explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2650: Deepfakes

2022-07-27T14:44:14Z

172.69.33.51: /* Transcript */ position of hand

{{comic
| number = 2650
| date = July 25, 2022
| title = Deepfakes
| image = deepfakes.png
| titletext = If so great a deductive mind as Arthur Conan Doyle can be fooled by the Cottingley Deepfakes, what chance do we mortals have? Soon our very reality will be dictated by the whims of Frances (9) and Elsie (16).
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a SUBSTANDARD COPPER INGOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

A {{w|deepfake}} is an altered video, designed to deceive, by replacing a person in a video with someone else. [[White Hat]] believes that this technology will make it difficult to trust video evidence going forward. However, [[Cueball]] responds by saying that "fakes" have always existed, in photos (either through {{w|photoshopping|alterations by software such as Adobe Photoshop}}, or deliberately staging faked images, e.g. {{w|Loch Ness Monster#%22Surgeon's photograph%22 (1934)|of the Loch Ness Monster}}) and even more so by people simply lying. White Hat comes around to Cueball's position and says that even the written word is prone to deception and lying.

Scientific studies of deepfakes have produced surprising results, suggesting that they are more likely to increase uncertainty than persuade,[https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2056305120903408] that their increased prevalence could inoculate the public against {{w|disinformation}},[https://dspace.cuni.cz/handle/20.500.11956/150489] and that they are more likely to be shared because of their humorousness than persuasiveness.[http://essay.utwente.nl/91654/] Other studies have found that deepfakes are persuasive, especially among those who are unfamiliar with them.[https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/cyber.2020.0174][https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1780812]

The {{w|complaint tablet to Ea-nasir}} is a 3,800 year-old clay tablet containing the oldest known written complaint, in which a customer complains to a merchant, Ea-nasir, about the quality of his copper ingots. Cueball's last statement says that perhaps this complaint could have been a lie to begin with, and there was nothing wrong with Ea-nasir's wares. This supposition is arguably the humor of the comic, apart from the hyperbole of the title text.

The title text references the {{w|Cottingley Fairies}}, a series of five photographs produced in 1917 by two children, Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths, who were 16 and 9, respectively. The photographs appear to show the children playing with fairies in their garden. The photographs received widespread attention when Sir {{w|Arthur Conan Doyle}}, the author of the ''Sherlock Holmes'' stories, used the photos as proof of paranormal phenomena in a 1920 magazine article. Conan Doyle was noteworthy for being a strong proponent of reaching conclusions based on evidence and reason, and also held a deep belief in paranormal and supernatural phenomena. In 1983, Elsie and Frances finally confessed that the photos had been faked, by the simple process of posing cardboard figures cut out of a children's book. Due to technical advances, young children now can more easily create convincingly realistic fakes,{{cn}} but similarly there are many more self-styled 'experts' willing and able to dedicate themselves to 'proving' one or other side of any argument about authenticity.

A similar dilemma was alluded to in the [[1958: Self-Driving Issues]] comic, where technology does not create a new way to lie, but may make certain lies more convincing to some parties, such as self-driving cars in that comic.

==Transcript==
:[White Hat and Cueball are walking to the right.]
:White Hat: Thanks to deepfakes, soon we won't know what's real anymore. Video will become meaningless.

:[White Hat and Cueball walk on, Cueball lifts one hand with the palm up.]
:Cueball: I dunno.
:Cueball: We've had Photoshop for decades and staged photos for centuries.
:Cueball: It hasn't made photos meaningless.

:[Zoom in on Cueball, who is turned left towards off-panel White Hat.]
:Cueball: The bottleneck for fake stuff isn't technical. The bottleneck is willingness to lie.
:Cueball: "People lying" is a very old problem.
:Cueball: It's a known exploit.

:[Zoom back out on White Hat and Cueball who have stopped. White Hat has a hand on his jaw. Cueball holds his hands out to the sides.]
:White Hat: I guess technically we've been able to make '''''text''''' deepfakes for 5,000 years.
:Cueball: Maybe Ea-nasir's copper ingots were actually fine!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Photography]]

2650: Deepfakes

2022-07-26T11:27:37Z

172.69.33.51: /* Explanation */ pfft! "This file will not be in the public domain in its home country until January 1, 2059 and should not be transferred to Wikimedia Commons"

{{comic
| number = 2650
| date = July 25, 2022
| title = Deepfakes
| image = deepfakes.png
| titletext = If so great a deductive mind as Arthur Conan Doyle can be fooled by the Cottingley Deepfakes, what chance do we mortals have? Soon our very reality will be dictated by the whims of Frances (9) and Elsie (16).
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a DEEPFAKE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
A {{w|deepfake}} is an altered video, designed to deceive by replacing a person in a video. [[White Hat]] believes that this technology will make it difficult to trust videos. However, [[Cueball]] responds by saying that "fakes" have always existed, in photos (either through {{w|photoshopping|alterations by software such as Adobe Photoshop}}, or deliberately staging fakes images, e.g. {{w|Loch Ness Monster#%22Surgeon's photograph%22 (1934)|of the Loch Ness Monster}}) and even more so by people simply lying. White Hat comes around to Cueball's position and says that even the written word is prone to deception and lying.

Scientific studies of deepfakes have produced surprising results, suggesting that they are more likely to increase uncertainty than persuade,[https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2056305120903408] that their increased prevalence could inoculate the public against {{w|disinformation}},[https://dspace.cuni.cz/handle/20.500.11956/150489] and that they are more likely to be shared because of their humorousness than persuasiveness.[http://essay.utwente.nl/91654/] Other studies have found that deepfakes are persuasive, especially among those who are unfamiliar with them.[https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/cyber.2020.0174][https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1780812]

The {{w|complaint tablet to Ea-nasir}} is a 3,800 year-old clay tablet containing the oldest known written complaint, in which a customer complains to a merchant, Ea-nasir, about his copper ingots. Cueball's last statement says that perhaps this complaint could have been a lie to begin with, and there was nothing wrong with Ea-nasir's wares.

The title text references the {{w|Cottingley Fairies}}, a series of photographs of "fairies" by two children, Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths, who were 16 and 9, respectively. The photographs received widespread attention when Sir {{w|Arthur Conan Doyle}}, the author of the ''Sherlock Holmes'' series and noteworthy for his logical analysis alongside an unshakable belief in mysticism, used the photos as proof of paranormal phenomena in a 1920 magazine article. In 1983, Elsie and Frances confessed that the photos had been faked.

Unlike most xkcd comics, this one consists of sincere discussion arguably without any joke or other form of intentional humor, except for the hyperbole in the title text and the obscure references to the complaint and the fairies. Often White Hat says something that Cueball thinks is bad. But in this case he just discusses that it might not be as big a problem as White Hat fears. It may be that [[Randall]] just found a way of telling his followers about the oldest known written complaint and a fairy story hoax believed by a well known author.

==Transcript==
:[White Hat and Cueball are walking to the right.]
:White Hat: Thanks to deepfakes, soon we won't know what's real anymore. Video will become meaningless.

:[White Hat and Cueball walk on, Cueball lifts one hand with the palm up.]
:Cueball: I dunno.
:Cueball: We've had Photoshop for decades and staged photos for centuries.
:Cueball: It hasn't made photos meaningless.

:[Zoom in on Cueball, who is turned left towards off-panel White Hat.]
:Cueball: The bottleneck for fake stuff isn't technical. The bottleneck is willingness to lie.
:Cueball: "People lying" is a very old problem.
:Cueball: It's a known exploit.

:[Zoom back out on White Hat and Cueball who have stopped. White Hat has a hand on his chin. Cueball holds his hands out to the sides.]
:White Hat: I guess technically we've been able to make '''''text''''' deepfakes for 5,000 years.
:Cueball: Maybe Ea-nasir's copper ingots were actually fine!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Photography]]

2650: Deepfakes

2022-07-26T11:26:18Z

172.69.33.51: /* Explanation */ probably worth including the photo

{{comic
| number = 2650
| date = July 25, 2022
| title = Deepfakes
| image = deepfakes.png
| titletext = If so great a deductive mind as Arthur Conan Doyle can be fooled by the Cottingley Deepfakes, what chance do we mortals have? Soon our very reality will be dictated by the whims of Frances (9) and Elsie (16).
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a DEEPFAKE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
A {{w|deepfake}} is an altered video, designed to deceive by replacing a person in a video. [[White Hat]] believes that this technology will make it difficult to trust videos. However, [[Cueball]] responds by saying that "fakes" have always existed, in photos (either through {{w|photoshopping|alterations by software such as Adobe Photoshop}}, or deliberately staging fakes images, e.g. {{w|Loch Ness Monster#%22Surgeon's photograph%22 (1934)|of the Loch Ness Monster}}) and even more so by people simply lying. White Hat comes around to Cueball's position and says that even the written word is prone to deception and lying.

Scientific studies of deepfakes have produced surprising results, suggesting that they are more likely to increase uncertainty than persuade,[https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2056305120903408] that their increased prevalence could inoculate the public against {{w|disinformation}},[https://dspace.cuni.cz/handle/20.500.11956/150489] and that they are more likely to be shared because of their humorousness than persuasiveness.[http://essay.utwente.nl/91654/] Other studies have found that deepfakes are persuasive, especially among those who are unfamiliar with them.[https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/cyber.2020.0174][https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1780812]

The {{w|complaint tablet to Ea-nasir}} is a 3,800 year-old clay tablet containing the oldest known written complaint, in which a customer complains to a merchant, Ea-nasir, about his copper ingots. Cueball's last statement says that perhaps this complaint could have been a lie to begin with, and there was nothing wrong with Ea-nasir's wares.

[[File:Cottingley Fairies 1.jpg|thumb|alt=photo|One of the five fake Cottingley photographs, taken by Elsie Wright in 1917, shows Frances Griffiths with the alleged fairies.]]

The title text references the {{w|Cottingley Fairies}}, a series of photographs of "fairies" by two children, Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths, who were 16 and 9, respectively. The photographs received widespread attention when Sir {{w|Arthur Conan Doyle}}, the author of the ''Sherlock Holmes'' series and noteworthy for his logical analysis alongside an unshakable belief in mysticism, used the photos as proof of paranormal phenomena in a 1920 magazine article. In 1983, Elsie and Frances confessed that the photos had been faked.

Unlike most xkcd comics, this one consists of sincere discussion arguably without any joke or other form of intentional humor, except for the hyperbole in the title text and the obscure references to the complaint and the fairies. Often White Hat says something that Cueball thinks is bad. But in this case he just discusses that it might not be as big a problem as White Hat fears. It may be that [[Randall]] just found a way of telling his followers about the oldest known written complaint and a fairy story hoax believed by a well known author.

==Transcript==
:[White Hat and Cueball are walking to the right.]
:White Hat: Thanks to deepfakes, soon we won't know what's real anymore. Video will become meaningless.

:[White Hat and Cueball walk on, Cueball lifts one hand with the palm up.]
:Cueball: I dunno.
:Cueball: We've had Photoshop for decades and staged photos for centuries.
:Cueball: It hasn't made photos meaningless.

:[Zoom in on Cueball, who is turned left towards off-panel White Hat.]
:Cueball: The bottleneck for fake stuff isn't technical. The bottleneck is willingness to lie.
:Cueball: "People lying" is a very old problem.
:Cueball: It's a known exploit.

:[Zoom back out on White Hat and Cueball who have stopped. White Hat has a hand on his chin. Cueball holds his hands out to the sides.]
:White Hat: I guess technically we've been able to make '''''text''''' deepfakes for 5,000 years.
:Cueball: Maybe Ea-nasir's copper ingots were actually fine!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Photography]]

2650: Deepfakes

2022-07-26T04:58:28Z

172.69.33.51: /* Explanation */

2650: Deepfakes

2022-07-26T04:32:38Z

172.69.33.51: /* Transcript */ cats

2649: Physics Cost-Saving Tips

2022-07-24T09:41:03Z

172.69.33.51: /* Explanation */ plural anticedent

{{comic
| number = 2649
| date = July 22, 2022
| title = Physics Cost-Saving Tips
| image = physics_cost_saving_tips.png
| titletext = I got banned from the county fair for handing out Helium-2 balloons. Apparently the instant massive plasma explosions violated some local ordinance or something.
}}

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

This comic is another one of [[Randall|Randall's]] [[:Category:Tips|Tips]], this time to reduce costs or provide something for free for physicists to save money on their research. None of these would provide any real advantages even when possible to implement. It continues the previous [[2648: Chemicals]] comic's jocular theme of tricks to supposedly save money based on misinterpretations of science. Obtaining money from physics experiments was also described in [[2007: Brookhaven RHIC]].

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! scope="col" |Cost-Saving Tip
! scope="col" |Explanation
|-
|Try replacing regular vectors with pseudovectors whenever possible
|[[File:Torque animation.gif|frame|right|Relationship of pseudovectors {{w|torque}} ('''τ''') and {{w|angular momentum}} ('''L''') to "regular" Euclidian vectors {{w|Position (vector)|position}} ('''r'''), {{w|force}} ('''F'''), and {{w|momentum}} ('''p''') in an oscillatory rotating system.]]

