explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:what if? articles

2025-03-24T16:53:22Z

Adrmcr: oops sorry retcon to fix a typo

{{TOC}}Note: I moved over the discussion page from my [[User talk:FaviFake|talk page]], which is where the merger of the two what if? indexes was initially coordinated and organized. Most of the topics below were originally created on [[User talk:FaviFake]]. Thanks! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 09:21, 2 February 2025 (UTC)

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==Introduction to coordinate the merger==
Hey! This is intended to be a space to coordinate the merging of the two tables. I see that [[User:1234231587678]] and [[User:Apollo11]] have been helping us create the two tables! I'm messaging you to coordinate a little bit. Since we're the 3 most active editors, let's coordinate!

My idea for the table was the following: there would be one single sortable table instead of two, and the information density would be very high. There were the columns I had in mind:

* N

* Date (the date YYYY-MM-DD, and then includes week after prev. article)

* Thumbnail

* Title (hyperlinked)

* Reader's question

* Randall's answer

* Book - in something like this format: '''WI?2, n. 40''' (BOOK1,2,3, nr. ARTICLE NUMBER), which is easily sortable by book - for unnumbered, use the assumed number with an asterisk like this: 69* - this column would also be color coded, by book - this would also contain the title in the book if different - empty when not in any book

* YT (the date YYYY-MM-DD, and then a hyperlinked link with the YT title. if the title is the same, don't repeat it) empty when not on YT

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I realise my mistake was listing the things we had to do together with the huge task, merging the tables! So what happened is you both contributed, but each of you contribued to a different table. In an attempt to solve this, i have created my own table, which is ready to receive the two additional columns!

'''I believe this third table (available at [[User:FaviFake]]) is the best option for us to work on the index together, so that once it has the 2 additional columns and contains all the articles, we can put it on the blog page and delete the [[What If? chapters]] table. What do you think?'''

I have also made other adjustments:

*Made the Date column nowrap, so the date doesn't wrap around, and made the first column (N) centered and '''bold'''

*Turned each Reader's question cell italic, and added quotation marks to the start and end of each cell. Ex: HOW OLD? becomes ''"HOW OLD?"''

* In the Randall's answer column, split the rows into one per question. For example, if there are 5 bullet points in 1 cell, split the "Reader's question" and the "Randall's answer" columns into 5 rows for that particular Article so that each question has its own mini-row.

*Added file link to all rows so you can just click to go straight to the upload file page.

*<s>'''Downgrade''': titles aren't hyperlinked</s> - {{Done}} Update: I manually hyperlinked all of them!
'''
*'''Downgrade''': the last ~100 articles are missing. I'll try to add them the day after tomorrow! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:06, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

:Regarding the additional 2 columns: I've been thinking a lot about how we should do them. I see 4 options:

:*'''Option 1: Separate Tables''' - separate tables for the YouTube video information and book information, and link articles across tables using the "N" column (or another unique identifier like the title). Advantages: Keeps sorting straightforward in each table. Maintains the integrity of your original table while allowing for sorting by videos and books in their respective tables. Flexible for adding future metadata. Disadvantages: Requires users to cross-reference between tables, which can be inconvenient.

:*'''Option 2: Expand Rows with Sub-Rows''' - How it works: For each article, add one or two additional sub-rows (One for YouTube video information (e.g., YT video number, link, title, thumbnail), and one for book information (e.g., book number, article number, title, color-coded cell). Advantages: Keeps all information together, visually grouped by article. Makes it easy to see all data without leaving the main table. Disadvantages: Sub-rows might disrupt column sorting. Could make the table visually cluttered for articles with both video and book.

:*'''Option 3: Additional Columns''' - new columns for: (FIRST COLUMN) YouTube video number, link, title, and thumbnail, and, (SECOND COLUMN) Book name, article number, title, and color-coding. Advantages: Sorting by videos or books is easy. Keeps all information in a single row. Disadvantages: The table becomes much wider, which can reduce readability on smaller screens. Many empty cells for articles without video or book.

:I've also thought about using a template. What do you think of the idea of a creating a template like these:

{{Done}} UPDATE: i did create the templates! See the top of [[User:FaviFake]]! <s>

<nowiki>{{yt|YTNUMBER (1, 2, 3, etc)|YTLINK|VIDEOTITLE (optional)}}</nowiki>

:It would be used in the column that we still need to create. It would also colour the cell in '''red'''. I was also thinking of doing a similar thing for the What If? books:

<nowiki>{{bk|WHICH-BOOK|CHAPTER-NUMBER|CHAPTER-TITLE (if different)}}</nowiki>

:For example, it would look like this (This one would also colour the cell based on the book, e.g., green for WI?1, yellow for WI?2, blue for WI10th ed.):

<nowiki>{{book|2|69|Jellyfish}}</nowiki>

What If? 2, chapter '''69: Jellyfish'''

:Would someone be able to create something like this? I know nothing about templates, and i doubt I'll be able to ask chatgpt to do everything for me correctly. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:28, 18 January 2025 (UTC)<s>
</s>
==1234231587678==
::I saw your message, and this would be a good idea to coordinate. Maybe also add the missing "Peptides" that was accidentally released on the blog, as index 153 (i think) or have two articles with the same index number, just putting "current" for the current article. --[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 20:47, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

::Also I think the "0w later" or "1w later" on the comics looks a bit odd, maybe remove them entirely? The dates are already present. --[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 20:49, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

:::Thanks for replying! I LOVE the idea of inserting the Peptides article directly in the index. It would technically make it a little less official, but I'm all for it. It looks and feels like a proper article.

:::I also fully agree with you regarding the '''1w later''' line! I do like the idea of seeing the frequency right from the index, but it's too much right now. My idea is to remove the "1w later" part, but leave it in for the articles that aren't released a week after the previous one. For example, this would keep the '''2w later''' and '''0w later''' lines for the articles that have them, but declutter the date cells of the "normal" ones. What do you think?

:::I can't do it right now, but it should be easy. We can also delay it until all articles are on the table, so we only have to do it once. Btw, I hope to get all the articles on the table by the day after tomorrow or the day after that. Meanwhile, you or other editors can add the 2 columns (Book and YT)! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 22:14, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

I currently don't have the books, so can't help with that, but I've added a few YT videos. Also the book template seems to be buggy (and/or a WIP), so I removed it from the 1st article. ALSO, the YT template display {5}th instead of 5th; weird. --[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 15:13, 19 January 2025 (UTC)

:Thank you so much! I fixed the YT template, let me know if there are any other issues. Also, you '''can''' help with books, even if you don't have them! All you need to do is look at the page [[What If? chapters]], which catalogues every chapter of every book. The <s>[[Template:book]]</s> i was trying to create is broken because I gave up trying to make it work (1h and 20min of my life wasted). Anyways, we now have 4 different templates, one for each book (the fourth is a placeholder!): [[Template:book1]], [[Template:book2]], [[Template:book3]], [[Template:book4]]. There are instructions on hot to use them on their page. Please continue adding the videos and the books if you can! This is exactly what we need! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:18, 19 January 2025 (UTC)

==Apollo11==
This a big page so I’m not sure I’m in the right spot (also typing one handed so sorry for mistakes). I like the table on you page, however I did notice it’s missing which book it’s in and the YouTube channel. I love how the one I edited was formatted, I think if you added that table to your existing table it’d be perfect. I would also add a page number for the books. [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 16:34, 18 January 2025 (UTC)

Ok just saw the three options. I’d go with either 1 or 3. 1 would look the best and probably be easiest to find what you’re looking for as long as your have links to the other tables very clear. What I would do is have a table with title, and where to find the article (blog, book 1, book 2, YouTube). Then have a 4 tables, one for each, where you can go more in depth about each article, date, explanation, jokes, things like that. Option 3 would be the simplest, and if that’s what you wanna do, I’d have the simplest things on the left and the more complicated things on the right. So the date and title would be in the left and the e explanation would be far to the right. You’ve probably been thinking about this a lot longer than me so I’m probably missing something, so please tell me if I’m wrong abo it anything. Also if my comment is in the wrong spot feel free to move me to the right conversation. I’d love to help in anyway!! Just give me directions and I’ll do by best!! [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 16:58, 18 January 2025 (UTC)

: Thanks so much for your interest! I thought about it a lot today, and i landed on 1, huge, information-laden table. I think having 3 or 4 tables would be too confusing and too hard to navigate. Plus, i think i found a good way to avoid making the table too wide. I added a few articles to showcase it. I don't have a lot of time to do all of them. Regarding the page number, I used the chapter number since it's easier for people who don't own the books.

: > I’d love to help in anyway!! Just give me directions and I’ll do by best!!
: Love it! You can do everything that's listed at the top of [[User:FaviFake]], but the first one might be more annoying to do on a phone (I'm not sure where you're editing from, actually). If you don't understand something on that page, please do let me know. I promise i'll answer quicker next time. ;) --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 20:03, 19 January 2025 (UTC)

:: Looks great!! I’ll get on it sometime early next week!! (Ftr I’m usually on a phone but sometimes I’ll go over to a computer for bigger projects, like added links and full researched paragraphs) [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 20:56, 19 January 2025 (UTC)

::: Amazing! I hope I'll have added all the missing articles by the day after tomorrow. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 21:30, 19 January 2025 (UTC)

==Adding the book-exclusive articles==
I noticed that there’s not a column for if the article is in the blog. I also don't think some of the ones in the book that aren’t on the blog are in there. Please correct me if I’m wrong. [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 18:17, 21 January 2025 (UTC)

:Yeah, I’ve noticed that some of the What If? Chapters aren’t in the table. I think that we should add them in too '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 18:42, 21 January 2025 (UTC)

::Thank you all for pointing it out! And again sorry it took me so long, I'm not good at prioritising. (but at least today i did something! I fixed both the YouTube template, there are new instructions on [[User:FaviFake]], and the book templates when used in merged cells. Anyways!)
::I had forgotten the other table also contained the book-exclusive questions! Of course we should add them! We need to think about this before doing anything though. I have so many questions!

*In what order do we put them? Unfortunately, the chapter of the book are mixed between non-excusive and exclusive.
*Do we need all the columns?
N Date Thumbnail Title Reader's question Randall's answer Books YouTube
**What happens to the unnecessary columns? We could merge them, but I'm not sure whether the sorting will work if we merge them.
*Should we change the columns, so that the '''blog number''' column is more similar to the '''Book''' and '''YouTube''' columns? Or are blog articles more important because they fill all the cells, while book-exclusives don't have all the same info?
*Is there ANY way you can think of to make the insertion of these articles into the existing index seamless? I'm usually on the side of one big index instead of many little indexes, but I'm having a hard time figuring this out. One of the main reasons I wanted to do this project was so that people wouldn't need to move between 2 different tables to see all articles.

::One way could be to just add all book-exclusive articles, each in their own row, in a big dump on the release date of the book. Even tho it would technically be in chronological order, i don't really like the idea. Please send all your thought! There must me something I'm not thinking of, or something I've been thinking wrong about! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:10, 22 January 2025 (UTC)

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::* What order do we put them in
:: I would do it in the same order as the other table, blog articles first in chronological, what if chapters in chapter order. I believe the YouTube channel is all old questions, but if he posts a new one, then put that below the books.
::* change blog columns
::I think you should move the blog date and number to after randalls answer, similar to the books, and for the date for book exclusives maybe jus the book release date? Or NA.
::* unessery colums
:: Example?
::* Seamless integration
::Just stick them on the bottom, the exact same way you’d put another blog article on the bottom.
::I think that covers it all? [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 19:15, 22 January 2025 (UTC)

:::Sticking the chapters at the end was the same idea I had, and I think that we can just put (What If? Exclusive) inside the date part of the table. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 19:22, 22 January 2025 (UTC)

::::Thanks for replying so quickly! I don't have time right now to read everything but I can already tell that this is much easier than I thought it would be. I'll answer tomorrow. Before i start overthinking everything: What would you put inside the columns thumbnail, Question, and Answer? Just empty? I'm trying to think of something useful.
::::Also, what do you think of merging the N (blog) column and the Date columns, just like we do with the YouTube column? Would there be any downsides?
:::: I hope I'm not preventing it edits by not adding the articles quickly, in the meantime you can help by adding YT videos, now that the template works! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 21:31, 22 January 2025 (UTC)

::::: I think that the YT videos are all added? At least the blog ones and not the What If? exclusive ones. Or maybe Restricted Mode on my home wifi is blocking some. But I think that it’s all done? Tried my best anyways '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 03:52, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

::::::This is great news, thanks! I didn't know there were YouTube videos on book-exclusive articles! I'll get started, this is my plan:
::::::*The book articles are positioned like the old [[What If? chapters]] table.
::::::*New column setup:
Thumbnail Title Reader's question Randall's answer '''Blog (this contains both N and Date)''' Books YouTube
::::::*The sometimes-unnecessary columns are left empty.
::::::*The '''Blog''' column is more similar to the '''Book''' and '''YouTube''' columns: it has a template and colors the cell light blue.

::::::I feel great about this! We're getting near the finish line. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:36, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

:::::::I think that I added all the What If? And What If? 2 chapters to the table for the ones that were copied from the blog '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 23:48, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

::::::::Love it! I hope i'll be able to add some of the missing articles today, but i might not be able to do them all (or any at all). --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:01, 24 January 2025 (UTC)

::::::::{{Done}} I did it! You can now add the missing YT videos :) {{unsigned|FaviFake|20:49, 24 January 2025 (UTC)}}

:::::::::Doing it now! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 21:24, 24 January 2025 (UTC)

::::::::::based on the 20 videos that I can see on the YT channel, ALL YT VIDEOS HAVE BEEN ADDED! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 21:39, 24 January 2025 (UTC)

:::::::::::We actually did it! Now all that's left are the explanations, which i'm sure people will prefer doing over merging 2 wikipedia tables. There's just one small problem: I searched for "Featured in What If?," and instead of 69 results, i got 67. This means two of the articles that are both in the book and in the blog haven't been added. Do you think you could figure out which ones? I also checked the other book and the YouTube videos, and they're all there, it's just the first book. Again, thank you so much for all your work, it would've likely taken weeks to get to this point without your efforts! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 11:21, 25 January 2025 (UTC)

ok, i’ll poke around and see if i can find them. also, I GOT WHAT IF? 10TH ANNIVERSARY! i can add the bonus chapter that is at the end-it’s basically “what if we tried more power” when blasting away at the moon with lasers. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 21:22, 25 January 2025 (UTC)

:Congrats on the book! I didn't buy it because i have the original, it's great that someone here owns it. Can you describe in a little more detail the last chapter? I don't understand a few things: does the second YouTube video say exactly the same thing as the blog article? Why are there two videos about 1 article? Or is the second YT video only about the Bonus Chapter in the book, which goes even further than the blog article? Is that bonus chapter not in any other book or blog? Thanks! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 11:13, 26 January 2025 (UTC)
:Also, is the chapter only called Bonus Chapter, or does it also have other names? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:15, 26 January 2025 (UTC)

==Sorting "Chapter xx.."==
Hi... An alternative to the way you are lead-zeroing the text cell's numeric suffix, for sorting purposes, which is what I think {{diff|363528|this is all about}}, would be to do so something like:
... || data-sort-value={{{1}}} | Chapter {{{1}}} || ...
Should be able to deal with any numeric value, while still rendering it simply as "Chapelter 1"/"Chapter 10"/"Chapter 100"/ etc, but adding ''data-sort-type="number"'' to the header cell might even be able to sort not-quite-numbers, should a future book ever do chapters like "... 7, 7a, 9, 10, 11, 12, 12b, 14, ...".
 Perhaps even ''data-sort-value=<booknumber>.<chapternumber>'' would be useful. Though you'd have to use the sufficient-leading-zeroes method, again, and could start at 1.0000001 ''just'' in case there's ever a million (but not more than 10mil-1) chapters in a future bookbut would probably be useful to sort all book-contained items, across all books but not interleaved.
 I'll let you consider if/what you find it more useful. And perhaps check if I've given you the right table markup options by going and checking the Help:Sorting Tables/whatever pages. ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.107|141.101.99.107]] 00:01, 26 January 2025 (UTC)

:I agree that the current method isn't great, and I'm very glad to see there's another, better way. Unfortunately, I don't really understand most of what you said. BUT! You seem very experienced and I don't have a lot of time, so it would be perfect if you could edit directly the templates/table/cells/whatever needs to be changed. The best option is to remove the leading zeroes and still make the sorting work, for the blog, books, and YT templates. If you (or someone else) could do that, it'd be wonderful. Please feel free to try it yourself if you want! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 11:13, 26 January 2025 (UTC)

== weird table bugs ==

hey favifake, i found two bugs that i don’t really know how to fix in the table: one of them is in regard to the what if 2 template, whenever it has a “S2” or a “W1” “chapter” it gives an error. the second bug can be found on the laser pointer row-i added the what if? 10th anniversary template, but the yt template doesn’t “fit” (for lack of a better word) with the table. could you dig into these and try to figure out what has gone wrong? thanks! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 00:55, 26 January 2025 (UTC)

:Hey 42! I saw what you were trying to do, i think i fixed it now? I removed the '''book3''' template from the original '''Laser Pointer''' row because all original articles are technically in the 10th Ann. book. (i added "exclusively on" to the '''book3''' template to make it clearer). Regarding the other S1 bug, i don't know why but it seems fixed now?? I saw the error just a few hours ago and now it works. I have no idea what happened. Let me know if it reappears or something. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 11:13, 26 January 2025 (UTC)

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:Without going in and trying it myself, is this because of the "trying to zero-pad a number" thing (as given a possible alternative, above), because it can't test if <usually number, in this case text> is greater/less than <static number>?
:Quick-fix (not doing anything else new) would need the test enclosed with an isthisanumber? test (if so, do zero-padding testing, etc; if not, maybe don't try).
:Exactly how S2/W1 sorts (or doesn't) using the sorting data (bare number only!) and/or the forced data type as number (to do its best for what numeric data it is presented, despite occasional non-numeric interloping characters), would need testing.
:Or I misunderstand. But, ''if'' I don't, maybe this is useful additional pointer to a solution/acceptance of the problem. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.123|172.71.178.123]] 01:21, 26 January 2025 (UTC)

::IP user, I answered above. :) --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 11:13, 26 January 2025 (UTC)
== Interesting streamlined 'table furniture', but... ==

...I'm wondering about the current (slight) usage differences between:
style="text-align:center" | {{{1}}}
and:
style="white-space:nowrap" |
Do you need to add the Param1 to the nowrap/remove if from the text-alignment?

And what if someone wanted no-wrap+centre at the same time? There maybe ''are'' ways to combine <code><nowiki>{{ac|<foo>}}</nowiki></code> and <code><nowiki>{{nw}}</nowiki></code>, but it seems non-trivial to to do. (Unless you make a <code><nowiki>{{nwac}}</nowiki></code>, but then where do you end?) I'm wondering if you should try it without the |-character.

Let's see if that ''could'' work:
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto"
|+ Test
|-
! Foo !! Bar !! Baz
|-
| Normal text of a normal style || style="text-align:center" style="white-space:nowrap" | This is as if using variations <code><nowiki>{{ac|<foo>}}</nowiki></code> and <code><nowiki>{{nw}}</nowiki></code> as rendered without the pipe-character or inconsistent parameter, which is tricky to demonstrate with the actual templates.|| More normal text of a normal style
|-
| Normal text of a normal style || style="text-align:center" | style="white-space:nowrap" | This is how <code><nowiki>{{ac|{{nw}} <foo>}}</nowiki></code> might look || More normal text of a normal style
|-
| Normal text of a normal style || {{ac|{{nw}} This is how <code><nowiki>{{ac|{{nw}} <foo>}}</nowiki></code> ''does'' look, using the current state of the templates.
----
<s>''NB. Why is it in bold? Is that a normal feature of a style of text-align:center?''</s>}}
| More normal text of a normal style
|-
| Normal text of a normal style || style="white-space:nowrap" | style="text-align:center" | This is how <code><nowiki>{{nw}} {{ac|<foo>}}</nowiki></code> might look || More normal text of a normal style
|-
| Normal text of a normal style || {{nw}} {{ac|This is how <code><nowiki>{{nw}} {{ac|<foo>}}</nowiki></code> ''does'' look, using the current state of the templates.}}
----
<s>''Also goes bold, I notice!''</s>
| More normal text of a normal style
|}

So, yes, it looks like it might be better to just remove the pipe (or pipe-and-param) and rely on the table-writer to just put in the relevent bare style-giving {{}} (or {{}}s) before the pipe. (I must look into why there's unexpected boldness. I don't know if that comes from the way you templated it or as an associated function of the aligh-center style. But it doesn't appear when I do it 'raw'.) Anyway, food for thought, over to you. It looks like I ''could'' edit your templates, but that might be rude, and would of course instantly break whatever it is you're currently using them (singly) for. That's the ''What If?'' table, I suppose? Anyway, you can both 'fix' how they work and adjust how they are invoked, rather than leaving me to guess about the latter. ;) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.49|162.158.74.49]] 19:04, 17 January 2025 (UTC)
:PS: Yes, I have just checked, and, yes you've added (apparently ''after'' I saw and copied the original {{template|ac}} for my own testing and emulating purposes!) the bolding to the aligh-centering template. That part of the mystery is solved! :P [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.49|162.158.74.49]] 19:10, 17 January 2025 (UTC)
:PPS: I know what happened. I copied the (slightly '''formatted''') 'plaintext' as it appeared in the template. If I'd have edited it and copied the wikisource then I'd have grabbed the <nowiki>'''formatted''</nowiki> as you already had it by the time I passed by. Don't mind me, it was just something that made me wonder. Probably moreso than the thing that I was ''actually'' trying to prod and poke and solve! IOW: Ignore me. On this bit, at least! [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.151|172.68.205.151]] 19:32, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

::I love how interested you are about this! Honestly i'm not really sure what exactly it is you're asking, but you seem very smart so do whatever you want! My only request is that the {{:ac}} thing keeps working as expected, so i don't have to change the table again. I had forgotten about the {{:nw}} thing, you can delete it or change it or do anything else, I don't use it anymore. Feel free to add to the documentation that these are just for 1 table and might break everything if used anywhere else. Or, if they already work everywhere, great! I remember I created them expecting the entire page to be destroyed when used, and being pleasantly surprised when they worked. So yeah go wild! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 21:19, 17 January 2025 (UTC)
:::I'm not going to make any change without taking time to check your tables and making sure the appropriate change doesn't inflict damage on your attempts to curate the tables you're probably using it for.
:::But, in short, I understand that you're streamlining the (often longwinded) style="" statements, an admirble task. In the structure of "| cell || another cell || etc", you're doing something to save from having to do cumbersome "| cell || style="this-style: that; that-style: that; the-other-style: the.other" | another cell || etc", all of which makes editing 'difficult'. (I tend to do such things in Notepad, or whatever separate text editor I have, which lets me add temporary whitespace and use with no-wrap on the markup while I'm working on it, rather than in this textbox editor.)
::: But the single-pipe that formats the cell isn't a ''great'' difficulty to maintain (indeed, it is useful to line up). As such I'd suggest "| cell || <nowiki>{{??}}</nowiki> | another cell || etc" would be as good. i.e. leave the pipe (intended for the table-cell) out of the template. For the no-wrap version, that's easy enough. Though I do understand that you want to put bold-format about the cell contents, so that's why you give it as a param and explicitly bold the Param1 as you pass it back out.
::: Maybe the solution to ''that'' is to also add (to the style, along with the text-align:center) the "font-weight: bold" doublet. Then "... || <format(s), as templates and/or raw> | Cell Text || ..." doesn't ''need'' to 'enclose' the Cell Text in any way.
::: But making the change from something that expects to transclude the range of the template "... || format | Cell Text || ..." to "... || format | Cell Text || ..." obviously requires that each and every table-cell item that uses "... || <nowiki>{{template|Cell Text}}</nowiki> || ..." to be converted to "... || <nowiki>{{template}}</nowiki> | Cell Text || ...", or... it'll definitely not work as it was originally set.
::: Anyway, that's just my own vision of how you can do what you seem to have wanted to, without introducing more complications. As the cell-formatting gladly accepts multiple statements of the form style="..." (it adds <code>style="..." style="..." style="..."</code> together, much as <code>style="...; ...; ..."</code> does), an editor now has complete freedom to compound the two format-templates you created. And any additional ones that might be useful. Such ones to usefully colour cell backgrounds as red/yellow/green (for use on the various Confusion Tables), something that I sometimes take a couple of goes to do... not least because I habitually spell 'color' as 'colour'..! ;)
::: ...but that's just to explain so that (should you/anybody else wish to follow my own instincts on the matter), you have some decent idea of what I'm getting at. There are probably other ways of doing it. Templates can be made to detect and extract pipes, so that "... || <nowiki>{{template1|{{templete2|Cell Text}}}}</nowiki> || ..." ''or'' "... || <nowiki>{{template2|{{templete1|Cell Text}}}}</nowiki> || ..." would equally produce "... || templateOneOrTwoFormat templateTwoOrOneFormat | Cell Text || ...", but that would take a degree of of unwieldy parameter-processing functions (that I'd have to work out, probably would involve some subst-function, but might depend upon what's available in the installed mediawiki version). I just think you could avoid all that trouble! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.118|162.158.74.118]] 22:51, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

:::Forgot to say, that for what you want to use it for, there's ''another'' way:
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto"
|+ Example 2
|-
! Number (Centered) !! Foo !! Bar (Centered) !! Baz
|-
! 1
| Normal text of a normal style
! Some text of whatever size (centered)
| More normal text of a normal style
|-
! 2
| Normal text of a normal style
! Some text of whatever size (also centered, though not so obviously so)
| More normal text of a normal style
|}
:::... This is only possible by newlining each new cell, in the example (you can't do "! cell || cell !! cell || cell", you have to line-break it as you change from "!"-/"|"-starting cell-groups), but it isn't really so great a loss to do so.
:::The "wikitable" class gives these 'header cells' a different background too, but (if you really don't like that) it that can be adjusted in various other ways (including with scope="col", I think), or you can leave the wikitable class off (it centres and bolds, but doesn't give cell-borders) and re-add the whole-table bordering style that this now leaves out. But you really don't want me listing ''every'' idea I had, just this one was the other (template-free) option to enforcing centre-aligning bold text on ''certain'' cells. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.119|162.158.74.119]] 23:09, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

::::Huh, I was actually thinking of doing the opposite of what you're suggesting: include even more pipes inside the template so the editor is cleaner and easier to use. (UPDATE: this probably worse than the other option you gave at the end, see below). So instead of this:

|-
<nowiki>| {{ac|4}} || </nowiki>

::::You would just use this:

|-
<nowiki>{{ac|4}}</nowiki>

::::And it would contain all the pipes needed. I guess then we would have to update the documentation to point out that this template's use case is extremely narrow. Also, if you want to see how it is currently used, the table is on my user page! That's the only place where it's used

::::Since you seem very interested in templates, What do you think of the idea of a creating a template like these:

<nowiki>{{yt|YTNUMBER (1, 2, 3, etc)|YTLINK|VIDEOTITLE (optional)}}</nowiki>

::::It would be used in the column that we still need to create. It would also colour the cell in '''red'''. I was also thinking of doing a similar thing for the What If? books:

<nowiki>{{bk|WHICH-BOOK|CHAPTER-NUMBER|CHAPTER-TITLE (if different)}}</nowiki>

::::For example, it would look like this: (This one would also colour the cell based on the book, e.g., green for WI?1, yellow for WI?2, blue for WI10th ed.)

<nowiki>{{book|2|69|Jellyfish}}</nowiki>

What If? 2, chapter '''69: Jellyfish'''

::::Would you be able to create something like this? I know nothing about templates, and i doubt I'll be able to ask chatgpt to do everything for me correctly. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 07:16, 18 January 2025 (UTC)

:::::> Forgot to say, that for what you want to use it for, there's ''another'' way:
:::::Oh, i think i had forgotten to read this part!! This seems very interesting! I should try that, since it seems much simpler. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:10, 18 January 2025 (UTC)

:::::'''Update:''' {{Done}} I applied your suggestion, now the numbers are in their own row:
|-
!1
| The rest of the table
--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:33, 18 January 2025 (UTC)

== What If Chapters ==
Hey FaviFake, there are some What If? Chapters that aren’t included in the blog. Are we going to add them to the table? '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 17:41, 22 January 2025 (UTC)

:Great timing! You sent me this message while i was in the process of replying to the question. I'm not good at prioritising, I should've definitely responded before doing other edits. Check out my <s>list of questions for y'all</s> reply above! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:10, 22 January 2025 (UTC)

== YouTube template ==
Hey FaviFake, on the <code><nowiki>{{yt}}</nowiki></code> template, you asked for help on fixing the code of the template. What help do you need to “improve” it? I’m willing to help now that I’m not sick, as I was last week. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 18:35, 19 January 2025 (UTC)

:Thank you! Glad to hear you're healthy. That message was mostly a joke, but it is in fact barely held together. (Try modifying the hyperlink that's displayed when a title isn't provided, somehow what you add gets duplicated??) If you have the time and know how to make it more reliable and easily editable in the future, please do! I am honstly scared to touch it fearing it might explode.

:Buuut, to be fair there is one template that i desperately needed help with, and that is [[:Template:book]]. I wasted a ton of time to try to get it to change the cell background, and it never worked, so i decided to create [[Template:book1]], [[Template:book2]], [[Template:book3]], [[Template:book4]], and these do work beaytifully, but are harder to edit in bulk. (I still have profound hatred towards [[Template:book]]...). If you actually manage to do what i wanted (which i'm not sure is even clear after the all the mess i've made... ask me if you can't figure it out!), I would be very grateful. PS. I'm not sure if i should warn you, given my very low ability to create templates, but it's definitely not easy, imo.

:I'm not sure how skilled you are at template editing, so if you want, you can absolutely continue uploading the What If? thumbnails like you did a few days ago! I just added [[User:FaviFake|a new batch of articles]] (about 60) thanks to some annoyingly complex jailbreaking of Google's NotebookLM. The new table of course includes the quick 100px link to upload a file. Again, thanks for reaching out! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 19:04, 19 January 2025 (UTC)

::The YT link appears to be going to <nowiki>[[whatever the name of the YouTube video is called]]</nowiki> and not acting as a [youtube.com filler thingy] linking to a YouTube video. I’m going to hit the books on template writing and try to see if I can do anything about it. Cheers! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 03:11, 21 January 2025 (UTC)

:::Oh great, that's broken too. I didn't even realise it. Thanks!--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 04:57, 21 January 2025 (UTC)

:Partly because you've removed the bit about how to better sort the book-column elements, but are using the same trick in the youtube-column, and partly because it's easier (more on that in a moment), I've just modified the {{template|yt}} to give it the sort value (of article number) directly. Have not removed the expression test to make "6th video ..." into "06th video ...", for sorting purposes, but I feel confident that you ''can'' do that (and remove the comment about making it give "006th video ...", in future, should that become necessary) if you now so wish.

:For the books, I was thinking that if, instead of <code>="<nowiki>{{{1|0}}}</nowiki>"</code>, you could maybe use <code>="<nowiki>{{#expr:10000+{{{1|0}}}}}</nowiki>"</code> for ''What If?'' (in {{template|book1}}) and <code>="<nowiki>{{#expr:20000+{{{1|0}}}}}</nowiki>"</code> for ''What If? 2'' (in {{template|book2}}), to let it sort by book ''and then'' chapter within book...

:For ''What If? 10th Anniversary Edition'' ({{template|book3}}), I was thinking if you could make the added-to number 11000. Though anything from above 10000+<last chapter number> and below 20000-<last chapter number> would do (and 15000 would work), it leaves room to make any appearance of the 15th anniversary, 20th anniversary, 42nd anniversary, ..., 95th anniversary be able to use the mnemonic offsets of 11500+, 12000+, 14200+, ..., 19500+.. ;) Obviously, it would need revamping if there becomes a centenary edition of Book 1 (or any version of it ever gets ''so many'' "bonus chapters" that it breaks out of its own sequence into the next extant anniversary edition. But you'd need to start adding 100 newly-numbered chapters ''per year'' to do that, so probably not likely. But, right now, the sorting on the "Exclusive to ''What If? 10th Anniversary Edition''" line sorts ''before'' the "NNth chapter of ''What If?''" lines. The above should fix that...

:And the format can be used for other (future?) books and their (possible) reissues: For ''What If? '''N''''', reissued '''YY''' years after the original, that's the number "NYY00", to which you add the chapter number. Fairly futureproofed, but if Randall ''ever'' publishes anything that makes you need to make the offset "NNYYY000" (e.g. for the quarter-of-a-millenium reissue of ''What If? 15'', having a total of 512 chapters being 15250000+[1..512]) then I reckon the requisite changes will be easy enough to handle as and when, swapping in the expanded offset. And... hey... if they're still being written, ''and'' published, then I can only hope I'm still around to be able to add that edition to my bookshelf!

:You could even redo the {{template|book}} idea (parameters of ...|book=#|chapter=#|optional:edition=#?|...) to only ever need to maintain the one source with ''all'' this flexibility. You've already got experience (by the 1st/2nd/3rd/Nth code) with what's needed to translate Book Number(+Edition Number, if applicable) into unique background colour codes.

:The big problem, though, is still the non-numeric chapter 'numbers' in ''WI?2''. I have two (or three) different thoughts about that.

:*For only the numeric bits (currently, in the test for less-than-10, etc; in the above for within the <code>data-sort-value="..."</code>) you might want to switch <code><nowiki>{{{1|0}}}</nowiki></code> with <code><nowiki>{{#if:{{#ifexpr:{{{1|0}}}}}|99|{{{1|0}}}}}{{{1|0}}}</nowiki></code>... This should test the param1 value for being a valid value (or missing, when you already make it zero... though not sure for what circumstance you should consider it validly missing) and using it if it is so, or else using the value "99" (or you could have "0", or "0.5", or whatever floats your boat). Then at least you'd get ''a'' value (that doesn't cause errors), though it probably wouldn't be sorted very precisely (though appear just after/before all other chapters of the book).

:*The other idea is to use <code><nowiki>{{{effectiveChapter|{{{1|0}}}}}}</nowiki></code>, then you can append a parameter of <code>...|effectiveChapter=11.5}}</code> to a non-numeric one sitting between actual chapters 11 and 12 (I haven't checked if that's an actual example, but imagine it is...). Also, for multiple items on page-chapter, you could even have =11.51, =11.52, =11.53, etc, to retain order within the book and ''upon the page''... (You could also give effectiveChapter as "NYYCC(.optional)" format, direct, for ''all'' what if? Numbers, YYearly-editions and CChapters (with possibly sub-positions), come to that, but I don't see that as any simpler a solution as building it in.)

:*The third option would be to use (for hidden sorting-only purpose, mostly) a value of P(.optionalDecimal) either as another numeric parameter or a named one, with P as ''page number'', not chapter number. But, given how hardback vs. paperback (or just another imprint, not necessarily even a Anniversary redo, but I've got the UK edition with an additional UK foreword) ''might'' effect page numbers and/or where end-of-pages interupts any given chapter internals, it's possible that this is not consistent enough. But food for thought, maybe. Only needs to be definitively done once (or thoroughly checked and shuffled along as nevessary if redone to include other changes that require consistency).

:Any of that make sense? Hopefully I've at least given you enough examples to ponder, where not immediately obvious. I'd ''really'' rather not change all your hard work just for the sake of a minor cosmetic change with a possibly major set of retouches, which is one of the reasons why I thought I'd do just the basic Youtube 'sort assisting' bit and let those of you who have already had so much 'fun' (tweaking the table formats) decide if and how you make full use of it. Assuming it isn't (differently) broken, for whatever reason may crop up, it shouldn't be a problem if you do nothing at all more with it (either in the {{template|yt}} or {{template|book#}}s). [[Special:Contributions/172.71.241.26|172.71.241.26]] 14:38, 28 January 2025 (UTC)

*Thank you so much! Would you mind if I moved your message to [[Talk:What If? chapters]], to group everything regarding the index in one place?  Anyways:
*I did the thing on the yt and {{template|blog}} one and it works!

For the books, I was thinking that if, instead of <code>="<nowiki>{{{1|0}}}</nowiki>"</code>, you could maybe use <code>="<nowiki>{{#expr:10000+{{{1|0}}}}}</nowiki>"</code> for ''What If?'' (in {{template|book1}}) and <code>="<nowiki>{{#expr:20000+{{{1|0}}}}}</nowiki>"</code> for ''What If? 2'' (in {{template|book2}}), to let it sort by book ''and then'' chapter within book...
*Done! Thanks! For ({{template|book3}}) i used 30000 to have the chapter in chronological order.

You could even redo the {{template|book}} idea
*Sorry but I'm not touching that... ''thing'' anymore. That template traumatized me (jk! if you want to try fixing it i'd be very happy)

For only the numeric bits (currently, in the test for less-than-10, etc; in the above for within the <code>data-sort-value="..."</code>) you might want to switch <code><nowiki>{{{1|0}}}</nowiki></code> with <code><nowiki>{{#if:{{#ifexpr:{{{1|0}}}}}|99|{{{1|0}}}}}{{{1|0}}}</nowiki></code>... This should test the param1 value for being a valid value (or missing, when you already make it zero... though not sure for what circumstance you should consider it validly missing)
*I'm not sure why that's needed (and also how to actually implement it). What happens if the value is invalid? it seems to work. Or is it required for the other improvements you suggested?

The other idea is...
The third option would be...
*Yeah this seems pretty hard to solve easily (which is why i'd love it if you did it!). I guess it'll stay slightly broken until it becomes a bigger issue. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:54, 28 January 2025 (UTC)

::It seems like you just forgot to escape pipe characters in the [[Template:book|book template]] in the table within the switch statement, so it just interpreted the non-formatting statements to be a case grouped with the next 'actual' case [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you desire conversing]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 07:23, 29 January 2025 (UTC)
::BTW I fixed the book template. It should now appear the same as the other templates, and even work with the youtube template [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you desire conversing]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 09:13, 29 January 2025 (UTC)

:::OMG THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! IT ACTUALLY WORKS! What! How! Why!
:::Thanks so much for fixing the template! I can't describe how glad I am to see it working as (and even better than) I wanted. My life is finally complete. I have switched to using your template in the index.
:::The reason there was a YT link in one of the {{template|book}} documentation examples is because I was going insane and likely pasted it there by accident. From what I can tell, you seem to have set up {{template|book}} so well that {{template|book}} accepts a YouTube link as input, while the {{template|yt}} template it's based on doesn't if used by itself (requires only the ID). I love this! Since we're gonna have many YT videos to add, it's great to have a much simpler option which doesn't require extracting the ID of the video. Is there a way you could maybe incorporate this improvement into {{template|yt}} itself? Or maybe you're 10 steps ahead of me and you've already done it (which wouldn't surprise me given the amount of wizardry you used on these bad boys!), and I just didn't notice. Please let me know! And again, thank you so much!!! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:56, 29 January 2025 (UTC)
:::Also, since you've already rendered 4 templates useless thanks to your improvements, why not also add {{template|yt}} to the list of pages to delete, by incorporating it into {{template|book}}? This, unlike {{template|book}}, is absolutely not needed, and I also have no idea if it's as easy as a simple copy-and-paste, or if it requires more work. If it's the latter, please don't do it if you don't want to! I'm just throwing ideas around! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:04, 29 January 2025 (UTC)

That IP, here. I (think) I fixed the sorting ''and'' error-fallback issues. I think (without trying to roll back to how you had it) you 'broke the sort' by putting in line-feeds (maybe double-ones), that messed up the table/cell handling. Then you broke the handling by commenting out too much (you needed to "< ! - -" and "- - >", without spaces, without crossing the quotes and |ing boundaries in data-sort-value="..." style="..." and the 'release', by pipe symbol, to cell-contents).
 Recommented for it to work normally, first without the new 'sort assistance' and then with again. Had a look at the error-catcher (went down a blind alley, at first) and made it an explicit "catch all other inputs" for the errororing display, which I formatted in a more obvious manner ''and'' forced to sort to the start. (Well, almost the start. It puts empty cells with no sorting 'ahead' of even the -999 value I made it give any error-caught cells.)
 If it were me, I'd be happy to have {{template|yt}} entirely separate from the {{template|book}} handling. It is mnemonically confusing and adds needless (and possibly error-prone) "if we have far too many params for Book template, feed it all into the Youtube template". Unless you're folding the ''whole'' Youtube template into the body of the Book one (even more work to maintain/debug), it's just adding complication for both server and editors who feel forced to use it. The beauty of the monolithic Book template is that (otherwise identical) "Book N, chapter C, optional new title T" information is trivially similar between different Ns. But it's not my project.
 I'll have a dig about in maybe how to have a table sort "valueless" cells (in reality the empty value of cell absolutely without anything in it) beyond the sort-valued ones. The 'easiest' means I could imagine is to accept <nowiki>{{book|0}}</nowiki>, needing no further params, to create a <code>data-sort-value="999999" |''<blank>''</code> cell-definition, and have every book-column cell without a book-reference explicitly use that (ditto for <nowiki>{{yt|0}}</nowiki> to have the same pre-trap to it). But seems wasteful. A template <nowiki>{{empty}}, or even something like {{e}},</nowiki> (without checking if either of those are free names) could also just give us this behaviour straight off, of course. It's potentially a lot of fuss to make consistent and flexible enough, either way.
 But what I already did probably also needs to be checked for more edge-conditions... I may still have to tweak things when I have a better chance of catching errors (very difficult, on a tablet), and quicker. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.196|172.70.162.196]] 21:32, 29 January 2025 (UTC)
:I also think that the book template shouldn't be used for the videos, on the basis that youtube is not a book.
:for the default cell, it would probably take no arguments (i.e. just <nowiki>{{yt}}</nowiki>), and it would also probably be it's own template rather than implemented on each template. However, I have done some digging, and empty cells (cells with no sort value) are given a value of "-infinity", so they sort as the absolute minimum no matter what sort method is used (which means always at the top when sorting ascending). I have been looking to find a way to make a row always sort to the bottom regardless of sort order if the column that is sorted has an empty/valueless cell at that row, but if it exists, it is not documented.
:Interestingly, it is possible to sort by many columns at once by shift-clicking the second column after sorting the first column, and the rows will be sorted within the first sorting. it might be useful for sorting by chapter within each book [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you desire conversing]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 06:51, 30 January 2025 (UTC)
::Yes, a book (or youtube) template could default to whatever seems suitable as sort-value without params, but it might be more obvious if explicitly book(/video) zero. Or caught by <nowiki>{{book|nobook=yet}}</nowiki>, or whatever. I'm trying to think what looks least confusing to future editors (those expanding/editing the table, and/or template(s)), but conflicted about what to anticipate.
::I had indeed been looking to see if the -infinity thing could be overriden by a column header defined <code>blank-sort-value="999999"</code> sort of thing. If nothing else, you'd expect there to be a perceived need to sort a range of cells so that explicit negative and explicit positive contents, either by actual cell value or data-sort-value, to sit either side of blank cells... Not ''all'' the time, as sorting to show blanks ''separate'' from filled rows with actual zeroes is also useful, but it seems to useful not to have been suggested as a configurable change.
::The booknumber*A_LARGE_NUMBER offset to the chapter number is probably one of the most useful ways to sort by (primarily) book, then chapter, as it takes just one click. (I believe clicking the secondary and then clicking the primary does the same job as clicking the primary and shift-clicking the primary.) I see so little use to doing a primary sort by chapter (with or without secondary sorting by books, or any other column's detail), to interleave all chapter 1s and so on, that having a "book #" column and a "chapter(/page) #" column (two cells in sequence easily created by the book template, and could also handle the double-blank needed by book=none implementation, if we went that route) would be just complicating matters in an unnecessary manner. (As opposed to how we've complicated matters in a 'necessary' one!)
::Good catch on bringing the BOOK+CHAPTER sort value out of the #switch, BTW, as I was debating how much of the switch-statement I could treat as generic and not need repeating. (My original idea for the 10th Anniversary version of Book 1 to be effectively "Book1.1" made me still want to option of overriding the N*10000 as being 3=>11000 instead of =>30000, but that could ''still'' be implemented by a bit of "(if N=3, 1.1, else N) times 10000" pre-logic, ''or'' by handling <nowiki>{{book|1.10|...}} instead of {{book|3|...}}</nowiki>. Anyway, not important, either way.)
::...all this is why I left Favi (and you/others) get on with the original restructuring effort without jumping in (despite having two of the three books, and having seen all the youtubes). I had plenty of ideas of what to do, but did not want to restructure anything from what seemed to be a happy little project with its own momentum and targets. I finally gave in when I noticed an impasse being hit, with errors and confusion, to which I since ''hope'' I have provided a net reduction in both. Though it's only the first of these about which I'm fairly confident. ;) Anyway, perhaps I'm sliding back to my position on the sidelines, now... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.245|172.70.91.245]] 11:20, 30 January 2025 (UTC)
:::These comments are great and extremely detailed, thank you! Thanks to your efforts I was able to retire these templates: book1, book2, book3, book4, and yt, so now we only have the huge {{template|book}} template and {{template|blog}}. I kinda agree with IP that it might not be future-proof, but I don't really see a reason to believe we'll add 2 more parameters to the book-specific columns. And even then, it's not that hard to update the template. But please do let me know if you can think of other issues with the current implementation! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 19:50, 30 January 2025 (UTC)

== tldr ==

hey favifake! i just came back from a 5 day yosemite trip, that’s why i have been awol for that time. could you please really quick give me a tldr of what has been going on in the past couple days? i see that we finished the index, but i’m just wondering if there’s anything else. thanks! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 02:52, 1 February 2025 (UTC)
:Welcome back! We now only use the {{template|book}} and {{template|blog}} templates, all the others have been merged into {{template|book}} by the incredible [[User:Firestar233]], the templates are much more solid, they also added all the questions and almost all the what if? 2-exclusive chapters. So now we're only missing the questions from the first book and an explanation for the third's bonus chapter (which you own!). I don't have much time, but you can look at the history of the templates and the main what if chapters page, and also this talk section. There's also a to-do list above the index! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:32, 1 February 2025 (UTC)
::ok, great! i'll try to work on the chapter explainations once i find the time '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 21:04, 1 February 2025 (UTC)
:::Amazing! Thanks for your help. If you're interested, I've just added a simple (yet boring) task:
:::*''"Need to add the name(s) of the readers who asked each questions. It's easy! The instructions are in the ''[[What If? chapters#Editors|Editors section]]''!"''
:::If you have time, the names are missing for some book-exclusive articles and the blog articles. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:59, 2 February 2025 (UTC)

== Table for smaller screens ==
Do we think we should list out who asked each question in the table? [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you desire conversing]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 03:09, 2 February 2025 (UTC)

:If so (and I'm not sure it's necessary), please not as an extra column. Already it's squeezing what's there down, something chronic. At least on my current screen, right now.
:*The thumbnail column can't get smaller (unless we use smaller/downscaled thukbnails, of course, but there's a limit to that)
:*The title column (of the first non-hdader is "Relatacistic(Newline)Baseball".
:*The "Reader's(Newline)question" column goes "(quote)What would(Newline)happen if you(Newline)(...etc)".
:*The "Randall's answer" column is positively spacious (no doubt forced to be so by the "Too short!" infoboxes), letting it read "The ball would create plasma and(Newline)reach home plate by about 70(Newline)(...etc)".
:*The three columns for Blog/Book/Vid couldn't be narrower and make sense.
:If the questioner is to be asked, set it after the question (same cell, maybe horizontal rule).
:In fact, what do you think of the following layout modification?
{| class="sortable wikitable"
!Title
!Question / Answer
!Blog
!Books
!YouTube
|-
|'''{{what if|1|Relativistic Baseball}}'''
[[File:Relativistic Baseball.png|100px]]
|''"What would happen if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90% the speed of light?"''
<div align="right">Ellen McManis</div>
----
The ball would create plasma and reach home plate by about 70 nanoseconds. The result would be some kind of nuclear explosion, destroying everything about a mile from the field. A ruling of "{{w|hit by pitch}}" could be interpreted in this situation.
|{{blog|1|2012|07|10}}
|{{book|1|2}}
|{{book|5|2024|02|06|3EI08o-IGYk|What if you threw a baseball at nearly light speed?}}
|-
|'''{{what if|2|SAT Guessing}}'''
[[File:SAT Guessing.png|100px]]
|''"What if everyone who took the SAT guessed on every multiple-choice question? How many perfect scores would there be?"''
<div align="right">Rob Balder</div>
----
No one would get a perfect score. The odds of guessing correctly on every question would be less than the odds of every ex-living president at that time and the main cast of [[:Category:Firefly|Firefly]] getting struck by lightning on the same day.
|{{blog|2|2012|07|10|7d early}}
|{{book|1|66}}
|
|}
:Saves trouble of having emphatically unsortable columns, this way, being mere continuations of the cell contents we ''do'' want to sort. Assuming we don't decide we want to sort by "Firstname(s) Lastname" (or "Lastname, Firstname(s)"), as well as by sorting by "What would..." / "What if..." / "How much..." / "Is there..."ness, etc. But that's another step with another answer to it. (e.g. a "By" column with data-sort-value="Lastname, Firstname(s)" defined but ''no visible content''... It'll be as minimally thin as "By" and the sort-glyph allows, only minimally squeezing the other columns. ...if that's more desirous than merely 'data-sort-value'ing the Question(/Name)/Answer field by name (whatever format), and finding little real reason to sort the "How"s from the "What"s from the "Is"s. But that's something that deserves more thought!)
:But what I ''do'' highly suggest (at least add the "Who" after the "Question", same cell, and looks nice with right-align; on top of that, cell-mergering like this, ''probably'' with the horizontal rule markup in the Q&A divide) looks good to me.
:"Relativistic Baseball"(noNewline!) and "(quote)What would happen if you tried to hit a   (Newline, etc...)" is how the example table pans out in Preview, which is an improvement for readability.
:I won't pre-emptimptively assume you're ok with this plan, but (if it seems the idea is liked/not disliked), when I have the time to do it I could blitz this (or any other consensus change of similar radicality, that gets proposed instead) later on (at least 12 hours from now, maybe a full day...). I'll do what I can to fill (or visibly format, if already there) such authors as I'm not left totally stumped about for whatever nazcent reason. Sound good to y'all? ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.190|141.101.98.190]] 05:00, 2 February 2025 (UTC)

::Thanks for your suggestions! These are my thoughts:
Do we think we should list out who asked each question in the table?
::Yes! I thought about doing this after you commented each reader after the question, but didn't have the time. The ay you went about adding them makes it very easy to create a "find-and-replace" to do it for all cells at once.This is how I'd do it:
:: <nowiki>''"Question?"''</nowiki>
:: <nowiki><div align="right">—Rob Balder</div></nowiki>

In fact, what do you think of the following layout modification?
[...] cell-mergering like this, ''probably'' with the horizontal rule markup in the Q&A divide) looks good to me.
::I don't really like it and I don't think it's needed, mainly because it only looks good on a small screen. Meanwhile, on a normal-sized desk monitor, it makes the table '''almost twice as tall''' on my end. I don't think we should optimise for smaller screens and disregard other users with a larger screen real estate. If you find any other way to improve the table on both screen sizes, please do let us know!
(e.g. a "By" column with data-sort-value="Lastname, Firstname(s)" defined but ''no visible content''... It'll be as minimally thin as "By" and the sort-glyph allows, only minimally squeezing the other columns.
::I don't really like this idea, seems confusing for the end user (why is there an empty column?), doesn't add so much value, and needs to be maintained. If someone wants to sort by reader alphabetically, they'll likely find a way to isolate the '''<code><nowiki><div align="right">—Rob Balder</div></nowiki></code>''' part.
But what I ''do'' highly suggest (at least add the "Who" after the "Question", same cell, and looks nice with right-align [...]
::Love that! See above.
::--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 09:01, 2 February 2025 (UTC)

