explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

434: xkcd Goes to the Airport

2021-07-23T07:45:30Z

172.68.132.157: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 434
| date = June 9, 2008
| title = xkcd Goes to the Airport
| image = xkcd_goes_to_the_airport.png
| titletext = Under three ounces, but it stains panties.
}}

==Explanation==
The various characters of [[xkcd]] cause problems at the airport due to their various quirks.

*[[Beret Guy]] and [[Megan]] are lost, following each other in a loop. Beret Guy displays his obsession with baked goods as he also does in later comics: [[442: xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel]] and [[452: Mission]].

*[[Cueball]] tries to carry a {{w|Lock picking|lockpick set}} (a tool able to unlock doors without the original key) through security. The security guard tells Cueball that he has to come with him, but Cueball wants to tell the guard about "this hacker girl" before going with the guard (interestingly Cueball doesn't resist the arrest at all so long as he can tell his story). This may be spoofing the incidents where someone has been manipulated into smuggling drugs or other contraband by a romantic interest they met on the Internet. The hacker girl could be [[Elaine]] from the [[:Category:1337|1337-series]].

*On the plane, Cueball has been instructed to disable the wireless transmission functionality of his device. Many airlines require passengers to disable {{w|Mobile phones on aircraft|mobile phones on aircraft}} as well as other radio transmitting devices, because they may interfere with the radio-based navigation and communication equipment of the aircraft. However, his laptop is running Linux, and he doesn't know how to change the wireless settings; he's reading the {{w|Man page|manual}} for the program that controls the wireless radio. This is probably not an ideal situation, as the airplane is about to take off. Man pages were also referenced in [[293: RTFM]]. Much later, a plane was again linked to a man page in [[912: Manual Override]].

*[[Black Hat]] tries to carry a container of liquid through security. According to US law, the maximum amount of liquid that can be taken onto a plane in a container is three ounces (89 ml), a security measure taken to prevent terrorists from taking explosives onto planes. When the guard has doubts about the amount of liquid in the vial, Black Hat implies that the liquid is actually blood from a churchmouse. This is referred to later in [[526: Converting to Metric]], which claims that a fieldmouse has much less blood than that. The guard is visibly uncomfortable and clearly does not want to deal with the issue any further.

The title text continues off the final panel, saying that there are less than three ounces of blood in a churchmouse, but it "stains panties," an undesirable scenario. However, this undesirable scenario is paralleled by the implied undesirable scenario of a terrorist attack due to explosive liquids, the possibility of which caused the law. The title text seems to parody the prospect of an explosion with the relatively insignificant staining of panties, a term for women's underwear. This may also be a menstruation joke.

==Transcript==
:[Standing outside the Airport. There is a sign saying "Airport" and a plane in the background.]
:Megan: Okay, what airline?
:Beret Guy: I'm following you.
:Megan: ...I'm following <u>you</u>.
:Beret Guy: I assumed we were walking to the bakery.
:Megan: You always assume that!

:[Presumably the security checkpoint. The Security guy is digging through Cueball's bags.]
:Security guy: Lockpicks? These are... illegal, actually. Where did you get them?
:Cueball: Oh man, it all started with this hacker girl.
:Security guy: You need to come with-
:Cueball: Sure, sure. But man, let me tell you about her!

:[On a plane. Cueball is on a laptop.]
:Announcement: If your device has a "Transmit" function, please disable it.
:Cueball: Okay - hang on, I'm halfway through the iwconfig man page.

:[Security checkpoint. Security guy is examining a vial of dark liquid.]
:Security guy: Sir, is this container under three ounces?
:Black Hat: Not sure, how much blood is there in a churchmouse?
:Security guy: . . .Why don't you just go.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Linux]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Man pages]]
[[Category:Comics with blood]]

