explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2953: Alien Theories

2024-07-03T08:29:30Z

172.70.86.11:

I understood this differently. I think the UFOs have come to Earth to investigate our conspiracy theories about UFOs with capabilities far beyond what the "real" UFOs posses. [[User:Baruch|Baruch]] ([[User talk:Baruch|talk]]) 07:43, 2 July 2024 (UTC)

== Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence ==
A skeptical human would '''not''' confront UFO believers with evidence that aliens do not exist. They would confront them with the fact that none of the supposed evidence so far has held water, making (extraterrestrial) UFO's not more likely to be real than any other random fantasy. Quite a different matter, since there's rarely verifiable evidence of things '''not''' existing. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.90.9|172.71.90.9]] 08:27, 2 July 2024 (UTC)
: +1 [[Special:Contributions/172.70.243.213|172.70.243.213]] 10:28, 2 July 2024 (UTC)
::How far do you take it though? If I look in the cupboard and it's empty, I can say there are no cans of soup in the cupboard. But you could say "There's a chance they are in there...but you've been hypnotised so you can't find them!" or some other thoroughly improbable but technically possible story. Everyone would think that pretty far fetched. There comes a point where people accept that - functionally - a vanishingly small likelihood is the same as a negative. So, where's the point at which you say "Be reasonable. It's not a thing."?
::Because without it, you become the man in the shack, refusing to accept the veracity of anything. [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 19:01, 2 July 2024 (UTC)
::: There's a simple answer to this: whenever it feels reasonable to do so. This doesn't feel very nice to a certain type of mind that loves thinking (like mine), but my life experience has taught me relatively recently that there are things you should do without thinking about it. (In this particular case, well, the solar system is much bigger than a cupboard! If we learned there have been aliens watching us, not wanting to be detected, my sense of reality would not be shattered, its not stupidly implausible. I can believe this while still believing any conspiracy theories telling you specifics about what they are doing are just making it up/mistaken/mentally ill/etc etc)[[User:Terdragontra|Terdragontra]] ([[User talk:Terdragontra|talk]]) 23:29, 2 July 2024 (UTC)
::: A cupboard is easy to exhaustively search. But there are things I thought I had lost somewhere that later turned up in the house anyway. Some things are just good at hiding. (The "black swan" is an example of that.) If an alien probe crashed in the rainforest 100 years ago, we may never know. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.160.133|172.71.160.133]] 05:14, 3 July 2024 (UTC)

==The 5 Observables==
Nowadays, the believers' gold standard for <s>UFOs</s> UAPs is this:
{{quote|There are five, consistent observations we continue to see that are uniquely associated with Unidentified Aerial Phenomena or UAPs. Understanding these characteristics and their application requires us to have a very good understanding of advanced physics at the quantum level.

''The five observables can be categorized as follows:

# Sudden and instantaneous acceleration
# Hypersonic velocities without signatures
# Low observability
# Trans-medium travel
# Positive lift
|TTSA|https://tothestars.media/de-de/blogs/press-and-news/five-characteristics-unique-to-uaps}}
Basically, if it seems to break physics, it's a UFO. Aliens who got here using established physics would naturally be curious about that. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.243.214|172.70.243.214]] 10:14, 2 July 2024 (UTC)
:It must be said that a given 'observation' could convey all the above by: 1) Camera wobble, 2) Camera panning, 3) Optical artefacts, 4) Scale/distance misunderstanding, w.r.t the background/foreground features, 5) Subsequent unfounded assumptions about trajectory.
:Which is not to say that it's all bad camera use/interpretation of playback. Radar might be involved (with the possibility of radio-mirages) or even a combination of Mk1 Eyeball and electronic recordings which rule out some 'trivial' counter-explanations. But extraordinary claims need extraordinary evidence, and it would be silly to let something perhaps as simple as camera-shake from a moving vehicle suggest that we need to probe quantum physics for operational loopholes.
:It is at least as bad to "want to believe" as it is to want to ''disbelieve''. And while many such cases may share the same basic anomolies, that make it look like some things are consistently anomolous, this doesn't mean that each case is ''identically'' anomolous. If a bright light disappears, in one case it might be because it's no longer reflecting off the background, in another that the (mundane) source is now shaded by a cloud, in a other it's because the camera lens is no longer subjected to flare, or the video compression artefact is no longer generated, or the observer who verbally reported it no longer has it in the corner of their eye/mentally extrapolated as part of their central blind-spot.
:There's undoubtedly a lot of interesting unknown (so far!) stuff out there, to be witnessed. But lumping in ball lightning, in one instance, with the Sun momentsrily gleaming off the crest of a wave in another, with a perfectly legitimate isolated doorbell-/windshield-cam shot of a meteor in another should not result in an assumption of "bright flash == alien spaceship" as explanation all round.
:If aliens are as super-advanced, technically, as many believe, is there any reason to assume that they even need to leave such teasing evidence of their existence? If you can already twist quantum physics around your little-pseudopod, at will, isn't it more likely that you're already getting past mere human/earthtech monitoring of the skies entirely unseen and ''none'' of the UFO-'sightings' are of you. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.121|172.70.163.121]] 12:37, 2 July 2024 (UTC)
::Yeah, there's no hard evidence for any of it. But the claims are there. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.242.174|198.41.242.174]] 14:32, 2 July 2024 (UTC)

==Cueball is an alien?==
A previous edit suggested that Cueball is an alien. Is this canon or a conspiracy theory? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.243.213|172.70.243.213]] 10:26, 2 July 2024 (UTC)
:I did not see this prior form of edit, but I did nearly add my own (conspiracy-)theory that:
:*The aliens are seeing the traces of (vastly more superior) other-aliens around Earth,
:*Said other-aliens are ''only'' leaving significant traces here, not on the original aliens' world/other places they visit,
:*The other-aliens are therefore keen to stay out of observation from the non-other aliens,
:*Or at least generate enough deniability (similar to these aliens being sufficiently deniable to any regular human) so that those who ''are'' convinced get described as 'quack-UFOlogists',
:*Obviously,{{Actual citation needed}} a useful tool in this disinformation war would be to have a human(-looking) representative trying to out-argue the (actually correct, but logically tenuous) alien speculations with diversionary tactics and misdirection.
:Thus Cueball is trying to get the visible aliens to abandon their beliefs in the non-visible aliens by making them think that "anything alien" is ''them'' (those present), and ignore the signs of any subsequent 'visitation'.
:(Note though, that given the prior prediliction for the saucer-people to irrationally believe in Bigfoot, beyond even their own level of ubiquitous monitoring, what we probably have here is Cueball being 'the only sane being in the room'. Unusually, for Cueball. Or at least the san''est'', versus a particularly non-sane other. And standing under an open sky, of course.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.74|141.101.99.74]] 11:46, 2 July 2024 (UTC)
:Cueball ''is'' an alien, from the perspective of the saucer occupants, just as they are aliens from his. My reading of the comic would be that the reason the UFO phenomenon has such a cultural hold is the 'are we alone?' question. Once you know that there are at least two forms of life that are (planetarily) alien to each other, it should lose its power, because the assumption would be that it's more likely than not that there's a third, and more.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.120|172.70.163.120]] 08:24, 3 July 2024 (UTC)

== Quotes ==

{{quote|They are people like me who see this as an incredible mystery and enigma that that needs to be resolved.|Chris Mellon|https://www.history.com/news/chris-mellon-ufo-investigations}} [[Special:Contributions/172.68.194.201|172.68.194.201]] 10:51, 2 July 2024 (UTC)

2933: Elementary Physics Paths

2024-05-15T21:38:59Z

172.70.86.11: /* Explanation */ Badly worded adjunct. (But, e.g., dark matter, exotic particles/particle-conglomerations/fields/spacetime-curvatures...)

