explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:404: Not Found

2025-03-24T17:55:59Z

172.69.34.42:

Maybe it was skipped because he had to. In some, if not all websites, there's the 404.html file that is displayed when there's a 404 error (example: /var/www/404.html/), so it would have shown the '404' page that existed the whole time, because xkcd.com/404 would have shown 404.html.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.73|173.245.55.73]] 22:58, 2 April 2014 (UTC)
: But there's a 401, a 402, a 403, 405, a 451. If it was done because an error code got in the way, he would have had to skip these too (and going to them manually would show the respective error pages). Also, comic 404's page appears to be the server's default 404 page, which probably isn't even stored in the same directory as the comics. [[User:Hppavilion1|Hppavilion1]] ([[User talk:Hppavilion1|talk]]) 21:28, 10 August 2016 (UTC)
:: "404.html" is merely the default name for a 404 page in several web server configurations. It can be easily changed or disabled and most definitely did not factor into the comic's creation. [[User:Zekesonxx|Zekesonxx]] ([[User talk:Zekesonxx|talk]]) 02:17, 18 October 2016 (UTC)
:::Old discussion, ''but'' if a 404 page is directly requested, the server returns a 200 code, not 404. https://xkcd.com/404 returns 404. There really is nothing there. [[User:Usb-rave|Usb-rave]] ([[User talk:Usb-rave|talk]]) 00:01, 15 May 2023 (UTC)

April 1st, 2008 was a Tuesday, so no xkcd comic would have normally come out then. For that week, [[403|xkcd 403]] was Monday, March 31st, 2008, [[405|xkcd 405]] was Wednesday, April 2nd, and [[406|xkcd 406]] was Friday, April 4th. 404 was just skipped. It is also skipped in the "previous comic"/"next comic" links on his site. I don't think it was an April Fools gag. [[User:Blaisepascal|Blaisepascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 19:03, 22 August 2012 (UTC)

:Well, I'd say that it certainy might be. In any case, it's an interesting observation! [[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 11:22, 23 November 2012 (UTC)

:Then again, his skipping from 403 to 405 (making 404 come up "404: Not Found") may have been his April Fool joke that year. The timing may have been coincidental, but I don't blame him for taking advantage of it. --[[User:Aaron of Mpls|Aaron of Mpls]] ([[User talk:Aaron of Mpls|talk]]) 23:16, 15 April 2013 (UTC)

::No, because there was already another April's Fool joke in 2008: xkcd, Questionable Content and Dinosaur Comics rotated their content ([https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dinosaur_Comics&oldid=680776133#April_Fool.27s_jokes]). However the timing does seem quite suspicious. -- [[User:Xorg|Xorg]] ([[User talk:Xorg|talk]]) 21:52, 16 April 2013 (UTC)

This entry isn't on the list of all comics 1-500, and I made the mistake of adding this comic to the list. I was about to add an explanation, with a link to a webcomic about it, when I found this page. I think that this page should be liked in the all comics 1-500 list so that others don't make the same mistake and so that curious people can easily get to it. [[User:Rylon|Rylon]] ([[User talk:Rylon|talk]]) 18:10, 17 July 2013 (UTC)
:The link is changed.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:55, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

;The hidden link
Nobody did find that hidden link? A shame. Just a simple test on this [http://www.xkcd.com/test/ http://www.xkcd.com/test/] gives me a link to this comic: [[1335: Now]]. And this page still appears like it was on the original release date on February 26 this year. I'm pretty sure there is still a link, some avant-garde, and Randall still giggles about that nobody did find this within six years. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:12, 10 March 2014 (UTC)
: Actually, you may be interested to note that xkcd.com/test now links to the Lorenz comic (#1350). [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.73|108.162.219.73]] 15:16, 16 April 2014 (UTC)
: It keeps changing then... Today it was [[1367: Installing]]. It was 12, then 15 and now 19 days between the test and the day the link pointed at it. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:00, 31 May 2014 (UTC)
: Now it's [[1446: Landing]]. --[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.182|199.27.128.182]] 22:56, 25 November 2014 (UTC)
::[[1485: Friendship]] now --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:52, 1 April 2015 (UTC)
:::And now it links to [[1664: Mycology]] [[User:Zorlax the Mighty|Zorlax the Mighty would like to connect on Linkedin]] ([[User talk:Zorlax the Mighty|talk]]) 21:52, 21 April 2016 (UTC)
::::Today almost two years after last post it was [[1812: Onboarding]]. Wrote here because of today's comic [[1969: Not Available]] which references 404 error message --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:33, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
:::::Today, it is this own comic, 404. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.122.120|162.158.122.120]] 22:30, 18 December 2019 (UTC)
::::::still 404 as of the 23rd of September, 2024. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 18:20, 23 September 2024 (UTC)
:::::::What hidden link? Where do I find it? [[User:B_for_brain|B for brain]] ([[User_talk:B_for_brain|talk]]) ([https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg4bo-hj-mDyOOUp_Yp0pug youtube channel] [https://bforbrain.weebly.com/ wobsite (supposed to be a blag)]) 10:02, 27 December 2024 (UTC)
::::::::[http://www.xkcd.com/test/ http://www.xkcd.com/test/] This link. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 20:11, 27 December 2024 (UTC)
:::::::::It just links me to comic 404. [[User:B_for_brain|B for brain]] ([[User_talk:B_for_brain|talk]]) ([https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg4bo-hj-mDyOOUp_Yp0pug youtube channel] [https://bforbrain.weebly.com/ wobsite (supposed to be a blag)]) 20:59, 27 December 2024 (UTC)
::::::::::Exactly. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 21:50, 27 December 2024 (UTC)
:::::::::::I meant that when I go to the website, it just returns a 404 error instead of giving me a test. [[User:B_for_brain|B for brain]] ([[User_talk:B_for_brain|talk]]) ([https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg4bo-hj-mDyOOUp_Yp0pug youtube channel] [https://bforbrain.weebly.com/ wobsite (supposed to be a blag)]) 20:48, 28 December 2024 (UTC)

I’m getting rid of the Internet Explorer stuff and taking a picture of it on Edge. IE is hardly even used anymore. [[User:SilverTheTerribleMathematician|SilverTheTerribleMathematician]] ([[User talk:SilverTheTerribleMathematician|talk]]) 05:43, 8 February 2023 (UTC)
:I went ahead and straight-up removed the image and tried recreated the HTML for the page. The comic doesn't have an image, so why should we create one ourselves? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:26, 11 November 2023 (UTC)

what does "nginx" mean? --[[User:Bb777|hi]] ([[User talk:Bb777|talk]]) 14:55, 24 March 2025 (UTC)
:dunno and added incomplete notice to article. thx! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:10, 24 March 2025 (UTC)
::{{w|Nginx}} - so frequently seen (in context of 404s and other 400-errors), I can't believe anybody doesn't know it at least by context. Never knew it had that official pronunciation, though, always thought of it as "En Jinx", entirely suitable for mostly noticing it in context of something going wrong... But from the same sort of people who want me to call SQL "Sequel", etc, I suppose. Or insist that "GIF" sounds like a cleaning product (itself since renamed "Cif"). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.104|141.101.99.104]] 17:54, 24 March 2025 (UTC)

Talk:856: Trochee Fixation

2023-03-15T07:13:25Z

172.69.34.42: Removed unrelated comment

Bad advice mallard would like a word with you. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 07:08, 17 April 2013 (UTC)

"Cowboy" but no "Bebop"? (Also [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowboy_Bebop a real cartoon show], albeit an adult anime -- NOT FOR KIDS.) I'm disappointed. --BigMal27 // [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.88|173.245.55.88]] 11:55, 18 June 2014 (UTC)

Why... why does the little girl say "hooker" at the end of the comic? 13:16, 18 June 2014 (UTC)
:Why not? Perhaps she's seen some television cop shows which use the term. Or perhaps she likes rugby (it's the name of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_union_positions#Hooker one of the playing positions]). [[User:Grutness|Grutness]] ([[User talk:Grutness|talk]]) 01:56, 26 July 2015 (UTC)

In particular I think the Neil Stephenson reference is to Snowcrash, where hackers are able to transmit a linguistic virus that disrupts speech patterns into what appears to be intense aphasia or glossolalia. According to the science* of the book, a similair technique could be used to manipulate the brain in a variety of ways, including a 'trocheeotomy.' {{unsigned ip|199.27.133.57}}
:And ''Snow Crash'' is a trochee. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 17:57, 7 September 2021 (UTC)

The current explanation mentions a reversal of the stress pattern at the end, but that doesn't happen. As discussed in the comic, the girl has simply come up with a new list of trochees. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.203|108.162.246.203]] 22:54, 18 June 2014 (UTC)

Trochee is autological. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0 8.8.8.8] 11:22, 30 May 2015 (UTC)

I feel like the two words "raptor Jesus" could be a reference to the meme. 02:05, 4 November 2015 (UTC)

"cranially-applied brick" [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.112|108.162.249.112]] 02:39, 10 November 2017 (UTC)

But what if you're fixated on three-syllable words? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.222|162.158.2.222]] 23:01, 28 November 2015 (UTC)

So trochees make her happy. So what? Why do we care SO MUCH that she stop saying those words and stop being happy? She likes it, why can't we deal with it? Would you want someone to surgically remove whatever makes you happy from YOUR brain? Leave her alone! {{unsigned ip|08.162.219.56}}
:True: "hooker" but no "bismuth"? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.215.77|172.68.215.77]] 14:51, 12 January 2018 (UTC)
We owe a major classic of American literature to the scourge of TF. It started in 19th-century Finland when Elias Lönnrot compiled the ''Kalevala'', whose trochaic meter is a very good fit for Finnish prosody, because of the consistent stress on the first syllable in every Finnish word, e.g. "Sukuvirttä suoltamahan, lajivirttä laulamahan." Next Henry Wadsworth Longfellow read that and caught the trochee bug. Longfellow couldn't stop scratching that itch until he'd written the epic ''Song of Hiawatha'' in the same trochaic meter from the ''Kalevala''. I guess TF really is a thing, if Longfellow is any indication. [[User:Johanna-Hypatia|Johanna-Hypatia]] ([[User talk:Johanna-Hypatia|talk]]) 02:14, 30 July 2016 (UTC)

No Viking either... this little girl is in serious need of cultural recalibration. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.224|172.69.22.224]] 22:09, 11 January 2019 (UTC)

I actually thought Randall had autism himself for a while, but replace trochee fixation with stimming and "digitoneurolinguistic hacking" with physical restraint and the implications aren't too nice (the line "we'd been seeing this brain damage for years" doesn't help). --[[User:Youforgotthisthing|Youforgotthisthing]] ([[User talk:Youforgotthisthing|talk]]) 21:42, 8 November 2020 (UTC)

Someone pointed out recently that the trochee-fixated girl looks a lot like Gretchen McCulloch from [[2421]] and [[2381]]. Could it be her? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.183.203|162.158.183.203]] 22:18, 6 February 2021 (UTC)

I read 'someone get me a rock' as a suggestion that they perform ''tracheoectonomy''. [[User talk:Quillathe Siannodel|{)|(}]][[User:Quillathe_Siannodel|Quill]][[Special:Contributions/Quillathe_Siannodel|{)|(}]] 19:58, 31 July 2021 (UTC)

The letters "ABCDEFKLOPTVWXYZ" in the NATO phonetic Alphabet are all trochees. This obviously includes the letters from "XKCD". Can these letters form a meaningful sentence? --[[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxy]] ([[User talk:ColorfulGalaxy|talk]]) 02:27, 15 December 2022 (UTC)
:"Fox-'t-rot"? (2.5 syllables, arguably; may depend much on subtleties of dialect.) Yet you miss "Hotel" which can be "HO-tel" ''or'' "ho-TEL". Whether or not you even fully enunciate the "'aich". [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.105|172.70.86.105]] 13:50, 15 December 2022 (UTC)

2122: Size Venn Diagram

2023-03-15T07:12:38Z

172.69.34.42:

{{comic
| number = 2122
| date = March 11, 2019
| title = Size Venn Diagram
| image = size_venn_diagram.png
| titletext = Terms I'm going to start using: The Large Dipper, great potatoes, the Big Hadron Collider, and Large Orphan Annie.
}}

==Explanation==

[[File:Symmetrical_5-set_Venn_diagram.svg|thumb|upright=0.5|{{w|Branko Grünbaum}}'s multi-set Venn diagram strategy from 1975, less symmetric than Randall's.]]
This comic is a {{w|Venn diagram}} illustrating the complete set of possible intersections of five different size adjectives: "little", "large", "small", "great" and “big”. Each unique intersection contains a short list of nouns that can be preceded by each of its intersecting adjectives.

