explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2712: Gravity

2022-12-17T18:08:12Z

172.70.35.69:

Whatever image is supposed to be in the center isn't showing up for me! D: Tried on both Safari and Chrome but it gives me the little broken picture icon. Hopefully it's fixed soon! (The comic's been up for about 10 minutes going by when the bot updated this page.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.117|172.70.126.117]] 22:28, 16 December 2022 (UTC)

: The center image is trying to load this link, but there's nothing there: https://xkcd.com/tile/ship1/ship_gliding_2x.png. I hope that gets fixed soon. The "ship" seems to rotate a bit unpredictably over time. At first I thought it was responding to my mouse movements, but I don't think so anymore. [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 22:34, 16 December 2022 (UTC)
:: Still broken on the mobile site (Chrome, Android). I just see a rotating missing image box. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.134.133|172.71.134.133]] 11:39, 17 December 2022 (UTC)

: Ah, the center image is controlled by the javascript, of course: https://xkcd.com/2712/comic.js. So this is some sort of interactive comic? [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 22:36, 16 December 2022 (UTC)

: Okay, left/right arrow keys seem to control the rotation. I'll check back in later in hopes of seeing the ship so I have some idea what the point of it all is. [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 22:39, 16 December 2022 (UTC)

: And now it's working. You fly a little spaceship around the little planet. Luckily you have shields if you slam into the ground too hard. [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 22:43, 16 December 2022 (UTC)

: Catch the cannonball for a spaceship upgrade. Also, not so easy to find a stable orbit around this little planet. [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 22:49, 16 December 2022 (UTC)

Found another planet (has a reference to the "Tires" chapter in How To) with a cannonball, which turned me into an astronaut.

You can transform the ship into a different (seems faster to me) one by running into the last cannon ball.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.249|108.162.241.249]]

Rough summary: The comic is an interactive space flight game, starting landed on an origin planet. The planet is static, and the player starts in a ship controlled by WASD or Directional keys. The ship can go up and down, and rotate left and right. Game simulates orbits and gravity, making navigation tricky. Around the player ship there are dots which indicate nearby planets - there are numurous planets, each with what seem to be drawings related to the What If book. Within the browser, planets are loaded in PNG format by chunk, names formatted as "planet_0_0" with numbers incrementing as grid co-ordinates. Planets and objects found: "origin" "europa", "road", "b612". NOTE: Several hazards exist, such as a field of black holes - if flown into, the ship can become stuck if let to be pulled close to the surface, locking in place. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.230|172.70.110.230]] 23:13, 16 December 2022 (UTC)

: Within browser dev console exists the objects "Ship" and "Comic", the latter containing a list of all objects and coordinates, as well as various setting for the game physics and settings. Comic contains the sub-object "Voyager", which contains the details and settings for the player ship, including location, speed, etc. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.230|172.70.110.230]] 23:13, 16 December 2022 (UTC)

:: There are 5 ship types in the game code, each with their own consumable transformative found in the world. The ship alternatives are (ship1, ship2, ship-tintin, ship-figure, ship-soccerball). These can be changed with console command [Comic.ship = "ship1"]. Note: At current, "ship-soccerball" returns an error and does not load correctly. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.230|172.70.110.230]] 23:13, 16 December 2022 (UTC)

:: The "ship.shields" is a boolean value that defaults to true, and when set to false, makes the game behave in a lunar lander mode (bad landing black screens the whole page). The "ship.engine" types I see in the code are "warp" (very fast speeds) and "infinite improbability drive" (teleports to 'improbable' places). Default engine is "standard", but it seems any value that is not the former two has the same effect. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.254.165|172.70.254.165]] 23:32, 16 December 2022 (UTC)

: In addition to Europa, the space road, and B-612, there is the "Edge of the Universe" (complete with Milliways restaurant nearby), a... tree (which is extremely hard to land on), a planet populated by the characters from Dinosaur Comics (and the main cast of Jurassic Park), the USS Enterprice (NCC 1701-C), and likely quite a bit more. Orbital mechanics make it tough to land on the smaller targets. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.254.46|172.71.254.46]] 23:07, 16 December 2022 (UTC)

:: Plus what appears to be Earth, complete with the LHC. There's a 2nd "cannonball" there for an additional ship upgrade, but at the time I found it, that graphic was unavailable. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.232|172.70.126.232]] 23:15, 16 December 2022 (UTC)
:: "Edge of the Universe" is part of "Outside". There is a hidden tunnel from the main universe to the bubble universe at coordinates (7597,24327) point nose of ship at words "EDGE OF THE" and fire thrusters. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.160|162.158.79.160]] 03:59, 17 December 2022 (UTC)

: I went out a long ways away, and eventually found The Great Attractor. It attracts really hard. I couldn't leave the surface. (I wasn't able to leave the center of Europa either, though, so, not saying much.) There are also some terrifying black holes (a binary system?), though something's weird about their gravity; you kinda bounce off of them a quarter screen away or so? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.77|108.162.216.77]] 23:10, 16 December 2022 (UTC)
:: I *think* thats a wormhole, you go in one and then out the other. I got stuck right between them. Speaking of getting stuck, there is a bug where if you hit a planet with enough gravity fast enough, the ship is inside the planet. Holding W makes you go backwards (or at least towards the center maybe?) and you can get all the way to the other end of the planet where you slow down a lot, but can eventually leave. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.82.166|172.70.82.166]] 23:19, 16 December 2022 (UTC)Bumpf

::There's one planet that's supposed to be the "remnant of the sun", is that what you mean with The Great Attractor? (It has a bridge on it with a coin(?) blocking part of the way, and a space ship actively crashing into its surface, drawn as several frames.) You can leave that by skidding over the surface like a skipping stone to gather momentum - it's tricky, due to various obstacles, but possible! (It's possible you need two ship power-ups?! If they're indeed power-ups and not just aesthetic changes, I didn't pay attention.)

:::No, it's labeled "The Great Attractor". It's big and white and has strong gravity. Lemme see if I have a screenshot. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.25|108.162.216.25]] 00:20, 17 December 2022 (UTC)
:::Here: https://github.com/Erhannis/random_garbage/blob/main/Screenshot%20from%202022-12-16%2017-47-48.png [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.25|108.162.216.25]] 00:24, 17 December 2022 (UTC)

::Screenshot of [https://imgur.com/a/NZulBlb the Enterprise] and [https://imgur.com/2VSZYp7 Dinosaur Comics planet]. Sorry for the broken image in the middle, I picked up two powerups and [https://xkcd.com/2712/tile/ship-soccerball/ship_landing_down_2x.png my current ship image is broken]. -(pinkgothic) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.143|172.68.110.143]] 23:22, 16 December 2022 (UTC)
:::[https://i.imgur.com/fLU1cWy.png Dog Park planet] [[Special:Contributions/172.71.254.114|172.71.254.114]] 23:28, 16 December 2022 (UTC)

Using a tablet (no keyboard, but seems to respond to touch), controls are confusing. Presuming that touching bottom left activates left-rotate and touching bottom right does right-rotate (can't see the presumably white-lije controls over the white planet) but I can't get ''thrust'' anything but 'reverse' into the planet centre. No obvious top-edge hotspots, either. Maybe I need to do a "You will not go to space today" and then reverse ''upward''... BRB, after a bit more testing, though... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.185|172.69.79.185]] 23:39, 16 December 2022 (UTC)
:Ok, the next go went 'better'. The browser keeps wanting to load "simplified content", but if I ignore that I can get full-screen, at one point I changed rocket-type (no idea how, can't do it again) and I ''easily'' get off the planet (hard to thrust just enough to get to the Hooke comment/cannon), with plenty of targets coming in range (but cannot slow down enough to not have it glitch and rebuild a totally new set of targets that I never can reach). Will try desktop version when I'm next on a suitable one... Looks to be a lot of interesting content. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.30|162.158.74.30]] 23:53, 16 December 2022 (UTC)

Using the developer console, the ship can be teleported to different coordinates via console command [Comic.voyager.pos.x = 0, Comic.voyager.pos.y = -1461], provided here with start location coordinates. This can be used for manual navigation to known coordinates. List of locations per game code added below, append landing X,Y to each as determined. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.230|172.70.110.230]] 23:42, 16 December 2022 (UTC)

b612: [5280,-7601] dogplanet: [2598,-23168] earth: [33803,-32974] enterprise: [1898,-61215] europa: [24930,8022] goodhart: [-23372,5928] greatattractor: [-594782,248510] japanmoon: [x,y] maw1: [x,y] maw2: [x,y] maw3: [x,y] maw4: [x,y] maw5: [x,y] maw6: [x,y] maw7: [x,y] maw8: [x,y] maw9: [x,y] maw10: [x,y] maw11: [x,y] maw13: [x,y] maw14: [x,y] nojapan: [x,y] origin: [0, -1461] peeler: [x,y] pigeons: [x,y] present: [x,y] remnant: [x,y] roads: [x,y] soupiter: [x,y] steerswoman: [x,y] sun: [x,y]

Note: For ease of teleportation, reference the ''Comic.planetRects'' array and use the first two numbers as X,Y. This will get the ship close enough to the object to then land and determine a landed location, via ''Comic.voyager.pos''

In your developer console, enter <code>window.ship.engines = 'infinite improbability drive'</code> and pressing up will randomly teleport you to interesting places.
<code>window.ship.engines = 'warp'</code> will let you escape normally inescapable objects.

