explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2992: UK Coal

2024-10-02T08:57:38Z

172.70.160.231:

nuclear power is better in all aspects anyway [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.105|172.70.90.105]] 19:40, 30 September 2024 (UTC)
: Not true - the rabbits can't get into the radiation suits.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.62|172.70.85.62]] 14:11, 1 October 2024 (UTC)

Here before the explanation :) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.9|172.71.154.9]] 20:12, 30 September 2024 (UTC)

:Ew. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 20:13, 1 October 2024 (UTC)

I made an initial explanation, but it needs a lot of work still; hopefully someone with more experience editing on this wiki can improve it (this is my first explanation) [[User:MathEnthusiast|MathEnthusiast]] ([[User talk:MathEnthusiast|talk]]) 20:27, 30 September 2024 (UTC)

"the sole rabbit-run coal plant was shut down in the 1990s."
Just checking, but this isn't referencing some particularly egregious, badly managed coal power plant in the U.K., is it? [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 20:43, 30 September 2024 (UTC)

:I don’t think so; I believe it’s simply that Ratcliffe-on-Soar power plant is the last UK coal plant to be shut down.
::The 1990 comment in particular. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.36.171|172.68.36.171]] 15:07, 1 October 2024 (UTC)

Randall uses SI units in the formula, as every person with the tiniest bit of tech/science education would, but then gives the result in inches (3.15) instead of centimeters (8.0). Americans are weird. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.110.162|162.158.110.162]] 20:56, 30 September 2024 (UTC)
:^^ This! {{unsigned ip|172.70.90.109}}
:Because metric units make more sense for calculating, but common sense units are what people can actually visualize. [[User:Mathmannix|Mathmannix]] ([[User talk:Mathmannix|talk]]) 23:59, 1 October 2024 (UTC)
::Define "common sense"... ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.206|172.70.162.206]] 06:50, 2 October 2024 (UTC)

One should not forget that the 3 inches are very unevenly distributed. Some areas on top of coal mines have sunken in much further creating new flooding risks that require continued future interventions.
--[[Special:Contributions/172.64.236.34|172.64.236.34]] 21:08, 30 September 2024 (UTC)

:Indeed, I used to line in the north of England and road signs would say, "Road liable to subsidence." I also wonder about the year 1853. Mining was going on long before that. The industrial revolution started in the mid-eighteenth century.--[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.22|141.101.98.22]] 07:46, 1 October 2024 (UTC)
::Presumably, that's just the earliest that UK DESNZ has data for.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.23.209|172.71.23.209]] 18:34, 1 October 2024 (UTC)

I understand that Watership Down is sometimes categorized as "children's literature", but it always catches me off guard. The Wikipedia page for it calls it an "adventure novel" and it's in the adult fiction section at my library. I'm just wondering if perhaps the explanation here should be a little less specific in its categorization of the book.[[User:Dextrous Fred|Dextrous Fred]] ([[User talk:Dextrous Fred|talk]]) 21:35, 30 September 2024 (UTC)

From the perspective of someone who lived through the 1980s Miner's Strike (not directly affected, my father worked at a steel-works, not at a pit like my friends' fathers) and then the decline of the steel manufacturing industry (which ''did'' affect my father, obviously), I have rather naturally kept a general eye on the extraction and use of coal. There still are working coal-mines (though there isn't going to be that new one, in Cumbria), and there are still uses for UK coal (enough to import to add to tht which we dig out). It's really a bit early to say that the layer of total coal dug out ''won't'' deepen slightly (very, very slightly) in the future. And coal that is dug is only loosely associated with coal which is turned into electricity, so the last coal-generator stopping seems like an oddly off-topic detail for Randall to leap into the amortised accumulation of extracted volume. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.165|172.68.205.165]] 22:01, 30 September 2024 (UTC)

Full conversion to US Customary Units (AKA US Bullshit Units):

(25e9 Tonnes / (1.3 kg/L * 2.4e5 km^2)) * (1000 kg / 1 Tonne) * (1 km^2 / (1000 m)^2 ) * (1 m^3 / 1000 L) * (39.37 in / 1 m ) ~= 3"

--[[User:JayTeeEll|JayTeeEll]] ([[User talk:JayTeeEll|talk]]) 22:57, 30 September 2024 (UTC)

He has not added the amount of "flotation" that results from the removal of all that material from the islands. Have the islands risen more than 3 inches in the crust, due to the removal? [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 23:37, 30 September 2024 (UTC)
:Scotland's still going up (after the last Ice-Age melt) and the south of Britain is still going down, IIRC. Which'll confuse matters. But I don't see how the component contributions to raising level (due to the digging out) could outpace the removal (due to that digging), by any significant amount. Rebound takes a while, and the effects should roughly equal out (so long as we haven't been digging too deep). [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.151|172.68.205.151]] 23:41, 30 September 2024 (UTC)
: He doesn't mention anything about the surface height at all, though. He says that an average 3" has been dug up and burnt, but not that the country is 3" lower as a result.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.204|172.70.86.204]] 13:45, 1 October 2024 (UTC)
:: Between the diagram and the text (including title-text), it looks as if he is indeed lowering the surface' from what it might have been without the extraction. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.35|172.70.86.35]] 16:49, 1 October 2024 (UTC)

I have a nagging feeling that although rabbit-run coal plants aren't (known to be) a thing, there must be Victorian children's books (e.g. Beatrix Potter) in which bunnies use coal scuttles or coal fires. "When Horace Hedgehog arrived, it was tea-time, so Mr Hoppy put some more coal on the fire..." [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 00:36, 1 October 2024 (UTC)

:Funnily enough, ''Peter Rabbit'', by Beatrix Potter was published in 1901, the same year as Queen Victoria’s passing, which marked the end of the Victorian Era. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 15:39, 1 October 2024 (UTC)
:I felt confident that there was probably a place named Rabbit Run, with a coal-based facility nearby, but all I found was [https://rabbitrun.wales a rather pedestrian footrace].
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 20:21, 1 October 2024 (UTC)

UK DESNZ refers to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, which is a ministerial department of the UK government. So basically that text is citing the source for the data.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.185|172.70.162.185]] 03:33, 1 October 2024 (UTC)

To help balance this out, should someone import coal into the formerly coal producing areas to fill in the now empty veins, or would that be selling coal to Newcastle? [[User:RegularSizedGuy|RegularSizedGuy]] ([[User talk:RegularSizedGuy|talk]]) 05:35, 1 October 2024 (UTC)

From the miner's strike onwards, a lot of coal was imported (particularly from (Poland) to run the coal-fired power stations since it was much cheaper, so wasn't dug out the ground in the UK. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.105|172.70.90.105]] 07:51, 1 October 2024 (UTC)

The formula doesn't take into account that the UK has ...changed land area over that period. Land area of the United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Ireland) was 315000 km² until 1922.
This changes the reading in SI units from 8 cm to 7 cm, but the rounded value in inches is unchanged, 3 in. Which explains why you call those units of his glorious majesty Imperial, I guess. --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.172.180|172.71.172.180]] 08:34, 1 October 2024 (UTC)
: I checked the source and it doesn't say wether production data for 1853-1922 is for the CURRENT territory of UK or includes production in the territory now belonging to Eire. Maybe we should inquire. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.111.89|162.158.111.89]] 11:03, 1 October 2024 (UTC)

I don't like the punctuation spatter in "The UK shut down their last coal power plant today, which means that over the course of the industrial revolution, they dug up and burned an average of 3 inches of their country." And the place I'd put a new comma might confuse others' sensibilities. Perhaps "..., which means that (over the ... revolution) they dug ...". Or just get rid of the one after revolution and accept a rather long run-on clause. Not that it's changable here, being Transcript of what's there but it's strangely off in grammatical meter and span from how I would try to say/write the same words. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.101|172.70.85.101]] 10:06, 1 October 2024 (UTC)

I feel like I missed the joke somewhere with this: "The volume of earth described, 0.1 nm × 240,000 km2, is equal to 24 m3. This is a humorous play on depictions of anthropomorphic rabbits in children's literature." Are these two separate statements that happened to be placed in a misleading way, or is something funny about 24 cubic meters having to do with anthropomorphic rabbits? {{unsigned ip|162.158.111.237}}

i hear that stoats are getting into nuclear now, tho. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.58.215|172.69.58.215]] 20:29, 1 October 2024 (UTC)
:Reminds me of [https://www.ferret-school.co.uk/working-ferrets/cable-laying ferrets], and the "Nuclear Ferret" section in particular. (Yes, "microscopic steel particles called mesons" makes me glad they seem far more expert in muscalid matters than with physics. And web-page design.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.206|172.70.162.206]] 06:50, 2 October 2024 (UTC)

2992: UK Coal

2024-10-02T08:45:01Z

172.70.160.231: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2992
| date = September 30, 2024
| title = UK Coal
| image = uk_coal_2x.png
| imagesize = 532x232px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The Watership Down rabbits removed an additional 0.1 nanometers constructing their warren, although that was mostly soil. British rabbits have historically mined very little coal; the sole rabbit-run coal plant was shut down in the 1990s.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT RUNNING ON 3 INCHES OF THE UK - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic uses dimensional analysis to describe the end of coal-powered energy production in the United Kingdom, in reference to the [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y35qz73n8o shutting down of the Ratcliffe-on-Soar coal power plant] in central England on Monday, September 30, 2024. This event signified the closure of the last coal-fired power plant in the UK. This is an important milestone in global energy use, because the United Kingdom was at the forefront of the {{w|Industrial Revolution}}, which began an era of large-scale coal extraction to fuel the world's industries. Over the course of the past several decades, coal has increasingly fallen out of favor, with natural gas becoming a more viable power source, and an increasing percentage of energy needs being met without the use of fossil fuels (from sources such as nuclear, hydro, solar and wind power). The fact that the UK has now fully transitioned away from the use of coal as a major energy source marks a major shift in how industrialized nations are powered.

UK coal ''production'' has also been in decline significantly since {{w|1984–1985 United Kingdom miners' strike|the politically enforced decline in the 1980s}}, and the proposed opening of the new {{w|Woodhouse Colliery}} in Cumbria [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62533nyvzwo seems to have been stopped], leaving just the [https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/coal-mining-production-and-manpower-returns-statistics-2023/coal-mining-production-and-manpower-returns-received-by-the-coal-authority-january-to-march-2023 remnants of the coal-mining industry] active. There remain uses for coal, both locally obtained and imported, but the conversion away from coal [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c70zxjldqnxo in various industries] marks a possible soft-end to the British era which started with the {{w|Industrial Revolution}}.

The equation shown in the comic determines how much coal was mined in the UK with respect to the surface area of the region, and calculates the height of it if the coal mined out was taken away in an even layer from ''all'' across the UK. It calculates that the coal mining industry has removed an average of 3 inches (about 7.6cm) of the United Kingdom. In reality, coal is usually extracted from specific locations, sometimes creating {{w|Flash (lake)|localized subsidence}} of more depth above old underground-workings (or, where open-cast, visible quarrying scars that may have been partially relandscaped) and leaving other areas generally unaffected.

''UK DESNZ'', referenced in the comic, is the United Kingdom's {{w|Department for Energy Security and Net Zero}}, the source for the statistic on UK total coal production from 1853 to present; see DESNZ's historical statistics of coal production [https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/historical-coal-data-coal-production-availability-and-consumption here].

Since [[Randall]] is warning about [[:Category:Climate change|climate change]] in several of his comics, he likely sees this as an important step away from the use of fossil fuel.

The comic’s title text adds a similar, but even more ludicrous, metric for earth excavated for a rabbit warren. The volume of earth described, 0.1 nm × 240,000 km2, is equal to 24 m3. The text refers to {{w|Watership Down}}, a 1972 novel about a group of English rabbits. (A sole sequel to Watership Down, {{w|Tales from Watership Down}}, was published in 1996.) The text also refers to a former rabbit-run coal plant in the UK and claims that it was shut down in the 1990s. No actual {{w|Run, Rabbit, Run|rabbit-run}} coal plants have ever been documented.{{citation needed}}

==Transcript==
:[The following formula is shown (with the divisors below a horizontal line in the comic, rather than inside square brackets):]
:UK total coal production (1853-present, ''UK DESNZ'') / [(coal seam density) × (UK land area)] = 25 billion tonnes / [1.3kg/L × 240,000km²] ≈ 3 inches
:[Cueball is standing to the right of the formula, upon a dotted line representing the prior ground level. Two arrows indicate that the dotted line is 3 inches above the solid line that is the current ground level. One arrow goes from the end of the word inches to the dotted line the other is short and goes up from below pointing at the solid line.]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:The UK shut down their last coal power plant today, which means that over the course of the industrial revolution, they dug up and burned an average of 3 inches of their country.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Climate change]]
[[Category:Geology]]
[[Category:Statistics]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category:Animals]]

Talk:2988: Maslow's Pyramid

2024-09-21T10:49:52Z

172.70.160.231: Meet the needs inside the pyramid.

