explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:724: Hell

2021-09-10T02:46:45Z

172.69.68.231: sign (AltoStev, icecream17)

That playable version is actually quite fun. My best was 22 pieces on the screen ([[:File:22 pieces.png|screenshot]]).
[[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 18:20, 22 September 2012 (UTC)

Guess what, this is actually scorable. The trick is to form a solid base with your blocks, and play normal tetris over that. [[Special:COntributions/116.76.175.236|116.76.175.236]] 13:56, 21 October 2012‎ (UTC)

I'm not sure if saying the hell came "cannot be won" is worth saying. Keep in mind, the regular game of tetris can't be won either. [[Special:Contributions/70.31.159.230|70.31.159.230]] 01:29, 10 January 2013 (UTC)

"In Soviet Russia, game wastes time with you!"?! [[Special:Contributions/31.111.2.74|31.111.2.74]] 23:28, 6 May 2013 (UTC)

If Heaven was #888, why wasn't Hell #666? --[[User:Quicksilver|Quicksilver]] ([[User talk:Quicksilver|talk]]) 02:39, 20 August 2013 (UTC)

Super Mario Bros with a star just out of reach - reference to Tantalus? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.120|108.162.242.120]] 03:23, 11 June 2014 (UTC)

For posterity, there's also not tetris, by stabyourself.net, which is similarly hellish in that you freely rotate the tetronimoes, and they will most likely not align perfectly, although its bottom border is a straight line. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.215|108.162.231.215]] 11:53, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

For the star just out of reach, there's also the SM64 A Button Challenge stars which are just out of reach of a dive recover
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.231|172.69.68.231]] 02:46, 10 September 2021 (UTC)

Talk:724: Hell

2021-09-10T02:45:52Z

172.69.68.231: a button challenge

Talk:2510: Modern Tools

2021-09-03T21:23:05Z

172.69.68.231:

Note that this is the second time Randall tried to tell bash and zsh apart. (First time was in [[1678]].) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.83|162.158.88.83]] 05:44, 2 September 2021 (UTC)
:Great memory. Has added it to this first attempt at an explanation. Do not know enough about these files, environment etc. so I hope someone will improve. Rare I come here and there is nothing added to the explanation yet. Only your coment showed me I was not here first. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 06:48, 2 September 2021 (UTC)
You can generate makefiles today with a number of causal language models. I wonder what other approaches there are. [[User:Baffo32|Baffo32]] ([[User talk:Baffo32|talk]]) 10:02, 2 September 2021 (UTC)

Is randall literally just making jokes for himself and nobody else at this point? Even if someone knows what this all means, I doubt it many of them find it funny. - [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.125|172.70.130.125]] 10:09, 2 September 2021 (UTC)
: How does the joke land with you? I tell jokes like Randall's a lot to process how my life was destroyed by AI, and I found the comic as funny as I find my own jokes, but big and public. It seems nice that people are learning about and talking about these things. [[User:Baffo32|Baffo32]] ([[User talk:Baffo32|talk]]) 10:12, 2 September 2021 (UTC)
: @172.70.130.125: YMMV. I can say that I find it funny. Certainly amusing, and thought-provoking. And then after a few moments contemplating... *POW*. ...the idea of actually doing this also starts to appeal to me (as a pipe-dream, perhaps). But I am just a single datum-point, and you are another. Maybe neither of us are entirely representative of the usual audience.
: And, even if nobody found it funny, except Randall, he can post anything he wants (within ethical and legal bounds, etc), even if it's just AI-autogenerated rubbish. And then you can stop reading if your own fun-maximiser function decides it would be more beneficial to its goals. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.73|162.158.159.73]] 10:44, 2 September 2021 (UTC)
: For myself and other Software Enginnering/System Administrator friends, we all think it's very funny. Randall is not expected to make his comics accessible to all audiences, and when he targets an audience it can be reasonably assumed that that specific demographic will like the content.

Modern tools… require modern problem? [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 10:33, 2 September 2021 (UTC)

The best part is that pretty much this have actually happened in real world: https://thedailywtf.com/articles/No%2C_We_Need_a_Neural_Network. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.10.205|172.68.10.205]] 10:46, 2 September 2021 (UTC)
:Marvellous! "The pig go", indeed! That was 2006? {{w|Darwinian Poetry}} was in 2003, it would have been nice to have linked the two, somehow, while having a handy idle supercluster going spare... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.93|141.101.98.93]] 11:42, 2 September 2021 (UTC)

I believe part of the humor is that creating a Python (development) environment from scratch can literally be typing two or three commands on a command line, or clicking on a few links for the mouse-dependent. Building and training an AI to repair one specific Python environment is overkill, like buying a car to get from one room to another of a building. One selling point of Python is how simple it is to set up and work in. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 10:54, 2 September 2021 (UTC)
:I usually install most optional dependencies that my package manager suggests. I bet I already have a Python IDE lying around somewhere without knowing it. Well, I have Intellij Idea, I bet that could be used for Python as well, with a plugin if needed. I definitely know that I once got a working Qt IDE at one point without intending to. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 11:13, 2 September 2021 (UTC)

Does anyone else think that this was prompted by the recent announcement of {{w|Github Copilot}}? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:20, 2 September 2021 (UTC)

I'd assume this is somehow related to GPT-3 and codex. Also note that openai and scientist in general love python, so it isn't unlikely that the AI in the title text was told to fix its own python environment. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.231|172.69.68.231]] 21:23, 3 September 2021 (UTC)

----
Non-comic note (that I'm not sure would help to add to prior Community Portal reports as it never seemed to get noticed when I did it before): I'm getting Cloudflare errors (520: fully blaming the site host) and even 'plain text' site error responses (503? ...may not be) a number of times while interacting with this page, today. Also had a "failed to contact CAPTCHA" on the first attempt to submit one edit, though that ''must'' be a different glitch so probably coincidental (my own link jittering wouldn't give me Cloudfare/server-responses as above) and Not Your Problem™. I don't know if others are getting this, but the last time I had such a flurry of momentary/refresh-overcomable errors was shortly before explainxkcd went ''completely'' off-air (month or two ago? No, longer than that...) - perhaps no similarity, just saying. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.146|162.158.158.146]] 11:18, 2 September 2021 (UTC)
:Error 520 Ray ID: 68880cdaadb0072a • 2021-09-02 16:17:44 UTC / Web server is returning an unknown error (<= Cloudflare) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.247|141.101.98.247]] 16:21, 2 September 2021 (UTC)
For the python environment, couldn't he just be talking about python virtual environments? What you normally do if you have a broken python virtual environment is to delete it and recreate it, so deleting itself would be a normal thing to do in this case. Recreating an environment is normally done in seconds, so finding out what was wrong normally isn't worth the time.

