explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2363: Message Boards

2020-09-25T18:42:06Z

162.158.74.53: Digital Camera/Phones pre 2005, plus original USENET/Star Wars retweet notes.

Randall stimulates people doing this to their parents? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.234|108.162.219.234]] 01:23, 24 September 2020 (UTC)
:He doesn't necessarily think it's likely. But as the caption says, he's amused by the fact that it's possible because the Internet and message boards have been around long enough. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 02:04, 24 September 2020 (UTC)

It would be interesting to know how many online message boards have actually been in continuous operation for 20 years. The original Usenet newsgroups are actually twice that old, but what about Internet boards? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 02:04, 24 September 2020 (UTC)
:Reddit is starting to get there, being 15 years old now. I also do know some forums that started in 2003~2004 and are still active (mostly ones tied to still-updating webcomics). So not quite 20 years, but close. --[[User:Elifia|Elifia]] ([[User talk:Elifia|talk]]) 03:04, 24 September 2020 (UTC)
::There'll be BBSes (one I once used is still going, last I checked, well over 30 years old, pre-Web, not sure how many old-guard are there, as I've not for 25 years) and that would rival even pre-split Usenet. A MUD I know (all my characters long timed-out) is still going strong since pre-Web times, too. IRC isn't exactly persistent (and has changed a lot) but still exists. Even if the likes of anon.penet.fi have been closed, there'll be mailer-gateways/request-by-mail things (I used to ask one for Freeware!) on obscure servers. Perhaps Wollongong University still has a Gopher server (one memorable 'place' I visited on a link-to-link round the world trip, back just before I heard of the Berners-Lee thing). I have a habit of forgetting webforums (earliest currently used one was signed into only back in 2008) and a late-'90s one I recall fondly got so spammed (despite whatever passed for CAPTCHA in those days) that the webmaster Read-Onlied it, and domain is now expired. If I was a better person at staying in touch, I'm sure I could have been continuously active for sufficient time on a single platform (I fell off a Usenet group when I lost a newsfeed and refused to use the then-new-fangled Google Groups interface, just the latest insult since WebTV, the push from AOL and the whole Eternal September thing). So, anecdotally, I know there's a good chance. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.34|162.158.159.34]] 03:42, 24 September 2020 (UTC)
:I have been an active member at GameFAQs.com for longer than 20 years. The message boards there opened in 1999.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.169|173.245.52.169]] 04:23, 24 September 2020 (UTC)

With a name like NIN85, I bet Mom is a Nine Inch Nails fan. ❤️ [[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.61|172.69.35.61]]

== Too dumb for this one ==

Is it just me or was the detail the whole joke hinged on a bit more subtle than usual here? Sure, sometimes it's arcane, but I feel like you don't usually need to read between the lines so much to even get the backstory for the joke.

On first read, obviously the two characters know each other, and the fact that a real life acquaintance would reply to a 20yo thread was clearly part of the joke. But essentially I read this as two people complaining about the same thing, as one often does on message boards. By the time I put it together that "NIN85 must be older now" + "new user from context is a teenager" + "most adults don't know many teenagers" + "except they do know their kids" = "she's talking to her kid", it was far too late for me to get the laugh. In retrospect "we talked about this" is a classic parenting line, but given that one tends to talk to many people about many things, it didn't really point me in that direction the way it was probably intended.

Maybe, not being a parent myself, my instincts also led me to assume that an older person would still sympathize and support a young person in search of totally rad transportation, rather than shooting them down like her mother before her :P So the assumption that "we talked about this" = "I, Vespa fan, have already denied you the same privilege" seemed like an especially great leap!

So, probably just having a slow brain day, but is there anything else to it I'm missing? Also, does Randall have kids? [[User:Jerodast|- jerodast]] ([[User talk:Jerodast|talk]]) 04:55, 24 September 2020 (UTC)
:Not just you. It took me a while before I noticed the dates on the posts, but then I put it all together. Maybe a better title for the comic would have helped, something including "necro". [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 05:54, 24 September 2020 (UTC)
:Reconstructing my own first reading of this (before I slept last night so imperfect) it seems I read the post-text first, worked out it was a mom/son relationship, 'confirmed' by finally reading the posting dates (the point at which I probably belly-laughed for 'getting it'), spotted the "New User" subtly there in the side-profile and then (after noting the forum name, subtitlr, title-text, etc) wondered about the Profile Pic.
:Mom seems to have kept (or deliberately retroed) an image from her youth, even if not the original (if there was any, for the v1.0 forum layout to show) pic uploaded in 2000. This was pre smart-phone/selfies, to any reasonable degree. Is this a scan of of an old emulsion photo? (It also has possible photoshopping artefacts of portrait over new background, by one reading of it.) Would a more worldwise 25yo scan in and upload a pic of her 15yo self? Maybe in a "see, I ''was'' there at Woodstock" way (though not actual Woodstock, unless that's the photoshopped background - or something like that - but maybe still not with a 15yo 'selfie' shot, but something from a later age). It's at this point I'm thinking I'm overthinking this (especially given how much 'exposure' many people still give in the profiles and avatars, even 35yo moms), especially given I've never used a selfie-avatar at all. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.116|162.158.159.116]] 12:14, 24 September 2020 (UTC)
::If you change your profile picture it will change for any post made. That's at least true for all fora I'm member of. Why would each individual post contain the information of which profile picture was active at the time the post was made (plus the actual picture data)? So there's no indication if the picture shown here is "teen mom" or "adult mom" (or "mom" at all). [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 12:31, 24 September 2020 (UTC)
:::I know that, and it was on this basis that I presumed its likely a later (though who knows how recent) scan of an earlier physical photo. (Because that clearly looks more like a Randall-girl than a Randall-mom, in Cueball-People style, notwithstanding how in RL™ younger people often attempt to look older and vice-versa.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.98|141.101.98.98]] 15:06, 24 September 2020 (UTC)
:::: In that case, how do you come to the conclusion that the profile picture shown there is a "young" person? By the hairstyle or what? I don't get it. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 15:18, 24 September 2020 (UTC)
:::::Yes. Young hair (as opposed to young-adult hair, then eventually the tied-up bun look that can also mean 'serious' but with ornamentation). It's just my impression. Also note that Julz seems to favour the 'studio background' look (maybe filter-cropped down to just the head and shoulders) while NIN85 favours the more passive "visit to a place" photo that is ''not'' obviously a selfie, a height-shot, a posed sunrise/set one, which (the possibilities of photoshopping apart, due to the hint-of-border actually probably only there to maintain contrast between hair and the darker bit of the background) puts it in an early age of photography tropes. In my mind, but obviously not yours.
:::::But on the basis that every drawn feature is deliberately put there (rather than various accidents of setting in actual images of real life) [[1401|I like to think]] it's deliberately setting up the trope of a historic photo of young-millenial (''meant'' to be from roughly the time of the opening post, but probably uploaded much later) vs a more current pose by a young-post-millenial. YMMV.
:::::And none of this is a complaint, just a recollection of what I was originally pondering, as I appreciated the comic. Probably taking up no more than a minute of my time, last night, and now I'm surprised it's taking up this much more of it for both of us... ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.98|141.101.98.98]] 16:09, 24 September 2020 (UTC)
:::::: Ah, I see. I get your point, now. Thanks! :) [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 08:17, 25 September 2020 (UTC)
:::::I had the same impression of photos. If nothing else, assuming that if she was doing a one-off reply to a very old thread on a forum she hasn't really used for 20 years, she probably wouldn't bother updating her profile pic in the forum settings :) But it did contribute to me not putting together that it was a parent talking to her kid, since she "looked" like a young person! [[User:Jerodast|- jerodast]] ([[User talk:Jerodast|talk]]) 08:32, 25 September 2020 (UTC)
:::::Digital Cameras were available before 2005, so it's possible the original profile photo was digital to start. We also had cell phones prior to that, but I went cheap, so I know I didn't have a phone camera myself.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.53|162.158.74.53]] 18:42, 25 September 2020 (UTC)

She’s would be a closer to a gen-xer [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.134|108.162.219.134]] 18:21, 24 September 2020 (UTC)