Oh wow, first post! {{unsigned|RadiantRainwing}}
: Congratulations on learning how to post![[Special:Contributions/172.68.245.228|172.68.245.228]] 03:40, 21 September 2024 (UTC)
The 20% figure is incorrect. The lower levels[[Special:Contributions/172.68.245.228|172.68.245.228]] 03:40, 21 September 2024 (UTC) of the pyramid have more volume than the upper levels. By my arithmetic, the breakdown is (rounded) 1%, 6%, 15%, 30%, and 49%, so the "safety" level provides 30% of his needs. [[User:Jordan Brown|Jordan Brown]] ([[User talk:Jordan Brown|talk]]) 00:27, 21 September 2024 (UTC)
:Plus the bottom layer ought to get partial credit for supplying basic shelter. [[User:Jordan Brown|Jordan Brown]] ([[User talk:Jordan Brown|talk]]) 00:29, 21 September 2024 (UTC)
:: I question this Cueball's ability to get anything okay enough.
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.245.228|172.68.245.228]] 03:40, 21 September 2024 (UTC)
Oh crud. What did I do that I think totally messed up the attributions? 172.68.245.228 [[Special:Contributions/172.68.245.228|172.68.245.228]] 03:53, 21 September 2024 (UTC)

But *how* did he build it? Was there some sort of internal ramp? Were extraterrestrials involved? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.48|172.70.163.48]] 06:58, 21 September 2024 (UTC)
: Couldn't care less. Cueball, I AM impressed. If your friends aren't, you need new friends. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.160.115|172.71.160.115]] 07:37, 21 September 2024 (UTC)

I assumed Cueball was trying to meet the needs, inside the pyramid. :-) Robert Carnegie rja.carnegie@gmail.com [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.231|172.70.160.231]] 10:49, 21 September 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2985: Craters

2024-09-20T08:40:25Z

172.70.160.231:

==Delaware/Pennsylvania Arc==
The Delaware/Pennsylvania arc is a circle, sure, but so is every other allegedly "straight" line on the map. The 49N parallel looks like a straight line on some projections, but a polar projection shows that it is clearly a circle around a point on the Earth's axis. The Delaware/Pennsylvania arc is only unique for NOT being aligned with the axis. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.102.20|172.71.102.20]] 19:07, 13 September 2024 (UTC)
:The "Delaware/Pennsylvania arc" has a long and juicy history. Not a circle. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve-Mile_Circle Twelve-Mile Circle] Signed- --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 20:36, 13 September 2024 (UTC)
:True about map projections, but the Venn section title here does say *Weird*. The Delaware/Pennsylvania arc is indeed "weird"; few other such arcs are found in regular map content, and the original story for it is indeed uncommon. <s>Great Circle</s> Parallel latitude "arcs" aren't weird in either way. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.64|172.68.34.64]] 20:52, 13 September 2024 (UTC)
::North-South lines are great-circle arcs, but non-equatorial East-West lines - as well as many diagonal ones - are minor-circle arcs (is that the right term?), just link the 12-Mile Circle. (Let's see if this retains my IP address from my top post.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.46.109|172.70.46.109]] 21:29, 13 September 2024 (UTC)
:::Right you are! [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.64|172.68.34.64]] 23:00, 14 September 2024 (UTC)

==Great Blue Hole==
There are two Great Blue Holes, one in Belize, one in Dahab, Egypt (Red Sea). [[Special:Contributions/172.71.102.20|172.71.102.20]] 19:11, 13 September 2024 (UTC)
==Recent Google Maps discovery==
This may be inspired Joël Lapointe's very recently announced discovery of a 15km-diameter "pit" he found near Marsal Lake (Quebec) using Google Maps. [https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-meteorite-impact-crater-1.7313418 "He saw a suspicious pit on Google Maps. Experts say it could be a crater from an ancient space rock"] [[Special:Contributions/172.69.64.185|172.69.64.185]] 20:10, 13 September 2024 (UTC)

----

man, why are so many of these in Quebec? does it have a natural meteor/circle magnet? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.232|172.68.174.232]] 01:11, 14 September 2024 (UTC)

: Parce qu'on y parle français. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.68|172.69.71.68]] 12:39, 14 September 2024 (UTC)

==New Column==
I'm thinking about a new column or two: GPS coordinates (with an Open Earth link?) and a satellite image, or something. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.102.76|172.71.102.76]] 03:27, 14 September 2024 (UTC)

: The table seems incomplete without something like that. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.172|172.69.34.172]] 22:50, 14 September 2024 (UTC)

==Meta Reference: Venn Diagram Double Crater==
No comment yet on the fact that the two circles in the Venn Diagram refer to craters and circles... [[Special:Contributions/172.71.102.53|172.71.102.53]] 01:32, 15 September 2024 (UTC)

==Geographic bias by meteorites or Randall?==
Boy am I happy that I don't live in North or Central America, where 11 out of 13 "craters" are located... [[User:Mumiemonstret|Mumiemonstret]] ([[User talk:Mumiemonstret|talk]]) 07:44, 15 September 2024 (UTC)
:Maybe over here (rightpondia, oceania, down-under and the cradle of humanity itself), we just cleaned them up easier (or messed them up badly) so they were less obvious. (c.f. Nördlingen.) Y'all over thataway, however, haven't had time to do anything too drastic to obscure them. ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.48|172.70.163.48]] 14:10, 15 September 2024 (UTC)
:Haha, yeah, that was also my first thought when I googled the places I didn't know: very America-centric by either Randall or meteorite or other circle-creating entities... And even the other 2 places are in English speaking places (yes, I know English isn't the official language of India, but still one of the most common)--[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 04:28, 16 September 2024 (UTC)

I am tickled pink that two significant items in my life appear adjacent in this diagram: Stonehenge, and Crater Lake. My company name is Stonehenge (and I've been to the real rock pile a few times), and I'm a native Oregonian, using Crater Lake as my video-call background. [[User:RandalSchwartz|RandalSchwartz]] ([[User talk:RandalSchwartz|talk]]) 22:02, 15 September 2024 (UTC)

==Crater Lake==
So we're not going to talk about Crater Lake not being an actual crater? {{unsigned ip|172.69.134.107|22:12, 16 September 2024}}
:"Crater Lake (Klamath: Giiwas)[2] is a volcanic crater lake..." [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.2|172.70.91.2]] 23:48, 16 September 2024 (UTC)

== no monday comic ==

silly randall [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.146|172.70.86.146]] 07:17, 17 September 2024 (UTC)
:nvm [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.136|141.101.99.136]] 08:28, 17 September 2024 (UTC)

==What's with the excessive use of headers in this chat?==
==Sinkholes==
Kingsley Lake is located Southwest of Jacksonville, FL and directly East of Starke, FL, on the grounds of Camp Blanding. If you look at it on Google Maps, you will notice that it is pretty much perfectly round. You would think that this was a meteor impact, but in fact it is just a really large sinkhole. Camp Blanding dates back to World War II when it was being used as a training camp for the Army and also as a POW camp for captured German soldiers.
[[User:Foozini|Foozini]] ([[User talk:Foozini|talk]]) 04:37, 19 September 2024 (UTC)

==Meteor impact craters???==
Meteors don't leave craters. Meteorites do. [[1405|Just saying.]] --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.188|172.68.110.188]] 20:23, 19 September 2024 (UTC)
:At what point does a meteor become a meteorite? Arguably when it (or its fragments) are found laying there. If so, while it is still undergoing {{w|lithobraking}} then it is still a moving meteor.
:The alternative is that:
:* an asteroid (or comet fragment, etc) in vacuum is an asteroid (or comet fragment, etc)
:* in an atmosphere, it is a meteor (with the possibility of skimming and becoming its 'vacuum self' once more)
:* in (or on) the solid surface, it is a meterorite (and permanence of this state might not be guaranteed, if dynamic)
:* this begs the existence of a term that (by rapidlybresearching the possible back-sources) might be something like "metydor" ''or'' "metanao" that relates to such a body currently in/passing through water (the latter coming from possible alt-historic scholarly adoption and anglicisation of the similarly old Greek word for "swim", to contrast with the aerial suspension of a meteor, though the former is just "water" itself, much as the "-eor" element is related to the word that became "aerial", i.e. "of the air")... Though there might be arguments for something like "meteoretis", also, if you go down a different rabbit-hole.
: Doubtless there are countless other justifiable interpretations (and alternate linguistic allocations), but these are my own main (and opposing) two. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.231|172.70.160.231]] 08:40, 20 September 2024 (UTC)

2983: Monocaster

2024-09-16T11:42:18Z

172.70.160.231: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2983
| date = September 9, 2024
| title = Monocaster
| image = monocaster_2x.png
| imagesize = 536x673px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = My competitors say the tiny single tiny caster is unsafe, unstable, and offers no advantages over traditional designs, to which I say: wow, why are you guys so mean? I thought we were friends!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a LAPTOP-CONTROLLED HAMSTER BALL - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
A caster, also spelled castor, is a small unpowered wheel, usually attached to a swiveling base. They are typically found on carts and office chairs to make them easy to move, and may be placed on heavy appliances to facilitate movement.

Randall has proposed a variant of the skateboard with only one caster on the bottom, the titular "monocaster", and devoted most of the comic to a {{w|Perceptual mapping|perceptual map}} showing the variety of wheeled vehicles. Market strategists and investors use such diagrams as a simple way of representing important differences between products or companies, but where a consumer might be more concerned with features like speed, cost, ease of use, or carrying capacity, this map focuses on the number of wheels (horizontal axis) and the diameter of those wheels (vertical axis).

Each axis uses a logarithmic scale, which is convenient for making the map look more evenly filled but also visually exaggerates the size of the "key gap" that the monocaster is filling, which can be described as "vehicle with a single wheel smaller than 25 cm". The nearest competitors appear to be a two-wheel skateboard sometimes called a {{w|caster board}} (wheel diameter under 8 cm) and a single-wheel self-balancing board resembling a {{w|Onewheel}} (diameter around 25 cm). The Onewheel is sometimes described as a {{w|monowheel}} (though these are traditionally larger like the "1920s monowheel" on the upper left). Randall appears to have combined these two names to create the monocaster. This gives up several of the competitors' features - the caster board's two wheels provide enough stability to propel the vehicle manually, while the Onewheel's single wheel is wide (assisting with sideways balance) and powered by a self-balancing mechanism.

The result resembles a {{w|Balance board#Sphere-and-ring|"Sphere-and-ring" balance board}}, or other types, though these provide limited locomotion potential. The joke depends on the caster's obvious impracticality in this role: the hole in the market was open ''for a reason''. The obvious drawback to any single-wheeled vehicle is that it's difficult to balance: the rider has to avoid falling forward or backward, as well as to either side. This is a major reason why one-wheeled vehicles are uncommon to begin with, but those vehicles which do exist compensate by using relatively large wheels, driven either by human power or a motor, which creates rotational inertia and allows the rider to balance simply by leaning forward.

A single, small, undriven wheel eliminates these balancing forces, meaning that the user would essentially need to balance on a single point. Also, most casters swivel, meaning that the balance point would move around under the rider's feet and make it even more difficult to balance. In addition, there's no apparent means of propulsion, which means the only way to move forward would be to either roll exclusively downhill, or use one foot to push off the ground. Either strategy would make retaining balance almost impossible.

Multiple-wheeled vehicles greatly reduce the issue of balance simply by having multiple points of contact with the ground. The size of the wheels varies greatly; small, rigid wheels are generally suitable only for flat, smooth, rigid surfaces at relatively slow speeds, while vehicles expected to handle high speeds and varying road (and off-road) conditions will necessarily have larger wheels.

The "monocaster" design offers no advantages and would be nearly unrideable, making it obvious why such a vehicle has never been seriously proposed.

The title text extends the joke by listing the disadvantages mentioned above, but not providing a rebuttal. Instead it only attempts an emotional appeal by saying that the competitors are being mean and by commenting that Randall believed they were friends.

