explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Comic series

2025-04-05T04:01:46Z

172.71.214.210: /* Other series */

Some of the strips in [[xkcd]] are directly related to each other, rather than simply sharing a recurring [[:Category:Comics by topic|topic]].

'''Click''' to expand for a more detailed explanation:
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==Explanation==
Several of these series have been released in a series of five consecutively released comics using all five regular days in a week (like for instance with [[:Category:Secretary|Secretary]]). This occurred several times between 2006 and 2010. But since then no series were released like this, although some series were released but with long separation between releases. That was until October 2016, when the "strange" series [[:Category:Time traveling Sphere|Time traveling Sphere]] were released. In the explanation for that series the strangeness of its release is discussed, relating back to how other series mentioned here have been released.

===True series===

*Here is a chronological list of all (32 as of 2025) true series (removing those made for explaining certain aspects of xkcd without being a series in any clear way on xkcd).
**A series first becomes a series when it is clear that it will be a series, i.e. usually when the second comic in the series is released. It is thus not the first comic that determines the date for a series, but the second.
**The list here below is sorted after that date, when the second comic where released.
#[[:Category:The Boy and his Barrel|The Boy and his Barrel]]
##A six-comic series released over one and a half month from September 2005. The series features [[Barrel Boy]], a character that is different from what would quickly become the xkcd [[stick figure]] style. The first comic in the series was [[1: Barrel - Part 1]] showing that there were more than one in the series, and the next five parts (including [[20: Ferret]]) were released within 2 months of each other. The normal schedule was not in place at that time, and the first two parts where [[:Category:First day on LiveJournal|released on the same day]] on [[LiveJournal]], and they were not released in the order they are shown on [[xkcd]] today. The numbering of the comics was changed from [[:Category:Posted on LiveJournal|that on LiveJournal]] when {{xkcd}} went live in 2006. So [[1: Barrel - Part 1]] was not the first xkcd comic.
#[[:Category:Red Spiders|Red Spiders]]
##A four (or five to seven) comic series released over more than half a year from September 2005 to June 2006. The first comic was [[8: Red spiders]], released on the first day (as with Barrel above), but it first became a series when [[43: Red Spiders 2]] was released two month later with the same title and a number. A month later [[47: Counter-Red Spiders]] came out. The last true comic in the series was [[126: Red Spiders Cometh]] released half a year later. Only those four uses "Red Spiders" in the title. But later Red Spiders where depicted again (as in [[427: Bad Timing]]), but those were call backs to the original series rather than as a true part of the series.
#[[:Category:Opening dialogue by Scott|Opening dialogue by Scott]]
##A three comic series released consecutive over the last part of a week. They were released the first week after xkcd comics where no longer released on LiveJournal but only released on xkcd. The first was released on January 31st 2006. The first comic released that week and only on xkcd was not part of this series. So when [[Randall]] wished to have all these three with the same title text (''Opening dialogue by Scott'') in the same week, the first [[57: Wait For Me]] was released already on the Tuesday after the Monday release. This was the first time a series had been released consecutively in a week. But the three comics where not directly related.
#[[:Category:Parody Week|Parody Week]]
##A five comic series released over five consecutive days from Monday-Friday in August 2006. It was the first time of six that this occurred. The theme was the same, parodying other web comics, but there were no connection between the comics themselves.
#[[:Category:Choices|Choices]]
##A five comic series released over five consecutive days from Monday-Friday in May 2007. It was the second series released like this, but it was the first time of four that the five comics of such a series were directly connected in a continuation story line.
#[[:Category:1337|1337]]
##A five comic series released over five consecutive days from Monday-Friday in November 2007. It was the second series released like this where the five comics were directly connected in a continuation story line.
#[[:Category:Journal|Journal]]
##A five comic series released over about five month the first [[374: Journal]] in January 2008. It first became a series when the second comic [[377: Journal 2]] was released a week later at the end of January with a “2” to indicate that this was a series. Each of the first four comic was released in different weeks, the third first in April and the fourth in June. But the last comic [[433: Journal 5]] was released the next release day (Friday) after [[432: Journal 4]]. This is the only series that behaves like this. Apart from that it behaves like the other five comics in one week series, with a number indicating it is a series. This thus makes it the fifth comic with five comics that are directly and chronologically ordered. (The Barrel series is in some way similar, but cannot really be considered as being the same type as this and the other four consecutive comics).
# [[:Category:Secretary|Secretary]]
##A five comic series released over five consecutive days from Monday-Friday at the end of October 2008. It was the third series released like this where the five comics were directly connected in a continuation story line.
# [[:Category:Well|Well]]
##A two comic series released with about two weeks between them. When the first comic [[561: Well]] was released in March 2009 it was not a series. That was first obvious when [[568: Well 2]] was released in April. It is the first time that Randall made a two comic series like this by adding a 2 after the title of a previous comic. But this happened several times later, but then not always with a continuing storyline as in Well. Of course the numbering like this was also used for Journal and Red Spiders, but both of these had more comics in their series.
#[[:Category:The Race|The Race]]
##A five comic series released over five consecutive days from Monday-Friday at the beginning of May 2009. It was the fourth and last series released like this (as of 2025) where the five comics were directly connected in a continuation story line. But one more series were released like this the year after, but those comics stories where not related.
#[[:Category:Android|Android]]
##A two comic series released with less than two weeks between them. When the first comic [[595: Android Girlfriend]] was released in June 2009 it was not a series. That was first obvious when [[600: Android Boyfriend]] was released later that month. It was the first series where it was only part of the title that made it clear it was a series. And no numbering was used. The plot though also makes the connection clear. A similar connection between comics in series was not seen before ''Time traveling Sphere'' seven years later (see below).
#[[:Category:Online Communities|Online Communities]]
##A two comic series released with more than three years between the first [[256: Online Communities]] in May 2007, and the second [[802: Online Communities 2]] from October 2010. It was first the latter that with the same title and a number 2 made it into a series. This is the reason it is first listed chronologically here. It was not a series in 2007. Adding the number “2” to make it into a series is like the Well series, and this was the second time that happened.
#[[:Category:Five-minute comics|Five-minute comics]]
##A three comic series released consecutively over a week using the normal release schedule in the middle of November 2010. This is the second time a series has been released with three in one week, following the Opening dialogue by Scott in 2006 (but that time there were four comics in the week, one not belonging to the series). It is thus the only time that a week with three comics only where all released as a series. It was the first of two weeks in a row with series. Both series were made to give Randall some time to cope with his wife’s cancer.
#[[:Category:Guest Week|Guest Week]]
##A five comic series released over five consecutive days from Monday-Friday at the end of November 2010. It is so far (as of 2016) the last time of six that this occurred. The theme was the same, with five web comic artist making guest appearances on xkcd, so there were no connections between the comics themselves. It is the second time this happened, the first time was the first five day series in August 2006. It was the second of two weeks in a row with series. Both series were made to give Randall some time to cope with his wife’s cancer. Since this comic there has never been released more than three comics in a week. Also until October 2016 with the ''Time traveling Sphere'' there were never two comics directly related which were released as two consecutive comic in the same week (see below). But the next series Etymology-Man from 2012 also had two comics released in the same week, but they where not released consecutively and also there where no continued story from the first to the second.
#[[:Category:Etymology-Man|Etymology-Man]]
##A two comic series released during one week with another unrelated comic in between. When the first comic [[1010: Etymology-Man]] was released on Monday January 30th 2012 it was not a series. That was first obvious when [[1012: Wrong Superhero]] was released Friday of the same week. There is no story-line connection between the two, but Etymology-Man from the first is the wrong superhero in the next. It was the first time that two comics in a series is released in the same week without comming back to back. See more about this in the explanation above for Guest Week. But the same happened again in ISS Solar Transit series in 2017.
#[[:Category:xkcd Phones|xkcd Phones]]
##A nine comic series (as of 2025) released over more than nine years between the first [[1363: xkcd Phone]] in May 2014 and the latest [[2831: xkcd Phone Flip]], from September 2023. It was first with the release of the second [[1465: xkcd Phone 2]] in December 2014 with the same title and a number 2 that it became a series. Adding a number to a title has been used like this two times before, but it is the first of this kind of series to progress beyond 2, so far all the way to 6. Only in Journal (that went to 5) did the numbering without including "part" progress beyond 2, and that was a true series where the story was connected. This is also what makes this a special type of series in xkcd not seen before, as it is clear that these are a series, but they are not connected as a story. Since then a few other comics have used the same system and reached at least 3, also where the comics are not part of a directly continued story. These are the Substitution series, where there as here are no relation except concept, Stargazing, where there is a bit more connection but no continuation and Code Quality, that reached three and then contkinued with different titles in the same series, thus reminding a but about the phone series. There where also other comics that progressed to getting a 2 after the name of the first. But that has already been seen before. After number six the number did not just go one up (2-6 for the second to sixth), but used 2000 to coincide with it being comic 2000 on xkcd. But then the next, number eight, used the number 12 as it was released near the release of {{w|iPhone 12}}. Finally the ninth was called xkcd Phone Flip, not even using a number to make fun of phones where the screen can be folded. This is by now the longest series with most comics connected to it (9 vs 8 in the Bad Map Projection series) and also the longest time span, with more than 9 years vs. close to eight years for the map series.
#[[:Category:Exoplanet Names|Exoplanet Names]]
