explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2258: Solar System Changes

2020-01-23T03:08:05Z

172.69.63.47:

* '''Support''' except keep Uranus. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.189.181|172.68.189.181]] 19:16, 22 January 2020 (UTC)

Wait ... WHAT??? Why isn't Niburu in this???? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.229|162.158.154.229]] 19:22, 22 January 2020 (UTC)
Its similar to https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1902:_State_Borders [[Special:Contributions/172.68.47.102|172.68.47.102]] 19:37, 22 January 2020 (UTC)

* What Venus has been through

For "what Venus has been through" see [https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/giant-planetary-smashup-may-have-turned-venus-hot-and-hellish-180958377/] [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.97|173.245.52.97]] 19:44, 22 January 2020 (UTC)

I feel like the transcript is unnecessary because it's wholly redundant with the table here. Anyone object to merging the two sections? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.164|172.69.22.164]] 20:45, 22 January 2020 (UTC)
* See the transcript for [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1902:_State_Borders State Borders]. I think we still need to have a transcript, since the locations of the arrows and other marks aren't made clear in the table. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.27|162.158.74.27]] 20:57, 22 January 2020 (UTC)

Note that in future, we may be actually able to implement some of those changes ... however, at that point the consolidation of missions to Moon and Mars wouldn't be relevant :-). Also, I would be against: most of those changes would be likely to make our solar system considerably less stable. Except Venus would really deserve some moon. Just small one, it doesn't need to be as big as ours. Also, we should light up Jupiter, to warm it's moons (this is one of {{w|Arthur C. Clarke|Clarke}}'s ideas). -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:37, 23 January 2020 (UTC)

Wow - I only just noticed that "Jaturn" has Saturn's hexagon at the top. Should this be highlighted in the table? After all, it is cool science: https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2010-07-06 [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.155|162.158.74.155]] 02:04, 23 January 2020 (UTC)

Someone needs to make a Kopernicus mod in KSP and load it with Principia to see how long it lasts. Assume scales are close to the real one.

706: Freedom

2020-01-22T11:13:40Z

172.69.63.47: /* Transcript */ typo

{{comic
| number = 706
| date = February 24, 2010
| title = Freedom
| image = freedom.png
| titletext = Sometimes I'm terrified to realize how many options other people have.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] on the left, here representing [[Randall]] as given in the title text, comments on the absence of physical enforcement for {{w|Norm (social)|social norms}}. He tells his friend that he is sometimes shocked to realize how many options he has. Cueball then goes through a list of possible things he could do that only his conscience and learned social norms (and his cerebrum) prevent him from doing, including stripping naked, taking a plane to {{w|Fiji}} or just punching his conversation partner for no reason at all, with all the "interesting" ensuing events that would result, potentially life changing (he could go to prison for instance).

Cueball continues, explaining that he does understand the mental rules and also the reason, but also that at least once in his life he should exercise that "freedom", hence the title. This is enough to convince his friend who promptly exercises his option to punch Cueball in the face, perfectly in keeping with Cueball's beliefs of how everyone should do so at least once.

On the ground, Cueball remarks that he should have expected this reaction. That he didn't was the beauty of it all, his friend states, because only when the "freedom" is used to do something completely unexpected could the person doing so denounce his mental ruleset.

The title text is a restatement of the first line of the comment, but reversed to show that Randall is terrified about his realization that the same freedoms apply to other people. Combined with the fact that there are many other people,{{Citation needed}} that makes for a lot of unpredictable possible situations.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is talking to his Cueball like friend.]
:Cueball: Sometimes I'm shocked to realize how many options I have.
:Friend: Oh?

:[The text is written above a half height frame with a zoom in on Cueball who shakes his fist.]
:Cueball: Like, at any moment in any conversation, I could just punch the person I was talking to, and all these potentially life-changing events would unfold.

:[Zoom further out than the first panel with Cueball holding his arms out and his friends taking his hand to his chin.]
:Cueball: It's only my mental rules that stop me from punching you, or stripping naked, or getting on a plane to Fiji. Sure, rules have reasons. But shouldn't you exercise that freedom at least once before you die?
:Friend: Hmm.

:[In very big black letters written top to bottom between the two panels:]
:'''''Wham'''''

:[Cueball is knocked to the ground, dazed (three stars over his head) and bruised while his friend is looking down at him with his fist raised.]
:Cueball: Okay, I should have seen that coming.
:Friend: But you ''couldn't!'' That's the beauty!

==Trivia==
*This may also be an ironic reference to {{w|Zechariah Chafee}}'s oft-quoted [https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Zechariah_Chafee line]:
:"Your right to swing your arms ends just where the other man's nose begins."
*"Getting on a plane to Fiji" could be a reference to the film titled {{w|''The Truman Show''}}. In the film Truman is the only one who doesn't know that his world is a film set with him as the only true-man on set. His first serious love affair, an actress, tries to tell him about the show, and is then taken of the show going to Fiji. Later Truman [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120382/quotes?item=qt0462320 tries] in vain to go to Fiji and mentions such a trip [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120382/quotes?item=qt1902201 more than once.]
*Philosopher [https://www.iep.utm.edu/sartre-ex/ Jean-Paul Sartre] expressed a very similar notion, which is known as "radical freedom."

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]

Talk:2159: Comments

2019-06-05T19:19:47Z

172.69.63.47:

It seems the news article in this comic is doing exactly what it says is causing outraged user comments - presenting a narrative that is based on a few random comments from outraged readers! [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 17:21, 5 June 2019 (UTC)
:...and none of the comments for the article appear to be from outraged users, contradicting the arbitrary narrative of the article that is based on what must be assumed are random comments! [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 17:28, 5 June 2019 (UTC)
Sources:
There is https://www.npr.org/sections/publiceditor/2016/08/17/489516952/npr-website-to-get-rid-of-comments?t=1559755447034 to tell you that NPR moves to Twitter and Facebook because they found that 491,000 comments came from only 19,400 commenters[[User:Tier666|Tier666]] ([[User talk:Tier666|talk]]) 17:31, 5 June 2019 (UTC)

I'm not sure if these are "comments", so much as they are tweets being "quoted" by this article. That seems to better explain the last entry, which appears to be meant as a self-referencing quote. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.4|108.162.241.4]] 18:00, 5 June 2019 (UTC)

A lot of XKCD comics reference or allude to current events/reality. Are there a lot of articles that focus on the first few reader comments? Aside from NPR's move, is there something else Randall's referencing?

2159: Comments

2019-06-05T19:00:35Z

172.69.63.47: link

{{comic
| number = 2159
| date = June 5, 2019
| title = Comments
| image = comments.png
| titletext = NPR encourages you to add comments to their stories using the page inspector in your browser's developer tools. Note: Your comments are visible only to you, and will be lost when you refresh the page.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a AN OUTRAGED INTERNET USER. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic represents a news article that shows how easy it is to dominate the comment section of an article by creating shill comments to support any desired narrative of the community's opinion. The joke here is that this is precisely what has occurred for this article. The top five comments are assorted ways of affirming the article's text. However, the final commenter seems freaked out that a comment she wrote was in an article. It's possible that she is just an innocent victim of this who's legitimately scared, but it could also be that she is a shill for the opposite side that wasn't fast enough to post.

The link in one of the comments is to [[1019: First Post]], which also refers to manipulating comments to change public opinion of a topic.

The title text refers to the ability to change webpages using in-browser tools, like "Inspect Element," to change the HTML of a page, and thus the contents of it. However, because all of the changes to the HTML are temporary and only on the machine they were made on, anyone else loading the page will not see them, and refreshing the page causes the changes to be replaced with the real content. This would mean that no other users would be able to see the comments, and news sources could not use them to influence public opinion.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Single panel comic depicting a screenshot of an Internet article, showing the article title, lines of wavy characters representing the article text, and several comments from readers of the article with their profile pictures.]

:Backlash: Internet users are ''outraged'' over news stories using a handful of random comments to support arbitrary narratives!

:[Close-up of Megan:]
::I can't believe how easy it is to create an impression of peer consensus.

:[Close-up of Hairy:]
::This dynamic is so easily manipulated and it freaks me out. xkcd.com/1019

:[Full picture of Hairbun:]
::Everytime I share something and a friend responds "Haha, did you see the top comments..." it just reminds me how influential these things are in shaping the impressions of even relatively internet-savvy readers.

:[Close-up of Cueball on a black background:]
::NPR got rid of comments in 2016 when they realized they all came from a handful of visitors posting hundreds of times a month.

:[Full picture of two guys, Cueball and Hairy:]
::Eventually social norms will adapt to this stuff, but it needs to hurry up.

:[Close-up of Ponytail:]
::I have nine followers and created my account last month; how am I being quoted in this news article??

==Trivia==
One of the comments to the article references an earlier xkcd comic [[1019:_First_Post|1019: First Post]], which compares the cost of buying election ads on news sites versus paying college student to wait for news articles and submit the first comments to every news article.

{{comic discussion}}

2159: Comments

2019-06-05T18:57:55Z

172.69.63.47: Explained title text

{{comic
| number = 2159
| date = June 5, 2019
| title = Comments
| image = comments.png
| titletext = NPR encourages you to add comments to their stories using the page inspector in your browser's developer tools. Note: Your comments are visible only to you, and will be lost when you refresh the page.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a AN OUTRAGED INTERNET USER. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic represents a news article that shows how easy it is to dominate the comment section of an article by creating shill comments to support any desired narrative of the community's opinion. The joke here is that this is precisely what has occurred for this article. The top five comments are assorted ways of affirming the article's text. However, the final commenter seems freaked out that a comment she wrote was in an article. It's possible that she is just an innocent victim of this who's legitimately scared, but it could also be that she is a shill for the opposite side that wasn't fast enough to post.

The title text refers to the ability to change webpages using in-browser tools, like "Inspect Element," to change the HTML of a page, and thus the contents of it. However, because all of the changes to the HTML are temporary and only on the machine they were made on, anyone else loading the page will not see them, and refreshing the page causes the changes to be replaced with the real content. This would mean that no other users would be able to see the comments, and news sources could not use them to influence public opinion.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Single panel comic depicting a screenshot of an Internet article, showing the article title, lines of wavy characters representing the article text, and several comments from readers of the article with their profile pictures.]

:Backlash: Internet users are ''outraged'' over news stories using a handful of random comments to support arbitrary narratives!

:[Close-up of Megan:]
::I can't believe how easy it is to create an impression of peer consensus.

:[Close-up of Hairy:]
::This dynamic is so easily manipulated and it freaks me out. xkcd.com/1019

:[Full picture of Hairbun:]
::Everytime I share something and a friend responds "Haha, did you see the top comments..." it just reminds me how influential these things are in shaping the impressions of even relatively internet-savvy readers.

:[Close-up of Cueball on a black background:]
::NPR got rid of comments in 2016 when they realized they all came from a handful of visitors posting hundreds of times a month.

:[Full picture of two guys, Cueball and Hairy:]
::Eventually social norms will adapt to this stuff, but it needs to hurry up.

:[Close-up of Ponytail:]
::I have nine followers and created my account last month; how am I being quoted in this news article??

==Trivia==
One of the comments to the article references an earlier xkcd comic [[1019:_First_Post|1019: First Post]], which compares the cost of buying election ads on news sites versus paying college student to wait for news articles and submit the first comments to every news article.

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1313: Regex Golf

2019-05-20T20:46:40Z

172.69.63.47: /ke|a.t.|n.*h/

This is fairly simple fun little one.

Regex is sort for regular expressions. A regular expression is a series of characters that denotes a search criteria. For example, you could write a regular expression that would search for anything that looks like an address (a la [http://www.xkcd.com/208/ comic 208]).

Regex golf is a game in which you attempt to write a regular expression that will search through a list of items and bring back only those items that meet a certain criteria, but not anything else. The joke is that regular expressions are used to search text, but themselves are text strings. This means that you could write a regular expression that would look for another regular expression. You can then apply ''ad infinitum'', and the universe implodes or something.

--[[User:Holshy|Holshy]] ([[User talk:Holshy|talk]]) 05:40, 6 January 2014 (UTC)

The last panel includes, of course, a regex "/(meta-)*regex golf/," which represents the phrase "regex golf" preceded by the phrase "meta-" up to ''infinite'' times.