Another in-joke is that Vespa is a scooter and there is an electric model [https://elettrica.vespa.com/en/index.php] that require either a moped license or a full motorcycle license, depending on the engine power, that is a premium model, Peugeot electric scooter cost 40% less, for instance.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.94.200|162.158.94.200]] 07:13, 24 September 2020 (UTC)

Fortunately most forums I was active on in the 90s and early 2000s are all long dead. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.38|141.101.98.38]] 08:06, 25 September 2020 (UTC)
:I have USENET posts still out there from 1984. I discovered that in November 2019 someone retweeted a bunch of Star Wars comments from USENET after Return of the Jedi came out, including one of mine.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.53|162.158.74.53]] 18:42, 25 September 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2361: Voting

2020-09-20T10:52:36Z

162.158.74.53:

To current and future readers: Ruth Bader Ginsburg died today. The timing of this comic may even coincide with this fact.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.67|162.158.74.67]] 03:54, 19 September 2020 (UTC)
: Maybe, but [[Randall]] has posted tons of election articles before, especially expressing his love for Hillary (and thus dislike for Trump). [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.228|108.162.216.228]] 04:41, 19 September 2020 (UTC)
:I read it as a "just vote, don't even care who you vote for, but vote" thing. Maybe Randall will show his own ideas later (though I can only imagine the one way that he'll lean, having ruled out ruling ''everyone'' out) but this is only actually anti-Trump insofar as Trump undeniably courts anti-voting (in his favour), more than pretty much any of the ideological-opposites do (in theirs). Don't read much more into this. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.116|162.158.159.116]] 10:36, 19 September 2020 (UTC)
:I {{w|Ruth Bader Ginsburg|looked who she is}} but I'm still unsure how would the comics be related to that. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 03:08, 20 September 2020 (UTC)

The election isn't two months from now; more like six weeks.
:It's also two months away. Not next month, but the one after that. Just, but it is. (I suppose I wouldn't have said this without also deciding I could remind people to sign the posts with the four tildes.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.36|162.158.155.36]] 15:09, 19 September 2020 (UTC) It's also "less than 2 months from the time of the comic's publication" so there's that. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.53|162.158.74.53]] 10:52, 20 September 2020 (UTC)

"I will brave mobs of vigilantes armed with pistols, rifles and machine guns, to vote this year, if I have to." "OK, now you're just being ridicu... wait, I take that back." [http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/08/trump-wants-to-station-armed-guards-at-2020-polls Trump Wants to Station Armed Guards at the 2020 Polls] [https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/gop-recruits-army-poll-watchers-fight-voter-fraud-no-can-n1217391 GOP recruits army of poll watchers to fight voter fraud no one can prove exists] [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 05:05, 20 September 2020 (UTC)

Category:Incomplete explanations

2020-04-07T04:04:11Z

162.158.74.53: Pretty sure this was spam

1765: Baby Post

2016-11-28T17:55:06Z

162.158.74.53: /* Transcript */ missing word

{{comic
| number = 1765
| date = November 28, 2016
| title = Baby Post
| image = baby_post.png
| titletext = [bzzzt] "REMEMBER TO CHECK IN FOR YOUR FLIGHT TO LONDON." "My wha-" [bzzzt] "YOUR UBER WILL ARRIVE IN FOUR MINUTES."
}}

==Explanation==

[[Cueball]] often leaves his daughter unattended with his tablet. As a result, she often (probably accidentally) posts things on his {{w|Facebook}}. What she posts initially would be bizarre for an adult to post, but her posts make sense when one learns it was a young child posting by accident. She also appears to "accidentally" post links to webpages it seems she visited herself to plan a heist. As the comic continues, it seems as though Cueball's daughter is planning to break into the tower of {{w|London}} to steal the {{w|Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom|crown jewels}}, which are famous in several movies for being overly complicated to steal. In [[1698: Theft Quadrants]], they are explained slightly more thoroughly. The title text continues this by notifying Cueball that his plane flight is leaving soon, and an {{w|Uber}} taxi is coming to pick him up. Since his daughter was using the tablet, the flight and Uber are probably for her. Alternatively, Cueball is being roped into the crime.

The comic is similar to [[1419: On the Phone]], though here it seems that the daughter isn't just a cover story.

==Transcript==

[Ponytail is looking at something on her phone while talking to Cueball]
:Ponytail: Why did you post a ''The Wheels on the Bus'' Youtube video to Facebook six times?
:Cueball: Haha, whoops! My daughter was watching the tablet and must have hit something.

[Cueball is talking to someone on the phone while pushing a shopping cart with a few items in it]
:Phone: Hey, did you mean to post "FHFF,,,M,,,," and a link to a map of hardware stores?
:Cueball: I should really look up how to lock the screen.

[White Hat is holding his phone while walking with Cueball]
:White Hat: You just posted videos on metal-working, zip lines, and camouflage.
:Cueball: Uhh...

[Ponytail is looking at her phone while talking to Cueball]
:Ponytail: Um, you posted blueprints of the Crown Jewel rooms in the Tower of London.
:Cueball: Maybe we should be keeping more of an eye on her.

{{comic discussion}}

1765: Baby Post

2016-11-28T13:38:57Z

162.158.74.53: /* Transcript */ add transcript

{{comic
| number = 1765
| date = November 28, 2016
| title = Baby Post
| image = baby_post.png
| titletext = [bzzzt] "REMEMBER TO CHECK IN FOR YOUR FLIGHT TO LONDON." "My wha-" [bzzzt] "YOUR UBER WILL ARRIVE IN FOUR MINUTES."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page.}}

Cueball often leaves his daughter unattended with his tablet. As a result, she often (probably accidentally) posts things on his facebook. What she posts initially would be bizzare for an adult to post, but her posts make sense when one learns it was a young child posting by accident. She also appears to accidentally post links to webpages it seems Cueball may have left open. As the comic continues, it seems as though Cueball may be planning to break into the tower of London to steal the crown jewels. Although, his surprise in the title text suggests it may be his daughter who plans to break into the tower of London - or else she plans for Cueball to do so. It would be very difficult for a young child to plan such an elaborate heist on purpose, let alone by accident.{{Citation needed}}

==Transcript==

[Ponytail is looking at something on her phone while talking to Cueball]
:Ponytail: Why did you post a ''The Wheels on the Bus'' video to Facebook six times?
:Cueball:Haha, whoops! My daughter was watching the tablet and must have hit something.

[Cueball is talking to someone on the phone while pushing a shopping cart with a few items in it]
:Phone: Hey, did you mean to post "FHFF,,,M,,,," and a link to a map of hardware stores?
:Cueball: I should really look up how to lock the screen.

[White Hat is looking at his phone while talking to Cueball]
:White Hat: You just posted videos on metal-working, zip lines, and camouflage.
:Cueball: Uhh...

[Ponytail is looking at her phone while talking to Cueball]
:Ponytail: Um, you posted blueprints of the Crown Jewel rooms in the Tower of London.
:Cueball: Maybe we should be keeping more of an eye on her.

{{comic discussion}}

1755: Old Days

2016-11-04T06:03:30Z

162.158.74.53: /* Transcript */ better panel descriptions

{{comic
| number = 1755
| date = November 4, 2016
| title = Old Days
| image = old_days.png
| titletext = Lot of drama in those days, including constant efforts to force the "Reflections on Trusting Trust" guy into retirement so we could stop being so paranoid about compilers.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|More explanation reqiured.Table listing all the examples and explaining them.}}
This comic is showing a coversation between Cueball and Hairbun, about the old days i.e the past. But instead of talking about the how life was in the past, they are talking about computer programming in the past. Hairbun explains how tough it was for programmers to write and create code in the past.

As usual in XKCD, conversation becomes more and more improbable. Either Cueball and Hairbun are trying to one-up each other, or both of them actually know very little about programming history. Therefore they just retell some distorted legends and make things up on the spot.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[We see Cueball and Hairbun standing together, discussing computer programming in the past.]
:Cueball: What were things like in the old days?
:Cueball: I hear that you had to ... compile things for different processors?
:Hairbun: Yeah

:[Again, Cueball and Hairbun are standing together.]
:Hairbun: To compile you code, you had to mail it to IBM.
:Hairbun: It took 4-6 weeks.

