explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2528: Flag Map Sabotage

2021-10-18T15:44:13Z

172.68.141.141: Commenting on Albania's flag

Example map (of that of which sabotage might be intended) could be something like: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/41/0f/36/410f3661d1cee3b255b82a111f99d242.jpg ..? I have no doubt that someone is even now polishing off an initial Explanation, and wouldn't want to exit-conflict with them, but that's something like what I'd link to in order to demonstrate the thing being messed with. (Noting that the reference to North American territory both in words and the obvious Candian mapleleaf(less) flag as a basis. (Not sure, by sight, where the 'bite' matches, if not as per the red 'key', but note how Spain gets twisted in my link in order to not look odd with coastlines and similarly twisted Portugese neighbour cutting at odd angles through its stripes. That's the kind of thing this flag would evoke the confusion of.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.76.35|141.101.76.35]] 02:26, 14 October 2021 (UTC)
:It's now over 12 hours later, I think you should add it to the text. I didn't understand anything about the comic or even its explanation before I saw your picture. Also, what kind of drugs is Randall on‽ :D [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 10:54, 14 October 2021 (UTC)

Why is Korsika coloured green on this map? It belongs to France. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.93.40|162.158.93.40]] 06:22, 14 October 2021 (UTC)
:That's Sardinia, which belongs to Italy (the west of Italy is green). Corsica is north of Sardinia. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.140|162.158.89.140]] 06:42, 14 October 2021 (UTC)

I can't help but thinking there's significance to the shape of the red area in the flag. Which country would this flag belong to in order to cause further confusion? And since it's red, why would any country cede part of its area to Delaware? Unless it's the flag of a newly independent Delaware? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.140|162.158.89.140]] 06:42, 14 October 2021 (UTC)

Only the south-eastern part of Belgium, which would already be Delawarian, is likely to border Delawarian France. The unexplored area (and most if not all of the tornado zone) would likely be bordering the white area (unclaimed? neutral zone? sea?) of France. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.69.120|141.101.69.120]] 08:30, 14 October 2021 (UTC)

My first thought was that this was a Canada joke, since the flag looks a bit like Canada's flag (e.g. red a white with a solid red stripe on the edge) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.48.151|172.69.48.151]] 13:28, 14 October 2021 (UTC)
:I just added my hypothesis that this is a new US flag that nicely attaches both to Canada's flag at the top, and Mexico's at the bottom. It would be nice to try and produce such a map with Randall's design, similar to https://st.depositphotos.com/2353733/5164/v/950/depositphotos_51647815-stock-illustration-north-america-map-with-flags.jpg.
I would say that "Delware" might add new context to the flag from [[1815]], but if we assume that the three stars on that flag represent three states, and one of those states has to be Massachusets where Munroe lives, then there's no way it could also include Deleware and still be contiguous. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.143|172.69.71.143]] 14:07, 14 October 2021 (UTC)

I kinda want to see what this would look like replacing USA on a map of the Americas now... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.134.131|172.70.134.131]] 15:56, 14 October 2021 (UTC)

Looking at the above posts, yeah, I'm 95% sure the gap in the white at the bottom corresponds to the Gulf of Mexico. I think it likely that this design is intended to be superimposed onto the entire United States, to imply that the western portion of Canada continues further south and borders with the "newly independent" region of western Mexico. (Just ignore the enormous eagle to the south.)
Also, I would guess that the light blue is intended to suggest that oceans and other large bodies of water are really "disputed territory"? --mezimm [[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.143|172.69.71.143]] 14:43, 15 October 2021 (UTC)
:Also, I suppose the flag would be separately superimposed onto Alaska as well as the continental US, so that would also be interesting to see...[[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.142|172.69.63.142]] 18:03, 15 October 2021 (UTC)
I think we are all in agreement that we need a section dedicated to displaying the theoretical maps and flags, along with the theories as to why this may or may not be what Randall envisioned. (plus an honorary comment on how we might be reading to far into this by assuming it goes on an existing/real country) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.22|172.69.68.22]] 22:11, 15 October 2021 (UTC)

I don't agree with the hypothesis in the sentence starting "If this flag is intended for the USA...". I interpret this map to be a hypothetical new micronation within Delaware, where on a typical USA map of this design the state would be covered in a red stripe (perhaps suggesting that that stripe or all of them are greater Delaware). It makes more sense that Randall would establish a micronation just to sabotage these maps than it would to get this flag adopted as the national American flag. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.142.77|172.69.142.77]] 00:16, 16 October 2021 (UTC)

