explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2615: Welcome Back

2022-05-06T04:13:47Z

172.70.211.72: /* Explanation */ Mentioned why Cueball would only be opening TornadoGuard now

{{comic
| number = 2615
| date = May 4, 2022
| title = Welcome Back
| image = welcome_back.png
| titletext = 'We're shocked by the Notre Dame fire. Click for our tribute to--' [okay] 'Now that we're all staying at home these past few weeks thanks to this new coronavirus, we--' [okay]
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a COOL LEAF SHAPED LIKE A SPIDER ''- Please change this comment when editing this page.'' The page needs an explanation and transcript.}}
Cueball is opening an app called TornadoGuard, which was the subject of comic [[937: TornadoGuard]] and described there as "plays a loud alert sound when there is a tornado warning for your area". In the background, a tornado is approaching, so presumably a loud alert sound has just played and Cueball has opened the app. It is also possible that the app didn't play any alert (see reviews of the app in comic 937), Cueball saw the Tornado and opened the app to check whether it had any news. However, before he can interact with the app and learn more about the tornado, he has to click through various old messages from the app, since he hasn't opened the app in a while. The comic is possibly poking fun at the obtrusiveness of these kind of messages by presenting a scenario where they make it more difficult to read sometimes very urgent information about current tornados.

The messages include a description of a big update, a response to certain user feedback, and a social post unrelated to the app. In the title text are two messages that refer to specific world events and can therefore be dated, to a few years before this comic was published. This is feasible because [https://weather.com/storms/tornado/news/2022-05-02-may-tornadoes-2020-2021-recent-luck May, which is the month in which this comic was published and typically the most active month for tornadoes, had seen fewer-than-average tornadoes in the previous two years but not during this year], so Cueball would have been more likely to have to worry about tornadoes this year than in the previous two years. These events in the title text are [[wikipedia:Notre-Dame_de_Paris_fire|the fire in the church of Notre Dame in Paris April 15th 2019]] and the spread of the Covid-19 disease, which [[wikipedia:COVID-19_pandemic|was declared a pandemic March 11th 2020]], about three and two years before the comic was published respectively. Neither of these are important to know right now, whereas an announcement about an [[2224: Software Updates|update]] that [[1172: Workflow|changes its functionality]] could be [[1328: Update|important to know about]].

Although it is possible that there are no more messages to click through, if nothing of significance has happened [[2459: March 2020|since the latter]], the reader can easily imagine that the development team has posted further historic 'real time' messages (subsequent to the title text ones) that Cueball will still have to scroll through and/or dismiss, with very little immediate importance.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
[A large cloud (indicated by curved lines at the bottom of an empty space) fills the upper 3/4 of the panel. Paragraphs of text fills most of this space, connected by a series of lines leading down to Cueball's phone.]
:Hi! The TornadoGuard™ team is proud to announce a big update! We've added-
[In a rounded box right and below the text:] ''OKAY''

:Note to users of sentinel mode: We've heard your feedback, and the controls are now-
[In a rounded box right and below the text:] ''GOT IT''

:The TornadoGuard™ team saw this cool leaf shaped like a spider; do you want to see...

[Below the cloud line is a tornado in the background that is throwing up dust and creating a dust cloud. In the foreground Cueball is standing holding his phone, which is on (indicated by light lines).]

[Caption below the panel:] When you open an app for the first time in a while, you have to wait around while it tells you about all the cool adventures it's had.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Tornadoes]]

2109: Invisible Formatting

2022-05-04T20:24:41Z

172.70.211.72: Undo revision 243023 by Ex Kay Cee Dee (talk)

{{comic
| number = 2109
| date = February 8, 2019
| title = Invisible Formatting
| image = invisible_formatting.png
| titletext = To avoid errors like this, we render all text and pipe it through OCR before processing, fixing a handful of irregular bugs by burying them beneath a smooth, uniform layer of bugs.
}}

==Explanation==

In various word processor programs, when highlighting text, whether by clicking-and-dragging or double-clicking, it is easy to highlight characters which have no visible effects when markup is applied (ie ''italics'' or''' bold'''), such as a space or the end-of-paragraph passage. Since in most fonts the word space looks identical between the bold, the italicized, and the regular, this has no effect on how the end user will read the document, but could theoretically cause a problem in certain occasions, most notably in computers which might parse a bold space differently or incorrectly. This problem is compounded if the text cursor does not indicate clearly the space is in bold or italics when a user hovers their mouse over it. [[Randall]] worries about this.

In the pictured case, Randall does not appear to have selected the word by double-clicking, since the cursor is depicted past the end of the word instead of on top of it; rather, he has clicked-and-dragged the mouse cursor to select it. The space character is a relatively thin character, which makes it hard to avoid and to notice, but even so most people don’t worry if they've selected it and tend not to bother fixing. Randall later uses the same click-and-drag method to have the bold removed, but this time omits the space, retaining its bold formatting on that character. Since it is a blank character, there is no easy way to tell it is still bold — even if it is slightly longer in the bold font, this may be hard to notice. This is the situation the comic is highlighting, [[559: No Pun Intended|no pun intended]].

Usually, if one were to highlight a word via double-clicking, the word and the space following would both become highlighted. Therefore, this problem could have been avoided if Randall had used this method to highlight, as the space would have been automatically included both times, thus removing markup on the space character as well.

Though Randall is likely thinking of computer-related problems caused by his invisible formatting, there is also a chance that his bold space would cause other, non-computer-related issues. As Randall has bolded the word "not" but then changed his mind, it indicates that he believes writing '''not '''is too strongly-worded. With an invisible bold space, whoever the document was intended for could notice Randall's bold space and figure that the word "not" was originally bolded. Depending on the context, a bolded "not" could be enough to change the tone of the text from polite and formal to dismissive (eg. "We believe you are not suitable for this position." vs "We believe you are '''not '''suitable for this position.")

In the title text, Randall says that he “fixes” this by running the text through {{w|Optical character recognition|OCR}}, which turns physical copies or images into text. Although this would "fix" the invisible formatting (since the OCR is unable to detect it), this would usually ruin even more formatting, and add inaccuracies to the text. This way, no one can tell which bugs were introduced by him and which ones by the OCR, which he facetiously suggests is better somehow.

As the title text explains, Randall finds it very important to control all information he publishes. Real-world examples are governments changing the impact of reports for political reasons. Attempted tampering of this kind can be revealed by bold spaces. Another example would be a casual and short one-sentence reply e.g. to a romantic interest, which one takes one hour to formulate to sound as natural as possible.

There are also other occasions where a hidden bold space may be a problem for later editors (see the [[#Trivia|Trivia]] section below). Randall’s background in {{w|computer programming}} could also make him more attentive to these types of technical problems, and therefore add this as a reason for his worries about invisible formating.

==Transcript==

:[A text editor, with some options. They are superscript in one section, bold, italic and underscore in another section and alignments in the third section. The word "not ", including the following space, is highlighted in blue. There is a cursor below it.]
:Text: ...ere, but would not have to mo...
:Action: Select

:[The cursor is on the "bold" option and the selected word is bolded.]
:Text: ...ere, but would '''not '''have to mo...
:Action: Click

:[The cursor is next to the "to". No text is highlighted.]
:Thought bubble: ...Nah, the bold is too much.
:Text: ...ere, but would '''not '''have to mo...

:[The word "not" is now highlighted in blue again, but the following space is not.]
:Text: ...ere, but would '''not '''have to mo...
:Action: Select

:[The cursor is on the "bold" option and the selected word is not bolded.]
:Text: ...ere, but would not''' '''have to mo...
:Action: Click

:[The cursor and the blue highlighting are gone. The space after "not" has a dashed box around it, and an arrow points to it.]
:Text: ...ere, but would not''' '''have to mo...
:Arrow: Hidden bold space

:[Caption below the panels:]
:When editing text, in the back of my mind I always worry that I'm adding invisible formatting that will somehow cause a problem in the distant future.

==Trivia==
There are also other occasions where a hidden bold space may be a problem for later editors etc. These include:
*Editing that adds some text at the location of the space will make this text bold.
*Exporting to plain text files. If for example a {{w|markdown}} style is used, there will be characters in the output that do not make sense.
*Scraping, data mining, and linguistics processing by computer algorithms. Often (although not always) these algorithms are written based on samples of training or testing text that may not have spurious formatting present, and may misprocess something when encountering the spurious formatting.
*Wikis. In''' '''this''' '''sentence,''' '''every''' '''space''' '''is''' '''a''' '''hidden''' '''bold''' '''space. From the editing view, all the spaces look <code><nowiki>like''' '''this</nowiki></code>. This will annoy all future editors of this article, due to the hidden apostrophes which are formatting the spaces. They may also accidentally introduce bold words.
**By default, MediaWiki attempts to prevent this by not including the trailing spaces in the bold formatting when you click the “bold” button, so someone has to manually type the formatting apostrophes to do this.
*A situation where formatted text is not allowed, and is rejected, but the user failed to strip formatting from the spaces, and this is noticed.
*If a font has the word space look different between the bold and the regular, perhaps to make it so bold words are spaced closer to each other, the spacing will look inconsistent if there is a hidden bold space.
*Unnecessary extra formatting will usually unnecessarily increase file size, which may put the document above some maximum file size threshold.
*Bold (or italic or non-breaking) spaces are also popular in {{w|Steganography|steganography}}. By using bold spaces in some places and not in others it is possible to hide secret information in a public text, that will not be visible to the casual reader, who does not explicitly search for the hidden information. Additionally if such a document is found with a person, that person can {{w|Plausible_deniability|plausibly deny}} all knowledge of the encoded information.

Popular modern word processing programs have features which may make it easier to notice improperly formatted invisible characters. In the tutorials linked here, one may learn how to view invisible characters in [https://support.office.com/en-us/article/show-or-hide-formatting-marks-c2d8a607-5646-4165-8b08-bd68f9d172a0 Microsoft Word], [https://support.apple.com/kb/PH23650?locale=en_US&viewlocale=en_US Pages] and [https://help.libreoffice.org/Writer/Nonprinting_Characters LibreOffice Writer], however even with this on it would be difficult to spot a bolded space (which looks like a bolded dot – now visible but so small it's still hard to tell if it's bold or not). In the older word processor {{w|WordPerfect}}, one could do this with the “Reveal Codes” feature, which showed you character codes, separate from the characters themselves, around the characters. For example, a bolded space would look something like "[BOLD≻&ensp;≺BOLD]".

Web sites which allow content to be edited by users but generate the formatting code automatically often have versions of the invisible formatting problem; for example, eBay listings which use anything other than the default font rapidly accumulate hard spaces, font end and begin transitions, and other invisible formatting if they are subsequently edited, which can slow page loading and cause other problems. This is also seen in blogs etc.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]

2614: 2

2022-05-04T20:24:14Z

172.70.211.72: Undo revision 242986 by Ex Kay Cee Dee (talk)

<noinclude>:''This page refers to the comic named "2". For comic #2, see [[2: Petit Trees (sketch)]].''</noinclude>
{{notice|1 = '''WARNING:''' A large percentage of explain xkcd's pages are currently vandalized. The vandal's script was previously stopped, but they have returned under a different account, and many pages have been vandalized again. {{#expr: {{LATESTCOMIC}} - {{PAGESINCAT:All comics|R}}}} pages out of {{LATESTCOMIC}} ({{#expr: 100 - ({{PAGESINCAT:All comics|R}} / {{LATESTCOMIC}} * 100 round 0)}}%) are currently vandalized, leaving {{PAGESINCAT:All comics|R}} ({{#expr: ({{PAGESINCAT:All comics|R}} / {{LATESTCOMIC}} * 100 round 0)}}%) unvandalized. [{{SERVER}}/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/Ex_Kay_Cee_Dee?limit=2000&topOnly=1 List of currently-vandalized pages] / [[explain xkcd:Crap|More information]] / [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Admin requests|Discussion]]}}
{{comic
| number = 2614
| date = May 2, 2022
| title = 2
| image = 2.png
| titletext = It's like sigma summation notation, except instead of summing the argument over all values of i, you 2 the argument over all values of 2.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A VERY JEALOUS NUMBER ₃½ⁿ₇₇₇ⅥⅣ₆⁸⁴⁴½⅔⅜ↆ↉↉∂, WHO DEMANDS TO HAVE THEIR OWN WEBCOMIC NEXT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Everything is in there but some categories might need explanation and examples.}}

This demonstrates the different ways in which the number 2 can be typeset in various scientific fields. While these ways of typesetting are used with any number, using the number 2 in this instance provides a clear illustration how adding numbers can signify either a feature of a concept (such as the number of electrons in an atom) or a mathematical operation on it (such as raising a value to its second power).

The dotted box represents any character (a number, letter, or bigram of letters, as appropriate to the various signifiers). All the other notation consists only of the digit 2, with occasional additional punctuation, in various locations in relation to this character. Each of these is labelled as to what its 'purpose' might normally be with respect to the general term:
;Regular Math
:Precedes the term. "2x" indicates two times the value of ''x'' in normal {{w|algebra|algebraic}} use that should be familiar for many people.
;Physics
:A preceding superscript. "2H" would indicate the particular {{w|isotope}} of hydrogen with the atomic weight of two, namely deuterium, which is most often encountered when working with the atomic level of matter where the total number of neutrons and protons in the atom is important. It can also represent {{w|tetration}}, which is iterated exponentiation.
;Chemical Physics
:A preceding subscript, as in "2He", indicates the atomic number of an atom, which is the number of protons it contains. It is thus a guide to the number of electrons its unionised form usually has and hence is meaningful for its potential chemical interactions with other atoms. This number of protons should be invariant for any particular named element, but is usually given simultaneously with the presuperscripted mass number for which it can indicate the applicable nuclear physics. {{w|Chemical Physics}} is a subdiscipline of physics and chemistry and **must never** be confused with {{w|Physical Chemistry}}. It can also represent {{w|pentation}}, which is iterated tetration.
;Regular Math or Footnotes
:A trailing superscript is typical of a {{w|Exponentiation|power value}}; in this case "x²" would be ''x'' multiplied by itself - a common mathematical standard.
:Additionally, superscripted numbers are one common way to mark words in a line of text in a way to refer to a {{w|Note (typography)|footnote}}, typically placed at the bottom of the page and containing additional information that would distract from the main text itself. The ambiguity between footnotes and exponents was used in [[1184: Circumference Formula]].
;Chemistry
:A trailing subscript is used in chemistry to indicate a multiple of the element (or group of elements, in brackets) in a {{w|chemical formula}}. "H2O" indicates two hydrogen atoms bond with a single oxygen atom in a molecule of water.
;Matrices! ("2,2")
:Extending the trailing subscript with a comma-separated value usually indicates a multidimensional array (e.g., establishing a 2-by-2 square of numbers, or this particular position in such an array), which is in the realm of {{w|Matrix (mathematics)|matrix mathematics}}. This is a little bit beyond 'everyday algebra' for many people, as seemingly indicated by the exclamation of the mere mention of matrices.
;The Physicists Are At It Again ("2;2")
:This label encompasses a mark that turns the prior comma into a semicolon, as part of the trailing subscript. This is a common notation for the {{w|Covariant derivative}} of a tensor field, which is commonly used in the mathematics of general relativity.
;Either High School Math Function or Incomprehensible Group Theory
:The number 2 in parentheses that follow a term would normally be the argument to a {{w|Function (mathematics)|function}}. For example, "f(2)" means that you should take the value 2, and find the result if manipulated by the predefined function ''f''. It is generally taught as part of algebraic mathematics in {{w|Secondary school|high school}}.
:In {{w|group theory}}, however, the number 2 in parentheses could indicate a special kind of group, such as an an element of a symmetry group that keeps 2 fixed, or some kind of group of 2x2 matrices. For instance, {{w|SU(2)}} is a 3-dimensional {{w|Lie group}} of {{w|unitary matrices}}. These concepts are taught in graduate or advanced undergraduate mathematics courses.
;Oh no. Whatever this is, it's cursed.
:A symbol centered underneath another symbol is normally reserved for doing summations, where the big symbol is Σ, or some other operation applied to a sequence of numbers. It does not make sense to have a single number there. As with [[2529: Unsolved Math Problems|other things]] where something appears to have gone wrong in Randall's comic universe, the explanation for this particular anomaly is that it is 'Cursed'.
:Two numbers may be stacked in parentheses in {{w|combination}} notation, but in that case the two numbers would both be 'small': (22)
:The usage mentioned in the alt text is an operation (Σ, summation) over a variable, usually indicated by a letter such as i, where the operation is performed over all values of the variable (i.e., you Σ (sum) the argument over all values of i). In the "2" case, the alt text says "you 2 the argument over all values of 2" (i.e., the Σ operation has been replaced by the "2" operation and the i variable has been replaced by the "2" variable). 2 is usually not an operation, though the definition of 2 under {{w|Church_encoding#Church_numerals|church encoding}} is a function that takes in and produces functions. However, 2 is not a variable (and definitely not both at the same time).
: Things being cursed is a common trope within recent XKCD comics, which have mentioned items including [[2332:_Cursed_Chair|Cursed chairs]] and [[:Category:Cursed_Connectors|cursed connectors]]. This notation is one of the few occasions where the supernatural has demonstrable implications for science and mathematics for those foolhardy enough to use it.

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

:[An apparent generalisation of a scientific expression consisting of a dotted rectangular 'box' outline, left empty, and various commonly-themed symbology around it:]

:[as normal text, to the left of all the rest:] 2
:[superscript to the immediate left of the box:] 2
:[subscript also to the immediate left of the box:] 2
:[superscript to the immediate right of the box:] 2
:[subscript also to the immediate right of the box:] 2;2 [i.e. separated by a semicolon]
:[as normal text, to the right of almost all the rest:] (2) [i.e. enclosed in standard parentheses]
:[smaller subscript, centered immediately beneath the 2 within the parentheses:] 2

:[Further details are drawn in grey tone, around or near various of the elements of the expression:]
;[Captions above the numbers]
:[with an arrow pointing to the leftmost 2:] Regular Math
:[with an arrow pointing to the leftwards superscript 2:] Physics
:[with an arrow pointing to the rightwards superscript 2:] Regular math or footnotes
:[with an arrow pointing to the parenthetical 2 at the right:] Either high school math functions or incomprehensible group theory

;[Captions below the numbers]
:[with an arrow pointing to the leftwards subscript 2:] Chemical Physics
:[with an arrow pointing to just the rightwards subscript 2:] Chemistry
:[with an arrow pointing to a distorted grey ring snaking around only the comma of the semicolon and the following 2 of the rightmost subscript:] Matrices!
:[with an arrow pointing to a larger grey ring that passes fully around the whole semicolon and final 2 of the rightmost subscript:] The physicists are at it again
:[with an arrow pointing to the small 2 placed below the parenthetical 2:] Oh no. Whatever this is, it's cursed.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cursed Items]]

351: Trolling

2022-05-04T19:28:07Z

172.70.211.72: Undo revision 240690 by Ex Kay Cee Dee (talk)

{{comic
| number = 351
| date = November 30, 2007
| title = Trolling
| image = trolling.png
| titletext = And I was really impressed with how they managed to shock the Goatse guy.
}}
[[File:Rick_Astley_-_Pepsifest_2009.jpg|thumb|200px| Rick Astley. (from Wikimedia Commons)]]
==Explanation==
The term ''{{w|Trolling}}'' is used to describe provocative, destructive, or annoying behavior on the {{w|Internet}}. Especially common are Internet pranks of the {{w|bait-and-switch}} type, an example of which is {{w|Rickrolling}}. It involves placing a {{w|hyperlink|link}} that is supposed to contain interesting or funny material, but instead directs to the music video of the 1987 {{w|Rick Astley}} song ''{{w|Never Gonna Give You Up}}''. The prank first occurred in May 2007 on the popular {{w|imageboard}} {{w|4chan}} and has since become a widespread {{w|internet meme}}.

The comic has [[Black Hat]] and [[Cueball]] digging into the ground and splicing Black Hat's computer into the TV cables of {{w|Rick Astley}}'s house. They are feeding the video of ''{{w|Never Gonna Give You Up}}'' into Astley's TV signal, who can be seen sitting in his living room and wondering why CNN has been replaced by his own video. The act of Rickrolling Rick Astley himself is declared to be a "great moment in trolling".

The title text mentions {{w|Goatse.cx}} (pronounced ''goat sex''), a former {{w|shock site|shock website}} that was used in a similar prank. People clicking on the feigned link would instead see the disturbing picture of a practitioner of anal stretching. The title text suggests that Black Hat and Cueball somehow made the (unknown) founder of the site click on an even more shocking link, or possibly put him in the personal presence of anal stretching.

Also note that the comic image itself is itself a Rickroll. Anyone curious enough as to why their mouse pointer became the selection icon to click on the comic (on the original [https://www.xkcd.com/351/ xkcd page]) would find themselves watching "Never Gonna Give You Up."

Rick Astley was actually Rickrolled on reddit ([https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/haucpf/ive_found_a_few_funny_memories_during_lockdown/fv505w1/ at r/pics]) on June 17th, 2020.

==Trivia==
*Almost 13 years later, on 18th June 2020, {{w|Rick Astley}} was actually rickrolled
**He was rick rolled by someone pretending that he had met Rick backstage when he was 12, and posted a link that was actually a rickroll.

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat and Cueball are in Rick Astley's yard, hacking into his cable TV connection and replacing the signal. Rick Astley is sitting in a chair in his house, watching TV.]
:TV: CNN has obtained this exclusive footage of the riot-torn-- ''*CZZZHT*'' ♫ Never gonna give you up... ♪
:Rick Astley: What the hell?