:[Close-up of Hairbun's face.]
:Hairbun: Before garbage collection, data would pile up until the computer got full and you had to throw it away.

:[Hairbun is gesturing toward Cueball with one arm.]
:Hairbun: Early compilers could handle code fine, but comments had to be written in assembly.

:[Only Hairbun is seen, with both arms crooked upward.]
:Hairbun: C could only be written on punch cards.You had to pick a compact font, or you'd only fit a few characters per card.

:[Both of them are seen again. Hairbun's arms are by her sides.]
:Hairbun: C++ was big because it supported floppy disks.
:Hairbun: It still punched holes in them, but it was a start.
:Cueball: Wow.

{{comic discussion}}

1754: Tornado Safety Tips

2016-11-03T03:07:57Z

162.158.74.53: /* Transcript */ clear word choice

{{comic
| number = 1754
| date = November 2, 2016
| title = Tornado Safety Tips
| image = tornado_safety_tips.png
| titletext = It's a myth that you can never cross mountains safely, but be sure you understand how the climatic situation there will affect your parent thunderstorm.
}}
==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Link to what a PSA poster is.}}
The comic features a {{w|Public Service Announcement}} (PSA) poster, which generally contain public-interest messages aimed at raising awareness or steering behavior around a specific issue of concern, that in this case contains tips for {{w|tornado}} safety. Typically, a poster labeled "Tornado Safety Tips" would be filled with instructions for how humans can stay safe in the event of a tornado, such as "stay away from windows," "go to the lowest floor of your home," "if in the open, take shelter in a ditch," and so on ([https://www.weather.gov/images/oun/wxevents/20130531/socialmedia/torsafety.png sample 1], [https://www.weather.gov/images/oun/wxevents/20130531/socialmedia/carsafety.png sample 2]). [[Black Hat]] on the other hand, has flipped this on its head by publishing a poster that contains safety tips for the Tornado itself and contains information for how tornadoes can stay safe, i.e. continue to exist, see the [[#Table of tips|table of tips]] below.

The joke is that just as, for example, a "climber safety" poster is directed at climbers, the "tornado safety" poster is directed at tornadoes.

It is thus in no way helpful for people who actually live in an area that experience tornadoes. It is not possible to follow most of the guidelines, as they are intended for tornadoes. But the advice a human could follow would only take you towards places which can sustain tornadoes. Instead they should choose to use an app like the one in [[937: TornadoGuard]]. Sadly that seems to also have been made by Black Hat!

The title text simply adds more tornado advice for tornadoes, bringing up the common myth about tornadoes not crossing mountains, except from the tornado's perspective.

Although this is clearly not a tip for humans, the idea is related to the [[:Category:Protip|Protip]] category and other ''tip'' comics (also listed under protip).

Tornadoes is a [[:Category:Tornadoes|recuring subject]] on xkcd. The picture of the tornado in this comic reminds a lot of the [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/5/52/umwelt_disasters_tornado.png picture used] in the [[1037:_Umwelt#Tornado|Tornado version]] of [[1037: Umwelt]].

===Table of tips===
{|class="wikitable"
! Tornado Safety Tips
! Explanation
|-
|Avoid low-lying cool air || {{w|Supercells}}, and particularly {{w|tornadogenesis}}, requires highly {{w|buoyant}} air near the surface to, put simply, provide the energy and rapid upward motion for to their growth and maintenance. Tornadoes, being small scale features on the scale of the atmosphere and requiring fairly extreme conditions to form, are particularly sensitive to shallow layers, perhaps even a few hundred meters of less buoyant (i.e. cooler/dryer) air near the surface. If a tornado encountered such a layer of air, it would be quite "dangerous" to its survival, as sufficient depth and exposure would likely disrupt the tornado's circulation and perhaps even dissipate it completely.
|-
|Keep your downdrafts and updrafts from mixing || Strictly speaking, this statement is only entirely true on the larger scales of a tornadic storm (though to some extent {{w|updraft}}/{{w|downdraft}} interaction is crucial to the process on the scale of the actual tornado). Generally, it is for exactly the lack of this that tornadic supercells are able to gain such intensity and last many hours, whereas a typical individual storm cell has a life-cycle on the order of less than an hour. Any given storm cell is composed of an updraft, warm, moist air moving upward and forming clouds, and a downdraft, the corresponding movement of cooler air downward, often bringing heavy rain with it. If this downdraft is superimposed directly over the parent updraft, as would occur in a calm atmosphere with no substantial differences in wind with height, it will suppress the storm's updraft very quickly, and the cell will die a rapid death. However, if the winds change quickly enough with height (vertical wind shear), this displaces the updraft and downdraft so they don't interfere as directly, resulting in a longer lived storm. Nevertheless, the cold air moved downward by the downdraft will eventually spread along the surface and choke off the flow of warm air to the original updraft, however, this denser air may force more warm air to rise, starting the cycle anew, albeit with a new storm cell. This is how squall lines work (see below), along with more typical multi-cell clusters. Still, this results in no one cell being "dominant," remaining strong for any great length of time, and growing past a certain point, all factors that preclude significant tornado formation.

