explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1364: Like I'm Five

2014-05-05T06:00:54Z

199.27.128.250: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1364
| date = May 5, 2014
| title = Like I'm Five
| image = like_im_five.png
| titletext = 'Am I taking care of you? I have a thesis to write!' 'My parents are at their house; you visited last--' 'No, no, explain like you're five.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|}}
ELI5, or Explain Like I'm Five, is a way of asking for a simpler explanation of some difficult topic. In this comic, Megan takes it literally by acting as if Cueball is an actual five year old.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

{{comic discussion}}

1364: Like I'm Five

2014-05-05T05:59:41Z

199.27.128.250: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1364
| date = May 5, 2014
| title = Like I'm Five
| image = like_im_five.png
| titletext = 'Am I taking care of you? I have a thesis to write!' 'My parents are at their house; you visited last--' 'No, no, explain like you're five.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page.}}
ELI5, or Explain Like I'm Five, is a way of asking for a simpler explanation of some difficult topic. In this comic, Megan takes it literally by acting as if Cueball is an actual five year old.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

{{comic discussion}}

1112: Think Logically

2014-04-30T00:01:37Z

199.27.128.250: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1112
| date = September 24, 2012
| title = Think Logically
| image = think logically.png
| titletext = I've developed a more logical set of rules but the people on the chess community have a bunch of stupid emotional biases and won't reply to my posts.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Chess}} is a centuries-old board game in which two players take turns moving one of their 16 pieces to try and checkmate the other player's king (one of the pieces). When one player is in a position to capture his or her opponent's king on their next move, and the opponent has no legal move available to avoid such capture, the opponent is said to be in "checkmate". This is considered to be the end of the game with a win for the first player; though chess etiquette suggests that a player facing inevitable checkmate ought to forfeit at that point.

The game, with origins around the 6th century, and with the modern rules being essentially set in the late 15th century, has a significant amount of history. The rules and traditions are well established. The knight is a piece that can only move in an L-shaped pattern (two squares in one direction, and one square perpendicular), but has the unique ability to jump over other pieces.

The comic highlights two mistakes players often make in chess: complete fixation on the king at the cost of their other pieces, and failure to take advantage of the knight's movement patterns. At the same time this is a jab at how people sometimes oversimplify an argument when confronted with a topic they are not familiar with. Previously this was depicted in [[675: Revolutionary]] and [[793: Physicists]]. See also the {{w|Dunning–Kruger effect}}. The units in chess are widely agreed to be well-balanced, and Cueball's criticism of the knight shows an obvious lack of knowledge of the knight's potential.

Given the long history of chess, a significant amount of writing and research has been dedicated to the game and its strategies. This is inadvertently mocked by Cueball who naively suggests it would be trivial to make a list of all situations in which a piece would move backwards (called a "retreat" in chess). Such a list — at least a partial one — certainly does exist, as do lists of numerous other Chess moves and situations.

[[Cueball]]'s friend proceeds to demonstrate Cueball's lack of knowledge by beating him in four moves, which typically would only occur when an experienced player plays a novice. The checkmate depicted is likely the {{w|Scholar's Mate}} and is one of the classic checkmates in Chess. Scholar's Mate is easily parried by moving the Knight, the piece considered weak by Cueball, to f6, although ironically, all movements in the Scholar's Mate are towards the enemy king.

Cueball, instead of admitting he underestimated the game, instead believes the failure is in the game itself. The title text indicates that Cueball attempted to suggest revisions to the rules of chess. Given that Cueball has no experience as a chess player, it is likely many of the changes are illogical or ridiculous. In the face of hundreds of years of history, it is not surprising that the chess community is ignoring them. The last major changes to the rules of chess occurred more than 400 years ago when, among other things, the pawn was given its two-space starting move and the queen was made into the most powerful piece (previously it was the weakest). The chess community's ties to the traditions of the game and their refusal to accept Cueball's suggestions are written off by Cueball as "{{w|emotional bias}}" suggesting his changes are logical, but that the community is letting their emotions cloud their rational decision making abilities.

The comic may also be a jab at competitive online games whose fans call for "buffs" (power additions) and "nerfs" (power reductions) to characters they believe to be underpowered or overpowered, often with inadequate knowledge of those characters. On the other hand, some online games and multiplayer computer games in general are unbalanced since they lack centuries of history to balance themselves, unlike chess.