Is it possible that the title text may also be a subtle reference to the Ouroboros (the snake eating itself)?
While not an exact comparison, there seem to be parallels between a snake devouring its own tail, and a python AI deleting it's own code.

"the agent finds a way to disable itself as more efficient to meet its reward parameters" is this actually a thing? If true, really interesting and an example should be included, but I can't find anything to back it up. ''Please sign your comments.''

I think the Tester for the Makefile generator would just be checking the Makefile exists and make can execute it. The status of the make execution gets passed to the generator for it to get better at generating Makefiles. [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 02:01, 3 September 2021 (UTC)
:It might take some metric as to how much/little broken the (initially garbage?) early productions are... One would be the first line number mentioned as an error, or the ratio of info vs error text displayed. Getting to the stage of ''mostly'' valid outputs means it has developed an output phase-space that has started to maxmin these kind of values in just the right way. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.134.65|172.70.134.65]] 03:30, 3 September 2021 (UTC)

Call me crazy, but... isn't there a tool that creates mostly valid Makefiles, and it is called configure? And thus he is using very new technology to accomplish the same task that we previously could? I thought that was a good chunk of that part of the joke... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.82|108.162.238.82]] 16:10, 3 September 2021 (UTC)
: Ah... I had (perhaps still have? ...but only because I'd enjoy the chaos) the opinion that this was a ''directionless'' generator of Makefiles. Rather than "I want a Makefile for <foo>, make it so", it's "Make me a Makefile that does random (valid) stuff when run"... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.115|141.101.107.115]] 19:22, 3 September 2021 (UTC)

2271: Grandpa Jason and Grandpa Chad

2020-02-22T22:37:43Z

172.69.68.231: this has nothing to do with the Poisson distribution

{{comic
| number = 2271
| date = February 21, 2020
| title = Grandpa Jason and Grandpa Chad
| image = grandpa_jason_and_grandpa_chad.png
| titletext = The AARP puts the average age of a first-time grandparent close to 50, and the CDC has some data. But I don't have first-parent age distributions for specific names, or generational first-child age correlations, so the dotted line is just a guess. Still, let's be honest: No further research is really *needed.*
}}

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

The comic contains three separate curves, with the x-axis being the date and the y-axis being the frequency of three separate sets of data:
* The number of people in the US with the name "Jason", a curve that reaches its maximum in 1977, when Jason became the second most common name and reached the [https://www.everything-birthday.com/name/m/Jason maximum number of babies born with that name]
* The number of people in the US with the name "Chad," a similar curve that reaches its maximum in 1973, when [https://www.everything-birthday.com/name/m/Chad the number of babies named Chad reached ''its'' maximum]
* An estimate of the birth years of people that are becoming grandparents, with its maximum in 1968, 52 years ago. The title text explains this is the age at which, on average, most people become grandparents, citing an [https://www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/research/surveys_statistics/life-leisure/2019/aarp-grandparenting-study.doi.10.26419-2Fres.00289.001.pdf AARP study]
The comic exists to show the significant overlap between these names and being a grandparent.

Jason and {{w|Chad (slang)|Chad}} are names associated with stereotypical young, partying bros who couldn't care less about responsibility, so the idea that statistically some of them are now grandparents, who are stereotyped as being wise and responsible, is weird to say the least. [[2165: Millennials]] is similarly about how a label has outlived the demographic that it was used to describe, while the people described by the label have outgrown the traits that the label entails.

The title text adds a caveat to the assertion, mentioning the lack of any real evidence for the distribution of ages of Grandparents, but stands firm in the conclusion that this is the final word on the fact that there are many people who are grandparents named Jason and Chad.

Other possible caveats of the data:
* The Y-axis is in percent of the highest year, not absolute numbers. So while it jokingly implies that, in a few years, all grandparents will be named Jason and Chad, in actuality it will probably be in the order of the hundreds of thousands of people (less than 2% of [https://www.aarp.org/home-family/friends-family/info-2017/record-number-grandparents.html all grandparents]), but still common enough compared to other "ages" to be "the age of Grandpa Jason and Grandpa Chad"
* There are many fewer [https://www.mynamestats.com/First-Names/C/CH/CHAD/index.html people whose legal name is Chad] than [https://www.mynamestats.com/First-Names/J/JA/JASON/index.html people who's legal name is Jason], so "Grandpa Jason" will probably be much more common than "Grandpa Chad"
* Since Chad is more often {{w|Chad_(name)|used as a nickname}}, it's harder to quantify exactly how many people of that age go by "Chad", so there is no practical way to know just how much more common "Grandpa Jason" will be than "Grandpa Chad"

The title text ends with the text "No further research is really *needed,*" referencing [[2268: Further Research is Needed]]. This is also a joke in itself. The emphasis on *needed* is an admission that although more research is *possible*, it would be rather pointless.

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

A progression chart covering the period of years between 1950 to 1995. One line which is dotted begins low at the start, climbs, then steeply declines. Two solid lines begin in the early 1960s, rise almost concurrently, however one declines steadily while the other has a curve almost before the end of the chart. The lines show the following data:

Birth years of people becoming grandparents this year (United States, very rough estimate)
A dotted line which begins at 1950, rises to its peak at 1970, then steeply declines to zero by the late '70s.

Birth years of people named "Jason" and "Chad" (Social Security data)
Chad: A solid line beginning at 1962, rises to its peak by 1975, then drops through the '80s and '90s. Jason crosses underneath it in 1985, but then re-crosses it in 1993.
Jason: A solid line beginning at 1963, rises to its peak between 1977-80, then declines, dropping beneath Chad around 1985 but climbing above it again in 1993.