Talk:2490: Pre-Pandemic Ketchup

2021-07-23T07:37:47Z

172.68.132.157:

is this cueball or randall? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.235|173.245.54.235]] 15:47, 16 July 2021 (UTC)Bumpf
:It's Randall writing pandemic comics (which aren't nearly as funny or quirky as some of his earlier work). I wouldn't mind it so much if he somehow included the more nerdy/geeky aspects (like maybe something to do with the genome, or with computer science, etc.). [[Special:Contributions/172.68.143.4|127.0.0.1]] 16:34, 16 July 2021 (UTC)
::What's with the weird signature? If you really want to be localhost, I don't think there's anything to stop you registering 127․0․0․1 as a username, but manually entering a signature with a link to the wrong contributions page is a little weird. [[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 10:39, 17 July 2021 (UTC)

i don't get it. ketchup keeps basically forever. i'd consider a bottle from early 2020 practically fresh. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.182|162.158.92.182]] 19:58, 16 July 2021 (UTC)
: I don' think the issue is "freshness", but that Cueball panic bought a "new" or "strange" brand, that they no longer are interested in trying or eating. Compare to the title text "discard the last weird food item". [[Special:Contributions/172.70.98.2|172.70.98.2]] 20:53, 16 July 2021 (UTC)
: Ketchup keeps basically forever when refrigerated. Not everybody does that (though I do). [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.222|108.162.245.222]] 07:31, 17 July 2021 (UTC)
: A bottle of ketchup costs what – maybe two dollars, three dollars tops? For that sort of money, it ain't worth taking the chance. Pitch it out and replace it. [[User:RAGBRAIvet|RAGBRAIvet]] ([[User talk:RAGBRAIvet|talk]]) 05:53, 18 July 2021 (UTC)
:: Good ketchup costs four, plus a trip to the store or shipping, and stays better than average ketchup for over a decade if kept cool. A mere 1.5 years? Only worth it if the power went out so long that your fridge warmed up. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.4|162.158.106.4]] 16:34, 18 July 2021 (UTC)
:::I would agree that it should be tossed if, and only if, (1) they had opened the bottle pre-pandemic, and (2) it had been left unrefrigerated this entire time (plausible since he appears to be standing in front of a cabinet instead of a fridge.) Otherwise yeah, there's enough vinegar in ketchup that it's probably fine; mustard and hot sauce don't even need refrigeration. (Though I do prefer cold mustard.) --mezimm [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.78|108.162.221.78]] 15:37, 19 July 2021 (UTC)
: "ketchup keeps basically forever" not according to my ketchup bottle. Bought it a month ago, and it says it's ready to expire in 11 more. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.157|172.68.132.157]] 07:37, 23 July 2021 (UTC)

I even have pre-apprenticeship sugar sprinkles. And I'm currently in my third job. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 21:48, 16 July 2021 (UTC)

My reading of it is that they ''once'' might have bought that brand (maybe regularly, maybe as a 'try it and see'), and yet for some reason (perhaps through a combination of other people panic buying in the early days, later on just rushing in and out of stores with what is truly wanted, any online/curb-pickup options being more limited or just less compulsive buying without lingering by those oh-so-attractive "end of shelf" consumer-trap displays) it was not bought again as various degrees of lockdowns hit. (It also seems not to have suffered the fate of "we haven't had a proper shop in days, how about if we combine our last tin of soup with those cornflakes and further drench it with whatever random sauces we can find?" first-world-problem desparation. Maybe it was just ''too'' far back in the cupboard, crushed behind the tons of panic-bought toiletroll/etc?). Whatever the full implications of its existence, there's clearly no nostalgia for it. Or a new favourite has been adopted after discovering it as a promoted item by the online shopping site, and this older and less exciting ketchup just aint gonna cut the mustard any more? ...but there's a lot of "if"s and "or"s and "maybe"s in my interpretation, and I have no confidence I'm consistently, or even partially, interpretting it as it was intended to be. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.152|141.101.98.152]] 22:03, 16 July 2021 (UTC)

Is it worth mentioning that this appears to be the very kitchen from 2178: Expiration Date High Score? [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 02:18, 17 July 2021 (UTC)
:Not the same kitchen - upper cabinet has shelves here (vs. door there). Lower cabinet has door and drawer that stick out (vs. just a drawer pull in High Score). [[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.139|172.69.63.139]] 19:02, 17 July 2021 (UTC)