::I formatted them! All the ones that were added as comments in the table are now visible. I also added this to-do, mainly for blog posts:
::*Need to add the name(s) of the readers who asked each questions. It's easy! The instructions are in the ''[[What If? chapters#Editors|Editors section]]''!
::--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:57, 2 February 2025 (UTC)
:::Regarding "...on a normal-sized desk monitor, it makes the table '''almost twice as tall''' on my end." my display (non-desktop) has ultra-wide aspect ratio (when landscape; I rarely use portrait for browsing because then web-pages are scaled to unreadable levels).
:::With side-by-side Q and A columns, the "Too small" warning box dictates the minimum width of the Answer column, making the Question column even more narrow (when you take the minimum width of the thumbnail out of the horizontal space, then the title and the three "occurance" columns fight for what remains) than it might otherwise need to be. (If/when we remove ''all'' these hints to edit longer answer-'summaries', the table will doubtless realign its contents to a more equitable share of width between columns.)
:::Most often, this still results in (non-short) "Answer" columns being longer than they need to be, and forcing the whole row to be vertically wasteful. An opposite case (such as replicated below) does it with the Question having to have excessive linefeeds, being less readable (needs scrolling to read it all) and leaving a vast desert of blankness in the cell to its immediate right.
:::Isolating just the Q and A columns (to remove other confounding factors, for most displays except maybe phones-in-portrait - which is already an abominable mode and I find most websites look ''far'' more unreadable in ultra-tall-portrait orientation, so I generally avoid doing that on my tablet) and manually adding the line-breaks I see, you get:
{| class="sortable wikitable"
|"When my wife and I started dating she invited me over for dinner at one time. Her kitchen had something called Bauhaus chairs, which are full of holes, approx 5-6 millimeters in diameter in both back and seat. During this lovely dinner I was forced to liberate a small portion of wind and was relieved that I managed to do so very discretely. Only to find that the chair I sat on converted the successful silence into a perfect, and loud, flute note. We were both (luckily) amazed and surprised and I have often wondered what the odds are for something like that happening. We kept the chairs for five years but despite laborious attempts it couldn't be reproduced."
|This... isn’t actually a question, but thank you for sharing!
|}
:::Integrating the row into the above-suggested format of table, we get (showing just that single combined Q+A cell, minus any "by"-line), the following:
{| class="sortable wikitable"
|"When my wife and I started dating she invited me over for dinner at one time. Her kitchen had something called Bauhaus chairs, which are full of holes, approx 5-6 millimeters in diameter in both back and seat. During this lovely dinner I was forced to liberate a small portion of wind and was relieved that I managed to do so very discretely. Only to find that the chair I sat on converted the successful silence into a perfect, and loud, flute note. We were both (luckily) amazed and surprised and I have often wondered what the odds are for something like that happening. We kept the chairs for five years but despite laborious attempts it couldn't be reproduced."
----
This... isn’t actually a question, but thank you for sharing!
|}
:::Yes, the non-Q&A cells (which I've left out, just there) are still comparatively empty (especially as "Relativistic Baseball" isn't forced into two lines, and even the final three columns don't need quite as many linefeeds between them ...you could probably narrow them further by forcing some linebreaks back into them, giving even more width to Q+A column), but they're actually often ''less'' empty because they aren't as artifically tall as a function of =max(height(question),height(answer)), instead being =height(wider(question+answer)). The conversion to not force a short question to inhabit a desolately empty cell as long as narrowly squashed answer, ''and'' a short answer to be as long as an even more narrowly squashed question, seems to be more wasteful of space than to give combined Q&A far more width and let it be ''exactly'' as long as it needs to be for both to fill it (being the crux of the row, the rest being 'annotations' to the paragraphed question/answer interplay).
:::Though I'm not next to my own desktop display, right now, I can tell you that the space-wasting I'm showing is notable (though not quite so egregious) there, too, and I had already thought to try out (at least for a Preview) a Q+A column.
:::I wasn't, at that time, even thinking of thumbnail+title columns merging (which would help even more), but I'm sorely tempted now. Whether or not Q+A merging is accepted by the wider set of editors. Merging title+thumbnail ''could'' trivially let the Q-column expand maybe to double its current width, depending upon the other dynamics involved in apportioning rendered width and height. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.9|172.70.90.9]] 13:00, 2 February 2025 (UTC)

:::Ok, for reference: The desktop machine has the following line-feeds for the above example, as ''currently'' shown in the Thumbnail|Title|Question|Answer|... format:
{| class="sortable wikitable"
|"When my wife and I started dating she invited me over for dinner at one time. Her kitchen had something called Bauhaus chairs, which are full of holes, approx 5-6 millimeters in diameter in both back and seat. During this lovely dinner I was forced to liberate a small portion of wind and was relieved that I managed to do so very discretely. Only to find that the chair I sat on converted the successful silence into a perfect, and loud, flute note. We were both (luckily) amazed and surprised and I have often wondered what the odds are for something like that happening. We kept the chairs for five years but despite laborious attempts it couldn't be reproduced."
|This... isn’t actually a question, but thank you for sharing!(Single line!)
|}
:::Testing the above-suggested format of table, we get:
{| class="sortable wikitable"
|"When my wife and I started dating she invited me over for dinner at one time. Her kitchen had something called Bauhaus chairs, which are full of holes, approx 5-6 millimeters in diameter in both back and seat. During this lovely dinner I was forced to liberate a small portion of wind and was relieved that I managed to do so very discretely. Only to find that the chair I sat on converted the successful silence into a perfect, and loud, flute note. We were both (luckily) amazed and surprised and I have often wondered what the odds are for something like that happening. We kept the chairs for five years but despite laborious attempts it couldn't be reproduced."
----
This... isn’t actually a question, but thank you for sharing!
|}
:::Again, produces shorter (and more readable?) rows. In this particularly extreme example, at least. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.49|162.158.74.49]] 14:25, 2 February 2025 (UTC)
::::Thanks for your answer, these are my thoughts:
the "Too small" warning box dictates the minimum width of the Answer column, making the Question column even more narrow [...] than it might otherwise need to be
::::*I hadn't thought of that, but still: if the issue is mainly caused by these notices, it's very easy to replace them with something else that doesn't force the column to be too wide.
I generally avoid doing that on my tablet
::::*Oh, you're still the same IP as before! Hey there! My point ''wasn't'' that your idea wouldn't benefit small-sized screens like tablets (because it does, as you proved!), but that we should mainly focus on desktop users, which is how most readers that aren't on their phones will use the index. I don't like the idea of making the experience worse for everyone except tablet users (and phone users, but i can't imagine someone browsing such a huge index on their phones, so i don't think we should consider them). I'd love it you could improve the experience for both types of devices!
"When my wife and I started dating she invited me over for dinner at one time. Her kitchen
::::*I think that's a bad example because the question is 4x the normal question length and there is no answer. I don't think we'd want to optimise the index so that that specific article looks better but most other articles don't.
::::*I think the perfect example of how it will one day look is article 2, with the question being slightly shorter than the answer, and that difference being balanced by the name of the reader who asked the question:
{| class="sortable wikitable"
!class="unsortable"|Thumbnail
!Title
!Reader's question
!class="unsortable"|Randall's answer
!Blog
!Books
!YouTube
|-
|[[File:SAT Guessing.png|100px]]
|'''{{what if|2|SAT Guessing}}'''
|''"What if everyone who took the SAT guessed on every multiple-choice question? How many perfect scores would there be?"''
<div align="right">—This is a name</div>
|No one would get a perfect score. The odds of guessing correctly on every question would be less than the odds of every ex-living president at that time and the main cast of [[:Category:Firefly|Firefly]] getting struck by lightning on the same day.
|{{blog|2|2012|07|10|7d early}}
|{{book|1|66}}
|{{book|16|2024|09|24|0EytSWiKrFg|What if example?}}
|}
::::*This specific example, which is how most articles do/will look hopefully, is '''~45% shorter''' than [[#Question askers|your example]] and thus wastes much less space on my screen size.
the final three columns don't need quite as many linefeeds between them ...you could probably narrow them further by forcing some linebreaks back into them [...]
::::*If they need linebreaks, doesn't that mean that their column would be the most narrow one? I thought mediawiki balanced the table pretty well.
thumbnail+title columns merging (which would help even more), but I'm sorely tempted now
::::*But I think this idea has the same problem, looking too tall on desktops and beautiful on a tablet. I wouldn't want to ruin the UX of desktop users to favour tablet users, but i'd love a way to improve both!
::::*Also, I'd like to one day make the thumbnail bigger, because currently it's too small in my opinion. But if i increased its size right now, it would force every row to be even taller, which would waste space on desktop (and, of course, save space on small screens, or at least not make that big of a difference). --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:04, 2 February 2025 (UTC)
::::Is there a "mobile" version/url for this site? because there might be a way to make the table try to display a different layout if it's on the mobile url/version or if the screen is too small, but that would require putting complicated expressions in every row and in the header columns. [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you desire conversing]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 20:53, 3 February 2025 (UTC)
:::::Yeah I had thought of doing a similar thing, maybe have two pages with different coding and use complex transclusions to keep the content the same? But I wouldn’t even know where to begin with that. But you're the wiki-editing wizard here. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:50, 4 February 2025 (UTC)

== adding what if? 10th ann ==

as most of you know, the what if? 10th anniversary edition is basically an updated version of what if?, compete with red annotations and a bonus chapter that i need to get around to explaining. since it has all the original what if? chapters, should we add a red 10th anniversary box under each green what if? box? '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:12, 3 February 2025 (UTC)

:Yeah I realized it was just small annotations after i created the template and now I've changed the 10th ann. one to say ''Featured '''exclusively''' on the 3rd ed. etc.'' Not sure if that's enough, could also be much longer since it's only used on 1 row, but we definitely shouldn't add the template to every other article, (would break the style= html tag). Someone should still mention that articles on the first book are all available on the 3rd (and add more info) on both '''[[what if? (blog)]]''' and '''[[What If? 10th Anniversary Edition]]'''.
:Don't worry too much about explaining it, it can just be a couple of sentences. People can watch the video if they want details. Thanks for your work!{{unsigned|FaviFake|09:57, 3 February 2025 (UTC)}} 

:The fact that the 10th Anniversary ed ("book3", in original nomenclature) was basically a bonus-chapter version of the original ("book1"), was behind my suggestion that book|3 should sort-value itself as between book|1 articles and the completely new book|2, but there are severl ways of doing it (including maybe using something akin to {{w|Template:Diagonal split header}} for book|1 (assumed to also be book|3) rendering. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.38.96|162.158.38.96]] 21:08, 3 February 2025 (UTC)

::That's interesting, I didn't know that existed! I wonder if there's a less repetitive and/or space-efficient way of expressing the same message ("this is on both"), but idk. (look, I remembered to sign this time!) --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:43, 4 February 2025 (UTC)

::another question: should i be updating the explanations to be accurate as of 2024? many of the red annotations contain corrections or updates. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:08, 4 February 2025 (UTC)

That's interesting! I like the idea of adding them, but I can't seem to find a nice way to add them:
*We could add them to the existing explanation, but that would be weird because half of the blog articles, which are public on the site, don't have these additions.
*We could add them to the book column, but it'd likely get too big, and we would need to figure out a way to make the template do that.
*We could create a duplicate row of every red-annotated article, even if they're on the blog, but that would be confusing and might clutter the index.
*We could create a new column, but we already have too many.
*Also, we'd need to figure out how to add them. Do we want to make the text red like in the book? Should we use a new/old template for that?
--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:43, 4 February 2025 (UTC)

== By what measure is anything "too short". ==

I am very close to just removing all the <code><nowiki>{{notice|Too short}}</nowiki></code> additions, on the basis that this seems to be a purely subjective measure. The only reason I haven't is because they'll probably just be added back in again (with no more reasoning than before). But, if anyone wants more information, everyone already knows where they can find the ''full'' text (or narrated video) that gives it, while a summary is a summary. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.49|172.70.85.49]] 20:28, 19 March 2025 (UTC)
:The reason I add them is because I'd like people browsing the index to be able to glance at a question and read its summary. I try to check the original article to see if there are any important things we missed and point them out. But if, after reading through an article, you find that our summary is clear and '''fully answers''' the question, you can remove it. I started adding these because some early summaries were way too short, just 5-10 words, and mostly didn't answer the question. For example, if an answer is "We would all die", that doesn't answer the question, but "The radiation from the nuclear bomb would be so pervasive that we would all die in 2 years" does.

:Of course people can just read all ~250 articles, but if someone just wants the answer quickly, we offer that. Please feel free to remove them from answers that are already complete, but not all of them.--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:48, 20 March 2025 (UTC)

::Reviewing the current first five "Too short" complaints, IMO you cannot get much more fully answered without expanding the "summary" to basically going through the article's in-depth explanation and copying/paraphrasing it. Which seems to me to miss the point.
::Parallel requests for rewording/better phrasing I can understand (if I thought that any change I made in that direction was going to stand when it got "made longer", I might even try to help out in that direction), but I'm still none the wiser why they are too short.
::Answering a question of "How long/heavy/bright/fast is <foo>?" shouldn't need more than a simple "it is <measurement>, given <caveat>", in most cases. Maybe a couple of those if there's different caveats, or add why it would end the world if you even ''had'' such a <foo>. "Could I/we/humanity <bar>?" probably doesn't need much more than "[Yes/No], but <unexpected thing...>" And I'm not sure if it's still there, because I'm not going to recheck it all, but at one point I noted at least one short-question/short-answer that had a longer 'summary' than the answer given.
::I like words. I need to expend effort to not use more of them, myself, and am quite pleased if I ''can'' satisfactorily say what I'm trying to say in a succint manner. (i.e. not like this...) But I'm still none the wiser what (lower) thresholds there are in this situation. I'm going to consider if I can help, here, but not right this moment. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.241.122|172.71.241.122]] 20:29, 20 March 2025 (UTC)

:::Oooh you're the same IP! I didn't recognise you.
Reviewing the current first five "Too short" complaints, IMO you cannot get much more fully answered without expanding the "summary" to basically going through the article's in-depth explanation and copying/paraphrasing it. Which seems to me to miss the point.
:::Sounds good. If the explanation is satisfactory and mentions everything except things like the methodology used and minor "sub-answers", feel free to remove the notices!

"How long/heavy/bright/fast is <foo>?" shouldn't need more than a simple "it is <measurement>, given <caveat>", in most cases. Maybe a couple of those if there's different caveats, or add why it would end the world if you even had such a <foo>.
:::Agreed!

"Could I/we/humanity <bar>?" probably doesn't need much more than "[Yes/No], but <unexpected thing...>"
:::Agree, but usually the entire article revolves around that unexpected thing, so i think we should summarise that too. Agin, feel free to remove the ones you're sure can't be made any longer in a useful way At the start, I added a lot and didn't have time to go read the article for each one! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:56, 21 March 2025 (UTC)

== Alternate universe What-Ifs ==

Should we make the explanation for Alternate universe What-Ifs a separate page? Explaining every section in this article might be too long, and if the other explanations are anything to go by, an explanation that fits would be considered too short. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.147|172.68.174.147]] 06:09, 21 March 2025 (UTC)
:I think we should definitely explain it, but maybe it's better if we keep it in the table? Why'd you want to split into another page?
:Also, the short-answer articles aren't too short. If you look at [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/What_If%3F_chapters#:~:text=Short Answer Section II Short%20Answer%20Section%20II], for example, it explanations are very short, and rightfully so. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:49, 21 March 2025 (UTC)

== What about Good Question? ==

There does appear to be a *fourth* "What If?" thing Randall has done that is seemingly only documented at [[New York Times: Good Question]]; the New York Times's [https://www.nytimes.com/column/good-question-randall-munroe-xkcd Good Question], which does appear to maybe have some chapter reposts (i.e. Cosmic Road Trip/"How Long Is the Drive to the Edge of the Universe?"). My question is, is this worth documenting on this page in specific? [[User:Adrmcr|Adrmcr]] ([[User talk:Adrmcr|talk]]) 18:36, 21 March 2025 (UTC)

:Oh, right, I had forgotten about that page! I like the idea of doing something with it, it's currently almost impossible to find. To give it more visibility, I think we could move its contents here. I'm not sure if we should add them to the existing table or put them in a new section, maybe at the bottom. I could see something like this working:

{| class="sortable wikitable"
! rowspan="2" scope="col" class="unsortable" | Thumbnail
! rowspan="2" scope="col" data-sort-type=text| Title
! rowspan="2" scope="col" data-sort-type=text| question
! rowspan="2" scope="col" class="unsortable" | Randall's answer
! colspan="3"| Article available in... <noinclude></noinclude> ''(click to sort)'' <noinclude></noinclude>
|-
! scope="col" data-sort-type=number | Blog
! scope="col" data-sort-type=number | Books
! scope="col" data-sort-type=number | YouTube
|-
| rowspan="7" |
| rowspan="7" |'''Good Question'''
|[https://www.nytimes.com/column/good-question-randall-munroe-xkcd ''"How Long Is the Drive to the Edge of the Universe?"'']
<div align="right">—Randall Munroe</div>
|Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Cras sagittis lacus sit amet porta vulputate.
|1st "[https://www.nytimes.com/column/good-question-randall-munroe-xkcd Good Question]" NYT article, on 2012‑07‑10
|
|
|-
|[https://www.nytimes.com/column/good-question-randall-munroe-xkcd ''"Shark or Orca: Which Should You Fear More?"'']
<div align="right">—Randall Munroe</div>
|rutrum eros id, tincidunt neque. Integer hendrerit magna ac nibh fringilla,
|2nd "[https://www.nytimes.com/column/good-question-randall-munroe-xkcd Good Question]" NYT article, on 2012‑07‑10
|
|
|-
|[https://www.nytimes.com/column/good-question-randall-munroe-xkcd ''" How Many Languages Could a Child Speak?"'']
<div align="right">—Randall Munroe</div>
|non venenatis lacus hendrerit. Pellentesque ullamcorper dolor eget nunc gravida, nec euismod risus efficitur.
|3rd "[https://www.nytimes.com/column/good-question-randall-munroe-xkcd Good Question]" NYT article, on 2012‑07‑10
|
|
|}

:The old page could become a redirect to the new section/NYT table. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 08:49, 22 March 2025 (UTC)
::Anyone? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:56, 23 March 2025 (UTC)

Talk:what if? articles

2025-03-21T18:36:04Z

Adrmcr: change post, oops

{{TOC}}Note: I moved over the discussion page from my [[User talk:FaviFake|talk page]], which is where the merger of the two what if? indexes was initially coordinated and organized. Most of the topics below were originally created on [[User talk:FaviFake]]. Thanks! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 09:21, 2 February 2025 (UTC)

----
==Introduction to coordinate the merger==
Hey! This is intended to be a space to coordinate the merging of the two tables. I see that [[User:1234231587678]] and [[User:Apollo11]] have been helping us create the two tables! I'm messaging you to coordinate a little bit. Since we're the 3 most active editors, let's coordinate!

My idea for the table was the following: there would be one single sortable table instead of two, and the information density would be very high. There were the columns I had in mind:

* N

* Date (the date YYYY-MM-DD, and then includes week after prev. article)

* Thumbnail

* Title (hyperlinked)

* Reader's question

* Randall's answer

* Book - in something like this format: '''WI?2, n. 40''' (BOOK1,2,3, nr. ARTICLE NUMBER), which is easily sortable by book - for unnumbered, use the assumed number with an asterisk like this: 69* - this column would also be color coded, by book - this would also contain the title in the book if different - empty when not in any book

* YT (the date YYYY-MM-DD, and then a hyperlinked link with the YT title. if the title is the same, don't repeat it) empty when not on YT

----

I realise my mistake was listing the things we had to do together with the huge task, merging the tables! So what happened is you both contributed, but each of you contribued to a different table. In an attempt to solve this, i have created my own table, which is ready to receive the two additional columns!

'''I believe this third table (available at [[User:FaviFake]]) is the best option for us to work on the index together, so that once it has the 2 additional columns and contains all the articles, we can put it on the blog page and delete the [[What If? chapters]] table. What do you think?'''

I have also made other adjustments:

*Made the Date column nowrap, so the date doesn't wrap around, and made the first column (N) centered and '''bold'''

*Turned each Reader's question cell italic, and added quotation marks to the start and end of each cell. Ex: HOW OLD? becomes ''"HOW OLD?"''

* In the Randall's answer column, split the rows into one per question. For example, if there are 5 bullet points in 1 cell, split the "Reader's question" and the "Randall's answer" columns into 5 rows for that particular Article so that each question has its own mini-row.

*Added file link to all rows so you can just click to go straight to the upload file page.

*<s>'''Downgrade''': titles aren't hyperlinked</s> - {{Done}} Update: I manually hyperlinked all of them!
'''
*'''Downgrade''': the last ~100 articles are missing. I'll try to add them the day after tomorrow! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:06, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

:Regarding the additional 2 columns: I've been thinking a lot about how we should do them. I see 4 options:

:*'''Option 1: Separate Tables''' - separate tables for the YouTube video information and book information, and link articles across tables using the "N" column (or another unique identifier like the title). Advantages: Keeps sorting straightforward in each table. Maintains the integrity of your original table while allowing for sorting by videos and books in their respective tables. Flexible for adding future metadata. Disadvantages: Requires users to cross-reference between tables, which can be inconvenient.

:*'''Option 2: Expand Rows with Sub-Rows''' - How it works: For each article, add one or two additional sub-rows (One for YouTube video information (e.g., YT video number, link, title, thumbnail), and one for book information (e.g., book number, article number, title, color-coded cell). Advantages: Keeps all information together, visually grouped by article. Makes it easy to see all data without leaving the main table. Disadvantages: Sub-rows might disrupt column sorting. Could make the table visually cluttered for articles with both video and book.

:*'''Option 3: Additional Columns''' - new columns for: (FIRST COLUMN) YouTube video number, link, title, and thumbnail, and, (SECOND COLUMN) Book name, article number, title, and color-coding. Advantages: Sorting by videos or books is easy. Keeps all information in a single row. Disadvantages: The table becomes much wider, which can reduce readability on smaller screens. Many empty cells for articles without video or book.

:I've also thought about using a template. What do you think of the idea of a creating a template like these:

{{Done}} UPDATE: i did create the templates! See the top of [[User:FaviFake]]! <s>

<nowiki>{{yt|YTNUMBER (1, 2, 3, etc)|YTLINK|VIDEOTITLE (optional)}}</nowiki>

:It would be used in the column that we still need to create. It would also colour the cell in '''red'''. I was also thinking of doing a similar thing for the What If? books:

<nowiki>{{bk|WHICH-BOOK|CHAPTER-NUMBER|CHAPTER-TITLE (if different)}}</nowiki>

:For example, it would look like this (This one would also colour the cell based on the book, e.g., green for WI?1, yellow for WI?2, blue for WI10th ed.):

<nowiki>{{book|2|69|Jellyfish}}</nowiki>

What If? 2, chapter '''69: Jellyfish'''

:Would someone be able to create something like this? I know nothing about templates, and i doubt I'll be able to ask chatgpt to do everything for me correctly. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:28, 18 January 2025 (UTC)<s>
</s>
==1234231587678==
::I saw your message, and this would be a good idea to coordinate. Maybe also add the missing "Peptides" that was accidentally released on the blog, as index 153 (i think) or have two articles with the same index number, just putting "current" for the current article. --[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 20:47, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

::Also I think the "0w later" or "1w later" on the comics looks a bit odd, maybe remove them entirely? The dates are already present. --[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 20:49, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

:::Thanks for replying! I LOVE the idea of inserting the Peptides article directly in the index. It would technically make it a little less official, but I'm all for it. It looks and feels like a proper article.

:::I also fully agree with you regarding the '''1w later''' line! I do like the idea of seeing the frequency right from the index, but it's too much right now. My idea is to remove the "1w later" part, but leave it in for the articles that aren't released a week after the previous one. For example, this would keep the '''2w later''' and '''0w later''' lines for the articles that have them, but declutter the date cells of the "normal" ones. What do you think?

:::I can't do it right now, but it should be easy. We can also delay it until all articles are on the table, so we only have to do it once. Btw, I hope to get all the articles on the table by the day after tomorrow or the day after that. Meanwhile, you or other editors can add the 2 columns (Book and YT)! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 22:14, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

I currently don't have the books, so can't help with that, but I've added a few YT videos. Also the book template seems to be buggy (and/or a WIP), so I removed it from the 1st article. ALSO, the YT template display {5}th instead of 5th; weird. --[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 15:13, 19 January 2025 (UTC)

:Thank you so much! I fixed the YT template, let me know if there are any other issues. Also, you '''can''' help with books, even if you don't have them! All you need to do is look at the page [[What If? chapters]], which catalogues every chapter of every book. The <s>[[Template:book]]</s> i was trying to create is broken because I gave up trying to make it work (1h and 20min of my life wasted). Anyways, we now have 4 different templates, one for each book (the fourth is a placeholder!): [[Template:book1]], [[Template:book2]], [[Template:book3]], [[Template:book4]]. There are instructions on hot to use them on their page. Please continue adding the videos and the books if you can! This is exactly what we need! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:18, 19 January 2025 (UTC)

==Apollo11==
This a big page so I’m not sure I’m in the right spot (also typing one handed so sorry for mistakes). I like the table on you page, however I did notice it’s missing which book it’s in and the YouTube channel. I love how the one I edited was formatted, I think if you added that table to your existing table it’d be perfect. I would also add a page number for the books. [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 16:34, 18 January 2025 (UTC)

Ok just saw the three options. I’d go with either 1 or 3. 1 would look the best and probably be easiest to find what you’re looking for as long as your have links to the other tables very clear. What I would do is have a table with title, and where to find the article (blog, book 1, book 2, YouTube). Then have a 4 tables, one for each, where you can go more in depth about each article, date, explanation, jokes, things like that. Option 3 would be the simplest, and if that’s what you wanna do, I’d have the simplest things on the left and the more complicated things on the right. So the date and title would be in the left and the e explanation would be far to the right. You’ve probably been thinking about this a lot longer than me so I’m probably missing something, so please tell me if I’m wrong abo it anything. Also if my comment is in the wrong spot feel free to move me to the right conversation. I’d love to help in anyway!! Just give me directions and I’ll do by best!! [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 16:58, 18 January 2025 (UTC)

: Thanks so much for your interest! I thought about it a lot today, and i landed on 1, huge, information-laden table. I think having 3 or 4 tables would be too confusing and too hard to navigate. Plus, i think i found a good way to avoid making the table too wide. I added a few articles to showcase it. I don't have a lot of time to do all of them. Regarding the page number, I used the chapter number since it's easier for people who don't own the books.

: > I’d love to help in anyway!! Just give me directions and I’ll do by best!!
: Love it! You can do everything that's listed at the top of [[User:FaviFake]], but the first one might be more annoying to do on a phone (I'm not sure where you're editing from, actually). If you don't understand something on that page, please do let me know. I promise i'll answer quicker next time. ;) --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 20:03, 19 January 2025 (UTC)

:: Looks great!! I’ll get on it sometime early next week!! (Ftr I’m usually on a phone but sometimes I’ll go over to a computer for bigger projects, like added links and full researched paragraphs) [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 20:56, 19 January 2025 (UTC)

::: Amazing! I hope I'll have added all the missing articles by the day after tomorrow. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 21:30, 19 January 2025 (UTC)

==Adding the book-exclusive articles==
I noticed that there’s not a column for if the article is in the blog. I also don't think some of the ones in the book that aren’t on the blog are in there. Please correct me if I’m wrong. [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 18:17, 21 January 2025 (UTC)

:Yeah, I’ve noticed that some of the What If? Chapters aren’t in the table. I think that we should add them in too '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 18:42, 21 January 2025 (UTC)

::Thank you all for pointing it out! And again sorry it took me so long, I'm not good at prioritising. (but at least today i did something! I fixed both the YouTube template, there are new instructions on [[User:FaviFake]], and the book templates when used in merged cells. Anyways!)
::I had forgotten the other table also contained the book-exclusive questions! Of course we should add them! We need to think about this before doing anything though. I have so many questions!

*In what order do we put them? Unfortunately, the chapter of the book are mixed between non-excusive and exclusive.
*Do we need all the columns?
N Date Thumbnail Title Reader's question Randall's answer Books YouTube
**What happens to the unnecessary columns? We could merge them, but I'm not sure whether the sorting will work if we merge them.
*Should we change the columns, so that the '''blog number''' column is more similar to the '''Book''' and '''YouTube''' columns? Or are blog articles more important because they fill all the cells, while book-exclusives don't have all the same info?
*Is there ANY way you can think of to make the insertion of these articles into the existing index seamless? I'm usually on the side of one big index instead of many little indexes, but I'm having a hard time figuring this out. One of the main reasons I wanted to do this project was so that people wouldn't need to move between 2 different tables to see all articles.

::One way could be to just add all book-exclusive articles, each in their own row, in a big dump on the release date of the book. Even tho it would technically be in chronological order, i don't really like the idea. Please send all your thought! There must me something I'm not thinking of, or something I've been thinking wrong about! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:10, 22 January 2025 (UTC)

----

::* What order do we put them in
:: I would do it in the same order as the other table, blog articles first in chronological, what if chapters in chapter order. I believe the YouTube channel is all old questions, but if he posts a new one, then put that below the books.
::* change blog columns
::I think you should move the blog date and number to after randalls answer, similar to the books, and for the date for book exclusives maybe jus the book release date? Or NA.
::* unessery colums
:: Example?
::* Seamless integration
::Just stick them on the bottom, the exact same way you’d put another blog article on the bottom.
::I think that covers it all? [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 19:15, 22 January 2025 (UTC)

:::Sticking the chapters at the end was the same idea I had, and I think that we can just put (What If? Exclusive) inside the date part of the table. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 19:22, 22 January 2025 (UTC)

::::Thanks for replying so quickly! I don't have time right now to read everything but I can already tell that this is much easier than I thought it would be. I'll answer tomorrow. Before i start overthinking everything: What would you put inside the columns thumbnail, Question, and Answer? Just empty? I'm trying to think of something useful.
::::Also, what do you think of merging the N (blog) column and the Date columns, just like we do with the YouTube column? Would there be any downsides?
:::: I hope I'm not preventing it edits by not adding the articles quickly, in the meantime you can help by adding YT videos, now that the template works! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 21:31, 22 January 2025 (UTC)

::::: I think that the YT videos are all added? At least the blog ones and not the What If? exclusive ones. Or maybe Restricted Mode on my home wifi is blocking some. But I think that it’s all done? Tried my best anyways '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 03:52, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

::::::This is great news, thanks! I didn't know there were YouTube videos on book-exclusive articles! I'll get started, this is my plan:
::::::*The book articles are positioned like the old [[What If? chapters]] table.
::::::*New column setup:
Thumbnail Title Reader's question Randall's answer '''Blog (this contains both N and Date)''' Books YouTube
::::::*The sometimes-unnecessary columns are left empty.
::::::*The '''Blog''' column is more similar to the '''Book''' and '''YouTube''' columns: it has a template and colors the cell light blue.

::::::I feel great about this! We're getting near the finish line. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:36, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

:::::::I think that I added all the What If? And What If? 2 chapters to the table for the ones that were copied from the blog '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 23:48, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

::::::::Love it! I hope i'll be able to add some of the missing articles today, but i might not be able to do them all (or any at all). --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:01, 24 January 2025 (UTC)

::::::::{{Done}} I did it! You can now add the missing YT videos :) {{unsigned|FaviFake|20:49, 24 January 2025 (UTC)}}

:::::::::Doing it now! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 21:24, 24 January 2025 (UTC)

::::::::::based on the 20 videos that I can see on the YT channel, ALL YT VIDEOS HAVE BEEN ADDED! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 21:39, 24 January 2025 (UTC)

:::::::::::We actually did it! Now all that's left are the explanations, which i'm sure people will prefer doing over merging 2 wikipedia tables. There's just one small problem: I searched for "Featured in What If?," and instead of 69 results, i got 67. This means two of the articles that are both in the book and in the blog haven't been added. Do you think you could figure out which ones? I also checked the other book and the YouTube videos, and they're all there, it's just the first book. Again, thank you so much for all your work, it would've likely taken weeks to get to this point without your efforts! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 11:21, 25 January 2025 (UTC)

ok, i’ll poke around and see if i can find them. also, I GOT WHAT IF? 10TH ANNIVERSARY! i can add the bonus chapter that is at the end-it’s basically “what if we tried more power” when blasting away at the moon with lasers. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 21:22, 25 January 2025 (UTC)

:Congrats on the book! I didn't buy it because i have the original, it's great that someone here owns it. Can you describe in a little more detail the last chapter? I don't understand a few things: does the second YouTube video say exactly the same thing as the blog article? Why are there two videos about 1 article? Or is the second YT video only about the Bonus Chapter in the book, which goes even further than the blog article? Is that bonus chapter not in any other book or blog? Thanks! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 11:13, 26 January 2025 (UTC)
:Also, is the chapter only called Bonus Chapter, or does it also have other names? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:15, 26 January 2025 (UTC)

==Sorting "Chapter xx.."==
Hi... An alternative to the way you are lead-zeroing the text cell's numeric suffix, for sorting purposes, which is what I think {{diff|363528|this is all about}}, would be to do so something like:
... || data-sort-value={{{1}}} | Chapter {{{1}}} || ...
Should be able to deal with any numeric value, while still rendering it simply as "Chapelter 1"/"Chapter 10"/"Chapter 100"/ etc, but adding ''data-sort-type="number"'' to the header cell might even be able to sort not-quite-numbers, should a future book ever do chapters like "... 7, 7a, 9, 10, 11, 12, 12b, 14, ...".
 Perhaps even ''data-sort-value=<booknumber>.<chapternumber>'' would be useful. Though you'd have to use the sufficient-leading-zeroes method, again, and could start at 1.0000001 ''just'' in case there's ever a million (but not more than 10mil-1) chapters in a future bookbut would probably be useful to sort all book-contained items, across all books but not interleaved.
 I'll let you consider if/what you find it more useful. And perhaps check if I've given you the right table markup options by going and checking the Help:Sorting Tables/whatever pages. ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.107|141.101.99.107]] 00:01, 26 January 2025 (UTC)

:I agree that the current method isn't great, and I'm very glad to see there's another, better way. Unfortunately, I don't really understand most of what you said. BUT! You seem very experienced and I don't have a lot of time, so it would be perfect if you could edit directly the templates/table/cells/whatever needs to be changed. The best option is to remove the leading zeroes and still make the sorting work, for the blog, books, and YT templates. If you (or someone else) could do that, it'd be wonderful. Please feel free to try it yourself if you want! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 11:13, 26 January 2025 (UTC)

== weird table bugs ==

hey favifake, i found two bugs that i don’t really know how to fix in the table: one of them is in regard to the what if 2 template, whenever it has a “S2” or a “W1” “chapter” it gives an error. the second bug can be found on the laser pointer row-i added the what if? 10th anniversary template, but the yt template doesn’t “fit” (for lack of a better word) with the table. could you dig into these and try to figure out what has gone wrong? thanks! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 00:55, 26 January 2025 (UTC)

:Hey 42! I saw what you were trying to do, i think i fixed it now? I removed the '''book3''' template from the original '''Laser Pointer''' row because all original articles are technically in the 10th Ann. book. (i added "exclusively on" to the '''book3''' template to make it clearer). Regarding the other S1 bug, i don't know why but it seems fixed now?? I saw the error just a few hours ago and now it works. I have no idea what happened. Let me know if it reappears or something. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 11:13, 26 January 2025 (UTC)

----

:Without going in and trying it myself, is this because of the "trying to zero-pad a number" thing (as given a possible alternative, above), because it can't test if <usually number, in this case text> is greater/less than <static number>?
:Quick-fix (not doing anything else new) would need the test enclosed with an isthisanumber? test (if so, do zero-padding testing, etc; if not, maybe don't try).
:Exactly how S2/W1 sorts (or doesn't) using the sorting data (bare number only!) and/or the forced data type as number (to do its best for what numeric data it is presented, despite occasional non-numeric interloping characters), would need testing.
:Or I misunderstand. But, ''if'' I don't, maybe this is useful additional pointer to a solution/acceptance of the problem. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.123|172.71.178.123]] 01:21, 26 January 2025 (UTC)

::IP user, I answered above. :) --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 11:13, 26 January 2025 (UTC)
== Interesting streamlined 'table furniture', but... ==

...I'm wondering about the current (slight) usage differences between:
style="text-align:center" | {{{1}}}
and:
style="white-space:nowrap" |
Do you need to add the Param1 to the nowrap/remove if from the text-alignment?

And what if someone wanted no-wrap+centre at the same time? There maybe ''are'' ways to combine <code><nowiki>{{ac|<foo>}}</nowiki></code> and <code><nowiki>{{nw}}</nowiki></code>, but it seems non-trivial to to do. (Unless you make a <code><nowiki>{{nwac}}</nowiki></code>, but then where do you end?) I'm wondering if you should try it without the |-character.

Let's see if that ''could'' work:
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto"
|+ Test
|-
! Foo !! Bar !! Baz
|-
| Normal text of a normal style || style="text-align:center" style="white-space:nowrap" | This is as if using variations <code><nowiki>{{ac|<foo>}}</nowiki></code> and <code><nowiki>{{nw}}</nowiki></code> as rendered without the pipe-character or inconsistent parameter, which is tricky to demonstrate with the actual templates.|| More normal text of a normal style
|-
| Normal text of a normal style || style="text-align:center" | style="white-space:nowrap" | This is how <code><nowiki>{{ac|{{nw}} <foo>}}</nowiki></code> might look || More normal text of a normal style
|-
| Normal text of a normal style || {{ac|{{nw}} This is how <code><nowiki>{{ac|{{nw}} <foo>}}</nowiki></code> ''does'' look, using the current state of the templates.
----
<s>''NB. Why is it in bold? Is that a normal feature of a style of text-align:center?''</s>}}
| More normal text of a normal style
|-
| Normal text of a normal style || style="white-space:nowrap" | style="text-align:center" | This is how <code><nowiki>{{nw}} {{ac|<foo>}}</nowiki></code> might look || More normal text of a normal style
|-
| Normal text of a normal style || {{nw}} {{ac|This is how <code><nowiki>{{nw}} {{ac|<foo>}}</nowiki></code> ''does'' look, using the current state of the templates.}}
----
<s>''Also goes bold, I notice!''</s>
| More normal text of a normal style
|}

So, yes, it looks like it might be better to just remove the pipe (or pipe-and-param) and rely on the table-writer to just put in the relevent bare style-giving {{}} (or {{}}s) before the pipe. (I must look into why there's unexpected boldness. I don't know if that comes from the way you templated it or as an associated function of the aligh-center style. But it doesn't appear when I do it 'raw'.) Anyway, food for thought, over to you. It looks like I ''could'' edit your templates, but that might be rude, and would of course instantly break whatever it is you're currently using them (singly) for. That's the ''What If?'' table, I suppose? Anyway, you can both 'fix' how they work and adjust how they are invoked, rather than leaving me to guess about the latter. ;) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.49|162.158.74.49]] 19:04, 17 January 2025 (UTC)
:PS: Yes, I have just checked, and, yes you've added (apparently ''after'' I saw and copied the original {{template|ac}} for my own testing and emulating purposes!) the bolding to the aligh-centering template. That part of the mystery is solved! :P [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.49|162.158.74.49]] 19:10, 17 January 2025 (UTC)
:PPS: I know what happened. I copied the (slightly '''formatted''') 'plaintext' as it appeared in the template. If I'd have edited it and copied the wikisource then I'd have grabbed the <nowiki>'''formatted''</nowiki> as you already had it by the time I passed by. Don't mind me, it was just something that made me wonder. Probably moreso than the thing that I was ''actually'' trying to prod and poke and solve! IOW: Ignore me. On this bit, at least! [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.151|172.68.205.151]] 19:32, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

::I love how interested you are about this! Honestly i'm not really sure what exactly it is you're asking, but you seem very smart so do whatever you want! My only request is that the {{:ac}} thing keeps working as expected, so i don't have to change the table again. I had forgotten about the {{:nw}} thing, you can delete it or change it or do anything else, I don't use it anymore. Feel free to add to the documentation that these are just for 1 table and might break everything if used anywhere else. Or, if they already work everywhere, great! I remember I created them expecting the entire page to be destroyed when used, and being pleasantly surprised when they worked. So yeah go wild! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 21:19, 17 January 2025 (UTC)
:::I'm not going to make any change without taking time to check your tables and making sure the appropriate change doesn't inflict damage on your attempts to curate the tables you're probably using it for.
:::But, in short, I understand that you're streamlining the (often longwinded) style="" statements, an admirble task. In the structure of "| cell || another cell || etc", you're doing something to save from having to do cumbersome "| cell || style="this-style: that; that-style: that; the-other-style: the.other" | another cell || etc", all of which makes editing 'difficult'. (I tend to do such things in Notepad, or whatever separate text editor I have, which lets me add temporary whitespace and use with no-wrap on the markup while I'm working on it, rather than in this textbox editor.)
::: But the single-pipe that formats the cell isn't a ''great'' difficulty to maintain (indeed, it is useful to line up). As such I'd suggest "| cell || <nowiki>{{??}}</nowiki> | another cell || etc" would be as good. i.e. leave the pipe (intended for the table-cell) out of the template. For the no-wrap version, that's easy enough. Though I do understand that you want to put bold-format about the cell contents, so that's why you give it as a param and explicitly bold the Param1 as you pass it back out.
::: Maybe the solution to ''that'' is to also add (to the style, along with the text-align:center) the "font-weight: bold" doublet. Then "... || <format(s), as templates and/or raw> | Cell Text || ..." doesn't ''need'' to 'enclose' the Cell Text in any way.
::: But making the change from something that expects to transclude the range of the template "... || format | Cell Text || ..." to "... || format | Cell Text || ..." obviously requires that each and every table-cell item that uses "... || <nowiki>{{template|Cell Text}}</nowiki> || ..." to be converted to "... || <nowiki>{{template}}</nowiki> | Cell Text || ...", or... it'll definitely not work as it was originally set.
::: Anyway, that's just my own vision of how you can do what you seem to have wanted to, without introducing more complications. As the cell-formatting gladly accepts multiple statements of the form style="..." (it adds <code>style="..." style="..." style="..."</code> together, much as <code>style="...; ...; ..."</code> does), an editor now has complete freedom to compound the two format-templates you created. And any additional ones that might be useful. Such ones to usefully colour cell backgrounds as red/yellow/green (for use on the various Confusion Tables), something that I sometimes take a couple of goes to do... not least because I habitually spell 'color' as 'colour'..! ;)
::: ...but that's just to explain so that (should you/anybody else wish to follow my own instincts on the matter), you have some decent idea of what I'm getting at. There are probably other ways of doing it. Templates can be made to detect and extract pipes, so that "... || <nowiki>{{template1|{{templete2|Cell Text}}}}</nowiki> || ..." ''or'' "... || <nowiki>{{template2|{{templete1|Cell Text}}}}</nowiki> || ..." would equally produce "... || templateOneOrTwoFormat templateTwoOrOneFormat | Cell Text || ...", but that would take a degree of of unwieldy parameter-processing functions (that I'd have to work out, probably would involve some subst-function, but might depend upon what's available in the installed mediawiki version). I just think you could avoid all that trouble! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.118|162.158.74.118]] 22:51, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

:::Forgot to say, that for what you want to use it for, there's ''another'' way:
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto"
|+ Example 2
|-
! Number (Centered) !! Foo !! Bar (Centered) !! Baz
|-
! 1
| Normal text of a normal style
! Some text of whatever size (centered)
| More normal text of a normal style
|-
! 2
| Normal text of a normal style
! Some text of whatever size (also centered, though not so obviously so)
| More normal text of a normal style
|}
:::... This is only possible by newlining each new cell, in the example (you can't do "! cell || cell !! cell || cell", you have to line-break it as you change from "!"-/"|"-starting cell-groups), but it isn't really so great a loss to do so.
:::The "wikitable" class gives these 'header cells' a different background too, but (if you really don't like that) it that can be adjusted in various other ways (including with scope="col", I think), or you can leave the wikitable class off (it centres and bolds, but doesn't give cell-borders) and re-add the whole-table bordering style that this now leaves out. But you really don't want me listing ''every'' idea I had, just this one was the other (template-free) option to enforcing centre-aligning bold text on ''certain'' cells. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.119|162.158.74.119]] 23:09, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

::::Huh, I was actually thinking of doing the opposite of what you're suggesting: include even more pipes inside the template so the editor is cleaner and easier to use. (UPDATE: this probably worse than the other option you gave at the end, see below). So instead of this:

|-
<nowiki>| {{ac|4}} || </nowiki>

::::You would just use this:

|-
<nowiki>{{ac|4}}</nowiki>

::::And it would contain all the pipes needed. I guess then we would have to update the documentation to point out that this template's use case is extremely narrow. Also, if you want to see how it is currently used, the table is on my user page! That's the only place where it's used

::::Since you seem very interested in templates, What do you think of the idea of a creating a template like these:

<nowiki>{{yt|YTNUMBER (1, 2, 3, etc)|YTLINK|VIDEOTITLE (optional)}}</nowiki>

::::It would be used in the column that we still need to create. It would also colour the cell in '''red'''. I was also thinking of doing a similar thing for the What If? books:

<nowiki>{{bk|WHICH-BOOK|CHAPTER-NUMBER|CHAPTER-TITLE (if different)}}</nowiki>

::::For example, it would look like this: (This one would also colour the cell based on the book, e.g., green for WI?1, yellow for WI?2, blue for WI10th ed.)

<nowiki>{{book|2|69|Jellyfish}}</nowiki>

What If? 2, chapter '''69: Jellyfish'''

::::Would you be able to create something like this? I know nothing about templates, and i doubt I'll be able to ask chatgpt to do everything for me correctly. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 07:16, 18 January 2025 (UTC)

:::::> Forgot to say, that for what you want to use it for, there's ''another'' way:
:::::Oh, i think i had forgotten to read this part!! This seems very interesting! I should try that, since it seems much simpler. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:10, 18 January 2025 (UTC)

:::::'''Update:''' {{Done}} I applied your suggestion, now the numbers are in their own row:
|-
!1
| The rest of the table
--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:33, 18 January 2025 (UTC)

== What If Chapters ==
Hey FaviFake, there are some What If? Chapters that aren’t included in the blog. Are we going to add them to the table? '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 17:41, 22 January 2025 (UTC)

:Great timing! You sent me this message while i was in the process of replying to the question. I'm not good at prioritising, I should've definitely responded before doing other edits. Check out my <s>list of questions for y'all</s> reply above! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:10, 22 January 2025 (UTC)

== YouTube template ==
Hey FaviFake, on the <code><nowiki>{{yt}}</nowiki></code> template, you asked for help on fixing the code of the template. What help do you need to “improve” it? I’m willing to help now that I’m not sick, as I was last week. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 18:35, 19 January 2025 (UTC)

:Thank you! Glad to hear you're healthy. That message was mostly a joke, but it is in fact barely held together. (Try modifying the hyperlink that's displayed when a title isn't provided, somehow what you add gets duplicated??) If you have the time and know how to make it more reliable and easily editable in the future, please do! I am honstly scared to touch it fearing it might explode.

:Buuut, to be fair there is one template that i desperately needed help with, and that is [[:Template:book]]. I wasted a ton of time to try to get it to change the cell background, and it never worked, so i decided to create [[Template:book1]], [[Template:book2]], [[Template:book3]], [[Template:book4]], and these do work beaytifully, but are harder to edit in bulk. (I still have profound hatred towards [[Template:book]]...). If you actually manage to do what i wanted (which i'm not sure is even clear after the all the mess i've made... ask me if you can't figure it out!), I would be very grateful. PS. I'm not sure if i should warn you, given my very low ability to create templates, but it's definitely not easy, imo.

:I'm not sure how skilled you are at template editing, so if you want, you can absolutely continue uploading the What If? thumbnails like you did a few days ago! I just added [[User:FaviFake|a new batch of articles]] (about 60) thanks to some annoyingly complex jailbreaking of Google's NotebookLM. The new table of course includes the quick 100px link to upload a file. Again, thanks for reaching out! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 19:04, 19 January 2025 (UTC)

::The YT link appears to be going to <nowiki>[[whatever the name of the YouTube video is called]]</nowiki> and not acting as a [youtube.com filler thingy] linking to a YouTube video. I’m going to hit the books on template writing and try to see if I can do anything about it. Cheers! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 03:11, 21 January 2025 (UTC)

:::Oh great, that's broken too. I didn't even realise it. Thanks!--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 04:57, 21 January 2025 (UTC)

:Partly because you've removed the bit about how to better sort the book-column elements, but are using the same trick in the youtube-column, and partly because it's easier (more on that in a moment), I've just modified the {{template|yt}} to give it the sort value (of article number) directly. Have not removed the expression test to make "6th video ..." into "06th video ...", for sorting purposes, but I feel confident that you ''can'' do that (and remove the comment about making it give "006th video ...", in future, should that become necessary) if you now so wish.

:For the books, I was thinking that if, instead of <code>="<nowiki>{{{1|0}}}</nowiki>"</code>, you could maybe use <code>="<nowiki>{{#expr:10000+{{{1|0}}}}}</nowiki>"</code> for ''What If?'' (in {{template|book1}}) and <code>="<nowiki>{{#expr:20000+{{{1|0}}}}}</nowiki>"</code> for ''What If? 2'' (in {{template|book2}}), to let it sort by book ''and then'' chapter within book...

:For ''What If? 10th Anniversary Edition'' ({{template|book3}}), I was thinking if you could make the added-to number 11000. Though anything from above 10000+<last chapter number> and below 20000-<last chapter number> would do (and 15000 would work), it leaves room to make any appearance of the 15th anniversary, 20th anniversary, 42nd anniversary, ..., 95th anniversary be able to use the mnemonic offsets of 11500+, 12000+, 14200+, ..., 19500+.. ;) Obviously, it would need revamping if there becomes a centenary edition of Book 1 (or any version of it ever gets ''so many'' "bonus chapters" that it breaks out of its own sequence into the next extant anniversary edition. But you'd need to start adding 100 newly-numbered chapters ''per year'' to do that, so probably not likely. But, right now, the sorting on the "Exclusive to ''What If? 10th Anniversary Edition''" line sorts ''before'' the "NNth chapter of ''What If?''" lines. The above should fix that...

:And the format can be used for other (future?) books and their (possible) reissues: For ''What If? '''N''''', reissued '''YY''' years after the original, that's the number "NYY00", to which you add the chapter number. Fairly futureproofed, but if Randall ''ever'' publishes anything that makes you need to make the offset "NNYYY000" (e.g. for the quarter-of-a-millenium reissue of ''What If? 15'', having a total of 512 chapters being 15250000+[1..512]) then I reckon the requisite changes will be easy enough to handle as and when, swapping in the expanded offset. And... hey... if they're still being written, ''and'' published, then I can only hope I'm still around to be able to add that edition to my bookshelf!

:You could even redo the {{template|book}} idea (parameters of ...|book=#|chapter=#|optional:edition=#?|...) to only ever need to maintain the one source with ''all'' this flexibility. You've already got experience (by the 1st/2nd/3rd/Nth code) with what's needed to translate Book Number(+Edition Number, if applicable) into unique background colour codes.

:The big problem, though, is still the non-numeric chapter 'numbers' in ''WI?2''. I have two (or three) different thoughts about that.

:*For only the numeric bits (currently, in the test for less-than-10, etc; in the above for within the <code>data-sort-value="..."</code>) you might want to switch <code><nowiki>{{{1|0}}}</nowiki></code> with <code><nowiki>{{#if:{{#ifexpr:{{{1|0}}}}}|99|{{{1|0}}}}}{{{1|0}}}</nowiki></code>... This should test the param1 value for being a valid value (or missing, when you already make it zero... though not sure for what circumstance you should consider it validly missing) and using it if it is so, or else using the value "99" (or you could have "0", or "0.5", or whatever floats your boat). Then at least you'd get ''a'' value (that doesn't cause errors), though it probably wouldn't be sorted very precisely (though appear just after/before all other chapters of the book).

:*The other idea is to use <code><nowiki>{{{effectiveChapter|{{{1|0}}}}}}</nowiki></code>, then you can append a parameter of <code>...|effectiveChapter=11.5}}</code> to a non-numeric one sitting between actual chapters 11 and 12 (I haven't checked if that's an actual example, but imagine it is...). Also, for multiple items on page-chapter, you could even have =11.51, =11.52, =11.53, etc, to retain order within the book and ''upon the page''... (You could also give effectiveChapter as "NYYCC(.optional)" format, direct, for ''all'' what if? Numbers, YYearly-editions and CChapters (with possibly sub-positions), come to that, but I don't see that as any simpler a solution as building it in.)