For example, "flying fox" (a type of bat) appears at the intersection of "large", "small", and "great", because the species {{w|large flying fox}}, {{w|small flying fox}}, and {{w|great flying fox}} all exist, but there is no such species as a "big flying fox" or a "little flying fox". Similarly, humans have organs named the {{w|small intestine}} and {{w|large intestine}}, but no "little intestine", "great intestine", or "big intestine".

Some descriptors are applied in combination to their noun, rather than individually; for example, "planet" is placed in both the "little" and "big" groups in reference to the 2008 video game ''{{w|Little Big Planet}}''.

In the title text, [[Randall]] declares that he will start intentionally using term combinations that don't appear in the above diagram, presumably to ensure every intersection contains at least one term. A slightly more practical solution is to publish books/songs/films under these titles (details needed), as many of the entries in this comic are titles.

A similar concept can be seen in [[181: Interblag]], but in a tabular form rather than a Venn diagram.

===List of items in the diagram===
The following table lists all size/noun combinations that the Venn diagram can generate, with a description of each.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Item
!Big !! Great !! Large !! Little !! Small !! # Regions
|-
|width=10%|'''Aunt'''
|width=17.5%|
|width=17.5%| [[wiktionary:great-aunt|sister of one's grandparent]]
|width=17.5%|
|width=17.5%|
|width=17.5%|
|width=2.5%| 1
|-
|'''Bang Theory'''
|currently-accepted {{w|Big Bang|scientific theory}} that explains the origin of the universe; also a {{w|The Big Bang Theory|TV sitcom}}|| || || || ||1
|-
|'''Barrier Reef'''
|
|{{w|Great Barrier Reef|world's largest coral reef system}}, off the coast of Australia
|
|
|
|1
|-
|'''Bear Lake'''
|a {{w|Big Bear Lake, California|lake and surrounding community in California}}, in the mountains
|a {{w|Great Bear Lake|lake in Canada}}, in the Northwest Territories -- the largest lake entirely in Canada, and the fourth-largest in North America
|
|
|
|2
|-
|'''Bend'''
| {{w|Big Bend|several geographic locations}}, including a {{w|Big Bend National Park|US National Park}} in Texas
| {{w|Great Bend (disambiguation)|several geographic locations}}, including a {{w|Great Bend, Kansas|city in Kansas}} and the description of the S-shaped curving of the {{w|Nile River}} in Egypt and Sudan
|
|
|
|2
|-
|'''Billed Seed Finch'''
|
|{{w|Great-billed seed finch|species of finch}}, described in 1851
|{{w|Large-billed seed finch|species of finch}}, described in 1789
|
|
|2
|-
|'''Blue'''
|nickname for [https://www.ibm.com IBM] and the {{w|New York Giants}}, also [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095250 a movie] and a stage in {{w|F-Zero}} and borrowed into Mario Kart
|
|{{w|large blue|various different butterflies}}
|
|{{w|small blue|butterfly}}, smallest found in the UK
|3
|-
|'''Blue Heron'''
|
|{{w|Great Blue Heron|species of heron}} that measures 91–137 cm (36–54 in) long
|
|{{w|Little Blue Heron|species of heron}} that measures about 60 cm (24 in) long
|
|2
|-
|'''Board'''
| nickname for the {{w|New York Stock Exchange}} || || || ||
|1
|-
|'''Cardiac Vein'''
|
|{{w|Great cardiac vein|left coronary vein}}
|
|
|{{w|Small cardiac vein|heart vein on the right side}}
|2
|-
|'''Circle'''
|
|{{w|Great circle|largest possible circle}} that can be drawn on a sphere; the {{w|equator}} is an example of one on the Earth
|
|The {{w|Little_Circle|Little Circle}}, a group of political reformists based in Manchester, UK in the early 1800s
|{{w|Circle_of_a_sphere|a circle that lies on a sphere}} without passing through its center (which would make it a great circle)
|3
|-
|'''Claims Court'''
|
|
|
|
|{{w|Small claims court|judicial court}} that handles cases involving only relatively small amounts of money
|1
|-
|'''Depression'''
|
|{{w|Great Depression|period of prolonged economic downturn}} that affected the world economy in the 1930's
|
|
|
|1
|-
|'''Dipper'''
|{{w|Big Dipper|subset collection of stars}} in the constellation {{w|Ursa Major}}
|
|
|name for the constellation {{w|Ursa Minor}}
|
|2
|-
|'''Emerald'''
|
|
|{{w|Large_emerald|Geometra papilionaria}}, a bright green moth of the family {{w|Geometer_moth|Geometridae}}
|{{w|Jodis_lactearia|Jodis lactearia}}, a light green or white moth of the family {{w|Geometer_moth|Geometridae}}
|{{w|Hemistola_chrysoprasaria|Hemistola chrysoprasaria}}, a light green or yellow-white moth of the family {{w|Geometer_moth|Geometridae}}
|3
|-
|'''Enchilada'''
|The term "[[wiktionary:big enchilada|Big Enchilada]]" means a person or thing of great importance.
|
|
|
|
|1
|-
|'''End'''
|The {{w|Crankpin|bearing}} connecting a connecting rod to the crank shaft of a reciprocating engine.
| {{w|Great End|Mountain in England}}
|
|
|The {{w|Crankpin|bearing}} connecting a connecting rod to the gudgeon pin and hence the piston in a reciprocating engine.
|3
|-
|'''Eyed Conger'''
|{{w|Sea conger|type of eel}}, found in the western Pacific Ocean
|
|{{w|Large-eye conger|type of eel}}, found in the northwestern and eastern central Pacific Ocean
|
|{{w|Smalleye conger|type of eel}}, found in the eastern Indian Ocean
|3
|-
|'''Flying Fox'''
|
|{{w|Great flying fox}}
|{{w|Large flying fox}}
|
|{{w|Small flying fox}}
|3
|-
|'''Foot'''
|The well known folk-lore monster ''{{w|Bigfoot}}''
|
|
|{{w|List_of_The_Land_Before_Time_characters#Littlefoot|Main character}} in the ''{{w|Land Before Time}}'' film series
|''{{w|Smallfoot (film)|Smallfoot}}'' is an animated film that inverts the Bigfoot legend, focusing on a group of yetis that tell stories about humans.
|3
|-
|'''Forest Bat'''
|
|
|A common {{w|Large forest bat|bat}} found in Southeastern Australia
|A related {{w|Little forest bat|bat}} also found in Southeastern Australia
|
|2
|-
|'''Format'''
|
|
|{{w|Large format|anything larger than 4x5 inches in photography}}
|
|
|1
|-
|'''Foundation'''
|The BIG Foundation is a 501c3 non-profit charity
|May be a reference to Asimov’s Greater Foundation
|May be a typo. Could possibly be a reference to the Lange Foundation
|
|
|3
|-
|'''Frog'''
|Refers to someone who is important but only in a small group (Big frog in a small pond)
|
|{{w|Large frog|A South-East Asian frog species}}
|children's book [https://smile.amazon.com/Little-Frog-Crista-R-Stewart/dp/1616638702/ref=smi_www_rco2_go_smi_g5171374337?_encoding=UTF8&%2AVersion%2A=1&%2Aentries%2A=0&ie=UTF8 "The Little Frog"] by Crista R. Stewart
|{{w|Small frog|An Australian frog species}}
|4
|-
|'''Game'''
|Large animals hunted for sport or food, usually referring to the African {{w|big five game}} (lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, cape buffalo); can also refer to the NFL's {{w|Super Bowl}}
|{{w|Great Game|19th Century geopolitical competition}} between the British and Russian Empires over control of Afghanistan
|{{w|Game (hunting)|Large animals}} hunted for sport or food, such as bears or moose
|
|{{w|Game (hunting)|Small animals}} hunted for sport or food, such as rabbits or ducks
|4
|-
|'''Hadron Collider'''
|
|
|{{w|Large Hadron Collider|particle accelerator}}
|
|
|1
|-
|'''Hearted'''
|[[wiktionary:bighearted|kind, generous, selfless, noble]]
|[[wiktionary:greathearted|generous, selfless, noble]]
|[[wiktionary:largehearted|generous, benevolent, noble]]
|
|
|3
|-
|'''House on the Prairie'''
|
|
|
|{{w|Little House on the Prairie|novel}} (later made into a TV show)
|
|1
|-
|'''Intestine'''
|
|
|The {{w|Large Intestine}} or colon is the last part of the digestive system.
|
|The {{w|Small Intestine}} is the part of the gastrointestinal tract (gut) immediately after the stomach, where most absorption of nutrients takes place
|2
|-
|'''Island'''
|{{w|Hawaii (island)|largest island in Hawaii}}, or numerous other islands: {{w|Big Island}}
|{{w|Great Island|in Cork Harbour, Ireland}}
|{{w|Large Island|island in the Antilles, owned by Grenada}}
|{{w|Little Island|several islands named such}}, plus a song in ''{{w|Randy Newman's Faust}}''
|{{w|Small Island (novel)|novel which was made into a movie}}
|5
|-
|'''League'''
|Nickname for top-level competition
|One of the leagues in Pokemon Go
|
|{{w|Little League Baseball|Youth baseball organization}}
|
|3
|-
|'''Lies'''
|''{{w|Big Little Lies (TV series)|Big Little Lies}}'', a novel made into a TV series; also a [[wiktionary:big lie|form of propaganda]]
|
|
|''{{w|Big Little Lies (TV series)|Big Little Lies}}'', a novel made into a TV series; also a {{w|Little Lies|Fleetwood Mac song}}
|
|2
|-
|'''Magellanic Cloud'''
|
|
|A {{w|Large Magellanic Cloud|satellite galaxy}} of the Milky Way
|
|Another {{w|Small Magellanic Cloud|satellite galaxy}} of the Milky Way
|2
|-
|'''Millimeter Telescope'''
|
|
|{{w|Large Millimeter Telescope|radio telescope}}
|
|
|1
|-
|'''One'''
|Nickname for any large natural disaster that is expected to happen in the future, such as a tsunami or an earthquake in California
|Nickname for {{w|Wayne Gretzky}}, considered by many to be the greatest ice hockey player of all time, also comedian {{w|Jackie Gleason}} and many other people ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_One Wikipedia disambiguation page]).
|
|affectionate term for a small person
|{{w|The Small One|A Disney animated short directed by Don Bluth}}
|4
|-
|'''Orphan Annie'''
|
|
|
|{{w|Little Orphan Annie|comic strip}}
|
|1
|-
|'''Planet'''
|Part of the video game ''{{w|Little Big Planet}}''
|
|
|Part of the video game ''{{w|Little Big Planet}}''
|
|2
|-
|'''Potatoes'''
|
|
|
|
|[[wiktionary:small potatoes|something relatively unimportant]]
|1
|-
|'''Pox'''
|
|an old name for {{w|syphilis}}
|
|
|{{w|smallpox|a deadly disease}} which was effectively eradicated by 1977
|2
|-
|'''Professor'''
|
|
|{{w|Large Professor|rap artist}}
|{{w|Little Professor|educational math toy}} (also "Little Professor Syndrome", an informal name for autism)
|
|2
|-
|'''Richard'''
|
|
|
|{{w|Little Richard|musician}}
|
|1
|-
|'''Room'''
|
|{{w|Great room|a McMansion's signature space}}
|
|{{w|White_Blood_Cells_(album)#Track_listing|Track 6}} on "White Blood Cells," the third album by {{w|The_White_Stripes|The White Stripes}}
|{{w|May Sarton|"The Small Room", a novel by May Sarton}}, also various songs: {{w|Small Room}}
|3
|-
|'''Screen'''
|[[wiktionary:big screen|another name for movies]]
|
|
|
|[[wiktionary:small screen|another name for TV]]
|2
|-
|'''Sister'''
|[[wiktionary:big sister|older female sibling]]; also [https://bioshock.fandom.com/wiki/Big_Sister a character from the influential video game Bioshock]
|
|
|[[wiktionary:little sister|younger female sibling]]; also [https://bioshock.fandom.com/wiki/Little_Sister another character from the influential video game Bioshock]
|
|2
|-
|'''Soldiers'''
|
|
|
|{{w|Little Soldiers|1996 Telugu drama film}}
|{{w|Small Soldiers|1998 movie}} about sentient animated toys at war
|2
|-
|'''Sur'''
|{{w|Big Sur|coastal region of California}} famed for its mountain scenery
|
|
|
|
|1
|-
|'''Terror'''
|
|{{w|Great Terror|One of two periods of violent political repression}}; one during {{w|Reign of Terror|the French Revolution}} between 1793 and 1794, the other in {{w|Great Purge|the Soviet Union under Josef Stalin}} between 1936 and 1938
|
|
|
|1
|-
|'''Time'''
|[[wiktionary:big time|major]], the highest level of a field
|
|
|
|[[wiktionary:small time|minor]], or modest, level of achievement
|2
|-
|'''Toothed Aspen'''
|A {{w|Populus grandidentata|tree}} native to North America
|
|Another name for the same tree
|
|
|2
|-
|'''Wall of China'''
|
|{{w|Great Wall of China|Series of fortifications}} over 13,000 miles long that served to protect various Chinese empires from raids and invasion from their north
|
|
|
|1
|-
|'''White'''
|{{w|Big White Ski Resort|ski resort in British Columbia}}
|{{w|Great white shark|species of shark}} or a {{w|Great White|rock band}}
|{{w|Pieris brassicae|a butterfly}} or {{w|Large White pig|a common breed of pig}}
|
|{{w|Dixeia|multiple species}} of {{w|Pieris rapae|butterflies}} are known as small whites
|4
|-
|'''Wonder'''
|
|
|
|{{w|Little Wonder|"Little Wonder" is a song and single by David Bowie, from the 1997 album Earthling.}}
|{{w|Small Wonder (TV series)|American sitcom}}
|2
|-
|'''World'''
|Australian company {{w|BigWorld|BigWorld}} which develops development tools for MMOs; also {{w|Big_World|a 1986 live album by Joe Jackson}}.
|Reference to either {{w|Great World City|Great World City}} or {{w|Great World Amusement Park|Great World Amusement Park}}, a Chinese shopping mall or amusement park, respectively
|
|A {{w|Little World|2013 Catalan documentary film}}
|{{w|Small_World_(board_game)|Board game by Days of Wonder}}, {{w|It's a Small World|ride at Disney parks}}, type of {{w|Small-world_network|mathematical graph.}}
|4
|-
|''no items present''
|data-sort-value=""|''n/a''
|data-sort-value=""|''n/a''
|data-sort-value=""|''n/a''
|data-sort-value=""|''n/a''
|data-sort-value=""|''n/a''
|0
|-
|''no items present''
|data-sort-value=""|''n/a''
|data-sort-value="Potentially"|???
|data-sort-value="Potentially"|???
|data-sort-value="Potentially"|???
|data-sort-value=""|''n/a''
|3
|-
|''no items present''
|data-sort-value="Potentially"|???
|data-sort-value="Potentially"|???
|data-sort-value="Potentially"|???
|data-sort-value="Potentially"|???
|data-sort-value=""|''n/a''
|4
|-
|''no items present''
|data-sort-value=""|''n/a''
|data-sort-value="Potentially"|???
|data-sort-value="Potentially"|???
|data-sort-value="Potentially"|???
|data-sort-value="Potentially"|???
|4
|-
!Item !! Big !! Great !! Large !! Little !! Small !! # Regions
|}

