explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2553: Incident Report

2021-12-11T03:45:57Z

172.70.85.227:

It seems that "juggling pins" is also a common term for them. Many websites selling them call them pins. Wikipedia says they "sometimes are referred to as pins or batons by non-jugglers". Presumably the technician writing the IR is not a juggler. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 23:00, 10 December 2021 (UTC)

I'm going to assume that 12/10/2021 is the [https://xkcd.com/1179/ flawed American date system]? [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 23:01, 10 December 2021 (UTC)

You have read The Leaky Establishment. Dave Langford always claims he did not smuggle nuclear material out, but will admit to a filing cabinet. [[User:Arachrah|Arachrah]] ([[User talk:Arachrah|talk]]) 23:09, 10 December 2021 (UTC)

''strictly regulated control rooms which would prevent the simultaneous presence of fireworks, juggling and birthday celebrations'' - I would hope that in control room of nuclear power plants, fireworks, juggling and birthday celebrations can't be present AT ALL, not just simultaneously ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:15, 10 December 2021 (UTC)

It's perhaps worth noting that the comic was posted within hours of Amazon in real life releasing an incident report for a major outage of one of their server locations which affected many of their services, perhaps explaining how an Amazon delivery worker accidentally delivered fireworks to the wrong location. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.173|172.70.110.173]] 02:36, 11 December 2021 (UTC)

It's never specified to be a ''birthday'' cake, but I don't know how to put that in the explanation. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.175.80|172.70.175.80]] 03:05, 11 December 2021 (UTC)Bumpf

Noting that Randall is not above drilling down even to decimals (or subunits) of seconds as needed. Relarivistic Baseball and Vlass Half Empty come immediately to mind. But I'm not sure if he's gone down the Xeno's Paradox route of starting off fairly long-scale and as the finale approaches cutting down the gap between each itemisation and the next to finer and finer distictions. Wouldn't be surprised if he did, but I'd have to search for it. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.227|172.70.85.227]] 03:45, 11 December 2021 (UTC)

517: Marshmallow Gun

2021-12-08T21:51:06Z

172.70.85.227: /* Explanation */ I don't know what was missed if what was intended was more like "...he <foo>s and shouts a warning,"... Until the original editor remembers, I'm just making it grammatical again.

{{comic
| number = 517
| date = December 15, 2008
| title = Marshmallow Gun
| image = marshmallow_gun.png
| titletext = Except in reality crossing a stream of marshmallows would create a giant Bill Murray.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] has obtained a gun that shoots {{w|marshmallows}} and promptly decides to shoot at [[Megan]]. Having taken the first few hits without much reaction, she sighs and then brings out the super soaker, which was first used on her in [[220: Philosophy]] (and later reappears in [[2334: Slide Trombone]]), and soaks him with it.

The next day, everyone has such guns and starts shooting marshmallows at each other. We see [[Beret Guy]] and Megan who confront Cueball, saying ''Hey, {{w|noob}}! Eat {{w|Stay Puft Marshmallow Man|Stay-Puft®}}!'' This is like saying ''eat lead'' when threatening someone with a regular gun, since Stay Puft is a fictional brand of marshmallows from the ''{{w|Ghostbusters}}'' movie. (Of course, it's also a reasonable thing to say, since marshmallows are good to eat.) These statements and many like them appear in many first-person shooter games with chat.

Beret Guy realizes that the "streams" of marshmallows are about to cross and shouts a warning, but it is too late and they cross anyway. This results in something gigantic appearing with a <big>'''Foom'''</big> Roaaar! off-screen. It roars at the three friends. Megan looks up and states that ''this is bad'' as the giant shouts ''You're shooting what?'' Presumably the crossing marshmallow beams have recreated the {{w|Stay Puft Marshmallow Man}} from ''Ghostbusters''. In the movie, crossing the ghost-capturing streams from the {{w|Proton packs|proton packs}} was "{{w|Proton pack#Crossing the streams|bad}}." But in the end, in which an ancient spirit took the form of this giant Marshmallow Man, the monster was destroyed as a side effect of crossing the streams. The Stay-Puft man sees what they are shooting and is justifiably upset.

The title text is a further ''Ghostbusters'' reference, as {{w|Bill Murray}} was one of the actors in the movie. Since the crossing of the streams of the proton packs by Bill Murray and the other Ghostbusters is related to the destruction of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in the movie, the crossing of the marshmallow streams in the comic does the opposite and summons an enormous Bill Murray.

==Transcript==
:[A box above the first frame:]
:I got this gun that shoots marshmallows.
:[Cueball removes the red marshmallow gun from a box.]