Covid-19 post-desease side affect is change of taste. Certainly things with Sauer taste like pickles and ketchup will teste totally different than before covid-19 illnesses. Typical before you liked them a lot, and now they taste totally different and awful. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.54.225|172.69.54.225]] 11:36, 17 July 2021 (UTC)
: Your taste is [[326: Effect an Effect|affect]]<nowiki>ed</nowiki> post-Covid? I didn't know taste had the ability to display emotions. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.233|162.158.107.233]] 19:35, 17 July 2021 (UTC)
:: Yeah you can make fun of people that have a hard time write perfect. But you could also look at the thing he is trying to say, and help people understand the impact. It's very simple, some people that had the Corona illness have as a result changed perception of gasses and flavors coming into their senors. For example they can taste different ingredients in Pepsi Max separate, and pickles and milk chocolate that they loved before now appear to them as aweful tasting products. I think this should be part of this XKCD explained. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.124|141.101.105.124]] 18:56, 18 July 2021 (UTC)
::: "...a hard time ''to'' write perfect''ly''." (Good points, that I might have expressed myself, but if the lack of the "-ly" wasn't satire then it deserves a good-natured ribbing for. Consider this it.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.94|141.101.99.94]] 08:45, 19 July 2021 (UTC)
:There is bias in reporting changes in taste. People who didn't like pickles before probably won't try them after so we may never find out if there are shifts in the other direction. Time to encourage people to eat pickles, for science. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.58|172.69.63.58]] 18:09, 19 July 2021 (UTC)

I wonder if this cartoon is also a play on catch up? There are many things which have been postponed or slowed down by the pandemic response. For instance, medical procedures (elective surgeries, cancer screening, routine immunizations, dental cleanings) delayed because providers were busy or from fear of exposure, also large gatherings (e.g., weddings). [[Special:Contributions/172.69.62.9|172.69.62.9]] 19:13, 17 July 2021 (UTC)

2463: Astrophotography

2021-07-17T03:52:01Z

172.68.132.157: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2463
| date = May 14, 2021
| title = Astrophotography
| image = astrophotography.png
| titletext = [One hill over, a competing astrophotographer does a backflip over a commercial airliner while throwing a tray of plastic space stations into the air, through which a falcon swoops to 'grab' the real one.]
}}

==Explanation==

{{w|Astrophotography}} is the practice of taking pictures of astronomical objects. Sometimes it is specified as a hobby, as opposed to the work of professional astronomers. Astrophotographers like to take pretty pictures of all sorts of objects in the sky, but photographing the {{w|Sun}} is a popular subgenre within the field, especially if something is transiting in front of it. Typical things include planes, the {{w|International Space Station}} (ISS), and the {{w|Moon}} ({{w|Solar eclipses}}).

During the [[:Category:Total Solar Eclipse 2017|Total Solar Eclipse 2017]] visible across US it was possible to see the ISS pass in front of the Sun during a partial part of the Eclipse (from a site that was later in the total Eclipse zone.) This was [https://www.smartereveryday.com/eclipse photographed] and filmed by Destin from Smarter Every Day and can be seen in his video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lepQoU4oek4&feature=youtu.be Space Station Transiting 2017 ECLIPSE]. (Go to the time of the flyby of the ISS in the video [https://youtu.be/lepQoU4oek4?t=209 here]).

Two years later he did another episode [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nk0MRxXqo9s South American Eclipse - Argentina]. In this video there was only the moon eclipsing the sun, at first, but then [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nk0MRxXqo9s&t=610s towards the end] the sun begins to set behind the distant mountains creating a shadow scenario between Moon and mountain shadows as displayed in this comic.

This comic thus combines those two videos, which Randall must have seen, and then adds several more layers caused by the Astrophotography community's One-Upmanship. The practice of "one-upmanship" refers to the practice of achieving something superior to what another has achieved, or "getting one up on" them. The term originated in the 1950s or earlier.

The caption claims that the photo shown in the comic is the result of a continuous string of one-upmanship among astrophotographers in a community, each striving to one-up the other.

In this comic there seems to be an abundance of things:
* The ISS can be seen transiting in the upper center. (as in [https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210504.html this picture])
* There is an ongoing {{w|partial solar eclipse}} so the view of the Sun is partially obscured by the Moon in the upper right quadrant.
**These two things are what Destin managed in his first video.
* The Sun is setting or rising from behind a hill while partially eclipsed.
** This is what Destin managed in his second video.
* This photographer achieved a combination of those two plus several other ones-up those two videos.
* [[Megan]] is standing slightly below the peak of a hill and seems to be juggling with five balls, which are also in front of the sun. One or more of those balls might actually be {{w|sunspots}} or the planets Mercury or Venus.
* [[Cueball]] is standing at the peak of the hill, shooting an arrow from a bow, one arrow has pierced what at first appears to be one of the juggling balls, but may be a {{w|Transit of Venus}}.
** It is unclear if Megan is juggling five balls and Cueball shot one, or if Megan is juggling four balls and Cueball put the fifth ball on the arrow before shooting it.
** A simultaneous Eclipse and Transit of Venus is actually expected in the future, but not until April 5, 15232 (13211 years after the publishing of this comic). That said, it would though likely be easier to make the arrow "hit" Venus than one of the juggled balls, as the planet's angular velocity is significantly lower.
* Two airplanes pulling banners with the words "nice" and "shot" (which could refer to both the archer and the photographer) are flying in opposite directions above them. (Airplane banners that are not continuous sheets are made with thin support lines spanning the openings, which explains the presence of the apparently unsupported central disc in the "O".)
** The central disc in the O could also be a perfectly-aligned circular sunspot.