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


[A Venn diagram with five sets titled 'Big', 'Little', 'Large', 'Small' and 'Great'. Various words which can be prefixed by these titles are shown in the relevant segment.]

:Big: Bang Theory, Enchilada, Board, Sur
:Little: Orphan Annie, House on the Prairie, Richard
:Large: format, Millimeter Telescope, Hadron Collider
:Small: claims court, potatoes
:Great: Barrier Reef, Wall of China, Depression, Terror, aunt

:Big/Great: Bend, Bear Lake
:Big/Small: time, screen
:Big/Little: Dipper, Planet, lies, sister
:Little/Great: Blue Heron
:Little/Large: Professor, Forest Bat
:Big/Large: Toothed Aspen
:Large/Small: intestine, Magellanic Cloud
:Little/Small: wonder, soldiers
:Small/Great: pox, cardiac vein
:Large/Great: Billed Seed Finch

:Big/Large/Great: hearted
:Big/Small/Great: end
:Big/Little/Small: foot
:Big/Little/Great: league
:Little/Large/Great: (none)
:Big/Little/Large: foundation
:Big/Large/Small: Eyed Conger, Blue
:Little/Large/Small: emerald
:Little/Small/Great: circle, room
:Large/Small/Great: flying fox

:Big/Large/Small/Great: game, white
:Big/Little/Small/Great : world, one
:Big/Little/Large/Great : (none)
:Big/Little/Large/Small : frog
:Little/Large/Small/Great : (none)

:Big/Little/Large/Small/Great: Island

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Venn diagrams]]
[[Category:Language]]

2659: Unreliable Connection

2022-08-16T00:44:37Z

172.69.34.42: /* Explanation */ Galton board per talk

{{comic
| number = 2659
| date = August 15, 2022
| title = Unreliable Connection
| image = unreliable_connection.png
| titletext = NEGATIVE REVIEWS MENTION: Unreliable internet. POSITIVE REVIEWS MENTION: Unreliable internet.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by ROUND TRIP LATENCY BACKOFF. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In this comic, [[Randall]] solves the social problem of demands for {{w|synchronous conferencing|synchronous teleconferencing}} with a deliberately less than optimal internet device that causes {{w|Asynchronous communication|asynchronous}} methods of communication to be relatively more reliable and efficient for personal use. The device appears to be an automated version of a {{w|Galton board}} or {{w|Jin Akiyama}}'s mathematical {{w|pachinko}} machine[https://arxiv.org/pdf/1601.05706.pdf] with a series of eleven "on" and one "off" switches at the bottom to be pressed by falling balls. This is funny because such a device could likely much more easily be implemented in the {{w|firmware}} of the internet or WiFi {{w|modem}} or {{w|Router (computing)|router}}s. It's not clear whether the switches merely interrupt the connection momentarily or control power to the modem, which would involve a much longer booting sequence.

Assuming the machine is symmetric, the probability of a single ball hitting the "off" switch is 165/2048, or about 8%.
We don't know the frequency with which new balls are dropped, so we can't estimate the frequency with which the device is likely to trigger {{w|Session Initiation Protocol}}, {{w|Transmission Control Protocol}}, or similar {{w|Timeout (computing)|timeout}} conditions that would likely close synchronous {{w|VOIP}}, video conferencing, and e.g. {{w|VRChat}} connections. Even if such connections were to survive the induced service interruptions, the {{w|application layer}} call or teleconference quality would suffer during them. The device may cause interruptions rarely enough that the connection is usable for casual purposes, but the user can still reasonably claim that it's unreliable to get out of online obligations.

The title text reflects on the mild paradox that a nominally unreliable internet connection has advantages for those whose communication schedules, volume, or style preferences make synchronous teleconferencing less practical, as indicated by the reviews for the new vacation spot.

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

:[A gigabit fiber connection is shown leading to an internet modem with twelve switches under a mechanical pachinko machine, eleven of which are marked "on" but the eighth of which is marked "off." The modem is also connected to a WiFi router.]

:Caption: My new vacation spot has very fast internet that turns off randomly every now and then, just so you can tell people you'll be staying somewhere without a reliable connection.

{{comic discussion}}

2659: Unreliable Connection

2022-08-16T00:42:14Z

172.69.34.42: /* Transcript */ more caption

{{comic
| number = 2659
| date = August 15, 2022
| title = Unreliable Connection
| image = unreliable_connection.png
| titletext = NEGATIVE REVIEWS MENTION: Unreliable internet. POSITIVE REVIEWS MENTION: Unreliable internet.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by ROUND TRIP LATENCY BACKOFF. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In this comic, [[Randall]] solves the social problem of demands for {{w|synchronous conferencing|synchronous teleconferencing}} with a deliberately less than optimal internet device that causes {{w|Asynchronous communication|asynchronous}} methods of communication to be relatively more reliable and efficient for personal use. The device appears to be an automated version of {{w|Jin Akiyama}}'s mathematical {{w|pachinko}} machine[https://arxiv.org/pdf/1601.05706.pdf] with a series of eleven "on" and one "off" switches at the bottom to be pressed by falling balls. This is funny because such a device could likely much more easily be implemented in the {{w|firmware}} of the internet or WiFi {{w|modem}} or {{w|Router (computing)|router}}s. It's not clear whether the switches merely interrupt the connection momentarily or control power to the modem, which would involve a much longer booting sequence.

Assuming the machine is symmetric, the probability of a single ball hitting the "off" switch is 165/2048, or about 8%.
We don't know the frequency with which new balls are dropped, so we can't estimate the frequency with which the device is likely to trigger {{w|Session Initiation Protocol}}, {{w|Transmission Control Protocol}}, or similar {{w|Timeout (computing)|timeout}} conditions that would likely close synchronous {{w|VOIP}}, video conferencing, and e.g. {{w|VRChat}} connections. Even if such connections were to survive the induced service interruptions, the {{w|application layer}} call or teleconference quality would suffer during them. The device may cause interruptions rarely enough that the connection is usable for casual purposes, but the user can still reasonably claim that it's unreliable to get out of online obligations.

