (dwarf planet)|Haumea}}||Dwarf planet||data-sort-value="6800000"| 6.80×106||0.0133||75.2
|-
|{{w|Eris (dwarf planet)|Eris}}||Dwarf planet||data-sort-value="18000000"| 1.80×107||0.0353||28.3
|-
|{{w|Pluto}}||Dwarf planet||data-sort-value="17000000"| 1.70×107||0.0333||30.0
|-
|{{w|Charon (moon)|Charon}}||Moon of Pluto||data-sort-value="4580000"| 4.58×106||0.009||111
|-
|{{w|Venus}}||Planet||data-sort-value="460000000"| 4.60×108||0.901||1.10
|}

==Transcript==
:[At the top of a map is a heading, with two sub headings and a note in brackets:]
:'''Space'''
:Without the space
:The Solar System's solid surfaces stitched together
:(Excluding dust and small rocks)
:[Below the headings there is a map with several distinct areas. Each area is labelled with a name or a description. This label is noted inside the area, except for areas that are too small; here the label is written outside and a line indicates which area the label belongs to. Only exception is the largest area, on which the contours of the Earth's continents are drawn. Surrounding the map is wavy lines to indicate that this is either an island or one big super-continent placed in an even larger ocean.]
:[Here below are the labels given as they appear in "normal" reading order in as read from left to right in the three main rows as will be indicated:]
:[Row one, above the line defined by the general top of the Earth area:]
:Io
:Callisto
:Europa
:Ganymede
:Ceres
:Vesta
:Asteroids (1 km+)
:[Here – above the Asteroids area before the Triton area - is a small unlabelled area (the only other except Earth)]
:Triton
:Asteroids (100 m+)
:Oberon
:Miranda
:Ariel
:Umbriel
:Titania
:[Row two, the unlabelled Earth area's row, but here only given those that are directly written to the right of this area:]
:Tethys
:Enceladus
:Dione
:Iapetus
:All human skin
:Rhea
:Titan
:[Row three, all the remaining items that are mainly below the Earth area:]
:Mercury
:The Moon
:Various small moons, comets, etc
:Mars
:Makemake
:Haumea
:Eris
:Pluto
:Charon
:Venus

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Large drawings]]
[[Category:Maps]]
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]

1026: Compare and Contrast

2018-08-28T13:28:52Z

162.158.62.57: /* Explanation */ Minor typo

{{comic
| number = 1026
| date = March 7, 2012
| title = Compare and Contrast
| image = compare_and_contrast.png
| titletext = Frankly, I see no difference between thee and a summer's day. Only Ron Paul offers a TRUE alternative!
}}

==Explanation==

A reference to the most well-known {{w|sonnet}} in the English-speaking world: {{w|William Shakespeare|William Shakespeare's}} "{{w|Sonnet 18}}", the first line of which is: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?". In this comic [[Randall]] sets about this in a typically goal-oriented chart, as opposed to the rather more romantic poetry of the Bard.

"Thee" is a form of the archaic second-person singular pronoun "thou". In Shakespeare's day, English had more second-person pronouns in common use, thou/thee (informal/singular), and you (formal/plural). This is similar to second-person pronouns in many modern European languages, such as French. {{w|English personal pronouns#Full list of personal pronouns|Wikipedia}} has a nice chart for all of English's personal pronouns, current and archaic.

For both the chart and the original sonnet, whether or not the work is autobiographical is unknown. Also unknown is the identity of the person whom each work refers to. It is believed that Sonnet 18 is addressed to a {{w|Shakespeare's Sonnets#Fair Youth|young man}}.

The lines are:

1. The first line is a reference to the sonnet itself, which reads: "Thou art more lovely and more temperate". He considers both thee and a summer's day to be "fair" (this is a pun; depending on context, "fair" can refer to complexion or weather) and "temperate" (meaning "warm", which again can describe a person or the weather).

2. "Hot, sticky" also refers to both, in different ways. "Hot" can mean sexually attractive or simply that the temperature is high. A "sticky" day refers to humidity.

3. "Short" is another pun. "Thee" (the subject of the comparison with the summer's day) is not tall. A summer day is chronologically long (time from dawn to dusk.)

4. "Harbinger of hurricane season" is technically accurate; hurricane season does follow the summer.

5. "Required for a good beach party" is not a pun, although it is another example of a word with slightly different meanings. The party is required to be held on a summer's day and with "thee" present at the party. The party would not be held on "thee", although some of the other lines suggest that the writer might personally be on top of "thee" during the party.

6. Heat stroke is a condition mainly affecting children and the elderly. Heat waves and excessively hot days are highly linked with heat stroke incidence; see [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_stroke#cite_ref-23 Epidemiology]

7. "Linked to higher rates of juvenile delinquency" refers to juveniles committing crimes. Apparently, "thee" is either a juvenile delinquent or inspires juvenile delinquency (or both). Summer is also linked to juvenile delinquency. This results, to some degree, from school not being in session, rather than simply as a direct result of the summer weather.

8. "Sometimes too stifling" is another pun. It is also unusual in that it expresses a negative feeling about "thee", unlike the other entries which express what the author likes or admires about thee.

9. "Arrested for releasing snakes in the library" is a fairly self-explanatory criterion. Apparently "thee" has been caught doing this. A summer's day, on the other hand, cannot be arrested at all, much less for this. This is possibly inspired by the movie ''{{w|Snakes on a Plane}}''.