{| class=wikitable
! scope="col" | Vehicle
! scope=“col” | Number of wheels
! scope=“col” | Wheel Diameter
! scope="col" | Explanation
|-
| 1920s Monowheel || 1 || 3 meters || A monowheel is a vehicle in which the rider sits inside a single, large, hollow wheel. Versions have existed which were hand- or pedal-cranked, but the "1920s" version portrayed here is apparently motor-driven. These vehicles have generally been seen as novelties, as their stability and practicality issues limit their usefulness for actual transport.
|-
| Unicycle || 1 || 45 centimeters || Probably the best known single-wheeled form of transport, a unicycle consists of a single wheel, usually driven directly by pedals, with a seat mounted on top. Due to their difficulty, they are most commonly used as novelties and for comic performances, more than as practical transport.
|-
| OneWheel || 1 || 20 centimeters || A one-wheeled electric skateboard in which the user stands on both sides of a large, central wheel. The design self-balances by increasing the velocity as the user leans forward. This allows balancing and speed control to operate in a single motion.
|-
| Bicycle || 2 || 45 centimeters || A two-wheeled, pedal-driven vehicle. The relatively simple, inexpensive and efficient design of these vehicles makes them practical for transport in a variety of situations. As a result, they've long been among the most popular and widely-produced vehicles in the world.
|-
| Scooter || 2 || 8 centimeters (*) || A two-wheeled vehicle driven either by pushing with a foot or by an electric motor or fuel-powered engine. Scooters are ridden both for recreation and as a form of transportation in cities.
|-
| {{w|Roller shoe}} || 2 || 1 centimeter (*) || Shoes with small wheels built into the back end of the soles, putting them underneath the wearer's heels (which is what the brand-name "{{w|Heelys}}" is derived from). They allow the user access to wheeled movement by pushing off the ground and balancing on the slightly protuding wheels. They are not as fast or comfortable as a dedicated wheeled vehicle, their rolling action is limited to sufficiently flat surfaces and they are not as easy as regular shoes to simply walk in. However, such shoes allow for some degree of both walking ''and'' rolling without having to carry a separate wheeled vehicle, or necessarily having the baseline difficulty of other 'fuller' versions of wearable skates.
|-
| Tricycle || 3 || 20 centimeters || Appears to be a {{w|Big Wheel (tricycle)|"Big Wheel" type}} child's toy, which actually have smaller 'trailing wheels', rather than either {{w|Tricycle#Upright|upright}} or {{w|Tricycle#Recumbent|recumbent}} style cycles for adults which ''usually'' match the wheel-sizes of their bicycle equivalents.
|-
| Scooter (three-wheeled) || 3 || 3 centimeters (*) ||
|-
| Monster Truck || 4 || 2.5 meters || Monster trucks are vehicles equipped with (usually four, but sometimes more) outsize wheels. They are almost always driven as part of events where specifically trained drivers use them to perform dangerous stunts and crush smaller vehicles. Because of their size, the danger to other vehicles, often very poor mileage, and design choices that can be in violation of local laws and regulations regarding motorized vehicles, monster trucks are not driven on public roads and have to be transported in dedicated trailers, making them poor choices for transport where one has to leave private property.
|-
| Car || 4 || 50 centimeters || Cars are motorized vehicles designed to move one or more people and an amount of goods around fast. While almost all cars have four wheels (discounting reserve wheels), there are a few that have more than four (certain limousines) or fewer (the Reliant Robin only has one wheel in the front). Cars are more expensive than most options on the chart due to their higher cost, the use of fuel and maintenance requiring specialized knowledge (and sometimes replacement parts), they make up for this with their speed, access to (at least in most of the world) an extensive system of roads and refueling stations, the ability to move a number of people and goods (how much depends on the exact type of car and how much of either the car is already carrying), and the comfort of being in what is almost always an enclosed and air conditioned compartment. Because of the potential danger of an object of a car's size and speed, drivers are required to perform a test of their ability to both control the vehicle and be aware of other traffic to obtain a license to drive one. Cars are a common source of leisure, with interests ranging from driving them normally, driving them as part of a race, maintaining them or enjoying luxury cars.
|-
| ATV || 4 || 20 centimeters (*) || ATVs or "all-terrain vehicles" are unenclosed, handlebar-steered vehicles designed for off-road riding. They have four, large, low-pressure tires and a robust suspension system to accommodate rough terrain. They generally aren't designed to carry passengers, and have limited cargo capacity, which limits their usefulness for regular transport. They're generally used either for recreation or for transport in areas without well-maintained roads.
|-
| Skateboard || 4 || 2 centimeters (*) ||
|-
| Three-Wheel Skates|| 6 || 4 centimeters (*) || Three-wheeled skates are a type of inline skate (shoes with a line of wheels affixed underneath the shoe) that differ from the more commonly used four wheeled inline skates by having three larger wheels. They are inexpensive and easy to maintain, but they require significant skill to use effectively and the user is reliant on smooth surfaces to skate around on. Another downside is that the wheels cannot be removed from the shoes, requiring the user to either carry an extra pair or have an extra pair at their destination.
|-
| Roller Skates|| 8 || 2 centimeters (*) || Roller skates are shoes with small wheels underneath them in a rectangular pattern. This makes roller skates much more stable than inline skates, allowing users to stand on them with more ease. Like inline skates they are cheap and low maintenance, but in order to move any significant distance without support they require a skilled user, smooth surfaces and the user needs backup shoes when taking them off (though there exist strap-on roller skates).
|-
| Semi-Trailer Truck (Articulated Lorry) || 10-18 || 1 meter || A semi-trailer truck is a motorized vehicle designed to pull trailers that can be easily decoupled from the truck itself. This allows the truck to switch trailers and move a different cargo without having to unload the trailer. The name in brackets that was used here (articulated lorry) is a name most commonly used in British English (or "artic", for short), with articulation meaning that the truck can swivel at the point where the truck connects to the trailer. This allows for the truck to make much tighter turns than if it were one long vehicle, which is another advantage of this configuration, with typically more stability than with a {{w|Drawbar (haulage)|drawbar}} attachment. Trucks are designed to haul cargo for long distances, with the cargo in question being either too heavy or too large to carry with a smaller hopper, tanker, hard-/soft-sided container or flatbed placed entirely upon a single truck chassis. They are driven either by drivers employed by a transport company, or by self-employed individuals who haul cargo for a living. A specialized license is required to drive one, and because of their size (even without a trailer), trucks have more limitations on where they can drive and park than normal cars. Like cars, trucks are a source of leisure, but because of the higher cost to purchase, maintain and drive them, they are more often enjoyed for their aesthetics rather than actually driving them for leisure. There are events like races for trucks, and trucks can be given elaborate paint jobs to have them stand out.
The number of wheels is for both the {{w|Tractor unit#Axles|truck}} and a {{w|Semi-trailer#Types|trailer}}, which can each differ vastly between vehicle configurations. The truck in the comic has five ''obvious'' axle-sets (thus at least ten actual wheels): a single pair of front wheels, two pairs of trailer-bearing rear wheels and two pairs of wheels on the trailer itself. The drawing of the truck actually spans the axis range of three wheels (unlikely to be true, and the minimum for a tractor-trailer would normally be six) all the way up to 16, so it's not entirely clear which number (≥10) Randall intends this one to portray. Most of the other illustrations are roughly centered over the relevant number of wheels, but applying this to the truck implies six wheels, which is clearly wrong as illustrated.
|}

(*) It seems that Randall has made some mistakes in regards to the wheel sizes, especially in the centimeter range of the diagram. Most of the vehicles have bigger wheels and the number would suggest hat he meant inches instead of centimeters. Alternatively, he may have mistakenly recorded the wheels' radius instead of its diameter, as intended.

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

:[A chart picturing many wheeled vehicles with a caption below the chart window. The vertical axis is labeled "Wheel Diameter", logarithmic from 1cm to 5m. The horizontal axis is labeled "Number of wheels", logarithmic from 1 to 16. From top left to bottom right, there is a person with a cap, seated in a circle, labeled "1920s monowheel", a monster truck with a skull and a lightning bolt on the side, a lorry (truck), a Cueball on a unicycle moving back and forth, a Cueball on a bicycle, a car, a Cueball using a Onewheel, a Cueball on a child's "Big Wheel" tricycle, a Cueball on a quad, a Cueball standing on a scooter, a Cueball standing on a board with one small wheel bellow, circled and labeled with two question marks, a three-wheel scooter, a skater, a Cueball using three-wheel skates, labeled "three-wheel skates", a Cueball crouching and using skates, and a small Cueball using shoes with wheels (Heelys) moving forward.]
:Caption: My new monocaster board fills a key gap in the wheeled vehicle market.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Characters with hats]]
[[Category:Skateboard]]

2984: Asteroid News

2024-09-12T08:35:59Z

172.70.160.231: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 2984
| date = September 11, 2024
| title = Asteroid News
| image = asteroid_news_2x.png
| imagesize = 376x288px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Their calculations show it will 'pass within the distance of the moon' but that it 'will not hit the moon, so what's the point?'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an EXCITED EDITOR. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[[Blondie]] as a [[:Category:News anchor|news anchor]] presents an image where an {{w|asteroid}} is seen zooming past {{w|Earth}} outside of the {{w|Moon}}'s orbit.

The comic is about this unnamed asteroid that is predicted to approach Earth in 2063. It could possibly be related to the recently discovered asteroid [https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2024/06/Close_approach_of_asteroid_2024_MK 2024 MK] that made a close approach to Earth on June 29, 2024, but it could be any of the {{w|Jet Propulsion Laboratory}}'s Center for Near Earth Objects Studies' [https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/sentry/ Sentry objects].

Blondie mentions that according to the astronomers the asteroid only has a 'one-in-6000 chance of "doing something cool",' meaning that there is only a small chance that the asteroid will have a direct impact on Earth's surroundings. What Blondie deems as "something cool" would presumably be that the asteroid hits the Earth or the Moon. She then states that further observations has shown that this will not happen and the asteroid will just be yet another boring dot on the sky.

The joke is that most people are afraid that an asteroid getting close to us would actually hit, and hopes to hear that it will not. If this asteroid gets close enough that it will actually be a visible dot, then it is indeed very close to Earth given the normal sizes of {{w|Near-Earth object|near-Earth asteroids}}. Many people interested in the night sky would find it interesting to be able to see an asteroid with their naked eye.

The title text may refer to another asteroid that gets even closer than the one depicted, because this one should comes closer than the Moon according to calculations (presumably by the astronomers). But this asteroid will not hit the Moon even though it gets this close, so Blondie asks, what is the point? Again she hopes for some visible effect.

Unlike almost all of [[Randall]]'s other comics, this one involves {{w|boredom}} or ''ennui''. Because something interesting does not occur is often the most important experience in scientific inquiry, confirming the {{w|null hypothesis}}. See also [[13: Canyon]], [[24: Godel, Escher, Kurt Halsey]], [[52: Secret Worlds]], [[402: 1,000 Miles North]], [[731: Desert Island]], [[877: Beauty]], and [[895: Teaching Physics]].

==Transcript==

:[Close-up of Blondie as a newscaster speaking, alongside an image to the left of an asteroid passing by Earth. The path of the asteroid is shown as a dashed line near the top-left, with the Moon orbiting the Earth below it.]
:Blondie: Astronomers initially said there was a one-in-6,000 chance that the newly-discovered asteroid might "do something cool" in 2063, but further observations determined it will be "Just a boring dot like all the others."

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Blondie]]
[[Category:News anchor]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Space]]

Talk:2982: Water Filtration

2024-09-08T13:40:16Z

172.70.160.231: ...meant to say, but still fighting with the medicalnewstoday browser tab not responding well...

On the activated carbon filter, that's a double entendre, referencing both activated charcoal filters often used in filtration systems and the nearby neutron source, which is radioactivity activating the carbon. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.254.23|172.71.254.23]] 04:32, 7 September 2024 (UTC)Corsac

There are a bunch of processes shown that are real, but not actually used in water filtration. For example, electrolysis is used to make hydrogen and oxygen gas, and reverse electrolysis is used in fuel cells to produce electricity, but the electricity cost of doing these steps to purify a useful amount of water would be prohibitive. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.14|162.158.159.14]] 06:18, 7 September 2024 (UTC)
:On the other hand, it would be a kind of "extra-intense distillation". We already basically have been "distilling water", as I see it, with the autoclave/condenser pairing that would certainly leave any remaining dissolved minerals or particulates behind. By splitting then recombining the component elements (and some basic gas-chromatography process, not shown) then you'd inarguably get water out that's about as pure as you can hope for in even the most {{w|The Waters of Mars|paranoid fantasies}} about the need for clean water.
:...of course, here it's not even the ''most'' energetic attempt to further 'refine' the components of "watery matter", with the assumed luxury of having energy (and indeed water) to burn... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.219|172.69.194.219]] 06:39, 7 September 2024 (UTC)
:Yes; I'm wondering if we should be a bit more specific than just "real" vs. "fake". Some of the processes would work, but wouldn't make the water purer; some are impractical but feasible; some aren't possible at all. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 16:10, 7 September 2024 (UTC)

Regarding condensers: Condensers are a real method of purifying water, although perhaps not commonly used to demineralize household well water. I frequently buy "purified" water that has been distilled which is simply boiling the water and then condensing the steam into pure water. This is great for use in tea pots or egg cookers or humidifiers to avoid mineral buildup inside the pots. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 14:35, 7 September 2024 (UTC)

Regarding adding the well-water back in at the end: "Purified" water is often sold in the baby aisle for use in mixing baby formula, but the labels indicate that minerals have been readded to the water, which of course means it is no longer pure, and would not be useful if I want to avoid mineral buildup in a tea pot. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 14:35, 7 September 2024 (UTC)

This comic made me realize how to fund space exploration: selling "artisinal space water" to gullib- I mean, discerning rich people. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.246.151|172.69.246.151]] 15:48, 7 September 2024 (UTC)

I have silt, iron, manganese, and microbes in my well.