The title text reflects on the mild paradox that a nominally unreliable internet connection has advantages for those whose communication schedules, volume, or style preferences make synchronous teleconferencing less practical, as indicated by the reviews for the new vacation spot.

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

:[A gigabit fiber connection is shown leading to an internet modem with twelve switches under a mechanical pachinko machine, eleven of which are marked "on" but the eighth of which is marked "off." The modem is also connected to a WiFi router.]

:Caption: My new vacation spot has very fast internet that turns off randomly every now and then, just so you can tell people you'll be staying somewhere without a reliable connection.

{{comic discussion}}

2658: Coffee Cup Holes

2022-08-13T03:49:04Z

172.69.34.42: Name names

{{comic
| number = 2658
| date = August 12, 2022
| title = Coffee Cup Holes
| image = coffee_cup_holes.png
| titletext = Theoretical physicist: At the Planck length, uncountably many.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a CAFFEINE MOLECULE WITH A HOLE DRILLED IN ITS SIDE. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic depicts multiple people in different fields of study answering the question “How many holes are there in a coffee cup?” This question can have multiple interpretations, in particular concerning the definition of a hole.

[[Ponytail]], a topologist, states the coffee cup belongs in the genus of one hole. A common joke is that topologists can’t tell the difference between a coffee cup and a donut since they’re homeomorphic to each other — they have the same genus.  From the topologist's point of view, the coffee cup definitely has one hole. See [[2625: Field Topology]] for more information about topology.

[[Hairy]], a normal person, asks for clarification about whether the opening counts as a hole. This shows flaws in the question, which suffers from the mathematically imprecise, ambiguous common usage of the word hole.

[[Hairbun]], a philosopher, answers the question with an elucidating counter-question, considering a hypothetical scenario. Drilling a new hole should increase the number of holes by one, and after the hole has been drilled, a common teacup or mug has two holes according to topologists. Since drilling a hole increases the number of holes by one, the philosopher's question requires the original questioner to reveal the answer to their own question. 

[[Cueball]], a chemist, looks at the cup on a molecular level, which naturally means it has lots and lots of holes: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (1021 or 1 sextillion) “in the caffeine alone.” The implication is that there are more in the cup itself, depending on what material it’s made out of. Also, the coffee itself could have other holes, depending on the type of coffee. For example, espresso contains significant amounts of niacin and riboflavin, each of which has at least one hole in its chemical structure. However, this ignores the fact that bonds are not discrete sticks as portrayed in many molecular models. The "holes" in the middle of a caffeine molecule are not completely empty but instead merely have lower electron densities/probabilities. In a {{w|space-filling model}}, a caffeine molecule has zero holes. So the point-cloud duality of electron orbitals and bonds might not satisfy a topologist's, normal person's, or philosopher's criteria for a connected substrate in which holes may be formed.

In the title text, the theoretical physicist looks even deeper, at a subatomic level. Since fundamental particle interaction is governed by fundamental forces and collision instead of tensile or ductile solid connectedness, the physicists posit that any definition allowing a single hole would potentially produce a number of holes akin to the factorial of the number of particles in the universe, or at least within the cup's {{w|light cone}}, which is a number impractical to accurately count, but not technically uncountably many, not even Aleph_0 many.

Part of the joke is that all five methods of inquiry don't discern between a cup (as described) and a mug (as depicted), the original cliché being that topologists are unusual because they don't.

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

:[The first panel has text only. The "Q:" below is a large letter Q representing a question, not a character name.]
:Q:
:How many holes are there in a coffee cup?

:[Each of the next four panels has a caption at the top to indicate the kind of person answering the question.]
:Caption: Topologist
:[Ponytail stands holding a coffee mug.]
:Ponytail: One.

:Caption: Normal person
:[Hairy stands to the right of Ponytail, holding a coffee mug at an angle to look into it.]
:Hairy: IDK, does the opening count as a hole?

:Caption: Philosopher
:[Hairbun is shown in closeup, with two drawings of coffee mugs to her left.]
:Hairbun: To answer that question, consider another: If we drill a hole in the side, how many holes are there now?

:Caption: Chemist
:[Cueball stands with a drawing of a caffeine molecule above him and to the right.]
:Cueball: 1021 in the caffeine alone

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]

2657: Complex Vowels

2022-08-11T03:35:59Z

172.69.34.42: /* Explanation */ 1647: Diacritics

{{comic
| number = 2657
| date = August 10, 2022
| title = Complex Vowels
| image = complex_vowels.png
| titletext = Pronouncing [ṡṡċċḣḣẇẇȧȧ] is easy; you just say it like the 'x' in 'fire'.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a ROUNDED TONGUE. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

[[File:Ipa-chart-vowels.png|thumb|200px|The IPA vowel chart]]

In phonetics based on the {{w|International Phonetic Alphabet}} (IPA), the space of {{w|vocal tract}} articulators determining {{w|vowel}}s  is represented as two-dimensional, from the position of the tongue. The vertical axis represents vowel height or ''closedness'' (i.e. how close or far the tongue is from the top of the mouth), and the horizontal axis represents front-to-back ''place'' (i.e., how close or far the top of tongue is from the teeth.) The position of the tongue, along with the frequency of the {{w|vocal cords}} vibrating in the larynx from air being exhaled by the diaphragm, are the primary determinants of the fundamental and second {{w|formant}}s of vowel sounds.

A third dimension of vowel sounds is the "roundedness" of the lips, and to a much lesser extent the tongue and cheeks, which is not represented on the IPA vowel chart to the right. [[Randall]] thus suggests using complex notation to indicate such a third dimension. Other higher-dimensional vowel representations include {{w|diphthong}}s, which are simply two different sequential vowels slurred together; diphones, which represent the last half of one phoneme followed by the first half of the next; the {{w|vowel shift}} mappings delineating different accents[https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/47086396.pdf][https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0095447010000562] and long-term evolution of voiced phone sounds; and {{w|cepstrum|ceptstral}} representations such as {{w|Mel-frequency cepstrum|mel-frequency ceptstral coefficients}}.

In mathematics, {{w|complex number}}s are numbers including both real numbers and {{w|imaginary number}}s. A complex number can be expressed as, "''a'' + ''b''i," where ''a'' and ''b'' are real numbers, but the latter imaginary part is combined with 'i,' the square root of negative one, as depicted in the central expression in the comic by √-1, indicating three dimensional coordinates. When expanding the one-dimensional number line with an imaginary axis, it becomes two-dimensional with the "''b''i" component orthogonal to the original "real" number line. Linguists never use the {{w|complex plane}} to represent vowel roundedness or any other higher-dimensional features of phonemes.{{cn}}

This comic conflates complex numbers in mathematics with "complex vowels" in linguistics. Such complex vowels are implied to create sounds which cannot be properly processed by the human brain, represented graphically as {{w|Zalgo text}} IPA, similarly to the cliché of "black speech" in {{w|Lovecraftian horror}}, a language created by alien beings with different vocal patterns than humans. In reality, people find Zalgo text amusing, thus the humor of the comic, but not particularly insanity-inducing or even more than mildly confusing.{{cn}} This is also funny because unadorned IPA shares some characteristics with Zalgo text, such as extremely uncommon {{w|glyph}}s and weird {{w|diacritics}}.

In linguistics, 'ə' is the {{w|schwa}} symbol, referred to in the title text as well as the depiction of complex phonemes, the most common vowel sound in English polysyllabic words (the 'a' in "comma" or the second 'e' in "letter.") Production of the schwa sound takes place with the tongue, jaw, and lips all in a relaxed, central position; and certainly sounds nothing like the 'x' in "fire", because "fire" doesn't contain the letter 'x'.{{cn}}

Another example of weird diacritics is in [[2619: Crêpe]], and with Zalgo text in [[1647: Diacritics]]. The linguist in the comic appears to be {{w|Gretchen McCulloch}}, as previously depicted in [[2421: Tower of Babel]] and [[2381: The True Name of the Bear]].

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

:[A diagram shows the extrusion of the trapezoidal IPA vowel chart upwards into three dimensions. A point near the center is labeled with an equation that shows "ə + 1/2√-1" as being equivalent to a made-up symbol that looks like two schwas mirroring each other with other markings above and below.]

:[Below the diagram, a character with shoulder-length dark wavy hair pronounces the new vowel in a speech bubble with unstable lines surrounding it. Two bystanders to her right are bent over slightly, clutching their heads in apparent anguish.]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Linguistics tip: Extend the IPA vowel plane along the imaginary axis to produce ''complex vowels'', cursed sounds which the human mind cannot comprehend.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Tips]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Gretchen McCulloch]]

1395: Power Cord

2022-05-20T22:06:37Z

172.69.34.42: Reported the page as vandalised. (#5)

{{spam}}

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crap

2617: Maps

2022-05-10T07:27:10Z

172.69.34.42: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2617
| date = May 9, 2022
| title = Maps
| image = maps.png
| titletext = OpenStreetMap was always pretty good but is also now *really* good? And Apple Maps's new zoomed-in design in certain cities like NYC and London is just gorgeous. It's cool how there are all these good maps now!
}}

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

{{w|Apple Maps}} was quite bad when released at the first time, attracting lots of criticism from iPhone users who were accustomed to the superior {{w|Google Maps}}. Randall/Cueball is surprised that it is now pretty good. His surprise is exaggerated to the extent that it is comparable to some fundamental constant of universe, say pi, is changed to some other number.

The term "map" carries a double meaning. While it refers to an actual map, it also refers to the concept of "map and territory," where your map is your model of the universe, and the territory is the universe itself. Cueball has a map of the universe where Apple Maps is bad, and is surprised to discover that the map no longer fits the territory, and thus has to update his map.

The title text mentions {{w|OpenStreetMap}}, an open source mapping tool, which has also improved since Randall has last checked. He marvels at the number of "good" mapping options now!

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

:[Megan and White Hat face Cueball, who is staring down at his open palms.]
:Cueball: You look around one day and realize the things you assumed were immutable constants of the universe have changed.
:Cueball: The foundations of our reality are shifting beneath our feet.
:Cueball: We live in a house built on sand.

:[Caption below panel]
:The day I discovered that Apple maps is kind of good now

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Maps]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]

2617: Maps

2022-05-10T07:26:29Z

172.69.34.42: /* Explanation */ more

{{comic
| number = 2617
| date = May 9, 2022
| title = Maps
| image = maps.png
| titletext = OpenStreetMap was always pretty good but is also now *really* good? And Apple Maps's new zoomed-in design in certain cities like NYC and London is just gorgeous. It's cool how there are all these good maps now!
}}

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

{{w|Apple Maps}} was quite bad when released at the first time, attracting lots of criticism from iPhone users who were accustomed to the superior {{w|Google Maps}}. Randall/Cueball is surprised that it is now pretty good. His surprise is exaggerated to the extent that it is comparable to some fundamental constant of universe, say pi, is changed to some other number.