:[Caption below the frame:]
:GREAT MOMENTS in TROLLING:
:Rick Astley is successfully Rickrolled

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Rickrolling]]

355: Couple

2022-05-04T19:26:51Z

172.70.211.72: Undo revision 241198 by Ex Kay Cee Dee (talk)

{{comic
| number = 355
| date = December 10, 2007
| title = Couple
| image = couple.png
| titletext = Facebook defines relationships. 'Yeah, we would have broken up last night, but the net connection was down.'
}}

==Explanation==
It's hard to know when you are in a relationship in modern times. In olden days, you might fancy a girl, then ask her father if you might court her, and if he granted his permission, you would be a couple. Today, that kind of structure and formality is considered antiquated in most western cultures; as a result, we don't have any of the straightforward cues.

This comic suggests that "making it {{w|Facebook}} official," which means asserting the existence of a romantic relationship on Facebook by setting one's status to "In a relationship," has by 2007 become a way to define when you are a couple. [[Cueball]] would like to do it, probably after having sex for the first time with his love interest, to get confidence in his relationship and/or show it off to his friends. Because his love interest isn't so sure about that relationship, or doesn't like to formalize it and prefers to enjoy without thinking too much about it, he suggests a compromise: using the "It's complicated" status instead. And he does so with a phrasing very reminiscent of a formal way to propose to marry someone ("Will you be my wife?").

The title text takes it a step further, suggesting that {{w|Facebook}} has become the only reliable way to know about relationships — even so, without access to Facebook, relationships can't evolve.

When this comic came out in late 2007, Facebook was not even 4 years old, but very popular among young people, who would share their lives in great detail back then. As of 2019, most people are more hesitant about instantly sharing all details of their personal life publicly.{{Citation needed}}

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan in bed.]
:Cueball: So is this it? Are we a couple now?

:Megan: I just don't know. I like this. I just... don't know.

:[Silence.]

:Cueball: Well will you be my "it's complicated" on Facebook?

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Social networking]]
[[Category:Sex]]

2613: Bad Map Projection: Madagascator

2022-05-04T01:35:42Z

172.70.211.72: anti-crapping protection

<div style="display: none">crap crap </div>
<div style="display: none">crap</div>{{comic
| number = 2613
| date = April 29, 2022
| title = Bad Map Projection: Madagascator
| image = bad_map_projection_madagascator.png
| titletext = The projection's north pole is in a small lake on the island of Mahé in the Seychelles, which is off the top of the map and larger than the rest of the Earth's land area combined.
}}

==Explanation==
This is the fifth comic in the series of [[:Category:Bad Map Projections|Bad Map Projections]] displaying Bad Map Projection #248: Madagascator. It came about 10 months after the fourth [[2489: Bad Map Projection: The Greenland Special ]] (#299).

This time, [[Randall]] used the classic {{w|Mercator projection}} but instead of placing the North Pole on top and the South Pole on the bottom it is oriented so that the top is the island of {{w|Mahé, Seychelles|Mahé}}. The map projection is technically a {{w|Oblique Mercator projection}}, with an unusual choice of the cylinder's axis. Since the Mercator projection tends to visually distort areas near the top and bottom of the resulting map, this gives some areas, notably Madagascar, very unusual shapes, hence the name the ''Madagascator'' — a portmanteau of "Madagascar" and "Mercator"!

The Mercator projection became the standard projection for world maps during the 1800s, because a straight line (or {{w|rhumb line}}) in a Mercator map represents a constant bearing relative to true north. Historically, when navigation was performed by compass, this was a very valuable feature, since one (adjusting for the differences between true and magnetic north) could plot a constant-bearing course between two locations by simply looking at their relative direction on the map.

However, in the mid-20th century, the Mercator was {{w|Mercator_projection#Criticism|criticized}} because it causes distortion near the north and south poles of the map, giving an inaccurate impression of relative sizes. The most commonly given example of this is the size of Greenland — although on the Mercator it appears to be larger than Africa in area, Africa in reality covers an area 14 times that of Greenland.

Randall turns this example on its head by making Madagascar, rather than Greenland, appear larger in the ''Madagascator'' than in reality. By contrast with Greenland, the world's largest non-continent island, Madagascar is only the fourth-largest island in the world, behind Greenland, New Guinea, and Borneo.

To accomplish this, instead of placing the north pole of the map at the geographic North Pole, Randall places the north pole of the map on the island of Mahé in Seychelles. As Madagascar is relatively close to Mahé (around 650 mi (1050 km) distant), placing the north pole of the Mercator projection at Mahé significantly distorts the size of Madagascar, making it appear comparable in size to Europe on the map.

But this distortion is even more pronounced when it comes to the island of Mahé itself, as Randall notes in the title text.
Although Mahé, the largest island in Seychelles with an area of 60.7 square mi (157.2 square km), is minuscule even compared to Madagascar, the claim in the title text that it appears "larger than the rest of the Earth's land area combined" is an understatement.

No part of Mahé is visible in the comic, but clicking on the actual comic will open a website that displays Mercator projections with a pole in any chosen location, with the location of the one opened set to Mahé. The chosen pole is (infinitely far to) the right of the screen, while its {{w|antipodes|antipode}} is on the left. With this, it is possible to see that the island is indeed larger than the rest of the map's land area combined. A single national park within the island rivals Africa in size, and the narrow dirt road closest to the pole appears thicker than Panama. This also reveals that the location of the map's north pole (the "small lake" mentioned by Randall) is the lake impounded by the Rochon Dam, a popular tourist location in Mahé.

Unlike previous Bad Map Projections, Morocco and Western Sahara are drawn as one unlabelled country.

===Comparison of actual/mapped areas===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Landmass
! Status
! data-sort-type="number"|Actual Area<ref name="act">Major contiguous land areas that should exclude all islands, ''especially'' major ones, '''''especially''''' especially those listed separately</ref> (Millions of Km²)
! data-sort-type="number"|Proportion Land Area
! data-sort-type="number"|Proportion Image Area<ref name="pri">Of only these listed areas listed</ref>
! data-sort-type="number"|Distortion<ref name="dis">NB. Difference between percentages, rather than percentage difference</ref>
|-
| Africa<ref name="suez">Edge at Suez Canal</ref> || data-sort-value="C2"|Continent 2nd largest || 29.7 || 19.95% || 35% || +15.1%
|-
| Eurasia<ref name="suez" /> || data-sort-value="C1"|Continent Largest || 53.4 || 35.83% || 30% || -5.83%
|-
| North America<ref name="pan">Edge at Panama Canal</ref> || data-sort-value="C3"|Continent 3rd largest || 19.3 || 12.96% || 15% || +2.04%
|-
| South America<ref name="pan" /> || data-sort-value="C4"|Continent 4th largest || 17.8 || 11.96% || 7.8% || -4.16%
|-
| Antarctica<ref name="ice">Significant ice-sheets may complicate mapped/actual 'land' areas</ref> || data-sort-value="C5"|Continent 5th largest || 14.2 || 9.53% || 5.3% || -4.23%
|-
| Madagascar || data-sort-value="I04"|Island 4th largest || 0.592 || 0.40% || 2.9% || +2.50%
|-
| Australia || data-sort-value="C7"|Continent Smallest || 7.55 || 5.07% || 2.5% || -2.57%
|-
| Greenland<ref name="ice" /> || data-sort-value="I01"|Island Largest || 2.17 || 1.45% || 0.87% || -0.58%
|-
| Borneo || data-sort-value="I03"|Island 3rd largest || 0.749 || 0.50% || 0.37% || -0.13%
|-
| New Guinea || data-sort-value="I02"|Island 2nd largest || 0.786 || 0.53% || 0.32% || -0.21%
|-
| Japan<ref name="hon">Honshu only</ref> || data-sort-value="I07"|Island 7th largest || 0.228 || 0.15% || 0.10% || -0.05%
|-
| Mainland Britain || data-sort-value="I09"|Island 9th largest || 0.209 || 0.14% || 0.10% || -0.04%
|-
| Island of Ireland || data-sort-value="I20"|Island 20th largest || 0.082 || 0.05% || 0.03% || -0.02%
|}

<references/>

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Bad map projection #248: Madagascator

Mercator projection but with the North Pole in the Indian Ocean so it exaggerates the size of Madagascar instead of Greenland. Various countries and oceans are labeled, and country borders are shown.
{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Bad Map Projections]]

2613: Bad Map Projection: Madagascator

2022-05-04T01:35:25Z

172.70.211.72: Undo revision 237040 by X. K. C. D. (talk)

<div style="display: none">crap</div>{{comic
| number = 2613
| date = April 29, 2022
| title = Bad Map Projection: Madagascator
| image = bad_map_projection_madagascator.png
| titletext = The projection's north pole is in a small lake on the island of Mahé in the Seychelles, which is off the top of the map and larger than the rest of the Earth's land area combined.
}}

==Explanation==
This is the fifth comic in the series of [[:Category:Bad Map Projections|Bad Map Projections]] displaying Bad Map Projection #248: Madagascator. It came about 10 months after the fourth [[2489: Bad Map Projection: The Greenland Special ]] (#299).

This time, [[Randall]] used the classic {{w|Mercator projection}} but instead of placing the North Pole on top and the South Pole on the bottom it is oriented so that the top is the island of {{w|Mahé, Seychelles|Mahé}}. The map projection is technically a {{w|Oblique Mercator projection}}, with an unusual choice of the cylinder's axis. Since the Mercator projection tends to visually distort areas near the top and bottom of the resulting map, this gives some areas, notably Madagascar, very unusual shapes, hence the name the ''Madagascator'' — a portmanteau of "Madagascar" and "Mercator"!

The Mercator projection became the standard projection for world maps during the 1800s, because a straight line (or {{w|rhumb line}}) in a Mercator map represents a constant bearing relative to true north. Historically, when navigation was performed by compass, this was a very valuable feature, since one (adjusting for the differences between true and magnetic north) could plot a constant-bearing course between two locations by simply looking at their relative direction on the map.

However, in the mid-20th century, the Mercator was {{w|Mercator_projection#Criticism|criticized}} because it causes distortion near the north and south poles of the map, giving an inaccurate impression of relative sizes. The most commonly given example of this is the size of Greenland — although on the Mercator it appears to be larger than Africa in area, Africa in reality covers an area 14 times that of Greenland.

Randall turns this example on its head by making Madagascar, rather than Greenland, appear larger in the ''Madagascator'' than in reality. By contrast with Greenland, the world's largest non-continent island, Madagascar is only the fourth-largest island in the world, behind Greenland, New Guinea, and Borneo.

To accomplish this, instead of placing the north pole of the map at the geographic North Pole, Randall places the north pole of the map on the island of Mahé in Seychelles. As Madagascar is relatively close to Mahé (around 650 mi (1050 km) distant), placing the north pole of the Mercator projection at Mahé significantly distorts the size of Madagascar, making it appear comparable in size to Europe on the map.

But this distortion is even more pronounced when it comes to the island of Mahé itself, as Randall notes in the title text.
Although Mahé, the largest island in Seychelles with an area of 60.7 square mi (157.2 square km), is minuscule even compared to Madagascar, the claim in the title text that it appears "larger than the rest of the Earth's land area combined" is an understatement.

No part of Mahé is visible in the comic, but clicking on the actual comic will open a website that displays Mercator projections with a pole in any chosen location, with the location of the one opened set to Mahé. The chosen pole is (infinitely far to) the right of the screen, while its {{w|antipodes|antipode}} is on the left. With this, it is possible to see that the island is indeed larger than the rest of the map's land area combined. A single national park within the island rivals Africa in size, and the narrow dirt road closest to the pole appears thicker than Panama. This also reveals that the location of the map's north pole (the "small lake" mentioned by Randall) is the lake impounded by the Rochon Dam, a popular tourist location in Mahé.

Unlike previous Bad Map Projections, Morocco and Western Sahara are drawn as one unlabelled country.

===Comparison of actual/mapped areas===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Landmass
! Status
! data-sort-type="number"|Actual Area<ref name="act">Major contiguous land areas that should exclude all islands, ''especially'' major ones, '''''especially''''' especially those listed separately</ref> (Millions of Km²)
! data-sort-type="number"|Proportion Land Area
! data-sort-type="number"|Proportion Image Area<ref name="pri">Of only these listed areas listed</ref>
! data-sort-type="number"|Distortion<ref name="dis">NB. Difference between percentages, rather than percentage difference</ref>
|-
| Africa<ref name="suez">Edge at Suez Canal</ref> || data-sort-value="C2"|Continent 2nd largest || 29.7 || 19.95% || 35% || +15.1%
|-
| Eurasia<ref name="suez" /> || data-sort-value="C1"|Continent Largest || 53.4 || 35.83% || 30% || -5.83%
|-
| North America<ref name="pan">Edge at Panama Canal</ref> || data-sort-value="C3"|Continent 3rd largest || 19.3 || 12.96% || 15% || +2.04%
|-
| South America<ref name="pan" /> || data-sort-value="C4"|Continent 4th largest || 17.8 || 11.96% || 7.8% || -4.16%
|-
| Antarctica<ref name="ice">Significant ice-sheets may complicate mapped/actual 'land' areas</ref> || data-sort-value="C5"|Continent 5th largest || 14.2 || 9.53% || 5.3% || -4.23%
|-
| Madagascar || data-sort-value="I04"|Island 4th largest || 0.592 || 0.40% || 2.9% || +2.50%
|-
| Australia || data-sort-value="C7"|Continent Smallest || 7.55 || 5.07% || 2.5% || -2.57%
|-
| Greenland<ref name="ice" /> || data-sort-value="I01"|Island Largest || 2.17 || 1.45% || 0.87% || -0.58%
|-
| Borneo || data-sort-value="I03"|Island 3rd largest || 0.749 || 0.50% || 0.37% || -0.13%
|-
| New Guinea || data-sort-value="I02"|Island 2nd largest || 0.786 || 0.53% || 0.32% || -0.21%
|-
| Japan<ref name="hon">Honshu only</ref> || data-sort-value="I07"|Island 7th largest || 0.228 || 0.15% || 0.10% || -0.05%
|-
| Mainland Britain || data-sort-value="I09"|Island 9th largest || 0.209 || 0.14% || 0.10% || -0.04%
|-
| Island of Ireland || data-sort-value="I20"|Island 20th largest || 0.082 || 0.05% || 0.03% || -0.02%
|}

<references/>

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Bad map projection #248: Madagascator

Mercator projection but with the North Pole in the Indian Ocean so it exaggerates the size of Madagascar instead of Greenland. Various countries and oceans are labeled, and country borders are shown.
{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Bad Map Projections]]

1378: Turbine

2022-05-04T01:33:16Z

172.70.211.72: Undo revision 235014 by X. K. C. D. (talk)

{{comic
| number = 1378
| date = June 6, 2014
| title = Turbine
| image = turbine.png
| titletext = Ok, plan B: Fly a kite into the blades, with a rock in a sling dangling below it, and create the world's largest trebuchet.
}}

==Explanation==
A {{w|wind turbine}} uses wind to rotate its blades in order to generate electricity. It is visually very similar to an (electric) {{w|Mechanical fan|fan}} which however does the exact opposite: it uses electricity to rotate its blades in order to generate wind. The complementary nature of these two machines was previously highlighted in [[1119: Undoing]].

The punchline of this comic is a {{w|pun}} on the other meaning of the word "{{Wiktionary|fan}}" which qualifies someone as liking or supporting something (here, an idea). [[Megan]] suggests to have the turbine blow air at her so she could lift off with a kite, something which would be conceivable with a huge fan, but is impossible here precisely because the turbine is not a fan and therefore can't generate wind. So the ({{w|Anthropomorphism|anthropomorphically}}-speaking) turbine's response is twofold: 1) it's a turbine and not a huge fan, which makes the idea impossible, and 2) for this very reason it doesn't like the idea - i.e. it is not a fan of the idea.

The title text alternatively suggests building a makeshift {{w|trebuchet}}. The idea is that when the kite's string gets tangled in the turbine's blades, the kite will be spun around and it will fling the attached rock (this setup is more similar to a {{w|Trebuchet#Traction trebuchet|traction trebuchet}} than to the more common counterweight trebuchet).

==Transcript==
:[Megan is talking to a wind turbine.]
:Megan: I'll hold up a big kite, and you blow air at me until I lift off!
:Megan: What do you think of that idea?
:Wind turbine: I'm not a huge fan.

==Trivia==
*In [[556: Alternative Energy Revolution]] the wind turbines are also alive, but somewhat more dangerous than just being ironic.
*In [[1119: Undoing]], Cueball highlights the differences between a wind turbine and a fan.
*Trebuchets has been the subject of the comics [[382: Trebuchet]] and [[1160: Drop Those Pounds]], and they were also part of the story in [[1190: Time]].

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Trebuchet]]
[[Category:Puns]]
[[Category:Kites]]
[[Category:Wind turbine]]

1377: Fish

2022-05-04T01:32:43Z

172.70.211.72: Undo revision 236198 by X. K. C. D. (talk)

{{comic
| number = 1377
| date = June 4, 2014
| title = Fish
| image = fish.png
| titletext = [Astronomer peers into telescope] [Jaws theme begins playing]
}}

==Explanation==
The {{w|Fermi paradox}} is the contradiction that arises between high estimates of the likelihood of {{w|extraterrestial life}} and the fact that no evidence for it has thus far been found.

[[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] are having a conversation regarding this — since new planets are found all the time around distant stars, Cueball comments that this makes it an even greater paradox. Megan suggests that perhaps our search for extraterrestrial life is like looking at a patch of ocean floor looking for a fish. The diver knows that there must be a fish somewhere, but is unable to actually find it. She then goes on to ask why the fish would be hidden — i.e. camouflaged, and what it means about the remaining fish. The suggestion is that the fish would be hidden to avoid being eaten by predators, and perhaps the reason no extraterrestrial life is sending any sign of existence back is that they fear they might be destroyed soon after they revealed their location. Maybe they have even actively tried to hide the presence of their entire planet if they obtain the technological means. This potentially refers to the [http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/gif/1983QJRAS..24..283B/0000296.000.html Deadly Probes scenario] where a space faring species has developed deadly probes that self replicate and spread through the void between the stars - homing in on radio signals and destroying young civilizations in the cradle...

The camouflaged fish could be identified by using more sophisticated technologies like infrared cameras. Looking at the Earth from space beyond {{w|Low Earth orbit}} only with the naked eye wouldn't show any hint to our {{w|ecosystem}}. This is like the actual possibility in astronomy when observing {{w|Exoplanet|exoplanets}} — the nature of those more than 1,500 known planets is unknown due to the lack of better technologies to the scientists. And there are a couple of hundred billion planets at our galaxy still camouflaged to human scientists.

The final panels take the metaphor further, suggesting that there is literally a planet sized shark swimming through space eating planets, and since the view is panning away from earth and over to the shark, the shark seems to be heading our way. It looks like Earth is the next fish, presumably because we did not reach a high enough technology level in time to recognize the danger and hide.

This also explains the title text that has the theme from the movie ''{{w|Jaws (film)|Jaws}}'' playing while astronomers look into their telescopes. This may also be a reference to the film ''{{w|Alien (film)|Alien}}'', which was pitched with the three word proposal "''Jaws'' in Space."

{{w|Stephen Hawking}} famously warns, "If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans." Chinese sci-fi author {{w|Liu Cixin}} wrote an award-winning sci-fi trilogy called the ''{{w|Remembrance of Earth’s Past}}'' trilogy, which draws on a similar idea; the title of the second book, ''{{w|The Dark Forest}}'', is a reference to the same Fermi paradox solution described in the comic. Even {{w|Carl Sagan}} called the practice of Broadcasting and Signaling presence of Life on Earth "deeply unwise and immature," and recommended that "the newest children in a strange and uncertain cosmos should listen quietly for a long time, patiently learning about the universe and comparing notes, before shouting into an unknown jungle that we do not understand."

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan are walking down a hill.]
:Cueball: The Fermi paradox keeps getting worse. If planets are common, where ''is'' everybody?

:Megan: Imagine you're a scuba diver looking at the ocean floor. You know there's a fish there, but you can't see it. Why?

:Cueball: Maybe the fish looks like sand.
:Megan: Yeah...

:[Zoom out to the Earth from space.]
:Megan: ...and what would that tell you about the ecosystem?

:[Earth moves slightly out of the panel.]

:[Earth moves halfway out of the panel.]

:[Blank panel.]

:[A shark swims through space.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Aliens]]
[[Category:Sharks]]

738: Incision

2022-05-03T23:38:55Z

172.70.211.72: Undo revision 234032 by X. K. C. D. (talk)

{{comic
| number = 738
| date = May 10, 2010
| title = Incision
| image = incision.png
| titletext = At one point, by force of childhood habit, the doctor accidentally removed three or four organs.
}}

==Explanation==
''{{w|Operation (game)|Operation}}'' is a board game wherein one attempts to remove the organs of a patient, named Cavity Sam, with a pair of tweezers. A flat board has a cartoon image of a "patient", and dotted around various areas are holes inside of which contain plastic pieces representing the organs.

Additionally, each hole is lined with a metal connector, and the tweezers are made of metal, connecting via wire to the board. When the tweezers make contact with a metal connector, a buzzer sounds and a lamp on the patient's nose lights up to signal an error.

The game is notoriously difficult as the organs are quite small, and the buzzer is considered by players to be annoying, if not actually startling, particularly considering how much focus and steady hand is required to avoid the tweezers making contact with a metal connector.

