explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:192: Working for Google

2024-09-13T19:19:07Z

172.69.43.185:

I honestly can't see anything incomplete about it. But then, I may be naive about it. Anonymous 04:57, 13 December 2013 (UTC)
: Neither can I, however there is a bit of irrelevant information such as, how not to pad your resume and having original ideas -- the explanation probably should be edited down to be more consisce and to the proint of what the comic is about i.e. "sour grapes" [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]])

Perhaps the cake was foreshadowing http://xkcd.com/195/, the Map of The Internet. {{unsigned ip|173.245.56.85}}

A cake that has the shape of the Internet might actually be one shaped of Internet Explorer. [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 18:00, 13 December 2013 (UTC)
:No, it may not. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 19:25, 6 January 2014 (UTC)

There are some true stories of people showing up at Google interviews with gifts for the interviewers. In case if you wonder, they don't get hired. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.5|108.162.246.5]] 02:17, 29 January 2014

The cake should be created with a series of tubes.00:14, 23 September 2014 (UTC)~

There is a [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#Merge_Cueball_.26_Rob|community portal discussion]] of what to call Cueball and what to do in case with more than one Cueball. I have added this comic to the new Category:Multiple Cueballs. In this case there is no reason to call one Cueball and the other friend. It could easily be the other way. So I have changed to remove Cueball. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:33, 15 March 2015 (UTC)

By saying he baked a "cake in the shape of the Internet," he inadvertently revealed that he has no clue what is the Internet, and that he exhibited said cluelessness openly to his interviewers -- explaining his rejection. [[User:Danshoham|Mountain Hikes]] ([[User talk:Danshoham|talk]]) 02:54, 21 September 2015 (UTC)

Google {Search} is a monopoly that violates US Antitrust Law. Google pays couple of billions of USD each year to The Congress so The Congress lets it slip. The rest of the Google (including Google re-branding) is a theater of absurd where people with pedigrees think that they are important, but mostly getting paid for non competing with Google.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.195|162.158.62.195]] 18:24, 12 June 2018 (UTC)

What if the cake he made was shaped like internet explorer, proving to the interviewer he was incompetent.
[[Special:Contributions/ 216.185.90.190| 216.185.90.190]] 9:10, 11 April 2019 (UTC)~

Google held a vastly different position in the lives of users and among corporations, back when this was published. The playful slogan “don’t be evil” they half-had was at least somewhat sincere, and their corporate culture was quirky and revered. Some context as to the details of what they once were is needed IMHO, for this old strip to land right. {{unsigned|108.162.237.33|10:32, 13 September 2024}}

2980: Lava Lakes

2024-09-03T08:42:44Z

172.69.43.185: /* Explanation */ Rearranged and rephrased for grammar/punctuation/flow purposes.

{{comic
| number = 2980
| date = September 2, 2024
| title = Lava Lakes
| image = lava_lakes_2x.png
| imagesize = 709x272px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Hey, golf balls float on lava, so this should make recovering them from the hazards easier.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A GOLF BALL <s>FLOATING ON</s> <s>MELTING IN</s> CAUSING AN EXPLOSION IN THE 6TH LAVA LAKE (FORMER GOLF COURSE) - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The comic shows [[Megan]] (or [[Danish]]) talking to [[Black Hat]], mentioning the common myth that there's a lava lake in the crater of every volcano. She points out that there are really only around five lava-filled volcano craters in the world right now. Black Hat responds to this by creating a new one on a nearby golf course. Given that Megan was still waiting when Black Hat came back, the attention span of most people is shorter than the time it takes lava lakes to form, and that sane people do not build golf courses directly over active volcanoes, Black Hat would've needed to dig at least 8 kilometers of earth within a very short timespan, which is impossible for a normal human being. Also, since this action was prompted by Megan's remark, Black Hat could not have built or moved anything capable of making a lava lake to the golf course beforehand.

The title text mentions that golf balls will float on lava, making recovering them from hazards easier. The density of a normal golf ball is about 1.13 grams per cubic centimeter, which is significantly less than the 2.4 ~ 2.9 grams per cubic centimeter of lava. It ''would'' be very easy to retrieve golf balls from lava because of this, if it were not for the fact that lava is hot. Lava is around 800 °C, while golf balls start to melt at ~80 °C{{acn}}. Not to mention that the interaction of lava with solids at STP [https://www.usgs.gov/media/videos/rockfall-halemaumau tends to be violent]. Attempts to retrieve golf balls from lava would be profoundly dangerous, and have a vanishingly small probability of success.

These may be the 5 volcano lakes that the comic references ({{w|Lava_lake#List_of_volcanoes_having_displayed_past_or_present_lava_lake_activity|source}}):
* {{w|Erta Ale}} in Ethiopia
* {{w|Mount Erebus}} on Ross Island, Antarctica
* Kīlauea {{w|Halema%CA%BBuma%CA%BBu|Halemaʻumaʻu}} on Hawaiʻi (Big Island) [no active lake in September 2024]
* {{w|Mount_Nyiragongo|Nyiragongo}} in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
* {{w|Mount Michael}} on Saunders Island, South Sandwich Islands

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Megan and Black Hat are talking, with Megan holding up one hand towards Black Hat]
:Megan: People think volcano craters are full of lava, but that’s rare. There are only five or so lava lakes in the world right now.

:[Black Hat puts one hand up to his chin]
:Black Hat: Interesting.

:[Black Hat walks out of frame off to the right]

:[Megan stands while three distinct sound effects come off-panel from the right]
:Rumble
:Crash
:BOOOOM

:[Black Hat walks back into frame]
:Megan: What did you—
:Black Hat: There are six now.
:Off-panel voice to the right: Why is the golf course erupting!?

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Volcanoes]]

Talk:519: 11th Grade

2024-09-02T08:54:15Z

172.69.43.185:

There's no claim in the title text about gaining "social skills and new perspectives". I suspect it's more about the chance that "that strange kid" might turn out to be the next {{w|Mark Zuckerberg}}, or some such.
[[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 21:25, 7 November 2013 (UTC)
:Or Eric Harris / Dylan Klebold. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.54|108.162.216.54]] 20:44, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

Yep. Or that he knows a guy who can find you your first job. Or he's the one who tells you about his interest in x topic and sparks your interest in it as well, and maybe it turns into your future career. It could happen.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.33|108.162.221.33]] 01:50, 29 January 2014 (UTC)

I thought the comment about "that strange kid" was about Randall himself. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.36|108.162.212.36]] 07:18, 27 December 2014 (UTC)

Usually I'm that person people treat as "that strange kid." Really hoping to kick some serious ass in the future. Mostly the asses of all the rudefucks that bullied me all throughout grade school. In space. XD [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 06:31, 22 November 2015 (UTC)

Funny, with a 'hmmmm....' that makes you ponder. The hovertext, to me, can be an afterthought, or a rimshot, or a deeper layer of the onion. I took 'career success' as one's career through life, as in path through life. Most of public instruction is outside->inside...putting a structure into someone. One weekend, you're intrigued by something, and you pour yourself into it to the exclusion of all else. This is inside->out, and that changes everything. And the strange kid in the corner might be you. [[User:Jorjor|Jorjor]] ([[User talk:Jorjor|talk]]) 15:19, 11 April 2018 (UTC)
:I can think of 2 possible things it could be: Either the "quiet kid" who ends up committing a school sh00ting, or a future spouse/love interest {{unsigned|XB70Valkyrie|00:09, 2 September 2024}}

Talk:2967: Matter

2024-08-06T09:14:00Z

172.69.43.185:

This one is a head-scratcher. Do skateboarders call "anti-" things goofy? What's the deal with that Dirac statistic? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.31|162.158.154.31]] 23:47, 2 August 2024 (UTC)
:It's like being a 'southpaw' boxer (or at least being able to stand the opposite way, maybe in order to flip/spin the board the opposite way from what you would end up kicking it normally).
:The Dirac thing is... well, quantum physics has various uses/restrictions upon spin (and colour, etc) that isn't really physical spin (or colour) as we know it, but sort of means a kind of particle-based rotational momentum, which has to be conserved/transfered/agree in various quantum interactions (and is a quantised state, meaning that only certain spin-values can exist in a given situation).
:Both the skateboarding and the elementary physics issues are (in their own way) rather technical matters, and I know a lot more about one than the other (but think I understand the other a lot more, from just reading up on it, than I know I actually understand the original one based on what I actually was taught). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.186|172.70.162.186]] 00:03, 3 August 2024 (UTC)
:''"Do skateboarders call "anti-" things goofy?"'' FWIW, I first heard 'goofy' in the 1960s skateboard fad, using your left foot where the right foot normally goes. It appears this was 2 or 3 years before Mr Hawk was born, so it isn't his invention. I would wonder if surfers (Hawaii and California) got goofy even earlier. [[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]])
:: Looks like a fair summary: [https://www.surfertoday.com/surfing/where-does-the-term-goofy-footed-surfer-come-from Goofy Foot] --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 02:21, 3 August 2024 (UTC)
::: I first heard the term "goofy foot" back in Skate or Die on the NES. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.212.133|162.158.212.133]] 07:59, 3 August 2024 (UTC)

I'm way over the hill, and that linked 20 minute video on spin was the first explanation of that quantum number which seemed fully satisfactory and didn't leave me feeling like I was missing something crucial. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYeRS5a3HbE&t=18m30s "The spin number characterizes how fast the state of a particle changes when we rotate it in space." WHERE HAS THAT EXPLANATION BEEN ALL MY LIFE?!?! [[Special:Contributions/172.68.22.90|172.68.22.90]] 04:56, 3 August 2024 (UTC)
:Spin is a terrible name, it should be "twist factor" for example. It's a derivative unit error, like calling acceleration in terms of speed. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.198|162.158.90.198]] 07:58, 3 August 2024 (UTC)
::I second both of those comments. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.66|108.162.245.66]] 02:27, 6 August 2024 (UTC)

Problem loading previous comic, I get MediaWiki error. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 17:15, 3 August 2024 (UTC)
:Can't replicate that, and doesn't sound like the kind of errors I might get (504s, "sorry too busy"-style message, etc). Is it still happening for you? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.18|172.70.85.18]] 19:23, 3 August 2024 (UTC)
::I get this
----
MediaWiki internal error.

Original exception: [Zq_L66Th-kkFBgrsnjHznwAAAEQ] 2024-08-04 18:43:55: Fatal exception of type "MWException"

Exception caught inside exception handler.