Unfortunately, the infinite improbability drive will sometimes result in an object's image and geometry failing to load. The same bug can occur with a manual teleportation too close to an object. For convenience, here are a list of coordinates which put you relatively close to various locations, but far enough away to trigger the object's loading:
'''Major Locations:''' origin: (0, -1500); dogplanet: (2480, -23484); earth: (28720, -36912); europa: (26360, 984); goodhart: (-26600, 2424); greatattractor: (-594000, 247952); qwantz: (22120, -51788); remnant: (39240, -9648); soupiter: (-16000, 16032); steerswoman: (-70140, 2952); sun: (-29900, -32352); Bubble Universe: (5000,21000);
'''Smaller Locations:''' b612: (5220, -8424); japanmoon: (-11860, 10576); nojapan: (-15360, 10676); enterprise: (2020, -61904); outside: (250,28500); peeler: (-18540, -2264); pigeons: (-18040, 3956); present: (45640, 36816); roads: (26480, 23500); light mode toggle: (1500,-200000)
'''Black Holes:''' maw1: (-63152, 17130); maw2: (-60422, 16638); maw3: (-55950, 15508); maw4: (-59092, 14918); maw5: (-59582, 14238); maw6: (-58656, 14126); maw7: (-59400, 13828); maw8: (-58330, 13296); maw9: (-61544, 12796); maw10: (-59032, 11618); maw11: (-58762, 11472); maw12: (-53664, 10832); maw13: (-63486, 8424); maw14: (-52142, 20624);

Also, I found the following javascript function helpful for teleporting around. <code>function tp(x,y){ Comic.voyager.pos.x = x; Comic.voyager.pos.y = y; Comic.voyager.pos.vx = 0; Comic.voyager.pos.vy = 0;}</code> --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.233|172.70.126.233]] 03:06, 17 December 2022 (UTC)

If anyone wants to download the planet images, they're at https://xkcd.com/2712/tile/<name>_i_j.png, for i,j = 0, 1, ..., going as high as needed for the planet size. For example, https://xkcd.com/2712/tile/origin_3_3.png gives the bottom-right part of the start planet.

; Proposal
It seems the most explanatory thing we can do is replace the blank starfield with the starting image screenshot, and label its four corners with their x and y coordiates, and then make a table of all the objects with their coordinates, a screenshot, and a description of their behaviors. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.204|172.70.206.204]] 23:55, 16 December 2022 (UTC)
: A map with insets would be better than coordinates since the frame rotates. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.158.231|172.71.158.231]] 00:17, 17 December 2022 (UTC)
:: Here are some overview images: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1UPJ1_4xNQbsHVP5FplrTaVJa3e6WddjG The Great Attractor is much farther out than most of the planets. So I've also included a more zoomed-in image that doesn't include it. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.127.38|172.70.127.38]] 07:35, 17 December 2022 (UTC)

Got images for all the locations: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1CVADHsRgBtDPYca-gdfVwNW_nEsrJ-zj?usp=share_link [[User:Clam|Clam]] ([[User talk:Clam|talk]]) 00:03, 17 December 2022 (UTC)

Looks like I was beat to the punch, but here's another way to access the raw images (on a dark background): https://aeromancer.dev/xkcd_2712/ [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.90|172.70.211.90]] 01:15, 17 December 2022 (UTC)

I’ve been able to glitch into the center of planets, but the ones with lower gravity I can get out of. I did this unintentionally by going headfirst into one really fast.

[https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/11pP8VbYkJDDWUOIFhUHO_DZmEbd9_E56 Here's] a version of the images on the starfields! Figured it would be the closest thing. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.111.29|172.70.111.29]] 02:23, 17 December 2022 (UTC)

; Table system
I've added the graph from good'ol hoverboard. Here's the format to add stuff.
|-

|Title, perhaps in triple apostrophes if they're a major feature, not on top of another planet.

|Transcription for people talking in that area. Don't do this for planets.

|Coordinates. 172.70.126.233 has a comment on a ton of coordinates and locations which need to be added. I don't know how he does that science stuff, but use it!

|Is it a reference to What If 2? Put a Y here if so.

|Is it a reference to XKCD? Put a Y here if so.

|Is it a reference to a movie? Put a Y here if so.

|Is it a reference to something else? Put a Y here is so. Leave these empty if not.

|Put the explanation here.

Please help out on adding stuff! There's a lot! Remove the newlines from in between the lines. I had to add those for them to format right.
[[User:Eelitee|Eelitee]] ([[User talk:Eelitee|talk]]) 04:33, 17 December 2022 (UTC)

OHNO
172.70.126.233 coordinates for teleportation specifically. I didn't read it right and put them in... I'm going through the data dump to try and extract them. Sorry!!
[[User:Eelitee|Eelitee]] ([[User talk:Eelitee|talk]]) 04:37, 17 December 2022 (UTC)

Alright, fixed. A few things I'm thinking about to do next, but I don't have time for:
1. Add gravitation attractions in a new column. They're all in the json dump, I suggest using a json viewer for more convenience. Or doing some coding?
2. Add item locations. This one is important, as items are a major feature.
3. Organize the items, either by alphabetical, or by distance from Earth. This might be hard...
4. Get details in! We need more information. This is the most important by far, get to work! haha.

GL, HF!

[[User:Eelitee|Eelitee]] ([[User talk:Eelitee|talk]]) 04:48, 17 December 2022 (UTC)

;Unlisted Planet
Hi all, first time poster so sorry if I'm formatting this wrong. I found a planet at (46070, 37936) which doesn't seem to be listed yet, and I didn't see it in the comics.js output or the google drive link from [[User:Clam|Clam]]. It's very small and has characters talking about the new book https://drive.google.com/file/d/19lfN8N06s18mKUhFkPcFddKYEXApAED4/view?usp=share_link Have we already accounted for this, and if not does anyone know where we might find a listing including this planet and possibly others like it? [[User:Jgendelgreen|Jgendelgreen]] ([[User talk:Jgendelgreen|talk]]) 06:07, 17 December 2022 (UTC)

No, you're doing alright. If you find something new, just add it to the list. Other people will correct it if it's wrong!
You can find a listing using the json dump that was posted underneath the list. I may have deleted the listing for that one accidentally... oops...
[[User:Eelitee|Eelitee]] ([[User talk:Eelitee|talk]]) 06:17, 17 December 2022 (UTC)

Oh cool thanks! I think the one I found is "present"[[User:Jgendelgreen|Jgendelgreen]] ([[User talk:Jgendelgreen|talk]]) 06:23, 17 December 2022 (UTC)

I wish to note that I'm using Safari on an iPad, which usually can't touch the interactive comics (I know hoverboard was a whole lot of nothing), for this one I can turn the rockets on and off, that's it. Seems like my path is predetermined, on autopilot (turns here then there, first time in an S, with nothing in sight to be modifying my flight). The first time I was going pretty fast, rockets off, then I turned them back on right before I blasted past SOME planet, flitted by in a blink, so I'm hoping to find it again, but I have no control except Thrust or No Thrust. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 07:12, 17 December 2022 (UTC)
:Check that, NOW if I tap the left side I get the right thruster and vice versa! Hey, I have control! [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 07:24, 17 December 2022 (UTC)
::Found Jurassic Park planet and Dog Park planet, then found the sun, saw SOMEBODY saying something but I skidded to a stop too far away, and no, escape is NOT possible. I'm in the default rocket and turning on the thrusters just gives a little hop, not enough to then tun on ONE thruster to actually change position. I am unquestionably STUCK, LOL! [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 07:42, 17 December 2022 (UTC)

;Cosmic topology?
Does space wrap around horizontally and vertically in a torus like the Atari ''Asteroids'' video game, or does it go on forever in all directions? If the former, how many times the area of the initial comic is it? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.159|172.71.154.159]] 07:33, 17 December 2022 (UTC)

;Game breaker
I found out that if run `ship.shields = false` and touch anything, the screen goes black forever.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.179.4|172.70.179.4]] 14:49, 17 December 2022 (UTC)

;observations
this three-quarters planet seems to be impossible to get out of without the "warp" engines if you get in the center: https://i.imgur.com/tMchAa1.png

: Planet is not supposed to be three quarters, I'm guessing one of the tiles did not load for some reason. See [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wZSvRgB2dw03Md30PfDdSU03quygRVEw/view here]. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.35.69|172.70.35.69]] 18:08, 17 December 2022 (UTC)

i also got stuck in one planet by descending toward it very quickly https://i.imgur.com/9ilmtdK.png - in this state, descending and turning do nothing, but accelerating (pressing up) makes me slowly move downward and lets me turn very slowly

--[[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.7|172.70.114.7]] 15:01, 17 December 2022 (UTC)

also, i went toward this planet (downward) at high speed and became knit cap somehow https://i.imgur.com/JlRFuy4.png --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.230.160|172.70.230.160]] 15:16, 17 December 2022 (UTC)

Instead of there being a wide "references" column with 4 sub-columns, I think it should be just a "references" column with what the reference is as the text, instead of it being a boolean. This also allows for more detail such as "What If 2, chapter 94: What if I made up a chapter name" or something like that [[Special:Contributions/172.71.22.22|172.71.22.22]] 15:46, 17 December 2022 (UTC)Bumpf

There is a planet at {x: 34704, y: -25501} with a space elevator attached to it. In that same planet, at {x: 31682, y: -34551}, there's a guy complaining about the framerate being "really bad out today"; the screen will stutter if you fly by him.