:*The third option would be to use (for hidden sorting-only purpose, mostly) a value of P(.optionalDecimal) either as another numeric parameter or a named one, with P as ''page number'', not chapter number. But, given how hardback vs. paperback (or just another imprint, not necessarily even a Anniversary redo, but I've got the UK edition with an additional UK foreword) ''might'' effect page numbers and/or where end-of-pages interupts any given chapter internals, it's possible that this is not consistent enough. But food for thought, maybe. Only needs to be definitively done once (or thoroughly checked and shuffled along as nevessary if redone to include other changes that require consistency).

:Any of that make sense? Hopefully I've at least given you enough examples to ponder, where not immediately obvious. I'd ''really'' rather not change all your hard work just for the sake of a minor cosmetic change with a possibly major set of retouches, which is one of the reasons why I thought I'd do just the basic Youtube 'sort assisting' bit and let those of you who have already had so much 'fun' (tweaking the table formats) decide if and how you make full use of it. Assuming it isn't (differently) broken, for whatever reason may crop up, it shouldn't be a problem if you do nothing at all more with it (either in the {{template|yt}} or {{template|book#}}s). [[Special:Contributions/172.71.241.26|172.71.241.26]] 14:38, 28 January 2025 (UTC)

*Thank you so much! Would you mind if I moved your message to [[Talk:What If? chapters]], to group everything regarding the index in one place?  Anyways:
*I did the thing on the yt and {{template|blog}} one and it works!

For the books, I was thinking that if, instead of <code>="<nowiki>{{{1|0}}}</nowiki>"</code>, you could maybe use <code>="<nowiki>{{#expr:10000+{{{1|0}}}}}</nowiki>"</code> for ''What If?'' (in {{template|book1}}) and <code>="<nowiki>{{#expr:20000+{{{1|0}}}}}</nowiki>"</code> for ''What If? 2'' (in {{template|book2}}), to let it sort by book ''and then'' chapter within book...
*Done! Thanks! For ({{template|book3}}) i used 30000 to have the chapter in chronological order.

You could even redo the {{template|book}} idea
*Sorry but I'm not touching that... ''thing'' anymore. That template traumatized me (jk! if you want to try fixing it i'd be very happy)

For only the numeric bits (currently, in the test for less-than-10, etc; in the above for within the <code>data-sort-value="..."</code>) you might want to switch <code><nowiki>{{{1|0}}}</nowiki></code> with <code><nowiki>{{#if:{{#ifexpr:{{{1|0}}}}}|99|{{{1|0}}}}}{{{1|0}}}</nowiki></code>... This should test the param1 value for being a valid value (or missing, when you already make it zero... though not sure for what circumstance you should consider it validly missing)
*I'm not sure why that's needed (and also how to actually implement it). What happens if the value is invalid? it seems to work. Or is it required for the other improvements you suggested?

The other idea is...
The third option would be...
*Yeah this seems pretty hard to solve easily (which is why i'd love it if you did it!). I guess it'll stay slightly broken until it becomes a bigger issue. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:54, 28 January 2025 (UTC)

::It seems like you just forgot to escape pipe characters in the [[Template:book|book template]] in the table within the switch statement, so it just interpreted the non-formatting statements to be a case grouped with the next 'actual' case [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you desire conversing]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 07:23, 29 January 2025 (UTC)
::BTW I fixed the book template. It should now appear the same as the other templates, and even work with the youtube template [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you desire conversing]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 09:13, 29 January 2025 (UTC)

:::OMG THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! IT ACTUALLY WORKS! What! How! Why!
:::Thanks so much for fixing the template! I can't describe how glad I am to see it working as (and even better than) I wanted. My life is finally complete. I have switched to using your template in the index.
:::The reason there was a YT link in one of the {{template|book}} documentation examples is because I was going insane and likely pasted it there by accident. From what I can tell, you seem to have set up {{template|book}} so well that {{template|book}} accepts a YouTube link as input, while the {{template|yt}} template it's based on doesn't if used by itself (requires only the ID). I love this! Since we're gonna have many YT videos to add, it's great to have a much simpler option which doesn't require extracting the ID of the video. Is there a way you could maybe incorporate this improvement into {{template|yt}} itself? Or maybe you're 10 steps ahead of me and you've already done it (which wouldn't surprise me given the amount of wizardry you used on these bad boys!), and I just didn't notice. Please let me know! And again, thank you so much!!! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:56, 29 January 2025 (UTC)
:::Also, since you've already rendered 4 templates useless thanks to your improvements, why not also add {{template|yt}} to the list of pages to delete, by incorporating it into {{template|book}}? This, unlike {{template|book}}, is absolutely not needed, and I also have no idea if it's as easy as a simple copy-and-paste, or if it requires more work. If it's the latter, please don't do it if you don't want to! I'm just throwing ideas around! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:04, 29 January 2025 (UTC)

That IP, here. I (think) I fixed the sorting ''and'' error-fallback issues. I think (without trying to roll back to how you had it) you 'broke the sort' by putting in line-feeds (maybe double-ones), that messed up the table/cell handling. Then you broke the handling by commenting out too much (you needed to "< ! - -" and "- - >", without spaces, without crossing the quotes and |ing boundaries in data-sort-value="..." style="..." and the 'release', by pipe symbol, to cell-contents).
 Recommented for it to work normally, first without the new 'sort assistance' and then with again. Had a look at the error-catcher (went down a blind alley, at first) and made it an explicit "catch all other inputs" for the errororing display, which I formatted in a more obvious manner ''and'' forced to sort to the start. (Well, almost the start. It puts empty cells with no sorting 'ahead' of even the -999 value I made it give any error-caught cells.)
 If it were me, I'd be happy to have {{template|yt}} entirely separate from the {{template|book}} handling. It is mnemonically confusing and adds needless (and possibly error-prone) "if we have far too many params for Book template, feed it all into the Youtube template". Unless you're folding the ''whole'' Youtube template into the body of the Book one (even more work to maintain/debug), it's just adding complication for both server and editors who feel forced to use it. The beauty of the monolithic Book template is that (otherwise identical) "Book N, chapter C, optional new title T" information is trivially similar between different Ns. But it's not my project.
 I'll have a dig about in maybe how to have a table sort "valueless" cells (in reality the empty value of cell absolutely without anything in it) beyond the sort-valued ones. The 'easiest' means I could imagine is to accept <nowiki>{{book|0}}</nowiki>, needing no further params, to create a <code>data-sort-value="999999" |''<blank>''</code> cell-definition, and have every book-column cell without a book-reference explicitly use that (ditto for <nowiki>{{yt|0}}</nowiki> to have the same pre-trap to it). But seems wasteful. A template <nowiki>{{empty}}, or even something like {{e}},</nowiki> (without checking if either of those are free names) could also just give us this behaviour straight off, of course. It's potentially a lot of fuss to make consistent and flexible enough, either way.
 But what I already did probably also needs to be checked for more edge-conditions... I may still have to tweak things when I have a better chance of catching errors (very difficult, on a tablet), and quicker. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.196|172.70.162.196]] 21:32, 29 January 2025 (UTC)
:I also think that the book template shouldn't be used for the videos, on the basis that youtube is not a book.
:for the default cell, it would probably take no arguments (i.e. just <nowiki>{{yt}}</nowiki>), and it would also probably be it's own template rather than implemented on each template. However, I have done some digging, and empty cells (cells with no sort value) are given a value of "-infinity", so they sort as the absolute minimum no matter what sort method is used (which means always at the top when sorting ascending). I have been looking to find a way to make a row always sort to the bottom regardless of sort order if the column that is sorted has an empty/valueless cell at that row, but if it exists, it is not documented.
:Interestingly, it is possible to sort by many columns at once by shift-clicking the second column after sorting the first column, and the rows will be sorted within the first sorting. it might be useful for sorting by chapter within each book [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you desire conversing]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 06:51, 30 January 2025 (UTC)
::Yes, a book (or youtube) template could default to whatever seems suitable as sort-value without params, but it might be more obvious if explicitly book(/video) zero. Or caught by <nowiki>{{book|nobook=yet}}</nowiki>, or whatever. I'm trying to think what looks least confusing to future editors (those expanding/editing the table, and/or template(s)), but conflicted about what to anticipate.
::I had indeed been looking to see if the -infinity thing could be overriden by a column header defined <code>blank-sort-value="999999"</code> sort of thing. If nothing else, you'd expect there to be a perceived need to sort a range of cells so that explicit negative and explicit positive contents, either by actual cell value or data-sort-value, to sit either side of blank cells... Not ''all'' the time, as sorting to show blanks ''separate'' from filled rows with actual zeroes is also useful, but it seems to useful not to have been suggested as a configurable change.
::The booknumber*A_LARGE_NUMBER offset to the chapter number is probably one of the most useful ways to sort by (primarily) book, then chapter, as it takes just one click. (I believe clicking the secondary and then clicking the primary does the same job as clicking the primary and shift-clicking the primary.) I see so little use to doing a primary sort by chapter (with or without secondary sorting by books, or any other column's detail), to interleave all chapter 1s and so on, that having a "book #" column and a "chapter(/page) #" column (two cells in sequence easily created by the book template, and could also handle the double-blank needed by book=none implementation, if we went that route) would be just complicating matters in an unnecessary manner. (As opposed to how we've complicated matters in a 'necessary' one!)
::Good catch on bringing the BOOK+CHAPTER sort value out of the #switch, BTW, as I was debating how much of the switch-statement I could treat as generic and not need repeating. (My original idea for the 10th Anniversary version of Book 1 to be effectively "Book1.1" made me still want to option of overriding the N*10000 as being 3=>11000 instead of =>30000, but that could ''still'' be implemented by a bit of "(if N=3, 1.1, else N) times 10000" pre-logic, ''or'' by handling <nowiki>{{book|1.10|...}} instead of {{book|3|...}}</nowiki>. Anyway, not important, either way.)
::...all this is why I left Favi (and you/others) get on with the original restructuring effort without jumping in (despite having two of the three books, and having seen all the youtubes). I had plenty of ideas of what to do, but did not want to restructure anything from what seemed to be a happy little project with its own momentum and targets. I finally gave in when I noticed an impasse being hit, with errors and confusion, to which I since ''hope'' I have provided a net reduction in both. Though it's only the first of these about which I'm fairly confident. ;) Anyway, perhaps I'm sliding back to my position on the sidelines, now... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.245|172.70.91.245]] 11:20, 30 January 2025 (UTC)
:::These comments are great and extremely detailed, thank you! Thanks to your efforts I was able to retire these templates: book1, book2, book3, book4, and yt, so now we only have the huge {{template|book}} template and {{template|blog}}. I kinda agree with IP that it might not be future-proof, but I don't really see a reason to believe we'll add 2 more parameters to the book-specific columns. And even then, it's not that hard to update the template. But please do let me know if you can think of other issues with the current implementation! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 19:50, 30 January 2025 (UTC)

== tldr ==

hey favifake! i just came back from a 5 day yosemite trip, that’s why i have been awol for that time. could you please really quick give me a tldr of what has been going on in the past couple days? i see that we finished the index, but i’m just wondering if there’s anything else. thanks! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 02:52, 1 February 2025 (UTC)
:Welcome back! We now only use the {{template|book}} and {{template|blog}} templates, all the others have been merged into {{template|book}} by the incredible [[User:Firestar233]], the templates are much more solid, they also added all the questions and almost all the what if? 2-exclusive chapters. So now we're only missing the questions from the first book and an explanation for the third's bonus chapter (which you own!). I don't have much time, but you can look at the history of the templates and the main what if chapters page, and also this talk section. There's also a to-do list above the index! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:32, 1 February 2025 (UTC)
::ok, great! i'll try to work on the chapter explainations once i find the time '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 21:04, 1 February 2025 (UTC)
:::Amazing! Thanks for your help. If you're interested, I've just added a simple (yet boring) task:
:::*''"Need to add the name(s) of the readers who asked each questions. It's easy! The instructions are in the ''[[What If? chapters#Editors|Editors section]]''!"''
:::If you have time, the names are missing for some book-exclusive articles and the blog articles. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:59, 2 February 2025 (UTC)

== Table for smaller screens ==
Do we think we should list out who asked each question in the table? [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you desire conversing]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 03:09, 2 February 2025 (UTC)

:If so (and I'm not sure it's necessary), please not as an extra column. Already it's squeezing what's there down, something chronic. At least on my current screen, right now.
:*The thumbnail column can't get smaller (unless we use smaller/downscaled thukbnails, of course, but there's a limit to that)
:*The title column (of the first non-hdader is "Relatacistic(Newline)Baseball".
:*The "Reader's(Newline)question" column goes "(quote)What would(Newline)happen if you(Newline)(...etc)".
:*The "Randall's answer" column is positively spacious (no doubt forced to be so by the "Too short!" infoboxes), letting it read "The ball would create plasma and(Newline)reach home plate by about 70(Newline)(...etc)".
:*The three columns for Blog/Book/Vid couldn't be narrower and make sense.
:If the questioner is to be asked, set it after the question (same cell, maybe horizontal rule).
:In fact, what do you think of the following layout modification?
{| class="sortable wikitable"
!Title
!Question / Answer
!Blog
!Books
!YouTube
|-
|'''{{what if|1|Relativistic Baseball}}'''
[[File:Relativistic Baseball.png|100px]]
|''"What would happen if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90% the speed of light?"''
<div align="right">Ellen McManis</div>
----
The ball would create plasma and reach home plate by about 70 nanoseconds. The result would be some kind of nuclear explosion, destroying everything about a mile from the field. A ruling of "{{w|hit by pitch}}" could be interpreted in this situation.
|{{blog|1|2012|07|10}}
|{{book|1|2}}
|{{book|5|2024|02|06|3EI08o-IGYk|What if you threw a baseball at nearly light speed?}}
|-
|'''{{what if|2|SAT Guessing}}'''
[[File:SAT Guessing.png|100px]]
|''"What if everyone who took the SAT guessed on every multiple-choice question? How many perfect scores would there be?"''
<div align="right">Rob Balder</div>
----
No one would get a perfect score. The odds of guessing correctly on every question would be less than the odds of every ex-living president at that time and the main cast of [[:Category:Firefly|Firefly]] getting struck by lightning on the same day.
|{{blog|2|2012|07|10|7d early}}
|{{book|1|66}}
|
|}
:Saves trouble of having emphatically unsortable columns, this way, being mere continuations of the cell contents we ''do'' want to sort. Assuming we don't decide we want to sort by "Firstname(s) Lastname" (or "Lastname, Firstname(s)"), as well as by sorting by "What would..." / "What if..." / "How much..." / "Is there..."ness, etc. But that's another step with another answer to it. (e.g. a "By" column with data-sort-value="Lastname, Firstname(s)" defined but ''no visible content''... It'll be as minimally thin as "By" and the sort-glyph allows, only minimally squeezing the other columns. ...if that's more desirous than merely 'data-sort-value'ing the Question(/Name)/Answer field by name (whatever format), and finding little real reason to sort the "How"s from the "What"s from the "Is"s. But that's something that deserves more thought!)
:But what I ''do'' highly suggest (at least add the "Who" after the "Question", same cell, and looks nice with right-align; on top of that, cell-mergering like this, ''probably'' with the horizontal rule markup in the Q&A divide) looks good to me.
:"Relativistic Baseball"(noNewline!) and "(quote)What would happen if you tried to hit a   (Newline, etc...)" is how the example table pans out in Preview, which is an improvement for readability.
:I won't pre-emptimptively assume you're ok with this plan, but (if it seems the idea is liked/not disliked), when I have the time to do it I could blitz this (or any other consensus change of similar radicality, that gets proposed instead) later on (at least 12 hours from now, maybe a full day...). I'll do what I can to fill (or visibly format, if already there) such authors as I'm not left totally stumped about for whatever nazcent reason. Sound good to y'all? ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.190|141.101.98.190]] 05:00, 2 February 2025 (UTC)

::Thanks for your suggestions! These are my thoughts:
Do we think we should list out who asked each question in the table?
::Yes! I thought about doing this after you commented each reader after the question, but didn't have the time. The ay you went about adding them makes it very easy to create a "find-and-replace" to do it for all cells at once.This is how I'd do it:
:: <nowiki>''"Question?"''</nowiki>
:: <nowiki><div align="right">—Rob Balder</div></nowiki>

In fact, what do you think of the following layout modification?
[...] cell-mergering like this, ''probably'' with the horizontal rule markup in the Q&A divide) looks good to me.
::I don't really like it and I don't think it's needed, mainly because it only looks good on a small screen. Meanwhile, on a normal-sized desk monitor, it makes the table '''almost twice as tall''' on my end. I don't think we should optimise for smaller screens and disregard other users with a larger screen real estate. If you find any other way to improve the table on both screen sizes, please do let us know!
(e.g. a "By" column with data-sort-value="Lastname, Firstname(s)" defined but ''no visible content''... It'll be as minimally thin as "By" and the sort-glyph allows, only minimally squeezing the other columns.
::I don't really like this idea, seems confusing for the end user (why is there an empty column?), doesn't add so much value, and needs to be maintained. If someone wants to sort by reader alphabetically, they'll likely find a way to isolate the '''<code><nowiki><div align="right">—Rob Balder</div></nowiki></code>''' part.
But what I ''do'' highly suggest (at least add the "Who" after the "Question", same cell, and looks nice with right-align [...]
::Love that! See above.
::--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 09:01, 2 February 2025 (UTC)

::I formatted them! All the ones that were added as comments in the table are now visible. I also added this to-do, mainly for blog posts:
::*Need to add the name(s) of the readers who asked each questions. It's easy! The instructions are in the ''[[What If? chapters#Editors|Editors section]]''!
::--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:57, 2 February 2025 (UTC)
:::Regarding "...on a normal-sized desk monitor, it makes the table '''almost twice as tall''' on my end." my display (non-desktop) has ultra-wide aspect ratio (when landscape; I rarely use portrait for browsing because then web-pages are scaled to unreadable levels).
:::With side-by-side Q and A columns, the "Too small" warning box dictates the minimum width of the Answer column, making the Question column even more narrow (when you take the minimum width of the thumbnail out of the horizontal space, then the title and the three "occurance" columns fight for what remains) than it might otherwise need to be. (If/when we remove ''all'' these hints to edit longer answer-'summaries', the table will doubtless realign its contents to a more equitable share of width between columns.)
:::Most often, this still results in (non-short) "Answer" columns being longer than they need to be, and forcing the whole row to be vertically wasteful. An opposite case (such as replicated below) does it with the Question having to have excessive linefeeds, being less readable (needs scrolling to read it all) and leaving a vast desert of blankness in the cell to its immediate right.
:::Isolating just the Q and A columns (to remove other confounding factors, for most displays except maybe phones-in-portrait - which is already an abominable mode and I find most websites look ''far'' more unreadable in ultra-tall-portrait orientation, so I generally avoid doing that on my tablet) and manually adding the line-breaks I see, you get:
{| class="sortable wikitable"
|"When my wife and I started dating she invited me over for dinner at one time. Her kitchen had something called Bauhaus chairs, which are full of holes, approx 5-6 millimeters in diameter in both back and seat. During this lovely dinner I was forced to liberate a small portion of wind and was relieved that I managed to do so very discretely. Only to find that the chair I sat on converted the successful silence into a perfect, and loud, flute note. We were both (luckily) amazed and surprised and I have often wondered what the odds are for something like that happening. We kept the chairs for five years but despite laborious attempts it couldn't be reproduced."
|This... isn’t actually a question, but thank you for sharing!
|}
:::Integrating the row into the above-suggested format of table, we get (showing just that single combined Q+A cell, minus any "by"-line), the following:
{| class="sortable wikitable"
|"When my wife and I started dating she invited me over for dinner at one time. Her kitchen had something called Bauhaus chairs, which are full of holes, approx 5-6 millimeters in diameter in both back and seat. During this lovely dinner I was forced to liberate a small portion of wind and was relieved that I managed to do so very discretely. Only to find that the chair I sat on converted the successful silence into a perfect, and loud, flute note. We were both (luckily) amazed and surprised and I have often wondered what the odds are for something like that happening. We kept the chairs for five years but despite laborious attempts it couldn't be reproduced."
----
This... isn’t actually a question, but thank you for sharing!
|}
:::Yes, the non-Q&A cells (which I've left out, just there) are still comparatively empty (especially as "Relativistic Baseball" isn't forced into two lines, and even the final three columns don't need quite as many linefeeds between them ...you could probably narrow them further by forcing some linebreaks back into them, giving even more width to Q+A column), but they're actually often ''less'' empty because they aren't as artifically tall as a function of =max(height(question),height(answer)), instead being =height(wider(question+answer)). The conversion to not force a short question to inhabit a desolately empty cell as long as narrowly squashed answer, ''and'' a short answer to be as long as an even more narrowly squashed question, seems to be more wasteful of space than to give combined Q&A far more width and let it be ''exactly'' as long as it needs to be for both to fill it (being the crux of the row, the rest being 'annotations' to the paragraphed question/answer interplay).
:::Though I'm not next to my own desktop display, right now, I can tell you that the space-wasting I'm showing is notable (though not quite so egregious) there, too, and I had already thought to try out (at least for a Preview) a Q+A column.
:::I wasn't, at that time, even thinking of thumbnail+title columns merging (which would help even more), but I'm sorely tempted now. Whether or not Q+A merging is accepted by the wider set of editors. Merging title+thumbnail ''could'' trivially let the Q-column expand maybe to double its current width, depending upon the other dynamics involved in apportioning rendered width and height. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.9|172.70.90.9]] 13:00, 2 February 2025 (UTC)

:::Ok, for reference: The desktop machine has the following line-feeds for the above example, as ''currently'' shown in the Thumbnail|Title|Question|Answer|... format:
{| class="sortable wikitable"
|"When my wife and I started dating she invited me over for dinner at one time. Her kitchen had something called Bauhaus chairs, which are full of holes, approx 5-6 millimeters in diameter in both back and seat. During this lovely dinner I was forced to liberate a small portion of wind and was relieved that I managed to do so very discretely. Only to find that the chair I sat on converted the successful silence into a perfect, and loud, flute note. We were both (luckily) amazed and surprised and I have often wondered what the odds are for something like that happening. We kept the chairs for five years but despite laborious attempts it couldn't be reproduced."
|This... isn’t actually a question, but thank you for sharing!(Single line!)
|}
:::Testing the above-suggested format of table, we get:
{| class="sortable wikitable"
|"When my wife and I started dating she invited me over for dinner at one time. Her kitchen had something called Bauhaus chairs, which are full of holes, approx 5-6 millimeters in diameter in both back and seat. During this lovely dinner I was forced to liberate a small portion of wind and was relieved that I managed to do so very discretely. Only to find that the chair I sat on converted the successful silence into a perfect, and loud, flute note. We were both (luckily) amazed and surprised and I have often wondered what the odds are for something like that happening. We kept the chairs for five years but despite laborious attempts it couldn't be reproduced."
----
This... isn’t actually a question, but thank you for sharing!
|}
:::Again, produces shorter (and more readable?) rows. In this particularly extreme example, at least. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.49|162.158.74.49]] 14:25, 2 February 2025 (UTC)
::::Thanks for your answer, these are my thoughts:
the "Too small" warning box dictates the minimum width of the Answer column, making the Question column even more narrow [...] than it might otherwise need to be
::::*I hadn't thought of that, but still: if the issue is mainly caused by these notices, it's very easy to replace them with something else that doesn't force the column to be too wide.
I generally avoid doing that on my tablet
::::*Oh, you're still the same IP as before! Hey there! My point ''wasn't'' that your idea wouldn't benefit small-sized screens like tablets (because it does, as you proved!), but that we should mainly focus on desktop users, which is how most readers that aren't on their phones will use the index. I don't like the idea of making the experience worse for everyone except tablet users (and phone users, but i can't imagine someone browsing such a huge index on their phones, so i don't think we should consider them). I'd love it you could improve the experience for both types of devices!
"When my wife and I started dating she invited me over for dinner at one time. Her kitchen
::::*I think that's a bad example because the question is 4x the normal question length and there is no answer. I don't think we'd want to optimise the index so that that specific article looks better but most other articles don't.
::::*I think the perfect example of how it will one day look is article 2, with the question being slightly shorter than the answer, and that difference being balanced by the name of the reader who asked the question:
{| class="sortable wikitable"
!class="unsortable"|Thumbnail
!Title
!Reader's question
!class="unsortable"|Randall's answer
!Blog
!Books
!YouTube
|-
|[[File:SAT Guessing.png|100px]]
|'''{{what if|2|SAT Guessing}}'''
|''"What if everyone who took the SAT guessed on every multiple-choice question? How many perfect scores would there be?"''
<div align="right">—This is a name</div>
|No one would get a perfect score. The odds of guessing correctly on every question would be less than the odds of every ex-living president at that time and the main cast of [[:Category:Firefly|Firefly]] getting struck by lightning on the same day.
|{{blog|2|2012|07|10|7d early}}
|{{book|1|66}}
|{{book|16|2024|09|24|0EytSWiKrFg|What if example?}}
|}
::::*This specific example, which is how most articles do/will look hopefully, is '''~45% shorter''' than [[#Question askers|your example]] and thus wastes much less space on my screen size.
the final three columns don't need quite as many linefeeds between them ...you could probably narrow them further by forcing some linebreaks back into them [...]
::::*If they need linebreaks, doesn't that mean that their column would be the most narrow one? I thought mediawiki balanced the table pretty well.
thumbnail+title columns merging (which would help even more), but I'm sorely tempted now
::::*But I think this idea has the same problem, looking too tall on desktops and beautiful on a tablet. I wouldn't want to ruin the UX of desktop users to favour tablet users, but i'd love a way to improve both!
::::*Also, I'd like to one day make the thumbnail bigger, because currently it's too small in my opinion. But if i increased its size right now, it would force every row to be even taller, which would waste space on desktop (and, of course, save space on small screens, or at least not make that big of a difference). --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:04, 2 February 2025 (UTC)
::::Is there a "mobile" version/url for this site? because there might be a way to make the table try to display a different layout if it's on the mobile url/version or if the screen is too small, but that would require putting complicated expressions in every row and in the header columns. [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you desire conversing]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 20:53, 3 February 2025 (UTC)
:::::Yeah I had thought of doing a similar thing, maybe have two pages with different coding and use complex transclusions to keep the content the same? But I wouldn’t even know where to begin with that. But you're the wiki-editing wizard here. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:50, 4 February 2025 (UTC)

== adding what if? 10th ann ==

as most of you know, the what if? 10th anniversary edition is basically an updated version of what if?, compete with red annotations and a bonus chapter that i need to get around to explaining. since it has all the original what if? chapters, should we add a red 10th anniversary box under each green what if? box? '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:12, 3 February 2025 (UTC)

:Yeah I realized it was just small annotations after i created the template and now I've changed the 10th ann. one to say ''Featured '''exclusively''' on the 3rd ed. etc.'' Not sure if that's enough, could also be much longer since it's only used on 1 row, but we definitely shouldn't add the template to every other article, (would break the style= html tag). Someone should still mention that articles on the first book are all available on the 3rd (and add more info) on both '''[[what if? (blog)]]''' and '''[[What If? 10th Anniversary Edition]]'''.
:Don't worry too much about explaining it, it can just be a couple of sentences. People can watch the video if they want details. Thanks for your work!{{unsigned|FaviFake|09:57, 3 February 2025 (UTC)}} 

:The fact that the 10th Anniversary ed ("book3", in original nomenclature) was basically a bonus-chapter version of the original ("book1"), was behind my suggestion that book|3 should sort-value itself as between book|1 articles and the completely new book|2, but there are severl ways of doing it (including maybe using something akin to {{w|Template:Diagonal split header}} for book|1 (assumed to also be book|3) rendering. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.38.96|162.158.38.96]] 21:08, 3 February 2025 (UTC)

::That's interesting, I didn't know that existed! I wonder if there's a less repetitive and/or space-efficient way of expressing the same message ("this is on both"), but idk. (look, I remembered to sign this time!) --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:43, 4 February 2025 (UTC)

::another question: should i be updating the explanations to be accurate as of 2024? many of the red annotations contain corrections or updates. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:08, 4 February 2025 (UTC)

That's interesting! I like the idea of adding them, but I can't seem to find a nice way to add them:
*We could add them to the existing explanation, but that would be weird because half of the blog articles, which are public on the site, don't have these additions.
*We could add them to the book column, but it'd likely get too big, and we would need to figure out a way to make the template do that.
*We could create a duplicate row of every red-annotated article, even if they're on the blog, but that would be confusing and might clutter the index.
*We could create a new column, but we already have too many.
*Also, we'd need to figure out how to add them. Do we want to make the text red like in the book? Should we use a new/old template for that?
--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:43, 4 February 2025 (UTC)

== By what measure is anything "too short". ==

I am very close to just removing all the <code><nowiki>{{notice|Too short}}</nowiki></code> additions, on the basis that this seems to be a purely subjective measure. The only reason I haven't is because they'll probably just be added back in again (with no more reasoning than before). But, if anyone wants more information, everyone already knows where they can find the ''full'' text (or narrated video) that gives it, while a summary is a summary. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.49|172.70.85.49]] 20:28, 19 March 2025 (UTC)
:The reason I add them is because I'd like people browsing the index to be able to glance at a question and read its summary. I try to check the original article to see if there are any important things we missed and point them out. But if, after reading through an article, you find that our summary is clear and '''fully answers''' the question, you can remove it. I started adding these because some early summaries were way too short, just 5-10 words, and mostly didn't answer the question. For example, if an answer is "We would all die", that doesn't answer the question, but "The radiation from the nuclear bomb would be so pervasive that we would all die in 2 years" does.

:Of course people can just read all ~250 articles, but if someone just wants the answer quickly, we offer that. Please feel free to remove them from answers that are already complete, but not all of them.--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:48, 20 March 2025 (UTC)

::Reviewing the current first five "Too short" complaints, IMO you cannot get much more fully answered without expanding the "summary" to basically going through the article's in-depth explanation and copying/paraphrasing it. Which seems to me to miss the point.
::Parallel requests for rewording/better phrasing I can understand (if I thought that any change I made in that direction was going to stand when it got "made longer", I might even try to help out in that direction), but I'm still none the wiser why they are too short.
::Answering a question of "How long/heavy/bright/fast is <foo>?" shouldn't need more than a simple "it is <measurement>, given <caveat>", in most cases. Maybe a couple of those if there's different caveats, or add why it would end the world if you even ''had'' such a <foo>. "Could I/we/humanity <bar>?" probably doesn't need much more than "[Yes/No], but <unexpected thing...>" And I'm not sure if it's still there, because I'm not going to recheck it all, but at one point I noted at least one short-question/short-answer that had a longer 'summary' than the answer given.
::I like words. I need to expend effort to not use more of them, myself, and am quite pleased if I ''can'' satisfactorily say what I'm trying to say in a succint manner. (i.e. not like this...) But I'm still none the wiser what (lower) thresholds there are in this situation. I'm going to consider if I can help, here, but not right this moment. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.241.122|172.71.241.122]] 20:29, 20 March 2025 (UTC)

:::Oooh you're the same IP! I didn't recognise you.
Reviewing the current first five "Too short" complaints, IMO you cannot get much more fully answered without expanding the "summary" to basically going through the article's in-depth explanation and copying/paraphrasing it. Which seems to me to miss the point.
:::Sounds good. If the explanation is satisfactory and mentions everything except things like the methodology used and minor "sub-answers", feel free to remove the notices!

"How long/heavy/bright/fast is <foo>?" shouldn't need more than a simple "it is <measurement>, given <caveat>", in most cases. Maybe a couple of those if there's different caveats, or add why it would end the world if you even had such a <foo>.
:::Agreed!

"Could I/we/humanity <bar>?" probably doesn't need much more than "[Yes/No], but <unexpected thing...>"
:::Agree, but usually the entire article revolves around that unexpected thing, so i think we should summarise that too. Agin, feel free to remove the ones you're sure can't be made any longer in a useful way At the start, I added a lot and didn't have time to go read the article for each one! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:56, 21 March 2025 (UTC)

== Alternate universe What-Ifs ==

Should we make the explanation for Alternate universe What-Ifs a separate page? Explaining every section in this article might be too long, and if the other explanations are anything to go by, an explanation that fits would be considered too short. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.147|172.68.174.147]] 06:09, 21 March 2025 (UTC)
:I think we should definitely explain it, but maybe it's better if we keep it in the table? Why'd you want to split into another page?
:Also, the short-answer articles aren't too short. If you look at [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/What_If%3F_chapters#:~:text=Short Answer Section II Short%20Answer%20Section%20II], for example, it explanations are very short, and rightfully so. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:49, 21 March 2025 (UTC)

== What about Good Question? ==

There does appear to be a *fourth* "What If?" thing Randall has done that is seemingly only documented at [[New York Times: Good Question]]; the New York Times's [https://www.nytimes.com/column/good-question-randall-munroe-xkcd Good Question], which does appear to maybe have some chapter reposts (i.e. Cosmic Road Trip/"Could You Make a Snowball of Neutrinos?"). My question is, is this worth documenting on this page in specific? [[User:Adrmcr|Adrmcr]] ([[User talk:Adrmcr|talk]]) 18:36, 21 March 2025 (UTC)

Talk:what if? articles

2025-03-21T18:34:35Z

Adrmcr: /* What about Good Question? */ new section

{{TOC}}Note: I moved over the discussion page from my [[User talk:FaviFake|talk page]], which is where the merger of the two what if? indexes was initially coordinated and organized. Most of the topics below were originally created on [[User talk:FaviFake]]. Thanks! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 09:21, 2 February 2025 (UTC)

----
==Introduction to coordinate the merger==
Hey! This is intended to be a space to coordinate the merging of the two tables. I see that [[User:1234231587678]] and [[User:Apollo11]] have been helping us create the two tables! I'm messaging you to coordinate a little bit. Since we're the 3 most active editors, let's coordinate!

My idea for the table was the following: there would be one single sortable table instead of two, and the information density would be very high. There were the columns I had in mind:

* N

* Date (the date YYYY-MM-DD, and then includes week after prev. article)

* Thumbnail

* Title (hyperlinked)

* Reader's question

* Randall's answer

* Book - in something like this format: '''WI?2, n. 40''' (BOOK1,2,3, nr. ARTICLE NUMBER), which is easily sortable by book - for unnumbered, use the assumed number with an asterisk like this: 69* - this column would also be color coded, by book - this would also contain the title in the book if different - empty when not in any book

* YT (the date YYYY-MM-DD, and then a hyperlinked link with the YT title. if the title is the same, don't repeat it) empty when not on YT

----

I realise my mistake was listing the things we had to do together with the huge task, merging the tables! So what happened is you both contributed, but each of you contribued to a different table. In an attempt to solve this, i have created my own table, which is ready to receive the two additional columns!

'''I believe this third table (available at [[User:FaviFake]]) is the best option for us to work on the index together, so that once it has the 2 additional columns and contains all the articles, we can put it on the blog page and delete the [[What If? chapters]] table. What do you think?'''

I have also made other adjustments:

*Made the Date column nowrap, so the date doesn't wrap around, and made the first column (N) centered and '''bold'''

*Turned each Reader's question cell italic, and added quotation marks to the start and end of each cell. Ex: HOW OLD? becomes ''"HOW OLD?"''

* In the Randall's answer column, split the rows into one per question. For example, if there are 5 bullet points in 1 cell, split the "Reader's question" and the "Randall's answer" columns into 5 rows for that particular Article so that each question has its own mini-row.

*Added file link to all rows so you can just click to go straight to the upload file page.

*<s>'''Downgrade''': titles aren't hyperlinked</s> - {{Done}} Update: I manually hyperlinked all of them!
'''
*'''Downgrade''': the last ~100 articles are missing. I'll try to add them the day after tomorrow! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:06, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

:Regarding the additional 2 columns: I've been thinking a lot about how we should do them. I see 4 options:

:*'''Option 1: Separate Tables''' - separate tables for the YouTube video information and book information, and link articles across tables using the "N" column (or another unique identifier like the title). Advantages: Keeps sorting straightforward in each table. Maintains the integrity of your original table while allowing for sorting by videos and books in their respective tables. Flexible for adding future metadata. Disadvantages: Requires users to cross-reference between tables, which can be inconvenient.

:*'''Option 2: Expand Rows with Sub-Rows''' - How it works: For each article, add one or two additional sub-rows (One for YouTube video information (e.g., YT video number, link, title, thumbnail), and one for book information (e.g., book number, article number, title, color-coded cell). Advantages: Keeps all information together, visually grouped by article. Makes it easy to see all data without leaving the main table. Disadvantages: Sub-rows might disrupt column sorting. Could make the table visually cluttered for articles with both video and book.

:*'''Option 3: Additional Columns''' - new columns for: (FIRST COLUMN) YouTube video number, link, title, and thumbnail, and, (SECOND COLUMN) Book name, article number, title, and color-coding. Advantages: Sorting by videos or books is easy. Keeps all information in a single row. Disadvantages: The table becomes much wider, which can reduce readability on smaller screens. Many empty cells for articles without video or book.

:I've also thought about using a template. What do you think of the idea of a creating a template like these:

{{Done}} UPDATE: i did create the templates! See the top of [[User:FaviFake]]! <s>

<nowiki>{{yt|YTNUMBER (1, 2, 3, etc)|YTLINK|VIDEOTITLE (optional)}}</nowiki>

:It would be used in the column that we still need to create. It would also colour the cell in '''red'''. I was also thinking of doing a similar thing for the What If? books:

<nowiki>{{bk|WHICH-BOOK|CHAPTER-NUMBER|CHAPTER-TITLE (if different)}}</nowiki>

:For example, it would look like this (This one would also colour the cell based on the book, e.g., green for WI?1, yellow for WI?2, blue for WI10th ed.):

<nowiki>{{book|2|69|Jellyfish}}</nowiki>

What If? 2, chapter '''69: Jellyfish'''

:Would someone be able to create something like this? I know nothing about templates, and i doubt I'll be able to ask chatgpt to do everything for me correctly. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:28, 18 January 2025 (UTC)<s>
</s>
==1234231587678==
::I saw your message, and this would be a good idea to coordinate. Maybe also add the missing "Peptides" that was accidentally released on the blog, as index 153 (i think) or have two articles with the same index number, just putting "current" for the current article. --[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 20:47, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

::Also I think the "0w later" or "1w later" on the comics looks a bit odd, maybe remove them entirely? The dates are already present. --[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 20:49, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

:::Thanks for replying! I LOVE the idea of inserting the Peptides article directly in the index. It would technically make it a little less official, but I'm all for it. It looks and feels like a proper article.

:::I also fully agree with you regarding the '''1w later''' line! I do like the idea of seeing the frequency right from the index, but it's too much right now. My idea is to remove the "1w later" part, but leave it in for the articles that aren't released a week after the previous one. For example, this would keep the '''2w later''' and '''0w later''' lines for the articles that have them, but declutter the date cells of the "normal" ones. What do you think?

:::I can't do it right now, but it should be easy. We can also delay it until all articles are on the table, so we only have to do it once. Btw, I hope to get all the articles on the table by the day after tomorrow or the day after that. Meanwhile, you or other editors can add the 2 columns (Book and YT)! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 22:14, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

I currently don't have the books, so can't help with that, but I've added a few YT videos. Also the book template seems to be buggy (and/or a WIP), so I removed it from the 1st article. ALSO, the YT template display {5}th instead of 5th; weird. --[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 15:13, 19 January 2025 (UTC)

:Thank you so much! I fixed the YT template, let me know if there are any other issues. Also, you '''can''' help with books, even if you don't have them! All you need to do is look at the page [[What If? chapters]], which catalogues every chapter of every book. The <s>[[Template:book]]</s> i was trying to create is broken because I gave up trying to make it work (1h and 20min of my life wasted). Anyways, we now have 4 different templates, one for each book (the fourth is a placeholder!): [[Template:book1]], [[Template:book2]], [[Template:book3]], [[Template:book4]]. There are instructions on hot to use them on their page. Please continue adding the videos and the books if you can! This is exactly what we need! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:18, 19 January 2025 (UTC)

==Apollo11==
This a big page so I’m not sure I’m in the right spot (also typing one handed so sorry for mistakes). I like the table on you page, however I did notice it’s missing which book it’s in and the YouTube channel. I love how the one I edited was formatted, I think if you added that table to your existing table it’d be perfect. I would also add a page number for the books. [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 16:34, 18 January 2025 (UTC)

Ok just saw the three options. I’d go with either 1 or 3. 1 would look the best and probably be easiest to find what you’re looking for as long as your have links to the other tables very clear. What I would do is have a table with title, and where to find the article (blog, book 1, book 2, YouTube). Then have a 4 tables, one for each, where you can go more in depth about each article, date, explanation, jokes, things like that. Option 3 would be the simplest, and if that’s what you wanna do, I’d have the simplest things on the left and the more complicated things on the right. So the date and title would be in the left and the e explanation would be far to the right. You’ve probably been thinking about this a lot longer than me so I’m probably missing something, so please tell me if I’m wrong abo it anything. Also if my comment is in the wrong spot feel free to move me to the right conversation. I’d love to help in anyway!! Just give me directions and I’ll do by best!! [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 16:58, 18 January 2025 (UTC)

: Thanks so much for your interest! I thought about it a lot today, and i landed on 1, huge, information-laden table. I think having 3 or 4 tables would be too confusing and too hard to navigate. Plus, i think i found a good way to avoid making the table too wide. I added a few articles to showcase it. I don't have a lot of time to do all of them. Regarding the page number, I used the chapter number since it's easier for people who don't own the books.

: > I’d love to help in anyway!! Just give me directions and I’ll do by best!!
: Love it! You can do everything that's listed at the top of [[User:FaviFake]], but the first one might be more annoying to do on a phone (I'm not sure where you're editing from, actually). If you don't understand something on that page, please do let me know. I promise i'll answer quicker next time. ;) --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 20:03, 19 January 2025 (UTC)

:: Looks great!! I’ll get on it sometime early next week!! (Ftr I’m usually on a phone but sometimes I’ll go over to a computer for bigger projects, like added links and full researched paragraphs) [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 20:56, 19 January 2025 (UTC)

::: Amazing! I hope I'll have added all the missing articles by the day after tomorrow. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 21:30, 19 January 2025 (UTC)

==Adding the book-exclusive articles==
I noticed that there’s not a column for if the article is in the blog. I also don't think some of the ones in the book that aren’t on the blog are in there. Please correct me if I’m wrong. [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 18:17, 21 January 2025 (UTC)

:Yeah, I’ve noticed that some of the What If? Chapters aren’t in the table. I think that we should add them in too '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 18:42, 21 January 2025 (UTC)

::Thank you all for pointing it out! And again sorry it took me so long, I'm not good at prioritising. (but at least today i did something! I fixed both the YouTube template, there are new instructions on [[User:FaviFake]], and the book templates when used in merged cells. Anyways!)
::I had forgotten the other table also contained the book-exclusive questions! Of course we should add them! We need to think about this before doing anything though. I have so many questions!

*In what order do we put them? Unfortunately, the chapter of the book are mixed between non-excusive and exclusive.
*Do we need all the columns?
N Date Thumbnail Title Reader's question Randall's answer Books YouTube
**What happens to the unnecessary columns? We could merge them, but I'm not sure whether the sorting will work if we merge them.
*Should we change the columns, so that the '''blog number''' column is more similar to the '''Book''' and '''YouTube''' columns? Or are blog articles more important because they fill all the cells, while book-exclusives don't have all the same info?
*Is there ANY way you can think of to make the insertion of these articles into the existing index seamless? I'm usually on the side of one big index instead of many little indexes, but I'm having a hard time figuring this out. One of the main reasons I wanted to do this project was so that people wouldn't need to move between 2 different tables to see all articles.

::One way could be to just add all book-exclusive articles, each in their own row, in a big dump on the release date of the book. Even tho it would technically be in chronological order, i don't really like the idea. Please send all your thought! There must me something I'm not thinking of, or something I've been thinking wrong about! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:10, 22 January 2025 (UTC)

----

::* What order do we put them in
:: I would do it in the same order as the other table, blog articles first in chronological, what if chapters in chapter order. I believe the YouTube channel is all old questions, but if he posts a new one, then put that below the books.
::* change blog columns
::I think you should move the blog date and number to after randalls answer, similar to the books, and for the date for book exclusives maybe jus the book release date? Or NA.
::* unessery colums
:: Example?
::* Seamless integration
::Just stick them on the bottom, the exact same way you’d put another blog article on the bottom.
::I think that covers it all? [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 19:15, 22 January 2025 (UTC)

:::Sticking the chapters at the end was the same idea I had, and I think that we can just put (What If? Exclusive) inside the date part of the table. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 19:22, 22 January 2025 (UTC)

::::Thanks for replying so quickly! I don't have time right now to read everything but I can already tell that this is much easier than I thought it would be. I'll answer tomorrow. Before i start overthinking everything: What would you put inside the columns thumbnail, Question, and Answer? Just empty? I'm trying to think of something useful.
::::Also, what do you think of merging the N (blog) column and the Date columns, just like we do with the YouTube column? Would there be any downsides?
:::: I hope I'm not preventing it edits by not adding the articles quickly, in the meantime you can help by adding YT videos, now that the template works! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 21:31, 22 January 2025 (UTC)

::::: I think that the YT videos are all added? At least the blog ones and not the What If? exclusive ones. Or maybe Restricted Mode on my home wifi is blocking some. But I think that it’s all done? Tried my best anyways '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 03:52, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

::::::This is great news, thanks! I didn't know there were YouTube videos on book-exclusive articles! I'll get started, this is my plan:
::::::*The book articles are positioned like the old [[What If? chapters]] table.
::::::*New column setup:
Thumbnail Title Reader's question Randall's answer '''Blog (this contains both N and Date)''' Books YouTube
::::::*The sometimes-unnecessary columns are left empty.
::::::*The '''Blog''' column is more similar to the '''Book''' and '''YouTube''' columns: it has a template and colors the cell light blue.

::::::I feel great about this! We're getting near the finish line. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:36, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

:::::::I think that I added all the What If? And What If? 2 chapters to the table for the ones that were copied from the blog '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 23:48, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

::::::::Love it! I hope i'll be able to add some of the missing articles today, but i might not be able to do them all (or any at all). --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:01, 24 January 2025 (UTC)

::::::::{{Done}} I did it! You can now add the missing YT videos :) {{unsigned|FaviFake|20:49, 24 January 2025 (UTC)}}

:::::::::Doing it now! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 21:24, 24 January 2025 (UTC)

::::::::::based on the 20 videos that I can see on the YT channel, ALL YT VIDEOS HAVE BEEN ADDED! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 21:39, 24 January 2025 (UTC)

:::::::::::We actually did it! Now all that's left are the explanations, which i'm sure people will prefer doing over merging 2 wikipedia tables. There's just one small problem: I searched for "Featured in What If?," and instead of 69 results, i got 67. This means two of the articles that are both in the book and in the blog haven't been added. Do you think you could figure out which ones? I also checked the other book and the YouTube videos, and they're all there, it's just the first book. Again, thank you so much for all your work, it would've likely taken weeks to get to this point without your efforts! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 11:21, 25 January 2025 (UTC)

ok, i’ll poke around and see if i can find them. also, I GOT WHAT IF? 10TH ANNIVERSARY! i can add the bonus chapter that is at the end-it’s basically “what if we tried more power” when blasting away at the moon with lasers. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 21:22, 25 January 2025 (UTC)

:Congrats on the book! I didn't buy it because i have the original, it's great that someone here owns it. Can you describe in a little more detail the last chapter? I don't understand a few things: does the second YouTube video say exactly the same thing as the blog article? Why are there two videos about 1 article? Or is the second YT video only about the Bonus Chapter in the book, which goes even further than the blog article? Is that bonus chapter not in any other book or blog? Thanks! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 11:13, 26 January 2025 (UTC)
:Also, is the chapter only called Bonus Chapter, or does it also have other names? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:15, 26 January 2025 (UTC)

==Sorting "Chapter xx.."==
Hi... An alternative to the way you are lead-zeroing the text cell's numeric suffix, for sorting purposes, which is what I think {{diff|363528|this is all about}}, would be to do so something like:
... || data-sort-value={{{1}}} | Chapter {{{1}}} || ...
Should be able to deal with any numeric value, while still rendering it simply as "Chapelter 1"/"Chapter 10"/"Chapter 100"/ etc, but adding ''data-sort-type="number"'' to the header cell might even be able to sort not-quite-numbers, should a future book ever do chapters like "... 7, 7a, 9, 10, 11, 12, 12b, 14, ...".
 Perhaps even ''data-sort-value=<booknumber>.<chapternumber>'' would be useful. Though you'd have to use the sufficient-leading-zeroes method, again, and could start at 1.0000001 ''just'' in case there's ever a million (but not more than 10mil-1) chapters in a future bookbut would probably be useful to sort all book-contained items, across all books but not interleaved.
 I'll let you consider if/what you find it more useful. And perhaps check if I've given you the right table markup options by going and checking the Help:Sorting Tables/whatever pages. ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.107|141.101.99.107]] 00:01, 26 January 2025 (UTC)

:I agree that the current method isn't great, and I'm very glad to see there's another, better way. Unfortunately, I don't really understand most of what you said. BUT! You seem very experienced and I don't have a lot of time, so it would be perfect if you could edit directly the templates/table/cells/whatever needs to be changed. The best option is to remove the leading zeroes and still make the sorting work, for the blog, books, and YT templates. If you (or someone else) could do that, it'd be wonderful. Please feel free to try it yourself if you want! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 11:13, 26 January 2025 (UTC)

== weird table bugs ==

hey favifake, i found two bugs that i don’t really know how to fix in the table: one of them is in regard to the what if 2 template, whenever it has a “S2” or a “W1” “chapter” it gives an error. the second bug can be found on the laser pointer row-i added the what if? 10th anniversary template, but the yt template doesn’t “fit” (for lack of a better word) with the table. could you dig into these and try to figure out what has gone wrong? thanks! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 00:55, 26 January 2025 (UTC)

:Hey 42! I saw what you were trying to do, i think i fixed it now? I removed the '''book3''' template from the original '''Laser Pointer''' row because all original articles are technically in the 10th Ann. book. (i added "exclusively on" to the '''book3''' template to make it clearer). Regarding the other S1 bug, i don't know why but it seems fixed now?? I saw the error just a few hours ago and now it works. I have no idea what happened. Let me know if it reappears or something. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 11:13, 26 January 2025 (UTC)

----

:Without going in and trying it myself, is this because of the "trying to zero-pad a number" thing (as given a possible alternative, above), because it can't test if <usually number, in this case text> is greater/less than <static number>?
:Quick-fix (not doing anything else new) would need the test enclosed with an isthisanumber? test (if so, do zero-padding testing, etc; if not, maybe don't try).
:Exactly how S2/W1 sorts (or doesn't) using the sorting data (bare number only!) and/or the forced data type as number (to do its best for what numeric data it is presented, despite occasional non-numeric interloping characters), would need testing.
:Or I misunderstand. But, ''if'' I don't, maybe this is useful additional pointer to a solution/acceptance of the problem. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.123|172.71.178.123]] 01:21, 26 January 2025 (UTC)

::IP user, I answered above. :) --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 11:13, 26 January 2025 (UTC)
== Interesting streamlined 'table furniture', but... ==

...I'm wondering about the current (slight) usage differences between:
style="text-align:center" | {{{1}}}
and:
style="white-space:nowrap" |
Do you need to add the Param1 to the nowrap/remove if from the text-alignment?

And what if someone wanted no-wrap+centre at the same time? There maybe ''are'' ways to combine <code><nowiki>{{ac|<foo>}}</nowiki></code> and <code><nowiki>{{nw}}</nowiki></code>, but it seems non-trivial to to do. (Unless you make a <code><nowiki>{{nwac}}</nowiki></code>, but then where do you end?) I'm wondering if you should try it without the |-character.