However, if the vertical wind shear is particularly strong, with very strong winds aloft going in near the opposite direction as winds near the surface, this causes horizontal rotation in the atmosphere (think a pencil rolled between two hands). A particularly strong updraft can lift this rotation into the vertical, and soon the entire storm begins to rotate. Through rather complex physics, this allows the storm to more cleanly separate its updraft and downdraft, and continuously propagate into warm, buoyant air. This process and the updraft/downdraft separation it creates is associated with nearly all dangerous tornadoes, and is what distinguishes a supercell from other types of thunderstorms, and if such separation is not properly maintained, it will likely "kill" the storm's tornado chances including any currently in progress. However, it bears pointing out that a specific type of downdraft interacting with a tornado, called {{w|Rear flank downdraft}} (RFD), actually may play a crucial role in tornado formation, carrying this rotating motion (vorticity) down from higher levels of the storm and feeding it into the tornado. Therefore, if a storm's RFD is too weak or does not interact with the core of the storm's updraft, a tornado is not likely to form or maintain itself. However, if the RFD is too cold/strong, it will indeed cut off the tornado's supply of warm air (see below), and regardless of type the RFD does eventually tend to "kill" the tornado after some length of time, which is why any individual tornado only lasts for a short amount of time.
|-
|Seek out warm and humid surface air layers || Hot, humid air near the surface is vital for tornadoes to form, as it provides the "fuel" for their parent storms as well as tornadoes themselves. Any {{w|thunderstorm}}, large or small, begins as an updraft, a column of warm, moist air moving upward due to its positive buoyancy (i.e. lower density, think a balloon or heat rising from the pavement on a hot summer day). Due (mostly) to its temperature, once the air is less dense than its environment, it will start moving upward, and will continue to do so as long as it stays that way. However, air cools as it rises as it expands under lower pressure, generally speaking at a faster rate than the surrounding environment does. This is where the moisture comes in, as once the air cools to the saturation point, where it can hold no more water vapor, water begins to condense into tiny liquid droplets to form clouds. This process releases latent heat to the surrounding air parcel, and thus in a suitable environment with sufficient cooling with height, this rising air starts to cool slower than its surroundings, and continues to rise on its own. The warmer and wetter the air relative to its surroundings, the faster it can rise, and thus the more intense storms it can feed. Further, once a storm forms and begins to rotate (see above), the tornado itself, being an extremely intense, rotating updraft near the ground, is "fed" by very warm and moist air at the surface and thus would want to seek it out to survive.
|-
|Don't let rain-cooled air choke off your circulation || As discussed above, if a storm's downdrafts are too strong, they can block the supply of warm, moist, buoyant (rising) air that feeds a tornado which will cause it to dissipate or never fully form in the first place. On the storm scale, this type of supercell is termed "outflow dominant", it generally maintains itself but too much rain cooled air present at the surface is preclusive to tornado formation. On the tornado scale, the buoyancy of the storm's Rear Flank Downdraft, RFD, is believed to play a crucial role in tornadogenesis. It is this air that carries high-vorticity, i.e. rotating air down from aloft to enable the tornado to have such an intense circulation near the surface, as updraft parcels beginning near the surface otherwise have little preexisting rotation. However, if this air is too cold and dense, which is typically a result of evaporative cooling and water loading from rain, it can choke off the supply of warm air to the tornado's circulation, and reduce its overall buoyancy, this "killing" the tornado, which is generally why they dissipate.
|-
|Avoid letting your supercell merge with a squall line || Supercells, the powerful, rotating thunderstorms that produce nearly all strong tornadoes, generally like being left alone. Other storms compete for the same warm, moist air that the supercell needs to fuel its continued development, and the cold downdrafts produced by such storms can also choke off a supercell's supply. Furthermore, interaction with other storms, particularly strong ones can disrupt the complex physical processes that keep a supercell going, particularly those delicate ones that lead to and sustain tornadogenesis. A {{w|squall line}} is a particularly potent threat in this regard, and probably the biggest "killer" of supercells in this specific regard. Squall lines, well known as the culprit behind most of the violent derecho windstorms, are long lines of thunderstorms that can, as a larger-scale feature, last many hours and travel thousands of kilometers. They generally occur when environmental conditions allow one or a few storms to combine the cold, dense air in their respective downdrafts in such a fashion that it moves rapidly and spreads out in a linear fashion, forcing warm air up right ahead of it to form clouds and additional storms. This then creates new downdrafts that contribute to this "cold pool", as its called, continuing the process. While squall lines can occasionally produce weak, short-lived tornadoes along their leading edge, they generally lack the rotation and individual persistence necessary to form proper "twisters". Their fast motion, large size, sizable cold pool, and all-consuming hunger for warm, moist air and resultant tendency to gobble up storms in their path make them a mortal threat to the generally slower-moving, freedom-loving supercells, and their resultant tornadoes. An encounter with a squall line almost never ends well for tornado and they should avoid such a meeting if they strive for longevity. However, it is interesting to note that storm interactions, occasionally even with squall lines, can briefly enhance tornadogenesis if conditions are just right, but this rarely has a sustained positive impact on the tornado's long-term survival prospects.
|-
|'''Title text''': It's a myth that you can never cross mountains safely, but be sure you understand how the climatic situation there will affect your parent thunderstorm. || In a style perhaps evoking that of a safety warning for a pharmaceutical drug, the title text reminds tornadoes that while it is indeed {{w|Tornado_myths#Near_rivers.2C_valleys.2C_mountains.2C_or_other_terrain_features|false that tornadoes are not able to cross mountains}} (while rough terrain can sometimes disrupt the very low-level circulation, there is nothing intrinsic to mountains areas that prevent tornadoes from moving over them), the tornado should be cautious that the environment on the other side of the mountain should still be supportive of the parent supercell and the broader processes keeping the tornado "alive." This is a valid concern because, generally speaking, the more mountainous areas of the United States generally tend to have less favorable environments for supercells and tornadoes, but this isn't always the case as the title text notes, particularly for more local-scale terrain. (For humans it may actually be true that you can never be sure to be safe crossing a mountain, some parts of the world are prone to the phenomenon {{w|Flash flood|flash floods}} which occurs with heavy rain and ground that has low absorption, these can be dangerous)
|}

==Transcript==
:[Beneath a large caption there are two pictures above each other to the left and a bullet list with five points to the right of the pictures. The top picture shows a black tornado beneath a white cloud. It is destroying something on the ground. To the right of the debris is a house and to the left some trees. The picture below shows Black Hat from the waist and up.]
:<big>'''Tornado Safety Tips'''</big>
:* Avoid low-lying cool air
:* Keep your downdrafts and updrafts from mixing
:* Seek out warm and humid surface air layers
:* Don't let rain-cooled air choke off your circulation
:* Avoid letting your supercell merge with a squall line

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Tornadoes]]

1753: Thumb War

2016-11-01T06:02:54Z

162.158.74.53: /* Transcript */ grammar

{{comic
| number = 1753
| date = October 31, 2016
| title = Thumb War
| image = thumb_war.png
| titletext = "Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty--" / "Can't we just read Pat the Bunny?"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Just... More.}}
Two small children, one wearing a black hat, sitting among their toys are playing {{w|thumb war}}. This is a common game for children, in which two players hold hands and attempt to pin each other's thumb down. The game is often started with both players chanting "one, two three, four, I declare a thumb war," and then counting up by fours and making rhymes, all the while trying to pin the opponent's thumbs down.

The standard concept is subverted here: The child that one day will turn into [[Black Hat]] interprets the simulation of hand-to-hand combat with thumbs differently, comparing it with real conflict. He shows this in further lines, invented by himself.

The second rhyme, "finger guns proliferate," is a pun on the {{w|finger gun}} gesture and describes {{w|Small arms trade|small arms proliferation}} - the spread of black-market weapons which often comes with war as captured and smuggled guns make their way into the hands of paramilitary groups. Black Hat transfers this into the "thumb war universe", introducing finger guns into the thumb-to-thumb combat.

The third rhyme continues the counting until twelve and mentions {{w|Digit (anatomy)|digits}} as in fingers, and states that they cannot protect themselves. This may be implying an imposition of {{w|Gun control|firearms regulation}} or {{w|arms control}} as a response to the small-arms proliferation in the previous verse.

In the last line Black Hat states that, even though this thumb war goes on and on, the "thumb U.N.", the thumb war universe equivalent of the {{w|United Nations}} (UN), won't intervene. In real life the UN would try to put an end to a given war by using diplomatic power and has the mandate of using (blue-helmet) peace forces in war zones to put an end to violence and give out a mandate to nations so that they can intervene in some crisis on their own behalf.

The children thumb war game is in Black Hat's version instead a quite cynical portrayal of our world, criticizing the "might is right" mentality that is the sad reality of our globe, and the government of the world by the militarily strongest nations.

The other child, which will someday turn into [[Hairy]], meanwhile, is unnerved by all this and wants to stop playing. Since Hairy is just a normal child he is really not interested in Black Hat's realistic version of what a war really is.

In the title text is seems like Hairy interrupts Black Hat's last rhyme after twenty, and almost makes it a rhyme, as Bunny at least ends in the same letter. So it goes like this:
:Black Hat: Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty
:Hairy: Can't we just read Pat the Bunny?
Thus Hairy request that they to do something more appropriate for children like reading a picture book.

This is the second time a young Black Hat has been used. The first was in [[1139: Rubber and Glue]]. Black Hat continues to make Hairy uncomfortable as an adult, such as in [[1210: I'm So Random]].

==Transcript==
:[Two children are sitting on their knees between a toy truck to the left and five building blocks to the right; three square blocks are stacked in a precarious tower and to the right of the tower there is one more square block which has a rectangular block leaning on it. Both children have lots of hair but the child to the left has a black hat on, so they are possibly young versions of Black Hat and Hairy. They are sitting across from each other with one hand touching the other's hand. Their thumbs can be seen sticking up above their hands.]
:Black Hat: One, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war.
:Black Hat: Five, six, seven, eight, finger guns proliferate.
:Black Hat: Nine, ten, eleven, twelve, digits can't protect themselves.
:Black Hat: Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, thumb U.N. won't intervene.
:Hairy: I don't want to play with you anymore.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]

1753: Thumb War

2016-10-31T14:18:23Z

162.158.74.53: /* Transcript */ slight expansion

{{comic
| number = 1753
| date = October 31, 2016
| title = Thumb War
| image = thumb_war.png
| titletext = "Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty--" / "Can't we just read Pat the Bunny?"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a not very good editor. First draft.}}

A thumb war is a common game for children, in which two players hold hands and attempt to pin each other's thumb down. The game is often started with both players chanting "one, two three, four, I declare a thumb war, five, six, seven, eight, try to keep your thumb straight", referencing the goal of the game. Black Hat chants a modified version, though, clearly making poor Hairy uncomfortable. His version becomes a political commentary about proliferation of weapons and the United Nations (U.N.) reluctance to intervene. A finger gun is made by holding one's thumb and finger in the shape of a gun, fitting with the anolog of a thumb war.
Black Hat continues to make Hairy uncomfortable as an adult, such as in "I'm so random".
In the title text, Hairy adds another verse, requesting to do something more appropriate for children, reading a picture book.

