explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

927: Standards

2026-02-12T16:02:11Z

24.54.131.250: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 927
| date = July 20, 2011
| title = Standards
| image = standards.png
| titletext = Fortunately, the charging one has been solved now that we've all standardized on mini-USB. Or is it micro-USB? Shit.
}}

==Explanation==
For any engineering task, there are numerous ways a given problem can be solved. The more complex the task, the more room for diversity. That's all well and good for a one-off problem, but if a design is meant to be iterated over time, or if an entire industry is solving that same problem, part reuse and {{w|interoperability}} become issues to deal with. {{w|Technical standards}} thus came to exist so that industries could avoid wasting resources {{w|reinventing the wheel}}, whilst offering their clients a certain amount of simplicity and compatibility between vendors.

But standards have issues of their own. They don't accommodate every {{w|Use Case|use case}}, they might have restrictions or royalties attached, and people tend to be plagued by ''{{w|Not invented here|Not Invented Here syndrome}}''. So competing standards have a tendency to arise to address different perceived needs. After a while, the market for competing standards gets messy and hard to follow, and {{w|system integration|integrating systems}} built around competing standards gets burdensome. As a result, someone eventually takes on the challenge of creating a universal standard that everyone can rally around.

This almost never works. In many cases, a new standard fails to displace the incumbent standards, eventually loses funding and support, and thus becomes a relic of history. In many other cases, it only penetrates far enough to survive, ironically making the situation messier. The latter situation often ends up becoming cyclical, with new standards periodically rising and failing to gain traction.

Three examples are given at the top of the comic: {{w|AC adapter|AC chargers}}, {{w|character encoding}} and {{w|instant messaging}}.
* Power adapters are notorious for varying from device to device - partly to try to prevent dangerous voltage/current mismatches, but partly just because manufacturers all chose different adapter designs. In 2011, Mobile phone chargers had mostly converged on a common USB-based solution, but laptop charging remained still a long way out, despite the adoption of yet another standard, {{w|IEC 62700}}, and Apple mobile devices generally used proprietary Lightning connectors (However that is changing because of European law). Randall notes that there was additional complexity due to the fact that there were also ''competing USB types''; thanks to the European Union's {{w|common external power supply}} specification, micro-USB then won the day. In August 2014, the {{w|USB Type-C}} specification was published and started to displace micro-USB; it gained ground among laptop manufacturers as well. From 2021 to 2022, the EU successfully legislated for its {{w|USB-C#Regulations for compatibility|common use}}.
* Character encoding is, in theory, a solved problem - {{w|Unicode}} is a standard for character sets which currently includes over 135,000 characters. However, Unicode is not an encoding, just an abstract representation of the characters, and there are several implementations which encode Unicode "code points" into usable characters (including the two most common, {{w|UTF-8}} and {{w|UTF-16}}). Despite the [https://w3techs.com/technologies/history_overview/character_encoding/ms/y success of UTF-8 Unicode], older encodings like {{w|Windows-1252}} have stuck around, continuing to cause weird bugs in old software and websites to this day.
* Unlike the other examples, there has been little or no effort by instant messaging companies to make their services interoperable. There's more value to keeping IM as a {{w|closed platform}} so users are forced to use the company's software to access it. Some software, like the {{w|Trillian (software)|Trillian}} chat client, can connect to multiple different services, but there is essentially no way to, for example, send a Twitter message directly to a Skype user. ActivityPub is an example of a standard intended to be universal, so any software using it for instant messaging can be 'federated' with each other, but as the comic points out, all this has led to is yet another competing standard.

The title text mentions mini-USB and micro-USB, which were different standards used in 2011. As of 2019 for most applications of small USB ports (especially for charging / connecting cell phones), mini USB has lost most of its relevance and micro USB is competing with USB-C, as well as some solutions only used by single companies (such as Apple). As of 2023, Apple has also switched entirely to USB-C after pressures from the European Union. Furthermore, USB-C has become the most common connector for other new purposes such as charging laptops, charging non-electronic devices like reading lights or toy motors, and connecting external hard drives or computers to monitors. Thus, in hindsight, this comic has not "aged well". By developing USB-C, electrical engineers did not add to competing standards but instead may have started to displace all of the others. This is especially true because USB-C handles increased capacity in power and data, compared to the various legacy USB standards. Although the comic implies that serving "all use cases" would add to the standards problem, with USB-C it may have actually solved it. It is possible to charge a phone then use the same charger and cable to charge a portable battery, then use the same charger and cable to charge a set of Bluetooth headphones, then take the same cable to connect a camera to a computer, then use that same cable again to charge the phone from the portable battery charged earlier (although this may also have been true with some {{w|USB hardware#Connectors|prior versions of USB}} when, for example, micro-USB was the 'newest and latest' universal choice). This widespread commonality across many different uses is obviously very convenient, and it occurred just a little more than a decade after the comic suggested it couldn't be done.