In the comic, a child swallows a buzzer from such a board game, and the joke lies in the similarity between the game and actual surgery when the buzzer is brought into the mix. The title text brings this further by describing an incident where the doctor ended up removing several organs (the object of the game, but obviously not a good idea in real life).{{Citation needed}}

The surgery would probably have been hard, as surgery requires concentration,{{Citation needed}} with the game Operation being hard as well.
==Transcript==
:[Two doctors wearing surgical masks are standing over a prone patient. One of them is touching the patient's chest with a scalpel.]
:Doctor: I'm making the incision above the left—
:'''''BZZZZT!'''''
:Doctor: Augh!

:[Caption below the panel:]
:October 8th, 2004:
:A child swallows an "Operation" buzzer, leading to the single most difficult surgery ever performed.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Board games]]
[[Category:Medicine]]

732: HDTV

2022-05-03T23:18:12Z

172.70.211.72: Undo revision 233843 by X. K. C. D. (talk)

{{comic
| number = 732
| date = April 26, 2010
| title = HDTV
| image = hdtv.png
| titletext = We're also stuck with blurry, juddery, slow-panning 24fps movies forever because (thanks to 60fps home video) people associate high framerates with camcorders and cheap sitcoms, and thus think good framerates look fake.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic pokes fun at the differing standard between image quality for television sets and other electronic devices, even though both are based on essentially the same standards. When rating television sets, a {{w|1080p}} screen, that is, a screen 1,920 pixels wide and 1,080 pixels tall with progressive scan, is considered impressive. In contrast, the same resolution with a computer device is considered standard fare, given that, at the time of writing, a 4:3 ratio computer screen 1,024 pixels wide would have been expected. Widescreen monitors have already surpassed 1,920 pixels wide, and double widescreen monitors have become more common. As of the end of the 2010s, even most smartphones had a horizontal resolution nearing or at 1,080 pixels.

The title texts explains another disagreement involving images and popular opinion. The feeling that a viewer gets from watching a film in a theatre is different from the feeling from a home film, or again, between a serialized programme from an international television channel and a locally-broadcast programme. The disparity is that the small-time productions actually implement better-quality equipment than the big-time productions, in terms of higher frame rate (although not in image fidelity or other respects). However the small productions really are cheaper in other respects, and this feeling is transferred to the look of high frame rates, thanks to videotapes often being used instead of film stock. Low frame rates on more big budget films (and all old, nostalgic productions before high frame rates were commercially possible) mean low frame rates are associated with quality, despite not being as able to capture as much motion as better-quality high frame rates. Blur, judder, and slow pans are mostly absent in high-frame rate productions. This is changing, however, since the major films {{w|The Hobbit}} and {{w|Avatar 2}} are/will be shot with better framerates.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is pointing to a huge flatscreen HDTV on the wall. His friend is holding a cell phone.]
:Cueball (HDTV Owner): Check out my new HDTV-a beautiful, high-def 1080p.
:Friend: Wow, that's over ''TWICE'' the horizontal resolution of my cell phone.
:Friend: In fact, it almost beats the LCD monitor I got in 2004.
:It baffles me that people find HDTV impressive.
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]

1624: 2016

2022-05-03T22:41:13Z

172.70.211.72: Undo revision 233393 by X. K. C. D. (talk)

<noinclude>:''This page refers to the comic named "2016". For comic #2016, see [[2016: OEIS Submissions]].''</noinclude>
{{comic
| number = 1624
| date = January 1, 2016
| title = 2016
| image = 2016.png
| titletext = Want to feel old? Wait.
}}

==Explanation==
This [[:Category:New Year|New Year comic]], the [[1623: 2016 Conversation Guide|second in a row]], is using a common genre of Internet humor, which [[Randall]] has used several times before, in an attempt at making [[:Category:Comics to make one feel old|people feel old]]. This is done by mentioning the ages of various things (often movies) which came into existence during their lifetime. Since many people tend to think of anything that they can remember a time before as "new", this often provokes a feeling of age and out-of-touchness.

In this comic, [[Cueball]] has crashed through the roof into the bedroom of a sleeping [[White Hat]] (note the white hat on the bed) on {{w|New Year}}'s morning. This wakes White Hat up, and Cueball then asks him if he "want[s] to feel old". Without waiting for a reply he starts to make such a list of things that will turn 10 and 20 years old in 2016, before he is interrupted (as he was about to continue mentioning even older things).

White Hat is clearly less interested in Cueball's attempts to make him feel old than he is in the fact that Cueball has apparently crashed through his ceiling and woken him early in the morning on New Year's Day. To which Cueball just replies that 2016 is already hours old and that time is passing. As it is New Year's morning, White Hat has probably not been in bed too long and may even be drunk/hung-over, so he is ''acutely aware'' that the New Year is only a few hours old, and also that time is passing.

''{{w|Night at the Museum}}'' and ''{{w|Cars (film)|Cars}}'' are both children's films from December and June of 2006 respectively, ''{{w|Hips Don't Lie}}'' was an inescapable hit for {{w|Shakira}} released in February 2006, and the {{w|Wii}} is a Nintendo game console which was released in November 2006. If you were born in the early-to-mid nineties, these were probably cultural touchstones of your childhood - most people who enjoyed these are now adults.

The films ''{{w|Twister (1996 film)|Twister}}'' and ''{{w|Independence Day (1996 film)|Independence Day}}'' are both disaster movies that were huge box office hits from May and July 1996. ''{{w|Twister (game)|Twister}}'' is also the name of a game introduced approximately 30 years earlier, so White Hat would feel young, but confused, if he misunderstood and thought he was being told that a game he remembers seeing as a small child is now only 20 years old. ''The Rock'' probably refers to the action film ''{{w|The Rock (film)|The Rock}}'' from June 1996, but it could also refer to the wrestler {{w|Dwayne Johnson|The Rock}}, who made his {{w|WWE|WWF/E}} debut in 1996 (he remains a celebrity to this day, although you may know him as Dwayne Johnson). The first games in the {{w|Pokémon (video game series)|''Pokémon'' series}} came out in Japan in February 1996 (though they would not come out in North America until 1998 and Europe until 1999). {{w|Wonderwall (song)|''Wonderwall''}} was perhaps the biggest hit for the band {{w|Oasis (band)|Oasis}} and remains a favorite of acoustic guitarists to this day. It was actually released in 1995 (mistake by Randall?) But it was probably first big in the US in 1996, and also an acoustic {{w|MTV Unplugged}} version was {{w|Wonderwall_(song)#Live_performances|recorded in 1996}}.

Cueball entering a room hanging by a wire could also be a reference to an iconic scene in the film {{w|Mission:_Impossible_(film)|Mission:Impossible}}, also released in 1996.

This strip is a joke about how common such memes are; Cueball is so eager to note what cultural items have reached major benchmarks of age that he feels the need to break into White Hat's house and announce it mere hours after 2016 begins.

The title text adds a humorous alternative to suggested ways to feel old - by waiting, although one would have to wait for some time to experience noticeable results. It is only a couple of weeks ago that [[Beret Guy]] used this technique to travel forward in time in [[1617: Time Capsule]].

There have been two previous New Year's comics with only the year used as the title: [[998: 2012]] in 2012 and [[1311: 2014]] in 2014. For some reason, this trend only seems to happen with the even-numbered years, but that ended in 2017 with [[1779: 2017]], making this the first of at least two years in a row with New Years comics using the new year as the title.

A similar situation is seen in [[225: Open Source]] where two ninjas smashes through a skylight window hanging down from a rope, waking a person in a bed. In that case they are actually threatening the sleeping guy.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball comes crashing through the ceiling suspended by a rope attached to a triangular contraption around his body. White Hat lies in his bed and appears to have been awoken by the noise, starting to sit up. At first glance it looks like Hairy, but White Hat's white hat can be seen hung on the back of the bed; he apparently doesn't sleep with it on.]
:'''*Crash*'''
:Cueball: Want to feel old?
:Cueball: ''' ''Night at the Museum, Cars, Hips Don't Lie,'' ''' and the '''Wii''' all turn 10 this year.
:Cueball: ''' ''Twister, Independence Day, The Rock'' ''', '''Pokémon''', and ''' ''Wonderwall'' ''' all turn 20.
:Cueball: And-
:White Hat: Oh my God, couldn't you at ''' ''least'' ''' have waited until morning?
:Cueball: It's been 2016 for ''hours!'' ''' ''Time is passing!'' '''
:White Hat: I am acutely aware.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:New Year]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]] 
[[Category:Comics sharing name|2016]]
[[Category:Comics to make one feel old]]
[[Category:Pokémon]]
[[Category:Tornadoes]] 
[[Category:Time]]

2614: 2

2022-05-03T03:03:53Z

172.70.211.72: uncalled for "Citation needed"

{{comic
| number = 2614
| date = May 2, 2022
| title = 2
| image = 2.png
| titletext = It's like sigma summation notation, except instead of summing the argument over all values of i, you 2 the argument over all values of 2.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by 2 squared - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This demonstrates the different ways in which the number 2 can be typeset in various scientific fields.

The dotted box represents any character (presumably a letter or bigram of letters). The number 2 preceding this character is a coefficient in regular math (algebra). The number 2 as a superscript means take the second power (i.e., square whatever precedes it) in physics or regular math, while in normal text, a superscript 2 is usually used to indicate a footnote. The number 2 as a subscript can be used, in chemistry, to show how many atoms of a particular element are present in a molecule (e.g., H2O). A subscript 2,2 shows the second element on the second row of a matrix, but if the comma is replaced by a semicolon, it becomes a common notation for the {{w|Covariant Derivative}} of a tensor field, which is commonly used in the mathematics of general relativity. The number 2 in parenthesis would normally be the argument to a function (e.g., f(2)), but in group theory, the number 2 in parenthesis could indicate a cyclic subgroup or ideal generated by two or a special case of cycle notation for elements of symmetry groups used to mean an element that keeps 2 fixed. A symbol centered underneath another symbol is normally reserved for doing summations, where the big symbol is Σ, or some other operation applied to a sequence of numbers; it does not make sense to have a single number there, as indicated in the alt text. The prepended super and subscripts are often used in nuclear chemistry, with the superscript representing the mass number and the subscript representing the atomic number.

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

[An apparently scientific expression:]

2 [superscript:] 2 [subscript:] 2 [normal text:] [an empty box] [superscript:] 2 [subscript:] 2;2 [normal text:] (2) [beneath the last 2:] 2

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2614: 2

2022-05-03T01:37:19Z

172.70.211.72: cursed

Hello people. Anyone got an explanation for this? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.229|172.70.114.229]] 22:59, 2 May 2022 (UTC)

To the person who has requested a citation that two is a number... here you go: https://youtu.be/dBVoIUASFS0?t=82. Can someone who knows how to add citations add it? :D --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.209|172.70.110.209]] 23:09, 2 May 2022 (UTC)
:The [citation needed] thing is a running joke here thanks to [[285: Wikipedian Protester]]. It's used for obvious statements of fact on this wiki as a joke (basically the opposite of its Wikipedia use). [[User:KirbyDude25|KirbyDude25]] ([[User talk:KirbyDude25|talk]]) 00:43, 3 May 2022 (UTC)

Hey all, the group theory thing reminds me a lot of cyclic groups or ideals generated by the value 2. Also equivalence classes (which come up in group theory) can be written with [brackets] but may be confused with <cyclic groups> or (ideals).

The 2;2 notation looks like the notation \mu; \nu that is used for covariant derivatives of tensors in physics. Also 2,2 looks like \mu, \nu that is used for partial derivatives of tensors. And as mentioned above, (2) could be a cyclic subgroup or ideal generated by two or a special case of cycle notation for elements of symmetry groups used to mean an element that keeps 2 fixed. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.120|162.158.62.120]] 23:32, 2 May 2022 (UTC)

I second the point about tensors. Maybe you could expand the summation notation slightly. It's common to use index sets or rules underneath large symbols for all sorts of things, like sums, products, direct sums, direct products, unions, intersections, integrals, and much, much more. So here, the large 2 in parentheses represents one of these symbols. Rather than adding or multiplying the elements or whatever, you are twoing them, whatever that means. You are twoing over all values of 2, apparently. It's sort of reminiscent of jokes with punchlines like "for sufficiently large values of 2." There are of course, different 2s out there. Like, there is the von Neumann ordinal 2, the integer 2, the rational number 2, the real number 2, the complex number 2, the residue class of 2 mod 3, etc. All of these may be represented by 2. Perhaps we are indexing over some collection of canonical representations of 2? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.161|172.70.130.161]] 00:02, 3 May 2022 (UTC)

Explanation needs something about one of the 2s being cursed. Also, this should be added to the category for cursed stuff (I think it's cursed things, but did not look it up). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.72|172.70.211.72]] 01:37, 3 May 2022 (UTC)

Talk:2614: 2

2022-05-03T01:36:21Z

172.70.211.72: cursed

2613: Bad Map Projection: Madagascator

2022-04-29T18:52:58Z

172.70.211.72: So, fellas! (Yeah!) Fellas! (Yeah!) Has your boyfriend got the balls? (Hell yeah!) Tell 'em to shake it! (Shake it!) Shake it! (Shake it!) Shake those healthy balls! Baby got balls!

{{comic
| number = 2613
| date = April 29, 2022
| title = Bad Map Projection: Madagascator
| image = bad_map_projection_madagascator.png
| titletext = The projection's north pole is in a small lake on the island of Mahé in the Seychelles, which is off the top of the map and larger than the rest of the Earth's land area combined.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a SUSSY BAKA - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Among Us[c] is a 2018 online multiplayer social deduction game developed and published by American game studio Innersloth. The game was inspired by the party game Mafia and the science fiction horror film The Thing. The game allows for cross-platform play, first being released on iOS and Android devices in June 2018 and on Windows later that year in November. The game was then ported to the Nintendo Switch in December 2020, and on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S in December 2021. While the game was initially released in 2018 to little mainstream attention, it received a massive influx of popularity in 2020 due to many well-known Twitch streamers and YouTubers playing it. A separate VR version of the game, Among Us VR, will be released for Quest 2, SteamVR, and PlayStation VR, developed by Schell Games.

Among Us takes place in a space-themed setting where players look like colorful armless cartoon astronauts; however, since the release of "The Skeld" spaceship, three other maps have been added in later years: the skyscraper "MIRA HQ", the "Polus" planetary station, and "The Airship" (based on Infiltrating the Airship from the Henry Stickmin series, also developed by Innersloth). Each player takes on one of two roles—most are Crewmates, but a small number play Impostors—which does not alter their appearance.[d] The goal of the Crewmates is to either identify and vote out the Impostors, or to complete all the tasks around the map; the goal of the Impostors is to covertly sabotage the mission either by killing the Crewmates before they complete all their tasks or by triggering a disaster that cannot be resolved.
[[Category:Bad Map Projections]]

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

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Bad Map Projections]]

2613: Bad Map Projection: Madagascator

2022-04-29T18:47:31Z

172.70.211.72: Ooh, Rump-o'-smooth-skin/You say you wanna get in my Benz?/Well, use me, use me 'Cause you ain't that average groupie/I've seen them dancin'/To hell with romancin'

Talk:2613: Bad Map Projection: Madagascator

2022-04-29T18:45:56Z

172.70.211.72: dude im pulling your leg

Hopefully the vandal won't bother this one. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.18|172.70.211.18]] 17:23, 29 April 2022 (UTC)

Anyone else want to play this (and the other bad map projections) as maps in a 4X/Grand Strategy game? [[User:Mazz0|Mazz0]] ([[User talk:Mazz0|talk]]) 18:02, 29 April 2022 (UTC)

Clicking on the original comic brings up the actual projection used, it looks like.

this page is kinda sussy tbh [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.81|172.70.214.81]] 18:11, 29 April 2022 (UTC)

Why was this page mentioning Among Us? The game has no relation to map projections at all[[Special:Contributions/172.70.251.112|172.70.251.112]] 18:16, 29 April 2022 (UTC)

among us has many relations to map projections tho [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.35|172.69.33.35]] 18:17, 29 April 2022 (UTC)

- Among Us: deception based video game
- Map projections: how to put the globe on a flat surface
I see no relations at all, what are you on? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.246.65|172.70.246.65]] 18:33, 29 April 2022 (UTC)

no among us is actually very related, take a look at the wikipedia page [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.18|172.70.211.18]] 18:36, 29 April 2022 (UTC)
I have looked at the Wikipedia pages, and there is _no_ reference to Among Us on any map-related pages (and vice versa). What is your problem? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.242.195|172.70.242.195]] 18:43, 29 April 2022 (UTC)

maybe you didnt look hard enough [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.72|172.70.211.72]] 18:45, 29 April 2022 (UTC)

2613: Bad Map Projection: Madagascator

2022-04-29T18:45:13Z

172.70.211.72: Undo revision 231481 by 172.70.211.72 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 2613
| date = April 29, 2022
| title = Bad Map Projection: Madagascator
| image = bad_map_projection_madagascator.png
| titletext = The projection's north pole is in a small lake on the island of Mahé in the Seychelles, which is off the top of the map and larger than the rest of the Earth's land area combined.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a MADAGASCARIAN GIANT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This is another comic in the [[:Category:Bad Map Projections|Bad Map Projections]] series. This time, Randall used the classic {{w|Mercator projection}} but instead of placing the North Pole on top and the South Pole on the bottom it is oriented so that the top is the island of {{w|Mahé, Seychelles|Mahé}}. This is valid, as Earth is pretty much symmetrical{{citation needed}}, but the axis choice is unusual. Since the Mercator projection tends to visually distort areas near the top and bottom of the resulting map, this gives some areas, notably Madagascar, very unusual shapes.

The Mercator projection became the standard projection for world maps during the 1800s because it is conformal - the angle between two places on the map is the same as the angle between them in the real world. During the age of sail, when navigation was performed by compass - this was a very valuable feature, since once could plot a course between two locations by measuring the direction from one to another on the map and then accounting for the difference between the magnetic and actual north poles to determine what direction to sail in. In the mid-20th century this trend was {{w|Mercator_projection#Criticism|criticized}} because the distortion towards the north and south poles gave an inaccurate impression of relative sizes. The most common example given of this distortion is that on a Mercator map of the world Greenland looks to be larger than Africa, when in real life Africa is 14 times larger. Thus the reference to making Madagascar larger in this projection rather than Greenland.

[[Category:Bad Map Projections]]

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

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Bad Map Projections]]

2613: Bad Map Projection: Madagascator

2022-04-29T18:44:46Z

172.70.211.72: deep in the jeans hes wearing, i'm hooked and i cant stop staring, oh baby, i wanna get with ya, and take your picture, my homeboys tried to warn me, but those balls you got make me so horny

2613: Bad Map Projection: Madagascator

2022-04-29T18:42:52Z

172.70.211.72: Undo revision 231478 by 172.70.206.163 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 2613
| date = April 29, 2022
| title = Bad Map Projection: Madagascator
| image = bad_map_projection_madagascator.png
| titletext = The projection's north pole is in a small lake on the island of Mahé in the Seychelles, which is off the top of the map and larger than the rest of the Earth's land area combined.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a MADAGASCARIAN GIANT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This is another comic in the [[:Category:Bad Map Projections|Bad Map Projections]] series. This time, Randall used the classic {{w|Mercator projection}} but instead of placing the North Pole on top and the South Pole on the bottom it is oriented so that the top is the island of {{w|Mahé, Seychelles|Mahé}}. This is valid, as Earth is pretty much symmetrical{{citation needed}}, but the axis choice is unusual. Since the Mercator projection tends to visually distort areas near the top and bottom of the resulting map, this gives some areas, notably Madagascar, very unusual shapes.

The Mercator projection became the standard projection for world maps during the 1800s because it is conformal - the angle between two places on the map is the same as the angle between them in the real world. During the age of sail, when navigation was performed by compass - this was a very valuable feature, since once could plot a course between two locations by measuring the direction from one to another on the map and then accounting for the difference between the magnetic and actual north poles to determine what direction to sail in. In the mid-20th century this trend was {{w|Mercator_projection#Criticism|criticized}} because the distortion towards the north and south poles gave an inaccurate impression of relative sizes. The most common example given of this distortion is that on a Mercator map of the world Greenland looks to be larger than Africa, when in real life Africa is 14 times larger. Thus the reference to making Madagascar larger in this projection rather than Greenland.

[[Category:Bad Map Projections]]

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

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Bad Map Projections]]

2613: Bad Map Projection: Madagascator

2022-04-29T18:21:52Z

172.70.211.72: Undo revision 231461 by 172.70.250.185 (talk)

2529: Unsolved Math Problems

2022-04-29T18:21:16Z

172.70.211.72: balls

{{comic
| number = 2529
| date = October 15, 2021
| title = Unsolved Math Problems
| image = unsolved_math_problems.png
| titletext = After decades of studying the curve and the procedure that generates it, the consensus explanation is "it's just like that."
}}

==Explanation==

Math has many problems that remain "unsolved." This is not simply a matter of finding the correct numbers on both sides of an equal sign, but usually require proving or finding a counterexample to some conjecture, or explaining some property of some mathematical object. Sometimes this might involve extending an existing proof to a wider range of numbers like reals, complex numbers, or matrices.

A concrete problem is one that is very obviously connected to a real world process, while an abstract problem is one which seems unconnected to actual problems. In modern math, many problems tend to be very abstract, requiring complicated notation to adequately state the problem in the first place, like many of the {{w|millennium problems}}. On the other hand, many unsolved problems are very concrete; for example, there are very many problems related to packing objects into spaces that are very difficult to solve although quite easy to state, such as the {{w|Collatz conjecture}}. Finally, Randall describes a third category of "cursed problems," that have strange, seemingly random behavior, such as the behavior of turbulence or the distribution of prime numbers.