Let's see if that ''could'' work:
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto"
|+ Test
|-
! Foo !! Bar !! Baz
|-
| Normal text of a normal style || style="text-align:center" style="white-space:nowrap" | This is as if using variations <code><nowiki>{{ac|<foo>}}</nowiki></code> and <code><nowiki>{{nw}}</nowiki></code> as rendered without the pipe-character or inconsistent parameter, which is tricky to demonstrate with the actual templates.|| More normal text of a normal style
|-
| Normal text of a normal style || style="text-align:center" | style="white-space:nowrap" | This is how <code><nowiki>{{ac|{{nw}} <foo>}}</nowiki></code> might look || More normal text of a normal style
|-
| Normal text of a normal style || {{ac|{{nw}} This is how <code><nowiki>{{ac|{{nw}} <foo>}}</nowiki></code> ''does'' look, using the current state of the templates.
----
<s>''NB. Why is it in bold? Is that a normal feature of a style of text-align:center?''</s>}}
| More normal text of a normal style
|-
| Normal text of a normal style || style="white-space:nowrap" | style="text-align:center" | This is how <code><nowiki>{{nw}} {{ac|<foo>}}</nowiki></code> might look || More normal text of a normal style
|-
| Normal text of a normal style || {{nw}} {{ac|This is how <code><nowiki>{{nw}} {{ac|<foo>}}</nowiki></code> ''does'' look, using the current state of the templates.}}
----
<s>''Also goes bold, I notice!''</s>
| More normal text of a normal style
|}

So, yes, it looks like it might be better to just remove the pipe (or pipe-and-param) and rely on the table-writer to just put in the relevent bare style-giving {{}} (or {{}}s) before the pipe. (I must look into why there's unexpected boldness. I don't know if that comes from the way you templated it or as an associated function of the aligh-center style. But it doesn't appear when I do it 'raw'.) Anyway, food for thought, over to you. It looks like I ''could'' edit your templates, but that might be rude, and would of course instantly break whatever it is you're currently using them (singly) for. That's the ''What If?'' table, I suppose? Anyway, you can both 'fix' how they work and adjust how they are invoked, rather than leaving me to guess about the latter. ;) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.49|162.158.74.49]] 19:04, 17 January 2025 (UTC)
:PS: Yes, I have just checked, and, yes you've added (apparently ''after'' I saw and copied the original {{template|ac}} for my own testing and emulating purposes!) the bolding to the aligh-centering template. That part of the mystery is solved! :P [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.49|162.158.74.49]] 19:10, 17 January 2025 (UTC)
:PPS: I know what happened. I copied the (slightly '''formatted''') 'plaintext' as it appeared in the template. If I'd have edited it and copied the wikisource then I'd have grabbed the <nowiki>'''formatted''</nowiki> as you already had it by the time I passed by. Don't mind me, it was just something that made me wonder. Probably moreso than the thing that I was ''actually'' trying to prod and poke and solve! IOW: Ignore me. On this bit, at least! [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.151|172.68.205.151]] 19:32, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

::I love how interested you are about this! Honestly i'm not really sure what exactly it is you're asking, but you seem very smart so do whatever you want! My only request is that the {{:ac}} thing keeps working as expected, so i don't have to change the table again. I had forgotten about the {{:nw}} thing, you can delete it or change it or do anything else, I don't use it anymore. Feel free to add to the documentation that these are just for 1 table and might break everything if used anywhere else. Or, if they already work everywhere, great! I remember I created them expecting the entire page to be destroyed when used, and being pleasantly surprised when they worked. So yeah go wild! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 21:19, 17 January 2025 (UTC)
:::I'm not going to make any change without taking time to check your tables and making sure the appropriate change doesn't inflict damage on your attempts to curate the tables you're probably using it for.
:::But, in short, I understand that you're streamlining the (often longwinded) style="" statements, an admirble task. In the structure of "| cell || another cell || etc", you're doing something to save from having to do cumbersome "| cell || style="this-style: that; that-style: that; the-other-style: the.other" | another cell || etc", all of which makes editing 'difficult'. (I tend to do such things in Notepad, or whatever separate text editor I have, which lets me add temporary whitespace and use with no-wrap on the markup while I'm working on it, rather than in this textbox editor.)
::: But the single-pipe that formats the cell isn't a ''great'' difficulty to maintain (indeed, it is useful to line up). As such I'd suggest "| cell || <nowiki>{{??}}</nowiki> | another cell || etc" would be as good. i.e. leave the pipe (intended for the table-cell) out of the template. For the no-wrap version, that's easy enough. Though I do understand that you want to put bold-format about the cell contents, so that's why you give it as a param and explicitly bold the Param1 as you pass it back out.
::: Maybe the solution to ''that'' is to also add (to the style, along with the text-align:center) the "font-weight: bold" doublet. Then "... || <format(s), as templates and/or raw> | Cell Text || ..." doesn't ''need'' to 'enclose' the Cell Text in any way.
::: But making the change from something that expects to transclude the range of the template "... || format | Cell Text || ..." to "... || format | Cell Text || ..." obviously requires that each and every table-cell item that uses "... || <nowiki>{{template|Cell Text}}</nowiki> || ..." to be converted to "... || <nowiki>{{template}}</nowiki> | Cell Text || ...", or... it'll definitely not work as it was originally set.
::: Anyway, that's just my own vision of how you can do what you seem to have wanted to, without introducing more complications. As the cell-formatting gladly accepts multiple statements of the form style="..." (it adds <code>style="..." style="..." style="..."</code> together, much as <code>style="...; ...; ..."</code> does), an editor now has complete freedom to compound the two format-templates you created. And any additional ones that might be useful. Such ones to usefully colour cell backgrounds as red/yellow/green (for use on the various Confusion Tables), something that I sometimes take a couple of goes to do... not least because I habitually spell 'color' as 'colour'..! ;)
::: ...but that's just to explain so that (should you/anybody else wish to follow my own instincts on the matter), you have some decent idea of what I'm getting at. There are probably other ways of doing it. Templates can be made to detect and extract pipes, so that "... || <nowiki>{{template1|{{templete2|Cell Text}}}}</nowiki> || ..." ''or'' "... || <nowiki>{{template2|{{templete1|Cell Text}}}}</nowiki> || ..." would equally produce "... || templateOneOrTwoFormat templateTwoOrOneFormat | Cell Text || ...", but that would take a degree of of unwieldy parameter-processing functions (that I'd have to work out, probably would involve some subst-function, but might depend upon what's available in the installed mediawiki version). I just think you could avoid all that trouble! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.118|162.158.74.118]] 22:51, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

:::Forgot to say, that for what you want to use it for, there's ''another'' way:
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto"
|+ Example 2
|-
! Number (Centered) !! Foo !! Bar (Centered) !! Baz
|-
! 1
| Normal text of a normal style
! Some text of whatever size (centered)
| More normal text of a normal style
|-
! 2
| Normal text of a normal style
! Some text of whatever size (also centered, though not so obviously so)
| More normal text of a normal style
|}
:::... This is only possible by newlining each new cell, in the example (you can't do "! cell || cell !! cell || cell", you have to line-break it as you change from "!"-/"|"-starting cell-groups), but it isn't really so great a loss to do so.
:::The "wikitable" class gives these 'header cells' a different background too, but (if you really don't like that) it that can be adjusted in various other ways (including with scope="col", I think), or you can leave the wikitable class off (it centres and bolds, but doesn't give cell-borders) and re-add the whole-table bordering style that this now leaves out. But you really don't want me listing ''every'' idea I had, just this one was the other (template-free) option to enforcing centre-aligning bold text on ''certain'' cells. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.119|162.158.74.119]] 23:09, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

::::Huh, I was actually thinking of doing the opposite of what you're suggesting: include even more pipes inside the template so the editor is cleaner and easier to use. (UPDATE: this probably worse than the other option you gave at the end, see below). So instead of this:

|-
<nowiki>| {{ac|4}} || </nowiki>

::::You would just use this:

|-
<nowiki>{{ac|4}}</nowiki>

::::And it would contain all the pipes needed. I guess then we would have to update the documentation to point out that this template's use case is extremely narrow. Also, if you want to see how it is currently used, the table is on my user page! That's the only place where it's used

::::Since you seem very interested in templates, What do you think of the idea of a creating a template like these:

<nowiki>{{yt|YTNUMBER (1, 2, 3, etc)|YTLINK|VIDEOTITLE (optional)}}</nowiki>

::::It would be used in the column that we still need to create. It would also colour the cell in '''red'''. I was also thinking of doing a similar thing for the What If? books:

<nowiki>{{bk|WHICH-BOOK|CHAPTER-NUMBER|CHAPTER-TITLE (if different)}}</nowiki>

::::For example, it would look like this: (This one would also colour the cell based on the book, e.g., green for WI?1, yellow for WI?2, blue for WI10th ed.)

<nowiki>{{book|2|69|Jellyfish}}</nowiki>

What If? 2, chapter '''69: Jellyfish'''

::::Would you be able to create something like this? I know nothing about templates, and i doubt I'll be able to ask chatgpt to do everything for me correctly. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 07:16, 18 January 2025 (UTC)

:::::> Forgot to say, that for what you want to use it for, there's ''another'' way:
:::::Oh, i think i had forgotten to read this part!! This seems very interesting! I should try that, since it seems much simpler. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:10, 18 January 2025 (UTC)

:::::'''Update:''' {{Done}} I applied your suggestion, now the numbers are in their own row:
|-
!1
| The rest of the table
--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:33, 18 January 2025 (UTC)

== What If Chapters ==
Hey FaviFake, there are some What If? Chapters that aren’t included in the blog. Are we going to add them to the table? '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 17:41, 22 January 2025 (UTC)

:Great timing! You sent me this message while i was in the process of replying to the question. I'm not good at prioritising, I should've definitely responded before doing other edits. Check out my <s>list of questions for y'all</s> reply above! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:10, 22 January 2025 (UTC)

== YouTube template ==
Hey FaviFake, on the <code><nowiki>{{yt}}</nowiki></code> template, you asked for help on fixing the code of the template. What help do you need to “improve” it? I’m willing to help now that I’m not sick, as I was last week. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 18:35, 19 January 2025 (UTC)

:Thank you! Glad to hear you're healthy. That message was mostly a joke, but it is in fact barely held together. (Try modifying the hyperlink that's displayed when a title isn't provided, somehow what you add gets duplicated??) If you have the time and know how to make it more reliable and easily editable in the future, please do! I am honstly scared to touch it fearing it might explode.

:Buuut, to be fair there is one template that i desperately needed help with, and that is [[:Template:book]]. I wasted a ton of time to try to get it to change the cell background, and it never worked, so i decided to create [[Template:book1]], [[Template:book2]], [[Template:book3]], [[Template:book4]], and these do work beaytifully, but are harder to edit in bulk. (I still have profound hatred towards [[Template:book]]...). If you actually manage to do what i wanted (which i'm not sure is even clear after the all the mess i've made... ask me if you can't figure it out!), I would be very grateful. PS. I'm not sure if i should warn you, given my very low ability to create templates, but it's definitely not easy, imo.

:I'm not sure how skilled you are at template editing, so if you want, you can absolutely continue uploading the What If? thumbnails like you did a few days ago! I just added [[User:FaviFake|a new batch of articles]] (about 60) thanks to some annoyingly complex jailbreaking of Google's NotebookLM. The new table of course includes the quick 100px link to upload a file. Again, thanks for reaching out! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 19:04, 19 January 2025 (UTC)

::The YT link appears to be going to <nowiki>[[whatever the name of the YouTube video is called]]</nowiki> and not acting as a [youtube.com filler thingy] linking to a YouTube video. I’m going to hit the books on template writing and try to see if I can do anything about it. Cheers! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 03:11, 21 January 2025 (UTC)

:::Oh great, that's broken too. I didn't even realise it. Thanks!--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 04:57, 21 January 2025 (UTC)

:Partly because you've removed the bit about how to better sort the book-column elements, but are using the same trick in the youtube-column, and partly because it's easier (more on that in a moment), I've just modified the {{template|yt}} to give it the sort value (of article number) directly. Have not removed the expression test to make "6th video ..." into "06th video ...", for sorting purposes, but I feel confident that you ''can'' do that (and remove the comment about making it give "006th video ...", in future, should that become necessary) if you now so wish.

:For the books, I was thinking that if, instead of <code>="<nowiki>{{{1|0}}}</nowiki>"</code>, you could maybe use <code>="<nowiki>{{#expr:10000+{{{1|0}}}}}</nowiki>"</code> for ''What If?'' (in {{template|book1}}) and <code>="<nowiki>{{#expr:20000+{{{1|0}}}}}</nowiki>"</code> for ''What If? 2'' (in {{template|book2}}), to let it sort by book ''and then'' chapter within book...

:For ''What If? 10th Anniversary Edition'' ({{template|book3}}), I was thinking if you could make the added-to number 11000. Though anything from above 10000+<last chapter number> and below 20000-<last chapter number> would do (and 15000 would work), it leaves room to make any appearance of the 15th anniversary, 20th anniversary, 42nd anniversary, ..., 95th anniversary be able to use the mnemonic offsets of 11500+, 12000+, 14200+, ..., 19500+.. ;) Obviously, it would need revamping if there becomes a centenary edition of Book 1 (or any version of it ever gets ''so many'' "bonus chapters" that it breaks out of its own sequence into the next extant anniversary edition. But you'd need to start adding 100 newly-numbered chapters ''per year'' to do that, so probably not likely. But, right now, the sorting on the "Exclusive to ''What If? 10th Anniversary Edition''" line sorts ''before'' the "NNth chapter of ''What If?''" lines. The above should fix that...

:And the format can be used for other (future?) books and their (possible) reissues: For ''What If? '''N''''', reissued '''YY''' years after the original, that's the number "NYY00", to which you add the chapter number. Fairly futureproofed, but if Randall ''ever'' publishes anything that makes you need to make the offset "NNYYY000" (e.g. for the quarter-of-a-millenium reissue of ''What If? 15'', having a total of 512 chapters being 15250000+[1..512]) then I reckon the requisite changes will be easy enough to handle as and when, swapping in the expanded offset. And... hey... if they're still being written, ''and'' published, then I can only hope I'm still around to be able to add that edition to my bookshelf!

:You could even redo the {{template|book}} idea (parameters of ...|book=#|chapter=#|optional:edition=#?|...) to only ever need to maintain the one source with ''all'' this flexibility. You've already got experience (by the 1st/2nd/3rd/Nth code) with what's needed to translate Book Number(+Edition Number, if applicable) into unique background colour codes.

:The big problem, though, is still the non-numeric chapter 'numbers' in ''WI?2''. I have two (or three) different thoughts about that.

:*For only the numeric bits (currently, in the test for less-than-10, etc; in the above for within the <code>data-sort-value="..."</code>) you might want to switch <code><nowiki>{{{1|0}}}</nowiki></code> with <code><nowiki>{{#if:{{#ifexpr:{{{1|0}}}}}|99|{{{1|0}}}}}{{{1|0}}}</nowiki></code>... This should test the param1 value for being a valid value (or missing, when you already make it zero... though not sure for what circumstance you should consider it validly missing) and using it if it is so, or else using the value "99" (or you could have "0", or "0.5", or whatever floats your boat). Then at least you'd get ''a'' value (that doesn't cause errors), though it probably wouldn't be sorted very precisely (though appear just after/before all other chapters of the book).

:*The other idea is to use <code><nowiki>{{{effectiveChapter|{{{1|0}}}}}}</nowiki></code>, then you can append a parameter of <code>...|effectiveChapter=11.5}}</code> to a non-numeric one sitting between actual chapters 11 and 12 (I haven't checked if that's an actual example, but imagine it is...). Also, for multiple items on page-chapter, you could even have =11.51, =11.52, =11.53, etc, to retain order within the book and ''upon the page''... (You could also give effectiveChapter as "NYYCC(.optional)" format, direct, for ''all'' what if? Numbers, YYearly-editions and CChapters (with possibly sub-positions), come to that, but I don't see that as any simpler a solution as building it in.)

:*The third option would be to use (for hidden sorting-only purpose, mostly) a value of P(.optionalDecimal) either as another numeric parameter or a named one, with P as ''page number'', not chapter number. But, given how hardback vs. paperback (or just another imprint, not necessarily even a Anniversary redo, but I've got the UK edition with an additional UK foreword) ''might'' effect page numbers and/or where end-of-pages interupts any given chapter internals, it's possible that this is not consistent enough. But food for thought, maybe. Only needs to be definitively done once (or thoroughly checked and shuffled along as nevessary if redone to include other changes that require consistency).

:Any of that make sense? Hopefully I've at least given you enough examples to ponder, where not immediately obvious. I'd ''really'' rather not change all your hard work just for the sake of a minor cosmetic change with a possibly major set of retouches, which is one of the reasons why I thought I'd do just the basic Youtube 'sort assisting' bit and let those of you who have already had so much 'fun' (tweaking the table formats) decide if and how you make full use of it. Assuming it isn't (differently) broken, for whatever reason may crop up, it shouldn't be a problem if you do nothing at all more with it (either in the {{template|yt}} or {{template|book#}}s). [[Special:Contributions/172.71.241.26|172.71.241.26]] 14:38, 28 January 2025 (UTC)

*Thank you so much! Would you mind if I moved your message to [[Talk:What If? chapters]], to group everything regarding the index in one place?  Anyways:
*I did the thing on the yt and {{template|blog}} one and it works!

For the books, I was thinking that if, instead of <code>="<nowiki>{{{1|0}}}</nowiki>"</code>, you could maybe use <code>="<nowiki>{{#expr:10000+{{{1|0}}}}}</nowiki>"</code> for ''What If?'' (in {{template|book1}}) and <code>="<nowiki>{{#expr:20000+{{{1|0}}}}}</nowiki>"</code> for ''What If? 2'' (in {{template|book2}}), to let it sort by book ''and then'' chapter within book...
*Done! Thanks! For ({{template|book3}}) i used 30000 to have the chapter in chronological order.

You could even redo the {{template|book}} idea
*Sorry but I'm not touching that... ''thing'' anymore. That template traumatized me (jk! if you want to try fixing it i'd be very happy)

For only the numeric bits (currently, in the test for less-than-10, etc; in the above for within the <code>data-sort-value="..."</code>) you might want to switch <code><nowiki>{{{1|0}}}</nowiki></code> with <code><nowiki>{{#if:{{#ifexpr:{{{1|0}}}}}|99|{{{1|0}}}}}{{{1|0}}}</nowiki></code>... This should test the param1 value for being a valid value (or missing, when you already make it zero... though not sure for what circumstance you should consider it validly missing)
*I'm not sure why that's needed (and also how to actually implement it). What happens if the value is invalid? it seems to work. Or is it required for the other improvements you suggested?

The other idea is...
The third option would be...
*Yeah this seems pretty hard to solve easily (which is why i'd love it if you did it!). I guess it'll stay slightly broken until it becomes a bigger issue. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:54, 28 January 2025 (UTC)

::It seems like you just forgot to escape pipe characters in the [[Template:book|book template]] in the table within the switch statement, so it just interpreted the non-formatting statements to be a case grouped with the next 'actual' case [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you desire conversing]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 07:23, 29 January 2025 (UTC)
::BTW I fixed the book template. It should now appear the same as the other templates, and even work with the youtube template [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you desire conversing]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 09:13, 29 January 2025 (UTC)

:::OMG THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! IT ACTUALLY WORKS! What! How! Why!
:::Thanks so much for fixing the template! I can't describe how glad I am to see it working as (and even better than) I wanted. My life is finally complete. I have switched to using your template in the index.
:::The reason there was a YT link in one of the {{template|book}} documentation examples is because I was going insane and likely pasted it there by accident. From what I can tell, you seem to have set up {{template|book}} so well that {{template|book}} accepts a YouTube link as input, while the {{template|yt}} template it's based on doesn't if used by itself (requires only the ID). I love this! Since we're gonna have many YT videos to add, it's great to have a much simpler option which doesn't require extracting the ID of the video. Is there a way you could maybe incorporate this improvement into {{template|yt}} itself? Or maybe you're 10 steps ahead of me and you've already done it (which wouldn't surprise me given the amount of wizardry you used on these bad boys!), and I just didn't notice. Please let me know! And again, thank you so much!!! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:56, 29 January 2025 (UTC)
:::Also, since you've already rendered 4 templates useless thanks to your improvements, why not also add {{template|yt}} to the list of pages to delete, by incorporating it into {{template|book}}? This, unlike {{template|book}}, is absolutely not needed, and I also have no idea if it's as easy as a simple copy-and-paste, or if it requires more work. If it's the latter, please don't do it if you don't want to! I'm just throwing ideas around! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:04, 29 January 2025 (UTC)

That IP, here. I (think) I fixed the sorting ''and'' error-fallback issues. I think (without trying to roll back to how you had it) you 'broke the sort' by putting in line-feeds (maybe double-ones), that messed up the table/cell handling. Then you broke the handling by commenting out too much (you needed to "< ! - -" and "- - >", without spaces, without crossing the quotes and |ing boundaries in data-sort-value="..." style="..." and the 'release', by pipe symbol, to cell-contents).
 Recommented for it to work normally, first without the new 'sort assistance' and then with again. Had a look at the error-catcher (went down a blind alley, at first) and made it an explicit "catch all other inputs" for the errororing display, which I formatted in a more obvious manner ''and'' forced to sort to the start. (Well, almost the start. It puts empty cells with no sorting 'ahead' of even the -999 value I made it give any error-caught cells.)
 If it were me, I'd be happy to have {{template|yt}} entirely separate from the {{template|book}} handling. It is mnemonically confusing and adds needless (and possibly error-prone) "if we have far too many params for Book template, feed it all into the Youtube template". Unless you're folding the ''whole'' Youtube template into the body of the Book one (even more work to maintain/debug), it's just adding complication for both server and editors who feel forced to use it. The beauty of the monolithic Book template is that (otherwise identical) "Book N, chapter C, optional new title T" information is trivially similar between different Ns. But it's not my project.
 I'll have a dig about in maybe how to have a table sort "valueless" cells (in reality the empty value of cell absolutely without anything in it) beyond the sort-valued ones. The 'easiest' means I could imagine is to accept <nowiki>{{book|0}}</nowiki>, needing no further params, to create a <code>data-sort-value="999999" |''<blank>''</code> cell-definition, and have every book-column cell without a book-reference explicitly use that (ditto for <nowiki>{{yt|0}}</nowiki> to have the same pre-trap to it). But seems wasteful. A template <nowiki>{{empty}}, or even something like {{e}},</nowiki> (without checking if either of those are free names) could also just give us this behaviour straight off, of course. It's potentially a lot of fuss to make consistent and flexible enough, either way.
 But what I already did probably also needs to be checked for more edge-conditions... I may still have to tweak things when I have a better chance of catching errors (very difficult, on a tablet), and quicker. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.196|172.70.162.196]] 21:32, 29 January 2025 (UTC)
:I also think that the book template shouldn't be used for the videos, on the basis that youtube is not a book.
:for the default cell, it would probably take no arguments (i.e. just <nowiki>{{yt}}</nowiki>), and it would also probably be it's own template rather than implemented on each template. However, I have done some digging, and empty cells (cells with no sort value) are given a value of "-infinity", so they sort as the absolute minimum no matter what sort method is used (which means always at the top when sorting ascending). I have been looking to find a way to make a row always sort to the bottom regardless of sort order if the column that is sorted has an empty/valueless cell at that row, but if it exists, it is not documented.
:Interestingly, it is possible to sort by many columns at once by shift-clicking the second column after sorting the first column, and the rows will be sorted within the first sorting. it might be useful for sorting by chapter within each book [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you desire conversing]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 06:51, 30 January 2025 (UTC)
::Yes, a book (or youtube) template could default to whatever seems suitable as sort-value without params, but it might be more obvious if explicitly book(/video) zero. Or caught by <nowiki>{{book|nobook=yet}}</nowiki>, or whatever. I'm trying to think what looks least confusing to future editors (those expanding/editing the table, and/or template(s)), but conflicted about what to anticipate.
::I had indeed been looking to see if the -infinity thing could be overriden by a column header defined <code>blank-sort-value="999999"</code> sort of thing. If nothing else, you'd expect there to be a perceived need to sort a range of cells so that explicit negative and explicit positive contents, either by actual cell value or data-sort-value, to sit either side of blank cells... Not ''all'' the time, as sorting to show blanks ''separate'' from filled rows with actual zeroes is also useful, but it seems to useful not to have been suggested as a configurable change.
::The booknumber*A_LARGE_NUMBER offset to the chapter number is probably one of the most useful ways to sort by (primarily) book, then chapter, as it takes just one click. (I believe clicking the secondary and then clicking the primary does the same job as clicking the primary and shift-clicking the primary.) I see so little use to doing a primary sort by chapter (with or without secondary sorting by books, or any other column's detail), to interleave all chapter 1s and so on, that having a "book #" column and a "chapter(/page) #" column (two cells in sequence easily created by the book template, and could also handle the double-blank needed by book=none implementation, if we went that route) would be just complicating matters in an unnecessary manner. (As opposed to how we've complicated matters in a 'necessary' one!)
::Good catch on bringing the BOOK+CHAPTER sort value out of the #switch, BTW, as I was debating how much of the switch-statement I could treat as generic and not need repeating. (My original idea for the 10th Anniversary version of Book 1 to be effectively "Book1.1" made me still want to option of overriding the N*10000 as being 3=>11000 instead of =>30000, but that could ''still'' be implemented by a bit of "(if N=3, 1.1, else N) times 10000" pre-logic, ''or'' by handling <nowiki>{{book|1.10|...}} instead of {{book|3|...}}</nowiki>. Anyway, not important, either way.)
::...all this is why I left Favi (and you/others) get on with the original restructuring effort without jumping in (despite having two of the three books, and having seen all the youtubes). I had plenty of ideas of what to do, but did not want to restructure anything from what seemed to be a happy little project with its own momentum and targets. I finally gave in when I noticed an impasse being hit, with errors and confusion, to which I since ''hope'' I have provided a net reduction in both. Though it's only the first of these about which I'm fairly confident. ;) Anyway, perhaps I'm sliding back to my position on the sidelines, now... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.245|172.70.91.245]] 11:20, 30 January 2025 (UTC)
:::These comments are great and extremely detailed, thank you! Thanks to your efforts I was able to retire these templates: book1, book2, book3, book4, and yt, so now we only have the huge {{template|book}} template and {{template|blog}}. I kinda agree with IP that it might not be future-proof, but I don't really see a reason to believe we'll add 2 more parameters to the book-specific columns. And even then, it's not that hard to update the template. But please do let me know if you can think of other issues with the current implementation! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 19:50, 30 January 2025 (UTC)

== tldr ==

hey favifake! i just came back from a 5 day yosemite trip, that’s why i have been awol for that time. could you please really quick give me a tldr of what has been going on in the past couple days? i see that we finished the index, but i’m just wondering if there’s anything else. thanks! '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 02:52, 1 February 2025 (UTC)
:Welcome back! We now only use the {{template|book}} and {{template|blog}} templates, all the others have been merged into {{template|book}} by the incredible [[User:Firestar233]], the templates are much more solid, they also added all the questions and almost all the what if? 2-exclusive chapters. So now we're only missing the questions from the first book and an explanation for the third's bonus chapter (which you own!). I don't have much time, but you can look at the history of the templates and the main what if chapters page, and also this talk section. There's also a to-do list above the index! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:32, 1 February 2025 (UTC)
::ok, great! i'll try to work on the chapter explainations once i find the time '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 21:04, 1 February 2025 (UTC)
:::Amazing! Thanks for your help. If you're interested, I've just added a simple (yet boring) task:
:::*''"Need to add the name(s) of the readers who asked each questions. It's easy! The instructions are in the ''[[What If? chapters#Editors|Editors section]]''!"''
:::If you have time, the names are missing for some book-exclusive articles and the blog articles. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:59, 2 February 2025 (UTC)

== Table for smaller screens ==
Do we think we should list out who asked each question in the table? [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you desire conversing]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 03:09, 2 February 2025 (UTC)

:If so (and I'm not sure it's necessary), please not as an extra column. Already it's squeezing what's there down, something chronic. At least on my current screen, right now.
:*The thumbnail column can't get smaller (unless we use smaller/downscaled thukbnails, of course, but there's a limit to that)
:*The title column (of the first non-hdader is "Relatacistic(Newline)Baseball".
:*The "Reader's(Newline)question" column goes "(quote)What would(Newline)happen if you(Newline)(...etc)".
:*The "Randall's answer" column is positively spacious (no doubt forced to be so by the "Too short!" infoboxes), letting it read "The ball would create plasma and(Newline)reach home plate by about 70(Newline)(...etc)".
:*The three columns for Blog/Book/Vid couldn't be narrower and make sense.
:If the questioner is to be asked, set it after the question (same cell, maybe horizontal rule).
:In fact, what do you think of the following layout modification?
{| class="sortable wikitable"
!Title
!Question / Answer
!Blog
!Books
!YouTube
|-
|'''{{what if|1|Relativistic Baseball}}'''
[[File:Relativistic Baseball.png|100px]]
|''"What would happen if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90% the speed of light?"''
<div align="right">Ellen McManis</div>
----
The ball would create plasma and reach home plate by about 70 nanoseconds. The result would be some kind of nuclear explosion, destroying everything about a mile from the field. A ruling of "{{w|hit by pitch}}" could be interpreted in this situation.
|{{blog|1|2012|07|10}}
|{{book|1|2}}
|{{book|5|2024|02|06|3EI08o-IGYk|What if you threw a baseball at nearly light speed?}}
|-
|'''{{what if|2|SAT Guessing}}'''
[[File:SAT Guessing.png|100px]]
|''"What if everyone who took the SAT guessed on every multiple-choice question? How many perfect scores would there be?"''
<div align="right">Rob Balder</div>
----
No one would get a perfect score. The odds of guessing correctly on every question would be less than the odds of every ex-living president at that time and the main cast of [[:Category:Firefly|Firefly]] getting struck by lightning on the same day.
|{{blog|2|2012|07|10|7d early}}
|{{book|1|66}}
|
|}
:Saves trouble of having emphatically unsortable columns, this way, being mere continuations of the cell contents we ''do'' want to sort. Assuming we don't decide we want to sort by "Firstname(s) Lastname" (or "Lastname, Firstname(s)"), as well as by sorting by "What would..." / "What if..." / "How much..." / "Is there..."ness, etc. But that's another step with another answer to it. (e.g. a "By" column with data-sort-value="Lastname, Firstname(s)" defined but ''no visible content''... It'll be as minimally thin as "By" and the sort-glyph allows, only minimally squeezing the other columns. ...if that's more desirous than merely 'data-sort-value'ing the Question(/Name)/Answer field by name (whatever format), and finding little real reason to sort the "How"s from the "What"s from the "Is"s. But that's something that deserves more thought!)
:But what I ''do'' highly suggest (at least add the "Who" after the "Question", same cell, and looks nice with right-align; on top of that, cell-mergering like this, ''probably'' with the horizontal rule markup in the Q&A divide) looks good to me.
:"Relativistic Baseball"(noNewline!) and "(quote)What would happen if you tried to hit a   (Newline, etc...)" is how the example table pans out in Preview, which is an improvement for readability.
:I won't pre-emptimptively assume you're ok with this plan, but (if it seems the idea is liked/not disliked), when I have the time to do it I could blitz this (or any other consensus change of similar radicality, that gets proposed instead) later on (at least 12 hours from now, maybe a full day...). I'll do what I can to fill (or visibly format, if already there) such authors as I'm not left totally stumped about for whatever nazcent reason. Sound good to y'all? ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.190|141.101.98.190]] 05:00, 2 February 2025 (UTC)

::Thanks for your suggestions! These are my thoughts:
Do we think we should list out who asked each question in the table?
::Yes! I thought about doing this after you commented each reader after the question, but didn't have the time. The ay you went about adding them makes it very easy to create a "find-and-replace" to do it for all cells at once.This is how I'd do it:
:: <nowiki>''"Question?"''</nowiki>
:: <nowiki><div align="right">—Rob Balder</div></nowiki>

In fact, what do you think of the following layout modification?
[...] cell-mergering like this, ''probably'' with the horizontal rule markup in the Q&A divide) looks good to me.
::I don't really like it and I don't think it's needed, mainly because it only looks good on a small screen. Meanwhile, on a normal-sized desk monitor, it makes the table '''almost twice as tall''' on my end. I don't think we should optimise for smaller screens and disregard other users with a larger screen real estate. If you find any other way to improve the table on both screen sizes, please do let us know!
(e.g. a "By" column with data-sort-value="Lastname, Firstname(s)" defined but ''no visible content''... It'll be as minimally thin as "By" and the sort-glyph allows, only minimally squeezing the other columns.
::I don't really like this idea, seems confusing for the end user (why is there an empty column?), doesn't add so much value, and needs to be maintained. If someone wants to sort by reader alphabetically, they'll likely find a way to isolate the '''<code><nowiki><div align="right">—Rob Balder</div></nowiki></code>''' part.
But what I ''do'' highly suggest (at least add the "Who" after the "Question", same cell, and looks nice with right-align [...]
::Love that! See above.
::--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 09:01, 2 February 2025 (UTC)

::I formatted them! All the ones that were added as comments in the table are now visible. I also added this to-do, mainly for blog posts:
::*Need to add the name(s) of the readers who asked each questions. It's easy! The instructions are in the ''[[What If? chapters#Editors|Editors section]]''!
::--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:57, 2 February 2025 (UTC)
:::Regarding "...on a normal-sized desk monitor, it makes the table '''almost twice as tall''' on my end." my display (non-desktop) has ultra-wide aspect ratio (when landscape; I rarely use portrait for browsing because then web-pages are scaled to unreadable levels).
:::With side-by-side Q and A columns, the "Too small" warning box dictates the minimum width of the Answer column, making the Question column even more narrow (when you take the minimum width of the thumbnail out of the horizontal space, then the title and the three "occurance" columns fight for what remains) than it might otherwise need to be. (If/when we remove ''all'' these hints to edit longer answer-'summaries', the table will doubtless realign its contents to a more equitable share of width between columns.)
:::Most often, this still results in (non-short) "Answer" columns being longer than they need to be, and forcing the whole row to be vertically wasteful. An opposite case (such as replicated below) does it with the Question having to have excessive linefeeds, being less readable (needs scrolling to read it all) and leaving a vast desert of blankness in the cell to its immediate right.
:::Isolating just the Q and A columns (to remove other confounding factors, for most displays except maybe phones-in-portrait - which is already an abominable mode and I find most websites look ''far'' more unreadable in ultra-tall-portrait orientation, so I generally avoid doing that on my tablet) and manually adding the line-breaks I see, you get:
{| class="sortable wikitable"
|"When my wife and I started dating she invited me over for dinner at one time. Her kitchen had something called Bauhaus chairs, which are full of holes, approx 5-6 millimeters in diameter in both back and seat. During this lovely dinner I was forced to liberate a small portion of wind and was relieved that I managed to do so very discretely. Only to find that the chair I sat on converted the successful silence into a perfect, and loud, flute note. We were both (luckily) amazed and surprised and I have often wondered what the odds are for something like that happening. We kept the chairs for five years but despite laborious attempts it couldn't be reproduced."
|This... isn’t actually a question, but thank you for sharing!
|}
:::Integrating the row into the above-suggested format of table, we get (showing just that single combined Q+A cell, minus any "by"-line), the following:
{| class="sortable wikitable"
|"When my wife and I started dating she invited me over for dinner at one time. Her kitchen had something called Bauhaus chairs, which are full of holes, approx 5-6 millimeters in diameter in both back and seat. During this lovely dinner I was forced to liberate a small portion of wind and was relieved that I managed to do so very discretely. Only to find that the chair I sat on converted the successful silence into a perfect, and loud, flute note. We were both (luckily) amazed and surprised and I have often wondered what the odds are for something like that happening. We kept the chairs for five years but despite laborious attempts it couldn't be reproduced."
----
This... isn’t actually a question, but thank you for sharing!
|}
:::Yes, the non-Q&A cells (which I've left out, just there) are still comparatively empty (especially as "Relativistic Baseball" isn't forced into two lines, and even the final three columns don't need quite as many linefeeds between them ...you could probably narrow them further by forcing some linebreaks back into them, giving even more width to Q+A column), but they're actually often ''less'' empty because they aren't as artifically tall as a function of =max(height(question),height(answer)), instead being =height(wider(question+answer)). The conversion to not force a short question to inhabit a desolately empty cell as long as narrowly squashed answer, ''and'' a short answer to be as long as an even more narrowly squashed question, seems to be more wasteful of space than to give combined Q&A far more width and let it be ''exactly'' as long as it needs to be for both to fill it (being the crux of the row, the rest being 'annotations' to the paragraphed question/answer interplay).
:::Though I'm not next to my own desktop display, right now, I can tell you that the space-wasting I'm showing is notable (though not quite so egregious) there, too, and I had already thought to try out (at least for a Preview) a Q+A column.
:::I wasn't, at that time, even thinking of thumbnail+title columns merging (which would help even more), but I'm sorely tempted now. Whether or not Q+A merging is accepted by the wider set of editors. Merging title+thumbnail ''could'' trivially let the Q-column expand maybe to double its current width, depending upon the other dynamics involved in apportioning rendered width and height. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.9|172.70.90.9]] 13:00, 2 February 2025 (UTC)

:::Ok, for reference: The desktop machine has the following line-feeds for the above example, as ''currently'' shown in the Thumbnail|Title|Question|Answer|... format:
{| class="sortable wikitable"
|"When my wife and I started dating she invited me over for dinner at one time. Her kitchen had something called Bauhaus chairs, which are full of holes, approx 5-6 millimeters in diameter in both back and seat. During this lovely dinner I was forced to liberate a small portion of wind and was relieved that I managed to do so very discretely. Only to find that the chair I sat on converted the successful silence into a perfect, and loud, flute note. We were both (luckily) amazed and surprised and I have often wondered what the odds are for something like that happening. We kept the chairs for five years but despite laborious attempts it couldn't be reproduced."
|This... isn’t actually a question, but thank you for sharing!(Single line!)
|}
:::Testing the above-suggested format of table, we get:
{| class="sortable wikitable"
|"When my wife and I started dating she invited me over for dinner at one time. Her kitchen had something called Bauhaus chairs, which are full of holes, approx 5-6 millimeters in diameter in both back and seat. During this lovely dinner I was forced to liberate a small portion of wind and was relieved that I managed to do so very discretely. Only to find that the chair I sat on converted the successful silence into a perfect, and loud, flute note. We were both (luckily) amazed and surprised and I have often wondered what the odds are for something like that happening. We kept the chairs for five years but despite laborious attempts it couldn't be reproduced."
----
This... isn’t actually a question, but thank you for sharing!
|}
:::Again, produces shorter (and more readable?) rows. In this particularly extreme example, at least. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.49|162.158.74.49]] 14:25, 2 February 2025 (UTC)
::::Thanks for your answer, these are my thoughts:
the "Too small" warning box dictates the minimum width of the Answer column, making the Question column even more narrow [...] than it might otherwise need to be
::::*I hadn't thought of that, but still: if the issue is mainly caused by these notices, it's very easy to replace them with something else that doesn't force the column to be too wide.
I generally avoid doing that on my tablet
::::*Oh, you're still the same IP as before! Hey there! My point ''wasn't'' that your idea wouldn't benefit small-sized screens like tablets (because it does, as you proved!), but that we should mainly focus on desktop users, which is how most readers that aren't on their phones will use the index. I don't like the idea of making the experience worse for everyone except tablet users (and phone users, but i can't imagine someone browsing such a huge index on their phones, so i don't think we should consider them). I'd love it you could improve the experience for both types of devices!
"When my wife and I started dating she invited me over for dinner at one time. Her kitchen
::::*I think that's a bad example because the question is 4x the normal question length and there is no answer. I don't think we'd want to optimise the index so that that specific article looks better but most other articles don't.
::::*I think the perfect example of how it will one day look is article 2, with the question being slightly shorter than the answer, and that difference being balanced by the name of the reader who asked the question:
{| class="sortable wikitable"
!class="unsortable"|Thumbnail
!Title
!Reader's question
!class="unsortable"|Randall's answer
!Blog
!Books
!YouTube
|-
|[[File:SAT Guessing.png|100px]]
|'''{{what if|2|SAT Guessing}}'''
|''"What if everyone who took the SAT guessed on every multiple-choice question? How many perfect scores would there be?"''
<div align="right">—This is a name</div>
|No one would get a perfect score. The odds of guessing correctly on every question would be less than the odds of every ex-living president at that time and the main cast of [[:Category:Firefly|Firefly]] getting struck by lightning on the same day.
|{{blog|2|2012|07|10|7d early}}
|{{book|1|66}}
|{{book|16|2024|09|24|0EytSWiKrFg|What if example?}}
|}
::::*This specific example, which is how most articles do/will look hopefully, is '''~45% shorter''' than [[#Question askers|your example]] and thus wastes much less space on my screen size.
the final three columns don't need quite as many linefeeds between them ...you could probably narrow them further by forcing some linebreaks back into them [...]
::::*If they need linebreaks, doesn't that mean that their column would be the most narrow one? I thought mediawiki balanced the table pretty well.
thumbnail+title columns merging (which would help even more), but I'm sorely tempted now
::::*But I think this idea has the same problem, looking too tall on desktops and beautiful on a tablet. I wouldn't want to ruin the UX of desktop users to favour tablet users, but i'd love a way to improve both!
::::*Also, I'd like to one day make the thumbnail bigger, because currently it's too small in my opinion. But if i increased its size right now, it would force every row to be even taller, which would waste space on desktop (and, of course, save space on small screens, or at least not make that big of a difference). --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:04, 2 February 2025 (UTC)
::::Is there a "mobile" version/url for this site? because there might be a way to make the table try to display a different layout if it's on the mobile url/version or if the screen is too small, but that would require putting complicated expressions in every row and in the header columns. [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you desire conversing]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 20:53, 3 February 2025 (UTC)
:::::Yeah I had thought of doing a similar thing, maybe have two pages with different coding and use complex transclusions to keep the content the same? But I wouldn’t even know where to begin with that. But you're the wiki-editing wizard here. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:50, 4 February 2025 (UTC)

== adding what if? 10th ann ==

as most of you know, the what if? 10th anniversary edition is basically an updated version of what if?, compete with red annotations and a bonus chapter that i need to get around to explaining. since it has all the original what if? chapters, should we add a red 10th anniversary box under each green what if? box? '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:12, 3 February 2025 (UTC)

:Yeah I realized it was just small annotations after i created the template and now I've changed the 10th ann. one to say ''Featured '''exclusively''' on the 3rd ed. etc.'' Not sure if that's enough, could also be much longer since it's only used on 1 row, but we definitely shouldn't add the template to every other article, (would break the style= html tag). Someone should still mention that articles on the first book are all available on the 3rd (and add more info) on both '''[[what if? (blog)]]''' and '''[[What If? 10th Anniversary Edition]]'''.
:Don't worry too much about explaining it, it can just be a couple of sentences. People can watch the video if they want details. Thanks for your work!{{unsigned|FaviFake|09:57, 3 February 2025 (UTC)}} 

:The fact that the 10th Anniversary ed ("book3", in original nomenclature) was basically a bonus-chapter version of the original ("book1"), was behind my suggestion that book|3 should sort-value itself as between book|1 articles and the completely new book|2, but there are severl ways of doing it (including maybe using something akin to {{w|Template:Diagonal split header}} for book|1 (assumed to also be book|3) rendering. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.38.96|162.158.38.96]] 21:08, 3 February 2025 (UTC)

::That's interesting, I didn't know that existed! I wonder if there's a less repetitive and/or space-efficient way of expressing the same message ("this is on both"), but idk. (look, I remembered to sign this time!) --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:43, 4 February 2025 (UTC)

::another question: should i be updating the explanations to be accurate as of 2024? many of the red annotations contain corrections or updates. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:08, 4 February 2025 (UTC)

That's interesting! I like the idea of adding them, but I can't seem to find a nice way to add them:
*We could add them to the existing explanation, but that would be weird because half of the blog articles, which are public on the site, don't have these additions.
*We could add them to the book column, but it'd likely get too big, and we would need to figure out a way to make the template do that.
*We could create a duplicate row of every red-annotated article, even if they're on the blog, but that would be confusing and might clutter the index.
*We could create a new column, but we already have too many.
*Also, we'd need to figure out how to add them. Do we want to make the text red like in the book? Should we use a new/old template for that?
--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:43, 4 February 2025 (UTC)

== By what measure is anything "too short". ==

I am very close to just removing all the <code><nowiki>{{notice|Too short}}</nowiki></code> additions, on the basis that this seems to be a purely subjective measure. The only reason I haven't is because they'll probably just be added back in again (with no more reasoning than before). But, if anyone wants more information, everyone already knows where they can find the ''full'' text (or narrated video) that gives it, while a summary is a summary. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.49|172.70.85.49]] 20:28, 19 March 2025 (UTC)
:The reason I add them is because I'd like people browsing the index to be able to glance at a question and read its summary. I try to check the original article to see if there are any important things we missed and point them out. But if, after reading through an article, you find that our summary is clear and '''fully answers''' the question, you can remove it. I started adding these because some early summaries were way too short, just 5-10 words, and mostly didn't answer the question. For example, if an answer is "We would all die", that doesn't answer the question, but "The radiation from the nuclear bomb would be so pervasive that we would all die in 2 years" does.

:Of course people can just read all ~250 articles, but if someone just wants the answer quickly, we offer that. Please feel free to remove them from answers that are already complete, but not all of them.--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:48, 20 March 2025 (UTC)

::Reviewing the current first five "Too short" complaints, IMO you cannot get much more fully answered without expanding the "summary" to basically going through the article's in-depth explanation and copying/paraphrasing it. Which seems to me to miss the point.
::Parallel requests for rewording/better phrasing I can understand (if I thought that any change I made in that direction was going to stand when it got "made longer", I might even try to help out in that direction), but I'm still none the wiser why they are too short.
::Answering a question of "How long/heavy/bright/fast is <foo>?" shouldn't need more than a simple "it is <measurement>, given <caveat>", in most cases. Maybe a couple of those if there's different caveats, or add why it would end the world if you even ''had'' such a <foo>. "Could I/we/humanity <bar>?" probably doesn't need much more than "[Yes/No], but <unexpected thing...>" And I'm not sure if it's still there, because I'm not going to recheck it all, but at one point I noted at least one short-question/short-answer that had a longer 'summary' than the answer given.
::I like words. I need to expend effort to not use more of them, myself, and am quite pleased if I ''can'' satisfactorily say what I'm trying to say in a succint manner. (i.e. not like this...) But I'm still none the wiser what (lower) thresholds there are in this situation. I'm going to consider if I can help, here, but not right this moment. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.241.122|172.71.241.122]] 20:29, 20 March 2025 (UTC)

:::Oooh you're the same IP! I didn't recognise you.
Reviewing the current first five "Too short" complaints, IMO you cannot get much more fully answered without expanding the "summary" to basically going through the article's in-depth explanation and copying/paraphrasing it. Which seems to me to miss the point.
:::Sounds good. If the explanation is satisfactory and mentions everything except things like the methodology used and minor "sub-answers", feel free to remove the notices!

"How long/heavy/bright/fast is <foo>?" shouldn't need more than a simple "it is <measurement>, given <caveat>", in most cases. Maybe a couple of those if there's different caveats, or add why it would end the world if you even had such a <foo>.
:::Agreed!

"Could I/we/humanity <bar>?" probably doesn't need much more than "[Yes/No], but <unexpected thing...>"
:::Agree, but usually the entire article revolves around that unexpected thing, so i think we should summarise that too. Agin, feel free to remove the ones you're sure can't be made any longer in a useful way At the start, I added a lot and didn't have time to go read the article for each one! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:56, 21 March 2025 (UTC)

== Alternate universe What-Ifs ==

Should we make the explanation for Alternate universe What-Ifs a separate page? Explaining every section in this article might be too long, and if the other explanations are anything to go by, an explanation that fits would be considered too short. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.147|172.68.174.147]] 06:09, 21 March 2025 (UTC)
:I think we should definitely explain it, but maybe it's better if we keep it in the table? Why'd you want to split into another page?
:Also, the short-answer articles aren't too short. If you look at [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/What_If%3F_chapters#:~:text=Short Answer Section II Short%20Answer%20Section%20II], for example, it explanations are very short, and rightfully so. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:49, 21 March 2025 (UTC)

== What about Good Question? ==

There does appear to be a *fourth* "What If?" thing Randall has done that is seemingly not documented anywhere; the New York Times's [https://www.nytimes.com/column/good-question-randall-munroe-xkcd Good Question], active from 2019 to 2022, which does appear to maybe have some chapter reposts (i.e. Cosmic Road Trip/"Could You Make a Snowball of Neutrinos?") but also maybe some completely new ones (i.e. "Could You Make a Snowball of Neutrinos?"). My question is, is this worth documenting? [[User:Adrmcr|Adrmcr]] ([[User talk:Adrmcr|talk]]) 18:34, 21 March 2025 (UTC)

Talk:2312: mbmbam

2024-08-09T21:40:09Z

Adrmcr: /* Wrong comic title? */ new section

So ... what would the MMMbop unit be?
:: the power of love

This has gotta be at least the third or fourth time he's referenced MBMBaM. https://what-if.xkcd.com/155/ and https://xkcd.com/1836/ I know are two more examples, but there might be more. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.13|162.158.107.13]] 00:54, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

Am I the only one thinking that mbmbam should be a unit of ''work'', not energy? Force x distance... High school physics was a long time ago though. [[User:Philosophicles|Philosophicles]] ([[User talk:Philosophicles|talk]]) 03:15, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

:Work is energy [[Special:Contributions/172.69.62.154|172.69.62.154]] 05:28, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

:: The only difference could be absolute or relative energy, comparable to height above sea level vs. distance. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.69.193|141.101.69.193]] 06:36, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

:My first instinct was "that´s a torque". But of course angles have no unit, and so torque and energy must have the same. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.74|162.158.88.74]] 07:15, 28 May 2020 (UTC)
::Please forgive my ignorance here: Is not a "degree" an angular unit?
::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:20, 29 May 2020 (UTC)
:::The concept that a plane angle is a dimensionless unit is a tenet of the International System of Units (SI). It works something like this. "Degrees" and "Radians" are two ways of expressing the same thing, the size of an angle. If you have an angle and you draw an arbitrary circle with the angle's vertex as the circle's center, so that your angle now "subtends" an arc of the circle, then the size of your angle in radians is defined to be the length of that arc divided by the length of the radius of the circle. The circumference of the whole circle has length 2π·r, so an angle of 360 degrees is also an angle of 2π·r/r radians. The numerator and the denominator are dimensionally both lengths. Dividing a length by a length yields a dimensionless quantity, i.e. one with no "unit". Consequently radians are dimensionless, and so are degrees. [[User:JohnB|JohnB]] ([[User talk:JohnB|talk]]) 19:52, 29 May 2020 (UTC)

Is my vision going blurry, or does that second panel say "milliibarn"? -- [[User:Peregrine|Peregrine]] ([[User talk:Peregrine|talk]]) 09:09, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

: Yes, two 'i' before the barn. That must be a mistake. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.192|108.162.229.192]] 10:28, 28 May 2020 (UTC) <-- Either that or it's milli - i*barn, going into imaginary dimensions. [[User:Cellocgw|Cellocgw]] ([[User talk:Cellocgw|talk]]) 11:58, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

: MBMBaM's tagline is "an advice show* for the modern era", not an advice podcast.

: Reminds me of how this symbol: "μ" means both "micro" (micrometer is μm.), and "friction" (frictional constant of X would be μ = X), and the population statistical average (the average acceleration due to gravity on the surface of earth is μ_gravity), and something like 20 other things according to this wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu_(letter)#Use_as_symbol [[User:Tsumikiminiwa|Tsumikiminiwa]] ([[User talk:Tsumikiminiwa|talk]]) 15:53, 28 May 2020 (UTC)
::: Reminds me of the old joke: Several kittens have found their way up onto a sloping roof, which one falls off first? The one with the lowest μ... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.218|162.158.155.218]] 21:52, 29 May 2020 (UTC)

:: "It's an advice show for the ''modren'' era", not modern. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.15|162.158.79.15]] 19:35, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

I went ahead and removed the statement that "mbar" is more common than "mb," since the preferred abbreviation depends on the field. In atmospheric science, "mb" is nearly universal. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.201|162.158.187.201]] 17:19, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

anyone following that podcast who can shed light on the arrangement of the dashes? why is there non between "and" and "me" but between all the other words? (my-brother-my-brother-and [[2109|(how do I emphasize a space?)]] me) --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:40, 29 May 2020 (UTC)

Can anyone please explain (to me) the role of white hat in this comic? He is not part of the conversation and just makes more or less random statements, concluding in "I hate you". What am I missing here? [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 19:54, 2 June 2020 (UTC)

: I really think that this comic would be better without White Hat in it. His actions do seem like a complete non-sequitar.