:[Cueball shoots at Megan with marshmallow gun from offscreen.]
:Pop pop pop
:Whap whap whap

:[Megan facepalms.]
:Pop
:Megan: Sigh.

:[Megan removes a super soaker from desk drawer.]
:Pop pop

:[Megan shoots Cueball (offscreen) with the super soaker.]
:Cueball (offscreen): Augh!
:''Fwoosh''
:Cueball (offscreen): Man, I forgot that was there.

:[A box above the first frame of the second part of the comic:]
:The next day, everyone else got them too.
:[Megan and Beret Guy brandish marshmallow guns.]
:Megan: Hey, noob! Eat Stay-Puft®!

:[Megan shoots a marshmallow gun.]
:Pop pop pop

:[Cueball shoots a marshmallow gun.]
:Poppop pop

:[Megan and Cueball shoot marshmallows into the air, crossing the streams.]
:Beret Guy (offscreen): No! Don't cross the—

:[Between the last two frames is a wide gap with the following text:]
:'''Foom'''
:Giant monster (offscreen): Roaaar!

:[Megan, Cueball, and Beret Guy are all standing with weapons pointed at the ground looking up.]
:Megan: Okay, this is bad.
:Giant monster (offscreen): '''You're shooting what?'''

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]

2551: Debunking

2021-12-07T07:34:10Z

172.70.85.227: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2551
| date = December 6, 2021
| title = Debunking
| image = debunking.png
| titletext = Mark Zuckerberg has only neutral feelings toward Peppa Pig, who he understands is a fictional character, and he blames the coronavirus pandemic on other factors.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a WEIGHTLESS CHIP DUST - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

When writing a news article that "debunks" a claim (shows why it is false), writing its headline in the form "X is false" is [https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/words-matter/201807/when-correcting-lie-dont-repeat-it-do-instead-2 discouraged]. The reason is that just repeatedly seeing "X", even if negated or followed by "is false", can make readers subconciously believe it.

To avoid this, Journalist Randall has worded his debunking articles in a positive sense. This makes for a confusing read if the reader has not heard of the original claim. The "original claims" allegedly being debunked here don't actually appear to have been made anywhere, and can only be inferred from the debunking.

Much of the debunking relies on setting simple facts straight, making for bizarrely banal headlines.

===Table===
{| class="wikitable"
!Article Headline
!Possible claim being debunked
|-
| AP Photos show that Dr. Fauci's office contains a normal amount of microwaves
|
|-
| Singer Billie Eilish was born years after the TWA Flight 800 Explosion.
| A conspiracy theory linking Billie Eilish (born December 2001) with the TWA flight 800 crash in July 1996.
|-
| Vaccinated people can remove their hats without trouble by tugging upward, say doctors.
| A COVID-related claim that vaccination interferes with people's ability to remove their hats.
|-
| Physicists say Dorito powder is affected by gravity.
| A claim that Dorito powder is not affected by gravity.
|-
| Steering wheels will work normally on Dec 12th
|
|-
| Santa's skin is dry and healthy this year, with the same amount of oil as before.
|
|-
| ''(Title Text)'' Mark Zuckerberg has only neutral feelings toward Peppa Pig...
|
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[Several news headlines shown in boxes]

[Box 1] AP Photos show Dr. Fauci's office contains a normal number of microwaves.

[Box 2] Fact Check: Singer Billie Eilish was born years after the TWA Flight 800 Explosion.

[Box 3] Vaccinated people can remove their hats without trouble by tugging upward, say doctors.

[Box 4] Physicists say Dorito powder is affected by gravity.

[Box 5] Steering wheels will work normally on Dec 12th; Make left and right turns as usual.

[Box 6] CNN Investigation; Santa's skin is dry and healthy this year, with the same amount of oil as before.

[Comment below the headline boxes reads:]

I don't know whether the "Don't repeat the claim in the headline debunking it" thing works or not, but it definitely makes reading the news weird.

{{comic discussion}}

1018: Good Cop, Dadaist Cop

2021-12-01T15:35:44Z

172.70.85.227: /* Irrationality */ Insert space. (That link looks fudged/miscopied, too. Tempted to add the possibly necessary "http(s):" to its start, etc.)

{{comic
| number = 1018
| date = February 17, 2012
| title = Good Cop, Dadaist Cop
| image = good_cop_dadaist_cop.png
| titletext = NOW INVENT AN IMPOSSIBLE-TO-TRANSLATE LANGUAGE AND USE IT TO TELL US WHERE THE MONEY IS.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a play on the well known {{w|Good cop/bad cop|Good Cop/Bad Cop}} (where one interrogator is nice and friendly and the other is mean and intimidating) police interrogation strategy and the artistic movement {{w|Dadaism}}.