In the first panel, Ponytail describes my balls. Her description seems to be a meaningless jumble of terms that are either mathematical or just ''sound'' mathematical. And the mathematical terms are from disparate branches of mathematics: group theory, topology, and calculus.

*'''Euler field:'''
*'''{{w|Manifold}}:'''
*'''{{w|Hypergroup}}:'''
*'''Isomorphic:''' {{w|Isomorphism}} describes whether all the attributes of one structure can be mapped to properties of another structure. The structures usually have to be of the same type; it is unclear how a hypergroup would map to a "conjection".
*'''Gödel-Klein:''' {{w|Kurt Gödel}} was a 20th-century mathematician who studied logic and philosophy (he's most well known for {{w|Gödel's incompleteness theorems}}) and {{w|Felix Klein}} was a 19th century mathematician who studied group theory and geometry; the two probably never collaborated.
*'''Meta-algebra:'''
*'''ϵ<0:''' a joke about how in analysis, {{w|ϵ}} is usually defined to be an arbitrarily small ''positive'' number.
*'''quasimonoid:''' A [[Malamanteau|malamanteau]], combining the prefix "quasi" (meaning "partially" or "seemingly") and "monoid" (an object from group theory) and is probably meant to evoke the character {{w|Quasimodo}} from ''The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'' (although quasimonoids are a type of algebraic object, namely a non-associative {{w|monoid}})
*'''Sondheim Calculus:''' This refers to {{w|Stephen Sondheim}}, one of the most successful composers and lyricists of American musical theatre -- the producer of his musical "Into the Woods" once [https://www.indiewire.com/2015/01/watch-singing-sondheim-is-like-calculus-in-into-the-woods-behind-the-scenes-video-exclusive-189507/ remarked] that "Singing Stephen Sondheim is like calculus for singers and actors."
*'''conjection:''' This may combine conjecture and conjunction, or be a joke on pros and cons plus projection.

Finally she asks whether the problem statement is ill-formed; considering that it's mostly gibberish, this may be true.

Many real unsolved math problems appear similarly abstract. One example is the {{w|Hodge conjecture}}, a {{w|Millennium Prize Problems|Millennium Prize}} problem. It states "Let X be a non-singular complex projective manifold. Then every Hodge class on X is a linear combination with rational coefficients of the cohomology classes of complex subvarieties of X." These words may appear nonsensical to a layperson. And even to an expert, the question is `abstract'. (Given a specific manifold, even an abelian fourfold, how on earth do you determine if a given 2,2 class is a cycle?)

In the second panel, Cueball describes a concrete {{w|random walk}} problem, and then mentions that this somehow has applications in three unrelated fields. This is actually not uncommon. The Wikipedia article says that "random walks have applications to engineering and many scientific fields including ecology, psychology, computer science, physics, chemistry, biology, economics, and sociology. Walking randomly on a grid never visiting any square twice is known as a {{w|self-avoiding walk}}." This panel may have been inspired by some of the tricky unsolved problems about self-avoiding walks. Many of these problems have to do with rigorously proving properties of random walks that have been guessed by physics intuition, so these problems are connected to physics. The part about the maximum number of points in a line is reminiscent of problems in combinatorial geometry, which often involve counting points lying on different lines. Python code simulating this situation can be found here: [https://colab.research.google.com/drive/1nWrByCGBckwVdbAwow7tCYTOvqObYXyR?usp=sharing]. C++ code simulating this situation can be found here: [https://github.com/AMindToThink/WeirdlyConcreteXKCD].

In the final panel, Megan is looking at a strange curve that seems to have no consistent pattern. At the bottom it's mostly straight, with a few little wobbles. In the middle it looks like a wild, high-frequency wave that suddenly bursts and then dies down. And the top is a spiral that looks like a question mark or a Western-style {{w|Crosier}}. She wonders if this could even be mathematical.
On one hand, considering the weird shapes that come from plotting some mathematical processes (e.g. the {{w|Mandelbrot set}}), it could well be. For example the unsolved {{w|Riemann hypothesis}}, another Millennium Prize problem, concerns the properties of {{w|File:RiemannCriticalLine.svg|a weird and at-first-glance random curve}}. In number theory, the term "cursed curve" [https://www.quantamagazine.org/mathematicians-crack-the-cursed-curve-20171207/ has been used] to describe the [https://annals.math.princeton.edu/wp-content/uploads/annals-v173-n1-p13-s.pdf "split Cartan" modular curve] of level 13, which resisted attempts for many years to compute its [https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.4007/annals.2019.189.3.6 set of rational points].
On the other hand, the question if could even be mathematical suggests that this may indeed not be a mathematical symbol. The curve looks like the unalome symbol, which is a Buddhist symbol which represents the path taken in life, or the journey to enlightenment. It could be argued that this indeed represents an unsolved problem, although not a mathematical one - which might then be part of the humoristic meaning.

In the title text, the curve in the final panel is further explained based on the consensus of supposedly a group who has studied it and the procedure that generates it, commenting that "it's just like that" as their conclusion, which is really not an explanation at all.

==Transcript==

The Three Types Of Unsolved Math Problem

:First: Weirdly Abstract
:[Ponytail stands in front of an equation]
:Is the Euler Field Manifold Hypergroup Isomorphic to a Gödel-Klein Meta-Algebreic ε<0 Quasimonoid Conjection under Sondheim Calculus?
:Or is the question ill-formed?
:⬙ℝ̇ℤ/Eℵ₅ The Z is raised and underneath it is a double-ended arrow bent at a right angle. One points toward the R the other toward the Z. The ₅ is double-struck (𝟝) like the ℝ and ℤ

:Second: Weirdly Concrete
:[Cueball stands in front of a grid with 6 columns and 7 rows]
:If I walk randomly on a grid, never visiting any square twice, placing a marble every ''N'' steps, on average how many marbles will be in the longest line after N*K steps?
:Somehow the answer is important in like three unrelated fields.
:[The path starts in the 3rd row and 3rd column, a small circle indicates the start. It takes the path: North, East, North, East (a black dot representing the 1st marble is placed here, so N=4), South, East, South, South (2nd marble), West, South, West, North (3rd marble), West, South, South, South (4th Marble), West, North, West, West (this goes offgrid to the West. There is no visible line or marble outside the grid). The 1st, 3rd, and 4th marbles are colinear and there is a dotted line connecting them. The line's slope is 3.]

:Third: Cursed
:[A Megan with unkempt hair stands next to a curve]
:What in God's name is going on with this curve?
:Is it even math?
:[The curve starts at the bottom of the screen, rises straight upward, begins to wobble left and right a little. It lists to the left and the left-right motion increases, then decreases. It begins a large counter-clockwise arc, spiraling inwards twice, then ends]

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

603: Idiocracy

2022-04-29T18:19:04Z

172.70.211.72: balls

{{comic
| number = 603
| date = June 29, 2009
| title = Idiocracy
| image = idiocracy.png
| titletext = People aren't going to change, for better or for worse. Technology's going to be so cool. All in all, the future will be okay! Except climate; we fucked that one up.
}}

==Explanation==
The title of this comic is a reference to the dystopian comedy ''{{w|Idiocracy}}''. The film postulates that over about 500 years, society will suffer from a massive decrease in intellectual potential. This development is attributed to the fact that people with a lower IQ are believed to be more likely to reproduce thus more readily pass on their genes.

[[Cueball]] professes his approval for the theories represented in the film, and the guy with the white safari hat agrees with him, lamenting the gradual decay in intelligence and education. (Note that Safari Hat is not the same guy as [[White Hat]]! See below.)

But in panel 3, Safari Hat suddenly reveals that all the "facts" he cited were wrong, and we learn that he doesn't support the dysgenic thesis at all. He turns to accuse Cueball of conceited self-righteousness (using religious zealots as an analogy), harshly condemning intelligence dysgenics as an excuse for feeling superior to the rest of society. Cueball's suggestion of {{w|Birth control movement in the United States|birth control}} for the unintelligent only furthers his attitude. Although it is not named, one thing at work here is the {{w|Dunning-Kruger effect}} — that stupid people don't realize they're stupid.

Safari Hat's punchline, playing on Cueball's birth control suggestion, is a direct insult: it would be better to reproduce with a stupid person than an elitist like Cueball.

It's pretty clear here that [[Randall]] is voicing his opinion through my balls, and using Cueball as a straw man.

The title text reflects the opinion. It makes a few cheery comments on the future, but then finishes on a rather sour note about {{w|climate change}}. Climate change is a [[:Category:Climate change|recurring theme]] in xkcd.

In fact, a negative correlation between intelligence and fertility is disputed; see the Wikipedia article on the accumulation of disadvantageous genes: {{w|dysgenics}}. And regardless of this the actual absolute IQs in modern societies have been rising, see {{w|Flynn effect}}. This can be paraphrased with the statement, that if the generation of our grandparents would take a today's IQ test, they would barely score an IQ of 70 and be at the limit of intellectual disability.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is standing in front of three shelves with DVDs, holding a single DVD in his hand looking at the cover. A guy with a white rounded safari hat (Safari Hat from now on) stands behind him.]
:Cueball: ''Idiocracy'' is so true.
:Safari Hat: I know, right? It used to be that the intelligent, upper classes had more children.

:[Zoom on on their heads as Cueball turns towards Safari Hat.]
:Safari Hat: Sadly, the recent reversal of this trend has dragged IQ scores and average education steadily downward.
:Cueball: Depressing, huh?

:[Zoom out to show Cueball holding the DVD down as Safari Hat lifts on arm towards him.]
:Safari Hat: Yeah, except ''everything I just said was wrong.''
:Cueball: Huh?
:Safari Hat: Wrong. False. The opposite of true.

:[Zoom in only on Safari Hat.]
:Safari Hat: You're like the religious zealots who are ''burdened'' by their superiority with the sad duty of decrying the ''obvious'' moral decay of each new generation.
:Safari Hat: And you're just as wrong.

:[Zoom out to both as before, but this time it is Cueball who holds up a finger.]
:Cueball: But look at how popular—
:Safari Hat: More harm has been done by people panicked over societal decline than societal decline ever did.

:[Cueball spreads out his arms (the DVD gone) as Safari Hat has walked out off the panel.]
:Cueball: Look — all we need is a program that limits breeding to—
:Safari Hat (off-panel): New theory: Stupid people reproduce more because the alternative is sleeping with ''you.''

==Trivia==
*It should be noted that Safari Hat was at first thought to be a version of White Hat, who had the exact opposite personality depicted here. But since White Hat had already appeared three times before this comic, and as Safari hat has never been seen since (except in [[1000: 1000 Comics]]), there is no reason to mix these two characters.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Characters with hats]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Climate change]]

Talk:2612: Lightsabers

2022-04-27T20:07:47Z

172.70.211.72: /* That’s not what’s happening */ new section

Not sure what's going on here. Are {{W|electric arcs}} what's happening between the lightsabers? --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.242.207|172.70.242.207]] 12:48, 27 April 2022 (UTC)

Could be based on properties of plasma? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.72|172.70.211.72]] 12:53, 27 April 2022 (UTC)

Probably something like {{W|cold welding}}. The fields keeping the light saber beam coherent would not be able to differentiate between the two plasma beams, and would join together. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.36|172.70.91.36]] 13:22, 27 April 2022 (UTC)
:That's my take. The effect that confines the laser (to make it a [[1433: Lightsaber|handy length]], at the very least) is potentially too 'self-sticky', but certainly with that of the opposing blade after a bit of awkward cross-resonance. And then the deactivation/withdrawing (typoed that as "sithdrawing"!) still drags the other blade-tip inwards too. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.63|172.70.90.63]] 13:35, 27 April 2022 (UTC)

::My reaction: And THAT's why the two dueling Jedis should have different color of the blade! -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 19:47, 27 April 2022 (UTC)

Very good job on the transcript (except a few minor grammar errors). I didn't envy someone trying to describe all the imagery. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 15:25, 27 April 2022 (UTC)

Lots of comics about lightsabers. Maybe it's time to make a category for them? Many things got categories after just 4-5 appearaces. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.249|141.101.105.249]] 17:20, 27 April 2022 (UTC)

This is potentially inspired by a scene from Spaceballs where two lightsabers "tangle", although in thta scene they don't actually connect. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.134|141.101.104.134]] 19:11, 27 April 2022 (UTC)

In panels 10 and 11, the bodies seem to cast shadows on the ground. I don't recall seeing this previously on XKCD, is this the first time? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.249|141.101.105.249]] 19:58, 27 April 2022 (UTC)

== That’s not what’s happening ==

“In this situation one Jedi tries to shake the beam, maybe to break the bond, but instead the wave travels down the combined beam to also shake the other Jedi's hand-held hilt.”

Nuh uh. One tries to shake loose, then the other tries, also. Why do people make up complex explanations for obvious simple things?[[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.72|172.70.211.72]] 20:07, 27 April 2022 (UTC)

Talk:2612: Lightsabers

2022-04-27T12:53:55Z

172.70.211.72: comment

Talk:2612: Lightsabers

2022-04-27T12:53:07Z

172.70.211.72: comment

Talk:2611: Cutest-Sounding Scientific Effects

2022-04-27T01:48:42Z

172.70.211.72:

Can I suggest that anyone who replaces the hyphen/minus-sign in "foo - bar" (or, usually, "foo - breakout - bar" as some sort of bracketting side-comment) don't replace " - " with "–” or "—” ''without the spaces'', as it makes it look even more like the unintended hyphenisation that they probably think they're avoiding. At least preserve the spacing. That said, there generally is another way. 
If commas would be too confusing (e.g. proximity to a list (and especially Oxford Commas, which confuse things more!)) then parenthesising would be best. If you're too scared to nest brackets (and ellipses/etc don't seem viable …perhaps leave to the Discussion page?) then probably you just need to rewrite into several more atomic sentences rather than one huge run-on one that needs so many different pause/''sotto-voce''-effect in the internalised narration. As you can see, I run into this problem often enough. In this comment I've slightly broken a couple of my own rules (by omission) just because it makes a better exemplar to not rewrite to avoid. 
''However'' this is just general advice to the other mdash/ndash 'correctors' who pop up. In this article it was the transcript where "Effect A - Effect B" became "Effect A–Effect B", looking like "A-Effect" (or, actually "Effect-B", to reflect the true ordering seen). Obviously it represents the line between, but no hyphen ''or'' dash is there to be read, and it would have been as valid to use " / " as separator, except for the use (unspaced) in "Bouba/kiki". It would be nice to know what screen-readers think of every option — how they voice them, etc… 
Perhaps a " [is bracketed with] " transcript-label would be best (with the spaces, naturally). But I leave it up to someone else to think about. I'm still a bit overinvolved with the 'hyphen-like dashes' issue, as you can see, which often makes me a bit sharp and terse. For which I apologise, as with this whole 'getting off of my chest' commentary that I've a feeling I have either under-explained or over-explained. Or, simultaneously, both! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.145|172.70.90.145]] 08:44, 26 April 2022 (UTC)
:Maybe [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.209|172.69.79.209]] 08:54, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

:It was I who changed to dashes. Both dash length and spacing was, to the best of my ability, those that Wikipedia described for sport games and other “symmetrical” pairs. If it turned out unsuitable for this page, I think that another layout entirely would be preferable to the current solution. But for sure I won’t fight for it.

:[[User:While False|While False]] ([[User talk:While False|talk]]) 09:03, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

Clearly this is going to end with a final of Cutaneous Rabbit - Woozle. Which combines to give you a self-reinforcing erroneous belief that someone is tapping your arm. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.209|172.69.79.209]] 08:56, 26 April 2022 (UTC)
:I could see there being an actual Perky/Cutaneous Rabbit draw (in both senses of the word, though I haven't checked to see if either have lost out yet on the official poll), whichbis when you are convinced that you are in fact only imagining the tapping moving up your arm, ''but it actually is!!!'' [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.5|172.70.162.5]] 09:59, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

So... Who's setting up an actual bracket for this? Should we each create our own brackets?{{unsigned ip}}
:Randall's running one (see Twitter link near top), though I forget when the first-round polls are said to be closing (did it say 10 hours, when I checked for myself?) and as I'm not registered on a Twitter it's just a spectator sport for me and I'll probably rely on some other editor bringing the results over to ExplainXKCD when they are made known and putting them in the section now prepared on the Explanation page. Nothing to stop you making your own predictions/desires known ahead of the actual results, but it'd be purely a personal thing until enough people locally state their thoughts this to establish a (possibly different) ExpXKCD consensus result by manual collation of a completely scientifically-unregorous alternate poll. (Sounds like too much work for little added benefit, but maybe someone wants to do it anyway...) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.211|172.70.90.211]] 16:44, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

Reading the wiki article about the Dr. Fox effect, in which they used "an actor, Michael Fox" I had to do a double take because I thought they were talking about Michael J. Fox. Now that would be a charismatic teacher! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.72|172.70.211.72]] 01:45, 27 April 2022 (UTC)

Talk:2611: Cutest-Sounding Scientific Effects

2022-04-27T01:45:06Z

172.70.211.72:

Can I suggest that anyone who replaces the hyphen/minus-sign in "foo - bar" (or, usually, "foo - breakout - bar" as some sort of bracketting side-comment) don't replace " - " with "–” or "—” ''without the spaces'', as it makes it look even more like the unintended hyphenisation that they probably think they're avoiding. At least preserve the spacing. That said, there generally is another way. 
If commas would be too confusing (e.g. proximity to a list (and especially Oxford Commas, which confuse things more!)) then parenthesising would be best. If you're too scared to nest brackets (and ellipses/etc don't seem viable …perhaps leave to the Discussion page?) then probably you just need to rewrite into several more atomic sentences rather than one huge run-on one that needs so many different pause/''sotto-voce''-effect in the internalised narration. As you can see, I run into this problem often enough. In this comment I've slightly broken a couple of my own rules (by omission) just because it makes a better exemplar to not rewrite to avoid. 
''However'' this is just general advice to the other mdash/ndash 'correctors' who pop up. In this article it was the transcript where "Effect A - Effect B" became "Effect A–Effect B", looking like "A-Effect" (or, actually "Effect-B", to reflect the true ordering seen). Obviously it represents the line between, but no hyphen ''or'' dash is there to be read, and it would have been as valid to use " / " as separator, except for the use (unspaced) in "Bouba/kiki". It would be nice to know what screen-readers think of every option — how they voice them, etc… 
Perhaps a " [is bracketed with] " transcript-label would be best (with the spaces, naturally). But I leave it up to someone else to think about. I'm still a bit overinvolved with the 'hyphen-like dashes' issue, as you can see, which often makes me a bit sharp and terse. For which I apologise, as with this whole 'getting off of my chest' commentary that I've a feeling I have either under-explained or over-explained. Or, simultaneously, both! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.145|172.70.90.145]] 08:44, 26 April 2022 (UTC)
:Maybe [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.209|172.69.79.209]] 08:54, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

:It was I who changed to dashes. Both dash length and spacing was, to the best of my ability, those that Wikipedia described for sport games and other “symmetrical” pairs. If it turned out unsuitable for this page, I think that another layout entirely would be preferable to the current solution. But for sure I won’t fight for it.

:[[User:While False|While False]] ([[User talk:While False|talk]]) 09:03, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

Clearly this is going to end with a final of Cutaneous Rabbit - Woozle. Which combines to give you a self-reinforcing erroneous belief that someone is tapping your arm. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.209|172.69.79.209]] 08:56, 26 April 2022 (UTC)
:I could see there being an actual Perky/Cutaneous Rabbit draw (in both senses of the word, though I haven't checked to see if either have lost out yet on the official poll), whichbis when you are convinced that you are in fact only imagining the tapping moving up your arm, ''but it actually is!!!'' [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.5|172.70.162.5]] 09:59, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

So... Who's setting up an actual bracket for this? Should we each create our own brackets?{{unsigned ip}}
:Randall's running one (see Twitter link near top), though I forget when the first-round polls are said to be closing (did it say 10 hours, when I checked for myself?) and as I'm not registered on a Twitter it's just a spectator sport for me and I'll probably rely on some other editor bringing the results over to ExplainXKCD when they are made known and putting them in the section now prepared on the Explanation page. Nothing to stop you making your own predictions/desires known ahead of the actual results, but it'd be purely a personal thing until enough people locally state their thoughts this to establish a (possibly different) ExpXKCD consensus result by manual collation of a completely scientifically-unregorous alternate poll. (Sounds like too much work for little added benefit, but maybe someone wants to do it anyway...) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.211|172.70.90.211]] 16:44, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

Reading the wiki article about the Dr. Fox effect, in which they used "an actor, Michael Fox" I had to do a double take because I thought they were talking about Michael J. Fox. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.72|172.70.211.72]] 01:45, 27 April 2022 (UTC)

Talk:2610: Assigning Numbers

2022-04-26T18:51:57Z

172.70.211.72:

Does this imply that [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del%27s_incompleteness_theorems Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem] isn't correct? And that it's method is bunk? Please help! -Seer [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.230|162.158.107.230]] 02:08, 23 April 2022 (UTC)
I believe the intention is that the theorem is not part of the set of bad data science, just that they share this one feature.