##A two comic series released with almost a year between the first [[1253: Exoplanet Names]] in August 2013, and the second [[1555: Exoplanet Names 2]] from July 2014. It was first the latter that with the same title and a number 2 made it into a series. This is the reason it is first listed chronologically here. It was not a series in 2013. Adding the number “2” to make it into a series is like the Well series, and this was the fourth time that happened and so far. These two comics are not connected as a story, rather the second is an update to the list made in the first, even including most of the first list. this made this into a special type of series, in someway related to the xkcd phone series above. The first of these two comics came out before the first phone comic, but the second phone comic came before the second of these, thus explaining the chronology. And as opposed to the phone series this has not continued beyond 2.
#[[:Category:Synonym Movies|Synonym Movies]]
##A two comic series released with less than two weeks between them. When the first comic [[1563: Synonym Movies]] was released in August 2015 it was not a series. That was first obvious when [[1568: Synonym Movies 2]] was released later that month. Adding the number “2” to make it into a series is like the Well series, and this was the fifth time that happened. There is no story-line connection between the two, but the idea is the same, showing DVD boxes with real movie titles changed using synonyms.
#[[:Category:Substitution series|Substitution series]]
##A three comic series (as of 2016) released over almost three years between the first [[1288: Substitutions]] in November 2013 to the third [[1679: Substitutions 3]] from May 2016, It first became a series with the second comic [[1625: Substitutions 2]] released in January 2016, explaining why it is placed after the two above. Adding the number “2” to make it into a series is like the Well series, and this was the sixth time that happened. It is not a continuing series, but rather the same concept used again, more related to the xkcd Phone or Exoplanet names above, than to a comic series like Well. It was for long the only series, with numbers added, released like this over long time, that was at only three releases. But in February 2020 the [[:Category:Stargazing|Stargazing]] series also got a third installment.
# [[:Category:Code Quality|Code Quality]]
##A five comic series (so far as of April 2019) released with exactly four years years between the first and so far last in the series. When the first comic [[1513: Code Quality]] was released on the 17th of April 2015 it was not a series. That was first obvious when [[1695: Code Quality 2]] was released in June 2016. This series reminds of Well and Android, but with much longer time between the two releases. Adding the number “2” to make it into a series is like the Well series, and this was the seventh time that happened. And then it continued with [[1833: Code Quality 3]] in May 2017 still adding to the number. It then changed the naming in [[1926: Bad Code]], which clearly belonged to the other three. This was released in December 2017. And has so far the series ended with yet another comic that changed the name again, this time to [[2138: Wanna See the Code?]] released on the 17th of April 2019, on the four year anniversary of the first in the series.
#[[:Category:Time traveling Sphere|Time traveling Sphere]]
##A two comic series released over two consecutive but normal release day in the same week (a Monday and a Wednesday) in the middle of October 2016. This was a very strange release in many ways, and that has been described in great detail in the series category. Since then the same happened with Alien Visitors but on the last two days of the week not the first two. It was first clear that this was a series with the Wednesday release [[1748: Future Archaeology]] but not from the title which has very little direct relation to the first title [[1747: Spider Paleontology]], but the plot was clearly a continuation of the first comic. The series could in principle continue later, but it did not fill out the entire week, and stopped at those two.
#[[:Category:Bad Map Projections|Bad Map Projections]]
##So far four comics have been released over more than four years, but given the Map projections have numbers between 45 and 358 there could be many more to come.
##The first was released on January 11th 2017, it was <nowiki>#107</nowiki>: [[1784: Bad Map Projection: Liquid Resize]]. And it became a series with the second comic released just a little more than a month later on February 15th with <nowiki>#79</nowiki>: [[1799: Bad Map Projection: Time Zones]]. The third, came almost three years later, and had <nowiki>#358</nowiki>: [[2256: Bad Map Projection: South America]]. It was released in January 2020. And one and a half year later the fourth <nowiki>#299</nowiki> [[2489: Bad Map Projection: The Greenland Special]] came out in July 2021. This was followed by <nowiki>#248</nowiki>: [[2613: Bad Map Projection: Madagascator|Madagascator]] in April 2022, then <nowiki>#152</nowiki>: [[2807: Bad Map Projection: ABS(Longitude)|ABS(Longitude)]] in Jyly 2023, <nowiki>#45</nowiki>: [[2951: Bad Map Projection: Exterior Kansas|2951: Exterior Kansas]] in June 2024 and finally so far with the 8th <nowiki>#102</nowiki>: [[2999: Bad Map Projection: The United Stralia|The United Stralia]] in October 2024. The series seems to be something Randall will return to infrequently, having released comics in the series over a period of almost 8 years. At the moment it is only the xkcd phone series that has more entries with nine comics. also the only series to run over a longer time-span, with more than nine years between first and last release. It is similar to the later comic series Cursed Connectors.
#[[:Category:ISS Solar Transit|ISS Solar Transit]]
##Two comics was released Monday and Friday in the same week. So in the same week as with the ''Time Traveling Sphere'' mentioned above. But having two comics in a series released in the same week with an unrelated comic in between was similar to Etymology-Man from 2012. So this was the second time this release schedule was used.
##The first comic, [[1828: ISS Solar Transit]], was released on Monday April 24, 2017 and the second, [[1830: ISS Solar Transit 2]], four days later on Friday April 28, 2017. Adding the number “2” to make it into a series is like the Well series, and this was the eight time that happened.
#[[:Category:X Years|X Years]]
##A three comic series (as of 2020) released over eight years between the first [[1141: Two Years]] from November 2012 to the third [[2386: Ten Years]] from November 2020.
##It first became a series with the second comic [[1928: Seven Years]] released in December 2017, five years later, duh! This is the date that is used to arrange it in this list.
##The series is about how many years it has been since Randall's wife's cancer diagnosis.
#[[:Category:Stargazing|Stargazing]]
##A four comic series released over just a bit more than four years between the first [[1644: Stargazing]] in February 2017 to the third [[2274: Stargazing 3]] from February 2020 to fourth ??? from April 2025.
##It first became a series with the second comic [[2017: Stargazing 2]] released in July 2018, one and a half year after the first, explaining why it is placed after the three above. Adding the number “2” to make it into a series is like the Well series, and this was the ninth time that happened. Only a few comics have reached 3 like this.
##Once again a series where the follow up comics just adds a number to the title.
#[[:Category:Horror Movies|Horror Movies]]
##A two comic series released with six and a half weeks between them. When the first comic [[2056: Horror Movies]] was released in October 2018 it was not a series. That was first obvious when [[2076: Horror Movies 2]] was released towards the end of November 2018. Adding the number “2” to make it into a series is like the Well series, and this was the tenth time that happened. The second comic continues the discussion of "why horror movies exists" directly from the first comic.
#[[:Category:Coronavirus Genome|Coronavirus Genome]]
##A two comic series released over two consecutive but normal release day Friday and Monday (a first that it went over two weeks but still consecutive). The first comic [[2298: Coronavirus Genome]] was released at the end of April 2020.
##It was first clear that this was going to be a series with the Monday release [[2299: Coronavirus Genome 2]]. Adding the number “2” to make it into a series is like the Well series, and this was the eleventh time that happened.
#[[:Category:Old Days|Old Days]]
##A two comic series released with almost 3.5 years between the. When the first comic [[1755: Old Days]] was released in November 2016 it was not a series. That was first obvious when [[2324: Old Days 2]] was released in June 2020. Adding the number “2” to make it into a series is like the Well series, and this was the twelfth time that happened. The second comic continues the discussion of programming in the old days - directly from the first comic in spite of more than 3 years between them.
##Once again a series where the second comic just adds a "2" to the title. And once again one with long time between the first and the second comic, that made it a series.
#[[:Category:Scale World|Scale World]]
##A three comic series released during January 2021. The first [[2411: 1/10,000th Scale World]] from Wednesday January 13th 2021, was followed by [[2412: 1/100,000th Scale World]] in the next release on Friday January 15th 2021, thus making it into a series. And then the third [[2417: 1/1,000th Scale World]] came 14 days after the first on Wednesday January 27th 2021.
##The series depicts people walking on such scaled world, and what problems that could give, to them or the world.
##It was the first time that the two last comics of a week was connected into a series like this. And the second time that two connected comics where released consecutively in the same week. The first time this happened was with Time traveling Sphere, where the two comics where the first two of the week. But this series then had a third installment later, making it a one of kind release type for a series. The next series Alien Visitors used the same release of the two last comics of a week.
#[[:Category:Alien Visitors|Alien Visitors]]
##A two comic series released over two consecutive but normal release day Wednesday and Friday. The first comic [[2477: Alien Visitors]] was released 2021-06-16.
##It was first clear that this was going to be a series with the Friday release [[2478: Alien Visitors 2]] on 2021-06-18. Adding the number “2” to make it into a series is like the Well series, and this was the 13th time that happened. It was the second time that the two last comics of a week was connected into a series like this, see above under Scale World for the first.
#[[:Category:Cursed Connectors|Cursed Connectors]]
##So far seven comics have been released over two and half year, but given the connectors have numbers from 46 to 280 there could be many more to come.
##The first was released on July 23rd 2021, it was <nowiki>#187</nowiki>: [[2493: Dual USB-C]]. And it became a series with the second comic released just two comics later the next week on July 28th with <nowiki>#65</nowiki>: [[2495: Universal Seat Belt]]. ##Since then there have been <nowiki>#102</nowiki>: [[2503: Memo Spike Connector|Memo Spike Connector]] and <nowiki>#280</nowiki>: [[2507: USV-C|USV-C]] both in August 2021, <nowiki>#78</nowiki>: [[2589: Outlet Denier|Outlet Denier]] in March 2022, <nowiki>#120</nowiki>: [[2642: Meta-Alternating Current|Meta-Alternating Current]] i July 2022 and finally <nowiki>#46</nowiki>: [[2880: Sheet Bend|Sheet Bend]] in January 2024.
##It is thus similar to the [[:Category:Bad Map Projections|Bad Map Projections]] series. And is now just one short of the number of bad maps on a much shorter time span.
#[[:Category:Home Inspections|Home Inspections]]
##A two comic series (so far) released with a bit less than two months between the first two. The first comic [[3037: Radon]] was released 2025-01-13.
##It was first clear that this was going to be a series with the release of [[3059: Water Damage]] on 2025-03-05.
##The names where not related but Ponytail inspects Cueball's house with the same device and finds something lacking, which has to do with the planet the house was build on (Earth) rather than with the building it self.
##This was the first new series since July 2021, a span of more than 3,5 years with out a new series. But older series has been continuing during that time span though.

