explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1017: Backward in Time

2025-03-22T18:27:20Z

172.68.3.68: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1017
| date = February 15, 2012
| title = Backward in Time
| image = backward_in_time.png
| titletext = People tell me I have too much time on my hands, but really the problem is that there's too much time, PERIOD.
}}
{{incomplete|Created by a Time traveling BOT. This is incomplete, look at the table. THE TABLE NEEDS TO BE FILLED OUT MORE. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Clicking the image at xkcd.com links to [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0Ak43bGxHGI1adDMtOHVWVXZrYzhKd2VtbFJJMmJPTEE&single=true&gid=1&output=html this spreadsheet], which [[Randall]] used to calculate the times and dates for the comic. It also has a lot of other percentages and dates, so take a look if you are interested.

==Explanation==

[[Cueball]]/[[Randall]] creates this formula which helps him wait for long stretches of time which goes increasingly faster into the past as more time goes by, which gives him the effect of looking like the time goes by quickly. Which assists in the waiting process.

As far as the actual math is concerned, the formula is an {{w|exponential function}} (i.e. the variable appears in the exponent). The effect that the function grows faster and faster as p grows, is due to T(p) being exponential. More precisely, when you repeatedly add some constant to the exponent, you will repeatedly multiply some (other) constant with the value of the function. Compare how "slow" a value grows by adding even high values (1, 1001, 2001, 3001, 4001, 5001…) and how fast it grows by multiplying even low values (1, 10, 100, 1000, 10000, 100000…)

Now, the function has to be adjusted so that, as Randall put it, "the time spent in each part of the past is loosely proportional to how well I know it." The most important adjustment is putting p to the power of three. That lowers the amount added to the exponent for low values (0.1³=0.001, 0.2³=0.008, i.e. only 7/1000 have been added for 10% workflow) and increases the amount for high values (0.8³=0.512, 0.9³=0.729, i.e. more than 1/5 has been added for 10% workflow). That means the recent past will pass even slower and the historic past even faster than it already does by choosing an exponential function.
The remaining adjustments are technical. The coefficient in front of p³ adjusts the constant by which the result will be multiplied while adding some constant to p, while it also roughly ensures that p=1 yields the lifetime of the universe. The 3 added to the product in the exponent further adjusts the actual values of the power without touching the slope (the multiplicative constant). In the parentheses, e³ is subtracted to put the time to 0 when p=0. Otherwise the function would start approx. 20 yrs and 1 month ago. For bigger p, this offset does not matter much. Imagine subtracting 20 yrs from the lifetime of the universe!

Finally, the result is subtracted from the current date for aesthetical reasons. The formula could tell you "20 years ago", or it could read "February 1992". Randall decided the latter would be better.

There is actually a mathematical error in this comic; the inverse function in grey writing off at the bottom right of the main formula involves a square root, when the actual inverse of Randall's main function would involve a cube root. In addition, this function does not contain the current date, meaning that T, in the inverse, refers to how long ago a point in time was, rather than the point in time itself. When the T in the inverse is 20, it means that the date referenced by T is 20 years ago.

The punchline "Swoosh!" is about how fast the last few percents of Cueball's download happen in "such a rush". For most humans waiting for a download to complete tends to become really boring and progress would instead seem to get slower and slower.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Percent !! Historic time (As of publication)
! "Around This Time" text !! Expanded description of events
|-
| 0% || Now (Feburary 15 2012)
| ''Not given in comic'' || Presumably February 15, 2012, the day the comic was published, which is consistent with the next entry taking place in late 2011.
|-
| rowspan="2" | 7.308% || rowspan="2" |December 18, 2011
| Kim Jong-il Dies. || Kim Jong-il, the president of North Korea at the time, dies of a suspected heart attack. He is succeeded by Kim Jong-un.
|-
| US Leaves Iraq. || Early 2003, the majority of Americans supported the {{w|2003 invasion of Iraq|Iraq Invasion}}. However, a little more than a year later the majority of Americans thought that the invasion was a mistake. Representative {{w|John Murtha}} introduced a resolution in 2005 for U.S. soldiers in Iraq to be "redeployed at the earliest practicable date" and the {{w|Republican Party (United States)|Republicans}} called for "the deployment of United States forces in Iraq be terminated immediately", however this was immmeditly shot down. A year later, another bill was shot down preposing a deadline for recalling soldiers. The House Majority Leader, {{w|John Boehner}}, argued that "achieving victory is our only option". A bill finally passed congress in 2007 that called for the removal of troops within the end of the year, however it was vetoed by {{w|George W. Bush|President Bush}}. In 2008 both the American and Iraqi governments signed the {{w|U.S.–Iraq Status of Forces Agreement}}. It stated that, by June 30th of the following year, American forces would withdraw from Iraqi cities and would be completely gone by 2012. On December 18, 2011, the very last 500 solders left Iraq.
|-
| rowspan="2" | 10% || rowspan="2" | September, 2011
| rowspan="2" | ''Not given in comic'' || This would be around the date of the tenth aniversary of the {{w|9/11 Attacks}}.
|-
| Randall also got married around this time.
|-
| rowspan="2" | 20% || rowspan="2" | 2008
| rowspan="2" | ''Not given in comic'' || The {{w|Marvel Cinematic Universe|Marvel}} movie {{w|Iron Man}} is released.
|-
| {{w|Barack Obama}} wins the election and becomes the 44th President of the United States.
|-
| rowspan="2" | 30% || rowspan="2" | 1997
| rowspan="2" | ''Not given in comic'' || {{w|O.J. Simpson}} was found liable for the deaths of {{W|Nicole Brown}} and {{w|Ronald Goldman}}. O.J. owed the two families $35.5 million. It is worth noting that after he was found liable, he refused to pay the money and did everything in his power to avoid giving them it. However the Goldmans eventally did end up with one of his assets, the rather scandalous book "If I Did It" (O.J. writing about HYPOTHETICALLY if he HAD killed them, how and why he'd have HYPOTHETICALLY killed them) which the Goldmans rebranded from "a ghost story", as O.J. put it, to "a confession of a killer".
|-
| Princess Diana died.
|-
| rowspan="2" | 31.12% || rowspan="2" | February 1995
| Windows 95 Debuts || The Windows 95 was an operating system developed by Microsoft. It was the begining of the Windows 9x operating systems. It was released on July 14, 1995.
|-
| OJ Found Not Guilty || The {{w|Murder trial of O. J. Simpson|O.J. Simpson trial}} was a famous trial where O.J. was tried for the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. DNA evidence almost proved his guilt, however the defense pointed out the evidence wasn't collected correctly and could have been cross contaminated. Because of this, the jury found O.J. not guilty of the double murder.
|-
| rowspan="3" | 40% || rowspan="3" | 1958
| rowspan="3" | ''Not given in comic'' || The European Common Market is created.
|-
| Khruschev gains control of the USSR.
|-
| The first American satellite, Explorer 1, is launched into orbit.
|-
| rowspan="3" | 47.91% || rowspan="3" | 1844
| Rubber Vulcanized, || {{w|Vulcanization}} is when one heats and adds sulphur to rubber, usually {{w|Polyisoprene|polyisoprene}} (natural rubber) or {{w|Styrene-butadiene|SBR rubber}}. This helps its elasticity and improves its strength. Charles Goodyear was the inventor of vulcanization. In the early, 1800s tires quickly turned soft and sticky after they got hot (something that happens when you drive on them for miles at a time in warm weather). Charles Goodyear heated up the rubber to add various chemicals to the tires and, to his amazment, the process worked!! The strength of tire was thus improved. The only problem was that the improvement wasn't because of the chemicals but because of the heating. He would eventally learn this after dropping the rubber in a frying pan, watching the rubber not melt (as one would expect), but harden. Soon after, in 1844, he patented the process.
|-
| Bicycle Invented, || Randell's {{w|timeline}} may be {{w|Error|wrong}} here. It could be {{w|Argument|argued}} that the {{w|1|first}} "{{w|Bicycle|bicycle}}" {{w|Name|called}} a {{w|Dandy horse|"dandy horse"}}, was {{w|Invention|invented}} in {{w|1817}} by {{w|Baron}} {{w|Karl Drais|Karl von Drais}}. However the dandy horse didn't have any {{w|Bicycle pedal|pedals}}, so another argument could be made that the {{w|Treadle bicycle|first bicycle}} was {{w|Creativity|created}} in {{w|1839}} by {{w|Kirkpatrick MacMillan}}. This bicycle didn't move by {{w|Angular momentum|spinning}} the pedals, but by {{w|Treadle|pumping them up and down}} ({{w|Similarity (geometry)|similar}} to a {{w|grindstone}} or {{w|antique}} {{w|sewing machine}}). The first time a {{w|Crank (mechanism)|mechanical crank}} was used was in the early {{w|1860}}s, when {{w|Pierre Michaux}} and {{w|Pierre Lallement}} {{w|Scaling (geometry)|enlarged}} the {{w|Direction (geometry)|front}} wheel and added the crank to that, like a very large two wheeled {{w|Tricycle|tricycle}}. In {{w|1869}} {{w|Thomas McCall (inventor)|Thomas McCall}} made a rear-wheel drive bicycle. On top of all that, the word bicycle wasn't used until {{w|1868}}, until then all bicycles (or not bicycles) were called {{w|velocipede}}. Around this time the {{w|French people|French}} vélocipède, made of {{w|iron}} and {{w|wood}}, turned into the "{{w|penny-farthing}}" (as it was later to be known) which was made from a {{w|steel}} from and {{w|Tire|rubber tires}}. The invention of the bicycle wasn't just one invention, but many small inventions made by people all around a {{w|continent}}.
|-
| Wrench Patented || The {{w|wrench}} was patented.
|-
| 50% || 1776
| ''Not given in comic'' || On July 4th, the American colonies {{w|Lee Resolution|declared independence}} from Great Britain. This event started a {{w|American Revolutionary War|seven year war}}, in which the colonies won their indepence. This heralds the start of The United States of America.
|-
| 60% || 405 AD
| ''Not given in comic'' || The {{w|War of Radagaisus}} started. Radagaisus lead a group of about 100,000 men across the Alps into Rome. The three remaining {{w|Sibylline Books}} were burned. The Sibylline books were a series of nine prophesy books written by an old woman (it has never been found out who, but most likely a {{w|Cumaean Sibyl}}. It is said that they were offered to the last Emperor of Rome, {{w|Lucius Tarquinius Superbus}}, who refused to buy them twice, which resulted in three books getting burned for each denial. She then offered them back to the emperor for the same price and, at last, the Emperor bought them. The Roman Senate took control of the books and was extremely protective of them. The books were initially put under the care of two guardians, increasing to ten, then to fifteen. However, after eight centuries, a Roman General called {{w|Stilicho}} ordered them to be burned as they were being used to attack the government.
|-
| 70% || 22,000 Years Ago
| ''Not given in comic'' || Humans first enter the Americas
|-
| rowspan="3" | 70.33% || rowspan="3" | 24,000 Years Ago
| Caves Painted, || This is around the time some cave paintings are from.
|-
| Ceramic Art Made. || This is around the time the oldest known ceramics are from.
|-
| Neanderthals Extinct. || Neanderthals went extinct.
|-
| 80% || 671,000 Years Ago
| ''Not given in comic'' || This date is likely a result of the equation not being calibrated for this specific percentage, as nothing significant is known to have happened around 671,000 years ago. However, 700,000 years ago, there was a major shift in the Earth's climate that changed the length and rarity of ice ages.
|-
| 90% || 55 Million Years Ago
| ''Not given in comic'' || The Eocene Era begins around this time.
|-
| rowspan="2" | 90.42% || rowspan="2" | 68 Million Years Ago
| First flowering plants. || The first flowering plants evolved around this time.
|-
| Chicxulub impact kills off most dinosaurs. || {{w| Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event |Dinosaur extinction}}
|-
| rowspan="2" | 100% || rowspan="2" | 13.76 billion years ago
| Universe begins. || The Big Bang occurred at this time (about).
|-
| First stars ignite. || The first starts were born at this era.
|}
[[940|(Also, the workout website, Fitocracy has been mentioned previously in xkcd.)]]

