explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2312: mbmbam

2025-10-20T16:09:02Z

2001:4C4E:1C01:CC00:DCE0:A51A:695A:B8B1: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2312
| date = May 27, 2020
| title = mbmbam
| image = mbmbam.png
| titletext = Hello and welcome to Millibar Millibarn Attometer, an advice show for the Planck era.
}}

==Explanation==

In part, this comic is an homage to the referenced podcast, ''{{w|My Brother, My Brother, and Me}}'', which often features rapid garden-path conversations and puns and double entendres that are at once groan-worthy and delightfully witty. "MBMBAM" is an acronym of "'''M'''y '''B'''rother, '''M'''y '''B'''rother, '''A'''nd '''M'''e".

The millibar is a metric unit of pressure (force per unit area), equal to a thousandth of a {{w|Bar (unit)|bar}}, or 100 {{w|Pascal_(unit)|Pa}}. It is slightly less than one-thousandth of sea-level atmospheric pressure on Earth (a standard atmosphere is 1013.25 millibar).

The millibarn is a metric unit of area, equal to a thousandth of a {{w|Barn (unit)|barn}} (a humorously-named unit approximately equal to the cross-sectional area of a uranium nucleus), or 10^-31 m^2 or 10^-27 cm^2. Both units would theoretically have the symbol '''mb'''. Hence '''mbmb''' (the pressure unit multiplied by the area unit) would be a unit of force. This can be seen by applying dimensional analysis; pressure x area = (force/area) x area = force. Nobody in the comic strip discusses the magnitude of this force, but it would be 100 Pa x 10^-31 m^2 = 10^-29 newtons = 10^-24 dynes, or about the weight of an electron under Earth's gravity.

'''am''' would be the symbol of an {{w|Atto-|atto}}meter, or 10^-18 meters. Multiply that to create the unit '''mbmbam''', which would be a unit of energy. Specifically, it would be a unit of work: the energy expended to move an object. More dimensional analysis: force x distance = (work/distance) x distance = work. The actual value of 1 mbmbam is correctly calculated in the comic: 100 Pa x 10^-31 m^2 x 10^-18 m = 10^-47 joules = 10^-40 erg. White Hat dubs this unit "one podcast".

The final panel is an extended series of puns: 'rise' referring to physically moving upward as well as biologically growing (expanding and becoming lighter and softer) as yeasts do; 'foam' referring to both {{w|quantum foam}} (the fluctuation of spacetime on very small scales due to quantum mechanics) as well as the foam generated by yeast fermenting; 'unleavened dimensions' punning on the eleven dimensions of spacetime in {{w|string theory}} (actually, ten—{{w|M theory}} says eleven), while continuing to play on the theme of yeast--in this case, the universe is presumably flat because some of its dimensions lack the Planck yeast that would make them rise. White Hat appears to have managed to have caught onto these puns, much to his (extreme) dissatisfaction.

The example used in the comic of lifting a yeast cell 1 Planck length is one of many possible examples of 1 mbmbam of work. (The {{w|Planck length}}, approximately 1.6×10^−35 m or 1.6×10^−33 cm, is how far light travels in one unit of {{w|Planck time}}.) Another interpretation of 1 mbmbam would be the work necessary to pull two socially distancing (6 ft) SARS-CoV-2 {{w|Virus|virions}} apart by the thickness of a single strand of hair against the gravity they exert on each other.

The Planck Era (or {{w|Planck_units#Cosmology|Planck Epoch}}) referenced in the title text is the near infinitesimally short period covering the first 10^-43 s after the Big Bang, when energies were so high that the four fundamental forces were combined into one and ordinary subatomic particles didn't yet exist. It is unlikely there were advice shows during this era{{Citation needed}}, so this would likely be a modern nostalgia show for physicists. The title text is also a play on My Brother, My Brother and Me's tagline: ''An advice show for the modren [sic] era.''

==Transcript==

:[Cueball, Megan, and White Hat are standing next to each other, talking. Megan has her hands raised to the side, in a shrugging gesture.]
:Megan: Odd how in physics "'''mb'''" is both millibars (pressure) and millibar'''n'''s (area).
:Megan: '''mbmb''' could mean millibar-millibarn, which is a unit of force, strangely.
:White Hat: Units are weird.

:[Same scene - Megan is now checking her phone. White Hat is raising his right index finger.]
:Cueball: So what's '''mbmbam''', the My-Brother-My-Brother-And Me unit?
:Megan: Millibar-milliibarn-attometer, I guess? That'd be a unit of energy. 10<sup>-47</sup> Joules.
:White Hat: "One podcast"

:[Same scene in a frameless panel. Megan holds her phone to her side. White Hat has his arms raised to the side, excited.]
:Cueball: 10<sup>-47</sup> sounds small.
:Megan: Yeah, it's roughly the energy you'd need to lift one yeast cell by one Planck length in Earth's gravity.
:White Hat: Planck yeast!