===Other series===
{{incomplete|need to add more explanations for series.}}
Here is a list of the (13 as of 2025) other types of series that has been used for explaining certain aspects of xkcd without being a series in any clear way on xkcd:
#[[:Category:A Smarter Planet|A Smarter Planet]]
##A two comic series from the summer of 2009 made specially for IBM's blog A Smarter Planet, and thus not part of the regular xkcd comics. Although the obviously have been made as a set, their stories are not related in any way, and their titles [[Conservation]] and [[Prescriptions]] are also not related. So they would only make a series because they were made for the same specific reason. 2 unreleased comics included: [[ibm hc 2]] and [[ibm hc 3]].
#[[:Category:April fools' comics]]
#[[:Category:Comics sharing name|Comics sharing name]]
##This category lists comics that share name with another comic, or almost shares name. So many series would be here. But there are also some series like comics that are not directly related in a series, like the new years comics released under the title of the new year. (2012, 2014 and 2016 so far). Many of the comics that share name or almost share name is not in any way part of the same series. The category is mainly used for explaining comics with similar name.
#[[:Category:Confusion matrices|Confusion matrices]]
#[[:Category:COVID-19|COVID-19]]
#[[:Category:Facts]]
#[[:Category:Fun fact]]
#[[:Category:How to annoy]]
#[[:Category:My Hobby|My Hobby]]
#[[:Category:Pet Peeves|Pet Peeves]]
#[[:Category:Protip]]
#[[:Category:Science tip]]
#[[:Category:Sketches|Sketches]]
#[[:Category:Tips]]