In a real life, the first step will be mechanical filters: frog-screens, leaf nets, sand or paper media. In my well-water this takes most of the yuck out (as brown sludge).

Home-scale UV treatment is commonly sold (and apparently used; spares available) for spot-treating rural well water. Industrial UV exists for very expensive 'pure water' which must not make anybody sick. ALL water gets germs; UV may have less side-effect than Chlorine or Bromine.

Condensing (and distilling!) are standard household appliances for DIY distilled water. 'Activated' Carbon elements are VERY widely sold for taking taste/smell out of tap water.

"Water softening" (several types) is bog-standard technology out beyond the city mains. ([[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 19:08, 7 September 2024 (UTC) ...cntd below)
:Please sign your comments. And yes, it is. But not immediately before filtering by reverse osmosis. Reverse osmosis should remove almost all solutes, so the resulting pH should be very close to 0 and the concentration of no chemical except water should be significant. Water softening before or after is unnecessary. Don't get me wrong; RO is not perfect. But water softening is only ever necessary to remove large amounts of minerals that can leave scale, and that isn't an issue with high-purity water. [[User:EebstertheGreat|EebstertheGreat]] ([[User talk:EebstertheGreat|talk]]) 08:03, 8 September 2024 (UTC)
::NB, the comment ''was'' signed, if you check. This was fifth of sixth straight 'level zero indented' comments. Personally, if I'm not replying (sitting after any number of ":"s, per line) I prefer to add a <code><nowiki> </nowiki></code>-tag to force the linefeed (that isn't rendered, otherwise), rather than make it double-LF and potentially ''look'' like separate contributors.
::It also helps if it's written to look like it's the same contributor (disjointed paragraphs switch narratives seemingly at random don't help... ''especially''), but it isn't foolproof (and unsigned+signed contributions can look like one slightly rambling contributor, hence why signing does need to be added wherever necesary).
::But it's all in the eye of the beholder, some of whom may be the posters concerned and be absolutely sure that the future confusion won't exist. And sometimes (''very'' occasionally), there'll be a wish to interleave a comment specifically against an 'inner paragraph' of the wider message you're replying to. You can perhaps copy the 'official' signature of the original flow, like I did here. Can get messy any which way, of course.
::Some people might even think it better to (at least in non-reply additions, zero-coloned) just stick to one long rambling no-break paragraph. But I usually find that inelegent both in reading the Talk page and in its edit-source. Being terse and to the point perhaps helps, though, if possible. Not that I'm good at being laconic, as you can see! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.48|172.70.163.48]] 11:35, 8 September 2024 (UTC)

Of the radioactive treatments, Radon is not mentioned; surely this kills a few germs?
[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 19:08, 7 September 2024 (UTC)
:Using radon would be a bad idea. Even if one got all of the radon out afterwards (e.g. by {{w|sparging}}), it would leave behind radioactive daughter products, as well as the lead at the end of the decay sequences. Granted, {{w|Radithor|radium-enriched water}} was a commercial product, back in the day, but... still a bad idea. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 21:58, 7 September 2024 (UTC)
::Yeah, the philosophy tended to be "if it fluoresces, it impresses!", in the {{w|Radium fad|pseudoscientific quackery}} of the time... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.183|172.69.79.183]] 23:15, 7 September 2024 (UTC)
:Wait ... you have filters which turn frogs to brown sludge? Is that legal? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 05:24, 8 September 2024 (UTC)
So much that I didn't notice in my first forty minutes looking at the comic while thinking "uhmm wut no! ! !" Y'all are why I come here especially when I think I thought I understood it and didn't need it explained. BTW? Are some for which the explain cannot be complete. The user interactive recent one with squirrels, fans, balls and things that made it kinda a pinball game but most assuredly not (mostly) come to mind. Thank you all. (Edited for clarity}[[Special:Contributions/172.70.43.54|172.70.43.54]] 04:19, 8 September 2024 (UTC)
[[Special:Contributions/172.70.39.34|172.70.39.34]] 04:28, 8 September 2024 (UTC)

Are we talking about water treatment, water filtration, or water purification? Because blending water and using UV are useful tools in water treatment but are not filtration and are pointless for purification. Treatment is anything done to make the water healthier or more pleasant to drink or better for equipment. Filtration requires physical separation of water from contaminants (which would not count most of these processes, and some, such as electrolysis, kinda break the definition water systems use since they separate at too fine a level to really count as a water filter anymore, despite the comic name). Purification is the elimination of anything that isn't water. I thought part of the joke was that it was supposed to be treatment for home faucets for drinking purposes. I wouldn't care except it would change the classifcation of the columns. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.122|172.70.178.122]] 10:49, 8 September 2024 (UTC)

Some references on how hypotonic water doesn't harm human beings:
https://www.medicinenet.com/is_drinking_distilled_water_good_or_bad_for_you/article.htm
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/317698#is-it-safe
[[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 12:58, 8 September 2024 (UTC)
:There's degrees of harm. Generally agreed that the danger isn't anywhere as bad as the 'scare stories'. (As per edit-comments, you don't explode from osmotic pressure by trying even a squirt of the ultrapure water sat around in school chemistry labs, but it probably saved having to resupply so much if incautious pupils didn't glug it down constantly.)
:For example, https://www.webmd.com/diet/distilled-water-overview certainly says that it's safe, but still does point out that...
::Distilled water lacks even electrolytes like potassium and other minerals your body needs. So you may miss out on a bit of these micronutrients if you drink only the distilled stuff.
::Some studies have found a link between drinking water low in calcium and magnesium and tiredness, muscle cramps, weakness, and heart disease. Also, distilled water may not help you stay hydrated as well as other kinds of water.
:...and this is reflected in many of the respectable "is it safe/dangerous?" articles. (The medicinenet link you give actually goes into more detail on these points. Don't know about medicalnewstoday, as I can't even easily get past its "privacy notice" 'cookiewall', the way it's configured.) Thus if we're discussing ''why'' we're adding this at all (and end up with "isotonic" being a buzzword, because it sounds better than "flavoured sugar water with some mineral salts"), I had tried to explain why it could be ''thought'' necessary to proportionately undo basically the prior (often unnecessary/improbable) purification process. Couched in terms (I imagined) would not promote the "your body asplode!" myth, either. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.90|172.70.91.90]] 13:33, 8 September 2024 (UTC)

2982: Water Filtration

2024-09-08T13:16:18Z

172.70.160.231: Undo revision 350168 by Nitpicking (talk) I believe you read the mythical hyperbole into this that I tried to avoid. (No, we don't explode from osmotic pressure!) Clarifying explicitly.

{{comic
| number = 2982
| date = September 6, 2024
| title = Water Filtration
| image = water_filtration_2x.png
| imagesize = 593x467px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = You'd think the most expensive part would be the quark-gluon plasma chamber, but it's actually usually the tube to the top of the atmosphere to carry the cosmic rays down.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by WATER. JUST PLAIN WATER. NOTHING DONE TO IT, JUST PLAIN WATER. POSSIBLY DRINKABLE. - Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic seems to be a diagram of how well water is purified, a common procedure done to make said water safe to drink. However, this well water is "purified" through a series of increasingly unnecessary, expensive, and possibly hazardous steps, ending with producing "pure" water synthesized from Hydrogen and Oxygen - before promptly undoing most of the work by re-adding raw well water "for taste and to support immune health".

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Step
!Real Device?
!Used for water purification?
!Explanation
|-
|Water softener
|{{Yes|Real}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{w|Water softening}} is the removal of calcium, magnesium, and certain other metal cations in hard water. The resulting soft water requires less soap for the same cleaning effort, as soap is not wasted bonding with calcium ions. Soft water also extends the lifetime of plumbing by reducing or eliminating scale build-up in pipes and fittings. The comic shows the water either being passed through some granulated material (presumably, {{w|ion-exchange resins}}) or into a precipitation chamber for lime (or soda ash) softening.
|-
|Reverse osmosis
|{{Yes|Real}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{w|Reverse osmosis}} is a common step used in modern water-purification systems. It relies on using osmotic membranes and high pressures to separate water molecules from dissolved solutes and biological substances. Interestingly, it would also act as a softening step, rendering the previous step potentially redundant, depending on the goals for each step. It's also overkill for most wells, as groundwater often needs treatment targeted to only a couple contaminants, if any treatment at all.
|-
|Ultraviolet Sterilization
|{{Yes|Real}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{w|Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation|Ultraviolet sterilization}} uses UV lamps at short wavelengths to damage the DNA and thereby kill micro-organisms in the water. In the USA, this is an unlikely method of well water sterilization, as the pathogens most likely to be found in well water (as opposed to surface water) are generally much more responsive to chemical disinfection. Many wells don't even need a disinfection step; whether this well needs disinfection or not, this is hardly the most impractical step in this treatment train.
|-
|Autoclave
|{{Yes|Real}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{w|Autoclaves}} are essentially large pressure cookers that sterilize items and liquids through exposing them to a high temperature (~120c) over tens of minutes in presence of water. By maintaining a high pressure, the boiling point of water goes up. This creates a very hot and humid atmosphere, making efficient heat transfer with all contents and inactivating all biological entities through this heat. They are commonly used in hospital and laboratory settings to sterilize plastics, glassware, equipment and solutions (like bottles of growth medium for bacteria) to be used in a sterile environment. The advantage of this method compared to dry heat (aka putting things in a 150-180c oven until they are sterile) is that most lab plastics survive a passage at 120c without melting. While difficult to streamline (as this technique is used for batches), it has the advantage over light-based methods that heat gets everywhere, and that instead of just damaging DNA, you also denature the proteins and other structures of microorganisms.
|-
|Condenser
|{{Yes|Real}}
|{{No}}
|This isn't a purification step, but rather condenses the steam generated by the autoclave back into water.
|-
|Regular osmosis
|{{Yes|Real}}
|{{No}}
|Regular osmosis (also known as "osmosis") is the tendency of substances dissolved in a solvent (like water) to flow through a semipermeable membrane. In this case, it would be adding contaminants back into the highly purified water.
|-
|X-Ray Sterilization
|{{Yes|Real}}
|{{No}}
|While {{w|Sterilization_(microbiology)#Ionizing_radiation_sterilization|X-ray Sterilization}} is used to sterilize equipment, it is not normally used for water.
|-
|Carbon Filter
|{{No|Fake}}
|{{No}}
|The water is passed through some volume of carbon. A riff on activated carbon filters, which are used in water filtration (seen later in the process).
|-
|Neutron Source
|{{Yes|Real}}
|{{No}}
|A {{w|neutron source}} generates high-energy neutrons. High-energy neutrons are highly penetrating and will cause ionization events to occur due to collision with atoms in the water. This can potentially make the water more radioactive due to the generation of radioactive isotopes.
|-
|Activated Carbon Filter
|{{Yes|Real}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{w|Activated carbon}} is a form of carbon commonly used to filter contaminants from water and air, as it has a large surface area available to adsorb impurities on its surface. While this isn't a strange step to see in a water purification process, Randall makes a pun here with its proximity to the neutron source - the carbon has been '{{w|Neutron activation|activated}}' by the neutron source, and is currently radioactive. Water filtered through this may pick up radioactive isotopes from the filter.
|-
|Gamma Ray Sterilization
|{{Yes|Real}}
|{{No}}
|Similar to x-ray sterilization, this step uses {{w|Sterilization (microbiology)#Ionizing radiation sterilization|gamma rays}} to sterilize the water. Gamma rays can potentially irradiate the water through photodisintegration if their energy is higher than the binding energy of oxygen.
|-
|Cosmic Ray Sterilization
|{{No|Fake}}
|{{No}}
|Similar to the previous step, but this time using high energy {{w|cosmic rays}} to do so. This would be incredibly impractical, as cosmic rays are generally blocked by the atmosphere at high altitudes (as stated in the title text). Furthermore, their extremely high energy (shown to be in the exa-electron volt (10^18 eV) range) would cause multiple high-energy particles to be created on impact with the water molecules, irradiating the water significantly.
|-
|Electrolysis
|{{Yes|Real}}
|{{No}}
|The water is broken down into hydrogen and oxygen gas using an electric current. Assuming the gas outputs of this process are pure hydrogen and oxygen gas, this *would* be an extremely effective sterilization tactic, seeing as no known organism or water pollutant is entirely composed out of hydrogen or oxygen gas. Along with the next step, this step may be a misguided attempt to "take the water apart and clean each part individually". The hydrogen is sent to the ionizer, while the oxygen is sent to the oxygen spallation step.
|-
|Oxygen Spallation
|{{No|Fake}}
|{{No}}
|Almost all oxygen in existence was originally created via {{w|stellar nucleosynthesis}}. Now, in this step in the purification, the oxygen is apparently broken down back into hydrogen via a fictional form of {{w|Cosmic_ray_spallation|spallation}}. While spallation can form lighter nuclei from heavier ones, there is no known process to convert oxygen back down to hydrogen. It is unclear what happens to the neutrons present in the oxygen nuclei - whether they are removed, used to create hydrogen isotopes or allowed to decay into protons and electrons (the components of yet more hydrogen, when properly reintroduced). The hydrogen formed here is merged with the rest of the hydrogen before being sent to the ionizer.
|-
|Ionizer
|{{Yes|Real}}
|{{No}}
|The hydrogen output by the previous step is made into a plasma with free electrons and protons.
|-
|Quark-Gluon Plasma Chamber
|{{No|Fake}}
|{{No}}
|The plasma outputted from the previous step is further energized into a {{w|Quark–gluon plasma}}, such as the one found just after the Big Bang. This follows the theme of the previous steps, which all serve to break the water down into their elementary components. The incredible energies involved in doing so are unachievable by current technologies (current particle accelerators can form such a plasma for very short periods of time and involve a very small amount of matter), and serve to highlight the impracticality of this setup (alluded to in the title text). The energies would also result in formation of lepton pairs from energy, which is presumably where the electrons from the previous step ended up.
|-
|Hydrogenation
|{{Yes|Maybe?}}
|{{No}}
|This process converts the quark-gluon plasma outputted in the previous step into elemental hydrogen, reversing the previous two steps. Presumably, this is done via {{w|hadronization}} and {{w|recombination}}, however it is unclear how the {{w|baryon asymmetry}} needed to generate matter and not anti-matter is developed. In real life, {{w|hydrogenation}} is the process of adding hydrogen to unsaturated hydrocarbons. The resulting hydrogen is split into 2 streams leading into the Nucleosynthesis and Reverse Electrolysis steps.
|-
|Nucleosynthesis
|{{No|Fake}}
|{{No}}
|Part of the hydrogen produced in the previous step is converted into oxygen via 2 sub-processes. The hydrogen is first converted into helium and carbon, through a combination of the {{w|proton-proton chain}} and the {{w|CNO cycle}} as per the labels on the step. This helium and carbon are then converted into oxygen through the {{w|alpha process}}. This step may also involve the {{w|triple-alpha process}}, seeing that the alpha process is typically only applicable to converting carbon into heavier elements, owing to the lack of a stable element with eight nucleons. These steps normally occur in the cores of massive stars. It is not known how the oxygen is filtered from the extremely hot plasma of fusion products.
|-
|Reverse Electrolysis
|{{Yes|Real}}
|{{No}}
|This step is essentially a fuel cell, utilizing an electrochemical reaction to convert hydrogen and oxygen back into water and electricity.
|-
|Adding Well Water
|{{Yes|Real}}
|{{Yes}}
|A second pipe is linked to the first that simply feeds untreated well water into the pipes, partially undoing the entire process. Even if the well water is only a small portion of the faucet water, its presence has now made the now incredibly pure water impure. This act of putting well water into the faucet after treating it may be a riff on the cultural interest in "spring water" or "pure glacial water" that is said to have additional minerals or beneficial properties but is oftentimes not meaningfully distinct from properly treated tap water. "Local minerals and probiotics added" may be a reference to Coke's "Dasani" brand drinking water, which is purified by reverse osmosis, and then has a package of minerals added to create the flavor (pure water's actual lack of flavor can be perceived as an unpleasantly 'flat' flavor).