== What if 2 planet ==

It's got a dinosaur being offered a hamburger, a person firing a cannon (one cannonball nearly goes into orbit) and if you can get yourself struck by one of the cannonballs the ship transforms.

I'm not sure if the transformed ship is BETTER, but it is different.

--[[Special:Contributions/172.70.131.52|172.70.131.52]] 17:19, 17 December 2022 (UTC)

Talk:2710: Hydropower Breakthrough

2022-12-16T00:44:36Z

172.70.35.69: Amazon's 1:1 claim

ChatGPT sez:
:The comic depicts Beret Guy, a character known for his expertise in science and engineering, standing on a podium and announcing that their hydroelectric dam has achieved a level of efficiency greater than one, producing more water than was fed into it. This is cause for celebration, as it indicates that the dam is functioning properly and efficiently. However, the second off-panel voice raises a question, suggesting that there may be more to the situation than initially thought.
:The title text adds further information by revealing that a hydroelectric dam is also known as a heavy water reactor. This suggests that the dam may not be operating in the traditional way, but rather may be using a different type of technology, such as nuclear power, to produce the excess water. This could raise concerns about safety and the potential risks associated with this type of technology.
Meh. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.45|172.69.33.45]] 03:44, 13 December 2022 (UTC)

It *is* possible. All Beret Guy has to do is use the electricity to run air conditioners, which will have one side condensing water from the atmosphere, ergo more water coming out than went in. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 04:00, 13 December 2022 (UTC)
:I think there's a conservation of energy violation here, but can't model the entire system. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.134.97|172.70.134.97]] 14:31, 13 December 2022 (UTC)

Considering that he phrases it "more water than we fed into it" in the past tense, it might just be that there's a leak in the dam.
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.19|172.69.33.19]] 04:06, 13 December 2022 (UTC) mraction

More variation: "more water than *we* fed into it" ie not counting water from the river that feeds it, or rainfall. There's also the title text turn of phrase "heavy water reactor". "heavy" could refer to either the "water" (in the sense of gravity, or deuterium passing through), or the "reactor" (as in its mass) - [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.242|172.70.210.242]] 05:43, 13 December 2022 (UTC)

A fusion reactor that produces more energy than it consumes does so by consuming and producing things other than energy. If they're running a hydrogen gas turbine at the site, they could be producing more water (from hydrogen and oxygen gases) than they lose, at least in theory. Of course, producing and shipping hydrogen to the site of a dam would be vastly less efficient under any reasonable circumstances than producing electricity instead of hydrogen in the first place.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.111.76|172.70.111.76]] 07:34, 15 December 2022 (UTC)

If Q is only barely >1 it could square the circle by converting atoms to oxygen by fusion in order to create water but the whole energy of the dam is used to make the fusion of a few oxygen atoms.

"Another member of audience, who is presumably familiar with regular physics, says "Wait.", because conservation of mass usually applies to water such that a dam should produce the same amount of water as that fed into it. That said, for a regular dam in a natural valley like the one shown in this comic, it is entirely normal for the dam to "produce" more water than input in the sense that in addition to water from upstream rivers, the dam will also output any "unofficial" inflow from direct rainfall above and from uncharted sources of groundwater below." 
I thought that the "Wait" comment was in relation to the fact that the announcement, although achieving something that was not achieved so far, is impractical. As the power plants are expected to produce energy, announcement that they produce additional water is irrelevant, and the "wait" comment indicated that they have missed the point. {{unsigned ip|172.68.50.204}}

Given the title of ''Hydropower Breakthrough'', is a possible interpretation that the dam is just about to fail? --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.171|172.68.110.171]] 10:35, 13 December 2022 (UTC)

My immediate thought was that he was using the generated electricity to ignite a hydrogen cell, but my immediate thoughts are always weird. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.134.97|172.70.134.97]] 14:31, 13 December 2022 (UTC)

I feel Randall's comic is strongly indicative of a fair degree of skepticism around recent fusion power hype (many existing ''fission'' reactors produce an energy surplus, but fail to meet their cost of operations)... Yet, the comic's explanation currently reads as a guileless exhortation of fusion's possibilities, making no mention of the many other challenges faced by fusion reactors, besides this critical ''first step'' of generating more power than required to sustain the reaction. The comic is clearly making light of the recent publication\marketing push, yet the explanation gives no sign that fusion power is anything but practical & just around the corner. Fusion still has many remaining challenges to overcome, before reaching practicality as an energy source even for military applications (moreso still, for public utility); wind & solar are the top KWh:$ producers & another 10 or 100 billion spent researching fusion are very unlikely to change that in the next couple decades. In fact, solar research returns more Watts per dollar. The comic should probably mention the other challenges involved in nuclear fusion power, besides raw output quantity?
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 16:00, 13 December 2022 (UTC)
:Top KWh:$ producers sure, by which statistics? The effectivity of different kinds of power plants varies widely both with specific location, cost of input and the method used, but usually the hydroelectric damns build in good terrain would take a lead, especially considering that they can work for more than century. Which wind or solar power plant can hope for that? There is sure lot of research still necessary to make fusion power plants reality, but long term it can easily pay itself, and it can work anywhere, while damns need to be build on river, wind onshore (offshore are MUCH less effective and no research will change that) and solar, well, not too far from equator and somewhere with sunny weather, it wouldn't work when raining. Or, well, in space. Fission might also get good value from research if the research actually will be happening. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:21, 13 December 2022 (UTC)
::Dams are far from maintenance free & damage local ecologies in ways which can't yet be solved (a fish run lessens only one of these issues & only ''partially''), plus they cost ''way'' more per watt-hour to deploy. Also, the turbines they rely on, require periodic service similar to those used with wind. More importantly though, dams & solar & wind are ''already'' a viable method of public energy production, & research into improving solar & wind return far more improvement in watt-hours per dollar, than nuclear does. Since we're already in the midst of a growing ecological crisis & need cleaner energy ''now'', it makes more sense to research solar & wind, than nuclear. Sure, nuclear energy research ''may'' pay off eventually, but we need society to survive long enough to benefit; solar & wind make money ''and'' energy, right now, & research money spent on solar & wind power has returned far more Watt-hours per dollar, than research into nuclear power. Also, it's very incorrect to presume that solar only works well at low latitudes: Solar is used extensively in nordic regions, & even the energy-per-meter landing at the Earth's ''poles'' is still quite significant; there's so much energy in solar power, that it's almost ridiculous to go looking elsewhere. I agree that some forms of nuclear energy deserve more research funding than they've received so far (US-funded research is so obsessed with highly-fissile materials, that even nuclear energy "experts" are often ignorant of other methods), but at this point ''future'' technologies like fusion & hydrogen power, are effectively siphoning money from tech that ''would help now'' in favor of speculation on tech that ''could'' help ''someday''. Money spent researching fusion isn't necessarily ''wasted'', but spending that money to research solar or wind, helps more people sooner, while we have increasingly little time left to do so.
::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]])
21:07, 15 December 2022 (UTC)
::Moreover, my point is that ''Randall’s comic'' seems to portray this type of fusion hype as somewhat laughable, yet the comic's explanation treats fusion as a serious current contender for public utility; which it simply isn't (not for another few decades at the earliest, anyway). I feel the explanation fails to convey the absurdity prompting the "Wait..." reaction: The findings are presented with such overblown hype, that a reasonable attendee finds it obvious that something isn't as it's presented. A more responsible explanation might begin by stating outright, that fusion energy as a utility is a long-term ''possibility'', but is ''not'' "on the verge" of near-term viability, despite findings massaged to attract further speculative finance.
::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 21:34, 15 December 2022 (UTC)

I think the explanation is overthinking it. The joke is that there's a leak in the dam.
[[User:Nico31415926|An idiot]] ([[User talk:Nico31415926|talk]]) 16:37, 13 December 2022 (UTC)
:You mean you only see one of the long list of jokes in this comic? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:21, 13 December 2022 (UTC)
:: I guess my mind just thought of the simplest joke first? :shrug: -- [[User:Nico31415926|An idiot]] ([[User talk:Nico31415926|talk]]) 06:03, 14 December 2022 (UTC)

The explanation says nothing about the effect this would have downriver from the dam. [[User:Inquirer|Inquirer]] ([[User talk:Inquirer|talk]]) 16:51, 13 December 2022 (UTC)

I wonder if the image depicts Vajont Dam, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vajont_Dam, which was overtopped by a massive wave generated by a landslide--briefly outputting MUCH more water than was input. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.3|172.71.150.3]] 18:38, 13 December 2022 (UTC)

Is not counting rain, equivalent to only counting the energy released by the laswers, not the energy fed into the lasers? [[User:Arachrah|Arachrah]] ([[User talk:Arachrah|talk]]) 20:47, 13 December 2022 (UTC)

Another possible reason for the "Wait." comment is that, if Beret Guy's dam is indeed magically creating water, then left unchecked it could, over time, lead to the sea levels rising higher than all land surface on Earth. This would indeed be a very unfortunate situation. [[User:Dansiman|Dansiman]] ([[User talk:Dansiman|talk]]) 22:24, 13 December 2022 (UTC)