==Transcript==
[A young Black Hat and Hairy are sitting across from each other. A toy truck is on Black Hat's left, and a stack of blocks is on Hairy's right.]

:Black hat: One, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war.
:Black hat: Five, six, seven, eight, finger guns proliferate.
:Black hat: Nine, ten, eleven, twelve, digits can't protect themselves.
:Black hat: Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, thumb U.N. won't intervene.
:Hairy: I don't want to play with you anymore.

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1751: Movie Folder

2016-10-26T17:49:13Z

162.158.74.53: re lorem ipsum

Quite a wacky comic and it isn't even a Friday. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.196|108.162.210.196]] 14:16, 26 October 2016 (UTC)
Ooh, a first draft...
Hoo boy, that last sentence, though... that is in desperate need of some editing [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.49|108.162.237.49]] 16:00, 26 October 2016 (UTC)
:Small point, but lorem ipsum isn't pseudo-Latin it's from Cicero's de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum (The Extremes of Good and Evil. It's been used since the very early days of printing.[[User:Richardelguru|Richardelguru]] ([[User talk:Richardelguru|talk]]) 16:33, 26 October 2016 (UTC)richardelguru.
::It is, but the "received" lorem ipsum text is pretty garbled, starting with improper word-splitting at the the very beginning. It shouldn't be described as a straight quotation from Cicero. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.53|162.158.74.53]] 17:49, 26 October 2016 (UTC)
I'm not sure how to post comments, but I believe it should read 97 previous Titanics sank, if the movie is about the 98th one striking the reef.... User: bsellnow 26 October 2016...

1747: Spider Paleontology

2016-10-18T00:45:25Z

162.158.74.53: spelling

{{comic
| number = 1747
| date = October 17, 2016
| title = Spider Paleontology
| image = spider_paleontology.png
| titletext = Whenever you see a video of birds doing something weird, remember: Birds are a small subset of dinosaurs, so the weirdness of birds is a small subset of the weirdness of dinosaurs.
}}

==Explanation==
A time-traveller (the sphere-like thing) visits us/the present from the far future. Spiders are their current craze, [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107290/ much] [[1211|as]] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosaur dinosaurs] [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0369610/ are] [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25870766 currently] [http://dinosaurworld.com/ to] us.
The time-traveller immediately spots a spider, awestruck to see the object of its obsession in the living flesh.
Since spider webs don't fossilize, the time-traveller is surprised to see the spider in a web. There was no possible mention of spiderwebs in the fossil record, from which the time-traveller gathered all their knowledge.

We, with our current knowledge, know that webs are an essential part of a spiders life. Making sense of a spiders life is practically impossible without including their webs. However, the future-people have done so until now; discovering how wrong they are is bound to become an intense experience for them.

[[Megan]] immediately connects the time-travellers [[1053|realisation]] to our current understanding of dinosaurs:
If future-people think they understand spiders, while missing something as essential (but non-fossilising) as their web, what are ''we'' missing about dinosaurs?
[[Cueball]] quickly catches on, and both ask if they can borrow the time-machine to have their mind blown about dinosaurs much as the time-traveller is experiencing right now about spiders.

The title text calls back to one of Randall's favorite facts (see [[1211: Birds and Dinosaurs]]) - that birds are technically part of the clade ''Dinosauria''. Birds do lots of weird stuff - from [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eakKfY5aHmY starlings flocking] to [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7QZnwKqopo the dances of birds of paradise] to [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjE0Kdfos4Y lyrebird mimicry] to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stomach_oil petrels puking stomach oil]. Dinosaurs would have had equally strange behaviors, but it's basically impossible to tell from the fossil record. All we know is that they had features such as display feathers, {{w|neck frill|neck frills}}, and crests which likely played a role in mating and territorial shows.

This is the second comic with special mentioning of a science related directly to spiders, the first being [[1135: Arachnoneurology]].

Similar talking floating energy dots have been seen before in [[1173: Steroids]] and [[1450: AI-Box Experiment]]. They are clearly not the same time traveller as in this comic.

==Transcript==
:[A seven-panel comic featuring Cueball, Megan, and a time-traveler from the distant future, possibly from somewhere other than Earth. The time-traveler is depicted as a solid, floating black dot surrounded by six outwardly-curved segments, surrounded by small dots. In the second panel, the depiction is slightly different.]

:[The time-traveler floats on the left facing Megan who is in the center facing left. Cueball is to Megan's right and also facing left.]
:Time-traveler: I'm here from the distant future!
:Megan: Cool! What for?
:Time-traveler: ''Spiders!''

:[A close-up of the time-traveler, depicted as a diffuse black smudge surrounded by seven narrow rays with irregular dots between the rays.]
:Time-traveler: We've learned about your planet's spiders from fossils.
:Time-traveler: There's a whole spider craze. We have spider theme parks, spider movies, spider costumes...
:Time-traveler: Such beautiful animals!
:Megan (off-panel): I guess...

:[Back to the time-traveler, Megan and Cueball as shown before. Megan is gesturing left, past the time-traveler.]
:Time-traveler: Now we've got time travel, so I'm here to see one for myself!
:Megan: Sure! There's one over there!

:[The time-traveler floats over a leafless plant. A spider web is strung between the border of the left panel and the leafless plant. A spider is in the center of the web.]
:Time-traveler: ''Woowwww!''
:Time-traveler: What's that giant net it's caught in?
:Megan (off-panel): You mean its web?
:Time-traveler: Its what?

:[Back to a scene similar to the first, depicting the time traveler, Megan and Cueball]
:Megan: Oh, right, fossils. So you wouldn't know about...

:[In a frame-less panel only Megan is shown facing left.]
:Megan: ...

:[Again a scene similar to the first.]
:Megan: Oh my God. Dinosaurs must have been ''so weird''.
:Cueball: Holy crap, yeah.
:Megan: Listen, can we borrow your time machine?

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Time travel]]
[[Category:Spiders]]
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]
[[Category:Animals]]

Talk:1747: Spider Paleontology

2016-10-17T19:22:14Z

162.158.74.53: could be the one from Steroids, who knows

I think it the first XKCD I don't get :P [[Special:Contributions/162.158.50.34|162.158.50.34]] 13:02, 17 October 2016 (UTC)
* I don't believe you, no-one except Randall Himself is that smart ;-) Anyways, hope the explanation I added helps some [[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.191|162.158.92.191]] 13:40, 17 October 2016 (UTC)

I like how the 6th panel has no borders. To me it signifies the broadening of her horizons, the going beyond her previous limits, as the realisation sinks in. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.191|162.158.92.191]] 14:14, 17 October 2016 (UTC)

I remember reading about a fossil of a spider with its web, but I don't remember where I read about it. I don't suppose anyone else has heard the same? (Ideally someone who remembers the source?) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.45|108.162.238.45]] 15:27, 17 October 2016 (UTC)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/6467024/Fossil-hunter-finds-140-million-year-old-spiders-web.html [[User:Mwburden|mwburden]] ([[User talk:Mwburden|talk]]) 16:44, 17 October 2016 (UTC)

Actually not all spiders spin webs, Wolf spiders chase their prey. So 'Future Guy' could get equally confused but limited observations of just one type. [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 17:45, 17 October 2016 (UTC)

Anyone think this is the character from the Steroids comic? Looks fairly similar. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.88|108.162.237.88]] 16:08, 17 October 2016 (UTC)
:It does seem to be the same basic design, but not identical. Of course, the whatever-it-is seen here is not even depicted consistently from panel to panel, so the differences from #1173 don't mean it's a different character, either. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.53|162.158.74.53]] 19:22, 17 October 2016 (UTC)

Possibly related: Where do Dinosaurs go when it rains? - https://xkcd.com/1434/ [[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.134|108.162.242.134]] 17:48, 17 October 2016 (UTC)

1747: Spider Paleontology

2016-10-17T14:17:29Z

162.158.74.53: /* Transcript */ Fix my lack of directional awareness

{{comic
| number = 1747
| date = October 17, 2016
| title = Spider Paleontology
| image = spider_paleontology.png
| titletext = Whenever you see a video of birds doing something weird, remember: Birds are a small subset of dinosaurs, so the weirdness of birds is a small subset of the weirdness of dinosaurs.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page.}}

A time-traveller (the sphere-like thing) visits us/the present from the far future. Spiders are their current craze, [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107290/ much] [[1211|as]] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosaur dinosaurs] [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0369610/ are] [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25870766 currently] [http://dinosaurworld.com/ to] us.
The time-traveller immediately spots a spider, awestruck to see the object of its obsession in the living flesh.
Since spider webs don't fossilize, the time-traveller is surprised to see the spider in a web. There was no possible mention of spiderwebs in the fossil record, from which they gathered all their knowledge

We, with our current knowledge, know that webs are an essential part of a spiders life. Making sense of a spiders life is practically impossible without including their webs. However, the future-people have done so until now, discovering how wrong they are is bound to become an intense experience for them.