Dadaism is an artistic movement which by its definition is irrational. The movement embraces the free flow of unreasoned thought and prizes nonsense and rejection of established norms. As such, the entire concept of "Good Cop, Dadaist Cop" could be considered a dadaist concept in itself.

"Good Cop/Bad Cop" is a psychological tactic that may be employed during joint questioning or interrogation. The interrogators isolate the suspect, then one of the interrogators acts aggressively and threatens the suspect (the "bad cop") and the other acts friendly and helpful in comparison, offering the suspect reassurance and protection from the bad cop if they co-operate (the "good cop"). If successful, it deceives the suspect into believing they must choose to trust one of the interrogators and the suspect chooses to co-operate with the good cop, or merely complies out of fear of the bad cop.

The comic starts with the "Good Cop", the male police officer, and the "Dadaist Cop", [[Ponytail]], working out their plan to interrogate the suspect, [[Hairy]]. After the Good Cop makes a few statements, intended to build trust with Hairy, and leaves to get coffee, Ponytail enters the interrogation and starts asking Hairy absurd questions. Hairy quickly becomes agitated, and questions what is wrong with Ponytail. Ponytail responds "What's wrong with ART?", which could suggest she believes the interrogation is artwork and should not be questioned. On the other hand, actual responses would break the Dadaism pattern.

Good Cop/Bad Cop hinges on the suspect's fear and distrust of the intentions of the bad cop; thankfully for the police, Ponytail's "Dadaist Cop" seems to be a successful Bad Cop too judging by the suspect's fear of her irrational, unpredictable, and potential crazy behavior (not to mention loud and aggressive mannerisms).

The title text builds on the joke as by asking a suspect to give the whereabouts of the money in a dadaist manner, which would be completely useless in finding it. Such a statement could be used as a confession though.

===Irrationality===
*"See this? It's Mark Zuckerberg's mortgage. So why is it written in '''''Church Latin?'''''"
**{{w|Mark Zuckerberg}} (the co-founder of {{w|Facebook}}) was [//allfacebook.com/mark-zuckerberg-moves-into-another-rental-house_b29174 renting in 2011] and therefore did not have a {{w|mortgage}}.
***Even if Mark Zuckerberg had bought a property, it is unlikely (given his financial status) that he would have to take out a mortgage.
**Modern mortgages are typically written in the local vernacular; it would be very strange for one to be written in a dead language like {{w|Church Latin}}.{{citation needed}}
*"'''''WHY ARE MY BONES SO SMALL?'''''" "What's wrong with '''''ART?'''''"
**These are {{w|Non_sequitur_(logic)|non sequiturs}} and therefore have no place in an investigation.
*"'''''NOW INVENT AN IMPOSSIBLE-TO-TRANSLATE LANGUAGE AND USE IT TO TELL US WHERE THE MONEY IS.'''''" (title text)
**The location of the money cannot be conveyed to Ponytail if the information were expressed in a newly invented language that cannot be translated, and therefore would be useless to an investigation.

==Transcript==
:[Two police officers, a bald male and a Ponytail, both wearing peaked caps with white emblems, are standing in front of a window in a wall, with an electric socket in the bottom right corner. They look through the window into an interrogation chamber holding the handcuffed suspect Hairy, who is sitting on a chair. A lamp with the bulb beneath the shade hangs over Hairy. The lamp is lit as shown by lines indicating the lamp shines light.]
:Male officer: All right, let's try Good Cop, Dadaist Cop.

:[The male police officer is seated in front of Hairy on another chair holding a hand with palm up in front of him. Hairy has his cuffed hands in his lap and his hair is in disarray.]
:Male officer: Look, you're a good guy. We can work this out. Hey, lemme get us some coffee.

:[In a slim frame-less panel the male officer leaves and Ponytail enters carrying a rolled up paper in her hand.]

:[Ponytail walks in holding the folded out paper out in one hand while pointing at it with the other hand. It is a document of indeterminate contents, but there are both text and figures on it. She threatens Hairy who pulls his leg up under him and hold his cuffed hand up in front of him leaning back away from her while three drops of sweat fly of the top of his head.]
:Ponytail: See this? It's Mark Zuckerberg's mortgage.
:Ponytail: So why is it written in '''''Church Latin?'''''