The term "map" carries a double meaning. While it refers to an actual map, it also refers to the concept of "map and territory," where your map is your model of the universe, and the territory is the universe itself. Cueball has a map of the universe where Apple Maps is bad, and is surprised to discover that the map no longer fits the territory, and thus has to update his map.

The title text mentions {{w|Open Street Maps}}, an open source mapping tool, which has also improved since Randall has last checked. He marvels at the number of "good" mapping options now!

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

:[Megan and White Hat face Cueball, who is staring down at his open palms.]
:Cueball: You look around one day and realize the things you assumed were immutable constants of the universe have changed.
:Cueball: The foundations of our reality are shifting beneath our feet.
:Cueball: We live in a house built on sand.

:[Caption below panel]
:The day I discovered that Apple maps is kind of good now

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Maps]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]

2610: Assigning Numbers

2022-05-06T04:26:40Z

172.69.34.42: /* Explanation */ Make the parentheticals moved to notes accessible to the reader.

{{comic
| number = 2610
| date = April 22, 2022
| title = Assigning Numbers
| image = assigning_numbers.png
| titletext = Gödel should do an article on which branches of math have the lowest average theorem number.
}}

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

'''This explanation is by mathematical necessity either incomplete or incorrect.'''

[[Cueball]] is falling into a common trap, because a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Faced with some sort of information, of an unknown kind but seemingly not intrinsically mathematical in nature, he has decided that one possible way to proceed is to somehow translate everything into values which can be combined and compared numerically.

This is a very common thing to do, in fields as diverse as {{w|computational linguistics}} or {{w|sports analytics}}, and can be a powerful tool for understanding and learning new things about a subject as {{w|Data science}} tries to extract knowledge and insights from potentially noisy and disordered facts. But it is also used to implement bad science by using incorrect or misguided ideas about how to represent the source material. While it's possible to casually assign numeric values to random pieces of data, these numbers are generally not meaningful enough to compute with and draw any useful inferences from. It is generally possible to perform statistical analysis only on actual measurements, not on what may effectively be arbitrarily-assigned values.

Machine learning algorithms, which are commonly used by data scientists, typically require all their inputs to be numerical. However, most datasets contains categorical features (e.g. the description of a piece of furniture: chair, table, ...). Data scientists therefore use encoding techniques to convert these categorical features to a numerical form so they can be used as inputs to a machine learning model. For instance, label encoding consists of arbitrarily assigning an integer to a category (chair=0, table=1, ...) which may appear meaningless to most observers. In various cases, they may be right.

So, as well as being the mechanism that underlies one of the most profound theorems of 20th century mathematics, it can be mis-used for all kinds of bad or misguided science. From Cueball's attitude, it is far from clear that his attempt will reliably translate his project into a numerical system, nor that his attempt to "do math on it!" will be any more competent.

One of the major characters who looked at the concept is Kurt Gödel. He introduced the idea of {{w|Gödel numbering}} with his landmark {{w|incompleteness theorems}}. In it a unique natural number is assigned to each axiom, statement, and proof, which might otherwise be difficult to accurately process in any other kind of approach. Instead, it is now possible to create metamathematical statements in the language of mathematics.

This allowed Gödel to make the statement "This statement cannot be proven based on the axioms provided" in a mathematically rigorous way. A simple proof by contradiction shows that the statement cannot be false, and therefore (in most logical systems) must be true. The proof goes as follows: 1. Assume that "This statement cannot be proven from the axioms" (Call this statement G) is false.<ref>Call this assumption A.</ref> 2. Therefore G can be proven from the axioms.<ref>Because the negation of the negation is an affirmation. Based only on A.</ref> 3. The axioms exist.<ref>Call this assumption B</ref> 4. Therefore, G is true.<ref>via {{w|Modus ponens}} applied to 2 and 3, based on A and B</ref> 5. Therefore, G and also not G.<ref>via {{w|Conjunction introduction}} applied to 1 and 4, based on A and B</ref> 6. This is a contradiction, and therefore A (that is, 'not G') or B (ZFC) must be wrong. We are not willing to sacrifice assumption B, so we must conclude that A is false, given B.<ref>{{w|Reductio ad absurdum}} applied to 1,3, and 5</ref> 7. Therefore, G.

===Explanatory footnotes for the above===
<references />

Notice that the truth of Gödel's statement does not depend on any particular set of axioms, and adding axioms (such as "Gödel's particular statement is true") only opens up new iterations of the statement which cannot be proven based on the expanded set of axioms (A statement such as "All statements of a similar nature to Gödel's particular statement" is not precise enough to serve as an axiom.). As such, with a little more legwork, it can be proven that any logical system robust enough to accommodate arithmetic must necessarily contain facts that are true within the system but cannot be proven or disproven within the system. The importance of this result cannot be understated, as it upended the entire philosophy of mathematics. {{w|David Hilbert}}'s famous proclamation "We must know, we will know" is simply incorrect. ... Either that, or (ironically) Gödel used an "inconsistent" or "incomplete" system to produce his result.

The title text suggests that Gödel should perform such an analysis on different branches of mathematics, by calculating the average of all the fields' theorems' Gödel numbers. This is nonsensical for a number of reasons:
:1) Gödel is long dead, and dead people can't write articles;{{Dubious}} - see [[599: Apocalypse]]
:2) Gödel numbers grow very large very quickly, and depend heavily on the specific values assigned to each logical operator. Therefore the results could be manipulated simply by changing the numbering order of each operator;
:3) It may be very hard to gather all theorems in a field, or even a representative sample;
:4) Different fields of science, like biology or human behaviour, may not be able to write their theorems in the mathematical language of Gödel's incompleteness theorem
If anyone were to attempt this form of analysis, it would be an example of the bad data science described in the caption.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball holds a hand up to his chin while he ponders the contents of what may be a whiteboard. There are five general lines of unreadable scribbling on the board, and between the two bottom lines, there is a square frame to the right with another scribble to the left. Cueball's thoughts are shown above him in a large thought bubble.]
:Cueball's thinking: If I assign numbers to each of these things, then it becomes '''''data''''', and I can do '''''math''''' on it!

:[Caption beneath the panel:]
:The same basic idea underlies Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem and all bad data science.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Logic]]

1821: Incinerator

2022-05-03T23:27:43Z

172.69.34.42: Undo revision 234324 by X. K. C. D. (talk)

{{comic
| number = 1821
| date = April 7, 2017
| title = Incinerator
| image = incinerator.png
| titletext = My trash can broke recently and I had to get rid of it. When I picked it up, I suffered a brief but harrowing existential crisis.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] and [[Ponytail]] have just finished installing an {{w|Incineration|incinerator}} for some unspecified purpose at some establishment. Ponytail brings up the problem of having to get rid of the old incinerator, and Cueball begins to suggest using the new incinerator to incinerate the old one, but he is shut down by Ponytail off-panel. This makes him noticeably disappointed, probably because the idea of using an incinerator to destroy an incinerator is novel to him.

Throwing an incinerator inside another incinerator would probably break some kind of regulations or safety concerns, and since incinerators are meant to withstand their own high heat capacities it would be ineffective anyway.

The title text implies that this comic was inspired by recent events at [[Randall]]'s house: his trash can broke and he struggled with how to dispose of it. At least for Randall, there is something wrong with forcing anything to destroy something of its own kind -- in this case, throwing the old trash can in the new trash can. Since machines have no human emotion{{Citation needed}} this would not cause any [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I07xDdFMdgw trauma for the machine], but the humans in charge might feel as if something is wrong, and Randall mentions having an {{w|existential crisis}}. This is because humans tend to project human qualities onto the machines they are working with ({{w|anthropomorphism|anthropomorphization}}), thus possibly framing the situation in the context of something like cannibalism or homicide.

Another way of taking it would be in the sense of "being replaceable". Many people live without wanting to think of what might happen to everything around them after they die, but in this title text one can start comparing the trash can to themselves — the same way the trash can turns into something to be disposed and replaced with a new one after it becomes useless, what about people then? What will happen to you when you grow older? Should you suddenly go sick and become useless? How about in your job, what would happen if someone more superior than you comes around and starts threatening your hard-earned position?

Yet another interpretation is that while disposing of the trash can, Randall realized that he was now in the same situation as the trash can itself. The trash can was a tool used by others, in order to dispose of trash. And yet, in time, the trash can itself became trash and had to be disposed of by Randall. Which makes one wonder if Randall is himself a tool created/used by others, who will one day dispose of Randall when he has outlived his usefulness, the same way that he disposed of the trash can when it outlived its usefulness. From this perspective, Randall is simply a more intelligent and autonomous trash-junking-tool, different in degrees but similar in nature to his own trash can.

Many people define themselves by the things they do and are capable of. The idea of losing those, and then being replaced for it, is a bitter pill that we will all have to swallow at some point. All things must come to end after all, including ourselves.

A more simple reason for this may be that for almost anything else you might pick up, having done so you now have the option to put it in the trash can. Picking up the trash can itself (perhaps just to work out ''if'' it is beyond use) simultaneously removes "the trash can you may opt to put something you hold in" from its usual point in your normally instintively simple mental mapping of the domestic universe.

Plus, [https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/06/08/map-territory-distinctions/ actually throwing out a garbage can can be surprisingly difficult].

Another device to perform a meta-action was previously explored in [[952: Stud Finder]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Ponytail stand next to an incinerator, with a combustion chamber and flue that rises up to the top of the frame.]
:Ponytail: Great, the new incinerator is installed. Now we just need to dispose of the old one.

:[Ponytail walks out of the frame.]

:[Cueball lowers his head, beat panel]

:[Cueball raises his hand and begins to ask a question.]
:Cueball: Hey, could—
:Ponytail (off-panel): ''No.''
:Cueball: Aww, maaan.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Recursion]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]

1051: Visited

2022-05-03T23:07:24Z

172.69.34.42: Undo revision 234116 by X. K. C. D. (talk)

{{comic
| number = 1051
| date = May 4, 2012
| title = Visited
| image = visited.png
| titletext = I hate when I read something like '... tension among the BASE jumpers nearly led to wingsuit combat ...', and I get excited because 'wingsuit combat' is underlined, only to find that it's just separate links to the 'wingsuit' and 'combat' articles.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a reference to how an internet browser will make the links of the pages that you have visited a different color than the links that you have not visited. In the case of {{w|Wikipedia}} and other wikis powered by {{w|MediaWiki}}, they are blue for non-visited and purple for visited. In this comic, [[Randall]] is ashamed of the pages he has visited, because with the color changes there is evidence of what he has visited in the past, e.g. {{w|autoerotic asphyxiation}} (possibly while researching [[682: Force]], which features that very Wikipedia page).

The pages that he did visit before are in great contrast with the pages that he hasn't. Pages he didn't click are often difficult, highly intelligent topics, while he only clicks the easy, funny articles with little scientific background on the Wikipedia site.

The title text refers to a common mistake many people make when reading articles on Wikipedia. Words referring to subjects that have an article on Wikipedia are colored in blue. This, however, can cause confusion when two words leading to two separate articles appear together, as the two links appear to be one. However, on hovering the cursor over the article link, only one word at a time is underlined, showing that the links are separate.

It is not possible to determine who this fake article is supposed to be about, but the Macarena band is certainly from Dos Hermanas, Spain. So, it is quite possibly a made-up article from [[Randall]].