Megan immediately connects the time-travellers [[1053|realisation]] to our current understanding of dinosaurs:
If future-people think they understand spiders, while missing something as essential (but non-fossilising) as their web, what are ''we'' missing about dinosaurs?
Cueball quickly catches on, and both ask if they can borrow the time-machine to have their mind blown about dinosaurs much as the timetraveller is experiencing right now about spiders.

==Transcript==
[A seven-panel comic featuring Cueball, Megan, and a time-traveler from the distant future, possibly from somewhere other than Earth. The time-traveler is depicted as a solid, floating black dot surrounded by six outwardly-curved segments, surrounded by small dots. In the second panel, the depiction is slightly different.]

[The time-traveler floats on the left of the first panel, facing Megan who is in the center facing left. Cueball is to Megan's right and also facing left.]
:Time-traveler: I'm here from the distant future!
:Megan: Cool! What for?
:Time-traveler: ''Spiders!''

[The second panel is a close-up of the time-traveler, depicted in this panel as a diffuse black smudge surrounded by seven narrow rays with irregular dots between the rays.]
:Time-traveler: We've learned about your planet's spiders from fossils.
:Time-traveler: There's a whole spider craze. We have spider theme parks, spider movies, spider costumes...
:Time-traveler: Such beautiful animals!
:Megan (off-panel): I guess...

[The third panel shows the time-traveler, Megan, and Cueball as before. Megan is gesturing left, past the time-traveler.]
:Time-traveler: Now we've got time travel, so I'm here to see one for myself!
:Megan: Sure! There's one over there!

[The fourth panel depicts the time-traveler floating over a leafless plant. A spider web is strung between the border of the left panel and the leafless plant. A spider is in the center of the web.]
:Time-traveler: ''Woowwww!''
:Time-traveler: What's that giant net it's caught in?
:Megan (off-panel): You mean its web?
:Time-traveler: Its what?

[The fifth panel is similar to the first, depicting the time traveler, Megan and Cueball]
:Megan: Oh, right, fossils. So you wouldn't know about...

[The sixth panel depicts only Megan, facing left. This panel has no borders]
:Megan: ...

[The last panel is similar to the first. Megan's head is bent down in a thinking pose.]
:Megan: Oh my God. Dinosaurs must have been ''so weird''.
:Cueball: Holy crap, yeah.
:Megan: Listen, can we borrow your time machine?

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Time travel]]
[[Category:Spiders]]
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]

1747: Spider Paleontology

2016-10-17T14:05:39Z

162.158.74.53: /* Transcript */ expand

{{comic
| number = 1747
| date = October 17, 2016
| title = Spider Paleontology
| image = spider_paleontology.png
| titletext = Whenever you see a video of birds doing something weird, remember: Birds are a small subset of dinosaurs, so the weirdness of birds is a small subset of the weirdness of dinosaurs.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page.}}

A time-traveller (the sphere-like thing) visits us/the present from the far future. Spiders are their current craze, [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107290/ much] [[1211|as]] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosaur dinosaurs] [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0369610/ are] [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25870766 currently] [http://dinosaurworld.com/ to] us.
The time-traveller immediately spots a spider, awestruck to see the object of its obsession in the living flesh.
Since spider webs don't fossilize, the time-traveller is surprised to see the spider in a web. There was no possible mention of spiderwebs in the fossil record, from which they gathered all their knowledge

We, with our current knowledge, know that webs are an essential part of a spiders life. Making sense of a spiders life is practically impossible without including their webs. However, the future-people have done so until now, discovering how wrong they are is bound to become an intense experience for them.

Megan immediately connects the time-travellers [[1053|realisation]] to our current understanding of dinosaurs:
If future-people think they understand spiders, while missing something as essential (but non-fossilising) as their web, what are ''we'' missing about dinosaurs?
Cueball quickly catches on, and both ask if they can borrow the time-machine to have their mind blown about dinosaurs much as the timetraveller is experiencing right now about spiders.

==Transcript==
[A seven-panel comic featuring Cueball, Megan, and a time-traveler from the distant future, possibly from somewhere other than Earth. The time-traveler is depicted as a solid, floating black dot surrounded by six outwardly-curved segments, surrounded by small dots. In the second panel, the depiction is slightly different.]

[The time-traveler floats on the left of the first panel, facing Megan who is in the center facing left. Cueball is to Megan's right and also facing left.]
:Time-traveler: I'm here from the distant future!
:Megan: Cool! What for?
:Time-traveler: ''Spiders!''

[The second panel is a close-up of the time-traveler, depicted in this panel as a diffuse black smudge surrounded by seven narrow rays with irregular dots between the rays.]
:Time-traveler: We've learned about your planet's spiders from fossils.
:Time-traveler: There's a whole spider craze. We have spider theme parks, spider movies, spider costumes...
:Time-traveler: Such beautiful animals!
:Megan (off-panel): I guess...

[The third panel shows the time-traveler, Megan, and Cueball as before. Megan is gesturing left, past the time-traveler.]
:Time-traveler: Now we've got time travel, so I'm here to see one for myself!
:Megan: Sure! There's one over there!

[The fourth panel depicts the time-traveler floating over a leafless plant. A spider web is strung between the border of the left panel and the leafless plant. A spider is in the center of the web.]
:Time-traveler: ''Woowwww!''
:Time-traveler: What's that giant net it's caught in?
:Megan (off-panel): You mean its web?
:Time-traveler: Its what?

[The fifth panel is similar to the first, depicting the time traveler, Megan and Cueball]
:Megan: Oh, right, fossils. So you wouldn't know about...

[The sixth panel depicts only Megan, facing right.]
:Megan: ...

[The last panel is similar to the first. Megan's head is bent down in a thinking pose.]
:Megan: Oh my God. Dinosaurs must have been ''so weird''.
:Cueball: Holy crap, yeah.
:Megan: Listen, can we borrow your time machine?
{{comic discussion}}

1744: Metabolism

2016-10-10T15:05:58Z

162.158.74.53: /* Transcript */ rewrite panel description

{{comic
| number = 1744
| date = October 10, 2016
| title = Metabolism
| image = metabolism.png
| titletext = I have this weird thing where if I don't drink enough water, I start feeling bad and then die of dehydration.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|There have been several comics like this, especially about the (8 glasses of) water. These should be mentioned. And surely there are more to be said.}}
Many people (including dieticians and nutritionists) believe that some individuals (such as themselves) have a special kind of metabolism, usually if they are able to eat a lot and/or whatever they wish and not gain weight from it. The comic makes fun of that, as Cueball describes his metabolism as special, but what he is describing is just the normal case: His body converts the food to energy and stores unused energy as fat.

The problem for many people is that they eat so much more than they need to cover their energy needs that they get really fat. This is because human bodies has been created during a time when it was hard to ever find enough to eat, so as soon as there where more than needed for a short period of time it was all a matter of storing as much as possible up as fat, for the hard times that was sure to come. But today these hard times fail to appear, and also the food can be obtained without actually doing any exercise which would be needed if the food had to be gathered either from farming or hunter/gathering. And this is why there is an obesity problem in most first world countries today.