Note that as of the time that this page was last cached, the comic was uploaded at {{#expr:100*(((ln(({{#time:U}}-1329195600)/31536000+e^3)-3)/20.3444)^.5)}}% progress.

==Transcript==
:When I have a boring task to get through — a three-hour lecture, a giant file download, or a long term point goal in fitocracy — I use this formula to convert the percentage completed (p) into a date:

:T=(Current Date) - (e^(20.3444*p^3+3) - e^3) years

:When the task is 0% done, it gives today's date, and as I make progress, I move further and further back in time

:(inverse given in lighter colors)
:Inverse: p = sqrt((ln(T+e^3)-3)/20.3444)

:[Line Graph explaining the correlation between completion percentages and temporal deltas.]
:0% = now (Date of comic is 2012-02-14T00:00-0500, approx. 1329195600 UNIX)
:10% = September 2011
:20% = 2008
:30% = 1997
:40% = 1958
:50% = 1776
:60% = 405 AD
:70% = 22,000 years ago
:80% = 671,000 years ago
:90% = 55 million years ago
:100% = 13.8 billion years ago

:It moves slowly through the first few years, then steadily accelerates. I tuned the formula so the time spent in each part of the past is loosely proportional to how well I know it. This means I hit familiar landmarks with each bit of progress, giving me a satisfying sense of movement.

:[The following are panels detailing completion percentages, correlated time periods, and notable events from this time period.]

:7.308% December 18, 2011
:Around this time:
:Kim Jong-Il dies. US leaves Iraq.

:31.12% February 1995
:Around this time:
:Windows 95 debuts. OJ found not guilty.

:47.91% 1844
:Around this time:
:Rubber vulcanized, bicycle invented, wrench patented.

:70.33% 24,000 years ago
:Around this time:
:Caves painted, ceramic art made. Neanderthals extinct.

:90.42% 68 million years ago
:Around this time:
:First flowering plants. Chicxulub impact kills off most dinosaurs.

:100% 13.76 billion years ago
:Around this time:
:Universe begins. First stars ignite.

:Download complete.

:[Cueball watches a download progress on a laptop in amazement and happiness. Megan stands nearby and looks at Cueball with a bemused posture.]
:Cueball: Swoosh! Watching all that time blur past is such a rush!
:Megan: So...you've tried to make an extreme sport out of...''waiting''.
:Cueball: ''Swoosh!''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Timelines]]
[[Category:Math]]

Talk:2046: Trum-

2025-03-21T01:55:52Z

172.68.3.68:

This is not that weird. If names were random then it would be a 1 in 26^4 = 456976 chance of a particular president matching another for the first 4, but this is a "Birthday Problem" with 44 presidents, so the probability of any two presidents sharing the first 4 characters is 1-(456976!/(456976^44 (456976 - 44)!)), which wolfram alpha is giving as 0.206% {{unsigned ip|141.101.99.185}}
:Yes, but we already "fulfilled our obligation" after the sixth president :) [[User:Zachweix|Zachweix]] ([[User talk:Zachweix|talk]]) 15:59, 14 September 2018 (UTC)
:That would be the lower boundary, because you assume all letters are equally likely to occur. Some n-grams will have a higher probability than others. E.g. it is far less likely for the second letter to be a Q than to be a U,so a better estimate would involve Markov chains including the probability of all letters on a certain position, given the previous letters etc.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.76.58|141.101.76.58]] 05:46, 15 September 2018 (UTC)
::Q doesn't work because he's related to his father John Adams. The criteria that they be totally unrelated is to restore it to the realm of pure chance. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 17:24, 14 September 2018 (UTC)
An approximation to the correct probability would be to do 44^2/(2 x 26^4) which would give about 0.2% chance of this happening. So fairly weird, but as the comic suggests, many things about this presidency are weirder than 0.2%. {{unsigned ip|162.158.155.194}}
:I love that we are now having a mathematical discussion about how weird things are in the presidency. [[User:Zachweix|Zachweix]] ([[User talk:Zachweix|talk]]) 15:58, 14 September 2018 (UTC)

Should we mention Andrew Johnson and LBJ, perhaps in a "Trivia" section? Obviously Johnson is a very common surname, but they're still unrelated presidents that share the first (and only) 7 characters of their last name. (Are there other pairs of presidents that share at least the 3 first letters of their surnames besides AJ/LBJ and HST/DJT?)
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.62.160|172.69.62.160]] 16:25, 14 September 2018 (UTC)
:They ARE related, distantly. https://www.geni.com/path/Lyndon-B-Johnson-36th-President-of-the-United-States+is+related+to+Andrew-Johnson-17th-President-of-the-USA?from=6000000002045454764&to=361204095530004567 [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 19:18, 14 September 2018 (UTC)
::I think 28 degrees of separation is distant enough to consider them unrelated. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 20:01, 14 September 2018 (UTC)
::No, they are not related. It says "Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the USA is Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th President of the United States' fifth cousin 10 times removed's 6th great nephew!" In other words, Andrew Johnson and Lyndon Johnson are both related to Lyndon Johnson's fifth cousin 10 times removed, but they are not related to each other. They do not share a common ancestor. Saying that Andrew Johnson and Lyndon Johnson are related is like saying that your parents are related to each other because both of them are related to you (your mother is your father's child's mother).[[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.171|173.245.48.171]] 05:33, 18 September 2018 (UTC)
...And, upon reflection, I just realized Harding shares the first 3 letters with the Presidents Harrison, so that's one(?) more example. {{unsigned ip|162.158.186.246}}

So we discount Presidents Adams, Bush, Cleveland, Harrison and Rosevelt as being related, or being the same person.
We have the following common starts: Bu (3 names), Cl, Ha (3 names), Ta, Har, Trum and Johnson. Also A, B, C, F, G, H, J, M, P, R, T and W. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.241|162.158.154.241]] 16:49, 14 September 2018 (UTC)

If you count Buren as opposed to Van Buren then you have 4 starting Bu and 2 starting Bur [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.146|162.158.155.146]] 16:52, 14 September 2018 (UTC)