==Transcript==
:[Man wearing a hat is sitting down at a computer. Cueball is standing behind him.]
:Laptop: ''*Move*''
:Cueball: Why'd you move your knight away?

:[Man wearing hat turns around and rests his arm on his chair.]
:Cueball: Just think ''logically''. The goal is checkmate, so you should always move pieces ''toward'' the other player's king.

:[Closeup of Cueball.]
:Cueball: I guess occasionally you need to move backward, but it'd be trivial to make a list of those circumstances and-

:[Man wearing hat is leaning back in chair facing Cueball.]
:Man: Have you ever ''played'' chess?
:Cueball: Not much, but—
:Man: Wanna?
:Cueball: Uh, ok.

:[Man and Cueball playing chess.]
:Man: *Move*
:Cueball: *Move*
:Man: *Move*
:Cueball: *Move*
:Man: *Move*
:Cueball: *Move*
:Man: *Move* Checkmate.

:[Cueball standing and staring at the chess board.]

:[Man returns to his computer.]
:Cueball: This game isn't very well-designed. For starters, knights are too weak...

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

Talk:20: Ferret

2014-04-09T01:00:52Z

199.27.128.250: Made a comment.

The wings are gonna have to be waay bigger if that plane is gonna fly. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:23, 4 February 2013 (UTC)

I wonder if the flying ferret has anything to do with Richard Bach, a noted aviation author who published a series of flying books called "The Ferret Chronicles" in 2002-2003? --[[Special:Contributions/144.92.241.6|144.92.241.6]] 21:58, 28 October 2013 (UTC)

This is the saddest strip of all! {{unsigned|Saijm4444}}

Jonathan Livingston Ferret. {{unsigned|anonymous}}

1331: Frequency

2014-02-21T04:11:00Z

199.27.128.250: Assigned reading contributes to frequency of purchase of TKAM

{{comic
| number = 1331
| date = February 17, 2014
| title = Frequency
| custom = <center><table><tr>
<td>[[File:heartbeat.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[File:birth.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[File:death.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[File:wikipedia.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[File:vibrator.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>[[ File:car china.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[ File:car japan.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[ File:car germany.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[ File:car us.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[ File:car elsewhere.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>[[ File:kiss.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[ File:fire dept.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[ File:holeinone.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[ File:turnsignal1.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[ File:turnsignal2.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>[[ File:earthquake1.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[ File:earthquake2.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[ File:earthquake3.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[ File:earthquake4.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[ File:parliament toilet.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>[[ File:flight.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[ File:book mockingbird.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[ File:cat mockingbird.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[ File:phoenixshoes.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[ File:phoenix.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>[[ File:keys.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[ File:amelia.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[ File:dogbite.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[ File:bike.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[ File:eagle.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>[[ File:bottles.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[ File:recycled.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[ File:meteor.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[ File:oldfaithful.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[ File:shark.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>[[ File:us cancer.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[ File:us cancer death.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[ File:dog.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[ File:cat.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[ File:wedding.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>[[ File:domain.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[ File:house.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[ File:tattoo.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[ File:pulsar.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[ File:facebook.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>[[ File:iphone.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[ File:littleleague.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[ File:ndsex.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[ File:bieber.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
<td>[[ File:denverpizza.gif|This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.]]</td>
</tr></table></center>
| titletext = This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Incomplete.}}
This comic shows a number of common events, arranged in a grid. Each of the events flashes with their average frequency.

For example, statistically a child is born somewhere on the world approximately every 0.24 seconds, or four times per second. Therefore the tile "One birth" blinks about 4 times per second.

The table below lists all the events and their duration / frequency. Some events make reference to other comics.

The title text refers to the {{w|Pitch drop experiment}} which measures the flow of a piece of pitch over many years. At room temperature, tar pitch flows at a very slow rate, taking several years to form a single drop. The title text jokes that Randall tried to include a tile that flashes about once every {{w|decade|ten years}}, but the tiles are all {{w|Animated GIF|animated GIFs}} and while the file format supports animations of any length, the resulting file would be too big (at least 10 megabytes).