The title text stretches this further, telling about the normal habit of drinking water (and the consequences of not drinking it) as something odd.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball, on the left, and White Hat are sitting on chairs on either side of a table, facing each other. They each have plates of food and glasses of some beverage set in front of them. Each has picked up a portion of food on a fork to eat it.]

:Cueball: I have one of those metabolisms where I can eat whatever I want and my body converts it to energy and stores the excess as fat.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Food]]

1741: Work

2016-10-03T18:03:28Z

162.158.74.53: /* Transcript */ title text doesn't need to be repeated here

{{comic
| number = 1741
| date = October 3, 2016
| title = Work
| image = work.png
| titletext = Despite it being imaginary, I already have SUCH a strong opinion on the cord-switch firing incident.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic details a set of theoretical examples of how much work went into the design and manufacture of everyday objects. The joke centers around the fact that most people in modern times are constantly surrounded with human-built objects, which we generally use without giving them much thought. [[Randall]] implies that he occasionally imagines what went into seemingly simple objects around him (like water glasses and desk lamps), and finds it overwhelming. This is because there are so many built items around us, many of which are inexpensive and mass-produced, which nonetheless resulted from a great deal of human effort. (This is similar to the thesis of the classic essay ''[http://www.econlib.org/library/Essays/rdPncl1.html I, Pencil]''). Presumably, this kind of realization is more likely for people who've worked in design and engineering, like Randall, because they have some insight into what's involved in bringing a product to market. Also people who sit around all day wondering what could be funny, like Randall, could also end up in such a thought spiral. The comment about California recalls is based on the tags on products that often state "This item has been known by the state of California to cause..."

There's a double joke in the title as the first thing most people will think of when seeing such a table with such a [[Balanced-arm lamp|lamp]], they will think of a work desk rather than the work put into making the desk and lamp. The potential implication is that Randall is so distracted imagining the work that went into creating his workspace that he can't get his own work done, hence the title.

The title text hits another aspect of the design issue. Companies that design and manufacture goods will inevitably have human conflicts, where decisions will be argued over, and human personalities and office politics will impact the final design. Randall has apparently come up with an entire fictional narrative about a conflict over whether to put the lamp's switch on the lamp body itself, or to attach it to the lamp's power cord, and developed a strong opinion about who was right, and is angry that the other part was fired, since he really seems to dislike lamps with the switch on the cord as in this comic. Randall's distaste for lamps where the switch is on the cord is also mentioned in the title text of [[1036: Reviews]].

A similar theme of the unseen contributions of engineers is found in [[277: Long Light]], including the title text: "You can look at practically any part of anything manmade around you and think 'some engineer was frustrated while designing this.' It's a little human connection." This fits in well with Randall's annoyance with a switch on the cord.

==Individual Design Elements==
{| class="wikitable"
|+Individual Design Elements
!Description
!Explanation
|-
|An engineer worked late drawing this curve in AutoCAD || AutoCAD is a popular software package for doing computer-aided design.
|-
|Extra vents added to avoid California safety recall ||
|-
|9 hours of meetings ||
|-
|Ongoing debate ||
|-
|Years-long negotiation with glass supplier ||
|-
|4 hours of meetings ||
|-
|Months of tip-over testing ||
|-
|Wood source changed due to 20 year legal fight over logging in the Great Bear rainforest || The Great Bear rainforest is a temperate rainforest on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. The government of British Columbia recently announced an agreement to protect 85% of this forest from commercial logging.
|-
|Argument over putting switch on cord got someone fired ||
|-}

==Transcript==
[On a desk sits a glass of water and lamp]

[Points to lamp shade]
An engineer worked late drawing this curve in AutoCAD

[Points to back of lamp]
Extra vents added to avoid California safety recall

[Points to the lamp 'stem']
9 hours of meetings

[Points to lamp information sticker]
Ongoing debate

[Points to glass]
Years-long negotiation with glass supplier

[Points to the sides of glass]
4 hours of meetings

[Points to bottom and 'top' of glass]
Months of tip-over testing

[Points to desk]
Wood source changed due to 20 year legal fight over logging in the Great Bear rainforest

[Points to cord]
Argument over putting switch on cord got someone fired

[Caption under frame]
Sometimes I get overwhelmed thinking about the amount of work that went into the ordinary objects around me.

{{comic discussion}}

1736: Manhattan Project

2016-09-21T13:59:39Z

162.158.74.53: /* Transcript */ improve transcript

[[]]{{comic
| number = 1736
| date = September 21, 2016
| title = Manhattan Project
| image = manhattan_project.png
| titletext = On the plus side, we definitely killed that cancer over there, even if we caused a bunch more everywhere else.
}}

==Explanation==
The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Project Manhattan Project] was a big, expensive, secret research and development project that produced the first nuclear weapons during World War II. It is an example of getting all the top minds of a subject together to solve a massive problem, generally with massive government spending. The phrase [https://www.google.ca/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=%22we+need+a+new+manhattan+project%22 We need a new Manhattan Project] is sometimes used to suggest that the top minds should get together to solve another problem. In this comic the suggestion is implied that all the top minds for cancer research should get together to find a cure, but the idea is taken literally instead and the New Manhattan Project develops a nuclear bomb again.

The title text comments that the radiation from the blast will cause cancer in the survivors, but kills everything at the blast site.

==Transcript==
[A five panel layout with each panel slightly smaller than the next]

[Ponytail speaks to Cueball on her right]
:Ponytail: What we need to cure cancer is a new Manhattan Project

[Ponytail and Cueball speak to a crowd from a rostrum with a banner overhead. There is no dialogue.]
:Banner: Research Institute

[In the third panel Cueball, Megan and Ponytail wear goggles and laboratory coats while working with Erlenmeyer flasks.]

[They stand behind concrete barriers in the foreground wearing sunglasses. A mushroom cloud appears in the background, to the right of three low hills or mountains.]

[Ponytail faces to the right in an empty panel. She is wearing dark glasses.]
:Ponytail: Wait.

{{comic discussion}}

1725: Linear Regression

2016-08-26T15:21:57Z

162.158.74.53: /* Transcript */ tweak

{{comic
| number = 1725
| date = August 26, 2016
| title = Linear Regression
| image = linear_regression.png
| titletext = The 95% confidence interval suggests Rexthor's dog could also be a cat, or possibly a teapot.
}}

==Explanation==

{{w|Linear regression}} is a method for modeling the relationship between two sets of data, assuming that the two have a linear correlation (as opposed to, say, a quadratic correlation or no correlation whatsoever). The model determines a "{{w|least squares|best-fit}}" line through a {{w|scatter plot}} of the datasets, together with a {{w|coefficient of determination}}, usually denoted ''r''2 or ''R''2. This is a number between 0 and 1, which indicates how close the points are to lying on a line. A value of 1 means perfect correlation, while values close to 0 indicate little or no correlation.

{{w|Constellation}}s are patterns created by linking the apparent positions of stars. One could create fake constellations by connecting assorted points.

In this comic, a set of data has had linear regression and some form of statistical analysis applied to it, indicating that there is insignificant correlation between the two. However, the data points are so widely-scattered that (as noted in the comic) it is easier to connect the data points in a constellation-like pattern than it is to determine whether the correlation is negative or positive (without looking at the trendline, of course). Because of this, [[Randall]] suggests we should be suspicious of any conclusions drawn from this data.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
[A two-panel comic with a caption underneath drawn in a combination of black and red. The two panels show an identical square of scattered black dots, with only the red additions being different. A black caption is written below, spanning both panels.

[The left panel shows a slightly rising red line drawn through the middle of the panel, passing near a few dots but not obviously related to most of them]
:R2=0.06

[The right panel shows many of the dots connected by red lines to form a stick figure of a man resembling the constellation Orion, with the hand on the reader's right raised and holding an object.]
:Rexthor, the Dog-Bearer

[The caption below is black abd applies to both panels.]
:I don't trust linear regressions when it's harder to guess the direction of the correlation from the scatter plot than to find new constellations on it.