Set $wgShowExceptionDetails = true; at the bottom of LocalSettings.php to show detailed debugging information.
----
::Only on Firefox, Opera loads fine. Other pages seem to load fine also. It only happens on 2966, whether I go from 2967 or 2965, or if I try to manually enter URL. The letters in the brackets do change each time.[[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 18:52, 4 August 2024 (UTC)
:::A quick search for the error indicates old errors that (ten years ago) say "I know this is an old issue, but...", and it looks like we need a server admin to add the detailed debugging thing to work for you.
::: Tested here with Chrome (Android), Firefox (Android) and Firefox (Windows). No problem when going to [[2966]] through the respective Previous/Next buttons from neighbours. No problem with going there 'directly', in several different ways, to 2966 (which redirects). Nor [[Exam Numbers]] (which also redirects) nor [[2966: Exam Numbers]] (to which everything redirects). Do any of these non-Next/Previous links work/not work if you jump off from here?
:::This is just from my basic 'no login' connection. Does it error if you aren't logged in to your SDSpivey account? (Maybe you don't login through Opera, but do in Firefox? You'd know that better. If that's the case, it's maybe something funny within in your own profile configuration, like a server-stored 'skin' or 'filter' error/incompatibility of some kind.) The fact that nobody else is reporting trouble makes me think it's you-specific, but it doesn't ''sound'' like it's a browser-side issue. Grasping at straws here, but covering my best ideas at this time. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.227|172.69.43.227]] 20:36, 4 August 2024 (UTC)

This part doesn't make any sense to me; was this section AI generated? "That is why it is very difficult to compress matter based on fermions and even to get goofy matter (which are not identical particles), as they should be brought in contact with in the comic, near enough or mixed enough with the normal matter."
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 21:15, 3 August 2024 (UTC)
:Reverted as an incorrect and confusing attempt to extend the panel joke into the title text explanation. That never goes well. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.237|172.71.150.237]] 21:47, 3 August 2024 (UTC)

So in skateboard, does goofy just mean "left foot" or does it mean "non-dominant foot". Like, would a left handed skater be skating goofy "normally", or is goofy for them, using right foot?
:Left, because it's described in the frame of reference of observers. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.34|172.70.214.34]] 07:35, 4 August 2024 (UTC)
::So if I'm a left-handed observer, then are right-handed skaters goofy? [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 12:14, 5 August 2024 (UTC)
:::Only if they're doing a handstand while riding it.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.5|172.69.195.5]] 14:15, 5 August 2024 (UTC)
:Goofy is specifically right foot forward, kicking with your left. The other way round is 'regular'. 'Goofy' and 'Regular' are used to denote your normal stance. That is, the way you skate most comfortably. Skating the opposite way round to your normal stance is called 'fakie'. This can be different for different skaters. 'Fakie' for someone who skates 'Regular' would be 'Goofy', and vice versa [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.185|172.69.43.185]] 09:13, 6 August 2024 (UTC)

Have made a new [[:Category:Skateboard]]. There have for a long time been one for Electric Skateboard but I found 10 with regular skateboards being referenced. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:08, 4 August 2024 (UTC)

The extra spacing in the Feynman diagram on the blackboard explains why most antimatter was annihilated. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.135.89|172.69.135.89]] 10:00, 4 August 2024 (UTC)
:Given an initial universe with equal parts matter and antimatter plus a slight asymmetry (50% + e), the mutual annihilation of matter and antimatter would leave behind a residual amount of matter proportional to the asymmetry e. In the extremely dense early universe, this annihilation would be nearly complete, ensuring that almost all antimatter and a corresponding amount of matter would be annihilated into energy, leaving an excess of matter. Thus, the observed baryon asymmetry today can be explained by this initial slight asymmetry, as even a minuscule e would result in a predominantly (anti)matter-filled universe post-annihilation. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.52|172.70.210.52]] 10:33, 4 August 2024 (UTC)
::It does mean that mass-energy conservation (or ways to feed that energy into other things, e.g. the expansion of space itself?) gives us a different initial distribution to the kind of initial universe where the imbalance was never just a residual (anti-particals just naturally being rarer to find/be created), and still begs the question of where such an imbalance came from (however small) from a spontaneously created universal 'seed' that one would imagine ought to be 'property neutral' in combining all essentially symmetric measures. But I added a little something about this to my own edit. (My edit being an attempt to stop huge run-on sentences with comma asides (and other dubious usages of comma), in a key section. So much so that I gave up trying to work out what some of it was intended to mean and just gave my own version. Still with plenty of commas, but not relying quite so heavily upon them alone.) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.231|172.69.195.231]] 11:53, 4 August 2024 (UTC)
:::No, it does not. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.207.39|172.70.207.39]] 14:22, 4 August 2024 (UTC)
::::What is wrong there? (I can see some messy understanding, but there's also some practical correctness.) What (especially with the changes to remove, loads, of, long, comma-ey, back, and, forth, sentences; it definitely does need rewriting, as it now is again!) required the whole lot reverting? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.38|172.70.86.38]] 18:12, 4 August 2024 (UTC)

I reverted https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2967:_Matter&diff=348077&oldid=348076 because reality. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.196|172.69.22.196]] 13:06, 4 August 2024 (UTC)

My working title for my skateboarding game where you pull tricks off of an undulating gravity wave surface is "Tony Hawking". (Ben Newman) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.231.38|172.70.231.38]] 18:31, 5 August 2024 (UTC)
:Remember: If the gameplay has you going round a half-pipe with a skateboard, the inspiration is probably Tony Hawk's. If it has you going round a country with a fridge, the inspiration is probably Tony Hawks'... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.141|172.70.91.141]] 18:46, 5 August 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2964: Olympic Sports

2024-07-29T18:03:30Z

172.69.43.185: Adding timestamps to unsigned details, and maybe other tidying.

What took bro so long
Is he stupid [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.119|141.101.98.119]] 13:05, 27 July 2024 (UTC)
:Seems totally unclear what you're referring to, here. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 15:00, 27 July 2024 (UTC)
::i think they're referring to this comic being somewhat late. [[user talk:lettherebedarklight|youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk]] 15:07, 27 July 2024 (UTC)
:: The comic appeared around 0800 EDT 20240727 (Saturday, a day late). As most folks here surely know, late posts are common on xkcd but aren't often later than the stated "MWF". After 19 years, and without the "weeks ahead" buffer insisted upon by "traditional" syndicated comics (as shown by [https://xkcd.com/2961/ Crowdstrike], posted the day of the event), I think Randall has done remarkably well. I'd struggle to keep a schedule like this for 19 weeks.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.151.95|172.71.151.95]] 15:34, 27 July 2024 (UTC)

I think "''Synchronized'' Swimming" would be the most hilarious. One person flailing while a whole team tries to make it look choreographed. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 15:00, 27 July 2024 (UTC)
:I picture two people that are synchronized to each other while the third person tries to look choreographed - [[Special:Contributions/162.158.212.172|162.158.212.172]] 15:11, 27 July 2024 (UTC)
:Why must I think of "The fox has left his lair"... [[Special:Contributions/172.71.160.71|172.71.160.71]] 16:39, 27 July 2024 (UTC)
:Google "SNL synchronized swimming". There's a classic sketch. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 23:20, 27 July 2024 (UTC)
:I reckon discus has got to be up there. On the other hand, least funny has to be the walking. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.166|172.69.43.166]] 10:05, 29 July 2024 (UTC)

I hear there's an opening on the GB equestrian team. Just sayin'... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.69.119|141.101.69.119]] 19:15, 27 July 2024 (UTC)

I'm going to disagree about a couple. Beginning pole vaulters are incredibly funny. Beginners on the pommel horse aren't usually very funny. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.252|162.158.186.252]] 19:54, 27 July 2024 (UTC)
:I also think pole vault would be in the last category. It has always looked to me like an incredibly difficult maneuver. And I remember doing pommel horse in school; I wasn't very athletic, but I could swing around a little. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 23:21, 27 July 2024 (UTC)

"Ski jump" has got to be a reference to Eddie the Eagle.{{unsigned ip|172.70.115.96|20:33, 27 July 2024}}
: Eddie was British champion. And he changed Olympic qualification rules.{{unsigned ip|172.69.43.166|23:27, 27 July 2024}}
: : Both Bogataj and Edwards were competitive ski jumpers (Edwards, admittedly, marginally so), whereas the trope of this cartoon is that the protagonist (presumably Randall) is trying to enter the competition without any prior experience. The vibe seems to be - Challenger: "Can you fail more spectacularly than these two?" Randall: "Hold my beer." Olympic official: "Nice try, stick guy, but no. Here's your beer back." 'Thankfully for all concerned' seems a better fit to the Bogataj case, in which he was injured, spectators were put at risk, and the competition schedule was likely disrupted, than the Edwards case in which the only injuries were to the reputations of Olympic administrators, and which yielded a nice 15 minutes for Edwards. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.253|108.162.245.253]] 00:02, 28 July 2024 (UTC)
: I really doubt the ski jump thing is a reference to anything specific. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.23|108.162.221.23]] 13:00, 28 July 2024 (UTC)

Randall has clearly never heard of an ejector crab https://youtu.be/UcOjeneHJ6E [[Special:Contributions/172.69.6.207|172.69.6.207]] 16:04, 28 July 2024 (UTC)
: Actually this is an even better example https://youtu.be/hxOW739UlWk [[Special:Contributions/172.69.6.144|172.69.6.144]] 16:07, 28 July 2024 (UTC)

A German surfer managed to moon all Olympics viewers today, so I doubt Randall could beat that... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.24|108.162.221.24]] 16:31, 28 July 2024 (UTC)

This is one of the worst XKCDs I've ever seen, I think. {{unsigned ip|162.158.63.70|05:49, 29 July 2024}}

Possibly Randall is aware that an uncoached newcomer to the single sculls will almost certainly capsize their boat, quite possibly one the first stroke as this is the most unstable position. It might be possible to flip a pair oar as well, since the professional rower can only hold up the boat on one side. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.64.223|172.68.64.223]] 08:54, 29 July 2024 (UTC)

Further, the the pair oar would likely inscribe a circle due to the asymetric thrust. In the larger boats he'd likely get smashed in the spine by an oar handle (TBF not that funny) or catch a crab (dig in an oar) that literally throws him out of the boat (both painful and funny) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.64.148|172.68.64.148]] 09:02, 29 July 2024 (UTC)

I doubt that running through the hurdles would really be painful, as depicted - they're pretty light and designed to be easily knocked over.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.148|141.101.99.148]] 10:13, 29 July 2024 (UTC)

Clearly a study on what is funny in these situations must be performed. I would like all checks in this study to be written to me. However, if they are written to Munroe Randal and he and his selected sample attempt them I would be satisfied.{{unsigned ip|172.71.254.103|13:22, 29 July 2024}}

So we're not going to talk about his Randall's reference to winter Olympic sports in 2024 (Summer Olympics year)? {{unsigned ip|172.71.154.9|16:44, 29 July 2024}}

In Rowing untrained persons actually might be able to win a medal as coxswain (or at least were able so in the past, see {{w|Rowing at the 1900 Summer Olympics}}). --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.253.135|172.68.253.135]] 17:53, 29 July 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2962: President Venn Diagram

2024-07-23T20:33:04Z

172.69.43.185:

<noinclude>{{notice|This site is intended to explain the technical details and inspirations (perhaps humorous) behind the comics. This particular page is for Discussion/Talk about the particular comic in question, which ''will'' involve some personal overviews and meta-discussion. But it is not the ideal place to reproduce the wi(l)der issue of public opinion, which the actual political process will eventually establish, and many other public forums and outlets exist in which you can convey your own current leanings/observations on the whole election-related happenings. Please be <s>sensible</s> ''typically geeky in your wit'', and try to keep all the ideological heat and partisan arguments out of this as much as possible.|image=warning!!.png|}}</noinclude>

Another really timely comic. Biden just dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris yesterday. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 01:58, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

Forget Biden, Hillary and Obama. This is the endorsement that counts. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.23.199|172.68.23.199]] 01:58, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