As a punchline, it also refers to Jamie Zawinski's well-known quote about regex,

<blockquote>Some people, when confronted with a problem, think "I know, I'll use regular expressions." Now they have two problems.</blockquote>

Thus, the punchline is that the addition of meta layers to regex golf generates more problems for the programmer, but that was also the setup of the comic. So either the punchline is really weak—worth a chuckle if you got the above two references—or I missed the joke.
[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.63|199.27.128.63]] 06:22, 6 January 2014 (UTC)

Could anybody comment on the first regex? Do I get it right that
beyond others it will match all strings that contain a "b"? I can hardly believe that is not the case for any star trek subtitle... [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.194|173.245.53.194]] 06:54, 6 January 2014 (UTC)
:This is the case for all Star Trek Subtitles. Wikipedia's list of movies had no b. It'll match anything containing a word ending in ''m'', any word beginning with ''n'' or ''t'' that is not the first word, or any word with a ''b''. No Trek movies match. Oddly, so far as I can figure out, the regex in the first panel is wrong, in that it doesn't match the second Star Wars movie at all. And before you tell me prequels don't count, the sole purpose of "m " is to match The Phanto''m ''Menace.[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.138|199.27.128.138]] 07:10, 6 January 2014 (UTC)
Attack of[ t]he Clones (to be read plainly, not as a regular expression). [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.107|173.245.53.107]] 07:29, 6 January 2014 (UTC)
:Ah, I thought it was ''The Clone Wars''. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.138|199.27.128.138]] 15:36, 6 January 2014 (UTC)
So, if I add an "e" to the "tn" and delete the "|b" I'm a better golf player than her? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.194|108.162.212.194]] 08:23, 6 January 2014 (UTC)
:Or you could just move the "b" into the "tn" group. --11:08, 6 January 2014 (UTC)

I got a sneak preview of this comic at about 6:34 EST...at first it appeared to be random text in a irc message, but with this comic it now makes sense to me. [[User:Verticalbar|Verticalbar]] ([[User talk:Verticalbar|talk]]) 09:31, 6 January 2014 (UTC)

'''Regex golf''' (c.f. {{w|Perl golf}}) is a programming competition / is a pastime of finding regular expression that matches one set of strings while matching none of the other set. See for example http://regex.alf.nu --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 11:03, 6 January 2014 (UTC)

The title text isn't exactly true... I haven't tried everything, but that regex doesn't match "gerald ford" at all. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.109|199.27.128.109]] 11:23, 6 January 2014 (UTC)
: Gerald Ford wasn't elected, he became President following Nixon's resignation.
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.209|173.245.52.209]] 12:12, 6 January 2014 (UTC)

Inspired by regex.alf.nu, a reader built a page where the objective is to make a regular expression to match all Star Wars and no Star Trek: http://zegnat.github.io/xkcd1313/. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.127|173.245.53.127]] 14:00, 6 January 2014 (UTC)

I added a list of all US elected presidents and the part of the title regex they match. I used a python script to generate it, with input from [http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_candidates here], then I removed all presidents that do not match after finding they really weren't elected. There may still be superflous ones, that weren't elected but do match the regex, please check. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.49.64|173.245.49.64]] 14:29, 6 January 2014 (UTC)

Does anyone understand the final "No, I had those already"? Is it a reference to regexes in some way or could it be something like that there are infinite problems in life, even when not doing (Meta-)*-Regexes? --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.199|173.245.53.199]] 20:32, 6 January 2014 (UTC)

According to Peter Norvig (Director of research at google), one of the Regular Expression of Randall is wrong as demonstrated here : http://nbviewer.ipython.org/url/norvig.com/ipython/xkcd1313.ipynb [[User:Mbussonn|Mbussonn]] ([[User talk:Mbussonn|talk]]) 20:47, 6 January 2014 (UTC)
: It's happening. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.153|173.245.53.153]] 11:39, 7 January 2014 (UTC)

"No one wins at [^ ]+ golf." [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.209|141.101.98.209]] 09:50, 7 January 2014 (UTC)
: Gee, would that be "No one wins at \S+ golf."? [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 23:57, 9 January 2014 (UTC)

Why does this say that it is Case Sensitive. As far as I can tell it would not work if that were true.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.59|108.162.219.59]] 02:28, 7 February 2014 (UTC)

"Note that if one included the animated film “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” it would be matched by “ [tn]”."
- I don't see how this is true, since the T is at the beginning of the subtitle. If this matched, then surely so would all of the original series Star Trek films. {{unsigned ip|141.101.99.41}}

"I got infinite problems and a bitch ain,t one" 15:50, 29 August 2014 (UTC) {{unsigned ip|173.245.56.191}}

Looks like the algorithm is a bit outdated. It fails to match {{w|Star Wars: The Force Awakens|The Force Awakens}} but matches {{w|Star Trek Beyond|Beyond}}--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.51|108.162.212.51]] 17:57, 5 September 2015 (UTC)

For the 2016 election, the regex predicts that a Democrat (either) will beat Donald Trump, who will win the Republican primaries. {{unsigned ip|141.101.106.233}}

I like that linked article, even though I'm not really into programming. Just noticed Norvig misspells Randall's last name as Monroe instead of Munroe.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.71|108.162.237.71]] 03:42, 15 March 2016 (UTC)

How would Trump work with this?
EDIT: Hillary works but Trump doesn't. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.73|162.158.75.73]] 00:23, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

The article says that the Presidents Regex is now impossible to update after Trump's win over Hillary. However, if Hillary were to win in a future election, it would work again as per the rule stated above the list, wouldn't it? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.35|162.158.91.35]] 09:26, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

This isn't true either - there was already a presidential loser whose surname was Clinton (DeWitt Clinton, 1812). So presumably Hillary Clinton is likewise not considered in terms of regex eligibility. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.59|172.68.132.59]] 23:05, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

For the Star Wars/Star Trek golf, including the new films, I've got /m | [tn]|ba|a[sw]/. Can anyone do better? {{unsigned|Misterblue28}}
:Including Star Wars films up to ''The Rise of Skywalker'', I get /ke|a.t.|n.*h/. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.47|172.69.63.47]] 20:46, 20 May 2019 (UTC)
Does this work for Trump v Hillary? {{unsigned ip|162.158.154.103}}
: I was just wondering the same thing. Pretty sure it's now literally impossible, since you'd have to both match AND exclude "Clinton". [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.88|162.158.75.88]] 13:15, 2 October 2018 (UTC)

1313: Regex Golf

2019-05-20T19:28:48Z

172.69.63.47: /* Regular expressions */ Beyond came out after the comic, and the one without a subtitle wouldn't be on a list of subtitles.

{{comic
| number = 1313
| date = January 6, 2014
| title = Regex Golf
| image = regex_golf.png
| titletext = <nowiki>/bu|[rn]t|[coy]e|[mtg]a|j|iso|n[hl]|[ae]d|lev|sh|[lnd]i|[po]o|ls/ matches the last names of elected US presidents but not their opponents.</nowiki>
}}

==Explanation==
The comic talks about {{w|regular expressions}}, which are a way to specify textual patterns. Given a regular expression, one can search for the pattern it specifies inside a text string. If the pattern is found, it's said that the pattern "matches" the string; if it's not found, it's said it doesn't match.

The title of the comic and the first panel is based on "[http://regex.alf.nu/ regex golf]", which is a discipline of "{{w|code golf}}", a game in which programmers attempt to solve a given programming problem using as few characters as possible, analogous to the number of {{w|golf}} shots it takes to reach the goal. In regex golfing, the programmer is given two sets of text fragments, and he or she tries to write the shortest possible regular expression which would match all elements of one set, while at the same time not matching any element from the other set.

The regex golf challenge Megan faces consists of matching all subtitles of (then extant) ''{{w|Star Wars}}'' films, while not matching any subtitle of ''{{w|Star Trek}}'' movies. {{w|Subtitle (titling)|Subtitles}} are the secondary titles of the movies, after the ''"Star Trek: "'' or ''"Star Wars Episode N: "''. For example, in ''Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace'', the subtitle is ''The Phantom Menace''. In the first panel, she created a 12-character regex solving the challenge.

Then she moved on to building a tool which would automatically build such a regex for arbitrary lists of text, which could be described as {{w|meta}}- regex golfing. But as she has lost this tool, she needs to search through her files and chooses a tool called "{{w|grep}}" to find it. This implies that she needs a regular expression that would find any code that appears to be a regex golf generator, which leads to another "meta-" layer of abstraction. At the end, Megan notes this sequence of meta-meta-... might go to infinity and Cueball quips that she now has "infinite problems" as a result of her efforts; Megan retorts that she already had "infinite problems" because she's geeky enough to run meta-versions of programs on themselves, and stubborn enough to continue on until she fails, to the exclusion of all else. This also seems to be a reference to a famous quote (see also ''[[1171: Perl Problems]]''):

<blockquote>''Some people, when confronted with a problem, think "I know, I'll use regular expressions." Now they have two problems.''</blockquote>

===Regular expressions===
The first regex Megan uses is <code>/m | [tn]|b/</code>, said to match ''Star Wars'' subtitles but not ''Star Trek''.

The forward slashes <code>/</code> just mark the start and end of the regex. The <code>|</code> character means "or", so the regex matches any string that contains the patterns "<code>m </code>", "<code> [tn]</code>" or "<code>b</code>" (including the spaces). The square brackets match one of the enclosed characters, meaning that "<code> [tn]</code>" matches either "<code> t</code>" or "<code> n</code>". The regex is apparently case-insensitive, because it wouldn't work otherwise.

The Star Wars subtitles match the parts of the regex in the following way:
*"The Phantom Menace" is matched by "<code>m </code>".
*"Attack of the Clones" is matched by "<code> [tn]</code>".
*"Revenge of the Sith" is matched by "<code> [tn]</code>".
*"A New Hope" is matched by "<code> [tn]</code>".
*"The Empire Strikes Back" is matched by "<code>b</code>".
*"Return of the Jedi" is matched by "<code> [tn]</code>".
Note that if one included the animated film "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" it would not be matched by "<code> [tn]</code>" because the T is the start of the subtitle and is not preceded by a space.
None of the films released since this comic ("The Force Awakens", "Rogue One", "The Last Jedi", "Solo", and "The Rise of Skywalker") match this regex.

On the other hand, none of the Star Trek subtitles contains an M followed by a space, a T or an N preceded by a space, or any B, so the regex does not match any of them. Note that in the original series all subtitles start with a "T" but it's the first character so it's not preceded by a space.

Here is the list that Megan probably used:
*Original series:
**The Motion Picture
**The Wrath of Khan
**The Search For Spock
**The Voyage Home
**The Final Frontier
**The Undiscovered Country
*The Next Generation:
**Generations
**First Contact
**Insurrection
**Nemesis
*Reboot series:
**Into Darkness

In the last panel "and beyond" Megan uses the regular expression <code>/(meta-)*regex golf/</code> to describe her problem. <code>*</code> means "zero or more" of the preceding character/group (parentheses <code>()</code> group characters). So this regex matches "regex golf", "meta-regex golf", "meta-meta-regex golf", etc. In a way this is regex golf in itself, matching all levels of meta-regex golf while not matching anything else.

In the title text, there is a long regex that is the solution of another regex golf challenge: matching the last names of all elected US presidents but not their opponents. Note that the list of opponents include some people who were previously or later became presidents, or whose last name matches that of another person who was president, so taken literally this is impossible. To make this work the list of opponents must exclude any names of presidents. The regular expression itself works in a very similar way to the Star Wars/Trek one, including several different patterns separated by <code>|</code>. Each elected president matches one pattern while each opponent matches none.