:[Ponytail physically rattles Hairy's head holding it in both hands, lines around his heads and below her elbow show the movement. Hairy has his hands straight in front of him.]
:Ponytail: '''''WHY ARE MY BONES SO SMALL?'''''
:Hairy: What's '''''WRONG''''' with you?!
:Ponytail: What's wrong with '''''ART?'''''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]

Facebook

2021-11-27T21:24:51Z

172.70.85.227: Persistant, aint ya?

#REDIRECT [[300: Facebook]]

Talk:1276: Angular Size

2021-11-24T16:35:28Z

172.70.85.227:

What is the meaning of "football field" in panel #2? --[[User:Kevang|Kevang]] ([[User talk:Kevang|talk]]) 04:50, 11 October 2013 (UTC)
:I was wondering the same thing. Probably misplaced text. [[User:Irino.|Irino.]] ([[User talk:Irino.|talk]]) 05:49, 11 October 2013 (UTC)
::It does seem to be misplaced, but if that's the only glitch, this is the only panel without a unique reference object. "20 football pitches long" isn't all that easy to grasp. [[User:Jameslucas|jameslucas]] ([[User talk:Jameslucas|" "]] / [[Special:Contributions/Jameslucas|+]]) 09:09, 11 October 2013 (UTC)
:::The image is fixed by Randall. I did an update here.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 11:28, 11 October 2013 (UTC)
::::Well, that's a letdown. I'm surprised Randall didn't use Heathrow. [[User:Jameslucas|jameslucas]] ([[User talk:Jameslucas|" "]] / [[Special:Contributions/Jameslucas|+]]) 13:42, 11 October 2013 (UTC)

I haven't done any lookups or maths to check these, but give the size of these as "stars" in the sky, everything from panel 2 onwards seems to me to be an order of magnitude or two too large. [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 05:17, 11 October 2013 (UTC)
: Not really. You see the stars and planets as points because their angular size is lower than your eyes' resolution. They have measurable (or, in case of really distant or small objects, computable) angular sizes. For stars etc. these angular sizes are really small - but Earth is quite big, so if you cut a portion of a sphere the radius of Earth corresponding to these small solid angles, you get sizable areas. I haven't checked Randall's math, but I'd rather believe his results. If it is non-intuitive for you consider the Sun and Moon example - when observed by naked eye, the Moon looks for you as being the size of a dime held up in your hand - and yet it's shadow during an eclipse covers quite an area of Earth's surface. It is true that sizes of some of these "footprints" are quite surprising compared to other ones. [[Special:Contributions/89.174.214.74|89.174.214.74]] 08:55, 11 October 2013 (UTC)
:: Definitely surprising. I'll put faith in Randall doing his math correctly, but still needed to check on a couple of these because they did elicit a "What? No. Really? Can't be." reaction. Using the formula described in the Explanation above, for Venus I get 12742 km (Earth radius) * 12104 km (Venus diameter) / 38000000 (shortest distance to Venus) = 2.03 km.
:: Hard to picture that something that is such a small dot in the sky is actually directly over such a large patch of ground. But there you are.
[[Special:Contributions/67.51.59.66|67.51.59.66]] 17:11, 11 October 2013 (UTC)
::: The question that sprung to my mind was, ''which'' distance is he using for the planets and asteroids, since those vary hugely depending on where objects are relative to each other along their orbits. Is he going with closest approach, maybe? Or the distance that we happen to be at just this instant? --[[User:Rmharman|Rmharman]] ([[User talk:Rmharman|talk]]) 21:42, 11 October 2013 (UTC)
::::I just checked for Deimos, and got to ~50 mio km, so that´d be the closest approach. --[[User:Wilberforce|Wilberforce]] ([[User talk:Wilberforce|talk]]) 13:24, 13 October 2013 (UTC)

Does someone know how to use LaTeX formulas? And if so, can they translate my formula into something more pleasing to the eye? [[User:Irino.|Irino.]] ([[User talk:Irino.|talk]]) 05:49, 11 October 2013 (UTC)

According to the wikipedia page, the M25 is 117 miles long. That sounds more like "37 miles across" to me. [[User:Kaa-ching|Kaa-ching]] ([[User talk:Kaa-ching|talk]]) 08:46, 11 October 2013 (UTC)
: it originally stated 15 miles, someone has fixed it now. Thanks! [[User:Kaa-ching|Kaa-ching]] ([[User talk:Kaa-ching|talk]]) 11:35, 11 October 2013 (UTC)