Fun fact: We have now entered the era of "Grandpa Jason" and "Grandpa Chad."

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]

2060: Hygrometer

2018-10-17T16:16:27Z

172.69.68.231:

{{comic
| number = 2060
| date = October 17, 2018
| title = Hygrometer
| image = hygrometer.png
| titletext = I'm working on assembling a combination declinometer, sclerometer, viscometer, aleurometer, stalagmometer, and hypsometer. I'm making good progress according to my ometerometer, a device which shows the rate at which I'm acquiring measurement devices.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Written by an OMETEROMETER - Please edit the explanation below and only mention here why it isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Here, Megan is talking to Cueball about hygrometers. But before she can even finish explaining what it does, Cueball has looked up, found, and purchased the product.

A {{w|hygrometer}} is an instrument to measure the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere or the amount of water in solids as soil or wood.

Randall, as Cueball, finds instruments / measurement tools that end in -ometer very interesting, and wishes to own all of them.

Below is a list of the instruments mentioned in the title text:

* A [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/declinometer declinometer] is an instrument to measure {{w|magnetic declination}}.

*A {{w|sclerometer}} is an instrument to measure {{w|scratch hardness}} of a solid by scratching it under some standard conditions and measuring the scratch. Instruments used to measure the elastic properties of concrete surfaces, like the {{w|Schmidt hammer}} [https://www.pce-instruments.com/english/measuring-instruments/test-meters/concrete-test-hammer-sclerometer-kat_162426_1.htm are also often known as sclerometers].

*A {{w|viscometer}} is an instrument to test the viscosity (easiness of pouring, honey has high viscosity while water has low viscosity) of a liquid.

*An [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/aleurometer aleurometer] is an instrument to evaluate the quality of flour for baking by measuring how much can a wet mass of wheat expand when heated while keeping its adhesivity.[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleurometer]

*A {{w|Stalagmometric method|stalagmometer}} is an instrument to measure {{w|surface tension}} of fluids by producing a drop and wheighing it - the bigger the drop is, the larger surface tension the fluid has.

*The word {{w|hypsometer}} can mean [https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/hypsometer two unrelated instruments] to measure height. One measures heights of a building or a tree by triangulation. The other measures altitude by measuring air pressure from its effect of boiling temperature of water. It should not be cofused with the {{w|altimeter}} which measure altitude by mechanically measuring air pressure.

*An ometerometer, being a concatenation of [https://www.google.com/search?q=ometer -ometer] with itself would be a device for measuring measuring devices.

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Cueball are walking and talking. Cueball is holding his phone with one hand, looking at it.]
:Megan: ...A hygrometer is a device for measuring—
:Cueball: ''I want one!'' Ooh, found one for $7.99 with free shipping! I'm buying it.
:Megan: —Humidity.
:Cueball: Oh, cool!

:[Caption below the frame:]
:For some reason, I feel a powerful compulsion to own any device whose name ends in "-ometer."

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

2060: Hygrometer

2018-10-17T15:37:18Z

172.69.68.231: /* Explanation */

2057: Internal Monologues

2018-10-12T16:32:45Z

172.69.68.231: spell out the joke just a little more

{{comic
| number = 2057
| date = October 10, 2018
| title = Internal Monologues
| image = internal_monologues.png
| titletext = Haha, just kidding, everyone's already been hacked. I wonder if today's the day we find out about it.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Complete? Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic explores some seemingly strange perspectives that academics or professionals might have due to their deeper knowledge and understanding of the fields that they study.

Many seemingly mundane phenomena can actually be quite weird or counterintuitive if you understand how they really work. The five people featured in this comic, all from different disciplines, are all aware of certain facts about reality that seem so strange even they have trouble believing they are true; yet, undeniably, they are.

* [[Megan]], a botanist, is struck by the fact that trees are made in part from air, as in the carbon dioxide they consume.
* [[Cueball]], a physicist, finds it weird that he can feel the gravity between an object in his hand (his phone) and the Earth.
* [[Blondie]], a computer security researcher, knows of the inherent insecurity of computer systems and wonders if today is the day everyone will get hacked, collapsing our society.
* [[Hairy]], a graphic designer, wonders what sequence of events drove a store's decision to use a particular recognizable font for their signage.
* [[Ponytail]], studying medicine, wonders how humans manage to seem so normal on the outside, given that most of their bodies are made up of things usually unmentionable.

Four of the five people are pondering things that they happen to find very interesting but that aren't too concerning to an everyday person, whereas what Blondie is pondering could have widespread or even global effects on our way of life. In the title text, Blondie amends her thought, since she actually knows an even more concerning truth: we've ''already'' all been hacked, and we just don't know it yet.

Below the different fields thoughts are explained in detail.

[[913: Core]] shows what a geologist might have thought about had they been in this comic.

A similar expression of a mundane phenomenon that's really weird when you think about it can be seen in [[203: Hallucinations]].

This comic has a similar setup to some other kinds of thoughts between such scientific fields presented in [[435: Purity]].

=== Botany ===
Most of the mass of trees is extracted from the air. [http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/greatmomentsinscience/trees-are-made-from-air/9675642#transcript] More precisely: The bulk of the mass of a tree is composed of cellulose and water.

Cellulose is a polysaccharide, a large molecule consisting of many glucose molecules (C6H12O6) bonded together. Plants make those glucose molecules through photosynthesis: they make them by combining water (H2O) and carbon dioxide molecules (CO2) using the energy from sunlight, releasing oxygen in the process (O2). Plants get the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and arguably the water also as it usually comes from rain which is condensed water vapor.

The main photosynthesis balance is given by the formula :
:6 CO2 + 6 H2O -> C6H12O6 + 6 O2

=== Physics ===
{{w|Gravity}} is one of the four fundamental forces of physics. In everyday experience, most people tend to think of gravity merely as a pervasive downward force, but as a physicist, Cueball is more aware that in fact, all gravitational forces are mutual; any pair of objects will exert an equal and opposite gravitational force on each other, regardless of how big they are. Therefore, he is correct in saying that his phone and the Earth are being "pulled together", and finds it remarkable that he is able to sense this interaction between two objects of such an astronomically disparate size.