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[[Category:Comics|Series]]

2268: Further Research is Needed

2025-03-30T19:31:44Z

172.71.214.210: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 2268
| date = February 14, 2020
| title = Further Research is Needed
| image = further_research_is_needed.png
| titletext = Further research is needed to fully understand how we managed to do such a good job.
}}

==Explanation==

In most scientific fields, it's very common to end research papers with the caveat that "{{w|further research is needed}}", or words to that effect. This is particularly true when reporting results on a topic that's not well studied, and in which there's not enough literature to form a broad consensus. This is a very reasonable suggestion, an individual research project may produce results that suggest a certain conclusion, but it would be foolhardy to take something as established fact based on a single study. Individual studies may produce misleading information, they may have flaws that don't become evident until later, they may be based on assumptions that don't hold up, or the results may end up having an alternate explanation (as when a correlation is found, but does not establish specific causation). It's all too common for science reporters, particularly in low-quality outlets, to draw broad and bold conclusions from a single study, but actual scientists quickly learn to be more cautious. Peer-reviewed papers will generally make clear that conclusions are tentative, and may be modified or even overturned by future research.

This comic's fictional paper, however, ends with a statement that the paper has resolved all the problems about its topic, and that no more research is necessary. Humorously, the authors are so confident in their research skills that they believe that they have solved all the problems in that particular topic that can be solved. Munroe jokes that he'd like to see researchers with "the guts" to make such a proclamation. In real life, doing so would likely damage the reputation of the study's authors, because it would reveal both a breathtaking arrogance and a lack of understanding of the research process. If nothing else, studies need to be replicated, to establish that the initial data gathering was accurate. In addition, no single study could realistically address every aspect, variation and complication in a given topic. It's simply not feasible that a single paper could "[resolve] all remaining questions" on any given topic, and making such a ridiculous claim would badly damage a researcher's credibility. At the same time, if no further research were necessary, every researcher in the field, including the author who wrote the study, would need to either change fields or change careers. The title text ironically states that "further research" ''is'' indeed needed to understand how the researchers who wrote the paper were able to resolve all the problems in that topic or field, thus allowing the researchers to justify future funding for their research.