For most of the dialogue, Megan and Cueball are discussing some oddities of dimensional units and making puns, while White Hat struggles to keep up.
His utterances can be seen as
1) True but lacking insight ("UNITS ARE WEIRD")
2) A valid pun but out by about 10^50 ("ONE PODCAST")
3) Freaking out because it is all too weird for him ("PLANCK YEAST!")
4) Final breakdown due to some very high level punning by Cueball and Megan ("...I HATE YOU")

In the last panel, Cueball and Megan link Planck yeast (not a thing) and unleavened (yeast-free)
bread to several concepts in theoretical physics:
Quantum foam, the curvature of space time, and M-theory.
M-theory suggests that space-time has eleven ("unleavened") dimensions, and is described by Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_theory) as a unification of superstring theories.
The five consistent versions of superstring theory apparently suggests that space-time has only ten dimensions, so this may be a rare error by Randall. Or I may just have misunderstood.
--Paul Seed 21:34, 28 June 2020 (UTC)

What about millibuckets? {{User:PoolloverNathan/Signature}} 17:54, 24 September 2021 (UTC)

== mbar ==

I cite wikipedia:

''The unit's official symbol is bar; the earlier symbol b is now deprecated and conflicts with the use of b denoting the unit barn, but it is still encountered ...''

I wonder since when, und who still uses *mb*, since I have never encountered that in my life. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.92|162.158.88.92]] 04:05, 29 May 2020 (UTC)

:never seen it either. But the comic doesn't state that it is common, just that it is possible. See also comment above on atmospheric science. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:40, 29 May 2020 (UTC)

:Here's a link to a page with multiple uses of mb with the meaning millibarn. It's in the [https://books.google.com/books?id=VVezDAAAQBAJ&pg=SA11-PA174 CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (97th ed., 2016)], a "comprehensive one-volume reference reasource for scientific research". [[User:JohnB|JohnB]] ([[User talk:JohnB|talk]]) 13:28, 29 May 2020 (UTC)

[[Special:Contributions/172.68.51.107|172.68.51.107]] 09:56, 11 January 2023 (UTC)

mb • mb [millibar times millibarn] is not mbmb - it is ubb [microbarbarn]. Such a gabing plot hole...

== Wrong comic title? ==

The XKCD website shows the comic title as "MBMBaM" instead of "mbmbam"; should this be fixed? [[User:Adrmcr|Adrmcr]] ([[User talk:Adrmcr|talk]]) 21:40, 9 August 2024 (UTC)

1648: Famous Duos

2024-07-01T14:34:35Z

Adrmcr: fix Beavis & Butthead Do America wikipedia interwiki link

{{comic
| number = 1648
| date = February 26, 2016
| title = Famous Duos
| image = famous_duos.png
| titletext = The Romeo and Butt-Head film actually got two thumbs up from Siskel and Oates.
}}

==Explanation==
In popular culture (the term is loosely used in this case) there are many '''famous duos''', such as {{w|Calvin & Hobbes}} (six-year-old boy and his toy tiger, from the cartoon strip with the same name) or {{w|David & Goliath}} (famous past King of Israel and giant, {{w|Biblical}} characters from the {{w|Book of Samuel}} in the {{w|Old Testament}}). (See the [[#Trivia|trivia section]] regarding an on-line list of duos).

In this table, [[Randall]] describes a fictional {{w|Many-worlds interpretation|parallel universe}} where the same names are used in different combinations — instead of Calvin, it is now Thelma (from the movie ''{{w|Thelma & Louise}}'') who is paired up with Hobbes, and Calvin is instead paired off with the King, from ''{{w|Anna and the King}}''. In all cases the one mentioned first on the list is also mentioned first in our universe, so it is always of the form Calvin and the King, never Calvin and Anna. There are 24 duos, and all 48 partners are mentioned (they go through four [[#Cycles|cycles]]). (In the title text of [[1644: Stargazing]] from the week before this comic, there is an indirect reference to parallel universes/{{w|multiverse}}).

The humor of this comic comes from the ridiculousness of the pairings, and the reader's imagination of the stories that are created with the pairs. See the whole [[#List of real duos|list of real duos]] as well as the [[#List of alternative duos|list of alternative duos]] below, with more detailed explanations.

In the title text, alternative movie ''Romeo and Butt-Head'' is mentioned, the fifth entry on the list. This is a combination of the famous {{w|Shakespeare}} play ''{{w|Romeo and Juliet}}'' and ''{{w|Beavis and Butt-Head}}''. ''{{w|Romeo and Juliet}}'' has been filmed many times; most recently in ''{{w|Romeo + Juliet}}'' from 1996 with {{w|Leonardo DiCaprio}} and {{w|Claire Danes}} in the leading roles. {{w|Butt-Head}} is the less stupid one (of the very stupid duo) from the animated TV series ''{{w|Beavis and Butt-Head}}'' (and a {{w|Beavis and Butt-Head Do America|film}}). As Romeo and Juliet is one of the best known love stories and Butt-Head is one of the most disgusting teens ever depicted on the big screen (only overtaken by {{w|Beavis}}), the combination could create disturbing pictures in people's heads (especially in the heads of anyone who may identify themselves with Juliet).

In the alternative universe, when this movie was released, it got the best possible review of two thumbs up from the critics ''Siskel and Oates''. {{w|Gene Siskel}} was paired with {{w|Roger Ebert}}, when they reviewed movies as the famous duo {{w|Siskel and Ebert}}. They were widely known for the "thumbs up/thumbs down" review summaries, with their best combined review being ''Two Thumbs Up'', one from each of them. Coincidentally, or perhaps not, they actually gave ''{{w|Beavis & Butthead Do America}}'' ''Two Thumbs Up''.

In the alternative universe Siskel and his partner gives the film a (surprising) two thumbs up, but Ebert has been replaced with Oates. This is a reference to John Oates of {{w|Hall & Oates}}, a famous American musical duo from Philadelphia.

There also exists a comedy duo named {{w|Garfunkel and Oates}}, formed by Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci, who chose the "Garfunkel and Oates" name by combining the second names from both ''Hall & Oates'' and ''{{w|Simon and Garfunkel}}'' (the latter duo is mentioned in the main comic). Although this exact combo would not be possible in the xkcd version, as the "real universe" combo takes the second names from two duos rather than the first name from one and the second name from another (as in this comic), there may definitely be a deliberate reference to this group as well which has taken the parallel universe idea into our universe.

===List of real duos===
*See the list of [[#List of alternative duos|alternative duos]] below.
*In this list the ''partner index'' indicates whom the second from the duo is linked with in the comic
**So in the case with Thelma (index 1) and Louise (partner index 3), this means that Louise is paired up with Batman (index 3).
**Thelma is paired up with the Hobbes who has partner index 1.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
|+ Famous duos in this universe
|-
! scope="col" | Name
! scope="col" class="unsortable" | pairing
! scope="col" | Partner
! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Explanation
! scope="col" | Name index
! scope="col" | Partner index
|-
| Thelma
| and
| Louise
| ''{{w|Thelma & Louise}}'' is a famous road trip film from 1991.
| 1
| 3
|-
| When Harry
| Met
| Sally
| ''{{w|When Harry Met Sally...}}'' is a romantic comedy film from 1989.
| 2
| 16
|-
| Batman
| and
| Robin
| {{w|Batman}} and {{w|Robin (comic)|Robin}} are comic book characters (first appearance for Batman was in 1939, Robin the year after). There have been several {{w|Batman_in_film#Films|films}} including one called ''{{w|Batman & Robin (film)|Batman & Robin}}'' from 1997. A new Batman film ''{{w|Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice}}'' had its release date three weeks after the release of this comic (2016-02-26).
| 3
| 4
|-
| {{w|Mark Antony|Antony}}
| and
| {{w|Cleopatra}}
| {{w|Mark Antony#Antony and Cleopatra|Antony and Cleopatra}} are historical figures who had an affair and three children together after the death of {{w|Julius Caesar}} up to Anthony's death 30 BC. Their combined names are best known from the play ''{{w|Antony and Cleopatra}}'' by {{w|Shakespeare}}.
| 4
| 12
|-
| Romeo
| and
| Juliet
| {{w|Romeo and Juliet}} are characters from Shakespeare's famous romantic tragedy, from 1597, made into several {{w|Romeo and Juliet on screen#Significant feature releases|major films}}.
| 5
| 24
|-
| {{w|Bonnie and Clyde#Bonnie Parker|Bonnie}}
| and
| {{w|Bonnie and Clyde#Clyde Barrow|Clyde}}
| {{w|Bonnie and Clyde}} were American criminals who traveled the central United States with their gang during the Great Depression until their death on May 23, 1934. They are well known from the film ''{{w|Bonnie and Clyde (film)|Bonnie and Clyde}}''.
| 6
| 7
|-
| {{w|Pinky and the Brain#Pinky|Pinky}}
| and
| {{w|Pinky and the Brain#Characters|the Brain}}
| Two mice from ''{{w|Pinky and the Brain}}'', an American animated TV series from the 1990s.
| 7
| 20
|-
| {{w|Paul Simon|Simon}}
| and
| {{w|Art Garfunkel|Garfunkel}}
| {{w|Simon & Garfunkel}} is a very famous musical duo from the 1960s. (See also explanation for the title text).
| 8
| 22
|-
| Beauty
| and
| the Beast
| {{w|Beauty and the Beast}} are fairy tale characters from a French book from 1740, today best known from the {{w|Beauty and the Beast (1991 film)|Disney film}} from 1991.
| 9
| 10
|-
| {{w|Beavis}}
| and
| {{w|Butt-head}}
| ''{{w|Beavis and Butt-Head}}'' is an animated TV series from the 1990s shown on {{w|MTV}}.
| 10
| 5
|-
| {{w|Rocky the Flying Squirrel|Rocky}}
| and
| {{w|Bullwinkle J. Moose|Bullwinkle}}
| A flying squirrel and a moose known from the ''{{w|The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show}}'', an American animated TV series from the 1960s.
| 11
| 2
|-
| {{w|Bud Abbott|Abbott}}
| and
| {{w|Lou Costello|Costello}}
| {{w|Abbott and Costello}} is a famous American comedy duo whose work in vaudeville and on stage, radio, film and television made them the most popular comedy team during the 1940s. They are known for their famous {{w|Who's on First}} sketch.
| 12
| 17
|-
| Dr. Jekyll
| and
| Mr. Hyde
| Not really a duo, {{w|Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (character)|Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde}} are the two sides of a well known character from the book ''{{w|Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde}}'' written by the Scottish author {{w|Robert Louis Stevenson}} in 1886. It has been adapted into several {{w|Adaptations_of_Strange_Case_of_Dr._Jekyll_and_Mr._Hyde#Film|films}}.
| 13
| 15
|-
| {{w|Samson}}
| and
| {{w|Delilah}}
| Not really a duo, Samson and Delilah are Biblical characters from the {{w|Book of Judges}} (chapters 13-16). Samson was given supernatural strength by God in order to combat his enemies. However, Samson had two vulnerabilities: his attraction to untrustworthy women, and his hair, without which he was just a normal man. These vulnerabilities ultimately proved fatal for him when Delilah had him reveal the secret of his hair, which she subsequently cut off. Then she handed him over to be captured by the Philistines, who gouged his eyes out and brought him to imprisonment in Gaza. He died while in capture but on his own terms. Delilah had not explained why he was no longer strong, so his hair had been allowed to grow out again. When he got it all back, he used his power to destroy a temple he was led into, taking many enemies with him in death.
| 14
| 11
|-
| {{w|Butch Cassidy}}
| and
| the {{w|Sundance Kid}}
| They are historical criminals who died in 1908. They were notorious American train and bank robbers with the {{w|Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch}} gang in 1899-1901. They were made famous by the film ''{{w|Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid}}'' from 1969.
| 15
| 23
|-
| Bill
| and
| Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Bogus Journey
| {{w|Bill & Ted (franchise)|Bill & Ted}} are characters from the two films ''{{w|Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure}}'' (1989) and ''{{w|Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey}}'' (1991). The two titles are spread out on the two new pairings for Bill and Ted, in recognition that this duo is mainly known for these two films, although there also is a {{w|Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures (1990 TV series)|spin-off animated series}} from 1990-1991.
| 16
| 6
|-
| {{w|David}}
| and
| {{w|Goliath}}
| Not really a duo, David and Goliath were biblical adversaries best known from "small" David's defeat of giant Goliath in the story {{w|David#David_and_Goliath|David and Goliath}}. David later became the second king of Israel, according to the {{w|Books of Samuel}}, and according to the {{w|New Testament}}, an ancestor of {{w|Jesus}}.
| 17
| 8
|-
| {{w|Sherlock Holmes}}
| and
| {{w|Dr. Watson}}
| Characters from {{w|Arthur Conan Doyle}}'s famous books (from 1887-1927) which have been made into numerous {{w|Adaptations of Sherlock Holmes#Film|films}}. In 2009 and 2011, a new {{w|Sherlock Holmes (2009 film)|series of movies}} has been released with {{w|Robert Downey Jr.}} and {{w|Jude Law}} as the two characters. There have also been several TV series.
| 18
| 19
|-
| Jay
| and
| Silent Bob
| {{w|Jay and Silent Bob}} is a strange duo from {{w|View Askew Productions|View Askew's}} film universe, first seen in the film {{w|Clerks}} from 1994. A film called {{w|Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back}} was later released in 2001. The director of these movies, {{w|Kevin Smith}} plays Silent Bob, who of course rarely speaks, but when he finally does it often becomes a long defining monologue. Jay (played by {{w|Jason Mewes}}) talks all the time!
| 19
| 18
|-
| {{w|Anna Leonowens|Anna}}
| and
| the {{w|Mongkut|King}}
| Recently made famous by the 1999 film ''{{w|Anna and the King}}'', based on the 1944 novel ''{{w|Anna and the King of Siam (novel)|Anna and the King of Siam}}'' by {{w|Margaret Landon}}. The Langdon novel was based on two memoirs written by Anna Leonowens in 1870 and 1872, from her experience as royal governess for King Mongkut's children and language secretary for the King from 1862-1867.
| 20
| 21
|-
| {{w|Calvin (Calvin and Hobbes)|Calvin}}
| and
| {{w|Hobbes (Calvin and Hobbes)|Hobbes}}
| ''{{w|Calvin and Hobbes}}'' is a comic series by {{w|Bill Watterson}} that ran from 1985-1995. Calvin is a six-year-old boy and Hobbes is Calvin's stuffed tiger and best friend, who becomes a living anthropomorphic tiger in Calvin's private fantasy world. They have been [[:Category:Calvin and Hobbes|featured regularly]] in xkcd, most prominently in the "duo" comic: [[409: Electric Skateboard (Double Comic)]].
| 21
| 1
|-
| Timon
| and
| Pumbaa
| {{w|Timon and Pumbaa}} are characters from ''{{w|The Lion King}}'' film (1994) and they also have their own {{w|The Lion King 1½|film from 2004}} and a {{w|Timon & Pumbaa (TV series)|TV series}} that ran from 1995-1999. There have been [[:Category:The Lion King|many references]] to ''The Lion King'' in xkcd, for instance the comment in the final panel of [[1504: Opportunity]], is from the original movie.
| 22
| 14
|-
| {{w|Mary Kate Olsen|Mary Kate}}
| and
| {{w|Ashley Olsen}}
| Known as the {{w|Mary-Kate_and_Ashley_Olsen|Olsen twins}}, these {{w|Twin#Dizygotic_.28fraternal.29_twins|fraternal twin}} actresses born in 1986 have been on TV since they were infants (on ''{{w|Full House}}'' from 1987) and began starring together in TV, film, and video projects, which enabled them to join the ranks of the wealthiest women in the entertainment industry at a young age. They have previously been the pun of the joke in [[362: Blade Runner]].
| 23
| 13
|-
| {{w|Mario}}
| and
| {{w|Luigi}}
| In the {{w|Mario (franchise)|''Mario'' series of video games}}, which started with the 1983 game ''{{w|Mario Bros.}}'', Mario and his brother Luigi are the main characters. ''Mario'' games have been referenced in several xkcd comics, such as [[151: Mario]] and the comics in the {{w|''Mario Kart''}} [[:Category:Mario Kart|category]].
| 24
| 9
|}

===List of alternative duos===
*See the list of [[#List of real duos|real duos]] above.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|+ Famous Duos in a nearby parallel universe
|-
! scope="col" | Duo name
! scope="col" | Explanation
|-
| Thelma and Hobbes
| In this essay [http://www.exampleessays.com/viewpaper/207623.html Political Philosophies in Thelma and Louise] the sentence ''Thelma and Hobbes's Total Sovereign Authority'' can be found. In this case it is a reference to {{w|Thomas Hobbes}} as the essay is an analysis of Thelma and Louise's actions and the decision they make in comparison to the political philosophies of Thomas Hobbes and {{w|Jean Jacques Rousseau}}. Hobbes was an English philosopher, best known today for his work on political philosophy. He also developed some of the fundamentals of European liberal thought, which could be said to be relevant for the movie.
|-
| When Harry met Bullwinkle
| {{w|Billy Crystal}} who played Harry in When Harry Met Sally... also has an uncredited cameo part as a mattress salesman in the movie {{w|The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle}} (see the list of uncredited actors on [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0131704/combined IMDb]). In this real action movie, Rocky and Bullwinkle ends up in the real world, where it thus becomes likely that Billy who played Harry ends up meeting Bullwinkle "in real life".
|-
| Batman and Louise
| This duo's name comes rather close to the real duo {{w|Clark Kent}} and {{w|Lois Lane}} especially since the film {{w|Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice}} was set for release three weeks after the release of this comic in February 2016.
|-
| Antony and Robin
| There is a book called ''[http://www.amazon.com/Shakespeares-Antony-Cleopatra-English-Literature/dp/0713155884 Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra"] written by a Robin Lee.
|-
| Romeo and Butthead
| It would be quite a different story if either Butt-head should replace Juliet or if Romeo should replace Beavis... (Note Butt-Head is spelled with a hyphen, but has been misspelled in the comic.)
|-
| Bonnie and Ted's excellent adventure
| There was not much excellent about the adventure for Bonnie as {{w|Ted Hinton}} was a Dallas County, Texas, deputy sheriff, the youngest of the posse that ambushed and killed Bonnie and Clyde in 1934. That they could have had an excellent adventure in an alternative universe becomes clear from this segment from his history on Wikipedia: "Ted Hinton was also once acquainted with young Bonnie Parker while she was working in Marco's Cafe in Dallas. Because of her good looks, many of the male customers would flirt with her. Hinton was always gentlemanly and treated Bonnie with respect. Hinton admitted in a later biography that he had a crush on Bonnie, which made it difficult for him as one of the men on the team sent to kill her and her lover, Clyde."

The idea of Bill and Ted seeking out Bonnie and Clyde as part of their time-traveling history project is not too out-there, as they already pick up outlaw Billie the Kid in our universe.
|-
| Pinky and Clyde
| As can be seen in the table above this refers to Pinky the mouse from Pinky and the Brain and Clyde from Bonnie and Clyde. But {{w|Ghosts (Pac-Man)#Pinky|Pinky}} and {{w|Ghosts (Pac-Man)#Clyde|Clyde}} are also the names of the pink and orange {{w|Pacman}} ghosts in this universe. They are, however, not a duo as there are {{w|Ghosts (Pac-Man)|four ghosts}} ({{w|Ghosts (Pac-Man)#Blinky|Blinky}} and {{w|Ghosts (Pac-Man)#Inky|Inky}} being the two others).
|-
| Simon and Goliath
| Goliath begins with G as Garfunkel. Simon was the shorter of the duo thus fitting as David vs. Goliath.
|-
| Beauty and Luigi
| No direct relation to either Mario or the Beast. However, each story has had a less-popular adaptation that takes place in the sewers of New York City: the 1993 {{w|Super Mario Bros. (film)|''Super Mario Bros.'' film}} and the 1987-1990 {{w|Beauty and the Beast (1987 TV series)|"Beauty and the Beast" TV series}}. Of course, Mario and Luigi are beast hunters rather than beasts.{{citation needed}}
|-
| Beavis and the Beast
| Beavis starts with the same three letters as Beauty, just like Beast does.
|-
| Rocky and Delilah
| There is a book called ''[http://www.bensonink.com/delilahsdaughters.html Delilah's Daughters]'', by Angela Benson, where Delilah Monroe's (note the closeness to Munroe) late husband is called Rocky. (See also [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsIvBLuiiRs Rocky and Delilah] on YouTube...)
|-
| Abbot and Cleopatra
| Abbot starts with an A as does Anthony. Cleopatra starts with a C as does Costello.
|-
| Dr. Jekyll and Ashley Olsen
| In the Robert Louis Stevenson story, Dr. Jekyll has a sinister alter-ego in Mr. Hyde just like twins are (almost) the same persons. Though the Olsen twins are not {{w|Twin#IdenticalTwins|identical twins}}, as children the two shared the role of Michelle Tanner on the U.S. sitcom ''Full House''. Jekyll and Hyde are two people in one body, while Mary Kate and Ashley were, in a way, one person in two bodies. There are only three switches in this cycle. Butch Cassidy takes Mr. Hyde and the other Olson twin takes The Sundance Kid. This means that both twins are paired with a man instead of as in real life with a woman. The idea of Dr. Jekyll's secret evil alter-ego being a teenage girl is very silly.
|-
| Samson and Pumbaa
| Samson has several letters in common with Timon but Samson is a huge man where Timon is a very small animal compared to the other main characters in The Lion King film.
|-
| Butch Cassidy and Mr. Hyde
| As per the above explanation for Dr. Jekyll and Ashley Olsen, this outlaw and murderer duo might be considered the Olsen sisters.
|-
| Bill and Sally's Bogus Journey
| In this [http://www.rogerwhitney.com/casestudy/ case study] regarding retirement we ''meet Bill and Sally'' (as Sally met Harry). It could be said to be a ''bogus journey'' as it is just a case study.
|-
| David and Costello
| As Costello was the smaller of Abbot and Costello this does not match up with David vs. a Goliath as it did with Goliath vs small Simon.
|-
| Sherlock Holmes and Silent Bob
| This is the only case of a direct switch between two duos. Dr. Watson usually listen to the musings of Sherlock Holmes and Silent Bob is, as his name indicates, mainly silent. Jay talks all the time.
|-
| Jay and Dr. Watson
| See explanation above for their respective real universe partners (the only case of a direct switch between two duos).
|-
| Anna and the Brain
| The Brain desires to take over the world; the King is ruler of his domain.
|-
| Calvin and the King
| Although it is Calvin's fantasy that decides what happens, it is Hobbes that behaves like the King in their relationship at least when it comes to displaying physical strength to determine who decides.
|-
| Timon and Garfunkel
| Timon is put together with Garfunkel, which makes it a close match to Simon and Garfunkel.
|-
| Mary-Kate and the Sundance Kid
| See above explanation for Dr. Jekyll and Ashley Olsen.
|-
| Mario and Juliet
| Mario would have no issue with balconies. His name has some similarities with Romeo. Also, like Romeo, he is an Italian stereotype.
|}

===Cycles===
*There are four cycles.
*The cycles listed below are sorted like explained this example from the longest cycle:
**It starts with "Thelma" (from Thelma and Louse), who is paired with "Hobbes". Hobbes is then shown diagonally down in the next entry below, Calvin and Hobbes, thus leading from "Hobbes" to "Calvin", who is similarly paired with "the King" leading to Anna and so on, until "Batman" is paired with "Louise", completing the cycle.
* First cycle: length 15
Thelma & Louise
Calvin & Hobbes
Anna & the King
Pinky & the Brain
Bonnie & Clyde
Bill & Ted
Harry & Sally
Rocky & Bullwinkle
Samson & Delilah
Timon & Pumbaa
Simon & Garfunkel
David & Goliath
Abbot & Costello
Antony & Cleopatra
Batman & Robin

* Second cycle: length 4
Romeo & Juliet
Beavis & Butthead
Beauty & the Beast
Mario & Luigi

* Third cycle: length 3
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen
Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid

* Fourth cycle: length 2
Sherlock Holmes & Dr. Watson
Jay & Silent Bob

* Assigning an index starting with 1 (= Thelma & Louise) to 24 (= Mario & Luigi), they can be written as:

(1, 21, 20, 7, 6, 16, 2, 11, 14, 22, 8, 17, 12, 4, 3)
(5, 10, 9, 24)
(13, 23, 15)
(18, 19)

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the panel:]
:Famous Duos in a nearby parallel universe

:[A list with 24 duos with a gray “and" between the two names (in one case it is a “met") and three times there is a gray word before (once) or after (twice) the names. The list is centered with the “and" in the middle disregarding the length of the names on each side:]
:{|
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Thelma
| and
| Hobbes
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | When Harry
| met
| Bullwinkle
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Batman
| and
| Louise
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Antony
| and
| Robin
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Romeo
| and
| Butthead
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Bonnie
| and
| Ted's excellent adventure
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Pinky
| and
| Clyde
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Simon
| and
| Goliath
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Beauty
| and
| Luigi
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Beavis
| and
| the Beast
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Rocky
| and
| Delilah
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Abbot
| and
| Cleopatra
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Dr. Jekyll
| and
| Ashley Olsen
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Samson
| and
| Pumbaa
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Butch Cassidy
| and
| Mr. Hyde
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Bill
| and
| Sally's Bogus Journey
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | David
| and
| Costello
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Sherlock Holmes
| and
| Silent Bob
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Jay
| and
| Dr. Watson
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Anna
| and
| the Brain
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Calvin
| and
| the King
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Timon
| and
| Garfunkel
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Mary-Kate
| and
| the Sundance Kid
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Mario
| and
| Juliet
|}

==Trivia==
*Here is a ranked list with [http://www.ranker.com/list/best-duos-of-all-time/ariel-kana The Best Duos of All Time].
**When this comic came out there were still less than 300 duos on the list.
**16 of the 24 in the comic, and one of the two mentioned in the title text were on this list.
**Below the ranking refers to where they were on the list Sunday after the release of the comic (on Friday).
**The index refers to the index from the table above with the [[#List of real duos|list of real duos]].
:{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
|+ Ranking (on 2016-02-28) of famous Duos
|-
! scope="col" | Rank
! scope="col" | Duo
! scope="col" | Index
|-
| 2 || Batman and Robin|| 3
|-
| 8 || Holmes and Watson|| 18
|-
| 11 || Simon and Garfunkel|| 8
|-
| 22 || Thelma and Louise|| 1
|-
| 23 || Pinky and The Brain|| 7
|-
| 24 || Hall and Oates|| 26 Title text
|-
| 31 || Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid|| 15
|-
| 35 || Calvin and Hobbes|| 21
|-
| 41 || Jay and Silent Bob|| 19
|-
| 46 || Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde|| 13
|-
| 71 || Abbott and Costello|| 12
|-
| 79 || Beauty and the Beast || 9
|-
| 85 || Antony and Cleopatra|| 4
|-
| 99 || Beavis and Butt-head|| 10
|-
| 106 || Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen|| 23
|-
| 110 || Romeo and Juliet|| 5
|-
| 206 || Rocky and Bullwinkle|| 11
|-
| N/A || When Harry Met Sally...|| 2
|-
| N/A || Samson and Delilah || 14
|-
| N/A || Bill & Ted|| 16
|-
| N/A || David and Goliath || 17
|-
| N/A || Anna and the King || 20
|-
| N/A || Timon and Pumbaa || 22
|-
| N/A || Mario and Luigi || 24
|-
| N/A || Siskel and Ebert || 25 Title text
|}

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Calvin and Hobbes]]
[[Category:The Lion King]]

Five-Minute Comics: Part 4

2024-06-26T14:03:01Z

Adrmcr: fix link

{{comic
| date = 
| title = Five-Minute Comics: Part 4
| image = five minute comics part 4.png
| ldomain = imgs
| lappend = comics/five_minute_comics_part_4.png#
| extra = yes
}}

* This comic was accidentally [https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/five_minute_comics_part_4.png posted on imgs.xkcd.com] by the website management in place of [[940: Oversight]].

==Explanation==
[[File:five_minute_comics_part_4_message.png|frame|alt=Transcript: Sorry! Minor glitch in the universe. Nothing to see here. Move along! -- Management||The [http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/five_minute_comics_part_4.png original image link] now shows this image instead of the comic.]]

This is a "five-minute comic" by Randall that was released by mistake by the management of the xkcd website on August 19, 2011, and was quickly replaced by the correct comic, [[940: Oversight]]. Interestingly, the last comic is an early version of [[942: Juggling]], which was published less than a week after this comic. The comic has [[:Category:No date|no official release day]].

Randall had originally posted three of these five minutes comics during one week in November 2010 almost a year before this one was released by mistake. Here is thus a complete list of all four comics in the entire [[:Category:Five-minute comics|Five-minute comics]] series:
*[[819: Five-Minute Comics: Part 1]]
*[[820: Five-Minute Comics: Part 2]]
*[[821: Five-Minute Comics: Part 3]]
*[[Five-Minute Comics: Part 4]]

Here is a list with explanations for each of the small comics:
# The first comic shows what appears to be a dramatic stand-off between two athletes. One of them appears to be holding a tennis racket (or racquet), and the other a baseball bat, which would explain the fact that no one has scored any points yet. The points appear to be displayed on basketball scoreboard, further adding to the confused combination of different sports.
# ''{{w|Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?}}'' (known outside North America as ''Are You Smarter Than a 10-Year-Old?'') is a television game show where the contestant has to answer questions a school student in the fifth grade (age 10) should be able to answer, but an adult has generally long since forgotten because of the subject's little use in everyday life. The comic shows a similar show, with "smarter" replaced by "sluttier". "Slut" is a (usually) derogatory term for a sexually-promiscuous person (usually female). The contestant hopes "to God" the answer is “yes", as she either would be greatly disturbed if the fifth-grade contestants were more sexually provocative than herself or takes pride in her sluttiness and would be dismayed at being bested by a child who is presumably not as experienced in behaving sluttily.
# The comic below puts together two phrases "{{w|Muslim call to prayer}}" and "{{w|call for papers}}". The former, known as adhan, is called out by a {{w|muezzin}} from the mosque five times a day, traditionally from the minaret (a tall spire typical for mosques, depicted in the comic), summoning Muslims for mandatory worship. The latter refers to the announcement of an academic conference, when prospective presenters are instructed how to submit their abstracts and papers. The result is a muezzin announcing a submission deadline instead of the usual religious verses. Randall might also be riffing off the fact that 'Islam' means 'submission', both linguistically and conceptually - muezzins are always calling for submission, except here it is a submission of papers, as opposed to the more typical submission to Allah.
# The comic on the right refers to ''{{w|The Wonderful Wizard of Oz}}'', where Dorothy (the little girl) is captured in a {{w|tornado}} that transports her, along with her farmhouse, into the Land of Oz. When Dorothy sees the tornado she runs into her home to find her aunt Em. However instead of being greeted by her aunt as expected, she finds a robot which either contains or has replaced her aunt, making her scream in fear. ''The Wizard of Oz'' was later referenced in [[1149: Broomstick]]. Tornadoes are a [[:Category:Tornadoes|recurring subject]] on xkcd.
# "Evolution has not prepared humans/me/us/men/women to..." is a common excuse by some people to justify their behavior by blaming it on basic instincts over which they have no control. Not pooping in other people's floor lamps is something most people are sufficiently evolved to be capable of.{{Citation needed}}
# The comic to the right shows two characters preparing for a duel. One of them activates their {{w|lightsaber}}, a weapon from the ''{{w|Star Wars}}'' franchise. The other one follows by turning on a flash-light, which superficially resembles a lightsaber in their deactivated state, but serves quite a different purpose.{{Citation needed}} [[1397: Luke]] has a similar concept.
# "Jack and Jill went up the hill / To fetch a pail of water. / Jack fell down and broke his crown, / And Jill came tumbling after." is a traditional English nursery rhyme. San Juan Hill is the site of {{w|Battle of San Juan Hill|a decisive battle of the Spanish-American War}}. The poem was later used as the title for this comic: [[1662: Jack and Jill]].
# The comic at the bottom is an early version (hand drawn) of [[942: Juggling]] which comes 2 comics after this comic was released.

==Transcript==
:;Comic #1
:[A man facing left is at home plate ready to bat for 3 panels.]
:[A man facing right is holding a tennis racket and a tennis ball.]
:[The two men stand facing each other.]
:[A basketball scoreboard is shown:]
:HOME:00 VISITOR:00

:;Comic #2
:[Cueball is standing on a platform, holding a microphone. Megan is behind a podium, a game show contestant.] 
:Cueball: Welcome back to our show, ''Are You Sluttier Than A Fifth Grader?''
:Megan: I hope to ''God'' the answer is "yes."

:;Comic #3
:[A mosque stands at the edge of a town.]
:Voice: Submission deadline is 5:00 PM December ''THIIIIIIIIRD!''
:Caption: The Muslim call for papers

:;Comic #4
:[A little girl (Dorothy) is running away from a tornado.]
:Dorothy: Auntie Em! Auntie Em!

:[A robot, labeled "EmTron 3000".]
:EmTron 3000: YES, CHILD?

:Dorothy: AAAAAAA

:;Comic #5
:[Megan is pointing angrily towards her floor lamp, which has poop in it.]
:Megan: !!!
:Cueball: Look - the fact of the matter is that evolution has not prepared humans to handle the decision of whether or not to poop in your floor lamp.

:;Comic #6
:[A man unsheathes his lightsaber.]
:Lightsaber: Snap-''HISSS''

:[The other man turns on a flashlight.]
:Flashlight: ''click''

:;Comic #7
:[Two children walk up a hill.]
:Narration: Jack and Jill went up a hill

:[A well at the top of the hill.]
:Narration: To fetch a pail of water.

:[A man on a horse with a sword holding a flag that is mostly obscured.]
:Narration: Alas, that hill was San Juan Hill,

:[A cavalry charging. The rest of the flag is revealed and has Rough Riders written on the it.]
:Narration: And gruesome was the slaughter.
:Flag: Rough Riders

:;Comic #8
:[The panel shows a close up of Cueball reading a book. The book is called "How To Juggle" and has a picture of a person juggling on the cover.]

:[The view now shows the entirety of Cueball. A book is on the floor behind them, and he is holding some juggling balls.]

:[Cueball throws the juggling balls in the air.]

:[He lowers his arms to prepare to catch the balls. The balls are still hovering in mid-air.]

:[Cueball now stands with his arms by his sides. The balls have not moved and are still suspended in mid-air.]

:[Cueball jumps, trying to grab the lowest ball. He can't reach.]

:[Cueball scratches his head and stares at the still floating juggling balls.]

:[Cueball throws the book into a trash can.]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Deleted comics]]
[[Category:Extra comics]]
[[Category:No date]]
[[Category:Five-minute comics| 04]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|Five-minute comics]]
[[Category:No title text]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Sport]] 
[[Category:Star Wars]]
[[Category:Robots]]
[[Category:Artificial Intelligence]] 
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category:Tornadoes]]

1547: Solar System Questions

2024-06-16T17:55:39Z

Adrmcr: changed the last description because the "white on titan's lakes" question is no longer silly

{{comic
| number = 1547
| date = July 6, 2015
| title = Solar System Questions
| image = solar_system_questions.png
| titletext = My country's World Cup win was exciting and all, but c'mon, what if the players wore nylon wings and COULD LITERALLY FLY?
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a list of questions which [[Randall]] has about the Solar System, which at first glance may appear to be things that Randall would like to learn about. In actuality, most of the questions have not been satisfactorily answered or proven by anyone in the {{w|List of unsolved problems in physics#Astronomy and astrophysics|scientific community}}. These open questions may serve to intrigue readers and prompt further interest in astronomy and austronautics.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Question given
! Answered?
! Answer given by Randall (in red in the original)
! Comments
|-
| Why is the the Moon so blotchy?
|style="background: lightgreen" | Yes
| Lava
| The {{w|Moon}} is in synchronous rotation with Earth, which means that we always can see only one half of the surface of the Moon. And on that side we can see large {{w|lunar maria}} formed by lava from big volcanoes. This surface is very different from all other celestial bodies we know in our Solar system. The double "the the" could be a Randallism — intended or unintended.
|-
| Why are all the blotches on the near side?
|style="background: salmon" | No
| ...
| The nearside of the Moon is dominated by the blotchy 'seas' or maria, the far side by craters. {{w|Far side of the Moon#Differences|Several explanations}} for this have been proposed, including an overabundance of impacts obliterating the blotches on the more exposed far side, different compositions of heat-producing elements, large collisions, or heat produced by the still-cooling Earth.
|-
| Did Mars have seas?
|style="background: lightgreen" | Yes
| Yes (briefly?)
| Recent explorations have confirmed there was once standing (and also flowing) water on {{w|Mars}}. Many rovers and orbiters on Mars give us the evidence on this early development of that planet, but it is still unknown how long such conditions existed in its history. Two of these probes have been the subject of comics before: [[695: Spirit]] and [[1504: Opportunity]].
|-
| Was there life on Mars?
|style="background: salmon" | No
| ...
| One of the big mysteries, {{w|Life on Mars|not yet answered}}.
|-
| What's Titan like?
|style="background: lightyellow" | Partly
| Cold, yellow, lakes + rivers (methane)
| The {{w|Cassini–Huygens}} mission confirmed the presence of {{w|Lakes of Titan|lakes and rivers}} on {{w|Titan (moon)|Titan}}. The {{w|Huygens (spacecraft)#Findings|Huygens}} lander itself returned some very yellow images of a dry lake bed from Titan's surface. The possibility of life on Titan was mentioned in [[829: Arsenic-Based Life]].
|-
| What was Earth like during the Hadean?
|style="background: lightyellow" | Partly
| ...
| The {{w|Hadean}} was the first geologic era on Earth, the planet had just formed and not much is known of that period of Earth. But since it was the time when Earth was formed it was mainly very hot with extreme volcanic activity, with the entire surface melted. This is why the era is named after {{w|Hades}} the ancient Greek god of the underworld, even though Hades was never associated with fire.
|-
| Is the Oort Cloud a real thing?
|style="background: lightyellow" | Partly
| ...
| The {{w|Oort Cloud}} is a theoretical spherical cloud of icy planetesimals, maybe dust, and also larger objects at a distance of up to around 60,000 {{w|Astronomical units|AU}} from our Sun. Although the Oort Cloud has never been directly observed (and likely will not be seen directly for a very long while), a large number of comets have been measured to have orbits that could only originate from many thousands of AU from the Sun, especially between 20,000 and 60,000 AU in particular.
|-
| Why is the Sun's corona so hot?
|style="background: lightyellow" | Maybe
| Something about magnets?
| The {{w|stellar corona|corona}} of the Sun is hotter than it theoretically should be. Tiny solar flares called {{w|nanoflares}} might be responsible. The Sun's {{w|Stellar magnetic field|magnetic field}} is almost certainly relevant.
|-
| What are comets like?
|style="background: lightgreen" | Yes
| Precipitous
| A comet can be dangerously steep: the {{w|Philae (spacecraft)|Philae lander}} finally stopped tumbling when it ran into a cliff.
|-
| Where's Philae, exactly?
|style="background: lightgreen" | Yes
| ...
| ...but we were not sure ''which'' cliff until September 5, 2016, when the European Space Agency announced that Philae had been found and photographed by Rosetta on the previous Friday (September 2). The landing of Philae was depicted in real time in the dynamic comic [[1446: Landing]]. This lasted for several hours. Later the comic was updated with a new image where Philae is resting on the edge of a cliff.
|-
| What's Pluto like?
| rowspan="2" style="background: lightyellow" | Partly
| rowspan="2" | [Soon!]
| rowspan="2" | {{w|Pluto}} is so far from Earth ''and'' so small that traditional telescopes couldn't discern much about it. When this comic was released, the probe {{w|New Horizons}} was eight days away from its closest approach to Pluto and its moon {{w|Charon (moon)|Charon}}; Randall was naturally excited about it. The probe was the subject of the comic [[1532: New Horizons]].
|-
| What's Charon like?
|-
| Why don't we have in-between-sized planets?
|style="background: salmon" | No
| ...
| There is a size-gap between the rocky {{w|terrestrial planets}} up to Earth size and the {{w|gas giants}} very much larger than Earth in our Solar System.
There are many known {{w|exoplanets}} (planets in other solar systems) filling in the range between our rocky planets and our gas giants, known as [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Exoplanet_Mass-Radius_Scatter_Super-Earth.png Super-earths] However, there is an observed but unexplained {{w|Small planet radius gap|scarcity of planets of this size category}} even among exoplanets.
|-
| What's Ceres like?
|style="background: lightgreen" | Yes
| [Working on it!]
| The {{w|Dawn (spacecraft)|Dawn probe}} was currently exploring the {{w|dwarf planet}} {{w|Ceres (dwarf planet)|Ceres}} at the time that this comic was written and released. Since the spacecraft's mission, it was determined that Ceres's surface is a mixture of ice and hydrated materials, like clay. The crust is at most thirty percent ice by volume, and though it likely lacks an internal ocean of water, highly-concentrated saltwater can still reach the surface from the outer mantle, allowing {{w|Cryovolcano|cryovolcanoes}} to form.
|-
| Why is Europa so weird-looking and pretty?
|style="background: lightgreen" | Yes
| Ice over a water ocean
| {{w|Europa (moon)|Europa}} is a moon of {{w|Jupiter}} and the surface is basically thick pack ice covered in {{w|lineae}}.
|-
| Why is Io so weird-looking?
|style="background: lightyellow" | Partly
| Sulfur volcanoes (? in the wrong places?)
| The moon {{w|Io (moon)|Io}} is also orbiting Jupiter and is close enough that {{w|tidal forces}} make it the most volcanic object in the solar system. The moon is mainly yellow but there are several other colors on the surface, for instance spots and streaks of bright red that comes from {{w|sulfur}} ejected by the volcanoes. The "wrong places" refer to some volcanoes discovered by the {{w|Voyager program|Voyager missions}} and believed to erupt sulfur. But more recent measurements showed that the temperature inside those volcanoes is about 2000 °C where this element is not liquid anymore but gas.
|-
| Why are so many Kuiper Belt objects red?
|style="background: lightgreen" | Yes
| ...
| Many objects in the {{w|Kuiper Belt}} have a reddish hue. A possible explanation is that they are [http://www.space.com/9418-icy-red-objects-solar-system-edge-point-life-building-blocks.html covered in organic molecules] called {{w|tholin|tholins}} formed by the irradiation of their surface ices. The New Horizons probe showed these to indeed be tholins.
|-
| What are those spots on Ceres?
|style="background: lightgreen" | Yes
| ...
| The Dawn probe found some mysterious spots on Ceres. These [http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA19568.jpg white spots] were confidently explained in 2020 as being hydrated {{w|magnesium sulfate}} salts percolated to the surface by deep brine reservoirs in the interior of Ceres. These spots became the punch line of the joke in [[1476: Ceres]].
|-
| What's in the seas under Europa's ice?
|style="background: salmon" | No
| ...
| The {{w|ESA}} selected the mission {{w|Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer|Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (JUICE)}} to Jupiter. The moon Europa is one target for that mission. But we have to wait, because, even though it has already launched on 14 April 2023, its arrival at Jupiter is planned for 2031. But that's not uncommon for missions like this. New Horizons and {{w|Rosetta (spacecraft)|Rosetta}} also traveled approximately ten years to reach their targets. And before such a mission can start many preparations have to be done. {{w|2010: Odyssey Two}} is a 1982 science fiction novel by {{w|Arthur C. Clarke}} in which he envisions life under the ice on Europa. This life becomes a major plot point both in this and in the two sequels.
|-
| Which of the other moons have seas?
|style="background: lightyellow" | Partly
| Several
| Randall has already mentioned above that there are liquids on two moons. The moon Titan at Saturn has lakes on its surface formed by liquid ethane, methane, and propane and the Jupiter's moon Europa has a sea of water covered by a thick sheet of ice. Depending on the definition of 'sea', other less obviously 'frozen water world' moons such as {{w|Ganymede (moon)|Ganymede}} at Jupiter may have {{w|Ganymede (moon)#Subsurface oceans|subsurface}} [http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27151-aurora-reveals-jupiter-moons-secret-subsurface-sea.html oceans] of liquid water and on other moons it could be other substances that are liquid at the relevant temperature, like on Titan.
|-
| What are the big white things in Titan's lakes?
|style="background: lightgreen" | Yes
| ...
| This refers to the bright {{w|Lakes of Titan#Chemical composition and surface roughness of the lakes|transient features}} seen by Cassini appearing and disappearing in Titan's lakes, nicknamed "magic islands". These have since been largely explained as an organic-compound equivalent of icebergs.
|-
| What do Jupiter's clouds look like up close?
|style="background: lightyellow" | Partly
| ...
| The Jupiter mission {{w|Galileo (spacecraft)|Galileo}}, operated by NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), arrived at Jupiter in 1995 and was sent to impact the planet at the end of that mission in 2003 to eliminate the possibility of contaminating local moons with terrestrial bacteria. Several measurements were done on the atmosphere but no pictures were sent back to Earth. The {{w|Juno (spacecraft)|Juno Spacecraft}} arrived at Jupiter in 2016 to study the planet's clouds up close, and has sent [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Great_red_spot_juno_20170712.jpg many] [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/PIA21641-Jupiter-SouthernStorms-JunoCam-20170525.jpg high resolution] [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Jupiter_A_New_Point_of_View.png pictures] of Jupiter's clouds from just a few thousand kilometers above the planet's surface
|-
| What's all that red stuff in the Great Red Spot?
|style="background: lightyellow" | Partly
| ...
| The {{w|Great Red Spot}} is a storm south of Jupiter's equator. Observations from Earth show a lifespan of more than 150 years. It's unknown why it's stable for that long a time and it's also not clear why the color is red. The probe {{w|Juno (spacecraft)|Juno}} has arrived in July 2016 at Jupiter but has not answered Randall's question. One working hypothesis is that (like the cause for red Kuiper Belt objects) these are tholins produced from the sun irradiating ammonium hydrosulfide and acetylene.
|-
| What's pushing the Pioneer probes?
|style="background: lightgreen" | Yes
| Heat from the RTG
| Discussed as the {{w|Pioneer anomaly}}. RTG stands for {{w|Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator}}. This effect was mentioned (and explained a little differently) in the title text of [[502: Dark Flow]].
|-
| What pushes spacecraft slightly during flybys?
|style="background: salmon" | No
| ...
| Several spacecraft experienced unexplained speed increases during Earth flybys. This is called the {{w|flyby anomaly}}.
|-
| Where are all the Sun's neutrinos?
|style="background: lightyellow" | Maybe partly
| Oscillating
| There are fewer observed electron neutrinos from the Sun than the standard model predicts. This is called the {{w|Solar neutrino problem}}. Since the sum of all the neutrinos, regardless of type, that come from the Sun add up to the predicted number of electron neutrinos it is theorized that neutrinos can change their type. This is called {{w|Neutrino oscillation}}, and can occur only if {{w|neutrinos}} have mass. Neutrino oscillation is considered a proof that the mass of a neutrino is non-zero. The {{w|Neutrino#Mass|mass of a neutrino}} is not yet measured and is one of the problems on the {{w|List of unsolved problems in physics#High-energy physics.2Fparticle physics|list of unsolved problems in physics}} on Wikipedia.
|-
| Why is there so much air on Titan?
|style="background: salmon" | No
| ...
| {{w|Titan (moon)|Titan}} has an atmospheric pressure 1.45 times that of Earth, but only 1/7th of the surface gravity which is less than Earth's own airless Moon has, hence the confusion. In fact, Titan actually has almost 20% more atmosphere by mass than Earth, and ''seven times'' more atmosphere across a given surface area! Less influence from the more distant Sun probably helps retain more of the atmosphere's gases (for instance, Mars saw most of its atmosphere blasted away by the Sun), and {{w|cryovolcanoes}} may replenish the methane fraction which should by now have ''all'' been converted into the other hydrocarbons present from subsurface reservoirs. Further studies are required to properly answer this question.
|-
| Why does the Kuiper Belt stop?
|style="background: lightyellow" | Partly
| ...
| A reference to the {{w|Kuiper Cliff}}. Most Kuiper Belt Objects are found between 42 and 48 {{w|astronomical units|AU}}; calculations predicted that there would be more and larger KBOs beyond 50 AU, but instead very few objects have been found in that region. As of 2024, a partial explanation is that the Kuiper Belt has a large number of objects beyond 50 AU, but previous surveys were biased against seeing the fainter, more distant objects. Additionally, if the hypothesized Planet Nine exists, simulations show it may have destabilized some objects orbiting beyond 50 AU, throwing them into much higher or lower orbits.
|-
| Why is Iapetus weird-colored?
|style="background: lightyellow" | Partly
| ...
| {{w|Iapetus (moon)|Iapetus}} is an icy moon of {{w|Saturn}} and always keeps the same face towards Saturn. The trailing hemisphere is bright, with the leading one notably darker. From Wikipedia, the darker side of Iapetus is currently believed to have been caused by a combination of outside sources of matter (particularly meteors) and {{w|lag deposit}}s from melting ice, via exposure to the Sun. It appears to consist of carbon compounds and frozen hydrogen cyanide polymers.
|-
| Why does Iapetus have a belt?
|style="background: salmon" | No
| ...
| Iapetus has a 13 km high ridge around most of the equator, and a number of 10-km-high mountains where the ridge is interrupted.
|-
| What's the deal with Miranda?
|style="background: salmon" | No
| ...
| {{w|Miranda (moon)|Miranda}} is the smallest of {{w|Uranus}}' five round satellites, and it's {{w|Verona Rupes|a bit rough around the edges}} and also has an unusually high orbital inclination that is difficult to explain. Also possibly a [[:Category:Firefly|''Firefly'' reference]] since {{w|List of Firefly planets and moons#Miranda|Miranda}} is also the name of a planet in {{w|Serenity (film)|''Serenity''}}, a film based on the {{w|Firefly (TV series)|''Firefly''}} TV series.
|-
| Did Uranus and Neptune change places?
|style="background: salmon" | No
| ...
| The {{w|Nice model}} is a theory of how our solar system formed, which suggests the possibility of Uranus and {{w|Neptune}} having swapped places before reaching their current positions. Work by Professor S. Desch [http://dusty.la.asu.edu/~desch/publications/2007/Desch2007.pdf also came to this result].
|-
| Did the Late Heavy Bombardment happen?
|style="background: salmon" | No
| ...
| The {{w|Late Heavy Bombardment}} is the name given to a theorized bombardment of the planet Earth during its early history, along with the other rocky planets around the Sun. It's believed that during that time many large objects still existed and are likely to have impacted the planets. On Earth the evidence for those impacts would have been destroyed, but on the Moon or Mercury some evidence may be available.
|-
| Did life start before it?
|style="background: salmon" | No
| ...
| For some speculation on this topic, see [http://www.livescience.com/5426-life-survived-earth-early-bombardment.html Life Could Have Survived Earth's Early Bombardment]. It is still a mystery if life was formed on Earth first or if it came from outer space.
|-
| Is Europa covered in ice spikes?
|style="background: salmon" | No
| ...
|Dr Daniel Hobley has put forward a [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21341176 theory] that Jupiter's icy moon {{w|Europa (moon)|Europa}} has the right conditions to form ice spikes called {{w|Penitente (snow formation)|penitentes}} of up to 10m in height.
|-
| Why haven't we built a big inflatable Extreme Sports Complex on The Moon?
|style="background: lightyellow" | Partly
| ...
| The only silly item on the list, this question is less about science than about human priorities. It would be fun to watch sports in such a stadium - see the title text. Building a sports complex on the Moon would be prohibitively expensive in the context of government budgets, and transporting athletes to such a venue regularly would be logistically and financially complex. But it would be extremely cool.

See also [https://what-if.xkcd.com/124/ What If # 124], which gives great detail to the topic of lunar swimming. ''{{w|The Menace From Earth}}'', a 1957 short story by Robert Heinlein, describes another potential moon-based extreme sport.
|}

The title text refers to the {{w|2015 FIFA Women's World Cup}} which was won by the USA the day before. The nylon wings and flying may be a reference to two passages from 3001: The Final Odyssey, one where Frank Poole tries out various wings while in an extremely low gravity environment, and one where he remarks while watching Swan Lake that Tchaikovsky could never have imagined a performance where the dancers were actually flying (due to aforementioned low gravity). This is also a reference to the last point on the list, because if we had such a stadium on the Moon, maybe it would be possible to use such wings to make very long floating leaps.