Taking the picture required precisely scheduling and arranging the relative positions of several of the various subjects (and photographer) to coincide with the predictable but rare conjunctions of the rest of the scene, as well as special equipment:
* All this had to be timed very very precisely as the [https://youtu.be/lepQoU4oek4?t=209 transit of the ISS only takes a second].
* A solar filter must be used to photograph the sun without overexposing the image or even damaging equipment.
* The photograph must be taken during a partial solar eclipse. These only happen a few times per year and are only visible in part of the world.
* The photographer must be quite far away with a telephoto lens to achieve the visual scale. A nearby person appears larger than the moon. It is possible to photograph the silhouette of a person or a cityscape in front of a full moon, making the moon look comparatively larger or smaller by adjusting the distance to the closer subject, and then the lenses used by the photographer to make them both fill just the right amount of the frame.
** The photographer would need to be approximately one kilometer distant if the image is a typical human scale. Both Sun and Moon have a visual angle of about 0.5 degrees. The characters are approximately 1/5 the Sun's height giving a 0.1 degree visual angle. A right triangle with a height of 1.7 meters (a typical human height) spanning 0.1 degrees for the side angle, the distance would be 974 meters (3195 feet) from Cueball and Megan.
** The photographer taking this image would need a high magnification 2-meter (2000mm) equivalent lens or a shorter lens with a cropped image to fill the frame as in the comic. Long telephoto lenses like those are uncommon for most photographers, but would be available among astrophotography groups.
* The exposure time of the photograph had to be short enough to capture clear silhouettes of the ISS, the juggling balls and the arrow while these were in the air.
* The mountain had to be in a location that would happen to see the ISS passing in front of the sun at the same time as the sun was rising from behind it.
* The subjects had to achieve a moment in which four juggling balls were in the air and an arrow had pierced the point where Venus would appear, while sideways relative to the sun's light, with still near normal intensity.
* The planes also needed to be flying in the correct directions for the text of the signs to be visible, and with very precise timing for them to be in the correct positions to read "Nice" as coming before "Shot" just as the ISS passes by.
* The sky (at least between the photographer and the Sun) had to be free of clouds.

The title text describes a similarly outlandish photo attempting to one-up Cueball and Megan, done simultaneously on the next hill over, thus a place where the same ISS transit can be seen:
* A commercial airliner is flying in front of the Sun, thus this has to be timed with the flight plan (or it has to be chartred, to pass there at the correct height and position, within a few seconds.
* The astrophotographer is performing a backflip such that they appear to be over the airliner.
* The astrophotographer is tossing several tiny models of the ISS from a tray, so they also appear in front of the Sun with the real one (like the joggling balls and Venus).
* A falcon is flying in front of the Sun, presumably intending to capture prey, in such a way that it appears to be snatching the real ISS out of the fakes. The falcon moves slowly compared to the ISS, so it just needs its talons to be on the line the ISS makes across the Sun, then a picture where it is close to the talons can be used. The other parts are slower than this.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan stand on a hill with the dark yellow sun setting behind them. Outside the Sun's disc everything is black. All that can be seen is silhouettes against the sun. Cueball is at the top-left of the hill, holding a bow in his left arm, which has been recently shot, as indicated with lines along the string. The the arrow is to right, where it has speared a ball. Megan is at the bottom-right of the hill, juggling four other balls, one near her hand, two above her and one higher up than the path of the arrow. There are two planes going in opposite directions with banners on them with words readable against the Sun. Above the planes is the shadow of the International Space Station. Finally Sun is partially eclipsed by the moon in the upper right corner.]
:[Banner 1]: Nice
:[Banner 2]: Shot

:[Caption beneath the panel]:
:Our astrophotography community's one-upsmanship[sic] is getting out of hand.