Any possible connection here to the "Red Flag" 🚩 memes that have been trending on Twitter recently? Is there some reason why Delaware raises red flags for Randall? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.54.3|172.70.54.3]] 17:22, 16 October 2021 (UTC)

So, we have Europe and North America already ... now, what if it's U.S. states map supposed to be sabotaged by this? https://ubique.americangeo.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/map34.jpg -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 20:28, 16 October 2021 (UTC)
:Ironically, that would make most of Delaware disputed territory. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.135|162.158.159.135]] 13:59, 18 October 2021 (UTC)

What about the unexplored insides of the giant monster in the part of Greater Delaware formerly known as Albania? I think Randal missed a joke there. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.141.141|172.68.141.141]] 15:44, 18 October 2021 (UTC)

2528: Flag Map Sabotage

2021-10-14T18:03:53Z

172.68.141.141: /* Transcript */ cat doesn't exist

{{comic
| number = 2528
| date = October 13, 2021
| title = Flag Map Sabotage
| image = flag_map_sabotage.png
| titletext = Delaware hopes to explore the western edge of areas marked with the Belgian flag, once the tornadoes die down.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a GOD-EMPEROR OF GREATER DELAWARE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The comic refers to a type of map that colors countries using the national flag designs; see [https://i.pinimg.com/originals/41/0f/36/410f3661d1cee3b255b82a111f99d242.jpg here] for such a map of Europe. Randall proposes a new flag which is specifically designed to troll such maps. Most obviously, the flag includes its own legend, which uses multiple common flag colors to indicate random regional attributes. Hence, the mere act of placing this flag on a map would cause people to misinterpret this legend as applying to the entire map, given wildly false information about regions of other countries. This trick is reminiscent of [[327: Exploits of a Mom]], with Mrs. Robert's son <code>Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;--</code>.

In addition to the legend, the flag consists of two red fields, one of which has an irregular-shaped border, the other of which is a straight line. The irregular shape is similar to a geographical border based on natural features (such as rivers and coastlines), while borders which are not based on such features tend to be straight lines. Red is the most common color on national flags, so if any bordering country had red on their flag, it would risk bordering these red fields, confusing where the border lay (as well as designating the entire red region as "greater Delaware"). If this flag is intended for the USA (although the text mentions "our new country"), the red regions would be continuous with the red strips on both sides of Canada's flag and the red field on the right of Mexico's flag, disguising the border still further.

The title text refers to the flag of Belgium, which consists of three vertical stripes in the order black, yellow, and red. The western part of Belgium would, according to the legend, be unexplored, while the eastern part would be Greater Delaware. The middle would therefore be a tornado zone separating the unexplored area from Greater Delaware. Depending on how the flags are aligned it might be possible to explore from the south, where the blue-white-red stripes of the French flag contain another piece of Greater Delaware that may be conveniently located to help said exploration. Exploring from the Netherlands (red, white, and blue horizontal stripes) is not viable as rebel forces are positioned between Greater Delaware and the unexplored region.

This is not the first time Randall has made a flag for a new country! See [[1815: Flag]]

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[A flag displays a white country-shaped area surrounded by a red field. Inside the shape sits a map legend.]

:Map Legend
:[Bright blue rectangle] Disputed territory
:[Green rectangle] Newly independent
:[Blue rectangle] Demilitarized zone
:[Yellow rectangle] Tornado warning
:[Dark blue rectangle] Held by rebel forces
:[Red rectangle] Greater Delaware
:[Black rectangle] Unexplored

:[Caption below panel]
:Our new country's flag sabotages those maps where geographic areas are colored in with flag patterns.

{{comic discussion}}

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

2517: Rover Replies

2021-09-19T20:22:05Z

172.68.141.141: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2517
| date = September 17, 2021
| title = Rover Replies
| image = rover_replies.png
| titletext = I'm so glad NASA let you take your phone to Mars!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a PERSEVERANCE'S VACCINATION - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

There is a [https://twitter.com/nasapersevere?lang=en twitter account for NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover], which recently collected samples. The twitter account tweets in the first person like in the comic. Likely a human on earth is playing the role of the rover. While the exact post shown does not exist, it has posted a [https://twitter.com/NASAPersevere/status/1433334279937789954 similar tweet.]

The first four replies (In order of top-to-bottom) are likely just general compliments to the rover, demonstrating that the replies are indeed wholesome. Reply three in particular references rocks, as the main purpose of most Mars rovers is to perform Martian geology.