{{comic
| number = 2933
| date = May 15, 2024
| title = Elementary Physics Paths
| image = elementary_physics_paths_2x.png
| imagesize = 464x672px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = ==COSMOLOGY==> 'Uhhh ... how sure are we that everything is made of these?'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a VERY NOT SIMPLE PARTICLE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The absurdity of understanding ''everything'' starting from just understanding basic particles is similar to the fallacy presented in [[1570: Engineer Syllogism]]. Quantum physics, as shown in the comic, makes what on first glance are “simple” particles very complicated.

The concepts of {{w|reductionism}} and then {{w|antireductionism}} (or {{w|holism}}) are demonstrated by following the left causal path using a 'traditional' physical approach. Following the right causal path, which looks at things in terms of quantum effects, just leads to the conclusion that it is an intrinsically irreducable problem.

The title text creates an ASCII depiction of the arrows used in the comic image and alludes to the uncertainty that we even know enough about what everything that exists actually is.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball gestures at a particle, represented as a dot with motion lines around it.]
:Cueball: Everything is made of tiny particles. If I understand those, I'll understand everything!
:[The comic splits into two branches.]
:[Condensed Matter Physics branch]
:[Cueball is fretting over a cloud of particles.]
:Cueball: Oh no.
:Cueball: Simple particles can combine to produce complex behaviors.
:[Quantum Field Theory branch]
:[Cueball is fretting over the same particle as in the first panel.]
:Cueball: Oh no.
:Cueball: '''''These particles aren't simple!'''''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Cosmology]]

User talk:42.book.addict

2024-05-15T20:34:03Z

172.70.86.11: /* Hi */

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

== New User and User Talk pages ==

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

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

==Official Apology==
From: Z1m

To: 42

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

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

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

==Hi==
Hello 42, I'm glad we made up. We clearly both have some things to work on, but at least we're putting our grudges behind us. 
Yeah, I'm glad you learned how to separate sentences with <nowiki> </nowiki> instead of <nowiki> : </nowiki>. 
Anyway, how are you doing? What's it like in California? 
Wanna trade favorite books sometime? 
You don't have to look at this, just checking in after that truce. 
Hope you have a good day :) 
-Z1m
:Just a note from a perpetual observer about the newline thing.
:Using one or more : (at the start of a line) gives indents. If you are already indenting, then a simple newline and : (or multiple ::s, the same numbed as you were on) handles the textflow properly and ''renders'' it as a linefeed, rather than 'merely' a simple whitespace that continues. I'm doing that here.
;I can also use other markup, like the ; I used here...
:...but that's not how that is meant to be used, and...
;:...only lines up with ";:", in this case...
:;...or with "<nowiki:</nowiki>;" in this other. ;)
:Honestly, though, that's not what ; is to be used for. It's actually really more for ";Item:Definition of some kind", like:
;Item:Definition of some kind
:Though is often repurposed as ";Unofficial 'header' title", within Talk pages, that doesn't create a TOC entry. Just just so gou know. :p
:If you're writing at the 'zero indent' level, then a double-linefeed in the wikisource forces a line-break in the HTML, but it looks messy in viewing/re-editing the markup, so one way to avoid that is to invoke the <nowiki> </nowiki>, even in the middle of an actual wikisource line! (But that can be confusing, so don't do that without ''good'' reason.
:I also prefer to use "<nowiki> </nowiki>" (it adheres to standard non-container extensible HTML tag notation better) and like to put it at the ''start'' of the new line text rather than at the end of the old one's (but this is practically the same – I just find that seeing <nowiki> </nowiki>s at the start of every intended new line is easier to visually check than having them at random column positions according to the paragraph length that precedes it, hence it's my preference only).
:Another useful note is that when you're in a wikitable markup, the 'contents' of a cell can have linebreaks. Whether a line-started "|" or a successive midline "||" (trust me, when you're used to wikitabls markup, you'll know what I'm saying!), the ''very first'' newline in the wikisource is understood as a renderable newline (because it's not the "|"-at-start-of-line of the next column's cell, or the "|-" tween-line, otherwise expected), but you need to invoke any second, third, etc linebreaks with one or other of the br-tag/double-newline/etc methods. Otherwise it'll just be treated as whitespace and 'unwrap' into a continuous second-para. (As always, if in doubt use the Preview button, check it appears like you think it ought to.)
:But there's ''loads'' of different ways to wikimarkup various conceptual layouts, and all kinds of different styles that you could adopt. This is just a "the more you know..!" infodump, which may ''or may not'' be useful to relatively new editors like yourselves. So take note or ignore, or ignore until you suddenly realise you might need to know these things, then try to make sense of it. Or ''maybe'' I'll be around to answer further questions! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.11|172.70.86.11]] 20:34, 15 May 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2932: Driving PSA

2024-05-14T14:38:11Z

172.70.86.11:

Did the best I could on the explanation, even if it's a bit clunky. [[User:Trogdor147|Trogdor147]] ([[User_talk:Trogdor147|talk]]) 03:59, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

Pretty lame strategy. Even with someone waving me on, when I get past them I'll look to the right to make sure. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 04:22, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
: Right? Just pull into the median in front of the left-turners, then re-assess the situation. --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 12:59, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

Maybe they're not trying to kill Randall, but the person in the other lane. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.225|172.71.154.225]] 05:00, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
:It doesn't even need to be a fatal crash. Maybe the person in the other lane is an obstetrician who will intercede in a complex childbirth, and this "accident" will be major enough that that no longer happens, and the child dies... [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 06:55, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
::Or possibly the aim is actually to engineer a meet-cute between Randall and the driver of the other car, so that a critical birth can (eventually) take place...[[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.249|172.70.160.249]] 08:24, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

Just curious, as I'm from Germany - does the USA have no traffic lights? [[Special:Contributions/198.41.242.210|198.41.242.210]] 07:15, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
: They do, and they are placed where you can actually see them --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 12:59, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
: They do, and they're placed where they can be used for Captcha challenges.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.81|172.70.86.81]] 14:28, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

Uncontrolled intersection with a left turn onto a 4-lane road? US road design, combined with US car-centric settlement planning, must have been made by those more clever, trying-harder assassins that Randall mentions in the title text, and it looks like they've got a lot of people on their list. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.229.131|162.158.229.131]] 07:20, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

: If it was a single lane street, and not three-lane road (or stroad), then accepting granting the right of way / waving in would be perfectly safe (assuming that you watch left). --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 07:23, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