:[Same scene in a regular panel. Megan has put away her phone, and has her right index finger raised. White Hat has his hands balled into fists, frustrated.]
:Cueball: Doesn't Planck yeast rise on its own?
:Megan: Yeah, that's what makes quantum foam. But data suggests our universe is flat.
:Megan: String theory says it's because spacetime has unleavened dimensions.
:White Hat: ''...I hate you.''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Cosmology]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category: Comics featuring White Hat]]

Talk:2137: Text Entry

2025-10-20T11:53:54Z

2001:4C4E:1C01:CC00:DCE0:A51A:695A:B8B1:

== Dvorak ==

''Title text: I like to think that somewhere out there, there's someone whose personal quest is lobbying TV providers to add an option to switch their on-screen keyboards to Dvorak.''

Using the Dvorak layout when you have to scroll through letters is particularly bad. Since Dvorak is optimized to alternate strokes between hands (by putting all vowels on one side), you would have to spend even more time navigating between letters. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.102|162.158.106.102]] 16:03, 15 April 2019 (UTC)

:I suspect that's at least part of the joke in the title text, as Randall is likely aware of that fact. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 16:22, 15 April 2019 (UTC)
I of course had to wonder what TV show they were headed for so I started OUR_PL in Google and got "Our Planet Netflix" so now I know . . .I think. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.82|162.158.214.82]] 16:25, 15 April 2019 (UTC)
My Netflix interface takes entries from a keyboard. Found out about 2 weeks ago... It is a Samsung TV and I think the feature was not there from the beginning.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.50.52|172.68.50.52]] 16:59, 15 April 2019 (UTC)

Should it be clarified that Ponytail and Cueball are sitting in one chair? The drawing seemed unclear to me at first. --[[User:Youforgotthisthing|Youforgotthisthing]] ([[User talk:Youforgotthisthing|talk]]) 18:03, 15 April 2019 (UTC) One chair? Or a sofa or a loveseat?? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.82|162.158.214.82]] 11:18, 16 April 2019 (UTC)

It looks to me like a child standing beside (our perspective: behind) his chair and another person looking over his shoulder. ShawnT [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.33|162.158.74.33]] 23:35, 16 April 2019 (UTC)

I use Dvorak on all my devices when possible and often find myself wishing for Dvorak on-screen keyboards. Sure, there's more absolute distance between consecutive characters on average, but that's offset by me not having to try to remember how QWERTY is laid out. I don't think that the joke here is "Dvorak on-screen keyboards are pointless", I think it's "Dvorak users are such a small percentage of the population that the odds of anyone bothering to cater to them is slim to none, and anyone lobbying for it is wasting their time". [[User:Undergroundmonorail|Undergroundmonorail]] ([[User talk:Undergroundmonorail|talk]]) 18:23, 15 April 2019 (UTC)

== Smart TV Keyboards ==
Randall probably doesn't know / have or use [https://tehnoblog.org/review-wireless-usb-mini-keyboard-for-pc-raspberry-pi-ubuntu-windows-android-xbox-playstation/ these little keyboards] that can literally save you from trouble and excruciating pain from one-by-one letter "typing": {{unsigned|172.68.154.88}}
:This has to be an ad, right? I'm pretty sure Randall "literally" knows about USB keyboards, regardless of form factor.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.172|108.162.216.172]] 22:08, 15 April 2019 (UTC)
::Not necessarily, and since the IP's not blatantly vandalizing pages or spamming links to external sites, and this is the talk page, there's no need to remove it for now. But I've collapsed the URL in case it's an attempt at advertising, as we've seen a lot of (fill in the blank)Review accounts created for that purpose, and some are vandalizing pages. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 07:16, 16 April 2019 (UTC)
:In my case, my smart TV has a remote control app that allows the phone's keyboard to be used. It also provides a trackpad for issuing a cursor more easily. [[User:Baldrickk|Baldrickk]] ([[User talk:Baldrickk|talk]]) 11:07, 16 April 2019 (UTC)
If just all on-screen keyboards were qwerty... Depending on the app some use qwerty and some use alphabetical grids. I'm always struggling to find the right letters in ther latter... It gets worse if alphabetical ordered letters are arranged in a standard keyboard pattern. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 11:31, 16 April 2019 (UTC)

This got to be so annoying for me that I actually bought Roku streaming boxes for my TV's so that I can use their phone app to replace the remote and can now type on the phone's touch screen instead of going through the usual up-up-left-left-click nonsense. [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 14:14, 16 April 2019 (UTC)

== Use Wired Keyboard ==
Any "smart tv", even cheap ones have USB ports, not just for displaying Picture albums, but you can use any USB keyboard and type on the screen. Some of the better streaming boxes such as the FireTv Media Player (discontinued), NVIDIA Shield, and pretty much any Cable box have them so you may type on the screen rather than click each letter. Also All game consoles allow keyboards now, not just in game, but back in the home screen for typing passwords as well.

