explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

3074: Push Notifications

2025-04-10T15:49:18Z

172.70.163.71: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3074
| date = April 9, 2025
| title = Push Notifications
| image = push_notifications_2x.png
| imagesize = 277x347px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = NOTIFICATION: Now dismissing a head of the Notification Hydra… NOTIFICATION: Success! You have dismissed a head of the Notification Hydra! Different title text: :3
}}
To experience the interactivity of the game, visit the {{xkcd|1110|original comic}}.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Please write a better overall explanation and explain the other functions of the comic. If you see any comic images that haven't been uploaded yet, please download and add them! Also, a table might not be the most space-efficient way to display the different comic images; a gallery of imges might be better.}}
This interactive comic is the 15th [[:Category:April fools' comics|April Fools' Day]] comic released by Randall, just over a week late. It uses {{w|push notifications}} to change the comic image over time and make other statements. A table of notifications can be seen at [[3074: Push Notifications/Table of Notifications]].

After viewing the comic for the first time, there is a sequence of notifications rendered over the comic itself. After clicking through these, you are provided with two buttons: one labeled "Emergency Stop" which will halt all notifications, and one labeled "Silence notifications at a cost" which will silence notifications at the cost of notifying two random people.

If you press silence notifications too much the laptop blows up.

Notification types include:
* One asking you to select a word, with further notifications to be sent whenever someone chooses the same word as you. Following this up changes the comic pane to a comic-style input dialogue with a space for the word and a submit button.
** Upon providing a word, a notification informs you that you will then receive notifications (of the form "Someone else has selected the word <Your Word>!"), and that your choice is permanent and cannot be changed.
** It is entirely possible to (mis-)submit a blank word, and to receive "Someone else has selected the word !" notifications.
* A few starter notifications about this comic, the successful sending of a notification of this comic, and the lack of another comic.
* An announcement that an old comic was posted, specifying a comic and its publication date.
* A "streak" notification counting the number of times you've clicked it. The message changes every 10 clicks, and after 50 clicks there is an offer to make future clicks count twice, making this a simple version of {{w|Cookie Clicker}}. If you chooses to accept the offer by clicking on it, it will reset your clicks back to zero but makes all future clicks count double of the current click rate; you can also reject the offer by continuing to click on the click counter message. There are occasionally notifications encouraging you to keep clicking and "extend your streak," tempting you with "a free click to keep you going". After 400 clicks it will reset your clicks back to zero but makes all future clicks count four times. There will be new messages up to a total of at least 1000 clicks.
** Early notifications encourage further clicking.
** Approaching a hundred, the messages grow more concerned and later start warning that the server will crash or has crashed.
** Above 750: "Are you just doing this to annoy me?"
** 1000-2000: "Are you just doing this to annoy you?"
** Above 2000: "I guess it worked"
* A "have you seen my cat?" notification which spawns up to 7 clickable cats all over the comic (nonrandomly), including one on the edge of the Emergency Stop button.