Tyler and Taylor is weirdly close, in a "look elsewhere effect" kind of way. Although the fact that you elected a president whose name means "fart" in British English has got to be weirder. {{unsigned ip|162.158.155.158}}

What about Benjamin FrankClinton? [[User:VanityCase|VanityCase]]

'''Shouting about Trump'''

I'm really with you... But an explanation has to be done politely. This Wiki focuses on explaining the comic, any personal opinions should be considered carefully. And I admit that I also cannot easily withstand. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:25, 14 September 2018 (UTC)

Only 39 unique names for 45 presidencies (44 presidents).
Over a third (14/39) of the names end with the letter N. [[User:Patmiller|Patmiller]] ([[User talk:Patmiller|talk]]) 20:36, 14 September 2018 (UTC)

Is this factoid worth adding to the trivia section? Trump is the only president whose entire last name is needed for disambiguation. In other words, except for identical last names, every other president can be identified with just some of the first letters of the last name (some needing only the single first letter, and even Truman, the next “worst” case, needing only Truma to disambiguate from Trump.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.214|108.162.219.214]] 03:49, 16 September 2018 (UTC)

Interestingly, both TRUM* presidents were fond of the phrase "son-of-a-b****" (Truman used it to describe Oppenheimer). {{unsigned ip|172.68.189.19}}
:Nonsense! And please sign your comments. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:56, 18 September 2018 (UTC)

I hope you don't mind, I don't feel like "Mr Trump has some scandals" really explains why he's unusual. Lots of politicians have scandals and I don't think listing that fact really captures what makes him weird as a president so I added a couple of facts that help better explain what makes him weird. {{unsigned ip|108.162.238.161}}
:Your feelings are irrelevant. And how weird he really is we can't judge... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:45, 19 November 2018 (UTC)
::But you're missing my argument. Scandals aren't what makes him weird. He's weird for lots of reasons but not that. We can improve upon the explanation using neutral facts that better explain why he's unusual. You're being obstructionist.

When Cueball says "True" at the end, this also begins with three of the same letters, and sounds like the beginning of the name "Truman". I feel that this adds to the humour and was probably done on purpose by the creator. [[User:Whyohwhyohwhy|Whyohwhyohwhy]] ([[User talk:Whyohwhyohwhy|talk]]) 14:09, 23 October 2022 (UTC)

If Harris is elected in 2024, there will be a 6-letter prefix used in two last names of presidents: H-A-R-R-I-S - Kamala Harris and Benjamin Harrison. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.129|172.69.34.129]] 15:35, 11 September 2024 (UTC)
:i have disappointing news [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 11:51, 28 January 2025 (UTC)
:The last names Harris and Harrison both mean "son of Harry" though. They could be considered different spellings of the same last name. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.3.68|172.68.3.68]] 01:55, 21 March 2025 (UTC)

Both "Trum" presidents also won when the polls predicted that they would lose. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.3.68|172.68.3.68]] 01:55, 21 March 2025 (UTC)

Talk:2046: Trum-

2025-03-21T01:55:10Z

172.68.3.68:

This is not that weird. If names were random then it would be a 1 in 26^4 = 456976 chance of a particular president matching another for the first 4, but this is a "Birthday Problem" with 44 presidents, so the probability of any two presidents sharing the first 4 characters is 1-(456976!/(456976^44 (456976 - 44)!)), which wolfram alpha is giving as 0.206% {{unsigned ip|141.101.99.185}}
:Yes, but we already "fulfilled our obligation" after the sixth president :) [[User:Zachweix|Zachweix]] ([[User talk:Zachweix|talk]]) 15:59, 14 September 2018 (UTC)
:That would be the lower boundary, because you assume all letters are equally likely to occur. Some n-grams will have a higher probability than others. E.g. it is far less likely for the second letter to be a Q than to be a U,so a better estimate would involve Markov chains including the probability of all letters on a certain position, given the previous letters etc.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.76.58|141.101.76.58]] 05:46, 15 September 2018 (UTC)
::Q doesn't work because he's related to his father John Adams. The criteria that they be totally unrelated is to restore it to the realm of pure chance. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 17:24, 14 September 2018 (UTC)
An approximation to the correct probability would be to do 44^2/(2 x 26^4) which would give about 0.2% chance of this happening. So fairly weird, but as the comic suggests, many things about this presidency are weirder than 0.2%. {{unsigned ip|162.158.155.194}}
:I love that we are now having a mathematical discussion about how weird things are in the presidency. [[User:Zachweix|Zachweix]] ([[User talk:Zachweix|talk]]) 15:58, 14 September 2018 (UTC)

Should we mention Andrew Johnson and LBJ, perhaps in a "Trivia" section? Obviously Johnson is a very common surname, but they're still unrelated presidents that share the first (and only) 7 characters of their last name. (Are there other pairs of presidents that share at least the 3 first letters of their surnames besides AJ/LBJ and HST/DJT?)
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.62.160|172.69.62.160]] 16:25, 14 September 2018 (UTC)
:They ARE related, distantly. https://www.geni.com/path/Lyndon-B-Johnson-36th-President-of-the-United-States+is+related+to+Andrew-Johnson-17th-President-of-the-USA?from=6000000002045454764&to=361204095530004567 [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 19:18, 14 September 2018 (UTC)
::I think 28 degrees of separation is distant enough to consider them unrelated. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 20:01, 14 September 2018 (UTC)
::No, they are not related. It says "Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the USA is Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th President of the United States' fifth cousin 10 times removed's 6th great nephew!" In other words, Andrew Johnson and Lyndon Johnson are both related to Lyndon Johnson's fifth cousin 10 times removed, but they are not related to each other. They do not share a common ancestor. Saying that Andrew Johnson and Lyndon Johnson are related is like saying that your parents are related to each other because both of them are related to you (your mother is your father's child's mother).[[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.171|173.245.48.171]] 05:33, 18 September 2018 (UTC)
...And, upon reflection, I just realized Harding shares the first 3 letters with the Presidents Harrison, so that's one(?) more example. {{unsigned ip|162.158.186.246}}

So we discount Presidents Adams, Bush, Cleveland, Harrison and Rosevelt as being related, or being the same person.
We have the following common starts: Bu (3 names), Cl, Ha (3 names), Ta, Har, Trum and Johnson. Also A, B, C, F, G, H, J, M, P, R, T and W. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.241|162.158.154.241]] 16:49, 14 September 2018 (UTC)

If you count Buren as opposed to Van Buren then you have 4 starting Bu and 2 starting Bur [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.146|162.158.155.146]] 16:52, 14 September 2018 (UTC)

Tyler and Taylor is weirdly close, in a "look elsewhere effect" kind of way. Although the fact that you elected a president whose name means "fart" in British English has got to be weirder. {{unsigned ip|162.158.155.158}}

What about Benjamin FrankClinton? [[User:VanityCase|VanityCase]]

'''Shouting about Trump'''

I'm really with you... But an explanation has to be done politely. This Wiki focuses on explaining the comic, any personal opinions should be considered carefully. And I admit that I also cannot easily withstand. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:25, 14 September 2018 (UTC)

Only 39 unique names for 45 presidencies (44 presidents).
Over a third (14/39) of the names end with the letter N. [[User:Patmiller|Patmiller]] ([[User talk:Patmiller|talk]]) 20:36, 14 September 2018 (UTC)

Is this factoid worth adding to the trivia section? Trump is the only president whose entire last name is needed for disambiguation. In other words, except for identical last names, every other president can be identified with just some of the first letters of the last name (some needing only the single first letter, and even Truman, the next “worst” case, needing only Truma to disambiguate from Trump.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.214|108.162.219.214]] 03:49, 16 September 2018 (UTC)

Interestingly, both TRUM* presidents were fond of the phrase "son-of-a-b****" (Truman used it to describe Oppenheimer). {{unsigned ip|172.68.189.19}}
:Nonsense! And please sign your comments. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:56, 18 September 2018 (UTC)

I hope you don't mind, I don't feel like "Mr Trump has some scandals" really explains why he's unusual. Lots of politicians have scandals and I don't think listing that fact really captures what makes him weird as a president so I added a couple of facts that help better explain what makes him weird. {{unsigned ip|108.162.238.161}}
:Your feelings are irrelevant. And how weird he really is we can't judge... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:45, 19 November 2018 (UTC)
::But you're missing my argument. Scandals aren't what makes him weird. He's weird for lots of reasons but not that. We can improve upon the explanation using neutral facts that better explain why he's unusual. You're being obstructionist.