I suppose no one is allowed to say that the upper right circle is mislabeled. It was supposed to say incompetent, dishonest and despicable. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.25|162.158.90.25]] 02:07, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
:You're allowed to say it, but then we're allowed to suggest (with rather more emperical proof) that her presumptive opponent better fits your rewording. How about we all just don't try to re-run the old arguments (or pre-run the upcoming election) in that sort of tone, eh?
:(To be clear, Randall has made positive comments to his favoured candidate, rather than stooping to arbitrarily attacking their opponent. If you can't at least be as positive in your own convictions then it's really not going to help your cause.) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.6|172.69.195.6]] 04:10, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
::First, Harris has more than one opponent, not just within her own party, but in the general election to follow if she’s nominated. Second, the many good qualities of my favo[u]red candidate are irrelevant to this comic, so I didn’t mention ''her''. Third, I didn’t start this political discussion; Randall did, by making a refutable claim in his comic. Lastly, there’s nothing arbitrary about a resident of California pointing out [https://truthout.org/articles/kamala-harris-has-a-distinguished-career-of-serving-injustice/ facts about the former attorney general of California] that people in other states, such as Massachusetts, might be completely ignorant of. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.253|162.158.186.253]] 05:45, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
: You could say it, but then the box which says 'Kamala Harris' is mislabeled and 'Donald Trump' should be placed in the box above the middle one. [[User:Jaap-Jan|Jaap-Jan]] ([[User talk:Jaap-Jan|talk]]) 07:19, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

Well Kamala, you had a good run. Randall has the touch of death when it comes to picking political candidates. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.39|162.158.154.39]] 03:02, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
:You mean that no candidate endorsed by XKCD has ever won? ;) https://xkcd.com/2383/ [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 04:35, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
:Randall was smart enough to not make a comic endorsing Joe *before* he got elected like he did with Hilldawg and (now) Kamala.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.31|162.158.154.31]] 11:36, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
: Not so; Randall endorsed [https://blog.xkcd.com/2008/01/28/obama/ Obama in 2008]. [[User:-insert valid name here-|-insert valid name here-]] ([[User talk:-insert valid name here-|talk]]) 15:09, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

Randall angling for VP? [[User:Alcatraz ii|Alcatraz ii]] ([[User talk:Alcatraz ii|talk]]) 02:59, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

I think Randall would be good president. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 03:52, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
:Meh, he seems to at least not be good at public speaking. And from what he says about himself, he would be distracted way too easily. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 04:35, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

The layout of this Venn diagram reminds me of https://xkcd.com/112/ {{unsigned ip|162.158.166.234|03:04, 23 July 2024}}

I think I would probably swap the two. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.174.23|162.158.174.23]] 04:03, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

I would be very interested in which non-Politicians Randall would put into the top middle section. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 04:35, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

I guess Munroe has no issues with questions about ongoing U.S. backed genocides shrugged off with "shrimp and grits!"? {{unsigned|Markifi|05:39, 23 July 2024}}

What really strikes me is that the USA have a (de facto) 2-Party system and still go so much into personal attacks and endorsements, etc. which in my mind could be the decision-making bit between 2 similiar parties in a multi-party system, or 2 equally sympathic parties to me. But in my mind a 2-party system should at least have the upside of actually discussing policy, and voters deciding based on that... --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:30, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

If Randall was in charge he could stop supplying weapons to Israel probably [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.63|172.69.195.63]] 10:16, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

Randall sempai- we are targeted too. {{unsigned ip|172.70.131.52|15:37, 23 July 2024}}

Re: the mouseover text: "[[1062:_Budget_News|I am more of a deficit sugar glider]]" ought to be in the running. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.58.157|172.69.58.157]] 12:42, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

personally I'd put most candidates either the top left [[Special:Contributions/172.69.58.24|172.69.58.24]] 17:34, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

Neat. A Euler diagram (and no, Venn cannot just have this one). {{unsigned ip|172.71.158.226|18:18, 23 July 2024}}

Talk:2961: CrowdStrike

2024-07-19T21:09:24Z

172.69.43.185:

how will this impact the status of vs sonic.exe rerun [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.177|172.70.90.177]] 18:25, 19 July 2024 (UTC)

Somewhat bemused that there's a comic for this on Day 0, yet there was no comic about the xzutils backdoor earlier this year… [[Special:Contributions/162.158.49.19|162.158.49.19]] 20:21, 19 July 2024 (UTC)
:How do you know there wasn't a secret comic about the xzutils problem, [[2347: Dependency|set up well before]] any impact became obvious? ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.185|172.69.43.185]] 21:09, 19 July 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2959: Beam of Light

2024-07-16T07:14:41Z

172.69.43.185: see my buddy it's only me

hi {{unsigned ip|172.68.174.143|04:37, 16 July 2024}}
:Hello, could you please sign your post? [[User:OmniDoom|OmniDoom]] ([[User talk:OmniDoom|talk]]) 04:47, 16 July 2024 (UTC)
::@[[User:OmniDoom|OmniDoom]]: I have signed the post for them. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]]/[[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 04:58, 16 July 2024 (UTC)
:::megan detected 🤩🤩🤩 [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.185|172.69.43.185]] 07:14, 16 July 2024 (UTC)

I totally thought it said Epstein at first, and I was trying to make sense of a seemingly dark, oblique, and dated joke.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.141|172.70.210.141]] 05:00, 16 July 2024 (UTC)
:randall would never [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.185|172.69.43.185]] 07:14, 16 July 2024 (UTC)

2957: A Crossword Puzzle

2024-07-11T08:32:02Z

172.69.43.185: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2957
| date = July 10, 2024
| title = A Crossword Puzzle
| image = a_crossword_puzzle_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x937px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Hint: If you ever encounter this puzzle in a crossword app, just [term for someone with a competitive and high-achieving personality].
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Aaaaaaa aa a AAA - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}


This is a crossword puzzle. On a surface level, the answers seem extremely difficult, with questions covering a wide variety of trivia, linguistics, mathematics in various forms, alongside wordplay typical of crossword puzzles. But the joke is that every single letter of every single answer is the letter "A".

The name of this comic, “A Crossword Puzzle”, is a double entendre; the “A” can be interpreted both as the indefinite article “a”, and as an identifier saying that this crossword puzzle is specifically an “A” puzzle, due to the answer being all “a”s.

The comic's title text is a play on a "type A" personality.