Reply five is a mashup of conspiracy theories, including about {{w|5G}} communications, {{w|Vaccine hesitancy|vaccines}}, and others. [[Ponytail]] then replies "Quiet, we're not doing that here", implying either that she doesn't want it in the replies to this, that she thinks that the rude reply should be posted somewhere else, or that she's a NASA employee stating that NASA does not have a 5G vaccine-microchip factory.

The next reply references people saying where they're from, then clarifying where that is in brackets E.g. Wingerworth (England). This commenter expands that to clarify that they are from Earth, joking that the planet may be ambiguous as Mars rovers are not on Earth{{Citation needed}}. In reality, this ambiguity does not exist as humans only live on Earth{{Citation needed}}, thus contributing to the humour. This is also a reference to a scene in Avengers: Infinity War, where Star-Lord says he's from Missouri, not Earth, and Iron Man responds that Missouri is on Earth.

The second-to-last reply is likely a misunderstanding, with the commenter believing that the rover is digging to perform archaeology, not geology. The commenter could, however, believe that there is/was complex life on Mars, thus allowing the possibility that there are Martian skeletons for the rover to find.

The final reply is a reference to [https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter/ Ingenuity,] a small helicopter which Perseverance took to Mars as a technology demonstrator. It has been very successful and completed many flights, [https://mars.nasa.gov/images/mepjpl/PIA24797-Flight12.jpg often taking it quite far from Perseverance.]

The title text is in the form of another reply. The character posting that reply believes that the rover has taken its phone to Mars, and has used that to take the pictures. This is likely because most photos on social media are taken on phones, and social media sites are often designed for phones. In reality, Mars rovers don't have phones,{{Citation needed}} and Perserverance is taking photos with an equipped camera.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[A post of a rocky landscape and a close-up of a rock is next to a profile picture of the camera of a Mars rover.]
:Just collected a sample!
:[Comments below:]
:These pictures are great!
:I'm so proud of you
:Wow you know a lot about rocks
:Go go go go go!
:More propaganda from NASA's 5G vaccine microchip factory
::Quiet, we're not doing that here
:Hello from Missouri (Earth)!
:Did you find any skeletons yet
:I hope your helicopter comes back!
:[Caption below frame:]
:The most unexpectedly wholesome place on the internet is the replies to NASA's rovers on social media.
{{comic discussion}}

2251: Alignment Chart Alignment Chart

2021-09-13T20:12:38Z

172.68.141.141: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2251
| date = January 6, 2020
| title = Alignment Chart Alignment Chart
| image = alignment_chart_alignment_chart.png
| titletext = I would describe my personal alignment as "lawful heterozygous silty liquid."
}}

==Explanation==
"Alignment" and "alignment charts" come from tabletop roleplaying games, most prominently ''{{w|Dungeons & Dragons}}''. Every character has an {{w|Alignment (Dungeons & Dragons)|alignment}}, which very roughly identifies their tendencies. The most widely used alignment system was introduced in the ''{{w|Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set}}'' in 1977 and has been reused in many (but not all) subsequent editions of the game. This system uses two perpendicular axes, each divided into three levels (for a total of nine categories). The two axes are:
* Lawful/neutral/chaotic: this axis says whether a character is strongly devoted to, indifferent about, or categorically opposed to following established rules.
* Good/neutral/evil: this axis says whether a character is generally inclined to commit good deeds or evil deeds.

In this system, the "lawful" attribute is independent from the "good" attribute. Lawful alignment means that a character is committed to a set of rules, which can refer to actual established laws, or to something like a rigid personal code, a set of traditions, or a chain of command, while a chaotic alignment means that a character has no interest in those, and may actively oppose them. The good vs evil scale is generally based on a character's concern for the lives and well-being of others, a good character will actively seek to help others and prevent harm, while an evil character will have no such concern and may actively harm others. Being 'good' is assumed to be independent of being 'lawful'. For example, a character who actively breaks laws to help those who are unjustly imprisoned or oppressed would be be considered to be "chaotic good". In both cases, a neutral alignment can indicate a character's indifference to a concept, or that their commitment is conditional, or that they consciously seek to balance both sides. A character with the "neutral neutral" alignment is called a true neutral.

An alignment chart is a grid that divides the alignments, usually for the purpose of putting descriptions or particular characters on it. Alignment charts are frequently used as a [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/mcdonalds-alignment-chart meme template], where humorous or absurdist things are organized into different alignments. In addition to the "classic" Dungeons and Dragons alignment chart, there are a number of variant alignment charts in use as meme templates. Many keep the three-by-three grid structure but replace the lawful-neutral-chaotic and good-neutral-evil axes with descriptions.