When Cueball says "True" at the end, this also begins with three of the same letters, and sounds like the beginning of the name "Truman". I feel that this adds to the humour and was probably done on purpose by the creator. [[User:Whyohwhyohwhy|Whyohwhyohwhy]] ([[User talk:Whyohwhyohwhy|talk]]) 14:09, 23 October 2022 (UTC)

If Harris is elected in 2024, there will be a 6-letter prefix used in two last names of presidents: H-A-R-R-I-S - Kamala Harris and Benjamin Harrison. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.129|172.69.34.129]] 15:35, 11 September 2024 (UTC)
:i have disappointing news [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 11:51, 28 January 2025 (UTC)

Both "Trum" presidents also won when the polls predicted that they would lose. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.3.68|172.68.3.68]] 01:55, 21 March 2025 (UTC)

1052: Every Major's Terrible

2025-03-20T05:17:30Z

172.68.3.68: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1052
| date = May 7, 2012
| title = Every Major's Terrible
| before = [[#Explanation|↓ Skip to explanation ↓]]
| image = every_majors_terrible.png
| titletext = Someday I'll be the first to get a Ph. D in 'Undeclared'.
}}
The comic links to a now-unavailable [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhaEjgnmy3c YouTube video of the song].

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|As of August 2018, the title text has been changed to a link to the said song. Need to provide a link to the original video above and in the [[#Trivia]] section with the original title text, and update the title text above.}}[[Randall]] has written a song called ''Every Major's Terrible'' and this comic illustrates the song. In this song the term {{w|Major (academic)|Major}} refers to the US version of an academic major. The point of the song is that it makes no sense to pick any major since they are all terrible!

The header notes that the song is written to the tune of the satirical {{w|Major-General's Song}} from {{w|Gilbert and Sullivan's}} 1879 comic opera ''{{w|The Pirates of Penzance}}''. The song satirizes the idea of the "modern" educated British Army officer of the latter 19th century. {{w|Major general}} is a military rank in the United Kingdom and many other countries. The meter in the Major-General's Song is {{w|iambic octameter}}, which means that in each line there are eight iambs, where an iamb is two syllables in an unstressed-stressed pattern. Therefore, each line contains 16 syllables.

The panels show Randall's rewritten lyrics to the song. Below each of the three verses are described in detail (go to [[#Verse 1|Verse 1]], [[#Verse 2|Verse 2]] or [[#Verse 3|Verse 3]]). Each verse ends with "Just put me down as 'Undecided' - Every Major's Terrible", which gives the song its name — and "Major's Terrible" is similar enough to "Major General", the corresponding lyrics in the original version, to serve as a callback. The last line of the first verse in each song goes as follows:
*Original: I am the very model of a modern Major-General
*Randall's: Just put me down as undecided- every major's terrible

The lyrics are commonly rewritten, the most famous rewrite likely being {{w|The Elements (song)}} by {{w|Tom Lehrer}} which is also mentioned below the main header. This song is also [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcS3NOQnsQM available on-line].

His last suggestion, "{{w|Supercalifragilisticexpialadocious}}", from ''{{w|Mary Poppins}}'', is another fast-paced patter-song with a somewhat similar tune, though it doesn't fit quite so well, and the match falls apart at the end of the fourth line, when the "Um-diddly"s start up — still, it's better than nothing.

There are at least two performances of this xkcd song online where the transcription is shown to make it easier to understand the text:
*A video with each major acted out by the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seGpYa8UO0E SFU Choir - Every Major's Terrible].
*A solo with piano: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRexBMPeRTo Every Major's Terrible' by Ben Miller].
**See also this article [http://www.uproxx.com/gammasquad/2012/08/ben-miller-xkcd-every-majors-terrible/ Xkcd's 'Every Major's Terrible' Is Now A Real Song].

Regarding the title text: "Undeclared" is sometimes called "General Studies". Most U.S. universities will not let you get a degree in this, let alone an advanced degree such as a {{w|Ph.D.}} Also, it should probably be noted that this song refers to U.S.-like university systems, in other countries, one will study little to nothing outside your major, making it more-or-less impossible to be undecided as to major.

It should also be noted that the title text fits the cadence of the first line of the song, possibly teasing a fourth verse. As to what that consists of, only Randall knows.

===Verse 1===
;Panel 1, ''Philosophy's just math sans rigor, sense, and practicality'': [[Cueball]] is posing as {{w|Rodin}}'s {{w|The Thinker}}, a common symbol for {{w|philosophy}}. The equation in the background (two plus light bulb equals sailboat) is nonsense, hence "{{w|math}} sans rigor, sense or practicality" ([http://www.thefreedictionary.com/sans sans] meaning without).

;Panel 2, ''And math's just physics unconstrained by precepts of reality.'': A cannon is firing. However, instead of going in the normal parabolic arc (a precept of reality and thus {{w|physics}}), the cannonball splits and splits again, so that it looks like a {{w|bifurcation diagram}} from {{w|chaos theory}}. The dashed line indicates the cannonball's trajectory, which bifurcates twice, although the sum of the momentums of the four resulting (1/4 sized?) cannonballs is presumably mathematically identical to the original.

;Panel 3, ''A business major's just a thing you get so you can graduate'': {{w|Business education|Business}} is the most common major, often seen as a practical choice applicable to a wide variety of careers, or, as the comic illustrates, preferred by those who just want an easy way to graduate. Cueball gets his diploma and runs away from the dean on the podium while shedding both his robe and his {{w|square academic cap}} (or Mortarboard).

;Panel 4, ''And chemistry's for stamp collectors high on methylacetate.'': Stamp collecting refers to the [https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ernest_Rutherford famous quote] by {{w|Ernest Rutherford}}, "All science is either physics or stamp collecting." {{w|Methyl acetate}} is a solvent that for instance can be used to remove stamps from their envelope (although water will do the same). The stamps in the background form the {{W|periodic table}} of the chemical elements. And since {{w|chemistry}} is not physics, according to the quote, {{w|chemists}} must be stamp collectors. [[Ponytail]] is depicted wearing googles, holding an {{w|Erlenmeyer flask}}, and dizzy from being high on methylacetate.

;Panels 5 and 6, ''Why anyone who wants a job would study lit's a mystery'', ''Unless their only other choice were something like art history.'': These lines, both sung by Cueball, refer to subjects where a majority of graduates will end up unemployed or eventually working in a field outside their majors. Topics such as {{w|Literature}} or {{w|Art History}} are often and historically said to be in this category — although from [http://www.studentsreview.com/unemployment_by_major.php3?sort=Rate actual statistics], it is clear that there are far worse majors these days.

;Panels 7 and 8, ''A BA in communications guarantees that you'll achieve'', ''A little less than if you'd learned to underwater basket-weave'': Here Cueball first has a major in {{w|Communication studies|Communications}} and next he is seen underwater with a basket. {{w|Underwater basket weaving}} is a commonly used metaphor for any college major that is easy and/or worthless. "Communications" is a major chosen by people interested in news broadcasting or other media. Note that, if following the original music exactly, the line "A little less than if you'd learned to underwater basket-weave." will be repeated three times by the chorus after these panels.

;Panel 9, ''I'd rather eat a Fowler's toad than major in biology,'': We see Cueball holding a frog out in front of him while taking his hand to his head (in disgust?). A {{w|Fowler's toad}} is a relatively common toad in the eastern US, and a stereotype of studying {{w|biology}} is a frog {{w|dissection}}, which is likely part of the reference, albeit oblique. Fowler's Toad emits a {{w|Bufo_fowleri#Behavior|noxious secretion}} that [http://www.nwf.org/wildlife/wildlife-library/amphibians-reptiles-and-fish/toads.aspx irritates skin] and thus probably also the mucous membranes in the mouth. It would thus be rather painful to eat, making it very bad for Cueball to major in biology since he would rather eat such a toad.

;Panel 10, ''And social psych is worse than either psych ''or'' sociology.'': {{w|Social psychology}} is compared to {{w|sociology}} (study of humans in society) and {{w|psychology}} (study of human minds). Psychology is represented by a {{w|serial killer}} with a chainsaw, and sociology is represented by a {{w|zombie}}. These are to the left of [[Megan]]. To her right is a zombie serial killer with chainsaw. She is standing between them undecided as to take one, the other or both. They are all terrible options...

;Panels 11 and 12, ''The thought of picking any one of these is too unbearable,'' ''Just put me down as "Undecided"—Every major's terrible.'': End of the first verse where Cueball tells his academic advisor that he is undecided as every major's terrible. He even throws away his {{w|study guide}}. Every verse ends with some variation of this couplet, and in the original tune, each of these couplets are repeated by the chorus afterwards.
:''Unbearable'' and ''terrible'' rhyme for people who have the {{w|English-language vowel changes before historic /r/#Mary–marry–merry merger|Mary-merry merger}}.

===Verse 2===
;Panel 13, ''Now, if you can't prognosticate, that's OK in seismology,'':[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/prognosticate Prognosticate] means "to predict". This refers to the inability of {{w|seismology}} to reliably predict catastrophic {{w|earthquake}}s, even after centuries of extensive research. The panel shows {{w|Seismic wave|seismic waves}} from a {{w|seismograph}}. The seismograph chart has four traces and about halfway across one trace begins oscillating vigorously indicating an earthquake. Five months after this comic was published several seismologists in Italy were [http://www.nature.com/news/italian-court-finds-seismologists-guilty-of-manslaughter-1.11640 convicted of crimes] that effectively stemmed from an inability to predict an earthquake. This does not go down well for the message of this panel... Their conviction was [http://www.nature.com/news/italian-seismologists-cleared-of-manslaughter-1.16313 overturned on appeal] in 2014.