=== Computer Security ===
Anyone well versed in computer security understands just how insecure the systems that we depend on actually are.

In the title text it is noted that possibly all our systems are already hacked, and we just haven't found out yet. Since malicious hackers do their work covertly, a successful hack often isn't discovered until days, week, or even years later. By that time they may have successfully hacked many other systems using the same techniques and/or exploiting the same widely unknown or un-patched security flaws. Some recent high profile hacks recently discovered, at the time of this posting, include a [https://securitytoday.com/articles/2018/10/02/facebook-hacked-50-million-users-data-exposed.aspx 50-million user hack of Facebook] and Google+ announcing they are [https://www.blog.google/technology/safety-security/project-strobe/ shutting down the consumer side of Google+], in part due to a security flaw that was discovered and patched months ago. Randall gave a similar message about voting software security in [[2030: Voting Software]].

=== Graphic Design ===
{{w|Graphic designer}}s recognize fonts and design elements, and see how they come together. In this comic, the graphic designer wonders how the ''{{w|Law & Order}}'' font was chosen for a particular storefront's sign. ''Law & Order'' is a police procedural TV series created by Dick Wolf in 1990, which has had various spinoffs. The font used for the title sequence of ''Law & Order'' is called {{w|Friz Quadrata}}, and is also the font used for the signage of the New York Police Department headquarters.

=== Medicine ===
Doctors are well versed in human anatomy, and are likely to think about what is inside of people more than the average person would. And most people would actually like not to think about all the blood and bones we are all carrying around with us. Not to mention the poop or the contents of our stomach that could be considered vomit or the pee etc.

Most people do not think about that the person next to them is actually a skeleton packed in meat and animated by electricity... But Ponytail does, because she is being exposed to this fact all the time through her study of Medicine.

==Transcript==

:[Beneath a two line caption are five characters shown, with their thoughts inside thoughts bubbles. Below them are labels giving their respective fields of science.]
:<big>Internal Monologues</big>
:from various fields

:Botany
:Megan: I can't get over the fact that trees are made of air.

:Physics
:Cueball [looking at a phone in his hand]: It's so weird that I can feel the Earth and my phone being pulled together.

:Computer security
:Blondie: I wonder if today will be the day everyone gets hacked and it all finally collapses.

:Graphic design
:Hairy: I wonder how that store ended up with the Law & Order font for their sign.

:Medicine
:Ponytail: We're all acting normal even though we're full of blood and bones and poop.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Blondie]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Computer security]]
[[Category:Biology]]

2057: Internal Monologues

2018-10-12T16:31:28Z

172.69.68.231: fix punctuation

{{comic
| number = 2057
| date = October 10, 2018
| title = Internal Monologues
| image = internal_monologues.png
| titletext = Haha, just kidding, everyone's already been hacked. I wonder if today's the day we find out about it.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Complete? Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic explores some seemingly strange perspectives that academics or professionals might have due to their deeper knowledge and understanding of the fields that they study.

Many seemingly mundane phenomena can actually be quite weird or counterintuitive if you understand how they really work. The five people featured in this comic, all from different disciplines, are all aware of certain facts about reality that seem so strange even they have trouble believing they are true; yet, undeniably, they are.

* [[Megan]], a botanist, is struck by the fact that trees are made in part from air, as in the carbon dioxide they consume.
* [[Cueball]], a physicist, finds it weird that he can feel the gravity between an object in his hand (his phone) and the Earth.
* [[Blondie]], a computer security researcher, knows of the inherent insecurity of computer systems and wonders if today is the day everyone will get hacked, collapsing our society.
* [[Hairy]], a graphic designer, wonders what sequence of events drove a store's decision to use a particular recognizable font for their signage.
* [[Ponytail]], studying medicine, wonders how humans manage to seem so normal on the outside, given that most of their bodies are made up of things usually unmentionable.

Four of the five people are pondering things that they happen to find very interesting but that aren't too concerning to an everyday person, whereas what Blondie is pondering could have widespread or even global effects. In the title text, Blondie amends her thought, since she actually knows an even more concerning truth: we've ''already'' all been hacked, and we just don't know it yet.

Below the different fields thoughts are explained in detail.

[[913: Core]] shows what a geologist might have thought about had they been in this comic.

A similar expression of a mundane phenomenon that's really weird when you think about it can be seen in [[203: Hallucinations]].

This comic has a similar setup to some other kinds of thoughts between such scientific fields presented in [[435: Purity]].

=== Botany ===
Most of the mass of trees is extracted from the air. [http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/greatmomentsinscience/trees-are-made-from-air/9675642#transcript] More precisely: The bulk of the mass of a tree is composed of cellulose and water.

Cellulose is a polysaccharide, a large molecule consisting of many glucose molecules (C6H12O6) bonded together. Plants make those glucose molecules through photosynthesis: they make them by combining water (H2O) and carbon dioxide molecules (CO2) using the energy from sunlight, releasing oxygen in the process (O2). Plants get the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and arguably the water also as it usually comes from rain which is condensed water vapor.

The main photosynthesis balance is given by the formula :
:6 CO2 + 6 H2O -> C6H12O6 + 6 O2

=== Physics ===
{{w|Gravity}} is one of the four fundamental forces of physics. In everyday experience, most people tend to think of gravity merely as a pervasive downward force, but as a physicist, Cueball is more aware that in fact, all gravitational forces are mutual; any pair of objects will exert an equal and opposite gravitational force on each other, regardless of how big they are. Therefore, he is correct in saying that his phone and the Earth are being "pulled together", and finds it remarkable that he is able to sense this interaction between two objects of such an astronomically disparate size.

=== Computer Security ===
Anyone well versed in computer security understands just how insecure the systems that we depend on actually are.

In the title text it is noted that possibly all our systems are already hacked, and we just haven't found out yet. Since malicious hackers do their work covertly, a successful hack often isn't discovered until days, week, or even years later. By that time they may have successfully hacked many other systems using the same techniques and/or exploiting the same widely unknown or un-patched security flaws. Some recent high profile hacks recently discovered, at the time of this posting, include a [https://securitytoday.com/articles/2018/10/02/facebook-hacked-50-million-users-data-exposed.aspx 50-million user hack of Facebook] and Google+ announcing they are [https://www.blog.google/technology/safety-security/project-strobe/ shutting down the consumer side of Google+], in part due to a security flaw that was discovered and patched months ago. Randall gave a similar message about voting software security in [[2030: Voting Software]].