Ok, but... time traveller asassins don't get sent for random harmless people? Getting not one, but MULTIPLE asassins hell-bent on offing him suggests he's going to do something incredibly bad for the world that they're trying to prevent?? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.103.68|162.158.103.68]] 08:35, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
: Randall isn't random and it's not entirely clear that he's harmless either.{{unsigned ip|172.70.91.146}}

Oh boy, a comic about my second-greatest pet peeve on the road! Now if only we could have an xkcd guide to using the acceleration lane. [[User:Phil Srobeighn|Phil Srobeighn]] ([[User talk:Phil Srobeighn|talk]]) 09:51, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
:...and turning signals... [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 09:53, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

A corollary PSA would be to ignore the gestures of any passengers in the other car. I've seen passengers in the front seat wave people to go ahead, without the agreement of the person actually driving the car.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.45|172.70.178.45]] 10:29, 14 May 2024 (UTC)Pat

I don't even drive and I hate these people lmao [[User:Psychoticpotato|Psychoticpotato]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 12:40, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

==Churchill's Law==
Just to reframe "''Car that they are waving you into the path of''" into an awkaward phrase NOT ending in a preposition: "''Car into the path of which they are waving you''". (The Churchill thing is a myth, though <https://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/07/04/churchill-preposition/> .) {{unsigned ip|162.158.134.225}}
: Yuck - that construction needs waving into the path of an oncoming car. Or possibly it already has been.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.183|172.69.43.183]] 14:31, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

Talk:1065: Shoes

2024-04-26T10:24:55Z

172.70.86.11: added the link to Broomstick

Can we choose to wear another pair of bigger shoes over the magic shoes? '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:39, 8 January 2013 (UTC)
: Probably when you use the power of magic shoes, the magic shoes will "outrun" the bigger shoes, either manage to slip out of it or destroy it outright. 
:That said, I agree with you, the magic shoes will be felt close to no shoes at all, and therefore daily you will wear other shoes over it. [[User:Arifsaha|Arifsaha]] ([[User talk:Arifsaha|talk]]) 16:32, 8 December 2014 (UTC)

There should be four toe-holes, not five. The fourth and last toes are almost always in the same toe-hole, as the shoes become very uncomfortable otherwise. The (four-toed) shoes, however, are very nice for relaxation, general purposes, and the outdoors.
:I have added a wiki link to these shoes and they have five toes!--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:10, 21 June 2015 (UTC)
:Technically, since these are stick figures, they shouldn't have any toes. Anonymous. 07:24, 12 January 2014 (UTC)
::Technically, I don't even see any feet. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 06:24, 23 January 2014 (UTC)
:::[[1475: Technically|Oh, look, a squirrel!]] [[User:ImVeryAngryItsNotButter|ImVeryAngryItsNotButter]] ([[User talk:ImVeryAngryItsNotButter|talk]]) 10:43, 28 May 2015 (UTC)
:After playing Mirror's Edge, the idea of using shoes with a separate space for the big toe grew on me. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.65|108.162.254.65]] 03:20, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

I would like to note that shoes made out of bread were actually sold [http://www.dadadastudio.eu/Shop/prod/19/30/ here]. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.39|141.101.104.39]] 21:31, 5 October 2014 (UTC)

Not sure enough of this to edit, but is it possible there is a whole loaf / sliced bread ~ whole shoe / toe shoe analogy going on here? [[User:Plm-qaz snr|Plm-qaz snr]] ([[User talk:Plm-qaz snr|talk]]) 08:32, 14 October 2014 (UTC)

You know, Dorothy in [[1149: Broomstick]] (I regret that I don't know how to make a link to there) seemed to have shoes. {{unsigned ip| 172.68.59.168}}
:Shoes seem to be only drawn when they are important to either the comics story arch, or to identify a character.
:However, in case you read this again: You can find a lot of info of how to make entries here on the [[explain xkcd:Editor FAQ|Editor FAQ]], or just by looking at other peoples edits after clicking on edit. For example you can link to a comic by entering either its name, its number or number: name with 2 square brackets: [[]] - e.g. like this: <nowiki> [[1149: Broomstick]] </nowiki> - (the same also works for other pages than comics, such as editor FAQ - when editing this section you can see how I did it :) ) - Oh, and by the way: please sign your comment by using the signature button above the text field or by adding for ~ signs. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 10:24, 21 October 2019 (UTC)

2707: Astronomy Numbers

2022-12-06T21:50:16Z

172.70.86.11: added exact weight conversion

{{comic
| number = 2707
| date = December 5, 2022
| title = Astronomy Numbers
| image = astronomy_numbers_2x.png
| imagesize = 593x315px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I adopted a cat that weighs 12 solar masses. Laser pointers love chasing it.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a CAT-LOVING LASER POINTER - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Space is big.{{citation needed}} and the things that are in space can also end up being very big themselves. As a result of this, most quantities in astronomy can vary by huge scales. For example, Earth has a mass 10^23 times more than the average human, and the Sun is 10^5 times more than that, which itself is 10^12 times less massive than the Milky Way. The same applies to speeds, distances, and time, which can often be measured in terms of light speed, light-years, and millions (or even billions) of years. Because of this, it's a truly unusual occurrence for anything in space to end up in the fairly narrow range of scales of mass, size, speed, or time that humans can easily grasp.

Ponytail, a scientist apparently researching something related to Earth's orbit, finds that on the next January 1, Earth will be moving at a velocity of 65 miles per hour—an extremely common and normal-sounding velocity to American ears, often used as a speed limit on highways in the US. Ponytail is clearly a little thrown-off by this, and remarks that she finds it "suspicious" when reasonably human-scaled numbers come up.

She then extends this paranoia to things that should be measured in regular numbers, such as the weight of cats. The vet (Megan) is seemingly used to this problem (perhaps she gets a lot of physicists), so she restates the 12-lb weight of Ponytail's cat in solar masses. Since using this unit yields an ''incredibly'' small number, 3*10^-30 (a three preceded by a decimal point and 29 zeroes), it evidently sounds more plausible to the astronomer. This weight is in fact about 13lb 2oz, slightly heavier than the cat, due to the less precise answer.

==Details on the numbers==
Although the Earth's orbital velocity around the Sun is far above any "normal" scales (around 30 kilometers per second or 108,000 kilometers per hour), Earth has a pretty circular orbit around the Sun so most of this speed ends up being tangential (sideways) rather than radial (towards or away from) the Sun, which is the value relevant for Ponytail's calculations. On January 1, Earth's radial velocity is close to its smallest value because we reach our closest point to the Sun in the first few days of January each year (in 2023, {{w|Perihelion|perihelion}} happens on January 4) so by January 1, it's nearly come to a standstill before it starts traveling away from the Sun again. On the other hand, by April 3, 2023, Earth will be receding from the Sun by almost 500 meters per second or 1800 kilometers per hour, a slightly less normal speed for the average person to encounter in everyday life.{{citation needed}}

65 miles per hour is approximately equal to 105 kilometers per hour, although the even more typical scientific value (in {{w|International System of Units|SI}} derived units) would be 29 meters per second. 3 × 10^−30 solar masses is approximately equal to 6 kilograms or 13 pounds (consistent with the 12 pounds, or slightly under 5.5 kilograms, of the original figure) and is normal, if perhaps slightly overweight, for a cat.