The 2016 election does not match this regex. In fact, it is impossible to modify the regex to account for the 2016 election, as Donald Trump's opponent (Hillary Clinton) has the same last name as a previously-elected president (Bill Clinton)

Here is a list of elected president and the patterns they match:
{| class="wikitable"
!Number
!President
!Matched expression
|-
|1
|{{w|George Washington|George Washington}}
|<code>sh</code>
|-
|2
|{{w|John Adams|John Adams}}
|<code>[ae]d</code>
|-
|3
|{{w|Thomas Jefferson|Thomas Jefferson}}
|<code>j</code>
|-
|4
|{{w|James Madison|James Madison}}
|<code>[mtg]a</code>
|-
|5
|{{w|James Monroe|James Monroe}}
|<code>[coy]e</code>
|-
|6
|{{w|John Quincy Adams|John Quincy Adams}}
|<code>[ae]d</code>
|-
|7
|{{w|Andrew Jackson|Andrew Jackson}}
|<code>j</code>
|-
|8
|{{w|Martin Van Buren|Martin Van Buren}}
|<code>bu</code>
|-
|9
|{{w|William Henry Harrison|William Henry Harrison}}
|<code>iso</code>
|-
|11
|{{w|James K. Polk|James K. Polk}}
|<code>[po]o</code>
|-
|12
|{{w|Zachary Taylor|Zachary Taylor}}
|<code>[mtg]a</code>
|-
|14
|{{w|Franklin Pierce|Franklin Pierce}}
|<code>[coy]e</code>
|-
|15
|{{w|James Buchanan|James Buchanan}}
|<code>bu</code>
|-
|16
|{{w|Abraham Lincoln|Abraham Lincoln}}
|<code>[lnd]i</code>
|-
|17
|{{w|Andrew Johnson|Andrew Johnson}}
|<code>j</code>
|-
|18
|{{w|Ulysses S. Grant|Ulysses S. Grant}}
|<code>[rn]t</code>
|-
|19
|{{w|Rutherford B. Hayes|Rutherford B. Hayes}}
|<code>[coy]e</code>
|-
|20
|{{w|James A. Garfield|James A. Garfield}}
|<code>[mtg]a</code>
|-
|22
|{{w|Grover Cleveland|Grover Cleveland}}
|<code>lev</code>
|-
|23
|{{w|Benjamin Harrison|Benjamin Harrison}}
|<code>iso</code>
|-
|24
|{{w|Grover Cleveland|Grover Cleveland}}
|<code>lev</code>
|-
|25
|{{w|William McKinley|William McKinley}}
|<code>n[hl]</code>
|-
|26
|{{w|Theodore Roosevelt|Theodore Roosevelt}}
|<code>[po]o</code>
|-
|27
|{{w|William Howard Taft|William Howard Taft}}
|<code>[mtg]a</code>
|-
|28
|{{w|Woodrow Wilson|Woodrow Wilson}}
|<code>ls</code>
|-
|29
|{{w|Warren G. Harding|Warren G. Harding}}
|<code>[lnd]i</code>
|-
|30
|{{w|Calvin Coolidge|Calvin Coolidge}}
|<code>[lnd]i</code>
|-
|31
|{{w|Herbert Hoover|Herbert Hoover}}
|<code>[po]o</code>
|-
|32
|{{w|Franklin D. Roosevelt|Franklin D. Roosevelt}}
|<code>[po]o</code>
|-
|33
|{{w|Harry S. Truman|Harry S. Truman}}
|<code>[mtg]a</code>
|-
|34
|{{w|Dwight D. Eisenhower|Dwight D. Eisenhower}}
|<code>n[hl]</code>
|-
|35
|{{w|John F. Kennedy|John F. Kennedy}}
|<code>[ae]d</code>
|-
|36
|{{w|Lyndon B. Johnson|Lyndon B. Johnson}}
|<code>j</code>
|-
|37
|{{w|Richard Nixon|Richard Nixon}}
|<code>[lnd]i</code>
|-
|39
|{{w|Jimmy Carter|Jimmy Carter}}
|<code>[rn]t</code>
|-
|40
|{{w|Ronald Reagan|Ronald Reagan}}
|<code>[mtg]a</code>
|-
|41
|{{w|George H. W. Bush|George H. W. Bush}}
|<code>bu</code>
|-
|42
|{{w|Bill Clinton|Bill Clinton}}
|<code>[rn]t</code>
|-
|43
|{{w|George W. Bush|George W. Bush}}
|<code>bu</code>
|-
|44
|{{w|Barack Obama|Barack Obama}}
|<code>[mtg]a</code>
|}

Some presidents are missing because they weren't elected but became presidents after the resignation/death of their formers.

And here is a list of how many unique last names are matched by each expression:

{| class="wikitable"
!Expression
!Match count
|-
| bu
| 3
|-
| [rn]t
| 3
|-
| [coy]e
| 3
|-
| [mtg]a
| 7
|-
| j
| 3
|-
| iso
| 1
|-
| n[hl]
| 2
|-
| [ae]d
| 2
|-
| lev
| 1
|-
| sh
| 1
|-
| [lnd]i
| 4
|-
| [po]o
| 3
|-
| ls
| 1
|}

Randall's regular expression must be modified slightly, because it also matches {{w|John C. Fremont|John C. Fremont}}, the runner-up to James Buchanan in 1856, as discussed by {{w|Peter Norvig}} at [http://nbviewer.ipython.org/url/norvig.com/ipython/xkcd1313.ipynb xkcd 1313: Regex Golf]. Note that Norvig provides a small amount of Python code which actually plays regex golf with arbitrary lists, and found a shorter solution than Randall's for the ''Star Wars'' vs ''Star Trek'' game.

The regex does not match Donald Trump, who won over Hillary Clinton in 2016, and thus would need to be updated. The regex does match Hillary Clinton's last name, but because a person with the same last name (Bill Clinton) was president, this does not count as a mistake. There was already a losing opponent called George Clinton who ran in 1792 and 1812.

==Transcript==
:Regex golf:
:[Megan is sitting at a laptop. Cueball is standing behind her.]
:Megan: You try to match one group but not the other.
:Megan: /m | [tn]|b/ matches ''Star Wars'' subtitles but not ''Star Trek''.
:Cueball: Cool.

:Meta-regex golf:
:[A close-up of Megan at her laptop.]
:Megan: So I wrote a program that plays regex golf with arbitrary lists...
:Cueball (offscreen): Uh oh...

:Meta-meta-regex golf:
:[Megan typing at her laptop.]
:Megan: ...But I lost my code, so I'm grepping for files that look like regex golf solvers.
:[Cueball facepalming.]

:...And beyond:
:[Another closeup of Megan at her laptop.]
:Megan: Really, this is all /(meta-)*regex golf/.
:Cueball: Now you have ''infinite'' problems.
:Megan: No, I had those already.

==Trivia==
*There are now at least four comics that reference regular expressions. The other three are: [[208: Regular Expressions]], [[224: Lisp]], and [[1171: Perl Problems]].
*Additionally, regular expressions are mentioned in the title text of [[1277: Ayn Random]].
*A regular expression is used in the [http://what-if.xkcd.com/75/ 75th] post of [[what if?]] to calculate the answer to that week's question.
*Also, Randall mentions [http://regex.alf.nu/ a website with a regexp golf game] he got distracted by while researching for the [http://what-if.xkcd.com/78/ 78th] post of [[what if?]] (which was published one day after this comic).

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Regex]]
[[Category:Star Trek]]

2150: XKeyboarCD

2019-05-16T23:33:48Z

172.69.63.47: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2150
| date = May 15, 2019
| title = XKeyboarCD
| image = xkeyboarcd.png
| titletext = The key caps use LCD displays for all the vowels, so they can automatically adjust over the years to reflect ongoing vowel shifts while allowing you to keep typing phonetically.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a LEOPARD USING AN XKEYBOARCD. Seems to be finished, could someone check it again before deleting this tag? Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In the same vein as the [[:Category:xkcd Phones|xkcd Phone series]], the XKeyboarCD seems to be an overly inventive and borderline ludicrous intended for some unknown audience. It has an assortment of features (some fairly normal, some more exotic) which give it a..."diverse skill set".

This is the second time that the "xkcd" has been used around a middle word, which uses some of the xkcd letters to form this word. The first was [[1506: xkcloud]] - XKC lou D, to spell ClouD with the C and D from XKCD, in that comic the letters where all lowercase. In this comic the , has an X before the word and a C before the D with the xkcd letters capitalized.

*'''54 Configurable Rubik's Keys'''
The smaller cubes on a {{w|Rubik's cube}} resemble computer keys, so this feature makes fun of that by adding a spinnable Rubik's cube above the . The implication is that the keys would be 'configured' by solving the cube into the required state, although parity means that not all configurations could be reached by conventional means. To overcome this, the keys would need to be software-programmable, or have a 5x5 mechanism, with the outer shell of pieces thin, the equivalent of removing the stickers (or keycaps in this case), obviating the need to manipulate the cube as a twisty puzzle. Additionally, the rearmost keys would obviously be hard to see/reach.

*'''Hardcoded Plastic Keys for the 5 Most Useful Emoji'''
This feature parodies the feature of some laptop-s where it is possible to dynamically assign emojis to a small touchscreen area. Which emojis would be "the most useful" is highly subjective. For example in the comic it shows the quite popular laughing with tears emoji, along with the octopus emoji and others. Notably, the "aerial tramway" was once the least-used emoji, and remains very rarely used.
The large size and central position of the keys make their usefulness even more questionable.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Emoji
! Name
|-
| 😰
| [https://emojipedia.org/face-with-open-mouth-and-cold-sweat/ Anxious Face With Sweat]
|-
| 😂
| [https://emojipedia.org/face-with-tears-of-joy/ Face With Tears of Joy]
|-
| 🐙
| [https://emojipedia.org/octopus/ Octopus]
|-
| 🏇
| [https://emojipedia.org/horse-racing/ Horse Racing]
|-
| 🚡
| [https://emojipedia.org/aerial-tramway/ Aerial Tramway]
|}

*'''Serif Lock'''
{{w|Serifs}} are small lines on the ends of certain characters in fonts such as Times New Roman and Georgia. It is dependent on the font, not on the key pressed; "A" is represented by the same code regardless of its font. Since a given font almost always either has or doesn't have serifs, this key seems challenging to implement. This key could be implemented, however, by simply changing between a pair of fonts when it is pressed. What's more, the button is placed roughly where left shift is on most s, liable to cause frustration.

*'''Unlimited Key Travel'''
On a , key travel refers to the distance the key moves between its unpressed and pressed states. In reality, laptop keys only move a few millimeters before bottoming out, and conventional s up to about a centimeter. An increased key travel may make typing more comfortable. However, the usefulness of having unlimited key travel is unclear, and the question of how this would be physically possible in the depicted remains unanswered.

*'''Diagonal Spacebar'''
Instead of a wide key at the bottom that typists can hit easily with either thumb, we now have a tall, narrow key that requires being pressed with the right pinkie. This would not be a good change since most peoples' pinkies are their weakest finger.

*'''Arrow Key (Rotate to Adjust Direction)'''
Most computers have four {{w|arrow keys}}: up, left, right, and down. However, the XKeyboarCD just has one that can be rotated. This has the added bonus of allowing the arrow keys to point more than four different directions. While innovative, its utility is questionable given trackpoint devices which provide more intuitive joystick-like control. It also comes at the cost of compatibility with certain programs, such as older video games. It would also be awkward to operate as going from horizontally left to horizontally right, for example, would require the user to rotate the key first and then press it which wastes precious time when playing a video game. There is also the problem of allowing unlimited rotation, requiring the combination of a keyswitch and angle-selection mechanism (perhaps the keycap mounted on a long square rotatable rod, keying through dual opposing potentiometers and onto a conventional key switch). This would be mechanically complex which adds to the cost of the .

*'''15 Puzzle-Style Numberpad'''
A {{w|15 puzzle}} is a square containing fifteen smaller squares and one blank spot, which allows the squares to be moved around. The squares are shuffled and then reassembled as a game or pastime, and are usually labelled 1-15 (as is the case here) or, when assembled properly, create a picture. A {{w|Numeric keypad|numberpad}} in this style would be frustrating to use for typing numbers, as they could shift (or be shifted) around, but could provide a fun feature to use as a game. How this would be used to generate numeric input is unclear, but the presence of 16 positions suggests {{w|hexadecimal}} input is possible. keypads do have around 15 keys, but only 0-9 usually have numbers whereas the XKCD keypad has numbers 10-15 instead of the more conventional arithmetic operators, enter, and decimal point.

*'''Ergonomic Design'''
The cylindrical portion of the is advertised as being an ergonomic design. Ergonomic s do tend to be curved, to follow natural arm and finger movements more closely, and some ergonomic s come in unconventional form factors, such as vertical s, to allow the user's hands to rest in more neutral positions or to change positions throughout the day. However, the cylinder shape presented here requires the user to lift and twist his arms to reach certain keys, which would be an even more strenuous motion than typing on a standard .

*'''Title Text'''
The title text references sound changes in languages. Every language (and indeed, every dialect) routinely undergoes changes in its sounds and phonemes, in a mostly regular and systematic way. While not only vowels are affected, in languages with many vowels such as English, they're particularly likely to shift around and/or merge. While having dynamic keycaps that change can actually come in handy, the feature of only having vowels change in response to sound shifts is a bit less so.