Perhaps the statement most like this made by a real scientist was by {{w|Albert A. Michelson}}, at the 1894 dedication of the University of Chicago's Reyerson Physical Laboratory: "[I]t seems probable that most of the grand underlying principles have been firmly established and that further advances are to be sought chiefly in the rigorous application of these principles to all the phenomena which come under our notice." (Variants of this statement are sometimes misattributed to {{w|William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin}}.) Even this statement is couched in much less certainty than the concluding statement presented in this comic strip, and sure enough, just eleven years later, {{w|Albert Einstein}} wrote his {{w|Annus Mirabilis papers}}. These four papers explained the photoelectric effect, Brownian motion, special relativity, and mass-energy equivalence, turning established physics on its head. Ironically, Michelson made this statement despite the fact that he himself had upset a major of notion of established physics just seven years before, when the {{w|Michelson-Morley experiment}} demonstrated that the speed of light was constant, disproving the {{w|Aether theories}} then prevalent in physics. This result in turn was part of the inspiration for Einstein's theory of special relativity.

While not strictly research, mathematical papers often conclusively prove something as a verifiable fact, meaning that "further research" (or study) is often not needed (unless of course the results create more questions to be answered).

==Transcript==
:[A panel, representing an excerpt from a scholarly journal, with the last two sentences clearly visible, as well as the beginning of a references section. The text is written with normal capitalization rather than in all caps. The last reference is partally cutout.]
:We believe this resolves all remaining questions on this topic. No further research is needed.
:[horizontal line]
:References
:1.[unreadable text]
:2.[unreadable text]
:3.[unreadable text]
:4.[unreadable text]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Just once, I want to see a research paper with the guts to end this way.

==Trivia==

* The mentioned closure of scientific papers seems to be iconic enough to have an {{w|Further research is needed|Wikipedia article of its own}}. That article, in turn, points to this comic as an "in culture" reference.
* There was a scientific paper by James C. Coyne and Eric van Sonderen from University of Groningen, titled ''[https://www.rug.nl/research/portal/files/6774405/Coyne_2012_J_Psychosom_Res.pdf No further research needed]'', on the necessity of abandoning the Hospital and Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS).
* In 2020, a study titled "Effect of hydroxychloroquine with or without azithromycin on the mortality of COVID-19 patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis" included the text "Our results suggest that there is no need for further studies evaluating these molecules".
* We believe this resolves all remaining questions on this comic. No further explanation is needed.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Scientific research]]

Talk:2206: Mavis Beacon

2025-03-30T19:10:59Z

172.71.214.210:

;So the # key, then?
Shifted or not? The implication is that it is, since that's where ‘~’ is. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.41|141.101.99.41]] 18:44, 23 September 2019 (UTC)
: On a typical German QWERTZ layout keyboard, the tilde key '~' can/must be entered via AltGr++; alternatively, Ctrl+Alt++ should work when there is no AltGr key. On certain "dead key" keyboard layouts, there even is no single and direct '~' key: To type a tilde, one would have to press AltGr++ followed directly by a space or to double-tap + while holding AltGr. This would mean even more complicated or pretty much impossible key combinations that would be needed to be pressed at the same time. However, holding AltGr or Ctrl+Alt to try and type a tilde would probably cancel out the "single" Alt key necessary for the comic's secret key code. So, once you've managed to type a tilde, it likely wouldn't count any more for the key combo, making it impossible to type this key combination on such keyboard. --[[User:Passerby|Passerby]] ([[User talk:Passerby|talk]]) 19:26, 23 September 2019 (UTC)
::I've seen many programs provide hotkey instructions calling the grave key the tilde key due to the difficulty of differentiating between the grave key and the apostrophe key. So I'd assume no shifting is required. [[User:CJB42|CJB42]] ([[User talk:CJB42|talk]]) 01:51, 24 September 2019 (UTC)
:::I don't know if Mavis Beacon was ever internationalized, but it was presumably originally designed for full-sized (non-laptop) U.S. QWERTY 101-key keyboards, where the ~ (tilde) is on the same key as the ` (back-tick) character, and which requires the use of the Shift key to activate. If Mavis Beacon was internationalized, and if this boss reward really existed and was unlocked by a particular key combination, one would hope the key combination would take into account different keyboard layouts. I would also assume that it would not require the shift (or other modifier) key, otherwise they would include that particular modifier key among the list of keys in the combination. So, like CJB42 pointed out, while they would say ~ since that's clearly labeled on the keyboard and easier to display, they really mean ` which might otherwise just look like a smudge. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 19:49, 24 September 2019 (UTC)

The link from Friday's comic to this new one is missing. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 19:21, 23 September 2019 (UTC)
: This page was created by the bot only a short while ago. I may be wrong, but I think those links will be set automagically by such bot at some point after the creation of this page. --[[User:Passerby|Passerby]] ([[User talk:Passerby|talk]]) 19:31, 23 September 2019 (UTC)

Currently, the button on Comic #2205 to go to this comic is missing - someone with more technical expertise than me, please fix this [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.134|172.69.22.134]] 21:07, 23 September 2019 (UTC)
:Fixed it - to do it, go to https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2205:_Types_of_Approximation&action=Purge , this works for any page if you change "2205:_Types_of_Approximation" to what it should be. {{unsigned ip|172.68.174.88}}

Here on a touchscreen the comic hotlinks to https://www.fonts.com/content/learning/fontology/level-3/numbers/oldstyle-figures [[Special:Contributions/172.68.38.64|172.68.38.64]] 19:12, 24 September 2019 (UTC)
:It is also a link on a PC. It has been added to the explanation. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:27, 25 September 2019 (UTC)

;Unicode
Presumably a lot of this could be achieved with Unicode; any advances on 𝟙𝟚𝟛𝟜𝟝𝟞𝟟𝟠𝟡𝟘? [[User:Sabik|Sabik]] ([[User talk:Sabik|talk]]) 05:07, 24 September 2019 (UTC)

Simple means of checking: <pre>
>>> import unicodedata as ucd
>>> for i in range(0x110000):
... c = chr(i)
... if ucd.normalize("NFKD", c)[0] in "0123456789":
... print(c, end=", ")
</pre>