One of the things I just edited out was the claim that discharging (effectively) distilled water could dehydrate the environment. With an unnaturally hypertonic (dilute) water-source, creatures would not dry out but (if anything) ''absorb'' more water under osmotic pressure, which could lead to cells bursting from too much effort to balance things out. Hypotonic water (too many salts, for a given organism) would draw cellular/bodily stores of water out. Probably a 'pure water discharge' of the kind described would locally dilute the natural body of water that it was set to run into, but would also fairly quickly make itself/its dump-body more eager than normal to adopt ions from the immediate geologies of the run-off path. If you don't presume deluging a parched land with basically your fancy new-water output, there might be effects upon plants and animals adapted to more hard and/or briney water-environments (e.g. creating a disruptive freshwater lagoon within a saltwater marsh), with some ecological concerns to be addressed by careful use of mixing ponds (almost the opposite of most waste-water outlettings, which may require settling ponds or filtrating reed-beds) and questions about relative temperatures (which can be useful ''or'' disruptive to the survival of local creatures who might previously have migrated to more naturally warmer expanses of water), but overall it'd be better than most post-industrial water outflows. With the right eco-oversight to spot side-effects. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.74|172.71.242.74]] 01:39, 14 December 2022 (UTC)

Where did all the AWS advertising come from? The comic has no relation to cloud computing or the amazon. The companies green washing ads should be deleted. --[[Special:Contributions/198.41.242.33|198.41.242.33]] 09:30, 14 December 2022 (UTC)

Twelve paragraphs is absurd. This wall of text is an order of magnitude harder to understand than the simple comic joke. It needs to be trimmed to three to five paragraphs, tops! [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.159|172.71.154.159]] 00:16, 15 December 2022 (UTC)
:Agreed, but it was that large by the time ''I'' arrived at the article, and it seemed that two (or three) separate strands of thought had been separately composed and concatonated. Perhaps not helped by multiple subtly different interpretations of the hidden meanings springing from deep within the words. Major re-editing is needed, but I'm not confident enough to blitz it properly. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.74|172.71.242.74]] 00:39, 15 December 2022 (UTC)
:Those single sentence paragraphs with no context. This is the worst post-start explanation I've seen in months. Now that the next comic is up it's time to get to work. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.17|172.69.134.17]] 04:57, 15 December 2022 (UTC)

The AWS stuff should all be deleted. It is nonsensical. AWS uses water for evaporative cooling of its data centers. It is spending loads of money on wet lands to feel better about it. That has nothing what-so-ever to do with this comic.

ChatGPT may be only barely mediocre at producing good explanations from the transcripts, but it did a fantastic job of reducing 14 absurdly verbose to 5 simple paragraphs (8.3 to 3.6 kilobytes.) I did maybe fifteen words of cleanup, mostly to put the (wiki)links back in. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.142.124|162.158.142.124]] 05:19, 15 December 2022 (UTC)

The explanation makes it seem like we may already have fusion reaction net energy gain, when this is simply not the case: we may have achieved Q > 1 for the energy put into the hydrogen particle, but this disregards the energy required to power the lasers as well as the energy required to convert the resulting heat into electricity (that would be QTotal > 1). [[Special:Contributions/172.71.98.124|172.71.98.124]] 13:07, 15 December 2022 (UTC) Gogeta

I'm wondering if this is also relevant to Amazon's claim that their data centers somehow have 1:1 water cooling consumption:production, with a future predicted ratio that is somehow "even higher".
[[Special:Contributions/172.70.35.69|172.70.35.69]] 00:44, 16 December 2022 (UTC)

User:Shamino

2021-08-01T02:59:30Z

172.70.35.69: Undo revision 215857 by 141.101.76.73 (talk)

A "geek of all trades". A software developer by trade, I'm into all things geeky. Computers, video games, sci-fi, British comedy, action adventure films (especially those involving super heroes) and comics (web, newspaper, comic books and graphic novels).

I've been reading xkcd for a very long time, going back to the time when there were still frequent strips in the "romance" category.

Although people here probably already know, [http://ultima.wikia.com/wiki/Shamino Shamino] is a character from the Ultima series of games. I use it as a handle in many places because (at the time I started using it), I was a big fan of the games. It should be known however, that I am not the only person on the Internet who uses Shamino as a handle, so if you see others with this name, it may or may not be me.

This blog, however, is mine: https://shaminospage.blogspot.com/

2480: No, The Other One

2021-07-30T00:42:24Z

172.70.35.69:

{{comic
| number = 2480
| date = June 23, 2021
| title = No, The Other One
| image = no_the_other_one.png
| titletext = Key West, Virginia is not to be confused with Key, West Virginia.
}}

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

This is a map of the United States, showing cities or towns with the same name as other more famous places. For example, the map has a dot for a relatively unknown place called Los Angeles, located in Texas, not to be confused with the very well known Los Angeles that is in California.

Few place names are unique, and there may be {{w|List of the most common U.S. place names|many places with the same name}}. Multiple American towns have been named after the same British town, famous person, or geographic feature.

However, names can become associated with specific places on a national level, where the best-known example is usually the biggest or otherwise the most significant. The name of this comic indicates the contextualization required to specify one of the less-famous exemplars of a given name. Someone might say they are from "Los Angeles" and would have to say "no, the other one" since the listener would assume they are from Los Angeles, California.

The [[title text]] references {{w|Key, West Virginia}} and {{w|Key West, Virginia}}, two places that, when spoken aloud, are only distinguishable by the pause (comma) location. Neither are to be confused with {{w|Key West|Key West, Florida}}, which is a location well-known nationally.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Place name in comic
! Well-known place
! Notes
|-
| {{w|Albany, Georgia|Albany, GA}}
| rowspan="3" | {{w|Albany,_New_York|Albany, NY}}
| rowspan="3" | Albany, NY is the capital of New York state.
|-
| {{w|Albany, Minnesota|Albany, MN}}


|-
| {{w|Albany, Wyoming|Albany, WY}}

|-
| rowspan="2" | {{w|Alexandria,_Louisiana|Alexandria, LA}}
| {{w|Alexandria,_Virginia|Alexandria, VA}}
| Alexandria, VA is known for being George Washington's hometown.
|-
| {{w|Alexandria|Alexandria, Egypt}}
| Major economic and cultural center on the Mediterranean.
|-
| {{w|Anchorage, Kentucky|Anchorage, KY}}
| {{w|Anchorage,_Alaska|Anchorage, AK}}
| Anchorage, AK is Alaska's most populous city.
|-
| {{w|Atlanta,_Delaware|Atlanta, DE}}
| rowspan="6" | {{w|Atlanta|Atlanta, GA}}
| rowspan="6" | Atlanta, GA is the capital of Georgia, a center of the civil rights movement in the 1950's and 60's, and a major air transportation hub. The comic has a single "Atlanta" next to dots for both Atlanta, CO and Atlanta, NE. Atlanta, CO does not seem to exist, so the dot may be an error, or may be missing its label (e.g., for Yuma, CO or Akron, CO).
|-
| {{w|Atlanta,_Idaho|Atlanta, ID}}

|-
| {{w|Atlanta,_Michigan|Atlanta, MI}}

|-
| {{w|Atlanta,_Nebraska|Atlanta, NE}}

|-
| {{w|Atlanta, Texas|Atlanta, TX}}
|-
| {{w|Atlanta, Wisconsin|Atlanta, WI}}
|-
| {{w|Atlantic City, Wyoming|Atlantic City, WY}}
| {{w|Atlantic City, New Jersey|Atlantic City, NJ}}
| Atlantic City, NJ is a famous coastal resort town in New Jersey known for its casinos, boardwalk and beaches.
|-
| {{w|Austin, Minnesota|Austin, MN}}
| {{w|Austin, Texas|Austin, TX}}
| Austin, TX is the capital of the state of Texas, and the 11th most populous city in the US.
|-
| {{w|Baton Rouge, South Carolina|Baton Rouge, SC}}
| {{w|Baton Rouge, Louisiana|Baton Rouge, LA}}
| Baton Rouge, LA is the capital of the state of Louisiana.
|-
| {{w|Beaumont, California|Beaumont, CA}}
| {{w|Beaumont, Texas|Beaumont, TX}}
| Beaumont, TX is known for the oil discovery that sparked the Texas oil boom of the early 1900s.
|-
| {{w|Beverly Hills, Illinois|Beverly Hills, IL}}
| rowspan="2" | {{w|Beverly Hills, California|Beverly Hills, CA}}
| rowspan="2" | Beverly Hills, CA is a city in Los Angeles County, CA and is home to many celebrities, luxury hotels, and the Rodeo Drive shopping district.
|-
| {{w|Beverly Hills, Texas|Beverly Hills, TX}}