{{comic discussion}}

1725: Linear Regression

2016-08-26T15:19:34Z

162.158.74.53: /* Transcript */ complete rewrite of transcript

{{comic
| number = 1725
| date = August 26, 2016
| title = Linear Regression
| image = linear_regression.png
| titletext = The 95% confidence interval suggests Rexthor's dog could also be a cat, or possibly a teapot.
}}

==Explanation==

{{w|Linear regression}} is a method for modeling the relationship between two sets of data, assuming that the two have a linear correlation (as opposed to, say, a quadratic correlation or no correlation whatsoever). The model determines a "{{w|least squares|best-fit}}" line through a {{w|scatter plot}} of the datasets, together with a {{w|coefficient of determination}}, usually denoted ''r''2 or ''R''2. This is a number between 0 and 1, which indicates how close the points are to lying on a line. A value of 1 means perfect correlation, while values close to 0 indicate little or no correlation.

{{w|Constellation}}s are patterns created by linking the apparent positions of stars. One could create fake constellations by connecting assorted points.

In this comic, a set of data has had linear regression and some form of statistical analysis applied to it, indicating that there is insignificant correlation between the two. However, the data points are so widely-scattered that (as noted in the comic) it is easier to connect the data points in a constellation-like pattern than it is to determine whether the correlation is negative or positive (without looking at the trendline, of course). Because of this, [[Randall]] suggests we should be suspicious of any conclusions drawn from this data.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
[A two-panel comic with a caption underneath drawn in a combination of black and red. The two panels show an identical square of scattered black dots, with only the red additions being different. A black caption is written below, spanning both panels.

[The left panel shows a slightly rising red line drawn through the middle of the panel, passing near a few dots but not obviously related to most of them]
:R2=0.06

[The right panel shows many of the dots connected by red lines to show a stick figure of a man resembling the constellation Orion, with the hand on the reader's right raised and holding an object.]
:Rexthor, the Dog-Bearer

[The caption below is black abd applies to both panels.]
:I don't trust linear regressions when it's harder to guess the direction of the correlation from the scatter plot than to find new constellations on it.

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1724: Proofs

2016-08-24T20:36:49Z

162.158.74.53: cm

Judging from my experience when I first encountered proofs in math classes (or my general experience from math classes), the teacher is going to write down a "proof" which makes absolutely no sense to students and is also never explained in a way that actually makes them understand. Instead, they are just going to use "dark magic" and write what seems to be completely senseless to students.
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.91.223|141.101.91.223]] 04:24, 24 August 2016 (UTC)

Transcript generated by the BOT was murdering me, had to change it. Proposing miss Lenhart is party 1. [[User:EppOch|EppOch]] ([[User talk:EppOch|talk]]) 04:45, 24 August 2016 (UTC)
:: I support that. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.91.223|141.101.91.223]] 06:13, 24 August 2016 (UTC)
:: Me to, but I am on mobile, so editing is a pain [[Special:Contributions/162.158.86.71|162.158.86.71]] 06:51, 24 August 2016 (UTC)
:: Done [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 08:26, 24 August 2016 (UTC)
:::Note that the BOT doesn't create any text - [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1724:_Proofs&oldid=125654 see here]. The transcript was made by several people. Agree completely that this is Miss Lenhart, but even if it was not "[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1724:_Proofs&direction=next&oldid=125660 party 1 and party 2]" is not the way to describe a woman with long blonde hair and Cueball ;-) There is at the moment [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#New_character_category_for_blonde_woman_news_reporter_.28from_1699.29|a discussion]] what to call other women looking like this (i.e. those that are not clearly Miss Lenhart, [[Mrs. Roberts]] or her daughter [[Elaine Roberts]]). Chip in there if you have any opinions on that regard... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:01, 24 August 2016 (UTC)

Irrationality proof isn't really a proof by contradiction (it doesn't use double negation elimination). You're showing (exists a,b. ...) -> False by assuming (exists a, b. ...) and showing False, which is implication introduction --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.85.105|162.158.85.105]] 07:33, 24 August 2016 (UTC)

I'm thinking she's doing one of those proof that write down a formula or function out of nowhere, and proceeds to proof everything with it. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.222.125|108.162.222.125]] 08:43, 24 August 2016 (UTC)

This comic reminds me of "divination" rituals, where a magical spirit is summoned to write out an answer. Usually not something as complex as here, but hey, XKCD! --[[User:Henke37|Henke37]] ([[User talk:Henke37|talk]]) 10:04, 24 August 2016 (UTC)

Man, Reductio ad absurdum never made any logic. If we could assume any thing, why use logic?
Oh wait, it has already been covered in XKCD {{unsigned ip|162.158.49.12}}

"Dark magic" proofs are centered around properties of functions, and abstract concepts, rather than manipulating the functions themselves?? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.113|108.162.246.113]] 11:26, 24 August 2016 (UTC)

My assumptions is that the "Dark Magic" being referred to here is more "A technique that works, though nobody really understands why." [see http://catb.org/jargon/html/B/black-magic.html] In this case, the teacher is setting up a proof in an manner which will lead to the desired goal, but to the student it is exceedingly unobvious as to why one would do it this way, other than "it works" [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.52|108.162.219.52]] 15:30, 24 August 2016 (UTC)

I was thinking that a "dark magic proof" referred to those ridiculous "party trick" proofs like 'proving' that 1 = 0 via some confusing train of logic, and mathematical sleight of hand. {{unsigned ip|108.162.237.213}}

Maybe he meant "dark patterns"? {{unsigned ip|162.158.126.139}}

It seems pretty obvious to me that by "weird, dark magic proofs", the student is talking about proofs that drag in far-flung reaches of mathematics so distant that they no longer appear to be mathematics, especially ones that involve meta-reasoning. Gödel's proof of the incompleteness of Peano arithmetic is the archetypical example, but others include Lob's theorem and any proof by contradiction involving the halting problem. Ms Lenhart's proof starts out by setting up a proof-by-contradiction, already a warning sign, and she then escalates it at the end by implying that this proof will somehow involve the actual physics of where the solution can and cannot be written. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.123|108.162.241.123]] 17:27, 24 August 2016 (UTC)

:: Agreed, although I think starting out with a proof by contradiction setup is by itself not that much of a warning sign. However it heads straight into meta-space by making the assumption of the existence of a function that produces a solution of something. [[User:Zmatt|Zmatt]] ([[User talk:Zmatt|talk]]) 18:52, 24 August 2016 (UTC)

:: The fact that the proof mentions the actual blackboard on which it is written is of course problematic in numerous ways, as is predicating on whether something "will eventually" happen. This is well outside the scope of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zermelo–Fraenkel_set_theory usual mathematical foundations]. Since careless use of meta-recursion is a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curry's_paradox trap], such a proof would have to very very carefully consider foundational issues and cannot handwave over them. [[User:Zmatt|Zmatt]] ([[User talk:Zmatt|talk]]) 19:13, 24 August 2016 (UTC)

----
"''In the title text the decision of whether to take the axiom of choice is made by a deterministic process. The axiom of determinacy is incompatible with the axiom of choice...''" The axiom of determinacy is not really relevant to deterministic processes - it is about (certain types of two-players-) games and says that any such game is determined (that is, some player has a winning strategy). So this axiom is not relevant to the title text --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.83.66|162.158.83.66]] 17:39, 24 August 2016 (UTC)
:I agree. I read the title text in almost exactly the opposite way - that the proof relies on the existence of a deterministic process for selecting objects, and therefore the invocation of the axiom of choice as a part of the process is superfluous (but not a contradiction). Anyhow, the axiom of determinacy isn't ever mentioned, so it probably shouldn't be shoehorned in here. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.53|162.158.74.53]] 20:36, 24 August 2016 (UTC)

I feel like it is a stretch to assert Lenhart is setting up a proof by contradiction. It sounded to me more like an prior knowledge proof (not sure it's technical name). For example, "calculate the space between two concentric circles of differing diameter when the longest straight line you can draw is length d." If you assume there is a function F(r1, r2) which has been previously proven to calculate this space, then it is easy to show that the space is in fact .5*pi*(.5*d)^2 (as you have a degenerative case where r1=0, and you have an ordinary circle). I also think this type of proof is more "dark magic"-feeling than a simple proof by contradiction.