=== Graphic Design ===
{{w|Graphic designer}}s recognize fonts and design elements, and see how they come together. In this comic, the graphic designer wonders how the ''{{w|Law & Order}}'' font was chosen for a particular storefront's sign. ''Law & Order'' is a police procedural TV series created by Dick Wolf in 1990, which has had various spinoffs. The font used for the title sequence of ''Law & Order'' is called {{w|Friz Quadrata}}, and is also the font used for the signage of the New York Police Department headquarters.

=== Medicine ===
Doctors are well versed in human anatomy, and are likely to think about what is inside of people more than the average person would. And most people would actually like not to think about all the blood and bones we are all carrying around with us. Not to mention the poop or the contents of our stomach that could be considered vomit or the pee etc.

Most people do not think about that the person next to them is actually a skeleton packed in meat and animated by electricity... But Ponytail does, because she is being exposed to this fact all the time through her study of Medicine.

==Transcript==

:[Beneath a two line caption are five characters shown, with their thoughts inside thoughts bubbles. Below them are labels giving their respective fields of science.]
:<big>Internal Monologues</big>
:from various fields

:Botany
:Megan: I can't get over the fact that trees are made of air.

:Physics
:Cueball [looking at a phone in his hand]: It's so weird that I can feel the Earth and my phone being pulled together.

:Computer security
:Blondie: I wonder if today will be the day everyone gets hacked and it all finally collapses.

:Graphic design
:Hairy: I wonder how that store ended up with the Law & Order font for their sign.

:Medicine
:Ponytail: We're all acting normal even though we're full of blood and bones and poop.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Blondie]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Computer security]]
[[Category:Biology]]

2057: Internal Monologues

2018-10-12T16:30:01Z

172.69.68.231: spell out the actual joke

{{comic
| number = 2057
| date = October 10, 2018
| title = Internal Monologues
| image = internal_monologues.png
| titletext = Haha, just kidding, everyone's already been hacked. I wonder if today's the day we find out about it.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Complete? Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic explores some seemingly strange perspectives that academics or professionals might have due to their deeper knowledge and understanding of the fields that they study.

Many seemingly mundane phenomena can actually be quite weird or counterintuitive if you understand how they really work. The five people featured in this comic, all from different disciplines, are all aware of certain facts about reality that seem so strange even they have trouble believing they are true; yet, undeniably, they are.

* [[Megan]], a botanist, is struck by the fact that trees are made in part from air, as in the carbon dioxide they consume.
* [[Cueball]], a physicist, finds it weird that he can feel the gravity between an object in his hand (his phone) and the Earth.
* [[Blondie]], a computer security researcher, knows of the inherent insecurity of computer systems and wonders if today is the day everyone will get hacked, collapsing our society.
* [[Hairy]], a graphic designer, wonders what sequence of events drove a store's decision to use a particular recognizable font for their signage.
* [[Ponytail]], studying medicine, wonders how humans manage to seem so normal on the outside, given that most of their bodies are made up of things usually unmentionable.

Four of the five people are pondering things that they happen to find very interesting but that aren't too concerning to an everyday person, whereas what Blondie is pondering could have widespread or even global effects. In the title text, Blondie amends her thought, since she actually knows an even more concerning truth; we've ''already'' all been hacked, and we just don't know it yet.

Below the different fields thoughts are explained in detail.

[[913: Core]] shows what a geologist might have thought about had they been in this comic.

A similar expression of a mundane phenomenon that's really weird when you think about it can be seen in [[203: Hallucinations]].

This comic has a similar setup to some other kinds of thoughts between such scientific fields presented in [[435: Purity]].

=== Botany ===
Most of the mass of trees is extracted from the air. [http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/greatmomentsinscience/trees-are-made-from-air/9675642#transcript] More precisely: The bulk of the mass of a tree is composed of cellulose and water.

Cellulose is a polysaccharide, a large molecule consisting of many glucose molecules (C6H12O6) bonded together. Plants make those glucose molecules through photosynthesis: they make them by combining water (H2O) and carbon dioxide molecules (CO2) using the energy from sunlight, releasing oxygen in the process (O2). Plants get the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and arguably the water also as it usually comes from rain which is condensed water vapor.

The main photosynthesis balance is given by the formula :
:6 CO2 + 6 H2O -> C6H12O6 + 6 O2

=== Physics ===
{{w|Gravity}} is one of the four fundamental forces of physics. In everyday experience, most people tend to think of gravity merely as a pervasive downward force, but as a physicist, Cueball is more aware that in fact, all gravitational forces are mutual; any pair of objects will exert an equal and opposite gravitational force on each other, regardless of how big they are. Therefore, he is correct in saying that his phone and the Earth are being "pulled together", and finds it remarkable that he is able to sense this interaction between two objects of such an astronomically disparate size.

=== Computer Security ===
Anyone well versed in computer security understands just how insecure the systems that we depend on actually are.

In the title text it is noted that possibly all our systems are already hacked, and we just haven't found out yet. Since malicious hackers do their work covertly, a successful hack often isn't discovered until days, week, or even years later. By that time they may have successfully hacked many other systems using the same techniques and/or exploiting the same widely unknown or un-patched security flaws. Some recent high profile hacks recently discovered, at the time of this posting, include a [https://securitytoday.com/articles/2018/10/02/facebook-hacked-50-million-users-data-exposed.aspx 50-million user hack of Facebook] and Google+ announcing they are [https://www.blog.google/technology/safety-security/project-strobe/ shutting down the consumer side of Google+], in part due to a security flaw that was discovered and patched months ago. Randall gave a similar message about voting software security in [[2030: Voting Software]].

=== Graphic Design ===
{{w|Graphic designer}}s recognize fonts and design elements, and see how they come together. In this comic, the graphic designer wonders how the ''{{w|Law & Order}}'' font was chosen for a particular storefront's sign. ''Law & Order'' is a police procedural TV series created by Dick Wolf in 1990, which has had various spinoffs. The font used for the title sequence of ''Law & Order'' is called {{w|Friz Quadrata}}, and is also the font used for the signage of the New York Police Department headquarters.