It actually spits out <pre>0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, ², ³, ¹, ¼, ½, ¾, ⁰, ⁴, ⁵, ⁶, ⁷, ⁸, ⁹, ₀, ₁, ₂, ₃, ₄, ₅, ₆, ₇, ₈, ₉, ⅐, ⅑, ⅒, ⅓, ⅔, ⅕, ⅖, ⅗, ⅘, ⅙, ⅚, ⅛, ⅜, ⅝, ⅞, ⅟, ↉, ①, ②, ③, ④, ⑤, ⑥, ⑦, ⑧, ⑨, ⑩, ⑪, ⑫, ⑬, ⑭, ⑮, ⑯, ⑰, ⑱, ⑲, ⑳, ⒈, ⒉, ⒊, ⒋, ⒌, ⒍, ⒎, ⒏, ⒐, ⒑, ⒒, ⒓, ⒔, ⒕, ⒖, ⒗, ⒘, ⒙, ⒚, ⒛, ⓪, ㉑, ㉒, ㉓, ㉔, ㉕, ㉖, ㉗, ㉘, ㉙, ㉚, ㉛, ㉜, ㉝, ㉞, ㉟, ㊱, ㊲, ㊳, ㊴, ㊵, ㊶, ㊷, ㊸, ㊹, ㊺, ㊻, ㊼, ㊽, ㊾, ㊿, ㋀, ㋁, ㋂, ㋃, ㋄, ㋅, ㋆, ㋇, ㋈, ㋉, ㋊, ㋋, ㍘, ㍙, ㍚, ㍛, ㍜, ㍝, ㍞, ㍟, ㍠, ㍡, ㍢, ㍣, ㍤, ㍥, ㍦, ㍧, ㍨, ㍩, ㍪, ㍫, ㍬, ㍭, ㍮, ㍯, ㍰, ㏠, ㏡, ㏢, ㏣, ㏤, ㏥, ㏦, ㏧, ㏨, ㏩, ㏪, ㏫, ㏬, ㏭, ㏮, ㏯, ㏰, ㏱, ㏲, ㏳, ㏴, ㏵, ㏶, ㏷, ㏸, ㏹, ㏺, ㏻, ㏼, ㏽, ㏾, ０, １, ２, ３, ４, ５, ６, ７, ８, ９, 𝟎, 𝟏, 𝟐, 𝟑, 𝟒, 𝟓, 𝟔, 𝟕, 𝟖, 𝟗, 𝟘, 𝟙, 𝟚, 𝟛, 𝟜, 𝟝, 𝟞, 𝟟, 𝟠, 𝟡, 𝟢, 𝟣, 𝟤, 𝟥, 𝟦, 𝟧, 𝟨, 𝟩, 𝟪, 𝟫, 𝟬, 𝟭, 𝟮, 𝟯, 𝟰, 𝟱, 𝟲, 𝟳, 𝟴, 𝟵, 𝟶, 𝟷, 𝟸, 𝟹, 𝟺, 𝟻, 𝟼, 𝟽, 𝟾, 𝟿, 🄀, 🄁, 🄂, 🄃, 🄄, 🄅, 🄆, 🄇, 🄈, 🄉, 🄊</pre>

So unless you're mis-using characters which are not supposed to be numbers (which would change the screenreader experience from annoying in this case to actually unintelligible and is therefore ill-advisable), that's probably the closest you'd get. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.139|141.101.104.139]] 09:35, 24 September 2019 (UTC)

;reductio ad absurdum (or HHOS)

This article, as written, made me laugh out loud even louder than the original cartoon which also made me laugh out loud.

It seems to me that the joke of this strip originated with the idea that there really ARE lowercase numbers (also called oldstyle) which, like glyphs for lowercase letters go below and above the usual line of type. The joke also forces a meta-level of thinking by overlapping the idea of a type-font or type-face and the idea of a character being unique because of its meaning more than because of its appearance. Unicode matches integers to characters - but only in the context of a font does that have to do with the character's glyph - other aspects of characters are things like upper-case v. lower-case, phonetic value, what constitutes proper sort order, which character are digits and which are letters, which are punctuation, etc. etc. etc. A character's appearance, or glyph, (bitmap or set of analog drawing instructions) is only a small part of what makes a character a character. Godel Escher Bach deals with these meta-levels as does Russel's paradox and non-trivial concepts in math, geometry, and science, as well as other fields. As such the joke is a kind of conceptual pun. However. The joke could be taken one level further by actually making a TrueType font which really does have uppercase and lowercase numbers - like a dingbat font, but where the uppercase-ness and lowercase-ness of the characters are kept, but the glyphs of a thru j are lowercase (oldstyle) numbers and the glyphs of Z thru J are uppercase (taken from the cartoon) numbers - 0 thru 9 could be Lining Figures digits. If the font was designed using SVG (and a SVG to TrueType converter) the entire SVG file could be created with the keyboard, using only 7-bit ascii (which is a subset of UTF-8, Codepage 437, Codepage 850, Codepage 1252 and many others) and XML character entities.

I am also surprised that no one has mentioned the old DOS/Windows ALT+Numeric-Keyboard trick for entering any one-byte character - which really worked with real keyboards (and I think is still supported in MS Word). There was a time when a clever hacker could use this and the DOS prompt to create a executable by COPY CON FOO.COM - which would fit nicely with the text "use this power wisely". But maybe I am reading too much into it.