The prefix "pseudo-" refers to an inauthentic variation of something. Fakes are usually cheaper than their original brand-name product, while often working just as well, so the comic implies a {{w|pseudovector}} could be a less expensive substitute for a regular vector. On the contrary, pseudovectors, or axial vectors, are distinct from regular {{w|Euclidean vector}}s, the former usually being involved with rotation or physical effects that share properties with rotation, similar to the relationship between angles and lengths. Pseudovectors are formed from the {{w|cross product}}s of Euclidean vectors, in three dimensions, and while similar to Euclidean vectors, there is no physical meaning to their specific direction, only their magnitude and portions of their position. For example, {{w|angular momentum}} is described by a pseudovector, labeled '''L''' in the comic, {{w|Normal (geometry)|normal}} to the {{w|plane of rotation}}, originating from the center of rotation, with magnitude equal to the angular velocity of rotation '''ω''' multiplied by the {{w|moment of inertia}} '''I'''. (The comic's diagram is drawn according to very uncommon {{w|Right-hand rule#Coordinates|left-handed coordinates}} instead of the standard {{w|right-hand rule}}. Randall is right-handed.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1tcyEo2tQk&t=28s])
|-
|A square wave can be broken down into an infinite supply of valuable sine waves
|{{w|Fourier analysis}} can decompose any periodic function into a series of {{w|sine wave}}s. A {{w|square wave}} can thereby be represented as the sum of an infinite series of sine waves. However, the sine waves are not removed or separated individually, so such a {{w|Fourier transform}} does not produce a "supply" of sine waves for practical use in any tasks other than analysis, and as abstract mathematical objects exempt from the laws of supply and demand, their value is similarly limited.
|-
|Cut waste by buying lighter isotopes that don't have any dead-weight neutrons
|Chemical elements are identified by the number of protons in each atomic nucleus, equal to the number of electrons in their shell (unless the atom is ionized), which dictates most of their chemical behavior. {{w|Isotopes}} are variants of the element with different numbers of neutrons in the nucleus, among which chemical behavior is usually nearly identical. The comic suggests that the neutrons don't serve any useful purpose, so, in theory, if purchasing an element by weight, and its isotopes have the same price per unit weight, then you can save money by buying isotopes with no neutrons at all. In reality, the cost per unit weight for material containing a larger concentration of normally rare isotopes, such as {{w|heavy water}} or {{w|enriched uranium}}, is much higher than the cost of material containing isotopes in their ordinary proportions. (An exception is {{w|depleted uranium}}, which costs less than regular uranium because it is a byproduct of the production of enriched uranium.) In addition, a certain range of neutron quantity is needed to keep atoms stable, as atoms with too many or too few neutrons will decay more quickly than the common isotopes. The image shown is helium-2, an {{w|Isotopes of helium|isotope of helium}} which has a half-life of less than a nanosecond. It decays into two ionized hydrogen atoms, releasing a large amount of energy—hence the explosion mentioned in the title text.
|-
|Conductors are a great source of free electrons (may carry charges)
|{{w|Charge carrier|Free}} {{w|electron}}s are electrons that are not tightly bound to specific atoms so they can move freely, such as in {{w|conduction band}}s of the {{w|metallic bond}}s throughout the iron ingot depicted in the comic. Randall interprets "free" in a different sense, meaning no cost. The charges free electrons carry are electric, not monetary as implied by the pun.
|}

In the title text, Randall claims to have been banned from the county fair for handing out helium-2 balloons because of the instant massive explosions caused by its radioactive decay. He jokes they violated a local ordinance. Helium balloons are often given out at county fairs and similar events, but they are filled with helium-4 and therefore inert. If a balloon was filled with helium-2, the results would be instantly explosive, comparable to about 70 tons of {{w|TNT}}. In comparison, the {{w|2020 Beirut explosion}} was equivalent to around 500 tons of TNT. Handing out what are effectively small atomic bombs at a county fair would not go down well with any surviving local authorities, so merely being banned is a very mild punishment. Criminal charges such as mass murder and terrorism would be more likely, if it weren't for the sub-nanosecond fuse length rendering the scenario absurdly impossible.

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

:[Title]
:Physics Cost-Saving Tips

:[A diagramatical spinning disc, at an angle]
:[It is identified with an 'I', with a dotted axial arrow labelled 'L' and a rotational movement labelled 'ω' (small omega)]
:[It sits on the left, and to the right of this is text...]
:Try replacing regular vectors with pseudovectors whenever possible

:[A square wave with three maxima (between four minima), and arrows pointing down into a collection of five sine waves of different wavelengths]
:[One of the waves having the same frequency as the square wave and the rest of them are of shorter lengths with more peaks and troughs]
:[It sits on the right, and to the left of this is text...]
:A square wave can be broken down into an infinite supply of valuable sine waves

:[Two atomic models]
:[The left containing two protons (white with a "+" sign), two neutrons (black) and orbited by two electrons (small outlines, dotted orbits/movement lines), labelled below with the text of superscript atomic weight and element symbol]
:4He
:[The right model has just the two protons and the two electrons, labelled below with the text of an atomic weight and elemental symbol, and some subtext within brackets]
:2He
:(Decays fast - use quickly)
:[Both models sit on the left of the comic, and to the right is text...]
:Cut waste by buying lighter isotopes that don't have any dead-weight neutrons

:[A flat rectangular bar, drawn in perspective with a scattering of dots/small circles on the top face and on the forward-facing one the label]
:Iron
:[An arrow points to the dots, from the text...]
:Free electrons
:[It sits to the right, and there is text to the left...]
:Conductors are a great source of free electrons
:(May carry charges)

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Tips]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]

2649: Physics Cost-Saving Tips

2022-07-24T09:32:40Z

172.69.33.51: /* Explanation */ the electrons aren't consumed, but they're unlikely to stay bound

{{comic
| number = 2649
| date = July 22, 2022
| title = Physics Cost-Saving Tips
| image = physics_cost_saving_tips.png
| titletext = I got banned from the county fair for handing out Helium-2 balloons. Apparently the instant massive plasma explosions violated some local ordinance or something.
}}

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

This comic is another one of [[Randall|Randall's]] [[:Category:Tips|Tips]], this time to reduce costs or provide something for free for physicists to save money on their research. None of these would provide any real advantages even when possible to implement. It continues the previous [[2648: Chemicals]] comic's jocular theme of tricks to supposedly save money based on misinterpretations of science. Obtaining money from physics experiments was also described in [[2007: Brookhaven RHIC]].

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! scope="col" |Cost-Saving Tip
! scope="col" |Explanation
|-
|Try replacing regular vectors with pseudovectors whenever possible
|[[File:Torque animation.gif|frame|right|Relationship of pseudovectors {{w|torque}} ('''τ''') and {{w|angular momentum}} ('''L''') to "regular" Euclidian vectors {{w|Position (vector)|position}} ('''r'''), {{w|force}} ('''F'''), and {{w|momentum}} ('''p''') in an oscillatory rotating system.]]

The prefix "pseudo-" refers to an inauthentic variation of something. Fakes are usually cheaper than their original brand-name product, while often working just as well, so the comic implies a {{w|pseudovector}} could be a less expensive substitute for a regular vector. On the contrary, pseudovectors, or axial vectors, are distinct from regular {{w|Euclidean vector}}s, the former usually being involved with rotation or physical effects that share properties with rotation, similar to the relationship between angles and lengths. Pseudovectors are formed from the {{w|cross product}}s of Euclidean vectors, in three dimensions, and while similar to Euclidean vectors, there is no physical meaning to their specific direction, only their magnitude and portions of their position. For example, {{w|angular momentum}} is described by a pseudovector, labeled '''L''' in the comic, {{w|Normal (geometry)|normal}} to the {{w|plane of rotation}}, originating from the center of rotation, with magnitude equal to the angular velocity of rotation '''ω''' multiplied by the {{w|moment of inertia}} '''I'''. (The comic's diagram is drawn according to very uncommon {{w|Right-hand rule#Coordinates|left-handed coordinates}} instead of the standard {{w|right-hand rule}}. Randall is right-handed.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1tcyEo2tQk&t=28s])
|-
|A square wave can be broken down into an infinite supply of valuable sine waves
|{{w|Fourier analysis}} can decompose any periodic function into a series of {{w|sine wave}}s. A {{w|square wave}} can thereby be represented as the sum of an infinite series of sine waves. However, the sine waves are not removed or separated individually, so such a {{w|Fourier transform}} does not produce a "supply" of sine waves for practical use in any tasks other than analysis, and as abstract mathematical objects exempt from the laws of supply and demand, their value is similarly limited.
|-
|Cut waste by buying lighter isotopes that don't have any dead-weight neutrons
|Chemical elements are identified by the number of protons in each atomic nucleus, equal to the number of electrons in their shell (unless the atom is ionized), which dictates most of their chemical behavior. {{w|Isotopes}} are variants of the element with different numbers of neutrons in the nucleus, among which chemical behavior is usually nearly identical. The comic suggests that the neutrons don't serve any useful purpose, so, in theory, if purchasing an element by weight, and its isotopes have the same price per unit weight, then you can save money by buying isotopes with no neutrons at all. In reality, the cost per unit weight for material containing a larger concentration of normally rare isotopes, such as {{w|heavy water}} or {{w|enriched uranium}}, is much higher than the cost of material containing isotopes in their ordinary proportions. (An exception is {{w|depleted uranium}}, which costs less than regular uranium because it is a byproduct of the production of enriched uranium.) In addition, a certain range of neutron quantity is needed to keep atoms stable, as atoms with too many or too few neutrons will decay more quickly than the common isotopes. The image shown is helium-2, an {{w|Isotopes of helium|isotope of helium}} which has a half-life of less than a nanosecond. It decays into two ionized hydrogen atoms, releasing a large amount of energy—hence the explosion mentioned in the title text.
|-
|Conductors are a great source of free electrons (may carry charges)
|{{w|Charge carrier|Free}} {{w|electron}}s are electrons that are not tightly bound to specific atoms so they can move freely, such as in {{w|conduction band}}s of the {{w|metallic bond}}s throughout the iron ingot depicted in the comic. Randall interprets "free" in a different sense, meaning no cost. The charges free electrons carry are electric, not monetary as implied by the pun.
|}

In the title text, Randall claims to have been banned from the county fair for handing out helium-2 balloons because of the instant massive explosions caused by its radioactive decay. He jokes that violated a local ordinance. Helium balloons are often given out at county fairs and similar events, but they are filled with helium-4 and therefore inert. If a balloon was filled with helium-2, the results would be instantly explosive, comparable to about 70 tons of {{w|TNT}}. In comparison, the {{w|2020 Beirut explosion}} was equivalent to around 500 tons of TNT. Handing out what are effectively small atomic bombs at a county fair would not go down well with any surviving local authorities, so merely being banned is a very mild punishment. Criminal charges such as mass murder and terrorism would be more likely, if it weren't for the sub-nanosecond fuse length rendering the scenario absurdly impossible.

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

:[Title]
:Physics Cost-Saving Tips

:[A diagramatical spinning disc, at an angle]
:[It is identified with an 'I', with a dotted axial arrow labelled 'L' and a rotational movement labelled 'ω' (small omega)]
:[It sits on the left, and to the right of this is text...]
:Try replacing regular vectors with pseudovectors whenever possible

:[A square wave with three maxima (between four minima), and arrows pointing down into a collection of five sine waves of different wavelengths]
:[One of the waves having the same frequency as the square wave and the rest of them are of shorter lengths with more peaks and troughs]
:[It sits on the right, and to the left of this is text...]
:A square wave can be broken down into an infinite supply of valuable sine waves

:[Two atomic models]
:[The left containing two protons (white with a "+" sign), two neutrons (black) and orbited by two electrons (small outlines, dotted orbits/movement lines), labelled below with the text of superscript atomic weight and element symbol]
:4He
:[The right model has just the two protons and the two electrons, labelled below with the text of an atomic weight and elemental symbol, and some subtext within brackets]
:2He
:(Decays fast - use quickly)
:[Both models sit on the left of the comic, and to the right is text...]
:Cut waste by buying lighter isotopes that don't have any dead-weight neutrons

:[A flat rectangular bar, drawn in perspective with a scattering of dots/small circles on the top face and on the forward-facing one the label]
:Iron
:[An arrow points to the dots, from the text...]
:Free electrons
:[It sits to the right, and there is text to the left...]
:Conductors are a great source of free electrons
:(May carry charges)

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Tips]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]

981: Porn Folder

2022-07-22T22:46:54Z

172.69.33.51: Undo revision 290089 by 172.70.82.139 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 981
| date = November 23, 2011
| title = Porn Folder
| image = porn_folder.png
| titletext = Eww, gross, you modified link()? How could you enjoy abusing a filesystem like that?
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] seems to have found a porn folder. However, it contains a directory loop, set up by a person off-screen. It is possible to actually do this, but it is widely regarded as a very bad idea, as it can break the system in not-so-obvious ways (mostly by causing seemingly-trivial operations to infinite loop). The implication is that the folder does not need to contain pornographic images because the folder ''is'' the porn—its violation of the taboo against looping is something the off-screen character finds erotic.

<code>link()</code> is the Linux system call to create a hard link. In an unmodified Linux kernel, it will not allow directory hard links for this exact reason; the person who set up the porn folder apparently "forced" Linux to comply, with all of the sexual analogies that suggests.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball sits at a desk, looking at a laptop screen with one hand on his chin.]
:Cueball: So I thought I found your porn folder, in calendar/backup/PORN/
:Friend (off screen): Don't open that!

:[A wider shot of the person looking at the laptop.]
:Cueball: But it contains a bunch more folders, filled with more folders, and then... after 20 levels, somehow I'm back at the main folder?
:Friend (off screen): It's, uh, well hidden.

:[Cueball has turned around in the chair, now with the laptop in his lap.]
:Cueball: I think there's no actual porn here.
:Cueball: You're just turned on by filesystems.
:Friend (off screen): It's a hardlinked directory loop - so taboo!
:Cueball: Now I feel dirty sharing a drive with you.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Recursion]]
[[Category:Linux]]
[[Category:Language]]

1976: Friendly Questions

2022-07-22T22:46:43Z

172.69.33.51: Undo revision 290091 by 172.70.82.139 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 1976
| date = April 4, 2018
| title = Friendly Questions
| image = friendly_questions.png
| titletext = Just tell me everything you're thinking about in order from most important to last, and then we'll be friends and we can eat apples together.
}}

==Explanation==
A common theme in xkcd is [[:Category:Social interactions|social awkwardness]]. Oftentimes [[Cueball]]/[[Randall]] will grossly overthink casual social interactions, such as small talk.

