explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy

2026-07-02T17:34:57Z

82.132.236.125: Helium is only one answer. And needs to be justified as a question in the first place.

[[Beret Guy]] is a very strange character. Sometimes he takes these strange tendencies into the supernatural.

'''Click''' to expand for a more detailed explanation:
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
<br>
==Explanation==
In the early comics, Beret guy was mainly just a strange and naive character. His strange abilities begin to appear fairly early on, but that power could also be attributed to [[Cueball]] (at least as a shared power) in [[248]].

From comic [[1088]], Beret Guy begins to appear frequently with these strange powers, typically unrelated to one another, except that he has some issues with electrical sockets and power cords as seen in [[1293]] and [[1395]]. (See also [[509: Induced Current]] and the title text of [[614: Woodpecker]], regarding power cords, but not these specific powers.) He is also capable of waiting for very long time as seen both in [[1088]], [[1617]] and [[2987]].

Many of these apparent powers manifest as objects behaving strangely around him. It is unclear whether these are in fact powers inherent to Beret Guy or whether the objects are simply cursed; as indicated in [[1772]], most of his possessions were acquired from shops specializing in cursed items.

Here is a list of the comics where Beret Guy displays strange powers that are beyond the realm of possibility.

===List of abilities===
#[[248]]: Creates hypothetical situations which trap him and others around him. These situations are spaces, formed with thin, flexible walls that can be torn open with a knife.
#[[1032]]: Is able to photocopy 3d objects to create clones of said object
#[[1088]]: Capable of waiting in the same place for highly extended periods of time, presumably without sustenance
#[[1099]]: He has the ability to grow wings at will, which can extend infinitely if he chooses to do so.
#[[1135]]: He can persuade spiders to spin their silk in such a way that it forms a wearable shirt.
#[[1158]]: He can use his imagination to manifest physical objects.
#[[1293]]: His office has an outlet which can dispense soup when needed. It is unclear if he modified the cord to function differently, or if the cord was simply found as-is.
#[[1388]]: He can subduct himself through the floor to form mountains in his room.
#[[1395]]: He is able to inflate a laptop into a notably buoyant object by blowing into a power cord, implying that 1) he can exhale helium, or other lighter-than-air gas, at will and 2) he can change the properties of any object at will.
#[[1422]]: His phone has the same properties as a dying star, expanding and exploding as it runs out of power.
#[[1486]]: He is able to harness the energy of a vacuum cleaner and fly using it.
#[[1490]]: He can see individual atoms and distinguish elements apart, but he cannot discern what these atoms make up (he cannot distinguish a human from a dog).
#[[1522]]: By standing on a stepladder and looking through a magnifying glass, he can examine life on exoplanets in detail.
#[[1614]]: Another example of changing the properties of objects at will.
#[[1617]]: He can survive without oxygen for many years. He is also able to gain all necessary nutrients via eating newspaper.
#[[1922]]: Yet another example of changing the properties of objects. He is also apparently able to make dogs follow his exact commands.
#[[2310]]: He has higher dimensional bones, leading to a much greater than normal attraction to the {{w|Great attractor}}. This allows him to sleep and rest on walls and ceilings.
#[[2325]]: Nearby flowing water flows towards him rather than towards the nearest drainage basin. It appears that he is not capable of controlling this.
#[[2376]]: He has the knowledge of a cursed amulet that attracts malicious ghosts. He claims that he can do battle with ghosts, although it is unknown whether this is an ability of his or just him being odd as normal.
#[[2446]]: He had the ability to create very large clumps of {{w|Spike proteins}} after receiving the COVID vaccine, although it is unknown as to whether he is still able to do this.
#[[2534]]: He can construct an object which can stretch and flex to at least 254 miles in length.
#[[2498]]: He kept D.B. Cooper stuck in a tree on his property for 40 years, likely with no food or water.
#[[2695]]: He created volcano seeds which, when planted, create a tiny volcano.
#[[2710]]: He created a hydroelectric dam that produces more water than passed into it.
#[[2805]]: He has infinite arm strength, as he is able to hold on to a balloon using one arm for at least 1500 years. He experiences no adverse affects during this time.
#[[2850]]: He is able to influence human thoughts at will by changing the status of his house on Google Maps.
#[[2987]]: He stands still for an entire 20 years, presumably without any food or water, to tectonic surf; although he only moved about a meter in that time.
#[[3046]]: He is able to utilize an anomalous ancestry site to figure out that he is related to long-extinct Stromatolites.
#[[3179]]: He is able to estimate the weight of any object that gets hooked onto a fishing rod he is holding.
#[[3240]]: He is able to sail in a life-sized ship in a bottle, making the bottle stay stable and also sail along as if using a sail. Plus he sailed inside the bottle as a kid, when he (and the boat) fit through the bottle neck. Also he survived inside a closed bottle.
#[[3261]]: He can manage stretching because of gravitational waves as a side effect of a medication and not feel any pain or discomfort.
</div>
<br>

[[Category:Comics by topic]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]

Talk:3264: 720 Ollie

2026-07-02T13:46:22Z

82.132.236.125:

Never really understood skateboards myself [[Special:Contributions/216.25.182.141|216.25.182.141]] 03:00, 27 June 2026 (UTC)
:That's okay. I never really understood human-scale spin-½ fermions. [[Special:Contributions/2603:8081:9700:1224:0:0:0:2|2603:8081:9700:1224:0:0:0:2]] 03:18, 27 June 2026 (UTC)
Early footage of Tony exploring rotational symmetries: The Loop (2001) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLC1V22Y7iY
Note that he needs to go around the loop twice before he can return to his original orientation and land the trick. [[Special:Contributions/86.23.176.63|86.23.176.63]] 03:39, 27 June 2026 (UTC)

Riding "regular" vs "goofy" just means which foot is placed at the front, it has no real effect on what you can or can't do so you could describe it as a "symmetry" similar to symmetries in physics. Discovering a way to break that symmetry would, in theory, be an important discovery to people who cared about theoretical skateboarding. [[User:Undergroundmonorail|Undergroundmonorail]] ([[User talk:Undergroundmonorail|talk]]) 04:37, 27 June 2026 (UTC)
:I think the parallel is to the way that total 'spins' and other things are (or perhaps notably aren't) conserved across various feynman diagrams, and your footedness is a state of the system (you can change it, mid-trick, but then the switch becomes ''part'' of thst trick) like the charge is a part of any given interaction/combination/decomposition of particles. Obviously any southpaw (south''pad''?) skater may bias towards or away from certain normal/goofy stances that a standard contrmporary may bias oppositely to, but it sounds like the comic is suggesting something even more fundemental about differences in that (e.g.) left-turns in both modes (by all types of rider) are statistically tighter than right-turns by exactly flip-matched individuals. Or something like that. (Taking this complete hypothetical further, the studies regarding this need to be done in both north and south hemispheres, to rule out it simply being a skateboard-detected consequence of the Coriolis force! While a single X Games is not enough to check this, I believe subsequent events have been held in opposing hemispheres. ;p )
:Of course it's analogy-stretching (both the comic and myself), but this is xkcd. Stretching of analogies (both within the range of Hooke's law and even beyond the elastic limit, whether under tension, compression, torsion, etc) is what both Randall and ourselves do. ;) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.238.177|82.132.238.177]] 11:10, 27 June 2026 (UTC)

"Tony Hawk is not a subatomic particle {{citation needed}}" XD [[Special:Contributions/2401:4900:ADC9:33ED:3028:A249:ED24:CD91|2401:4900:ADC9:33ED:3028:A249:ED24:CD91]] 07:00, 27 June 2026 (UTC)

Nevertheless Tony Hawk is awesome and can do anything a subatomic particle can do. Alas, the description (why a fermion differs from a boson) is not dumb enough for me to understand, tho. [[User:Dúthomhas|Dúthomhas]] ([[User talk:Dúthomhas|talk]]) 07:46, 27 June 2026 (UTC)
:I think we need to properly investigate the abilities of the {{w|Tony Hawks|supersymmetric version}} of Tony Hawk. We do know that he's capable of walking long distances with fridges, can play tennis, etc, but we're still some way from a direct comparison under a Grand Unified Theory. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.238.177|82.132.238.177]] 11:52, 27 June 2026 (UTC)

I must admit, when I started reading the comic I was initially thinkingnit was going to be something to do with the tendency of objects spun around a minor axis to also flip (unbidden) around their major axis. Remote controls, table-tennis bats, anything where a 360° flip is obviously happening but lands back in your hand 180° rotated, longitudinally (buttons now faced down, red/black paddle surfaces inverted, etc), regardless(/specificallly) of how carefully you try to do a perfect one-axis spin of tbis manner. — So, now I'm wondering, is ''that'' the underlying reason for the quantum-mechanical 'half-spins'? Whereby an unrelated (and not understood/hidden-variable) long-axis spin exhibits an apparent half-spin as a precessionary artefact? Or it's 'just' a more standard topological rotational symmetry of ½ made 'real'. (Of ''course'' I know that 'spin' isn't anything much like classical physics spinning, like quarks don't have colours, just [[2734: Electron Color|everything else]].) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.238.177|82.132.238.177]] 11:52, 27 June 2026 (UTC)

Maybe its been mentioned but a real world example of a macroscopic spin 1/2 system is where the object is tethered to a fixed point and the tether can bend but not twist. Simple example is holding a coffee cup in your hand (I can't actually do this, my arm isn't flexible enough) you can rotate the cup 360 degrees over your arm but your arm gets kind of twisted, if you then rotate the cup under your arm your arm untwists and you get back to the original position. I'm sure I saw someone demonstrate this in a lecture and I thought I could do it but can't seem to make it work.

Anyway my point is you get a macroscopic system where the cup needs to rotate 720 degrees to return the system to its starting point.

Also when using quaternions to handle rotation in 3D game design they seem to define a spin 1/2 system but you just have to deal with it, its just numbers [[Special:Contributions/80.229.249.36|80.229.249.36]] 13:05, 27 June 2026 (UTC)

As I understand it, some new symmetries originally identified in the two-Higgs-doublet model, also known as 𝑟<sub>0</sub>-symmetry, have been referred to as the goofy symmetry based on the names of the authors. [[Special:Contributions/49.194.177.67|49.194.177.67]] 13:15, 27 June 2026 (UTC)


I hate to say it but I think you have missed the joke. In a 360-degree Ollie the skater rotates the board 180 degrees in the air, lands backwards, and then rotates 180 degrees with one pair of wheels on the ground. So the comic is literally correct that the board "lands backwards." [[User:Brutalcaboodle|Brutalcaboodle]] ([[User talk:Brutalcaboodle|talk]]) 14:09, 28 June 2026 (UTC)
:
:From everything I've read, this is wrong. Or, at least, it doesn't explain the 180 Ollie, which does what you say is the first bit of the 360 Ollie.
:I'm no expert, just going by what I've read about (including in trying to confirm what you said, once I read that). Is it possible that you've been told that a 180 Ollie-plus-Pivot (or similar) is a 'full' 360? [[Special:Contributions/81.179.200.152|81.179.200.152]] 18:00, 28 June 2026 (UTC)
::I was going by the first two videos that pop up when you Google "360 degree Ollie" including this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXR2pn7ZRM8 where you can see the skateboarder landing backwards. Also consider: this makes the joke funny; the other way the joke is just kind of dumb. Since Randall is funny, and often in a way that involves knowing some really obscure bit of knowledge, this makes me believe my interpretation. [[Special:Contributions/70.110.149.136|70.110.149.136]] 01:20, 29 June 2026 (UTC)
:::First video I get is this one (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JG_IpNESuAs), which does show the board doing a full 360 rotation before landing (more or less - some of the attempts are marginally short). The one you've linked actually has people pointing out in the comments that it's not a full 360. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 15:50, 29 June 2026 (UTC)

Weird things your mind does - after reading through this explanation a couple of times, I now have stuck in my head: "Tohh-neee Hawk doo doo der-doo der-doo". And now you do too - you're welcome! ;o) [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 09:22, 29 June 2026 (UTC)

We need to start manufacturing USB connectors out of photons, gluons or some other kind of boson. I'm tired of having to rotate twice to find the right orientation. [[Special:Contributions/135.84.57.36|135.84.57.36]] 14:29, 29 June 2026 (UTC)

What trips me up a little bit, is that in a half pipe, the thing Tony Hawk is known for, if you do not spin, you do land backwards. So actually you do keep going forward in your normal stance if you do a 180, a 540 or a 900. I was sure it would have to do something with that when reading it, yet it does not, and instead ascribes to Tony Hawk some magical definition of going forward, not visible to outside observers. Weird. {{unsigned ip|145.224.74.124|06:43, 2 July 2026}}
:The diagram/thought image suggests a 'bump ramp' (or possibly rail) trick, rather than a half-pipe or quarter-pipe, so I think it's just that simple and no reversal of direction/forwardness. Though a quarter-ramp might be off-panel, to set up the rapid linear travel over the bump to augment the coordinated ollie 'leap' sufficient to gain the 720's necessary airtime, then hit an opposing quarter to reverse and pass the other way for a new go. Or there's 'just' a skiramp on one side and a cooldown exit on the other. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.125|82.132.236.125]] 13:46, 2 July 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3266: Holes

2026-07-02T13:28:20Z

82.132.236.125: Indeed, and you ECed my intended minor corrections, I just noticed.

thank god the site is back up again, that outage was scary. on a more relevant note, yay, another long data page! - '''[[User:Vaedez|Vaedez]]''' ([[User talk:Vaedez|talk]]) 02:43, 2 July 2026 (UTC)
:Must have missed that (can see other references to it below). It was working before I went to bed (this wasn't here yet), but I'm guessing it's the same overzealous webscraping/watever (automated, either by hand or AI 'material grabber') that we had over a few days last month. Though must have started later and finished far earlier, this last session. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.125|82.132.236.125]] 13:06, 2 July 2026 (UTC)
::It couldn't cope with all the holes. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 13:09, 2 July 2026 (UTC)

i'm here before the image! [[Special:Contributions/216.25.182.141|216.25.182.141]] 03:59, 2 July 2026 (UTC)
: yeah, that'll be due to an issue with the site/the bot that generally creates the comic pages (as mentioned in "created by a BOT") having trouble uploading to the site - '''[[User:Vaedez|Vaedez]]''' ([[User talk:Vaedez|talk]]) 04:39, 2 July 2026 (UTC)
: okay, i think i uploaded the image correctly? its certainly in now, and i didn't touch how the image is embedded, but it looks maybe too big in the page - '''[[User:Vaedez|Vaedez]]''' ([[User talk:Vaedez|talk]]) 04:46, 2 July 2026 (UTC)

I'm a bit surprised that the Deepwater Horizon Bore Hole didn't get an "Oops" tag. [[Special:Contributions/60.240.65.62|60.240.65.62]]
: Is the deepwater horizon bore hole a joke? --[[Special:Contributions/2001:638:807:508:8FD3:E0DF:F738:D961|2001:638:807:508:8FD3:E0DF:F738:D961]] 05:47, 2 July 2026 (UTC)

The russian hole got filled in again, they we're afraid of deamons. The deepest hole that ist still open is KTB in Windischeschenbach at 9101m [schobi]

Did nobody notice that Randal made a typo in the word bochnia? [[Special:Contributions/217.95.141.233|217.95.141.233]] 05:18, 2 July 2026 (UTC)

Why does this site constantly go out? It's starting to concern me. [[User:RG|RG]] ([[User talk:RG|talk]]) 05:57, 2 July 2026 (UTC)
:(See reply to first comment.) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.125|82.132.236.125]] 13:06, 2 July 2026 (UTC)

Point the first: Surprised that CERN didn't get a look in. Not ''particularly'' deep, but then again some of the others aren't, and maybe even are also "far wider than deep". And CERN's 'underground ring(s)' hole is very much in Randall's awareness. Makes you wonder what other examples were deliberately left out. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.125|82.132.236.125]] 13:06, 2 July 2026 (UTC)

Point the second: I think there needs to be two 'depth' columns in the table. The one currently there is (I think) all "(height above/)depth below MSL", but a second column for "maximum depth below the local surface" (or better description) might be useful. i.e. the mountaintops they're dug in below (even if tunnelled in from the side, it's the 'overhead' rock, not the 'shaft-depth', though notes about that might not go amiss). For the Dead Sea it ''is'' at its own surface (though its depths are at watery depths starting from that below-sealevel point). The oceanic ones would be depth below the (surrounding?) sea-floor. - I can trivially add in the whole column, right now (and set it up for proper useful datasortvalue, etc), but would have to leave it blank of data until I can actually do enough of the research. Rather than that, just mentioning it. Maybe someone else has the time, before I do (this evening, maybe?). [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.125|82.132.236.125]] 13:06, 2 July 2026 (UTC)
:This is just what I just got edit conflicted while commenting. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 13:07, 2 July 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3266: Holes

2026-07-02T13:06:16Z

82.132.236.125:

thank god the site is back up again, that outage was scary. on a more relevant note, yay, another long data page! - '''[[User:Vaedez|Vaedez]]''' ([[User talk:Vaedez|talk]]) 02:43, 2 July 2026 (UTC)
:Must have missed that (can see other references to it below). It was working before I went to bed (this wasn't here yet), but I'm guessing it's the same overzealous webscraping/watever (automated, either by hand or AI 'material grabber') that we had over a few days last month. Though must have started later and finished far earlier, this last session. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.125|82.132.236.125]] 13:06, 2 July 2026 (UTC)

i'm here before the image! [[Special:Contributions/216.25.182.141|216.25.182.141]] 03:59, 2 July 2026 (UTC)
: yeah, that'll be due to an issue with the site/the bot that generally creates the comic pages (as mentioned in "created by a BOT") having trouble uploading to the site - '''[[User:Vaedez|Vaedez]]''' ([[User talk:Vaedez|talk]]) 04:39, 2 July 2026 (UTC)
: okay, i think i uploaded the image correctly? its certainly in now, and i didn't touch how the image is embedded, but it looks maybe too big in the page - '''[[User:Vaedez|Vaedez]]''' ([[User talk:Vaedez|talk]]) 04:46, 2 July 2026 (UTC)

I'm a bit surprised that the Deepwater Horizon Bore Hole didn't get an "Oops" tag. [[Special:Contributions/60.240.65.62|60.240.65.62]]
: Is the deepwater horizon bore hole a joke? --[[Special:Contributions/2001:638:807:508:8FD3:E0DF:F738:D961|2001:638:807:508:8FD3:E0DF:F738:D961]] 05:47, 2 July 2026 (UTC)

The russian hole got filled in again, they we're afraid of deamons. The deepest hole that ist still open is KTB in Windischeschenbach at 9101m [schobi]

Did nobody notice that Randal made a typo in the word bochnia? [[Special:Contributions/217.95.141.233|217.95.141.233]] 05:18, 2 July 2026 (UTC)

Why does this site constantly go out? It's starting to concern me. [[User:RG|RG]] ([[User talk:RG|talk]]) 05:57, 2 July 2026 (UTC)
:(See reply to first comment.) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.125|82.132.236.125]] 13:06, 2 July 2026 (UTC)