* Cat fact notifications that appear when a cat is clicked, in reference to [https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/241/756/e6e.png this exchange].
* Various "erroneous errors" with a warning triangle, some with just flavor text, some corresponding to changes in the comic image.
** A "gravity malfunction" indicating a change to the floating image.
** An "Error 40¾" HTTP malfunction (with {{w|Zalgo text}} on the error code) indicating a change to the tentacle image.
** "I forgot whether I'm the server or the client."
** An error for not enough errors.
** An error for too many errors.
** A Kernel Panic indicating the Kernel can't remember what number comes after 38
** A notification claiming that your computer ballast needs emptying, along with the computer room being flooded
** "Your computer has encountered an error" indicating a change to the fire image.
** Error 418: {{w|Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol#Commands and replies|I'm a teapot}}.
** An error with the "computer size limiter", indicating the enlarged laptop image.
* "Zoom notifications" including numeric coordinates, sometimes prefixed with "oh look!"; plotting these coordinates creates an image that appears to be a turtle, apparently a reference to [[1416: Pixels]].
* "Constant reminders" stating what some constant will be "at the tone". (This is in reference to time-of-day phone services, largely obsolete since the popularization of the internet, which you could call to hear the exact time at a given tone.) There are also joke constants such as "your favorite number will be equal to 14," and some definitions are tautological or not related to the actual value of the constant. Constants include
** The silver ratio (1 + the square root of 2)
** The golden ratio (half of 1 + the square root of 5)
** Pi (the ratio between a circle's circumference and radius, and half of Tau)
** Zero (a real number)
** Your favorite number (14)
** The luminosity of the sun (L☉)
** {{w|Euler's constant}}
** "We are currently experiencing 3600±1 seconds per hour. Changes to this rate will be announced six months in advance." - Referencing {{w|Leap second#Procedure|standard Leap Second procedure}}
* A notification that offers to provide weather alerts for your location, which leads into a series of notifications asking whether you live in a named city. If none of the cities that it knows are selected, your location is set to the summit of {{w|Mount Washington}}.
* A reminder that the Earth spins at 1 rpd (rotation per day).
* A statement near an hour or half-hour time that the current time is five-o-clock somewhere.
* An invitation to subscribe to the "What if?" YouTube channel
* A notification with the heading "System Log" that reads (INFO): A user has paused notifications
* A reminder to comment and subscribe, leading to one of various Wikipedia pages, including: {{w|Talk:Mathematics}}, {{w|Talk:Romance}}, {{w|Talk:Language}}, (presumably, as the fourth of the stated topics [[xkcd]] is about) {{w|Talk:Sarcasm}}, {{w|Talk:Alarm_fatigue}}, {{w|Talk:Boneless}}, {{w|Talk:Sitting}}, {{w|Category talk:Unix text editors}}, {{w|Talk:Robot}}, {{w|Talk:Jamming avoidance response}}, {{w|Talk:Squircle}}, {{w|Talk:Like}}, {{w|Talk:Drafting linen}}, {{w|Talk:Hot dog}}, {{w|Talk:Goomba}}, {{w|Talk:Tidal locking}}, {{w|Talk:Multiple unit}}, {{w|Talk:Flag semaphore}}, {{w|Talk:Stoating}}, {{w|Talk:Roseate_spoonbill}}, {{w|Talk:Teleportation}}.
* A "{{w|Carriage return|Carriage Return}} Line Feed", referencing the Windows standard of storing line returns as a carriage return character followed by a line feed (newline) character. However, the xkcd Carriage Return Line Feed is instead a news feed concerning the next stop on a supposed "Carriage Return Line" of a train system. The announcements are all related to stations on the {{w|London Underground}}, including the use of the phrase "{{w|Mind the gap}}".