==Transcript==
:'''Questions I have'''
:'''about the solar system'''
:(some answered)

:{| class="wikitable" style="border: 0px;"
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is the the Moon so blotchy?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Lava
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why are all the blotches on the near side?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Did Mars have seas?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Yes (briefly?)
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Was there life on Mars?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's Titan like?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Cold, yellow, lakes + rivers (methane)
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What was Earth like during the Hadean?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Is the Oort Cloud a real thing?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is the Sun's corona so hot?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Something about magnets?
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What are comets like?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Precipitous
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Where's Philae, exactly?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's Pluto like?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" rowspan="2" | [Soon!]
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's Charon like?
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why don't we have in-between-sized planets?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's Ceres like?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | [Working on it!]
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is Europa so weird-looking and pretty?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Ice over a water ocean
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is Io so weird-looking?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Sulfur volcanoes (? in the wrong places?)
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why are so many Kuiper Belt objects red?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What are those spots on Ceres?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's in the seas under Europa's ice?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Which of the other moons have seas?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Several
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What are the big white things in Titan's Lakes?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What do Jupiter's clouds look like up close?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's all that red stuff in the Great Red Spot?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's pushing the Pioneer Probes?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Heat from the RTG
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What pushes spacecraft slightly during flybys?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Where are all the Sun's Neutrinos?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Oscillating
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is there so much air on Titan?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why does the Kuiper Belt Stop?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is Iapetus weird-colored?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why does Iapetus have a belt?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's the deal with Miranda?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Did Uranus and Neptune change places?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Did the Late Heavy Bombardment happen?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Did life start before it?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Is Europa covered in ice spikes?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why haven't we built a big inflatable extreme sports complex on the moon?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|}

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Soccer]]
[[Category:Space probes]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Firefly]]

Talk:943: Empirical

2024-06-10T13:36:04Z

Adrmcr: add {{unsigned}}

Past results are not necessarily indicative of future results, Cueball might not be willing to marry Megan next month. Empirical measurements of human behavior are naturally flawed due to the complexity of our decision making processes. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:05, 9 March 2013 (UTC)
:Are you still happy that you wrote this comment? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 19:21, 21 January 2014 (UTC)

We may never know 😔 {{unsigned ip|108.162.241.131|03:26, 16 March 2024‎ (UTC)}}

2243: Star Wars Spoiler Generator

2024-06-08T23:45:48Z

Adrmcr: /* Table */ (same as before)

{{comic
| number = 2243
| date = December 18, 2019
| title = Star Wars Spoiler Generator
| image = star wars spoiler generator.png
| titletext = The heroes seem to be gaining the upper hand until Darth Juul manages to flip the switch on the car wash control panel from 'REGULAR' to 'PREMIUM.'
}}

==Explanation==
On December 20, 2019 (2 days after the publication of this comic), the final movie of the "Skywalker saga" of ''Star Wars'' films, ''{{w|Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker}}'', was officially released to the US. It received a world premiere in Los Angeles on December 16, so there are lots of spoilers online, and also lots of people who want to avoid spoilers. [[Randall]] has created a flowchart that generates "spoilers" to the film, but as he probably has not seen the film (or, if he has, he doesn't actually want to spoil it for us), all of the so-called spoilers are nonsensical.

The formula for each spoiler is as follows: "In this Star Wars movie, our heroes return to take on the First Order and new villain '''[villain name]''' with help from their new friend '''[friend name]'''. Rey builds a new lightsaber with a '''[color]''' blade, and they head out to confront the First Order's new superweapon, the '''[superweapon name]''', a space station capable of '''[evil plan]'''. They unexpectedly join forces with their old enemy '''[character]''' and destroy the superweapon in a battle featuring '''[strange event]'''. P.S. Rey's parents are '''[character]''' and '''[character]'''".

The {{w|First Order (Star Wars)|First Order}} is the main antagonist group in the ''Star Wars'' {{w|Star Wars sequel trilogy|sequel trilogy}} series. In ''{{w|Star Wars: The Force Awakens}}'', they use a superweapon in their base, Starkiller Base, to destroy the planetary system housing the headquarters of the {{w|New Republic (Star Wars)|New Republic}}, the democratic government which was formed after the {{w|Galactic Empire (Star Wars)|Empire}}'s defeat in ''{{w|Return of the Jedi}}''.

"Building a {{w|lightsaber}}" is one of the rites of passage for becoming a {{w|Jedi}} Knight. In the {{w|Star Wars prequel trilogy|prequel trilogy}}, new Jedi build lightsabers as an official part of the journey towards Knighthood, and in the {{w|Star Wars Trilogy|original trilogy}}, {{w|Luke Skywalker}} builds a lightsaber between ''The Empire Strikes Back'' and ''Return of the Jedi'' as part of his training with {{w|Yoda}}. {{w|Rey (Star Wars)|Rey}} has used the lightsaber that {{w|Darth Vader|Anakin Skywalker}} made and used (which Luke also used when he was a new Jedi) for the first two movies of the sequel trilogy, and so it would be thematically appropriate for her to build her own prior to the trilogy's final entry. Most Jedi's lightsabers are either blue or green, with a few notable exceptions (e.g. {{w|Mace Windu}}'s purple lightsaber, which was chosen because purple is a cool color). Kyber crystals are aligned with the Light Side of {{w|the Force}}, so {{w|Sith}} must overpower and "bleed" their crystals before they will function for them, which causes their distinctive red color. Having a lightsaber of a color other than blue, green, or red is often seen in the ''Star Wars'' fandom as a sign of being a "{{tvtropes|MarySue|Mary Sue}}", which is an accusation which has been made of Rey.<ref>Though often disputed. See [https://collider.com/rey-not-mary-sue-star-wars/ this article] for more information on both viewpoints.</ref>

Another common plot point in ''Star Wars'' media is the construction, use, and destruction of a superweapon. These are inspired by stories and media of World War II, in which militaries rapidly developed novel technologies and weapons (including {{w|Wunderwaffe|"wonder-weapons"}}). Meanwhile, they launched massive operations to find, attack, and destroy critical elements of their enemies' resources and infrastructure, and constructed elaborate defenses for their own. The attack on the {{w|Death Star}} in particular is inspired by {{w|Operation Chastise}}, the "bouncing bomb" attack on Germany's hydroelectric power plants; Operation Chastise was dramatised in the {{w|The Dam Busters (book)|1951 book}} and {{w|The Dam Busters (film)|1955 film}} ''The Dam Busters'', which was [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNdb03Hw18M very thoroughly homaged] by ''A New Hope''. The original trilogy of movies only had two Death Stars, but superweapons quickly became a staple of the {{w|Star Wars expanded to other media|Expanded Universe}} fiction, to the point that one book had {{w|Han Solo}} make fun of the Empire's tendency towards building superweapons, proposing such ridiculous names as "Galaxy Destructor" and "Nostril of Palpatine". Superweapons are also common in superhero stories.

Redemption and making allies of old enemies is also a common plot point in ''Star Wars''. Anakin Skywalker fell to the Dark Side and became Darth Vader, but eventually returned to the Light Side to protect his son, and Han Solo was initially a morally ambiguous character who was eventually convinced to join the Rebellion.

Rey, one of the main characters in the sequel trilogy series is an orphan, who was left behind on the planet Jakku as a child. As Rey is Force-sensitive and adept at using a lightsaber, there is much speculation among Star Wars fans as to the identity of her parents. Many major characters in ''Star Wars'' have unexpected heritages of great portent, most famously Luke, who was very distressed to learn that Darth Vader did not ''kill'' his father, as Obi-Wan had told him, but ''is'' his father. In ''{{w|Star Wars: The Last Jedi}}'', villain {{w|Kylo Ren}} tells her that she is the child of "filthy junk traders", but many fans speculate that he was lying to her.

The title text refers to the bottom option of the [strange event in battle] section. Apparently Lord Juul (or Darth Juul) is fighting the heroes in the Sith car wash. It is unclear what "flipping the switch" from Regular to Premium would do, but it seems to be beneficial to Darth Juul. A "premium" car wash usually has more features than a regular car wash, e.g. more cleaning brushes, waxing the car, cleaning the tires, etc., so perhaps the premium mode activates additional lightsabers.

This is the second false fact generating comic, after [[1930: Calendar Facts]].

==Table==
{| class="wikitable"
! Entry
! Explanation
|-
! colspan="2" | New villain
|-
| Kyle Ren
| Kyle Ren is one letter away from {{w|Kylo Ren|''Kylo'' Ren}}, the adopted "Sith name" of Ben Solo, son of Han and Leia Solo. Kylo is one of the antagonists in all three movies in the sequel trilogy, but there's nobody in the films named "Kyle". (There are a handful of ''Legends'' characters named Kyle, most famously Kyle Katarn, protagonist of the ''Star Wars: Jedi Knight'' video game series.)
|-
| {{w|Malloc}}
| Malloc is a function used in the C programming language to '''alloc'''ate more '''m'''emory in the running of a program. Malloc may sound similar to {{w|Darth Malak|Malak}}, the antagonist of the ''{{w|Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic}}'' video game. Improper use of the malloc and free functions can cause "memory leak" bugs in programs.
|-
| Darth Sebelius
| {{w|Sebelius}} is the last name of several people.
* {{w|Kathleen Sebelius}} is a former state representative and governor of Kansas who was Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services under President Obama. Sebelius was the named party in a {{w|National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius|Supreme Court case}} that upheld the provisions of the {{w|Affordable Care Act}} ("Obamacare"). The naming of Sebelius as a villain may reference the fact that the ACA has been controversial among certain groups.
* {{w|Jean Sibelius}} is a renowned Finnish composer. {{w|Sibelius (scorewriter)|Sibelius}} is also the name of a piece of music software.
Randall may have chosen this surname as it sounds similar to {{w|Darth Sidious}}, the overarching villain in the first 6 Star Wars films, who returned in The Rise of Skywalker as Palpatine.
|-
| {{w|Theranos}}
| Theranos was a medical technology company founded by {{w|Elizabeth Holmes}} which claimed to have developed revolutionary blood tests that could produce more data from limited volumes of blood than ever before. They were eventually found to have engaged in fraudulent activity, having tricked investors into thinking their technology was performing better than it actually was or ever could, which resulted in fines for Holmes and Theranos president {{w|Ramesh Balwani}} and the bankruptcy of Theranos. Theranos also sounds similar to {{w|Thanos}}, the main villain of the Infinity Saga in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
|-
| Lord Juul
| {{w|Juul}} is a brand of e-cigarettes. In addition to the broader controversy surrounding electronic cigarettes, Juul has been investigated for its sale of flavored additives for their cigarettes, which are alleged to be particularly attractive to minors. Juul is reminiscent of the "uu" in the names for clones {{w|Joruus C'baoth}} and {{w|Luuke Skywalker}} in {{w|Star Wars Legends|''Star Wars'' Legends}} stories, thus implying Lord Juul is a clone of a character named Jul. ''{{w|Yule|Jul}}'' is the Scandinavian name for the midwinter holidays, which fits as the comic appeared within the Yule season of 2019.
|-
! colspan="2" | New friend
|-
| Kim Spacemeasurer
| May be a parody of the name {{w|Luke Skywalker}}, one of the main characters in the original trilogy of films. Other "Nounverber" names in ''Star Wars'' include Starkiller, Luke's original last name which was later applied to Starkiller Base in ''The Force Awakens'', and Biggs Darklighter, Luke's childhood friend and fellow Rebel pilot who died in the attack on the original Death Star. Also note another Star Wars comic posted a few weeks before this one, [[2229: Rey and Kylo]], which shows those characters actually deciding to measure properties of space.
|-
| Teen Yoda
| {{w|The Child (Star Wars character)|The Child}}, commonly called "Baby Yoda" by fans and the media, is a breakout character from the Disney+ series ''{{w|The Mandalorian}}''. Randall envisions a "teenage" version of this character teaming up with the main characters. This may be in analogy to Groot in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, who appeared as an adult, then child, then teen, or other adaptations of original characters like the Teen Titans.
|-
| Dab Tweetdeck
| A {{w|Dab (dance)|dab}} is a dance move which is many decades old but was made popular by that name in the late 2010's. {{w|TweetDeck}} is an application for managing Twitter accounts. Taken together, "Dab Tweetdeck" could be a character name proposed by clueless Disney executives to attract "the kids" to see ''The Rise of Skywalker'', although one would think that this name would be heavily promoted and thus not a spoiler in that case.
Tweetdeck sounds similar to twi'lek, one of the humanoid alien races in Star Wars, who often are employed as dancers.
|-
| Yaz Progestin
| Yaz sounds like the first name of {{w|Maz Kanata}}, a supporting protagonist in the sequel trilogy. Yaz is a medication which contains {{w|Progestin}}, which imitates the effects of {{w|progesterone}}, a female sex hormone. It is used for purposes including birth control and acne treatment.
|-
| TI-83
| Droids in the Star Wars universe typically have names with letters and numbers, such as R2-D2, C-3PO, BB-8, etc. Randall has created a new character called "TI-83". In real life, the {{w|TI-83}} is a model of graphing calculator manufactured by {{w|Texas Instruments}} that is commonly used in American high schools. This mirrors the origin of the name "R2-D2", which was inspired when Lucas was working on ''{{w|American Graffiti}}'' and was asked for Reel 2, Dialog Track 2, which was abbreviated "R-2-D-2". He remarked that it would be a "great name" and included it in his then-in-development script for ''Star Wars''.
|-
! colspan="2" | Lightsaber colors
|-
| [beige/ochre/mauve/aquamarine/taupe]
| These are different colors, none of which is a "traditional" color for a lightsaber. {{w|Beige}} is a pale-grayish yellow. {{w|Ochre}} is a clay earth pigment ranging from yellow to deep orange or brown. {{w|Mauve}} is a pale purple color. A purple color has been used for a lightsaber in the prequel trilogy series, by Jedi Master {{w|Mace Windu}}. {{w|Aquamarine (color)|Aquamarine}} is a blueish green color. {{w|Taupe}} is a dark brown color between brown and gray.
|-
! colspan="2" | Superweapon names
|-
| Sun Obliterator
| There was an Expanded Universe superweapon called the "Sun Crusher", which would infiltrate a star system and shoot a special torpedo into the star to make it go supernova. May also be a reference to one of the doodles from What If?.
|-
| Moonsquisher
| There were no ''Star Wars'' superweapons with the word "Moon" in their title (or "squisher"), but in the no-longer-canon ''New Jedi Order'' series, Chewbacca was squished ''by'' a moon that was intentionally de-orbited by invading Yuuzhan Vong.
|-
| World Eater
| Possibly a reference to {{w|Alduin}}, the main villain of the popular game {{w|The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim}}. In the Expanded Universe, the Empire used World Devastators, massive machines that would strip-mine planets with tractor beams and make weapons and spacecraft from the extracted resources. Another possible reference is to the {{w|The Doomsday Machine (Star_Trek: The Original Series)|Planet Eater}} doomsday machine from the original Star Trek series. A further possible reference is to the World Eaters space marine legion from {{w|Warhammer 40,000}} franchise. Or a world eater redstone contraption from Minecraft. Or the boss for the Corruption biome in Terraria. Or Jörmungandr. There are a lot of things that this could be referring to.
|-
| Planet Zester
| A {{w|zester}} is a cooking tool for zesting citrus fruit, that is, scraping off the outer layer of a citrus fruit to obtain the flavorful outer layer of its skin. Zesting a planet would be devastating to anything built or living on its surface.
|-
| Superconducting supercollider
| A {{w|supercollider}}, or particle accelerator, is a machine used to accelerate charged particles to very high speeds, for testing in particle physics. The {{w|Superconducting Super Collider}} was a proposed accelerator which was to be constructed in Texas, but was cancelled partway through construction. There has been some minor controversy over the {{w|safety of high-energy particle collision experiments}}, which could theoretically produce black holes, {{w|strangelets}}, or other doomsday scenarios, but all scientific examination of the energies involved has shown that all currently-existing and planned particle accelerators pose no threats. So far, the Earth has not been destroyed by any particle accelerator.{{Citation needed}}
|-
! colspan="2" | Station capabilities
|-
| blowing up a planet with a bunch of beams of energy that combine into one
| This is how the {{w|Death Star}} was depicted in ''{{w|Star Wars: A New Hope}}''. Many beams converged together to form one energy beam. The superweapon was used to destroy the planet Alderaan, as a way to intimidate Princess Leia.
|-
| blowing up a bunch of planets with one beam of energy that splits into many
| This is how the superweapon on Starkiller Base was depicted in ''{{w|Star Wars: The Force Awakens}}''. A single energy beam split into several beams, allowing it to attack many planets. The superweapon was used to destroy the planets in the Hosnian system, the headquarters of the New Republic.
|-
| cutting a planet in half and smashing the halves together like two cymbals
| Jango Fett's "seismic charge" weapon, which he used in a dogfight against Obi-Wan Kenobi in ''Attack of the Clones'', produced a plane wave that cut asteroids in half; presumably a larger weapon of this kind could do the same to a planet.
|-
| increasing the CO2 levels in a planet's atmosphere, causing rapid heating
| This is a reference to {{w|climate change}} currently occurring on planet Earth. The {{w|Scientific consensus on climate change|overwhelming consensus among climate scientists}} is that this is that this shift is caused by human factors, such as the burning of fossil fuels releasing ancient carbon sources into the air as carbon dioxide, and mass deforestation reducing the number of trees converting the carbon dioxide into sugars and cellulose. Climate change has been addressed repeatedly by the comic before, including [[164: Playing Devil's Advocate to Win]], [[1321: Cold]], [[1379: 4.5 Degrees]], and [[1732: Earth Temperature Timeline]].
This seems to have occurred on the planet {{w|Venus}}. Venus' atmosphere is 97% carbon dioxide, and it is also the hottest planet in the Solar System, due to a greenhouse effect, preventing the planet from cooling.
|-
| triggering the end credits before the movie is done
| The {{w|closing credits}} or end credits of a film is the list of cast and crew who were involved in the making of the film. It would be quite strange to show the end credits of the film before it has concluded, although it is one of the {{tvtropes|CreditsGag|types of credits gag}} used in other media. This entry is considerably less damaging to a planet{{Citation needed}} than the other 4 entries in this section, but if early audiences are left unsatisfied by the movie, they might tell everyone else not to see it, which would put the ''Star Wars'' franchise in a perilous financial situation. This would negatively impact the villains as well as the heroes, but they might consider this a worthwhile trade if it is their best option at harming the heroes. This option may be a reference to exploiting a glitch to trigger a [https://youtu.be/Jf9i7MjViCE credit warp] in games such as Super Mario World. This may also be a reference to the Netflix interactive movie "Bandersnatch" in which certain choices triggered the end of the movie and caused it to start the credits.
|-
! colspan="2" | Old enemy/new friend
|-
| {{w|Boba Fett}}
| Boba Fett is a famous bounty hunter introduced in the ''{{w|Star Wars Holiday Special}}'' and made popular by ''{{w|The Empire Strikes Back}}''. On the Empire's orders, he helped capture Han Solo as part of a plot to capture Luke Skywalker. He later tried to prevent Luke from rescuing Han, but was knocked into a sarlacc pit, where he was presumed eaten. In the Expanded Universe, he survived and did eventually join the protagonists against extragalactic invaders; his survival has not been confirmed by Disney's new canon, but he would be a plausible character to bring back in ''The Rise of Skywalker''. A Mandalorian (not Boba Fett, but a bounty hunter using body-armour  from the same planet) is featured in the new Disney+ series, ''The Mandalorian''.
|-
| [[wikia:w:c:starwars:Salacious B. Crumb|Salacious Crumb]]
| Salacious B. Crumb is a Kowakian monkey-lizard who was Jabba the Hutt's jester. He wasn't exactly a major adversary, but he did pull one of C-3PO's eyes out. He was last seen on Jabba the Hutt's sail barge, which was made to explode after Han, Luke, and the rest of the heroes escaped from it, and is presumed dead.
|-
| [[wikia:w:c:starwars:Exogorth|The Space Slug]]
| In ''The Empire Strikes Back'', Han Solo pilots the Millennium Falcon into a giant cave to evade pursuit and get time to effect repairs. He is interrupted when the cave turns out to be the mouth of a giant space slug, which the Falcon barely escapes. A giant space slug might be a powerful ally in a battle against a giant space station.
|-
| The bottom half of {{w|Darth Maul}}
| Darth Maul was cut in half by Obi-Wan Kenobi at the end of ''The Phantom Menace''. His "upper half", attached to mechanical legs, has returned as a villain in the ''Clone Wars'' TV series and ''{{w|Solo: A Star Wars Story|Solo}}''. Given that Maul was a Sith and Kenobi a Jedi, who trained Luke, who trained Rey, it would be extremely unexpected for his "bottom half" to join forces with the heroes, although presumably his bottom half would have to be attached to something, which might be better disposed towards Jedi.
If Darth Maul's bottom half did join the heroes, they might aid the heroes by using [[wikia:w:c:starwars:Force kick|force kicks]].
|-
| YouTube commenters
| The sequel trilogy has received more mixed reviews from watchers than Disney might like, and many vocal non-fans have taken to commenting on YouTube (via videos and comments) on what they don't like about the new movies and new characters. If ''The Rise of Skywalker'' fully wins the crowd, an alliance between the heroes and their former critics would be extremely powerful, but with Rotten Tomatoes showing a critics' aggregate score of [https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/star_wars_the_rise_of_skywalker/ less than 60%] ("rotten"), it's going to be an uphill battle.
|-
! colspan="2" | Battle feature
|-
| a bow that shoots little lightsaber-headed arrows
| May be a reference to the [[wikia:w:c:starwars:Bowcaster|bowcaster]], a laser crossbow weapon used by the Wookie {{w|Chewbacca}}. It is unclear if the lightsaber-headed arrows are actually lightsabers in itself, as they would seem difficult to produce (as opposed to the Death Star, or even a bunch of sword versions of the arrow).
|-
| X-Wings and TIE fighters dodging the giant letters of the opening crawl
| The {{w|Star Wars opening crawl|"opening crawl"}} is a signature motif used in all the main Star Wars films, to explain the backstory and context of each film. {{w|X-Wing}}s and {{w|TIE fighter}}s are fighter-type spaceships used by the Rebels (and Resistance later on) and the Empire (and First Order), respectively. A dogfight scene during the opening crawl would involve {{w|Fourth wall|breaking the fourth wall}}, as the opening crawl is not presumed to be part of the universe of the films (except when so parodied, such as in {{w|Airplane II: The Sequel}}).
|-
| a Sith educational display that uses Force lightning to demonstrate the dielectric breakdown of air
| [[wikia:w:c:starwars:Force lightning|Force lightning]] is a power that Force users can use to generate electric energy from the user's hands. It was first used in ''Return of the Jedi'' by Emperor Palpatine (Darth Sidious) when Luke Skywalker refuses to give in to the dark side of the Force. Palpatine attempts to kill Luke with Force lightning, but Darth Vader saves Luke by throwing Palpatine down a reactor chute. Palpatine also used Force Lightning on Mace Windu and Yoda during their battles at the end of ''Revenge of the Sith''. None of these uses of Sith lightning were intended to be educational on the nature of {{w|lightning}}, although they could have been very educational on the pain, cruelty, and "unlimited power!" offered by the Dark Side of the Force. This might also be a reference to [[wikia:w:c:starwars:Sith holocron|Sith holocron]] — a device to store Force-related information and secrets, possibly. Possibly also a reference to [[2229: Rey and Kylo]]
|-
| Kylo Ren putting on another helmet over his smaller one
| Kylo Ren is famous for wearing his helmet in ''The Force Awakens'', which he styled after Darth Vader's helmet. Putting on another helmet over it would require a comically large helmet that might be compared to Dark Helmet, a character from the parody film ''{{w|Spaceballs}}'' who parodies Darth Vader.
|-
| a Sith car wash where the bristles on the brushes are little lightsabers
| This may be a reference to some reactions to Kylo Ren's "lightcrossguards". In-universe, his lightsaber is said to contain a Kyber crystal of unusual power and instability, which produces excess energy that must be vented through side channels. However, many watchers found it ridiculous to present a lightsaber that appeared to have little lightsabers sticking out of it, and produced [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/crossguard-lightsaber fanart] accordingly.
While an unexpected car wash finale scene seems unlikely, it is not without precedent in cinema; ''{{w|Adolescence of Utena}}'' featured the title character unexpectedly entering a car wash and transforming into a car (followed by a segue into a car race sequence).
George Lucas, the originator of Star Wars also wrote the movie "American Graffiti," which featured cars prominently. A subsequent movie "Car Wash," has been seen as a commentary on or imitation of "American Graffiti." Including a Sith car wash might reference the relation between these two films.[https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/25/movies/streaming-car-wash.html ‘Car Wash,’ a Raunchy 1970s Comedy Brimming With Meta and Mayhem].
|-
! colspan="2" | Rey's parent #1
|-
| {{w|Luke Skywalker|Luke}}
| Luke Skywalker is the main character of the original Star Wars films. Of all of the characters presented here, he is the one with the greatest likelihood of being Rey's father. When Maz gave Rey Luke's lightsaber, she said "[t]hat lightsaber was Luke's, and his father's before him, and now, it calls to you." Luke does not seem to recognize Rey as his child (or as anybody in particular), but Darth Vader did not recognize Luke or Leia as his children -- and indeed did not know that he had any living children -- until they were grown. However, unlike Anakin Skywalker, or the Luke Skywalker from the pre-Disney Expanded Universe, no canon materials have presented anyone with whom Luke has fallen in love or fathered a child.
|-
| {{w|Princess Leia|Leia}} and {{w|Han Solo|Han}}
| Princess Leia and Han Solo are the other main characters of the original Star Wars films. It is unlikely that Leia or Han are Rey's parents as they did not seem to recognize Rey in any of the sequel trilogy films, nor is there any indication that they have had more than one child (Ben Solo, AKA Kylo Ren).
|-
| {{w|Obi-Wan Kenobi|Obi-Wan}}
| Obi-Wan Kenobi was one of the main characters in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. He, along with Qui-Gon Jinn, discovered Anakin Skywalker, who later became Darth Vader. Kenobi dies at the second act of ''Star Wars: A New Hope'', sacrificing himself to allow Luke, Leia, and Han to escape the Death Star. Marriage and parenthood were forbidden by the Jedi Order, and Obi-Wan generally adhered to the Order's rules more closely than Anakin did; Obi-Wan did feel some mutual romantic attraction with Duchess Satine of Mandalore, but they both chose to remain in their respective organizations rather than pursue a relationship. Also, Obi-Wan stopped having a physical form decade before Rey was conceived.
|-
| a random junk trader
| This is who Kylo Ren claims that Rey is descended from: worthless, random junk traders.
|-
! colspan="2" | Rey's parent #2
|-
| {{w|Poe Dameron|Poe}}
| Poe Dameron is one of the main characters of the Star Wars sequel trilogy. He is a pilot in the Resistance. He is only 13 years older than Rey, and thus is most likely not her father.
|-
| {{w|BB-8}}
| BB-8 is an astromech droid owned by Poe Dameron. It is unlikely that Rey is descended from a (non-living) droid, [https://youtu.be/aanyjLmB1Bs?t=1810 Alan Dean Foster's treatment of Episode IX aside].
|-
| [ {{w|Amilyn Holdo}} /{{w|Laura Dern}}]
| Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo, portrayed by Laura Dern, was a leader in the Resistance. She dies at the end of ''The Last Jedi'', sacrificing herself by jumping to light speed straight into the First Order's pursuing starship. Randall presents both Admiral Holdo, the character, and Laura Dern, the actress, as separate options for Rey's mother, but the former is not supported by any story material and the latter is impossible (Dern is alive here and now, not "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away").
|-
| a random junk trader
| (see above)
|-
| that one droid from the Jawa Sandcrawler that says ''Gonk''
| This is [[wikia:w:c:starwars:GNK power droid|a droid]] from ''Star Wars: A New Hope'' that says "Gonk". As in the BB-8 entry, it is unlikely that Rey is descended from a droid.
|-
|}

Following the release of ''The Rise of Skywalker'', we can conclude that the correct version of the spoiler would read as follows:

In this Star Wars movie, our heroes return to take on the First Order and new villain... '''Darth Sidious''' (i.e. Emperor Palpatine, who is said to have "somehow" returned) ...with help from their new friend... '''D-O''' (a droid who turns out to have vital information). Rey builds a new lightsaber with a... '''yellow''' blade (although this blade is not actually completed until the end of the movie), and they head out to confront the First Order's new superweapon, the... '''Final Order''' ...a ''fleet of spacecraft'' capable of... '''blowing up a bunch of planets with a bunch of beams of energy''' (one from each Star Destroyer). They unexpectedly join forces with their old enemy... '''General Armitage Hux and Kylo Ren/Ben Solo''' ...and destroy the superweapon in a battle featuring... '''a storm of Force lightning'''. P.S. Rey's parents are... '''a random junk trader''' ...and... '''a random junk trader, who is a clone-son of Emperor Palpatine'''.

==Transcript==
:<big>Star Wars Spoiler Generator</big>

:[Shown below is a branching flowchart of sorts that begins at the phrase "In this Star Wars movie, our heroes return to take on the First Order and new villain...", then flows through various paths to build up a story.]

:In this Star Wars movie, our heroes return to take on the First Order and new villain...
::Kyle Ren
::Malloc
::Darth Sebelius
::Theranos
::Lord Juul

:...with help from their new friend...
::Kim Spacemeasurer
::Teen Yoda
::Dab Tweetdeck
::Yaz Progestin
::TI-83

:Rey builds a new lightsaber with a...
::beige
::ochre
::mauve
::aquamarine
::taupe

:...blade, and they head out to confront the First Order's new superweapon, the...
::Sun Obliterator
::Moonsquisher
::World Eater
::Planet Zester
::Superconducting Supercollider

:...a space station capable of...
::blowing up a planet with a bunch of beams of energy that combine into one
::blowing up a bunch of planets with one beam of energy that splits into many
::cutting a planet in half and smashing the halves together like two cymbals
::increasing the CO2 levels in a planet's atmosphere, causing rapid heating
::triggering the end credits before the movie is done

:They unexpectedly join forces with their old enemy...
::Boba Fett
::Salacious Crumb
::The Space Slug
::the bottom half of Darth Maul
::Youtube commenters

:...and destroy the superweapon in a battle featuring
::a bow that shoots little lightsaber-headed arrows
::X-Wings and TIE fighters dodging the giant letters of the opening crawl
::a Sith educational display that uses Force Lightning to demonstrate the dielectric breakdown of air
::Kylo Ren putting on another helmet over his smaller one
::a Sith car wash where the bristles on the brushes are little lightsabers

:P.S. Rey's parents are...
::Luke
::Leia
::Han
::Obi-Wan
::a random junk trader

:...and...
::Poe
::BB-8
::Amilyn Holdo
::Laura Dern
::a random junk trader
::that one droid from the Jawa Sandcrawler that says ''Gonk''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] 
[[Category:Programming]]

2243: Star Wars Spoiler Generator

2024-06-08T23:44:25Z

Adrmcr: /* Table */ (sequel trilogy has been complete since 2019)

{{comic
| number = 2243
| date = December 18, 2019
| title = Star Wars Spoiler Generator
| image = star wars spoiler generator.png
| titletext = The heroes seem to be gaining the upper hand until Darth Juul manages to flip the switch on the car wash control panel from 'REGULAR' to 'PREMIUM.'
}}

==Explanation==
On December 20, 2019 (2 days after the publication of this comic), the final movie of the "Skywalker saga" of ''Star Wars'' films, ''{{w|Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker}}'', was officially released to the US. It received a world premiere in Los Angeles on December 16, so there are lots of spoilers online, and also lots of people who want to avoid spoilers. [[Randall]] has created a flowchart that generates "spoilers" to the film, but as he probably has not seen the film (or, if he has, he doesn't actually want to spoil it for us), all of the so-called spoilers are nonsensical.

The formula for each spoiler is as follows: "In this Star Wars movie, our heroes return to take on the First Order and new villain '''[villain name]''' with help from their new friend '''[friend name]'''. Rey builds a new lightsaber with a '''[color]''' blade, and they head out to confront the First Order's new superweapon, the '''[superweapon name]''', a space station capable of '''[evil plan]'''. They unexpectedly join forces with their old enemy '''[character]''' and destroy the superweapon in a battle featuring '''[strange event]'''. P.S. Rey's parents are '''[character]''' and '''[character]'''".

The {{w|First Order (Star Wars)|First Order}} is the main antagonist group in the ''Star Wars'' {{w|Star Wars sequel trilogy|sequel trilogy}} series. In ''{{w|Star Wars: The Force Awakens}}'', they use a superweapon in their base, Starkiller Base, to destroy the planetary system housing the headquarters of the {{w|New Republic (Star Wars)|New Republic}}, the democratic government which was formed after the {{w|Galactic Empire (Star Wars)|Empire}}'s defeat in ''{{w|Return of the Jedi}}''.

"Building a {{w|lightsaber}}" is one of the rites of passage for becoming a {{w|Jedi}} Knight. In the {{w|Star Wars prequel trilogy|prequel trilogy}}, new Jedi build lightsabers as an official part of the journey towards Knighthood, and in the {{w|Star Wars Trilogy|original trilogy}}, {{w|Luke Skywalker}} builds a lightsaber between ''The Empire Strikes Back'' and ''Return of the Jedi'' as part of his training with {{w|Yoda}}. {{w|Rey (Star Wars)|Rey}} has used the lightsaber that {{w|Darth Vader|Anakin Skywalker}} made and used (which Luke also used when he was a new Jedi) for the first two movies of the sequel trilogy, and so it would be thematically appropriate for her to build her own prior to the trilogy's final entry. Most Jedi's lightsabers are either blue or green, with a few notable exceptions (e.g. {{w|Mace Windu}}'s purple lightsaber, which was chosen because purple is a cool color). Kyber crystals are aligned with the Light Side of {{w|the Force}}, so {{w|Sith}} must overpower and "bleed" their crystals before they will function for them, which causes their distinctive red color. Having a lightsaber of a color other than blue, green, or red is often seen in the ''Star Wars'' fandom as a sign of being a "{{tvtropes|MarySue|Mary Sue}}", which is an accusation which has been made of Rey.<ref>Though often disputed. See [https://collider.com/rey-not-mary-sue-star-wars/ this article] for more information on both viewpoints.</ref>

Another common plot point in ''Star Wars'' media is the construction, use, and destruction of a superweapon. These are inspired by stories and media of World War II, in which militaries rapidly developed novel technologies and weapons (including {{w|Wunderwaffe|"wonder-weapons"}}). Meanwhile, they launched massive operations to find, attack, and destroy critical elements of their enemies' resources and infrastructure, and constructed elaborate defenses for their own. The attack on the {{w|Death Star}} in particular is inspired by {{w|Operation Chastise}}, the "bouncing bomb" attack on Germany's hydroelectric power plants; Operation Chastise was dramatised in the {{w|The Dam Busters (book)|1951 book}} and {{w|The Dam Busters (film)|1955 film}} ''The Dam Busters'', which was [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNdb03Hw18M very thoroughly homaged] by ''A New Hope''. The original trilogy of movies only had two Death Stars, but superweapons quickly became a staple of the {{w|Star Wars expanded to other media|Expanded Universe}} fiction, to the point that one book had {{w|Han Solo}} make fun of the Empire's tendency towards building superweapons, proposing such ridiculous names as "Galaxy Destructor" and "Nostril of Palpatine". Superweapons are also common in superhero stories.

Redemption and making allies of old enemies is also a common plot point in ''Star Wars''. Anakin Skywalker fell to the Dark Side and became Darth Vader, but eventually returned to the Light Side to protect his son, and Han Solo was initially a morally ambiguous character who was eventually convinced to join the Rebellion.

Rey, one of the main characters in the sequel trilogy series is an orphan, who was left behind on the planet Jakku as a child. As Rey is Force-sensitive and adept at using a lightsaber, there is much speculation among Star Wars fans as to the identity of her parents. Many major characters in ''Star Wars'' have unexpected heritages of great portent, most famously Luke, who was very distressed to learn that Darth Vader did not ''kill'' his father, as Obi-Wan had told him, but ''is'' his father. In ''{{w|Star Wars: The Last Jedi}}'', villain {{w|Kylo Ren}} tells her that she is the child of "filthy junk traders", but many fans speculate that he was lying to her.

The title text refers to the bottom option of the [strange event in battle] section. Apparently Lord Juul (or Darth Juul) is fighting the heroes in the Sith car wash. It is unclear what "flipping the switch" from Regular to Premium would do, but it seems to be beneficial to Darth Juul. A "premium" car wash usually has more features than a regular car wash, e.g. more cleaning brushes, waxing the car, cleaning the tires, etc., so perhaps the premium mode activates additional lightsabers.

This is the second false fact generating comic, after [[1930: Calendar Facts]].

==Table==
{| class="wikitable"
! Entry
! Explanation
|-
! colspan="2" | New villain
|-
| Kyle Ren
| Kyle Ren is one letter away from {{w|Kylo Ren|''Kylo'' Ren}}, the adopted "Sith name" of Ben Solo, son of Han and Leia Solo. Kylo is one of the antagonists in all three movies in the sequel trilogy, but there's nobody in the films named "Kyle". (There are a handful of ''Legends'' characters named Kyle, most famously Kyle Katarn, protagonist of the ''Star Wars: Jedi Knight'' video game series.)
|-
| {{w|Malloc}}
| Malloc is a function used in the C programming language to '''alloc'''ate more '''m'''emory in the running of a program. Malloc may sound similar to {{w|Darth Malak|Malak}}, the antagonist of the ''{{w|Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic}}'' video game. Improper use of the malloc and free functions can cause "memory leak" bugs in programs.
|-
| Darth Sebelius
| {{w|Sebelius}} is the last name of several people.
* {{w|Kathleen Sebelius}} is a former state representative and governor of Kansas who was Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services under President Obama. Sebelius was the named party in a {{w|National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius|Supreme Court case}} that upheld the provisions of the {{w|Affordable Care Act}} ("Obamacare"). The naming of Sebelius as a villain may reference the fact that the ACA has been controversial among certain groups.
* {{w|Jean Sibelius}} is a renowned Finnish composer. {{w|Sibelius (scorewriter)|Sibelius}} is also the name of a piece of music software.
Randall may have chosen this surname as it sounds similar to {{w|Darth Sidious}}, the overarching villain in the first 6 Star Wars films, who is rumored to return in the upcoming film.
|-
| {{w|Theranos}}
| Theranos was a medical technology company founded by {{w|Elizabeth Holmes}} which claimed to have developed revolutionary blood tests that could produce more data from limited volumes of blood than ever before. They were eventually found to have engaged in fraudulent activity, having tricked investors into thinking their technology was performing better than it actually was or ever could, which resulted in fines for Holmes and Theranos president {{w|Ramesh Balwani}} and the bankruptcy of Theranos. Theranos also sounds similar to {{w|Thanos}}, the main villain of the Infinity Saga in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
|-
| Lord Juul
| {{w|Juul}} is a brand of e-cigarettes. In addition to the broader controversy surrounding electronic cigarettes, Juul has been investigated for its sale of flavored additives for their cigarettes, which are alleged to be particularly attractive to minors. Juul is reminiscent of the "uu" in the names for clones {{w|Joruus C'baoth}} and {{w|Luuke Skywalker}} in {{w|Star Wars Legends|''Star Wars'' Legends}} stories, thus implying Lord Juul is a clone of a character named Jul. ''{{w|Yule|Jul}}'' is the Scandinavian name for the midwinter holidays, which fits as the comic appeared within the Yule season of 2019.
|-
! colspan="2" | New friend
|-
| Kim Spacemeasurer
| May be a parody of the name {{w|Luke Skywalker}}, one of the main characters in the original trilogy of films. Other "Nounverber" names in ''Star Wars'' include Starkiller, Luke's original last name which was later applied to Starkiller Base in ''The Force Awakens'', and Biggs Darklighter, Luke's childhood friend and fellow Rebel pilot who died in the attack on the original Death Star. Also note another Star Wars comic posted a few weeks before this one, [[2229: Rey and Kylo]], which shows those characters actually deciding to measure properties of space.
|-
| Teen Yoda
| {{w|The Child (Star Wars character)|The Child}}, commonly called "Baby Yoda" by fans and the media, is a breakout character from the Disney+ series ''{{w|The Mandalorian}}''. Randall envisions a "teenage" version of this character teaming up with the main characters. This may be in analogy to Groot in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, who appeared as an adult, then child, then teen, or other adaptations of original characters like the Teen Titans.
|-
| Dab Tweetdeck
| A {{w|Dab (dance)|dab}} is a dance move which is many decades old but was made popular by that name in the late 2010's. {{w|TweetDeck}} is an application for managing Twitter accounts. Taken together, "Dab Tweetdeck" could be a character name proposed by clueless Disney executives to attract "the kids" to see ''The Rise of Skywalker'', although one would think that this name would be heavily promoted and thus not a spoiler in that case.
Tweetdeck sounds similar to twi'lek, one of the humanoid alien races in Star Wars, who often are employed as dancers.
|-
| Yaz Progestin
| Yaz sounds like the first name of {{w|Maz Kanata}}, a supporting protagonist in the sequel trilogy. Yaz is a medication which contains {{w|Progestin}}, which imitates the effects of {{w|progesterone}}, a female sex hormone. It is used for purposes including birth control and acne treatment.
|-
| TI-83
| Droids in the Star Wars universe typically have names with letters and numbers, such as R2-D2, C-3PO, BB-8, etc. Randall has created a new character called "TI-83". In real life, the {{w|TI-83}} is a model of graphing calculator manufactured by {{w|Texas Instruments}} that is commonly used in American high schools. This mirrors the origin of the name "R2-D2", which was inspired when Lucas was working on ''{{w|American Graffiti}}'' and was asked for Reel 2, Dialog Track 2, which was abbreviated "R-2-D-2". He remarked that it would be a "great name" and included it in his then-in-development script for ''Star Wars''.
|-
! colspan="2" | Lightsaber colors
|-
| [beige/ochre/mauve/aquamarine/taupe]
| These are different colors, none of which is a "traditional" color for a lightsaber. {{w|Beige}} is a pale-grayish yellow. {{w|Ochre}} is a clay earth pigment ranging from yellow to deep orange or brown. {{w|Mauve}} is a pale purple color. A purple color has been used for a lightsaber in the prequel trilogy series, by Jedi Master {{w|Mace Windu}}. {{w|Aquamarine (color)|Aquamarine}} is a blueish green color. {{w|Taupe}} is a dark brown color between brown and gray.
|-
! colspan="2" | Superweapon names
|-
| Sun Obliterator
| There was an Expanded Universe superweapon called the "Sun Crusher", which would infiltrate a star system and shoot a special torpedo into the star to make it go supernova. May also be a reference to one of the doodles from What If?.
|-
| Moonsquisher
| There were no ''Star Wars'' superweapons with the word "Moon" in their title (or "squisher"), but in the no-longer-canon ''New Jedi Order'' series, Chewbacca was squished ''by'' a moon that was intentionally de-orbited by invading Yuuzhan Vong.
|-
| World Eater
| Possibly a reference to {{w|Alduin}}, the main villain of the popular game {{w|The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim}}. In the Expanded Universe, the Empire used World Devastators, massive machines that would strip-mine planets with tractor beams and make weapons and spacecraft from the extracted resources. Another possible reference is to the {{w|The Doomsday Machine (Star_Trek: The Original Series)|Planet Eater}} doomsday machine from the original Star Trek series. A further possible reference is to the World Eaters space marine legion from {{w|Warhammer 40,000}} franchise. Or a world eater redstone contraption from Minecraft. Or the boss for the Corruption biome in Terraria. Or Jörmungandr. There are a lot of things that this could be referring to.
|-
| Planet Zester
| A {{w|zester}} is a cooking tool for zesting citrus fruit, that is, scraping off the outer layer of a citrus fruit to obtain the flavorful outer layer of its skin. Zesting a planet would be devastating to anything built or living on its surface.
|-
| Superconducting supercollider
| A {{w|supercollider}}, or particle accelerator, is a machine used to accelerate charged particles to very high speeds, for testing in particle physics. The {{w|Superconducting Super Collider}} was a proposed accelerator which was to be constructed in Texas, but was cancelled partway through construction. There has been some minor controversy over the {{w|safety of high-energy particle collision experiments}}, which could theoretically produce black holes, {{w|strangelets}}, or other doomsday scenarios, but all scientific examination of the energies involved has shown that all currently-existing and planned particle accelerators pose no threats. So far, the Earth has not been destroyed by any particle accelerator.{{Citation needed}}
|-
! colspan="2" | Station capabilities
|-
| blowing up a planet with a bunch of beams of energy that combine into one
| This is how the {{w|Death Star}} was depicted in ''{{w|Star Wars: A New Hope}}''. Many beams converged together to form one energy beam. The superweapon was used to destroy the planet Alderaan, as a way to intimidate Princess Leia.
|-
| blowing up a bunch of planets with one beam of energy that splits into many
| This is how the superweapon on Starkiller Base was depicted in ''{{w|Star Wars: The Force Awakens}}''. A single energy beam split into several beams, allowing it to attack many planets. The superweapon was used to destroy the planets in the Hosnian system, the headquarters of the New Republic.
|-
| cutting a planet in half and smashing the halves together like two cymbals
| Jango Fett's "seismic charge" weapon, which he used in a dogfight against Obi-Wan Kenobi in ''Attack of the Clones'', produced a plane wave that cut asteroids in half; presumably a larger weapon of this kind could do the same to a planet.
|-
| increasing the CO2 levels in a planet's atmosphere, causing rapid heating
| This is a reference to {{w|climate change}} currently occurring on planet Earth. The {{w|Scientific consensus on climate change|overwhelming consensus among climate scientists}} is that this is that this shift is caused by human factors, such as the burning of fossil fuels releasing ancient carbon sources into the air as carbon dioxide, and mass deforestation reducing the number of trees converting the carbon dioxide into sugars and cellulose. Climate change has been addressed repeatedly by the comic before, including [[164: Playing Devil's Advocate to Win]], [[1321: Cold]], [[1379: 4.5 Degrees]], and [[1732: Earth Temperature Timeline]].
This seems to have occurred on the planet {{w|Venus}}. Venus' atmosphere is 97% carbon dioxide, and it is also the hottest planet in the Solar System, due to a greenhouse effect, preventing the planet from cooling.
|-
| triggering the end credits before the movie is done
| The {{w|closing credits}} or end credits of a film is the list of cast and crew who were involved in the making of the film. It would be quite strange to show the end credits of the film before it has concluded, although it is one of the {{tvtropes|CreditsGag|types of credits gag}} used in other media. This entry is considerably less damaging to a planet{{Citation needed}} than the other 4 entries in this section, but if early audiences are left unsatisfied by the movie, they might tell everyone else not to see it, which would put the ''Star Wars'' franchise in a perilous financial situation. This would negatively impact the villains as well as the heroes, but they might consider this a worthwhile trade if it is their best option at harming the heroes. This option may be a reference to exploiting a glitch to trigger a [https://youtu.be/Jf9i7MjViCE credit warp] in games such as Super Mario World. This may also be a reference to the Netflix interactive movie "Bandersnatch" in which certain choices triggered the end of the movie and caused it to start the credits.
|-
! colspan="2" | Old enemy/new friend
|-
| {{w|Boba Fett}}
| Boba Fett is a famous bounty hunter introduced in the ''{{w|Star Wars Holiday Special}}'' and made popular by ''{{w|The Empire Strikes Back}}''. On the Empire's orders, he helped capture Han Solo as part of a plot to capture Luke Skywalker. He later tried to prevent Luke from rescuing Han, but was knocked into a sarlacc pit, where he was presumed eaten. In the Expanded Universe, he survived and did eventually join the protagonists against extragalactic invaders; his survival has not been confirmed by Disney's new canon, but he would be a plausible character to bring back in ''The Rise of Skywalker''. A Mandalorian (not Boba Fett, but a bounty hunter using body-armour  from the same planet) is featured in the new Disney+ series, ''The Mandalorian''.
|-
| [[wikia:w:c:starwars:Salacious B. Crumb|Salacious Crumb]]
| Salacious B. Crumb is a Kowakian monkey-lizard who was Jabba the Hutt's jester. He wasn't exactly a major adversary, but he did pull one of C-3PO's eyes out. He was last seen on Jabba the Hutt's sail barge, which was made to explode after Han, Luke, and the rest of the heroes escaped from it, and is presumed dead.
|-
| [[wikia:w:c:starwars:Exogorth|The Space Slug]]
| In ''The Empire Strikes Back'', Han Solo pilots the Millennium Falcon into a giant cave to evade pursuit and get time to effect repairs. He is interrupted when the cave turns out to be the mouth of a giant space slug, which the Falcon barely escapes. A giant space slug might be a powerful ally in a battle against a giant space station.
|-
| The bottom half of {{w|Darth Maul}}
| Darth Maul was cut in half by Obi-Wan Kenobi at the end of ''The Phantom Menace''. His "upper half", attached to mechanical legs, has returned as a villain in the ''Clone Wars'' TV series and ''{{w|Solo: A Star Wars Story|Solo}}''. Given that Maul was a Sith and Kenobi a Jedi, who trained Luke, who trained Rey, it would be extremely unexpected for his "bottom half" to join forces with the heroes, although presumably his bottom half would have to be attached to something, which might be better disposed towards Jedi.
If Darth Maul's bottom half did join the heroes, they might aid the heroes by using [[wikia:w:c:starwars:Force kick|force kicks]].
|-
| YouTube commenters
| The sequel trilogy has received more mixed reviews from watchers than Disney might like, and many vocal non-fans have taken to commenting on YouTube (via videos and comments) on what they don't like about the new movies and new characters. If ''The Rise of Skywalker'' fully wins the crowd, an alliance between the heroes and their former critics would be extremely powerful, but with Rotten Tomatoes showing a critics' aggregate score of [https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/star_wars_the_rise_of_skywalker/ less than 60%] ("rotten"), it's going to be an uphill battle.
|-
! colspan="2" | Battle feature
|-
| a bow that shoots little lightsaber-headed arrows
| May be a reference to the [[wikia:w:c:starwars:Bowcaster|bowcaster]], a laser crossbow weapon used by the Wookie {{w|Chewbacca}}. It is unclear if the lightsaber-headed arrows are actually lightsabers in itself, as they would seem difficult to produce (as opposed to the Death Star, or even a bunch of sword versions of the arrow).
|-
| X-Wings and TIE fighters dodging the giant letters of the opening crawl
| The {{w|Star Wars opening crawl|"opening crawl"}} is a signature motif used in all the main Star Wars films, to explain the backstory and context of each film. {{w|X-Wing}}s and {{w|TIE fighter}}s are fighter-type spaceships used by the Rebels (and Resistance later on) and the Empire (and First Order), respectively. A dogfight scene during the opening crawl would involve {{w|Fourth wall|breaking the fourth wall}}, as the opening crawl is not presumed to be part of the universe of the films (except when so parodied, such as in {{w|Airplane II: The Sequel}}).
|-
| a Sith educational display that uses Force lightning to demonstrate the dielectric breakdown of air
| [[wikia:w:c:starwars:Force lightning|Force lightning]] is a power that Force users can use to generate electric energy from the user's hands. It was first used in ''Return of the Jedi'' by Emperor Palpatine (Darth Sidious) when Luke Skywalker refuses to give in to the dark side of the Force. Palpatine attempts to kill Luke with Force lightning, but Darth Vader saves Luke by throwing Palpatine down a reactor chute. Palpatine also used Force Lightning on Mace Windu and Yoda during their battles at the end of ''Revenge of the Sith''. None of these uses of Sith lightning were intended to be educational on the nature of {{w|lightning}}, although they could have been very educational on the pain, cruelty, and "unlimited power!" offered by the Dark Side of the Force. This might also be a reference to [[wikia:w:c:starwars:Sith holocron|Sith holocron]] — a device to store Force-related information and secrets, possibly. Possibly also a reference to [[2229: Rey and Kylo]]
|-
| Kylo Ren putting on another helmet over his smaller one
| Kylo Ren is famous for wearing his helmet in ''The Force Awakens'', which he styled after Darth Vader's helmet. Putting on another helmet over it would require a comically large helmet that might be compared to Dark Helmet, a character from the parody film ''{{w|Spaceballs}}'' who parodies Darth Vader.
|-
| a Sith car wash where the bristles on the brushes are little lightsabers
| This may be a reference to some reactions to Kylo Ren's "lightcrossguards". In-universe, his lightsaber is said to contain a Kyber crystal of unusual power and instability, which produces excess energy that must be vented through side channels. However, many watchers found it ridiculous to present a lightsaber that appeared to have little lightsabers sticking out of it, and produced [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/crossguard-lightsaber fanart] accordingly.
While an unexpected car wash finale scene seems unlikely, it is not without precedent in cinema; ''{{w|Adolescence of Utena}}'' featured the title character unexpectedly entering a car wash and transforming into a car (followed by a segue into a car race sequence).
George Lucas, the originator of Star Wars also wrote the movie "American Graffiti," which featured cars prominently. A subsequent movie "Car Wash," has been seen as a commentary on or imitation of "American Graffiti." Including a Sith car wash might reference the relation between these two films.[https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/25/movies/streaming-car-wash.html ‘Car Wash,’ a Raunchy 1970s Comedy Brimming With Meta and Mayhem].
|-
! colspan="2" | Rey's parent #1
|-
| {{w|Luke Skywalker|Luke}}
| Luke Skywalker is the main character of the original Star Wars films. Of all of the characters presented here, he is the one with the greatest likelihood of being Rey's father. When Maz gave Rey Luke's lightsaber, she said "[t]hat lightsaber was Luke's, and his father's before him, and now, it calls to you." Luke does not seem to recognize Rey as his child (or as anybody in particular), but Darth Vader did not recognize Luke or Leia as his children -- and indeed did not know that he had any living children -- until they were grown. However, unlike Anakin Skywalker, or the Luke Skywalker from the pre-Disney Expanded Universe, no canon materials have presented anyone with whom Luke has fallen in love or fathered a child.
|-
| {{w|Princess Leia|Leia}} and {{w|Han Solo|Han}}
| Princess Leia and Han Solo are the other main characters of the original Star Wars films. It is unlikely that Leia or Han are Rey's parents as they did not seem to recognize Rey in any of the sequel trilogy films, nor is there any indication that they have had more than one child (Ben Solo, AKA Kylo Ren).
|-
| {{w|Obi-Wan Kenobi|Obi-Wan}}
| Obi-Wan Kenobi was one of the main characters in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. He, along with Qui-Gon Jinn, discovered Anakin Skywalker, who later became Darth Vader. Kenobi dies at the second act of ''Star Wars: A New Hope'', sacrificing himself to allow Luke, Leia, and Han to escape the Death Star. Marriage and parenthood were forbidden by the Jedi Order, and Obi-Wan generally adhered to the Order's rules more closely than Anakin did; Obi-Wan did feel some mutual romantic attraction with Duchess Satine of Mandalore, but they both chose to remain in their respective organizations rather than pursue a relationship. Also, Obi-Wan stopped having a physical form decade before Rey was conceived.
|-
| a random junk trader
| This is who Kylo Ren claims that Rey is descended from: worthless, random junk traders.
|-
! colspan="2" | Rey's parent #2
|-
| {{w|Poe Dameron|Poe}}
| Poe Dameron is one of the main characters of the Star Wars sequel trilogy. He is a pilot in the Resistance. He is only 13 years older than Rey, and thus is most likely not her father.
|-
| {{w|BB-8}}
| BB-8 is an astromech droid owned by Poe Dameron. It is unlikely that Rey is descended from a (non-living) droid, [https://youtu.be/aanyjLmB1Bs?t=1810 Alan Dean Foster's treatment of Episode IX aside].
|-
| [ {{w|Amilyn Holdo}} /{{w|Laura Dern}}]
| Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo, portrayed by Laura Dern, was a leader in the Resistance. She dies at the end of ''The Last Jedi'', sacrificing herself by jumping to light speed straight into the First Order's pursuing starship. Randall presents both Admiral Holdo, the character, and Laura Dern, the actress, as separate options for Rey's mother, but the former is not supported by any story material and the latter is impossible (Dern is alive here and now, not "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away").
|-
| a random junk trader
| (see above)
|-
| that one droid from the Jawa Sandcrawler that says ''Gonk''
| This is [[wikia:w:c:starwars:GNK power droid|a droid]] from ''Star Wars: A New Hope'' that says "Gonk". As in the BB-8 entry, it is unlikely that Rey is descended from a droid.
|-
|}

Following the release of ''The Rise of Skywalker'', we can conclude that the correct version of the spoiler would read as follows:

In this Star Wars movie, our heroes return to take on the First Order and new villain... '''Darth Sidious''' (i.e. Emperor Palpatine, who is said to have "somehow" returned) ...with help from their new friend... '''D-O''' (a droid who turns out to have vital information). Rey builds a new lightsaber with a... '''yellow''' blade (although this blade is not actually completed until the end of the movie), and they head out to confront the First Order's new superweapon, the... '''Final Order''' ...a ''fleet of spacecraft'' capable of... '''blowing up a bunch of planets with a bunch of beams of energy''' (one from each Star Destroyer). They unexpectedly join forces with their old enemy... '''General Armitage Hux and Kylo Ren/Ben Solo''' ...and destroy the superweapon in a battle featuring... '''a storm of Force lightning'''. P.S. Rey's parents are... '''a random junk trader''' ...and... '''a random junk trader, who is a clone-son of Emperor Palpatine'''.