In this comic, Cueball has prepared a note to himself, preparing for the said small talk with [[Hairy]], but it ultimately backfires. This is very similar to the comic [[1961: Interaction]] which came out just 5 weeks before this one. And a similar interaction between Cueball and Hairy occurs in [[1917: How to Make Friends]] from less than half a year before this comic.

In this comic, Cueball has prepared for a conversation with Hairy, by writing an instructional note for himself. The note tells him to start the conversation by asking some questions about the other person. In theory, this is perfectly good conversational advice; unfortunately, Cueball's understanding of social interactions is so abstract that he actually has no idea ''what'' questions to ask. He hastily improvises a question about the number of apples Hairy has eaten in his lifetime, which, although it does meet the criteria suggested by the note, is not a particularly interesting or meaningful question to ask someone. Cueball realizes from Hairy's reaction that he has made a mistake, and decides to abort the interaction.

Normally, one would ask questions such as "How are you?" or "What have you been up to lately?", instead of asking random facts of someone else's life, such as "How many apples have you eaten in your life?"{{Citation needed}}

The title text continues to show the flaws in Cueball's approach to social interaction, which is very systematic: he seems to trying to create some kind of reproducible methodology that he can follow in order to carry out a conversation, unaware that conversations tend to be spontaneous and do not follow rigidly defined rules. Additionally, one of the main points of conversation is to gain some understanding of the other person; by focusing on the conversation ''itself'', Cueball is denying the very purpose of the interaction.

A slight side-joke is the list being numbered despite only containing one item, although this could imply that Cueball has other notes that he would have continued to refer to if the first one produced a successful result.

The advice to "Ask them about themselves", specifically noted as the "first thing" after introducing yourself, was promoted to overcome society anxiety in the {{w|Periscope}}-based videocast of {{w|Scott Adams}}, creator of the ''{{w|Dilbert}}'' comic strip (see audio-only podcast [http://blog.dilbert.com/2018/04/04/episode-12-youtube-shooter-amazon-com-trade-war-and-overcoming-social-anxiety/]). Given Randall's personality and previous professional vocation (working with nerds at {{w|NASA}} and in academia), it is highly likely he would be a fan of the strip and also the creator's related works such as Adams's blog, Twitter feed, and the like. The real coincidence is the videocast in question likely occurred ''just a day before this comic was published''; the audio was published the same day as the comic and usually delays the video by a day.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Hairy meet each other.]
:Cueball: Hey!
:Hairy: Oh, hi!

:[Cueball looks down at a sticky note in his hand.]

:[The yellow sticky note reads:]
:Normal human conversation
:<hr width="150" style="background-color:black" align="left">
:1. Ask them about themselves

:[Cueball looks at Hairy.]
:Cueball: How many...apples...have you eaten?
:Hairy: ...Like, in my life?
:Cueball: Yes.
:Hairy: ...
:Cueball: ...I should go.
:Hairy: OK.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Social interactions]]

1: Barrel - Part 1

2022-07-22T22:46:32Z

172.69.33.51: Undo revision 290093 by 172.70.82.139 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 1
| date = September 30, 2005
| title = Barrel - Part 1
| image = barrel_cropped_(1).jpg
| titletext = Don't we all.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic shows a young boy floating in a barrel in an ocean that doesn't have a visible end. It comments on the unlikely optimism and perhaps naïveté people sometimes display. The boy is completely lost and seems hopelessly alone, without any plan or control of the situation. Yet, rather than afraid or worried, he is instead quietly curious: "I wonder where I'll float next?" Although not necessarily the situation in this comic, this is a behavior people often exhibit when there is nothing they can do about a problematic situation for a long time; they may have given up hope or developed a cavalier attitude as a coping mechanism.

The title text expands on the philosophical content, with the boy representing the average human being: wandering through life with no real plan, quietly optimistic, always opportunistic and clueless as to what the future may hold.

The isolation of the boy may also represent the way in which we often feel lost through life, never knowing quite where we are, believing that there is no one to whom to turn. This comic could also reflect on Randall's feelings towards creating xkcd in the first place; unsure of what direction the web comic would turn towards, but hopeful that it would eventually become the popular web comic that we know today.

This is the first in a six-part series of comics whose parts were randomly published during the first several dozen strips. The series features a [[:Category:Barrel|character]] that is not consistent with what would quickly become the [[xkcd]] [[stick figure]] style. The character is in a barrel.

In [[1110: Click and Drag]] there is a reference to this comic at {{1110|1|n|48|e}}.

After Randall released the full [http://liveweb.archive.org/web/20070207052159/http://www.xkcd.com/barrel.html The Boy and his Barrel] story on xkcd, it has been clear that the original [[Ferret]] story should also be included as part of the barrel series.

The full series can be found [[:Category:Barrel|here]]. They are listed below in the order Randall chose for the short story above:
* [[1: Barrel - Part 1]]
* [[20: Ferret]]
* [[11: Barrel - Part 2]]
* [[22: Barrel - Part 3]]
* [[25: Barrel - Part 4]]
* [[31: Barrel - Part 5]]

==Transcript==
:[A boy sits in a barrel which is floating in an ocean.]
:Boy: i wonder where i'll float next?

:[A smaller frame with a zoom out of the boy in the barrel seen from afar. The barrel drifts into the distance. Nothing else can be seen.]

==Trivia==
*This was the 5th comic originally posted to [[LiveJournal]].
**The previous comic was [[2: Petit Trees (sketch)]].
**The next was [[24: Godel, Escher, Kurt Halsey]].
*The original title was "Barrel".
*Original [[Randall]] quote: "He's fairly upbeat about the situation!"
*This was one of the [[:Category:First day on LiveJournal|thirteen first comics]] posted to LiveJournal within 12 minutes on Friday September 30, 2005.
*This comic was posted on [[xkcd]] when the web site opened on Sunday the 1st of January 2006.
**It was posted along [[:Category:First day on xkcd|with all 41 comics]] posted before that on LiveJournal as well as a few others.
**The latter explaining why the numbers of these 41 LiveJournal comics ranges from 1-44.
*This is the first of the original drawings that was not drawn on [[:Category:Checkered paper|checkered paper]].
*A more realistic description of the behavior of a barrel in water is here: [http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/12/should-dwarves-stand-up-in-floating-barrels/ Wired Science: Should Dwarves Stand Up in Floating Barrels?]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics posted on livejournal| 05]]
[[Category:First day on LiveJournal| 05]]
[[Category:First day on xkcd]]
[[Category:Barrel|01]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|Barrel 01]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]

Category:All comics

2022-07-22T22:46:01Z

172.69.33.51: Undo revision 290095 by 172.70.82.139 (talk)

For a more structured list, see [[List of all comics]].

[[Category:Comics|All]]

2649: Physics Cost-Saving Tips

2022-07-22T22:44:03Z

172.69.33.51: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2649
| date = July 22, 2022
| title = Physics Cost-Saving Tips
| image = physics cost saving tips.png
| titletext = I got banned from the county fair for handing out Helium-2 balloons. Apparently the instant massive plasma explosions violated some local ordinance or something.
}}

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

This comic continues the previous comic [[2648: Chemicals]]'s theme of tricks to supposedly save money based on misinterpretations of science. Here is a list of "cost-saving tips" which would seem to reduce a cost or provide something for free, allowing physicists to save money in their experiments.

The prefix "pseudo-" refers to something that is an inauthentic variation of something else. Fakes are usually cheaper than their original brand-name product, while often working just as well, so the comic implies a {{w|pseudovector}} could be a less expensive substitute for a real vector. On the contrary, pseudovectors, or axial vectors, are distinct alternatives to ordinary polar vectors, the former usually being involved with rotation or physical effects that share properties with rotation, similar to the relationship between angles and lengths. Pseudovectors are formed from the {{w|cross product}}s of polar vectors, and while similar to polar vectors, there is no physical meaning to their direction, only their magnitude. For example, {{w|angular velocity}} is described by a pseudovector {{w|Normal (geometry)|normal}} to the {{w|plane of rotation}}.

{{w|Fourier analysis}} can decompose any periodic function into a series of {{w|sine wave}}s. A {{w|square wave}} can thereby be represented as the sum of an infinite series of sine waves. However, the sine waves are not removed or separated individually, so such a {{w|Fourier transform}} does not produce a "supply of valuable" sine waves for practical uses in any tasks other than analysis

Chemical elements are identified by the number of positive protons in each atomic nucleus, which is also equal to the number of negative electrons in the shell (unless the atom is ionized) that dictates most of their chemical behaviour. {{w|Isotopes}} are variants of the element with different numbers of neutral neutrons in the nucleus where the potential chemical reactions are practically identical under most circumstances. The comic suggests that the neutrons don't serve any useful purpose so, if you're purchasing matter by weight, you can save money by buying isotopes with no neutrons at all. In reality, the right number of neutrons are needed to keep the atom stable, and atoms with too many or too few neutrons will decay more quickly than the common isotopes. The image shown is Helium-2, an {{w|Isotopes of helium|isotope of helium}} with a half-life of less than a nanosecond. It decays into two protons, releasing a large amount of energy — hence the explosion mentioned in the title text.

Helium baloons are often given out at county fairs and other similar events. However, these are usually Helium-4, and therefore inert. If a baloon was filled with helium-2, as the title text suggests, the results would be rather explosive. Handing out what are effectively bombs at a county fair would likely not go down well with local authorities, and therefore being banned from the fair is a very light punishment. Anyone who did this in real life would likely face criminal charges, such as Reckless Endangerment or even Attempted Murder.

{{w|Charge carrier|Free}} {{w|electron}}s are electrons which are not tightly bound to specific atoms, so are ably to ''move'' freely, such as in {{w|conduction band}}s of {{w|metallic bond}}s. Randall interprets "free" in a different sense: "costing nothing". The charges free electrons carry are electric, not monetary as implied by this pun.

Getting money from science experiments like this was also mentioned in [[2007: Brookhaven RHIC]]

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

:[Title]
:Physics Cost-Saving Tips

:[A diagramatical spinning disc, at an angle]
:[It is identified with an 'I', with a dotted axial arrow labelled 'L' and a rotational movement labelled 'ω' (little omega)]
:[It sits on the left, and to the right of this is text...]
:Try replacing regular vectors with pseudovectors whenever possible

:[A square wave with three maxima (between four minima), and arrows pointing down into a collection of five sine waves of different wavelengths]
:[One of the waves having the same frequency as the square wave and the rest of them are of shorter lengths with more peaks and troughs]
:[It sits on the right, and to the left of this is text...]
:A square wave can be broken down into an infinite supply of valuable sine waves

:[Two atomic models]
:[The left containing two protons (white with a "+" sign), two neutrons (black) and orbited by two electrons (small outlines, dotted orbits/movement lines), labelled below with the text of superscript atomic weight and element symbol]
:4He
:[The right model has just the two protons and the two electrons, labelled below with the text of an atomic weight and elemental symbol, and some subtext within brackets]
:2He
:(Decays fast - use quickly)
:[Both models sit on the left of the comic, and to the right is text...]
:Cut waste by buying lighter isotopes that don't have any dead-weight neutrons

:[A flat rectangular bar, drawn in perspective with a scattering of dots/small circles on the top face and on the forward-facing one the label]
:Iron
:[An arrow points to the dots, from the text...]
:Free electrons
:[It sits to the right, and there is text to the left...]
:Conductors are a great source of free electrons
:(May carry charges)

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Tips]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]

2649: Physics Cost-Saving Tips

2022-07-22T22:42:08Z

172.69.33.51: Undo revision 290159 by 172.70.178.235 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 2649
| date = July 22, 2022
| title = Physics Cost-Saving Tips
| image = physics cost saving tips.png
| titletext = I got banned from the county fair for handing out Helium-2 balloons. Apparently the instant massive plasma explosions violated some local ordinance or something.
}}

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

This comic continues the previous comic [[2648: Chemicals]]'s theme of tricks to supposedly save money based on misinterpretations of science. Here is a list of "cost-saving tips" which would seem to reduce a cost or provide something for free, allowing physicists to save money in their experiments.

The prefix "pseudo-" refers to something that is an inauthentic variation of something else. Fakes are usually cheaper than their original brand-name product, while often working just as well, so the comic implies a {{w|pseudovector}} could be a less expensive substitute for a real vector. On the contrary, pseudovectors, or axial vectors, are distinct alternatives to ordinary polar vectors, the former usually being involved with rotation or physical effects that share properties with rotation, similar to the relationship between angles and lengths. Pseudovectors are formed from the {{w|cross product}}s of polar vectors, and while similar to polar vectors, there is no physical meaning to their direction, only their magnitude. For example, {{w|angular velocity}} is described by a pseudovector {{w|Normal (geometry)|normal}} to the {{w|plane of rotation}}.

{{w|Fourier analysis}} can decompose any periodic function into a series of {{w|sine wave}}s. A {{w|square wave}} can thereby be represented as the sum of an infinite series of sine waves. However, the sine waves are not removed or separated individually, so such a {{w|Fourier transform}} does not produce a "supply of valuable" sine waves for practical uses in any tasks other than analysis

Chemical elements are identified by the number of positive protons in each atomic nucleus, which is also equal to the number of negative electrons in the shell (unless the atom is ionized) that dictates most of their chemical behaviour. {{w|Isotopes}} are variants of the element with different numbers of neutral neutrons in the nucleus where the potential chemical reactions are practically identical under most circumstances. The comic suggests that the neutrons don't serve any useful purpose so, if you're purchasing matter by weight, you can save money by buying isotopes with no neutrons at all. In reality, the right number of neutrons are needed to keep the atom stable, and atoms with too many or too few neutrons will decay more quickly than the common isotopes. The image shown is Helium-2, an {{w|Isotopes of helium|isotope of helium}} with a half-life of less than a nanosecond. It decays into two protons, releasing a large amount of energy — hence the explosion mentioned in the title text.