Citations:

* https://www.techsupportalert.com/content/how-easily-insert-special-symbols-and-characters-windows-part-i.htm
* https://www.techsupportalert.com/content/how-easily-insert-special-symbols-and-characters-windows-part-ii.htm
** EnableHexNumpad

* https://www.minitool.com/news/alt-codes-not-working-on-windows-10.html

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_page_437
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_page_850
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows-1252
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UTF-8
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byte_order_mark

* https://www.computerhope.com/jargon/c/copycon.htm
* https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2354560/creating-an-executable-file-without-a-compiler
* https://colinord.blogspot.com/2015/02/extreme-programming-hand-coded.html

* https://onlineconvertfree.com/convert-format/svg-to-ttf/
* https://www.w3schools.com/graphics/svg_intro.asp
* https://www.tutorialspoint.com/xml/xml_character_entities.htm

* http://unicode.org/faq/casemap_charprop.html

* Insert the ANSI character
** https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/keyboard-shortcuts-in-word-95ef89dd-7142-4b50-afb2-f762f663ceb2#PickTab=Windows

[[User:BrianFennell|BrianFennell]] ([[User talk:BrianFennell|talk]]) 19:11, 7 February 2021 (UTC)

;Trochees
To tie this to a recurring theme in Mr. Munroe's comics... "Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing - Heroes on the half shell." [[User:Ryanker|Ryanker]] ([[User talk:Ryanker|talk]]) 20:14, 23 September 2019 (UTC)
: "Number Maven Mavis Beacon" also fits such a pattern. [[User:Enfield|Enfield]] ([[User talk:Enfield|talk]]) 17:56, 25 September 2019 (UTC)

Is it worth mentioning "Typing of the Dead" and its sequel?--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.210|162.158.34.210]] 14:53, 24 September 2019 (UTC)
:It appears you have. So perhaps the former but not the latter? ;-) {{unsigned ip|172.68.47.66}}

I just wish to say hello to all others here who first experienced Mavis Beacon Typing Tutor back in the day. It was one of the few 'games' with graphics (that weren't CGA!) that was on that early PC of mine, albeit in monochrome (green on black) because of the limitations of that Hercules graphics card/chip/whatever-it-was. That and a 'Digger' game (a clone/ripoff of DigDug, it seems). Ah, nostalgia. I wonder if I can still use my old Psion Xchange suit? Time to dig up a working 5¼” drive and fit it to whatever ATAPI-enabled Mobos I can find... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.61|162.158.154.61]] 17:32, 25 September 2019 (UTC)

;Playing the same game for 30 years is rare [citation needed]

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Solitaire Windows Solitaire] was introduced on 22 May 1990. So we are less than a year from having a game that many people could have been playing for 30 years. [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 03:52, 29 September 2019 (UTC)

I like this one! I've often been irritated by the lack of a concept of capital numbers, and this is a great design. Get on it, Unicode consortium! 😜 (oh, and don't forget the arbitrary-length snakes!) [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 08:54, 30 September 2019 (UTC)

;The capital numbers remind me of transdecimal numerals:

These were invented by Michael De Vlieger to represent digits in bases higher than ten. That three-holed-eight looks a lot like the numeral for 256...
http://www.vincico.com/arqam/digits/argam-current.html

Does the zero look like a very simply drawn Death Star to anyone else? No? Just me then? Okay, just checking. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:02, 18 October 2019 (UTC)

; Capital numbers

When I was in first grade, one of my classmates insisted that he could write capital numbers despite the teacher's objections. He never demonstrated, though. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.142|172.68.174.142]] 01:08, 1 December 2023 (UTC)

; Latex

Are Latex Uppercase Numbers related? [[User:ChristmasGospel|ChristmasGospel]] ([[User talk:ChristmasGospel|talk]]) 17:02, 10 July 2024 (UTC)

; Similar fonts

*[https://www.myfonts.com/collections/ff-yokkmokk-font-fontfont?cjdata=MXxOfDB8WXww&utm_source=cj&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=Identifont&cjevent=792c14e50d9a11f080a7013b0a18b8f6&utm_cid=5919915&utm_pid=100479556&utm_sid= Yokkmokk]

315: Braille

2024-01-12T12:10:12Z

172.71.214.210: Italicized the "SIGHTation needed" tag to better fit with the general purpose "citation needed" tag

{{comic
| number = 315
| date = September 12, 2007
| title = Braille
| image = braille.png
| titletext = The only big difference I've seen is in colors. Where the regular text reads 'press red button', the braille reads 'press two-inch button'.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Braille}} is a writing system for the blind and {{w|Visual impairment|visually impaired}} using bumps on a paper, slate, etc. However, since most sighted people have no need for braille, and because braille messages may need to convey purely-visual information to blind people, the braille message may be adjusted from the original message. In this case, however, it acts as a jab toward people who are not blind, saying that "sighted people suck," which is obviously not something you would typically see ([[559: No Pun Intended|no pun intended]]) on informational signs.<nowiki>[</nowiki>[[285:_Wikipedian_Protester|''SIGHTation needed'']]<nowiki>]</nowiki> Similar "translations" can be found when one deciphers the alien translations on nearly all signs in Futurama.

The title text shows a practical (and more realistic) example of where regular text and braille text may differ. As the visually impaired cannot see color{{Citation needed}}, the label would need to identify some other defining feature of the button in question, such as the given measurement.

==Transcript==
:I learned to read braille a while back, and I've noticed that the messages on signs don't always match the regular text.
:[A sign reads "Third Floor Office" with braille print underneath. Cueball is reading the braille.]
:Cueball (thinking): s-i-g-h-t-e-d-p-e-o-p-l-e-s-u-c-k ... Hey!

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

Talk:370: Redwall

2023-12-21T03:24:29Z

172.71.214.210:

;Religious Objections to Redwall do exist
Reading Redwall as a religious child, I got quite angry at all the subtle digs at religion. It's quite clear that the Redwall universe has no gods, other than ascended heroes, who usually just reincarnate anyway. The churches and monasteries don't seem to have any particular reason for existing. All the bad guys are named after notable Christian saints/monks. [[Special:Contributions/66.202.132.250|66.202.132.250]] 16:16, 5 June 2013 (UTC)
:That's because Redwall never took the world by storm or was a craze everybody had heard about. It's easier to take a stand on and rally support against something that's in the cultural mainstream, appearing everywhere you turn. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.214.210|172.71.214.210]] 03:24, 21 December 2023 (UTC)
:Worth noting, there is technically no explicit reference to 'Satan' in the text of any Redwall novel. -- [[User:Observer14|Observer14]] ([[User talk:Observer14|talk]]) 23:22, 5 January 2014 (UTC)
::No one says "by Satan's whiskers"? That seems a very odd point for the comic to make groundlessly... Is it possible you ran the Find on a revised edition?
::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 20:58, 19 December 2023 (UTC)