Not all {{w|technical standards|standards}} are created equal. In the development of {{w|technical standards|standards}}, private standards adopt a non-consensus process in comparison to voluntary consensus standards. Private standards in the {{w|Information and Communications Technology}} (ICT) sector and the agri-food industry (governed by the {{w|Global Food Safety Initiative}}) are discussed in a [https://docplayer.net/23885374-International-standards-and-private-standards.html publication from International Organization for Standardization.]

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the panels:]
:How Standards Proliferate
:(See: A/C chargers, character encodings, instant messaging, etc.)

:[A text-only panel.]
:Situation:
:There are 14 competing standards.

:[Cueball and Ponytail stand facing each other.]
:Cueball: 14?! Ridiculous! We need to develop one universal standard that covers everyone's use cases.
:Ponytail: Yeah!

:[Another text-only panel. The word "Soon:" appears in its own box at the upper left of the panel.]
:Soon:
:Situation:
:There are 15 competing standards.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]

3204: Dinosaurs And Non-Dinosaurs

2026-02-09T15:13:11Z

24.54.131.250: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 3204
| date = February 6, 2026
| title = Dinosaurs And Non-Dinosaurs
| image = dinosaurs_and_non_dinosaurs_2x.png
| imagesize = 370x283px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Staplers are actually in Pseudosuchia, making them more closely related to crocodiles than to dinosaurs.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a webserver that is often described as being a dinosaur; however, it is definitely not. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This comic explores the seeming paradox that certain extinct prehistoric species which are popularly thought of as being "dinosaurs" are, from a strict {{w|taxonomy|taxonomic}} viewpoint, not. It also takes into account the fact that all {{w|bird}} species are descended from {{w|dinosaur}}s and thus - again, from a strict taxonomic viewpoint - are themselves dinosaurs as well (see [[1211: Birds and Dinosaurs]]). To illustrate this, [[Randall]] provides silhouettes of dinosaurs, of entities that are widely thought of as dinosaurs but are not, of entities that are ''not'' widely thought of as dinosaurs but ''are'' (i.e. birds), and, lastly, of entities that are neither dinosaurs nor thought of as dinosaurs (which is funny{{cn}} because it's so all-encompassing as to be practically meaningless, just like it would be if you replaced the word "dinosaurs" by any other plural noun, or adjective).

=== Creatures that seem like dinosaurs and are dinosaurs ===
* {{w|Stegosaurus}}
* {{w|Triceratops}}
* {{w|Tyrannosaurus}} Rex, whose name literally translates to ''Tyrant-Lizard King'', was a {{w|Late Cretaceous}} dinosaur, living during the {{w|Maastrichtian}} Age at the very end of the period. It was a contemporary of Triceratops and Mosasaurs, also listed in this comic. T-Rex is arguably one of the most well-known dinosaurs, due to the recovery of intact skeletons, as well as successful marketing and pop-culture influences, such as ''{{w|Jurassic Park}}'', a movie of which Randall is a known fan.
* {{w|Diplodocus}}
* {{w|Velociraptor}}

=== Creatures that seem like dinosaurs, but are not ===
Dinosaur is a {{w|paleontology}} term which refers to a specific group of reptiles, based upon evolutionary lines, bone structure and living domain. However, non-experts may have difficulty distinguishing these from other extinct large reptiles/creatures and apply the term somewhat indiscriminately, hence the confusion between what is scientifically included and what is culturally assumed to be included.

The creatures listed are:
* {{w|Mosasaur}}s were aquatic reptiles that existed during the Cretaceous. Although mosasaurs appeared in ''{{w|Jurassic World}}'', they are not closely related to dinosaurs. They actually evolved from lizards and are most closely related to either snakes or varanoids (such as the Komodo dragon).
* {{w|Plesiosaur}}s were another group of Mesozoic aquatic reptiles. Their place in the reptile family tree is debated, as they are not closely related to dinosaurs or any extant reptile.
* {{w|Pteranodon}} belonged to the group of flying reptiles known as pterosaurs. While dinosaurs and pterosaurs are both archosaurs and are more closely related to each other than other archosaurs (such as crocodilians; see title text explanation below), they diverged around 250 MYA, and are distinct enough to be entirely separate lineages.
* {{w|Dimetrodon}} lived in the {{w|Paleozoic}}, well before dinosaurs first evolved. They are synapsids, which makes them more closely related to mammals than to any living reptiles.
* {{w|Quetzalcoatlus}} was a genus of flying pterosaurs, like ''Pteranodon'', that lived in the Maastrichtian Age (the end of the Cretaceous) alongside mosasaurs, T-Rex, and many others. They were some of the largest flying animals in history, with wingspans up to 36 feet (11m). They were not, however, dinosaurs, as they had pterosaur ancestry.