|-
| {{w|Bloomington, Minnesota | Bloomington, MN}}
| {{w|Bloomington, Indiana | Bloomington, IN}}
| Bloomington, IN is the location of Indiana University.
|-
| {{w|Boston, MO}}
| {{w|Boston|Boston, MA}}
| Boston, MA is the capital of Massachusetts and the site of several key events of the American Revolution.
|-
| {{w|Bowling Green, FL}}
| rowspan="2" | {{w|Bowling Green, Kentucky|Bowling Green, KY}}
| rowspan="2" | Bowling Green, KY is the largest city of this name, and the 3rd most populous city in Kentucky. Home of the auto plant that makes the Chevy Corvette. Bowling Green, OH is directly named after the Kentucky city.
|-
| {{w|Bowling Green, OH}}
|-
| {{w|Bridgeport, WV}}
| {{w|Bridgeport, Connecticut|Bridgeport, CT}}
| Bridgeport, CT is the most populous city in Connecticut and fifth most populous in {{w|New England}}.
|-
| {{w|Buffalo, TX}}
| rowspan="2" | {{w|Buffalo, New York|Buffalo, NY}}
| rowspan="2" | Buffalo, NY is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City.
|-
| {{w|Buffalo, WY}}
|-
| rowspan="2" | {{w|Cambridge, OH}}
| {{w|Cambridge|Cambridge, England, UK}}
| A city in Cambridgeshire, known as the home of {{w|University of Cambridge|Cambridge}} and Anglia Ruskin Universities. There is also a village of Cambridge in Gloucestershire.
|-
| {{w|Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge, MA}}
| Cambridge, MA is a city in the Boston metropolitan area, known as the home of {{w|Harvard University}} and {{w|Massachusetts Institute of Technology}} among others. Cambridge, Massachusetts is in turn named after Cambridge, England.
|-
| {{w|Cedar Rapids, NE}}
| {{w|Cedar Rapids, Iowa|Cedar Rapids, IA}}
| Cedar Rapids is the 2nd most populous city in the state of Iowa.
|-
| Charlestown, Unknown State
| {{w|Charlestown, Massachusetts|Charlestown, MA}}
| Charlestown, MA is an area of Boston and home to Bunker Hill, the site of a key American Revolutionary War battle. Originally a separate town, it was the first capital of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. [In the original comic, the Charlestown label was located over Long Island but there was no dot for the label, and an update later removed the Charlestown label entirely.]
|-
| {{w|Cleveland, UT}}
| {{w|Cleveland|Cleveland, OH}}
| Cleveland, OH, named after its founder, General Moses Cleaveland, is one of the 3 largest cities in the state of Ohio.
|-
| {{w|Columbus, GA}}
| {{w|Columbus, Ohio|Columbus, OH}}
| Columbus, OH is the most populous city in Ohio, as well as its state capital. It is named after {{w|Christopher Columbus}}. {{w|Columbus#United_States|Many other locations}} throughout the United States bear that name.
|-
| Dallas, GA
| rowspan="4" | {{w|Dallas|Dallas, TX}}
| rowspan="4" | Dallas, TX is the 3rd most populous city in Texas and the 9th most populous city in the United States.
|-
| Dallas, NC
|-
| Dallas, OR
|-
| Dallas, SD
|-
| Dayton, NV
| {{w|Dayton, Ohio|Dayton, OH}}
| Dayton, OH was a prominent city in the industrial growth of the Midwest in the late 19th and early 20th centuries but is best known as the home of the Wright Brothers, where they constructed the first airplane.
|-
| Des Moines, NM
| rowspan="2" | {{w|Des Moines, Iowa|Des Moines, IA}}
| rowspan="2" | Des Moines, IA is the capital of the state of Iowa, and its largest city by population.
|-
| Des Moines, WA
|-
| {{w|Detroit,_Alabama|Detroit, AL}}
| rowspan="2" | {{w|Detroit|Detroit, MI}}
| rowspan="2" | Detroit, MI is well known as the center of the U.S. automobile industry.
|-
| Detroit, KS
|-
| Disney, OK
| {{w|Disneyland}} {{w|Walt Disney World|Disney World}}
| Disney, OK is a small town in Mayes County, Oklahoma, but has no relation to either {{w|Walt Disney}} himself or to the Disney Corporation. There are no other towns or cities with this name, but references to being at "Disney" could include {{w|Disneyland}} in California, {{w|Walt Disney World}} in Florida, or other Disney amusement parks around the world.
|-
| Fayetteville, TN
| {{w|Fayetteville, Arkansas|Fayetteville, AR}} {{w|Fayetteville, North Carolina|Fayetteville, NC}}
| Fayetteville, NC is the most populous US city of that name, and home to the {{w|Fort Bragg|largest military installation in the world}}. Fayetteville, AR is the 3rd most populous city in Arkansas and the home of the {{w|University of Arkansas}}. There are {{w|Fayetteville|many other places}} with this name.
|-
| Gettysburg, OH
| rowspan="2" | {{w|Gettysburg, Pennsylvania|Gettysburg, PA}}
| rowspan="2" | Gettysburg, PA is well known for being the site of the {{w|Battle of Gettysburg}}, the deadliest battle in the US Civil War, and the site of Abraham Lincoln's {{w|Gettysburg Address}}.
|-
| Gettysburg, SD
|-
| Grand Rapids, MN
| {{w|Grand Rapids|Grand Rapids, MI}}
| Grand Rapids, MI is the second most populous city in the state of Michigan.
|-
| {{w|Houston,_Alaska|Houston, AK}}
| rowspan="6" | {{w|Houston|Houston, TX}}
| rowspan="6" | Houston, TX is the most populous city in Texas and the 4th most populous city in the United States.
|-
| {{w|Houston,_Alabama|Houston, AL}}
|-
| Houston, FL
|-
| Houston, IN
|-
| Houston, MO
|-
| Houston, OH
|-
| Indianapolis, IA
| {{w|Indianapolis|Indianapolis, IN}}
| Indianapolis, IN is the capital of Indiana and the most populous city in the state.
|-
| {{w|Jackson,_Alabama|Jackson, AL}}
| {{w|Jackson,_Mississippi|Jackson, MS}}
| Jackson, MS is the capital of Mississippi, but there are {{w|Jackson|many other}} states with Jacksons. This one is likely particularly notable due to its proximity to Jackson, MS.
|-
| {{w|Jamestown,_California|Jamestown, CA}}
| rowspan="2" | {{w|Jamestown,_Virginia|Jamestown, VA}}
| rowspan="2" | Jamestown, VA was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas.
|-
| Jamestown, ND
|-
| Jersey Shore, PA
| {{w|Jersey_Shore|Jersey Shore}} region, NJ
| The {{w|Jersey_Shore|Jersey Shore}} is a coastal region of New Jersey. It is also the namesake of a {{w|Jersey_Shore_(TV_series)|reality TV show}}.
|-
| Key West, VA
| {{w|Key_West|Key West, FL}}
| Key West, FL is an island city off the tip of Florida that is popular with tourists and contains the southernmost point of the continental states.
|-
| Knoxville, IA
| {{w|Knoxville,_Tennessee|Knoxville, TN}}
| Knoxville, TN is the 3rd most populous city in Tennessee and the home of the {{w|University of Tennessee}}.
|-
| Las Vegas, NM
| {{w|Las_Vegas|Las Vegas, NV}}
| Las Vegas, NV is the most populous city in the state of Nevada and is well known for its gambling, shopping, fine dining, entertainment, and nightlife.
|-
| {{w|Lincoln,_California|Lincoln, CA}}
| rowspan="4" | {{w|Lincoln,_Nebraska|Lincoln, NE}}
| rowspan="4" | Lincoln, NE is the capital of Nebraska.
|-
| Lincoln, IL
|-
| Lincoln, MT
|-
| Lincoln, RI
|-
| Lisbon, ME
| rowspan="2" | {{w|Lisbon,_Portugal|Lisbon, Portugal}}
| rowspan="2" | Lisbon is the capital and largest city of Portugal.
|-
| Lisbon, NH
|-
| {{w|Long_Beach Township, New_Jersey|Long Beach, NJ}}
| {{w|Long Beach, California|Long Beach, CA}}
| Long Beach, CA is the 7th most populous city in California. The location in New Jersey is typically referred to by its full name, Long Beach Township, or the more generalized location of {{w|Long Beach Island}}.
|-
| Los Angeles, TX
| {{w|Los_Angeles|Los Angeles, CA}}
| Los Angeles, CA is the 2nd most populous city in the United States, behind New York City.
|-
| {{w|Louisville, Colorado|Louisville, CO}}
| {{w|Louisville, Kentucky|Louisville, KY}}
| Louisville, KY is the largest city in Kentucky.
|-
| Manhattan, KS
| rowspan="2" | {{w|Manhattan|Manhattan, NYC, NY}}
| rowspan="2" | Manhattan, NYC, NY is one of the {{w|Boroughs of New York City|five boroughs of New York City}}, corresponds to the {{w|New York County}}.
|-
| Manhattan, MT
|-
| Memphis, NE
| {{w|Memphis,_Tennessee|Memphis, TN}}
| Memphis, TN is the 2nd most populous city in Tennessee and had a prominent role in the US Civil Rights movement.
|-
| {{w|Mesa,_California|Mesa, CA}}
| rowspan="2" | {{w|Mesa,_Arizona|Mesa, AZ}}