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto"
|-
! Location !! Clue !! Explanation
|-
| 1-Across || Famous Pvt. Wilhelm quote || Reference to the {{w|Wilhelm scream}}.
|-
| 11-Across || IPv6 address record || An IPv4 record is an "A" record; an IPv6 record is four times the length and is designated an "AAAA" record.
|-
| 15-Across || “CIPHERTEXT” decrypted with Vigenère key “CIPHERTEXT” || A "{{w|Vigenère Cipher}}" translates the original text by the distance from A from the key, letter by letter. For instance, if the plaintext is "XK" and the key is "CD", the C shifts X 2 forward to become Z, and the D shifts K 3 forward to become N, yielding a ciphertext of "ZN". Since the ciphertext and the key are the same in this case, decryption just shifts all the letters back to A, akin to subtracting a number from itself and getting 0.
|-
| 16-Across || 8mm diameter battery || An {{w|AAAA battery}} is a 1.5V battery that measures 8.3 mm in diameter, 2.2 mm smaller than the more common AAA battery.
|-
| 17-Across || “Warthog” attack aircraft || The {{w|A-10 Warthog}} is an attack aircraft. Here, A-10 has been turned into AAAAAAAAAA (ten As).
|-
| 18-Across || Every third letter in the word for “inability to visualize” || Aphantasia is the inability to visualize. Following the instruction, we determine that '''A'''ph'''a'''nt'''a'''si'''a''' gives us the word "aaaa". This clue is particularly mean because of how it instructs you to visualize the word in order to get the answer.
|-
| 19-Across || An acrostic hidden on the first page of the dictionary || The first page of the dictionary (if you ignore the copyright page and the index) is the list of words starting with A. An acrostic of this page, taking the first letter of each line and arranging them in order, would just be a sequence of A's.
|-
| 21-Across || Default paper size in Europe || {{w|A4 paper}} (here written as AAAA) is the default size in Europe. At 210x297 mm, it is approximately 0.24" narrower and 0.71" longer than the 8.5"x11" paper used in the United States, and due to having an aspect ratio of 1:sqrt(2), can be cut in half to create two half-sized sheets with exactly the same aspect ratio.
|-
| 22-Across || First four unary strings || Unary's when you get to use just the one symbol. E.g. 32 in unary would be 11111111111111111111111111111111. The first four strings in unary, if you used A as the first (and only) symbol, would be A, AA, AAA, AAAA.
|-
| 23-Across || Lysine codon || {{w|Lysine}} is an amino acid, with codons AAA and AAG.
|-
| 24-Across || 40 CFR Part 63 subpart concerning asphalt pollution || [https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-40/chapter-I/subchapter-C/part-63?toc=1 "40 CFR Part 63"] refers to federal air pollutant regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations. The subpart for "asphalt processing and asphalt roofing manufacturing" is AAAAAAA.
|-
| 25-Across || Top bond credit rating || The highest {{w|credit rating}} for bonds is AAA.
|-
| 26-Across || Audi coupe || First of three Audi references. {{w|List_of_Audi_vehicles|Audi's car models}} range from A1 (subcompact hatchback) to A8 (full-size luxury sedan); the A5 is a compact executive coupè.
|-
| 27-Across || A pair of small remote batteries, when inserted || Two AAA batteries (AAAAAA).
|-
| 29-Across || Unofficial Howard Dean slogan || A reference to Howard Dean, an American Democrat who ran for the party's nomination in 2004. He famously [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6i-gYRAwM0 yelled at a rally] in a way that was thought to be bizarre and which, it is thought, doomed his campaign.
|-
| 32-Across || A 4.0 report card || A 4.0 GPA, at least {{w|Academic_grading_in_the_United_States|in the USA}}, is all A's. This clue assumes seven classes.
|-
| 33-Across || The “Harlem Globetrotters of baseball” (vowels only) || The {{w|Savannah Bananas}}, the vowels for whom are aaaaaa.
|-
| 34-Across || 2018 Kiefer song || [https://genius.com/Kiefer-aaaaa-lyrics AAAAA].
|-
| 35-Across || Top Minor League tier || The top {{w|Minor League Baseball}} tier is AAA.
|-
| 36-Across || Reply elicited by a dentist || Dentists ask patients to "say aaaaaaa", i.e. "open up". This could also be an expression of pain; particularly the only kind you can make with dental tools in your mouth. (As Autechre put it: [https://youtu.be/UppsLKz1iD4 "Now, I don't want you to panic... just lean back and relax."])
|-
| 38-Across || Anaa’s airport || {{w|Anaa}} is an atoll in the {{w|Tuamotu archipelago}} of {{w|French Polynesia}}. AAA is the {{w|IATA}} code for the airport there.
|-
| 41-Across || Macaulay Culkin’s review of aftershave || In the movie {{w|Home Alone}}, Macaulay Culkin puts it on because he's home all alone and dislikes it, then screams.
|-
| 43-Across || Marketing agency trade grp. || The {{w|American Association of Advertising Agencies}}, also called the 4A's (here AAAA).
|-
| 44-Across || Soaring climax of Linda Eder’s Man of La Mancha || The final high note in the song The Impossible Dream
|-
| 46-Across || Military flight community org. || The {{w|Army Aviation Association of America}}, or AAAA.
|-
| 47-Across || Iconic line from Tarzan || When he’s swinging on a vine, yelling “Aaaaaaaaaa!”
|-
| 48-Across || Every other letter of Jimmy Wales’s birth state || The birth state of {{w|Jimmy Wales}}, the co-founder of Wikipedia, is Alabama. Taking every other letter of '''A'''l'''a'''b'''a'''m'''a''' gives "Aaaa".
|-
| 49-Across || Warthog’s postscript after “They call me mister pig!” || Pumba in {{w|The Lion King}} yells "aaaaaaaaaa" while charging at the hyenas who insulted him.
|-
| 50-Across || Message to Elsa in Frozen 2 || The call which Elsa hears in {{w|Frozen 2}} is a sequence of four notes which resemble the requiem music {{w|Dies Irae#Music|Dies irae}}. The sequence is sung entirely with an open rounded vowel sound, or a soft "a" sound.
|-
| 51-Across || Lola, when betting it all on Black 20 in Run Lola Run || In ''{{w|Run Lola Run}}'', Lola (Franka Potente) [https://youtu.be/OTSz1w-cuZM?si=2vc51WCWvn20Hjoo&t=116 screams loud enough to affect the outcome] of a roulette wheel where she has just bet all her money on Black 20. The scream could be transcribed as "AAAAAAAAAAA"
|-
| 1-Down || Game featuring “a reckless disregard for gravity” || {{w|AaAaAA!!! – A Reckless Disregard for Gravity}} - notably the title is commonly extended in promotional material beyond 6 A's.
|-
| 2-Down || 1010101010101010101010102→16 || 10101010 10101010 10101010 in binary is equivalent to "AAAAAA" in hexadecimal.
|-
| 3-Down || Google phone released July ’22 || The {{w|Pixel 6a}} was released in July 22. Stylized in this puzzle as "AAAAAA"
|-
| 4-Down || It’s five times better than that other steak sauce || 5 times better than {{w|A1 steak sauce}} would be A5, stylized in this puzzle as "AAAAA".
|-
| 5-Down || ToHex(43690) || The decimal number 43690 converted to hexadecimal is AAAA.
|-
| 6-Down || Freddie Mercury lyric from Under Pressure || A drawn-out 'Aaaaahhhh' rising in pitch.
|-
| 7-Down || Full-size Audi luxury sedan || Second of three Audi references. As mentioned previously, the A8 is their full-size luxury sedan.
|-
| 8-Down || Fast path through a multiple choice marketing survey || The "fast path" is just to select the first option over and over again. Usually the options are labeled A, B, C, and D (or more) - choosing the first option for every question would be answering entirely with A's.
|-
| 9-Down || 12356631 in base 26 || Randall is expressing base 26 using the letters of the alphabet with 1=A, in which case 1235663110 = AAAAAA26. (It's unclear how one would express the digit 026 this way.)
|-
| 10-Down || Viral Jimmy Barnes chorus || A reference to the music video for Kirin J Callinan's song '{{w|Big Enough}}', which features Jimmy Barnes in a cowboy hat screaming "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" while in the sky over mountain scenes.
|-
| 11-Down || Ruby Rhod catchphrase || Ruby Rhod is a radio host in the film '{{w|The Fifth Element}}'; he has a scene with a memorable scream.
|-
| 12-Down || badbeef + 9efcebbb || In hexadecimal, badbeef and 9efcebbb add together to equal AAAAAAAA (195,935,983, 2,667,375,547, and 2,863,311,530 in decimal respectively).
|-
| 13-Down || In Wet Leg’s Ur Mum, what the singer has been practicing || In the song "{{w|Ur Mum}}" by Wet Leg, the bridge starts with "Okay, I've been practicing my longest and loudest scream", which is apparently eight As long.
|-
| 14-Down || Refrain from Nora Reed bot || The "Endless Scream" bot on social media, made by Nora Reed, posts "AAAAAAAAAAA" (with or without an h) at varying lengths.
|-
| 20-Down || Mario button presses to ascend Minas Tirith’s walls || {{w|Minas Tirith}}. In Mario games you typically use the A button to jump. In games where you don't press a button to move (e.g. games with a joystick) then the button presses required to ascend a vertical structure would probably all be A. This clue might have been inspired by the {{w|A-button challenge}} / [https://ukikipedia.net/wiki/A_Button_Challenge A Button Challenge], which tallies the amount of A presses needed to beat ''Super Mario 64''. Additionally, Minas Tirith is a city with seven concentric rings, each with a wall around it and higher than the last ring. Presumably, it takes seven jumps to get to the highest area of the city, so the answer is "AAAAAAA".
|-
| 24-Down || Vermont historic route north from Bennington || {{w|Vermont Route 7A}}, or AAAAAAA.
|-
| 26-Down || High-budget video game || A high budget video game is usually referred to as a Triple-A game, or AAA.
|-
| 28-Down || Unorthodox Tic-Tac-Toe win || Tic-Tac-Toe is usually won by getting either three Xs or three Os in a row, making XXX and OOO normal Tic-Tac-Toe wins. One could achieve a win of AAA by making the unorthodox choice of playing with the letter A instead of X or O. Alternatively, Randall is envisaging the grid as defined by rows 1, 2, 3, and columns A, B, C, so an AAA win would be simply playing in the first column each time - a strategy which should be obvious and easy to stop, even for young children who have not yet worked out that ''any'' route to winning can be blocked.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.185|172.69.43.185]] 08:32, 11 July 2024 (UTC)
|-
| 29-Down || String whose SHA-256 hash ends “…689510285e212385” || <code>printf AAAAAAAA <nowiki>|</nowiki> sha256sum</code> outputs <code>c34ab6abb7b2bb595bc25c3b388c872fd1d575819a8f55cc689510285e212385</code>.
|-
| 30-Down || Arnold’s remark to the Predator || A reference to [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsFYPVxHKdc this scene] from '{{w|Predator (film)|Predator}}'.
|-
| 31-Down || The vowels in the fire salamander’s binomial name || The vowels in {{w|Salamandra salamandra}} are aaaaaaaa.
|-
| 32-Down || Janet Leigh Psycho line || The iconic scene in {{w|Psycho (1960 film)|Psycho}} is the shower scene, in which Janet Leigh gives a long piercing scream as she is murdered, which can be written as 8 "As" if one wishes.
|-
| 34-Down || Seven 440Hz pulses || A sound with a frequency of 440 Hz is a middle "A" note. Seven such pulses would be AAAAAAA.
|-
| 37-Down || Audi luxury sports sedan || Third of three Audi references. The A6 is their executive car. Actually, the A7, their executive liftback sedan, would fit the prompt of "luxury sports sedan" better, but 37 Down only has room for six As.
|-
| 38-Down || A half-dozen eggs with reasonably firm yolks || Eggs can be [https://www.saudereggs.com/blog/egg-grading-system/ "graded on a variety of aspects"], with grades B, A, or AA. Eggs with a reasonably firm yolk are graded A, so having half a dozen of them gives you AAAAAA eggs.
|-
| 39-Down || 2-2-2-2-2-2 on a multitap phone keypad || A "{{w|multi-tap|multitap keyboard}}" is a text entry system for mobile phones. Most numbers are associated with three letters, and tapping the same number multiple times in rapid succession selects the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd number. 2 is "a", 22 is "b", 222 is "c", 3 is "d", etc. 2-2-2-2-2-2 translates to "aaaaaa".
|-
| 40-Down || .- .- .- .- .- .- || .- is Morse Code for A. It reads out as AAAAAA.
|-
| 42-Down || Rating for China’s best tourist attractions || China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism provides ratings for many tourist attractions in China on a scale from A to AAAAA, with AAAAA being the best. Examples of well-known tourist attractions with the AAAAA rating include the Forbidden City, sections of the Great Wall of China, and the Terracotta Army.
|-
| 43-Down || Standard drumstick size || 5A is a common, middle-range size for drumsticks (the sticks used to play drums, not the drumsticks that get eaten). Here, it's written as AAAAA.
|-
| 45-Down || “The rain/in Spain/falls main-/ly on the plain” rhyme scheme || An AAAA rhyme scheme means each of the four lines ends with the same sound.
|-
| Title text || Term for someone with a competitive and high-achieving personality || The clue's answer is "Type A". In the context of the title text, this answer is a hint that the entire puzzle can be completed in a crossword-solving app by typing the letter A repeatedly.
|}

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

:[A crossword puzzle image, with the following clues:]

:Across
:1. Famous Pvt. Wilhelm quote
:11. IPv6 address record
:15. "CIPHERTEXT" decrypted with Vigenère key "CIPHERTEXT"
:16. 8mm diameter battery
:17. "Warthog" attack aircraft
:18. Every third letter in the word for "inability to visualize"
:19. An acrostic hidden on the first page of the dictionary
:21. Default paper size in Europe
:22. First four unary strings
:23. Lysine codon
:24. 40 CFR Part 63 subpart concerning asphalt pollution
:25. Top bond credit rating
:26. Audi coupe
:27. A pair of small remote batteries, when inserted
:29. Unofficial Howard Dean slogan
:32. A 4.0 report card
:33. The "Harlem Globetrotters of baseball" (vowels only)
:34. 2018 Kiefer song
:35. Top Minor League tier
:36. Reply elicited by a dentist
:38. ANAA's airport
:41. Macaulay Culkin's review of aftershave
:43. Marketing agency trade grp.
:44. Soaring climax of Linda Eder's ''Man of La Mancha''
:46. Military flight community org.
:47. Iconic line from ''Tarzan''
:48. Every other letter of Jimmy Wales's birth state
:49. Warthog's postscript after "They call me ''mister'' pig!"
:50. Message to Elsa in ''Frozen 2''
:51. Lola, when betting it all on Black 20 in ''Run Lola Run''
:Down
:1. Game featuring "a reckless disregard for gravity"
:2. 1010101010101010101010102->16
:3. Google phone released July '22
:4. It's five times better than that ''other'' steak sauce
:5. ToHex(43690)
:6. Freddie Mercury lyric from ''Under Pressure''
:7. Full-size Audi luxury sedan
:8. Fast path through a multiple choice marketing survey
:9. 12356631 in base 26
:10. Viral Jimmy Barnes chorus
:11. Ruby Rhod catchphrase
:12. badbeef + 9efcebbb
:13. In Wet Let's ''Ur Mum'', what the singer has been practicing
:14. Refrain from Nora Reed bot
:20. Mario button presses to ascend Minas Tirith's walls
:24. Vermont historic route north from Bennington
:26. High-budget video game
:28. Unorthodox Tic-Tac-Toe win
:29. String whose SHA-256 hash ends "...689510285e212385"
:30. Arnold's remark to the Predator
:31. The vowels in the fire salamander's binomial name
:32. Janet Leigh ''Psycho'' line
:34. Seven 440Hz pulses
:37. Audi luxury sports sedan
:38. A half-dozen eggs with reasonably firm yolks
:39. 2-2-2-2-2-2 on a multitap phone keypad
:40. .- .- .- .- .- .-
:42. Rating for China's best tourist attractions
:43. Standard drumstick size
:45. "The rain/in Spain/falls main-/ly on the plain" rhyme scheme

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Language]]

Talk:2955: Pole Vault

2024-07-06T17:38:37Z

172.69.43.185:

The contrast/similarity with the conceipt of [[2952: Routine Maintenance]] is fairly clear, which might mean a similar train of thought inspired it, but I chose instead to append the suggestion that Randall was inspired by the upcoming Olympics, based upon close observation of the 'pop-zone' on the whole-Earth view. But the other link maybe could be said (instead?) if someone wants to write an appropriate paragraph. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.186|172.70.162.186]] 11:30, 6 July 2024 (UTC)

"This does not normally happen during a pole vault,[citation needed]". LOL @ "citation needed" [[Special:Contributions/172.68.64.213|172.68.64.213]] 13:23, 6 July 2024 (UTC)
:How do you cite a negative? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 13:56, 6 July 2024 (UTC)
:<code><nowiki><etic>...</etic></nowiki></code> [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.185|172.69.43.185]] 17:38, 6 July 2024 (UTC)

2954: Bracket Symbols

2024-07-04T19:27:55Z

172.69.43.185: /* Explanation */ Firstly, making the slope-quotes work better (66s and 99s slope essentially identically, the difference is only in the flourish; Randall uses a hard to electronically reproduce version). Expanded double/single quote info a lot also...