==Transcript==
:<big>Star Wars Spoiler Generator</big>

:[Shown below is a branching flowchart of sorts that begins at the phrase "In this Star Wars movie, our heroes return to take on the First Order and new villain...", then flows through various paths to build up a story.]

:In this Star Wars movie, our heroes return to take on the First Order and new villain...
::Kyle Ren
::Malloc
::Darth Sebelius
::Theranos
::Lord Juul

:...with help from their new friend...
::Kim Spacemeasurer
::Teen Yoda
::Dab Tweetdeck
::Yaz Progestin
::TI-83

:Rey builds a new lightsaber with a...
::beige
::ochre
::mauve
::aquamarine
::taupe

:...blade, and they head out to confront the First Order's new superweapon, the...
::Sun Obliterator
::Moonsquisher
::World Eater
::Planet Zester
::Superconducting Supercollider

:...a space station capable of...
::blowing up a planet with a bunch of beams of energy that combine into one
::blowing up a bunch of planets with one beam of energy that splits into many
::cutting a planet in half and smashing the halves together like two cymbals
::increasing the CO2 levels in a planet's atmosphere, causing rapid heating
::triggering the end credits before the movie is done

:They unexpectedly join forces with their old enemy...
::Boba Fett
::Salacious Crumb
::The Space Slug
::the bottom half of Darth Maul
::Youtube commenters

:...and destroy the superweapon in a battle featuring
::a bow that shoots little lightsaber-headed arrows
::X-Wings and TIE fighters dodging the giant letters of the opening crawl
::a Sith educational display that uses Force Lightning to demonstrate the dielectric breakdown of air
::Kylo Ren putting on another helmet over his smaller one
::a Sith car wash where the bristles on the brushes are little lightsabers

:P.S. Rey's parents are...
::Luke
::Leia
::Han
::Obi-Wan
::a random junk trader

:...and...
::Poe
::BB-8
::Amilyn Holdo
::Laura Dern
::a random junk trader
::that one droid from the Jawa Sandcrawler that says ''Gonk''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] 
[[Category:Programming]]

2250: OK/okay/ok

2024-05-10T19:52:35Z

Adrmcr: added Category:Comics with lowercase text to the page

{{comic
| number = 2250
| date = January 3, 2020
| title = {{{1|OK/okay/ok}}}
| image = {{{2|ok okay ok.png}}}
| titletext = {{{3|After changing it back and forth several times and consulting with internet linguist Gretchen McCulloch, I settled on "ok" in my book How To, but I'm still on the fence. Maybe I should just switch to "oK."}}}
}}

==Explanation==
This comic states how you 'sound' (as the typical narrative voice in your readers' collective heads) based on how you spell the word "OK" in your text. The word "{{w|OK}}", per Wikipedia, "is an American English word denoting approval, acceptance, agreement, assent, acknowledgment, or a sign of indifference." {{w|List of proposed etymologies of OK|Many etymologies}} have been proposed to explain its origin. The Oxford English Dictionary and most other modern dictionaries say that it began in 1839 as "O.K.", a fanciful abbreviation for "oll korrect" (all correct).

According to [[Randall Munroe|Randall]], modern usage is to either have both letters in lowercase "ok", or the expression as a single word, with the sounds spelled phonetically: "okay". Using OK with both capital letters is kind of old, as the expression is almost never thought of as an abbreviation anymore. The original spelling of the word as "O.K." with periods after the letters is less commonly used in modern times, so Randall equates this usage to "an alien impersonating a human". (See for instance the last picture in this comic, [[1530: Keyboard Mash]] for who might use that spelling).

The title text mentions [[Gretchen McCulloch]], a Canadian Internet linguist. She focuses on trends in use of English words in online communications. Randall claims that he consulted with her on the use of "ok" in his book ''[[How To]]'' and after changing back and forth between different options he settles for "ok". But he is still unsure which version to use, and claims he is now considering switching to "oK.", a strange spelling that [[:Category:Compromise|"compromises"]] between the three abbreviations, having one lowercase letter, one capital letter, and only one period. And ending the sentence with an abbreviation with a period inside the quotation marks also makes it uncertain if he means "oK" or "oK." as that can be debated. This was most likely on purpose knowing Randall's love for grammar rule and spelling. It is of course debated in this explanation's discussion.

==Transcript==
:[Four different ways to write the word "okay" are presented with a caption below each version.]
:'''okay'''
:Normal

:'''ok'''
:Normal

:'''OK'''
:Kind of old

:'''O.K.'''
:Like an alien impersonating a human

:[Caption below the panel:]
:How your spelling of "okay" makes you sound

==Trivia==
This is the first xkcd comic featuring [[Gretchen McCulloch]].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Compromise]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] 
[[Category:Comics featuring Gretchen McCulloch]]
[[Category:How To]] 
[[Category:Book promotion]] 
[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]

2922: Pub Trivia

2024-04-19T15:29:56Z

Adrmcr: but like actually fix commenting whoops

{{comic
| number = 2922
| date = April 19, 2024
| title = Pub Trivia
| image = pub_trivia_2x.png
| imagesize = 422x666px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Bonus question: Where is London located? (a) The British Isles (b) Great Britain and Northern Ireland (c) The UK (d) Europe (or 'the EU') (e) Greater London
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a TRIVIAL BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The comic shows [[Cueball]] reading off bad trivia questions which are either confusing or don't have an answer.
The caption states that this is because he was paid to sabotage other bars that offer trivia so that people will want to go to the one that hired him.

1. Which member of {{w|BTS}} has a birthday this year?

: Problem: Multiple answers

: BTS is a {{w|K-Pop}} group. Every member would have a birthday each year. In fact, all humans have a birthday every year. (Unless you were born on leap day and trying to be pedantic.)

2. How many sides does a {{w|platonic solid}} have?

: Problem: Multiple answers

: There are five platonic solids, with 4, 6, 8, 12, or 20 faces (colloquially called sides) in {{w|Euclid|Euclidean}} {{w|Euclidean geometry|3-space}}.

:Potentially a trick question, with the correct answer being zero, since solids don't strictly have 'sides', but given the rest of the questions, this probably wasn't the intention.

3. What is the smallest lake in the world?

: Problem: Arguable

: Unknowable as there are many small bodies of water in the world, and determining which is the smallest while still being large enough to count as a {{w|lake}} is a complicated question.

4. Which Steven Spielberg movie features more shark attacks? {{w|Jaws (movie)|Jaws (1975)}} or {{w|Lincoln (movie)|Lincoln (2012)}}

: Problem: Trivial

: Jaws, as, while there is a surprisingly small amount of shark action in Jaws, there is a complete lack of such attacks in Lincoln.{{cn}}

5. How many planets were there originally?

: Problem: Ambiguous

: Question lacks context, since it doesn't define what originally means, and there is no way to know when humans first found out that the wandering stars were actually other worlds, or that Earth is a planet. And if this includes {{w|exoplanets}}, it's unknowable since we have no way of detecting these planets in ancient times.

: Or it could be trivially 0, if "originally" means when the universe first formed in the {{w|Big Bang}}.

6. What {{w|NFL}} player has scored the most points outside of a game?

: Problem: No answer

: As points are not usually scored outside of games, this is a nonsense question.

7. The {{w|Wright brothers}} built the first airplane. Who built the last one?

: Problem: Unknowable

: Since airplanes are built continuously, there is no way to know who built the last one. Alternatively, if 'the last one' means 'the last one ''ever''', then it probably hasn't been built yet.

8. Is every even number greater than 2 the sum of two primes?

: Problem: Unknowable

: This is {{w|Goldbach's conjecture|an open question}} in math.

9. Not counting {{w|Canberra}}, what city is the capital of {{w|Australia}}?

: Problem: No answer

: Nonsense question, since Australia has only one capital. Unless you count 'A'.

10. Who played the drums?

Problem: Ambiguous

Lots of people have played the drums{{cn}}, famous or not. This question needs context.

The alt-text bonus question: Where is {{w|London}} located? (a) The {{w|British Isles}} (b) {{w|Great Britain and Northern Ireland}} (c) The {{w|UK}} (d) {{w|Europe}} (or 'the {{w|EU}}') (e) Greater London

Problem: Multiple answers

All choices are technically correct as they are various geographical areas that include the city of London, England. (d) incorrectly conflates Europe, a geographical area that London is located in, with the EU, which the UK (and consequently London) has not been in since {{w|Brexit}} in 2020.

  

Many pubs have trivia nights, where patrons form teams and compete to best answer questions about a range of topics. Cueball has apparently been hired by one bar to infiltrate other bars' quiz nights and write particularly bad questions for them, which he has accomplished using different strategies. The idea is that by making the trivia nights at other pubs horrible, he will drive business to the pub that hired him.

1. Which member of BTS has a birthday this year?

Since everyone has a birthday every year (with the exception of those born on February 29), this question does not have unique answer. And since this comic was published in 2024, even the possible February 29 exception does not apply (and no BTS member was born on February 29).

2. How many sides does a Platonic solid have?

This question is ambiguous in at least two ways. First, a solid does not have "sides"; it has edges and faces. There are five Platonic solids, with 4, 6, 8, 12, and 20 faces, and 6, 12, 8, 30, and 30 edges.

3. What is the smallest lake in the world?

A lake is defined by Wikipedia as a "relatively large and fixed body of water." As there is no universal definition for how large and how fixed a body of water must be in order to qualify as a lake, this question is impossible to answer.

4. Which Steven Spielberg movie features more shark attacks - Jaws (1975) or Lincoln (2012)?

Jaws is a famous movie about a killer shark, and features at least five fatal shark attacks. Lincoln is a movie about the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and contains zero shark attacks. Unlike the previous unanswerable questions, this is a question that no reasonable person could get wrong.

5. How many planets were there originally?

The ancient Greeks named seven planets: the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Eventually, it was decided that the Earth is also a planet, and that the Sun and the Moon were not. Uranus and Neptune were eventually discovered, followed by Ceres, Vesta, Juno, and Pallas, all of which were considered planets prior to the invention of the term "asteroid". Then Pluto was discovered, and the count of "planets" stabilized at 9 until 2006, when the discovery of Kuiper Belt objects larger than Pluto led to creation of the term "dwarf planet", leaving us with 8 known planets and 5 known dwarf planets. Today there are also thousands of known exoplanets (planets that orbit stars other than the sun).
The joke here is that "originally" is so poorly defined that it could mean anywhere from 0 (the number of planets prior to formation of the solar system) to infinity (number of planets in the universe if the universe is indeed infinite).

6. What NFL player has scored the most points outside of a game?

American football has a somewhat complicated scoring system, and record keeping involves (for instance) crediting the 6 points for a touchdown to both the receiver and the passer in some situations. This question does not address any of this complexity, but adds a new level of ambiguity as the "points" a player can score outside of a game are undefined.

7. The Wright Brothers built the first airplane. Who built the last one?

It is exceedingly unlikely that the last airplane has been built, and because plane assembly is complicated, it is difficult to assess when a particular aircraft counts as complete, so this is another unanswerable question.

8. Is every even number greater than 2 the sum of two primes?

This is Goldbach's Conjecture. Mathematicians widely believe that it is true, and there is substantial numerical evidence to suggest that it is true, but there is as yet no accepted proof. The joke is that trivia questions should have clear and agreed on answers, and this question does not.

9. Not counting Canberra, what city is the capital of Australia?

Canberra is the capital of Australia. Sydney is larger and possibly more famous, so that asking the capital of Australia would be a good trivia question: people who know their capitals would respond with Canberra and less knowledgeable people would guess Sydney. Australia is divided into states
and territories, each with its own capital, but this would leave multiple equally valid answers to the question.

10. Who played the drums?

If this question asked who played the drums for a particular band or on a particular album, track, or performance, it would be an example of a good trivia question. As it is, it has many possible answers and no way to choose between them.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{comic discussion}}

2922: Pub Trivia

2024-04-19T15:28:37Z

Adrmcr: fixed incorrect commenting, but having two seperate explanations of every question is weeiird

{{comic
| number = 2922
| date = April 19, 2024
| title = Pub Trivia
| image = pub_trivia_2x.png
| imagesize = 422x666px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Bonus question: Where is London located? (a) The British Isles (b) Great Britain and Northern Ireland (c) The UK (d) Europe (or 'the EU') (e) Greater London
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a TRIVIAL BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The comic shows [[Cueball]] reading off bad trivia questions which are either confusing or don't have an answer.
The caption states that this is because he was paid to sabotage other bars that offer trivia so that people will want to go to the one that hired him.

1. Which member of {{w|BTS}} has a birthday this year?

: Problem: Multiple answers

: BTS is a {{w|K-Pop}} group. Every member would have a birthday each year. In fact, all humans have a birthday every year. (Unless you were born on leap day and trying to be pedantic.)

2. How many sides does a {{w|platonic solid}} have?

: Problem: Multiple answers

: There are five platonic solids, with 4, 6, 8, 12, or 20 faces (colloquially called sides) in {{w|Euclid|Euclidean}} {{w|Euclidean geometry|3-space}}.

:Potentially a trick question, with the correct answer being zero, since solids don't strictly have 'sides', but given the rest of the questions, this probably wasn't the intention.

3. What is the smallest lake in the world?

: Problem: Arguable

: Unknowable as there are many small bodies of water in the world, and determining which is the smallest while still being large enough to count as a {{w|lake}} is a complicated question.

4. Which Steven Spielberg movie features more shark attacks? {{w|Jaws (movie)|Jaws (1975)}} or {{w|Lincoln (movie)|Lincoln (2012)}}

: Problem: Trivial

: Jaws, as, while there is a surprisingly small amount of shark action in Jaws, there is a complete lack of such attacks in Lincoln.{{cn}}

5. How many planets were there originally?

: Problem: Ambiguous

: Question lacks context, since it doesn't define what originally means, and there is no way to know when humans first found out that the wandering stars were actually other worlds, or that Earth is a planet. And if this includes {{w|exoplanets}}, it's unknowable since we have no way of detecting these planets in ancient times.

: Or it could be trivially 0, if "originally" means when the universe first formed in the {{w|Big Bang}}.

6. What {{w|NFL}} player has scored the most points outside of a game?

: Problem: No answer

: As points are not usually scored outside of games, this is a nonsense question.

7. The {{w|Wright brothers}} built the first airplane. Who built the last one?

: Problem: Unknowable

: Since airplanes are built continuously, there is no way to know who built the last one. Alternatively, if 'the last one' means 'the last one ''ever''', then it probably hasn't been built yet.

8. Is every even number greater than 2 the sum of two primes?

: Problem: Unknowable

: This is {{w|Goldbach's conjecture|an open question}} in math.

9. Not counting {{w|Canberra}}, what city is the capital of {{w|Australia}}?

: Problem: No answer

: Nonsense question, since Australia has only one capital. Unless you count 'A'.

10. Who played the drums?

Problem: Ambiguous

Lots of people have played the drums{{cn}}, famous or not. This question needs context.

The alt-text bonus question: Where is {{w|London}} located? (a) The {{w|British Isles}} (b) {{w|Great Britain and Northern Ireland}} (c) The {{w|UK}} (d) {{w|Europe}} (or 'the {{w|EU}}') (e) Greater London

Problem: Multiple answers

All choices are technically correct as they are various geographical areas that include the city of London, England. (d) incorrectly conflates Europe, a geographical area that London is located in, with the EU, which the UK (and consequently London) has not been in since {{w|Brexit}} in 2020.


|}

This is apparently deliberate (at least on behalf of the organisers), perhaps to upset or otherwise impede groups of overconfident quizzers who would otherwise dominate any genuinely good quiz. -->

Many pubs have trivia nights, where patrons form teams and compete to best answer questions about a range of topics. Cueball has apparently been hired by one bar to infiltrate other bars' quiz nights and write particularly bad questions for them, which he has accomplished using different strategies. The idea is that by making the trivia nights at other pubs horrible, he will drive business to the pub that hired him.

1. Which member of BTS has a birthday this year?

Since everyone has a birthday every year (with the exception of those born on February 29), this question does not have unique answer. And since this comic was published in 2024, even the possible February 29 exception does not apply (and no BTS member was born on February 29).

2. How many sides does a Platonic solid have?

This question is ambiguous in at least two ways. First, a solid does not have "sides"; it has edges and faces. There are five Platonic solids, with 4, 6, 8, 12, and 20 faces, and 6, 12, 8, 30, and 30 edges.

3. What is the smallest lake in the world?

A lake is defined by Wikipedia as a "relatively large and fixed body of water." As there is no universal definition for how large and how fixed a body of water must be in order to qualify as a lake, this question is impossible to answer.

4. Which Steven Spielberg movie features more shark attacks - Jaws (1975) or Lincoln (2012)?

Jaws is a famous movie about a killer shark, and features at least five fatal shark attacks. Lincoln is a movie about the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and contains zero shark attacks. Unlike the previous unanswerable questions, this is a question that no reasonable person could get wrong.

5. How many planets were there originally?

The ancient Greeks named seven planets: the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Eventually, it was decided that the Earth is also a planet, and that the Sun and the Moon were not. Uranus and Neptune were eventually discovered, followed by Ceres, Vesta, Juno, and Pallas, all of which were considered planets prior to the invention of the term "asteroid". Then Pluto was discovered, and the count of "planets" stabilized at 9 until 2006, when the discovery of Kuiper Belt objects larger than Pluto led to creation of the term "dwarf planet", leaving us with 8 known planets and 5 known dwarf planets. Today there are also thousands of known exoplanets (planets that orbit stars other than the sun).
The joke here is that "originally" is so poorly defined that it could mean anywhere from 0 (the number of planets prior to formation of the solar system) to infinity (number of planets in the universe if the universe is indeed infinite).

6. What NFL player has scored the most points outside of a game?

American football has a somewhat complicated scoring system, and record keeping involves (for instance) crediting the 6 points for a touchdown to both the receiver and the passer in some situations. This question does not address any of this complexity, but adds a new level of ambiguity as the "points" a player can score outside of a game are undefined.

7. The Wright Brothers built the first airplane. Who built the last one?

It is exceedingly unlikely that the last airplane has been built, and because plane assembly is complicated, it is difficult to assess when a particular aircraft counts as complete, so this is another unanswerable question.

8. Is every even number greater than 2 the sum of two primes?

This is Goldbach's Conjecture. Mathematicians widely believe that it is true, and there is substantial numerical evidence to suggest that it is true, but there is as yet no accepted proof. The joke is that trivia questions should have clear and agreed on answers, and this question does not.

9. Not counting Canberra, what city is the capital of Australia?

Canberra is the capital of Australia. Sydney is larger and possibly more famous, so that asking the capital of Australia would be a good trivia question: people who know their capitals would respond with Canberra and less knowledgeable people would guess Sydney. Australia is divided into states
and territories, each with its own capital, but this would leave multiple equally valid answers to the question.

10. Who played the drums?

If this question asked who played the drums for a particular band or on a particular album, track, or performance, it would be an example of a good trivia question. As it is, it has many possible answers and no way to choose between them.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{comic discussion}}

1311: 2014

2024-04-05T11:32:02Z

Adrmcr: whoops typo

<noinclude>:''This page refers to the comic named "2014". For comic #2014, see [[2014: JWST Delays]].''</noinclude>
{{comic
| number = 1311
| date = January 1, 2014
| title = 2014
| before = [[#Explanation|↓ Skip to explanation ↓]]
| image = 2014.png
| titletext = Some future reader, who may see the term, without knowing the history of it, may imagine that it had reference to some antiquated bridge of the immortal Poet, thrown across the silver Avon, to facilitate his escape after some marauding excursion in a neighbouring park; and in some Gentleman's Magazine of the next century, it is not impossible, but that future antiquaries may occupy page after page in discussing so interesting a matter. We think it right, therefore, to put it on record in the Oriental Herald that the 'Shakesperian Rope Bridges' are of much less classic origin; that Mr Colin Shakespear, who, besides his dignity as Postmaster, now signs himself 'Superintendent General of Shakesperian Rope Bridges', is a person of much less genius than the Bard of Avon. --The Oriental Herald, 1825
}}

==Explanation==
This [[:Category:New Year|New Year comic]] is to commemorate the {{w|New Year}} by giving us a view of the coming year (2014) from the past. The comic includes many quotes from the 1800s and early 1900s that speak to a time close to 2014. Many of them are for the twenty-first century in general, and only three mention a year that would be 2014 exactly. All but one of them is a prediction, yet some of these are quotes from fictional literature, and therefore are not true predictions. Words are in boldface to highlight the relevant content in the quote. The grey or non-bold text is non-essential to the point Randall is interested in, and only to be used to understand the context of the quote.

The title text refers to a certain British officer, Mr. Colin Shakespeare, who experimented with and [http://books.google.com/books?id=aZRPAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA367 promoted the use of rope suspension bridges in India.] The reference to "The Bard of Avon" is a reference to {{w|William Shakespeare|Shakespeare (the playwright)}}, as {{w|River Avon (Warwickshire)|Avon}} is the river on which {{w|Stratford upon Avon}} is set, and is where the playwright was born and spent his youth. The author of this quote under the guise of eliminating the potential confusion that might result after decades or centuries have washed away the context, ironically and possibly vindictively, makes a point to note that the bridge is not named after the playwright, but Mr. Colin Shakespeare, whom he considers considerably less intelligent. This topic was previously covered in [[771: Period Speech]].

Two years before, another New Years comic with just the new years number as the title was released: [[998: 2012]]. But actually the content of this comic is more related to the comic coming out just before the 2012 comic: [[997: Wait Wait]], which is also a New Year comic, that took a look at what could happen in 2012, just as this one does for 2014... In 2016 another comic, with only the new year as the name theme, occurred again [[1624: 2016]]. For some reason this only seemed to happen in the even years, until [[1779: 2017]] was released, with [[1935: 2018]] being the next one.

The style of the comic is very similar to that of [[1227: The Pace of Modern Life]], which was released half a year earlier.

===Additional information===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Quote
! Author or publisher
! Year
! Years realized
! Description
|-
| "It's desirable '''every thing printed should be preserved,''' for we '''cannot now tell how useful it may become''' two centuries hence."
| Christopher Baldwin
| 1834
| Not a prediction
| A good idea. Now, with services like the Internet Archive, this can be done in an easier manner. Unfortunately, many books that were printed between the mid-19th century and the widespread usage of acid-free wood-pulp paper starting from the early 1990s are either no longer known to exist, are heavily damaged (mostly through deterioration — see {{w|slow fire}}) or are very scarce.
|-
| "I predict that a century hence the '''Canadian people''' will be '''the noblest specimens of humanity on the face of the earth'''"
| Rev John Bredin
| 1863
| Subjective
| Calling the citizens of any nation "the noblest" is difficult to quantify. Canada, in general, has a reputation as a safe, healthy and polite society, but, like any nation, they have both positive and negative qualities. The rest of the quote goes as follows: ''"all that was good in the Celt, the Saxon, the Gaul and other races, combining to form neither English, Irish, nor Welsh, but Canadians, who would take their place among the churches of Christendom and the nations of the earth."'' This religious prediction probably wasn't believed even by its author. It's only a harangue.
|-
| "In the twenty-first century '''mankind will subsist entirely upon jellies.'''"
| The Book Lover
| 1903
| Not yet, but we still have time to do so
| Concentrates, which are gelatin-like, form a large part of our food sources. Absurd if taken literally, because it would be nigh impossible to rely on only concentrates for nutrients,{{Citation needed}} but if he's talking about processed foods in general then he's not too far off the mark.
|-
| "The twenty-first century baby is destined to be rocked and cradled by electricity, warmed and coddled by electricity, perhaps fathered and mothered by electricity. '''Probably the only thing he will be left to do unaided will be to make love.'''"
| Mrs John Lane, The Fortnightly
| 1905
| 1960s–1980s
| The parameters of this prediction are fairly ambiguous. Certainly, electricity impacts nearly every aspect of modern life, from the time most children are born. While child-rearing is very much a human activity (and parents today arguably spend more time and effort on children than in past eras), electrically powered aids are everywhere. Children are indeed "rocked and cradled" in automatic swings, and "warmed and coddled" by means of electric heaters and incubators (in medical cases). In fact, most aspects of child-rearing can be aided by some electronic gadget or other. As of 2020, no children have been born without biological mothers and fathers, but the process of ''in vitro'' fertilization, in which conception is mediated by technology, has been in use since 1978. As for making love unaided, Mrs. Lane may have underestimated the implications of technology, as there are now a wide range of devices and aides, electronic and otherwise, which are designed to assist in sexual gratification, both with and without partners.
|-
| "To-day, in the city of New York, sixty-six different tongues are spoken. '''A century hence, there will probably be only one.'''"
| The American Historical Magazine
| 1907
| Not realized
| The number of languages spoken in New York City is believed to be greater than 100; some estimate as many as 800 languages are spoken there. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that in the greater New York metropolitan area, almost 7 million people speak a language other than English at home, including over 3.5 million who speak Spanish, 2 million who speak other Indo-European languages, 1 million who speak Asian or Pacific Island languages, and 300,000 who speak other languages. Also, New York City is the location of the headquarters of the United Nations, with diplomats from nearly every country in the world, and several official languages.
|-
| "I often think '''what interesting history we are making for the student of the twenty-first century.'''"
| William Carey Jones
| 1908
| 1900's–present
| Referring to the events that led to {{w|World War I}}. In 1908, {{w|Bosnian crisis|Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina}}. This led to the {{w|Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria|Sarajevo Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria}} in 1914 that is considered the starting event of the World War.
|-
| "China may be a '''great shoe market''' a decade or a century from now."
| Boot and Shoe Recorder
| 1914
| 1970's–present
| The publication in question appears only interested in footwear, while, in fact, China has become one of the world's largest economies, making it a huge consumer and producer of a full array of products. The range of "a decade or a century from now" makes for a pretty vague prediction. China didn't really qualify as a "great market" for western goods until trade barriers were removed in the 1970's. This was well over a decade from the prediction, but well under a century.
|-
| "'''We cannot settle the problem,''' and I venture the prophecy that perhaps '''a century from now this same question may be brought before some future society and discussed very much as it is tonight.'''
| Dr. Barton C. Hirst (on abortion)
| 1914
| 1914–present
| Abortion is still heavily debated. Various societies have different levels of legal regulation, social stigma, and assumed moral implications, and even within societies there is often not a clear consensus. While laws have changed heavily over the last century, and attitudes have very likely shifted, the debate has certainly not ended, and arguably hasn't substantially changed.
|-
| "By the twenty-first century '''we shall all be telepaths.'''"
| Gumbril, a character in {{w|Aldous Huxley}}'s novel ''{{w|Antic Hay}}''
| 1923
| Not realized{{Citation needed}}
| [http://books.google.com/books?id=pdXj2SZ1mT8C&pg=PA205]: "And it's my firm belief," said Gumbril Senior, adding notes to his epic, "that they [the birds] make use of some sort of telepathy, some kind of direct mind-to-mind communication between themselves. You can't watch them without coming to that conclusion." [...] "It's a faculty," Gumbril Senior went on, "we all possess, I believe. All we animals." [...] "By the twenty-first century, I believe, we shall all be telepaths. Meanwhile, these delightful birds have forestalled us."
|-
| "The physician of the twenty-first century… may even criticize the language of the times, and may find that '''some of our words have become as offensive to him as the term "lunatic" has become offensive to us.'''"
| Dr. C. Macfie Cambell
| 1924
| 1950's–present
| The word "lunatic" is still considered derogatory and because of that it would never be used in a clinical sense. He correctly predicts the trajectory of terms like "{{w|mentally retarded}}", itself adopted by his day to replace earlier terms for the intellectually disabled, such as "moron" and "imbecile", which had become pejorative. Soon enough the word "retard" joined them in that regard, and it has now largely been abandoned as a medical term. This cycle is a common one, known as (among other things) the "{{w|euphemism treadmill}}".
|-
| "Historians of the twenty-first century will look back with well-placed scorn on the '''shallow-minded days''' of the early twentieth century '''when football games and petting parties were considered the most important elements of a college education.'''"
| Mary Eileen Ahern, Library Bureau
| 1926
| Subjective
| This item is likely included somewhat sardonically, because an emphasis on college athletics and wild parties remains an important part of the college experience for many people, and that emphasis is likely at least as common as it was 90 years ago, and probably condemned less often. They're not considered "the most important elements" by most people, either now or then, but many students consider them to be an essential part of being in college. There's little to no evidence that college students have become more studious or less inclined to have fun over the last century.
|-
| "'''In the year A.D. 2014''' journalists will be writing on the centenary of the great war — '''that is, if there has not been a greater war.'''"
| F.J.M, The Journalist
| 1934
| 2014 and 1939 respectively
| At the time of this prediction, {{w|World War I}} was generally referred to as "The Great War". Five years after this prediction was made, {{w|World War II}} began, tragically fulfilling the condition of "a greater war". As bloody and brutal as World War I was, World War II was worse, by almost every possible metric. Journalists definitely wrote articles about World War I on its anniversary, and the war is still remembered and studied, but it has very certainly been overshadowed in most of the world by the "greater war".
|}

==Transcript==
:(This is a series of quotes from various people of various timeframes. Each quote is followed by the author, the document of publication if applicable, and the year.)

:'''Notes from the past'''

:It's desirable '''every thing printed should be preserved,''' for we '''cannot now tell how useful it may become''' two centuries hence.
::Christopher Baldwin
:::'''1834'''

:I predict that a century hence the '''Canadian people''' will be '''the noblest specimens of humanity on the face of the earth'''
::Rev. John Bredin
:::'''1863'''

:In the twenty-first century '''mankind will subsist entirely upon jellies.'''
::''The Booklover''
:::'''1903'''

:The twenty-first century baby is destined to be rocked and cradled by electricity, warmed and coddled by electricity, perhaps fathered and mothered by electricity. '''Probably the only thing he will be left to do unaided will be to make love.'''
::Mrs. John Lane, ''The fortnightly''
:::'''1905'''

:To-day, in the city of New York, sixty-six different tongues are spoken. '''A century hence, there will probably be only one.'''
::''The American Historical Magazine''
:::'''1907'''

:I often think '''what interesting history we are making for the student of the twenty-first century.'''
::Willian Carey Jones
:::'''1908'''

:China may be a '''great shoe market''' a decade or a century from now.
::''Boot and Shoe Recorder''
:::'''1914'''

:'''We cannot settle the problem,''' and I venture the prophecy that perhaps '''a century from now this same question may be brought before some future society and discussed very much as it is tonight.'''
::Dr. Barton C. Hirst on the subject of '''abortion'''
:::'''1914'''

:By the twenty-first century I believe '''we shall all be telepaths.'''
::Gumbriel, character in ''Antic Hay''
:::'''1923'''

:The physician of the twenty-first century… may even criticize the language of the times, and may find that '''some of our words have become as offensive to him as the term "lunatic" has become offensive to us.'''
::Dr. C. Macfie Campbell
:::'''1924'''

:Historians of the twenty-first century will look back with well-placed scorn on the '''shallow-minded days''' of the early twentieth century '''when football games and petting parties were considered the most important elements of a college education.'''
::Mary Eileen Ahern, ''Library Bureau''
:::'''1926'''

:'''In the year A.D. 2014''' journalists will be writing on the centenary of the great war — '''that is, if there has not been a greater war.'''
::F.J.M, ''The Journalist''
:::'''1934'''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:New Year]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:American football]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|2014]]

1311: 2014

2024-04-05T11:31:20Z

Adrmcr: /* Additional information */ (google books is less about preservation than the web archive is, so I swapped it out. revert if yall think this change is bad)

<noinclude>:''This page refers to the comic named "2014". For comic #2014, see [[2014: JWST Delays]].''</noinclude>
{{comic
| number = 1311
| date = January 1, 2014
| title = 2014
| before = [[#Explanation|↓ Skip to explanation ↓]]
| image = 2014.png
| titletext = Some future reader, who may see the term, without knowing the history of it, may imagine that it had reference to some antiquated bridge of the immortal Poet, thrown across the silver Avon, to facilitate his escape after some marauding excursion in a neighbouring park; and in some Gentleman's Magazine of the next century, it is not impossible, but that future antiquaries may occupy page after page in discussing so interesting a matter. We think it right, therefore, to put it on record in the Oriental Herald that the 'Shakesperian Rope Bridges' are of much less classic origin; that Mr Colin Shakespear, who, besides his dignity as Postmaster, now signs himself 'Superintendent General of Shakesperian Rope Bridges', is a person of much less genius than the Bard of Avon. --The Oriental Herald, 1825
}}

==Explanation==
This [[:Category:New Year|New Year comic]] is to commemorate the {{w|New Year}} by giving us a view of the coming year (2014) from the past. The comic includes many quotes from the 1800s and early 1900s that speak to a time close to 2014. Many of them are for the twenty-first century in general, and only three mention a year that would be 2014 exactly. All but one of them is a prediction, yet some of these are quotes from fictional literature, and therefore are not true predictions. Words are in boldface to highlight the relevant content in the quote. The grey or non-bold text is non-essential to the point Randall is interested in, and only to be used to understand the context of the quote.

The title text refers to a certain British officer, Mr. Colin Shakespeare, who experimented with and [http://books.google.com/books?id=aZRPAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA367 promoted the use of rope suspension bridges in India.] The reference to "The Bard of Avon" is a reference to {{w|William Shakespeare|Shakespeare (the playwright)}}, as {{w|River Avon (Warwickshire)|Avon}} is the river on which {{w|Stratford upon Avon}} is set, and is where the playwright was born and spent his youth. The author of this quote under the guise of eliminating the potential confusion that might result after decades or centuries have washed away the context, ironically and possibly vindictively, makes a point to note that the bridge is not named after the playwright, but Mr. Colin Shakespeare, whom he considers considerably less intelligent. This topic was previously covered in [[771: Period Speech]].

Two years before, another New Years comic with just the new years number as the title was released: [[998: 2012]]. But actually the content of this comic is more related to the comic coming out just before the 2012 comic: [[997: Wait Wait]], which is also a New Year comic, that took a look at what could happen in 2012, just as this one does for 2014... In 2016 another comic, with only the new year as the name theme, occurred again [[1624: 2016]]. For some reason this only seemed to happen in the even years, until [[1779: 2017]] was released, with [[1935: 2018]] being the next one.

The style of the comic is very similar to that of [[1227: The Pace of Modern Life]], which was released half a year earlier.

===Additional information===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Quote
! Author or publisher
! Year
! Years realized
! Description
|-
| "It's desirable '''every thing printed should be preserved,''' for we '''cannot now tell how useful it may become''' two centuries hence."
| Christopher Baldwin
| 1834
| Not a prediction
| A good idea. Now, with services like the Web Archive, this can be done in an easier manner. Unfortunately, many books that were printed between the mid-19th century and the widespread usage of acid-free wood-pulp paper starting from the early 1990s are either no longer known to exist, are heavily damaged (mostly through deterioration — see {{w|slow fire}}) or are very scarce.
|-
| "I predict that a century hence the '''Canadian people''' will be '''the noblest specimens of humanity on the face of the earth'''"
| Rev John Bredin
| 1863
| Subjective
| Calling the citizens of any nation "the noblest" is difficult to quantify. Canada, in general, has a reputation as a safe, healthy and polite society, but, like any nation, they have both positive and negative qualities. The rest of the quote goes as follows: ''"all that was good in the Celt, the Saxon, the Gaul and other races, combining to form neither English, Irish, nor Welsh, but Canadians, who would take their place among the churches of Christendom and the nations of the earth."'' This religious prediction probably wasn't believed even by its author. It's only a harangue.
|-
| "In the twenty-first century '''mankind will subsist entirely upon jellies.'''"
| The Book Lover
| 1903
| Not yet, but we still have time to do so
| Concentrates, which are gelatin-like, form a large part of our food sources. Absurd if taken literally, because it would be nigh impossible to rely on only concentrates for nutrients,{{Citation needed}} but if he's talking about processed foods in general then he's not too far off the mark.
|-
| "The twenty-first century baby is destined to be rocked and cradled by electricity, warmed and coddled by electricity, perhaps fathered and mothered by electricity. '''Probably the only thing he will be left to do unaided will be to make love.'''"
| Mrs John Lane, The Fortnightly
| 1905
| 1960s–1980s
| The parameters of this prediction are fairly ambiguous. Certainly, electricity impacts nearly every aspect of modern life, from the time most children are born. While child-rearing is very much a human activity (and parents today arguably spend more time and effort on children than in past eras), electrically powered aids are everywhere. Children are indeed "rocked and cradled" in automatic swings, and "warmed and coddled" by means of electric heaters and incubators (in medical cases). In fact, most aspects of child-rearing can be aided by some electronic gadget or other. As of 2020, no children have been born without biological mothers and fathers, but the process of ''in vitro'' fertilization, in which conception is mediated by technology, has been in use since 1978. As for making love unaided, Mrs. Lane may have underestimated the implications of technology, as there are now a wide range of devices and aides, electronic and otherwise, which are designed to assist in sexual gratification, both with and without partners.
|-
| "To-day, in the city of New York, sixty-six different tongues are spoken. '''A century hence, there will probably be only one.'''"
| The American Historical Magazine
| 1907
| Not realized
| The number of languages spoken in New York City is believed to be greater than 100; some estimate as many as 800 languages are spoken there. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that in the greater New York metropolitan area, almost 7 million people speak a language other than English at home, including over 3.5 million who speak Spanish, 2 million who speak other Indo-European languages, 1 million who speak Asian or Pacific Island languages, and 300,000 who speak other languages. Also, New York City is the location of the headquarters of the United Nations, with diplomats from nearly every country in the world, and several official languages.
|-
| "I often think '''what interesting history we are making for the student of the twenty-first century.'''"
| William Carey Jones
| 1908
| 1900's–present
| Referring to the events that led to {{w|World War I}}. In 1908, {{w|Bosnian crisis|Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina}}. This led to the {{w|Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria|Sarajevo Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria}} in 1914 that is considered the starting event of the World War.
|-
| "China may be a '''great shoe market''' a decade or a century from now."
| Boot and Shoe Recorder
| 1914
| 1970's–present
| The publication in question appears only interested in footwear, while, in fact, China has become one of the world's largest economies, making it a huge consumer and producer of a full array of products. The range of "a decade or a century from now" makes for a pretty vague prediction. China didn't really qualify as a "great market" for western goods until trade barriers were removed in the 1970's. This was well over a decade from the prediction, but well under a century.
|-
| "'''We cannot settle the problem,''' and I venture the prophecy that perhaps '''a century from now this same question may be brought before some future society and discussed very much as it is tonight.'''
| Dr. Barton C. Hirst (on abortion)
| 1914
| 1914–present
| Abortion is still heavily debated. Various societies have different levels of legal regulation, social stigma, and assumed moral implications, and even within societies there is often not a clear consensus. While laws have changed heavily over the last century, and attitudes have very likely shifted, the debate has certainly not ended, and arguably hasn't substantially changed.
|-
| "By the twenty-first century '''we shall all be telepaths.'''"
| Gumbril, a character in {{w|Aldous Huxley}}'s novel ''{{w|Antic Hay}}''
| 1923
| Not realized{{Citation needed}}
| [http://books.google.com/books?id=pdXj2SZ1mT8C&pg=PA205]: "And it's my firm belief," said Gumbril Senior, adding notes to his epic, "that they [the birds] make use of some sort of telepathy, some kind of direct mind-to-mind communication between themselves. You can't watch them without coming to that conclusion." [...] "It's a faculty," Gumbril Senior went on, "we all possess, I believe. All we animals." [...] "By the twenty-first century, I believe, we shall all be telepaths. Meanwhile, these delightful birds have forestalled us."
|-
| "The physician of the twenty-first century… may even criticize the language of the times, and may find that '''some of our words have become as offensive to him as the term "lunatic" has become offensive to us.'''"
| Dr. C. Macfie Cambell
| 1924
| 1950's–present
| The word "lunatic" is still considered derogatory and because of that it would never be used in a clinical sense. He correctly predicts the trajectory of terms like "{{w|mentally retarded}}", itself adopted by his day to replace earlier terms for the intellectually disabled, such as "moron" and "imbecile", which had become pejorative. Soon enough the word "retard" joined them in that regard, and it has now largely been abandoned as a medical term. This cycle is a common one, known as (among other things) the "{{w|euphemism treadmill}}".
|-
| "Historians of the twenty-first century will look back with well-placed scorn on the '''shallow-minded days''' of the early twentieth century '''when football games and petting parties were considered the most important elements of a college education.'''"
| Mary Eileen Ahern, Library Bureau
| 1926
| Subjective
| This item is likely included somewhat sardonically, because an emphasis on college athletics and wild parties remains an important part of the college experience for many people, and that emphasis is likely at least as common as it was 90 years ago, and probably condemned less often. They're not considered "the most important elements" by most people, either now or then, but many students consider them to be an essential part of being in college. There's little to no evidence that college students have become more studious or less inclined to have fun over the last century.
|-
| "'''In the year A.D. 2014''' journalists will be writing on the centenary of the great war — '''that is, if there has not been a greater war.'''"
| F.J.M, The Journalist
| 1934
| 2014 and 1939 respectively
| At the time of this prediction, {{w|World War I}} was generally referred to as "The Great War". Five years after this prediction was made, {{w|World War II}} began, tragically fulfilling the condition of "a greater war". As bloody and brutal as World War I was, World War II was worse, by almost every possible metric. Journalists definitely wrote articles about World War I on its anniversary, and the war is still remembered and studied, but it has very certainly been overshadowed in most of the world by the "greater war".
|}

==Transcript==
:(This is a series of quotes from various people of various timeframes. Each quote is followed by the author, the document of publication if applicable, and the year.)

:'''Notes from the past'''

:It's desirable '''every thing printed should be preserved,''' for we '''cannot now tell how useful it may become''' two centuries hence.
::Christopher Baldwin
:::'''1834'''

:I predict that a century hence the '''Canadian people''' will be '''the noblest specimens of humanity on the face of the earth'''
::Rev. John Bredin
:::'''1863'''

:In the twenty-first century '''mankind will subsist entirely upon jellies.'''
::''The Booklover''
:::'''1903'''

:The twenty-first century baby is destined to be rocked and cradled by electricity, warmed and coddled by electricity, perhaps fathered and mothered by electricity. '''Probably the only thing he will be left to do unaided will be to make love.'''
::Mrs. John Lane, ''The fortnightly''
:::'''1905'''

:To-day, in the city of New York, sixty-six different tongues are spoken. '''A century hence, there will probably be only one.'''
::''The American Historical Magazine''
:::'''1907'''

:I often think '''what interesting history we are making for the student of the twenty-first century.'''
::Willian Carey Jones
:::'''1908'''

:China may be a '''great shoe market''' a decade or a century from now.
::''Boot and Shoe Recorder''
:::'''1914'''

:'''We cannot settle the problem,''' and I venture the prophecy that perhaps '''a century from now this same question may be brought before some future society and discussed very much as it is tonight.'''
::Dr. Barton C. Hirst on the subject of '''abortion'''
:::'''1914'''

:By the twenty-first century I believe '''we shall all be telepaths.'''
::Gumbriel, character in ''Antic Hay''
:::'''1923'''

:The physician of the twenty-first century… may even criticize the language of the times, and may find that '''some of our words have become as offensive to him as the term "lunatic" has become offensive to us.'''
::Dr. C. Macfie Campbell
:::'''1924'''

:Historians of the twenty-first century will look back with well-placed scorn on the '''shallow-minded days''' of the early twentieth century '''when football games and petting parties were considered the most important elements of a college education.'''
::Mary Eileen Ahern, ''Library Bureau''
:::'''1926'''

:'''In the year A.D. 2014''' journalists will be writing on the centenary of the great war — '''that is, if there has not been a greater war.'''
::F.J.M, ''The Journalist''
:::'''1934'''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:New Year]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:American football]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|2014]]

2165: Millennials

2023-04-18T16:13:27Z

Adrmcr: added extra 1962: Generations link

{{comic
| number = 2165
| date = June 19, 2019
| title = Millennials
| image = millennials.png
| titletext = Ironically, I've been having these same arguments for at least a decade now. I thought we would have moved on by now, but somehow the snide complaints about millennials continue.
}}

==Explanation==

According to [[1962: Generations|the definitive chronology of generations]], {{w|millennials}} are born between 1982 and 1999. Those born in 1982 reached adulthood (18 years) in 2000. As of writing of this comic (mid 2019), this is about 20 years ago. When the term became widespread around 2012, replacing the previous term "Generation Y", the average millennial was 21 years old, so the image was popularized of millennials as "college kids". The parlance of the word in everyday usage seems to be expanding so that it now includes not just those that were originally Gen Y, but also some younger Gen Xers, as well as current teens and college kids (many of whom are actually {{w|Gen Z}}/[[1962: Generations|Generation 💅]]).

In this strip, [[White Hat]] expresses a sentiment of prejudice against millennials, claiming they aren’t prepared for “the real world.” This is a sentiment that sometimes can be found among those of older generations.
However, [[Cueball]] refutes this by saying that many millennials have been adults for almost 20 years, and those that had kids early on are taking them to college. This is due to another common misunderstanding, where the definition of “millennial” has changed so much, and expanded so often, that nobody really knows what it means anymore.

White Hat refuses to accept this, saying millennials ''are'' the college kids, to which Cueball says that maybe White Hat is the one not growing up and accepting that millennials are, in fact, adults. The title text builds on this, complaining that [[Randall]] has been having these discussions for over a decade.

The title text begins with the word "ironically," for what appears to be an entirely sincere complaint, possibly in reference to [[wikipedia:Alanis Morissette|Alanis Morissette's]] pop song "[[wikipedia:Ironic (song)|Ironic]]," which is often said to be a generation-defining hit among millennials, and which was widely criticized for misusing the word. Alternatively, Randall may simply be using "ironically" to mean "strangely".

White Hat has been similarly confused by what ages different generations are in [[973: MTV Generation]].

==Transcript==

:[White Hat and Cueball facing each other.]
:White Hat: I'm just saying–
:White Hat: All these millennials will be in for a shock when they have to grow up and enter the real world.

:[Zoom in on Cueball's head and upper body.]
:Cueball: Except...
:Cueball: "Millennials" started reaching adulthood about 20 years ago.

:[Zoom out to full view of White Hat and Cueball facing each other in a frameless panel.]
:Cueball: Which means that some millennials can't respond to your criticism because they're busy taking their kids to check out colleges.

:[White Hat and Cueball facing each other.]
:White Hat: But ...no, millennials '''are''' college kids!
:Cueball: Maybe ''they're'' not the ones failing to grow and change over time here.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics to make one feel old]]
[[Category:Kids]]

1547: Solar System Questions

2023-04-18T11:01:40Z

Adrmcr: The JUICE has now launched! This edit is to change that in this page.