Neither the sun or moon, nor Messier 25 (declination -19°) can ever culminate in the zenith over London. :-( Admittedly, Townsville, Australia would be sort of overwhelmed by M25. --[[Special:Contributions/129.13.72.198|129.13.72.198]] 11:27, 11 October 2013 (UTC)
: M25 is a reference to the highway that surrounds London, not the Messier object, which is probably nowhere near the angular size of the moon. [[Special:Contributions/65.129.214.100|65.129.214.100]] 15:17, 11 October 2013 (UTC)
::Why would Randall choose London, if it wasn´t for the obvious disambiguity of the name M25? ----[[User:Wilberforce|Wilberforce]] ([[User talk:Wilberforce|talk]]) 12:33, 13 October 2013 (UTC)

Does anyone know why the exoplanet "HD 189733 b" is labled as "Permadeath" ? Same question for the other weird names in the same pannel (the "tilde on keyboard" one) ? [[User:Jahvascriptmaniac|Jahvascriptmaniac]] ([[User talk:Jahvascriptmaniac|talk]]) 11:32, 11 October 2013 (UTC)
: A reference to [[1253|Exoplanet Names]]. [[User:Squornshellous Beta|Squornshellous Beta]] ([[User talk:Squornshellous Beta|talk]]) 12:08, 11 October 2013 (UTC)

If you were looking from the center of the earth, as the situation suggests, wouldn't the M25 be reversed, east-to-west, as you look at the sun and the moon?--[[Special:Contributions/76.105.133.220|76.105.133.220]] 16:09, 11 October 2013 (UTC)
: I visualize it as looking down on Earth, with the "shadow" of the celestial object on top of the M25/soccer field/laptop/etc. [[Special:Contributions/67.51.59.66|67.51.59.66]] 17:02, 11 October 2013 (UTC)

Has anyone noticed that Voyager 1 and 2 look like viruses? Kind of funny considering they're next to E. Coli...
[[User:StelarCF|StelarCF]] ([[User talk:StelarCF|talk]]) 17:54, 11 October 2013 (UTC)

: Yeah, I thought that too. It's a happy thought. Why, you ask? Well, with vastly diminished (or - in the course of time - zero) output from RTG power sources, they're like weakened (or inactivated) viruses - that we've sent out to the rest of the Universe, to any other intelligent lifeforms that may find them. What does that remind you of?

: VACCINES! We've vaccinated aliens to the human condition :D To the Earthly condition even.

: [PS - that's a happy thought because I choose to interpret from a cross-contamination standpoint. Which, in this case, allows them to observe us in our own locale, and establish our intrinsic nature - before a two-way interaction with us, in 'shared space' :P, and observing us through the medium of those interactions.] [[Special:Contributions/220.224.246.97|220.224.246.97]] 18:46, 11 October 2013 (UTC)

Does "Explain XKCD" installation of MediaWiki has [http://www.mathjax.org/ MathJax] [plugin] installed for writing mathematics formulas? --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 08:15, 12 October 2013 (UTC)

Too bad he didn't do the Pleiades. I mean, instead of using the Vatican, he could have used something geeky: Bletchley Park or something (though that's probably not big enough). [[User:Homunq|Homunq]] ([[User talk:Homunq|talk]]) 14:11, 12 October 2013 (UTC)

;Panel 6 (extrasolar planets)
My table doesn't really match the image. An earth sized Planet would be at some micrometer, their hosting stars are about some centimeter. Who is wrong? Me or Randall?--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:49, 13 October 2013 (UTC)

Is it just me or is the laptop a MacBook Pro? [[User:Xyz|Xyz]] ([[User talk:Xyz|talk]]) 13:55, 14 October 2013 (UTC)

I'm a bit disappointed by the lack of extragalactical objects. Or did I miss something? [[User:Starblue|Starblue]] ([[User talk:Starblue|talk]]) 08:52, 17 October 2013 (UTC)

;Moon shadow
If I understand correctly, the comic show the size of objects at the Earth surface. So, if the shadow of the Moon is projected on London, it will cover approximately all the space inside the M25 motorway ? If so, why it is said that a total solar eclipse will normally cover a band of about 250 km wide (and not 60 km wide) on Earth ? [[Special:Contributions/24.200.202.45|24.200.202.45]] 09:38, 21 October 2013 (UTC)
:The projection is to the center of the earth, not w.r.t. the sun like the shadow of a solar eclipse. [[User:Starblue|Starblue]] ([[User talk:Starblue|talk]]) 09:56, 21 October 2013 (UTC)
::Look at the first picture at this comic and compare it this to this one (left): [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Solar_eclipse_types.svg Solar_eclipse_types.svg]. You are just behind the moon at the surface of the earth, and when the moon is not close enough a total eclipse will not happen (right). All distances and also angular sizes belong to the surface but not the center of the Earth.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:54, 21 October 2013 (UTC)
::He’s pretty clearly darkened the line at the earth’s surface under each object (no intention, nor power, of trying to work out if he had the calculation right). So yeah, I think he’s talking about the shadow on the surface of the earth (which is a sphere, to 98% of the inhabitants who recognise the word. Sorry, Dgbrt). Also, subtitle... [[User:Rereading xkcd|Rereading xkcd]] ([[User talk:Rereading xkcd|talk]]) 03:51, 7 April 2020 (UTC)