This comic claims to be a meta-alignment chart, where nine "alignment charts" are themselves sorted into the nine Dungeons and Dragons alignments, following the use of alignment charts to humorously classify abstract concepts. However, these "alignment charts" are mostly diagrams used in academic classifications, which are being treated as if they were blank meme templates. There are two levels of absurdity here: first, the idea of using these diagrams to classify things they were never intended for, and second, the conflation of chaos as a physics concept and an assigned moral weight as it applies to each of these classification systems.

The title text describes Randall's alignment as "lawful heterozygous silty liquid" which references the true neutral, neutral good, lawful good, and lawful neutral charts in the Alignment Chart Alignment Chart. Lawful is the left side of an alignment chart, heterozygous is the top right or bottom left of a Punnet Square, silty is the bottom right of a soil chart, and liquid is the top right of a phase diagram. As such, the title text describes Randall's alignment as between Lawful Neutral and Neutral Good on this chart.

{| class="wikitable"
!Alignment
!Chart
!Explanation
|-
|Lawful Good
|{{w|Soil texture|Soil chart}}
|This chart shows the USDA classification of soil types by their relative proportions of sand, clay and silt. The chart is a ternary diagram (very common in geology), so soils with more clay plot towards the upper corner, soils with more sand to the bottom left, and soils with more silt to the bottom right. This chart has been used humorously as an alignment chart ([https://www.reddit.com/r/PrequelMemes/comments/8wakd4/anakin_soil_reference_chart/ for example]) and may have been the inspiration for Randall to use scientific diagrams as alignment charts. In addition to being Lawful Good, this grid cell is also the upper left cell of the chart and will be read first, making it a good place to put this chart as a "jumping off point". [https://what-if.xkcd.com/83/ What If 83 "Star Sand"] cites Randall as "...very satisfied with this chart, it's like the erosion geology edition of the electromagnetic spectrum chart..."
|-
|Neutral Good
|{{w|Punnett square}}
| Punnet squares are a visual method of determining what traits an organism might have based on the traits of the organism's parents. It relies on the principle that a trait is either dominant (indicated with capital letters) or recessive (indicated with lowercase letters). The exact combination of dominant or recessive genes that a child organism receives from their parents determines their traits. Heterozygous and homozygous refers to the pairs of alleles in an organism’s genotype, indicating mixed or same alleles, respectively. Randall later uses "heterozygous" in the title text. Note that it is possible for a phenotype to be expressed the same between some heterozygotes and homozygotes, e.g., persons with genotypes heterozygous "Aa" and homozygous "AA" will both express blood type A.
Therefore, the Punnett Square is a good chart because it is both a simple and true geometric predictor of inheritance, but it tends to be neutral because of complicating factors such as polygenic inheritance; these and other factors will cause genotypic frequency to deviate from expected 1:2:1 patterns.
|-
|Chaotic Good
|{{w|IPA vowel chart with audio|IPA vowel chart }}
|This chart shows the relationship between different vowels according to the {{w|International Phonetic Alphabet}}. The position of the vowel on the chart serves roughly as an indicator of the position of the tongue in the mouth of the speaker. As different vowel sounds are created by changes in different parts of the mouth, including lip roundness which is expressed in the chart implicitly as an invisible third dimension, vowel identification is qualitative and often up to interpretation, and vowel expression can change dramatically from region to region or even person to person within the same language, the categories described by the chart might be considered chaotic. The chart is missing the near-open central vowel [ɐ] and the open central vowel [ä] (often written as /a/).
|-
|Lawful Neutral
|{{w|Phase diagram}}
|A phase diagram shows the equilibrium phases of matter present for a particular temperature, pressure, and composition. The diagram included is a unary phase diagram of a typical material that has a solid, liquid, and gas phase depending on the temperature and pressure for a fixed composition. Phase diagrams are useful for understanding how a material may change as its conditions change. For example, the air pressure of Mars is such that there is no temperature at which liquid water can exist in equilibrium on its surface. Water exists as ice until the temperature reaches a point where it sublimates directly into steam.

This phase diagram does not specify what material is depicted, but it is certainly ''not'' the phase diagram of water. On this diagram, compressing the liquid phase will transform the material into a solid, which is how most materials behave, but the solid/liquid phase line for water tilts the opposite direction. This is why water ice floats on liquid water, for example.