First, while changes in how we pronounce words are always ongoing, the way we write words down tends to stay relatively static, and thahs wiy wuhd faynd thaet werds biykahm ihncaampriyhehnsihbuhl duw tuw now laanger biyihng spehlld aes they wer bihfaor. Second, English only uses five glyphs (aeiou) and a variety of methods to represent four times as many vowel sounds, so the software would need to have a way to handling that (in some dialects "bird" and "turn" for example, have the same vowel but are represented by "ir" and "ur"). Third, vowel shifts are not ubiquitous: the {{w|Caught-cot merger}}, for example, is a phenomenon happening across some parts (but not all) of the US and UK. Therefore, while some people would say "caught" and "cot have the same vowel it should be spelled the same by the , but others would say they're two different vowels and should not be spelled identically. Fourth, sound shifts tend to occur over a relatively long period of time (in terms of human lifetimes), so a user would probably find the keycaps only change once or twice. All in all, this is not a very useful feature.

An alternative explanation is that the keys actually map to the {{w|International Phonetic Alphabet}} and converts what you type into English words (and the vowel changes). The IPA is an alphabet used in linguistics and language teaching, designed to represent every phoneme present in languages of the world unambiguously, with optional modifiers to indicate more subtle nuances in pronunciation, intonation and speech pathology. This alphabet consists of 107 letters and 56 modifiers (with some letters shared with the Latin and Greek alphabets), which would explain the large number of keys. In that case, the feature remains questionable since it only handles vowel shifts and not consonants, and anybody who'd use an IPA- would probably need to type out the phonology of other languages and appreciate not having to find a key has moved because English has undergone a vowel shift.

==Transcript==
:[Headings above a drawing of a very special keyboard:]
:Introducing the
:<big>XKeyboarCD</big>
:A keyboard for powerful users and their powerful fingers®

:[The keyboard has many more keys than a usual Keyboard. Usual keyboards for stationary computers typically have a few of the rows with 21 keys, and then some with fewer. This Keyboard has 28 keys on the top row. The other rows have special keys that make it difficult to compare, but there is basically also room for 28 in the bottom row, except one spot where there is one key in a space for 2x2 keys. Begining from the bottom and coutning keys there are 27. Skipping those that take up space in two or more rows, when going to the next row from the bottom there are 23, then 24, then 18, then 27 and finally 28 keys in the top row, for a total of 147 keys (vs 105 on a regular keyboard). Then there are 54 extra keys above the keyboard to the left (27 shown) and 156 in 6 rows of 26 to the right for a total of 357 keys 330 shown. All six rows have keys all the way over with no empty space in between, as there are on regular keyboards. Also there are no space between the top row (with F1 button etc) and those below. At each side of the keyboard the keys do no align at the edges, which is normally the case. The keyboard has several special features, most of which are labeled. The only special features that is not labeled is a small square with 2x2 keys that are elevated a bit above all other keys. It is in the region above the normal position of the four arrows. All eight other special features have an arrow pointing to them from their labels. Here below is a description of the labeled items as well as a transcript of their labels. They are listed in the order of their labels first above and then below the keyboard going from left to right.]

:[Five keys close to the QWERTY keys positions have colorful emoji on them. They each take up the space of 2x2 normal keys, although it is not clear if all the "normal" keys have the same size:]
:Hardcoded plastic keys for the 5 most useful emoji
:😰 😂 🐙 🏇 🚡

:[A cube with 3x3 keys on each side hangs above the keyboard to the left supported by a small rod. Three sides are fully visible, 27 keys:]
:54 configurable Rubik's keys

:[Just right of the middle above the main keyboard is a cylinder with keys inside in 6 rows of 26 keys (126 in all). It either decreases in diameter into it making it look almost like a tunnel, or is drawn as if it almost disappear in the far distance, being much deeper than it should be.]
:Ergonomic design

:[In the region where the normal numberpad would be there are 15 numbers from 1 to 15 in a 4x4 grid leaving space for an empty key hole. There is a row of keys both above and below this grid. The numbers do not come in order from 1 to 15, but rather in a jumble. Also the empty hole is not a full key spot. Instead it is in the second row of numbers, with a bit more space to the left than to the right of the middle of the three keys.]
:
:{| class="wikitable"
|+15 puzzle-style numberpad
|-
|1
|8
|4
|12
|-
|7
|
|11
|3
|-
|15
|6
|10
|9
|-
|2
|5
|13
|14
|}

:[To the left in the second row (below the Caps Lock position) the outer key is twice as wide as the other normal keys.]
:Serif Lock

:[An arrow points to the eight key in the bottom row, but is probably just referring to all the keys in general:]
:Unlimited key travel

:[There is a segment of the keyboard that seems to be empty of keys, but still white like the rest of the keys, not black as where keys are actually missing. It is where on a regular keyboard, the normal keys are separated from the special function keys. But it turns out it is indeed a long key going vertically:]
:Diagonal spacebar

:[Where the four arrow keys are on a regular keyboard there is a 2x2 key segment that only has one key in the middle with black background around it. It has an arrow head on it pointing right. That is if the key had not been turned about 45 degree counter clockwise, so the arrow points up to the right.]
:Arrow key (rotate to adjust direction)

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Emoji]]

2003: Presidential Succession

2019-05-15T18:33:09Z

172.69.63.47:

{{comic
| number = 2003
| date = June 6, 2018
| title = Presidential Succession
| image = presidential_succession.png
| titletext = Ties are broken by whoever was closest to the surface of Europa when they were born.
}}

==Explanation==
The {{w|United States presidential line of succession}} is the order of people who serve as president if the current incumbent president is incapacitated, dies, resigns, or is removed from office.

The {{w|Presidential_Succession_Act#Presidential_Succession_Act_of_1947|Presidential Succession Act of 1947}} was an act by the U.S. Congress that revised the presidential order of succession to its current order. This Act, though never challenged in the courts, may not be constitutional for two reasons. First, it is unclear whether members of Congress can be designated in the line of succession. Secondly, the Act allows for a cabinet officer to be "replaced" as acting President by a new Speaker of the House or a new President Pro Tempore of the Senate.

An additional concern regarding the Act is that after the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, the line of succession list the members of the Cabinet in the order that their department was established with the oldest departments first, irrespective of the Secretary's personal fitness or appropriateness of the office. The Department of Homeland Security is in charge of the security and protection of the United States and its citizens and would probably already be privy to sensitive intelligence and briefings related to national security, but because it is the latest of the Departments to have been established (in 2003), the Secretary of Homeland Security is all the way at the bottom of the current Presidential line of succession at 18th, behind other Secretaries such as that of Agriculture (9th) and Education (16th).

Another practical concern is that, by including the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate immediately after the Vice President, there is a serious risk that the simultaneous death of the President and Vice President could cause the Presidency to change to the opposing party, which (in the current American political climate) could lead to serious political instability at the precise moment when the country is facing a national crisis, and could even encourage assassinations.

The full text of the Second Report of the Continuity of Government Commission can be found here: <https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/06_continuity_of_government.pdf>. A short, readable summary, including the report's recommended new line of succession, is here: <https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-continuity-of-the-presidency-the-second-report-of-the-continuity-of-government-commission/>. The first 6 members of the commission's list are included in the current line of succession, after which they specificy that 5 new people should be appointed specifically for the purpose of succeeding the presidency if needed. Randall's list begins with these 11 people (stuffing all 5 of the new appointees into #7); afterwards, his list continues with more politicians, actors who have played Presidents, athletes, and others.

Randall's list omits the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, as well as many other cabinet positions. He is probably simply following the commission's report in this. But perhaps he does not find those people qualified to become President of the United States, or is concerned about the constitutionality of lawmakers becoming President. However, he does not seem to be concerned about constitutionality, because he included the entire line of succession to the British throne, most of whom do not meet the requirement to be a natural-born citizen of the United States.{{Citation needed}} {{w|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_Two_of_the_United_States_Constitution#Clause_5:_Qualifications_for_office|Article Two of the US Constitution}} establishes that the President must be a "{{w|Natural-born-citizen clause|natural-born}}" US citizen at least 35 years of age and had lived in the US for the last 14 years.

Randall's list includes several other people who also might not be eligible to become President either because they are not natural-born U.S. citizens (e.g., as of the time of the comic's publication, {{w|Serena Williams}} had withdrawn from her last match in the {{w|French Open}} to {{w|Maria Sharapova}}, who is Russian) or they are under 35 years of age ({{w|Russell Westbrook}}, the reigning NBA Most Valuable Player at the time of the comic's publication, was only 29 years old). These would mainly be athletes due to the relatively global reach of the four major professional sports leagues in North America and the fact that 35 is quite old for a professional athlete, let alone one who is good enough to win the league MVP. Presumably, those who wouldn't qualify for the office of President would be skipped over like in real life -- at the comic's publication, {{w|Elaine Chao}} was the Secretary of Transportation and would normally be 14th in line, but because she is a naturalized citizen of the US (she was born in Taiwan) she would not qualify for the office if the line came to her.

The title text mentions whoever was closest to the surface of {{w|Europa}} when they were born. Europa is a moon of Jupiter and one of the most likely locations in the Solar System for {{w|Habitability of natural satellites|potential habitability}}. Nevertheless it's a completely meaningless way of settling a tie. However, depending on the relative positions of Earth and Jupiter when you were born, you could easily have been tens of millions of kilometers closer. Alternatively, Randall could be playing on how Europa sounds like Europe.

==Order of succession==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!#
!Randall's order
!Current order by the 1947 Act
!Notes
|-
|1
|President
|President
|Not generally considered part of the line of succession, as incumbents cannot "succeed" to their own post. (This should really be item 0 on the list.)
|-
|2
|Vice president
|Vice president
|No change
|-
|3
|Secretary of State
|Speaker of the House of Representatives
|Moved up from 5th position. This is likely a serious suggestion. Existing rules of succession hand Executive power to the leaders of the Legislative branch if the President and Vice-President are both killed or removed from power. This is troubling for a number of reasons. One is that the Executive and Legislative branches are supposed to act as independent checks on one another's power, and so are supposed to be kept separate. Another issue is that the Executive and Legislative branches are frequently controlled by political rivals from different political parties. In such a case, assassins could effectively reverse the results of Presidential elections if they managed to kill the President and Vice-President in a short period of time (which is used as part of the twist ending in ''{{w|White House Down}}''). Additionally, leaders of the House and Senate aren't as deeply connected to the military and diplomatic missions of the country, and so would have a hard time maintaining continuity, particularly if an attack or disaster killed multiple national leaders at once. These problems could all be addressed by keeping the initial Line of Succession confined to the Executive branch of government.
|-
|4
|Secretary of Defense
|President pro tempore of the Senate
|Moved up from 7th position
|-
|5
|Secretary of Homeland Security
|Secretary of State
|Moved up from 19th position, possibly to highlight the Attorney General's place in the current order
|-
|6
|Attorney General
|Secretary of the Treasury
|Moved up from 8th position
|-
|7
|Five people who do not live in Washington DC, nominated at the start of the President's term and confirmed by the Senate
|Secretary of Defense
|{{w|Washington, D.C.}} is the capital of the United States, and is where the {{w|White House}}, the President's residence, is located. Presumably this provision covers the case where much of the government, including positions 1–6 here, are killed by a natural disaster or attack in Washington, D.C.

This suggestion establishes no qualifications for these people, but the fact that they'd need to be confirmed by the Senate suggests that they would be chosen to be competent for the role. It is also unclear if an order is determined among these five or if they take up a joint presidency. This suggestion is taken from the Second Report of the Continuity of Government Commission as a potential mechanism to ensure members of succession are not in Washington DC during a catastrophic attack.
|-
|8
|{{w|Tom Hanks}}
|Attorney General
|Academy Award-winning American actor. This is the first unambiguously unserious suggestion.{{Citation needed}} Tom Hanks is very popular and considered exceptionally likeable by many Americans, but has never served in public office or displayed any particular affinity for politics. He has also never played a president, though he has received a {{w|Presidential Medal of Freedom}}, and appeared in a {{w|Last Week Tonight with John Oliver}} [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyPRssh2rk0 skit], where he rallies five (wax) presidents to action. The implication is that Mr. Hanks would be easily accepted as a leader, based solely on his personal charm.
|-
|9
|State Governors, in descending order of state population at last census
|Secretary of the Interior
|Also taken from Second Report of the Continuity of Government Commission. At the time of publication, the last {{w|United States Census}} was the 2010 Census. As California is the most populous state, its Governor ({{w|Jerry Brown}} at the time of publication) would have been first in line.

See also the {{w|2010_United_States_Census#State_rankings|state population rankings}} and the {{w|list of current United States governors}}. As worded, this criterion would exclude territorial governors (and the Mayor of Washington, D.C.).
|-
|10
|Anyone who won an Oscar for playing a governor
|Secretary of Agriculture
|Oscars, or {{w|Academy Awards}}, are annual film awards awarded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. At the time of publication, the only Oscar awarded for playing a governor was {{w|Broderick Crawford}}'s 1949 Best Actor award for the fictional Willie Stark in ''{{w|All the King's Men (1949 film)|All the King's Men}}'' (a character based on {{w|Huey Long}}). However, Crawford died in 1986, so would be unable to serve as President.