The title text references the {{w|Lernaean Hydra}}, a multi-headed serpent-like monster from Greek mythology. In many stories, such as {{w|Labours_of_Hercules#Second:_Lernaean_Hydra|the second labour of Hercules}}, when one of its heads was cut off, two heads would grow in its place, resulting in more heads than before. Something similar has happened in the title text itself: there was a notification that was requested to be dismissed, and it created two more notifications notifying the user of the status of the dismissal.

The subdirectory where the images and scripts for this comic are stored is titled 'marconi,' which is likely a reference to the Italian engineer and inventor of the same name, {{w|Guglielmo Marconi}}, who is credited with inventing the radio, and did much work in the field of early communication systems.

Clicking the "Emergency Stop" button allows you to either restart the full game or to subscribe just to notifications for new comics.

===Table of comic images===
{|class="wikitable sortable"
! Image !! Explanation
|-
| [[File:3074_normal.png|100px]] ||Cueball sitting at his desk, with his laptop.
|-
| [[File:3074_big_laptop.png|100px]] || Cueball sitting at his desk, with a very large laptop.
|-
| [[File:3074_plant_small.png|100px]] || Cueball sitting at his desk, with a small potted plant.
|-
| || Cueball sitting at his desk, with a squirrel in the pot.
|-
| || Cueball sitting at his desk, with a much larger plant that has clearly outgrown the pot, at least vertically.
|-
| || Two images with the larger plant that also have cats in the leaves.
|-
| || Cueball sitting at his desk, with a cat in the foreground near the point of view.
|-
| [[File:3074_cat_chair.png|100px]] || Cueball sitting at his desk, his chair replaced with a large cat.
|-
| [[File:3074_computer_fire.png|100px]] || Cueball sitting farther back from his desk, with the laptop on the desk on fire.
|-
| [[File:3074_float.png|100px]] || Cueball, the desk, and the laptop floating in the air.
|-
| [[File:3074_spin.png|100px]] || Cueball spinning in his chair.
|-
| [[File:3074_desk_sit.png|100px]] || Cueball sitting on the desk, facing the laptop on the chair.
|-
| [[File:3074_gameover.png|100px]] || The desk vacant with "Game Over" displayed if you use the emergency stop.
|-
| [[File:3074_sword.png|100px]] || Cueball sitting on the desk, with a sword leaning against the desk.
|-
| || Cueball and Ponytail swordfighting while the computer has an hourglass icon, referencing [[303: Compiling]].
|-
| || The room flooded 2/3 of the way up the desk. Cueball is still sitting with his laptop.
|-
| [[File:3074_sailboat.png|100px]] || The same flooding, with a miniature sailboat behind Cueball.
|-
| || The same flooding, with a cat face behind Cueball.
|-
| || The same flooding, with a shark fin on the far side of the desk, facing toward Cueball.
|-
| || Cueball kneeling on the chair, which is raised up higher than the desk, and leaning over to use the laptop
|-
| || Cueball sitting at the desk, which has been extended behind his laptop like a long meeting table.
|-
| || No Cueball, only the chair, desk, and laptop.
|-
| || Cueball using the laptop on his lap, with no desk.
|-
| || Cueball with a squirrel on his head.
|-
| || A squirrel sitting at the desk, seemingly using the laptop.
|-
| || Cueball standing on top of the laptop keyboard.
|-
| || Cueball sitting at the desk, wearing a wizard hat.
|-
| [[File:3074_floor.png|100px]] || Cueball sitting on the floor behind the desk.
|-
| [[File:3074_tentacles.png|100px]] || Cueball sitting in his chair, shielding his face from a tentacle coming from the computer screen.
|-
| [[File:3074_cat.png|50px]] || The cat that appears after returning to the comic window after leaving it idle for long period of time. It has a unique title text of ":3".
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball sits at a desk in an office chair. He is typing on a computer.]
:[Gray message boxes with a small circled “x” at the top right corner are shown:]
:Happy April 1st (observed)!
:To celebrate, we were excited to introduce a new xkcd.com feature: push notifications for new comics!
:Unfortunately, this feature has gone horribly wrong.
:Until further notice, we are asking people ''NOT'' to sign up for new comic notifications.
:Frankly, we recommend not even clicking on any notifications to learn more.
:''Click this notification to learn more!'' (a circled arrow is shown)

:“Push notifications for new comics” sounds like a simple feature, right?
:There’s a nice API for browser notifications. xkcd updates three times a week.
:So you just send a notification for each update, right?
:That’s what we thought, too.
:''Click to continue!'' (a circled arrow is shown)

:[To the side of the comic frame is a big, horizontal hexagonal stop sign]
:Sign: Emergency STOP
:Below the sign: ''Halt ALL notifications and forget everything''
:The good news is that we did build a button to stop xkcd new comic notifications.
:You can press this button at any time and the system will stop sending you notifications.
:The nightmare will be over and the server will forget you ever existed.
:This part definitely works.
:''The rest of the system does NOT work.'' (a circled arrow is shown)

:We’re sorry.
:We don’t know how things went so wrong.
:The system is sending more than three notifications a week. A LOT more.
:We cannot recommend signing up for xkcd new comic notifications at this time.
:''Click here to ignore the warnings.'' (a circled arrow is shown)

:No, really.
:Our notification system may send a large number of very real system notifications.
:These may flood your browser, displace other notifications, and cause problems.
:<big>⚠️DO NOT ENABLE XKCD NEW COMIC NOTIFICATIONS⚠️</big>
:''Yeah, I get it, but I definitely want to enable xkcd new comic notifications.'' (a circled arrow is shown)

:Are you sure?
:''Yes!'' (a circled arrow is shown)
:Absolutely sure?
:''YES!!'' (a circled arrow is shown)
:To enable push notifications on mobile you need to add xkcd.com to your home screen.

:''Click here to subscribe to xkcd notifications''

:[Initial static image shows Cueball sat on an office chair at a desk using a laptop computer. A notification 'window' is speech-bubbled above the computer]
:[Grey notification box, header:] April 1st (Observed)
:[Notification box, further text:] Open xkcd.com to view.
:Laptop: [Warning sign.]

:[When viewed live, various xkcd-style popover notifications appear, each can be dismissed or (usually the last on every page) invited to press an 'onwards'-style button.]