I am of the theory that the entire comic was created specifically so Randall could include his eponymous asteroid. And yes, I can present a falsification experiment for this model. — [[User:Kazvorpal|Kazvorpal]] ([[User talk:Kazvorpal|talk]]) 15:47, 16 December 2016 (UTC)

Holy crap, the black hole at the centre of the galaxy is big enough to see?! [[User:Beanie|Beanie]] [[User talk:Beanie|talk]] 11:18, 7 June 2021 (UTC)
:Which is ironic, because it is also big enough ''not'' to be actually seen. ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.227|172.70.85.227]] 16:35, 24 November 2021 (UTC)

Should we remove the trivia entry about Odegra? It looks to be just a random piece of information about M25 that's otherwise irrelevant to the comic, but I just want to be sure before deleting it. [[User:KirbyDude25|KirbyDude25]] ([[User talk:KirbyDude25|talk]]) 19:27, 23 November 2021 (UTC)
Edit: I got rid of it. It seems to have been a reference to a piece of fiction rather than an actual fact; it is otherwise completely unrelated to the comic. [[User:KirbyDude25|KirbyDude25]] ([[User talk:KirbyDude25|talk]]) 16:14, 24 November 2021 (UTC)

Talk:2545: Bayes' Theorem

2021-11-24T10:26:42Z

172.70.85.227:

I don't know if the latest (nearly!) global change back to "affected" in the example was intentional or just a cut'n'paste of historical wordings whilst making other tweaks, but I'm not going to go through and change to "infected" a third time (first time, collided with an edit conflict, and so cancelled and worked again on that, albeit with at least one new typo). Yes, in general, being affected or not is correct, but with "affect/effect" confusion (for some) and elsewhere described as "afflicted with" and (still in at least one place) "infected" the example works as well or even better with infections rather than affectations. I was also tempted to change "performant" as not everyone will know exactly what it means, but was stuck for a good substitute ("efficacious" is close, but probably doesn't help a great deal). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.211|172.70.90.211]] 09:50, 23 November 2021 (UTC)
: I would expect the <1-in-1000 sorts of numbers relevant to the comic to apply to genetic conditions and cancer, not to infections. We don't screen wide swathes of asymptomatic population for infections. Even now with all the testing for COVID-19, the positivity rate is above 1%.{{unsigned}}
:: I'd say "afflicted" throughout would be best, of the suggestions given. Avoid "sufferer/ing" (is benign, or they're a carrier only?) or similar. "Susceptible" might work if you bake that into a minor scenario rewrite.
:: But "affected" is vague... Relatives are "affected" if they change their routine to care for an ill person, however negative they'd test.
:: (I also instinctively avoid effect/affect because of the 'P((effect|affect)|(effect|affect))' affect/effect... ;) But not a good reason, just nice to hear it's not only me trying to dodge this in everyday writing!) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.215|172.70.162.215]] 08:02, 24 November 2021 (UTC)
:::This is why I proposed ӕffect as a compromise position - but mostly to annoy a friend who studies old english.{{unsigned}}
::::What was thér response? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.227|172.70.85.227]] 10:26, 24 November 2021 (UTC)
This is the second comic to reference Bayes' Theorem: https://xkcd.com/1236/. Is that worth mentioning in the explanation? I'm a newbie![[Special:Contributions/172.70.34.191|172.70.34.191]] 21:32, 23 November 2021 (UTC)
Actually, I forgot this one too: https://xkcd.com/1132/ [[Special:Contributions/172.70.34.191|172.70.34.191]] 21:35, 23 November 2021 (UTC)

Talk:2543: Never Told Anyone

2021-11-19T10:48:35Z

172.70.85.227:

