explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2386: Ten Years

2025-05-07T02:12:00Z

172.69.23.9: /* Explanation */ No, the stars are. ACtually, probably depends on the person viewing the image. So best not to declare a particular focus.

{{comic
| number = 2386
| date = November 16, 2020
| title = Ten Years
| before = [[#Explanation|↓ Skip to explanation ↓]]
| image = ten_years.png
| titletext = The ten-year cancerversary is traditionally the Cursed Artifact Granting Immortality anniversary.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Randall]]'s then-fiancée, now wife was diagnosed with cancer in late 2010. This is a matter he has discussed in the comic [[:Category:Cancer|multiple times before]], with Randall being depicted as Cueball and his wife as Megan. At this comic's release, it had been 10 years since her diagnosis and treatments.

This comic is a continuation of [[1141: Two Years]] and [[1928: Seven Years]], which are shown in the first 16 panels, slightly grayed out.

The first of the new panels shows Randall and his wife at a "Rabbit Rescue", interacting with buns ([[:Category:Buns|a recurring theme]] of xkcd). The purpose of such events is to get rescued (often surrendered or seized) rabbits or other animals used to interacting with each other and with unfamiliar humans under controlled circumstances, to help them be more suitable as pets and hopefully entice visitors to adopt them. Randall facetiously asks his wife if she thinks the rabbits have socialized enough, even though he and his wife are there for the sake of their own enjoyment (and she indicates that she would like to spend more time patting a bunny on its head).

In the next panel, Randall is pushing his wife in a handcart, which is presumably stolen. (As evidenced by the off-panel person asking if anybody has seen the handcart.)

The third new panel shows Randall and his wife exploring a mountain. They appear to have found something interesting, due to Megan pointing her finger towards something off-panel. It appears to be a reference to a similar climbing scene from [[1190: Time]].

The fourth panel shows Randall and his wife sitting on the edge of a pier, looking at the night sky. This is a typical romantic nighttime activity. The panel is distinguished because there was considerably more effort put into the drawing of this panel than of the other panels, by virtue of it being nighttime.

The final new panels show Randall and his wife sitting on a hill, talking about how they couldn't believe that she would make it to 10 years cancer-free, which according to [[881: Probability]] wasn't all that certain (77% probability -- [[2379: Probability Comparisons|the probability of picking an M&M out of a bag at random and getting one that isn't blue]]). Randall's wife voices a concern that she had seemingly been carrying for a while, that she was a burden to Randall, and explains that she couldn't understand why he would marry her, except as a show of grace. Randall firmly rejects this notion, stating that it was no mere gesture, but that it was important to him that they enjoy "whatever time we could have".

Finally, and as with the first comic in the series, the comic takes a light-hearted turn: because the table does not include values for probability of survival more than ten years after treatment, Randall's wife jokingly concludes that she is now immortal, perhaps thanks to a cursed artifact. Many anniversaries are traditionally marked by giving gifts, such as the {{w|silver jubilee}} after twenty-five years of marriage (or of a monarch's reign, or an employee's seniority within a company, or anything else). The tenth anniversary is traditionally associated with a tin gift (tin being a much more precious metal [https://www.bartleby.com/95/22.html in 1922] than it is today), but maybe Randall bought it at [[2376: Curbside|a cursed shop]].

The title-text expands on this final joke, as it suggests that there is an official name for this giving of cursed artifacts once the ten-year mark has passed. Also, it seems as though Randall has finally found [[1141: Two Years| a less-gross name]] for this anniversary than "biopsy-versary".

Cursed artifacts that cannot die were also mentioned in [[2332: Cursed Chair]].

==Transcript==
:'''From [[1141: Two Years]]'''
:[Randall (drawn as Cueball) and Randall's fiancée (drawn as Megan) sit on a bed, Randall's fiancée is talking on the phone. The person she is talking to, a doctor holding a clipboard, is shown inset.]
:Randall's fiancée: Oh god.