In addition, drinking only {{w|Tonicity|extremely hypotonic}} liquid intake can induce the body to expel more water than it took in (taking with it some essential minerals that are not being replaced) to try to maintain equilibreum of concentrations. This effect is not directly dangerous, but could exacurbate other deficiences in the long term and have the issues of greater than necessary liquid throughput than with 'normal' drinking water. The tendency for {{w|Sports drink#Categories|many 'sports' or 'health' drinks) to hype the term 'isotonic' is based upon the idea that an ideal concentration of solutes can be added, inbetween the opposing problems of having either too many ''or'' too few 'impurities'. The process does not include adding untreated (and presumedly untested/unquantified) ground water, which could carry pathogenic organisms and chemicals, and appears to have no mechanism for ensuring what ''might'' be an acceptable level of re-blending for the circumstances.

Alternatively, it may be that the level of purity achieved by this setup is so overkill, and the cost per liter processed so high, that it's simply more efficient to treat just enough of the water to dilute the rest of the water to acceptable levels of contaminants. For example, it's common to use a partial bypass to supply water to the shower, since shower water does not need to be potable. Also, some well water systems are clean enough to not need any treatment at all and can be used straight from the well, and some water systems are only slightly high in a single chemical contaminant that can be addressed by blending the water, either with treated water or another source (treated or untreated). Perhaps the treatment process led to enough radioactivity that blending with the original source was required to address radioligical contamination (either gross alpha radiation or specific radionuclides).
|}

The title text briefly covers the cost implications of the components. Various 'real' filter elements will either have material or energy costs (if not both), in operation or to replenish their effectiveness, and the high energy input needed to disassociate hadrons into raw quark–gluon plasma (at bulk levels) would seem to require the most in terms of running the equipment. But it is pointed out that to ''ensure'' enough cosmic rays reach that particular phase of sterilization, there would have to be a pipe (not shown) leading out to the edge of the atmosphere to optimistically carry down such particles (due to also containing ''no'' air, i.e. keeping it out to negate the normal {{w|Air shower (physics)|shielding and dissipating effect}} of the atmosphere).

Whether a one-off-cost or needing regular replacement, the setting up of such a tubular structure (a vertical air-proof pipe perhaps somewhere between 100 and 10,000 kilometres high) would be technically challenging and has not ever been actually accomplished. The conditions for a quark–gluon plasma, albeit in limited quantities, at least have been fulfilled at {{w|CERN}} (with its 27 kilometer airless pipe that goes round within a vast circular tunnel).

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

:[Header:]
:How Water Filtration Works

:[A system of various devices between water pipes is shown.]
:[Input:]
:Well water
:[Labels of various devices:]
:Water softener
:Reverse osmosis
:Ultraviolet sterilization
:Autoclave
:Condenser
:Regular osmosis
:X-ray sterilization
:Carbon filter
:Neutron source
:Activated carbon filter
:Gamma ray sterilization
:Cosmic ray sterilization
:Electrolysis
:Oxygen spallation
:Ionizer
:Quark-gluon plasma chamber
:Hydrogenation
:Nucleosynthesis
:Reverse electrolysis
:[Output after devices:]
:Pure water
:[Second input, mixed with pure water:]
:Well water
:[Label:]
:Local minerals and probiotics added for taste and to support immune health
:[Final output:]
:To faucet

{{comic discussion}}

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

User talk:42.book.addict

2024-09-06T19:37:39Z

172.70.160.231: /* OK buddy */ new section

== introductions ==
Just replying to your message (also dw no big deal for bothering me)
You click on your username and there should be an edit box. --[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 04:58, 7 February 2024 (UTC)
:it says that i dont have permission to create the page…
: There is currently no text in this page. You can search for this page title in other pages, or search the related logs, but you do not have permission to create this page. it says [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 19:33, 7 February 2024 (UTC)

I think you might have to wait some time (like a timer) until you can edit your own page... I think I only got to edit my page after 1 month of creating my account.--[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 21:31, 7 February 2024 (UTC)
:ok, thx [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 21:52, 7 February 2024 (UTC)

My guess on where you live is somewhere in the GMT zone, so United Kingdom.--[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 03:43, 8 February 2024 (UTC)
:nope, im a california girl :)

lol you never know with utc times --[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 16:52, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

== citation needed tips==
You seem to be taking to heart the punctuation-before-the-Citation-needed standard (which is good, only sometimes it's even more complicated{{Citation needed}}),{{Citation needed}} but I see you recased an example of {{template|citation needed}} to {{template|Citation Needed}}, earlier. Now, it doesn't really matter because there are templates for "citation needed" and "Citation Needed". And also "cn" plus "fact" for the really lazy editors. ;) Anyway, all of these (maybe more, I'd have to check) redirect to the ''main'' "Citation needed" one. (Reflected in {{template|Actual citation needed}}, where "actual citation needed" ''plus'' "acn" redirect there, although {{template|Actual Citation Needed}} - "for completeness" - is actually a 'copy' template in its own right.) I wouldn't bother ''only'' changing various CN variations to "Citation needed"s (there ''is'' also a {{template|Citation neededs}}, but that's a '''s'''truckthrough version of "Citation needed" rather than an ungrammatical "Citation''s'' needed"!), but if you're already editing anything else, it would not at all hurt to get everything to capital-C small-n version. It gives the server ''very very slightly'' less work to do. ;) Probably. Not that it matters. But, as you seem to be a 'details person', I thought I'd pass on a detail you may not have already known... :p [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.156|172.69.195.156]] 02:11, 27 February 2024 (UTC)
:You have not read the above (properly, at least). The {{template|Citation needed}} is the 'proper' one (for xkcd version of 'proper'), whilst {{template|cn}} is a lazy version that redirects. There's no reason at all to change "Citation needed" to "cn". (Not much reason to change the other way, either, but could be justified if one is editing something else..)
:I reverted the one where you made the "SIGHTation needed" into a CN, as that was clearly a deliberate variation by some past wag. No point changing it to the (not-quite-)standard one. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.115|172.69.194.115]] 17:31, 27 February 2024 (UTC)
::Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t read your message until now. I’ll start using “Citation needed” instead of cn. Thanks for the heads up! [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 17:35, 27 February 2024 (UTC)
:::And if you expect me to reply to you immediately, sorry! I’m at school right now, and it’s completely impractical to be listening to a lecture and editing ExplainXKCD at the same time. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 17:35, 27 February 2024 (UTC)
::::No worries. I was busy myself, and already a bit slow to jump in and let you know, just knowing you'd probably see the above better/sooner than a revert-edit summary. ;)
::::Functionally, all identical. Just the practical need for it was balanced the other way. Can't fault you for identifying the need to shift the punctuation. (I may do that in passing, with some other edit in mind... had to specifically redo it on the reverted SIGHTation article, i.e. on the true Citation one that was wrong, because I'd meant to keep ''that'' valid change but got distracted by a phone-call...)
::::Anyway, welcome to the community, I just hope you do more helpful things than troublesome ones. (Heck, I still hope *I* do that, even after a number of years. ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.207|172.71.242.207]] 18:00, 27 February 2024 (UTC)
:::::thanks! (btw, are you saying that my edits are troublesome?) [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 18:01, 27 February 2024 (UTC)
::::::Well, I wasn't. Just hoping that (through errors/misunderstandings) you still end up on the right side of trouble/not-trouble, on average. But just would like to point out that creating Jupitale's home page was ''not'' a good move. See [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:Jupitale&oldid=335943 my edited comment]. I'm willing to believe you did it accidentally (visited their non-existing page, thus ended up creating it), and some mod or other may be along to clean it up at some point. Before or after that whole login is 'looked sternly at'. But shouldn't concern you if you're just being helpful and don't do too much of that. Anyway, enjoy your time here. (Not ''too'' much, obviously. Y'know, do your scholwork/don't vandalise wikis/all the other usual social necessities. :p ) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.220|172.71.242.220]] 18:20, 27 February 2024 (UTC)
:::::::oh shit ok I didn’t realise that Jupidale’s was a vandal ill be more mindful [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 18:30, 27 February 2024 (UTC)
::::::::My homepage is now fine thank you very much [[User:Jupitale|Jupitale]] ([[User talk:Jupitale|talk]]) 18:34, 11 March 2024 (UTC)

== New User and User Talk pages ==

You're trying to be helpful, but... Anyone who ''really'' wants them will probably ask (or wait until they have page-creation rights themself). Looking at all the ones you've made for people, how many have even then been used (by the user concerned)? I suggest you don't need to create them, not even to un-redlink someone's [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?limit=50&title=Special%3AContributions&contribs=user&target=Cleonis&namespace=&tagfilter=&start=&end= comic discussion] .sig links. It's normally not a big concern, and there's enough people who can help out if someone actually asks for it when you're not paying attention.
 As for the rest of us: ironically, I slightly wanted to drop a note to a long-term user the other day. (Comparatively, i.e. that they've been around for a bit longer than yourself.) They didn't have a User Talk page, so I resorted to a different way of commenting. They can create their own pages, if they want (and, if I was a username myself, I definitely could have by now). Yet I definitely wouldn't consider it valid to give the whole historic userbase any such 'missing' user-spaces.
 I'm no authority on this matter, or even a 'real user' in any properly identifiable way, but please do consider my advice that comes from long but informal experience of this kind of matter. You're not the first eager new contributor to try to help out like this. And you're not the first to have made the odd error (giving a spam-only account a Welcoming page ...which thankfully never got used to further the spamming, the account seemingly abandoned by that point ''anyway''), but of course this was probably before you even started lurking here (certainly before your current username, perhaps even prior to any IP-only-editing you might have done before that). Heck, some 'helpful' people even created the occasional User and/or User Talk spaces for IPs (don't do that, either, it's at best neutrally useless - even from my own IP-wise perspective).
 You at least seem to be doing it from a genuinely helpful position. For that, I thank you, and maybe also some of those actual new users do (if they've notice. But maybe no more. Unasked for, at least? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.29|172.71.242.29]] 16:13, 11 March 2024 (UTC)
:postscript - even while I was writing this, it seems that one of the users who ''hadn't'' seemed to want to use their page actually went and did so. And, elsewhere, proclaimed they weren't vandalising any more. I leave it up to others to make judgements on what's happening there, and the timing with respect to other recent interactions, but still not being particular auspicious. Time will tell how this all turns out. Anyway, just to note this. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.29|172.70.90.29]] 16:29, 11 March 2024 (UTC) (Same contributor as above, regardless of what the IP may have changed to.)