==Transcript==
[The following is in the standard format of a Wikipedia article, modified to reflect the content of the comic.]
:...and was a pioneer of literary {{w|social realism}}.

:He was born in {{w|Dos Hermanas}} in the {{w|Andalusia}} region of {{w|Spain}} (not to be confused with {{w|Andalasia}}[link clicked], the kingdom in Disney's ''{{w|Enchanted}}''[link clicked]), which is also the hometown of ''{{w|Macarena, Seville|Macarena}}''[link clicked] band {{w|Los Del Río}}[link clicked],

:His {{w|third novel}}, set during the {{w|Burmese-Siamese war}}, marked the start of a lifelong interest in the {{w|history of Southeast Asia}}. He spent his later years in {{w|Thailand}}, writing his his final novels just a few blocks from the hotel where actor {{w|David Carradine}}[link clicked] died of {{w|Autoerotic Asphyxiation}}[link clicked].

:[Caption below the panel:]
:If I go for a while without clearing my browser history, I start getting embarrassd by which words on Wikipedia show up in purple.

==Trivia==
* In the caption of the comic, embarrassed is spelled incorrectly.
* In the third paragraph, there is an extra "his" in the phrase "writing his his final novels".

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

1930: Calendar Facts

2022-04-30T17:19:42Z

172.69.34.42: /* Explanation */ replace dead generator link

{{comic
| number = 1930
| date = December 18, 2017
| title = Calendar Facts
| image = calendar_facts.png
| titletext = While it may seem like trivia, it (causes huge headaches for software developers / is taken advantage of by high-speed traders / triggered the 2003 Northeast Blackout / has to be corrected for by GPS satellites / is now recognized as a major cause of World War I).
}}

==Explanation==
This is the second comic using [[:Category:Facts|Facts]] in the title.

[[Randall]] presents what appears to be a generator of 156,000 facts [20 x 13 x (8 + 6 x 7) x 12], about calendars, most of which are false or have little meaning{{Citation needed}}. The facts are seeded by a mishmash of common tidbits about the time of year.

The formula for each generated fact goes as follows: "Did you know that '''[a recurring event]''' '''[occurs in an unusual manner]''' because of '''[phenomena or political decisions]'''? Apparently '''[wild card statement]'''."

This is [[:Category:Supermoon|the fifth time]] that Randall has referred to the phenomenon of a {{w|supermoon}}, which he typically makes fun of, most prominently in [[1394: Superm*n]].

The title text continues the chart with supposed real-life consequences of the trivia in the comic.

There are multiple online generators of Calendar 'facts' using this formula [https://perchance.org/xkcd-1930 here] and [http://yahel.com/calendarfacts/ here].

All 156 000 possible combinations can be found [https://www.dropbox.com/s/866fwtpwvd0z9hq/combinations%20xkcd%201930.txt?dl=0 here], lovingly assembled by hand (or rather, by a python script) for your entertainment. A random fact generator (including title text), written in Python, can be found [https://gist.github.com/petersohn/6c8f9d124bd961e909d2dc9a967ade2e here].

==Elements==
{| class="wikitable"
! Entry
! What it is
! Relation to other entries
|-
! colspan="3" | Recurring Events
|-
| The [Fall/Spring] {{w|Equinox}}
| The time of year at which the apparent position of the overhead sun passes the equator. During the equinox, the time that the Sun is above the horizon is 12 hours across the globe.
| Before the adoption of the {{w|Gregorian calendar}} in 1582, the equinoxes fell on earlier and earlier dates as the centuries went by, due to the {{w|Julian calendar}} year being 365.25 days on average compared to the tropical Earth year of 365.2422 days. {{w|Pope Gregory}}'s decision to remove the leap days on years that were multiples of 100 but not 400 corrected the average length of the calendar year to 365.2425 days.
|-
| The [Winter/Summer] {{w|Solstice}}
| The time of year when the apparent position of the overhead sun reaches its most extreme latitude. During the Winter and Summer solstices the days are the shortest and longest respectively.
| Similar to the equinoxes, the solstices were also falling on earlier dates every year before the Gregorian calendar.
|-
| The [Winter/Summer] {{w|Olympics}}
| The Olympic Games occur during the summer and the winter, alternating between the two seasons every two years.
| The Olympic Games do not have any set dates, and seem to only be included humorously as something else that alternates between occurring during the summer and winter.
|-
| The [latest/earliest] [sunset/sunrise]
| The extremes of times that the sun crosses a horizon according to a clock that keeps a fixed 24 hours as opposed to varying with the sun like a sundial.
| The latest sunset and earliest sunrise occur around the summer solstice; the latest sunrise and earliest sunset occur around the winter solstice. They do not occur exactly on these dates due to the {{w|equation of time}} causing drift in the times that sunsets and sunrises occur.
|-
| Daylight [saving/savings] time
| {{w|Daylight saving time}}, commonly referred to as daylight savings time, is the practice of setting clocks ahead, typically by one hour, during the summer months of the year.
| Daylight saving time will push the time of certain events such as sunrise and sunset past their "natural" times. For example, solar noon will occur around 1:00 PM instead of 12:00 noon when daylight saving time is active, making it the "wrong" time.
|-
| Leap [day/year]
| Because the durations of celestial events are not generally nice multiples of each other, they will tend to fall out of sync with each other. Leap days are days inserted into specific years to bring the calendar back into sync, and the years on which these {{w|leap day}}s occur are called {{w|leap year}}s.
|
|-
| {{w|Easter}}
| Easter is a holiday celebrating the death and resurrection of {{w|Jesus}}. Traditionally it was defined as the Sunday after {{w|Passover}}; today, it is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox. This complicated formula has a long tradition behind it, known as {{w|Computus}}.
| When Pope Gregory decided to change the calendar in 1582, it was because the spring equinox was putting Easter on unexpectedly early dates.
|-
| The [harvest/super/blood] moon
|
* The {{w|harvest moon}} is the full moon that appears closest to the autumnal equinox.
* The {{w|supermoon}} is a phenomenon in which the moon is full at its closest approach to the Earth.
* The {{w|blood moon}} is a moon that appears tinted red during a total lunar eclipse because of light refracted from the Earth's atmosphere. It can also refer to the {{w|hunter's moon}}, the full moon directly after the harvest moon.
| Each of these lunar events happens approximately once a year.
* The harvest moon appears exactly once because it has a particular definition based on the time of year.
* The cycle of the distance of the full moon lasts about 13.5 months (14 full moons). However, because a supermoon is defined as any full moon that is within 10 percent of the closest relative distance possible (with 0 being perigee and 1 being apogee), it happens multiple times a cycle, for a total of usually 3 to 4 times per year.
* The blood moon during a lunar eclipse appears between zero to two times a year. The hunter's moon appears exactly once like the harvest moon.
|-
| Toyota Truck Month
| Toyota offers a discount for {{w|Toyota Tacoma|Tacoma}} trucks one month a year. Mainly notable because radio and television ads hype this discount up as "Toyota Truck Month".
|
|-
| {{w|Shark Week}}
| Every year, the {{w|Discovery Channel}} dedicates a week during the summer to programming featuring or about sharks.
|
|-
! colspan="3" | Unusual manners in which the events occur
|-
| happens [earlier/later/at the wrong time] every year
| colspan="2" | The solstices and equinoxes happened earlier every year ''before'' the decree by Pope Gregory in 1582. The earliest sunrise happens one hour later than it "should" happen due to daylight saving time having turned the clocks forward one hour.
|-
| drifts out of sync with the [sun/moon]
| colspan="2" | The Sun and Moon are generally what calendars are based on. If something were to drift out of sync, some corrective mechanism would have to be put in to put it back. This is the motivation behind leap years, leap months (in countries with lunisolar calendars) and leap seconds.
|-
| drifts out of sync with the zodiac
| colspan="2" | The dates on which the Sun crosses the constellations in the traditional zodiac has shifted in the past centuries due to the precession of the Earth's axis. In the period of time traditionally known as {{w|Aries}} (March 21–April 20), for example, the Sun actually points to {{w|Pisces}} instead.
|-
| drifts out of sync with the [Gregorian/Mayan/lunar/iPhone] calendar
| colspan="2" |
*The {{w|Gregorian calendar}} is a solar calendar with a mean calendar year length of 365.2425 days.
*The {{w|Mayan calendar}} is based on two cycles or counts, with a 260-day count combined with a 365-day "vague" solar year.
*A {{w|lunar calendar}} is based on Moon's phases, with each {{w|lunation}} being approximately 29.5 days, and a lunar year lasting roughly 354 days. An example of a lunar calendar is the {{w|Hebrew calendar}}.
*The {{w|iPhone calendar}} is listed humorously due to its data synchronization issues.
|-
| drifts out of sync with the atomic clock in {{w|Colorado}}
| colspan="2" |
{{w|NIST-F1}} is an {{w|Atomic clock}} used as a reference for official time in the USA.
|-
| might [not happen/happen twice] this year
| colspan="2" | Some events may have a period of slightly more or slightly less than one year. If an event has a period of slightly less than one year (e.g. the Islamic calendar), it can occur twice in the same year (e.g. the year 2000 had two {{w|Eid al-Fitr}}s—one on January 8, and one on December 28). If an event has a period of slightly more than one year, there can be a year in which it does not occur at all, instead occurring near the end of the previous year and the beginning of the next.
|-
! colspan="3" | Cause (phenomena or political decisions)
|-
| time zone legislation in [Indiana/Arizona/Russia]
| Some states or provinces have time zone legislation that sets the standard time to something other than what the natural longitude of that location would suggest.
|
* The state of {{w|Arizona}} generally does not observe daylight saving time, keeping their clocks on {{w|UTC-7:00}} Mountain Standard Time year round. However, the {{w|Navajo nation}} reservation inside Arizona does observe it, causing the two regions to have different times in the summer and the same time in the winter.
* Time zones in Russia are all one hour ahead of what their longitude would suggest, which puts them in a "permanent" state of daylight saving time. (For example, {{w|St. Petersburg}} is 30°E, which means that its natural time zone is {{w|UTC+2:00}}, but its time zone is actually {{w|UTC+3:00}}.) From 1981 until 2011 Russia used to have the daylight saving time on top of it as well. The other changes include the abolition of the one-hour shift in 1991 and a return it back in 1992, and an increase to two hours in 2011 and a restoration back to one hour in 2014.
* {{w|Indiana}} has {{w|Time in Indiana|a complicated history}} with daylight saving time, likely related to the state being split between two time zones.
|-
| a decree by the Pope in the 1500s
| In 1582, Pope Gregory introduced the Gregorian Calendar, the calendar we use today, to replace the Julian Calendar. The calendar applied retroactively to the birth of Jesus Christ, which means that they had to skip 10 days, going straight from October 4 to October 15, 1582, during the switchover.
| The introduction of the Gregorian calendar brought Easter and the dates that months started back in sync with what they were in the 3rd century AD.
|-
| the precession of
| The Earth's axis is slowly changing position, in a phenomenon called the {{w|Axial precession|precession of the equinoxes}}.
| The precession of the equinoxes causes the seasons to occur about 20 minutes earlier than would be expected with the Earth's position relative to the stars, which could be construed as the equinox happening "later every year" if you use the stars as your frame of reference.
|-
| the libration of
| The Moon is {{w|tidal locking|tidally locked}} to its orbit around the Earth, which means that the same side of it tends to face the Earth at any given point in time. However, there are slight variations in the angle over the course of a month, which are known as {{w|libration}}.
| The libration of the Moon does not affect anything else in the chart, and seems only be included humorously as another example of a celestial phenomenon.
|-
| the nutation of
| Besides precession, there is also a smaller wobbling effect called {{w|Astronomical nutation|nutation}}.
|
|-
| the libation of
| A {{w|libation}} is a drink, often used in the context of a ritual offering of liquid to a deity by pouring it onto the ground or into something that collects it.
| This entry seems to have been included simply as a humorous misspelling of the word "libration". Certainly libation of any of the entities listed would be inadvisable.{{Citation needed}}
|-
| the eccentricity of
| Orbital eccentricity is the deviation of a body's orbit from a perfect circle. Orbital travel is faster when it's closer to the body being orbited and slower when farther away.
| The Earth's eccentric orbit causes the equinoxes and solstices to occur at irregular intervals. For example, summer in the northern hemisphere lasted 93 days in 2017, while fall only lasted 90 days.
|-
| the obliquity of
| The tilt of the Earth's axis relative to the ecliptic is also known as its obliquity.
|
|-
| the Moon
| The Moon is the primary satellite of the Earth.
|
|-
| the Sun
| The Sun is the star that the Earth orbits around.
| The Sun is the basis for many timekeeping events, such as the day and year.{{Citation needed}}
|-
| the Earth's axis
| The Earth's axis of rotation defines the Geographic North and South Pole, as well as the lines of latitude.
|
|-
| the Equator
| The Equator is the line on the Earth's surface which is equidistant from both poles of the Earth's axis.
|
|-
| the Prime Meridian
| The Prime Meridian is the line that starts at the geographic North Pole, runs through the {{w|Royal Observatory, Greenwich|Greenwich Royal Observatory}} in London, and ends at the South Pole. It is the basis for longitude when calculating coordinates for positions on the surface of the Earth.
| The Prime Meridian (and in particular the Greenwich Observatory) gives us Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), which is the basis for UTC and the time zone system.
|-
| the International Date Line
| The International Date Line is a line on the opposite side of the Earth as the Prime Meridian that separates regions that use time set behind UTC versus regions that are set ahead of UTC. It has many irregularities due to political changes that put certain countries or islands on either side of the divide contrary to their natural longitude.
| The irregular shape of the International Date Line means that certain regions of the Pacific Ocean (such as Kiribati) are more than 24 hours ahead of some other regions (such as Baker Island and American Samoa), which may cause problems with timekeeping.
|-
| the Mason-Dixon Line
| The Mason-Dixon line is a line delineating a portion of the border between Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware.
| The Mason-Dixon line is included as a humorous example as another imaginary geographic line.
|-
| magnetic field reversal
| The Earth's magnetic field has been reversed several times in its geologic history, so that what we would currently call the "magnetic North Pole" was near the geographic South Pole about 780,000 years ago, before the most recent reversal.
|
|-
| an arbitrary decision by Benjamin Franklin
| Benjamin Franklin wrote [http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/franklin3.html a letter to the Journal of Paris in 1784] in which he advised them to rise with the sun in order to save candlelight, after he observed that the Parisians were getting up at the same time by the clock and burning a lot of candles in the winter as a result.
An "arbitrary decision by Benjamin Franklin" also likely refers humorously to Franklin having defined positive charge to be that which is left on a glass rod by rubbing it with silk. As described in [[567: Urgent Mission]], this had the unfortunate consequence of assigning a negative value to the charge of the electron, which was later identified as the fundamental carrier of electric charge.
| Benjamin Franklin is often touted as "the father of daylight saving time", despite him never actually proposing to alter the clocks.
|-
| an arbitrary decision by Isaac Newton
| Possibly a reference to how Newton divided the colour spectrum into the now-familiar seven colours of the rainbow, on a somewhat arbitrary basis. Newton did spend time working on the problem of calendar reform, but it's unlikely that any decisions he made as a result would affect anything, since he never published his work, and by the time it gained attention the Gregorian Calendar had been widely adopted.
| The spectrum fact is one of those standard bits of trivia of the kind the chart alludes to. Although it has nothing to do with time-keeping, Newton is the sort of person who seems like he should have made decisions like this.
|-
| an arbitrary decision by FDR
| Franklin Delano Roosevelt set all time zones one hour ahead year-round during World War II. The law was repealed after the war ended.
Additionally, he changed the date of Thanksgiving from the last Thursday in November to the third Thursday in November as a way to increase the length of the Christmas shopping season. It was later changed to the fourth Thursday after his death.
| Setting the time permanently one hour ahead would make everything happen at the "wrong" time celestially.
|-
! colspan="3" | Related 'fact'
|-
| It causes a predictable increase in car accidents.
| colspan="2" | The week following daylight saving time, car accidents increase by about 5-7%.<ref>http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/end-of-daylight-saving-time-2015-6-eye-opening-facts-1.3296353</ref>
|-
| That's why we have leap seconds.
| colspan="2" | Leap seconds occur because the time required for one rotation of the Earth is actually slightly longer than the 86,400 seconds in a standard UTC day. The Earth's rotation is slowing down by about 2 × 10-5 seconds every year due to tidal friction caused by the Moon's gravity; however, this is not one of the possible entries in the list of phenomena.
|-
| Scientists are really worried.
| colspan="2" |
|-
| it was even more extreme during the [Bronze Age/Ice Age/Cretaceous/1990s].
| This may be reference to debates over climate change, where global temperature changes during these periods are frequently cited as supposedly proving / disproving human-related change.
| Solar events, such as sunspot activity, are often invoked as explaining temperature change in these debates. However, while there are a number of potential sun-related 'facts' that could be generated, none touch on sunspots.
|-
| There's a proposal to fix it, but it [will never happen/actually makes things worse/is stalled in Congress/might be unconstitutional].
| colspan="2" | Time zone reform is surprisingly a very controversial and politicized issue, with special interests on either side looking to modify it to fit their needs. Examples of proposals to modify the scheme include:

