explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1365: Inflation

2016-03-03T18:59:50Z

173.245.54.32: /* Explanation */ Made temporal corrections

{{comic
| number = 1365
| date = May 7, 2014
| title = Inflation
| image = inflation.png
| titletext = Wait till they notice the faint reflection of Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny in the E-mode.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic is inspired by the {{w|BICEP2}} discovery of {{w|gravitational waves}} from the early universe, hence providing evidence for the {{w|Inflation_(cosmology)|cosmic inflation}} hypothesis. [[Megan]] is excited about this and tells [[Ponytail]] all about it. She is impressed by the fact that these waves were created when the universe was extremely small and the expanding universe has "imprinted" the gravity waves. (See also [[1642: Gravitational Waves]]).

She compares this to the nature of a microscope - which optically expands a small image, just like the universe has done to itself. Ponytail is impressed by it until Megan looks at the image captured by the {{w|Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe|Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP)}}.

The concept of an {{w|Metric expansion of space|expanding universe}} is sometimes explained by the "balloon model", where the two-dimensional skin represents our three-dimensional universe and the inflation of the balloon represents expansion over time. But instead of showing a balloon [[Randall]] uses a basketball which can not inflate that much like a balloon.

The elliptical {{w|Mollweide projection}} of this {{w|Cosmic microwave background|cosmic microwave background (CMB)}} image of the sky makes the map look a bit like a basketball. Randall emphasizes this by superimposing the traditional curves that are visible on a basketball and the {{w|Spalding (sports equipment)|Spalding}} company logo over the original image available at the bottom here.

Megan and Ponytail are both disconcerted by this, and the title text references the 1996 basketball movie ''{{w|Space Jam}}'' by promising images of main characters Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny if the polarization of the view is changed to {{w|B-modes|E-mode}}.

The image was updated between 7 AM and 8:30 AM EST on May 7. Originally the Spalding logo was shown from left-to-right; however, in the updated image, the Spalding logo is shown in reverse. The WMAP image has the correct orientation in both versions. This was likely due to a mistake on Randall's part, as the comic suggests the universe is contained inside a Spalding basketball. Seen from the inside, the Spalding logo would be shown in reverse, as seen in the updated image. The first image can be found [[Media:inflation first version.png|here]].

==Transcript==
:[Megan sits at a computer, conversing with Ponytail.]
:Megan: Imprinted on the sky are the gravity waves that were sloshing across the universe when it was ''this'' big.

:Megan: So really, we're using the entire universe as a giant microscope pointed at itself when it was small.

:[Megan turns to face the computer.]
:Ponytail: That's neat.
:Megan: Yeah. But...
:Ponytail: But what?
:Megan: Well, look.

:Ponytail: Oh. Hmm.
:Megan: Yeah.
:Ponytail: What...
:Megan: I don't know.

:[Below is an image of the universe showing the cosmic microwave background, featuring a series of circles and the Spalding basketball logo, as though the universe had been imprinted with the image of a basketball.]

==External links==
*[http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/media/121238/index.html Original cosmic microwave background image published by NASA.]
*[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Spalding_logo.svg Image of Spalding logo on Wikipedia.]
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Basketball]]

Talk:792: Password Reuse

2015-10-30T13:03:58Z

173.245.54.32:

And now it turns out that Google gives our data to NSA....sigh. [[Special:Contributions/24.7.241.154|24.7.241.154]] 07:58, 11 June 2013 (UTC)Monica

What happened in March of 1997? [[User:MR|MR]] ([[User talk:MR|talk]]) 18:23, 4 April 2013 (UTC)MR

Hi! After consulting Wikipedia's article about March 1997 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997), I think there are two main incidents Black Hat could refer to:
*The '''Phoenix Lights''', a group of supposed UFOs, turned out to be probably military aircrafts.
*The mass suicide committed by 39 '''Heaven's Gate''' cultists.
Since we know little about Black Hat's life in 1997, we could argue that he was expecting an extra-terrestrial contact or that he was attracted by the ideas of that creed - and that the disillusion brought him his present disbelief in things.
Of course those are just hypotheses, and don't seem to fit the character as we know him...[[User:Inverno1407|Inverno1407]] ([[User talk:Inverno1407|talk]]) 11:30, 15 April 2013 (UTC)
:I honestly believe that he created the Heaven's Gate cult and he views their mass suicide as his crowning achievement in getting people to believe things, it just isn't getting any better than that, so he doesn't believe in anything anymore. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.32|173.245.54.32]] 13:03, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

----
:<br />
:"In the conclusion, Black Hat reveals that the only thing he's doing with all his hacked user accounts is to post slightly inaccurate content on Wiki sites."