| rowspan="2" | Mesa, AZ is a suburb of Phoenix, and the largest suburban city by population in the United States. The town marked as Mesa, CO on the map is actually Orchard Mesa, CO. The unmarked dot in eastern Colorado is the actual town of Mesa, CO.
|-
| Mesa, CO
|-
| {{w|Miami,_Arizona|Miami, AZ}}
| rowspan="2" | {{w|Miami|Miami, FL}}
| rowspan="2" | Miami, FL is the seventh largest city in the United States and a major tourism hub.
|-
| Miami, TX
|-
| Mountain View, HI
| {{w|Mountain_View,_California|Mountain View, CA}}
| Mountain View, CA is the "birthplace" of Silicon Valley, and is the location of many high technology companies, most notably Google.
|-
| {{w|Nashville,_Arkansas|Nashville, AR}}
| {{w|Nashville,_Tennessee|Nashville, TN}}
| Nashville, TN is the capital of Tennessee and a major center for the country music industry.
|-
| New England, ND
| {{w|New England}}
| The New England region consists of 6 states in the northeast United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
|-
| New Haven, KY
| {{w|New Haven, Connecticut|New Haven, CT}}
| New Haven, CT is the second largest city in Connecticut, and is known for its distinctive {{w|New Haven-style pizza|pizza}}. It also home to {{w|Yale University}}
|-
| {{w|New York, Texas|New York, TX}}
| {{w|New_York_City|New York, NY}}
| New York City, NY is the largest city in the United States.
|-
| {{w|Newark,_Delaware|Newark, DE}}
| {{w|Newark,_New_Jersey|Newark, NJ}}
| Newark, NJ is the largest city in the state of New Jersey, and part of the greater New York metropolitan area. It hosts one of the New York metro area's three major airports. Newark, DE is the third largest city in Delaware and home to the University of Delaware. Unlike Newark, NJ, Newark, DE is pronounced as if it were two words /ˈnuːɑːrk/ .
|-
| rowspan="2" |North Pole, NY
| {{w|North_Pole,_Alaska|North Pole, AK}}
| North Pole, AK is a small city in Alaska known as a tourist attraction and the recipient of letters addressed to Santa Claus.
|-
| {{w|North Pole}}
| Northernmost point on Earth's surface.
|-
| Oakland, OR
| {{w|Oakland,_California|Oakland, CA}}
| Oakland, CA is currently the home to three professional sports teams including the {{w|Oakland_Athletics|Oakland Athletics}} and is the former home of several more, including the {{w|History_of_the_Oakland_Raiders|Oakland Raiders}}, now in Las Vegas.
|-
| Orlando, OK
| {{w|Orlando,_Florida|Orlando, FL}}
| Orlando is the 4th most populous city in Florida and home to Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando.
|-
| Ottawa, KS
| {{w|Ottawa|Ottawa, ON}}
| Ottawa, ON, Canada is the capital of Canada.
|-
| Pasadena, MD
| rowspan="2" | {{w|Pasadena, CA}}
| rowspan="2" | Pasadena, CA is the home to the {{w|California Institute of Technology}} and the NASA {{w|Jet Propulsion Laboratory}}. It is also the home of the New Year's Day {{w|Tournament of Roses Parade}} and hosts the college football {{w|Rose Bowl Game}} played on New Year's Day afternoon. Pasadena, TX was named after its California counterpart, but it is ironically the larger of the two (both in population and area).
|-
| Pasadena, TX
|-
| {{w|Peoria,_Arizona|Peoria, AZ}}
| {{w|Peoria, Illinois|Peoria, IL}}
| Peoria, IL is known for being considered an "Average American Town", in the phrase {{w|Will_it_play_in_Peoria%3F|"Will it play in Peoria?"}} It is actually smaller than Peoria, AZ.
|-
| Philadelphia, MS
| rowspan="2" | {{w|Philadelphia|Philadelphia, PA}}
| rowspan="2" | Philadelphia, PA is the most populous city in Pennsylvania and was an important meeting place during the American Revolution.
|-
| Philadelphia, NY
|-
| Phoenix, MD
| rowspan="2" | {{w|Phoenix,_Arizona|Phoenix, AZ}}
| rowspan="2" | Phoenix, AZ is the capital of Arizona and the 5th most populous city in the United States.
|-
| Phoenix, OR
|-
| {{w|Plano,_Illinois|Plano, IL}}
| {{w|Plano,_Texas|Plano, TX}}
| Plano, TX is part of the {{w|Dallas–Fort_Worth_metroplex|Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex}}, and the home of many corporate headquarters.
|-
| {{w|Plymouth,_California|Plymouth, CA}}
| rowspan="2" | {{w|Plymouth,_Massachusetts|Plymouth, MA}}
| rowspan="2" | Plymouth, MA was the site of the colony founded in 1620 by the Mayflower Pilgrims. Named after the {{w|Pymouth|city in the Southwest of England}} which was the final port of departure.
|-
| Plymouth, IN
|-
| {{w|Portland,_Maine|Portland, ME}}
| {{w|Portland,_Oregon|Portland, OR}}
| Portland, OR is the largest city in the state of Oregon and was {{w|Portland,_Oregon#Establishment|named after}} Portland, ME
|-
| Princeton, ID
| rowspan="2" | {{w|Princeton, New Jersey|Princeton, NJ}}
| rowspan="2" | Princeton, NJ is famous for being the home of the eponymous {{w|Princeton University}} and the {{w|Institute for Advanced Study}}
|-
| Princeton, MA
|-
| {{w|Richmond, Vermont|Richmond, VT}}
| {{w|Richmond, Virginia|Richmond, VA}}
| Richmond, VA is the capital of Virginia. It was named after {{w|Richmond,_London|the suburb of London, UK}} due to an observed similarity of the river. London's Richmond was named for the palace built there by Henry VII, itself named after the {{w|Richmond,_North_Yorkshire|market town}} and castle in the north of England that was a childhood home. That was in turn named for the {{w|Richemont,_Seine-Maritime|Normandy}} area from which the noble family came who were gifted this land for their part of the Norman Conquest of England in the 11th century. There are more than fifty settlements called Richmond across the world, directly or indirectly taking their names from one or other of the English 'originals'.
|-
| Roswell, GA
| {{w|Roswell, New Mexico|Roswell, NM}}
| Roswell, NM is the site of one of the most famous “alien coverups” in American history, and is well known for its alien-themed tourism.
|-
| Saint Louis, MI
| rowspan="2" | {{w|St._Louis|St. Louis, MO}}
| rowspan="2" | St. Louis, MO is the 2nd most populous city in the state of Missouri and has the iconic {{w|Gateway Arch}}.
|-
| Saint Louis, OK
|-
| rowspan="2" | Salem, CT
| {{w|Salem,_Oregon|Salem, OR}}
| Salem, OR is the capital of Oregon.
|-
| {{w|Salem,_Massachusetts|Salem, MA}}
| Salem, MA was the location of the {{w|Salem_witch_trials|Salem witch trials}}.
|-
| {{w|San Diego, Texas|San Diego, TX}}
| {{w|San_Diego|San Diego, CA}}
| San Diego, CA is the 8th most populous city in the US and the 2nd most populous in California.
|-
| {{w|Santa Fe, Texas|Santa Fe, TX}}
| {{w|Santa_Fe,_New_Mexico|Santa Fe, NM}}
| Santa Fe, NM is the capital of the state of New Mexico.
|-
| {{w|Savannah, Missouri|Savannah, MO}}
| {{w|Savannah, Georgia|Savannah, GA}}
| Savannah, GA is the oldest city in the state of Georgia and its fifth most populous.
|-
| {{w|South_Bend,_Texas|South Bend, TX}}
| {{w|South_Bend|South Bend, IN}}
| South Bend, IN is the location of {{w|University_of_Notre_Dame|the University of Notre Dame}}.
|-
| {{w|Texas, New York|Texas, NY}}
| {{w|Texas|State of Texas}}
| Texas, NY is a hamlet in Oswego County, NY, near the southeastern corner of Lake Ontario. It is officially part of the town of {{w|Mexico, New York|Mexico, NY}}. No plans for a wall {{fact}}. Not to be confused with {{w|New York, Texas|New York, TX}}.
|-
| {{w|Vienna,_Maine|Vienna, ME}}
| {{w|Vienna, Austria}}
| Vienna is the capital and largest city of Austria.
|-
| rowspan="2" | {{w|Washington, North Carolina|Washington, NC}}
| {{w|Washington, D.C.}}
| Washington, D.C. is the capital of the United States. The city of Washington, NC is actually older than Washington, D.C., having been founded in 1776.
|-
| {{w|Washington (state)|State of Washington}}
| Washington is the 13th most populous U.S. state, and the only state named after a U.S. president.
|-
| {{w|White House, Tennessee|White House, TN}}
| {{w|White House|White House in Washington, D.C.}}
| The White House is the official residence and office of the {{w|President_of_the_United_States|President of the United States}} in Washington, D.C. Unlike most other places identified in this comic, the White House in D.C. is not a name of a city, but rather the name of a famous building and the grounds that the building is located on.
|}