:[First page of messages]
:Happy April 1st! To celebrate, we were excited to introduce a new xkcd.com feature: Push Notifications for new comics!
:Unfortunately, this feature has gone horribly wrong.
:Until further notice, we are asking people NOT to sign up for new comic notifications.
:Frankly, we recommend not even clicking on any notifications to learn more.
:[Notification with 'onwards button':] ''Click on this notification to learn more''

:[Upon choosing to continue, further messages appear, replacing any prior ones left open]
:"Push Notifications for new comics" sounds like a simple feature, right?
:There's a nice API for browser notifications, xkcd updates three times a week.
:So you just send a notification for each upafte, right?
:That's what we thought, too.
:[Notification with 'onwards button':] ''Click on this notification to continue''

:[Next set of popover messages]
:The good news is that we did build a button to STOP xkcd new comic notifications.
:You can press this button at any time and the system will stop sending you notifications.
:The nightmare will be over and the server will forget you ever existed.
:This part definitely works.
:[Notification with 'onwards':] ''The rest of the system does not work.''
:[To the right of the comic frame, a red, octagonal button has white text upon it:]Emergency Stop
:[Below the button is red text:] Halt all notifications and forget everything

:[Next set of popovers, "stop" button remains permanently so long as you continue]
:We're sorry.
:We didn't know how things went so wrong.
:The system is sending more than three notifications at this time.
:['Onwards' notification:] ''Click here to ignore the warnings''

:[Next set.]
:No, really.
:Our notification system may send a large amount of very real system notifications.
:These may flood your browser, displace other notifications, and cause problems.
:[Text bookended by warning triangles:] Do not enable xkcd new comic notifications
:['Onwards':] Yeah, I get it, but I definitely want to enable xkcd new comic notifications

:[Just two popovers, initially]
:Are you sure?
:['Onwards':] Yes
:[On clicking onwards, two more appear below]
:Absolutely sure?
:['Onwards':] Yes!!
:[On clicking, a further popover]
:[Red-tinted 'onwards'-style popover with warnings:] Click here to subscribe to xkcd notifications.

:[...something appeared then dissappeared...]
:[Genuine(?) browser dialogue activated:] xkcd.com wants to send you notifications. Block / Allow

:[If allowed, one more popover in the original style]
:Success!!
:[Below the Emergency Stop button, an oval gray button appears labeled in white:] Silence notifications at a cost
:[Below that, in grey text:]Temporarily pause your notifications at the cost of notifying two random people.

:[Further changes include the contents of the pane, whether Cueball is sat at the laptop, whether the laptop is larger, or a pot-plant, whether there are cats in the frame, outside the frame, sat on the Stop buttons, whether Cueball is sat on a large cat instead of an office chair...]
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Interactive comics]]
[[Category:April fools' comics]]

Talk:3073: Tariffs

2025-04-08T13:19:57Z

172.70.163.71:

Uh, still no April fools [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!|Aprilfoolsupdate!]] ([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 23:50, 7 April 2025 (UTC)
:The April fools is the president the U.S. Elected. (note: I am Usanian)[[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.232|172.70.214.232]] 12:41, 8 April 2025 (UTC)
I felt like using all caps is a good idea for explanations, since the comic itself is all caps [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!|Aprilfoolsupdate!]] ([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 00:03, 8 April 2025 (UTC)
: Please don't. If you did that, then all of the other explanations and transcripts would have to be edited to all-caps, which makes it harder to read. [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you desire conversing]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 01:07, 8 April 2025 (UTC)
:Doesn't just about ''every'' xkcd comic use all-caps? That would make pretty much the entire wiki unreadable. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.155.35|172.71.155.35]] 04:15, 8 April 2025 (UTC)

What's wrong with the explanation? It's showing this weird string of letters: expDia thud enzo Isla idiosyncrasies talk 3totheaudienceandtheotherswhoareyouheresoearlyinthedayafterMittenslefttodois sign up for both ofuscan'twaitforthemostparttobeabrightandwarmwelcomeandIhopethatyouwillfindapenthatwillOrbitz pap [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.8|162.158.159.8]] 20:23 7 April 2025 EST
: Vandals --[[User:Btx40|Btx40]] ([[User talk:Btx40|talk]]) 00:32, 8 April 2025 (UTC)
::I'm getting a few Cloudflare messages that the server isn't responding. I'm used to explainxkcd giving straight 503s, etc, but this is the kind of thing (code 522, in at least one case) that you get only when an active pressure (crap-spamming, etc) is being applied. I'm wondering if there's some pushback from the pro-tariff (or at least 'pro-Donald') online community. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.32|172.70.85.32]] 11:12, 8 April 2025 (UTC)