== newline tips ==
Just a note from a perpetual observer about the newline thing.
:Using one or more : (at the start of a line) gives indents. If you are already indenting, then a simple newline and : (or multiple ::s, the same numbed as you were on) handles the textflow properly and ''renders'' it as a linefeed, rather than 'merely' a simple whitespace that continues. I'm doing that here.
;I can also use other markup, like the ; I used here...
:...but that's not how that is meant to be used, and...
;:...only lines up with "<nowiki>;:</nowiki>", in this case...
:;...and not with "<nowiki>:;</nowiki>" in this other. ;)
:Honestly, though, that's not what ; is to be used for. It's actually really more for ";Item:Definition of some kind", like:
;Item:Definition of some kind
:Though is often repurposed as ";Unofficial 'header' title", within Talk pages, that doesn't create a TOC entry. Just just so gou know. :p
:If you're writing at the 'zero indent' level, then a double-linefeed in the wikisource forces a line-break in the HTML, but it looks messy in viewing/re-editing the markup, so one way to avoid that is to invoke the <nowiki> </nowiki>, even in the middle of an actual wikisource line! (But that can be confusing, so don't do that without ''good'' reason.
:I also prefer to use "<nowiki> </nowiki>" (it adheres to standard non-container extensible HTML tag notation better) and like to put it at the ''start'' of the new line text rather than at the end of the old one's (but this is practically the same – I just find that seeing <nowiki> </nowiki>s at the start of every intended new line is easier to visually check than having them at random column positions according to the paragraph length that precedes it, hence it's my preference only).
:Another useful note is that when you're in a wikitable markup, the 'contents' of a cell can have linebreaks. Whether a line-started "|" or a successive midline "||" (trust me, when you're used to wikitabls markup, you'll know what I'm saying!), the ''very first'' newline in the wikisource is understood as a renderable newline (because it's not the "|"-at-start-of-line of the next column's cell, or the "|-" tween-line, otherwise expected), but you need to invoke any second, third, etc linebreaks with one or other of the br-tag/double-newline/etc methods. Otherwise it'll just be treated as whitespace and 'unwrap' into a continuous second-para. (As always, if in doubt use the Preview button, check it appears like you think it ought to.)
:But there's ''loads'' of different ways to wikimarkup various conceptual layouts, and all kinds of different styles that you could adopt. This is just a "the more you know..!" infodump, which may ''or may not'' be useful to relatively new editors like yourselves. So take note or ignore, or ignore until you suddenly realise you might need to know these things, then try to make sense of it. Or ''maybe'' I'll be around to answer further questions! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.11|172.70.86.11]] 20:34, 15 May 2024 (UTC)
::trying to process the infodump right now-but thank you! I’ll slowly process it. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 21:17, 15 May 2024 (UTC)

== Goddamn preview button ==

I always forget about that God damn preview button too :( [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 16:24, 16 May 2024 (UTC)
:hey, higher edit score tho! [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 16:26, 16 May 2024 (UTC)
::True.... Welp who needs the preview button anyway [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 16:38, 16 May 2024 (UTC)
:::Oh boiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii [[User:Z1mp0st0rz|The orange crewmate ඞ]] ([[User talk:Z1mp0st0rz|talk]]) 19:24, 16 May 2024 (UTC)

== Depends what you wanted to do... ==

Is the following what you intended? 
{{Userbox | border-c = #255 | border-s = 1 | info-s = 9 | id = [[File:trans_flag.png|45px]] | info = [[{{w|Transgender|This user is trans.}}]] | float = left }} 
{{clear}}...or is even the [[]] part not what you want?{{clear}}
{{Userbox | border-c = #255 | border-s = 1 | info-s = 9 | id = [[File:trans_flag.png|45px]] | info = {{w|Transgender|This user is trans.}} | float = left }} 
{{clear}}As brief a guide as I can manage:
*URL links use []. Although literal https://www.google.com will self-link without ''any'' wikimarkup, you probably don't want it to look like that most of the time.
** Just give the URL, as in <code><nowiki>[https://www.google.com]</nowiki></code>, to get a [https://www.google.com] (i.e. a reference number), not the best way to do it. It can be organised better with a 'References' section, but we don't do that here (they do on wikipedia, but usually with other bits to it.
** Better to give the URL and the text to use (after a space, a character that never appears raw in any proper URL). This can be <code><nowiki>[https://www.google.com Check It Out On Google!]</nowiki></code> or even <code><nowiki>[https://www.google.com https://www.microsoft.com (only kidding!)]</nowiki></code>, to give [https://www.google.com Check It Out On Google!] or [https://www.google.com https://www.microsoft.com (only kidding!)]... But perhaps best not to do the latter too much (I really didn't want to post that without the "(only kidding!)" part, in fact.)
*Internalised wikilinks use the [[]]s.
**Anything that can be found under the title, e.g. "2: Petit Trees (sketch)" (or, because of redirections, "2" and "Petit Trees (sketch)" go to the same spot, so <code><nowiki>[[2]], [[Petit Trees (sketch)]] and [[2: Petit Trees (sketch)]]</nowiki></code> gives you the literal links [[2]], [[Petit Trees (sketch)]] and [[2: Petit Trees (sketch)]]
**Or use <code><nowiki>[[2: Petit Trees (sketch)|that comic with the little trees]]</nowiki></code>, additional text separated by the 'pipe' symbol (i.e. "|"), to link to [[2: Petit Trees (sketch)|that comic with the little trees]]
**You can also link across to articles on other 'wikimedia family' sites, but I'm not going to try to summarise that, as the primary reason to do that is to go to an actual Wikipedia article, and there's a template set up to do that ''very'' nicely, already (and also a few other places, like Wiktionary, and some not-really-wikis with a similar philosphy like TVTropes). If in doubt, do it as a URL link ''or'' find a place where someone else has clearly markuped a link to the same site as you want to link to.
*So, anyway, Wikilink templates use the {{template|w}}-template, with one or two paramaters (pipe-separated). (It shortcuts the thing you'd maybe use [[]]s for
**Using <code><nowiki>{{w|article}}</nowiki></code> gives you a link to "{{w|Article}}" (it capitalises the first character, even if you don't)
**Using <code><nowiki>{{w|article|with alternate text}}</nowiki></code> gives you a link there but "{{w|article|with alternate text}}"
**If the article name has whitespace (or other 'URL-unfriendly' characters) in it, those characters in the URL (which you wouldn't want to use) will be rendered as something URL-friendly. The URL for "Whitespace (programming language)", for example, is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitespace_(programming_language) but you wouldn't normally use that so literally in any case, and definitely not when you can significanty shorten it with the {{template|w}} notation.
***What you can do is (without 'alternate link text') render it as <code><nowiki>{{w|Whitespace_(programming_language)}}</nowiki></code> - i.e. {{w|Whitespace_(programming_language)}} - but that's not nice to see 'rendered raw' when you ''want'' the spaces. You could give it alternate text via <code><nowiki>{{w|Whitespace_(programming_language)|Whitespace (programming language)}}</nowiki></code> to give {{w|Whitespace_(programming_language)|Whitespace (programming language)}} ...but that's wasteful and unnecessary.
***Instead, just do <code><nowiki>{{w|Whitespace (programming language)}}</nowiki></code> (that's the literal copy of the article's own page title, from the rendered page) - and shows as {{w|Whitespace (programming language)}} - which is good. Although <code><nowiki>{{w|Whitespace (programming language)|the programming language called Whitespace}}</nowiki></code> might be the best way to seemlessly link to {{w|Whitespace (programming language)|the programming language called Whitespace}} ...depends what you want to appear there.
***And you can link to header anchors pretty much ''like'' the URL of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitespace_(programming_language)#History by using <code><nowiki>{{w|Whitespace (programming language)#History|the history of Whitespace}}</nowiki></code> to have you show {{w|Whitespace (programming language)#History|the history of Whitespace}} or whatever else you might want to use.
**Also, for the use of a link which is singular but which you would like to include as the plural (usually the "...s" or "...es" version), you could use article-name first parameter and ''pluralised'' article name as second, but instead of <code><nowiki>{{w|Plural|Plurals}}</nowiki></code>, for a link to the {{w|Plural|Plurals}}, you can save yourself a lot of effort by doing <code><nowiki>{{w|Plural}}s</nowiki></code> to also give you a linke to {{w|Plural}}s. Magic, eh? And it also works with <code><nowiki>{{w|Ox}}en</nowiki></code> to link the different standard plural of {{w|Ox}}en to the article for "Ox" (better than linking to the word for {{w|Oxen}}, which ends up redirecting to {{w|Ox}} anyway).
...so, anyway, that's the basics. And a few not-so-basics. So if the solutions to your tagging issue aren't already solved (or even if they are!), you might have enough info here to kludge it into whatever form of infobox info text you ''really'' wanted to use. Ok? Probably far too much info for you to absorb in one go, but covers loads of interesting possibilities. About the only thing you don't want to do is wikilink straight to the word "trans", at that'll be a disambiguation page. And there's also no way (or reason?) to use the terms "trans man"/"trans woman" as the pluralised "trans men"/"trans women" versions via the "directly add the plural suffix" thing, of course. :P Anyway, FYI. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.38.217|162.158.38.217]] 20:40, 25 May 2024 (UTC)
::oh my god thank you so much [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 19:38, 27 May 2024 (UTC)

== gold (Gold) ==

You do know that we don't have a redirect specifically for "gold", right? We have one for "Gold". And if you search for "gold" you get sent to "[[2826: Gold]]" ''anyway''. Why would we need a "[[gold]]"->"2826: Gold" redirect as well as "[[Gold]]"->"2826: Gold"? Ok, so that "gold" link is red-texted, but you always have the option to relink with alternate text like "[[Gold|gold]]" if you absolutely must use it wrongly-cased. So, the next question is why you'd want to write [[cueball]] or [[hairbun]] links instead of [[Cueball]] or [[Hairbun]]. Either you mean their 'proper names', in which case you're supposed to capitalise them, or you're not refering to the characters but the general {{w|hairbun|hairstyle}} or {{w|cueball|snooker/pool/billiards ball}}, which means you don't want to link to the character at all. ...anyway, someone's re-added the intent-to-delete, but I thought I'd suggest why humouring wrong-cased 'fallback' redirects doesn't really help, since there are subtleties you may not have appreciated. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.206|172.69.194.206]] 00:09, 2 July 2024 (UTC)

== Testing e-mail alerts ==

Hi 42.book.addict 
As promised in my [[User_talk:Kynde#Setting_up_emails|reply here]] I would post a note here to see if you actually got an e-mail alert even though your e-mail doesn't seem to be confirmed. My guess is you do not... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 06:30, 22 August 2024 (UTC)

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" data-expandtext="old squabbles.">