==Transcript==
:[A typical line-drawn map projection of the United States, with discontiguous Alaska and Hawaii moved into a convenient corner.]
:[Coastlines and national borders are in a firm half-tone.]
:[Non-coastal state boundaries are shown in a lighter tone and feature the standard two-letter abbreviations.]
:[Location dots and labels of the settlements they represent are overlaid in solid black.]

:[Within each of the states, expanded here for readability, are the following placenames...]
:AK [Alaska]
::Houston
:AL [Alabama]
::Detroit
::Houston
::Jackson
:AR [Arkansas]
::Nashville
:AZ [Arizona]
::Miami
::Peoria
:CA [California]
::Beaumont
::Jamestown
::Lincoln
::Mesa
::Plymouth
:CO [Colorado]
:: [An unlabelled dot, between text for Louisville, CO and Atlanta, NE; probably the actual Mesa, CO.]
::Louisville
::Mesa [Appears to be the incorrectly-labeled town of Orchard Mesa, CO.]
:CT [Connecticut]
::Salem
:DE [Delaware]
::Atlanta
::Newark
:FL [Florida]
::Bowling Green
::Houston
:GA [Georgia]
::Albany
::Columbus
::Dallas
::Roswell
:HI [Hawaii]
::Mountain View
:IA [Iowa]
::Indianapolis
::Knoxville
:ID [Idaho]
::Atlanta
::Princeton
:IL [Illinois]
::Beverly Hills
::Lincoln
::Plano
:IN [Indiana]
::Houston
::Plymouth
:KS [Kansas]
::Detroit
::Manhattan
::Ottawa
:KY [Kentucky]
::Anchorage
::New Haven
:LA [Louisiana]
::Alexandria
:MA [Massachusetts]
::Princeton
:MD [Maryland]
::Pasadena
::Phoenix
:ME [Maine]
::Lisbon
::Portland
::Vienna
:MI [Michigan]
::Atlanta
::Saint Louis
:MN [Minnesota]
::Albany
::Austin
::Bloomington
::Grand Rapids
:MO [Missouri]
::Boston
::Houston
::Savannah
:MS [Mississippi]
::Philadelphia
:MT [Montana]
::Lincoln
::Manhattan
:NC [North Carolina]
::Dallas
::Washington
:ND [North Dakota]
::Jamestown
::New England
:NE [Nebraska]
::Atlanta
::Cedar Rapids
::Memphis
:NH [New Hampshire]
::Lisbon
:NJ [New Jersey]
::Long Beach
:NM [New Mexico]
::Des Moines
::Las Vegas
:NV [Nevada]
::Dayton
:NY [New York]
::North Pole
::Philadelphia
::Texas
:::[Further subtitled as...]
:::(Texas, Mexico)
:OH [Ohio]
::Bowling Green
::Cambridge
::Gettysburg
::Houston
:OK [Oklahoma]
::Disney
::Orlando
::Saint Louis
:OR [Oregon]
::Dallas
::Oakland
::Phoenix
:PA [Pennsylvania]
::Jersey Shore
:RI [Rhode Island]
::Lincoln
:SC [South Carolina]
::Baton Rouge
:SD [South Dakota]
::Dallas
::Gettysburg
:TN [Tennessee]
::Fayetteville
::White House
:TX [Texas]
::Atlanta
::Beverly Hills
::Buffalo
::Los Angeles
::Miami
::New York
::Pasadena
::San Diego
::Santa Fe
::South Bend
:UT [Utah]
::Cleveland
:VA [Virginia]
::Key West
:VT [Vermont]
::Richmond
:WA [Washington]
::Des Moines
:WI [Wisconsin]
::Atlanta
:WV [West Virginia]
::Bridgeport
:WY [Wyoming]
::Albany
::Atlantic City
::Buffalo

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:US maps]]

1838: Machine Learning

2021-07-27T14:51:24Z

172.70.35.69: /* Explanation */ Added links to topics some may be unfamiliar with

{{comic
| number = 1838
| date = May 17, 2017
| title = Machine Learning
| image = machine_learning.png
| titletext = The pile gets soaked with data and starts to get mushy over time, so it's technically recurrent.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Machine learning}} is a method employed in automation of complex tasks. It usually involves creation of algorithms that deal with statistical analysis of data and pattern recognition to generate output. The validity/accuracy of the output can be used to give feedback to make changes to the system, usually making future results statistically better.

Cueball stands next to what looks like a pile of garbage (or compost), with a Cueball-like friend standing atop it. The pile has a funnel (labelled "data") at one end and a box labelled "answers" at the other. Here and there mathematical matrices stick out of the pile. As the friend explains to the incredulous Cueball, data enters through the funnel, undergoes an incomprehensible process of {{w|linear algebra}}, and comes out as answers. The friend appears to be a functional part of this system himself, as he stands atop the pile stirring it with a paddle. His machine learning system is probably very inefficient, as he is integral to both the mechanical part (repeated stirring) and the learning part (making the answers look "right").

The main joke is that, despite this description being too vague and giving no intuition or details into the system, it is close to the level of understanding most machine learning experts have of the many techniques in machine learning. 'Machine learning' algorithms that can be reasonably described as pouring data into linear algebra and stirring until the output looks right include {{w|support vector machine|support vector machines}}, {{w|linear regression|linear regressors}}, {{w|logistic regression|logistic regressors}}, and {{w|neural network|neural networks}}. Major recent advances in machine learning often amount to 'stacking' the linear algebra up differently, or varying stirring techniques for the compost.  

====Composting====
This comic compares a machine learning system to a compost pile. {{w|Composting}} is the process of taking organic matter, such as food and yard waste, and allowing it to decompose into a form that serves as fertilizer. A common method of composting is to mound the organic matter in a pile with a certain amount of moisture, then "stirring" the pile occasionally to move the less-decomposed material from the top to the interior of the pile, where it will decompose faster.

In large-scale composting operations, the raw organic matter added to the pile is referred to as "input". This cartoon implies a play on the term "input", comparing a compost input to a data input.

====Title text====

A {{w|recurrent neural network}} is a neural network where the nodes affect one another in cycles, creating feedback loops in the network that allow it to change over time. To put it another way, the neural network has 'state', with the results of previous inputs affecting how each successive input is processed. In the title text, [[Randall]] is saying that the machine learning system is technically recurrent because it "changes" (i.e. gets mushy) over time.

==Transcript==

[Cueball Prime holds a canoe paddle at his side and stands on top of a "big pile of linear algebra" containing a funnel labeled "data" and box labeled "answers". Cueball II stands to the left side of the panel.)]

Cueball II: This is your machine learning system?

Cueball Prime: Yup! You pour the data into this big pile of linear algebra, then collect the answers on the other side.

Cueball II: What if the answers are wrong?

Cueball Prime: Just stir the pile until they start looking right.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Artificial Intelligence]]
[[Category:Math]]

2494: Flawed Data

2021-07-27T04:31:00Z

172.70.35.69:

{{comic
| number = 2494
| date = July 27, 2021
| title = Flawed Data
| image = flawed_data.png
| titletext = We trained it to produce data that looked convincing, and we have to admit the results look convincing!
}}

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

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

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2488: Board Game Argument: Legacy

2021-07-13T21:41:18Z

172.70.35.69:

So there is a game wherein one can write "sudu bring me a samich" as part of the rules? Excellent! [[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.7|172.69.63.7]] 06:47, 13 July 2021 (UTC)

The game Cueball is handlig seems to be Boggle, the one Meghan is leaning on might be Wingspan. Can someone identify the others? If we can get a full table, we should add it to the article. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.37|162.158.89.37]] 07:48, 13 July 2021 (UTC)

Here's a closeup of the games with added math:
[[File:2488-board-games.png]] - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 16:08, 13 July 2021 (UTC)

The one on top in front of Ponytail is Wits & Wagers. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.131|162.158.187.131]] 19:20, 13 July 2021 (UTC)

fun fact: this is a different table than the one used in another board-game themed comic, [[1566: Board Game]] .[[Special:Contributions/172.70.35.69|172.70.35.69]] 21:41, 13 July 2021 (UTC)Bumpf

2487: Danger Mnemonic

2021-07-10T04:13:01Z

172.70.35.69:

{{comic
| number = 2487
| date = July 10, 2021
| title = Danger Mnemonic
| image = danger_mnemonic.png
| titletext = It's definitely not the time to try drinking beer before liquor.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a DRUNKEN SAILOR'S POISON IVY SNAKE. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This is a mash-up of three different common sayings: "red touches yellow, dead fellow. Red touches black, happy Jack," "leaves of three, leave them be," and "red in the morning, sailor's warning. Red at night, sailor's delight."

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

{{comic discussion}}

1167: Star Trek into Darkness

2021-06-29T08:52:23Z

172.70.35.69: for justice!

{{comic
| number = 1167
| date = January 30, 2013
| title = Star Trek into Darkness
| image = star_trek_into_darkness.png
| titletext = Of course, factions immediately sprang up in favor of '~*~sTaR tReK iNtO dArKnEsS~*~', 'xX_StAr TrEk InTo DaRkNess_Xx', and 'Star Trek lnto Darkness' (that's a lowercase 'L').
}}

==~*~ExPIAnAtIoN~*~==

The talk page of a Wikipedia article is used to discuss changes to the article. An {{w|Wikipedia:Edit warring|edit war}} is a dispute about a specific edit to an article, manifesting as a series of edits alternating between making and reverting the change, and usually accompanied by a more-or-less heated debate on the talk page.

Here, [[Randall]] is referring to a dispute on the Wikipedia article about ''{{w|Star Trek Into Darkness}}'' (an upcoming {{w|Star Trek}} film at the time of the comic's posting). On the day before the comic was published, the article name had a lowercase "into", and the talk page looked [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Star_Trek_Into_Darkness&oldid=535542349 like this] (rounded off in a friendly way, with the posting of {{w|User:Frungi/Star Trek Into Darkness capitalization|a summary of the arguments}}, and an exchange of virtual hugs). In summary, the debate centers around whether "Into Darkness" should be treated as a prepositional phrase (as in "Star Trek[king] Into Darkness") or an unpunctuated subtitle (as in "Star Trek[:] Into Darkness"), whether compound prepositions like "into" should be capitalized in titles, and whether the capitalization of the title in the movie's official promotional material is relevant. The intensity and multiple facets of a debate over one tiny letter is apparently entertaining to Randall.