Hopefully, just HOPEFULLY, we can prevent the comment section from devolving into insults like https://xkcd.com/1756/: I'm With Her. [[User:Thehydraclone|Thehydraclone]] ([[User talk:Thehydraclone|talk]]) 01:51, 8 April 2025 (UTC)
:I concur, though I want to stress that I think it's very important that we try to make this comic explanation as neutral as possible. Is it possible to not show a bias towards either side of the issue? Randall's comic obviously has a point of view, but perhaps the explanation on this site can be a little bit more neutral. [[User:Dogman15|Dogman15]] ([[User talk:Dogman15|talk]]) 11:41, 8 April 2025 (UTC)
:You stink! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.181|172.70.91.181]] 13:09, 8 April 2025 (UTC)

Comic [[2566]] was supposed to be a joke... --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.175.87|172.68.175.87]] 03:58, 8 April 2025 (UTC)

"venmo" needs explaining. Apparently it's some sort of USAian proprietary payment system? And I think Ponytail's company is providing a service (which the USA exports of lot of), rather than selling equipment - services usually not being captured by simple trade figures for goods. And in order to post here I have to identify features of foreign street scenes in order to train a monopolist's proprietary image recognition system. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.216.115|162.158.216.115]] 13:03, 8 April 2025 (UTC)
:Ah, didn't read this first, but I ''just'' put a link in for that (slightly awkwardly, but best I could - expecting a later editor to better phrase/place it). Hadn't heard of it, myself. Presumably Leftpondians know about it a lot more, perhaps most do, given how much business it gets/facilitates ''only'' in the US. Anyway, consider me one of those that learnt something new today! (Not that I can, or would, use it, of course.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.71|172.70.163.71]] 13:19, 8 April 2025 (UTC)

Category talk:Dynamic comics

2025-03-30T16:59:37Z

172.70.163.71: /* Ok, the sub-categories... */ new section

To me "Dynamic" is too flowery and abstract. I don't like this as a category, having out-of-the-ordinary, Interactive, and Large Comics categories is both more specific, and more helpful for finding like comics. Calling them Dynamic(!) sounds like a marketing term.

Now, if Randall ever comes up with a purely non-deterministic comic (something that randomly generates content for each pageview/ip address/time-of-day/geo-location/position-about-the-sun/lunar-phase I'd consider that Dynamic. However, none of the comics currently in existence are that. Umwelt comes the closest, but each one was still hand-drawn, and not absolutely non-deterministic.

-- [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 19:48, 4 October 2012 (UTC)

Can I just say that the (presumed same) author of all the "Explain please" things (latest: <code><nowiki>{{Incomplete|Review and fix explanations for the comics please.}}</nowiki></code>, but luckily I had already set about overwriting what they were asking for with something that may still need updating but was actually useful) ''really'' gets my goat. Almost always it's a demand for a list that either needn't be listed or doesn't need separate listing. And they add the magic word "please" as if that excuses the request and makes it more reasonable than it originally was. Anyway, just releasing my pressure valve on this issue. Carry on. (Except for the "please" guy, hopefully.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.58.5|172.70.58.5]] 23:47, 29 March 2025 (UTC)
:Agreed. Sometimes their suggestions are weirdly on point tho. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:39, 30 March 2025 (UTC)

== Ok, the sub-categories... ==

If we must ellucidate 'types' of dynamic comic, then at least work out what we can do/what we need to do. And I'd prefer these to be either member-/sub-category of the Dynamic set or just co-Categories (allowing for overlap and multi-membership), if we go that far, but that's open to discussion.

Ignore "April Fools' Comics", that's already a category, and you can probably assign every Dynamic+Fools comic into one (or more) of the following. It may be the inspiration for a DC, but it explains nothing about the form of the DC.

Cyclic animations (roughly [[:Category:Comics with animation]], but perhaps that needs an overhaul, re: Hoverboard, etc): Covering everything from the [[Dot]] one (two frames, relatively quick full cycle) to [[1335: Now]] (technically a 24-hour cycle of otherwise static comic rotating) to [[1116: Traffic Lights]] (multiple 'independent' changes in the same comic) to [[1331: Frequency]] (composite of multiple 'simple' animations, creating a vaster least-common-multiple repeating length).

Revealing animations: Countdown/Time/Landing are dynamically changed static frames (as an animation, perhaps only by fan-led efforts to compile the frames into a series).

(For the next two, especially, we again currently have sub-cat [[:Category:Interactive comics]], but may need to examine its members as there are quite different 'beasts' of interactivity...)

Explorable/interactive environments: Most(?) of the 'games', or drag-and-scrollers. (If you want, could separate those with 'aims' (Interactive) from any that are merely "a small window on a larger world" (Explorable), but these do also so often overlap/double-up so maybe no reason to split thus.)