Possible alternative explanation: It's a quick one-time two-factor authentication code that is generated with an app like google auth, or sent by sms, and is only valid for a minute or too. A password would still be needed,and therefore it would be almost completely useless.
[[User:Billsmithsmithbill22|Billsmithsmithbill22]] ([[User talk:Billsmithsmithbill22|talk]]) 02:16, 18 November 2021 (UTC) Bill Smith
:That's how I interpreted it, too. Password recovery links are usually very long strings, not just 6 digits. The joke is that the email or SMS with the 2FA code usually warns not to disclose the code, even though it can't be reused. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 02:43, 18 November 2021 (UTC)
:Some Services offer a form of 2FA where they give you a list of 10 one time passwords / back-up codes that are valid indefinitely and are supposed to be printed out, in case access to the phone is lost. The generally romantic atmosphere of the comic makes me feel the number is more like that, especially since she also offers him her password in the alt-text. [[User:Ruffy314|Ruffy314]] ([[User talk:Ruffy314|talk]]) 10:39, 18 November 2021 (UTC)

263827 is prime, is that worthy of a mention? {{unsigned}}
:If you think it is a factor! (...of a semiprime, maybe.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.141|172.70.90.141]] 03:48, 18 November 2021 (UTC)

Could "I never told anyone *this* before" be a wordplay on the fact that it is a one-time code, which means if she told anyone else before it would have been a different one?
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.133|172.68.110.133]] 03:55, 18 November 2021 (UTC)

The number here is 263827. In the original Star Wars movie, the trash compactor that the main characters get stuck in is numbered 3263827. Any chance that this is an incredibly obscure Star Wars reference? (I figure since one-time codes are usually six digits, using that full seven-digit number would be a bit of a distraction.) [[User:Ghostelephant|Ghostelephant]] ([[User talk:Ghostelephant|talk]]) 05:01, 18 November 2021 (UTC)
No way that's a coincidence! That is simply too unlikely to be an accident.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.123|172.70.178.123]] 08:14, 18 November 2021 (UTC)
:How on earth did you figure this out? Do you just happen to know the number of that trash compactor? And if so, how? And why? For me this comment raises way more questions than the comic did. [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 10:58, 18 November 2021 (UTC)
::Though I'm not as obsessive with Star Wars to know this particular number, I know that the THX 1138 4EB meme pops up again throughout Lucas's later oevre, and (like just the other day) gets co-opted referentially by the Randalls of this world. Forty-odd years of obsession by generations of fans would not leave a single remastered pixel/unremastered grain of footage unanalysed of every last detail. I've personally used "6EQUJ5" as an obscure reference, at times, and had others have known/worked out what I was echoing (even before Google) and that's from a far more transient source... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.211|172.70.90.211]] 11:35, 18 November 2021 (UTC)
::: 6EQUJ5 is no longer considered a one time code. In the 70s, it was inexplicable, but since then it has been found again. In fact, it is not considered to have a unique source. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.82.111|172.70.82.111]] 20:20, 18 November 2021 (UTC)
::::Going back to how I noticed -- I double-checked it before commenting to make sure, but yeah I do happen to know that particular number haha. It came up at some point on a Star Wars podcast, where a guest talked about making a good friend in elementary school after realizing they had both memorized that number. I think they also said that particular number was chosen because it was Mark Hamill's phone number at the time. I guess at that point I was like "huh yeah I should probably know this number" (though I am not really sure why). A benefit, of course, is that every time I listen to the Star Wars Radio Drama I notice that they leave out a digit and it bothers me.... [[User:Ghostelephant|Ghostelephant]] ([[User talk:Ghostelephant|talk]]) 01:30, 19 November 2021 (UTC)

Aren't one time codes also used for Bluetooth pairing? If so, couldn't this be considered a marriage proposal? --[[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 13:49, 18 November 2021 (UTC)
:If that's what you consider a proposal, I fear you will have plenty trouble finding a spouse----
:I was thinking of something along those lines. They don't say what service the code is for, so it gave me a kind of weird train of thought like "this is a code that will give you access to ''me'', but only if you use it right away". Was wondering if anyone else was thinking along those lines [[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 01:26, 19 November 2021 (UTC)
Can some tell me why this comic is *still* in List of all comics even though it's number 2543, and so should be in the next page (2501-3000) --[[User:GcGYSF(asterisk)P(vertical line)e|GcGYSF(asterisk)P(vertical line)e]] ([[User talk:GcGYSF(asterisk)P(vertical line)e|talk]]) 19:42, 18 November 2021 (UTC)

Joke's on you: I've already used that code before. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.227|172.70.85.227]] 10:48, 19 November 2021 (UTC)

2542: Daylight Calendar

2021-11-16T06:54:25Z

172.70.85.227: /* Explanation */ If we're talking Randall-time, it was definitely still Monday (in fact, I think it still was GMT, by a good way). And teen/ten typo.