;Panel 14, ''But if your hindsight's weak as well, you'd best stick to theology.'': The bearded [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/theologist theologist] represents {{w|Theology}} by stating the formal logic proposition shown in the illustration: "X ∴ ∃X". This says "I can describe this thing called X, therefore X exists". (However, it might not be syntactically correct, since "X" is not a formula, and there are no free variable(s) after the ∃.) This is what Anselm’s {{w|ontological argument}} for God boils down to. Briefly, it asks you to imagine the best possible entity, which, by definition, would be God. A God which exists in both reality and imagination would (according to Anselm) be greater than one who exists in merely the latter. Therefore, this proposition concludes that God exists. The argument has many fatal flaws, and has been largely rejected even by theists. (See [[1505: Ontological Argument]].) The same can be said for any of the so-called proofs of God that have been developed over the past several thousand years, making Theology decidedly non-rigorous.

;Panel 15, ''CS will make each day a quest to find a missing close-paren.'': "CS" is short for "{{w|Computer Science}}." Most programming languages use parentheses as part of their syntax, and often have multiply-nested parenthetical expressions. This is especially true of {{w|Lisp (programming language)|Lisp}}. It is often difficult for a programmer to determine where the unbalanced parenthesis begins or ends when the code and parentheses are not properly formatted and indented. In the panel there is one more left "(" parenthesis (13) than right ")" or ''close-paren'' (12). Unpaired parentheses were also discussed in comic [[859]].

;Panel 16, ''Virology will guarantee you'll never get a hug again.'': {{w|Virology}} is the study of {{w|infectious diseases}}. The green symbol above the central figure is the {{w|Hazard_symbol#Biohazard_sign|biohazard symbol}}, implying that people who study infectious diseases, and are therefore located near them at some points in time, will be shunned like the plague, because they're probably carrying it. Thus no hugs to Megan as three Cueballs and Ponytail lean back away from her.

;Panel 17, ''I.T. prepares you for a life of fighting with PCs nonstop.'': "I.T." is short for "{{w|Information Technology}}", a degree for people who maintain computer systems. If there is a need for an I.T. position (in which I.T. professionals are employed) there are computers which need fixing — hence the I.T. Professional is always fixing (or fighting) computers, which may or may not have been[https://web.archive.org/web/20220225163355/https://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=19980506 "broken"] by [[:Category:Cueball Computer Problems|certain users]]. In the panel Megan, wielding an axe, is in a real fight with a PC.

;Panel 18, ''As Pratchett said, "Geography's just physics slowed with trees on top."'': This is a slightly amended quote from {{w|Discworld}} author {{w|Terry Pratchett}}, from his book "{{w|Feet of Clay (novel)|Feet of Clay}}". The actual quote is "{{w|Geography}} is just physics slowed down, with a couple of trees stuck in it." But the meaning is the same, that physics also describes geography - a similar quote to the one about physics vs. stamp collections mentioned under panel 4.

;Panel 19, ''Though physics seems to promise you a Richard Feynman-like career,'': {{w|Richard Feynman}} was a 20th-century {{w|Nobel Prize|Nobel}}-laureate {{w|physicist}} known for his great sense of humor, including being photographed for one of his books while holding a {{w|bongo drum}}. Here he is depicted with the drum and with both a blond woman and Megan looking admiringly upon him. Feynman made physics seem cool, and many a young fan might choose the subject in the hope of obtaining a Feynman-like career. This is, however, very unlikely for most people as is also shown in the next panel.

;Panel 20, ''The wiki page for "Physics major" redirects to "Engineer."'': A redirect on Wikipedia is a page which immediately sends the visitor to a different page. This implies that the title of the first is either a synonym or a sub-topic of the second. Physics majors usually learn to code, and the standard joke is that they invariably get hired as {{w|computer programmers}} after graduation, but here in this comic they get hired as {{w|engineers}}. This relates back to the previous panel, as it is here shown that most of those that major in physics end up as engineers and not like Feynman. The Wikipedia page physics major didn't actually exist when this comic was published. It was created the same day, but as a [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Physics_major&redirect=no redirect] to {{w|physics education}}. It is such a redirect page that is shown in the panel. In the subsequent days, there were dozens of instances of people changing it to redirect to engineer, usually reverted within minutes. The redirect page was ''fully protected'' and locked for editing. As with the underwater basket-weaving line in the first verse, after the soloist sings this, the line would be repeated three times by the chorus.

;Panels 21 and 22, ''They say to study history or find yourself repeating it,'' ''But all that it prepares you for is forty years of teaching it.'': This uses a version of a quote by {{w|George Santayana}} (although often attributed to others as well), ''Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it'' as a reason to study {{w|history}} — only to be followed by an indication that by studying history as a major, you will only be prepared to become a history teacher, and you will then spend the rest of your life teaching history. The first panel shows a flow chart that will lead you to repeat your sad past if you cannot remember it, and only move on to happier times if you can. In the next panel we see a [[Hairbun]] as a history teacher, with glasses and her gray hair tied up in a bun, standing in front of a green {{w|blackboard}} with three important years for her current history class.

:One connection between these years could be pivotal points in Jewish history concerning the formation of nationality: the Nurenberg Laws of 1935 removing citizenship from Jews in Germany, Israel's claims on Jerusalem, and the UN Security Council's condemnation of the treatment of Palestines by Israel.

:A more lighthearted connection, more in line with the message of learning from history, is the collapse of three notable communications towers: the wooden radio tower in Langenberg in 1935 (by tornado), a TV mast at Emley Moor in 1969 (due to ice build-up), and the Warsaw radio mast in 1991 (due to construction errors). This demonstrates various attempts and failures to learn from engineering mistakes from the past, connecting this with the earlier mentioning of physicists becoming engineers, and perhaps not taking real-world practical considerations into account (such as storms or ice build-up).

:Of course, in practice, with a narrow enough subject, there are likely to be many more examples fitting these three years. The two examples above were from general world history.

;Panels 23 and 24, ''I recognize my four-year plan's at this point not repairable,'' ''But put me down as "Undecided"—Every major's terrible.'': End of the second verse where Cueball again talks to his academic advisor saying that he is undecided. In the last of the two panel he says almost the same as at the end of the first verse. In the first, however, he mentioned his "four-year plan" which is the list of all the courses a student plans to include in their degree program. If you change majors every semester, or do not decide on one until too late, this list gets really difficult to turn into any one degree. Again these lines would be repeated by the chorus afterwards.

===Verse 3===
;Panel 25, ''Astronomers all cringe when they hear "supermoon" or "zodiac".'': {{w|Supermoon}} is a term invented by {{w|astrologers}} in the 1970s, with no significance in {{w|astronomy}} other than being the co-occurrence of orbital {{w|perigee}} and full-moon. But it comes up often in the press, linked to supernatural behavior. That also Randall dislikes seems realistic and he also "mocked" the term soon after in [[1080: Visual Field]] and then finally confirmed what he thought about the term directly when he published [[1394: Superm*n]]. This was the first comic referencing supermoon, here is [[:Category:Supermoon|a list]] of all such comics. The {{w|zodiac}} is the circular band in the sky containing the apparent path of the sun, moon and planets. Most often when people talk about it, they're referring to {{w|astrology}} and {{w|horoscopes}} and other pseudo-scientific notions which often lead to conversations which are frustrating to astronomers, like the bald, bearded one ({{w|Phil Plait}}?) from the panel.

;Panel 26, ''Agronomy's a no-go; I'm a huge agorophobiac.'': {{w|Agronomy}} is the science of farming, while {{w|agoraphobia}} is the fear of wide open spaces. Fields, where most farming happens, are wide open spaces. In the panel an anxious Cueball is standing near a fence on an open field with a tractor. Presumably he may be OK inside the tractor, but once he gets outside he becomes anxious.

;Panel 27, ''I'm too ophiophobic to consider herpetology,'': {{w|Herpetology}} is the study of {{w|reptiles}} and {{w|amphibians}}, while {{w|ophiophobia}} is the fear of {{w|snakes}} (a reptile). The panel shows sweating Cueball holding his hands to his mouth while looking at a green snake asking for his love? It is possible that Cueball is afraid of the snake, who is harmless and just wants to be friends.

;Panel 28, ''And I can't stomach any part of gastroenterology.'': As the pun suggests, {{w|gastroenterology}} is the study of the human digestive system and the image shows the human {{w|stomach}}. To [http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/cannot+stomach not be able to stomach something] means you can't stand or tolerate this thing.

;Panel 29, ''While pre-med gives you twitchy-eyed obsession with your GPA,'': {{w|Pre-med}} (pre-medical) is a major chosen by students hoping to go on to {{w|medical school}} to study {{w|medicine}} and eventually become {{w|Doctor of Medicine|doctors}}. Medical school is extremely competitive and usually requires a very high undergraduate {{w|GPA}} for prospective students. Hence we see a pre-med student holding all his grades.

;Panel 30, <tt>a poetry degree bespeaks bewildering naïveté.</tt>: The text is in all lower-case, a different font and strangely laid out compared to the text in all the other panels. All-lower-case and "free" layout are both associated with 20th century "{{w|Modernist}}" {{w|poetry}}, especially the works of {{w|E. E. Cummings}}. Ponytail is actually reciting this line of the song.