May be a reference to the {{w|Political career of Arnold Schwarzenegger}}: a highly-lauded actor who became governor of California, but did not win an Oscar or play a governor before being elected. (As a naturalized citizen, he is also ineligible for the Presidency.)
|-
|11
|Anyone who won a Governor's award for playing someone named Oscar
|Secretary of Commerce
|The {{w|Governors Awards}} are an annual award ceremony hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to present lifetime achievement awards within the film industry. As this award is a lifetime achievement award, it does not seem possible that an actor could win this award for simply playing someone named Oscar. Notwithstanding the nature of the award, at the time of publication, no recipient of a Governors Award has played a character named Oscar.

Obviously, the joke is that changing the order of the words from the previous proposal produces something that could actually exist.
|-
|12
|{{w|Kate McKinnon}}, if available
|Secretary of Labor
|Comedic actress famous for being a cast member on {{w|Saturday Night Live}}. She is known for her character work and celebrity impressions. She has recently done impersonations of members of the Trump administration including Spokeswoman {{w|Kellyanne Conway}} and Attorney General {{w|Jeff Sessions}}. She also played {{w|Hillary Clinton}} during the 2016 campaign and presumably would have played her when she was President had she won; but since Clinton lost, McKinnon has not actually played a President.
|-
|13
|Billboard Year-End Hot 100 Singles artists #1 through #10 (for groups, whoever is credited first in name, liner notes, etc)
|Secretary of Health and Human Services
|The {{w|Billboard Hot 100}} is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for singles, published weekly by Billboard magazine. The weekly data is aggregated into a cumulative {{w|Billboard Year-End}} (based on a "year" that ends the third week of November, in order to meet December publication deadlines). At the time of publication, the most recent such list was the {{w|Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 2017}}.

Based on that list, the artists considered for the presidential succession would be: {{w|Ed Sheeran}}, {{w|Luis Fonsi}}, {{w|Bruno Mars}}, {{w|Kendrick Lamar}}, Alex Pall (of {{w|The Chainsmokers}}), {{w|Quavo|Quavoius Keyate Marshall}} (of {{w|Migos}}), {{w|Sam Hunt}}, {{w|Dan Reynolds}} (of {{w|Imagine Dragons}}), and {{w|Post Malone}}. There are only nine names instead of ten because The Chainsmokers had two of the top 10 singles in 2017. Of these, only Luis Fonsi (40 years old, born in Puerto Rico) was legally eligible for the office; all the others were too young, and Sheeran is additionally from the United Kingdom.
|-
|14
|The top 5 US astronauts in descending order of total spaceflight time
|Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
|Astronauts are highly respected and rigorously selected, but most have little involvement in politics. According to [https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-station-astronaut-record-holders NASA], the top 5 US astronauts by cumulative space time at the time of publication were: {{w|Peggy Whitson}}, {{w|Jeffrey Williams (astronaut)|Jeff Williams}}, {{W|Scott Kelly (astronaut)|Scott Kelly}}, {{w|Mike Fincke}}, and {{w|Mike Foale}}. However, it is unclear whether Foale would qualify as a natural-born citizen, as he was born in the United Kingdom to a British father and American mother.
|-
|15
|{{w|Serena Williams}} (or, if she lost her most recent match, whoever beat her)
|Secretary of Transportation
|As of the time of publication, Serena Williams was a top female tennis player. She is arguably the greatest female tennis player of all-time, winning 39 {{w|Grand Slam (tennis)|Grand Slam}} titles, including 23 women's singles titles. At the time of publication Serena Williams did win her most recent match (2018 French Open, third round, on June 2nd), although she withdrew from her next match against Maria Sharapova (which perhaps should count as a loss, especially if she withdrew in order to preserve her place in the line of succession and killed everyone in place ahead of her).

If her most recent defeat was to a non-US player, presumably she would be skipped over in line although this is not explicitly stated (the current succession list skips over anyone who would not normally qualify for not being a natural-born US citizen).
|-
|16
|The most recent season NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL MVPs
|Secretary of Energy
|MVP stands for {{w|Most Valuable Player}}. The 4 listed leagues are the major sports leagues in the United States, the {{w|National Basketball Association}} (NBA), the {{w|National Football League}} (NFL), {{w|Major League Baseball}} (MLB), and the {{w|National Hockey League}} (NHL). We're assuming that Randall meant the regular season MVPs of each league, as each league also awards MVPs for their respective championships (or in the case of the NHL's {{w|Conn Smythe Trophy}}, their entire playoffs).

As of the time of publication, the most recent MVPs for the listed sports were {{w|Russell Westbrook}} (NBA), {{w|Tom Brady}} (NFL), {{w|José Altuve}} and {{w|Giancarlo Stanton}} (MLB has two, one for the American League and one for the National League), and {{w|Connor McDavid}} (NHL). Of these, only Brady would qualify for the list - Altuve and McDavid are Venezuelan and Canadian citizens respectively, and Westbrook (29) and Stanton (28) were too young.
|-
|17
|{{w|Bill Pullman}} and his descendants by absolute primogeniture
|Secretary of Education
|American actor, known for playing President Thomas J. Whitmore in the 1996 film ''{{w|Independence Day (1996 film)|Independence Day}}''.

Absolute primogeniture is a form of succession where the oldest direct descendant regardless of gender receives the title. This is contrasted to {{w|Male-preference primogeniture}}, in which males come before females in the order of the throne, whether the males were born first or not. This may be a reference to the British law {{w|Succession to the Crown Act 2013}}, which changed the order of the throne from male-preference primogeniture to absolute primogeniture. This act allows {{w|Princess Charlotte of Cambridge|Princess Charlotte}} to retain her place in line before {{w|Prince Louis of Cambridge|Prince Louis}}.

At the time of publication, Pullman's immediate descendants consisted of three children, with Maesa Pullman being the oldest at age 29. Thus all but Bill Pullman himself were too young for the presidency.
|-
|18
|The entire line of succession to the British throne
|Secretary of Veterans Affairs
|According to the Constitution, only a natural-born citizen of the United States can become President, which means that at least most of the line of succession to the British throne is ineligible. However, it is possible that someone in the line of succession to the British throne either is a dual citizen (especially one who is a U.S. citizen based on place of birth and a British citizen based on having a parent who was a British citizen descended from {{w|Sophia of Hanover}}) or is not British (a person from outside of Britain can become King; for example, some, including George I, were from what is now Germany).

The first 59 names on the list are {{w|Succession_to_the_British_throne#Current_line_of_succession|here}}. [https://lineofsuccession.co.uk/?date=2018-06-06 British Line of Succession on 6 June 2018] shows the list as it was at the comic's publication. American citizens [http://articles.latimes.com/1988-02-11/news/vw-42233_1_royal-house have, at times] been on the list, but no natural-born Americans were on the list when the comic was published. However, after this comic was published {{w|Archie Mountbatten-Windsor}} was born on May 6, 2019; he is currently seventh in the line of succession to the British throne and has US citizenship through his mother {{w|Meghan, Duchess of Sussex}}. As with Mark Foale, though, whether that qualifies as natural-born has not be tested (leaving aside his age and the fact that many royals in his position have historically relinquished their birthright US citizenship voluntarily, which he may choose to do once he reaches age 16). In theory, the full British succession list includes [http://www.wargs.com/essays/succession/2011.html several thousand people] (living descendants of {{w|Sophia of Hanover}} who are not Roman Catholic or otherwise disqualified), and it is possible that one or more such people would also be eligible to be President of the United States beyond Master Archie.

The humor here derives from the fact that the United States was established by declaring independence from the United Kingdom, with rejection of the British monarchy being a basic founding principle, and a core principle of US governance. To appoint the British monarchy to the American presidency would contradict the basic goals of American independence. Alternatively, it may reference the recent wedding of {{w|Prince Harry}} to {{w|Meghan Markle}}, although she is not in the order of succession to the British throne. A similar sequence of events was the plotline of the comedy film ''{{w|King Ralph}}'', which saw an American become the British monarch after the death of the royal family.
|-
|19
|The current champion of the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contest
|Secretary of Homeland Security
|The {{w|Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest}} is an annual American hot dog competitive eating competition sponsored by {{w|Nathan's Famous}} held on July 4th. As of the time of publication, the most recent men's winner was {{w|Joey Chestnut}} and the women's winner was {{w|Miki Sudo}}. At the time of publication, neither was old enough to assume the office.

The comic does not specify whether the men's or women's winner should take office, creating a tie that would be broken by distance from Europa at birth. Had they both been eligible, [https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/29132/was-earth-closer-to-europa-on-1983-11-25-or-1985-07-22 Sudo would have won] by between 0.125 and 4 {{w|Astronomical unit}}s.
|-
|20
|All other US citizens, chosen by a 29-round single-elimination Jousting tournament
|''None''
|Effective for a population up to 536,870,912 individuals (2^29) which would be enough to cover the entire US population (estimated at around 325 million at time of publication), although additional rounds can be added should the population grow further.

This is probably a reference to the {{w|Matter of Britain}} (e.g., {{w|The Sword in the Stone (film)|The Sword in the Stone}}), where, after the death of Uther Pendragon, with no known successor to the throne of England for years, it is decided that the winner of a jousting tournament shall be crowned. However, Arthur, the Wart, pulls the Sword from the Stone.
|}

===List of specific individuals===
Based on the comic's defined criteria for the order of succession, these are the specific individuals in that order, including only people who are otherwise eligible to be the President of United States (35 year old and natural born US citizens who lived in US for last 14 years) '''as of the date the comic was published'''.
#{{w|Donald Trump}} ({{w|President of the United States}})
#{{w|Mike Pence}} ({{w|Vice President of the United States}})
#{{w|Mike Pompeo}} ({{w|United States Secretary of State}})
#{{w|Jim Mattis}} ({{w|United States Secretary of Defense}})
#{{w|Kirstjen Nielsen}} ({{w|United States Secretary of Homeland Security}})
#{{w|Jeff Sessions}} ({{w|United States Attorney General}})
#{{w|Tom Hanks}} (Tom Hanks) As Donald Trump did not appoint anyone to fill position #7 on Randall's line of succession, Hanks immediately follows after Sessions.
#{{w|Jerry Brown}} (Governor of California)
#{{w|Greg Abbott}} (Governor of Texas)
#{{w|Andrew Cuomo}} (Governor of New York)
#{{w|Rick Scott}} (Governor of Florida)
#{{w|Bruce Rauner}} (Governor of Illinois)
#{{w|Tom Wolf}} (Governor of Pennsylvania)
#{{w|John Kasich}} (Governor of Ohio)
#{{w|Rick Snyder}} (Governor of Michigan)
#{{w|Nathan Deal}} (Governor of Georgia)
#{{w|Roy Cooper}} (Governor of North Carolina)
#{{w|Phil Murphy}} (Governor of New Jersey)
#{{w|Ralph Northam}} (Governor of Virginia)
#{{w|Jay Inslee}} (Governor of Washington)
#{{w|Charlie Baker}} (Governor of Massachusetts)
#{{w|Eric Holcomb}} (Governor of Indiana)
#{{w|Doug Ducey}} (Governor of Arizona)
#{{w|Bill Haslam}} (Governor of Tennessee)
#{{w|Mike Parson}} (Governor of Missouri)
#{{w|Larry Hogan}} (Governor of Maryland)
#{{w|Scott Walker (politician)|Scott Walker}} (Governor of Wisconsin)
#{{w|Mark Dayton}} (Governor of Minnesota)
#{{w|John Hickenlooper}} (Governor of Colorado)
#{{w|Kay Ivey}} (Governor of Alabama)
#{{w|Henry McMaster}} (Governor of South Carolina)
#{{w|John Bel Edwards}} (Governor of Louisiana)
#{{w|Matt Bevin}} (Governor of Kentucky)
#{{w|Kate Brown}} (Governor of Oregon) Born in Spain to a member of the US Air Force, should be considered a natural-born citizen until proven otherwise.
#{{w|Mary Fallin}} (Governor of Oklahoma)
#{{w|Dannel Malloy}} (Governor of Connecticut)
#{{w|Kim Reynolds}} (Governor of Iowa)
#{{w|Phil Bryant}} (Governor of Mississippi)
#{{w|Asa Hutchinson}} (Governor of Arkansas)
#{{w|Jeff Colyer}} (Governor of Kansas)
#{{w|Gary Herbert}} (Governor of Utah)
#{{w|Brian Sandoval}} (Governor of Nevada)
#{{w|Susana Martinez}} (Governor of New Mexico)
#{{w|Jim Justice}} (Governor of West Virginia)
#{{w|Pete Ricketts}} (Governor of Nebraska)
#{{w|Butch Otter}} (Governor of Idaho)
#{{w|David Ige}} (Governor of Hawaii)
#{{w|Paul LePage}} (Governor of Maine)
#{{w|Chris Sununu}} (Governor of New Hampshire)
#{{w|Gina Raimondo}} (Governor of Rhode Island)
#{{w|Steve Bullock (American politician)|Steve Bullock}} (Governor of Montana)
#{{w|John Carney (politician)|John Carney}} (Governor of Delaware)
#{{w|Dennis Daugaard}} (Governor of South Dakota)
#{{w|Bill Walker (U.S. politician)|Bill Walker}} (Governor of Alaska)
#{{w|Doug Burgum}} (Governor of North Dakota)
#{{w|Phil Scott (politician)|Phil Scott}} (Governor of Vermont)
#{{w|Matt Mead}} (Governor of Wyoming)
#{{w|Kate McKinnon}} (Kate McKinnon) If she is available. Entries 10 and 11 on Randall's list have no eligible living members.
#{{w|Luis Fonsi}} (Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 2017, #2 artist) Fonsi is the only eligible individual under the Billboard criterion.
#{{w|Peggy Whitson}} (Astronaut, 665 days in space)
#{{w|Jeffrey Williams (astronaut)|Jeff Williams}} (Astronaut, 534 days in space)
#{{w|Scott Kelly}} (Astronaut, 520 days in space)
#{{w|Mike Fincke}} (Astronaut, 382 days in space)
#{{w|Mike Foale}} (Astronaut, 374 days in space) Foale was born in the UK but his mother is an American, and he holds dual citizenship with both countries. It isn't clear legally whether this situation would qualify him as being a "natural-born" citizen as US courts have never definitively ruled on what the term means, so similar to Governor Kate Brown his name is included in the list until further notice.
#{{w|Serena Williams}} Serena's place on this list assumes that you do not count her withdrawal against Maria Sharapova as a ''loss''; if that counts as a loss, then subsequent entries move up one position (as Sharapova is ineligible).
#{{w|Tom Brady}} ({{w|National Football League Most Valuable Player Award|NFL MVP}}) The MVPs of all other listed sports leagues are ineligible for the office due to age or nationality.
#{{w|Bill Pullman}} (Bill Pullman) None of his children are old enough to become President at this time.
#''line of succession to the British throne''
#''everyone else'' (Jousting tournament) Assumes that no eligible member of the British order of succession exists due to citizenship issues. The Nathan's Hot Dog Eating champions were too young to hold the office. Further assumes that the number of eligible US Citizens does not exceed 536,870,912.