{{comic
| number = 2542
| date = November 15, 2021
| title = Daylight Calendar
| image = daylight_calendar.png
| titletext = Could be worse. In some towns north of here, it's already December, and the 21st will last for nearly a week.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A 7-DAY DAY - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

At the time of this posting, the United States had ended {{w|daylight saving time}} (DST) recently, on November 7, and returned to standard time. Daylight saving time is a practice of setting clocks ahead by 1 hour during warmer months to effectively 'borrow' some of the typically unused early morning light and pass it down to the late evening where more people can make use of it. In the United States, daylight saving time starts on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November.

A result of ending of daylight saving time is the sun setting earlier than people are used to, as people have become acclimatised to the shifted clocks — though it does mean an 'extra' hour of light has returned to the seasonally redarkening mornings. The first sentence of the comic may be the start of a typical comment about how the sun seems to set earlier than usual in November; which it does anyway (north of the equator) but the clock-shift makes it even more obvious.

In this comic, however, Randall turns the normal talk about DST on its head by devising a [[:Category:Calendar|calendar system]] where the dates "change" based on 12 hours of daylight. This causes shorter "days" in the summer months, which may get more than 12 hours of daylight in a "solar day" and longer "days" in the winter months which would have less hours of daylight in a "solar day". As mentioned in the title text, this change would be very pronounced near the poles, which may only get a few hours of daylight in the winter, but conversely may get 20 or more hours of daylight in the summer.

At temperate latitudes and above, as the calendar goes towards winter (for your hemisphere) the length of daylight per daily cycle shortens. Instead of having "long summer days" (i.e. periods of daylight) and shorter ones in the winter, but still the artificial pressures of a regulated 24-hour cycle to adhere to, the proposal seems to be that the date gets incremented whenever (and ''only'' when) twelve hours of daylight have passed.

In the summer, a day-count starting at sunrise could require a late-afternoon switch to 'tomorrow', which would in turn be switched earlier still the next day as it was already partly used up, with possibly two date-changes per astronomical day (early morning and mid-evening, for example). As winter draws on, not enough daylight will pass to guarantee a date-change in any single period. On the day of this comic's release - November 15, 2021 - Massachusetts, where Randall lives, gets ten hours and forty five minutes between {{w|civil twilight}}s. It is possible that the last day-mark was late during the previous daylight cycle and the next one won't be until early in the following one.

Exactly how the time is marked is not fully explained. Starting each day-period at 00:00 would be easiest, but could be a psychological step too far. One possibility is to set a nominal 00:00 six hours before a day-change, in line with an 'idealised' twelve-hours-of-daylight day, but disregard hours 'belonging' to a prior daylight period. Then keep the clock running (throughout any intervening nights and into the next daylight as necessary) until the date clicks over and realigns as necessary. Clock times would not reach 23:59 for most of the summer, and could far exceed that in the winter. Megan's clock has reached 26:15, by this sunset, and may well be due to be far into the 30-hours range before more daylight and the moving on to the new date and reset time, if not beyond.

Beyond the arctic (and antarctic) circle, twelve hours of daylight would be accumulated up twice per traditional day, at times, while being effectively on hold for much of the other six months, depending upon actual latitude.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Megan looking down at her phone, while Cueball stands next to her]:
:Megan: Ugh, I hate November. It's 26:15 and the sun is setting ''again!''
:Megan: 3-day days are the worst.
:Cueball: I like it. I know it's dark, but it's nice to have the extra time on deadlines.

:[Caption below the panel]:
:In our new calendar system, the date changes after every 12 hours of daylight, regardless of how long that takes.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Calendar]]
[[Category:Daylight saving time]]

Talk:2542: Daylight Calendar

2021-11-16T00:11:08Z

172.70.85.227:

When did y'all in the US "fall back" your clocks? It has a look of being (askewedly) inspired by DST reversal, and I know you did one of the switches at a different typical weekend than us (UK BST>GMT was last weekend of October), but I thought it was 'first weekend of month-after-(the-month-that-it-is-our-last-weekend-of)'. You know, I could have just looked this up. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.227|172.70.85.227]] 00:11, 16 November 2021 (UTC)

Second question, more easily expressed and less obviously answered, which sun-up/sun-down is this calculated by? Nautical, civil, etc? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.227|172.70.85.227]] 00:11, 16 November 2021 (UTC)