;Panels 31 and 32, ''TV's behind the rush into forensic criminology'', ''(Or so claims meta-academic epidemiology).'': This refers to how {{w|forensic}}-{{w|criminology}} shows, specifically {{w|CSI: Miami}} (Crime Scene Investigation: Miami) as shown on the TV screen in both panels, often dramatize, exaggerate or otherwise confuse the science behind forensics; this gives people unrealistically glamorous views of the career, thus encouraging them to join it. {{w|Epidemiology}} is the study of causes and effects of events and trends. We see a pipe smoking epidemiologist standing with Ponytail and watching CSI - presumably making wild claims on cause and effect based only on what they see on TV. This is, again, the point where the chorus joins in three times, as in the previous two verses.

;Panels 33 and 34, ''By dubbing econ "dismal science" adherents exaggerate;'' ''The "dismal"'s fine - it's "science" where they patently prevaricate.'': "Econ" is short for "{{w|economics}}". {{w|Thomas Carlyle}} declared economics "{{w|the dismal science}}" in the {{w|Victorian era}} as a derogatory alternative name. {{w|Economists}} often claim that economics is a {{w|science}} like any other; however, as the predictive powers of all economic theories are exceedingly weak compared to those of any science, this is disputed by those outside the field at times. It is of course also disputed by this song, in which Cueball "clearly" (see below) states that economics should not call itself a science - that is the ''dismal science'' is not derogatory enough for him.
*The above sentences can be tricky to understand due to the combination of vocabulary used and atypical word order (the former is in object-subject-verb). Here is some help in understanding them:
**[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dub Dubbing] something means ''giving it a nickname''.
**[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dismal Dismal] science means (in this context) ''the disappointingly inadequate science''.
**[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/adherent Adherents] means ''supporters''.
**[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/patently Patently] means ''in a clear and unambiguous manner''
**[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/prevaricate Prevaricate] means to ''evade the truth''.
*Using these meanings of the words the two sentences can be re-written as:
**The people who give economics the nickname "the inadequate science" are exaggerating how bad it is;
**The "inadequate" part is fine - it's "science" where they clearly are evading the truth.
:That is, Cueball is saying that "inadequate science" is too nice of a term for economics, he thinks it's not even science at all.

;Panel 35, ''In terms of choices, I'd say only Sophie's was comparable.''
;Panel 36, ''Just put me down as "Undecided"—Every major's terrible!'': End of the third verse, with yet another variant on the closing couplet. Choosing a major is compared to {{w|Sophie's Choice}}, which is any {{w|dilemma}} where choosing one cherished person or thing over the other will result in the death or destruction of the other, derived from the theme of the {{w|Sophie's Choice (novel)|novel}} of the same name, which has also been turned into a {{w|Sophie's Choice (film)|romantic drama film}}. So Cueball tells the academic advisor that choosing any of the majors over any other is as horrible as to have to choose which cherished person should die to save the other. Although in his case, it is the other way around, since he thinks all choices suck. Again these lines would be repeated by the chorus.

==Transcript==

:[The entire comic is a 4 by 9 grid. Left-justified headings above the 36 panels:]
:<big><big>Every Major's Terrible</big></big>
:to the tune of Gilbert & Sullivan's
:<big>Modern Major-General Song</big>
:(Which you may know from Tom Lehrer's ''Elements''.
:If not, just hum ''Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious''.)

:[To make it easier to read the lyrics, the lyrics text is double indented. If no one says the line it is just written after the description. Unless otherwise stated, the text is inside the frame of the panel above the drawing. If any other text is present it will be written after the lyrics.]

:[Panel 1: Cueball sitting with his chin on fist on a square, gray rock. Next to him is a mathematical expression "2 + a picture of yellow glowing light bulb = picture of Cueball in sailboat on a blue sea".]
::Philosophy's just math sans rigor, sense, and practicality
:Expression: 2+[lightbulb]=[sailboat]

:[Panel 2: A black and brown cannon standing on a green hill fires and a dashed line indicates the cannonball's trajectory. The line splits in two twice ending up at 4 cannonballs.]
::And math's just physics unconstrained by precepts of reality.

:[Panel 3: A student in robes and square academic cap receives a diploma from a dean on a brown podium, while Cueball, diploma in hand, runs away on the green lawn, arms in the air, shedding both robe and cap.]
::A business major's just a thing you get so you can graduate

:[Panel 4: Ponytail wearing goggles and holding a flask with the periodic table in the background. Three stars and circle lines around her head indicates that she is dizzy.]
::And chemistry's for stamp collectors high on methylacetate.

:[Panel 5: Cueball holds up his hands questioningly, in a shrugging pose.]
::Cueball: Why anyone who wants a job would study lit's a mystery

:[Panel 6: Cueball holding his chin.]
::Cueball: Unless their only other choice were something like art history.

:[Panel 7: The text is above this panels frame, which is only about two third of the other frames. In the frame is a close-up of Cueball as a graduate wearing yellow embroidered robe and yellow tasseled mortarboard.]
::A BA in communications guarantees that you'll achieve

:[Panel 8: The text is above this panels frame, which is only about two third of the other frames. In the frame is the same Cueball graduate, only now he is submerged in blue water. A wicker basket flows to the left, where air bubbles escape from Cueball. To the right are two black fish.]
::A little less than if you'd learned to underwater basket-weave

:[Panel 9: Cueball holding a gray frog at arm's length.]
::Cueball: I'd rather eat a Fowler's toad than major in biology,
:Frog: Ribbit

:[Panel 10: Megan indicating to the left a scruffy individual and an individual holding a chainsaw, and to the right a single scruffy individual holding a chainsaw.]
::Megan: And social psych is worse than either psych or sociology.

:[Panel 11: Cueball stands in front of a brown desk holding a gray course catalog. Behind the desk sits a man with glasses and hair at the back of his head. He sits on his gray office chair. There is a stack of papers on the desk.]
::Cueball: The thought of picking any one of these is too unbearable.

:[Panel 12: Same picture as panel 11, only now Cueball tosses the course catalog over his shoulder.]
::Cueball: Just put me down as "Undecided"—Every major's terrible.

:[Panel 13: The text is above this panels frame, which is only about two third of the other frames. In the frame is a seismograph chart with four traces; about halfway across one trace begins oscillating vigorously.]
::Now, if you can't prognosticate, that's OK in seismology,

:[Panel 14: A bearded man with white hair states a formula with his left arm lifted.]
::But if your hindsight's weak as well, you'd best stick to theology.
:Bearded man: X ∴ ∃X

:[Panel 15: Two lines with gray parenthesis.]
::CS will make each day a quest to find a missing close-paren.
:(((()((((()(
:))))())())())

:[Panel 16: Megan with a green biohazard symbol floating above her head stands alone; to the left and right three Cueball-like guys and Ponytail shun her.]
::Virology will guarantee you'll never get a hug again.

:[Panel 17: Megan running at a PC on a brown table at the left of the frame, with a brown and black axe raised over her head.]
::I.T. prepares you for a life of fighting with PCs nonstop.

:[Panel 18: The frame is a little smaller than the other frames. Above the frame is the first part of the text. In the frame is an image of a bearded man with glasses who says the rest of the text. ]
::As Pratchett said,
::Pratchett: "Geography's just physics slowed with trees on top."

:[Panel 19: A man with black hair plays on brown bongo drums while Blondie and Megan lean into the frame and look at him from left and right respectively.]
::Though physics seems to promise you a Richard Feynman-like career,

:[Panel 20: The text is above this panels frame, which is only about two third of the other frames. In the frame is screenshot of a wiki redirect page. Below the title is the normal text for such a page. This is unreadable though, although it is possible to imagine it is possible to read the first line which would say: ''From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia''. But not the other line which would be ''Redirect page''. Below this line is an arrow down to the page the redirect points to. This is written in blue underlined letters.]
::The wiki page for "Physics major" redirects to "Engineer."
:Wiki page:
::Physics major
:: Engineer

:[Panel 21: Flowchart: a gray-brown box with a sad face chains to a decision diamond reading simply "?"; the "yes" branch leads to a yellow happy-face box while the "no" branch loops back to the initial sad face.]
::They say to study history or find yourself repeating it,
:Flow chart:
::?
::No
::Yes

:[Panel 22: The text is above this panels frame, which is only about two third of the other frames. In the frame is Hairbun as a teacher with boxy spectacles and a bun in front of a green chalkboard with three years in white. She is holding a rod and using it to point at the board.]
::But all that it prepares you for is forty years of teaching it.
:Chalkboard:
::1935
::1969
::1991

:[Panel 23: Cueball at his adviser's desk again as in panel 12, but now without any catalog and holding his arms down.]
::Cueball: I recognize my four-year plan's at this point not repairable,

:[Panel 24: Same as panel 23 except Cueball has raised a first and the adviser has his hand to his mouth.]
::Cueball: But put me down as "Undecided"—Every major's terrible.