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Picture
!Text
!Period (seconds)
!Frequency (per minute)
!Frequency (per year, N/I = not interesting)
!Explanation and/or references to other comics.
|-
|[[File:heartbeat.gif]]
|Heartbeat||0.86||70||33,000,000||The typical resting {{w|heart rate}} in adults is 60–80 beats per minute (bpm).
|-
|[[File:birth.gif]]
|One birth||0.24||250||131,490,000||
|-
|[[File:death.gif]]
|One death||0.56||107||56,360,000||
|-
|[[File:wikipedia.gif]]
|Someone edits Wikipedia||0.67||90||47,100,000||{{w|Wikipedia}} is an online, freely editable encyclopedia.
|-
|[[File:vibrator.gif]]
|Someone buys a vibrator||2.99||20||10,550,000 ||
|-
|[[ File:car china.gif ]]
|China builds a car||1.89||32||16,700,000||
|-
|[[ File:car japan.gif ]]
|Japan builds a car||4.01||15||7,870,000||
|-
|[[ File:car germany.gif ]]
|Germany builds a car||5.8||10||5,440,000||
|-
|[[ File:car us.gif ]]
|The US builds a car||6.95||8.6||4,540,000||
|-
|[[ File:car elsewhere.gif ]]
|Someone else builds a car||1.03||58||30,640,000||
|-
|[[ File:kiss.gif ]]
|A European Union resident has their first kiss||5.53||11||5,700,000||
|-
|[[ File:fire dept.gif ]]
|A US fire department puts out a fire||23||2.6||1,370,000||
|-
|[[ File:holeinone.gif ]]
|Someone hits a hole-in-one||180||20 times per hour||175,320||A {{w|hole in one}} is a feat in {{w|golf}} in which the player hits the ball directly from the tee into the cup with one shot.
|-
|[[ File:turnsignal1.gif ]]
|My turn signal blinks||0.94||64||N/I||This, together with "The turn signal of the car in front of me blinks", forms a reference to [[165: Turn Signals]].
|-
|[[ File:turnsignal2.gif ]]
|The turn signal of the car in front of me blinks||0.9||67||N/I||This, together with "My turn signal blinks", forms a reference to [[165: Turn Signals]].
|-
|[[ File:earthquake1.gif ]]
|Earthquake (magnitude 1)||2.43||25||13,000,000|| [[711: Seismograph]]
|-
|[[ File:earthquake2.gif ]]
|Earthquake (magnitude 2)||24.26||2.5||1,300,000|| Review [http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/#%7B%22feed%22%3A%221day_all%22%2C%22search%22%3Anull%2C%22sort%22%3A%22largest%22%2C%22basemap%22%3A%22grayscale%22%2C%22autoUpdate%22%3Atrue%2C%22restrictListToMap%22%3Atrue%2C%22timeZone%22%3A%22local%22%2C%22mapposition%22%3A%5B%5B-84.47406458459159%2C-25.6640625%5D%2C%5B84.4740645845916%2C425.390625%5D%5D%2C%22overlays%22%3A%7B%22plates%22%3Atrue%7D%2C%22viewModes%22%3A%7B%22map%22%3Atrue%2C%22list%22%3Atrue%2C%22settings%22%3Atrue%2C%22help%22%3Afalse%7D%7D USGS's Quake Map] for verification.
|-
|[[ File:earthquake3.gif ]]
|Earthquake (magnitude 3)||242.6||15 times per hour||130,000|| [[1037: Umwelt#Earthquake-Blizzard|1037: Umwelt]]
|-
|[[ File:earthquake4.gif ]]
|Earthquake (magnitude 4)||2426||1.5 times per hour||13,000|| [[723: Seismic Waves]]; below this magnitude earthquakes pass by largely unnoticed by Tweeters.[http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/topics/mag_vs_int.php]
|-
|[[ File:parliament toilet.gif ]]
|A member of the UK parliament flushes a toilet||10.06||6||3,140,000||Note that probably during the daytime in Britain such a toilet is flushed 8.5 times per minute, while at night it is flushed only 1 time per minute.
|-
|[[ File:flight.gif ]]
|An airline flight takes off||0.93||65||34,000,000||
|-
|[[ File:book mockingbird.gif ]]
|Someone buys ''To Kill a Mockingbird''||42.05||1.4||750,000||“{{w|To Kill a Mockingbird}}” is a novel by {{w|Harper Lee}}, often an assigned reading in high school.
|-
|[[ File:cat mockingbird.gif ]]
|Someone's pet cat kills a mockingbird||1.82||33||17,340,000||Whereas the previous item references the well-known book “To Kill a Mockingbird”, this one talks about {{w|Mockingbird|mockingbirds}} being literally killed (in this case, by cats). There are 45 million mockingbirds in the world;[http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Mimus_polyglottos/] this means that according to Randall, cats kill 39% of mockingbirds in one year, i.e. in 2.5 years they are able to kill all mockingbirds (excluding the ones that are born in the meantime).
|-
|[[ File:phoenixshoes.gif ]]
|Someone in Phoenix buys new shoes||1.08||56||29,200,000||Since {{w|Phoenix metropolitan area|metro Phoenix}} has 4,200,000 inhabitants, according to Randall people in Phoenix buy 7 pairs of shoes per capita per year.
|-
|[[ File:phoenix.gif ]]
|Someone in Phoenix puts on a condom||2.05||29||15,390,000|| ''Buy two pair of shoes, get a free condom''?
|-
|[[ File:keys.gif ]]
|Someone locks their keys in their car||2.43||25||13,000,000||
|-
|[[ File:amelia.gif ]]
|A Sagittarius named Amelia drinks a soda||7.79||7.7||4,000,000||Randall Munroe is a [http://blog.xkcd.com/2014/01/31/the-baby-name-wizard/ fan of The Baby Name Wizard] blog and its [http://www.babynamewizard.com Name Voyager] tool which shows that "[http://www.babynamewizard.com/baby-name/girl/amelia Amelia]" has recently exploded in popularity. 