==Trivia==
*Randall has commented on extreme photography in comics [[1855: Telephoto]] and [[1719: Superzoom]], and the ''How To'' chapter "How to take a selfie".

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Animals]]

Talk:2426: Animal Songs

2021-02-18T03:50:20Z

172.68.132.157: Xkeyboarcd

Hi, I had a question about ''explain xkcd''. On incomplete tags for the explanation, they most often say '''This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect:''' created by ______ please mention here... On this comic, it says created by Dr Fauci in private. Or the MRNA one, thermal exhaust port. Who creates these names? Do people just make them up, or is there something else going on? [[User:RingTailedLemur|RingTailedLemur]] ([[User talk:RingTailedLemur|talk]]) 02:11, 18 February 2021 (UTC)
: Yep, you can add whatever ____ you want in there
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.50|108.162.215.50]] 02:30, 18 February 2021 (UTC)
:Yes, and <s>Yes</s> No, no, of ''course'' there's nothing diabolical going on behind the scenes.
:(Check the progressive changes in the edit history for each comic page. It gets created/populated by the resident Bot, including the default Incomplete bit, and ''then'' (it has become customary) someone has a good idea for a topical rewording that they think is rather clever. And sometimes further people think they can be even cleverer, while editing or as sole purpose for an edit.)
:...aaaand, of course I get edit-conflicted, but I thought this reply was clever enough to add anyway, so why not..? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.55.134|172.69.55.134]] 02:38, 18 February 2021 (UTC)
::Okay, thanks! I looked at the edit thingy and I saw it just says A BOT. [[User:RingTailedLemur|RingTailedLemur]] ([[User talk:RingTailedLemur|talk]]) 03:23, 18 February 2021 (UTC)
:::My all time favorite is the one I added on [[2150: XKeyboarCD]]: “Created by a LEOPARD USING AN XKEYBOARCD” [[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.157|172.68.132.157]] 03:50, 18 February 2021 (UTC)

2417: 1/1,000th Scale World

2021-01-30T10:14:22Z

172.68.132.157:

{{comic
| number = 2417
| date = January 27, 2021
| title = Manual
| image = 1_1000th_scale_world.png
| titletext = We're worried that a regular whale will get into a 30-foot-deep ocean trench section and filter-feed on all the tiny whales.
}}

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

This comic is the third comic in the [[:Category:Scale World|Scale World]] series, this time with a smaller scale-factor and thus a larger world than the earlier ones. As in the previous comics, [[Randall]] has a seemingly complete copy of Earth, this time at a 1:1000 scale, with various features and warnings labeled. Again, real-world features and phenomena are replicated at scale. As before, the model is very extensive, with in this case several underground neutrino detectors/observatories being replicated.

Several of the warnings point out humorous consequences of the scale, such as non-scaled goldfish eating scaled-down blue whales. Other than the usual homo sapiens, introduction of non-scaled animals into the scaled world (with consistently humorous consequences) is an addition to the earlier comics of the series.

===Table===
{| class="wikitable"
!Rule
!Reason
!Notes
|-
| Keep hot objects off the ice sheet over the south pole neutrino observatory
| Hot objects may emit Cherenkov radiation, which would result in the observatory detecting false positives of neutrino observations. They may also melt the ice that shields the detectors from other particles that would trigger false positives.
| The fact that people are not supposed to create false positives implies that the neutrino detector is functional.
|-
| Be patient: Niagara falls will take a few minutes to fill your water glass
| The flow rate is scaled down with the size. According to the [[what if]] ''{{what if|147|Niagara Straw}}, the Niagara Falls flow is regulated to 100,000 cubic feet per second on the tourist season and to 50,000 cubic feet per second offseason and at night. Once scaled to 1/1000, that flow would be 2.83 or 1.41ml per second. If a standard glass of water is 250ml, it would take about 90–180 seconds for the waterfall to fill it.