=== Medicine ===
Doctors are well versed in human anatomy, and are likely to think about what is inside of people more than the average person would. And most people would actually like not to think about all the blood and bones we are all carrying around with us. Not to mention the poop or the contents of our stomach that could be considered vomit or the pee etc.

Most people do not think about that the person next to them is actually a skeleton packed in meat and animated by electricity... But Ponytail does, because she is being exposed to this fact all the time through her study of Medicine.

==Transcript==

:[Beneath a two line caption are five characters shown, with their thoughts inside thoughts bubbles. Below them are labels giving their respective fields of science.]
:<big>Internal Monologues</big>
:from various fields

:Botany
:Megan: I can't get over the fact that trees are made of air.

:Physics
:Cueball [looking at a phone in his hand]: It's so weird that I can feel the Earth and my phone being pulled together.

:Computer security
:Blondie: I wonder if today will be the day everyone gets hacked and it all finally collapses.

:Graphic design
:Hairy: I wonder how that store ended up with the Law & Order font for their sign.

:Medicine
:Ponytail: We're all acting normal even though we're full of blood and bones and poop.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Blondie]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Computer security]]
[[Category:Biology]]

Talk:2052: Stanislav Petrov Day

2018-10-07T21:59:10Z

172.69.68.231: Inspiration?

Wednesday was also Talk Like a Pirate Day [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:51, 28 September 2018 (UTC)
: What is a pirate's favorite letter?
: Aaaar!
: Many people think it's the 'R', but it's actually the 'C'! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.168|162.158.106.168]] 15:05, 28 September 2018 (UTC)
::...I feel like I've read that on a webcomic somewhere... [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.16|172.68.174.16]] 15:32, 28 September 2018 (UTC)
:::It's a common audience participation joke when Paul and Storm perform The Captain's Wife's Lament, maybe that's what you're thinking of [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.123|162.158.62.123]] 13:36, 1 October 2018 (UTC)
:::Ye'd think they'd be the most fond if the 'C', but without 'P', they just be irate. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.100|108.162.241.100]] 16:01, 28 September 2018 (UTC)
Ayyy, got this one pretty fast. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.13|162.158.154.13]] 15:18, 28 September 2018 (UTC)
:I thought that International Talk Like A Pirate Day was September 19th. I've been celebrating it on that day for decades [[User:Mr. I|Mr. I]] ([[User talk:Mr. I|talk]]) 19:37, 29 September 2018 (UTC)

I just read about Mr Petrov the other day, maybe on Quora. I wonder if Randall received the same article in his daily digest :) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.78|141.101.107.78]] 16:26, 28 September 2018 (UTC)

'''History of Petrov Day as a holiday'''

My critics: Not explaining much to the comics content; even admires that a stupid citation is still needed; this Wiki isn't a link list; I can do more... But I don't want to do censorship so maybe we can put this into a single sentence belonging to an explanation. Otherwise some could be moved to a trivia section. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:17, 28 September 2018 (UTC)

I can't find anything specific, but a couple other articles list this BBC link https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-24280831 which states that his heroism was kept secret until after the collapse of the Soviet Union (1991ish) and that Mr. Petrov "kept silent for 10 years" - so 1993 or maybe 2001. [[User:Afbach|Afbach]] ([[User talk:Afbach|talk]])
:Read the first paragraph: "The incident was unknown to the public until it was revealed shortly before the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991." --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:41, 29 September 2018 (UTC)

I think everyone missed the subtle point in this comic - Stanislav was famous for correctly identifying the nuclear attack alert as a false alarm, and Cueball thought the calendar alert he received was a false alarm as well! I believe that's the real joke here! [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 14:30, 29 September 2018 (UTC)

You all missed the joke of the “false alarm clock”, which is that if it keeps going off when it’s not supposed to, you very well might assume that it’s another false alarm when you are actually supposed to wake up, and thus will sleep late anyway, completely defeating the point of the alarm. [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 20:33, 29 September 2018 (UTC)

Is it just me, or does Eliezer Yudkowsky show up abnormally frequently in explainXKCD? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.118|108.162.241.118]] 04:35, 30 September 2018 (UTC)

So, corrolarily if that's a word, if you ''don't'' ignore the alarm clock and go back to sleep, the world ends?
(On a personal note, Stanislav Petrov day is the day before my birthday. It is somewhat gutting to think back on a day when I was opening presents, stuffing myself with cake, and running around the yard playing hide & seek with a bunch of other kids, and thinking just how different that day might have been).
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.59.30|172.68.59.30]] 17:45, 1 October 2018 (UTC)

Hmmm, at first I thought this incident may have been the inspiration for the movie "WarGames", but then hearing that it was kept secret until over a decade later, means that couldn't have been the case. Or could it? -Electro-- [[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.231|172.69.68.231]] 21:59, 7 October 2018 (UTC)

1010: Etymology-Man

2018-05-28T08:23:08Z

172.69.68.231: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1010
| date = January 30, 2012
| title = Etymology-Man
| image = etymology_man.png
| titletext = I can't believe I'm saying this, but I wish Aquaman were here instead--HE'D be able to help.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a take on the traditional appearance of a super hero when a disaster strikes. In this case, Etymology-Man arrives, who apparently has the power of {{w|Etymology}} — the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time. As Etymology-Man is explaining the history of the words "{{w|tsunami}}" and "tidal wave", the water starts rising around them. As the waters continue to rise, he continues to only explain the words, rather than attempting to save them as a superhero should.

Also, the title text is a play on how useless {{w|Aquaman}} is (perceived to be) compared to other superheroes, as his powers — breathing underwater, speed swimming, and communicating with sea life — are very difficult for writers to make relevant. Indeed, in the case of a flood, Aquaman and his aquatic allies would be able to assist with evacuations.

The irony of the situation comes from the fact that Etymology-Man ''also'' has the power of flight and could in fact save Cueball and Ponytail if he was not so busy talking about the origin of the word "tidal wave".

Etymology-man returns two comics later in [[1012: Wrong Superhero]].