[[Cueball]] changes the title so that every other letter is capitalized, and adds framing tildes and asterisks (a common, but childish and ugly way of emphasizing titles online). The title text indicates Randall's belief that such arguments are perpetual and will always arise. He suggests that the edit to the Wikipedia page will result in a dispute over variants of Cueballs [[:Category:Compromise|"compromise"]]. One new alternative has the letter cases switched (or shifted, depending on your perspective), one uses a different set of "bracketing" characters (xX_[...]_Xx instead of ~*~[...]~*~), and one uses the original title, but with a lowercase "L" instead of a captial "I" (which appear similar in many fonts).

Alternating-case text later caught on as [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/mocking-spongebob an internet meme] in 2017 (four years after this comic strip was published) for representing a mocking tone.

[[Megan|Megan's]] line of "They should have sent a poet." is a quote from the film ''{{w|Contact (1997 American film)|Contact}}''. The quote is also referenced in [[482: Height]]. In the movie, the line was meant to convey that only a poet could adequately capture the beauty seen; here, it indicates that prose is insufficient to capture the ironic beauty of the edit war.

The old "favorite edit war" might be the one referenced in the title text of [[878: Model Rail]] or the one resulting from the addition of the [[739: Malamanteau]] article to Wikipedia

==~*~TrAnScRiPt~*~==
:[Cueball staring at computer screen.]
:Cueball: Oh, ''wow.'' Look at Wikipedia's Talk page for '''''Star Trek into Darkness.''''' I have a new favorite edit war.
:Megan (off-panel): Oh?

:Cueball: Forty ''thousand'' words of debate over whether to capitalize "into" in the movie's title. Still no consensus.
:Megan: That's ''magnificent''.
:Cueball: It's breathtaking.
:Megan: They should have sent a poet.

:Cueball: Well, I'm making an executive decision. I hope both sides accept this as a fair compromise.

:[A Wikipedia page titled "''~*~ StAr TrEk InTo DaRkNeSs ~*~''"]

==~*~TrIvIa~*~==
After the publication of the comic, the debate continued with full force, complete with {{w|Talk:Star Trek Into Darkness/Archive 5#xkcd Mention|a section of xkcd-inspired suggestions}}. The article itself was soon protected, so that only administrators could edit it. A day later, the title was changed to one including a capital "Into" by the administrator {{w|User:Mackensen|Mackensen}}. (The debate continued on {{w|User talk:Mackensen/Archive20#Star Trek into Darkness move|his talk page}}.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/~*~_StAr_TrEk_InTo_DaRkNeSs_~*~ was a valid redirect link for quite some time, having not been deleted when {{w|Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2015 January 25#~*~ StAr TrEk InTo DaRkNeSs ~*~|requested in 2015}}, but {{w|Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2016 May 23#~*~ StAr TrEk InTo DaRkNeSs ~*~|2016}}.

{{w|The Independent}} published an article about the "[http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/trekkies-take-on-wikis-in-a-grammatical-tizzy-over-star-trek-into-darkness-8475705.html grammatical tizzy]", and the affair as a whole was added to Wikipedia's humorous list of the {{w|WP:Lamest edit wars|lamest edit wars}}.

{{comic discussion 1167}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Star Trek]]
[[Category:Wikipedia]]
[[Category:Compromise]]

Talk:2476: Base Rate

2021-06-18T00:03:26Z

172.70.35.69: false positives example is harder to understand than the thing trying to explain

"''Aaaand we're back!''" [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:01, 15 June 2021 (UTC)
: What happened? [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 09:02, 16 June 2021 (UTC)
::I missed you! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.244|141.101.98.244]] 19:18, 15 June 2021 (UTC)
:::There is this : [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Miscellaneous#So_what_happened_to_the_site.3F post], but it does not help much yet... But great to be back live as long as it stays like this --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:08, 16 June 2021 (UTC)
:I never realised how much I relied on this site to keep me busy until it went down. [[User:Beanie|Beanie]] [[User talk:Beanie|talk]] 10:29, 17 June 2021 (UTC)

I can't tell if cueball is holding the pointer in his left or right hand [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.122|141.101.98.122]] 21:30, 15 June 2021 (UTC)
:If he's facing the audience, it's in his right hand. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:32, 15 June 2021 (UTC)
:Typically cueball has a slightly noticeable 'chin' that indicates the direction he is looking (ex: #2471, #2468, #2460(cell 2 he looks at Megan and cell 3 looks away from her) ). So in this case I'd say he is looking to the right with his body facing the audience. --[[User:TallJason|TallJason]] ([[User talk:TallJason|talk]]) 15:52, 16 June 2021 (UTC)

I wonder if we can expect a comic soon about fan sites going offline. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:32, 15 June 2021 (UTC)
:I really don't think Randall keeps an eye on this page... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:36, 16 June 2021 (UTC)

I removed the claim that Cueball was left-handed; I don't think we can tell whether he is or isn't. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.82|172.70.130.82]] 22:36, 15 June 2021 (UTC)
:There's now a claim that he's ''right''-handed, and I don't think that's reliable either. Yes, the "proper" way to do a presentation is to be facing away from the screen, but I've seen a lot of not-very-good presenters. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 04:30, 16 June 2021 (UTC)
::I’ll bet that about 90% of the not-very-good presenters you’ve seen were right-handed, therefore if Cueball is not very good, he’s probably right-handed.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.190|172.69.34.190]] 04:53, 16 June 2021 (UTC)
Wouldn't cueball be technically correct, despite his logical error? Given a set of people who make base-rate errors, with no other qualifications, and given that 90 percent are right handed, wouldn't that make 90 percent of the people who make base rate errors right handed? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.180|172.69.71.180]] 13:21, 16 June 2021 (UTC)
:The triangle formed between his legs and the floor is isosceles. This would require either that he his stance is perpendicular to the viewer, or else he has non-standard hip geometry. With that premise, if we look at the lines of his arm on the 'right' (from the reader's perspective) the line between his arm and leg are parallel. In order for him to be facing the audience, but yet pointing backwards with his left hand, he would have to either rotate his torso, which would cause the arm/leg lines to be not parallel, or have a missing scapula in his right shoulder (normal human arms can't rotate backwards that far. Alternately, due to the visual placement of the whiteboard, cueball would have to be a very short individual for the base line to show between his biceps, or the board would have to be hung unusually high on the wall. None of that is conclusive, but the most reasonable explanation is that Cueball is left-handed, even if that's bad presentation form.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.79|172.69.68.79]] 15:21, 17 June 2021 (UTC)

Can someone explain here in the comments how, in the explanation, we go from that example of 1% / 5% false-positive rate to a 17% / 83%? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.190|172.69.34.190]] 17:14, 16 June 2021 (UTC)
:Take a population of 10,000 tests. From the premise: 1% (100) are true positives and 99% (9,900) are true negatives, regardless of testing. 5% of those TNs (9900*5% = 495) register positive, falsely. We aren't given a false-negative rate, so assuming all 100 TPs register as positive, correctly. 495+100=595 people showing as positive, but only the 100 TPs actually truly were, which is slightly ''less'' than 17% (100/595 = 16.8ish%) who have an accurate positive test, leaving a whopping value of slightly more than 83% of tested-positive individuals who were ''wrongly'' identified as positive. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.105|162.158.158.105]] 18:11, 16 June 2021 (UTC)
::Another explanation: the 5% is the answer to "What's the change of having a positive test knowning I'm healthy?" the 83% is the answer to "What's the change of being infected knowing I've got a positive test ?".
:::The latter answers "What's the chance of '''not''' being infected, knowing I have a positive test?", as I'm sure you really meant, but that's otherwise an excellent form of summary. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.177|141.101.99.177]] 13:33, 17 June 2021 (UTC)

Removed the example from the first paragraph. Preserving it here for future reference/improvement. The example is more complex and harder to understand than the example in the comic.

"For instance, imagine a disease that is present in 1% of the population, for which there is a test with a 5% false-positive rate. This test might be presented as "95% accurate", and so people who receive a positive result from such a test are likely to think they have the disease. However, someone who receives a positive test result has only a 17% chance of actually having the disease; a much more likely reason for the positive result, occurring in 83% of all positive test results, is a false (wrong) positive."
[[Special:Contributions/172.70.35.69|172.70.35.69]] 00:03, 18 June 2021 (UTC)

2477: Alien Visitors

2021-06-17T01:06:21Z

172.70.35.69:

{{comic
| number = 2477
| date = June 17, 2021
| title = Alien Visitors
| image = alien_visitors.png
| titletext = Stay right there, we'll be back in a minute. We've just gotta brainstorm some new wonders. Have you all figured out gears yet? Yes? Crap.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by THAT ANCIENT ALIENS PERSON (GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS). Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This is a reference to the idea that aliens built the pyramids (which Randall satirizes), and the general incredulity aliens trying to help modern day society build pyramids would be met with.

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

{{comic discussion}}