Point the first: Surprised that CERN didn't get a look in. Not ''partifularly'' deep, but then again some of the others aren't, and maybe even are also "far wider than deep". And CERN's 'underground ring(s)' hole is very much in Randall's awareness. Makes you wonder what other examples were deliberately left out. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.125|82.132.236.125]] 13:06, 2 July 2026 (UTC)

Point the second: I think there needs to be two 'depth' columns in the table. The one currently there is (I think) all "depth below MSL", but a second column for "maximum depth below the local surface" (or better description) might be useful. i.e. the mountaintops they're dug in below (even if tunnelled in from the side, it's the 'overhead' rock, not the 'shaft-depth', though notes about that might not go amiss). For the Dead Sea it ''is'' at its own surface (though its depths are at watery depths starting from that below-sealevel point). The oceanic ones would be depth below the (surrounding?) sea-floor. - I can trivially add in the column, right now (and set it up for proper useful datasortvalue, etc), but would have to leave it blank of data until I can actually do enough of the research. Rather than that, just mentioning it. Maybe someone else has the time, before I do (this evening, maybe?). [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.125|82.132.236.125]] 13:06, 2 July 2026 (UTC)

3185: Sauropods

2026-07-02T12:28:58Z

82.132.236.125: /* Explanation */ Target page is the singular. Using the postfix-plural is the *marginally* simpler way of getting the same (visibly identical) link.

{{comic
| number = 3185
| date = December 24, 2025
| title = Sauropods
| image = sauropods_2x.png
| imagesize = 317x424px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Vertebrae Georg
}}

==Explanation==
The reconstruction of dinosaurs often has to be done on the basis of incomplete or disorganised fossil evidence. As a result, it can be based on a form of educated guesswork, based on the fossils that are available, and knowledge of other likely analogous creatures. This has led to some {{w|Crystal_Palace_Dinosaurs|significantly erroneous reconstructions}}, which have later been revised when further evidence came to light.

This comic attempts to correct people on the skeletal structure of {{w|sauropod}} dinosaurs, claiming that, rather than being long-necked and -tailed, most individuals actually had short necks and tails, and the "queen" of the colony had an enormous number of vertebrae, possibly resembling a snake with legs. The idea is that paleontologists misconstrued the skeletons, averaging the vertebrae out between all specimens, instead of 'correctly' allocating most of them to a single queen, leaving the rest of the creatures with shorter necks and tails.

In reality, most of the animal species that have {{w|eusociality|colonies with queens}} are fairly small insects, particularly termites, ants, bees, and wasps, with {{w|naked mole-rat}}s as a famous exception among vertebrates. No sauropods or other reptiles are or were known to do so. Also, while queens are often larger specimens than their workers or drones, they always share the same general anatomy. The comic suggests however that regular sauropods have a vastly different anatomy than their supposed queens.

The comic shows the sauropod queen as a serpent looping around several times and floating in the sky without support, which is impossible.{{cn}} Additionally, it is obviously impossible that a single sauropod could have a neck (and tail) anywhere near that long; it would collapse under its own weight. In fact, all known sauropods already have substantial skeletal adaptations just to accommodate their {{w|sauropoda#Necks|elongated necks}}.

The title text references {{w|Spiders Georg}}, a fictitious internet meme character who allegedly eats over 10,000 spiders a day, skewing the average and creating the factoid "The average person swallows 3 spiders a year."

==Transcript==

:[Top panel: A sauropod with a normal long neck and tail, crossed out with a large red X.]
:[Bottom panel: Two sauropods with very short necks and tails, with a green check mark drawn in between and an eel-like supposed "sauropod queen" situated above them, who is predominantly composed of sauropod necks winding off both sides of the panel, with a single head and tip of the tail visible. The sauropod queen and the sauropod on the left look at each other.]
:[Caption below the comic:]
:Thanks to modern paleontological reconstructions, we now know that most sauropods had short necks, and all those extra vertebrae belonged to the sauropod colony's queen.
:[Hover text: Vertebrae Georg]

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]