Inexplicable is the fact that Cueball and Ponytail both know exactly who this "superhero" is, and ergo presumably realize that what he is telling them is useless, but they don't even attempt to get to safety. Perhaps they are simply accepting their fate instead of trying to escape, however, or even that learning cool word facts takes precendence over saving their own lives.

==Transcript==
:Cueball: Earthquake!
:Ponytail: We should get to a higher ground - There could be a tidal wave.

:[Cueball takes a pedantic pose]
:Cueball: You mean a tsunami. "Tidal wave" means a wave caused by tides.

:[A crash is heard, followed by Etymology-Man flying in while wearing a cape.]
:Etymology-man: You know, that doesn't add up.
:Cueball and Ponytail: Etymology-man!

:[Etymology-man takes a pedantic pose.]
:Etymology-man: What ''does'' "tidal wave" mean? There are waves caused by tides, but they're "tidal bores", and they're not cataclysmic.
:It can refer to the daily tide cycle, but that's obviously not what people mean when they say "a tidal wave hit".
:It's been obvious for centuries that these waves come from quakes. So why "tidal"?

:Etymology-man: Remember that until 2004, there weren't any clear photos or videos of tsunamis. Some modern writers even described them rearing up and breaking like surfing waves.
:Of course, in 2004 and 2011, it was made clear to everyone that a tsunami is more like a rapid, turbulent, inrushing tide - exactly what historical accounts describe.

:[Water begins to rush in. Etymology-man keeps his pedantic pose.]
:Etymology-man: Maybe those writing about Lisbon in 1755 used "tidal wave" not out of scientific confusion, but because it described the wave's form — a description lost in our rush to expunge "tidal wave" from English.

:[The water is now waist-deep. Etymology-man continues to drone on, but the others start to panic.]
:Etymology-man: "Tsunami" is now the standard, and I'm not trying to change that. But let's be a tad less giddy about correcting "tidal wave" - especially when "tsunami" just means "harbor wave", which is hardly...

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

853: Consecutive Vowels

2018-05-26T06:23:50Z

172.69.68.231: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 853
| date = January 28, 2011
| title = Consecutive Vowels
| image = consecutive_vowels.png
| titletext = But the windows! What if there's a voyeur watchi-- wait, now I'm turned on too.
}}

==Explanation==
After running some analysis on a database, [[Cueball]] shows [[Megan]] a chart depicting the relationship between sexual arousal and consecutive vowels, showing that a high amount of consecutive vowels is linked to higher sexual arousal. At first, it could be theorised to be due to drawn out moans or screams during lovemaking and orgasm (Ooooh! Yeeeees!).

Megan says she doesn't get it, but Cueball interrupts her with "queueing", a word with 5 consecutive vowels. This {{tvtropes|CoitusEnsues|immediately arouses Megan, who grabs Cueball and shouts "FUCK ME NOW."}} It turns out that the consecutive vowels themselves appear to cause arousal, rather than arousal causing the use of consecutive vowels.

The title text shows that Cueball is fearful that there may be a voyeur peeking at them, but as "voyeur" has 4 consecutive vowels because "y" is a vowel in this case, Cueball gets turned on as well.

This is yet anther exapmle of correlation not necessarily implying causation (since the basis of the comic is absurd).

==Transcript==
:Cueball: I was running a factor analysis on this huge database, and check out what it found:
:[Cueball holds up the chart.]

:[A graph plotting "sexual arousal" against "consecutive vowels." The trendline is a smooth exponential curve.]

:Megan: Huh? This chart makes no sense. What-
:Cueball: "Queueing"

:[Megan grabs Cueball.]
:Megan: ''FUCK ME NOW.''

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Line graphs]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Sex]]

123: Centrifugal Force

2018-05-23T06:19:41Z

172.69.68.231: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 123
| date = July 3, 2006
| title = Centrifugal Force
| image = centrifugal force.png
| titletext = You spin me right round baby, right round, in a manner depriving me of an inertial reference frame. Baby.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Black Hat]] has strapped {{w|James Bond}} to a centrifuge and claims the {{w|Centrifugal force|centrifugal}} force will be lethal. Bond objects that there is no such thing, but just {{w|Centripetal force|centripetal}} force. The notion of centrifugal force is a common one, as we experience it whenever we turn. Teachers will initially teach Newtonian mechanics in an inertial frame, and in inertial frames, the centrifugal force is zero. Instead, a body that moves in a circle does so because of a centripetal force (acting towards the centre of the rotation). This is a reasonable, and correct view, but is a subtle point that many students find hard to grasp, as it seems to contradict their personal experience of centrifugal forces. For the sake of exposition, teachers may claim that "There is no such thing as centrifugal force." This however is also a misconception, which is addressed in the explanation below:
;Observers' point of view (Black Hat, us, etc.)
:James Bond is moving in a circle, and is therefore accelerating. The force keeping him there is an inward force of contact against the centrifuge, a centripetal force. Via Newton's {{w|Newton's laws of motion#Newton's third law|third law}}, since the centrifuge is pushing Bond inward, Bond is pushing the centrifuge outward. The centrifuge's material is strong enough not to break under this force, however.
;James Bond's point of view
:In James Bond's frame of reference, Bond is at rest. He is kept there by two forces: the above-mentioned inward force of contact against the centrifuge, and an ''outward centrifugal force''. He feels both forces.

As mentioned in the explanation, as the centrifuge rotates faster, the forces needed to keep him in motion get larger, so the force he feels gets larger. This will eventually kill him. The conclusion will be the same regardless of which frame of reference is chosen.