However, a 1/1000th replica of scale Niagra falls would be over a meter wide, so without some kind of system to divert the whole flow into one spot, it would not be possible to fill a glass this quickly. Also, the height of the scaled-down Niagra falls would be 5cm, with another 5cm between the water level and the riverbed, so it might be difficult to fill a glass depending on its height.
| This item is likely to be a reference to the famous Arthur C. Clarke quote: "Getting information from the internet is like getting a glass of water from the Niagara Falls."
|-
| Watch for small planes
| Taking the popular Cessna 172 as an example, 1/1000th scale small planes would be about 8mm in length, and cruise at speeds of about 6cm/s, much slower than comparable flying insects. A Cessna of that size traveling at that speed would probably cause much more damage to itself than a person if it crashed into one, so the warning is probably there to protect the models rather than the guests. The planes are flying along 1-foot {{w|Flight level|flight levels}} according to the direction they are flying in, following the {{w|Flight level#Semicircular/hemispheric rule|semicircular rule}} of aviation.
|
|-
| Warning! Choking hazard! Keep small children away from ascending/descending airliners
| Airplanes are apparently small enough for children to fit into their mouths but large enough to potentially make them choke.
| In the US, small parts are defined by [https://www.cpsc.gov/Business--Manufacturing/Business-Education/Business-Guidance/Small-Parts-for-Toys-and-Childrens-Products 16 C.F.R. Part 1501.2] as fitting in a cylindrical test fixture of 1.25 inches diameter that approximates the size of the fully expanded throat of a child under three years old. Once scaled, any object smaller than 31.75 meters would fit in that cylinder. A lot of medium-sized and small airplanes would qualify. Furthermore, since pieces that break off during testing that simulates use or abuse by children could also pose a choking hazard, even large airliners are also a choking hazard because stripped wings and parts of the fuselage would fit in the required size.
|-
| Do not remove safety caps
| This is a reference to the warning, "Be careful not to step on cities with especially pointy towers, like Toronto, Seattle, and Dubai" from [[2411: 1/10,000th Scale World]]. It's possible that many visitors to that scaled world did not heed the warnings and complained to the scaled world's creators, causing them to cover pointy towers with safety caps for this scaled world. However, now there are [[Black Hat|people who apparently want to cause harm to others]], or at least don't care about not causing harm to others, by removing these safety caps.
The tip of the Burj Khalifa - the tallest building in the scale world - appears to be about a meter and a half wide, or 1.5mm at 1/1000th scale.
|
|-
| No open flames in Zeppelin area
| Zeppelins are filled with hydrogen due to its very low density, which allows them to float. However, it is also very flammable and prone to explosions. The most famous of these Zeppelin disasters was when the {{w|Hindenburg disaster|Hindenburg exploded}} in 1937.
| Because of hydrogen's flammability and explosiveness when exposed to oxygen, all modern airships use helium, which is a noble gas and therefore not flammable. Therefore, if Randall's scale model has airships of any sort, this makes the model inaccurate (unless Randall's model is supposed to represent the world several decades ago, in which case the neutrino detectors and some other features would be inaccurate).
|-
| Do not bother the meteor crater ducks
| Even though it is not specified which crater the one in the comic is supposed to represent, a typical meteor crater (say, {{w|Meteor Crater}} in Arizona) is over a kilometer wide, so at 1/1000 scale it could be a small duck pond of 1.186m diameter, and 17cm deep at its deepest point. This is (barely) enough space for a duck to swim in if filled to the brim with water. Meteor craters often leave behind lakes as they become filled with water, with examples being {{w|Lake Siljan}} in Europe. The ducks appear to be regular-sized as opposed to scaled down, showing that they were probably added afterwards as an attraction as opposed to them coming with the landscape.
| Even though a lot of craters are filled with lakes, Meteor Crater is not filled with water, or ducks, in real life. {{Citation needed}}
|-
| Trip hazard: The Gateway Arch
| The {{w|Gateway Arch}} is a monument in Saint Louis, Missouri. Being a 192 m high arch, once scaled it would be 19.2 cm high, ideal for tripping.
|
|-
| Drone altitude limit
| The FAA drone altitude limit is 400ft above the ground, which would be about 12cm in 1/1000th scale. This appears to be the number Randall is using, as the limit in the comic is about the same height as the pyramids, which are also around 400ft tall in the real world.
|
|-
| Do not mix up the USS Enterprises
|
The ship is presumably a model of the USS Enterprise (CVN-65), the longest naval vessel ever built, which would be 34cm long in 1/1000th scale.
The spaceship is the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) from the Star Trek franchise.
It's unclear whether mixing up the models is prohibited because it would damage them, or simply because that's not where they are supposed to be.