==Transcript==
: A proposal for a new presidential line of succession
: Current politics aside, most experts agree the existing process is flawed. The Presidential Succession Act of 1947 is probably unconstitutional on several counts, and there are many practical issues with the system as well.
: (For more, see the surprisingly gripping ''Second Report of the Continuity of Government Commission'', June 2009.)
: Proposed line of succession:
:# President
:# Vice president
:# Secretary of State
:# Secretary of Defense
:# Secretary of Homeland Security
:# Attorney General
:# Five people who do not live in Washington DC, nominated at the start of the president's term and confirmed by the Senate
:# Tom Hanks
:# State Governors, in descending order of state population at last census
:# Anyone who won an Oscar for playing a governor
:# Anyone who won a Governor's award for playing someone named Oscar
:# Kate McKinnon, if available
:# Billboard year-end Hot 100 singles artists #1 through #10 (for groups, whoever is credited first in name, liner notes, etc)
:# The top 5 US astronauts in descending order of total spaceflight time
:# Serena Williams (or, if she lost her most recent match, whoever beat her)
:# The most recent season NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL MVPs
:# Bull Pullman and his descendants by absolute primogeniture
:# The entire line of succession to the British throne
:# The current champion of the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contest
:# All other US citizens, chosen by a 29-round single-elimination Jousting tournament

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Politics]]

2147: Appendicitis

2019-05-09T01:38:39Z

172.69.63.47:

{{comic
| number = 2147
| date = May 8, 2019
| title = Appendicitis
| image = appendicitis.png
| titletext = Fortunately, after a brief skirmish, I seem to have gained the upper hand in the battle against my internal organs, at least until they learn to read and find out the mean stuff I've said about them.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a ROGUE ORGAN. Does anyone know where Randall's surgery was announced? If so, please add the link to the explanation. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Cueball is visiting his doctor Ponytail (as in [[1839: Doctor Visit|1839: Doctor Visit]]), this time to diagnose some medical condition. It sounds like he has just undergone an {{w|Magnetic resonance imaging|MRI}} or some kind of {{w|medical imaging}}, and Ponytail is following up on the results. It appears that he may have {{w|appendicitis}}, the title of comic, which could be treated through {{w|antibiotics}}, or through an {{w|appendectomy}} surgery.

The joke in the comic comes from Ponytail explaining his diagnosis and treatment options as a rebellion that needs to be quashed. His appendicitis is described as his appendix being a "traitor". Antibiotic treatment is described as using "chemical / biological weapons", while the appendectomy is described as "victory through the sword". She further describes more extreme "battle tactics", like crushing all other rebellions in his body. Lastly, she mentions "salting his abdomen" to prevent other rebellions. This is a reference to the {{w|salting the earth}} tactic in battle, which was a ritual to symbolize a curse on a conquered city and would have theoretically have hindered future crop production, thus preventing that city from being rebuilt.

A possible alternate explanation of panel three and four could involve cancer. Panel three could be construed as exploratory surgery. Panel four could be referencing cancer-preventative drugs.

After all this explanation, Cueball begins to question Ponytail's methods, and requests to see a different doctor to get a {{w|Second_opinion#Medicine|second opinion}}.

The title text continues the battle metaphor, saying that Cueball is defeating his illness, at least until they can read his words against them.

Two days before posting this comic Randall had a case of Appendicitis{{Citation needed}}, but is now recovering after surgery.

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

:[Cueball is seated on an medical examination table while Ponytail stands dressed in a doctor's coat holding a file in her left hand.]
:Ponytail: Well, we zapped you with energy beams, and it looks like one of your stupid organs is a traitor.
:Cueball: ...which one?
:Ponytail: I dunno, appendix? Gallbladder? One of the little ones that sucks.
:Cueball: What should I do?

:[Closeup on Ponytail. She holds her left hand in a clenched fist.]
:Ponytail: You could quash the revolt with the ruthless deployment of chemical and biological weapons.
:Cueball (off-screen): ...antibiotics?
:Ponytail: But certain victory comes only through ''the sword''.
:Cueball (off-screen): Surgery.

:[Closeup on Ponytail with her fists raised.]
:Ponytail: While we're inside, we'll look around-if we see any signs of insurrection elsewhere, we will not hesitate to act. There can be no armistice. Your parts must fall in line or be crushed.
:Cueball (off-screen): Um.

:[Zoom out again to the entire scene. Ponytail points her left hand up.]
:Ponytail: When the battle is won, we will salt your abdomen so no new organs can ever sprout up to trouble you again.
:Cueball: Maybe I should get a second opinion.
:Ponytail: Only if you care what a ''weaker'' doctor would say.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]

2142: Dangerous Fields

2019-04-26T19:53:21Z

172.69.63.47:

{{comic
| number = 2142
| date = April 26, 2019
| title = Dangerous Fields
| image = dangerous_fields.png
| titletext = Eventually, every epidemiologist becomes another statistic, a dedication to record-keeping which their colleagues sincerely appreciate.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an INEXORABLE PROCESS. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{W|Mathematics}} is such a pure non-physical field that it being the direct cause of death is extremely low, barring any workplace disputes.

{{W|Astronomy}} is mostly dealing with extremely far away things, so assuming there isn't a meteor impact is probably not going to kill you. Mildly more likely than Mathematics though since it is a physical study/process. In addition to meteor or asteroid impacts, astronomical phenomena that might be causes of death would include solar explosion (likelihood will increase over the next few hundred million years), perturbations in earth's orbit, increased or decreased solar radiation, etc.

{{W|Economics}} is the study of markets, which through recessions and scarcity can kill you in any way that Capitalism can affect the goods and services you need to survive.

{{W|Law}} in the context of this would be the rules people have to follow for a just society, and given the nature of laws (Civil and Criminal) the odds that your death is related to law is low. Possible causes of death more-or-less directly related to the study of law would include attacks by someone you are prosecuting or defending.

{{W|Criminology}} is very similar to law, but is the study of crime, meaning it's more dangerous than just "law." Criminologists may be directly involved with criminals in the course of their studies, increasing their exposure to potentially life-threatening behavior.

{{W|Meteorology}} is the study of weather and through large weather events like Hurricanes and Tornados, death is a distinct possibility.

{{W|Chemistry}} is the study of chemicals and reactions of those chemicals. Since everything in existence is made up of chemicals, (and chemists often use especially reactive or dangerous chemicals) the cause of a chemist's death being chemistry (e.g., explosions, poisoning, chemical burns, suffocation...) is significant.

{{W|Marine Biology}} is the study of marine life. Many of them are venomous, many of them are very large, many of them are very hungry. Death could result from exposure to pathogenic bacteria, toxins (such as those produced by cone snails, and "red tide" dinoflagellates), allergies to shellfish, drowning (e.g. in strong ocean currents), scuba accidents, or water pollution, in addition to such perhaps more obvious (but rarer) risks as shark attacks.

{{w|Volcanology}} involves the study of {{w|volcanoes}}, {{w|lava}}, and {{w|magma}}, with obvious risks to the scientists studying them in the field. At least 67 scientists have been killed in volcanic eruptions, as of 2017 ("[https://cosmosmagazine.com/geoscience/volcanologists-lose-their-lives-in-pursuit-of-knowledge Volcanologists lose their lives in pursuit of knowledge]").

{{w|Gerontology}} involves the study of aging, and of growing old in general. In most modern societies, age-related diseases are by far the most common cause of death for both gerontologists and other people. A gerontologist still can die from something else, though.

This comic was posted the day after Joe Biden entered the race for the 2020 U.S. Presidential election, which is shaping up to [https://cbc.ca/1.5107181 feature] the oldest set of candidates in history.

The title text is about {{w|Epidemiology}} or the study of health and disease conditions in populations. In the event of an epidemic, there is a strong chance that Epidemiologists in the search for the causation, transmission and treatment will be exposed and become victims of the disease in their own right. However, the title text refers more broadly to the role of epidemiology in maintaining detailed statistical records of diseases and other causes of death, such that eventually and epidemiologist (whatever the cause of death) will become one of his/her own statistics.

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

Graph title: Probability that you'll be killed by the thing you study

Graph subtitle: By Field

Graph legend: An arrow pointing from the left, or least likely to be killed, to the right, or most likely to be killed

A line of points with fields from left to right.

1. Mathematics

2. Astronomy

3. Economics

4. Law

5. Criminology

6. Meteorology

7. Chemistry

8. Marine Biology

9. Volcanology

Much farther to the right, in an amusing fashion is

10. Gerontology

Title Text: Eventually, every epidemiologist becomes another statistic, a dedication to record-keeping which their colleagues sincerely appreciate.

{{comic discussion}}

2142: Dangerous Fields

2019-04-26T19:51:57Z

172.69.63.47: added some detail on possible causes of death for the various occupations

{{comic
| number = 2142
| date = April 26, 2019
| title = Dangerous Fields
| image = dangerous_fields.png
| titletext = Eventually, every epidemiologist becomes another statistic, a dedication to record-keeping which their colleagues sincerely appreciate.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an INEXORABLE PROCESS. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{W|Mathematics}} is such a pure non-physical field that it being the direct cause of death is extremely low, barring any workplace disputes.

{{W|Astronomy}} is mostly dealing with extremely far away things, so assuming there isn't a meteor impact is probably not going to kill you. Mildly more likely than Mathematics though since it is a physical study/process. In addition to meteor or asteroid impacts, astronomical phenomena that might be causes of death would include solar explosion (likelihood will increase over the next few hundred million years), perturbations in earth's orbit, increased or decreased solar radiation, etc.

{{W|Economics}} is the study of markets, which through recessions and scarcity can kill you in any way that Capitalism can affect the goods and services you need to survive.

{{W|Law}} in the context of this would be the rules people have to follow for a just society, and given the nature of laws (Civil and Criminal) the odds that your death is related to law is low. Possible causes of death more-or-less directly related to the study of law would include attacks by someone you are prosecuting or defending.