This particular frequency is taken from:
* The number of persons called {{w|Amelia_(given_name)|Amelia}} ([http://howmanyofme.com/ est. 82,572 people in the U.S.])
* The number of persons born between November 22nd and December 22nd under the astrological sign of {{w|Sagittarius (astrology)|Sagittarius}} (~1/12th of the population, i.e. approximately 6881 Amelias in the U.S.)
* The frequency of soda (soft drinks) being drunk (216 liters per person per year in the U.S.[http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/foo_sof_dri_con-food-soft-drink-consumption]).
According to our figures, 6881 Amelias drink 1,44 million liters of soft drinks per year in the United States alone, which means that Randall's figures only account for American Amelias (drinking 356 cc or 12 fl. oz. of soda in each drink).
|-
|[[ File:dogbite.gif ]]
|A dog bites someone in the US||7.01||8.6||4,500,000||
|-
|[[ File:bike.gif ]]
|Someone steals a bicycle||24.93||2.4||1,265,000||
|-
|[[ File:eagle.gif ]]
|A bald eagle catches a fish||2.69||22||11,700,000||
|-
|[[ File:bottles.gif ]]
|50,000 plastic bottles are produced||1.27||2.36 million bottles||1.24 trillion||
|-
|[[ File:recycled.gif ]]
|50,000 plastic bottles are recycled||4.64||646,552 bottles||340 billion||27% of the plastic bottles manufactured get [[885: Recycling|recycled]]
|-
|[[ File:meteor.gif ]]
|A bright meteor is visible somewhere||1.15||52||N/I||
|-
|[[ File:oldfaithful.gif ]]
|Old Faithful erupts||5640 (94 minutes)||15 times per day||5,595||{{w|Old Faithful}} is a geyser in {{w|Yellowstone National Park}} in the US, that tends to erupt every 65 or 91 minutes. XKCD's period of 1h 34m falls between the [http://geysertimes.org/getGeyserInfo.php?geyserID=2 mean and median of recent Old Faithful eruptions] and corresponds to a [http://geysertimes.org/getSingleEruption.php?id=645135 February 16, 2014 eruption].
|-
|[[ File:shark.gif ]]
|A fishing boat catches a shark||0.83||72||38,000,000|| [[1326: Sharks]]; Shark populations have experienced severe declines due to fishing impacts both of {{w|shark finning|finning}} and by-catch.[http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=shark+population+decline+fishing]
|-
|[[ File:us cancer.gif ]]
|Someone in the US is diagnosed with cancer||18.99||3.2||1,660,000|| [[881: Probability]]
|-
|[[ File:us cancer death.gif ]]
|Someone in the US dies from cancer||54.34||1.1||580,000|| [[881: Probability]]
|-
|[[ File:dog.gif ]]
|Someone adopts a dog from a shelter||15.6||3.8||2,000,000||
|-
|[[ File:cat.gif ]]
|Someone adopts a cat from a shelter||21.3||2.8||1,5000,000||
|-
|[[ File:wedding.gif ]]
|Someone gets married||0.75||80||42,000,000||
|-
|[[ File:domain.gif ]]
|Someone registers a domain||0.64||94||49,300,000 ||
|-
|[[ File:house.gif ]]
|Someone in the US buys a house||6.22||9.6||5,000,000||
|-
|[[ File:tattoo.gif ]]
|Someone in the US gets a tattoo||2.06||29||15,300,000||
|-
|[[ File:pulsar.gif ]]
|The star PSR J1748-2446AD rotates 1,000 times||1.4||43,000 rotations||N/I||{{w|PSR J1748-2446ad}} is the fastest spinning {{w|pulsar}} known.
|-
|[[ File:facebook.gif ]]
|Someone lies about their age to sign up for Facebook||4.32||14||600,000 per month||To sign up for Facebook, [https://www.facebook.com/help/210644045634222 the user must claim to be at least 13 years old]. This is a reflection of the U.S. {{w|Children's Online Privacy Protection Act}}.
|-
|[[ File:iphone.gif ]]
|Someone breaks an iPhone screen||0.93||65||34,000,000||
|-
|[[ File:littleleague.gif ]]
|A Little League player strikes out||1.23||49||N/I||{{w|Little League Baseball|Little League}} is a system of local youth baseball and softball competitions. A {{w|strikeout}} is a situation in baseball and softball.
|-
|[[ File:ndsex.gif ]]
|Someone has sex in North Dakota||1.38||43||22,900,000||Since {{w|North Dakota}} has 723,000 inhabitants (ranked the 48th state), and if we estimate the sexually active population as 80% (and if ''someone'' means ''a couple)'' this means that people in North Dakota have sex 79.1 times a year. It is estimated that 3.93% of the world population has sex on a given day;[http://geography.about.com/od/culturalgeography/a/geographyofsex.htm] Randall's rate for North Dakota is 17.3% which is not low.
|-
|[[ File:bieber.gif ]]
|Justin Bieber gains a follower on Twitter||4.73||13||556,000 per month|| [[802: Online Communities 2#Twitter Region|802: Online Communities 2]];  {{w|Justin Bieber}} is a Canadian pop music singer whose [https://twitter.com/justinbieber Twitter account] is extremely popular
|-
|[[ File:denverpizza.gif ]]
|Someone in Denver orders pizza||1.27||47||2,000,000||
|}