Interactive decision-trees (perhaps a sub-cat of Interactive(-without-'explorable', in the classic sense?) : Those that progress from interaction (typically with the comic-pane). ''Could'' further split these into ones that are repeatedly redivable (start from scratch with Right Click, 8-Ball, etc) and those that head towards an end (like bracket-voting ones?).

...off-hand, I ''think'' that'll cover everything. But we'll only know if we seriously work out which one-or-more categories (of the four-or-more types I suggest above) apply to each Dynamic comic, see if any doesn't fit anything else. The SMBC one is "Interactive", but not much more, some may end up with multiple memberships (especially as April Fool, obviously, if that still counts). Anyway. Just putting it out there. Not because I think it needs to be done, but better than what just has been forced on us. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.71|172.70.163.71]] 16:59, 30 March 2025 (UTC)

3053: KM3NeT

2025-02-20T09:10:00Z

172.70.163.71: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3053
| date = February 19, 2025
| title = KM3NeT
| image = km3net_2x.png
| imagesize = 313x436px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Unfortunately, KM3NeT led to the discovery of the Pauli anglerfish, which emits Cherenkov radiation to prey on neutrino researchers.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a CHERENKOV ANGLERFISH WITH C-SICKNESS - Please continue to expand the explanation, and explain the title text. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
{{w|KM3NeT}} is a telescope under the {{w|Mediterranean Sea}}. As [[Ponytail]] explains, its goal is to detect {{w|neutrino}} interactions with the seawater. Neutrinos mostly originate from the sun and cosmic radiation. Neutrinos interact with solid matter only very rarely, so a telescope looking for them needs a lot of matter, in this case seawater, to spot collisions in. When such a collision happens, it can release a spray of other particles moving at close to the {{w|speed of light}} in a vacuum (''c''). In seawater, however, the speed of light is slower, and particles moving faster than it cause the emission of a type of light called {{w|Cherenkov radiation}}, which the telescope detects as a blue flash.

When [[Cueball]] questions the rationale by pointing out the existence of {{w|Bioluminescence|bioluminescent}} fish, which might also produce blue light, Ponytail responds with a pun: Cherenkov radiation is produced only by particles exceeding the speed of light in the local medium; since fish, a type of undersea life, move much slower than this, they are also "under-c" life, as well as being "undersea" life (though technically they are in the sea, rather than under it).

The title text lets us know that there indeed is a type of fish that emits Cherenkov-like ratiation: The 'Pauli anglerfish'. {{w|Anglerfish}} have specialized organs that emit flashes of light to attract or startle their prey. In this case the KM3NeT telescope led to the discovery of this fish. This is described as unfortunate, because the Pauli anglerfish uses its radiation emissions to prey on neutrino researchers. Thus the first to discover the fish, was likely attacked, if not eaten, by it. The known types of angler fish are much smaller than humans and they do not prey on researchers.{{cn}} The mythical 'Pauli anglerfish' of the comic is presumably named after the theoretical physicist {{w|Wolfgang Pauli}}, who first {{w|Neutrino#Pauli's proposal|proposed a neutrino-like particle}}, in part to preserve ''angular'' momentum during nuclear decay.

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

:[Ponytail is presenting to Cueball and Megan on a drop down screen.]
:[On the screen is a side view of a deep-water telescope, attached to the bedrock, floating in the ocean. It looks like four series of circles stringed together from the ground.]
:Ponytail: The KM3NeT deep-water telescope detects the flashes of Cherenkov light from neutrino interactions.
:Cueball: How do you know you aren't just seeing bioluminescent fish?
:Ponytail: Cherenkov radiation is only emitted when things exceed the local speed of light, so it can't be produced by under-c life.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Telescopes]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Puns]]

3007: Probabilistic Uncertainty

2024-11-07T09:43:32Z

172.70.163.71: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3007
| date = November 4, 2024
| title = Probabilistic Uncertainty
| image = probabilistic_uncertainty_2x.png
| imagesize = 474x385px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = "One popular strategy is to enter an emotional spiral. Could that be the right approach? We contacted several researchers who are experts in emotional spirals to ask them, but none of them were in a state to speak with us."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a PESSIMISTIC POLL-VIEWING BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is about the difficulty of dealing psychologically with 50/50 odds, and is likely inspired by the {{W|2024 United States presidential election}}, as this comic was released the day prior. The odds of the election as reported by many media sources were close to 50/50 <ref>https://www.270towin.com/2024-presidential-election-polls/</ref> <ref>https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/us/elections/polls-president.html</ref> <ref>https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/2024/national/</ref>, where the pre-election polls show roughly a 50/50 chance of either {{w|Kamala Harris}} or {{w|Donald Trump}} being elected. This 50/50 scenario is the third scenario shown in the comic.