:[Randall and Randall's fiancée sit together while Randall's fiancée, now bald, is receiving chemotherapy. They are both on their laptops.]
:IV pump: ... Beeep ... Beeep ... Beeep ...

:[Randall and Randall's fiancée (who is wearing a knit cap) are paddling a kayak against a scenic mountain backdrop.]

:[Randall and Randall's fiancée sit at a table, staring at a cell phone. There is a clock on the wall. Her head is stubbly.]
:Randall's fiancée: How long can it take to read a scan!?

:[Randall and Randall's fiancée are back at the hospital again, Randall's fiancée receiving chemo. They are playing Scrabble.]
:Randall: "Zarg" isn't a word.
:Randall's fiancée: But ''caaaancer.''
:Randall: ...Ok, fine.

:[Randall and Randall's fiancée (wearing a knit cap) are listening to a Cueball-like friend. A large thought bubble is above their heads and it obscures the friends talk. The text below, split in three is the only part there can be no doubt about:]
:Friend: So next year you should come visit us up in the mounta
::a
::and
:Randall and Randall's fiancée (thinking): '''"Next year"'''

:[Randall and Randall's fiancée are getting married, with a heart above their heads. Randall's wife's hair is growing back.]

:[Randall and Randall's wife (wearing a knit cap) stand on a beach, watching a whale jump out of water.]
:''Fwoosh''

:'''From [[1928: Seven Years]]'''

:[Randall and Randall's wife (with her hair noticeably longer) are walking through a forest.]

:[Randall's wife is sitting down, not in the forest anymore.]
:Randall's wife: My toe hurts and I found a report of a case in which toe pain was an early sign of cancer spreading.
:Randall: Wait—didn’t you stub your toe yesterday?
:Randall's wife: Yes, but what if this is unrelated?

:[Randall and his wife are going spelunking. The guide is gesturing deeper into the cave while Randall and his wife are climbing down.]

:[Randall's wife stands on a rock above an alligator in a swamp, photographing the alligator. Randall is on a balcony behind safety railings.]
:Randall: When they estimated your survival odds, I think they made some optimistic assumptions about your hobbies.

:[Randall's wife sits on an examination bed, listening to a doctor holding a clipboard.]
:Doctor: This is probably nothing.
:Doctor: But given your history, we should do a full scan.
:Doctor: We'll call with the results in a few days. Try not to worry about it until then!

:[Randall and his wife stand above a deep pond full of fish and other objects. Randall's wife is piloting a wired underwater camera with lights.]

:[Randall and his wife are standing next to each other. Randall's wife has shoulder-length hair covering most of her face.]
:Randall's wife: Hard to believe—six years ago, I was bald. But today, after a long struggle, I finally look like the little girl from ''The Ring''.
:Randall: That's, uhh... good?
:Randall's wife: ''Hissssss''

:[A line of six people, including Randall and his wife, stand and watch the solar eclipse.]

'''New to [[2386: Ten Years]]''':
:[Randall and his wife are sitting in a room with five bunnies sitting around and on them. The Poster on the wall reads: Rabbit rescue.]
:Randall: Do you think they're socialized enough?
:Randall's wife: This one might need one more head pat.

:[Randall is running and pushing his wife on a hand cart.]
:Someone off-panel: Has anyone seen the hand cart?
:Randall's wife: Wheee!

:[Randall and his wife walks up hill with snowy mountains near by and in the background. his wife is gesturing to something ahead of them.]

:[A large dark panel, to the right of the previous three, to the left in two rows. Randall and his wife sits, leaning back on their hands looking up, at the end of a pier going into a lake. The end is broader and they sit to each side of the middle of the pier. It is night and behind the lake there is a forest of pine trees. Above the three is a clear starlit night sky with hundreds of stars and the band of the Milky Way clearly visible. The trees and some of the stars are reflected in the water of the lake, distorted by the movements of the water.]

:[Randall is sitting on a grassy field, a bit higher than his wife who lies on her back looking up.]
:Randall: You did it.
:Randall: Ten years.
:Randall's wife: It doesn't seem real.

:[Zoom in on Randall's wife, who is not longer lying down.]
:Randall's wife: When they showed me my 10-year survival chart, I really didn't believe I would make it here.
:Randall's wife: I don't understand why you married me when it looked so bad.
:Randall's wife: But it was very sweet.

:[In a frame-less panel Randall is standing in front of his wife, who is sitting on the ground, arm leaning on her bent knees.]
:Randall: You make it sound like an act of grace, and not something I desperately wanted to do and was worried I wouldn't get to.
:Randall: You're the coolest person I've ever met. I just wanted whatever time we could have.

:[Same setting but seen from a distance and in silhouette. Randall's wife has lifted her fist towards the sky, and it seems like Randall has turned away from her looking up.]
:Randall's wife: Well, good news, my hideous and inexplicable existence continues unabated! Take that, Biology!
:Randall's wife: You failed to kill me and now I can never die!
:Randall: Is... that how it works?
:Randall's wife: It was in the fine print on the chart.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:X Years]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Randall Munroe]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Doctor Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Cancer]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Solar eclipses]]
[[Category:Total Solar Eclipse 2017]]
[[Category:Buns]]
[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]
[[Category:Comics with cursed items]] 
[[Category:Characters with hats]]
[[Category:Video games]]

Talk:3049: Incoming Asteroid

2025-02-13T23:13:48Z

172.69.23.9: closest planet

Asteroids are surprisingly destructive even at small sizes - I remember reading somewhere that the Armageddon movie asteroid was supposed to be "the size of Arlington, Texas", but that it sounded too small so they changed it to "the size of Texas" which is a drastic size increase and also proportionally far more deadly. For scale, Arlington is 250 square km and Texas is 700 000 square km. The Chixulub asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs was between 10 and 15 km across. If it was a perfect circle, it would have an area of between 79 and 176 sq km. Arlington would be 18 km across, still within "species" range, and Texas would be 944 km across, clearly in "new moon" territory. But it _sounds_ much cooler! [[User:Zakator|Zakator]] ([[User talk:Zakator|talk]]) 22:32, 10 February 2025 (UTC)
:And that's for asteroids with normal speed (for asteroid, which is still kinda fast). The level of danger asteroid means is proportional to kinetic energy, meaning proportional to mass and SQUARE of speed, so if it's faster, it gets to extinction level even when small ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:29, 10 February 2025 (UTC)
:: "for asteroids with normal speed" - which is generally orbital velocity. If much faster, it would have left the solar system by now. If much slower, it has fallen into the Sun already. All objects (even Teslas) at a given distance soon have similar velocities. --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 00:04, 11 February 2025 (UTC)
::: It could be going at ''a'' speed (similar to Earth, give or take, for the sake of being on an Earth-incident orbit) and yet have such different effects. If basically following the Earth (or leading it), it'll be relatively gentle, at least before you start considering the Earth's (and the asteroid's, in the event it's significantly large) gravity well pulling it. Well, 'gentle' in comparison to one doing the 'same speed' but in the anti-orbit, for a full head-on impact. Course, that's why we need to think of velocities, and in particular the relative ones. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.241.37|172.71.241.37]] 01:31, 11 February 2025 (UTC)
:::Considering just two-body physics... Escape speed for the Sun at the distance of Earth's orbit is 42 km/s, so that's the upper limit anything is likely to be going (otherwise it's just got one shot at us). That would be something falling towards the Sun from a very large distance. If the asteroid is moving in the opposite direction as Earth, that gets added to Earth's orbital speed of 30 km/s, for a total of 72 km/s. On the other hand, Earth has an escape speed of 11 km/s at the surface, so that's the lower bound for an impact. A 6.5x factor on speed is about a 40x factor on impact energy. Which, I'm not sure exactly how that would scale devastation, but ... I'll take the low end for anything big, thanks. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.111.22|172.70.111.22]] 14:18, 11 February 2025 (UTC)
::::The upper limit is actually someting in the range of 500-600 km/s - for an interstellar object... That'd be an astronomically huge bad luck! Or should we consider an intergalactic rogue planet... -- [[User:Malgond|Malgond]] ([[User talk:Malgond|talk]]) 23:28, 11 February 2025 (UTC)
::::: ''ORRRR...'' we could go for getting crushed between ''two'' rogue planets moving at relativistic speeds in opposite directions! :-) [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 01:33, 12 February 2025 (UTC)

The 1m danger makes me think of the meteor impact that was caught on a home security camera last July in Prince Edward Island. But the Sky & Telescope article https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/hear-the-first-ever-recording-of-a-meteorite-slamming-into-the-ground/ says that it would have been only a 6-7 cm across. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 00:42, 11 February 2025 (UTC)

The sizes in the explanation are out of sync with the image. Has Randall updated it, or may it be location dependent? ~~Guest~~ 07:12, 11 February 2025 (UTC)
:I saw the comic before any explanation was put up and it was the same as it is now, all exactly powers of 10. But the labels aren't exactly at those spots, so people are probably estimating the exact point where the labels are at, though my interpretation would be that Randall meant for the labels to be attached to ranges rather than points. [[User:Tharkon|Tharkon]] ([[User talk:Tharkon|talk]]) 11:45, 11 February 2025 (UTC)
::Same here, all powers of 10. I don't think it makes any sense at all to guess at where on the axis the labels are meant to be when the labels themselves give an explicit number. The labels should probably be the ranges, eg "1cm to 10cm", "10cm to 1m" and so on.[[User:Mazz0|Mazz0]] ([[User talk:Mazz0|talk]]) 14:00, 11 February 2025 (UTC)
:::There are small markers between the labeled spots, so it's not unreasonable to estimate which marker the ellipsis points to. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:41, 11 February 2025 (UTC)

"Good news everyone! We were supposed to make a delivery to the planet Tweenis 12 but it's been completely destroyed!" [[Special:Contributions/162.158.94.203|162.158.94.203]] 11:24, 11 February 2025 (UTC)

It's not the first comic comparing our reaction to different scales of cosmic events, even though the asteroid "happiness level" does not peak like the supernova chart: https://xkcd.com/2878/ {{unsigned ip|172.69.195.172|21:14, 11 February 2025}}
:Indeed. This one peaks ''twice'', if taken at face value. ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.241.145|172.71.241.145]] 21:32, 11 February 2025 (UTC)

I'd noted that technically, when it comes to "asteroid collides with Earth" vs. "Earth collides with asteroid", neither is correct. In a centre-of-mass reference frame, the two objects collide. This was removed as "pedantry", but it seems appropriate to me. Thoughts? [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 01:29, 12 February 2025 (UTC)
:I would say if a smaller asteroid hit Earth then yes it collides with Earth. If two similar planet sized object hit each other, then I would say they collided with each other, and if Earth hit Jupiter I would say Earth collided with Jupiter. This may not be physically correct, but it is how language and meaning works. So I would say it was correctly removed. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:44, 12 February 2025 (UTC)

:: Yet the logic is reversed when talking about vehicles on Earth. You would say "the car collided with the bicycle" and "the train collided with the car" (or the car got hit ''by'' the train). "{Bigger object} collided with {smaller object}" in this case. --[[User:StapleFreeBatteries|StapleFreeBatteries]] ([[User talk:StapleFreeBatteries|talk]]) 23:26, 12 February 2025 (UTC)
:::Annoyingly, the standard phrase tends to be "the bike was in collision with a car", with the implication of perhaps equal fault, if not switched round entirely. Yes, a cyclist ''can'' be the one who "hits the blameless car", or pedestrian steps into the side of the passing cyclist (or car, bus, lorry, etc, potentially), but it's more often the other way round, and the balance of sympathies (regardless of who most erred, to result in the incident) should probably be considered by who is most damaged (trickier in foot vs bike incident, one is initially struck by a lump of metal with spinning bits and various hard protusions, the other may then be struck by(/strikes) the ground). [[Special:Contributions/172.71.241.37|172.71.241.37]] 00:09, 13 February 2025 (UTC)

Seemes there is little change between a 10cm and 1m astroid. The scale skips the 100cm step. It should be : 1cm, 10, ''100'', 1m [[Special:Contributions/172.68.243.66|172.68.243.66]] 12:09, 13 February 2025 (UTC)
:That is because 100 cm = 1 m. No step is skipped {{unsigned ip|172.70.126.169|15:22, 13 February 2025}}

Surely the other planet closest to Earth, on average, is Mercury? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.23.9|172.69.23.9]] 23:13, 13 February 2025 (UTC)

505: A Bunch of Rocks

2023-08-27T11:28:19Z

172.69.23.9: /* Trivia */

{{comic
| number = 505
| date = November 17, 2008
| title = A Bunch of Rocks
| image = a_bunch_of_rocks.png
| titletext = I call Rule 34 on Wolfram's Rule 34.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] awakens to find himself trapped for eternity in an endless expanse of sand and rocks. At first, he uses this time to derive all of mathematics and physics, plus more, including {{w|quantum mechanics}} and {{w|general relativity}}. Next Cueball creates a computer that can process any possible function, out of rocks and rules for the interaction between rocks. He then simulates a particle followed by the interactions between particles, followed by the entire universe. The amount of time it takes to simulate the change in the universe merely from one instant to the next takes an extremely long time, as the time it takes to update just one row of rocks would be eons, assuming a realistic time to place each rock.

Cueball is using the rocks to build a {{w|cellular automaton}}, a computational model based on simple rules to advance from one state to the next. Certain cellular automata are {{w|Turing-complete}}, which means that they can be used to represent any conceivable algorithm if expanded infinitely, including simulating the physics of the universe. He specifically seems to be running Wolfram's {{w|Rule 110}}, which is capable of universal computation. When using Rule 110 for universal computation, one builds a background pattern, which can be seen in the comic as the pattern of smaller triangles, and then performs computation by sending out "rockets" to collide and interact with each other. Cueball can simulate the functioning of an entire universe because he has unlimited time and space (and rocks).

Cueball then apologizes for any flaws we see in the simulation. This implies that the audience is living in Cueball's simulation, making Cueball essentially God, and that he might make mistakes along the way.

The final frame cuts to a classroom where a bored student stares at his hands waiting for class to end. Cueball admonishes the student for thinking that class is lasting forever, the joke being that the boredom felt in a classroom is nothing compared to the boredom that inspires Cueball to spend his endless time toiling to keep the universe moving. Indeed, the minutes of lecture actually took many "billions and billions of millennia" for Cueball to simulate. Another possible explanation is that the entirety of this comic is a fantasy in Cueball’s mind as he zones out during a math lecture.

The title text suggests that {{w|Rule 34 (Internet meme)|Rule 34}} should be called on {{w|Elementary cellular automaton#Random initial state|Wolfram's Rule 34}}. Rule 34 (see [[305: Rule 34]]) is a humorous rule of the Internet that states, "If you can imagine it, there is porn of it. No exceptions." Wolfram's Rule 34 is a cellular automaton. Therefore, the title text says that either someone has made pornography featuring the cellular automaton in question, or someone has used the cellular automaton to produce pornography.