{{comic
| number = 2954
| date = July 3, 2024
| title = Bracket Symbols
| image = bracket_symbols_2x.png
| imagesize = 592x569px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = ’"‘”’" means "I edited this text on both my phone and my laptop before sending it"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a ([{《"complicated function"》}]) - Please~~ change this comment when editing this page. Do *NOT* delete this tag too soon.}}
Brackets, also called parentheses, are typographical symbols used to delimit a section of text. Unlike most typographical symbols, brackets usually come in pairs, and the end bracket is typically the mirror image of the start bracket.

This comic shows a variety of (mostly) real bracket symbols, along with Randall's description.

{| class="wikitable"
|+Descriptions
|-
! Symbols
! Comic text
! Real use
! Explanation of the joke
|-
|()
|Regular parentheses for setting stuff aside
|The regular curved bracket is the most commonly used in literature, and typically denotes aside remarks that are relevant to, but not part of, a sentence (for example, a clarifying explanation). It is also frequently used in mathematical expressions and programming languages as a grouping operator, to force a particular order of evaluation.
|Randall explains, accurately, that these are regular parentheses. No joke yet.
|-
|[]
|Square brackets (more secure)
|In literature, square brackets often denote meta-textual information, such as glosses, omissions, translator and editorial notes. In mathematics, they are often used for {{w|Matrix (mathematics)|matrices}} or {{w|Interval (mathematics)|closed intervals}}. Sometimes they are used as outer parentheses for easier visual matching in complicated expressions. In programming languages, square brackets are commonly used as the indexing operator, with the index being placed inside the brackets. They may also be used to denote specific data structures such as lists.
|The straight edges and sharper corners make these brackets resemble a solid box, presumably made of a hard material, which would be a more secure container than the "soft"-looking curved brackets. They also resemble staples, which are used to hold things in place securely.
|-
|{}
|This stuff is expensive so be careful with it
|Rarely used in normal text, although may be used in expanded form to 'enclose' multiple optional lines following/preceding a single element of common purpose (similar to the 'split and recombined tracks' of [[2243: Star Wars Spoiler Generator]]). In mathematics, usually used to denote {{w|Set (mathematics)|sets}}, but other usage is possible. In programming languages most often used to denote begin and end of a separate block of code, but other uses are also extant.
|All that graphical detail in the bracket, if manufactured as a physical object, would increase the production cost making it more expensive than "regular" brackets. Their relative rarity compared to "regular" or square brackets might also increase the monetary value. They may also look 'fancy', like gates with ornate ironwork.
|-
|‶‶
|Someone is talking
|Used to denote speech or citations in normal text. There are various styles from the identical pairing "" to the 66-and-99-like “” which differentiates opening and closing quotes. The comic appears to use a handwriting-only slope-variation.
The first version is commonly used in programming languages to denote text that is text dataz rather than code, such as literal messages intended to be displayed to the user. Word processors commonly implement “smart quotes” by detecting the use of the single-type keyboard character at each end of a possible quote and converting it into the fancier left/right versions (though this is not always desired, leading to the default behaviour being disabled or reverted).
|Normal quotation marks. Some languages or communities use different typographical conventions such as „German quotation marks“. See also below for British and French.
|-
|‵‵
|Someone British is talking
|[https://www.grammarly.com/blog/single-vs-double-quotes/ Allegedly 'British quotation marks'], although this may be disputed by actual Brits who were taught otherwise.
Often programming languages use the "..." version to denote non-program string data In the Pascal family of languages, for example, <nowiki>''</nowiki>s indicate character-class data, with ""s being string-class data. As with the prior double-quotes, these appear to be handwriting-specific versions, with no easy to use equivalents in most computer fonts.
|Some British media use these to note when people are talking, though in modern usage the double quotes are more common. Single quotes might be more often used as '{{w|scare quotes}}' or a related form of 'emphasis' marker. One possible distinction is that single-quotes give non-literal paraphrasing, wherever double-quotes are used for the verbatim reporting of words (spoken or written).

Single quotes within double quotes (and/or double quotes within single, as necessary) can also be used to more clearly indicate reported words as part of an outer quote, i.e. when you're quoting one person and their statement contains a quote of someone else. The main quotation would be surrounded with double quotes, while the nested quotation is delimited with single quotes (or vice-versa, depending upon the house style in use). This may even be further alternated to arbitrary depth!
|-
|‹› or <>
|An Animorph is talking
|{{w|Bracket#Angle_brackets|Angle brackets}}. Aside from telepathic speech in prose, it's often used in comics to indicate that a character is speaking a foreign language that has been translated for the reader's benefit – at least notionally.
|Books like the series {{w|Animorphs}} or science fiction novels use these when a character is communicating nonverbally, for example via telepathy.
|-
|«»
|A French Animorph is talking
|French quotation marks. Used for quotes within quotes in some languages. For quoting conventions in different languages, see [https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/formex/physical-specifications/character-encoding/use-of-quotation-marks-in-the-different-languages this document].
|These symbols are literally called French quotation marks and are used in French texts as the first-level quotes. Here Randall is mixing the SF convention described above with actual French use.
|-
|<nowiki>|</nowiki>|
|I'm scared of negative numbers but these sigils will protect me
|Vertical bars in mathematics are used for the Absolute Value function.
|The absolute value of a number is its value with all negative and positive signs stripped off; in practical terms this is used to ensure a given value is positive (ex. <nowiki>|-69| = 69</nowiki>). If for whatever reason you need to "protect" your equations from negative numbers (which does come up in programming from time to time) the absolute value function has you covered — though it may not always be denoted with vertical bars. {{w|Sigil}}s are symbols used in magic, and some kinds of magic are thought to protect people from evil.
|-
|**, __, //
|I have a favorite monospaced font
|These symbols are conventionally used in text-based computer communications (such as emails, chats, Usenet News articles) to denote *bold*, _underlined_, or /italic/ font; some client programs interpret them and display actual bold text etc.
|{{w|Monospace font}} is a font (set of shapes used for letters, numbers and symbols) in which every character has the same width, unlike {{w|Typeface#Proportional_font|variable-width (proportional) font}}, in which the letter I is much narrower than W. While proportional font is more pleasant to read, monospace is easier to represent in simple mechanical or electronic devices, and has been used almost exclusively in the advent of computer technology, specifically in text-only environments such as {{w|computer terminals}}; these most often had only one factory installed font. Today, a person still using these symbols is probably using a {{w|terminal emulator}}, which allows to select one's favorite (preferably monospace) font from a wide set of fonts installed in the operating system.
|-
|~~
|I'm being sarcastic and I had a Tumblr account in 2014
|
|Strikethrough markup commonly used on sites like Tumblr to indicate that you don't really mean something you said. This usage is somewhat archaic.
|-
|[([{()}],)]
|These Python functions are not getting along
|The square brackets denote a mutable [https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/introduction.html#lists list], the round brackets an immutable [https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/datastructures.html#tuples-and-sequences tuple] , and the curly brackets a [https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/datastructures.html#sets set]. It is valid to have them nested like this. [] could also be a slice (a bit of a list or tuple) and {} could be a [https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/datastructures.html#dictionaries dictionary], but the syntax is wrong for these.
|Random parentheses - Spaghetti code (badly maintained or written) in programming languages including Python will often be badly organized creating a mess of indentations and brackets used to create functions or loops etc.
|-
|⌊⌋
|Help, I'm a mathematician trying to work with actual numbers and they're scary
|Mathematical symbols meaning "floor" (i.e. round down to the nearest lower integer).
|Mathematicians stereotypically prefer to work with abstract symbols and concepts rather than numbers or indeed anything that might pertain to the real world. When presented with an actual number, it is possible that a mathematician may wish for it to be rounded to the nearest integer so that they can treat it as part of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_theory number theory] rather than anything to do with reality.
|-
|∫ ∫
|Why are you trying to read my violin?
|∫ looks like the {{w|Integral symbol}} which itself is derived from a {{w|Long s}}. In mathematics it is usually paired with the differential of the variable of integration (e.g., dx). A reverse integral symbol is not used in Western mathematics typesetting; it occasionally appears in mathematical texts written in Arabic, along with other symbols likewise adapted to Arabic's right-to-left writing direction. The symbol also looks like a lowercase {{w|Esh (letter)|esh}} (ʃ), used in phonetic transcription.

There is no unicode symbol for the reversed version - it is displayed here as a reversed ∫. The esh symbol has a reversed counterpart in Unicode, but it's quite a bit shorter (ʅ).
|Violins are known for their characteristic {{w|F-hole}}s.
|-
|<nowiki>|⟩</nowiki>
|Don't stop here–this is quantum country
|This {{w|Bra–ket notation|notation is used in quantum mechanics}} to notate a vector. This is called a ket, and the mirrored sign <nowiki>⟨|</nowiki> is called a bra. Combining them as bra-ket gives the inner product <nowiki>⟨|⟩</nowiki>.
| This is paraphrasing "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" where Johnny Depp's character Raoul Duke says: "We can't stop here, this is bat country!" while wasted on drugs, though not as wasted as later in the movie.
|}


The title text includes different kinds of quotes, including the ASCII " and ', and Unicode “” (which have both an opening and closing version).
Phones and laptops often have different input systems, and one of them may use a different kind of quote, thus mixing inconsistent quotes together, something most people may not notice or understand.

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

:Bracket Symbols
:and what they mean

:( ) Regular parentheses for setting stuff aside

:[ ] Square brackets (more secure)

:{ } This stuff is expensive so be careful with it

:" " Someone is talking

:' ' Someone British is talking

:‹ › An Animorph is talking

:« » A French Animorph is talking

:| | I'm scared of negative numbers but these sigils will protect me

:<nowiki>*</nowiki> * _ _ / / I have a favorite monospaced font

:~ ~ I'm being sarcastic and I had a Tumblr account in 2014

:[ ( [ { ( ) } ] , ) ] These Python functions are '''''not''''' getting along

:⌊ ⌋ Help, I'm a mathematician trying to work with actual numbers and they're scary

:ʃ ʅ Why are you trying to read my violin?

:| ⟩ Don't stop here--this is quantum country

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Animorphs]]

1612: Colds

2024-07-02T17:29:36Z

172.69.43.185: /* Explanation */ Corrected (presumable) typo

{{comic
| number = 1612
| date = December 4, 2015
| title = Colds
| image = colds.png
| titletext = The contagious period ends right around when you start to sound sick over the phone, which is probably evidence of cold viruses evolving to spread optimally in the workplace.
}}

==Explanation==
The typical symptoms of a {{w|Common cold|cold}} are a sore throat, blocked or runny nose, sneezing, and coughing. Slightly less common symptoms can include headache, aching muscles and {{w|fever}}.