Further, with regards to N/A - the odds of "precisely" 50/50 are probabilistically zero, unless the event under consideration is something relatively trivial such as a coinflip or die roll (and even with those it is extremely unlikely the coins or dice are perfectly "fair"). Any scenario that involves social sciences, such as an election (or even a single relationship) will never be precisely 50/50 (or, indeed, *any* discrete value).

{| class="wikitable"
!Odds
!How to think about it in an emotionally healthy way
!Explanation
|-
| Good outcome more likely || Recognize that the bad outcome is possible, but be reassured that the odds are in your favor || An optimistic attitude with a dose of realism.
|-
| Bad outcome more likely || Prepare for the bad outcome while remembering that the future isn't certain and hope is justified || A realistic attitude with a dose of optimism.
|-
| Precisely 50/50 || ????? N/A ???? || {{w|N/A}} stands for "not available", "no answer", "not applicable" or "not assessed". The actual worst case scenario, with no single obvious stance (and then also its complementary fallback position) to prepare to take.
|}

When facing a situation with equal odds of a positive or negative outcome, it is possible to prepare emotionally for either result. Here are some strategies to consider:

;Acknowledge and accept uncertainty
:Recognize that uncertainty is a natural part of life. By accepting that you cannot control the outcome, you can reduce anxiety and focus on what you can manage—your response.

;Practice {{w|defensive pessimism}}
:This strategy involves setting low expectations and contemplating potential negative outcomes. By doing so, you can prepare yourself to handle setbacks and reduce anxiety. Research indicates that defensive pessimism can be an effective way to manage stress and improve performance.

;Develop {{w|coping}} mechanisms
:Equip yourself with strategies to manage emotions regardless of the outcome. Techniques such as mindfulness, deep breathing, and positive self-talk can help maintain emotional balance.

;Focus on what you can control
:Concentrate on aspects within your control, such as your effort, preparation, and attitude. This focus can empower you and reduce feelings of helplessness.

;Set realistic expectations
:Understand that both success and failure are possibilities. By setting realistic expectations, you can mitigate disappointment and appreciate positive outcomes more fully.

;Seek support
:Discuss your feelings and concerns with trusted friends, family, or a mental health professional. Sharing your thoughts can provide relief and offer new perspectives.

By practicing those strategies, you may prepare yourself emotionally to handle either outcome with resilience and composure.

The title text is a joke making use of ambiguous wording: "researchers who are experts in emotional spirals" could either refer to researchers who study emotional spirals, or researchers who are undergoing emotional spirals themselves. Evidently, all the researchers "we" contacted were the latter, and thus unable to advise the comic.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[A table titled "Coping With Probabilistic Uncertainty", with two columns labeled "Scenario" and "How to think about it in an emotionally healthy way". The boxes in the Scenario column contains text followed by a rectangle split into two parts; the left part is a smiley face, the right part is a frowny face with slanted, angry eyes.]

Row 1, column 1: "Good outcome more likely". The smiley face portion of the rectangle is about 75%.
Row 1, column 2: "Recognize that the bad outcome is possible, but be reassured that the odds are in your favor".

Row 2, column 1: "Bad outcome more likely". The smiley face portion of the rectangle is about 25%.
Row 2, column 2: "Prepare for the bad outcome while remembering that the future isn't certain and hope is justified".

Row 3, column 1: "Precisely 50/50". The rectangle is split in half.
Row 3, column 2: "????? N/A ????"

==Trivia==
* This comic was posted a day before Election Day in the US, where the media has been reporting (based off of voter polls) that the 2 presidential candidates ([[Kamala Harris]] and [[Donald Trump]]) are closely contesting for the White House. This may be a possible reason behind the creation of this comic.

* Randall has dealt with the possibility of a tied electoral count 12 years before in ''what-if? [https://what-if.xkcd.com/19 #19]''

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Psychology]] [[Category:Statistics]]

2972: Helium Synthesis

2024-08-23T04:46:20Z

172.70.163.71: Looked like a clumsy attempt to be meta. (i.e. Randall's artistic licence.) Rephrased to make it more like "Beret Guy's powers", which happen despite even the in-universe surprise that they can.