The Starship Enterprise might be corroded by seawater, or unable to handle external pressure (spacecraft are designed for the exact opposite pressures in a vacuum). If lifted into the air, the Aircraft Carrier Enterprise would probably fall back down because it can't fly {{Citation needed}} (and be damaged or even destroyed upon hitting the ground or water surface), but then again, it's unclear how the model Enterprise is able to fly or hover.
The Enterprise from the JJ Abrams films has been seen to hide underwater and take off again without significant problems, and the Original Series version has been seen to fly (high) in the Earth's atmosphere on several occasions. However, it is unclear whether other versions of the Enterprise also possess this standard operational ability, nor which version is represented in the comic.
|
|-
| No connecting the Dead Sea to the ocean
| The surface of the Dead Sea is 430.5 metres (1,412 ft) below sea level, so connecting it to the ocean would cause catastrophic flooding of the area. If there are models of Israeli and Jordanian cities next to the Dead Sea, they could get damaged by the water. Also, the model world would be less accurate because the Dead Sea is not connected to the ocean in real life.
| This has actually been proposed: {{w|Mediterranean–Dead Sea Canal|Dead Sea Canal}}
|-
| Do not let ants into the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory
| The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory was a neutrino observatory located at the 2100-meter depth level of the Creighton Mine in Ontario, Canada. It has since been upgraded into the SNOLAB facility. At 1/1000th scale, its meters-scale tunnels would be millimeters across, and its 3,000-meter maximum depth would reach three meters underground. This would make it ideal for habitation by ants, but as the mine is in rock, and not soil, extracting the ants after they get in would be much more difficult than most pest control operations. Also, some types of ants would eat the insulation around the wires, causing electrical short-circuits and other problems, which would be bad because the model's neutrino detectors are apparently functional. (See the row about the south pole neutrino observatory.)
|
|-
| Only one person on the Golden Gate Tightrope at a time
| The {{w|Golden Gate Bridge}} is a suspension bridge in San Francisco, 2.7 km long and 27 m wide. Scaled-down, it would be 2.7 m long and 2.7 cm wide, and it would be tempting to use it as a tightrope.
| In 1987, approximately 300,000 people [https://www.sfgate.com/local-donotuse/article/Golden-Gate-bridge-walk-1987-anniversary-disaster-13896571.php walked across the Golden Gate Bridge], which could be the largest weight it has supported: 80kg * 300,000 = 2.4*10^7kg. A visitor to the scaled world would expect to weigh a much as (1000^3) = 1 billion native scaled humans, above the [https://www.vibrationdata.com/golden.htm total mass of the bridge].
|-
| Do not remove Statue of Liberty LEGO minifig
| Whoever has made this model has decided to use a small LEGO minifigure rather than a more accurately sculpted replica of the Statue of Liberty. The person would likely not want it to be removed because it would then have to be replaced.
| LEGO has released a [https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/magnet-statue-of-liberty-2016-853600 Statue of Liberty minifigure] which is 5.3cm tall. The real Statue of Liberty, from head to toe, is 46 meters tall. At 1/1000 scale this would be a 4.6cm figurine, so the LEGO minifigure would indeed be an appropriate representation at that scale.
|-
| Please stop releasing goldfish in the ocean. They keep eating the blue whales.
| Blue whales are the largest animal species in the world. They usually grow to about 20m long in real life, meaning that at 1/1000th scale they would be only 2cm long, meaning that they could be consumed by a goldfish. Goldfish are omnivores, so they would eat tiny blue whales. But they are also freshwater fish, so would they survive long enough in seawater to put the whales at risk? This could perhaps be considered carping. And perhaps Randall's customers have access to [https://mashable.com/2017/09/20/saltwater-bearing-goldfish-australia/ Australian goldfish].
| In the mouseover text, Randall mentions that if real blue whales were to be released into the 1/1000th scale ocean they would filter-feed on the miniature versions. Blue whales usually eat {{w|krill}}; the tiny whales would be about the same size, though nowhere near the same density, so any feeding whale would soon go hungry. However, a 15-foot (ca. 5 meter) diameter whale in a 30-foot (ca. 9 m) trench (ignoring displacement, for the moment) would most likely be too stressed to eat.
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[At the top of the image, inside the panel, a large title is floating in the air.]
:RULES

:For visitors to my 1/1,000th scale world

:1 meter = 1 km 1 ft = 1,000 ft

:[Each of the following rules is written near a character or point of interest on the map.]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Illustrations of scale]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Science Girl]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Scale World]]