Isn't the Gödel number for a theorem calculated by multiplying the numbers of the components together, so complicated theorems would have larger numbers? If so, the current explanation that this isn't a good way to judge fields is wrong. I'm not too sure though. [[User:MrCandela|MrCandela]] ([[User talk:MrCandela|talk]]) 05:52, 23 April 2022 (UTC)

:I do not believe that the title suggests renumbering theorems with Gödel numbers, but averaging the existing theorem numbers. Or otherwise, MrCandela's suggestion would be the way to go: Complicated Theorems have larger numbers. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.133|172.68.110.133]] 08:10, 23 April 2022 (UTC)

:Yeah a quick look at some magazines like [https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-godels-incompleteness-theorems-work-20200714/#jump2/ this one] and I think Randall has a point [[User:MrCandela|MrCandela]] ([[User talk:MrCandela|talk]]) 09:48, 23 April 2022 (UTC)

I wish I'd started the explanation off when I first saw it (somone posted the first Transcript whilst I was pondering, so I left off). I think there's some serious re-editing to be done, but basically it points to someone (Cueball, a dabbling armchair mathematician faced with some not directly mathematically-based problem) thinking that 'all' it takes is to encode the whatever-it-is, arbitrarily, and then with a few easy equations something useful cannbe derived. When, in reality, even if this is possible (ignoring the "takes the age of the universe to permute things to find the right answer" sort of sticking-block) it depends upon a ''good'' numerical encoding (enough attention to detail, but not too much, and in the right sort of way) and possibly quite a lot of data-demunging and filtration (again, just the right amount and in the correct manner) to pop out the "answer" being looked for. For some things, this can be easy, though there are always statistical pitfalls/etc. For others ("life, the universe and everything", say) the task is far more complex and the result ("42"?) might not seem to be a very useful result for various reasons. And, on top this, there's Gödel. But that's an additional punchline, not the whole scope of the original joke. ...Anyway, this long comment is why I held back from writing the original Explanation, but I might yet wrangle my thoughts into what's since been put there. While trying not to tread upon too many toes and alternate explanations. Which is the hardest bit, I think... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.64|172.70.86.64]] 15:48, 23 April 2022 (UTC)

Just a comment about the technicalities of Gödel's First Incompleteness Theorem: The 'third' possibility presented [http://dstoner.net/Math_Science/godel.html here] misunderstands the term 'true but unprovable'. When mathematicians say 'true but unprovable' in the context of Gödel's Incompleteness Theorems, what they mean is 'true in the standard model but unprovable in the formal system'. The Gödel sentence is certainly true for the standard natural numbers, by contradiction: assume that the Gödel sentence is false for the standard naturals, which means that there exists a standard natural number which is the Gödel number for the proof of the Gödel sentence. Then we could decode the Gödel number into a proof (of the formal system) proving the Gödel sentence true; a contradiction. (Note that the preceding proof by contradiction can be formalised in ZFC, but not in the formal system under study.) The reason why the Gödel sentence is unprovable in the formal system is because, from the point of view of the formal system, there might be a non-standard natural number which is the Gödel number for the proof of the Gödel sentence (and non-standard numbers cannot be decoded into a proof); or there might not be. --[[User:Underbase|Underbase]] ([[User talk:Underbase|talk]]) 04:56, 24 April 2022 (UTC)

:Regarding this, I know that the policy on this site is to include every possible interpretation, but the page mentioned is an html page (and not a [https://xkcd.com/2304/ pdf]) that was not [https://xkcd.com/1847/ peer reviewed] (thus not recognized by the community), and as mentioned by the user above it fails understand the concepts it is talking about. I do not think this site should be spreading this kind of idea. I believe Randall Monroe himself would be against this.

::I also believe the current explanation is both incorrect about explaining the seeming paradox of the Gödel conjecture, & therefore somewhat incorrect about this joke. It is surely the transition from abstract to quantized - the act of applying limited formal numbering to potentially unbounded or otherwise non-standard terms - which incurs incompleteness? Within the constraints of a formal system of standard natural numbers, true≠provable, & therein lies the internal (but not total) contradiction. ''That's'' the contradiction, right? & the joke is that numbering theorems by their complexity, is not generally a productive approach for 'doing math' on them, in any sense but an abstract analytical one?
::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:54, 24 April 2022 (UTC)

:I do not believe the Title Text calls for "calculating the average of all the fields' theorems' Gödel numbers". It asks for 'the lowest average theorem number'. The average of all, is not the average of each. The Title Text wants the average of ''each of'' the fields' theorems' Gödel numbers.
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:54, 24 April 2022 (UTC)

Today's [https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/derivative Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal] is slightly related.

== Paradoxicality argument ==

I think that revision [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2610:_Assigning_Numbers&oldid=231000 231000] should be removed. My explanation of what's wrong with the linked site is as follows:

Up until the section "Gödel's String", nothing is incorrect. Furthermore, the first wrong line is numbered (49), and says that Gödel's statement is equivalent to "This statement is not a theorem (of any formal system)." This is where he goes wrong, for writing down a formula for "n proves m" requires inclusion of the formal system in which this proof happens. As such, the correct translation of Gödel's statement is "This statement is not a theorem of [system]", which it indeed is not. Then he says that "We have decided that Gödel's string cannot be a theorem and neither can its negation" (true, after Rosser's trick) and therefore that this gives us "~<G∨~G>" (which is false). He has commited the sin of confusing truth and provability here.

His discussion of the Epimenides string ("This statement is not true") is accurate, except for the claim that the truth predicate is "as valid an extension to [PA] as [the provability and quining] extensions were". This is false. The provability and quining predicates can be constructed in PA and thus are not "extensions" so much as "shorthand"; this was Gödel's contribution: to see that PA can talk about provability of statements in any fixed formal system. The truth predicate is not definable in PA, as he quite ably proves (suppose it was definable, then you could write down the Epimenides sentence in PA, and thereby prove false).

The section "Gödel's Error" is just plain silly.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.147|172.70.114.147]] 19:28, 24 April 2022 (UTC)

What if we just change it to say something along the lines of "Certain logical systems allow values to be 'not false' without being necessarily 'true'; Godel's theorem is based on an axiomatic assumption that every statement is either true or false."?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.163|108.162.221.163]] 06:06, 25 April 2022 (UTC)

Is it just me, or is the given argument gibberish? Replacing the terms with more graspable ones, it seems to be saying: "1. Assume that bananas can be grown from banana-trees (why is this a reasonable assumption? Is it also a reasonable assumption to make about pear trees?). 2. Banana-trees exist. 3. Therefore, the statement that bananas cannot be grown from the trees is true (HOW is this a reasonable conclusion to leap to from the preceding points? By what bizarre leap of elided logic?). 4. This is a contradiction, therefore our initial assumption must be wrong (No, clearly the conclusion in 3 is wrong). Therefore, the statement is true (which statement are you even talking about here?)." Any chance someone could clarify that passage by including the missing steps in the logic? --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.159|172.69.70.159]] 19:02, 25 April 2022 (UTC)

:It's not missing any steps. The argument really is that simple. Maybe I didn't write it clearly enough... Anyway to address your specific points, I would first recommend you read {{w|Reductio ad absurdum}}, but if you don't have time (Because let's be real, nobody has enough time for reading Wikipedia articles), I'll break it down. 1. Assume the opposite of the statement (This is not a reasonable assumption almost by definition; the whole point is to disprove it, after all) using the Law of Assumption, which states that we can assume absolutely anything we want in a logical proof, so long as we keep track of what's been derived from it. 2 Assume anything else relevant 3. Follow the assumptions through to their conclusions, and find that the valid reasoning has led to an unsound result, such as a statement directly contradicting the assumption in 1. 4. One of the assumptions must be wrong in order to maintain consistency. Choose the assumption which was made for the purpose of disproving it to be the one we deem untrue, which means its opposite is true. Unfortunately these sorts of arguments don't really lend themselves to analogies with 'more graspable' statements.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.193|108.162.221.193]] 02:30, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

Hello,
1) Why couldn't Gödel's string be paradoxical? It is certainly A) self-referencing and B) Self-negating. Even "This Statement is True" causes trouble.
2) Where did Gödel even consider paradox to be a possibility? If he didn't, his argument is "incomplete" (just like its conclusion implies it might very well be anyway).
3) Has anyone here bothered to prove that his string is not actually paradoxical?
- Don Stoner (nobody in particular -- just a senile wimpy old nerd)

2611: Cutest-Sounding Scientific Effects

2022-04-26T01:28:44Z

172.70.211.72: /* Transcript */ fix

{{comic
| number = 2611
| date = April 25, 2022
| title = Cutest-Sounding Scientific Effects
| image = cutest_sounding_scientific_effects.png
| titletext = The Stroop-YORP number of a scientific paper is how many of the 16 finalist names (sans 'effect') it manages to casually sneak into the text.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by the Cutest Effect of All Time - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Randall has compiled a {{w|Tournament bracket|single-elimination tournament bracket}} for a knock-out competition between 16 different scientific effect names that Randall considers cute-sounding. As of now, he is determining the result in a [https://twitter.com/xkcd/status/1518701311763570689 series of Twitter polls].

Below are explanations for what each of the 16 effects are:

;{{w|YORP effect}}: The YORP effect is the effect of sunlight on an asteroid with variations of shape and/or albedo, which can increase its rotation rate and/or modify its axis of rotation. It can cause objects to eventually spin apart or drastically change their orbit.
:It is an acronym of the names Yarkovsky, O’Keefe, Radzievskii and Paddack, who were instrumental in its discovery. More than a century ago, Yarkovsky determined that heat applied to a symmetrical rotating body would be asymmetrically re-emitted and apply a small but continuous thrust, and this was added to by considering the forces to non-symmetrical bodies.
;{{w|Nocebo effect}}: An effect in which a recipient of medication who believes that it will have negative side-effects is more likely to experience those negative side-effects, whether they can be really caused by the medication or not. Opposite of the {{w|placebo effect}}, which focuses on positive side-effects that arise beyond the true efficacy of a given treament.
:'Placebo' derives from "I shall please", while 'Nocebo' comes from "I shall harm".
;{{w|Woozle effect}}: If a study gets repeatedly cited and otherwise disseminated, then people will start to believe it regardless of whether it has any evidence behind it. And if there is not any evidence, it becomes an urban myth.
:Named after a Winnie-the-Pooh story in which Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet try to catch an imaginary animal called a woozle, and accidentally follow their own tracks in circles.
;{{w|Stroop effect}}: The Stroop effect (referenced in [[1531: The BDLPSWDKS Effect]]) is a psychological phenomenon in which it is easier to name the visual color of a word when the word refers to its own color, than when the word refers to a different color.
:i.e that saying that '''Red''' is red is easier than to say that '''Blue''' is green.
;{{w|Pockels effect}}: A phenomenon where an electric field passed through a medium can cause the medium's refractive index to depend upon the polarization and propagation direction of the refracted light, a property known as {{w|birefringence}}.
;{{w|Cheerios effect}}: A phenomenon where objects floating in a liquid appear to attract or repel each other.
:Named after the cereal Cheerios, which are an everyday demonstration of this phenomenon because many eat Cheerios in a bowl of milk.{{citation needed}}
;{{w|Hot chocolate effect}}: A phenomenon where the sound created by tapping a cup of hot liquid rises in pitch as a soluble powder is added.
;{{w|Perky effect}}: An experiment in which participants were asked to visualize an object while staring at a screen on which the outline of that object was subtly projected. Participants believed the projected shape to be only a product of their imaginations.
;{{w|Bouba/kiki effect}}: An observation that people, despite different native languages, will relatively consistently assign names with certain sounds to blobby or spiky shapes, suggesting the association of sound and shape is non-arbitrary.
;{{w|Cutaneous rabbit effect}}: A phenomenon where, when tapped on one part of the body in rapid succession and then switching to another, the subject feels the tapping at locations in between the two.
:For example, if rapidly tapping the wrist then switching to the elbow, the subject will subjectively feel as if they are being tapped between the wrist and elbow, when they are not.
;[https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/smallfirmeffect.asp Small firm effect]: An economic theory that small firms usually perform better than larger ones
;{{w|Little–Parks effect}}: A phenomenon where a fluctuating magnetic field passed through a superconductor can slightly suppress its superconductivity, inducing small fluctuations in its electrical resistance.
:When juxtaposed against the "small firm effect", as in the bracket, one might get the impression that it is somehow related to urban architecture or civil engineering.
;{{w|Dr. Fox effect}}: A disputed theory that student evaluations of their teachers are likely unreliable because they are largely based on the teacher's charisma instead of the quality of their content.
;{{w|Oddity effect}}: A theory that when fish assemble in shoals (large social groups), any that stand out appearance-wise will be attacked by a predator, explaining why shoals tend to have similar-looking members.
;{{w|Butterfly effect}}: The butterfly effect is the sensitivity of chaotic systems to small changes in initial conditions. The weather system of Earth is chaotic, and so an arbitrarily small change in air patterns (such as could be caused by the flapping of a butterfly's wing) could ultimately change the weather for the whole world.
;{{w|Popcorn effect}}: A phenomenon exhibited by crushed ore placed on a vibrating screen for separation in mineral processing, in which larger particles tend to bounce higher than smaller particles.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[A tournament bracket tree is shown with 16 scientific effect names each on the left and right side. From both sides toward the middle the brackets reduce to eight, then four, two, and one line where the latter join to a rectangle in the middle.]

:[Left side:]
:Yorp effect - Nocebo effect
:Woozle effect - Stroop effect
:Pockels effect - Cheerios effect
:Hot chocolate effect - Perky effect

:[Right side:]
:Bouba/kiki effect - Cutaneous rabbit effect
:Small firm effect - Little parks effect
:Dr. Fox effect - Oddity effect
:Butterfly effect - Popcorn effect

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Tournament bracket]]

2611: Cutest-Sounding Scientific Effects

2022-04-26T01:28:17Z

172.70.211.72: /* Transcript */ cats

2609: Entwives

2022-04-22T16:29:20Z

172.70.211.72:

{{comic
| number = 2609
| date = April 20, 2022
| title = Entwives
| image = entwives.png
| titletext = No, we actually do have a woman who's basically part of our fellowship. She lives in Rivendell, you wouldn't know her.
}}
*The comic is a link to a YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt2qCjL6-n4 video].

==Explanation==
In {{w|The Lord of the Rings}}, the {{w|Ent|Ents}} are a species of tree-like humanoids, such as the one depicted in this comic. The comic shows an Ent, presumably {{w|Treebeard}}, meeting with some of the nine from the {{w|Fellowship_of_the_Ring_(characters)|Fellowship of the Ring}}. The image is inaccurate inasmuch as it shows three {{w|hobbits}}: during the Ents' interactions with the Fellowship, two of the four hobbits ({{w|Frodo Baggins|Frodo}} and {{w|Samwise Gamgee|Sam}}) were elsewhere in {{w|Middle Earth}}, so it was only {{w|Merry Brandybuck|Merry}} and {{w|Pippin Took|Pippin}} who met the ents. The other three in the image are the human {{w|Aragorn}}, the Dwarf {{w|Gimli (Middle-earth)|Gimli}} and the Elf {{w|Legolas}}. The last two of the nine, not depicted, were the wizard {{w|Gandalf}} and the human {{w|Boromir}}.

Part of the backstory of the Ents is that all the females of their species (the Entwives that this comic is named for) had disappeared thousands of years before during {{w|Sauron}}'s war of the {{w|History_of_Arda#Second_Age|second age}}. The Ents and the Entwives lived in separate locations, and eventually, when the Ents went to visit the Entwives, the latter were seemingly nowhere to be found. The Ents have been searching for their lost mates ever since. The loneliness of the Ents' all-male society is considered a great tragedy in their culture. It is several thousands years ago in the time of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the Ents have all but forgotten how the Entwives even looked. They live for many thousands of years.

This comic uses that backstory to satirically comment on the extreme gender imbalance of the protagonists of Lord of the Rings; when presented with the all-male Fellowship, the Ent assumes that they must come from a race afflicted by a similar tragedy. In a broader sense, this can be read as a commentary on how few female characters there are in the trilogy overall. In reality, the general lore presents, or at least mentions, the existence of at least multiple (if not numerous) female characters of almost all races that make up the fellowship (dwarf, man, elf, hobbit), and does not suggest that what happened with the Ents and their Entwives happened to any other race.

The clickable link on the image leads to the satirical video ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt2qCjL6-n4 Lord of the Rings Trilogy but it's EVERY scene where two female characters interact]''. The creator claims that this shows all the scenes from the trilogy where two female characters interact. There is only one 3 second long scene, which only emphasizes how few female characters there are in the trilogy. The inclusion of this clip may be a reference to the {{w|Bechdel test}}, a baseline indicator of the representation of women in a piece of media that requires two women to have a conversation about something other than a man. Whether this three-and-a-half-word exchange is sufficient to pass the test is debatable. Later versions of the test suggest that the two women should be named (i.e. not just two incidental characters that have very few lines), whereas this scene is between {{w|Éowyn}} and an unnamed girl. There is debate as to if there are other scenes with women speaking with women, and if we are only talking about human women, or if other races females would also count. There are at least three important female characters, but they do not meet/speak much if at all. But they have several scenes where they talk, even a long monologue... But if they speak to someone it is male characters.

The title text most likely refers to the character of {{w|Arwen}}, an elf woman and, later, wife of Aragorn; while somewhat important to the story, she is nowhere near as significant as the males of the Fellowship, despite being used more prominently in the movies than in the books. Even if she were part of the Fellowship, a single important woman wouldn't counterbalance the heavily male-centric storytelling.

The way that the title text is phrased is a reference to the proverbial (and implicitly imaginary) "{{tvtropes|GirlfriendInCanada|Girlfriend in Canada}}," a trope in which a single American character claims to have a girlfriend that their friends wouldn't know "because she lives in Canada" (or some other sufficient separation such as "goes to another school"), when in reality the reason that nobody else has met her is because she doesn't exist. {{w|Canada}} is one of only two countries with which the United States has land borders, making it a potentially plausible place for some American's long-distance girlfriend to live, and presumably the Fellowship consider the Elf kingdom of {{w|Rivendell}} to be sufficiently distant to allow the Ent to accept the plausibility of the statement without any further delving into potentially awkward details.

==Transcript==
:[A large treelike person (an Ent, maybe Treebeard) is holding one of his arms out towards six characters that are all looking at him. A man (Aragorn) with beard stubble and long hair, a dwarf (Gimli) with a helmet and a very large beard, an elf (Legolas) with long blonde hair (holding a bow down), and three short persons, hobbits, two with dark hair, and the middle one with blonde hair.]
:Ent: Alas, there are no Ent women. The Entwives all vanished in the second age, during Sauron's war.
:Aragorn: I'm so sorry.
:Ent: And what about you all? Same story, I assume?
:Aragorn: Huh? No, what do you mean?

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:LOTR]]

2608: Family Reunion

2022-04-19T05:34:28Z

172.70.211.72: /* Explanation https://xkcd.com */ more specific wikilink

{{comic
| number = 2608
| date = April 18, 2022
| title = Family Reunion
| image = family_reunion.png
| titletext = Grandma says that because of differences in primate and feline lifespans, the cat is actually my 17,000,000th cousin 14,000,000 times removed.
}}

==Explanation https://xkcd.com==
{{incomplete|Created by THE GIRL YOU DIDN'T KNOW WAS YOUR 1000TH COUSIN.(WHOOPS) - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Because all humans are descended from a {{w|Mitochondrial Eve|common ancestor}}, every human is, at some point, related to every other human, albeit distantly. Similarly, all life forms on Earth are presumed (with good reasons) to be descended via a single {{w|Last universal common ancestor|common ancestor}}, and thus ''all'' life forms are distantly related. This makes every interaction with another life-form, technically, a family reunion, if not in the traditional sense.

The general English definition of a {{w|cousin}}, which is a person sharing an ancestor who is not a direct parent of either party, can be qualified by two numbers. There is the ''n''th-ness of the relationship (the fewest generations you need to go beyond one's parentage, "a first cousin" implies that a grandparent is the key link) - for example, [[Cueball|this Cueball's]] relation to [[White Hat]] is via a great-grandparent, whilst that with [[Hairbun]] is through a great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparent. A "removed" number is any difference in this number between the two individuals, such that a child of a direct cousin invokes a "once removed" relationship. You would normally only qualify "first cousin" if this fact is considered important, and "zero times removed" would also be considered implicit.

As pointed out in the title text, cat lifespans (or, more importantly, inter-generational breeding cycles) are somewhat different from those of humans. Although they would have still been very similar immediately after the divergence from the appropriate MRCA, the differences will have built up to a generational-count displacement of a similarly extreme nature. i.e. that while the shared ancestor is Cueball's 17-million-or-so-Great Grandparent, the cat is in turn the 31-million-or-so-Great Grandchild. Exactly how accurate, or even precise, Randall considers these numbers is unknown, but it is the kind of fact that we know he likes to research and use expert opinion for.

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

:[Megan, White Hat, Cueball, Hairy, a 2nd Megan (Danish?), a cat, Hairbun, a chair, and a potted plant on a cabinet are "standing" in a line. White Hat is holding a cup and Hairy has his hands to the side. There are arrows pointing to each of the living creatures.]