== What are your thoughts on the Soviet Union? ==

Alright, who the FUCK added a Soviet flag to my talk page? BTW, thanks to Asdf for reverting it. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 20:26, 1 March 2024 (UTC)
:It's one of the occasional vandalisers. Don't worry, we generally pick these things up.
:As far as your noticing the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1156:_Conditioning&oldid=336318 fox-instead-of-pope] vandalism, we also pick that up (I reverted it the previous two times). You'll work out how to use the Undo functionality, at some time, but maybe you'll want to also check the page histories to see what recent edits a page might have been through, note what has been done (for good or ill) and get some more idea of what happens and how we generally handle these things. All a learning process, of course! [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.55|172.71.178.55]] 20:50, 1 March 2024 (UTC)
::Thank you! [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 20:51, 1 March 2024 (UTC)

Hi! What do you think about the USSR? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.37|108.162.245.37]] 00:18, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
:oh, uh, it was oppressive, absolutely authoritarian, and cold. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 00:32, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
::but, why, though? [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 00:32, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
:::oh, and if i think that I’m going to listen to you anymore now that I’ve realised that you’re a troll, then you are mistaken [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 00:35, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
::::btw please stop adding soviet flags everywhere. They’re disruptive, unnecessary, and you’re just being an asshole and douchebag [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 00:36, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
:::::btw I'm the crap spammer [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.80|172.71.147.80]] 00:53, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
::::::that’s not really something to brag about… [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 00:53, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
:::::::I don't think you were here for the crap spam; it was quite extensive [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.79|172.71.147.79]] 00:55, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
::::::::even if I wasn’t here for the crap spam, i think that you are an motherfucker who doesnt have a life, needs to GET a life, and should really stop spamming and disrupting this wiki. Please go fuck yourself, jump off a bridge, and set yourself on fire if you still are defiant. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 00:56, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
:::::::::Okay, I'll follow the wiki part of your advice, but not the bridge part. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.79|172.71.147.79]] 00:58, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
::::::::::THANK YOU! Also, i only said to jump off a bridge if you refuse to get a life [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 00:58, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
:::::::::::You're welcome. I'll look for ways to contribute constructively. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.80|172.71.147.80]] 01:01, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
:::::::::::tbh this has been one of the less bad things I've done; the crapping was way worse [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.80|172.71.147.80]] 01:07, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
::::::::::::i have no idea why you’re still bragging about how you were so good at vandalising this wiki before[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 01:07, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
::::::::::::: okay why are there so many colons on this thread premium chromium both Cote'di Ivore and Suriname look like potato wedges I will fill out by saying JACKSEPICYOUTUBECHANNELFULLOFFUNTIMESANDHIRICKX turdboiturdboiturdboi69420 {{unsigned|Jupitale|18:29, 11 March 2024}}

== Editing other people's talk pages ==

'''42.book.addict''': ''Respectfully but firmly'': If you don't like the way I manage my talk page, please feel free to leave me a message saying so. But it is '''grossly inappropriate''' for you take matters into your own hands and make a major reversion or mass edit to another person's talk page that is anything other than adding a message to them. If you don't like how I run my talk page, complain somewhere else, but '''get off my lawn.''' It sounds like you are grossly unfamiliar with MediaWiki etiquette. Go check how it works on Wikipedia (there are not a lot of great examples here). But until then, again: '''GET OFF MY LAWN''' and '''do not revert edits to my talk page.''' Thank you. [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 03:20, 18 May 2024 (UTC) 
:oh, so you say? [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 04:08, 18 May 2024 (UTC) 
[[File:Screen_Shot_2024-05-09_at_7.04.03_PM.png]]
[[File:wikipedia_talk_page_guidelines.png]]
::if you really want to, archive it. or ask for permission to delete the comments from the original author. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 04:18, 18 May 2024 (UTC)
:::Yeah kinda argree

'''42.book.addict''':You seem confused. Is this a "throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks" situation? Let's start with the {{w|WP:TPG|Wikipedia Talk Page Guidelines}} that you cite in the second screenshot, because they are clear and unambiguous. First of all, "deletion" is not the same as clearing the page—not even close. And if you read the section, it is short, and its beginning pertinent and clear: "''¶ The length of user talk pages, and the need for archiving, is left up to each editor's own discretion. ¶ Although archiving is preferred, users may freely remove comments from ''their'' own talk pages. Users may also remove some content in archiving.''"

That is, I am fully authorized to exercise my own discretion on my own talk page.
And as for archiving, this is a place where this wiki differs from enwiki. We don't have an active archiving culture, with archiving bots. Nor do we need it, because our volumes are so low. The history is not so difficult to pull out. But it matters not — I am free to clear out and blank my own talk page on the English wikipedia, and certainly here.

Moving on to your example from [[:User talk:Netherin5]], it is a different situation, and it is in tension with the clear WP:TPG guidelines quoted above. I'd go so far as to say the [[:User:Dgbrt]] was wrong in their absolute statement "must never be blanked," but what was really going on was that Netherin5 had vandalism on their user page, Dgbrt left them a note on their talk page suggesting they blank it, and Netherin5 blanked the talk page not the user page, and Dgbrt advised Netherin5 that's not what Dgbrt meant. In context, I think Dgbrt's statement was fine, but it wasn't actually correct or proper. Needless to say, this matters not. Even if you and Dgbrt both disagree with me, and even if you were somehow right according to some arbitration process, you still don't get to go and make the changes to my talk page yourself. You get to ask, and if you don't like how I respond, you can raise it up to an administrator or something. But you aren't right. Users are entitled to clear their talk pages.

As for your late-added addition: no. I am not going to ask permission from some IP author (who cannot reasonably reached!) to remove their text from my talk page. Although they explicitly granted it in their message anyhow (unnecessarily!). Nor would I ask the named user who accidently posted on my own page in error. Not necessary to do either of those things. Because, again, it's my talk page and I will manage it as I see fit. If you would like to make suggestions, feel free, but don't take it into your own hands, that is inappropriate and wrong. Thank you. [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 04:30, 18 May 2024 (UTC)
:For note, I'm that IP. (Unprovably so, I know; one of the very few disadvantages of remaining untied to a user handle all this time.) I judged my ''own'' contribution to be excessively superfluous (once the point I was making was made) and said so. Being just a conversation between me and the 'page owner', then I offered to let them delete it when it was observed. Whether or not [[2932: Driving PSA|that was wise or helpful]]... ;)
:Once it starts involving more people, then it gets tricky, but generally I'd consider the User Talk 'owner' as having the final word over their own whole User Talk page (new editing rights to anyone, editing rights (within reason, typos/honest errors/etc) only to past contributions by such a contributor (i.e. no correcting others' mistakes) and major edits like reorganising (e.g. top-posting to bottom-/followon-posting, indenting, adjusting headers) or indeed discarding what is past its sell-by-date for whatever reason is justifiable (for malicious contributions, immediate squashing, including back-tracking any malicious and unfounded re-editing). (And, obviously IP User-Talks cannot really be 'claimed' or 'governed', so is potentially the worst of all worlds).
:The simple (non-Talk) User page-spaces I would say have ''very'' few reasons to be edited by anyone other than the 'owner' (primarily, as a fall-back if there is a User page but no User Talk page to make a directed comment upon!) and the owner gets to decide everything (within moderatable/administrable limitations, naturally).
:The (regular article) Talk pages have no owner to moderate them, so there's a few more rights by all the non-owners (logical rearrangements, adding in of missing signatures; importantly ''not'' correcting others' typos) although in the case of actual vandalism/etc (including undue editing of others' comments) then reversion/excising rights are there for the taking by whoever can deal with it.
:Beyond that, it's free-for-all 'improve or modify as you see fit' (as long as it is without malice!) around much of the rest of the wiki (the major exceptions being Community Portal pages to follow the regular Talk page examples, naturally).
:...anyway, to this loose 'ideal', and knowing that there's a(n almost) permanent record of historic changes, one can probably defer to the user for all bits of their User-spaces, but there are always going to be exceptions to this. And opportunities for a tussle. Now, John's got almost the same vintage here as myself (again, unprovably, but I've been semi-lurking/IP-posting here a ''lot'') and I've seen 42 gradually develop from newbie into the eager and eager-to-learn fresh face as they are now - including helping inform an even more recent newbie, recently. ;)
:Ultimately, it's community standards that are going to lead things. Developing concensus probably being more important than even other-Wikis' official standards, as I think there's room for flexibility of opinion. So long as there's no slide into either anarchy or totalitarianism. (And I'm not even sure I know which way round the two 'opposing' views here would represent, though then only if taken to their own particularly absurd extremes). Ideological disagreements are healthy, as long as they don't become outright arguments. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.230.46|162.158.230.46]] 18:43, 18 May 2024 (UTC)
::noted. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 00:10, 19 May 2024 (UTC)

== Z1M argument ==
Will you please leave my user discussion alone? It's getting annoying [[User:Z1mp0st0rz|Z1mp0st0rz]] ([[User talk:Z1mp0st0rz|talk]]) 20:33, 24 April 2024 (UTC)
:my comments have a right to exist. plus, i do have a valid point. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 20:37, 24 April 2024 (UTC)
::As author of the other advice, I have to say I don't mind if Z1m reads it, learns it and deletes it. If it gets deleted again, don't worry about it. Although I've had to correct (or complete) Z1m's 'unsigned' edits several times since I passed on the (too?) thorough instructions, so not sure the learning bit has yet happened. And I happen to agree with you, 42, on the other issue.
::I applaud good-faith edits of all kinds, but perhaps lurk more and learn more, Z1m, ok? Just for the time being. I don't want to pollute these pages with arguments, though, so I'll say no more. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.48|172.70.90.48]] 22:16, 24 April 2024 (UTC)
:::Fine, now please leave my user page alone, 42. Otherwise imma spam Uk flags[[User:Z1mp0st0rz|Z1mp0st0rz]] ([[User talk:Z1mp0st0rz|talk]]) 17:25, 29 April 2024 (UTC)
::::spam my talk page with UK flags, and i will have you promptly banned. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 18:00, 29 April 2024 (UTC)
::::::fine imma ask a admin to block us from each other so this doesn't happen again. happy?

==Official Apology==
From: Z1m

To: 42

Listen, I'm sorry for everything, 42. We all make mistakes sometimes, and I think the safest course of action so neither of us gets banned is to either leave each other alone or just say nice things to each other. 
I'm aware it's the Internet, and what I said can't be taken back (unless I delete it). 
But really, I'm sorry. 
To change the subject though, I'm glad I found someone who (used to) read Artemis Fowl! Maybe we can trade favorite book titles sometime! :)
[[User:Z1mp0st0rz|The orange crewmate ඞ]] ([[User talk:Z1mp0st0rz|talk]]) 14:34, 2 May 2024 (UTC) 
P.S: Click on the signature

P.P.S: I say D'Arvit all the time lol
:sort of ironic how someone who says that they like all xkcd comics “except for the ones with swearwords” and yet allegedly says d’arvit “all the time”
[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 21:31, 2 May 2024 (UTC)
::42, Z1m just apologized, and thats how you respond? With some passive agresive bullshit. Really?? [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 22:42, 2 May 2024 (UTC)
:I consider it different cuz its in gnommish. don't think it even has a meaning. [[User:Z1mp0st0rz|The orange crewmate ඞ]] ([[User talk:Z1mp0st0rz|talk]]) 14:30, 3 May 2024 (UTC)

== Possible Vandalism!==
Alright, 42, this has gone too far. It's my talk page and I have a right to choose what to keep and what to toss. I already apologized, and you replied with some passive-aggressive garbage. I have no regret saying the following: 
YOU ARE OFFICIALLY BANNED FROM MY TALK PAGE. 
I don't know why you're being a jerk at me, and I don't like it. So get off my talk page! 
I also don't know if you should even say this sort of stuff. People have <str> FEELINGS. </str> 
And you put in this screenshot of something I already know? 
Being mean hurts people... 
But I'm real good at being the bigger person. 
I know what to do. 
You 
are 
a 
jerk. 
Good riddance. 
Signed, Z1m 
PS: I didn't sign with <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> so that you couldn't get into my talk page. So there >;)
:instead of deleting it, just fucking toss it to the bottom. you can’t ban people from your talk page. you can give advice, but you can’t force people to follow your “rules”. your behaviour is going against what Wikipedia and ExplainXKCD stand for. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 20:07, 13 May 2024 (UTC)
::oh, and acc, thx for teaching me how to separate lines of text. Actually. Thank you. No sarcasm. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 20:15, 13 May 2024 (UTC)

==Hi==
Hello 42, I'm glad we made up. We clearly both have some things to work on, but at least we're putting our grudges behind us. 
Yeah, I'm glad you learned how to separate sentences with <nowiki> </nowiki> instead of <nowiki> : </nowiki>. 
Anyway, how are you doing? What's it like in California? 
Wanna trade favorite books sometime? 
You don't have to look at this, just checking in after that truce. 
Hope you have a good day :) 
-Z1m

==Favorite Stuff?==
Since we made up, I thought we should get to know each other. 
You can see what my favorite stuff is on my user page, 
but I wanna know some of your interests. 
Also yeah sorry again :)
[[User:Z1mp0st0rz|The orange crewmate ඞ]] ([[User talk:Z1mp0st0rz|talk]]) 15:41, 16 May 2024 (UTC)

</div>

== Navbox addition ==

I can't edit it (must be semi-protected), but your good catch of adding Harris to the list really needs to be shifted over one position, Kamala being alphabetically after John. Or you could always rearrange the whole lot of politicians in a different order, like chronologically. Or from "left" to "right", or vice-versa, which is clearly not the case with Adolf Hitler and Ron Paul at either end. ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.251|172.70.160.251]] 00:31, 4 September 2024 (UTC)
:Cheers! (And really editing to say that I should have said Ronald Reagan, above, but it doesn't really change my humorous point all that much. :p ) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.82|141.101.98.82]] 01:46, 4 September 2024 (UTC)

== OK buddy ==

are you a Zionist or nah

[[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.231|172.70.160.231]] 19:37, 6 September 2024 (UTC)

1342: Ancient Stars

2024-09-01T09:09:00Z

172.70.160.231: /* Explanation */ Slightly disambiguate the "blink of an eye (in cosmic terms)", although of course with T=T0.root(1-v²/c²) one could argue that no eye need even bl8nk, if it is going that fast. And added "previous POTUS" exceptions, for certain times.