:[Panel 25: Image of a bald man with beard and glasses. He raised both hands one as a fist the other pointing up. There are lines out from his head to the left and lightning lines out from his head to the right.]
::Astronomers all cringe when they hear "supermoon" or "zodiac".

:[Panel 26: Silhouette of Cueball, agitated, in an open field near a fence and a tractor.]
::Agronomy's a no-go; I'm a huge agorophobiac.

:[Panel 27: Cueball looking aghast at a green snake on the ground, both hands at his mouth and sweat jumping from his head. The snake is "saying" a red heart with a black question mark next to it.]
::I'm too ophiophobic to consider herpetology,
:Snake: ♥ ?

:[Panel 28: Anatomical image of a stomach in pink and red.]
::And I can't stomach any part of gastroenterology.

:[Panel 29: A man with wild hair, glasses askew, clutching folders and papers (green, blue and white), and dropping several.]
:Man:
::While pre-med gives you twitchy-eyed obsession with your GPA,

:[Panel 30: Ponytail reciting poetry; her poem is this panel's line, in a lighter, lower-case font.]
::Ponytail: <tt>a poetry degree bespeaks bewildering naïveté.</tt>

:[Panel 31: The text is above this panels frame, which is only about two third of the other frames. The frame is a TV screen with the ''CSI: Miami'' logo, CSI in yellow.]
::TV's behind the rush into forensic criminology
:TV screen:
::''' CSI: '''
::'''Miami'''

:[Panel 32: A balding man wearing glasses and holding a smoking pipe together with Ponytail holding a notebook watch a wall-mounted flat-screen TV on which the ''CSI: Miami'' logo from the previous panel is showing.]
::(Or so claims meta-academic epidemiology).
:TV screen:
:: CSI:
::Miami

:[Panel 33: Cueball is talking with his left arm raised, palm up.]
::Cueball: By dubbing econ "dismal science" adherents exaggerate;

:[Panel 34: Close-up on Cueball with right arm up and one finger in the air.]
::Cueball: The "dismal"'s fine—it's "science" where they patently prevaricate.

:[Panel 35: As panel 23 with Cueball at his adviser's desk once more though with both hands held out in front of him. The adviser is holding his hand to the side of his head.]
::Cueball:In terms of choices, I'd say only Sophie's was comparable.

:[Panel 36: Same as panel 35 except that Cueball makes a final dramatic flair spreading both arms out.]
::Cueball:Just put me down as "Undecided"—Every major's terrible!

==Trivia==
In August of 2018, the comic was made to link [no it wasn't] to [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhaEjgnmy3c a video], which no longer exists due to the owner's account being terminated by YouTube.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Songs]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball‏‎]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan‏‎]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail‏‎]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people‏‎]]
[[Category:Supermoon]]
[[Category:Astronomy‏‎]]
[[Category:Biology‏‎]]
[[Category:Chemistry‏‎]]
[[Category:Computers‏‎]]
[[Category:Engineering]]
[[Category:Geography]]
[[Category:Geology]]
[[Category:Math‏‎]]
[[Category:Philosophy‏‎]]
[[Category:Physics‏‎]]
[[Category:Psychology‏‎]]
[[Category:Science‏‎ ]]
[[Category:Flowcharts]]
[[Category:Puns]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Wikipedia]]
[[Category:Comics edited after their publication]] 
[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]

3056: RNA

2025-02-26T23:19:49Z

172.68.3.68: /* Explanation */ link within explainxkcd

{{comic
| number = 3056
| date = February 26, 2025
| title = RNA
| image = rna_2x.png
| imagesize = 566x291px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = 2040s: RNA formed the basis for life each of the five known times it arose on the early Earth.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT FROM RNAWORLD. EARLY EXPLANATION THIS IS A BASE![''No, {{w|Uracil|this}} is a base!''] - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This is a comic about the evolution of our understanding of the relationship between {{w|DNA}} and {{w|RNA}} over time as we've done more research into how they figure into cellular and virus processes. In the 1960s, our understanding was limited to DNA, but as the frames progress, we realized RNA also did things, and it turned weird as we learned that RNA is almost more important than DNA. People now believe that life evolved as RNA and then evolved proteins and DNA later, this is called the "RNA world" theory.

The fourth panel explains that RNA seems to be the primary actor in life, and it merely uses DNA for permanent storage of information. In particular, DNA contains the genetic information that's copied when cells divide and when ova and sperm combine.

The title text extrapolates from the fourth panel into the 2040s, where humans have learned that RNA was responsible for the formation of life on earth, and that life formed on earth five times. Of course, we currently only know of one time which life formed on earth today.

RNA has been mentioned previously in [[2425: mRNA Vaccine]] and [[3002: RNAWorld]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[In each panel, Cueball is standing in front of a poster. On the poster there is a picture of a double helix (presumably DNA) and some illegible text, although the poster is different in each panel. Each panel has a header indicating the decade in which it takes place.]

:'''1960s'''
[Cueball has a hand up in an explanatory pose]
:Cueball: Life is based on DNA, which uses RNA to make proteins do stuff.

:'''1980s'''
:[Cueball faces towards the poster, with his hand on his chin.]
:Cueball: Also, the RNA does some stuff itself, which is weird.

:'''2000s'''
:[Cueball has his arms raised in the air.]
: Cueball: There are ''so'' many types of RNA. It's doing ''so'' much stuff.

:'''2020s'''
[Cueball has both his hands down]
:Cueball: Life is a seething mass of RNA that sometimes uses DNA to take notes.
:Person out of frame: What do the proteins do?
:Cueball: Errands for RNA.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Biology]]

3054: Scream Cipher

2025-02-21T19:31:11Z

172.68.3.68: Added a link to a Scream Cipher translator

{{comic
| number = 3054
| date = February 21, 2025
| title = Scream Cipher
| image = scream_cipher_2x.png
| imagesize = 287x416px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = AAAAAA A ÃA̧AȂA̦ ǍÅÂÃĀÁȂ AAAAAAA!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A ÃA̧ȂÁAǍẢÂA̋ ȦÅĀ - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
A {{w|Cipher}} is a method of encryption, where characters or sometimes words are substituted for other characters in a set pattern, allowing for arbitrary strings to be enciphered using it. The complexity and strength of ciphers varies, from {{w|one-time pads}} and {{w|enigma_(Cipher|Enigma}} as the strongest and most complex, to {{w|substitution ciphers}} as some of the weakest and least complex, where each character is simply given a set different symbol to represent it in the cipher.

This comic uses a subtitution cipher, where all the letters of the English Alphabet are represented using the letter A, with different {{w|diacritical marks}} to define the differences. This cipher would not make a very practical cipher in real life, as the similarities in the letters would make the cipher hard to read and easy to misread, and the detail in the diacritical marks would make it easy to draw the As incorrectly or ambigously, potentially leading to [[3003: Sandwich Helix|part of the message being lost.]]

It's named "Scream Cipher" (as a pun on stream ciphers, commonly used in computing) because the written form of a scream is a long string of As, possibly with some other characters at the end (and often an exclamation point for emphasis), such as "Aaaaaah!" or "Aaaaaaagh!". The name is not a reference to IBM's {{w|Scream_(cipher)|Scream cipher}} published in 2002.

In the comic, [[Cueball]] texts the cipher for "HELLO", and [[Megan]] responds with the cipher for "HI".

The title text deciphers to "AAAAAA A SCARY MONSTER AAAAAA!"

You can translate text to and from Scream Cipher using [https://github.com/matthewpwatkins/scream-cipher/ the Scream Cipher Translator].

Another recent comic featuring all A's was [[2957: A Crossword Puzzle]].

Unicode description of the cipher:

{|class="wikitable"
! Input !! colspan=2 | Substitution
|-
| U+0041 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A || A || '''U+0041 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A
|-
| U+0042 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER B || Ȧ || '''U+0226 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH DOT ABOVE
|-
| U+0043 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C || A̧ || U+0041 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A, U+0327 COMBINING CEDILLA
|-
| U+0044 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER D || A̲ || U+0041 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A, U+0332 COMBINING LOW LINE
|-
| U+0045 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER E || Á || '''U+00C1 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH ACUTE
|-
| U+0046 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER F || A̮ || U+0041 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A, U+032E COMBINING BREVE BELOW
|-
| U+0047 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER G || A̋ || U+0041 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A, U+030B COMBINING DOUBLE ACUTE ACCENT
|-
| U+0048 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER H || A̰ || U+0041 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A, U+0330 COMBINING TILDE BELOW
|-
| U+0049 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER I || Ả || '''U+1EA2 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH HOOK ABOVE
|-
| U+004A LATIN CAPITAL LETTER J || A̓ || U+0041 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A, U+0313 COMBINING COMMA ABOVE
|-
| U+004B LATIN CAPITAL LETTER K || Ạ || '''U+1EA0 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH DOT BELOW
|-
| U+004C LATIN CAPITAL LETTER L || Ă || '''U+0102 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH BREVE
|-
| U+004D LATIN CAPITAL LETTER M || Ǎ || '''U+01CD LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH CARON
|-
| U+004E LATIN CAPITAL LETTER N || Â || '''U+00C2 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH CIRCUMFLEX
|-
| U+004F LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O || Å || '''U+00C5 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH RING ABOVE
|-
| U+0050 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER P || A̯ || U+0041 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A, U+032F COMBINING INVERTED BREVE BELOW
|-
| U+0051 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Q || A̤ || U+0041 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A, U+0324 COMBINING DIAERESIS BELOW
|-
| U+0052 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER R || Ȃ || '''U+0202 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH INVERTED BREVE
|-
| U+0053 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER S || Ã || '''U+00C3 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH TILDE
|-
| U+0054 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER T || Ā || '''U+0100 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH MACRON
|-
| U+0055 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER U || Ä || '''U+00C4 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH DIAERESIS
|-
| U+0056 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER V || À || '''U+00C0 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH GRAVE
|-I'll
| U+0057 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER W || Ȁ || '''U+0200 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH DOUBLE GRAVE
|-
| U+0058 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER X || A̽ || U+0041 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A, U+033D COMBINING X ABOVE
|-
| U+0059 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Y || A̦ || U+0041 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A, U+0326 COMBINING COMMA BELOW
|-
| U+005A LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Z || Ⱥ || '''U+023A LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH STROKE
|}