== Weird lines ==
What are those strange curved lines behind Cueball's head? There are also lines next to his legs that suggest that he's kicking them rapidly. It's unusual to see extraneous stuff like this in an XKCD comic. [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 14:16, 16 April 2019 (UTC)
: I think it is being interpreted that Cueball is sitting next to Ponytail and that's her hair. The extra legs would also be hers. But the drawing here is confusing. It looks like a ponytail attached to no actual head. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.28|162.158.78.28]] 17:11, 16 April 2019 (UTC)

== What search? ==

Any thoughts on what Cueball is trying to search for here? [[User:AdmiralMemo|Admiral Memo]] ([[User talk:AdmiralMemo|talk]]) 06:07, 17 April 2019 (UTC)
:As mentioned in the (current) explanation it is likely the recently very popular netflix nature-documentary "Our Planet". --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:37, 17 April 2019 (UTC)

== Donald Trump ==

<blockquote>Although several comics may have relation to Donald Trump becoming president, this is the first time ever, he has been mentioned by his full name (in 1939: 2016 Election Map he is referred to by his surname) in a standard xkcd comic.</blockquote>

Is this significant in some way? Unless Randall has some noted aversion to using Trump's full name, I'm pretty sure this is just standard name usage. In fact, that entire linked [[Sad comics]] page looks rather questionable, too. [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 12:28, 17 April 2019 (UTC)
: OMG... This page has grown since the last time I checked. And I agree, many of these "connections" to Trump's presidency are really far fetched at best... [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 11:47, 18 April 2019 (UTC)
:Yes I think it is, as he has been sad over many things that references to something Trump did. And he has references directly to Hillary. And he has mentioned many presidents in his comics. But this time he finally uses his name in a comic that is MAINLY about how weird it is that Americans choose Trump. I think his comics makes it extremely clear that he has an aversion against Trump. If you cannot see this you are either for Trump, or just blind. There are so many hints, and that he is certain about human created global warming is given from his Earth Temperature Timeline, and Trump is going against all attempts to stop this trend. If you still have any doubt Randall is against him, then this is like a religious discussion where I cannot get through to you... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:28, 18 April 2019 (UTC)
::That's not the point. You're right it's absolutely clear that Randall is against Trump. But what remains highly debatable is that all these comics you think/claim to be connected to this fact actually are connected to that fact. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 14:33, 18 April 2019 (UTC)
:::Randall is not a fan of Trump. That is perfectly clear and unobjectionable. However, you (Kynde) are drawing ''specific inferences'' about Randall's feelings for Trump that are not in evidence from the material provided - you are feeding in your own correlations and external facts, and trying to insinuate that this indicates a pattern that everyone should recognize. It does not. While this comic does mention Trump (disparagingly), it is not ''about'' him, nor is it really about Randall's feelings for him. You can tell this because Randall tends to draw stick figures related to what the comic is about. Randall's past history and support of Hillary Clinton is also irrelevant to the understanding of this comic; at best, it is trivia, but I would say it is also irrelevant trivia, since this is not a comic about Randall's political views. [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 20:58, 18 April 2019 (UTC)
:::: This is not his first reference to Trump by his full name. He is mentioned in the bottom-left map in https://xkcd.com/2126/
== Text to Speech? ==

perhaps i've been reading too much about voders lately, but may the letters and the <kbd>space</kbd> be being read out via text to speech methods? i distinctly mentally heard it in texas instrument's speak 'n' spell voice. it magnifies the intent of this comic that the text entry system could be generating speech while still requiring as much effort to use as a teletext search page. [[User:Ocæon|ocæon]] ([[User talk:Ocæon|talk]]) 13:27, 21 April 2019 (UTC)
: I see no indication for that... if that was the message behind the comic, I think it would have been made clearer that it is actually spoken. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 10:53, 22 April 2019 (UTC)
::i can accept that, though i would love to know if there's a style guide (cannon or reverse engineered) on randall's communication indicators; zigzag appears for computers and mobiles, though usually if it's not audio it will have a box, and if it is then there are four extra little radial lines at origin. rarely are they completely ambiguous. [[User:Ocæon|ocæon]] ([[User talk:Ocæon|talk]]) 18:41, 22 April 2019 (UTC)

== special-purpose keyboard layout ==

How about using a keyboard layout that's optimized for this, with more common pairs of letters having closer L1/taxicab distances? What would that end up being? {{unsigned|Solomon|18:50, 30 December 2022}}