explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

3091: Renormalization

2025-05-20T08:39:56Z

172.68.229.139: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3091
| date = May 19, 2025
| title = Renormalization
| image = renormalization_2x.png
| imagesize = 221x345px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Applying renormalization to bullies successfully transformed Pete & Pete's Endless Mike into Finite Mike.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by an electron shoved in a locker. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This comic refers to {{w|renormalization}}, which deals with self-interaction in physical systems. It makes an analogy between this and the kind of enforced 'self-interaction' that happens in the 'stop hitting yourself' meme. This involves the aggressor using a part of the victim's anatomy, typically the hand, and forcibly striking them with it, then accusing them of perpetrating the violence against themself. [[Randal]] claims that renormalization started out as a way for physicists to do something similar to innocent electrons.

The title text refers to the character Mike Hellstrom, nicknamed Endless Mike, from the 1989 TV sitcom {{w|The Adventures of Pete & Pete#Enemies|The Adventures of Pete & Pete}}. It links back to renormalization, because renormalization lets you remove infinities to get finite solutions, so in that sense it would turn Endless Mike into Finite Mike.

==Transcript==
: [Cueball poking an atom. Megan looks at it with a hand on her chin]
: Cueball: ''Hey, electron!''
: Cueball: ''Stop hitting yourself!''
: Cueball: ''Stop hitting yourself!''
: Megan: ...Wait.

:[Caption below the panel:]
: Renormalization actually started out as an effort to bully electrons.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

Talk:3089: Modern

2025-05-15T08:04:54Z

172.68.229.139:

Hate to be that guy, but wow, it’s empty [[User:Broseph|Broseph]] ([[User talk:Broseph|talk]]) 19:04, 14 May 2025 (UTC)

This strip reminded me of the comments in [[3063]]. Historians / historiographers typically define (early) "modernity" to begin around 1500. {{w|early modernity}} [[Special:Contributions/172.71.182.126|172.71.182.126]] 19:12, 14 May 2025 (UTC)

A similar problem exists, where a recent version of the Bible is known as the New Revised Standard Version. It will be a bit awkward when it is not new, revised, or standard. [[User:BobcatInABox|BobcatInABox]] ([[User talk:BobcatInABox|talk]]) 19:38, 14 May 2025 (UTC)
: {{w|New_Revised_Standard_Version#NRSV_Updated_Edition_(NRSVue)|It's already happened.}} [[Special:Contributions/162.158.41.167|162.158.41.167]] 06:26, 15 May 2025 (UTC)
:I'm assuming it (''and'' the NRSVue) is still at least a version, though. And one, or even both, also an edition. ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.229.139|172.68.229.139]] 08:04, 15 May 2025 (UTC)

:The US Military has a similar problem: naming a system "Next-Gen [X]" but then the "Next Gen" item eventually becomes the current generation, and is eventually moving towards being obsolete and you need a successor (next-next gen?).[[Special:Contributions/172.69.6.111|172.69.6.111]] 20:05, 14 May 2025 (UTC)
::I guess the phone companies got it right with the 3G, 4G, 5G naming. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 20:23, 14 May 2025 (UTC)
::: Except for that {{w|10G}} glitch. And Dilbert predicted people copyrighting "8G" years before that. [[Special:Contributions/104.23.172.75|104.23.172.75]] 20:34, 14 May 2025 (UTC)
::There is a (not ''always'' consistent) "nth generation" classification system that is quite developed. The F-22 Raptor is a 5th Generation fighter, for example, with the (next-)next-gen ones being designed for the next decade being 6th. Though, yes, "Next Gen" still pops up (currently the programs I know of are ''mostly'' aimed at the solutions for #6, of course). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.129|141.101.99.129]] 22:23, 14 May 2025 (UTC)

Wasn't there an earlier strip describing a similar problem on Wikipedia edits, maybe tied to the {{w|recency bias}}? There's the idea that every more recent slice needs a new, relevant name. It also seems to work going backwards, where humanity's genus, tribe, subfamily, and family are "homo", "hominini", "homininae", and "hominidae" respectively. We seem to crave a name for every arbitrary slice that is relevant for a particular researcher. And now I'm thinking of Futurama's "New New York". I'm surprised there's not already a New New York somewhere. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.233.117|162.158.233.117]] 20:31, 14 May 2025 (UTC)
:Eventually, there'll be a [https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/New_New_York New New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York]...
:Anyway, I actually live not far from a(nother) {{w|New York#United Kingdom|New York}}, and am also a regular visitor to (old) York. So I may not have been to New York, New York, on my travels, but I've got it covered on both sides. (I ''have'' been to both new Boston ''and'' the old one, but only been to the old Washington, both the original Richmond and its first copycat (but none of the US copycopyⁿcats), etc.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.216.175|162.158.216.175]] 22:01, 14 May 2025 (UTC)