==Title text==
The title text suggests that laser pointers "love chasing" a new cat with a weight of 12 solar masses (an inversion of the typical cat behavior of [[729: Laser Pointer|chasing laser pointer dots]]).
All gravitational fields bend light towards their center, a 12 solar mass object would bend quite a lot. A Laser pointer pointed at such a cat would bend towards it or "chase" it. In fact, 12 solar masses, would have a Schwarzschild radius of around 36 kilometers, so a cat with that mass would very definitely be a black hole, drawing all light within 72 kilometers around it into its singularity.

Another interpretation of the title text is that Randall has (presumably) accidentally adopted a distant star instead, which astronomers usually take a liking to pointing laser pointers at during both star parties & normal parties they were unwisely invited to. Assuming Randall's 12-solar-mass cat goes through similar life cycles to a 12-solar-mass star, his cat will probably end up living a violent, short life of just a few million years before expanding into a red supercat and exploding as a feline supernova, which might explain why astronomers are so interested in pointing it out. Or maybe a {{w|Laser guide star}} for a telescope with adaptive optics is being referred to.

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail is standing in front of a whiteboard writing on it with a pen, while Cueball looks over her shoulder from behind her. On the board is an almost circular ellipse with a cross that centers on a dot towards the left side of it. On the right side there is a small circle on the ellipse's line. There are several lines of wiggles representing unreadable text. To the left of the ellipse there are two lines near the top of and four near at the bottom of the ellipse. Ponytail is writing a fifth line below these almost under the ellipse. At the bottom to the left there is a rectangular frame with a line of text beneath it and at the bottom left corner there is a line forming a half closes rectangle around two dots.]
:Ponytail: …And we need to correct for our elliptical orbit. On January 1st, Earth will be approaching the sun at a rate of ...let's see...
:Ponytail: 65 miles per hour.
:Ponytail: Weird. Okay.
:Cueball: Weird?

:[Ponytail has turned towards Cueball, the pen is no longer in her hand and the white board is no longer shown.]
:Ponytail: I get suspicious whenever I see a normal number in astronomy. We're not supposed to have those. Feels wrong.
:Ponytail: Scales should all be incomprehensible.

:[Megan in a lab-coat raised her hand palm up towards an animal carrier cage standing on her desk. The cage has a handle and five air holes are at the top. Behind two of them something black inside the cage can be seen. Ponytail is standing on the other side of the desk looking at Megan. Above the top of the panels frame there is a panel with a label:]
:Earlier, at the vet:
:Megan: Your cat weighs 12 lbs.
:Ponytail: Ridiculous, nothing weighs "12". You must mean 10-20? Or 1040?
:Megan: Fine. Your cat weighs 3x10-30 solar masses.
:Ponytail: Okay. Better.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Cats]]

Talk:596: Latitude

2022-11-18T14:25:24Z

172.70.86.11:

I thought the sex toy shops were unrelated to the last two shops - that she just did something ''re-e-e-eally'' stupid with the gizmos and power tools that landed her in the burn ward. Also, who's to say Robert didn't turn off Latitude? His schedule has some pretty big blanks. Anonymous 06:51, 4 December 2013 (UTC)

:If Megan was buying a drill so she could put up shelves, that kind of destroys the joke. Why should she need to be discreet about that?

:Also, I think that Robert's simple schedule of home / school / subway is a small joke about reversed expectations. A usual joke about how men spend their time (while on the internet, for example) might show a preponderance of sexually-related activity. Here, Randall has attributed the sexual experimentation to Megan instead. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 00:48, 24 December 2013 (UTC)

My take on this is that Megan went to the two last stores to improve her toys, as several xkcd comics deal with DIY stuff. {{unsigned ip|108.162.254.163}}

:I was thinking that as well: she was trying to {{w|Home Improvement (TV series)|"Tim Taylor"}} her sex toys, and got about the same results ''he'' would. --[[User:Aaron of Mpls|Aaron of Mpls]] ([[User talk:Aaron of Mpls|talk]]) 10:59, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Perhaps the title text is a reference to the previous comic about the android girlfriend?[[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.84|173.245.50.84]] 21:29, 13 May 2014 (UTC)
:Fortunately for him, Black Hat knows how to avoid SQL injection, so he didn't lose his database when he added [[Little Bobby Tables]] ;-)
:--[[User:Lou Crazy|Lou Crazy]] ([[User talk:Lou Crazy|talk]]) 09:39, 7 September 2015 (UTC)
::Probably this did not happen because there is no real reason to assume it is Bobby, rather Cueball and Robert in this comic is the same and thus making Cueball here = [[Rob]]. But that is also just guess work. Have corrected explanation and removed Bobby category. (But not added Rob) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:26, 26 July 2016 (UTC)

According to the explanation (and logical spelling), Robert's schedule is clearly "Home, School, Subway". So why does the explanation say "Home, Schoo, Subwa"? --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 17:48, 12 September 2016 (UTC)
:And yes, before you say it, I know that's where it ends in the comic, but still. Oversight, I guess? --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 17:50, 12 September 2016 (UTC)
::I'm not sure if you mean in the transcript, because in that only what is actually written should be there. The full words are used above in the explanation, but should still be cut off as they are in the transcript. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:16, 30 January 2017 (UTC)

I added this comic to Category:Comics featuring Rob because it mentioned Robert in the app. Undo this if it should not be. [[User:625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8|625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8]] ([[User talk:625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8|talk]]) 22:41, 7 March 2017 (UTC)

Why is it assumed he was at a Subway Sandwich shop and not an actual subway, which would also give reason why the time after is blank for a longer time as especially back then signals in underground Subways were non existent, not that they are any better now especially for GPS. Even the transcript on the original xkcd.com page does not specify which it is. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.166|108.162.216.166]] 12:01, 27 July 2017 (UTC)

Malapropism alert: Do you mean "inconspicuous places" or do you mean "innocuous places"? --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.11|172.70.86.11]] 14:25, 18 November 2022 (UTC)

Talk:2698: Bad Date

2022-11-15T20:40:27Z

172.70.86.11: Can't be bothered to populate the {{unsigned ip}} tag for someone who only wanted to make a political comment and tried to put the text in the middle of another submission. Suspected excuse for trolling.