I think someone should explain what a "jinx" is, in reference to the first panel. I know what it is myself, I'm just not good enough with words to explain it, and I forgot how one gets "un-jinxed".[[User:Codefreak5|Codefreak5]] ([[User talk:Codefreak5|talk]]) 08:17, 14 July 2014 (UTC)

There was a moment during "Mossflower" where Martin, almost dead from his fight with the wildcat queen lady woman, was conversing with a dead badger lord through the gates of whatever their afterlife is, though you get the impression it's Heaven (or some place where the good beasts go). Also sorry to burst Observer14's bubble but in Redwall there is that moment when one of the rats in Cluny's army (or however you spell it) gets killed by their out-of-control hay cart and Cluny says, "Tell the devil Cluny sent you." {{unsigned ip|173.245.50.117}}
:I suspect Observer14 was making the point that the Devil and Satan are not the same person, Biblically. Ha-Satan ("The Opposer") is an angel from the Job story, whose job appears to be to advocate against people. The Devil figure doesn't really appear until centuries later in Christianity, and not in any Jewish writings. Conflating Satan with the Devil (and with the Serpent) is a surprisingly late Christian thing, it isn't in the original sources. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 13:14, 19 December 2023 (UTC)

It might benefit from an explanation of why Redwall and LOTR have racist undertones and moral absolutes? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.211|108.162.210.211]] sjwist-number-one

This is an excellent breakdown of the alleged racism in LOTR. As for moral absolutes, there is a personal deity in Tolkien mythology, so he dictates what is morally acceptable.
https://middle-earth.xenite.org/is-it-true-there-is-racism-in-the-lord-of-the-rings/ {{unsigned ip|108.162.246.244|20:28, 16 December 2021}}

It's worth noting that one of the biggest critics of racism in LOTR was Tolkien himself, who spent a good deal of ink and thought trying to reconcile the Orc Problem. {{unsigned ip|172.69.58.134|13:32, 2 August 2023}}

== Title Text: Redwall + Jurassic Park ==

What would this even mean? I've seen Jurassic Park (even though it's a Michael Chrichton story), but I haven't read Redwall. I don't think I get the title-text's joke?

It could be a reference to how mammals supplanted dinosaurs as the most visible form of animal life on the planet, starting with rodents (mice, as in Redwall). Or it could just be that the title characters, being mice, would be easily eaten by a dinosaur for black comedy. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.166.15|172.69.166.15]] 03:36, 20 December 2023 (UTC)

Talk:370: Redwall

2023-12-21T03:24:03Z

172.71.214.210:

;Religious Objections to Redwall do exist
Reading Redwall as a religious child, I got quite angry at all the subtle digs at religion. It's quite clear that the Redwall universe has no gods, other than ascended heroes, who usually just reincarnate anyway. The churches and monasteries don't seem to have any particular reason for existing. All the bad guys are named after notable Christian saints/monks. [[Special:Contributions/66.202.132.250|66.202.132.250]] 16:16, 5 June 2013 (UTC)
:That's because Redwall never took the world by storm or was a craze everybody had heard about. It's easier to take a stand on and rally support against something that's in the cultural mainstream, appearing everywhere you turn. ####
:Worth noting, there is technically no explicit reference to 'Satan' in the text of any Redwall novel. -- [[User:Observer14|Observer14]] ([[User talk:Observer14|talk]]) 23:22, 5 January 2014 (UTC)
::No one says "by Satan's whiskers"? That seems a very odd point for the comic to make groundlessly... Is it possible you ran the Find on a revised edition?
::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 20:58, 19 December 2023 (UTC)

I think someone should explain what a "jinx" is, in reference to the first panel. I know what it is myself, I'm just not good enough with words to explain it, and I forgot how one gets "un-jinxed".[[User:Codefreak5|Codefreak5]] ([[User talk:Codefreak5|talk]]) 08:17, 14 July 2014 (UTC)

There was a moment during "Mossflower" where Martin, almost dead from his fight with the wildcat queen lady woman, was conversing with a dead badger lord through the gates of whatever their afterlife is, though you get the impression it's Heaven (or some place where the good beasts go). Also sorry to burst Observer14's bubble but in Redwall there is that moment when one of the rats in Cluny's army (or however you spell it) gets killed by their out-of-control hay cart and Cluny says, "Tell the devil Cluny sent you." {{unsigned ip|173.245.50.117}}
:I suspect Observer14 was making the point that the Devil and Satan are not the same person, Biblically. Ha-Satan ("The Opposer") is an angel from the Job story, whose job appears to be to advocate against people. The Devil figure doesn't really appear until centuries later in Christianity, and not in any Jewish writings. Conflating Satan with the Devil (and with the Serpent) is a surprisingly late Christian thing, it isn't in the original sources. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 13:14, 19 December 2023 (UTC)

It might benefit from an explanation of why Redwall and LOTR have racist undertones and moral absolutes? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.211|108.162.210.211]] sjwist-number-one

This is an excellent breakdown of the alleged racism in LOTR. As for moral absolutes, there is a personal deity in Tolkien mythology, so he dictates what is morally acceptable.
https://middle-earth.xenite.org/is-it-true-there-is-racism-in-the-lord-of-the-rings/ {{unsigned ip|108.162.246.244|20:28, 16 December 2021}}

It's worth noting that one of the biggest critics of racism in LOTR was Tolkien himself, who spent a good deal of ink and thought trying to reconcile the Orc Problem. {{unsigned ip|172.69.58.134|13:32, 2 August 2023}}

== Title Text: Redwall + Jurassic Park ==

What would this even mean? I've seen Jurassic Park (even though it's a Michael Chrichton story), but I haven't read Redwall. I don't think I get the title-text's joke?

It could be a reference to how mammals supplanted dinosaurs as the most visible form of animal life on the planet, starting with rodents (mice, as in Redwall). Or it could just be that the title characters, being mice, would be easily eaten by a dinosaur for black comedy. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.166.15|172.69.166.15]] 03:36, 20 December 2023 (UTC)