:14th cousin [Megan]
:2nd cousin [White Hat]
:Me [Cueball]
:12th cousin [Hairy]
:35th cousin [Megan #2]
:17,000,000th cousin [cat]
:9th cousin [Hairbun]
:50,000,000,000th cousin [potted plant]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Really, ''every'' gathering is a family reunion.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]

[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Cats]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:comics]]

2593: Deviled Eggs

2022-04-16T07:06:04Z

172.70.211.72: /* Explanation */ done

{{comic
| number = 2593
| date = March 14, 2022
| title = Deviled Eggs
| image = deviled_eggs.png
| titletext = The foil on the toothpick represents the blue flash.
}}

==Explanation==
A {{w|deviled egg}} is a dish created by cutting a hard-boiled egg into halves and replacing the yolk with a paste frequently made using the yolk itself, additional ingredients such as {{w|mustard}} and {{w|mayonaise}}, and topped with a red spice (usually {{w|paprika}}). Importantly, the paste has a larger volume than the original yolk because of the added ingredients (and probably some air) into the originally homogonous yolk substances. Randall Munroe parodies the dish by creating several alternative versions of the dish for other professions using word plays on the name of the dish.

;Chef - Deviled egg
The original dish with the excess paste piled above the egg white.
;Landscaper - Leveled egg
Many landscaping projects involve leveling irregular ground surfaces.{{Citation needed}} A landscaper may prefer to serve their deviled egg with a leveled flat surface. (This happens to resemble a normal hard-boiled egg cut in half.)
;Designer - Beveled egg
{{w|Bevel}}s are a design pattern of creating non-perpendicular surfaces between adjacent edges. A designer may prefer to serve their egg with the edge of the white beveled to give their eggs a more modern, aesthetically pleasing look.
;Physicist - Demon egg
This deviled egg is designed to look like the {{w|Demon Core}} which was a sub-critical plutonium sphere manufactured during the {{w|Manhattan Project}} to investigate the properties of {{w|Critical_mass|criticality}}. The Demon Core consisted of three parts: two plutonium-gallium hemispheres and a ring designed to keep neutron flux from "jetting" out of the joined surface between the hemispheres during implosion. The set of plutonium pieces got their name from the 2 {{w|criticality_accident|criticality incidents}} that occurred when scientists were investigating this property. The first accident resulted in the death of {{w|Harry Daghlian}}. In the second incident, experimenters covered the core with two neutron reflecting shells separated only by a handheld screwdriver. (No, really.) The screwdriver slipped, causing the core to become completely covered by the neutron reflecting shell, bringing the core past its criticality limit. A large amount of radiation caused the subsequent death of physicist {{w|Louis Slotin}}. The dome of the boiled egg and the toothpick resemble the configuration of the experiment.

The demon core was also referred to in [[1242: Scary Names]].

The title texts refers to {{w|ionized-air glow}}, a blue light emitted by air submitted to an energy flux from radiation and seen during the [https://physics.stackexchange.com/a/56722 incidents involving the demon core].

For a detailed explanation of the Demon Core, Kyle Hill produced an [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFlromB6SnU Youtube Documentary regarding the Demon Core. ]

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[The comic consists of four variations of deviled eggs.]

:[A typical deviled egg, with half of the white part of a hard-boiled egg and a paste of yolk in a rough cone. The paste is speckled with red dots.]
:Chef
:Deviled egg

:[A deviled egg, except the paste has been flattened to be level with the white.]
:Landscaper
:Leveled egg

:[A deviled egg, except the edge of the white has bevels.]
:Designer
:Beveled egg

:[A deviled egg, except the paste is now two hemispheres, one set in (and level with) the white and the other on top with a toothpick wedged between the two hemispheres at the left egg keeping them separated. The toothpick has a small piece of blue foil wrapped around the edge of the toothpick.]
:Physicist
:Demon egg

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Physics]]

2606: Weird Unicode Math Symbols

2022-04-16T07:04:10Z

172.70.211.72: /* Transcript */ format

{{comic
| number = 2606
| date = April 13, 2022
| title = Weird Unicode Math Symbols
| image = weird_unicode_math_symbols.png
| titletext = U+2A0B ⨋ Mathematicians need to calm down
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A SNAKE AVOIDING A BEE ON A WHITEBOARD - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic proposes joke explanations for various {{w|unicode symbols}} with obscure or no known uses.

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Symbols
|-
! Codepoint !! Symbol !! Unicode Name !! Actual use !! Randall's meaning || Explanation
|-
| U+29CD || ⧍ || Triangle with Serifs At Bottom || No standard use,{{citation needed}} but resembles the {{w|National Park Service}} cartographic symbol for a campsite.[https://github.com/nationalparkservice/symbol-library/] || Shark || May look like a shark fin sticking out of the water.
|-
| U+23E7 || ⏧ || Electrical Intersection || Indicates where wires branch off || Traffic circle || Looks like a diagram of a {{w|roundabout}} as might be shown on a minimap beside a routing direction.
|-
| U+2A33 || ⨳ || {{w|Smash product}} || the quotient of the underlying spaces of two {{w|pointed space}}s where points in the {{w|product spaces}} are identified if they contain either labeled point as an element. || Hashtag || Looks somewhat like the {{w|Number sign|hash}} symbol (#) – commonly used for indicating tags called {{w|hashtag}}s in social media – turned by 45 degrees.
|-
| U+2A7C || ⩼ || Greater-Than with Question Mark Above || Used in proofs to indicate a greater-than relation that should exist but hasn't been proven yet (non-rigorous) || Confused alligator || One metaphor used when teaching inequality signs in primary school is that the sign looks like an alligator mouth "eating" the larger number. Question marks are commonly used in cartoons to indicate confusion on the part of a character.
|-
| U+299E || ⦞ || Angle with S Inside || Plural for the angle symbol (∠) [https://www.quora.com/Unicode-How-is-the-s-in-triangle-glyph-used-in-mathematics][https://www.birdvilleschools.net/cms/lib2/TX01000797/Centricity/Domain/1114/Homework%20Helper%20Unit%203%20ch%209-10.pdf] rarely used || Snack || May look like a mouth eating an S, where the S symbolizes some snack food.
|-
| U+2A04 || ⨄ || {{w|Arity|N-ary}} Union Operator with Plus || Disjoint union[https://books.google.com/books?id=531cAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA165&lpg=PA165&dq=%E2%A8%84&source=bl&ots=oYXkMNXP-T&sig=ACfU3U2QvMRBkD7uVG0OSumKI0JQtjTIKA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwios862ypL3AhWXVTABHTnQALQQ6AF6BAgKEAM] (joining a family of sets that have no elements in common) || Drink refill || Looks like a cup with a plus to indicate adding drink to the cup.
|-
| U+2B48 || ⭈ || Rightwards Arrow Above Reverse Almost Equal To || Pairs with ⭂ which could conceivably mean {{w|Assignment (computer science)|assignment}} of an {{w|Approximation|approximation}}, but neither seem to be in use. || Snakes over there || Looks like two squiggles to represent snakes and an arrow indicating the direction where they may be found.
|-
| U+225D || ≝ || Equal To By Definition || Indicates an equation where the left side is to be defined as the right side[https://www.reddit.com/r/math/comments/1z1mty/can_someone_please_explain_the_equal_to_by/] usually used in proofs to indicate a definition is being introduced|| Definitely, for sure || "Def" is a contraction of "definitely" used in slang; the equal sign looks like a double underline, indicating heavy emphasis.
|-
| U+237C || ⍼ || Right Angle with Downwards Zigzag Arrow || No purpose is known.[https://ionathan.ch/2022/04/09/angzarr.html] Speculation includes "Y axis continues downward," a diode with a gate, proof by contradiction, a proofreaders' mark to split a word, and indication of polarization direction. || Larry Potter || Looks like the letter "L" and a lightning bolt. {{w|Harry Potter (character)|Harry Potter}} is known for having a lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead. The character {{w|Legal_disputes_over_the_Harry_Potter_series#Nancy_Stouffer|Larry Potter}} figured in a fraudulent legal claim against J.K. Rowling.
|-
| U+2A50 || ⩐ || Closed Union with Serifs and Smash Product || Indicates that a collection of topological spaces is {{w|Union-closed sets conjecture|closed}} when taking arbitrary unions and smash products. That is, if you take the union of any collection of topological spaces in the collection (even uncountably many), or the smash product of them, the result will also be in that collection. This is apparently important because the sets can't be isomorphic (one cannot be rearranged to be exactly the other.) [https://mathoverflow.net/questions/196084/counterexample-for-associativity-of-smash-product] || Spider caught with a cup and index card || Spiders or other bugs found within someone's house or workspace may be caught with a glass and something flat, often a card or a magazine, to be released outside. The eight projecting lines of the smash product symbol resemble the eight legs of a spider.
|-
| U+2A69 || ⩩ || Triple Horizontal Bar with Triple Vertical Stroke || Emblem of the Romanian {{w|Iron Guard}} fascist political movement; possibly a four-by-four {{w|tic-tac-toe}} board.[https://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~sandlund/NumericalTicTacToe.pdf] || ℍ𝕒𝕤𝕙𝕥𝕒𝕘 || Hash symbol with one extra vertical and horizontal line, or perhaps a hash symbol which has been accidentally double-struck or overprinted.
|-
| U+2368 || ⍨ || APL Functional Symbol Tilde Diaeresis || Used for a two-argument operation to [https://aplwiki.com/wiki/Commute commute] (swap) its arguments or allow it to use a single provided argument in both argument slots, and to convert a value into a [https://aplwiki.com/wiki/Constant constant] function || :/ || Looks like a confused or disappointed face. Randall's use is in fact common among {{w|APL (programming language)|APL}} programmers in the comments, as documented [https://aplwiki.com/wiki/APL_Orchard#Emoticons here] and [https://aplwiki.com/wiki/Humour#Glyph_puns here].
|-
| U+2118 || ℘ || Script Capital P || A stylized {{w|round hand}} 'p' used by Weierstrass for his "{{w|Weierstrass elliptic function|p-function}}," with elements of both capital 𝒫 and small 𝓅. Sometimes also used as the {{w|power set}} operator.
|| Snake || This symbol coils around like a long snake, with a tapering-off tail on one end and a small "head" on the other.
|-
| U+2AC1 || ⫁ || Subset with Multiplication Sign Below || Indicates that one set is subset of another by means of the cross product || <div style="writing-mode: vertical-rl; text-align: center;">User experience</div> || Looks like the letters "Ux" sideways; UX is a common abbreviation for {{w|user experience}}.
|-
| U+232D || ⌭ || {{w|Cylindricity}} || A symbol used in geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T) to represent a parameter called "cylindricity" which describes the statistical deviation of an ensemble of surfaces from a reference cylinder. [https://cimquest-inc.com/metrology-minute-cylindricity/ example use] || Rolling dough between your hands to shape it into a ball || Looks like two flat hands (perhaps like stick-figure arms) rolling a ball between them. Rolling dough between one's hands to make it into a ball is an important step in making many kinds of pastry and bread.
|-
| U+2A13 || ⨓ || Line Integration with Semicircular Path Around Pole || Very rare symbol for half of a closed {{w|Contour integration|contour}} or {{w|Line integral|line}} integral which contains the {{w|Origin (mathematics)|origin}} in its interior. Contour integrals which circle the origin are very important in complex analysis. If such an integral were split into two parts, each could be represented by this symbol.
This can be mistaken for ⨔ (Integral not including the {{w|Zeros and poles|pole}}, which has a wider and more complete arc around an offset dot.) [https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/2299363/where-is-the-%E2%A8%93-integral-symbol-defined]
|| Integral that avoids a bee on the whiteboard || Looks like an {{w|integral}} symbol with a bump that goes around a dot, as if a professor was drawing an integral on a whiteboard but did not want to disturb a bee that had landed right in the path of their marker.
|-
| U+2A0B (title text)|| ⨋ || Summation with Integral || The sum of the sum of the discrete elements (∑) and the integrals (∫) over the connected pieces. This symbol requires context to be meaningful but could occur, for instance, when computing probabilities using mixed distributions.
[https://twitter.com/fermatslibrary/status/1308743505309822977 see also]
|| Mathematicians need to calm down || Each of the two symbols is specifically used to represent a kind of summation that is calculated completely differently from the other. Combining them could produce frustration for people unfamiliar with the usage. The comment given may make fun of mathematicians' tendency to form increasingly complex expressions in their work. It may as well be a pun on the pronounciation of the letter {{w|Esh_(letter)|Esh}} (Shhhh).
|-
|}

This comic may have been inspired by [https://ionathan.ch/2022/04/09/angzarr.html this blog post], which went viral (in a limited sense) the same day the comic was published.

==Transcript==
<big>Weird Unicode Math Symbols</big>
And their meanings

{|
| U+29CD || ⧍ || Shark
|-
| U+23E7 || ⏧ || Traffic circle
|-
| U+2A33 || ⨳ || Hashtag [the text is slanted counterclockwise]
|-
| U+299E || ⦞ || Snack
|-
| U+2A04 || ⨄ || Drink refill
|-
| U+2B48 || ⭈ || Snakes over there
|-
| U+225D || ≝ || Definitely, for sure
|-
| U+237C || ⍼ || Larry Potter
|-
| U+2A50 || ⩐ || Spider caught with a cup and index card
|-
| U+2A69 || ⩩ || [The word "hashtag" but with extra horizontal and vertical lines]
|-
| U+2368 || ⍨ || :/
|-
| U+2118 || ℘ || Snake
|-
| U+2AC1 || ⫁ || [The words "user experience" rotated clockwise 90 degrees]
|-
| U+232D || ⌭ || Rolling dough between your hands to shape it into a ball
|-
| U+2A13 || ⨓ || Integral that avoids a bee on the whiteboard
|}

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Unicode]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Harry Potter]]

2606: Weird Unicode Math Symbols

2022-04-15T23:15:35Z

172.70.211.72: /* Explanation */ ce

{{comic
| number = 2606
| date = April 13, 2022
| title = Weird Unicode Math Symbols
| image = weird_unicode_math_symbols.png
| titletext = U+2A0B ⨋ Mathematicians need to calm down
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A SNAKE AVOIDING A BEE ON A WHITEBOARD - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic proposes joke explanations for various {{w|unicode symbols}} with obscure or no known uses.

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Symbols
|-
! Codepoint !! Symbol !! Unicode Name !! Actual use !! Randall's meaning || Explanation
|-
| U+29CD || ⧍ || Triangle with Serifs At Bottom || No standard use,{{citation needed}} but resembles the {{w|National Park Service}} cartographic symbol for a campsite.[https://github.com/nationalparkservice/symbol-library/] || Shark || May look like a shark fin sticking out of the water.
|-
| U+23E7 || ⏧ || Electrical Intersection || Indicates where wires branch off || Traffic circle || Looks like a diagram of a {{w|roundabout}} as might be shown on a minimap beside a routing direction.
|-
| U+2A33 || ⨳ || {{w|Smash product}} || the quotient of the underlying spaces of two {{w|pointed space}}s where points in the {{w|product spaces}} are identified if they contain either labeled point as an element. || Hashtag || Looks somewhat like the {{w|Number sign|hash}} symbol (#) – commonly used for indicating tags called {{w|hashtag}}s in social media – turned by 45 degrees.
|-
| U+2A7C || ⩼ || Greater-Than with Question Mark Above || Used in proofs to indicate a greater-than relation that should exist but hasn't been proven yet (non-rigorous) || Confused alligator || One metaphor used when teaching inequality signs in primary school is that the sign looks like an alligator mouth "eating" the larger number. Question marks are commonly used in cartoons to indicate confusion on the part of a character.
|-
| U+299E || ⦞ || Angle with S Inside || Plural for the angle symbol (∠) [https://www.quora.com/Unicode-How-is-the-s-in-triangle-glyph-used-in-mathematics][https://www.birdvilleschools.net/cms/lib2/TX01000797/Centricity/Domain/1114/Homework%20Helper%20Unit%203%20ch%209-10.pdf] rarely used || Snack || May look like a mouth eating an S, where the S symbolizes some snack food.
|-
| U+2A04 || ⨄ || {{w|Arity|N-ary}} Union Operator with Plus || Disjoint union[https://books.google.com/books?id=531cAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA165&lpg=PA165&dq=%E2%A8%84&source=bl&ots=oYXkMNXP-T&sig=ACfU3U2QvMRBkD7uVG0OSumKI0JQtjTIKA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwios862ypL3AhWXVTABHTnQALQQ6AF6BAgKEAM] (joining a family of sets that have no elements in common) || Drink refill || Looks like a cup with a plus to indicate adding drink to the cup.
|-
| U+2B48 || ⭈ || Rightwards Arrow Above Reverse Almost Equal To || Pairs with ⭂ which could conceivably mean {{w|Assignment (computer science)|assignment}} of an {{w|Approximation|approximation}}, but neither seem to be in use. || Snakes over there || Looks like two squiggles to represent snakes and an arrow indicating the direction where they may be found.
|-
| U+225D || ≝ || Equal To By Definition || Indicates an equation where the left side is to be defined as the right side[https://www.reddit.com/r/math/comments/1z1mty/can_someone_please_explain_the_equal_to_by/] usually used in proofs to indicate a definition is being introduced|| Definitely, for sure || "Def" is a contraction of "definitely" used in slang; the equal sign looks like a double underline, indicating heavy emphasis.
|-
| U+237C || ⍼ || Right Angle with Downwards Zigzag Arrow || No purpose is known[https://ionathan.ch/2022/04/09/angzarr.html]; speculation includes "Y axis continues downward" and "diode with a gate". || Larry Potter || Looks like the letter "L" and a lightning bolt. {{w|Harry Potter (character)|Harry Potter}} is known for having a lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead. The character {{w|Legal_disputes_over_the_Harry_Potter_series#Nancy_Stouffer|Larry Potter}} figured in a fraudulent legal claim against J.K. Rowling.
|-
| U+2A50 || ⩐ || Closed Union with Serifs and Smash Product || Indicates that a collection of topological spaces is {{w|Union-closed sets conjecture|closed}} when taking arbitrary unions and smash products. That is, if you take the union of any collection of topological spaces in the collection (even uncountably many), or the smash product of them, the result will also be in that collection. This is apparently important because the sets can't be isomorphic (one cannot be rearranged to be exactly the other.) [https://mathoverflow.net/questions/196084/counterexample-for-associativity-of-smash-product] || Spider caught with a cup and index card || Spiders or other bugs found within someone's house or workspace may be caught with a glass and something flat, often a card or a magazine, to be released outside. The eight projecting lines of the smash product symbol resemble the eight legs of a spider.
|-
| U+2A69 || ⩩ || Triple Horizontal Bar with Triple Vertical Stroke || Emblem of the Romanian {{w|Iron Guard}} fascist political movement; possibly a four-by-four {{w|tic-tac-toe}} board.[https://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~sandlund/NumericalTicTacToe.pdf] || ℍ𝕒𝕤𝕙𝕥𝕒𝕘 || Hash symbol with one extra vertical and horizontal line, or perhaps a hash symbol which has been accidentally double-struck or overprinted.
|-
| U+2368 || ⍨ || APL Functional Symbol Tilde Diaeresis || Used for a two-argument operation to [https://aplwiki.com/wiki/Commute commute] (swap) its arguments or allow it to use a single provided argument in both argument slots, and to convert a value into a [https://aplwiki.com/wiki/Constant constant] function || :/ || Looks like a confused or disappointed face. Randall's use is in fact common among {{w|APL (programming language)|APL}} programmers in the comments, as documented [https://aplwiki.com/wiki/APL_Orchard#Emoticons here] and [https://aplwiki.com/wiki/Humour#Glyph_puns here].
|-
| U+2118 || ℘ || Script Capital P || A stylized {{w|round hand}} 'p' used by Weierstrass for his "{{w|Weierstrass elliptic function|p-function}}," with elements of both capital 𝒫 and small 𝓅. Sometimes also used as the {{w|power set}} operator.
|| Snake || This symbol coils around like a long snake, with a tapering-off tail on one end and a small "head" on the other.
|-
| U+2AC1 || ⫁ || Subset with Multiplication Sign Below || Indicates that one set is subset of another by means of the cross product || <div style="writing-mode: vertical-rl; text-align: center;">User experience</div> || Looks like the letters "Ux" sideways; UX is a common abbreviation for {{w|user experience}}.
|-
| U+232D || ⌭ || {{w|Cylindricity}} || A symbol used in geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T) to represent a parameter called "cylindricity" which describes the statistical deviation of an ensemble of surfaces from a reference cylinder. [https://cimquest-inc.com/metrology-minute-cylindricity/ example use] || Rolling dough between your hands to shape it into a ball || Looks like two flat hands (perhaps like stick-figure arms) rolling a ball between them. Rolling dough between one's hands to make it into a ball is an important step in making many kinds of pastry and bread.
|-
| U+2A13 || ⨓ || Line Integration with Semicircular Path Around Pole || Very rare symbol for half of a closed {{w|Contour integration|contour}} or {{w|Line integral|line}} integral which contains the {{w|Origin (mathematics)|origin}} in its interior. Contour integrals which circle the origin are very important in complex analysis. If such an integral were split into two parts, each could be represented by this symbol.
This can be mistaken for ⨔ (Integral not including the {{w|Zeros and poles|pole}}, which has a wider and more complete arc around an offset dot.) [https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/2299363/where-is-the-%E2%A8%93-integral-symbol-defined]
|| Integral that avoids a bee on the whiteboard || Looks like an {{w|integral}} symbol with a bump that goes around a dot, as if a professor was drawing an integral on a whiteboard but did not want to disturb a bee that had landed right in the path of their marker.
|-
| U+2A0B (title text)|| ⨋ || Summation with Integral || The sum of the sum of the discrete elements (∑) and the integrals (∫) over the connected pieces. This symbol requires context to be meaningful but could occur, for instance, when computing probabilities using mixed distributions.
[https://twitter.com/fermatslibrary/status/1308743505309822977 see also]
|| Mathematicians need to calm down || Each of the two symbols is specifically used to represent a kind of summation that is calculated completely differently from the other. Combining them could produce frustration for people unfamiliar with the usage. The comment given may make fun of mathematicians' tendency to form increasingly complex expressions in their work. It may as well be a pun on the pronounciation of the letter {{w|Esh_(letter)|Esh}} (Shhhh).
|-
|}

This comic may have been inspired by [https://ionathan.ch/2022/04/09/angzarr.html this blog post], which went viral (in a limited sense) the same day the comic was published.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
[Title:] Weird Unicode Math Symbols

[Subtitle:] And their meanings

{|
| U+29CD || ⧍ || Shark
|-
| U+23E7 || ⏧ || Traffic circle
|-
| U+2A33 || ⨳ || Hashtag [the text is slanted counterclockwise]
|-
| U+299E || ⦞ || Snack
|-
| U+2A04 || ⨄ || Drink refill
|-
| U+2B48 || ⭈ || Snakes over there
|-
| U+225D || ≝ || Definitely, for sure
|-
| U+237C || ⍼ || Larry Potter
|-
| U+2A50 || ⩐ || Spider caught with a cup and index card
|-
| U+2A69 || ⩩ || [The word "hashtag" but with extra horizontal and vertical lines]
|-
| U+2368 || ⍨ || :/
|-
| U+2118 || ℘ || Snake
|-
| U+2AC1 || ⫁ || [The words "user experience" rotated clockwise 90 degrees]
|-
| U+232D || ⌭ || Rolling dough between your hands to shape it into a ball
|-
| U+2A13 || ⨓ || Integral that avoids a bee on the whiteboard
|}

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Unicode]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Harry Potter]]

2607: Geiger Counter

2022-04-15T23:12:46Z

172.70.211.72: Readd

{{comic
| number = 2607
| date = April 15, 2022
| title = Geiger Counter
| image = geiger_counter.png
| titletext = At first I didn't get why they were warning me about all those birds sitting on the wire, but then I understood.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A CLICKING GEIGER COUNTER - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic is a simple {{w|pun}}. [[Cueball]] and [[Ponytail]] are standing in what looks to be a desert, and Cueball is holding a {{w|Geiger counter}} in his hand. Cueball remarks that he did not understand why he was asked to carry a Geiger counter, but that it then "clicked" with him.