* Extend the duration of daylight saving time by one month, which was done in 2007 in many states as part of an energy-saving proposal by George W. Bush.
* Reduce the duration of daylight saving time back to its original span, or further.
* Eliminate daylight saving time altogether, going back to using standard time.
* Abolish daylight saving time but advance the time zone by one hour, effectively instating daylight saving time year round. This was done during World War II, and is also done in certain areas of Canada like Saskatchewan (which from 1966 onwards has observed Central Standard Time despite the entire province being squarely in the Mountain longitudes).
* Abolish daylight saving time and advance the time zone by 30 minutes, splitting the difference between the current standard time and daylight saving time.
* Abolish daylight saving time, but make government offices open one hour earlier in the summer, encouraging private businesses to do the same. This was done by Warren G. Harding in 1922 because he felt that changing the clocks was a "deception", but was rolled back the next year as it caused mass chaos in terms of what businesses decided to do to adapt to the change in business hours.
* Reduce the number of time zones in the United States to two, consolidating Pacific time into Mountain time (UTC-7:00), and Eastern time into Central time (UTC-6:00). This was proposed in a [https://qz.com/142199/the-us-needs-to-retire-daylight-savings-and-just-have-two-time-zones-one-hour-apart/ 2013 article in Quartz] by Allison Schrager.

At best, these time zone proposals will be fraught with controversy, with both sides arguing for the benefits of their time system. Some proposals, such as the 30-minute and 20-minute suggestions, would put the minute hands of the entire United States out of sync with the rest of the world, defeating the purpose of time zones with hourly UTC offsets in the first place, which could be construed as "making things worse".
|-
| It's getting worse and no one knows why.
| colspan="2" |
|-
! colspan="3" | Title Text: Consequences
|-
| causes huge headaches for software developers
| colspan="2" | Trying to support time zones correctly for all dates present and historic is a mishmash of different regional laws, time zones, and DST changes. The headache is best exemplified in [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5wpm-gesOY this video] by Tom Scott.
|-
| is taken advantage of by high-speed traders
| colspan="2" | A leap second must be taken into account by trading software, and may cause bugs if not accounted properly. Because leap seconds happen at midnight UTC, it might happen in regular trading hours for somebody living in Seattle, where the time zone is UTC-08:00. Somehow, a high-frequency trader may try to take advantage of any bugs in the software if they are not built to handle this particular case. This scenario is relatively unlikely because the market software can keep its own "market-official time" and synchronize with the correct time while the market is closed.
|-
| triggered the 2003 Northeast Blackout
| colspan="2" | The {{w|Northeast blackout of 2003}} was caused by a race condition in the energy management software at a power plant in Ohio. In a race condition the result of a computation is different depending on the order of completion of the operations, even though the result is supposed to be independent of that order. Race conditions can theoretically be caused by mismatched timestamps.
|-
| has to be corrected for by GPS satellites
| colspan="2" | Because {{w|Global Positioning System}} (GPS) satellites are further from the earth than surface receivers, their clocks run faster than clocks on the surface due to general relativity. But they are also slower because they are moving faster than surface receivers, as explained by special relativity. Also, their clocks are not updated for leap seconds. All these factors mean that GPS satellites have a different timekeeping standard than clocks on the ground which are generally synchronized to Greenwich solar time.
|-
| is now recognized as a major cause of World War I.
| colspan="2" | Daylight saving time was first implemented in World War I as a fuel-saving measure. Randall seems to be humorously implying that World War I was started in order to implement these fuel-saving measures during peacetime as well.
|-
|}

==Examples of true complete statements==

# Did you know that '''the spring equinox''' '''drifts out of sync with the zodiac''' because of '''the precession of the Earth's axis'''? Apparently '''it was even more extreme during the Ice Age'''.
# Did you know that '''daylight saving time''' '''might happen twice this year''' because of '''time zone regulation in Russia'''? Apparently '''there's a proposal to fix it, but it actually makes things worse'''. (True in Russia in 1981)
# Did you know that '''leap year''' '''might not happen this year''' because of '''a decree by the pope in the 1500s'''? Apparently '''there's a proposal to fix it, but''' '''it will never happen'''. While it may seem like trivia, '''it causes huge headaches for software developers'''. (The Pax calendar proposes that 2018 be a leap year. If anyone finds a calendar in which 2017 is a leap year, I'd love to see it!)

==Transcript==

:<big>-Calendar Facts-</big>

:[Shown below is a branching flow chart of sorts that begins at the phrase "Did you know that", then flows through various paths to build up a sentence. (Note that the "→" arrow symbol is used below to indicate a new branch with no intermediate text from a previous branch.)]