{{comic
| number = 1547
| date = July 6, 2015
| title = Solar System Questions
| image = solar_system_questions.png
| titletext = My country's World Cup win was exciting and all, but c'mon, what if the players wore nylon wings and COULD LITERALLY FLY?
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a list of questions which [[Randall]] has about the Solar System, which at first glance may appear to be things that Randall would like to learn about.
In actuality, most of the questions have not been satisfactorily answered or proven by anyone in the {{w|List_of_unsolved_problems_in_physics#Astronomy_and_astrophysics|scientific community}}.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Question given
! Answer given by Randall (in red in the original)
! Comments
|-
| Why is the the Moon so blotchy?
| Lava
| The {{w|Moon}} is in synchronous rotation with Earth, which means that we always can see only one half of the surface of the Moon. And on that side we can see large {{w|lunar maria}} formed by lava from big volcanoes. This surface is very different from all other celestial bodies we know in our Solar system. The double "the the" could be a Randallism — intended or unintended.
|-
| Why are all the blotches on the near side?
| ...
| The nearside of the Moon is dominated by the blotchy 'seas' or maria, the far side by craters. {{w|Far_side_of_the_Moon#Differences|Several explanations}} for this have been proposed, including an overabundance of impacts obliterating the blotches on the more exposed far side, different compositions of heat-producing elements, large collisions, or heat produced by the still-cooling Earth.
|-
| Did Mars have seas?
| Yes (briefly?)
| Recent explorations have confirmed there was once standing (and also flowing) water on {{w|Mars}}. Many rovers and orbiters on Mars give us the evidence on this early development of that planet, but it is still unknown how long such conditions existed in its history. Two of these probes have been the subject of comics before: [[695: Spirit]] and [[1504: Opportunity]].
|-
| Was there life on Mars?
| ...
| One of the big mysteries, {{w|Life on Mars|not yet answered}}.
|-
| What's Titan like?
| Cold, yellow, lakes + rivers (methane)
| The {{w|Cassini–Huygens}} mission confirmed the presence of {{w|Lakes_of_Titan|lakes and rivers}} on {{w|Titan (moon)|Titan}}. The {{w|Huygens_(spacecraft)#Findings|Huygens}} lander itself returned some very yellow images of a dry lake bed from Titan's surface. The possibility of life on Titan was mentioned in [[829: Arsenic-Based Life]].
|-
| What was Earth like during the Hadean?
| ...
| The {{w|Hadean}} was the first geologic era on earth, the planet had just formed and not much is known of that period of Earth. But since it was the time when Earth was formed it was mainly very hot with extreme volcanic activity, with the entire surface melted. This is why the era is named after {{w|Hades}} the ancient Greek god of the underworld, even though Hades was never associated with fire.
|-
| Is the Oort Cloud a real thing?
| ...
| The {{w|Oort Cloud}} is a theoretical spherical cloud of icy planetesimals, maybe dust, and also larger objects at a distance of up to around 100,000 {{w|Astronomical units|AU}} from our Sun. We can see similar clouds at other stars, but there is still no evidence that this cloud exists in our Solar System.
|-
| Why is the Sun's corona so hot?
| Something about magnets?
| The {{w|corona}} of the sun is hotter than it theoretically should be. Tiny solar flares called {{w|nanoflares}} are responsible.
|-
| What are comets like?
| Precipitous
| The {{w|Philae (spacecraft)|Philae lander}} finally stopped moving when it ran into a cliff.
|-
| Where's Philae, exactly?
| ...
| ...but we were not sure ''which'' cliff until September 5, 2016, when the European Space Agency announced that Philae had been found and photographed by Rosetta on the previous Friday (September 2). The landing of Philae was depicted in real time in the dynamic comic [[1446: Landing]]. This lasted for several hours. Later the comic was updated with a new image where Philae is resting on the edge of a cliff.
|-
| What's Pluto like?
| rowspan="2" | [Soon!]
| rowspan="2" | {{w|Pluto}} is so far from Earth ''and'' so small that traditional telescopes couldn't discern much about it. When this comic was released, the probe {{w|New Horizons}} was eight days away from its closest approach to Pluto and its moon {{w|Charon (moon)|Charon}}; Randall was naturally excited about it. The probe was the subject of the comic [[1532: New Horizons]].
|-
| What's Charon like?
|-
| Why don't we have in-between-sized planets?
| ...
| There is a size-gap between the rocky {{w|terrestrial planets}} up to Earth size and the {{w|gas giants}} very much larger than Earth in our Solar System.
There are many known {{w|exoplanets}} (planets in other solar systems) filling in the range between our rocky planets and our gas giants, known as [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Exoplanet_Mass-Radius_Scatter_Super-Earth.png Super-Earths]
|-
| What's Ceres like?
| [Working on it!]
| The {{w|Dawn (spacecraft)|Dawn probe}} was currently exploring the {{w|dwarf planet}} {{w|Ceres (dwarf planet)|Ceres}} at the time that this comic was written and released. We now know.
|-
| Why is Europa so weird-looking and pretty?
| Ice over a water ocean
| {{w|Europa (moon)|Europa}} is a moon of {{w|Jupiter}} and the surface is basically thick pack ice covered in {{w|lineae}}.
|-
| Why is Io so weird-looking?
| Sulfur volcanoes (? in the wrong places?)
| The moon {{w|Io (moon)|Io}} is also orbiting Jupiter and is close enough that {{w|tidal forces}} make it the most volcanic object in the solar system. The moon is mainly yellow but there are several other colors on the surface, for instance spots and streaks of bright red that comes from {{w|sulfur}} ejected by the volcanoes. The "wrong places" refer to some volcanoes discovered by the {{w|Voyager program|Voyager missions}} and believed to erupt sulfur. But more recent measurements showed that the temperature inside those volcanoes is about 2.000 °C where this element is not liquid anymore but gas.
|-
| Why are so many Kuiper Belt objects red?
| ...
| Many objects in the {{w|Kuiper Belt}} have a reddish hue. A possible explanation is that they are [http://www.space.com/9418-icy-red-objects-solar-system-edge-point-life-building-blocks.html covered in organic molecules] formed by the irradiation of their surface ices. The New Horizons probe might also shed light on this.
|-
| What are those spots on Ceres?
| ...
| The Dawn probe found some mysterious spots on Ceres. These [http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA19568.jpg white spots] are still not understood, but the mission is still running and we may figure out the source of the glowing white features. These spots became the punch line of the joke in [[1476: Ceres]].
|-
| What's in the seas under Europa's ice?
| ...
| The {{w|ESA}} selected the mission {{w|Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer|Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (JUICE)}} to Jupiter. The moon Europa is one target for that mission. But we have to wait, because, even though it has already launched on 14 April 2023, its arrival at Jupiter is planned for 2031. But that's not uncommon for missions like this. New Horizons and {{w|Rosetta (spacecraft)|Rosetta}} also traveled approximately ten years to reach their targets. And before such a mission can start many preparations have to be done. {{w|2010: Odyssey Two}} is a 1982 science fiction novel by {{w|Arthur C. Clarke}} in which he envisions life under the ice on Europa. This life becomes a major plot point both in this and in the two sequels.
|-
| Which of the other moons have seas?
| Several
| Randall has already mentioned above that there are liquids on two moons. The Moon Titan at Saturn has lakes on its surface formed by liquid ethane, methane, and propane and the Jupiter's moon Europa has a sea of water covered by a thick sheet of ice. Depending on the definition of 'sea', other less obviously 'frozen water world' moons such as {{w|Ganymede (moon)|Ganymede}} at Jupiter may have {{w|Ganymede (moon)#Subsurface oceans|subsurface}} [http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27151-aurora-reveals-jupiter-moons-secret-subsurface-sea.html oceans] of liquid water and on other moons it could be other substances that are liquid at the relevant temperature, like on Titan.
|-
| What are the big white things in Titan's lakes?
| ...
| This is a joke about some gaps in the radar measurements as shown in this [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PIA10008_Seas_and_Lakes_on_Titan_full_size.jpg image].
|-
| What do Jupiter's clouds look like up close?
| ...
| The Jupiter mission {{w|Galileo (spacecraft)|Galileo}}, operated by NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), arrived at Jupiter in 1995 and was sent to impact the planet at the end of that mission in 2003 to eliminate the possibility of contaminating local moons with terrestrial bacteria. Several measurements were done on the atmosphere but no pictures were sent back to Earth. So there is still no answer on this question.
|-
| What's all that red stuff in the Great Red Spot?
| ...
| The {{w|Great Red Spot}} is a storm south of Jupiter's equator. Observations from Earth show a lifespan of more than 150 years. It's unknown why it's stable for that long a time and it's also not clear why the color is red. The probe {{w|Juno (spacecraft)|Juno}} has arrived in July 2016 at Jupiter but has not answered Randall's question.
|-
| What's pushing the Pioneer probes?
| Heat from the RTG
| Discussed as the {{w|Pioneer anomaly}}. RTG stands for {{w|Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator}}. This effect was mentioned (and explained a little differently) in the title text of [[502: Dark Flow]].
|-
| What pushes spacecraft slightly during flybys?
| ...
| Several spacecraft experienced unexplained speed increases during Earth flybys. This is called the {{w|flyby anomaly}}.
|-
| Where are all the Sun's neutrinos?
| Oscillating
| There are fewer observed electron neutrinos from the sun than the standard model predicts. This is called the {{w|Solar neutrino problem}}. Since the sum of all the neutrinos, regardless of type, that come from the sun add up to the predicted number of electron neutrinos it is theorized that neutrinos can change their type. This is called {{w|Neutrino oscillation}}, and can occur only if {{w|neutrinos}} have mass. Neutrino oscillation is considered a proof that the mass of a neutrino is non-zero. The {{w|Neutrino#Mass|mass of a neutrino}} is not yet measured and is one of the problems on the {{w|List_of_unsolved_problems_in_physics#High-energy_physics.2Fparticle_physics|list of unsolved problems in physics}} on Wikipedia.
|-
| Why is there so much air on Titan?
| ...
| {{w|Titan (moon)|Titan}} has an atmospheric pressure 1.45 times that of Earth, but only 1/7th of the surface gravity which is less than Earth's own airless Moon has, hence the confusion. In fact, Titan actually has almost 20% more atmosphere by mass than Earth, and ''seven times'' more atmosphere across a given surface area! Less influence from the more distant Sun probably helps retain more of the atmosphere's gases (for instance, Mars saw most of its atmosphere blasted away by the sun), and {{w|cryovolcanoes}} may replenish the methane fraction which should by now have ''all'' been converted into the other hydrocarbons present from subsurface reservoirs. Further studies are required to properly answer this question.
|-
| Why does the Kuiper Belt stop?
| ...
| A reference to the {{w|Kuiper Cliff}}. Most Kuiper Belt Objects are found between 42 and 48 {{w|astronomical units|AU}}; calculations predicted that there would be more and larger KBOs beyond 50 AU, but instead very few objects have been found in that region. The reason for this is still unknown.
|-
| Why is Iapetus weird-colored?
| ...
| {{w|Iapetus (moon)|Iapetus}} is a moon of {{w|Saturn}} and always keeps the same face towards Saturn. The trailing side is white while the other side is dark.
|-
| Why does Iapetus have a belt?
| ...
| Iapetus has a 13 km high ridge around most of the equator, and a number of 10-km-high mountains where the ridge is interrupted.
|-
| What's the deal with Miranda?
| ...
| {{w|Miranda_(moon)|Miranda}} is the smallest of {{w|Uranus}}' five round satellites, and it's {{w|Verona Rupes|a bit rough around the edges}} and also has an unusually high orbital inclination that is difficult to explain. Also possibly a [[Firefly|''Firefly'' reference]] since {{w|List of Firefly planets and moons#Miranda|Miranda}} is also the name of a planet in {{w|Serenity (film)|''Serenity''}}, a film based on the {{w|Firefly (TV series)|''Firefly''}} TV series.
|-
| Did Uranus and Neptune change places?
| ...
| The {{w|Nice model}} is a theory of how our solar system formed, which suggests the possibility of Uranus and {{w|Neptune}} having swapped places before reaching their current positions. Work by Professor S. Desch [http://dusty.la.asu.edu/~desch/publications/2007/Desch2007.pdf also came to this result].
|-
| Did the Late Heavy Bombardment happen?
| ...
| The {{w|Late Heavy Bombardment}} is the name given to a theorized bombardment of the planet Earth during its early history, along with the other rocky planets around the Sun. It's believed that during that time many large objects still existed and are likely to have impacted the planets. On Earth the evidence for those impacts would have been destroyed, but on the Moon or Mercury some evidence may be available.
|-
| Did life start before it?
| ...
| For some speculation on this topic, see [http://www.livescience.com/5426-life-survived-earth-early-bombardment.html Life Could Have Survived Earth's Early Bombardment]. It is still a mystery if life was formed on Earth first or if it came from outer space.
|-
| Is Europa covered in ice spikes?
| ...
|Dr Daniel Hobley has put forward a [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21341176 theory] that Jupiter's icy moon {{w|Europa (moon)|Europa}} has the right conditions to form ice spikes called {{w|Penitente_(snow_formation)|penitentes}} of up to 10m in height.
|-
| Why haven't we built a big inflatable Extreme Sports Complex on The Moon?
| ...
| Apart from the question on the white on Titan, this is the only really silly question that has nothing to do with science or the solar system. However, it would be fun to watch sports in such a stadium - see the title text. See also, e.g., ''{{w|The Menace From Earth}}'', a 1957 short story by Robert Heinlein, as well as [https://what-if.xkcd.com/124/ What If # 124] which gives great detail to the topic of lunar swimming.
|}

The title text refers to the {{w|2015 FIFA Women's World Cup}} which was won by the USA the day before. The nylon wings and flying may be a reference to two passages from 3001: The Final Odyssey, one where Frank Poole tries out various wings while in an extremely low gravity environment, and one where he remarks while watching Swan Lake that Tchaikovsky could never have imagined a performance where the dancers were actually flying (due to aforementioned low gravity). This is also a reference to the last point on the list, because if we had such a stadium on the moon, maybe it would be possible to use such wings to make very long floating leaps.

==Transcript==
:'''Questions I have'''
:'''about the solar system'''
:(some answered)

:{| class="wikitable" style="border: 0px;"
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is the the Moon so blotchy?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Lava
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why are all the blotches on the near side?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Did Mars have seas?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Yes (briefly?)
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Was there life on Mars?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's Titan like?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Cold, yellow, lakes + rivers (methane)
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What was Earth like during the Hadean?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Is the Oort Cloud a real thing?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is the Sun's corona so hot?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Something about magnets?
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What are comets like?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Precipitous
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Where's Philae, exactly?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's Pluto like?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" rowspan="2" | [Soon!]
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's Charon like?
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why don't we have in-between-sized planets?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's Ceres like?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | [Working on it!]
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is Europa so weird-looking and pretty?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Ice over a water ocean
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is Io so weird-looking?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Sulfur volcanoes (? in the wrong places?)
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why are so many Kuiper Belt objects red?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What are those spots on Ceres?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's in the seas under Europa's ice?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Which of the other moons have seas?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Several
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What are the big white things in Titan's Lakes?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What do Jupiter's clouds look like up close?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's all that red stuff in the Great Red Spot?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's pushing the Pioneer Probes?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Heat from the RTG
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What pushes spacecraft slightly during flybys?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Where are all the Sun's Neutrinos?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Oscillating
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is there so much air on Titan?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why does the Kuiper Belt Stop?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is Iapetus weird-colored?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why does Iapetus have a belt?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's the deal with Miranda?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Did Uranus and Neptune change places?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Did the Late Heavy Bombardment happen?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Did life start before it?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Is Europa covered in ice spikes?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why haven't we built a big inflatable extreme sports complex on the moon?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|}

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Soccer]]
[[Category:Space probes]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Firefly]]

1402: Harpoons

2022-08-26T16:15:21Z

Adrmcr: fixed punctuation at /* Trivia */

{{comic
| number = 1402
| date = August 1, 2014
| title = Harpoons
| image = harpoons.png
| titletext = To motivate it to fire its harpoons hard enough, Rosetta's Philae lander has been programmed to believe it is trying to kill the comet.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a graph of the number of {{w|harpoon}}s in space over time. One would not expect that harpoons, which are associated with old technology, would be used in space, which is associated with high technology. Any occurrences are unexpected, and therefore interesting or funny.

The first peak states that a harpoon was in space during the {{w|Apollo 12}} mission and various possible explanations have been put forward (See discussion section below). One of more widely accepted theories proposes that [http://www.harpoon-rum.eu/1.html Harpoon] brand of {{w|Rum#Regional variations|Jamaican rum}} made it aboard the Apollo 12 rocket. Despite a fair amount of research into the basis of the harpoon incident, there have been no credible or official sources to confirm the presence of any type of harpoon on board Apollo 12. As the presence of a harpoon on board would run counter to any official story, perhaps that's exactly why it would be considered an "incident".

The latter peak on this graph refers to the {{w|Rosetta (spacecraft)|Rosetta}} unmanned spacecraft. As part of its mission, it carried a lander called {{w|Philae (spacecraft)|Philae}}, which has two harpoon tethers to anchor itself to the comet {{w|67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko}}. Rosetta was launched in March 2004 (as shown in the graph) and was scheduled to encounter the comet in August 2014, making this a timely comic. Rosetta maneuvered to enter orbit on September 10, and ultimately the Philae lander touched down on the comet on 12 November 2014, although the harpoon system failed to deploy. Randall produced a live comic of the landing, updating [[1446: Landing]] every 5 minutes with the latest progress. The Rosetta spacecraft also carries a disk micro-etched with 13,000 pages of text in 1200 languages donated by the Long Now foundation, mentioned in previous comics.

The title text compares the Philae lander's method of deploying its tethers to {{w|whaling}}, in which sailors would throw harpoons at a whale with the intent of killing the whale. It was important to throw hard so the harpoon would stick in the whale so it could not get away and would tow the whaling boat until it got tired and could be killed. Thus the title text implies that the spacecraft is sentient and needs a motivation to fire the harpoons hard enough to stay anchored to the comet; to this end it has been programmed to believe that its mission is to kill the comet. Evidently this motivation was not enough, as Philae ultimately failed to deploy its harpoons - it still managed to land, though.

==Transcript==
:'''Number of harpoons in space'''
:by year
:[A chart with a red graph is drawn below.]
:[The y-axis.]
:0 1 2 3
:[The x-axis.]
:1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020
:[The graph is at zero until a sharp peak to 1 in 1970. The peak is labeled.]
:Apollo 12 rum incident
:[The graph then stays at 0 until 2004. Then it rises to 2 and stays there until today, continuing as a dotted line after 2014. The rise is labeled.]
:Rosetta comet mission launched carrying lander with harpoon tethers

==Trivia==
In 2018, shortly after the line gets dotted, the number actually increased again, thanks to the {{w|RemoveDEBRIS}} satelite.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Line graphs]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

1547: Solar System Questions

2022-07-22T08:16:10Z

Adrmcr: changed up the "What's in the seas under Europa's ice?" dates at /* Explanation */ (the JUICE has, seemingly, been delayed 1 year)

{{comic
| number = 1547
| date = July 6, 2015
| title = Solar System Questions
| image = solar_system_questions.png
| titletext = My country's World Cup win was exciting and all, but c'mon, what if the players wore nylon wings and COULD LITERALLY FLY?
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a list of questions which [[Randall]] has about the Solar System, which at first glance may appear to be things that Randall would like to learn about.
In actuality, most of the questions have not been satisfactorily answered or proven by anyone in the {{w|List_of_unsolved_problems_in_physics#Astronomy_and_astrophysics|scientific community}}.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Question given
! Answer given by Randall (in red in the original)
! Comments
|-
| Why is the the Moon so blotchy?
| Lava
| The {{w|Moon}} is in synchronous rotation with Earth, which means that we always can see only one half of the surface of the Moon. And on that side we can see large {{w|lunar maria}} formed by lava from big volcanoes. This surface is very different from all other celestial bodies we know in our Solar system. The double "the the" could be a Randallism — intended or unintended.
|-
| Why are all the blotches on the near side?
| ...
| The nearside of the Moon is dominated by the blotchy 'seas' or maria, the far side by craters. {{w|Far_side_of_the_Moon#Differences|Several explanations}} for this have been proposed, including an overabundance of impacts obliterating the blotches on the more exposed far side, different compositions of heat-producing elements, large collisions, or heat produced by the still-cooling Earth.
|-
| Did Mars have seas?
| Yes (briefly?)
| Recent explorations have confirmed there was once standing (and also flowing) water on {{w|Mars}}. Many rovers and orbiters on Mars give us the evidence on this early development of that planet, but it is still unknown how long such conditions existed in its history. Two of these probes have been the subject of comics before: [[695: Spirit]] and [[1504: Opportunity]].
|-
| Was there life on Mars?
| ...
| One of the big mysteries, {{w|Life on Mars|not yet answered}}.
|-
| What's Titan like?
| Cold, yellow, lakes + rivers (methane)
| The {{w|Cassini–Huygens}} mission confirmed the presence of {{w|Lakes_of_Titan|lakes and rivers}} on {{w|Titan (moon)|Titan}}. The {{w|Huygens_(spacecraft)#Findings|Huygens}} lander itself returned some very yellow images of a dry lake bed from Titan's surface. The possibility of life on Titan was mentioned in [[829: Arsenic-Based Life]].
|-
| What was Earth like during the Hadean?
| ...
| The {{w|Hadean}} was the first geologic era on earth, the planet had just formed and not much is known of that period of Earth. But since it was the time when Earth was formed it was mainly very hot with extreme volcanic activity, with the entire surface melted. This is why the era is named after {{w|Hades}} the ancient Greek god of the underworld, even though Hades was never associated with fire.
|-
| Is the Oort Cloud a real thing?
| ...
| The {{w|Oort Cloud}} is a theoretical spherical cloud of icy planetesimals, maybe dust, and also larger objects at a distance of up to around 100,000 {{w|Astronomical units|AU}} from our Sun. We can see similar clouds at other stars, but there is still no evidence that this cloud exists in our Solar System.
|-
| Why is the Sun's corona so hot?
| Something about magnets?
| The {{w|corona}} of the sun is hotter than it theoretically should be. Tiny solar flares called {{w|nanoflares}} are responsible.
|-
| What are comets like?
| Precipitous
| The {{w|Philae (spacecraft)|Philae lander}} finally stopped moving when it ran into a cliff.
|-
| Where's Philae, exactly?
| ...
| ...but we were not sure ''which'' cliff until September 5, 2016, when the European Space Agency announced that Philae had been found and photographed by Rosetta on the previous Friday (September 2). The landing of Philae was depicted in real time in the dynamic comic [[1446: Landing]]. This lasted for several hours. Later the comic was updated with a new image where Philae is resting on the edge of a cliff.
|-
| What's Pluto like?
| rowspan="2" | [Soon!]
| rowspan="2" | {{w|Pluto}} is so far from Earth ''and'' so small that traditional telescopes couldn't discern much about it. When this comic was released, the probe {{w|New Horizons}} was eight days away from its closest approach to Pluto and its moon {{w|Charon (moon)|Charon}}; Randall was naturally excited about it. The probe was the subject of the comic [[1532: New Horizons]].
|-
| What's Charon like?
|-
| Why don't we have in-between-sized planets?
| ...
| There is a size-gap between the rocky {{w|terrestrial planets}} up to Earth size and the {{w|gas giants}} very much larger than Earth in our Solar System.
There are many known {{w|exoplanets}} (planets in other solar systems) filling in the range between our rocky planets and our gas giants, known as [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Exoplanet_Mass-Radius_Scatter_Super-Earth.png Super-Earths]
|-
| What's Ceres like?
| [Working on it!]
| The {{w|Dawn (spacecraft)|Dawn probe}} is currently exploring the {{w|dwarf planet}} {{w|Ceres (dwarf planet)|Ceres}} and reveals unseen surface features.
|-
| Why is Europa so weird-looking and pretty?
| Ice over a water ocean
| {{w|Europa (moon)|Europa}} is a moon of {{w|Jupiter}} and the surface is basically thick pack ice covered in {{w|lineae}}.
|-
| Why is Io so weird-looking?
| Sulfur volcanoes (? in the wrong places?)
| The moon {{w|Io (moon)|Io}} is also orbiting Jupiter and is close enough that {{w|tidal forces}} make it the most volcanic object in the solar system. The moon is mainly yellow but there are several other colors on the surface, for instance spots and streaks of bright red that comes from {{w|sulfur}} ejected by the volcanoes. The "wrong places" refer to some volcanoes discovered by the {{w|Voyager program|Voyager missions}} and believed to erupt sulfur. But more recent measurements showed that the temperature inside those volcanoes is about 2.000 °C where this element is not liquid anymore but gas.
|-
| Why are so many Kuiper Belt objects red?
| ...
| Many objects in the {{w|Kuiper Belt}} have a reddish hue. A possible explanation is that they are [http://www.space.com/9418-icy-red-objects-solar-system-edge-point-life-building-blocks.html covered in organic molecules] formed by the irradiation of their surface ices. The New Horizons probe might also shed light on this.
|-
| What are those spots on Ceres?
| ...
| The Dawn probe found some mysterious spots on Ceres. These [http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA19568.jpg white spots] are still not understood, but the mission is still running and we may figure out the source of the glowing white features. These spots became the punch line of the joke in [[1476: Ceres]].
|-
| What's in the seas under Europa's ice?
| ...
| The {{w|ESA}} selected the mission {{w|Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer|Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (JUICE)}} to Jupiter. The moon Europa is one target for that mission. But we have to wait, because its launch target is 2023 and the arrival at Jupiter is planned for 2031. But that's not uncommon for missions like this. New Horizons and {{w|Rosetta (spacecraft)|Rosetta}} also traveled approximately ten years to reach their targets. And before such a mission can start many preparations have to be done. {{w|2010: Odyssey Two}} is a 1982 science fiction novel by {{w|Arthur C. Clarke}} in which he envisions life under the ice on Europa. This life becomes a major plot point both in this and in the two sequels.
|-
| Which of the other moons have seas?
| Several
| Randall has already mentioned above that there are liquids on two moons. The Moon Titan at Saturn has lakes on its surface formed by liquid ethane, methane, and propane and the Jupiter's moon Europa has a sea of water covered by a thick sheet of ice. Depending on the definition of 'sea', other less obviously 'frozen water world' moons such as {{w|Ganymede (moon)|Ganymede}} at Jupiter may have {{w|Ganymede (moon)#Subsurface oceans|subsurface}} [http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27151-aurora-reveals-jupiter-moons-secret-subsurface-sea.html oceans] of liquid water and on other moons it could be other substances that are liquid at the relevant temperature, like on Titan.
|-
| What are the big white things in Titan's lakes?
| ...
| This is a joke about some gaps in the radar measurements as shown in this [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PIA10008_Seas_and_Lakes_on_Titan_full_size.jpg image].
|-
| What do Jupiter's clouds look like up close?
| ...
| The Jupiter mission {{w|Galileo (spacecraft)|Galileo}}, operated by NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), arrived at Jupiter in 1995 and was sent to impact the planet at the end of that mission in 2003 to eliminate the possibility of contaminating local moons with terrestrial bacteria. Several measurements were done on the atmosphere but no pictures were sent back to Earth. So there is still no answer on this question.
|-
| What's all that red stuff in the Great Red Spot?
| ...
| The {{w|Great Red Spot}} is a storm south of Jupiter's equator. Observations from Earth show a lifespan of more than 150 years. It's unknown why it's stable for that long a time and it's also not clear why the color is red. The probe {{w|Juno (spacecraft)|Juno}} has arrived in July 2016 at Jupiter but has not answered Randall's question.
|-
| What's pushing the Pioneer probes?
| Heat from the RTG
| Discussed as the {{w|Pioneer anomaly}}. RTG stands for {{w|Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator}}. This effect was mentioned (and explained a little differently) in the title text of [[502: Dark Flow]].
|-
| What pushes spacecraft slightly during flybys?
| ...
| Several spacecraft experienced unexplained speed increases during Earth flybys. This is called the {{w|flyby anomaly}}.
|-
| Where are all the Sun's neutrinos?
| Oscillating
| There are fewer observed electron neutrinos from the sun than the standard model predicts. This is called the {{w|Solar neutrino problem}}. Since the sum of all the neutrinos, regardless of type, that come from the sun add up to the predicted number of electron neutrinos it is theorized that neutrinos can change their type. This is called {{w|Neutrino oscillation}}, and can occur only if {{w|neutrinos}} have mass. Neutrino oscillation is considered a proof that the mass of a neutrino is non-zero. The {{w|Neutrino#Mass|mass of a neutrino}} is not yet measured and is one of the problems on the {{w|List_of_unsolved_problems_in_physics#High-energy_physics.2Fparticle_physics|list of unsolved problems in physics}} on Wikipedia.
|-
| Why is there so much air on Titan?
| ...
| {{w|Titan (moon)|Titan}} has an atmospheric pressure 1.45 times that of Earth, but only 1/7th of the surface gravity which is less than Earth's own airless Moon has, hence the confusion. In fact, Titan actually has almost 20% more atmosphere by mass than Earth, and ''seven times'' more atmosphere across a given surface area! Less influence from the more distant Sun probably helps retain more of the atmosphere's gases (for instance, Mars saw most of its atmosphere blasted away by the sun), and {{w|cryovolcanoes}} may replenish the methane fraction which should by now have ''all'' been converted into the other hydrocarbons present from subsurface reservoirs. Further studies are required to properly answer this question.
|-
| Why does the Kuiper Belt stop?
| ...
| A reference to the {{w|Kuiper Cliff}}. Most Kuiper Belt Objects are found between 42 and 48 {{w|astronomical units|AU}}; calculations predicted that there would be more and larger KBOs beyond 50 AU, but instead very few objects have been found in that region. The reason for this is still unknown.
|-
| Why is Iapetus weird-colored?
| ...
| {{w|Iapetus (moon)|Iapetus}} is a moon of {{w|Saturn}} and always keeps the same face towards Saturn. The trailing side is white while the other side is dark.
|-
| Why does Iapetus have a belt?
| ...
| Iapetus has a 13 km high ridge around most of the equator, and a number of 10-km-high mountains where the ridge is interrupted.
|-
| What's the deal with Miranda?
| ...
| {{w|Miranda_(moon)|Miranda}} is the smallest of {{w|Uranus}}' five round satellites, and it's {{w|Verona Rupes|a bit rough around the edges}} and also has an unusually high orbital inclination that is difficult to explain. Also possibly a [[Firefly|''Firefly'' reference]] since {{w|List of Firefly planets and moons#Miranda|Miranda}} is also the name of a planet in {{w|Serenity (film)|''Serenity''}}, a film based on the {{w|Firefly (TV series)|''Firefly''}} TV series.
|-
| Did Uranus and Neptune change places?
| ...
| The {{w|Nice model}} is a theory of how our solar system formed, which suggests the possibility of Uranus and {{w|Neptune}} having swapped places before reaching their current positions. Work by Professor S. Desch [http://dusty.la.asu.edu/~desch/publications/2007/Desch2007.pdf also came to this result].
|-
| Did the Late Heavy Bombardment happen?
| ...
| The {{w|Late Heavy Bombardment}} is the name given to a theorized bombardment of the planet Earth during its early history, along with the other rocky planets around the Sun. It's believed that during that time many large objects still existed and are likely to have impacted the planets. On Earth the evidence for those impacts would have been destroyed, but on the Moon or Mercury some evidence may be available.
|-
| Did life start before it?
| ...
| For some speculation on this topic, see [http://www.livescience.com/5426-life-survived-earth-early-bombardment.html Life Could Have Survived Earth's Early Bombardment]. It is still a mystery if life was formed on Earth first or if it came from outer space.
|-
| Is Europa covered in ice spikes?
| ...
|Dr Daniel Hobley has put forward a [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21341176 theory] that Jupiter's icy moon {{w|Europa (moon)|Europa}} has the right conditions to form ice spikes called {{w|Penitente_(snow_formation)|penitentes}} of up to 10m in height.
|-
| Why haven't we built a big inflatable Extreme Sports Complex on The Moon?
| ...
| Apart from the question on the white on Titan, this is the only really silly question that has nothing to do with science or the solar system. However, it would be fun to watch sports in such a stadium - see the title text. See also, e.g., ''{{w|The Menace From Earth}}'', a 1957 short story by Robert Heinlein, as well as [https://what-if.xkcd.com/124/ What If # 124] which gives great detail to the topic of lunar swimming.
|}

The title text refers to the {{w|2015 FIFA Women's World Cup}} which was won by the USA the day before. The nylon wings and flying may be a reference to two passages from 3001: The Final Odyssey, one where Frank Poole tries out various wings while in an extremely low gravity environment, and one where he remarks while watching Swan Lake that Tchaikovsky could never have imagined a performance where the dancers were actually flying (due to aforementioned low gravity). This is also a reference to the last point on the list, because if we had such a stadium on the moon, maybe it would be possible to use such wings to make very long floating leaps.

==Transcript==
:'''Questions I have'''
:'''about the solar system'''
:(some answered)

:{| class="wikitable" style="border: 0px;"
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is the the Moon so blotchy?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Lava
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why are all the blotches on the near side?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Did Mars have seas?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Yes (briefly?)
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Was there life on Mars?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's Titan like?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Cold, yellow, lakes + rivers (methane)
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What was Earth like during the Hadean?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Is the Oort Cloud a real thing?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is the Sun's corona so hot?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Something about magnets?
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What are comets like?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Precipitous
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Where's Philae, exactly?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's Pluto like?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" rowspan="2" | [Soon!]
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's Charon like?
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why don't we have in-between-sized planets?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's Ceres like?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | [Working on it!]
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is Europa so weird-looking and pretty?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Ice over a water ocean
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is Io so weird-looking?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Sulfur volcanoes (? in the wrong places?)
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why are so many Kuiper Belt objects red?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What are those spots on Ceres?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's in the seas under Europa's ice?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Which of the other moons have seas?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Several
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What are the big white things in Titan's Lakes?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What do Jupiter's clouds look like up close?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's all that red stuff in the Great Red Spot?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's pushing the Pioneer Probes?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Heat from the RTG
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What pushes spacecraft slightly during flybys?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Where are all the Sun's Neutrinos?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Oscillating
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is there so much air on Titan?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why does the Kuiper Belt Stop?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is Iapetus weird-colored?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why does Iapetus have a belt?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's the deal with Miranda?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Did Uranus and Neptune change places?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Did the Late Heavy Bombardment happen?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Did life start before it?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Is Europa covered in ice spikes?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why haven't we built a big inflatable extreme sports complex on the moon?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|}

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Soccer]]
[[Category:Space probes]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Firefly]]

Five-Minute Comics: Part 4

2022-07-08T08:25:10Z

Adrmcr: putting a slaash after an img link makes it not work; this edit fixed that faulty link

{{comic
| date = 
| title = Five-Minute Comics: Part 4
| image = five minute comics part 4.png
| before = Accidentally posted on [http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/five_minute_comics_part_4.png imgs.xkcd.com] by website management in place of [[940: Oversight]].
| ldomain = imgs
| lappend = comics/five_minute_comics_part_4.png
| extra = yes
}}

==Explanation==
This is an accidentally published "five-minute comic" by Randall that was released as an ''oversight'' by the Management of the xkcd website, then was permanently cached by one of the unofficial [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.floern.xkcd xkcd browsers] for {{w|Android}}, instead of the correct comic [[940: Oversight]]. Interestingly, it contains an early version of [[942: Juggling]], which was published less than a week after this comic, thus indicating that this is indeed a true unpublished [[Randall]] comic. And thus it has no [[:Category:No date|official release day]].

Randall had originally posted three of these five minutes comics during one week in November 2010 almost a year before this one was released by mistake. Here is thus a complete list of all four comics in the entire [[:Category:Five-minute comics|Five-minute comics]] series:
*[[819: Five-Minute Comics: Part 1]]
*[[820: Five-Minute Comics: Part 2]]
*[[821: Five-Minute Comics: Part 3]]
*[[Five-Minute Comics: Part 4]]

Here is a list with explanations for each of the small comics:
*1. The first comic shows what appears to be a dramatic stand-off between two athletes. One of them appears to be holding a tennis racket (or racquet), and the other a baseball bat, which would explain the fact that no one has scored any points yet.
*2. ''{{w|Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?}}'' (known outside North America as ''Are You Smarter Than a 10-Year-Old?'') is a television game show where the contestant has to answer questions a school student in the fifth grade (age 10) should be able to answer, but an adult has generally long since forgotten because of the subject's little use in everyday life. The comic shows a similar show, with "smarter" replaced by "sluttier". "Slut" is a derogatory term for a sexually-promiscuous person (usually female). The contestant hopes "to God" the answer is “yes", as she either would be greatly disturbed if the fifth-grade contestants were more sexually provocative than herself or she takes pride in her sluttiness and would be dismayed at being bested by a child who is presumably not as experienced in behaving sluttily.
*3. The comic below puts together two phrases "{{w|Muslim call to prayer}}" and "{{w|call for papers}}". The former, known as adhan, is called out by a {{w|muezzin}} from the mosque five times a day, traditionally from the minaret (a tall spire typical for mosques, depicted in the comic), summoning Muslims for mandatory worship. The latter refers to the announcement of an academic conference, when prospective presenters are instructed how to submit their abstracts and papers. The result is a muezzin announcing a submission deadline instead of the usual religious verses.
*4. The comic on the right refers to ''{{w|The Wonderful Wizard of Oz}}'', where Dorothy (the little girl) is captured in a {{w|tornado}} that transports her, along with her farmhouse, into the Land of Oz. When Dorothy sees the tornado she runs into her home to find her aunt Em. However instead of being greeted by her aunt as expected, she finds a robot which either contains or has replaced her aunt, making her scream in fear. ''The Wizard of Oz'' was later referenced in [[1149: Broomstick]]. Tornadoes are a [[:Category:Tornadoes|recurring subject]] on xkcd.
*5. "Evolution has not prepared humans/me/us/men/women to..." is a common excuse by some people to justify their behavior by blaming it on basic instincts over which they have no control. Not pooping in other people's floor lamps is something most people are sufficiently evolved to be capable of.{{Citation needed}}
*6. The comic to the right shows two characters preparing for a duel. One of them activates their {{w|lightsaber}}, a weapon from the ''{{w|Star Wars}}'' franchise. The other one follows by turning on a flash-light, which superficially resembles a lightsaber in their deactivated state, but serves quite a different purpose.{{Citation needed}} [[1397: Luke]] has a similar concept.
*7. "Jack and Jill went up the hill / To fetch a pail of water. / Jack fell down and broke his crown, / And Jill came tumbling after." is a traditional English nursery rhyme. San Juan Hill is the site of {{w|Battle of San Juan Hill|a decisive battle of the Spanish-American War}}.
** The poem was later used as the title for this comic: [[1662: Jack and Jill]].
*8. The comic at the bottom is an early version (hand drawn) of [[942: Juggling]] which comes 2 comics after this comic was released.

==Transcript==

:;Comic #1
:[A man facing left is at home plate ready to bat for 3 panels.]
:[A man facing right is holding a tennis racket and a tennis ball.]
:[The two men stand facing each other.]
:[A scoreboard is shown:]
:HOME:00 VISITOR:00

:;Comic #2
:[Cueball is standing on a platform, holding a microphone. Megan is behind a podium, a game show contestant.] 
:Cueball: Welcome back to our show, ''Are You Sluttier Than A Fifth Grader?''
:Megan: I hope to ''God'' the answer is "yes."

:;Comic #3
:[A mosque stands at the edge of a town.]
:Voice: Submission deadline is 5:00 PM December ''THIIIIIIIIRD!''
:Caption: The Muslim call for papers

:;Comic #4
:[A little girl (Dorothy) is running away from a tornado.]
:Dorothy: Auntie Em! Auntie Em!

:[A robot, labeled "EmTron 3000".]
:EmTron 3000: YES, CHILD?

:Dorothy: AAAAAAA

:;Comic #5
:[Megan is pointing angrily towards her floor lamp, which has poop in it.]
:Megan: !!!
:Cueball: Look - the fact of the matter is that evolution has not prepared humans to handle the decision of whether or not to poop in your floor lamp.

:;Comic #6
:[A man unsheathes his lightsaber.]
:Lightsaber: Snap-''HISSS''

:[The other man turns on a flashlight.]
:Flashlight: ''click''

:;Comic #7
:[Two children walk up a hill.]
:Narration: Jack and Jill went up a hill

:[A well at the top of the hill.]
:Narration: To fetch a pail of water.

:[A man on a horse with a sword holding a flag that is mostly obscured.]
:Narration: Alas, that hill was San Juan Hill,

:[A cavalry charging. The rest of the flag is revealed and has Rough Riders written on the it.]
:Narration: And gruesome was the slaughter.
:Flag: Rough Riders

:;Comic #8
:[The panel shows a close up of Cueball reading a book. The book is called "How To Juggle" and has a picture of a person juggling on the cover.]

:[The view now shows the entirety of Cueball. A book is on the floor behind them, and he is holding some juggling balls.]

:[Cueball throws the juggling balls in the air.]

:[He lowers his arms to prepare to catch the balls. The balls are still hovering in mid-air.]

:[Cueball now stands with his arms by his sides. The balls have not moved and are still suspended in mid-air.]

:[Cueball jumps, trying to grab the lowest ball. He can't reach.]

:[Cueball scratches his head and stares at the still floating juggling balls.]

:[Cueball throws the book into a trash can.]

==Trivia==
*The [http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/five_minute_comics_part_4.png original image link] shows the following message:
[[File:five_minute_comics_part_4_message.png]]

*;Transcript of the original image link
:Sorry!
:Minor glitch in the universe.
:Nothing to see here. Move along!
:--Management

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:No date]]
[[Category:Five-minute comics| 04]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|Five-minute comics]]
[[Category:No title text]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Sport]] 
[[Category:Star Wars]]
[[Category:Robots]]
[[Category:Artificial Intelligence]] 
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category:Tornadoes]]

No One Was Hurt

2022-07-08T08:16:26Z

Adrmcr: removed double spaces

{{comic
| date = July 6, 2022
| title = No One Was Hurt
| image = no_one_was_hurt.png
| titletext = See how the smoke obscures things so you don't see the approaching tornado until the firework streamers start to swirl right before the lightning hits the launcher. Thank God Cousin Ed was filming in slow motion. And, uh, that no one was hurt.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a FIREWORK TORNADO - Please put citations into context better. Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic was originally uploaded normally on the [[xkcd]] website as number [[2642]], before being taken down and replaced by [[2642: Meta-Alternating Current]]. This was most likely done in response to the wave of shootings across the country during the celebrations, including {{w|Highland_Park_parade_shooting|a deadly mass shooting at the parade in Highland Park, Illinois}}.

There is video of the Highland Park shooting where people were hurt and killed at a 4th july celebration, so a comic about 4th july celebrations where someone could have been hurt was, to put it mildly, not in good taste.

[[Ponytail]] is about to show [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] a video of a dramatic accident from a {{w|4th of July}} celebration with {{w|fireworks}}, in which nobody ended up harmed. Randall suggests that being told nobody got hurt implies such a video will be particularly interesting or exciting. This is because if the disclaimer is needed, then there would otherwise be reason for the watcher to be concered. And if the watcher could be concerned, then it was likely interesting.

The title text describes a particularly dramatic fireworks show interrupted by a tornado and thunderstorm, the joke being that the speaker seems more appreciative that it was recorded in slow-motion video than that nobody was harmed.

An example [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5QBiZIxWbA&ab_channel=BYUUniverse video] in which no one was (probably) hurt.

Citations:

The Wikipedia article {{w|Mass shootings in the United States|"Mass shootings in the United States"|m|}} lists mass shootings in the USA, {{w|List_of_mass_shootings_in_the_United_States_in_2022|"List of mass shootings in the United States in 2022"}} more thoroughly lists those that happened in 2022, {{w|Highland Park parade shooting|"Highland Park parade shooting"}} details the specific shooting in Illinois, and {{w|Mass shootings in the United States|"Mass shootings in the United States"}} discusses US mass shootings instead of just listing them. The [https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/reports/mass-shooting Gun Violence Archive] website tracks mass shootings in the USA.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[Ponytail is showing her phone to Cueball and Megan.]

Ponytail: Okay, first of all, no one was hurt...

Caption: How you know you're about to see a really good 4th of July video

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Deleted Comics]]
[[Category:Extra comics]]

No One Was Hurt

2022-07-07T21:29:17Z

Adrmcr: Undo revision 288420 by 108.162.246.32 (talk) (vandalism)

No One Was Hurt

2022-07-07T19:47:09Z

Adrmcr: added extra comics cat

Talk:1435: Presidential Alert

2022-04-29T07:24:03Z

Adrmcr: readded discussion before the content was replaced by a spammer

Do you think this has to do with the Floss joke on Reddit at all? [[User:Kllrshrk|Kllrshrk]] ([[User talk:Kllrshrk|talk]]) 04:11, 17 October 2014 (UTC) Kllrshrk
:I don't know about floss joke on reddit, tell me more [[Special:Contributions/103.31.5.112|103.31.5.112]] 04:32, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

::http://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/2j6pxs/whats_the_joke_with_then_floss/ [[User:Cheeselover724|Cheeselover724]] ([[User talk:Cheeselover724|talk]]) 04:38, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

:Randall knows reddit; this is most likely a reference.[[User:Cheeselover724|Cheeselover724]] ([[User talk:Cheeselover724|talk]]) 04:34, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

:I was thinking that it had something to do with the broadcast he did yesterday (Thursday Oct 16) on the subject of Ebola -- where he really said nothing, other than pamper a bit to the Fox News people, promising an Ebola-czar if he felt it would help [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 08:01, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

I'm going to suggest that the hover text is based on a faked misunderstanding of First Amendment law... the President, as part of the government, can't suggest a preference for one religion over others, including when he's talking to his own children. {{unsigned ip|199.27.128.119}}

: Disagree: Mentioning "God" does not signal any preference of any particular religion -- there is (at least one) god in them all, albeit in religions with more than one god they have individual names where in religions with only one god they may not have a name at all [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 08:01, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

:: First off, I said it was a FAKED misunderstanding. Second, no, not all religions have a god in them, capitalized or not. {{unsigned ip|199.27.128.119}}
::: For a religion to exist there must be a belief in a superior being outside of the normal perception -- whether they are spirits or other forms of non-directly-observable the naming should entities should remain irrelevant as to whether they are gods or not -- it would help if you could mention one religion who has not gods or supernatural-god-like beings in it :-) [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 17:05, 18 October 2014 (UTC)
::::Tell that to the Buddhists. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.221|108.162.246.221]] 14:04, 19 October 2014 (UTC)
::::And the Shinto. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.26|108.162.216.26]] 15:06, 19 October 2014 (UTC)
:::::Ummm.... Shinto literally means "way of the gods". Followers of Shinto have lots of gods. We would just normally think of them as guardian spirits or something like that. Also, buddhas are essentially gods in the Shinto sense. That said, there are a lot of very different schools of Buddhism, and I am most familiar with the ones that were influenced by Shinto in Japan. ETA: Oh, the comment that you responded to is about supernatural beings, not necessarily gods. In that case, Shinto definitely applies with no disclaimer, and every branch of Buddhism that I am familiar with applies as well.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.153|108.162.221.153]] 04:43, 20 October 2014 (UTC)
::::::Kami aren't really gods in the traditional Western sense; most of them are more akin to classical daemons or nature spirits. But yeah, Shinto is a bad example. Taoism, on the other hand? (Plus, there's the fact that a singular, capital-G God is, at most inclusive, an explicitly monotheistic construct.) [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 04:25, 29 January 2021 (UTC)
::::Don't forget the atheists. Despite all their peceived superiority and claimed belief exclusively in science, atheism is a religion. [[User:Mulan15262|Mulan15262]] ([[User talk:Mulan15262|talk]]) 15:12, 19 October 2014 (UTC)Mulan15262
:::::Atheism to religion as bald to a hair style. Valid, but flawed reasoning. Taking the hair out of hairstyling doesn't constitute a new hairstyle. Atheists form something close to a cult, but not a blind one. We see organized religion, but not organized atheism. Science is provable and logically sound. It has repeatability. It doesn't condemn you to hell if you don't believe. It is the same whether or not you believe or care about it. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.217.113|108.162.217.113]] 22:36, 19 October 2014 (UTC)BK
::::::Dictionary.com defines religion as being "a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects:" This seems like it would fit atheism as it has a fundamental set of beliefs (Believing that there is no God or gods) and practices (Claiming one's belief in the absence of deities to be true). This sounds like it fits the definition to me.[[User:Mulan15262|Mulan15262]] ([[User talk:Mulan15262|talk]]) 14:11, 4 June 2015 (UTC)
:::::::Not believing in god is a religious belief the same way not collecting stamps is a hobby. Stating your metaphysical beliefs is a religious practice the same way writing a paper is performing an experiment. [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 04:25, 29 January 2021 (UTC)

:: There are arguments regarding talking about your capital-G God ((one) proper name of the generic christian god) as opposed to talking about your small-g god (who might have a specific name, whether Jehova, Allah, Osiris, Odin, Quetzovercoatl or, indeed, God). But that's for etymologists to discuss, probably. Or entomologists, when they're fed up talking about whether Bugs are bugs and are trying to relax by not talking shop. HTH, HAND. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.118|141.101.99.118]] 10:19, 17 October 2014 (UTC)
::: While continuing talking shop -- I beleive that both all christian religions as well as Jews are referring to God with a capital 'G' -- and Muslims are referring to Allah as "the one God", and hence capital G-God is not necessarily the christian God -- however if you ask ''"which God is he referring to"'' you may be mistaken for an atheist [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 17:05, 18 October 2014 (UTC)

I read the comic a bit differently: supposing the President accidentally pressed "The Button" (started nuclear war), he would appear on television to tell the country about the impending catastrophe. However, once on TV he can't bring himself to tell everyone that he started a nuclear war by mistake, so he opts for something rather lame and exits -- it will all be over soon anyway.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.191|141.101.104.191]] 07:53, 17 October 2014 (UTC)
: Feeling a bit down today? --[[User:RenniePet|RenniePet]] ([[User talk:RenniePet|talk]]) 08:05, 17 October 2014 (UTC)
:: I had the exact same idea - that he meant to tell them: "you're all gonna die soon" or something similar but decided not to and was desperately trying to find something else to say. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.98|108.162.254.98]] 18:33, 17 October 2014 (UTC)
::: Exactly - this also explains why the president open with an official sentence like: ''My fellow Americans.'' And then he changes his mind and continues ''I, uhhh. Wow. Frankly, I didn't realize what this button did. I...''' I have included this alternative version in the explain but think the first can be deleted... [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:41, 20 October 2014 (UTC)

Where does the "President Cueball" come from? I assumed it was Obama. --[[User:RenniePet|RenniePet]] ([[User talk:RenniePet|talk]]) 08:07, 17 October 2014 (UTC)
: Also the fact that the title text is definitely about Obama implies that the comic features Obama. --[[User:RenniePet|RenniePet]] ([[User talk:RenniePet|talk]]) 12:03, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

The alt-text seems like an unnecessary swipe at President Obama. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.80|108.162.216.80]] 09:03, 17 October 2014 (UTC)
: Everything that occurs here is necessary. [[User:Robert|Robert]] ([[User talk:Robert|talk]]) 09:35, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

An phone app called Pushbullet recently began pushing xkcds to my phone, and Dashclock places the titles of pushes to my lock screen. Where I'm going with this, if you haven't guessed, is that I found my phone in my bed after 3 AM and blearily woke it to be greeted with a red lock screen reading '''Presidential Alert'''

A big thank-you to everyone to made my 4 AM wakefulness possible. – [[User:Robert|Robert]] ([[User talk:Robert|talk]]) 09:35, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

Anybody else old enough to remember this Spitting Image/Genesis video (http://youtu.be/1pkVLqSaahk)? [[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 14:09, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

Regarding the title text, I don't think the joke is that the president would confuse "good night" and "God bless America." It is very common for the United States President to conclude evening speeches with something like "Good night. May God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America." For a similar example, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqMzidfyxrI (which I just found as a random example). [[User:S|S]] ([[User talk:S|talk]]) 22:25, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

Does anybody know what happened? 2 am on Monday and no new strip? --[[User:Troy0|Troy0]] ([[User talk:Troy0|talk]]) 06:16, 20 October 2014 (UTC)

So this happened for real just a week later? http://www.infowars.com/white-house-emergency-alert-interrupts-tv-viewers-across-america/ {{unsigned|Geoffhazel}}

Can you imagine how certain Internet people would have reacted if this was posted post-2016? "Oh, you're just insulting the president, blah blah blah!" [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 04:25, 29 January 2021 (UTC)

Do we really need the image of the EAS logo? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.10|172.69.71.10]] 17:11, 16 November 2021 (UTC)BUmpf