=== Creatures that don't seem like dinosaurs, but are ===
Due to the popular depiction of dinosaurs as prehistoric large reptiles, many people don't view modern birds as dinosaurs. However, as Randall [[1211:_Birds and Dinosaurs|loves to remind people]], dinosaurs such as ''T-rex'' are more closely related (temporally, anatomically, and phylogenetically) to birds than to some other dinosaurs such as ''Stegosaurus'', and therefore, birds '''are''' dinosaurs in their own right.
* {{w|Penguin}}
* {{w|Heron}}
* {{w|Ostrich}}
* {{w|Pigeon}}
* {{w|Falcon}} or {{w|Petrel}} (both of them qualify)

=== Creatures that don't seem like dinosaurs, and are not ===
* {{w|Squirrel}}: mammal, or possibly [[2186:_Dark_Matter|dark matter]]
* {{w|Stapler}}: not a living thing
* {{w|Flowerpot|Pot plant}}: plant
* {{w|Human}}: mammal
* {{w|Bicycle}}: not a living thing

The title text is a further joke about taxonomy, seemingly predicated on the assumption that staplers are biological organisms (which they are not),{{Citation needed}} and can thus be sorted into taxa. ''{{w|Pseudosuchia}}'' is in fact the clade of archosaurs that includes crocodilians, and staplers bear a certain resemblance to the open mouth of a crocodilian. Also, "suchia" sounds a little like "suture," and in some sense staples are pseudo {{w|Surgical_suture|sutures}}.

The original {{w|Linnaean taxonomy}} ''did'' at first have a top-level classification for "mineral" taxonomy, in addition to those for animal and plant, which {{w|Twenty questions#Popular variants|in its broadest sense}} might allow one to assign a stapler a taxonomic relationship with dinosaurs.

==Transcript==
:[A 2x2 chart where each of the four quadrants contains five silhouettes. These depict various animals, a few objects, and a human. Above each column and to the left of each row there are a label:]
:[Left column:] Are dinosaurs
:[Right column:] Are not dinosaurs
:[Upper row:] Seem like dinosaurs
:[Lower row:] Don't seem like dinosaurs

:[Here follows a list of what are in each of the four quadrants:]

:[Top left (seem like dinosaurs, are dinosaurs):]
:[Stegosaurus, triceratops, tyrannosaurus, diplodocus, and velociraptor.]

:[Top right (seem like dinosaurs, are not dinosaurs):]
:[Mosasaur, quetzalcoatlus, dimetrodon, plesiosaur, and pteranodon.]

:[Bottom left (don't seem like dinosaurs, are dinosaurs):]
:[Penguin, egret, falcon, pigeon, and ostrich.]

:[Bottom right (don't seem like dinosaurs, are not dinosaurs):]
:[Squirrel, stapler, bicycle, human (here depicted as Cueball), and potted plant.]

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Confusion matrices]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]
[[Category:Velociraptors]]
[[Category:Squirrels]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

Talk:3132: Coastline Similarity

2025-08-22T19:24:37Z

24.54.131.250:

Lol what [[User:SectorCorruptor|SectorCorruptor]] ([[User talk:SectorCorruptor|talk]]) 16:20, 22 August 2025 (UTC)

Lol what --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 17:30, 22 August 2025 (UTC)
Lol what [[User:Broseph|Broseph]] ([[User talk:Broseph|talk]]) 18:13, 22 August 2025 (UTC)

Lol what [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 18:52, 22 August 2025 (UTC)

Lol what [[Special:Contributions/24.54.131.250|24.54.131.250]] 19:24, 22 August 2025 (UTC)

3132: Coastline Similarity

2025-08-22T18:04:57Z

24.54.131.250: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3132
| date = August 22, 2025
| title = Coastline Similarity
| image = coastline_similarity_2x.png
| imagesize = 553x219px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Hey! A bunch of the early Cretaceous fossils on each coast seem to have been plagiarized, too!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a PLAGIARIZING BOT. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This comic depicts a classroom, likely relating to geography, geology, or history, in which the teacher is discussing continental drift. She is explaining how continental drift created the similar coastlines of Africa and South America. One student exclaims that one coastline plagiarized the other, before being interrupted by Miss Lenhart, who explains that it was continental drift.

Of course, coastlines are inanimate objects, and have no concept of plagiarism, let alone know how to perform it.

{{w|Continental drift}} is the widely accepted theory that Earth's continents were once all connected, and have been moving relative to each other due to {{w|plate tectonics}}. One of the clues that led to this discovery was that the shapes of the coastlines of South America and Africa that are separated by the Atlantic Ocean are similar; they're like adjacent pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

The title text continues the joke about plagiarism. Additional corroborating evidence of continental drift is that there are similar species of plant and animal fossils on the two sides of the Atlantic, dating to the time when they were connected. Cueball thinks that the creators of these species also copied each other.

==Transcript==
[Panel 1. Miss Lenhart is holding a pointer pointing to a wall map. The map shows South America and Africa, with the east coast of South America and the southwest coast of Africa highlighted in red.]

Miss Lenhart: People had long noticed that South America and Africa had similarly-shaped coastlines.

[Panel 2. Hairbun and Cueball are sitting at school desks, looking at Miss Lenhart.]

Miss Lenhart: In the 20th century, geologists finally found the explanation:

[Panel 3]

Cueball: Plagiaris--

Miss Lenhart: Continental drift.

Cueball: Oh.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

3132: Coastline Similarity

2025-08-22T16:13:00Z

24.54.131.250: /* Explanation */