There was a time when just the fact that she was looking at her cellphone during the date would be evidence that it's not going well. Sadly, it's probably normal these days. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 15:05, 14 November 2022 (UTC)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1iH1hppneo [[Special:Contributions/172.71.158.90|172.71.158.90]] 16:34, 14 November 2022 (UTC)
:She went on a date with an Explainxkcd editor, obvs. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.158.216|172.71.158.216]] 19:55, 14 November 2022 (UTC)

@Kynde, but more generally putting it out there: "[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2698:_Bad_Date&diff=298707&oldid=298705 For sure it is Megan who came into the date with jumanji. Else playing dumb by Cueball would not make sense, because Megan would likely not have mentioned Jumanji. How should Cueball mention it and then say that he don't know it?]" - the aside that this refers to/removed was written to cover if Cueball had sneakily forced conversation about Jumanji by somehow steering the conversation towards ("No film has had a rhino charge through an American town", "I sometimes wonder what it would be like to be a video-game character", ...) while pretending not to have seen it, or perhaps 'clearly' have not watched it correctly. All to incite the date (Megan) into being loudly enthused. Cueball's "Oh no" is more like how Gene Wilder's Willy Wonka would have said it (a cursory level of concern about how 'bad' things have gone, it actually being his plan all along to seed the events; but also perhaps instead some awkwardness that Megan picked up on the live-posting). Megan independently has her ideas and Cueball (as the usual voice of Randall) decides shifting to her newly acquired sponsor is worthwhile.
 The alternative currently promoted is that Megan came with the Jumanji idea, somehow exasperatingly runs out of steam of how to promote "Jumanji: Deeper Into the Metaverse" (or whatever fictional/factual thing she's supposed to be spreading news of) and isn't happy that her outbursts are reaching the large audience (that would surely be so good for her attempt to put the word out, even if she was originally supposed to be individually advertising to just the one date at a time..?) and yet somehow gets the inspiration to spend precious moments breaking the (in-date) fourth wall to clue Cueball in on the fuss she has caused, find and accept an alternate backer, announce it as a new idea that Cueball should roll with (perhaps ruining the date more, such that he does play along but definitely hates Megan more than when she was irrationally going on about this 'Jumanji' thing) and then breaks the mood ''yet again'' by revealing that the interesting idea of a "sponsored conversation" was not necessarily an opportunistic turn of events, but had (in another form, for another sponsor) been her basic idea all along.
 I'm still willing to believe it's Megan who says the title text (there's some possibility that it flows that way, in arguments that I haven't bothered to voice above), but I find the idea that it is Cueball to have more than a little attractiveness in various key ways. Definitely it isn't sure that it isn't him, and potentially quite confusing as to who it really is. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.207|172.71.178.207]] 21:57, 14 November 2022 (UTC)

:I actually don't think it mattes who said the title text. But since the whole explanation is already overexplaining the comic it might not matter. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.246.98|172.70.246.98]] 23:20, 14 November 2022 (UTC)

In Nathan For You S01E08, a scenario is engineered where they get someone on a date, but one of the participants has to give product endorsements for Quiznos. A Quiznos marketing rep is wired in to a hidden earpiece giving the marketing keywords to say while watching the date from a hidden camera. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.93.37|172.70.93.37]] 11:53, 15 November 2022 (UTC)

1809: xkcd Phone 5

2022-11-15T20:34:17Z

172.70.86.11: /* List of features */ Slightly better way of describing this.

{{comic
| number = 1809
| date = March 10, 2017
| title = xkcd Phone 5
| image = xkcd_phone_5.png
| titletext = The phone will be collected by the toll operators and mailed back to you within 4-6 weeks.
}}

==Explanation==
This is the fifth entry in the ongoing [[:Category:xkcd Phones|xkcd Phone series]], and once again, the comic plays with many standard tech buzzwords, and horribly misuses all of them, to create a phone that sounds impressive but self-evidently isn't to even the most ignorant customer. The previous comic in the series [[1707: xkcd Phone 4]] was released almost 8 months before this one and the next [[1889: xkcd Phone 6]] was released 7 months later.

The slogan beneath the phone, "We're trying to catch up to Apple but refuse to skip numbers", is a reference to inconsistent product numbering, such as {{w|Samsung}} releasing the {{w|Note 7}} after the {{w|Note 5}}, likely in an attempt to catch up to the numbering of either the {{w|iPhone}} or {{w|Galaxy S}} series, both of which were already at 7. Similarly, there was also no official ''iPhone 2''. But there is an [[xkcd Phone 2]] available. The trademark sign behind the word "numbers" possibly indicates a reference to the {{w|Numbers (spreadsheet)|Apple spreadsheet app}} with the same name.

This phone seems to have a curved display. But the edges are curved down and not up, as they are on other curved phones.

The title text that says that the phone will be returned to you by the toll operators is a reference to E-ZPass partnership feature; see explanation in the table regarding that feature.

===List of features===

; Hook shot

: In ''{{w|The Legend of Zelda}}'' the [http://zelda.gamepedia.com/Hookshot Hookshot] is a recurring weapon/tool. It is a machine consisting of a chain and hook. When used, the chain extends and sends the hook which is attached to it. It is used to bring items to {{w|Link (The Legend of Zelda)|Link}} or bring Link closer to a goal (''Link'' is the name shared by the main protagonists, each possessing the Spirit of the Hero). Likely a reference to new video game ''{{w|The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild}}'', which was released a week prior to this comic (ironically, that game does not feature the Hookshot).

In the comic the hook shot is shown as a small port upon the phone's top; the hook itself is not visible, suggesting it is contained in the device until use. Most Hookshots in the game series are large enough to be grasped in or encompass the hand, with the hook being large and extending out of the tool even without use. The size of the port and absence of the hook before use implies a very small hook and a very thin chain, making it impractical for use in either of the tool's functions.

; Bluetooth speaker

: {{w|Bluetooth}} speakers are often used to play audio from a smartphone wirelessly, usually with more volume and better quality than the phone's small built-in speaker can provide. Embedding a bluetooth speaker into the phone would allow the phone to play audio from outside sources through its built-in speaker, which could be useful if no better speakers were available but would generally be avoided given the previously noted limitations of phone speakers. This is perhaps a jab at the current trend of playing music or Internet content audibly in public through the tiny, tinny speaker embedded in most phones. The Bluetooth speaker is located in the normal place for a phone's speaker.

:In addition to having no benefit in normal operation, the higher power usage from sending and receiving wireless signal to the built-in speaker would also result in shorter battery life when playing music; a characteristic that would already be undesirable on a regular phone, but is especially pressing given the highly dubious track record of previous xkcd phone models' batteries.

; Stained-glass display

: {{w|Stained glass}} is colored glass, traditionally used for decorative windows in buildings most often churches. It is generally much thicker and because of the color much less transparent, especially for some colors, than the glass types normally used for touch-screens, making the phone difficult to use as it would remove some of the colors shown on the screen below the glass. A typical feature noticed about the glass for real phones would be its strength, as in work phones for construction workers.

; Gallium chassis remains solid up to 85°F

: Many high-end electronic devices have chassis made of alloys of light metals such as {{w|magnesium}} or {{w|titanium}} rather than {{w|steel}} or {{w|plastic}}. Besides being lightweight and of superior quality and durability than ordinary sheet steel or cheap plastic, these are often perceived as bragging points by the users, boasting about 'rare' metal chassis.

: {{w|Gallium}}, however, is an uncommon metal with a very low melting point of 85 °F (or 29.8 °C), making it one of only four pure metals (along with {{w|Mercury (element)|mercury}}, {{w|rubidium}} and {{w|caesium}}) that can be liquid around room temperature. Because the melting point is lower than the average {{w|human body temperature}} of 98.6 °F (37 °C) a gallium smartphone chassis would melt in the user's bare hand, assuming it hadn't already done so due to heat produced by its internal components. Even if the electronics had good heat management, cooling in smartphones is normally accomplished by distributing heat to the case, not exhausting it.

: Gallium also displays many strange properties which would be undesirable in a phone, such as contact-permeating through the crystal structures of other metals used in the phone's construction.

: A similar real advertisement regarding the chassis would be that it was {{w|waterproof}} down to some depth (say, 85 feet or 25 meters). See also the feature below regarding this.

; Soundproof

: A {{w|Soundproof}} chassis could result in the unwanted effect that the speakers and microphone may not work as no sound may enter or leave the phones chassis. A more likely feature would be waterproof (see above point).

; Can feel pain

: Possibly a reference to {{w|intelligent personal assistant|intelligent personal assistants}} like {{w|Siri}}, {{w|Cortana (software)|Cortana}} or {{w|Amazon Alexa|Alexa}} gaining consciousness (see [[1807: Listening]] for the latter). Such {{w|artificial intelligence}} references is a [[:Category:Artificial Intelligence|recurring subject]] on xkcd.

: This could mean that either the phone feels pain for damages inflicted upon it or it feels the user's pain level (regarding either physical and/or emotional pain). The meaning would quickly become apparent for the user if the chassis melts on contact with exposed skin leaving the phone with "open wounds".

: This could be seen as a similar feature of the first xkcd phone, [[1363: xkcd Phone]], where the title text notices (among many other things) that the ''phone will drown'' if submerged in water. A similar thing is also mentioned for [[1549: XKCD Phone 3]]. That phone is ''waterproof but can drown''. Since this phone is soundproof but not waterproof, per the two points above, the drowning issue may still be relevant. The second phone, [[1465: xkcd Phone 2]], ''cries when lost'' a similar display of emotions/feelings. That phone also mentions waterproofing, but here it is only the interior, and although it is washable, it is only a one-time feature (like the fold-ability of this one; see two points below). Finally it also [[1707: xkcd Phone 4]] mentions that it is waterproof, but not between 30-50 m down...

; E-ZPass partnership: Phone can be dropped into coin basket to pay tolls

: {{w|E-ZPass}} is an electronic toll collection system. The vehicle drives through the toll lane without stopping, and sensors detect the pass and deduct the appropriate amount from the user's account. The phone's integration with E-ZPass is absurd since the phone needs to be dropped into a coin basket to work. Not only would you have to stop in order to throw the phone into the coin basket, which defies the idea of E-ZPass, but you would also lose your phone.

: In the '''title text''', however, it says that the phone will be retrieved by the toll operators and returned by mail within 4–6 weeks. So this slightly mitigates the problem of losing the phone, but there would be about a month where the phone could not be used.

; Foldable (once)

: Almost anything long and slim can be "folded" by simply snapping it in half. But as it says, this can only be done once, because the phone cannot be unsnapped and will not work any more once it has been folded.

: This is a reference to the [http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/samsung-foldable-smartphone-news/ rumors of the new Samsung Galaxy X] that is really foldable like a piece of rubber. See [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fro_CNjxYwM this video].

: It could also refer to the fact that a version of iPhone had a weak spot that lead it to easily folding and breaking. And it could be a reference to {{w|Flip (form)|flip phones}}.

; Screen transfers images to skin

: Transferring images to the skin sounds like either real {{w|tattoos}} or the water tattoos used by children or other kinds of {{w|temporary tattoos}}. Likely it should be understood that it would be possible to transfer the image displayed on the screen to your skin, hopefully when activating the feature rather than by accident, and, preferably, also not permanently. This may also be a reference to the experimental Cicret Bracelet's ability to project images onto your arm: [http://www.snopes.com/photos/technology/cicret.asp]

; Retina storage

: This is a play on the name of Apple's prized "{{w|Retina Display}}". The joke may be in reference to Apple's possession of a trademark for the word "retina" in regards to computer equipment, which is made to seem absurd by the unusual use. It is not made clear whose retinas are meant to be stored. It could also be a reference to retinally implanted computers. The retina storage is a slot at the bottom of the phone right of the charging port.

; Background task automatically catches and eats Pokémon

: A reference to {{w|Pokémon Go}}, an augmented reality game where the goal is to go to specific locations and play a mini-game in order to catch virtual creatures called {{w|Pokémon}} (see [[1705|1705: Pokémon Go]]). This phone apparently catches Pokémon automatically, similar to the external device {{w|Pokémon_Go#Pok.C3.A9mon_Go_Plus|Pokémon Go Plus}}. However, this feature also eats them, which is something that is not part of the game and wouldn't be desirable, as it is about collection and storing as many different Pokémon as possible. It could be a coincidence, but it seems funny that the label for this background feature is the only one that points at the back of the phone.

; Supercuts partnership: Trims hair fed into charging port

: {{w|Supercuts}} is an American hair salon chain that provides hair cuts and styling. The implication here is that the user can get a haircut by Supercuts by sticking hair into the charging slot. This is not only impractical and would only work for hair long enough to be fed into the port, but it would most likely result in a bad haircut. Also the slot would soon be filled with hair. The charging slot is otherwise placed in the normal spot and looks like a regular charging port.

: This feature could actually be quite dangerous if the hair is not removed from the charging slot afterwards because the hair could melt or catch fire inside the phone.

; Squelch knob

: {{w|Squelch}} is a feature of radios (CB, ham, scanner, etc) which quiets background noise when no usable signal is present. It cuts off audio completely when only noise is present. As different environments can have differing levels of background noise, an adjusment such as a knob is required to set the level at which the squelch circuit deactivates and lets audio through ("opening" or "breaking" the squelch). This feature already exists in audio call software but hardwiring it to a knob on the outside of the phone is probably excessive. For a smartphone, perhaps this knob could control the "signal-to-noise" ratio of your Facebook feed or other social media platforms. It takes the place of the headphone jack, replacing the normal hole with a small knob.

:Another thing it could be is that it plays "squelch" sound effects that can be adjusted with the knob, which fits with the phone melting at room temperature

; IBM buckling-spring Home button

: {{w|IBM}} {{w|Buckling spring|buckling-spring}} keyboards are favorites of geeks for the feeling of quality and auditory feedback (keys click loudly when pressed) they provide. Real smartphones' home buttons, typically located exactly as in this image, provide little to no such satisfaction when pressed.

; Cot-caught merger switch

: This is a reference to the {{w|cot–caught merger}}, a linguistic change happening among English speakers, particularly in some parts of North America and the British Isles, which causes caught (previously pronounced "kawt") to be pronounced the same as cot (pronounced "kot"). The switch is clearly visible on the side of the phone. A real feature physically similar to this is the slide switch on the iPhone and iPad, allowing the user to (un)lock the orientation of the screen or to (un)mute the device.

; 60x optical zoom camera

: A powerful optical {{w|zoom lens}} is usually a desirable feature for cameras. However, as shown in the comic, it results in very bulky lens. If 60× zoom should be achieved the lens needs to be as big as shown on the backside of the phone, and the whole idea of being able to carry the smartphone easily in a pocket would be defied.

: For that reason, such lenses are never used in smartphones, although rarely some devices, like the {{w|Samsung Galaxy Camera}}, use a smaller lens with a similar design. But this is no longer a smartphone.

: This feature would seem to be a jab at the variety of add-on devices, including close-up lenses, handles, and external flashes, that are currently in use to enhance the phone's ability to function like a camera (and the {{w|selfie stick}}).

: Some phones might instead mention their {{w|digital zoom}} level instead. But that is not a popular feature among photo enthusiasts, as digital zooming gains no additional optical resolution. Users would actually be better off using the maximum optical zoom, and then enlarging their images with photo-editing software, which might offer better, but slower, algorithms (e.g. {{w|linear resampling}} versus {{w|Lanczos resampling}}). Likewise, (mobile phone) cameras are often advertised with their high number of {{w|megapixel}}s, while retaining their small {{w|image sensor size}}. As each individual sensor gets less light, it creates more {{w|image noise}}.

: Randall has made several comics about cameras before; see for instance [[1719: Superzoom]] and other comics linked via this.

: Contrast the [https://www.easy-macro.com EasyMacro] band - 4x zoom with little appreciable thickness.

: Assuming 60x is referring to the base focal length of the iPhone and that the xkcd Phone 5 has the same dimensions as the iPhone 7 Plus then in 35mm format this lens would be 30-1800mm f/0.4-f/24. This is a completely infeasible (but not physically impossible) lens in 35mm format, but similar small format lenses (albeit with more reasonable aperture ranges) do exist in mass production, for example the Nikon P900.

; LORAN navigation

: {{w|LORAN}} (Long Range Navigation) was a precursor to modern {{W|Global Positioning System|GPS}} navigation, using land-based transmitters. Once developed for sea shipping, it is accurate to about 300 meters (1,000 feet). The joke, of course, is that all modern smartphones have integrated GPS navigation which is far more accurate. Due to the much lower frequencies involved, reception of LORAN signals though is much better in areas with obstructed view of the sky. However {{w|LORAN#Commercial_use.2C_decommissioning|LORAN has been decommissioned}} more or less completely since before 2000.

: Incidentally, some receivers of the {{w|Decca Navigator System}} (which operates on a similar principle as LORAN) featured moving map displays, something we associate with modern GPS devices.

; 28-factor authentication

: An {{w|Authentication#Factors and identity|authentication factor}} is a way of proving one's identity. There are [http://www.nikacp.com/images/10.1.1.200.3888.pdf 3 generally recognized forms]: something you know, something you have, and something you are. It can be a password, a fingerprint, a physical key, etc.... Secure applications may include two or more factors; a common example is the "PIN and chip" system used with credit cards, where you need both the card and secret code to authorize a transaction. Many online services now provide two-factor authentication to protect against password-based attacks. 28-factor authentication would likely be very secure in theory but also so impractical that it would be unusable. The user will need to prove their identity 28 different ways which would be so time consuming that would outweigh the convenience of a smart phone. A 2-factor smoke detector was soon after mentioned in one of the tips in [[1820: Security Advice]].

==Transcript==
:[An image of a smartphone with a common optical camera lens attached on its back is shown. Over the entire length the case is slightly rounded. There are several features visible as bottom like features at the top and bottom of the front as well a microphone like slit at the top. A sliding switch is visible on the side, and at the bottom there is a knob, a connector port and a small slit. Clockwise starting from the top left all the labels read:]
:Hook shot
:Bluetooth speaker
:Stained-glass display
:Gallium chassis remains solid up to 85°F
:Soundproof
:Can feel pain
:E-ZPass partnership: Phone can be dropped into coin basket to pay tolls
:Foldable (once)
:Screen transfers images to skin
:Retina storage
:Background task automatically catches and eats Pokémon
:Supercuts partnership: Trims hair fed into charging port
:Squelch knob
:IBM buckling-spring home button
:Cot-caught merger switch
:60x optical zoom camera
:''LORAN'' navigation
:28-factor authentication

:[Below the phone:]
:Introducing
:<big>The</big> <big><big>xkcd Phone 5</big></big>
:''We're trying to catch up to Apple but refuse to skip numbers®TM''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:xkcd Phones]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|xkcd Phones]]
[[Category:Pokémon]]

2693: Wirecutter Recommendation

2022-11-09T00:45:42Z

172.70.86.11: /* Explanation */ "one chooses" didn't fit with "their career". Could have done "one's career", but clashes with "chooising one" so soon after, so changing the original "one" to match "their" better.

{{comic
| number = 2693
| date = November 2, 2022
| title = Wirecutter Recommendation
| image = wirecutter_recommendation_2x.png
| imagesize = 430x333px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Their 'best philosophy of epistemology' picks are great, but you can tell they're struggling a little in the 'why you should trust us' section.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a WIRECUTTER DREAM — Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

''[https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter Wirecutter]'' is a product review website, owned by ''The New York Times''. As such, ''Wirecutter'' is best used for comparing brands and models of consumer products. The comic, however, lists things that ''Wirecutter'' should ''not'' recommend, or that one should not choose based on ''Wirecutter'' reviews.

The first panel shows [[Cueball]] telling [[Ponytail]] that he decided to go with ''Wirecutter'''s recommendation when buying something unspecified. The second panel shows a list of different contexts for this conversation, ranking them from "Fine" to "Very Bad".

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Thing Being Chosen!!Judgment!!Explanation
|-
|Vacuum cleaner||Fine||Vacuum cleaners are an everyday household item. Many brands and models are available offering a range of functionality at different prices. This is exactly the kind of thing where ''Wirecutter'''s reviews are helpful when deciding which kind to buy.
|-
|Headphones||Fine|||Headphones are also fairly ubiquitous, and ''Wirecutter'' would likewise be useful in such a scenario.
|-
|Electric scooter||Fine||While less common than the two above, electric scooters are still a popular electrical product, so ''Wirecutter'' is a decent choice for advice.
|-
|Favorite movie||Weird||Most people would say that your choice of favorite movie should be based on your own experiences, rather than someone else's opinions. Reviewing movies is a very different endeavor to reviewing products, and one would not expect ''Wirecutter'' to be particularly proficient with it. While a movie review website may be a reasonable source of recommendations on whether to see a particular movie at all, it would seem strange to choose one's own favorite movie based on a website's recommendation. In fact, though, precisely this kind of thing does happen, through mechanisms such as social proof and norm internalisation.
|-
|Personal style||Weird||Not only does the term "personal style" encompass a vast range of topics, it is also (predictably) a deeply personal thing. These two factors mean that not only will ''Wirecutter'''s recommended likely not fully discuss every factor of your personal style, it also isn't the kind of service you'd use to choose something as nebulous and personal as your "personal style."
|-
|Neighborhood||Weird||It can be assumed this means "the neighborhood one lives in." In this case, it is odd to rely on ''Wirecutter'' for recommendations on where to live, as it is a product review website and since a respectable portion of that decision is up to personal circumstances, preferences, and local conditions that a national newspaper (even one with the resources of the ''New York Times'') will not be able to see. In a best case scenario, ''Wirecutter'' is recommending neighborhoods based on empirical data, such as local economic growth. There are [https://www.businessinsider.com/us-news-best-places-to-live-in-america-2016-3 publications] [https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurabegleybloom/2022/07/28/the-best-and-most-affordable-places-to-live-in-america-in-2022/?sh=566a26ca6bbf that] [https://money.com/best-places-to-live/ rank] the "best cities to live in", which could relate to this topic.
|-
|Pet||Weird||While the ''type'' of pet may be more easy to rank on a website (especially with a pro/con system), picking an ''individual pet'' is an extremely personal decision that probably can't be considered covered by a product review website like ''Wirecutter''.
|-
|College major||Bad||The major someone chooses in college typically has a significant impact on the rest of their career, and choosing one is no trivial task that should depend on personal experience and preference. Like with some of the other topics, this is far too personal and important to be chosen by a product review site. As with "Neighborhood", any recommendations can only be based on empirical data like employment availability, tuition cost vs. expected salary, etc. [https://www.princetonreview.com/college-advice/top-ten-college-majors Rankings] [https://www.mydegreeguide.com/best-college-majors/ like] [https://www.thepennyhoarder.com/save-money/best-college-majors/ this] do exist, however, and are often used by prospective students to weigh the pros and cons of prospective majors.
|-
|Career||Bad||One's optimal career choice is subject to a wide range of highly personal factors, including your talents, ambitions, and capabilities. It is highly unlikely that a hardware review site like ''Wirecutter'' would be capable of accounting for every one of these factors for every conceivable viewer. Could be related to [https://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/rankings/the-100-best-jobs rankings] [https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/the-best-jobs-in-america-in-2022-ranked/ like] [https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/12/these-are-10-best-us-jobs-of-2022-according-to-new-research.html this].
|-
|Religion||Bad||Do ''not'' base your religious worldview on the electronic device equivalent to Yelp. The idea of ''Wirecutter'' reviewing religion has appeared in a previous comic, [[2536: Wirecutter]].
|-
|Spouse||Very Bad|| In general, people pair off when choosing spouses. This would mean that ''Wirecutter'' would be required to either find one potential spouse for every reader (cumbersome, to say the least) or would recommend ''one'' spouse for multiple (possibly millions of) partners. Even assuming an accelerated divorce rate, it would be impossible for the choice spouse to actually accomplish the role.
Perhaps [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/01/24/wirecutter-recommends-the-best-partner this parody] by ''The New Yorker'' inspired this comic.
|-
|Dreams||Very Bad|| There are two possible definitions of "dream" that may be referred to here.
* When it comes to "the series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person's mind during sleep," most people cannot consciously control what they dream about, so recommending this sort of dream is somewhat pointless. Further, as this information is largely inaccessible outside of the mind of the dreamer, ''Wirecutter'' has limited ability to make meaningful suggestions.
* On the other hand, if Cueball is relying upon ''Wirecutter'' to recommend "a cherished aspiration, ambition, or ideal," he is allowing one of the most personal and individual aspects of his life — something which may give life itself a sense of meaning — to be dictated by a consumer product review site. As with many entries here, this is something that most people have to come up with or discover for themselves; relying on a third party to recommend one FOR him is deeply unlikely to bring about long-term satisfaction.
|-
|Favorite child||Very Bad|| Assuming this is a reference to the reader's own children, it can be difficult and furthermore bad practice for a parent to choose their "favorite" child, and using ''Wirecutter'' to do this analysis is near impossible. And a website that purports to know more about how to judge the relative merits of your own family than you would be... interesting.
The alternative interpretation of assuming that this is from "all children, everywhere" is more difficult. There are approximately 1.3 billion persons under the age of 18, most of whom have at least one good quality,{{citation needed}} and defining a useful ranking in such a situation is functionally impossible.
|-
|Site for product recommendations||Very Bad|| This is a topic of which the authors, editors, and publishers of ''Wirecutter'' have a vested interest and clear bias. This implies that the people at ''Wirecutter'' would be self-serving when it comes to recommending recommendations, specifically.

Alternatively, they could be recommending ''another'' review site, which could call into question their judgment and make you wonder why you should trust them at all.
|-
|}

The title text references {{w|epistemology}}, a branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of knowledge and truth, for which [[Randall]] says ''Wirecutter'''s recommendations are great. Broadly speaking, epistemology attempts to answer the question "how do I know that what I know is true?", a very similar question to 'why you should trust us', which ironically the Wirecutter staff struggles to answer despite (or perhaps {{w|I know that I know nothing|because of}}) ostensibly having picked the best philosophies of epistemology.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball and Ponytail standing next to each other. Cueball has his palm raised.]
:Cueball: I just went with the one Wirecutter recommended.

:[A panel of four categories with topics next to them]

:[Fine category]
:Vacuum cleaner
:Headphones
:Electric scooter

:[Weird category]
:Favorite movie
:Personal style
:Neighborhood
:Pet

:[Bad category]
:College major
:Career
:Religion

:[Very bad category]
:Spouse
:Dreams
:Favorite child
:Site for product recommendations

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

2695: Soil

2022-11-08T02:53:03Z

172.70.86.11: /* Explanation */ I think the paragraph I'm replacing was far wide of the actual mark. Trying this, instead.

{{comic
| number = 2695
| date = November 7, 2022
| title = Soil
| image = soil_2x.png
| imagesize = 547x217px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = You might want to bring your frost-sensitive plants in from the patio. The high-level aerosols may result in short-term cooling across the entire backyard.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an EXPLANATION SEED. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

[[Beret Guy]] seems to be using {{w|volcano}} seeds to grow tiny volcanoes as an alternative to fertilizing [[Cueball]]'s garden. In reality, volcanoes are caused by the pressure of {{w|magma}} (underground lava) from below the Earth's crust pushing up through it, not seeds.{{Citation needed}}

Volcanic soil is [https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/volcanic-soil generally fertile], although as Cueball points out, the process of eruption is destructive to whatever plants are ''presently'' in his garden. Beret Guy's announcement in the final panel resembles the voice-over from nature documentaries.

In the first panel, Beret Guy states that he "made these seeds himself", presumably using his proven-skills at [[2446: Spike Proteins|exotic bioengineering]]. It is unclear whether his volcano is capable of {{w|Plant propagation|self-propagating}} but, until his 'help' with maintaining the garden, there would probably be no particular risk of volcanic activity.

The title text alludes to the fact that sulfate {{w|aerosol}}s from volcanic eruptions may cause a [https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/volcanic-soil short-term cooling effect], expanding on the comedy from a small scale volcano, by adding small scale volcano effects — in reality, the cooling effect occurs because the {{w|aerosol}}s in the atmosphere block out energy from the sun. Not to mention the fact that, of course, the currently flowing lava is potentially harmful to all plants near the garden anyway.

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

:[Cueball is standing, holding a trowel. Beret Guy is kneeling, and pouring the content of a small bag in a hole in the ground.]
:Cueball: Thanks for the gardening help!
:Beret Guy: I made these seeds myself!

:[Beret Guy is standing next to a small eruption coming from the ground.]

:[Same scene, eruption is now a knee-high volcano. It produces fumes.]
:Beret Guy: The infusion of nutrient-rich volcanic soil will revitalize your garden.

:[Same scene, the volcano is now waist-high. There are flames on its sides.]
:Cueball (as an off-panel voice): All my plants are on fire.
:Beret Guy: But soon, life will return to these slopes!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Volcanoes]]