==Transcript==
:[Repetitive events are written in grey and arranged in a grid. Each statement pulses to black and then returns to grey at an interval characteristic of the named event.]

{| style="text-align:center;"
|- style="vertical-align: top; background-color:#eeeeee;"
|Heartbeat (0.86 sec)
|One birth (0.24 sec)
|One death (0.56 sec)
|Someone edits Wikipedia (0.67 sec)
|Someone buys a vibrator (2.99 sec)
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
|China builds a car (1.89 sec)
|Japan builds a car (4.01 sec)
|Germany builds a car (5.8 sec)
|The US builds a car (6.95 sec)
|Someone else builds a car (1.03 sec)
|- style="vertical-align: top; background-color:#eeeeee;"
|A European Union resident has their first kiss (5.53 sec)
|A US fire department puts out a fire (23 sec)
|Someone hits a hole-in-one (180 sec)
|My turn signal blinks (0.94 sec)
|The turn signal of the car in front of me blinks (0.9 sec)
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
|Earthquake (magnitude 1) (2.43 sec)
|Earthquake (magnitude 2) (24.26 sec)
|Earthquake (magnitude 3) (242.6 sec)
|Earthquake (magnitude 4) (2426 sec, 42 min)
|Member of the UK Parliament flushes a toilet (10.06 sec)
|- style="vertical-align: top; background-color:#eeeeee;"
|An airline flight takes off (0.93 sec)
|Someone buys ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' (42.05 sec)
|Someone's pet cat kills a mockingbird (1.82 sec)
|Someone in Phoenix buys new shoes (1.08 sec)
|Someone in Phoenix puts on a condom (2.05 sec)
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
|Someone locks their keys in their car (2.43 sec)
|A Sagittarius named Amelia drinks a soda (7.79 sec)
|A dog bites someone in the US (7.01 sec)
|Someone steals a bicycle (24.93 sec)
|A bald eagle catches a fish (2.69 sec)
|- style="vertical-align: top; background-color:#eeeeee;"
|50,000 plastic bottles are produced (1.27 sec)
|50,000 plastic bottles are recycled (4.64 sec)
|A bright meteor is visible somewhere (1.15 sec)
|Old Faithful erupts (5640 sec, 94 min)
|A fishing boat catches a shark (0.83 sec)
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
|Someone in the US is diagnosed with cancer (18.99 sec)
|Someone in the US dies from cancer (54.34 sec)
|Someone adopts a dog from a shelter (15.6 sec)
|Someone adopts a cat from a shelter (21.3 sec)
|Someone gets married (0.75 sec)
|- style="vertical-align: top; background-color:#eeeeee;"
|Someone registers a domain (0.64 sec)
|Someone in the US buys a house (6.22 sec)
|Someone in the US gets a tattoo (2.06 sec)
|The star ''PSR J1748-2446ad'' rotates 1,000 times (1.4 sec)
|Someone lies about their age to sign up for Facebook (4.32 sec)
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
|Someone breaks an iPhone screen (0.93 sec)
|A little league player strikes out (1.23 sec)
|Someone has sex in North Dakota (1.38 sec)
|Justin Bieber gains a follower on Twitter (4.73 sec)
|Someone in Denver orders a pizza (1.27 sec)
|}