Geiger counters are devices used to measure the amount of {{w|radiation}} in an area. When a particle of ionizing radiation hits the sensor of a Geiger counter, it will give off a distinct "clicking" noise. The pun in this comic insinuates that Cueball realized why he was asked to bring the Geiger counter when it clicked, indicating radiation nearby. In radioactive areas, it is usually a good idea to carry around some sort of radiation detector for safety reasons.

This is likely a {{w|parody}} of a fairly well-known pun that takes advantage of a similar double meaning: "I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me." Just as that pun uses "hit me" to mean both the action of the ball and to understand, this comic uses the "clicking" to mean both the action of the Geiger counter and to understand.

The title text is also a pun, since "I" stand under the birds on the wire (under-stood), with the implication being that some birds on the power line pooped on him.

==Transcript==

{{incomplete transcript}}
:[Cueball and Ponytail are wearing hard hats and standing in what looks to be some sort of desert or rocky area. Cueball is holding a Geiger counter in his hands. Ponytail is holding a clipboard.]
:Cueball: At first I was confused about why they wanted me to carry a Geiger counter here, but then it clicked.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Characters with Hats]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Puns]]

2607: Geiger Counter

2022-04-15T23:11:35Z

172.70.211.72: /* Transcript */

2607: Geiger Counter

2022-04-15T23:11:18Z

172.70.211.72: /* Explanation */ ce

{{comic
| number = 2607
| date = April 15, 2022
| title = Geiger Counter
| image = geiger_counter.png
| titletext = At first I didn't get why they were warning me about all those birds sitting on the wire, but then I understood.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A CLICKING GEIGER COUNTER - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic is a simple {{w|pun}}. [[Cueball]] and [[Ponytail]] are standing in what looks to be a desert, and Cueball is holding a {{w|Geiger counter}} in his hand. Cueball remarks that he did not understand why he was asked to carry a Geiger counter, but that it then "clicked" with him.

Geiger counters are devices used to measure the amount of {{w|radiation}} in an area. When a particle of ionizing radiation hits the sensor of a Geiger counter, it will give off a distinct "clicking" noise. The pun in this comic insinuates that Cueball realized why he was asked to bring the Geiger counter when it clicked, indicating radiation nearby. In radioactive areas, it is usually a good idea to carry around some sort of radiation detector for safety reasons.

This is likely a {{w|parody}} of a fairly well-known pun that takes advantage of a similar double meaning: "I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me." Just as that pun uses "hit me" to mean both the action of the ball and to understand, this comic uses the "clicking" to mean both the action of the Geiger counter and to understand.

The title text is also a pun, since "I" stand under the birds on the wire (under-stood), with the implication being that some birds on the power line pooped on him.

==Transcript==

{{incomplete transcript}}
:[Cueball and Ponytail are wearing hard hats and standing in what looks to be some sort of desert or rocky area. Cueball is holding a Geiger Counter in his hands. Ponytail is holding a clipboard.]
:Cueball: At first I was confused about why they wanted me to carry a Geiger Counter here, but then it clicked.

{{comic discussion}}

2607: Geiger Counter

2022-04-15T23:10:41Z

172.70.211.72: /* Explanation */ ce

{{comic
| number = 2607
| date = April 15, 2022
| title = Geiger Counter
| image = geiger_counter.png
| titletext = At first I didn't get why they were warning me about all those birds sitting on the wire, but then I understood.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A CLICKING GEIGER COUNTER - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic is a simple {{w|pun}}. [[Cueball]] and [[Ponytail]] are standing in what looks to be a desert, and Cueball is holding a {{w|Geiger Counter}} in his hand. Cueball remarks that he did not understand why he was asked to carry a Geiger counter, but that it then "clicked" with him.

Geiger counters are devices used to measure the amount of {{w|radiation}} in an area. When a particle of ionizing radiation hits the sensor of a Geiger counter, it will give off a distinct "clicking" noise. The pun in this comic insinuates that Cueball realized why he was asked to bring the Geiger counter when it clicked, indicating radiation nearby. In radioactive areas, it is usually a good idea to carry around some sort of radiation detector for safety reasons.

This is likely a {{w|parody}} of a fairly well-known pun that takes advantage of a similar double meaning: "I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me." Just as that pun uses "hit me" to mean both the action of the ball and to understand, this comic uses the "clicking" to mean both the action of the Geiger counter and to understand.

The title text is also a pun, since "I" stand under the birds on the wire (under-stood), with the implication being that some birds on the power line pooped on him.

==Transcript==

{{incomplete transcript}}
:[Cueball and Ponytail are wearing hard hats and standing in what looks to be some sort of desert or rocky area. Cueball is holding a Geiger Counter in his hands. Ponytail is holding a clipboard.]
:Cueball: At first I was confused about why they wanted me to carry a Geiger Counter here, but then it clicked.

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2606: Weird Unicode Math Symbols

2022-04-15T13:47:10Z

172.70.211.72: /* Calming down - Sigma long S */ r

Apparently, nobody knows what U+237C ⍼ means (https://ionathan.ch/2022/04/09/angzarr.html)
: For me it looks very like as designation of where electrical cable is burrowed. It should come with numbers near angle hands designating depth and offset from sign. But it just a guess, of course [[Special:Contributions/141.101.76.221|141.101.76.221]] 05:30, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

: There are at least four people on (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31012865) who claim to have seen the symbol in the wild: German/Dutch proof by contradiction, diode with a gate, Finnish proofreaders mark indicating when and how to split a word, and indicating which way EM waves are polarized --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.180|162.158.62.180]] 11:42, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

: I think that is "larry potter" as the lightning symbol, and the L comes from the L shape the lightning is over imo. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.34.191|172.70.34.191]] 14:47, 14 April 2022 (UTC)Bumpf

Can someone add a column where we try to crowdsource a description for the "mathematical use of symbol" ?

I'm curious what those symbols actually mean, and the unicode titles don't give that much information.

I do not doubt that have enough math geeks on here to find the answer to most of then :-D

Thanks!
[[User:Flekkie|Flekkie]] ([[User talk:Flekkie|talk]]) 01:20, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

i agree w Flekkie's comment
[[User:Blue in real life|Blue in real life]] ([[User talk:Blue in real life|talk]]) 02:27, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

If you make edits, please don't immediately delete all of mine because you think yours are better. It shows you conflicting edits for a reason. Some explanations are nonsensical, like defining a smash product as the "result of dividing two product spaces." The smash product is specifically the quotient of the underlying spaces of two pointed spaces where points in the product spaces are identified if they contain either labeled point as an element. Other claims are simply mistaken. For instance, the ≝ symbol is used to introduce a definition, not to declare that the definition has been achieved in a proof. The claim that "A union on smash product appears to be one where the sets are nit isomorphic" is totally meaningless. The symbol ⩩ is not merely decorative but is intended as a supplemental math symbol like all the others. I couldn't track down its purpose. The APL symbol description somehow never bothers to mention APL. This is all very cursory, which is fine, but just please don't delete my work while doing it. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.5|172.70.130.5]] 04:15, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
:I'm done, page is yours. I'd been working on it for an hour and every time I tried to save, a new edit came in. I did my best to reconcile them but by the fifth I just saved a copy of what was there and pasted mine over. I immediately got to work on recovering what I had pasted over as indicated in the edit comment and like I said, I'm done. I've merged to the best of my ability and have no more interest in this page.
:--[[User:FrankHightower|FrankHightower]] ([[User talk:FrankHightower|talk]]) 04:37, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
::I'm very sorry if I was one of those who stepped on your edits. I was originally trying to fix brokenness in the table. ^^^^^ ≫ ^ is the symbol for preferring many small edits over not saving your work often in a batch-mode collaborative editing environment. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.207.8|172.70.207.8]] 04:55, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

:: Don't worry about it, idk why I was so upset. It's that feeling you get when you click "save" and then suddenly it's gone. If anything's still missing, I'll just restore it. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.131.106|172.70.131.106]] 05:41, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

I wish we had as much research on ⧍ and ⩩ as we have for ⍼. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.207.8|172.70.207.8]] 05:16, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
: No clue what those are for. The first is a triangle with serifs? The triangle symbol (not capital delta) is often used in geometry to represent a triangle, but why in the world would you give a geometric figure serifs? I think I may have seen the triple cross-hatch somewhere, but I couldn't say where. Maybe it's the chess commentary symbol for being mated so badly it's embarrassing. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.131.106|172.70.131.106]] 05:41, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
:: I'm guessing what must have happened is the [https://decodeunicode.org/en/u+2A00 code page in question] was filled in by a typographer with more graphic design than mathematical experience, who likely added made-up "missing" symbols as the design-logical extensions of the symbols they were given, presumably to be on the safe side in case they had what appeared to be a possibly incomplete set. There are some awesome ones in there, like "⩐" TEST-TUBE PARTHENOGENISIS, and "⨻" THE ILLUMINATI IS DEAD. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.171|162.158.255.171]] 06:07, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
: The ⧍ character has the same origin as ⍼, namely that they were both part of ISO/IEC TR 9573-13 with no explanation given. You can find it in some old charts online, like here: [https://www.w3.org/TR/REC-MathML/chap6/ISOAMSBe2.html], under `trisb`/codepoint E27E. [[User:Ionchy|ionchy]] ([[User talk:Ionchy|talk]]) 07:03, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
:: I am sure that I have seen maps with such a symbol used for campsites, and without the bold strokes of the top sides as the National Park Service draws it. I haven't found any yet, but I have found one without the center base -- like _/\_ -- on a 1960s era map. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.131|172.69.134.131]] 07:07, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
: As for ⩩, the character just before it in the Unicode code chart [https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2A00.pdf], ⩨, has the text "identical and parallel to", so it's possible the horizontal lines in this one also means "identical to". I don't know what three vertical lines mean though, and in Unicode there's three (!) different characters with similar glyphs: U+2980 ⦀, U+2AF4 ⫴, and U+2AFC ⫼. [[User:Ionchy|ionchy]] ([[User talk:Ionchy|talk]]) 07:28, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
:: Identical both vertically and horizontally? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.131|172.69.134.131]] 07:32, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
:: I found one suggestion that the dodecathorp should be used to refer to very big numbers...[[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.223|172.69.79.223]] 08:33, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

Apparently, Randall reads Hacker News like the rest of us... --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.141|172.68.110.141]] 09:38, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

Did you know that ⩩ was a logo of the Romanian fascist group Iron Guard?[[Special:Contributions/172.68.238.67|172.68.238.67]]
:Wow. "Saint Michael's Cross, the ({{w|Iron Guard}}) movement's symbol designed by Codreanu." I prefer the 4x4 tic-tac-toe board.... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.181|172.69.33.181]] 12:29, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

Not that I have special knowledge (above aspiring-polymath level), but for "Rightwards Arrow Above Reverse Almost Equal To" and its leftwards sibling (the current suggestion being that it's an assignment of an approximation) I'd posit that it's a directional approximation specific to chaotic systems. For a precise a=b in a system where small changes to one side can effect large changes in the other, uncertainty or deliberate approximation of either of them ''may'' still map well enough to the value across the desired ≈ relationship, but that is only acceptably so unidirectionally. Hence (and I wouldn't know which would be the better convention) the arrow depicts the direction of either the dependence or the more dominant option, whichever it is that almost-ties the values tovether. (I also really ought to check what the ''reverse'' almost-equal-to sign is used for, it could be radically different from the 'forwards' version in some field, for which the directionality might even be trivially understood by context.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.36|172.70.91.36]] 11:25, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
:Any sources? I found several papers on the topic you describe naively searching on those keywords, and while they are packed with notation, I couldn't find any arrows or approximate equality signs, let alone any sort of composition of the two. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.51|172.69.33.51]] 12:47, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
::No sources except in my (above-IP's, just to confirm) head. It's just something I ''might'' use it for, if let loose on a whiteboard for some reason, not something for which I've seen it used. It's a situation I've encountered often enough in my own amateur numerical analysis, but under self-taught/self-experimenting circumstances where I was probably just (inefficiently) re-inventing the wheel. And if I've been commenting code (itself strings of conventional syntactical symbols), as a usually futile attempt to remind future-me what I was doing, I would have been using longhand to describe what I was either basing my functions on or actually asking them to test... So no surprise that a paper-search didn't match much of my description. ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.155|172.70.162.155]] 14:39, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

No idea how Randall got that wrong, but U+2A50 (⩐) is totally catching a snowflake with your tongue. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.141|172.68.110.141]] 15:02, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

While cute, I think it'd probably be better to remove the Unicode letters in the chart for the second hashtag (⩩). Not only would it mess up screenreaders, but it doesn't actually look like the image in question. Perhaps it would be better to upload an image and give it some alt text to describe it.
--[[User:Trlkly|Trlkly]] ([[User talk:Trlkly|talk]]) 00:12, 15 April 2022 (UTC)

== Calming down - Sigma long S ==

Calming down may refer to the pronounciation of the Letter Esh https://en.m.wikipedia.org
/wiki/Esh_(letter)

"Other links: XKCD #2606 mentions ⍼ and its Explain XKCD entry cites this post" yooo people the blog post now mentions us! Someone put this in trivia or something [[User:Mushrooms|Mushrooms]] ([[User talk:Mushrooms|talk]]) 09:01, 15 April 2022 (UTC)
:Ah, yes, so the article we reference that we think Randall references has now referenced both him and us and so now we ought to reference that? [[978: Citogenesis|Seems perfectly Ok to me!]] :-p
:(P.S. Hello to that author. You should just be glad that you're not Wikipedia... ;) ) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.147|172.70.162.147]] 11:19, 15 April 2022 (UTC)
::The blog author is [[User:Ionchy]], who has contributed to the discussion above. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.72|172.70.211.72]] 13:47, 15 April 2022 (UTC)

2605: Taylor Series

2022-04-15T13:42:19Z

172.70.211.72: /* Transcript */ complete

{{comic
| number = 2605
| date = April 11, 2022
| title = Taylor Series
| image = taylor_series.png
| titletext = The Taylor series should have been canceled after the first term.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by THE MACLAURIN SERIES EVALUATED AT X PLUS EPSILON - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In mathematics, a {{w|Taylor series}} {{w|Polynomial expansion|expansion}} is a {{w|polynomial}} {{w|power series}} approximation of a function[https://matheducators.stackexchange.com/a/10212] around a given point, composed of an infinite sum of the function's {{w|Derivative|derivatives}}, each both divided by successive {{w|Factorial|factorials}} and multiplied by the incrementally increasing {{w|Exponentiation|power}} of the distance from the given point. Such expansions usually continue without end. Beyond approximation of functions, Taylor series are also useful for deriving numerical approximations of {{w|Irrational number|irrational}} values, {{w|Machin-like formula|such as π}}, as well as {{w|Symbolic integration|symbolic}} forms to make functions easier to integrate or otherwise manipulate with calculus.[https://www.mathsisfun.com/algebra/taylor-series.html] However, because they involve difficult calculus operations, and can be annoyingly tedious to {{w|Numerical analysis|calculate by hand}}, they are often not loved by math students.[https://www.reddit.com/r/EngineeringStudents/comments/gbo8tm/taylor_series_can_fuck_off/]

[[Miss Lenhart]] appears to be teaching a class about how to use a Taylor series. She presumes her students want to keep learning about the series, in that they, "wish it would never end." She then says "Good news!" because the series does not end. The cartoon's humor is based on the contrast between wishing the series won't end, ordinarily desired of sequences of enjoyable events, and the infinite nature of the Taylor series, which is less likely appreciated by her students struggling to understand why the sums {{w|Convergent series|converge}} to their resulting value.

The title text is a reference to the common practice among physicists and engineers of abbreviating the Taylor series to only the first few terms, typically one or two, in order to simplify the mathematics of their models. The title text is also a pun on the use of the word "series" to refer to a television program. It symbolizes the terms of the mathematical series as a {{w|metaphor}} with a television season, suggesting that only the first term is useful. It makes fun of the common sentiment against bad {{w|screenwriting}} of a series by saying that, "The series should have been cancelled after the first season," replacing "season" with "term."

==Transcript==

:[Miss Lenhart pointing a stick at a whiteboard, which has some scribbled text written on it and one line is circled.]
:Miss Lenhart: At this point, you're probably thinking, "I love this equation and wish it would never end!"
:Miss Lenhart: Well, good news!

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Taylor series expansion is the worst.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
[[Category:Math]]

2606: Weird Unicode Math Symbols

2022-04-13T21:48:15Z

172.70.211.72: /* Explanation */ wlink

2606: Weird Unicode Math Symbols

2022-04-13T21:46:12Z

172.70.211.72: /* Explanation */ wlink; more

2606: Weird Unicode Math Symbols

2022-04-13T21:42:52Z

172.70.211.72: /* Explanation */ fix

1220: Hipsters

2022-04-12T02:03:33Z

172.70.211.72: an extra aside

{{comic
| number = 1220
| date = June 3, 2013
| title = Hipsters
| image = hipsters.png
| titletext = You may point out that this very retreat into ironic detachment while still clearly participating in the thing in question is the very definition of contemporary hipsterdom. But on the other hand, wait, you're in an empty room. Who are you talking to?
}}

==Explanation==
The word {{w|Hipster_(1940s_subculture)|"hipster"}} originally referred to counter-cultural youth and jazz aficionados in the 1940s and 1950s before the {{w|Hippie}} culture developed in the mid '60s. Recently, however, {{w|Hipster_(contemporary_subculture)|"hipster"}} has come to refer to, in Wikipedia's terms, "a subculture of young, urban middle class adults and older teenagers that appeared in the 1990s. The subculture is associated with independent music, a varied non-mainstream fashion sensibility, progressive or independent political views, alternative spirituality or atheism/agnosticism, and alternative lifestyles."

Following the hipster resurgence, it became popular in many circles to hold hipsters in contempt, citing their conformity to a subculture by rejecting "mainstream" culture and deliberate (i.e. ironic) indulgence in obnoxious things like moustaches and bad movies. Randall continues the arguably hypocritical meta-complaining by showing more s-curves that represent subsequent, smaller backlashes, self-referentially including his own comic in that meta-complaining.

There is a possible double meaning in the phrase "tedious navel-gazing by insecure people": {{w|Low-rise (fashion)|the word "hipster"}} also refers to low-rise leg wear that sits at or below the hips, often in conjunction with revealing shirts, thereby exposing one's bellybutton.

The title text reveals [[Randall]]'s awareness that he's only perpetuating the meta-complaining he's complaining about, but he bats away this criticism by pointing out the facts of the situation: the reader is not communicating with Randall but rather most likely in an empty room while browsing the Internet. That is, the criticising reader is experiencing a retreat into ironic detachment while still clearly participating in the thing in question, i. e. the graph.

The title text may be a reference to a previous comic, [[525: I Know You're Listening]].

==Transcript==
:The layout is a chart with a series of plots reaching a stable equilibrium one after another, with the shape characteristic of a predator-prey model. In order, the labels are.
:How often I see... Hipsters
:--> Complaints about hipsters
:--> Complaints about the constant use and discussion of the word "hipster"
:--> Complaints that every level of meta-opinion on hipsters represents the same tedious navel-gazing by insecure people
:--> graphs making it all worse
:--> Now
:[The horizontal axis is labeled time. Where the final curve rises is marked 'now'.]