The earlier symptoms to occur following infection are generally the more unpleasant-feeling symptoms: headache, aching muscles, sneezing and feeling cold. However, these symptoms are also those which are least obvious to other people, and so elicit very little {{w|sympathy}}.

Within a few days, these symptoms start to subside, while a cough and runny nose start. These symptoms generally feel less unpleasant, but are much more noticeable to others, and so more sympathy may be given. The cough may lead to a hoarse voice, making the patient sound very ill; ironically, at this point, it may be easier for an employed person to phone in sick, but it is less desirable to stay off work.

But it is now when the patient sounds hoarse that others give the sympathy that was really needed when the patient was feeling awful during the first couple of days. And to [[Randall]] this is the worst about colds, that the patients first gets sympathy when it is no longer really needed.

The graph shows the above-mentioned facts as two curves, one that indicates how bad the sickness is, really bad on day 2, but much better already on day 3. And the other curve how bad the patient sounds due to the hoarseness and the coughing. And this curve first peaks around day 4-6 when the sympathy is no longer needed.

The symptoms of the two periods are listed below the curves indicating which periods are affected by them.

In the title text Randall muses about the fact that contagiousness ends around the time when hoarseness begins. This is the time when employers ask sick employees to stay at home in bed when they call in to the office, because they sound so hoarse. And also the time when coworkers will stay clear of those who do come in. But then it is too late, since everyone is probably already infected by then. Randall thus suggests that this is evidence that the cold virus has evolved to spread optimally in a work place. Since the cold virus is much older than offices this is unlikely. But it will always spread better in places where many people are close together; and since we are more inside in the winter, this is the main reason why it spreads more during cold periods. However, viruses do evolve very quickly so it may not be unlikely that some of them has already adapted to our present way of living.

Another thing that Randall doesn't like about cold is that no medicine works, and the one that relieves you the most is hard to come by. This was the subject two weeks later in [[1618: Cold Medicine]], and this suggests that it is actually Randall himself who has a long lasting cold.

==Transcript==
:[A graph is shown with two curves. The Y-axis indicated how you feel, with three levels indicated with small ticks on the inside of the axis. These are labeled to the left of the Y–axis. The X-axis gives the time. The unit is given (days written in gray text) to the left and then the number of days are noted below the axis for each of the eight ticks on the inside of the axis. Both curves begin at the lowest level just off the Y-axis. One curve, indicating how bad you feel, rises rapidly, reaching its maximum in less than two days only to fall off almost as rapidly, ending up on an even lower level than it began with before day 5. The other curve, indicating how bad you sound, start out by staying constantly low, first rising on day 3, when the first curve are drooping down. They cross between day 3 and 4, and first then does the second curve rise, reaching its max around day 5, not as high a maximum as the first curve, but it stays up longer, falling only moderately off even after day 8, where it reaches the middle level on the Y-axis. Above the two curves are two line intervals that indicated when you need sympathy and when you get it. This text is written on the broken line. All this is in gray text. Below the X-axis are the symptoms listed for the different time period. These are written in white inside gray rectangles. The rectangles are a different length depending on how many days they last. And they are in two layers.]

:[Y-axis:]
:The worst
:Bad
:Fine

:[The X-axis, with the unit written in gray just below ''Fine'' from the Y-axis:]
:Days: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

:[Labels for curves:]
:How bad you feel
:How bad you sound

:[Gray text on the two gray lines above:]
:Need sympathy
:Get sympathy

:[Text in white on gray below, first the three to the left (one above two below), then the two to the right one above the other:]
:Skin crawling
:Sore throat
:Aching
:Cough
:Hoarseness

:The worst part about colds

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Line graphs]]
[[Category:Biology]]

Talk:2860: Decay Modes

2024-06-21T12:55:52Z

172.69.43.185:

Omega Decay has a didtinctive Star Trek Voyager vibe, I believe... ;-) https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Omega_molecule [[Special:Contributions/162.158.203.70|162.158.203.70]] 23:03, 27 November 2023 (UTC)

:There are a few things Omega could relate to: Rick and Morty Omega Device https://rickandmorty.fandom.com/wiki/Omega_Device, Galaxy Quest Omega 13 Device https://galaxyquest.fandom.com/wiki/The_Omega_13_Device [[Special:Contributions/172.68.126.134|172.68.126.134]] 02:46, 28 November 2023 (UTC)

:Omega voyager vibe? Nah, Voyager just used a cool sounding name. They share a root, but this isn't depending on ST:VOY [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.47|172.69.195.47]] 09:09, 28 November 2023 (UTC)

There appears to be an issue- the ''fungal decay'' and ''sea peoples'' are missing. I don't remember what they were! Help!
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.226|162.158.159.226]] 23:55, 27 November 2023 (UTC)[[Fizzgigg]]

"One big nucleon" looks a lot like a planet to me.[[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 03:02, 28 November 2023 (UTC)

I was rather hoping that [[1812: Onboarding|bismuth]] would appear as a product, even if entirely unintentional, but it's far too high up the chain to ever occur from "bronze decay"... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.147|172.70.85.147]] 14:01, 28 November 2023 (UTC)

Protons shown in white, while the neutrons in black in the comic. Nothing wrong with this but if you visualize it the other way it makes this very confusing. {{unsigned ip|162.158.62.120|19:11, 28 November 2023}}

The transcript might need some rearranging, because the labels are technically under the diagram? although that might make it confusing. or less confusing.--[[User:Mushrooms|Mushrooms]] ([[User talk:Mushrooms|talk]]) 18:01, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

Part of the explanation for alpha decay seems a bit mixed up: "...proton-rich / neutron-deficient heavy nuclei, which normally have many more neutrons than protons." Surely 'proton-rich' means more protons and 'neutron-deficient' means fewer neutrons, so such a nucleus would have many more protons than neutrons, wouldn't it? I hesitate to change the explanation because I'm more of a language expert than particle physicist. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.64.226|172.68.64.226]] 00:26, 3 December 2023 (UTC)
:Consider uranium 238, which has 92 protons and 146 neutrons. It decays by alpha radiation to thorium 234: 90 protons and 144 neutrons. In both cases, there are a lot more neutrons than protons, but the ratio of neutrons to protons is higher in the latter because if N > P, N/P < (N-2)/(P-2). Or polonium 210, with 84 protons and 126 neutrons, which decays by alpha (as the last step in the U-238 decay series) to stable lead 206, with 82 protons and 124 neutrons. With sufficient decrease in the number of protons and increase in the N/P ratio, the system becomes stable. All elements have multiple possible isotopes, and as the proton count increases, the number of neutrons needed for stability tends to increase a bit more quickly. If there aren't quite enough neutrons, a common decay mode is alpha, which decreases the proton count and "improves" the ratio. If the number of neutrons is a bit too high for stability, the most common decay mode is beta, increasing the number of protons and decreasing the number of neutrons, again "improving" the ratio. This is a gross oversimplification, of course. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 05:44, 3 December 2023 (UTC)
:I read "...proton-rich / neutron-deficient heavy nuclei, which normally have many more neutrons than protons." as "This example has more protons and less neutrons than you'd expect for a nucleus of this weight. One with this many nucleons, in total, should consist of a greater proportion of neutrons"... But it does look a bit confusing. Definitely would be open to a rewrite (but not flipping the beginning, which'd only be rightly understood when wrongly comprehended, and vice-versa). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.163|172.70.85.163]] 13:41, 3 December 2023 (UTC)

== New Category: Fake Versions of a Real Thing? ==

I've noticed a recurring subject in xkcd where the comic lists versions of a real thing, the first of which are real, and the later ones fake joke versions. Examples are [[2860: Decay Modes]], [[2924: Pendulum Types]], [[2719: Hydrogen Isotopes]], and maybe [[2614: 2]]. I think we should make a new category for it. {{unsigned ip|PDesbeginner|02:08, 21 June 2024}}
:It's far more widespread than that, perhaps more a super-category given how it's practically a staple in every "several versions of things" comic. It might be nice to categorise them, but perhaps a better title for it? "Hyperbolic lists"? "Flights of fancy"? "Sublime extrapolations"? (No, I think all those suggestions have problems with them, but I have a basic idea of what kind of language I would use, just not the exact words.) Needs someone's better input, but I could see it being done. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.185|172.69.43.185]] 12:55, 21 June 2024 (UTC)

2948: Electric vs Gas

2024-06-20T08:54:38Z

172.69.43.185: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2948
| date = June 19, 2024
| title = Electric vs Gas
| image = electric_vs_gas_2x.png
| imagesize = 284x385px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = An idling gas engine may be annoyingly loud, but that's the price you pay for having WAY less torque available at a standstill.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a HYDROGEN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE RUNNING A GENERATOR. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Internal combustion engines (ICE) are the most common technology used to propel motor vehicles. In US vernacular, the most common motor fuel is known as "gasoline", or "gas" for short, leading to these engines being referred to as "gas engines". Gasoline is a product of petroleum refinement, leading to the name "petrol" being used in other dialects. (The word "gasoline" does not actually refer to any gaseous state, but derives from the brand-name fuel "Cazeline" or "Cazelline" sold by a man called John Cassell, and "Petrol" has also been a registered brand name for another business's motor-fuel product.)

Electric motors would seem the more obvious method for propelling a vehicle, and as early as 1885 were an actual form of motor car engine with which the fledgling internal combustion engine had to compete. Despite this early popularity, over most of the 20th century electric motors were sidelined in everyday car design, as supplying the electricity was considered to be impractical for most forms of transportation. Modern forms are rapidly rising in popularity, and now constitute 18% of all global vehicle sales. [[Randall]] has long been a strong proponent of electric vehicles.

In this strip, [[White Hat]] claims to be comparing the pros and cons of electric motors and gas engines. The joke is that every point he makes goes in favor of electric motors. Despite it being posed as a dilemma, it may be very clear which side of the debate White Hat is promoting. On the other hand, it may indicate that one of the things we might consider a pro in electric motors (the instantaneous power now available, exceeding that of many non-electric engines) he would consider a problem — perhaps more accurately, a problem with the ''drivers'' of such vehicles — recklessly using the enhanced capabilities to accelerate to high speeds at all opportunities, whether safe to do so or not.

The strip offers the following points in favor of electric motors:

* "Cleaner and more efficient". Internal combustion engines produce and vent harmful combustion products and toxic chemicals, while electric motors produce no emission byproducts at the point of use. The efficiency of both gas and electric motors vary, but the typical ICE vehicle in the US converts around 25% of available energy into motion, while the typical electric vehicle is in the neighborhood of 80%. It should be noted that all of this refers to the motors only, and ignores how the fuel and electricity are produced. Even when considering inefficiencies in the source production and transmission and storage and release of energy, battery-driven electric vehicles are generally more efficient than internal combustion propelled vehicles[https://www.factcheck.org/2024/02/electric-vehicles-contribute-fewer-emissions-than-gasoline-powered-cars-over-their-lifetimes/].