Teachers of mechanics are well aware of this; however, in introductory expositions, these ideas are often not taught. In theoretical mechanics, one describes the positions and velocities of the particles in a model relative to a frame of reference. This means that a time is chosen to be time 0, and positions are chosen to be (0,0,0), (1,0,0), (0,1,0) and (0,0,1). With these chosen, the position and time of any particle in the system can be described. It is an axiom of Newtonian Mechanics that there exist "Inertial Frames." In an inertial frame, a particle will remain at rest or at a constant speed unless acted on by an external force, and Newton's second law takes a simple form: F = ma. The surface of the Earth approximates an inertial frame. In a non-inertial frame, such as one rotating with a giant centrifuge, or moving with an accelerating vehicle, a particle will accelerate, relative to the frame. Newton's second law, when formed in such a frame, is much more complicated, as it has terms for the linear acceleration of the frame, the angular acceleration of the frame, the centrifugal force, and the {{w|Coriolis force}}. These extra terms are sometimes called "fictitious forces," as they result from the choice of the frame of reference. The mathematics required to describe problems in a non-inertial frame is more sophisticated, and all problems may be solved using an inertial frame. Thus is reasonable that teachers at school level "{{w|lie to children}}" and teach the mechanics in inertial frames.

The final statement by Black Hat is that said by {{w|Auric Goldfinger}} in {{w|Goldfinger (film)|Goldfinger}} in response to James Bond's question "Do you expect me to talk?"

The title text is inspired by {{w|Dead or Alive (band)|Dead or Alive's}} famous song from 1985, "{{w|You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)|You Spin Me Round}}".

Randall feels very strongly that the centrifugal force is a real thing. He links to this comic in the first footnote of his [[what if?|What if?]] article [https://what-if.xkcd.com/92/ One-Second Day] and the 6th footnote of [https://what-if.xkcd.com/157/ Earth-Moon Fire Pole], stating that it is a real thing, and that he will go so far as to strap arguers to a centifuge that he or someone he knows apparently owns.

As can also be seen in the [https://twitter.com/bohacekp/status/531500491180875776/photo/1 footnote on page 132] in his [[what if?#The book|What if? book]], he will even fight you about it. From the book: 
"Furthermore, if you're on the equator, you're being flung outward by a centrifugal force1."
 "1Yes, centrifugal. I will fight you."
 (The article itself is about what happens if you lose all your DNA, so it has not much to do with this "real" force... The sentence is just stating that the actual weight loss from losing all your DNA is similar to the weight loss you would experience by moving from the poles to the equator due to this force.)

==Transcript==
:[James Bond is strapped to a giant wheel suspended from the ceiling. Black Hat is standing next to two levers.]
:Black hat: How do you like my centrifuge, mister Bond? When I throw this lever, you will feel centrifugal force crush every bone in your body.
:[Same scene, but a closer shot.]
:Bond: You mean centripetal force. There's no such thing as centrifugal force.
:Black hat: A laughable claim, mister Bond, perpetuated by overzealous teachers of science. Simply construct Newton's laws in a rotating system and you will see a centrifugal force term appear as plain as day.
:[Closer shot, only Bond's head is visible.]
:Bond: Come now, do you really expect me to do coordinate substitution in my head while strapped to a centrifuge?
:Black hat: No, Mister Bond. I expect you to die.
{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Footer comics]]

1206: Einstein

2018-05-22T06:49:51Z

172.69.68.231: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1206
| date = May 1, 2013
| title = Einstein
| image = einstein.png
| titletext = Einstein was WRONG when he said that provisional patent #39561 represented a novel gravel-sorting technique and should be approved by the Patent Office.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic [[Randall]] is playing with the notion that since Einstein contributed so much to society, and many of his works have withstood testing, disproving Einstein must be a difficult task. This is proven false by taking a mundane declaration by Einstein and proving it false with a simple task.

Nobel laureate and ''Time'' Person of the Century {{w|Albert Einstein}} is often considered one of the smartest and most influential men in world history. His theories have revolutionized our understanding of the Universe and inspired generations of scientists. In this comic, [[Cueball]] indicates to a friend that he is working on an experiment that may disprove Einstein. The implication is that Cueball is conducting a serious scientific experiment which may disprove one of Einstein's scientific theories. The second frame, however, implies that the Einsteinian "theory" Cueball's experiment may disprove is an offhand (and subjective) remark by Einstein about the availability of good sandwiches; this is not to mention the possible changing in quality of said sandwiches over time.

The experiment Cueball is "currently conducting" probably refers to the fact that he is currently eating a sandwich, and if that sandwich was indeed a good one, Einstein would be proved wrong. Part of the humor here is that Cueball's friend probably assumes that when Cueball says "currently," he means the experiment is part of Cueball's work, not what he is doing at that exact moment.

In [[947: Investing]], Randall comments on how people put too much credence in a joke Einstein made in passing, and in [[799: Stephen Hawking]] we see {{w|Stephen Hawking}} in a similar predicament, every word he says taken as a major declaration.

The title text demonstrates the ability to "disprove" Einstein while not challenging his scientific work but rather one of his decisions in his capacity as a patent clerk at the Swiss Patent Office at the time he published his first major papers (previously alluded to in [[1067: Pressures]]). According to [https://www.ige.ch/en/about-us/einstein/frequently-asked-questions.html the Einstein FAQ] on the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property's website, patent #39561 is one of several patents that "we can assume ... were personally examined by Einstein". A PDF of the patent, which was indeed a gravel sorter ({{w|trommel}}), can be found [https://www.ige.ch/fileadmin/user_upload/Institut/d/i109401.pdf here] in German.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and friend eating at a table.]
:Cueball: I'm currently conducting an experiment which may prove Einstein wrong!
:Friend: Ooh, exciting!

:1947:
:[Einstein and Cueball walking.]
:Einstein: It's ''impossible'' to find a good sandwich in this town.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]

Talk:1996: Morning News

2018-05-22T06:23:18Z

172.69.68.231:

;Off topic
There is a new What-If available: {{what if|157|Earth-Moon Fire Pole}}. I'm sure you like this breaking news.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 16:51, 21 May 2018 (UTC)
:Like this news? I'm ''*ecstatic*''.
:This may explain why today's comic wasn't very funny (or even coherent): Randall put most of his effort into finishing another What-If. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 18:41, 21 May 2018 (UTC)
:SQUEEEEEEE!!!!! [[User:SilverMagpie|SilverMagpie]] ([[User talk:SilverMagpie|talk]]) 22:11, 21 May 2018 (UTC)
:Kids, if a pole is coming at you at supersonic speeds, then first of all, you're going to die. But secondly, if you try to run away, please don't stay in the pole's path.
;Further discussions
Error: Joke not found. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 16:35, 21 May 2018 (UTC)