Phase diagrams follow the laws of thermodynamics and concern themselves with the order in which things ''should'' be, so they are inherently lawful.
|-
|True Neutral
|Alignment chart
|All alignment charts are neutral unless humans contaminate them. The chart in this cell has the same overall shape as the Alignment Chart Alignment Chart in the comic. It's important to note that this is called the Alignment Chart Alignment Chart alignment chart. However, that may be [https://xkcd.com/745/ doing 'doing "doing it wrong" wrong' wrong].
|-
|Chaotic Neutral
|CIE chromaticity diagram
|The {{w|chromaticity}} diagram is a chart of colors. Visible colors form a shape like a triangle with two bulging sides in the diagram. The curved line within the diagram shows the chromaticities of {{w|Black body|black bodies}} over a range of color temperatures. The chromaticity diagram shows colors independent of luminance.
The chart is not a simple geometric shape, so it is labeled as chaotic. Points on the diagram can be specified as combinations of three underlying iluminants (the colors of which may not all be visible). It can also be described in polar form with angle and radial distance from some central point, where the maximum radial distance depends on the angle.
The fact that the colors may not show properly on a screen, making the diagram incorrect, may also contribute to its chaotic aspect, as well as the fact that the official standard is behind a paywall.
|-
|Lawful Evil
|Political compass
|[https://www.politicalcompass.org/ Political Compass] separates ideas about governance into economic and social political thought. For example, Gandhi and Stalin supposedly both had similar economic perspectives (collectivist) but radically different social perspectives (libertarian vs authoritarian).

As politics is how laws are made, this is inherently lawful. Representing all politics in terms of two very general axes is not only a gross oversimplification, it is often used to put one's favored ideology as far away from Hitler or Stalin. This common use of a fallacy similar to the straw man makes this chart evil.

Like the USDA soil chart, the political compass has actually been [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/political-compass used as an alignment chart], largely to mock the original political compass chart.
|-
|Neutral Evil
|{{w|QAPF diagram|QAPF rock diagram}}
|This diagram is used to classify coarse-grained felsic (low magnesium and iron) igneous rocks by the relative volumes of the minerals quartz, alkali feldspars, plagioclase feldspars, and feldspathoids in the rock. It consists of two ternary diagrams - quartz and feldspathoid minerals cannot coexist (they will react to form feldspars) so only three of these components will be in any given rock. Rocks in the upper triangle of the diagram contain quartz, with rocks with more quartz plotting closer to the top, while rocks in the lower triangle contain feldspathoids, with rocks with more feldspathoids plotting lower. Rocks closer to the left corner of the diagram contain more alkali feldspar and rocks closer to the right corner contain more plagioclase feldspar. The field on the diagram for granite is labeled in the comic, but each area outlined on the diagram has its own rock name (monzonite, syenite, granodiorite, etc.). All the rocks that the QAPF diagram is used to classify look superficially like granite, but their chemistry, mineralogy, and origin differ.
The QAPF diagram and the names of the more obscure rock types on it can be somewhat arcane, which may be why it is considered evil here.
|-
|Chaotic Evil
|Omnispace classifier
|The other eight diagrams shown in this comic, squished together into one, with the shapes of the diagrams corresponding to those of the originals. The diagram is labeled chaotic, since it does not have a simple geometrical shape. Probably self-referential humour, in that the diagram created for this comic is considered to be chaotically evil.
|}

An alignment chart was also featured in [[2408: Egg Strategies]], which was published exactly one year later.

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

[A 3×3 grid of squares. Each square contains a label at the top and a drawing of a chart, and each square has a caption below it. From left to right, a row at a time:]

----

Soil Chart

[describe this chart here]

* Clay
* Silty Clay
* […]

Lawful Good

----

Punnett Square

[describe this chart here]

Neutral Good

----

IPA Vowel Chart

[describe this chart here]

Chaotic Good

----

Phase Diagram

[describe this chart here]

Lawful Neutral

----

Alignment Chart

[A 3×3 grid of nine empty squares, each with an unreadable label below it.]

True Neutral

----

CIE Chromaticity Diagram

[describe this chart here]

* Green
* Yellow
* …

Chaotic Neutral

----

Political Compass

[describe this chart here]

Lawful Evil

----

QAPF Rock Diagram

[The diagram is a rhombus with each corner labeled: ‘Q’ at the top, ‘A’ at the left, ‘P’ at the right, and ‘F’ at the bottom. The diagram is divided into trapezoids and triangles, each with labels. The writing in most subdivisions are unreadable. The readable subdivisions:]
* Granite (around the top left)
* Basalt (just below the right corner)
* Foidolite (at the bottom)

Neutral Evil

----

Omnispace Classifier

Chaotic Evil

[describe this chart here]

{{comic discussion}}



[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Geology]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Recursion]]