* "More powerful". Electric motors are able to deliver a lot of power from a small motor '''if''' an ample energy supply is available, and can do so 'on demand', often far quicker than a fuel-powered engine that has to put its power through a gearbox in order to service a wide range of road velocities, from standstill to the eventual top speed. Due to battery limitations, short or partial runtime use cases, such as dragsters, hand tools, yard tools, toys, and electric scooters, net the most benefit from the small size of a high-powered electric motor.

* "Annoyingly loud". Internal combustion engines, by their nature, produce significant noise. Despite noise attenuation measures (such as mufflers), they contribute significantly to urban noise. Properly designed electric motors are nearly silent. In particular, turbo-charger blow-off valves make particular noises that are completely lacking in an all-electric vehicle being driven under a similar performance level. This might legitimately be considered a problem, though, when everyone is used to a rapidly approaching vehicle providing a very noisy warning of its approach. EV makers have sometimes added [https://www.businessinsider.com/electric-car-ev-fake-engine-sound-hyundai-dodge-toyota-2023-7 fake ICE noises] to appeal to older drivers and {{w|Electric_vehicle_warning_sounds|warning sounds}} for bystanders.

* "WAY less torque available at standstill". Internal combustion engines need to continually operate within a specific range of rotational speeds, which means that a complex system of transmission gearing is needed to convert this motion into the specific speeds needed at the wheels. When starting from a standstill, this means that torque must be applied to the wheels relatively gradually to avoid stalling the engine. Electric motors, by contrast, generally produce their peak torque when at a standstill. This results in electric vehicles having significantly better acceleration and engine responsiveness. Again, this could cause a legitimate problem with drivers changing from ICE to electric motors, because the new cars accelerate more than the driver is used to and provide different feedback. The audible clues of gear-changes, whether from automatic or manual systems, are part and parcel of what many people have grown up with and come to rely on in anticipating what might need paying attention to.

It should be noted that White Hat is deliberately confining his arguments to electric vs gas ''motors'' rather than electric or gas-powered ''vehicles''. Doing so ignores the basic reason why internal combustion vehicles have long dominated transportation: hydrocarbon fuels are a very dense and fairly easy to handle form of energy ''storage''. Providing electrical power to a moving vehicle requires either that the vehicle remain in contact with a power line, like a train does, or a high-capacity battery and the ability to recharge that battery in a reasonable amount of time. More popular in the USA is a hybrid system, where a combustion engine provides at least some of the power to an electric motor, which was impractical until comparatively recently. Other methods, such as hydrogen fuel cells (a form of "combustion" that can be used more directly to form electricity), have been proposed, but remain experimental.

A more comprehensive comparison would include the cons of electric vehicles, including:

* Higher cost of purchase (primarily due to the cost of batteries and, in the USA, now a 100% tariff on Chinese EVs), although partially offset by lower costs of operation
* Long charging times compared to refilling a gas tank (there are some approaches which mitigate this by operating a battery swap model, rather than charging in-car, but these are not widely adopted)
* Relatively limited range
* Shortened range in hot weather and significantly shortened range in cold weather (although ICE vehicles also have this problem)
* Limited charging infrastructure in some places (although ICE vehicles also have this problem)
* Higher vehicle weight, and resulting higher particulate emissions (from tires and while breaking, although recuperation reduces the need for breaking)
* Reliance on various mineral and metal extraction industries in the building of batteries
* Issues disposing of/recycling batteries at end of life
* Increased demand on electricity production

Advancing technologies may change how serious these cons are, but they currently remain genuine issues.

Other pros of electric vehicles aren't mentioned
* Lower costs of operation (partially offset by higher costs of purchase)
* Higher reliability
* Lower maintenance and repair costs
* Lower carbon footprint

==Transcript==
:[White Hat, with his palm raised, is talking to Cueball.]
:White Hat: Electric motors and gas engines each have their pros and cons.
:White Hat: On one hand, electric motors are cleaner and more efficient. On the other hand, electric motors are more powerful.
:White Hat: So it's hard to say which is better overall.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Engineering]]
[[Category:Climate change]]

2942: Fluid Speech

2024-06-17T08:20:20Z

172.69.43.185: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2942
| date = June 5, 2024
| title = Fluid Speech
| image = fluid_speech_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x406px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Thank you to linguist Gretchen McCulloch for teaching me about phonetic assimilation, and for teaching me that if you stand around in public reading texts from a linguist and murmuring example phrases to yourself, people will eventually ask if you're okay.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by sum'un who wud rite like'is all'u time if e'cud gi'away with'd- Title text not adressed. How would the utterance of the fourth panels actually sound? Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is about {{w|sandhi}}.

[[Randall]] states that people often unconsciously shorten words in various ways when speaking to optimize the fluidity of speech.
He then presents four side-view diagrams of the human mouth and paths depicting how it might conceptually move (it depending a lot on how the individual normally forms even the major phonemes) when saying increasingly fluid versions of "going to."

The first diagram gives the pronunciation /ɡoʊɪŋ tu/ ''GO-ing TO''. This is the version found in dictionaries and used when one is speaking slowly and deliberately. Here, the tongue and lips have to move a lot. The phrase starts at the back of the throat with a velar /g/ and moves into the diphthong OH /oʊ/ and the approximant /w/ to the KIT vowel /ɪ/. (Though it's not in the traditional IPA transcription or the comic, most native accents will insert a [w] between [ʊ] and another vowel.) The tongue then has to move right back to where it started for the "ng" in "going", the velar /ŋ/, followed by an even bigger jump forwards to the alveolar /t/ and back again for the back vowel /u/. Since /t/ is a voiceless consonant, the vocal cords will briefly stop vibrating, interrupting the sound, which the diagram illustrates as a gap in the path.

The second diagram shows a slightly more efficient pronunciation, in which the /ŋ/ is replaced by an /n/ instead since both /n/ and /t/ are alveolar sounds. The final /u/ weakens to the more neutrally positioned /ə/, which is the "default" vowel (aka you should be making this sound if you relax your mouth completely and give a small grunt). (For more about Schwa, see [[2907: Schwa]].) All doubling back of the tongue is now removed, leaving only a small, nearly closed loop.

The third diagram shows an even more efficient and very common pronunciation of the phrase, /ɡʌnə/ ''GUN-na''. Here rather than optimizing tongue movement hard-to-pronounce sounds are removed or further replaced instead. The /t/ is dropped leaving only /n/, while the vowel(s) of the first syllable go from /o/ to /ʌ/ between which the only difference is the optional rounding, or pursing, of the lips - though more likely given Randall Munroe's prior comics demonstrating a {{w|Phonological history of English close back vowels#STRUT–COMMA merger|ꜱᴛʀᴜᴛ-coᴍᴍᴀ merger}}, a supposed /ə/.

The fourth diagram shows the most reduced pronunciation. The /n/ is lost as a consonant in its own right, with only remnants of its existence found by the nasalisation of the preceding vowel where part of the airflow is redirected through the nose. (This is, incidentally, the same way that French got its famous nasal sounds - sequences of what used to be vowel + /n/ from Latin were reduced.) This way, the only motions one must make is to articulate the /ɡ/, which some would voice by an movement of the rear tongue although parts of the {{w|larynx}} may primarily be employed by others. This pronunciation seems almost unconnected to the original phrase of "going to". However, English speakers will still almost always understand this in context, and likely think they heard "gonna"

In the bottom text, Randall comments on the perception of reduced pronunciations, remarking that while many perceive them as being sloppy, in reality deliberately pronouncing each word with the "supposed" pronunciation in its dictionary form sounds stilted, forced, and unnatural. The final T in the word "hot" is an example of this. Most people when thinking of T think there is only one way to pronounce it - usually the aspirated unvoiced alveolar plosive "tuh" found at the start of syllables - but in reality it varies widely depending on position and accent, most noticeable if one pronounces a word such as "teat". In this context the "t" in "hot" is replaced by a {{w|glottal stop}}; funnily enough, and perhaps ironically, despite being the same sound it is never stigmatized, unlike intervocalic "t"s such as bottle which some speakers, particularly some British ones, also replace with glottal stops (rendered 'humorously' as <code>bo'oh</code>). It you speak English in the British "standard" Received Pronunciation form you may have to put on a fake American accent to understand this joke. It works best if you attempt an outrageous stereotype of a slurred non-English speaker.

The title text is a serious shout-out to linguist [[Gretchen McCulloch]] who has been teaching Randall about this stuff, but includes a joke about what happens when he tries these things out in public.

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

:[Above the panel:]
:Fun fact: Experienced speakers constantly merge, drop, and alter sounds when talking at normal conversational speed to optimize for efficient mouth movement.

:[The panel shows four labeled side profiles of a mouth with paths of sounds made in different parts of the mouth. There is a label "More fluid" with an arrow pointing to the right. From left to right:]

:[Label:]
:Going to
:/ɡoʊɪŋ tu/
:[Path:] (G O >> I >> NG >> >> ) ( >> T >> >> O)

:[Label:]
:Goin' to
:/ɡoʊɪn tə/
:[Path:] (G O >> I >> N)(T >> >> O)

:[Label:]
:Gonna
:/ɡʌn.ə/
:[Path:] (G O >> NN >> A)

:[Label:]
:How fluent speakers ''actually'' say it when speaking rapidly
:/ɡə̃/
:[Path:] (G >> >> ə̃)

:[Below the panel:]
:If you think ''you'' don't do this, try to use "hot potato" in a sentence and fully pronounce the first "t" without sounding like an alien impersonating a human.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Fun fact]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Gretchen McCulloch]]

2939: Complexity Analysis

2024-06-03T08:13:53Z

172.69.43.185: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2939
| date = May 29, 2024
| title = Complexity Analysis
| image = complexity_analysis_2x.png
| imagesize = 430x361px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = PERPETUALLY OPTIMISTIC CASE: Early in the execution, our research group makes a breakthrough in proving P=NP.
}}

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

[[Cueball]] is teaching about an algorithm's complexity. The average-case complexity of the algorithm is written in {{w|Big O notation}} as O(''n'' log ''n''), expressing the asymptotic runtime of the algorithm as the number of inputs to it grows larger and larger.

The comic's joke involves taking the terms "best case" and "worst case" far more broadly and literally than intended. Cueball presents not just the best/worst cases for the data input into the function, but also the global environment as a whole, taking in factors such as the United States Congress which should fall ''far'' outside the algorithm's scope.

In particular, the joke regards the analysis of a closed system, which is common in engineering. An algorithm's "best case" is typically its runtime when its inputs have optimal values and it runs in as little time as possible. One example would be a {{w|Sorting algorithm#Comparison of algorithms|sorting algorithm}} that is called with an already-sorted list of numbers; an algorithm ''may'' only need to check each item in the list, in one pass, to confirm this, compared with having to compare an arbitrary number of items against an arbitrary number of others across a number of cycles. The worst case would be when a list is 'unsorted' in a way that presents the maximum number of challenges and actions to the sorting algorithm (possibly, but ''not necessarily'', when presented with the initial list exactly in the wrong order/reversed). These two limits can each be given by an O-notation, but a single O-notation generally indicates the mean complexity of operation encountered for all inputs.