{{comic
| number = 1342
| date = March 14, 2014
| title = Ancient Stars
| image = ancient_stars.png
| titletext = 'The light from those millions of stars you see is probably many thousands of years old' is a rare example of laypeople substantially OVERestimating astronomical numbers.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] makes the common observation that many of the visible stars in the sky are so distant that it takes thousands of years for light from that star to reach Earth. However, the brightest star {{W|Sirius}} is one of the nearest at a mere 8.6 {{W|Light-year|light-years}} distance. In other words, the light that was arriving from Sirius in March 2014, when the comic was posted, was emitted some time around August 2005. The previous US president, {{W|George W. Bush}}, was in office from 2001 to 2009 and [[Megan]] notes that this isn't a terribly impressive observation. At certain times (mostly when the previous US president served only a single term, but also for a short time after the inauguration of a new president), looking to events of 8.6 years ago would stretch ''beyond'' just the prior administration, but even two ({{w|Ronald Reagan|rarely}} being {{w|Richard Nixon|three}}, or {{w|Grover Cleveland#First presidency (1885–1889)|possibly}} even {{w|Ulysses S. Grant|more}}) predecessors ago would not be considered impressive in the circumstances.

The title text references the fact that most people have a hard time imagining the large scale of astronomical numbers. For example, the distance between astronomical bodies or the size of the Sun are hard to imagine; they typically underestimate them by many orders of magnitude and think they are much smaller than they actually are. See {{tvtropes|SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale|Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale}}

In this case, however, people instead overestimate both the number of visible stars and their distance by quite a bit. This could be a result of underestimating the speed of light, which is rather fast. Even though stars are incredibly far away (Sirius' 8.6ly translates to over 80 trillion kilometers), light is so fast that it can crosses those distances as fast as anything can (a relative blink in the eye, for the ''nearest'' of these vast distances). This underestimate of light results in an overestimate of the time it takes for light to reach us.

It's frequently cited that about 5,000 to 10,000 stars are visible in the sky by the naked eye. The {{W|Bright Star Catalogue}} is a star catalogue that lists all stars of {{W|apparent magnitude}} 6.5 or brighter, which is roughly every star visible to the naked eye from Earth. The catalog contains 9,110 objects, of which 9,096 are stars, ten are {{w|Nova|novae}} or {{w|supernovae}}, and four objects outside of our Milky Way (two {{w|globular cluster}}s and two {{w|open cluster}}s). To see most of these you need good eyes and a very dark night, and at any point you will only be able to see fewer than half of these as the rest are blocked by the Earth.

This list shows the {{W|Visible stars|91 brightest stars}}. Of these 59 are more than 100 light years away and only 6 are more than 1,000 light years away. The farthest on this list, {{W|Eta Canis Majoris|Aludra}}, is "only" 3,200 light years away. Our entire {{w|Milky Way}} contains up to 400 billion (400x10⁹) stars and has a diameter of 100,000 light years.

There are visible objects much farther away, like the {{w|Andromeda Galaxy}} which is 2.5 million light years away and made up of billions of stars. And a gamma ray burst {{w|GRB 080319B}} would have been briefly visible to the naked eye, despite being 7.5 billion light years distant.

See also [[1212: Interstellar Memes]], [[1644: Stargazing]] and [[1440: Geese]].

==Transcript==
:All of the panels of this comic are white-on-black.

:[Megan and Cueball stand facing each other, looking up at the sky.]
:Cueball: Just think - the light from that star was emitted thousands of years ago. It could be long gone.

:[Cueball looks at Megan, who is still looking up.]
:Megan: That's Sirius. It's eight light-years away.

:[Cueball looks up again.]
:Cueball: Oh.

:[Both look at one another.]
:Cueball: Just think - the light from that star was emitted in the previous presidential administration.
:Megan: Hmm, doesn't pack quite the punch.

==Trivia==
*The star {{W|List of stars in Cassiopeia|V762 Cas}} in the {{W|Cassiopeia (constellation)|Cassiopeia constellation}} is listed as being 14818 light years away and still having an {{W|apparent magnitude}} of 5.87 - thus being within the visible 6.5 limit. If Cueball had been able to point this star out, he would have been correct. But it is only visible under perfect conditions.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]

Talk:2978: Stranded

2024-08-30T08:01:16Z

172.70.160.231:

This reminds me of the apocryphal UK newspaper headline (sometimes claimed to be The Times in 1957): "Fog in (the English) Channel - Continent Cut Off"
See e.g. https://www.quora.com/Is-the-famous-headline-Fog-in-Channel-Continent-Cut-Off-an-urban-myth

It gets worse, SpaceX's Falcon 9 is grounded too: [https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/spacexs-falcon-9-grounded-after-failing-landing-attempt-2024-08-28/ SpaceX's Falcon 9 grounded after failing landing attempt]:
:{{quote|Falcon 9 is also due to launch two NASA astronauts in late September on a Crew Dragon spacecraft that will bring home next year the two astronauts who have been stuck on the International Space Station after riding Boeing's troubled Starliner spacecraft. NASA regulates Falcon 9 for its own missions. It was not immediately clear how the rocket's latest grounding will affect that NASA mission. The U.S. space agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.}}
Here's hoping those guys like the view. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.166.165|172.71.166.165]] 20:48, 28 August 2024 (UTC)

I was going to add something about how the people on Earth not being alone may not be a benefit, considering all the political division and wars going on down here. But I think that's too much editorializing for an explanation. But we can say what we like in the comments. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:18, 28 August 2024 (UTC)

I just noticed that howmanypeopleareinspacerightnow.com doesn't list Wilmore and Williams. [[User:RegularSizedGuy|RegularSizedGuy]] ([[User talk:RegularSizedGuy|talk]]) 22:13, 28 August 2024 (UTC)
:But it lists people who got back in July 2022, so I'd say it's not kept up to date....
:--[[Special:Contributions/188.114.102.116|188.114.102.116]] 22:19, 28 August 2024 (UTC)

wow this is JUST like the jevil  [[Special:Contributions/172.69.64.184|172.69.64.184]] 23:16, 28 August 2024 (UTC)Bumpf

The transcript currently includes the statement “There's an elliptical window through which they can see the planet below”. Analysing the image carefully, that’s clearly correct - but at first, second and third glance I can’t help but see it as a circular porthole on an isometric view of a non-existent bulkhead on the left… I guess I’m just conditioned to expect things at ~30 degree angles to be isometric, rather than “floating in space”… [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.83|172.69.194.83]] 07:06, 29 August 2024 (UTC)
:In a few moments, I'm going to change it to "large round". Roundedness does not admit to (nor deny) circularity, so covers any orientation of the bulkhead (also not sure what you mean by "non-existent", as the whole greebled wall you see is the probably-at-an-angle outer bulkhead).
:It is also ''very'' large, in keeping with xkcd's illustrative fiction (bigger, but more believably non-cornered than [[2906: Earth]], if that's supposed to be a window/porthole; a variety seen looked out of in [[865: Nanobots]]; I recall at least one other with a large window, but can't recall the circumstances at the moment). Noting that the ISS's {{w|Cupola (ISS module)|cupola}} is probably the most "windowy window" actually in use, due to practical concerns that I'm sure we'd all have about a huge (necessarily thick) spread of 'glass' that's needed in this sort of scene for aesthetic reasons.
:Not as bad as "Hollywood"-type submersible picture-windows, of course. You have to resist no more than one atmosphere of pressure, outwards, in space. You have to resist multiple atmosphere's of pressure, ''inwards'', at depth. A hemispherical bubble-end (or a symmetric slice of one) could be adopted from deep-sea applications, but the window would have to bulge inwards for best strength and safety purposes against the outwards pressure, making a more awkward method of viewing at all angles (and possibly distorting astronomical photographs in ways that reduce their convenient usefulness). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.218|141.101.99.218]] 12:04, 29 August 2024 (UTC)
::My point was that in the picture, I think there are 2 bulkheads - the main greebled wall facing us that contains the large oval window (the backdrop of a stage, if you like), and a small part of a second wall at an angle to the first visible at the right edge of the frame (stage left). We can assume that the narrow strip between the two is some kind of corner reinforcement, and there’s a rectangular greeble that changes shape as it goes around that corner, indicating this is probably not just some kind of vertical conduit. However, there is no 3rd bulkhead to stage right… the window is embedded in the main backdrop. My lazy viewing wants to interpret the large round window as being circular, in the stage right bulkhead - but there is no stage right bulkhead, we only have visibility of the backdrop and a fraction of stage left. Therefore, the original description of an oval window is spot-on… but deliberately or otherwise, the artist is messing with my head. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.18|172.70.85.18]] 07:01, 30 August 2024 (UTC)
:::It took a while to work out what you meant...
:::*You: The left-sweep of bulkhead is perpendicular to the camera, the 'greeble line' is a convex corner (pointing towards us) leading to a wall that goes away from us, at an angle that might have agreed with the 'circle at an angle' viewing angle.
:::*Me: Left-sweep is either fully or partly at that angle, agreeing with the window (and the edges of the window/wall-features, many of which have relief features that stand out in perspective to the left more than their rights)... it ''may'' subtly curve back to being camera-perpendicular as we reach the corner. The corner is concave, the 'stage right' wall past the greeble line heads back towards us, or at least less away. (Consistent with an internal bulkhead, separating another section of space-station, rather than an externally-flush one round a constructed corner. But could also be flush with a normal 'box corner' of the station.)
:::Note the corner-greeble's short tranverse curves that hint more at a low camera angle and a 90-degree angle (slightly flush 45-degree 'flat'ish attachment) rather than high angle and a 270-degree one (would have to wrap around as a corner protector).
:::But, as with all ambiguous perspectives, may depend on which way your eye 'snaps' to understanding it the first time. I had to 'unfocus/refocus’ to comprehend the opposite to my first impression (then I just needed to 'blink', mentally, to pop my internal visualisation across the divide). I probably picked up on the wall-features' innate angled perspective and that then let the rest fall into place. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.231|172.70.160.231]] 08:01, 30 August 2024 (UTC)

This is basically the plot of Seveneves [[Special:Contributions/162.158.33.196|162.158.33.196]] 08:58, 29 August 2024 (UTC)

I can see why they wanna stay in space today, and probably forever tbh [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.231|172.70.160.231]] 10:53, 29 August 2024 (UTC)

I'm fairly concerned that nobody else is concerned that the astronauts will die from 8 MONTHS in space. Unless I'm wrong, prolonged space stays usually lead to atrophy of pretty much every human organ due to the nonexistence of gravity, right? But they'll be there for 8 months... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.84|172.69.71.84]] 18:54, 29 August 2024 (UTC)
:they’ve had rigorous training, exercise for at least 2 hours a day on the ISS, and 8 months is nowhere close to the 437 day record for the longest stay in space [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 20:41, 29 August 2024 (UTC)

Ah ok, but still. To paraphrase Hitchhiker's "2 years is a long time to get stranded anywhere, especially somewhere as mind-bogglingly dull as the Earth". Change the variables and you get the point. At least they're probably fine [[Special:Contributions/172.71.22.167|172.71.22.167]] 21:15, 29 August 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2978: Stranded

2024-08-29T10:53:26Z

172.70.160.231: