explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy

2024-09-19T17:01:12Z

172.71.150.128: Fixed incorrect number

*[[Beret Guy]] is a very strange person. Sometimes he takes these strange tendencies into the supernatural.
**'''Click''' to expand for a more detailed explanation:
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
 
==Explanation==
In the early comics he was mostly just a strange and naive guy. There is an early start to the strangeness, but that power could also be attributed to [[Cueball]] (at least it is a shared power) in [[248]].

From comic [[1088]], Beret Guy begins to appear frequently with these strange powers, typically not related to each other, except that he has some issues with electrical sockets and power cords as seen in [[1293]] and [[1395]]. (See also [[509: Induced Current]] and the title text of [[614: Woodpecker]], regarding power cords, but not these strange powers.) He is also capable of waiting for very long time as seen both in [[1088]], [[1617]] and [[2987]].

Many of these apparent powers manifest as objects behaving strangely around him. It is unclear whether these are in fact powers inherent to Beret Guy or whether the objects are simply cursed; as indicated in [[1772]], most of his possessions were acquired from shops specializing in cursed items.

Here is a list of the comics where Beret Guy displays strange powers that are beyond the realm of possibility.

===List of abilities===
#[[248]]: Manages to create a hypothetical situation (trapping him and his friend).
#[[1088]]: Capable of waiting in the same place for five years, presumably without sustenance
#[[1099]]: He has infinite wings.
#[[1135]]: Makes spiders weave him a shirt.
#[[1158]]: Creates a rubber sheet to pull & release ball via his imagination.
#[[1293]]: Pours soup from power socket.
#[[1388]]: Subducts through the floor to form mountains in his room.
#[[1395]]: Inflates a laptop through a power cord so that it floats like a helium balloon.
#[[1422]]: Makes a phone with an old battery behave like a dying star.
#[[1486]]: Uses the vacuum energy to fly and "gain unlimited power" with a vacuum cleaner.
#[[1490]]: Sees the individual atoms, and can distinguish the different elements. But he cannot see what they are actually a part of, like a human or a dog.
#[[1522]]: Can examine life on exoplanets around distant stars through a magnifying glass just by standing on a ladder.
#[[1614]]: A little less clear what his powers are in this. But first he is walking a flying/floating dog, and then he returns flying on (or as) a kite, while the dog holds on to the line of the kite.
#[[1617]]: Living by eating newspaper and without breathing oxygen for several years in a sealed and buried box.
#[[1922]]: Riding in the air above two small dogs combined into a larger dog through interferometry
#[[2310]]: Being able to sleep on the vertical side of walls due to a much higher than normal attraction to the {{w|Great Attractor}}, because of higher dimensional bones.
#[[2325]]: Beret Guy attracts water so it flows to him rather than running out towards the nearby oceans. He thus claims he is like an endorheic basin, which is a limited drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water.
#[[2376]]: Claims to have the ability to do battle with ghosts, although this is not shown because Beret Guy did not have a cursed amulet that makes ghosts angry.
#[[2446]]: He creates a huge spike protein outside his body after receiving the [[:Category:COVID-19_vaccine|COVID-19 vaccine]].
#[[2534]]: He managed to create a retractable "rocket" that can extend and deliver payload to the ISS and then return to its starting position without the base ever leaving the ground.
#[[2695]]: He created volcano seeds which, when planted, create a tiny volcano.
#[[2710]]: He created a hydroelectric dam that has achieved Q>1, meaning it has produced more water than has been put into it.
#[[2805]]: He flew off into the atmosphere holding a balloon and a basketball and survived for 1500 years, and then proceeded to get the perfect trick shot.
#[[2850]]: By changing the setting for his house in Google Map he can make himself chief of the police forcing them to do as he says.
#[[2987]]: He stands still for an entire 20 years presumably without any food or water to tectonic surf, although he only moved a fourth of a meter in that time.
</div>
 

[[Category:Comics by topic]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]

1292: Pi vs. Tau

2024-08-22T04:58:46Z

172.71.150.128: Update broken link

{{comic
| number = 1292
| date = November 18, 2013
| title = Pi vs. Tau
| image = pi vs tau.png
| titletext = Conveniently approximated as e+2, Pau is commonly known as the Devil's Ratio (because in the octal expansion, '666' appears four times in the first 200 digits while no other run of 3+ digits appears more than once.)
}}

==Explanation==
This is yet another of [[Randall]]'s [[:Category:Compromise|compromise comics]]. A few mathematicians argue as to whether to use {{w|pi}}, which is the ratio between a circle's circumference and its diameter, or {{w|Turn (angle)#Proposals for a single letter to represent 2π|tau}}, which is the ratio between a circle's circumference and its radius.

Some consider pi to be the wrong convention and are in favor of using tau as ''the'' circle constant; see the [http://tauday.com/tau-manifesto Tau Manifesto], which was inspired by the article "[http://www.math.utah.edu/~palais/pi.html Pi is wrong!]" by mathematician Robert Palais and [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iUh_CSjaSw publicized by Vi Hart]. Others consider proponents of tau to be foolish and remain loyal to pi (see the [http://www.thepimanifesto.com Pi Manifesto]). Of course, regardless of which convention is used, the change is merely in notation — the underlying mathematics remains unaltered. Still, the choice of pi vs. tau can affect the clarity of equations, analogies between different equations, and how easy various subjects are to teach.

Most people know π (pi) by the approximation 3.14, but do not know τ (tau) which, by definition, is twice as large as pi. Randall is suggesting using "pau", which is a {{w|portmanteau}} of "pi" and "tau", as a number situated, appropriately enough, halfway between pi and tau, i.e. 1.5 pi or 0.75 tau. But of course his number would be inconvenient, as this value does not naturally turn up when working with circles or other mathematical constructs, so there are no commonly used formulas that would use pau.

The title text claims that pau can be approximated by e+2, as both values are roughly 4.71 — a similarity that holds little since it requires another irrational constant, {{w|E (mathematical constant)|e}} (although knowing the value of pau is somewhat more helpful in remembering e to 2 digits.){{Citation needed}} It also attributes the nickname "Devil's Ratio" to pau, due to the sequence {{w|Number of the Beast|666}} supposedly appearing four times in the first 200 digits of pau when expressed in the {{w|octal}} base. However, this is not the case, and was likely due to an error in the computer system used by WolframAlpha; for more details see below.

The tau vs. pi controversy was later mentioned in [[2520: Symbols]].

==Transcript==
:[On the left is a "forbidden"-style slashed circle with the π symbol, captioned "Pi". On the right is a "forbidden"-style slashed circle with 2π, captioned "Tau". Between these is 1.5π, captioned "Pau".]
:[Caption below the panel:]
:A compromise solution to the Pi/Tau dispute

==Math details==
Possibly, [[Randall]] used [http://www.wolframalpha.com/ Wolfram|Alpha] to calculate the result (he uses it a lot, for example [http://what-if.xkcd.com/70/ What-if 70: The Constant Groundskeeper] or [http://what-if.xkcd.com/62/ What-if 62: Falling With Helium]).
However, when the comic was published, there was a bug in Wolfram|Alpha so that, when getting 200 octal digits from "pau", it just calculates the decimal value rounded to 15 significant digits (this is 4.71238898038469) and expands that as octal digits as far as needed.

This gives a periodically repeating number. In the first 200 digits of the octal expansion, the sequences 666 and 6666 do occur, twice and once, respectively. There are 4 occurrences, however, in the first three hundred and ten (310 in base 8 equals 200 in base 10) digits:
<pre>
4.554574376314416445676661714336617116240444076666510533533077631151350452060436452476274022621206136310000177621674175071262255702044274154476005744176002676623042402346036604733130522524127534777714554305412763636566643022106616734723661726160312772574551366370203115523402704104015532221722772357666</pre>
Expansion that long indeed does contain 666 (the {{w|Number of the beast|number of the beast}}) four times (with one instance as 6666). It also contains 0000, 222, 444, and 7777, but they only appear once in a run.

In the first 500 digits of the actual octal expansion of pau, we also find that 6666 occurs once, and 666 occurs two other times:
<pre>
4.55457437631441644323623451447505012242547157301565031476335452700304316771261165505467475703133125234035147165764643331727311243102010764472707236245737216402204376521550655442201431161557425156344621363625174410110777026111560241174471252241762037163367420573533032164702576626667446275343255043345060027305171025475041452166612112500275317166412767657355633417212140135534536541060452450664011414377406267077573054507036064406511117752700327100355213521015136220621644573043264505244325316526666260</pre>
(Note that this contains 500 digits after the octal point.) No other run of 3 or more repeated digits (e.g. 111) occurs as many times, although 1111 occurs once, 111 occurs once elsewhere, and 333 and 777 also occur once each. 9 other strings of 3 digits occur 4 times, namely 164, 362, 521, 644, 432, 730, 043, 216, and 450, and only 573 occurs more often, as it occurs 6 times. Therefore, if 6666 is counted as two occurrences of 666, it is actually the joint second most common string of three numbers in the first 500 digits.

{{w|Mathematical coincidence|Coincidentally}}, e+2 is also very similar to 1.5 pi, although only to a few digits.
<pre>
1.5π = 4.71238898038...
e+2 = 4.71828182845...
</pre>

==Trivia==
*For Pi, the sequence '666' occurs for the first time at position 2440. Many more occurrences can be found here: [http://www.angio.net/pi/ The Pi-Search Page].
*Note that "pau" is Catalan for peace, which might be a good solution for the pi/tau dispute.
*Also, note that "pau" is the Portuguese word for "stick", as well as, in Brazilian Portuguese, a very common slang for "penis". This may add to the humor (although childishly) for Portuguese-speaking readers, though it is fair to presume that it was not Randall's intention to do so.
*In the discussion it has been theorized that Randall used [[356: Nerd Sniping|Nerd Sniping]]. In which case he was aware of the mistake in Wolfram!
*For an entertaining introduction to the concept of tau, see this [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG7vhMMXagQ Vi Hart video].
*In March 2018 the video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcPTiiiYDs8 How pi was almost 6.283185...] was released on why Pi could just as well have been Tau (6.28), since {{w|Leonhard Euler|Euler}}, who used the letter Pi in his books, used it for both what we call Pi and Tau today... This very comic is also briefly shown in a segment regarding the controversy about these two versions of "Pi".
*Pau is a Chinese dish, a filled bun which is round and yummy{{Citation needed}}, just like pie.{{actual citation needed}}
*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pau,_Pyr%C3%A9n%C3%A9es-Atlantiques Pau] is also a city of south-western France.
*Finally, "pau" means "finished" in Hawaiian.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Compromise]]

Talk:2975: Classical Periodic Table

2024-08-22T04:52:47Z

172.71.150.128: lol

I checked the Actinides and it looks like the criteria for "fire" is half-life < 1 day. [[User:SpriteGuard|SpriteGuard]] ([[User talk:SpriteGuard|talk]]) 18:11, 21 August 2024 (UTC)

notice how this periodic table predates the apartheid state of Israel. really makes you think, huh? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.153|172.70.85.153]] 19:43, 21 August 2024 (UTC)
:I don't see how this comic relates to the matter of Israel in any way. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 20:27, 21 August 2024 (UTC)
:Xir, this is a wiki that explains a web comic for nerds. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.128|172.71.150.128]] 04:52, 22 August 2024 (UTC)

The four classical Elements are still recognised by scientists; They just repurposed the word "element", and so have adopted "state" to describe this older classification - Solid, Liquid, Gas and Plasma exactly map to the classical 'elements'. I think we can forgive the medieval alchemical community for not recognising Bose-Einstein Condensate as their fifth element. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.64.149|172.68.64.149]] 21:05, 21 August 2024 (UTC)
:what about non-newtonian fluids? [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 22:17, 21 August 2024 (UTC)
::They're fluids... turns out. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.229|172.70.126.229]] 04:47, 22 August 2024 (UTC)
:If the 2016 movie "[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectral Spectral]" is to be believed, then Bose–Einstein condensates maps to ghosts. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.0.167|172.68.0.167]] 23:26, 21 August 2024 (UTC)

2973: Ferris Wheels

2024-08-18T00:46:17Z

172.71.150.128: /* Explanation */ instead of repeating Randall's name, I think we should be referring to him as "the cartoonist"

{{comic
| number = 2973
| date = August 16, 2024
| title = Ferris Wheels
| image = ferris_wheels_2x.png
| imagesize = 624x280px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = They left the belt drive in place but switched which wheel was powered, so people could choose between a regular ride, a long ride, and a REALLY long ride.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BELT POWERED BY A DIFFERENT WIKI PAGE IN ORDER TO KEEP THIS ONE GOING - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic depicts an attempted connection of three {{w|Ferris wheel}}s using a {{w|Belt (mechanical)|mechanical belt drive}}, a system typically used to transfer motion between rotating shafts. By connecting the wheels at different circumferences, the relative motion is geared up or down. If the belt passes around the circumference of one wheel and is connected around the hub of another, the latter will rotate significantly faster. In this case, the second wheel's circumference is in turn connected to a third wheel's hub, resulting in even greater rotational velocity. However, this setup is mechanically unsound and possibly dangerous, as Ferris wheels are not intended to be connected in this way.{{cn}} As shown, the first wheel on the left is running at a normal speed, while the other two are rotating increasingly fast, leading to a potentially hazardous situation where passengers are flung around at various (possibly {{w|G-force#Human tolerance|quite hazardous}}) extents.

A Ferris wheel might have a diameter of about 200 feet (60 m) and takes around 10 minutes per full rotation.{{acn}} The apparent ratio between the connected wheels in the comic is approximately 12.5:1, meaning the motion is significantly sped up as it’s transferred. The second Ferris wheel, driven by the first, could spin at around 1.3 rpm, with passengers moving at 9 mph (14 km/h), which is faster than usual but not inherently dangerous. However, when this motion is further transferred to the third Ferris wheel, it could spin at 16 rpm, with passengers traveling at over 110 mph (180 km/h), subjecting them to 8 Gs of force—conditions that would be hazardous.

In the caption [[Randall]] says that he was fired for this ill-advised modification, highlighting the impracticality and dangers of the idea. A cruise line also fired the cartoonist due to an unsound engineering solution earlier in [[2935: Ocean Loop]].

The title text imagines the consequences of leaving the belt drive system in place but switching which wheel is powered. If the most extreme wheel (the third one on the right) is powered, the gearing would be reversed, making for a possibly pleasant and normal ride on the right-hand wheel, but rendering the experiences of the riders on the other two wheels far too slow for an enjoyable carnival ride. One revolution of the center wheel might take two hours and five minutes, while the left wheel would take more than a day (twenty-six hours to be exact)  per revolution.    This exaggerates the impracticality and unintended effects of using a belt drive system on Ferris wheels, humorously illustrating how such an idea would lead to absurdly varied ride experiences.

==Transcript==
:[Three Ferris wheels are shown side by side, with some people stood on the ground for scale. Each of the first two wheels has a belt connecting its circumference to the axle of the wheel to its right. "Agitrons" indicate that the middle wheel is turning notably faster than the left wheel, with the gondolas seen to be rocking significantly at all points round the wheel. The spokes of the right wheel are completely replaced by "motion lines", indicating that the the right wheel is turning the fastest of all. All its gondolas are hanging outwards against centripetal force, interspersed with their own motion lines.]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:The county fair fired me for adding a belt drive to the Ferris wheels.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Engineering]]

2963: House Inputs and Outputs

2024-07-25T21:22:36Z

172.71.150.128: /* Explanation */ oops, not a welder or a smelter

{{comic
| number = 2963
| date = July 24, 2024
| title = House Inputs and Outputs
| image = house_inputs_and_outputs_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x684px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = People think power over ethernet is so great, and yet when I try to do water over ethernet everyone yells at me.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a possible reference to [[1037: Umwelt]] in panel 16 - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This is another comic in a series depicting {{w|confusion matrix|confusion matrices}}, similar to [[2420: Appliances]], [[2813: What To Do]] and [[1890: What to Bring]]. It is arranged as a table of five columns of conduits to and from a house, by five rows of resources and people, each of which typically enter, exit or both enter ''and'' exit the house via a least one of the identified conduits. The table cells have a green background for compatible methods of transit and a red tint is used for the more problematic pairings. Each panel can be read as "[row label] [entering and/or exiting] the house via the [column label]", for example, "Fresh water entering the house via the well".

{| class="wikitable" style="background-color: lightpink;"
|+ House Inputs and Outputs
! !! Well !! Garage !! Power lines !! Front door !! Septic tank
|-
! Fresh water (Input)
|style="background-color: palegreen;"| The purpose of a well is usually to pump fresh water into the home, primarily for drinking or washing. It may be unnecessary in many places if a reliable {{w|water supply network}} is available. || Long gone are the days of {{w|Labours_of_Hercules#Fifth:_Augean_stables|having to clean up after your primary mode of transportation}}, for most people. || Power lines conduct electricity, not water. The two functions are inherently dangerous if carelessly combined. Water can be used to cool high-energy lines, such as fast battery charger cables[https://www.connectortips.com/where-liquid-cooled-connectors-and-connectors-for-liquid-cooling-used-in-evs-faq/] and cables supplying electric arc furnaces, but not overhead residential power lines. || Many people prefer to control the amount of bwater they get, and the water may damage things inside the house. || Most people don't want anything they drink to contain (or go through pipes that have contained) sewage.
|-
! Cars (Input/Output)
| Most cars can't fit inside a well.
|style="background-color: palegreen;"| Garages are in fact built for the storage of cars and other similarly-sized vehicles. Placing a car in one will both help protect it from the elements and make it easier to access from inside your own home. || As of yet, cars cannot be transferred through power lines and require roads to travel on. However, this could significantly reduce travel costs. || Most cars can’t fit through doors, apart from the garage door. || Comedian {{w|Garrison Keillor}}'s 2008 ''More News from Lake Wobegon'' includes a story where an old septic tank is discovered to actually be a buried car.[https://theseriouscomedysite.com/comedy-cd-or-download/garrison-keillor-more-news-from-lake-wobegon/]
|-
! Electricity (Input)
| Wells are not a source of electric power, and attempting to obtain electricity from a well would likely contaminate its water supply. || In the United States, lightning is responsible for causing around 24,600 structure fires annually, resulting in $8 to $10 billion in losses.
|style="background-color: palegreen;"| Power lines are designed to facilitate the connection of individual homes to the broader local power network. [[Randall]] omits the fact that electricity can also be an output; e.g. houses with solar panels regularly export electricity too. || {{w|Benjamin Franklin}} invented the {{w|lightning rod}} to prevent lightning strike damage to structures. || As Knit Cap observes, septic tanks are not a source of electric power.
|-
! People (Input/Output)
|style="background-color: lightpink"| This depicts a view from inside a well, a very dangerous place for most people.{{Citation needed}} As a [[:Category:Comics with inverted brightness|dark scene]], it is drawn red-on-black. The motif resembles poster art for the 2002 horror movie remake ''{{w|The Ring (2002 film)|The Ring}}'', which involves a girl left to die in a well who becomes a vengeful ghost (see also [[396: The Ring]]).
|style="background-color: palegreen;"| A person can enter and exit their home through a garage door, provided the garage has an internal door to the rest of the home. Not the best way to welcome unfamiliar guests though. || Overhead power lines to homes are generally not strong enough to climb, and attempting to do so incurs a very serious risk of electrocution.
|style="background-color: palegreen;"| The front door of a home is designed for entry and exit of humans and similarly sized items. || In general, people find crawling through waste unwanted. Also, the septic tank is not connected to the street.
|-
! Sewage (Output)
| Sewage in drinking water can cause disease. It is/was the main cause for most {{w|cholera}} epidemics.
|colspan=3| Sewage spills are smelly, disgusting, hard to clean, and can destroy carpets, floors, drywall and property value.
|style="background-color: palegreen;"| A {{w|septic tank}} is an underground chamber through which wastewater flows for basic {{w|sewage treatment}}.
|}

The title text references {{w|Power over Ethernet|power over ethernet (PoE)}}, first implemented in the early 2000s, to provide electric power along with data on twisted-pair Ethernet cabling. A welcome development, it removed the need for many separate power supplies. While networked water delivery ("running water") is also a welcome development, doing so over ethernet cables would be extremely problematic, risking the several top points of failure, while providing limited amounts of water. However, again, fast electric vehicle charging cables and arc furnace power inputs are sometimes water-cooled.

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

:[A 5x5 grid of squares. The columns are labeled: Well, Garage, Power lines, Front door, Septic tank. Each row's label has an arrow and a house next to it. The rows are: Fresh water (horizontal arrow towards house), Cars (two-directional horizontal arrow and house), Electricity (horizontal arrow into house), People (two-directional horizontal arrow and house), Sewage (vertical arrow out of bottom of house).]

:Well, Fresh water: [green]
::Voice from house: Mmm! Refreshing!

:Garage, Fresh water: [red]
::''Fwoosh''

:Power lines, Fresh water: [red]

:Front door, Fresh water: [red]
::Voice from house: Stop it!
::''Fwoosh!''

:Septic tank, Fresh water: [red]
::Voice from house: Eww.

:Well, Cars: [red]

:Garage, Cars: [green]

:Power lines, Cars: [red]

:Front door, Cars: [red]
::Voice from car: Do you think I scratched the paint?

:Septic tank, Cars: [red]

:Well, Electricity: [red]
::Cueball's laptop: ⚠Low battery

:Garage, Electricity: [red]
::''BOOM''

:Power lines, Electricity: [green]

:Front door, Electricity: [red]
::''BOOM''

:Septic tank, Electricity: [red]
::Knit Cap: Why won't my console turn on?

:Well, People: [red (and black)]

:Garage, People: [green]
::Cueball: Bye!

:Power lines, People: [red]
::Cueball: Bye!

:Front door, People: [green]
::Cueball: Bye!

:Septic tank, People: [red]
::Cueball: Bye!

:Well, Sewage: [red]
::Voice from house: ''Why do I keep getting sick???

:Garage, Sewage: [red]
::Cueball: Oh no.

:Power lines, Sewage: [red]
::Cueball: Eww.

:Front door, Sewage: [red]
::Cueball: Oh ''no''.

:Septic tank, Sewage: [green]
::''Flush''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Knit Cap]]
[[Category:Confusion matrices]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Charts]]

Talk:2963: House Inputs and Outputs

2024-07-25T17:35:20Z

172.71.150.128: sad

what in the heckoslovakia is panel 16 [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.216|172.71.147.216]] 02:18, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
:I can only assume that it's from the perspective of someone inside the well looking upward toward the outside world. [[User:OmniDoom|OmniDoom]] ([[User talk:OmniDoom|talk]]) 02:23, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
:: It's a reference to The Ring (リング) films and books. This distorted view from the inside of the well is an iconic part of the franchise's imagery, and, in minimal-spoilers form, its appearance suggests that someone has watched the cursed tape and should now expect a visitor to arrive from that well in seven days. (Definitely a red intersection) [[User:Scorpion451|Scorpion451]] ([[User talk:Scorpion451|talk]]) 02:52, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
::: more at https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ring_(franchise) aside holy gosh! I was expecting to link to IMDB for like two or three movies. /aside the trailer at https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0298130/ starts with an a 1950-1990 ish USA telephone ring. It's been a while since I saw it and the ring referring to a telephone not magic ring is starting to sound familiar. SDT
:::: which is too much detail. "Panel 16 refers to a horror film" is not enough info SDT [[Special:Contributions/172.70.134.102|172.70.134.102]] 04:06, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
::: [[396|You watched the tape!?]] --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.94.27|162.158.94.27]] 07:07, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
::: Having never seen* The Ring, I now think I understand a lot more about the film. Here was I, always thinking it was an allegory upon the idea of a {{w|webring}}...
::: ''* figure that if seeing "the tape" causes imminent death, then watching "The Ring" might at least cause an annoying rash/the sniffles in the near future... and I have indeed eventually felt an itch or had a runny nose even after seeing references ''to'' The Ring. Sometimes within a couple of months!''
::: I mean, is it not a bit of a Spoiler? (Clearly, I don't know how much it might be.) Hmmm... *itch itch* ''*aaachew!!*'' [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.175|172.69.195.175]] 13:04, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
[[Special:Contributions/172.70.134.100|172.70.134.100]] 03:58, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
I'm assuming that a table would probably be best for this comic, but tbh I don't know how to make one and it's kinda late for me. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.137.212|162.158.137.212]] 02:48, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
:Update: thanks to whoever made the table [[Special:Contributions/141.101.109.192|141.101.109.192]] 03:32, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
:::You're welcome :) I had to look at Wikipedia's tutorial to make it - [[User:Blue in real life|Blue in real life]] ([[User talk:Blue in real life|talk]]) 05:55, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
::::The table parser is incredibly byzantine; good job. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.215.11|172.70.215.11]] 07:34, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
As a note, water in power lines ''is'' actually a thing for high speed EV chargers - so much power is transferred even the cable need water cooling! [[User:Thief|Thief]] ([[User talk:Thief|talk]]) 12:38, 25 July 2024 (UTC)

172.70.162.18 (well, more precisely, the person who made [[Special:Diff/347189|this edit]]): you managed to make me frantically make two page moves thinking that you had removed the link that I added. See, I created [[:Category:Confusion matrices]] and added links to that on all the articles with confusion matrices. However, I thought you had reverted my edit when you removed a link to [[:Category:Comics with confusion matrices]]. So I thought I had created the category under the wrong name compared with what I added and went to move the category, until I realized you had indeed removed a link to a category that isn't used. Two page moves later (because I made a typo in the first move), I realized that the category's name was correct and that someone had earlier linked to a nonexistent category that was not mine. '''OOPS.''' —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 13:35, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
:Hi. I was just trying to submit the following, and got Edit Conflicted about it. Right, then. Obviously it's too late to make my reasoning known (I thought it was an IP who had created the "Charts with Confusion Matrices", or whatever it was, who couldn't have even created the required page, but... well, talk about confusion!) but giving it here anyway...
Removed the category of something to do with "confusion charts", which might be something to do with the appearence as a cross-compare table (akin to a Punnet Square, not ''quite'' the same as a Karnaugh Map; probably has some name such as "compatability matrix", but I can't remember or find what that might be). Anyway, apparently "confusion chart/square/matrix/whatever" isn't a term in use that I've been able to find out there in the real world (also, it is probably supposed to guide one ''away'' from potential confusion, not cause it), it specifically doesn't have a wikipedia entry (or even a wikiledia redirect to another one by another name) and we don't have that category even if we invented the term ourselves. There are other examples of this form already under [[:Category:Charts]], so it's "a thing" that we might want to service with a Category (ideally more "Compatability Matrix" than that other name), but best to create the category and add the comic(s) as members rather than speculatively add spurious non-existent categories then rely on someone else to fulfil them at a later date. Even better to have a quick check to see if everyone agrees to the category title (and need, ...which I would actually tentatively support, in this case, if asked) beforehand.
:...just as a note, as I spent quite some time trying to find out if "confusion charts" were a thing (and coming up blank), so maybe this way I haven't wasted my time quite as much as just going away, or instead just offering a laconic apology for getting in the way. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.5|172.69.195.5]] 13:46, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
::Ok, me again. It looks like someone found {{w|Confusion matrix}} after all, as a wikipage. I'd actually looked for various "confusion" things but... Perhaps typoed the search when I tried vs. "matrix"..? Maybe. Seems the most logical mistake to have made. So ignore my above objections. Still, I don't like the name ("deconfusion matrix" would be awful, yet better), and I've never known it by that name. Just left making my opinion known, now, however wrong it turns out to have been. About that ''and'' the original wrong-way-round of implementing it (by parties unknown; not [[:User:Megan]], who it looks like just happened to clash with me in mutually well-meant but oppositely attempted resolutions to the original mess). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.121|172.70.163.121]] 14:28, 25 July 2024 (UTC)

it kind of looks like the driver in the car/front door panel is beret guy, assuming the car went front first into the door [[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.9|172.70.178.9]] 16:20, 25 July 2024 (UTC)

;Request for a Wikipedian
Could someone please add a [citation needed] tag to {{w|Lightning rod#History}} where it says Franklin was unaware of Prokop Diviš's work? Decades ago when I read a 1950s biography of Franklin, I am pretty sure there were some questions about whether Franklin would likely have been aware of it and similar work which had not been entirely resolved by historians. My ISP is IP-rangeblocked so I can't edit enwiki from home or my cell phone internet. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.190|172.69.34.190]] 17:06, 25 July 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2963: House Inputs and Outputs

2024-07-25T17:34:40Z

172.71.150.128: explain

what in the heckoslovakia is panel 16 [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.216|172.71.147.216]] 02:18, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
:I can only assume that it's from the perspective of someone inside the well looking upward toward the outside world. [[User:OmniDoom|OmniDoom]] ([[User talk:OmniDoom|talk]]) 02:23, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
:: It's a reference to The Ring (リング) films and books. This distorted view from the inside of the well is an iconic part of the franchise's imagery, and, in minimal-spoilers form, its appearance suggests that someone has watched the cursed tape and should now expect a visitor to arrive from that well in seven days. (Definitely a red intersection) [[User:Scorpion451|Scorpion451]] ([[User talk:Scorpion451|talk]]) 02:52, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
::: more at https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ring_(franchise) aside holy gosh! I was expecting to link to IMDB for like two or three movies. /aside the trailer at https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0298130/ starts with an a 1950-1990 ish USA telephone ring. It's been a while since I saw it and the ring referring to a telephone not magic ring is starting to sound familiar. SDT
:::: which is too much detail. "Panel 16 refers to a horror film" is not enough info SDT [[Special:Contributions/172.70.134.102|172.70.134.102]] 04:06, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
::: [[396|You watched the tape!?]] --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.94.27|162.158.94.27]] 07:07, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
::: Having never seen* The Ring, I now think I understand a lot more about the film. Here was I, always thinking it was an allegory upon the idea of a {{w|webring}}...
::: ''* figure that if seeing "the tape" causes imminent death, then watching "The Ring" might at least cause an annoying rash/the sniffles in the near future... and I have indeed eventually felt an itch or had a runny nose even after seeing references ''to'' The Ring. Sometimes within a couple of months!''
::: I mean, is it not a bit of a Spoiler? (Clearly, I don't know how much it might be.) Hmmm... *itch itch* ''*aaachew!!*'' [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.175|172.69.195.175]] 13:04, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
[[Special:Contributions/172.70.134.100|172.70.134.100]] 03:58, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
I'm assuming that a table would probably be best for this comic, but tbh I don't know how to make one and it's kinda late for me. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.137.212|162.158.137.212]] 02:48, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
:Update: thanks to whoever made the table [[Special:Contributions/141.101.109.192|141.101.109.192]] 03:32, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
:::You're welcome :) I had to look at Wikipedia's tutorial to make it - [[User:Blue in real life|Blue in real life]] ([[User talk:Blue in real life|talk]]) 05:55, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
::::The table parser is incredibly byzantine; good job. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.215.11|172.70.215.11]] 07:34, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
As a note, water in power lines ''is'' actually a thing for high speed EV chargers - so much power is transferred even the cable need water cooling! [[User:Thief|Thief]] ([[User talk:Thief|talk]]) 12:38, 25 July 2024 (UTC)

172.70.162.18 (well, more precisely, the person who made [[Special:Diff/347189|this edit]]): you managed to make me frantically make two page moves thinking that you had removed the link that I added. See, I created [[:Category:Confusion matrices]] and added links to that on all the articles with confusion matrices. However, I thought you had reverted my edit when you removed a link to [[:Category:Comics with confusion matrices]]. So I thought I had created the category under the wrong name compared with what I added and went to move the category, until I realized you had indeed removed a link to a category that isn't used. Two page moves later (because I made a typo in the first move), I realized that the category's name was correct and that someone had earlier linked to a nonexistent category that was not mine. '''OOPS.''' —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 13:35, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
:Hi. I was just trying to submit the following, and got Edit Conflicted about it. Right, then. Obviously it's too late to make my reasoning known (I thought it was an IP who had created the "Charts with Confusion Matrices", or whatever it was, who couldn't have even created the required page, but... well, talk about confusion!) but giving it here anyway...
Removed the category of something to do with "confusion charts", which might be something to do with the appearence as a cross-compare table (akin to a Punnet Square, not ''quite'' the same as a Karnaugh Map; probably has some name such as "compatability matrix", but I can't remember or find what that might be). Anyway, apparently "confusion chart/square/matrix/whatever" isn't a term in use that I've been able to find out there in the real world (also, it is probably supposed to guide one ''away'' from potential confusion, not cause it), it specifically doesn't have a wikipedia entry (or even a wikiledia redirect to another one by another name) and we don't have that category even if we invented the term ourselves. There are other examples of this form already under [[:Category:Charts]], so it's "a thing" that we might want to service with a Category (ideally more "Compatability Matrix" than that other name), but best to create the category and add the comic(s) as members rather than speculatively add spurious non-existent categories then rely on someone else to fulfil them at a later date. Even better to have a quick check to see if everyone agrees to the category title (and need, ...which I would actually tentatively support, in this case, if asked) beforehand.
:...just as a note, as I spent quite some time trying to find out if "confusion charts" were a thing (and coming up blank), so maybe this way I haven't wasted my time quite as much as just going away, or instead just offering a laconic apology for getting in the way. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.5|172.69.195.5]] 13:46, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
::Ok, me again. It looks like someone found {{w|Confusion matrix}} after all, as a wikipage. I'd actually looked for various "confusion" things but... Perhaps typoed the search when I tried vs. "matrix"..? Maybe. Seems the most logical mistake to have made. So ignore my above objections. Still, I don't like the name ("deconfusion matrix" would be awful, yet better), and I've never known it by that name. Just left making my opinion known, now, however wrong it turns out to have been. About that ''and'' the original wrong-way-round of implementing it (by parties unknown; not [[:User:Megan]], who it looks like just happened to clash with me in mutually well-meant but oppositely attempted resolutions to the original mess). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.121|172.70.163.121]] 14:28, 25 July 2024 (UTC)

it kind of looks like the driver in the car/front door panel is beret guy, assuming the car went front first into the door [[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.9|172.70.178.9]] 16:20, 25 July 2024 (UTC)

;Request for a Wikipedian
Could someone please add a [citation needed] tag to {{w|Lightning rod#History}} where it says Franklin was unaware of Prokop Diviš's work? Decades ago when I read a 1950s biography of Franklin, I am pretty sure there were some questions about whether Franklin would likely have been aware of it and similar work which had not been entirely resolved by historians. My ISP is IP-rangeblocked so I can't edit enwiki from home. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.190|172.69.34.190]] 17:06, 25 July 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2945: Broken Model

2024-06-13T17:45:54Z

172.71.150.128:

If only Randall had included a cabbage somewhere... [[Special:Contributions/172.68.64.241|172.68.64.241]] 05:03, 13 June 2024 (UTC)
:He included grass... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 06:50, 13 June 2024 (UTC)
:The cabbage would consume nothing & nothing would consume the cabbage; it's a null value, so the mathematician left it out.
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 16:55, 13 June 2024 (UTC)

This "terrifying alternate universe" thing goes all the way back to the 5th century before the Common Era:

The lion shall lie down with the lamb, and they shall eat grass.
Alas for the lion! He cannot eat grass, he shall be no more, unless he become a lamb.
Alas for the grass! There are too many lambs, it cannot grow, it shall be no more, unless it become thorns.
Alas for the lambs! They cannot eat thorns, they shall be no more, unless they eat each other -
yea, unless some become lions, and they eat enough lambs so that the grass may grow again.

Ergo, Heaven is Hell. QED. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.22.177|172.68.22.177]] 06:09, 13 June 2024 (UTC)
:Yep predators are important, but only if they are the 20 and the prey are the 400. Else it is extermination for the prey. And if the predators only eat those kinds of animals also the end for them. Luckily the rabbits could eat grass. But what should the grass eat now there are no more foxes? ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 06:50, 13 June 2024 (UTC)

I wonder if the term ''hell'' is a reference to the paper [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/24310043_A_slow_life_in_hell_or_a_fast_life_in_heaven_Demographic_analyses_of_contrasting_roe_deer_populations A slow life in hell or a fast life in heaven: Demographic analyses of contrasting roe deer populations] (2009). I couldn't find any earlier mention in this context. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.130.199|172.71.130.199]] 07:51, 13 June 2024 (UTC)

Anyone else with a sudden urge of writing a Zootopia fanfic ("No, Judy, NOOOOO!")? (Oh yes, the relevant pic exists. This is teh Internet.) [[Special:Contributions/198.41.242.174|198.41.242.174]] 08:44, 13 June 2024 (UTC)

That last paragraph is completely incomprehensible at time of writing. --[[User:Mushrooms|Mushrooms]] ([[User talk:Mushrooms|talk]]) 11:37, 13 June 2024 (UTC)

Apparently, AI doesn't have a problem with redundant content - for example, the double mention of "Fox Hell" in the Title Text with two separate paragraphs. The AI generator also seems intent on commenting excessively on typical xkcd humor patterns. I feel like some of this extra AI content needs to be trimmed down just a bit, as it doesn't add value and just makes it look like a school essay instead of a human-readable explanation. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 16:44, 13 June 2024 (UTC)
:Agreed.
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 16:58, 13 June 2024 (UTC)

== Carnivorous grass? ==

I feel like this grass exists, even though I've never seen it named. Looks like grass, but puts out thorns tough enough to penetrate bike tires, & can sometimes be found as a patch growing extra thick around a snared animal carcass?

: A quick search suggests that "carnivorous grass" with features like this is a trope in world-building games. However, you may be thinking of this {{w|Puya chilensis|real-world South American bromeliad}}. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.128|172.71.150.128]] 17:45, 13 June 2024 (UTC)

2941: Cell Organelles

2024-06-03T19:58:45Z

172.71.150.128: /* Explanation */ thanks gippity 4-O

{{comic
| number = 2941
| date = June 3, 2024
| title = Cell Organelles
| image = cell_organelles_2x.png
| imagesize = 563x451px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = It's believed that Golgi was originally an independent organism who was eventually absorbed into our cells, where he began work on his Apparatus.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a GOLGI ENDOPLASMIC RETICULUM. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The comic depicts a cell diagram with a mix of real and fictional organelles, blending accurate biological terms with misplaced or absurd labels. While it includes actual cell components like the nucleus, {{w|mitochondria}}, and {{w|Golgi apparatus}}, it also inserts unrelated concepts from various fields such as geology, engineering, software, and pop culture. Terms like "Evil Endoplasmic Reticulum" and "Sticky Endoplasmic Reticulum" add a whimsical twist to familiar scientific terms. The comic plays on the complexity and diversity of cell structures by mixing in unrelated and humorous terms, highlighting the often confusing and intricate nature of scientific diagrams with clever wordplay and cross-disciplinary jokes.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Label
! Meaning
! Joke explanation
|-
| Carbonation
| The process of dissolving carbon dioxide in a liquid.
| Misplaced chemistry term; not part of a cell.
|-
| Cellophane
| A thin, transparent sheet made of regenerated cellulose.
| Misplaced packaging material term; not part of a cell.
|-
| Chloroplasts if you're lucky
| Organelles in plant cells responsible for photosynthesis.
| Actual cell organelles, only found in plant cells; humorous implication of rarity.
|-
| Drain Plug
| A stopper for a drain.
| Misplaced plumbing term; not part of a cell.
|-
| Evil Endoplasmic Reticulum
| Not a real term.
| A humorous twist on the actual endoplasmic reticulum, implying a malevolent version.
|-
| Golgi
| Refers to the Golgi apparatus, involved in packaging and transport of proteins.
| Actual cell organelle.
|-
| Golgi Apparatus
| A complex of vesicles and folded membranes involved in secretion and intracellular transport.
| Actual cell organelle.
|-
| Human Skin
| The outer covering of the human body.
| Misplaced anatomical term; not part of a cell.
|-
| Hypoallergenic Filling
| Materials that do not cause allergic reactions.
| Misplaced consumer product term; not part of a cell.
|-
| Lithosphere
| The rigid outer part of the earth, consisting of the crust and upper mantle.
| Misplaced geological term; not part of a cell.
|-
| Mantle
| The layer of the earth between the crust and the core.
| Misplaced geological term; not part of a cell.
|-
| Midichlorians
| Fictional microorganisms in the Star Wars universe that confer Force sensitivity.
| Misplaced fictional term; not part of a cell.
|-
| Mitochondria
| Organelles that generate energy for the cell.
| Actual cell organelles, known as the "powerhouse of the cell."
|-
| Natural Flavor
| Flavoring derived from natural sources.
| Misplaced food industry term; not part of a cell.
|-
| Norton Antivirus
| A software product designed to protect computers from malware.
| Misplaced software term; not part of a cell.
|-
| Nucleolus
| A small dense spherical structure in the nucleus of a cell during interphase.
| Actual cell organelle, involved in ribosome production.
|-
| Nucleoloulous
| Not a real term.
| A humorous exaggeration of "nucleolus."
|-
| Nucleus
| The central and most important part of an object, forming the basis for its activity and growth.
| Actual cell organelle, houses genetic material.
|-
| Nucleons
| Protons and neutrons in the nucleus of an atom.
| Misplaced physics term; not part of a cell.
|-
| O-Ring
| A mechanical gasket in the shape of a torus; used to seal connections.
| Misplaced engineering term; not part of a cell.
|-
| Pith
| The central tissue in plants, used for nutrient transport.
| Misplaced botanical term; not part of a cell.
|-
| Pleiades
| A cluster of stars in the constellation Taurus.
| Misplaced astronomical term; not part of a cell.
|-
| Rough Endoplasmic Reticulum
| Endoplasmic reticulum with ribosomes attached, involved in protein synthesis.
| Actual cell organelle.
|-
| Seeds
| Plant embryos used for reproduction.
| Misplaced botanical term; not part of a cell.
|-
| Slime
| A moist, soft, and slippery substance.
| Misplaced term; could refer to a general texture or appearance, not specific to cells.
|-
| Smooth Endoplasmic Reticulum
| A network of tubular membranes within the cytoplasm of the cell, involved in the transport of materials.
| Just a standard term for the smooth variant of endoplasmic reticulum.
|-
| Sticky Endoplasmic Reticulum
| Not a real term.
| A humorous twist on the actual endoplasmic reticulum, implying it is sticky.
|-
| Ventricle
| A chamber of the heart that pumps blood out.
| Misplaced anatomical term; not part of a cell.
|-
| Vitreous Humour
| The clear gel that fills the space between the lens and the retina in the eyeball.
| Misplaced anatomical term; not part of a cell.
|-
| Weak Spot
| A vulnerable point.
| Misplaced concept, implying the cell has a single weak point like in a video game.
|}

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

{{comic discussion}}

2927: Alphabetical Cartogram

2024-05-01T19:42:47Z

172.71.150.128:

{{comic
| number = 2927
| date = May 1, 2024
| title = Alphabetical Cartogram
| image = alphabetical_cartogram_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x548px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Poor Weeoming.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a SUSPICIOUSLY SMALLER-THAN-USUAL BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic shows a map of the {{w|United States}}, with every state resized based on where it appears in an alphabetical list of states. Hence {{w|Alabama}} is the largest state, {{w|Wyoming}} is the smallest.

Wyoming shrank the most, while {{w|Delaware}} grew the largest proportionally in geographical size. In the ranking of US states {{w|List of U.S. states and territories by area|by area}}, {{w|Texas}}'s position dropped the most, while Delaware and {{w|Connecticut}}'s positions rose the most.

This coincides with a recent [https://record.umich.edu/articles/study-alphabetical-order-of-surnames-may-affect-grading/ study] from the University of Michigan showing that the alphabetical order of surnames leads to differences in grading.

The title text creates a portmanteau of the words “wee,” which means “little,” and “Wyoming,” making fun of how small it is on this map, since "W" appears at the end of the alphabet.

Bias resulting from alphabetical order was also the topic of [[2789: Making Plans]].

===Table of states===

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! !! colspan="3" | Real Life !! colspan="2" | Alphabetical
|-
!State!!Area (total mi²)!!%age US!!Area #!!Alpha #!!Rank dif.

|-
|Alaska ||665,384||17.53% || 1|| 2||data-sort-value= "+1" style="background-color:#F88"|▼ 1
|-
|Texas ||268,596|| 7.07% || 2||43||data-sort-value="+41" style="background-color:#F00"|▼41
|-
|California ||163,695|| 4.31% || 3|| 5||data-sort-value= "+2" style="background-color:#F88"|▼ 2
|-
|Montana ||147,040|| 3.87% || 4||26||data-sort-value="+22" style="background-color:#F44"|▼22
|-
|New Mexico ||121,590|| 3.20% || 5||31||data-sort-value="+26" style="background-color:#F44"|▼26
|-
|Arizona ||113,990|| 3.00% || 6|| 3||data-sort-value= "-3" style="background-color:#8F8"|▲ 3
|-
|Nevada ||110,572|| 2.91% || 7||28||data-sort-value="+21" style="background-color:#F44"|▼21
|-
|Colorado ||104,094|| 2.74% || 8|| 6||data-sort-value= "-2" style="background-color:#8F8"|▲ 2
|-
|Oregon || 98,379|| 2.59% || 9||37||data-sort-value="+28" style="background-color:#F44"|▼28
|-
|Wyoming || 97,813|| 2.58% ||10||50||data-sort-value="+40" style="background-color:#F00"|▼40
|-
|Michigan || 96,714|| 2.55% ||11||22||data-sort-value="+11" style="background-color:#F66"|▼11
|-
|Minnesota || 86,936|| 2.29% ||12||23||data-sort-value="+11" style="background-color:#F66"|▼11
|-
|Utah || 84,897|| 2.24% ||13||44||data-sort-value="+31" style="background-color:#F22"|▼31
|-
|Idaho || 83,569|| 2.20% ||14||12||data-sort-value= "-2" style="background-color:#8F8"|▲ 2
|-
|Kansas || 82,278|| 2.17% ||15||16||data-sort-value= "+1" style="background-color:#F88"|▼ 1
|-
|Nebraska || 77,348|| 2.04% ||16||27||data-sort-value="+11" style="background-color:#F66"|▼11
|-
|South Dakota || 77,116|| 2.03% ||17||41||data-sort-value="+24" style="background-color:#F44"|▼24
|-
|Washington || 71,298|| 1.88% ||18||47||data-sort-value="+29" style="background-color:#F44"|▼29
|-
|North Dakota || 70,698|| 1.86% ||19||34||data-sort-value="+15" style="background-color:#F66"|▼15
|-
|Oklahoma || 69,899|| 1.841%||20||36||data-sort-value="+16" style="background-color:#F66"|▼16
|-
|Missouri || 69,707|| 1.836%||21||25||data-sort-value= "+4" style="background-color:#F88"|▼ 4
|-
|Florida || 65,758|| 1.732%||22|| 9||data-sort-value="-13" style="background-color:#6F6"|▲13
|-
|Wisconsin || 65,496|| 1.725%||23||49||data-sort-value="+26" style="background-color:#F44"|▼26
|-
|Georgia || 59,425|| 1.565%||24||10||data-sort-value="-14" style="background-color:#6F6"|▲14
|-
|Illinois || 57,914|| 1.525%||25||13||data-sort-value="-12" style="background-color:#6F6"|▲12
|-
|Iowa || 56,273|| 1.482%||26||15||data-sort-value="-11" style="background-color:#6F6"|▲11
|-
|New York || 54,555|| 1.437%||27||32||data-sort-value= "+5" style="background-color:#F88"|▼ 5
|-
|North Carolina|| 53,819|| 1.418%||28||33||data-sort-value= "+5" style="background-color:#F88"|▼ 5
|-
|Arkansas || 53,179|| 1.401%||29|| 4||data-sort-value="-25" style="background-color:#4F4"|▲25
|-
|Alabama || 52,420|| 1.381%||30|| 1||data-sort-value="-29" style="background-color:#4F4"|▲29
|-
|Louisiana || 52,378|| 1.380%||31||18||data-sort-value="-13" style="background-color:#6F6"|▲13
|-
|Mississippi || 48,432|| 1.276%||32||24||data-sort-value= "-8" style="background-color:#8F8"|▲ 8
|-
|Pennsylvania || 46,054|| 1.213%||33||38||data-sort-value= "+5" style="background-color:#F88"|▼ 5
|-
|Ohio || 44,826|| 1.181%||34||35||data-sort-value= "+1" style="background-color:#F88"|▼ 1
|-
|Virginia || 42,775|| 1.127%||35||46||data-sort-value="+11" style="background-color:#F66"|▼11
|-
|Tennessee || 42,144|| 1.110%||36||42||data-sort-value= "+6" style="background-color:#F88"|▼ 6
|-
|Kentucky || 40,408|| 1.064%||37||17||data-sort-value="-20" style="background-color:#4F4"|▲20
|-
|Indiana || 36,420|| 0.959%||38||14||data-sort-value="-24" style="background-color:#4F4"|▲24
|-
|Maine || 35,380|| 0.932%||39||19||data-sort-value="-20" style="background-color:#4F4"|▲20
|-
|South Carolina|| 32,020|| 0.843%||40||40||data-sort-value= "0" style="background-color:#FF8"|▬
|-
|West Virginia || 24,230|| 0.638%||41||48||data-sort-value= "+7" style="background-color:#F88"|▼ 7
|-
|Maryland || 12,406|| 0.327%||42||20||data-sort-value="-22" style="background-color:#4F4"|▲22
|-
|Hawaii || 10,932|| 0.288%||43||11||data-sort-value="-32" style="background-color:#2F2"|▲32
|-
|Massachusetts || 10,554|| 0.278%||44||21||data-sort-value="-23" style="background-color:#4F4"|▲23
|-
|Vermont || 9,616|| 0.253%||45||45||data-sort-value=" 0" style="background-color:#FF8"|▬
|-
|New Hampshire || 9,349|| 0.246%||46||29||data-sort-value="-17" style="background-color:#6F6"|▲17
|-
|New Jersey || 8,723|| 0.230%||47||30||data-sort-value="-17" style="background-color:#6F6"|▲17
|-
|Connecticut || 5,543|| 0.146%||48|| 7||data-sort-value="-41" style="background-color:#0F0"|▲41
|-
|Delaware || 2,489|| 0.066%||49|| 8||data-sort-value="-41" style="background-color:#0F0"|▲41
|-
|Rhode Island || 1,545|| 0.041%||50||39||data-sort-value="-11" style="background-color:#6F6"|▲11
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:A More Fair Map
:Instead of giving more area to larger states, this map improves fairness by sizing the states alphabetically.
:[A labeled map of the United States where states are resized based on their alphabetical order]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:US maps]]
[[Category:Geography]]

2925: Earth Formation Site

2024-04-26T19:15:02Z

172.71.150.128: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2925
| date = April 26, 2024
| title = Earth Formation Site
| image = earth_formation_site_2x.png
| imagesize = 478x521px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = It's not far from the sign marking the exact latitude and longitude of the Earth's core.
}}

{{comic
| number = 2925
| date = April 26, 2024
| title = Earth Formation Site
| image = Earth_Formation_Site.png
| imagesize = 589x302px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = It's not far from the sign marking the exact latitude and longitude of the Earth's core.
}}

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

In this comic, Cueball stands in front of a sign that declares itself to be a historical location. Typically, these signs are placed at precise locations where historical events happened (such as where battles have been fought, or where people of note were born, or resided, or accomplished something, or died). However, the event in question on the sign is the formation of the Earth, which cannot be pinned down to one precise location on Earth, and therefore this sign could be placed just as well anywhere on Earth.

It may also be of interest to note that due to the Sun's 225-million year long orbit around the center of the Milky Way galaxy, the sign is misleading, as the exact location at the time of formation within the galaxy is unclear.

The date on the sign is also ridiculously precise, in keeping with the information usually found on historical markers but absurd in the context of the [https://science.nasa.gov/exoplanets/how-do-planets-form/ tens or hundreds of millions of years] thought to be required for planet formation.

The title text refers to the 'coordinates of the Earth's core'. Since all coordinates, when superimposed on a globe, converge at the Earth's core, this reinforces the idea that no singular location can be picked as the exact location where the Earth formed.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Generated by EARTH — Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

(Cueball is standing in front of a sign in a field of grass. The sign reads:)

HISTORICAL MARKER

EARTH FORMATION SITE

~ 4,450,000,000 BCE ~

At this location in the year 4,450,000,000 BCE, a cloud of dust and gas gravitationally collapsed to form the Earth.

{{comic discussion}}

2704: Faucet

2022-11-29T02:38:21Z

172.71.150.128:

{{comic
| number = 2704
| date = November 28, 2022
| title = Faucet
| image = faucet_2x.png
| imagesize = 315x414px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = It's okay, they can figure out which control positions produce scalding water via a trial-and-error feedback loop with a barely-perceptible 10-second lag.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a SCALDING AND CONFUSED FAUCET - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

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

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2700: Account Problems

2022-11-19T02:31:36Z

172.71.150.128: Undo revision 299249 by InfoManiac (talk)

What was going on with this page? [[User:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)|Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)]] ([[User talk:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)|talk]]) 00:58, 19 November 2022 (UTC)

:Vandalism. I mentioned it on the [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Admin requests|Admin requests]] page. It's getting reverted back to normal pretty quickly when it happens, but it will probably keep happening until an admin bans the person doing it, or the person doing it gets bored and stops on their own. [[User:Equites|Equites]] ([[User talk:Equites|talk]]) 01:05, 19 November 2022 (UTC)

are two nazis actually in an edit war or is it just one person astroturfing --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.100|162.158.63.100]] 01:18, 19 November 2022 (UTC)

I'm trying to combat it, but I'll only be able to keep this up for around another 20 minutes or so. [[User:InfoManiac|InfoManiac]] ([[User talk:InfoManiac|talk]]) 01:21, 19 November 2022 (UTC)