{{comic
| number = 2972
| date = August 14, 2024
| title = Helium Synthesis
| image = helium_synthesis_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x312px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Our lawyers were worried because it turns out the company inherits its debt from the parent universe, but luckily cosmic inflation reduced it to nearly zero.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BIG BANG NUCLEOSYNTHESIZER WITH A [[2766: Helium Reserve|VERY HIGH PITCHED VOICE]] - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic explores the challenges of obtaining {{w|helium}}. [[Hairy]] is leading a company meeting with [[Megan]], [[Cueball]], and [[Hairbun]], who are discussing the recurring problem of {{w|helium shortage}}s, a real-world issue due to helium's limited availability on Earth. Helium is a non-renewable resource primarily extracted from {{w|natural gas}} deposits and its scarcity can affect industries such as medical imaging, semiconductor manufacturing, scientific research, and party balloon supplies.[https://www.marketplace.org/2023/01/19/heliums-been-rising-in-price-and-its-bringing-businesses-down/] See also [[2766: Helium Reserve]].

Hairbun suggests investigating the origin of helium. Cueball's research reveals that most helium in the universe came from {{w|Big Bang nucleosynthesis}}, which occurred shortly after the {{w|Big Bang}} when the first elements were formed. It appears to have overlooked the fact that 99% of the helium on Earth has been produced from the slow {{w|radioactive decay}} of the {{w|decay chain}}s of naturally occurring {{w|uranium-238}} and {{w|thorium-232}} (which in turn came from {{w|r-process}} {{w|Supernova nucleosynthesis|nucleosynthesis}} scattered from merging {{w|neutron star}}s;[https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13873/] see [[2826: Gold]]) emitting {{w|alpha particles}} that are identical to temporarily ionized helium, with only the remaining one percent originating from the Big Bang.

Hairy assigns the team to figure out how to recreate Big Bang nucleosynthesis, which in real life is not actually possible for a contemporary business organization.{{cn}} Nonetheless, the team somehow builds a machine capable of it. They are successful, likely obliterating themselves and at least all the closest galaxies in the process.

The final panels show the creation of a second Big Bang followed by the next 14 billion years of that new universe, culminating with the same characters in an identical meeting, presumably having arisen from the same series of post-Big Bang events as in the original universe. This suggests a {{w|cyclic universe}} in which events repeat themselves exactly (which {{w|chaos theory}} implies would be extremely unlikely.{{acn}}) They are facing the same predicament: helium shortages have become a problem, and they once again need a more reliable source. The implication is that this is a recurring cycle, a religious/philosophical concept called {{w|eternal return}} that occurs in many world religions (such as Hinduism's {{w|Yuga_cycle|Cycle of Yugas}} of creation and destruction), but centered here on the helium needs of a unnamed, resourceful company.

The title text is a wordplay on the concepts of {{w|cosmic inflation}} and {{w|monetary inflation}}. In economics, monetary inflation is the rate at which the cost of goods and services increases over time (one can also think of this as the value of money falling). If the interest rate on a debt is less than inflation, then the relative cost of the debt decreases over time. Cosmic inflation is a theory in cosmology that describes the rapid expansion of the universe just after the Big Bang. The joke imagines the original company as having incurred a significant debt (perhaps as a result of the costs of building the Big Bang machine), which has now been inherited by its subsidiary. Somehow, thanks to the effect of cosmic inflation, this debt was diluted (perhaps physically across the ever-expanding vastness of space), reducing it to almost nothing. See also [[2688: Bubble Universes]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Hairy sits on an office chair at the head of a conference table and has his hands on the table, with Cueball and Megan also at the table.]
:Hairy: These helium shortages every few years are such a pain.
:Hairy: Our company needs a reliable source of helium.

:[The same situation, but now Hairbun is also seen at the table on the left side of Cueball. Cueball holds a cellphone in his left hand, which Megan and Hairbun look at.]
:Hairbun: Where does helium come from, anyway?
:Cueball: Hmm, apparently most of it is from "Big Bang nucleosynthesis"?
:Hairy: Well, let's figure out how to do that.

:[Hairy, Megan and Hairbun are working on a large machine labeled "Big Bang Nucleosynthesis," with Megan holding its wired control device in her left hand.]

:[Two panels depict another Big Bang, followed by various stages of cosmic development, including galaxies and planets forming, shown in white on a black background.]

:[The scene returns to the same conference room setup as before, with the characters in the same positions (although Hairy's hair is subtly different from the first frame). Text at the top of the box reads: "14 Billion Years Later"]

:Hairy: These helium shortages every few years are such a pain.
:Hairy: Our company needs a reliable source of helium.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]
[[Category:Cosmology]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Recursion]]