{{w|Charge carrier|Free}} {{w|electron}}s are electrons which are not tightly bound to specific atoms, so are ably to ''move'' freely, such as in {{w|conduction band}}s of {{w|metallic bond}}s. Randall interprets "free" in a different sense: "costing nothing". The charges free electrons carry are electric, not monetary as implied by this pun.

Getting money from science experiments like this was also mentioned in [[2007: Brookhaven RHIC]]

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

:[Title]
:Physics Cost-Saving Tips

:[A diagramatical spinning disc, at an angle]
:[It is identified with an 'I', with a dotted axial arrow labelled 'L' and a rotational movement labelled 'ω' (little omega)]
:[It sits on the left, and to the right of this is text...]
:Try replacing regular vectors with pseudovectors whenever possible

:[A square wave with three maxima (between four minima), and arrows pointing down into a collection of five sine waves of different wavelengths]
:[One of the waves having the same frequency as the square wave and the rest of them are of shorter lengths with more peaks and troughs]
:[It sits on the right, and to the left of this is text...]
:A square wave can be broken down into an infinite supply of valuable sine waves

:[Two atomic models]
:[The left containing two protons (white with a "+" sign), two neutrons (black) and orbited by two electrons (small outlines, dotted orbits/movement lines), labelled below with the text of superscript atomic weight and element symbol]
:4He
:[The right model has just the two protons and the two electrons, labelled below with the text of an atomic weight and elemental symbol, and some subtext within brackets]
:2He
:(Decays fast - use quickly)
:[Both models sit on the left of the comic, and to the right is text...]
:Cut waste by buying lighter isotopes that don't have any dead-weight neutrons

:[A flat rectangular bar, drawn in perspective with a scattering of dots/small circles on the top face and on the forward-facing one the label]
:Iron
:[An arrow points to the dots, from the text...]
:Free electrons
:[It sits to the right, and there is text to the left...]
:Conductors are a great source of free electrons
:(May carry charges)

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Tips]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]

2628: Motion Blur

2022-07-22T02:01:55Z

172.69.33.51: /* Trivia */ unnecessary

{{comic
| number = 2628
| date = June 3, 2022
| title = Motion Blur
| image = motion_blur.png
| titletext = I can't speak for your other subjects, but MY motion was as smooth and natural as the framerate allowed.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a bBboOotTt - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[[White Hat]] is recording a video while rotating (''panning'') the camera. [[Cueball]] notices that the camera's shutter speed is too fast, which could cause the result to look unnatural or like a sequence of still images instead of like smooth motion when turning the camera. Cueball decides to solve this problem by making himself blurrier than normal, counteracting the problems of the high shutter speed.

This is analogous to something much more common that people do, by practicing moving their bodies relative to the motion of the camera: reducing blur when the shutter speed is too low.

The title text refers to the fact that only ''one'' object - in this case, Cueball - appearing blurry while everything else in the frame is sharp is even more exotic. It can also be seen as a celebration and sarcasm regarding the rare experience of valuing having exotic knowledge and skills. It seems likely Randall has practiced reducing blur, but not succeeded at increasing it, and was possibly exposed to somebody saying "high" shutter speed when they meant "low" shutter speed, but this is presently unverified.

This is somewhat similar to a trick 'used' by {{w|Flash (DC Comics character)#Jay_Garrick|some fictional characters}} who have the power to make themselves unclear to observers or cameras alike. In real-life it is the difference between "stop motion" and "go motion" tricks.

When light hits a human's retina, it is perceived for a short while even after the light has ceased. This means that objects moving across a human's field of vision at a sufficient speed will naturally appear blurry – in our perception, the light arriving right now from the trailing part of the object will mix with the light that arrived a moment earlier, from the leading part of the object.

A camera's shutter speed is the amount of time that the shutter is open for each frame, allowing the image sensor to capture light. If the shutter speed is too high (relative to the frame-rate), this blurring will not occur, and the motion will look unnaturally crisp – if something is too small and/or too quick, the illusion of motion may disappear altogether; the object instead will appear as a brief flash of multiple objects standing still, like in the case of a fast-moving mouse cursor on a screen. See for instance this [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9bv00ZA-ao Videography - Slow Shutter Speed vs. Fast Shutter Speed Comparison].

In cinema, the shutter speed is generally set to double the frame-rate, e.g. 1/48 s for footage shot at 24 fps (one of the lowest standard frame-rates, a remnant from the age of mechanical motion picture cameras and film projectors).

An opposing problem is that of a camera not sufficiently matching the relative motion of a moving object, with a shutter speed that is too slow (and may need to be, given the choice of aperture and lighting conditions). Sports photographers must learn how to scan-and-pan their subjects (runners, horses, vehicles, etc) with enough synchronicity to capture them sharply, and possibly seemingly hanging frozen in mid-air against an artistically-blurred background.

It is unclear how Cueball makes the motion blur include both his feet, as the friction with the ground should hinder them from vibrating horizontally in the manner that may cause for motion blur. Additionally, creating the kind of motion blur he does (with evenly distributed horizontal blur) requires extreme acceleration at both ends of the movement.

==Transcript==
:[White Hat is holding a camera up to his face looking to the left away from Cueball and Ponytail standing to his right. Cueball is holding one hand, with a balled up fist, up towards White Hat]
:White Hat: Okay, I'm going to pan around.
:Cueball: No, wait, your shutter speed is too fast, it will look choppy if—

:[White Hat turns clockwise towards Cueball and Ponytail, with the camera held up partly behind his head, so it points in the panel. Cueball clenches both his fists, held down now, and hunches his shoulders. Ponytail stands as before next to him.]
:Cueball: <big>''Hnnnnngh''</big>

:[White Hat has turned around and is now pointing the camera towards Cueball and Ponytail. Cueball now appears blurry while Ponytail looks normal.]

:[Caption below panel:]
:Expert photographers can learn to generate their own motion blur to compensate for other people's bad camera settings.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Photography]]

2648: Chemicals

2022-07-21T00:29:00Z

172.69.33.51: /* Explanation */ other ambiguities

{{comic
| number = 2648
| date = July 20, 2022
| title = Chemicals
| image = chemicals.png
| titletext = It's hard to believe, but lots of kids these days ONLY know how to buy prepackaged molecules.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by BIG ISOMER - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In this comic, [[Megan]] mentions that her company spends a lot on chemicals for which you can find formulas online. She suggests assembling chemicals from atoms "bought in bulk," holding a sheet of paper with the {{w|empirical formula}}s for {{w|nitrobenzene}}, {{w|niacin}}, {{w|isonicotinic acid}}, and {{w|picolinic acid}} followed by their component elements listed with prices. The ambiguity of chemical formulae is one of the jokes in the comic.

While in-house {{w|chemical synthesis}} is sometimes cost effective, usually it is not, because end users are unable to leverage the {{w|economies of scale}} inherent in bulk manufacturing by specialist industrial firms.[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2880393/] Producing chemicals from their constituent elements is difficult, time-consuming, requires expensive equipment, and is often fraught with peril.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QwW2owNWgc] Nitrobenzene is an excellent example because it is extremely toxic and its synthesis is highly exothermic, making it one of the most dangerous syntheses in the chemical industry.[https://www.icheme.org/media/10339/xiii-paper-36.pdf] Such issues answer [[Cueball]]'s question as to why more places don't manufacture their own chemicals. The characters' naivety also gives rise to the humor of the comic. Big Molecule is an [[2130: Industry Nicknames|industry nickname like Big Oil or Big Pharma]].

The title text refers to the fact that many people believe that "kids these days" don't do enough work or are spoiled. Randall has expressed that he dislikes statements like these in [[2165: Millennials|previous comics]].

This comic may have been prompted by recent news that [https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2022-07-15/for-the-first-time-in-history-we-can-modify-atomic-bonds-in-a-single-molecule.html scientists have found a way to assemble and change atoms in individual molecules] by modifying their bonds.

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

:[Megan and Cueball standing next to each other. Megan has her palms raised.]
:Megan: You know how our company spends a lot on expensive chemicals?
:Cueball: Yeah?

:[Megan holding up a piece of paper with a chemical formula on it, as well as some computation for the number of atoms needed]
:Megan: Well, I just learned you can look up all of the formulas online!
:Megan: We can just buy the atoms in bulk and assemble them here!
:[The paper reads as follows. The illegible items appear to be prices.]
:C6H5NO2
:Carbon 6 $[illegible]
:Hydrogen 5 $[illegible]
:Nitrogen 1 $[illegible]
:Oxygen 2 $[illegible]
:Total 14 $[illegible]

:[Cueball still standing. Megan walking off-panel to the right]
:Cueball: I wonder why more places don't do that.
:Megan: People have no idea they're getting ripped off by Big Molecule!

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]

2648: Chemicals

2022-07-20T23:14:15Z

172.69.33.51: /* Transcript */ dollar signs are legible in high res version

{{comic
| number = 2648
| date = July 20, 2022
| title = Chemicals
| image = chemicals.png
| titletext = It's hard to believe, but lots of kids these days ONLY know how to buy prepackaged molecules.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by BIG MOLECULE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
In this comic, Megan mentions that you can find the chemical formulas for chemicals online, and that they spend a lot on fancy chemicals. Bizarrely, she suggests that "they can assemble" their chemicals themselves. When Megan says this she is holding a sheet that contains the chemical formula for {{w|nitrobenzene}}. This would be difficult without some fancy chemistry equipment.{{citation needed}} This formula also adds to the humor because the synthesis of nitrobenzene is highly exothermic{{citation needed}} and thus extremely dangerous, and gives a reasonable response to Cueball's comment as to why more people don't "manufacture" their own chemicals. Big Molecule is a reference to Big Pharma, a name for the pharmaceutical industry.

The title text refers to the fact that many people believe that "kids these days" don't do enough work or are spoiled. Randall has expressed that he dislikes statements like these in [[2165:_Millennials|previous comics]].

Today's comic premise may have been prompted by recent news that [https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2022-07-15/for-the-first-time-in-history-we-can-modify-atomic-bonds-in-a-single-molecule.html scientists have found a way to assemble and change atoms in a single molecule] by modifying its bonds. Or it may also be completely unrelated.

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

:[Megan and Cueball standing next to each other. Megan has her palms raised.]
:Megan: You know how our company spends a lot on expensive chemicals?
:Cueball: Yeah?

:[Megan holding up a piece of paper with a chemical formula on it, as well as some computation for the number of atoms needed]
:Megan: Well, I just learned you can look up all of the formulas online!
:Megan: We can just buy the atoms in bulk and assemble them here!
:[The paper reads as follows. The illegible items appear to be prices.]
:C6H5NO2
:Carbon 6 $[illegible]
:Hydrogen 5 $[illegible]
:Nitrogen 1 $[illegible]
:Oxygen 2 $[illegible]
:Total 14 $[illegible]

:[Cueball still standing. Megan walking off-panel to the right]
:Cueball: I wonder why more places don't do that.
:Megan: People have no idea they're getting ripped off by Big Molecule!

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]

2647: Capri Suns

2022-07-19T12:52:57Z

172.69.33.51: /* Explanation */ replace parenthesis

{{comic
| number = 2647
| date = July 18, 2022
| title = Capri Suns
| image = capri_suns.png
| titletext = [As security is dragging me away] "Come on, at least I didn't make the mistake in the other direction!"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a DISGUSTED NURSE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[[Cueball]] has been impersonating a doctor at a hospital. But his attempt to fool the staff (including [[Megan]] and [[:Category:Doctor Ponytail|Doctor Ponytail]]) fails when he mistakes a saline bag for a Capri Sun juice.

{{w|Capri Sun}} is a fruit juice concentrate beverage that comes in soft rectangular mylar bags with a small seal near the top, to be pierced with an included straw so as to sip the drink. {{w|Saline (medicine)|Saline}} bags, used in hospitals and other medical settings, are also soft and rectangular, with an {{w|Intravenous therapy#Medical uses|intravenous}} (IV) drip connection about the same size as such straws, and usually contain a 0.9% sodium chloride (table salt) solution in sterile water so they are salty enough to be {{w|Tonicity#Isotonicity|isotonic}} with blood. Capri Sun is mostly sugar water, and only 0.00008% salt,[https://www.aqua-calc.com/calculate/food-volume-to-weight/substance/capri-blank-sun-coma-and-blank-fruit-blank-juice-blank-drink] so it tastes sweet instead.

Almost everyone would be very unlikely to accidentally mistake saline bags for Capri Sun, especially a medical doctor. Cueball's attempt to impersonate a doctor was derailed when hospital staff noticed that he had made such an absurdly unlikely and therefore humorous mistake.

The title text makes it clear that Cueball is being removed from the hospital by security personnel. While they are dragging him out, he tries to point out that drinking saline is better than putting Capri Sun into a patient's IV drip, as it would endanger the patient.[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-47623816] He is trying to claim this mitigates the severity of his incompetence. The security personnel apprehending him are likely not persuaded, as impersonating hospital staff is a serious offense with dangerous risks and severe consequences. In California, the unlicensed practice of medicine can result in a $10,000 fine, a year in prison, or both.[https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=BPC&sectionNum=2052.]

The comic arguably functions as a continuation of [[451: Impostor]] and [[699: Trimester]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball, wearing a lab coat, is drinking out of a straw inserted into an IV drip bag that is labelled with unreadable text. Cueball is surrounded by hospital staff. To the left is Megan with a white hat, she is holding a clipboard, with a paper with unreadable text. To his right is Dr. Ponytail holding a rolled up paper under one arm and to the right of her a man with a similar hat as Megan. They are all looking at Cueball.]
:Cueball: You know, these Capri Suns are good, but they're ''really'' salty.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I think the hospital may be starting to realize that I'm not actually a doctor.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Doctor Ponytail]]
[[Category:Characters with hats]]
[[Category:Medicine]]
[[Category:Food]]

2647: Capri Suns

2022-07-19T12:52:16Z

172.69.33.51: /* Explanation */ copyedit

{{comic
| number = 2647
| date = July 18, 2022
| title = Capri Suns
| image = capri_suns.png
| titletext = [As security is dragging me away] "Come on, at least I didn't make the mistake in the other direction!"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a DISGUSTED NURSE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[[Cueball]] has been impersonating a doctor at a hospital. But his attempt to fool the staff (including [[Megan]] and [[:Category:Doctor Ponytail|Doctor Ponytail]] fails when he mistakes a saline bag for a Capri Sun juice.

{{w|Capri Sun}} is a fruit juice concentrate beverage that comes in soft rectangular mylar bags with a small seal near the top, to be pierced with an included straw so as to sip the drink. {{w|Saline (medicine)|Saline}} bags, used in hospitals and other medical settings, are also soft and rectangular, with an {{w|Intravenous therapy#Medical uses|intravenous}} (IV) drip connection about the same size as such straws, and usually contain a 0.9% sodium chloride (table salt) solution in sterile water so they are salty enough to be {{w|Tonicity#Isotonicity|isotonic}} with blood. Capri Sun is mostly sugar water, and only 0.00008% salt,[https://www.aqua-calc.com/calculate/food-volume-to-weight/substance/capri-blank-sun-coma-and-blank-fruit-blank-juice-blank-drink] so it tastes sweet instead.

Almost everyone would be very unlikely to accidentally mistake saline bags for Capri Sun, especially a medical doctor. Cueball's attempt to impersonate a doctor was derailed when hospital staff noticed that he had made such an absurdly unlikely and therefore humorous mistake.

The title text makes it clear that Cueball is being removed from the hospital by security personnel. While they are dragging him out, he tries to point out that drinking saline is better than putting Capri Sun into a patient's IV drip, as it would endanger the patient.[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-47623816] He is trying to claim this mitigates the severity of his incompetence. The security personnel apprehending him are likely not persuaded, as impersonating hospital staff is a serious offense with dangerous risks and severe consequences. In California, the unlicensed practice of medicine can result in a $10,000 fine, a year in prison, or both.[https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=BPC&sectionNum=2052.]

The comic arguably functions as a continuation of [[451: Impostor]] and [[699: Trimester]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball, wearing a lab coat, is drinking out of a straw inserted into an IV drip bag that is labelled with unreadable text. Cueball is surrounded by hospital staff. To the left is Megan with a white hat, she is holding a clipboard, with a paper with unreadable text. To his right is Dr. Ponytail holding a rolled up paper under one arm and to the right of her a man with a similar hat as Megan. They are all looking at Cueball.]
:Cueball: You know, these Capri Suns are good, but they're ''really'' salty.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I think the hospital may be starting to realize that I'm not actually a doctor.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Doctor Ponytail]]
[[Category:Characters with hats]]
[[Category:Medicine]]
[[Category:Food]]

2647: Capri Suns

2022-07-19T12:51:17Z

172.69.33.51: /* Explanation */ copyedit

{{comic
| number = 2647
| date = July 18, 2022
| title = Capri Suns
| image = capri_suns.png
| titletext = [As security is dragging me away] "Come on, at least I didn't make the mistake in the other direction!"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a DISGUSTED NURSE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[[Cueball]] has been impersonating a doctor at a hospital. But his attempt to fool the staff (including [[Megan]] and [[:Category:Doctor Ponytail|Doctor Ponytail]]) falls to the ground when he mistakes a saline bag for a Capri Sun juice.

{{w|Capri Sun}} is a fruit juice concentrate beverage that comes in soft rectangular mylar bags with a small seal near the top, to be pierced with an included straw so as to sip the drink. {{w|Saline (medicine)|Saline}} bags, used in hospitals and other medical settings, are also soft and rectangular, with an {{w|Intravenous therapy#Medical uses|intravenous}} (IV) drip connection about the same size as such straws, and usually contain a 0.9% sodium chloride (table salt) solution in sterile water so they are salty enough to be {{w|Tonicity#Isotonicity|isotonic}} with blood. Capri Sun is mostly sugar water, and only 0.00008% salt,[https://www.aqua-calc.com/calculate/food-volume-to-weight/substance/capri-blank-sun-coma-and-blank-fruit-blank-juice-blank-drink] so it tastes sweet instead.

Almost everyone would be very unlikely to accidentally mistake saline bags for Capri Sun, especially a medical doctor. Cueball's attempt to impersonate a doctor was derailed when hospital staff noticed that he had made such an absurdly unlikely and therefore humorous mistake.

The title text makes it clear that Cueball is being removed from the hospital by security personnel. While they are dragging him out, he tries to point out that drinking saline is better than putting Capri Sun into a patient's IV drip, as it would endanger the patient.[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-47623816] He is trying to claim this mitigates the severity of his incompetence. The security personnel apprehending him are likely not persuaded, as impersonating hospital staff is a serious offense with dangerous risks and severe consequences. In California, the unlicensed practice of medicine can result in a $10,000 fine, a year in prison, or both.[https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=BPC&sectionNum=2052.]

The comic arguably functions as a continuation of [[451: Impostor]] and [[699: Trimester]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball, wearing a lab coat, is drinking out of a straw inserted into an IV drip bag that is labelled with unreadable text. Cueball is surrounded by hospital staff. To the left is Megan with a white hat, she is holding a clipboard, with a paper with unreadable text. To his right is Dr. Ponytail holding a rolled up paper under one arm and to the right of her a man with a similar hat as Megan. They are all looking at Cueball.]
:Cueball: You know, these Capri Suns are good, but they're ''really'' salty.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I think the hospital may be starting to realize that I'm not actually a doctor.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Doctor Ponytail]]
[[Category:Characters with hats]]
[[Category:Medicine]]
[[Category:Food]]

2645: The Best Camera

2022-07-16T07:29:41Z

172.69.33.51: /* Explanation */ not entirely unprecedented

{{comic
| number = 2645
| date = July 13, 2022
| title = The Best Camera
| image = the_best_camera.png
| titletext = The best camera is the one at L2.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a SET OF HOLOGRAPHIC OPTICAL FILTERS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6921300-the-best-camera-is-the-one-that-s-with-you ''The Best Camera Is The One That's With You''] is a book by photographer {{w|Chase Jarvis}}, celebrating mobile phone cameras, not for their technical quality, but rather for the fact that people usually [[1235|have them when interesting subjects appear]]. This advice is often given to novice photographers; sometimes phrased as, "The best camera is the one you use most." A cheap camera is better than an expensive professional camera if it is more often with the photographer, for example if it is light-weight enough to be carried on hiking trips. A fancy expensive camera that isn't available to use is of no value for taking pictures.

In this case, however, "the best camera" refers to the {{w|James Webb Space Telescope}} (JWST), the spacecraft depicted in the third panel, which cost $10 billion—[https://screenrant.com/james-webb-space-telescope-cost-how-much/ $9.5 billion over budget]—and was [[2014: JWST Delays|fifteen years late]]. It can be considered a camera because it takes pictures, and it's the best {{w|space telescope}} to date in terms of {{w|aperture}} size and thus {{w|angular resolution}}.[https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/26373/relation-between-angular-resolution-and-aperture] The first pictures taken by the telescope were released on 11-12 July 2022, a few days before this comic was published.[https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimages] The pictures from JWST show objects as they were [https://webbtelescope.org/contents/media/images/2022/035/01G7HRYVGM1TKW556NVJ1BHPDZ as much as 13.1 billion years ago,] which is unprecedented by space telescopes, although {{w|HD1 (galaxy)|further galaxies}} have been identified by larger aperture terrestrial sky surveys. The telescope has [https://www.stsci.edu/jwst/instrumentation three instruments that can act as "cameras" for imaging,] a fourth {{w|optical spectrometer|spectrometer}} instrument, and many dozens of {{w|optical filter}}s. Because the telescope can only take infrared photographs invisible to the human eye, [https://jwst-docs.stsci.edu/files/97978094/97978104/1/1596073152120/NIRCam_filters_modules.png each of the filters has been assigned a standardized visible color] to convert images for viewing. However, astronomers are encouraged to use [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dmiS_6YrGU&t=449s other color schemes] when observing a limited portion of the filters' range or rendering {{w|interferometry}},[https://jwst-docs.stsci.edu/jwst-near-infrared-imager-and-slitless-spectrograph/niriss-observing-modes/niriss-aperture-masking-interferometry][https://jwst-docs.stsci.edu/jwst-near-infrared-camera/nircam-observing-modes/nircam-coronagraphic-imaging][https://jwst-docs.stsci.edu/jwst-mid-infrared-instrument/miri-observing-modes/miri-coronagraphic-imaging] and to [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNJR3lenz1I&t=293s convert very distant objects to their original color] from {{w|redshift}}ed infrared when possible. The capabilities of the JWST are likely to soon answer many difficult astronomical, astrophysical, and [[2643: Cosmologist Gift|cosmological]] questions that had been previously undecidable, along with important questions about the {{w|biosignature}}s of {{w|exoplanet}}s.

The title text references {{w|Lagrange Point|Lagrange Point 2}} (L2). The Lagrange Points are five locations corresponding to stationary regions of the {{w|restricted three-body problem}}, in which one of the bodies is much less massive than the other two. A low-mass body in one of those five locations will remain roughly stationary relative to the other two bodies with very little fuel needed for trajectory corrections. In this case, the JWST orbits around the L2 point of the Earth-Sun system with a period of about 6 months, [https://space.stackexchange.com/a/57378 rather than being stationed exactly at it,] to avoid shadows from the Earth and Moon that would cause harmful temperature and power variations.[https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20190028885] Thus it avoids the problem the {{w|Hubble Space Telescope}} had orbiting the Earth, allowing only a short observation window per orbit—the HST could be used for only about 55 minutes of each of its 95 minute orbits for observations not sufficiently above or below its orbital plane.

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

:[Each panel features an image of space, with text printed in white at the top of each panel. The first panel says:]
:They say the best camera is the one you have with you.

:[A panel showing more stars and galaxies visible.]
:It turns out

:[A panel showing even more stars and galaxies visible. At the center of the panel is an outline drawing in white of the James Webb Space Telescope.]
:they're wrong.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Telescopes]]

Talk:2606: Weird Unicode Math Symbols

2022-04-14T12:47:07Z

172.69.33.51: Reply

Apparently, nobody knows what U+237C ⍼ means (https://ionathan.ch/2022/04/09/angzarr.html)
: For me it looks very like as designation of where electrical cable is burrowed. It should come with numbers near angle hands designating depth and offset from sign. But it just a guess, of course [[Special:Contributions/141.101.76.221|141.101.76.221]] 05:30, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

: There are at least four people on (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31012865) who claim to have seen the symbol in the wild: German/Dutch proof by contradiction, diode with a gate, Finnish proofreaders mark indicating when and how to split a word, and indicating which way EM waves are polarized --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.180|162.158.62.180]] 11:42, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

Can someone add a column where we try to crowdsource a description for the "mathematical use of symbol" ?

I'm curious what those symbols actually mean, and the unicode titles don't give that much information.

I do not doubt that have enough math geeks on here to find the answer to most of then :-D

Thanks!
[[User:Flekkie|Flekkie]] ([[User talk:Flekkie|talk]]) 01:20, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

i agree w Flekkie's comment
[[User:Blue in real life|Blue in real life]] ([[User talk:Blue in real life|talk]]) 02:27, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

If you make edits, please don't immediately delete all of mine because you think yours are better. It shows you conflicting edits for a reason. Some explanations are nonsensical, like defining a smash product as the "result of dividing two product spaces." The smash product is specifically the quotient of the underlying spaces of two pointed spaces where points in the product spaces are identified if they contain either labeled point as an element. Other claims are simply mistaken. For instance, the ≝ symbol is used to introduce a definition, not to declare that the definition has been achieved in a proof. The claim that "A union on smash product appears to be one where the sets are nit isomorphic" is totally meaningless. The symbol ⩩ is not merely decorative but is intended as a supplemental math symbol like all the others. I couldn't track down its purpose. The APL symbol description somehow never bothers to mention APL. This is all very cursory, which is fine, but just please don't delete my work while doing it. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.5|172.70.130.5]] 04:15, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
:I'm done, page is yours. I'd been working on it for an hour and every time I tried to save, a new edit came in. I did my best to reconcile them but by the fifth I just saved a copy of what was there and pasted mine over. I immediately got to work on recovering what I had pasted over as indicated in the edit comment and like I said, I'm done. I've merged to the best of my ability and have no more interest in this page.
:--[[User:FrankHightower|FrankHightower]] ([[User talk:FrankHightower|talk]]) 04:37, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
::I'm very sorry if I was one of those who stepped on your edits. I was originally trying to fix brokenness in the table. ^^^^^ ≫ ^ is the symbol for preferring many small edits over not saving your work often in a batch-mode collaborative editing environment. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.207.8|172.70.207.8]] 04:55, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

:: Don't worry about it, idk why I was so upset. It's that feeling you get when you click "save" and then suddenly it's gone. If anything's still missing, I'll just restore it. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.131.106|172.70.131.106]] 05:41, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

I wish we had as much research on ⧍ and ⩩ as we have for ⍼. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.207.8|172.70.207.8]] 05:16, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
: No clue what those are for. The first is a triangle with serifs? The triangle symbol (not capital delta) is often used in geometry to represent a triangle, but why in the world would you give a geometric figure serifs? I think I may have seen the triple cross-hatch somewhere, but I couldn't say where. Maybe it's the chess commentary symbol for being mated so badly it's embarrassing. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.131.106|172.70.131.106]] 05:41, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
:: I'm guessing what must have happened is the [https://decodeunicode.org/en/u+2A00 code page in question] was filled in by a typographer with more graphic design than mathematical experience, who likely added made-up "missing" symbols as the design-logical extensions of the symbols they were given, presumably to be on the safe side in case they had what appeared to be a possibly incomplete set. There are some awesome ones in there, like "⩐" TEST-TUBE PARTHENOGENISIS, and "⨻" THE ILLUMINATI IS DEAD. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.171|162.158.255.171]] 06:07, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
: The ⧍ character has the same origin as ⍼, namely that they were both part of ISO/IEC TR 9573-13 with no explanation given. You can find it in some old charts online, like here: [https://www.w3.org/TR/REC-MathML/chap6/ISOAMSBe2.html], under `trisb`/codepoint E27E. [[User:Ionchy|ionchy]] ([[User talk:Ionchy|talk]]) 07:03, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
:: I am sure that I have seen maps with such a symbol used for campsites, and without the bold strokes of the top sides as the National Park Service draws it. I haven't found any yet, but I have found one without the center base -- like _/\_ -- on a 1960s era map. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.131|172.69.134.131]] 07:07, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
: As for ⩩, the character just before it in the Unicode code chart [https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2A00.pdf], ⩨, has the text "identical and parallel to", so it's possible the horizontal lines in this one also means "identical to". I don't know what three vertical lines mean though, and in Unicode there's three (!) different characters with similar glyphs: U+2980 ⦀, U+2AF4 ⫴, and U+2AFC ⫼. [[User:Ionchy|ionchy]] ([[User talk:Ionchy|talk]]) 07:28, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
:: Identical both vertically and horizontally? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.131|172.69.134.131]] 07:32, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
:: I found one suggestion that the dodecathorp should be used to refer to very big numbers...[[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.223|172.69.79.223]] 08:33, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

Apparently, Randall reads Hacker News like the rest of us... --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.141|172.68.110.141]] 09:38, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

Did you know that ⩩ was a logo of the Romanian fascist group Iron Guard?[[Special:Contributions/172.68.238.67|172.68.238.67]]
:Wow. "Saint Michael's Cross, the ({{w|Iron Guard}}) movement's symbol designed by Codreanu." I prefer the 4x4 tic-tac-toe board.... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.181|172.69.33.181]] 12:29, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

Not that I have special knowledge (above aspiring-polymath level), but for "Rightwards Arrow Above Reverse Almost Equal To" and its leftwards sibling (the current suggestion being that it's an assignment of an approximation) I'd posit that it's a directional approximation specific to chaotic systems. For a precise a=b in a system where small changes to one side can effect large changes in the other, uncertainty or deliberate approximation of either of them ''may'' still map well enough to the value across the desired ≈ relationship, but that is only acceptably so unidirectionally. Hence (and I wouldn't know which would be the better convention) the arrow depicts the direction of either the dependence or the more dominant option, whichever it is that almost-ties the values tovether. (I also really ought to check what the ''reverse'' almost-equal-to sign is used for, it could be radically different from the 'forwards' version in some field, for which the directionality might even be trivially understood by context.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.36|172.70.91.36]] 11:25, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
:Any sources? I found several papers on the topic you describe naively searching on those keywords, and while they are packed with notation, I couldn't find any arrows or approximate equality signs, let alone any sort of composition of the two. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.51|172.69.33.51]] 12:47, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

2606: Weird Unicode Math Symbols

2022-04-14T04:48:25Z

172.69.33.51: /* Explanation */ embiggenization of the entities

{{comic
| number = 2606
| date = April 13, 2022
| title = Weird Unicode Math Symbols
| image = weird_unicode_math_symbols.png
| titletext = U+2A0B ⨋ Mathematicians need to calm down
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by SNAKES OVER THERE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic proposes joke explanations for various unicode symbols with obscure or no known uses.

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Symbols
|-
! Codepoint !! Symbol !! Unicode Name !! Actual use !! Randall's meaning || Explanation
|-
| U+29CD || ⧍ || Triangle with Serifs At Bottom || No standard use, but resembles half of the {{w|Hobo#Hobo signs and graffiti|Hobo sign}} for "Rich people live here" (the other half being a top hat)[https://www.logodesignlove.com/hobo-signs-and-symbols] || Shark || May look like a shark fin sticking out of the water.
|-
| U+23E7 || ⏧ || Electrical Intersection || Indicates where wires branch off || Traffic circle || May look like a {{w|roundabout}}.
|-
| U+2A33 || ⨳ || {{w|Smash product}} || Result of dividing two {{w|product spaces}} || ''Hashtag'' || Looks somewhat like the {{w|Number sign|hash}} symbol (#) – commonly used for indicating tags called {{w|hashtag}}s in social media – turned by 45 degrees.
|-
| U+2A7C || ⩼ || Greater-Than with Question Mark Above || Used in proofs to indicate a greater-than relation that should exist but hasn't been proven yet (non-rigorous) || Confused alligator || One metaphor used when teaching inequality signs in primary school is that the sign looks like an alligator mouth "eating" the larger number.
|-
| U+299E || ⦞ || Angle with S Inside || Plural for the angle symbol (∠) [https://www.quora.com/Unicode-How-is-the-s-in-triangle-glyph-used-in-mathematics][https://www.birdvilleschools.net/cms/lib2/TX01000797/Centricity/Domain/1114/Homework%20Helper%20Unit%203%20ch%209-10.pdf] rarely used || Snack || May look like a mouth eating an S, where the S symbolizes some snack food.
|-
| U+2A04 || ⨄ || {{w|Arity|N-ary}} Union Operator with Plus || Disjoint union[https://books.google.com/books?id=531cAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA165&lpg=PA165&dq=%E2%A8%84&source=bl&ots=oYXkMNXP-T&sig=ACfU3U2QvMRBkD7uVG0OSumKI0JQtjTIKA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwios862ypL3AhWXVTABHTnQALQQ6AF6BAgKEAM] (joining two sets that have no elements in common) || Drink refill || Looks like a cup with a plus to indicate adding drink to the cup.
|-
| U+2B48 || ⭈ || Rightwards Arrow Above Reverse Almost Equal To || pairs with ⭂ but does not appear to be in regular use || Snakes over there || Looks like two squiggles to represent snakes and an arrow indicating the direction where they may be found.
|-
| U+225D || ≝ || Equal To By Definition || Indicates an equation where the left side is to be defined as the right side[https://www.reddit.com/r/math/comments/1z1mty/can_someone_please_explain_the_equal_to_by/] usually used in proofs to indicate the sought definition has been reached || Definitely, for sure || "Def" is understood as "definitely"; the equal sign looks like a double underline, indicating heavy emphasis.
|-
| U+237C || ⍼ || Right Angle with Downwards Zigzag Arrow || No purpose is known[https://ionathan.ch/2022/04/09/angzarr.html]; speculation includes "Y axis continues downward" and "diode with a gate". || Larry Potter || Looks like the letter "L" and a lightning bolt. {{w|Harry Potter (character)|Harry Potter}} is known for having a lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead. The character {{w|Legal_disputes_over_the_Harry_Potter_series#Nancy_Stouffer|Larry Potter}} figured in a fraudulent legal claim against J.K. Rowling.
|-
| U+2A50 || ⩐ || Closed Union with Serifs and Smash Product || Indicates that a collection of topological spaces is {{w|Union-closed sets conjecture|closed}} when taking arbitrary unions and smash products, for use in a serif font. That is, if you take the union of any collection of topological spaces in the collection (even uncountably many), or the smash product of them, the result will also be in that collection. This is apparently important because the sets can't be isomorphic (one cannot be rearranged to be exactly the other) [https://mathoverflow.net/questions/196084/counterexample-for-associativity-of-smash-product] || Spider caught with a cup and index card || Spiders or other bugs found within someone's house or workspace may be caught with a glass and something flat, often a card or a magazine, to be released outside.
|-
| U+2A69 || ⩩ || Triple Horizontal Bar with Triple Vertical Stroke || Decorative || ℍ𝕒𝕤𝕙𝕥𝕒𝕘 || Hash symbol with one extra vertical and horizontal line, or perhaps a hash symbol which has been accidentally double-struck or overprinted.
|-
| U+2368 || ⍨ || APL Functional Symbol Tilde Diaeresis || Indicates that the {{w|negation|logical not}} operation should be performed on each of the symbols that follow || :/ || Looks like a confused or disappointed face. Randall's use is in fact common among {{w|APL (programming language)|APL}} programmers in the comments, as documented [https://aplwiki.com/wiki/APL_Orchard#Emoticons here].
|-
| U+2118 || ℘ || Script Capital P || An eccentric, Gothic-esque capital Roman P first used by Weierstrass for his self-named "p-function." This symbol is universally used for the {{w|Weierstrass Elliptic Function|p-function}} and apparently has no name except "Weierstrass-p." It is reminiscent of ∂, a stylized cursive d used for partial differentials or ∫, a stylized long s used for integrals. || Snake || This symbol coils around like a long snake, with a tapering-off tail on one end and a small "head" on the other.
|-
| U+2AC1 || ⫁ || Subset with Multiplication Sign Below || Indicates that one set is subset of another by means of the cross product || "User experience", written sideways || Looks like the letters Ux written sideways; Ux is an abbreviation for {{w|user experience}}.
|-
| U+232D || ⌭ || {{w|Cylindricity}} || A symbol used in geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T) to represent a parameter called "cylindricity" which describes the statistical deviation of an ensemble of surfaces from a reference cylinder. [https://cimquest-inc.com/metrology-minute-cylindricity/ example use] || Rolling dough between your hands to shape it into a ball || Looks like two flat hands (perhaps like stick-figure arms) rolling a ball between them. Rolling dough between one's hands to make it into a ball is an important step in making many kinds of pastry.
|-
| U+2A13 || ⨓ || Line Integration with Semicircular Path Around Pole || Very rare symbol for half of a closed {{w|Contour integration|contour}} or {{w|Line integral|line}} integral which contains the {{w|Origin (mathematics)|origin}} in its interior. Contour integrals which circle the origin are very important in complex analysis. If such an integral were split into two parts, each could be represented by this symbol.
Might be mistaken for ⨔ (Integral not including the {{w|Zeros and poles|pole}}) [https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/2299363/where-is-the-%E2%A8%93-integral-symbol-defined]
|| Integral that avoids a bee on the whiteboard || Looks like an {{w|integral}} symbol with a bump that goes around a dot, as if a professor was drawing an integral on a whiteboard but did not want to disturb a bee that had landed right in the path of their marker.
|-
| U+2A0B (title text)|| ⨋ || Summation with Integral || The sum of the sum of the discrete elements (∑) and the integrals (∫)over the connected pieces. This symbol requires context to be meaningful but could occur, for instance, when computing probabilities using mixed distributions.
[https://twitter.com/fermatslibrary/status/1308743505309822977 see also]
|| Mathematicians need to calm down || Since the two symbols combined are kinds of summation the symbol seem unnecessary at first glance. The comment given may make fun of mathematicians' tendency to form increasingly complex expressions in their work.
|-
|}

This comic may have been inspired by [https://ionathan.ch/2022/04/09/angzarr.html this blog post], which went viral (in a limited sense) the same day the comic was published.

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

[Title:] Weird Unicode math symbols

[Subtitle:] And their meanings

{|
| U+29CD || ⧍ || Shark
|-
| U+23E7 || ⏧ || Traffic circle
|-
| U+2A33 || ⨳ || Hashtag [the text is slanted counterclockwise]
|-
| U+299E || ⦞ || Snack
|-
| U+2A04 || ⨄ || Drink refill
|-
| U+2B48 || ⭈ || Snakes over there
|-
| U+225D || ≝ || Definitely, for sure
|-
| U+237C || ⍼ || Larry Potter
|-
| U+2A50 || ⩐ || Spider caught with a cup and index card
|-
| U+2A69 || ⩩ || [The word "hashtag" but with extra horizontal and vertical lines]
|-
| U+2368 || ⍨ || :/
|-
| U+2118 || ℘ || Snake
|-
| U+2AC1 || ⫁ || [The words "user experience" rotated counterclockwise 90 degrees]
|-
| U+232D || ⌭ || Rolling dough between your hands to shape it into a ball
|-
| U+2A13 || ⨓ || Integral that avoids a bee on the whiteboard
|}

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Unicode]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Harry Potter]]

635: Locke and Demosthenes

2022-03-22T15:51:31Z

172.69.33.51: /* Explanation */ Remove information unrelated to the comic.

{{comic
| number = 635
| date = September 11, 2009
| title = Locke and Demosthenes
| image = locke_and_demosthenes.png
| titletext = Dear Peter Wiggin: This letter is to inform you that you have received enough up votes on your reddit comments to become president of the world. Please be at the UN tomorrow at 8:00 sharp.}}

==Explanation==
This comic re-imagines a scene from {{w|Ender's Game}}, by {{w|Orson Scott Card}}. This is shown in the first two panels depicting the siblings '''Locke and Demosthenes''', as [[Cueball]] and the girl. Their real names are Peter and Valentine Wiggin (and these first names are used in the [http://xkcd.com/635/info.0.json official transcript] on xkcd). In the book these two kids write their opinions on their world's version of the internet to gain extreme political influence. Below is a synopsis:

'''Spoiler alert!''' 
In the book Ender is an above-average-intelligence boy who is selected to become a potential leader of Earth's "Defense" Forces in the event of another {{w|Formics|Bugger}} invasion (later re-titled the Formic invasions). Meanwhile, Ender's two older siblings, Peter and Valentine decide to save the world from itself. They do this by asserting themselves as wise demagogues who comment on political events on what are known as the "free nets" which are nets open to comment by anyone in the world. They choose pseudonyms to write under, as no one would take the words of children seriously, choosing {{w|John Locke|Locke}} (Peter's pseudonym), and {{w|Demosthenes}} (Valentine's). Eventually they gain enough respect to be invited to participate in moderated political debates in the higher class nets. By the end of the book, Peter has become the leader of the world, and Valentine runs away with Ender to a planet formerly inhabited by Buggers to live out their lives in peace.
 '''End spoiler alert!'''

''Ender's Game'' was published in 1985, when most people had never used (and some had never heard of) the internet. The first webpage set up with individual personal opinions (leaving out forums and bulletin board services) was online in 1994, the word "weblog" was invented in 1997 and "blog" in 1999. When Orson Scott Card wrote ''Ender's Game'', Peter and Valentine's plan was based on a sci-fi idea expected to occur in the near future.

However, this apparently science-fictional future concept is now just the mundane (and extremely un-influential) act of blogging. In 1985, Orson Scott Card's idea of how politics works in practice may have seemed a little naive, but now that blogging is an everyday phenomenon, Peter and Valentine's aspirations seem downright silly. We see their plan to win vast political influence manifest itself as a WordPress blog, and a particularly unimportant one at that, with 0 comments on most posts.

The joke hinges on the underwhelming reversal of Peter and Valentine's expectations. It forms both a parody of science fiction that has been rendered outdated by technology, and also a parody of the expectations well-intentioned people have going onto the internet to express their opinions.

The titles of Peter's blog posts parody the arrogance of internet commentators, with names beginning with things like "Everyone's wrong about..." This further underscores the lack of influence his WordPress blog would have and his naivete, as this is a typically unconvincing way to speak to people about politics, but someone with the arrogance to think everyone will naturally see their genius and insist they be put in charge of the world would not realise it.

In the bottom right corner there are links to other blogs. One is for Demosthenes, but the other is for {{w|FiveThirtyEight}}, a real political blog that was founded by {{w|Nate Silver}} in 2008, more than a year before this comic was released. It was still owned by Nate in 2009, the year of this comic's release, but in 2010 the blog became a licensed feature of The {{w|New York Times}} online and in July 2013, {{w|ESPN}} announced that it would become the owner. It is a website that focuses on opinion poll analysis, politics, economics, and sports blogging. Nate Silver has been [[:Category:Comics featuring Nate Silver|referenced]], several times in xkcd, though mainly in the title text, before this comic for instance in [[500: Election]].

The title text uses Locke's full name, Peter Wiggin, and is formed as a short letter that informs him that he has become the president of the world, and that he should meet tomorrow 8:00 sharp at the {{w|United Nations}} (UN) headquarters. This is either a very child-like representation of how a presidential appointment might be announced or a sarcastic comment someone has left on his blog — either way, further riffing on the naivete of the plan in the first place. Also note that the note is addressed to "Peter" rather than "Locke"; Peter's attempt to remain anonymous has failed miserably.

During their conversation, Peter is shown feeding a squirrel. In ''Ender's Game'' the character of Peter Wiggin is a sadistic sociopath - and there is a particular scene in the book where Valentine stumbles across a skinned squirrel still twitching in pain.

xkcd has referenced Ender's Game before this, specifically in [[241: Battle Room]], dealing with Ender's experience during his training, and [[304: Nighttime Stories]], dealing with the sequels to Ender's Game.

==Transcript==
:[The "real" names and the fact that the squirrel is vomiting comes from the official [http://xkcd.com/635/info.0.json transcript] on xkcd.]

:[Valentine (a.k.a. Demosthenes, with long dark hair), is laying on her back on the ground looking up at the sky with her hands behind her head. Peter (a.k.a. Locke, looking like Cueball) is attracting a squirrel with some food his hand.]
:Valentine: Ender's up there saving the world, but down here it's falling apart politically. What can we do?

:[Peter turns towards and sits down, leaning back on one hand. Valentine sits up in a similar position. Her hair looks like a mix between Megan and Hairbun's hair. The squirrel behind Peter is bending over the food Peter has thrown out for it.]
:Peter: I know — we get on the nets and anonymously post political opinions. People reading our articles will see our intelligence, recognize how clear and logical our arguments are, and insist that we be put in charge, so we can fix everything!
:Valentine: Brilliant!

:[Beneath the first two panel is large panel displaying a blog page. The background is light gray and then there are four white rectangular sections with rounded corners.]
:[There is a heading in the top central section:]
:<big><big>'''Locke'''</big></big>
:<big>Powered by Wordpress</big>

:[Below is the largest section, which extends below the panel. It has a scroll bar to the right which is partly scrolled down. The last sentence of a post can be seen at the top, with a time stamp below. Then follows the heading of a new post and the first line of this, which is partly cut off at the bottom of the panel:]
:which is why we must reach out to the Russian leadership.
::Posted at 3:15AM by Locke
::Comments (0)
:<big>'''The Problem with China'''</big>
:In recent months much has been made of

:[To the right is two sidebars. The top one shows recent posts:]
:Recent posts:
:>> A few thoughts on...
::Comments (0)
:>> Russian Aggression...
::Comments (1)
:>> Trade policy and the...
::Comments (0)
:>> And one more thing...
::Comments (0)
:>> Everyone's wrong about...
::Comments (1)

:[Below this is list of links to other websites, this section also extends below the panel. The second link is partly cut off at the bottom of the panel, so it is not possible to see that this is probably also underlined:]
:Blogroll:
:>> Demosthenes
:>> FiveThirtyEight

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] 
[[Category:Comics featuring Nate Silver]]
[[Category:Squirrels]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Internet]]
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category: Ender's Game]]

2578: Sword Pull

2022-02-07T23:17:15Z

172.69.33.51: /* Explanation */ ce

{{comic
| number = 2578
| date = February 7, 2022
| title = Sword Pull
| image = sword_pull.png
| titletext = Merlin really shouldn't leave his dirt bike lying around.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an ENCHANTED DIRT BIKE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Cueball is pulling on a sword which appears to be stuck in a stone (like {{w|Excalibur}} from the legends of {{w|King Arthur}}, in which the wizard Merlin, mentioned in the title text, figure) but is actually (according to the title text) the {{w|rope start}}er for a dirt bike. Randall may be taking this literally, as in a bike that travels through the dirt, this appears to be represented in the last panel.

Excalibur was also featured in [[1521: Sword in the Stone]], with Megan deciding to return the sword after reading about England.

{{w|Merlin}} (from the title text) is typically known as King Arthur's advisor and is supposedly actual owner of this sword/bike.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball, puzzled, walks up to a sword in a stone.]
:Cueball: ??

:[Cueball stands on the stone and attempts to pull the sword out of the stone.]

:[Cueball continues pulling the sword out of the stone, but mechanical noises are heard]
:Yank!
:Zzzzz
:Put Put Put
:Brrrrrrr

:[Cueball is still holding the sword, but is puzzled and has stopped pulling. There are more mechanical noises and the stone is vibrating]
:Cueball: ?? ??
:Rrrrrrr
:Rrrrrrr

:[Cueball has stopped pulling on the sword in the stone, which seems to be moving to the right of the panel, with Cueball on top of it]
:Rrrrrrrrrrrr

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Fiction]]

2578: Sword Pull

2022-02-07T23:16:10Z

172.69.33.51: /* Transcript */ better

{{comic
| number = 2578
| date = February 7, 2022
| title = Sword Pull
| image = sword_pull.png
| titletext = Merlin really shouldn't leave his dirt bike lying around.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an ENCHANTED DIRT BIKE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Cueball is pulling on a sword which appears to be stuck in a stone (like {{w|Excalibur}} from the legends of {{w|King Arthur}}, in which the wizard Merlin, mentioned in the title text, figure) but is actually (according to the title text) the {{w|rope start}}er for a dirt bike. Randall may be taking this literally, as in a bike that travels through the dirt, this appears to be represented in the last panel.

Excalibur was also featured in [[1521: Sword in the Stone]], with Megan deciding to return the sword after reading about England.

{{w|Merlin}} (from the title text) is typically known as King Arthur's advisor and is supposedly actual owner of this sword/bike starter.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball, puzzled, walks up to a sword in a stone.]
:Cueball: ??

:[Cueball stands on the stone and attempts to pull the sword out of the stone.]

:[Cueball continues pulling the sword out of the stone, but mechanical noises are heard]
:Yank!
:Zzzzz
:Put Put Put
:Brrrrrrr

:[Cueball is still holding the sword, but is puzzled and has stopped pulling. There are more mechanical noises and the stone is vibrating]
:Cueball: ?? ??
:Rrrrrrr
:Rrrrrrr

:[Cueball has stopped pulling on the sword in the stone, which seems to be moving to the right of the panel, with Cueball on top of it]
:Rrrrrrrrrrrr

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Fiction]]

2578: Sword Pull

2022-02-07T23:14:25Z

172.69.33.51: /* Transcript */ fix

{{comic
| number = 2578
| date = February 7, 2022
| title = Sword Pull
| image = sword_pull.png
| titletext = Merlin really shouldn't leave his dirt bike lying around.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an ENCHANTED DIRT BIKE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Cueball is pulling on a sword which appears to be stuck in a stone (like {{w|Excalibur}} from the legends of {{w|King Arthur}}, in which the wizard Merlin, mentioned in the title text, figure) but is actually (according to the title text) the {{w|rope start}}er for a dirt bike. Randall may be taking this literally, as in a bike that travels through the dirt, this appears to be represented in the last panel.

Excalibur was also featured in [[1521: Sword in the Stone]], with Megan deciding to return the sword after reading about England.

{{w|Merlin}} (from the title text) is typically known as King Arthur's advisor and is supposedly actual owner of this sword/bike starter.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball, puzzled, walks up to a sword in a stone.]
:Cueball: ??

:[Cueball attempts to pull the sword out of the stone.]

:[Cueball continues pulling the sword out of the stone, but mechanical noises are heard]
:Yank!
:Zzzzz
:Put Put Put
:Brrrrrrr

:[Cueball is still holding the sword, but is puzzled and has stopped pulling. There are more mechanical noises and the stone is vibrating]
:Cueball: ?? ??
:Rrrrrrr
:Rrrrrrr

:[Cueball starts to step away from the sword in the stone, as it continues to vibrate and give off noises]
:Rrrrrrrrrrrr

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Fiction]]

2578: Sword Pull

2022-02-07T23:13:31Z

172.69.33.51: /* Transcript */ start

{{comic
| number = 2578
| date = February 7, 2022
| title = Sword Pull
| image = sword_pull.png
| titletext = Merlin really shouldn't leave his dirt bike lying around.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an ENCHANTED DIRT BIKE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Cueball is pulling on a sword which appears to be stuck in a stone (like {{w|Excalibur}} from the legends of {{w|King Arthur}}, in which the wizard Merlin, mentioned in the title text, figure) but is actually (according to the title text) the {{w|rope start}}er for a dirt bike. Randall may be taking this literally, as in a bike that travels through the dirt, this appears to be represented in the last panel.

Excalibur was also featured in [[1521: Sword in the Stone]], with Megan deciding to return the sword after reading about England.

{{w|Merlin}} (from the title text) is typically known as King Arthur's advisor and is supposedly actual owner of this sword/bike starter.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball, puzzled, walks up to a sword in a stone.]
:Cueball: ??

:[Cueball attempts to pull the sword out of the stone.]

:[Cueball continues pulling the sword out of the stone, but mechanical noises are heard]
:Yank!
:Zzzzz
:Put Put Put
:Brrrrrrr

:[Cueball is still holding the sword, but is puzzled and has stopped pulling. There are more mechanical noises and the stone is vibrating]
:Cueball: ?? ??
:Rrrrrrr
:Rrrrrrr

:[Cueball starts to step away from the sword in the stone, as it continues to vibrate and give off voices]
:Rrrrrrrrrrrr

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Fiction]]

911: Magic School Bus

2022-02-07T23:07:48Z

172.69.33.51: /* Transcript */ not allcaps

{{comic
| number = 911
| date = June 13, 2011
| title = Magic School Bus
| image = magic school bus.png
| titletext = At my OLD school, we used Microsoft Encarta 2005.
}}

==Explanation==
''{{w|The Magic School Bus}}'' is a series of educational children's books in the US that was adapted in the mid-nineties into an animated {{w|television}} show. The series centers on a class of children whose teacher {{w|Ms. Frizzle}} makes use of the titular magic school bus to take her students on a variety of magical field trips that allow them to experience various scientific topics first hand, such as the inner anatomy of the human body, the effects of friction, what goes on inside a beehive, and many others.

In this comic, however, Ms. Frizzle initially takes the students onto the bus apparently for one of these field trips to explore the way batteries work, but then for whatever reason, she has the students get off the bus again and simply resorts to looking up the {{w|Wikipedia}} article about {{w|Battery (electricity)|batteries}}. The implied joke is that, with the advent on resources like Wikipedia, it's no longer necessary for Ms. Frizzle to take the students on half-hour long trips in the bus to experience whatever phenomenon they are studying that day (which is what the third panel symbolizes) - Wikipedia effectively answers the question quickly and easily. An alternative answer is that Ms. Frizzle has just gotten lazy, and has resorted to looking up the answers to the students' questions on Wikipedia instead of taking them on field trips. The alternative seems more likely, since the third panel shows them still going on an adventure, however briefly it takes to get to the library/computer lab.

The red and white cubed rocket in the bottom-right of the third panel can possibly be a reference to The Adventures of Tintin ''{{w|Destination Moon (comics)|Destination Moon}}'' and {{w|Explorers on the Moon}}, in which Tintin goes to the moon in a rocket that is similar, if not identical, to the one depicted. To the bottom-left is a green {{w|Ciliate}}, a single celled life-form covered in hair-like fibres. At the top right are a set of {{w|Planetary gears}}. To the top left is a ringed planet, perhaps {{w|Uranus}} and in the background is a complex {{w|Feynman diagram}}.

The child who is asking the question looks similar to Wanda, one of the regular students in the class who often asked the questions that set the field trips in motion. Ralphie, the student in the second panel with the backward hat, was another student who often asked these questions. The students in the class were shown to be from many backgrounds (i.e. some of the students were black, another was Asian, etc.), something Randall appears not to have added into this comic, despite it being in color.

The title text is a reference to Phoebe, one of the students in Ms. Frizzle's class, who would regularly make a remark beginning with "At my old school..." (Phoebe used to go to a different school, unlike many of the other students in the class) to express wonder at how unusual were the events of Ms. Frizzle's field trips (e.g. "At my old school, we never rode on bees!"). Phoebe actually said that so much that in an episode where she goes back to her old school, the sign out front labels it as "Phoebe's old school".

{{w|Encarta|Microsoft Encarta 2005}} was a digital encyclopedia that was often used in school settings for learning with the aid of computers. Arguably, with the advent of Wikipedia, programs like Encarta have become relatively less widely used, which is part of the joke in the title text.

==Transcript==
:[A girl sits at a desk in a classroom, and the teacher stands before her. The teacher has a blue dress and blonde hair piled on her head in a bun. The girl raises her hand, the teacher raises both arms above her head, a pointer in one hand.]
:Girl: Ms. Frizzle, how do batteries work?
:Ms. Frizzle: To the bus!

:[Ms. Frizzle and the children are shown getting onto the bus.]

:[The bus, with Ms. Frizzle at the helm and a child's face in every window, soars through a rainbow void filled with a giant amoeba, a rocket, an epicyclic gear, a planet with rings, and a Feynman diagram.]

:[The bus is parked, and the occupants have gotten out. The children stand around Ms. Frizzle, and she stands at a desk with a computer on it, typing.]
:Computer: Wikipedia - Batteries

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Wikipedia]]

2578: Sword Pull

2022-02-07T23:05:34Z

172.69.33.51: /* Transcript */ fiction

1521: Sword in the Stone

2022-02-07T23:04:44Z

172.69.33.51: /* Explanation */ ce

{{comic
| number = 1521
| date = May 6, 2015
| title = Sword in the Stone
| image = sword in the stone.png
| titletext = That seems like an awful lot of hassle when all I wanted was a cool sword.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, [[Megan]] pulls a sword out of a stone. A flash of light comes down and music plays, and a heavenly voice tells her she has ascended to the {{w|throne of England}}. Megan then pulls out her phone and searches on Wikipedia for {{w|England}}. After having read for a while she begins, while reading on, to replace the sword into the rock.

The comic references the fables of {{w|King Arthur}} and the {{w|Knights of the Round Table}}. In Arthurian legend, whoever can remove {{w|Excalibur#Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone|The Sword in the Stone}} is the lawful king of Britain (although this comic, as some versions of the legend, refers incorrectly to England). Arthur is an orphan being raised in secret; he notices the sword, removes it, and is proclaimed king. The sword is sometimes identified as {{w|Excalibur}}, although in other versions Excalibur was acquired by King Arthur from the {{w|Lady of the Lake}}. The most familiar version of this story is {{w|The Sword in the Stone (novel)|The Sword in the Stone}} by {{w|T. H. White}} which is based on {{w|Le Morte d'Arthur}} by {{w|Sir Thomas Malory}}. The animated {{w|The Sword in the Stone (film)|musical}} by Walt Disney is a well-known version of this fairytale based on White's book.

A key element in the joke is that as Megan begins to read about England, especially information concerning being an English ruler, she quickly thinks better of this and begins to put the sword back in its place. The punchline that Megan puts the sword back after reading about England suggests that the "gift" of being the leader of England is not worth the risk and/or work associate. British history is rife with monarchic strife, and a brief inquiry into their {{w|List of monarchs of the British Isles by cause of death|causes of death}} will show that almost one in three {{w|British rulers}} have died either in battle or from murder, etc. This would quickly lead most sane people to conclude that the risks associated with ruling England far outweigh the benefits.

The title text furthers this plot, having Megan comment on the hassle when the only thing she was interested in was the cool sword. Apparently, Megan is not enthusiastic about power, and her choice is made when she sees how problematic it could be to reign over the country of England. There is also a subtle play on the fact that in the T. H. White version, Arthur likewise is unaware of the significance of pulling the sword from the stone - he is simply looking for a sword to replace the one belonging to his step-brother Kay that was stolen under his watch, to avoid embarrassment and reproach.

From the time of the {{w|Roman Empire}} all the way up to {{w|Charles II of England|Charles II's}} reclamation of the throne, the area now known as England has seen {{w|Invasions of the British Isles|several migration waves, Viking raids, invasions}} and fierce power struggles among aristocratic families. Besides the constant threat of usurpation, as evidenced by the numerous wars for the crown, such as the {{w|Norman conquest of England|Norman conquest}} and the {{w|War of the Roses}}, there were also constant difficulties in managing the frontier regions. This can be seen from {{w|Hadrian's Wall}}, a creation of the titular Roman Emperor designed to keep the ever difficult Scots out of the areas of Roman control (the Scots would be a {{w|Anglo-Scottish Wars|constant problem}} for England up until the reign of King {{w|James VI and I}}; think of the movie {{w|Braveheart}} for a good example of the regular headaches they caused, seen from the English point of view), as well as the {{w|List of Anglo-Welsh Wars|Welsh uprisings}} that occurred with such consistency that you could set your watch by them.

It is worth emphasizing that the term "England" is anachronistic in this context. At the time Arthur supposedly existed, there was no England — England was formed by Germanic tribes who {{w|Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain|settled in Britain between the fifth and seventh centuries}}. In many of the stories, including the earliest, Arthur was in fact depicted as a leader of the native Romano-Britons in their attempts to repel these invaders. England would not exist had Arthur succeeded. The anachronism is not new; it entered Arthurian legend in the Middle Ages. (Thomas Malory's ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', for example, refers to Arthur as King of England.) In Arthurian legend, it was stated that Arthur would return when needed (in some versions he was explicitly associated with the {{w|Mab Darogan}}, a Welsh Messianic figure who would finally drive the English out of Britain and reclaim it for the native Britons). It is possible that Megan in this comic is a 21st-century reincarnation of Arthur.

The timing of this comic might relate to the birth of princess {{w|Princess Charlotte of Cambridge|Charlotte Elizabeth Diana}} on May 2, 2015, just four days before this comic, and the burden of a royal of having a whole life in public shaking hands of strangers. Since {{w|Succession to the Throne Act, 2013|2013}} the {{w|Line of succession to the British throne|line of succession}} was changed to {{w|Primogeniture#Absolute primogeniture|absolute primogeniture}}, meaning that she will keep her current position in the line (4th after her {{w|Prince George of Cambridge|older brother}}) even if she later gets baby brothers. Before this year, that would not have been the case, as the male gender took rank over birth order.

It is also probably not a coincidence that this comic was published the day before the {{w|United Kingdom general election, 2015|UK General Election}}, occurring on May 7, 2015. This election decides the modern-day leader of the UK. And the problems they face today may even be more likely to cause Megan to give away the throne, than the risk of untimely death she would have faced in Arthur's days.

A similar Wikipedia gag appears in [[911: Magic School Bus]].

==Transcript==
:[Megan walks up to a sword in a stone.]

:[Megan attempts to pull the sword out of the stone.]

:[A beam of light and music plays as she removes the sword.]

:[While standing with the swords a voice from the sky speaks in gray shaky letters:]
:Celestial voice: ''The Throne of England is yours''

:[Megan takes out her smart phone and searches:]
:Wikipedia
:England

:[Megan reads on her phone.]

:[Megan starts to replace the sword back into the stone.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Wikipedia]]
[[Category:Fiction]]

2578: Sword Pull

2022-02-07T23:04:06Z

172.69.33.51: /* Explanation */ ce

2578: Sword Pull

2022-02-07T23:03:16Z

172.69.33.51: /* Explanation */ merlin

1521: Sword in the Stone

2022-02-07T23:01:53Z

172.69.33.51: /* Transcript */ ficion

{{comic
| number = 1521
| date = May 6, 2015
| title = Sword in the Stone
| image = sword in the stone.png
| titletext = That seems like an awful lot of hassle when all I wanted was a cool sword.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, [[Megan]] pulls a sword out of a stone. A flash of light comes down and music plays, and a heavenly voice tells her she has ascended to the {{w|throne of England}}. Megan then pulls out her phone and searches on Wikipedia for {{w|England}}. After having read for a while she begins, while reading on, to replace the sword into the rock.

The comic references the fables of {{w|King Arthur}} and the {{w|Knights of the Round Table}}. In Arthurian legend, whoever can remove {{w|Excalibur#Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone|The Sword in the Stone}} is the lawful king of Britain (although this comic, as some versions of the legend, refers incorrectly to England). Arthur is an orphan being raised in secret; he notices the sword, removes it, and is proclaimed king. The sword is sometimes identified as {{w|Excalibur}}, although in other versions Excalibur was acquired by King Arthur from the {{w|Lady of the Lake}}. The most familiar version of this story is {{w|The Sword in the Stone (novel)|The Sword in the Stone}} by {{w|T. H. White}} which is based on {{w|Le Morte d'Arthur}} by {{w|Sir Thomas Malory}}. The animated {{w|The Sword in the Stone (film)|musical}} by Walt Disney is a well-known version of this fairytale based on White's book.

A key element in the joke is that as Megan begins to read about England, especially information concerning being an English ruler, she quickly thinks better of this and begins to put the sword back in its place. The punchline that Megan puts the sword back after reading about England suggests that the "gift" of being the leader of England is not worth the risk and/or work associate. British history is rife with monarchic strife, and a brief inquiry into their {{w|List of monarchs of the British Isles by cause of death|causes of death}} will show that almost one in three {{w|British rulers}} have died either in battle or from murder, etc. This would quickly lead most sane people to conclude that the risks associated with ruling England far outweigh the benefits.

The title text furthers this plot, having Megan comment on the hassle when the only thing she was interested in was the cool sword. Apparently, Megan is not enthusiastic about power, and her choice is made when she sees how problematic it could be to reign over the country of England. There is also a subtle play on the fact that in the T. H. White version, Arthur likewise is unaware of the significance of pulling the sword from the stone he is simply looking for a sword to replace the one belonging to his step-brother Kay that was stolen under his watch, to avoid embarrassment and reproach.

From the time of the {{w|Roman Empire}} all the way up to {{w|Charles II of England|Charles II's}} reclamation of the throne, the area now known as England has seen {{w|Invasions of the British Isles|several migration waves, Viking raids, invasions}} and fierce power struggles among aristocratic families. Besides the constant threat of usurpation, as evidenced by the numerous wars for the crown, such as the {{w|Norman conquest of England|Norman conquest}} and the {{w|War of the Roses}}, there were also constant difficulties in managing the frontier regions. This can be seen from {{w|Hadrian's Wall}}, a creation of the titular Roman Emperor designed to keep the ever difficult Scots out of the areas of Roman control (the Scots would be a {{w|Anglo-Scottish Wars|constant problem}} for England up until the reign of King {{w|James VI and I}}; think of the movie {{w|Braveheart}} for a good example of the regular headaches they caused, seen from the English point of view), as well as the {{w|List of Anglo-Welsh Wars|Welsh uprisings}} that occurred with such consistency that you could set your watch by them.

It is worth emphasizing that the term "England" is anachronistic in this context. At the time Arthur supposedly existed, there was no England — England was formed by Germanic tribes who {{w|Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain|settled in Britain between the fifth and seventh centuries}}. In many of the stories, including the earliest, Arthur was in fact depicted as a leader of the native Romano-Britons in their attempts to repel these invaders. England would not exist had Arthur succeeded. The anachronism is not new; it entered Arthurian legend in the Middle Ages. (Thomas Malory's ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', for example, refers to Arthur as King of England.) In Arthurian legend, it was stated that Arthur would return when needed (in some versions he was explicitly associated with the {{w|Mab Darogan}}, a Welsh Messianic figure who would finally drive the English out of Britain and reclaim it for the native Britons). It is possible that Megan in this comic is a 21st-century reincarnation of Arthur.

The timing of this comic might relate to the birth of princess {{w|Princess Charlotte of Cambridge|Charlotte Elizabeth Diana}} on May 2, 2015, just four days before this comic, and the burden of a royal of having a whole life in public shaking hands of strangers. Since {{w|Succession to the Throne Act, 2013|2013}} the {{w|Line of succession to the British throne|line of succession}} was changed to {{w|Primogeniture#Absolute primogeniture|absolute primogeniture}}, meaning that she will keep her current position in the line (4th after her {{w|Prince George of Cambridge|older brother}}) even if she later gets baby brothers. Before this year, that would not have been the case, as the male gender took rank over birth order.

It is also probably not a coincidence that this comic was published the day before the {{w|United Kingdom general election, 2015|UK General Election}}, occurring on May 7, 2015. This election decides the modern-day leader of the UK. And the problems they face today may even be more likely to cause Megan to give away the throne, than the risk of untimely death she would have faced in Arthur's days.

A similar Wikipedia gag appears in [[911: Magic School Bus]].

==Transcript==
:[Megan walks up to a sword in a stone.]

:[Megan attempts to pull the sword out of the stone.]

:[A beam of light and music plays as she removes the sword.]

:[While standing with the swords a voice from the sky speaks in gray shaky letters:]
:Celestial voice: ''The Throne of England is yours''

:[Megan takes out her smart phone and searches:]
:Wikipedia
:England

:[Megan reads on her phone.]

:[Megan starts to replace the sword back into the stone.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Wikipedia]]
[[Category:Fiction]]

2578: Sword Pull

2022-02-07T23:00:56Z

172.69.33.51: /* Explanation */ other comic

2578: Sword Pull

2022-02-07T23:00:09Z

172.69.33.51: /* Transcript */ cat

2578: Sword Pull

2022-02-07T22:59:06Z

172.69.33.51: /* Explanation */ more, seems to be the "starter", as in a lawnmower