{{W|Criminology}} is very similar to law, but is the study of crime, meaning it's more dangerous than just "law." Criminologists may be directly involved with criminals in the course of their studies, increasing their exposure to potentially life-threatening behavior.

{{W|Meteorology}} is the study of weather and through large weather events like Hurricanes and Tornados, death is a distinct possibility.

{{W|Chemistry}} is the study of chemicals and reactions of those chemicals. Since everything in existence is made up of chemicals, (and chemists using especially reactive or dangerous chemicals) the cause of your death being chemistry is significant.

{{W|Marine Biology}} is the study of marine life. Many of them are venomous, many of them are very large, many of them are very hungry. Death could result from exposure to pathogenic bacteria, toxins (such as those produced by cone snails, and "red tide" dinoflagellates), allergies to shellfish, drowning (e.g. in strong ocean currents), scuba accidents, or water pollution, in addition to such perhaps more obvious (but rarer) risks as shark attacks.

{{w|Volcanology}} involves the study of {{w|volcanoes}}, {{w|lava}}, and {{w|magma}}, with obvious risks to the scientists studying them in the field. At least 67 scientists have been killed in volcanic eruptions, as of 2017 ("[https://cosmosmagazine.com/geoscience/volcanologists-lose-their-lives-in-pursuit-of-knowledge Volcanologists lose their lives in pursuit of knowledge]").

{{w|Gerontology}} involves the study of aging, and of growing old in general. In most modern societies, age-related diseases are by far the most common cause of death for both gerontologists and other people. A gerontologist still can die from something else, though.

This comic was posted the day after Joe Biden entered the race for the 2020 U.S. Presidential election, which is shaping up to [https://cbc.ca/1.5107181 feature] the oldest set of candidates in history.

The title text is about {{w|Epidemiology}} or the study of health and disease conditions in populations. In the event of an epidemic, there is a strong chance that Epidemiologists in the search for the causation, transmission and treatment will be exposed and become victims of the disease in their own right. However, the title text refers more broadly to the role of epidemiology in maintaining detailed statistical records of diseases and other causes of death, such that eventually and epidemiologist (whatever the cause of death) will become one of his/her own statistics.

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

Graph title: Probability that you'll be killed by the thing you study

Graph subtitle: By Field

Graph legend: An arrow pointing from the left, or least likely to be killed, to the right, or most likely to be killed

A line of points with fields from left to right.

1. Mathematics

2. Astronomy

3. Economics

4. Law

5. Criminology

6. Meteorology

7. Chemistry

8. Marine Biology

9. Volcanology

Much farther to the right, in an amusing fashion is

10. Gerontology

Title Text: Eventually, every epidemiologist becomes another statistic, a dedication to record-keeping which their colleagues sincerely appreciate.

{{comic discussion}}

1458: Small Moon

2019-04-13T00:02:49Z

172.69.63.47: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1458
| date = December 10, 2014
| title = Small Moon
| image = small_moon.png
| titletext = GENERAL JAN DODONNA: An analysis of the plans provided by Princess Leia has reinvigorated the arguments of the 'artificial moonlet' and 'rogue planet-station' camps. I fear this question is fracturing the Rebellion.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic depicts a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVekNsgUqn4 classic scene] from {{w|Star Wars Episode IV}}, in which the heroes trail a {{w|TIE fighter}} to the never-before-seen {{w|Death Star}}: a super-weapon the size of a small moon capable of demolishing entire planets. In the original scene and the comic, {{w|Luke Skywalker}} misidentifies a body as a natural satellite, and {{w|Obi-Wan Kenobi|Obi-Wan 'Ben' Kenobi}} ominously corrects him.

The comic's version diverges at this point, as the dialogue devolves into a rather bitter argument over the semantics of size classifications, alluding to scientific discussions on whether Pluto should be classified as a planet or as a dwarf planet. The argument goes on for hours, which in the original plot would suggest one of two situations:
*The Death Star apparently never caught them, and {{w|Princess Leia}} was never rescued (but Ben survived).
*The argument was picked up after escaping the Death Star, and now Leia is joining in.

The argument is confused as to whether they're talking about size or about natural vs artificial objects. In terms of size, the Death Star is much larger (70 km radius) than dozens of {{w|List of natural satellites|full-fledged moons}} in our solar system. One of the smallest moons found so far in the solar system is {{w|S/2009 S 1}}, which is about 400 meters in diameter and orbits Saturn. But we don't generally speak of the tiny rocks in the rings of Saturn as moons, so there is some distinction there, which may include the orbit of the object [http://www.exploratorium.edu/saturn/moon.html]. There is also the distinction between natural moons and spacecraft, which seems to be ignored in the final panel.

The title text makes reference to a later scene in the film when Rebel pilots are being briefed on the planned attack on the Death Star. Those who analysed the plans for the Death Star run into the same discussion picture, and end up arguing about the classification of the Death Star, dividing those involved into the 'artificial moonlet' camp and the 'rogue planet-station' camp, thus deunifying the rebellion. If events are otherwise the same from the movie, this is also happening at threat of their destruction, and thus a crippling of the Rebellion.

The timing of the comic may be related to the {{w|New Horizons}} mission to {{w|Pluto}}. The spacecraft awoke from hibernation 4 days earlier, on December 6, 2014, to start the encounter phase with Pluto.

==Transcript==
:[Millennium Falcon follows a Tie Fighter towards an unidentified orb in the distance.]
:Luke Skywalker: He's heading for that small moon.
:Ben Kenobi: That's no moon - it's a space station.

:Luke Skywalker: It's too big to be a space station.
:Ben Kenobi: But it's too '''''small''''' to be a moon.

:[Three hours pass]

:Ben Kenobi: Fine! What if we agree it's not a moon, but we make a new category called "Dwarf Moon"?
:Luke Skywalker: And what's the cutoff, asshole?! Is this '''''ship''''' a dwarf moon now?
:Ben Kenobi: Screw you.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]

1458: Small Moon

2019-04-13T00:00:17Z

172.69.63.47: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1458
| date = December 10, 2014
| title = Small Moon
| image = small_moon.png
| titletext = GENERAL JAN DODONNA: An analysis of the plans provided by Princess Leia has reinvigorated the arguments of the 'artificial moonlet' and 'rogue planet-station' camps. I fear this question is fracturing the Rebellion.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic depicts a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVekNsgUqn4 classic scene] from {{w|Star Wars Episode IV}}, in which the heroes trail a TIE fighter to the never-before-seen {{w|Death Star}}: a super-weapon the size of a small moon capable of demolishing entire planets. In the original scene and the comic, Luke Skywalker misidentifies a body as a natural satellite, and Obi-Wan 'Ben' Kenobi ominously corrects him.

The comic's version diverges at this point, as the dialogue devolves into a rather bitter argument over the semantics of size classifications, alluding to scientific discussions on whether Pluto should be classified as a planet or as a dwarf planet. The argument goes on for hours, which in the original plot would suggest one of two situations:
*The Death Star apparently never caught them, and Princess Leia was never rescued (but Ben survived).
*The argument was picked up after escaping the Death Star, and now Leia is joining in.

The argument is confused as to whether they're talking about size or about natural vs artificial objects. In terms of size, the Death Star is much larger (70 km radius) than dozens of {{w|List of natural satellites|full-fledged moons}} in our solar system. One of the smallest moons found so far in the solar system is {{w|S/2009 S 1}}, which is about 400 meters in diameter and orbits Saturn. But we don't generally speak of the tiny rocks in the rings of Saturn as moons, so there is some distinction there, which may include the orbit of the object [http://www.exploratorium.edu/saturn/moon.html]. There is also the distinction between natural moons and spacecraft, which seems to be ignored in the final panel.

The title text makes reference to a later scene in the film when Rebel pilots are being briefed on the planned attack on the Death Star. Those who analysed the plans for the Death Star run into the same discussion picture, and end up arguing about the classification of the Death Star, dividing those involved into the 'artificial moonlet' camp and the 'rogue planet-station' camp, thus deunifying the rebellion. If events are otherwise the same from the movie, this is also happening at threat of their destruction, and thus a crippling of the Rebellion.

The timing of the comic may be related to the {{w|New Horizons}} mission to {{w|Pluto}}. The spacecraft awoke from hibernation 4 days earlier, on December 6, 2014, to start the encounter phase with Pluto.

==Transcript==
:[Millennium Falcon follows a Tie Fighter towards an unidentified orb in the distance.]
:Luke Skywalker: He's heading for that small moon.
:Ben Kenobi: That's no moon - it's a space station.

:Luke Skywalker: It's too big to be a space station.
:Ben Kenobi: But it's too '''''small''''' to be a moon.

:[Three hours pass]

:Ben Kenobi: Fine! What if we agree it's not a moon, but we make a new category called "Dwarf Moon"?
:Luke Skywalker: And what's the cutoff, asshole?! Is this '''''ship''''' a dwarf moon now?
:Ben Kenobi: Screw you.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]

Talk:2132: Percentage Styles

2019-04-03T20:36:52Z

172.69.63.47: /* Missing */

The only proper style for Britain and the US is ‘%65’. [[User:Aasasd|Aasasd]] ([[User talk:Aasasd|talk]]) 16:20, 3 April 2019 (UTC)
:O RLY? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.52|108.162.241.52]] 16:37, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

:: Yes. You don't write ‘65$’, do you? British/US standards should be followed properly and consistently. [[User:Aasasd|Aasasd]] ([[User talk:Aasasd|talk]]) 17:19, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

::I've definitely seen %NN stated by style guides, but I almost never see anybody using it, because reading it aloud encourages saying it as "percent sixty-five". Oddly, people seem to have no trouble remembering to write $65 instead of 65$, despite the same "dollars sixty-five" vs "sixty-five dollars" vocalization issue. Perhaps it's because we often see things like $65.95 but %65.95 is used less often? Writing 65.95% is potentially ambiguous depending on how it's read out loud: "sixty-five point ninety-five percent" could definitely be misinterpreted very easily. 65.95$ is definitely not ideal, & $65.95¢ is somehow even worse. How about 65$.95¢? ''';S'''
::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:08, 3 April 2019 (UTC)
:::At https://ask.metafilter.com/7894/Is-the-form-of-100-instead-of-100-a-different-language-useage discussers encountered %NN but eventually decided it was a mistake spread by low literacy. More common is "NNpc". [[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.47|172.69.63.47]] 20:33, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

----
There's also 65/100, 65:100, <math>\textstyle\frac{65}{100}</math>, sixtyfive-hundreth, 0.65, and point sixty-five. Benny. 16:41, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

There's also 650‰ [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.41|172.69.33.41]] 16:52, 3 April 2019 (UTC)
:Wouldn't that be 650 hundredths? I've seen "and sixty-five ‰" a cheque before. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:08, 3 April 2019 (UTC)
::"650‰" is "650 per mille (per thousand)", and is precisely the same as "65%". [[User:RandalSchwartz|RandalSchwartz]] ([[User talk:RandalSchwartz|talk]]) 19:42, 3 April 2019 (UTC)
Even lower than 65 per¢ should be 65 per penny. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 20:00, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

====
BTW, I can imagine the transcript of this one posing some challenge for screen readers. [[User:Aasasd|Aasasd]] ([[User talk:Aasasd|talk]]) 17:01, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

: On a second thought, I can also imagine people who use screen readers never hearing any difference between the writing styles listed in the comic. [[User:Aasasd|Aasasd]] ([[User talk:Aasasd|talk]]) 17:24, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

== Missing ==

Compile here the missing styles:

* %65
* 65 pc
* sixty-five percent; sixty-five per cent; sixty-five per ¢
* sixty-five per hundred; 65 for every 100
* 65% percent; 65% per cent; 65% per ¢
* 65/100; 65÷100; 65:100; 65 x 1/100
* 65*10^-2; 65×10⁻²; 65×10^-2; 65*10⁻²
* 0.65; 0,65
* 65 per penny (wasn't this a joke?)
* almost 2/3rds

[[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.191|162.158.79.191]] 19:35, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2132: Percentage Styles

2019-04-03T20:36:12Z

172.69.63.47:

The only proper style for Britain and the US is ‘%65’. [[User:Aasasd|Aasasd]] ([[User talk:Aasasd|talk]]) 16:20, 3 April 2019 (UTC)
:O RLY? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.52|108.162.241.52]] 16:37, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

:: Yes. You don't write ‘65$’, do you? British/US standards should be followed properly and consistently. [[User:Aasasd|Aasasd]] ([[User talk:Aasasd|talk]]) 17:19, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