This paragraph has been present since this explanation was added. I can't see how it is arrived at from the comic. <small>(So I wonder who [[User:148.87.67.212]] might have been...)</small> [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 14:10, 15 April 2013 (UTC)

I removed some slightly inaccurate content from this wiki. It was the bit about Black Hat posting slightly inaccurate content on wiki sites.[[Special:Contributions/86.40.93.217|86.40.93.217]] 00:33, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

Does anyone know if he had anything to do with the article on "taking the piss"?

[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 16:10, 26 January 2015 (UTC)
----
How does this compare in light of [[792:_Password_Reuse|792:Password Reuse]]? [[User:Saibot84|Saibot84]] ([[User talk:Saibot84|talk]]) 05:06, 6 June 2013 (UTC)

The "March 1997" issue is still a mystery to me. May be a global computer virus attack? I will go through all days on wikipedia. The month summery presents not the solution.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:27, 6 June 2013 (UTC)

Conisdering how blackhat loves messing with people, I seriously doubt anything at all hapened in March 1997. He's just messing with us! [[Special:Contributions/189.5.106.228|189.5.106.228]] 02:43, 7 July 2013 (UTC)

Oooo, I dunno. Given Black Hat's odd tastes, *anything* from March 1997 could have caused him to lose his faith: Paul McCartney being knighted, Tom Cruise winning an Oscar, the U.S. Supreme Court hearing arguments on Internet Indecency, India's Ministry of Charity choosing a successor to Mother Theresa, Gene Roddenberry's ashes going into orbit, the Brazil Senate finally allowing women members to wear slacks... Anything!! [[http://www.historyorb.com/events/date/1997/march]]
:Wow, look at this historical CNN page: [http://edition.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1997/03/19/scotus.cda/ http://edition.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1997/03/19/scotus.cda/]. The {{w|Communications Decency Act}} is the most likely item from your list.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 08:21, 2 August 2013 (UTC)
:39 Heaven's Gate cultists committed mass suicide

If he was upset at causing their deaths or having accomplished their deaths, has little to prove now nor reason to repeat the act, he is on pause; we wait.

[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 16:10, 26 January 2015 (UTC)
----
My opinion is that Black Hat referred to Bill Clinton banning federal funding for research on human cloning in March 1997.{{unsigned ip|108.162.242.5}}
:How would that create an hiatus in Back Hat's career?

[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 16:10, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

Hey! I though I'd throw in the opinion that perhaps March 1997 was a month of personal importance to Black Hat rather than anything societal. If the 1997 coincides with any of those standard "loss of idealism and innocence years" for Black Hat, then I'd say that's pretty likely what Randall was going for. {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.209}}

779: Anxiety

2014-04-15T23:51:52Z

173.245.54.32: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 779
| date = August 13, 2010
| title = Anxiety
| image = anxiety.png
| titletext = Don't need any, thanks. I have a backscattering fetish.
}}

==Explanation==
Many people are upset about airport security policies that mandate the use of {{w|backscatter X-ray}} machines, since the machines can create an image of the subject naked. [[Black Hat]] is selling {{w|Sildenafil|Viagra}} for men a means to thumb their noses (so to speak) at the system by forcing the security guard to see them with erections. Judging by the security guard's thought bubble, he indeed is not looking forward to the images.

At the title text, Black Hat or possibly one of the people in the line explains he has a fetish with getting X-ray scanned, and so thus doesn't need Viagra to achieve the above effect.

==Transcript==
:[There is an airport security checkpoint where a queue of ten passengers is waiting to go through a backscatter x-ray scanner. Near the back of the line, Black Hat is standing next to a stand which says "Viagra $20". One passenger next to him is drinking a glass of water, probably after having taken pills; another is contemplating the sign.]
:Security Guard (thinking): Oh god.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Sex]]