:Did you know that:
::the ( Fall | Spring ) Equinox
::the ( Winter | Summer ) ( Solstice | Olympics )
::the ( Earliest | Latest ) ( Sunrise | Sunset )
::Daylight ( Saving | Savings ) Time
::Leap ( Day | Year )
::Easter
::the ( Harvest | Super | Blood ) Moon
::Toyota Truck Month
::Shark Week
:→
::happens ( earlier | later | at the wrong time ) every year
::drifts out of sync with the
:::Sun
:::Moon
:::Zodiac
:::( Gregorian | Mayan | Lunar | iPhone ) Calendar
:::atomic clock in Colorado
::might ( not happen | happen twice ) this year
:because of
::time zone legislation in ( Indiana | Arizona | Russia )
::a decree by the pope in the 1500s
::( precession | libration | nutation | libation | eccentricity | obliquity ) of the
:::Moon
:::Sun
:::Earth's axis
:::equator
:::prime meridian
:::( International Date | Mason-Dixon ) Line
::magnetic field reversal
::an arbitrary decision by ( Benjamin Franklin | Isaac Newton | FDR )
:?
:Apparently
::it causes a predictable increase in car accidents.
::that's why we have leap seconds.
::scientists are really worried.
::it was even more extreme during the
:::Bronze Age.
:::Ice Age.
:::Cretaceous.
:::1990s.
::there's a proposal to fix it, but it
:::will never happen.
:::actually makes things worse.
:::is stalled in congress.
:::might be unconstitutional.
::it's getting worse and no one knows why.

== References ==
<references/>

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Calendar]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Facts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Daylight saving time]]
[[Category:Time]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Supermoon]]
[[Category:Sharks]]

2613: Bad Map Projection: Madagascator

2022-04-29T22:26:20Z

172.69.34.42: ur so sussy i know u took my fortnite card

{{comic
| number = 2613
| date = April 29, 2022
| title = Bad Map Projection: Madagascator
| image = bad_map_projection_madagascator.png
| titletext = The projection's north pole is in a small lake on the island of Mahé in the Seychelles, which is off the top of the map and larger than the rest of the Earth's land area combined.
}}

{{Talk:2613: Bad Map Projection: Madagascator}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by MADAGASCAR (2005) - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Among Us[c] is a 2018 online multiplayer social deduction game developed and published by American game studio Innersloth. The game was inspired by the party game Mafia and the science fiction horror film The Thing. The game allows for cross-platform play, first being released on iOS and Android devices in June 2018 and on Windows later that year in November. The game was then ported to the Nintendo Switch in December 2020, and on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S in December 2021. While the game was initially released in 2018 to little mainstream attention, it received a massive influx of popularity in 2020 due to many well-known Twitch streamers and YouTubers playing it. A separate VR version of the game, Among Us VR, will be released for Quest 2, SteamVR, and PlayStation VR, developed by Schell Games. Among Us takes place in a space-themed setting where players look like colorful armless cartoon astronauts; however, since the release of "The Skeld" spaceship, three other maps have been added in later years: the skyscraper "MIRA HQ", the "Polus" planetary station, and "The Airship" (based on Infiltrating the Airship from the Henry Stickmin series, also developed by Innersloth). Each player takes on one of two roles—most are Crewmates, but a small number play Impostors—which does not alter their appearance.[d] The goal of the Crewmates is to either identify and vote out the Impostors, or to complete all the tasks around the map; the goal of the Impostors is to covertly sabotage the mission either by killing the Crewmates before they complete all their tasks or by triggering a disaster that cannot be resolved.
==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Bad map projection #248: Madagascar

Mercator projection but with the North Pole in the Indian Ocean so it exaggerates the size of Madagascar instead of Greenland

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Bad Map Projections]]

Talk:2383: Electoral Precedent 2020

2020-11-10T01:35:25Z

172.69.34.42: cmt

Can anyone identify the faded background text in the 2016 panel?

Is there some shadow text behind the main text in the 2016 square? I can barely make it out.
It looks like "No nominee whose first name contains a "k" has lost", which would be the same from the 1122 comic.
[[User:ChunyangD|ChunyangD]] ([[User talk:ChunyangD|talk]]) 00:54, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

It's the alternative text from the 2016 one: "No nominee whose first name contains a "K" has lost." [[Special:Contributions/172.69.235.143|172.69.235.143]] 00:58, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

I'm quite sure that Obama did in fact have a campaign website in 2008 when he was a challenger. See http://www.4president.us/websites/2008/barackobama2008website.htm [[User:Bobjr|Bobjr]] ([[User talk:Bobjr|talk]]) 01:15, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
:I think "challenger" means that they're going against the incumbent. Obama was up against McCain, who wasn't an incumbent. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 01:31, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

How much do we want the explanation for this one to repeat what is in that of 1122?--[[User:Troy0|Troy0]] ([[User talk:Troy0|talk]]) 01:19, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

Didn't Clinton win after being impeached? [[User:Alcatraz ii|Alcatraz ii]] ([[User talk:Alcatraz ii|talk]]) 01:21, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
:Yes, he was impeached during his first term. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 01:31, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
:: No, this is not true, Clinton was impeached during his 2nd term, in 1998, and he was not eligible for a 3rd term. George W. Bush won the following presidential election in 2000. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.42|172.69.34.42]] 01:35, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

2339: Pods vs Bubbles

2020-07-31T03:09:22Z

172.69.34.42: /* Transcript */ category

{{comic
| number = 2339
| date = July 29, 2020
| title = Pods vs Bubbles
| image = pods_vs_bubbles.png
| titletext = Canada's travel restrictions on the US are 99% about keeping out COVID and 1% about keeping out people who say 'pod.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BUBBLE-PERSON, not a POD-PERSON. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

During the coronavirus pandemic, various degrees of household self-isolation were often asked of people, depending on location, once it became understood that there was a virus spreading through contact/proximity vectors.

As the initial surge of cases appeared to decline, in places where such drastic restrictions had been implemented and seemingly had prevented ever higher infection rates, many regions decreased the strictness of these measures. For instance, permitting any two households (neither having signs of symptoms) to meet with each other ''and only each other'', or allowing one person in a multi-occupancy residence to invite just one other person to reassociate with. Further relaxation of rules may have occurred since, with the caveat that even one case of COVID-19 discovered in such a co-isolating group of people should be considered a risk factor to every other member (however the local jurisdiction deals with that).

A common term for the larger social unit, not to overlap with any other expanded social unit, is a 'bubble', perhaps to imply that you can only have membership of one bounded bubble at a time (unlike an {{w|Euler diagram}}). The term ‘build your bubble’ was coined by Dr Ingham (University of Otago, New Zealand) as a way of encouraging people with disabilities to create safe ‘bubbles’ with care givers during lockdown. Another common term is 'pod', representing the closed nature of a pod. There is probably as much variation across the world about what podding ''or'' bubbling practically means as there is between any two instances of those podded ''vs.'' those bubbled. Some sports leagues in the United States have resumed play in these structures, [https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29256449/everything-know-nba-22-team-restart-walt-disney-world with the media] [https://nhl.nbcsports.com/2020/07/28/bubble-hockey-begins-nhl-playoff-teams-adjust-to-quarantine/ using the] [https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/sports/basketball/sports-bubble-nba-mlb.html bubble terminology].

Despite the semantic inconsequentialities of the difference, here Cueball clearly expresses a personal preference that he would probably not like being kept in an enforced social situation with someone who uses the other term.

Randall realizes that, despite his tendencies towards strong opinions on semantics, this particular point is one he would have been highly unlikely to say a year ago, and probably would not even have understood what it meant, because he could not have foreseen the COVID-19 pandemic and its widespread impact.

Cueball was shown using a ''literal'' bubble (a {{w|hamster ball}}) in [[2331: Hamster Ball 2]], but evidently got tired of being rolled around by the neighborhood kids.

The title text refers to travel restrictions. Many countries have placed limitations on its citizens' travel, particularly in and out of that country. Canada has mandated 14-day self-isolation on anyone who has returned from out-of-country, and has strictly limited any attempts to leave the country, with the United States being specifically noted as a high-risk tourism destination. Randall jokes that such measures are only 99% meant as COVID-19 precautions, with the remaining 1% being due to the authorities sharing Randall's semantic opinions.



==Transcript==
:[Cueball is walking to the right with Megan. He has raised a clenched fist.]
:Cueball: I ''refuse'' to bubble with anyone who calls it a "pod" and not a "bubble".

:[Caption below the panel]:
:This is probably my opinion that would have sounded the most incoherent to me a year ago.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:COVID-19]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Language]]

2339: Pods vs Bubbles

2020-07-31T03:08:44Z

172.69.34.42: /* Explanation */ ce

2339: Pods vs Bubbles

2020-07-31T03:07:16Z

172.69.34.42: /* Explanation */ sports bubbles

{{comic
| number = 2339
| date = July 29, 2020
| title = Pods vs Bubbles
| image = pods_vs_bubbles.png
| titletext = Canada's travel restrictions on the US are 99% about keeping out COVID and 1% about keeping out people who say 'pod.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BUBBLE-PERSON, not a POD-PERSON. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

During the coronavirus pandemic, various degrees of household self-isolation were often asked of people, depending on location, once it became understood that there was a virus spreading through contact/proximity vectors.

As the initial surge of cases appeared to decline, in places where such drastic restrictions had been implemented and seemingly had prevented ever higher infection rates, many regions decreased the strictness of these measures. For instance, permitting any two households (neither having signs of symptoms) to meet with each other ''and only each other'', or allowing one person in a multi-occupancy residence to invite just one other person to reassociate with. Further relaxation of rules may have occurred since, with the caveat that even one case of COVID-19 discovered in such a co-isolating group of people should be considered a risk factor to every other member (however the local jurisdiction deals with that).

A common term for the larger social unit, not to overlap with any other expanded social unit, is a 'bubble', perhaps to imply that you can only have membership of one bounded bubble at a time (unlike an {{w|Euler diagram}}). The term ‘build your bubble’ was coined by Dr Ingham (University of Otago, New Zealand) as a way of encouraging people with disabilities to create safe ‘bubbles’ with care givers during lockdown. Another common term is 'pod', representing the closed nature of a pod. There is probably as much variation across the world about what podding ''or'' bubbling practically means as there is between any two instances of those podded ''vs.'' those bubbled. Some sports leagues in the United States have resumed play in a "bubble" structure, [https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29256449/everything-know-nba-22-team-restart-walt-disney-world with the media] [https://nhl.nbcsports.com/2020/07/28/bubble-hockey-begins-nhl-playoff-teams-adjust-to-quarantine/ using the] [https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/sports/basketball/sports-bubble-nba-mlb.html bubble terminology].

Despite the semantic inconsequentialities of the difference, here Cueball clearly expresses a personal preference that he would probably not like being kept in an enforced social situation with someone who uses the other term.

Randall realizes that, despite his tendencies towards strong opinions on semantics, this particular point is one he would have been highly unlikely to say a year ago, and probably would not even have understood what it meant, because he could not have foreseen the COVID-19 pandemic and its widespread impact.

Cueball was shown using a ''literal'' bubble (a {{w|hamster ball}}) in [[2331: Hamster Ball 2]], but evidently got tired of being rolled around by the neighborhood kids.

The title text refers to travel restrictions. Many countries have placed limitations on its citizens' travel, particularly in and out of that country. Canada has mandated 14-day self-isolation on anyone who has returned from out-of-country, and has strictly limited any attempts to leave the country, with the United States being specifically noted as a high-risk tourism destination. Randall jokes that such measures are only 99% meant as COVID-19 precautions, with the remaining 1% being due to the authorities sharing Randall's semantic opinions.



==Transcript==
:[Cueball is walking to the right with Megan. He has raised a clenched fist.]
:Cueball: I ''refuse'' to bubble with anyone who calls it a "pod" and not a "bubble".

:[Caption below the panel]:
:This is probably my opinion that would have sounded the most incoherent to me a year ago.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:COVID-19]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]