::I've definitely seen %NN stated by style guides, but I almost never see anybody using it, because reading it aloud encourages saying it as "percent sixty-five". Oddly, people seem to have no trouble remembering to write $65 instead of 65$, despite the same "dollars sixty-five" vs "sixty-five dollars" vocalization issue. Perhaps it's because we often see things like $65.95 but %65.95 is used less often? Writing 65.95% is potentially ambiguous depending on how it's read out loud: "sixty-five point ninety-five percent" could definitely be misinterpreted very easily. 65.95$ is definitely not ideal, & $65.95¢ is somehow even worse. How about 65$.95¢? ''';S'''
::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:08, 3 April 2019 (UTC)
:::At https://ask.metafilter.com/7894/Is-the-form-of-100-instead-of-100-a-different-language-useage discussers encountered %NN but eventually decided it was a mistake spread by low literacy. More common is "NNpc". [[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.47|172.69.63.47]] 20:33, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

----
There's also 65/100, 65:100, <math>\textstyle\frac{65}{100}</math>, sixtyfive-hundreth, 0.65, and point sixty-five. Benny. 16:41, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

There's also 650‰ [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.41|172.69.33.41]] 16:52, 3 April 2019 (UTC)
:Wouldn't that be 650 hundredths? I've seen "and sixty-five ‰" a cheque before. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:08, 3 April 2019 (UTC)
::"650‰" is "650 per mille (per thousand)", and is precisely the same as "65%". [[User:RandalSchwartz|RandalSchwartz]] ([[User talk:RandalSchwartz|talk]]) 19:42, 3 April 2019 (UTC)
Even lower than 65 per¢ should be 65 per penny. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 20:00, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

====
BTW, I can imagine the transcript of this one posing some challenge for screen readers. [[User:Aasasd|Aasasd]] ([[User talk:Aasasd|talk]]) 17:01, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

: On a second thought, I can also imagine people who use screen readers never hearing any difference between the writing styles listed in the comic. [[User:Aasasd|Aasasd]] ([[User talk:Aasasd|talk]]) 17:24, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

== Missing ==

Compile here the missing styles:

* %65
* 65 pc
* sixty-five percent; sixty-five per cent; sixty-five per ¢
* sixty-five per hundred; 65 for every 100
* 65% percent; 65% per cent; 65% per ¢
* 65/100; 65÷100; 65:100; 65 x 1/100
* 65*10^-2; 65×10⁻²; 65×10^-2; 65*10⁻²
* 0.65; 0,65
* 65 per penny (wasn't this a joke?)

[[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.191|162.158.79.191]] 19:35, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2132: Percentage Styles

2019-04-03T20:33:09Z

172.69.63.47:

The only proper style for Britain and the US is ‘%65’. [[User:Aasasd|Aasasd]] ([[User talk:Aasasd|talk]]) 16:20, 3 April 2019 (UTC)
:O RLY? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.52|108.162.241.52]] 16:37, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

:: Yes. You don't write ‘65$’, do you? British/US standards should be followed properly and consistently. [[User:Aasasd|Aasasd]] ([[User talk:Aasasd|talk]]) 17:19, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

::I've definitely seen %NN stated by style guides, but I almost never see anybody using it, because reading it aloud encourages saying it as "percent sixty-five". Oddly, people seem to have no trouble remembering to write $65 instead of 65$, despite the same "dollars sixty-five" vs "sixty-five dollars" vocalization issue. Perhaps it's because we often see things like $65.95 but %65.95 is used less often? Writing 65.95% is potentially ambiguous depending on how it's read out loud: "sixty-five point ninety-five percent" could definitely be misinterpreted very easily. 65.95$ is definitely not ideal, & $65.95¢ is somehow even worse. How about 65$.95¢? ''';S'''
::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:08, 3 April 2019 (UTC)
:::At https://ask.metafilter.com/7894/Is-the-form-of-100-instead-of-100-a-different-language-useage discussers encountered %NN but eventually decided it was a mistake spread by low literacy. More common is "NNpc". [[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.47|172.69.63.47]] 20:33, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

----
There's also 65/100, 65:100, <math>\textstyle\frac{65}{100}</math>, sixtyfive-hundreth, 0.65, and point sixty-five. Benny. 16:41, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

There's also 650‰ [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.41|172.69.33.41]] 16:52, 3 April 2019 (UTC)
:Wouldn't that be 650 hundredths? I've seen "and sixty-five ‰" a cheque before. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:08, 3 April 2019 (UTC)
::"650‰" is "650 per mille (per thousand)", and is precisely the same as "65%". [[User:RandalSchwartz|RandalSchwartz]] ([[User talk:RandalSchwartz|talk]]) 19:42, 3 April 2019 (UTC)
Even lower than 65 per¢ should be 65 per penny. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 20:00, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

====
BTW, I can imagine the transcript of this one posing some challenge for screen readers. [[User:Aasasd|Aasasd]] ([[User talk:Aasasd|talk]]) 17:01, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

: On a second thought, I can also imagine people who use screen readers never hearing any difference between the writing styles listed in the comic. [[User:Aasasd|Aasasd]] ([[User talk:Aasasd|talk]]) 17:24, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

== Missing ==

Compile here the missing styles:

* %65
* sixty-five percent; sixty-five per cent; sixty-five per ¢
* 65% percent; 65% per cent; 65% per ¢
* 65/100; 65÷100; 65:100
* 65*10^-2; 65×10⁻²; 65×10^-2; 65*10⁻²
* 0.65; 0,65
* 65 per penny

[[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.191|162.158.79.191]] 19:35, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

2132: Percentage Styles

2019-04-03T20:27:15Z

172.69.63.47: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2132
| date = April 3, 2019
| title = Percentage Styles
| image = percentage_styles.png
| titletext = In a tribute to classical Latin, I started pronouncing it 'per-kent.' Eventually my friends had to resort to spritzing me with a water bottle like a cat to train me out of it.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a Classicist and a Mathematician. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The comic lists the best to worst ways in which you can write out phrases that are phonetically the same as "65%". They go from the common "65%" and "65 percent" to "65 per cent," which is not common in Randall's area and time, to the odd "sixty-five%" and "65 per¢" (using the cent currency symbol) which are not really used and look archaic. The middle option, "65 per cent", was common in older literature, along with "65 per cent.", using "cent." as an abbreviation for "centum", which is Latin for "hundred". ("per" is Latin for "through"). The entire string would translate to "65 for every hundred." "Per cent" is more widely used in British English than in American English today.

The title text references Latin pronunciations, which are often different from English ones. In Classical Latin, "C" is believed to have been pronounced like a "K". However, the "c" in "percent", like most C's from Latin roots in modern languages, is pronounced like an "S". Nerdy students of classical Latin, especially those rare few who learn the Latin words before they learn the modern words that have derived from them, will pronounce them with hard "C" sounds, because academia trains Latin students in the pronunciations of ancient Rome rather than those of the modern religious Latin used in the Vatican. Such people may pronounce "celtic" like "keltic", "caeser" like "kaiser", or "cent" like "kent" (although some might be saying the more accurate phrase pronunciation "pare kentum").

In this case, Randall's friends found him so annoying they trained him out of it like a cat by spraying him with water every time he pronounced the word "per-kent." Training people this way was previously a punchline in [[220: Philosophy]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:Percentage styles in order of acceptability
:[A long vertical line is shown with five dots on it.]
:[Label at the top:]
:Best
:[Dot labels from top to bottom:]

:65%
:[short distance]
:65 percent
:[a much longer distance]
:65 per cent
:[a distance roughly twice the previous]
:Sixty-five%
:[an exceedingly long distance]
:65 per¢

{{comic discussion}}

2132: Percentage Styles

2019-04-03T20:25:31Z

172.69.63.47: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2132
| date = April 3, 2019
| title = Percentage Styles
| image = percentage_styles.png
| titletext = In a tribute to classical Latin, I started pronouncing it 'per-kent.' Eventually my friends had to resort to spritzing me with a water bottle like a cat to train me out of it.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a Classicist and a Mathematician. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The comic lists the best to worst ways in which you can write out phrases that are phonetically the same as "65%". They go from the common "65%" and "65 percent" to "65 per cent," which is not common in Randall's area and time, to the odd "sixty-five%" and "65 per¢" (using the cent currency symbol) which are not really used and look archaic. The middle option, "65 per cent", was common in older literature, along with "65 per cent.", using "cent." as an abbreviation for "centum", which is Latin for "hundred". ("per" is Latin for "through"). The entire string would translate to "65 for every hundred." "Per cent" is more widely used in British English than in American English today.

The title text references Latin pronunciations, which are often different from English ones. In Classical Latin, "C" is believed to have been pronounced like a "K". However, the "c" in "percent", like most C's from Latin roots in modern languages, is pronounced like an "S". Nerdy students of classical Latin, especially those rare few who learn the Latin words before they learn the modern words that have derived from them, will pronounce them with hard "C" sounds, because academia trains Latin students in the pronunciations of ancient Rome rather than those of the modern religious Latin used in the Vatican. Such people may pronounce "celtic" like "keltic", "caeser" like "kaiser", or "cent" like "kent".

In this case, Randall's friends found him so annoying they trained him out of it like a cat by spraying him with water every time he pronounced the word "per-kent." Training people this way was previously a punchline in [[220: Philosophy]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:Percentage styles in order of acceptability
:[A long vertical line is shown with five dots on it.]
:[Label at the top:]
:Best
:[Dot labels from top to bottom:]

:65%
:[short distance]
:65 percent
:[a much longer distance]
:65 per cent
:[a distance roughly twice the previous]
:Sixty-five%
:[an exceedingly long distance]
:65 per¢

{{comic discussion}}

2127: Panama Canal

2019-03-22T19:26:09Z

172.69.63.47: Changed up paragraphs and merged stuff.

{{comic
| number = 2127
| date = March 22, 2019
| title = Panama Canal
| image = panama_canal.png
| titletext = Once they selected the other proposal, we could have kept shopping ours around, but we would had to modify it include an aqueduct over their canal, which would be totally unreasonable.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a Panamax vessel. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The Panama Canal is, as the name suggests, a canal through the country of Panama. It is important for bridging the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and is an important trade route. The canal is in Panama because Panama is very thin, making construction and maintenance very easy.

Cueball proposes an alternate route for the Panama Canal that connects the Arctic Ocean to the Great Southern Ocean instead of connecting the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean. His suggested route runs somewhat to the east of the continental divide and has a total length of slightly over ten thousand miles, in contrast to the real-life canal which is only fifty miles long. The extra length and more-rugged terrain make his proposal much more difficult to build and maintain, unlike the real-life Panama Canal.

Moreover, while the real-life canal significantly shortens the travel distance between major cities on the east and west coasts of the Americas, his alternative offers little benefit over traveling north or south in either the Atlantic or Pacific oceans. In fact, with the lack of currents that can aid travel and the slow speed required to traverse canal locks, it would be significantly slower.

The title text referencing the now-existing Panama Canal, and the fact that Randall's canal would need cross it at some point. The title text suggests that crossing two canals would have to be done via aqueduct, instead of the more useful at-grade crossing. The humor here is that this canal would be one of the most ambitious construction projects in history; an aqueduct being added to the costs is an expense on the same scale of needing an extra screw to hold something in on Apollo XI. The route depicted appears to cross the Mackenzie, Missouri, Rio Grande, and Amazon rivers anyway, so only this additional crossing is apparently "unreasonable."

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is standing in front of a poster with two maps showing the Americas. He is pointing to the right one with a stick he is holding in his hand. Specifically to the red line going through the Americas from the Arctic sea above Canada near Alaska, down through North America, through the middle of Central America down through the middle of South America to end up in the Antarctic sea below the tip of South America. On the map to the left there is a similar red line indicating the Panama Canal crossing the thinnest part of Central America from the Pacific Oceanto the Atlantic Ocean. Both lines end in small dots on either "side" of the continent. The two maps have labels above them:]
:Atlantic-Pacific option
:Arctic-Antarctic option

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I still don't understand why the Panama Canal planners rejected my proposal.

==Trivia==
*The Panama Canal was the main theme in [[1632: Palindrome]] and there is a scene in [[1608: Hoverboard]] where a [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/0/0d/1608_1026x1073y_Ruins_with_Cueball_singing_of_Spiders_and_Panama.png song that Cueball sings] references the canal. {{w|Panamax}} is referenced in the title text of [[1865: Wifi vs Cellular]].
*The second comic in a row with a [[:Category:Maps|map based theme]]. Randall likes maps.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Maps]]