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:Charts]]

1324: Weather

2014-02-05T05:54:25Z

199.27.128.250: wordsmithing

{{comic
| number = 1324
| date = January 31, 2014
| title = Weather
| image = weather.png
| titletext = At least if you're really into, like, Turkish archaeology, store clerks aren't like 'hey, how 'bout those Derinkuyu underground cities!' when they're trying to be polite.
}}
==Explanation==
Social norm accepts casual small-talk as an ice breaker for interaction — usually it is always safe to talk about the weather without hitting any disagreements as there are rarely any personal view points about the weather — in contrast small-talk is never about political subjects or similar where chances are that there are strong personal view points.

In this strip [[Cueball]] is an expert on {{w|meteorology}} and {{w|weather forecasting}}. When [[Hairy]] makes a comment about the weather, Cueball launches into a detailed technical discussion, not realizing Hairy is simply trying to engage in small-talk. Only weather experts would have this problem, but this topic is a common opening for a conversation in casual small-talk. Cueball switches to small-talk once he realizes that Hairy is confused and didn't expect this level of technical information.

As to the jargon:
* {{w|Jet stream|Jet streams}} are strong air currents high in the atmosphere which have a big influence on the weather.
* 18z is 18:00 {{w|Coordinated Universal Time|UTC}} (6 PM in Greenwich, England, 10 AM in California). See {{w|ISO 8601}} at Wikipedia. The letter "Z" is used as 'Zulu' in the {{w|NATO phonetic alphabet}}, meaning just UTC.
* GFS is the {{w|Global Forecast System}} (also known as NCEP-GFS). It is a computer model used by the {{w|National Weather Service}} to predict the weather up to 16 days in advance. The model is run 4 times a day and the output is distinguished by the UTC hour it was started (18z in this case).
* Part of the prediction is the {{w|atmospheric pressure}} expressed in {{w|Bar (unit)|mbar}} (or mb). 960 mbar is very low pressure, which is usually associated with seriously bad weather (record low pressure for Minnesota was 963 mbar till 1998).

The title text mentions store clerks who are well known for small talk about the weather as part of their sales talk. But here the clerk instead makes small talk about {{w|Derinkuyu Underground City|Derinkuyu Underground Cities}}, one of the most well-known {{w|History of Turkey|archaeological sites in Turkey}}, in a country known for its many well-preserved ancient sites from a broad range of time periods. It would be very tempting for a Turkish archaeology geek to launch into a detailed conversation on the subject or related news -- however the subject is extremely unlikely as a topic for small-talk.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Hairy are talking.]
:Hairy: So, how 'bout this weather?
:Cueball: I ''know,'' right? The whole jet stream layer is ''nuts!''
:Hairy: Um, sure...
:Cueball: The 18z GFS forecasts 960mb by Tuesday. Think it'll verify?
:Hairy: What?
:Cueball: ...Right. Sorry. Uh, yeah! Weather sure has been crazy.

:Weather geeks have it tough.
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]