:Is TheusafBot ofline or something? Generally it handles this sort of stuff pretty well--[[User:Mapron01|Mapron01]] ([[User talk:Mapron01|talk]]) 01:44, 19 November 2022 (UTC)
::Theusafaggotry couldn't code a bot properly if his life depended on it. -- [[User:172.71.150.169|172.71.150.169]] ([[User talk:172.71.150.169|talk]]) ''(please sign your comments with <nowiki>~~</nowiki>~~)''
:::Man, what a pathetic life you must have, that you need to call peopl faggot online and troll to get a shred of attention and entretainment --[[User:Mapron01|Mapron01]] ([[User talk:Mapron01|talk]]) 02:05, 19 November 2022 (UTC)
::::Hitler did nothing wrong. Sieg Heil! --[[User:Mapron01|Mapron01]] (killer of n1ggers and jews) ([[User talk:Mapron01|talk]]) 02:17, 19 November 2022 (UTC)
::I'm pretty sure Hitler was right. Sieg Heil! [[User:Starstar|Starstar]] ([[User talk:Starstar|talk]]) 02:23, 19 November 2022 (UTC)

This reminds me of the time I used a character in my password that was the "stty kill" character for one workstation's default console terminal settings. I normally logged in via ssh, and occasionally logged in via xdm, but the time I tried logging in via the console, it really didn't like what was left of my password. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.180|162.158.62.180]] 01:25, 19 November 2022 (UTC)
:Ah, the good old days when ordinary printing characters were used for erase and kill. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 01:43, 19 November 2022 (UTC)

Vandals are just looking for a fun time, generally. Solution: make it not a fun time for them. Revert their edits dryly, patiently, with no particular comment or anything. Eventually they will get bored and find something else to do. Or, perhaps they'll sit there vandalizing while we revert them, we dozens against probably just one vandal. But if you make your irritation clear, that's "fun" to them, and they'll keep at it with renewed vigour. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.239|108.162.216.239]] 01:37, 19 November 2022 (UTC)

2700: Account Problems

2022-11-19T02:31:17Z

172.71.150.128: Undo revision 299252 by Starstar (talk) soysoy

{{comic
| number = 2700
| date = November 18, 2022
| title = Account Problems
| image = account_problems_2x.png
| imagesize = 1px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = [[File:Osama bin Laden portrait.jpg]] arab soyjak lives
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a heckin' wholesome soyjak}}

<pre>>YOU WILL WEAR THE MASK
>YOU WILL SOCIALLY DISTANCE
>YOU WILL FOLLOW THE ARROWS
>YOU WILL CLAP FOR OUR HEALTH HEROES
>YOU WILL OBEY THE CURFEW
>YOU WILL STOP SEEING YOUR LOVED ONES
>YOU WILL REPORT DISSENTERS
>YOU WILL GIVE UP YOUR PRIVACY AND FREEDOM
>YOU WILL USE NEWSPEAK SUCH AS "COVIDIOT" AND "KAREN"
>YOU WILL EMBRACE MASS SURVEILLANCE ADVERTISED AS "TEST AND TRACE"
>YOU WILL TAKE THE TEST
>YOU WILL BE SODOMIZED, TO TEST FOR COVID-19
>YOU WILL SELF ISOLATE
>YOU WILL TAKE THE GENE MODIFYING "VACCINE"
>YOU WILL BE MARKED WITH THE DIGITAL "SMART TATTOO" MICROCHIP
>YOU WILL BE PLACED IN DEATH CAMPS IF YOU RESIST
>YOU WILL EMBRACE THE GREAT RESET, THE FORTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
>YOU WILL REJECT GOD
>YOU WILL LIVE IN THE SMART CITY
>YOU WILL LIVE IN THE POD
>YOU WILL EAT THE BUGS
>YOU WILL EAT THE SHIT CAPSULES
>YOU WILL DRINK THE COCKROACH "MILK"
>YOU WILL GIVE UP EVERYTHING YOU OWN
>YOU WILL RENT EVERYTHING, INCLUDING YOUR CLOTHES
>YOU WILL ONLY USE THE APPROVED PRODUCTS AND SERVICES PROVIDED BY FAGMAN
>YOU WILL ONLY BE ALLOWED SELF DRIVING ELECTRIC CARS
>YOU WILL EMBRACE THE CASHLESS SYSTEM
>YOU WILL TRADE IN CARBON CREDITS
>YOU WILL CONNECT WITH NEURALINK
>YOU WILL HAVE PROPAGANDA BEAMED INTO YOUR MIND, INCLUDING SISSY HYPNO
>YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO LEAVE YOUR ASSIGNED QUARANTINE REGION
>YOU WILL EMBRACE OUR NEW WORLD ORDER
>YOU WILL ACCEPT THEIR VERSION OF HISTORY
>YOU WILL ACCEPT THE NEW NORMAL
>YOU WILL OWN NOTHING
>AND YOU WILL BE HAPPY.</pre>

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon, under penalty of heckin' thrembosis.}}

<pre>>The soldiers on Omaha beach died to use tough at the end of their sentences?? MANDELA EFFECT i thought it was for biblically-accurate basedjaks listening to so-bad-it's-good lofi hip hop Plastic Love like in my uncanny valley immersive sim lost media metroidvania-inspired mature animes with no Ludonarrative dissonance because it's almost as if, for less than the cost of a Big Mac, fries and a coke, you can vote with your wallet and buy techwear and asmr pc music in the liminal spaces at the same femboy hooters where john lennon used to beat his wife like an irl boss battle along with the other low-end karens and male manipulaters who gatekeeped and gaslit the /mu/core prequel memes that fact checked that part of neon evangelion where the pope existed in the cars universe during a fucking pandemic like how Ed Edd n Eddy took place in purgatory or how Yakuza John Wick literally made comfy trope threads that trusted the science saying that an inheritance is just your relatives dropping loot when they die, though[1][2][3][6][11][14][19][22][24][25][28][33][39]. Fuck Jim Morrison.

</pre>

{{:{{LATESTCOMIC}}}}

[[Category:Sneed's Feed and Seed]]
[[Category:Wholesome]]

2700: Account Problems

2022-11-19T02:03:17Z

172.71.150.128:

2700: Account Problems

2022-11-19T01:22:40Z

172.71.150.128: Undo revision 299143 by InfoManiac (talk) kike janny

2700: Account Problems

2022-11-19T01:22:07Z

172.71.150.128: Undo revision 299141 by InfoManiac (talk) kike

2700: Account Problems

2022-11-19T01:10:21Z

172.71.150.128: Undo revision 299121 by 162.158.146.5 (talk) regardless, kikes are subhuman, but not as much so as jannies

2700: Account Problems

2022-11-19T00:56:31Z

172.71.150.128: So, when Chuck owned the shop, it would have been called "Chuck's Fuck and Suck".

2693: Wirecutter Recommendation

2022-11-03T22:09:46Z

172.71.150.128: /* Explanation */ this does exist

{{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 be strange to choose one's own favorite movie based on a website's recommendation.
|-
|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||Your college major will influence the rest of your life significantly, and your choice should depend on your prior personal experiences. Basing your choice on Wirecutter, something completely unrelated to college, is likely a bad idea. As with "Neighborhood", any recommendations can only be based on empirical data like employment availability, tuition cost vs. expected salary, etc.
|-
|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.
|-
|Religion||Bad||Do ''Not'' base your religious worldview off of 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.
|-
|}

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?" He seems skeptical, however, of their reasons that their reviews should be trusted. This is ironic because "Why you should trust us" is an epistemological question roughly equivalent to, "how do you know we know which philosophy of epistemology is best?" If Wirecutter is capable of making "great" choices of best philosophies of epistemology surely they should be able to apply them to that epistemological question effectively. If not, maybe selection and application are fundamentally different, another epistemological question.

==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]]