==Trivia==
This comic has been featured on [http://cheezburger.com/7534206464 Cheezburger.]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Line graphs]]

2604: Frankenstein Captcha

2022-04-08T18:46:38Z

172.70.211.72: /* Explanation */ Merged two sets of paragraphs and added text to the end of each, which makes how they are related clear

{{comic
| number = 2604
| date = April 8, 2022
| title = Frankenstein Captcha
| image = frankenstein_captcha.png
| titletext = The distinction between a ship and a boat is a line drawn in water.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by Rated Argh -Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic strip is a play on the meanings (and misunderstanding) of the name "Frankenstein". ''{{w|Frankenstein}}; or, the Modern Prometheus'' is a 1818 novel by Mary Shelley about a medical student called Victor Frankenstein who creates an artificial life-form. The man he creates names himself "Adam" in the book, and strictly speaking is properly known as "Frankenstein's ''monster''" (or perhaps "creation" or "son"), but is often erroneously called "Frankenstein" himself.

The Captcha shown in the comic instructs the user to select all tiles containing Frankenstein. The tiles include both a reanimated corpse (frequently called Frankenstein but actually called Frankenstein's monster) and a scientist yelling "it's alive" who is clearly intended to be Victor Frankenstein. The problem arises from the contrast between the generally accepted and technically accurate definitions of the term: Frankenstein. The correct answer to the Captcha is just the left square of the third row, unless you follow comic [[1589]]. If the images in the squares are from the famous {{w|Frankenstein (1931 film)|1931 film}} starring {{w|Boris Karloff}} as The Monster, then perhaps they could be correctly said to be "containing ''Frankenstein''", that is, the work. Because of the ambiguity regarding what Frankenstein refers to, this would not be a good CAPTCHA because many people solving it would use an incorrect definition of Frankenstein and therefore get it wrong. (However, it would be effective in screening for people who know that Frankenstein technically refers to the scientist, not the monster—or, if one also had to mark the boxes depicted Frankenstein's monster, screening for people who don't know.)

This comic strip could also reference [[1897]], which would imply that someone had actually created a Frankenstein's monster.

Many of the other tiles appear to be pictures of entities that inspire similar <s>pedanticism</s> pedantry. For example, there is a picture of a turtle (or possibly a tortoise, or a reference to the Voight-Kampff test used in a manner analogous to CAPTCHA), a ship (or possibly a boat), Link (the protagonist of the {{w|Legend of Zelda}} video games, who may be erroneously referred to as Zelda), a pond (or possibly a lake), a tomato (often subject to the ''fruit or vegetable'' debate), an erupting volcano (with lava, or is it magma?), and a planet (or is it a dwarf planet?). Other tiles seem to be inspired by images commonly occuring in actual captchas, like the STOP sign or the traffic light. However, at least some of these may also be meant to fall into the category of entities that inspire pedantry because traffic lights can also be called traffic signals or stoplights, and many people think that the shape of a stop sign is called a hexagon, not an octagon.

The title text refers to the fact that if you draw a picture of a boat/ship on calm water (a straight line), it is usually assumed to be on a lake or pond and is thus a boat, but if it is on wavy water (as in the comic), it's assumed to be on the sea and is thus a ship. The title text is also a pun on the common idiom "a line drawn in the sand."

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

> TO CONTINUE, PLEASE CLICK ALL SQUARES CONTAINING FRANKENSTEIN

Pictured (Starting from top left)

Row 1
* Tortoise (or turtle)
* Ship (or boat)
* Frankenstein's monster waking up (often mistaken as Frankenstein)
* Link from Legend of Zelda series (often mistaken as Zelda, aka Toon Link in SSB)
Row 2
* Fata morgana (or mirage)
* Megan
* Lava (or magma)
* Tomato (fruit vs vegetable)
Row 3
* Victor Frankenstein saying "It's alive"
* Sandwich
* Stop sign
* Girl running away from Frankenstein's monster
Row 4
* Rocket (spaceship) flying by Pluto (dwarf planet)
* Cueball and Ponytail standing next to each other
* Traffic light (also called a stoplight, possibly mistaken as stop sign?)
* Frankenstein's monster

> OH NO.

{{comic discussion}}

2602: Linguistics Degree

2022-04-07T04:47:08Z

172.70.211.72: More

{{comic
| number = 2602
| date = April 4, 2022
| title = Linguistics Degree
| image = linguistics_degree.png
| titletext = You'd think 'linguistics' would go to someone important in the field, but it's actually assigned to a random student in Ohio who barely graduated and then went into automotive marketing.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a JACKALOPE SLURPING UP A BASSOON, GRADUATED BACHELOR OF SCIENCE WITH A GUARDIANSHIP OF 'EXPLAIN' - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[[Hairbun]] hands [[Megan]] a linguistics degree, and informs her she is now "in charge of" the word '{{w|bassoon}}.' Watching this, [[Ponytail]] and [[Cueball]] compare the words they were assigned when ''they'' got their linguistics degrees, '{{w|jackalope}}' and '{{wiktionary|slurp}}' respectively. Ponytail thinks bassoon is a cool word but thinks her own is better, whereas Cueball is not satisfied with his word. A bassoon is a woodwind musical instrument with a double reed, while a jackalope is a mythical creature, a ''jackrabbit'' crossed with an ''antelope''.

It is never clarified what being "in charge of" a word entails. It could mean being in charge of keeping track of the word, or having actual authority over the use of the word, which is unlikely as normally [[1726|language use cannot be dictated by a single person]]. Also, no specific university has control over all of linguistics as far as we know, so it would require every university capable of giving people linguistics degrees to co-operate, so nobody is assigned the same word. Any well-educated member of the linguistic community will know what is being suggested is impossible hence why they are the only ones aware of how important it is.

The title text merely furthers how seemingly random the entire situation is. The word "linguistics" was assigned to a "random student in Ohio who barely graduated and then went into automotive marketing", who we can assume isn't very important to the field of linguistics.{{Citation needed}} But this means that no one is actually taking care of this important word, since it must be assumed that the student is no longer interested in linguistics.

The idea of individuals having a guardianship of an idea or concept has appeared in science fiction. For example, in {{w|Fahrenheith 451}} characters have memorised books to save them from book-burning and... spoiler-stuff.

==Transcript==
:[Megan, who is wearing a graduation cap, receives a degree which is handed to her by Hairbun. They are standing on a podium with Ponytail and Cueball standing below as onlookers.]
:Hairbun: Congratulations on the degree! Your word is "Bassoon."
:Ponytail: Oh nice! Not as cool as my "Jackalope," but still not bad.
:Cueball: You all are lucky. I'm stuck with "Slurp."

:[Caption below panel:]
:Every linguistics degree comes with one word that you're put in charge of.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Characters with Hats]]

2601: Instructions

2022-04-03T05:36:07Z

172.70.211.72: /* Sources */ Correct year of Forest and Stream

{{comic
| number = 2601
| date = April 1, 2022
| title = Instructions
| image = instructions.png
| titletext = Happy little turtles
}}
*To experience the interactivity of this comic, visit the {{xkcd|2601|original comic}}.
==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a HAPPY LITTLE TURTLE - more explanation needs to be added and transcript needs to be cleaned up and clarified. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This is the 12th [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comic]] released by [[Randall]]. The previous fools comic was [[2445: Checkbox]], which was released on Thursday April 1st, 2021

When loading the comic just a small dot is shown, a {{w|radio button}} (or option button). Usually there would be more than one to give the user options. With only one choice, then once it has been selected it cannot be deselected. Once pressed the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/2/20/2601_Instructions_Radio_on.png button turns blue] and this starts the real part of this Fool's comic.

The comic consist of an [https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=0 audio file] with a mix of [[#Index of facts|facts about turtles]] and coding instructions in {{w|Logo_(programming_language)|LOGO}}. When executed, the instructions draw an xkcd comic. The audio file is 9 hours and 7 minutes long.

*Here is the [https://github.com/theinternetftw/xkcd2601#transcription-complete resulting comic].
*The transcript of the quotes (the non-code) can be found here [[2601: Instructions/Audio Transcript]].
*Images of the dynamic changes and other pictures relating to this comic can be found here [[2601: Instructions/Images]].

Once the voice begins to describe the instructions (hence the title) it is possible to mute the audio by pressing a [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/2/20/2601_Instructions_Radio_on.png muted button] at the bottom right of the screen. This fades into view when the radio button is pushed. Pressing it will change the button to a [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/7/78/2601_Instructions_Radio_on_muted.png non muted loudspeaker]. This was the same buttons that was in the previous Fool's comic [[2445: Checkbox]]. The first xkcd [[:Category:Comics with audio|comic with audio]], and thus two Fools' comics with audio in a row, and this was only the second comic with audio. In the Checkbox comic the mute buttons meaning are reversed, so the sound is on when the loudspeaker is shown, and muted when the mute button is shown. Maybe another layer to the Fool's joke, or just an error by Randall this time?

The [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/archive/e/e3/20220402201427%21instructions.png image original displayed] on this page, was of a small turtle crawling in the center where the radio button is in the real comic. That was the image that would be downloaded by web crawlers like explain xkcd's bot, as it what was placed here on xkcd: https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/instructions_2x.png. This is of course not the real comic, which cannot be downloaded in that manner.

The "turtle" is a key concept in Logo, a programming language especially designed to teach programming to children in an easy way. The turtle in Logo is the cursor. Programming commands move the turtle, drawing a line as it goes. Of course, listening to hours of instructions, including speech-synthesized reading of source code, is not an easy way to code or draw a picture.{{cn}}

In addition, at [https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=32817 the end of the audio] the voice says:
<blockquote>
"I even talk to turtles at times, but you need to understand LOGO to appreciate the great, great things that have been created. We spend so much of our life typing, looking, but never ever seeing."
</blockquote>

The title text alludes to {{w|Bob Ross}}'s catchphrase "happy little trees" in {{w|The Joy of Painting}}.

Transcribing the audio into text was organized as a [https://github.com/theinternetftw/xkcd2601 project on github].

This is not the first time that Randall made an interactive comic where turtles played a big part, see [[1416: Pixels]]. He also made a comic simply called [[889: Turtles]].

===Unique header text===
This comic has a [[xkcd_Header_text#Unique_header_text|unique header text]], see [[xkcd_Header_text#Instructions|the details here]]. The header is:
:"Today's comic was created with [https://twitter.com/fadinginterest Patrick], [https://twitter.com/Aiiane Amber], [https://twitter.com/chromakode @chromakode], [https://twitter.com/dyfrgi Michael], [https://twitter.com/wirehead2501 Kat], [https://twitter.com/xDirtyPunkx Conor], [https://twitter.com/zigdon @zigdon], and [https://twitter.com/bstaffin Benjamin Staffin]."
The header did not change [[xkcd_Header_text#2022-01-31_-_What_if.3F_2|from the promotion]] of the new what if? 2 book for all the other comics. Only this one.

==Transcript==
:[The comic consist of a radio button, that is a small circle in the center of a large white panel.]

:[The comic is interactive. When pressing the radio button (selecting it), it turns blue, the circle becomes blue and the button becomes selected with a blue dot in the center. Once this has been done a mute bottom appears in the bottom right corner. It fades slowly in to a full picture. Pressing this button will change it to a loudspeaker.]

:[The second the radio button is pressed an more than 9-hour long audio file of coding instructions begins to play. This is not muted even though the mute button appears. But pressing the mute button will mute the audio, while the button then shows the loudspeaker. Pressing again will toggle this button and the sound on and off. It is not possible to shut down the audio by pressing the radio button. Once selected it cannot be deselected as there is only this one option.]

:[Behind the radio button there is in principle an image of a turtle crawling from left to right, with a dotted line with 8 dots trailing behind it indicating its movement. This image can though not be found on the page, but only by looking in the place where images for xkcd is usually placed on xkcd.]

:[To read a transcript of the audio file go here: [[2601: Instructions/Audio Transcript]].]

== Sources ==
* Merriam-Webster, "Turtle" https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/turtle
* Forest And Stream, January 1916, p. 764: "Interesting Facts About Turtles"—"A Little Nature Study by a Scientist that will Interest Old and Young Naturalists Alike"—"By Randle C. Rosenberger M.D., Professor of Hygiene and Bacteriology, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Pa." https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/281932#page/8/mode/1up
* "Top 10 Facts About Marine Turtles", https://www.wwf.org.uk/learn/fascinating-facts/marine-turtles
* "Odd facts about turtles", Christian observer, May 11th 1919
* "World Turtle Day: 10 cool facts about turtles" from Deutsche Welle, 22 May 2020, by Ineke Mules https://www.dw.com/en/turtles-tortoises-difference-facts/g-53260454
* "Turtle Facts" by Alina Bradford, published October 02, 2015 https://www.livescience.com/52361-turtle-facts.html

==Index of facts==
{| class="wikitable"
|Miriam Webster defines a turtle as a noun.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=569
|-
|Here are some interesting notes from interesting facts about turtles.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=962
|-
|Over a great many years I have taken a great interest in the land turtle.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=973
|-
|One of the interesting points about turtles is their great variety of foods.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=1415
|-
|in the pen and in five minutes it is surrounded by the turtles,
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=1976
|-
|when I found one of the large turtles had caught and disembowel, the very large toad,
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=2648
|-
|I have seen turtles eating at 11:00 at night
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=2655
|-
|the youngest of turtles I have ever had seems to take to the same food as the adults
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=3506
|-
|I made friends with a turtle yesterday and he gave me his phone number.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=4283
|-
|Running away is slow as compared to this turtle propulsion.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=4522
|-
|Occasionally one can see a turtle dragging another one along
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=5370
|-
|I have never known a land turtle to bite
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=5382
|-
|Some people have turtles in their cellars believing that they catch rats and mice.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=5853
|-
|I believe that these turtles died because they were exhausted
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=5879
|-
|and mice might be kept away by the noise made by the turtle making its endless
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=6151
|-
|But doubt whether a turtle could catch a rat or a mouse
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=6158
|-
|In this the turtles would enjoy themselves
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=6437
|-
|How about some interesting things in 10 facts about marine turtles from the WWF UK.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=6622
|-
|There are seven species of marine turtle.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=6628
|-
|Marine turtles were around more than 100
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=6632
|-
|These days, scientists recognize seven species of marine turtle,
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=6638
|-
|turtles do not have teeth.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=6890
|-
|Turtle shells are made of over 50 bones fused together.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=7064
|-
|The first few years of a marine turtles life are known as the lost years.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=7352
|-
|Marine turtle species, vary greatly in size.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=7654
|-
|whales holds the world record for the largest marine turtle ever found
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=7675
|-
|1000 marine turtle hatchlings make it to adulthood.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=8216
|-
|turtles seem to prefer red, orange and yellow food.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=10106
|-
|I'm beginning to suspect it's turtles all the way down
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=10403
|-
|marine turtles can migrate incredibly long distances.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=10623
|-
|Marine turtles.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=11365
|-
|move the turtle
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=11788
|-
|Here are some more interesting bits from interesting facts about turtles.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=11913
|-
|several occasions with the turtle still in c.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=12612
|-
|there is an artist in the bottom of everybody
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=12934
|-
|The number laid by a turtle varies
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=15403
|-
|I have also observed one turtle laying its eggs
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=15411
|-
|I had the pleasure of seeing six little baby turtles come out
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=16167
|-
|The turtle commenced to dig at six p.m.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=16753
|-
|Five days later a second turtle dug these eggs out arid,
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=16760
|-
|personally. I do not believe that the turtle digging out.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=16768
|-
|turtles a year factoid. Actually just statistical error,
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=16972
|-
|average person paints zero turtles per year
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=16976
|-
|turtles. Georg who lives in cave and eats over 10,000 each day
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=16980
|-
|The young turtles when they make their emergence at the end of three months,
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=17234
|-
|Do you know what A sea turtle's favorite sandwiches?
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=17526
|-
|Just ask the next sea turtle you meet.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=17536
|-
|Here are some interesting observations from odd facts about turtles.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=17639
|-
|It has been said that the turtle,
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=17647
|-
|In many ways. The turtle is one or the strangest of living things,
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=17943
|-
|But the turtle in all his varieties in all his ways, is a most mysterious animal.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=17961
|-
|Your turtle is neither fish, flesh nor fowl.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=17979
|-
|a little turtle
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=18667
|-
|there is none so tenacious of life as the turtle
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=18986
|-
|Leave the turtle apparently undisturbed
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=18992
|-
|Just as soon as a baby turtle emerges from the egg off he scuttles down to the sea.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=19273
|-
|The young turtle feeds unmolested while his armor undergoes the hardening process
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=19306
|-
|whatever the young sea turtle eats and wherever he eats it
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=19628
|-
|the turtle is free from all danger
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=19915
|-
|interferes with the turtle
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=19924
|-
|Cool facts about turtles from Deutsche Welle.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=20499
|-
|There is a reason why turtles look a little prehistoric.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=20506
|-
|Luckily for the turtles, they're burrowing and water dwelling habits.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=20527
|-
|While a turtle's lifespan largely depends on the species,
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=20926
|-
|A typical pet turtle can make it to anywhere between 10 and 80 years.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=20935
|-
|Researchers think some turtles could even be hundreds of years old.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=20949
|-
|There are currently 356 known species of turtles.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=21629
|-
|There are sea turtles, leatherback turtles, snapping turtles,
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=21642
|-
|pond turtles, soft shelled turtles, and of course tortoises,
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=21646
|-
|Not all turtles or tortoises
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=22175
|-
|but all tortoises or turtles.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=22177
|-
|technically all tortoises are in fact turtles.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=22181
|-
|But the main difference between turtles and
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=22192
|-
|while most turtles live in or near water
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=22198
|-
|Some turtles are vegetarians
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=22405
|-
|Most turtles are actually omnivores but a few species
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=22409
|-
|Not to the fearsome looking alligator turtle
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=22421
|-
|Even water dwelling turtles will dig their nests
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=22805
|-
|No species of turtle sticks around to raise their young.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=22814
|-
|A turtle's gender is determined by temperature
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=23005
|-
|A turtle's gender is determined after fertilization.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=23010
|-
|If the turtles eggs incubate below 27.7 degrees Celsius,
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=23015
|-
|turtles tend to give birth to more females
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=23037
|-
|Sea turtles are known for their amazing ability to return
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=23182
|-
|turtles can navigate their way at sea by
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=23190
|-
|turtles have strong underwater eyesight.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=23618
|-
|Although sea turtles are famous for their internal gps
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=23629
|-
|Six out of seven turtle species are classified as
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=23919
|-
|How about some interesting facts from turtle facts by Alina Bradford.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=24214
|-
|turtles are reptiles with hard shells that protect them from predators.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=24221
|-
|Turtles live all over the world in almost every type of climate
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=24233
|-
|the turtle order
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=24479
|-
|turtle,
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=24874
|-
|turtles spend most of their lives in water.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=25251
|-
|Sea turtles rarely leave the ocean except to lay eggs in the sand.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=25260
|-
|Freshwater turtles live in ponds and lakes
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=25266
|-
|With so many different types of turtle.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=25760
|-
|The largest sea turtle species is the leatherback turtle.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=25765
|-
|The largest freshwater turtle in north America is the alligator snapping turtle.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=25788
|-
|The Yangtze giant softshell turtle is the largest softshell turtle.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=25799
|-
|A turtle's shell is a modified rib cage and part of its vertebral column
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=26177
|-
|All the thoughts of a turtle are turtles and of a rabbit rabbits.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=26401
|-
|So let's try to think like a turtle
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=26406
|-
|Many turtles are able to retract their heads and feet into their shells,
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=26450
|-
|turtles are placed in the two sub orders based on the method of retraction.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=26455
|-
|Sea turtles have lost the ability to retract their heads
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=26472
|-
|turtles are very adaptive and can be found on every continent except Antarctica.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=26676
|-
|Most turtle species are found in south eastern North America and south asia.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=26681
|-
|sea turtles can be found in the coral triangle.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=26844
|-
|what do you get if you cross a turtle with a giraffe,
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=26976
|-
|a turtleneck
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=26981
|-
|The african helmeted turtle is the most common turtle in Africa,
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=27157
|-
|roti island. Snake necked turtles are found only on Rhode island.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=27221
|-
|turtles are not social creatures
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=27393
|-
|while they typically don't mind if there are other turtles around them,
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=27396
|-
|Most turtles are active during the day,
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=27405
|-
|turtles are not silent creatures.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=27537
|-
|Most turtles are omnivores.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=27961
|-
|musk turtles eat molluscs,
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=27968
|-
|The cooter turtle is mostly vegetarian
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=27973
|-
|and the green sea turtle only eats grasses and algae.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=27976
|-
|The alligator snapping turtle lures in fish with its tongue
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=28293
|-
|crayfish and other turtles.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=28313
|-
|All turtles lay eggs.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=28483
|-
|No species of turtle nurtures their young
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=28493
|-
|turtles reach the age to mate at different times.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=28762
|-
|Male and female turtles intertwined their tails so
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=29117
|-
|sea turtles travel from the ocean to lay eggs on beaches.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=29387
|-
|sea turtles lay around 110 eggs in a nest
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=29392
|-
|Though the flat back turtle only lays 50 at a time
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=29396
|-
|the temperature of the sand affects the sex of the turtle.
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=29661
|-
|Too many sea turtle females are being born
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=29673
|-
|according to the sea turtle. Conservancy
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=29679
|-
|Many turtle species are listed as threatened,
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=29984
|-
|I even talked to turtles at times
|https://xkcd.com/2601/radio.mp3#t=32815
|}

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:April fools' comics]]
[[Category:Interactive comics]]
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:Comics with animation]] 
[[Category:Comics with color]] 
[[Category:Comics with audio]]
[[Category:Animals]]