===Graphs===
The three diagrams in the "Physics, too. I worked out the kinks..." panel are, from left to right:
# The {{w|Normal distribution}} of the {{w|Gaussian curve}} marking the points that represent a standard deviation of σ and 2σ. This is one of the fundamental building blocks of statistics. In quantum mechanics, particles are viewed as inherently random, therefore the time at which a particle will decay, the position of a particle, and its velocity are all calculated using similar curves. A deviation of at least σ occurs 32% of the time, while a deviation of 2σ or more occurs about 5% of the time.
# The {{w|Inclined plane#History|Epitaph of Stevinus}}, an explanation of the mechanical advantage of using an {{w|inclined plane}}. The inclined plane is one of the six classical {{w|simple machine}}s, one of the fundamental building blocks of mechanical and civil engineering.
# The last graph is unknown. It may represent coupled pendulums, {{w|length contraction}}, or a hypothetical solution to something we haven't derived yet.

The graph that represents particle interaction is a {{w|Feynman Diagram}}. This shows the interaction of subatomic particles that collide and exchange some momentum via a photon. The slope of the middle line represents the distance moved and the time lost/gained during the interaction.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is standing in a desert with lots of rocks lying around. He is narrating his own situation. The first panel spans the entire width of the comic. The first line of text is written to the left of him, the second line to the right.]
:So I'm stuck in this desert for eternity.
:I don't know why. I just woke up here one day.

:[The next four panels take up the second line of the comic.]
:[Cueball stand in the desert.]
:I never feel hungry or thirsty.

:[Cueball walks in the desert.]
:I just walk.

:[Zooming out while Cueball continues to walk in the desert.]
:Sand and rocks

:[Zooming far out as Cueball again just stands in the desert. First line of text, above him, is a continuation of the text in the previous panel. The second line is below him.]
:stretch to infinity.
:As best as I can tell.

:[The next three panels take up the third line of the comic. The last takes up half the width.]
:[Cueball is sitting in the desert, in a contemplative position. First line of text above him, the second below.]
:There's plenty of time for thinking out here.
:An eternity, really.

:[Cueball is sketching stuff in the sand. First line of text above him, the second below.]
:I've rederived modern math in the sand
:and then some.

:[Three different graph types are depicted. First line of text above them, the second below.]
:Physics too. I worked out the kinks in quantum mechanics and relativity.
:Took a lot of thinking, but this place has fewer distractions than a Swiss patent office.

:[The next eight panels take up the fourth and fifth lines of the comic. All pictures are the same size.]
:[Cueball is walking along the desert, laying out rocks on a line. Four have been deployed. He is laying down the fifth and has a sixth in his other hand.]
:One day I started laying down rows of rocks.

:[Cueball, with a rock in his hand, continues to deploy rock 16, in a more intricate pattern. There are grid-lines in the sand (5 rows, 6 columns), with each intersection either empty of filled with a rock. No rocks lay anywhere but at an intersection on the grid.]
:Each new row followed from the last in a simple pattern.

:[Zooming out showing even more laid out rocks. Cueball is seen directly from above, and we see his shadow falling on the grid of rocks (7 rows, 14 columns).]
:With the right set of rules and enough space,

:[Continues to zoom further out showing clear triangular patterns (with no rocks) in the laid out grid of rocks. Cueball is not seen. (8 rows, 42 columns). First line of text above the grid, the second line below.]
:I was able to build a computer.
:Each new row of stones is the next iteration of the computation.

:[Zooming far out (no Cueball) with rows intersected by five clear V lines on top of them. The V's are drawn inside each other, with the smallest V at the top right, and the other V's starting just to the right of the previous one, and then continuing the same distance past the previous V, as the total length of the first V. The "*" in the first line of text above this grid references to the footnote below written in a smaller font.]
:Sure it's rocks instead of electricity, but it's the same* thing. Just slower.
:<nowiki>*Turing-complete</nowiki>

:[Cueball stands in a contemplative pose (on a clean white background - i.e. no dessert).]
:After a while, I programmed it to be a physics simulator.

:[A black panel with white drawings and text. A small white dot (a particle) is labeled by two arrows coming of two binary strings.]
:Every piece of information about a particle was encoded as a string of bits written in the stones.
:00101010
:00101010

:[A Feynman diagram showing two particles interacting. Two arrows going in and out with a snaking line between them.]
:With enough time and space, I could fully simulate two particles interacting.