::Hmmm. I've a suspicion I know who you are.
::I'm gonna say...you ain't heavy? [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 22:16, 14 May 2025 (UTC)
:::Ah, no. Sorry, I'm not aware of any fraternal relationship. Not just not with you, but not with anyone. ;) Nice to know there are potentially more of you out there, though.
:::I also forget where I think you're ''exactly'' from, from past information, but I do know that it's a different corner from me. Though I think you wisely left it vague, and I'm happy to be even vaguer (hence why I supplied multiple possibilities)... I think it's only rather specific (sort-of-)local knowledge that even let guess what more exacting info I ''think'' I know about you. West Riding, for starters, but I'm not going to narrow you down further. :p [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.134|172.70.86.134]] 22:38, 14 May 2025 (UTC)
::I know where you live now /j [[User:Commercialegg|Commercialegg]] ([[User talk:Commercialegg|talk]]) 00:13, 15 May 2025 (UTC)
:::...to within 3 million acres or so, sure... ...maybe! /jj [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.221|172.69.43.221]] 05:50, 15 May 2025 (UTC)

Where do I post site suggestions?¿?¿?¿?¿ [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!|Aprilfoolsupdate!]] ([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 04:20, 15 May 2025 (UTC)
:What kind of suggestion? (And, for that matter, what kind of site?!?) Though I would probably start by clicking on the Community Portal link in the side navbar over <- there (and up a bit?). Might also be worth seeing if your potential suggestion already has something like it, rather than add a new section the repeats one (or more) past subheader(s). Also might help you find which sub-page suits your particular input. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.221|172.69.43.221]] 05:50, 15 May 2025 (UTC)

I remember as a kid asking my parents: "Why does the New Testament look so old?". [[Special:Contributions/162.158.245.161|162.158.245.161]] 06:42, 15 May 2025 (UTC)
: In German it makes sense, sort of - "modern" can also be a verb, meaning "to rot" :-) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.245.137|162.158.245.137]] 06:55, 15 May 2025 (UTC)
:Some Gideon-types (maybe not ''actual'' Gideons, but of the same mind) came to my school one day (possibly they did it every year for each new age of students, never checked) and did a bit of basic god-bothering stuff with us. Either separate from the actual Religious Education class (which might have had more abrahamic=>judeo-christian=>christian=>protestant stuff, at times, but actually ''did'' properly cover other religions and wider belief systems) or as a once-only replacement for it (adjourning from the usual classroom, at its usual time, and instead meeting these 'missonaries' in one of the non-classroom rooms).
:...anyway... we were given handy-sized NTs. (Probably I still have mine, somewhere, because I rarely get rid of any book, of ''any'' kind, but I know other classmates probably were happily scattering them to the four winds as soon as the fancy took them.) My most immediate impression was the disappointment that it was ''just'' the NT. Whatever I thought about the ultimate veracity of either (not much, even at that age), I already knew that all the actual exciting stuff was in the OT. All the 'New' stuff basically boils down to "Be excellent to each other, dudes!" (as paraphrased by Bill and Ted) and a mixed bag of minor peril and miscarriage of justice. Whereas the 'Old' bits has various cities being destroyed, various multigenerational soap-opera plots and ''two'' completely different explanations for how everything began! They don't write 'em like that any more. Well, they do, but between The Book Of Mormon (the Joseph Smith one, not the Broadway one) and the various works of L. Ron Hubbard ("Mission: Earth" was even more escapist than "Battlefield Earth", and would have been even easier to badly make into a movie!) there's a ''lot'' of variation. ;)
:Though given how much might have been lost in translation, maybe I also ought to try reading everythihg in the original Klingon... [[Special:Contributions/172.68.229.139|172.68.229.139]] 08:04, 15 May 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3088: Deposition

2025-05-13T13:39:38Z

172.68.229.139:

--[[Special:Contributions/104.23.175.13|104.23.175.13]] 02:56, 13 May 2025 (UTC)')DROP TABLE Talk:3088:_Deposition;
:well done. no notes. [[user talk:lett‪herebedarklight|youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk]] 03:58, 13 May 2025 (UTC)

--Stephen Hawking did about the same thing, throwing a party for time travellers. But nobody came. (also yes thats an undertale reference :D )--[[Special:Contributions/104.23.175.41|104.23.175.41]] 06:36, 13 May 2025 (UTC)

Futurama reference? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.54|162.158.91.54]] 03:56, 13 May 2025 (UTC)
:[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lethal_Inspection Lethal Inspection]], a Futurama episoded with Inspector No 5.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.194.187|172.68.194.187]] 07:40, 13 May 2025 (UTC)

This is definitely a comic that ''does'' have "set-in-stone explanations." [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.81|162.158.155.81]] 06:40, 13 May 2025 (UTC)

I genuinely want to do this. Can anyone tell where I could find good locations, ones where rocks are likely to be preserved like in this comic? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.134.184|162.158.134.184]] 07:13, 13 May 2025 (UTC)

"Deposition", as in the title, can mean either taking sworn evidence (in a legal context) or depositing material (in a geologic context). [[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.179|172.68.54.179]] 07:49, 13 May 2025 (UTC)
:This would be typical of Randall's propensity for double meanings! I think it needs to be added to the explanation. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 11:10, 13 May 2025 (UTC)
::It doesn't really have anything to do with anything in the comic, though. It would be no more relevant than commenting that e.g. 'margin' can also relate to page layouts, or 'might' can relate to the amount of power someone has. The explanations are going to get very long and confusing if we start calling out all the alternative meanings of every single word used in them.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.229.139|172.68.229.139]] 13:39, 13 May 2025 (UTC)

Related to No. 6 in https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1476:_Ceres? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.3.30|172.68.3.30]] 10:18, 13 May 2025 (UTC)