10. The last line "difficult to focus on work while I'm in" is a sexual reference, on the "thee" side, not on the "summer's day" side. To be "in" someone refers to the penetrative part of sex, which would occupy a typical person's attention.{{Citation needed}} Summer can be distracting from work due to heat, excitement, or just the general feeling of the season.

The title text is a reference to {{w|Ron Paul}}, a 2012 {{w|Republican Party (United States)|Republican}} candidate for {{w|President of the United States|President}} who was on top in the {{w|Republican Party presidential primaries, 2012|Republican Primary}} against a few other challengers for the nomination. Ron Paul was frequently represented on the internet using similar language to the title text (with Paul offering an alternative to typical Republican and Democratic candidates. Paul was seen by many as an alternative because of his {{w|Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian}} views.

==Transcript==
:[A checklist comparing thee to a summer's day:
:Fair, Temperate: Thee & A Summer's Day
:Hot, Sticky: Thee & A Summer's Day
:Short: Thee
:Harbinger of Hurricane Season: A Summer's Day
:Required for a Good Beach Party: Thee & A Summer's Day
:Major Cause of Heat Stroke in the Elderly: A Summer's Day
:Linked to Higher Rates of Juvenile Delinquency: Thee & A Summer's Day
:Sometimes Too Stifling: Thee & A Summer's Day
:Arrested for Releasing Snakes in Library: Thee
:Difficult to Focus on Work While I'm In: Thee & A Summer's Day]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Ron Paul]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Sex]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Romance]]

Talk:2038: Hazard Symbol

2018-08-27T13:52:16Z

162.158.62.57:

When on xkcd, the emoji only shows up as an empty square. On this site, it shows up as a sigma, caputal Y with umlauts, tilde, and decree symbol. What is it actually supposed to be? [[User:Smperron|Kestrel]] ([[User talk:Smperron|talk]]) 12:46, 27 August 2018 (UTC)
It's https://emojipedia.org/face-with-open-mouth-and-cold-sweat/ this emoji. Shows up correctly for me on the actual site on android but not on the wiki [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.28|141.101.98.28]] 13:04, 27 August 2018 (UTC)

It shows up OK (Albeit small) on Mac OSX [[User:BSchildt|BSchildt]] ([[User talk:BSchildt|talk]]) 13:21, 27 August 2018 (UTC)

Does anyone know the source of the slippery symbol? The other symbols seem to be common to most standards, but the slippery symbol seems to have various designs. ☠☢☣⚡︎? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.57|162.158.62.57]] 13:52, 27 August 2018 (UTC)

2032: Word Puzzles

2018-08-13T18:47:25Z

162.158.62.57: /* Explanation */ Corrected type, "the start" is "t"

{{comic
| number = 2032
| date = August 13, 2018
| title = Word Puzzles
| image = word_puzzles.png
| titletext = Eno's storied aria was once soloed by Judge Lance Ito on the alto oboe at Ohio's AirAsia Arena.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a word game enthusiast - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The dialog, caption, and title text contain many words that appear frequently in crossword puzzle answers because they fit well with intersecting words, in part because they have a high density of vowels. In addition, it is reminiscent of Jeopardy answers simply because Cueball's trivia fluxuates between high and low specificity, which is the way Jeopardy hints at an answer.

- - - - -

The kind of puzzle that Megan thinks she is solving is called a "Cryptic", which has markedly different rules than ordinary crosswords. If Cueball's statement had been "Part of this aria is an Indian garment" the answer would have been "sari", because a part of the phrase "this aria" is the sequence "sari", which in turn is an Indian garment. Cueball's actual statement contains quite a few familiar cryptic puzzle triggers. The word "composed" can be a hint of a preceding or following anagram, in this case of "this aria" or of "by Brian" or of even longer adjacent strings. Although "opera star" could be a famous singer, say "Caruso", it might also be the name of an opera followed by the name of an astronomical star. "Au pair" could be any of its ordinary meanings, say "nanny", but might also be "earrings" (because AU is the chemical symbol for gold, and a gold pair could be earrings). The word "start" is often a hint to take just the beginning of a word, so "the start" would be "t", or "start of his" would be "h" or "hi". The New York Times runs a cryptic crossword as its "second Sunday puzzle" every other month or so, and there are other regular cryptic crossword venues. In case you are interested, there are various guides on the web for solving cryptics, such as this one at The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/puzzclue.htm. Although Randall says he is messing with us, the fact that he is so much cleverer than any of the rest of us means that Cueball's statement might even be a legitimate cryptic clue. --John [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.214|108.162.219.214]] 18:40, 13 August 2018 (UTC)

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball and Megan standing together. He makes some gestures with his hand and some musical notes are above him while Megan holds her first before her mouth.]
:Cueball: Parts of this aria were composed by Brian Eno's Opera Star au pair at the start of his post-live era.
:Megan (thinking): ...parts...start...eno...aria...

:[Caption below the frame:]
:My hobby: Messing with word game enthusiasts by using words that make them '''''sure''''' there's a puzzle to solve

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:My Hobby]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Music]]

Talk:1930: Calendar Facts

2017-12-18T16:41:35Z

162.158.62.57:

Shouldn't it be "libration" not "libation"? Pretty sure drinking has nothing to do with it. Also pretty sure this is a mistake and not a clever alteration.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.57|162.158.62.57]] 16:41, 18 December 2017 (UTC)