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

:[Top of the panel has 26 letters of the alphabet, each followed by a hyphen and the letter "A" with a unique diacritical mark for each:]
:{|
|A - A
|-
|B - Ȧ
|G - A̋
|L - Ă
|Q - A̤
|V - À
|-
|C - A̧
|H - A̰
|M - Ǎ
|R - Ȃ
|W - Ȁ
|-
|D - A̲
|I - Ả
|N - Â
|S - Ã
|X - A̽
|-
|E - Á
|J - A̓
|O - Å
|T - Ā
|Y - A̦
|-
|F - A̮
|K - Ạ
|P - A̯
|U - Ä
|Z - Ⱥ
|}

:[Cueball and Megan typing on their phones, Cueball with two hands and Megan with one hand.]
:Cueball's phone: A̰ÁĂĂÅ
:Megan's phone: A̰Ả

:[Caption below the panel:]
:In the ''Scream Cipher'': AAAAAA A ÃA̧AȂA̦ ǍÅÂÃĀÁȂ AAAAAAA!
:Message consists of all As, with different letters distinguished using diacritics.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Cryptography]]

Talk:Randall Munroe

2025-01-15T15:20:29Z

172.68.3.68:

In comic 541 (TED Talk), Randall uses a Cueball character to refer to himself. How should this be included in the Wiki? Cited: http://xkcd.com/541/ [[User:AWiseGuy|AWiseGuy]] ([[User talk:AWiseGuy|talk]]) 21:50, 1 September 2012 (UTC)

:Hrm... I would suppose it would be something along the lines of this "In comic 541, Randall uses Cueball to refer to himeself." (with all of the links and stuff). Which is pretty exactly much what you wrote. That's how I think it should be done. But where to place it? Seeing as we have very little content as is, just put it at the bottom in the "main" part, and over time it'll fall into place as more content is added, probably. That's my two [insert monetary value here]s. {{User:Grep/signature|04:10, 25 February 2014}}

Randall needs a proper introduction here. This article should be much more serious — based on the English Wiki.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:25, 25 February 2014 (UTC)

I think Randall would find no higher compliment than to have a wiki article about him full of "citation needed" tags :D --[[User:Alcatraz ii|Alcatraz ii]] ([[User talk:Alcatraz ii|talk]]) 02:05, 11 October 2014 (UTC)
== Complete? ==

I'm not suggesting we're at that point right now, but what is the goal for this article to be deemed "complete?" as a bio of living person is rarely going to ever be "complete".

This is the xkcd wiki, so I would argue that if there was going to be a thorough and complete Randall article anywhere, it would be here... so at very least it probably ought to be more thorough than his general wikipedia page... [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 15:24, 7 July 2014 (UTC)

== Picture? ==

Just wondering where Randall's picture went... --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.63|173.245.54.63]] 15:33, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

== Quaker reference? ==

There is no reference for Munroe being a Quaker except a footnote in a joke comic. Additionally, engineering is an, um, /unusual/ career for a parent who is a Quaker. This is likely an attempt from Munroe to generate a case of citogenesis (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_citogenesis_incidents, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_reporting, https://xkcd.com/978/) as a small-scale Wikipedia prank. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 17:05, 9 May 2018 (UTC)
: It's true, and [https://slate.com/culture/2019/09/xkcd-randall-munroe-interview-how-to-book-wikipedia.html you got quoted in ''Slate!''] [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.145|172.70.210.145]] 16:04, 24 July 2022 (UTC)

== Our Savior ==

At some point, someone changed the caption for the picture to say "Our Savior". Whoever you are, congratulations. You got a chuckle out of me. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.90.67|172.69.90.67]] 15:56, 22 November 2021 (UTC)

== Wondering if we should add What if? 2 as upcoming ==

The title says it all.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.141|108.162.216.141]] 10:35, 7 September 2022 (UTC)
: Absolutely! How about in place of that nag trying to get us to expand [[1608: Hoverboard]]? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.94|172.69.34.94]] 03:58, 9 September 2022 (UTC)

== A couple of UK radio 'appearances'... ==

Might be worth a listing, on the proper page, but I leave it to someone else to work out how. Randall has featured in two (at least) BBC Radio 4 programmes ("programs", if you wish), in the last few days:
* The Infinite Monkey Cage, a general science-explainer-with-comedy show, this episode being around the theme of how to use mathematics in interesting ways. A somewhat anarchic (loosely planned) stream of thoughts in the presence of an audience.
* The Museum Of Curiosity, a comedy-interview/conversation show with a science bent. This is a more introverted casual conversation (no audience, but cross-talk) following its general template of first asking each guest a little about themselves and then asking them each to present 'something' as a talking point.
In both formats, Randall is one of a small panel of guests (and a pair of hosts, interestingly), and only directly contributes to about a third of each half-hour episode, but ends up talking about some of his work (especially about a lot of soup) in both. He's not the most talkative, in either case, but he holds his own and imparts his own wisdom sufficiently well. I haven't thoroughly searched yet to see if there were/will be more broadcasts with him in other BBC radio (or TV?) shows, while he was obviously at the forefront of the guest-bookers' thoughts; the [https://www.bbc.co.uk/search?q=Randall+Monroe obvious search] seems to be too title-orientated to extract "...with guest" mentions.

At least for the time being (and perhaps subject to some geographic browsing restrictions) the two episode links that might be useful (at least as a jumping-off point) are [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0f1wc06 here] and [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001jsdr here]. The former is also a published podcast, so should be freely found in that sphere of downloadables. And then there's the whole BBC Sounds platform, if you can and do access that. And the usual schedual of repeat broadcasts will happen, within the week. TIMC on Thursday (9/Mar/2023) 16:00GMT on R4, TMOC on Sunday (12/Mar) shortly after noon, ditto. (Further future readers might be lucky with somewhere like R4Extra having either series, if not precise episode, finding an archive slot at some handy but so far indeterminate point in their own near-futures.)

...anyway, FYI, for anyone who finds this useful news, or a point of historic record. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.64|172.71.178.64]]

Additional to the above: [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0024054 Curious Cases] (prev. "...of Rutherford and Fry", now Fry and Ó Briain) has Randall being one of the guest experts, providing some What If-ish advice starting from the basis of a question of how many lemons it would take to power a spaceship. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.122|172.68.205.122]] 15:39, 2 December 2024 (UTC)

== What If adaptation ==

What If books now have an official ongoing adaptation on Youtube, should it be added? Channel info says it's Neptune studios making it, not Randall personally, but without his approval it wouldn't have happened and it's still ''his''

https://youtube.com/channel/UC6IxnFzHofFJ5X2PycSMsww

[[Special:Contributions/162.158.102.213|162.158.102.213]] 09:05, 27 February 2024 (UTC)

== I understand why he doesn't edit here, but is he a reader? ==

Has he ever said anything about whether or how often he looks at explanations here? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.179|162.158.186.179]] 07:48, 26 September 2024 (UTC)
:If he had implied it, someone would surely mention it. But, if I were him, I wouldn't just from principle.
:More certainly, though, he's changed some comics based upon Xwitter feedback about (apparent) errors, yet there are certainly equal errors noted here that he hasn't done anything about, which suggests no. (Or else they fall beneath his threshold to bother with.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.94|172.70.91.94]] 13:41, 26 September 2024 (UTC)

== Navbox ==
Randall himself is listed among "Friends of Randall"? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.99|172.70.163.99]] 02:28, 30 September 2024 (UTC)

== What If? 10th Anniversary Edition page ==

It's been a few months since the book released, but this wiki contains no mention of it other than the one I added to the main part of this page. Should we start some kind of small project to either create it's own page on the wiki, as I left a stub link in there, or should we simply add mention of it or the original What If? book page? I also want to list the bonus chapter at some point in the list of articles, but I don't have a good idea of where to put it.
[[Special:Contributions/205.127.85.137|205.127.85.137]] 15:19, 15 January 2025 (UTC)