:[The next two panels take up the sixth line of the comic. The second panel takes up three-quarters of the width.]
:[Cueball standing before the vastness of the desert, with his programmed lines of rock stretching to infinity.]
:But I have <u>infinite</u> time and space.

:[A black panel with white drawings and text. Depiction of two large galaxies, one with four jets coming out of its center, the other a flat disc. Several smaller galaxies and/or stars are shown around them.]
:So I decided to simulate a universe.

:[The next four panels take up the seventh line of the comic. They are of similar widths.]
:[Cueball is walking by his grid of rocks, lines indicate he has just thrown another rock down in its place. It falls so hard it sinks into the sand that splashes out around it. The 14 rocks above him lie on the grid, four others below this grid have not been used yet.]
:The eons blur past as I walk down a single row.

:[Zoom far far out to show multiple rows of rocks. It is not very clear that there are several triangular patterns (with no rocks) in different sizes in the laid out grid of rocks. There are about 50 rows and 90 columns. There are six large triangles on top of each other at the left edge. To the right, there are three even larger triangles from top to bottom, the one in the middle further to the left than the one above, but further right than the bottom one.]
:The rows blur past to compute a single step.

:[Shows the placement of two particles in the simulation.]
:And in the simulation...

:[The two particles have moved just long enough as to not overlap with their previous positions, shown as an after-image with faint gray lines. The text continues directly the one from the previous panel.]
:another instant ticks by.

:[The next two panels take up the eighth line of the comic. They each take up half the width.]
:[A Cueball-like person (you) observes a mote of dust vanish.]
:So if you see a mote of dust vanish from your vision in a little flash or something

:[Cueball is standing between two rocks on the ground, while holding two rocks, one lifted up to his head. The first line of text is above him. It is a direct continuation of the text in the previous panel. The second line stands below to the right of him.]
:I'm sorry. I must have misplaced a rock
:sometime in the last few billions and billions of millennia.

:[Cueball stands in the "clean" part of his infinite desert, in front of the vastness of his infinity of infinite lines or rocks.]
:Oh, and...

:[A Cueball-like student sits in a classroom with his head in his hands, Megan sits behind him, and a teacher points to the blackboard. A clock shows the time at five minutes to ten.]
:If you think the minutes in your morning lecture are taking a long time to pass for <u>''you''</u>...

==Trivia==
*This comic is available as a signed print in the [https://store.xkcd.com/products/signed-prints xkcd store].
*The Swiss patent office line refers to {{w|Albert Einstein}}, who was employed as a Swiss patent clerk while coming up with his theory of special relativity. This joke is also referenced in [[1067|1067: Pressures]]. Also, there is a standing joke that very few important inventions have come from Switzerland, since the country hadn't been involved in the world wars, and thus has not been part of the weapons race, nor was it a driving force in the preceding Industrial Revolution.
*In the center of the comic, the binary numbers pointing to the particle are both 42. This is a reference to the comedic answer to the ''Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything'' from the ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' series.
*Cueball mentions that if we see an artifact flutter in and out of reality, he must have made a mistake in the last "billions and billions of millennia." This implies that the small period of time the artifact is present in his time is much longer than our universe has existed. That is a ''very'' long time. However, because it was a really long time, the difference could be [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_effect more than just a small mote of dust disappearing]. It is also possible, however, that it took billions of years to simulate an instant in our universe.
*The line "I've rederived modern math in the sand and then some," is possibly referring to "Surreal Numbers: How two ex-students turned on to pure mathematics and found total happiness" by Donald Knuth. The {{w|Surreal number}}s are a system of numbers that includes the familiar real numbers, but are infinitely more dense. Knuth wrote a novelette about a young couple who finds themselves stranded on a deserted island (much like Cueball), and spend much of their time deriving the properties of this number system from a few base axioms.

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