The joke here is that not only does this algorithm 'run' quicker than what would otherwise be considered its best case scenario, by being terminated early because it is deemed to be 'unnecessary', but its runtime appears to be an hour shorter still because of an act of Congress changing {{w|daylight saving time}}, giving it an end time (in local time) that is an hour less than it would have been under other circumstances. Potentially this would result in an end time that is recorded as earlier than its start time (depending on [[2867: DateTime|how the times are handled]]), and therefore an apparently ''negative'' 'runtime'. Daylight saving time is a [[:Category: Daylight saving time|recurrent theme]] on xkcd, and it is clear that Randall is not a fan, so Congress making surprise DST changes is another way for Randall to mock the concept.

The "worst case" refers to the movie {{w|Groundhog Day (movie)|Groundhog Day}}, in which the same events occur over and over in a sort of time loop. (This movie has been referenced before in [[1076|1076: Groundhog Day]].) If the hardware running the algorithm is present in this kind of loop then it may also reset to a previous time before it gets finished, meaning the algorithm would never terminate. This gives rise to a philosophical question about the movie as to whether the whole world is reset after every day, or just the town where the movie takes place. If it is just the town, and you could still connect to their hardware from outside, then from that perspective the algorithm would appear to be taking an interminably long time to run. If the whole world resets, since people (aside from the movie's main character) do not experience the reset, it would only appear to take as long as it does once the last (non-resetting cycle) leads it into the expected following day.

This may be an indirect reference to the {{w|halting problem}}, a famous problem in computer science. The halting problem is {{w|undecidable}}, meaning that no general algorithm can tell whether a given algorithm will halt, but the widely accepted traditional proof of this relies on external action on details of a system considered closed.

The title text refers to perhaps an even more famous problem in computer science: {{w|P versus NP problem|P versus NP}}. This asks whether every problem whose solution can be quickly verified (in nondeterministic polynomial time, {{w|NP_(complexity)|NP}}) can also be quickly solved (in polynomial time, {{w|polynomial time|P}}). The P-versus-NP problem is one of the seven {{w|Millennium Prize Problems}}, and as such has a $1 million prize for its solution. Presumably, the problem discussed here is in NP, so if P=NP, its worst-case runtime would be some polynomial O(''nk)''. However, P vs. NP is a Millennium Prize Problem for a reason; most computer scientists expect that P≠NP, so hoping for a breakthrough in proving P=NP is "perpetually optimistic". This may be a reference to {{w|optimism bias}} and the {{w|planning fallacy}}, whereby people tend to assume that the most favourable outcome will be the most likely.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is holding a presentation pointer stick, pointing to a table behind him that towers above him. The table has a heading above it and then two columns and three rows. The first column is slim and the second much broader.]

:[Table Heading]
::Results of algorithm complexity analysis:

:[Row 1]
::Average case
::O(n log n)

:[Row 2]
::Best case
::Algorithm turns out to be unnecessary and is halted, then Congress enacts surprise daylight saving time and we gain an hour

:[Row 3]
::Worst case
::Town in which hardware is located enters a Groundhog Day scenario, algorithm never terminates

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Daylight saving time]]
[[Category:Fiction]]

2939: Complexity Analysis

2024-06-03T08:13:21Z

172.69.43.185: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2939
| date = May 29, 2024
| title = Complexity Analysis
| image = complexity_analysis_2x.png
| imagesize = 430x361px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = PERPETUALLY OPTIMISTIC CASE: Early in the execution, our research group makes a breakthrough in proving P=NP.
}}

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

[[Cueball]] is teaching about an algorithm's complexity. The average-case complexity of the algorithm is written in {{w|Big O notation}} as O(''n'' log ''n''), expressing the asymptotic runtime of the algorithm as the number of inputs to it grows larger and larger.

The comic's joke involves taking the terms "best case" and "worst case" far more broadly and literally than intended. Cueball presents not just the best/worst cases for the data input into the function, but also the global environment as a whole, taking in factors such as the United States Congress which should fall ''far'' outside the algorithm's scope.

In particular, the joke regards the analysis of a closed system, which is common in engineering. An algorithm's "best case" is typically its runtime when its inputs have optimal values and it runs in as little time as possible. One example would be a {{w|Sorting algorithm#Comparison of algorithms|sorting algorithm}} that is called with an already-sorted list of numbers; an algorithm ''may'' only need to check each item in the list, in one pass, to confirm this, compared with having to compare an arbitrary number of items against an arbitrary number of others across a number of cycles. The worst case would be when a list is 'unsorted' in a way that presents the maximum number of challenges and actions to the sorting algorithm (possibly, but ''not necessarily'', when presented with the initial list exactly in the wrong order/reversed). These two limits can each be given by an O-notation, but a single O-notation generally indicates the mean complexity of operation encountered for all inputs.

The joke here is that not only does this algorithm run quicker than what would otherwise be considered its best case scenario, by being terminated early because it is deemed to be 'unnecessary', but its runtime appears to be an hour shorter still because of an act of Congress changing {{w|daylight saving time}}, giving it an end time (in local time) that is an hour less than it would have been under other circumstances. Potentially this would result in an end time that is recorded as earlier than its start time (depending on [[2867: DateTime|how the times are handled]]), and therefore an apparently ''negative'' 'runtime'. Daylight saving time is a [[:Category: Daylight saving time|recurrent theme]] on xkcd, and it is clear that Randall is not a fan, so Congress making surprise DST changes is another way for Randall to mock the concept.

The "worst case" refers to the movie {{w|Groundhog Day (movie)|Groundhog Day}}, in which the same events occur over and over in a sort of time loop. (This movie has been referenced before in [[1076|1076: Groundhog Day]].) If the hardware running the algorithm is present in this kind of loop then it may also reset to a previous time before it gets finished, meaning the algorithm would never terminate. This gives rise to a philosophical question about the movie as to whether the whole world is reset after every day, or just the town where the movie takes place. If it is just the town, and you could still connect to their hardware from outside, then from that perspective the algorithm would appear to be taking an interminably long time to run. If the whole world resets, since people (aside from the movie's main character) do not experience the reset, it would only appear to take as long as it does once the last (non-resetting cycle) leads it into the expected following day.

This may be an indirect reference to the {{w|halting problem}}, a famous problem in computer science. The halting problem is {{w|undecidable}}, meaning that no general algorithm can tell whether a given algorithm will halt, but the widely accepted traditional proof of this relies on external action on details of a system considered closed.

The title text refers to perhaps an even more famous problem in computer science: {{w|P versus NP problem|P versus NP}}. This asks whether every problem whose solution can be quickly verified (in nondeterministic polynomial time, {{w|NP_(complexity)|NP}}) can also be quickly solved (in polynomial time, {{w|polynomial time|P}}). The P-versus-NP problem is one of the seven {{w|Millennium Prize Problems}}, and as such has a $1 million prize for its solution. Presumably, the problem discussed here is in NP, so if P=NP, its worst-case runtime would be some polynomial O(''nk)''. However, P vs. NP is a Millennium Prize Problem for a reason; most computer scientists expect that P≠NP, so hoping for a breakthrough in proving P=NP is "perpetually optimistic". This may be a reference to {{w|optimism bias}} and the {{w|planning fallacy}}, whereby people tend to assume that the most favourable outcome will be the most likely.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is holding a presentation pointer stick, pointing to a table behind him that towers above him. The table has a heading above it and then two columns and three rows. The first column is slim and the second much broader.]

:[Table Heading]
::Results of algorithm complexity analysis:

:[Row 1]
::Average case
::O(n log n)

:[Row 2]
::Best case
::Algorithm turns out to be unnecessary and is halted, then Congress enacts surprise daylight saving time and we gain an hour

:[Row 3]
::Worst case
::Town in which hardware is located enters a Groundhog Day scenario, algorithm never terminates

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Daylight saving time]]
[[Category:Fiction]]

Talk:2924: Pendulum Types

2024-04-26T02:25:16Z

172.69.43.185:

Example of the creepy fingers: https://youtu.be/3zoTKXXNQIU?si=MgZgSRFFyxrNGhw3 [[Special:Contributions/172.70.175.25|172.70.175.25]] 12:58, 24 April 2024 (UTC)
:If that's as creepy as Maxwell's Demon gets, you have to wonder if he's related to Gachnar: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=3090746901188850 [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.12|172.70.91.12]] 14:47, 24 April 2024 (UTC)

Fortunately, Maxwell's Demon can be banished with a silver hammer. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.246.151|172.69.246.151]] 15:08, 24 April 2024 (UTC)
:Is this a Dungeons and Discourse reference? [[User:Psychoticpotato|Psychoticpotato]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 18:23, 24 April 2024 (UTC)
::Ultimately that'd be from {{w|Maxwell's Silver Hammer|The Beatles}}... (Don't know that particular D'n'D thing, if that's a thing. Bet that's also a reference of its own.) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.70|172.71.242.70]] 18:46, 24 April 2024 (UTC)

Thank you, whoever completed the transcript. I didn't know the bullet tag and the comics are starting to get more complicated to explain and transcribe. So again, my thanks. <3 [[User:Z1mp0st0rz|Z1mp0st0rz]] ([[User talk:Z1mp0st0rz|talk]]) 16:12, 24 April 2024 (UTC)

David Acheson showed that any finite number of inverted pendulum segments can be made stable through vibration. related video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJ7_fFABc9s&t=0s [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.131|108.162.238.131]] 17:23, 24 April 2024 (UTC)

Considering that Maxwell's demon can reverse entropy, I welcome our new demon overlord. We must all put more starch onto speakers! [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 18:10, 24 April 2024 (UTC)
:Summon Ba'al the Soul-Eater to rule beside Maxwell's Demon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [[User:Z1mp0st0rz|Z1mp0st0rz]] ([[User talk:Z1mp0st0rz|talk]]) 19:22, 24 April 2024 (UTC)

Should we use "pendula" as the plural to "pendulum"? {{unsigned ip|172.70.110.47|21:38, 24 April 2024}}

Should we mention that Netflix's airing of 3-body problem means people are probably more interested in chaotic systems right now?--[[Special:Contributions/172.70.39.36|172.70.39.36]] 03:01, 25 April 2024 (UTC)
:Plus there's the US elections coming up...[[Special:Contributions/162.158.95.97|162.158.95.97]] 09:09, 25 April 2024 (UTC)

A double pendulum requires 2 weights, and additional one at the center joint. Surprisingly Randal has that wrong.
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.60.177|172.69.60.177]] 00:25, 26 April 2024 (UTC)
:Traditionally, I've seen that fudged by a massive 'link'. In fact, the two pendulum lengths can be dense bars, without even a terminating weight.
:This obviously changes the dynamics, as the idealised pendulum has all its mass in the swinging weight at its end (the CoG in its centre), a swinging bar is 'twice as long as its swing-factor' (CoG is half way along). So a two-bar double-pendulum (assuming negligable weight bonus/deficit in the mid-joint mechanism) is a half-length-effect secondary pendulum sat at the end of an extended primary.
:As if •-O-•-O-, •=joint (zero mass, zero size), -=extension (zero mass, zero flexibility), O=mass (zero size, zero flexibility)...). This is obviously differently 'tuned' to •—©—O (©=weight+joint, at a point).
:...or else the inter-length joint, though not obviously so, is suitably overwhelmingly massive to do weight+jointing. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.185|172.69.43.185]] 02:25, 26 April 2024 (UTC)

I wonder if Randall was playing Don’t Starve whose main antagonist is Maxwell, described as demonic, whose world is filled with nightmare themed contraptions, and which feature an entity called night hands that are creepy long fingers that come out at night to snatch your light. {{unsigned ip|162.158.158.234|01:55, 26 April 2024}}